Rumors vs. Reality: Matt McKenzie Responds

Let’s clear the air!

Baldwin County Sheriff candidate Matt McKenzie is back on “The People’s Voice”— and he’s not dodging anything. With rumors and speculation swirling, McKenzie sits down for a straight-up, honest conversation to address it all head-on.

Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins press in on the questions people are actually asking, to set the record straight!

If you’ve heard the noise, this is where you hear the truth!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, wherever you may be. I'm Thomas Jenkins. This is WFUZ TV, the People's Voice Podcast. I'm here with Blair Castro in the studio. And today's special guest with us is the sheriff candidate for Baldwin County, Matt McKinsey. Matt, thank you so much for being with us today. Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

So this is actually your second time on the show. Thank you for coming back. One of our season one guests. And now you're here for season two. So we appreciate that. And we generally appreciate all you do in your capacity as a commissioner, how responsive you've been. We will get into the questions about your campaign in the sheriff's office, but I just want to do a quick uh plug to tell everybody that from our very first concerns with the county, Commissioner McKenzie was the first person to really reach out and try to listen to us and hear what was going on and hear about what we had going on. So sometimes people, you know, they're like, oh, everybody, like false information. There's a lot of things floating around out there. But I based, you know, my opinions of people on what my experiences with them, how they treat me. And to his credit, he has treated us with nothing but respect, with nothing but time and you know, helping us navigate things and listen to us. So I think that speaks a lot as to the type of person that he is.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

And I'll say just a little over a year ago was when uh Blair and I came into our first county commission meeting, and I wasn't exactly calm and collected, as you might recall. But you know, and but the fact that you didn't try to shut me down or uh tell me to calm down or anything, and you you listened, and then you didn't uh shut us out, uh ignore us or anything after that, and you were not you've been nothing but communicative and and uh nothing but appreciation for that.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Well, I and I appreciate the kind words, and that was something that I ran on, you know, is to treat people like I want to be treated and to let you and to listen to you. And I was still new as a county commissioner. I didn't know what I could do really and be you know and do, but I wanted to listen to you and to listen to and and and move forward and uh and talk to you later after the meeting, if we could. And that's what uh when I ran for county commission, that was a lot of things where people were saying is that when when they when we when the citizens reach out to you, they expect you to as a as a constituent or excuse me, as an elected official is to return phone calls, return emails. And my opponent, or excuse me, not my opponent, but the previous one did not. And that was one of the things that I said I will do is to I might have missed one or two emails or a phone call in the last four years, but I've tried to do my best to call everybody back or you know, send an email back to them. And that's it that's what the citizens want. Yeah, they want that communication. Uh and and I always told them, I said, Look, you might not be able to help you every time, but there will be times that I can help. You know, people want to say, Matt, can you come on my property and and and fix something? No, we can't go on private property and get the taxpayers' money uh to go on there unless it's emergency. And uh we can. But other than that, but people are really thankful, uh very appreciative when you call them back and and talk to them.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

For sure. And and to that, uh, we can also say uh honestly that we tried to reach out to your current opponent uh about the same time, and we didn't even have a problem with the sheriff's office uh in any dealings at the time, just wanted to make contact with all the leaders in the county and kind of plug in and was actually told by an employee that uh they were instructed to ignore this. And so that, you know, it speaks volumes that you hear with it, you know, for a second time today, even after our initial interaction.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

No, I I I I just don't understand that. I I y'all were no threatening. I didn't feel threatened. I mean, y'all were citizens that were concerned of what's going on, and and we've got to do that as elected officials to talk to you. Because y'all are the ones that votes us in, sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:55

So we'll get into your current race for sheriff. We're how many days out from the election or the primaries on May 19th, and we're you know getting close. There's about a month and a half left, roughly. Time is ticking down. And for me, working in this space too. I have you know several candidates that I'm working for and working with. It is a lot of work on the person, on the staff, on the family. There is an event. There's like three events every single day that you have to go to. It's a very time-consuming thing. Um, and we see you literally at everything. You're you're doing the work. I think you're putting in a lot of work. Um, and your wife, too, Christy, she's with you. You guys were up in Stockton at the town hall, you're, you know, all over the county, from the north to the south down here in Gulf Shores or Fort Morgan. Um, it's such a big county and it's such a time-consuming process. What are some of the things you you know like about that process right now? What's kind of like your favorite part and what's kind of the struggles?

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Well, the favorite part is really just getting out there meeting people that want to see a new set of eyes, new vision here in Baldwin County with the sheriff's office and there, and that's what I like to hear is to talk to them and see what's going on, and they just they're ready for a change. And that's what I've really liked seeing, you know, from with this with this campaign going on for the last year. We started early. Um it's for me, it's and my opponent, it started back in last May when when he came out and started putting signs out to the county. And and then my my supporters kept saying, Matt, where's your sign? Where's your sign? And I I didn't really want to put signs out until later during the year, but I had to go ahead and start putting them out and letting people know that I'm serious about this job and I want it. And so it's it's been it's been challenging, like you said. It's been hard on the family. You know, you went through it. And uh it's been it's been hard on the family, and sometimes that we don't get to spend on Friday nights, Saturday nights with each other. But you know, my wife's act actually outside in the car right now trying to fix some things with Facebook. So it's uh it's been interesting. But it's it's if you really want this job like I do, you're gonna get out there and do what you have to do and meet people.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, every vote really matters. If you're at an HOA meeting and there's, you know, two or three people there, that's two or three votes, and those people can tell two or three people, and those two or three people. So, you know, sometimes I know it can feel like, oh man, we're here and it's the same people again, and here we are. But I mean, really, every single person can, you know, be that squared. They'll reach and reach and reach, and that, you know, it could be a very close vote. Um, I'm thinking it probably will be kind of a close vote.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

I think so.

SPEAKER_02 6:24

So those things matter. Um, going into the culture of the sheriff's office right now, you know, we're seeing online, we're seeing online a lot of stuff. So I'm glad you're here because I'd like for you to clear up some of the misconceptions and the rumors about you and about, you know, what's going on there. So I'll just ask you first, um, I saw a comment the other day that you were gonna dismantle the SWAT team. I'm gonna assume that's not true because it seems really ridiculous to me. But you know, what's the reality in that? How did that even come up?

SPEAKER_01 6:48

No, that's just uh that's just rumors. I'm I'm really glad that you're asking this and and and inviting me down here to to talk about that. Um no, I'm not gonna do away with the SWAT team. Baldwin County is the largest county in the state of Alabama, land-wise, not population-wise, but we we need the SWAT team. I do not want to rely on another agency to come here if we need those uh men and women on the SWAT team to help us with any type of situation. So, no, that's rumor, yeah, that's just a rumor. There's many rumors out there throughout Baldwin County, and if you don't mind, I like to you know talk about another one. And uh I had a farmer, um his name, but uh anyway, a farmer up around the Barnwell community. He retired and now he's working with the with another farmer up in off of 181 in fair north of Fairhope. He called me and said, Matt, I I heard you know uh that you're gonna cancel the agriculture unit. And I and because he uh some deputy told him that, and I said, No, that's false information. I'm not gonna cancel the agriculture unit. Uh they escort farmers and big equipment down the highways because there's so much traffic now on the highways, they gotta have some escort and have some help. And I said, No, I was raised on a farm. You know, my dad was a farmer. So why would I do that? So, no, that's that's just false information. Um, if I I put it on Facebook, if you got questions, please call me. My Facebook my phone number's all over Facebook, all over social media. I'm not hiding about it. I talked to somebody today that said something to that effect. And look, Matt, I can't believe you put your number on. That's what I want to do. I don't care if people call me. Uh ask me. Because I know how Facebook sometimes uh misleading the rumors get out there. Uh but thank you for asking that.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

This is a random question. You said escorts. Does the current Baldwin County Sheriff's Office do funeral escorts?

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Uh at this time, no. Um now unless they're asked. Now they will do some if they're asked. And I don't know which unit will do that. Um I know that a lot of them will help out if if the cities can't, municipalities can't do it, they will, you know, come in, especially if they're outside the city limits, uh, the county would help out.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

I wasn't sure. I've never really seen one. I didn't think about it until you said the word escort. I was like, oh, do they do that? It was kind of a hot button issue in Escambia County where I was from because they stopped them for a bit under one administration and people really liked that. They wanted them to come back. So I think that's something people kind of appreciate.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

They they do. And and you know, it's hard to get, especially in this county with all the traffic that we have. We probably want to keep the congregation or the the funeral procession together. You don't want to get them separated, and we want to get them there safely. So, yes, if if I I haven't really looked into that in the sheriff's office, I've kind of stepped away from the internal stuff and just to do my thing as a campaigning. But uh when I was a young state trooper, you know, we would help out if we could. And I remember back then the sheriff's office didn't do it. And I would think they would continue to do if I'm elected, I will continue to help out. Because you got to.

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah. Um, one thing I've kind of heard uh in terms of a rumor is that, you know, some people say or make the argument that you don't have, I guess, the real-world experience needed for sheriff. They think that you just worked at a driver's license office. What what would you say to someone that said that?

SPEAKER_01 10:03

Well, that's another false thought. You know, when you when you I was a police officer for a year, and as a police officer, you know this around this area, you you run into everything from domestics to burglaries to breaking the injuries, I mean entries and just a lot of things. And then I wanted to become an Alabama state trooper. And when you come an Alabama state trooper before you go to another division, you have to work the road. You gotta work the road for three years minimum before you can go to another division. And uh so no, that's uh I've got that experience. I worked the road many, many years. Got promoted as a supervisor, worked the road, uh, had my six to eight troopers, I can't remember, um, and I supervised them. And uh so no, it does that's just false information too. Now I did I go into driver's license. Yes, I did. I I was tran I transferred into driver's license and because I wanted to be a hearing officer. A hearing officer is a uh administrative judge for the department for uh DPS or a leak um uh for a leader. When you lose your license for um points, DUIs, uh medical reasons, you can have a hearing in front of the hearing officer, and that was me, to determine to give your license back to you. And then that's it. I did that for several years. I loved it. It was a big part of my uh career, and it was just something that you get to meet all kinds of people, you know, especially teenagers that lost their license for too many points. And I was able to get them back to or put them on probation. Uh then I was a fraud investigator with driver's license. When you get a fraudulent uh document and somebody brings in and they want to get a identification uh because of their brother or sister, or somebody's a little older, a little bit different. Uh, you know, I we I investigated fraud investigations. So it was it was interesting. But thank you for asking that. Uh you know people just want to say that just to kind of discredit me. I think they're but you know, my opponent never worked the road. So that's the difference between the two of us. You know, um the former sheriff, you know, uh put him in a position and uh as a major and he worked his way up from major and then appointed him chief deputy. So my opponent has never worked the road. So I've got that experience of being out there two, three, four in the morning by yourself. And you know, when I was up there in Washington and Clark and uh Chowtaw counties as a young trooper, I had all three counties and two, three, four in the morning, you know, so by myself. And the nearest backup is 45 minutes. That's not a fun job, is it? It's not a fun job. But you know what? You you knew you you just had to treat people like you wanted to be treated and always had your guard up. And that's what I always did.

SPEAKER_02 12:37

You also have uh kind of a unique experience in that you worked for the embassies, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yes, ma'am. I was um I was a I am a Marine. I spent five and a half years in the Marine Corps. Um the last three years of my enlistment, I I had to, I worked, I went to the MSG duty. That's the Marine Security Guard at the American Embassies. And I love that. That was a great part of my uh career as a as a veteran um to be able to work at the American Embassies at Brazil, Brazil, and Sofia, Bulgaria. And uh a lot of people think Marines are just there opening, you know, pushing a button, opening the gate, or opening the door, or whatever. But they do a lot. And they're trained every day. We have to have training once a week or just about every two days when it comes to intruders, fire alarms, uh uh you name it. We look for classified material left out at nighttime. If uh if the ambassador goes home and he leaves us safe unlocked, that's a violation. And that's what the the Marines, you know, we we do. And so it was a good thing. That was very good training, and I loved that. That was a good part. I any if there's any Marines out there listening, I would love for them to look into the MSG duty.

SPEAKER_02 13:47

I think that working overseas in some capacity as an American and like representing your country in some way is really good experience that people don't really think about, especially in you know, local, municipal, county elections. They think, you know, we want to vote for someone who's from here, who has experience specifically with our county, who hasn't really been anywhere else. Sometimes I felt like that when I was running. I worked, you know, in the Middle East as a mediator from the law side, did Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And I think those kind of international experiences, even if they're short, really do a lot to develop you as a person when you come back home and you're, you know, representing your country. It develops your pride of country in a little bit to go elsewhere and do what you do and then come back. So, you know, I would caution people from disregarding any sort of international work or you know, ability to practice elsewhere. As someone who's not from here, hasn't worked all the time, you know, here in one particular area, that experience makes you more well-rounded, I would think.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

I'm sure. And I I kind of believe that myself, you know. Um it just it was just an honor to go overseas and and to be and to represent the American people and to protect American assets, you know, at the embassies. And it was something special when you got Americans that leave, that lose their passport and they can't get another passport because they're scared in the country that they're at. You know, where I was at, that you know, they would come up to the the to the main gate and look and we could see them and we could talk to them. And it was just uh a great feeling knowing that they're Americans and they'll have to go through a process to get through. I mean, we just don't open the the the door and let them all in, you know. You got to do it the right way. But it was just an honor, you know, to be there to to protect American assets and the the you know, all the property and and to protect American embassy, you know, the people there at the American embassy. So it's an honor.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

So something people may not know is that you have had um the ICE training when you were a trooper, if I'm not mistaken. Um ICE is a big kind of topic right now. You know, there's protests going on, people that aren't happy with ICE. Um, where do you stand on ICE and their role and their job in securing our border here in Alabama?

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Yeah, I I I believe in immigration. I believe coming into the country the right way. And uh when I was an Alabama state trooper back in 2003, we were the first class to be certified in 287G. 287G program is a three-tier program where it's the enforcement side, the jail side, the war and the warrant side. We were the enforcement side of state troopers. That means when we're out there working the road, you if you have to have probable cause. You just don't stop them because they look or look like they're here illegally. No. You gotta have probable cause and you determine them, then you ask them questions, then you find out if they're here illegally or not. Or look at their paperwork. And that was something I was very proud of. And I believe in immigration. I believe we do it the right way. And and I've stated that earlier, but if I'm elected sheriff, I will continue that. I want to have a set of deputies to be certified in immigration. And I don't want them out there, I don't want the whole department certified because that's that's just no, we just need a special group, the the deputies that we can trust, and and and we we trust all of them, but this one these have got to be special because we do not want to violate somebody's civil rights, and they shouldn't do that anyway, regardless. But you gotta that is very uh that organization or the 287G program can get you in a lot of trouble if you don't do it the right way. And that was one of the things they instilled in us in school was to make sure that you do it the right way. And and as a law enforcement officer, you want to do it the right way, regardless. Sure. You know. So I was very proud of that and be part of it. Back, I think 2024, or no, excuse me, 2004 or 2005, the governor at the time said that we didn't have enough state troopers on the road. We never had state enough state troopers on the road. So we've always been shorthanded. Uh so they this way did away with it, and we didn't do it anymore.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

So circling back to you you were talking about ice training and you didn't want officers doing things improperly. So I wanted to ask about what you can do from an administrative side as sheriff to help the department be the best trained that it can be.

SPEAKER_01 17:55

Well, the one thing that I want to look in if if I'm elected is look at the policy. You know, they're looking at the 287G right now, and I think we just, as the county commission, we just assigned it where they can go and and be part of the program and to get the stiphons and be trained in it. But I want to go further with it. I want to make sure we have policies on it, 287G, and make sure they do everything they're supposed to be doing. Because it could get you in the jam if you don't do it right. And that's with anybody. I mean, that's with what I mean by that. That's in any deputy. You've got to have training and you've got to have a policies and you've got to stick to it.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

So how do we how do we get around the issue of departments being underfunded, undertrained, and how do we make sure that our officers are trained above standards?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Sure, sure. Now that's and I'm glad you brought that up. That's one thing that I want to look at is that recruitment and retention. You know, we have a problem here where deputies are leaving and they're going to Foley or going to go shores oranges because of better pay. And that's something that I want to strive on and try to make it better here in Baldwin County, is that I want a deputy, male, female, black, purple, green, whatever their color is, to come here to sh to Baldwin County Sheriff's Office and start out and do 25 years. And if they want to do more, that's fine. But stay 25 years, get your retirement and go on if you want to in life. And right now it's just it seems like we need we have some issues here. And that's something that I wanted to try to work on and try to fix.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

So speaking of that, you know, another thing I saw recently, there was a resignation letter that was posted online from a deputy that um was, I guess, close to retirement and ended up not doing it, and he spoke about how he was kind of retaliated against or there was a culture. Um, I don't, you know, I've not really vetted that or dove into it. I just saw it online like everybody else. Um, do you know anything about that?

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah, same with you. I don't want to dive into that right now. Um the only thing I can do is by reading it too when I saw it, uh, it just broke my heart to see that this deputy has been on uh 20-something years, 24 years, and he only think he had 11 months, I think, to retire. And it just breaks my heart because I don't know the whole story. Um, but like you said, you didn't dig in it, I haven't either. If, you know, I just don't like this situation and uh so I'm hoping but I'm hearing more and more this is happening more and more in the sheriff's office. And it's something that if I'm elected, they we're gonna fix this.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

It's good that people are starting to be unafraid to voice what is happening if there are things happening. And uh no citizen should feel afraid of their sheriff's department if they're, you know, not the criminal element.

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Oh, 100%. You know, you've got we've got the and if I'm elected, I'm gonna bring back the the sheriff's office to the people of Alwan County. Transparency. Let them know exactly what's going on. I'll I like the sheriff over in Florida when he gets on there and does a podcast, you know, his own thing. And uh We were just talking about him a few times. Yeah, greedy judge. Yeah, yep. And I really like that because people respect him. He's got a lot of followers and because he tells it like it is.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Something to be said when you're out there and present and communicating with everyone.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

And uh this county's growing every day. Y'all know that. You live here in Gulf Shores, and it's it's it's growing. And uh we need to have that transparency.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Just yesterday there was a hundred over a hundred people arrested at a house party for spring break and golf shores for underage drinking. A hundred people, um, all from other states pretty much, because they're all here on spring break. And I heard that they dumped alcohol on the police officers from the balcony and all this. And I was like, our jail isn't even that big to hold 100 people. Like, where did they all go in terms of processing? I wasn't sure. But um, yeah, like with that growth and with that tourism comes more crime, and some of it is just you know, underage drinking, and some of that crime is trafficking. So I wanted to kind of segue into trafficking because we had um Christy Hagen on here, and I talked to her a little bit about this because part of my platform when I ran and something I'm passionate about is fighting predators, getting rid of you know, trafficking and um I see that a lot. Being in this little corridor on the beach and being from Pensacola and what goes through here in terms of transportation, the bar scene. Um what and also, you know, a deputy resigned recently for accusations of being involved in some sort of trafficking. Um have you heard anything about that and what's your thoughts on the trafficking situation?

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, the traffic situation is a terrible thing this one. And it's here. It's just we just gotta stay on it. Um with the deputy that we're is that resigned, uh what I've heard, I haven't really dug into that either because I'm just I don't want to I just don't want I don't know the whole story yet. But if I'm elected, I will look into the I'll find out the whole story because I want to know what's going on. And as a county commissioner, I'm really dis really disappointed at what's going on with the sheriff's office and with we're losing deputies. And that's something, you know, we fund that budget or we fund the sheriff's office, and we've got to maintain it. And I want to know more. And I and I'm and I'm I'm being careful because I am running for sheriff, because but but at the same time, I want to know more about what's going on. Um with that, I I I don't know his I don't know the guy's name, don't care right now. But after I get if I'm gonna get elected, I want to look into it more because I'm hearing different two two sides of the story. I heard he was notified and and gave warning or you know, things like that, and that just bothers me. Uh uh so I don't know. I don't know the whole thing and I I don't want to say anything until I find out the truth about it.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

I just my uh opinion on it. Um I think that if, you know, not this situation in particular, but if someone is accused of a crime and say they are trafficking, and you know, I know someone is innocent until proven guilty, but uh we should, as the public, be informed of their name. I don't kind of like the hiding of the name because it's an employee. If it was a general member of the public, I feel like their name would be out there. And when this happened, of course, I had like 20 people text me names, and I'm just getting secondhand information. I feel like, well, you know, we all know through the grapevine, like why don't you just come out and say it and sort of like, you know, be transparent with the public because everybody talking about it behind the scenes doesn't really do anything to dissuade the, you know, kind of secret culture, I felt. And I just uh I hope that in any instance like this, people won't be allowed an opportunity to necessarily resign, but that they will be punished to the extent of the law that anyone else would be held to that same standard.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

That's right. And I and I totally agree with you on that. I don't know the whole story though, and I but I if I'm like you, I think this the gentleman or the female who I know is able to know is a male, but he needs to have been fired. Uh and that's how I feel. That's my opinion. Um, and and because it just by letting that gentleman resign is not going to fix anything. All it's doing is encouraging other people maybe to do to do that or and to resign. Yeah. So I don't know the whole thing. But if I'm elected and I get in there, I will be looking into that.

SPEAKER_02 24:50

Yeah, the few bad apples taint the whole bunch thing is unfortunately very true. Um I I worked, you know, for a sheriff in neighboring county, and he became sheriff after another sheriff who was very known for um sort of his his own little like kind of culture going on, and then he had to come in and revamp the culture entirely. He focused on three core values of courtesy, integrity, and professionalism. Those are things that kind of weren't hammered on before a lot. It was all about enforcement crime, tough on crime, which we need, we need that for sure. But I think there's a whole other side with you know being courteous, being out in the community, engaging your professionalism and your integrity, like doing what you would do in private the same as you would do in public. That seems to be, you know, a disconnect. And some sheriff's offices not saying this in particular, definitely not saying this about, you know, our current sheriff, but the years and years of past, you know, culture that's there, definitely there are, you know, people that feel one way about that. So um going forward, I guess, what are some of the things you would do to sort of revamp the culture?

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Well, I and um that was one thing I told somebody not long ago was the things that you read, of course, the things that you read on Facebook sometimes is not true. It could be just false accusations. But I'm hearing it from retired deputies, I'm hearing it from active deputies that's working, that there is a problem there in the sheriff's office. And the first thing I told that gentleman was my first year, probably being in if I get elected, is that I'm gonna have to change a lot. I'm gonna have to bring back morale to the sheriff's office and get rid of this what I'm hearing and and what I'm seeing in the good old boy system. And you need to you need to have one standard in the sheriff's office and you're gonna have to stick to it and you're gonna have to l and live by it. And that's what I I want to do to bring back one standard to the sheriff's office. I want the people of Baldwin County to know that that the Baldwin County Sheriff's Office doesn't play games inside internally. And now when I say that, I don't as a whole, the Sheriff's Office is a great organization. They got great deputies and everything. But you always got that feud. And it and that's in any organization. But you gotta have a standard and you gotta stick to it. And I've learned that being a Marine and being an Alabama state trooper, we had that.

SPEAKER_02 27:03

And I think something we I would like to see in a sheriff um is someone who will stand up to others. Um I will say, like on the commission, you tend to vote against the others a lot of the time. Um, you know, for for good or bad, what people may think. I think we have to be willing to break from the norm and the sort of peer pressure that goes on sometimes behind the scenes as leaders, even on a city council level or you know, other levels, I see that there is kind of a group think. So, you know, what would you do to kind of fight back against that? And do you believe you have a record showing that you wouldn't kind of fall into that pattern?

SPEAKER_01 27:35

Yeah, being on the county commission, you know, for the last four almost four years now, obviously four years. And you know, when you first get on to any type of organization or city council or the county government, or you gotta kind of watch. And you kind of you're learning at the same time. And I always heard to the through the to the other through the other commissioners, you we we've gotta stay united. Well, I get that on certain things, but on certain things that we vote on, I've got to listen to what my heart and my gut and what the citizens tell me and what I believe in. And that's what you gotta do. I don't want to I don't want a commission every time we have a meeting we pass everything just like it's normal. Some things is normal. You know, uh budgets or not budgets, but uh uh just went blank. But just when you when you approve something when we just uh the the bids, excuse me, the bids when we bids that's standard. They've already did their homework on it, did everything. That's standard. We can go through that. But when it comes something else, we need to be really paying attention to it. And like the zoning cases, rezoning. There's times that I vote no on it. Uh not because I'm uh want to vote no, it's just because I feel like in my heart that's the best thing for the for Baldwin County right now. And I do get outvoted sometimes, but it's okay, it's part of it's part of it. So I as a sheriff that I'm gonna be like that. I'm gonna stand up for the I'm gonna stand up for the deputies, but I'm gonna stand up for the citizens and I'm gonna stand up what's right too at the same time. I just just because I think you know, there's the rumors going around too that well, he wants to get he wants to change the culture. Well, I do. But I'm gonna take up for the deputies too, but I'm gonna take up for the citizens. If the deputies are right, then I'm gonna take up for them. But if they're wrong, I'm gonna h hold them to us, you know, that standard and keep it and hold them to it.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

So I think that's all anybody can really ask for.

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Yes, 100%. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

Thank you so much for coming today. It's Matt McKenzie, he's running for Sheriff of Baldwin County, and you can read more about his platform and his campaign at mattforsherif.com, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

You're correct. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

And the primary is May 19th, get out and vote. And we also, this show is over for everyone. We would love to have Sheriff Lowry on the show. We would love to have anybody who's running on the show, um, if they haven't responded to our invites so far, that's okay. But just know we we're people that like to listen and like to learn, and we have everyone an open invitation. And the fact that you took time to come out here now twice and that we've, you know, just been involved now pretty heavily for about a year and seeing you show up cons you know consistently at every function. Um, I think that's great. I think we need more politicians like that who are willing to go that extra mile to stay plugged in. So thank you very much for all you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Oh, you're welcome, and thank you all again for having me. I mean, this is painful, painful of painful painful, painless. But it no, this is I I didn't expect no pitchforks. I expect honest questions that you know that to let the public know what's going on here in Baldwin County. So yeah.