Jo Rae Perkins, candidate for US Senator | Season 2 Episode 32

 Three Part Interview Series - Part 3 "Jo Rae Perkins" 

See the full video here : https://youtu.be/Rm6WswGKlM4

In this episode of The JoCo Republican Podcast, I talk with Jo Rae Perkins about her run for U.S. Senate, what motivated her to get involved in politics, and the path that led her to where she is today. Jo Rae shares stories about her past ambitions, career experience, and why she believes she can make a difference in Washington D.C. We discuss the direction of the country, issues facing everyday Americans, and what she would like to accomplish if elected to the United States Senate. Jo Rae also explains that she is already preparing legislation and writing bills ahead of time for if she is elected, which viewers can find on her website (see below). If you want to hear directly from the candidate and learn more about her background, goals, and vision for the future, check out this full interview. 

Check out her website at : http://www.joraeperkins.com 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Part three. Joe Ray Perkins running for U.S. Senator. Let's get into it. Josephine County Republican. So I have Joe Ray Perkins. You're running for U.S. Senator. Is that correct? All right, cool. Well, um, so what made you decide to to do that?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

That's a whole God thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Yeah, right on.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Yeah. Yes. You want the story? I'll give you I'll give you the I'll give you the uh cliff notes. Uh I had just been elected as vice chair for the Lynn County Republican Central Committee. Um, by the way, it was my first central committee meeting ever. And I walked out as vice chair.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

And I was supposed to be nominated for secretary, and I got there and I wasn't on the legislative officers, and I'm just sitting there praying, God, if you don't want me involved in the Republican Party, that's fine. I'm good. And I walk out as vice chair. So uh went to go to the first meeting in November, but uh, I mean in December, and they weren't, I didn't see them in the room where they said they were at. I opened up the door and there's people sitting in a circle, and I didn't recognize anybody, but I had to leave. So my son called and I needed to go go take care of something that had come up. So, anyway, no big deal. So then I'm in Phoenix, Arizona, the first full weekend in January of 2009. And I go to dinner, come back, and I watch a senator getting sworn in. But they do the senators, the U.S. senators, they don't show you the swearing in, the actual one. They do a reenactment with your family members there and the vice president one-on-one swearing you in. And so I look at the TV and I'm just going, what an incredible honor to be sworn in as a United States Senator. And I start tearing up just like this. Happens almost every time. And um it's just me in my hotel room, and I and I audibly hear a whoosh from up from the ceiling, and it wasn't the heater, it wasn't the air conditioner, and I audibly heard plan on making a run to go to Washington, DC, U.S. Congress, five to six year time frame. And I turned and I went, What? Okay, and that's what started my journey.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Okay, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

And that was that was January 8th, 2009. Okay, so and that's clearly been over five to six years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

So yeah, and and you're gonna be what you're replacing Jeff Jeff Merkley. Jeff Merkley.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Okay, yeah, and so I ran um the first time for U.S. Senate in 2014, which was in that five to six year time frame. Okay, awesome. And uh yeah, so uh and just kept on going.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Cool. Well, um, you know, and I've been you're looking at your website here, joyperkins.com. I'll put that in a link below. Um so in and you've got a proposed bills list here. Um, and it this is stuff that you've you've written for um some some of the stuff that you're gonna use when you if you make it, right? Is that what this is?

SPEAKER_00 3:05

Correct. Those are all bills that I will propose, excuse me, uh, when I am sworn in as a U.S. Senator.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

Okay, cool. And I'm I'm loving this list so far. I mean, I'm I'm just looking down the list, ending Sanctuary States and Municipalities Act 2027, um, voter registration consent and integrity act, immediate wildfire response act, Veterans Structured Transition Act, Veterans Comprehensive Care and Full Disability Act, term limits 12 years max in Congress. So you know that's a good one. Oh, they're out, they're all good ones, by the way. Um, Medicare Advantage, Market Freedom and Accountability, Natural Treatment and Naturopathic, and Congressional Insider Trading, and the Trucking Tax Relief Act. And I guess what I'm hearing is you've written some more since then, and they're not on this website.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

They're not on the website. Um uh one of them is um uh limits the amount of interest lenders can charge.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Okay, we've got credit cards that are charging over 35%, and people can't get them paid off.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Um uh it's usury, and so if the bill passes, it'll max it at 15%.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Oh, that's great. I actually did a loan for my business and it was 68%.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

Oh, no way.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

The guy on the phone was like, Oh, yeah, we've got an interest rate at six, eight percent. He said it just like that, and I'm thinking, okay, 6.8, yeah, that's cool. And and I find out that it's 68%. So that that happened to me. I'm a victim of that.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Yeah, it wasn't a credit card, it was just like a loan company.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

But yeah, that's there there used to be usury laws. And um, so and it it just it makes it hard for people to get out of debt. They just can't, you're you're stuck unless you you end up filing bankruptcy, which a lot of people end up in bankruptcy because you know you lose your job or you're on uh you're self-employed and work's not coming in.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Yeah, it's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

It happens. Yeah, um, and then um, so that one um needs a little bit of refining, and then another one is um has to do with online biographical sites. Think the one that starts with a W and ends with an I.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Okay. Okay. What's that about?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Well, anybody can say things about a person saying that this is their biography and this is information about them, but the person themselves cannot go in there and make corrections.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, that's lame.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

And so think of the one that starts with a W, ends with an I. Might sound like encyclopedia.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Oh, yeah, Wikipedia.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

That's it. You said it on me. Anyway, um, so that bill in a nutshell. Hold on, I'm I'm pulling it up here. Um I just I just have to get to the right website on my phone. There we go. The right website is my email, which is kind of funny. Okay. Um that one, online biographical accuracy act.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Uh okay. Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Okay, this act may be cited as the Online Biographical Act Accuracy Act of 2007. Websites maintaining biographical pages shall be responsible for the accuracy. Um, so uh so like me, I went on and updated my my page in 2014 source, Joe Ray Perkins. They wouldn't allow any of those to stick. Wow. Last year, my grandson, who was 11 at the time, he says, Grandma, I read your Wikipedia page. He goes, When did you have a house fire? I go, never. And he goes, Well, it says that you guys had a house fire and you lost a bunch of important papers.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

What the never happened. Never happened, never happened. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 7:12

So people can post this stuff, and so the bill, an individual, okay. Here's the penalty. Okay, so porn formal requests from the subject or immediate family member, the website has to promptly correct or remove false information. Penalty $50,000 per violation.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

$250,000 for willful or repeated violations. The individual may recover $10,000 in statutory damages per violation plus attorney fees. Um, so and it changes um uh of law that's already out there because when we we started doing this, it was a small amount, and they go, Well, how much money does Wikipedia have? Hundreds of millions of dollars in the bank. Yeah, I go, Well, $5,000 is nothing. That's that's like five dollars to me.

SPEAKER_01 8:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:03

So let's make it, let's make it hurt. Okay. People are getting smeared. There's stuff out there about me. It's inaccurate information. I can't correct it.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yep, yep. And there's lots of inf that's I mean, that's like social media, that's what I do. I mean, there's a lot of people that are just so full of hate on social media, and it's just they read these headlines and they read these articles and they believe whatever they read, and then they go off on some tangent, and then the next person reads that, and it's just like a domino effect.

SPEAKER_00 8:30

Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, and so um, so the three bills I've written are all as a government, the government should not have to do that.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

And some people are gonna go, well, that's a violation of freedom of the press, but you can't slander people, no, and you know, because you don't know what kind of damage you're causing people. Yep, you you have no idea, and it's it's morally not right. Um, setting interest rates. Um, we used to have usury laws, and we need them clearly. I mean 68%.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Come on, yeah, it's horrible.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

Yeah, it's it's ridiculous. You're setting up for a loss when people go through bankruptcy, that now they're debt-free, and they go to buy a car, they're charging them 30, 40 percent interest. Oh, well, they're high risk. How are they high risk? They have no debt, they are in the best financial position, they have a job, they've got income, they're in the best financial position they've been in in years, and now you say that they're high risk. You're setting them up for failure again. Yeah, yeah, and there's a lot of that, and there's a lot of that, and it's just not right. So, um, and and I see it and I hear about it. So, every bill that I've written are because these are things that people over the years have talked to me about.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Cool. Well, yeah, and you know, credit card debt is just evil by itself, honestly. I'm I'm completely credit, you know, and I paid off that loan and I paid off all my credit cards. I've got a car payment, that's it. Good. So, you know, I mean, all that stuff, I'm never gonna go down that road again, but they keep hounding me. Um, yeah, they make it so easy, 16 calls a week on my my business number asking me for you know to give me another loan. And I'm like, no way, don't need it. Yeah, so um cool. So I mean, tell me about yourself. You you're so you're you're up in Albany, is is that right? Yes, okay, and how long have you lived up there?

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Since 1975.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Okay, cool. Well, I was born in 79, so um so that's really cool. You're a year older than than our son. Oh, right on. Nice. Um, and and so have you gotten in uh what what made you I mean you got in involved in any politics before this? I I know that you said it was kind of a pass from God.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Um, but what happened before that?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Like before that. So uh from high school I ran for student body secretary, not because I was interested in politics, or so I thought, but because I wouldn't hang out with the popular kids. Um, I didn't win. And then we moved up here and I went to Linbeton Community College in Albany, and I didn't know anybody, so I ran for student body business manager, which is the treasurer, and I won.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

And I got I got a good inside look of how government works. It was really interesting, even as the class treasurer. Um, so uh towards the end of the school year, the class president, his name was Phil, and then we're talking 1977. I still remember his name, his first name anyway. He said, Well, we need to spend the rest of the money. And I said, Why? So we've got enough paper and supplies to last for five years. We don't need to. And he said, Because if we don't spend it, we don't get as much next year. And I said, We don't need as much next year.

SPEAKER_01 11:55

Oh man.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

That was my introduction into government budgeting.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, yeah, because it's like a use it or lose it kind of situation.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Oh wow, yeah, and my and I was uh had started off in California majoring in accounting, but then when I came up here, switched over to business management.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

And so um, that's what my two-year degree is in. So, and then my associates is in um political science with a minor in speech communication.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Okay, so um, and so we've got four days left. Sorry for the late video. You know, I'm I'm I'm actually I don't I'm I'm new to the podcasting. I'm a social media director for the Republican Party in Josephine County. Awesome. And so um I started the podcast and and I'm trying to get that uh more modern approach to filling people in. Um and so we've got you know what four days, right? Yeah, yeah, four four days. Um so people get out and vote.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

We have three days, 23 and a half hours.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Who's counting?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Yep, and and and if people want to talk to you, they can they can contact you.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

Yeah, they can call me.

SPEAKER_01 13:06

Okay, great. Uh well, thank you so much. Did you have anything else to say?

SPEAKER_00 13:10

I mean, well, yeah, um, a lot of people haven't voted.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

And it's really important if whether people sign the no gas tax petition or not doesn't matter. That was supposed to be on the November ballot, but Governor Code Tax did not want it on the November ballot because she didn't want to be facing that while she's in up for re-election in the general. Please vote and please vote no on ballot measure 120. Everybody's getting taxed death. We talked about the credit card debt. Well, credit card debt or consumer debt is something that you voluntarily take on. Taxes, it's involuntary, right? And uh there was an article I didn't read it, but I heard about last night in Oregonian that 40% of the people that they surveyed are thinking about moving out of Oregon.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Yeah, they want affordable housing, huh? It's not business friendly. I'm a business owner, yeah, too.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

So it's it is, it's it's it's very unbusiness friendly, and you know, they've been wanting affordable housing. My testimony on the on the gas tax bill was keep it up. People are gonna walk away from their houses, they don't care, they can start over, they'll go somewhere else and start over again, they can care less if they can't sell their house. They did it in 2008, 2009, and I was doing investments back then, so I saw it happening. We were affected. Um, people will start over. So if they want affordable housing, keep it up because you're gonna end up with a state of empty houses, no employment. And when you run out of other people's money, as Margaret Thatcher said, what do you know? At some point you're gonna run out of other people's money. What are you gonna do then? So please vote in the primary. Um, please vote for me for U.S. Senator. Uh and if you don't vote for anything else, vote for Joe Brady Perkins for U.S. Senator, vote no on ballot measure 120. And I know a lot of people get, oh, I don't know who to vote for for governor. Read the voter guide, go online, look at their websites. We all have websites, most of us do. Exactly. Look at our websites. Some of the candidates like me, my phone number is posted. You can call me, and if I'm not busy, I will answer the phone. So and I I have, I mean, I have one person I didn't answer the phone, they called me at 2:30 in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Oh, that's rude.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah, sweaty. Um, I work shift work well, or yeah, okay, whatever. I never did talk to them. Um but but I think I think that's really important. And as Americans, we have such a privilege in this country to be able to vote. And even if you think that your vote won't count or won't be counted, number one, it will be counted. And you can track that your ballot was received. And if it was received, they have to have the same number of ballots as they have envelopes. So here's my ballot right here. Envelope, whoops, my envelope. Here's my envelope. There we go. Yep, ballots inside. So this is one envelope, one ballot. And every every county clerk has to rectify that, it has to match. Yeah, exactly. So when you know, I can go online and go, okay, yes, they did receive my ballot. Um and I will presume that they counted it. If there's anything nefarious going on right now, we cannot prove it. It is technically unprovable right now with what we know. And I'm not saying there's not problems, but if I know that somebody's not voting and I have the entire statewide voter database, and I I can tell I can I can look you up, Jordan, and I can tell you how many times you voted in the last however many years that it shows me. Yeah, I looked up somebody a few weeks ago. Um, she's still she's one of the 800,000 people that'll be getting removed. She hasn't voted since 2012. She voted once and have not voted since. That's the people that they're taking off. That's an inactive voter. Um it's just important. I mean, people in other countries, we've seen videos of them. They go, they get their thumb inked, they vote, and they know their voting is corrupt. But you know what? They voted. Right. And they fought and they died, you know, they had family die for that privilege. So please, please vote. Vote in the primary. Let's blow the numbers away. Traditionally, it's only 30%. That's what Tina Kotec was counting on. That'll be a very low turnout again to vote. But let's let's ramp it up.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Yeah. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

And at this point, unless you know that your post office is going to date stamp it, there's ballot drop boxes all over the entire state. So um, you know, let's say that you take off Tuesday morning, you've got your ballot, you forgot to drop it off, and you're heading up to Salem. You can drop it off at any collection box. It doesn't matter. Any ballot box in any county, any city, it'll get to your county.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Yeah, correct. And we've got four of them here in Josephine County. We got it at the courthouse, the library, there's the cave junction city hall, and one other place I forget. But yeah, turn them in because it's too late to mail it at this point, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:33

It is, it is. It's too late to mail it. Um, I will hand deliver mine. I'm like, it should be half a mile, it's about a mile now from my house. So I hand deliver, hand deliver ours. I take them inside.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Um, and and hand it to them. Some of them know me because I'm kind of numb.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

So, but I do want to share a fun story with you. And then we'll be good. So today I went up to up to Portland and was interviewed on KOIN Channel 6. Um, it'll be aired at six o'clock on Sunday. So it's going to be interesting because the pictures they picked, it's like, really? You picked some really old photos. But as I was leaving, so they have a security guard and they have a doorman there, but he the doorman wasn't there. Um, he was doing something else. Anyway, the security guard, I said, have a good day. He goes, I'm voting for you. And I walked over to him. I go, You know who I am? Yeah, I know, I know who you are. Because you know my vote. That was so awesome. In downtown Portland. That is cool. Is that awesome? Yeah. So you just you never you never know how you're reaching people. Um, one of the things about running that I love, I I have now have I have friends all over the entire state. And I have traveled, like a lot of the candidates, thousands of miles, uh thousands upon thousands of miles over the years. And um I've got friends everywhere. And that that is a that's one of the things that make running makes running for office an absolute blast because I know where I go into a city, I know I've got friends, and that's a lot of fun. But again, all the bills that I've written are because of stories that I've heard from people, veterans that can't get their disability benefits. The bill I wrote, it fixes that. So if you're a veteran and you've been fighting the VA for years to get your disability, look at that bill. As soon as that bill is passed and their doctor says you've got a disability that more likely than not is service related, your disability will be approved immediately. No more delays. And all the back ones, it's in there that those have got to get approved almost instantly. It's gonna take some time because there's thousands of thousands of them, unfortunately. And no more having to pay attorney fees. It's in the bill. I I covered everything I could possibly think of when I when I wrote that bill. And to me, that's one of the most important bills that I wrote because it affects so many of our veterans. So um please take, please go to jorayperkins.com, check it out. If you've got any questions, my phone number is on the website, it's in the voter guide. And uh, if I'm not busy, I will pick up the phone. And if I don't, I I call people back.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

Yeah, you called, I called you today for the first time ever. Just this random caller and said, Hey, I'm Jordan, I'm in Josephine County, I do a podcast, and you're like, Yeah, sure. Yeah, so I think I answered right away, didn't I? You did. It was like the first ring. So um um, yeah, thank you. I really do appreciate that. And you know, like I said, I'm gonna put this out probably uh tomorrow. So I'm gonna have this edited and put it out and hopefully it gets out there. So good.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Well, somebody calls me tomorrow in the afternoon. Uh I might, if I answer, you might not hear me because we're going up to Hillsborough. My husband's bowling in the morning, but the air show is going on.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Up in Hill Hillsboro. So we're gonna, I'm gonna charge my good camera and we're gonna go up.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

There and all I'm always taking pictures and uh so there'll be some loud jets going by but yeah I actually I actually worked up in Hillsborough at the Intel campus. So that was uh a long time ago. Yeah, but I I worked there for a while. I lived up there for a while, but now I'm here in Grants Pass.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

Awesome. It's a little bit different atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah, I like the water, I like the rivers, so that's why I'm here.

SPEAKER_00 22:24

Beautiful rivers down there. All right. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Thank you. I appreciate everything. Have a good day.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

Have a great evening. Thanks you too. Bye. All right, bye.