“Inside the Circus,” a podcast featuring Joe Bowen and Jim DeCesare of Bowling Green is designed to give Kentuckians a front row seat for the center ring of state politics. With the launch of its first episode, the podcast is built off of four pillars — to inform, to educate, to entertain and to expose.
Bowen and DeCesare have over 20 years of experience in state government between the two of them. Starting out together in the General Assembly in 2005, the two became acquainted and have since been friends, both sharing a unique perspective as businessmen.
Just like the real circus, Bowen and DeCesare say you can be sure there will be strongmen, dog and pony shows, jugglers, tightrope walks and a cavalcade of clowns as they pull back the curtain on what’s happening in Frankfort.
“The podcast is actually the brainchild of myself and Ben Boarman,” Bowen said, giving credit to the Owensboro local. “We were bouncing around some ideas on what we could do on social media and we decided a podcast with a conservative tilt to it might be a popular thing.”
Although their conversations may have a conservative tilt, they invite everyone to listen to the program and don’t care which side of the aisle their listeners are on.
With exposing hypocrisy as a key pillar, “Inside the Circus” isn’t steering clear of controversy no matter what the politician’s party affiliation may be.
“Nobody gets a pass. We’re going to be non-denominational when it comes to exposing hypocrisy from whatever party that may originate from,” Bowen said. “If we see public policy issues that originate from either side of the aisle, we’ll address it. We’re going to expose public policy that we think will have a significant impact on people. We’re going to give people what we think is an inside view to legislation and how it could potentially impact the citizens of the Commonwealth.”
Topics covered on the podcast will be based around events in Frankfort and relevant happenings at the national level from time to time. Listeners who tuned in to the first-released episode heard coverage of topics ranging from reactions to the viral videos of Covington Catholic High School students, the school voucher tax break proposal, public pension and tax code reform legislation.
Although Bowen and DeCesare haven’t announced any specific upcoming guests on the podcast, Bowen hinted at hosting bill sponsors and potential candidates in high profile offices.
“We will probably look at some bill sponsors of some significant legislation and we’ll try to get those sponsors on. An example would be medical marijuana. We’ll likely get the pros and cons of that and look at both sides and try to get a thorough vetting of the issue,” Bowen said.
Bowen made mention of tax reform and school safety also being topics up for discussion.
“We want people to have as much information about their government as they can possibly get and we’re going to be a venue for them to get that information,” Bowen said. “A lot of this is going to be about exposing transparency. Those who duck hard issues, we’ll probably call them out.”
As the session unfolds the two will host more conversations and encourage listeners to send in their questions and comments.
“Inside the Circus” is available on Spotify and iTunes. For easy access to their platforms visit their Facebook page or listen directly on their website.
