May 13, 2024 • 34 mins
From the disciplined precision of the boxing ring to the complex chessboard of Pennsylvania politics, Senator Marty Flynn joins us to recount his remarkable journey of public service. His tale is one of true grit—a testament to the power of resilience and the impact of standing up for your community. Senator Flynn throws a powerful punch, not with his fists, but with his unwavering commitment to the people he represents. As we chat, he unveils the strategic plays and the heavyweight endurance that propelled him from the local ringside to the state's political arena, offering candid insights into the twists and turns of his transition.
Navigating the legislative labyrinth isn't for the faint-hearted, and Senator Flynn exposes the raw reality of special elections and the diplomacy required for bipartisan collaboration. With the finesse of a seasoned politician, he shares the daily grind of a state senator, from pushing through pivotal legislation to ensuring the voices of constituents echo through the halls of power. His open-book approach pulls back the curtain, providing a front-row seat to the inner workings of state governance and the art of political agility amidst the ever-present polarization that can make or break crucial decisions meant to serve the public.
Venturing into the pressing issues facing Pennsylvania, we dissect the unequal battleground of education funding and infrastructure woes. Senator Flynn directs us through the potholes of Scranton's fiscal challenges and across the surprisingly expansive network of Pennsylvania’s roads and bridges, rivaling even New York's vast concrete jungle. As the episode wraps up, we express our gratitude to our listeners for their engagement and anticipate the continued conversation with Senator Flynn. His narrative is more than a story of personal success; it's an inspiration for anyone who's ever dreamed of stepping into the ring of public service to fight for their community.
CONNECT WITH SENATOR MARTY FLYNN
https://www.instagram.com/senmartyflynn/
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Sign Up for our Newsletter and get our FREE E-Book where you'll learn everything you need to know about creating financial freedom through multifamily syndication.
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com now!
Introducing the 60 Day Deal Finder!
Visit: www.MartinREIMastery.com
Use the Coupon Code: WEALTHYAFfor 20% off!
This episode is brought to you by Premier Ridge Capital.
Build Generational Wealth As A Passive Investor In Multifamily Real Estate Syndication!
Visit www.premierridgecapital.com to find out more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Building wealth isn't just about personal gain.
It's about empowering yourselfand your community.
This is Wealthy AF, yourultimate guide to understand
what it truly means to beWealthy AF and guys, today I
have a very special guest.
It's Senator Marty Flynn, fromthe state of Pennsylvania, and
before venturing into the realmof politics, marty's journey
began in the gritty world ofprofessional boxing into the
(00:24):
realm of politics.
Marty's journey began in thegritty world of professional
boxing, transitioning seamlesslyfrom the world of sports to the
realm of politics.
Marty carved his path as astate rep before ascending to
his current position as statesenator.
Beyond the confines of the ringand political arena, marty
Flynn's journey is a testamentto the triumph of the human
spirit.
Senator, welcome to the podcast.
Appreciate you having me.
Thanks for having me, thanksfor having me.
(00:45):
So I want to start, first andforemost, how does one go from a
regular guy that's just in thering, a boxer that wants to win
and that?
How did you transform yourself?
Reinvent yourself, I guess, isthe question from a boxer to
going to serve your community?
How did you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't think it was reinvent myself kind of, I just
took um what worked as aprofessional boxer into the
political system by uh runningwhich.
You know what I mean.
Anybody can run for pretty muchanything by uh filling out the
proper paperwork, getting thesignatures, that kind of thing.
And you know I I used to own abar back in.
(01:25):
I think it was like oh, from ohtwo to like oh nine, and in
that time period people used tosay, oh, you know this one, you
know that one, you should runfor this, you should run for
that, and it was always you knowwhatever.
But I had a liquor license atthe, at the premise, and every
so often it would expire.
Okay, and you know, you have itup on the wall, you think you
(01:51):
know you're going to rememberthat date, but every once in a
while you forget to renew it andwhat you have to do is you have
to call your state rep or yourstate senator to get it renewed
if they can help expedite it.
You know, make sure yourpayments are up to stuff with
the department of revenue andthings like that.
And I called the staterepresentative at the time and
people in the past always like,oh, you should run for state rep
(02:11):
.
And I'd always shake it off andthis guy was never receptive to
me, never called me back, never.
So that kind of put a bad tastein my mouth for the for the
current state rep, and I waslike you know, that's messed up,
like I could do this job, youknow.
So then I talked to my dadabout it.
People approached me aboutrunning for the position and my
dad looked at the numbers andsaid, yo, you and your
(02:33):
neighborhood, your neighborhoodis like our neighborhood is like
40% of the district.
It's like you and yourneighborhood big.
It's going to be hard to beatyou and the guy.
It was a friend from where wewere from.
So, worked out, I won by 241votes.
I think it was first time.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So and then and then you went from state rep to.
How was that journey?
How do you go from state repand to Senator?
I know Mario Scobiello issomeone I know in my district
that did the same, took the samejourney.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, Well, it's kind of different, because then at
that point it's a politicalfight to get on the ballot like
you know it's not.
You're going out to get peopleto sign signature and then
you're on the ballot.
It's you have to get your partybecause the current senator,
john blake, he resigned.
So by him resigning it forced aspecial election.
So when you have a specialelection, what happens is the
(03:20):
parties put put two people onthe ballot.
The republican party putsomeone on the ballot.
Democrat put someone on theballot.
The Democrat put someone on theballot and then if there's
third parties that had I thinkit's like 3% in the previous
three elections, they can putsomeone on the ballot.
So I think there was a GreenParty candidate, a Republican
candidate and the Democrats putme on the ballot.
(03:40):
But that was an inter-partyfight to get onto the ballot.
As a Democrat I had won that.
I think it was like 300-somepeople on the committee you had
to get to vote for.
You Got it, got it and then wonthe special election.
But yeah, there was a lot of,we'll say, skirmishes to get
(04:02):
there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey, I told you that the Monroe County's Democratic
Home Office is across the wayfrom my office, literally
back-to-back doors across thestreet from each other, across
the hallway.
And, trust me, I know all ofthe politicians in my area, so I
know the skirmish and the stuffthat goes on.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, because at that point too, in the special
election, monroe County was inmy district.
So the percentage of MonroeCounty in my district it was
like 8% or something like that.
So there were like 12 or 13votes.
I had to get in Monroe Countyfor that special election.
So they helped elect me too,the ones that voted for me.
(04:43):
Let's just say Beautiful,beautiful.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Let's get into what you're doing now.
I want to.
Why don't we educate ourlisteners as to what exactly is
the job of a senator?
Let's start there, and thenwe'll go a little bit into the
world of what's happening inpolitics today.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Okay, so to people that aren't familiar, the US
Senate, the US Congress, isbasically patterned after
Pennsylvania's government.
So an easy way to explain it isin Pennsylvania we have a House
and a Senate.
In the House there's 203members.
In the Senate there's 50 PAsenators.
In the US House there's 423 or30, something like that, and
(05:19):
then there's 100 senators, twoper state.
But the US government wasactually patterned after
Pennsylvania.
So that's kind of a cool, acool fact.
You know the executive.
They have the president.
We have the governor Supremecourt.
He had a Supreme court, u SSupreme court.
We have, I think, nine.
They have like 11 or something.
Um, but yeah, the U?
(05:40):
S government was patternedafter Pennsylvania and I am one
of 50 senators.
The job of a senator is to passa budget every year, to vote
for a budget, and then we passbills along with the House and
pass them back and forth andthen send them to the governor
to be signed.
So my main responsibility islegislation and, most
(06:02):
importantly, a budget by, uh,june 1st or june 30th june 30th
every year you got to pass thebudget.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Um, what are some of the challenges?
Why don't you give us a littlebit of the behind the scenes of
what it is to be a senator?
What are some of the challengesthat you you're faced with?
And why don't we contrast itright with both?
As an entrepreneur, because youweren't entrepreneur and a lot
of our listeners areentrepreneurs?
Yeah and um, as, what are somechallenges you faced as an
entrepreneur and, uh, now in theworld of politics, and as they
(06:34):
relate, similarities maybe, andhow do you overcome them and how
have you overcome them?
Maybe you could share a storyor something like that with us
coming from the house.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Being a former state rep, I was in a deep, deep
something like that.
With us Coming from the house,being a former state rep, I was
in a deep, deep minority, beingthat at times there were 82
Democrats, 120 Republicans.
Basically, it was crazy at onepoint.
Now there's a Democraticmajority, since I've gotten at
the Senate, but in the Senatethere's a Republican majority
and I'm a Democrat, so I'm usedto being in the minority.
(07:04):
So some of the challenges for meare having to work across the
aisle and to just see what it'slike on the bottom of that
ladder and everybody's steppingover you.
I've been there for so longthat to get anything done and
being efficient at getting thecrumbs that they want to give, I
have to work across the aisle,which is very, very hard at some
(07:24):
times.
You know what I mean and thereare some people on the other
side of the aisle that realizethis that sooner or later it's
going to swing back the otherway here and you know I'll be
the one with the hammer in myhand.
But you know it getschallenging at times to get
things done because you're notin the majority.
(07:44):
But at the same time.
There are things that areafforded to me that I can work
the system with the governor.
We usually have a Democraticgovernor.
I'm very good at working thestate system and helping people
navigate through the statesystem with their issues.
People call my office every dayfor help when they have trouble
getting a hold of somebody atunemployment.
(08:04):
They have trouble getting ahold of somebody at unemployment
.
They have trouble getting ahold of somebody at revenue.
They can't get theircompensation.
I'm very, very skilled at andmy staff especially is very
skilled at getting a hold ofpeople to get things done within
the state system and I'd saythat's one of the major
accomplishments I've had sinceI've come in as a state
(08:26):
representative and as a senatorI carry that over.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Got it.
You mentioned working acrossthe aisle.
Our country right now is verypolarized, very, very polarized.
So the last seven years, I'mgoing to say, are a little
longer, and it wasn't alwayslike that.
It wasn't always like thatDemocrats and Republicans knew
how to work together.
Last time we had unity in ourcountry that both parties came
(08:53):
across, that, I remember, wasafter 9-11.
We all came together and it wasunity and it was all one family
.
We were all Americans and it'sbeen a long time.
It's been a very long time andwe have these bickering back and
forth.
How do you navigate that?
How do you navigate that whenyou know?
Give us an example of what thedifferences are.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
A lot.
Well, here's the problem To bepartisan for a second.
Republicans don't stand foranything, they're just against
everything.
That's a huge issue.
You know what I mean?
You could be beholden tocorporations all you want, but
you got to stand for something.
You can't just be againsteverything.
Give me an example.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Why don't you give us an example of what that looks
like from your experience,because you're coming from a
high level and you're in itright, so we see what the media
feeds to us.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay.
So on a state level, I'll putit this way Republicans, year in
and year out, talk about howgovernment should not be
wasteful and how we should berun like a business and how that
is the most important thing torun it like a business.
But at the same time, theRepublican caucuses in both the
House and the Senate are againstnew revenue sources revenue
(10:04):
sources.
So if you want to run somethinglike a business and you want to
cut waste, how do you stoprevenue streams from coming in
to the coffers?
And right now, pennsylvania?
Since I've been in, we werefacing fiscal cliffs.
You know what I mean Two, $3billion budget deficit.
(10:25):
But since COVID, the federalgovernment came in and made
Pennsylvania flush with COVID,we have a $12 billion billion
dollar surplus.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, by the way, our roads suck, brother, so put
that towards our roads.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We'll talk about that .
We'll talk about that.
But the issue I have is theywon't spend any of it to fix
anything, but at the same timethey won't put any new revenue
streams in to make it more than$12 billion.
So if you're not for anythinghere, what are you for?
What are you getting done?
We have marijuana Tax it.
(11:01):
We have the games of skill.
The games of skill.
They're out there, operating inevery 7-Eleven, every little
mini parlor, on every streetcorner, in every city in the
state.
Tax them.
That's money that should becoming in for issues, for roads
and bridges.
Call it Operation Pothole.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Gotcha.
So let me ask you this question, which you kind of answered you
.
You said that they send fornothing.
So they, we have revenue, wewant they're, they're against
new revenue generating things.
But the way I see it, basically, yeah, but the way I see it is,
they do stand for the fact thatthey don't want to tax
businesses more.
(11:41):
Um, if that's the proposedbudget, if that's what's being
proposed, right, you as anentrepreneur, as a bar owner,
that you know, let's go as anentrepreneur, as a bar owner,
let's go entrepreneur toentrepreneur.
You, as a bar owner, man, wepay a lot of taxes.
I mean, you're in cities likethe one we were talking about
earlier in Scranton, where youknow it's harder to do business
there, that the city is tough,and I know you're above that
(12:01):
level, but we're paying a lot ofmoney in taxes already.
We're paying city, we're payingstate, we're paying employment
taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I'll give this to you .
I'll give this statistic to you.
What percentage of businessesin Pennsylvania pay taxes?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I'm not sure, I don't know.
I'm going to say, I'm going totake a guess here.
Corporate income tax.
I'm going to say this is just aguess 70%, no, no, what is it?
30.
30%, so half of it.
So only 30% of businesses inPennsylvania pay corporate taxes
(12:37):
.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, there's this thing called the Delaware
loophole, okay, where businessesgo to Delaware they incorporate
, there's one address I believehas 180,000 businesses in
mailbox, po boxes that registerthere.
And those businesses registerout of Delaware, use the tax
loophole of Delaware and thenoperate in Pennsylvania.
So they operate here, pay nocorporate tax in Pennsylvania
(13:02):
but are stationed in Delaware.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Okay, so that's how they're doing it, but it's that
number that high, because theaverage guy, you know the
average guy that owns a littlebodega or owns a little
laundromat, this is not thatsophisticated.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That's the 30% that are paying it, the little guys,
that's the ones that are payingit, which it's sad.
It's sad, it's not fair andit's not right.
So, just like, that's just like, I think.
What is it Like if you'rewealthy?
What do they call it?
The Montana loophole?
Do you know about the Montanaloophole?
No, I don't.
Some of your.
(13:37):
Well, it's a sports car, it'sMontana or Utah, one of them,
utah.
If you buy it's Utah, you buythe luxury car, you don't pay
any tax and you can buy it inUtah and then just ship it and
register back.
I think you have to register itin Utah, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
but that's not going to be a big.
That's not a problem for awealthy person to register there
.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
No, no, I think it's just a loophole.
It exists.
It exists in Pennsylvania.
There's one side that wants tofix that and there's another
side that doesn't.
So that lets you know.
You know what I mean.
Like, what do we want to do?
We want things to be fair, ordo we want things to be skewed?
And then that goes to what sideof the spectrum are you on?
(14:20):
Do you know what I mean?
Like what do you think?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
You know, I think, look, I think there's just a lot
of common sense stuff on bothsides that we get so bipartisan,
both parties, they get.
So, they get so partisan, yeah,they get partisan, excuse me,
they get.
They dig in their heels so muchand it's like no, this is it,
this is it.
And there's no, this is myopinion.
There's no like hey, we have toserve the community and not
serve our party.
We have to serve.
So let's just come together andsee how we can better serve all
of us.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I am 100% behind you because you have to look at it
from my perspective.
Like I have been in a deepminority where none of my stuff
will get run just because of whoI was.
So now-.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
For the letter behind your name.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Basically yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah, so
now you could see it in realtime.
The house, since it's becomedemocrat, has passed 200 bills,
200 in the house ofrepresentatives of the a.
How many do you think they ranin the senate?
That's republican.
200 they passed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
How many do you think they'd run?
Uh right, I don't know, maybe50, three, three whoa out 200.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So that's broken government and hey, maybe some
things are partisan in some ways, but I guarantee you, I
guarantee you, out of those 300or those 200 bills, I guarantee
you 150 of them.
We both would all vote for, but, just out of spite, they won't
run them.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, that's just stupid, man.
That's just that's disgusting,actually, man.
That's just bad, that's justthat's disgusting, actually man.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's just bad, that's bad on, that's just like
and here's another thing I'mgoing to bring up to you that
perfectly will show you what hasgone on Historically before the
Tea Party came in in 2010 andtook over all the state
legislatures and all over thecountries right, the Republicans
.
Yeah, Historically.
What percentage of bills do youthink passed in Pennsylvania
were passed by the minorityparty Before?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
the Tea Party.
I don't know, 50%, maybe it was41.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Now, since then, what do you think it is now?
Probably a ridiculous low, Imean based on the number you
just gave me, like 2% orsomething.
It was like 4% to 6%, which youknow what I mean.
That's 95% of the stuff we allagree on, Mm-hmm.
So why not just run that stuff?
Yeah, man, you know what itgets down to.
(16:36):
It gets down to well.
We can't put this up for a vote.
And one thing I didn't knowbefore I ran for office is you
could come up with a bill thatcures cancer.
They're not going to run it.
They're not going to run thebill, they're going to steal it.
They're going to steal and runit with one of their people, or
they're just not going to run it.
And I think there should besome mechanism to force both
(16:58):
sides' bills to be at least putup for a vote.
Let's hold our electedofficials accountable by their
votes.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, and I have some questions around that in a
moment for you, because I knowhow you voted in some things, we
did some research and I want tounpack some things with that
for you.
But before I get into that, Iwant to ask you being in the
inside.
Right, I'm a citizen.
I'm just a citizen in the stateof Pennsylvania.
I own a lot of real estate inthe state of Pennsylvania, I
provide a lot of jobs in thestate of PA and I pay a lot of
real estate in the state ofPennsylvania.
I provide a lot of jobs in thestate of PA and I pay a lot of
taxes too.
(17:29):
Brother, dad, I want you to dome a favor and take off your
senator hat for a moment, and Iwant you to be the entrepreneur
or just the dad or the husbandor the citizen.
You already put some street bagon it.
I like that.
I just want you to take thathat off for a minute the senator
hat and I want you to be aregular guy now, having been
(17:53):
there.
And I want you to look at itinside.
Look at it, having been on theinside in that political machine
, and how nasty it is.
That's just nasty.
What's happening there?
What would you propose?
The solution is to come back tothe JFK Democrats and those
days where people can worktogether, where a Democrat and a
Republican can duke it out onthe floor and then go have a
beer afterwards.
That doesn't happen anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well it does, because some of my best friends are
super like right Republicansthat I would never vote for.
You know what I mean?
We have a golf caucus where wegolf together and stuff.
Some of my best friends arelike the most right-wing lunatic
people, okay, and those are thepeople that I hang out with in
there, which is totally opposite.
Tick people, okay, but andthose are the people that I hang
out with in there, which youknow is totally opposite.
But, like as an entrepreneur, if, if you're looking at
(18:34):
government for government,socialism, for things to help
your business, like I'm beperfectly honest with you, like
I'm talking on the street withyou, like if government isn't
helping you as a business owner,then that's your own ignorance,
that's your fault.
Yes, sir, there is a system.
There are businesses that getgrants, that get help, get tax
(18:58):
advantages by being on theinside, and what people don't
understand is you have yourelected officials, but that's
just a layer of what goes on.
There's administrators allthroughout that building that
they're in lobbyists, like, ifyou don't have a lobbyist and
you're a business owner andyou're not paying six to 10
grand a month to somebody outthere hustling rants for you,
(19:20):
then you don't know what you'redoing.
You know what I mean.
You're just ignorant.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
The truth of the matter is a lot of us small
business guys we can't affordthat to have lobbyists right To
do that for us.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
And that's just the system that exists within that
building that you know.
It's insane, it's really insane.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So how would you again, going back to you being
an entrepreneur and having beeninside and seeing how that
machine works, how do youpropose a fix to bring people
together, to bring both theright and the left to the middle
and work together?
Look, I believe, senator, thathuman beings are just human
beings, not just.
I've traveled a lot around theworld and I just believe.
(20:01):
In my travels I have found thatas human beings, we just want
to be left alone, we want to bewith our family, we want to have
good meals, we want to justenjoy life and be loved by our
families and we want to be free.
I think those are basic thingsof every human being, regardless
of where you are.
How can the government comealong and support us?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Here's the problem in Pennsylvania.
I'll tell you a flap, just theway it is.
You have Philadelphia.
You have Pittsburgh Okay, youhave Philadelphia.
You have Pittsburgh Okay, youhave Kentucky in between.
So these people in thesedifferent areas.
Then you have Scranton,allentown, you have some small
cities.
You know what I mean,mckeesport Reading, but for the
most part you have people whoselives are drastically different.
(20:43):
Yes, sir, their everydayexperiences are drastically
different.
And there's this one word thatthat is never used.
It's called empathy.
People don't want to walk ablock in that kid in north
philadelphia, shoes, thatdoesn't have a supermarket, that
eats every day at checkers orat a bodega for their food
(21:08):
source, that lives in a terribleenvironment.
All they care about is wherethey live and where I live or
where another person lives.
So getting to that middleground like something as simple
as a police department, youdon't think about it like that.
But think about this If youlive in a rural area, I did.
(21:32):
Okay, you don't pay for a policedepartment.
Yeah, the state police is yourpolice.
Yes, you don't pay for a firedepartment.
Volunteer fire department.
Volunteer fire department.
That's right.
So why would you care thatScranton needs $2 million
because their police force needsthis or their fire department
(21:52):
needs this because there's100,000 people living there?
None, none, 800.
But you have the same politicalpower on voting for things.
You haven't experienced theirneed, so what do you care about
it?
And that's where these thingsget.
These issues get very, veryhard when those people in
Scranton are paying for yourstate police protection in their
(22:13):
taxes and you're getting it forfree and they're not, but they
don't care.
You know what I mean.
So these are like the type ofissues that you start splitting
hairs with each other over andit gets hard.
It gets hard to empathize withpeople on the other side and it
becomes visceral in some ways.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know what I mean and it becomes visceral in some
ways.
You know what I mean.
I'm really glad that youbrought that up because, as I
mentioned to you before, Maureen, Maureen State Rep 187th
District.
Now I think they split thedistrict because she's 187.
We're friends and we've actuallyhad this conversation many a
times in my office and heroffice and one day I was talking
to her and I said Maureen, whatare we doing about these taxes
here in Monroe County?
So, as you know, Monroe Countypays the highest share of taxes
(22:55):
for school taxes in the wholestate of Pennsylvania.
It's ridiculous what we pay intaxes and for school taxes.
And what's interesting is sheused the same analogy that you
did.
She gave us the same, she gaveme the same perspective.
She goes, Martin, the challengeis that when it comes to the
distribution of budget and thisand that someone, the state,
we're small, and then you've gotpeople in Philadelphia.
(23:17):
They don't have the same issuesthat we have.
You have people in wherever andthey don't have the same issues
.
Their taxes are low, so it'shard for us to fight it.
It was a conversation goingaround that similar to what you
were just explaining.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The Supreme Court ruled that our funding system,
our funding formula, is notconstitutional, that it's not
equitable.
So that leaves us to get thattogether.
But what you're saying, likeyou're talking about Pocono
Scranton actually has the lowestper pupil funding for an urban
school district in the entirestate Because Scranton 40% of
(23:52):
the property is actually ownedby nonprofits that don't pay
taxes, so that forces-.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Really 40% of the properties in Scranton are well,
I own quite a bit of propertiesthere.
I'm for profit.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
40% of the physical land mass is owned by nonprofits
.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Church hospitals, different nonprofits, entities
like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Which is crazy, because then that forces people
like yourselves the populationis basically older, lower income
.
That forces them to carry theweight of making up for it.
But then the other problem iswhere that city money doesn't
come in.
The county taxes go up also.
So it's just, it's notequitable.
(24:33):
And there's a lot of movementto get this done fair funding
formula.
There's a task force to do that.
But if they don't come up withsomething new, that the Supreme
Court is going to do it andthey're not going to want that.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So we're going to have to do that, yeah, so I'm
glad you.
Thank you for educating me onthat and my listeners.
I got a lot of listeners inPennsylvania, so this is good
information.
So what exactly?
When the Supreme Court ruled onthat, what does that mean for
us as taxpayers in Pennsylvania?
What should be the outcome,senator, in the end, that we all
(25:11):
get a level playing field fortaxes, for the taxation system,
for our real estate taxes.
What's the outcome of that?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's what the Fair Funding Commission has to come
up with.
But if they don't come up withit, then the judge is going to
tell them and I'm sure they'renot going to want that to happen
.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, how much time do they have to get that done?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I would say in the next year.
Yeah, I would say in the nextyear it would have to, because
like a state share of, say, likeI think it's like 4,600 per
student in Scranton, but thenyou go to like Yardley and it's
like 12 to $15,000 per student.
So how is their equity in thatin a public system?
(25:54):
And then the other issue is youhave charter schools now have
their hands on public schoolmoney and can do whatever they
want with it.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I've seen that, so they can advertise.
They can run commercials on TVand there's no accountability.
You can't look at their books.
So it was just basically aneffort to divert money away from
the public education system.
To go and listen.
I'm all for charter schoolsthat are accountable.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Hold your own, though , man.
My taxes shouldn't have to payfor you and Maureen and I.
She educated me on that, and wetalked about that as well.
Yeah, hold your own.
You're charging these crazyfees anyway, so you should.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And you're getting public school money.
You're charging these crazyfees anyway, so you should, and
you're getting public schoolmoney.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You're double dipping .
So I want to talk.
Before I go to my questions onsome of these bills that you
voted on, I want to ask youabout something that's, I'm sure
, on every Pennsylvanian's mindOur roads are terrible, Senator.
They're just horrible.
They just are, man, they justare.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
You know why?
Do you know Pennsylvania?
Listen to this.
Pennsylvania has more roads andbridges than New York, new
Jersey and all of New Englandcombined.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Holy smokes, I had no idea.
No, no, did you also know NewYork, new Jersey and New England
?
By All of them, bridges androads and bridges.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yep, wow.
Now here's the other issue thatpeople don't, normal people
don't realize.
Our temperature fluctuates,yeah it goes ha.
Super cold, mm-hmm.
Then comes the spring, then itgoes ha super cold.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's not Overnight, overnight.
Overnight Like, it's 30 andthen 60.
In the morning we wake up it's30 and it's 60 degrees in the
afternoon.
But what people?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
don't think about is it causes the ground to move.
That's why we have such aproblem and an issue.
If you go to Florida, you go toSouthern states.
They can make blacktop okay,with glass in it, with rock,
like different kinds of rock,because the ground never moves
and the climate is always thesame.
So they can use differentproducts to make blacktop.
(28:05):
In Pennsylvania that's not thecase because the road is always
moving okay, and it costsbillions and billions of dollars
, and we spend billions ofdollars a year on our roads and
bridges in Pennsylvania.
And the other issue is theaverage life expectancy of a
bridge in Pennsylvania.
How long do you think it is?
(28:26):
50 years, spot on, really.
How old do you think theaverage bridge is in
Pennsylvania?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Ah, based on the way they look, brother, I'm going to
say 200 years, no 55.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
55, okay, 55.
Okay, they got for the buildback, better, the Biden money.
The Biden, yeah, the build backTransportation money.
We're getting billions ofdollars, so I think it was like
something like $6 billion overthe next five years that are
going into our roads and bridges, but at the same time, it's
still.
We still need more money.
(28:59):
You know what I mean, which iscrazy in itself that we're not
going to cover all of it.
But you know, and the other,the other issue is we get a lot.
Penndot gets a lot of theirmoney from the gasoline tax and
as electric cars go up and EPsgo up, there's no fee on them.
Currently, the gas taxes go,the collection goes down, which
(29:21):
which becomes a huge issuebecause we need to to find an
adequate tax on the on the evcars, be it like a fee, yearly
fee or something to make up forthat lost revenue that that
we're running into right nowpendon what?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
What impact is that Is?
Is is those EV having on thebottom line?
It?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
is like I think almost 20%, 60% of the cars are
starting to become EVs.
I believe Didn't Biden?
Speaker 1 (29:46):
didn't Biden pass a bill that, by 2030 or something
like it, was a large amount ofpercentage?
I saw that.
I read that it was a largepercentage of the vehicles
needed to be EV or somethinglike that, so that's going to
have a bigger impact.
There was something that wasbeing either proposed.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
There's nothing forced, yeah, maybe some
proposed.
There's nothing that forces EVs.
It's just people are doing itbecause it's it's cheaper.
You know what I mean?
I have a buddy who has a Tesla.
He saves $600 a month drivingit to work every day.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, the problem, though, with those cars is, if
you're driving from Pennsylvaniato Florida, man, you can't, you
can't, you can't, you can't.
You better know where everystation is.
You better plan it out, man,with MapQuest, and know where
you're going to stop.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Right, because you can't.
That's like flying and nowhereyou can glide to an airport.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, man, it's it.
That's the problem with that,with those EB cars, um so, so,
um, thank you for thank you forsharing that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Hop up in the in the next five or so years.
I know there's one down in uhin Wilkes-Barre that's being
built currently and we'll seeyeah.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, thank you for educating us on the roads and
really giving us anunderstanding of why the roads
are rough, and that makes totalsense.
Living in Pennsylvania, we knowthat, like we know that we get
extreme cold right and thenextreme hot, and then, right now
(31:12):
, winter doesn't want to leaveus.
Like it's 30 degrees in themorning and then 65 or 60, 70
degrees in the afternoon, andthen boom, it goes back down to
20 at night and you wake up.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
It's like what is going on, so does the, so does
the ground, and that's what youjust think about or realize.
And then you go to, you're likeI'm in New York and you're like
, oh, the roads are fine in NewYork, they're so much better.
And like, think about it,pennsylvania has more roads than
New York, new Jersey and NewEngland combined.
So just getting to all of them,it's like you don't think of
Pennsylvania having more roadsthan New York, you don't?
(31:45):
You?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
just don't it, just it, just it's hard to.
It's hard to process thatbecause you think you know New
York is New York, right, thebiggest, largest city in the
world.
Right, how can Pennsylvaniahave more roads and bridges than
New York?
But you know, you have the data.
Hey guys, thank you forlistening to part one of my
interview with Senator MartyFlynn.
(32:07):
Tune in this Friday to listenand watch part two.
Until then, peace out.
Building wealth isn't just about personal gain.
It's about empowering yourselfand your community.
This is Wealthy AF, yourultimate guide to understand
what it truly means to beWealthy AF and guys, today I
have a very special guest.
It's Senator Marty Flynn, fromthe state of Pennsylvania, and
before venturing into the realmof politics, marty's journey
began in the gritty world ofprofessional boxing into the
(00:24):
realm of politics.
Marty's journey began in thegritty world of professional
boxing, transitioning seamlesslyfrom the world of sports to the
realm of politics.
Marty carved his path as astate rep before ascending to
his current position as statesenator.
Beyond the confines of the ringand political arena, marty
Flynn's journey is a testamentto the triumph of the human
spirit.
Senator, welcome to the podcast.
Appreciate you having me.
Thanks for having me, thanksfor having me.
(00:45):
So I want to start, first andforemost, how does one go from a
regular guy that's just in thering, a boxer that wants to win
and that?
How did you transform yourself?
Reinvent yourself, I guess, isthe question from a boxer to
going to serve your community?
How did you do that?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
I don't think it was reinvent myself kind of, I just
took um what worked as aprofessional boxer into the
political system by uh runningwhich.
You know what I mean.
Anybody can run for pretty muchanything by uh filling out the
proper paperwork, getting thesignatures, that kind of thing.
And you know I I used to own abar back in.
(01:25):
I think it was like oh, from ohtwo to like oh nine, and in
that time period people used tosay, oh, you know this one, you
know that one, you should runfor this, you should run for
that, and it was always you knowwhatever.
But I had a liquor license atthe, at the premise, and every
so often it would expire.
Okay, and you know, you have itup on the wall, you think you
(01:51):
know you're going to rememberthat date, but every once in a
while you forget to renew it andwhat you have to do is you have
to call your state rep or yourstate senator to get it renewed
if they can help expedite it.
You know, make sure yourpayments are up to stuff with
the department of revenue andthings like that.
And I called the staterepresentative at the time and
people in the past always like,oh, you should run for state rep
(02:11):
.
And I'd always shake it off andthis guy was never receptive to
me, never called me back, never.
So that kind of put a bad tastein my mouth for the for the
current state rep, and I waslike you know, that's messed up,
like I could do this job, youknow.
So then I talked to my dadabout it.
People approached me aboutrunning for the position and my
dad looked at the numbers andsaid, yo, you and your
(02:33):
neighborhood, your neighborhoodis like our neighborhood is like
40% of the district.
It's like you and yourneighborhood big.
It's going to be hard to beatyou and the guy.
It was a friend from where wewere from.
So, worked out, I won by 241votes.
I think it was first time.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
So and then and then you went from state rep to.
How was that journey?
How do you go from state repand to Senator?
I know Mario Scobiello issomeone I know in my district
that did the same, took the samejourney.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Yeah, Well, it's kind of different, because then at
that point it's a politicalfight to get on the ballot like
you know it's not.
You're going out to get peopleto sign signature and then
you're on the ballot.
It's you have to get your partybecause the current senator,
john blake, he resigned.
So by him resigning it forced aspecial election.
So when you have a specialelection, what happens is the
(03:20):
parties put put two people onthe ballot.
The republican party putsomeone on the ballot.
Democrat put someone on theballot.
The Democrat put someone on theballot and then if there's
third parties that had I thinkit's like 3% in the previous
three elections, they can putsomeone on the ballot.
So I think there was a GreenParty candidate, a Republican
candidate and the Democrats putme on the ballot.
(03:40):
But that was an inter-partyfight to get onto the ballot.
As a Democrat I had won that.
I think it was like 300-somepeople on the committee you had
to get to vote for.
You Got it, got it and then wonthe special election.
But yeah, there was a lot of,we'll say, skirmishes to get
(04:02):
there.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Hey, I told you that the Monroe County's Democratic
Home Office is across the wayfrom my office, literally
back-to-back doors across thestreet from each other, across
the hallway.
And, trust me, I know all ofthe politicians in my area, so I
know the skirmish and the stuffthat goes on.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, because at that point too, in the special
election, monroe County was inmy district.
So the percentage of MonroeCounty in my district it was
like 8% or something like that.
So there were like 12 or 13votes.
I had to get in Monroe Countyfor that special election.
So they helped elect me too,the ones that voted for me.
(04:43):
Let's just say Beautiful,beautiful.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Let's get into what you're doing now.
I want to.
Why don't we educate ourlisteners as to what exactly is
the job of a senator?
Let's start there, and thenwe'll go a little bit into the
world of what's happening inpolitics today.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Okay, so to people that aren't familiar, the US
Senate, the US Congress, isbasically patterned after
Pennsylvania's government.
So an easy way to explain it isin Pennsylvania we have a House
and a Senate.
In the House there's 203members.
In the Senate there's 50 PAsenators.
In the US House there's 423 or30, something like that, and
(05:19):
then there's 100 senators, twoper state.
But the US government wasactually patterned after
Pennsylvania.
So that's kind of a cool, acool fact.
You know the executive.
They have the president.
We have the governor Supremecourt.
He had a Supreme court, u SSupreme court.
We have, I think, nine.
They have like 11 or something.
Um, but yeah, the U?
(05:40):
S government was patternedafter Pennsylvania and I am one
of 50 senators.
The job of a senator is to passa budget every year, to vote
for a budget, and then we passbills along with the House and
pass them back and forth andthen send them to the governor
to be signed.
So my main responsibility islegislation and, most
(06:02):
importantly, a budget by, uh,june 1st or june 30th june 30th
every year you got to pass thebudget.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
Um, what are some of the challenges?
Why don't you give us a littlebit of the behind the scenes of
what it is to be a senator?
What are some of the challengesthat you you're faced with?
And why don't we contrast itright with both?
As an entrepreneur, because youweren't entrepreneur and a lot
of our listeners areentrepreneurs?
Yeah and um, as, what are somechallenges you faced as an
entrepreneur and, uh, now in theworld of politics, and as they
(06:34):
relate, similarities maybe, andhow do you overcome them and how
have you overcome them?
Maybe you could share a storyor something like that with us
coming from the house.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Being a former state rep, I was in a deep, deep
something like that.
With us Coming from the house,being a former state rep, I was
in a deep, deep minority, beingthat at times there were 82
Democrats, 120 Republicans.
Basically, it was crazy at onepoint.
Now there's a Democraticmajority, since I've gotten at
the Senate, but in the Senatethere's a Republican majority
and I'm a Democrat, so I'm usedto being in the minority.
(07:04):
So some of the challenges for meare having to work across the
aisle and to just see what it'slike on the bottom of that
ladder and everybody's steppingover you.
I've been there for so longthat to get anything done and
being efficient at getting thecrumbs that they want to give, I
have to work across the aisle,which is very, very hard at some
(07:24):
times.
You know what I mean and thereare some people on the other
side of the aisle that realizethis that sooner or later it's
going to swing back the otherway here and you know I'll be
the one with the hammer in myhand.
But you know it getschallenging at times to get
things done because you're notin the majority.
(07:44):
But at the same time.
There are things that areafforded to me that I can work
the system with the governor.
We usually have a Democraticgovernor.
I'm very good at working thestate system and helping people
navigate through the statesystem with their issues.
People call my office every dayfor help when they have trouble
getting a hold of somebody atunemployment.
(08:04):
They have trouble getting ahold of somebody at unemployment
.
They have trouble getting ahold of somebody at revenue.
They can't get theircompensation.
I'm very, very skilled at andmy staff especially is very
skilled at getting a hold ofpeople to get things done within
the state system and I'd saythat's one of the major
accomplishments I've had sinceI've come in as a state
(08:26):
representative and as a senatorI carry that over.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Got it.
You mentioned working acrossthe aisle.
Our country right now is verypolarized, very, very polarized.
So the last seven years, I'mgoing to say, are a little
longer, and it wasn't alwayslike that.
It wasn't always like thatDemocrats and Republicans knew
how to work together.
Last time we had unity in ourcountry that both parties came
(08:53):
across, that, I remember, wasafter 9-11.
We all came together and it wasunity and it was all one family
.
We were all Americans and it'sbeen a long time.
It's been a very long time andwe have these bickering back and
forth.
How do you navigate that?
How do you navigate that whenyou know?
Give us an example of what thedifferences are.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
A lot.
Well, here's the problem To bepartisan for a second.
Republicans don't stand foranything, they're just against
everything.
That's a huge issue.
You know what I mean?
You could be beholden tocorporations all you want, but
you got to stand for something.
You can't just be againsteverything.
Give me an example.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Why don't you give us an example of what that looks
like from your experience,because you're coming from a
high level and you're in itright, so we see what the media
feeds to us.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Okay.
So on a state level, I'll putit this way Republicans, year in
and year out, talk about howgovernment should not be
wasteful and how we should berun like a business and how that
is the most important thing torun it like a business.
But at the same time, theRepublican caucuses in both the
House and the Senate are againstnew revenue sources revenue
(10:04):
sources.
So if you want to run somethinglike a business and you want to
cut waste, how do you stoprevenue streams from coming in
to the coffers?
And right now, pennsylvania?
Since I've been in, we werefacing fiscal cliffs.
You know what I mean Two, $3billion budget deficit.
(10:25):
But since COVID, the federalgovernment came in and made
Pennsylvania flush with COVID,we have a $12 billion billion
dollar surplus.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
Okay, by the way, our roads suck, brother, so put
that towards our roads.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We'll talk about that .
We'll talk about that.
But the issue I have is theywon't spend any of it to fix
anything, but at the same timethey won't put any new revenue
streams in to make it more than$12 billion.
So if you're not for anythinghere, what are you for?
What are you getting done?
We have marijuana Tax it.
(11:01):
We have the games of skill.
The games of skill.
They're out there, operating inevery 7-Eleven, every little
mini parlor, on every streetcorner, in every city in the
state.
Tax them.
That's money that should becoming in for issues, for roads
and bridges.
Call it Operation Pothole.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Gotcha.
So let me ask you this question, which you kind of answered you
.
You said that they send fornothing.
So they, we have revenue, wewant they're, they're against
new revenue generating things.
But the way I see it, basically, yeah, but the way I see it is,
they do stand for the fact thatthey don't want to tax
businesses more.
(11:41):
Um, if that's the proposedbudget, if that's what's being
proposed, right, you as anentrepreneur, as a bar owner,
that you know, let's go as anentrepreneur, as a bar owner,
let's go entrepreneur toentrepreneur.
You, as a bar owner, man, wepay a lot of taxes.
I mean, you're in cities likethe one we were talking about
earlier in Scranton, where youknow it's harder to do business
there, that the city is tough,and I know you're above that
(12:01):
level, but we're paying a lot ofmoney in taxes already.
We're paying city, we're payingstate, we're paying employment
taxes.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I'll give this to you .
I'll give this statistic to you.
What percentage of businessesin Pennsylvania pay taxes?
Speaker 1 (12:16):
I'm not sure, I don't know.
I'm going to say, I'm going totake a guess here.
Corporate income tax.
I'm going to say this is just aguess 70%, no, no, what is it?
30.
30%, so half of it.
So only 30% of businesses inPennsylvania pay corporate taxes
(12:37):
.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, there's this thing called the Delaware
loophole, okay, where businessesgo to Delaware they incorporate
, there's one address I believehas 180,000 businesses in
mailbox, po boxes that registerthere.
And those businesses registerout of Delaware, use the tax
loophole of Delaware and thenoperate in Pennsylvania.
So they operate here, pay nocorporate tax in Pennsylvania
(13:02):
but are stationed in Delaware.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Okay, so that's how they're doing it, but it's that
number that high, because theaverage guy, you know the
average guy that owns a littlebodega or owns a little
laundromat, this is not thatsophisticated.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
That's the 30% that are paying it, the little guys,
that's the ones that are payingit, which it's sad.
It's sad, it's not fair andit's not right.
So, just like, that's just like, I think.
What is it Like if you'rewealthy?
What do they call it?
The Montana loophole?
Do you know about the Montanaloophole?
No, I don't.
Some of your.
(13:37):
Well, it's a sports car, it'sMontana or Utah, one of them,
utah.
If you buy it's Utah, you buythe luxury car, you don't pay
any tax and you can buy it inUtah and then just ship it and
register back.
I think you have to register itin Utah, right, yeah?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
but that's not going to be a big.
That's not a problem for awealthy person to register there
.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
No, no, I think it's just a loophole.
It exists.
It exists in Pennsylvania.
There's one side that wants tofix that and there's another
side that doesn't.
So that lets you know.
You know what I mean.
Like, what do we want to do?
We want things to be fair, ordo we want things to be skewed?
And then that goes to what sideof the spectrum are you on?
(14:20):
Do you know what I mean?
Like what do you think?
Speaker 1 (14:29):
You know, I think, look, I think there's just a lot
of common sense stuff on bothsides that we get so bipartisan,
both parties, they get.
So, they get so partisan, yeah,they get partisan, excuse me,
they get.
They dig in their heels so muchand it's like no, this is it,
this is it.
And there's no, this is myopinion.
There's no like hey, we have toserve the community and not
serve our party.
We have to serve.
So let's just come together andsee how we can better serve all
of us.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I am 100% behind you because you have to look at it
from my perspective.
Like I have been in a deepminority where none of my stuff
will get run just because of whoI was.
So now-.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
For the letter behind your name.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Basically yeah, that's what I'm saying, yeah, so
now you could see it in realtime.
The house, since it's becomedemocrat, has passed 200 bills,
200 in the house ofrepresentatives of the a.
How many do you think they ranin the senate?
That's republican.
200 they passed.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
How many do you think they'd run?
Uh right, I don't know, maybe50, three, three whoa out 200.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So that's broken government and hey, maybe some
things are partisan in some ways, but I guarantee you, I
guarantee you, out of those 300or those 200 bills, I guarantee
you 150 of them.
We both would all vote for, but, just out of spite, they won't
run them.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Yeah, that's just stupid, man.
That's just that's disgusting,actually, man.
That's just bad, that's justthat's disgusting, actually man.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
That's just bad, that's bad on, that's just like
and here's another thing I'mgoing to bring up to you that
perfectly will show you what hasgone on Historically before the
Tea Party came in in 2010 andtook over all the state
legislatures and all over thecountries right, the Republicans
.
Yeah, Historically.
What percentage of bills do youthink passed in Pennsylvania
were passed by the minorityparty Before?
Speaker 1 (16:10):
the Tea Party.
I don't know, 50%, maybe it was41.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Now, since then, what do you think it is now?
Probably a ridiculous low, Imean based on the number you
just gave me, like 2% orsomething.
It was like 4% to 6%, which youknow what I mean.
That's 95% of the stuff we allagree on, Mm-hmm.
So why not just run that stuff?
Yeah, man, you know what itgets down to.
(16:36):
It gets down to well.
We can't put this up for a vote.
And one thing I didn't knowbefore I ran for office is you
could come up with a bill thatcures cancer.
They're not going to run it.
They're not going to run thebill, they're going to steal it.
They're going to steal and runit with one of their people, or
they're just not going to run it.
And I think there should besome mechanism to force both
(16:58):
sides' bills to be at least putup for a vote.
Let's hold our electedofficials accountable by their
votes.
I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah, and I have some questions around that in a
moment for you, because I knowhow you voted in some things, we
did some research and I want tounpack some things with that
for you.
But before I get into that, Iwant to ask you being in the
inside.
Right, I'm a citizen.
I'm just a citizen in the stateof Pennsylvania.
I own a lot of real estate inthe state of Pennsylvania, I
provide a lot of jobs in thestate of PA and I pay a lot of
real estate in the state ofPennsylvania.
I provide a lot of jobs in thestate of PA and I pay a lot of
taxes too.
(17:29):
Brother, dad, I want you to dome a favor and take off your
senator hat for a moment, and Iwant you to be the entrepreneur
or just the dad or the husbandor the citizen.
You already put some street bagon it.
I like that.
I just want you to take thathat off for a minute the senator
hat and I want you to be aregular guy now, having been
(17:53):
there.
And I want you to look at itinside.
Look at it, having been on theinside in that political machine
, and how nasty it is.
That's just nasty.
What's happening there?
What would you propose?
The solution is to come back tothe JFK Democrats and those
days where people can worktogether, where a Democrat and a
Republican can duke it out onthe floor and then go have a
beer afterwards.
That doesn't happen anymore.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Well it does, because some of my best friends are
super like right Republicansthat I would never vote for.
You know what I mean?
We have a golf caucus where wegolf together and stuff.
Some of my best friends arelike the most right-wing lunatic
people, okay, and those are thepeople that I hang out with in
there, which is totally opposite.
Tick people, okay, but andthose are the people that I hang
out with in there, which youknow is totally opposite.
But, like as an entrepreneur, if, if you're looking at
(18:34):
government for government,socialism, for things to help
your business, like I'm beperfectly honest with you, like
I'm talking on the street withyou, like if government isn't
helping you as a business owner,then that's your own ignorance,
that's your fault.
Yes, sir, there is a system.
There are businesses that getgrants, that get help, get tax
(18:58):
advantages by being on theinside, and what people don't
understand is you have yourelected officials, but that's
just a layer of what goes on.
There's administrators allthroughout that building that
they're in lobbyists, like, ifyou don't have a lobbyist and
you're a business owner andyou're not paying six to 10
grand a month to somebody outthere hustling rants for you,
(19:20):
then you don't know what you'redoing.
You know what I mean.
You're just ignorant.
Speaker 1 (19:24):
The truth of the matter is a lot of us small
business guys we can't affordthat to have lobbyists right To
do that for us.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
And that's just the system that exists within that
building that you know.
It's insane, it's really insane.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
So how would you again, going back to you being
an entrepreneur and having beeninside and seeing how that
machine works, how do youpropose a fix to bring people
together, to bring both theright and the left to the middle
and work together?
Look, I believe, senator, thathuman beings are just human
beings, not just.
I've traveled a lot around theworld and I just believe.
(20:01):
In my travels I have found thatas human beings, we just want
to be left alone, we want to bewith our family, we want to have
good meals, we want to justenjoy life and be loved by our
families and we want to be free.
I think those are basic thingsof every human being, regardless
of where you are.
How can the government comealong and support us?
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Here's the problem in Pennsylvania.
I'll tell you a flap, just theway it is.
You have Philadelphia.
You have Pittsburgh Okay, youhave Philadelphia.
You have Pittsburgh Okay, youhave Kentucky in between.
So these people in thesedifferent areas.
Then you have Scranton,allentown, you have some small
cities.
You know what I mean,mckeesport Reading, but for the
most part you have people whoselives are drastically different.
(20:43):
Yes, sir, their everydayexperiences are drastically
different.
And there's this one word thatthat is never used.
It's called empathy.
People don't want to walk ablock in that kid in north
philadelphia, shoes, thatdoesn't have a supermarket, that
eats every day at checkers orat a bodega for their food
(21:08):
source, that lives in a terribleenvironment.
All they care about is wherethey live and where I live or
where another person lives.
So getting to that middleground like something as simple
as a police department, youdon't think about it like that.
But think about this If youlive in a rural area, I did.
(21:32):
Okay, you don't pay for a policedepartment.
Yeah, the state police is yourpolice.
Yes, you don't pay for a firedepartment.
Volunteer fire department.
Volunteer fire department.
That's right.
So why would you care thatScranton needs $2 million
because their police force needsthis or their fire department
(21:52):
needs this because there's100,000 people living there?
None, none, 800.
But you have the same politicalpower on voting for things.
You haven't experienced theirneed, so what do you care about
it?
And that's where these thingsget.
These issues get very, veryhard when those people in
Scranton are paying for yourstate police protection in their
(22:13):
taxes and you're getting it forfree and they're not, but they
don't care.
You know what I mean.
So these are like the type ofissues that you start splitting
hairs with each other over andit gets hard.
It gets hard to empathize withpeople on the other side and it
becomes visceral in some ways.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
You know what I mean and it becomes visceral in some
ways.
You know what I mean.
I'm really glad that youbrought that up because, as I
mentioned to you before, Maureen, Maureen State Rep 187th
District.
Now I think they split thedistrict because she's 187.
We're friends and we've actuallyhad this conversation many a
times in my office and heroffice and one day I was talking
to her and I said Maureen, whatare we doing about these taxes
here in Monroe County?
So, as you know, Monroe Countypays the highest share of taxes
(22:55):
for school taxes in the wholestate of Pennsylvania.
It's ridiculous what we pay intaxes and for school taxes.
And what's interesting is sheused the same analogy that you
did.
She gave us the same, she gaveme the same perspective.
She goes, Martin, the challengeis that when it comes to the
distribution of budget and thisand that someone, the state,
we're small, and then you've gotpeople in Philadelphia.
(23:17):
They don't have the same issuesthat we have.
You have people in wherever andthey don't have the same issues
.
Their taxes are low, so it'shard for us to fight it.
It was a conversation goingaround that similar to what you
were just explaining.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
The Supreme Court ruled that our funding system,
our funding formula, is notconstitutional, that it's not
equitable.
So that leaves us to get thattogether.
But what you're saying, likeyou're talking about Pocono
Scranton actually has the lowestper pupil funding for an urban
school district in the entirestate Because Scranton 40% of
(23:52):
the property is actually ownedby nonprofits that don't pay
taxes, so that forces-.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
Really 40% of the properties in Scranton are well,
I own quite a bit of propertiesthere.
I'm for profit.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
40% of the physical land mass is owned by nonprofits
.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Church hospitals, different nonprofits, entities
like that, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Which is crazy, because then that forces people
like yourselves the populationis basically older, lower income
.
That forces them to carry theweight of making up for it.
But then the other problem iswhere that city money doesn't
come in.
The county taxes go up also.
So it's just, it's notequitable.
(24:33):
And there's a lot of movementto get this done fair funding
formula.
There's a task force to do that.
But if they don't come up withsomething new, that the Supreme
Court is going to do it andthey're not going to want that.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
So we're going to have to do that, yeah, so I'm
glad you.
Thank you for educating me onthat and my listeners.
I got a lot of listeners inPennsylvania, so this is good
information.
So what exactly?
When the Supreme Court ruled onthat, what does that mean for
us as taxpayers in Pennsylvania?
What should be the outcome,senator, in the end, that we all
(25:11):
get a level playing field fortaxes, for the taxation system,
for our real estate taxes.
What's the outcome of that?
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's what the Fair Funding Commission has to come
up with.
But if they don't come up withit, then the judge is going to
tell them and I'm sure they'renot going to want that to happen
.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yeah, how much time do they have to get that done?
Speaker 2 (25:33):
I would say in the next year.
Yeah, I would say in the nextyear it would have to, because
like a state share of, say, likeI think it's like 4,600 per
student in Scranton, but thenyou go to like Yardley and it's
like 12 to $15,000 per student.
So how is their equity in thatin a public system?
(25:54):
And then the other issue is youhave charter schools now have
their hands on public schoolmoney and can do whatever they
want with it.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 2 (26:03):
I've seen that, so they can advertise.
They can run commercials on TVand there's no accountability.
You can't look at their books.
So it was just basically aneffort to divert money away from
the public education system.
To go and listen.
I'm all for charter schoolsthat are accountable.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Hold your own, though , man.
My taxes shouldn't have to payfor you and Maureen and I.
She educated me on that, and wetalked about that as well.
Yeah, hold your own.
You're charging these crazyfees anyway, so you should.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
And you're getting public school money.
You're charging these crazyfees anyway, so you should, and
you're getting public schoolmoney.
Speaker 1 (26:37):
You're double dipping .
So I want to talk.
Before I go to my questions onsome of these bills that you
voted on, I want to ask youabout something that's, I'm sure
, on every Pennsylvanian's mindOur roads are terrible, Senator.
They're just horrible.
They just are, man, they justare.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
You know why?
Do you know Pennsylvania?
Listen to this.
Pennsylvania has more roads andbridges than New York, new
Jersey and all of New Englandcombined.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Holy smokes, I had no idea.
No, no, did you also know NewYork, new Jersey and New England
?
By All of them, bridges androads and bridges.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yep, wow.
Now here's the other issue thatpeople don't, normal people
don't realize.
Our temperature fluctuates,yeah it goes ha.
Super cold, mm-hmm.
Then comes the spring, then itgoes ha super cold.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It's not Overnight, overnight.
Overnight Like, it's 30 andthen 60.
In the morning we wake up it's30 and it's 60 degrees in the
afternoon.
But what people?
Speaker 2 (27:41):
don't think about is it causes the ground to move.
That's why we have such aproblem and an issue.
If you go to Florida, you go toSouthern states.
They can make blacktop okay,with glass in it, with rock,
like different kinds of rock,because the ground never moves
and the climate is always thesame.
So they can use differentproducts to make blacktop.
(28:05):
In Pennsylvania that's not thecase because the road is always
moving okay, and it costsbillions and billions of dollars
, and we spend billions ofdollars a year on our roads and
bridges in Pennsylvania.
And the other issue is theaverage life expectancy of a
bridge in Pennsylvania.
How long do you think it is?
(28:26):
50 years, spot on, really.
How old do you think theaverage bridge is in
Pennsylvania?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Ah, based on the way they look, brother, I'm going to
say 200 years, no 55.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
55, okay, 55.
Okay, they got for the buildback, better, the Biden money.
The Biden, yeah, the build backTransportation money.
We're getting billions ofdollars, so I think it was like
something like $6 billion overthe next five years that are
going into our roads and bridges, but at the same time, it's
still.
We still need more money.
(28:59):
You know what I mean, which iscrazy in itself that we're not
going to cover all of it.
But you know, and the other,the other issue is we get a lot.
Penndot gets a lot of theirmoney from the gasoline tax and
as electric cars go up and EPsgo up, there's no fee on them.
Currently, the gas taxes go,the collection goes down, which
(29:21):
which becomes a huge issuebecause we need to to find an
adequate tax on the on the evcars, be it like a fee, yearly
fee or something to make up forthat lost revenue that that
we're running into right nowpendon what?
Speaker 1 (29:33):
What impact is that Is?
Is is those EV having on thebottom line?
It?
Speaker 2 (29:38):
is like I think almost 20%, 60% of the cars are
starting to become EVs.
I believe Didn't Biden?
Speaker 1 (29:46):
didn't Biden pass a bill that, by 2030 or something
like it, was a large amount ofpercentage?
I saw that.
I read that it was a largepercentage of the vehicles
needed to be EV or somethinglike that, so that's going to
have a bigger impact.
There was something that wasbeing either proposed.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
There's nothing forced, yeah, maybe some
proposed.
There's nothing that forces EVs.
It's just people are doing itbecause it's it's cheaper.
You know what I mean?
I have a buddy who has a Tesla.
He saves $600 a month drivingit to work every day.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Yeah, the problem, though, with those cars is, if
you're driving from Pennsylvaniato Florida, man, you can't, you
can't, you can't, you can't.
You better know where everystation is.
You better plan it out, man,with MapQuest, and know where
you're going to stop.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
Right, because you can't.
That's like flying and nowhereyou can glide to an airport.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Yeah, man, it's it.
That's the problem with that,with those EB cars, um so, so,
um, thank you for thank you forsharing that.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Hop up in the in the next five or so years.
I know there's one down in uhin Wilkes-Barre that's being
built currently and we'll seeyeah.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Yeah, thank you for educating us on the roads and
really giving us anunderstanding of why the roads
are rough, and that makes totalsense.
Living in Pennsylvania, we knowthat, like we know that we get
extreme cold right and thenextreme hot, and then, right now
(31:12):
, winter doesn't want to leaveus.
Like it's 30 degrees in themorning and then 65 or 60, 70
degrees in the afternoon, andthen boom, it goes back down to
20 at night and you wake up.
Speaker 2 (31:23):
It's like what is going on, so does the, so does
the ground, and that's what youjust think about or realize.
And then you go to, you're likeI'm in New York and you're like
, oh, the roads are fine in NewYork, they're so much better.
And like, think about it,pennsylvania has more roads than
New York, new Jersey and NewEngland combined.
So just getting to all of them,it's like you don't think of
Pennsylvania having more roadsthan New York, you don't?
(31:45):
You?
Speaker 1 (31:46):
just don't it, just it, just it's hard to.
It's hard to process thatbecause you think you know New
York is New York, right, thebiggest, largest city in the
world.
Right, how can Pennsylvaniahave more roads and bridges than
New York?
But you know, you have the data.
Hey guys, thank you forlistening to part one of my
interview with Senator MartyFlynn.
(32:07):
Tune in this Friday to listenand watch part two.
Until then, peace out.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Nikki Glaser Podcast
Every week comedian and infamous roaster Nikki Glaser provides a fun, fast-paced, and brutally honest look into current pop-culture and her own personal life.