Erick Allen, Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor of GA

The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast is in Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts

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Transcript

Meral Clarke: 0:18

Welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced in distributed by the Fannin County Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke and we're getting into some good trouble today with our special guest, Georgia Representative Eric Allen running to be Georgia's next lieutenant governor. Welcome to the show, Representative Alan, we're happy to have you with us today.

Erick Allen: 0:39

Thank you and I am excited and happy to be here.

Meral Clarke: 0:42

Wonderful. May I call you Erick?

Erick Allen: 0:43

Please. That's what my mother calls me. She never named me representative. Nowhere on my birth certificate is a state representative. So Erick is perfectly fine. Okay, terrific.

Meral Clarke: 0:51

Thank you. Tell our listeners a little bit about you. Erick Allen. He learned from his parents that faith without good deeds fall short. Erick's father, a retired CME pastor volunteered as a poll worker and worked to register people of color to vote. His mother was a beloved public school teacher for over 30 years shaping the hearts and minds of countless young people. On weekends, Erick would join his grandmother as a volunteer at the Red Cross and continue learning about the value of public service. In 2018. Cobb County voters sent Erick to the state capitol to continue his advocacy on behalf of small business owners, working families and ensuring health care access. He formed the bipartisan legislative working group on addiction and recovery only the second such caucus in the country to reduce the stigma of mental health and substance abuse. He then went on to represent Cobb County as the chair of the Cobb legislative delegation. In his time running for office, and since representing the 40th district, Erick advocates for families and small businesses with both his voting record and his commitment to community. So Erick, you've stated that you are a tireless advocate working toward full Medicaid expansion, environmental justice, and voter rights. Let's unpack these issues one at a time. Tell us about your efforts in the state legislature and working across the aisle to achieve your agenda. What's that like? Especially with advocating for health care for all and Medicaid expansion? How do you expect to get that done while Republicans are still in the majority in nearly all offices across the state?

Erick Allen: 2:34

Well, thank you for that question. Because I think it's one where our narrative has to change. The way we get that done is continuing to make the business case for it. And what I mean by that is when I first decided to run for office, and I won in 2018, but a lot of people that aren't in Cobb County don't know that I ran in 2014 the first time. So I ran in 14, 16, 18, to win in 18, and then reelected in 20. So I was pretty persistent in getting to it. But when I first ran in 2014, it was really just all because of health care. And I was a small business owner. And I lost my business because of illness, I had five surgeries in six months, I have Crohn's disease, had 18 inches of my colon removed. And literally at the end of the year, after those surgeries in 2011, my insurance premiums adjusted and I basically had to leave my business and take a job in order to have insurance. And if you think about what was going on at that time, it was when the Affordable Care Act had been passed, but not really implemented. So there was no exchange or anything, I basically just lost everything I've worked to build for seven years in my own consulting practice. There are a lot of stories like that across the state. And when you think about fully embracing the Affordable Care Act, there's a reason to do it. That is a business reason for small businesses, for entrepreneurs, for innovators. And we have to do everything we can to unlock that, because it should not be dependent on a job to be able to get affordable health care. And we still have 400 to 500,000 Georgians who fall into that gap, where they're not able to get what they need on the exchange because of the lack of expanding Medicaid. But they also don't want to have full employment outside of their dream job, their passion, what they want to start their business doing. So I think that there's a reason to talk about Medicaid expansion in the way that we talk about actually unlocking the potential of small business growth in Georgia. And if you do that, I think that's a bipartisan way.

Meral Clarke: 4:27

And thank you for that. And I hope you're feeling better. By the way.

Erick Allen: 4:30

Oh, this was a long time ago. I'm doing much better now.

Meral Clarke: 4:33

Okay, so you do have personal experience in this arena. And that's so important to be aware of how it affects others. So what are you doing under the Georgia Dome? It's so hard to get any of this passed with Republicans in power. What are some of the bills you've introduced and what have you done to alleviate the situation for all Georgians?

Erick Allen: 4:53

Yeah, I think every year I've been in the General Assembly Democrats have introduced legislation to fully expand Medicaid. I think it's just becoming a constant narrative and where I think we're getting closer, the voucher program that Republicans introduced, the the governor actually signed into law two years ago was an admission that something needs to be done. And I think it was a way for Republicans to say we're going to try to expand Medicaid without saying we're expanding Medicaid. Now that we know that's been reversed by the Biden administration. So we're not going to have those voucher programs. But we also have a situation now where through the Cares Act and some of the maneuvers of the Biden administration, it would literally be free for Georgia to expand Medicaid for the first two years, not only would it be free, it would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue back into the budget that Georgia taxpayers are already paying out. So I think that what we should be focused on right now is just really getting voters to understand that the reason we're not expanding Medicaid has nothing to do with fiscal responsibility. It has nothing to do with looking out for every Georgian to make sure they have access to good quality, affordable health care. It is purely a political play. And I believe that voters are at a point where all of the arguments from Republicans have fallen apart. And if we're not willing to do what's right by our neighbor, and it's not going to cost the State of Georgia a penny. As a matter of fact, it's going to save and bring money back into the general budget, then we have to start calling them out on that irresponsibility.

Meral Clarke: 6:21

I completely agree and not to mention what's happening with rural hospitals who are being inundated. I mean, we're inundated right now in rural areas with people getting sick and going to the ER instead of being able to see a doctor because they are uninsured. Absolutely. So that's another business case for helping hospitals across the state.

Erick Allen: 6:43

Yeah, in my full time job, We didn't talk about this, the beginning of my full time job is healthcare administrator. Now I do consulting, I actually spent three years with the State of Georgia, as executive director of development for the Department of Behavioral Health. I put it this way. I have clients all over the country. The states that have not expanded Medicaid are just trying to survive. The states that have expanded Medicaid are innovating and trying to provide better care for their citizens. And I think Georgia would want to be in the latter not the former. We should be funding and providing a way for our rural hospitals, to continue to serve their communities and even to innovate and offer new services, instead of being crippled by the amount of uncompensated care that they're providing at the highest level of acuity in the ER.

Meral Clarke: 7:28

Exactly. And we need preventative care. And that requires health insurance. So folks can go see their doctors before they get so sick, that they can no longer function and have to go to the ER so I agree with you completely. And obviously you've got a great background here. So thank you. Let's talk about environmental equity and justice, which is a particular concern to us Democrats, with climate change looming and looking to be catastrophic within the next 20 to 30 years at the most. What are you doing, and what is your plan to combat climate change and ensure that environmental justice is available for all Georgians, especially the underserved populations.

Erick Allen: 8:09

Before I get into more of the climate change, we have things that we can control just the regulations, our Environmental Protection Division, I jokingly call it the environmental permitting division, because basically all we do is issue permits without holding anyone accountable. There are things I mean, in my district alone, we were alerted a couple of years ago of the issue of ethylene oxide being spilled into the air in our community. It is a classified and known carcinogen by the EPA. And we as a state have refused to put in sensible regulations to make sure that the six

Meral Clarke: 8:41

Sure, hopefully, we'll be able to get that facilities that are heavy users of this gas across the state are held accountable. I've introduced four bills, one of them, luckily, was stripped and put into legislation by Republican last year and passed, which even in my re election or one of my Republican opponents that have never got anything passed, because the bill didn't have my name on it. But I think that is a high compliment. But I've been able to draft legislation that's been so good that it was stolen from the majority party and passes around. Somebody who's got to write their good bills, they're good at the bad ones, but somebody's got to write the good ones. But it was just a very simple way to make sure that all leaks or exposures of ethylene oxide that were unpermitted, were reported to the EPD. So there are things that we can do very sensibly in our environment to make sure that we're cleaning it up. I mean, we've got issues with coal ash, we got issues which interrupts our groundwater and well water in certain communities. We've got the issues of ethylene oxide that impact other communities and other ways. We have tire umping and burning in certain reas. There are so many things hat we can be looking at utside of using the term limate change that is also d trimental to our environment. S I think it's a very c mprehensive approach that I'm t ying to implement or work with a the capitol. To focus on those things that we can quickly passed. control, but also advocating for our federal partners to do what

Erick Allen: 10:03

I am very hopeful. I was on a press conference they can with things like the Build Back Better plan, that is huge opportunity to get ou climate under control. earlier today, urging our congressional delegation all of them to pass that measure. And not only do we depend on it, but more importantly, my six year old daughter depends on it and future generations coming behind her, we have to protect our planet.

Meral Clarke: 10:29

Yes, absolutely. There is no planet B. There's no Plan B. So hopefully more people will get on board with these initiatives. How does environmental injustice impact people of color and poor people, particularly most of these factories, and the coal ash and the areas that this industry operates in tend to be in poor neighborhoods? Is that correct?

Erick Allen: 10:53

Yeah. And it's really unfortunate that it happens in those areas and various reasons, I think that we should be working more closely with our local municipalities and counties on zoning for these facilities. Once again, if you were to put in some of the basic measures, to protect the environment and Georgians, then you would move these facilities into less populated areas. And I am not a proponent of not in my backyard, when you talk about environmental justice, there are some things that just don't need to be done in the State of Georgia. I am a firm believer that there are other states, Texas is one that loves the use of ethylene oxide. I don't believe we should move the facility in my district into another part of the state, it needs to leave. And so it's not just the disenfranchisement of the impact of minority communities, which is a huge issue. But don't get me wrong. But we also need to be looking at what industries we really want to be involved in in Georgia.

Meral Clarke: 11:45

I assume that ethylene oxide is a profitable business for those business owners in obviously, that's part of the problem extreme, and Republicans, as we know, represent corporations, not people. So we do have to do something about that very quickly. Let's move on.

Erick Allen: 12:01

Before we move on, I just want to say there's no reason why we cannot be both the number one state to do business, but also the number one state to live and raise a family. I think Republicans have put in front of us a false choice. It's not an either or, and the way the state has been run, and leaders have been running the state is basically to make us decide that it is a choice to either be business friendly, or to hurt our constituents. And we can do both, it is really a both and I think that's an important message that's to get out there, that we can still be business friendly, but also expect those businesses to be responsible with the employees and the residents of Georgia that they keep them safe. They pay them a living wage, and they provide them with the benefits that are central.

Meral Clarke: 12:43

And hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. But let's move on. And let's talk about voter rights and voter suppression. How are you fighting to ensure that all Georgians have the opportunity to make their voices heard at the ballot box, especially with the new restrictive voting suppression laws that Republicans have enacted in our state?

Erick Allen: 13:03

You know, unfortunately, right now we're at a position where it's about voter education. I'm very realistic with constituents and we don't have the votes to overturn SB 202. That's not going to be our path. Our best path right now is to educate and be vigilant on the measures of SB 202. And once again, to look to our federal partners to reinforce and restate the parts of the Voting Rights Act that have been gutted and weakened, so that the state does not have the standing to do the egregious acts of voter suppression that were implemented with SB 202.

Meral Clarke: 13:36

Okay, and how are we getting that word out? How can we ensure that Georgians will show up for the midterms next year which are so vital, and I was told by a campaign manager recently 10% of Georgians have voted in the municipal elections, which is terrible, we definitely need people to come out and to participate in the process. How do we do that?

Erick Allen: 13:59

So not that it's a good thing, but municipals are always lower. Municipals are very tough turnout. But I do see a lot of activity with some of the C 4's and nonprofits that are out there advocating ACLU, Fair Fight, Black Votes Matter, the NAACP, hundreds of organizations that are out there educating people to vote on how and what the rules are. There are our county committees, which are a vital part of our democratic infrastructure, that are messaging and getting the word out on how and when the polling places elections are. So I think that there is a lot of education that's going on. I would not look at the success of that in a linear, how many people turned out to vote because of it being a midterm. I think it is still just a good exercise for these organizations to get geared up now so that they are fully activated next year. And to that point, also, I would say it's gonna be up to the campaigns as well. Campaigns are gonna have to do their part to make sure that they're talking to their voters and they're getting them out at the right time and the right place to vote.

Meral Clarke: 14:57

So hopefully that message will get through since the Republicans in Congress just voted down the Voting Act. And so we're going to have to find a way to do it on the state level rather than a federal Do you agree?

Erick Allen: 15:09

Yeah. And I'll tell you, they didn't vote it down, they use the filibuster to hide behind the book for it at all. And to that point, the argument of the filibuster, the way I explained to people is our voting rights were stripped away by simple majority. Were going to gerrymander district maps by simple majority. We took away women's right to choose how their body is treated by a simple majority. Why is it that for something like voting rights in the US Senate, we allow the filibuster to stay in place?

Meral Clarke: 15:37

I don't understand it, because it's an antiquated, racist mechanism. But no one seems to have the stomach up there for getting rid of it. Why do you suppose that is?

Erick Allen: 15:47

I think it is completely anti democratic. And I think you have elected officials at the federal level, who likes to hide behind not having to take the hard vote. If it's a simple majority, they would have to take a hard vote on the record. The filibuster allows them to hide behind their personal views and not be accountable on the things that they wish not to be accountable for.

Meral Clarke: 16:09

Does that work to Democrats disadvantage in the General Assembly as well?

Erick Allen: 16:14

No, we don't have a filibuster in the General Assembly, everything simple majority.

Meral Clarke: 16:17

Good. I don't understand why it's not the same way, the federal level, then that makes no sense.

Erick Allen: 16:23

There's only one body that I know of across the entire nation that allows things not to be even brought to a vote until 60% of the body agrees even elections are 50% plus one. I mean, that's the way our process is set up. So even with the reapportion of that we're doing now you hear people use the term one man, one vote, well, let's say one person, one vote. I think that that's even diluted by the filibuster, because you're not really allowing a simple majority right to conduct your business.

Meral Clarke: 16:48

So you had mentioned education, education is another major initiative for Democrats, especially ensuring educational equity for underserved populations and people of color and poor people. How will you create an environment as lieutenant governor to make sure all Georgians have the opportunity to receive a proper education.

Erick Allen: 17:09

The quality of your education should not be dictated by your zip code. Everyone should have an opportunity to have a quality fair and equitable education. And it really starts with how we fund our goals. We are using very, very antiquated formula with our QBE formula. We have talked for years about addressing the QBE and reformulating how dollars are spent. And I think that's a big part of it. That's that's the first thing.

Meral Clarke: 17:34

Can you tell our listeners what QBE is?

Erick Allen: 17:37

It's all the basic education. It's a formula used based on location and student population. It's not of algorithms that basically decide how funding gets allocated through the school from the state. So if you have an outdated formula that doesn't take into account modern technology, which now that we've been in the pandemic is even highlighted more than ever, but you don't take those things into account, even the last three years where the governor has bragged about funding the formula 100% When you're funding a bad formula, if my personal home budget, falls 20% short of my needs, then even if I funded 100%, I'm still 20% short that makes sense. So it's one of those things where we should address that first. Teachers, as you said, the beginning my mother taught over 31 years, not only in the public school system, but over 20 of those years were in the exact same school teaching multiple generations of students. And I remember her making hard decisions and really asking us as a family to make sacrifices so she could pour into the school to buy supplies to buy paper, and teachers are still doing that today. This is not something that just happened in the 80s and 90s. It's still happening today, that should not be the case, we should be funding our schools, and paying our teachers not just saying we're giving our teachers a pay raise, but still requiring that the dip in their own pocket to fund their school. So that's another thing. The other thing we have to really look at is the disparities and inequity in learning. During the pandemic, you've heard a lot of people use this term called learning loss. Well I want to break some news on your podcast, that learning loss has been happening in brown and black communities for a long time. This is not something new, it's gotten a new name, because now it's impacting everyone. But we have had learning loss for a long time. And we need to be funding those schools that have had that loss to make sure they get caught up to parity so that everyone can have the same opportunity of learning. And since we're at a point where we're willing to talk about learning loss, I would lean into that as lieutenant governor to make sure we're really talking about it, and bringing all those schools up to parity that need it.

Meral Clarke: 19:37

That's terrific, and it certainly needs to be done. There's no doubt about that. So let's talk about gun laws in Georgia, something near and dear to my heart because of all the gun violence that we are seeing across the nation and in our state. Currently, because f Republicans, we do not ha e common sense gun laws in o r state. Do you plan to introdu e legislation or have you in this regard? And what can you o as lieutenant governor to make that ha

Erick Allen: 20:04

So I've co sponsored legislation around red flag laws revoking the guns everywhere bill limiting capacity, even two years ago, co sponsored a bill that would provide regulation around 3d printed guns, something that's not often talked about. Yeah, but there are so many opportunities for us in Georgia. And right now, it's a very strong Republican talking point, there's even a gentleman up in your neck of the woods that held himself, the speaker likes to talk about what goes on in metro Atlanta around violence.

Meral Clarke: 20:34

And you're referring, of course, to House speaker David Ralston?

Erick Allen: 20:38

Ross, yes, he in the current Lieutenant Governor and Republicans that do not represent anything near the City of Atlanta, are very concerned about crime in Atlanta. But yet, what they fail to realize is that the only spike in crime in Atlanta is gun crime. All other crime is trending down. So you cannot have a conversation and be so overly concerned about crime, but yet not want to address the proliferation of guns. We have to have a conversation about how many guns are on the street? What is the reasonability of a capacity for a magazine? And what are the common sense gun laws that need to be in place to make sure that all of our families and kids are safe.

Meral Clarke: 21:16

But how do we do that in a Republican and a red state stronghold?

Erick Allen: 21:21

We elect more Democrats. And to be honest, the race for governor is going to be so important. It was important in the last cycle, and we were so close. And it's unfortunate that that election did not turn out the way it should have based on the numbers, but the Republican legislature can do whatever they want to do. If we have a Democratic governor, that's not going to get some. And that's really at a point now where we need to be thinking about how we build a coalition. And that's something I'd love to talk about. Because as lieutenant governor, I think one of the strongest roles that you can have is really building and leveraging the talent in the state to prepare more people to run for office so that we can start to swing some majorities in the Senate and the House. Bu while we're doing that, we nee to be electing a Democrati governor who will not sign som of the crazy bills into law tha are coming out of DC

Meral Clarke: 22:07

And of course, I do want to mention the Governor Brian Kemp oversaw the election for governor when he was Secretary of State. So that is purely a conflict of interest. What would you do to alleviate these conflicts as lieutenant governor?

Erick Allen: 22:22

I would advocate for legislation to make sure that those conflicts are just as unethical as taking contributions during session or a quid pro quo or anything else. I mean, that should never have happened. If you are running for a higher office, and the office that you're currently in, has a direct impact on the outcome or influence of that election, I believe you should be forced to resign.

Meral Clarke: 22:46

Yes, I completely agree or at least step down and allow someone else to take over that aspect.

Erick Allen: 22:53

I think it's the same you should not be in that office. I would even go as far as to say, I would like to see it to where I could not be serving and running at the same time. Once you declare for a higher office, at the state level, if you are in a state office, I believe you should be stepping down so that there is no abuse of the current position while you seek your new position.

Meral Clarke: 23:16

That would certainly be preferable. And there are quite a few loopholes there that we need to close as well. So yes, I agree with you. So let's talk about small businesses. And that's another campaign issue for you. Small businesses have been especially hard hit with the advent of COVID and lack of resources. What would you do as lieutenant governor to shore up these businesses and actually help small business owners?

Erick Allen: 23:40

One of the biggest issues that we have is access to capital for small businesses, especially for women and minority owned businesses. And a lot of people think that because of COVID, there was this windfall because of the cares money and all the SBA loans that went out. But those were still very dependent on banking relationships. And there were a lot of small businesses, like I said, minority, and women owned businesses, even veteran owned businesses that were kind of left in the gap and not getting the resources that they need. Now, that's a pandemic era issue. But even going forward, we have to find ways to incubate and find more capital for these smaller companies. The other thing we need to do is once again, we need to expand Medicaid because there are people who are running those small businesses, but because of the way they're investing into their business and not themselves and the way their W-2 looks, they are in what we call that Medicaid gapping. And it would be a big help for them to be able to get insurance within the gap at a lower rate so that they can have quality, affordable health care, just like what their employees are able to go out and get on the exchange. So there are a lot of things that we can do to help our small business. The first thing we need to do is listen because I would argue that although Georgia claims to be the number one state to do business and I jokingly say that's by Georgia Magazine, because I'm not sure who else says that but Georgia being the number one state to do business, I know a lot of small business owners that feel like that's not true for them, we need to put a laser focus on being a great place for small business.

Meral Clarke: 25:07

It seems that big business definitely has more sway, at least in red states. So what would you do specifically as lieutenant governor to help these owners now? Would it require legislation? Would it require a change of rules? What does it take?

Erick Allen: 25:22

The first thing I would do, there are a couple of working groups that I would implement or call and I would call for a working group on small business recovery and development in Georgia, a group of business leaders from all over the state who are working and navigating that small business arena, to really hear from them on what we can do to make their lives better. I think that's the first part is to really listen. No elected official should run on the premise that they have all the answers. If you've got all the answers, then just implement them, don't run for office just go out there. And I want to listen to him first. And I think that's the most important part. The other thing I'll say, just for clarity, the office of lieutenant governor in the State of Georgia cannot introduce legislation. So you're very limited in what you can do. You can work with other legislators and advocate and support them as their legislation goes through the process. But the influence lieutenant governor is really more in the advocacy and really using the bully pulpit, if you will, to help get things done and message to get things done the right way.

Meral Clarke: 26:21

And bring people together who can make it happen. Absolutely. Wow. So it's more of an oversight position.

Erick Allen: 26:26

I think it is a leadership role in the truest sense. As I say, when I'm leading my team professionally, my job is to make you a hero. That, to me sums up the role of Lieutenant Governor. My job as Lieutenant Governor is to find those legislators who are bold, who have big ideas, who are willing to do the work and come together and get things done. And bring them together to make sure that we're doing what's best for your...

Meral Clarke: 26:47

More of a big picture approach, which I understand as Lieutenant Governor, you would also be presiding over the General Assembly. Tell us a little bit about that.

Erick Allen: 26:56

Yeah, the constitutional function of Lieutenant Governor has called out is to be the presiding officer of the Senate. That carries a lot of responsibility. But we all know that over the years, they've chiseled away the power of the lieutenant governor to do a lot in the house, you get a lot more order because the speaker is the one that really drives the ship. If there's a bill that gets ramped the speaker is the one that unilaterally introduces him assigns it to a committee.. In the Senate, the lieutenant governor has to work with a committee is there four members plus him or her that decide what bills go to what committee, so it's a lot more of a shared power. So the term presiding over the Senate is a little misleading. The speaker in the house has far more latitude and power than the presiding officer of the Senate. But once again, it's important that we have people in that role and running to that role that actually understand it and can navigate that and not lead on false promises of what's going to be done when they get in. Because there's very little you can do. But there's a lot you can get

Meral Clarke: 28:00

You can get a lot more done if we have more done. Democrats. Absolutely. Absolutely. In the senatorial body. Absolutely. And I could talk to you all day, Representative Allen, I really could. But unfortunately, we're running short on time. This has gone by so quickly. Matter of fact, is there anything else you wish to add about your run and why it's so important that a Democrat be elected? It's a separate position from the Governor, it's voted on a separate ballot. So what would you say is the most pressing issue that you're concerned about within the Lieutenant Governor's office.

Erick Allen: 28:34

The one thing that I think we should be thinking about most of all, is that if we're going to have a strong Democratic governor, we need to have a strong Lieutenant. We need to make sure that we're voting all the way down the ballot. And I tell people, when you get that ballot in 2022, don't stop at the top. There are Democrats up and down the ballot that are going to need your support. It's not just about my race, lieutenant governor's race, we're going to have to make sure we're electing Democrats, all the way up and down the ballot from Governor to agriculture, education, Attorney General, Secretary of State, all of them are important. And the more we have leaders in those roles, the less relevant the legislature becomes with its Republican majorities. So those are very important things. Other thing I would end with is more of a point of personal privilege, if I can take it is one of the things I'm really most proud of is we were able to get legislation passed to create a specialty license plate for the recovery community and that's people recovering from substance use and mental health disorders. It is now on presale we are trying to get the number up to I think you have to have 1200 before they'll start printing them. We're getting close. But I would encourage anyone first of all, who has a family member who is in recovery, who is in recovery themselves or someone who understands that recovery is real and we're all basically recovering from something. We need to break the stigma of recovery of mental health and substance use. And if you can go to the Georgia Council on substance abuse their website pre order your specialty license plate 50% goes toward the Georgia counseling, substance abuse, the other 50% goes towards the Georgia mental health consumer network. How we see people is how we treat them. And recovery is real. And it's something that's very, very close to me. And I hope if there's anyone listening that embraces that community and wants to do something good, seeing those license plates on the back of cars will let people know that we're all in this together. And so that's the one ask I would have everyone that...

Meral Clarke: 30:29

Fantastic, and certainly a worthy cause. So we all need to support that. If someone who's listening to our podcast today wishes to go to your website to donate or volunteer, where would you send them?

Erick Allen: 30:42

It's Alenn for ga.com It's A L L E N F O R G E O R G I A so everything spelled out Allen for ga.com. You can follow me on Twitter at Eric Allen and it's ERICK ALLEN and on Instagram at rep. Erick Allen. So you can get in touch with the campaign any way and we'd love to have you but most important, we want you on the voting rolls. We got to vote.

Meral Clarke: 31:06

Yes, absolutely. And thank you for bringing that up. So finally, and I ask all my guests this question, tell us a fun fact about yourself something not related to your campaign or your representation of Cobb Countians or anything else political, something fun.

Erick Allen: 31:23

Something fun, I would say a fun fact would be the best job I've ever had in life was when I was in college was my freshman year of college. I was actually Chucky Cheese. I dressed up in the rat costume. And it was the most amazing job because no matter what you did, every Saturday when all those birthday parties rolled around, you saw the brightest smile on kids faces. And it was an amazing, amazing experience. So I got stories for days. But I learned so much from being one kid, there was a birthday party, there was a kid that I interacted with the whole day and didn't notice that he was deaf. And on his way out, he signed to me and his father whispered in my ear what he said, but he said thank you big rat. And that is stuck with me my entire life, the way you engage with people. You never know when you're gonna leave a mark. You know, we tell people one of the things that shaped my life was dressing up in a rat costume. It doesn't come out as clean as you want to do. But that's the truth. It was one of the most rewarding things and I love talking about

Meral Clarke: 32:33

That's lovely. Is there any video? Photos

Erick Allen: 32:38

Back in those days? I don't think that video was not as

Meral Clarke: 32:42

prolific as it is now. Yes, aren't we all the lucky ones that it wasn't quite so prolific, but I would have loved to have seen that. Well, thank you, Erick, for joining us today and sharing more about your campaign and your critical work to support Democrats and maintain our democracy. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. We hope you'll join us next time when our special guest will be Charlie Bailey running for Georgia Attorney General. To learn more about us in the work that we're doing, please visit us online at FanninCountyGeorgiaDemocrats.com and share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family. Be sure to subscribe and follow and if you enjoy our podcasts consider becoming a founding patron and friend of the show at NorthGeorgiaBluePodcast.com/patron so we can continue getting into more good trouble.