Government Transparency Exposes Kamala Harris Staff Turnover and Energy Subsidy Games

On August 2, 2024, Adam Andrzejewski and Kurt Gerwitz joined the show. Presented Open the Books research showing Vice President Kamala Harris lost 92% of her original staff, comparing this to private sector standards where such turnover would destroy a business Broke down the $20 billion in annual oil and gas subsidies across three categories, explaining how government uses tax policy to.

Exposing the Vice President’s Revolving Door

Start listening at 32:46 – Hour 1

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO and founder of Open the Books, presented hard data on Vice President Kamala Harris’s staff retention crisis. His organization’s research revealed that 92% of the 47 staffers Harris hired in her first year as vice president have since departed. Only four loyal employees remain from that original cohort. The turnover problem persisted throughout her tenure, with half her staff leaving in 2023 alone.

Andrzejewski contrasted these figures with his own organization’s 100% retention rate on the audit team and 88% company-wide retention over the same period. He noted that Harris’s management problems predate her vice presidency, citing her ranking as the ninth worst senator for staff turnover and reports that a California professor stopped referring interns to her attorney general’s office because they returned crying from the toxic environment.

“In the private sector, anybody, you know, all of us employed in the private sector, this would never happen.”

Adam Andrzejewski, CEO, Open the Books

Understanding Energy Subsidies and Government Social Engineering

Start listening at 60:23 – Hour 2

Kurt Gerwitz, a finance professor and self-described “legacy catalyst speaker,” delivered a detailed breakdown of the $20 billion in annual subsidies flowing to the oil and gas industry. He identified three categories: direct subsidies through accelerated depreciation and tax benefits, indirect subsidies via research grants and Export-Import Bank support, and externality costs attributed to health impacts from fossil fuel emissions.

Gerwitz explained how government uses the tax code for social engineering, taking money from citizens then offering portions back based on preferred behaviors. He observed that both parties play this game, with Democrats publicly attacking oil companies while quietly maintaining subsidy structures, and Republicans defending the subsidies while claiming to oppose government intervention. The conversation highlighted how large corporations can afford lobbyists to shape legislation while small producers get squeezed out.

“Government seems to be frequently and frustratingly, trying to solve some of the problems that it created.”

Kurt Gerwitz, Finance Professor

Colorado Wildlife Management and Public Safety

Start listening at 64:08 – Hour 2

Kim Monson addressed the expanding wolf population in Colorado, noting that wolves reintroduced west of the Continental Divide are now moving east into populated areas. She connected this to a proposed ballot measure that would ban trophy hunting of mountain lions, warning that reduced predator management combined with wolf proliferation creates compounding risks for livestock, hikers, and backpackers. A listener texted about losing a 10-year-old family member to a mountain lion attack in Rocky Mountain National Park, underscoring the real dangers at stake.