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Transcript

The People Who Show Up · Blue Dog Radio

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bethlehem, Pennsylvania knows something about work.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: For generations, that meant Bethlehem Steel, an industrial giant that helped build the city around it and drew families from all over the world.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: The steel is gone now, and still Bethlehem stayed.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Today, the city is growing and changing again.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: New businesses, new development, more visitors, higher housing costs, and more being asked of some of the people whose job it is to keep the place running.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So for this episode of Blue Dog Radio, we wanted to start in a firehouse.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Lou Jimenez was born and raised in Bethlehem.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: His mother came here from Italy, his father from Puerto Rico, and both arrived in a city shaped by steel and blue-collar work.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Lou served in the military, became a Bethlehem firefighter, and today leads Bethlehem Firefighters local 735.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: He has spent his career thinking about what happens when somebody needs help and there aren't enough people to answer the call.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: He also spent years working alongside Bob Brooks.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Before Brooks was a blue dog endorsed congressional candidate, before he fought on behalf of thousands of Pennsylvania firefighters, Lou knew him as another guy in the firehouse.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: The kind of leader people called when there was a problem that had to be solved.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: So this episode starts with Lou with Bethlehem and with a simple question.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Lou Jimenez, thanks for coming on Blue Dog Radio.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: You spent your career protecting Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: What does this city mean to you?
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm uh born and bred in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh the city means everything to me.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I spent I spent my whole life here minus my my decade in the military.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: And, you know, it it just once you once you leave, you always want to come back.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Bethle's very special to me.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_04: My both my parents immigrated here, my mother from Italy, my father from Puerto Rico.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, I'm first generation American.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_04: And uh we came here for the Bethlehem Steel.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: And it's a it's a blue-collar town.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a blue-collar guy, brought up in a blue-collar family, and I'm absolutely proud of where I'm from.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like many cities in America, Bethlehem has changed a lot.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: What does the city ask of its firefighters today that it didn't ask 20 or 30 years ago?
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_04: 20 or 30 years ago, you know, during the uh during the steel era, we could go back maybe 30, 35 years ago.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_04: Um, this city uh we're covering uh a quarter more of the city.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_04: We're 19.7 square miles, where 25% of the city was uh owned by the Bethlehem Steel, where they had their own fire department.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: Um our staffing levels here have not changed uh in over almost 50 years.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_04: And so not only are we having to cover more calls, we've had a lot of development, which I think is great, but the more buildings we have, the more the more uh emergencies we have.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um 30 years ago, we did not handle uh emergency medical services calls.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_04: So we're all EMTs too, so we take we run medical calls, we just don't run fire calls.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: So there is a lot of there's a lot more that we're doing here in the fire service than we did in the past.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, we also have you know a lot of festivals here.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_04: We have one of the biggest music festivals in the country, music fests, where we get over 1.3 million visitors here in the course of seven days.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_04: And uh that really uh gets us gets us uh spinning the wheels and working a lot more too.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: So our responsibilities as first responders in the city of Bethlehem have considerably increased over the past 30 years.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you've been very public about staffing.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: What does being understaffed actually look like on an ordinary shift?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: On an ordinary shift, you know, here in the city we have uh two trucks, which are ladder trucks.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_04: We have five engines, and uh normally per the NFPA 1710 standard, we should have four people on each piece of equipment, which would be 27 plus which would be 31.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_04: Uh we work with 18 personnel.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um that's uh that is a very it's uh it could be dangerous.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we work in a very inherently dangerous trade to begin with, but to work with less staffing than the NFPA standard is something that we're looking proactively to improve with you know working with our city, the union, and working with the city, trying to increase that staffing gradually over time.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_04: We realize that you know we cannot reach that standard in a year or two because that would bankrupt the city.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: We don't want that, but we want to head in the direction of being a safer fire department, not only for our firefighters, but for our residents and our visitors.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: So then what's at stake for the families waiting for you to show up at their house?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_04: When we respond to a fire, a a normal house fire, a 2,000 square foot home with no basement, I would say, um, you should have 15 people responding to that house fire.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_04: That that will uh enable us to get a water supply, get a search, get a uh 360 of the building, and get the on-scene commander to to establish who does what assignment.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_04: Um currently when we do go to a fire call, we usually end up with about nine people to start.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh depends what side of the river you're on.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_04: You could get eight or you could get nine.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and those minutes, those first couple minutes of of these fires are are very critical.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_04: That's when the rescues occur, that's when your initial knockdown occurs and things like that.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_04: So protecting property uh requires more people than we are allotted at this time.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_04: Like I said, we should be working with 31 people.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: Right now we're working with 18.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_04: What it means to the families is we're gonna get there in a in a decent amount of time, but there's gonna be less hands to be at their beck and call and to assist them in their worst day ever.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: If Bethlehem is operating with staffing levels that don't match the size and complexity of the modern city, what does leadership owe the people doing this work?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_04: There's a lot to that because what what we do, you know, the more we work with less, the more we're prone to exposure to these toxic carcinogens.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, as you know, cancer is is one of the leading killers of firefighters, and the frequency at that we're exposed to it is is probably double than what you would get in a NFPA 1710 staffed fire department.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um, because we're doing more with less, we're working more overtime, and that that will increase our exposure.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: And it affects our mental, our mental and physical health, you know.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_04: Um working all working all the hours and and doing all the extra stuff, it takes a toll on your body and it takes a toll on your mind.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_04: Um we need to be better about uh checking on our people.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: Uh mental health is a is a big crisis within the fire service.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: Um I'm I'm not afraid to say I've I've been subjected to uh a mental health crisis.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_04: I've been diagnosed with fire service-related uh post-traumatic stress disorder um due to a couple bad calls.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: And um, you know, we have to take off that uh that bravado.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_04: We have to look out for each other because if they're not gonna look out for us in a way of staffing, we have to look out for each other to keep an eye on each other to make sure that we don't fall down that path, mental andor physical decline.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: What has fighting for your members taught you about the difference between someone who listens politely and someone who actually gets things done?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: Well, as far as as far as being a leader, being a president of of Local 735, it has taught me there's you know, there's a right way, there's a wrong way, and then there's a truth.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I've also discovered that um a lot of our concerns are usually judged by the amount of money that it costs.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_04: You know, um, we're not a profession that that generates revenue, and and that's known, you know, we do not generate revenue for the city.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_04: Um we're here to assist people on their worst days.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_04: If if the police can't figure it out, EMS can't figure it out, the fire department is called.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we're the catch all for the for emergency services.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_04: Um so I've learned I've learned that advocating for my members also gives me the opportunity to learn about other fire departments in the state, in the country, and uh take the good that they have, learn from the bad that they have, and try to make our local better and our and our region better.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we lead the we lead the country in fire deaths, and we're poorly staffed on a state level, and something has to change.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: You worked alongside Bob Brooks for a long time.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: What was he like before anybody was talking about him running for Congress?
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_04: Bob is the same guy that he was uh on a job.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: You know, Bob is dedicated to what he puts his mind to.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_04: He has he has integrity, he checks up on people, he he has genuine concern for the working class, genuine concern for everybody, all around great guy.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_04: There is nothing that I've asked of Bob that Bob wouldn't give his shirt off his back for for to somebody.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_04: Bob is not everybody's cup of tea because Bob tells it like it is, you know, and sometimes it has to be that way.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_04: You know, if something's not fair and we have to advocate for what is right, Bob's the guy to do it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: You know, he he was very integral in uh in getting our PTSI legislation passed here in the state of Pennsylvania, and that's gonna help tons of firefighters, you know.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_04: So Bob in the firehouse and Bob running for Congress is to me the same person.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_04: The values that he had in the firehouse, he's gonna take to Washington, and those values we need.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Was there like a moment when you realized Bob was somebody other firefighters would follow?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_04: Even to this day, you know, in the firehouse, if certain things come up, you know, Bob is still that guy that that we turn to, you know, if we have a question.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_04: He's he's one of one of few, if if you can understand that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_04: Like if there's an issue, like for me, per se, as the union president, um, it's like, well, what did Bob do?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_04: You know, like what did Bob do?
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_04: I know Bob did this and that I he's very knowledgeable, and I reach out to him and me, but what really hits me in my in my heart here is that he still gives us uh the attention that he gave us when he was on the job.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I know he's gonna do the same in Washington for the American people.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does somebody who's actually worked a shift, negotiated the contract, worried about staffing, and answered emergency calls understand that Washington tends to miss?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: They look at things in a different lens than we do.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_04: They look at things in in like, what are you gonna do for me and I'm gonna get you the right amount of money you need?
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's always about money, it's always about them moving ahead instead of looking at the conditions that workers and the common American folk are going through.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_04: Washington is going nuts.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, we have uh we have a president right now that's uh that wants to rename Lake Ontario.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_04: Like, are you kidding me?
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_04: All these terrorists and stuff, it is not helping us, it's killing us, you know?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_04: All these different laws that that are being put in place, they're they're being put in place to favor his people, you know, to favor that class of people.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_04: And and and frankly, it's it's disgusting.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_04: It's disgusting.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, we need working class people like Bob to be in Washington to to give them that that grittiness and that experience and that pushback that we've known to give people who have not treated us fairly.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_04: Bob has proven himself and has gotten results uh in his profession, in any profession that he's done.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I've seen the man, I've seen the man cutting grass, I've seen the man serving beers, I've seen the man fighting fires, I've seen the man negotiate contracts, go to discipline cases, uh be at arbitration cases, you know.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_04: I've seen him come into the firehouse in a three-piece suit, and two minutes later he's out on a fire call.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_04: You know, that's his dedication.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_04: We need that in Washington.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_04: We need that work ethic in Washington because the work ethic in Washington is dead.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: The Lehigh Valley is growing, but families are also dealing with housing costs, health care, infrastructure, and public safety.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: As someone who's spent his life here, what issues matter most to you?
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_04: The cost of housing here is skyrocketing, especially for you know a young person trying to rent an apartment or or start a career.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, you know, a two-bedroom, two-bath here would cost probably around$2,200, where you know, six years ago you were you were paying, you know,$1,000 less.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_04: Um for instance, our fire department, we start, I believe we start around$67,000.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_04: And for a young firefighter to come in here and to make that money, you would think they'd be able to live here and afford to live here.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_04: That's not the case.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they're they're moving outside of the area because it's cheaper.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, we're bound by uh certain restrictions as far where some of our people can live, and and and it's tough.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's tough to it's tough to uh pay a pay a hefty uh rent bill when you're not making uh like a third a third of your salary should go towards uh towards housing, no more than that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_04: It's it's tough.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_04: You have a lot of people in this city living paycheck to paycheck.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Final question.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: After all your years doing this work, what still makes you believe Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is worth fighting for?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_04: The people.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_04: I'll tell you what, I this is something that really gets to my heart because I really believe it.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_04: It's this city, no matter what part of the city you're in, you know, south side, north side, west side, northeast, there's always great people.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_04: You know, they like to say on the east coast that we're a little bit, you know, we're a little bit high strung and we're and we have, you know, we have attitudes, but I'll tell you what, people in this city care about each other, and they're proud to be from here.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's a strange thing about Bethlehem.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: The city's biggest monument to its past is impossible to miss.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: The blast furnaces of Bethlehem Steel still tower over the south side of the city, remnants of a company that once employed generations of families and helped make this place synonymous with American industry.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: The steelmaking stopped, and the city had to figure out what came next.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it has.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bethlehem grew around new industries, universities, hospitals, restaurants, and festivals.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: A place built around one enormous employer became something more complicated.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: But spend time talking to people here, and some of the old way of life still seems intact.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because people continue to show up.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lou Jimenez describes a fire department being asked to handle a growing city, medical calls, fires, and emergencies with staffing levels that have barely moved in decades.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about the physical toll.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: He talks openly about his own post-traumatic stress injury.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: He talks about young firefighters earning what sounds like a decent living until they try to find an apartment in the city they protect.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that is where Bob Brooks comes into this story.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bob spent 20 years in the Bethlehem Fire Department.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: He became a union leader and eventually president of the statewide firefighters association.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: He spent years sitting across tables from mayors, lawmakers, and management trying to get something tangible for the people who sent him there.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And Lou remembers all of that.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: He remembers the guy cutting grass, serving beers, fighting fires, negotiating contracts, showing up at the station dressed for a meeting and changing gears the second the alarm went off.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And there's plenty of conversation right now about how Democrats win back working-class voters.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Bethlehem offers a simpler question.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you sending to talk to them?
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Blue Dogs have always made their home in places where national politics gets uncomfortable.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Districts where voters may belong to one party, another party, or increasingly, neither one, but still expect the person they elect to know what their life actually looks like.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Bob Brooks believes Congress needs more people who have worked those lives themselves.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: His own story with the fire service began before he ever wore the uniform.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: See, when Bob was a senior in high school, his family's house burned to the ground.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: He watched firefighters arrive and try to save it.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, he became one of them.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_00: Here's our conversation with Bob Brooks.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Bob, welcome to Blue Dog Radio.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sir, what did Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley teach you about hard work?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't think I've known anything other than hard work, to be honest with you.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I I, you know, became a firefighter for the city of Bethlehem, and you know, I I watched a city that was built by the Steel, Bethlehem Steel, you know, go through a rough time and work their way out.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: Uh continually work their way out and and re I guess re-envision themselves.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, new mayor after new mayor, they come up with new ideas, and you know, our south side is booming, our main street is booming.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I've just watched people work.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're they're the same type of people uh in Bethlehem that are anywhere else in the district.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_01: So nobody's just laying on their haunches, like everybody's getting up and going to work the same way.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that when I went in to be a fireman, I had to do the same thing.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: If they called and needed help, I showed up.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, what does being a firefighter teach you that most politicians will never learn?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it teaches you that you're going to work, and every day you go to work, you're gonna respond to something that could be somebody's worst day, right?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I get to go help somebody on their worst day.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Now I've been through that worst day.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: When I was a senior in high school, my house burned to the ground.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, I watched guys respond from their homes to come try and save my house, which they didn't.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: I stood there with nothing but the clothes in my back.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_01: So when I became a fireman and I started responding to calls, especially fires or bad accidents, you realize people are having a bad day, and you got to still go in there with an attitude, a positive attitude to help them.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: More off, besides being a firefighter, is uh, you know, I became a union leader immediately within Bethlehem Firefighters over 735, and then moved on to the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what that taught me was I get to show up for my members, I get to go to work for them, I get to hear what they're saying.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: They tell me their problems, they tell me what they want, and I get to go fight in Harrisburg and Washington, D.C.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: for them.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I quite honestly think that's exactly what I'm gonna do for the constituents here of Pennsylvania 7.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of leader does this district need right now?
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think they need a leader that's gonna stand out in front.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think they need a leader that's gonna listen to what they're saying, hear what their problems are, and then go fight for those problems and try and solve them to go down to Washington, D.C.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: to be able to work with anybody, quite honestly.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I've been doing as the president of the firefighters.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: I've been able to work with anybody, whether they're Republican, whether they're Democrats, whether they're independents, I've been able to work with them.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that is what gives me the unique ability to pull the people back that have left the party.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I've I've seen a lot of my members uh walk away to independent or walk even over to the Republican side.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think now they felt lied to by the Republican Party.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: So it's a difference of being felt left behind or felt lied to.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm seeing those people that have drifted to the center or drifted to the right say, if they're if they're gonna run somebody like you, I'll give them a shot again.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: But you got to deliver.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like we can't just go down there with a message.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: We have to take what our constituents want, we have to go down there and then we have to deliver.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: We can't just go down there with a Message.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna have to deliver some promising legislation that makes lives better for people.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think Washington is getting wrong about working people?
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Washington seems to have forgotten working class people.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at the numbers, um, two percent of Congress are from the working class, while sixty percent of America is working class.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, like they just feel like nobody's representing them, or there's not enough people that are representing them.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's why, quite honestly, I joined the blue dogs, is uh I I I feel like we have an opportunity.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: This group uh has an opportunity to really represent working class people and go deliver for them.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: What would you bring from the firehouse to Congress?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been afraid to speak truth to power, right?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: So I've done it within our local, I've done it within our state association, I've done it within the within the International Association of Firefighters.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've never always agreed with the leaders because my members have different needs than maybe somebody else's members.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I've I've stood up for what they wanted, I've stood up for what I believed in, and I don't plan on stopping that anytime soon.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: What do you love most about living in your district?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: The people.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: The best thing about running for Congress is the people I've gotten to meet and go through the process with.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: This area is just built, quite honestly, from working class people.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, and you get to go down the street and go into a restaurant and sit down and and you know the people across the table from you, and whether it's in Allentown, Easton, like you always gotta run into somebody you know.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_01: So while it's a big community, it's pretty tight-knit.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: We get up into Carbon County, those people are the same as the people down here in Allentown.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: They just want to be represented.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So at the end of the day, what do you feel you owe the people of Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: I think I owe them representation.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: If they decide that I'm gonna be their congressman, then I owe it to them to continually show up, listen to them, and then go be their eyes, mouth, and ears in Washington and and never stop fighting for them because I believe we've not been represented for the last two years, year and a half, whatever, uh, you know, since the last election.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think they're looking for somebody that they can see themselves in, and somebody that is willing to go fight for them and like I said, speak truth to power.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: My final question: what gives you hope and what would you say to someone who feels let down or disenfranchised by the idea of the American dream?
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_01: What gives me hope is is the fact that I've been able to build a really, really wide coalition/slash tent around my campaign, which tells me that everybody, not just the blue dogs, but the CPC and everybody in the middle is seeing the same thing that we're seeing, the same thing that I'm telling them.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: People are disenfranchised, like you said, with the system.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's not necessarily they're mad at the Democrats, they're mad at the Republicans, they're mad at everybody.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: They are just so disenfranchised with the system, they want to see change and they want to see people like them representing their problems.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Bob Brooks, thanks so much for coming on Blue Dog Radio.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bob Brooks says that if the people of Pennsylvania's 7th District send him to Congress, he owes them representation.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Show up, listen, carry their problems to Washington, and keep coming back home.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Bethlehem has spent generations learning what happens when economies change, institutions disappear, costs rise, and working people are asked to carry more weight.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: The city adapted because the people inside it just kept going to work.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lou Jimenez still believes in Bethlehem for the same reason.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: The people.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: And perhaps there's something useful in that for a country wondering how to rebuild trust in its politics.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Start with people who know how to show up.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time on Blue Dog Radio.