Joey: I'm here with Megan Dahle, who. You're running for state assembly.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: You were explaining before, because I am not educated on how the state senate or state assembly, in fact, I was embarrassed. But thank you for educating me now. So now when I go out, I'll remember, but can you. For the people that weren't listening, one more time.

Megan: So the 1st Assembly district is nine counties. So it ranges from the Oregon border down to Tahoe. Seven full counties and two partial counties, which are Butte and plaster partial counties. It's 25,000 square miles.

Joey: And it's based on the population, right?

Megan: Yes.

Joey: Like a census thing.

Megan: So it's close to a half a million people that you represent in the assembly district. In a senate district it's close to a million people. So there's 80 assembly members, and 40 senators.

Joey: Does it work similar like with the national level where like the bills are brought up through assembly and Senate?

Megan: Yes.

Joey: And they're voted?

Megan: And you hear them in committee on either side. So if you start a bill in the Senate, you would hear it through your committee process there, and then they would be taken over to the assembly and voted for on, on the assembly side. Same for the assembly. You bring them up through your committee process and then take them over to the Senate. So you have to have both houses vote on your bills.

Joey: Is it.

Megan: And then the governor has to sign them.

Megan: Is it a majority or is it two thirds? Does it matter? Does any of that stuff matters?

Megan: It depends on if it's a tax or it depends on what kind of bill it is.

Joey: Okay. So now your husband was this. The seat you're running for, your husband vacated because he won the state senate?

Megan: Yes, state senate.

Joey: Okay. So he. You guys have been partners, you're business owners?

Megan: Yes. So we've been married for 20 years, and we have three children.

Joey: Congratulations.

Megan: Yes. We're farmers and we also have a trucking division of our business. So yes, we're 100% partners. I run the day-to-day operations. I started doing that when Brian was first elected, almost seven years ago. Just took over the day-to-day operations as well as the employees and all that entails to be a small business owner.

Joey: Was your guys family background farming or?

Megan: Mine wasn't. Brian is third generation farming in Lassen County and our son Chase, who is adamant that he's taking over the farming business, he'll be fourth generation, which we're very excited about that. My family is fourth generation Shasta County. So actually somewhat farmer, my grandpa did have cattle and now my uncle has that. But my grandfather was the farm manager in MacArthur for 43 years.

Joey: Oh wow.

Megan: So just our roots run very deep in Shasta County.

Joey: So you already. You always had aspirations you were going to run for.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: Political office, right?

Megan: We've been as a family, discussing it for at least two years. But when Ted Gaines won the Board of Equalization seat, that threw the Senate seat open and Brian was always planning to run for Senate. He was just going to wait until Ted turned out. So when that happened, then that opened up a special election for the Senate seat, which now creates a special election for the assembly seat.

Joey: Because that. I was going to say, because it was a special election and I know we voted for. So you and I were talking and I told you I'm. I try honestly not to plug into politics. It becomes overwhelming. It's like.

Megan: Yes, it is.

Joey: It's like chess, you know what I mean.

Megan: And the national level polarizes everything all down to your local politics. It just turns everything into something that's very polarized.

Joey: And just it's. And not civil at all.

Megan: Right.

Joey: I was talking with Jake Mangus the other day and we were talking about civil discourse, like what happened to the ability to disagree with the person without just name calling and gnashing of the teeth and I don't see that.

Megan: No.

Joey: Even the debates I like to watch, they've gotten. I watched some of the old debates with, what is it, William Buckley and I think maybe Noam Chomsky, were debating back in the day. And they were at least civil. You could tell like they had a seething for each other.

Megan: Right.

Joey: But at no point did it degrade into a.

Megan: Or turned personal. You should be talking about the issues and what the. Maybe the difference on how you would solve an issue, but it should not be a personal attack on someone.

Joey: And I don't even know if we talk about true issues anymore. I don't, at least at that level. So you wanted all that said like, "Why would you want to get into politics?" So what was the calling there?

Megan: Well, it is a calling. Politics is not, at least for our family, it should not be something that you just do for the title. I actually want the job. I know what the job means. It's a lot of work. There's. You need to be able to work your bills in committee. You can't just put forth a letter or. I've heard a lot of politicians speak for the last 20 years at events and things, but just to say, I put a letter forward or I authored a bill, but if the bill doesn't get out of committee and get onto the floor for even on the committee for discussion, you haven't really moved anything forward. You've talked about it and it feels good, but you haven't really done the work. So the work is, you have to meet with members on the committee and commence them, basically. And it's. We're in a minority party, I'm a republican. That your bill's a good idea, that it's good for your district, it's good for the state. You have to work through those things. And it is, it's work. It's not something that's glamorous. People would say, "Oh, politicians," it's a full day every day when you're down there Monday through Thursday. If you wanna be effective, which is what I will do and I'll be able to hit the ground running. There won't be any catch up for me, I'll be able to just take off.

Joey: You guys have the infrastructure?

Megan: We have the infrastructure built. Brian has excellent staff and a big thing that people. People that you've helped through casework, we call it casework. So say you need help with a DMV or you can't get your unemployment through or the EDD. EDD is giving you a hard time, whatever it is. You call your assembly members, you should be able to call your assembly member's office and that staff member will help you through that process. And whenever you have like a down day or a day that you're like, "Why am I doing this? Why did I get involved in this? This is crazy."

Megan: We have someone that works for Brian who does the casework, and he's just phenomenal. And we literally go through his successes.

Joey: Nice.

Megan: We just go through those emails and you're like, oh, you got this nurse her license that she's been waiting six weeks for, or Oh, you were able to get dentures for this person. Or, oh, this veteran was able to get back their $700 from their DMV fees that they overpaid. And that's where the real work is, is case work when you help people get through government, because there's so many layers to government and it should be working for us, not against us.

Joey: So when you decided to run, I know that I read the. I don't even know you call it the pamphlet. What is this.

Megan: The ballot statement.

Joey: Thank you very much. See, I told you, I don't know much about politics. I read the paper. But there was some of the things that you stated in there really jumped out at with me and resonated with me and my wife. Can you talk about some of the points that you're running on?

Megan: So public safety is something that I'm. And it's not just public safety for. When you say that, some people just go, oh, law enforcement. Public safety to me is also fire safe in our communities. Like after the catastrophic fires, we know that it's coming again and we need to be fire breaks around all of our communities. And there's a fire safe councils are already in place and every county and they can take money. So right now there's 200 million a year for five years. So a billion dollars is going to go to vegetation management. So I wanna make sure that that money gets to those fire safe councils or to other entities that are ready to go like that can go right to work. There's no, too much with government. There's so much red tape to actually get to work. So I wanna continue that and push on fire safety in our communities as well as public safety. Crime and homelessness are an issue for every part of this district. Clear up into the mountains where I live, it's creeping out and it's complicated. I know there's a lot of layers that, but we need to be working with our local government and our local sheriffs to find solutions for those things.

Joey: Man, that is a big one. That's one that I had a discussion the other day with Joe Mente came in, he stopped by and we were talking about it and we have a different outlook, different opinion. Again, we had wonderful civil.

Megan: Conversation.

Joey: Yeah. We had a wonderful conversation. Very civil and just said. I love his passion, I love his direction. I haven't seen, to me that's one of those problems that I still haven't seen any or heard anything that I thought, oh yeah, that'll help. And the other part of it is that like, what started that because that I really ramped up around 2007, 2008.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: And I know that we had the housing financial, but the people I'm seeing, I don't think like, oh yeah, they lived up in a gated community and lost their home and now they're.

Megan: No.

Joey: It's something there's have to be more going on.

Megan: Well there's layers to it. There's, drug addiction, people need to be in a rehab center. They need to be, helped out of addiction. But they can't. By living on the street that's not helping them out of addiction.

Joey: No.

Megan: There's mental illness. So people just stop taking their prescription drugs so they self-medicate through something else, which also doesn't help anything. And yes, I do think that there's some people that have lost their homes or they're just one paycheck away from not being able to make their rent, which then throws them into a situation. But I know that I've visited many times with Jonathan Anderson and they're never full. The good news rescue mission.

Joey: That's right.

Megan: Always has beds. It always has. So then it becomes a choice. Because I know they're putting in a dog kennel because that was another. That was a barrier for people. Well, I have an animal, so I don't wanna leave my animal on the street and okay, so we're going to. At some point you make everything available, but you also have to choose, there's free will and choice in our whole life.

Joey: What?

Megan: And we have. I know it's crazy what crazy talk. I know.

Joey: This is free will, then you speak up.

Megan: Crazy talk. I know. But you have to choose to come out of that lifestyle as well. There's some that are stuck there for legitimate reasons. But, I was visiting with him, it's like, if you're receiving a check every month to live on the street, what is your incentive to not live there?

Joey: That gets to a conversation you and I were having before the camera that where I said, I feel like we're going towards this nanny state where we're putting all this responsibility on the government and hey, when you give up responsibility, you give up freedom. And so I'm always going to lean heavy towards like, individual responsibility. And it feels like there's this huge battle between like no individual responsibility or absolute individual responsibility.

Megan: Right. So the government has. Absolutely, there's certain things that we want the government to do. Infrastructure. I wanna dial 911 and I want someone to come.

Joey: Absolutely.

Megan: I want the police. I want, in our care say, our area, it's deputies, they're like the backbone of our little community and our sheriffs. Because in a lot of these rural communities, your sheriff is literally your case worker. They're not all about just arresting you. They have a whole broader agenda in a positive way especially in the northern.

Joey: Absolutely.

Megan: I'm close to several of the sheriffs up north. So my perspective of law enforcement is maybe different than somebody like in LA because I look at them like they are a backbone of our community because they care about the marijuana grows on. Illegal marijuana grows on someone's property.

Joey: So we have a responsibility as government for public safety as well as infrastructure and to provide schools. Absolutely. But I don't think that we should in our schooling, take away the parent's responsibility to be involved. So I was elected to our school board. I was like, I need to get involved. I wanna be part of our kids' education. I want to look at the bigger picture, not just for our individual children, but I wanna run for that and be able to be part of that solution. Look at the budget. Look where we spend our money, what do we need to do? What are we adopting for curriculum? So I was on the board for four years, president for two of that. And it was really interesting. I found it was hard because local government is hard. It's divisive at times because you maybe don't. Change is hard for people. And, I like change. I'm somebody who likes, Hey, if it's not working, let's just go this way. If, let's just talk about it and move over here so.

Megan: But by doing that, I got to break down how we. I like numbers. Numbers never lie. They're just the way it is. So to look at those budgets and how you're funded and what you have to do and so I was like the budget guru on the board when I was there. But, now that I'm not on the board and there's new things coming, new curriculum coming, that I know that there's parent groups out there that are starting to unify and get together and say, "wait a minute", I don't want my children to know this or this, or they're not ready for this yet. It's more like it's age appropriate curriculum. And then there's people, they just, I'm not. I'm out. I'm going to homeschool my kids or I'm going to use a charter. And I think people should have choice in that because they're your children and you should be raising them. You should not just drop them off and you have to be involved. We were talking earlier about how important it's to be involved in your children's education. So our boys graduated from high school of with 52 kids in it.

Joey: That's small.

Megan: It's very small.

Joey: I thought mine was small. We were had like 330 and I thought we were small.

Megan: That's really. That's still pretty small. So, and they got a good education, but I was on it. As a mom, I made sure their A-G courses were all covered and that when it was time for Chase to start. Our oldest to start applying for schools, he had checked all those boxes. So if he did wanna go to university, he could.

Joey: And he did right?

Megan: And he did, he was accepted into Cal Poly. He just finished his first, his freshman year there.

Joey: And as we said, there's only one Cal Poly?

Megan: Yes. San Luis Obispo.

Joey: San Luis Obispo.

Megan: Yes. And we're proud of that. We're proud of it as.

Joey: You should be.

Megan: As parents and sometimes he thought I pushed them a little too hard, but that's the mom's job. And, but we made sure that that happened for him. And how we did that was like, "Hey, are you doing your homework? If you have a problem with the teacher, you go figure it out. You have to first go and then I'll go behind you, but you go figure it out".

Joey: So maybe I'm just hearing what I want to hear, but what I hear in there is this individual responsibility.

Megan: Absolutely.

Joey: You guys took responsibility as parents, you taught your child responsibility as a young man growing up. And that seems to be to me, a lots of times the other side of the coin, they come off like the beginning of it starts from a compassionate place. You say, Hey look, I don't wanna see these people struggle. But it very quickly morphs into this like, so what we need to do is have the government have more power. It's like, but the government, I don't want to be Ronald Reagan, because I think he went a little far with it, but they're not known for their efficiency of use of money. And the further you get away from the problem. I don't think that. I don't think people in DC really can help me. I'm. You know what I mean? I'm much more for like, hey, the locals need to come up with local solutions.

Megan: Yes. Because they know their area, they know their district, they know their cities, they know their towns. They know what's going to work, what's not going to work. So I am a big proponent of local government. Brian was a county supervisor for 16 years. I was on a school board. That's where you want the work to happen but the problem is, the state comes in and they mandate things, they layer things onto local government, your school board. And so often I found that too as elected on school board, that there were things that we had no choice over. You're like, what do you mean? I'm sitting on this, I do this every month. I come here, I pour over this agenda, I pour over this budget, and what do you mean I have to do it? Otherwise you're not going to get your funding. So there's this. I think it's a lie in the sense that, "Well, you have local control, but wait a minute, there's this attachment to it that you won't get your funding unless you do it the state's way". So there's a, it's a battle.

Joey: So going back a little bit, when you and your husband decided. Brian decided to run for assembly and you guys got involved in this and obviously you heavily involved in the day-to-day You've seen behind the curtain?

Megan: Yes.

Joey: So, okay.

Megan: Absolutely.

Joey: So what are some of the big lessons that you guys. Some things that hit you? I know you talked about helping some people and that was awesome. I didn't know that by the way. I was like, what you, I can get help. I'm a veteran. I can get help with my DMV. So I didn't realize it was so close to the public.

Megan: Absolutely. You just have to call, and most people don't know you can call or they were like, "I don't wanna bother you or what could they possibly do for me?" Well, no, constituent is a huge thing. And you should be using, you should be calling and asking for their help because that's what they do.

Joey: Now I know. So when he first got in office, when you guys were first there and he start. What were some of the things that. Was there any lessons like, wow, something new or something hit you? Was it maybe just the magnitude of how big the system is and how.

Megan: So when Brian was first elected, and he is in Sacramento Monday through Thursday because, some members can travel by train but the way the district is, it takes four and a half hours from our home to get to Sacramento. So, once you're there, you're there for the four days. So I think it became very apparent I owned a plant nursery. I had started a business with a dear friend and we'd built it, bought it from a woman who had it for 36 years. And I used to take the boys in there when they were small and just, I could see the pond, I could see everything that eventually would be there if I owned it. And 10 years later my friend and I had the opportunity to buy it. And, so we bought it and we started tearing everything down and built a new greenhouse. And I found out we were having Rosalyn. So that was in January. And so I then all of a sudden had a pregnant belly and dragging hoses through our new nursery in the summer with two small children running around me. And then, a year later, Brian, we talked and he was done being a supervisor. He thought he'd done everything he could at that local level. And so then we ran for assembly for a year while owning a plant nursery. And, then he got elected and it was very apparent that I was not going to be able to farm, run the trucking business, be on the school board and have the plant nursery. So a few things had to go. So sold the nursery. Did not.

Joey: I was visualizing the ponds.

Megan: Oh yeah, it's there. The pond is there. We sold it to the woman who worked for us. So it's still a thriving small business. I'm very proud of that. So when we first were elected in Brian, that first year. It's really, it is rough for, we call them freshman members, just getting your feet under you, figuring out your office, figuring out your staff, what's it going to look like. And I think there was like four marriages. That blew up that year, that very first year.

Joey: From people elected?

Megan: Yes.

Joey: It's just too much stress.

Megan: Yeah, so we just decided in that first year. That that wasn't going to be us.

Joey: I know.

Megan: And we made a commitment that, so I've been there. Every two to three months, I would spend four days there.

Joey: And so you've been involved the whole time.

Megan: Heavily involved. Yes.

Joey: When you get elected.

Megan: So I've been there when the AG overtime bill was happening in the TV in Brian's office's plane. And I'm screaming at the TV because what that means for AG is huge. And so I'm like, what are they. So I've been there for those, literally been in Sacramento during those times.

Joey: So you're going to hit the ground running when you get elected.

Megan: Completely hit the ground running.

Joey: Have all the infrastructure in place.

Megan: I know all the. I've met with the groups, the Farm Bureau, they know me, they know my name. And it's important because that relationship-building time. Isn't necessary, because we've already built those relationships. So the statewide firefighters have endorsed me. This California correctional officers have endorsed me.

Joey: Oh wow, those are big.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: And I think the chamber.

Megan: Yes, the chamber, yes, I'm so proud of that endorsement. Because as business owners, that's who we are.

Joey: No, absolutely. I'm an unabashed capitalist. I too, I want the government for infrastructure as well. I like running water. I like to drive on roads.

Megan: Yes, absolutely.

Joey: I've been to Texas, trust me. I like the roads in California. My tires and suspension like the roads in California. So, but I'm also going to be one of those people that says, I think our government's too big. I think it's, there's too much money going in. And too little services coming back. There's so much infrastructure that for every dollar I send, to the government, it's like right out of the gate. 20, 30 cents just gets ripped right off the top just to like handle the stamps and, it's. And everything. And so I'm like, hey, I would like us to tone down our government. I don't want more laws. I don't want more regulation. But I think there's a balance in there. We were also talking a little bit about with every. Almost every topic we can think of, the two extreme voices seem to be the two loudest and get heard and the moderate or the, what I would say the truth lies somewhere in between gets drowned out. And so I wonder like, is when you go in too do you have a couple of things, a couple of ideas or, some passion projects that you wanna get in there and what are they? And what kind of challenges do you see like coming in the first year or so after you get elected?

Megan: Well, because I'm realistic and I also understand what that means too. I think I wanna have conversations. Like I've visited with Tom Bosanko about some issues with overtime. Like if there's a catastrophic event and what that looks like for public safety and if they'll be able to, they have to tap into their general fund, which I don't think they should have to do that. I think there should be a fund set aside for catastrophic events that public safety can pull that. Because if you tap into your general fund, as we know, that's like a. It's like a coveted thing for local government. You do not want to have to use your general fund for things that aren't supposed to be for that. Heavy use tax is kind of a silly like personal thing.

Megan: But we pay a heavy use tax for our semi trucks to go up and down the road. It's $650 a year for miles we'll drive next year. And they put it in the general fund every year. It doesn't go to the roads. And so there's things like that along the way as a business owner, you're like, what do you mean? What are you talking about? I have no problem paying for infrastructure. Our trucks are heavy. They do damage to the roads. But if I'm going to pay a fee or pay a tax. I want it to go where it's supposed to.

Joey: Agreed.

Megan: During the gas tax conversation, I was also in Sacramento during that time and Governor Brown was, and I still have never been able to find this on video, but I know it's got to be out there somewhere. Someone asked him where the gas tax dollars went that we were already paying previous to the new gas tax. And he said, oh, that goes to the bond debt. I mean, just, that goes to the bond debt. So there's so many.

Joey: Well, you have to respect the honesty. At least he told the truth.

Megan: But how it was sold to the taxpayer and the constituency is we need this new thing because we're going to fix our roads. And if you drove on a road every day that's beating up your car, you would say, absolutely, of course, I want to pay. I'll go for that. But again, I don't really. People don't understand. And propositions are really complicated.

Joey: Yes.

Megan: Really complicated. Every election cycle, I have what I call a cheat sheet next to my home phone and everyone calls me and says, Megan, I don't know what to do. You just tell me how to vote. And I give them, I always say, this is how I'm voting. I'm not going to tell you how to vote, but I'm going to tell you how I'm voting. So if you trust me on that, then here.

Joey: So now I have your number, now I know who to call.

Megan: No, like this is how. So I keep, because again, there's staff that digs into these things further, because there's 3000 bills that they put forward.

Joey: Crazy.

Megan: And I think 900 are to 1,000 are signed every day, or every year. So you're breaking a law, you just don't know it. There's some law you're breaking, you're just not aware of it, because you're just going along and with your life. Trying to raise your kids, go to work, whatever, and you're breaking a law. So you're right, we need to take them laws off the books.

Joey: It's too much.

Megan: It's too much.

Joey: It's too much.

Megan: And it's just too much regulation. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I get some new form in the mail, I'm like, from the EDD, or whoever it is. And if you have employees, that's just exponentially harder.

Joey: And they're worded so kindly. They always start.

Megan: You have 10 days to comply.

Joey: Yeah.

Megan: I'm like, well, I'm not going to be able to comply in 10 days, because I'm not even going to be home, or whatever it is. Your workman's comp audit, you have to do. I need you to send me a description of every single one of your employees, and what they do, and I need you to da da da da da. And I'm like, okay, I feel like I just did that. I feel like that was not very long ago that I did that. And then I just got a bill, and I just paid it, because I didn't have time to dig into. And that's what happens. That's what happens with people.

Joey: It's too much, it's overwhelming.

Megan: And if it's just too much, and you're like, okay, forget it. I just, I give, I give. I'm like, I'm out. So, but what happened, and I mean, this is something that, when you're asking something that we learned about, this is a commitment to run for office. There are people that are mean, let's just be.

Joey: What.

Megan: Brutally honest. They're just mean.

Joey: Yeah.

Megan: And they have a one topic or they have two topics and they're just. They're issues and they're just sure that you are going to. You're going to just be the one that's going to dig in and take care of that. Those two things. And what will happen eventually, and I've seen that over time, is the people who run for office, who actually own a business or have children or just to have a life outside of politics, they're just not going to do it anymore. Because, especially with Facebook and the way you can be attacked and, you're scared. You're like, these are my kids, you're saying, mean things about my kids. How's that a thing? How's that a civil. You're talking about civility and being able to talk to somebody.

Megan: How can you say. You don't even know my kids, or you should stay home with your kids. Do you know my kids? My kids are fantastic. I've done a great job. I mean, but you will get. What you'll get are people who are like, I give, forget it. I'm not going to keep putting myself in this. But we can't leave our ground is here. We always say that. Like our ground was Brian's grandpa's ground and that's how farmers speak. It's not soil, it's ground.

Megan: It's very important to you. It's like in your roots and it's in our son's roots. I mean, Chase is just like. We're basically forcing him to stay at school. Because I'm like, you are going to finish and then you can come back and be a farmer. That's fantastic. I want you to do that. But it's in a. We can't pick it up. I mean, Brian said that many, many times out on the campaign trail. We're here and we're going to stay and we're going to fight and we're going to do everything we can to try to make this better so that our kids can have our ground.

Joey: I love that, by the way. That's awesome. And when you were talking, I was thinking about how many people I've heard say lately that they're like, " We were going to go to Idaho or Montana."

Megan: Yeah they just leave.

Joey: Or Wyoming.

Megan: Because. And I don't want it.

Joey: It's conceding. Complete conceding. And I hate seeing them leave.

Megan: Well It is, to a degree. But I feel like I just visited with someone yesterday. It's like, we've been here for seven generations or something and our kids are going to stay, but we have to go. We just can't do it.

Joey: Yeah.

Megan: And that's hard. And it's hard to hear.

Joey: Very hard to hear.

Megan: When you're out. And this is something you're signing up for to like fight for the north, specifically for the North state. And I mean, I have visions of being able to pass legislation that not only helps the North State, but it's something like statewide that will be effective. And particularly for homelessness. I really think there's a solution there. And talking with.

Joey: I hope you're right.

Megan: Jonathan Anderson. I really think that, but we can't continue to allow people to just choose to live that way, just because. And fund it.

Joey: Yes, that's the key.

Megan: The key is we can't fund, we can't continue as a taxpayer. And when you talk to a young person, it gets fun when our boys' friends are around, and they. We ultimately always get into a political discussion. And the boys, when they were much younger, I said, " Okay, let's difference between parties." And this is. I'm not really a basher on any side, but it like Chase, you go work really hard for 20 bucks, okay? And I'm going to give you 20 bucks. And I'll give your brother 10 because he is standing there, he's just standing next to you and I want you to give him half of what you worked really hard to get. And that's how I feel.

Joey: Chase had opportunities that his brother clearly didn't.

Megan: Oh, he's two years older.

Joey: Like getting up and actually going to work.

Megan: He gets up every morning at 6:00, because he is naturally the farmer that does that. So, but they're like, what are you talking about? I'm not going to just give him my money. I'm like, "I know. " It doesn't make sense to you, does it? So I as a taxpayer absolutely want us to have good roads. I want us to have hospitals. I want us to have public safety. I wanna have all of those things, but I'm going to work really hard for those things. But I'm not going to go just give it to somebody who's choosing to not do anything.

Joey: So I'm not going to bash on anybody, but I am going to. But I am going to say something. There was a famous, debate between, it wasn't a debate, but it was like a sparring contest between, president Kennedy and comrade Khrushchev. And since I don't speak Russian, I'll have to paraphrase. But basically Khrushchev said." We're both selling a product and I don't know who's going to win, but I know this, any population that can vote itself on the couch will." And I just like, his words resonate. Like, when you let people say, " Wait, I can vote to stay home and get half of Chase's money. " Yeah, I'll go with option B.

Megan: Yeah.

Joey: It's there's a.

Megan: Absolutely.

Joey: A portion of people that will do that. And the gateway is that you use compassion and you say, " Hey, look at this person who didn't get something." And what ends up happening though, is you're now taking that person as. I think President Bush had the. There's something about like, there's nothing worse than lowered expectations. Like not just saying help someone, you can help get them off the street, but there has to be a game plan for them to stand on their own two feet. Not like, " Look, you're going to be on the payroll for the rest of your life now. Isn't that awesome?" And that's where we've taken our welfare system. It's not a stepping stone to success. It's a life choice now.

Megan: Well, and everything should be higher expectations. If you work towards that and you're in everything you do, just raise it for yourself. Raise it for your kids, raise it for your employees. We wanna be as safe as possible with our, whatever equipment we're working on, whatever it is. I mean, we're environmentalists at heart. We're farmers. So do you wanna take care of your ground? You're not going to do anything to your ground that is going to ultimately hurt it long term for the next generation. So you just need that personal responsibility and raising your expectations. So, we've used it many times that our kids come out of a small school. It's was a great school and we got to raise our kids there. And they're, like I said, but Reagan, when he went to run for state office for FFA, it was like, oh, I'm coming out of a class of 13 kids.

Joey: Wow.

Megan: Yeah. So when you stood up on the stage at the convention in Anaheim and there's 7,000 kids, it's like well how are you going to do it different? Well, I'm here. I got here, 52 kids in my high school and 13 kids in my class. Here I am. So you can do it. Anybody out there that wants to do it, you can do it.

Joey: Did he win?

Megan: He did. He's state.

Joey: Awesome.

Megan: Vice president.

Joey: Oh, it's in the blood you guys. Wow.

Megan: Yes, yes. So, I mean, you just have to raise your expectations on yourself and everyone around you. And you can do that in a positive way. You don't. It's not a like, you're going to do this otherwise I'm going to get you. No, you can come alongside someone and say, I really wanna help you out of this. I really wanna help you out of your drug addiction or maybe you need a caseworker, maybe you need a mental health caseworker. What do you need? Is your family looking for you? There's all these organizations that are doing great things, like, I wanna go home. They're like, Hey, there's a lot of family members looking for people on the streets. They don't know what's happened to them.

Joey: Wow.

Megan: And they just wanna connect again and like, " Hey, I love you. I want you to come home."

Megan: So there's a lot compassionate projects, but that has to be coupled with you have to be responsible.

Joey: No, absolutely.

Megan: So when you hear, like Jonathan say that there's beds available where they can be, you know, they can sleep, they can have a shower, they can be fed. I mean, these are really their core issues in life is that I'm living on the street and I'm missing these main things in my life that are. Shelter. That's a huge thing, but it's available to you and you're not going there and you've taken things. The barriers are away. Why I'm not going there. But you're still not going there. So there's there. You can't reward that.

Joey: No, I completely agree. I would. I think of myself when we were talking, all my conservative friends think I'm liberal. All my liberal friends think I'm conservative. So I'm kind of a libertarian in the middle. But I don't. I've never seen where a hand out has helped people, you know, versus the hand up. I just don't. You don't see those stories don't exist or they're such outliers. What you see is a growing. The government needs to pass this other bill. We need help. I see people that they get more and more comfortable on the couch and pretty soon they know they have muscle atrophy, so to speak, where they can't even get off the couch now. And then when they can't, you try to point that out and the message hasn't really come across that, Hey, no, this is. I am compassionate. I wanna see you stand on your own feet. I wanna see you succeed.

Megan: Yes, I wanna teach you to fish. Not just give you fish.

Joey: Yes. And where did that message get lost? So.

Megan: I'm not sure, but I think that something also that's happening. And I do find a lot of peace in the fact that I've put my name on the ballot, that I've put myself, in the ring for everybody to, criticize or be positive. I mean, I have a lot of positive, but what social media and online presence of people who are at home, they're really not out in. I feel like in the community doing things, because so often I'm out campaigning, and these are people that are involved. They're on a nonprofit, they own a business. They've. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, this is so amazing. I'm so glad you're running. This is going to be great. Da da da." And then online, someone who isn't out doing, you know, on their couch or wherever they are, they're very critical. They're critical of anyone doing anything. But that's just part of the gig. Like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go and I'm going to run hard and I'm going to work really hard. And people will see that, they will see me rise up and be involved and attend functions and listen and be part of the conversation. And I'm excited that it's just it's a special election. So you don't have a whole year to campaign. You can't meet everybody. There's just not enough time.

Joey: When is the election?

Megan: August 27th.

Joey: Oh wow. We're getting close. Real close.

Megan: Yes. So ballots are in the mail. The sample ballots came out. And ballots should be, if you haven't received your ballot, you will in a few days.

Joey: I feel like. I know that you have a lot of appointments, you're here in writing and everything, so I don't wanna keep you too much. But since you started your campaign, is there any topics that popped up that like, because I know what you, we talked about what you ran on, public safety, individual responsibility, parental rights. But was there any topics that popped up that you're like, oh, that people asked you about and or, and what I mean? Something that's.

Megan: Well, I'm a conservative Republican, but I'm also pragmatic very much a solution driven person. And that hasn't resonated well with some groups because they just want you to be, hard, hard. And I'm very conservative. I mean, fiscally conservative, I'm a believer, I'm pro-life, I'm pro second amendment, we big hunters in our family. So I think maybe the only thing is I don't want. I've assumed that people knew those things about me. But I need to say them. I need to say them out loud, that I care about those things because I do.

Joey: Oh, you just did.

Megan: Yeah.

Joey: That's awesome.

Megan: In general, we don't create community like we used to. I mean, I totally believe that because, we're from a small town, so I literally know everybody. I wave everybody on the street. I see them at the post office. And that sense of community for our children. I mean, I watch kids that are raised in that environment where they have a church body or they have, just community around them, how much better they do in life. Because our kids will literally talk to anybody.

Joey: Look at how many people that have you think about people that have had problems. Okay. And then I won't get into it. You could imagine a lot of the times that there's been violence in community and what do they say about the person?

Megan: They've been isolated. They are completely loners. They're complete loners. And, but that goes back also to just how we talk to our children and not, if you don't have children, find one. I mean, if you aren't going to have great, but we have some really amazing dear friends who, they don't have kids, but they poured into our boys like crazy because we didn't have a math teacher for two years at our high school. It was an online, and Derek just tutored them. He just loved on them and he just, and Jen cooked for them and he just tutored them. But they understand the importance of community and well, and church body and just bringing kids in. I mean, the other night we had cornhole tournament in our, at our house, and like every teenager with our kids have all missed and haven't seen, there's 14 kids in my backyard.

Joey: Nice.

Megan: But that's. Well you have to create community and reach out to people. I mean, they're talking about the. I mean, a lot of the school shooters, a lot of.

Joey: That's what I was getting. Yeah.

Megan: Yeah, it's true. And those are kids that have been just, it's not even necessarily, I don't, I mean, some of it's bullying, some of it's just feeling, spending way too much like an online presence, which isn't real life. Those are not real life people. You're talking to people online, but you need that human interaction. And so often you do, everyone is guilty of walking by someone on the street and not seeing them any longer as a person.

Joey: Agreed. Agreed.

Megan: And so what does that create? It just creates even more isolation, which. So I don't know that I have like the. But to pull, I am good at pulling stakeholders together. I am, because I am pragmatic. I want people to come together and let's just all talk about it. And if you wanna yell and scream, that's fine, because I think you can honestly get somewhere when someone. When you're like, okay, you just get to be frustrated right now, just be frustrated.

Joey: I can respect passion.

Megan: And then after you're frustrated, then we're going to talk about it like. Well, at least for me, I can handle that. Some people can't handle being yelled at, but let's just have a conversation. Let's just talk about it. But if you won't pull all the stakeholders together to talk and figure out what the root problem is, we're never going to get anywhere.

Joey: You're like the third or fourth person on here to bring up Johnny Anderson. I'd love to have Johnny Anderson come on. Tell us about the goodness.

Megan: He is just a really great human.

Joey: That's what I've heard.

Megan: Really great human and just passionate and really cares. And I think he's solution driven. He's not just, let's throw, funds at it or whatever. He's solution driven.

Joey: Okay. So we talked before the cameras were rolling and I was telling you how, I try not to get caught up in political parties or anything like that, but something that pops out at me is when I see some of the statistics about if California were country, it would have the fifth largest GDP.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: That's, I mean.

Megan: It's incredible.

Joey: Yeah.

Megan: It really is.

Joey: But yet we have the biggest disparity in the wealthy and the poor. We ranked 50th I think recently in, small business friendliness, policies have been in play. I don't even know how far back you'd have to go, but what happened? What happened to California? How did we get to this place where, we seem to be battling on these social issues and we just keep doubling down on these ideas that have gotten us in a bad place. Where's that coming from?

Megan: So a one party majority is never a good idea. Because it gets us a lot of balance. You need to have balance. Our forefathers knew that, that's why we have, electoral codes, layers to our government. That's why we have that is for balance. And since, 1996, the assembly and the Senate have been controlled by one party. And the policies coming since then has got it, we're the highest cost of living, second in poverty rate, our schools, last time I looked was, 47th in the nation. But yet we spend 40% of our budget on education. 40%. That's. I mean, if you look at the amount of money, I mean that's a lot of money. And we. There was $12 billion that was unexpected revenues that came in. And that's taxpayers dollars. Like I don't. It's not revenue that just came from somewhere. It came from us. It's taxpayers money.

Joey: It's not free money.

Megan: It's not free money, it's not extra money. It's not, it's taxpayers dollars. $12 billion. And we should be taking that money and paying down our pensions. We need to be taking it and paying off our debt or our bond debt. We need to be responsible like you would in your business. And if you have an overflow, then you need to take care of some of your responsibilities, which we're not doing that, we're not taking care of those things. Instead we're implementing more, we're spending more money on social programs or what, it's like we're, oh gosh, what's how.

Joey: We're on the verge of bankruptcy. So our financial models to get new credit card.

Megan: We're just doubling down and we're talking about helping people build homes. Well, okay, absolutely we need affordable housing. It's very, very expensive to live here. But when, if it costs almost $50,000 to build a home before you start building because of regulations or, environmental impacts or whatever it is. And it's different for every county. Because every zone is different. It's very. It's a complicated thing, but if it costs that much money to just get started, no wonder it's so hard to build a house.

Joey: Do you know what percentage of the state senate and state assembly is democratic?

Megan: So there's 19 Republicans in the assembly.

Joey: Out of.

Megan: Of republic. So out of 80.

Joey: Okay.

Megan: And on the Senate side, there's a lot.

Joey: I'm shocked that there's that many to be honest with you.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: Because this.

Megan: And with the new initiative to take Trump off the ballot, that would be, really hard on Republicans. Which basically is like, you're just tipping the scale for your own benefit. So we're just never good when we're this far out of balance.

Joey: No I don't think.

Megan: Any party, I don't care what it is. It's just never good when you're that far out of balance. And when you're. So we're farmers, the number one business in the state is ag, but yet is over regulated and they're just coming after you all the time. And what does that look like for a farmer? The average age of a farmer is 67.

Joey: Wow.

Megan: We feed the world. California has more produce, more everything than any. We're the highest. We raise more cotton than anywhere else. I mean, you just don't know those things. And it's under attack like crazy. But no, the average person won't feel it until there's no more milk until the eggs aren't there. I mean, it's just crazy when you think about how we just assume you just go. There it is. But everything you touch has something to do with ag. That's just a little side note. Because I'm a farmer, so I get.

Joey: And well, it resonates with me because I eat and so.

Megan: Everybody does. Or they eat one, two, three times a day.

Joey: Yeah.

Megan: And you know what, our son.

Joey: Probably could eat a little less on my end, but I don't know.

Megan: Is our son being involved with the FFA, statewide now and he was just in DC at a national FFA just talking to people and how farmers haven't told our story very well. They just think, oh, they're out there in the dirt or whatever they're doing. But if you raise alfalfa, that means that you get milk, you're selling your hay to a dairy that then produces milk, which then produces your ice cream. So you really need to care about this guy that's raising alfalfa because you wanna have ice cream at some point. Like at some point you want your ice cream, right?

Joey: Yes. Apparently part of it.

Megan: Or your omelet went out to breakfast morning, had a great omelet, but I want those eggs.

Joey: No, absolutely.

Megan: But those eggs now are under attack like crazy because they want them to all be free range chickens.

Joey: This, man.

Megan: And so the policies, when they're completely out of whack, we just. We take out all the common sense, just like we were talking about, like crazy that your road money should go to your roads. I know that's just not like, that's just crazy talk. But those are those things we have to get back in balance. And we go too far. We go too far to the left or we go too far to the right. And that's. And both parties right now, because the national polarized, we we're like trying to go as far as we can away from each other instead of pulling somewhere to the middle where we can talk about the things that we can.

Joey: Because we're all Americans.

Megan: We're all Americans, and we all want.

Joey: And we're all in this boat together.

Megan: Yes. And people who, okay, so I don't have kids or somebody doesn't have kids. Well, I don't have kids, so why do I care about education? Well, those children that are in school right now will eventually be the taxpayers that are going to pay for your social security.

Joey: That's right. And provide the services.

Megan: You're going to be like the guy that blades. The snow when you're trying to go down the road, those children are still going to be part of your community, your society someday. So you should still care about them, whether you have them or not.

Joey: That goes back to what you were talking about, about community and connections. And when we see people that are kind of on the fringe the math of like, well, how many connections do they have?

Megan: Yes.

Joey: Do they really have a community? Do they have a support system? And what an argument. What a self-fulfilling prophecy. This seems to be, where it's feeding itself and we're kind of spinning out of control. I've always been a big. Like when my friends and I talk I said like in a union of 50 states, you're going to have extreme left, extreme right and everywhere in between. So it's like, you can move. But it does seem like the two extremes are just. They've gone too far. Like somehow we need mechanisms to reign them in a little bit and say, Hey, at what point did you go too far? It feels like we've gone too far.

Megan: Well, and the only people that lose are the people in the middle. The people that are just trying to live their life. They're just trying to go to work. They're trying to raise their kids or try to. They're retired, they wanna take their grandkids on a vacation. I mean, that's who loses.

Joey: Yeah. Well and, we all lose.

Megan: We all lose. Yes.

Joey: Because You can't. You know what I mean?

Megan: Or the we because otherwise the out.

Joey: I'd like to talk about education because I know that that's a big topic for you. Especially rural education. And it goes. It's a subset of that parental choices. So what are some of the challenges? Like I know from a homeschool parent what some of the challenges are, but like when you get out there and you talk about.

Megan: So in everything, we kind of have a little thing. There's always bad there's bad actors in everything.

Joey: Yes.

Megan: In every industry. So blanket legislation that takes out one whole, like charter schools is not the answer. Or you can't homeschool your kids any longer or whatever. Like that's not the solution. But parents. I believe parents should have a right to choose what that education looks like. And if you don't align with something that's happening in the public school, you should be able to have a choice to homeschool or charter school, whatever's the best thing for your child. And I love our public school a 100%. It's great and every child should have the option to have a great education, but parents also should have the option to say, that doesn't feel right to us and we're going to do this thing over here. I don't understand what the. Why it's so divisive, I guess.

Joey: Well, part of it, I think, and the reason why you would struggle with it is because you're very educated and you've clearly done a lot of homework and the average person I think gets talking points and it's quips. And it's like, if you're just going to take a sound bite and then make. You need to dig like you've done.

Megan: Well and if you blow everything out of. Blow it up, you blow one bad incident up really big, then people, oh my gosh, there's a real issue. There's a bigger issue than we think there is. There isn't, it's like parents are homeschooling their kids and they're doing a great job. Absolutely. And those kids are going to college and are perfectly. They get into society and they're contributors. Great. Same thing with the charter school or a public school. It doesn't. The big thing is like, we need to educate our children. We need to be all of us. It is a community. I mean, I know that sounds. Maybe sounds like a kind of a left viewpoint, but I believe that you need a community around you. I need you.

Joey: No, absolutely. I don't think it's the left. I think there's a great. I can't remember where I first heard it, but there's a great thing where it says, socialism makes sense inside the home, the mom and dad and the children together. But as soon as. The more you start to make the bigger group, it's a democracy and capitalism makes sense. So it's these ideas that I think touch upon our compassion they sound great, you should help your. When your grandparents are older, you should go and take them food. You should take care of them. You should.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: But that doesn't mean that we should like say that's awesome. You did work. Give half your pay to your brother. They've taken this good idea that works here and they've stretched it all the way over here and it's just. No, it does not work here. And the population has voted themselves on the couch.

Megan: Right absolutely.

Megan: So tonight we have our second in a series of women who lead and tonight is women who lead in business. Several years ago I just had a heart to celebrate women and I, in seven years I've met incredible women as I've traveled over the whole state, people who rise in every area. So the first one we had was women who lead in government. This one is women who lead in business and we're going to move on to healthcare education and on. So over the next year is the process. It started 100 years ago for the women's right to vote and we'll be able to celebrate the centennial anniversary in August of 2020. So I'm looking at doing just a many series of just women who lead.

Joey: So is this like tonight it'll be women actually in business panel or something?

Megan: Yes, women in business and we're hosting it. So it's the. My second one I'm hosting. It's at the Cascade at 7:30, which is a great venue. It just has a beautiful stage and I love that building.

Joey: It is nice.

Megan: It's very nice. So, and then I also have vision to be able to carry it out into the rural counties as well. I had a few people comment, Megan, there's women out here that are doing things. Absolutely. I know they are. So there's like I said, nine counties in this district. So I would love to be able to have women who lead in Siskiyou County, women who lead in Lassen County, women who lead in Modoc County. So that's my vision is just to have an opportunity and men are welcome of course.

Joey: Good nice to hear.

Megan: Yes, nice to know that men are welcome to come. But just, I'm impressed with women and I know that when I'm with them and they're influencers in their life and they rise in all different areas. It inspires me. It inspires me as a woman to see them be mothers, business owners as well as beyond non-profits or have a passion project. How many things they can do and do it well. And I think sometimes we just. We haven't showcase that enough, but I thought the 100 year anniversary would be a perfect time to be doing that.

Joey: It sounds like a good year.

Megan: Is great. It's going to be a fantastic year.

Joey: So are you going to publish these events, do you guys publish things on your Facebook page or?

Megan: So on my Facebook page primarily. We also do an email blast. So if you want to be part of that, you can go to my website, which is VoteMeganDahle.com and join the team. So then your email would be in our circulation when we're doing things, and just to keep you up to date and for business. I was excited about this. I'm not moderating this event Christine Lanamus from Sierra Pacific. She's wonderful, I just love her and because it isn't a political event, this is just me wanting to showcase women and highlight how awesome they are.

Joey: And if I caught correctly. You have a daughter and two son.

Megan: Yes Rosalyn is nine.

Joey: Nine years old, I have two daughters Helen and Emma a shout out to you ladies, so I can tell you that growing up a male, I saw things as a male, I then went in the Marine Corp and I had all of my maleness re-solidified when my daughters were born, it changed my perspective, things. Just seeing the world is different, and I think that this could be potentially a hot topic because is there a line where you can celebrate our differences and we can lift each other up without having to put the other down.

Megan: Absolutely, and I'm excited for Rosalyn to get to see that, that she. I did stay home with the boys when they were little, I didn't have. I helped with our farming and. But when they started school, then that's when I bought my nursery, and then that's when Rosalyn was a surprise, but just for her to see that you can rise, you can do things. Mothers can do things and be great mothers at the same time, and what that looks like for her and Brian and I, are partnership, so men are obviously important.

Joey: I am so glad to here you say that.

Megan: Well they are, they are important to the whole community.

Joey: It means a lot ot me.

Megan: We need each other. I just think for me personally, the heart came from. They motivate me, other women who put themselves out there and they're willing to. I'm going to talk tonight some about the aspects of farming, whether they knew it or not, when they started their business, they did that, they tilled the ground, they prepped it, they did all this work, they planned, they laid it all out and when the ground was ready, they planted their business on solid, when it was ready to go to.

Joey: That's awesome.

Megan: And then they may have. We're dry land wheat farmers, so they may have had to wait a long time for that rain to come, but when it came, then they see the harvest of what they've done.

Joey: Do you know who's going to be. I know one person that's going to on that panel for sure, and I could probably guess a second.

Megan: So Courtney.

Joey: Courtney Macamia I knew he was going to be on it.

Megan: Minnie Moosly.

Joey: Okay.

Megan: Mary Records and Britney Bear.

Joey: Oh, I'm surprised Aaron Reisner is not going to be on that one. Who was just elected to City Council. It's a local business owner. I thought for sure that is a. Well, that's awesome, that sounds like a fantastic panel, of course, when people see this, they're going to be like, Whoa, they film that a while ago, because this is not a live release.

Megan: But they can look for the next installment, they can look for the next series.

Joey: Thank you so much for coming by so tonight, you're going to be at the cascade for women.

Megan: Women who lead in business.

Joey: Women who lead in business. The special election is August 27th. So get out and vote.

Megan: Yes.

Joey: If you absentee ballot like I do, and I would suggest everybody do that, because it's so much more comfortable at your kitchen table.

Megan: And you won't forget.

Joey: Trying to read that triple negative, like you're trying to figure out, but remember, you can just get Megan's phone number and she will tell you.

Megan: I'll just tell you.

Joey: How she's voting. You should just publish that on your website, but I really. I'm grateful that you came here.

Megan: I'm so thankful for the opportunity.

Joey: I am looking forward to you winning, I know you're going to win, and so I look for. You've got my vote.

Megan: Thank you.

Joey: I know you see, you have the endorsement now that you're looking for, you got the all Redding endorsement.

Megan: Absolutely, I want that.

Joey: Which is the big one now its domino effect right here. So get out and vote for Megan Dahle for State Assembly. Thank you so much, Meghan appreciate you coming in.

Megan: Thank you, for having me.

Joey: Thank you.

Megan: Thank you.