July 5, 2023 • 27 mins
Join host Drew Murray on "The Republican Zone" as he interviews special guest Pete Smith, Secretary of the Philadelphia Republican GOP. Get an inside look at the current state of the Republican Party in Philadelphia and hear Smith's insights on the future of the party. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on politics, policy, and the important issues facing our country. Don't miss this informative and engaging episode of "The Republican Zone."
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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 USSILO Media and the Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray,
and I'm welcome, I mean,my guest from the Republican City Committee
(00:27):
aka the Philly Goop, my goodfriend Pete Smith. Hey, Drew,
how are you doing buddy? Thankyou having me on now, Thank you
for coming on. This has beena crazy couple of weeks for Philly Goop
Twitter wars. It's been insane andthere's nothing I hate more than social media.
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But it's it's a necessary evil,I say, And it has been,
it has been not the past fewweeks. Yes, Unfortunately, social
media it's the only platform when youcan act like a big person when you
actually aren't. Yes, I Iknow. I if you look at my
Twitter handle, your Twitle handle,I mean it says mine, says Drew
Murray on him on Twitter. Though, you can just have these handles that
(01:10):
are are anonymous. I'm not evengonna say I agree with you. You
can put anything up there that youwant. Again, you know, I
go on as myself. I don'thave a problem speaking as myself. I
don't have to hide behind a fakeTwitter handle. In fact, if for
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a long time I wasn't even onTwitter, I just recently got back on
because I was told it. Iwas being insulted on social media and I
had to get on just so Icould respond. But it's getting to the
point where it's so ridiculous anymore thatit's not worth it. And the problem
is these these people who do this, they would never do this on a
platform like Facebook, exactly if yourname is out there, they wouldn't do
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it. And then there's two handleson not even gonna say their names because
I'm not going to give them anycredit, but they come on. They
do two things. Number One,they do lie they flat out lieu.
And then they'll also make insinuations.And the prime example of this is last
week when on Friday flags that wereput up in Bridesburg, which which which
(02:19):
is great, I applaud that theywere taken down unexpectedly, and all of
a sudden on Twitter, both fakeaccounts and some with names actually came out
and said that the Philly Goop,now you are the secretary of the Philly
Goop. They said leadership of thePhilly Goop had the flags taken down,
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that they called Pico, they calledthe mayor's office. There's been many stories.
First we called Pico, then itwas changed that we called the mayor's
office. Now it sounds like they'resaying, you know, well, actually
they're going silent now. They weregonna have a big announcement, some of
these Twitter handles and some of thesepeople on Twitter, We're gonna have a
big announcement on Monday. Who tookdown the flags in Bridesburg. Well,
there was no big announcement on Monday. Uh And and I know you've been
(03:06):
doing research to find out whether ornot there was anything behind these flies getting
taken down. When I heard theygot taken down, I figured someone called
and made a complaint and they gottaken down, that there was nothing to
farry us about it. But onTwitter and social media, these Twitter handlers
and some of the backers of oneof my opponents on the ballot, this
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may this person's followers and people whoworked directly for his campaign. By the
way, we're either saying that Ihad something to do with it or insinuating
it, and absolutely saying the PhillyGoop had something to do with it.
So I know you've been doing someresearch. What have you found out about
the flag removal? Yeah, andyou know it was the opponents spoke spokesperson
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who specifically called out to Philly Goop. Um. You know right away it
was you know, our fault.We did it. Um. The he
the spokesperson gets one, you know, and does a video stating that you
know, he knows everything, andbut he can't tell you because you know,
(04:11):
someone will get in trouble. Soyeah, So I did my own
investigation. As the secretary for thePhilly GOP. It's my responsibility to make
sure that anything as far as communicationsor anything like that or you know,
my responsibility. So we were calledout. I immediately answered those calls.
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You know, we denied it.We had nothing to do with it.
We would have never done that.You know. Flags are a sacred thing,
especially to the Republican Party. Myselfpersonally, on my block, we
have five flags that have been hangingfor over six years. It's part of
our block committee. We refresh fromevery spring. We've never been asked or
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had any issues with Pico. Picodoesn't have a policy on just driving around
and removing flags. However, theydo have a policy that you know,
flags should be you know, youshould do like a permit, you kind
of request that you put them up. They send you the specifications of what
(05:15):
size flag, what height you cando, and if you fill out those
forms, they'll never come down.They won't be classified as illegal. But
PICO does not have a policy wherethey're just going to go around and remove
them. However, and you know, working with several city council members,
state representatives, we found out thatthe flags in question on the block were
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removed because of a three one onecomplaint of safety. Now unfortunately with three
on one it's it's anonymous. Youwill never know who called it in.
But it goes to the whole storyof you know, all these lies and
everything that are done on Twitter thatthe Philly GOP is, you know,
this horrible organization. You know wedo all this stuff. You know,
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we're the evil Empire. You knowyou have to kiss our ring to get
anything, which is is complete nonsense. You know, it's it's just you
know, people out there who don'trealize what we do as a party and
what we have to go against.I mean, in honesty, the Republican
Party is you know seven to onein registrations Democrat to Republican, so it
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is very tough to be elected asa Republican. You know, I myself,
you know, went after city councilseat, and despite the fact that
my opponent was under federal indictment andawaiting trial, I still lost. I
did very well. I'm proud ofthe campaign that I did, but I
still lost. And that was mainlydue to the fact that a lot of
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people don't even know who their citycouncil person is and they vote party straight
party. But this big, yeah, this big conspiracy that this was at
the highest levels of the Philly GOPworking with Pico is absolutely false. It
was a three to one one complaintthat was made by somebody. Could have
been a neighbor. It could havebeen a member of it could have been
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a member of the Philly GOP.It could also been a disgruntled member of
the Philly GOP. It absolutely couldhave come from you know, say the
Working Families Party there's just to closea little dissension. It could have also
come from the campaign of it,you know, our you know, our
person, we're you know, campaigningagainst you know, our opponent. You
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know, we don't know, we'llnever know, but there was no this
big conspiracy, and it's kind ofridiculous that you know, you can get
away with making these accusations without anyproof. And we're not going to say
who we think did it because wedon't know who did it, and if
we don't have proof on who didit, we're not going to say.
We're not going to insinuate it.Because when the flags came down, it
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was very emotional for a lot ofpeople in Bridesburg. So when accusations were
made by by numerous Twitter accounts,some anonymous, some not, people believed
it. And when you have someonecoming on Twitter saying I have the information,
I know who did it, butI can't tell you who my source
is, that means I can't tellyou you know where I found out this
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information meeting I do not have proofof what I am saying. So it's
dangerous to make those insinuations to peoplewho lived on that block in Bridesburg,
or the people in Brisburg who lovedthose flags and did and were upset that
they came down, and who wereattacking me. Honestly, some of which
we're attacking me on Twitter, theydidn't know they believed it. These are
good people who love the American flagson their block. And when they got
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taken down and they were said,they were told by people they trust,
oh well, this was the PhillyGoop. This was insinuations, mostly insinuations
about me. This was the PhillyGoop leadership. And and tell Drew Murray
to have them put back up whenI had nothing to do with it.
And I can say with ninety ninepoint nine percent uh knowledge that the Philly
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Guop didn't do it. H Youknow, insinuations are dangerous, and people
believed it because it was again,it was an emotional thing. People were
so upset that they came down andsomeone they trusted and told them something that
was either a lie or to minimumsomething that they could not verify, both
of which are dangerous. You know, the former is deplorable. To flat
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out lie is absolutely ridiculous. Butthe state something as an insinuation, and
and and that you have it ongood you know, on reliable sources,
that this is what happened. Itis ridiculous and uh an unethical and I
it's something I would never come onhere and say I think this, So
therefore it is you know, ifyou're going to say something have proof,
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and that's why we can't say whotook the flags down. We don't know,
you know, we might, wemight have some thoughts and ideas on
who did it. Honestly, Pete, I think it was a person on
the block who has to take themdown. You know, well you know
whether it's like I said, wedon't know, and Andrew if I don't
know, if the engineers could,if they could just turn you up just
a little bit. It kind offaded back down. But yeah, here,
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I'm coming on the record right nowtelling you that there is documented facts
from Pico that this was from athree one one call three one one called
Pico, and Pico is instructed ifthey are contacted by the city three one
one system, they have to lookup whether the flags are authorized or not.
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If they're not authorized, they haveto go there and they have to
remove them. That's initiated by thecity. So, like I said,
I'm coming on here. I'm tellingyou for effect that that is what happened.
I'm not telling you that. Ican't tell you because someone's going to
get fired in the next minute.No, this came straight from city council.
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It came straight from state representatives andit came directly from Pico. These
flags were a complaint made by anindividual or individuals that the flags run safe.
PICO investigated to see if they wereproperly installed, which they were not,
and they took them down. Andyou know what the sad part is,
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Drew. The only person who reallygot hurt in this whole thing was
the family that the flags were putup for. You know, this woman
who you know, up until lastFriday was a good friend at the Philly
Goop you know now is not andyou know, this is something that was
done to honor her son, whichI think is great. You know,
anyone who serves our country, Iapplaud them. Any parent that has to
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go through that to know that theiryou know, their son, ORed their
daughter is going to be put inharm's way, I think it's great.
It's admiral the Republican Party. Imean, our policy is we would never
remove or destroy a flag, andwe encourage everyone to put up an American
flag wherever they were. Unfortunately,in this situation, something was done to
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either attack one person or multiple peopleor whatever. But one individual got hurt
on this and it destroyed a reputationthat I hope that we can you know,
get back uh, you know withher, she's you know, the
mother of this this soldier is agreat person, you know, she's she's
done a lot with the Philly Goop. We would never, and I mean
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this to you know, we wouldnever do anything to hurt her because she's
looking favorably towards one candidate over another. It's just wrong. This whole thing
was wrong, That accusations were wrong. Everything was wrong. And as secretary
of the Philly Goop, I spentmy entire weekend working on this ridiculous thing,
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you know, because of the accusationsthat were made against the Philly Goop.
And unfortunately, and one more thing, Drew, And the reason that
you're being attacked is because you're onTwitter. Yeah, no, absolutely,
And if it was if I wasin the middle of a campaign, I
would not be on Twitter. Ilet it roll off of me most of
the time. They've they've been attackingme for months. It doesn't bother me
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that much. It bothers my wife, but I have to tell her not
to respond. And most of itis ridiculous and I just ignore it.
But when when they tell lies andsay that I was part of a plan
to remove flags when I had nothingto do with it. I didn't even
know the flags were down until Igot a text. I actually wasn't even
on Twitter that day. I don'tspend my day on Twitter. Most of
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the time during the day I amworking, and but I got a text
that they said, you need togo on Twitter. You're being accused of
something. And I normally don't respond, but this time I did. I
responded. I said I had nothingto do with this. And I think
now that we know more, itlooks like someone on the block or someone
in the neighborhood made a phone call. It wasn't a Philly Guope person if
it most likely wasn't a person fromfrom from any campaign. It just happened,
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but another campaign seized an opportunity.And it's unfortunate because people were hurt,
and I don't blame. A lotof people were upset at us.
People were calling me a loser onTwitter. I'm not upset at any of
them. The people of Bridesburg whobelieve this lie, they just believed a
lie because people who they trusted toldthem. And again, whether it was
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a lie or they just thought itwas a possibility. They seized an opportunity,
and it's discussed and it's not theonly time they've done it. They've
attacked me. They've and actually justthis morning they put up that I take
money from a progressive environmental pack.The pack they are referring to is Save
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Your Generation Pack. If they didany research, they would notice that the
pack donates to Republicans, to me, to other Republicans, honestly, to
Republican City Committee. It is notan environmental pack at all, And honestly,
I consider myself an environmental so Iwant to care. Anyway, I
wouldn't maybe I wouldn't take money froma progressive pack, but they just didn't
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do their research. But it's it'sa punk rock song. Savior Generation is
a punk rock song. And theRepublican WARD leader who runs the pack,
he's now a former Republican WARD leader, he just stepped down recently. He
liked the song, so he namedit after a punk rock song. And
me because they think it sounds quoteunquote progressive, that's what they say,
and those are lies, and it'sa flat out lie saying it's it's a
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progressive environmental pack. Most of notall of the donations go to Republican candidates
or Republican committees like the like theRepublican City Committee in Philly. But that's
what they do. They put outlies, they put out insinuations, and
these and these insinuations specifically about theSavior Generation pack are anonymous Twitter handles right
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exactly, because they're not brave enoughto put themselves out there. And it's
a horrible thing that it's even allowed. I mean, I've made multiple complaints
about I think it's like six orseven different fake accounts that I call that
I call them. They're not fake, they're anonymous accounts. They use these
these goofy names. They attack.You know, they're attacking on both sides,
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and it's wrong. Twitter should shouldstop it. It's ridiculous. You
know, I'm been attacked every day. They go onto my Facebook. They
take pictures off of Facebook of meand they mock them up or they use
them as their own profile picture.They're just a bunch of cowards, and
you know, and it's unfortunate thatthese you know, they blame the Philly
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Goop for this, but this isUS answering to those attacks. You know,
this all started, you know,right after you know, actually a
week before their special election, whenyou and Jim Hasher ran for City Council
at Large, and all of asudden, you know, these Twitter accounts
came out and they start attacking theGOP. They make stupid situations, They
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make these comments that have no factualbasis. They can never back them up
with anything. It's just ridiculous.I mean, I'm on here today with
factual information what my sources were andwhat the outcome was. But you know,
you and I will both be attackedon Twitter probably in the next you
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know hour, you know, becausewe're discussing this topic. But honestly,
you know, it's it's, youknow, the terminology a drowning man drags,
you know, grabs onto anything,and that's what's happening right now.
You know, we have you know, and you know, we have our
five candidates who are running for CityCouncil at Large. They are the best
chance for us to go into Novemberto beat the Working Families Party. We
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have a very unified group of peoplewho are running for additional offices. Uh
David O for mayor, Set Bluesteinfor Commissioner. You know, we have
Mark Lavell running for Sharer, AaronBasher running for controller. You know,
we have our Philly five. Wecall hashtag Philly five. You guys who
are running for city council at large, and that's our best opportunity. And
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you can say what you want aboutthe Philly GOP, and you can look
at past history. And I'll bethe first person to tell you that when
I ran for city council, Igot absolutely no support from the Philly Republican
City Committee. I got support fromsome more leaders. I got support from
you. You know, that's whereyou and I met, We became really
good friends. But as far asthe organization of the Philly Republican City Committee,
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I got absolutely no support. Andif anybody should have walked away from
the Republican Party after that would havebeen me. But you know, Martina
White came in, you know,she took over as you know, interim
when Mike Mihon resigned. I likedwhat she she was offering. I was
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not a ward leader, you know, I was just a candidate. I
had gotten back into the the thepolitics with Beth Grossman. But I like
what she had to say and Itold her, I said, point blank,
if you need me, I'm here. You know, I want to
help make this a better organization becausethat's what I believe in. You.
I believe in the Republican values.You know, she made me a ward
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leader, an opportunity came up tofor leadership which I jumped right on.
Was unanimously elected as secretary by theentire Ward body. You know, Martine
had left, you know, ourchairman. And you know, I can
tell you right now, Drew,there's been so much unity right now in
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the party and we're raising so muchmoney too, and it's unbelievable how much
we've come together as an individual group. And it's one team, you know,
one city, and that's what we'redoing right now. And we can't
be swayed by you know, roguemembers who are no longer with the party.
We can't be swayed by fake Twitterprofiles, you know, and we
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can't be swayed by these lines.You know, We're going to go out
there, We're going to do whatwe need to do. We're going to
outwork them, and then we're goingto knock out the Working Families Party and
then you know, hopefully it willbe a new transition as we start to
grow the Republican Party. And Iwant to mention Lynwood Holland does as well.
Register of Wills is running for Registerof wilsh Yeah, lynnwood Holland,
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I know I was forgetting something.That's okay now now that it's tough.
We have a lot, like we'retrying to put a lot on the slate
because that's how we're going to tryto build this party. And we're we're
trying to build this party from withinand and and there are others from outside
of the party who are trying tobreak it down and destroy it in the
hopes of quote unquote rebuilding it fromthe ground up. We're just trying to
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rebuild it. We're doing it theright way. We're doing it the honest
way. You know, you canlook at my campaign. I don't talk
negatively about people. I only respondwhen I have to respond. Jim Hasher
is the same way, knowing noone is coming back at these anonymous Twitter
accounts with anything negative. The onlytime I've ever responded was once when they
lied and they said I had apart in taking down these flags. And
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believe me, I almost didn't respond. I waited twenty four hours because that's
even though I was upset, andI was I was frustrated. I waited
twenty four hours. I took adeep breath. It's like an email.
You don't send an email when you'reupset, you don't send it. You
don't send a text when you're upset. You wait twenty four hours and you
think about what you should say,and you put it out there. And
I didn't accuse anyone in in myresponse. I didn't say this person did
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the flags I did because I don'tknow. We don't know. When you
don't know something and you have noproof of something, you don't put it
out there on social media because it'sirresponsible, plain and simple. Unless you
know for a fact, don't putit out there. You are a fake
report exactly. I mean you can'tbecause it comes right back to you.
I mean I immediately responded, andI put myself on the line and told
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you know radio personality that I wouldinvestigate this, and I even put myself
out there saying if it was youknow, I found out, that I
would resign. That's how passionate Iwas about this. But these lies are
ridiculous, and these other lies too, that we're putting up fake candidates is
ridiculous as well. And we havea process in the Philly Goop. If
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you want to be a candidate,you have to meet ward leaders. You
have to tell us what you're offering, and we endorse you or we don't.
Now, when the special election camearound for the Council at Large,
you, Jim Hasher and three otherindividuals came in and interviewed with the ward
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leaders and we chose you. Youand Jim Hasher and you both the phenomenal
jobs. In the special election.You received more votes for City Council Large
of any Republican ever in the historyof the race. And that's one of
the reasons that both of you wereearly in worst for the City Council at
Large. Then we had other youknow committees where we had three other people
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that we chose. You know,Gary Grisafi a great guy, you know,
board leader. You know, workeda long time in city Council under
constituent Services, so he understands theprocess as well. You know, Mary
Jane Kelly, you know, workedfor the court system. You know.
Now she's you know, working forthe Phillies Organization as a part of I
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believe it's disr Council twenty one whereshe's vice president, um, you know
in the Phillies Organization. Great person, you know, gives a different perspective,
you know. Yes, she's asenior, she's a woman, and
she knows, you know, whatit's like in this city and she wants
to do better. Frank as Wellis another great guy. You know,
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an unbelievable guy. Is a longtime committee person, you know down in
the River Awards. He's a boardmember of the United Republican Club. Former
and engineer you know, work forthe Parking Authority and now him too.
He retired from the Parking Authority becausehe wants to get into public service.
I mean, these guys are hereand there are the five people who have
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the best chance for us to winthose two seats back in November, you
know, despite when anybody says,you know, I don't want to hear
it's not your time, which wascomplete and other ridiculous stuff, because there
you can't say that when you werea former candidate. Okay, and there's
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no ring. I mean you knowhere, you know you want my Irish
clattering. You want to come kissit, you know, you come see
me and will kiss it. Itdon't work. That way you interview,
it's like a job interview to abunch of managers, which are award leaders.
And if we like you, we'regoing to support you, and we're
gonna doorse you and we're gonna doeverything we can to get you elected.
And like I said, there isso much unity right now, there's no
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backstabbing, there's no nothing like that. It's all rhetoric and stuff that coming
from a failed campaign. And ifyou don't exactly and if you don't interview,
you're not going to get an endorsed. So and we have a plan
and we you know, the fiveof us are Our goal is in November
to get out the two Working FamiliesParty candidates and that that's the plan and
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we're united behind that that plan.So all right, I think, uh,
I think we're coming to an end. Pete. I think you told
me right about twenty of so Ithink that's about where we are. So
I want to thank you Pete Smith, secretary of the Philly GOP, the
Republican con City Committee, thank youfor coming on. Hey, Drew,
(25:37):
I appreciate it. You know,like I said, we're going to do
everything we can to get you andyou know, elected in the city Council.
And you know, we have agreat opportunity with so many other row
offices. There's so much dissension rightnow in the Sheriff's office that you know,
we may be able to get youknow, Mark Lavelle in there,
which would be great. Um,same thing with register wills. There is
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absolutely there's so much shady stuff goingon there. A guy like him will
go in there and clean it allup. Aaron Basher is phenomenal with finances,
you know, that's what he doesfor a living. He'll track the
money and he'll find all the corruptionand everything like that. And with Seth
Lusty, he's done such a phenomenaljob with voter integrity since he took over
(26:22):
for Aschmidt. So it looks reallygood and I'm very happy and excited about
what's going to happen. And we'llhave a great primary in the next couple
of weeks. Absolutely, i can'twait for May seventeenth. I'll be honest
with you, I'm ready for I'mready to take one day off and then
well and then we'll be on tothe general. You're right back at it.
That's right, Well, thank youfor coming on you've been listening to
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USULA Media and the Republican Zone.I'm your host, Drew Murray. Have
a great day. The Republican Zoneis brought to you by Drew Murray.
The Republican Zone is brought to youby Drew Murray. Good afternoon, you're
watching USSILO Media and the Republican Zone. I am your host, Drew Murray,
and I'm welcome, I mean,my guest from the Republican City Committee
(00:27):
aka the Philly Goop, my goodfriend Pete Smith. Hey, Drew,
how are you doing buddy? Thankyou having me on now, Thank you
for coming on. This has beena crazy couple of weeks for Philly Goop
Twitter wars. It's been insane andthere's nothing I hate more than social media.
(00:47):
But it's it's a necessary evil,I say, And it has been,
it has been not the past fewweeks. Yes, Unfortunately, social
media it's the only platform when youcan act like a big person when you
actually aren't. Yes, I Iknow. I if you look at my
Twitter handle, your Twitle handle,I mean it says mine, says Drew
Murray on him on Twitter. Though, you can just have these handles that
(01:10):
are are anonymous. I'm not evengonna say I agree with you. You
can put anything up there that youwant. Again, you know, I
go on as myself. I don'thave a problem speaking as myself. I
don't have to hide behind a fakeTwitter handle. In fact, if for
(01:33):
a long time I wasn't even onTwitter, I just recently got back on
because I was told it. Iwas being insulted on social media and I
had to get on just so Icould respond. But it's getting to the
point where it's so ridiculous anymore thatit's not worth it. And the problem
is these these people who do this, they would never do this on a
platform like Facebook, exactly if yourname is out there, they wouldn't do
(01:57):
it. And then there's two handleson not even gonna say their names because
I'm not going to give them anycredit, but they come on. They
do two things. Number One,they do lie they flat out lieu.
And then they'll also make insinuations.And the prime example of this is last
week when on Friday flags that wereput up in Bridesburg, which which which
(02:19):
is great, I applaud that theywere taken down unexpectedly, and all of
a sudden on Twitter, both fakeaccounts and some with names actually came out
and said that the Philly Goop,now you are the secretary of the Philly
Goop. They said leadership of thePhilly Goop had the flags taken down,
(02:42):
that they called Pico, they calledthe mayor's office. There's been many stories.
First we called Pico, then itwas changed that we called the mayor's
office. Now it sounds like they'resaying, you know, well, actually
they're going silent now. They weregonna have a big announcement, some of
these Twitter handles and some of thesepeople on Twitter, We're gonna have a
big announcement on Monday. Who tookdown the flags in Bridesburg. Well,
there was no big announcement on Monday. Uh And and I know you've been
(03:06):
doing research to find out whether ornot there was anything behind these flies getting
taken down. When I heard theygot taken down, I figured someone called
and made a complaint and they gottaken down, that there was nothing to
farry us about it. But onTwitter and social media, these Twitter handlers
and some of the backers of oneof my opponents on the ballot, this
(03:29):
may this person's followers and people whoworked directly for his campaign. By the
way, we're either saying that Ihad something to do with it or insinuating
it, and absolutely saying the PhillyGoop had something to do with it.
So I know you've been doing someresearch. What have you found out about
the flag removal? Yeah, andyou know it was the opponents spoke spokesperson
(03:50):
who specifically called out to Philly Goop. Um. You know right away it
was you know, our fault.We did it. Um. The he
the spokesperson gets one, you know, and does a video stating that you
know, he knows everything, andbut he can't tell you because you know,
(04:11):
someone will get in trouble. Soyeah, So I did my own
investigation. As the secretary for thePhilly GOP. It's my responsibility to make
sure that anything as far as communicationsor anything like that or you know,
my responsibility. So we were calledout. I immediately answered those calls.
(04:32):
You know, we denied it.We had nothing to do with it.
We would have never done that.You know. Flags are a sacred thing,
especially to the Republican Party. Myselfpersonally, on my block, we
have five flags that have been hangingfor over six years. It's part of
our block committee. We refresh fromevery spring. We've never been asked or
(04:53):
had any issues with Pico. Picodoesn't have a policy on just driving around
and removing flags. However, theydo have a policy that you know,
flags should be you know, youshould do like a permit, you kind
of request that you put them up. They send you the specifications of what
(05:15):
size flag, what height you cando, and if you fill out those
forms, they'll never come down.They won't be classified as illegal. But
PICO does not have a policy wherethey're just going to go around and remove
them. However, and you know, working with several city council members,
state representatives, we found out thatthe flags in question on the block were
(05:41):
removed because of a three one onecomplaint of safety. Now unfortunately with three
on one it's it's anonymous. Youwill never know who called it in.
But it goes to the whole storyof you know, all these lies and
everything that are done on Twitter thatthe Philly GOP is, you know,
this horrible organization. You know wedo all this stuff. You know,
(06:05):
we're the evil Empire. You knowyou have to kiss our ring to get
anything, which is is complete nonsense. You know, it's it's just you
know, people out there who don'trealize what we do as a party and
what we have to go against.I mean, in honesty, the Republican
Party is you know seven to onein registrations Democrat to Republican, so it
(06:28):
is very tough to be elected asa Republican. You know, I myself,
you know, went after city councilseat, and despite the fact that
my opponent was under federal indictment andawaiting trial, I still lost. I
did very well. I'm proud ofthe campaign that I did, but I
still lost. And that was mainlydue to the fact that a lot of
(06:50):
people don't even know who their citycouncil person is and they vote party straight
party. But this big, yeah, this big conspiracy that this was at
the highest levels of the Philly GOPworking with Pico is absolutely false. It
was a three to one one complaintthat was made by somebody. Could have
been a neighbor. It could havebeen a member of it could have been
(07:13):
a member of the Philly GOP.It could also been a disgruntled member of
the Philly GOP. It absolutely couldhave come from you know, say the
Working Families Party there's just to closea little dissension. It could have also
come from the campaign of it,you know, our you know, our
person, we're you know, campaigningagainst you know, our opponent. You
(07:34):
know, we don't know, we'llnever know, but there was no this
big conspiracy, and it's kind ofridiculous that you know, you can get
away with making these accusations without anyproof. And we're not going to say
who we think did it because wedon't know who did it, and if
we don't have proof on who didit, we're not going to say.
We're not going to insinuate it.Because when the flags came down, it
(07:55):
was very emotional for a lot ofpeople in Bridesburg. So when accusations were
made by by numerous Twitter accounts,some anonymous, some not, people believed
it. And when you have someonecoming on Twitter saying I have the information,
I know who did it, butI can't tell you who my source
is, that means I can't tellyou you know where I found out this
(08:15):
information meeting I do not have proofof what I am saying. So it's
dangerous to make those insinuations to peoplewho lived on that block in Bridesburg,
or the people in Brisburg who lovedthose flags and did and were upset that
they came down, and who wereattacking me. Honestly, some of which
we're attacking me on Twitter, theydidn't know they believed it. These are
good people who love the American flagson their block. And when they got
(08:39):
taken down and they were said,they were told by people they trust,
oh well, this was the PhillyGoop. This was insinuations, mostly insinuations
about me. This was the PhillyGoop leadership. And and tell Drew Murray
to have them put back up whenI had nothing to do with it.
And I can say with ninety ninepoint nine percent uh knowledge that the Philly
(09:03):
Guop didn't do it. H Youknow, insinuations are dangerous, and people
believed it because it was again,it was an emotional thing. People were
so upset that they came down andsomeone they trusted and told them something that
was either a lie or to minimumsomething that they could not verify, both
of which are dangerous. You know, the former is deplorable. To flat
(09:24):
out lie is absolutely ridiculous. Butthe state something as an insinuation, and
and and that you have it ongood you know, on reliable sources,
that this is what happened. Itis ridiculous and uh an unethical and I
it's something I would never come onhere and say I think this, So
therefore it is you know, ifyou're going to say something have proof,
(09:46):
and that's why we can't say whotook the flags down. We don't know,
you know, we might, wemight have some thoughts and ideas on
who did it. Honestly, Pete, I think it was a person on
the block who has to take themdown. You know, well you know
whether it's like I said, wedon't know, and Andrew if I don't
know, if the engineers could,if they could just turn you up just
a little bit. It kind offaded back down. But yeah, here,
(10:09):
I'm coming on the record right nowtelling you that there is documented facts
from Pico that this was from athree one one call three one one called
Pico, and Pico is instructed ifthey are contacted by the city three one
one system, they have to lookup whether the flags are authorized or not.
(10:35):
If they're not authorized, they haveto go there and they have to
remove them. That's initiated by thecity. So, like I said,
I'm coming on here. I'm tellingyou for effect that that is what happened.
I'm not telling you that. Ican't tell you because someone's going to
get fired in the next minute.No, this came straight from city council.
(10:56):
It came straight from state representatives andit came directly from Pico. These
flags were a complaint made by anindividual or individuals that the flags run safe.
PICO investigated to see if they wereproperly installed, which they were not,
and they took them down. Andyou know what the sad part is,
(11:16):
Drew. The only person who reallygot hurt in this whole thing was
the family that the flags were putup for. You know, this woman
who you know, up until lastFriday was a good friend at the Philly
Goop you know now is not andyou know, this is something that was
done to honor her son, whichI think is great. You know,
anyone who serves our country, Iapplaud them. Any parent that has to
(11:39):
go through that to know that theiryou know, their son, ORed their
daughter is going to be put inharm's way, I think it's great.
It's admiral the Republican Party. Imean, our policy is we would never
remove or destroy a flag, andwe encourage everyone to put up an American
flag wherever they were. Unfortunately,in this situation, something was done to
(12:01):
either attack one person or multiple peopleor whatever. But one individual got hurt
on this and it destroyed a reputationthat I hope that we can you know,
get back uh, you know withher, she's you know, the
mother of this this soldier is agreat person, you know, she's she's
done a lot with the Philly Goop. We would never, and I mean
(12:24):
this to you know, we wouldnever do anything to hurt her because she's
looking favorably towards one candidate over another. It's just wrong. This whole thing
was wrong, That accusations were wrong. Everything was wrong. And as secretary
of the Philly Goop, I spentmy entire weekend working on this ridiculous thing,
(12:46):
you know, because of the accusationsthat were made against the Philly Goop.
And unfortunately, and one more thing, Drew, And the reason that
you're being attacked is because you're onTwitter. Yeah, no, absolutely,
And if it was if I wasin the middle of a campaign, I
would not be on Twitter. Ilet it roll off of me most of
the time. They've they've been attackingme for months. It doesn't bother me
(13:09):
that much. It bothers my wife, but I have to tell her not
to respond. And most of itis ridiculous and I just ignore it.
But when when they tell lies andsay that I was part of a plan
to remove flags when I had nothingto do with it. I didn't even
know the flags were down until Igot a text. I actually wasn't even
on Twitter that day. I don'tspend my day on Twitter. Most of
(13:31):
the time during the day I amworking, and but I got a text
that they said, you need togo on Twitter. You're being accused of
something. And I normally don't respond, but this time I did. I
responded. I said I had nothingto do with this. And I think
now that we know more, itlooks like someone on the block or someone
in the neighborhood made a phone call. It wasn't a Philly Guope person if
it most likely wasn't a person fromfrom from any campaign. It just happened,
(13:54):
but another campaign seized an opportunity.And it's unfortunate because people were hurt,
and I don't blame. A lotof people were upset at us.
People were calling me a loser onTwitter. I'm not upset at any of
them. The people of Bridesburg whobelieve this lie, they just believed a
lie because people who they trusted toldthem. And again, whether it was
(14:16):
a lie or they just thought itwas a possibility. They seized an opportunity,
and it's discussed and it's not theonly time they've done it. They've
attacked me. They've and actually justthis morning they put up that I take
money from a progressive environmental pack.The pack they are referring to is Save
(14:37):
Your Generation Pack. If they didany research, they would notice that the
pack donates to Republicans, to me, to other Republicans, honestly, to
Republican City Committee. It is notan environmental pack at all, And honestly,
I consider myself an environmental so Iwant to care. Anyway, I
wouldn't maybe I wouldn't take money froma progressive pack, but they just didn't
(15:01):
do their research. But it's it'sa punk rock song. Savior Generation is
a punk rock song. And theRepublican WARD leader who runs the pack,
he's now a former Republican WARD leader, he just stepped down recently. He
liked the song, so he namedit after a punk rock song. And
me because they think it sounds quoteunquote progressive, that's what they say,
and those are lies, and it'sa flat out lie saying it's it's a
(15:24):
progressive environmental pack. Most of notall of the donations go to Republican candidates
or Republican committees like the like theRepublican City Committee in Philly. But that's
what they do. They put outlies, they put out insinuations, and
these and these insinuations specifically about theSavior Generation pack are anonymous Twitter handles right
(15:48):
exactly, because they're not brave enoughto put themselves out there. And it's
a horrible thing that it's even allowed. I mean, I've made multiple complaints
about I think it's like six orseven different fake accounts that I call that
I call them. They're not fake, they're anonymous accounts. They use these
these goofy names. They attack.You know, they're attacking on both sides,
(16:12):
and it's wrong. Twitter should shouldstop it. It's ridiculous. You
know, I'm been attacked every day. They go onto my Facebook. They
take pictures off of Facebook of meand they mock them up or they use
them as their own profile picture.They're just a bunch of cowards, and
you know, and it's unfortunate thatthese you know, they blame the Philly
(16:37):
Goop for this, but this isUS answering to those attacks. You know,
this all started, you know,right after you know, actually a
week before their special election, whenyou and Jim Hasher ran for City Council
at Large, and all of asudden, you know, these Twitter accounts
came out and they start attacking theGOP. They make stupid situations, They
(17:00):
make these comments that have no factualbasis. They can never back them up
with anything. It's just ridiculous.I mean, I'm on here today with
factual information what my sources were andwhat the outcome was. But you know,
you and I will both be attackedon Twitter probably in the next you
(17:21):
know hour, you know, becausewe're discussing this topic. But honestly,
you know, it's it's, youknow, the terminology a drowning man drags,
you know, grabs onto anything,and that's what's happening right now.
You know, we have you know, and you know, we have our
five candidates who are running for CityCouncil at Large. They are the best
chance for us to go into Novemberto beat the Working Families Party. We
(17:47):
have a very unified group of peoplewho are running for additional offices. Uh
David O for mayor, Set Bluesteinfor Commissioner. You know, we have
Mark Lavell running for Sharer, AaronBasher running for controller. You know,
we have our Philly five. Wecall hashtag Philly five. You guys who
are running for city council at large, and that's our best opportunity. And
(18:14):
you can say what you want aboutthe Philly GOP, and you can look
at past history. And I'll bethe first person to tell you that when
I ran for city council, Igot absolutely no support from the Philly Republican
City Committee. I got support fromsome more leaders. I got support from
you. You know, that's whereyou and I met, We became really
good friends. But as far asthe organization of the Philly Republican City Committee,
(18:40):
I got absolutely no support. Andif anybody should have walked away from
the Republican Party after that would havebeen me. But you know, Martina
White came in, you know,she took over as you know, interim
when Mike Mihon resigned. I likedwhat she she was offering. I was
(19:02):
not a ward leader, you know, I was just a candidate. I
had gotten back into the the thepolitics with Beth Grossman. But I like
what she had to say and Itold her, I said, point blank,
if you need me, I'm here. You know, I want to
help make this a better organization becausethat's what I believe in. You.
I believe in the Republican values.You know, she made me a ward
(19:23):
leader, an opportunity came up tofor leadership which I jumped right on.
Was unanimously elected as secretary by theentire Ward body. You know, Martine
had left, you know, ourchairman. And you know, I can
tell you right now, Drew,there's been so much unity right now in
(19:45):
the party and we're raising so muchmoney too, and it's unbelievable how much
we've come together as an individual group. And it's one team, you know,
one city, and that's what we'redoing right now. And we can't
be swayed by you know, roguemembers who are no longer with the party.
We can't be swayed by fake Twitterprofiles, you know, and we
(20:07):
can't be swayed by these lines.You know, We're going to go out
there, We're going to do whatwe need to do. We're going to
outwork them, and then we're goingto knock out the Working Families Party and
then you know, hopefully it willbe a new transition as we start to
grow the Republican Party. And Iwant to mention Lynwood Holland does as well.
Register of Wills is running for Registerof wilsh Yeah, lynnwood Holland,
(20:29):
I know I was forgetting something.That's okay now now that it's tough.
We have a lot, like we'retrying to put a lot on the slate
because that's how we're going to tryto build this party. And we're we're
trying to build this party from withinand and and there are others from outside
of the party who are trying tobreak it down and destroy it in the
hopes of quote unquote rebuilding it fromthe ground up. We're just trying to
(20:51):
rebuild it. We're doing it theright way. We're doing it the honest
way. You know, you canlook at my campaign. I don't talk
negatively about people. I only respondwhen I have to respond. Jim Hasher
is the same way, knowing noone is coming back at these anonymous Twitter
accounts with anything negative. The onlytime I've ever responded was once when they
lied and they said I had apart in taking down these flags. And
(21:14):
believe me, I almost didn't respond. I waited twenty four hours because that's
even though I was upset, andI was I was frustrated. I waited
twenty four hours. I took adeep breath. It's like an email.
You don't send an email when you'reupset, you don't send it. You
don't send a text when you're upset. You wait twenty four hours and you
think about what you should say,and you put it out there. And
I didn't accuse anyone in in myresponse. I didn't say this person did
(21:37):
the flags I did because I don'tknow. We don't know. When you
don't know something and you have noproof of something, you don't put it
out there on social media because it'sirresponsible, plain and simple. Unless you
know for a fact, don't putit out there. You are a fake
report exactly. I mean you can'tbecause it comes right back to you.
I mean I immediately responded, andI put myself on the line and told
(21:59):
you know radio personality that I wouldinvestigate this, and I even put myself
out there saying if it was youknow, I found out, that I
would resign. That's how passionate Iwas about this. But these lies are
ridiculous, and these other lies too, that we're putting up fake candidates is
ridiculous as well. And we havea process in the Philly Goop. If
(22:21):
you want to be a candidate,you have to meet ward leaders. You
have to tell us what you're offering, and we endorse you or we don't.
Now, when the special election camearound for the Council at Large,
you, Jim Hasher and three otherindividuals came in and interviewed with the ward
(22:41):
leaders and we chose you. Youand Jim Hasher and you both the phenomenal
jobs. In the special election.You received more votes for City Council Large
of any Republican ever in the historyof the race. And that's one of
the reasons that both of you wereearly in worst for the City Council at
Large. Then we had other youknow committees where we had three other people
(23:06):
that we chose. You know,Gary Grisafi a great guy, you know,
board leader. You know, workeda long time in city Council under
constituent Services, so he understands theprocess as well. You know, Mary
Jane Kelly, you know, workedfor the court system. You know.
Now she's you know, working forthe Phillies Organization as a part of I
(23:27):
believe it's disr Council twenty one whereshe's vice president, um, you know
in the Phillies Organization. Great person, you know, gives a different perspective,
you know. Yes, she's asenior, she's a woman, and
she knows, you know, whatit's like in this city and she wants
to do better. Frank as Wellis another great guy. You know,
(23:48):
an unbelievable guy. Is a longtime committee person, you know down in
the River Awards. He's a boardmember of the United Republican Club. Former
and engineer you know, work forthe Parking Authority and now him too.
He retired from the Parking Authority becausehe wants to get into public service.
I mean, these guys are hereand there are the five people who have
(24:12):
the best chance for us to winthose two seats back in November, you
know, despite when anybody says,you know, I don't want to hear
it's not your time, which wascomplete and other ridiculous stuff, because there
you can't say that when you werea former candidate. Okay, and there's
(24:33):
no ring. I mean you knowhere, you know you want my Irish
clattering. You want to come kissit, you know, you come see
me and will kiss it. Itdon't work. That way you interview,
it's like a job interview to abunch of managers, which are award leaders.
And if we like you, we'regoing to support you, and we're
gonna doorse you and we're gonna doeverything we can to get you elected.
And like I said, there isso much unity right now, there's no
(24:55):
backstabbing, there's no nothing like that. It's all rhetoric and stuff that coming
from a failed campaign. And ifyou don't exactly and if you don't interview,
you're not going to get an endorsed. So and we have a plan
and we you know, the fiveof us are Our goal is in November
to get out the two Working FamiliesParty candidates and that that's the plan and
(25:15):
we're united behind that that plan.So all right, I think, uh,
I think we're coming to an end. Pete. I think you told
me right about twenty of so Ithink that's about where we are. So
I want to thank you Pete Smith, secretary of the Philly GOP, the
Republican con City Committee, thank youfor coming on. Hey, Drew,
(25:37):
I appreciate it. You know,like I said, we're going to do
everything we can to get you andyou know, elected in the city Council.
And you know, we have agreat opportunity with so many other row
offices. There's so much dissension rightnow in the Sheriff's office that you know,
we may be able to get youknow, Mark Lavelle in there,
which would be great. Um,same thing with register wills. There is
(26:00):
absolutely there's so much shady stuff goingon there. A guy like him will
go in there and clean it allup. Aaron Basher is phenomenal with finances,
you know, that's what he doesfor a living. He'll track the
money and he'll find all the corruptionand everything like that. And with Seth
Lusty, he's done such a phenomenaljob with voter integrity since he took over
(26:22):
for Aschmidt. So it looks reallygood and I'm very happy and excited about
what's going to happen. And we'llhave a great primary in the next couple
of weeks. Absolutely, i can'twait for May seventeenth. I'll be honest
with you, I'm ready for I'mready to take one day off and then
well and then we'll be on tothe general. You're right back at it.
That's right, Well, thank youfor coming on you've been listening to
(26:45):
USULA Media and the Republican Zone.I'm your host, Drew Murray. Have
a great day. The Republican Zoneis brought to you by Drew Murray.
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