Can We Get Our Government Listen to Us? (Quick Take)

The Michael Steele Podcast

The Bulwark

Politics, Government, History, News

4.8 • 3.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Steele speaks with journalist Miranda Spivack about her new book, "Backroom Deals in Our Backyards: How Government Secrecy Harms Our Communities and the Local Heroes Fighting Back." They discuss what goes into getting the local government to help people and what local activists have done to be heard by their government.

Check out Miranda's book here: https://www.amazon.com/Backroom-Deals-Our-Backyards-Communities/dp/1620978555
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Transcript

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0:00.0	just the obstruction in just trying to get information to solve a problem in a community,
0:07.7	whether it's a local community, a state. Why is it so difficult? And I think is that the,
0:16.1	is that the trigger for a lot of the heroes that you showcase or profile in the book is that they
0:24.0	just get to the point where they get fed up and they take an action because oftentimes
0:30.6	what happens is and quite honestly government prefers this and that is we want you get fed up, we want you to check out.
0:40.2	We want you to feel completely helpless. I mean, we have the director of OPM Office of Personnel
0:48.8	Management. You've got in the federal government, you've got other officials in the federal
0:53.9	government basically saying, hey, the more frustrated for federal workers are. You've got in the federal government, you've got other officials in the federal government,
0:54.7	basically saying, hey, the more frustrated for federal workers are, the better it is for us in terms of wanting them to quit.
1:03.2	Right.
1:04.0	So this idea of getting people to quit, to give up on the process, how much of that did you see in this?
1:11.2	Well, I think there's a huge risk of that at the state and local level,
1:15.5	partly because if you can't get the information you're looking for from the government
1:20.2	in many, many states, your only recourse is to go to court. And that's very difficult.
1:26.9	It's expensive. People don't have,
1:28.9	you know, the time, the wherewithal, they don't have the legal help, whatever. So, so there's an
1:33.3	easy out for state and local governments in many, many places to just stall. I mean, look at,
1:39.9	you know, what the Trump administration is doing now. It's all delay, delay, delay, delay, and, and, you know, people will go away. That is the whole. I think that what happened in the case
1:51.5	of these five people was, you know, and they're very patient people, actually, which probably
1:59.8	is a characteristic you need to have in this kind of setting.
2:04.1	But initially they go in, I know Michael Hickey in New York State, he went to the mayor.
2:08.5	He said, I think we have a problem with the drinking water.
	...

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