District, which is out in western pennsylvania. So gerrymandering, thats what were talking about right here. The Pennsylvania StateSupreme Court ruled this week that all 18 of the states congressional districts need to be redrawn because they were gerrymandered to favor republicans. The Gopled Legislature has until february 9th to submit a new map. There is the current map there right now. A new map and Governor Wolf has until the 15th to send it back to the court. Well get Governor Wolfs response in a moment, but, dom, is there enough time to do this and do it right and do it so that all parties that need to approve it will approve it . I dont think so, and i object to it, to the broader point of what the courts have done. They clearly have just overstepped their bounds. I dont see how anyone would see it differently. The reason why there are 13 republicans in the state is because theyre spread out. Democrats are more in concentrated areas. This is ridiculous, this district. I get that, but its part of the legislature, matt, to set this, no matter how ridiculous. Thats my stance. Rich . Sharmain . I think that it is really a good step. There have been people who have been arguing this point for many years, so this just didnt happen. There was a young lady who actually pushed this case ahead because she looked at the districts and said, these are absolutely just not fair, and we need to do something about it. And so the committee of seventy, the league of women voters, and others have been pushing very hard to try to get fair drawing of maps for congressional districts in pennsylvania, and im glad to see the Supreme Court has taken this issue on. Well get to rich and ed in just a quick second. I want to tell you what Governor Wolf says about this. Again, he will have to submit it back to the court on the 15th of february, provided that the state legislature gives him the new map by the 9th. Governor wolf says he will not accept the new map and he will not accept a partisan gerrymander. Those are some of his tweets that he sent out earlier in the week. Now, if wolf and the legislature do n a Supreme Court, which leans democratic, will then take it upon itself to draw a new one, which would be bad for republicans, and republicans are also kind of banking on this idea that perhaps the u. S. Supreme court might step in and issue a stay. Could that happen, rich . Yeah, i mean, they can try, and im sure theyll be creative with those arguments, but the truth is i thought the court was rely decided this case based on constitutional state law, which means its gonna be harder to appeal it to the federal government. This case is so important, matt, because the voters should pick their leaders, and, for too long in pennsylvania, weve had our leaders picking their voters. Gerrymandering impacts democracy at its core. This is a good step in the right direction. There are a number of states who are going through the same thing, and the donald goofy map is. Goofy. I mean, it just makes no sense. Its a very clear violation. Im just wondering what the reaction will be and how the public will take to a court redrawing a map. Mmhmm. I think that gets very problematic. Yeah, but the Legislature Im sorry. No, please go ahead. No, ill say but the legislature has had time to work on this for a number of years. This is not a new issue. Its probably a lot more public because of what the court has done, but people have been saying, look, all we need is a fair process, an open process, and a process that people can see. Even though the legislative process of mapping out districts is not perfect, it is bipartisan. There are two democrats, two republicans, and then the four of them get together and choose a fifth member. What people are saying needs to happen in pennsylvania is very similar, except that it would be less about having elected officials involved, where you would have four people four republicans, four democrats, and then three additional seats made up of maybe minor parties or independents, and that the process will be open to public hearings and people would have a chance to weigh in. So i think, ultimately, were trying to get to a place where people can trust that the districts are being drawn fairly and that but, sharmain, who defines that . Is the court going to do that, with five democrats who clearly favor this . They just cant get past the fact that its 135 in pennsylvania. If republicans were on the other side, they wouldnt like it either. If it were a republicandominated court, id say the same thing. Theyre elected, what, every 10 years . Theyre not in touch with the people. Right, but i think the process, for this particular election, for redrawing the lines, weve waited too long. And the courts dont have to draw it. The courts have said, you have until february 15th. So theyre giving the legislature an opportunity to do it. If they dont do it, then the courts draw the line. To matts point, though till february 15th, though, to draw the whole state. Well, its not like, you know, we dont have, like, really Super Computers these days and that we cant figure out how to do this. So, anyone think that the districts are gonna stay the way they are . No way. No one thinks that. Does anyone think that we are going to end up with the possibility the democrats could seize the majority of the number of congressional districts after this upcoming election in november . I dont think so. Seizing a majority i think would be. Yeah, no. Pick up a couple seats. Im hearing that, if you could get it right, im hearing, at the most, you might make three competitive. Yeah. Thats what im hearing. One thing im hearing is, with the 7th district, with pat meehan now resigning, or after hes not up for reelection, they might give ground there in order to bolster costello and some other districts. We draw the lines to get them over the finish line and give up on the 7th, essentially. Ive said this on this show before. We always complain that you cant get anything done in washington and that we have very polarized politics. In large part, the politics are polarized because both sides have vacuumed up all the voters they can into safe districts. Mm. And theres a penalty to pay to reach across the aisle and talk to the other guy because youre going to get primaried, youre going to lose. So i think the overall goal of getting balanced districts that are more representative and dont look quite the way donald and goofy do is a good thing. The question is how do you get there. And im not sure you can rush yourself to that answer. Couple of weeks left, so well see what happens. Well talk about congressman pat meehan, that you mentioned, dom. He represents the 7th district, the goofy kicking donald district, and hes going to well, hes not retiring, as you hes not gonna seek reelection in november. The Delaware CountyRepublicans Office settled a former aides Sexual Harassment complaint with taxpayer money. Its not clear how much. Meehan, who is married, told us he saw the aide, decades younger than him, as his soul mate. Heres what he told us. But i did. Struggle with the idea that this was somebody who i had aa kinship with in a deep way. He denies ever harassing her. The lawyer for the individual disagrees with that. Two days after this response, meehan announced he will not be seeking reelection in what has typically as things stand right now been a safe district for republicans. How do you think he handled this, sharmain . Well, number one, i dont understand why he would respond in the way that he did when its obvious that he paid for something. Otherwise, he would not have given her the money. And creating a hostile Work Environment, whether there was a sexual relationship or not, seems to be the argument here, is that he created a hostile Work Environment where she did not feel comfortable working there anymore, because she was ready to leave. And she argues at least her lawyer argues that it was because she had another romantic relationship. So i just think its outrageous. I think, just like as the other cases that weve heard, this has to stop. Dom . Ed . Yeah, im pretty surprised that pat meehan been around him a lot of times, at a lot of stuff would engage in this, but it was very, very strange. It was like Terry Sanford or mark sanford, the south carolina. South carolina and the appalachian trail. And it just seems bizarre at best. And when the boyfriend situation came in and then the payoff, thats bad. Sanford ended up resurrecting his career. Exactly. Its interesting to compare it to him. Ive known pat for almost 20 years. He was the federal prosecutor. We were on the antiterror advisory committee, and then i did some work with him in terms of cybersecurity that he did in congress. I will tell you it was very important work. He is a national expert. I always thought him a man of sober judgment. When i heard the allegation, i thought that just doesnt sound like him. The use of the term soul mate i think is what really made things much worse because that is an emotionally laden term that has certain connotations that must people interpret as being appropriate to husband and wife or a significant other. And im just genuinely saddened because i think he was a great prosecutor, a great representative in congress. Be a real loss, and im so sorry this happened. Rich, i want to get your comment, and theres another dynamic to all this that you all know about, and thats that state senator daylin leach, who was seen as the likely democratic opponent, put his campaign on hold because he is facing his own sexualmisconduct controversy, so we could end up having two candidates, republican and democrat, nonincumbent, but also people that no one knows. Yeah, look, i think theres gonna be this is an important seat. Its gonna be impacted by the redistricting going on around the gerrymandering issue. I think theres gonna be good candidates on both sides. I dont think theres gonna be candidates that are clouded with metoo allegations. So, hopefully, this will work its way out. The biggest outrage and you mentioned it briefly, matt is taxpayer dollars, again. I just want to say i echo everybodys sentiments with regard to the behavior, but weve got to do something theres no laws in pennsylvania that requires you to disclose how youre utilizing those taxpayer dollars, and there needs to be. The sunshine act is. Yeah, thatll be the best disinfectant, right . Exactly. We got to shine a light on people using our dollars, taxpayer dollars, to hide misconduct, right . He got her to sign a confidentiality agreement in exchange for dollars. Thats got to stop. And it happened with a democrat in michigan we know about, as well. Its happening across the country. Lets move on to wagner looking like the favorite, and, you know, things change over time, but the Pennsylvania Republicans will be holding their endorsement vote for governor on february 10th, along with this gerrymandering thing going on. Here are the candidates on the republican side scott wagner, who i mentioned. Theres also mike turzai, the house speaker, paul mango, and laura ellsworth, who are both from the western side of the state. Wagners really been aggressive, running ads in philadelphia. Hes also from york county, which is where tom wolf is from, whom hed like to face. Wagner has a very good chance of becoming the nominee again, at this point. What do you think about, for one thing, ed, wagners message of being and these are from his commercials, really this tough businessman who will give them heck in harrisburg and also a guy whos kind of laying the groundwork of a trumplike campaign in pennsylvania . Well, and there is receptivity to that message in the central and western part of the state. Its gonna be much more of a heavy lift in the eastern part of the state. I think his greatest advantage is he got out early on tv, has established a presence, and is more known than the other candidates. Unless you spend that money to get on television especially on 6abc, where all the eyeballs are. Paul mangos giving us some money, too, for thats right. [ laughter ] unless you do that quickly, the later dollars arent nearly as impactful. The message is, get out early, and make sure that youre on television as much as you can be. As Governor Wolf did. Hes running some of those commercials during this show, by the way. [ laughter ] thats where ive seen them. Scott wagners got the obvious early lead. I think its way too early, though. I think commercials that you run i think name recognitions important, but commercials that you run right now or last year arent gonna impact the election in may all that much. I think its interesting to see how many republicans there are. There are four, as we just saw. I think that, if it stays that way, that might not be a great thing in terms of pooling resources. Wagner clearly has the stategop lead, right, in terms of the committees across the state, so hes gonna be the person to take down. Dom . Sharmain . My observation is i know with our listeners and all they dont know these guys. They dont know wolf. They dont whats going on in harrisburg. I have turzai on. They dont know who he is. Wagner they sort of know because of the sanitation business, because of the ads, and because he plays around with the trump stuff a little bit and he has money to spend. Thats gonna be the key here. Its a snoozer, though. I really think thats my judgment the primary, and even the general election, other than for insiders and activists and all that. Weve lost touch with that mystical kingdom of harrisburg. Yeah, i was gonna say i think its gonna be hard for anyone right now, if were still looking, by november, that everyone is really coming out to be an antitrump vote, for any of the republican candidates to be able to beat Governor Wolf, but well have to see. Its gonna be a busy couple of weeks or actually three weeks in pennsylvania. The budget address from Governor Wolf is coming up. We will hear from Governor Wolf when we come right back. 6abcs inside story is presented by temple university. We talked about the governor tom wolf, the democrat who is seeking reelection as governor in pennsylvania. I moderated a discussion with Governor Wolf for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of commerce this past week. Ive done it for the last six years. Its really an honor to do it. Heres what Governor Wolf told me during that talk. And you wont raise taxes . Thats right. cause you say you wont need to. Well, thats right, except that ive always been for a severance tax, and i ran on that. For the shale . Four years ago, the shale tax, and i will continue to call for that because were the only major i think were the only naturalgasproducing state in the country without a severance tax. Everyone else has one. So, no tax increases, except for shale. He says he wants to ask for a boost in education spending, but, again, not gonna raise taxes. And he also expects this election season to make governing more difficult in harrisburg. How could it not . But he is optimistic and confident he will have a successful fourth year. Rich, is he being sort of pollyannaesque about this . You know, im an optimist, so i hope the you share his view. I share his view. I hope the governors right. Look, its an Election Year. Things are gonna be crazy, right . We all call it the silly season for a reason. I think were gonna see a lot of backandforth on the budget. But they also are all, you know, wellincentivized to get a budget on time. So, hopefully, this will be the first year in how long . That weve ever gotten a budget on time during an Election Year. [ knocks on table ] i think corbett got one. Did he . In the nick of time. And last years kind of was but wasnt cause it was never really finished. Right, it was an almost. Yes. What do you think about the many months coming up leading up to november, with wagner in the mix and turzai . These are people that he has to deal with on a daily basis who are gonna be campaigning to run against him. Seems to me they dont do too much anyhow, and then, with the election season im not an optimist. [ laughter ] ive seen these guys. I dont really know what goes on there day to day. Anytime i have them on, they say theres no time to do some of these big issues that are out there that are big reforms liquor, things like this. Or they just cant come together. It amazes me. So im not an optimist. I mean, there shouldnt be first, matt, congratulations. You did a great job again. Oh, thank you. Yes, sharmain was there. Donna gentile odonnell was there, yeah. But i do think that, because its an Election Year and because there are gonna be questions around are they gonna redraw districts or are there gonna be new dis theres a lot of politics going on. I do believe that theyre actually gonna get there. They dont have to really raise taxes in order to balance the budget, according to the governor. So i think theyll get there. So, dom, we may be way too optimistic well bet a pizza on this. Right, right. What im gathering, then. Optimists on this side. There are a lot of known unknowns and there are a lot of unknown unknowns. That is correct. And its jamming things up. And here is a known unknown the combination of the pressure that pensions are putting on the budget along with the change in federal tax law that is going to limit deductibility of state and local taxes. We dont know what thats going to look like, but we know those are problem areas. They may not bite in this year, but the first year of the next governors term of office, whether its wolf or someone on the republican side, its gonna be very difficult because those pressures arent going away. And theyre making the available options fewer and much more painful. Optimist, we have a pessimist, and youre a realist. [ both laugh ] well, but i thought that the governor did a good job when you asked him about pension reform. He did talk about the fact that, last year, they did for new employees theyre moving to a definedcontribution plan or a 401 k type plan. So, really, their real issue now is trying to figure out how are they gonna fund the deficit they have right now. His argument was that, if they dont do anything, its a 20year payout. The more money that comes in, theres the option to bring that down. So there seems to at least be someth