We The People

“Be on your guard, stand firm, be courageous, and be strong” sets the tone, and then we get practical fast. I’m John Marietta, joined by Bud Cook, and we talk about what service looks like when the calls are real, the paperwork is endless, and people just want someone to help them cut through Harrisburg bureaucracy. That “We the People” mindset is not a slogan to us; it’s the standard we use to measure everything from local trust to statewide decisions. 

We also lean into Pennsylvania agriculture and rural life, because you truly do need farmers every day. Bud shares how growing up on a farm trains you to solve problems under pressure, and we tell the story behind the Blessing Of The Bailers, a Greene County tradition that’s grown into a Harrisburg gathering that honors farmers, faith, and gratitude (with May 5 on the calendar). If you care about farming in Pennsylvania, rural communities, and the culture that holds them together, this part will hit home. 

Then we turn to the hard stuff: Pennsylvania taxes, gas tax frustration, and why people still feel burned by promises about gambling revenue and property tax relief. From there, we zoom out to southwestern Pennsylvania energy, coal, natural gas, and responsible development, plus the fight brewing over proposed high voltage power lines that could cut wide swaths through private land while leaving property owners stuck with the tax bill. 

If you want more honesty, more local detail, and fewer talking points, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a neighbor, and leave a review with the one issue you want “We the People” to tackle next.

Transcript

Welcome From The Studio

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Hey everybody, this is John Marietta, and we're back at the podcast studio uh slash radio studio. Uh things are going great here. Um it's um it's unbelievable the amount of uh people that's tuning in and watching and all over all over. Uh I've got uh some text messages from how far away is uh Australia. I've got and uh that's that's the web and uh I love it. Uh I think uh we've got some people watching us in Germany, and I know definitely we have somebody out of hand right now that that's watching us. Uh he's moving back forward with some of the over there as a consultant. We will all the best. Uh and I say a prayer for him every day. Hey, um I want to start out the show real simple today. It's uh with this. It's 1 Corinthians 16, 13. Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, and be strong. Um I have Bud Cook with me today. And uh Bud and I have had a relationship uh and it's it's it's been a good relationship 99 95% of the time. Um I wanna I want to thank him for coming into the doing the podcast with me. Um Bud is uh he he he helped me he helped me when no one else would. And I will tell you that. Uh he uh he he's part of the uh part

Scripture And A Trusted Guest

SPEAKER_01 2:20

of the people that uh that uh aren't afraid to stand up and say, hey, you know what? I I make mistakes, but I'm willing to I'm willing to correct him as soon as I can. And uh one of the uh things that he did for me, and I we won't go into it or not, but when you deal with bureaucracy in Harrisburg, and I had to for an adoption, uh an international adoption, Bud helped me out so much. And my daughter and my wife and everybody and uh told us what time to be there and what we had to do, and we got it done. And I want to thank you.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Well, John, we really, really appreciate that. However, the one thing that I will tell you, it's not just me, it's the team that we have been able to assemble over the last nine and a half years, both on the campaign side and on the legislative side here locally. I mean, they just do a bang up job when I'm out there. I hear story after story about doing it. So from our perspective, we're just doing what we were elected to do. We were there to serve and represent the people and get done and help you cut through and fight through that bar bureaucracy.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Let's uh let's just get right to it, bud. Uh, one of the one of my one of my favorite things uh uh and one of my that I point out to everybody is you might need a lawyer once once a month or twice twice in your life. You might need a doctor once a month, but you need a farmer every day. And I know that you've been on uh I've been I know that that's how you've dealt with uh farmers, tried to help them. Uh and we we've done some fun things together, the tractor ride of the flatwoods, and here's other things that we've got to do.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

Uh, but uh tell us just a little bit about well, growing up on a farm, I think us really in it it

Farm Upbringing And Daily Problem Solving

SPEAKER_00 4:12

enables us to deal with problems that a lot of people who don't grow up on the farm. Look on a Sunday afternoon, you're trying to bail, hey, there's not a doctor you can call to fix your bill, or you better figure it out on how to do the whole thing. So I think we were very blessed and fortunate to uh, you know, grow up on that. Secondly, number one industry in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and a lot of people don't realize that, but when you start driving around and you see the size of the farms out there and the people that are farming at all different size levels, you know, it's kind of neat to see them take advantage of that opportunity and get involved. And I and I think that's key for our young people as well, is getting your that dirt on your fingernail and you know, doing all the things that come along. One of the spinoffs that we had out of that was called Blessing of the Bailers. And it originated right here in Rice's Landing in Green County. And I would encourage your listeners to go out there and visit and read the story about behind it. But the real quick version is a farmer was trying to bail hay, his bailer wouldn't work. Um, he came in, a priest was sitting there waiting for instructions. He unloads on the priest, he gives the priest the instructions, but before he leaves the priest, they do a prayer over his bailer. That bailer does not miss a bail hay the rest

The Blessing Of The Bailers

SPEAKER_00 5:43

of the summer. So he created this event that they do every year in Races Landing. And now we'll be doing our fourth annual uh Blessing the Bailers in Harrisburg, where we give thanks for all those farmers that are out there. And and thanks for the opportunity to have the opportunity to be a farmer.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Do you know? I'm gonna I'm gonna, I don't mean to trip you up here, but what day would that be?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

So that day, if I recall off the top of my head in Harrisburg, is May 5th.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Okay. And our the what's really neat is the Secretary of Agriculture is our master of ceremonies. And over the years, we have developed just such a really unique relationship. We have his ear all along the way. Uh, he came to visit in the district one time, and our chief of staff actually he tells everybody she kidnapped him and drove him all around so he could physically actually see the forms out there. So um we will probably have, I'm guessing at this, we will probably have at least a hundred representatives and senators actually attend that that event. So it's all really good. May or um yeah, May 5th is the day that we'll do it out in Harrisburg. And uh, you know, it's the one legacy that I hope carries on. Being a farmer is a very, very special occupation.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Okay, but we've talked about some nice things. Let's talk about taxes. Yep. Um, and well, I'm I'm one of the people that believe that uh uh and I and I believe this wholeheartedly, and I know you're probably gonna agree with me, but if our forefathers would be taxed in the same situations we're getting taxed right now, uh we would have been out of powder, but so uh we we have we have a we have a terrible gas tax, fuel total tax in Pennsylvania. Is there anything we can try to help to do? I mean, there's we help you get something done there.

SPEAKER_00 7:55

We

Gas Taxes And Property Tax Promises

SPEAKER_00 7:56

the people. Let me tell you again, we the people need to take back our government. Up in Washington, PA, they passed the uh local share account that's associated with the gambling. How they sold it was it was supposed to make the property tax go away. Now I want you to repeat that one more time because somebody's gonna say we didn't didn't explain that right.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

We're gonna have a tax on gambling. Correct.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

We're gonna we're gonna take a we're gonna legalize gambling. Go ahead. And the reason we're gonna legalize it is it's going to make property tax go away. So what happened? It never went away because the last time I checked, I'm still paying property tax. They moved a goalpost again on us. They, the politically connected, as I like to say, you go out and you sell one thing, but then when you get in office, you don't keep your word and honor that world. And listen, again, you know, I can't emphasize this enough. And we just had a meeting last night where I told people the last time I checked, it still starts with we the people in the documentation. So, oh, I don't want to get involved, politics is too dirty and all that stuff. Take your government back, get involved, hold those people that promise one thing when they're running, follow through when they get that office. I have had a primary every year since I first got elected. Okay. And the reason is I choose not to go along with the crowd. I represent we the people. And that doesn't always fit within that structure within the party. And won't go into it at this point, but some of the people at the highest, highest possible levels have worked against us in primaries. That's it. I'm telling people, it's like being at a football game, and we've had this conversation.

Primaries And Party Pushback

SPEAKER_00 10:07

You can sit in the bleachers and complain about the game on the field. You can choose to come out of those bleachers and at least get on the sideline and help the players that are in the game trying to do the right thing, or you can get in the game. And I personally truly believe we're at a tipping point where we need the people to take back their government top to bottom.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Um, I know that you're going against the state GOP because they don't like you.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

Let's is that the best way to put it? Well, it's not all of them. I mean, we have our share. It's people that are in controlling positions have the ability to make your life very, very miserable. What upsets me the most about this, okay, is not being challenged. Everybody should have that right to challenge and do the run and all that. It's the fact that they do it to tie me up. And I can't allocate time where I could be doing good work for we the people, where I have to address that primary every year. So they are literally taking time away from the good things that we could be doing for we the people. And that's what is upsetting about it. You know, I I got in there, I wanted to do things for we the people, and they've fought all along at the highest level in the GOP.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

Well, I I think that I think that that has to be the fight. The fight has to be we the people. And I and um we we've uh we've seen how that goes. The I want to say the politically I they I want to say the politically elite. I think that and they get it in their mind that they're that they're they're they're elite.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

There's two sides. There are those of us that are there for we the people, and then there's the other side that's there for the politically connected.

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

Okay. And that's how we kind of, when I'm explaining to groups of people when we're out there, the politically connected do not always have the interest of we the people in place. And that's what you're there for. You let us not forget, I am a representative of the people. It was kind of funny when we first went to Harrisburg, I had wanted to make a statement about why we were out there. So we put the district above our name on our business card. They had to run it three times to get it right the way we wanted it. And I'll never forget the mistake they made because they said, Well, that's not how we do it in Harrisburg. And I thought, that's exactly why I want to put the district. I want people to know that I represent Green County. I want people to know I represent Washington County parts of, and I want people to know I'm from southwestern Pennsylvania, where great things used to be achieved many, many years ago. And we can get back to that. We've got to work together, and it's got to be about what we can do for we the people.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

My biggest thing, right? One of my biggest things, not my biggest thing, but one of the things I look at all the time is that we we are standing on an enormous amount of wealth in this corner of Pennsylvania. I mean, we there it there's engineers that I've talked to that said, John, you don't have no idea, and I can't even explain it to you. But the one fellow that uh that I that I get to speak to all the time because he comes in the recorder's office, we're standing on 200 years of coal.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Easily.

SPEAKER_01 14:12

Easily. He says, he says, and I don't

Energy Wealth Done The Right Way

SPEAKER_01 14:15

even know what nobody can tell you uh exactly about the Freeport Vane, right? Exactly. But but he said at least 200 years of coal. Right. He says, Well, the amount of natural gas that's in our area is uh he he says it's probably another 150 or 200 years. We and he says, We're never gonna suck it dry. Right, he said, but there's one thing that people don't realize, and we have oil underneath us too. Now getting to it is a little different than than what we gotta do to the natural gas and the coal. But my thing is is cleanly extract natural gas safely, cleanly. And I that's in words of Donald Trump, not the hillbilly. But I mean, uh we could be the richest state in the country. Alaska and Pennsylvania would be uh in Texas would probably be all in the same deal.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

So, but we have coal and they don't, but here's the thing too, and you layer on top of that, you have to do it environmentally, okay? Well, and that's the key, safely environmentally. Here's the other thing that I share with people, John. In every one of our school districts, which there are 10 in the 50th district, there is a trial stream. So not only do we have all this energy opportunity, in addition to that, we have all this outdoor uh potential that we can get people in here. So you have the best of both worlds. You have all this energy, you have all these jobs created. On the flip side, you have all this ability to go outside. Uh, you spend it, you know, out there and and you learn so much by being outside and the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

So well, the one thing that I know that you were working with charity grim on is uh the the one to put a power line uh through Green County, through Fayette, Southern Fayette County. Of course, it's through Charities District in in Fayette County. It's then it's through Green County. Uh, I don't know exactly how I didn't I I haven't looked at the maps for Green County. But uh one of the things I will tell you in Fayette County, there's seven proposed routes, and nobody knows which one they're gonna take yet. So but they're asking for permits,

Power Lines Land Rights And Costs

SPEAKER_01 16:45

or they're asking for to go start the permit process, I guess. Um I know I I'm all about energy. I I I am so and the this happens to be running into Virginia. So my theory is is we build a railroad and a pipeline send the coal from southwestern Pennsylvania wherever they need this, let them build a power plant wherever they want it, and you don't have these big lines hanging over top of. That's of course I'm a hillbilly and I and I and I and I don't I I look at things a little different than everybody else. I mean, you know, but that's what I think needs to happen. But right now, we're gonna we're gonna we're getting ready to get in a battle, and it's gonna be it's gonna get ugly.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Yep, very much so. And and listen, I've kind of, if you will, teamed up with charity. I mean, she's going down the right paths for the right reasons, in my opinion. We can do it, we just have to do it correctly environmentally and all of the above, and and and quote unquote tap it and then get it out there. So there's there's always a right way to do things, and we just have to explore that. We don't want to go wildfire and just do it any old way, and we don't want to not do it at all. So somewhere in the middle, there is a happy compromise on we can have the best of both worlds. But you have to be able to talk and listen and open up and do it wisely, smartly. And um, you know, the technology's out there, we just need to access it.

SPEAKER_01 18:23

Well, they're gonna cut a swath through through Green County, Calais County. That from what I understand, it could be up to it could be up to 250 feet wide that you can't do nothing with. But guess what? You still have to pay taxes on that property of the county, the school district. It isn't like a power company's gonna take over them prices. And the other thing is is wherever the power is coming from, I'm not quite sure about that. I mean, I I got an idea that's coming from somewhere uh uh uh west of uh west of us, and it's gonna be coming through. There's gonna be a power drop. So somebody's gonna have to add to that power somewhere along the way. So uh I really feel like the property owners and the people that pay taxes and and pay for their electric in these areas, they're the ones that's gonna get hit hit bluntly. And what I told what I'm telling everybody is is I said, just because it's not going to cross your property doesn't mean you're not gonna be affected by it because you are your electric bill is gonna help pay for this, yeah, pay for this, even though we're not getting to use the power, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

And and look, my my biggest takeaway from it at the uh last nine and a half years, John. We the people who got engaged, okay, and we need to take a look at, we need to get more detail, we need to get more information, and we need to do it a smart way. So, again, I guess my plea to everybody out there in the audience is get involved, don't sit on the sidelines. Well, but is there anything else you'd like to say quickly? I mean, uh I that that's that's a trick question. Yeah, that's a trick question. I I cannot imagine John being a representative in anywhere else in our country than being in Green and

Get Engaged And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Washington County and southwestern Pennsylvania. We have the nicest people out there that are just super, and you know, they also have expectations, but always a but, you know, you have to reach out and let people know who are representing you exactly where you're at. And we appreciate everything you do to contribute to that to get people on board. I mean, your uh subscriptions and your watchers and all that stuff speak to how you talk to we so we appreciate you, we appreciate the people out there. Don't be afraid to get engaged, folks. Well, but contact information. Very good. Uh basically, uh what we do is in the uh on the campaign side of things, uh just go to um do the search out there for uh the 50th district for We the People, Haifen Cook. And you can find all the contact information on the political side, you know, to kind of do that. On the other side, legislatively, the offices are in Waynesburg, California. And we put one way out west out there. We were the first ones ever to put it out there. So we have three offices all together. So um again, I do not have an office in the district. Call me. You want to get a group of 10 or more together, I'll come out. That's what representation is about. You gotta listen.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

Well, once again, I thank you for coming on. Uh, and uh, I'm sure we'll have you on again before this is all over with. Now in uh November.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

Well, we got to get past May 1st. We've got 40 days, I think, left on this latest adventure. Uh, we we never take anything from granted. We'll be out there, you know, stating our story and sharing with people what we've been able to accomplish. So look, if we if you like what we've done for us, if you don't, they move on to the next guy. I got that.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Well, I always close my show with this on this road called life, you have to take the good with the bad. Mile with the sad, love what you got, love what love what you have, and always forgive, but never forget. People change, things go wrong. Just remember the ride goes on. God bless each and every one of you. God bless America. I am John Marietta, and I am the hillbelly.