Episode 21-Get The Heck Out and Vote

Join Host Attorney Steve Wallace and Co-Host Celena Muzic as they are joined by their special guest Florida Democratic Party Chairwomen Terrie Rizzo

Topics include:
Vote by Mail
Florida Political Landscape
The Case for Joe Biden
Get Out The Vote
Political Historical Events
Pop Culture Banter
Lightning Round

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Transcript

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Steve Wallace 0:01

Welcome everybody to this episode of attorneys are human too. We have a true pleasure today. We are joined by our good friend Terry Rizzo, who is the chairwoman of the Florida democratic party, as well as the chairwoman of the Palm beach County democratic party. I am your host, Steve Wallace. We're joined by our cohosts and Lita music. And we are both at the Wallace law group. Okay. Let's get right into it. So Terry, could you give us a little background on, how you first got into politics?

Terrie Rizzo 0:31

Thank you. Steven Selena for having me on today is really a pleasure to join you in the entire audience on this. my background is, typical to too many people's background. I got into it as a volunteer. I was always an active and passionate citizen of my entire adult life. but I had a career. I was married and had a family. We traveled, we moved around a great deal with my husband's job and when we were living in, so I never got involved in public, takes on the participatory level on a volunteer level until we were living in Brussels bell, Jordan in 1998. To 2002. And, and I, we were over Democrats abroad, if you will watching the entire Clinton impeachment. And, most importantly, the, the election of 2000 via CNN international and working there. I got involved initially with Democrats abroad there for a bit and valid when I got back to United States that I was going to get involved in, do my part to make a difference. At the time we thought we'd go back to California, which is where we had gone to Russell's farm. But we ended up in Palm beach County, the scene of the bunny fly, valid crime, And yeah, I jumped in and in 2004, when the John Kerry campaign came into town, volunteered as, at all an office volunteer at the Cary office. And that was the beginning and then became a precinct committee woman. For my precinct in Boca Raton,

Steve Wallace 1:48

I met you during the gubernatorial campaign in 2000.

Terrie Rizzo 1:52

I think that's about right, because that's when I got really involved with the DEC and we were heavily involved with that election in 2006 and then 2008, I ran to become the vice chair of the Palm beach County. Democratic party ultimately became the chair in 2012, ultimately, but then went on to become the chair of chairs where all of Florida of all the County chairs in the state of Florida and a DNC delegate. And then when there was an opening, the special election for the state party chair, I became the chair of the Florida democratic party in December of 2017. So that is how I got to be the chair of the Florida democratic party. So I started off,

Steve Wallace 2:25

we are so happy to have you, and it's definitely a great story to see somebody that's willing to put the work in, gets to go to the top of the mountain.

Terrie Rizzo 2:33

And that's it. There are so many people like me. There are many people who started off as volunteers and work their way up in various capacities. and is that right? Those are that's the grassroots. So that's the basis of the party are the people who are on the ground, volunteering. around the state of Florida volunteering, we now have at least over 30,000 documented volunteers, through the van and many more. there were people that aren't in the band that we have over 30,000 volunteers who are volunteering through the party and through the campaign.

Steve Wallace 3:01

if you could tell us what exactly are your duties as the chair, woman of the Florida democratic

Terrie Rizzo 3:07

party. And then

Steve Wallace 3:08

I know, Each day is not the same, but if you could give us a day in the life of Terry Rizzo, chair, woman of the Florida democratic party,

Terrie Rizzo 3:15

anything and everything it is to get out the boat, and that's exactly because overall the Florida democratic party as the arm of the democratic national committee, where the RSA, we were responsible for getting, building the infrastructure and getting out the vote in, in coordination now with the campaign. So we are involved in working with our 60 County parties. there are a few very small counties that don't have a DEC, but the vast majority do I'm working with the infrastructure too, to build the programs that will help us win. That includes the voter registration vote by mail in particular. And I really want to talk about that in just a minute, vote by mail, because that is going to be a really key part of our winning, voter protection. The Florida democratic party was the first. First state party in the country to build a voter protection program, which now is, has enfolded into the Biden campaign and is the most massive voter protection program ever seen in any state in the country. and working with people all across the state. So a typical day in my day would involve, multiple telephone calls. to various people checking in, finding out what's going on, problem solving because there are always problems and issues, around the state, and hearing from people, raising money to build a program that we built in the state of Florida over the past two years has taken a substantial amount of money. So I do lots of call time every day, reaching out to donors and to, average people, to help support the party in our various efforts. And people are responding for that. it's up at us, basically 600. Every morning and finishing up nine 30 or 10 at night at them. And then it's time for email. So that's,

Steve Wallace 4:44

you're lucky to just take a little bit of your time during the

Terrie Rizzo 4:46

day. And that's the thing I think we do too, is, speaking with people like you and, and hearing from you and hearing the issues that people want to know about Terry

Celena Muzic 4:54

have things changed because of the pandemic on how you guys are functioning.

Terrie Rizzo 4:59

Yeah, Selena. That's what, that's a very good question. And the answer is yes. we obviously were we, as the parties structure, if you only need it in the County parties? a lot of our work was out of offices and, in the various counties and in the state party, with the pandemic we had, everything became a virtual, if you will. so every all meetings had to go to virtual, contact with the voters became, virtual by telephone by texting, through, various social media platforms, and lots of phone banking and so on. So there was a substantial, and in fact, a huge pivot in terms of how we did business. And just recently now starting to come back to a limited, and this wasn't just here. this was national too. If we're coming down from the national and also, through the, through the Biden campaign as well. So all of that work shifted to become much more virtual and much more online. And for example, I'm sitting here in my home right now, I'm in my dining, in an office, all of a sudden it's just like everybody else. We're, we're typically working out of our homes, or, in reaching out to it, to people across the, across the state this way. yeah, so we made a, there was a big change. People are getting back now with again, Because Democrats believe in science and believe in following, safe procedures and policies beginning to do a certain amount of work. again, observing social distancing, wearing masks and doing all the things that we're supposed to do, but doing some on the ground campaigning now. Excellent.

Steve Wallace 6:15

So you mentioned vote by mail and I probably will say that I drove to the supervisor elections on Congress in Del Ray beach. And I took my vote by mail ballot and I deposited outside into the box and I have officially voted.

Terrie Rizzo 6:30

And I am proud of you for that. That is fantastic. You are one of, and I'm going to tell you here, that is absolutely

Celena Muzic 6:38

me too.

Terrie Rizzo 6:41

It's great to meet you. I will save. I voted. So my husband, I voted, so there were four of us who have voted now out of. 2,145,584 Democrats who have requested vote by mail balanced for this session.

Steve Wallace 6:55

Excellent. Is that data Florida or the County?

Terrie Rizzo 6:58

No, that's the state of Florida. I can tell you the County and Palm beach County in a minute, but that's the entire state of Florida that is more than a million more vote by mail requests. Then in the. 2018 election on election day. So already more than a million vote by mail request and Selena to your question. This is one way how we pivoted to getting out the vote, to working, to get out the vote, and build our, the electorate. We need to vote by mail because it makes it easy for people to vote. It makes it convenient for people to vote. People have a choice and to get voting by mail. Makes it easy. That just so what that in perspective, That is a margin on the Republican statewide now of 782,577 vote by mail requests, a margin on the Republican

Celena Muzic 7:41

side

Terrie Rizzo 7:42

this time in 2018, we actually had a lead in vote by mail requests, but the Republicans out voted us in vote by mail by about 40,000 in 2018. Okay, so we would have to

Steve Wallace 7:54

thought so, so I'm sure that there's a program in place. Once something, once a bouts requested, then you have your telephone team follow up with those voters to make sure that valet goes to the supervisor. Elections are goes by

Terrie Rizzo 8:07

and that's exactly. And let me tell you, Palm beach County, out of. 400 and a 443,000 Democrats, 867. Exactly. That's how many we have registered Democrats in Palm beach County, which is about 43% of the total electorate in Palm beach County. Out of that, we have Democrats requesting vote by males 232,902.

Steve Wallace 8:31

So we actually have Salinas just South of us in Broward County, which is another democratic stronghold.

Terrie Rizzo 8:38

so in actual fact, Broward County, Selena is the most blue County of the state. Palm beach County is the largest geographical County. We have the third number of Democrats in the state. Broward has the second most number of Democrats after Miami Dade, but it is the bluest County. You outnumber the Republicans by greater numbers in Broward. So Broward is a real strong holding and your vote by mail numbers are huge to Steve back to Palm beach County, just to let you know that the return so far. Democrats have returned 87,459,000 bucks in Palm beach County to the Republicans. Twenty three thousand twenty eight thousand four, 429. So 87,000 to 28,000. We've read. And that's 37% of all Palm beach County Democrats have already loaded by now.

Celena Muzic 9:21

That is amazing. Amazing. It's very, I have a question. this is the first time I've actually voted by mail and obviously it's due to the pandemic and not that I'm actually. sick, but I'm concerned for others. I figured the less interaction with people, probably the better considering I know that the majority of the people that are going to probably go vote physically are going to be a little bit older. so I just, I wanted to lean on the side of caution, but there is a lot of concern about. because of all the speculation and all the media and all the talk, is it safe to vote? My mail is my vote going to be counted.

Terrie Rizzo 9:58

I am so glad you brought that up. That is so good because deliberate and public employee to depress the vote, it is a false. And it completely falls a attack on the integrity of opine nail for a number of reasons. and because we, first of all, Florida has been going by mail since 2002. You all know that this is not a new system in the state of Florida. and we, you all know that. and I also want to remind people, how did you get your ballot? It was in the mail. You got your through the mail and you got it within days of being sent to you. Did you not? in Palm beach County, for example, they were mailed on the, they dropped on the 24th and, and they were received within two or three days. People got them within two or three days of receiving them. Some people hadn't gotten to the very next day, in terms of them, some of the other States were a little later, a couple of, excuse me, counties, a Miami Dade and a orange, for example. Their ballast didn't drop till the first, so they're there most are just now coming in, but so we all got our ballots through the mail, starting it through the mail is very effective mostly, but the idea is get them in early. If there's going to be any little delay, you want to make sure you get it in immediately. most counties have us. White card on the website. We do Palm beach County has a slate, our slate card on a website and all that. Most of the counties do. So go and look and see who you should be voting for. And of course it's no secret vote Democrat straight up and down the ballot. But if, cause you don't know who some of them are, you can find that out on your website, but get the ballot in early, if for any reason that you are concerned about the mail, which I, you would prefer to drop your balance off every early voting site. Throughout the entire state we'll have locked Dropboxes at every early voting site during the hours of operation,

Steve Wallace 11:34

I went today and before really voting and I just dropped it off. There was somebody sitting outside and didn't have to go into the building. And I know in the past, and at least in Palm beach County, we've always had a pretty high number of vote by mail. We'd tell people, just vote in your pajamas. You don't even.

Terrie Rizzo 11:50

Yeah, that's exactly right. And it's very convenient. Yeah. It's easy, and it just facilitates it. And for anybody who has health concerns, Selena, this is a way to, to get your vote in and not have to worry about it. I will also add that it also, fights against voter, intimidation, and, by turning, you're doing a vote by mail, nobody can intimidate you. at the polls. what if there were to be any efforts at voter at the polls or, attempts to suppress the vote. They can't do that through a vote by mail because your vote, your votes in the mail. Now question always comes in let's address. First of all, getting it in early, making sure it counts. So either mail it in early, drop it off at the, at the supervisor of elections office during office hours or during early voting during. Early voting hours at lock drop boxes, either of those or say, or actually if it again, show up at the polls and vote live. and that will be addressed also because, in turn, wear your mask and make sure that, that's using reserve opera cautions, but voting will take place, observing social distancing, and wearing masks. so all of this, we want everybody to make a plan. Whatever is good for you. Make that plan or at your precinct on election day, the only place you cannot turn a vote by mail ballot. And I want to make sure everybody knows this. The only place you can't turn a voted Moby that is at your precinct on election day. They won't take them. in which case you can vote live.

Steve Wallace 13:06

You just have to turn your, you didn't have to turn your ballot into whoever's at the poll. you hand them the ballot, right?

Terrie Rizzo 13:12

God, you don't even have to do that. it's recommended that you take your, vote by mail ballot in. With you and exchange it, basically, and then vote live. But even if you don't have it, some people, might be missing on their dining room table somewhere or whatever, even if you don't have it might just take a little longer, cause I'll have to verify you have voted yet, when you check in. that shouldn't prevent anybody from voting live. but remember everybody's ballot be received and this is a huge important point must be received by 7:00 PM. On election night in Florida, Florida is one of the States that requires that votes be in. By 7:00 PM and that shuts it off. So even, so balance must arrive before that. And so we aren't guy, California or Ohio, or some of the other Pennsylvania, some of the other States where the balance will continue to be coming in and counted after election night. That won't happen here. Okay. The only ones that will come in are the military overseas balance because they're allowed up to 10 days afterwards. But other than that, and a few fellas that may need to be cured for signature matches or something like there's a 48 hour window for that. But except for those very few ballots. All balanced will be in and counted. And that is why I say we are the one state showstopper. If we run up a massive margin and have a huge bank of ballots, a bank of opine nails, and plus people coming into early vote and at the polls, we'll know on election night. And if we run up and win outright, I'm going election. Yeah. It's over Donald. Trump's gone. We stop him because he cannot win without Florida. And so all across the state for people who are listening across the state vote, whatever way, for you make your plan either get your vote by mail ballot in however that's comfortable for you or early vote or vote at the polls, but vote because we want to make sure that Democrats come out in massive numbers across the state, and we are seeing them. We're seeing, the enthusiasm is just tremendous in terms of getting those ballots in. Yeah. Other keys to vote by mail. And I'm sorry if I'm going on and on about

Celena Muzic 15:06

this. And it's so easy to just put it in the mailbox.

Terrie Rizzo 15:11

Yeah, exactly. But before you put it in the mailbox, what do you gotta do? You gotta sign it, right? You gotta sign the back of the ballot. So first of all, fill it out, vote Democrat up and down the ballot because we have lots of candidates running besides Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. So make sure you vote up and down the ballot and then put it in your envelope in the envelope. Sign it. Okay. and dated obviously. And we also recommend that you put your email on the back of the ballot in the box where it says that, because if there is a problem for any reasons that you forgot your signature, the supervisor, Alexis will contact you. They can do that. now, so they can call and you can call you in and have you, or have you send in an affidavit that, this was you and your, this is just signing it and you get that is called curing the ballot. So that can be done ahead of time. So if I can revisit back to the primary. India in July in August, sorry, August 18th of this year,

Steve Wallace 16:01

the first time that I voted by mail

Terrie Rizzo 16:03

and everything was, and everything went well.

Steve Wallace 16:05

And on election day, or actually I think it was, yeah. At the election night, I looked on the supervisors website and they said, I voted.

Terrie Rizzo 16:13

Yup then. And that's exactly right. And you, and a massive number of Democrats, they did that. There was record number of democratic turnout in large part because of what my mail. And in fact, Democrats beat Republicans, and we had the highest turnout since 1992. It will be in large part because of what by mail and, and won a lot of seats around the state, because of the, on the strength of vote by mail turnout, and, and which showed the strength of that. but now. There were more than 2.2 million vote by males cast in the primary, out of that, approximately 35,000 ballots total, we're not counting. So it's a minuscule number in the grand scheme of things, if you think of it, but it's $35,000 too many. The number one reason was arrival after election day. Okay. So that's the number one reason that accounted for a little bit more than half of them. Okay. A little bit more than half. So what would you project

Steve Wallace 17:06

like timeframe? Five like five to seven days,

Terrie Rizzo 17:09

seven days before you both votes, get it in the mail seven days before, which is, I think that I have to go back to the 27th. I think it's the 27th. I didn't put it in the mail by the 25th, just to be sure or turn it in at early voting, or if the supervisor elections, hand to hand, drop it in and walk it in, but make sure you don't get it in early to allow plenty of time in the mail. So the number one reason and the primary was getting into late. All right. The number two reason was lack of signature. People can sign it. Okay. Again, if you get it in early enough, the supervisor, Alexis will call you and tell they'll tell send in your affidavit with your signature on it and you can share your ballot. and they are notifying them. Now, there is a two day window past election day for that to take place. Now that was changed by, in law after the 2018 elections. So voters have two days after the election to make sure they're valid secured, but if you get notified, really get it in there and do it now. And also want to stress again, just to reiterate in vote by mail. Florida starts counting the canvassing board start meeting as early as 22 days in advance of the election and start counting the bells across the state. All right. so that the bowels there opened the canvassing boards are meeting, they're verifying the signatures, everything, and they go into the machines and they're counted. All right. But the results of course are not released until election night. so they're in there. That is why we are able to report it. And you all know this, at the close of polls, which will be eight o'clock East coast time, because we have the panhandle, which is in central time. because they are there an hour later, we got two time zones in Florida. so eight o'clock on East coast time, roughly. Oh, two or something about around them up, we'll go these massive numbers. And there will not be a precinct reporting. He has no preserved reporting because that's the whole binomial numbers. And then the early vote numbers will go up and then grab and the precincts will start reporting it. So that's the process. So we're used to vote by mail in Florida. The process is pretty smooth. and people, as long as people get their ballots in early, sign them, get them in, make sure they're there by election night. Yeah. Then it thinks should go very well. Yeah.

Steve Wallace 19:10

Very interesting. Yeah. Okay. So just shifting gears a little bit.

Terrie Rizzo 19:15

Yeah. that's half about half of the Democrats in the state of Florida, or it's about signed up 47% now are signed up to go by them.

Steve Wallace 19:21

Believe it or not. We have a lot of listeners that are still on the fence on. Who to vote for president, believe it or not. And so can you give us the case why Joe Biden should be our next president of the United States?

Terrie Rizzo 19:33

I, as the democratic chair and as a strong Democrat, I am, I am surprised that anybody. On the fence, given what has happened in the past four years. but in particular, I think we've seen, especially with the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and many other things throughout this administration. the incompetence of a president, Donald Trump, he failed us. He was complete failure of leadership on the pandemic. and, he knew. early on, he knew in March that this was going to be serious and downplayed the results, has still refused to this day almost to, flagrantly violated the mass foreign policy. Didn't have to have, gotten thrown a virus himself. the importance of the safety, precautions and health precautions for everybody, testing processes is and it's not just that it's going after any number of programs that, that, the benefits. The people in the United States, the affordable care act is one thing, as we speak, even as we speak right now in the middle of a pandemic, Donald Trump and his administration have a case before the Supreme court, as to, declare the, the affordable care act a unconstitutional, get rid of it altogether, which would in case, in fact, as you well know, time. Millions and millions of Floridians and many more millions across the country. in terms of, keeping, safeguards for people with preexisting conditions, for allowing children under 26, to be part of their parents' plans for the issue after issue. In the middle of the pandemic. And that's one of the reasons they were attempting to rush through the Supreme court nominee because they would, they would like to have her in unconfirmed so that she can be there to help them and shut down the affordable care act. But that's again, only part of it. Donald Trump and his administration have gone after everything and dismantled environmental protection issues, for people concerned with the environment, which is a huge issue here in Florida, as well as around the country. they've dismantled numbers of them, environmental protection. Protections that we have in the United States, and on the issue of virtually issue after issue, Joe button will be the better president. He has a plan to, for the economy to build back better. And the complete plan is up on his website. That would benefit not just the wealthy and the is particularly the corporate interest, but also, but the average working, working family, the working class people, the United States to have been. so drastically affected by particularly the pandemic, but the economy in general,

Steve Wallace 21:43

I liked Joe fine, because he went to my law school.

Terrie Rizzo 21:46

There you go. That's it. And you know what, and also he is, he's a caring individual. He's caring and compassionate. He listens to people. he has been through, he has suffered himself as as lost family members himself. and he is just, it is that's his persona. He is a caring persona and he cares about people and that he cares about the people, the United States. He also will have a cabinet. that would be probably, without, precedent in terms of qualification of the people that he will bring in to help run this administration and bring America back following the, the severe crises that we've had in the past two years.

Steve Wallace 22:23

Yeah. I just compare everybody when I'm trying to persuade my friends and family and to vote for Joe Biden, you just look at him and you compare the two and he's just a good person. And then yeah, what it boils down to is, he's a good caring, loving person. And I feel comfortable with him at the helm.

Celena Muzic 22:41

he's a fan. He's a family man. Who's endured loss. So he knows what that feels like. Yeah. that's the reality for everyone. That's lost a family member to COVID-19, Who else would understand that, but someone else that lost someone.

Terrie Rizzo 22:56

Yeah, exactly. And I think you've hit the nail on the head. He also on the non issue after issue, Americans with disabilities is another classic example. I think you may know that one in four of every American in the United States has. Some kind of a disability, whether it's visible, such as being blind or hearing impaired, which people can see, or, invisible, there are many disabilities that people have that are not visible. mental illness, there are, high blood pressure, diabetes, you can't tell, but somebody has, an existing condition with diabetes. So it has some kind of a disability, people with disabilities, one in four Americans are affected. Joe Biden cares and has. Plan for it to include people with disabilities and address these issues versus Donald Trump, who makes fun of people with disabilities and, and has in the past, we've seen this. on issue after issue with the veterans, military and veterans, you've seen how Donald Trump called the veterans, suckers and losers, and, and. Claims to have done a great deal for veterans, but in actual fact not. And my husband who was a Vietnam purple heart veteran and people who, and I'm a Navy grad. So we have, we come from a strong military tradition and there are many Democrats who are military veterans, and in the military now, but particularly the veterans who know what the Trump administration has not done for veterans, even though they claim they have a, whereas, Joe Biden does and. There are so many veterans who are now in support of Joe Biden and, and the Democrats, because they know that where the real support for debt for veterans lies.

Steve Wallace 24:19

Okay. I just shifting gears a little bit.

Terrie Rizzo 24:22

What

Steve Wallace 24:23

is your favorite political story or political event in

24:26

history?

Terrie Rizzo 24:27

Oh my gosh. Yeah,

Steve Wallace 24:29

the tough questions on attorneys are human too.

Terrie Rizzo 24:32

okay. the thing that is that I will always stand out to me. It was, this is the shows. I was only three years old at the time. But the debate between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, back in, that was the very firm and some of you will have seen this on a. On the on TV, if you weren't around to experience alive, I was a young girl at the time, but that was the first really lies live televised debate. And it was a critical, changing, turning point in us history. And John Kennedy was very inspirational to a whole generation of people. so that is something that stands out. The other thing is that of course, was the, the 1960s. A convention in the riots and, the social justice issues that were coming out in the late sixties. And that stands out as well. there are many, it's hard to, should keep on going Barack Obama being elected in 2008. Yeah. as the first African American and, and transforming, our country. Digging us out of a huge hole. the worst, before now, economic crisis, since the, since the great depression and how Barack Obama and Joe Biden then went to work and, and began to dig us out of that economic. So there's so many, Steve, it's hard to, it's hard to say.

Steve Wallace 25:33

I just want to say it. I think actually to you, I actually got to meet, Barack Obama when he was campaigning in 2008. When the template Boca Raton. So I was, I had a chance to meet president Obama and it was, and I do thank you for that cause,

Terrie Rizzo 25:49

Oh, it wasn't, he, it was just such an inspirational person. Yeah. Okay.

Steve Wallace 25:53

we also, we've had, we've had a bunch of elected officials on the show previously and one of the things that we always ask them is what advice would you have for somebody that's looking to break into politics?

Terrie Rizzo 26:07

two things. at first of all, jump in and get involved. And I think volunteering is a great way to do that, and, so get involved on the ground on the grassroots level and the ground floor. The other thing is talk to people, ask around and speak with people who are involved. identify some folks who are leaders, some elected officials or people who are activists themselves, and get advice, really start speaking to people. That's what I did when I got involved. I, first of all, I jumped in and became involved, on, as a grassroots volunteer and then began to network and speak with people who, who we identified as leaders. So that's what I was seeing as people. And also follow your passion, do what you like to do, and, Excellent.

Celena Muzic 26:44

Let me add, and just to go back to the politics, what do you think the Democrats, because there's so much racial tension in this country right now and racial disparity as well. what are some of the plans to alleviate what is going on? Because. This is almost becoming a nation divided and I was born and raised in New York at, and so when people say, you were in a bubble and now it's in your face. And I'm wondering, what are politicians going to do about this? How are we going to fix

Terrie Rizzo 27:17

this? I think that's Joe Biden does have a plan. it already has, as a plan for moving forward as an incorporating many everybody really in this, and it's going to take all of us working together. I think hearing each other out and talking, speaking in an, in a civil way to each other. but I think, as I said, Joe Biden, as the leader would be the effective leader to do that. He will not exacerbate the crisis. he will not promote division and hate. and he will work it out. and, but there are social justice issues, law, longterm social justice issues that have been simmering for you years, and ever actually, and, and we need to address those going forward. this whole issue related to, the murders of, Brianna Taylor and the, All of those, Georgia, Floyd, and others, these must be addressed now as Joe Biden has said, he is not for defunding the police, that's and nobody is, I don't believe in that blowing up because we need strong police. And we are in supportive of our police force. they're here. I was in it. And but there are everywhere, right? situations and Val Demings, Congresswoman Valdez, who was the chief of police in, in Orlando, speaks to this issue very well, that you have to address issues where they are, and root out problems, come up with solutions and programs that address these and move forward. So I think we all need to work toward this and promote civility and conversation amongst each other, while addressing these issues and bring everybody to the table. recognize that there are issues. I think sweeping things under the rug doesn't, it doesn't work, and recognize issues and in work for yeah.

Celena Muzic 28:41

I like that you say that, yeah, let's address everything

Terrie Rizzo 28:45

and we need to be inclusive of everyone. th the democratic party is we always fondly say we are the party of the big tent. That means a lot of people, with different, interests and, and agendas and people, who need to be included and have their voices heard. and especially now, thank you. Okay. Great.

Steve Wallace 29:02

So one of the things that we've talked about on the show, and also I've talked about with you and with others that are involved in politics is developing a bench. and so one of the things, so is there any. One one, one elected official or multiple extra officials that you envision, or is the future of the Florida democratic party.

Terrie Rizzo 29:22

That's a that's I'm going to get myself in trouble. Yeah, no. So let me address that. First of all, I'm going to go back. cause that is one of the things. The party as a whole, even nationwide has had an issue with probably sit, for the past eight to 10 years is the, is the fall off on the batch and is, and in particular, in Florida as well as nationwide. So the FTP actually us starting at last year to the end of 2018, began after the election and going into 19 began to work, to develop programmings, to help build the bench trainings around the state. through what we call our MVP program, our municipal victory program, and a down-ballot candidate program. So it was trainings that began, that went out two people interested in running for office. identify, find them through networking with local elected officials who were already there. getting people trained and ready to run and also campaign workers. Now fast forward to now where we have. More than 400 candidates running throughout the state of Florida, and for various, for various offices. So in partnership with the FDA, with a STEM of our caucuses, like the democratic environmental caucus with Ruth's list, with, working with the house and Senate victory and a whole combination, our partners in various units, unions called and caucuses. we have candidates running for. 31 2021 out of the 21 States, Tennessee. So all 21 States tendencies across the state alluding deep red areas are including deep red areas and 109, 120 state house seats, including Canada, deep red areas, and also running for Congress. And also running for, constitutional officers in counties, supervisors of elections, sheriffs, tax collectors, property rights appraisers. So the constitutional officers that affect everyday life, the counties, County commission seats, and school boards. So across, we have over 400 candidates running what we call our sunshine slate throughout the state that includes here in Palm beach County and Broward, we have whopping. candidate numbers of candidates here in Palm beach County, who are running and we want all of them elected. This is our batch, And so these people are being elected now to make a huge difference in the state of Florida. On every level, they will be our bench going forward to 2022, immediately after in my. as we've already talked about this, the plan is, we don't just want to have an election and then stop crash and burn and then have to pick up again next year and go forward. the whole idea is to you land the plane, you don't crash the plane, you landed and you immediately get ready and take off. so the short game, the short term is winning this election and getting people elected to all of those, to the seats up and down the ballot. But immediately getting ready for 20, 22, because that's going to be right around the corner. We have the gubernatorial, we have all four cabinet officers up, not just the governor, but all four. and we have of course AC a us Senate seat coming up, Marco, Rubio's up in 20, 22, so we're going to be going for that one. so in answer to your question, I'm coming back around now, Steve, on that, in answer to your question. Yeah. there are going to be multiple candidates who are coming forward and we've already begun to hear from them. you're, you've already heard from a number of them and people are, exhibiting interest in potentially running because they know what's coming up in 2022, but everybody right now is. Focused on this election. Now this is the one we've got to win. This is the most important election. and without hyperbole, certainly of the modern era, it is believed that this is probably the most consequential election since the election of 1860. and, and some people argue even going back to the very first one, after the very first one, because in terms of how the direction of our country will go, and there is no path for Donald Trump. Without Florida, he cannot win without Florida. So it's up to us to, to get that vote out. All those votes everywhere, everybody listening across the state, we need your votes and we need you working.

Steve Wallace 33:02

Awesome. Okay. So Selena and I are going to ask you one more politics related question, then we're

33:06

going

Terrie Rizzo 33:06

to

Steve Wallace 33:07

pop culture questions, and then I'll take you home the lightening round. Yeah. So my last question, I have a four year old daughter, and will hopefully be future governor of the state of Florida or something along those lines.

Terrie Rizzo 33:18

That's right.

Steve Wallace 33:19

One of the things that we've seen, over the last probably 10 to 15 years is the influx of female candidates for elected office. So could you just. Enlighten us a little bit about that. And just also provide advice to females that are looking to run for elected office.

Terrie Rizzo 33:36

Thank you. And I think that's great. And I think it's absolutely terrific that your daughter is going to have her ass, her aspirations set to be governor or more because. Because at my Selena, because women, there is no ceiling anymore. Kamala Harris is showing what a strong woman, running for offices like Hillary Clinton did this. This is the year that I believe that is going to happen. Because there is no, first of all, I answered your question. See, I think women bring, collaboration to the table. I, women work with each other and often, don't get into, Two grudge matches if you will with, or what might they call pissing contest? I'm sorry for using that term, but in terms of, w with, and they bring collaborative efforts and working together, and we see on a national level on down, what has happened with Democrats with, with women in politics, women, women voters voted more massive numbers than do you know. and, and I think that the, Involvement of women in politics on every level from volunteer up to speaker of the house, and now Kamala Harris running for vice president and the women who were in the cabinet, is very significant. And they bring that difference to the table, that, that helps the process forward. Thank you. And so the two, your daughter, girls growing up now, are, will have the benefit and, women who have come before, standing on the shoulders of those women's stuff for jets a hundred years ago, I got the vote for the women and then standing on the shoulders of people like Geraldine, Ferraro, and the people who were in Shirley Chisholm, who ran for office early. and then for Hillary Clinton who ran for. For president last time and Camela Harris now. So standing on all these shoulders, she will be able to build and there, the future is bright for her. yeah.

Celena Muzic 35:10

Plus women have more patients.

Terrie Rizzo 35:12

There you go. I think so putting up with everything. yeah.

Celena Muzic 35:17

what advice would you give anyone in the younger generation that says, Whoa, I don't know if my vote's really gonna count. I just want him to get that out there. Cause I hear that. I hear people say I don't, it's not even a matter of. I dunno what candidate is a matter of, I don't know if my vote

Terrie Rizzo 35:40

okay. I would like to point out the election of Senator bill Nelson in 2018, he lost by 10,033 votes. And so out of 1300, I know exactly right now that you gotta remember out of 13 million votes cast, so so to lose by 10,033 votes out of those that you know, that number of votes casts. So if. One or two more people in every precinct would have voted, that's a generalization, because it depends on where the distribution was, et cetera. And there were reasons, where the Broward ballot design was an issue where there were under votes, et cetera. There were numbers of reasons. But to, in answer to the question, does your vote count? Yes, there was an election one in Boynton beach two years or three years ago that was won by one vote. One vote. I'm going to beach commissioner.

Steve Wallace 36:26

that's where our office is. We are sitting in the

Terrie Rizzo 36:28

studio. That's exactly right. One vote. And so does your vote count? Absolutely. Your vote counts. Every vote counts, and cumulatively, we have strength, our voices, our strength. So your vote does matter. Each individual person's vote does matter and it matters a great deal. can you imagine the difference between Senator bill Nelson and Senator Rick Scott? That has massive implications in terms of, in the Senate and all that the Senate has been doing. What's that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Selena, does that answer your question in terms of it does a vocab?

Celena Muzic 36:58

It does. I hear just a lot of people around my age group. saying, Oh, it doesn't matter. My vote doesn't count where, and I'm like, these elections are gonna determine the path of our future right now. So I think it does, we don't all think the same

Terrie Rizzo 37:14

thing. It really will. if they are not pleased with the way things are going, or if they'd rather see some kind of change, the only way to do that is to vote. to express your opinion and vote for the people that are going to bring policy forward the way you would like to see it. Now it will not, it must be perfect. As we know, nobody ever gets a hundred percent, they want to see it. It sees what they want, but at the same time, we move forward in it either one way or the other way. and so the group that you will, then people that you vote for. We'll take it in the direction and work toward those programs and policies that you want to see, but you have to vote in order to make that happened. Sitting on the sidelines, gives your votes. Somebody else it let somebody else make those decisions for you. You don't get a voice when you don't vote. So that is why it is so critical that every person vote in your voice does make a difference. And I'll go back to some, the, again, to some of those elections where Senator Nelson lost by 10,033 votes in the state of Florida. And we ended up with Rick Scott. Yeah, same thing with him, with Andrew Gillen, who was 13, 2000, and a couple hundred, and we ended up with Rhonda Sanchez. You can't tell me there's not a big difference between a government run by Rhonda Santas and one that would have been running by Andrew Gillum, a demo democratic governor in terms of that. And also between Senator bill Nelson and Senator Rick Scott in terms of what they're voting for and on, and the policies that they're promoting. So if people, More people need to vote. They needed to have voted. Then even though we had record turnout in 2018, we didn't have quite enough, but we did get Nikki freed. We got commissioner to keep free and or democratic turnout. And that shows the difference of having a Democrat in office and what having a statewide Democrat can do. Having a leader of that nature and the, in our Democrats in the house and Senate are fighting every day, in state house and state Senate. And we need more of them, and to flip the Senate. and I, and the, in the state house in order to implement democratic policies. Yeah,

Steve Wallace 39:08

absolutely. Okay. So now we're shifting that. What everybody's looking forward to pop culture. First question, we'll ask two questions each and then we'll go to the lighting question. And this is a popular question in our show is what is your favorite song or songs of all time and why?

Terrie Rizzo 39:28

Oh gosh, of all time

Celena Muzic 39:31

you can get with any era.

Terrie Rizzo 39:33

Okay. Oh my God. there are probably 10. I love don't stop me now by queen. I love, I love, as time goes by from Casablanca, which is going back to the forties, one of the favorite movies, gosh, they're just, I can go on and on. There are multiple songs. I like everything you understand?

Celena Muzic 39:50

Okay. I have a question. If you can ask. Any president in history, one question, who would it be and what would you ask?

Terrie Rizzo 40:00

Oh my goodness. Oh my gosh. I can't, I don't know the answer to that because I, it was like 85 questions coming to mind.

Celena Muzic 40:11

It could be theater. Yeah.

Terrie Rizzo 40:14

I think in history, I'm just trying to think about, historically I might actually go back to George Washington and ask him a quick, impression of the, in terms of the founding of the nation. in terms of his vision for our country and what he envisioned for our country,

Celena Muzic 40:27

and that is great.

Steve Wallace 40:29

Okay. My last pop culture question. It's a little biographical about Terry. One thing that a lot of people don't know about is she's for many years has been involved in the fitness industry. Can you tell us a little bit about that? And you have a fitness book and a video?

Terrie Rizzo 40:43

I do a long time. Yes, indeed. I was in, but my real profession is this health and fitness. And I got, we've all been many years ago. when, A dolphin is starting to come into Vogue. And so I became, one of the first aerobic instructors, fitness instructors, certified fitness instructors, and, went on to, have my own organization in when we moved to Belgium. And, and we established fitness stuff programs when we lived over there and then came back to the United States and went to Stanford, where I became the program director at the Stanford medical center for health and fitness programs. And, and that's where we had the book and we wrote the book called the Stanford medical center. Wow. And we had a video at the time. This is going back a number of years, and I've always been involved in training in personal training and teaching exercise classes and, myself, because it's been, this is incredibly important, for, of course for a healthy body and also healthy mind has stress release, in terms of mental health as well. So I still do, Pilates on a regular basis and strength training, because it's important that everybody maintain fitness. yes, you're absolutely right. Steve is that, that'll, I've been doing this for a while. My whole nightlight.

Celena Muzic 41:50

Wow. That is so awesome to know.

Terrie Rizzo 41:53

Thank you.

Celena Muzic 41:54

Okay. My last question is, Oh, I'm stuck between two. No, I want to know what is your favorite? Show that you've been bingeing on. I'm going to, I'm going to keep it on the shows. If you've been bingeing on any shows or movie.

Terrie Rizzo 42:14

I actually haven't lately I haven't had time, Okay. so I have to say that we've not been doing it lately, because it's something I hate to, I take a wuss out, but in actual fact we have not been doing that.

Celena Muzic 42:26

I'm going to sneak in my bag. My backup question is if you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?

Steve Wallace 42:33

Oh, I

Terrie Rizzo 42:33

like that. The ability to have everybody. Yes. that would be my, that would be, I would be to make people vote.

Steve Wallace 42:42

Okay. I'm going to go to the lightning round. Very easy. This or that questions. First question, feature mountains,

Terrie Rizzo 42:52

a mountain

Steve Wallace 42:53

dog, or cat.

Terrie Rizzo 42:54

Oh, dogs.

Steve Wallace 42:56

Burgers or tacos?

Terrie Rizzo 42:59

You can't say both, right? Okay.

Steve Wallace 43:02

Winter or summer

Terrie Rizzo 43:04

hugging.

Steve Wallace 43:05

You're kissing

Terrie Rizzo 43:06

those.

Steve Wallace 43:07

Okay. And last but not least drum roll, please. Blue or red.

Terrie Rizzo 43:13

What do you think? Is there any other color that blue?

Steve Wallace 43:17

I don't think there is. Okay. So just, thank you so much for taking all the time on during this busy election season. If you could just have one final message, how do we find the Florida democratic party? And what final closing argument do you have? To get people out to vote and vote blue.

Terrie Rizzo 43:33

The Florida democratic party is a Florida dems.org. So www Florida all written out dot org in Palm beach County is PVC democratic party.org locally. And you'll find all kinds of ways to volunteer. We encourage everybody to volunteer and. Almost forgot to tell people if you're interested in, in poll watching on election day, if you want to be involved in the legal effort, the pull watching effort, there are ways to volunteer, go to the Florida dentist.org and also making calls, phone banking. Every single thing you do from now to the election matters, because this is the most important election of our lifetime. I will circle back around that, in the modern era. this will determine the future of the direction of our country for your decades in years to come. The Supreme court is on the ballot. Healthcare is on the ballot. literally the environment is on the ballot. women's rights, civil rights, voting rights, everything is on the ballot. So what you do matters. So we ask everybody to get involved. It's going to go through Florida. If we stop him here. Donald Trump cannot be president and we will have Joe Biden and our democratic. So I will thank you very much for having me. Steve is Elena a and a, and all the people around the state, please get involved. Please do whatever you can to make a difference. and let's get out and vote and let's go blue and let's go, Joe, and let's be Donald Trump and win and save our country.

Steve Wallace 44:50

Okay, this was great. And hopefully if we may impose upon you after we bring Joe Biden to the white house, we'd love to have you on for a election recap,

Terrie Rizzo 44:59

show

Steve Wallace 45:00

you to sleep for seven days straight. Yeah.

Celena Muzic 45:03

You can have a mini vacation.

Terrie Rizzo 45:05

Thank you. Thank you very much. We really appreciate that. Thank you. And thank you for having me and keep up the great work and let's go do this