00:00 - The following program is sponsored in part by

00:03 - customer's bank.

00:13 - We're joined today by Matthew forget author of you gotta win Pennsylvania a call to

00:17 - entrepreneurs to save america what prompted you to write the book.

00:21 - Well Francine

00:23 - i'm an old history teacher many many years ago

00:25 - i taught us history in the middle school and high school classrooms

00:30 - and i loved the founding of this country and

00:33 - looking at to the uniqueness of america as

00:37 - the freest most prosperous nation.

00:40 - The world has ever known

00:41 - i looked at you know who was responsible for

00:44 - this and who is responsible for sustaining it

00:48 - and at the heart it's entrepreneurs

00:51 - when i look at

00:52 - the people that that built this country and have founded this country

00:57 - it was people who saw a problem and wanted to solve it

01:01 - and that's really been the American story

01:04 - is

01:05 - people finding problems

01:07 - finding solutions for those problems

01:09 - and serving one another

01:11 - to a point where when we look at america today we're

01:14 - less than five percent of the world's population

01:17 - but the other ninety five percent of the world

01:20 - depends on america being america

01:23 - and when i

01:25 - think about my kids and grandkids and preserving this great American experiment

01:30 - i believe it's going to be ok entrepreneurs

01:32 - that to ultimately save america

01:35 - and with Pennsylvania being the fifth largest

01:37 - state the biggest swing state in the country

01:40 - we're talking politics

01:42 - and as Pennsylvania goes so goes the nation

01:45 - we're still the keystone state today

01:47 - and i said this book really is

01:50 - putting together it's a story of entrepreneurs and how they built america and i

01:54 - believe that they will be the ones who save it as well

01:57 - why is Pennsylvania considered a bellwether state

02:00 - well

02:00 - really Pennsylvania is an amazing state because

02:03 - it's a microcosm of Pennsylvania i'm sorry

02:06 - microcosm of america itself

02:09 - when you look at our demographics r g geography

02:12 - we have very large cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

02:16 - but then we've got very rural areas as well

02:19 - and I've I've made the argument that Pennsylvania

02:21 - really ought to be the first primary state

02:24 - because i think it would give you a glimpse

02:26 - of of america itself and it really shows up why Pennsylvania

02:31 - is still a purple state we're not red we're not blue

02:34 - we can go read sometimes and then go blue other times

02:38 - but we're really that battleground states still the keystone state

02:42 - in america and so.

02:44 - Pennsylvania really

02:45 - holds a

02:47 - ser a super important role for the

02:50 - direction of this country

02:51 - the fall word of this book was written by former us senator pat toomey and he talks

02:55 - about how Pennsylvania is one of the few states that has a politically divided

02:58 - delegation and she just narrative quotes

03:01 - as Pennsylvania goes so likely goes the nation

03:03 - and quote what's unique about Pennsylvania

03:06 - that puts us in this situation

03:08 - well i mean senator to me is a good example

03:11 - because he was followed by senator fetterman

03:14 - and then senator Casey was followed by senator mccormick so

03:18 - Pennsylvania goes back and forth all the time

03:21 - and we have not seen

03:23 - a trifecta as or even quad fact as if you will in our state government meaning

03:28 - having one party control

03:30 - all the different that branch itches of government

03:33 - you know the state house the state senate the governor

03:36 - are democrats haven't had that in Pennsylvania since nineteen ninety four

03:40 - Republicans only had a very short window

03:43 - under Tom corbett about fifteen years ago

03:46 - and so Pennsylvania

03:48 - has constantly been shifting back and forth between red and blue as we use those

03:53 - those

03:54 - you know notify years of

03:56 - of party control

03:57 - and that's what's kept Pennsylvania kind of right there in the middle

04:01 - the battleground states whenever we're talking

04:03 - about which states are going to determine

04:06 - the next president

04:07 - of the united states

04:08 - Pennsylvania is always in that discussion

04:11 - and today there's only a handful all of them

04:13 - the other forty plus state says that

04:16 - already determined

04:17 - Pennsylvania continues to rise to the top as the top battleground state in america

04:22 - your book focuses heavily on entrepreneurs what role have

04:25 - entrepreneurs played in the political makeup of Pennsylvania

04:28 - while quite a bit

04:30 - you know like i said it was entrepreneurs that founded this cunt tree and you can

04:34 - look through Pennsylvania's history

04:36 - the entrepreneurs even with Ben Franklin ride one of us

04:39 - speakers of the house and

04:40 - a prominent figure in the founding of this country

04:43 - and in Pennsylvania very very entrepreneurial

04:47 - and

04:47 - frankly that's

04:48 - what we're seeing and i use the term entrepreneurs in a

04:51 - quite the broad sense i mean

04:53 - not only in business but you know in education and philanthropy

04:57 - again people that see a problem

04:59 - and then find solutions for that

05:01 - and so we've had a lot of problem solvers in Pennsylvania from

05:05 - the form of government we've started to the businesses that have been created

05:09 - i mean Pennsylvania is a leader

05:11 - in the country when it comes to energy g production.

05:14 - So that's one of the areas you see in my book

05:16 - where there's quite a bit of focus because

05:18 - energy is the

05:19 - foundation of pretty much everything

05:21 - and

05:22 - so the the entrepreneurs that founded oil and utilize that to power

05:27 - our country to our steel and are cool

05:30 - you name it Pennsylvania has been filled with entrepreneur owners that people have

05:34 - found ways

05:35 - to solve problems

05:36 - and and build for better futures for their

05:39 - their kids and grandkids

05:41 - there's no numerous references in this book about preventing Pennsylvania from

05:44 - turning blue suggesting Democratic what's wrong with

05:46 - yeah

05:47 - well when you look at the states

05:49 - across the country there are sixteen of them that have democrat trifecta as meaning

05:54 - you have complete democrat control

05:57 - and

05:57 - over the last four years

05:59 - those sixteen states

06:01 - have lost three point four million people.

06:04 - More than two hundred and twenty nine billion dollars in income

06:07 - has left with those people

06:09 - and over two hundred thousand job creators employers

06:13 - are leaving those solidly blue states

06:16 - you contrast that with

06:18 - republican held states are twenty two of them

06:21 - over the last four years those twenty two states have increased their population by

06:26 - two point seven million people

06:28 - but what's astounding is that more than three point two

06:32 - trillion dollars

06:33 - has as flown into those states

06:35 - as well as eighty thousand new job creators and so

06:39 - there is definitely a policy distinction and obviously i don't hide my

06:44 - my positions on this

06:45 - that i think that if Pennsylvania go solid blue

06:48 - which could be this set this election season

06:51 - the first time that democrats have a real shot

06:54 - at having a trifecta in Pennsylvania i think it

06:57 - would be really bad for Pennsylvania and for america

07:00 - and that's why i wrote the book is that

07:02 - you gotta win Pennsylvania if you want to save america

07:05 - you're right about Fred Anton who you know you considered a mentor for those who are

07:09 - not familiar with him who was he and what role did he play in shaping your your view

07:12 - for the vision of Pennsylvania in the future yeah Fred Allen taught Fred Anton was an

07:17 - incredible man i got to know him when i first came to Pennsylvania to run

07:21 - commonwealth foundation back in two thousand and two

07:24 - and Fred was the president of the Pennsylvania manufacturers association

07:29 - and what i loved about Fred is that while he was certainly interested in

07:32 - manufacturing he was most interested in america

07:35 - and so he was really the conservative

07:38 - godfather

07:40 - or the godfather conservative movement

07:42 - in Pennsylvania

07:44 - and he came alongside me as i took over the commonwealth foundation which has had

07:48 - three people and about a three hundred thousand dollar budget

07:52 - and he helped me to build that Oregon position into what it is today

07:56 - and even ten years after i left but he stood alongside

08:01 - me and he stood up not just for manufacturing interest

08:05 - but really that entrepreneurial

08:07 - spirit

08:08 - that i believe is what has made america and Americans great

08:12 - is that

08:13 - again

08:13 - not just me manufacturing but

08:15 - what's best for for all of Pennsylvania so

08:18 - Fred was certainly one of those early mentors

08:21 - helped me

08:22 - to build the organizations that i built here in Pennsylvania which i think

08:26 - he'd be very proud of

08:27 - he passed away many years ago

08:29 - but i think he's smiling

08:31 - down on us what we're doing in Pennsylvania

08:33 - he read about several say different events over the last twenty years that brought

08:36 - national attention to Pennsylvania I'll just name a few of them that

08:39 - that know the night legislative pay raise of two thousand

08:42 - and five as scandals such as bone escape computer game

08:45 - attorney general Kathleen Kane resignation

08:48 - how do these influence the political landscape of Pennsylvania at that time

08:51 - yeah they were those were substantive because i can

08:53 - remember Francine when i came to Pennsylvania no two

08:57 - i really was not welcome even in republican offices

09:01 - and the reason was that i would say Republicans were not really Republicans then.

09:06 - We were the republican party of arlen specter kind of a milk toast republicanism

09:12 - and there was a good old boys club that was pretty

09:14 - straw wrong in both democrat and republican parties

09:18 - but it was at midnight pay raise of two thousand and five that really sparked

09:22 - what would become really

09:24 - huge turnover in our legislature

09:27 - i can remember joking at the time that

09:29 - there were people who had been in the legislature

09:32 - longer than most of my staff were alive.

09:35 - So we had people had been in office for decades after decades

09:39 - and it wasn't about public service a lot of them was about self service

09:44 - and the midnight pay raise created an opportunity that

09:47 - turned a lot of people out either voluntarily or involuntarily

09:52 - they left

09:53 - and we've seen an increase

09:55 - of people that i like to say have

09:57 - you

09:57 - signed the front of paychecks

09:59 - not just the baca paychecks that are now in office and that brings a perspective

10:04 - that's important kind of that entrepreneurial mindset

10:07 - that i think is allowed Pennsylvania to have better people into elected office

10:12 - people that are there to serve

10:13 - and it is allowed.

10:16 - A change in Pennsylvania's political landscape

10:19 - that

10:20 - thankfully the good old boys club

10:22 - isn't there but it was a you know

10:23 - two decades ago

10:25 - and in large part because of

10:27 - the midnight parries of two thousand and five

10:30 - what was the significance of the tea party movement

10:32 - and how did that reshape the republican party

10:34 - yeah that you know that was kind of the midnight pay raise was Pennsylvania's tea

10:39 - party five years prior to that because the tea party

10:42 - was really a national phenomena

10:44 - and that was in

10:46 - in

10:46 - the

10:47 - what i'm sorry what impacted Pennsylvania the most was that

10:51 - with pat toomey who we talked about at the beginning here

10:54 - i was able to take on a long time incumbent in arlen specter

10:59 - and while democrats tried to defeat our Ireland at the ballot box

11:03 - you know election after election

11:05 - it was ultimately Republicans who beat arlen specter

11:08 - he had to switch parties and then he joined the

11:10 - Democratic party only to lose in the primary

11:14 - and so pat toomey was HP part of that wave

11:18 - in Pennsylvania that we saw

11:19 - more business people entrepreneurs going into to public service

11:24 - and are really a shift in Pennsylvania republicanism i would say

11:29 - towards more of the free enterprise and limited government personal responsibility

11:33 - that embody more of the republican party platform

11:36 - but was a bit absent here in Pennsylvania until that tea party

11:40 - wave

11:41 - came through hear

11:43 - me talk a little bit about that congressional

11:45 - redistricting process and the role that that's had in shaping our

11:48 - current black landscapes yeah that certainly is something

11:51 - that we're seeing all across the country right to

11:54 - redistricting

11:55 - usually only happen ns

11:57 - every ten years but we've seen an increase in this

12:01 - during

12:02 - mid

12:02 - mid that you know census timeframe.

12:06 - Pennsylvania was actually one of the first ones to do that back in twenty eighteen

12:10 - after we had congressional lines

12:13 - drawn

12:13 - by partisan Lee accepted

12:16 - after the two thousand and eleven.

12:19 - Redistricting efforts

12:21 - but with the favorable turning of the courts for democrats when they captured three

12:26 - supreme court seats and twenty fifteen.

12:30 - Lawsuits were brought

12:31 - because

12:32 - many of these justices

12:34 - ran.

12:35 - Saying that they would overturn the congressional district lines in Pennsylvania

12:40 - so lawsuits were filed

12:42 - and in twenty eighteen we ran with new maps

12:45 - because the courts

12:47 - did a

12:48 - their own gerrymander.

12:50 - They had a

12:51 - law professor from Stanford redraw the maps for Pennsylvania voters

12:55 - and it captured a fall four.

12:58 - Seats for congressional seats.

13:00 - So

13:01 - really Pennsylvania was on the cusp of that kind of like

13:03 - we were at the midnight pay raise leading to the tea party

13:06 - but gerrymandering

13:07 - i happened in Pennsylvania and now we're seeing it going on

13:11 - all across the country i mean even right now as we're talking

13:14 - Virginia is voting

13:15 - on whether to gerrymander districts for Democratic favor

13:19 - and this is a new tool

13:20 - that the

13:21 - way in which

13:22 - folks are using to capture control

13:25 - of the federal government is redrawing the maps and

13:28 - drawing them favorably towards one party the other

13:30 - democrats and Republicans do this the same

13:33 - it's kind of

13:34 - part of the party politics.

13:37 - So it's no surprise but

13:38 - it's

13:39 - really become much more.

13:42 - Elevated of of recent note.

13:45 - You write about

13:46 - making a state district boundaries as well which are

13:48 - grossly determined by state legislative leaders what

13:51 - can entrepreneurs have in ensuring that that district boundaries are fair

13:55 - well i think that's the hard part because it is still very poor political

13:58 - but what i am trying to do is get more entrepreneurs and people who want

14:03 - the rule of law to prevail

14:05 - and then you just have to have the you know good old fashioned

14:08 - partisan duking it out

14:10 - at the at the bargaining table

14:11 - shouldn't be drawn by a poet you know professor.

14:15 - Appointed by the court

14:16 - but it should be drawn by the way that

14:18 - it is designed of having the parties to the table

14:22 - like we even did in two thousand and eleven where there was bipartisan agreement

14:26 - but when there is an opportunity for one party to take advantage

14:30 - of the courts

14:31 - they did so

14:32 - i i think the more that we can expose what's going on with that and shine light

14:37 - and have fair our district so that

14:39 - we're truly

14:40 - saying hey

14:41 - we're not politicians peak picking the voters but we ultimately have voters

14:45 - picking the politicians i think when we can have

14:48 - a

14:49 - you know

14:49 - transparent

14:51 - map drawing and showing of this i think we can

14:53 - get back to something that's more level-headed.

14:56 - Why have elections that at one time cost hundreds of

14:59 - thousands of dollars suddenly cost now millions of dollars

15:02 - well in part because gerrymandering what has happened is

15:05 - that we have drawn districts that are predominantly safe

15:08 - and only made a handful of competitive races

15:12 - i can remember ten years ago fifteen years ago

15:15 - and you would have

15:17 - two dozen races that were in play

15:19 - nowadays it's just a handful and what that has done is it's concentrated resources

15:25 - into those very limited competitive districts so

15:28 - it's only going to be

15:29 - one two or three districts that ultimately determined who has control

15:34 - of the Pennsylvania house or Pennsylvania

15:37 - senate

15:37 - and so that it has concentrated those resources and

15:41 - yes they are costing millions of dollars and i predicted

15:44 - this back when the court redrew these districts

15:47 - that we were going to see congressional

15:50 - price that races

15:51 - in our state house

15:53 - and that's exactly what has happened.

15:55 - You highlight the reelection campaign of state representative.

15:59 - Frank burns and you know that democrats spent over four million dollars in this race

16:02 - much of it coming from out of state donors why do individuals or entities out of

16:06 - Pennsylvania care about a state legislative race

16:09 - in the middle of the commonwealth yeah the you know johnstown most of the donors who

16:13 - contributed to frank burns's race have no idea where johnstown is

16:18 - and this is why where entrepreneurs on the left

16:20 - have

16:21 - strategically pooled their resources

16:24 - and are

16:26 - putting those into the states that matter most

16:28 - and so the house Democratic campaign committees a primary number one donor

16:34 - is pack for america's future

16:36 - and

16:36 - ninety seven percent of that money

16:39 - comes from non pennsylvanians so this is where

16:42 - folks like George soros and Michael bloomberg and

16:46 - you know Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn.

16:48 - Fame

16:49 - they are making contributions to these organizations

16:52 - that then are flooding Pennsylvania with money

16:55 - because the vast majority of money and frank burns race as you noted in johnstown.

17:00 - Came from outside of johnstown and outside of Pennsylvania

17:04 - and this is part of the strategy that entrepreneurs on the left

17:07 - have been engaged in for many many years

17:10 - in Pennsylvania is seeing

17:12 - the vast majority of that money

17:14 - coming into our state house and state senate races.

17:18 - In part of my book sc saying

17:19 - well if the people if entrepreneurs on the right.

17:23 - Don't want Pennsylvania to be captured and become a democrat trifecta

17:27 - they have to understand what they are up against

17:30 - and counter those efforts

17:31 - because so far they have not

17:33 - republican donors across the country

17:35 - they participate in national elections but they

17:38 - haven't taken the strat eg that the left has

17:41 - in focusing

17:42 - their resources at the state level in the

17:45 - biggest battleground states especially Pennsylvania

17:48 - he wrote throughout the book about Pennsylvania's

17:50 - union problem where do you find fault with unions

17:52 - while my problem with unions is the same as

17:55 - Franklin delano Roosevelt had a problem with unions

17:57 - and that is what the public sector unions.

18:00 - Roosevelt recognized that

18:02 - when

18:02 - the taxpayers

18:04 - have to negotiate with

18:06 - the people who work for them

18:08 - and that is that creates a scenario

18:11 - that public sector unions have undue influence on the

18:14 - people that they get to elect and then negotiate with

18:18 - and the public sector uni ions have been able to

18:21 - secure for themselves financial political and legal

18:24 - privileges that no other private organization gets to have

18:29 - I'll give you one example.

18:31 - Most school districts across Pennsylvania

18:34 - most state governments

18:35 - county governments and municipal governments

18:38 - serve as collection agents

18:40 - for union political dollars.

18:42 - So if i'm a teacher in a school district

18:45 - the district is

18:46 - deducting money from my paycheck

18:48 - collects that and sends that to the union headquarters

18:52 - but they then predominantly spend against Republicans

18:55 - frequently

18:56 - against what teachers wills are because teachers

18:59 - generally are the same as the public

19:01 - that same division of republican democrat and independent

19:04 - but

19:05 - public sector unions particularly the teacher union

19:07 - spend their money predominantly on Democratic party

19:10 - politics

19:12 - and so

19:12 - why this is a special privileges that just imagine if

19:16 - you know all the teachers were members of the.

19:18 - Nr ray

19:19 - or have pie planned parenthood in one of those

19:21 - groups came to the school board and said hey

19:23 - would you please collect the political action dollars

19:26 - for our members there you know and just send them to

19:29 - our headquarters

19:30 - they'd be laughed out of the school board meeting

19:33 - but that's precisely the the benefit that

19:35 - public sector unions have

19:37 - in Pennsylvania and it's given them unfair advice vintage politically

19:42 - to where they're able to influence politics far greater than the average

19:47 - pennsylvanian is

19:48 - so there's certainly a real problem in politics and

19:52 - woke i give them credit they figured out how to play that game and we just need to

19:56 - level the playing field

19:57 - he's advocated on behalf of school choice opportunities

20:00 - for children over the years why is this important to you

20:03 - well as a former teacher I've seen it in the classroom

20:06 - and having having taught in an inner city schools

20:09 - i understand the power of education a good education

20:13 - unfortunately despite Pennsylvania spending

20:15 - amongst the the top ten in the country per pupil

20:18 - over twenty three thousand on average per student

20:21 - we're not getting a good return

20:23 - especially for kids that are trapped in some of our worst performing schools i was

20:28 - fortunate to serve on the board of an organization called the Joshua group

20:32 - and we were helping kids in the Allison Hillary

20:34 - in particular button the city of Harrisburg

20:38 - to escape Harrisburg's

20:40 - underperforming and frequently violent public schools

20:43 - and I've seen the power of kids getting a good education and what they're able to do

20:49 - that they escape that pipeline from the public schools

20:52 - into the prison system unfortunately in a lot of our

20:55 - urban areas

20:56 - and so education has always been a passion for me

20:59 - because i believe it undergirds everything else

21:02 - because when we look at the state budget

21:04 - and we look at the biggest cost drivers

21:06 - education

21:07 - corrections and welfare are the biggest ones in there

21:10 - and when you fail in education what you're ending up doing is you're putting more and

21:14 - more people in our welfare system in and our correction system

21:18 - so we believe that if you fix that foundational challenge

21:22 - we will fix a lot of the other ill ills and the things that are trapping people in

21:26 - in generational poverty

21:28 - and into insist emic you know

21:30 - turret going into the prison system coming out and then going back in

21:34 - education is the single greatest common denominator

21:36 - amongst those people trapped in those systems

21:39 - so we believe that if we can fix that

21:41 - we can fix a lot of these other problems that are her hurting our communities why do

21:45 - you think that some lama lawmakers who represent the most underfunded schools

21:48 - particularly in cities like Pittsburgh or Philadelphia

21:51 - authentic high school choice

21:53 - well unfortunately because their primary political providers are the teacher unions

21:58 - they provide both the resources and the manpower for their elections

22:03 - and unfortunately we while their Democratic

22:05 - controlled areas

22:07 - they don't allow

22:09 - folks who recognize this problem because i will hear

22:12 - from them individually they understand that the problem

22:15 - but if they step out of line the political power of the public sector unions

22:20 - will slap them down and replace them

22:22 - and so it's very difficult for some of these folks to stand up

22:26 - to these very powerful political interests

22:29 - because frequently they are some of the biggest employers and the

22:33 - best paid paid employers.

22:36 - In in in those communities

22:38 - and so it takes a lot of courage to stand up and say that a school is not working

22:43 - and that those kids need the ability to leave it

22:45 - and take the money with them

22:47 - unfortunately school districts have a belief

22:50 - that that money is theirs as opposed to the

22:53 - the

22:53 - kids and the parents who attend them

22:55 - but

22:56 - i believe

22:57 - it will come a day

22:58 - it's not a matter of when it's a matter of

23:01 - i'm sorry it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when

23:04 - that we find we allow the money to follow the child so that every kid

23:08 - no matter where you're at no matter

23:09 - how poor the

23:11 - assigned public school district is

23:13 - you can take that to a better performing school

23:15 - this is happening all across the country particularly

23:18 - in red states is it again that red blue divide

23:22 - red states are expanding to universal schools choice so that kids

23:26 - that are in these awful school say in the city of Harrisburg

23:29 - are able to escape

23:30 - to ones that are actually performing

23:32 - and it's creating incentives

23:34 - for

23:35 - new schools to be formed even in those areas

23:37 - there are providing the education and the safety the

23:40 - parents want for their kids

23:42 - so

23:42 - i believe there will come a time that

23:45 - this will be

23:46 - a you know a nonpartisan issue

23:48 - and it's sad that it's continues to be a blue red divide on school choice

23:52 - but i believe it is the civil rights issue of the twenty first century and i believe

23:56 - that we will ultimately win that.

23:58 - There's a chapter in your book that focuses on Pennsylvania's role as an energy

24:02 - export or could you just talk a little bit about

24:04 - the political significance I've got industry and the role

24:06 - that entrepreneurs have had in helping to development

24:08 - yeah no doubt Pennsylvania is a leader in the energy

24:12 - development i mean we've been there

24:13 - from the very beginning the founding of of

24:16 - oil in Pennsylvania titusville to natural gas

24:20 - being an opportunity that that can fund

24:22 - the entire

24:23 - northeast

24:25 - if not much of the country

24:27 - and that's what's

24:28 - really the greatest opportunity that we have it sit

24:31 - right below our feet

24:32 - we have vast

24:33 - sums of energy

24:35 - that we just need to be able to get out to market

24:38 - unfortunately it is politics that keeps it either in the ground

24:42 - or prevents it from flowing to the states

24:44 - right now in exams will as new York that has a Democratic

24:47 - trifecta that doesn't allow Pennsylvania's energy

24:51 - to enter in

24:52 - and so you've got a lot of the northeast

24:54 - that is are importing energy from hostile countries

24:58 - Russia

24:59 - and China i mean

25:00 - we should be able to power america with American energy

25:04 - right here from Pennsylvania ya

25:06 - but unfortunately politics is keeping that from happening.

25:11 - What makes you hopeful for the future of Pennsylvania is grass

25:14 - while most helpful because i do believe in entrepreneurs i believe entrepreneurs

25:18 - again are the ones that founded this country

25:20 - i believe they will be the ones who save it

25:22 - and it's people who see a problem and then they find solutions for but

25:26 - i think we will figure that out in Pennsylvania

25:28 - but right now i think a lot of Pennsylvania have to decide do we want

25:32 - those entrepreneurs as millionaires and billionaires from outside Pennsylvania

25:36 - determining our politics

25:37 - or should we as Pennsylvania's

25:39 - decide our fate

25:41 - i believe it's we as Pennsylvania should decide

25:44 - Pennsylvania's fate and ultimately help to save america

25:47 - threatened okay talk about various political figures

25:50 - and significant figures in the conservative efforts

25:53 - who stands out to you as being a significant leader

25:56 - while in Pennsylvania i think we've gotten i won't single anybody out because I'll

25:59 - probably forget some of them but i i'm very encouraged

26:02 - by a lot of the people who are coming into public service

26:05 - and i see a lot of folks who are leading

26:07 - for the right reasons

26:09 - and that

26:10 - we're able to see those folks who are just there for whether it's the power or the the

26:14 - the the prestige not sticking around long so i think

26:17 - that that's one of the good things that we've seen

26:20 - with the development of

26:21 - the pay raise

26:22 - good outcome in the tea party

26:24 - these are the changes i think they've have made pence a new better

26:27 - news service president and ceo of an organization

26:29 - called commonwealth partners chamber of entrepreneurs

26:31 - for those that aren't

26:32 - familiar you can explain

26:34 - what we should know about it and how does that role play a role in your efforts to

26:38 - some of the conservative agenda yeah so so

26:41 - you noted we have entrepreneurs in our name because we

26:44 - represent entrepreneurs that are you know in business

26:47 - in philanthropy

26:48 - people that want to make Pennsylvania a better place to live and for their

26:52 - employees and for their families.

26:55 - So we're a membership organization

26:57 - that

26:58 - in in gets involved in the political sphere

27:01 - and so we have political action committees

27:04 - that we raise money to help support candidates

27:06 - people who believe in free enterprise and limited government

27:09 - so we're very supportive of folks that want to run for office because it's a big step

27:14 - and it's a it's sometimes a thankless job

27:17 - so we're looking for people who are willing to step

27:19 - into that arena and we come alongside and help them

27:22 - we've been speaking with Matthew forget he's the

27:24 - author of this book you gotta win Pennsylvania

27:26 - call to entrepreneurs to save america

27:29 - thank you for joining us thank you.

27:33 - Hmm.