The World doesn't need another podcast, PODCAST.
Newsmakers,
politics
Entertainers
Media
Larry M Levine
Larry has written for the Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, and many others. Levine grew up on Long Island, now in Columbus Ohio is a businessman, writer, comedian, and family man.
www.larrymlevine.com
The World doesn't need another podcast, PODCAST.
Newsmakers,
politics
Entertainers
Media
Larry M Levine
Larry has written for the Jerusalem Post, The Times of Israel, and many others. Levine grew up on Long Island, now in Columbus Ohio is a businessman, writer, comedian, and family man.
www.larrymlevine.com
Larry Levine (00:00):
Hello. Welcome to the World. Doesn't Need Another Podcast, podcast, podcast. Podcast, podcast. This is Larry Levine and I have Secretary of State Frank LaRose on today. Welcome to the show, secretary of State.
Frank Larose (00:13):
Well, hey, thanks so much, Larry. I appreciate
Larry Levine (00:15):
It. Y you know, it's funny, I just talked to a mutual friend of ours and I said, what do I call 'em? I'm so used to calling you by your name, and that's, that would be not showing the proper respect. So it has to be Secretary of State, Frank LaRose.
Frank Larose (00:27):
I think Frank is fine for this purpose, but thank you, Larry. I appreciate
Larry Levine (00:31):
It. Thank you for the permission. And I'm assuming you don't make your kids or your wife say that to you, right? Or unless you're mad at them for some
Frank Larose (00:37):
Reason. No, they call me. They, they call me Sergeant LaRose.
Larry Levine (00:40):
Oh, okay. Which is a really great leadin to your background. People ask me, what does a Secretary of State do? And yeah, a lot of people don't realize that they, you know, some think you're actual secretary, others, they know it's
Frank Larose (00:55):
Important. I heard a person ask me once how the governor takes his coffee set. My, my job was, was to do that. I always joke that the average person thinks that my job as the Ohio Secretary of State must be to negotiate peace with Michigan. Oh, I can assure you as, yeah, as a proud Buckeye, I would never negotiate peace with Michigan. But that's not the job the Ohio Constitution gives me either. Right? So, as you know, the job is we, we, we help people vote and we help people start new businesses. So we are the office that runs elections in Ohio and helps people begin their entrepreneurial journey as a business owner,
Larry Levine (01:29):
Right? And of course, it's critically important in this day and age because of election integrity and people you know, questioning. And it should be noted that you have been recognized nationally by many as having run the best election, the cleanest, without any, almost any issues here. And I wanna say congratulations on that because, and we're very proud to have you a Secretary of State because that has been an issue in other states.
Frank Larose (01:55):
Well, and, and thank you, Larry and I, I wish I could take all the credit for that. But the fact is, it is tens of thousands of people that run election. It, it's several hundred that are the day-to-day full-time staff at each of our 88 county boards of elections. But then tens of thousands of election day poll workers, half Republicans, half Democrats, and all Patriots working together to, to do this really important job. And it's because of them. And I, you know, I hope the work that we do here at our office as well, it's because of that team effort that Ohio continues to have elections that we know we can trust, that are free and fair, that are accessible, where it's, as we like to say, easy to vote and hard to cheat. I have a simple mission statement that, that we developed leading into the 2020 election, which as you mentioned, was the highest turnout election that Ohio's ever had.
(02:42):
Really off the chart on every metric that you could point to. And so, unquestionably the most successful election Ohio's ever had from an elections administration standpoint. But on the erase board in my chief of staff's office, long before anybody had ever heard of Covid or a pandemic or whatever else way back in 2019, I wrote on, on there, when Ohioans go to bed on election night 2020, they will know and believe the results of the presidential election, really, the, the, the, the overall election. And those are two really kinda simplistic things, but pretty profound too. Ohioans went to bed on election night knowing the result other states have, have failed to get those rapid results reported on election night. We do it the right way in Ohio. We get those results. Nobody goes to bed at the Board of Elections or at the Secretary of State's office until those results are reported on election night. But just as important as knowing those results, Ohioans believe the results, whether your favorite candidate wins or loses, you go to bed on election night knowing that what you saw scroll across the bottom of your screen or what you read on the website, was the true reflection of the will of the people of Ohio. And that's, gosh, that's important work.
Larry Levine (03:46):
Yes, it is. And I wanna get into all of that, Arizona, and, and there's so many things that people don't understand and need to think about. There's you know ballot harvesting, there's all these other things that, that, you hear those words. I'd like to know a little bit more about 'em today, the HB 4 58 is a a new law. Is it, has it been enacted or is it on its way?
Frank Larose (04:09):
Sure. HB 4 58 has been signed into law by the governor, but it takes 90 days to take effect. So it's not gonna take effect for a few more months. But we are right now working with the Boards of elections to be ready so that on that day that it takes effect, they're ready
Larry Levine (04:24):
To. Now, did he have to show a photo ID to sign that, or just kidding.
Frank Larose (04:28):
You know, but it's a funny question because when the governor signs legislation, I counters sign it. And so it's almost like I serve as kind of like the notary for the, for the governor in that sense. I, I sign it to verify that he signed it. So there is, there is a safeguard in place,
Larry Levine (04:43):
Right? Well, you know, I, as soon as that, that started hitting the news, you start getting fundraising letters and, and noting the people on Twitter yelling that these are gonna be Jim Crow laws and all this you know, nonsense about denying people a right to vote. And there are a few things in there. I mean, I don't personally, I mean, I guess I have my own feelings about it, but I don't understand why people can't just show an id. And I don't think that bringing a gas bill or an electric bill is enough. You just asking people to cheat
Frank Larose (05:15):
And you're in good company. Yeah, you're in good company, Larry, because something like 70 or between 70 and 80, depending on which full you look at, but high numbers of Americans and Ohioans feel the same way. Right. And the other really unfortunate thing, and, and listen, this, this is I guess the nature of politics these days the, the, the really corrosive hyperbole that you hear from the other side, predicting that this is gonna disenfranchise people and keep people from exercising the right to vote, the facts are simply not on their side. If you look at states like Georgia, they have a higher rate of voter participation after enacting a mandatory photo ID than they did before, right? And so it, it, it's easy to vote. And one of the things that we've also included in this bill that our friends in the legislature included in this bill, is that if you don't have a state ID or you can't afford a state id, you can get one for free.
(06:08):
And so now with the passage of this bill, you can get a free state id. So that takes that excuse away and try to think of everything. There are certain religious communities, for example, the Amish up in where I grew up in, up near Wayne County and Holmes County and, and other parts of the state, they, they don't believe in being photographed in some cases. And so they, there's a affidavit they can sign saying that they need a religious exemption because they can't get a photo ID because of their faith. So I mean, we're, we're trying to make sure we think of everything because we don't wanna make it hard for people to vote. We do want it to be honest. However, and again, large numbers of Ohioans agree with us, but simply showing a state ID in order to verify that you are who you say you are is not an undue burden. What
Larry Levine (06:51):
About the argument that I've always received from friends who I've had discussions with about this, that, well, there is no proven substantial voter fraud, so why worry about it? That's what they say. Yeah.
Frank Larose (07:01):
That's crazy. That's I'm saying, yeah. That's like saying that carjackings are really rare in your neighborhood. So if one occurs, do we not investigate it? Do not go after it. Do we not try to prevent those kind of things? And listen, I would be the first to say that voter fraud is rare, thank God. Right? We work hard to keep it rare, right? In the time that I've been in this office just over four years now, I've referred over 630 individuals for investigation and prosecution by law enforcement, 630 out of 8 million registered voters over the course of four years. Yeah, that's a 0.00 something percent. But it doesn't mean that we let it slide. It doesn't mean that we let it go. And, and, and one of the ways that we keep election fraud rare is by making sure that we effectively carry out the law, that we have safeguards like a photo ID in place. And honestly, one of the most important things that we do is maintaining accurate voter rules. That probably the thing that our office spends more time on than anything is making sure that people who are, you know, deceased get removed from the voter rolls. We do that on a monthly basis. And listen, I don't apologize for removing dead people from the voter rolls. We do that every month. You
Larry Levine (08:08):
Don't have that many of them complaining to
Frank Larose (08:10):
<Laugh>. No, they don't. Yeah,
Larry Levine (08:11):
That's the good part of that, right? <Laugh>. And if they do, then you send 'em for referral for election fraud. There's also questions like ballot harvesting and things that kind of, you know, nibble along the edges of the law. Yeah. Ballot harvesting seems to be a huge issue. Like in California. And as I understand it, you have people that will go into nursing homes and, you know, get people to sign, and then they just take 30, 40. And people can't even really, you know, in a lot of cases they might have dementia, they might not care, they might be being paid, we don't know. And then these people drop 'em off. How big of an issue do you think that is and how can you stop?
Frank Larose (08:46):
Well, the good news is Ohio has prohibited that practice for a long time. And when it comes to Ohioans that are living in a nursing home facility, for example, the, the best solution that we have for that is that we have our boards of elections go out in a bipartisan team and vote people at the nursing home. Like it's an early voting location. And so at nursing homes all over Ohio, you'll have a bipartisan team that shows up a week or two before the election and they set it up, it looks like, just like a election day voting. It's that way. The people that live there get to cast their ballot without anybody else putting their thumb on the scale. Cause you've got that bipartisan team of elections officials doing it. Let's, let's break down ballot harvesting a little bit too. Cause even that term is a little bit inaccessible for some people.
(09:28):
I've heard this called ballot trafficking by some. There are other terms for, but the idea is, should you hand your ballot to some, you know, political operative or party volunteer and then just trust that they're gonna get it down to the Board of Elections in Ohio? We forbid that the only person that can take your ballot to the Board of Elections is you, yourself or an immediate family member. So I can take my, my ballot and Lauren's ballot and drive it to the Franklin County Board of Elections if I wanted to, or the postal service, your, your, your postman can of course deliver that ballot to, to the post office or to the board of elections. And that's how most people can conduct their, their absentee vote. So this idea that somebody could collect up your ballot and take it to the Board of elections, opens the door to all kinds of fraud.
(10:11):
One of the most egregious examples of this occurred in North Carolina a few years ago, and it was a party operative that was going door to door collecting ballot. And they said, Hey, save the postage stamp. I'll take your ballot to the Board of Elections for you. Well, they went back to their car and sat there and looked up who's a D and who's an R, and they threw out party. Yeah. So they, the ones that didn't, they weren't from their party, they threw 'em in the dumpster. And the ones that were from their party, they took to the Board of elections. Again, that's the kinda ugly thing that can happen when you permit a sloppy process like ballot harvesting. It's really about chain of custody. We don't ever want your ballot to be in anybody's control other than yours personally, or the bipartisan County Board of Elections. We don't trust that some party operative is gonna properly handle your ballot.
Larry Levine (10:56):
Now I know you're not, obviously you're not affiliated with Arizona, but you have opinions on it. What do you think went wrong there? What's the chances of machines actually blinking out like that? I mean, obviously it'd be they need to have some of the laws changed. And I personally didn't like the fact that the person who was the Secretary of State there and in charge of elections was also running. It just looks bad. Do you have any comments on that?
Frank Larose (11:19):
Yeah. Well, I, I will say that throughout the country and throughout the history of our country, it is the elected Secretary of State that runs elections. In some states, they have an appointed secretary state appointed by the governor. But somebody ultimately has to be the Chief elections officer. And in cases, that person can also be candidate for public office. If you operate in an ethical and transparent way, then I think it can be done fine. Here's what, in my opinion, has gone wrong in not only Arizona, but in states like our neighbors to, to, to the east in Pennsylvania and, and in other states is bad planning. Larry, we, we had a saying in the Army that you sweat in training so you don't bleed in battle. Oh, you sweat in training so you don't bleed in battle. It's, it's a simple way of saying, if you do the preparation work before the actions, then you're gonna be ready to succeed.
(12:04):
You know, when in the heat of battle, well, that's the mentality that we've had. And that's the kind of preparation work that we do for months and months and months leading up to the election. In some of these states, they didn't do their prep. The logistics was bad, the planning was bad. They didn't have adequate numbers of machines or adequate numbers of poll workers properly trained. They hadn't tested the machines before they were fielded. In Ohio, every voting machine gets tested before every election. You can go watch it. It's public at the Board of elections. In fact, it's hard to believe. But we're just a couple months away from the spring primary. And so really in just a few weeks, the boards of elections are going to start testing their machines here in Ohio, again for the primary of the spring. That means a Republican and a Democrat stand there with a clipboard.
(12:46):
They pull it out, they fire it up, they run it through it faces, they put a sample ballot through it, make sure that it's tabulating correctly, make sure that has hampered with, and then they put a tamper evidence seal on it to make sure that it can sort of be maintained in that secure state until it's ready for election. Even things like making sure they're fully charged up, backup batteries on these things and everything else. So that's some of the stuff that they've not been doing. Here's a big one. Some of these states that can't give you the results on election night, it is so easy to point out why. It's because they don't process absentee ballots in advance, believe it or not, in some of these states. And I testified just a year ago in the Pennsylvania State Senate, and I stood there in front of a Pennsylvania Senate committee, and I said, one of the recommendations is that you need to start pre-processing your absentee ballots.
(13:29):
Meaning that when they come in, you have a, again, Republican and a Democrat there at a table. You cut it open, you check the signature, you verify the information that's on it, you approve that ballot for counting, and then you flatten it out and have it ready to scan. So on election night in Ohio, the very first ballots that get counted are those early vote and those absent ballots when you see results at eight o'clock, eight 15 on election night, those aren't from the precinct locations. That's not from the high school gymnasium and the, the church basement and all the different places where people vote around the state, 4,000 Foley locations. The votes that you see counted early on election night in Ohio are the absentee votes. Cause they're already proofed and ready to go. Contrast that with, again, Pennsylvania, Arizona, some others, they didn't even start cutting the envelopes open until election days. So of course it's gonna take days and days to cut open those envelopes, check the signatures, verify the data, and count those ballots. So it's things like that that cause these problems. But the biggest problem with this, Larry, is that it makes people doubt the legitimacy of elections. And it's really, really hard to regain trust once
Larry Levine (14:28):
That's right. You know, I could spend the whole 40 minutes, Howard, whatever we do today on this, it's this great subject and it's obviously something that's that you are gonna be very, very well known for. I can tell you that I'm proud as an Ohioan to have to tell people, my friends around the country or the world that we ran a really good election here, no issues. They can't, they might try and, you know, call the new things Jim Crow because you wanna limit a ballot box, maybe one to a precinct or something like that. But they're all fringe issues. The, the most important thing is that there were no complaints. And I feel like my vote counts in the state. So thank you for that. Well,
Frank Larose (15:03):
And, and let, let for a second too, cause you've brought up the, the, you know, the accusation that there's somehow a, a, a racial component to some of these things. I I think that first of all, when when people stop and take a deep breath and, and think about this, what they should realize is how insulting that is. What they should realize is how demeaning that is to people to say that cause of, because of your race or, or, or ethnicity, that somehow you're less capable of, of doing sort of the basic things of living your life and, and having an ID or filling out a form, mailing it in. And that's insulting. And, and, and they should be called out for
Larry Levine (15:37):
It. Well, they should. Now you hear some of those you see the commercials or you during election time or you read this stuff, or maybe you don't, but when you see it, does it make you really angry? Or is it, or you know, you know
Frank Larose (15:49):
Yeah, I've, I mean, at a human level we all take, I hope anyway, I know I do take great pride in my work and I care deeply about it. To me, democracy is almost a, it's almost like a faith, right? Faith is something you believe in, even if you don't have proof. It's just a, it's a non-negotiable thing. It's just part of who you're, well, to me, the power of free people to choose their leaders is wow, remarkable and rare in all of human history for thousands of years. The ability of free men and women to choose who their leaders are has not been a reality. But, but we have that. And so that's my sacred responsibility to defend that and to protect it. I've described it like this campaign. People will shutter in when I say this, but if somebody called me on election and said, Hey, Frank, I need a ride to the polls. I need a ride to my polling location cuz I wanna go vote for your opponent. I'd still give him a ride to the polls. Because if you really believe in democracy,
Larry Levine (16:39):
Ok, but let's be
Frank Larose (16:39):
Honest,
Larry Levine (16:40):
Frank, you, you would take 'em the long way. <Laugh> least I would <laugh>
Frank Larose (16:46):
Honestly, and
Larry Levine (16:46):
My GPS would be turned off. Okay, <laugh>,
Frank Larose (16:49):
I don't, I don't know how much time I have to play Uber on election day, but, but the point, the point I'm getting at is, is
Larry Levine (16:54):
Well, that's why you're the secretary staying on or not. Yeah. So
Frank Larose (16:57):
Elections are, elections are sacred. And so for people to make these accusations first of all, they're not true. And, and here's another, the, the Democrats wanna say, Hey as the Republican in charge of Ohio's elections you're trying to suppress the vote. Well, if that was my objective, if, if my goal was to suppress the vote, boy am I terrible at it. Because we've had record breaking turnout in 2018, in 20, and in 22 the election that we just conducted was the second highest midterm election turnout in all of state history. So, of course, that's not my objective. We don't wanna suppress the vote. And I reject this like binary choice that you can either have secure elections or convenient elections. That's, you don't have to choose one or the other. We have security and convenience. And on my watch, that's what we'll continue to have. Cause that's what the people of Ohio
Larry Levine (17:44):
Want. Well, I think they just wanna get people riled up. We, you and I have spoken about this, and even on the, the television, whether it's the left or the right, it's you know, the grievance hour, the everybody getting everybody hyped up because it sells news. Really just sell, gets people to watch you. You know, I wanted a, this is an important issue and there are a lot of other important issues, but I really wanted to get you on here because I, I think you have an incredible future ahead of you. And I wanted people to know you. Like I'm getting to know you and to know your background because there are rumors out there that you may be running against she brown. Now there are rumors at this point, and I don't know if you can confirm or deny that, and I would understand either way, <laugh>
Frank Larose (18:24):
I I can confirm that there are rumors out there. Cause I've heard you too. Listen, I just got sworn into a second term. I love this work. I am dedicated to being the best secretary of state that Ohio's ever had. And I'm gonna work hard every day to, to do exactly that. I've heard from some friends that have said, Hey, I should consider this. I can tell you this, my party the Republican party needs to nominate a strong candidate who will beat Sharon Brown in 2024. Because I think that there's a misalignment between Senator Brown and, and Ohio. He's among the most liberal members of the US Senate. Ohio is not a liberal state, I would argue we're a center right state. And you're
Larry Levine (18:59):
Being way too polite though. And, and of course, at, at your, you're not what I call a real politician. You're, you're a real person, but you're being too polite. I call she brown leer than Lennon. So let's hope that sticks out there and alignment against Ohio. He's, he's in his own world.
Frank Larose (19:14):
Well, and, and there's this multiple, you know, sort of two-face thing that that, that he does. Where in DC he is the darling of the East Coast think tank liberal groups and that kind thing. And then Ohio, he tries to put on this working class hero thing. And I, I think that Ohioans know better. But listen, we need somebody that can beat him. I love public service. I'm gonna give it some thought. That's my commitment is to, to think about it, to reflect on it, to pray about it, and to see if you know, if it's possible. I do love public service at 43 years old. I hope that after this, there's something else for me to, to be able to, to serve the country and the state that I love. And, but, but certainly nothing to announce on on your podcast today, Larry. So sorry about
Larry Levine (19:56):
That. Well, just some advice from your friend that you, you just won the equivalent of the Super Bowl and you're on in the MVP in that world and you have nothing else to prove. It's just like, I just sold my business after 30 years and I don't want to ever see another T-shirt unless I buy it. So you know, I I hope that you throw your hat in the ring and I'd like to see she brown retired. I heard he's done some good things. Everybody has, I'm sure he is not a horrible human being, but I, I personally have had distaste for him and on, on my big issue with two issues. Of course the love of my country and then also Israel. He's been, I think, terrible for us. And he needs to go time to retire and get and comb his, his hair.
Frank Larose (20:38):
No, you know, I, well, a good, I don't think that's gonna happen <laugh>. But you know how much I love and care for the people of Israel and the Jewish community here in the US for that matter. But it's something that to me is an issue I'm very passionate about. I'm, I'm a proud and I don't apologize to anyone for that, but you're right on, on you know, on some things he, he, he has very good as a politician. He shakes hands and kiss kisses babies. And he's a, he's a hardworking candidate. And so whoever is our standard bearer to take him on in 2024 will have a fight on their hands. Cause he's gonna fight hard. And his, his allies and, and cronies including a lot of people with a lot of money outta state are gonna fight hard to try to keep. But that's a separate conversation for a different time.
Larry Levine (21:20):
It, it's, and there was the movie, the the Hunt for Red October, where the politician guy said, you know, I'm a politician, which means that after I kissed a baby, I steal its lollipop. So <laugh>, if you ever see that movie, it's really, really good. You know, I I, because we got right into this discussion, I really didn't give your full background. You grew up in you went to Copley High School, which my wife happened to have gone to, correct? Yeah. United States Army 101st Airborne Special Forces Green Beret, which I want to talk to you about. And by the way, that's when I said, oh my God, I have to, I can't just call him Frank. You know, I, this is I a quarter of the way down your bonafides here. So you received commendations awards, a Bronze Star. You explained that to me. It was for really good work. You weren't injured or, or, but you did incredible work. And they don't give bronze stars to everybody you serve now in the Army
Frank Larose (22:11):
Reserves. Yeah. That, that award, that, that, that award can be given as what's called a bronze star for Valor. Those are for that very select group of people that did something heroic on the battlefield. I, I, I received my bronze for service. That's the distinction. And it's because my commander and my commander's commander and two or three levels above them thought I did a really good job during my service in Iraq. And I, I'm proud to have received that award.
Larry Levine (22:36):
Well, you know, I'm gonna nominate you for the bronze star of your lovely wife, Lauren, because you have three daughters. So you deserve a medal and hazard pay. And we'll see you in a couple years cuz I have three daughters as well. And I can tell you one, one word that you gotta watch out for teenager. They do become teenagers
Frank Larose (22:54):
<Laugh>. So yeah. Yeah. 7, 7, 9 and 11. But I'll tell you what, they're my biggest they're my biggest cheerleaders. And I'm, well honestly, you know something that is a family endeavor running for public office. When I decided to run for Secretary of State, when I said to run for reelection Secretary of State, we talked through it with them and, and, and they've, they've been involved up until a couple years ago, Larry, think about this. One of my daughters, two years ago, we were watching a 4th of July parade, and she said, I'd never watched a parade before. Said, what do you mean? She said, you've always made me be in the parade passing out the candy and all that. Her, her first time to, to watch a parade. And here's another great story from my oldest, my 11 year old, just like any kid would do, couple months ago, as we were in the heat of campaign season, she said dad, what, what if you lose?
(23:38):
And I said, oh sweetheart, I'll be fine. We've worked hard, we've raised money, we've built the team, we've, we got volunteers. We've, we've done all the work and I think I've earned a second term, so I think I'll be all right. But she said, but Dad, what, what if, what if you lose? What, what will we do? And, and I didn't know what else to say and I said, well, I guess if I lose, I'm Sol <laugh> now, thankfully my daughter, thankfully my daughter didn't know what that acronym meant. And so she just looked back at me and she said, dad, if you lose, you'll be the Secretary of Losers <laugh> <laugh>. I said, I'm proud to stand here taking the oath to be your Secretary of State instead of your Secretary of Losers.
Larry Levine (24:17):
So, well, you know, on on that, just a a quick aside, one of my sons tried out for the Ohio State Marching band and the first year he did not get in and he was, you know, all down about it and everything. And the next year he tried again and he got in and I said, you know, I'm very, very proud of you. Yes, I'm happy you got into the band. But more importantly, you tried again, you didn't give up. Yeah. And I, if I've had success in my business career and in my life, it's because I've failed because I tried it. And you never give up. Yeah. And so you just tell your daughter that you will in your life, you, you, it's the things that you do that never regrets. The things you don't do that you regret. This is
Frank Larose (24:55):
The well, and it's how we respond to adversity that I think defines us. And, and so anyways, I always tell my team, make all the mistakes you need to make. Just don't make same mistakes twice. Right. Because when you're making mistakes, because you're hanging it out there and striving and working hard, that that's acceptable. But when you make the same mistakes over and over again, that's just laziness or sloppiness.
Larry Levine (25:13):
Absolutely. Of course you're not in the same position as that guy in England who worked for the bank and hit the wrong button and lost like 2 billion. That would scare the heck. I <laugh>. That's, I I, right.
Frank Larose (25:23):
There you go.
Larry Levine (25:24):
That, that's a problem. So let's talk about Israel for a minute. You know, you're not a Israel come lately, I call some of these other candidates out there, you know, cuz you know, they, they wanna curry favor with the evangelicals in the country and the Jewish vote and so on and so forth. But this is in your heart for you, and I've known you for a couple years now, and I you've been there at least, what, five times?
Frank Larose (25:45):
I'm actually making my fifth trip coming up this, this spring. Yeah. So I'll be heading to Israel shortly here, but that'll be my fifth, fifth trip. And looking forward to
Larry Levine (25:54):
It. So what has been your impressions of it? Obviously seeing the holy land and, and all the places that you've read about your whole life, but as a country, you, when I went there, my first and only time, by the way, I'm embarrassed to say cuz I've been so active all these years. It just, you know, it's small, but until you fly over the airport and you can see Gaza and see everything, you don't realize just how small this piece of land is.
Frank Larose (26:17):
Yeah. Well, and my, honestly, my first exposure to the Israeli people and to their indomitable will and can-do attitude was in some joint training that I got to do during my army time with some folks from the idf. And normally as a group of Army Green Berets, we do what we call joint training. But really it's kind of a misnomer cuz with most countries we're training them, they're not really have much to teach us, sorry to say. Sure. But we we're offering some training and, and some, you know, some, some tactical expertise to them. When we do joint training with the idf, we're like, we're gonna shut up and let you guys tell us how you do, because they've been in the fight and unfortunately, right. And they've had to deal with it close up and, and when it comes to urban warfare and all kinds of manner of, of special operations tactics that they've, they've been there and they've done that.
(27:07):
So I saw that pride and determination on the face of IDF soldiers as a, you know, young Green Beret myself, when I got my first opportunity to travel to Israel, it was a dream come true. I mean, I'd been that kid, I grew up Catholic and I remember in the back of my Bible was a map of the holy land, right? And so, like that for me was my first, I like remember paging to the back and Cause you're reading about these cities as you're reading the Bible and you, I would like think about geography. So I'd like go back to the back and look at the map. Just when I first landed there in television, I was so excited. But what I found was a country that is very optimistic and positive, even though they've got a lot of challenges. But they faced those challenges head on.
(27:49):
And this year, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of Israeli independence I think it's a, a good time for us as a nation to recommit ourselves to this strategic alliance. As you know, the United States was among the first to to recognize the state of Israel, right. And to recognize the, the, the the, the Jewish homeland. And I think it's fair to say that that support that the Israeli people have received from the United States over the years has been instrumental. And we need to continue that support. And, and, and I always make this case too, and I've seen this had the chance to go there on economic missions where we're working to encourage greater business ties between Ohio and Israel. Try to get Israeli companies to invest in Ohio and Ohio companies to invest in Israel. And I've also had the chance to go there and do I got to go there and shadow the woman who runs the elections in Israel.
(28:38):
Her name is aas. My purpose for that mission was to learn from some of their security techniques, cybersecurity in particular, because unfortunately they've had to fight off cyber threats for many years. And so daily, I've had a variety of different Yeah, sure. Especially related to elections though is, is what I was saying. And so I've had the chance to visit several different parts and have been all over the country, all the, from deep down in the, all the way up to the border with Lebanon and Syria. Here you've got a country that makes it happen through grit and determination and, and hard work. But there are great ally economically, militarily. I've always told people that my faith commands me to stand with the, the people of Israel says right there that the Lord will bless those who, who, who bless Israel and, and will curse those who curse Israel. So that, that's pretty clear. But even if you're not a person, it makes all the sense in the world that really the only free liberal, democratic nation pluralistic nation in that part of the world should be a real strong ally of ours. Great economic relationship as well. So there are a lot of good reasons.
Larry Levine (29:43):
I I just said a minute ago that I, I've only gone there once, it's a long story, but I, I will be going back. But what really gave me a sense of pride as being a Jewish American and an American first was I was, I was on a political trip and we heard during the Antifa, the it was 2000, I believe the second Antifa. And we were hearing speeches from Ahu, Barak, Netanyahu, you name it. And they were in the middle of really a war. And I never heard one leader say that they hated Palestinians or Arabs. I'm sure they're not perfect, they're human. But everyone to a person wanted peace. And they, they were frankly very disappointed that afe had walked away from it. And I would say the same now because Israel is being slandered as being in a apartheid state. But yet you have Arabs that are, that serve. In the military. You have Arabs that are on the Supreme Court that are in the Knesset. And yes, it's not perfect, but they're held to a standard there that is just impossible to to work with. And it's even among the Jewish community, we we're a little bit too a lot too tough on them because they have to, they live in reality there not what we want as a utopia. So,
Frank Larose (30:58):
And I would argue that the Palestinian people have been victims of bad leadership. Yes. And outside, outside powers that have stoked tension and division poured money and weapons into the Palestinian areas trained terrorists. I mean, you've got people there who are just like you and me, who wanna live their life and raising their children and have a comfortable existence. But unfortunately, the flames of division have been stoked by bad leaders and outta you know, from without foreign adversaries from outside of Israel that continue to stir up discontent and violence. And that's tragic. And my hope and prayer is is for peace. And and that means, you know, that there, there would need to be some, some sacrifices all around. But of course that's a separate conversation. And you know, it's something that I, I candidly, I think give credit where credit is due, the Trump administration move the ball down the field more than any recent administration had. Not only putting the embassy where it belongs in the eternal and undivided capital of the, of the state of Israel that the Jewish homeland in, in Jerusalem where it belonged, but also with the Abraham Abraham Accords and and some of the other work that they did to, to really bring people
Larry Levine (32:13):
Together. Well, it shows that there, there's more in common with each other than that is not, and we're really family. I mean, when you look at it, they're, they're cousins and I know many
Frank Larose (32:24):
Israelis back
Larry Levine (32:25):
Abraham, right? Yes it does. Absolutely. You know, so when I went to Israel, I said, what'd you think of it? I got off the plane and I said, I felt like family. So I went up to the first person that I saw and started arguing with them. So
Frank Larose (32:37):
<Laugh>, I love it. And I'll say this, I've never, I've traveled, I'm blessed to say that I've traveled to something like 35 different countries. I've never felt more at home anywhere other than home than I did in Israel. I I, I was welcome there. Anybody that's listening to this, if you haven't traveled to Israel, book a ticket. It's a, it's an amazing experience. You'll not regret
Larry Levine (32:59):
It. That sounds great. Listen, on that note, as I said, it's been a real pleasure to have you on the time flew by. And there's so many things I'd love to talk to you about in the future. I want to know about the Green Beret training cuz that's something that most humans have no concept of what you had to go through to become a Green Beret and also the future of our country. And I'd, I'd love to have you on you know, at election time after you have beat she brown and are considering the vice presidency of the country at that point. Oh goodness. How's that? Too much
Frank Larose (33:31):
Pressure. All right. One step at a time, Larry. One, one step at a time. But thank you for your confidence. I appreciate that.
Larry Levine (33:36):
You're welcome. And thank you for being on the world. Doesn't need another podcast. Podcast. See, I had that like radio voice kind of thing for a second going there.
Frank Larose (33:44):
I like it. I like it. Hey, thanks for having me. We really enjoyed the conversation. Look forward to joining again
Larry Levine (33:48):
Soon. Take care. Thank you.