Hill Billy Jon Radio Show
The Hillbilly Jon Radio Show is where common sense meets the microphone. Broadcasting from Southwestern Pennsylvania, Jon takes on politics, culture, media spin, and the stories the establishment would rather you ignore.
No talking points.
No script readers. Just real conversations with candidates, business owners, whistleblowers, and everyday Americans who still believe in grit, faith, and freedom.
If you are tired of the noise and ready for straight talk, you are in the right place.
Hill Billy Jon Radio Show
A Senate Candidate’s Plan To Cut Waste And Lower Costs
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
They tried to keep our guest off the ballot, and the fight ended up in court. That alone tells you something about how high the stakes are in Pennsylvania politics right now. I sit down with Al Buckton, a Pennsylvania State Senate candidate, to talk about the legal battle over ballot access, why courts matter to everyday voters, and what it means when people feel like the system is designed to narrow choices instead of expand them.
Then we get into the part that hits your wallet. We talk fiscal responsibility, budget discipline, and why “government is a business” is more than a slogan when the numbers don’t add up. We break down the basics of budgeting in plain English, from school spending math to the hard reality of a state that can’t keep spending more than it brings in. We also argue about the true cost of social services, the strain local towns feel, and why blaming “federal issues” doesn’t make state expenses disappear.
We also dig into cost of living in Pennsylvania, including gas prices, the gas tax, and how fuel costs crush people who drive for work. From there we jump to energy policy, coal, local jobs, power plants, and why electric bills keep climbing. We close with accountability: legislative track records, Act 77, term limits, and how campaign money and “go along to get along” politics shape what gets done in Harrisburg.
If this conversation helps you see Pennsylvania government, taxes, and elections more clearly, subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find us.
Welcome And Sponsorship Invite
SPEAKER_03Hey everybody, this is John Marietta, and I'm glad you're back to listen to us again on our podcast slash radio show. Um, it's been uh it's been growing and growing and growing. Uh in fact, uh the radio station got in contact with me uh a day or so ago. They're interested in whatnot, uh join in and kind of do some things with me. So uh we'll work that out as time goes on, and um possibly you'll get to see me back up on uh a couple different places. Uh we I want to thank everybody for for all the help. And uh if you want to be a sponsor, get a hold of me. Uh and uh we'll make that happen. And guess what? Probably about a million people are gonna get to see it because that's where we're at. Or are getting out there in a big way. Uh, I want to thank all the people from Washington, Green County, Fayette County, Somerset County, Bedford County, Indiana County, and all of all the counties across the state, because uh the that seems to be the it's catching on like wildfire. So we started a fire here in uh southwest corner of uh our state, and it's and uh we're fanning it as best we can. So hey, I want to thank you all. So let's get started. Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That's Hebrews 11:1. You're tuned into the Hillbilly John Radio Show where faith, freedom, and plain truth still matter. I'm with Al Buckton, and we're here to say what others won't. We're here to stand up for where others won't, and we're and we're and fight the folks who keep this country running and help keep this country running. Let's get to it. Um I I did the short thing here, but uh what we're what I want to tell you is is this man is standing up, he's put
Faith Freedom And Plain Truth
SPEAKER_03a ton, a ton of his own time, his own money and his efforts from everybody into this campaign. And uh we are going to change Pennsylvania one Senate race at a time. Um, we're gonna get rid of these people. We got Harry Cochran and he uh running in uh Fayette uh Bedford Somerset. And I want to thank Al so much for standing up. It's been it's been a while. You don't get people to stand up and uh take notice of what they're doing, but Al, they try to keep you off the ballot.
Campaign Run And Ballot Fight
SPEAKER_00They tried, and I think they're still trying. Um, so obviously everybody knows about the uh TA court, Commonwealth court we went through, and uh the judge ruled in our favor on that. Um, they didn't like it, they didn't like losing, they didn't like the truth. So um they fabricate and they do whatever, and so they appealed it, went to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court ruled in our favor, 4-3. Um back to what the Commonwealth Court, the Superior Court did. So they don't like that. So I hear some rumblings around, they're still trying to do some other things. I gotta be honest with you, the reception from the people that I've got over these last eight, nine months um of running, it's been fantastic. It's been phenomenal, it's been overwhelming in a good way. It's um humbling, say the least. People were hurting, they need help. And I believe the judges, they all seen that, you know. Uh as far as a matter of fact, the one judge, you know, um she went as far as saying, you know, you can't deprive these voters of a choice. And that's what they wanted to do through their corruption and the swamp and you know, all of their uh antics, as far as you know, I just I just believe that it's it's so it's almost a criminal to to uh disenfranchise a voter.
SPEAKER_03And you're exactly right. And and you know what? Because we stand up, we say the things that people are thinking, they're afraid. They're afraid. The other thing is, is we're they try to label us as rhinos. Well, you know what? Maybe I am a rhino because because the Republican Party has kind of left us behind a little bit at the state level. I know it uh and what I'm doing is is I I'm not running for office right now, but I am talking to the hundreds and thousands of people every month, and not just on the podcast, but I mean I get out there to uh as many events as I can, um, you know, spaghetti dinners and all the things that we go we we go to, and um and same as you. Yeah, and and you're not gonna stop just because you got elected senator. Yeah, I mean, you're not. I'm not.
SPEAKER_00I I have uh, you know, when I started this journey, um I I did research for two years. Where do I want to be? Where do I fit in um politically? Um, do I want to still stay on the school board? Well, I fixed that problem. You know, we reduced the the uh budget, past the budget. That was the only budget that was actually fiscally sound in I think five or seven years. Um, it was a mess. It really was. Um, we lost 4.125 million dollars and I went through and I just got rid of waste. Nobody lost your job. I mean, it was waste. That's what we did. We fixed it, we got together. Um, and that's that's my plan for the state because they keep passing these budgets, uh, they're unattainable,
Budget Fixes From School Board
SPEAKER_00they really are. You know, this one is gonna be three billion dollars. It was 3.3 billion, the last one. This one will be 3.26 billion. So you get about six to seven billion dollars in two years that you don't have the revenue stream for. So that's kind of my expertise and where I'm at. These people don't know. My opponent definitely does not know financially.
SPEAKER_03I don't think she cares. She doesn't care, she doesn't care. The only thing they care about, and let's let's let's be real about this. Let's be honest. Let's be really real about the anything they care about is getting re-elected. Yeah, so they can go, they can go stand in the marble hallways and they can and and they can they can puff out their chests and say, look who I am. You know what? That time's over. It's time for we the people to take back what is ours.
SPEAKER_00That's true. And and we're at a point right now we're in critical status. Critical status is when it's gonna be failure. Um, and we're in that phase right now where this state is not gonna be sustainable to live in for the youth or the elderly, it's just not. Um, we have 200,000 illegal immigrants here. That's $2.4 billion. Where's that money coming from? So that say that's $2.4 billion billion dollars. So take that, you take about $28,000 to $40,000 for each one of them. Now, this is what sets me different than my opponent. She says, well, because she created that mess down here in Charleroi. Charleroi with the Haitians and you know, all that. Yeah, what sets me apart from her? She's now saying, since she's gone the hot seat, well, that's a federal job, or that's a federal thing. It's a federal issue. She blamed my congressman. Now she's
Immigration Costs Hit Local Services
SPEAKER_00blaming Trump because obviously it's a federal issue. They're you're blaming them, directly or indirectly, however you want to do it. So she's blaming these people when in fact, who's paying for all these social services for these people? We are. That's the state. Yeah, we are tax money.
SPEAKER_03She doesn't understand that. There ain't no social service tree out back. No.
SPEAKER_00So the taxpayers are. You have Charleroi, they had 250 students going to that school. She doesn't know numbers. She says, Oh, Charleroi school is $14,000 per student. No, it's not. It's very simple. Take the total budget number that they pass.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_00Divide that by the number of students. Exactly. That's your the average in this area is about $23,000 a student. I don't have other sources that they get. Housing, healthcare, everything. If you're looking at $40,000 or more per person times $200,000, it's just simple math. But obviously, they need a math course because they don't even know economics or anything. So it kind of pisses me off that these people who are running our state to be fiscally sound have no concept of money. And government is a business. That's basic it. It's basically it.
SPEAKER_03Well, and you're exactly right. I mean, government is a business, and if we don't run it efficiently, this is where we're at. We're we're we're at the edge of the cliff right now. We're right at the edge. I mean, one more step, and uh, you know, we're $53.5 billion. We're only gonna take in $46 billion.
SPEAKER_00$47 billion.
SPEAKER_03Okay. So now now what? Where where are we gonna make the difference at? They're gonna raise gas tax. I mean, let's face it. I mean, that's anything they can they're gonna raise gas tax.
SPEAKER_00So I got gas uh yesterday. It was $4.77.9 cents a gallon here.
Deficits Gas Taxes And Fuel Prices
SPEAKER_00Something like diesel. No, that's that's just that's the mid-grade unless so I look down in West Virginia and it's $3.99. So there's that 77 cents higher here. Now, if you have a trucking company or if you're in sales, medical, whatever field you're in, you're a construction worker, you don't have a set office, you're out and about driving. I drift, I drove so many miles in my 41 year career. Gas kills you. Then you have to get on the toll roads.
SPEAKER_03Your fuel bill is your number one, it's horrible. Well, you you know, you were a construction. I used to run, uh we used a hot shot all over the all over the country, and and a lot of times I would come back. If I was coming back empty, I would make arrangements to have clean barrels. Fill them up because we were going to Arkansas, yep, and I could buy I could buy diesel fuel almost a dollar a gallon cheaper in Arkansas. So what we would do is we come back with 500,000 gallons, we whatever we could get, as many drums as I could get. Say, uh but if I ever got stopped, that would have been a bad thing. But but I mean, I mean you you'd fill your you'd fill your tanks up, you fill them up because uh when you ran to California, it was guess what? You think Pennsylvania is bad. California, if it was five dollars here, it was seven dollars in California.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it well, there lies the problem. You got two blue states, and we have people that are in the Republican Party that are. And you nailed that, I'm telling you. I'm right, they are so far not conservative, you know. And my opponent has made a statement many times to the swamp creatures and all the rest of the lying thieves out there that you got to go along to get along. No, you gotta have a damn backbone. That's what you gotta have. And unfortunately, these people don't. So they're gonna do whatever they can to beat me. They're gonna say all these lies and make up things, and you know, I don't have to make up anything. Just look at her record. It's horrible. Horrible. All the different, all the different um groups that rate the Senate and the House, they rated her at a 58. 58. It's just not one. There's different agencies that do that, and they do that by your attendance and all your different uh things that you do, how you vote. 58 was one of the lowest rated senators in the state.
SPEAKER_03That Stefano's rating was was 57. Oh. So so between the two of them. Yeah, and they're both over here in southwestern Pennsylvania trying to trying to tell trying to tell us what to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, I mean and they don't even know what to do. No. They they don't, honestly, they don't. But I I was I was happy with the the court's decision. Um I know that that her side was really mad, you know, because they they really need to get me off there. Because I gotta be our mo our momentum is just it's growing and growing and growing. It's a massive momentum, it's a massive movement.
SPEAKER_03Well, I I I've not seen no numbers, right? Okay, but um, but I do know a couple things. One of the things I do know is is the Pat Stefano's way upside down on his approval, right? I like he's like the 30, 32 percent. I know that Cameron Bordelotta, because somebody threw that at me the other day. Or now we're not even called I I feel bad calling her Bordellotta because I worked for the Borderlottes. They were gonna call her Deweeze. So, anyways, I I felt I felt bad about that, but uh calling her that. But anyways, we're gonna call her Cameron Deweeze because that's what she owns at.
SPEAKER_00Um but she's ashamed to take his last name. Why is that?
SPEAKER_03Wonder why.
SPEAKER_00Wonder why.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yep. So, anyways, uh I was under the understanding that her approval rating in uh her in her Senate district is between 24 and 25 percent.
SPEAKER_00I heard 23. Okay, so that's what I heard. 23. That's lower in Joe Biden's, yeah, and Kamala Harris's. So that shows you where they fit.
SPEAKER_03And and um we're under the understanding that uh uh that this is gonna be their to their detriment. I mean, uh I mean it's gonna be to our benefit if we can get them both out of office.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's the goal. Get these people out there, get some true conservatives in there, some some people in there with fiscal responsibility to where we can make a difference here, change this area. Um I I do know there are uh there are a lot of of good senators out there that that I align with. Um, and I'll not I'll just name one. Uh John Kiefer. She is very conservative. Um, she's very fiscally sound. She won't vote for something just to vote for it, just to go along to get along. She will not do it. Um, honestly, that woman, she is very good.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's how we ended up with Act 77, bud. Uh uh, but uh, I mean, that's how we ended up with Act 77 because they all wanted to go along to get along. And Cameron Barlaud, she she ran into me somewhere and she said, I says, You own this. Yeah, she says, Well, uh, it isn't like they're not they're not administrating it the way, the way it was. I don't care. You own it, fix it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she said, Well, there were 41 other senators that voted to get uh voted for it. And I'm like, Well, you can't vote for yourself, you have to vote for yourself, not for what everybody else is doing. Yeah, I mean what you're in there for. You're there to represent these people as a
Act 77 And Party Accountability
SPEAKER_00as a senator, that's one of your three jobs to represent your constituents as a liaison, and they don't want that. And here's the other thing about that. So indirectly, she voted for that bill, Act 77, for the Mellon ballots and all that bullshit. When that goes directly against the Save America Act that Trump's trying to get passed, directly against it.
SPEAKER_03Again, she goes against him, and and and and she wants everybody to think that she's he's she's uh an America first candidate. She's not, she's not. That's why you got the problem you have.
SPEAKER_00She's a her first candidate.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's why you have the problem in Charlotte. That's why we have problems with the at the ballot box, that's why we're having problems fiscally. Yep. I mean, she's about herself. Same way with same way with Pat Stefano.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he I I've been reading up on him. Um, and he that they are kind of oh yeah, they're they're yeah, I was uh I didn't, you know, Fayette County, that's out of my reach out there, but I still have a lot of friends and family, and and you know, um I was I was shocked that um his his numbers are bad. Numbers are bad. I really hope uh Henry, he's a really really conservative guy, number one, and he's smart too, fiscally smart. So um I wish him the best in his endeavors with this because uh it's a tough road. It really is. I listen, people talk, I I don't I've been in business for 41 years. I've been in construction. There is nothing that they could say or do that's gonna really make me flinch. I don't care. Don't care, it doesn't bother me. But some people it deters them from running, so you gotta have you gotta have wide shoulders for this business.
SPEAKER_03Well, when what what it comes down to is is uh um you you just can't you you can't flinch, you gotta keep on moving forward. You always do. It's just like I I I I worked with some guys for a period of time and uh uh uh helped them out with some things, but anyways, they they were pouring concrete and uh and I I only did it very few times, but anyways, you loved it, didn't you? I did. I did. But anyways, anyways, I will tell you this. It uh I I was terrible at it, and I and I probably got more in their way than anything. But one of the things that uh I I I'd get get a kick out of, uh, because I'd be the one that had to clean hands and I'd answer the phone. I said, Hey, that was the I said, that was the guy from the um from the concrete uh uh distribution place. Uh uh and he he says the driver will be here in uh 15 minutes. And I said to him, and they'd look at me and they said, they said, the guy that's the the guy that's uh routing the routing the trucks told you he'd be here in 15 minutes. And then yeah. And they'd say to me, they said, Well, we we can all go get something to eat. And I what do you mean? He said be here in 15 minutes. He said, when you talk to the driver, and the driver tells us he'll be here in 15 minutes, yeah, that that's different. This guy's trying to keep you from getting mad at him because you got something scheduled. I said, Okay, and then they were usually right, but this is this is where we're at. Nobody wants to take responsibility for anything, and we're we're our property taxes are unbelievable, unbelievable, horrible. Our school taxes are the same way. Horrible. I mean, and we have to there has to be some fix to this.
SPEAKER_00I see there is some fixes to it, and and um, you know, my platform is obviously we want to be fiscally sound, we want to get things in order, we want to be able to facilitate this cost of living where it's not destroying everybody, the elderly, the young kids. You know what I mean? We want our young folks to stay here. We need to build our population back. The only way they're staying here is if they have a good job that they can sustain a family, and that's not possible right now. So it doesn't matter how many job fares you have, it doesn't matter if you don't have the jobs to send these people to, it doesn't matter. They're going to they're going to leave and and get the jobs.
SPEAKER_03And we can't build we can't build uh an economy in this corner of the state on recreation. It's fun, all the good things that happen. I mean, it's it's nice. You need gdp. It's not your GDP.
SPEAKER_00I mean you have you know, you can't.
Jobs Energy And Coal Revival
SPEAKER_00Our GDP is down to the to the abyss. Um, our unemployment in all this whole 40 46th area is is up.
SPEAKER_03Um your building permits are 46th what it what is district. But in 46th district, yeah. I mean, what's up? Green, Washington.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but I mean what it's five, five little, I think it's 5.2 per two points here in green.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_00And in Washington, it's 4.3, and it's it's a little bit high over in Beaver 2. I think was 4.67. And the national average is just what four? It's actually 3.92. So there's there's a little bit more happening in right now in Walking. It only might seem like a point, um, but that's a lot. When there's a point in unemployment, that's a lot, that's thousands of people out of work. So if you take a mean baseline of that 46th district at five, five percent, five points, that's a lot of people out of work. You're way higher than the national average. 4.67 is what it would actually be.
SPEAKER_03One of the things that that I see happening, and uh, I do get around a good bit. Uh our are we we gotta figure out how to make bring these coal mines back to life. We have to. I mean, and and no matter what, uh we need a power plant between Fayette County and Green County, or between uh we mean Hatfield. Oh, yeah. The one the the one the one they tore down, the one all the county commissioners stood and watched them tear down. I mean it I uh there, you know, we have uh Hatfield, and then you have how many people were do you did you have any idea how many people were employed at Hatfield? There was about 600. Okay, so but six hundred uh is actually probably like what 3600 altogether, where there's it for every job bearer, there's there's a there's uh another job support company, support company, yeah. Yeah, and plus the butcher, the butcher, the baker, the case.
SPEAKER_00They put I think about this under the Ob Obama plan, they put uh almost a billion dollars in the Hatfield for new scrubbers. Yeah. Okay. Then they they shut it down two years later. Where did that billion dollars come from?
SPEAKER_03Oh come from electric bills.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It come from the taxpayers. Yeah. It came from the taxpayers. So we we need the coal-fired power plants because you're you're not built you're not you you need them for for coal for steel. So now everybody's whining and crying, we don't have enough power now.
SPEAKER_03Well, why did you shut down all the and they're and they want to bring a line in clear across Green Green County, Southern Fayette County? The power of Virginia. The power of Virginia.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, you know what I say? Let's mine the coal here. We'll send it to Virginia and let them make their own power. Let's send the natural gas from here to to yeah. You know what?
SPEAKER_00I didn't how about your electric bill? My electric bill at my house in Cannonsburg. I don't know. It was $47. Okay. $47 a month. I'm like, okay, this is great. It's $173 now. I just got it yesterday.
SPEAKER_03My electric bill is over $300. My electric bill is over $300. Now there's three families of that.
SPEAKER_00You know what my electric bill in Florida is? $43.
SPEAKER_03Why is that? Because they have a governor.
SPEAKER_00They have a governor. They have a real governor. They have a real red state.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. They have a governor in Florida. They got a they have a don't get me wrong. And they have a governor in Arkansas too, by the way.
SPEAKER_00There's corruption and collusion. Oh yeah. It's everywhere. But to the point where at in at this state, when you have your your Republicans siding with your Democrats, and it's it's all it's all a scam. It's all a scam, and it's it's on the backs of the taxpayers. They don't care. Well, I do care, or I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. That's for sure.
SPEAKER_03Well, let's do some contact information. I know I know uh if and I will tell you, anybody wants to send him a five-dollar bill, he'll gladly spend it correctly.
SPEAKER_00Take anybody's money and put it to good use. We we need to we need to uh fund this fight, and it's not cheap. Um, these people have casino organizations that are funding them dark money. I wonder why casinos.
SPEAKER_03Well, when that wasn't casino money supposed to help reduce the taxes for for our seniors or our veterans and and things like that. Well, what happened to that money? Now they're gonna fund they're gonna put it goes to like NGOs.
SPEAKER_00Hey, if you want to start a 501c3, I'll get you some money for that. The corruption
Donate Contact Info And Closing
SPEAKER_00is rampant, the swamp is deep, but we're gonna expose it, that's for sure. But, anyways, um I'll Michael Seven uh at gmail.com. That's my personal email. Send me an email, just say hi. Um, bucktonforpa um.com is our uh website, and Buckton for Senate is our Facebook site. Um, you can get a hold of me. I give everybody my phone number. It's 412-779-0117. Reach out to me. Um, I take calls from four in the morning until midnight. So I don't sleep much. And um I am in this fight to win it. And I'm telling you what, they're not gonna kick me out of it.
SPEAKER_03I I I I do want to thank you. Uh yeah, and go and go to Al's go to Al's website. Uh we get enough five dollar bills uh between him and Harry, and we can we can we can we can pull this off. I mean, we really can. I mean, yeah, I I I feel really confident about this whole situation. I do.
SPEAKER_00I feel good. I feel good. If I it if if they weren't attacking me the way they are, then it wouldn't feel so good. Yeah. As as strange as that sounds.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, our our our senator, he uh over there, he he's wet noodle. So I mean, I don't I never figured he would attack anyway.
SPEAKER_00We gotta have term limits. We have to have term limits. These people cannot be in there for 12, 16 years.
SPEAKER_03Can't well, uh, thanks for coming on, and we'll get you on again. And uh we're we're trying to get one of these out every Friday for for and uh we'll keep on moving forward. So, like I close all my shows. On this road called life, you have to take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you got, and remember what you had. Always forgive, but never forget. People change, things go wrong, but just remember the ride goes on. God bless each and every one of you, and God bless America. I am John Marietta, and I am the hillbelly.