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Anything BUT Politics
A groundbreaking new podcast, Anything BUT Politics, is redefining how we view political figures by focusing on everything about them—except their political careers.
Anything BUT Politics
Pints, Poodles, and Public Service
We share a wide-ranging conversation with Senator Regina Birdsell on travel, service, animals, and the small steps that make big change. From Irish trade ties to comfort dogs for PTSD, she opens up about the work, the joy, and the routines that keep her grounded.
• New Hampshire–Ireland connections, UCD ties, trade and supply realities
• Guinness, Wicklow water, Braveheart trivia, and travel rituals
• Coast Guard service, early limits for women, culture change over time
• HR career at Raytheon, night school, and a pivot into recruiting
• Poodle rescue stories, fostering, grooming pride, and smart dog antics
• PTSD commission work, Hero Pups, and setting standards for comfort dogs
• Mentors and budget work, the “apple rule” for incremental progress
• Outer Banks tradition, family routines, and wind-down TV habits
Anything But Politics is a groundbreaking new podcast that is redefining how we view political figures by focusing on everything about them—except their political careers. Co-hosted by former journalist and media expert Tiffany Eddy and seasoned lobbyist and ex-politico Tom Prasol, this video podcast dives into the personal lives, passions, and pivotal experiences of notable figures, offering a refreshing and intimate look at who they are beyond the public eye.
Hi everyone, I'm Tiffany Yetty.
SPEAKER_02:And I'm Tom Praisall.
SPEAKER_01:And we are so pleased to have you join us for another episode of Anything but Politics. Where we talk pretty much about anything but politics.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And today we're lucky to be joined by uh a state senator uh who's really become a good friend of mine in the past several years. Uh she spent uh two terms in the House, and I believe she's in her sixth term in the Senate where she currently serves as the Senate Majority Leader. So welcome, Senator Birdzell.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you, Tom. Thank you, Tiffany. It's fun to be here. I'm looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I'm glad we were able to fit this into your schedule because I believe you just got back from a trip.
SPEAKER_00:I did. I just got back from Ireland. Uh it was been a busy summer, uh, Wisconsin and then Ireland. Um I went over to a conference. Uh ACLIC, which is the um American and Irish state legislator, but also BEA put together a uh visit for me to UCD, which is the University of University College Dublin, which I went to for a year, which is incredible. It was, it was absolutely incredible. Uh just trying to get um some business put together for between New Hampshire and um and Ireland and also um it's called Board Bia, it's Board Bea B-O-R-D-B-I-A.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And they they deal with all of the pr um produce uh imports and exports to um the U.S. So talk to them a little bit about Keo chips and and things like that. But it was a lot of fun in um the first week we went to Galway and that was a personal trip. And we brought you dance any music? I did not, but you know, the first night of the first night in Dublin they had a reception at the Jameson's distillery, and my granddaughter learned how to do some Irish dancing. Yeah. Oh, that's fun. Yeah. How old is she?
SPEAKER_01:Uh she's eight. I I bet that was adorable.
SPEAKER_00:It was. She, believe it or not, a five-year-old had to show her how to do it, and then um, because the five-year-old it comes, has family there, and every summer they come, and she was Rose was showing uh my granddaughter Penny, who is Penny Rose, um, how to dance the Irish jig. It was cute. I loved it. That's awesome. Sounds like an amazing trip. It was.
SPEAKER_02:And it's not your first time, right?
SPEAKER_00:No, I went last year. We did um we did mostly the conference on the back end. We spent most of our time in Dublin, but we did go to the Wicklow Mountains, which which was gorgeous. And um we visited I um an area where the bus driver was telling us where they filmed um what was that movie with uh Freedom. Oh, Mel Gibson? Yes, Braveheart. Braveheart. They filmed the wedding scene in the cemetery at Braveheart uh from Braveheart and a lot of the people that they used in the in the um in the fighting scenes was actu were actually military people, uh Irish military people. But what they did is they used the officers were the I'm sorry, the enlisted people were the Scottish played the Scottish and the officers played the British. Oh, interesting. Which is why the scenes in Braveheart the were so massively violent because they may they took it out on their officers.
SPEAKER_01:Oh wow, that's that's great trivia. I never knew that before. I never heard it. Interesting. I so I lived in Ireland um when I was much, much younger, but they used to say that the best pint of Guinness was in County Wicklow, and it had to do with how long the keg would travel from the Guinness factory, and so it was in it fermented at the perfect amount of time. That's what they claimed in Wicklow.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they in Ireland, because we went to the um the storehouse, Guinness storehouse, they use the water from the Wicklow Mountains for their Guinness there.
SPEAKER_01:So maybe there's something to it.
SPEAKER_00:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:So did you uh sample any Guinness while you were there too?
SPEAKER_00:No. Well, last year. That was a no. Last year I'm not a big whiskey drinker, so I didn't do the any of the Jamesons, but um I did a lot of Guinness last year, but this year I did some of the Guinness. I took a picture of my first Guinness when we got there and sent it to my priest because I told him I was gonna dedicate that one to him. Oh, that's nice. But um then I found Smittic. Smitics, yeah. Yeah, I really like Smidic's red. So that's funny.
SPEAKER_02:That's great. And you know, it's interesting you've been there twice. And are you I believe you're on the I the New Hampshire Ireland Trade Council.
SPEAKER_00:That's part of this.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and and people don't realize the connection between New Hampshire and Ireland. And you were telling us a little earlier about um, you know, watch out Boston.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Boston claims to have a lar and they probably do have a large um Irish descendant population, but believe it or not, New Hampshire has the largest Ireland descendant population pretty much in the country. So yeah. Um a lot of people emigrated from Ireland to Canada and then they migrated down to um New Hampshire and just never left.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Did not know that. Well, I know JetBlue flies direct from Boston, so maybe we can get them to fly direct from Manchester.
SPEAKER_00:I asked them that.
SPEAKER_02:Oh yeah?
SPEAKER_00:I asked about make it easy for all of us. Well when I went to uh Board Bia, I I asked them, I said, what would because they're starting to try and get some of the products over to um um to New Hampshire and to the U.S. Uh we already have Keogh chips, we already have um uh carry gold butter and things like that. Um so I asked them, I said, well, what about in you know, encompassing New Hampshire or um Manchester Airport into your uh to bring some of your products over? And they said um it wouldn't be feasible because the the planes are too large for our airfield. Um and plus a lot of their product they ship by um by ship. Yeah. Um including their I don't understand this, but they have something it's called emerald ice cream, and they have some great flavors, whiskey and things like that, but it's on the west coast, it's not on the east coast.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, so they would ship it. And forgive my ignorance ignorance, but um, what is a keo chip?
SPEAKER_00:Um they're potato chips. Oh, okay. Um they're Irish potato chips.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:But if you look at some of if you look at the products from Ireland versus some of the products from the US, the ingredients in there is completely different than the and you can tell. Like when we went over there, everything that I picked up, I looked at the ingredients, and they're they're they're just basically your basic ingredients. When you look at the chips that we get here, they've all got all kinds of preservatives and there don't. They do have Keho chips um they s at market basket. Oh, okay. They um sell them, but according to them, it's seasonal.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know why potato chips are seasonal, but but I'll tell you, you know, what you said about the food over in Europe versus the food over here is so true because uh, you know, last summer I went to Greece and I swear now, if anyone knows the way I vacation, it's like you know, you wake up, you you know, work out a little bit, but but you sit on the beach a lot, right? And I somehow I lost like five pounds just during those two weeks I was there.
SPEAKER_01:Probably a muscle mass.
SPEAKER_02:Probably. That's yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I was thinking it was because of food. I was just eating fish, right?
SPEAKER_02:And olive oil and and uh olives and you know. But it was uh the food over there is just in Europe is so healthy.
SPEAKER_00:It yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And they say I want to go to Ireland so I can eat as much as I want and see if it still works.
SPEAKER_00:I'm not sure that's gonna work, especially with the beer. I'm not sure, but we we tried. We we and that fa that experiment failed miserably.
SPEAKER_02:So Okay. Well, good. Good to know.
SPEAKER_01:And so you flew back, you didn't swim back, right? No, no, no swimming.
SPEAKER_00:And I didn't take a ship either. No ship. It's actually a really um flying out, we usually take we leave at 9 30 at night, and we get there at 8 30 in the morning. Um and it's interesting when you fly back, you leave at 12 30 their time, and you get back here at 12 2 30 our time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it's like a two-hour trip. But it's not.
SPEAKER_02:So well, it's interesting that you know Tiffany brought up swimming because I want to touch on um well, you know.
SPEAKER_01:We're not gonna let that one go.
SPEAKER_02:No, no, but you know, you have certainly a family history of serving in in the military, and you spent time um serving in the Coast Guard. I did. And the only experience I have so I'd love for you to talk a little bit about the Coast Guard because I've seen the movie The Guardian with Ashton Kutcher and uh Kevin Cox. Yeah, it was a great I thought it was a great movie. But I just picture you know the Coast Guards out there, and you you hear about them um on the news when they're you know rescuing people whose ships have or boats have capsized and stuff like that. So you must be a good swimmer. But if not, tell me a little bit if not, tell me a little bit more about what it was like in the Coast Guard. What made you want to go in the Coast Guard? Because I think your dad was in the army.
SPEAKER_00:Right. So my dad was in the army, and by the way, my dad was one of the first to um liberate the prisoners in Dachau. Oh wow. So uh um that is very near and dear. The Holocaust is very near and dear to my heart. He never really talked about it, but I studied it a lot.
SPEAKER_02:Um my sister You went there last year, right?
SPEAKER_00:Uh no. Uh the year before we went to Poland and went to a um went to one in Pol uh concentration camp in Poland. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um but I was there um like eight years ago. It was one of the saddest places I think I've ever been in. It is. It was horrible.
SPEAKER_00:That's the other thing that I'd like to visit too, is Krakow in Warsaw in Poland. But um dad was in the military uh army for 24 years, served in World War II and Korea. My sister, uh lieutenant colonel, retired as a lieutenant colonel in the army, and my brother-in-law was a colonel in the army. I was a black sheep, I went into the Coast Guard.
SPEAKER_02:Um what made you decide the Coast Guard is you just didn't want to follow the family uh footsteps or you like swimming in boats?
SPEAKER_00:No, actually, you know what is uh swer um swayed me into going there is the um the first thing they said was understand that the Coast Guard is smaller than the New York Police Department. It was a very unified organization. I went, okay, you're so I'm sold. Because it was very it's small. Not af we have 36 we had 36,000 people in the Coast Guard. So not you didn't know everyone, but you w wherever you were stationed, you were a tight-knit group, is what I presumed at the time. I was 19. Um So I did. I went in, and when I was uh at 19, and I won't tell you what year it was, but it was all there were only three positions. Decade ago. Just a decade ago. There were only three positions available for women. Because women had only been in a year. Wow. So we had um um cooks, uh hospital corpsman, and yeoman, which is similar to human resources. So I went in as a yeoman. Um well, I studied as a yeoman, and that's what I did for nine years, eleven months, and twenty-eight days.
SPEAKER_01:And how did you like it?
SPEAKER_00:I I really, really liked it. I um I will say that there were some good times, there were some really good times, there were some pretty bad times. Um I was one of the um I helped people with um who were being um what do they call it? Um had uh sexual harassment. So um so one of the instances was we were flying the individual that I was working with had his own plane. He was the senior chief uh in charge of um that organization. We flew up to um Maine where there was a case, and on the way back, sexual harassment. Really? Yeah. So you're stuck in a plane all by yourself with someone who's trying to sexually harass. So there were a lot of a lot of issues when it came to that. They ironed that out by the time I got out. A lot of that was ironed out because by that time women were able to women were getting up in the ranks, they were uh in charge of they were actually in charge of boats. When I first joined, women couldn't get beyond um an E6 uh because you needed sea time and they wouldn't let women on board ships. By the time I got out, I had applied to be an um uh E7, which was a chief. Um and I got I got out before the um grades were in, so but I would have had to do uh a year of sea time.
SPEAKER_02:How would you feel about that?
SPEAKER_00:I was fine with it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The only you know, the only thing is remember with the Coast Guard too, unless you're on a iceberg or ice cutter, then you're not gonna be out for m years like some of the like the Navy is. That's a good point. They're out three months, they're back for three months. Uh some will go out as l long as six months, but uh typically you're you're back.
SPEAKER_02:So where were you stationed?
SPEAKER_00:Um Well, when I got out of boot camp, I went to boot camp in Cape Main, New Jersey. How was boot camp?
SPEAKER_01:Was it hard? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Oh wow. So you're a tough cookie.
SPEAKER_02:Based on everything I've seen, it doesn't look easy.
SPEAKER_00:Well, it was at the time we didn't have uh we weren't like the Army and the Navy. We had uh we um we were in the same company as the men, so we had to compete with the men as well. Um and you had to go through the obstacle courses and and things like that. But when we um when we got our duty stations after we graduated, we went, um, I wound up they had me come back to the recruiting office in Richmond, Virginia. And I I served there for about 14 months. Then I went to Petaluma uh to go to yeoman school. Um and then when I got out of there, I wound up in the dismal swamps of Virginia. I didn't get much further than Virginia for a while. So um I served about I re-enlisted at um Com State Portsmouth, which was um the Dismal Swamps. And then that's when I I got myself out and up to Boston. That's how I wound up up here.
SPEAKER_01:Was that what they called it? Was it known as the Dismal Swamps, or is that your pet name?
SPEAKER_00:That is actually what that area is called, the Dismal Swamps of Virginia. It's between Portsmouth, Virginia.
SPEAKER_01:It's a great touristing like thing right there. Like, hey, come visit the dismal swamps.
SPEAKER_00:It's just south of Great Bridge, Virginia. So it's between um Portsmouth, Virginia, and the North Carolina line along the seacoast.
SPEAKER_02:And is that where you're from, Virginia? Or where you were born and raised?
SPEAKER_00:I was born and mostly raised in Baltimore, but we wound up uh moving down to Richmond the last two years of high school.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Uh, because dad got stationed down there.
SPEAKER_02:Well that was going to be my question, because I know he was wasn't he was an lieutenant colonel as well, right?
SPEAKER_00:He was a lieutenant colonel, but he retired way, way back in 63. Okay. But so what happened with him, he used to teach and do he used to teach security to defense contractors.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So when he decided to retire out of the military, they switched that particular job from a military billet to a civilian billet. So he went, he he retired on Friday and went back in as a civilian on Monday. So and he served there for he served in Baltimore at that position for about um two years, and then he got transferred out to California. Uh we followed him, and within six months of being out there, they transferred him back to Baltimore. So uh mom and Mariette, my sister and I uh drove back um the next year, and so the rest of our time was in Baltimore until he um got the job down in um they moved the whole institute down to Richmond.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Then how did you uh uh finally wind your way over to New Hampshire? So I wound up uh once I got out of the service, I I got stationed up here, and believe it or not, I wanted to go to vet school.
SPEAKER_02:So I think that does not surprise me at all.
SPEAKER_00:I got myself transferred up to Boston because I wanted to go to Tufts vet school. Good school. But did I bother at 22? Did I bother looking to see what the requirements were? No, I just decided I'd move up here and figure it out when I got it. Animals are nice. Well, exactly. However, you need to go full time. And so um vet school decided I decided vet school was out of the out of the picture. So I served until um was it 1984 and I got out. Uh I started working at Raytheon. I worked there for 14 years, but in somewhere in between um between the divor I married, divorced, and then I moved, I found I got my first dog.
SPEAKER_01:Oh.
SPEAKER_00:My first poodle, and I decided I wanted to give him a home. What was his name? Max. Max. It wasn't a name I gave him. He he came with it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um so when um shortly after I got him, I decided I wanted to get by buy a place of my own. So I wound up moving up to New Hampshire and uh brought him with me and my three cats at the time, three cats.
SPEAKER_02:So No, that's great. I mean uh we can talk about animals for for certain. But so when you were at Raytheon, uh, you know, you did you started out doing human resources, right?
SPEAKER_00:I started and finished up. So you're a yeoman at Raytheon?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Well, no. I was a they call it a yeoman in the military, but then once I um went to Raytheon, it's human resources. Um sort of, but I mean the military does things differently because you have to transfer people, do the paperwork, you know, when people get transferred in, you have to sign them in, get them. But with Raytheon, it was just basically um I started going to school as well. I started going to school part-time um and got my bat got my mat um my associates at Essex, Northern Essex Community, and then uh transferred, while I was at Raytheon, I transferred to Mayor Matt College and got my bachelor's. Um so I wound up working at Raytheon for the research division, which was down in Lexington. So I would drive at the time from um from Haverill, which is where I was living, to Lexington every day. Um and I wound up being in the benefits department, benefits counselor position. Um and you know counseling people on their benefits, uh long-term disability, short-term disability, doing orientation for new hires and people going out on retirement. Um then they closed down that research division and uh shipped me up to uh Andover, okay, which is where I actually bought my place in in New Hampshire. So let's go back to the um animals.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not talking about the employees of Raytheon, with all due respect. But uh but so you're you're obviously an animal lover. Um tell me a little bit about so Max was what kind of dog, and do you have other other um pet family members?
SPEAKER_00:I have well, Max, I got him, he's long gone. Uh he was a standard poodle. I I'll have to send you a picture of him, but when I first got him, uh when I went to Methuan shelter, I looked at this dog, and I one of the guys was walking by me. I said, So what kind of um sheepdog is this? He goes, ma'am, that's a standard poodle. And I went, I want him. I I I'm adopting him, and I did. So when I got him, there the I tried to get him in to get groomed. And uh the only place that would take him was, and I still go to them, a refreshing pause in it's now in Plastou. Oh and um she she's the only one that would take him without any papers.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um, or vaccination records at that point. So I dropped him off, and he was gray with long hair. And then when I walked in uh in the afternoon, this dog was coming at me, and I'm like, oh my god, he's gorgeous. Who is he? Uh that's your dog.
SPEAKER_02:He got a little glow-up.
SPEAKER_01:Glow up. That's so so I grew up with a toy poodle, Peaches, and we had her for for years, and she was peach colored, thus the creative name. But I remember like when she wasn't groomed, and people would come over to the house, she would like go hide under chairs, and then when we would get her groomed, she would be like, Oh yeah, I look pretty. And so, did you ever notice that with yours? Like they have this, they know and they have this attitude of like when they're groomed, they're like, Yeah, baby, I look good.
SPEAKER_00:Yep. I know the one that I that I have two now. I have um it was Max, he passed away. Then I got um, then we got Misty. Misty. And uh she was a standard as well. He was a standard, he was 55 pounds, um, and she was fifty-five pounds, and then I started um fostering for Poodle Rescue of New England. Oh wow. And then we fostered about seven, and then we got out of the fostering business because we adopted Aomi.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:But both um Misty and what the one we have now, Remy, she's short for Remington Steel, and Chessie is short for Winchester. So, but both um Remy and Remy and Misty are Misty was black, and Remy is uh what we call a metal gray, she's what they call a blue. You can tell when they walk after they've been groomed, yeah, they got that strut. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:That's so great.
SPEAKER_00:And he just Chessie just struts, period.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So that's he that's just him.
SPEAKER_01:And poodles are exceptionally smart.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Intelligence in dogs is a little overrated. My husband says that, and I agree with. She is pretty smart because um, like this morning, we were having coffee and the the door was shut, and all of a sudden it's open and she's gone. She knows how to open the door.
SPEAKER_02:To get out of the house?
SPEAKER_00:To get out of the room. Are they knobs or are they handles? Uh they're knobs. They're knobs, okay. Yeah. So she's using her mouth or something. Yeah, she's doing something. Wow. Yes. So she can run downstairs, sit in front of the window, and bark. Yeah. Which gets us up, and then we have to take them out. That sounds like your house, right? That's true.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's what I do every morning.
SPEAKER_01:The neighbors keep complaining.
SPEAKER_02:It's true. Um smart, right? Um now were you always standard poodles? Like even before when you went to that first shelter in Methuan, was there a breed you were looking for?
SPEAKER_00:I wanted one that didn't shed.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And I was looking for a small one. You know, you have to go way back in the Wayback Machine with my father, who and my sister is the same way. She's an animal lover. Um, my father, bef when he before he married my mother, he had nine cats and two monkeys. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_03:Get out.
SPEAKER_00:They were in um they met in Japan at right after the war. And um, so of course, mom made him get rid of all the cats and the and the the monkey before they got married. But um, but he loved animals. And then when probably uh before we left Baltimore, they decided my he wanted a dog. My mother said, fine, but we're gonna get a poodle because they don't shed. And they got a toy poodle, and they had two toy poodles um after that. So I think I was just and I love them. And I think I was just as soon as I heard that's a standard poodle, I wanted a big dog because I love big dogs. Yeah. But and I've been sold ever since.
SPEAKER_02:No, but I think it's so true about growing up with animals and around a specific kind, you know. Now I had a bull mastiff and a chocolate lab, they were my wife's before they were mine, but I grew up my entire life with golden retrievers. And every time I see a golden, it's like, ugh, I'm obsessed. But our neighbors across the street have Winnie who's a golden, and whenever we watch her, like for the next week, my wife's like, there's still Winnie glitter everywhere because they shed so much.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they do.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. My sister has um, she has a yellow lab and um a German shepherd, and you want to talk about shedding. Oh, yeah. The German shepherds can shed.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So and I I I see her name is Harley. I see Harley glitter all when I even a week after I come back from visiting America.
SPEAKER_01:That's a nice way of putting it too, glitter.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. That's all about the positive spin, right?
SPEAKER_01:Really it's hair, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02:No, I I mean I I I love dogs, and I know you know you love them so much, I think your license plate references poodles. Yeah. Um, but you do also a lot of work with organizations um that are help help animals.
SPEAKER_00:So one of the things that I I have been working with, um, I'm on the P I chair the PTSD commission, um, and we've been doing it for seven years. One of the things we do in from the very beginning, we had a um police officer that was on the commission who brought in Patch, who is a comfort dog for Manchester. One of the things that we decided to do this year, and I I've got a bill in, is because we have comfort dogs throughout the state that are um trained by hero pups, and a big I'm a big supporter of hero pups, um, because she gives uh surprisingly her name is Laura Barker. She she trains those dogs and and um the different like Franklin um Franklin Fire or Police Department have one, Concord has Liberty. Um, but there was no standards for actually um public or municipal comfort dogs. So I put together a subcommittee on the PTSD commission, and they finally have come up with some language to have some standards for comfort dogs. So and I just went to uh uh Hero Pups had uh presentation uh at their facility, and there were like eight or nine small golden retriever puppies. Let me tell you something.
SPEAKER_02:This is one reason why I feel like I could never get into fostering, not because I I don't think I could do it or I wouldn't provide them with like all the love and attention that they need, but it's because I would end up adopting every single pup that came into the house. I just I I love dogs. I love animals. Um don't like sharks. No, no sharks. I'm not a big bird guy.
SPEAKER_00:No, I don't mind birds. I might I like everything except for snakes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't like snakes. Yeah, they actually I just really like dogs.
SPEAKER_01:Let's put a list together of what you do. I think that's probably easy to do. No sharks, no on the sharks, no on the snakes. Um so so definitely poodles. Do you still have the cats or are the cats?
SPEAKER_00:They all passed away, but I wound up being allergic. And it's not so bad when I have one, but when I had three, it really got to be got to me. But um the stepdaughter and the um son-in-law and the granddaughter have three cats. Uh two of them are main coons, so they're bigger than my small dog.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And um Mark and they name them um Mark is the oldest, Judy, and Jimmy. Wow, very creative nature.
SPEAKER_02:I love when animals have human names. I just think it's so fun.
SPEAKER_00:Judy. Judy and Jimmy are main coons, and Mark is we saw them the other day. Mark is shaved now, and he looks like a little black lion. Um, but he's almost as big as they are. So wow.
SPEAKER_01:So I get my cat fix from them whenever we go over. It's funny, like my my father is very allergic to cats, and I remember growing up, um, we had cats, and they knew they he was their favorite. And and he would fall asleep, and literally, like, there'd be like a cat on his chest, and it would make him sneeze and whatnot, but it was like they knew who was allergic to them. They're like, no, buddy, I'm coming in, I'm gonna give you a little extra love.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, natural immunity.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's what happened to my mother because she did not like cats at all. Um, and when I had them, she'd come to when she'd come to visit me, all my cats would kind of hang out with her, and she's like, So when it comes to cats, you just gotta play hard to get.
SPEAKER_02:Is that what you're saying?
SPEAKER_01:I uh or be super friendly and they'll be like, Yeah, whatever. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So it's hard to get it.
SPEAKER_02:It's interesting that your your stepdaughter named one of their Uh Kat's Mark, because that's also your husband's name. So where does he fit into Segway? Yeah. Where does he fit into your timeline? Like where did you meet? How'd you meet and get together? I I love your husband. I think he's great. And we both wear the same size jacket, obviously.
SPEAKER_00:He wore he must be massive.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he is.
SPEAKER_00:Tom wore the green jacket for Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:And then my husband borrowed it for Erica's and Chad's wedding or the day before the wedding, because it was St. Patrick's Day, so he got the green jacket for St. Patrick's Day.
SPEAKER_01:You didn't tell me you won the Masters. I know you member member, but okay.
SPEAKER_02:That's in the past. Too soon, too soon. Okay. So how'd you meet?
SPEAKER_00:Um that's an interesting story, too. We met at Raytheon.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:And uh I swore I would never marry a man that I worked with, nor would I marry a man with children.
SPEAKER_02:Sounds like a smart HR uh policy.
SPEAKER_00:So how'd that work out for you? I married a man that I worked with, although by the time we got married, he was working in a different company, and he had two two children, um, Rob and Erica. So um and I got them at uh nine and ten. Okay. So um, but that that's how we met.
SPEAKER_02:And where and so how long have you been married?
SPEAKER_00:Uh we just uh this year is gonna be twenty-six years. Wow, congratulations. And he made me get married um the year before the mill 2000.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:I wanted a spring wedding because my first marriage was in the fall, and I didn't want to do that again.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:I wanted lilacs at my first wedding or this wedding. And he said, No, no, we need to get married before the year 2000 because what happens if Y2K? Yeah. I'm like, oh, whatever. Okay, fine. So we got married October 15th. Another fall wedding. Yep. So he tricked you. Yes, he did. Smart. And then and then I I waited till two minutes after or one minute after midnight, and I said, We're still here, by the way. Yeah. I could have had my spring wedding.
SPEAKER_02:You know, they always talk about the rapture. Wasn't it supposed to happen last week, too, or something like that? I don't every other week.
SPEAKER_01:I don't know. So um and I guess so then you're married, you worked at Raytheon, and then when did the political bug kind of um bite you?
SPEAKER_00:I I'm not quite sure. I wound up um in while working at Raytheon, I started working with one of our contract recruiters because we we never really had a recruiting um division where uh in our divisions because they were too small. So we would hire a contract recruiter, and I would I was worked with with him for about three years, so I kind of knew the the process. So I wound up after we got married, um, and because the boss that I was working for, um she said to me I she was probably she was 30 at the time and I was um well I was over 40 and I uh she said to me we have to lay everyone off over 40. Oh geez. I I went to say that it they're not supposed to. Wow being from HR, you're not supposed to say that. Um so as soon as we got married, I said, you know what, Mark, I'm just gonna um I'm gonna try and go out on my own and do my own contract recruiting business. And um I was covered under his insurance, so he said, fine. And I actually did really well for about three or four years, and um that's when kind of uh 2008 things had really slowed down. I got laid off, and so I started getting and I was really interested when the war started in supporting our troops because of my background, and I started going to some political events and um talked to my sister, and she said I I started talking to her about the politics piece of it, and I'm like because my both my parents were Democrats, and I said, Don't tell me you're a Republican. She said, Yes. I said, Oh, thank God. So I started going to some some things and then I found out about this course, uh, Vester Roy. Oh I've taught it that before. Yep. I think we you did an interview process for us. Yes. Yep. And I I went to that and I really kind of enjoyed it. And um then I got involved with a special election that was happening in our town. I got Ken Weiler in. I helped get Ken Weiler in in the special election. And then the next year I decided, you know, I was going to try and run because I wanted to get these lofty ideas. I wanted to try and get high-tech businesses into New Hampshire. Yeah. Doesn't work. It's not that easy. Um, so then I ran in 2010 and got in. So and you've been there ever since?
SPEAKER_02:I've been there ever since. Couple promotions along the way.
SPEAKER_01:Now, is there anybody who who served as a mentor or inspiration when you were early on in your political career that left a lasting kind of impact um or impression? I'm thinking someone specific.
SPEAKER_02:You the during the interview process?
SPEAKER_01:Besides me. I know it was me, but um but uh but someone maybe much bigger, someone who ran for president that um he was kind of a maverick.
SPEAKER_00:John McCain? Um I enjoy I actually saw I uh worked for John McCain and uh tried, you know, tried to get him in. But I honestly I think Marco Rubio to me was a real mentor. And I will say that once I got into the Senate, person that really impacted me the most was Chuck Morris. He just he was very um he was conservative, he was um he knew what right from wrong, and he had a real core set of values that I really liked. And you know, we butted heads a few times, but I listened to him as I listened to him as much as I could. Um but Marco Rubio was and still is, um I makes a big impact in my life.
SPEAKER_02:So this past uh year you served on the uh finance committee, the all-important finance committee during the budget process. So given that, you know, Senator Morris or former Senate President Morris was so integral in writing so many of our state budgets, was he did he serve as uh sort of a you know, someone you could call?
SPEAKER_00:Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean i I sounding board we kind of yeah, sounding board more than anything else. Um and there were some things that you know he felt very strongly about, but you know, we can only be given um we can only work with what we've got. Yeah. So this was a tough budget. It was a very tough budget. And um I I think we did the best that we can could with what we had. So um I still talk to him because I used to work for him too when we were at um at Freshwater.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, so I even after he got out, he was still there for me to throw things at and go talk to him. So um and we're still good friends. He came to my fundraiser like last week. He's a nice man.
SPEAKER_02:He really is. So you've been in the legislature for eight terms between the House and and Senate. If there was one thing that you could say was maybe your biggest piece of legislation or whatever, the biggest issue that you've helped get over the finish line. Um, and I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but you're proud of it.
SPEAKER_00:I thought it was anything but politics.
SPEAKER_02:It is, but I'm just you know, you've been you've you know, you've been there a long time, you've accomplished a lot in your tenure. And so it's hard to say pick just one thing.
SPEAKER_00:Two pieces of two pieces of legislation, I'd say. Um one was the uh fetal homicide bill, um, which is if someone harms a uh to be mother with uh fetus that's over 20 weeks, they will get charged with a they will also get charged with a homicide. Um the other one is the one that just passed, my China bill that bans China from purchasing any well, not just China, it bans all any of our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran, Syria, um, North Korea from purchasing any land in New Hampshire.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:That's great. Well, I think we've hit our politics quota for that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, we just you know it's I mean it's anything but politics, but you know, the accomplishments are important. And so it's it's it's great to talk to people about different things that they're proud of. And you've obviously been around for a while and you've accomplished a great deal, so it's nice to hear those proud moments. So yay, Senator Birdsall. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
SPEAKER_02:But I I do want to ask you, because um, you know, I know you and Mark love to travel to the Outer Banks every year, right? Is it like a family trip with extended family or is it just yeah?
SPEAKER_00:So they his family started it.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Um his mother and father actually started it years and years and years ago. And uh he started going down there in two um around 2010, I think. Um after I got in. Um so he would go down there by himself. And then because we were in session, so I didn't think I could take any time off, and this was when I was in the house. Um so we wound up going, I wound up going down there. Um I'd fly down on Wednesday and we'd come, we'd drive home on Saturday. Um then we started um, then it started getting expensive because we had to put the dogs into daycare. Um so then we decided, oh, let's look for a house that allows dogs that we can bring down. So we did. We and so then we wound up doing it. And we always go the first full week of May because it's usually the cheapest, and we get a heated pool. Yeah, if if we get a pool. Um and which I'm sure Penny loves. I love.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Penny. And I love the Netflix series too, based off of your trips to the Outer Banks. We haven't watched it.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, we watched the first one, we're like, that's not the Outer Banks. But uh so this year I didn't go down because of the budget. Yep. Um, and uh next this coming year I'm I'm definitely planning on going down because we don't have the budget, but um, but it's been a real it's a nice getaway. And we really look forward to the drive down. We usually drive the drive um drive out on Friday. We get the house on Saturday, so we get to stay overnight somewhere with the dogs, and um it's just like and the first stop is the Outer Banks brewing station. So you're making me thirsty. It's almost beer time.
SPEAKER_02:And and you and so you guys love to travel, right? Um he you know, I'm sure he's been with you to Ireland when you've been there.
SPEAKER_00:Um funny, he doesn't want to go down to DC with me next week.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, I'm not surprised by that. I love to travel too, but there's some places, you know. I know um but then he also went to Poland with you. So when all of this is done, right, when the the politics is over, where do you want to travel? What do you want to do?
SPEAKER_00:Well, I just said I'd like to try Warsaw and Krakow. Um, but the one thing I want to do is take a three-week tour of Europe. I want to do the Banda Brothers tour through Normandy. Then I want to hit uh Austria, Switzerland. Because we did hit we were stationed in Germany when I was a kid. And the only thing I remember is going um to the salt mines in Austria. And so I want to do that again. So Austria, Switzerland, and Italy.
SPEAKER_01:That sounds nice. So I guess some random questions for you as we start to wrap up a little bit. But um, when you're in the car and you're you're coming up 93 to get to Concord, what's on the radio for you? What are you listening to?
SPEAKER_02:Anything but politics.
SPEAKER_01:Besides our podcast, which has now gone as as it's well documented, gone international. Um, and I know that that's probably on your regular rotation, but besides anything but politics, what might be you be listening to?
SPEAKER_00:Uh I'm usually on the phone. Okay. Uh calling either my sister. Because if I know I have to be on with my sister, it's going to be at least a two-hour conversation. Oh goodness, I do the same thing. So I have I have to make sure that I have a lot of time. So uh but usually with m my sister, I'll call on the way home so that once I get home, I can get into the house. And um, but I'll usually catch up on all my phone calls, and Tom's been one of those. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:But uh I always get nervous when I get that phone call. What did I do?
SPEAKER_00:Um and honestly, I listen to Fox.
SPEAKER_01:Fox? Okay. And then when you get home and you've hung up um on your sister and you're like, oh my goodness, thank God I solved all those problems. What do you turn on the TV to watch to relax besides Fox?
SPEAKER_02:Well, um Night Agent.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, Night Agent.
SPEAKER_02:Um usually share Netflix uh, you know, recommendations with each other.
SPEAKER_00:Well, believe it or not, I just finished the series Lucifer. Oh wow, okay. I haven't seen that one. That was pretty interesting. Um but what I what's really interesting is when I can't sleep at night, sometimes I'll be tossing and turning, I'll get up, and I always get I go downstairs, get a cup of chamomile tea, piece of toast, and I put on the golden girls. Oh whatever is on my mind stops as soon as they come on because they are just so funny. I love that. Yeah. So that's my routine when I can't sleep.
SPEAKER_01:And they were all in their 30s when they recorded that. No, they weren't. Well, they're like 40. They're they're something. They were shockingly much younger than they than they look. I forget what it was.
SPEAKER_00:I will admit that, but I and I look at them going, wow, they're probably younger than I am right now. And and I all I can say is I love Blanche's clothes. She dresses really nicely, but and I'm sadly they're all gone. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But they'll live in the but they but they live in our hearts and they live on in TV. Well, this has been wonderful. I have any other questions.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, I just want to say, you know, I've like I s said at the onset, you know, we've gotten to be close over the years just from working together on stuff. And you know, one I was at an event with you a couple weeks ago, and you met you made this comment, which I thought was so smart, where you can't eat a whole apple in one bite. You know, and I think, you know, when it comes to, you know, making the sausage and and legislation, I think that's a such a smart approach. And I want to thank you for having that, you know, mentality where, you know, incremental steps. You don't have to go the whole way in one fellow swoop, but I I just it resonated with me when you said you can't, you know, eat an apple in one bite.
SPEAKER_00:So well, yeah. I mean, when you want to pass legislation, I'm when you want to pass legislation, it's like you do it a step at a time because you can't eat if you eat the whole apple, you're gonna suffocate. So you make incremental changes and um eventually you get to where you want to go. And just because we're not eating the apple, don't trash the legislators who are trying to work together and get some compromise because the stronger the compromise is, the longer that RSA or that law will stay in place.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and that was the other thing is you know, I know you've always worked really well with your colleagues on both sides of the aisle and uh bringing people together. And I think that's really smart because you bring different perspectives, right? It's not just like, you know, a room with just, you know, echoing voices, and that makes the best legislation. So I just want, you know, I know we're ending, but I just wanted to say thank you for that. And I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, and thank you very much. And I think you know, just to tag on to what you were saying, is is that's part of the point of this podcast, is we want to get to know you as a human being and the things that interest you and hear what inspires you and how you want a vacation and and and really just when it when you get to know people, I think, on a human level, then it makes it that much easier to communicate. And and so that's kind of part of what this podcast is about, is to just kind of let's all get to know each other and and you know, we're not always going to agree, but at least we get to know each other as human beings.
SPEAKER_00:And I appreciate that because I know you you bring both both sides of the aisle on, and it's it's nice to see that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Thank you. We'll we'll celebrate over a Smiths Radio. Smitch. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome. Senator Birdzall, thank you very much for everything that you do, and thanks for coming on um the podcast, which is now broadcast internationally.
SPEAKER_02:So always, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Number 10 in Ireland.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, at one point. Soon to be number one after this one.
SPEAKER_01:Awesome, and thank you very much to our audience for tuning in for another episode of Anything but Politics. And we will see you very soon. Thank you.