Columbine is 25. A conversation with Monisha Henley of Everytown for Gun Safety.

In this week’s episode, Jim O’Brien and Maggie Mick host Scott Jennings, an American conservative writer and commentator. A former political director to United State Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), we dive into McConnell’s legacy as the longest serving Republican Leader in the U.S. Senate and leadership lessons passed on to mentees like Jennings.   About Scott Scott Jennings is an on-air CNN Contributor, writes columns for the Courier-Journal, the LA Times, USA Today, and CNN.com, and is an Adjunct Lecturer in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. He is a founding partner of RunSwitch Public Relations and a veteran of numerous political campaigns, including four presidential efforts. A former journalist and political operative, Scott uses his 20 plus years of experience to offer clients cutting-edge strategy and analysis, and helps craft winning messages in the most difficult communications environments. He also hosts the podcast Flyover Country with Scott Jennigs. 

In this week's episode, Jim O'Brien and Maggie Mick interview Derek Brown, Republican candidate for Attorney General in Utah. In addition to diving into the issues facing Utahans, we learn about his career in Washington, D.C., time as a state legislator in Utah, and stints in the private sector. 

This week Maggie and Jim speak with Sarah Mercer a lawyer/lobbyist who works in Colorado and who spent a lot of her session working on the recently passed (and signed!) Artificial Intelligence (AI) bill.  Sarah gives us the full breakdown.    About Sarah: Sarah Mercer ensures clients overcome challenging and entrenched legal issues by guiding clients through the complex political landscape. She combines her litigation background with her experience navigating state and local government to develop creative political and administrative solutions for complicated legal issues. In short, Sarah helps her clients efficiently achieve their goals. She’s a connector drawing on her close ties with elected officials and bureaucratic staff at all levels of local and state government to form connections and bridge relationships among diverse stakeholders.  Sarah works for Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP a lobbying and law firm with 13 offices across the western U.S. and in Washington, D.C.

Deemed “The Greatest Political Mind of Our Time” by Comedy Central, Wilson cuts through the spin and tells the truth about politics at the state-level.  Reid Wilson is the founder, chief executive, and editor in chief of Pluribus News, https://pluribusnews.com, the nation’s only independent news outlet covering state-level politics and policy. He is an expert in spotting political trends as they develop and forecasting election results long before the ballots are counted. Known for staying ahead of the news through his access to top newsmakers, Wilson is a trusted staple of the political scene. Wilson previously covered politics for The Hill and the Washington Post, and he’s the former editor-in-chief of National Journal’s The Hotline. His work has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, RealClearPolitics, Atlantic Monthly, New Republic, and other major news networks, and his expertise is frequently also sought-after by MSNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, and radio shows across the nation. He is also the Amazon best-selling author of Epidemic: Ebola and the Global Scramble to Prevent the Next Killer Outbreak.

April 20th marked the 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, which at the time was deemed the worst in America's history. In this episode, Maggie hosts Monisha Henley, senior vice president of government affairs for Everytown for Gun Safety. Everytown was formed in 2014 following Columbine, the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut and others. In this conversation, we learn more about the motivators for Monisha's work, Everytown's policy priorities and bipartisan policy successes in the past 10 years, and what's next for Everytown in its second decade.   Monisha Henley is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Everytown. Before joining Everytown, she honed her expertise at the American Nurses Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). She began her career in the United States Senate. Monisha is originally from Wilmington, DE and now resides in New York City. 

In a special Mother’s Day episode, Maggie Mick interviews Kansas Governor Laura Kelly and her eldest daughter Kathleen Kelly Daughety. The conversation focuses on both of their careers, the governor raising her daughters in Topeka - the state capital, and insights for working moms in policy and politics.   Governor Laura Kelly is the 48th governor of Kansas. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented the 18th district in the Kansas Senate from 2005 to 2019. Kelly was elected governor in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. Kathleen Kelly Daughety is the Vice President of Campaigns and Civic Engagement at Inseparable. Kathleen began her career in Kansas politics, campaigning to elect Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius twice. She continued her career with the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), Governor Jay Nixon (MO), U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (CO), Priorities USA and has held private sector posts with Liberty Media and Uber.

In their maiden episode as co-hosts, Jim O’Brien and Maggie Mick interview friend of the show, Steven Palmer, and first-time guest Paul DioGuardi. Two Partners at Forbes Tate. In addition to learning about Paul’s impressive career including time with the Democratic Governors Association as well as the Obama Administration and his work on the Affordable Care Act, we dove into a discussion on upcoming primaries and a forecast for the 2024 gubernatorial races, current characteristics of gubernatorial candidates, and the debate on the viability of state trifectas in the coming years and election cycles.   Links to Steven’s past TPL appearances:   https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-political-life/id1401504350?i=1000603590856 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-political-life/id1401504350?i=1000496060064

Maggie Mick has joined The Political Life podcast as co-host. Maggie is in the leadership group of the state and local government relations consultancy, MultiState - a PPHC firm, located in the Washington, D.C. area. The first episode of the new season will be next week with Reid Wilson from Pluribus News!! 

This week Jim welcomes Bradley Tusk back to the show to discuss his new book "Obvious in Hindsight".     Bradley Tusk is a venture capitalist, political strategist and writer. Bradley is the Founder and CEO of Tusk Ventures. Tusk Ventures is the world’s first venture capital fund to work with and invest solely in high growth startups facing political and regulatory challenges. Previously, Bradley served as campaign manager for Mike Bloomberg, as Deputy Governor of Illinois and as Communications Director for Senator Charles Schumer. Tusk Montgomery Philanthropies, Bradley’s family foundation, funds and runs campaigns in states across the U.S. to increase funding for anti-hunger programs like school breakfast and food stamp enrollment. They are also working to create mobile voting so people can vote in elections on their phones. Bradley writes a regular column for Fast Company. Bradley is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his BA and has a JD from the University of Chicago Law School. 

Matthew Guilbault is Director of Government Affairs at Corebridge Financial – a new position for Matthew since he was last on the podcast.  Matthew walks us through his job hunting experience – I think you will find it very helpful if you are looking for a job or thinking about looking for a new job.  Some interesting facts about Matthew: Matt studied to be a pilot before deciding to focus on pre-law studies at the College of St. Rose. He got his first job in politics for a State Senator after networking at the restaurant he worked at in Albany. After almost seven years working at the New York General Assembly, Matt transitioned to an in-house lobbying position. After 10 years working in-house, he worked as a contract lobbyist. Matt owns many motorcycles, and used to race them professionally.