Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed The Ohio Star Managing Editor Jack Windsor to the newsmakers line.
During the third hour, Windsor highlighted Governor DeWine’s press conference in Ohio on Tuesday where he relayed a question of a parent about the wearing of masks for K-12 students. He added that DeWine cited experts that recommended the validity of the mask mandate but gave no specifics.
Leahy: We are in the studio with Crom Carmichael, the original all-star panelist, and joining us on the line right now, a good friend and the managing editor of The Ohio Star, which we also own in addition to the Tennessee Star, Jack Windsor. Good morning Jack.
Windsor: Michael, good to be with you and Crom. Thank you for choosing me today.
Leahy: Jack, you are such a trouble maker. (Laughs)
Windsor: This is true.
Leahy: Every time you turn around, you are giving governor Mike DeWine a hard time. People in Tennessee look at that and say well he’s a Republican. A lot of Republicans up there in Ohio, from what I’m reading, are wondering where his loyalties lie, because his actions are more like a Democrat. You pressed him at a press conference yesterday about this mask mandate for K-12 students. Tell us what you asked him and how he responded.
Windsor: So I was able to ask a question on behalf of a parent who is one of our readers. And the question started by saying that the CDC said that kids are not getting seriously sick with coronavirus, and not passing it to teachers. The White House medical advisor said the same and went on to say that kids should not be wearing masks and distancing.
Governor, these are experts, yet we are putting a lot on our kid’s tough emotions, educational handicaps, and then we are making them feel responsible for the health of their teachers and adults. He’ll often say, wear your mask or you’ll kill grandma. The state site says that the hospitalizations peaked 10 days before the state mask mandate. As a parent, I am concerned about those masks bacterial and viral infections but also the emotional consequences.
Why aren’t we letting parents and grandparents take the ultimate responsibility and let our kids be without masks in school at any point? And of course, the governor’s answer, as he often does, is he’ll not answer the whole question. But to his to defense, it is a long question. His response was the science on masks is overwhelming.
Leahy: He said the science on masks is overwhelming as it relates to children?
Windsor: Yes.
Leahy: Did he cite any experts?
Windsor: He said, when we got ready to put our final order on in regards to schools, I had on the phone people from children’s hospitals from all over the state of Ohio. Their recommendation was very firm that every child K-12 should have a mask on. That’s what the experts had said.
Leahy: Did any of those children’s hospital directors go on the record, or is he just saying that?
Windsor: Well at the time we don’t get a whole lot of questions (Inaudible talk), well governor why don’t you list the hospitals and directors? However, in July a doctor from Nationwide Children’s Hospital named Sarah Body, primary care pediatrician and a medical director at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, told a Columbus news outlet increased anxiety and mood problems, and that cleaning the masks daily and children playing with them and fiddling with them would be required for masks to be effective. So there’s one expert that seems to be going against the current.
Leahy: I notice here in Tennessee, a lot of these decisions on masks in K-12 public schools are made at the county level. It’s hard to keep up with what the school systems are doing. The rules apparently change from version 1.35 to version 1.57, and you never know what the standards are. But apparently here in Williamson County, Tennessee, they are requiring, from what I saw, for K-12 students to wear masks. I think it’s just crazy personally. Some of the other counties aren’t. Is he going to get back to you, the governor of Ohio, with the list of experts? Or is that up to you man?
Windsor: That’s up to me. (Leahy laughs) I will put pressure on his press secretary to find out. But look, when you see the original state mask mandate from July 23rd, masks are not required for kids under 10. So even there has been a shift.
I have a seven-year-old daughter and can only speak from personal experience. She wore a mask twice, and she already started breaking out around her face. She said, dad I have a hard time breathing when I wear this. My answer to her was well then take it off.
Leahy: Take it off. I’m curious about Ohio. You are right up there and seeing it happen. There is a lot of unhappiness with Governor DeWine’s conduct in terms of managing the coronavirus. A lot of people say that he’s actually more friendly towards Joe Biden then he is to Donald Trump.
We’ve seen a lot of that. There was a poll, and the polling has had even or slightly for Trump. I saw a Rasmussen poll the other day that said Biden is up by four in Ohio. Where do you see Ohio now? Is it going for Trump, Biden, or is it in play?
Windsor: I think its absolutely in play. My gut tells me that we are probably up five or six if you are a Trump supporter. But keep in mind the governor is absolutely more aligned with Joe Biden. There has actually been a rumor circulating for the last week that if Biden gets the spot, then DeWine might be tapped as the US attorney general.
Leahy: Oh. Please save us from that. I heard the other rumor that Preet Bharara, the former US attorney in the Southern District of New York. In any event, I do think it’s troublesome. There is a big separation up there in Ohio that we don’t have here in Tennessee, or other states the establishment pro-Kasich, pro-DeWine group, and the policies seem to be very Democratically oriented. Then you have the populous sort of grassroots, Tea Party folks.
I saw a report in the Columbus Dispatch that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem came in and spoke to some Republicans in various places around the state, and explained why she’s not done any lockdowns or mask requirements in South Dakota. I saw a report in the Columbus Dispatch that the Republican women were chanting impeach DeWine, impeach DeWine. Is that true?
Windsor: Yes. I did hear that. It’s been confirmed. Somebody actually recorded it and posted it on Twitter. It is a really interesting dynamic in Ohio. There was a Columbus news station that did a poll two-and-a-half weeks ago, and it received 18,000 votes. And the question then was, should Governor DeWine be removed from office.
Not to just be impeached, but removed from office. 83% of the respondents said he should be removed from office. I can tell you, if you just look at his social media feed, how bad it shifted in the past two months. And you are right, there is the establishment Republicans, and then there are the grassroots Republicans.
My understanding is that when the articles of impeachment came out, there were a few Republicans that signed on. The establishment said look, if you step out against this governor in a presidential year again, then good luck getting funding. I think there is a lot more going on behind the curtain, but they are just not able to safely go out publicly and say it.
Leahy: So later today you are going to a rally with Donald Trump Jr. up there. Tell us about that.
Windsor: Yes, so Donald Trump Jr. is going to be hosting part of a Make America Great Again event today at the University of Northeastern Ohio event center. That is set to kick off at noon, and he’ll be making remarks, and we will be there to listen and ask some questions hopefully of Trump Jr.
Leahy: If you had to guess, what are going to be the big issues over the next 55 days up there in Ohio, that could change the outcome of where Ohio’s electoral college votes go on November 3?
Windsor: I think it’s going to come down to, it might have been Ronald Reagan who said once, there is a recession and you can get concerned when you lose your job and it’s a depression. The economy here there are still a lot of small business owners that are struggling, but I think we’ll see more of those go out. I think the issue of the economy.
I think the issue of civil liberties and where we are with little things such as masking, and can we go to a bar after 10 o’clock. I think those things are going to be super important. To me, I don’t think that Biden has a four-point lead in Ohio. I could be wrong, I’m wrong a lot. But do I have the freedom to go do what I want? And do I have more money in my pocket because I’m able to go to work?
Listen to the third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Mike DeWine” by Office of the Governor CC4.0 and “First Day of School” by Dan Gaken CC2.0
