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.
Thank you for joining another episode of Commonalities. I'm your host,
Matt Dowling. My guest today is a friend and colleague of mine,
Senator Greg Rothman.
Greg served in the Pennsylvania house with me and, uh,
is a newly minted Pennsylvania state. Senator Greg,
I want to thank you for being with me today. And, uh, want to give you a,
an opportunity at the start of the show here to give a little bit of your
background, uh, you know,
how you got into politics and how you, uh,
you got to your current seat in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Thanks, Matt, and great seeing you. It was, uh, it was honor serving with you.
We had, uh, did some important stuff in the house together. Um,
I served in the house, as you said, for seven years. Uh, prior to that, um,
I spent about 30 years in real estate, uh,
real estate brokerage and appraising a little bit of development, uh,
in the Harrisburg area. Uh, I grew up in this area. Uh,
I was always interested in politics and certainly understood the role that,
uh, the state government has in, uh, in our business and in our lives.
Um, and so I cared about who the, who was holding office. Um, as I said,
about seven years ago, my state representative,
who'd been there for a long time, left there was a special election. Uh,
I was chairman of the county party, and, um, we had a conf free process.
And, uh, I wasn't, uh,
wasn't really satisfied with the way, um, it was shaping up.
And a couple people came to me and said, well, you know, maybe you should run.
And I thought I would just finish out the term about six or nine months.
And I ended up, uh, getting there and meet, meeting some great people like,
like yourself. And I thought, well, this is important work. I, I,
I thought that politics is too serious to be left to politicians, so that,
that's why I ran in the first place. And, um,
ended up being able to get a lot done and stop a lot of bad things too. Um,
during, uh, redistricting, um, the, the, uh,
new map for the house, basically my seat was sent in three different directions,
so it became three different seats. Um,
and the Democrats were successful in redistricting my house seat away.
But meanwhile, they created a, a, a senate seat that was, um,
perfect, I thought perfect for my background and my, um, philosophy.
And, and, uh,
my house district was a hundred percent within the Senate district,
so I ran for that and, uh, won a, a contested primary.
And then the general contested general election. So, um,
for those keeping score, I had seven contested elections in seven years,
and we won them all. So, um, I've, um, I spent,
um, I went to college in Massachusetts, uh, in Amherst, Massachusetts at UMass,
was a political science major.
Went to graduate school at Johns Hopkins and got a master's degree in real
estate. Spent 10 years in the Marine Corps Reserve. I was, uh,
in artillery in the Marine Corps. Uh, I've got five children, uh, four girls,
one of whom has a fifth birthday today. And, uh, and one boy, of course,
the boy's my favorite. Right, right. Matt, it's . Um, but anyway, I, uh,
uh, grew up in this area in central Pennsylvania.
I've lived here all my life and, uh, love representing it.
That's.
My elevator speech.
So you are, uh, you're, like I said, you're a newly minted senator, and,
uh,
I wanted to get your opinion on the way things are kind of
breaking down here as a new session has started, uh,
with a new governor. Of course, we have a,
a Democratic governor with Governor Josh Shapiro. Um,
the Pennsylvania House for the first time in many years is, uh,
being controlled by the Democrats,
and then we still have a Republican majority in the Senate.
You know, how do you foresee those three factions working
together, um, kind of to get things accomplished? And, you know, I,
I know the house is, uh,
is really behind in getting organized and getting off the ground,
uh,
especially as we're coming to what would traditionally be the beginning
of budget season. So, uh, you know,
how do you see those three factions being able to,
to work together here in Pennsylvania?
Yeah, as soon as you and I leave, the whole place goes to, you know, ,
uh, it, it, it'll be interesting, um, you know, you know,
the dynamic from having served there too. Um, 203 is a lot of people.
Um, you know, we, we talk about herding cats, um, you know,
to get 102 people on the same page for anything is difficult. Um,
which is why, you know, having a, having a healthy majority,
like we had when you and I served, um, you know, still, um,
despite that,
we still didn't get everything done we wanted to get done in the house. So, um,
I mean, it looks as if, I don't know, I mean,
it's gonna be 102 to 101 or 102 to a hundred next
week. Um, uh, and then, you know, in my seven years in the house,
there was always someone vacancy, and there was always someone, uh,
whether they were, um, you know,
under indictment or running for another office or had health issues or,
um, you know, had, had other conflicts weren't there.
And so if you're not there now, all of a sudden the numbers change again. And,
um, I s I thought after the election, you know,
realizing that the Democrats had picked up the majority in the house, um,
that the Senate would end up being a, a, a backstop, and that we in the,
the Republicans and the Senate would stop bad things from happening. Um, now,
um, based on the sort of dysfunction of the house, um,
and the, and the really, the difficulty that either party's gonna have, um,
in coming up with a solid majority, uh, to get things done,
that I think the Senate Republicans are gonna be the caucus that actually gets
stuff done. And we are gonna be the leadership, the leaders in, uh,
in an agenda and send it to the house. And, um,
the house is gonna have to accept it if they can't come up with an alternative
where they get 102 votes. So, and, and as you know, um,
so your listeners might not, you know,
most of the stuff that gets done in the legislature happens around budget time.
So, um, you know, the governor's got, uh,
an ambitious agenda, uh, has, has done some good things already, I think.
And we're gonna, uh, we hope that, you know, his campaign, uh,
rhetoric matches the reality of his policies. Uh,
and then let's find what we can agree to, um, which is the, you know,
that's how the real world exists, right? You compromise and you, um,
you, you, I, I want this, you want that. That's how you negotiate.
That's what I did in real estate for 30 years. And, uh,
I think that's what's gonna end up happening.
But the negotiations are likely gonna be between the governor and the Senate
Republicans, um, with the house, just having to accept whatever we come up with.
Well, and, and I think regardless of what party you're a member of or,
or what you think of, um, you know,
of his campaign promises, Josh Shapiro is, uh,
is a phenomenal politician. And, uh,
and that's one thing that I saw over my time, uh,
in the house as he was Attorney General, was the fact that, uh,
he's very good at, at playing the game. So hopefully, um,
you know, he will continue to,
to do some of those things and to work with members of the Senate
to, uh, to get some ideas off the ground as we do move through,
uh, this budget season and, and start to hit some of those priorities,
you know,
as someone who came from the Pennsylvania House and is now
in the, the Senate. And, uh, you know, not even looking at the,
the dysfunction that's happening in the Pennsylvania House right now,
but what do you see as some of the biggest differences, um,
you know, now that you're serving in, uh,
in the upper chamber of,
of the Pennsylvania legislature compared to when you were in,
uh, in the Pennsylvania House?
Yeah. So, uh, obviously it's a, a smaller body.
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.
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online.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of home, that sense of belonging,
those fall Friday nights under the lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future. During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the Foldy equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's still more to do. So, I Bill Gerkey,
I'm running for a second term. We're Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Bill Gerkey.
When it comes to buying a home,
what you see isn't exactly what you get.
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7 2 4 2 0 8 4 1 0 8.
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.
So, so there are 50 members in the Senate compared to 203 in the house.
So because of that, you have an opportunity to get to know your colleagues, uh,
in, in a more intimate way. Um, we're also, um, you know, we have a,
uh, smaller, you know, we're on more committees. I'm on, uh,
I think five or six committees. I chair one and vice chairman another.
So your interaction with your colleagues is a lot, um, more.
And I believe that, you know, the,
the familiarity actually breeds cooperation and respect.
And so if you see a person, you get to know someone, it's, it's harder to,
um, um, it's harder to, to to be unkind to them that's,
that's, uh, in the house, there's so many people,
and you get insulated in your own party or your own region, or your own caucus.
Um,
and it makes it easier for people to take jabs at each other because they don't
know each other. And so, um, and the con, you know, the, the,
the inverse of that is that we can work together cuz we know each other.
So I see more, um, more civility, um, more,
um, of a, you know, uh,
of relationships between senators and, uh, and a mutual respect, uh,
which I already ha I mean, I,
I had for some members that I had served with when we were in the house
together, but, you know, guys like Marty Flynn, who's the chairman of the,
the Democratic Chairman of the Transportation Committee we serve together in the
House, or Jimmy Dillon from Northeast Philadelphia. I'm just getting to know.
Um, you know, so that, that makes life a little, little different.
And I think in, in many ways better the Senate.
So you mentioned committees and, uh, you know, in, in the house,
it took about 10 years for an individual to, uh,
get a chairmanship of a committee. Um,
so I wanted to give you an opportunity to, you know,
rattle off some of the committees that you're on, but also to talk about, um,
the committee that you're now chair of and, uh,
some of the legislative priorities that you have on that committee.
Yeah, so you're right, I,
I probably would've never become a chairman of the house, certainly, um, not,
not this term. Um, but I've, uh, am a, um,
chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee, uh,
which my district has is a very rural district outside of the suburban core of,
uh, uh, Hampton and East sbo and Camp Hill, the, the, um, you know,
sort of the southeast, uh, southwest of Cumberland County. But the rest of it,
I have all of Perry County and Upper Dolphin County and all of Western
Cumberland County.
It's have a lot of hunters and some of the best fishing in the, uh,
entire state, maybe in the nation. I mean, la tort, yellow breaches,
and even the Sulan River has great fishing. So, um, it's, um,
it's a very important committee.
We regulate the Game Commission and the Fish and Boat Commission. Um,
we're responsible for oversight of the,
I think it's 1.6 million acres of, um, state game lands.
Uh, and, um, we help, uh, give guidance to the commissions.
Both the fish and boat and the Game Commission are independent commissions,
but we do have oversight over them. So, um, for instance,
I think while you were in the legislature, we were together,
we voted on Sunday hunting, which was a very controversial issue,
but also is a very popular issue. Uh, so the, you know,
million plus hunters and million plus fishers and, uh, fisher people who fish,
I guess, um, you know, care about what our committee does. And so,
um, you know,
whether we open on a Saturday or a Monday is a sort of a controversial issue
right now. Um, and I, I'm just trying to get to know,
um, the, um, the fishing and game, uh,
or the game and fisheries, um, industry. And I mean, I, I'm,
I'm a mediocre fisher and a mediocre hunter, but I do, uh,
greatly appreciate the outdoors. I spend a lot of time outdoors and, um,
you know, wanna promote that as an industry, uh,
not just for the revenue it generates for our economy,
but also as a way to attract people to Pennsylvania. Not just for tourism,
though, that's important,
but to try to shift the demographics and get more young people to come to
Pennsylvania after they, um, graduate from high school or college,
and come here because they love the outdoors and all the opportunities we have
on our, our streams and our, our rivers and our lakes, and, um,
and in our, in our state game lens.
Well, Senator Rothman, we have to take a quick break.
We'll be right back here with more commonalities.
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.
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If so,
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online.
Hello, Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of home. That's sense of belonging.
Those fall Friday nights under the lights, those winter nights in the gym,
watching our red Raiders, those refreshing spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
rooting on our Red Raider softball and baseball teams.
I am grateful for those memories and hope our community's children and
grandchildren can enjoy those memories too. But to do that,
we have to plan for the future. During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
worked on eliminating blighted properties and are rebuilding the city's
neighborhoods. We've updated the faulty equipment in the parking garages,
and we're bringing a more competitive, reliable, faster,
and less expensive internet service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's still more to do. So I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're Uniontown proud,
we're Uniontown strong,
and together we can continue to rebuild Uniontown for the next generation.
Paid.
For by Mayor Bill Gerkey.
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.
Thank you for staying with us on commonalities. I'm your host, Matt Dowling.
My guest today is Senator Greg Rothman, who represents, uh,
district towards the center of the state. He is a newly minted,
uh, state senator, was a colleague of mine in the Pennsylvania House.
And, uh, we've been talking a little bit about, uh, the makeup of the house,
the Senate, and of course, uh,
having a new governor here and how things are going to work together,
as well as the, uh, committees that Greg is on. And, uh,
and the committee that he chairs. You know, in the spirit of President's Day,
which just happened, uh, yesterday, Greg, uh,
I thought I would give you a chance to, uh,
to recognize your favorite US President and maybe tell
us a little bit about, uh, why that individual is, uh,
is at the top of your list of US presidents.
Yeah, so, you know, the, the,
my favorite president of my lifetime is Ronald Reagan. Um,
Ronald Reagan inspired me to, to get involved in public service. Um, he,
um, came, came, became president in a,
a very critical time in our country's history when, you know,
we had the malaise and the, um, you know, God bless him, but Jimmy Carter,
who's, uh, it sounds like he's on his deathbed,
but Jimmy Carter had what he had done to our economy from inflation and, uh,
interest rates going through the roof and, uh, the oil, uh, embargo and the,
the, you know, the, the issues we were having with, uh,
Russia and then the Soviet Union and communism
marching in Central America and Eastern Europe into Poland.
Ronald Reagan came along, and I would like to think that, you know,
maybe times were even tougher then than they are now. Uh, and he saved,
um, not just America, but saved the whole world. Um,
he's the reason that communism, um, and the, and the, uh,
the Soviet Union imploded, and he's the reason we had the great, uh, eighties,
uh, economy that lasted through, you know, uh, the,
the huge economic expansion. So he is my favorite president, uh, of my lifetime.
And I actually had a chance to meet him and wrote a little book about him. Uh,
I think Abraham Lincoln is probably, uh, historically my favorite president.
I have a farm in Gettysburg, and I think what Abraham Lincoln did in the,
with the 14th Amendment and Emancipation Proclamation, and, you know,
saving the nation from, um, the, the what,
the hideous practice of slavery,
but then also keeping the nation together by willing to, by willing to, to, uh,
fight the Civil War. Um, I also loved Calvin Coolidge. Calvin Coolidge, uh,
was from Vermont, but went to school in Amherst, Massachusetts, uh, went to,
was the mayor of North Northampton, was a state representative, a state senator,
or a, uh, a lieutenant governor, a governor of Massachusetts,
went on to become the vice President and then president and Calvin Coolidge.
Uh, leads, I think, you know, shared what you and I believe that, uh,
the government functions best, which does least .
And let let the people do things and, and empower the people.
It's the government of the people by the people,
for the people that consent to the governed. So, you know,
for a long time they said, well, Calvin cool. Didn't do anything.
What did Calvin cool do other than be President during the ro roaring twenties?
Um,
and then later historians look back and there've been some great books written
about him. And so, wait a minute, he did exactly what he said he would do,
which is stay out of the,
stay out of the lives of Americans and stay out of our businesses and our
industries, and let them thrive by having government leave them alone.
So those are my three favorite presidents.
Well, that, that, that's great feedback to get. And, uh,
and those are three presidents that I think as Republicans that we can draw a
lot of connections to. Um, you know, I wanted to talk about, uh,
what you feel will be the biggest legislative priorities,
not just for the Senate or for the House or for the
Governor, but what do you see as actually getting accomplished in this next
two year period here in Pennsylvania?
Yeah, you know,
one of the first pieces of legislation I introduced when I got to the house was
to cut the corporate net income tax. Uh,
I had worked for Jack Kemp and the Kemp Roth tax cuts of the eighties, uh,
which, uh,
Ronald Reagan championed were critical to attorney the economy around as a
country.
And I thought cutting the corporate net income tax rates would do the same for
Pennsylvania. Uh, it took seven years, but the governor actually signed, um,
it into law, uh, as part of the budget process. Senator Ryan Aht from, uh,
Lancaster had worked on it too many other people, Senator Michelle Brooks. Um,
but now that we've passed that, I'd like to see it accelerated. Um, it,
it, the, the way the bill passed, it does cut it a little bit,
but it doesn't cut it enough, um, to attract businesses to Pennsylvania.
So I'd like to see that, you know, regu regulatory reform is such a,
a big issue, not just for the Republicans, but all the,
all the private sector were all affected by these regulations.
And during the Covid Pandemic, um,
the Governor Wolfs administration suspended a lot of regulations,
and we should be looking at those regulations and saying,
do we really need these since, uh, we survived, uh, having them suspended?
And then I think energy's such a big issue for, um, our,
our nation and with what's going on in Ukraine. Um, you know,
Pennsylvania should be a, an exporter of energy. We should certainly, uh,
use the energy to our advantage to help bring manufacturing back to the
commonwealth and back to the country for that matter, uh,
and that we should be a leader, um, in, in energy, in all forms of energy. But,
but certainly natural gas and oil that we're blessed to have in coal. Um,
you know, I, it sort of, I find it ironic that, you know,
and I'm all for electric vehicles, but let's be real,
electric vehicles are powered by coal fired or gas fired, or, um,
you know, in, in many cases in Pennsylvania, nukes, um,
very little energy is generated by windmills or, um,
or solar panels or hydro electricity. Um,
so, you know,
we need to be promoting natural gas because it is s safe and efficient and
clean, uh, and abundant.
You know, and I, and I live here right in the midst of, uh,
Marcella Shell, uh, land where, you know, we have just a,
a plethora of gas and oil opportunities.
And I believe if we were to have additional pipelines or
ways to, to transport that gas and oil,
we could be an even larger player nationally, um,
in the export of gas and oil.
But one of the big things that I know as I've worked with the industry,
um,
that I've found is kind of the instability that Pennsylvania has
with gas and oil. We've been talking about, uh,
an excise tax or, or a gas tax, uh,
for a long period of time. Um,
I always unfortunately leave some blame with, uh,
with Governor Corbett in the fact that, you know,
we had fees that we weren't calling taxes.
So sometimes people say that we're not being taxed,
but our fees that we pay are more than even some of the other states.
But there is that instability in the market where, uh,
I think some gas and oil, uh, providers are saying, you know,
we just want stability. We wanna know that, uh,
the laws aren't going to change when we are, you know,
20 million into an investment or a big play here in
Pennsylvania. Do you think we have the power to, uh,
to stabilize and,
and solidify some of the regulation in gas and oil
so that that stability is there and, uh,
and the manufacturers won't be afraid that they're going to be hit with
some other tax after an investment has been made?
Yeah, no, you're, you're, you're spot on. I mean, they, they need stability,
and these are huge investments that they're making. Um, so I,
I mean, I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic that, you know,
governor Shapiro came out against, uh, Pennsylvania joining the, uh,
regional Greenhouse gas initiative. Reggie, uh, he has been, um,
you know, has been supportive of the industry, uh, as a candidate. Um,
but, um, I think that, you know, we need to make sure that, um,
people who invest in Pennsylvania and make large investments in Pennsylvania
have their investments protected. And stability's a a huge part of that issue.
Um, you know, I, I've been talking about, um, across the street from now,
Senator John Federer Man's house in Braddock,
Pennsylvania is the steel plant. And US Steel were,
you know, they, they were gonna invest a billion dollars in that plant,
but because of permit delays by Allegheny County and, um,
local governments too,
they instead just decide to deploy that $1 billion in investments to
Arkansas. So that, that hurts our economy. Um,
so it's not just stability, but it's, um, responsiveness of the,
of the state government and the permit issuers. Uh,
I had a meeting yesterday with the, the new, uh,
proposed secretary of D E p Richard Ning. And, uh, you know, his,
he, he recognizes that d e P is, um, you know,
hindering our, uh,
ability to attract businesses to Pennsylvania and get economic investment. So,
uh, I think he's gonna be, again,
I'm optimistic that he's gonna understand how important, um,
that is to our economy. And, and you're absolutely right, stability is, uh,
a main issue that investors want, um,
when they make investments into our commonwealth.
So, uh, you know, we are at the beginning of a session at,
at the beginning of a session,
we see a lot of co-sponsorship memos that go out, um,
from individuals that, uh,
that maybe are reintroducing something that they didn't get accomplished in
the previous session, uh,
or some new ideas that they have had since they were recently out
on the campaign trail talking to constituents.
So they come back and they're trying to fix some of those issues.
For you personally, is there, uh,
a legislative agenda or a, an item that you have that,
uh, that you're looking to fix? Uh,
I know we already talked about the corporate net income tax, um,
but do you have any co-sponsorship memo that you've put out recently,
uh,
with any new legislation that you are championing or promoting?
Yeah, so, um, I, I just got done reading this morning about this, uh,
Philadelphia police officer,
temple University police officer who was shot point blank and killed. Um, the,
the gun violence we have in, uh, this country,
I believe can only be stopped by deterrents and by enforcing the laws we
have, it's not gonna be by punishing, um, the, the,
the law abiding gun owners. And you and I share, um,
respect for not just the Second Amendment, but the 21st, um,
the section 24 of our Constitution, uh, which says that, um,
the right to, uh,
own firearms is to protect your life and your property and your family. And so,
section 21, so, um,
I introduced legislation that has death penalties for those who
commit murders in safe spaces. So if you go into a school, uh,
university that, that, that the, um, guy at Michigan State last week,
um, or you kill someone in a church or a temple or at a,
a sporting event or somewhere where, um, you know, you, you,
you believe that it should be a safe spa, safe space.
That right now the death penalty is not a consideration or not allowed in those
cases. But under my, uh,
law that I just introduced the co-sponsorship memo to, uh,
prior to the Michigan State shooting, um,
and I introduced it in the house, and it went nowhere after the,
the Tree of Life shooting. And so, um, in every one of these cases,
Matt, you know, it, I mean the, the Temple University,
that poor officer was killed, um, African American police officer,
father of four, killed by an 18 year old Bucks County, um, white,
um, sort of upper middle class kid, not kid. He's a man,
he's 18 years old, had a gun charge against him that wasn't enforced.
The Michigan State Killer had a gun charge against him that was pleaded down,
and he didn't have to, he should have been a felony, and he didn't have to,
he should have never had a gun.
And so we need to start enforcing the gun laws we have,
and we need to have death penalty on the table as a deterrent. Um, you know,
when you have punishments for crimes, it says a deterrent as punishment,
which I, I believe, you know, um, old Testament, and you take a life,
you should give your life, um, you can have your life taken, and then,
of course, to protect society. So,
and with the cost of keeping someone in prison, you know,
you commit a heinous crime, you know, you kill or rape a child, um,
rape and kill a child.
I don't want to have to spend 60 or $7,000 a year to make sure that you're fed
in clothed and have internet and cable television, and, you know, in prison, I,
I, I wanna see that you give up your life for that. So, um,
as a deterrent and as punishment and to protect society,
and certainly the fiscal cost of keeping someone in prison for life,
not to mention all the appeals. And so the fact that the governor came out, um,
in the midst of all this gun violence, uh,
and said that he's not gonna enforce the death penalties and not gonna sign any
death penalty orders, was really disappointing. And I think, um, a mistake,
and I think he should have as a prosecutor,
the Attorney General's office should have known better.
The last death penalty, if I'm correct, in Pennsylvania,
was in 1999, uh,
the last execution that was carried out, rather. So it has been, uh,
quite some time and, and, uh, unfortunately, because I, I know the, uh,
the governor's stance on the death penalty, I think you will, uh,
have a little bit of an uphill battle, uh,
getting that le legislation passed through. Um, you know,
we're coming to the close of our time together today.
I wanted you to give you an opportunity to, uh,
to share any final thoughts you may have for our listeners,
uh, before we have to go.
Yeah, I just look, I wanna talk about you, Matt, you, you were a,
a great member of the General Assembly, a great friend. Um, you know, I,
I want to see you.
I hope you stay involved and you are staying involved in public policy. And, um,
I, I just think that, uh, you know, your, your listenership needs to know, um,
you know, what, what I think of you ,
what many of your colleagues thought of you, that you were a,
a man of ideas and policy and, um, you know,
really served your constituents well.
And I loved the conversations we had together, and, um,
I stole a lot of your great ideas. So thank you. And,
and what you did for the Second Amendment Caucus, um, to really, um, you know,
help protect the Second Amendment, um, was, was all, you know,
really praiseworthy. So I,
I'm grateful to have you as a former colleague and friend,
and look forward to with you in the future too.
Well.
And you got a great family.
Thank you so much for, uh, for taking the time to be on the show today, Greg.
Uh, it was great talking with you and, uh,
and I'm sure there's a lot of good that you'll be able to do here in the
Pennsylvania Senate. Best of luck to you.
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 coordinated three sixty.com.
Thank you for listening to commonalities.
Hello Uniontown Mayor, bill Gerkey here.
There's nothing quite like the feeling of home, that sense of belonging,
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watching our red Raiders, those refreshing spring afternoons at Bailey Park,
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I am grateful for those memories and hope our community's children and
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we have to plan for the future. During my first term in office,
the city has got Bailey Park back to a place where we can be proud of.
Begun our city's first comprehensive plan in over 20 years.
Started work on the city's section of the Sheep Skin Trail,
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and less expensive internet service to our city residents.
We have done a lot, but there's still more to do. So, I Bill Gerkey.
I'm running for a second term. We're Uniontown proud, we're Uniontown strong,
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Thank you for staying with us on commonalities. I'm your host, Matt Dowling.
My guest today was Senator Greg Rothman. I wanna thank Greg,
um,
who was a colleague of mine in the Pennsylvania House for being with us today.
But, uh, before we go,
I wanna call your attention to a couple of places that, uh,
there are some additional resources if you've been enjoying our program,
commonalities, uh, that you can visit.
One place is my personal website,
www dot Matthew d as in David, last name Dowling,
d o w l i n g.com.
That's matthew d dowling.com.
You can visit that site for information on our show
commonalities.
You can find archived clips of all of our episode
episodes, as well as transcripts from our episodes.
And if you click on the news section,
you'll find some of my most current writings that have been pub, uh,
published in local newspapers, et cetera.
There's also an about section, uh,
where you can find out more information about myself as well as,
uh, the Laurel Highlands, which I call home.
So visit matthew d dowling.com. Also,
I would encourage you to stop by Facebook and find my
official public site, Matthew Dowling public. And, uh,
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as well as some of the content that you hear about on commonalities.
This brings us to the end of today's broadcast.
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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.