good morning so glad you could join us
and cast your ballot early voting starts
tomorrow in miami-dade and Monroe
counties and the primary election is now
just 16 days away absentee ballots
actually already filled out and landing
and so we begin with the candidates who
want to be your next governor making
their cases Ron de santis and Adam
Putnam are not holding back in the
battle for the Republican nomination
this week's final debate turned ugly
it was much tamer when the five
Democrats got together for their final
forum no fireworks hardly even an ember
they answered questions from a moderator
never speaking directly to each other
the last candidate to enter the race is
spending the most to move his numbers
and it seems to be working Jeff green
promises to stand up to Donald Trump
improve schools and hike teacher pay all
without raising your taxes and Jeff
Green is right here with us live so
happy to have you here good morning
thank you very much so glad you drove
down from Palm Beach this morning let's
begin with your signature issue which is
education you have said over the last
couple of months one year of universal
pre-k pre-kindergarten for
four-year-olds is just not enough you
want two years how would you pay for it
well first of all Michael it's not we
don't have one year for it for
four-year-olds we are spending per child
you know much we're spending for ulee's
$2,400 I don't think that you can
educate a four-year-old that time of
facilities teacher pay supplies for 24
hundred and thirty-eight dollars so we
don't even have one year and we must
have two years three and four-year-old
kids and how are you gonna pay it
there's lots of places we can find money
one is we look at that money that we're
giving for vouchers for schools you know
we're spending for these schools with
our rules the other thing is the
governor rick scott added to his budget
something called executive office of the
governor yeah it's billion bucks this
year so he went to he's 1.4 billion I'll
take the whole 1.4 if I have to and spat
it on getting pre-k for three and
four-year-olds alright so you have some
education experience because you have
the green school school started for your
children we've heard this story oh it
always for our community but you
actually said you wanted your children i
watch this happen you wanted your
children to have a better education you
started your own school
so I was frustrated with the opportunity
community so we didn't start a vibrator
for our own kids the experience that you
have is with a what is a private school
so curious to find out that the tuition
for the green school and the teacher pay
at the green school how do you take
concepts like that where you pay a lot
of money per a parent pays a lot of
money or gets help and a teacher makes
significantly more than the average
Florida public school teacher how do you
export that idea into raising the level
of public schools around the state Oleg
Lana one thing you learn by spent by
paying teachers 50 and 60 70 thousand
dollars a year is how that's what you
need to do you learn that that's what
you have to do if you want to have
talented teachers and so to answer your
question could we immediately raise
every teachers pay in Florida - that'll
of course we can't do it but but what I
have learned is at the Green Schools
that if you pay teachers right you treat
them like professionals where they have
time to collaborate with one another to
go get advanced trainings they could
learn how to teach coding computer
science you'll get better school so is
it gonna happen in one day no but we
will move if I become governor - getting
teachers much more pay and much more
autonomy and get rid of these tests so
we can approve Florida schools all right
so the average teacher in Florida makes
what 47,000 a year yes if he wanted to
raise and I've heard you say in the
debates other forums speeches want to
raise their salaries by about $10,000 a
year once again where does that money
come again it's not gonna happen in one
day I'm just we have to be realistic of
course you can do your not going to me
don't have a state income tax I'm not
suggesting we have one but it's about
priorities look here's the thing there's
a very interesting statistic where we
spend as a percentage of our gross state
product on public education with 38 in
the country and we're now you know we're
a trillion dollar economy with the
fiftieth largest in the world so if we
just move that priority after we starts
paying the tenth in the country has to
offer as far as percentage of what we're
spending in education versus other
things we'll have this a lot more at the
expense of the Florida Highway Patrol or
the prison system or Parks and
Recreation and well where does the money
come from let's get a let's start with
the president let's try to have less
less prisoners because you know what we
in this country and in this state we
have in the country we have 25 percent
of the world's population and 25 percent
of the world's prisoners we
have to have less prisoners but you know
when I get there we're gonna go through
line by line they will find a little
here and it'll there we'll start with it
three and four-year-old pre-k and we'll
get teachers raises gradually and we'll
we'll work with communities because
they're gonna have to increase the
property taxes possibly in some of these
communities to there they're asking to
do that both school districts in
miami-dade and Broward are asking sure
for voters to agree to a property tax
hike for teacher salaries you advocate
for that yeah yes I think that we have
look that we have to invest in our kids
that's not it's not a negotiation and if
we have to pay more property taxes we'll
just have to do it but we're not going
to say yeah right now kids graduate high
school in Florida the public schools
only 19 percent of 12th graders doing
12th grade math 19 verse nine eighty one
percent of 12th graders can't do 12th
grade math only 36% 12th graders are
reading at the 12th grade reading level
we're ruining these children's lives
this is not something about gee should
we do it we must do it we have to turn
our schools around they did it in New
Jersey they went from 36 to 2 in the
country like we can just look at what
they did and and start copying it point
by point yeah of course New Jersey has
some of the highest property taxes in
the United Bank effects yeah
all right let's the other kind of
triumvirate here in education right now
are charter schools the legislators you
will know in the last session
appropriated a hundred and forty million
dollars for schools of Hope which are
charter schools and there are some
parents in poor black neighborhoods who
say thank goodness this is an
alternative for my child to get out of a
failing public school what do you say to
them you know look it's 86% of our kids
in public schools we have to take care
of the 86 parents at first if we get
rest like New Jersey for our schools and
I think if I'm governor and I have the
chance I will uh key to be governor I
will make sure that our schools become a
top ten in the country and when they do
then we can try some experiments we can
throw some money out and try some little
private charter schools and let people
do some experiments but right now until
we fix our public schools we can't take
money out of them to do experiments all
right top of the show we had you talking
about how you are taking on Donald Trump
that is the theme the president plays
such a huge role in the racer Florida
Governor with all the candidates so
there are in various commercials you can
look back and there's Jeff Green in 2006
just after the election on Fox calling
the president about 6 2016 and in Forbes
you're quoted is saying you're behind
him a hundred percent which actually is
understandable people want to get the
behind their president but after saying
that you are the only one that can stand
up to Donald Trump how how do you stand
up to him well look I mean I've known
Donald Trump I mean I live in Palm Beach
I mean I I've actually been with him
since he's been president I have been in
a confrontation with him or two about it
well he was actually he was attacking me
when I was at his Golf Club at a summit
which you are excuse me you are a member
of moral on oh no I'm not I didn't get
bitters I've been throwing out I didn't
get a bill this year last time I pay
dues it was probably you know sometime
in 2017 did you leave or get thrown out
well if you don't get built I think
you've been thrown out I mean I of
course he's not going to have me back
there after this campus specifically
what what have you taken on the
president about well I think like I
think what I will take the president is
the kinds of things he's done it but I
my wife is an immigrant too fine
she's Chinese yeah I don't know if you
know the story but she was she was sure
she was born in Malaysia in the Chinese
minority and at five years old because
of discrimination her family went on had
moved to Australia and my wife when she
sees these women these babies and kids
being torn out of their mother's arms at
our border you know what you said to me
said my god that could have been me when
I was five years old I was crossing a
border at five years old I know with my
parents because I've been discriminated
against so you know what I think someone
in for it has to stand up to a president
who was just a monster and has been
inhumane in his treatment of any
immigrants and I'm not saying we should
let illegal immigrants just come across
the border but we have to we have to be
a good country before we can be a great
country there are South Florida Congress
men and women who are doing on the
immigration issue really doing exactly
that to no avail you know you know what
when you're the governor this to have
the third largest state of Florida you
have a bully pulpit you have a lot of
things you can do beyond that to stand
up to the president I can tell you
that's what I'll do all right you have
mentioned immigration let's sort of get
it on the right
there are more than a million dhaka kids
out there who born in another country
right here as children would you find a
I mean would you urge the president no
matter who you know your relationship
would you urge him to allow those people
to stay and find a path to solutely my
my three of my grandparents remember
guests my wife's and immigrants
I mean what's great about America is
we're one beautiful patchwork of all
these different people from all
different backgrounds and countries and
value systems and that's what makes us
such a unique country and I think this
whole anti immigration thing that Trump
has stirred up you know is which is very
hateful and very bigoted behavior it has
to go so I would absolutely try I'm a
hundred percent in favor of finding a
path to citizenship to all 11 million
people that I hear undocumented alright
Jeff Green hold your thought for just a
minute we are have many more questions
for Jeff green candidate for governor
and stay with us we'll be right back we
are back with candidate for governor
Jeff Green who is rising in the polls
after just two months the last in and
making making mow let's talk about
health care because aside from education
that is what we hear is one of the
biggest issues in the state you've been
on the record as someone who wants to
accept Medicaid money that the governor
has not accepted for the last five years
make state insurance exchanges talk a
little bit about how you pay for
Medicaid for all Medicaid for all means
the government is paying for our
Medicaid that's money that we're getting
back from the federal government and
again it's not money that it's not
coming from the sky we sent this fluting
said we've set that money to Washington
infer income taxes and we're just
getting back their money we have to pay
ten percent of the cost but my god
should 700,000 for it Floridians and
within ninety of cents covered what the
governor had said in not accepting it is
he said it would not be a sustainable
cost for the state in the long term well
you know look that's like like let's not
build a highway because we don't know if
we're gonna get reimbursed for the whole
thing next year even though we roll this
I mean right now today 700,000 more
Floridians can have health insurance so
I'm gonna take this the money which is
free basically get the people in short
all these these Floridians again these
are these are among our are the
flirting's who are struggling the most
so I'm gonna get them insured then you
know what if five years now the federal
government says they're not paying we'll
cross that bridge when we come to it how
are we any worse off when you turn down
money that's being offered to us for
free when you say you want to expand
state insurance exchanges how does that
differ from the Affordable Care Act
exchanges well right now we just saw
there aren't enough opportunities for
fluting to get health insurance and I
think I'd like to see them have more
opportunities and they're not enough
companies writing policies yeah we need
to have a lot more competition and more
policies let me ask you about what I
think we can really call a crisis in the
state which is these toxic algae blooms
from Lake Okeechobee and then the water
coming down the Caloosahatchee in the
st. Lucie rivers
these these poor people who live in
these areas are exposed to a dangerous
toxin this walk an ugly green goop I
mean it is really terrible who do you
hold responsible for that and what would
you do as governor to try to fix it why
I hold Rick Scott I mean Rick Scott's
the governor you know the buck stops at
the governor's office and basically we
have the plans for Lake Okeechobee and
we have like we hit we don't have all
the reservoirs you know we had an
opportunity to buy all that u.s. sugar
land I remember was what a 66
yes wanted to do then Rick Scott decided
not to do it but we have reservoirs we
just have to install the plumbing start
pushing that water south and we have to
clean up what's going into the lake
because there's no point in cleaning out
a lake and then continuing to pollute it
but we know it's part big AG sugar it's
part backyard runoffs and everything
else that runs down the Kissimmee from
Orlando to the north and it's septic
systems to some extent that are leaking
so you know we just have to say we're
not going to accept having this
disgusting blue-green algae and look no
one even knows what it is I mean that's
the problem that you know people are
getting sick and going to the hospital
now
you know there's a secondary effect I
mean no one talks about this but and I
saw this on the CBS news so imagine
someone sitting in Paris or the sitting
at Chicago and I think they read about
it
hey honey should we go to Disneyworld oh
no I don't want to get near that toxic
green algae they don't know where that's
happening sure so would you advocate
reinstating the Department of Community
Affairs or reinstating the money going
to water management districts that the
governor has cut absolutely and I think
we have to have scientists on these
water manager to know what's going on I
mean this is we have the plants this is
not something well let's go figure right
now we have figured it out we just have
to implement the plans and fix it yeah
let's ask let's talk a little about
money you have said in that last forum
up there in Jacksonville in previous
times I'm going to spend whatever it
takes a hundred million two hundred
million dollars and I think some people
kind of reel back and they say that's
plutocracy that's not democracy Michael
you know we talked about earlier my wife
and I have been blessed with it enormous
amount of wealth I never aspired to be a
billionaire I did enough I started with
zero and I I want are just financial
security and I can tell you that we've
got all this wealth we've committed to
The Giving Pledge which is Warren
Buffett and Bill Gates things we're
going to give away more than half our
money to Phil have to be anyway and you
know the reason you were doing that is
because the most important thing to my
wife and to me is that we want to make a
big difference in the world and in
Florida and so we said you know what
instead we'll take some of that money we
were going to give it away anyway and if
it means that we can finally use it so I
cannot get myself elected and be the
first Democratic governor and if I can
get down ticket senators are elected in
the House members mean you're willing to
help finance their campaign yes yes
absolutely
absolutely I will and on top of that
because I'm not going to be asking for
money from anyone else all the money
that every other candidate who is
running against me would be requesting
from donors can go to these down ticket
races so if you are not a candidate for
governor will you still commit to
bankrolling Democrats down ticket I will
absolutely
I've already given money even in the
primary I'm not going to tell you who
but to two of them two of two other
graces because of course I've been
supporting Democrats and I will do
everything I can
if I'm at the top of the ticket and I'm
it's then I'm the head of the party I'm
gonna do everything I can if it means
whatever if I'm not at the top of the
ticket it won't be my I won't be in
control of things as much but I'll
certainly continue to help Democrats
Jeff green pleasure to have you here
thank you very much being the nominee
you'll be that thank you very all right
take care thank you God Thanks