Matt Mahan

You have the public sector unions.

You have the oil and gas industry.

Tech has actually been late to the party.

Tech is starting to organize.

So the way that I look at the landscape in Sacramento, and I think it's largely true in Washington as well, is you have well-resourced, highly organized professional advocacy, lobbying, and political operations that essentially defend the status quo.

And you are absolutely right that the single biggest spender in Sacramento when it comes to advocacy, lobbying, and elections is organized labor, particularly public sector unions.

I don't think it's a monolith.

I have a

great relationship with our public sector unions.

Our building trades want to see the economy grow.

So many unions are very pragmatic and all of them are doing what they're supposed to be doing.

It's spineless politicians who cave to their aggressive demands who are the root cause of the problem here.

So when the teachers union organizes and says,

We don't want more accountability.

We don't want to be told to use evidence-based curriculum.

We don't want more technology in the classroom.

Whatever it is they may advocate for, presumably on behalf of, or at least what they perceive to be the interests of their members, it's our elected officials who need to step up and say, well,

for the good of the community, we're gonna push you on that.

We're not just gonna give you a pass.

We're not just gonna veto that legislation or stay quiet when we know that for what we're spending, we aren't getting what we should be.