Show #194 - Brenee Orozco Talks Law, Family, and Why She’s Running for District Court Judge

Peter Pappas: Well, so moving out of the holidays, our church does 21 days of like prayer. And so we're right in the midst of that right now. Every night, log building six o'clock for the next week. We will conclude this upcoming Sunday. And then, man, this past Sunday at church, we did our first ministry training school graduation. that we've done in probably 15, 20 years. We graduated 15 students and full calf gown, know, pomp circumstance, marching in marching out, whole nine yards. was a really, really great, just a great event. Check out the pictures on Facebook and the video reels, because they really did a great job. I think we need to make a note to our producer, Jim. He needs to go ahead and make a note and share that. Yeah. somebody needs to make a note to make a note to share that. Remind somebody to remind somebody to tell them to do right. Preparing to move out. So I attended the same I went to the government relations committee ⁓ newly elected reception. I ⁓ forgot what I did. I to Washington. No, I went to Washington. my god, I forgot I protested on the stairs on the stairs of the ⁓ Court. wow. Yes, for ⁓ keeping boys out of girls sports. That's crazy. It's crazy. That has to be an issue. It is. And I forgot that I even went. Holy smoke. It's been that long. It was the illness that made my brain hurt. Yeah. Well, you had a little bit of trouble on that trip. was a bus. Yes. took. And so what happened was, what happened was, so we took a boat. We drove up to Youngsville and we got on a bus and we rode to. Washington that was all great and then on our way home. They started pushing back the bus We're gonna meet at 2 30 now, we're gonna meet at 3 30 now We're gonna meet at 4 o'clock. So get on this bus and we start driving We're 45 minutes down the road and guess what the bus breaks down. Oh, yeah So two and a half hours later lo and behold we get another bus It takes us an hour to decide how we're going to on the side of the freeway Transfer from one bus to the next bus course because they want us to be safe Okay, so get back all comfortable whatever drive down the road another hour and a half And I hear, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, I made it from Youngsville, which is an hour and 42 minutes. I was home at 2 45. Wow. I drove not there. might be a sheriff candidate in here and I might have driven 105 miles an hour all the way home. I was so dead dog tired, but I'm not admitting to that. you didn't see it, it didn't happen. didn't happen. happen. happen. So, uh, all right. So well myself, GRC reception from the newly elected. Then I went to the builder and realtor reception on Thursday. Uh, more of our elected officials showed up there. The ones that are newly elected to city council. Uh, I, the rest was just, uh, academics, try to make some money, show some property. I will say that you did do a good job around here, throwing stuff away and cleaning stuff out. have you as a supervisor, of glaring down at me. She is taller than me. know, everybody's told me, we all know that. Yeah. Have you used it? Do you need it? No. Let's. I think I did pretty well. did well. I even said I did tell you that I was very happy. do. It's that emotional intelligence. That's why I would keep you around. I'm glad I'm good for something. Mrs. Orozco, what were you up to last week? Well, I went to work. I worked on What? You got to bills and stuff? I I thought you were campaigning people. just, you know, paid you to campaign. I on my campaign. I attended a district eight. meeting where our new city councilman brought us together and introduced us to each other. People from different neighborhoods came. ⁓ Who's your district representative? I have Sean McMillan. ⁓ great. Absolutely. And so we met people from different areas in the district and put our heads. it was an introduction. Okay. I did that and. Worked on my campaign. That's full-time job. That is a full-time job. It's a full-time job if you take it seriously. that's right. Absolutely. I have a lot of people that come up to me or will ask me, what district do I have to live in? So this morning I was at about three. And I was working on an article to address that. that, you know, and I'll work on a video for that also, because some people like to read, some people like to watch. So I'm constantly reminding them that it's not like the legislature, it's not like city council, county commissioners. You live in Cumberland County, you're registered to vote, you can develop. There's no district court, that's a jurisdictional limitation. So I was working on that. And that was some topic of discussion last week or week before, think, talking about trying to separate, when Sherri Miller was here, ⁓ what's a district court, what's spirit court? how does this impact people's lives? At what point would you be in these different courts? So I think that's, that is kind of a focus this year for me here is we want to talk about that you educate the public. Don't myself include. don't understand how everything works. understand how it in the city, but I don't know how it works with judges. Right. I prefer to not know. I don't want to know about the courts. I'm just going to keep in my lane. So let's, um, well, so let's talk about something we have seen in the last week. So our trustee, John Locke foundation gives an idea and we decided to discuss, was two rule breakers last week in North Carolina. You had about 700 teachers that walked out. Oh, wow. But you got a legislature that still hasn't passed a budget since 24, I think now because it all 25. We didn't have a budget. Now we're going into OT and, but the only people that got vilified. Were the teachers. That's right. I mean. So can they go on strike? No, it's against the law for them to actually go on strike or stop or have a work stoppage. Okay. Okay. So, but it's not against the law for the people that we've elected to represent us to go back to their districts without having done the one job that they're supposed to do, which is a budget. I I'd like to dangle their pay over that, but I think over the $13,000, a lot of them will say, I'm good. Yeah. I don't want to pass a budget. get more than 13,000. That's just their base. get different things. I'm not talking about the lobbyist money. I'm talking about the salary. know, yeah, they can, they can, they'll just survive without that extra 13. Yes. The other people get the money. So, you know, the teachers, do have free speech rights. The, the NCAE North Carolina association for educators, they are not a union. That is something that I think is a good distinction. Uh, they are a trade organization. Right. That's how they get around North Carolina law. Okay. Now the way they function is as a unit. Yeah. Yeah. now look, we have what? How many thousand teachers in North Carolina? There's almost a hundred. There's 92,000. It varies between 92,000 and a hundred thousand. So less than 1 % actually walked off the job. So were they, were they centered somewhere? I mean, was there like a specific. County that they said across the entire state. couldn't really get into it, you know, but I have a friend who's a teacher and she, ⁓ she said she did not walk out for fear of reprisal. know, I mean, if you're already on the principal's, ⁓ naughty list, know, you don't want to be leaving your class in middle of the day. God knows that they get enough trouble when you're in the room. Yeah. Yeah. You know, so, but I do, this is a. a pleading or a request, please, North Carolina legislature, let's pass a budget. No, think it is absolutely a pleading. It's not a request. It's like, look, give us some help here. We're drowning. think about the tea. So we always talk about the, you were saying the police fire and, ⁓ and teachers. think that they are the least paid. this meet? Okay. So kids, children are our future. Uh-huh. Well, that's a song, I think, whatever, but they are, they are an asset to us. They are our most precious commodity. Why are our teachers one of the lowest paid employees of the state? That's ridiculous. They should be some of the highest paid in my personal opinion. mention another song, you know, we hurt the ones we love. Yeah. Well, you know, there's got to be a song about that sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. But I also think it's that the government keeps police, fire and teachers beholden to them. And then they get used as a political damn football. whether it's Republican or Democrat, I'm going to help the teachers. Well, this year, Republican legislature did not help the teachers by not passing a budget, but they did have an increase in their insurance. So if the teacher made a hundred bucks a year, but now he's got to spend $30 instead of 20 on insurance, just lost. He just took a $10 pay cut. I mean, that's, make about it. The kids, the kids, the teachers these days, they're spending their own money to help get. crayons and all this other stuff. much of their own money and classroom expenses. Are you telling me that you as legislature, what is it that you're doing in Raleigh that you don't have time to pass the budget? Stay there. You should sleep there. You should not be able to go home until you do your job. I know that if I have a job to do, I'll stay up till all like this woman right here was up in the three o'clock in the morning doing her job. Well, that takes dedication right there. But these are our representatives. Represent us. Go. Yeah. Go, go back up there and represent us. What's the hang up with the budget as far as, mean, are they just not able to agree what, what I mean, because you can't get a clear answer. it's a frankly, I think it just comes down to partisan brinksmanship and BS on both sides. mean, you had the Republican caucus not wanting to pass it because they don't want to cave on certain things. And you have the democratic caucus holding, ⁓ what do you call it? A press conference. to talking about what I said about the teachers taking a pay cut. they're both screwing around with people's lives. And at this point they just need to move forward. They're using, what is it, the temporary, the continuing resolutions or whatever, but that only takes care of previous year's budget. So it just kind of, it's like, ⁓ standard for last year is maintained through this. No new money. Which I mean, let's face it, inflation and the cost of living these days, no new money is a big deal. Yep. Right. ⁓ So what was the other? ⁓ Unwelcome visitors. Unwelcome guests in our ⁓ primaries. ⁓ We, so North Carolina, we have an open primary process. So if you're unaffiliated, you can go and you can say, I want to, if you're unaffiliated, say I want a Republican or Democrat. Okay. So what we've got are, what was it? Six. Six, seven, actually seven ⁓ districts that people filed. were Democrats lifelong or long time, 90 days before filing, they changed their party to Republican. See, I was hoping that they saw the light and realized that the left, in 1960, if you were a Democrat back then, if you did a time machine and came back right now, you would be a Republican. Where if you were a Democrat now and you get back into the 1960s, you'd be institutionalized because you're crazy, thinking boys and girls and all of stuff. nationally. is very fresh for Laura because she went and protested last week. that's right. That's what that's about. And we will say that I had people women. don't understand if you have a child. How could you want a boy competing against a girl? It's not fair. That sounds legit. I mean, if you're like a six foot two, playing volleyball against a four foot eight young lady, you could spike the hell out of that ball. Then just agree to have coed teams. a girl team and a boy team that takes care of everybody. Cause I want everybody to compete. don't want anybody to be alienated or not to have a chance to do something. Have a coed team, a boys team and a girls team takes care of everybody. get back to the interlopers. So ⁓ let's, talk about geographically where these districts were. So ⁓ we had one up near Grant, guess, Granville County, North of Raleigh. Okay. Then there was North Raleigh above the Beltline. Then there was another one in Davidson County. Davidson, that's Charlotte, right? Yeah. Davidson, that area. Then Newton County, which is in the mountains. Southeast Charlotte. So outside of Charlotte, but southeast of the city. And then south of Asheville. Yeah. And Durham County. So some of them are Democrat. I think they're just trying to make Republicans spend money where they don't need to. I mean, look, maybe they need to be challenged. That's another thing we've had feedback to. We've had certain candidates on the show where we were told, you know, how dare they because they're running against an incumbent. Okay. Well, you don't have your name on the seat. Yeah. Right. everybody should be able to, well, actually, ⁓ at this point, if we're not able to pass a budget, unlike the look, come on, like you said, do your job. If you're not doing your job, then you should not be surprised that you're being primaried. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. As punishment. Well, I still blame. So the solutions is it we don't have good candidates or we're not recruiting anybody good. Well, it's not the GOP's job to recruit candidates. It's up to the candidates. It's DNC's job to recruit candidates. It is not up to the DNC's job. Well, I don't know. I'm not a Democrat, but I will say that traditionally the party's job is to inform voters to turn out the vote and to help ⁓ spread the word about who the viable candidates are. Now. That being said, we at the GOP cannot interfere when there's primaries, which I don't necessarily agree with. If you have a good candidate and a bad candidate, you should be able to say, Hey, this is one we're should be able to self-police and say, no, this person sucks. We don't want him. think so too. Cause I think we look ridiculous when you get not many times have we wanted to do that in the past. Yep. Yep. Well, I have and I got in trouble, but it's okay. Um, so I mentioned earlier before the show, you know, up North, up North, like Connecticut and places like that, seems to have more of a party machine. Right. You know, where if you don't go to the party first, then you won't get on the ballot. Here, any Yahoo, even a felon, as long as you disclose it, can run for office. I don't necessarily, well, anybody can run, but I don't think that the GOP or the DNC should stand behind. piss poor candidates. My personal opinion, I think that you should go before because you want to represent the Republican Party or you want to represent the Democrat Party. We as Republicans, because I am a Republican, no secret, are putting our name behind you. Right. If you're a crap candidate, I'm embarrassed. I don't. think we should have a pledge. I think you should pass. You should have a checklist done at the state level said if you don't have felonies within like I would say six or eight years. If you've served your time, then I want you to do whatever you want to do. But you agree with the party platform, not specifically, I'm going to vote this way, that way, whatever. But you agree with our platform. And you swear an oath to that, or you agree to be censured. So would that be to say that the party would have the right to determine? Who could run as a quote unquote Republican? No, you can run as a Republican, but we as the GOP are not going to have you on our slate card or we're not going to promote your material or whatever. think if you want us to participate and put our name there or whoever, if you want the party to put their name there, then here's five things you got to say you're going to Or that you agree with or whatever. You can be a Republican and run. I'm not opposed to the party saying, you can't run on our ticket because You don't have the, you know, your track record is not, I'm not opposed to that. Well, I don't, I don't want to stifle anybody's opportunity to run for anything. They could do whatever they want, but don't let the GOP have to back you or put your name on our slate or whatever. If we don't, if you haven't met this criteria, for granted, just because they check a box at board of elections. But I think anybody, you know, if you have an individual who they can run independent, you know, it's like if, if, the DNC or the GOP say, we don't want you on our ticket, then just run into Bennett. But it should be a non-personality-based checklist. You have to do A, B, C, and D because there's a lot of backbiting and personality conflicts. I think that would be good at deciding who should run it. No, no, no. That should be my job. Here's the clear standard. Take your personalities out of it. Do you meet these standards? If you do, there you go. That's it. All right. Well, I think I'm about ready for some good news. let's let's roll the intro and let's welcome back Pastor Josh. Well, greetings friends from the all American city. This is Pastor Josh. In a time when so many want to discuss, unpack, talk about all the circumstances, situations, all the negative junk, I'm here to give you some good news. Friends, are you ready for it today? This is it. Jesus loves you. He loves you. There is nothing you have done or doing or will do that will disqualify you from his There's no circumstance, there's no situation, no problem that you will face that will keep you away, keep you apart from his love. And I've got some great news for you. There's nothing you can do that's gonna surprise him. He knows every mistake you have made or making or ever will make. And guess what? He loves you. James writes in James chapter one that, you know, we're going to face trials and circumstances, but not to begrudge those trials because those trials will create patience, they'll create hope and will make you a better person. Now listen, when you're facing the challenges, the trials, the situations, it's really hard to raise your hands and say, love you Lord. And during those times, you need to know He still loves you. You may not believe in Him, you may not trust Him, you may not have hope or faith in Him, but He believes in you. Paul writing to the church at Rome says that there is nothing. that can separate you from the love of God, not height and not depth, not principalities, not powers, not things present, things in the past, things that will come. There is nothing that can separate you from the love that God has for you in Christ Jesus. So I know for many, perhaps you're joining us and you're going through a dark time, you're going through a hard time, you're going through a time when it is hard to have faith. Let me encourage you in this because faith is one of the byproducts of hope. So if we can have hope that can grow into faith and hope, hope is a byproduct of trust. And if you can have trust that will grow into hope, that hope will grow into faith, that faith will grow into action. So what can you face that will keep you from trusting God? Today, my friend, I hope that that answer is, well, nothing. Nothing will keep me from trusting God. Because why? Because why? Because why? Because I know He loves me. if everything breaks down, if mountains crash into the sea, I know He loves me. And that I can trust. And because I trust that, it brings hope. Because I have hope in that, that brings faith. And so if nothing else, friends, trust today that Jesus loves you. This is Pastor Josh, and that is your Good News. Good news indeed. you Yeah, there it is. I'm back Pastor Josh, your favorite intro. Time to turn directly to our guest. ⁓ Welcome. Thank you. Welcome. Welcome. So tell us about yourself and ⁓ where you've been, what you've been up to the last five, 10, 1500. 50 years, whatever. Go ahead. How old do think she is? didn't. That wasn't a dig on the age. looks 25. What has she been up to? So the floor is yours, man. I told my son to go to school until all of his friends, I'm 70. That looks good for us. You are on the sexiest show. I have, it's funny because people will call me, well, they'll ask what's a good time to call you. And I never answer a note number. Never. It's a good time to call you. If I can't answer, I'll call you back. I can't say what's a good time because I'm always working. And when I was in private practice, I be up at 2 3 in the morning researching and sending stuff to colleagues. We could try this. We could use this. And then they're like, look at the timestamp. Exactly. And then I do that still. Because I just love it. I love researching. love learning new things and trying new things. I told somebody that I don't believe in the box because I think outside the box. No box for me. Thank you. Thank you. And so really that's it. Spending time with my family. Spending time with my husband. I like that guy. he seems all right. I kind of support you. He's got the shirt. I like him. He gets on my last nerve sometimes and I get on his last nerve. That's part of marriage. I really like that guy. Allegedly that's what I hear about marriage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I will say that it's funny because we were talking my son had that and I said love is not a feeling it's choosing that person every day regardless of how you feel about them that day. It's choosing them. So you're lucky you choose him every day and he chooses you. Yeah, I told ⁓ my son I'm 15 year old and no, so you had him when you were 10? We have a 26 and our 15 year old that we grafted in to our family. I told him, you know, love is a burden. It's not happy all the time. Love is action. even sometimes when you don't feel like it, like you said, you do it because it's what's required. and so forth. And ⁓ that's what we do. So I work. I sometimes, because I work from home on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And then I telework on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. And then I mostly drive into Raleigh on Tuesdays and Thursdays, because that's where I work. And it's difficult on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, because I'm at home. And I like I've got to cook for my family. My husband will come home and he'll cook too. But then when I have my lunch break, I'll use my time at that point to cook for the family, get back to work, work on the campaign because it's just, I don't know, it's just what I. do. I think I've been working since I was six. It wasn't six. was five. No, I'm serious. mother, I'm a 1973 model, okay? I'm still the oldest person in the room. Thank you very much. Anyway, when ⁓ I remember my mother going somewhere with a friend of hers, and the girl left her baby. And I just remember this baby crying the whole time. And then she came back. And she gave me a silver dollar. Remember those? So I like, I just got paid for babysitting. So that's why I say I've been working since I was six. Nice. So you're a hotshot lawyer that now you Jack of all trades, you still cook for your family. You're not above that. I like it. Okay. my husband actually. You got them in. tell me a little bit about your history. What, what, what's your background? You're veteran. Go ahead. me. I was a cook in the army and, um, that's why I met my husband. And then eventually we came here. The station where you stationed here? My husband was stationed here. I followed him here actually, because I ended up getting out of the military. It's some, some difficulties and trauma. emotion. There's, there's a reason why I try to have a mental health and anxieties in the forefront of when I'm speaking about. how I believe we should consider one another. And so based on those interactions, I broke my arm early on. ⁓ I remember having to do push-ups on my broken arm. There's different things, different things. But at the same time, having that camaraderie with my battle buddies, as we would call each other. and working and serving. And then I came here after I'd gotten out of the military and my husband and I were married. And then I went to school through the military as a member or a dependent at that time. I could go to school on post, but through FTCC. I was in FTCC. I took A class. It was terrible. was chemistry. I'm not a chemist. And continued on through school. I was always working or going to school, whichever. And then eventually I got my undergrad degree when we moved to New York. I finished at Mount St. Mary College there. And I was supposed to have finished a lot, well, maybe six weeks sooner, but I had my daughter the day before one of ours. Semesters were supposed to So here I am in class, breastfeeding and taking notes in class. ⁓ it's just, I don't know, as I'm listening to me, all I can hear is struggle, fight, strive. Struggle, strive, survive. I see you're old school because now if you get a splinter, that's it. I'm done for the week. No, no. But I mean, was ⁓ taking my daughters to class with me at one point because my husband got ⁓ stationed in Korea and my first year of law school, no one was allowed to work. It was a violation of the honor code to have a job. So there were times when I'd have to take my kids to school with me and my classmates would have them down the hall sometimes. know, they're just babies. I think Christine may have been about eight, Carrington four at the time. And they were really great though. But I'd know that sometimes I get home and I would touch a book and Carrington would start crying. And then I, ⁓ my gosh, it's my fault. I should have done it in order. So I went through law school and, and, ⁓ Jorge went, came back from Korea. The military said that he would be able to choose where he came once because he didn't, it was not with family. It was like remote. So. they actually had a place that needed him, the MEP station at Little Rock, because I was at school in Little Rock. And instead of sending him to Little Rock, the Army sent him to Oklahoma City. So we spent the next two years traveling back and forth over the weekend. How convenient. Yeah, yeah. Then once I finally graduated and we moved here and I was studying for the bar, some people at church called and said, well, One of the sisters is having problems with her child and the doctors don't want her to leave the hospital and be home with her child. So will you let them come and stay with you for two weeks? And so the two weeks turned into about three or four months with mom. And then ⁓ the daughter, it ended up being two years. ⁓ wow. We kept her and then she eventually was adopted. by a beautiful family. Like, you know, I me too. A beautiful family. And so we have that experience, you know, with family, family extension. And that's part of being in the military. You go from country to country as a child. I was born at Fort Worth, Texas, lived in Germany and so forth and just been around a lot of different cultures and just making new family everywhere I had to go. So it's nothing. And so The Christian that we adopted and that baby girl are able to communicate with each other when they want to. And we are able to also communicate with her and I love her. I love their family. It's beautiful. And I'm trying to answer you, but I feel like I'm just going on and on. are here to see the human side of the people that are out there asking for advice. No. Yes. So well, let's bring it down. Let's talk about being a district court judge. ⁓ What does your legal background look like? Like what have you, what areas of law have you practiced? Family law, abuse, neglect, dependency, divorce, juvenile delinquency, misdemeanor, small claims, consumer protection. I got voluntold to handle estate. Voluntold? I like that. Yes. Would you say you specialize in one area over the others? That's the thing. Okay, what are doing now? Specialized. What are you doing right now as a career? Is it okay? Yeah, I'm an assistant attorney general. Yeah. I handle condemnation actually. Yeah. One of my friends helped me. So you're doing real estate type stuff right now. I am handling real estate, handling real estate easements and those things. making sure that the citizens get a fair shake. To the best of my ability. the best of your ability. Within my legal... Well, they do call it practice for a reason. Yes, they do. it is. It is. Yeah. Because no two cases, if you think about it, no two cases are the same. So you're practicing. Right. And they shouldn't be because no two people are the same. That's correct. It's very... That's my approach on homelessness too. ⁓ Why district court judge? ⁓ Why now? Because it's time. Okay. It's time. Is this an open seat or is there an opponent? I'm against it. They don't say their name, but I'm running against a sitting judge sitting judge. Okay. So there is an incumbent. Okay. All right. So why, why am I running against a sitting judge or just why? mean, why do it? I mean, your life, you're an attorney. You've got plenty of family to take care of. mean, you've got lots of good things going on. Why do you want to complicate your life being the public eye? I'm a certain your husband's over here nodding a little bit. So I'm just going to call him out. Was there a decision that you were like, that's the wrong decision. I don't agree with that. Or did he do something that you didn't agree? He or she, don't know. Well, what I don't want to do is run afoul of any judicial standards. Right. And I say that because I want you to understand I'm not avoiding your question. I don't I believe. that the whole campaigning questions is a job interview. Right. I don't take that lightly. Well, we're not a Senate panel here. We're not going to try to get you like, what is a woman? You know, we're not gonna ask you that kind of crap. Like, that's too hard to answer. Well, no, the thing is, you know, it's like the way when they interview these judges for federal judgeships or Supreme Court, it's almost like they want what they're trying to pull out. It's theater. They're trying to get that Supreme Court justice to say, this is how I'm going to Right. Rule no matter what. It doesn't work that way. Right. I understand. I would hope that there's a thing like evidence that you read and stuff. Right. know, just hoping. Well, for me, years ago, I stood in front of the bench and told the judge, I want to be a judge. Okay. And I didn't let go of that. Okay. In my practice and different ideas that I have based on my legal research and what I would want to do or thought should have been done. as I was practicing, ⁓ told me that, well, in order to be able to do that, you'd have to be behind the bench, not in front of it. And that has not ever left me. And a couple of, well, actually about a week before I filed, I got a phone call from someone and based on that conversation, it just reignited. In fact, my husband and I were supposed to be on a cruise. We were supposed to be on a cruise. leaving Friday and coming back today as a matter of fact. Where was the cruise to? We were going to the Caribbean. Come on. And we just didn't check In the middle of winter? That's what I'm talking about. We just didn't check in. just didn't show up. I had no intention of filing until about a week before I filed. And so when you say why now, why now, really it's because it's time. It is time. And here I am. I love that. you want to sit behind the bench rather than in front of it. That's a place of, and I know the gravity of that. It's like, I feel I'm capable, which is a big thing. Competent. I feel like it's within my realm of influence and expertise to be the one that says guilty, not guilty, that says yes, that says no. And I mean, not to wax overly spiritual, but that's really, ⁓ okay, I'm to wax spiritual. It's an anointing, a calling. I'll use that word. ⁓ that is, I love that you made that statement because you know, that it's, want to be in the position where I'm not the one arguing to change. I'm the one who is activating and initiating that change. So. Well, thank you. Thank you for that. You're welcome. Exactly. I might look at the candidates and say, why are you doing this? You must be crazy. But having run for office, myself and Laura, I think you get to a point where it's just like, I need to help. ⁓ it's, is time consuming. It is, you lose a lot of sleep. There's a lot of preparation and there's a lot of pain. But at the end of the day, when I say, because it's about you, It really is. I've researched law. I've looked at case law. I've been there with my clients and hugged them and cried with them and lost sleep. And I just believe that if I am in the position to make the decision, hopefully I can help more than hinder. And that's what I want to do. When you talk about being spiritual, that was always my prayer in practice was I want to help not hinder, help not hinder. And just that's why I'm up at why I was up at three in the morning researching because I wanted to do my best for individuals, for people. And it didn't matter if I was court appointed. It didn't matter if it was somebody that was pro bono. And I just know that what I would want if I were in any of those people's situations, that's what I wanted to give. And as a judge, that's just what I just want to serve and be able to help. I practice in foster care often. And my experience at that time was arguing for the children who couldn't be with their mothers and fathers to at least be with family, because oftentimes they were in foster care. And sometimes it was because family didn't have what was called adequate resources. But then I found out that sometimes foster care parents could get financial assistance. That's right. And I didn't understand why family couldn't get financial assistance. That was something that I brought up to the legislature. When a child gets taken from the home, the parent still gets the resources. The resources don't follow the child and that needs to change. And sometimes my clients would also, because obviously in North Carolina, it's a parent's responsibility to pay for their children, to pay child support. And so my clients were indigent and I was appointed to them because they were indigent. Had to work services and they should have had to work services if that's what the court ordered. But then they also had to pay child support and they also had to pay child support because those were their children. But it was very difficult for them to complete the services and pay child support and then get the children back. So I understand that, but in the meantime, you might have family members who could help. And there were some times when family wasn't there and that's, I understand that, but my issue and major concern during those years was when I'd see family come and for whatever reason. those children were able to go back with family. So let's talk about the job, the job, the job, the job. So like, what does a district court judge do? Oh, the district court. I mean, besides sitting there and ruling and judging me, putting pretty doilies around their little. The judges listen to, I will, there's the misdemeanors in fractions. There is, there are custody cases. divorce proceedings with equitable distribution divorce. ⁓ Judges ⁓ Are you asking me specifically about the types of cases that judges? Yes, ma'am. Okay. It was an open ended question. I get it. Well, what's the job look like for you basically? you know ⁓ this, me about the breadth of the variety ⁓ of that you'll try. Well, ⁓ I be able to preside over juvenile delinquency cases. across possibly the abuse, neglect, and dependency cases, possibly family cases, even family cases where there's pro se individuals in divorce and each party is representing themselves, no attorney whatsoever. Is that still allowed to happen? No. Well, here how expensive divorce is another reason why I haven't You can represent yourself. no. You have a right to represent yourself. Cumberland County has the courtroom's attitude. The best of my knowledge, I do not believe it's changed since I went to the AG's office in 23, where a judge presides and it's just pro se be pro se. And I think that's a beautiful thing. And then you have ⁓ divorce where people- I mean, who's got the fire hose to keep the combatants apart? Like, you know, that's- Most judge doesn't do that. don't know. No, you have the you have the assistance of the sheriff's office and people are very respectful when they come to court. So that's not. Can I take my phone in court? too much TV. Can you take your telephone? I'll take my telephone in court. No. I'm asking the future judge. Cumberland County still allows people to bring the phone into the courthouse, but don't don't let that phone ring in court. probably end up in the, at the bench. Now, let me ask you a question. Cause this is always, it's funny that you bring that up to me. Cause I sit in court and I, I've done court watching and things like that. And like I bring a tablet to write on. Cause I don't want to waste all the paper. They told me I'm not allowed to write on tablets. You've got one of those cool tablets like Peter has. No electronics they say, but I'm court watching. I'm just writing whatever. No electronics. Oh, okay. And this doesn't record anything or it's just a piece of paper, literally no electronics. So I have to print out paper, bring paperwork to fill out all of this stuff. like, I don't want to do this. I don't, I don't, I don't want to court watch because I can't bring and write on something that's not trash. something that sounds like first world issue. Yeah, that's more like such a first world issue. But, but we're asked to be there as a court observer, right? You have a thing. maybe the policy hasn't kept up with the times. mean, have you, ⁓ you ⁓ any chance, if it pleased the court, may I? Yes, I did. ⁓ her. That is my nature. I went to the bailiff and I said, Hey, I wanted to show this to you. This is not a recording device or anything like that. It's just for me to write on. I know ⁓ said, can you ask the judge? ⁓ the bailiff went to the judge and said something. And she said, no. Interesting. So I left. No court watch. I never went back. Well, we need to keep you away from court anyway. don't, I don't know why you even volunteer because I'm a volunteer to go to court. Everyone should be at court. No, no, no. Every people should be coming to court and observing that. No, you have to go to court. should observe and see what's going on so that you understand what's going on, the process and you just. Learn. You might. Oh my gosh. something. That's like learning how the sausages get made. Let the lawyer. You what you said you wanted to learn more. And what's beautiful is that's your choice. My words are if you don't want to go, then you don't have to go. But I believe that if you want to come in the courtroom door should be open for you to come and observe regardless of whether you're a party or a witness. I mean, if we rather than pay 12 or 20 dollars for movies. You can go to the courthouse and learn how your government is working. And some of them are quite interesting. But I I understand not having a telephone because they don't want you recording, I guess that's what it is. But you can record either way. She fell off. I see. I see. I'm getting Jim over here. Or even an iPad. But I don't really understand. There's a court transcript anyway. I know I need my phone when I go Is there a court reporter? the research on my phone real fast. But see you as a lawyer are allowed, but those of us that are sitting court, even if we're not defendants or whatever like that, why are we not allowed? Well, I believe that I would have to research it with the last time I researched it. I know that there was some discussion about the judge's discretion and factual basis for not allowing people into the courtroom. maybe that would be the same. And I don't want to guess, but based on my reading, was my understanding that there are parameters that are supposed to be considered, safety considerations. ⁓ that's the one that I'll stop on because that's the one that I remember the most. So when I come to your courtroom, I'll be like, I've got my remarkable, it doesn't record it. I mean, let's let's indict her before she takes advantage. Let's let her get there first. know, yes, I let's see. Remember, I just think we need to say anything because I make sure my judicial standards. But I mean, I just think that the courts need to get up with the times there are. And that's the that's the reason why it's important for people to come to the courts so that you can know what's going on and then address those issues.

Guest: those issues.

Peter Pappas: and the appropriate places, right? Because it's not just the judicial branch, is it? So that might be something that maybe the legislative branch and I giggle because what are they doing right now? I if to anything else. I think it's the, the judge's discretion is kind of like a teacher in the classroom management. How do you handle your room? And as long as it's within standards then. just think that you don't realize how much paper it's a paper for each ⁓ each ⁓ in the courtroom. So you end up with like 20 pieces of paper. I don't want to be shuffling around 20 pieces of paper. I just don't ⁓ Those paper companies aren't going to stay in business without. ⁓ got our paperless ⁓ right. Yeah, not my problem. Not my circus. Not my monkeys. That's actually one of our producer Jim's favorite television shows. Thank you. So ⁓ Okay, see Breanne, Brene. Yes. Tell us about your campaign. can we, if we, do you do donations when you're on your, I don't know. Can we donate to judges? mean, how does a person contact you? How do they donate to your, tell us all about it. Where do they send their money? Write your checks out now. I actually have a website www.electoroseco.com, which is O R O Z C O dot com. I have articles, I have videos there and I, there. Okay. Yeah, that's it. we'll make sure that Jim give a note to give a note to put that up on screen so that we can see because we're having technical difficulties again. Okay. And I've just been very nervous. Why you don't buy. Okay, let's talk about the first time we met. Where do we meet? We met outside of the North Branch. North Regional North and was after candidate execution. Yes, forum. Yes, it was it was not an execution. It should have been. Oh, my gosh. And, and I remember saying, I want to help you write some questions. We talked for 15 or 20 minutes. was the forum where I was asking questions, but it was out of a bowl. Yes. So I had no choice. just had it. And I was like, no, I don't this. We definitely saw some room and that's, that's what I appreciated in our conversation was you saw, uh, as a citizen, you're seeing that this is really not. helpful the way we treat candidates right now. We need to ask them, my opinion is we need to ask them difficult questions if they can't handle cross-examination and they don't deserve our vote. And they won't show up to the forums. That's fine. see, let's see. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. When it comes to, when it comes to the interviews, when it comes to the interviews, I wholeheartedly believe they are job interviews. And that's why, you know, I want to hear an answer to the question. So if you were an animal, what animal would you be and why? Whatever it was, it'd be a Gemini. I don't know what it is, but I know it's fine. when I was thinking about even coming here, okay, well, you you are a judicial candidate. Your standards cannot are not the same as a person who's running for county commissioner or city council. You have. you cannot bring disrepute upon the bar. Or politics. You can't bring politics into it. Well, you I'm going to just go into right. You cannot. You have to, for me, avoid the appearance of impropriety. I love that. is what I will do before I even ever meet the people, let alone hear the case, because we don't want the public to distrust the judiciary. Right.

Guest: Well, well, you

Peter Pappas: So I can't say, I'm running against this person because, which is why I kind of froze when you asked, well, why? Well, because of time, it's now. And I didn't want to be disingenuous and insincere, but what I don't want to do is bring disrepute upon my profession inadvertently or purposefully for that matter. I believe I am a professional and I want to be professional and I want to be respectful because what I don't want is someone to say, I have a problem in my life and I need to file a lawsuit, but I don't want to go to that courthouse. I don't trust them. I don't think that they're going to listen to me. I don't think that it's going to matter whatsoever because that should never be true. You have a problem. You can't take the law into your own hands, right? You take your issues to the courts. Absolutely. so the other problem I have with the way we elect judges, well, I have a few re issues. There's many issues the way we elect judges, but you know, the problem is you're running against, in your case, you have an incumbent judge. There are other races there. There are people running against seated judges already. The toes you step on today are going to be connected to the astral kiss tomorrow. That's true. And they're going to take it out on, well, this is, this is a legitimate fear. This is what I think keeps good. What I've established is just because lawyer does not equal good judge. Okay. Somebody might've done it for 30 years. Okay. Cool. You practice, but they only did like one thing and in your seat, you're going to be rotated, right? It can be, you're going to get flavor of the week. Now, do you sit like in family court, like for a week at a time or, or is it just that day you'll have different kinds of- would be definitely dependent on what the chief district court judge decided because the chief district court judge is the administrator of the judges. But fortunately in Breneo Roscoe's history, Breneo Roscoe has practiced in small claims, managed streets court. And as much as I hated having to practice without having staff, I had to do everything. if I had a ⁓ criminal case, ⁓ had to study that law myself. ⁓ If there is ever a person who would argue for an expansion of the law, that would be Brene Orozco for an expansion of the law. I practiced family, domestic custody, domestic violence, restraining orders, ⁓ all of those things. ⁓ as an assistant attorney general, I've had to appeals, criminal appeals. ⁓ whatever that flavor of the rep... the week may be, would not be new to me. Because even though I practiced in abuse and neglect and dependency from 2008 to 2023, as I just said, I was doing other things also. So I've never just done one thing when I was in practice. And I'm grateful for that because it allowed me to have a worldview, ⁓ a larger view of the issues when I was in any one court, how they all tie together.

Guest: one

Peter Pappas: Well, so going back to experience as an attorney, like I said, you know, just because you're an attorney doesn't make a good jurist. ⁓ because there's other things that we need our judges to understand and to practice as far as the relationship between district and Superior Court, what cases they should hear or not hear. ⁓ I've certain things that have come to my attention and I hate to keep harping on this one example, but. Yeah, you're doing that. That's. thing may have happened and we know it happened. I'm not. So the thing is, know, I want, especially for somebody that's pro se, maybe indigent, they got the best example I have is if you get evicted in magistrate court, you probably don't have the money. You're probably not in a great circumstance, but for you to go to a district court and have your case dismissed before it's even heard as an appeal, I have a problem with that. It shouldn't be the discretion of a judge to just say, well, I don't like the reason you're So, out. that, my concern is how the judicial system affects the most vulnerable of our population. And are they being given due process? Are they being heard? I don't care if they get found guilty, like if it gets heard and then it's still the same outcome, but give them the five minutes. They're looking for the fairness. Yeah. Just hear them out. Don't shut people down. Let them be heard. I don't think that's unreasonable. I'm happy to say that's what's re it's my understanding of and I picking up my phone because it's where I pulled up the judicial code. No phones in here. No phones in here. Don't make me take that phone. It's my understanding that that's what that's what everyone is supposed to expect. So I don't think that your position is unreasonable based on my understanding of what's required in the judicial code. Now, your specific your specific scenario, I don't know. what happened if you made it up or anything. So I'm gonna treat what you said as far as what you think should happen. I don't have to make much up in this life of mine. But what I'm saying is as far as- know what was going on behind the scenes. We don't know. I agree. And one person's rendition of what happened not sure what was going on either, but Peter was guilty. Yeah, I was most likely. I do know that as it relates to your main position, which is people should be treated fairly. Fairly, yeah. regardless of whether they are indigent, regardless of whether they're represented, I believe that's what the judicial code requires. So I know that that's what I would, I would give. Right. Well, the way I've put it is that myself and Laura and Pastor Josh, we're kind of in the network of people that know how to get things done. what if, the last slide checked, but you know, does it require having a Peter in their life? to get the proper, like if somebody comes to me about a zoning issue or something, cause of real estate background, know, why does it take a Peter to get it done? Why can't it just work for everybody as evenly as possible? That goes to the judicial for me. So I understand. All right. So thank you for being here. Tell us again what your website is one more time. It is electoroseco.com. Perfect. And we will share that. anybody feels compelled to, ⁓ Yeah, put five on it. Jim, think you'd appreciate it. That's up to We are going to hop off and take a break for right now and we're going to return with a fresh session. was such a pleasure meeting you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. And thank you for joining us. Have a good evening. Thank you.