Ep 90: John Lombardo – Luzerne County Council on Politics, Long-Form Discourse & County Issues

[00:00:06 - 00:00:15] Speaker: Unknown
I'm right beside a hearts open fire will never tire. We gonna come fly.

[00:00:16 - 00:00:23] Speaker: Unknown
I will fly. Oh.

[00:00:23 - 00:00:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
I like to open. And you have water. You're good. Yeah, yeah. I like to. I like to start.

[00:00:29 - 00:00:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
I don't like to tell people when we start.

[00:00:31 - 00:00:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right now, that's fine. That was like what? Build it. Same thing. We were yapping about something.

[00:00:35 - 00:00:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, he's, I love the guy. Like, he's a really good guy. Yeah. And just like, over the last few weeks, like, as a bill, because we text a lot and, it is. And, you know, the crazy thing is, is like, he's probably right right now. He's probably right about a lot of stuff.

[00:00:54 - 00:01:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. Well, his his arc into what he has been discussing now has been pretty interesting over the last couple of months. And, hey, listen, like I said, you got to find your own way in what you believe in and how you, express it some people do it in a nuanced way that I think people can agree with.

[00:01:11 - 00:01:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Some people don't. So, hey, more power to him.

[00:01:15 - 00:01:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, he's he's.

[00:01:18 - 00:01:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
The great thing about.

[00:01:19 - 00:01:20] Speaker: Speaker 3
Him is that, like.

[00:01:20 - 00:01:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
Which I don't see a lot of people doing anymore is like, he's curious, and there's a lot of people who have in curiosity, so, like, whatever, like.

[00:01:29 - 00:01:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
The headline says or whatever, like the news says, they're like, that's the truth. And we know in our lives that there's many people around us that.

[00:01:37 - 00:01:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Aren't exactly always honest. Yep. You know, like, you can probably.

[00:01:40 - 00:01:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Count on one hand how many people you're like, man, I really trust that person.

[00:01:43 - 00:01:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, that's I think that's part of the reason why these long form podcasts are becoming way more popular and influential, even like in the presidential election. You know, Joe Rogan invited Kamala Harris onto the podcast. Yeah, she didn't go. Donald Trump went, Thielen invited Kamala Harris onto his podcast.

[00:01:59 - 00:01:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
They all did.

[00:01:59 - 00:02:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
They you know, Donald Trump went sorry JD Vance.

[00:02:02 - 00:02:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
She didn't I what do you think that is. Is that like a fear like because it's like it's like if you really believe what you believe. Right. And like no, it's perfect. You know.

[00:02:14 - 00:02:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Lord knows I am not at all. And there's a lot of crazy shit that I say, and probably.

[00:02:18 - 00:02:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
A lot of it is not the full truth. It's probably like in the direction. Right? You know, like the wind chimes blowing in the ballpark. Yeah, it might be, but I get some things wrong and it's like, you know, I hear a lot of conservative, people go, you know, we've invited all these people and they won't come talk to us.

[00:02:36 - 00:02:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. I think, on the Democratic side, it's about control, so.

[00:02:41 - 00:02:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I can hear it.

[00:02:42 - 00:02:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I think it's about controlling the narrative, only being able to ask certain questions, like, for example, same thing happened with, I think it was one of the dockworkers union or labor union for the whole country.

[00:02:52 - 00:02:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
The AfL-CIO, I think it was, yeah.

[00:02:54 - 00:03:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
That President Trump came. So did Kamala. And they told these guys, you can only ask Kamala these 5 or 6 questions, and they settle. All right. I guess that's what we'll do. That's not what we want to do, but we'll do it. And, they started asking the questions and after I think the second or third question, she said, okay, this interview's over.

[00:03:11 - 00:03:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
She left President Trump came, spoke for two hours with those guys. No script, no anything. Yeah. And, it was the first time in the history of the union, I think, that they endorsed them.

[00:03:20 - 00:03:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I mean, that's I mean, that seems like. And this is like when I'm having, like, this big like, and it's not like a necessarily political thing. There's a lot of people who are like that where they don't want to. It seems like they don't want to have to have discourse. Right. Polite discourse. Right. Whether or not like abortion is like a big one.

[00:03:41 - 00:03:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
And it's like, I just did a podcast with my buddy John Phillips, and he's like, you know, we.

[00:03:46 - 00:03:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
We don't see the world the same way on the right. Sure. But we're not like, fuck you, you know what I mean? Like, we're having an honest.

[00:03:52 - 00:03:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
Conversation about it.

[00:03:54 - 00:04:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it seems like that that there that because it's gone from political to like social groups right. Where it's like, well.

[00:04:02 - 00:04:07] Speaker: Speaker 3
Well, we can't have that person here because, you know, they'll they'll ask questions or they'll make people.

[00:04:07 - 00:04:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Feel uncomfortable or.

[00:04:09 - 00:04:11] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, one time they were like, I really don't think we should cut up kids.

[00:04:11 - 00:04:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
And you know what I mean? It's like, we can't invite that person. So is that like, like, in your.

[00:04:17 - 00:04:20] Speaker: Speaker 3
Estimation, is that like a.

[00:04:20 - 00:04:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
What is that like, what is it that it's like, we can't talk about things that we might disagree with because conversation allows us to understand the nuance of another person's perspective. Why why is there like this, this aversion to it?

[00:04:37 - 00:04:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think, you know, the first thing that comes to mind for me is how back in like the 50s and 60s, even my grandparents said it all the time that.

[00:04:45 - 00:04:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Religion, politics.

[00:04:46 - 00:05:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
Religion and politics, we won't talk about it at the dinner table. You know, we won't talk about it with our friends. Even my grandmother. I know she was a registered Republican. She would never, ever say who she voted for. When she went into the voting booth, she'd say, that's my vote, that's private. And I thought, well, I kind of respect that, actually.

[00:05:01 - 00:05:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
Did you.

[00:05:01 - 00:05:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Your Gene Simmons in the last week, what.

[00:05:03 - 00:05:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
You said I you know, I'm a huge Kiss fan. So when I saw those videos of him testifying was in front of Congress about the, the whatever the music act is that's being.

[00:05:11 - 00:05:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
Discussed right now. Yeah.

[00:05:12 - 00:05:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
But the royalties, he's great. I mean, he really is. And he's he's always had, I think a lot of those opinions.

[00:05:18 - 00:05:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
He's what he said on his Kennedy Center induction the other day, because my wife's.

[00:05:22 - 00:05:29] Speaker: Speaker 3
One of her best friends, is a huge Kiss fan, and she's like, because they are in variety, you know, Hollywood, you know, where I used to live.

[00:05:29 - 00:05:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Were asking him about his political opinions and he goes, he said something like, son of your fucking. Yes. Like we was. We used to walk into a voting booth, close the curtain, and no one knew who we voted for. When did that change?

[00:05:41 - 00:06:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, I can't speak for myself because I've always been outspoken politically. Yeah. And that's just been like my M.O. from day one. But I think for most, you know, ordinary people, I want to say right around the time the 24 hour news cycle came around, that's when people started to become a little bit more open about what their political views were.

[00:06:03 - 00:06:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
Because you know, back before that, you just had the news at 5:00, the news at 11, whatever. And when you came to having to fill 24 hours of news, then you have commentators, then you have, people inserting their opinions. So you might start talking about that around the watercooler, like, oh, what did Bill O'Reilly say on, on Fox News?

[00:06:26 - 00:06:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
What do you do? I wonder what a Rush Limbaugh say yesterday. So I think that's when, when things really started to, to take a turn.

[00:06:35 - 00:06:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
I have this philosophy that it was 911. I had this philosophy that there was no it was always like commercial breaks. Well, I have to, I have to I have two.

[00:06:44 - 00:06:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
Theories on it was 911 and the loss of daytime soap.

[00:06:46 - 00:06:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
Operas.

[00:06:47 - 00:06:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
Okay.

[00:06:48 - 00:06:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
911 because for days. And this was the thing that was like really like there was always that philosophy, like, if it bleeds, it leads, right? Yeah. Of course. So like.

[00:06:59 - 00:07:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
The most terrible thing would be like the top news story. And then you make your way to the water skiing. Squirrel.

[00:07:04 - 00:07:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
And when 9/11.

[00:07:06 - 00:07:06] Speaker: Speaker 3
Happened.

[00:07:07 - 00:07:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
It was so like culturally.

[00:07:10 - 00:07:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Traumatizing for everyone that they had no place to turn because there was no.

[00:07:14 - 00:07:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
Answers. Right? And they didn't know what to do.

[00:07:17 - 00:07:19] Speaker: Speaker 4
And it was in your face 20 470 my days and days on it.

[00:07:19 - 00:07:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like, like to watch that live. I remember, I remember where I was.

[00:07:23 - 00:07:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
I remember what I felt, I remember what I did the night before, I remember that I remember the night.

[00:07:27 - 00:07:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of 911.

[00:07:29 - 00:07:30] Speaker: Speaker 3


[00:07:30 - 00:07:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
But then for like years after that, you had like the red, orange, green. Yeah. That was based on nothing, right? Based on absolutely nothing. And then we found a way. And this is not like.

[00:07:41 - 00:07:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
Me blaming women or anything like that. It was just like there.

[00:07:44 - 00:07:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Was like when I was.

[00:07:46 - 00:07:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
Growing up, like my grandmother, you know, my mom, to some extent, my mom made me watch soap operas, but but they would talk about.

[00:07:52 - 00:07:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
The characters.

[00:07:52 - 00:07:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. What happened on all my Children last night?

[00:07:55 - 00:08:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it was every day was this new addition to this story of these fictional lives.

[00:08:00 - 00:08:02] Speaker: Speaker 3
And, you know, they started.

[00:08:02 - 00:08:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
To get rid.

[00:08:02 - 00:08:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
Of that. And my theory is, is that when it started to happen, everybody went over to CNN. MSNBC for.

[00:08:10 - 00:08:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sure, because we've now turn these.

[00:08:12 - 00:08:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Politicians into.

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Literal characters that you're.

[00:08:15 - 00:08:20] Speaker: Speaker 3
Watching and you're updating yourself on. And it's no different than like a daytime soap opera. And then.

[00:08:20 - 00:08:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
You start to believe.

[00:08:23 - 00:08:24] Speaker: Speaker 3
The narrative, not even the.

[00:08:24 - 00:08:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
Narrative, but the perception.

[00:08:26 - 00:08:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
And they behave like that, too. Yes, they and they reinforce it because they know that that's the only way they'll get on the news by reinforcing whatever that caricature is of them.

[00:08:36 - 00:08:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yes.

[00:08:36 - 00:08:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
And they have no shame in it. Which, hey, listen, if that's how you need to get your message across in today's day and age, I don't know that I fault you for it, but it doesn't make it right.

[00:08:45 - 00:08:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
When I, when I Covid really blew my brain and it was, the beginning of.

[00:08:52 - 00:08:56] Speaker: Speaker 3
October of 2020, I switched from Democrat to Republican.

[00:08:56 - 00:08:57] Speaker: Speaker 4
Okay.

[00:08:57 - 00:09:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
And within. It was like two days before the election, something like that.

[00:09:05 - 00:09:07] Speaker: Speaker 3
Eric Trump was in town.

[00:09:07 - 00:09:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yep. And he was speaking up, I believe it was, up in Dixon City. And I got a call to take photographs.

[00:09:14 - 00:09:24] Speaker: Speaker 3
In the private VIP behind. Right. And I was and I was waiting the whole time because I was a hardcore Democrat. I was waiting the whole time for, like, Uday or, say, Hussein.

[00:09:24 - 00:09:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like just this evil son of this evil dictator. And and I was like, you know what?

[00:09:30 - 00:09:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
Here's my opportunity to see, like, this guy in, like, with no cameras, with nothin, just to just to be who he is. And I can I could spot the words if I if they're going, if I'm going to see them.

[00:09:42 - 00:09:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
He was so kind, genuine, nice. I couldn't believe it. Yeah. And I'm and I'm looking around at my buddy and I'm like, yo, this is not the guy I expected. Like, what is.

[00:09:54 - 00:09:57] Speaker: Speaker 3
Going on here? My brain's getting broken. And then you go out.

[00:09:57 - 00:09:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
To the.

[00:09:57 - 00:09:59] Speaker: Speaker 3
To the, to the ballroom where everybody is.

[00:09:59 - 00:10:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
And he's like in the radical left. And I'm like, oh, there it is. There. Like there's there's like the TV show, it's on. But I understood, like, you want to energize people to, to to vote. But it was very bizarre.

[00:10:12 - 00:10:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
To me to be like, and I'm like.

[00:10:13 - 00:10:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, I lived.

[00:10:14 - 00:10:15] Speaker: Speaker 3
In Hollywood. I'm in.

[00:10:15 - 00:10:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
Media. Of course, that's what it is. Yeah.

[00:10:17 - 00:10:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's a little bit harder to do, I think on the local level where I am told, because I don't want to say something bad about somebody, that's my friend. You know, I have people that are friends on both sides of the aisle. Sure. And people that I work with on both sides of the aisle. So I don't want to say, oh, this person's a crazy, wacky liberal that believes we should be cutting the heads off of babies or things like that.

[00:10:36 - 00:10:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. So I typically try not to do that, but when you're that far removed from maybe the individual like Eric Trump versus like an AOC or somebody like that. Sure. You know, he could say whatever he wants about her because he doesn't even run in the same circles as she does.

[00:10:51 - 00:10:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
No.

[00:10:52 - 00:11:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
But, you know, I think that one of the other things that's interesting about, Donald Trump kind of coming onto the scene politically is he did change the landscape as far as how politicians behave, because a lot of times, you know, and I think that this is part of what we said before the Democratic Party, how they're very, controlling about what they say.

[00:11:12 - 00:11:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
If President Trump doesn't use a teleprompter, he doesn't write a speech. He just speaks from the heart. And more people are trying to emulate that. And I've noticed that even with our local congressman and other politicians, where they try and I do it to to be honest with you, I try not to. That's why I'm here today. I want to speak, you know, plainly, I don't want to try to sugarcoat anything.

[00:11:29 - 00:11:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
I know that.

[00:11:31 - 00:11:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'll never be elected again. You know, I think you're a good dude. I, I, you know, that's what that that's that's what seems to be the problem is we forgot, like, you know, I don't know if I don't know if Trump was the guy who allowed everybody to behave the way they behave. Because, like, you got to realize like the the.

[00:11:48 - 00:11:50] Speaker: Speaker 3
Founding of this country.

[00:11:50 - 00:11:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
Was much.

[00:11:50 - 00:11:52] Speaker: Speaker 3
More tumultuous.

[00:11:52 - 00:11:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
And.

[00:11:52 - 00:12:02] Speaker: Speaker 3
Much more like, aggressively indignant against, you know, you read some of the stuff like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson and stuff, and it's like, man, they were calling each other real bad names.

[00:12:02 - 00:12:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, I just think Trump I think that I think we got lulled. I think for.

[00:12:08 - 00:12:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
A few generations we got lulled into.

[00:12:10 - 00:12:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like this. I'm going to keep going back to.

[00:12:13 - 00:12:20] Speaker: Speaker 3
Perception because, you know, a lot of criticism of Trump is like, you know, he just doesn't behave like a president should behave. And it's like.

[00:12:20 - 00:12:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I know president I there's presidents that have shot people in duels. There's presidents that have slapped people in the. Yeah, like I don't I think the way that we're supposed.

[00:12:30 - 00:12:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be as a country is more like the.

[00:12:32 - 00:12:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Wild West.

[00:12:33 - 00:12:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Instead of like this dignified, you know, whatever it is. Because, because what is the dignity. There is none like when you're bombing kids in foreign countries. Where is the dignity. Yeah.

[00:12:43 - 00:12:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think back in the time of our country's founding. Yeah. While they may have behaved that way, calling each other names, like, I'll tell you, my favorite musical is Hamilton love that.

[00:12:56 - 00:12:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
Couldn't get into it.

[00:12:56 - 00:12:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, I think it's great.

[00:12:58 - 00:12:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
I really get into it.

[00:12:59 - 00:13:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
I'm not like a person that goes in to New York and I'll watch them. See them, but like, I'll watch like a, you know, a video or whatever, I'm sure. And, just in fact, it was during the pandemic, my girlfriend and I, we sat down, it was on Disney Plus. They put it on there and, we watched it, and I had there was one girl that I went to college with and it was the year that I graduated in 2015, the year that Hamilton came out.

[00:13:21 - 00:13:42] Speaker: Speaker 4
And she was obsessed with this, this musical. And I thought, oh, Alexander Hamilton, who cares? Yeah, yeah. And then I watched it and I thought, wow, this is actually a really interesting way to tell the story of the history of our country, at least its founding. Yeah. So while they may have been, you know, attacking each other and duels and things like that, they did have a lot of profound ideas that are still in existence today.

[00:13:42 - 00:13:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I think that's where, some of the idea of trying to be dignified is like, I'll bring up. So I listen to your podcast when you had one of my buddies, TJ Fitzgerald, on the podcast and, he said something he mentioned, he actually mentioned me specifically.

[00:13:58 - 00:13:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
He said, did he? Yeah, he.

[00:13:59 - 00:14:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Did. He said my name specifically. And he mentioned how I got mad at him because I'm the chair of county council. And I got mad at him because while he was speaking at a meeting, he cursed. He said like shit or something like, yeah, yeah. And listen, I'm a firefighter. Every other word out of my mouth is the F-word when I'm at work.

[00:14:16 - 00:14:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
But when I'm in that building, you're.

[00:14:18 - 00:14:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Also Italian.

[00:14:19 - 00:14:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
Also. Yeah, some Italian curse words, but, but when I'm in that building, when I'm running that meeting, there's a certain reverence for what's going on. For sure. And I feel like when you denigrate it by, behaving like that, you're sort of doing a disservice to, to to what you're trying to accomplish, I think.

[00:14:41 - 00:14:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I'm just to play devil's advocate. Sure. I think that, like most citizens, don't.

[00:14:47 - 00:14:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
Get elected to anything, a vast majority. And, you know, it's just like.

[00:14:53 - 00:14:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's just like football.

[00:14:54 - 00:14:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
You criticize a team, but once you're on the field, it's a totally different story. Yeah.

[00:14:58 - 00:15:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
I and like, here's the, here's like the.

[00:15:00 - 00:15:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Catch 22 with me where I agree with both sides is like, yes, I think it should be.

[00:15:04 - 00:15:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
Dignified. I think there should be.

[00:15:06 - 00:15:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, a polite discourse.

[00:15:08 - 00:15:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
But I also believe that you should be able to say whatever.

[00:15:11 - 00:15:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
You want to say in a situation like that. And that's like where, where it becomes like.

[00:15:18 - 00:15:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's an argument to be made that, that the people who go speak feel like the.

[00:15:22 - 00:15:25] Speaker: Speaker 3
Institution isn't dignified.

[00:15:25 - 00:15:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because of the perceived.

[00:15:27 - 00:15:30] Speaker: Speaker 3
Suffering that they may be, not like nobody's going to.

[00:15:30 - 00:15:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
Speak up. Most people don't go to speak.

[00:15:31 - 00:15:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
To council because they're praising.

[00:15:32 - 00:15:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Everybody's very.

[00:15:33 - 00:15:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
True.

[00:15:34 - 00:15:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
They're going there.

[00:15:34 - 00:15:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
To complain about something right?

[00:15:36 - 00:15:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
So they feel that they've.

[00:15:37 - 00:15:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Been wronged or an injustice has been served or whatever, and they're going most of the time because they have no other outlet and no one to listen to them.

[00:15:43 - 00:15:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sure. So people like TJ.

[00:15:46 - 00:15:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
I respect very much there are there are a few things that him and I don't see eye to eye on.

[00:15:51 - 00:15:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
But we still.

[00:15:52 - 00:15:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Maintain a friendship.

[00:15:54 - 00:15:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I think that that's the valuable.

[00:15:56 - 00:15:57] Speaker: Speaker 3
Thing because.

[00:15:57 - 00:16:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Look.

[00:16:02 - 00:16:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's the reason I believe.

[00:16:05 - 00:16:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
That the reason why let's talk about something like Nick Fuentes. Right. Very polarizing. Sure. But but the truth of the matter is, is that, like, I was listening to Glenn Greenwald last night, talk about him and it it.

[00:16:17 - 00:16:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Really it was on Piers.

[00:16:19 - 00:16:24] Speaker: Speaker 3
Morgan. And I saw piers even go like, oh, shit, you're right about what he was saying and what.

[00:16:24 - 00:16:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
Piers and what what Glenn Greenwald.

[00:16:25 - 00:16:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Says. He goes, number one, I have no issue with anybody talking to anybody because we have interviewed people who have bombed innocent children in Vietnam, World War Two, Iraq, and we treat them all with dignity and respect, and we don't castigate them the way that you guys do this kid.

[00:16:43 - 00:16:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
But also, it's a.

[00:16:44 - 00:17:00] Speaker: Speaker 3
Generational thing because that kid grew up during the financial crisis. Being told that you can't say these words, you can't do these things. It's impolite or it's rude or or it's anti-Semitic or it's racist or whatever. And the thing that, like I try telling Republicans now because like.

[00:17:00 - 00:17:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
They'll or Nick Fuentes is I'm like, people are tuning.

[00:17:04 - 00:17:07] Speaker: Speaker 3
Into him the way they used to tune into Howard Stern being like, oh, I want to see what he says next.

[00:17:07 - 00:17:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sure, they're tuning in because they agree with.

[00:17:10 - 00:17:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
The grievances.

[00:17:12 - 00:17:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
And that's the future. And if you're not going to communicate.

[00:17:16 - 00:17:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
With the next generation and tell them that they're all wrong.

[00:17:19 - 00:17:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
You're proving their gripes. Correct. And that's a big concern, you know, about whatever it is.

[00:17:26 - 00:17:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Moving forward if we want to keep this country.

[00:17:28 - 00:17:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Together. So I think like to your point about like TJ.

[00:17:33 - 00:17:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Is, is that like, I think his heart's in the right place. I just think that he looks at.

[00:17:40 - 00:17:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I might be totally.

[00:17:41 - 00:17:50] Speaker: Speaker 3
Making this up. And this is not what he believes, but I think he thinks that the machine is broke and like the Phoenix, it needs to burn and then rise again from the ashes.

[00:17:50 - 00:17:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I don't think he cares. Look, he's he's a Republican. Used to be a D, just like me.

[00:17:57 - 00:18:02] Speaker: Speaker 3
I believe in the tenants of the NEP Republicans, which is like free speech.

[00:18:02 - 00:18:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
So do I.

[00:18:03 - 00:18:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Second Amendment.

[00:18:04 - 00:18:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
First Amendment, First Amendment, Second Amendment.

[00:18:06 - 00:18:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
And then rental rights, parental rights, functioning.

[00:18:09 - 00:18:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
Government in government and.

[00:18:10 - 00:18:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
In closed borders.

[00:18:11 - 00:18:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
Closed borders. And I think.

[00:18:12 - 00:18:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
It was only five.

[00:18:13 - 00:18:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
Election integrity.

[00:18:14 - 00:18:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Election integrity.

[00:18:14 - 00:18:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yes. The other one.

[00:18:15 - 00:18:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Those are things that like.

[00:18:16 - 00:18:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
I agree.

[00:18:17 - 00:18:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
With the Republican.

[00:18:18 - 00:18:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, and I've said this, Tim, before because I'll tell you, I not to belabor the point about him specifically, but let's just make it.

[00:18:27 - 00:18:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
This is all about you.

[00:18:29 - 00:18:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, I have said to him many times, you know, you have these these five absolutes. And I consider myself somebody who tries really hard to abide by those five absolutes, not because they're your absolutes, but because they're five things I agree with. And I can't really think of a time where I specifically have, you know, tried to, tried to stifle anybody or tried to, I mean, I'm certainly pro-second amendment I member of the NRA.

[00:18:56 - 00:19:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
You have guns like, fine with that, election integrity. I believe in election integrity, just like everybody else. And I'm, you know, worried about where we go with Mail-In ballots and things like that. So, you know, we have to have certain protections, but there's only so much that you can do from a local level. And I think that that's where the disconnect starts to happen is.

[00:19:14 - 00:19:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Where where people think that there's there's that you at the local level.

[00:19:19 - 00:19:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
There's more power bestowed than there really is. Yeah.

[00:19:21 - 00:19:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. I mean, if I'm, you know, if I want to make a stink about something and be loud and obnoxious, I can do that. But is that going to actually do anything? Is it going to change anything? Now, what will change something is flipping one of our state House seats from Democrat to Republican, because there's only a one seat majority of Democrats in the state House right now flipping that seat from Democrat and Republican will then allow us to start trying to pass legislation or fix legislation with our election loss, because they're totally broken in the state.

[00:19:51 - 00:19:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
You electing a new government.

[00:19:52 - 00:19:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
You feel that that the.

[00:19:53 - 00:19:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Election laws are.

[00:19:54 - 00:19:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. Oh, totally.

[00:19:56 - 00:19:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
Totally my way.

[00:19:57 - 00:20:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
So, for example, I think you can request a mail in ballot up to 7 or 8 days before the election. But the way the Postal Service is, you're not going to get that mail in ballot no matter how you request it. Where are you?

[00:20:07 - 00:20:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do I do political campaigns?

[00:20:09 - 00:20:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yeah. And the mail piece went out.

[00:20:10 - 00:20:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
To the to the to the.

[00:20:12 - 00:20:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Post office in time.

[00:20:14 - 00:20:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it didn't come out until four days until after the election.

[00:20:18 - 00:20:25] Speaker: Speaker 4
We had similar situation happened twice with our mail system this past election cycle. One of these mail pieces.

[00:20:25 - 00:20:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Seemed to always have problems down in Luzerne.

[00:20:27 - 00:20:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
County. Well, it's the mail. It's the mail system, not the election system, but the election system. You know, I think that, things are getting better there, but, for several years, it was a lot of high turnover in our, in our county government, both in the top leadership positions and all the way down to the elections. Director.

[00:20:43 - 00:20:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
We've had like five elections director, our elections director since I've been on county council.

[00:20:49 - 00:20:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
Since 2022.

[00:20:50 - 00:20:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
Since 2022, we've had, I think, 4 or 5 elections directors.

[00:20:54 - 00:20:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, isn't there like, practices and procedures, like behind the scenes on like, here's how we run an election.

[00:20:59 - 00:21:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
So to some.

[00:21:02 - 00:21:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Question because I'm ignorant.

[00:21:03 - 00:21:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, to some extent, yes. There is you know, things that come down from the state, but a lot of the election, you know, is run locally. So,

[00:21:12 - 00:21:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, even the national ones, it's local people run them.

[00:21:15 - 00:21:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
So, so like if there's a checklist that one elections director has, it says, okay, we have to have this ballot proofed by October 1st. We have to have this machine serviced by September 30th. We have to have this other thing done by, you know, August. And when that election director leaves, typically all of that information just gets lost with them.

[00:21:36 - 00:21:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
So we now have.

[00:21:37 - 00:21:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
Something.

[00:21:38 - 00:21:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
That has happened in the past. Now, more recently with our more recent elections director that we have currently, they have been putting into place practices that will transcend any administration, any department head division had. So they'll always have that information with them.

[00:21:53 - 00:21:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
So, so as an as an ignorant person, why was why wasn't that in place 40 years ago?

[00:21:59 - 00:22:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
Good question. I have no.

[00:22:00 - 00:22:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Idea. Okay, go. Good. I couldn't.

[00:22:02 - 00:22:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
Tell you.

[00:22:02 - 00:22:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
At least you don't know.

[00:22:02 - 00:22:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
We couldn't tell you.

[00:22:04 - 00:22:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I mean, like, I've talked to people like you always hear the criticisms about the elections in Luzerne County, and you're like, what do you mean there's no ballots there at the polling place?

[00:22:12 - 00:22:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Totally fair, totally fair criticisms. I think like.

[00:22:15 - 00:22:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like regardless of practices and procedures that like, well, it's just a precinct have paper.

[00:22:20 - 00:22:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, it's just like part of a part of a checklist, part of a system that okay, am I going to check every single machine myself? Is somebody else going to do it? Who's responsible for it? And what amount of paper is the right amount of paper? Is it is emergency ballots. Is it one ballot for every potential voter?

[00:22:37 - 00:22:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
So if there's a thousand potential voters at a at a precinct, do you have a thousand emergency ballots? I mean, I think the answer would be yes, but maybe they would say no, it's only 10% because what's you know, we only typically get 2% of people that will have an emergency, that will require an emergency ballot.

[00:22:54 - 00:23:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. But it's just it's it's like who okay. As an ignoramus, what is the org chart?

[00:23:04 - 00:23:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
Between elected officials either like on the I'm assuming it's because it's a county wide. Yeah. Voting system.

[00:23:12 - 00:23:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
What is the org chart.

[00:23:14 - 00:23:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
On the responsible.

[00:23:14 - 00:23:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like who oversees the.

[00:23:16 - 00:23:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Election department?

[00:23:18 - 00:23:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
So the election department is overseen by the elections director, who is the department head.

[00:23:22 - 00:23:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
And that's that's not an elected position. That's not an appointed position.

[00:23:25 - 00:23:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's a that's a hired position, not appointed. Yeah. It's a counselor or anything like that. Now, I'll tell you, like our county manager does come to us and says, hey, I'm hiring this person as the elections director.

[00:23:35 - 00:23:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
And that's what do they say? Is there a vetting process? There's a oh, yeah.

[00:23:38 - 00:23:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
There's a there's no there's a hiring process and there's, you know, qualifications that you should have.

[00:23:43 - 00:23:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm hiring Pete for my.

[00:23:45 - 00:23:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Exact.

[00:23:45 - 00:23:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
Street.

[00:23:47 - 00:24:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
But so they have those processes in place. And then above the elections director is the division head would be the administrative services division that they would oversee all their aspects. And then above them is the county manager who oversees the day to day operations of the entire county. And then above that person is county council.

[00:24:05 - 00:24:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
But council, because of our home rule charter, our home rule system, we're not allowed to make the jump from county manager to elections director. And so, in.

[00:24:17 - 00:24:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Other words, it's like the board of directors is not allowed. We're not the night manager.

[00:24:20 - 00:24:25] Speaker: Speaker 4
We can't go and and try to tell somebody how to do the day to day operations.

[00:24:25 - 00:24:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's that law.

[00:24:26 - 00:24:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yep. That's our that's what our county charter says. That and that all stems from the, you know, corruption scandals from 2008. And obviously that type of stuff was going on for decades and decades prior. But because of that.

[00:24:40 - 00:24:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
We just love on the job.

[00:24:42 - 00:24:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
I know it's listen.

[00:24:44 - 00:24:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's like you get into a place and you're like, oh, this has been going out for a while.

[00:24:47 - 00:24:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, well, it was, it was. And then once we reformed and have the Home Rule charter, we haven't had any of that since. I mean, we have all these rigid, you know, like rigid, rigid guide guardrails in place.

[00:24:59 - 00:25:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like, not to belabor the.

[00:25:00 - 00:25:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
Point about the election stuff, because I know that, like, there's a lot of people who like, on both sides, don't trust the elections.

[00:25:08 - 00:25:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Regardless.

[00:25:09 - 00:25:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
On whether or not there's some sort of election supervisor or whatever in that org chart, like.

[00:25:13 - 00:25:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Below. And above are the people who.

[00:25:16 - 00:25:23] Speaker: Speaker 3
Should be like, hey, we don't have the person that's supposed to do this right now, but make sure all your eyes are dotted and your teaser crossed.

[00:25:23 - 00:25:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it because because like for the amount of.

[00:25:29 - 00:25:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
Mistakes that have happened over the last few years.

[00:25:32 - 00:25:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
You'd figure that like every.

[00:25:34 - 00:25:35] Speaker: Speaker 3
Election day, we're.

[00:25:35 - 00:25:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like, did we forget anything. Like, do we do everything that we're supposed.

[00:25:40 - 00:25:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be doing?

[00:25:41 - 00:25:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like is, is is there a do we send a thousand ballots.

[00:25:44 - 00:25:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
There a thousand ballots there? Is there enough ink in the whatevers? Is there enough?

[00:25:48 - 00:25:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know what I mean? Like, I just don't like because if it was a corporation, somebody would be like, everybody's fired.

[00:25:54 - 00:26:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? I'll give you a good example. So for like every year my girlfriend and I go on vacation with my family and it's like a week long vacation. We go down to Myrtle Beach, and she always has a packing list, like a checklist of everything that she should be packing me. I pack the night before. Boom.

[00:26:10 - 00:26:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
Everything you need to say.

[00:26:11 - 00:26:25] Speaker: Speaker 4
And guess what? I always forget something. She always yells at me. I always say, you're right, honey. So that's kind of the difference between like, once one elections director and another one. But, I'm sorry, what was your question again? Your initial question.

[00:26:25 - 00:26:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
How does it like, why is there if you don't have an elections director.

[00:26:29 - 00:26:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
Why is it not that like the checks and balances are there to.

[00:26:33 - 00:26:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
To basically like cover your ass as, as a county. Yeah. To be like, we can't afford this.

[00:26:38 - 00:26:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
Criticism, so let's get it right.

[00:26:40 - 00:26:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
I mean, like up here.

[00:26:41 - 00:26:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
We had, I don't know if this is one of it's not breaking news. The other one might be.

[00:26:48 - 00:26:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
We had in Lackawanna.

[00:26:50 - 00:26:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
County last election, there were more Republicans on the ballot for judge of.

[00:26:53 - 00:26:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
Elections than.

[00:26:54 - 00:26:59] Speaker: Speaker 3
Ever before. So there's never been as many Republicans on the ballot as in the last election. That's great. As far as.

[00:26:59 - 00:27:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
By the way, that's great.

[00:27:01 - 00:27:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. And then you had in precincts judge of elections, either there or.

[00:27:08 - 00:27:11] Speaker: Speaker 3
Wanting to be there writing their own names on the ballots.

[00:27:11 - 00:27:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. Okay.

[00:27:12 - 00:27:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
I don't know if you heard about this.

[00:27:13 - 00:27:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yes, yes. Okay.

[00:27:15 - 00:27:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
So Rob O'Donnell's been kind of a dog on a bone on this, and I don't know if he's necessarily incorrect on it.

[00:27:23 - 00:27:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
So we don't think.

[00:27:24 - 00:27:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Of it as an isolated incident. I have a family member.

[00:27:28 - 00:27:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
Who saw the Rob O'Donnell.

[00:27:29 - 00:27:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
Dog on a bone thing and called me and was like, you know, I was in Clark Summit in South Abington and the judge of elections did that there. And I'm like, did you tell anybody? Did anybody know? And he's like, nope.

[00:27:42 - 00:27:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I'm like okay. So like more than once is a pattern. And how many more did it happen.

[00:27:50 - 00:28:00] Speaker: Speaker 3
And nobody says anything. Like my biggest concern is like as far as like elections go. Right. And I think I'm speaking for a bunch. I'm not speaking for people. I this seems like to be the concerns that a lot of people have.

[00:28:00 - 00:28:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
So in our primary, we had a city.

[00:28:04 - 00:28:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Council candidate who.

[00:28:09 - 00:28:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
Forged his petition.

[00:28:11 - 00:28:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
Papers.

[00:28:12 - 00:28:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
Sure.

[00:28:13 - 00:28:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Now you can argue through malice or ignorance. Either way, it's not good. And one of the questions that I kept asking either either candidates in the races or current elected officials, I'm like.

[00:28:27 - 00:28:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Who checks the petitions to see if they're legit?

[00:28:30 - 00:28:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
And they're like, well, the candidates do.

[00:28:32 - 00:28:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it's like, yeah, so how many? Which I'm just asking, like, I get curious about this and I go, well, how many people have we elected that we probably shouldn't have elected who got their petitions.

[00:28:45 - 00:28:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
In in a.

[00:28:45 - 00:28:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Fraudulent way?

[00:28:46 - 00:29:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
So there was I'll tell you, two years ago, there was an allegation that one of our county council candidates who was successful, did that where they forged multiple signatures. And, the person that brought it up was one of the council candidates that wasn't successful. That ended up losing in the general election. Right. But there's there is a prescribed time limit when you're allowed to like a statute of limitations, when you were allowed to bring all of that up.

[00:29:08 - 00:29:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
So it is unfortunately, because of state law, it is incumbent upon the candidates or citizen to go there and inspect the election petitions for each candidate. No, I'm not saying whether that candidate did, did, or did not do it. I didn't see the petitions.

[00:29:22 - 00:29:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
No, you're not just an accusation.

[00:29:24 - 00:29:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
The election happened. It was past the time, you know, I the person was asking me if I would, you know, help with this. And I said, there's nothing really you could do. You you past your window with the windows closed. Yeah. So unfortunately it is incumbent upon either another candidate or, just a citizen to go do that.

[00:29:40 - 00:29:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's just that's just one of those things with state law where that's what the that's what the judge and jury is. Now the elections Bureau, I think in every county is supposed to go. And I mean, they do it very quickly. At least they have every time that I've run for like.

[00:29:55 - 00:29:55] Speaker: Speaker 2
A spot check.

[00:29:55 - 00:30:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's a spot check. Works just like, okay, do you have this, this, this this this. Oh, you're missing a date. Here. Cross that one off. Always this dates outside of the time. They're supposed to do all of that. Now, how many petitions do they handle? How many actual signatures do they have to look at? You know, that's the type of stuff that they're looking for.

[00:30:11 - 00:30:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
They're not necessarily looking for. Oh, this person looks like they have the same handwriting as this person, or this person looks like they do whatever. The same that doesn't I don't think that happens as much as is it. It's it's not incumbent upon the elections Bureau to do that. It's incumbent upon the candidates to do that.

[00:30:26 - 00:30:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I bring it up because it's curious to me that we have all these checks and balances for the elections, but we don't have all the checks and balances for the petitions.

[00:30:32 - 00:30:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? Right. It is. It's curious, like you said, like it definitely is. It's something that should be reformed.

[00:30:38 - 00:30:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
I wonder if there's a way.

[00:30:41 - 00:30:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Well, I don't wonder. I know that there is a way.

[00:30:43 - 00:30:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Where you can actually scan.

[00:30:45 - 00:30:47] Speaker: Speaker 3
And cross-reference using.

[00:30:47 - 00:30:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
I okay, to look.

[00:30:49 - 00:30:50] Speaker: Speaker 3
At all those petitions to.

[00:30:50 - 00:30:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
See just as long as they're like, you want to know that the legitimate, you know, does such and such live at this address? I don't agree.

[00:30:57 - 00:31:02] Speaker: Speaker 3
With the petition stuff. Where like if your name on your driver's license, Steven, and you sign Steve, it should be crossed off.

[00:31:02 - 00:31:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, again, that's something that they would only find out if somebody inspected the petition. Yeah. So, you know, this is something that I always hundreds.

[00:31:10 - 00:31:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of thousands of people. Josh. Yeah.

[00:31:12 - 00:31:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well that's why I always encourage members of the public, if you want to check out my petition, go ahead, check it out. If you want to go and check out one of the Democrat petitions, go ahead. Go check it out.

[00:31:20 - 00:31:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
I would be in favor. I don't know if this will ever happen, but I would be in favor of like, there's no such.

[00:31:25 - 00:31:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Thing as bipartisan unless you like you totally hate the government.

[00:31:28 - 00:31:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
But like some bipartisan thing that's like, you know, turn your petitions in, we get copies.

[00:31:34 - 00:31:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
We've at them within the window.

[00:31:37 - 00:31:37] Speaker: Speaker 2


[00:31:38 - 00:31:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
Whether through AI or whatever. And you have, you know, here's, here's, here's your mode on how you do it. Here's your Crawford cross-references on what you use, blah blah blah. Turn that in and you say, hey.

[00:31:48 - 00:31:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
We think that these 12.

[00:31:50 - 00:31:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
Or this whoever whoever the witnesses, we don't think that they're legitimate. Here's our reasons.

[00:31:55 - 00:32:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Why it's up to you to pursue it. I don't know if that's such a bad move. And,

[00:32:02 - 00:32:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Obviously I would.

[00:32:03 - 00:32:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do it. I would say it at no cost to.

[00:32:05 - 00:32:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, the taxpayers. It's just a bunch of volunteers who are trying to be honest and keep everybody honest.

[00:32:10 - 00:32:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
I just don't know. It was just one of the things that I realized over, like the last.

[00:32:13 - 00:32:15] Speaker: Speaker 3
6 or 7 months where I was like, wait.

[00:32:15 - 00:32:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
Nobody? Well, yeah, it's happened. It's happening here. So you you kind of have said, okay, this actually could be a problem. And you might not know that it's potentially a problem. And I don't even know how many people, you know, even know that that allegations surfaced on in Luzerne County. I don't remember if it was even reported in the paper.

[00:32:29 - 00:32:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
It might have been, you know, halfway down a story or something. And again, not saying that that person did it or didn't do it because there's really no point in figuring it out. But, you know, like, this is this is where people that want to participate in the process and they want to get involved. It's a great place to start, right?

[00:32:45 - 00:32:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
Go and check out those petitions. I don't think anybody did that for our election, my election cycle this past year, I wish they did. Again, not suggesting that anybody did did, but I wish that they did because I'd have a little more peace of mind knowing that everybody you know was above board.

[00:32:58 - 00:33:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's a lot of people, I think, who want to do it. But the crazy thing is, is like, if you go ask for the petitions, like by the time you leave the office, everyone knows that you went down and asked for the petitions. You know what it means. So it's like.

[00:33:09 - 00:33:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
Especially if you're a fellow elected official.

[00:33:11 - 00:33:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, yeah, there's like a fear. There's a fear of like, that's why I was like, we should do.

[00:33:15 - 00:33:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
Something independent, which means it has nothing to do with candidates or anybody trying to screw.

[00:33:19 - 00:33:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
Anybody or whatever. It's just it just is what it is, and it keeps it. It keeps the process honest. Yeah. You know, and I don't know.

[00:33:26 - 00:33:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
I don't know if I if it's just me bringing this up and no one's ever thought of this, or I can't believe I'm the only person that's ever thought of this.

[00:33:32 - 00:33:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think it's a good idea. I agree with you 100%.

[00:33:35 - 00:33:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
Why did you get into politics? Are you a psycho.

[00:33:38 - 00:33:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
A little bit, no. My family has had a lot of involvement in politics for a long time. We're just really service to the community. And when I was young, I told you, 32.

[00:33:49 - 00:33:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
While you're. You're a pup. Yeah.

[00:33:50 - 00:33:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
So. And I think.

[00:33:51 - 00:33:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
You feel good for you jumping into the lion's den.

[00:33:53 - 00:34:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Funny enough, I've been active in politics for, like, probably almost 20 years. Meaning I started doing this when I was about 12. I mean, I really I went out and started knocking on doors for candidates and things like that before I could even drive a car.

[00:34:05 - 00:34:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
I've been paying attention to politics.

[00:34:06 - 00:34:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
And Michael Dukakis got in tank. Yep, yep. So he's been paying attention.

[00:34:10 - 00:34:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's great. Great picture.

[00:34:12 - 00:34:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
So what? So what was it? What was the thing? It was like. Like, there's a lot of people. There's a lot of.

[00:34:18 - 00:34:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Reasons why people have, like, these connections with politics. Right? And like you said before it, religion or politics, don't talk about them like you jumped into the belly of the beast at a young age. I think I did to some degree to.

[00:34:28 - 00:34:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
What was the like?

[00:34:29 - 00:34:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
What's the motivation for that?

[00:34:31 - 00:34:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
So like, yeah.

[00:34:32 - 00:34:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean, like I said, my family has a history of community service, because politics is my full time job and my full time job. I'm a firefighter. Yeah. And my family has a history in that, too. So, you know, everything that I've done has really just been trying to serve the community. My uncle, who's the mayor of Pittston, Mike Lombardo.

[00:34:50 - 00:34:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh. That's your.

[00:34:50 - 00:34:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Uncle? Yeah, he's crushing Pittston, man.

[00:34:52 - 00:35:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's great. It's it's such a great that you've been to the refinery. Yeah, I have been. How many times? Several times. Several times. It's hard to get a reservation there.

[00:35:00 - 00:35:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
I, I was very fortunate. I've gone twice, and it was the first time my cousin's like, hey, you want to go Wednesday? And I'm like, can we go Wednesday? He's like.

[00:35:08 - 00:35:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yes, we can go Wednesday.

[00:35:09 - 00:35:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
There you go. And he made.

[00:35:10 - 00:35:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
A phone call and we got in Wednesday. And it was, it was it was delicious. Yeah, it was amazing.

[00:35:14 - 00:35:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
The food is good. It's it's definitely like some old world Italian style cooking, but also more refined, like things you'd see at like Michelin star restaurants too.

[00:35:23 - 00:35:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, I love it, I love that most of it is that like, bought it?

[00:35:28 - 00:35:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, yeah.

[00:35:30 - 00:35:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
Fucking Walmart. Yeah. You know, it's like I think they do. They make their own pasta.

[00:35:34 - 00:35:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
They make everything. They're homemade. Yeah.

[00:35:35 - 00:35:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
All right, so your dad's your uncle down there?

[00:35:37 - 00:35:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
My uncle Mike.

[00:35:38 - 00:35:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[00:35:38 - 00:35:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
So yeah, he's the mayor and he's always attracting new.

[00:35:41 - 00:35:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
But he's a D, right?

[00:35:42 - 00:35:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
He's a registered Democrat.

[00:35:43 - 00:35:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
Doing a good job.

[00:35:44 - 00:36:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
And he's not afraid to tell people that he doesn't really identify necessarily with the Democratic Party on a lot of issues. So I think that's what makes him really well-respected amongst everybody. And really, the results speak for themselves when it comes to him. I mean, he's, you know, over the last 30 years just been toiling away at trying to make the city of Pittston a better place to live and work and raise a family.

[00:36:05 - 00:36:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I mean, by and large, that, you know, over the last probably decade has really flourished and really has all of the things that are going on now in Pittston. And he'll tell you this himself are all ideas he's had in his head since like 1995, 1997, when he first got involved. They're all things that are just, you know, all right, build this block up, build this building up.

[00:36:26 - 00:36:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, repave the sidewalks, get some new lighting downtown and and then everything. One day it just was like, I'll never forget there was one day I'm just, like, walking down the street, maybe like 2013 or 14, and I just go, I think I have a picture of it, actually. And I just go.

[00:36:40 - 00:36:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Wow.

[00:36:41 - 00:36:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
This is great. And, I posted it on Facebook and one of my cousins wrote, it was hysterical. He goes, those damn Lombardo's because there's, you know, a small contingent of people that didn't like my uncle for whatever reason. And,

[00:36:55 - 00:36:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
You can't please all the.

[00:36:56 - 00:37:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
People. No, and that's fine. That's that's understandable. But again, the results speak for themselves. So.

[00:37:02 - 00:37:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Was that so? How did you how did you go from, like, firefighting to belly of the beast?

[00:37:09 - 00:37:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, so politics I was always actively involved in politics before I got involved in emergency services. But I was actually. So I was, let's see, I was, I, I started working as an EMT in 2012. And.

[00:37:28 - 00:37:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's so brutal. Yeah.

[00:37:30 - 00:37:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, that was it was, you know, it was a way to make extra money when I was in college and back in 2012, it wasn't like it is now. Like, if you watch, like, what's that.

[00:37:38 - 00:37:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
All and stuff?

[00:37:38 - 00:37:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. We had a little bit of that at the time, but not as much as it was over the last, probably 5 or 6 years, towards the end of my, my full time career working in the ambulance. And I stopped working there and switched careers to become a firefighter in, 2020 during Covid. I got hired at the at the end of 2020.

[00:37:53 - 00:38:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
So, it was a good transition. I was very happy. Not to say I didn't enjoy my time, working, but it was I needed I needed a break. I needed a change because I was I was totally burnt out, especially from that last year, having to see the things that we had to see, watch the, you know, the issues with during the.

[00:38:09 - 00:38:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Covid.

[00:38:09 - 00:38:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
Year. It was it was it was horrendous. It was terrible.

[00:38:12 - 00:38:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Are you allowed to speak about. Yeah.

[00:38:14 - 00:38:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I talked about. So you know.

[00:38:17 - 00:38:21] Speaker: Speaker 2
I, I know what I heard and saw, but I want to see if it matches up because I don't think, I.

[00:38:21 - 00:38:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
Don't think what I heard and saw.

[00:38:22 - 00:38:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
Was what I was.

[00:38:24 - 00:38:25] Speaker: Speaker 3
Told. I heard and saw. Yeah.

[00:38:25 - 00:38:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I I definitely have like kind of a dual perspective on this as somebody that's always been active in politics and, you know, watching, you know, people try to succeed in small business and things like that. I really had a problem with, the government being shut down and, and not the government, but the country being shut down for that extended period of time.

[00:38:44 - 00:38:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
I mean, the unconstitutional. Right. Shutting down.

[00:38:47 - 00:38:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
The two weeks to flatten the mandates turned into two months to flatten the curve, which turned into two years to flatten, you know, like.

[00:38:53 - 00:38:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
I, I but all of us who were talking about it are crazy, right.

[00:38:56 - 00:39:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, so here's where I sort of diverge a little bit from that. Yeah. Is that when it first started coming on the scene in January, February, March of 2020, when the, when the country got shut down, I'll never forget Pittston was actually the last town that had a Saint Patty's Day parade that year. They were the last ones Scranton canceled theirs.

[00:39:16 - 00:39:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Not true. Go ahead. So Scranton did cancel theirs, but they had the party.

[00:39:20 - 00:39:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
They still had the party.

[00:39:21 - 00:39:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I went to the party.

[00:39:22 - 00:39:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's right. Yeah, yeah. Where was the party?

[00:39:23 - 00:39:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
It was everywhere. Was all over Scranton. Right. So, like, they stopped the parade. They postponed the parade.

[00:39:27 - 00:39:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. And then.

[00:39:28 - 00:39:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
But all the bars stayed open.

[00:39:29 - 00:39:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yep. That is accurate.

[00:39:30 - 00:39:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I remember and I was terrified of.

[00:39:32 - 00:39:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Covid at the beginning. And I went and I went to the one I was at the Red cross and race, and I forget the name of it. Whatever it was, it was like they used to be like, oh.

[00:39:39 - 00:39:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
Kildare's.

[00:39:39 - 00:39:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Kildare.

[00:39:40 - 00:39:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right.

[00:39:41 - 00:39:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
And and for some.

[00:39:43 - 00:39:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
Reason I'm like.

[00:39:44 - 00:39:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, we have like it was a joke. But then I was.

[00:39:47 - 00:39:52] Speaker: Speaker 3
Standing on top and I was and I don't drink. And I went to meet a buddy there and I remember thinking to myself, like.

[00:39:52 - 00:39:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
Why did I do this? Why am I here?

[00:39:54 - 00:39:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right?

[00:39:55 - 00:39:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like, why? Why would I put myself at risk or my wife at risk or my family at risk?

[00:39:59 - 00:40:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
And yeah, you know, needless to say, like three weeks later.

[00:40:03 - 00:40:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
I was like, yeah, oh, I had every right to be there and this is all bullshit and blah, blah, blah. So. All right, I didn't mean interrupt you.

[00:40:10 - 00:40:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, no. So so where I diverge.

[00:40:12 - 00:40:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
A little, the last, say, Patrick's.

[00:40:13 - 00:40:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Day. Yeah. The last official like the party happened, I was I was it it's a joke, but, but as we, we moved into that whole time of the two weeks to flatten the curve, I still was working. So I'm there literally on the front line, seeing the people as we're bringing them into the hospital. Hospitals. Totally. I mean, they did the best job that they could.

[00:40:32 - 00:40:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
They really did. But there there were a lot of people that were coming in that had Covid, that had the cases. But I'll tell you, you know, it was mostly people that had comorbidities, people that were extremely overweight, people that had COPD, people that had asthma, people that had heart problems, you know, stuff like that. So so I think that the the lack of, of concern for our, just our general health in America is kind of what made Covid what it was.

[00:40:58 - 00:41:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I don't really have this this thought in my mind where it was like a conspiracy. It didn't really exist. There's some people that believe that. But, because because I saw it, it was very real.

[00:41:08 - 00:41:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, what it was. Yeah, but it was the first time in our lives where doctors wouldn't treat patients.

[00:41:14 - 00:41:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yes, that is accurate.

[00:41:16 - 00:41:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
So so this is this is like, what what would you call this? So I, I ran.

[00:41:23 - 00:41:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Like, this quiz on people.

[00:41:27 - 00:41:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
How many people a.

[00:41:28 - 00:41:29] Speaker: Speaker 3
Year die from the.

[00:41:29 - 00:41:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Flu? Do you know this? Annually, on average.

[00:41:33 - 00:41:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
I want to say it's like 100. Some thousand.

[00:41:35 - 00:41:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's 40.

[00:41:35 - 00:41:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
Some thousand. 70 some thousand. Right.

[00:41:38 - 00:41:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
How many people a year are.

[00:41:39 - 00:41:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
Diagnosed with the flu? Like they actually run a test and diagnose people in the United States?

[00:41:44 - 00:41:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Not sure.

[00:41:45 - 00:41:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
Over 50 million. Okay. Right. So there's 50 million people per year who get the flu. Between 40 some thousand and 70, some thousand on.

[00:41:51 - 00:41:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Average who die. Those are people who die that are treated. What happens when you stop.

[00:41:59 - 00:42:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Treating the people who test positive for a respiratory illness such as the.

[00:42:03 - 00:42:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
Flu. Like you can't go.

[00:42:06 - 00:42:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
To see your doctor. The hospitals aren't admitting you. They're telling you to stay home to your till you turn blue.

[00:42:12 - 00:42:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
You have the.

[00:42:12 - 00:42:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
Fear and the anxiety of that which causes other problems in the body. And then all of a sudden, like, you start to realize, like.

[00:42:20 - 00:42:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's pretty damaging to do that.

[00:42:22 - 00:42:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
And I'm not saying that you have any part. Yeah. Of that because, you know, your, your sole responsibility is to get people.

[00:42:28 - 00:42:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
To help.

[00:42:29 - 00:42:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? Get people to the hospital.

[00:42:30 - 00:42:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? I mean, did you ever question that because that year there was zero flu deaths?

[00:42:36 - 00:42:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
So.

[00:42:37 - 00:42:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Isn't that straight? Like, just if we don't know anything about Covid and we.

[00:42:40 - 00:42:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
Just knew those numbers.

[00:42:41 - 00:42:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
Wouldn't wouldn't you say that that's a signal of something weird.

[00:42:44 - 00:43:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I'll tell you the thing that I did have an issue with, and it had nothing to do with what the ERS were doing, what the hospitals were doing. I think that because we were in such a unprepared state, that it was just kind of like everyone wants, say, every man for himself. But there were a lot of it was there was a lot of just trying to do things on the fly.

[00:43:02 - 00:43:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I think that the federal government like Operation Warp Speed, you know, making sure all those, ventilators got built and things like that, all that stuff that was that was our federal government actually doing its job, doing a fantastic job on it. And it doesn't get enough credit, by the way, for that. You know, President Trump does not get enough credit for what happened during Operation Warp Speed and all of that.

[00:43:23 - 00:43:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
But one thing that I did have an issue with, and I mentioned it when I was on Bill Corcoran's podcast, was, the way that residents of nursing homes were treated. And again, not I'm not saying that the nursing homes themselves were the issue, but these these policies handed down by state and federal lawmakers and these agencies saying that, you know, you had to keep these people in this congregate housing, which was causing them to constantly be infected with Covid.

[00:43:48 - 00:43:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
So more people.

[00:43:49 - 00:43:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
With negative pressure.

[00:43:50 - 00:44:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
Rooms. Yeah, not and more people were dying. And again, they were doing the best they could it down on the, you know, on the ground. But and then you have like, the secretary of Health, Doctor Levine.

[00:44:00 - 00:44:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Richard, Doctor.

[00:44:02 - 00:44:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
Levine's.

[00:44:03 - 00:44:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
You johns once like, look.

[00:44:06 - 00:44:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
Here's the thing about Richard Levine.

[00:44:08 - 00:44:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
And this is my opinion. Sure. Right. When you when your degree is in child mental health.

[00:44:18 - 00:44:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
Focusing on eating disorders, right.

[00:44:21 - 00:44:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
You're you're not in the lane. Back away. Have somebody.

[00:44:25 - 00:44:30] Speaker: Speaker 3
Else who understands infectious diseases viral spreads outbreaks pandemics blah blah blah because you need to know.

[00:44:30 - 00:44:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like I'm pretty good at a lot of stuff, but I definitely step back when.

[00:44:36 - 00:44:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
I'm not good at that stuff because.

[00:44:37 - 00:44:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
It will cause harm. And to praise.

[00:44:40 - 00:44:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
That person.

[00:44:42 - 00:44:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is insane to me. And I think that he led to deaths.

[00:44:46 - 00:44:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I think that the biggest thing.

[00:44:48 - 00:44:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm just, I'm just not gonna be no, no for.

[00:44:49 - 00:45:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
Myself cause you know I understand now one thing I'll say is, is I can't stand hypocrisy. So when, when you are a person that is saying you need to keep your family member in the nursing homes and they have to suffer with Covid, possibly die, but I get to take my family member out of the nursing home. That's hypocrisy.

[00:45:08 - 00:45:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh yeah, the day before did the day before it took his mother out of that, out of the nursing home, put her up like a five star hotel.

[00:45:13 - 00:45:15] Speaker: Speaker 3
Whatever happened to Richard Levine's mom?

[00:45:15 - 00:45:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Seemed like she was fine.

[00:45:16 - 00:45:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
Probably survived.

[00:45:18 - 00:45:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
That. The problem I had with Covid, as.

[00:45:20 - 00:45:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
I started putting all this stuff together and I'm like, why are they giving them palliative care? Why are they not treating them like no one? No one told you? No, I tested positive. I know a lot more shit than people think. I know, I know a lot more about health and how the human body works now, because I was nonessential and I wanted to look really deep into it to understand.

[00:45:38 - 00:45:56] Speaker: Speaker 3
Right. And I started looking at math. I started looking at statistics. I started looking at like, okay, where like in my age group, what's the susceptibility, how many comorbidities, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then you start to see the signal of like it's only affecting very few people. Right. And when you go how is it affecting these very few people?

[00:45:56 - 00:45:57] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's because they're not getting.

[00:45:57 - 00:46:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
Care like like do no harm. It's the Hippocratic oath. Yes. Every doctor.

[00:46:01 - 00:46:02] Speaker: Speaker 3
Who did.

[00:46:02 - 00:46:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Not see a patient I think is a criminal. Every one of them. And there's some of them that I know and love. But to, to.

[00:46:08 - 00:46:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Say I'm afraid of this thing, that if I got sunlight and vitamin D I'd be okay. And you can't come in because you're afraid. I know more people that died being afraid of Covid than Covid.

[00:46:18 - 00:46:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
All right. Well, I think that's another thing that was a little silly was you can't go outside and go work out on the track where no one else is around. I mean, I'll tell you, that's what I did. Throughout all of Covid, I think I lost about 20 pounds. All I did was run out great. I was outside, I was running, I was having a good time.

[00:46:32 - 00:46:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
Nobody else was around and that's it. So you know why you shouldn't have been allowed to go outside and exercise, you know.

[00:46:39 - 00:46:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Or go to a place where people talk about.

[00:46:41 - 00:46:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Stuff like bars and hair salons.

[00:46:44 - 00:46:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, yeah, exactly.

[00:46:45 - 00:46:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
So that's why I like. That's why it feels like I have a conspiratorial.

[00:46:48 - 00:46:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
Mind because I'm like, those are the things that were.

[00:46:51 - 00:46:57] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, well, just. Yeah. And just to be clear, like my opinion is, is not I have you know, I think that I'm not.

[00:46:57 - 00:46:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
Trying to say.

[00:46:58 - 00:47:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
No no no no no no, it's it's okay. But I just, I just want to say that, you know, I think that many and most medical professionals did everything that they could in order to try to help their patients.

[00:47:07 - 00:47:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think they were scared. Yeah. Know. And I think again, and I also think the information.

[00:47:10 - 00:47:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
They were getting was not accurate on.

[00:47:12 - 00:47:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Unprecedented situations. And I think I'll tell you like, you know, doctor Fauci, I don't have a lot of use for him. I think that that his, you know, his operation, his way of, of, of addressing Covid, you know, it's like he says one thing, says another thing, three months later, says another thing three months later.

[00:47:31 - 00:47:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's, you know who? Mullis. Do you ever hear that name? No. You ever hear the PCR test?

[00:47:37 - 00:47:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
I believe so.

[00:47:38 - 00:47:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's how they tested everybody for Covid? Yeah, it's called the.

[00:47:40 - 00:47:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
Polymerase chain reaction. Okay. Right. Kary Mullis is the guy who invented that. He won a Nobel Prize for it.

[00:47:46 - 00:47:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
If you're interested, I will send you an interview with.

[00:47:49 - 00:47:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
Kary Mullis in 1996.

[00:47:52 - 00:47:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[00:47:52 - 00:47:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Sitting at his kitchen table and with.

[00:47:54 - 00:47:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
The with that, with the hindsight of today, it is a.

[00:47:58 - 00:48:06] Speaker: Speaker 3
Fascinating conversation about public health, how PCR works and Doctor Fauci.

[00:48:07 - 00:48:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[00:48:07 - 00:48:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's just fascinating to see now people that watch this that know about what I'm talking about every like that guy's a motherfucker.

[00:48:14 - 00:48:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
But there's going through today.

[00:48:16 - 00:48:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
And then hopping in the time machine and going back to look at what he.

[00:48:19 - 00:48:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
Had to say back then is pretty.

[00:48:22 - 00:48:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Fascinating about the whole situation of 2020, 2021.

[00:48:27 - 00:48:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right?

[00:48:28 - 00:48:30] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, so like.

[00:48:30 - 00:48:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Thank you.

[00:48:30 - 00:48:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
So much for trying to help.

[00:48:32 - 00:48:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
People.

[00:48:33 - 00:48:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
I just think that the information was either incorrect or or.

[00:48:38 - 00:48:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Purposely.

[00:48:40 - 00:48:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Not given. And that's and that's my view based on a lot of things. And I don't expect everybody.

[00:48:43 - 00:48:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well I just you you know I, I definitely agree that there was a huge deviation of how we treated that particular illness versus every other illness. That is like it.

[00:48:53 - 00:48:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
I had my sister, my sister, she lives.

[00:48:57 - 00:49:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Up in Abington and most of the reason why I got involved in all of this is because of this moment.

[00:49:04 - 00:49:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
My sister knows more about.

[00:49:06 - 00:49:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
Vaccines, viruses, health because of, trying to have a baby. Right? So she had a very tough pregnancy to get pregnant, and then what she did for the next nine months was read every package insert on every vaccine. Know what the you know, know what the ingredients are. No what, where they come from, how they're made. And then obviously that leads down other rabbit holes.

[00:49:32 - 00:49:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
But she was like, she was like, never once has a mask been helpful in a respiratory illness. And she was really an advocate to not mask the kids up at Abington in high school or Abington Heights School District.

[00:49:43 - 00:49:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
So she asked.

[00:49:44 - 00:50:05] Speaker: Speaker 3
Me to help her write her comments, and I went and found statistics, which I couldn't believe at the time was that. 36 in 1,000,000 kids every year will die from the flu. Six out of a million will die from.

[00:50:05 - 00:50:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Covid, and they didn't care about.

[00:50:08 - 00:50:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
That statistic. And the next day in the newspaper, the newspaper wrote that my sister is a domestic terrorist. And that's when I kind of went.

[00:50:17 - 00:50:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Fuck all y'all.

[00:50:18 - 00:50:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, that's where I really have an issue with how people were treated during Covid is that, you know, there were, for example, I want to say it was in maybe April of that.

[00:50:28 - 00:50:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Year, April 2020.

[00:50:30 - 00:50:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
April 2020. There were so this was this was 3 or 4 months. No, this was a month to March.

[00:50:34 - 00:50:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
March like. No, no.

[00:50:35 - 00:50:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
March 17th was when they showed us they was March 17th.

[00:50:38 - 00:50:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
So maybe it was it might have been.

[00:50:40 - 00:50:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
March 16th was when Richard Levine took his.

[00:50:41 - 00:50:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Mom out of the nursing home.

[00:50:43 - 00:50:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
So it might have been May of 2020. There were a bunch of small business owners that got together, maybe like a thousand of them, 2000. They marched on on the state Capitol.

[00:50:51 - 00:50:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
I remember that. Wasn't Mastriano there?

[00:50:53 - 00:51:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
I believe he was. Yeah. A bunch of small business owners got to the Capitol, marched on the Capitol. We want our businesses back open, please reopen the government, blah, blah, blah. So everyone is, you know, damn them, they shouldn't be there. They're not mask. They're not why they're being so selfish.

[00:51:09 - 00:51:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I know you go with this.

[00:51:11 - 00:51:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
All it takes is, first of all, you know, in business, it's like like Ronald Reagan said, that that freedom's just one generation away from extinction.

[00:51:18 - 00:51:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Absolutely.

[00:51:18 - 00:51:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Business. Your business is one generation, not one generation. It's one bad quarter away from extinction. People think that small business owners are all rolling in dough. You know, they're barely making it by. Yes. But so the small business owners go and they're like, they're the worst people in the world. Domestic terrorists. This that the other just a couple months later, the summer of love happens, George Floyd dies and all of these protests go on and suddenly nothing is said about that.

[00:51:45 - 00:51:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Nope.

[00:51:46 - 00:51:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
These same people that were saying that you're a domestic terrorist because you're going, you want your business open, had nothing to say during all those protests where they were burning down government buildings, barking, breaking into post office jazz number.

[00:51:58 - 00:51:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Chaz.

[00:51:59 - 00:52:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, yeah. Yep.

[00:52:00 - 00:52:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Over in Seattle or Portland or wherever the autonomous zone crazy. And I don't like more cops died during that than January 6th. Yep. And they don't talk about it?

[00:52:10 - 00:52:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, not at all.

[00:52:11 - 00:52:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
But so what we see. But like in my in my mind. Right. There's two things that I believe.

[00:52:19 - 00:52:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
One of them is the George Carlin thing where it's like, you don't need to have a formal conspiracy when interest converge. Sure. Right. And I think a lot of Covid was I mean, it's just like everything it's a it's just like the media entertainment. And I don't think all Democrats, but.

[00:52:36 - 00:52:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
Quite a few.

[00:52:37 - 00:52:52] Speaker: Speaker 3
Wanted to own whatever they think MAGA is and the Republicans and Trump. And just every day, it's like he's trying to kill us. He's telling us to drink bleach. He's trying to tell us, you know, to put lights down our lungs, which all of them ended up being true.

[00:52:52 - 00:52:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right.

[00:52:52 - 00:52:57] Speaker: Speaker 3
And that they're they're actual ways to treat respiratory illnesses.

[00:52:57 - 00:53:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it's like part of me can think that, like it's a collective.

[00:53:05 - 00:53:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's a collective.

[00:53:07 - 00:53:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
What's the word?

[00:53:10 - 00:53:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's like just the.

[00:53:11 - 00:53:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Desire to to to dislike Trump, MAGA or Republicans is enough to, to create a fervor and find all of these things to, to, to say horrible things about and to castigate people and to call them pejorative and blah, blah, blah.

[00:53:28 - 00:53:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
And then there's a part of me that goes, it seems like.

[00:53:33 - 00:53:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
There's a plan here. It seems like there's been orders given or like.

[00:53:39 - 00:53:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like.

[00:53:40 - 00:53:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
Isn't it interesting that, like in the Summer of love, there was pallets of bricks at certain places, that there was no construction there that just showed up.

[00:53:49 - 00:53:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
That was that allegedly did happen? I mean, that's interesting.

[00:53:52 - 00:53:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. I saw the first I saw the first window get broke.

[00:53:56 - 00:53:59] Speaker: Speaker 3
And what was it, Ferguson.

[00:53:59 - 00:53:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[00:54:00 - 00:54:05] Speaker: Speaker 3
Because I was watching it live because they had the streamers on there. And the first one, I think it was a target.

[00:54:05 - 00:54:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
It was a white dude.

[00:54:06 - 00:54:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
And he looked pretty military.

[00:54:08 - 00:54:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm not saying it was, but that.

[00:54:10 - 00:54:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
Made my Spidey sense go up to be like, what is this?

[00:54:13 - 00:54:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? Like what? Why is it the people that aren't.

[00:54:16 - 00:54:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Affected by this causing the most damage.

[00:54:18 - 00:54:21] Speaker: Speaker 2
And they're and they're damaging the neighborhoods.

[00:54:21 - 00:54:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
That they live and.

[00:54:22 - 00:54:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
People that live there. Yep. Which is you're not raging against the machine. You're just burning your towns to the ground. So like, part of me.

[00:54:30 - 00:54:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
Has the conspiracy hat on going like that. And the other part of me is like.

[00:54:33 - 00:54:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
But there was a.

[00:54:35 - 00:54:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Rage and you forced people to stay in their homes. You didn't see stuff like that happen in Alabama.

[00:54:40 - 00:55:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I'll tell you, this is not related to Covid, but I was a student at Penn State in 2011 when the whole Joe Paterno scandal. Oh, Jerry Sandusky scandal, you know, occurred. Well, you know, so all of this stuff is happening, coach paternal gets fired. And the students descend on the downtown area in that.

[00:55:02 - 00:55:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah.

[00:55:03 - 00:55:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, you know, bricks are thrown through windows. News vans are toppled over. This was like a national news story. It was crazy. And so then, you know, months and months go by, people are talking about how the students at Penn State are crazy. The way they behaved was inappropriate, blah, blah, blah. Well, they were alleging, you know, Penn State and the students there were alleging that, oh, well, it was it was, you know, these these students from the, from the State College high school that actually came down there and they were the ones that were throwing the bricks and doing this, that the other thing.

[00:55:31 - 00:55:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, just like in anything, I don't know what the theory is called, but it's like agent provocateurs. Well, it's like what? No, like is like the theory, the broken glass theory.

[00:55:40 - 00:55:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
One broken window through broken.

[00:55:41 - 00:55:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
Window theory, like, one person throws a brick and then other people are going to start throwing brick. I don't think that's what the broken windows, you know, the.

[00:55:46 - 00:55:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
Government has something to do it. Like something. Yeah, yeah. Well, I it's the same. It's the same thing. It's like when you go to a wedding, you need the first person to go up.

[00:55:53 - 00:55:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
And dance before everybody goes up and dances. Exactly.

[00:55:55 - 00:56:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I see, well, there's a rage. Yeah. Like going back to the Nick Fuentes thing, like there's this rage of, like, the people in charge are not. It seems like they don't give a damn about the.

[00:56:11 - 00:56:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
People that they're in charge.

[00:56:12 - 00:56:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of. You know, and I'm not. And I'm saying on a national level, locally, I think it's more because you can help you see that. You see the your elected official.

[00:56:20 - 00:56:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
At the grocery store, at the bar. You can talk to that.

[00:56:21 - 00:56:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh you can, yeah. I get held accountable.

[00:56:23 - 00:56:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do you get a lot of shit?

[00:56:24 - 00:56:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
I get held accountable quite a bit and that's fine. I'm happy to answer a question. When somebody has something to say, just be respectful. That's all I ask.

[00:56:31 - 00:56:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, have polite discourse.

[00:56:32 - 00:56:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
And say, F you, you know you did this or that. That's a different story. I'm probably going to be a little angry at you and I'm going to walk away. Hopefully I don't yell.

[00:56:40 - 00:56:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
So when you so when you I mean you ran at like the the heat, the height of all this.

[00:56:45 - 00:56:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
Heat like 2022. It's in the middle of the Biden presidency.

[00:56:48 - 00:56:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. Trump still out there. People like me or like fuck all of them.

[00:56:53 - 00:57:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, 2021 I ran and that was right after obviously right after the 2020 election I know. Yeah. Yeah, that was that that election. Obviously a disaster. You know, people are all angry. And then, you know, I, we kind of said it was this big political shift where people were so angry over that election. Republicans came out in droves and voted in that in that election.

[00:57:13 - 00:57:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
And then, we had a clean Republican sweep, actually, for for all of the countywide elected offices in Luzerne County.

[00:57:18 - 00:57:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
In 2021.

[00:57:19 - 00:57:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
In 2021. So we have five council candidates, all Republicans, that won. We had, two of our, our county, judge candidates, both Republicans. One our comptroller candidate won. And then that was just kind of like this big political shift in the council. Ironically, this year we had the opposite thing happen.

[00:57:36 - 00:57:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
How does it happen so fast?

[00:57:38 - 00:57:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right, right. You know, I have theories on that. Not all of it has to do with, necessarily the candidates themselves. I think that had a lot more to do with us in 2021 than it did that we were Republicans. But, so I, I ran and did all of that. And I'll tell you what, you know, it was it was there were a lot of people that were angry and upset about the government.

[00:57:59 - 00:58:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
They had a lot of grievances that were, I don't think, being accurately placed on the county. They were being placed on the state government, the federal government. But, you know, when you're running for office, you have to say, oh, yeah, you know, we're going to do our best to try to work with blah, blah, blah and do this, that, the other thing.

[00:58:14 - 00:58:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
So.

[00:58:15 - 00:58:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
So you think a lot of their grievances were aimed at other, other government bodies, not.

[00:58:24 - 00:58:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's like it's like when, like with somebody you care about gets mad at you for no reason and you go to yourself, well, that's not really about me. Something else is going on. Yeah. So you think they just aim their grievances at the at the closest.

[00:58:36 - 00:58:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
Place they can aim their grievance.

[00:58:37 - 00:58:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
At?

[00:58:38 - 00:58:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah.

[00:58:38 - 00:58:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
The more easily accessible.

[00:58:40 - 00:58:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. I mean like here's an example right now. And I know this is happening up here in Lackawanna County too. There's this big debate on the data centers.

[00:58:48 - 00:58:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I mean, what's what's those things?

[00:58:50 - 00:58:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
I don't know.

[00:58:51 - 00:58:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
What the data.

[00:58:52 - 00:59:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
Center. Why am I bringing this up? But there's this big debate on the data centers, and, you know, they're under the people who are against them are under the impression that, at least in Luzerne County, that we have the ability to stop them. But we don't control the zoning for lose for for council. Does the county council only controls the zoning for like, 20 of the municipalities in the county?

[00:59:14 - 00:59:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Because we do the zoning for them because they don't want to do it themselves. But we don't control it for the other 56 municipalities. Right. So the ones that are that are, you know, in, in the, the part of the, I'll say the path or like the desire of these companies that are trying to build data centers, they control their own zoning.

[00:59:31 - 00:59:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
And they're, you know, most of them have either been fine with it or have said, okay, but you got to do this or you got to follow this zoning code. But if the zoning law says you can do this, then they're going to come in and do it. But a lot of that regulation falls on the state level.

[00:59:44 - 01:00:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Two and now that, there is some pushback by the local governments, the local citizens, the federal governments getting involved to President Trump, signed. Yes, President Trump signed, I think was an executive order. He signed multiple executive orders related to these data centers that they're going to just be, everything all the stuff. It's all going to be fast tracked and streamlined.

[01:00:05 - 01:00:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
So, you know, my thought process on this is I agree with the citizens that say these things need to be placed in certain areas. Let them be in industrial parks, let them be on, you know, mines, guard land, don't put them in virgin woodland five feet away from a house. I think I agree with all of that, but, you know, if they're coming to an industrial area and you still say, I don't want it or I don't think this is a good idea, that somebody above the level of government where you can actually make a difference is going to come in and reach their hand down and say, all right, guess what?

[01:00:38 - 01:00:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
We tried to give you guys the ability to do this on your own. And now you're screwing this up on us or screwing this up on our benefactors. So we're going.

[01:00:45 - 01:00:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
To put it that point. But at that point, don't we lose our ability to self-govern?

[01:00:49 - 01:00:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I yeah, we do. But that's like.

[01:00:51 - 01:00:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
We're a commonwealth, right? Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

[01:00:54 - 01:01:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, I yeah, it and I mean that is happening and I think that's something that's going to have to be discussed on the judicial level.

[01:01:01 - 01:01:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yeah. But you know, after the goddamn thing's built.

[01:01:03 - 01:01:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right?

[01:01:04 - 01:01:06] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, because lawsuits take forever.

[01:01:06 - 01:01:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yep. Yeah. And nobody's there's no. Did you know I went down to Ashburn today to Central Alley?

[01:01:12 - 01:01:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
Okay.

[01:01:13 - 01:01:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
Did you know that? I didn't know. Did you see Jamie Walsh's name? I did, that was me.

[01:01:17 - 01:01:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
Okay. All right.

[01:01:18 - 01:01:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
It was. I mean, Jamie uses the word apocalyptic.

[01:01:22 - 01:01:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
I don't know if it was. If it's that. Yeah, I don't know if it's that bad, but it definitely it's pretty close to apocalyptic. Like apocalyptic to me. It's like, oh, this is the end time. Satan's back.

[01:01:33 - 01:01:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
The people down there just don't seem to have gotten any benefits from it. And they're.

[01:01:44 - 01:02:00] Speaker: Speaker 3
My view on the data centers is ultimately is that eventually it'll become totally, totalitarian, where they know everything and they could and they and then they know where you've been. How many times repeat today. I just find that incredibly invasive from what a government supposed to do. Because you have a right to privacy.

[01:02:00 - 01:02:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's my.

[01:02:01 - 01:02:07] Speaker: Speaker 3
Fear of that because I don't want to get a speeding ticket that is immediately taken from my bank account or whatever.

[01:02:07 - 01:02:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Just.

[01:02:07 - 01:02:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
To keep control, because I think.

[01:02:09 - 01:02:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
That happens in other countries. That happens in China.

[01:02:11 - 01:02:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well my, my, my, my thought process on the data.

[01:02:13 - 01:02:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Center thing is that like, you know, Trump is Trump is wanting it us to be first.

[01:02:18 - 01:02:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
But once everybody's hooked in, it doesn't matter who was first.

[01:02:23 - 01:02:26] Speaker: Speaker 3
Because the oppression just comes.

[01:02:26 - 01:02:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
And that's the thing that scares the.

[01:02:27 - 01:02:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Shit out of me because it's not about it's not about making AI videos. It's about knowing everything about your bank accounts, about your transactions, about where you drive, what your car, where you are in your house, what stuff you look up and it has access to all this stuff. And the other thing is, is like you build let's see, build a, let's see, build a 500,000 square foot data center.

[01:02:45 - 01:02:56] Speaker: Speaker 3
Right. And they all have like these pods that you can like lease out or rent or whatever. And the way technology works, I think something called Ohm's law where it's like every 18 months everything like doubles and.

[01:02:56 - 01:02:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh yeah.

[01:02:56 - 01:03:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. And what they to do computers. Yeah. So at that point, you know, like say.

[01:03:02 - 01:03:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Ten years down the road.

[01:03:04 - 01:03:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
You need a two thirds less space and you need less electricity because it's all. So what what happens to those.

[01:03:14 - 01:03:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
Things in a decade. And yes, is it is it hopefully it's money for the town that they build them in. But like when they leave.

[01:03:21 - 01:03:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
They're gone. It's the same thing as the solar farms, like the solar farms get all.

[01:03:25 - 01:03:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
These agreements to to clean up their shit when they're done. And they never do. They file for bankruptcy or dump it off on somebody else, and then the city or the county or the borough is just holding the bill to get rid of poisoned land.

[01:03:36 - 01:03:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, so, like, people like me, like that's how we look at.

[01:03:39 - 01:03:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
It, where it's like in the long term.

[01:03:41 - 01:03:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is this a benefit or not? And and we don't. And a lot of times we don't trust the people.

[01:03:46 - 01:03:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
In elected positions to go.

[01:03:49 - 01:03:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
I realize that this is this.

[01:03:50 - 01:04:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
Is not good right now, but we can get X amount of dollars and property tax revenue or some sort of share. I believe North Pocono is going to get like $64 million the first year. North Pocono School District.

[01:04:01 - 01:04:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Which is great, right? What are you going to.

[01:04:03 - 01:04:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Do with that money to set us up for the future, to not have to rely on a data center or the money coming in from that.

[01:04:09 - 01:04:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it's like a really.

[01:04:10 - 01:04:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
Dark concept, the data center thing.

[01:04:12 - 01:04:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
And then you and then you and, and one of the.

[01:04:15 - 01:04:16] Speaker: Speaker 3
Things that nobody talks about is.

[01:04:16 - 01:04:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Power. We're not going to get the power.

[01:04:18 - 01:04:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well I think on the power issue, you know, the data center issue is, is is totally multifaceted, multi-pronged. So there's all different kinds of issues. I'll tell you, on the power issue. That's, that's a self-inflicted wound on our part. In Pennsylvania, we have all the energy as a state. Yeah, we have all this energy underneath our feet.

[01:04:38 - 01:04:42] Speaker: Speaker 4
We could be the de facto, I don't want to say the.

[01:04:42 - 01:04:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Arabia, the America.

[01:04:45 - 01:05:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Of the of the country, maybe besides Texas. Yeah. And we choose not to be because of our stupid laws and the politicians that support those laws. You know, when we first started drilling for natural gas back in the early 2000, people were like, oh my God, watch Gasland, damn it. The water coming out of the spigots, in the fire, whatever.

[01:05:04 - 01:05:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
That stuff was happening before all of that took place.

[01:05:07 - 01:05:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
They never told.

[01:05:07 - 01:05:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Because, yeah, they never told you that part that was already happening. But, you know, so so they scared people into into not allowing us to do that type of stuff anymore. But we could be such a revenue positive state. And you know what? All these things that are happening, you know, when they get the when the natural gas companies or oil companies, when they get these permits, now they have to follow all these environmental guidelines.

[01:05:27 - 01:05:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's why it takes ten years, 15 years to build things anymore. That's why it takes five, six years to build a bridge instead of, you know, five months, which it should. I mean, you know.

[01:05:35 - 01:05:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's the Chinese doing like a day.

[01:05:36 - 01:05:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
Exactly, exactly. I mean, that's, you know, like, we have these issues in Luzerne County with a couple of our bridges where, you know, they're major thoroughfares. They are currently shut down because of, you know, lack of lack of care over decades, not anything that's gone on over the last couple of years. It's just we were just at the end of it.

[01:05:53 - 01:06:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. And we need to get them rebuilt, but we're not going to have the bridges rebuilt until I'm running for office for the third time. So it's crazy. Yeah. The the first bridge that's closed right now won't be reopened until I. If I, if I decide to run for a third term for council, that's one. And they'll be open when that when I'm in the middle of running for that third term.

[01:06:15 - 01:06:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
The second one more than likely won't be open until the year after that. And the residents are angry, rightfully so. And I like there's, there's, there's there's literally nothing that we as a, as a county government can do to speed this along by shaving off years. We can shave off weeks, we can shave off maybe a couple of months.

[01:06:34 - 01:06:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
If we streamline a process where we say, hey, you know, all right, County council is supposed to make this decision, but we'll let the administration make the decision instead, because it takes too long for us to figure things out. You have to get something out of the agenda. Two weeks later than you vote on. We can shave a couple weeks off or something, but we can't shave months off of a couple of months or a couple of years.

[01:06:54 - 01:06:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean, because of the because of all the regulations.

[01:06:56 - 01:06:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think that's one of the reasons why people are so pissed off is stuff like that.

[01:06:59 - 01:07:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
I agree, it's hundred percent.

[01:07:00 - 01:07:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's like, yeah, we could.

[01:07:01 - 01:07:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Fix it, start fixing it tomorrow.

[01:07:03 - 01:07:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
I follow, on TikTok. I follow this, this, account called the Policy Committee. It's the it's the Pennsylvania, state House Policy Committee. And it's mostly Republicans that are on there. And they're always talking about how, like, for example, Louisiana could build a, a steel plant in ten months because of the way that their regulations are put together.

[01:07:22 - 01:07:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
And it would take us ten years to build that same steel plant if they did a pipeline. We did. I, said earlier it took them like ten years to build Keystone two or whatever it was. And they had a pipeline that went through Louisiana that was the same, same length. And it was, built in like a year and a half.

[01:07:39 - 01:07:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
And in Pennsylvania, that's our problem. You know, we can't build a a new steel mill in 2 or 3 years. We can't build a new bridge in two years. We have to wait six, seven, eight, nine years for a new bridge or a new, you know, plant or a new power plant even. I mean.

[01:07:55 - 01:07:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
By the time it happens, everyone's forgotten about it.

[01:07:57 - 01:07:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
Tommy. Totally. I mean, we are used to.

[01:07:59 - 01:08:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
They're counting on that. I think that's I don't think it's a bug. I think it's a feature. Yeah. That where like the, the the.

[01:08:05 - 01:08:07] Speaker: Speaker 3
Stagnation of.

[01:08:07 - 01:08:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Progress.

[01:08:07 - 01:08:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, I certainly don't forget about it. I have to drive through Pittston every single day. And one of those bridges being closed, it causes traffic jams.

[01:08:13 - 01:08:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
All the other Pittston bridges, one of the one of the.

[01:08:16 - 01:08:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
Bridges and one of the bridges that I'm talking about is in Pittston.

[01:08:18 - 01:08:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. Is it down?

[01:08:19 - 01:08:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. It's not down. It's just closed because it's unsafe.

[01:08:24 - 01:08:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
Jesus Christ. Yeah.

[01:08:25 - 01:08:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
And that's listen, I mean, it is what it is like we're we're working on it and it's it's hard to, it's hard to tell people that. Listen, we're doing this as fast as we can and as quick as we can, but we're constrained by craziness, by all these regulations.

[01:08:39 - 01:08:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Can I give you some shit real quick?

[01:08:40 - 01:08:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
Go ahead.

[01:08:43 - 01:08:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Did you publicly say that clinging to the.

[01:08:45 - 01:08:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
Support for Donald Trump needs to.

[01:08:46 - 01:08:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
Stop calling it not the Republican Party?

[01:08:51 - 01:09:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
I did do that. I did do that. When did you do that? January 6th, 2021. And I have since. I have since had a major.

[01:09:00 - 01:09:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do you get shit for saying that?

[01:09:01 - 01:09:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Not initially.

[01:09:04 - 01:09:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
Not initially, no.

[01:09:06 - 01:09:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
So the first year I.

[01:09:08 - 01:09:19] Speaker: Speaker 4
Tell you, I'll. I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what happened and I'm glad I'm glad somebody brought this up, because I expected to have this conversation happen at some point where I can talk. Well, that's the reality of it.

[01:09:19 - 01:09:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's what happened when I. When I first met you, you came over and you introduce yourself to me, and then you brought it up. And I remember thinking to myself, I'm like, why would why would you bring that up?

[01:09:29 - 01:09:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:09:30 - 01:09:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like why? Like that's such a strange not not to not no, no judgmental way. I was just curious. I was like.

[01:09:36 - 01:09:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I was just wondering, you know.

[01:09:38 - 01:09:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Maybe that was that was my that was one of my bigger.

[01:09:40 - 01:09:43] Speaker: Speaker 3
Turning points. I was like, oh, this is this is not what they tell us.

[01:09:43 - 01:10:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
It is. So, you know, so what happened was the election of 2020 happens. You know, all we know the controversies behind that. Yeah. And and I totally could understand why people would think that the election, there would be some, you know, rigging there would be some issues with counting votes, things like that. Because the way that the election occurred was different than any other election had ever occurred.

[01:10:04 - 01:10:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, you're voting in these large centers instead of voting, you know, in your precinct, like, you like.

[01:10:09 - 01:10:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Your neighborhood, like you usually did.

[01:10:10 - 01:10:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know. And then they stopped counting the ballots at 2 a.m. randomly, and then 6 a.m. comes or 8 a.m. comes and they start counting the ballots again, and then boom, huge spike for Joe Biden. Yeah. You know, and then Joe Biden is the most popularly elected president ever, despite the fact that he was hiding in his basement for the six months before that.

[01:10:28 - 01:10:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think I think there's a rational explanation to say that that's not possible, because people who would have hated both.

[01:10:34 - 01:10:35] Speaker: Speaker 3
Of them just wouldn't have showed.

[01:10:35 - 01:10:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Up, right? Like no one's going to. I don't think anybody would protest vote Trump.

[01:10:39 - 01:10:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
So I, I totally right. I totally understand why a lot of people had issues with that election. I can I can see all of that. And then on January 6th, listen, I'm friends with people that were there at the Capitol that day. I know people that were actually the first time I ever listened to your podcast was Frank Frank Scavo.

[01:10:58 - 01:10:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. What'd you think? Yeah.

[01:10:59 - 01:11:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I said, you know, I like Frank. He's a good guy. He and I, sometimes we bought heads a little bit.

[01:11:04 - 01:11:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, but it's it's it's as you would have family member or friend.

[01:11:07 - 01:11:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. But I as as I say all the time, you know, the Republican Party is a big tent party, so everybody's welcome. Yeah. But, you know, I, I listen to that. And I said, you know, I want to hear this out of his mouth. I want to know exactly what he saw that day, exactly what happened.

[01:11:21 - 01:11:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
And he told the story. And I thought, okay, that's different. That's not what that's not what any of us were led to believe. Now, I had already had a different opinion about January 6th. Well, I.

[01:11:30 - 01:11:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Mean, I, I made it a point in that interview to show his footage.

[01:11:33 - 01:11:35] Speaker: Speaker 3
Before we even talked.

[01:11:35 - 01:11:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. You know what I mean because it's like okay here's, here's what, here's what he.

[01:11:39 - 01:11:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
Saw, here's what he.

[01:11:40 - 01:11:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
Said. Here's what he did. All right. It's up to you.

[01:11:44 - 01:11:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
To decide whether or not.

[01:11:45 - 01:11:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. He's he's being genuine.

[01:11:49 - 01:11:52] Speaker: Speaker 3
Or he's being disingenuous. And I and I find Frank incredibly genuine.

[01:11:53 - 01:11:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. Oh yeah definitely definitely. He's a very genuine person.

[01:11:56 - 01:11:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like what you see. So you get.

[01:11:57 - 01:12:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. Exactly, exactly, exactly. And I respect that about anybody who is that way. Because it's very easy. And, you know, just being honest, you know, I sometimes feel like I have to I don't want to say put on a facade, but I have to be a little bit more reserved. And then I then I can be tempered. That's a better word, a little bit more tempered than I than I would want to be.

[01:12:16 - 01:12:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean, listen, I'm Italian, like I want to I.

[01:12:18 - 01:12:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Get it, I get it.

[01:12:19 - 01:12:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Like I have my hands down here and I feel like I can't talk. But.

[01:12:23 - 01:12:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, get that ball gag out of my mouth.

[01:12:25 - 01:12:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
But so, you know, going back to what I said about hypocrisy. So 2020, going back to May, the people protest in front of the Capitol and they're being called domestic terrorists. Then the George Floyd protests happen. Nothing. I was saying, hey, these people are breaking windows. These people are causing all this mayhem. We shouldn't be doing this as a country.

[01:12:46 - 01:12:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
This is not how we protest. January 6th happens, and I see all the news footage and I fall for it. I saw it and broken windows and you know, I still I still goes on.

[01:12:56 - 01:12:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because you can't criticize what happened in.

[01:12:58 - 01:13:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
The summer and not criticize what happened on that day. Yeah.

[01:13:01 - 01:13:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
If what they told you is true. Right?

[01:13:02 - 01:13:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. Exactly. So I saw that and I and and you know, like you see the spliced clips of what President Trump said and it oh, wait, this 30s is missing from the you know, and it's just it's so easy to have that opinion forum. And I was really angry that day. I really was I was angry at the Republican Party, because I thought, wow, this is like everything that I've been saying over the last year about what we're trying to fight against as the Republican Party, like we're supposed to be the party of the peaceful, the real peaceful protest.

[01:13:30 - 01:13:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
The real. Yeah. Like, hey, we go here and we address our transgressions with the government in a way like.

[01:13:35 - 01:13:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
Discourse about.

[01:13:36 - 01:13:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
Like just exactly, exactly. And, and, and I just, I saw that footage that day, and I got angry, and I did I posted a video on Facebook.

[01:13:44 - 01:13:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, you did a video.

[01:13:45 - 01:13:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Posted a video on Facebook.

[01:13:48 - 01:13:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
2021 words. You could at least go like, I kind of meant this video. You're screwed, I know.

[01:13:53 - 01:14:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, on Facebook and, and so actually, it's funny enough, 2021 I, I run for council never gets brought up. Nobody ever says a word. No one says anything about it because I, you know, because I've been a loyal member of the Republican Party.

[01:14:06 - 01:14:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
So, you see, you make your comment January 6th, 2021, then.

[01:14:09 - 01:14:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
Run in the primary for May of 2021. Yep.

[01:14:12 - 01:14:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[01:14:12 - 01:14:33] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yep. And then it's it never gets brought up. No one ever says a word about it. No. No one says anything. And again, I think part of that is because I've been such a loyal member of the Republican Party for since I'm like 12 years old, like I said. Right. So, you know, people know and listen, I'm generally going to support the Republican candidate as long as they believe in the five absolutes or whatever it is.

[01:14:33 - 01:14:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
She's on up something.

[01:14:34 - 01:14:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, no, I it's it is it is accurate. It is accurate. But as long as you believe in like a lot of the tenets that that I believe in and I think the Republican Party stands for, I'm going to support you, and I and I, you know, that's why I have an issue with people trying to primary Republicans that are already in office and things like that, but that's a different story.

[01:14:50 - 01:14:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
But so, you know, I run for the county council seat. I, when I come in first place in the primary.

[01:14:56 - 01:14:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[01:14:57 - 01:15:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. Came in first place in the primary. I came in first place in the general election. So, you know, I kind of thought, all right, this is like, I didn't think anything of the video. It was still on Facebook. So they're like out in the ether in 2022.

[01:15:10 - 01:15:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
You didn't change your views.

[01:15:11 - 01:15:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
Up until that point, did you?

[01:15:13 - 01:15:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, probably a little bit at that point because I started like listening to what was being reported and actually taking some time to think about it. Like I said, I when I posted that video, I was a little angry. I was like, and I, I mean, I, I get it, I certainly learned a lesson, you know, hey, maybe you shouldn't write something or post something.

[01:15:28 - 01:15:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
So quickly. Yeah. You know, when you're when you're pissed off. Yeah. But in 2022, I get approached about running for the open state rep seat in my in my state House district. The 1/18.

[01:15:39 - 01:15:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Now who sees that.

[01:15:40 - 01:15:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
Currently Jim had a cold snap. See, he's a Democrat. Gotcha. Well, there was still your district.

[01:15:46 - 01:15:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah.

[01:15:46 - 01:16:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And so I get approached about running for that seat, and I initially said, you know, I just got elected to council. I really don't know if that's a good idea. And a couple people that I, I tend to, to listen to politically that like, give me good advice. They said, John, you really need to do this.

[01:16:01 - 01:16:19] Speaker: Speaker 4
You should run because, you know, we need somebody that's actually going to have a shot at winning this election. And, and, and, you know, you're from Pittston, but you're a Republican. Like, that is kind of like the secret sauce of what can make a Republican candidate win in this district because it's it's getting more Republican. But we just need someone to push it across the finish line.

[01:16:19 - 01:16:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
We think you can do it, especially based on your performance from the council race last year. So I said, all right, I'll think about it. Well, in the meantime, there was already another candidate who had declared it was James May. Okay. Congressman, Musa's, chief of staff or as possible, works for him. He he works for his Pottsville office.

[01:16:35 - 01:16:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
I know, and he was used to be the PennDOT. The. Oh, yeah. That was what he did in the military. He's a chaplain. He's, by the way, James Mattis, a very good man, very nice.

[01:16:44 - 01:16:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Man, very nice.

[01:16:45 - 01:16:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
Guy, you know,

[01:16:46 - 01:16:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
And super nice guy.

[01:16:47 - 01:17:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
So he's already running and I'm like, okay, this is an open primary. There's another Republican running there already announced. But then my people that are not like that, I really, really trust politically are telling me that I should I should do this. So I said screw it, I'll do it. All right, I and I was coming right off this successful campaign that I campaign really hard, by the way, in the county council race.

[01:17:06 - 01:17:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
And it's bigger than the state House district. So I knocked on a lot of doors. I was everywhere. Luzerne County is huge, right? So I go into this race and half of the districts in Luzerne County, half the districts in Lackawanna County, well, I didn't know as much about now, I know a little bit about Lackawanna County. And like the tribal area, which is mainly the main part of where the 1/18 goes into Lackawanna and some of the other towns.

[01:17:29 - 01:17:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I had to learn a lot really quick. I was working full time at the fire department and part time, at council, I think I was still working part time at the ambulance, actually, at the time.

[01:17:38 - 01:17:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, okay.

[01:17:39 - 01:17:42] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I was on council. Wow. And I'm running for state rep. And you.

[01:17:42 - 01:17:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
Have a girlfriend.

[01:17:42 - 01:17:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I have a girlfriend. Yeah, yeah. She wasn't too happy with me that year.

[01:17:45 - 01:17:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
I don't think so.

[01:17:46 - 01:17:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
And we just moved into our house the year before, so projects were going on. Oh, yeah. I was like, totally absent, thank God. Where was your.

[01:17:52 - 01:17:55] Speaker: Speaker 2
Critical thinking going? Like, I don't know if I could handle all these problems at the same time.

[01:17:55 - 01:18:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
I'm listen, I'm used to high stress situations. I got 5000 things going on at once. But so I decided to do that. And in the midst of the primary, the video surfaces.

[01:18:07 - 01:18:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay.

[01:18:07 - 01:18:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
And that was it. So it gets it gets that video of me January 6th, making those comments resurfaces. And, you know, essentially.

[01:18:15 - 01:18:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
What do you mean? Like, what do you mean like resurfaces? Like like, oh.

[01:18:18 - 01:18:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
He used it against me. May. Yeah, he used it against me in a political attack. AD and you know what I mean.

[01:18:23 - 01:18:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
On TV or the internet or both.

[01:18:25 - 01:18:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
The internet and, it was, there was a, a political mailer that went out.

[01:18:29 - 01:18:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay. Well, I would say.

[01:18:30 - 01:18:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
It basically said John Lombardo is, anti-Trump or he's a rhino. Don't trust him. Don't vote for him. You know, that's it. And, and and you expect that? No, no, because I thought, oh, I like this video. I posted it like a year and a half ago. I completely forgot about it. And I thought it put.

[01:18:49 - 01:18:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
Videos out about me.

[01:18:50 - 01:19:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I thought I and I just got, son of a bitch, I, I did say all that stuff, you know, I was I'm like, you know, I don't I go, I don't even really believe that anymore either tonight. So I was like devastated by it. And and I don't think that was the only reason why I didn't win in the primary.

[01:19:06 - 01:19:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
But it was definitely probably one of the bigger ones. And so ever since then, periodically, it's only a little clip of the video where it says, you know, it says the thing about the Republican Party and.

[01:19:16 - 01:19:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's no full context.

[01:19:18 - 01:19:19] Speaker: Speaker 4
There's no full context, except.

[01:19:19 - 01:19:21] Speaker: Speaker 2
Except the only one that.

[01:19:21 - 01:19:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
You posted.

[01:19:21 - 01:19:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
I deleted it. Oh, you did, I well, right when I knew it was going to come out because it was already, you know, being talked about because people were sending it to me like, oh, the Republican dude, you.

[01:19:31 - 01:19:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
Should have leaned.

[01:19:32 - 01:19:33] Speaker: Speaker 4
In. I, you know what?

[01:19:33 - 01:19:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
I once you delete the thing, they're like, wait a second. It's like, yes, this is real. I felt that at the time.

[01:19:39 - 01:19:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
I well, I did say that I, I did, I, I don't remember.

[01:19:43 - 01:19:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, maybe you could say.

[01:19:43 - 01:20:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
Maybe I did. Yeah I'll say it now but I truly I mean that is what happened. And and so I lose the primary. Yeah. And then James May goes on to lose the general election. And now we have this is the, the one seat that can flip the majority. So I'm really hoping that our next political candidate, whoever that is in the hundred and 18th district, is, going to be successful.

[01:20:03 - 01:20:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
So January 6th happened. I was, I was I was doing.

[01:20:07 - 01:20:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
A shoot that day and all of my liberal friends.

[01:20:13 - 01:20:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
Started texting me, okay, this is what you voted for.

[01:20:17 - 01:20:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
I was going to say, was this after you had switched parties? All right. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

[01:20:20 - 01:20:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like this is.

[01:20:20 - 01:20:25] Speaker: Speaker 3
All on you. This is this, this is that. And I was kind of devastated.

[01:20:25 - 01:20:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
I was like, you got to be kidding me. But then I was like, I remember.

[01:20:27 - 01:20:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
Thinking to myself, like during the day, because I couldn't watch any clips because I was, I was working.

[01:20:32 - 01:20:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
I remember thinking to myself, I'm like, well, they lied to me about the good people on both sides thing.

[01:20:35 - 01:20:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yep.

[01:20:36 - 01:20:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I'm just going to give it like a day to let it fester.

[01:20:39 - 01:20:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
And then I'll deep dive it and actually find out what happened. Well, you know, by January 7th, it was Pearl Harbor. And, you know, the, the, the, the, the the inmates are running the asylum and blah, blah, blah, and.

[01:20:55 - 01:21:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I'll tell you not to interrupt yet that makes me extremely angry that there are people in our government that will equate January 6th.

[01:21:05 - 01:21:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
To Pearl Harbor and Pearl.

[01:21:06 - 01:21:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
Harbor and 9/11. I mean, that's just a total, total disservice to this. So to what happened on those days.

[01:21:13 - 01:21:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I live at my grandfather's house.

[01:21:16 - 01:21:26] Speaker: Speaker 3
I'm really fortunate to have like the the family homestead and and it was all carpet in the house and my mother over the summer, you know, said.

[01:21:26 - 01:21:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, I think, I think there's a slate.

[01:21:27 - 01:21:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Floor under.

[01:21:28 - 01:21:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
Here. So we ripped it up and we took all the.

[01:21:31 - 01:21:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
Glue off and everything. So I have this beautiful slate floor and I had like this TV, and I get on YouTube and I found a video. It was about three hours long.

[01:21:40 - 01:21:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I'm sitting on the floor on the slate floor with my butt, okay. For three hours. And, you know, cinema verité is.

[01:21:49 - 01:21:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
I've heard of it.

[01:21:49 - 01:21:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. So cinema verité is basically like.

[01:21:51 - 01:21:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
A documentary with no narration. It just gives.

[01:21:53 - 01:21:55] Speaker: Speaker 2
You it gives you.

[01:21:55 - 01:22:05] Speaker: Speaker 3
Time location. Sure. That's it. There's a great documentary called Apollo 11 and CNN did about the Apollo launch going to the moon. There's no narrator. It's just like shit as it happens. Beautiful.

[01:22:05 - 01:22:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
So is the cinema verité thing of, like, the Instagram.

[01:22:07 - 01:22:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Stories, the Snapchats, the Facebook Live, the YouTube lives, the YouTube lives, all those things at just. Here's where we are. We're at the ellipse. We're here, we're here, we're here, we're here first. Breach.

[01:22:18 - 01:22:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
Papa. Papa! Papa, Papa. And you saw this footage. And by.

[01:22:22 - 01:22:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
The end of it.

[01:22:22 - 01:22:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like I was riveted. I was like.

[01:22:24 - 01:22:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Oh, my God, this is not what they're saying. It is.

[01:22:27 - 01:22:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
This is.

[01:22:28 - 01:22:29] Speaker: Speaker 3
This seems this seems very.

[01:22:29 - 01:22:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Performative.

[01:22:31 - 01:22:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
It seems like the guys that were smashing the windows are not the guy smashing the windows. I saw the first assault, which was actually from the Capitol Police. They shot a guy in the face with a pepper ball, and it went through his cheek. I watched.

[01:22:45 - 01:22:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
All those people get killed.

[01:22:47 - 01:22:48] Speaker: Speaker 3


[01:22:48 - 01:22:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, there was only one person that actually.

[01:22:50 - 01:22:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Somebody that somebody had, like, there was a heart.

[01:22:52 - 01:22:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Attack that later died. There was.

[01:22:54 - 01:22:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
But no police were killed that day.

[01:22:57 - 01:23:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
There were there were officers that had.

[01:23:00 - 01:23:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
Injuries.

[01:23:00 - 01:23:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
Injuries and medical episodes. Some of them that 1 or 2 of them I did, I think did pass away days later.

[01:23:06 - 01:23:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. Over that. But they could if it was an autopsy, they can't equate it to that. There are people who want it to be that reason. It could have been the stress from that day. It could have been all that stuff, but that that stress could have happened if you, if you, if you get in a car accident, you know what I mean.

[01:23:19 - 01:23:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
So you can't say that you could say that they might be related, but you can't say that like the people.

[01:23:25 - 01:23:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
There maliciously intended to kill somebody days later from a heart attack.

[01:23:28 - 01:23:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do you know what I mean?

[01:23:30 - 01:23:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I agree with that.

[01:23:31 - 01:23:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay, so.

[01:23:35 - 01:23:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
I remember looking at my wife.

[01:23:37 - 01:23:50] Speaker: Speaker 3
Going like, yo, that thing was not with the TV and everybody saying it was. There's a lot of nuance to that. Trump never said the things that they said that he said, and you watch.

[01:23:50 - 01:23:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
I've interviewed.

[01:23:51 - 01:24:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
Obviously I've interviewed Frank, but I've talked to other people and, you know, there's you always have to ask the questions like, when was the moment that you realized, like, probably shouldn't be doing this.

[01:24:01 - 01:24:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
And none.

[01:24:02 - 01:24:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Of them realized it walking up.

[01:24:04 - 01:24:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? None of them realize.

[01:24:05 - 01:24:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
It until they were inside. The one person I ever I have the cell phone footage. She didn't realize it until the until the gun was pointed at her like.

[01:24:13 - 01:24:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, maybe we shouldn't be here. They thought they.

[01:24:15 - 01:24:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
Were going to go in there and and they thought that.

[01:24:18 - 01:24:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
That they were going.

[01:24:19 - 01:24:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
To certify the elections regardless, and they were going to go.

[01:24:22 - 01:24:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
Home. And then they started once somebody goes and dances. Yeah. They all do. And within the next morning I woke.

[01:24:32 - 01:24:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
Up to send that to.

[01:24:33 - 01:24:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
People.

[01:24:34 - 01:24:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
It was, it was gone. It was.

[01:24:35 - 01:24:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Gone. Yep. And that's when I was like all right something's afoot here.

[01:24:40 - 01:24:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
Something's weird. So I never knew like the exact things.

[01:24:43 - 01:24:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
That happened that day. And then since then you have like Nancy Pelosi coming out saying, like, we should have had the National Guard there. And then you find out that they were asked to have the National Guard there, and that the sergeant at arms was like, we want it. Or the Capitol Police chief wanted to do all this stuff, and they were turned down and blah, blah, blah.

[01:24:58 - 01:25:00] Speaker: Speaker 3
And my philosophy on it always is like.

[01:25:00 - 01:25:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
If you don't, if you don't tend to the.

[01:25:04 - 01:25:16] Speaker: Speaker 3
Leaking faucet on the third floor, you want it to flood the basement. Sure. So it inaction could be a possible motive because it's all about owning Trump and MAGA.

[01:25:16 - 01:25:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? Who no one can define.

[01:25:18 - 01:25:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
No one can define MAGA.

[01:25:19 - 01:25:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
For me, which is a fascinating thing. All right. But that was my.

[01:25:23 - 01:25:34] Speaker: Speaker 3
Thing on January 6th is just great documentary. It's about 106 minutes about and it's almost verité and it's all about January 6th time location who was where, who was doing what. And I send that to people too, because they're like.

[01:25:34 - 01:25:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
Fuck you on Fox, January 6th, they're off on criminal. I said, watch this. If it changes.

[01:25:37 - 01:25:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Your mind, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't.

[01:25:39 - 01:25:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
But realize it. Like people in.

[01:25:40 - 01:25:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Authority lie in the media lies and all these people lie. And you should.

[01:25:45 - 01:25:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
You should be the one.

[01:25:46 - 01:25:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
Trying to figure out whether or not.

[01:25:48 - 01:25:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
You believe it.

[01:25:50 - 01:25:50] Speaker: Speaker 3
Or don't believe it.

[01:25:51 - 01:25:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
Don't let somebody tell you what to believe.

[01:25:53 - 01:25:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I think that it is very difficult to, if you're just a layperson, to decipher.

[01:25:58 - 01:25:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Totally.

[01:25:59 - 01:26:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
What's accurate, what's inaccurate. Very. And, you know, I always like I try to be sympathetic to everybody's, everybody's thought process where unless I mean, unless you're someone that is totally ignorant and you purposely are. Yeah. But if someone see something on the news, they might say, hey, listen, this is on the news, I believe it, you know, why would they lie?

[01:26:18 - 01:26:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
And but you you don't you don't realize.

[01:26:21 - 01:26:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Honestly, John, I have nothing wrong with your video. I have nothing wrong with what you did. As a matter of fact, people should appraise you.

[01:26:27 - 01:26:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
For being honest in the moment.

[01:26:28 - 01:26:47] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, that's the thing. I mean, it was just it was a moment that I felt at the time, you know, based on what I was seeing was not reflective of what the Republican Party was supposed to be. Yeah. Now, again, since then, there has been a lot of information that's come out about what happened that day.

[01:26:47 - 01:27:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
A lot of, you know, a lot of theories about what happened, who was involved, you know, who threw the first brick, all that other stuff. Yeah. But but in that moment, I thought, you know, this this really is like a total 1 in 80 from the other thing, like, I mean, what I tell you, I was like, I was like a rabid dog on social media about people that were going after the small business owners that were saying, oh, you should report your friends for having Thanksgiving.

[01:27:11 - 01:27:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
That had more than ten people at it. It was like, oh, who did that?

[01:27:14 - 01:27:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
The Nazis.

[01:27:14 - 01:27:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, exactly. And and that was that was one of the things I said. Oh my God, I crucified for it on, on social media. And and then that happens. And I said, For God looking at all this stuff, I can't be a hypocrite here. Yeah.

[01:27:27 - 01:27:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
No, look, if it was what it was, I would I would say you're absolutely right because you can't. One of the worst things in the world is to be a hypocrite. I hate it.

[01:27:35 - 01:27:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
Sucks, I hate the I hate her hypocrisy, I really do. And listen, I'm not saying that I'm perfect and that my opinion is right. Nobody. Nobody is. But like, if I had if I always tell somebody, I try to shoot as straight as I possibly can. And I again, respectfully and I try to be tempered and measured, but, you know, if I have an opinion, I'm going to tell you what it is.

[01:27:54 - 01:28:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
If I like, for example, things that things that I do on council, like if I'm going to vote a certain way, I this is the way I'm going to vote. And if I change my mind, you're going to know that I'm changing my mind before the vote. I don't want you surprised because they do. People do that to me all the time when I'm like, why the hell did you do this?

[01:28:09 - 01:28:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Why did you change your mind? Now I'm sitting here looking like a bozo because I voted this way or I, you know, advocated for this, thinking that you were going to support me and you did it. So I always try to be as straight and truthful with people as possible, because you know what? You're going to get called out for it if you're if you're not sure, and I don't, that's an uncomfortable conversation to have.

[01:28:27 - 01:28:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I'd rather not have that as one of the 5000 uncomfortable conversations I have to have every day.

[01:28:32 - 01:28:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
J six is one of the big.

[01:28:33 - 01:28:35] Speaker: Speaker 3
Ones that that's very uncomfortable.

[01:28:35 - 01:28:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
For people because I think it it it it lets them. It shows that we're.

[01:28:42 - 01:28:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Not insulated from the way human nature.

[01:28:45 - 01:28:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is. Yeah. You know, and I talk to a.

[01:28:48 - 01:28:52] Speaker: Speaker 3
Lot of people from that day and, and a lot of them thought that they were being attacked by their own government.

[01:28:52 - 01:28:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm sure that's why they got upset.

[01:28:54 - 01:29:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
They saw an elderly guy get hit in the face with, you know, pepper spray or, or, a pepper round.

[01:29:01 - 01:29:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, those things do damage and flash bangs. You ever see the footage of the guy just.

[01:29:05 - 01:29:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
Indiscriminately just tossing flashbangs one after another into the crowd? I mean.

[01:29:10 - 01:29:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Those people think like, we're here to this is our house. And then now you're attacking us.

[01:29:14 - 01:29:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:29:15 - 01:29:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, and I think that, like, you know, one of the biggest things in the world that I, that I respect so much is for people to go, I got that one wrong. You know, and I think that that's okay. And I think that, like, don't sweat that shit. Don't sweat the.

[01:29:31 - 01:29:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
Shit that they give you for.

[01:29:33 - 01:29:33] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I'm.

[01:29:33 - 01:29:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
I know who it is. It's just people who want to hurt you.

[01:29:35 - 01:29:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, the other thing too, is, and I, I laugh about it all the time is that, you know, I've, I've worked on every single one of President Trump's campaigns. I've worked on every Republican campaign that has come. You know, from dogcatcher all the way to president of the United States. Ever since I got involved, every single year I'm out knocking on doors for Republican candidates.

[01:29:54 - 01:30:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
Every single year I'm out trying to help the party raise money, especially in the last couple of years. Now that I have kind of a little bit more of a position of authority, I'm out trying to help our candidates. This year. I worked my ass off on the election, trying to help every single one of our candidates out, despite the fact that there were 1 or 2 of them that I didn't really get along with.

[01:30:11 - 01:30:33] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I said, hey, listen, I'd rather have these Republicans in office and have people that I just fundamentally disagree with on how things work. And, just to, you know, to have people that are constantly throwing these like, oh, John Lombardo is a rhino, John Lombardo. So that I hate when people use those terms because it's like you're you're who are you helping by by trying to by trying to split the party up.

[01:30:33 - 01:30:57] Speaker: Speaker 4
That's what that's what gets me really annoyed. Like I get it at the, at the you know, there's certain points where, yeah, that's okay for us to talk about and say, hey, listen, you did this. Why should I vote for you? Why should I continue to support you? Or why should we follow this path? That's fine. But then once there's a certain point where you have to say, okay, I'm no longer helping the party move forward, I'm, I'm I don't know what.

[01:30:57 - 01:31:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
I don't know what they're doing, but, like, there's a point when you just aren't you're not helping anymore.

[01:31:01 - 01:31:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think it's really dangerous that we have two choices.

[01:31:04 - 01:31:05] Speaker: Speaker 4


[01:31:05 - 01:31:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think it's really because.

[01:31:07 - 01:31:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Nobody fits in those two modes. Like whether it's.

[01:31:09 - 01:31:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Whether it's people who are Democrat. You talk to a Democrat, you're like, oh, do you believe in all the Democrat stuff? Well, no. Yeah. Are you Republicans.

[01:31:15 - 01:31:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Especially in this area?

[01:31:16 - 01:31:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. And but the thing is, is like, I don't know why we felt we, we still feel today that we should we have to pick one of two sides because that that's the.

[01:31:25 - 01:31:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
Most un-American thing ever. There should always be a third choice or a fourth choice. But they have like this control.

[01:31:31 - 01:31:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's this control of the parties.

[01:31:33 - 01:31:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
Over the state. So no matter who wins, we all lose. You know? And I think that that's like, you know, I tell people about Congress all the time, you know, I'm like, do you really.

[01:31:41 - 01:31:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
Think that like my favorite was.

[01:31:42 - 01:31:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
AOC and Matt Gates.

[01:31:45 - 01:32:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
On the floor? They hated each other. Yep. But then they go to lunch. We're talking about timber chat with me earlier. It their friends don't tell me they're not friends. They're doing performative performance art for the televisions. And then they go have a burrito. You know, and that's most of the world. We're just. They just want people to believe that these people are.

[01:32:02 - 01:32:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Mortal enemies, and they don't talk to each other of anything in common or care about their kids or care about their families. And I think that's total bullshit.

[01:32:09 - 01:32:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
Sure.

[01:32:10 - 01:32:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, so like, so how many.

[01:32:13 - 01:32:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Republicans are on council now?

[01:32:14 - 01:32:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Three. Well, there will be three.

[01:32:16 - 01:32:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
So how many? How many are there now before there will be seven. So you lost four seats? Yep.

[01:32:23 - 01:32:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Four out of five.

[01:32:23 - 01:32:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
How did that happen? Well, how much time do you have. Do you have two.

[01:32:27 - 01:32:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
No no no I can I can still I can I can talk as long as you as long as you want.

[01:32:30 - 01:32:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
If you hate if you hate any of this, you know. No that's fine. I mean.

[01:32:32 - 01:32:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
Listen, I've already I've already addressed probably those the worst of what? I think we were going to talk.

[01:32:36 - 01:32:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
I don't think that's bad at all. I don't think that the I don't I still don't think that that January 6th thing was bad.

[01:32:42 - 01:32:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, I mean, it's listen, there's there's always tough topics to discuss. And like I said, I mean, I told you at the outset here, like, I'm not afraid to talk about any of them. Yeah. So that's why I'm here. But, you know, so what happened in this election cycle was kind of.

[01:32:58 - 01:33:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because it was like loser was going to be Republican for.

[01:33:01 - 01:33:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
Decades. Yeah, it was twofold. So as as you probably know, Luzerne County has been trending very Republican ever since 2016. Right. You know, the whole Ben Bradley book, The Forgotten, all the other stuff. That's all accurate. That's all great. You know, President Trump tapped into that, and even you know, on the state level, even this year, you know, our, our, our judge candidates, the state, the state, judge candidates, Matt Wofford and, the better.

[01:33:26 - 01:33:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
No, no, the other lady, why am I forgetting her name? That's okay. They didn't win.

[01:33:31 - 01:33:33] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? Anyway, they.

[01:33:33 - 01:33:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
Got.

[01:33:34 - 01:33:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
Maria Battista. Yeah. That was.

[01:33:35 - 01:33:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, Saint Bartolo two, right, right.

[01:33:37 - 01:33:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. But, but the two of them, we they won in Luzerne County, despite the fact that there was this massive turnout for the Democrats on the local level. So what what happened was in the primary, obviously, we have this contested primary because we have the one faction of the Republican Party that doesn't like the other faction. So they run a couple of candidates.

[01:33:55 - 01:34:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
We have our four candidates, plus we added another person. We tried to run as a group. Four of us got through the primary. One of us didn't. And then we had one other person that came in. So we all tried to run together loosely, but, you know, I was trying to roll the ball in, in the direction for everybody because I kept saying, listen, all we got to do is it was A74 Republican majority because the Democrats took, four seats two years ago in the last election.

[01:34:20 - 01:34:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Before that, we had a ten one Republican majority on county council.

[01:34:23 - 01:34:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
Shame on all. Yeah, yeah.

[01:34:25 - 01:34:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
Ten one Republican majority. We actually didn't get along that well when we had the ten one majority.

[01:34:29 - 01:34:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
Which goes to prove it's not a.

[01:34:31 - 01:34:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's not really especially local politics. It's all the differing opinions about certain things. But anyway, so we have this split in the Republican Party. And then, you know, I listen, I sat down with some some people after the election and said, listen, we got to figure this out. Let's work together and try doing that. And then after.

[01:34:50 - 01:34:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
The most recent election.

[01:34:51 - 01:35:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh yeah, after after the primary, the prior. Okay. Not the job, not the general. But I said we got to work. We got to work together. If we don't, we're going to lose. Okay? We'll try to figure this out. Never got figured out. There's a million reasons for that. But anyway, so we go into the general election and the main.

[01:35:05 - 01:35:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
I'll tell you the main reason why we lost. There was an influx of outside money from California and Washington, D.C., to the tune of $1 million.

[01:35:15 - 01:35:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
But wait till Luzerne County.

[01:35:18 - 01:35:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
1 million.

[01:35:18 - 01:35:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
We shut the fuck up. Wait.

[01:35:19 - 01:35:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
And here's. And it was from and it was from all of these PACs from California and Washington, DC. One of them was the Jane Fonda Climate PAC.

[01:35:28 - 01:35:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is this real?

[01:35:29 - 01:35:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
You can look it up so wait.

[01:35:32 - 01:35:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
There was $1 million funneled into the Luzerne County general election from out of state for.

[01:35:38 - 01:35:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
County.

[01:35:38 - 01:35:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Council, for county count. Okay, explain this to me.

[01:35:41 - 01:35:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
Like I'm like, I'm an idiot.

[01:35:43 - 01:35:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, because it sounds really abnormal.

[01:35:47 - 01:36:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
It is. In 2021, I think I spent $5,000 on my county council campaign. I'll never forget there was a guy who ran for council. I want to say it was in 2019, and I heard from somebody that he had spent $50,000. I didn't even I didn't even look at the campaign finance report. I just heard the number and I thought, who the hell spends 50 grand on this county council pays for the county?

[01:36:06 - 01:36:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Like, that's ridiculous. So I run in 21. I spent about $5,000. I think the party sent out a mailer for us. That was probably about 25 grand. So let's just say it was like 30 grand total. If you put my money and everybody else spent some of their own money, I think I probably spent the most out of anybody on council that year, for whatever reason, not my money.

[01:36:23 - 01:36:56] Speaker: Speaker 4
I was able to raise like about five grand. But anyway, so that's how much money we're that people are spending on council races. But before 2023, in 2021, we're spending like 25, 30, 40, maybe 50 Grand total Council race 2023. For whatever reason, the Democrats that ran for council had some connection with these national PACs, and they were able to get about a quarter of $1 million that they funneled into the council race that year.

[01:36:56 - 01:37:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
So we had six, six seats up for council in 2023, five Republicans. And the one singular Democrat, that Democrat was term limited. So he he was gone. So, you know, we had six Republicans that were running, and it was a ticket that was kind of split because there were issues in the party back then, too. So there was like only certain people were supporting certain Republicans.

[01:37:16 - 01:37:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
Other people were saying, bullet vote this Republican. Yeah, whatever. Not really important to this part of the story, but the Democrats all run together and they have about a quarter of $1 million that they funnel in, you know, for literature for mailers, for events, for things like that. And the Republican Party was kind of able to compete a little bit at the time.

[01:37:37 - 01:37:42] Speaker: Speaker 4
But they raised probably double the amount of money we did. So for them get $1.

[01:37:42 - 01:37:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
Million.

[01:37:42 - 01:37:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
For them, get elected. Only two Republicans get elected.

[01:37:46 - 01:37:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
Now six seats out.

[01:37:48 - 01:38:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Of those six seats. So the balance goes from seven to for the Democrats must have said, oh, there it is. There's the secret formula. We just need money. And that's what happened this year $1 million. You can go look at the campaign finance reports. It's crazy. And the reason why I have an issue with it, because I've been harping on this quite a bit.

[01:38:05 - 01:38:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
Why?

[01:38:06 - 01:38:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
Because. So if the if a certain party controls county council, they steer the policy of the county, not meaning they steer everything that goes on day to day, they steer the people that are in charge so they can hire and fire the county manager. They can, confirm or not confirm all of our division heads and those half a dozen to a dozen positions determine the direction of the county.

[01:38:32 - 01:38:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
And then on top of that, they appoint people to our authorities, boards and commissions. And that's where a lot of the rubber meets the road. As far as, like, the ideas and things go forward in the county. Well, probably the most important one is the election board. And the election board is controlled by two Democrats, two Republicans and a fifth person who the board appoints of either party.

[01:38:54 - 01:39:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right now there's three Democrats and two Republicans on the board. So if you're in charge of the county council, you're in charge of what four people get appointed to the election board. And obviously, because our county is trending in a certain direction, the other party doesn't like that very much, and they want to be able to influence the policy of our elections as much as possible to protect dropboxes, to protect mail in ballots, to protect, other types of things like that.

[01:39:21 - 01:39:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
And that's where $1 million just goes right into our election because.

[01:39:28 - 01:39:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Okay, wait, wait.

[01:39:30 - 01:39:34] Speaker: Speaker 3
Obviously I tinfoil hats are my thing.

[01:39:34 - 01:39:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
Sure.

[01:39:35 - 01:39:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
What is the incentive to to spend.

[01:39:41 - 01:39:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
$1 million amongst multiple PACs on a city council race?

[01:39:45 - 01:39:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, and.

[01:39:46 - 01:39:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
Loser on a county council race in Luzerne.

[01:39:48 - 01:40:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
County. Well, when you control that policy, I'm not saying you control the votes. Yeah, but you think, you know, you know what type of people are generally there's there's a big disparity in who vote by mail. There's a big disparity of who votes by Dropbox. And it's not in the direction of the Republican Party.

[01:40:06 - 01:40:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
I look at, okay, what is it? Just these PACs, first of all, where.

[01:40:12 - 01:40:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
The PACs get the money.

[01:40:14 - 01:40:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Second of all.

[01:40:15 - 01:40:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
Who enlighten the PACs to come to Luzerne County.

[01:40:19 - 01:40:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
And like, and how did how did the media not make a huge deal about that when and what an average year prior.

[01:40:28 - 01:40:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
To that was maybe 50 grand amongst all candidates being spent now, just one party has $1 million spent there.

[01:40:36 - 01:40:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I don't think that's a huge disparity.

[01:40:41 - 01:40:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, huge huge disparity. So the media to to their credit, there was one, maybe 1 or 2 articles in the newspaper about it. That's it.

[01:40:50 - 01:40:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's a huge story.

[01:40:51 - 01:41:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh yeah I agree. And and again my, my my anger towards this because again, like I said, I've been like harping on this quite a bit since the election has nothing to do with the fact that it was that it happened because, hey, listen, if you want to win an election, you use whatever tools are at your disposal to win that election.

[01:41:05 - 01:41:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
Good on the Democrats for doing it. But the problem is they now have set a precedent where these organizations, which are highly influential, which have a lot of money, have now donated money. And they might say, Jane Fonda might call up one of our county council people, maybe not herself, but somebody from the PAC can join. Yeah, Hanoi Jane, you know, they may call up our council and say, oh, you have to make sure all of our county buildings are Leed certified or they're all green or they're all this or this policy is wrong, or, this building project that you want to do in this area of the county is blah, blah, blah,

[01:41:41 - 01:42:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
blah, blah, and on and on and on with every other PAC. So now the Republicans, now what we have to do and what we've already been doing is we have to respond by finding money from our own PAC. So if I went to Gun Owners of America or the NRA and they gave us a $20,000 check, now we're going to have to start fighting for things that we really can't really don't have any effect on.

[01:42:02 - 01:42:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
But we have to pass resolutions saying, oh, we support the Second Amendment. This is a sanctuary county, which we've already done, by the way. But like all that type of stuff. So it muddied the waters of what our county government is supposed to do that. No, no, I'm not saying that they will, that they have, but.

[01:42:17 - 01:42:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh no, you're saying like downstream that could.

[01:42:19 - 01:42:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
Happen, but they might. I feel that that's a big positive because it.

[01:42:22 - 01:42:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
Leads to aggressive.

[01:42:23 - 01:42:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
It leads to us. Well, it leads to us now having a solidify opinions that hadn't have really have no place in what we're doing on the county level. You know, we're we're trying.

[01:42:31 - 01:42:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
To like I don't like.

[01:42:33 - 01:42:34] Speaker: Speaker 3
Forgive me on this.

[01:42:34 - 01:42:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
I don't I do not understand.

[01:42:38 - 01:42:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
What what incentive any of these.

[01:42:44 - 01:42:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Organizations have in Luzerne.

[01:42:45 - 01:42:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
County. What what is it what what is Jane Fonda have to do? What?

[01:42:49 - 01:43:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
Luzerne county? Well, Luzerne County is, as I'm sure you know, is a bellwether county for the state of Pennsylvania. You know, so goes Luzerne County, so goes the state. So if Luzerne County goes red, typically the state goes red. If we have policies that make it more, incentive.

[01:43:06 - 01:43:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because because everything else is so decided.

[01:43:09 - 01:43:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
Every other county is so decided that.

[01:43:10 - 01:43:19] Speaker: Speaker 4
Many other ones are. But it's it's it is like this in other counties. There's other, other places where, they've, they've inserted money into the races like this.

[01:43:19 - 01:43:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
This seems like this seemed this might be a little.

[01:43:22 - 01:43:24] Speaker: Speaker 3
Aggressive to say, but it seems like a.

[01:43:24 - 01:43:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sort of warfare tactic.

[01:43:30 - 01:43:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
I wouldn't disagree with that. I mean, it's it really is. And it makes it really hard, you know, to want to work together, because for.

[01:43:40 - 01:43:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Once, you get a.

[01:43:40 - 01:44:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
Lot. Yeah. Why don't you get elected? Because I'm the only Republican out of the five out of the five candidates that was elected this time. So now I've been like jokingly saying, oh, I'm the lone survivor. Okay. But what I mean by that is like, I've got nobody now, you know, all of my allies on council, most of them there's I have two other Republicans, most of my allies are now gone, and I'm going to have to figure out how to get the things done that I want to get done.

[01:44:03 - 01:44:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, you know, will the other party allow that to happen just based on the fact that they want to be in control? I don't know.

[01:44:12 - 01:44:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Has all been looked into the there's anybody called the like, has any media called the PACs have been like, why would you spend that money there?

[01:44:20 - 01:44:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I think that, I think that there was some I think that the media again, I think.

[01:44:26 - 01:44:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
There's no way. Say me. Yeah, I like the news. What are.

[01:44:28 - 01:44:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
We like? The citizens voice, the times leader. I think the citizen's Voice did the biggest article about the about the money being spent. But again, it only happened after the campaign finance reports were released the first time and the second time. So these.

[01:44:39 - 01:44:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
Money is is this is this in-kind.

[01:44:41 - 01:44:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Or is this money that's being donated directly to the campaigns?

[01:44:45 - 01:44:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
So some of it is in-kind and some of it is money being directly donated. So the in-kind donations were there was a lot there.

[01:44:51 - 01:44:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
Wait, how about $1 million?

[01:44:53 - 01:44:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, yeah.

[01:44:54 - 01:44:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
Million bucks. Okay. So out of five candidates.

[01:44:57 - 01:45:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well so they were pushing for the five typically the five Democratic candidates.

[01:45:01 - 01:45:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah.

[01:45:03 - 01:45:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
And yeah, I mean, there were there were some PACs that only.

[01:45:08 - 01:45:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Did like mail pieces.

[01:45:09 - 01:45:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, yeah, they did mail pieces, but they did it for the five candidates or they did it for, maybe a couple of the candidates if they sign off only maybe. I think there was one PAC that did like only three of the candidates, because only three of them signed on to some pledge or something like that.

[01:45:23 - 01:45:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
This is crazy. Well, which means which means that the people in that in Luzerne County are being manipulated by outside forces. Yeah. Because that's all. That's all media is. That's all mail pieces, commercials, all that.

[01:45:38 - 01:45:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
Stuff is we're trying to.

[01:45:40 - 01:45:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
We're trying.

[01:45:40 - 01:45:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
To manipulate.

[01:45:41 - 01:45:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
You. Right. And and manipulation isn't.

[01:45:43 - 01:45:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
A negative word because sometimes I'm trying to manipulate.

[01:45:45 - 01:45:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
You like the health food. You know what I mean? Sure. So what, like, this is the thing I'm having a real problem with, because this is the.

[01:45:51 - 01:45:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
First time I've ever heard about this. And maybe I'm ignorant to Luzerne County, but like.

[01:45:55 - 01:45:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
$1.

[01:45:56 - 01:46:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
Million into a county council race is.

[01:46:01 - 01:46:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
Unheard of.

[01:46:02 - 01:46:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
I mean that in two years, three years, what has the the total aggregate money in a.

[01:46:08 - 01:46:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
County council race.

[01:46:09 - 01:46:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Grown by. Oh that's that like that's crazy.

[01:46:14 - 01:46:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, 1,000% I want to say more than 1,000%. If both parties were spending $50,000 on an election ten, ten years ago, five years, five years ago.

[01:46:26 - 01:46:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Now it's up to a million.

[01:46:27 - 01:46:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Now it's up to a million. I mean, and it's not.

[01:46:28 - 01:46:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Totally lopsided in one direction.

[01:46:30 - 01:46:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, right. And that's because, you know, I mean, there's a lot of reasons for that why the Republican Party wasn't able to, to, to manage this the way that I think that, especially on the state level, I won't even say on the local level, because I personally and I know other people have been sounding the alarm about this for months and months and months thinking this was going to happen.

[01:46:46 - 01:47:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
And it did. But on the state level, we reached out a number of times to you know, elected officials on the state level and, party officials on that level. And I mean to say that they've been helpful would be an exaggeration. They definitely I mean, I don't think they saw this as something that was going to be so important, but they'll find out if it's important next year when we're trying to defend our congressmen and trying to defend our state reps that are in districts that are not easy to win.

[01:47:10 - 01:47:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
This is so nefarious. Yeah. This is such this is such fuckery.

[01:47:15 - 01:47:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's it's to me it's it's upsetting because like I said, it's that this precedent was now set that we have to, that we have to know we have to follow through with that. Now, you know, two years from now, we're going to have to find out how to raise $1 million for six Republican candidates that are going to run.

[01:47:32 - 01:47:35] Speaker: Speaker 4
And and who are those people going to be that are going to give us that million dollars?

[01:47:35 - 01:47:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
And we also.

[01:47:36 - 01:47:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
Don't know if the USAID money's gone yet.

[01:47:38 - 01:47:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
So that those budgets might not.

[01:47:40 - 01:47:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
Be there and next year or the year after, but nevertheless, the damage is done.

[01:47:44 - 01:47:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. Like this is I look at this the same way.

[01:47:46 - 01:47:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's like Chinese buying up farmland.

[01:47:49 - 01:47:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
What? They have no reason.

[01:47:51 - 01:47:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be here doing that.

[01:47:51 - 01:47:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
Stuff. Why, what what interest does.

[01:47:53 - 01:47:59] Speaker: Speaker 3
Any, any PAC from California have to do with with Luzerne County coal country?

[01:47:59 - 01:48:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's bizarre. It truly is. And and again, like I said, and you.

[01:48:02 - 01:48:21] Speaker: Speaker 2
Do, you sound like a lunatic even thinking that like something's up. Yeah. This is this is so. Yep. These are like, who I will never ask you to disparage anybody on the council, but, like, what? What like is it is it moms? Is it construction guys? Like, who ran like what?

[01:48:21 - 01:48:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, it was like it was it was. Listen, it I mean, they were a diverse group of candidates, the Democrats and and I'm not saying that any of them are necessarily bad people.

[01:48:29 - 01:48:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
No, no, no, but the perception is like.

[01:48:31 - 01:48:57] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, when when you're again, like just having that amount of money inserted into this type of race is just unprecedented. And to me, it's like something is something is happening here that is not normal. And what that is, I don't know. But at this point, you know, for me and I've said this and I've sat down with a couple of the Democratic candidates that won, and I said, you know, now is your time to to prove that you're going to lead and you're going to you're going to lead for all the citizens of Luzerne County.

[01:48:57 - 01:49:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
And that everything that happened in this election cycle is not going to reflect upon your, your, your tenure.

[01:49:05 - 01:49:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
There was five candidates.

[01:49:07 - 01:49:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:49:08 - 01:49:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Which is 200 K per. Yeah. It would it would be not necessarily in the bank.

[01:49:15 - 01:49:20] Speaker: Speaker 3
Account but like in-kind services or like you would like because I know how PACs are. They're like.

[01:49:20 - 01:49:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
We want you to put this, we support blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah.

[01:49:23 - 01:49:30] Speaker: Speaker 3
Blah blah blah paid for by blah blah blah. You know, no one ever looks for the paper paid for by. Yeah, no one cares. Most people don't care.

[01:49:30 - 01:49:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Some of us do.

[01:49:31 - 01:49:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
A lot of us do. Because that because that's our first piece of evidence.

[01:49:35 - 01:49:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be in like, the candidate didn't put this out. Who did put this out? Why did this person put this out, or why did this group put this out?

[01:49:42 - 01:49:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? So just basic.

[01:49:45 - 01:49:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
Math. Five candidates, 200 grand, a candidate in either in-kind services or you know.

[01:49:51 - 01:49:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:49:52 - 01:49:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
Actual donations.

[01:49:53 - 01:49:54] Speaker: Speaker 4


[01:49:54 - 01:50:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's that's four times more than the total. Just one candidate is four times more than the total of the of the total election budget for both sides prior to 2023.

[01:50:06 - 01:50:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah I would say so. Yeah. So if they were spending how.

[01:50:09 - 01:50:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is this I'm I'm sorry I'm harping on it. But like how is this not like a massive it's what happened here.

[01:50:15 - 01:50:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
This is again why I've been.

[01:50:17 - 01:50:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Probably totally legal.

[01:50:18 - 01:50:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
So it is I don't know it all. And again, like I said, like I don't really necessarily have an issue with the fact that the I.

[01:50:24 - 01:50:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of an issue with the candidates or anything. It's just I'm just saying, like when I mentioned.

[01:50:27 - 01:50:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
That it happened and there should be a lot more discussion about it. And again, like, you know, I, I've been saying we're.

[01:50:34 - 01:50:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Bitching about our power bills going up. Oh, yeah. And no one's worried about budgets and elected officials.

[01:50:39 - 01:50:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
Who are running for.

[01:50:40 - 01:50:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
Office. Yeah. And you're and the and again like, it's not like you're going there and you're making, a life sustaining salary. Like, we get an $8,000 a year stipend to be on county council. It's not like the commissioners that get, like, full time jobs.

[01:50:52 - 01:50:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's so insane. Yeah. This is so insane. It's crazy. I didn't know anything about.

[01:50:57 - 01:50:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
That until you just told me this.

[01:50:58 - 01:51:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I hope you don't think my reaction is it's.

[01:51:00 - 01:51:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Listen, not many people do. I mean, it's it's a it's it's honestly like something that's really frustrating to me that I'm trying I'm honestly I'm trying to be really reserved about it because obviously the election didn't go so well for all of us. And like I had people that were you did well.

[01:51:16 - 01:51:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because you could because you were spending.

[01:51:18 - 01:51:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I had, I had people that were upset with me because they're like, you're a sore winner. You're like, you want you're a Republican. You you're the only Republican that won. And I'm like, yeah, but I mean, like, I know, I know, I won, you know, because I, I worked really hard. But and I'm not saying that my other kids are hard, but you know, like there is just something went on that is just totally out of the norm.

[01:51:43 - 01:52:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, and that's what has me so upset because and the other thing too, is outside of all this craziness, yeah, outside of all this craziness, is that the people that lost my colleagues, my Republican colleagues, it's nothing to do with their political party. They were really hard workers, and they all brought unique, diverse opinions to county council that I have learned to love because I don't agree with them maybe 50% of the time on a lot of issues.

[01:52:10 - 01:52:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I know that they're coming from a place of, okay, they have knowledge on this issue. This person used to be an engineer, so they have knowledge on this issue. This person has an accounting degree. So they're great on the budget. Yeah. And you know like they they have done really really good things on council. And now they're not going to have the opportunity to do that at least.

[01:52:29 - 01:52:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
What was what's the what was the what was the what was the.

[01:52:32 - 01:52:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
Campaign promises that the the new elected officials. Well came in on that is that diverts from the whatever you guys are trying to do.

[01:52:41 - 01:52:52] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean they were you know, one of the other things that upset me was that they were suggesting that, that, you know, the Republican leadership has been a failure. And, and then one of our candidates, is.

[01:52:52 - 01:52:53] Speaker: Speaker 2
One that suggested that.

[01:52:53 - 01:53:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, well, that's part of it. But then the other big thing that they were, that they were that they were advertising quite a bit was one of our candidates. Was is a previous councilman, Steve Urban. His name is. And,

[01:53:04 - 01:53:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
I met him. He seems like a nice guy. Yeah.

[01:53:06 - 01:53:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
Steve is Steve. I disagree with him on some things, but. But Steve is principled. Steve, knows, like he has a lot of knowledge about the county. Yeah.

[01:53:14 - 01:53:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
And he's fearless.

[01:53:15 - 01:53:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
Also fearless. Yes. That's true. I can't can't you can't take that away from some people, like I said. But so he in 2023, he had, and, an incident happened in front of his house where, he lives with, developmentally disabled individual. And I guess there were some kids in the neighborhood that were harassing that person.

[01:53:34 - 01:53:54] Speaker: Speaker 4
I don't really know the specifics of of that aspect of the story, but, at one point, they threw a brick through his window. Jesus got to the brick thrown. But at one point they threw a brick through his window. So I guess one of the next times that the kids were walking down the street, Steve walked out and he had a baseball bat in his hand, and he was like, you know, get off my porch like that type of thing.

[01:53:54 - 01:54:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
And he ended up being charged with, attempted assault or something like that. And that was right there.

[01:54:00 - 01:54:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
So the property man, you can't mess with that.

[01:54:02 - 01:54:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
That was right during the 2023 campaign. So he obviously loses. And they rehash that whole just like the J6 thing with me that they rehash that whole thing in 2025. And and that was on every piece of literature. Did you know Steve Urban in the kitchen with the baseball bat and like then they had don't vote for this radical or these other radical Republicans and then my name and the other.

[01:54:22 - 01:54:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
So you're guilty by association for a guy.

[01:54:23 - 01:54:25] Speaker: Speaker 3
Trying to defend his home and his family.

[01:54:25 - 01:54:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. And that weird.

[01:54:27 - 01:54:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
And again like, listen, hey whatever it is, what it is, you know, he, he, I think he, I don't remember what he pled, pled to or whatever, but whatever it is, it's like something that's in the past and it's something that happened with him. And now, like, why do I have to necessarily be associated with it? And then I had to defend it.

[01:54:43 - 01:54:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know why? Because they they the association is the thing that discredits you, right? You know, like that. It's like this gross. It's this gross thing of politics.

[01:54:54 - 01:54:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
That they're.

[01:54:55 - 01:54:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Trying to guilt. Like when, when all else fails, guilt by association.

[01:54:59 - 01:55:00] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, and that's and that's.

[01:55:00 - 01:55:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's the identity politics shit. Yeah.

[01:55:03 - 01:55:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
Which needs to end. You know, I think people need to be smarter than all of this shit and think for themselves and don't read. Look, man, part of my business is actually sending out those mail pieces and commercials and digital ads and blah, blah, blah.

[01:55:17 - 01:55:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
But like everybody, everybody, everybody who I work with, it's always like, we're going to be honest.

[01:55:23 - 01:55:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Sure. You know, I don't do negative stuff. I'll do I'll do comparative.

[01:55:27 - 01:55:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
We can criticize the record. Don't do anything. The personal shit, it's all salacious.

[01:55:32 - 01:55:34] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's a Victorian freak show.

[01:55:34 - 01:55:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
And people don't want that. They don't want to see like that all that shit. And they also, I think they also don't want to see $1 million.

[01:55:42 - 01:55:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
Thrown into a county council race.

[01:55:44 - 01:55:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:55:45 - 01:55:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
And they only on one side, they.

[01:55:46 - 01:55:47] Speaker: Speaker 4
Have no idea that it even.

[01:55:47 - 01:55:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
If it was the budget on the Republican side.

[01:55:50 - 01:56:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think we were able to raise. So in the primary, I just know from what my faction of people raised in the primary, I think we raised, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 grand and then in the general, which was spent on all five candidates. Most of it was, in the general, I think we raised about another 50 or 60, something like that.

[01:56:11 - 01:56:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
So it was about $100,000.

[01:56:12 - 01:56:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
So you're at a 10 to 1 odds? Oh, yeah. Yeah, just, just just for buying real estate for for radio.

[01:56:19 - 01:56:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
Ads, commercials, digital mail pieces.

[01:56:23 - 01:56:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yep.

[01:56:23 - 01:56:23] Speaker: Speaker 3
Door hangers.

[01:56:23 - 01:56:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
It was cards. And and it was like just even talking about it now is still just I'm thinking about it and I'm like exhausted thinking about what we were doing and how we had to claw our way to just get that $100,000 because it was all from local people. That wasn't from.

[01:56:39 - 01:56:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
PACs in California.

[01:56:40 - 01:56:47] Speaker: Speaker 4
California. It was all from local organizations, you know, business owners, just individual contributors from the Republican people.

[01:56:47 - 01:56:51] Speaker: Speaker 2
Who want to improve their own community, not improve other people's communities.

[01:56:51 - 01:57:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. Some elected officials in the area helped us out, too. So, you know, I mean, it was it was it was a lot of that. There was there was nothing that came, you know, generally outside of this area.

[01:57:02 - 01:57:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'd look, I don't know if anything criminal happened now, but I think I think it would be very I think it would be very.

[01:57:07 - 01:57:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
Valuable for someone to pull the string on that sweater and figure out the reasons why and how.

[01:57:13 - 01:57:14] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[01:57:14 - 01:57:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
Why did the money come here and how did it come here?

[01:57:17 - 01:57:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, you know, one of the problems, I think, and again, this this kind of involves, I don't want to say like the dying art of journalism, but, like, investigative reporters just don't exist anymore. So there's no.

[01:57:28 - 01:57:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
Budget for them.

[01:57:29 - 01:57:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? So you can't, you know, you.

[01:57:31 - 01:57:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
Can't you know who the investigative journalists are, the like, predator catcher. And he's funded, funded by donations from people like you. It's true. You know what I mean? That those are the only people that exist anymore because corporate isn't willing to do it. Local isn't willing to do it. The investigative journalism locally is is dog shit.

[01:57:48 - 01:57:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
And a lot of them are really great people. But I think they're handcuffed by corporate. Yeah. And they're not allowed to go do it. Man. This is such an interesting.

[01:57:55 - 01:57:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's crazy. It really is. It's totally.

[01:57:58 - 01:58:01] Speaker: Speaker 2
Crazy. And then like, how many other places around the country did this happen?

[01:58:02 - 01:58:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
Who knows. Probably a lot.

[01:58:03 - 01:58:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
Holy shit.

[01:58:05 - 01:58:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. It's, it's definitely again, like I said, like, my agitation has nothing to do with the the results of the election. It has nothing to do with the candidates themselves. It has to do just with a desire. And maybe it's not even through the candidates, but because I think, you know, many of them I've, I've read and I've seen and I've heard what they've said after the election.

[01:58:24 - 01:58:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
A lot of them believe that they worked a lot harder than the Republican candidates, which I don't know that I would disagree with that 100%. But did they work harder than all of us to win four out of five seats? I don't I also don't know about that.

[01:58:38 - 01:58:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
You don't have to work that hard when.

[01:58:39 - 01:58:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
You have $200,000.

[01:58:40 - 01:58:40] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right?

[01:58:40 - 01:58:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
You know, so, you know, they have that space. And again, you know, the the other aspect of this too, that I didn't get to mention was the, you know, all the stuff going on nationwide. That was when the government shutdown was happening, state budget impasse, you know, people yapping about President Trump, all that other stuff.

[01:58:59 - 01:58:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
That was just.

[01:58:59 - 01:59:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think all those things are chess pieces. I think you're doing that shit on purpose.

[01:59:03 - 01:59:22] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, and but it's all it's all worth something. It's all worth a thousand words here, a thousand votes there. Because all of our candidates, if you look at the election results, I was the only one that was able to kind of transcend all that by a significant amount. But all the other candidates were within a thousand votes of knocking off one of the other Democratic candidates, a thousand, maybe.

[01:59:22 - 01:59:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
Even with all that money, it was still that.

[01:59:23 - 01:59:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
Close. It was it was pretty close. And I said that during the election, I said, this election isn't going to be won by 5000 votes. I mean, it was four years ago. There was a huge disparity between the Republican candidates and the Democratic candidates. But, but in this election, it was only it was only a thousand votes, maybe between all of them.

[01:59:41 - 01:59:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
So what do you think? What do you think the what do you think? Look, I.

[01:59:46 - 01:59:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
Part of me thinks that the Republican Democrats wings are the same bird.

[01:59:49 - 01:59:51] Speaker: Speaker 2


[01:59:51 - 01:59:55] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, it's just it's just an asymmetric asymmetry.

[01:59:55 - 02:00:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
What do you what do you think that the county has to do? Because it was it was trending in a way towards like, look, there are reasonable.

[02:00:02 - 02:00:05] Speaker: Speaker 3
Democrats, there are unreasonable Republicans.

[02:00:05 - 02:00:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
But it seems like the vast.

[02:00:07 - 02:00:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Preponderance of reason and accountability right now, currently in the United States, seems like it's on the Republican side.

[02:00:14 - 02:00:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
How is what is there to do moving forward?

[02:00:18 - 02:00:19] Speaker: Speaker 3
Because next year's.

[02:00:19 - 02:00:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Midterms? Yeah.

[02:00:20 - 02:00:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think that the, the Republican Party needs to make sure that we're more well organized. That's something that I think we we had. But isn't it.

[02:00:27 - 02:00:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
Fractured?

[02:00:28 - 02:00:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
To some extent it is. But we did a lot of work this year to try to, you know, have events and, and do doorknocking and things like that. So we're doing a lot of good, good work. But we do need we do need to make sure we're more organized amongst all of our people, not just the not just the the party leadership and the volunteers.

[02:00:46 - 02:01:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
They're, you know, I wish that we could come together as a party because I think that would be really helpful to getting us again. Like I said, it's all worth something that might have been worse. Here's here's another statistic. I think there were 40,000 under votes in the county council election, meaning 40,000 people, maybe not 40,000, but a number of people.

[02:01:05 - 02:01:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
Thousands of people didn't vote for all five candidates.

[02:01:09 - 02:01:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
So they did like a bullet.

[02:01:10 - 02:01:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
Or so they might have. Bullet voted one person, two people, maybe three people. And those 40,000 under votes, I would be willing to bet you dollars donuts that it was mostly on the Republican side because of the fracturing. So if we had all of our candidates, all, you know, all, all, all everybody voted for all of our candidates, I think we would have been successful again, because, like I said, on the state level, countywide, our Republican candidates won, which means that Republicans did turn out.

[02:01:39 - 02:01:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's not like they didn't. I know there's some people have been saying, oh, our Republicans didn't turn out as much as they should of. Well, I think they did turn out maybe they maybe more could have. But I think many, many of them did turn out. It's just that they didn't vote for all of the Republican candidates. And that's again, you know, once you're past a certain point, you have to say, okay, like, am I hurting or my help?

[02:01:59 - 02:01:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
And by doing this.

[02:01:59 - 02:02:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Is there a way to have like some sort of Camp David.

[02:02:02 - 02:02:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
Bring all the factions together? We're not leaving this room until we come to an understanding type situation that could possibly happen, I mean, otherwise, otherwise, Luzerne County is.

[02:02:13 - 02:02:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sorry, guys. You guys are. You guys are left up to the gods of PACs with.

[02:02:17 - 02:02:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
Millions of dollars, and they will now control your town without you even knowing it under your county.

[02:02:22 - 02:02:30] Speaker: Speaker 4
And and that's part of the reason why I think the Republican donors have been trepidatious about giving us money is because they see this going on.

[02:02:30 - 02:02:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, yeah, you don't want it. You don't.

[02:02:31 - 02:02:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
Want to waste your money.

[02:02:32 - 02:02:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? Because you don't. First of all, you don't know who to give your money to. And second of all, you don't want to give your money to either of them. Because if you do, you know, there's a shot that, okay, only a certain amount of them are going to win or there's a potential that this could still like, they're still going to like, you know, kick them in the knees or something like that, like, who knows?

[02:02:53 - 02:03:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean, I wish that we could, I, I would love to, I mean, I, I've on many occasions reached out to these people that are, in the party that like I, they.

[02:03:02 - 02:03:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
You're willing.

[02:03:02 - 02:03:13] Speaker: Speaker 4
They, they put me in a they put me on one side. I have always tried to get along with every Republican because I like all Republicans. I have no issue with anybody. You know, if you're part of the Republican Party, like a lot of.

[02:03:13 - 02:03:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Republicans, you're.

[02:03:14 - 02:03:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Part of very well, no.

[02:03:16 - 02:03:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
1 or 2.

[02:03:16 - 02:03:23] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, no, I mean, I really I don't have I, I would love to be able to get along with everybody, I really would. And then I.

[02:03:23 - 02:03:24] Speaker: Speaker 2
Say that party though.

[02:03:24 - 02:03:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yes, yes, yes, that is.

[02:03:26 - 02:03:28] Speaker: Speaker 2
That is I think that's more what you're saying.

[02:03:28 - 02:03:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I but but on the, in the Republican Party specifically, when I first got involved, there was never any of this faction fracturing stuff that that never really occurred.

[02:03:37 - 02:03:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Or come about with Trump.

[02:03:39 - 02:04:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
It was no, not initially. I think it was it was more after that. You know, like I said, 2021, 2022 was when things started to really become, problematic. But, you know, it's like like I said, especially on the Republican side, I would love to be able to get along with with everybody because we're all trying to work towards the same goal, I think, is electing Republican candidates.

[02:04:02 - 02:04:12] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, you know, at some point we have to say, all right, like, is a Republican you don't love better than a Democrat that you really hate. I don't know, you know.

[02:04:12 - 02:04:13] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's it's an interesting.

[02:04:13 - 02:04:15] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[02:04:15 - 02:04:16] Speaker: Speaker 3
Somebody's scenario.

[02:04:16 - 02:04:18] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right. Right. Yeah. I mean.

[02:04:18 - 02:04:22] Speaker: Speaker 2
You think that you'd think that like, oh, they're not like I say this all the time.

[02:04:22 - 02:04:29] Speaker: Speaker 3
About these purity tests. Right. The left has it sort of the right. Right where it's like, oh, you don't like trans, you're transphobic. You're out of the group.

[02:04:29 - 02:04:31] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right? With the Republicans.

[02:04:31 - 02:04:36] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's like, oh, you like data centers? Well, you're out of the group. Sure. You know what I mean? Or the other way.

[02:04:36 - 02:04:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like these purity tests where it's.

[02:04:37 - 02:04:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
Like none of us agree 100% and 100%.

[02:04:41 - 02:04:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of things. And they have to give a little bit of grace to, to, to do the right thing. You know, it's like, well, nobody's going.

[02:04:49 - 02:04:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
To eat the meal because somebody made brussel sprouts. So no one's eating tonight. And it's like.

[02:04:53 - 02:05:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
That helps no one. It helps no one. And I and I can't like, look, man, Lackawanna County has its own problems too. You know, it's just I don't.

[02:05:03 - 02:05:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Understand.

[02:05:05 - 02:05:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like, you got a problem with somebody, like, like, sit down, hash it out.

[02:05:08 - 02:05:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, that's one thing that I've, you know, like.

[02:05:11 - 02:05:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
And leave your ego at the door.

[02:05:12 - 02:05:36] Speaker: Speaker 4
I've done that before. That's the thing. Like, I've done that with these people and I. And I say that with the most sincerity possible that I go into these, these meetings sometimes. Listen, I don't tell some of my people that I respect that. No, no I don't yeah, I won't there's, there are people that I highly respect, that respect me, that, you know, are helpful to me politically, that if they knew that I went and met with these guys, they'd be like, oh, what are you doing doing that?

[02:05:36 - 02:05:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
Like, I'd have to hear about it for weeks and weeks and weeks on end. And but listen, at the end of the day, like, I just want our Republican candidates to win. I just want good people to be in elected office. So I'm like, well, if if reaching out is going to make that difference, then I'll do it.

[02:05:49 - 02:06:08] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I like I said, I've done it on a number of occasions, but it always, you know, it just goes back to like, all right, listen, I'm willing to listen. I'm willing to sit down and have this conversation. But then when something goes wrong or like for example, on county council, if I don't vote the way that that person wants to, it's like I'm immediately become the Antichrist.

[02:06:08 - 02:06:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
And where I'm like, yeah, I okay, I mean, I didn't number one, you didn't contact me or reach out to me. Number two, like we had a conversation or number two, this has nothing to do with these five absolutes that you talk about all the time. Yeah. So like where are we? You know, like I'm looking to find where we actually disagree here.

[02:06:26 - 02:06:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think there's a lot of truth.

[02:06:27 - 02:06:35] Speaker: Speaker 3
To being to saying that, like, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. And I think that those two things exist on both sides of the bird, you know? Yeah.

[02:06:35 - 02:06:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
I just don't.

[02:06:36 - 02:06:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Think that the right is as dangerous.

[02:06:39 - 02:06:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well.

[02:06:40 - 02:06:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
As, as the left and the purity testing man, where it's like, you gotta, you gotta.

[02:06:46 - 02:06:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
You gotta, you gotta heat up the the, the.

[02:06:49 - 02:06:51] Speaker: Speaker 3
The what do you call those things when they.

[02:06:51 - 02:06:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Brandt. Brandt.

[02:06:52 - 02:06:56] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yeah. You gotta heat up the brand. You gotta put it on. If you're not willing to do that, then you're out of the group.

[02:06:56 - 02:07:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, it's know certainly, certainly the the Republican Party is not shy about being public about it. The Democratic Party.

[02:07:04 - 02:07:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
They're not, but it's not. But it's not the party. It's it's the people.

[02:07:07 - 02:07:15] Speaker: Speaker 3
It's it's the individual. The individuals are not shy about talking shit or criticizing or whatever. The party really doesn't do it.

[02:07:15 - 02:07:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, I as a, as an entity, you know, and I, I actually.

[02:07:19 - 02:07:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
Think that the parties, both parties, the Republicans and Republicans in Luzerne and Republicans in Lackawanna should get a little bit more active and their criticisms and information that they put out there because they don't.

[02:07:28 - 02:07:30] Speaker: Speaker 2
Really do shit. There's no.

[02:07:30 - 02:07:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
Information to get out to.

[02:07:31 - 02:07:34] Speaker: Speaker 2
The, like nowhere in a nowhere in our.

[02:07:34 - 02:07:44] Speaker: Speaker 3
In our lifetimes. Has it been cool to be a young and a Republican or right now, do you see any outreach from either party or either either Lackawanna or Luzerne?

[02:07:44 - 02:07:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Not as much.

[02:07:45 - 02:07:46] Speaker: Speaker 3
Reaching out to these kids.

[02:07:46 - 02:07:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
Not as much as there should be. We have the The Turning point, Gen Z.

[02:07:50 - 02:07:56] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, but they created their selves. And then and then I watch all the Republicans just be like, oh, shiny new thing.

[02:07:56 - 02:07:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
That seems pretty cool. And they suck these kids in. And I.

[02:07:58 - 02:07:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Pulled all.

[02:07:59 - 02:08:01] Speaker: Speaker 3
Those kids aside. I said, be wary of everybody.

[02:08:01 - 02:08:01] Speaker: Speaker 4


[02:08:01 - 02:08:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
Because you're you're you're you're an oddity and.

[02:08:04 - 02:08:11] Speaker: Speaker 3
Cool right now because what happened to Charlie Kirk? I said, but you can't get disillusioned by all this because most of it is run the illusion.

[02:08:11 - 02:08:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's all an illusion, right?

[02:08:13 - 02:08:24] Speaker: Speaker 3
Because nobody's really boots on the ground anymore. Like, that's and that's that's the thing that I could say about TJ is he's on the ground. He does the things that the people, the old guard the party does not want to do. They don't want to go to the events, they don't want to sign.

[02:08:24 - 02:08:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
Up people to vote. And I think that there's a way for those two things to exist. It's like being in war, right? You should have a chairman that is respected by all, not loved, not like, you know, looked at you.

[02:08:39 - 02:08:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
As some sort.

[02:08:40 - 02:09:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of deity, but respected by all. So like the groups can function together but not have to be together. You know, like the TJ, the TJ people don't want to do the executive session shit and executive session shit. Don't want to do the TJ stuff. Right. And it's a perfect like when the enemies are at the gates, isn't it?

[02:09:04 - 02:09:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Isn't it incumbent upon everybody to get together for the greater good of not like we're not all living in fucking abject terror.

[02:09:10 - 02:09:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
One of the one of the things I'll never forget from my state rep campaign against James May was when he would always say, you know, every year I go or I watch the Army Navy game and I always tell, I always tell all my friends. I really hope Army beats the crap out of Navy, but I know that when they all put on that uniform and they go on the battlefield, they're all one team and they're together fighting the same battle.

[02:09:34 - 02:09:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, I think of that. I think of it just like that.

[02:09:37 - 02:09:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
He's a smart guy, James.

[02:09:38 - 02:09:50] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh, no. Great guy, smart. Very intelligent. And I appreciate, I'll be honest with you. One of the things that I, I know we didn't touch upon this very much, but one of the things I really appreciate about him is his, his his, how close he has to his religion.

[02:09:50 - 02:09:50] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, yeah.

[02:09:50 - 02:09:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
I'm I'm very religious. I don't talk about it super much to people. But I, I'm very.

[02:09:55 - 02:09:59] Speaker: Speaker 2
Not like, you're not, like, flaying yourself like, Da Vinci Code. No, no.

[02:09:59 - 02:10:17] Speaker: Speaker 4
No no, not doing that. But, but I, you know, I'm really close to my religion, and I respect that. I'm sure you study studies very close with it, too. But, yeah, I mean, you know, we need just to kind of, I think, take a step back and say, hey, listen, the party is is doing what it's doing.

[02:10:17 - 02:10:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
And. Yeah, I think that there are there is room for the people that are in the grassroots. And by the way, you know, this is one of the things that I, I always think about when I think about this issue is that I started in the grassroots. I mean, I told you that. Yeah, yeah. You know, 12 years old, 13 years old, knocking on doors for somebody running for mayor of Wilkes-Barre, you know, and, and, and, and all kinds of other offices.

[02:10:37 - 02:10:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
And that's all I've done. And I love doing that. I love knocking on doors like I knocked on probably, not that many doors this year, maybe like over a thousand. But I knock that.

[02:10:46 - 02:10:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
Love knocking on doors.

[02:10:47 - 02:10:57] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I like it. To the extent you get to talk to the people directly, you know what they're you know what they're thinking and they're not afraid to tell it. You're on their porch. They're going to tell you exactly how they feel. And I'd rather that than.

[02:10:58 - 02:10:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
I mean, that's more.

[02:10:58 - 02:10:59] Speaker: Speaker 3
Honest than anything.

[02:10:59 - 02:11:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. And if they don't like it, they'll slam the door in your face. That doesn't happen as much as you think, though. I've only had that happen maybe three times in the entire time I've been doing up.

[02:11:07 - 02:11:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Here in Scranton. Up here in Scranton, it's pretty easy to knock on the door.

[02:11:10 - 02:11:11] Speaker: Speaker 4
Right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But,

[02:11:12 - 02:11:15] Speaker: Speaker 2
But, yeah, like Trump. Fuck, yeah. Okay. All right.

[02:11:15 - 02:11:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
But but yeah, I mean, so I started in the grassroots and I always thought I really would like to get into a leadership position in the party one day so that I can have some influence on things that are going on, because I feel like, you know, I want it to be like that next generation. And now that I'm, you know, there I'm like, okay, I'm, I'm, I feel like I'm in a good spot and I want to keep things going.

[02:11:34 - 02:11:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I started out in the grassroots and I totally respect that and love it. I still do it. So, you know, I feel like there's a lot more that we all agree on than we disagree on. And I wish that that we can.

[02:11:45 - 02:11:46] Speaker: Speaker 2
Can agree with you more.

[02:11:46 - 02:12:04] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. I wish that we would be able to to to hash all that out and know that there's a place for both of us here. But knowing that there's a place for both of us requires that we can't be attacking each other. Right. You know, I like I certainly want to be able to get along with everybody that does the grassroots work, because I number one, I still do it.

[02:12:04 - 02:12:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
Number two, I'm an elected official that needs those people. I totally acknowledge that. I need those people to help out. And, but on the other hand, you know, you can't get too upset about the people that are in the party that are the big political donors. Because as we have seen this year, you do need that money to some extent in order to win.

[02:12:24 - 02:12:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, I mean, I don't think that a lot of these people are at like, there's all this conspiratorial thought that people are like, oh, if you donate money, then you have to do this for me, especially locally. I mean, these national PACs, like I mentioned that before, that's just a thought I have in my mind. That's not I don't need.

[02:12:39 - 02:12:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Five, 5 or 10 grand. I mean, I've seen people sell their soul for less, right? But, you know, the more money you get, the more I think. The more money that you get, the more.

[02:12:52 - 02:12:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Susceptible you become to that.

[02:12:54 - 02:12:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sure.

[02:12:54 - 02:12:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
From an especially from like an individual or an individual entity. Right.

[02:12:58 - 02:13:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
So I think I think it's, I think it's the responsibility of the.

[02:13:02 - 02:13:04] Speaker: Speaker 3
Candidate to be, you know.

[02:13:04 - 02:13:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I ran for school board.

[02:13:05 - 02:13:09] Speaker: Speaker 3
Right. I raised a, I raised more money than I thought I was gonna raise.

[02:13:09 - 02:13:17] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I never asked a person for a nickel. And they said, why didn't you ask me for money? Because of. If I ask you for money, then I owe you something. Well, no you don't. We're friends. I said it.

[02:13:17 - 02:13:18] Speaker: Speaker 3
It doesn't matter, right?

[02:13:18 - 02:13:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
Doesn't matter. Like I can't do it. You know, I want to be. I want to be able to. I might do shit. You disagree with em. And I don't want to have that.

[02:13:26 - 02:13:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
Over my head where it's like, well, because of me, you you were able to send those 4000 mail.

[02:13:31 - 02:13:32] Speaker: Speaker 4
Pieces. Yeah.

[02:13:32 - 02:13:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
And I'm like, I don't want it.

[02:13:35 - 02:13:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
I'd rather just be me.

[02:13:37 - 02:13:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, of course.

[02:13:38 - 02:13:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
I came in last place because I'm a Republican in the city of Scranton.

[02:13:42 - 02:13:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
That I believe.

[02:13:43 - 02:13:43] Speaker: Speaker 2
And it was.

[02:13:43 - 02:13:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Okay, I believe it.

[02:13:45 - 02:13:47] Speaker: Speaker 2
What do you think? What's going to be like working with.

[02:13:47 - 02:13:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
The new county council? Like what's.

[02:13:49 - 02:13:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
Your what's.

[02:13:49 - 02:13:53] Speaker: Speaker 3
Your intention goal? And then I have one more question after that.

[02:13:53 - 02:14:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
So my goal over the next two years at least, is just going to be to continue doing what I'm doing. I think that now. So it's more than likely I will I will not continue as the chair of council. So I'll have more time to concentrate on specifically doing initiatives and things that I want to do. Because when you're the chair, you have to you're.

[02:14:11 - 02:14:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
You're a.

[02:14:11 - 02:14:11] Speaker: Speaker 3
Lot of.

[02:14:11 - 02:14:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Responsibility. It's a lot of responsibility that kind of takes you away from maybe doing things that you want to do on council. So I'm going to have more opportunities to do some of the things I want to do. And I none of them are anything hyper political that are going to be problematic at least I hope they won't be.

[02:14:27 - 02:14:43] Speaker: Speaker 4
But, you know, I, I, I hope that I'll be able to work together with the Democrats and the Republicans that remain and that we'll be able to get good stuff done. I just you know, like I said, the way that this campaign was run, it's just it's not up to me to prove that I can work with Democrats, because I've done that for the last four years.

[02:14:43 - 02:14:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
I've worked with the Democrats and the Republicans on council. Many, many times on a ton of different issues. Right. So it's not really up to me to prove that I'm able to work with them. It's going to be the other way around.

[02:14:55 - 02:14:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, I hope that the I hope that the.

[02:14:58 - 02:15:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
The new county council elected officials who received $1 million.

[02:15:03 - 02:15:09] Speaker: Speaker 2
Which is so bizarre to me, don't feel I hope. I hope they don't think that there's.

[02:15:09 - 02:15:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
Strings attached to that money. And I hope they can lead with pragmatism, critical thinking and common sense and forget party politics because it's all most of the time, it's all bullshit anyways. It's just a way to to to chum the waters for the absence of daytime soap operas. Yep.

[02:15:27 - 02:15:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
If if, if you could fix one thing.

[02:15:29 - 02:15:32] Speaker: Speaker 3
In Luzerne County overnight, what would you do?

[02:15:32 - 02:15:34] Speaker: Speaker 4
One thing in Luzerne County that I could fix up.

[02:15:35 - 02:15:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yep.

[02:15:35 - 02:15:37] Speaker: Speaker 4
Probably all of our roads.

[02:15:38 - 02:15:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
All of them.

[02:15:38 - 02:15:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
All of them. Every single one.

[02:15:40 - 02:15:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
How they go to shit for some same ways.

[02:15:42 - 02:15:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
Our bridges. Just decades and decades of of.

[02:15:45 - 02:15:45] Speaker: Speaker 2
Spending on.

[02:15:45 - 02:16:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
The chair. And you know, it's funny. So on, on on council, one of the things that we that happened when we, when we went to the Home Rule government, which, by the way, Lackawanna County has home rule government too. They just don't have it the same way we do. They kept their commissioners in row officers. We didn't we didn't do that.

[02:16:03 - 02:16:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
But yeah, our roads have, have deteriorated significantly. And it's just decades and decades of just, you know, I don't want to say mismanagement, but just like, not neglect, neglect. We'll do that next time. Yeah, yeah. So, and lack of money because, you know, the, the amount of money that was spent on things that I couldn't even tell you what it is.

[02:16:24 - 02:16:49] Speaker: Speaker 4
When when council first became in existence in 2000 and, 30, 2012, it would have been, the county was in $466 million of debt, wholly almost half $1 billion. And now we've been able to pay all that down. So we have $26 million that goes to debt service every single year. And, we'll be paid off in 2029.

[02:16:49 - 02:17:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think it's one of our last payments. So we'll have four more years wherever, like about $100 million of debt left. So that's what we've done over the last decade, almost decade and a half, paying down that debt. But one of the things that's been neglected is, I mean, there's more than one thing that's been neglected.

[02:17:04 - 02:17:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
One of the main.

[02:17:04 - 02:17:27] Speaker: Speaker 4
Roads our roads have have taken have taken the hit for that because that $26 million is money that doesn't get to go to roads. It doesn't go to get to paying our employees what they're worth. That's another thing I'd love, is if we could start paying our employees what they're worth. I just, you know, I just, I just saw an advertisement for an open position that the county has, and it was for the executive secretary for our Office of Law, which is our all our solicitors.

[02:17:27 - 02:17:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I was like, oh, that position. What does that pay? Probably like 60, 70 grand, $40,000. I thought, that person is going to be doing a lot of work for $40,000. Not to disparage. Listen, I get it. The salary is the salary, but we have a lot of people in Luzerne County that work in the government that should be paid more based on the amount of work they do.

[02:17:45 - 02:18:05] Speaker: Speaker 4
Our sheriff's department, our corrections officers at our prison. So I've been working on that incrementally. But it's hard to do when you're trying not to raise taxes, when you're trying not to overburden, you know, the taxpayers, and you need to kind of work on that, like I said, like incrementally. And we've been doing that. We're looking for other sources of income and we're it's it's going to happen.

[02:18:05 - 02:18:07] Speaker: Speaker 4
I mean, it's going to happen soon, but it's just.

[02:18:07 - 02:18:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
Regardless of.

[02:18:07 - 02:18:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
Opinion on data.

[02:18:08 - 02:18:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Centers, what a day, what a data.

[02:18:10 - 02:18:14] Speaker: Speaker 3
Center. Help the budget. Yep. To the tune of.

[02:18:15 - 02:18:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
It depends on how big it is. I mean, you know, you brought up Ashburn, Virginia data centers. Maybe you brought up you brought up Ashburn, Virginia, Loudoun County, the North Pocono School District, the money that you mentioned. Yeah. I mean, just objectively, you know, that money is it's very difficult to to say no to it. Because in Loudoun County, Virginia, you know, I know this because I spoke to one of their county commissioners, down there after because I, I watched, Jamie Walsh's video and his documentary and everything I like.

[02:18:41 - 02:18:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
He did a great job making it. Yeah.

[02:18:44 - 02:18:46] Speaker: Speaker 4
Whoever that guy was that filmed for him was awesome.

[02:18:46 - 02:18:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
I don't know, no one saw him. He was good, but,

[02:18:49 - 02:19:00] Speaker: Speaker 4
But I watched it, you know, I wanted to listen and hear his side of the story, because I know what his opinion is, and I know what the opinion of some of the people in those areas is, and I certainly sympathize with that. But I just wanted to see, like, okay, let me reach out to one of these people.

[02:19:00 - 02:19:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I just looked up Loudoun County, Virginia, commissioners data centers. And then there was 1 or 2 articles, and there was one specific commissioner that was mentioned. So I sent her an email and I said, can you tell me a little bit more about these things and what they do related to the county government? And she said, well, we've decreased our county property taxes like five times already because these data centers in the last five years, and they have a different way of taxation there.

[02:19:21 - 02:19:24] Speaker: Speaker 4
There's like property tax on vehicles and other stuff.

[02:19:24 - 02:19:26] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, it's pretty crazy down there.

[02:19:26 - 02:19:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
But they decrease their property taxes multiple times. Now there's, there's people that constantly advocate for us to decrease property taxes. But we're not in a position where we could do that, because if we did that in Luzerne County, we'd be literally cutting services for for people.

[02:19:41 - 02:19:48] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think part of the thing about the about Ashburn is, is like it's not uncommon dumps.

[02:19:48 - 02:19:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I mean, that's the difference between here and there. I would say.

[02:19:51 - 02:19:55] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like down there, it's it's literally next to baseball fields.

[02:19:55 - 02:20:05] Speaker: Speaker 3
And tennis courts and walking trails. Like, you know, part of the scary thing is it's like, you know, they have this this we went to one of the last places we went was like this walking trail. And you have.

[02:20:05 - 02:20:06] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like 500 kV.

[02:20:06 - 02:20:08] Speaker: Speaker 3
Lines, like above your head.

[02:20:08 - 02:20:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
And then you go, you go read up.

[02:20:10 - 02:20:12] Speaker: Speaker 3
The health literature and they're like.

[02:20:12 - 02:20:14] Speaker: Speaker 2
Minimum safe distance is 500.

[02:20:14 - 02:20:15] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yards. And I'm like, yo.

[02:20:15 - 02:20:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
There are there are children.

[02:20:16 - 02:20:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
Walking under this.

[02:20:17 - 02:20:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
Line. Right. And you know, that is that.

[02:20:20 - 02:20:21] Speaker: Speaker 3
Is a concern.

[02:20:21 - 02:20:25] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know, things like that are a concern. I think a lot of people have that Nimby.

[02:20:25 - 02:20:27] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know what that is, right? Not in my backyard.

[02:20:27 - 02:20:32] Speaker: Speaker 2
Sure, I get it. Yeah, I totally get it. You know, if they want to put data.

[02:20:32 - 02:20:33] Speaker: Speaker 3
Centers, find someplace.

[02:20:33 - 02:20:36] Speaker: Speaker 2
But, yeah, a lot of it is real estate, man. It's a lot of.

[02:20:36 - 02:20:40] Speaker: Speaker 3
A lot of. It's like, I want to sell my land, make a not.

[02:20:40 - 02:20:41] Speaker: Speaker 4
And well, you can't.

[02:20:41 - 02:20:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
That's a data center. There's a data center.

[02:20:42 - 02:21:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. You can't necessarily tell a private landowner, hey, I don't do this. But at the same time, like, listen, I get I understand totally all of the repercussions and the issues. You know, if I do agree that they need to be in certain areas and in Luzerne County, you know, we have a lot of those mines, scarred tracts of land.

[02:21:04 - 02:21:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
And, and that's what they're designated as. That's not Luzerne County that designates them as mines, gar tracts of land. That's the state that says it. And based on, oh, they were strip mining here in this area in 1954, there was, you know, a coal mine. There's this there's all this acid drainage and stuff like that. You know, one of the places that's that's really well known for that, and it's been completely transformed, is in Wilkes-Barre Township around the arena.

[02:21:26 - 02:21:40] Speaker: Speaker 4
Oh. You sure you're familiar with that? Yeah, that was all mine. Scarred land. And there was nothing there. There was like a road going through, and it was like, you know, you'd see, like, tumbleweeds going through or whatever. But now the arena gets put in and that's an example of, like a project where people kind of took a chance on it.

[02:21:40 - 02:21:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
There were people that didn't support it. Some people did whatever, and they took a chance on it. The arena gets built and then Wilkes-Barre Township is now like a flourishing area economically. There's all stores, department stores, strip malls, things like that. And they're all I mean, they're not like shitholes. They're like really good places. Yeah. So it's a lot of.

[02:21:58 - 02:22:00] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, no.

[02:22:00 - 02:22:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
I shot there once or twice.

[02:22:01 - 02:22:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
When I was a kid. Well, they had the best stores.

[02:22:04 - 02:22:06] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah. And then you go to the back of the store and you laugh about never.

[02:22:06 - 02:22:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
I never went back.

[02:22:07 - 02:22:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
Never went to the back to Spencer's.

[02:22:09 - 02:22:10] Speaker: Speaker 2
Oh, I didn't need to.

[02:22:10 - 02:22:10] Speaker: Speaker 4
You weren't.

[02:22:10 - 02:22:16] Speaker: Speaker 2
Livid. Oh. I was like the the front of Hot Topic. Okay.

[02:22:16 - 02:22:19] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah, I think I think the data centers is like, there needs.

[02:22:19 - 02:22:31] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be like a talk and there needs to be a way to get them away from residential. Don't have the power lines go through people's, you know, farmland or property or or houses or any of that shit.

[02:22:31 - 02:22:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
And then there's a way for, for for the, for look, sometimes you have to, to do the lesser of two evils and.

[02:22:41 - 02:22:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
You know, if that can.

[02:22:42 - 02:22:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
If, if I could see.

[02:22:44 - 02:22:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
The argument for if it can help a county, you know, get out of a financial crisis or reduce human suffering by, by spending it smartly on other shit, I.

[02:22:54 - 02:22:58] Speaker: Speaker 2
Don't, I don't it's a it's tough. It's a tough thing.

[02:22:58 - 02:22:58] Speaker: Speaker 3
Because it's.

[02:22:58 - 02:23:08] Speaker: Speaker 2
Like there's an eventuality to it that it doesn't matter where they go, right? And they're going to be there. And, you know, you could do it right.

[02:23:08 - 02:23:17] Speaker: Speaker 3
Where it doesn't harm anybody, it doesn't harm the environment. And it doesn't it doesn't make people's electric electricity bills go up or any of that shit. Yeah. And the county in the counties of the municipalities can.

[02:23:17 - 02:23:18] Speaker: Speaker 2
Benefit from.

[02:23:18 - 02:23:39] Speaker: Speaker 4
It. Yeah. And, you know, back to, something that was said earlier, in reference to data centers. You know, the power thing, like I said, that's that's an issue that I think is more self-inflicted, especially in Pennsylvania. And then, you know, I mean, I agree that they they have to be in certain areas. But, you know, the other thing, like in regards to the power lines.

[02:23:39 - 02:23:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
So we had an issue with the power line very recently on county council, that, that we've kind of tried to work through as much as we can. But again, not something that we necessarily control. But, you know, I think that, like, I tried to read through a lot of the documentation, like what was provided for us.

[02:23:55 - 02:24:02] Speaker: Speaker 4
I know people say, oh, people, they're not being forthcoming about a lot of this stuff. And maybe that's true. I'm not sure. I don't know. I'm not I don't work for people.

[02:24:02 - 02:24:05] Speaker: Speaker 2
I also don't they have no incentive to be forthcoming.

[02:24:05 - 02:24:20] Speaker: Speaker 4
But but they you know, they also have said, okay, well, here's you know, what we are saying we're going to do if, if the power line is coming through your farmland, they have this thing they called like the reasonable curtilage. It it can't go within a certain amount of feet of your house. Whatever. I don't know what it is.

[02:24:20 - 02:24:45] Speaker: Speaker 4
200ft, 500ft, something like that. So if the line is, you know, going to go straight through your farmland or your land, it has to take a detour around your house or around your barn or around you or whatever piece of, you know, like permanent structure is there. So, you know, like I try to look at all the information and again, like I'm, you know, weighing the options between the citizens, you know, the taxpayers and, and everything that's going on.

[02:24:45 - 02:24:58] Speaker: Speaker 4
So it's I mean, it's really not it's it's multifaceted. So it's not easy to make any of these decisions because I know all the time that when I make that decision, I'm going to have to stare at these people in the face because they will be there.

[02:24:58 - 02:25:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well, one of the stuff, one of the things that surprised me about, like listening to the.

[02:25:02 - 02:25:03] Speaker: Speaker 3
Testimonies.

[02:25:03 - 02:25:04] Speaker: Speaker 2
Of people who speak.

[02:25:04 - 02:25:06] Speaker: Speaker 3
At these meetings, was that none of.

[02:25:06 - 02:25:11] Speaker: Speaker 2
Them, none of them were against. There were some that.

[02:25:11 - 02:25:16] Speaker: Speaker 3
Were against it. Most of them were begging for a compromise that was not coming.

[02:25:16 - 02:25:20] Speaker: Speaker 2
You know what I mean. So it's like as humans, like human like people try.

[02:25:20 - 02:25:29] Speaker: Speaker 3
To be good people. They don't want to be pains in the asses. They don't want to be, you know, rock the apple cart, you know. Yeah. And when I saw them talk and I was and.

[02:25:29 - 02:25:35] Speaker: Speaker 2
I remember I was talking, I think it was talking to Jamie and I'm like, no, it was the one lady from the.

[02:25:35 - 02:25:37] Speaker: Speaker 3
Documentary said that she.

[02:25:37 - 02:25:38] Speaker: Speaker 2
Goes, she goes. There is no.

[02:25:38 - 02:25:39] Speaker: Speaker 3
Compromise. You say.

[02:25:39 - 02:25:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
No. They're all just.

[02:25:41 - 02:25:41] Speaker: Speaker 3
Saying like.

[02:25:41 - 02:25:42] Speaker: Speaker 2
Well maybe you go this.

[02:25:42 - 02:25:48] Speaker: Speaker 3
Way or maybe can the line go that way. Or maybe you can move it over there 400 yards or whatever.

[02:25:48 - 02:25:49] Speaker: Speaker 2
And she's like why are we.

[02:25:49 - 02:25:54] Speaker: Speaker 3
Compromising with people who we never asked for any of this. And we didn't want it in our neighborhoods.

[02:25:54 - 02:25:57] Speaker: Speaker 2
Right. So I think it's I, I.

[02:25:57 - 02:26:10] Speaker: Speaker 3
Like I said, we can talk about this for eight hours. I just think it's incumbent upon the elected officials to maybe find a way to be like, all right, let's let's take all the bullshit out of everything that just happened. Look at a map. It could go here, it could go here, it could go here. If you go here, I don't care who owns the land.

[02:26:11 - 02:26:22] Speaker: Speaker 3
These are the places where we can do it, and we can all benefit from it. And then everybody's happy, and then nobody's worried about, like, their kids getting a, you know, a new rest growing on their head or whatever they think is going to happen.

[02:26:22 - 02:26:25] Speaker: Speaker 4
Sure. Now, I agree, I agree with that. But that's all about like.

[02:26:25 - 02:26:27] Speaker: Speaker 2
Talking. Yeah. Just talk.

[02:26:27 - 02:26:28] Speaker: Speaker 4
Having a conversation.

[02:26:28 - 02:26:29] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm happy I sat and talked with you today.

[02:26:29 - 02:26:31] Speaker: Speaker 4
Absolutely. You fine I was here absolutely.

[02:26:31 - 02:26:33] Speaker: Speaker 2
Who's better or Corcoran?

[02:26:33 - 02:26:38] Speaker: Speaker 4
Well, I think we talked for about an hour and a half longer than I did with. Oh, really? Well yeah.

[02:26:38 - 02:26:39] Speaker: Speaker 2
We exhausted or.

[02:26:39 - 02:26:48] Speaker: Speaker 4
No, listen, listen, this is all I do all day is talk to somebody and be on the phone. My phone rang like, 50 times since I've been here, since I was there. Hopefully there's not hasn't been a disaster somewhere.

[02:26:48 - 02:26:49] Speaker: Speaker 3
I hope it's not either.

[02:26:49 - 02:26:51] Speaker: Speaker 4
It's okay if there was.

[02:26:51 - 02:26:52] Speaker: Speaker 2
Are you on socials and stuff?

[02:26:52 - 02:26:53] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, absolutely.

[02:26:53 - 02:26:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
Yeah. People. Your handles. It's not. It's just.

[02:26:54 - 02:27:03] Speaker: Speaker 4
On Facebook. It's just John Lombardo. You can always just add me on Facebook as a friend. So I I'll be honest, I try not to post too much political stuff on on. So everyone's.

[02:27:03 - 02:27:03] Speaker: Speaker 2
Video I.

[02:27:03 - 02:27:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
Do no, no no more no, no more videos. Unfortunately occasionally on my political page I will, but I don't really use that too much when I'm not, like, running for office. Yeah, I'm trying to do that a little bit more lately, just to keep people informed about stuff going on in the county. I think it's just John Lombardo for county Council is my other Facebook.

[02:27:21 - 02:27:21] Speaker: Speaker 4
I think.

[02:27:21 - 02:27:23] Speaker: Speaker 2
I think one of the things that Jamie Walsh did that.

[02:27:23 - 02:27:28] Speaker: Speaker 3
I thought was very valuable was he would go live and he would have conversations for like an hour and a half.

[02:27:28 - 02:27:29] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah.

[02:27:29 - 02:27:38] Speaker: Speaker 3
And I always thought that that was because a lot of politicians are afraid to do that. As we started with the conversation where nobody wants to, you know, have Kamala didn't want to have long form conversations?

[02:27:38 - 02:27:41] Speaker: Speaker 2
I saw Jamie doing that. And I'm like, that's really smart.

[02:27:41 - 02:27:42] Speaker: Speaker 3
Yeah, that's really smart because.

[02:27:42 - 02:27:44] Speaker: Speaker 2
People can pick apart your bullshit.

[02:27:44 - 02:27:45] Speaker: Speaker 3
Or tell if you're genuine.

[02:27:45 - 02:27:59] Speaker: Speaker 4
Yeah, absolutely. I don't you know, that's not something I necessarily want to run away from. I mean, I've done it in the past, but, this year I, I didn't really have an opportunity. Like I kept saying, oh, I got to sit down. I want to do a Facebook Live and have people ask me questions. Okay, this one asshole is going to ask this question.

[02:27:59 - 02:28:01] Speaker: Speaker 4
I know he's going to be on the Facebook.

[02:28:01 - 02:28:02] Speaker: Speaker 2
But.

[02:28:02 - 02:28:16] Speaker: Speaker 4
Whatever. But like, I know like it's fine. It is. It's it's not a problem. But I just I never ended up having time to actually sit down and do it. But I would love to be able to. And the thing is like, you can again, you can call me, you can Facebook message me, you can email me.

[02:28:16 - 02:28:26] Speaker: Speaker 4
And I answer just about everything that I get, you know, regardless of where or when or how. And even if you approach me somewhere like, I'm happy to sit and talk again, just respectful. That's all I ask for.

[02:28:26 - 02:28:37] Speaker: Speaker 2
Your good guy, man. Don't let anybody give you shit, you know? I'm happy we had a chance to to chat. I hope we do it again. Thank you. Especially when the new council comes and you're like, I can't get. I think they're.

[02:28:37 - 02:28:44] Speaker: Speaker 4
Spending hundreds of. They're going to listen. They're going to hear this, and they're going to be like, I thought he was done being upset about this million dollars.

[02:28:44 - 02:28:54] Speaker: Speaker 2
It's a big deal. Yeah. It's a it's it's abnormal. And it should be. We should all be really if it if it came from within the county I probably wouldn't have a problem with it.

[02:28:54 - 02:28:55] Speaker: Speaker 4
Exactly.

[02:28:55 - 02:29:07] Speaker: Speaker 2
John Lombardo, Luzerne County Council firefighter, EMT, first responder. Good guy. I'm happy that we did this. And I think you're a good dude. And, I hope you I hope you had a good time.

[02:29:07 - 02:29:09] Speaker: Speaker 4
I did, it was great. Thank you very much.

[02:29:09 - 02:29:12] Speaker: Speaker 2
All right.

[02:29:13 - 02:29:13] Speaker: Speaker 2
I'm.