Good Government Show’s 100th Episode (S5E05)

The Good Government Show turns 100, episodes that is. We have talked to a lot of people in government from local county commissioners to US Senators, listen as producer Jason Stershic interviews host Dave Martin on what he learned over 100 shows.

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Executive Producers: David Martin, David Snyder, Jim Ludlow
Host/Reporter: David Martin
Producers: David Martin, Jason Stershic
Editor: Jason Stershic

Transcription

David Martin: This is the good government show. I in many ways can’t believe we have gotten to 100 episodes. That’s a huge number. That’s a lot of conversations. That’s a lot of folks to talk to. The more educated an audience you have, the more educated the voters are, the more educated the citizenry are, the better government you’re going to get.

The Good Government show is not an adversarial show. It’s not a gotcha show. It’s not a like, oh, wait a minute, you’re lying. It’s trying to get from these elected officials what it is they’re doing to try to make people’s lives better. I think it was Ronald Reagan, you know, famously or infamously said, you know, the scariest words in the English language are we’re from the government.

We’re here to help. And that’s just simply not true.

For the most part, at the city of the county level, these people are here to try and make a difference and help.

Jason Stershic: Welcome to the Good Government Show. I’m not David Martin, but he’s here with me. I’m Jason Sturgis, a name you may be familiar with if you listen to the credits at the end of this podcast, I produce and edit these shows and work closely with the usual host, David Martin. I’ve taken the mic to spend this very special episode peppering David with some questions.

So David, welcome. How does it feel to have 100 episodes under your belt?

David Martin: I in many ways can’t believe we have gotten to 100 episodes. That’s a huge number. That’s a lot of conversations. That’s a lot of folks to talk to. On the other hand, it feels like I’ve been doing this forever and it’s never stopped. And it’s unrelenting. And, it feels like I’ve done a thousand episodes. But now it’s, 100 is a good number, and that means we’ve been holding the the flame of good government up for all to see.

So that’s good news.

Jason Stershic: How have you, like, what’s the big takeaway in 100 episodes? Like, I, I get to listen in detail as I edit these and learn like, along with the listener. But like you’re there having conversations with these, politicians and government leaders and, you know, just civic leaders, like, what are you learning?

David Martin: So we’re going to start off easy. Okay. And I have no say in how this goes. None at all. It’s all up to you. Okay, great. All right. I just wanted to make sure I understood what was going on today. What I’m constantly surprised and heartened by is the premise of the show was to showcase the fact that government leaders actually get up, go to work, and work hard to try to produce good government.

And across the board, all the folks that I’ve talked to fall into that category, they really are trying to make a difference. They’re really are trying to help. They really want to do the right thing. I go back to, Oz Nesbitt. You know, this is a guy who was a county commissioner in in Georgia, in Rockdale County, Augusta.

And, you know, his whole mission in life, his ministry is how he would describe it is to make sure that the people in his county are better. I can go down the list of the people that I’ve talked to. Hillary shiny is the mayor of Reno. Like, she doesn’t want to be governor. She doesn’t want to be senator.

She wants to be the most effective mayor of Reno that she can possibly be. Brad Cavanaugh in Dubuque, Iowa, loves Dubuque, Iowa. I you know, I never met the guy. I never knew anything about Dubuque. This guy is a huge booster of Dubuque. He loves his town. He loves his city. He loves serving the people there. So I think, you know, and I can just go down the list of people.

You know, most of them, they’re not in it for the money. They’re not in for the same. They really thought that this was something they could do where they could help people and make a difference and, you know, serve their community. You. Yeah. Isn’t the future of government. It’s happening now, like polymorphic power. Your government was.

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Once you wrap up this episode of The Good Government Show, give a listen to our friends over at Good News for lefties. This daily podcast highlights news stories that show there’s more good news out there. Other people in government are really trying to do the right thing. That’s good news for lefties. Listen where you’re listening now.

Jason Stershic: So you were in news before this? Before the podcast started. And yes, I know that you read or read the papers and keep up with current events.

David Martin: I read the paper every day.

Jason Stershic: Still, still. Okay.

David Martin: So what I get, I get home delivery of a newspaper in my hometown every day, and I read it. I hope everybody else does.

Jason Stershic: You are clearly in the minority now.

David Martin: Sadly, I am.

Jason Stershic: But is there anything that surprises you as you talk to these people and you get like a little bit further behind the scenes than you would have, just by reading the paper or just by read like you talked about Brad Cavanaugh. Like if you had just read the Dubuque paper, you’d only get so much. You’re now talking to these people.

Is there anything like extra you feel like, oh, like I’m getting something that I’m not getting from the normal paper?

David Martin: Yeah, I do. And, thank you for that, because that gives me an opportunity to talk about what we do in the show. When you’re reading that, when you’re reading the paper, you’re responding to the news of the minute, the crisis of the minute, the crisis of the day, the problem of the day. And you know what they’re doing about it, because that’s what, you know, we do in the newspaper industry.

What I like talking to the the leaders about the elected leaders, the officials is sort of their thinking, their philosophy, their long term plan. You know, here’s where we’re going to go with this. Here’s where we’re going to take this. And I think when I talk with these folks, what I get is their ideas about what government is, it’s and what they say to me is after they’re done, they say, oh, that was fun.

And never get to have that kind of conversation because it’s always, there was this problem today. There was that problem today. What are you going to do about the sewers? What are you gonna do about schools? What are you gonna do about education? What are you going to do about the police department? What do you do about response times?

This is a conversation as they can have, and they can say, well, the big picture is what I’m trying to do is here’s where I’m trying to take this. This is the conversation on the show that most of these folks don’t get to have. Because it’s just a daily response to the news, the crisis, the problem. And so I get to get inside their head and that’s, you know, the first conversation, the first we have, you know, as you know, the questionnaire, the first question is define good government.

Yeah. And when asked that question, they all go, okay. Good government is and, you know, then they give me various answers, which all sort of revolve around, you know, being responsive, being respectful, and delivering good service.

Jason Stershic: So one of the other questions is what do you want people to know about government that they don’t already have? That’s one of the standard questionnaire questions for us. And a lot of times those answers kind of revolve around civics.

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: And you know, for the same token, you and I also help produce and you co-host two other shows, right. And those also kind of talk about civics and this education of how government works, not even just what the government, just how it all works. And you’re a parent. You were once a student. Like, do you see yourself as your host and co-host, as a teacher of civics now, in a way that’s not just, hey, this is good government.

Like this is how it works.

David Martin: Yes, I do, and here’s why. Okay, the more educated an audience you have, the more educated the voters are, the more educated the citizenry are, the better government you’re going to get. And I’m going to get on my soapbox for a moment. You know, I think one of the problems that we have in this country is there’s no set standard of what’s true and what’s not true.

And you know, what we read and what we don’t read and where we get our information from. There’s so many places to get information. There’s so many outlets that are talking about, you know, the issues of the day. But if we can on this show, let people listen to what’s going on and what their elected leaders are thinking and doing, sort of unfiltered because we don’t really highly edit the show.

We sort of let them speak for themselves, and we give the audience an opportunity to hear what it is that these folks are listening and thinking and saying. And when we ask that question, you know, as a as a government insider, you’re you’ve been in, you know, you’ve been a city councilman, you’ve been a city mayor now for ten, whatever the number of years are.

What would you like people to know? And the answers are, well, government works slower than they. They thought. Government works faster than they thought. Government is messy. Government is, you know, is neat. Government has their act together. Government does not have their act together. So, you know, you hear all those answers and they’re all from the heart and they’re all true.

Jason Stershic: You’ve spoken with a lot of government officials covering the United States from north to south, from east to west. I’m gonna put you on the spot. Since the start of this show, I’ve been.

David Martin: On the spot since you asked the first question. So keep going.

Jason Stershic: Since you’ve started this show, have you spoken with your local representatives?

David Martin: Well, I had, former mayor Bill de Blasio on and former mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio on a couple of years ago. So I spoke to him, locally. Not as much. I mean, I live in New York City. I live in Brooklyn. Some of these folks are kind of hard to reach.

You know, it’s a busy place. So, no, I have not really, other than Bill de Blasio. Our current mayor is, Eric Adams, who’s, having a rough go, as as his in his term as mayor, so probably won’t be speaking with him. There’s some folks that I reached out to, city councilwoman, head of, Office of Mercy Management.

So hopefully we’ll have some of those folks on.

Jason Stershic: Over the many seasons of the show. We’ve heard a lot of officials dismiss party. No one cares whether you’re left or right, Democrat or Republican. Fill the pothole, fix the problem.

David Martin: Right.

Jason Stershic: Do you know that’s local government?

David Martin: That’s local government.

Jason Stershic: I was going to say, do you think that any of that can filter up, like, do you have I don’t want to get like too philosophical, but do you think it can filter up from the local government to, you know, kind of bridge that national divide? We see?

David Martin: I hope so, I don’t know, but I hope so. I mean, you have, without getting too political, you have a view. We’re about to have a very divisive figure in the white House.

Jason Stershic: Yes.

David Martin: So, you know, to break through that clatter and that chatter and that noise is, is not easy. You know, I think.

Jason Stershic: You’re happy that you hear it not exist to that level of of divergence on local levels. Right. Like at least that’s hopeful.

David Martin: Well, it is hopeful. And I will say this about that. Okay. Across the nation when you ask this question of people, they’ll say, you know, what’s your opinion of Congress? Well, Congress is terrible. Well how’s your congressman? Oh, I like my guy. So, you know, you like what’s local. You like what people you like. What? You know, I think that, you know, on the local level, people want to get stuff done and local level and local politics and local government is more personal.

So as you move away from the personal, you get a little farther removed from fixing the street, fixing the pothole, fixing the ball field. You know, now you’re talking about bigger issues that don’t, you know, they don’t really have that that personal impact that they made. So I take it a little bit harder. But, you know, I mean, I think I saw a headline, the, you know, just the last day or two that said people are fed up with political coverage.

So I think they’ll, you know, there’s always a mood swing. You know, there’s always a vibe, there’s always a, a progression or digression. So, you know, I think hopefully, at some point I cross my fingers and think, it has to get better. You know, we have to settle down. We have to solve the issues of the day.

David Martin: And we need serious people to do them. I remain hopeful.

Jason Stershic: Okay. So how’s.

David Martin: That? How’s that for an answer, I hope?

Jason Stershic: I think it’s a great answer. I mean, I, I immediately go to, a story of a story of a story I heard about, like, and maybe, maybe I heard it on TV, which was a congressman who used to have to sunbathe, in Washington so that when he went home to his warm weather state, people wouldn’t know he was in Washington.

He would have, a proper local and. All right, as opposed to being like, oh, he was off there. So he you hear that stuff kind of in the ethos or wherever it was. And I go, all right. So it is it like all politics is local. I think one of the problems with the national level is that it’s not that it’s not personal, because the things that we get from, say, the federal government are, are, are and can be personal, but they don’t come from my mayor, who I voted for.

Right. And I think that that’s the disconnect.

David Martin: When this when that, when they when they established the the Senate and the House, the idea was that, you know, the senators would be more, experienced and sober thinking, and more long term planning. And the members of the House were the ordinary citizenry who would show up, say, here’s what’s happening in my in my state, in my region, in my country, in my neighborhood.

And, you know, please work on these things. And then they would leave, you know, and they would go back and they would go back to, I mean, in the most case, you know, being farmers or milliners or blacksmiths. And then, you know, quickly someone realized, oh, this is a pretty good job. I’d rather do this. I’d rather do this and be a circuit lawyer.

And so they stayed. But the idea is you come in, you see what’s going on, and you try to make change, and you get out, and you let the next guy get a voice.

Jason Stershic: It doesn’t happen all the time. And and in long term listeners will know this. But I, as the editor, love when you challenge politicians. And I know it doesn’t happen very often, but one of the most challenged answers that you get to follow back on is when they you ask these elected officials who had, how can I get involved?

How should the local citizens get involved? And they all say, vote and come to meetings and you always I applaud you for this. Like kind of.

David Martin: I have no idea where this is going.

Jason Stershic: You always say, but it’s so hard. Yes. And you whine like we all would like. It’s like, you know, like killing. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah, we could get involved in politics, but it is hard. Yes. Do you I don’t know, feel like that’s a fair assessment of I’m like, I know you’re trying to get a better answer as a host and an interviewer, and I because I’ve been in your shoes before as a host and interviewer.

But do you think that they take it to heart that like, it is hard for the rest of us to get out to that meeting or to do anything more than just the bare minimum, which would be vote?

David Martin: Well, yes or no? Okay. Multi multifaceted answer. Yeah. These are the guys who got involved. So these are the guys that that showed up there. We just did a piece recently. This woman was walking with her friend and they said oh did you hear about the vote at the town meeting. And they said yeah. And they said, well, they were going to do this.

Well, that was silly. I could do better than that. We should run. And she ran. Yeah. And she went from being a, I think it was a county. She’s now a county commissioner, but she started off in a very small town on the small town council and then became a small town mayor. And now she’s a county commissioner, still in a rural county, but she got involved.

So these are the people who actually got involved. They said, I can do this better. I want to do something. And the purpose of that question is to say, think about this in another way. But what I hope everyone gets out of this is little nuggets here and there where they go, oh, I could do that. Oh you mean just go to a meeting?

I could do that. Oh you mean I can just call the guy. Oh I could do that. Oh I could just send an email. Yeah I could do that. I could volunteer on the the school board. Yeah, I could do that. I could volunteer on the Parks Department planning commission. Yeah, I could do that. So at any level that someone wants to get involved, they can do it.

So if they’re, if, you know, you know, family, wife, kids, house, jobs, schools, school stuff, athletic league sports teams, pop Warner football teams. But there’s something that everybody can do somewhere. And I think that’s what they’re trying to get across is, you know, start at the level you’re comfortable with. Maybe you get excited, maybe you’ll run for county commission, maybe you’ll run for city mayor, or maybe you’ll run for, city council.

Maybe you run for county clerk. You know, whatever it is, start off. And I think once you two things happen, once you get involved, you get the bug and you go, oh, I want to do that job. Oh, I can do that. I can do that. That or or you go, oh, this is crazy. I’m not doing this anymore.

Jason Stershic: Okay, so aside from that question, I know on occasion throughout the season, four seasons, complete seasons we’ve done you have challenged a few elected officials on maybe, a position or a policy. And I wanted to know, is it just your journalism background that gives you this kind of ability to speak truth to power, which, you know, not everybody can do?

Or is it just, you know, you know, your role, like, what is it where you’re like, oh, I, I can push back here. I can ask that question instead of just accepting whatever the answer may happen to be.

David Martin: Well, that goes back to being a reporter. Okay. Sitting there at a news conference and going, no, no, no, no, no, Mr. Mayor, that doesn’t sound right. Okay. How can you say that? No, that’s not true. And, you know, I mean, in my in my job as a reporter, I covered presidential campaigns. I’ve met presidents and senators and congressmen and county commissioners and city mayors and city mayors and city mayors and borough presidents.

And, you know, for a while, I was, in the, travel industry. So I talked to presidents of airlines and, you know, you just, you know, they they have an attitude. They have a position, they want something they want to put out. And sometimes you just hear it. You go, no, no no no no no no no no, that’s not right.

That’s not right. And the good Government show is not an adversarial show. It’s not a gotcha show. It’s not a like, oh, wait a minute, you’re lying. It’s trying to get from these elected officials what it is they’re doing to try to make people’s lives better. And I’ve just been so impressed with the number of people who said, I have a better idea.

I can make this better. I can make this work. I have an idea. Wait, let’s let’s think about that. So, there was a guy who, right before we went on, said, oh, we have the first windmill in West Virginia. And I was like, oh, cool. So I said, so tell me about your windmill because I get rid of it.

And I’m like, what? He said, yeah, yeah, I don’t, I don’t, you know, I said, no, you’re in West Virginia. You’re a coal based economy that’s trying to switch off from coal. And alternative energy sources are, you know, what you need to be working on. Yeah. Shouldn’t you have more, not less. Now I, you know, get him out of there.

So, you know, that was easy because it was like, well, this guy just, you know, he wasn’t he’s not on board. So sometimes you hear something and you go, well, that doesn’t sound right. More than more than trying to be adversarial. I’m trying to get at, the ways in which what they’re doing can make things go better.

Okay. So I think I do that, you know, and I do hear questions or I do hear answers and you go, and I want to hear and I want to hear more about it, you know, like, what is it?

Jason Stershic: Yeah. Well, I mean, that’s the other thing. These people are talking to you who’s not one of their constituents. They’re talking to you who doesn’t know what the local paper is saying or even what’s going on locally.

David Martin: And sometimes I hear a little research, you know, I try to help them.

Jason Stershic: But they are having these conversations every day with their fellow congressmen or county commissioners or fellow elected officials and fellow, you know, constituents all the time. So they when they you when you ask them a question like what’s going on? Like, well, we just redid a park. Like everybody who is around them knows what that mean. And you don’t, obviously.

And I think that there’s also this maybe helpful quality to you not being from there and you asking the follow up of, well, what park thing because not everybody in their community is reading the paper and not everybody is running in those. So we we would love everybody to be like David and read the paper and get the local paper delivered.

But not everybody is. So not everybody’s not connected. I think that adds something to our show.

David Martin: I hope so, I hope so, I hope it does. I hope you know, it’s it’s again, you know, the point of the show is to let folks know that there are people in government who are actually out there working hard, trying to make a difference and trying to make citizens lives better. Yes. You know, I think it was Ronald Reagan, you know, was famously or infamously said, you know, the scariest words in the English language are we’re from the government, we’re here to help.

And that’s just simply not true. There are people from the government they are trying to help. I go back to one of the first stories. We did, the R3 program these two women were doing, intervention program for people who are going into the criminal justice system, and they had a program where they, you know, taught kids programs.

You know, interventions as, you know, some alternatives. And they were not meeting with great success. And they sat down and they said, what are we doing wrong? How can we fix this? And they came up with a program that was a six week program where people learn to to work in the construction trade, but more importantly, they learn to work.

And they got the recidivism rate down to like 10%. So that means 90% of the people that went through their program stayed out of jail, stayed out of trouble, stayed at work, stayed in a job, and were successful because two women sat down at their desk and said, how do we fix this? And I can over 100 shows.

I could probably come up with 100 different examples of that.

Jason Stershic: From that back in season one to season four, which we just finished.

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: And into season five, we have shifted from a, like a journalism type show news program to a conversational interview kind of show. And you’ve been a part of every episode. And I just wanted to know, like.

David Martin: Sorry to all our listeners.

Jason Stershic: How have you adjusted, your style and, and, along with the show, because obviously what we started with is not what we’re doing now.

David Martin: So, we started off doing, you know, doing examples of what people were doing that were good government, and it was great, and I loved it, and I’d love to get back to it. We have a show coming up again where we go back to, Appalachian Botanical in, in, West Virginia, where they have built a lavender farm on top of an abandoned coal mine.

And so they put people to work. It’s a second chance, company. So people who have been, in various forms of either incarceration or rehabilitation, get to go to work there. And they’ve got a big company and they’ve expanded and what they’re doing. And I love telling that story. I’d love to go back and I’d check up with them every year if I could.

It was a, a financial decision in part. You know, those days, it was take a lot of work. You got to go. You got to visit. You got to talk to different people. You got to do. I think there’s 14 interviews in the Appalachian botanical piece. So there was a lot. There’s, you know, there’s a lot to do with those.

What I like about the one on one sort of conversations for the Good Government show is that we get to go to more places. We get to talk to way more people. We get to get, you know, shine a light on different places. You know, it’s fascinating that, you know, some of the folks we talked to, you know, from from small places, I you know, that the idea, you know, not not, making the front page of the newspaper anywhere, even where they are, are doing some cool things.

There was a guy I met as a county commissioner from, Indiana. I think it’s fair to say we were on different sides of the, of the of the of the aisle politically. But he had a great little program where they have once a month, they take a high school student, the police, chief picks him up in the morning in the police car.

They drive him to the county. They attend a county board meeting. And then in the afternoon, he goes to all the different offices. You know, that that the county administers and then spends, you know, little time with the county commissioner. So in one day, this high school student has seen the county, you know, he’s seen the county government up close and personal.

What a great little program. You know, what a great opportunity for a kid, to do this. Matt Meyer was a county commissioner in, in Delaware. He was recently elected governor. He said, you know, somewhere out there, there’s a kid who wants to who’s dreaming about being president or maybe dreaming about being a senator, or maybe even dreaming about being governor.

No kid is dreaming about being a county commissioner. But what we want to do is you want to get kids involved in what a great program in Indiana they’ve come up with. And at the end of the day, he said, you know, I hope some kid walks away and goes, I want to do that. I want to be a county commissioner.

I want to be the county sheriff. I want to be, you know, the head of the county real estate board, whatever is well.

Jason Stershic: And what’s funny is when we talk about, did you want to be president when you grew up, a lot of people say, no, have but a laugh, but a lot of them don’t want weren’t aspiring to any political office. It’s not like they were aspire. And when you follow up with were you class president? A lot of people that are in these governmental roles weren’t even in student government.

It wasn’t a thing that crossed their mind. So I think it allows anybody who’s listening to see like it. Well, not only is it never too late, you know, you choose to have this basis.

David Martin: You too could be president. Yes.

Jason Stershic: Yeah. Of, even in fits of your local whatever.

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: I did want to ask because having maybe paid a little too much attention, there are times when you’re talking to these, government leaders where you sometimes talk, say politician and sometimes elected official, and I’m sure it’s just subconscious. But do you, in having these 100 episodes, do you see a difference between, you know, politician and elected official?

David Martin: That’s a really hard question to answer. If you’re mayor of a city, you’re a politician, you have gone political. You have been elected. I think most of the people that I speak with and I mean, Joe Manchin is a senator from West Virginia. We talked to Senator Manchin thanks to his wife, Gail Manchin, who we love on the show.

Is Joe Manchin a politician? Absolute lutely no question about it. Is, is David Billings the mayor of, say, Texas? You see a politician, you got to say yes. I think at the local level, they’re not political. The politics isn’t what’s driving their their role, their job. Okay. You know, I go back to Oz Nesbitt and, you know, in Georgia, in Rockdale County.

Is he political? Sure. The guy got elected several times. He doesn’t think of his position, though, as political. He thinks of his position as being a government leader.

Jason Stershic: Okay. All right.

David Martin: And they don’t even come close to answering.

Jason Stershic: You did. I mean, okay, I think part of it is how they see themselves, number one, because if you see yourself as a politician and if you introduce yourself as a politician, it’s very different than if you introduce yourself as an elected official. I think it’s also similar to we talk about there not being, politics at the local level, but at the same time, we have had guests on this show that sometimes introduce themselves from as their party before their title.

Again, maybe that’s the difference. Maybe that if you introduce your party first, you’re a politician, and if you introduce your title first, you’re an elected official. I think there’s a it’s a blurry line, but I think overall we’ve spoken to a people that have to deal with politics as part of being an elected official as opposed to getting into politics to get elected.

Okay, which is a small difference, but I think it’s important. I did want to ask as well. One of the other things that’s changed, is, you know, you go to a conference and you will, or, an association conference and you’ll interview, you know, 15 people in a weekend, and sometimes you’ll do what you and I are doing now and, you know, record over zoom or Skype or, you know, the internet.

Do you obviously both have their challenges because one, you’re recording live on a floor with other people around, and the other is the internet?

David Martin: Yeah.

Jason Stershic: Does it change your style whether you’re in person or online?

David Martin: So here’s what happens when I go to the conferences. So I regularly attend the Conference of Mayors. I have a legislative conference in Washington that have an annual conference. And then the National Association of Counties again, has a legislative conference, and then they have a national conference, and then they have other regional conferences. I’ve attended a few of those.

When you’re in person, you have a limited amount of time. You really are limited to about a half an hour. And depending on who they are, you know, I remember the mayor of Saint Louis was standing there and she had her four people, staff members, looking at me the whole time. So you’re a little bit under the gun, I know that, you know, I’ve had people that have come up and they and one of the nice things about doing the conference is that, you know, you’re sitting there, you’re doing it.

Then people stop by and they see what you’re doing. They have a little on air thing that’s that’s with us. And I have our little set up with our banner behind me. So you see what they’re doing, and then they go, you know, what are you doing? Oh, I’ve heard the show. And, in the last, I would say two years, people have said, oh, you’re the good government, you know, I’ve heard of you.

I’ve listened to your show. So. Which is always, you know, nice to hear. What what would you like to be on? Sure. All right, well, let me finish up with her and I’ll sit down with you. And then they finish. Then the next guy sits down, you’re like, okay, who are we talking to? Oh, I’m, you know, so-and-so.

I’m the mayor of Saint Louis, and I’ve had absolutely no chance to prep for Saint Louis. So I don’t know what’s going on in Saint Louis. I have no idea what the problem of the day is in Saint Louis. If I have even a half an hour, I can just whip out my computer ago. You know, put in New Saint Louis.

I’m taking on Saint Louis, New Saint Louis. And I go, oh, you know, they’ve got a water main break and they’re trying to get funding for a new baseball field. And I go, well, so tell me about the baseball field. Where’s the funding coming from? So if I have the chance to do that, that’s better. So when I do the, when I don’t do it live, I have a little bit more chance to prepare.

I have a little bit more of a chance to come up with a list of questions. And sometimes I ask too many. And that’s why some of those tend to go a little bit longer. But if you’re in person, you’re looking at that person, you’re looking them in the eye, you’re having a conversation, you’re having interaction.

You’re in the same room. Hopefully the jokes go over a little bit better in person than they do. And you’re like, what was he talking about? So and it’s, you know, you, you meet the guy and usually you’ve had a chance to shake hands and sit down and just have a little two minute pre chat. So before you turn the mic on.

So again but it’s, you know, it’s, it’s the training of reading the paper every day and looking for stories and looking for things that are good government so that when they sit down or they say, when someone says, well, we have a housing problem, well, okay, good, because everybody’s got a housing problem. Yeah. So I’ve read a couple of housing articles and I’ve read what?

And I’ve heard, well, this is what we’re doing here. This is what we’re doing there. And then I can bring that up and I can say, well, you know, here’s this, here’s what they did here. Have you thought about this? Have you thought about that? I know this has been successful here. Have you tried that there. So that’s just like you read the paper.

Jason Stershic: And I think it’s very important to reiterate that when you the conversations that you have with county commissioners and small town mayors, specifically, people out there listening that are like, oh, I wish David had asked this follow up question. Those people are accessible. They all all have the answer of, well, my cell phone’s out there. Just call my office like.

David Martin: Yep, if.

Jason Stershic: The if, if, if, if we happen to. And look, there are a lot of communities we haven’t gotten to. But if David interviewed your county commissioner and didn’t say a follow up, there’s a very good chance you can reach out and follow up with them.

David Martin: Sure. No. And and I can tell you for sure a couple of county commissioners and have given their cell phone number out over the, over the, you know, during the show, they all say we’re accessible. They all say come to meetings, they all say, come find us. And almost uniformly, at any time there’s a town meeting or a city meeting or a city council meeting or county commission meeting, there is an open forum time where you can walk up to the microphone and go, what are you doing about this?

And I honestly believe based on their answers and what I know personally, they and they really do truly invite that they want to hear from you for the most part, at the city and the county level, these people are here to try and make a difference and help, and they want your insight. They want to hear from you.

They want to know what you’re thinking. They want to know what their you know, what they’re doing to help. And if you ask them, I said, this is how many times as a reporter, if you if you don’t ask, you don’t get. And if you ask, it’s amazing what you get.

Jason Stershic: So one final question. Are you ready for the next hundred?

David Martin: Yes, I am ready for the next hundred. I could do this forever. This is my job, and this is what I’ve been doing my whole life. I sit there and I talk to people who are in charge, and I ask them questions. And to me, it’s as natural as, you know, drinking water, breathe the air. It’s just that’s just the way I’ve been.

I’ve been doing. I’ve been. My first job was a radio at college radio station, and when I was 18 years old and I started working in the news department, as a reporter, right, right away. And, I just I love doing it. I love talking to people. I love finding out. I love telling stories. I love hearing stories.

I love asking questions. And you got to listen. You know, I listen, I hope I try, you know, someone tells me something and I’m listening, and I’m, I’m thinking of a follow up question, and I’ve got a pen and I’ve got a notebook next to me at all times. And when I’m talking, I put notes in and I circle it.

And I have my own little method of reminding myself in conversation when I’m doing. And I go back to it and I try not to let them. I try not to be adversarial, but I try not to let them off the hook. And so I try to ask the people I try to ask questions that people want to ask, that citizens want to ask, that people want to know.

That’s what I try to do.

Jason Stershic: Well, here’s to the next 100. Then.

David Martin: All right, now I’ve got a question for you, because I’m not letting you get away with just asking all the questions. So you’ve listened to every single show? Probably more than I have, yes. What have you learned?

Jason Stershic: I’ve. I’ve learned that, I don’t think I’m cut out for local politics. And.

David Martin: That’s.

Jason Stershic: So, as a small story, over the course of this show, I started volunteering at a local, coalition within my community. It’s, like a,

David Martin: So me just say you listen to the good government show, and you got involved. Good. Okay.

Jason Stershic: Yeah. So, it’s it’s it was, you know, the borough council is not doing this thing. Let’s create a coalition and let’s do this thing. Fair enough. And, there were a couple conversations where people would. I got asked, like, hey, would you would you get involved? And I do want to help, but I think this show has taught me I’m only, I only have a temperament for helping, not facilitating.

And I think that’s, a testament to the the truthful conversations that you have, because I listen to some of these people who deal with adversity, either within a, policy or a project. And I go, I don’t know that with that much riding on it, because that’s the thing maybe I’ve learned of everything is that all of these elected officials understand what they’re doing right.

And I don’t mean that for the most part. Well, what I mean, I don’t mean that in terms of like doing the policy. I think they understand that this policy impacts the community, right? They understand what it means. And I don’t know that I have the temperament to carry on something of that magnitude, because I think that takes a special person.

David Martin: And you and you need help at all levels. You need somebody who’s going to plan, you know, a bad example. You need somebody who’s going to plan. How do we build the baseball field? You need somebody just to get the permits, but then you also need somebody to go out there on Saturday morning with the, you know, the the liner and, you know, put the white lines down on the field.

Yeah. And if you say, hey, look, I will line the field every Saturday, that’s one job. That’s something that needs to be done. And if that’s where and if that’s where your level of comfort is, that’s great. If your level of comfort is running for mayor, run for mayor. If your level of comfort is being an adviser on the, you know, the local zoning board, do that.

If it’s running a little league, do that. If it’s, hey, I’ve been a poll worker now, for the last two presidential elections, I go down to my election and I sit there and, help people vote. So that’s my level of contribution to government. So that’s how I got involved in government, thanks to me. So, now I’m going to ask you one question, and then you can then you can wrap it up.

And I, I could do this forever, but I won’t. Okay. You’re out. You’re at a party. Someone says, what do you do when you go, oh, well, that’s a good government show. Explain the good government show. Define the good government show.

Jason Stershic: So I like to tell people that and I just I recently did this at a party. Good. I say, I edit the good government show and they go, well, what is it? And, and I say, well, it’s, it’s a podcast that looks at local government, the way we wish the national media would treat national government.

David Martin: I could live with that.

Jason Stershic: And it’s it’s it’s basically your county commissioners, your mayors, your, your the people who are doing the things that really impact your life and how that makes a difference.

David Martin: And we’ve had people at the at the federal level and, you know, Commerce and Treasury, and agriculture, who’ve, you know, implement projects. So we’ve we’ve really looked at a wide span of government and.

Jason Stershic: And I think the other my follow up that I always say is we probably haven’t talked to your local politicians, but the problems are fairly uniform. You know, we talked about housing, how the housing is a problem everywhere. And how are they handling it in, San Diego or Dubuque. Right. Like they’re different sized cities. How are they handling it in other counties?

Right. Like there are different ways and, you know, if if your local government official cannot listen to the good government, show you can. And if you hear an idea that works somewhere else or somewhere of similar size to yours, you can go to them with that idea.

David Martin: And and that’s sharing best practices. And that’s something we hope everyone takes away from this.

Jason Stershic: Yep, yep. So I, I, I like to think that, I can sell this show, but I, I, I, I tend to just describe it and never ask the follow up question, which David is probably the most important. Do you listen to podcasts?

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: Because.

David Martin: That’s actually my first question. Do you listen to podcasts? What do you listen to? Yeah. Oh, well, check ours out.

Jason Stershic: So yeah, I, I look, I, I think that this might be, I, yeah, I have my own show.

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: But I, this is probably my favorite show to work on.

David Martin: We appreciate it that way. And Jason, you every week, every episode. You make me sounds better than I am. You take out all the, that stuff that I do, and I appreciate that. Since this is our hundredth episode, we must acknowledge, the folks who got us here as well. David Snyder, was the, interviewer on the, 75th show.

He is a co-executive producer. And, of course, we would not be here without Jim Ludlow, who is also our co-executive producer. And together we are Valley Park Productions. And, we’ve expanded. We have the Good Government show. We now, I host and we produce, as fate would have it, podcast for the City of Fate and the, Iowa League of Cities podcast leading Iowa good government in Iowa cities.

So we’ve expanded. We hope to be bringing the message of good government to the nation. And, I have I stole the bike for you. I will hand it back to you.

Jason Stershic: So I was just just say I want to thank you, because what people don’t hear on purpose is, David talks to me. There are.

David Martin: So. Yeah, I do, and I keep you.

Jason Stershic: I keep them, within, the Valley Park productions. But like David does talk to me, in between takes. And he’s he’s been gracious enough to introduce me to every guest, saying that I will take care of everything.

David Martin: Yes.

Jason Stershic: Which.

David Martin: Don’t worry, Jace, you can fix that. Whatever. You have a problem. Just don’t worry. We’ll keep going.

Jason Stershic: But I’m. I’m I’m, I’m happy to be a part of it, and I’m.

David Martin: I’m I hope I hope you get a laugh. What do you do? What? Do you hear that?

Jason Stershic: Like it? Yeah. It’s. You know, editing, as anybody who edits knows, is kind of like a singular job, but, yes, it does feel like you’re here with me, so.

David Martin: Well, you are, and I appreciate that. So thank you to you and.

Jason Stershic: Yeah. Thank you. This was, I, I’m looking forward to 100 more or maybe even more than that.

David Martin: Well, we’ve got we’ve got, we’ve got several lined up. We’ve got more conferences to come. We have more people to talk to. And this is the good government show. As long as there’s good government or the idea of good government, we’re going to keep trying.

After you get done with this episode, hear more good government stories with our friends at How to Really Run a City for mayors Kasim Reed of Atlanta and Michael Nutter, a Philadelphia, and their co-host, journalist and author Larry Platt talk with guests and other mayors about how to really get stuff done in cities around the nation. Check them out where you’re listening now or through their nonprofit news site, The Philadelphia Citizen.

Org slash podcasts.

The Good Government Show is a Valley Park production. Jim Ludlow, Dave Martin, that’s Me and David Snyder are the executive producers. Our show is edited and produced by Jason Stershic. Please subscribe, then share and like us and reviews. That’s the best way to make sure we’re able to keep telling these stories of our government working for all of us.

Then listen to the next episode of The Good Government Show.

**This transcription was created using digital tools and has not been edited by a live person. We apologize for any discrepancies or errors.