00:09 - Rejoined by

00:10 - jason ricci republican for lieutenant governor why are you seeking this office

00:14 - well actually if you'd asked me that three weeks ago

00:18 - I would have said.

00:20 - I'm not running for lieutenant governor I really had no aspirations

00:24 - to do this but I

00:26 - think.

00:28 - It was like three weeks ago and I

00:29 - saw and I'm the

00:30 - I ran for governor four years ago

00:33 - and currently I'm the

00:34 - chair of the republican party of allegheny county

00:36 - so look at my phone

00:37 - and it was the philadelphia inquirer calling me at and

00:41 - I answered the phone

00:42 - and she's like hey I hear you on the shortlist

00:45 - and I said the shortlist for what.

00:48 - So that's kind of where I was but then shortly after that stacey garrity called me

00:52 - and asked me

00:54 - to be a part of her team both

00:57 - in terms of campaigning as well as

01:00 - in terms of governing

01:02 - and I

01:03 - of got a call from center mccormick after that asking me to do it as well

01:07 - and so

01:08 - getting those requests

01:10 - and thinking about it.

01:12 - Over time

01:14 - I realized all the reasons why I ran for governor four years ago

01:17 - still exist for instance

01:19 - pennsylvania still ranked us news and world report

01:22 - forty first overall performance out of fifty states.

01:26 - Right now seven out of ten of our eighth graders are not proficient in reading and

01:30 - math and we still have a population drain

01:33 - that is happening throughout the state

01:36 - so.

01:37 - With that

01:38 - and

01:39 - I knew this is important election and if everyone thought

01:41 - that I bought that strengthen ticket both

01:43 - as an outsider and someone that has private.

01:47 - Private market experience

01:49 - I thought let's do it and then

01:51 - so there there's a public purpose to this like I don't need the job

01:54 - but I want to help

01:56 - people like that really is what makes me drive inside is

02:00 - the public policy behind it

02:02 - but besides this the public policy I also have a personal

02:05 - reason why I want to do this and that is.

02:09 - I got three boys.

02:10 - Justin

02:11 - logan

02:12 - and marcus

02:12 - they're all in college

02:14 - they're all wrestlers and to gettysburg and want to duke.

02:19 - And

02:19 - my wife and I we've been married twenty six years

02:22 - and we want them to live in pennsylvania we want this to be a place of opportunity

02:26 - want this to be the place that they raise their grandkids

02:29 - cause that's happiness right family being together

02:32 - so I have a selfish reason

02:34 - I want pennsylvania thrive.

02:36 - For the good of all and I think we can do so much better than we're doing

02:40 - and also personal reason

02:43 - to make sleep better for my own children

02:45 - for those that are unfamiliar what should our viewers know about the role of

02:48 - lieutenant governor in pennsylvania well it really has three

02:52 - obligations.

02:54 - By law number one obviously if the governor is incapacitated quo wits

03:00 - passes away you're the governor

03:02 - so what that means is you need to have the qualifications to be governor which I

03:08 - believe that I do

03:09 - one of the reasons I ran four years ago for

03:11 - the

03:12 - governor spot

03:13 - secondly you're on the the pardon.

03:16 - Board.

03:18 - So that means that

03:20 - you look at all commutations and pardons and decide whether people are worthy of that

03:25 - and

03:27 - and thirdly

03:28 - you break ties in the senate

03:30 - so that's that's the role

03:31 - of lieutenant governor by statute but one of the things

03:35 - this very appealing to me.

03:38 - In talking with stacy about how we would do this

03:40 - is that we would I'd be a partner in the governing

03:43 - and my experience particularly

03:46 - in energy

03:47 - and as you know.

03:49 - Pennsylvania has

03:51 - more natural gas than saudi arabia has oil

03:55 - but since that technology's come around round between the wolf and the shapiro

03:58 - administration we have not taken advantage of it

04:01 - and from day one

04:03 - want to work with the private sector

04:05 - to build the infrastructure necessary to get

04:07 - pennsylvania natural gas around the world

04:10 - that doesn't exist yet

04:12 - and if we do it in the right way

04:14 - in an environmentally friendly way

04:16 - we can be new revenue streams to the commonwealth

04:19 - which is going to help bring everyone's taxes both property taxes

04:23 - and income taxes down and so that's something I'm very excited about I think.

04:29 - The guarantee folks understand my specialty

04:32 - and my desire in that

04:33 - realm.

04:34 - If we can unleash pennsylvania's natural gas is great for national security in terms

04:40 - of all of our nato allies will become dependent on pennsylvania

04:44 - natural gas as opposed to russian natural gas

04:47 - and it's good for our economy will create thousands and thousands of jobs

04:52 - and instead we can bring everyone's tax level down

04:54 - that's something we haven't taken advantage of.

04:57 - Don't know why the last twelve years no one's tapped

05:01 - it but we will and so I'm very excited about possibly

05:04 - you know doing that as lieutenant governor and in

05:07 - partnering with stacy to make fundamental change for the good of everybody

05:11 - if you're elected can you talk about the specifics how you would facilitate that

05:14 - taking better advantage of our natural gas resources at this time

05:17 - absolutely so

05:18 - one of the first things you have to do

05:21 - is you have to bring the private sector together and plan

05:24 - as a partnership of how do we unleash you

05:27 - what is the path forward it's not up to us

05:31 - to dictate to them

05:33 - but what it would involve

05:34 - is.

05:35 - One

05:36 - we have to be fat faster and getting those permits out but at the same time making

05:40 - sure that what is being done is done in an environmentally protective way

05:45 - secondly

05:46 - we've got to build a pipeline infrastructure

05:49 - to be able to get the natural gas to market too often it's done by rail which isn't

05:54 - as efficient and doesn't allow for the capacity necessary

05:58 - and what's very exciting

06:00 - is the ability to build what's called an lng plant

06:03 - simply

06:04 - offer your viewers

06:06 - that's just a plant that changes the natural gas

06:09 - from it's

06:10 - being a gas to a liquid.

06:12 - When you turn it into a liquid you can transport it

06:15 - and you know senator mccormack's work hard

06:18 - on a new

06:19 - boat

06:19 - facility in philadelphia where they're going to start building boats again

06:23 - and if we can get an lng facility

06:25 - in philadelphia

06:27 - and we can get.

06:28 - The boat facility going to make the boats

06:31 - necessary to take the natural gas over the world

06:34 - that's the key

06:36 - to unleashing it and was beautiful about it is

06:39 - you really have

06:40 - the whole state working together and you can do it all in pennsylvania

06:45 - it would make a

06:45 - huge difference for our country

06:47 - it would bring down everyone's utility bills their tax burdens

06:51 - it's it's a very exciting prospect.

06:54 - For pennsylvania economic growth he also served

06:56 - as chair of the allegheny county republican party

06:59 - can you talk a little bit more about some of the specifics of what that role entails

07:02 - and how that might translate into serving as lieutenant governor

07:05 - yes and so.

07:07 - I'm elected I got elected by fellow republicans

07:10 - in allegheny county now union county is

07:13 - essentially the city of pittsburgh area for all your viewers and it is the largest.

07:18 - We have a population of maine.

07:21 - So we have the same population is a huge county

07:25 - by any stretch of the imagination we also have the most republicans of any county.

07:30 - Statewide so

07:31 - that's what I'm in charge of

07:33 - and

07:34 - under me

07:35 - because it's so big.

07:36 - I run ninety five different

07:39 - committees

07:40 - and so

07:41 - it's a huge governing task

07:44 - to to.

07:46 - Make sure all of our local committees that these ninety

07:48 - five of committees were all running on the same page

07:51 - and so

07:52 - I think it's great leadership experience

07:55 - in terms of

07:56 - how do you run a big organization how do you make it official

07:58 - we have

07:59 - full time employees

08:00 - so I think

08:01 - think it's good in that regard and the other thing is being the chair

08:05 - really allows me not only to kit out throughout

08:07 - allegheny county but throughout the state

08:10 - and really listen to the problems that people have and know that right now

08:16 - people are struggling with their heating bills

08:18 - right now people are

08:19 - struggling with their grocery prices

08:21 - right now

08:22 - there are education systems not working the way it should for our kids

08:26 - so hearing those things and staying in tune so

08:30 - I basically haven't gone away you know I learned

08:32 - that when I ran for governor four years ago

08:35 - then I became the chair

08:37 - now I'm in this new role as lieutenant governor

08:39 - and

08:40 - I just gained so much knowledge because when you run for office.

08:45 - It's so important to listen

08:47 - you have to listen first and that's what's great

08:48 - about campaigning like I'm going to do today all over

08:52 - lancaster and the lizard county

08:54 - you listen

08:55 - you learn and then that helps you in governing and being able to

08:59 - help people with their problems republican for governor stacey garrity has endorsed

09:03 - her campaign can you talk a little bit about where the sure if you're aligning your

09:06 - views and if they're places where

09:07 - you differ

09:08 - while stacy and I I got to know her really well when I ran for governor

09:13 - and I have a great little story I mean I just think she's one of the best

09:17 - people ever and.

09:19 - When I first got that view.

09:21 - I was in scranton campaigning

09:24 - and I had

09:25 - to to.

09:26 - She she saw that I had this

09:28 - disgruntled look on my face like

09:30 - something was wrong

09:32 - and she came home she tasted what's wrong and I was like

09:34 - looking at my schedule

09:36 - and I'm supposed to be in wayne county

09:39 - and williamsport and I'm just doing the mileage

09:41 - and there's no way I can make both these events

09:44 - and

09:46 - she's the treasurer

09:47 - of pennsylvania she's not

09:49 - endorsing me or anything she just she just happens to be at my event because.

09:52 - I've heard your speech one hundred times she goes I could give it for you

09:56 - which one do you want me to go for

09:58 - and I just thought wow

10:00 - you know what a great person

10:02 - to be willing to give up their time and their end

10:06 - my team's

10:07 - mistake so that I don't look bad and just thought

10:11 - wow what a what a terrific lady so we have become

10:14 - friends

10:15 - and

10:16 - I think we work well together

10:18 - and I just know what a great

10:20 - human being what a great treasure she's been a steward of our money

10:24 - she's a war hero

10:26 - and and I think one of the things that really excites

10:28 - me about running for lieutenant governor with stacy

10:32 - one that she asked me

10:33 - because and and asked me to be in a partnership

10:36 - I'm also very excited about the historical value of her becoming

10:41 - the first

10:42 - female

10:43 - governor in the history of the commonwealth and break

10:46 - glassy feelings that I think can lift up

10:48 - a little girls and teenage girls throughout the commonwealth that

10:52 - you can have someone like this and she just has such a great background in terms of

10:57 - like me she has private sector experience

10:59 - also thirty years in the military

11:01 - a decorated war hero.

11:03 - She's in

11:04 - active military combat doing in

11:07 - running

11:08 - prisons

11:09 - and

11:09 - then on top of that just a great secretary and has gotten the most votes

11:14 - of any candidate in the history of the commonwealth more than

11:17 - any presidential candidate or any governor candidate so

11:21 - she's just an exceptional lady and I'm just

11:23 - proud to be on her team

11:24 - what initially motivated you to get involved in public service.

11:28 - Well.

11:29 - That is a great question

11:30 - and

11:31 - it was during covert.

11:34 - Our liberties

11:35 - were taken away from us I had many friends or businesses were destroyed.

11:41 - We were locked in our homes we weren't allowed to get out

11:44 - people like.

11:45 - That at that time attorney general shapiro

11:48 - not standing up for our rights which was his job as attorney general

11:53 - and I thought why what is this when we don't

11:55 - even have our liberty and I see my friends.

11:58 - Businesses

11:59 - going down families going down

12:02 - and then just seeing the pennsylvania

12:04 - wasn't moving forward

12:06 - if we have more natural resources

12:09 - than most countries of the world

12:11 - we live geographically in the middle of the bay

12:14 - best spot on planet earth right between york

12:16 - chicago washington dc new jersey.

12:20 - Boston

12:20 - were right there.

12:22 - We should be thriving

12:24 - we should not be ranked forty first.

12:27 - Out of fifty in us news and world report

12:29 - we should not be one of the top ten tax states in the country.

12:35 - Our people

12:36 - are not thriving and then in my home town and in pittsburgh

12:40 - we're losing population in droves

12:43 - there are towns throughout the western part

12:45 - and

12:45 - all the way up through the northern belt to the northeast

12:48 - that are dying

12:50 - that are dying that used to thrive one time

12:52 - and it breaks my heart

12:54 - to see it and so many people moving away

12:57 - I think

12:58 - they just came out a report that

13:00 - more people are leaving pennsylvania than any other state I think we ranked fifth on

13:04 - the list of all fifty states that people just driving and getting out of here

13:08 - and it's just such a beautiful place we have so many great natural resources

13:12 - recreation

13:13 - hunting fish she streams

13:16 - outdoors

13:17 - to great

13:18 - major cities with sports teams and

13:21 - it just has

13:22 - everything you could want

13:24 - in a state

13:25 - and our leadership's not moving us forward we

13:28 - haven't moved forward in the last twelve years

13:31 - and

13:32 - you know you sometimes you know.

13:34 - I could stay in my I have a great job I'm

13:36 - with one of the largest law firms in the world.

13:39 - I do international

13:40 - arbitrations and litigations I lead teams

13:43 - on big big cases all over the world and

13:46 - I have a great life

13:47 - have a great family

13:49 - but.

13:50 - When you see this happening

13:52 - to your home town

13:54 - when you see this happening to your friends

13:57 - you could stay

13:58 - in your room and

13:59 - bitch and complain about it.

14:02 - Or you can get out there and do something about it

14:04 - and I said

14:05 - you know I'm a political outsider

14:07 - but I have common sense.

14:09 - A middle of the road.

14:11 - I can I I see there's a problem of leadership.

14:15 - You can't be like governor shapiro who's just worried about

14:19 - going from one job to the next job to the next job in his

14:23 - ascendancy to the president the united states that's his

14:26 - ultimate focus.

14:29 - I want the ultimate focus to be on pennsylvanians

14:32 - and that's why I think in this upcoming election in november.

14:37 - People can have a very clear choice.

14:39 - You could pick

14:40 - a career politician

14:42 - like him.

14:43 - Who's going to wake up

14:44 - every morning after being reelected

14:47 - and wondering how can I get

14:48 - votes iowa

14:49 - and new hampshire or

14:52 - you can elect to people

14:54 - that

14:54 - care about this state and stacey garrity and jason ricci

14:58 - and they're going to wake up every morning thinking about

15:00 - how can I make pennsylvania's lives better

15:02 - and that's a fact

15:03 - that's what people are going to be thinking

15:05 - and it's a very clear choice for me I want to make a difference.

15:10 - In my state

15:11 - I want to make a difference for people

15:13 - you just characterize yourself as a political

15:15 - outsider would that be an asset or a drawback in

15:18 - potentially working with that the senate

15:21 - oh I think it's I think it's an asset and.

15:25 - I bring

15:26 - real world.

15:28 - Experience into the senate real world understanding of what's happening sometimes

15:33 - I think

15:34 - you need to have some fresh eyes that come in

15:36 - and see things from a different perspective

15:39 - also

15:40 - I think is a lawyer.

15:42 - Who specializes in dispute resolution

15:44 - which is essentially what we do is we resolve disputes.

15:48 - Am working with the senate.

15:50 - We.

15:51 - Were even the house I'll have the ability to

15:55 - work across the aisle

15:56 - to work with the other side

15:58 - to bring common sense

15:59 - to bring

16:00 - and.

16:02 - A commonality to to get things done

16:06 - and

16:07 - sometimes when you have people that are just so and broiled in politics.

16:13 - All they think about is how do we you know when this next political argument or the

16:16 - next political election or whatever.

16:19 - I don't think that should be the focus I think the focus should be

16:22 - how do we go things done for people

16:24 - to make their lives better if you've got a focus on that over and over and over again

16:29 - over a little cheap political victories are

16:32 - trying to humiliate someone or something like that that's

16:34 - not what I'm about I'm about getting results and that's

16:38 - I think that private sector

16:39 - experience that I'll be bringing

16:41 - of.

16:42 - Over thirty here's one of the largest law firms in the world I think will come

16:46 - in quite handy.

16:47 - You had referred I at a recent public appearance to wanting to make government more

16:51 - efficient how do you accomplish that

16:53 - yeah so

16:54 - I definitely we need to make government more efficient so we need to go through

16:59 - our bureaucracy

17:01 - there is a lot of redundancy

17:03 - and

17:04 - needs to be a lot of

17:05 - studies done to it what things are effective

17:08 - what things are not how do we cut back

17:11 - on some of the.

17:13 - I think very expensive

17:15 - state government we have I think when you compare it to

17:18 - other states

17:19 - pennsylvania's government is very expensive it's very full time

17:23 - and so

17:24 - we just we need to do an analysis of fresh clean analysis again

17:29 - something I think someone has an outsider.

17:31 - Coming in so why do we have this why does this agency exist what does it do

17:35 - how can we make it more efficient

17:37 - how can we make it more effective for the public

17:39 - how do we bring more customer service back cause you

17:42 - whether it's the former years they have to

17:43 - report to six different agencies you know just.

17:47 - Talking with an ag

17:48 - conference and there and

17:49 - or in the area of pharmacy

17:52 - they're like

17:53 - jason.

17:54 - They don't know what they're doing like it is complete

17:57 - nonsense what's going on there and they're doing

18:00 - things the same way they've done them for

18:02 - ninety five years and they're not modernizing

18:05 - and I don't know

18:06 - that sir I don't think in the last twelve

18:08 - years with wolf and shapiro that they've even

18:11 - thought about it or even addressed it they're more worried about actually just

18:15 - growing it and more and more programs so

18:17 - we want to take a fresh look at everything

18:20 - and really put it under a microscope

18:22 - in terms of.

18:23 - How how can we make it more customer friendly more friendly for the private sector.

18:29 - Government has a role

18:30 - it needs to regulate

18:32 - it needs to do things but it needs to do it quickly

18:34 - needs to do it effectively if government doesn't act

18:37 - then.

18:38 - Private sector should be able to move forward if it doesn't act within a certain

18:41 - period of time so we really need to keep things rolling

18:43 - and then we just need to cut out waste fraud

18:46 - and corruption

18:47 - he appeared at the republican state committee

18:49 - and received their endorsement in early february

18:52 - you talk about protecting traditional family values can you

18:55 - describe what are some of those family values and

18:57 - what you could do as lieutenant governor to protect us

19:00 - guess so

19:01 - one of the things that.

19:03 - I do don't think

19:05 - is talked enough about.

19:07 - Is.

19:08 - The extreme left.

19:11 - That is

19:12 - mr shapiro.

19:14 - If you just look

19:15 - at some of the things that

19:18 - have been passed

19:19 - and what's gone on

19:20 - in december.

19:22 - Democrats

19:23 - with noah junction from mr shapiro

19:25 - passed.

19:26 - An abortion bill basically allows abortion up to the

19:29 - time of birth

19:30 - which in my opinion

19:31 - is extreme

19:32 - and

19:33 - if you look at.

19:36 - Republicans in the senate

19:38 - in a bipartisan way

19:39 - pass the bill

19:41 - to make sure that biological men.

19:44 - Cannot compete in women's sports.

19:48 - Which is a very important issue my mom

19:50 - started aqua girls basketball

19:51 - back in the seventies when there were no

19:54 - girls basketball teams

19:55 - should literally.

19:57 - Help start the w pl and the pa and so I'm a big

20:00 - believer in women's sports in the sanctity of them

20:04 - and that we need to I started my own

20:06 - in my own community of the girls wrestling program

20:09 - and.

20:10 - We need to keep that moving forward

20:12 - biological men should not be participating

20:15 - and when that bill pass.

20:17 - Governor shapiro called the legislators that voted for it as radical.

20:22 - That blows my mind that that is radical to keep men out of women's sports

20:27 - and.

20:28 - So those are those are some of

20:30 - the things that

20:32 - I would say are

20:33 - are not traditional they're not where pennsylvania

20:36 - people are at

20:37 - and we need to steer

20:39 - a more middle road

20:40 - on these social policies so so that while we're all not gonna agree

20:45 - on everything.

20:46 - We needed

20:47 - we needed

20:48 - to be in a place where we compromise

20:52 - in the middle

20:53 - and not on this extreme far left

20:55 - the governor shapiro

20:57 - will take the commonwealth if somehow the democrats get control

21:02 - of this senate the house

21:04 - and the governorship

21:05 - in this november election

21:06 - will

21:07 - you see it happening in virginia right now where the

21:10 - person per tender that was running for governor pretended to be a moderate

21:13 - and there's just an extreme of far left agenda that's getting

21:17 - passed in virginia and people are like what's going on

21:20 - pennsylvania needs to wake up

21:21 - cause.

21:23 - Come november

21:24 - that that is a possibility one that we're obviously going to try to

21:27 - prevent.

21:29 - Mentioned earlier about your run for governor I during the primary

21:32 - two twenty twenty two what did you learn from that

21:34 - campaign and how are you applying that to this

21:36 - this campaign.

21:37 - I learned so much

21:39 - and.

21:40 - You know I started off literally knowing nothing

21:44 - and.

21:45 - One you have to learn

21:47 - who the players are and how this system works and

21:50 - and so forth and

21:52 - one of the things though that I you know I think I learned

21:55 - the most.

21:57 - Is.

21:58 - Unlikely we need reform on this in pennsylvania is just

22:02 - how much money

22:03 - is required to run for politics you know

22:06 - right now pennsylvania has no cap

22:09 - on how much you can donate to a candidate and you can see

22:12 - someone like mr shapiro who's

22:14 - raised thirty million most of it from

22:17 - people in california

22:19 - of the soros giving them one point five someone

22:21 - that was in the epstein files apparently gave him

22:24 - one point five million and just kind of racking it up

22:27 - that's the one thing I learned.

22:29 - Is is

22:30 - the amount of money that is needed

22:32 - and what you have to do to raise that money

22:36 - as I was.

22:37 - Quick story was kind of fun

22:39 - is when I was running I got a call.

22:43 - One day and was from phoenix and I only have

22:45 - one friend that phoenix's names how italy

22:47 - hey how we already do it

22:49 - add

22:50 - on either end it was.

22:51 - Jason this is governor doug ducey from arizona

22:54 - and I'm like

22:55 - oh governor so sorry

22:57 - ngos we've been watching you cause he was

22:59 - the head of the republican governors association has like.

23:02 - We love your oratory

23:04 - we love your policy platform

23:07 - we love everything about you as a candidate but you're doing things

23:11 - wrong

23:12 - he was would you come down

23:14 - to the phoenix cover or to the arizona governor's mansion I'd love to talk with you.

23:19 - I said yes sir

23:20 - and I got on a plane and I went to phoenix

23:22 - and he went through with me and he literally

23:25 - taught me

23:26 - how to campaign better

23:28 - taught me how to raise money better

23:30 - let me have access to his fundraisers and so.

23:34 - I when I started out

23:36 - I made some mistakes.

23:37 - Because.

23:38 - I think and I think that's normally start a new business when you do whatever you do

23:42 - and it's okay to

23:44 - make mistakes it's okay to fail

23:46 - and the big thing is to learn so I learned so much from that run

23:50 - on how to be a candidate and and and how to be successful so

23:54 - I'm hoping

23:55 - those lessons learned

23:57 - from that effort and

23:58 - and by the way after that meeting with him

24:01 - my campaign turned around tremendously and we did so well

24:05 - down the stretch I was very proud of the campaign and you just realized I got this

24:10 - I can do this so

24:11 - and I have a lot of fun doing it so

24:13 - that's good

24:14 - do your during your prior campaign your proposed eliminating the state's income taxes

24:17 - that something gets done I like to pursue and if so what would that look like

24:20 - yeah so

24:21 - I would.

24:23 - Stacy and I though are going to get together and

24:27 - with our teams

24:29 - very soon and we're going to be rolling out a number

24:30 - of proposals so I don't want to get out ahead because I

24:33 - am the lieutenant governor here but.

24:35 - I can assure you I'll be advocating

24:38 - for his zero percent income tax and it was a big part of my campaign and why I hate it.

24:44 - I absolutely hate income tax

24:46 - the worst tax for really two reasons number one

24:50 - in income tax just penalizes people for going

24:53 - and working

24:54 - if you think about it right it's an income tax that penalizes you for work and so

25:00 - we don't want that we want to encourage people to get out there

25:04 - and you see all the other states

25:06 - that have zero percent income tax

25:08 - florida

25:09 - texas

25:10 - tennessee

25:11 - I believe west virginia is doing it the candidate

25:14 - for ohio right now is trying to get to zero percent

25:17 - that's something that's really good for small business right because

25:21 - that's

25:22 - that's a tax is right on their bottom lines it helps

25:25 - small businesses be there

25:27 - people want to come to dessert people want to work in zero percent income tax states

25:31 - they don't want to pay income tax

25:32 - so.

25:33 - It really brings a lot of economic activity to

25:36 - the other thing though

25:38 - is.

25:39 - For from a tax philosophical and as you can tell I'm a little bit of a policy nerd

25:43 - but

25:43 - other taxes like a sales tax or a transfer tax.

25:48 - What makes them better is they really can bring in income from other

25:52 - places so for instance say someone from france

25:55 - happens to be in philadelphia and they buy something

25:58 - they just paid our sales tax

25:59 - we just

26:00 - collected

26:01 - centrally tax revenue from france

26:04 - right to pay for things that are happening in pennsylvania

26:07 - where

26:07 - income tax.

26:09 - Comes directly from people that are working

26:11 - in pennsylvania so

26:12 - it's a bad tax

26:14 - and if you look historically in the united states

26:17 - the moment

26:18 - around nineteen f fifteen when the income tax

26:21 - was

26:23 - instituted by our federal government for the first time

26:26 - you will see

26:27 - the growth of the united states

26:29 - trail off from where it was.

26:32 - So I I hate that tax

26:34 - I will advocate

26:35 - to it to go to zero

26:37 - and I think if we do

26:39 - this places can boom but again

26:41 - will that'd be a part of our platform.

26:43 - Soon to be seen but we will be rolling out a number of policies up and down

26:48 - on where we stand on everything

26:50 - I'd like to

26:51 - give you an opportunity these last couple of moments to tell viewers why you'd like

26:54 - them to electricity republican nominee

26:56 - for

26:56 - governor

26:57 - yeah and

26:58 - so I think number one

27:00 - you know

27:01 - stacey and the party have been bihar jaime and I think it's because

27:06 - of the

27:07 - private sector experience that I bring the energy I will bring to the ticket

27:12 - and I have a plan and you know as you mentioned

27:14 - when I ran for governor I had a ten point plan

27:17 - on how to turn around this state and

27:20 - I think for everyone out there

27:22 - one I'm going to campaign like like hell

27:25 - just this week I'm going to be in ten or fifteen different counties

27:28 - and when I govern

27:29 - I'm going to govern

27:30 - and

27:31 - be a partner with stacy

27:32 - I am going to work with stacy

27:34 - and I'm gonna do everything I can to make this state better

27:38 - into it in a common sense

27:40 - middle of the roadway where we bring

27:42 - everybody together democrat that's independents and republicans

27:46 - to make this a better place and so

27:49 - I'm excited about.

27:51 - The opportunity to do this and I just hope everyone

27:53 - knows that I'm doing it for the right reasons

27:56 - not because I'm a career politician looking for the next step

27:59 - now because I want to be president of the united states

28:02 - and two in it

28:03 - to make a deal difference

28:05 - in my home pennsylvania shouldn't be a stepping stone.

28:09 - To another

28:10 - view it should be about

28:11 - your in these positions should be about caring

28:13 - about the people of pennsylvania which I do

28:15 - your part

28:17 - jason ricci is a republican running for lieutenant governor thank you for joining us

28:20 - thank you for having me.

28:23 - Hmm.

28:27 - Hmm.