How Rhonda Shader Helped Save a City with Just $49 in the Bank

In this episode of Generation Reset, Kerry Rodriguez sits down with former Placentia Mayor and California State Senate candidate Rhonda Shader to discuss how an entrepreneur with no plans to run for office ended up helping lead a city on the verge of financial collapse.

Rhonda shares the story of being recruited into local government after community leaders encouraged her to help tackle her city's growing fiscal challenges. When she took office, Placentia's reserves had dwindled to just $49. Over the next eight years, she and her colleagues worked to restore the city's finances, grow reserves to more than $15 million, launch a new fire department, improve infrastructure, and attract new economic development.

The conversation explores:

• how entrepreneurs approach government differently
• what it takes to turn around a financially distressed city
• the challenges of economic development at the local level
• why business owners are increasingly frustrated with state regulations
• the relationship between local governments and Sacramento
• the future of California's water infrastructure
• how campaigns are adapting to AI and changing voter engagement
• and why more citizens should pay attention to local government

Rhonda also reflects on her transition from business owner to mayor, the lessons she learned governing through financial uncertainty, and what motivated her to launch a campaign for the California State Senate.

This episode is ultimately about political activation, public service, fiscal responsibility, and the role ordinary citizens can play in shaping the future of their communities.

Generation Reset with Kerry Rodriguez is a podcast exploring political activation, civic engagement, and the forces that push people into — or away from — public life.

Produced by the ContraSearch Network, a division of ContraSearch, Inc..

Transcript

A City With Just $49 in the Bank

SPEAKER_04 0:00

You know, I sat down for about three hours with the finance people and said, what are the numbers? Where are we bleeding the most? And this is how bad it was. The reserves that we had in the bank were $49. Everywhere I go to speak, they think that's a typo. And I said, no. It was $49. And I laugh about it now, but I wanted to cry back then.

Introducing Rhonda Shader

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Welcome to Generation Reset, a podcast that explores political activation, the forces and impulses that push people into or out of U.S. politics. I'm Carrie Rodriguez, your host. And on the show this week, Rhonda Schader, an entrepreneur-turned politician, who says her political career began when a neighboring city's mayor encouraged her to save her hometown from the brink of bankruptcy. Honored by the invitation, Rhonda ran for a seat on her city's volunteer council and won. During her tenure, the council helped reverse her city's financial decline, growing the reserves from just $49 to more than $15 million. Rhonda later served as mayor and is now running for a seat in the California State Senate. She says her experience as an entrepreneur and business owner deepened her curiosity about local government and motivated her to pay closer attention to how elected officials were representing her community.

From Business Owner to Political Activist

SPEAKER_04 1:15

Yeah, I would say as I aged and especially as I became a business owner, I became more and more interested in the idea of politics and what my elected officials were doing for me. And so that I've always voted. So since I was 18, you know, registered to vote, I was excited about that and being part of that process. But it wasn't until I owned my own business that I started getting more interested and actually volunteering for candidates, being a part of political clubs in my area, and just really getting more educated about it. And so I would say I was probably involved a lot more interested and involved than the average person.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:58

But never really saw myself running for office. I just wanted to be engaged and informed. I really liked the idea of looking at a ballot and maybe knowing who those people were that I was voting for. That was pretty fun. So that was kind of my background. And then of course I started my own business. And it was through my own business that I was serving in the community just to grow my business. Yeah. And, you know, I was the chamber president and things like that, right? Just getting my name out there. And people kind of started acknowledging that it was valuable to have me around and started asking me to serve on commissions and things like that. And I was willing to do that. It was all economic development, right? It was fellow business owners and us figuring out how to make it easier to do business in the city. And then somebody finally looked at me one day and said, Your city is on the verge of bankruptcy. And they have been for a couple decades. They can't seem to figure it out. There's a couple of

The Call to Run for Office

SPEAKER_04 3:05

open seats. Would you be willing to give it a try? And the person that asked me was the mayor of a city where my business was, but not where I lived. And you have to live where you run for the lower level offices. And so she said, you know, she was the one asking me. So I obviously had a lot of respect for her, and she had gotten to know me. So I was like, oh wow, like she thinks I can help. So I'm like, okay. Um, and I kind of knew enough because I was, you know, involved with other people running about somewhat the effort of running for office. And so um, although I wasn't fully prepared, you kind of learn as you go. Um, but that's really what got me engaged is someone saying, Your city's really hurting. Could you pitch in? And my business was pretty stable at that point. And I thought, you know what, I could probably serve. I I have the bandwidth to do that and the flexibility. Um, so I ran for office and I won. And um, that started my, you know, my original journey was just helping my city figure out their finances.

The Placentia Embezzlement Scandal

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Is this the is the background C related to a scandal that had happened? Um, it was like a major taxpayer money scandal.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Yeah, I mean, really, that was the cherry on top. Um that happened right before I ran, but they were in trouble already. So that was just like oh my gosh, when I got there, I realized it was just a stab in the back to the other employees that someone would embezzle money from a city that didn't have any. Because I was like, where did he find that money? Well, where you find it is is you find it in the designated accounts. For instance, he stole money that was set aside for like sewer repair, or you know what I mean? Like it wasn't general fund money where you pay your bills.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

Yeah. So I just want to give the listener a bit of context. So this happened in 2016. This is a former services manager, and he was accused of steal stealing city funds through unauthorized wire transfers. Correct. Apparently, the total was 5.16 million that got embezzled between two years, and then he later pleads guilty to 106 felony counts. Yes. Um, and then is sentenced to 25 years in state prison in 2017. So that that was a cherry on top for you, and that was part of the reason why people were looking to you as maybe a a transition point to better Yeah, they were looking for new blood for sure.

SPEAKER_04 5:37

Um, and so I was a brand new face, right? Um for running for office in my city, and so I think people were really open to that. But I wasn't the only one running. There were actually nine candidates running for three seats, um, but only two of those were open. One was an incumbent. So it was quite the ordeal to run.

Why Rhonda Decided to Run

SPEAKER_02 5:56

Uh were you personally frustrated? Because I'm thinking when someone asks you to run, I know that this is how recruitment happens for a lot of candidates for parties. Uh, were you I'm uh I'm assuming that maybe your engagement already, having been at the Chamber of Commerce and elsewhere, you're used to it and you're comfortable. So when they came to you and asked you to run, what was your first reaction where you were like, uh, I have a business or I'm thinking about my family, or I'm What I was trying to communicate is it was so key the person that asked.

SPEAKER_04 6:24

She was already doing the same type of job. She knew me well. And so I had to pause and say, she must see something in me that tells her I could be able to help. So that meant a lot. It meant a lot who asked. It wasn't just in passing, like she took me to lunch and gave me the full court press. And so then it was just a matter of, you know, talking to my family and making sure that everybody was cool with it. And me just kind of pausing, thinking about it, praying about it, and just realizing, you know what? This is how our system works. In America, people volunteer for public service. I mean, because these lower level positions are not full-time, they don't pay well, and you're really literally a volunteer. And so it's just a public service that you're doing for your community to try to make it better. I was down for that at the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

What is the relationship between the role that you were playing in government at this point and with you know, state government in Sacramento? Like what relationship were you did you guys have? I'm assuming that they m had an understanding that embezzlement was happening, or maybe they didn't.

SPEAKER_04 7:28

Oh yeah, yeah. So the the way the embezzlement went down as far as other people getting involved, first of all, the district attorney comes in right away and he, you know, seizes everything, goes after that guy, you know, he does all of that. I think what it did from the state is the state came in and did an audit, um, because what's going on over there type thing. And then, you know, they call for an audit, which they do from time to time to cities anyway, but it's obviously a very big pain because it takes up a lot of time to do that with the state. But that was sort of their reaction, but because we were handling it so well locally, the state kind of just let us do it. I think if we weren't handling it well, the state would have probably had a stronger arm. Okay. But um, but we got it into court right away, and that judge, and rightly so, he was penalized so bad because this was public money. This was tax dollars, and and he had public trust. And so the judge really took that into account when he gave him his uh punishment and his consequences.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

He's still in jail today. Yeah, I would love to get a sense of did when you were in the role, did it meet your expectations and more? You know, you're now running for the state senate. So I'm assuming that you had a great experience in the role that you uh were first elected to, but would like to hear from

Discovering the City's Financial Crisis

SPEAKER_02 8:54

you.

SPEAKER_04 8:54

There's a lot there, but I'll start with this. Um, obviously, fiscal sustainability was the issue, correct? So when I came in, that's the first thing I did is what are we looking at? You know, I sat down for about three hours with the finance people and said, what are the numbers? Where are we bleeding the most? Like what cuts have we made, just so I could get up to speed and understand how bad it is. And this is how bad it was. The reserves that we had in the bank were $49. And everywhere I go to speak, they think that's a typo. And I said, No, it was $49. And I laugh about it now, but I wanted to cry back then because it was a real number. Yeah, and so every year the city gets audited, and a CPA firm comes in and does your finances, and you end up with a number at the bottom that says, This is how much is just reserve. In other words, everything bills have been paid, right? All of that, and this is how much you have left. And that the so that $49 was an audited number.

Turning $49 Into $15 Million

SPEAKER_04 10:08

So I knew we had to get to work. And I, you know, you never do this alone. So I'm gonna say I a lot, but obviously you need three votes for everything because there were five of us. You need a great staff, right? You need a lot of people helping, but you do need somebody that's a change maker that's gonna come in and push everybody um to move in the right direction. And so I think that I believe I was a catalyst for the change that we had because by the time I left eight years later, we had $15 million in the bank. And roads were being paved, police had the tools they needed, we created our own fire department, economic development was booming, housing was restarted, and it honestly, a lot of it was me implementing my own personal um budget beliefs, and also as a business owner, um, implementing a lot of those same, you know, culture, customer service, um, just being very driven and engaged. And the reason I had such a great experience is because it worked. So everything I did didn't work, but almost everything I did worked, and I got my colleagues to agree to go in the same direction. You know, you I only needed three. Um, I didn't always have five. Um, but I got them to agree that yeah, this makes sense, let's go in this direction. And so we were able to keep moving the ball forward, moving the ball forward. That whole time, though, the more and deeper I got into, you know, pension funds and all of the things where where the state starts to have an effect. And in our state, we have a very active um state that creates literally hundreds of laws a year. Yeah, those laws I could I could see that they were impeding my ability to progress in the way my constituents, you know, here in the city wanted me to. And it was like trying to do it with one hand tied around behind my back because obviously I don't want to break the law. I want to do what I'm supposed to be doing, but at the same time, I have to keep people in my city safe. Yeah, I have to keep business going. I have to do what I have to do here for my people. And Sacramento, which is California's capital, so that's why you'll hear me say Sacramento, um, they kept getting in the way. And they kept doing more and more onerous bills and making things harder and harder for me. And that's why by the end of my tenure, I was pretty fired up about the fact that we needed some better representation in Sacramento that remembered what it was like to run a city and what it was like for people on the ground, you know, the people that live in the city, because it started to feel like they had forgotten that connection.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

A lot of them. At least enough of them that they would pass bills that made no sense, you know what I mean, for a lot of the things we were trying to accomplish.

Why City Finances Matter to Residents

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Could you help us contextualize? So, you know, why is it so concerning to have $49 in the reserve? Like what does that actually how does that actually hurt a voter to know that that's something that is true? Um, and what does it end how how does it end up hurting them?

SPEAKER_04 13:38

Okay, so first of all, what I would say is clarity around a budget and an actual number. So the number, the $49 number I gave you were audited financials. It was really what happened. A budget is what we hope will happen, right? And it's it's gonna move and jive. It's just like your home budget, right? I think it's gonna be this, but then all of a sudden your rent goes up, you gotta adjust, or um you get a new job, or you lose a job, right? You're always moving. So a city budget's the same way. It's it's a hope that things are gonna go this way and we're gonna be able to accomplish these things, but along the way, you have to be revisited all the time, right? So that's the one thing I learned is that the budget doesn't just stay stagnant. It is, I would every three months I would have them come back in the public meeting and talk about is the budget working? Are we bringing in as much money as we thought? Is there more expenses than we thought? Like what is happening with that budget that we originally, right? Because governments like to just say, oh, we balanced the budget, and then they come back a year later and say, Oh, that budget got blown. You know, we spent way more than we thought. So as an elected official, you have to hold them accountable, right? You have to hold them to that budget. But I would say to the second part of your question, which was what does $49 in the bank mean? It means the same thing as if you only have $49 in your savings account. It's a complete lack of security and resources to do anything. So for instance, our police had guns that were like their rifle guns were like 30 years old. They shouldn't even have been using them. They were out of service. Their cars were like super old and needed maintenance all the time, and they needed their cars replaced. So your public safety is not getting the things they need to be efficient. Like, especially now in policing, for example, you have all these non-lethal options, right? You want your police to have those. They didn't have cameras, they didn't have body worn cameras. Well, you can't do any of that if you only have $49.

SPEAKER_03 15:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:42

Somebody calls you and says, and this is a real scenario. Somebody called and said, the slide at the park is broken. So we would have to go remove the slide so that there was no liability, right? Nobody got hurt, but we didn't have the money to replace the slide. So the kids just didn't get the slide. It's just like little things like that that really can frustrate people in the city. Their roads were crumbling because there was no plan for creating income and funds to pave the roads, which a city has to do all the time, right? You're constantly paving roads just to stay on top of all the roads. So it's it's a big, big problem. Um, not to say like you don't even have one payroll in the bank.

SPEAKER_02 16:31

If something were to happen, like, I don't know, a pandemic or something, and you lost, suddenly lost some income, you have nothing to fall back on because you don't voters can't expect to can't expect Sacramento to bail a city out.

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Is that even that's not well no, because I mean, no, it in some cases it's possible to get money from the state and federal government, but on an ongoing cause basis, no, cities are expected to function on their own.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Well, look, I I ask really because I don't know if people are able to understand that in a way that like should shock them. And so uh to to expel it out the way you did is helpful so that they understand when they're walking around their neighborhoods, like maybe understand why you I don't know. Things aren't getting done.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

I mean, there could be a lot of reasons things aren't getting done, like priorities, except, but it also could be a lack of funding, like there's just no money to do those extra things.

Fixing Government Inefficiencies

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Yeah, so I want to maybe jump a little bit further in the conversation, and you know, it's surprising that you were able to grow the coffers up to 15 million. What kind of inefficiencies did you did government have in in Placentia that just had to get the rug taken from under and you know, revamp or m make a new? I'm curious. But I'm like, especially when it comes to um systems or well, yeah, I'll leave it there.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

Yeah. So it's just like even if you went into a company, right? So if you're a good leader, you go in and you question everything and you find out about everything and you take suggestions and you listen. And then once you have a handle on something, you attack it. So, of course, one of the first things I knew how to do was economic development, right? I'm a business owner. So the question is, is how are we making it as easy as possible for businesses to function and thrive in our community? So you go to that department and you say, like, what does it take to get a business license here, right? And then you realize, to your point on systems, why are there 24 steps to get a business license? Like, why can't they just walk in, pay a fee, and get a business license and get going in our city? Um, why are we impeding that? Why is the fire department taking so long to go there and approve what they've done? Like things like that.

SPEAKER_03 18:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

Um, and so then you just push that department, you're like, can you put it down to 12? Like you walk them through it, right? You make them meet, you create a committee, and you say this committee's charge is to make getting a business license as easy as possible. Go talk to other cities, find out how the people, right? Right, you just attack it.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Yeah.

Economic Development and Attracting Businesses

SPEAKER_04 19:16

Um, and then because the idea is that you get your economic engine going, right? So then um there were opportunities for me as an elected. I had to be willing to put in the time, but I could go to conferences and conventions, and I could talk to, let's say, people that want to build a hotel, people that want to build an apartment building or buy land, and I could tell them, hey, we want to do that in placentia. What does that look like for you? What do I have to do to prepare my city to have something like you have? Um, talking to franchises. Why don't you have a Starbucks in Placentia? You know, why don't we have a Chick-fil-A here? And then you talk to them and you work through those issues and you invite them and you say, We want you here, we want to find space for you. Because so many cities don't bother to do that. The minute you do it, people get excited. Oh, they want us. Well, if you want us there, right? Like, let's try to work on something because everybody wants to make money, everybody wants the win. Um, and so, you know, not one of those is gonna do it, but when you start getting multiple things going in your city, and land is turning over, so you get higher um property taxes, and businesses are doing better, and new businesses are coming into town, and people are using those businesses, you get better sales tax. So you get that rolling, right? And then you start looking again back at um outside contracts, things like that. Um, one of the biggest um drivers for us was our fire department.

Building a New Fire Department

SPEAKER_04 20:57

We had um been using the county fire department, which meant it wasn't ours, they just worked for us um underneath a contract service. That contract kept ballooning up every year. They had like an inflation writer. So while our city's bankrupt and going down, their contract is going up. And so you're just, you know, you look at a pie chart, right? And the fire part is bigger than any other part, right? You're like, okay, something's wrong here, because we're not that big of a city. Like, what is going on that we have to pay this much, right? Okay, so that's why one of the biggest moves that I took while I was on city council is left that county fire and built our own fire department, which was extremely controversial, although it should not be, um, because we were only doing it because we wanted to control the costs.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:53

And we weren't able to under a contract with somebody else, right? Um, that was a huge effort that saved the city. About $28 million over 10 years. And then the other arm is that to your point earlier, what can you get out of the state and federal government? What I found is when I got there is that there are grants and things that you can get from both the state and federal government, but you have to go get them. You have to work for it. So basically, I used to call it like going and begging for my people's tax money back, right? Because it's all

Securing State and Federal Grants

SPEAKER_04 22:28

tax money.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

And is this like going to the Capitol in Sacramento or to DC and basically lobbying and saying, you know, what's out there?

SPEAKER_04 22:35

And you hire a consultant that knows about different grants and you get money to redo parks. You can get money to redo a road. Now it's one-time money, so it's not an ongoing source of funds. But as long as you manage that well, you can still use it to improve your city. Um, but you have to make an effort, right? You have to fill out the grant application, you have to go visit them and you know, prove to them that you're gonna do good things with the money and all of that. So honestly, it was just like all hands on deck, everything, you know, you go after it all. You have to go after everything in order to turn things around.

Lessons Learned in Public Service

SPEAKER_02 23:12

And you're doing this while it's a volunteer position to be on city council. Yes. And I know that you so you're not you're a business owner and I can feel that you have the entrepreneurial spirit. Was there anything about being in holding that office that I don't know required building a new muscle or like that put you out of your comfort zone? Like, was it something new for you to go and lobby, for instance, and yes speak that language?

SPEAKER_04 23:39

Every single day. And so you can tell I'm the type of person that thrives in that kind of environment. I loved the challenge, and it it made it even better because I could see it working. I could see it happening, I could see the change. I mean, the first thing that happened for me was I got the Starbucks. The a beautiful new Starbucks was built, and it was a Saturday, and I happened to go there and get something, and I looked around the Starbucks and I saw families, people chatting with friends, someone with their dog outside, and I almost wanted to cry because it just instantly became this thing that how did we ever live without it? You know, like because people were enjoying it so much. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I had a part in creating something of value that everybody's now enjoying, and their their lives are better because of it, right? They the enjoyment's there and the service and you know, all of that. And so to do that over eight years and multiply it, create homes for people and different types of homes, and and to have a part in what they look like and you know where they're gonna be, and um, it just was such a great way to be of service to people, to add value to people's lives. I mean, it was truly addicting. Um, but I am a big believer in term limits.

Why Run for California State Senate?

SPEAKER_03 25:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 25:06

And so after eight years, I was like, you know what? Um, this place is in good shape, and I've done my work here. And I felt like um I needed to do something different. Um, and I knew that this Senate seat, which was a newer seat from the 2020 census, um, was available. And so I was like, maybe I want to do more of this at a different level. And of course, obviously, a state legislature, the effort is gonna look very different for making a difference, but I'm really learning as I run um what that would look like for me, how I could feel like I was making a difference, because um I really need to be able to do that, or it would be very frustrating.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Yeah, and this is if you could help me timestamp this, the first time that you consider the state senate, what year was that? 22. Got it. Um, and then you run again in 2026. I'm curious, like, how was the first time running for that seat? And what did what are you learning about it now that you're running for it again?

SPEAKER_04 26:17

Yeah, so I am so glad I decided to run before, although I wasn't really prepared and I didn't have enough time. So it was kind of a sprint race. New maps had just come out, and there was an incumbent that I was running against, which is always really, really tough. So I didn't really have a lot of time, and I was mayor of my city that same year, which in some ways helps your visibility and your title on the ballot, but in other ways, you're very busy because I wasn't gonna rip off my city, right? Because I was running for Senate. So I kind of did both, which made me pretty crazy. Um, but what happened is I got to learn what it's like to run for a state office in California. Like California is very big, my Senate district is almost a million people, so it's it's a huge effort. But I got to learn that, and I also learned that when that senator won the seat again as an incumbent, that it was his last term and he was terming out. So that meant now I'm running in an open seat.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Now you're even more prepared.

SPEAKER_04 27:22

And I've been working on it for four years. So I feel I feel very prepared, and every day I feel more and more prepared as I visit with people in the community, with businesses. I learn more and more about how I could be effective. Um, you know, because obviously a legislature, you run bills, right? That's what you do. And so learning about what that would look like for me and for my the people in my district, um, what could help move the needle for them and be

What Business Owners Want Changed

SPEAKER_04 27:52

helpful?

SPEAKER_02 27:52

And what are some of the misgivings that the business owners in your district have about the way that Sacramento is running running the show? Like what are the things that they're asking you to change?

SPEAKER_04 28:03

Really, a lot of it is about um maybe potentially rolling back some things that don't either aren't fair or don't really apply anymore.

SPEAKER_00 28:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:13

Because sometimes what happens is they don't pay attention because they're running so many bills that they pile things on top of each other and they never got rid of the bottom one.

SPEAKER_03 28:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:23

And so last year when I I visited with 100 businesses in a hundred days last year, so I heard a lot of stories, and those business owners gave me a lot of time in all kinds of different industries, and there's a lot of similarities, and then there's also a lot of specific things within certain industries that would be helpful. So I feel fully prepared for that area to understand how I can make business better in California. Also, I'm a business owner, so I know what's happened to me in the last say 10-15 years and the extra things that I'm required to do as a business owner. And so if we could pause some things or roll some things back to make it a little bit easier, I think it would really jump start because a lot of people, for instance, they won't hire an employee because of the cost and the obligations and stuff like that. So if we could create a way that they make more money, maybe roll back some of the owner, you know, really recent onerous stuff that came on to create that balance of they're in a position now to say, you know what, I will hire that extra person. Guess what? Everybody just won.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:37

Right? The the the state won, the business won, and the person who got the job won, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:43

So and I have to say, like, I this is something that I've heard many times before when it comes to California. Uh different parts of the country too, but that there are constantly rules upon rules upon rules that get added on each other, and sometimes there is a need to also cut them to make things faster and efficient. How does one think about the way to clean up uh the regulation, the regulatory system so that it's a bit more efficient?

Cutting Red Tape and Regulatory Reform

SPEAKER_04 30:09

Yeah, what I've done is um so out of those interviews on my website is a 10-point business plan. It's very general, right? It has big general buckets that all those business owners told me and that any business owner can relate to. And then um, and and different buckets where I would like um broadly make things better. However, in my notes from those meetings are about 18 bills that I could run, like specific instances, specific codes, ordinances, specific things in those industries that made sense to me to roll back. For instance, I would love to work on here in California, it used to be if they added benefits or something that a business owner had to do, like sick pay, or now we have to uh uh provide retirement. When they added those, they would say, anybody with 50 and under employees, you're exempt. We'd like you to do it, but we understand that's not reasonable to ask for smaller employers, but bigger employers, we think they should offer these things, right? They did away with that. Now, someone with three employees has to offer the same thing as someone with 3,000 employees. That is so unfair. And it's not a level playing field at all because of the income difference in those two entities, right? So I would like to work on bringing back some of those exemptions because I think it's our smaller business owners that are really suffering. And they're suffering because the expectations on them got to be too heavy from the government, treating them as if they have the same resources that a large business does. That's just one example of many. I treated public safety the same way. I've been interviewing sheriffs, firemen, EMTs, paramedics to talk to them about how's public safety going, policemen, what is new in the last 10 or 15 years that has really made things harder for you, or where did it make it easier? Is there anything good that happened so that I know that too? Um, and so they've given me a list of things that happened. Um, and so I feel pretty clear about where I could go in that area as

Cost of Living and Voter Concerns

SPEAKER_04 32:30

well.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:30

So, and then of course, like cost of living and stuff like that, that comes out of like I love having booths at community meetings because people will come up and talk to you and give you a few minutes. I do knock on doors as well. I catch people off guard, right? So they may or may not talk to me. Um, but it gives me a chance to talk to them when you say the cost of living is high and things are unaffordable. What specifically is the hardest for you? And you know, someone might say healthcare or they might say groceries because their housing is okay, and whereas somebody else might say housing, the rent's too high, right? But I'm good, I can afford the gas bump. I can you know what I mean? Yeah you start having these conversations and you start honing in on where the real pain points are, yeah, yeah, and then you start researching what I could do to make it better.

Governing in a Divided Legislature

SPEAKER_02 33:24

Yeah. And you know, I'm I'm curious because um sometimes, I mean, usually it's a good thing to have a candidate that you believe in win. And then it's another thing to know that in the legislature, it depends also on the number of like whether or not you have the votes. And so, what are some of the concerns that you have with trying to make sure that you have these goals that you you've set for yourself and also then the willingness of the potential colleagues that you'll have in at the Capitol to pass any of this? Do you feel like it's going to require a lot of convincing, or do you think that this is um something that people are?

SPEAKER_04 34:04

I think some of it will, but my goal, you know, I'm a realist, and so my goal, even when I talk to probably the business owners, not necessarily people on the street, yeah, but the business owners, I say, look, we can't do broad sweeping change. Like it'll be too hard. But where can we move the needle? That's the the phrase I like to use because the needle has moved. It's you know, I always I always say I did this one article and it was called Death by a Thousand Cuts. Because that's what it is. It didn't all happen at once, right? It's happened over 20, 30 years, is how it's happened. So we probably don't get out of it all at once, right? We get out of it by a culture of winding some things back, but trying not to go too far because obviously there's times when we we created laws for a reason, right? Something was happening that wasn't good. Um, and business does need boundaries. Um, I'm not saying they shouldn't have any, um, but I'm saying that there's been too much, like it's gotten too onerous in in a lot of places. Um, so um there's that. Also, I think for some things that I know will be very difficult, um, this is really boring to talk about, but I'm in California we have a water

California's Water Infrastructure Challenge

SPEAKER_04 35:22

issue.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Yeah, no, that's a very serious issue.

SPEAKER_04 35:25

Water water infrastructure is very important to me. Yeah, but a lot of people don't want to talk about that um because it's so boring.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

This is this has to do with the Colorado River, right?

SPEAKER_04 35:36

It has to do with that, it's it has to do with the Delta, it has to do with how we, you know, half our state has a lot of water and half doesn't have any. And why don't we get that down here?

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:48

Like it's you know, there's people that have solutions for it, but nobody wants to spend the money. And in the 70s, we recognized the importance of infrastructure, and we built dams and we built tunnels and we got water to places that needed it, and all of those things, but we haven't done anything since then. And we need to always, as a state, I mean, we probably have, I don't know, what do you think, 10 times the population we had in the 70s? And and the fact that we're living off that same infrastructure is horrific. Yeah, so I think part of it is too, is are you willing to use your, you know, your, I don't know how to describe it, your your voice, your influence to just bring it up to remind people that it's there. And while it's not a sexy subject, it's a very urgent subject, and politics can't be all fun and games, right? We can't just do the fun soundbite things. We're responsible for keeping people safe and providing good infrastructure for them. And the minute you don't do that, something will happen, something really bad, and it will expose the fact that that's been ignored for so long. And so I I feel really strongly about that too, that I can at a minimum use my voice because they run about 2,000 bills every session in California, and probably about 800 to a thousand of those actually get signed by the governor. So they're pumping out a lot of bills, but not a lot make it across the line. But every single one of those goes to committee, right, and gets a name, and there's something to talk about. And I noticed that a lot of elected officials they'll run the same subject over and over again and keep honing the bill in and honing the bill in, and you're working and you're wearing people down, right? To get them to move.

SPEAKER_03 37:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:45

And so there's some strategies you can deploy, um even when you're in the minority party. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

And so does it am I right to say that you're a realist and maybe an optimist, or are you measured to Oh, yeah, for sure.

AI, Campaigns, and the Future of Politics

unknown 37:58

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 37:59

And one thing that I would love to know as you're running in this uh campaign is how has the art of running changed now relative to when you were running in 2022? I'm like looking at the news and you know, AI-generated content and content creators, and also the fact that voters do not like AI at all, or a lot of them don't.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

Are you seeing that the way to campaign has changed a lot now that you're adapting to new means or well, I would say that right now so far, because it's just the primary, yeah, um, I I may change my mind, but so far I have not used AI.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:37

But I do see the advantages, and um especially in terms of it's really hard to get people to volunteer for a campaign today. And if you had AI that could robocall or do some tasks that you used to normally have people on the phone calling voters, um, as long as voters were informed about that, they could still have a conversation and they could still give me feedback about either the race or an issue, things like that. So I do feel tempted in that area. Um, and I think the ads are super fun. I am a huge social media person. I don't know if you look that up, but I really enjoy sharing the journey and bringing people into that. And so I do like so uh the AI generated because I think it's very obvious, but it's also very entertaining. Um, so I enjoy that. But so far um I'm doing my authentic uh reels, it's just me and

Why Volunteers Matter in Elections

SPEAKER_04 39:42

my phone.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

And and and can you explain a bit more about the the value of having to volunteer? So, how does that help a campaign when they're out and about? Like what do the volunteers actually give you guys for the for the run?

SPEAKER_04 39:56

Volunteers are everything because running a campaign is so expensive. So you have, you know, you have a treasurer and you have a consultant, um, you have a fundraiser, so you have these people that you're paying, and so you're looking for, you don't want to keep paying more and more people, right? So if you have volunteers that will come in and do something, let's say, for instance, you know, I've been walking doors, so last weekend I had probably 25-30 people show up to walk doors, and they did it as a volunteer. There's some campaigns that will pay walkers 20 bucks an hour, so that's a lot of money, yeah. Right? And so for a lot of campaigns, if people will volunteer and you can still contact voters and put up the numbers, yeah, um, it's just so much better for the you know, for the campaign. And you know, people want why are why are uh politicians always raising money? Well, that's why.

SPEAKER_00 40:57

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 40:58

And so to minimize that, if the more people that are willing to volunteer for you, the problem is is that volunteers to to get a committed volunteer that you can rely on is very difficult.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

And and so what do you think is gonna what do you think the future is gonna look like? I mean, if volunteers don't feel that engaged, then what's the alternative for campaigns? Is it that they just have to do with they have to hire people, they just have to hire.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

Yeah. You have to hire people to do it, and many of them do today.

SPEAKER_02 41:26

Okay. So then you just have that's an added expense, and that means just more need to raise money.

SPEAKER_04 41:32

Exactly. Exactly. So you try to avoid that as long as possible because you know there's just a lot to spend money on, and so you try to spend it as wisely as you can.

SPEAKER_03 41:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:42

Um, so um, I'm grateful that I do have a lot of people in my life willing to volunteer, but there are some areas where I realize, you know what, I may just have to start spending in order to get the support that I need. Because I I can only be stretched so far.

Running as a Republican in California

SPEAKER_02 41:59

So I I do want to um start to get too close to the ending. And one question that I have is we can't escape the fact that there's a lot of gerrymandering happening, and that so you're running as a Republican in a very blue state. How has it been like to run in your district? And um, I'm not sure if the party affiliation seems to matter that much given that you have a lot of experience that you can point to.

SPEAKER_04 42:24

So I would say I think today in society, for a lot of people, the party matters. But the trend that we're seeing, especially in my district, but I think in California as a whole, yeah, is people are choosing to re-register no party preference. They they are disenchanted with both parties. And to your point, um I do like the idea, to be honest with you, because I feel like I can talk to that voter. Um, and they've given themselves permission to vote for whoever they want, if that makes sense. I mean, you could do that no matter what in California because everybody's on the ballot here.

SPEAKER_03 43:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:04

Um, but you know, am I gonna be loyal to the party, right? There's a certain percentage of people that are just loyal to their party. Um so I'm looking for those people where it's up for discussion.

unknown 43:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 43:15

And that group keeps growing here, which is very exciting. Um and so I would say more and more they're open to it. Um, but there's always that small percentage that aren't that you have to just be aware of. And I think what I do is is we have so so such great voter data now that um we kind of know not to go to your house. So, in other words, I'm not gonna try to talk to someone who's not open to talking, right? That doesn't make sense. It's a waste of time for me and them, right?

SPEAKER_03 43:50

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:51

Um, it'd be it'd be fun to spar, but we don't really need to be doing that. Um so and honestly, what keeps me motivated and excited. Is one I feel like there's a lot of people that want some better conversation in our state government here. And I know at some point it's gonna turn. And if we don't have choices on the ballot, then that's not gonna happen. We have to have people willing to step up even when it's hard.

SPEAKER_03 44:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

And so that's why I feel passionate about it. And I think if you look at most recently Ohio, if you look at Arkansas, if you look at a lot of other states, they spent a long time in the same political uh place that California's in, and there was a point where it started to shift, and now they're more conservative than they were before. And so there is precedence for that ebbing and flowing.

SPEAKER_03 44:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

Um, and so um now how long? California's been going on for a long time. We've had a supermajority for about 15 years, and that's that's hard, but I think people are also seeing the result of that. In other words, you know, a lack of conversation, a lack of feeling represented, you know, because um they don't have to, so why would they, right? Why take the extra time to have discussion if you don't need to?

SPEAKER_03 45:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

So um I get that question a lot. Do you do you think they'll talk to you? I'm like, why, why, why take the time? You don't

Why Citizens Should Pay Attention to Local Government

SPEAKER_04 45:24

have to.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Uh so I I think the uh a great way to end the conversation is, you know, like if you end up taking the position to serve in state senate, what advice do you give to those in Placentia and to try and get them to to care, you know, to appreciate kind of the change that did happen um while you were in office and to encourage them to continue on?

SPEAKER_04 45:48

Oh my goodness. I would say just start paying attention because it's hard. It takes time to do that, and people are busy. Um, so where is it that you could start to pay attention? Um, do you care about parks? Do you care about housing? Like, what is your issue? Is there one thing that you could keep track of and try to understand more? Um, because I think my favorite thing is issues voters. Because like you and I have talked about a lot of issues today, and I love that. Because even though I'm running as a Republican, and I think that's a fair way for me to run because I'm registered as a Republican, but I think the majority of the ideals that Republicans, you know, free markets and um those resonate with me, and people can expect that from me. And so I feel like it would be disingenuous to like re-register as something else. You know what I mean? I think that would be not be fair to the voters. So that's why I didn't make that decision. But I would love like younger people that are, you know, running, like um maybe registered as an independent or something like that, or even if you aren't another party, just try to try to um look at issues that are affecting your life. You know, I had somebody call me yesterday about Israel and Palestine, and I'm like, you know, I really I really want to make cost of living better for you. And I want you to feel safe in your neighborhood. Like, that's why I'm running. And I'm not running for Congress. You know what I mean? Everybody wants to talk about these big issues while their city's crumbling. So it's like, try to divert some of your energy on the debate about you know, worldwide issues um to what's really happening and affecting your life here on the ground. Um, especially uh people in university and in colleges, they love to debate the big issues.

SPEAKER_03 47:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:50

Um, which I appreciate that because I mean, obviously, I stay in tune as well. Um, it's interesting, but at the same time, the place that makes your life actually better is city government. Um, and then your state government is next, and then it's your foul door government.

SPEAKER_03 48:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

In that order, and that's the way the constitution has designed it

Where to Follow Rhonda Shader

SPEAKER_04 48:13

to be.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Yeah. Yeah. I totally understand. Well, Rhonda, it was amazing to talk to you. Um, how can people learn more about you and follow you as you run in your campaign?

SPEAKER_04 48:23

Yeah, so I have my website, which is shader for for senate.com, and then I'm on Insta, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, and it's all Shader for Senate. Um, so yeah, would love people to connect with me and any feedback would be great. And hopefully your listeners were encouraged, inspired, got something of value out of our conversation today.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Uh, I sure did. So uh thank you again, and we'll keep in touch. Okay, sounds good.

SPEAKER_04 48:54

Thanks, Carrie.

SPEAKER_01 48:55

That's Rhonda Schader, former city councilor and mayor placentia, who's running for state senate in California for District 34. If you enjoyed this episode, then I encourage you to subscribe to the show wherever you listen. I am Carrie Rodriguez. Thank you for listening, and I'll see you at the next episode.