Latest / Meet the Candidate - Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania / Scott Timko for Pennsylvania's District 12 (R)

Transcript

Scott Timko for Pennsylvania's District 12 (R) · Meet the Candidate - Pittsburgh & Western Pennsylvania

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  Speaker 1: And once again, welcome to Meet the Candidate, designed to
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  Speaker 1: give you an opportunity to hear directly from the people
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  Speaker 1: asking for your vote. No endorsements, no debate, just a
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  Speaker 1: conversation about the candidate, the issues, and where they stand,
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  Speaker 1: so you can make up your own mind. Today, we're
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  Speaker 1: talking with Scott Timko, the Republican candidate for Pennsylvania's 12th
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  Speaker 1: House District, challenging the incumbent. Scott, welcome, and thank you
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  Speaker 1: for joining us for Meet the Candidate. Thanks so much
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  Speaker 1: for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. All right,
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  Speaker 1: so if there's one thing you want voters to understand
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  Speaker 1: about your campaign... What would that be?
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  Speaker 2: Look, the one thing is that I've lived in Butler
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  Speaker 2: County nearly my entire life, born and raised there, went
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  Speaker 2: to school at NOC, live in Cranberry Township for the
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  Speaker 2: last 26 years. And I know Butler County. I know
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  Speaker 2: the values of Butler County. I know that we've had
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  Speaker 2: over 40 years of conservative Republican leadership. And what they
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  Speaker 2: need to know about me is that leadership, I'm a
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  Speaker 2: reflection of that leadership. I'm a reflection of that lifestyle.
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  Speaker 2: And it's that lifestyle that has made Butler County and
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  Speaker 2: Southwest Butler County in particular the fastest growing county in
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  Speaker 2: the state of Pennsylvania and one of the fastest growing
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  Speaker 2: counties nationwide. And why is that? Low taxes, great schools,
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  Speaker 2: low unemployment, record low unemployment, security with a great sheriff
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  Speaker 2: and Sheriff Mike Sloop from Butler. And so as a result,
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  Speaker 2: people are flocking to our area because we've been a
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  Speaker 2: 40-year success story. And quite frankly, the difference between me
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  Speaker 2: and my opponent is I believe in continuing the success.
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  Speaker 2: And he's somebody who's lived in his life in Allegheny
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  Speaker 2: County has come over the line, like many have done
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  Speaker 2: attracted to Butler County for the, for the success that
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  Speaker 2: we've achieved. And then has the audacity to say, you
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  Speaker 2: guys are doing it wrong. It's time for change and
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  Speaker 2: let's get some progressive and socialist ideas going on here.
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  Speaker 2: So that really is the difference between the two of us.
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  Speaker 1: So what would be your priority then?
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  Speaker 2: As far as, uh, personally in the district. Look, the
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  Speaker 2: number one thing that's on people's minds is affordability. The
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  Speaker 2: second thing that's on people's minds is infrastructure. When I
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  Speaker 2: talk about Cranberry Township in particular, where I live growing,
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  Speaker 2: are you familiar with the Route 228 corridor? A little bit.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: A little bit. You know, it's been a 30, 40
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  Speaker 2: year project. It's kind of near the end of it.
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  Speaker 2: All the money's been allocated and they finally succeeded in
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  Speaker 2: widening that road. But we still have issues because even
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  Speaker 2: though they finally widened the road, There's more housing going in.
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  Speaker 2: And so you've wind the road to ease congestion, but
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  Speaker 2: now you're building more places for people to live and
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  Speaker 2: increasing the population. So it's kind of, you know, cart
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  Speaker 2: before the horse kind of thing. We need to keep
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  Speaker 2: that going. We need to make sure that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I've said this for data centers, but it applies to
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  Speaker 2: infrastructure and growth. You know, we need a reasoned approach
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  Speaker 2: to growth, not a rushed approach. And so to the
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  Speaker 2: extent that we need to stay on top of that,
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  Speaker 2: it's frustrating to When you live in a small little
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  Speaker 2: town and it takes you 15 or 20 minutes to
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  Speaker 2: get from one side to the other. When I moved
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  Speaker 2: to Cranberry, it was a one blinking light town at
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  Speaker 2: the intersection of 19 and 228. Those who have been
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  Speaker 2: there as long as I have remember the Hartner's Bakery
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  Speaker 2: and the Two Rest Motel. Or where the target is,
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  Speaker 2: was the KOA campground. There's now the Penguin Training Center.
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  Speaker 1: I remember when Burger King came in, it was a
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  Speaker 1: big deal.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, big deal. And people were driving, you know, because,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if you weren't near it, you still drove
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  Speaker 2: 20 minutes to get it because that was the only
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  Speaker 2: game in town. So, and things change. And growth is fun.
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  Speaker 2: You know, more shopping, great. You know, more places to eat, great.
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  Speaker 2: But it comes with growing pains. And so you have
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  Speaker 2: to work with local communities and boroughs. And interestingly... A
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  Speaker 2: lot of people think that the state rep really has
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  Speaker 2: massive authority over all these projects, and that's not the case.
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  Speaker 2: What is the case is every township and borough working
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  Speaker 2: both locally and with PennDOT, they're the ones that actually
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  Speaker 2: make the decisions on the road. Franklin Road in Cranberry
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  Speaker 2: Township is under construction yet again, and people are complaining
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  Speaker 2: about it. Actually, can I segue? This is kind of funny.
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  Speaker 2: I'll share a little insight with you. So I don't
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  Speaker 2: think we're going to do it, but my— I have
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  Speaker 2: to get the number correct. My great, great, great grandfather
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  Speaker 2: served with General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. And
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  Speaker 2: he was at the Battle of Trenton in 1776. So
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  Speaker 2: he crossed the Delaware with George Washington, which is kind
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  Speaker 2: of neat. And so I have a long line of
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  Speaker 2: military veterans in my family. I'm obviously a veteran myself.
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  Speaker 2: But we thought about producing a commercial version with my great, great,
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  Speaker 2: great grandfather saying it was easier to cross the Delaware
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  Speaker 2: with George Washington than it is Franklin Road right now.
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  Speaker 2: The cost just didn't justify it, but I think that's
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  Speaker 2: probably pretty accurate right now because that's what we're dealing with.
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  Speaker 2: But back to my original point, what you have to
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  Speaker 2: understand is, so it's my job as the representative to
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  Speaker 2: work with boroughs and townships to help them implement the
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  Speaker 2: solutions they likely already have. And I've gone to all
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  Speaker 2: the township meetings in boroughs and I've expressed that to
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  Speaker 2: them It would be really arrogant and presumptuous of me
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  Speaker 2: to go to Cranberry, for example, or Adams Township and say,
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  Speaker 2: here's your problems. I don't know if you know this,
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  Speaker 2: but you've got a problem here. Well, they already know that.
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  Speaker 2: They already know what their problem is. They've already formulated
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  Speaker 2: their solution. So my role and the role of the
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  Speaker 2: state representative is to say, is Harrisburg helping you or
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  Speaker 2: are they in your way? And if they're there to
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  Speaker 2: help you and you're not getting the help you need,
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  Speaker 2: I can help. Let's facilitate that and get it sooner
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  Speaker 2: rather than later. If you're finding Harrisburg as a roadblock
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  Speaker 2: to something that you want to implement that I agree
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  Speaker 2: is in the best interest of the district, then we
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  Speaker 2: need to find a way around it or other way
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  Speaker 2: to navigate through it. So, you know, that is a
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  Speaker 2: big issue. It's a big issue in the district. And
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  Speaker 2: even more so than Cranberry, you know, we talk about
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  Speaker 2: the 228 corridor, but it's also expanding up the Route
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  Speaker 2: 19 corridor towards Zillion Opal and the Harmon area. Things
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  Speaker 2: are building past the Victory Church. That area is filling it.
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  Speaker 2: So this is a problem that's– problem maybe isn't the
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  Speaker 2: correct word. It's growth. You know, growth managed well isn't
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  Speaker 2: a problem. It's an opportunity. Growth managed poorly is a problem.
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  Speaker 2: And so we've got to keep working towards that.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you've owned businesses here in Western PA. What is
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  Speaker 1: the single biggest thing Harrisburg can do to help small
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  Speaker 1: businesses grow, create good-paying jobs, and keep people here working?
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  Speaker 2: I say this as a frustrated small business owner, what
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  Speaker 2: Harrisburg can do is the exact opposite of everything they've
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  Speaker 2: been doing up till now. And you can ask any
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  Speaker 2: small business owner in Pennsylvania. I promise you, you'll about
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  Speaker 2: a thousand percent. If you have a problem and you
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  Speaker 2: need help, is your first thought, I'm going to call
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  Speaker 2: Harrisburg because the state's going to help me. And that's
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  Speaker 2: never the answer. Pennsylvania and Harrisburg, I'm sorry, has nothing
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  Speaker 2: but roadblocks and red tape. And they, they, crush the
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  Speaker 2: ability to operate successfully in this state. You know, we
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  Speaker 2: can talk about COVID and what Tom Wolfe and Josh
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  Speaker 2: Shapiro did to small businesses during COVID. But maybe as
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  Speaker 2: a little sideway, that's kind of a perfect example. So
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  Speaker 2: we owned a Cajun restaurant in Cranberry Township. You know,
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  Speaker 2: fast casual, kind of like a Panera. It was called
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  Speaker 2: Jay Gumbo's. So not a sit-down restaurant with waitstaff, but
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  Speaker 2: buy an entree, sit down, like Panera, sit at your table.
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  Speaker 2: We didn't do delivery. So COVID comes along, and Tom
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  Speaker 2: Wolfe shuts down every small business, shuts down every restaurant,
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  Speaker 2: and he uses Josh Shapiro as his enforcer to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that nobody comes out. And they simply say, well,
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  Speaker 2: just deliver your food. If people can't eat in your restaurant,
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  Speaker 2: just deliver your food. Well, that's a problem. I don't
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  Speaker 2: have delivery drivers. I don't have the insurance for delivery drivers,
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  Speaker 2: so how am I going to deliver my food? And
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  Speaker 2: then Pennsylvania says, well, use the delivery service, like DoorDash
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  Speaker 2: or Uber Eats.
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  Speaker 1: Well, especially if you're a la carte like your restaurant,
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  Speaker 1: that's impossible.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you can do it, but Uber Eats
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  Speaker 2: and DoorDash, they do take a percentage. Yes, sure do.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm not charging $ 40 for a bowl of gumbo.
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  Speaker 2: So that just shows that career politicians that live in Harrisburg,
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  Speaker 2: they try to make business decisions that impact small business,
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  Speaker 2: and most of the time they get it wrong. So
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  Speaker 2: I think Harrisburg really is a barrier to success in
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  Speaker 2: Pennsylvania for small business. And I'd like to see us
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  Speaker 2: reduce regulations, increase opportunities. You know, permitting for land and
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  Speaker 2: real estate development takes forever. And that's not to say
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  Speaker 2: that there has to be some oversight. Of course there
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  Speaker 2: has to be health oversight. You know, you want to
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  Speaker 2: make sure your grease traps are proper and there's not
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  Speaker 2: fire hazards. Nobody's talking about that. But the fact is
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  Speaker 2: that anytime you need something to help your business, no
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  Speaker 2: one ever thinks, I need to call Pennsylvania. I need
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  Speaker 2: to call Harrisburg. They're an ally. They are not. Harrisburg
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  Speaker 2: has always been a roadblock to success.
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania has a real opportunity to play a major role
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  Speaker 1: in America's energy and technology future. How do we attract
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  Speaker 1: those jobs and investments while protecting communities?
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  Speaker 2: It is entirely appropriate and ethical is maybe the wrong word,
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  Speaker 2: but I think that is the right word. States that
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  Speaker 2: have resources, we should be able to use those resources
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  Speaker 2: to the betterment And two, increasing the quality of life
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  Speaker 2: for everyone who lives in this district. Um, Alaska, as
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  Speaker 2: you know, is the number one energy producing in the,
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  Speaker 2: within the 50 states. Number two is Pennsylvania. And people
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  Speaker 2: fail to realize that we're, we're second behind Alaska. We
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  Speaker 2: are the Saudi Arabia of liquid natural gas.
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  Speaker 1: Sure.
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  Speaker 2: We have our coal fields. We have oil here. Was
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  Speaker 2: an oil discovered in oil city? So, so we have
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  Speaker 2: a history of energy production. Um, maybe not the best comparison,
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  Speaker 2: but Florida. Florida's natural resource, well, they have great natural resource,
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  Speaker 2: but their economy is tourism. And so Governor DeSantis is
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  Speaker 2: using tourism to drive that economy and using it to
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  Speaker 2: make life better for the people of Florida. And there's
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  Speaker 2: no reason why we in Pennsylvania shouldn't be utilizing the
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  Speaker 2: energy resources we have and tapping into that to increase
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  Speaker 2: liquid natural gas. production, to build the pipeline of Philadelphia,
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  Speaker 2: to reinvest and to get the Philadelphia-enabled shipyards going. So
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  Speaker 2: in my opinion, when you talk about energy and how
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  Speaker 2: do we make things more affordable in Pennsylvania, it all
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  Speaker 2: starts with energy production, increasing energy production, and using the
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  Speaker 2: proceeds of that not to waste and spend more money
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  Speaker 2: on more silly stuff that the Democrats and Shapiro want
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  Speaker 2: to do, to use that to offset the cost of
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  Speaker 2: things that we have now, whether it be property taxes,
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  Speaker 2: local infrastructure taxes, school taxes. We can be using increased
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  Speaker 2: revenue to actually make life better and cheaper and more
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  Speaker 2: affordable for citizens of Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 1: All right, let me follow that up with, you've said
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  Speaker 1: local communities should have the final say when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to data centers.
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  Speaker 2: I have.
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  Speaker 1: What specific rules would you like to see Pennsylvania put
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  Speaker 1: in place?
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  Speaker 2: As far as statewide rules, that's a little problematic because
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  Speaker 2: I'm not a fan of one size fits all, but
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  Speaker 2: I do think that data centers need to stand on
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  Speaker 2: their own two feet. One of the concerns of data
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  Speaker 2: centers is Um, sorry, that's an old Star Trek thing.
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  Speaker 2: Is it data or data? I apologize for that. Um,
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  Speaker 2: you know, they need to stand on their own two feet.
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  Speaker 2: What are they going to do to the power grid
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  Speaker 2: and the electricity, right? Everybody's worried about what that's going
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  Speaker 2: to do to your utility bills. So I think if
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  Speaker 2: you wanted to have an overall structure that if you're
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  Speaker 2: going to build a data center, you know, with respect
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  Speaker 2: to the environment and cooling or noise pollution, some standards
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  Speaker 2: there might be appropriate. Um, but those are deep discussions
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  Speaker 2: to have, you know, noise pollution is a, is a
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  Speaker 2: pretty good example. Noise pollution, in my opinion, isn't just
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  Speaker 2: what I can hear. You know, everybody thinks noise pollution
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  Speaker 2: is just a loud noise, but is it that constant
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  Speaker 2: hum that's 300 yards away that's running 24-7, 365? Is
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  Speaker 2: it a frequency that I personally can't hear as a
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  Speaker 2: human being, but maybe right next to a dairy farm,
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  Speaker 2: there's a frequency that the cows are susceptible to that
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  Speaker 2: might impact their ability to produce milk and put that
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  Speaker 2: dairy farm out of business? So when you talk about
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  Speaker 2: noise pollution, let's make sure we're talking about the entire spectrum.
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  Speaker 2: So maybe some overall rules that would set the boundaries,
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  Speaker 2: but I still think it's important for local communities to
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  Speaker 2: be able to fine-tune maybe a broad tent of minimal
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  Speaker 2: restrictions statewide, but then to fine-tune it and configure it
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  Speaker 2: for their particular area so that if they do want
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  Speaker 2: a data center, it meets their needs and it conforms
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  Speaker 2: to their community values.
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  Speaker 1: Now, you've talked about strengthening STEM education, teaching the basics,
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: and expanding technical and career training. What do you believe
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  Speaker 1: Pennsylvania schools need to do differently?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'm a big believer in school choice. And that's
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  Speaker 2: one of the real contrasts between myself and my opponent,
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  Speaker 2: who is straight up and down, no school choice. And
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: if he had his way, everything would be decided by
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  Speaker 2: Harrisburg curriculum. And he wants to eliminate school taxes because
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: he wants all the money to be allocated out of Harrisburg.
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  Speaker 2: And the last thing I want is one person in
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  Speaker 2: Harrisburg to deciding which schools get more money, which schools
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  Speaker 2: get less. Each community needs to stand on its own
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  Speaker 2: two feet. But favor school choice. And I also take
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  Speaker 2: issue with the fact that just because I favor school
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  Speaker 2: choice doesn't mean we have to take away from our
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  Speaker 2: public schools. I'm a product of public schools. I'm a
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  Speaker 2: graduate of Knock High School. Both my children went to
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  Speaker 2: Seneca Valley, which is the district I live in now.
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  Speaker 2: Seneca Valley is is a very good school district. It's
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  Speaker 2: one of the tops in Pennsylvania. So is Mars, for
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  Speaker 2: that matter, the Mars Adams area. This is not a
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  Speaker 2: binary solution. Just because you have school choice doesn't mean
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  Speaker 2: you're necessarily going to take away from a public school.
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  Speaker 2: He seems to believe that's the case. I kind of
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: find it ironic that somebody that believes in 97 genders
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  Speaker 2: has to say that we can either have great public
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  Speaker 2: schools or not. No, you can have great public schools
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  Speaker 2: and you can have school choice on top of it.
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  Speaker 2: STEM is important, but I also believe in vote tech. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I I'm a, I'm a professional pilot. I've been flying
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  Speaker 2: for 40 years. I fly jets. Um, some people tend
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  Speaker 2: to think that piloting is a white collar job. It
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  Speaker 2: is not, it is a blue collar job. I have
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: a skill that I market my skill for contract and
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  Speaker 2: I get paid for my skill. No different than a welder,
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: no different than a construction worker. I have a marketable
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  Speaker 2: skill that I, that I sell to my company. And
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  Speaker 2: so I'm a big believer in Vote Tech and I'm
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: a big believer in those types of opportunities. And the
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  Speaker 2: fact that we should be funding those and making, not
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: everybody should or wants to go to college. And there's
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: great opportunities to have a wonderful way of life. This
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: is still a country that produces things. We're not all management.
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  Speaker 2: And so I think there's opportunity there to really open
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: up places for people to do things and work with
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: their hands and do something more in the trades category.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: All right.
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  Speaker 1: This leads me to my next question. You served as
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: an Air Force captain, became a commercial pilot, owned businesses
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: here in Western PA. How have those experiences shaped the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: way you approach public service?
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  Speaker 2: I'm in my 60s, and there is no substitute for
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: life experience. There just isn't. And there's no substitute for
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: traveling the world and interacting with different cultures around the world.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I have humbly been everywhere on this planet.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Literally, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, from the North Pole to the South Pole
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: to Eastern Europe to Asia, Africa, Middle East. And so
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: I'm going to share one little war story here. I
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: was at an event last week. and Mars for Apple Fest.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: And a young lady comes up to me that recently
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: emigrated from Kenya and is now registered to vote, registered
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: as Republican and going to vote Republican for the first
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: time and is voting for me on November 3rd. And
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I asked her where she was from and she said
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: she's from Nairobi. Well, I've been to Nairobi easily a
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: dozen times. I've been to Mombasa even more so. We
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: used to stage out of Mombasa, Kenya quite a bit.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: And so while I'm not fluent... you know, you pick
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: up a little Swahili along the way. And so I
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: was able to welcome her in Swahili and ask her
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: how she's doing. And the look on her eyes as
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: her eyes got really big and just gushing that she
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: was going to vote for me no matter what. But
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  Speaker 2: now the fact that I've actually been to Kenya and
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: speak a little of her native language, you make a connection.
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  Speaker 2: And so again, there's no substitute for experience. There's no
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  Speaker 2: substitute for life experience and traveling as I've done. And
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: even within the United States, because even though over the
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: last 40 years, maybe we've become more homogenized as a
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: country and a society, there are still differences between West Coast,
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: between Texas, San Francisco, and how people interact and so forth.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: And when you travel the world, you have to learn
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: to integrate into these cultures and try to achieve a goal.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: When you're in the middle of Africa and you have
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: a problem in front of you, the solution is different
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: than if you're in the middle of Kansas. And so
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: you learn that over time. You learn that everyone is
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: proud of where they live. Everyone loves their own country.
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: There are good things throughout the whole world in every country. Now, yes,
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: some are far better than others and worse, but don't
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: tell that to the people that live there. They generally
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: love where they live and they're proud of where they live.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: And so you have to approach it from the idea that, hey,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: we can work together. There's always common values. Let's start
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: from there, and then we build upon that.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: All right. Well, speaking of common values, I don't know
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: if you know this or not, but Republicans and Democrats
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: and Harris don't always see eye to eye. No. Is
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: there an issue where you believe both parties would be
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: able to find common ground?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I've always said that If you're going to be
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: an effective legislator, you always have to be open-minded to
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: a common sense solution that is good for the people
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: of your district, no matter who posits the idea or
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: where it's coming from. Let's just not play left side
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: versus right side and everything they say is wrong, everything
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: we say is correct. I will say these times, in
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: these particular days, it's a little more challenging to find
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: common sense Democrats. I think they're an endangered species with
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: what we've seen in the growth of their party and
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: some of their other candidates. But the opportunity still exists.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: And when you find issues like that, absolutely you want
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: to take advantage of that. I can tell you one
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: issue that is on my radar that I think would
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: have strong bipartisan support. Are you familiar with what's happening
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: with people that have pre-constructed homes in communities? Not necessarily
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: trailer park communities, but they have double wides or so
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: forth that they've bought and paid for. and yet they
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: lease the land that's underneath them. They pay their utilities
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: and they pay their rent for their facility fees. And
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: what's happening is investors from out of state are coming
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: in and they're buying these properties and absolutely pulling the
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: rug out from underneath the residence and taking their lot rent, quadrupling,
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: quintupling it. People that are on fixed income of Social
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: Security making, drawing $ 22, 000 a year, I've seen their lot
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: rates go from $ 3, 000 a year to near $ 10, 000. Okay.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: That's just, that's nobody.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: And it's easy, you know, to buy that plot of
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: land where you might have 30, 40. Correct.
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Correct. And it's steady income for them. And because
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: there's no oversight to it, they can simply raise the
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: rates and they're just raking in the cash. It's like
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: when private equity comes in and ruins a brand that
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: was making money and just puts it out of business.
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: They're just sucking the money out of it. And I
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: think it's fair to say on both sides of the aisle,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: no one wants to see somebody who's bought and paid
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: for their dwelling, who's on a fixed income, have somebody
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: come in and pull the rug out from underneath them.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: They're in their seventies and all of a sudden they
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: can't afford to live where they expected to spend their
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: final years. So maybe that's an issue that we can
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: find some common ground and get something across the finish line.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: But if you want an example, I think that's a
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: pretty good one.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: You get the last word. What do you want the
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: voters of the 12th district to know about you?
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: The simple thing is, if you're thinking about Scott Temko,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: just understand this. lifelong Republican, lifelong conservative. Um, I believe
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: common sense solutions really are the issue. And there is
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: a dramatic difference between myself and my Democrat socialist opponent. Um, who,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: even though he's only been in office a very short
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: time in his very first session, he's already voted with
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: the speaker from Philadelphia, a hundred percent. And one of
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: the concerns that we have in Butler County is, um,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Butler County is one of the few Counties in the
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: state that is revenue positive. We contribute far more to
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: the Commonwealth than we take in because we've been so successful.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: What we do not want is a representative from this
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: district who's going to side with the Democrats from Philadelphia
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: to draw our resources and use it to fund SEPTA
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: or to send to other parts of the state that
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: have been failing under Democratic policies. And that's what we're
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: seeing right now. Just in the short time he's been there,
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: he's already voted that way. So what people need to
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: know about me is I'm going to defend Butler County.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: I'm going to defend Cranberry Township. I'm a representative for
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: the people of this district specifically. I, uh, while I
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: care about Philadelphia, I care about all parts of the state.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: My focus and my loyalty and my priority is for
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: people that I represent. That's why during my campaigns, if
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: you want to talk about the differences between us, just
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: look at the spending. I've largely been a self-funded candidate.
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I gladly accept donations, but I've spent a ton of
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: my own money because I don't want to be beholden
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: to anyone.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: My opponent who six months ago was saying he is unemployed,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: you know, is now living in a large house and spending,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: you So who does he serve? Who is his master?
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: He's going to be loyal to the people from Harrisburg
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: and Philadelphia that are giving him the money to say
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: all these ridiculous things about me on TV. That's not
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: how I roll. I'm here for the people of Western Pennsylvania.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I'm here for PA-12, and that's where my loyalty lies,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: and that's who I'm here to serve.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Scott, thank you for your time, and good luck.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Johnny. Appreciate your time.