Election Day Insights and Behind-the-Scenes Campaign Comments

[00:00:01] Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike

[00:00:03] Mike's on Mic, a conversation about politics, government, and Jacksonville, with 50-year opinion leaders Mike Hightower, Mike Tolbert, and award-winning broadcaster and longtime political observer Mike Miller.

[00:00:18] Welcome to another episode of Mike's on Mic. I'm Mike Miller, along with Mike Hightower, who's on remote today, and so too is Mike Tolbert.

[00:00:24] Now, as this episode of Mike's on Mic is airing, votes in the 2024 election are being cast and counted. Before week's end, we will know the results.

[00:00:34] Given our own—we hope we will know our results—given our own election experiences over the last 50 years or so, we thought it would be fun to reach back into our memory banks and retrieve some of our favorite personal campaign memories.

[00:00:48] And to help us make this happen, I want to introduce to you our producer, Scott Westerman, the man who puts mics on mic together and makes this look at least half good.

[00:00:58] Welcome. It's nice to have you with us.

[00:01:00] In 1992, Scott came to Jacksonville to run Continental Cable Vision. That's when we met, actually in 93, then the largest cable operation in the country.

[00:01:09] And after leaving Jacksonville, becoming a successful entrepreneur and broadcaster, he returned to the River City in 2018.

[00:01:16] Scott's a nonfiction and fiction writer, hosts a popular author interview podcast, and owns an online Detroit radio station in his hometown of Detroit.

[00:01:27] Scott, welcome.

[00:01:28] Thanks very much, Mike.

[00:01:29] I've had fun behind the camera, and it's great to get to play in the sandbox with three of my favorite people.

[00:01:37] You three guys have rich and diverse political histories, surpassing 50 years.

[00:01:43] Mike Tolbert is a master campaign strategist and operative who has worked at one time or another for just about everyone in town, including me.

[00:01:54] And our good friend Mike Hightower thought he was going to be a teacher, but ended up becoming a prolific fundraiser and a go-to guy for anyone considering campaigning for office.

[00:02:07] I've known Mike Miller for over three decades.

[00:02:10] So what we'll do is give each of them a chance to tell their own stories.

[00:02:16] And I think, especially in light of the most important election of our lifetime, a little distraction is in order.

[00:02:25] So let's begin with my good friend Mike Tolbert.

[00:02:28] His first campaign was as press aide to Governor Ferris Bryant for the U.S. Senate in 1970.

[00:02:35] Fifty years later, his last campaign was in 2023.

[00:02:40] In between, Mike has run or been senior advisor to the campaigns of Mayor Tansler, Godbold, Austin and Payton, and Congresswoman Tilly Fowler,

[00:02:52] numerous members of the city council and legislature, as well as five successful referenda,

[00:02:58] including Mayor Hazuri's campaign to abolish tolls and Mayor Delaney's Better Jacksonville plan.

[00:03:05] Mike, in 1989, when you ran Mayor Hazuri's campaign to abolish tolls, Hazuri called some of his opponents fat cats.

[00:03:15] Tell us what that was about.

[00:03:17] When Tommy ran for mayor in 1987, one of his campaign promises was to get rid of bridge tolls, road tolls.

[00:03:26] And if you remember back in those days, they were horrendous.

[00:03:30] Not everybody wanted to get rid of bridge tolls.

[00:03:33] The chamber was reluctant about it.

[00:03:35] And there was a group of very strong business leaders in town who were absolutely opposed to it

[00:03:41] because they felt like the tolls would be worse for their business than a sales tax would be worse for their business than the tolls.

[00:03:49] So in the campaign, it's easy to defeat a referendum.

[00:03:53] It's really easy to do.

[00:03:55] And these guys raised a good bit of money to try to defeat the tolls referendum.

[00:04:01] They had Betty Holsendorf, Senator Holsendorf, as their chief spokesperson.

[00:04:06] And we all know Betty, you Betty, very well.

[00:04:09] And she was an incredible campaigner and incredible individual and very aggressive.

[00:04:15] As we got down toward the end of the campaign, it was neck and neck.

[00:04:20] And one of the problems I pointed out to Tommy was that people didn't know who the opposition was.

[00:04:26] They didn't know who was behind the curtain spending all that money to defeat this tolls issue.

[00:04:32] And I suggested to him, because of who they were, that we'd label them fat cats

[00:04:37] and pull them outside the curtain and put them in front of the curtain and expose them.

[00:04:43] He was not really aggressive about that at first, but he became convinced.

[00:04:48] But I also told him at the same time, Scott, this was a two-part deal.

[00:04:53] You couldn't just call them out and call them fat cats.

[00:04:58] You had to understand that these guys were big boys.

[00:05:01] This wasn't their first rodeo.

[00:05:03] And they had been in campaign wars before.

[00:05:06] And I said, win or lose.

[00:05:08] Your job after this election is to go directly to them, shake hands, be gracious,

[00:05:14] be a good loser if you lose, and a gracious, welcoming winner if you win.

[00:05:19] We won.

[00:05:21] But Tommy didn't take the second piece of that advice.

[00:05:25] His attitude was, screw them.

[00:05:27] I'll beat them the first time.

[00:05:28] I'll beat them again.

[00:05:30] If you fast forward, it caused him a lot of problems.

[00:05:33] If you fast forward maybe a year and a half, all of a sudden one night, I'm sitting in Jay Stein's conference room.

[00:05:40] Jay was head of Steinmark in his big conference room with the fat cats and Ed Austin.

[00:05:47] And they're there to talk to Ed Austin about running for mayor against Tommy Hazzari.

[00:05:52] And some of the guys that were there, I can't remember everybody, but Bill Gay was there.

[00:05:58] Marshall Kreiser was there.

[00:06:00] Tom McGee, Jay Stein.

[00:06:02] He just went around the room.

[00:06:03] It was a who's who of Jacksonville.

[00:06:05] And I never will forget at one point during the thing, we're sitting around this conference table,

[00:06:10] and Herb looks at me, and he looks at me, and he says, Mike, I want to ask you something.

[00:06:16] How much money we got to raise to defeat this Missouri?

[00:06:21] And I said, Herb, that's a difficult question to ask.

[00:06:24] You've got to raise at least $2 to every dollar he raises because he's the incumbent.

[00:06:29] And over the years, he's proven he can raise money.

[00:06:33] And then Herb looked at everybody else and he said, gentlemen, we've got to kill this king or quit.

[00:06:39] We cannot just woo this king because he will come back and kill all of us.

[00:06:44] That's exactly what happened.

[00:06:47] Tommy didn't say, I welcome you back, because they need the mayor for two more years.

[00:06:52] Tommy had two more years.

[00:06:53] And they needed the mayor for two years, but he wouldn't do it.

[00:06:57] And then they got him.

[00:06:59] He became the non-mayor.

[00:07:01] Ed Austin became mayor.

[00:07:03] What were you doing at that table if you were involved with Missouri's campaign?

[00:07:09] I was sought after.

[00:07:10] He was sought after by those guys sitting at the table because I was working on his campaign,

[00:07:16] and they were looking for somebody who decided that we could raise the money.

[00:07:22] They need somebody who could tell us how to do it.

[00:07:24] That's how he got to the table.

[00:07:26] How were you able to make such good friends so easily?

[00:07:29] No, I didn't make good friends so easily.

[00:07:32] In fact, generally with...

[00:07:33] Mike Tolbert, I still love you.

[00:07:35] Generally during the campaign, I'm the guy, I'm the only one that's going to tell them the truth.

[00:07:40] And sometimes candidates don't like to hear that.

[00:07:44] I'm not going to say who it was, but I remember one time I really cussed out a candidate.

[00:07:49] He was just screwing up by the numbers.

[00:07:51] And he looked, he said, what makes you think you can talk to me like that?

[00:07:55] And I said, if I don't, nobody else will.

[00:07:58] We got to straighten this stuff out.

[00:08:00] I didn't say stuff, but we got to straighten this stuff out.

[00:08:03] We can't have a conversation with you without talking at least a little bit about one of the most important publications during my tenure at Jacksonville.

[00:08:11] And that is the inside source.

[00:08:14] For people who don't know, what was that publication and what was its appeal?

[00:08:20] After Jake screwed up the election in 95, when Mike Miller called him out on the radio, I was out of work.

[00:08:28] I put all my eggs in Jake's basket and I said, I got to find something to do.

[00:08:33] So I created this newsletter.

[00:08:35] It was faxed out every Thursday morning.

[00:08:38] I knew I've always known a lot of people in town.

[00:08:41] I've always been involved in writing and journalism one way or the other.

[00:08:44] And I knew a lot of people that I thought I could get some attention.

[00:08:47] I could bring things to light, show people what was going on behind the scenes.

[00:08:52] And we did well.

[00:08:53] We were an artistic success, just not a financial success.

[00:08:57] That's because everybody was stealing it.

[00:08:59] I know it went from one fax machine to the copy machine and was shared all over the place.

[00:09:06] Do you think in today's world where there's a much tighter lock on a lot of these paid for newsletters like Substack,

[00:09:14] that something like the inside source could do well?

[00:09:16] I think it probably could.

[00:09:17] I have no idea.

[00:09:19] When I decided to do that, I didn't even know if you could do it on a fax machine.

[00:09:24] And I remember when I first started, when I first got started, it was my first issue.

[00:09:29] I had 150 subscribers.

[00:09:31] And I remember one night standing at the fax machine feeding it 150 times to get out through there.

[00:09:39] And then I thought you don't have to do that.

[00:09:40] But you can put it in there and punch a button.

[00:09:44] It'll just keep going until it gives out.

[00:09:47] Hey, listen, if you want anything to do with IT, call Talbert and Hightower.

[00:09:51] We're going to have a new company.

[00:09:54] IT are us.

[00:09:55] Why did Jake lose interest in the mayoral race?

[00:09:58] The rest of that story is that Jake ran for mayor in 95 because he didn't want Hazzari to win.

[00:10:05] And once Hazzari was eliminated and it was Jake and Delaney left for the final election,

[00:10:12] Jake liked Delaney.

[00:10:13] And so he just pretty much shut down and did the campaign.

[00:10:17] And Miller was calling him out all the time on the radio, as were other people, as was I in private.

[00:10:23] And he woke up and he, so one day I got tired of it.

[00:10:27] So one morning I called his producer for one afternoon.

[00:10:31] And I said, Joe, I said, I thought in the morning I want to come on at 8 o'clock and talk to Miller.

[00:10:36] So he loved that.

[00:10:38] So they set it up and I did.

[00:10:40] And I kept calling him Mark.

[00:10:45] I said, Scott, at one point, I said, Mark, you haven't been in town very long, have you?

[00:10:51] You know no shit.

[00:10:52] I tried to get, I tried, I was covering the campaign, of course, in 95.

[00:10:56] And I kept trying to get God bold on the show and he wouldn't come on.

[00:11:00] And the only person who would come on from the campaign is who.

[00:11:04] Yeah.

[00:11:05] So to get under my skin, all he did was keep calling me Mark for the entire 30 minutes.

[00:11:12] And I would correct him every time.

[00:11:14] And then my producer, Joe Fortunato, who still works for the Jaguars, he's yelling at me.

[00:11:19] He knows your name, Miller.

[00:11:22] He knows your name.

[00:11:23] And I said, I'm going to continue correcting him.

[00:11:26] So that kind of really got us to know each other.

[00:11:29] That was just go show.

[00:11:30] Don't poke the bear in the eye.

[00:11:33] Never make somebody mad who buys ink by the barrel and has 50,000 watts behind his voice.

[00:11:40] We're going to come back to Mike Tolbert, but I want to spend a few minutes with the extraordinary Mike Hightower.

[00:11:45] This is a guy who grew up wanting to be a teacher, a white guy who got himself hired in one of the most challenging schools in Jacksonville.

[00:11:55] That alone is a story that could take up an hour.

[00:11:59] But as they say in the Ginsu Knives commercials, wait, there's more.

[00:12:05] Mike has served as chair or finance chair of more than 600 local, state and federal candidates.

[00:12:13] As a fundraiser since 1981, Mike has assisted in raising over $154 million for candidates, party campaigns, civic referenda and charitable causes.

[00:12:26] Mike has been chair of the Duval County Republican Party and a member of the Republican Party of Florida Executive Committee.

[00:12:34] Mike entered politics as a young Democrat, was finance chair for both Republican Mayors John Delaney and John Payton.

[00:12:43] Mike, you were a high school civics teacher when you met presidential candidate Jimmy Carter.

[00:12:50] Somehow the future president decided to let this teacher run his Duval County campaign.

[00:12:57] What was he thinking?

[00:12:58] And what were some of the unexpected consequences of being in the right place?

[00:13:04] Let me start with what I've always said.

[00:13:06] It's probably because he hired people like me is why the man only got one term.

[00:13:12] Let's start there.

[00:13:13] But seriously, how I met him?

[00:13:17] Very quickly, I met him in Kansas City, Missouri.

[00:13:20] They were having a fundraiser for Senator Lloyd Benson, and there were 10,000 people in this huge ballroom.

[00:13:27] There were seven doors.

[00:13:29] People were walking in, and I walked in door A.

[00:13:34] And as you walked in, there was a crowd, and I got pushed into that corner, and there stood Governor Jimmy Carter, who had just announced that he's from Georgia.

[00:13:43] He just announced he was the outgoing governor of Georgia.

[00:13:46] And he said, Hi, my name is Jimmy Carter, and I'm running for president.

[00:13:50] I said, Hi, I'm Mike Hightower from Jacksonville, Florida, and I'm the new secretary of the Democratic Party.

[00:13:54] And we spent about 20 minutes.

[00:13:57] I gave him my card that I had printed up.

[00:14:01] I had 500 of those cards.

[00:14:03] By the way, I have 496 of those cards still left.

[00:14:08] So anyway, what's one of those cards?

[00:14:09] I have them.

[00:14:10] And then he came to Jacksonville the following March, and we met at Mike Tolbert's All Hangout at the Blackstone Building.

[00:14:18] And we ate there, and he took a napkin out and drew the state of Florida.

[00:14:23] And he looked at 13 different places, and he said, I want you to help me, and I want you to help me in Jacksonville.

[00:14:30] And I looked at him, and I said, Governor?

[00:14:33] And I said, Governor?

[00:14:34] He said, Jimmy.

[00:14:35] I said, Jimmy?

[00:14:35] I said, You need to understand that Jacksonville was George Wallace's state headquarters.

[00:14:41] And he said, Mike, what I want you to do is help me do that.

[00:14:44] He didn't blink.

[00:14:45] Didn't do that.

[00:14:46] And he said, If you can get me within 10 points, 10 points of George Wallace because of these other 12 places, I can win.

[00:14:53] And that's why I reminded him again, this was George Wallace's state headquarters, and he totally blew me off.

[00:15:00] And as it turned out, when the votes came in for that primary, we only lost Duval County by 300 votes.

[00:15:07] Since they said the rest of that is history.

[00:15:11] And so then at 31, I went from being a school teacher to becoming state director of Farmers Home Administration,

[00:15:18] which was the equivalent of rural HUD in the state of Florida.

[00:15:23] And to give you a perspective that is spooky, is that 57 counties in Florida then were rural.

[00:15:30] So when I became the state director, I had 57 offices, 157 employees, and a budget of $300 million.

[00:15:40] Now, if you Google, which I happened to do last night, what is the equivalent of $300 million then as opposed to now, it would be $1.4 billion.

[00:15:54] And here, the president had appointed a former school teacher ahead of this agency.

[00:16:01] And I think it was because what I didn't know, but there were people that helped me.

[00:16:06] The first person that was there and basically helped me was one of my biggest supporters.

[00:16:10] And my guest was the late Doyle Conner, who was the commissioner of agriculture.

[00:16:14] And he sent me three young guys to be my, quote, assistants.

[00:16:19] And they attempted to keep me on the straight and narrow.

[00:16:23] But to, I think from that of being able to work in that agency and had people around me.

[00:16:32] And I didn't know anything about the state of Florida, but I had only been there for a couple, a month or two, a couple months.

[00:16:39] And we had to do, we had to present some loans for the freeze.

[00:16:45] There has been a great freeze the year before.

[00:16:47] So we went out there and presented these checks, which the state director was at.

[00:16:51] And then all of a sudden, as a result of that, in our mail, we got these clippings that I was showing them delivering a check.

[00:16:59] And one of these young guys said, damn, I did say, damn, I did.

[00:17:03] And I went, wow.

[00:17:04] And he said, you should keep this.

[00:17:06] You ever decide to run for office?

[00:17:07] Think of all this publicity.

[00:17:09] Guess what?

[00:17:10] Starting for the next three and a half years, everything we did, I kept every one of those news clippings.

[00:17:16] So the bug hit me there.

[00:17:18] And of course, at the end of three years, Carter was not, the president was not reelected.

[00:17:22] I went to Blue Cross Blue Shield and that started the new chapter.

[00:17:26] But all those contacts during those years and the people who supported me and the people who helped me.

[00:17:34] Guys, we did a lot of good things.

[00:17:36] We put over a billion dollars in the state.

[00:17:39] But guys, every day I had, there were days when I didn't know what I was doing.

[00:17:44] Nobody knew it.

[00:17:45] But I had a group of people around me that believed in me and I trusted them.

[00:17:50] And I learned a lot about Florida and I learned a lot about the state of Florida.

[00:17:55] I learned a lot about agriculture, which I didn't know.

[00:17:58] But I also met, as you can remember, Florida was then run by the Democratic Party.

[00:18:04] So all the elected officials around the state were pretty much Democratic.

[00:18:08] So when I left there and went to Blue Cross, I had, there were people that I knew when I took my new,

[00:18:15] took my old hat off of being working for a farmer's home administration.

[00:18:19] When I went to work for Blue Cross Blue Shield, those were some of my contacts that started me on my next chapter.

[00:18:25] But I will tell you, I would not be sitting in front of this podcast.

[00:18:28] And it had not been for Jimmy Carter.

[00:18:31] One, walking in that door A as opposed to door B.

[00:18:35] Two, that meeting at the Blackstone Building.

[00:18:39] And three, getting that job.

[00:18:41] It gave me my start.

[00:18:42] It gave me, that's why I'm sitting here.

[00:18:44] He was a great friend.

[00:18:46] He and the First Lady were extraordinarily gracious to Sue and I.

[00:18:50] And I owe him a lot.

[00:18:53] He was a good man and he gave me my start in life.

[00:18:56] Mike Hightower, you are one of the rare people that I know that has worked on both sides of the fence.

[00:19:03] How did you get involved with George W. Bush?

[00:19:06] How I got involved with George W. Bush, if you go back, his dad ran for re-election in 1986.

[00:19:16] Help me out, guys.

[00:19:18] 86?

[00:19:19] No.

[00:19:20] When did Clinton?

[00:19:21] He went into Clinton after the end of that.

[00:19:23] And Tom Petway and John Rue introduced me to the Bushes.

[00:19:29] I had already switched from a Democrat to a Republican because of philosophy and policy.

[00:19:38] It wasn't anything personal.

[00:19:40] I had to get over that.

[00:19:41] I had all these Democratic friends who I thought I'd helped when I was in the farmer's home who were now legislators who were always picking on Blue Cross.

[00:19:49] So it was a policy issue why I became a Republican.

[00:19:52] And the A. Bush policy wasn't personal.

[00:19:54] So then Tom Petway and Ambassador Roode introduced me to George the President, Vice President George Walker.

[00:20:01] And I met them.

[00:20:03] And then, of course, he lost.

[00:20:05] And then Jeb ran.

[00:20:06] And those same people introduced me to Jeb.

[00:20:09] And then after Jeb was elected in 98, in 99, Tom Petway, myself, Marty Ferentino, the late Pete Carpenter, a good friend of Mike Tolbert, we got a call to...

[00:20:22] They said...

[00:20:23] Anyway, we got invited to meet then Governor George W. Bush.

[00:20:27] So we flew out to Austin and spent the day with him, John...

[00:20:31] And had dinner with him.

[00:20:32] And before we went to dinner, John Roode and I made a comment about the boots that he was wearing.

[00:20:39] Long story short, between lunch or between the time we left his office and dinner, Roode and I went and got boots made or ordered boots so that we would be like George W. Bush.

[00:20:51] And then, as they said, the 2000 election, there's a picture of me when...

[00:20:56] If you all remember the election, it went out for 37 days.

[00:20:59] And I just read today that the big issue in Pennsylvania is there's a concern about the overseas ballots, about those.

[00:21:06] Desu was in charge of the military overseas ballots in 2000.

[00:21:11] Me, and I went...

[00:21:12] I resemble that remark.

[00:21:14] There's a picture of us on the Times Union when we were fighting with the Democratic lawyers about the overseas ballots, the military ballots.

[00:21:21] And then we won.

[00:21:24] And from there, Charlie then became...

[00:21:26] Started working, continued.

[00:21:29] I was...

[00:21:29] Then became party chair.

[00:21:31] And wore that hat while I was wearing the hat for Blue Cross Blue Shield, which was a dance I had to do.

[00:21:37] You can imagine.

[00:21:39] I want to go into more depth about your Blue Cross Blue Shield career, but I also want to talk to my good friend Mike Miller, who I first met in person when he moved his family about five houses down from us in Mandarin 32 years ago.

[00:21:55] Most marriages don't last that long, Mike.

[00:21:57] Mine didn't.

[00:21:59] To me, perfectly blank.

[00:22:03] Actually, mine went 35.

[00:22:04] Well, yeah, we'll count that.

[00:22:06] That's success.

[00:22:07] I was a fan of yours way before that.

[00:22:10] Mike's involvement in political campaigns was as a broadcaster and talk show host, where his job was to tell people about the candidates and anchor returns on election night.

[00:22:22] Mike's first election experience came in 1968 in Gary, Indiana, at the age of 21, when he reported results and interviewed local winners and losers.

[00:22:32] In 1976, at WDBO Radio in Orlando, he interviewed Governor and Mrs. Carter before the election, then anchored the returns election night.

[00:22:44] While broadcasting at WTIC in Hartford in 1980, Mike was sent to Detroit to cover the National Republican Convention and the Connecticut delegation.

[00:22:56] And so impressed ABC that they hired him as the morning show host at WXYZ, the O&O in Detroit, where this radio guy first heard him on the air.

[00:23:08] In 2000, during the Gore versus Bush campaign with butterfly ballots and many election issues, Mike faced his biggest broadcast challenge, working for WJNO, radio, and WPTV television in West Palm Beach.

[00:23:26] Mike, on that highly charged election night in 2000, you were either on the radio or television for 10 straight hours.

[00:23:35] It reminded me of Bob Trout's Iron Man coverage of D-Day in 1944.

[00:23:41] How did you manage that marathon?

[00:23:44] And what was the atmosphere like?

[00:23:46] First of all, how did I handle that marathon is interesting.

[00:23:49] Luckily, the radio station at the time and the TV station were right across the street from one another.

[00:23:55] So I'm huffing it back and forth.

[00:23:58] They would say, OK, Mike, you're taking a break.

[00:23:59] We're bringing somebody back in on radio, but they need you over at Channel 5.

[00:24:03] So then I'd run over to Channel 5.

[00:24:05] I'd make sure my makeup was right and all the rest of the stuff was going on.

[00:24:08] And then I'd sit down with their anchors and be part of that analysis team, if you will.

[00:24:13] It was, I'll tell you, it was the most exciting race I think anybody could almost ever handle.

[00:24:19] And for those of you who may not remember this, maybe you should, got to keep in mind that, and I've got this from here, after hanging chads in court fights, George W. Bush won the state of Florida, putting him over the top in the presidency.

[00:24:34] See, this state is the reason why George W. Bush won the presidency, and it was decided by 537 votes, though his electoral count was higher.

[00:24:46] He did very well electorally.

[00:24:48] But it was a lot of analysis.

[00:24:50] There were a lot of questions coming in because we were also taking calls.

[00:24:54] Being a talk show host, I can't work unless I've got a phone that's sitting next to me so that someone can reach into the show.

[00:25:00] So that's the problem with this thing.

[00:25:02] Exactly.

[00:25:02] I'd love to have a phone, even a fake one.

[00:25:04] I'd use it just, who's calling?

[00:25:06] Turn your radio down.

[00:25:07] We're on delay.

[00:25:08] My favorite words.

[00:25:10] But we knew while we were doing the election coverage that there were problems that were going on.

[00:25:15] They were being reported by the national networks who were, of course, we were picking up their feeds while we were doing our local feeds as well.

[00:25:23] Like you said, I was there until at least 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning.

[00:25:27] I can't remember exactly what time we finally went off the air or somebody else came in to relieve me.

[00:25:32] But it was a great experience.

[00:25:33] That also led, by the way, when I left broadcasting here and went to work for Mayor Delaney.

[00:25:41] You may recall, and the two mics definitely will recall this, we had an election reform task force that Delaney put together back in 2002,

[00:25:53] as I remembered, because there were lost votes here in Palm Beach County.

[00:25:58] I say here, that's where we were at the time.

[00:26:00] But there were lost, and they were trying to find them.

[00:26:02] And also the tallying that was going on at the headquarters.

[00:26:06] But it was a great experience.

[00:26:07] I loved doing election night coverage.

[00:26:09] You never knew what was going to happen.

[00:26:11] You never knew who would just drop into the studio and say,

[00:26:14] Hi, I just happened to be here.

[00:26:16] Uh-huh.

[00:26:16] Can I come on your show for five minutes?

[00:26:18] Yeah.

[00:26:18] And we did that.

[00:26:19] But it was good.

[00:26:19] But I did get a souvenir from it.

[00:26:21] And I brought it with me.

[00:26:23] And I know we're going to put up a tag.

[00:26:26] But this is what they gave a few of us.

[00:26:29] I'll leave it up here long enough for you to be able to read it.

[00:26:32] But this was given out to a number of us that were working.

[00:26:35] And you still have it.

[00:26:36] That's amazing.

[00:26:37] And I've never worn it.

[00:26:38] I've never worn it.

[00:26:39] And it's an extra large, so I couldn't wear it.

[00:26:41] But the 2000 election was really terrific.

[00:26:44] And then, of course, many of you hopefully will remember the movie called Recount.

[00:26:48] In 2008, we had a big going to the movie party for that because all of it was focused on Palm Beach County.

[00:26:54] Why didn't they put you in?

[00:26:56] You should have been in the show.

[00:26:58] They didn't.

[00:26:58] They really didn't.

[00:26:59] I don't believe that they had any real characters in that.

[00:27:03] I think they had actors for everybody.

[00:27:05] How did you get involved in Jacksonville City Government?

[00:27:08] Keep in mind now, I moved up here from the Palm Beaches.

[00:27:13] And certainly back in the 90s, Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties were all big D counties.

[00:27:21] Huge D counties.

[00:27:23] So here I come to Jacksonville, where obviously this county should be probably painted red because of the political leanings that we had here.

[00:27:32] And that was a lot because all of my contacts had been more Democrat than Republican since I was down there.

[00:27:38] Most of the discussion we had leaned towards the Democratic Party.

[00:27:42] One thing I found out after doing talk radio for 35 years, ladies and gentlemen, your audience is an outgrowth of your positions.

[00:27:54] People don't often listen to radio stations with hosts that disagree with them.

[00:28:00] They don't like it.

[00:28:01] They feel comfort in being with someone you want.

[00:28:03] So here comes this Democrat from South Florida broadcasting here in Jacksonville.

[00:28:09] I got this job because basically like many of us, I lost my job in West Palm Beach to a syndicated show.

[00:28:15] Actually, you know who I lost it to?

[00:28:17] I lost it to G. Gordon Liddy.

[00:28:20] My show was on the air until G. Gordon Liddy decided to do a syndicated program after the Iran-Contra stuff in the 70s.

[00:28:27] And they hired him to do a show on my station.

[00:28:30] And I was the odd man out.

[00:28:33] You haven't been in broadcasting unless you've been fired at least twice.

[00:28:35] At least.

[00:28:36] And nothing made me feel happier when the late Rush Limbaugh was talking on the air when he first started,

[00:28:42] talking about how he had gotten fired from Kansas City.

[00:28:45] He had gotten fired from California.

[00:28:47] He had been fired from everywhere.

[00:28:49] And I said, I'm in good company.

[00:28:50] And that was back when he was Jeff Christie and was a top 40 screaming DJ.

[00:28:55] And a screaming liberal.

[00:28:57] Yeah, he was.

[00:28:58] He was a screaming liberal.

[00:28:59] He followed the money, didn't he?

[00:29:00] Yeah.

[00:29:01] Absolutely.

[00:29:02] Absolutely.

[00:29:02] How did you get involved in Jacksonville City government?

[00:29:06] That was really an outgrowth of the show.

[00:29:10] Obviously, when I was doing the program here for those seven years, it was what we called an issue-oriented talk show.

[00:29:19] So I would have the mayor on when I could.

[00:29:22] I would have on different politicians when I could.

[00:29:25] I got to know the city council very well.

[00:29:27] But let me tell you what I think made the biggest impact for me to be able to go from radio to government.

[00:29:34] And that is when we did the Save the Sarah program on my radio show.

[00:29:39] I'm sure many people don't remember this.

[00:29:41] This goes back over 25 years ago.

[00:29:43] But there was a campaign that started on my show here when they decided to decommission the USS Saratoga.

[00:29:51] The Saratoga was a huge part of Jacksonville.

[00:29:55] It was a big aircraft carrier.

[00:29:58] It was in Mayport.

[00:30:00] It had seen, in fact, the first fatality of the Vietnam War came off the Saratogas, I remember.

[00:30:05] So it had a tremendous history.

[00:30:07] So I remember getting a phone call from a number of people who said,

[00:30:11] Mike, is there anything we could do to save the Sarah?

[00:30:13] Turn it into a museum.

[00:30:15] Do something like that.

[00:30:16] I was getting all of these inquiries and these calls from veterans who'd served on the Saratoga

[00:30:21] or whose father or mother had served or something of that sort.

[00:30:24] So we started this and we said, well, maybe we can save it.

[00:30:27] After all, Corpus Christi had one.

[00:30:29] New York had a battleship.

[00:30:32] One in Charleston.

[00:30:33] Exactly.

[00:30:33] Cities across the country have done this.

[00:30:35] So we started the campaign.

[00:30:37] It took 16 months.

[00:30:38] I got to know just about everybody in the community as a result of that because we were raising huge money.

[00:30:44] We raised well over $12 million in commitments towards this project.

[00:30:50] And at the time, First Union was our sponsoring bank.

[00:30:54] They were the bank.

[00:30:55] They wanted to put an IMAX on it, believe it or not.

[00:30:57] And we had all of the support from everybody else.

[00:31:00] Plus, I, of course, was receiving the support of the city.

[00:31:03] We received a resolution in city council thanking us for doing the campaign, even though we'd never got to Saratoga.

[00:31:10] But that was really my entree into the government works.

[00:31:14] And when I left JTA, or pardon me, when I left radio at WKV, one of the first people I talked to was Mike Weinstein.

[00:31:23] And Mike at the time was heading the JEDC.

[00:31:27] And he and Susie Wiles contacted me to say, Mike, we may have a position for you if you want to stay in Jacksonville, but it won't be in radio.

[00:31:37] And that's how it started.

[00:31:38] We're going to give Mike Miller the last word on this program, but I want to talk for a minute about one of Mike Tolbert's favorite subjects.

[00:31:46] I've heard Jake Godbold's name mentioned more times on this broadcast than our sponsor, Alan Bliss, at the Jacksonville Historical Society.

[00:31:55] Jake was one of your closest friends, Mike.

[00:31:57] And I well remember the 1979 race when Jake ran for mayor.

[00:32:02] And his opponent was State Senator Lou Brantley, who had been president of the Florida Senate.

[00:32:08] Rumor has it that you made Brantley nervous.

[00:32:12] How did you do that?

[00:32:14] Lou was strongly supported by the Chamber of Commerce and a lot of the business community when he ran.

[00:32:21] And for some reason, he always when I was around him, he always got nervous around me.

[00:32:26] I never understood why, but I enjoyed it.

[00:32:29] And so I did what I could to advance it.

[00:32:32] And I remember one time right at the beginning of this campaign, I think the William Cook Advertising was his agency.

[00:32:40] And they came up with a slogan that said Lou Listens.

[00:32:44] And to help promote that slogan, they came out with these little gold ears pins that you could stick in your lapel or you could they could give them out.

[00:32:54] They produced about a thousand thousands of them probably.

[00:32:57] And I got hold of one and I took some Godbold campaign stationery and I stuck the ear in the paper and I wrote a note on it.

[00:33:06] It said, hey, Lou, stick this in your ear and send it to me.

[00:33:14] I love that.

[00:33:16] I'll tell you another quick one.

[00:33:17] This that's nice.

[00:33:20] Earlier in the campaign, there was a forum in downtown and it was Lou and Jake that were going to be there.

[00:33:30] And I had a file made.

[00:33:32] I took a file folder and I just went and clipped newspaper articles.

[00:33:37] It didn't have anything to do with Brantley or the mayor's race.

[00:33:40] It was just newspaper articles.

[00:33:41] And I stuffed them in this folder and I wrote big black letters on the folder.

[00:33:46] Brantley file.

[00:33:48] And so before the forum, there was a reception.

[00:33:51] It was like at noontime, but there was a little reception.

[00:33:54] People mingling and talking to each other.

[00:33:56] And I kept that folder under my arm so you could see Brantley file.

[00:34:00] And Lou wouldn't take his eyes off of me.

[00:34:03] He just was following me everywhere I was going.

[00:34:06] And Mike Clark, if you all remember Mike Clark, he retired as the editorial editor of the Times Union.

[00:34:13] Mike was a young reporter back then.

[00:34:15] And he was covering that.

[00:34:16] He was working for the journal.

[00:34:18] And he was covering that forum.

[00:34:20] And he came over to speak to me.

[00:34:22] And I could tell Lou was watching.

[00:34:24] So I said, Mike, I'm going to show you this folder.

[00:34:27] We'll open it up.

[00:34:28] And I want you to look in there and act surprised.

[00:34:31] I opened the folder.

[00:34:32] And he goes, oh, my God.

[00:34:34] He got ready to have the forum.

[00:34:37] He called the candidates to come up to the dais.

[00:34:40] And I had a Jake the folder.

[00:34:42] And I said, take this up there and set it down on the table right in front of you.

[00:34:47] And right before it began, just lean over to Lou and say, Lou, you're starting to crap.

[00:34:51] I'm going to the folder.

[00:34:53] And then sit back up.

[00:34:55] And Jake did that.

[00:34:56] And I don't know that Lou ever got his composure back from that portal.

[00:35:01] The other thing that I think you're always going to be remembered for is the brilliant book you wrote about the life of Jake Godbold.

[00:35:08] And there's one reminiscence in there about Jam's Uncle Jake that I'd love to have you share with our viewers.

[00:35:16] This was on election eve.

[00:35:19] We thought we were doing pretty well.

[00:35:21] So we commandeered the campaign Winnebago and went out to the dog track to put a bet on a dog running in the last race called Jam's Uncle Jake.

[00:35:32] The dog was favored to win.

[00:35:35] And right as the race started and around the first turn, that damn dog slipped and fell down.

[00:35:40] And we said, oh, no.

[00:35:42] This is a sign of what's ahead tomorrow.

[00:35:46] It really scared us a lot.

[00:35:47] So we ended up, and I know Hightower remembers this, but we ended up at the Bamboo Luau about midnight.

[00:35:56] And to wallow in our booze, Ron Taylor, yeah, I don't know if you all remember Ron Taylor Riddlebug.

[00:36:02] Ron Taylor was the big West Side guy.

[00:36:04] Was sitting at the bar by himself.

[00:36:07] Everybody went to the table.

[00:36:09] And I went over and spoke to Ron.

[00:36:10] Said, how are you doing, Ron?

[00:36:11] He said, I'm doing fine.

[00:36:13] And he had a check.

[00:36:14] He was sitting there playing with a check for $10,400.

[00:36:19] He said, this is my weekly paycheck that I've got today.

[00:36:23] And I said, oh, my goodness.

[00:36:24] He said, now, I'll tell you what I'll do.

[00:36:27] I'll bet this paycheck on Lou Bradley to win tomorrow if you can find somebody to cover it.

[00:36:33] I said, hold on.

[00:36:34] So Lee Smith was with us.

[00:36:37] So I went over to Lee, and I said, Lee, Ron's guy wants to bet $10,000 on Lou DeBora.

[00:36:44] He needs somebody to cover the check.

[00:36:46] I'm going to call Tommy Green.

[00:36:48] So I called Tommy Green at home, woke him up, I think.

[00:36:51] Tommy said, sure, I'll take it.

[00:36:53] I'll cover it.

[00:36:54] I'd love to.

[00:36:55] So I went back to Lee.

[00:36:57] I said, come on over here, Ron.

[00:36:59] We'll go back up to Ron.

[00:37:00] I said, Ron, Tommy Green will cover the bet.

[00:37:02] I said, but I think somebody needs to hold the check until the race is over.

[00:37:07] He said, I agree.

[00:37:09] I said, how about let Lee hold it?

[00:37:11] He said, sure, that's good.

[00:37:12] So we drove off into Winnebago after that with a $10,400 check.

[00:37:18] We had it when we won a wall.

[00:37:21] I must tell you, ladies and gentlemen, we're running way over on this show.

[00:37:25] But I don't want to let it end before I talk with Mike Hightower a little bit about the switch

[00:37:30] to Florida Blue.

[00:37:32] I know from firsthand experience how hard it can be to separate my political beliefs

[00:37:37] from the business objectives of my employer.

[00:37:41] Mike, you were a high-level executive at Blue and considered to be the best lobbyist in the state.

[00:37:47] As such, you represented Florida Blue and its customers who are Democrats and Republicans.

[00:37:55] How did you balance your political involvement and fundraising success?

[00:38:00] It was not easy.

[00:38:02] Let me just say that.

[00:38:03] But let me tell you how, what was my guiding principle.

[00:38:07] When I got the job, when I was hired by the late Bill Flaherty, and just real quick, Bill Flaherty

[00:38:14] had just come in to take over Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[00:38:17] He hired me.

[00:38:19] And he interviewed me.

[00:38:21] And I had just given my resume from Farmers Home Administration.

[00:38:25] And so, he was intrigued by it.

[00:38:27] And so, we had this conversation.

[00:38:29] He said, what would be one of the shortcomings?

[00:38:31] And I said, Bill, I don't know anything about insurance.

[00:38:34] And he stopped me right there.

[00:38:35] And he says, I don't know anything about Florida politics.

[00:38:38] I can teach you about insurance if you can teach me about politics.

[00:38:42] And I said, I can do that.

[00:38:43] And he hired me.

[00:38:44] So, about a week or two later, after I'd gone through orientation and all that, I got called

[00:38:48] into his office again.

[00:38:50] And so, part of the orientation, you had to meet with the CEO.

[00:38:53] And so, it was a very, it was an extraordinary meeting.

[00:38:56] And he went through the visions and what we stood for and all those kind of things.

[00:39:00] And then he's just looking straight in the eye.

[00:39:04] And he said, from this, I can tell that you have a high profile and a lot of folks.

[00:39:09] And he looked at me and he said, one of the things I want you to remember is that you will

[00:39:14] no longer be Mike Hightower.

[00:39:16] You will be Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[00:39:19] That security officer that sits downstairs and the lady that processes our claims or the person

[00:39:26] who sends in their policy, their money for their policy, that's who you represent.

[00:39:32] That's who you are not Mike Hightower.

[00:39:33] And as long as you understand that and you understand that's how you have to perform,

[00:39:39] then it's okay.

[00:39:41] But I want you to remember it is about protecting that security officer, protecting the vision

[00:39:50] and the security or that security officer, that lady processes claim and that person that

[00:39:56] sends in their money.

[00:39:58] And when I went into all that, my first couple of years Blue Cross didn't give any money.

[00:40:02] We were a not-for-profit major thing.

[00:40:05] We changed all that and then we got into the political process.

[00:40:08] And one of the things that helped me during that time when I started giving money was that

[00:40:13] Bill Flaherty also suggested that when we were going to become politically active, these

[00:40:19] are his, these are my words, not his.

[00:40:21] So I've changed it.

[00:40:22] He said, and I tell this to people that I help in politics, just remember who brung you into

[00:40:27] the dance.

[00:40:28] So if we're going to be helping somebody who asks us for money, just make sure that they

[00:40:33] helped us.

[00:40:34] They helped that person that sent the money in.

[00:40:36] They helped that person that processed the claim.

[00:40:39] That's what it is.

[00:40:40] As long as you can say or justify to me and I can justify to the board who we're giving

[00:40:46] money to and how we are being politically active or why we're being politically active.

[00:40:51] But that, but just remember, those are the parameters.

[00:40:55] And so that's how I started.

[00:40:58] And then the man who became my mentor in Tallahassee, I shared that story with him because Bill

[00:41:04] had hired him before I got there to help him out.

[00:41:07] And he gave me the other piece of advice was when in doubt, don't.

[00:41:12] And so during those 35 years, I attempted to stay within those parameters.

[00:41:17] I would be way off base if I told you I never strayed.

[00:41:22] There were days probably when I got caught up in the moment or the campaign or my own legend

[00:41:29] in my own mind that I probably feared too far.

[00:41:32] And I had to go back and meet with my boss and explain what I was doing and why I was doing.

[00:41:39] But that was my guiding light.

[00:41:42] But you have to remember when the state of Florida or the legislature and the governor's office

[00:41:50] changed to become a Republican, they were much more sympathetic to less government, less regulation.

[00:41:56] So it was a lot easier to help those folks during that time.

[00:42:01] And then that sort of helped.

[00:42:03] Now, the other part that goes back to the amount of money that you made, I raised that that did

[00:42:08] not come out of my pocket.

[00:42:09] That came out of other folks' pocket.

[00:42:11] And there was a group of men here in this town that helped me and became my mentors.

[00:42:16] And they were the people that helped me get started.

[00:42:18] And one of the rules that Mike Tolbert will tell you this and because of what he learned

[00:42:23] in politics, if you were going to ask people for money, they had to make sure that you had

[00:42:28] some skin in the game and that you were going to put something.

[00:42:31] And there were times when I would go out there and ask for money.

[00:42:34] The question, if they weren't blunt about it, they led up to saying, how much is Blue Cross

[00:42:40] going to put into the game if you're asking me for money?

[00:42:43] And so that was one of those things that you had to lead by example.

[00:42:46] And that was the one thing that one, Blue Cross supported that, whether it was in politics

[00:42:52] or if it was charitable or in referendums.

[00:42:54] And a lot of those referends I worked with, Mike Tolbert was our consultant.

[00:42:59] And in spite of some of the stories that he told about, I'm not going to cross him, but

[00:43:03] he's damn good at what he does.

[00:43:05] I can tell you.

[00:43:05] So it was really easy to say, I'm going to be with Tolbert.

[00:43:08] I don't want Tolbert working against me.

[00:43:10] So let's help Tolbert or his candidate.

[00:43:12] But seriously, there were men that helped me.

[00:43:15] And I have to just tell you, and Mike Tolbert will run.

[00:43:18] The first check I ever got other than Blue Cross to help a candidate, it was Herb Payton.

[00:43:25] And everybody knows that Herb still has the first dollar he ever had.

[00:43:29] He was his dis and was type of that.

[00:43:31] And I can remember meeting him real quick.

[00:43:34] I didn't tell the story.

[00:43:34] I was at a fundraiser at Orange Park, and I was talking to a group guys trying to figure

[00:43:40] out how I asked for money.

[00:43:41] And I stepped all over myself.

[00:43:43] I wasn't pretty about it at all.

[00:43:45] Not much better now.

[00:43:46] But anyway, so at this, Herb basically interrupted and he said, what do you know about that guy?

[00:43:53] And I said, that's why I need to eat.

[00:43:54] And he said, are you going to help him?

[00:43:55] And I said, yeah.

[00:43:56] And he said, come to me tomorrow.

[00:43:57] And he turned around and walked off.

[00:43:59] There was a group of young guys like myself.

[00:44:01] And we were all like, holy crap, Hyjia, you're going to go see Herb Payton.

[00:44:05] What are you going to do?

[00:44:06] And I went, I'm going to go see him like it was.

[00:44:08] So anyway, I went to see Herb Payton.

[00:44:11] And that was my first non-Blue Cross check that I ever got.

[00:44:16] It was for $500.

[00:44:17] He made me work for it, made me sweat for it.

[00:44:20] And he just kept, and he looked me, and Talbert will remember this note because he's worked for

[00:44:25] her.

[00:44:25] He looked me dead in the eye and he said, is that guy going to win?

[00:44:29] And I went, I think so.

[00:44:31] And he said, you think?

[00:44:32] And I went, yes, sir.

[00:44:34] We're going to work hard to do it.

[00:44:35] So he gave me the check.

[00:44:37] I walked out there.

[00:44:38] I was like, Princeton sweat.

[00:44:40] So all you people who know, Herb Payton, that was the hardest $500 I've ever worked for.

[00:44:45] Having said that, there were a group of guys, and I just got to say it, with all the stuff

[00:44:49] that you all have nice things, there were a group of guys.

[00:44:51] Tom Pettway, Dwayne Ottenstrow, John Rood, Marty Farantino, the late Pete Carpenter, who

[00:44:58] was a great friend, Mike Talbert, the late Walter McRae, Jay Dimitri, Ed Nivnick, the

[00:45:04] late Tom Bush, when I was either asking for money just for a fundraiser or those four years

[00:45:10] when I was in public and private.

[00:45:11] Nobody gets there on their own.

[00:45:13] And Blue Cross was very generous.

[00:45:16] I sometimes don't think they realized how generous they were.

[00:45:20] And hopefully, the term limits has run out so they won't check those books anymore.

[00:45:25] But I think that it was always a team effort.

[00:45:28] And Talbert will tell you that and Mike Miller.

[00:45:31] Our success is whatever it is.

[00:45:33] It's never about a me.

[00:45:34] It's about us or a we.

[00:45:37] And all the three of us, I can just say whether it was, I've been very blessed.

[00:45:41] I worked my butt off.

[00:45:42] But there were people along me that trusted me, gave me a long leash, but would jerk it

[00:45:49] back.

[00:45:50] And even now, which we all know Talbert does to me every other week on the show, he jerks

[00:45:55] me back on my leash.

[00:45:56] But anyway, that's what it was.

[00:45:58] It was an extraordinary career at Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[00:46:02] We did a lot of good things.

[00:46:03] We helped a lot of people.

[00:46:05] I think they got their nipples work out of me.

[00:46:10] And I tried to represent them respectfully.

[00:46:13] And I tried to respect them in a way.

[00:46:15] And our policy of it was money.

[00:46:17] It was a great gig for 35 years.

[00:46:19] And I don't look back with any regrets.

[00:46:21] We don't.

[00:46:22] So thanks for asking about it.

[00:46:24] Appreciate it.

[00:46:25] This has been a wonderful experience for me.

[00:46:28] And I'm going to turn it back over to our ringmaster, Mike Miller.

[00:46:31] And as I do, let's go back to 1976 in Orlando at WDBO when you were interviewing Jimmy Carter.

[00:46:41] Tell us how that singular conversation became the stuff of legend.

[00:46:46] I had gotten a phone call from the Democratic Party of Orange County, Florida.

[00:46:52] And they said, listen, we would like to have Rosalind Carter on your show because, as you

[00:46:56] know, the governor is running for president.

[00:46:58] This is before the primary now.

[00:47:00] And I said, that's nice.

[00:47:02] Can you guarantee me that at some point I'll get the governor on?

[00:47:05] And they said, yes, we'll make that.

[00:47:07] I said, fine, then bring on Rosalind.

[00:47:09] We'll be happy to do it.

[00:47:10] And I had a wonderful time.

[00:47:11] Made very good friends with her.

[00:47:13] We corresponded back and forth.

[00:47:15] I mean, she was just a delight.

[00:47:16] God bless her soul.

[00:47:17] She was just a terrific lady.

[00:47:19] And then that led to, of course, Jimmy Carter coming on.

[00:47:23] By that time, we were just getting into the New Hampshire primary.

[00:47:28] And the entire network crowd was following him at that time.

[00:47:33] And they all poured into the radio station.

[00:47:36] Now, at WDBO, and I have no idea what their studios look like today compared to what they

[00:47:41] were like in 76.

[00:47:43] But we had a big studio.

[00:47:45] We even had a piano in it, which was great because we had Steve Allen on once.

[00:47:48] And he played piano for a half hour.

[00:47:50] But all of the...

[00:47:51] And the studio looked out into the lobby with the open door.

[00:47:56] You looked out.

[00:47:57] As Carter and I began talking, we first went to a side room to talk.

[00:48:00] And then we went into the studio.

[00:48:02] And there was Sam Donaldson and all of these other network guys.

[00:48:06] And they were all bitching that they couldn't get into the studio so they could actually put

[00:48:10] a mic on Carter.

[00:48:12] And we said, no, we can't do that.

[00:48:14] And Secret Service didn't want them in there.

[00:48:16] They wanted this protection there.

[00:48:17] So anyhow, we got settled down.

[00:48:19] We got ready.

[00:48:19] The intro came on.

[00:48:20] And by the way, the intro to my show was done by Walter Cronkite.

[00:48:24] And it was...

[00:48:25] And now it's Miller time.

[00:48:27] That's how he introduced my show.

[00:48:29] So...

[00:48:29] I would have had Mickey's bling to it.

[00:48:32] It would have been fun.

[00:48:34] But...

[00:48:35] Whoa!

[00:48:35] Anyhow, I opened the show.

[00:48:37] Now, you got to understand something.

[00:48:39] I'm nervous as hell.

[00:48:40] I am...

[00:48:41] I'm sitting here with who could be the next president of the United States with a half

[00:48:46] a dozen Secret Service guys all with the things in their ears and the guns on their

[00:48:50] side and the glasses that are on.

[00:48:52] And this is intimidating.

[00:48:53] And then, of course, the entire station shows up because they want to see Jimmy Carter.

[00:48:58] So I'm nervous.

[00:48:59] I walk in.

[00:49:00] I'm playing cocky because of my show.

[00:49:02] And we all sit down and everybody's comfortable.

[00:49:05] And they're going to have three, two, one, and more.

[00:49:06] This is Walter Cronkite.

[00:49:07] And now it's Miller time.

[00:49:09] Up comes the music.

[00:49:10] Good evening, everyone.

[00:49:11] Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:49:13] And I'm delighted to introduce our very special guest today, Governor Jimmy Walker.

[00:49:23] And this little voice comes over the microphone and says, that's Carter.

[00:49:29] And I said, yeah.

[00:49:31] So what?

[00:49:31] Why?

[00:49:32] He said, no, you said Walker.

[00:49:34] I said, no, I didn't.

[00:49:35] He said, no, you did.

[00:49:36] You said Jimmy Walker.

[00:49:37] I'm Jimmy Carter.

[00:49:40] Let's start again.

[00:49:41] Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

[00:49:43] And that was the first of, gosh, three or four interviews that he and I had done together

[00:49:48] in different markets.

[00:49:49] I got to talk to him in Detroit.

[00:49:50] I got to talk to him in Hartford.

[00:49:52] We just had a great relationship.

[00:49:54] People got to remember that back then there was Jimmy J. Walker.

[00:49:56] He was a very popular actor in the number one comedy on television.

[00:50:00] Exactly.

[00:50:01] Easy mistake to make.

[00:50:02] No, Jimmy Walker was mayor of New York.

[00:50:04] That's another Jimmy Walker.

[00:50:05] That's another Jimmy.

[00:50:05] This was Jay Walker, the one from Good Times.

[00:50:08] I think it was Good Times.

[00:50:09] He was the one that said, what was his line?

[00:50:11] What's happening?

[00:50:13] Dynamite.

[00:50:14] Dynamite.

[00:50:14] Dynamite.

[00:50:14] Dynamite.

[00:50:15] Thank you, Mike.

[00:50:15] This has been great.

[00:50:16] Listen, before we wrap up today's broadcast, Mike Hightower, Scott, and I had the pleasure

[00:50:20] of attending Leadership Jacksonville's Lifetime Achievement Award Luncheon

[00:50:25] honoring Judge Audrey Moran, a great friend of all of ours.

[00:50:29] The standing room only crowd burst into sustained standing ovation when she was introduced to

[00:50:34] make her remarks, and we wanted to share those remarks with you.

[00:50:38] Ladies and gentlemen, meet Judge Audrey Moran.

[00:50:42] Leadership, true servant leadership, is always a critical component of any healthy society.

[00:50:52] But these days, it feels especially important.

[00:50:58] War in the Middle East.

[00:51:02] Catastrophic weather disasters here at home.

[00:51:06] And yes, a presidential election just 12 days away.

[00:51:12] Which leads to this question.

[00:51:15] How best should we lead during times that feel extraordinary?

[00:51:21] There are many lessons that come from your year with Leadership Jacksonville, but in these

[00:51:26] extraordinary times, as I reflect on my year in LJ, one lesson stands out.

[00:51:34] We must lead with love.

[00:51:40] Love for your community.

[00:51:43] Love for your neighbor.

[00:51:45] And love for what is possible.

[00:51:49] When you lead with love, it is never about you.

[00:51:54] It is about what is best for others.

[00:51:58] Fred Schultz, Gertrude Peel, and Bill Brinton all led with love.

[00:52:06] And Ed Austin, my former boss and mentor, was a wonderful example of leading with love.

[00:52:15] I remember like it was yesterday, being in his office at City Hall, the big corner office

[00:52:20] in the old City Hall building downtown, and about 10 of us were around his desk talking

[00:52:27] about the crisis of the day.

[00:52:28] I do not remember what the crisis was, but it does seem like we had one every day.

[00:52:33] And we were talking about what he should do.

[00:52:37] And Ed Austin was not someone to surround himself with a bunch of yes people.

[00:52:41] He liked a lot of different opinions.

[00:52:44] And those different opinions were being shouted out loud and clear.

[00:52:47] Here's what you need to do, Ed.

[00:52:48] Ed, don't do that.

[00:52:50] That wouldn't be good for your re-election.

[00:52:52] Ed, this would be a good soundbite.

[00:52:54] Ed, this will play well.

[00:52:55] This is what you should do.

[00:52:57] And after about 10 minutes of that discussion, Ed put his hand up and said, okay, I've heard

[00:53:04] enough.

[00:53:06] Now here's my question.

[00:53:09] What should we do for the people of this city?

[00:53:14] What is in their best interests?

[00:53:18] It was an example of leading with love that I will never forget.

[00:53:25] And lately, I find myself thinking a lot about love.

[00:53:29] I am so blessed to be surrounded by the love of my family and phenomenal friends like each

[00:53:37] of you every single day.

[00:53:41] So when you leave here today, go out and leave with love.

[00:53:48] Oh, and don't forget to vote.

[00:53:51] It's going to be another wrap for another edition of Mike's on Mike.

[00:53:54] Thank you all very much for joining us.

[00:53:56] Hope you've enjoyed the memories that we brought up on the program.

[00:53:59] It was fun for us to do it, and we hope you enjoyed it as well.

[00:54:02] Next week, I want to make sure you understand, we normally tape on Tuesdays, and they go up

[00:54:08] the following Monday.

[00:54:09] Next week, because Tuesday is November the 5th, Election Day, we're actually going to record

[00:54:14] the broadcast on the 6th, on November 6th.

[00:54:18] And our special guest for that program is going to again be Dr. Michael Bender from the University

[00:54:23] of North Florida, from the Public Opinion Research Lab.

[00:54:27] We're going to compare what his vote tallies had been in the polling preceding the election,

[00:54:33] and then what the results will be afterwards.

[00:54:35] So that should be very good.

[00:54:36] Again, our thanks to Alan Bliss and the folks at the History Center and our wonderful sponsors

[00:54:41] who have donated to keep the lights on and the cameras rolling.

[00:54:44] And to our producer, Scott Westerman, thank you so much for being Ringmaster this week.

[00:54:48] We enjoyed it all very well.

[00:54:49] Thank you, Scott.

[00:54:50] My pleasure, Scott.

[00:54:51] All right.

[00:54:52] Catch us on your favorite podcast platform, and we'll see you soon.

[00:54:55] Bye-bye.

[00:54:56] Mike's on Mike with Mike Tolbert, Mike Hightower, and Mike Miller can be found on your favorite

[00:55:01] podcasting platform, Facebook, and YouTube.

[00:55:05] Visit the website at Mike'sOnMike.com.

[00:55:08] Join us next time for more conversation with Mike's on Mike.