Transcript: Mayor de Blasio, Commissioner Bratton and Speaker Mark-Viverito Announce $7.3 Million Investment to Upgrade Bulletproof Vests For NYPD Officers

February 6, 2015

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everyone. It is a great honor to be here at the 34 Precinct. I'd like to thank everyone at the precinct for hosting us. They are doing really wonderful work in this precinct – major crime down 12 percent through February 1, compared to the same time last year, here in the 34 Precinct. And this is a time, as Commissioner Bratton has said, for us now in this administration – we are now, in the best sense of the word, working against our own numbers from last year. We're very proud of the progress made in 2014. Now we're measuring ourselves against our own achievements. The men and women of the NYPD should be very proud of how the first month of this year has gone. But particularly here in the 34 Precinct, they have a lot to be proud of – down 12 percent from a very good number last year.

You're going to hear from the commissioner and Speaker Mark-Viverito in just a moment. I'd like to also acknowledge and thank our chief of department, Jimmy O'Neill; our chief of patrol, Carlos Gomez; our assistant chief and Manhattan North borough commander, Kathleen O'Reilly – the first woman to hold that role, congratulations; Deputy Inspector Chris Morello, commanding officer of the 3-4.

And I also want to acknowledge and thank our colleagues in elective office – Congressman Charlie Rangel, Senator Adriano Espaillat, Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, and the chair of the council public safety committee, Vanessa Gibson. And I'd also like to thank, from labor, the president of the DEA, Michael Palladino.

We're all here today to talk about some very good news. And it is a great honor to stand with everyone to celebrate something that's going to help our men and women in uniform in an important way. I will give you the first sentence and then that's your cue. On Monday, we'll be proposing a budget that includes $7.3 million dollars to purchase 13,000 new bullet-resistant vests. And now, the speaker will display to all sides, fully and methodically.

[inaudible]

Now, did the folks get – did each side get what they needed there? Okay, thank you, Marcia. Marcia's giving a little stage direction here. That's right, everyone gets their equal time. Hey – hey, don't get crazy now.

[Laughter]

That's the front. That's the front. Excellent – well done.

$7.3 million dollars – again, $7.3 million for 13,000 new bullet-resistant vests. And I want to thank the City Council for their leadership in moving this effort to get these vests for all the officers that need them. We'll be replacing all vests that have gone beyond their warranty period. And I want to emphasize – per agreement with the City Council – these resources will be put into this fiscal year's budget – so the formal announcement, coming in a couple of days – but this means the money can be spent starting immediately here in the current fiscal year.

NYPD will conduct a review to determine which vests need replacement first and they'll set up the priorities and the schedule. And this is something we do to make sure that all the men and women of the NYPD are safe, to honor to work they do. It is so important that people know – who do this important work, who do this very difficult work, who do this dangerous work – that their safety is paramount to all of us in leadership. And we need to do everything that we can to make sure they have the best tools.

As an example of the sheer impact – and this is extraordinary to think about – since 1978, vests are believed to have saved – by the analysis done by NYPD – to have saved 87 NYPD officers' lives. Again, think about that – since 1978, vests have saved 87 NYPD officers' lives. That's an extraordinary impact and crucial. And I want to give you one example – Detective Mario Muniz, this last July was shot twice at point-blank range while trying to arrest an accused child molester in Greenwich Village. One of the bullets hit him in the abdomen and – thank God – went through without hitting any vital organs. The other bullet hit him squarely in the chest. Thank God he was wearing a vest and survived – without that vest he may not have. And that vest, therefore, likely saved his life. But what did it mean beyond that? It meant that a family did not go through the unspeakable pain of losing a loved one. His wife and son got to see him that night come home because of that vest. And that's the way to think about it – a single vest can save a life and can protect a whole family for years and years to come.

The City Council has long focused on this issue over the years and was quick to act to recognize that another step had to be taken. And I want to thank the council for their commitment on vests and on so many other fronts. This administration has made a commitment in terms of so many things that we think will enhance the experience of our officers and help them be safer – retraining, obviously new technology – the tablets and the smartphones – so many pieces that we think are going to make life safer and better for the men and women of the NYPD – totaling now [inaudible] an additional $350 million dollars in spending to make sure those goals are reached. We'll continue to do that. Every man and woman who serves us in uniform has taken an oath. They live up to that oath every day. We have an obligation to them to make sure they get home safely at night. They have made an obligation and taken on an obligation to us – we have an obligation to them. It's as simple as that. And we will continue to protect them.

These new vests will make a big difference in the lives of our officers – and, again, that work will begin immediately. Just a quick moment in Spanish before I turn to the commissioner – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that – and it sounds good in either language – with that, commissioner, I'd like to thank you, again, for all your leadership and the many things that you have done to improve the lives and the work of our officers – and this is another step in the right direction. Thank you for all you are doing for us.

Commissioner Bratton: Thank you, sir.

What I would like to do first, is certainly, on behalf of the men and women of the New York City Police Department, who everyday do put their lives on the line – that a vital piece of their equipment is the bulletproof vest. And as the mayor has referenced, since their inception three or four decades ago, it has resulted in significant saving of lives in this department – around the country, hundreds of lives. So, I want to thank both the mayor, certainly, the City Council for their action to ensure that going forward that – two things. One – we will be in a position to replace all vests that – while they are still serviceable – are there are two terms – serviceable as – and warranty. Manufactures [inaudible] have a five-year warranty – it's like your car, three- or four-year warranty. It doesn't mean that the vest is no longer serviceable but that the idea is that there is a warranty that the manufacturer has. So, what the council and the mayor are doing is –  one – we will be in a position over the next year to be able to replace approximately 21,000 – I'll give you the specific numbers – vests that are beyond the five-year warranty but are still serviceable. They are still in a wearability that they will protect an officer's lives. But in addition to that, that because of the concern or the idea that somehow or another because it's beyond the warranty that they may be less safe, what is also being done for the first time in the history of vests is that we will be replacing all vests as they reach the five-year warranty period.

So, there's two things happening here – that we'll be replacing all vests that are currently over five years, but then going forward, as the vests hit the five-year warranty period, they will be routinely replaced. Vests are inspected every year – and if we do determine that a vest has an issue, we then test all the vests that were made at the same time – and so, these things are tested each year. But this is a significant enhancement to the safety of our officers, and maybe as importantly, psychologically, for them to feel that the vests that they are wearing – that there are no issues or concern about their protection that's afforded by them.

In terms of the vests, there's also another feature – that the vests are 25 to 30 percent lighter – the new ones – than the current vests. So, from a comfort standpoint, that will certainly make it something that the officers will also appreciate more. Secondly, these vests are all custom-fitted. Each one is custom fitted to the body of the officer.

And so, one [inaudible] questions that might come up that – why is it going to take you for the remainder of this calendar year to replace all these vests? Well, first off, we have to get the manufacturer in to start measuring everybody, and it is something that takes a while to do because they get custom fitted. And there's also the annual inspection that's conducted by our police academy personnel. That inspection is to ensure that as an officer's body changes over time that the vest itself still provides total coverage to the upper body of the officer. And so, we have the redundancy of the inspections to ensure even after a vest is issued, if the officer outgrows it for whatever reason – bodies change, etcetera – that we can then, in fact, take care that.

Now, as to the schedule that – currently, the current vests population – we have 12,500 vests that are under five years old, so they are within the warranty period. The ones that we are concerned with are the 7,750 that are six to seven years old; the 7,750 that are eight to nine years old; and we have approximately 6,400 vests that are 10 to 15 years old. So, 21,900, or 64 percent of the vests that are out there, are five years old and eligible for a replacement over the next several months. Police officers – 12,700 officers, 3,900 detectives, 3,500 sergeants, 1,300 lieutenants, 430 captains and above – 21,900 – that's the breakdown of the actual officers. Replacement schedule that – we will begin measurements – we've worked this out with the manufacturers – the measurements for these – the first 6,400 officers will be measured in the month of March. And the vest distribution, we believe, will begin around mid-May. So, the older vests, the oldest vests – those are the ones that will be replaced most quickly. And we anticipate that the manufacturer will have those available in May. 

So, again, this is an extraordinary effort on the part of the city. I would like to compliment the mayor and the City Council – literally from within two weeks of this issue being raised by the unions, the mayor and the council responded very quickly. When in [inaudible] government does anything happen that quickly? Not in my recollection. That – so, the speed with which they responded to this is also very much appreciated. There was an urgency expressed on the part of our officers about concern about the warranty issue, and it was responded to and met by the city.

One final feature, if I may, on the vests – that – one of the additional enhancements to the vests is that there is an additional plate in the vests. [inaudible]. So in addition, [inaudible] the new vests – 30 percent lighter weight – but also, the added feature [inaudible]. [inaudible]. So not only are we getting new vests – we're getting the best vests on the market. We're literally getting the Rolls Royce of bulletproof vests. So, with that Mr. Mayor –

Mayor: Thank you.

Commissioner Bratton: and Ms. – the speaker, I guess I can turn it over to you.

Mayor: And I'd like to bring forward the speaker. I just want to emphasize that I can attest from my own experience that when Speaker Mark-Viverito became aware of this need she came very forcefully to me, and said that she wanted to see this put in the budget right away, and that was something we obviously believed in as well. But she was quick to say let's make this a priority and that's why you see it now in the budget for the current fiscal year. With that, Speaker Mark-Viverito.

[Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Speaks]

Mayor: Alright, with that we want to take questions on-topic followed by questions off-topic. On-topic?

Question: Commissioner Bratton, on Wednesday when you testified before the [inaudible] you also mentioned that the new vests have side panels. Can you talk a little bit about that and how much more [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: Let me elaborate on that. Some of our older vests – the style of them  that they don't – these are wrap-around types of vests and the wrap-around protects the side. Some of the older vests – I think there's several thousand of them – that the wrap-around feature is not there. So that's why we're prioritizing replacing those older vests so that we do get the full upper body protection. I had misspoken when I described it as a side panel. It's not a separate panel like that. The panel I just showed you is a feature of the vest itself.

Question: The commissioner mentioned that the – from now on vests will be replaced after the warranty expires – where is that money coming from? Is this a recurring allocation or –

Mayor: We're going to keep up with the needs. So the money we've put in at the council's request is to address the immediate – the most important needs. And, by the way, as the commissioner said, there is a ramp-up period here – everyone has to be measured, the manufacturers actually have to start up their operations to be able to buy the vests. But we're going to make sure that people are safe and there'll be, obviously, opportunities in upcoming budgets to keep addressing the issue as needed.

Question: Just a clarification – the commissioner said $21,000 to replace [inaudible]

Mayor: 13,000 is the $7.3 million –

Question: Okay.

Mayor: So we're putting that in this fiscal year to get it started immediately.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Well, I think what's clear given that everyone has to be measured and given that the manufacturer has to ramp-up is it's going to take a while to get all 13,000 onto the officers and get it – you know, get them out in the field. So then, depending on that timeline, we'll obviously make additional resources available when it's time to add more.

Question: What is the plan in cost – total cost per vest?

Mayor: Who knows?

Commissioner Bratton: [inaudible] sergeant is actually the – here is out best expert.

Mayor: Okay, step here though. You have to get [inaudible] in front and introduce yourself.

Sergeant Wilson-Valis, NYPD: Hi, my name is Sergeant Wilson-Valis. I'm the commanding officer of the Ballistic Vest Unit. The new vest that will be issued is called Alpha Elite [inaudible] and that is the cost of $639.40 per vest. And the additional plate that the commissioner showed will have an additional cost to it. But the mayor and the City Council have allotted that money so our officers will be protected. For the females it's $61 and for the males $72 dollars.

Question: [inaudible] or that's all included in the $600 and change?

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: No that will be additional to the $639.

Mayor: [inaudible] say on the measurements –

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: No there's not a measurement fee. No, of course not.

[inaudible]

Mayor: Now you gave them a bad idea. They're going to start charging a measurement fee.

[Laughter]

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: $639.40 per vest, plus – correct –

Question: [inaudible]

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: Correct – yeah.

Mayor: If we get charged a measurement fee we're sending the bill to you.

[Laughter]

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: [inaudible]

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: Protective Product Enterprise is the overhead company being [inaudible].

Question: Where are they –

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: They're in Pompona [sic], Florida – Pompano. 

Commissioner Bratton: These vests, by the way – the National Institute of Justice has standards. So they meet the highest standards of the National Institute of Justice.

Question: In terms of replacing them – are you literally going from the oldest vest to the most recent? And then also, who wears the vest? How is it determined which officers are actually fitted for them versus others? And do you have enough total vests to cover the officers who you think need them?

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: Absolutely. The first batch that we're doing – the 64,000 – entails 31,000 that's actually on patrol and the other remaining that's not in [inaudible] reinforcement. But there going to be the first batch that's going to be replaced by May.

Question: And those are the oldest batch?

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: Correct.

Question: Okay. And then – how is it determined who is actually fitted for a vest and does the department have – I mean, which officers –

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: We have a database based on the time it was actually issued so we know every member that was issued a vest. So there's a time frame of 10 to 15 years – we have a database with their name and then we notify them and those are the batch that entails the 64,000.

Commissioner Bratton: Every officer –

Sergeant Wilson-Valis: Has a vest – absolutely.

Commissioner Bratton: [inaudible]

Mayor: Yeah and that's right – I just want to emphasize that. So once you get it, it's yours, right? And, correct me if I'm wrong, you don't give it to someone else – trade it – it's like one per officer and it's consistent until it's time for replacement.

Question: Mr. Mayor, what message are you trying to send to the men and women of the NYPD in terms –

Mayor: [inaudible]

Question: Earmarking this money and your support for them?

Mayor: Well, again, I want to give the City Council credit as well for having really pushed this idea. And the idea here is we want to keep our officers safe. It's clear to me that it's our obligation to keep our officers safe and once we heard that this was an issue that had to be addressed, I'm very pleased to say the council quickly stepped forward. We were only too happy to join them in that. So, a lot of what I think has to happen – the way I look at this is the people who this work put their lives on the line. They are working men and women who do a lot for this city. When we understand what their needs are, it's our job to do the best we can to respond. So this was something that we really only heard very clearly the specifics of in the last weeks. But once we understood that that was a need, it was our obligation to do all we could to address it. And I feel very good about this solution. I think it's going to help keep out men and women protected.

Question: I just want to clarify [inaudible] $7.3 million is the current fiscal year and there will be some amount, but it's unclear exactly how much in [inaudible] right?

Mayor: Right, the question here, first of all, is we have to actually get these vests on our men and women – that there is going to be [inaudible]. What we've done is said the money is going to be available right this minute to the NYPD. Literally, we'll be doing the budget announcement in just a few days. But because there is a ramp-up time, including the manufacturer having to ramp-up for this level – this is a big deal for this manufacturer – it's going to take some work to get it all up and running. We allocated the amount of money that we knew could be spent in the foreseeable future and for the highest priorities. When that is moving along well, we'll then asses what else is needed and we'll keep providing the resources needed at the time they are needed. But first, we have to get this first piece running.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Were all sides of the unions notified about this announcement [inaudible]

Mayor: I was not the person who put together the details of the press event. [Laughter]

Commissioner Bratton: Actually I had a meeting yesterday with the leadership of all of the unions. Up in my office we routinely meet and yesterday we provided updates to them on, one, the announcement today. Secondly, we updated them on the acquisition of the new technology – the smartphones, the tablets, the camera program – how that's moving along. We covered a lot of issues, as your well aware, that the mayor last week announced that the – relative to lawsuits filed against officers – we determined that the lawsuit is baseless. That the city's attorney will be very aggressively fight those lawsuits – in addition to 30 attorneys. So we had a meeting yesterday that – and the head of the detectives union, who was here today, was at that meeting yesterday. This morning I met for another hour and a half with Lou Turco, who is the head of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association to respond to a letter that he had sent to the mayor and I with some recommendations dealing with issues of concern to, not only the lieutenants association but the other entities and we're acting on some of those. So we have very active engagement and dialog with all of the unions – sometime public, that you report on, but there have been many other meetings that have been held over the last number of months, over the last year, that are not necessarily – the one yesterday was not a public meeting per se. But so in terms of the uniforms [inaudible] in fact, all credit to the unions – they raised this issue about two weeks ago, I think. And ironically, we have spent the last year interacting with our officers. 14,000 participated in the survey, I've had, I think, over 400 focus groups who have been studying every need of the department. And two weeks ago was the first we heard that this was an issue of concern to our officers. So that's why I talk about the speed with which the mayor and the City Council – within two weeks of hearing that this was, in fact, a concern of our members that had not been voiced to me in the past year – here we are today basically announcing that we're going to replace all of them over the net year.

Mayor: And as to the narrow question – I just got the confirmation from our communications team – yes, all the unions were advised to participate in the event. On this topic – on this topic? Rich?

Question: Mr. Commissioner, when you so kindly [inaudible] you stepped away from the microphone and I [inaudible]

Mayor: [inaudible] explain again? Yes.

Question: Tell us what [inaudible]

Commissioner Bratton: In addition to the idea of replacing all the vests – the vests that we are replacing the existing vests with – the new vests – is about 25 to 30 percent lighter, which is certainly a benefit to the officers in terms of all the equipment they have to carry. Secondly, it has an additional feature – a insertable plate, if you will, that's also resistant to knife thrusts as well as capable of resisting rounds that might be fired from certain caliber long-guns, or rifles, so that we're getting the benefit of all new vests but vests that – I use the term Rolls Royces, if you will, of the bulletproof vest industry.

Mayor: Okay, on topic? Going once. Going twice. This is usually when [inaudible] when I‘m about to say the word.

[Laughter]

Okay, it didn't happen this time, we'll go to off-topic.

We'll go to off-topic, yes.

Question: Mr. Mayor, as you're Department of Investigation released a very critical report of the 9-1-1 project –

Mayor: The technology project? Yes.

Question: Can you talk a little about the reaction to that and what it means for the work going forward [inaudible]

Mayor: Look, I think that was an example of a plan gone very wrong. Too much money is being spent and the results were not good enough. The checks and balances weren't good enough. We suspended it, when we saw, you know, earlier in the administration that this was something that was not working. People were not getting – the taxpayer weren't getting their money worth and we were concerned about this constant cost overruns and not getting the product that we needed to move our 9-1-1 system forward. This report fills in a lot of the blanks of what went wrong and what we cannot see again in the future. So, the plan we now have, which many fewer consultants and outside companies – much more controlled by our own city department, DoITT, has responsibility here. We have a great Commissioner there, Anne Roest, who has had a tremendous track record in government of getting things done efficiently. We're putting this on a very different footing and it's going to get done and it's going to improve our system, but, in this case, it's going to get done without as much expense and we think in a way that's technologically a lot smarter.

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Yes.

Question: So, what's the status of that – with changes – you know, there's talk about pilot programs –

Mayor: I assure you that changes are on the way. And we'll have some more announcements coming up on that, but I think the bottom line is we also wanted to improve the operations and coordination between the different entities that make up our emergency response system. So, we've made some changes in personnel, we've made some changes protocols, but there'll be more to say on this. So, this is ongoing work. This is something we are going to working on constantly. There'll be some announcements related to the budget as well, which I will not foreshadow. But this is – right now, it is continuing to improve the operations of our emergency system over time putting in the additional technology that we think will make it stronger and give it more redundancy as well.

Question: In your State of the City, you proposed a five borough ferry plan.

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Part of the second stage, it would put a landing next to, essentially, Stapleton redevelopment and I was just wondering if you could respond to some criticisms from virtually all Staten Island [inaudible]

Mayor: Aren't we biasing the question?

Question: No, I'm not.

[Laughter]

Question: [inaudible] always thought that a Stapleton ferry might be redundant giving the location of the Staten Island Ferry and that the South Shore would benefit greatly from a ferry given that the commute lines are a lot longer down there than they are on the North Shore.

Mayor: Well, this is an initial proposal, first of all, and we're going to constantly listen for ways that we can perfect it. But I think the notion is that coordinated five borough system that very much links to where we think there's going to be new development, and new demand, and new need. And it's not just repetitive with the existing ferry service – these routes go in different places and add capacity. People right now who live on Staten Island have the option of taking a ferry to lower Manhattan. This service is going to go to other parts of the five boroughs and other parts of Manhattan. So it's not a duplication of the existing service. But we're going to – we put out a proposal that we thought would engender an effective network – effective in terms of the kind of time between the different points, the kind of ridership it would generate. Again, I'm adamant about it being pegged to the MetroCard fare. So, we need to make sure there's a large ridership to make sure we can sustain it. So that was the initial plan. But we will certainly talk with people about it other pieces that might be considered over time.

Question: Back to the DOI report – some former Bloomberg administration official took issue with the report, strongly objected to it, put their own sort of counter-report to what DOI said. And they're arguing that the system is functioning nearly flawlessly. Are you surprised by –

Mayor: The news that – when you say the system is functioning, let's be clear, the issue here is something that has been built for the future that has not in place right now. So, I want to make sure we're speaking the same language. This is about technology – that was being created for the future, for redundancy etcetera – that's not running, that clearly had cost overruns and all sorts of other problems. So, they – if those individuals want to defend that that is their right. But I think it's quite evident that this was a project that had gone wrong and needed a serious change.

Question: In the State of the City, this week, you mentioned the need for reform in Albany for rent regulations. Are you in favor of overturning vacancy [inaudible] controls?

Mayor: We're going to be announcing our Albany agenda shortly and I'll be testifying in Albany. There's a variety of ways in which rent regulations need to be strengthened and I will speak to the details of that. But the point is that I don't believe the status quo is sufficient because so many people over the last decade, in particular, have lost affordable housing. I think we need to have a tougher approach and that's what I'll be advocating for. I want to note that as she was asking the question, Sally was starting to take off her coat. I think anyone who has not taken off their coat already, you really have to question their sanity, but that's okay.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: I'm questioning – I am questioning your sanity and everyone around you – you're in a great majority here. I don't get it.

Question: Back to the DOI report – I'm wondering how surprised were you to find out that it was so many hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and that so many people in city government – I hate to use the word lied, but fudged the reports to make it look like the project was going forward well, and it wasn't really –

Mayor: Yeah, it was very troubling. I think – we all want to think the best of people in public service. But to find out that such a serious problem was going unaddressed and unacknowledged – that is troubling. And I think there is something that – I give credit to a lot of people in this administration, I certainly give credit to DOI – you know, the message in our administration is if something's wrong we need to acknowledge it and fix it. So, that was a project that really gone wrong, there's no two ways about it. I think it's very healthy to say when something didn't work according to plan and acknowledge up front how you're going to fix it.    

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: Okay.

Question: [inaudible]

Mayor: I've said this – I've been asked this already several times and I've responded to it – that the vision of this speech was to talk about an issue that is extraordinary important for this city and for our future that doesn't get enough attention, that really required a thorough discussion. I had a number of other areas I could've spoken about – didn't include a lot of time in the speech into education and didn't put a lot of time into the speech into other matters as well because I wanted to focus overwhelmingly on the question of affordable housing, and where we're going, and whether this was going to be an affordable city for our people in the future. So, the notion here is this was not yesterday's State of the City. This was a different approach because this issue is going to be the number one priority for this administration in 2015. And we wanted that to be very, very clear. And we wanted to have a real thorough discussion of it – it's as simple as that.

Anything else? Yes.

Question: Mr. Mayor, talk to us about the change in your senior advisor?

Mayor: Sure.

Question: Could you tell us what your thinking is? What you think of the man who had the job and the man who is taking the job?

Mayor: I'm going to talk about [inaudible] Phil Walzak if you promise to keep it to yourself. So, I think the world Phil Walzak, I want to see if I can get him to blush right here, he doesn't do it very often. Phil played an extraordinary role in our campaign in 2013 as a communications director and really was one of the – the most prominent members of our team in terms of building a winning strategy. And I had not worked with him before 2013. He gained my eternal respect for the way the way he handled things. He's done a great job as press secretary and he and I have a, you know, very clear shared vision of how we want to do this work and how we think together. So, I think he's going to be outstanding in the role of senior advisor. Peter Ragone, you know, is a friend for 20 years and has done an extraordinary job in this administration and, you know, did something exceptional. I talked to him after the primary and I said, you know, if we win would you consider coming here? Even though his family is out in California, would there be any way we could talk about that. He was willing to give a year of his life and come out here and help us get started, which I thought was incredibly kind of him and good of him, and you know, what a true friend does. And he played an outstanding role in this administration particularly helping us get off to a very fast start. So, I feel great about both these guys and I think it's going to be a very seamless transition because they share the same approach and they've been working so closely together.

Thank you, everyone.