July 5, 2023 • 39 mins
📣 Tune in to our latest episode of The Republican Zone where we have special guest James Whitehead discussing the recent mayoral debate and the ins and outs of running for office in Philadelphia. 🏛️ Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run a successful campaign and the challenges faced by candidates. Don't miss out on this informative and engaging discussion!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray. Good afternoon, you're
watching USLA Media and The Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray.
I am here with my young friendJames Whitehead, who who ran in
November for the seventh Councilmatic district.Yes, right, and I thought we
(00:32):
were going to talk about maybe theseventh Council Initmatic race or something else.
But as soon as you walked in, you said, did you watch that
marril for him last night? AndI did not, but we could still
talk about it. I think Iread enough about it on Twitter that I'm
sure I could have a discussion aboutit. But I heard on Twitter it
(00:53):
was it was crazy and it wasI can't say the word the An s
show is what people said on Twitter. Yeah, so you watch you watched
the whole thing. I watched it, and you said you watch it twice.
I watched it twice. I watchedit twice and uh because the first
time it was like, um,it was it was shocking and it was
just like, man, maybe Ididn't see or hear what I think I
(01:14):
heard, So I uh watched itagain the whole entire hour I think our
deacon was an hour of seventeen minutes. And I was just shocked about,
you know, some of the thingsthat I was heard, and this was
only Democrats. David I saw DavidI wasn't there, and I know she
was like, why isn't David Ohthere? And then if you looked at
the banner, it said you knowwho was the next mayor and then it
(01:37):
says Democrat primary debate. Um,so we're both Republicans. So yeah,
if David Oh wasn't wasn't in thedebate, And I said, who won?
Of course we would say David,but David wasn't in it. So
if there was a winner, andif there was a loser, um,
I think so who? So whowas in at number one? A'min Brown
was in it, Allen gimm JeffreyBrown, Ryan Hart, Derk Green,
(02:01):
and Charll Parker so seven, sowas there a clear winner? And that
to be? I felt like,um, Alan Dom and uh to me,
Alan Dom had a lot of keypoints. He said the right things,
and he still cleared from the mudslingingbecause it was a lot of mudslinging.
(02:23):
Oh so no one went after AlanNo, not right? So basically
what I read what I read onTwitter. If I were to guess Jeffrey
Brown, they were going after himhis campaign finance issues that he's having,
and everyone heard about Aman Brown goingafter Holland Gamm was there was there any
other MUDs? Did Terrell or Derekget anything out of him? I think
(02:46):
Derek was going after the Did youknow Derk Green did go after Jeffrey Brown.
He did a lot of a lotof them. Uh, It's not
shocking to me because from one pointat a time, you know, jeff
Brown was in favor. Yeah,but so a lot of the candidates felt
like he's he's the attack. No, absolutely, he's He's popular in West
(03:07):
Philadelphia. Yes, Well, heopened up Shop Rights and food Deserts when
no one else did um and hewas successful at it. So he made
a lot of money at it.But people in West Philly, Black voters
in West Philadelphia love him. Hegot a lot of union endorsements for unions
at work in that industry. Ithought he was I thought he was a
(03:28):
favorite early on, although I thoughthe was gonna split votes with Alan dam
because they're both they're very similar peoplein the demographic, They're both white men.
They're both Jewish, and they're bothvery successful business people who could put
their own money into the campaign,right, So I would agree he was.
He was definitely. I never thoughthe was gonna win, but I
(03:49):
thought he was gonna do very well. But yeah, I figured he was
gonna do well. Um, AndI had him at the front runner for
quite some time, and then thingsstarted to come out about campaign finances,
and that made me. That mademe a little area about things because you
know, when you're going into youknow, being the mayor or going into
(04:11):
congress, you you usually want tohave a good reputation. You know,
they say thirty years to build itin a couple of seconds from ruining it,
true exactly. Yeah, And andnow I'm looking at it going and
he had as he's he's he's hadsome some campaign finance issues and and I
will say I've not had a chanceto because I'm in my own campaign,
(04:32):
so I'm mostly worrying about Drew Murray, Republican for City Council at Large.
But I've read some things very quickly, and to give give people backgrounds,
MO people don't even know about campaignfinance, what the issues are or what
the rules are I should say inPhiladelphia, and the rules are thirty one
hundred dollars for an individual, Soif you were to give my campaign money,
(04:56):
you couldn't given me more than thirtyone hundred dollars as an individual,
and and then a political committee ora company could give up to I think
it's twelve five. It's either twelvefive or twelve six. I think it's
twelvey five. Now, so thoseare the limitations. Now, if one
person in the race donates their ownmoney two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or
more than those limits, double,yes, so they've been doubled in the
(05:23):
sheriff's race, which is insane thatsomeone put two hundred fifty thousand of their
own money into the sheriff's race.Maybe yeah, but definitely mayor, because
I think both Jeffrey Brown and nowand Dom have put two hundred fifty thousand
of their own money in, Sothat's double. So it's sixty two hundred
and let's just say twenty five thousand. It's either it's either double twelve five
or twelve six. I think it'stwelve five. So let's say twenty five
grant. So that's the most anybodycan give. So a union, let's
(05:46):
say you get a union endorsement,they can only give the mayor's race twenty
five thousand dollars and that's it.A calendar year, So someone could give
on December thirty first, twelve six, because it wasn't doubled until this year.
But they could have given Jeffrey Brownround or Charle Parker Twelvey five on
December thirty first, and then onJanuary one they could give another Twelvey five,
and then since it doubled, theycould have given another Twelvey five.
(06:09):
So theoretically a group could give upto thirty seven thousand, five hundred dollars
if they started last year. Sothat's how it works. Yeah, And
as Senate, it was being putup as Jeff Brown in the dark money,
right, his name has been associatedwith darknell that. So what that
means is there are independent expenditure groupsthat can spend as much money as they
(06:31):
want on a campaign. For example, they can come in and say,
you know what, I'm supporting JamesWhitehead m ABC Political Political Action Committee,
and I'm gonna put five million dollarsin the TV commercials for James Whitehead for
the seventh councilmatic district, perfectly legalas long as the money doesn't run through
the campaign and as long as thecandidate were there, their or their team
(06:58):
does not coordinate with that independent expenditurepolitical political Action committee. So as soon
as they coordinate, and then whatdoes that mean coordinate they call up and
say hey do this on the commercial. That's they can't do that. They
can't email, they can't text andtell them what to do. I'm not
an attorney, so I don't knowthe exact like line of what you know.
(07:18):
Obviously, the candidate is going toknow the independent expenditure is going for
them, So I don't know theexact line. But from what reports that
are coming out, Jeffrey Brown crossedthat line and coordinated with independent expenditure packs
or pack. I think it mightbe one with his campaign. Yeah,
(07:40):
yeah, they were. I readthat all through the Twitter blocks and things
like that. Another person that hadoutside of David Old, that had my
interest was Surell Parker, and she'svery strong in candidate. She was.
She went from being a dark horseand two my opinion, So I did
watch last night, but if youask me right now to put a million
(08:03):
dollars on the Democrat side, whowas going to win? And I don't
think there's any any clear front runner. But if you stay sa true,
you have to put a million dollarson one person. Who would it be?
And then this doesn't mean this iswhy I want to win or whom
the doorsing, but it would beTrurelle Barker. I think she's currently the
front runner because she has a lotof union support, so she's got a
(08:26):
decent amount of money and can competewith Alan Dom and Jeffrey Brown's money and
even you know, they're all raisinga lot of money. And she is
Northwest. Northwest is one of themost powerful voting blocks. Yes, the
Philadelphia that's where she's from. Yep, chest in the Hill mill Arie Roxborough
a huge voting block. So that'swhy I think, But I don't know,
do you have so you thought JeffreyBrown was leading? Who do you
(08:48):
think's leading? Now? Do youhave? True? So? I like
I thought Alan Dom had a chance, But I think Alan's problem is that
he's his demographic is too close toJeffrey Brown. You know again, white
successful Jewish business personoe. Yeah,what was that segogue? That's right,
(09:11):
yeah you do, yeah, yeah, yea, yeah, yeah. Now
you would be a different demographic becauseI'm sure they're not that many Republican Black
Jewish. No, it's not,absolutely not. And demographic that's a very
small demographic. So I can't evengo to the I couldn't even I would
Actually, I would have to startsomething from scratch and just see who's who's
(09:33):
feels into the demographic of who canjoin in the group. But it's gonna
be very slow. Yeah, Imean, I remember I text you the
one point I knew, I knewyour Republican and there are a number one
they're a lot more black Republicans thanthan people people believe. But when I
knew, you know, my wife'sJewish, you said something to me and
over text and I was like,are you Jewish? And you're like yes.
I was like, okay, surprising, but yeah, you're You're far
(09:56):
from the only There's plenty of blackyou Wish people, but it's the Republican
back Shewish Republican. That's yeah.Yeah. But actually the interesting thing was
what actually made me, uh youknow, switched parties from Democratic. I
was once a Democrat, and Iswitched over to Republican because when I was
(10:20):
living in a nice town, uh, that's when I had my AHA moment
and I was thinking, like,you know what, I'm gonna start my
own company, Royal Advertising. AndI remember getting the business lies from Philadelphia,
getting the insurance from the state,and that's when I had the moment
like, you know what, thisis too much red tape. Here.
(10:43):
I am a guy, you know, living with his girlfriend's mother, trying
to get my feet were trying tostart my company, and I'm having a
lot of red tape. So thisis this is one of the one of
the one of there's a lot ofreasons why I went Republican, but this
is one that I like a lotof people can relate to, especially in
the inner city, when you tryto start something, you have little to
(11:05):
no help and there's a lot ofgovernment red tape almost getting in the way
of you starting your becoming an entrepreneur. And I remember going halfway through the
process and it was like, well, you got to do this, you
have to do this, and I'mlike, oh, this is too much
red tape. I just want toget to the ground and running. And
I know that being a Republican,we we favor entrepreneurship. We favor that
(11:28):
and that and that red tape isa barred entry for a lot of people.
Yeah, it is, because itcould potentially make a break. People
in the process of entrepreneurs oftentimes don'thave you know, they're they're starting from
scraps. They don't have the capitalto start the company, at least they
don't. It's not it's not aneasy thing for them to do. So
when you have a lot of redtape, when you make it more and
more challenging to start a business,that's a barrett entry. And you know
(11:52):
a lot of young entrepreneurs give up. They do, and you lose those
opportunities. Yeah, that's and I'veseen that quite often, especially coming into
coming into entrepreneurship. When I started, uh my advertising company, Real Companies,
I didn't I didn't have a traditionaleducation in terms of the college experience
(12:18):
of going to school for a master'sdegree or a basterilor's degree in business administration.
I simply learned how to start abusiness by purchasing books and going to
the library. Was actually utilized utilizingmy library quite often because at one point
I was just like, well,I can't well I'm not going to school
for business administration, and I'm learningeverything at home. When I was what
(12:39):
I was reading in the book,I was learning from home. And I'm
not trying to discourage anyone from goingto college. But what I'm trying to
encourage people to do is, ifyou want to be an entrepreneur, if
you want to be in politics,educate yourself. You got so many books
in the library you could, youknow, free, you could just read
and educate yourself before you get intoit. And that's what I did,
(13:01):
and I started my company off ofthat. But that's one of the major
reasons why I diverted from democratic too. And when was that? Was that?
That was in two thousand and ten? Oh wow, long time,
I remember vividly. Yeah, yeah, I remember. It wasn't it wasn't
a couple of years ago. Youmust how old were you? I was
like twenty twenty twenty okay, twentyone years old, twenty one, twenty
(13:26):
two about say you had to bebarely old and off the boat? Yeah,
so you a twenty two? Youwere younger than I was when I
switched. So anything else, umfrom the debate, Yeah, actually I
know, I know. Yeah,Well one of the things we talked about
before the show was And again Ididn't see it, but I looked at
one clip because I had to becauseit was all over Twitter. It was
(13:50):
it was did Helen Gham really justsay that I'm not disparaging Helen? Helen
is my neighbor. Uh. AndI don't really talk badly about anybody.
I'll talk badly about policy, butI don't really disparage anyone individually. But
I'm in Brown, who was mystate rep actually in the tenth legislative district.
What he asked her a question ofwhat was it? Yeah, he
(14:11):
asked her a question. Uh.He said, well, didn't you meet
with um one of them from yeahadelmen from the from the seventy six ers
organization. Uh? And she said, yeah, we met, but we
didn't talk about anything. And itjust don't make sense, like you don't
you know, you don't call himbodyin the pone and say hey, let's
meet up and we just sit acrossthe table and don't say nothing. So
(14:33):
yeah, and that is the onlyclip I saw it. I was just
like, you know, I don'tthink Helen well number one, even even
the moderator said, we're not asking. You know, it's not up to
the candidates to ask other candidates questions. So I think even the moderator was
taken back that Amen was was askingthat question, and obviously Helen wasn't wasn't
ready for it, And I'm surprisedI would have thought Helen would have been
(14:54):
ready with an answer, because sheobviously did meet with them. I don't
know if she's publicly won one hundredpercent said she's opposed to the arena,
but that certainly sounds she did sayshe's one hundred percent against the arena being
built, because she said doesn't fit. I'm not gonna directly quote her,
(15:15):
but it went along to something youknow, from my opinion of it,
Mary to speak, it went alongthe lines of the people like she she
made her decision based off the peoplethat she represents and which she thinks he's
right. And look, I'll behonest with you. If if I'm a
Merrill candidate and I'm gonna say I'mopposed to something, I don't think there's
anything wrong with meeting at with withthe sixers decide that is obviously for this
(15:39):
arena. Yeah, if for noother reason to say, look, I'm
gonna meet with both sides. I'mgonna listen to it. I'm gonna have
an educated reason why I am foror against something, So I'm not I
don't think it was a problem thatshe met with him. The problem was
that her answer was not It wasnot a great answer. No, and
I'm sure she wasn't prepared. Now, which is how one is very smart.
(16:00):
You could, you could, youcould disagree with Helen's politics with Helen
is very smart. I wonder ifshe came out and I and I'm almost
asking this as a question, Iwonder if she if she came out with
another statement today, because her responsein that in that Meryll debate was was
not good for her. I mean, if it were me, and it
was a tough question because but butI guess I would have thought she would
have said, yes, I didmeet with him. I met with him
(16:22):
because I wanted to hear both sidesof the story. I was opposed to
the arena before I met with him, and I'm still opposed to it.
If she said that, then it'sthat would have obviously could have I thought
about that answer, so I wasable to give a better answer than Helen's.
Again, I'm not disparaging or Iwas very surprised that her answer was
we didn't discuss anything. Well,what were you discussing? Yeah, I
(16:44):
just think she was caught blindsided.Um, it was awkward silence. Did
they bring up the arena and otherquestions? Um? I know in the
Meryl Forum that I did for theCrosstown Coalition on March twenty eighth, that
was a yes or no. Sowe had and a lot of debates to
do that. So you'll ask aquestion where they can talk and they say
they have they have a minute anda half ninety seconds to speak. But
(17:07):
then you have built rounds where it'sjust like yes or no. So we
asked that question, are you infavor I forget the exact burbers, but
are you in favor of the ofthe arena? Um? If? And
I think we even phrase it ifit can be done in a way that
does not detriment it's not a detrimentto Chinatown. And a lot of them
refused to put up yes or yesor no. They said this is not
(17:27):
a yes or no question. Yeah, they did, they did that.
They had they actually had the candidates, Uh do do like right on the
board and say yes or no.And one of the things I found very
interesting. Um, they asked thequestion regarding to UH, they said,
would you Uh? They asked thequestion, they said, UM, it
(17:51):
was about the DA, and Ithought that the DA would get a lot
more support from the the city countssupposedly to do it match. But a
lot of the candidates just was opposedto UM, A lot of them,
I know. And it was anotherI must have seen another clip because I
(18:12):
know. Rebecca ryan Hart didn't answerit, and she said, because that
DA Larah Krasner has gotten a lotof people who are incarcerated and found not
guilty. They're not necessarily innocent,but not guilty. Later she said,
that's why I think and I supportDA Larah Krasner. Um. But if
I remember correctly, I don't.I think Jeffrey Brown put no. I
(18:33):
think Allen may have put no.Yeah. I don't know what Rull did
said no. She said no too. Did Helen say anything? Helen said
she supports Uh, she put yesor she refused to answer no. She
she I believe she put yes.But I do know one thing. Yeah,
I don't remember back he didn't doany Rebecca said, I can't answer
that. Yes, she didn't answerit. Um And I remember they said,
(18:56):
Helen, uh, would you putmore money into the DA's office,
and she said, yes, shewould put the extra money. But a
lot of the candidates is like Darrygreening him or you know, talking about
it. They just don't like whereLarry Krassner's going. Yeah, no,
I would not give it. Iwould not give the district attorney any any
(19:17):
more money. I give the policemore money at this point. But Larry
Krasner's office, he's having people peoplequitting. It's interesting. Uh. I
did talk to someone from the disturner'soffice last night at the city council event,
and one of the things he said, he's like, there's a lot
of turnover because you just don't payenough for the assistant district attorneys. And
he said, would you be willingto support higher pay for the assistant distretturns?
(19:38):
I think they make about seventy thousand. Yeah. Coming out, I
said, I said, not withthe way as currently being run. Uh,
you know, right right now,there's a lot of turnover. That
could be part of the reason,but there's a lot of turnover because people
just his office is in disarray,and that's why people are leaving. It's
uh, they're not getting paid anyless than before Larry Krasner, and they
(19:59):
didn't see to be much of anissue prior to the current district attorney.
So, you know, I'm notopposed to giving people look their attorneys.
And then I was just argument likeI went to school, and that this
was a person who didn't even goto college. Right after he actually didn't
go to college. So later inlife he said, I went to I
went to college. I got myundergraduate degree that took me four years.
Then I went to law school forthree years. And you know, and
(20:22):
I'm I'm only making seventy thousand dollarsa year, and and I do it.
I understand where he's coming from.But at the same time, you're
you're you're going into public service.No, you don't go in the public
service to make money. If youwant to make money as an attorney going
to private practice, if you chooseto do, you know, honestly,
and I'll be honest, That's oneof the reasons why I didn't become an
attorney, because I was like,what interest would be was being a prosecutor.
(20:45):
And I looked at it, andI said, I'm not going to
make any money, so I'm nota wealthy man. But I was like,
I'm not gonna I'm not going toschool for three years after you know,
I'd already go on the undergrad Ithought I was going to go right
to uh rate, to law school. I said, you know what that
was. I don't want to beI don't. I don't want to be
a prosecutor unless I can make alot of money or a decent amount of
(21:06):
money. I don't have to bea rich man, but right a decent
amount of money the bigger live.Just the point, like, the problem
here is um Like, see soPhiladelphia, the job sector and a lot
of the jobs that are available thatpaid quite well require some sort of degree.
And they bring up the public schoolstoo as well. And this goes
(21:27):
into that. Right, So likea lot of jobs I paid pretty well
require a bachelor's degree or you know, some sort of degree and experience.
But the problem here is the currentPhiladephi's school district, in my opinion,
is failing the kids miserably. AndI am a graduate of philadph at public
(21:47):
school. Benjamin Franklin off for brunSpring Garden graduated class of two thousand and
seven, and um, I remembergoing into college not totally being prepared.
One day, I'm thinking, like, you know what, I'm astill playing
football and enjoy being on the collegecampus. And you know, you know,
you know we're doing in the collegecampus. You know, I studied,
(22:07):
that is all I did. Istudied on the college. I didn't
I didn't do too much of that. But so but like I did do
some studying. But what with theproblem was the No Child Left Behind Act
and then the Public School of Philadelphianot really catering to my needs, just
sort of like pushing me through.I wasn't totally prepared for college. Because
(22:30):
what happens is when a lot ofthe guys in the inner city community,
especially those who are African American andbrown, when we get into college and
we just you know, feel likeyou know, society sold us. So
people have sold us go to college, and we do so because we're in
hopes of one day and finding havinga job and having a secured income.
But what the problem is when weget into the colleges, we can't keep
(22:55):
up what the education is being taughtbecause we've just been pushed through. We
have like a nice You didn't thinkthe school district did not prepare you for
gottee? No? Absolutely, Nowdid it start in high school or was
it? Did grade school? Oprepare you for high school? And then
consequently high school and prepare you couldhave went into that chronological order, because
(23:15):
when I went into college and theydid a test assessment and it was like,
yeah, man, you know yourwriting level is around the tenth grade
level, and I'm like wow,And I'll be honest with you, I
from what I've heard, that mightbe above average. Yes, it's above
(23:36):
average for the school district of Phildelphi. Unfortunately for the non magnet school,
it's like a Ben Franklin High Schoolfor the non magnet school. Yeah,
and because most of them are inthe middle school, six of the eighth
grade writing level, sixth grade mathlevel, comprehension and reading, all of
that goes a long way without thebasis of education. Then college education for
anybody's you know, especially black orbrown to achieve a degree. They said,
(24:03):
read this thing, and I forgot. I forgot. I'm trying to
quote it. I forgot it.But they said of black and brown men
in Philadelphia have associate's degrees and fivepercent of black and brown men in Philadelphia
have bachelor's degrees, which means youback the actual question, well, where
the hell's the other eighty percent?And it's not a secret that, uh,
(24:29):
that majority of the prison systems filledwith African American men, and who
commit most of the crowns as AfricanAmerican men, and most homicides come from
African American men. I think thebest way of cutting that number down would
would would only be through education.So the only trial said, we can't
legislate ourselves out of poverty. Wegot to educate ourselves out of power.
(24:51):
Absolutely, And then then then it'slike it goes back to secured income in
jobs because when I grew up inthe community like Nine Town or Frankfurt,
especially my Franklin I live in Kensington, and a lot of them feel hopeless.
They feel like, well, there'sonly one way to do. I'm
not gonna lay lay on the groundon the back and die. So this
is when he indulged into a lifeof crime because they feel like, well,
(25:12):
I can't get a job with thecity or a job that has a
secure income. They go straight tothe streets because that's what's in front of
them. And they see the guydriving down the street with a Rolls Royce
sort not Rolls Royce, but acar that's much fancy. The person,
the drug dealer, becomes desirable tothe kids because he has everything that money
(25:33):
can buy in terms of like themercenies, beers. And they don't know
and understand that that drug deal isprobably not gonna live past there. No,
absolutely, they don't see that part. If they're just like, oh
wow, that guy. Look he'stwenty five. Here we go. Whatever
kind of car he has. Thisreally has a car. Yeah, and
he's able to dress well and hedoes this and does that, and they
look in and I get it.Um and education is a way to break
(25:56):
that cycle. Yeah, I feellike that's the best way to But we
do need police from the streets,don't get me wrong, But I feel
like with with with that, andalso putting more money into an educational system
that works, not broken. Andkids are going to school with asbestos so
nutrition, it's very poor porkandestance.Put it that way. You can't expect
(26:21):
the child to learning porkandessance. He'sgoing to be distracted it's gonna be discouraged.
He's not going to feel a beat. Like they did the study they
said that kids that study in classroomswith windows performed better than those who who
don't. It might be like twowindows in their versus a classroom that's well
lit, y Brandon, state ofthe art facility. Yeah, because it
(26:45):
feels like more when I went intoum, when I would go into school,
it felt like a sense of aprison almost because we would go to
the melodetectives we have put real policeon the scene. It was not well
lit, it was cold. Thatthat that sort of discouraged me. Sure,
I'm going, but now i'm benBracton is nice. Actually, yeah,
now it's got Now that's Science LeaAcademy and so now they redid it.
(27:10):
So that's good. Um, butit's still not considered a great school.
No, it's not. It's stillnot considered a great school. Um.
So before we only have a coupleof minutes if I want to touch
on. So you did run forthe seventh Councilmatic district in the special election
in November the same time I wasin the special election for city council.
You know, we both probably knewthat we were long shots at best.
(27:30):
I mean, I knew, Iknew. I knew I didn't have a
chance to win. Me to myfirst time, I'm still yours. You
learn, um. And the greatestthing about the special election is that you
don't have to get signatures. AndI said that in November. I'm like,
this is great. I'm on theballt because I've gotten signatures. That
was the first time I was onabout where I didn't have to go get
(27:51):
signatures. And I know how hardit is signatures. Um. And so
I ran in a race where I'mrunning in a race this cycle that's citywide.
And you texted me at one pointlike Drew, I'm going to carry
your petition. I'm like, don'tcarry my petition. I said, carry
your own petition. That's it.I said, you're running in a councilomatic
district. That is really hard becausethere are enough Republicans. You needed seven
(28:14):
hundred and fifty signatures. I neededmore. I needed a thousand. But
I got to go anywhere in thecity I wanted. You have to stay
in the seven councilomatic district. Andfor example, like I live in Center
City, I didn't knock on asingle door in Center City, with the
exception of people I knew, likeI would call my buddy, I'm be
say hey, and there are notmany buddies of mine who are Republicans in
Center City, so hey, I'mcoming over my petition and other I'm a
(28:36):
ward leader, so I had toget more petition signed. But most of
my time I drove up to NortheastPhiladelphia almost every single day, and I
would say nineteen out of the twentyone days I drove to Northeast Philly,
and the other day I drove toSouth Philadelphia. And then the one day
it just poured all day, soI couldn't drive anywhere. I just called
people on the phone trying to getsignatures. You didn't have that you didn't
(29:00):
that luxury. You have to stayin the seventh Councilmanic district. And I
don't even know what the number isif there's only one hundred and sixteen dolls,
because you have to get signatures fromRepublicans. If there's only one hundred
and sixteen thousand Republicans in the wholecity, right, I don't even do
you remember the number? I mean, how many other people are five thousand?
Maybe? Yeah, yeah, soit's probably almost impossible. And it's
(29:26):
unfair because as a Republican you shouldabsolutely be able to run if you put
the work in. But as youas you learn and and it was the
first time you didn't. And Itell everyone, if you've never gotten signatures
before, you don't know how hardit is. It is extremely challenging,
even if you have help. Immunatedthat I mean, I had people helping
(29:47):
me, and it it was extremelychallenge. I went out eight hours a
day and then I went to eventsat night. I would say I worked
on average for twenty one day straighttwenty two really on a ten hours a
day is what I spent on signatures, and it was possible for me to
get it. Do you think itwould have been so you didn't get enough
signatures? Do you think it's possibleto get seven hundred and fifty in the
(30:12):
seventh councilmatic district or do you thinkit might be impossible. It's gonna require
a lot of manpower because the strugglethat I had was trying to cover as
much ground as possible, and likein the Northeast, I would be able
to go to every it was probablyevery other house or one out of three
houses on a block as a Republican, yeah, you probably had one house
(30:33):
on a block. Yeah, andsome blocks with zero zero and you can't.
So that means they're not enough people. You're walking a lot farther,
a lot further. And I hadmy best friend dragged me around while I
would, you know, look atthe addresses, and it was very challenging
(30:55):
in a sense. One thing Iwould like to see is that you know,
I know, city council at large, like you state, it gets
a thousand signatures, and city councilis seven district gets seven hundred and fifty.
I believe that numbers should be alot lower. Oh, I think
around two fifty, I would agree. And but the challenge is this,
(31:18):
that's a state that is decided bythe state legislature, and I don't think
there's going to be any movement inthe state legislature to make it easier now,
because honestly, it's harder for usin Philadelphia's Republicans, it's harder for
Republicans in Allegheny County, but forthe rest of the state, it makes
it harder for Democrats. So Ithink they're in their opinion since it's right
(31:42):
now there is a split legislature now, and but typically it's been running by
Republicans. I don't think we're goingto see that, but I agree.
I think it should be lower.That's it should be a percentage of the
registered voters in a district. Sothat's that's even better than what I am.
Yeah, I mean, we'll thinkabout there's eight hundred thousand Democrats in
the city of Philadelphia, there's onehundred and sixteen thousand Republicans. We should
(32:06):
not have to get the same amountof signatures as they do. It should
be proportional. So if it's athousand for example city council, then it
should be more like one hundred andfifty for a Republican because it is that
hard. It is extremely challengeable.And guess what it was hard. I
ran in twenty nineteen for city councillarge. I ran in twenty twenty first
a state rep seat in the onehundred and eighty second legislative district, which
(32:30):
I knew I was going to lose. I was a name on the ballot
as a favor to the party.You only have to get three hundred in
the legislative district. It's a lotsmaller. Yeah, I said that three
hundred. For me, I gotfour hundred and fifties. What I got
that year was harder than when Igot fifteen hundred in twenty nineteen. So
was it easier for the state runningyou thing? No, No, it's
(32:52):
harder. I had a harder timefor State Rep. Getting four hundred and
fifty than I did getting fifteen hundred. Well, you think it is because
it was in Center City. Peoplein Center City do not answer their doors.
Well. Ever, when they don'tanswer their doors number number two,
I would think they would answer theirdoors. Yeah, And I bet the
seven Council back district now and thisis part of what I was going for
(33:14):
in twenty nineteen, people answer theirdoors more than the answer them now because
now they have the ring doorbells.People are don't feel safe because the city
Philadelphia is not as safe as itused to be. Um in Center City,
and I'm sure it's true in theseven Councilmatic district too. They're multifamily
homes like I can't go to youcan't go in apartment building a knock on
those doors, so those were allwiped out. I will tell you in
(33:35):
Center City if there's a multifamily homelike an RM one, which means it's
it's it's a single it's a singleunit, but with three apartments. People
do not answer their door. Ifthey're in an apartment. If you go
up and there's three doorbells, Idon't even hit the doorbell. They're not
gonna answer. If they live onthe third floor, they're not answering that
they're gonna have to come all theway down. Unless they're having food delivered.
That's your only shot. If there'sif they're having food delivery, they
(33:59):
might to answer the duel. Butat that point they're gonna see the door
bell. Yeah. Yeah, we'retrying to sell me something. So I
think it might be impossible to getseven hundred and fifty signatures. The only
way it would be possible, honestly, you would probably need a team of
thirty to forty people. Yeah,and that takes funding. Yeah, and
that's expensive. And even the onlyway for you to get seven hundred fifty
(34:20):
I will tell you, based onthe percentage of the of the houses that
answer their door, I think onlytwenty percent of the people answer their door.
Just look at the numbers. Ifthere's only fifty six hundred. You're
gonna have to get You're gonna haveto hit every single door, every single
in the seven councilmatic district, whichis almost imbossible unless you have thirty forty
people. Yeah. Absolutely, Butthe reason why I embarked on the challenges
(34:40):
because I like a challenge. Yeah, I'm a fighter, you know what
I mean. And we even't hadan event for you to try to change
people over to sign I mean,yeah we did. We didn't get a
ton and then it was last minute, so we didn't. It wasn't you
know, we didn't get a tonof We maybe got fifteen too, and
then we got it from mothers too. But we've basically put in the seven
councilmatic district to help me a littlebit. But we only got you like
(35:00):
fifteen. But I can't say onething that people in the neighborhood are starting
to know me for who I am. Even down when I'm to go down
to Center City, people knowing peopleare be like, yo, mister,
why, I'm like, I don'tsay I know you, but I just
you know, how do we knoweach other? What would have favorite?
And they go, oh, no, I follow you on Instagram and Twitter,
and I love what you got goingon. Although I'm registered Democrat,
(35:22):
but I love what you got goingon. That encourages me a lot more.
But even after the this year,I'm going to be running next year
for state Rep. In my alright, good my district, and I will
help you because I can help you. Not do it. I would,
I personally would have helped you thisyear, but my own. And that's
why. And that's when you saidI'm gonna carry because you could carry my
(35:42):
petition and get signatures for me.But I said, don't do it.
I said, do not worry aboutme. Yes, you worry about you,
don't you worry about getting anybody elsesignatures. I said, you're seven
fifty year alone is going to beenough for you. Um, you would
definitely helpful, uh, through theentire process. About look, you learn,
you learn at twenty nineteen. Look, I knew going in in twenty
(36:02):
nineteen, I was new to theparty, I was new to running.
I knew no an in that goingin I was probably gonna lose. But
I was like, you know whatI'm doing this, I'm gonna learn.
And then in twenty twenty three,where we are now, that's when that
is when I'm gonna win. ThatThat was my plan to win. Little
to I know I was gonna bein two more racism between there that I
had no intention of being in.But in twenty twenty, they asked me
(36:24):
to run for the state. RapI said no three times or two times.
I think I said no twice andthen the third time. And this
is why, I said, whatchance do you think I have to win?
And this is the people from theHouse Republican Campaign Committee, which you'll
get to know, the HRCC whenyou're run for state. Rap I said,
if they answered me honestly, I'llrun. I was in my mind.
I didn't tell him. I said, what are my chances to win?
(36:45):
They said zero? I said,all right, I'll do it.
I said, I will do it. I said. I said, I'm
like, if you lied to meand said I had a chance, then
I was gonna say no. Isaid, I'll do it, but you
gotta help me, you gotta supportme, you gotta give me a little
bit of money. We'll still giveyou maybe a little bit. Uh.
The HRCC doesn't give too much moneyto races that you can't win. But
(37:06):
I did run. And then andthen of course, and we had the
special election in November. So I'min my fourth race in five years.
So but this is the first Isaid, I tell me, but this
is the first rates I can Ican actually win. It's the first rates
I've been in that I can andexpect to win. So I like that.
So now, yeah, you learnum and hopefully in the in the
(37:27):
in the in the state rep position, you'll be able to get on.
I will help you knock doors.It's still gonna be hard. You're gonna
want a team and you're gonna wanta three weeks. That's why I tell
people, if you're the candidate forthree weeks, you better have nothing.
If you have a full time job, you better be ready to work at
night because during the day started atnoon, you need to be out there
(37:51):
knocking doors, even on a Tuesdaynoon. On a Tuesday, you need
to be out there in knocking doors. Yeah, you might not get many
people answering, but if you getten during the day, that's ten more
than you would have. So everyoneis watching this. Drew Murray just gave
y'all some educations. So an youwant to send politics, please educate yourself.
If you're going to go into thefield please and surround yourself with people
that are already in politics. That'ssomething I wish that I would have done
(38:15):
a lot sooner. Uh. Youknow, Philly Goop will certainly help me
out through the duration of me runningfor the special election. Helped me filling
the paperwork and things in that nature. So I want to say thank you
Drew for no. Yeah, yeah, we are. We are coming out,
So thank you for coming on.Well, we'll have you back on
(38:36):
again. Well, we have youback on when you're running for state rap
Yeah, and are what we didn'tname it asked, are you planning on
trying some sort of write in forthe seventh councilmatic district. Do you think
it's going to try? Absolutely?Okay, absolutely, And what that means
is do you need seven hundred andfifty right ends. Yeah, I would
need seven hundred and fifty right endsto get on the back in the ballot
(38:59):
in November and then you would bein the mote. Okay. So I'll
hope you out with that as well, and we'll have you back on all
right, my friend, all right, so we're coming to an end.
You're watching Usula media the Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray,
Thank you for watching. The RepublicanZone is brought to you by Drew Murray,
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray. Good afternoon, you're
watching USLA Media and The Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray.
I am here with my young friendJames Whitehead, who who ran in
November for the seventh Councilmatic district.Yes, right, and I thought we
(00:32):
were going to talk about maybe theseventh Council Initmatic race or something else.
But as soon as you walked in, you said, did you watch that
marril for him last night? AndI did not, but we could still
talk about it. I think Iread enough about it on Twitter that I'm
sure I could have a discussion aboutit. But I heard on Twitter it
(00:53):
was it was crazy and it wasI can't say the word the An s
show is what people said on Twitter. Yeah, so you watch you watched
the whole thing. I watched it, and you said you watch it twice.
I watched it twice. I watchedit twice and uh because the first
time it was like, um,it was it was shocking and it was
just like, man, maybe Ididn't see or hear what I think I
(01:14):
heard, So I uh watched itagain the whole entire hour I think our
deacon was an hour of seventeen minutes. And I was just shocked about,
you know, some of the thingsthat I was heard, and this was
only Democrats. David I saw DavidI wasn't there, and I know she
was like, why isn't David Ohthere? And then if you looked at
the banner, it said you knowwho was the next mayor and then it
(01:37):
says Democrat primary debate. Um,so we're both Republicans. So yeah,
if David Oh wasn't wasn't in thedebate, And I said, who won?
Of course we would say David,but David wasn't in it. So
if there was a winner, andif there was a loser, um,
I think so who? So whowas in at number one? A'min Brown
was in it, Allen gimm JeffreyBrown, Ryan Hart, Derk Green,
(02:01):
and Charll Parker so seven, sowas there a clear winner? And that
to be? I felt like,um, Alan Dom and uh to me,
Alan Dom had a lot of keypoints. He said the right things,
and he still cleared from the mudslingingbecause it was a lot of mudslinging.
(02:23):
Oh so no one went after AlanNo, not right? So basically
what I read what I read onTwitter. If I were to guess Jeffrey
Brown, they were going after himhis campaign finance issues that he's having,
and everyone heard about Aman Brown goingafter Holland Gamm was there was there any
other MUDs? Did Terrell or Derekget anything out of him? I think
(02:46):
Derek was going after the Did youknow Derk Green did go after Jeffrey Brown.
He did a lot of a lotof them. Uh, It's not
shocking to me because from one pointat a time, you know, jeff
Brown was in favor. Yeah,but so a lot of the candidates felt
like he's he's the attack. No, absolutely, he's He's popular in West
(03:07):
Philadelphia. Yes, Well, heopened up Shop Rights and food Deserts when
no one else did um and hewas successful at it. So he made
a lot of money at it.But people in West Philly, Black voters
in West Philadelphia love him. Hegot a lot of union endorsements for unions
at work in that industry. Ithought he was I thought he was a
(03:28):
favorite early on, although I thoughthe was gonna split votes with Alan dam
because they're both they're very similar peoplein the demographic, They're both white men.
They're both Jewish, and they're bothvery successful business people who could put
their own money into the campaign,right, So I would agree he was.
He was definitely. I never thoughthe was gonna win, but I
(03:49):
thought he was gonna do very well. But yeah, I figured he was
gonna do well. Um, AndI had him at the front runner for
quite some time, and then thingsstarted to come out about campaign finances,
and that made me. That mademe a little area about things because you
know, when you're going into youknow, being the mayor or going into
(04:11):
congress, you you usually want tohave a good reputation. You know,
they say thirty years to build itin a couple of seconds from ruining it,
true exactly. Yeah, And andnow I'm looking at it going and
he had as he's he's he's hadsome some campaign finance issues and and I
will say I've not had a chanceto because I'm in my own campaign,
(04:32):
so I'm mostly worrying about Drew Murray, Republican for City Council at Large.
But I've read some things very quickly, and to give give people backgrounds,
MO people don't even know about campaignfinance, what the issues are or what
the rules are I should say inPhiladelphia, and the rules are thirty one
hundred dollars for an individual, Soif you were to give my campaign money,
(04:56):
you couldn't given me more than thirtyone hundred dollars as an individual,
and and then a political committee ora company could give up to I think
it's twelve five. It's either twelvefive or twelve six. I think it's
twelvey five. Now, so thoseare the limitations. Now, if one
person in the race donates their ownmoney two hundred and fifty thousand dollars or
more than those limits, double,yes, so they've been doubled in the
(05:23):
sheriff's race, which is insane thatsomeone put two hundred fifty thousand of their
own money into the sheriff's race.Maybe yeah, but definitely mayor, because
I think both Jeffrey Brown and nowand Dom have put two hundred fifty thousand
of their own money in, Sothat's double. So it's sixty two hundred
and let's just say twenty five thousand. It's either it's either double twelve five
or twelve six. I think it'stwelve five. So let's say twenty five
grant. So that's the most anybodycan give. So a union, let's
(05:46):
say you get a union endorsement,they can only give the mayor's race twenty
five thousand dollars and that's it.A calendar year, So someone could give
on December thirty first, twelve six, because it wasn't doubled until this year.
But they could have given Jeffrey Brownround or Charle Parker Twelvey five on
December thirty first, and then onJanuary one they could give another Twelvey five,
and then since it doubled, theycould have given another Twelvey five.
(06:09):
So theoretically a group could give upto thirty seven thousand, five hundred dollars
if they started last year. Sothat's how it works. Yeah, And
as Senate, it was being putup as Jeff Brown in the dark money,
right, his name has been associatedwith darknell that. So what that
means is there are independent expenditure groupsthat can spend as much money as they
(06:31):
want on a campaign. For example, they can come in and say,
you know what, I'm supporting JamesWhitehead m ABC Political Political Action Committee,
and I'm gonna put five million dollarsin the TV commercials for James Whitehead for
the seventh councilmatic district, perfectly legalas long as the money doesn't run through
the campaign and as long as thecandidate were there, their or their team
(06:58):
does not coordinate with that independent expenditurepolitical political Action committee. So as soon
as they coordinate, and then whatdoes that mean coordinate they call up and
say hey do this on the commercial. That's they can't do that. They
can't email, they can't text andtell them what to do. I'm not
an attorney, so I don't knowthe exact like line of what you know.
(07:18):
Obviously, the candidate is going toknow the independent expenditure is going for
them, So I don't know theexact line. But from what reports that
are coming out, Jeffrey Brown crossedthat line and coordinated with independent expenditure packs
or pack. I think it mightbe one with his campaign. Yeah,
(07:40):
yeah, they were. I readthat all through the Twitter blocks and things
like that. Another person that hadoutside of David Old, that had my
interest was Surell Parker, and she'svery strong in candidate. She was.
She went from being a dark horseand two my opinion, So I did
watch last night, but if youask me right now to put a million
(08:03):
dollars on the Democrat side, whowas going to win? And I don't
think there's any any clear front runner. But if you stay sa true,
you have to put a million dollarson one person. Who would it be?
And then this doesn't mean this iswhy I want to win or whom
the doorsing, but it would beTrurelle Barker. I think she's currently the
front runner because she has a lotof union support, so she's got a
(08:26):
decent amount of money and can competewith Alan Dom and Jeffrey Brown's money and
even you know, they're all raisinga lot of money. And she is
Northwest. Northwest is one of themost powerful voting blocks. Yes, the
Philadelphia that's where she's from. Yep, chest in the Hill mill Arie Roxborough
a huge voting block. So that'swhy I think, But I don't know,
do you have so you thought JeffreyBrown was leading? Who do you
(08:48):
think's leading? Now? Do youhave? True? So? I like
I thought Alan Dom had a chance, But I think Alan's problem is that
he's his demographic is too close toJeffrey Brown. You know again, white
successful Jewish business personoe. Yeah,what was that segogue? That's right,
(09:11):
yeah you do, yeah, yeah, yea, yeah, yeah. Now
you would be a different demographic becauseI'm sure they're not that many Republican Black
Jewish. No, it's not,absolutely not. And demographic that's a very
small demographic. So I can't evengo to the I couldn't even I would
Actually, I would have to startsomething from scratch and just see who's who's
(09:33):
feels into the demographic of who canjoin in the group. But it's gonna
be very slow. Yeah, Imean, I remember I text you the
one point I knew, I knewyour Republican and there are a number one
they're a lot more black Republicans thanthan people people believe. But when I
knew, you know, my wife'sJewish, you said something to me and
over text and I was like,are you Jewish? And you're like yes.
I was like, okay, surprising, but yeah, you're You're far
(09:56):
from the only There's plenty of blackyou Wish people, but it's the Republican
back Shewish Republican. That's yeah.Yeah. But actually the interesting thing was
what actually made me, uh youknow, switched parties from Democratic. I
was once a Democrat, and Iswitched over to Republican because when I was
(10:20):
living in a nice town, uh, that's when I had my AHA moment
and I was thinking, like,you know what, I'm gonna start my
own company, Royal Advertising. AndI remember getting the business lies from Philadelphia,
getting the insurance from the state,and that's when I had the moment
like, you know what, thisis too much red tape. Here.
(10:43):
I am a guy, you know, living with his girlfriend's mother, trying
to get my feet were trying tostart my company, and I'm having a
lot of red tape. So thisis this is one of the one of
the one of there's a lot ofreasons why I went Republican, but this
is one that I like a lotof people can relate to, especially in
the inner city, when you tryto start something, you have little to
(11:05):
no help and there's a lot ofgovernment red tape almost getting in the way
of you starting your becoming an entrepreneur. And I remember going halfway through the
process and it was like, well, you got to do this, you
have to do this, and I'mlike, oh, this is too much
red tape. I just want toget to the ground and running. And
I know that being a Republican,we we favor entrepreneurship. We favor that
(11:28):
and that and that red tape isa barred entry for a lot of people.
Yeah, it is, because itcould potentially make a break. People
in the process of entrepreneurs oftentimes don'thave you know, they're they're starting from
scraps. They don't have the capitalto start the company, at least they
don't. It's not it's not aneasy thing for them to do. So
when you have a lot of redtape, when you make it more and
more challenging to start a business,that's a barrett entry. And you know
(11:52):
a lot of young entrepreneurs give up. They do, and you lose those
opportunities. Yeah, that's and I'veseen that quite often, especially coming into
coming into entrepreneurship. When I started, uh my advertising company, Real Companies,
I didn't I didn't have a traditionaleducation in terms of the college experience
(12:18):
of going to school for a master'sdegree or a basterilor's degree in business administration.
I simply learned how to start abusiness by purchasing books and going to
the library. Was actually utilized utilizingmy library quite often because at one point
I was just like, well,I can't well I'm not going to school
for business administration, and I'm learningeverything at home. When I was what
(12:39):
I was reading in the book,I was learning from home. And I'm
not trying to discourage anyone from goingto college. But what I'm trying to
encourage people to do is, ifyou want to be an entrepreneur, if
you want to be in politics,educate yourself. You got so many books
in the library you could, youknow, free, you could just read
and educate yourself before you get intoit. And that's what I did,
(13:01):
and I started my company off ofthat. But that's one of the major
reasons why I diverted from democratic too. And when was that? Was that?
That was in two thousand and ten? Oh wow, long time,
I remember vividly. Yeah, yeah, I remember. It wasn't it wasn't
a couple of years ago. Youmust how old were you? I was
like twenty twenty twenty okay, twentyone years old, twenty one, twenty
(13:26):
two about say you had to bebarely old and off the boat? Yeah,
so you a twenty two? Youwere younger than I was when I
switched. So anything else, umfrom the debate, Yeah, actually I
know, I know. Yeah,Well one of the things we talked about
before the show was And again Ididn't see it, but I looked at
one clip because I had to becauseit was all over Twitter. It was
(13:50):
it was did Helen Gham really justsay that I'm not disparaging Helen? Helen
is my neighbor. Uh. AndI don't really talk badly about anybody.
I'll talk badly about policy, butI don't really disparage anyone individually. But
I'm in Brown, who was mystate rep actually in the tenth legislative district.
What he asked her a question ofwhat was it? Yeah, he
(14:11):
asked her a question. Uh.He said, well, didn't you meet
with um one of them from yeahadelmen from the from the seventy six ers
organization. Uh? And she said, yeah, we met, but we
didn't talk about anything. And itjust don't make sense, like you don't
you know, you don't call himbodyin the pone and say hey, let's
meet up and we just sit acrossthe table and don't say nothing. So
(14:33):
yeah, and that is the onlyclip I saw it. I was just
like, you know, I don'tthink Helen well number one, even even
the moderator said, we're not asking. You know, it's not up to
the candidates to ask other candidates questions. So I think even the moderator was
taken back that Amen was was askingthat question, and obviously Helen wasn't wasn't
ready for it, And I'm surprisedI would have thought Helen would have been
(14:54):
ready with an answer, because sheobviously did meet with them. I don't
know if she's publicly won one hundredpercent said she's opposed to the arena,
but that certainly sounds she did sayshe's one hundred percent against the arena being
built, because she said doesn't fit. I'm not gonna directly quote her,
(15:15):
but it went along to something youknow, from my opinion of it,
Mary to speak, it went alongthe lines of the people like she she
made her decision based off the peoplethat she represents and which she thinks he's
right. And look, I'll behonest with you. If if I'm a
Merrill candidate and I'm gonna say I'mopposed to something, I don't think there's
anything wrong with meeting at with withthe sixers decide that is obviously for this
(15:39):
arena. Yeah, if for noother reason to say, look, I'm
gonna meet with both sides. I'mgonna listen to it. I'm gonna have
an educated reason why I am foror against something, So I'm not I
don't think it was a problem thatshe met with him. The problem was
that her answer was not It wasnot a great answer. No, and
I'm sure she wasn't prepared. Now, which is how one is very smart.
(16:00):
You could, you could, youcould disagree with Helen's politics with Helen
is very smart. I wonder ifshe came out and I and I'm almost
asking this as a question, Iwonder if she if she came out with
another statement today, because her responsein that in that Meryll debate was was
not good for her. I mean, if it were me, and it
was a tough question because but butI guess I would have thought she would
have said, yes, I didmeet with him. I met with him
(16:22):
because I wanted to hear both sidesof the story. I was opposed to
the arena before I met with him, and I'm still opposed to it.
If she said that, then it'sthat would have obviously could have I thought
about that answer, so I wasable to give a better answer than Helen's.
Again, I'm not disparaging or Iwas very surprised that her answer was
we didn't discuss anything. Well,what were you discussing? Yeah, I
(16:44):
just think she was caught blindsided.Um, it was awkward silence. Did
they bring up the arena and otherquestions? Um? I know in the
Meryl Forum that I did for theCrosstown Coalition on March twenty eighth, that
was a yes or no. Sowe had and a lot of debates to
do that. So you'll ask aquestion where they can talk and they say
they have they have a minute anda half ninety seconds to speak. But
(17:07):
then you have built rounds where it'sjust like yes or no. So we
asked that question, are you infavor I forget the exact burbers, but
are you in favor of the ofthe arena? Um? If? And
I think we even phrase it ifit can be done in a way that
does not detriment it's not a detrimentto Chinatown. And a lot of them
refused to put up yes or yesor no. They said this is not
(17:27):
a yes or no question. Yeah, they did, they did that.
They had they actually had the candidates, Uh do do like right on the
board and say yes or no.And one of the things I found very
interesting. Um, they asked thequestion regarding to UH, they said,
would you Uh? They asked thequestion, they said, UM, it
(17:51):
was about the DA, and Ithought that the DA would get a lot
more support from the the city countssupposedly to do it match. But a
lot of the candidates just was opposedto UM, A lot of them,
I know. And it was anotherI must have seen another clip because I
(18:12):
know. Rebecca ryan Hart didn't answerit, and she said, because that
DA Larah Krasner has gotten a lotof people who are incarcerated and found not
guilty. They're not necessarily innocent,but not guilty. Later she said,
that's why I think and I supportDA Larah Krasner. Um. But if
I remember correctly, I don't.I think Jeffrey Brown put no. I
(18:33):
think Allen may have put no.Yeah. I don't know what Rull did
said no. She said no too. Did Helen say anything? Helen said
she supports Uh, she put yesor she refused to answer no. She
she I believe she put yes.But I do know one thing. Yeah,
I don't remember back he didn't doany Rebecca said, I can't answer
that. Yes, she didn't answerit. Um And I remember they said,
(18:56):
Helen, uh, would you putmore money into the DA's office,
and she said, yes, shewould put the extra money. But a
lot of the candidates is like Darrygreening him or you know, talking about
it. They just don't like whereLarry Krassner's going. Yeah, no,
I would not give it. Iwould not give the district attorney any any
(19:17):
more money. I give the policemore money at this point. But Larry
Krasner's office, he's having people peoplequitting. It's interesting. Uh. I
did talk to someone from the disturner'soffice last night at the city council event,
and one of the things he said, he's like, there's a lot
of turnover because you just don't payenough for the assistant district attorneys. And
he said, would you be willingto support higher pay for the assistant distretturns?
(19:38):
I think they make about seventy thousand. Yeah. Coming out, I
said, I said, not withthe way as currently being run. Uh,
you know, right right now,there's a lot of turnover. That
could be part of the reason,but there's a lot of turnover because people
just his office is in disarray,and that's why people are leaving. It's
uh, they're not getting paid anyless than before Larry Krasner, and they
(19:59):
didn't see to be much of anissue prior to the current district attorney.
So, you know, I'm notopposed to giving people look their attorneys.
And then I was just argument likeI went to school, and that this
was a person who didn't even goto college. Right after he actually didn't
go to college. So later inlife he said, I went to I
went to college. I got myundergraduate degree that took me four years.
Then I went to law school forthree years. And you know, and
(20:22):
I'm I'm only making seventy thousand dollarsa year, and and I do it.
I understand where he's coming from.But at the same time, you're
you're you're going into public service.No, you don't go in the public
service to make money. If youwant to make money as an attorney going
to private practice, if you chooseto do, you know, honestly,
and I'll be honest, That's oneof the reasons why I didn't become an
attorney, because I was like,what interest would be was being a prosecutor.
(20:45):
And I looked at it, andI said, I'm not going to
make any money, so I'm nota wealthy man. But I was like,
I'm not gonna I'm not going toschool for three years after you know,
I'd already go on the undergrad Ithought I was going to go right
to uh rate, to law school. I said, you know what that
was. I don't want to beI don't. I don't want to be
a prosecutor unless I can make alot of money or a decent amount of
(21:06):
money. I don't have to bea rich man, but right a decent
amount of money the bigger live.Just the point, like, the problem
here is um Like, see soPhiladelphia, the job sector and a lot
of the jobs that are available thatpaid quite well require some sort of degree.
And they bring up the public schoolstoo as well. And this goes
(21:27):
into that. Right, So likea lot of jobs I paid pretty well
require a bachelor's degree or you know, some sort of degree and experience.
But the problem here is the currentPhiladephi's school district, in my opinion,
is failing the kids miserably. AndI am a graduate of philadph at public
(21:47):
school. Benjamin Franklin off for brunSpring Garden graduated class of two thousand and
seven, and um, I remembergoing into college not totally being prepared.
One day, I'm thinking, like, you know what, I'm astill playing
football and enjoy being on the collegecampus. And you know, you know,
you know we're doing in the collegecampus. You know, I studied,
(22:07):
that is all I did. Istudied on the college. I didn't
I didn't do too much of that. But so but like I did do
some studying. But what with theproblem was the No Child Left Behind Act
and then the Public School of Philadelphianot really catering to my needs, just
sort of like pushing me through.I wasn't totally prepared for college. Because
(22:30):
what happens is when a lot ofthe guys in the inner city community,
especially those who are African American andbrown, when we get into college and
we just you know, feel likeyou know, society sold us. So
people have sold us go to college, and we do so because we're in
hopes of one day and finding havinga job and having a secured income.
But what the problem is when weget into the colleges, we can't keep
(22:55):
up what the education is being taughtbecause we've just been pushed through. We
have like a nice You didn't thinkthe school district did not prepare you for
gottee? No? Absolutely, Nowdid it start in high school or was
it? Did grade school? Oprepare you for high school? And then
consequently high school and prepare you couldhave went into that chronological order, because
(23:15):
when I went into college and theydid a test assessment and it was like,
yeah, man, you know yourwriting level is around the tenth grade
level, and I'm like wow,And I'll be honest with you, I
from what I've heard, that mightbe above average. Yes, it's above
(23:36):
average for the school district of Phildelphi. Unfortunately for the non magnet school,
it's like a Ben Franklin High Schoolfor the non magnet school. Yeah,
and because most of them are inthe middle school, six of the eighth
grade writing level, sixth grade mathlevel, comprehension and reading, all of
that goes a long way without thebasis of education. Then college education for
anybody's you know, especially black orbrown to achieve a degree. They said,
(24:03):
read this thing, and I forgot. I forgot. I'm trying to
quote it. I forgot it.But they said of black and brown men
in Philadelphia have associate's degrees and fivepercent of black and brown men in Philadelphia
have bachelor's degrees, which means youback the actual question, well, where
the hell's the other eighty percent?And it's not a secret that, uh,
(24:29):
that majority of the prison systems filledwith African American men, and who
commit most of the crowns as AfricanAmerican men, and most homicides come from
African American men. I think thebest way of cutting that number down would
would would only be through education.So the only trial said, we can't
legislate ourselves out of poverty. Wegot to educate ourselves out of power.
(24:51):
Absolutely, And then then then it'slike it goes back to secured income in
jobs because when I grew up inthe community like Nine Town or Frankfurt,
especially my Franklin I live in Kensington, and a lot of them feel hopeless.
They feel like, well, there'sonly one way to do. I'm
not gonna lay lay on the groundon the back and die. So this
is when he indulged into a lifeof crime because they feel like, well,
(25:12):
I can't get a job with thecity or a job that has a
secure income. They go straight tothe streets because that's what's in front of
them. And they see the guydriving down the street with a Rolls Royce
sort not Rolls Royce, but acar that's much fancy. The person,
the drug dealer, becomes desirable tothe kids because he has everything that money
(25:33):
can buy in terms of like themercenies, beers. And they don't know
and understand that that drug deal isprobably not gonna live past there. No,
absolutely, they don't see that part. If they're just like, oh
wow, that guy. Look he'stwenty five. Here we go. Whatever
kind of car he has. Thisreally has a car. Yeah, and
he's able to dress well and hedoes this and does that, and they
look in and I get it.Um and education is a way to break
(25:56):
that cycle. Yeah, I feellike that's the best way to But we
do need police from the streets,don't get me wrong, But I feel
like with with with that, andalso putting more money into an educational system
that works, not broken. Andkids are going to school with asbestos so
nutrition, it's very poor porkandestance.Put it that way. You can't expect
(26:21):
the child to learning porkandessance. He'sgoing to be distracted it's gonna be discouraged.
He's not going to feel a beat. Like they did the study they
said that kids that study in classroomswith windows performed better than those who who
don't. It might be like twowindows in their versus a classroom that's well
lit, y Brandon, state ofthe art facility. Yeah, because it
(26:45):
feels like more when I went intoum, when I would go into school,
it felt like a sense of aprison almost because we would go to
the melodetectives we have put real policeon the scene. It was not well
lit, it was cold. Thatthat that sort of discouraged me. Sure,
I'm going, but now i'm benBracton is nice. Actually, yeah,
now it's got Now that's Science LeaAcademy and so now they redid it.
(27:10):
So that's good. Um, butit's still not considered a great school.
No, it's not. It's stillnot considered a great school. Um.
So before we only have a coupleof minutes if I want to touch
on. So you did run forthe seventh Councilmatic district in the special election
in November the same time I wasin the special election for city council.
You know, we both probably knewthat we were long shots at best.
(27:30):
I mean, I knew, Iknew. I knew I didn't have a
chance to win. Me to myfirst time, I'm still yours. You
learn, um. And the greatestthing about the special election is that you
don't have to get signatures. AndI said that in November. I'm like,
this is great. I'm on theballt because I've gotten signatures. That
was the first time I was onabout where I didn't have to go get
(27:51):
signatures. And I know how hardit is signatures. Um. And so
I ran in a race where I'mrunning in a race this cycle that's citywide.
And you texted me at one pointlike Drew, I'm going to carry
your petition. I'm like, don'tcarry my petition. I said, carry
your own petition. That's it.I said, you're running in a councilomatic
district. That is really hard becausethere are enough Republicans. You needed seven
(28:14):
hundred and fifty signatures. I neededmore. I needed a thousand. But
I got to go anywhere in thecity I wanted. You have to stay
in the seven councilomatic district. Andfor example, like I live in Center
City, I didn't knock on asingle door in Center City, with the
exception of people I knew, likeI would call my buddy, I'm be
say hey, and there are notmany buddies of mine who are Republicans in
Center City, so hey, I'mcoming over my petition and other I'm a
(28:36):
ward leader, so I had toget more petition signed. But most of
my time I drove up to NortheastPhiladelphia almost every single day, and I
would say nineteen out of the twentyone days I drove to Northeast Philly,
and the other day I drove toSouth Philadelphia. And then the one day
it just poured all day, soI couldn't drive anywhere. I just called
people on the phone trying to getsignatures. You didn't have that you didn't
(29:00):
that luxury. You have to stayin the seventh Councilmanic district. And I
don't even know what the number isif there's only one hundred and sixteen dolls,
because you have to get signatures fromRepublicans. If there's only one hundred
and sixteen thousand Republicans in the wholecity, right, I don't even do
you remember the number? I mean, how many other people are five thousand?
Maybe? Yeah, yeah, soit's probably almost impossible. And it's
(29:26):
unfair because as a Republican you shouldabsolutely be able to run if you put
the work in. But as youas you learn and and it was the
first time you didn't. And Itell everyone, if you've never gotten signatures
before, you don't know how hardit is. It is extremely challenging,
even if you have help. Immunatedthat I mean, I had people helping
(29:47):
me, and it it was extremelychallenge. I went out eight hours a
day and then I went to eventsat night. I would say I worked
on average for twenty one day straighttwenty two really on a ten hours a
day is what I spent on signatures, and it was possible for me to
get it. Do you think itwould have been so you didn't get enough
signatures? Do you think it's possibleto get seven hundred and fifty in the
(30:12):
seventh councilmatic district or do you thinkit might be impossible. It's gonna require
a lot of manpower because the strugglethat I had was trying to cover as
much ground as possible, and likein the Northeast, I would be able
to go to every it was probablyevery other house or one out of three
houses on a block as a Republican, yeah, you probably had one house
(30:33):
on a block. Yeah, andsome blocks with zero zero and you can't.
So that means they're not enough people. You're walking a lot farther,
a lot further. And I hadmy best friend dragged me around while I
would, you know, look atthe addresses, and it was very challenging
(30:55):
in a sense. One thing Iwould like to see is that you know,
I know, city council at large, like you state, it gets
a thousand signatures, and city councilis seven district gets seven hundred and fifty.
I believe that numbers should be alot lower. Oh, I think
around two fifty, I would agree. And but the challenge is this,
(31:18):
that's a state that is decided bythe state legislature, and I don't think
there's going to be any movement inthe state legislature to make it easier now,
because honestly, it's harder for usin Philadelphia's Republicans, it's harder for
Republicans in Allegheny County, but forthe rest of the state, it makes
it harder for Democrats. So Ithink they're in their opinion since it's right
(31:42):
now there is a split legislature now, and but typically it's been running by
Republicans. I don't think we're goingto see that, but I agree.
I think it should be lower.That's it should be a percentage of the
registered voters in a district. Sothat's that's even better than what I am.
Yeah, I mean, we'll thinkabout there's eight hundred thousand Democrats in
the city of Philadelphia, there's onehundred and sixteen thousand Republicans. We should
(32:06):
not have to get the same amountof signatures as they do. It should
be proportional. So if it's athousand for example city council, then it
should be more like one hundred andfifty for a Republican because it is that
hard. It is extremely challengeable.And guess what it was hard. I
ran in twenty nineteen for city councillarge. I ran in twenty twenty first
a state rep seat in the onehundred and eighty second legislative district, which
(32:30):
I knew I was going to lose. I was a name on the ballot
as a favor to the party.You only have to get three hundred in
the legislative district. It's a lotsmaller. Yeah, I said that three
hundred. For me, I gotfour hundred and fifties. What I got
that year was harder than when Igot fifteen hundred in twenty nineteen. So
was it easier for the state runningyou thing? No, No, it's
(32:52):
harder. I had a harder timefor State Rep. Getting four hundred and
fifty than I did getting fifteen hundred. Well, you think it is because
it was in Center City. Peoplein Center City do not answer their doors.
Well. Ever, when they don'tanswer their doors number number two,
I would think they would answer theirdoors. Yeah, And I bet the
seven Council back district now and thisis part of what I was going for
(33:14):
in twenty nineteen, people answer theirdoors more than the answer them now because
now they have the ring doorbells.People are don't feel safe because the city
Philadelphia is not as safe as itused to be. Um in Center City,
and I'm sure it's true in theseven Councilmatic district too. They're multifamily
homes like I can't go to youcan't go in apartment building a knock on
those doors, so those were allwiped out. I will tell you in
(33:35):
Center City if there's a multifamily homelike an RM one, which means it's
it's it's a single it's a singleunit, but with three apartments. People
do not answer their door. Ifthey're in an apartment. If you go
up and there's three doorbells, Idon't even hit the doorbell. They're not
gonna answer. If they live onthe third floor, they're not answering that
they're gonna have to come all theway down. Unless they're having food delivered.
That's your only shot. If there'sif they're having food delivery, they
(33:59):
might to answer the duel. Butat that point they're gonna see the door
bell. Yeah. Yeah, we'retrying to sell me something. So I
think it might be impossible to getseven hundred and fifty signatures. The only
way it would be possible, honestly, you would probably need a team of
thirty to forty people. Yeah,and that takes funding. Yeah, and
that's expensive. And even the onlyway for you to get seven hundred fifty
(34:20):
I will tell you, based onthe percentage of the of the houses that
answer their door, I think onlytwenty percent of the people answer their door.
Just look at the numbers. Ifthere's only fifty six hundred. You're
gonna have to get You're gonna haveto hit every single door, every single
in the seven councilmatic district, whichis almost imbossible unless you have thirty forty
people. Yeah. Absolutely, Butthe reason why I embarked on the challenges
(34:40):
because I like a challenge. Yeah, I'm a fighter, you know what
I mean. And we even't hadan event for you to try to change
people over to sign I mean,yeah we did. We didn't get a
ton and then it was last minute, so we didn't. It wasn't you
know, we didn't get a tonof We maybe got fifteen too, and
then we got it from mothers too. But we've basically put in the seven
councilmatic district to help me a littlebit. But we only got you like
(35:00):
fifteen. But I can't say onething that people in the neighborhood are starting
to know me for who I am. Even down when I'm to go down
to Center City, people knowing peopleare be like, yo, mister,
why, I'm like, I don'tsay I know you, but I just
you know, how do we knoweach other? What would have favorite?
And they go, oh, no, I follow you on Instagram and Twitter,
and I love what you got goingon. Although I'm registered Democrat,
(35:22):
but I love what you got goingon. That encourages me a lot more.
But even after the this year,I'm going to be running next year
for state Rep. In my alright, good my district, and I will
help you because I can help you. Not do it. I would,
I personally would have helped you thisyear, but my own. And that's
why. And that's when you saidI'm gonna carry because you could carry my
(35:42):
petition and get signatures for me.But I said, don't do it.
I said, do not worry aboutme. Yes, you worry about you,
don't you worry about getting anybody elsesignatures. I said, you're seven
fifty year alone is going to beenough for you. Um, you would
definitely helpful, uh, through theentire process. About look, you learn,
you learn at twenty nineteen. Look, I knew going in in twenty
(36:02):
nineteen, I was new to theparty, I was new to running.
I knew no an in that goingin I was probably gonna lose. But
I was like, you know whatI'm doing this, I'm gonna learn.
And then in twenty twenty three,where we are now, that's when that
is when I'm gonna win. ThatThat was my plan to win. Little
to I know I was gonna bein two more racism between there that I
had no intention of being in.But in twenty twenty, they asked me
(36:24):
to run for the state. RapI said no three times or two times.
I think I said no twice andthen the third time. And this
is why, I said, whatchance do you think I have to win?
And this is the people from theHouse Republican Campaign Committee, which you'll
get to know, the HRCC whenyou're run for state. Rap I said,
if they answered me honestly, I'llrun. I was in my mind.
I didn't tell him. I said, what are my chances to win?
(36:45):
They said zero? I said,all right, I'll do it.
I said, I will do it. I said. I said, I'm
like, if you lied to meand said I had a chance, then
I was gonna say no. Isaid, I'll do it, but you
gotta help me, you gotta supportme, you gotta give me a little
bit of money. We'll still giveyou maybe a little bit. Uh.
The HRCC doesn't give too much moneyto races that you can't win. But
(37:06):
I did run. And then andthen of course, and we had the
special election in November. So I'min my fourth race in five years.
So but this is the first Isaid, I tell me, but this
is the first rates I can Ican actually win. It's the first rates
I've been in that I can andexpect to win. So I like that.
So now, yeah, you learnum and hopefully in the in the
(37:27):
in the in the state rep position, you'll be able to get on.
I will help you knock doors.It's still gonna be hard. You're gonna
want a team and you're gonna wanta three weeks. That's why I tell
people, if you're the candidate forthree weeks, you better have nothing.
If you have a full time job, you better be ready to work at
night because during the day started atnoon, you need to be out there
(37:51):
knocking doors, even on a Tuesdaynoon. On a Tuesday, you need
to be out there in knocking doors. Yeah, you might not get many
people answering, but if you getten during the day, that's ten more
than you would have. So everyoneis watching this. Drew Murray just gave
y'all some educations. So an youwant to send politics, please educate yourself.
If you're going to go into thefield please and surround yourself with people
that are already in politics. That'ssomething I wish that I would have done
(38:15):
a lot sooner. Uh. Youknow, Philly Goop will certainly help me
out through the duration of me runningfor the special election. Helped me filling
the paperwork and things in that nature. So I want to say thank you
Drew for no. Yeah, yeah, we are. We are coming out,
So thank you for coming on.Well, we'll have you back on
(38:36):
again. Well, we have youback on when you're running for state rap
Yeah, and are what we didn'tname it asked, are you planning on
trying some sort of write in forthe seventh councilmatic district. Do you think
it's going to try? Absolutely?Okay, absolutely, And what that means
is do you need seven hundred andfifty right ends. Yeah, I would
need seven hundred and fifty right endsto get on the back in the ballot
(38:59):
in November and then you would bein the mote. Okay. So I'll
hope you out with that as well, and we'll have you back on all
right, my friend, all right, so we're coming to an end.
You're watching Usula media the Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray,
Thank you for watching. The RepublicanZone is brought to you by Drew Murray,
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