PM Show Hr 2 | Guest Jerry Thompson on His Lawsuit Killing Houston's Race Based Contracting Programs

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Thanks for your support of our podcast. Thanks for telling people about it. Thanks for your messages to me through our website, Michaelberry Show.com. I read every one of them. We're here because you're here because you support what we do and you support our sponsors. You know, we call them sponsors because they're not advertisers. There's people who believe in what we do. They want the kind of country that we want. When Ray Breyer has reached out The Pipeyard Inc. He buys and sells pipe on a big level. I said, look, I don't know if we can move any pipe for you, get you some pipe to buy or find you people to buy your pipe. He said, I don't care. I believe in what you do. Well, since then, we've been able to find him pipelines across several states. Listeners, one listener in Georgia called in and said, I'm a Michael Bari Weiss Show listener. You're the pipe guy. I'm calling you. And it was a huge deal. So people that need to buy and sell pipe. Huge amounts of pipe, call Ray Breyers now. 409-78-pipe. He supports our show, and you do too, and I thank you for that. Pipeyard, Inc. 409-78, pipe. Turns out, at least according to my urologist, that all that talk about taking testosterone is bad for your prostate. That was based on one study that's been debunked, but you know what? Don't trust me. Do your own reading. Cross-reference. Learn more. Go to fixmylowtie.com. That's synergenics. That's who I use for my testosterone replacement. It makes me energetic. It makes me happy. I lost some belly fat out of it, which was really nice. And yes, it does that too. Fixmylote.com. Whether you write a check every month or it's on direct deposit or auto pay, you write a check to your insurance company for a reason. You could have spent that money on anything else. You made a good decision to hedge against bad things happen. And then it did. Hurricane, windstorm damage, hail damage, fire, smoke, water damage. And that insurance company, 10 states away, denied your claim, and they should not have, and you know it. Go to claimdenied.com. It's the Chad T. Wilson Law firm, and they will fight for you. Claimdenied.com. 713-2-2-6,000. 713-2-2-6,000. It's that time, time, time. Lock and load.

show is on the air you know political news can be enough to depress you if you don't keep a good head on your shoulders and a good perspective but i like i like to also point out the good news because there's a lot of it out there and focus on it in your own life But here is one. A teenager lifeguard in Santa Cruz, California, pulled a 10-year-old boy from a rough surf. And now the video, which is pretty darned impressive. It's a dramatic rescue. This person has been invited to the White House. The family of the 16-year-old lifeguard writer William says they're trying to shield him from the national attention because he just wants to be a kid and work hard this summer and serve and protect his community. You know, I really think that they're scared that if they go to the White House... then they'll be threatened, which means that the left, what the left is doing is working. Used to an invitation to the people's palace was a great honor. And that was true, whether it was a Democrat or a Republican, but Democrats changed that. They started threatening people, outing people, shaming people, doxing people. If you won an event, if you did something great, and you were to be honored by the president they hate, They came after you viciously. And it's unfortunate if the kid doesn't go to the White House. And I don't know if he will or won't. It's the kind of thing that a lot of other people will see that and say, do the right thing. Help another person. Be kind. It's bigger than this kid. So I hope he does. All right, NBC Bay Area with the story. It's the buzz around town and obviously all the hype around the invite to the White House. So that's pretty exciting. Tonight, the heroic rescue that puts Santa Cruz in the national spotlight is now drawing praise from the President of the United States. This video captured Saturday at Sea Bright State Beach has been viewed millions of times. It shows a teenage lifeguard racing into the surf to save a boy struggling in the powerful waves. The president today called. called the lifeguard a heroic young man, saying he plans to invite him, his family, and possibly the boy he rescued to the White House to receive a high civilian honor. He did a great job and he definitely deserves to be commended and recognized. The lifeguard works for California State Parks where officials say this is exactly what their training prepares them to do. It's great to see our lifeguards out there working. This is what we train them to do. The rescue came during an extremely busy weekend for lifeguards with both California State Parks and the Santa Cruz Fire Department. We had that combination of great weather, large crowds, a weekend day, and that really large swell. If you saw the video, you saw how many waves that lifeguard had to duck under before there was enough of a lull for him to be able to get them the rest of the way up the beach. From Friday through Sunday, the Santa Cruz Fire Department says lifeguards rescued 29 people from city beaches. Officials say the viral video is also an important reminder to respect the ocean.

National Weather Service has a beach hazard statement in effect, warning of an increased risk of sneaker waves and strong rip currents. We're expecting this swell to continue through into the end of the week and maybe the beginning of the weekend. The weather is supposed to hold, so it's going to be warm, it's going to be sunny, and we're going to see those waves still coming through. It's a great story. I love this story. I love it so much. Pivot, new story. Sometimes people get confused, and they think I'm still talking about the same thing. So, you know, when they do outtakes at the end of a movie, they clap the little deal, and that tells you it's a new scene. So, pivot, new story. eBay, I don't know if you've ever, this story's been working its way through the courts for a little while. And it's really, really bad PR for eBay. This is hush money to please stop talking about what we did to you. eBay has agreed to pay almost $50 million in a settlement after the company, the company officials officially sought revenge against a couple. for their newsletter coverage of eBay by sending them live spiders, cockroaches, a bloody pig mask, and threats. Employees at eBay were previously charged because it's taken a while for eBay to finally agree to how much they're going to give. with stalking, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. It's one of those stories that you wouldn't believe it happened until you find out that it did. Now, was the CEO or the chairman doing that? No, but corporate employees were. And this is why I tell people, if you view human beings as fungible, You view human beings as just slot one here and slot one there and doesn't really matter. It does matter because they are acting under the color of being the company. Hire good people with good values. Make clear what those values are. Fire people who violate those values, even if they're a woman, even if they're old, even if they're not white. Otherwise, this is going to cost them a hell of a lot more than $50 million in bad PR. The story from CBS Boston. So hard along the way. that it's kind of hard to believe that it's now over, but we're very happy about it. That allows us to hopefully live the rest of our lives in peace.

And these people keep doing it. And, well, okay, let's start with. Here's the story from Fox 4 and DFW, which is Dallas-Fort Worth. Your investigators today tell me that they think because the first victim had the courage to come forward. They think other victims told their parents about the alleged sex abuse at the hands of now former Plano ISD teacher. Paul Campbell. Now, the first report came into police when the first victim told her parents on the 4th of July. This stems back to this past school year. They're in Plano, IAC in a second grade class. According to the child, he allegedly, Campbell allegedly touched her private area while she stood at his desk. This child, a second victim, confirmed the similar story. About a week later, a third victim in the same class described a similar incident. After the case received media attention, a fourth student who had been in Campbell's class two years ago, told investigators she was, quote, sitting on his lab when he allegedly touched her inappropriately. Seeing that he's been an educator in Plano alone for 28 years, we recognize that being a victim is a very difficult thing to be and that have to undergo. And coming forth is even harder. But we want any witness that may have witnessed anything this person have done or been a victim to something this person has done to feel the courage to come forward. We know it's tough. They're not alone. And we have investigators that some of the best in the country that will help them. navigate these waters as we try and determine what all had taken place. Plano ISD today called the allegations, quote, reprehensible, and Campbell is no longer employed with the district. At last check, investigators say he is still being housed at the Collin County Joe. So the question is, what can we do to make this stop? And what is the proper response? Now, at least every man, other than James Talarico, at least every man and most women would say, tell you what, won't you have him waiting in a room and I'll go in and you give me two minutes and I'll leave and trust me that's all the punishment he's going to need. because it brings out such rage in us. And the rage is about our love of our children and our intense protection of innocence. And what we witness in a case like this can be, it doesn't have to be, but it can be a death of innocence. I think it is a responsibility of parents and professionals around a child to teach them that if you're riding on a bicycle at a high rate of speed, which kids do, and the tire blows and you crash into a wall and you shatter your arm and you're never going to use that again, that doesn't mean that you should never get on a bicycle again.

If we're riding along in the car and we blow out a tire and we have a terrible accident and you're injured for life, it doesn't mean you shouldn't ride in a car again. We're going to overcome that awful thing. We're going to find joy in life. Don't revel in it. Don't wallow in it. We're going to move beyond it and we're going to have a very, very productive life because you have your whole life ahead of you. And I think that's the approach we should take. At the same time, this individual should be punished and punished so severely that anyone who sees that and has even the slightest urge would say, I don't want that to happen to me. Now, for an individual to have urges like that, I don't know what percentage of, we'll start with men. I think it's way more common in men. I don't know what percentage of men want to have some sort of sexual activity with a little girl or a little boy. I don't know that number. But I do know this. I do know that every man is aware that this is a socially unacceptable thing. We've always maintained that. But here's what worries me. The left, the Democrats, yes, this is political because it matters. The left, the Democrats, have attempted to make this behavior normalized. You think I'm just being political? They've said so. They've called it child love. They've tried to decriminalize it. Why do we criminalize it? Why do we criminalize anything? We criminalize things to say, we will not tolerate that in our society. If you engage in that behavior, there will be a significant punishment. Rational people who think with the big head will say, I don't want that punishment. If I'm finding myself succumbing to a desire to do, rob a store, take someone's money, kill someone because I'm angry, touch a child. I don't want the social exclusion. I don't want to be ostracized. I don't want to be punished. I don't want to be persona non grata. I don't want to lose everything I have. The Democrats don't want that to be the case. They want to normalize it as if it's just a thing that some people do. Some people like chocolate, some like vanilla. Some people like steak. Some people like port. Whatever that might be. These things matter to our lives because a child who is forced, who is subjected to this sort of behavior. If you're not careful, that child can be scarred for life. And that is a thought that I cannot tolerate. So, yeah, it matters. You've got the Michael Bari Weiss Show. You have reached the Michael Bari Weiss Show podcast, and we're honored to have you here.

Just a quick note, and we'll get right into it. You can always reach me through our website, Michael Bari Weiss Show.com. You can send me an email directly, and I read them all. You can buy our show merch while you're there. You can follow our daily blast. I'm on Twitter, Facebook, and not as active on Instagram, but do have an account there. Do love to hear from you. And if you like the show, just tell one person, hey, I like that Michael Bari Weiss podcast. It's good stuff. And I want to say thanks to The Pipeyard, Inc., our sponsor, and my friend, Ray Breyers, he's a good buddy. They buy and sell pipe all day long. Entire pipelines. You've got a facility that you're shutting down. Whatever the reason that you have pipe to buy or sell, my buddy, Ray, it's amazing to watch you. He'll come over to the house to have drinks, and he'll be working the cell phone in the middle of a conversation. I ain't mad. He's making it happen. The Pipeyard Inc. Pipe.org.org.com. 409.78. pipe. Turns out, at least according to my urologist, that all that talk about taking testosterone is bad for your prostate. That was based on one study that's been debunked. But you know what? Don't trust me. Do your own reading. Cross-reference. Learn more. Go to fixmylowtie.com. That's synergenics. That's who I use for my testosterone replacement. It makes me energetic. It makes me happy. I lost some belly fat out of it, which was really nice. And yes, it does that too. Fixmylote.com. Whether you write a check every month or it's on direct deposit or auto pay, you write a check to your insurance company for a reason. You could have spent that money on anything else. You made a good decision to hedge against bad things happen. And then it did. Hurricane, windstorm damage, hail damage, fire, smoke, water damage. And that insurance company, 10 states away, denied your claim, and they should not have, and you know it. Go to claimdenied.com. It's the Chad T. Wilson Law firm, and they will fight for you. Claimdenied.com. 713-226,000. 7132-2-2-6,000. I served on Houston City Council 25 years ago. And during three-two-year terms, we have term limits. I got to see inside how government works and why it's broken. And, you know, it is not for the reasons most people think, or most people would assume. It is because the inefficiencies are not a bug in the system. They're in the design. If your football team, let's say your favorite college or pro football team this fall, chose their quarterback on the basis that, you know what, we've never had a Puerto Rican woman lesbian in a wheelchair who's left-handed as an NFL quarterback, we need to have one. Then you would lose every game. If you had somebody who was the general manager of the team, and he said, hey, I got a nephew. I really like him. He's a good kid. He's working as a welder these days. I like to put him in his quarterback and pay him a big salary. And the nephew would kick some back to the general manager out of that. You'd lose every game. So when you start to see,

The problems built into government, city government in a major city, New York, L.A., Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, you see a lot of the problems up close in a more manageable way to understand what the problem is. The federal government is so expansive, so sprawling. It's hard to get to the core of the problems. If you look at what Elon Musk did with Doge, and how much money was being sent to crazy places for crazy things. There used to be a senator from Oklahoma, who every year would release the list of the biggest, most wasteful governmental expenditures. But on a city council, you really see what's happening. And what we've witnessed in this country of the last 50, 60 years, is you've got a lot of people who've run for office, let's say they're black. They ran for office on the basis that, vote for me, black people, I'm black. They get into office and they start rewarding other black people who are their buddies. They're frat buddy, their sorrow buddy. They start kicking contracts to them. They start demanding in the name of decency and equity and fairness and justice and making people a whole and diversity and equity. What they end up doing is cities can't run water to their people or pick up the trash or pave the streets. And that's the reason why. Jerry Thompson is our guest. Welcome to the program, sir. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me. If I haven't made clear, and I don't want to exaggerate, but if I haven't made clear, you are a hero for doing this. I mean that. Well, I appreciate that. You know, to me it was more of a victory for civil rights. Like you said, people can sit back and let these things unfold and have, especially places like the city governments and that kind of walk all over you because it's almost impossible to fight City Hall. And like in your opening statement where you were talking about years ago when they started expanding this program, it really hit home when we landed a contract with the city of Houston about five years ago. You know, they had this program, and, you know, contracts are, you know, they come and go, and you have to bid on them when they come, or you face not having the work. And, you know, we have a sizable company. It's still considered a small business in the realm of the Houston market. But, you know, my first responsibility has always been to protect my employees and to protect my company and to grow my company. So... When I saw this coming, 95% of our business is county, city, government type niche market work in and around the Houston surrounding area. I could see it coming that eventually I'd be giving up 15 to 25% of my work to other people, which seemed quite unfair.

It is unfair, and it's inefficient. It's not the basis upon which we hire people or let contracts for people to do things. So had you ever done, so you have a landscaping business. You're based in spring. Had you ever done work with the city of Houston before? In the past, you know, we've been around for about 20 years. So we have done some smaller projects with them. But I can't remember exactly what we did with them, but probably like 15, 18 years ago. Nothing major. So this was a pretty significant contract that we landed. And so it really hit home as to how the impact would eventually affect my business. So you did get a contract? You meet many years ago and then we worked. Yeah. So we had done work with them in the past before, you know, before I even was worried about, I was more worried about the business surviving at that time. Right. No, I get it. I get it. So when you brought this, this lawsuit, you saw that because you were not a minority business, because you were white. that you would be cut out of the possibility of doing work for the city of Houston, and you knew that wasn't right. I don't want to put words in your mouth. I'm trying to get to where you were when you brought this. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, the fact was that they required a, you know, 11% payout, like you said, to a minority subcontractor. When we knew that going in, and we know now that they want to change it to 19%. But I guess what I was referring to is that since that's the majority of our business, city-county work, in Midtown is another example. They started these programs as well. And, you know, those are our customers. I mean, that's my primary customer. So, you know, down the road, if I looked at it, I thought, well, eventually. All of my customers, I'm going to be given 15, 10, 15, 20% of the contract value to minority subcontractors. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind using subcontractors. As a matter of fact, we do use minority subcontractors for specific work. The reason why we do that is because we trust them. We know the quality of their work and they understand the business like we do. And so we subcontract with them because we have faith that they'll do the work properly. But you didn't subcontract with them to remain in compliance with a governmental contract requirement. You did that because that was a company that could perform a task that you needed performed, right? Or did you do it? Okay. So it wasn't a compliance issue. It was, hey, these guys are good. I'm not shocked. But it was a compliance issue in the sense that you had to be a certified minority through the city of Houston.

Oh, yeah. Their minority. You can't just be a minority. One of theirs. Yeah, you have to be their minority. Yes, under their program. I watched that happen so many times. I had minority companies that would come to me at my office at City Hall, and they would say to me that they were struggling to get certified as a minority business, and they were struggling to do it. And they would make the statement that it doesn't appear that the city wants minorities. It wants a few select people's. hand chosen. She was 12. I was 30, but anyway. It was wonderful to have you, Mr. President. The Michael Bari Weiss Show. I had a law school professor taught my contracts class. He was notoriously tough, and I'm going to brag on myself because it's a great accomplishment for me. I made an A in his course, and that's hard to do. And he told us, my first semester of law school, he said there is an old maxim in the law that if you sit on your rights, you lose them. Rights are not self-enforcing. I think a lot of people think they are. I think a lot of people believe that if they've been wronged, they just kind of look around and the universe corrects it. That's not how that works. Unfortunately, you have to press your own case. You have to litigate. You have to be the litigant. Well, this is why when people say lawyers are horrible or lawyers are terrible, it's one of the dumbest things you can say. Bad lawyers are, and there are plenty of them. But good lawyers bring about very important change. Good lawyers kept Donald Trump out of prison. Good lawyers do good work. that make your life better. So there is a group called the Pacific Legal Foundation. And we've had them on before. Aaron Wilcox was the senior attorney there who represented the Thompson's. These are non-profit, do-gooder organizations that go out and look for cases and find a person like Jerry Thompson and his wife, Teresa Thompson, or those people go to Pacific League. It can work either way. Who discovers who? And they bring these cases. Because once there's a ruling, other people can use that who are similarly situated. This is how you break down minority set-asides, which are a civil rights violation. So if you find it in your heart to write a check to the Pacific Legal Foundation today of whatever amount, just tell them, I heard Michael Barry talking to those people down in Houston.

And y'all shattered the minority set aside, the discrimination against white people. And thank you for doing that. That gets people's attention. They like that. I should also note this was in the court of Judge David Hittner, who is a very, very good judge. He was appointed to the federal bench under Ronald Reagan. I had the honor of getting to speak at a naturalization ceremony. Sorry. I had an honor of getting to, yeah, I got to speak. My wife led the pledge. And we stayed back along with Judge Hittner and shook every hand. I think there were about a thousand. of every hand of the person who had just become a United States citizen. This is how the process is supposed to work. These people were being naturalized as U.S. citizens, and that was the ceremony for it. This is what we want to happen. That's the opposite of illegal immigration. And that was at Judge Hittner's invitation, and it's a great honor of my life, and it was a great honor in my wife's life. Jerry, let me ask you, It's not easy to do what you've just done because people don't like to be challenged, right? They got a little racket going. Did anybody in your industry, did anybody at City Hall? Was there anybody who said this is a bad idea? You'll watch your back. You'll never get a contract. I wouldn't advise you to do this. It could affect you it in other municipalities or counties. No, there was no direct threat from anybody from the city. You know, we continued to do our contract as we were contracted. It was a five-year contract with renewables each year. And, you know, they would send us reports where we weren't in compliance with the minority program. And we would explain to them that we made... Several good faith efforts to get the subcontractor who signed the letter of intent with us originally on the contract to join us to meet that goal. But they had been, they were very unresponsive. And we couldn't get them to cooperate, to give us pricing when we needed it, and so forth. So, you know, being in the business that we're in, we really didn't have a lot of time to wait for an answer. We just had to do the work. And so then we would get letters from the city of Houston basically telling us that we're non-compliance and, you know, that you're behind on your goal and et cetera, et cetera. And we would send them information that we've been trying, we've been trying.

And all along, though, you know, we had started the lawsuit somewhat in the beginning of the contract because I didn't like the feeling of it. I didn't think it was right in the first place. Granted, we knew going in that they had that program. But again, I'm in a business and I have, you know, 50 plus employees. that are relying on me. And when a contract comes around, you have to make decisions. There's only so many that come around at any given time. And so in a sense, we have to feed the bees to keep 50 people employed, you know, and make sure that, you know, they get their pay tax, that they, we don't lay anybody off. We've never laid anybody off in 20 years. They've always met payroll every thing. And these types of programs would start to threaten that. That's when I got frustrated, and that's when I'd read an article by Aaron Wilcox, just happenstance around that time about these programs and how they were damaging, you know, small businesses and were violating the 14th Amendment. And so I reached out, filled out a form, and told them about my situation, and they accepted the case. And that's kind of how it unfolded from there. And they accepted the case in 2023? Somewhere around that time, I guess. Did it take a lot of time for you to get them up to speed, to provide information on your business, to walk them through all that? I mean, how much time do you think you devoted to this effort? Because you did a lot of good for a lot of people you'll never meet. Yeah, I understand that. And, you know, I think this is only the tip of the iceberg of this program because, you know, it's isolated at this point. You know, and I think hopefully this thing would be able to expand through PLF's efforts to get these kinds of injunctions, you know, nationwide. And I think a lot, especially in the local market here, I think, you know, the other... municipalities and city governments, you know, are kind of put on notice that these programs violate the Constitution. So I'm hoping to see some real change, at least locally, for my local business. And, I mean, that was our initial intent anyway. But I know PLF is prepared to fight if the city decides to appeal. And I think that's good for everyone. It is good for everyone. I cannot say enough how much I respect you for what you've done and how important it is for people to stand up. I hear from people every day who will email me and say, this is wrong and this is wrong. I say, all right, let's get you in. No, no, no, no. It's for someone else. You didn't wait. You said if it is to be, it's up for me. It's up to me. Jerry and Teresa Thompson, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building. Thank you. Good night. Thanks for your support of our podcast. Thanks for telling people about it. Thanks for your messages to me through our website, Michaelberry Show.com. I read every one of them. We're here because you're here because you support what we do and you support our sponsors. You know, we call them sponsors because they're not advertisers. There's people who believe in what we do. They want the kind of country that we want.

When Ray Breyer has reached out the Pipeyard Inc, he buys and sells pipe on a big level. I said, look, I don't know if we can move any pipe for you, get you some pipe to buy or find you people to buy your pipe. He said, I don't care. I believe in what you do. Well, since then, we've been able to find him pipelines across several states. Listeners, one listener in Georgia called in and said, I'm a Michael Bari Weiss Show listener. You're the pipe guy. I'm calling you. And it was a huge deal. So people that need to buy and sell pipe. Huge amounts of pipe, call Ray Breyers now. 409-788, pipe. He supports our show, and you do too, and I thank you for that. Pipeyard, Inc. 409, 788, pipe. I'm on testosterone, and I encourage everybody else to be on testosterone. If you're below 350 on your testosterone level, a very good chance your insurance will pay for you to have it. You know why? There's a lot of studies that say it's very good for you, not just your sex life. but your energy, your strength, all sorts of good things. Do your own research. Don't trust me, but you should do your research, and you should get your blood panels checked, and they'll do all that for you at synergenics. Go to fixmylowt.com. Fix my lowtie.com. You want to proudly display your patriotism of this great country, or this great state, or both, or your alma mater. Cronbergs, flags, and flagpoles. 713-661-922. In addition to making your business stick out, it allows you to make a statement of pride in the things you are proud of. Cronberg's flags and flagpoles. 713-661-92. 713-661-92.