Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Welcome back,

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: everyone. January 9, we're here to talk about a joint hearing that we're having in Senate GovOx next Tuesday at 1PM in Room 11. And the topic of conversation is going to be hearing about the election for the Adjutant General of the Vermont National Guard and also hearing from the candidates who have announced themselves and our campaigning. So our mission today is to talk a little bit about the procedure of how it's going to

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: go,

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: and to come up with some potential candidates questions for the candidates. Remind me, Mr. Chair, we are going to start out hearing from legal counsel.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yes. So the rough frame on the meeting right now is, we are gonna have counsel Yep. To sort of, like, a history on this process because it is very, very much a relic of, like, the original 13 colonies, us being the fourteenth. And we are still we are currently the only state who still actually operates this election process.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Yeah. They were the last ones. We are

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: the last ones. South Carolina was the last one other than us, and they shifted off a few years ago. So a little bit of history on the ads to why it existed that way, and then the statutes that govern this process to a degree. And we're gonna have that as slides in a handout because we're also gonna cross utilize that product for the caucus of the whole that representative Hango and I will will be be running on Wednesday at the end of the day. I believe we're booked in the house chamber at 04:00. And so that's that's step one. Step two, representative Stevens, who was the long long serving member of the military affairs portfolio, a chair, a vice chair through several contested elections. So he has a lot of lived experience, not only subject matter, but also, like, the dynamics of what it's like. So we're gonna provide him an opportunity to come in, speak to that as a veteran legislator with a a deep, level of experience. We are then gonna move on to general Knight. He is gonna speak to us just sort of, again, update not really an update, but, like, a zoom out and a look back on his tenure as the adjutant general, and speak to, you know, the successes, his goals coming in, and what he achieved on those opening goals, how things evolved over time. So we're gonna provide him the opportunity to do that. And now, we're also gonna cross utilize this opportunity with his time and attention in a joint hearing environment to get an update on the current deployment status. So, he is going to give us as much information as he can on the Airwing deployment. I will allow for I wanna allow a little bit of q and a for representative Stevens. We are certainly gonna do a little bit of q and a time with general Wright. And then once that wraps up with the general, we're gonna move on to the candidates at that point. And what we are doing here now, this is the this is the very publicly facing formal job interview for the two candidates. Just two. We are at two. Yes. We have Colonel Zeigler and General Hart. So, you've probably seen them floating around the building and talking to folks the last couple of days, representative Morgan.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I assume the deadline has come and gone on any further submissions.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: There is no deadline. Was kind of Individuals could be

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Right after the last minute.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Could be nominated from the floor, I believe.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Oh, okay.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Was that was that was a nugget that kind of got a little like it was bad chatter. We'll do so. Yep. Represent. So

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: then on the floor, it's a similar process to like when we do trustee.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Exactly. And we'll be doing a trustee election that same day as well, I believe, State College.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: We don't trustee. There's a nomination in that side. Yes, that's correct.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: And it is a closed ballot process. Yeah. And

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: each candidate will present basically their resume and we'll have a chance as a joint committee to ask them questions about their experience or their vision or whatever. And we'll get into that in a couple of minutes to try to hone in on some questions that this committee wants to ask of them. One thing that I believe that you did not mention, Mr. Chair, that legal counsel is going to touch on is the dual mission of the National Guard, the statute around that, whether it's a Title 10 federal mission or a Title 32 state mission. Thank you

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: for that, Katya.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yeah, no worries.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: So that's specifically some sort of clarification on the two that's

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: going to be brought up in that.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: That will be part of her presentation, legal counsel's presentation, which kicks off that joint meeting.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: And

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I assume Senate gov ops will have their own set of questions that they are interested in learning more about. I circulated an email to all of you two questions that have been important for folks who have interacted with me that get answered. So if you want to refer to those, the first one is, if elected, what will your top priorities be and why? And that would be a question for both candidates. I will mention that they will tell you a lot about themselves and the past and current roles that they hold. They are both very familiar with the structure and the expectations of the position of adjutant general. So they should be able to really hone in on what their priorities are. The second one is, in your opinion, what is the biggest challenge facing the National Guard today, and how are you going to address that? And that's all I have for you all, but I am happy to take notes if you would like to make suggestions for individual questions and you can certainly assign folks to ask those questions if you want to be the one to ask your question.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Do you want questions suggested now?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yes, if you have any, I can take them in the future up until Tuesday as well.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: If I may, I just want to say one thing before we start doing this workshop. Like, I'm not trying to, like, canned questions, what I'm trying to do is just guide folks right now into having a structured question. So we're clear and concise of what we're asking the candidates. And then there'll be room for follow-up within the response times.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: But it's still Okay if we ask questions at the Yes. Yeah.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: It's an open forum. Oh, no, absolutely. Right now, we're just trying to get a structure so we have a baseline of things. But no, absolutely, in the moment. Yeah, that was the point I was trying to make was like, I'm not looking for like hand questions or anything

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: like that.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Not at all. We just want to make sure that we have good thoughtful questions ahead of time. Also that we have enough questions for them. And this is a chance for anybody who's listening to give us their thoughts as well. If somebody can't make the hearing, the joint hearing, but listens to this and says, oh yeah, this is something that's really important to me and the people in my town or whatever. Michael Morgan had a thought. The

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: last thing I'm going to say is just like, think about it ahead of time, just so you're asking it in a clear and concise way. You know, sometimes we freestyle, and I'm so guilty of this of, like, asking kind of a thought as it's processing. But within the structure and the context of this thing being such a a high profile conversation. Just wanted to get the bug in peace of

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: yours early. And I would like to share them with senate gov ops, so we're not asking the same thing over again.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: To me, is paramount. This is a question I would ask. What qualifications do you possess as a candidate that will make you the most seamless transitional candidate for the position? In other words, why do you feel you, Roger Ziegler, why do you feel you, Hank Carter, are the most qualified to seamlessly transition? Because in that capacity, they don't have time for a hiccup. Like, they don't have time for a learning curve in that position. You need to that's why some of the the the was it you remember, was it two years ago, Lisa, three years ago, we made the the you know, where we put some real guardrails on

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: the statutes.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Yes. That's why that had to

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: be done

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: because, you know, you have to walk into the job going, you know, potentially

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I I was blown away before. When I was informed I could run for adjectives. Yes. Yes.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: That's right.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I was expecting qualified candidate as per table.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Per statute. Like, it was like, I And per statute,

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: It's not a job that there's a lot of time afforded, nor can be afforded

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: to let somebody have a learning time or

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: training. There is It it it just isn't. It's a very high level, high speed, low drag. Get the, you know, kick, you know, kick the tires, light the fire and

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I like that high speed, low drag. Yeah. High speed, low drag. I know that one. That's the tires light the fires. That's just firing up the engines. Know that one. I I never heard of a light high speed, low drag. Just rolling. But does that question make sense?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yes. So, like, if I could feedback to you what you said, what qualifications do you possess that would make I did not type this properly that would make a seamless transition.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: And then you could put, I. E, precludes having you to have a learning curve period of time or something. You know what I'm saying? That makes sense?

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I think there's a better way to phrase it.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: There probably is.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: What qualifications that would make this a seamless leadership transition?

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: The Nugent Hooper team has a suggestion that

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I'd clean

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: my question

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: up. Yeah. But, like, I guess maybe saying like, in what ways are you committed to making sure

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: that this is an efficient transition as opposed to Well, I'm not trying to say that. I know what you're saying. That's not what I'm trying say.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Hit the ground running.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Correct. Yeah.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I think what Lisa asked.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: It's good. Yeah.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: No, it's All

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: right. So right now, I've assigned that question to you to ask if you would like to ask that. I'd be

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: more than happy to ask that question.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Anybody else have some? Yeah, I think it would be a good idea to ask them why they want to do

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: this. Okay.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Why would you want to be in this fray?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Yes, yeah.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: That's a fair question.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Touching with their values and their who character.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Aside from their professional qualifications. Why do you want to be the next adjutant general? And that was the CWB. I

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: love Dubshet.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: That's really a good question, because there are many people in organizations who have no desire to have the top job. I never thought I'd be sitting here.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Here you are Sandy! Agree. That was never in my past. I always knew you'd be That's what's a big thing.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Anything else important to people? When you think of the leader of the Vermont Guard, is there anything that really sticks out that you need to know from each of the candidates why they are unique enough to be the leader? I have a thought,

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: but it's not fully baked at all. But I mean, I'm touching recruitment in some way. Mhmm. That's

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: a real that's a real thing with Lucy.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I'm wondering if they're right

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: now in danger of losing the the mountain component, brigade rather, because of their on the army side, because our numbers are down. And I pray we don't. That does not occur because that's

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: That was one of my first

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: millions of dollars.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Very, like, structural questions. And I sat with the candidates independently

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: was that that is something that would be a significant emotional event for the Vermont National Guard to lose that.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: What's your future provision for stabilizing recruitment? What is your vision?

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: It's even stabilizing too. Think that's a good idea because it's not even like getting numbers up. We need to stop them from going down.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: And I suspect that that may be the answer to number two, which was what is the biggest challenge facing the Vermont National Guard today. But it may not be.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I I would I would be very surprised if both of them did not say that was their biggest challenge.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: And even if they do touch on it very, they maybe go into more detail with this question about what are the actions to say Yeah, they're

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah, VL next.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yes, I do too.

[VL Coffin IV (Member)]: Okay. So, part of what I was gonna ask is the same as you about, recruitment, but retention. What are they gonna do to help retention? Because you have you get someone in that does we used to have what they called a try one for former former enlisted and officer a try one where you go from active duty to the guard to try a year, and you use that year to try to get them to reenlist further. Mhmm. We don't have that try one program anymore. But the getting somebody who's been there for four years to reenlist or six years to re enlist, how are we going to improve that? Because you spend four years training someone, and then they don't re enlist, that hurts as well. Does this Lose experience.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Invested money. How

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: do you plan to successfully retain your recruits and to promote re enlistment?

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I wouldn't call them recruits, so you're soldiers and airmen. I would say.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Thank you. Because they are at that point soldiers and airmen, they're not recruits.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Thank

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: you for the correction. How do you plan to successfully retain your soldiers and airmen as you promote re enlistment? VLC. Not sure how, because I've heard grumblings.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: How, and this would go to Hangar, how would he be coming from the air guard, but we have more army.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Vermont. We have more army soldiers

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: than airmen. How would he You know what I'm saying? People say, Well, he doesn't have that.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Would we understand them, you mean?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Yeah, like how's because I mean I'm don't want to say that.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I'm only checking guessing what you're

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: about culture, right? Right. Like, how is he going to

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: interface with the Army

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: as an airman? I would hope that they would respect him just as much in his position, but because he's not coming from that, numbers in Vermont are so different. That was definitely about

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: 2.5 to one.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I do want to say that that could be used for both candidates, just a vice versa. So specifically, how does an air guard leader. I don't know what the word is, I want to say reach Successfully lead an army brigade? Is that the big

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Just the army forces just the total command?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Okay, and vice versa for army leading the guard or the air.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I don't know which had their hand up first.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I saw Lucy and then Mary-Katherine, but I could have been wrong because I was looking in this direction.

[Lucy Boyden (Clerk)]: Well, you could phrase it a little more broadly to aim at both of them of how do you plan to foster a collaborative and cohesive environment that strengthens third party or something like that? Yeah.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: With both branches? The interplay between the branches. Like, do you plan on navigating that and making sure it's collaborative? Because that was the biggest problem before night, was it so siloed with its opinions and functions that they were not always swimming in the same direction.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Upstone. What programs and initiatives would you support regarding mental health and resilience of your service members and families, particularly as it relates to deployment?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: What programs and services, initiatives related to mental health

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: would you plan to support as it relates to service members and their families, particularly

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Is that like support and enhance? Deployment. That's How about support enhanced too? What's there? What are your thoughts on making these resources better?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: How about family engagement and program services and initiatives would you support and enhance regarding

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Mental health, well-being, resilience for service members and their families.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: What was the next part?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Well-being and resilience.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: MK, also, there's the bucket also for the veteran service, kind of, and that mental health supports and services, too. We're like in one bucket here, but we've also got this other big bucket.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: You gotta know about it.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah, so we gotta maybe segue that question into the other piece for the veteran mental health supports and engagement.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Was there an ending to that? What programs, services, initiatives would you support and enhance regarding mental health, well-being, and resilience

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: How are

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: you doing on your mental health? I'm good.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Feel like I'm good. Yeah. Totally. It's the same answer all the time no matter the status. Solid. Why are you asking? Yeah.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I just want to finish this one before we go back to the previous one, which we haven't quite finished. So what programs, services, and initiatives would you support and enhance regarding mental health, well-being, and resilience for service members and their families during times of deployment? Yes. So back to the question previous to that, how does an Air Force leader and conversely an Army leader Wait, please. POTUS Near Guard leader and conversely an army leader. Something about the silos. I would love to say something about the silos. Break down Bridge the gap. Bridge the gap.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Bridge the gap.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: The gap for ventures. And successfully lead both organizations as one. I think you could just say both organizations. And whose question was that? Was that Sandy's? It's all of ours now.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I'm just saying. Yeah, Sandy's.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Okay, Morgan, you had something for me?

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Mary Katherine and I were just talking about her question a little bit. You said deployments, but I think what she was trying to convey is in general. So get rid of that's the uniqueness of service that you've

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: heard me speak about multiple

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: times before,

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: it leads some of those

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: All the things. So then that now says what program services and initiatives would you support and enhance regarding mental health, well-being and resilience for service members and their families, period. Yep. Doctor. Nugent. I would like

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: to ask, tell me about a time that you failed and how you managed it. That's a good one. How about sell short? No, I like failure. Want go

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: mission failure?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: What you were finding a partner now. Tell

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: us that

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: you failed

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: and did you do about it? Or how did you manage it? Did you it?

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: What did manage failure?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Oh, what did you learn? Both. How did you manage and what did you learn? Managed? I mean,

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: Yeah, think it all.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: What did you learn from it? That's me say it, it never fails.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: How do

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: you intend to continue the work done on processes, programs, and response relating to sexual assault and sexual harassment? Processes what? Processes, programs. Programs. That's the one.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: What did Knight say? Response.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: The Jews, Rutland, or assault?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: It's both. The report is

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: the sexual assault and sexual harassment report. One that they You did such a nice presentation on that. Do you know? I mean, that's maybe nice isn't the word, but thorough and it's far more

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: concise in abiding by the legislative intent of those reports than it was when Lisa and I first started receiving them.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Yes.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: And they are. Yeah.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yeah. The atmosphere is very different.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Very much. Yeah.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: And I think generally Yeah. The And the response to the culture.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: And they're like in their like earnest intent to it, like be stewards of the work culture.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: And that's where it's helpful for, think, candidates to understand that they need to continue to engage with the legislature because that's how that change came about. It was the folks prior to you and I who pushed for that. And we stepped in as they were pushing. And General Knight got elected and decided to make that his priority.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yes, the communication is far more functional inconsistent now.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: We have 10 questions already. Does anybody have anything really important?

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I think

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: we can

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: talk about we've had a lot of floods, we've had a lot of state emergency.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Emergency response, big Okay, what is

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: your plan to ensure a rapid, effective, and well coordinated response during state active duty emergencies? Rapid.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Like with like our, maybe with our like.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: We start from emergency management.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: And federal partners. I mean, still got to like coordinate with FEMA too.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Rapid sorry, rapid affected and well coordinated response during state emergencies. How

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: about state and federal partners? Jay, my bracelet's bang. We talked about this this morning. Do you Okay, so I saw Jay really nodding your head. Would you like to ask that if Mary Katherine doesn't need to ask two questions? Sure.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Is that okay? It's the most important question.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: You're a fireman, you deal with it. Oh yeah, you're in

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: the first responder world too.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I think I forgot to say response to state's situations. What do we call that in our big bill? All hazards. All hazards events.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah, it's now all hazards events. Yes.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: So it's this is

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Everything was so flood focused for a while. I was like, we're we're doing this, but we're kind of pinning ourselves in a corner. So now that's open to all things man made, natural, yada yada. So that's the all hazards bucket.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: mean, even had even, like, what I mean, there was, like, old Cold War era stuff in there where it was, like, response to, like, a nuclear attack.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I mean, I mean, the

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Cold War thing.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: But, like, that that's what I'm saying. That's why we expanded the, like, vernacular to be all hazards was so we didn't inadvertently pin ourselves into a response corner till somebody's like, that doesn't fall under the definition of blah blah blah.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Do we have 11 questions now? We do. They get all boiled down into one, what's the plan?

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: And they may talk about that in their brief presentation. Did you give them a time limit for their presentations? No.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: I think you should.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Yeah, maybe give them five minutes to talk about themselves. And then we ask

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: But secondly, we've got we've got to be on the floor at three. We start at one. An hour and forty five is a lot

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: of time.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: But we need time for questions.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: We need

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: time understand. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm thinking, like, ten.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: I think

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: we give them a ten minute pitch.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Yeah. If

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: we're putting a clock on them, be like, and say no more there.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: The statue we're giving them in the National Guard caucus is ten minutes.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: This but let's keep that mirrored. Yeah. Yes.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Great. Okay. Do you since you and I haven't taken any questions, do you wanna split the first two? What are your top priorities and what's the biggest challenge?

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: I necessarily, because I think like Don't wanna per my conversation with Brian, with Senator Callamore, I think he and I are just planning on driving

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Okay.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: The bus. So I don't even necessarily think I need to be asking any of the questions that I want everybody to have opportunity I at their

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: may not even entertain asking the top priority question because they may say that in their presentation. This one would think,

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: That would be part of their allotted time.

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: Yeah. We'll see when we get there. You guys elect me, and then you'll find out.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I'm gonna

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: do the power of the Yeah.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Are you all, I can send this back out to you all. And then if nobody has any comments by the end of the morning, maybe I'll send it to Senate gov ops and say, this is what we would like to ask the candidates, and you're welcome to piggyback on this.

[Michael Morgan (Member)]: I got a a

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Brian a oh, sorry. Senator Calvary and I this morning had another meeting with legislative council, and I told him I wanted to find him today. So I'll put the bug in his ear about what we're structuring right now and ask him how he wants us to communicate it with him and his committee.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Okay. So fine. I won't send anything until you

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah. Let me check-in with him because I don't know what they're doing themselves with this. So we have a meeting coordination meeting later today at a time to be determined. Good.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Okay. Thank you all.

[Matthew Birong (Chair)]: Yeah, I know that

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: was effective.

[Chea Waters Evans (Ranking Member)]: Other things to do, but I'm really happy that everybody contributed to this discussion and has something that they feel they're invested in to ask the candidates. With that, anybody doesn't have any

[Kate Nugent (Member)]: additional