Starting now.
Commonalities where guests find common ground through uncommon
conversations, politics, religion, finances,
all the topics your grandmother told you not to discuss with friends.
And now your host, Matthew Dowling,
and today's guests on commonalities.
Well, thanks for joining us for another episode of Commonalities.
I'm their host, Matt Dowling,
and my guest today is a friend and former colleague of mine, um,
Eric Zo.
He's the state representative in the lower half of West Morling County,
um, representative Devan. So do we have you there?
Yep, I am here. Matthew.
Hey, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, at the top of the program here.
I wanted to give you the opportunity to do a little bit of a self introduction
and tell us a little bit about, uh, your background and, uh,
and how long you've been in the house and maybe the committees you serve.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Well, fir well, first off, you know,
we do miss you out in the house and, uh, you know,
thank you for this opportunity here. Um,
I know you introduced me as having the lower or the southern portion of
Westmoreland County, but it is also the better portion of Westmoreland County.
Um, so once again, state representative Eric Zo, 58 District,
uh, my municipalities, we cover men, Ross Traver, east Huntington,
south Huntington, Swickly Township. I have, uh, Menen Burrow,
Scottdale Burrow, west Newton Borough, hunker Borough.
We go into a little bit of Mount Pleasant Township, I think for the most part,
that covers everything. Um, and oddly enough, tomorrow,
March 17th would mark three years since my special election that I became a
house member. So, you know, looking back, it seems like I've been here forever,
but it also, at the same point in time, it's like, wow, where did,
where did those three hours go? Or I mean, those three years go, you know,
look how fast its went by. Um, also in, in my past, I,
I come from the building trades I had labored for, for roughly 10 years,
and then I had switched over to the carpenter's union for about another 11
years. Uh, still carry my card to this day. You know,
I'm still that blue collar worker. I, I don't change my work ethics. Um,
and also the committees I'm on are state government,
transportation and game and fisheries.
Well, you know, you, uh,
you mentioned your background having been a union laborer and a union carpenter,
and I wanna start our conversation off today. Um, kind of coming from,
uh, from that side of things, you know,
I was always a fan of the, uh,
of the trades unions. Uh, and,
and sometimes people look at us as Republicans and say, you know,
Republicans that are, uh, a fan of unions, you know, public sector unions,
I always, uh, took up some criticism with, but, uh,
but those private sector trade unions, I think is,
is one of the best ways for young people to get the training they need,
the skills they need and to, uh, get out into the workforce. But,
uh, I, I wanted to bring up, uh,
some labor issues that I know that you're working on. Um, last session,
we had house Bill 1104, and, uh,
if you want to give a little bit of background on that and, uh,
tell us what you're doing this session to, uh, to try to, uh,
help out the building trades.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Yeah.
But first I want to touch on something you brought in, you know,
as Republicans supporting the, the private sector unions. You know, you,
you kind of do get looked at funny, but, but also, let's look at it as at,
at another angle here.
So you have a kid who could graduate high school at the age of 18,
spend four to five years in an apprenticeship, come out of that apprenticeship,
you know, making,
making 30 th or I guess $30 an hour plus you have benefits,
you have pension, uh, you have a savings and annuity on that.
And these are good family sustaining jobs.
And also these people that come out with these jobs, you know,
there's not a lot of government money, if any, um, invested in,
in getting this job. You know, it's a win-win. We're, we're teaching,
we're teaching people to, to be American, right? Go out and get a job,
be self-sufficient, start a family, um, don't be a burden on society,
you know, be self-sufficient. So I just had to throw that in there.
But house Bill 1104 is, uh, transparency on a construction site.
And all it does is right now in the state of Pennsylvania on a building permit,
you just have to list the crime contractors on a job.
What my bill does is it goes one step farther and every subcontractor
on a job has to be listed. So, in a sense, what this does is, you know,
you have some bad actors out there who,
who really participate in misclassification. And what misclassification is,
is you have a guy on a job who you're paying him labor's wages,
but he's actually doing carpenter work. Uh, you know,
he could be doing electrical work. He's really performing a task and,
and really not earning the wage that he should.
And we have numerous contractors who repeatedly do this.
And this is just the way of, whether it's a local code enforcement officer,
keeping an eye on a guy, um,
or even if you know someone from the Department of Labor and industry would come
out, you know, Hey, listen, how many times are you on a job site? When,
whenever I would leave, um, and you come back and there was,
there would be crews come in throughout the night, you know, work's done,
things are done. You know, it wasn't on the up and up,
and there was no questions asked. And, you know, on this,
people don't look at it. But,
but what about the tax money that's not being collected? You know,
these guys are paid cash under the table when they get hurt,
they have no insurance. Uh, who foots the bill for all that? And, and we do.
And, you know, I, I don't know that 1104 is necessarily the perfect answer.
It, it, it may not be the piece that completely wipes this out,
but it's definitely an incremental change in the, you know,
possibly the next step to, uh, enforcing some of these things.
Sure. So where is that bill right now? Has it been referred to a,
a committee this session? Um, you know,
when would that potentially be taken up and how could, uh,
members of our trade unions that wanna see this bill passed, uh, you know,
how can they help you out? Who should they contact, uh, and and so forth?
Yeah, so right now, the, the bill still, um, sits, I, I didn't introduce it yet.
You know, we had the, the turnover in the house. The house wasn't organized. Um,
now that we have the house organized, I'm just starting to look on it.
Probably gonna make a few tweaks on it, um, to really get the bill out there.
You know,
maybe we put a dollar amount on it because we know that these happened.
Like this instance really happens on our hotels, condominiums, um,
anywhere there's a lot of stucco on a building drive it, I should say the,
the correct term terminology for that. Um, so, you know, maybe,
maybe we come ined, hey, any job under 10 million, it would be, you know,
maybe residential living or, or something like that. Um,
just to try to get that pushed. Because what happens is people look at this as,
Hey, listen, I've come from the building trades. I support 'em.
This is a union backed bill.
They're just gonna go out and target the non-union guys. And listen,
that is the last thing that, that we want.
And I'm actually working with three non-union firms in Westmoreland County to
try to get this a win for everybody, because this isn't a union non-union issue.
This is really a construction industry, uh, situation here. So, and, and,
and how we could help is, you know, um,
the building trades need to reach out to,
to the members that are supportive of them and back them and say, you know,
listen, this is a, a piece of legislation that we're looking for. You know,
it may not be perfect, but that incremental changes is where it's at.
And I think if we would start it, we could always tweak it, you know,
down the road.
Now as we're talking about, uh, you know, what's going on on job sites, uh, I,
I can't help, but, uh, but to think of, uh,
some of the illegal immigrants that are actually working on job sites. And,
and some of them are, uh,
are being forced into working on sites through labor exploitation
and labor trafficking. I know we talk a lot about, uh,
human trafficking, or maybe not even as much as we should,
but that's a little bit more of a popular term. But I don't know that, uh,
that our listeners know a whole lot about the labor exploitation and the
labor trafficking that's going on on some construction job sites here in the
United States.
Yeah. You know, definitely. So, you know, we have labor brokers out there.
They get ahold of these illegals, they bring them in,
and they actually sell their services to a labor broker. And, you know,
this labor broker could be no more than than another illegal, um,
or they could be unlawful citizen that has a, that has a form of transportation.
You know, they, they pick up these illegals, they take 'em to job sites,
sell their services, but also, you know, we're finding out that, you know,
it's not just the labor trafficking, sex trafficking comes into it, you know,
it ultimately, they're both human trafficking, but,
but also it comes with that is that dark world of, of drugs and just,
just illegal activity, you know? And it does,
it does exist in Westmoreland County. You know, we have, uh, we have a, um,
some evidence of a construction site here that is doing it. Um,
trying to work with some, some local law enforcement, you know,
to try to get out there, see what we can do with it.
One of the issues that we have though, is right now, department of Labor,
labor and industry is lacking enforcement officers. You know, I,
I think they have four for the state, and it just really isn't enough. And,
and once again, this isn't a union non-union issue.
This is a construction industry issue. You know, once again,
these guys are here. One, they're here illegally. Um, and I don't know, listen,
I don't support it, and I know you don't support that anyway, um, but, you know,
moving the step forward, you know, these guys are coming in, um,
it's not fair in the bidding process. They're coming in underbidding, everybody.
Um, but the, the broker himself, he's making the money, right? He's in,
then return pocketing all this money and giving peanuts to the workers, the,
the guys that are here illegal now for these illegals,
I'm sure it's a win-win situation, because wherever they came from,
this is probably the most money that they've ever seen, are, you know,
earned abso and, and if Absolutely, I'm sorry, cut you off.
But if you think back to, I wanna say last year at this time,
there was an execution south shooting in Ross Traver, um,
that was over worker, um, labor trafficking.
That's all that was about.
There was a guy there that was stealing some other workers off somebody else,
and they didn't like it. And, and you see how it ended. Um,
so whenever you're gonna go out and,
and you're gonna commit murder to protect your investment, you know,
you better believe that there's huge amounts of money here. And, um, you know,
I, they're not gonna stop sure of protecting what they're doing.
Well, and,
and I think that's extremely concerning to know that that's happening in our,
our varying neighborhoods. Uh, you know,
you have some evidence to it happening in Westmoreland County,
I'm sure it's going on here in Fayette County as well. Um,
and all through southwestern Pennsylvania. So I,
I think we have to support the Department of Labor and Industry. And,
and while I'm, you know, not a, a huge fan, um,
being a conservative myself of adding additional, um,
additional bureaucracy, I think, uh, hey, as you stated,
you only have four people that are doing that enforcement. So, uh, you know,
we have to give the tools to the department so that, uh,
so that they can make sure that these things aren't happening.
We have to get to our first break today, uh, representative Zo.
But when we come back,
I wanna talk a little bit about the state budget proposal that Governor Josh
Shapiro just rolled out. And you guys, uh, heard about very different budget,
uh, proposal than what we heard from his predecessor, Tom Wolf.
But I want to get your, uh, your thoughts and feelings on that.
We'll be right back here on commonalities.
You are listening to commonalities where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief break to recognize our sponsors.
Is your business using analog strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides digital marketing, paid ad and media buying services,
web design, social media management, video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political campaigns with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can help you craft your unique message
and share it with the world. For a no risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com. Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info coordinated three sixty.com.
When it comes to buying a home, what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should call Dave Dowling at Grandview Inspections
at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers, freshly painted walls, granite countertops,
gleaming hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might be revealed when you hire a home
inspector. And when it comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications and experience needed,
should be your number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and what will require maintenance after you move
in Your home is one of your biggest investments.
So make sure your investment is everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Are you enjoying the program?
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a donation of five, 10, or $25,
or any amount you feel comfortable sharing online@donate.commonalities.online.
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Hey, Fayette County ready to give a helping hand and have a lot of fun in the
process. Then come out to the Town Senior Center on Saturday,
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You are listening to commonalities where guests find common ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
Well, thanks for staying with us here on Commonalities. I'm your host,
Matt Dowling. Uh, and before we move on with additional, uh,
questions for our guests today, I wanted to again,
make the public announcement that, uh, we are willing to bring any candidate,
Democrat or Republican, uh, on the program here before the, uh,
the upcoming primary election.
If you'd like to get scheduled as a guest and you're running for any public
office that includes, uh, school board, uh, judicial candidates,
uh, county commissioner candidates, et cetera, um, reach out to me.
You can find my email and all my contact information at
www.matthewdasindaviddowling.com. Uh,
that's kind of your starting place for all things involving, uh,
commonalities and et cetera.
My guest today is Representative Eric Zo from the Southern part of
Westmoreland County. And, uh, representative Zo, this is your year off.
You don't have to, uh, have to run in this year's election. I remember how, uh,
in those two year terms, that year in between was, uh, was kind of a year to,
to breathe a little bit, but, uh,
you don't get to take too long of a breath because before you know it, uh,
you'll be in reelection mode once again. Um, so we, we,
before the break, we said we were gonna talk about the governor's budget, and,
uh, I've done a, a fair amount of reading and listening to, uh,
to the things that were, uh, were provided to,
to the house and to the Senate as ideas, uh,
to start off the budget by, uh, governor Shapiro. And,
and I noticed that it was quite different from some of the proposals, uh,
that Governor Wolf had given to us. There were some good things in there,
and there were some bad things in there. Wanted to get your take on, uh,
on all things Pennsylvania budget.
Yeah, yeah, definitely. And so this budget addressed,
it was more like the State of the Union. Um, you know,
it was definitely the way it was presented, uh,
the way Governor Shapiro come in, definitely just a different demeanor,
just a different tone all the way around it. But in his budget proposal, I,
I believe he was around 44 billion,
which was just about an 8% increase in spending. Um,
which at the end of the day, we could have all good things in it.
We can all want it, but we have to remember that we cannot outpace our,
uh, money collected. Right.
Well, you know, and you know, and, and I don't mean to cut you off there, uh,
Eric, but you know, when I came into the house,
the first budget that I worked on was below 32 billion.
So now we're talking about 44 billion. And really it's only been seven years,
uh, you know, in that period that we've seen, uh,
that state budget inflate. And I just wanted to kind of make the,
the point for our listeners of how fast that budget has grown and,
and we're talking billions of dollars and, uh,
and not talking about what's kept off the books because it's federal funding
that, uh, that gets passed through the state, um, which makes our,
our state's annual, uh,
budget more like 80 billion if I remember correctly. But, uh, I,
I apologize for cutting you off. I wanna let you, your continue with, uh,
with your thoughts on this budget.
Yeah. And, and, you know, to, to,
to get to your point on in inflating the budget, you know,
both parties do it because it, it seems like now this will be my fourth budget,
uh, proposal process,
but it seems like as we get closer to June,
as we get closer to that deadline,
we focus more on just getting the budget done. And,
and I really think that that's a mistake for us. Um,
and I also think in the upcoming years, you know,
two to three years down the road, we're gonna have to answer for that. Um,
and I don't think it's gonna be a good answer. Um,
I do not support raising taxes. I,
I believe there's enough pork in our budget that, you know, we can,
we can cut out multiple things here. Um, but one of the issues that,
that Governor Shapiro had had mentioned was he's gonna put
900 million in the state police fund. They're gonna be funded separately,
cuz if I believe it right now, aren't they funded through the, um, l cb?
Isn't there portion of money that that comes into that?
There, there is,
there's also some funding for the state police that comes out of the,
the gas tax, uh, that we have here in Pennsylvania.
And I don't want to get off on a tangent on that. Yeah.
But I know our listeners, um, definitely have some complaints about, uh,
what is is the highest, or perhaps the second highest at this point,
gas tax throughout, uh, the United States. Um, and I, and I never agreed,
uh, this was done under a Republican governor under Governor Corbit years ago.
Um, but you know,
that state police funding instead of being a separate line item, was, uh,
was rolled into the gas tax with some other revenues coming from other line
items. But I really think that we should be supporting our law enforcement and,
and making them their own line item, uh, which I believe is,
is what Governor Shapiro was talking about.
Yeah. And, and you know, that's, listen, I,
I agree a hundred percent with that because one of the issues that,
that we hear, especially back home right now, is we have lack of,
of just law enforcement officers.
And when you look at what's going on in the city, Allegheny County, you know,
Harrisburg Philadelphia, they're not prosecuting crimes. So what happens, uh,
it just keeps growing and growing and, and it spews out into rural pa and,
and now it's starting to really affect us. And,
and we don't have the law enforcement officers to,
to really go out there and crack down on it. So anytime we can support,
support our officers in, in gray, you know, listen, uh, gladly do that.
Um, and I think that is, that is truly needed. You know,
we can get them their own fund. Because if you remember, um, it may have been,
I, I can't remember the bill, but one of the bills we were going to, uh,
reduce the amount of spending and right away the party from across the aisle,
Hey, listen, you guys are defunding the police, and well, listen,
we are the last party that's out there defending the police or defunding the
police, you know? Um, so yeah, so they'll get their own, their own line item,
their own money. We, we can adjust it. Uh, but 400 new state troopers, uh,
something that this commonwealth needs. Um, another,
another good thing in there, I think that what,
what Governor Shapiro did is he wants to speed up the permitting process with
the D e P. You know, we get lots of calls, um, Hey, listen,
we want come to Pennsylvania, we come in, we can't get permits,
we can't get permits to even move, move any kind of dirt. Um,
and let alone whenever you get 'em, you get 'em back.
The issues that were on the permit are resolved, and now there's 15 more. So,
you know, this fourth level of government, this bureaucracy that we live in,
it needs addressed with, you know, with our declining population,
our youth is leaving the state. We need to create more jobs,
we need good businesses, we need good family sustaining jobs here. Um,
which would be great for us, for us, especially in our, in our region here. Um,
one thing that I think he did that I, that I liked was, you know, my background,
I was outta high school. I went to the building trades, you know,
him waving the, the, the college requirement for, for state jobs was,
was great in there. Um, and on the other hand, one thing that he,
he's trying to get in there is to raise the minimum wage to $15. I don't know.
Listen, seven and a quarter isn't a livable wage, but also,
isn't it supposed to be a, a baseline wage so that you get a job, um,
you know, you learn a value of a dollar, but you also, we, it, it's lower.
So you go out and through building yourself up, you want to improve yourself,
you wanna move up to that better job,
and to raise that four to $15 an hour, um, to me,
I'm not a fan of it. I, I think the market should drive that minimum wage.
And I think right now, and, and I could probably say that our region,
Fayette and West Morgan County, you know, that that minimum wage is probably 11,
$12 an hour because you can see it at, at your subways, your McDonald's,
your gas stations, you know, they're, they're paying $15 an hour, if not more,
with a, with a $2,500 signing bonus, right? So, hey, you, you make it six weeks,
we'll give you 400 bucks. Um, kind of keep going with that. And,
you know, like I said, I, I really believe the market should drive it.
Yeah. I, I always thought that minimum wage would, uh,
would most effectively be, um, be linked to, uh,
an, an automatic increase with, uh, with what the, uh,
the inflation rate was.
And very similar to how COLA increases in, uh,
in the state government work, where there's that automatic increase based on,
uh, you know, what the cost of living actually is. Uh, it,
it would make sense that we follow some format like that.
It would give businesses a, a chance to plan, uh, for the future. But,
uh, but that's not what we're seeing. We're seeing, uh, requests for these, um,
not incremental jumps, but for,
for some really huge jumps that could really catch a small business, uh,
off guard.
Yeah. You know, definitely. Um, and like I said, I, I,
I really think the market needs to drive. But then, listen, if it's, you know,
seven and a quarter and you're a small mom and pop shop and,
and you have a great employee that comes to work on time, they're honest,
you're gonna, you're gonna pay them more money naturally, you know, and,
and listen, anytime government gets involved, set wages, you know, we,
in a government it seems like, how many times do we get it right, ,
you know what I mean? So I,
I don't feel that that wage should be set by the government. Um, and also,
you know, the other changes manufacturing,
cuz what happens whenever you have a manufacturer worker who's making $20 an
hour, now all of a sudden somebody at cheats is at 18. You know,
they're gonna go to their employee, get their employer and say, Hey, listen,
I need a raise now.
Well, and, and, and you, you mentioned Sheets and I, I love sheets. I,
I go and get an mto, uh, can, you know, fill the car up with gas. Um,
I just pulled up their,
their jobs website and they have a store entry level store team member,
uh, that they're hiring at, at one of their Pennsylvania locations.
Starting rate is $16 an hour,
a dollar 50 extra per hour if you work between 10:00 PM and
6:00 AM You know, so we're already seeing, uh, you know,
at entry level store member at sheets, that's, you know,
putting the bread on the shelves and and so forth. They're making $16 an hour,
and if it's evening, they're making 1750.
Yeah. You know, it's just, um, like I said, it just, it does need to raise the,
the market should drive it. Um, and hey, listen, if inflation, you know, um,
recedes and, and comes down and then, you know, hey, you know, in a few years,
you know, maybe they're paying 10, $12 an hour, I really think for our area,
you know, 11 to $12 an hour probably is a true minimum wage here.
Well, uh, representative Banzo,
we have to get our second break for the program in, when we come back,
we'll be talking, uh,
about some of the other things that you have on your legislative agenda for
this, uh, this session. As well as how, uh,
people who may be listening from the West Morling County area,
people that are your constituents, uh,
how they can interact with your office and contact you. But, uh,
we'll be right back after this break with commonalities.
You're listening to commonalities where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
We'll be back after this brief break to recognize our sponsors.
Is your business using analog strategies in a digital marketing world?
If so,
then contact Matthew or Rebecca Dowling at Coordinated 360 for a
professional consultation where we bring in-depth knowledge and functional
expertise with a holistic perspective.
Coordinated 360 provides digital marketing, paid ad and media buying services,
web design, social media management, video production, and more for businesses,
organizations, and political campaigns with decades of experience.
Matt and Becky at Coordinated 360 can help you craft your unique message and
share it with the world. For a no risk media evaluation and recommendations,
call 7 2 4 3 2 0 22 12,
or visit us online at
www.coordinatedthreesixty.com. Find us also on Facebook,
Instagram, and Twitter,
or email info@coordinatedthreesixty.com.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
That's why home buyers should call Dave Dowling at Grandview Inspections
at 7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
You'll see colorful flowers, freshly painted walls, granite countertops,
fleeing hardwood floors, and other touches.
What you can't see is the cracks, ancient plumbing,
dangerous wiring,
or broken appliances that might be revealed when you hire a home
inspector. And when it comes to home inspectors,
knowing yours has the qualifications and experience needed should be your
number one concern.
Dave Dowling with Grand View Inspections is an architectural engineer
with over 30 years of commercial construction experience and hundreds of
inspections under his belt.
A home inspection is an opportunity for you to hire an expert to walk
through the home and prepare a report outlining the home's major components.
What needs immediate attention and what will require maintenance after you move
in your home is one of your biggest investments.
So make sure your invest is everything you hoped it to be.
Call Dave Dowling at Grandview Inspections at
7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
Are you enjoying the program?
You're listening to support commonalities and help keep us on the air by making
a donation of five 10 or $25, or any amount you feel comfortable sharing
online@donate.commonalities.online. Again,
that is donate.commonalities.online on the worldwide web.
Buy our host a cup of coffee or help pay for airtime at donate dot commonalities
online.
Hey, Fayette County ready to give a helping hand and have a lot of fun in the
process. Then come out to the Uniontown Senior Center on Saturday,
March 25th from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM for a Pirogi making party,
hosted by me Matt Dowling, and my wife Rebecca.
As we make enough to feed 200 of our local seniors,
get all the details at www.matthewddowling.com.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an Assistant District attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as Judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking for your vote for Judge paid.
For by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
You are listening to commonalities where guests find common ground through
uncommon conversations.
Well, again,
I wanna make that public announcement that anyone running for any public office,
regardless of Party, is welcome to reach out to me.
Visit matthew d dowling.com for my contact information.
We'd love to have you on the program so that we can educate voters here in the
area, uh, what your thoughts and opinions are and, uh,
and what you plan to do should you win Election and Take Office. Uh, again,
that's matthew d dowling.com. Uh, this is a public, uh,
invitation to anyone who's running for public office. Also,
you heard the promo about our March 25th pierogi Making Party. And,
uh, representative Zo, are you a fan of Pierogis?
Oh, love Pierogis. Love, love the Pierogis.
If if you're from Southwestern Pennsylvania,
you know that that Polish and Slovak, uh, heritage has,
has really been in our community for a long time.
And so we're gonna be making Pierogis for 200 of our seniors that,
uh, that visit the Community Action Senior Centers that week. Um, and it,
it's gonna be a lot of fun. We'll have some pokas in the background, uh,
et cetera. So, uh, so we invite everyone in the community to come out. Again,
visit matthew d dowling.com. There's a banner that says, uh,
pierogi Party registration.
Click on that and you can find all the details there.
My guest today is Representative Eric Zo, and Representative Zo,
uh, is a state representative in the West Morling County area.
Um, some big changes have happened in the Pennsylvania House since, uh,
since my retirement. Uh, at the end of November, uh, the,
the, uh, parties have switched,
the Democrats now have control of the house. Um, you know,
so Representative Zo, you've now, you know,
been in a situation where you were serving, uh,
under Republican control and now under the Democrats Control.
I wanted to kind of get some of your thoughts and feedback about, uh,
about how that has, has changed things. I know it,
it sometimes makes legislation a little bit more difficult to get out of the
committee. Um, and, you know, the majority leader now is,
is gonna be scheduling bills, uh, with the speaker to, uh,
to get them run on the house floor.
So it may not be as easy as it was during my time of service for a
Republican to move a bill. Uh, but hopefully we're working in tandem, uh, both,
both sides of the o uh, to move important legislation. So I,
I wanted to give you a chance to talk here a little bit about, uh,
what your legislative agenda is and if you think it's gonna be more difficult
to, to move those bills this session.
Yeah. You know what? So I think it's gonna be extremely difficult,
but, but one thing that I,
that I always try to do is I always try to go to the other side of the aisle.
Um, the friendships over there, the communications cause, cause listen,
there are things we agree on, right? Um, and also with that,
at the end of the day, we we're humans. Uh, we all have family, um,
and we're set here to go to work for the people. I mean, I mean,
that's why we're here. Our ultimate goal is, is to make everyday lives better,
uh, for the, for our constituents. So people that put us here. So, you know,
if we're gonna go there and draw a line in a stand and, and a St mate,
and listen, there are times we have to do that. Um, but to do that every day is,
is a complete injustice for, for the whole institution. And, and you know,
why we're here, and I think there's,
so there's 55 freshmen members this year, so think about that.
A quarter of the house, the 2 0 3 members, a quarter of them are, are freshmen.
And, and I remember when I come in, in, uh, in, um, 2020 right after Covid,
um, or I should say right, right. As Covid was kicking off, you know,
I remember the stories of other members saying, you know, Hey,
I remember the night Ed ran Del come in. He was trying to get a budget pass.
You know,
and those stories are non-existent anymore because there's hardly anybody there
that has any, and I don't wanna say the,
the knowledge of it because there's a lot of people that have the knowledge,
but that, that longevity there just really isn't there. Um,
but I also think that that could open up the, the door for some of us, um,
that are willing to go across the aisle. You know, Hey, listen, we're here,
we're here ready to work, willing to work. Um, you know,
Matt Bradford is the majority leader. Um,
I'd like to think I have a decent relationship with him. Um,
but at the end of the day, you know, he's loyal to his party. Um, and if the,
his speaker doesn't wanna run it or the governor doesn't run it,
at the end of the day, he's not going to. Um, so that's just part of being,
being in the majority with the power, I guess.
Yeah. And, and like I said, that's, that's a major, uh, change that we've seen.
Uh, but at least in the, um,
in the budget address that we were talking about before the last break,
I did see, uh, governor Shapiro kind of, um,
lay out some things that I think would be more popular for the conservatives
that are in the house. Um, of course, you know, like we talked, uh,
there were some things that conservatives wouldn't like, um,
but I think there was a little bit of an olive branch from the governor's
office, um, looking to, to work with both parties. And,
and I think it is, uh, it's good to remember the fact that,
uh, that Governor Shapiro was a house member himself, and, uh,
and he kind of understands that process.
Yeah. You know, definitely, definitely understands the process. And once again,
I think that helps, you know, cuz his legislative aid, uh, is a Republican,
a lot of our leadership members have a good relationship with, with Mike Burb.
Um, and, and listen, you gotta use,
you gotta pull every tool out of the toolbox you can to get legislation moving.
Listen, it, it,
it's hard enough whenever you're in the majority party and have the power to get
legislation moving, um, let alone what we're up against now. But, you know,
governor Shapiro has, it appears to show a willingness to work. Um, but,
but only time will tell, you know, his his aspirations of maybe one day being,
being president. Uh, it may help us. Um, and then again,
it it may come back to hurt us too.
Yeah. And, and you know, I've talked with this with a number of guests, uh,
throughout the last couple months, but, you know, we no longer have, uh,
on either side a, uh, you know, a huge number of members,
uh, you know, a huge advantage, uh,
with members from one party or the other and having those numbers a little bit
closer. You know, at one point in time, I know we were at 2023, uh,
more Republicans than Democrats.
Now you're only separated by one or two members, you know, and,
and my question to all of my guests has been,
will this force the parties to, uh,
work more in tandem in together,
or will it really create a stalemate where, uh,
where things aren't gonna move at all? So, you know,
I I want to get your thoughts on that.
Yeah. So , that's a good question. You know, I,
I can see it, I can see it where, you know,
you're gonna have some members of both parties that are running for, uh,
magistrate judges, um, one's running for,
I believe county executor in Ahe County and the natural process,
there's a good chance that, you know, we could just by natural selection,
so to speak, um, as some members move on, you know,
we could have the majority by the end of the year, if not, um,
this time next year. Um, and also it could swing the other way.
Um, but, but I think, I think that it's, it's our job. It,
it's our duty to really come together, focus on the people that put us here,
focus on the needs of the everyday, um, individual here. You know,
we have to focus and make Pennsylvania better. And in those lines, if,
if we have a chance to pick off a member in an election, um,
and then that's when we do that. But, but I don't want us to get into the,
the dirty politics of a one seat majority setting traps for the other party,
for a member to take, um,
because truly the people of the Commonwealth do not benefit from any of that.
Yeah. And you know, I, I always had the thought process that, uh,
that there's a campaign mode and that that is a part of your job that's just
be frank about that. And, and then there's a legislative side of things. And,
uh, and yeah, I think it,
it's bahoo of members in the house or in the Senate to be able to flip
that switch and to leave that campaign mode and go into legislative mode
where you're working for every, uh, person,
all of those 68,000 people that are in a house district, uh,
as your constituents, you're working for every one of them regardless of party.
So you have to kind of turn that campaign side off and, uh,
and be able to, to focus on the legislative side. We have one more break.
We're gonna get in here today, and when we come back,
we're gonna have final thoughts as well as some contact information for
Representative Devan. So we'll be right back on commonalities.
You are listening to commonalities guests find Common Ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
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Hey, Fayette County ready to give a helping hand and have a lot of fun in the
process. Then come out to the Uniontown Senior Center on Saturday,
March 25th from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM for a pierogi making party,
hosted by me Matt Dowling, and my wife Rebecca.
As we make enough to feed 200 of our local seniors,
get all the details at www.matthewddowling.com.
I'm Melinda de LaRose. As an Assistant district attorney,
I've protected Fayette County families and fought to uphold our constitutional
rights. As a prosecutor and trusted local attorney,
I've provided victims of crime with a strong voice and put criminals behind
bars. My pledge to you as Judge is to follow the law,
always maintain the highest ethical standards,
and to run a courtroom that's respectful of your time and tax dollars.
I'm Melinda de LaRose asking for your vote for Judge paid.
For by Friends of Melinda de LaRose.
You are listening to commonalities where guests find common ground through
Uncommon Conversations.
Hi, I am your host Matt Dowling,
and my guest today has been Representative Eric Zo from Westmoreland County.
We have about 90 seconds, representative Zo. So, uh, in that time,
give us your contact information and how people can, uh,
can interface with interface with your office, and if you have any, uh,
upcoming legislative events that, uh, people may wish to attend.
Yeah, well first off, you know, I'll just talk on Pirogis there.
You you got me hungry here, .
So I'm gonna start googling some things there, but, uh, yeah, so, uh,
my main office, my district office is in West Newton, one 19 North Water Street.
Uh, phone number is (724) 929-2655. Uh,
my website is www.repdavan.com.
Email is zo pa house g.com. Um,
I have a Facebook page. Feel free to go on there and, you know, like it, um,
and hey, listen, our, our doors are always open. There's,
there's nothing here that we haven't heard. And, and there's no such thing as,
you know, people would call and say, listen, this is silly,
but what do you think about this? Or, I need help with this. There's,
there's nothing too silly here. Uh, we are here to help, uh, regardless.
So please feel free to reach out.
Well, we have to wrap things up. This has been another episode of Commonalities.
Join us next Tuesday and Thursday where we will have additional guests to talk
about their candid candidacy for public office. Thanks for listening.
This has been Commonalities,
a show where guests find common ground through uncommon conversations.
Copyright 2022 Coordinated 360.
All public rebroadcast should be done with prior written approval from Matthew
Dowling. All requests should be sent to info@coordinatedthreesixty.com.
Thank you for listening to commonalities.