DEAN BECKER: (00:00)
Hi friends. Welcome to this edition of cultural baggage. I am Dean Becker, the Reverend most high. And do we have an interesting and very diverse show for you today? The former mayor of Galveston, Texas, he's a Democrat Joe Jaworski. He's the grandson of a legendary Watergate special prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. And he's now running for attorney general for the state of Texas. I want to welcome to welcome him to the show Hi Joe.

JOE JAWORSKI: (00:29)
Hey Dean Becker. How you doing, man? Thanks for getting me on the show.

DEAN BECKER: (00:32)
I, I appreciate it now. Um, you have your eyes on the incumbent, uh, Ken, uh, Paxton, current attorney general. He's a Republican and he's under indictment on securities fraud charges for well, hell seven or eight years now. I see. And he recently, uh, was endorsed by president Trump. Who is this man Paxton. And why are you challenging him?

JOE JAWORSKI: (00:59)
Right. Uh, you know, I don't think of Ken Paxton as a Republican. Uh, I've got a lot of Republican friends and Ken Paxton doesn't remind me of any of them. Uh, Ken Paxton is, uh, somehow, uh, found his way falling up in Texas government from the state house to the state Senate, to the attorney General's office. One of the most important executive offices in the great state of Texas 20 years. This guy has been, uh, feeding at the public trough and I don't have a problem per se, Dean with career politicians, as long as they distinguish themselves as public servants. Uh, Ken Paxton has not, he has self-served continues to self-serve. Um, and you know, so what I would say, Ken Paxton is a culture war. Idealogue posing as a lawyer occupying the Texas attorney General's office and it's time for him to go. Here's the best part. Uh, I'm not alone in that analysis. Uh, even the Texas Republican GOP leadership agrees.

DEAN BECKER: (02:06)
Well, I, I would agree with that now, recently, this guy can Paxton, uh, he got a bodily part caught in a ringer. I'm just going to say it that way. And, uh, just last week he had his team declare him, uh, as pure as the driven snow. Um, they cleared him self a fraud, which to me sounds a lot like a fraudulent, uh, um, tactic in itself. Uh, your response there.

JOE JAWORSKI: (02:29)
Absolutely. Uh, you know, look, uh, when people are in public office, especially high public office, like the office of Texas attorney general allegations will be made. Uh, there always seems to be an opponent, uh, slinging, an allegation, slinging mud. There's a right way to clear the air. Um, you know, hire a retired Supreme court justice, uh, appoint an independent commission, uh, you know, you know, be transparent as possible. What you don't do is get your salaried staff, uh, to waste more taxpayer money, writing a self-congratulatory exoneration document, and then say it's anonymous. Like not actually put any other names on it. I mean, I dare say Dean, the act of self exonerating itself is criminal. The way he's done it.

DEAN BECKER: (03:21)
Yeah. It seemed, uh, as I said, kind of fraudulent in itself, just, I don't know, it's not, not who supposedly you don't get to be your own judge and jury,

JOE JAWORSKI: (03:30)
Just to put a fine point on it. I mean, let's, let's remember the roster of exposure. I mean, we've you referred to the securities fraud indictment, which you're right is going on at six year, uh, the entirety of his occupancy of the office of attorney general. He's also being investigated, uh, pursuant to two complaints by the Texas state bar. Um, he's under active FBI investigation for abuse of office and bribery, uh, which was all proven up, uh, in the civil lawsuit that he's facing or that the office is facing and the whistleblower lawsuit. So, so that's what that document was intended to respond to was the allegations of abuse of office and fraud. And I'll just tell you again, to restate what I said, having an anonymous byline, uh, on a 500 page document that was clearly done by your staff, that reports to you is itself abuse of office.

DEAN BECKER: (04:31)
Yeah. I agree with you, sir. Now, you know, this is a, a show for 20 years, we've been talking drug war and there's lots of other things to talk about here in the state of Texas, certainly, but a recent story in the San Antonio current was a references, your stance towards marijuana, that the Hey it's time to get use some common sense, move towards a regulation or legalization, um, fill in the blanks there for us, would you?

JOE JAWORSKI: (04:55)
Oh, yes, I will. So, you know, look, I'm, I'm just who I am. I'm Joe Jaworski, but, um, um, you know, I've been a former mayor and I've served on the city council in Galveston before then. So, uh, I've been a civil lawyer for 30 years licensed by the Texas Supreme court. I'll confess. My background is not so much criminal law. My life experience is not one of suffering at the hands of the system, but as someone who wishes to lead with a servant's heart, I'm looking at opportunities for fundamental change. That makes sense. That's good news for everyone that doesn't appoint winners and losers. More importantly, something that could correct the record. If you will now running for Texas attorney general, let's all acknowledge. I can't pass laws by myself, but as I'm running statewide name for a constitutional statewide executive office, I have an obligation, really a responsibility and opportunity to lead from the stump.

JOE JAWORSKI: (06:00)
And if I get elected, I will clearly be able to say, you know, folks that must've been something I said, now put me in front of the legislature as the first witness, John Hill did this in 1972, the great attorney general, when he asked the rhetorical question, why isn't there a civil cause of action for fraud where consumers can Sue when they get ripped off. And if they win, they get their attorney's fees. Believe it or not, that did not exist. But after he won election in 72, he was the first witness in 73 for the legislature. And Wila the deceptive trade practices act was born. What is something whose time has come that I can advocate for now when the election in a year, and then be the first witness legalization of cannabis, legalization of cannabis. That's something whose time has come in, Texas and here are the reasons may I enumerate them, please do all right.

JOE JAWORSKI: (06:52)
Certainly number one, the, the economic reason. I mean, if we, um, if we tax, uh, personal use cannabis at the moderate Colorado rate, let's, let's, don't use the California rate, which is so high that it gives life to the black market. Right? Okay. Let, let's do it at the Colorado, right? Which has proven very effective. We will generate $1.1 billion. That's a conservative estimate. Dean, every biennium. Now that's real money for education, for infrastructure, for mental health, first responders to replace police with guns at those critical moments. When you don't need a gun, you need a counselor. All right. Now jobs. I mean, look, let's let's remember it's the economy, um, 30,000 direct jobs. I'm not talking about temporary construction jobs. I'm talking about industry jobs, farming, the land, uh, Manning and retailing. Uh, the dispensary's now here's also an important reason. We have a lot of veterans.

JOE JAWORSKI: (07:53)
We have a lot of military contractors who call Texas home. We've got people with PTSD and chronic pain and other illnesses that mother nature provided a remedy for right now. All they have is pills, pills, pills, pills. Why don't we finally find a winning war against addiction by legalizing cannabis. This is something that will be such a palliative, such a wellness alternative, but here's the real reason being, this is important to me. This is what I'm talking about. When I say from my life experience, how can we achieve a win? How about social and criminal justice reform by legalizing personal use cannabis Dean, I asked you how much longer is Texas going to continue to incarcerate young men and women, and to be fair, usually young men and women of color and putting them in a prison, oftentimes private prisons. So someone can make a profit off their incarceration for possessing a flower that grows out of the ground. Now that is a sick society. And I don't think most Texans want to be part of

DEAN BECKER: (08:55)
Now. Can I interrupt you to just say one thing here, following the following the, the civil war here in these United States, there came about a policy, especially in the south where if I'm a black man were caught in any kind of minor crime that he could be, uh, in essence rented or held by a prison and put to work on a private farm. And they would charge that farmer for that prisoners labor. It is, it is, it's just a continuation of this racist aspect of, um, in, in, in the drug war as well. It's just a means to subjugate a certain group because we can, right, right.

JOE JAWORSKI: (09:38)
I mean, it winds up being servitude to some extent, and that is, you know, we've gone way beyond that and we should continue to call it out for what it is, you know? And, and the best part of this is, is that when we finally remove this wasteful petty prosecution from the books, not only will we achieve social and criminal justice reform, but I mean, I'm going to flip this on its head, Dane, guess what? We'll fund the police. Yeah. Fund the police because we will save $300 million a year for police and prosecutors to fight real crime, to fight real crime. So not only do we make money on the cash crop for rural Texans, not only do we make money in an economy that can go to government and good government at that, but we can save money. And, uh, I think, uh, most Texans understand this and are, and are supportive of it.

DEAN BECKER: (10:29)
Well, I, I can give you a correlation, uh, here in Harris county, Houston, Texas, uh, the da, the sheriff, and, uh, the police chief all decided they were going to put forward what they call the misdemeanor marijuana diversion program, that program, they diminished the number of arrests from well, thousands down to a few. And the da tells me that she saves $23 million a year just here in Harris county by lowering that bar. So to speak what you, what you're bringing forward. Your thought there it's, it's it's money in the bank. It's proven that Colorado, California have shown those tax dollars. They accrue, they build up in that bank account. Um, now I told you, I'm not going to pin you down. And I, I'm just going to mention these thoughts. I work with a group here in town, some doctors and nurses and others who hand out needles, et cetera.

DEAN BECKER: (11:23)
And, and they're, they're trying to bring forward the idea of needle exchange and have a safe consumption site because, uh, Canada has done this for well over a decade. Now they save lives by having a safe facility with medical authorities on hand. Now I'm not asking you to, I'm just saying, these are things that need to be addressed here in Texas. We have, and, and I'm, I'm, I'm trying to be kind. We have a bunch of ignorant sob that just spout a year old stuff in our legislature. And I'm asking you if you get to be attorney general, and there's a hearing a conference, let me come talk at that conference because there's no one who can defend the drug war, not from any angle. And, um, I'll just leave it there. I, I'm not pinning you down. I'm just throwing this stuff your way. And, and, uh, Texas politics. It just seems headed for the 19th century in my eyes. There's the corrupt and devious re-districting has already given the Republicans a near lock on a majority. And the forthcoming realignment may go even further. What can an attorney general do to maintain balance align th the scale of justice? Yep.

JOE JAWORSKI: (12:36)
Oh, well, it's, it's, there's so many things you can do. And I think we start with the notion that the attorney general of the state of Texas is not the governor's lawyer, uh, not the legislature's lawyer. Um, although you will work with them and sometimes give them legal advice upon request, but no, you are the people's lawyer. That is your job. You are a constitutional statewide executive hired by the people. And what I tell folks when I'm on stump is your attorney has arrived finally. So that notion, uh, compels me to then say, I'm voting one of the most important aspects of being an American. I mean, it's why we left England. You know, the king was abusing his powers and we said, we're voting with our feet. And then there was a revolution. The whole idea was democracy was born. So, you know, before we even get to the first amendment or the, you know, anything within the bill of rights, the vote, uh, precedes all of that.

JOE JAWORSKI: (13:33)
So to me, it's more important than gun ownership. It's more important, uh, you know, in its ranking, uh, of freedom of speech, it is all part and parcel of being an American. I believe in the bill of rights. I also believe in voting. So why is it so easy? And I, I support this, you know, to some extent, why is it so easy to get a gun you can go in and be done in 30 minutes, but you have to register 30 days before an election. If you even dare to have your voice heard. I mean, if someone tried to stymie your communication with your deity with God, you know, you you'd fight a war over it. I mean, it happens all the time. I mean, you will not be suppressed from reaching out to your God, but when it comes to us, reaching out to our government, there's just all these bells and whistles and manacles and cufflinks and handcuffs and everything that, that get in the way. Now, let me just say, the Texas attorney general can play a major part in creating voter access. So what I tell people when I'm out and about in rural and urban Texas, is it will be my honor upon taking the oath to take Ken Paxton's criminal voter fraud division, and turn it into general Jaworski's voter division.

DEAN BECKER: (14:52)
Uh, I like hearing that now, again, folks, we're speaking with Mr. Joe Jaworski, he's a former mayor of Galveston. He's now running for attorney general for the state of Texas. Now, Joe, I th this current legislative session, the one that just got restarted or however he wanted after the Democrats came back from DC. Uh, apparently they're going to pass these laws, apparently it's going to happen. But as my hope, I guess maybe a little understanding that the feds may do something about this, that, uh, I don't know this, this may be overturned, but they want to police the polls curtail the days, hours, locations, ability to write in and more, um, look, I'm 72. I can hardly write legibly anymore. And just the other day, I had to redo another form to vote by mail again, because that's just a requirement. And I guess my, my, my question to you, sir, is it's just more cumbersome and, and than it ever needed to be,

JOE JAWORSKI: (15:52)
Right? I mean, there, there are two words, uh, that should go together voting and easy. Uh, it should be very easy to vote this whole notion that, well, we hear there's fraud. And so we need to shut it down. I mean, that is a complete, um, uh, inaccuracy and, and, you know, I will use driving on the freeway, uh, as an analogy. I mean, you know, we hear there are people who speed. We see it. Well, you know what, uh, the Texas department of transportation and local authorities know how to respond. We have laws, speed limits. We have enforcement policemen, and we have sentencing and, and consequences. Same thing with voting. You know, first off we all know voting fraud is a sort of misnomer. It's election fraud. I mean, Dean voting fraud. I object to the phrase in and of itself. They're calling you a fraud.

JOE JAWORSKI: (16:43)
They're calling me a fraud. I'm sorry. I don't know anyone who's even attempted to vote illegally to me. It's, it's literally like something that lives out in the woods that no one has ever seen. But they've heard about unlike speeders, which we know happen all the time, but what the government doesn't do is they say, Hey, we hear they're speeders, let's limit interstate 10 or whatever your freeway is to one lane. And everyone goes 20 miles an hour because we hear their speeders. Well, that's what they're doing to our vote. Let's shut it down. Let's make it hard. Your ID doesn't work and you have to stand in the hot sun and we're going to have one drop box per county, et cetera, et cetera. My view is Harris county got it, right. 24 hour voting drive through voting a ballot by mail. All these things make it easier for Dean Becker, Jojo, Gorski, and every other of the 30 million Texans to vote. And that's what we ought to do because when the voice of the population is heard, you get better government. Of course, when you're in power, you don't want to hear that because they've been staying there thanks to gerrymandering and voter restriction. And they like to it that way

DEAN BECKER: (17:50)
Now that's, you know, um, I've been thinking about moving to Oklahoma so you can grow weed legally up there now, you know, uh, I, I like weed. I mean, I'll be honest. I've done every drug there is, but, you know, I'm lucky I made it through it and, uh, weeds it for me. I haven't had a drink of alcohol in 35 years. I think the state should be happy about that. I haven't had one episode of drunk driving in 35 years now, as we're wrapping this up, I want to say this Joe, that, you know, you strike me as a guy with some logic, some common sense, some ability to see things as they are, and to say, to tell us exactly what you see, because we have been fooled by devious politicians in this state for way too long. And, and w we're starting to look like a third world. I won't say country, but we're big enough, uh, compared to many of the other states. And, um, I'll just say this, that, um, you know, I'll just be honest, you know, reporters are supposed to be middle of the road, you know, not take any sides, but I can't, I can't vote for Paxton. I'll be honest with you. I mean, the man strikes me as a, I can't use the word on here. Anyway, women's meeting with Mr. Joe Jaworski, Joe closing thoughts website you might want to share.

JOE JAWORSKI: (19:10)
Absolutely, certainly. Well, thank you so much, Dean. What a great opportunity to be heard by your listeners. Uh, my website has the whole story and it's got all our social media links and it's got many things I've written really easy to remember Jaworski for texas.com. And I'm proud to tell you that it's four F O R not like the little numeral four. Okay. Um, Jaworski for texas.com. And you know, I like the fact that my last name, uh, will remind many, uh, mature, uh, listeners and, and even young students of history of Leon Jaworski. My grandfather, who, um, was asked to serve his country at a great moment of constitutional crisis, the water date, um, uh, dilemma, but Watergate tragedy really, uh, it was, uh, an awakening in American politics. And I don't know that we've ever been the same sense, but what Leon did is he left his very comfortable lifestyle and decided to adopt a servant's heart.

JOE JAWORSKI: (20:12)
And within 10 months had confronted the criminal enterprise known as the Nixon administration. Uh, he was heartbroken when he found out that Nixon himself was up to his eyeballs. He didn't think Nixon was guilty of anything. When he took the job, he just thought he was getting poor advice. Several months later, when he heard the first damning tapes, my God, he knew what to do. And it was my grandfather who, after Nixon resigned, um, uh, and was offered a large honorarium or, or advance for his Watergate book. He turned it because he could not personally profit off his service. His partners encouraged him nevertheless, to create a foundation which exists today in which I am vice chairman of the Jaworski foundation, the Leon Jaworski foundation, which every year funds to scholarships among other things at Baylor law school. I had the privilege name at a recent meet and greet in Dallas of meeting two young public servants who are now prosecutors in Dallas who were Jaworski award winners, and who had their very expensive, but appropriate legal education paid for. So they could serve the public. That is what I'm talking about. A servant's heart, not a self-serving heart.

DEAN BECKER: (21:30)
Uh, I got a little add on, I'm going to do Ken, can I share it with you a little bit? Oh, please. It's a story that broke out of the Washington post or, uh, I guess it wasn't just a story, not an editorial, but right. The title of it was surprised panic and fateful choices. The day America lost its longest war. And here was my letter to the editor, which apparently is not going to get printed wrong. The day America lost its longest war was December 17th, 1914, with the passage of the Harrison narcotics act. The first war declared for eternity. Since that point in time, more than a million us citizens have died of accidental drug overdose, us policy ensures that quote controlled substances in quote have absolutely no control. And that oversight is given over to untrained, chemists and street corner vendors. Since the Harrison act a DEA and every police force in America has invested well over a trillion dollars in trying to stop the flow of drugs.

DEAN BECKER: (22:32)
After more than a century of trying to stop the flow of drugs, we have ensured that the Taliban ISIS rebel forces in Columbia, Mexico, and central America and thousands of us gangs have gathered in excess of $10 trillion in drug profits. These drug dollars now allow them to finance human smuggling efforts, gun running, and worldwide political corruption. I appreciate the editors reach for positives in our leaving and in recognizing our failures in Afghanistan, but to overlook the horrors of the drug war it's longevity, it's horrible impact. It's proven folly is a great disservice to reality, given the horrible and obvious consequences of waging America's everlasting. And in fact, worldwide war on drugs. I asked when will the media stand in unison to declare this to be absolute madness? Just wondering we're up to 106 years now for America's actual longest war and still counting.

JOE JAWORSKI: (23:32)
I love it. Nice. Yeah, no. I mean, uh, that people need to know that history. Yeah. Yeah. And, and, and, and everyone needs to be reminded that these, you know, we think of terrorists, uh, you know, these people as holding guns and just, you know, having an ideology well, you know, it costs money to be a terrorist. Okay. Especially when you're part of an organization, ISIS Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the cartel in Mexico, they're all terrorists and, you know, drugs, uh, poppies over there and marijuana and cocaine and fentanyl over here. I mean, it's, people need to be reminded. Yeah. They like it when it's illegal.

DEAN BECKER: (24:10)
Again, I want to thank Joe Jaworski and yeah, it's the drug Lords dream, wet dream fulfilled forever. Um, past few weeks, we've been listening to the claiming the moral high ground video. And we left out the district attorney of Houston Harris county, DA, who agrees very much with Joe Jaworski.

DEAN BECKER: (24:31)
Would It make your job easier if we decide to once again, judge people by their actions like we used to do before this prohibition, rather than by their possession of a pill or a powder or the cigarettes they smoke.?

KIM OGG DISTRICT ATTORNEYr 4: (24:44)
Of course, yes. I've often said that I think where our community and law enforcement became so divided other than along racial lines, which is certainly was, was when Nixon declared war on the American people and called it a drug war. I think that communities of color were clearly overpoliced. We know that young people were targeted, uh, and we know that this bred an enormous organized crime problem that we haven't suppressed yet. And so, um, I think, uh, you know, I think that the divide other than the racial divide, which was there really began back in 72, and that it's important with the living in a time of limited government resources that we take our focus and we put it on the violent actions of people and we judge those actions.

DEAN BECKER: (25:49)
This one, I know the answer to it's it's, it's why I do what I do is to challenge the logic of this drug war. And I want to ask this question of the drugs are himself of the U S attorney general of Dan Patrick of, of governor Abbott. Any of them, what is the benefit of Trump?

KIM OGG DISTRICT ATTORNEYr 4: (26:10)
Well, I look forward to their answers.

DEAN BECKER: (26:13)
Kim, thank you so much.

KIM OGG DISTRICT ATTORNEYr 4: (26:16)
My pleasure, Dean, better. Always. Good to see you. Thanks for remaining the, uh, Maverick on the cutting edge that you have always been

DEAN BECKER: (26:26)
The following message. Courtesy of K F O R out of Oklahoma is for my red hatted friends. The following comes to us, courtesy of K F O R out of Oklahoma.

KFOR NEWS: (26:39)
It can be dangerous. Dr. Jason, same patients packing Southeastern Oklahoma emergency rooms, taking high doses, believing false claims by COVID-19. The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims for having hard times, getting to facilities where they could get definitive care be treated says is now backing up small town, ambulance systems all over their ambulances are stuck at the hospital, waiting for a bed to open so that they can take the patient and they don't have any that's it. But if there's no ambulance to come to the call, his patients aren't even afraid of ivermectin. Now they're going to their local app stores ignoring the warning signs and figuring out a dosage themselves. So some people taking inappropriate doses have actually put themselves in the worst conditions. And it's a. COVID the scariest one that I've heard of and seen is people coming in with vision loss, even the manufacturer saying there's no scientific or meaningful evidence that is effective against the virus, but many store shelves still empty. You have to ask yourself if I take this medicine, what am I going to do? If something bad happens, what's your next step? What's your backup plan?

DEAN BECKER: (28:02)
You know, sadly, it seems that after more than a hundred years, America has gone blind to the harms of the drug war. More than a million overdose deaths, more than 50 million people thrown in cages. And yet drugs are cheaper and deadlier than ever before. And the cost just keeps going up for the DEA and CIA and all the cops patrolling our streets, pretending they're making a difference. Water, sham, water, scam, water, perpetration of fraud on you. Before we go, I want to send out this request, this plea, this invitation for any elected official to come on this show and defend this drug war. I am Dean@drugtruth.net. Once again, I remind you because of this prohibition, you don't know what's in that bag. I urge you, please be careful.