August 23, 2024 • 57 mins
Somehow I managed to get these two amazing women as guests this week! I chat with Ohio State House Representatives Michele Grim and Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio about navigating the Republican supermajority as Democrats, the importance of voting, advice for running for office, challenges faced by women in politics and more.
I'm proud of these two, they fight daily for all Ohioans. Absorb their words! Check your voter registration at https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
Find them on IG:
Beryl: @berylforohio
Michele: @michelegrimforohio
Takeaways
- Ohio is heavily gerrymandered in favor of Republicans, making it difficult for Democratic representatives to pass legislation.
- Passing an independent redistricting reform is crucial to creating fairer districts in Ohio.
- Representatives face constant challenges and frustration in fighting for their legislation.
- Some Republican bills are petty and hinder progress for the people of Ohio.
- Despite the challenges, representatives remain passionate and committed to fighting for the issues they care about. Being in the super minority can be challenging, but it is still valuable and impactful.
- Representing people and working on laws is a huge responsibility.
- Volunteering on campaigns and getting involved in the community is a good way to start in politics.
- Running for office requires sacrifice and can come with personal attacks, but it is worth it to make a difference.
- Diversity in politics is important for honest conversations and better representation.
- Voting in elections, including local races, is crucial for shaping the future of the community and the country.
Executive Producer and Host: Vanessa Joy: https://linktr.ee/vanesstradiol
Vanesstradiol Podcast - Copyright © 2023-2025 Vanessa Joy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Vanessa (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to transcending humanity. I'm
(00:03):
Vanessa, aka Vanessa adeal, andI'm joined by Ohio State House
representatives. Burl Brown,Piccolo, Antonio, did I get that
right? Piccolo, Antonio, okay,cool. And Michelle Grimm, which
is a whole lot easier to say.
Reminder the views and opinionsof everybody on the show are
their own and not anyorganization that they
(00:27):
represent. And in this case,probably a very important
disclaimer. And don't forget,our Patreon send us money. Burl
was asking about my shirt. Youcan get that on our merch store.
I'll have a link in the commentswithout further ado, I would
love to have you to introduceyourself. So who wants to go
(00:48):
first?
Michele Grim (00:51):
You let me go first. Okay, I can go first. So
I'm Michelle grim. I'm a staterepresentative in the Toledo
area. I'm also the assistantwhip in the Democratic caucus. I
This is my first term, and I'mrunning for my second so I'm
glad to be here. So thank you.
Thank you for having us.
Vanessa (01:12):
Thank you.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (01:12):
Yeah.
Hi I'm BerylBrown-Piccolantonio, I am a
state representative in theNortheast suburbs of Columbus. I
actually was appointed inJanuary, so I'll be on the
ballot in November, running formy first term. But I'm I'm in my
I don't even know what I callwhat I'm in right now, my
Michele Grim (01:38):
first term, your first year, first year, yeah,
yeah,
Vanessa (01:45):
that's a really unique position to be in, too. So these
two ladies, I was hoping thatthey would be my co workers,
that didn't go through, butthat's actually how I met you.
Two listeners and watchers ofthe show probably remember that
I tried running for office latelast year into this year, and I
(02:06):
was disqualified for the crimeof changing my name to Vanessa,
and due to this antiquated law,and these two lovely ladies put
forth a Bill to update that lawin a pretty common sense update
as well, where essentially thelanguage says that if you have
(02:28):
legally changed your name in thestate of Ohio, you don't have to
disclose it. And of course,Republicans are pushing back
against it. And the latest newsis there is a Republican
nickname Tex, and somewhere innortheast, I believe,
Michele Grim (02:49):
young like the Youngstown area, yeah, Mahoning,
Mahoning, county,
Vanessa (02:53):
Mahoning, that's it. So he changed his name to Tex, and
texford
Michele Grim (03:01):
Actually, texford, he goes by text,
Vanessa (03:07):
yeah, I, I just keep on saying it in reference to him,
sex to suck Tex so he changedhis name to texford, aka Tex
Yeah, but he didn't put it onhis disclosures when he ran. So
the Mahoning County Democratswere like, Excuse me, remember
(03:29):
this whole fiasco that madeinternational fucking news at
the beginning of the year, butwhy isn't applying this guy? So
an inquiry is put on his boardof elections. Voted two, two, of
course, around down party lines.
And now it goes to the wonderfulFrank Larose, who, you know is
so for the Ohio people, the sameguy that when I was
(03:51):
disqualified, he said, Well, youknow, the candidates really need
to know the rules themselves andhire their own legal teams. I'm
interested see what he's goingto say with this When you know
he's going to let the guy stayon the ballot. So remember,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (04:04):
did your challenge go? Was it a tie
vote at your board of election?
No,
Vanessa (04:10):
it was a sweet, Okay, interesting beer. See theorist
to me the stark County, the headof the stark County Democratic
Party. I didn't follow thetypical rules that you need to
follow to run for office,because I ran as kind of an
urgent thing, given what's goingon. So I didn't have connections
(04:32):
in stark County and stuff, andso otherwise, saying I didn't
scratch his back ahead of timebecause I didn't even know I had
to, and I believe he was againstme entire time, and I believe
he's the person at the board ofelections that flagged,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (04:46):
okay.
And remembering thatconversation, and
Michele Grim (04:49):
what did you appeal? You appealed it right?
And then that's, that's when itwent to the Secretary of State.
It didn't
Vanessa (04:57):
even go to, oh.
Michele Grim (04:58):
It didn't go, okay, okay. Yield it. They
Vanessa (05:00):
said no. And then after Ari and Ariana and Barbie,
Barbie, sorry, Bobby, everyone,hey, Barbie, we're allowed to
stand I'm like, Excuse me. Andso I wrote a I wrote a strongly
worded nasty ground to them, andthey told me where to stick it
again. So, and then, so I do youtwo listen to today in Ohio at
(05:26):
all?
Michele Grim (05:28):
I actually don't, and I probably should. It's a
pretty good show, is it?
Vanessa (05:34):
And Chris Quinn, he's the editor. I
Michele Grim (05:36):
do love Chris Quinn. He's great. He's the
Vanessa (05:39):
main host on it, and he just flat out, just said, Start
counting Sienna, trans County.
I'm like, so anyways, enoughabout me. I was just used to
that to introduce who you twoare. I am curious. One,
Michelle, the yellow. Where didthat come from? The yellow is
(06:00):
adorable, like intimacy, you'rewearing yellow. My Oh,
Michele Grim (06:07):
nowhere really in particular. Um, I just found a
really nice yellow blazer,because I'm just, like,
everybody wears black blazers,so I'm gonna wear a yellow
blazer. And that's, that's whereit really came from. It's a
statement, right? Yes, statementexactly I love I love bright
Blazers because they'restatements. So I think that's
where it comes from. Actually,my favorite color is purple,
(06:29):
yeah, so, yeah, I think that'swhere it comes from. It's just
like, it's a bright, standoutcolor. So that's where it comes
from.
Vanessa (06:40):
I love it. Yeah, when I met Michelle was actually at the
hearing when I was deliveringproponent testimony for the
bills, and she was wearing theyellow I'm like, That's fucking
badass. So what got you toactually, burl in particular,
how did you wind up gettingappointed? Like, what's the
process to for that to happen.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (07:02):
So, and I'm going to apologize in
advance, because I think my dog,it is barking now, but so I was
serving on my local schoolboard. I served as School Board
President here I lived for abouteight years, and had been
thinking about running for aseat in the house when my state
(07:23):
representative would have beenterm limited, which was in 2026
I had a wonderful state rep. Iwas lucky. I live in an area
where I was very wellrepresented, and I had a re
election campaign in 2023 so Iwas just coming off of a
campaign cycle, and my staterepresentative had some
(07:49):
circumstances change in herfamily, and had to make a really
difficult decision that she wasactually going to move and Leave
Ohio to go be with hergrandchildren. And so I had
about a week to make a decisionabout whether I was going to
file to run. This was rightbefore the holidays in December,
(08:12):
the finally, if you rememberVanessa, the filing deadline was
really early because it's apresidential primary year, so
her primary is really early. SoI had it might have been under a
week to make a decision aboutwhether I was going to file to
run, because I was alreadythinking about running in 2026
that made the decision a littlebit easier, but it was still not
(08:33):
an easy decision, because Iworked in a job that I actually
had To quit in order. Well, Irisked getting fired by running,
and I knew that I was going tohave to quit if I was successful
in running. So at the time thatI filed, I didn't know my state
representative had decided shewasn't going to run again, but
(08:56):
not necessarily that she wasgoing to step down. Made this a
very convoluted explanation, butessentially, what she had
decided was that if the primarywas contested, she was not going
to step down because she thoughtit was important, if we had a
contested primary that votersget to pick who they wanted to
(09:16):
represent them, and then if Itwas not contested, she was
going, she was she would thenstep down. So it ended up not
being contested. She steppeddown, and then I was interviewed
by the people who are now mycolleagues. Actually, I think
there were five people whoapplied for the vacancy and were
(09:39):
interviewed, and then I ended upgetting appointed on January 10.
Vanessa (09:45):
That was very, very fast, very, very fast.
Congratulations and welcome tothe club of insanity that is
Ohio government. Michelle, whatled you to Bratton, what led you
to get into Ohio politics?
Because you're not you. FromIllinois. No, I'm from Ohio.
Yeah, from
Michele Grim (10:05):
I know I lived in, I lived in Chicago for two
years, and then before that, Ilived in the Bay Area for eight
so we, my husband and I left for10 years. So I'm originally from
Ashland, Ohio. I do you knowwhere that's at,
Vanessa (10:19):
yeah, it's like, west of me, I'm in mass. Yes, so, oh,
okay, yeah,
Michele Grim (10:24):
yeah, you know where ashlet is, very
conservative town. Got to Toledovia the university a long time
ago, 2001 and so we left for 10.
We left in 2010 we came back in2020 and in 2021 a good friend
of mine recruited me to run forToledo city council, and so I
(10:49):
ran, and I won that seat, andbecause of the whole thing with
the maps and gerrymandering, Idecided to get into the the
state rep races just to makesure that we had good Democrats
running. And I know that didn'tmake some people very happy, but
(11:14):
I decided to go for it, and hereI am. You know, I had a lot of
people say, Why are you, youknow, running when you just ran
before, and I'm glad I did it.
So I won. I won that my one aprimary. I had a primary, and
(11:34):
this was in August of 2022 I wonthat primary. Then I won my
general and here I am, and Ilove my job. I made the right
decision, and I'm glad that I'mhere, and glad to be able be
able to fight for the thingsthat that that I'm passionate
(11:57):
about and that other Ohioanscare about, rather than the
stuff that the gerrymanderedlegislature does. So yeah, that
Vanessa (12:12):
says My next question for you, too, for those
listening that aren't in Ohio orin the country, because we have
a lot of international is next.
Well, some, I mean, show's nothuge, but I'm trying to grow it.
But Ohio is what gerrymanderingis. It's the how when certain
(12:33):
party in both Republicans andDemocrats, have been guilty of
it in the past, and currently inOhio, it is gerrymandered in the
Republican favor to a level thatis almost mind boggling to if
you zoom in on the Ohio StateHouse maps, individual houses
(12:54):
are cut out. It's it's not sowhat it does is a party that
might that likely doesn'trepresent the majority draws
their districts to select allthe people that they know are
going to vote for them, andleave out the ones out,
essentially, so in Ohio thataffects everything all the way
(13:17):
up to the US, Senate, US House,Jim Jordan, perfect example.
Okay, and so these two ladiesare, what's the split right now?
Is it like 6931 sick, not
Michele Grim (13:35):
that quite that bad. It's 6732
Vanessa (13:39):
pretty damn close.
Pretty
Michele Grim (13:41):
bad. That was really close, though.
Vanessa (13:43):
Well, I people just know I like say 6967
Michele Grim (13:50):
31 and then it's, I can't, I can't do so it's set.
It's seven senators. We have 33so whatever that is, is that
it's a number 26 Yeah. And thenthere's only, yeah, there's only
seven Democratic senators. So
Vanessa (14:12):
yeah, 33 Exactly. So I have on both sides a super
majority of Republicans,correct, which makes it so
anything that burrow andMichelle need to do is next to
fucking impossible in anythingthat they can do is a momentous
achievement, that because theyhave managed to get bipartisan
(14:37):
component support on it, whichis not easy in this state, Ohio
is, if Ohio is not actuallyblue, I know it's pretty deep
pretty well, but if you look atour government, you would not
realize that. So my question tofollow up to all that is, what
is it like to have to constantlyfight for every. Single thing
(15:01):
that you're trying to do to helpthe people of Ohio? Do
Michele Grim (15:06):
you want to go first? Okay,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (15:10):
um, I thought she was quiet for a
minute.
Michele Grim (15:12):
I thought I had a mom. It's okay.
Beryl Brown-Piccolanto (15:15):
Somebody is actually right outside of my
house, which is making my dogabsolutely lose her mind. She
thinks that she's protecting me.
Wait till I can show you howsmall she is. She's about seven.
Michele Grim (15:25):
Honestly, what kind of dog do you have?
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (15:28):
She's a cabo, too. So Cavalier King
Charles, yeah, yeah, poodle. Idon't actually, I was going to
answer really quickly and thendefer to you, Michelle, because
okay, but you've been dealingwith this for longer than I
have. So I've been dealing withit since January. And as
(15:51):
somebody coming in, I don'tthink that there was anything
that was actually verysurprising. I felt like I knew
what I was walking into. Thething, though, is that when
you're actually like living it,it is in some ways even more
frustrating than watching it,because you experience firsthand
(16:16):
just how like stupid some of itis so I mean, just take, for
example, the bill that we talkedabout at the beginning the, I
think it's 467, which is thelegislation that Michelle and I
introduced, which is, I mean,for from my perspective, Like
(16:38):
there is really absolutely noreason that anyone should oppose
it. There's nothing partisanabout the legislation, as you
know, Vanessa, like there. Thereweren't just it wasn't just this
most recent situation with textwhere a Republican was impacted
there. There was anotherRepublican who was impacted by
(17:01):
the way that the current lawreads, yeah, Kitty wire, Katie
wire, yeah. So in, like, inscenarios like that where you
just want to bang your headagainst the raw wall, because
it's just so, like, baffling whyyou can't get things to move.
(17:21):
That is incredibly frustrating.
Vanessa (17:26):
Yeah, I can't imagine.
That's why I asked you two tocome here. Really is to hear
that, Michelle, you're nodding,
Michele Grim (17:35):
yeah, so I Yes.
Certain things are justincredibly frustrating. A lot of
common sense bills can't getthrough. Like, the like, the one
that we have that would fix, itwould have fixed Texas issue. It
would have, you know, he'sclaiming that it's the Democrats
who are out to get get him now.
(17:58):
And like, it's just like, look,y'all, y'all did it last year
with our candidates and so, fairgame, man,
Vanessa (18:08):
that's why I said Sucks to suck text.
Michele Grim (18:12):
It's fair game because, you know, you changed
your name four years ago. It's,it's, it's the law, so, but we
that would, that would fix it.
And instead of our common sensebill, there was another bill, a
counter Bill around anybodycould challenge someone's place
(18:33):
on the ballot regardless ofparty. Because right now it's
like, it's, it's party to partyfor the primary ballot, correct?
So, like, so a Republican couldchallenge my primary party
ballot, and it could be like,just normal, like, any, any
(18:56):
everyday citizen that could doit. So, like it could, it would
be like complete and utterchaos. So, so that bill, I've
heard a rumor that they'readvancing that one and ours not
more common sense, because allit would do is let folks who
(19:18):
have legally changed their name,like yourself, to not have to
disclose it. If you, if youlegally change your name in
Ohio, and if you did need todisclose your name, there would
be a space on the petitions thatwould allow you to do so, so
very simple, very simple fix.
(19:41):
But they decided to, you know,go with the counter bill that
would just cause complete chaosfor our board. It's boards of
elections. Who are, you know,strapped anyways, who are they?
Under? Staffed, underfunded, sothat kind of thing. There's also
(20:06):
bills around requiring an ID toregister to vote instead of just
going to vote. So again, thatwould just cause a lot of chaos
for our boards of elections. Andjust some of the things that the
Republicans bring forward arejust really ridiculous and just
make param a lot harder forOhioans. And so that's, I think
(20:30):
that's the the most frustratingpiece is that it's a lot harder
for your constituent, you know,their constituents, as well as,
like, ours and theirs and sothat's the really frustrating
thing, especially withgerrymandering, is that, like,
they don't have to worry abouttheir constituency because
(20:53):
they're so gerrymandered. Can Iput in a plug for the Gerry?
Okay? So as Vanessa explained,what gerrymandering is we now
on, and that on the Novemberballot have a independent
redistricting reform into ourstate constitution, because in
(21:17):
Ohio, we can change ourConstitution by citizen led
ballot initiatives, and it wouldbe a 15 person independent
commission, instead of the fivetwo imbalance of five
Republicans who are politiciansversus the two who are Democrats
(21:40):
that decides what our map lookslike, which is legislative,
state legis maps and ourcongressional maps. So that is
going to be on the ballot. It'sworked in other states where the
maps are much fairer and thedistricts are more
representative of how peoplevote in the state, because 6732
(22:07):
is not representative of howpeople vote in the state. And I
think we're going to see thatand this next election, in
November, especially with thewith the presidential I think
we're going to see a lot morepeople coming out because
they're excited, and I thinkwe're going to see what's truly
possible here in Ohio. I thinkyou're right. I think we are
(22:29):
still a purple state. We're justgerrymander to be a red state.
Yeah,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (22:36):
just add one thing to that. So in
addition to the fact that it'sout of balance the number of
Republican districts to thenumber of democratic districts.
I also like the the way thatthey're the districts are drawn,
because they're so heavilyconcentrated in many of the
districts, what it ends up doingis you get Republicans who are
(23:02):
not mainstream or moderateRepublicans, but they are
Republicans who represent, likea minority, subset of their own
party. So I can think of one inparticular. Yeah, right. So to
Michelle's point, like they theydon't actually have to care
about their own constituents ora majority of the people that
(23:26):
live in this state. They arerepresenting the minority of the
minority extremist members ofthis state. And I guess back to
this point about that, one ofthe things that is most
frustrating. There are so manythings that we could be and
frankly need to be working on tomake people's lives better, to
(23:50):
make this state a better place,even from the perspective of
like compo just economics of thestate, like the way that
individual people are able toafford to live, the way that
businesses are able to besuccessful in this state.
(24:10):
Instead of working on thosethings where I think a majority
of people need us to be working,we're focusing on these fringe
component, like things thatactually hurt people and hurt a
my people who are some of themost marginalized people in the
(24:31):
state, and it is, in my opinion,it is nowhere near reflective of
what a majority of people thatlive in this state want us to be
doing. So that constitutionalamendment passing that is
critical for the long termhealth of the state.
Vanessa (24:48):
I'll say two things to show the pettiness of what's
going on with the Republicans.
One on the bill that you twowere talking about, where they
want to make it so you cancontest during a primary. The
other party, Canada, the otherparty. That bill is sponsored by
the two Republicanrepresentatives that just happen
to be running against the twotransgender representatives. And
(25:12):
it came up because one of them,their boards of election, tried
to not Board election, the theRepublican, the Republican
nationals in that particularcounty, tried to dispute her
candidacy, and it didn't gothrough, because they're a
(25:37):
theater party. That's where thatcame from, and now with the
citizens against citizensagainst gerrymandering. That is
I from what I understand,largely spearheaded by
Republican former supreme OhioSupreme Court Justice Maureen
O'Connor, who is an Ohio hero.
(25:58):
You just heard me say somethingnice about a Republican. She
really is. She's of theRepublican Old Guard, like the
George voinoviches, the MaureenO'Connor stuff like that. She's
spearheading that, and it gotover 700,000 signatures. You
only need, I think this year,you need about 440,000
(26:20):
signatures of from 44 of the 88counties, and they had 700 over
700 from all of the counties,which shows that, on the
bipartisan level, people careabout this. Frank Larose, our
Secretary of State, stepped inwhen it comes to the language
(26:42):
that's going to be on theballot, and pretty much hold a
Donald Trump on it, and it's thelanguage that has now been
approved to go on the ballot issomething like 850 words, when
it used to be, I think, like 115and it's just all bullshit, like
they're they're calling thisanti gerrymandering initiative.
(27:08):
They're calling it a way forOhioans to gerrymander. It just
makes no sense. But they aredesperate. They pulled this last
year as well Ohio as Michellesaid, we have, we can do says
and let out initiatives and anymore, certainly way to get
anything done in this state. I'mactually working on part of one
(27:29):
myself, but they tried to makeit so it'd be harder for those
to pass last year, where rightnow it just has to be majority
plus one, if I if I'm notmistaken, a simple majority plus
one. And they wanted to make it6040 and that would stop any
citizen led ballot initiativepretty much anywhere from being
(27:52):
passed so and that failed.
Gloriously Frank. Larose isnotoriously unpopular now. He
tried running for office. Helost horribly, and I just think
he's just vindictive at thispoint. So I just wanted to
follow those up on that. Whatthoughts do you to have just on
(28:13):
day to day? What's it what's itlike to be to be writing laws
and to be just creating Ohio.
Honestly, it has to be prettywild.
Michele Grim (28:26):
I, like I said before, I love what I do. I'm I
consider myself really lucky tobe able to work on things that I
am passionate about and alsothings that I've never thought
that I would be working on.
There are lots of examples aboutthat. I've gotten really well
(28:49):
versed in rail issues andpassenger rail, but yeah, and
I'm ranking member oftransportation, so that kind of
thing. But I so my background isin public health and also in
(29:10):
kind of like the rape crisisdomestic violence space. I was a
rape crisis counselor. When Iwas when I turned 18, I became a
rape crisis counselor in my myhometown. I did that for about a
decade, and so I've been workingon legislation around domestic
(29:31):
violence and sexual assaults. Sothat's something that has stuck
with me for the last couple ofdecades. I have bills around
universal health care childinfluencers. Again, that's
another thing that I was I wouldnever have thought in a million
(29:54):
years that I would get intochild influencers the. Bill that
burl and I have that we have to,like, you know, fix a law that's
just absurd and nobody knowsabout So, yeah, it's a really
fascinating even the even thoughsometimes it can be really hard
(30:14):
to get the right things passedand the right things through
it's still a very valuableexperience, because we do see
the good that we can do, eventhough we are in the Super
minority, and that's what I feellike every day.
Vanessa (30:34):
That's why I wanted to run, yeah. Difference
Michele Grim (30:38):
you do? You do make a difference, even though,
you know, being the superminority can be really hard,
people do see that we're workinghard and we are making a
difference in our communities.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (30:52):
So I feel like it is an incredible
privilege to be able to do thejobs that that we do. Just the
responsibility, I think, ofrepresenting people and the
responsibility of working onlaws that impact every single
(31:14):
person that live in this state,and sometimes even impact people
who live outside of this state.
Sometimes our laws can be modelsfor other states, or they impact
people in other states and otherways. I think it's a huge
responsibility. I feelincredibly lucky to be doing the
job that I'm doing. I didn'treally talk a lot about my
(31:37):
background before coming intothis role, but I I grew up in a
house where my parents werealways extremely involved in the
community and extremely involvedin I know politics is like a bad
word. Now I don't think it's abad word, but it shouldn't be. I
don't think it's a bad word,like the way that I grew up. I
(32:01):
have never spent an electioncycle where I wasn't pulling on
doors in my entire life. I don'tthink I've never watched a
parade, but having said allthat, I didn't really think of
myself as someone who would bethe person who was the elected
(32:23):
person, until much later in mylife and I component, ran for
school board because ofsomething very specific that was
happening in My community. Wehad a school board where I live
that was divided, that was notfunctioning, that was not
(32:45):
focused on putting studentsfirst, and was not not focused
on creating an environment thatwas good for staff. And so I ran
for that very specific reason.
That was back in 2013 actually,I ran and lost my first race,
and then I ran and won in 2015and it wasn't really until,
(33:09):
honestly, was the pandemic, andthen some of the things that
followed the pandemic, theculture wars that followed after
that, that's when I startedthinking about serving in the
legislature. In addition toserving on school board, I'm
also an attorney. I worked forthe state for about 23 years in
different kind of leadershiproles, but to be able to be
(33:29):
coming at state government fromthis lens, and to be able to
take the experiences that I hadserving in local government and
kind of blend that with what Iknew about how, how the state
works, how state agencies work.
It's fascinating to me, and itreally is a privilege. And it is
true that we are in the extrememinority, but there are times
(33:50):
that we get to do things thatreally impact people. I'll give
you an example that I hadyesterday. So I a lot of my
colleagues right now are inChicago. A lot of our colleagues
are in Chicago having a lot offun. I got to substitute in on a
committee called the controllingboard yesterday, which was it
(34:11):
just a whole new learningexperience for me. I mean, it's
the the thing is, like, Lucky.
It was fascinating. No, I
Michele Grim (34:26):
was like, Oh no. I was like, Oh, I'm a little
jealous. But really, really, Idon't
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (34:39):
I mean, if you look up the
controlling board, maybe itwouldn't sound all that
interesting, but what thecontrolling board does is that
they meet. So we passed thestate budget every two years,
right? And with state budgets,things, things change. So the
controlling boards, boardexists. They meet every other
week, and what they're what thepurpose of the control. Board
(35:00):
is, is basically to approveanything that changes in the
budget in the in betweenperiods. But all that to say, I
got to vote yesterday. We hadthis amazing surprise happen.
There was $1 amount that wasrequested to go to the State
Board of Education. It was a lowdollar amount. Like the we
(35:22):
actually the legislature owesthe State Board of Education ten
million right now. The dollaramount that was requested was
under 2 million. And what theysaid is that it was the amount
that was needed just to get themthrough the fiscal year so that
they wouldn't have to raiseteacher licensure fees. But it
wasn't an amount that the stateboard actually came up with, the
(35:44):
people that came up with thedollar amount. Was it? I mean,
essentially, it was thecomponent of the governor's
office who was trying to helpcome up with $1 amount that they
thought would actually pass. Itwas less than what they needed,
and definitely less than whatthe legislature actually owes
(36:05):
them. There was a Republican,though the Chair of the Finance
Committee, who ended up making asurprise amendment to raise that
dollar amount from just under 2million up to almost $5 million
which is still not the 10 thatwe owe them, but it was closer,
like it was just and so I got tovote on this surprise amendment
(36:28):
and give this money back to theState Board of Education. It
ended up being a unanimous vote.
And I know I sound like I'mtotally, I'm going way into
weeds, and I'm I felt like atotal nerd, but it was so fun
and exciting to actually be ableto be part of doing something
good. Yeah, and make sure thatour teachers and our staff who
work in building servingstudents every day don't have to
(36:51):
worry about their licensure feesincreasing, or what could have
happened if licensure feesdidn't increase. What they were
going to do is stop doingbackground checks on district
staff, which is also not a thingthat should be acceptable for
anybody. So
Michele Grim (37:10):
it was going to go up like, like, $400 or
something, like, really high,right? Yeah, I can't even
remember why we borrowed. No, weweren't. We weren't yet, but
when that the legislatureborrowed ten million I can't
even remember
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (37:27):
why was that. So in 2017 I guess
there was okay, there was a, Idon't know, there was a shortage
somewhere. And so the the waythat the state budget works,
sometimes there are theseaccounts like this account,
which was an account that wassup it's supposed to only be
(37:48):
comprised of money wherelicensure fees go. So anyone
who's a teacher in the state ofOhio, they have to get a
license, they have to updatetheir license, and there's fees
associated with that. And thosefees get put into this this
account. They had been goodstewards of that money, and the
account had a positive balance.
And so when they were doing thestate budget, and there was
(38:10):
money needed for somewhere else,the legislature, again, like
Michelle said, not us. Weweren't there, completed that
fund from they greeted tenmillion with a promise that it
was going to be restored and itstill hasn't been put back.
Vanessa (38:30):
I mean, you don't need to apologize about nerding out
about that as a voter and a subclaim. I only recently started
voting honestly, but I wouldmuch rather see my
representative nerding out aboutloving what they do than what
(38:53):
we're seeing right now on theother side. So like you don't
need to apologize for that. Thisis That's the energy that that
people need and want to see,because you're actually
passionate about the governmentand passionate about our quote,
unquote, democracy and makingdifference. So that's why my
(39:17):
next question for you, too. WhenI ran, I had no idea what to do.
I just, I just did it. I decidedto run when I was at the trans
Ohio symposium, it was like inOctober or September, October of
last year. And so I just did it.
And But what advice do you havefor other people that want to
(39:43):
run? Like in my case, I decidedto run because I saw a need, and
typically people you start atschool board and kind of get
your experience and work yourway. That way, I started right.
I jumped up a couple levels bygoing for. For the house, but I
saw it's where someone like mewould have been needed. So for
(40:03):
people like me, not like me,whatever that want, to get out
there and run themselves. Whatadvice do you have for them to
do that? Hey, you too,
Michele Grim (40:20):
because I guess, go first. What advice do I have?
I would say my biggest piece ofadvice is really to like, if
you're interested in running,just do it. You know, if you
(40:43):
don't know where to start, youdon't know exactly where, like,
maybe you're not well known inyour community or anything like,
start volunteering on campaigns.
That's how you really get getnoticed, and get people to be
like, hey, maybe you could runfor the for whatever you city
council or state house orwhatever. And, you know, I think
(41:06):
it is really brave to start atthe State House. So, yeah, it's
scary, but it's brave. But yeah,I mean, if especially so I was
just actually talking aboutwomen running for office
yesterday, with Anna Staver, whois on all sides on WSU, and I
(41:29):
was just talking about This,about like, the myth of women's
unelectability, and how it'sharder for women, because there
is this myth that we'reunelectable, which is not true,
(41:50):
but it is harder for us to runbecause of so many other
barriers, whether it be childcare or you can't quit your job.
I mean, like so many of us,like, I, you know, I had, I was
another in another electedoffice, so I didn't have to,
(42:15):
like, technically, quit my job.
It just moved over. But, youknow, some people like, Hey, I
had to take, I had to take a paycut to run for office. There's a
lot of that that
Vanessa (42:26):
I've doesn't pay a lot of money. No, we're a little
Michele Grim (42:29):
bit better than most states legislatures because
we're full time. But there's alot of there's a lot of offices
that don't pay school board paysnothing. You don't make any
money in school board, but, butit's just a lot harder for
women. It's a lot harder for usto raise money. You know, we're
(42:53):
all constant. I mean, I'mprobably going like, the
opposite of like, advice to run,but like, I'm getting there. I'm
getting there. Like, you know,we're like, I, you know, I get
constantly attacked by about myappearance on social media and
that kind of thing. All that tosay is, be like, if you if,
(43:20):
especially if you're a woman,but it doesn't matter if you
want to run for office, do it. Imean, like, Gather your friends,
gather your folks, and be like,I want to run for office. You
can do it. There's a lot ofresources to help you do that.
And, you know, get involved inyour local Democratic Party, or,
(43:47):
you know, if you're a thirdparty person, that kind of
thing. But just really startgetting involved. Start
volunteering. And when you know,if take that opportunity, if
that opportunity preventsitself, presents itself, not
prevents presents itself, goahead. Maybe prevents presents
(44:09):
itself. Go ahead and do it.
Vanessa (44:13):
It's good advice. Yeah.
So first.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (44:17):
Thank you, Vanessa, for for being
willing to do it. I am sorrythat you didn't, that you
weren't able to move forward.
What's it doing? Well,
Vanessa (44:28):
what I what I say is I if I was able to do it, because
I am a newcomer, to startCounty. I spent 40 years of my
life in Summit County, and Ionly recently came to start
County. I didn't know anybody,and I got my I got a total of 69
signatures. 50 of them werevalid. I just got it, just from
(44:49):
social, from networking andFacebook. So it's that to get
the signatures that you need.
It's still not easy to get thesignatures, but there's ways you
can do it. If you're a relativeon. Own an area, so that's
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (45:01):
okay, no, I mean, I think that that's
true, like the so there's thelogistics of it, right, which
are knowable. You can read aboutthem, at least most of those
logistics. Unfortunately, thethe logistics related to
disclosure of prior names isactually not in the candidate
handbook, but most of thelogistics you can you can figure
(45:25):
those out. I would echoMichelle's comments about
volunteering on other campaigns.
I think I the way that I grewup. I think it's pretty unusual
work having worked on,volunteered on campaigns for so
long. I do think not only is ituseful for getting to know other
people, but it's also alsouseful to know what actually
(45:50):
you're getting yourself and yourfriends and family into. The
truth is you're never actuallyrunning yourself, even if
there's not family that'simpacted your friends, your
close circle of people, is goingto be impacted by a run for
(46:11):
public office. I think that, andagain, I don't want to go down
this rabbit hole too far,because I think that some of
what I could share might bethings that would talk someone
out of running, but I say all ofthose things that somebody who
still comes 100% positive that Imade the right decision to run.
(46:34):
But it is something when you runfor public office, you really
are kind of giving up any senseof real privacy that you or your
family and your close friendsmight have. And I definitely
think that it is an additionallayer of that that happens for
women. I know that. I don'tknow. I just feel like there's
(47:00):
something that is still notcompletely the same for male
candidates as I don't know, theexpectations I think are
different, the kinds of thingsthat people focus on,
Vanessa (47:20):
intrinsic misogyny.
It's just, yeah, yeah. I mean,we're, I mean, look at Kamala
and Trump, you know, a guy thatwas on Jeffrey Epstein's plane,
versus Kamala who laughs, right,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantoni (47:33):
right, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, it's
fascinating, the kinds of thingsthat I feel like people focus on
when they are coming at femalecandidates, but so volunteering
on other campaigns, I think issomething that is really useful.
(47:54):
I also think that anything thatyou can learn about the office
that you're running for, aboutwhat, what the, what your role
is, what the authority is, whatthe, what the impact may be
like. I think that those arethings that are really useful. I
general, I think that ingeneral, most people are pretty
(48:16):
open to talking if, if you'reinterested in running for an
office. I always suggest topeople to reach out to others
who are serving in that role.
Michele Grim (48:27):
That's a good idea. Yeah.
Vanessa (48:30):
I mean, I did that with Casey Weinstein, a little bit.
Why you just pick his brain herethere? Yeah? So, yeah, I went to
high school together. So yeah,
Michele Grim (48:37):
I love, I love talking to people about what I
do and, yeah,
Vanessa (48:45):
what you two are doing is you were also showing that. I
mean, we have three women ofdifferent backgrounds, you know,
with different life experiences,different professional
experiences. Yeah, we're allthree people that had a passion
for running for office. I neverthought that I'd do that in the
past. I mean, if you would havetold me five years ago that one,
(49:07):
I'd have tips, and two, I wasrunning for office. I what? But
like people like us are thepeople that need to run for
office. And because look at Timwaltz, perfect example. You
know, family man, middle classteacher, perfect. Perfect
(49:30):
representative country, becausehe represents people. So we
need, ideally, what I would liketo see. I mean, call me crazy on
this. Jon Stewart did an episodeof his weekly show recently
where he was talking to peopleabout what the country would
look like if we had morepolitical parties, like not too
(49:50):
many, but like four or five andlike expanding seats and
everything. I would like to seea few things in this country.
One, the removal of. Money fromthe electoral process, because
it's all about who has the mostmoney. Two, something I heard
today that interests meshortening the electoral process
(50:10):
because it's really dark out.
And three, I have no idea what Iwas going to say for the third
one, so those three importantthings, but so that's why I
asked you to about like, whatmade you want to run? In advice
for people to run, because anyof us can do it, you know, and
if you have the notion to do it,remember that there are going to
(50:35):
be risks with it. And I getpictures of my vulva shown on
the internet after I ran. Sothere are things like that that
you do have to be prepared for,but it's all worth it. And when
people ask me if I run again, myresponse to them now is it
depends on what happens thisnext election cycle, because
(50:57):
I'll either have the opportunityto do it or I'll be in a
concentration camp and I won'tbe able to do it from there. So
I always tell people, maybe, butif you have passion, just do it.
Because we need we needdiversity. We need some youth in
there. There are way too manycrusty old white guys and the
crusty old white women that backup those crusty old white guys.
(51:21):
They do not represent thiscountry. They do not represent
Ohio. They do not representanything. They represent
themselves. So that's my TEDTalk. Final thoughts from you
there. You do everything youwant to get out there.
Michele Grim (51:40):
Um, I think, hey, thank you for having us and
again, you know, thank you for,thank you for attempting to run
for office. And hopefully, I dohope you get the other get
another chance to do so.
Because, you know, I think thatit's really unfair to prevent
anyone who's eligible to run torun for office, especially if
(52:03):
they that you want to representyour community and do good for
your community. So thank you forhaving us on and thank you for
what you're doing.
Vanessa (52:15):
Thank you. I'm so honored to have you two here.
Brill Yeti,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (52:21):
I will also say Thank you,
Vanessa, for for having us on,for doing the podcast, for
running for office, forcontinuing to speak, to speak
up. I think that this is like,this is a purple state. It's
pretty diverse, and ourlegislature should reflect that
(52:42):
diversity. I don't know if thatwas where you were headed. I
thought that might be where youwere headed with your third
point. Vanessa about what weneed, that would have
Vanessa (52:53):
been fourth point, but, yeah, third was something
specific, but I don't know whatit was.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (52:59):
I mean, I think that we make the
best law when we have thatdiversity of representation, we
can have honest conversationsabout things that impact people,
and we can have thosedisagreements, but in an honest
way where it's not directedtoward trying to get a reaction
(53:23):
from social media or whatever,but we can actually have honest
conversations. I think that'show we get to the best place
when we're making laws. So Iguess if I were to make any last
points, please remember to vote.
Please remember to vote yes theconstitutional amendment issue
(53:43):
one. Please don't be confusedand vote yes on that
constitutional amendment. Yes,the top of the ticket this year
the presidential election isincredibly important, kind of
like you just said, Vanessa, itliterally impacts people's
lives. Yeah, there are also someother really important races.
(54:04):
Are in Ohio, our Supreme Courtraces are incredibly important.
Yes, I live in a county whereour countywide races are not
super contested, but we havesome legislative races that in
in my area, that are reallycontested, we can't afford to be
losing any seats, and we need toactually pick up some seats,
(54:26):
right? Yeah. So pay attention toall of that, and please vote on
those things. Yeah. One
Vanessa (54:35):
thing I want to Oh, the third thing was actually,
because I had actually justtalked about it, but having more
political parties just to spreadthings out, because right now,
we are really I ran as aDemocrat. I don't really feel
the Democratic Party representsme that well, and it's the whole
trans community is all about.
Like we don't really follow thebinary. I. Um, so I would like
(54:57):
to see more parties in order tojust kind of create a different
like some more perspectives. Butyou hear me rag on Republicans a
lot, and I want to makesomething very clear, I'm not
ragging on Republican voters.
I'm ragging on Republicanpoliticians right now. There's a
(55:19):
very, very big difference. Thisis not your father's Republican
Party. This is not Georgevoronovich. This is not worry
O'Connor, right? This is notJohn McCain. These are
extremists. There's people likeGary click, who actively is
working to essentially cause agenocide on my community,
terrifying. They don't representRepublican voters. And I asked
(55:47):
Republican voters for this timearound, write the bullet vote on
the other side of the ticketthis time, because what we need
to do is we need to get theextremists out of the Republican
Party and reboot it so it's it'sgood to have some balance and
actual discourse betweenparties, because we're all right
and we're all wrong on a numberof things. But right now, we're
(56:10):
between fascism and democracy,and it's terrifying. So I just
asked the one Republican thatlistens to the show, think about
that and vote for democracybetter than the accuracy. So
(56:31):
thank you so much for joiningme. I will put information on
where you can follow them in thedescription of this show. Sorry
for skipping the Cards AgainstHumanity this week, I figured it
these two running for officemight not be the best idea, so I
already have enough, but soyeah, follow them on socials,
(56:52):
and I will be sharing this asmuch as I can to try to get it
out there. And once again, we'llsee you next week. THB doodles.
You.
Hello and welcome back to transcending humanity. I'm
(00:03):
Vanessa, aka Vanessa adeal, andI'm joined by Ohio State House
representatives. Burl Brown,Piccolo, Antonio, did I get that
right? Piccolo, Antonio, okay,cool. And Michelle Grimm, which
is a whole lot easier to say.
Reminder the views and opinionsof everybody on the show are
their own and not anyorganization that they
(00:27):
represent. And in this case,probably a very important
disclaimer. And don't forget,our Patreon send us money. Burl
was asking about my shirt. Youcan get that on our merch store.
I'll have a link in the commentswithout further ado, I would
love to have you to introduceyourself. So who wants to go
(00:48):
first?
Michele Grim (00:51):
You let me go first. Okay, I can go first. So
I'm Michelle grim. I'm a staterepresentative in the Toledo
area. I'm also the assistantwhip in the Democratic caucus. I
This is my first term, and I'mrunning for my second so I'm
glad to be here. So thank you.
Thank you for having us.
Vanessa (01:12):
Thank you.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (01:12):
Yeah.
Hi I'm BerylBrown-Piccolantonio, I am a
state representative in theNortheast suburbs of Columbus. I
actually was appointed inJanuary, so I'll be on the
ballot in November, running formy first term. But I'm I'm in my
I don't even know what I callwhat I'm in right now, my
Michele Grim (01:38):
first term, your first year, first year, yeah,
yeah,
Vanessa (01:45):
that's a really unique position to be in, too. So these
two ladies, I was hoping thatthey would be my co workers,
that didn't go through, butthat's actually how I met you.
Two listeners and watchers ofthe show probably remember that
I tried running for office latelast year into this year, and I
(02:06):
was disqualified for the crimeof changing my name to Vanessa,
and due to this antiquated law,and these two lovely ladies put
forth a Bill to update that lawin a pretty common sense update
as well, where essentially thelanguage says that if you have
(02:28):
legally changed your name in thestate of Ohio, you don't have to
disclose it. And of course,Republicans are pushing back
against it. And the latest newsis there is a Republican
nickname Tex, and somewhere innortheast, I believe,
Michele Grim (02:49):
young like the Youngstown area, yeah, Mahoning,
Mahoning, county,
Vanessa (02:53):
Mahoning, that's it. So he changed his name to Tex, and
texford
Michele Grim (03:01):
Actually, texford, he goes by text,
Vanessa (03:07):
yeah, I, I just keep on saying it in reference to him,
sex to suck Tex so he changedhis name to texford, aka Tex
Yeah, but he didn't put it onhis disclosures when he ran. So
the Mahoning County Democratswere like, Excuse me, remember
(03:29):
this whole fiasco that madeinternational fucking news at
the beginning of the year, butwhy isn't applying this guy? So
an inquiry is put on his boardof elections. Voted two, two, of
course, around down party lines.
And now it goes to the wonderfulFrank Larose, who, you know is
so for the Ohio people, the sameguy that when I was
(03:51):
disqualified, he said, Well, youknow, the candidates really need
to know the rules themselves andhire their own legal teams. I'm
interested see what he's goingto say with this When you know
he's going to let the guy stayon the ballot. So remember,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (04:04):
did your challenge go? Was it a tie
vote at your board of election?
No,
Vanessa (04:10):
it was a sweet, Okay, interesting beer. See theorist
to me the stark County, the headof the stark County Democratic
Party. I didn't follow thetypical rules that you need to
follow to run for office,because I ran as kind of an
urgent thing, given what's goingon. So I didn't have connections
(04:32):
in stark County and stuff, andso otherwise, saying I didn't
scratch his back ahead of timebecause I didn't even know I had
to, and I believe he was againstme entire time, and I believe
he's the person at the board ofelections that flagged,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (04:46):
okay.
And remembering thatconversation, and
Michele Grim (04:49):
what did you appeal? You appealed it right?
And then that's, that's when itwent to the Secretary of State.
It didn't
Vanessa (04:57):
even go to, oh.
Michele Grim (04:58):
It didn't go, okay, okay. Yield it. They
Vanessa (05:00):
said no. And then after Ari and Ariana and Barbie,
Barbie, sorry, Bobby, everyone,hey, Barbie, we're allowed to
stand I'm like, Excuse me. Andso I wrote a I wrote a strongly
worded nasty ground to them, andthey told me where to stick it
again. So, and then, so I do youtwo listen to today in Ohio at
(05:26):
all?
Michele Grim (05:28):
I actually don't, and I probably should. It's a
pretty good show, is it?
Vanessa (05:34):
And Chris Quinn, he's the editor. I
Michele Grim (05:36):
do love Chris Quinn. He's great. He's the
Vanessa (05:39):
main host on it, and he just flat out, just said, Start
counting Sienna, trans County.
I'm like, so anyways, enoughabout me. I was just used to
that to introduce who you twoare. I am curious. One,
Michelle, the yellow. Where didthat come from? The yellow is
(06:00):
adorable, like intimacy, you'rewearing yellow. My Oh,
Michele Grim (06:07):
nowhere really in particular. Um, I just found a
really nice yellow blazer,because I'm just, like,
everybody wears black blazers,so I'm gonna wear a yellow
blazer. And that's, that's whereit really came from. It's a
statement, right? Yes, statementexactly I love I love bright
Blazers because they'restatements. So I think that's
where it comes from. Actually,my favorite color is purple,
(06:29):
yeah, so, yeah, I think that'swhere it comes from. It's just
like, it's a bright, standoutcolor. So that's where it comes
from.
Vanessa (06:40):
I love it. Yeah, when I met Michelle was actually at the
hearing when I was deliveringproponent testimony for the
bills, and she was wearing theyellow I'm like, That's fucking
badass. So what got you toactually, burl in particular,
how did you wind up gettingappointed? Like, what's the
process to for that to happen.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (07:02):
So, and I'm going to apologize in
advance, because I think my dog,it is barking now, but so I was
serving on my local schoolboard. I served as School Board
President here I lived for abouteight years, and had been
thinking about running for aseat in the house when my state
(07:23):
representative would have beenterm limited, which was in 2026
I had a wonderful state rep. Iwas lucky. I live in an area
where I was very wellrepresented, and I had a re
election campaign in 2023 so Iwas just coming off of a
campaign cycle, and my staterepresentative had some
(07:49):
circumstances change in herfamily, and had to make a really
difficult decision that she wasactually going to move and Leave
Ohio to go be with hergrandchildren. And so I had
about a week to make a decisionabout whether I was going to
file to run. This was rightbefore the holidays in December,
(08:12):
the finally, if you rememberVanessa, the filing deadline was
really early because it's apresidential primary year, so
her primary is really early. SoI had it might have been under a
week to make a decision aboutwhether I was going to file to
run, because I was alreadythinking about running in 2026
that made the decision a littlebit easier, but it was still not
(08:33):
an easy decision, because Iworked in a job that I actually
had To quit in order. Well, Irisked getting fired by running,
and I knew that I was going tohave to quit if I was successful
in running. So at the time thatI filed, I didn't know my state
representative had decided shewasn't going to run again, but
(08:56):
not necessarily that she wasgoing to step down. Made this a
very convoluted explanation, butessentially, what she had
decided was that if the primarywas contested, she was not going
to step down because she thoughtit was important, if we had a
contested primary that votersget to pick who they wanted to
(09:16):
represent them, and then if Itwas not contested, she was
going, she was she would thenstep down. So it ended up not
being contested. She steppeddown, and then I was interviewed
by the people who are now mycolleagues. Actually, I think
there were five people whoapplied for the vacancy and were
(09:39):
interviewed, and then I ended upgetting appointed on January 10.
Vanessa (09:45):
That was very, very fast, very, very fast.
Congratulations and welcome tothe club of insanity that is
Ohio government. Michelle, whatled you to Bratton, what led you
to get into Ohio politics?
Because you're not you. FromIllinois. No, I'm from Ohio.
Yeah, from
Michele Grim (10:05):
I know I lived in, I lived in Chicago for two
years, and then before that, Ilived in the Bay Area for eight
so we, my husband and I left for10 years. So I'm originally from
Ashland, Ohio. I do you knowwhere that's at,
Vanessa (10:19):
yeah, it's like, west of me, I'm in mass. Yes, so, oh,
okay, yeah,
Michele Grim (10:24):
yeah, you know where ashlet is, very
conservative town. Got to Toledovia the university a long time
ago, 2001 and so we left for 10.
We left in 2010 we came back in2020 and in 2021 a good friend
of mine recruited me to run forToledo city council, and so I
(10:49):
ran, and I won that seat, andbecause of the whole thing with
the maps and gerrymandering, Idecided to get into the the
state rep races just to makesure that we had good Democrats
running. And I know that didn'tmake some people very happy, but
(11:14):
I decided to go for it, and hereI am. You know, I had a lot of
people say, Why are you, youknow, running when you just ran
before, and I'm glad I did it.
So I won. I won that my one aprimary. I had a primary, and
(11:34):
this was in August of 2022 I wonthat primary. Then I won my
general and here I am, and Ilove my job. I made the right
decision, and I'm glad that I'mhere, and glad to be able be
able to fight for the thingsthat that that I'm passionate
(11:57):
about and that other Ohioanscare about, rather than the
stuff that the gerrymanderedlegislature does. So yeah, that
Vanessa (12:12):
says My next question for you, too, for those
listening that aren't in Ohio orin the country, because we have
a lot of international is next.
Well, some, I mean, show's nothuge, but I'm trying to grow it.
But Ohio is what gerrymanderingis. It's the how when certain
(12:33):
party in both Republicans andDemocrats, have been guilty of
it in the past, and currently inOhio, it is gerrymandered in the
Republican favor to a level thatis almost mind boggling to if
you zoom in on the Ohio StateHouse maps, individual houses
(12:54):
are cut out. It's it's not sowhat it does is a party that
might that likely doesn'trepresent the majority draws
their districts to select allthe people that they know are
going to vote for them, andleave out the ones out,
essentially, so in Ohio thataffects everything all the way
(13:17):
up to the US, Senate, US House,Jim Jordan, perfect example.
Okay, and so these two ladiesare, what's the split right now?
Is it like 6931 sick, not
Michele Grim (13:35):
that quite that bad. It's 6732
Vanessa (13:39):
pretty damn close.
Pretty
Michele Grim (13:41):
bad. That was really close, though.
Vanessa (13:43):
Well, I people just know I like say 6967
Michele Grim (13:50):
31 and then it's, I can't, I can't do so it's set.
It's seven senators. We have 33so whatever that is, is that
it's a number 26 Yeah. And thenthere's only, yeah, there's only
seven Democratic senators. So
Vanessa (14:12):
yeah, 33 Exactly. So I have on both sides a super
majority of Republicans,correct, which makes it so
anything that burrow andMichelle need to do is next to
fucking impossible in anythingthat they can do is a momentous
achievement, that because theyhave managed to get bipartisan
(14:37):
component support on it, whichis not easy in this state, Ohio
is, if Ohio is not actuallyblue, I know it's pretty deep
pretty well, but if you look atour government, you would not
realize that. So my question tofollow up to all that is, what
is it like to have to constantlyfight for every. Single thing
(15:01):
that you're trying to do to helpthe people of Ohio? Do
Michele Grim (15:06):
you want to go first? Okay,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (15:10):
um, I thought she was quiet for a
minute.
Michele Grim (15:12):
I thought I had a mom. It's okay.
Beryl Brown-Piccolanto (15:15):
Somebody is actually right outside of my
house, which is making my dogabsolutely lose her mind. She
thinks that she's protecting me.
Wait till I can show you howsmall she is. She's about seven.
Michele Grim (15:25):
Honestly, what kind of dog do you have?
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (15:28):
She's a cabo, too. So Cavalier King
Charles, yeah, yeah, poodle. Idon't actually, I was going to
answer really quickly and thendefer to you, Michelle, because
okay, but you've been dealingwith this for longer than I
have. So I've been dealing withit since January. And as
(15:51):
somebody coming in, I don'tthink that there was anything
that was actually verysurprising. I felt like I knew
what I was walking into. Thething, though, is that when
you're actually like living it,it is in some ways even more
frustrating than watching it,because you experience firsthand
(16:16):
just how like stupid some of itis so I mean, just take, for
example, the bill that we talkedabout at the beginning the, I
think it's 467, which is thelegislation that Michelle and I
introduced, which is, I mean,for from my perspective, Like
(16:38):
there is really absolutely noreason that anyone should oppose
it. There's nothing partisanabout the legislation, as you
know, Vanessa, like there. Thereweren't just it wasn't just this
most recent situation with textwhere a Republican was impacted
there. There was anotherRepublican who was impacted by
(17:01):
the way that the current lawreads, yeah, Kitty wire, Katie
wire, yeah. So in, like, inscenarios like that where you
just want to bang your headagainst the raw wall, because
it's just so, like, baffling whyyou can't get things to move.
(17:21):
That is incredibly frustrating.
Vanessa (17:26):
Yeah, I can't imagine.
That's why I asked you two tocome here. Really is to hear
that, Michelle, you're nodding,
Michele Grim (17:35):
yeah, so I Yes.
Certain things are justincredibly frustrating. A lot of
common sense bills can't getthrough. Like, the like, the one
that we have that would fix, itwould have fixed Texas issue. It
would have, you know, he'sclaiming that it's the Democrats
who are out to get get him now.
(17:58):
And like, it's just like, look,y'all, y'all did it last year
with our candidates and so, fairgame, man,
Vanessa (18:08):
that's why I said Sucks to suck text.
Michele Grim (18:12):
It's fair game because, you know, you changed
your name four years ago. It's,it's, it's the law, so, but we
that would, that would fix it.
And instead of our common sensebill, there was another bill, a
counter Bill around anybodycould challenge someone's place
(18:33):
on the ballot regardless ofparty. Because right now it's
like, it's, it's party to partyfor the primary ballot, correct?
So, like, so a Republican couldchallenge my primary party
ballot, and it could be like,just normal, like, any, any
(18:56):
everyday citizen that could doit. So, like it could, it would
be like complete and utterchaos. So, so that bill, I've
heard a rumor that they'readvancing that one and ours not
more common sense, because allit would do is let folks who
(19:18):
have legally changed their name,like yourself, to not have to
disclose it. If you, if youlegally change your name in
Ohio, and if you did need todisclose your name, there would
be a space on the petitions thatwould allow you to do so, so
very simple, very simple fix.
(19:41):
But they decided to, you know,go with the counter bill that
would just cause complete chaosfor our board. It's boards of
elections. Who are, you know,strapped anyways, who are they?
Under? Staffed, underfunded, sothat kind of thing. There's also
(20:06):
bills around requiring an ID toregister to vote instead of just
going to vote. So again, thatwould just cause a lot of chaos
for our boards of elections. Andjust some of the things that the
Republicans bring forward arejust really ridiculous and just
make param a lot harder forOhioans. And so that's, I think
(20:30):
that's the the most frustratingpiece is that it's a lot harder
for your constituent, you know,their constituents, as well as,
like, ours and theirs and sothat's the really frustrating
thing, especially withgerrymandering, is that, like,
they don't have to worry abouttheir constituency because
(20:53):
they're so gerrymandered. Can Iput in a plug for the Gerry?
Okay? So as Vanessa explained,what gerrymandering is we now
on, and that on the Novemberballot have a independent
redistricting reform into ourstate constitution, because in
(21:17):
Ohio, we can change ourConstitution by citizen led
ballot initiatives, and it wouldbe a 15 person independent
commission, instead of the fivetwo imbalance of five
Republicans who are politiciansversus the two who are Democrats
(21:40):
that decides what our map lookslike, which is legislative,
state legis maps and ourcongressional maps. So that is
going to be on the ballot. It'sworked in other states where the
maps are much fairer and thedistricts are more
representative of how peoplevote in the state, because 6732
(22:07):
is not representative of howpeople vote in the state. And I
think we're going to see thatand this next election, in
November, especially with thewith the presidential I think
we're going to see a lot morepeople coming out because
they're excited, and I thinkwe're going to see what's truly
possible here in Ohio. I thinkyou're right. I think we are
(22:29):
still a purple state. We're justgerrymander to be a red state.
Yeah,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (22:36):
just add one thing to that. So in
addition to the fact that it'sout of balance the number of
Republican districts to thenumber of democratic districts.
I also like the the way thatthey're the districts are drawn,
because they're so heavilyconcentrated in many of the
districts, what it ends up doingis you get Republicans who are
(23:02):
not mainstream or moderateRepublicans, but they are
Republicans who represent, likea minority, subset of their own
party. So I can think of one inparticular. Yeah, right. So to
Michelle's point, like they theydon't actually have to care
about their own constituents ora majority of the people that
(23:26):
live in this state. They arerepresenting the minority of the
minority extremist members ofthis state. And I guess back to
this point about that, one ofthe things that is most
frustrating. There are so manythings that we could be and
frankly need to be working on tomake people's lives better, to
(23:50):
make this state a better place,even from the perspective of
like compo just economics of thestate, like the way that
individual people are able toafford to live, the way that
businesses are able to besuccessful in this state.
(24:10):
Instead of working on thosethings where I think a majority
of people need us to be working,we're focusing on these fringe
component, like things thatactually hurt people and hurt a
my people who are some of themost marginalized people in the
(24:31):
state, and it is, in my opinion,it is nowhere near reflective of
what a majority of people thatlive in this state want us to be
doing. So that constitutionalamendment passing that is
critical for the long termhealth of the state.
Vanessa (24:48):
I'll say two things to show the pettiness of what's
going on with the Republicans.
One on the bill that you twowere talking about, where they
want to make it so you cancontest during a primary. The
other party, Canada, the otherparty. That bill is sponsored by
the two Republicanrepresentatives that just happen
to be running against the twotransgender representatives. And
(25:12):
it came up because one of them,their boards of election, tried
to not Board election, the theRepublican, the Republican
nationals in that particularcounty, tried to dispute her
candidacy, and it didn't gothrough, because they're a
(25:37):
theater party. That's where thatcame from, and now with the
citizens against citizensagainst gerrymandering. That is
I from what I understand,largely spearheaded by
Republican former supreme OhioSupreme Court Justice Maureen
O'Connor, who is an Ohio hero.
(25:58):
You just heard me say somethingnice about a Republican. She
really is. She's of theRepublican Old Guard, like the
George voinoviches, the MaureenO'Connor stuff like that. She's
spearheading that, and it gotover 700,000 signatures. You
only need, I think this year,you need about 440,000
(26:20):
signatures of from 44 of the 88counties, and they had 700 over
700 from all of the counties,which shows that, on the
bipartisan level, people careabout this. Frank Larose, our
Secretary of State, stepped inwhen it comes to the language
(26:42):
that's going to be on theballot, and pretty much hold a
Donald Trump on it, and it's thelanguage that has now been
approved to go on the ballot issomething like 850 words, when
it used to be, I think, like 115and it's just all bullshit, like
they're they're calling thisanti gerrymandering initiative.
(27:08):
They're calling it a way forOhioans to gerrymander. It just
makes no sense. But they aredesperate. They pulled this last
year as well Ohio as Michellesaid, we have, we can do says
and let out initiatives and anymore, certainly way to get
anything done in this state. I'mactually working on part of one
(27:29):
myself, but they tried to makeit so it'd be harder for those
to pass last year, where rightnow it just has to be majority
plus one, if I if I'm notmistaken, a simple majority plus
one. And they wanted to make it6040 and that would stop any
citizen led ballot initiativepretty much anywhere from being
(27:52):
passed so and that failed.
Gloriously Frank. Larose isnotoriously unpopular now. He
tried running for office. Helost horribly, and I just think
he's just vindictive at thispoint. So I just wanted to
follow those up on that. Whatthoughts do you to have just on
(28:13):
day to day? What's it what's itlike to be to be writing laws
and to be just creating Ohio.
Honestly, it has to be prettywild.
Michele Grim (28:26):
I, like I said before, I love what I do. I'm I
consider myself really lucky tobe able to work on things that I
am passionate about and alsothings that I've never thought
that I would be working on.
There are lots of examples aboutthat. I've gotten really well
(28:49):
versed in rail issues andpassenger rail, but yeah, and
I'm ranking member oftransportation, so that kind of
thing. But I so my background isin public health and also in
(29:10):
kind of like the rape crisisdomestic violence space. I was a
rape crisis counselor. When Iwas when I turned 18, I became a
rape crisis counselor in my myhometown. I did that for about a
decade, and so I've been workingon legislation around domestic
(29:31):
violence and sexual assaults. Sothat's something that has stuck
with me for the last couple ofdecades. I have bills around
universal health care childinfluencers. Again, that's
another thing that I was I wouldnever have thought in a million
(29:54):
years that I would get intochild influencers the. Bill that
burl and I have that we have to,like, you know, fix a law that's
just absurd and nobody knowsabout So, yeah, it's a really
fascinating even the even thoughsometimes it can be really hard
(30:14):
to get the right things passedand the right things through
it's still a very valuableexperience, because we do see
the good that we can do, eventhough we are in the Super
minority, and that's what I feellike every day.
Vanessa (30:34):
That's why I wanted to run, yeah. Difference
Michele Grim (30:38):
you do? You do make a difference, even though,
you know, being the superminority can be really hard,
people do see that we're workinghard and we are making a
difference in our communities.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (30:52):
So I feel like it is an incredible
privilege to be able to do thejobs that that we do. Just the
responsibility, I think, ofrepresenting people and the
responsibility of working onlaws that impact every single
(31:14):
person that live in this state,and sometimes even impact people
who live outside of this state.
Sometimes our laws can be modelsfor other states, or they impact
people in other states and otherways. I think it's a huge
responsibility. I feelincredibly lucky to be doing the
job that I'm doing. I didn'treally talk a lot about my
(31:37):
background before coming intothis role, but I I grew up in a
house where my parents werealways extremely involved in the
community and extremely involvedin I know politics is like a bad
word. Now I don't think it's abad word, but it shouldn't be. I
don't think it's a bad word,like the way that I grew up. I
(32:01):
have never spent an electioncycle where I wasn't pulling on
doors in my entire life. I don'tthink I've never watched a
parade, but having said allthat, I didn't really think of
myself as someone who would bethe person who was the elected
(32:23):
person, until much later in mylife and I component, ran for
school board because ofsomething very specific that was
happening in My community. Wehad a school board where I live
that was divided, that was notfunctioning, that was not
(32:45):
focused on putting studentsfirst, and was not not focused
on creating an environment thatwas good for staff. And so I ran
for that very specific reason.
That was back in 2013 actually,I ran and lost my first race,
and then I ran and won in 2015and it wasn't really until,
(33:09):
honestly, was the pandemic, andthen some of the things that
followed the pandemic, theculture wars that followed after
that, that's when I startedthinking about serving in the
legislature. In addition toserving on school board, I'm
also an attorney. I worked forthe state for about 23 years in
different kind of leadershiproles, but to be able to be
(33:29):
coming at state government fromthis lens, and to be able to
take the experiences that I hadserving in local government and
kind of blend that with what Iknew about how, how the state
works, how state agencies work.
It's fascinating to me, and itreally is a privilege. And it is
true that we are in the extrememinority, but there are times
(33:50):
that we get to do things thatreally impact people. I'll give
you an example that I hadyesterday. So I a lot of my
colleagues right now are inChicago. A lot of our colleagues
are in Chicago having a lot offun. I got to substitute in on a
committee called the controllingboard yesterday, which was it
(34:11):
just a whole new learningexperience for me. I mean, it's
the the thing is, like, Lucky.
It was fascinating. No, I
Michele Grim (34:26):
was like, Oh no. I was like, Oh, I'm a little
jealous. But really, really, Idon't
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (34:39):
I mean, if you look up the
controlling board, maybe itwouldn't sound all that
interesting, but what thecontrolling board does is that
they meet. So we passed thestate budget every two years,
right? And with state budgets,things, things change. So the
controlling boards, boardexists. They meet every other
week, and what they're what thepurpose of the control. Board
(35:00):
is, is basically to approveanything that changes in the
budget in the in betweenperiods. But all that to say, I
got to vote yesterday. We hadthis amazing surprise happen.
There was $1 amount that wasrequested to go to the State
Board of Education. It was a lowdollar amount. Like the we
(35:22):
actually the legislature owesthe State Board of Education ten
million right now. The dollaramount that was requested was
under 2 million. And what theysaid is that it was the amount
that was needed just to get themthrough the fiscal year so that
they wouldn't have to raiseteacher licensure fees. But it
wasn't an amount that the stateboard actually came up with, the
(35:44):
people that came up with thedollar amount. Was it? I mean,
essentially, it was thecomponent of the governor's
office who was trying to helpcome up with $1 amount that they
thought would actually pass. Itwas less than what they needed,
and definitely less than whatthe legislature actually owes
(36:05):
them. There was a Republican,though the Chair of the Finance
Committee, who ended up making asurprise amendment to raise that
dollar amount from just under 2million up to almost $5 million
which is still not the 10 thatwe owe them, but it was closer,
like it was just and so I got tovote on this surprise amendment
(36:28):
and give this money back to theState Board of Education. It
ended up being a unanimous vote.
And I know I sound like I'mtotally, I'm going way into
weeds, and I'm I felt like atotal nerd, but it was so fun
and exciting to actually be ableto be part of doing something
good. Yeah, and make sure thatour teachers and our staff who
work in building servingstudents every day don't have to
(36:51):
worry about their licensure feesincreasing, or what could have
happened if licensure feesdidn't increase. What they were
going to do is stop doingbackground checks on district
staff, which is also not a thingthat should be acceptable for
anybody. So
Michele Grim (37:10):
it was going to go up like, like, $400 or
something, like, really high,right? Yeah, I can't even
remember why we borrowed. No, weweren't. We weren't yet, but
when that the legislatureborrowed ten million I can't
even remember
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (37:27):
why was that. So in 2017 I guess
there was okay, there was a, Idon't know, there was a shortage
somewhere. And so the the waythat the state budget works,
sometimes there are theseaccounts like this account,
which was an account that wassup it's supposed to only be
(37:48):
comprised of money wherelicensure fees go. So anyone
who's a teacher in the state ofOhio, they have to get a
license, they have to updatetheir license, and there's fees
associated with that. And thosefees get put into this this
account. They had been goodstewards of that money, and the
account had a positive balance.
And so when they were doing thestate budget, and there was
(38:10):
money needed for somewhere else,the legislature, again, like
Michelle said, not us. Weweren't there, completed that
fund from they greeted tenmillion with a promise that it
was going to be restored and itstill hasn't been put back.
Vanessa (38:30):
I mean, you don't need to apologize about nerding out
about that as a voter and a subclaim. I only recently started
voting honestly, but I wouldmuch rather see my
representative nerding out aboutloving what they do than what
(38:53):
we're seeing right now on theother side. So like you don't
need to apologize for that. Thisis That's the energy that that
people need and want to see,because you're actually
passionate about the governmentand passionate about our quote,
unquote, democracy and makingdifference. So that's why my
(39:17):
next question for you, too. WhenI ran, I had no idea what to do.
I just, I just did it. I decidedto run when I was at the trans
Ohio symposium, it was like inOctober or September, October of
last year. And so I just did it.
And But what advice do you havefor other people that want to
(39:43):
run? Like in my case, I decidedto run because I saw a need, and
typically people you start atschool board and kind of get
your experience and work yourway. That way, I started right.
I jumped up a couple levels bygoing for. For the house, but I
saw it's where someone like mewould have been needed. So for
(40:03):
people like me, not like me,whatever that want, to get out
there and run themselves. Whatadvice do you have for them to
do that? Hey, you too,
Michele Grim (40:20):
because I guess, go first. What advice do I have?
I would say my biggest piece ofadvice is really to like, if
you're interested in running,just do it. You know, if you
(40:43):
don't know where to start, youdon't know exactly where, like,
maybe you're not well known inyour community or anything like,
start volunteering on campaigns.
That's how you really get getnoticed, and get people to be
like, hey, maybe you could runfor the for whatever you city
council or state house orwhatever. And, you know, I think
(41:06):
it is really brave to start atthe State House. So, yeah, it's
scary, but it's brave. But yeah,I mean, if especially so I was
just actually talking aboutwomen running for office
yesterday, with Anna Staver, whois on all sides on WSU, and I
(41:29):
was just talking about This,about like, the myth of women's
unelectability, and how it'sharder for women, because there
is this myth that we'reunelectable, which is not true,
(41:50):
but it is harder for us to runbecause of so many other
barriers, whether it be childcare or you can't quit your job.
I mean, like so many of us,like, I, you know, I had, I was
another in another electedoffice, so I didn't have to,
(42:15):
like, technically, quit my job.
It just moved over. But, youknow, some people like, Hey, I
had to take, I had to take a paycut to run for office. There's a
lot of that that
Vanessa (42:26):
I've doesn't pay a lot of money. No, we're a little
Michele Grim (42:29):
bit better than most states legislatures because
we're full time. But there's alot of there's a lot of offices
that don't pay school board paysnothing. You don't make any
money in school board, but, butit's just a lot harder for
women. It's a lot harder for usto raise money. You know, we're
(42:53):
all constant. I mean, I'mprobably going like, the
opposite of like, advice to run,but like, I'm getting there. I'm
getting there. Like, you know,we're like, I, you know, I get
constantly attacked by about myappearance on social media and
that kind of thing. All that tosay is, be like, if you if,
(43:20):
especially if you're a woman,but it doesn't matter if you
want to run for office, do it. Imean, like, Gather your friends,
gather your folks, and be like,I want to run for office. You
can do it. There's a lot ofresources to help you do that.
And, you know, get involved inyour local Democratic Party, or,
(43:47):
you know, if you're a thirdparty person, that kind of
thing. But just really startgetting involved. Start
volunteering. And when you know,if take that opportunity, if
that opportunity preventsitself, presents itself, not
prevents presents itself, goahead. Maybe prevents presents
(44:09):
itself. Go ahead and do it.
Vanessa (44:13):
It's good advice. Yeah.
So first.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (44:17):
Thank you, Vanessa, for for being
willing to do it. I am sorrythat you didn't, that you
weren't able to move forward.
What's it doing? Well,
Vanessa (44:28):
what I what I say is I if I was able to do it, because
I am a newcomer, to startCounty. I spent 40 years of my
life in Summit County, and Ionly recently came to start
County. I didn't know anybody,and I got my I got a total of 69
signatures. 50 of them werevalid. I just got it, just from
(44:49):
social, from networking andFacebook. So it's that to get
the signatures that you need.
It's still not easy to get thesignatures, but there's ways you
can do it. If you're a relativeon. Own an area, so that's
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (45:01):
okay, no, I mean, I think that that's
true, like the so there's thelogistics of it, right, which
are knowable. You can read aboutthem, at least most of those
logistics. Unfortunately, thethe logistics related to
disclosure of prior names isactually not in the candidate
handbook, but most of thelogistics you can you can figure
(45:25):
those out. I would echoMichelle's comments about
volunteering on other campaigns.
I think I the way that I grewup. I think it's pretty unusual
work having worked on,volunteered on campaigns for so
long. I do think not only is ituseful for getting to know other
people, but it's also alsouseful to know what actually
(45:50):
you're getting yourself and yourfriends and family into. The
truth is you're never actuallyrunning yourself, even if
there's not family that'simpacted your friends, your
close circle of people, is goingto be impacted by a run for
(46:11):
public office. I think that, andagain, I don't want to go down
this rabbit hole too far,because I think that some of
what I could share might bethings that would talk someone
out of running, but I say all ofthose things that somebody who
still comes 100% positive that Imade the right decision to run.
(46:34):
But it is something when you runfor public office, you really
are kind of giving up any senseof real privacy that you or your
family and your close friendsmight have. And I definitely
think that it is an additionallayer of that that happens for
women. I know that. I don'tknow. I just feel like there's
(47:00):
something that is still notcompletely the same for male
candidates as I don't know, theexpectations I think are
different, the kinds of thingsthat people focus on,
Vanessa (47:20):
intrinsic misogyny.
It's just, yeah, yeah. I mean,we're, I mean, look at Kamala
and Trump, you know, a guy thatwas on Jeffrey Epstein's plane,
versus Kamala who laughs, right,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantoni (47:33):
right, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's, it's
fascinating, the kinds of thingsthat I feel like people focus on
when they are coming at femalecandidates, but so volunteering
on other campaigns, I think issomething that is really useful.
(47:54):
I also think that anything thatyou can learn about the office
that you're running for, aboutwhat, what the, what your role
is, what the authority is, whatthe, what the impact may be
like. I think that those arethings that are really useful. I
general, I think that ingeneral, most people are pretty
(48:16):
open to talking if, if you'reinterested in running for an
office. I always suggest topeople to reach out to others
who are serving in that role.
Michele Grim (48:27):
That's a good idea. Yeah.
Vanessa (48:30):
I mean, I did that with Casey Weinstein, a little bit.
Why you just pick his brain herethere? Yeah? So, yeah, I went to
high school together. So yeah,
Michele Grim (48:37):
I love, I love talking to people about what I
do and, yeah,
Vanessa (48:45):
what you two are doing is you were also showing that. I
mean, we have three women ofdifferent backgrounds, you know,
with different life experiences,different professional
experiences. Yeah, we're allthree people that had a passion
for running for office. I neverthought that I'd do that in the
past. I mean, if you would havetold me five years ago that one,
(49:07):
I'd have tips, and two, I wasrunning for office. I what? But
like people like us are thepeople that need to run for
office. And because look at Timwaltz, perfect example. You
know, family man, middle classteacher, perfect. Perfect
(49:30):
representative country, becausehe represents people. So we
need, ideally, what I would liketo see. I mean, call me crazy on
this. Jon Stewart did an episodeof his weekly show recently
where he was talking to peopleabout what the country would
look like if we had morepolitical parties, like not too
(49:50):
many, but like four or five andlike expanding seats and
everything. I would like to seea few things in this country.
One, the removal of. Money fromthe electoral process, because
it's all about who has the mostmoney. Two, something I heard
today that interests meshortening the electoral process
(50:10):
because it's really dark out.
And three, I have no idea what Iwas going to say for the third
one, so those three importantthings, but so that's why I
asked you to about like, whatmade you want to run? In advice
for people to run, because anyof us can do it, you know, and
if you have the notion to do it,remember that there are going to
(50:35):
be risks with it. And I getpictures of my vulva shown on
the internet after I ran. Sothere are things like that that
you do have to be prepared for,but it's all worth it. And when
people ask me if I run again, myresponse to them now is it
depends on what happens thisnext election cycle, because
(50:57):
I'll either have the opportunityto do it or I'll be in a
concentration camp and I won'tbe able to do it from there. So
I always tell people, maybe, butif you have passion, just do it.
Because we need we needdiversity. We need some youth in
there. There are way too manycrusty old white guys and the
crusty old white women that backup those crusty old white guys.
(51:21):
They do not represent thiscountry. They do not represent
Ohio. They do not representanything. They represent
themselves. So that's my TEDTalk. Final thoughts from you
there. You do everything youwant to get out there.
Michele Grim (51:40):
Um, I think, hey, thank you for having us and
again, you know, thank you for,thank you for attempting to run
for office. And hopefully, I dohope you get the other get
another chance to do so.
Because, you know, I think thatit's really unfair to prevent
anyone who's eligible to run torun for office, especially if
(52:03):
they that you want to representyour community and do good for
your community. So thank you forhaving us on and thank you for
what you're doing.
Vanessa (52:15):
Thank you. I'm so honored to have you two here.
Brill Yeti,
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (52:21):
I will also say Thank you,
Vanessa, for for having us on,for doing the podcast, for
running for office, forcontinuing to speak, to speak
up. I think that this is like,this is a purple state. It's
pretty diverse, and ourlegislature should reflect that
(52:42):
diversity. I don't know if thatwas where you were headed. I
thought that might be where youwere headed with your third
point. Vanessa about what weneed, that would have
Vanessa (52:53):
been fourth point, but, yeah, third was something
specific, but I don't know whatit was.
Beryl Brown-Piccolantonio (52:59):
I mean, I think that we make the
best law when we have thatdiversity of representation, we
can have honest conversationsabout things that impact people,
and we can have thosedisagreements, but in an honest
way where it's not directedtoward trying to get a reaction
(53:23):
from social media or whatever,but we can actually have honest
conversations. I think that'show we get to the best place
when we're making laws. So Iguess if I were to make any last
points, please remember to vote.
Please remember to vote yes theconstitutional amendment issue
(53:43):
one. Please don't be confusedand vote yes on that
constitutional amendment. Yes,the top of the ticket this year
the presidential election isincredibly important, kind of
like you just said, Vanessa, itliterally impacts people's
lives. Yeah, there are also someother really important races.
(54:04):
Are in Ohio, our Supreme Courtraces are incredibly important.
Yes, I live in a county whereour countywide races are not
super contested, but we havesome legislative races that in
in my area, that are reallycontested, we can't afford to be
losing any seats, and we need toactually pick up some seats,
(54:26):
right? Yeah. So pay attention toall of that, and please vote on
those things. Yeah. One
Vanessa (54:35):
thing I want to Oh, the third thing was actually,
because I had actually justtalked about it, but having more
political parties just to spreadthings out, because right now,
we are really I ran as aDemocrat. I don't really feel
the Democratic Party representsme that well, and it's the whole
trans community is all about.
Like we don't really follow thebinary. I. Um, so I would like
(54:57):
to see more parties in order tojust kind of create a different
like some more perspectives. Butyou hear me rag on Republicans a
lot, and I want to makesomething very clear, I'm not
ragging on Republican voters.
I'm ragging on Republicanpoliticians right now. There's a
(55:19):
very, very big difference. Thisis not your father's Republican
Party. This is not Georgevoronovich. This is not worry
O'Connor, right? This is notJohn McCain. These are
extremists. There's people likeGary click, who actively is
working to essentially cause agenocide on my community,
terrifying. They don't representRepublican voters. And I asked
(55:47):
Republican voters for this timearound, write the bullet vote on
the other side of the ticketthis time, because what we need
to do is we need to get theextremists out of the Republican
Party and reboot it so it's it'sgood to have some balance and
actual discourse betweenparties, because we're all right
and we're all wrong on a numberof things. But right now, we're
(56:10):
between fascism and democracy,and it's terrifying. So I just
asked the one Republican thatlistens to the show, think about
that and vote for democracybetter than the accuracy. So
(56:31):
thank you so much for joiningme. I will put information on
where you can follow them in thedescription of this show. Sorry
for skipping the Cards AgainstHumanity this week, I figured it
these two running for officemight not be the best idea, so I
already have enough, but soyeah, follow them on socials,
(56:52):
and I will be sharing this asmuch as I can to try to get it
out there. And once again, we'llsee you next week. THB doodles.
You.
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