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A case study on running for local office · Cultural Wars | America Out Loud News

• 0:12
  I'm Stephanie Coxson.
• 0:13
  And I'm Kathy Anderson Martin.
• 0:15
  And we are two women influencing real life.
• 0:18
  So let's twirl.
• 0:22
  So Stephanie, we have talked on this show a number of times that politics, government, it's really about your local races, your local representatives, your township commissioners, all of those kind of things, even more so.
• 0:37
  They have an impact on your daily life, even more so than the president of the United States.
• 0:43
  And that's why it's so important to pay attention to who's running locally and to vote in those local races.
• 0:50
  100%.
• 0:51
  Most of your protections are going to come at the state level, like your local level.
• 0:55
  And that's also where you have the most most control.
• 0:58
  And you know, our constitution was set up that way to protect us.
• 1:03
  And so we love to highlight the local issues because it's never what is happening just here.
• 1:08
  It is happening everywhere if it is happening here.
• 1:11
  That's right.
• 1:12
  And we've had people on from all across the country, Arizona, Minnesota, here in our home state of Pennsylvania and running for local office, and we invite them to come on to tell their story.
• 1:22
  And also, so whether you're here where we live or any part of the country, you can be aware of what's happening and go out and find those local uh candidates who vote and you expect will vote like you want to vote.
• 1:34
  So that's what we're doing today.
• 1:36
  Yeah, super excited.
• 1:38
  So I'm Stephanie Coxson.
• 1:40
  And I'm Kathy Anderson Martin.
• 1:42
  And we are two women inspiring real life.
• 1:45
  So let's twirl.
• 1:48
  So today we have um Jeffrey Clark, and Jeff is running for local office here in Pennsylvania.
• 1:56
  And Jeff, welcome to the show.
• 1:57
  And if you could just start by sharing a little bit about yourself and your background.
• 2:02
  All right, my name is Jeff Clark.
• 2:04
  I grew up in central Pennsylvania.
• 2:07
  I'm running for Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
• 2:12
  My background is I graduated college and worked in law enforcement for 22 years.
• 2:20
  I was also decorated in the military during Desert Shield in Storm.
• 2:27
  Nice.
• 2:28
  Thank you for your service.
• 2:30
  Yes.
• 2:31
  And what possessed you to um go from law enforcement, the military to wanting a position in the Pennsylvania state legislature.
• 2:43
  Last year I ran for a local race called Magisterial District Judge.
• 2:49
  And during that time, I had door knocked over 10,000 doors and also made over 3,500 phone calls during that time frame.
• 2:58
  I got to meet a lot of people on the campaign trail.
• 3:01
  And I got when I was speaking with them, they had told me a lot of concerns that have been going on in Pennsylvania that weren't really related to the district judge position.
• 3:13
  However, I just took note of this.
• 3:16
  And when this year came about at the um about the end of January, Cheryl DeLozier, who is the current House of Representatives who holds the 88th seat.
• 3:30
  She's retiring at the end of this year.
• 3:32
  So I figured this would be an opportunity for me to move forward and expand on what I had learned last year from talking to the citizens and trying to bring that towards the state and help them out.
• 3:46
  So when you were knocking on 10,000 doors, which is a lot, and that's that's really what it's about when you're running for local office going door to door.
• 3:53
  I know my brother was successful in his candidacy for a state representative two years ago, and that's exactly what he did.
• 3:59
  What kind of things were people telling you, Jeff?
• 4:02
  Um, you know, what did you hear as you went door to door and made all those phone calls?
• 4:05
  What was what were the main issues that people brought up?
• 4:09
  Main issues were of course taxes, the rising cost.
• 4:14
  Um there are some families that said that once they retire, they're leaving Pennsylvania because of certain taxes we have here, the inheritance tax.
• 4:24
  Um they were just tired of paying uh more at the gas pumps where other states don't have um a high gas tax, so to speak.
• 4:34
  Um the environment and stuff where we're living in, it just seems like the school choice program was another thing that was brought up.
• 4:46
  Things that as a district judge, I couldn't handle on and of itself.
• 4:51
  But as a legislator, I can try to answer their questions and help them out and vote for you know school choice programs, um, health care programs with the rising cost of health care, things like this.
• 5:08
  Yeah, we see uh, you know, I hear all the time.
• 5:10
  I mean, people are just really, really struggling.
• 5:14
  And you think you have your house paid off, and uh you go to retire and your taxes have increased so significantly, it's like paying another mortgage.
• 5:24
  You know, I was shocked when I got uh I got a house and my tax payments, you know, were the such a huge part of my my mortgage bill, you know, going into the escrow accountant stuff.
• 5:36
  And you know, I I I hear that a lot.
• 5:38
  Just Pennsylvania is very, very expensive.
• 5:41
  So, you know, I I am hoping, is there some legislation that you're currently following that you're hoping that you can you know be a part of and and help bring to the house floor for voting on a lot of things that they've done so far seem to be right up the alley, but one of the major proponents that I want to do is try to look into the um school choice programs to have give um power back to the parents instead of the school board.
• 6:13
  Um also a few years ago we ran into the situation back in 21 where people weren't really having choices for vaccines and not being able to take it or taking it.
• 6:28
  That was another thing where we got we want medical freedom.
• 6:32
  Um near and dear to Stephanie's heart, so she's she's happy about it.
• 6:39
  My my heart just fluttered right there.
• 6:41
  Yeah, that's like that's my number one issue in life is you know, well, I mean, from my perspective, if they can tell you to put something in your body, they could tell you to do anything, right?
• 6:51
  Like they you have no control at that point.
• 6:53
  You have no freedom at that point.
• 6:55
  So that's why I stick so hard to that that issue.
• 6:57
  So I personally love, even though you're not my district, I personally love hearing that come out of your mouth because I think that is huge.
• 7:05
  And another thing that we have going on too is we have a um a large population of veterans, and then you see a lot of them that are homeless.
• 7:17
  The the programs that have been out there, they some of them work, but some of them don't, and we need to figure out a way to help the programs that aren't working.
• 7:27
  What can we do to change that and fund different spots, like say drug and alcohol rehab programs for the veterans and some type of affordable housing for them as well, so we can get them off the streets.
• 7:43
  Um I I agree with you.
• 7:46
  I think it's um I I think it's a travesty.
• 7:51
  And you said you served, Jeff.
• 7:52
  Were you in the um army or where did you serve?
• 7:55
  I was in the Air Force.
• 7:56
  Air Force.
• 7:57
  I think it's a travesty that our vet our active duty military that you see actually active duty military who are using food stamps just to try to survive, and um then are not taken care of, and there's preference given to illegal immigrants over uh people who've served our country.
• 8:16
  And I agree with you 100%.
• 8:17
  That should be our first priority as far as I'm concerned with with helping the people we help should be our veterans.
• 8:24
  Right.
• 8:24
  And on my platform where I said controlling spending, that's some of it too.
• 8:30
  And you know, you look at the education program, some of them have been good, but we're also throwing good and bad money out there, and we got to figure out why is it not working, and then the test scores.
• 8:42
  We need to increase the test scores for the students and whether it's trying to give them better environment to study, working with home programs, homeschooling programs, or cyber schooling as well.
• 8:56
  You hear people complain like um the people that are against, and you've mentioned school choice a couple of times.
• 9:03
  The people that are against school choice claim that you're taking their tax dollars away.
• 9:08
  I personally feel or we're taking it from the public schools, which I feel that's okay because they're not doing their job, quite honestly.
• 9:16
  But I also feel that your tax dollars should follow the child uh with the school choice.
• 9:22
  Is that something that you're proposing as well?
• 9:24
  Exactly.
• 9:25
  And that's what I want to do, make sure that each child, like back in the day, they used to say no child left behind.
• 9:32
  Well, where are these children?
• 9:33
  They're growing up and they're not getting the proper education, or if we can take them out of one environment and put them in another by parents' choices and give that power back to the parents.
• 9:44
  So if they notice their student or their child is not doing well and they're excelling with a home schooling program or excelling at a Christian school or a Catholic school or even a cyber school, why not let them do that?
• 9:59
  I I
• 10:00
  Agree.
• 10:00
  Again, I I think I I think the people that are against school choice are the people that are the loudest and saying they're trying to help people, but they're not because you have waiting lists.
• 10:12
  And so I visited a school in our state capital, a private school.
• 10:16
  Um they have 400 kids.
• 10:18
  It's not a private, it's a charter school, a public charter school.
• 10:21
  Um, but they have 800 on the waiting list.
• 10:24
  And to me, that's travesty.
• 10:26
  Parents know that they have these, they these opportunities are available and to make those um, you know, should that should happen.
• 10:33
  And when you were campaigning or as you're campaigning now, do you hear that?
• 10:37
  Because we see so many people leaving the public schools for these other options.
• 10:41
  I do, especially last year when I was running um where district judge, I got to talk to some of the other candidates that were running for other positions, especially school board.
• 10:51
  And I kept hearing that over and over again, where the parents weren't really making the choices that they are they weren't being offered the choices that they could have had, and educing them and telling them about school choice, not me personally, but the candidates that were running, they really um enjoyed hearing about that.
• 11:14
  Some parents know about it, but other parents don't, and they just keep their child in there thinking that you know, between the school and the parent, they can work out the certain issues that the child might have.
• 11:23
  But sometimes, like I said, it's just the environment.
• 11:26
  Maybe a child doesn't um learn better, like at nine o'clock in the morning where if the child would sleep in until 10 o'clock, and then they can start on cyber school training, and they can excel in giving every opportunity to a child, especially at the ages where it's critical.
• 11:44
  I think it's highly important.
• 11:47
  You know, one of the things I love about the smaller private, I'm not a big fan of online schooling.
• 11:53
  I I did some research in it, and the kids don't retain a lot of information.
• 11:57
  I'd love to get all the Chromebooks and phones and all that stuff off these children because it's so detrimental to their brain development and the way they learn and their retention.
• 12:04
  But one of the things I have found, I was um is one of my kids really wants to do pre-calc.
• 12:10
  And um, you know, they said, Well, why don't you take a geometry course if it aligns with what we can give you credit for?
• 12:17
  We'll give you credit for that.
• 12:18
  Then you can go into into pre-calc for your 10th grade year because he does so well.
• 12:23
  At a public school, you really can't do that.
• 12:27
  And there is so much flexibility to teach to the child whenever you do get into these smaller schools who are more able to focus on the individual needs of these kids.
• 12:37
  And that's why what that's one of the reasons I feel like school choice is so necessary because otherwise kids will get left behind, and you get stuck with kids who, quite frankly, don't want to be in school.
• 12:47
  The parents don't really care if they're in school.
• 12:49
  I see these all the time, they're super disruptive children.
• 12:52
  Um, yes, they've got a right to education.
• 12:54
  Don't know if I actually believe in that or not, but it's disrupting the education of my child for them to even be there.
• 13:00
  And so having the opportunity for them to be in a place where they can actually learn and thrive and be taught to their skillability, I think is wildly important.
• 13:11
  Absolutely.
• 13:12
  And I I heard that a few times too on the campaign trail when I was running for district judge, and also the money that's being spent per student.
• 13:21
  I believe an individual had a lot of stats out there.
• 13:24
  I think he read it to me.
• 13:26
  I think it was like we're paying almost double per student in regular schooling.
• 13:31
  And what you had just said about a child going into a certain program where a lot of times they're tested or their um the teacher believes that the child doesn't belong in that class, and so they miss that year where at least a cyber schooling or private schooling would accept them, and the child can excel and flourish versus um public school, and I think a lot of the testing is probably I mean, from what I heard and seen, probably a little bit skewed, where sometimes the testing isn't accurate.
• 14:09
  So if a child is testing, they might be below the standards, but they can excel because of their education acuity.
• 14:19
  I you know, I think Stephanie, you said something about cyber school.
• 14:23
  I mean, it's not my preference either.
• 14:25
  I think people are I say it all the time, creating for community and to be together, but I do think it provides a great opportunity, and especially in some urban areas where the schools quite honestly are chaos, um, are not safe.
• 14:39
  I was this weekend with uh uh person who's retired law enforcement police officer in an urban area, and for 10 years, her job was a school resource officer, and she said, you know, meaning she was the police officer at the high school, and this was years ago.
• 14:53
  And she said, I quite honestly would not do that job today because of the chaos in some of these public urban schools of just kids.
• 15:02
  So in those cases, I think the cyber school, just from a safety standpoint, is a better option since some of these kids.
• 15:09
  I I don't know where you're running, Jeff.
• 15:11
  I mean, it's where I live.
• 15:12
  I don't think that's the case, but there are still issues with our public schools.
• 15:17
  Um Stephanie calls them government schools, um, and you know, with the school boards and so forth.
• 15:24
  And had had you has had you heard that as a concern, like I'm concerned about my public school where my kid goes.
• 15:31
  I have um in a lot of different issues that have come up over the past couple of years, but one of the biggest proponents, like we have talked about, is having that school choice in the luxury of having that available for parents, and I think more parents are finally starting to realize and been hearing during um that situation that we had from 21 through 24.
• 15:56
  A lot of schools went to um online training or line online schooling, I should say.
• 16:02
  And during that time frame, there was a lot of hiccups during those programs, especially with either computer problems trying to log on and stuff like that.
• 16:13
  So a lot of students lost almost a half a year of getting the education where at a cyber school or private school, because I don't believe private schools closed down during that time frame, the students were excelling, and the public schools were falling back, and that was a major issue.
• 16:33
  So going back to what we were just talking about, I think parents definitely need the choice and for safety, definitely for students be removed from that type of environment.
• 16:43
  And I think it goes further than that because, like I was saying earlier, a student might excel maybe later on in the day.
• 16:50
  And I know from different cyber programs, as long as you log on for the day, that's your sign in, that's your attendance for the day, and you can either watch the videos of the class, and then by the end of the week, you're your school works due.
• 17:05
  So it gives it a little bit more opportunity for students to excel and get through the classroom material, and then the teachers, it seems like are always available from eight o'clock in the morning to nine o'clock at night.
• 17:19
  It seems like either phone calls or on the computer versus going to um regular public school where you only have that six or seven hours, and then that time slot, there's a lot of other activities going on.
• 17:33
  They got homeroom and not actual classroom training versus the cyber schools have the X extra classes to take, and same thing with the private schools.
• 17:45
  The education, I believe, is probably a little bit better.
• 17:48
  And that's why we got to excel in what we do and make sure that they fall in suit.
• 17:53
  I mean, I know that they have these testing programs and stuff, but we need to really look at the numbers and try to educate every child.
• 18:03
  Um in terms of taxes, um, Stephanie, I think you started you started with minor rant there about your property taxes.
• 18:12
  I did, I pulled it back in.
• 18:13
  Okay, you controlled your situation.
• 18:15
  I did, I controlled myself.
• 18:16
  Yes, um, and you know, it seems and and that's where you said it's an asset you purchase, you pay for it, and you're still paying taxes.
• 18:24
  You don't leave an other store, you know, you buy an appliance, you pay your sales tax, you're done.
• 18:28
  Right, except your your home, you pay for it indefinitely to the point that seniors, as you mentioned, people on fixed incomes, uh, as the taxes increase.
• 18:37
  I call it OPM because these local governments or government and schools rely on other people's money, so they have no um concern with oh well, just raise it here and there, you know, spend more.
• 18:49
  Our governor right now, I think is putting forth a budget that calls for billions more in spending than we have in revenue anticipated.
• 18:59
  So, what is your plan or what do you think about the issue of taxes and you know, just rampant government spending without checks and balances, Jeff.
• 19:09
  And from what you just said, though, I noticed that the state spending has increased probably about 65% under the last two democratic governors that we've had and the high how much did you say?
• 19:21
  I believe it was 65%.
• 19:24
  That's I know it's high.
• 19:25
  It's high crazy.
• 19:27
  All of Pennsylvania needs to hear that number.
• 19:30
  And the our household income has not increased.
• 19:34
  My biggest thing is also trying to eliminate it.
• 19:37
  This kind of goes in in hand with the property tax.
• 19:40
  I want to see property tax to be eliminated for senior citizens and eventually everybody else, because I've been reading a lot about other states that are proposing this.
• 19:51
  And like you were saying, you buy a house, you're constantly spending on that, even after you die, you have the inheritance tax, and your family's left with that massive burden.
• 20:00
  We can we can eliminate the inheritance tax and we can do something with the property tax, especially for seniors.
• 20:07
  As soon as you retire, it should be eliminated.
• 20:12
  I completely agree.
• 20:13
  And there are states that don't have property taxes.
• 20:17
  This is a very doable thing, and your taxes are based on consumption rather than just being alive and living and trying to put a shelter over your head that is necessary.
• 20:29
  Well, if you look at our budget, I believe it was uh 50 billion dollars that we had spent um on this last budget, and then for this coming year, I was reading something.
• 20:42
  I believe he wants to raise another three billion, where to every person who pays taxes, that's an extra, I believe it was 230 per person an increase in their taxes, and then if he increases another three billion, that's more money coming out of our pockets, and especially for the retirees that are on a fixed income and they don't get a um what they call coal, a cost of living adjustment, that really puts a massive burden on them.
• 21:11
  And that's why after speaking on this part of the campaign trail, and when I was out there getting signatures, there were a lot of people that said once they retire, they are moving out of the state because of that tax.
• 21:26
  Yeah, I I could completely understand that.
• 21:28
  I think um every state has to degree some kind of property tax.
• 21:33
  It's just a matter of how much and um, you know, the range of it, because that's you know, government has many different ways to get money.
• 21:42
  You mentioned Stephanie, a consumption tax, a higher sales tax.
• 21:45
  So, you know, that to me makes sense because you're taxing the people that are making purchases, you know.
• 21:51
  So technically, you should be saying if you're a higher net worth or net income, you're buying more stuff because you can because you have a higher income, so you'd be paying more in sales tax.
• 22:02
  Um, they have income tax.
• 22:04
  The thing is with our state, Pennsylvania, we have income taxes, property taxes, sales tax, you know, we have all of those gas tax is one of the highest.
• 22:12
  We you know, have one of the highest um when you travel from our state to others, you're gonna be able to do that.
• 22:18
  Our government breakers down a dollar a gallon in other places.
• 22:21
  Pennsylvania, our government actually makes more profit off our gas than the oil companies.
• 22:28
  Well, there you go.
• 22:30
  So, you know, there's that.
• 22:33
  Yes.
• 22:34
  Um with with the uh the tax situation.
• 22:39
  Do you have other things that are of concern with that?
• 22:41
  You know, we have property taxes, the other things we talk about, Jeff with the income tax, uh, sales tax and so forth.
• 22:48
  Well, with government, it seems like there's a massive overspending and it runs downhill to the states to the counties, especially from the federal government.
• 22:57
  And when you start getting the states that are going broke and counties that are broke, you know, where do we get where we return to, and they just keep raising taxes, and it's not fair to the individual property owners and business owners.
• 23:12
  And so with that, I had mentioned earlier too about our expanding Pennsylvania energy.
• 23:19
  I mean, we need to make Pennsylvania um a leading, a leader in the energy um process, especially with what we have in our ground up in northern Pennsylvania.
• 23:31
  We have oil, natural gas, and we need to start having Pennsylvania flourish with this and put it back into Pennsylvania.
• 23:41
  Yeah, I think no, no, go ahead.
• 23:45
  I think that's a concern.
• 23:47
  Um absolutely, I mean, that's the that goes from the federal level.
• 23:51
  I mean, the president of the United States has said we should be producing our own energy.
• 23:54
  We're you know, relying on these other countries that hate us when we have our own resources under our ground, and that's certainly in Pennsylvania.
• 24:03
  And are you talking like natural gas and some of those things?
• 24:07
  Let's let's answer that when we come to when we go to break real quickly.
• 24:10
  Let's get to break and come back.
• 24:12
  It's a good topic.
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• 27:46
  Let's dive into that.
• 27:47
  Um dive into that really quickly.
• 27:50
  Um, you know, go ahead, Kathy.
• 27:52
  Let's let's go back to your question there.
• 27:56
  And I I think you might be on uh on mute as you're talking.
• 28:01
  So maybe maybe let's I muted myself.
• 28:04
  Sorry.
• 28:05
  Uh accidentally.
• 28:06
  Um, yeah, can you share a little bit more about the idea for energy?
• 28:11
  Um, you know, removing the barriers or uh, you know, regulations or whatever that you think is hindering that, Jeff.
• 28:20
  One of the biggest things I is with the um federal programs, I believe, from what I read, there's certain guidelines that they have to follow and stuff.
• 28:32
  And I'm not well versed in that aspect of it, but I hear different um or watch different.
• 28:41
  I'm gonna stop for one second.
• 28:42
  I keep hearing a ding in.
• 28:43
  Is that me or you guys?
• 28:44
  I'm sorry.
• 28:45
  There's no dinging on our on our part.
• 28:48
  That's okay.
• 28:49
  Because is it bothering you guys because I'm looking and um I don't have anything around me.
• 28:54
  No, we're gonna Yeah, there's no dinging for us.
• 28:58
  Okay, I apologize for that.
• 29:00
  No problem.
• 29:02
  All right, and then we'll continue.
• 29:04
  So I think the best bet is if we start looking at this, and I would need to talk to some of the major companies and seeing what the best course of action we could do to increase the production of our energy, and also create um new and advanced um processes that they always come up with, it seems like, especially as long as we're doing it cleanly and economically and not destroying too much of the land when we're doing it, which they have been, and it seems like it's working in other states, but Pennsylvania for some reason we're falling back, and we have like I said, natural gas, coal, and um other natural resources that we can be pulling from.
• 29:55
  Yeah, we do we do have a lot in this state, a lot of a lot of.
• 30:00
  Natural resources.
• 30:01
  Have you been following any of the data center stuff by chance?
• 30:05
  I not following it, but just hearing bits and pieces.
• 30:10
  And the amount, the one one of the biggest things was like the amount of water that's going to take to cool these um facilities.
• 30:17
  And I know where I live at the past township supervisors were all on board of trying to get one into my township.
• 30:28
  And then the new the newly elected individuals, I heard that they don't want one, which you know, I don't know how much controversy that's going to end up bringing to my community, but in other communities, I keep hearing they don't want them.
• 30:48
  Yeah, we have some um upcoming shows on this, and it is astounding.
• 30:53
  And we're pro, Stephanie.
• 30:55
  I'm speaking for you because I know this is true for you and myself.
• 30:58
  We are pro-business, we are pro-capitalism, we are pro-development.
• 31:03
  But the data centers are very concerning with as you mentioned, Jeff, the um drain on water resources and uh what it does to the environment, what it does to electricity rates.
• 31:14
  Um, so we have next after this show um some stuff.
• 31:17
  I think that people's eyes will be open.
• 31:20
  I know one thing, uh Stephanie.
• 31:22
  We've been talking about this and looking into it.
• 31:24
  It is very, very concerning.
• 31:26
  Yeah, I I agree.
• 31:28
  There's I think the more information we get out um and understand the the better it'll be to make educated decisions.
• 31:34
  But these these things cannot be in neighborhoods and they can't be a drain on the population.
• 31:38
  There's families out there who can't even, you know, go buy their eggs.
• 31:42
  I mean, we have a serious issue happening uh within the populace of affordable living, and we just can't take any more.
• 31:48
  And it's costing it's costing billions in other states that were on um if they have an actual reverse, a reverse economic impact, these data centers than uh than a positive economic data set uh over a couple years.
• 32:02
  Right.
• 32:03
  So very concerning things, a lot of stuff on energy that needs to need to be understood, needs to happen.
• 32:09
  So I'm glad that you're paying attention to energy and stuff, you know, energy and stuff like that.
• 32:14
  Um super important for all of us because that's part of our major cost of living, unfortunately, because none of us are self-sustaining anymore.
• 32:24
  Jeff, you're running in uh for Republican uh a seat here in Pennsylvania that has been held by a Republican for many years.
• 32:31
  Uh so she's retiring, um, local official.
• 32:35
  So um are you uh within this primary?
• 32:38
  There are others running in the Republican ticket for this um race.
• 32:42
  Is that correct?
• 32:43
  That is correct.
• 32:45
  And how has been your experience with um working within the party and um you know, to get on the ballot?
• 32:53
  Of course, in Pennsylvania, you have to collect signatures, which you mentioned going door to door, you have to get the signatures so that you show that you have enough support to be on the ballot.
• 33:01
  Uh, how how's that process gone for you?
• 33:05
  And Cullman County, I would imagine it's probably the same throughout Pennsylvania.
• 33:11
  It is a process when you first decide to run for office, the party endorses one individual prior to the primary, and the party gives the support to that individual.
• 33:26
  Unfortunately, I was the one that was not selected for that, but I am moving forward because I have a lot of good support around me and individuals that kept pushing me to run, and they were telling me the reasons why I should run because of my will and determination to change things and for the better, especially where we have seen so many negativity in the past years, and I want to help people out and continue on with that process, especially with being in the military for four years and also being a police officer for 22, continue on with public service.
• 34:10
  I I think um again, you had said earlier, Stephanie, thank you for your service because uh police officers are a hard job, as is being in the military.
• 34:19
  But something you said there, Jeff, with the process that I'm gonna just say it, that bugs me endorsing when the party makes an endorsement in the primary, because I think that the people should choose their candidate, not the party.
• 34:36
  I I don't mind.
• 34:37
  I mean, after the election, after the primary, this is your candidate.
• 34:41
  I'm a Republican, I'll support that candidate.
• 34:44
  But I have a problem, and that that bugs me.
• 34:46
  I know some people would disagree with me, but I just think the people should make that decision, not have uh the party insiders do it.
• 34:54
  Um, do you feel that way, Stephanie?
• 34:56
  110%.
• 34:59
  I think it's absolutely ridiculous that they will stand behind one candidate when the people need to be choosing.
• 35:06
  Um, and we have seen the GOP do this numerous times, and then really go after the candidate that they didn't choose, which to me makes no sense.
• 35:15
  Why are we not uh giving the people their choice?
• 35:18
  I I don't in what world do we live in where we have freedoms where we're supposed to have an open election to allow this, and and we don't because we have big organizations deciding who they want personally well.
• 35:33
  Because last year, and I hate to refer to last year because it was passed, I'm moving forward, but last year during um the prime going into the primary, I did not know anything about this process and a local or local township where I live at had endorsed a candidate, and I worked extremely hard and diligently on going out there door knocking, making phone calls, and I end up winning the primary, beating the Republican um endorsed candidate for the primary during the primary.
• 36:10
  She um got right-in votes from the Democrat Party members or voters, and at that point we ended up having another battle for the election, and I ended up losing that election.
• 36:25
  But I won the day of election votes and lost to the mail and ballot votes.
• 36:32
  And when you won the primary, were you supported by the party?
• 36:36
  I mean, you won the voters picked you as the Republican candidate.
• 36:39
  Did even though you were not endorsed, did that did they switch to support you at that point to say, well, the voters, so we're gonna work work for him too.
• 36:47
  Absolutely not.
• 36:48
  Um there were a couple people that were in support of me, but during um a individual had a fundraiser, another candidate for another race that she was in, and I attended it.
• 37:04
  And during that time, the Republican chair publicly announced that there was not enough room on the poll cards for my name to be put on it.
• 37:15
  And then when he was leaving, he congratulated me for winning the primary.
• 37:18
  Then he told me that they were gonna put both my opponent and my name on the poll card initially, but then he said that there wasn't enough room, and that was clearly a mistake because there was enough room on the cards because individuals that were really upset over that had went to town and or went to bat for me, and they actually got stickers, and they tried telling all the um committee people, which are the individuals that stand outside the polls and hand out the cards to put the stickers on the cards, and a number of them did not do what they were asked to do, but the committee chair never told them to do that either.
• 38:04
  But the individuals that were actually doing it got permission from him, and that's how it ended up going down.
• 38:12
  So it was frustrating, but like I said, I moved on from that, and I figure playing with the same individuals here and the same type of politics, and I'm moving forward.
• 38:24
  And I think I have a lot of, like I said, a lot of people supporting what I'm doing right now.
• 38:29
  And what you experience is not an isolated incident.
• 38:32
  We we have seen that, you know, in other races as well.
• 38:36
  That the GOP, if it's not whoever their chosen person is, they make sure to exclude them, they limit funding, they do everything they can to act like they're behind you, but not actually stand behind you.
• 38:48
  Oops, oops, we forgot.
• 38:51
  Can you you know forgive us?
• 38:53
  Yeah, you know, which is which is why it's such a struggle, you know, recognizing these things, and I know I've gotten in trouble with the GOP.
• 39:02
  Um I can't, I can't believe that.
• 39:04
  I know it's I can't believe that.
• 39:06
  I know I've had my share of issues as well.
• 39:08
  But go on.
• 39:09
  But they gave up on me, thank goodness.
• 39:11
  Um like we can't fix her.
• 39:14
  Yeah, I think they decided one night after five or six phone calls that it was better if they just leave me alone.
• 39:20
  Um, but you know, we we see this and we have to fight against this, especially in the primary.
• 39:26
  So, you know, I am all about those open primaries, and more so that once we just like you said, Kathy, once we get to the general, we do need to rally behind that person because that is the people's choice, but only if that's the people's choice.
• 39:40
  Because it honestly, in my opinion, if the people didn't choose that person, then I have nothing to rally behind.
• 39:47
  I'm gonna be very honest.
• 39:48
  I that I'm just I I'm not gonna do it.
• 39:51
  So, unless the GOP gets their act together, I don't listen to a single thing the GOP says because I think they are not just ridiculous, redonkulous.
• 39:59
  That's my word of the
• 40:00
  Day.
• 40:02
  Jeff.
• 40:05
  I I totally agree with you.
• 40:07
  I don't think that they should be putting their money behind the candidate until after the primary, because last year it showed that I was a stronger candidate going out there.
• 40:20
  And throughout the summer, like I said, I continue knocking on between the primary and the general election.
• 40:26
  I door knocked about 10,000 doors, a little over 10,000 doors and made over 3,500 phone calls all on my own.
• 40:34
  And I would start early in the morning, not too early, but around nine o'clock in the morning.
• 40:40
  And I would do sundown.
• 40:42
  And some days it was even right after sundown.
• 40:45
  So Jeff.
• 40:48
  I'm sorry, go ahead.
• 40:49
  I was going to say my brother became a state representative doing the same thing.
• 40:52
  I remember him calling me one Saturday night.
• 40:54
  It was like it was after nine o'clock.
• 40:55
  It was going, and he was still out knocking on doors.
• 40:58
  And I said, Mark, go home.
• 41:00
  Nobody wants you knocking on their door at 9 30 at night.
• 41:03
  Go home.
• 41:04
  But I gotta bet like eight.
• 41:05
  I would be paying for his district.
• 41:09
  I felt lucky knock on my door.
• 41:11
  I said you're gonna get shot or something.
• 41:14
  People think you're robbing their house at 10 o'clock at night.
• 41:17
  Especially where we live.
• 41:18
  Yes.
• 41:19
  Well, that's why normally I would either have my um cell phone on my flashlight facing my face so they could see who it was and not trying to hide behind like the wall or something like that.
• 41:30
  I always step out.
• 41:34
  Pop out on the ring.
• 41:36
  If you were a police officer, you know these things, right?
• 41:38
  Exactly.
• 41:40
  Um is that your plan with this current election?
• 41:43
  Are you still out there knocking on doors and um doing what you did before?
• 41:49
  We are, and um we're constantly also uh looking for funding.
• 41:55
  I mean, we have funding right now coming in, but this race is going to be extremely a tight race, especially uh from the rumor mill and also from what the House Republican committee had told me that the Democrats have already raised over two million dollars for this race.
• 42:13
  Well, let's be real.
• 42:15
  The CCRC is more than happy to put a Democrat into the seat if they don't like the candidate that gets chosen by the people.
• 42:24
  So, you know, there's that.
• 42:27
  You're fighting on all fronts.
• 42:28
  I yes, I mean, you are and I don't think people realize Jeff, and you can comment on this.
• 42:34
  You know, running campaigns is expensive.
• 42:37
  I know people say, oh, it shouldn't be about the money.
• 42:39
  It is you need to raise money because you have to do so much.
• 42:44
  I mean, in terms of literature, just everything is expensive.
• 42:47
  So is that your number one challenge as you campaign?
• 42:51
  Um, it's part of it right now is getting out there and also getting volunteers too during the um petitions.
• 43:01
  I end up running into a couple problems, but we overcame that situation.
• 43:06
  I pulled in more people to go out with us, but initially it was a little bit tough in the beginning because I wasn't going to have um what other candidates have or pizza parties or you know, come over, get a pre-slice of pizza, get a drink, and you can sign the petition.
• 43:22
  I was more grassroots and going out there and talking to the citizens and the voters of the communities because it covers five areas, and I had all five areas, not as much as I would have loved to, but enough to get me on at least the petition signing portion of it to get on the ballot.
• 43:42
  And now that the campaign has officially began, I am now getting out there and talking to every single individual I can.
• 43:51
  Is your goal to hit every uh house, every Republican voter in in your district?
• 43:56
  That's the goal of every single um person that's running.
• 44:00
  Um, realistically, I think I can do it, but it's going to be extremely difficult.
• 44:06
  I want to do it myself, but I love people helping me out.
• 44:11
  It gives me a great opportunity to come back and get with having a little meeting at the end of the day or you know, after action report and hear what people have to say, and especially if um folks like talking to the candidate themselves, I make it a special point to get over to their residents as well and speak to them directly.
• 44:32
  I will vouch for Jeff because I was out taking out trash or pulling weeds or something, and he came up my street with a friend, he had a volunteer with him, um, getting signatures for his petition.
• 44:43
  So I can vouch for you uh doing that on a Sunday afternoon, Jeff.
• 44:47
  So well done.
• 44:48
  Thank you.
• 44:48
  I appreciate that.
• 44:50
  And I'd say, Stephanie, you and I have done this.
• 44:53
  If you if you are listening, you probably are concerned about America and you're probably concerned about your community.
• 45:01
  It's one thing to just listen, it's another thing to volunteer and to help the candidates that you want to the candidate you're supporting.
• 45:09
  I did petitions for um went and got petitions to friends and so forth for our congressman Scott Perry.
• 45:16
  I know you've done that, Stephanie.
• 45:17
  Stephanie, you and I have done that together.
• 45:19
  We've walked yes, and I say that if you find a candidate like Jeff or someone in your community, go help them.
• 45:26
  Uh offer a few hours, give them some money because it's one thing to talk about it and say I oh everything's gone to hell, you know, this has to change.
• 45:34
  Well, you're the change, Mr.
• 45:36
  and Mrs.
• 45:36
  America.
• 45:37
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 45:38
  And it's a good way to get your steps in, trust me.
• 45:41
  Yes, we did very legs now.
• 45:44
  And then we went out for lunch afterwards.
• 45:47
  We did.
• 45:47
  We made it a date, which was even better.
• 45:49
  So make it fun and do it with a group of friends.
• 45:52
  You can even have like a little flask that you take along if you need to.
• 45:55
  Like Jeff is a police former police officer joking, carrying a joking illegal.
• 46:00
  That's illegal.
• 46:01
  I would never recommend that.
• 46:04
  Jeff, how are you doing with volunteers?
• 46:07
  I'm doing good, but we could always use more help.
• 46:10
  Um, on Saturday, we were out there during the New Cumberland Festival for St.
• 46:15
  Patty's Day, and actually ran into a really nice couple.
• 46:19
  And the wife had indicated she would love to help out.
• 46:23
  So I obtained all her information and we put it into our um roll of decks, so to speak, our computer system.
• 46:31
  So we'll definitely be reaching out to her in the next week or two and letting her know when we're coming over to her area because I told her I wanted to make sure that you know the individuals that are helping me out are gonna be in their home base area and not having them drive all over God's creation and stuff, and also on campaigning.
• 46:50
  I'm glad you brought up one point.
• 46:52
  Um I'm also um religious, and I don't like campaigning on Sunday, but this is one of those things that needs to be done to get out there and make sure people get the word out, especially on our campaign that we are out there on Sundays, and I usually don't start until one o'clock in the afternoon and end about four or four thirty, because I do know that there are families still getting together on Sunday dinners.
• 47:21
  So please forgive me if I do the door knock and you're having dinner.
• 47:25
  I apologize.
• 47:27
  I want to get the message out there that we are out there every single day.
• 47:31
  It's a good it's a good opportunity for you to join in and get free food.
• 47:35
  I don't see the problem here.
• 47:37
  Just oh, I know.
• 47:38
  Just go in and sit down, meet the family.
• 47:41
  I mean, I see nothing wrong.
• 47:43
  Uh so Jeff, why are you doing this?
• 47:47
  I'm gonna have to wrap up here soon with you, but why are you doing this?
• 47:51
  And what's the number one?
• 47:52
  If someone says, why should I vote for you in the primary ongoing?
• 47:55
  What's your number one appeal to donors of why it's so important to get you into office?
• 48:01
  I think um it's a calling, so to speak, and like I said, I want to continue on with public service.
• 48:09
  I love helping people out, answering their questions and kind of guiding them into giving them correct answers.
• 48:17
  And if I don't know an answer, I usually try to get back to them within a day and try to find the answers out.
• 48:23
  And over the past several years, we've seen so many different politicians going into office for the wrong reasons, and I'm going in there for the right reasons, which brings up one last fact about term limits.
• 48:36
  I'm all about term limits, and if you can't get done what you can in a short period of time, then it's time to move on.
• 48:43
  So do you have specific numbers in in mind with your term limits or um I would say probably eight years?
• 48:52
  Um, I believe that the centers are in there for four-year terms, and the representatives are in there for two-year terms, and federal, you know, the president, the governor, they can only do two terms.
• 49:05
  Why not make it for the legislators as well?
• 49:10
  Yeah, I don't feel that we um our founding fathers uh desired public service or um our elected officials to be a career option, but sadly that's what so many have done, and then they vote and uh they become more about their own job than about serving the public.
• 49:27
  So uh I would tend to agree with you on that.
• 49:30
  So what is so we have to wrap things up here?
• 49:33
  So if people do want to volunteer donate, you know, pray for you, uh everything under the sun.
• 49:39
  Like what do you have a website?
• 49:41
  Do you have a way for people to uh to start to kind of get in there and do some work?
• 49:48
  We have a website.
• 49:50
  It's or sorry, that's in the works right now, and I apologize.
• 49:53
  Um, they can contact us by my phone number.
• 49:56
  It's 717 615.
• 50:02
  And also on Facebook.
• 50:04
  It's vote Jeffrey Clark.
• 50:08
  And also my email is also vote Jeff Clark at Gmail.com.
• 50:15
  So they have to understand Facebook is Jeffrey.
• 50:18
  And my email is Jeff J E F F.
• 50:21
  And do you know happen to know what the website will be once it's up?
• 50:26
  Um, we're we're going to a domain name of vote Jeff Clark.
• 50:32
  Um, I believe it was net N E T, but as soon as that gets up and running, probably by Wednesday.
• 50:40
  Um I could shoot you a message and let you know for sure.
• 50:43
  Okay.
• 50:44
  No, that would be that would be great.
• 50:46
  I think it's important for people to know how they can get involved and everything that's going on in this world.
• 50:53
  And I think, you know, Kathy, I I think this is a story that needs to be told, right?
• 50:58
  Like he's he's running on his own.
• 51:01
  He has been left out of the GOP.
• 51:05
  After after winning the primary, right, after winning the primary.
• 51:10
  His story is not unusual.
• 51:12
  And this is happening across the U.S.
• 51:14
  And we as grassroots people, if you want to make changes in your government, you need to find the candidates like Jeff and get those people in who are fighting for for for you for the populace.
• 51:28
  And we we have got to stop depending on the GOP to tell us who to vote for.
• 51:34
  And and I say GOP, any major political party.
• 51:37
  Um, absolutely.
• 51:38
  Yeah, and we we wanted to highlight Jeff here for a couple of reasons.
• 51:43
  One, just for the appreciation of people who choose to run.
• 51:46
  That he is not a by any means a career politician.
• 51:50
  He had a job in law enforcement, wanted to continue serving his community.
• 51:55
  And um, you know, the it is a process, and I say that anyone who chooses to run, uh, and we wanted to highlight him sharing.
• 52:02
  You go get the petitions, you go door to door, you get people to do that, then you're on the then you have to do your website and your ways to contact and your uh and then you're back door to door.
• 52:11
  So it is it is a lot of work for those who really want to do it.
• 52:15
  And it also is I just it I just think it should be about I have a bumper sticker on my card that says we the people.
• 52:23
  That's who should be voting in these primaries, not the endorsement of a few people under the top of a party.
• 52:28
  And I don't care which party it is.
• 52:30
  Well, 100%.
• 52:32
  And that's I think that's the biggest message I I think that we need to deliver is stop like stop listening to your GOP, DNC, whoever, and start researching these candidates on your own.
• 52:45
  Because he, you know, Jeff is gonna be giving uh is gonna have a much higher uphill battle because of of yes, that's any candidate, yes.
• 52:54
  Yeah, I mean, he's in one of the worst areas, you know, in terms of the you know, Republican Party that there is in the state.
• 53:01
  I mean, there's several pretty bad ones, you know, that we hear about in Pennsylvania.
• 53:04
  But he's in he's definitely one of the top ones where they're very slimy, you know.
• 53:09
  So I mean, they are come on, Kathy.
• 53:10
  They are.
• 53:11
  Let's just call let's call it what it is.
• 53:16
  Um, I was a committee person.
• 53:18
  I'm not, and I know there's different things people say on that.
• 53:21
  You should be, you know, you should stay in the fight, you should do whatever.
• 53:25
  Um they're just print, I'm a person of principle.
• 53:29
  And um, you know, again, I've worked very hard for candidates.
• 53:33
  I helped my brother get elected.
• 53:34
  I've helped school board members in my area that ran for office that the GOP did not support, or they conveniently we actually had GOP people supporting the other party's candidates or school board in this area.
• 53:46
  So, you know, we're we're shooting ourselves in the foot.
• 53:50
  And we wanted to highlight someone who's coming on, like I say, as a citizen, um, who wants to make things better and represent the people as opposed to find another career.
• 53:59
  He gave his personal cell phone number.
• 54:02
  Yes, he did.
• 54:03
  I don't think that's ever happened in the history of our show.
• 54:07
  I can't wait to see what happens five years from now.
• 54:09
  He's like, crap, I should have never put my personal phone number out there, but that's how much he cares.
• 54:15
  Like no one does that.
• 54:16
  That's honestly like that.
• 54:18
  You can tell someone's a good guy in January when they're like, let me just give you my phone number.
• 54:22
  I would also recommend him getting second phone right now.
• 54:25
  Something else I love that he said.
• 54:28
  He said, I go to door to door and people ask questions, and I don't have the answer because we don't know every no candidate knows the answer to everything.
• 54:36
  But then he said, I try to get back to the person within 24 hours with the answer.
• 54:41
  That is to me refreshing.
• 54:43
  Yes, because most of them, if you watch politicians, what they do is they redirect the question, meaning that they just go on to a completely new topic, they ignore that the question was even asked in the first place, and they act like it never happened, and then there's never any follow-up.
• 54:58
  Or they just spout off answers true or not.
• 55:00
  Truth.
• 55:01
  Well, that's true.
• 55:02
  That is true.
• 55:02
  Yeah, they don't usually you're right, they don't really care about truth either.
• 55:06
  Yes.
• 55:07
  So that's again, that's refreshing to me versus saying, oh, he didn't know the answer.
• 55:11
  It's refreshing to say, I don't know, but I will find that out for you.
• 55:14
  That is true.
• 55:15
  There's a lot of good things that just came out of this interview on my.
• 55:18
  I mean, I'm a fan.
• 55:19
  If I if I were in in his district, I would totally be voting for him, primarily because he put out his personal phone number.
• 55:25
  I'm like, that's that's real right there.
• 55:27
  Well, I signed his petition while I was pulling weeds.
• 55:31
  And then I actually came out and handed him petitions I was getting signed.
• 55:35
  So it was a you know, trade there.
• 55:37
  So excellent.
• 55:38
  That's the way to that's the way to do it.
• 55:40
  So many good things.
• 55:41
  So um, I yeah, you know, anyone who is out there who can who can participate, who can help, volunteer, pray, donate money, walk, door knock, you know, um, not you know, not scare people, all that kind of stuff.
• 56:00
  Not scare people.
• 56:02
  I mean, you know, he's like, I'm gonna flash, I'm gonna have a flashlight in my face.
• 56:05
  To me, I don't you remember those games when you're younger and you got a flashlight in your face and the scary ghost stories.
• 56:10
  That's that's that's scary.
• 56:11
  I mean I don't think Jeff's doing that, so you know.
• 56:15
  I'm just saying, like you gotta be careful out there, but you know, any and all help, I think is important, especially because he is fighting the biggest, um, the biggest battle, which is the GOP itself and and what they do to candidates like him for absolutely no reason because they're against the people's choice.
• 56:31
  And so if you're a person, if you want choices, this very well may be your candidate, look them up, find them, get involved, and it's like everything um that this podcast stands for, and what we're asking you to do that wherever you are to the extent that you are able, stand up, step forward and speak out.