>> i'm monica malpass on "inside story." two months until the democratic national convention comes to town. can the city prevent the ghost town that happened during the papal visit? let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning. i'm monica malpass, and welcome to "inside story." let's meet our insiders today, and they are ajay raju, attorney and businessman. good morning to you, sir. val digiorgio, gop state official. good morning. nia meeks, communications executive. good morning, nia. and christine flowers, journalist and attorney. thank you all for being here. thanks, chris. the city's making a concerted effort. mayor jim kenney already getting out groups of people and signs, trying to get folks to stay in town. last september, as we all know, when pope francis came, a million visitors came, but many residents fled. restaurants couldn't fill their seats half the time, and hotels weren't as booked as they had hoped -- at least, not until the bitter end. what do you think is gonna

happen this time? is it a matter of the roads not being closed and blocked off the way it was with the pope? will that keep it from happening? >> well, i think there's not been as much hype about how security's gonna clamp down on the city. i think that will help. having been to a few conventions on the republican side, i think it's important for people to stay in the city so we can showcase it as the vibrant and exciting place it is. i remember i was in houston one time, and they have a down-- for the 1992 convention -- they have a downtown area which is kind of dead at night. and it made you feel like the city didn't have much going on. i would encourage people to stay in the city. i think it's gonna be a lot of fun. it certainly was fun when we had the republican convention here a few years back. and we should showcase the city as the vibrant place it is. >> and there will be separate events and plenty to do even if you can't get in the convention itself. >> the contrasts are totally different, because with the papal visit, that was more pilgrims. they weren't people with money to spend. they were people that were coming for a sacred religious order this is really a party on wheels whenever you go to any convention. i mean, i remember watching bob schieffer just get his groove on in denver mile high stadium. i mean, it really can be a lot of fun, and that kind of spirit, i think, philadelphia is tailor-made for, and a lot of

people here will be interested in all the concerts, the food, just meeting people from all across the country. and we like politics here. we'll strike up the band anywhere we go, so i think it'll be fabulous. >> but are people a little shell shocked or shy about it now, ajay? because the city's launching the "you don't want to miss this" campaign. they must feel like people are about to do the same thing again. >> no, i don't think so. one is preparing for the mother-in-law coming in. you have to clean the house. it was papal visit. it was homeland security, had to protect the pope. this is a bunch of girlfriends coming home. you don't have to clean up as much. it's gonna be much more of a party and fun. but it is an opportunity to go to mexico before the wall comes up, so... [ laughter ] that's the only temptation. otherwise, i think, to val's and mayor kenney's suggestion, it's a great opportunity. philadelphia is not only a national stage but a global stage. >> absolutely. >> this presidential election is being watched around the world, and we ought to welcome folks. >> speaking of which -- go ahead. >> i was gonna say, as far as global, the pope's visit was framed as something global and international, but it really was, as nia said, it was much

more of a pilgrimage, whereas this is -- really, it is a party. and we're celebrating the city as much as we are celebrating the democratic party. >> they're two different events. >> absolutely. speaking of the presidential race and how much interest has been accrued around that, bernie sanders still hanging in there with the democratic nomination. he's hoping for big things in a couple of days with new jersey and california, of course. hillary clinton also, obviously, hoping she'll clinch the magic number on tuesday, which could happen, even if she loses california. but he just will not give up, and even this week, harry reid of the senate said, "it's time sometimes just to let it go." do you agree? is it time for him to step away? >> i don't think so. i look for bernie sanders and the many in america who sort of feel the crushing weight of income disparity, that being a big issue for him, wealth inequality, and all the other platforms that he's pushing for. he knows, mathematically, he cannot get the nomination, but he also knows that he would have a heavy thumb on the scale of influence, in terms of

recalibrating the platform of the democratic party and also shifting and pulling hillary further to the left. mission accomplished. and i think the movement will last a lot longer than the campaign, and that's what his agenda is. >> and, in fact, hillary clinton may not win western pennsylvania, which clinton, specifically, and the democrats in particular have won for a long time here because of the bernie episode and his influence. he's gonna come and have a rally in philadelphia, anyway. >> i mean, to some degree, you want to know to what end, because bernie sanders going to the white house feels more like a pipe dream than an actual reality, but it's also an expression of frustration and anger. will she lose the western part of pennsylvania? i'm not so sure. she still has strong roots there. she has a lot of allegiances there. jim burn, who's a longtime party animal out there in pittsburgh, i think she's going to have it. i think it might be tight, but i think she'll walk away with pennsylvania. >> you know, monica, i can't help but make the connection with what happened to our former governor bob casey sr. in '92.

the democrats must integrate what bernie is saying if they want to be a -- if they want to legitimately say that they are an ecumenical -- a full, wide-umbrella party, because he has so many passionate followers. back in 1992, when they didn't let bob casey sr. speak on the pro-life issue -- they weren't -- it was invisible. there were no pro-life democrats. "you shouldn't be allowed to speak." that caused a great deal of dissension and anger and resentment to this day. so i think they need to make sure that bernie's voice is heard and integrated, and he's gonna have 30,000 people coming -- at least 30,000 people coming -- to speak. so, this is gonna be bernie's convention as well as hillary's. >> mm-hmm. and in the meantime, donald trump didn't have his best week last week. he's certainly being criticized for trump university. he also -- it was displayed that he had 3,500 lawsuits over his entire career. that's a lot for someone running for president. and more people, as he's announced, have also filed 70 more new lawsuits. is it just a matter of when you're at business at that

level, val, these things happen as a matter of a typical year for a businessperson? >> yeah, he's got many corporations. they get sued regularly. there's the debate now whether he gets sued more than other people do. he's a plaintiff in a lot of these suits, as well. he uses -- he uses litigation as a tool in business. >> and is that something that tells you about his style of negotiating? is he bullying and using the courts as his bully pulpit? >> he's a tough businessman, and he's not gonna back down from a fight. he's not gonna fail to pick a fight. what's gonna be interesting is, you're gonna have a sitting president who's not going to have immunity for these lawsuits that started before he was president -- potentially, if he wins. >> thank you. [ laughter ] >> i could feel it over there. but he could be deposed, and we could have a president who's deposed, and he may be tied up being deposed in lawsuits, and he's got hundreds of them. 3,500 cases in the last decade. that's a lot of lawsuits. >> we've had presidential depositions in the past. >> right. so that wouldn't be unique, but... >> hillary's familiar with that. >> but mitt romney has to be upset. i mean, any of the longstanding partisan folks -- and not just

partisan but patrician folks -- in the party are still looking at this, saying, "what? wait a minute. 47% tanked me, and this guy is still going? what?" "oh, this business deal with bain capital tanked me, and this guy's still going?" >> nia really touches a nerve when she says that. you look at the "binders of women" issue with mitt romney, and all of the things that sunk romney seem to be epidermal and nothing compared to the kind of comments that -- it's gonna be my inside story -- the kind of comments that trump continuously makes, and he doesn't care. he really doesn't care. >> his supporters don't care. >> it engenders even more support for him the more outrageous he is. >> and do you think that hillary is listening to that and responding appropriately? they're not in the general election yet, but she's trying to at least steer her team that way with their propaganda and their other important messages, as well. do you think that she's rising to the challenge and actually listening that people are upset about the economic disparity and not just with the rhetoric that he is spewing? 'cause he can certainly start a

fight with her that maybe he could win. >> yeah, i don't know if hillary, because bill clinton and just generally, i don't think she's in the best position to go on offense. the best thing she could do, probably, is jujitsu, which is let trump say what he wants to say, let it stand on its own. you're gonna have to counter and challenge something else. you're gonna have to stoop to that level. i think that's the best approach. >> i don't know how she uses that message. this is a woman who took millions and millions of dollars from wall street, who's enriched herself while she was in government through the clinton foundation, who -- you know, she lives in a mansion, and then she talks about income disparity -- a mansion that she bought by getting rich off of government. i just don't know how she takes that message to the voters this fall, so that's a problem for her. >> there's also an irony, some would say -- at least, critics of donald trump -- that he's at such a level -- a very wealthy man, clearly -- and yet is appealing to a blue-collar america as well as many others who are disenfranchised from the economy. >> it's the dream of those blue-collar guys that say, "oh,

i want to have a beautiful woman on every arm. i want everyone dripping and begging for me." i mean, he appeals to that ego, right? and he says, "oh, yes, you too could be me. but since you can't, i'll show you what it is to be me, and then you can live vicariously," which is scary. >> it's more than that, isn't it, ajay? >> i think that's what america is. america was built on a dream of ideas. america was built on the notion that if you work hard, if you do certain things, if the right luck hits you, you can inch forward. >> if you could be born to a millionaire, then you can expand on that. >> the idea that we don't accept our fate as whatever cycle of life is different in some cultures than here, yeah, you can go from nothing to becoming donald trump overnight. it is possible. so what he's doing, i think, is saying -- he's not apologizing for the fact that he is successful. he's not apologizing for the fact that he has made money. and there's nothing wrong with saying that you're successful as long as you still feel the pain of those who are not as long as you're willing to pull those who are not with you along. >> this man doesn't feel the pain. he tells people, "you're fired."

he enjoys it. so i understand the point you're making, but that's not what he's doing. >> the political culture here is to attack anybody that has done well. that is also not good. there's nothing wrong with that. >> in fact, there have been some attacks on katie mcginty, as we move to the senate race in pennsylvania, at least on one angle as more of this becomes in the public eye. she has said that she was the first of the 10 kids in her family to go to college, and now because of the mudslinging, it's come out that her older brother actually went to a community college, then finished at a regular college, and went on to get a master's degree, as it turns out. so she's reframing it to say "the first one to go to a four-year college." do you find that disingenuous, christine, and are you starting to have some doubts about her? >> i started out having doubts. i think the problem is, when she was running for governor -- and i was at this table. i said i liked her authenticity, i liked her freshness, i liked the way she spoke out of all of the other candidates. i have completely changed my mind from the way now that she's running this campaign. i call her katie from the hood because she's got this idea, this mystique of coming from a

northeast philly row home and being a girl who went to little flower. she is, as you were saying, val, with respect to hillary, she has been a lobbyist. she has made money in sort of, like, that revolving door when she was the secretary of the... >> d.e.p. >> yeah, d.e.p. when she was there, she actually dealt with organizations that later she helped, she joined, when she went back into the private sector. >> she enriched her husbands. >> i mean, there's nothing wrong with that, in the sense that there's nothing illegal in that. however, to say, "i'm one of you. like evita perón used to say, "i'm one of you. i'm one of you. and now look how high i've come." >> and pat toomey, her rival, is also jumping on that bandwagon and saying that he is more in tune with the needs of police and that there would be less problems if he's the one who wins re-election. he's the incumbent. but she, in fact -- her dad was a 35-year beat cop walking the streets. so they both have rights to claim something of that, but do

you feel like the noise gets too loud for both of them and you can't really decipher what's the truth here? >> well, i think if you're pat toomey, you enjoy the way this race is shaping up right now. >> yeah. >> you have an ethically challenged katie mcginty, on the one hand. and when it came to sticking up for police, the only thing she was willing to say is, "my father was a cop," but she wasn't willing to go the one step further to say, "we need to back up law enforcement in this country." now, you see, in chicago, murder rate's up in double-digit, triple-digit numbers. philadelphia's got its own problems. and we need to back up law enforcement, 'cause the people who are suffering the most are the people who, you know, the black lives matter talk about caring about, which are people in the neighborhoods. we really have to back up police so they feel they can do their jobs, and pat toomey's doing that. >> and critics would say toomey is, in fact, enflaming whites to feel like black lives matter groups are going to make life difficult, and is that disingenuous in its own way? >> it's the new scarecrow. i mean, people see black lives matter and say, "oh, they all want to go assassinate police officers," which is not true. when you look at the origins of black lives matter, it goes down to the fact of people want to be treated equitably.

they don't want to be harassed, and they don't want to be killed when they're walking down the street. i mean, all americans should believe in that. but the fact that you have to quantify it to say black lives matter, because evidently, that was being missed by a lot of people -- now, you want to say, "oh, well, police lives matter. this person's life matters." we understand that. however, when you say, "black lives matter," you want to distill it and understand we're just as important as everyone else, and so that's part of that. now, to the point of the whole "first one to go to college" thing, i mean, a lot of people didn't necessarily look at a community college as "real college" for a long time. and i know, in working in political campaigns, that people do shortcuts. it's like, "oh, yeah, first four-year college becomes the first to go to college," et cetera, et cetera. so, yes, you can say that that was a real misstep with her and that's a faux pas, but it also shows her greenness when it comes to running for office. >> it's the sound-bite phenomenon, where they're trying to make it short. >> her brother went to temple. she's a liar. and it stuns me that politicians don't think somebody's gonna find this out. they just lie.

like, it comes out of their mouth like it's nothing. >> i mean, for some reason, it makes her more legitimate to be able to say, "i'm the first of 8 or 9, 87 kids to go to college, and my dad was a police officer, and i did this, and i did that," when she is as much a part of the establishment as any career politician. >> all right, we're gonna take a break. more "inside story" coming your way right after this. stick around. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact.

>> good morning, and welcome back to "inside story." let's talk about a soda tax that's been proposed -- a 3-cent tax on soda and sweet drinks in philadelphia. it hasn't gone well in many other cities. in fact, only one other has passed a 1-cent tax. is this something that we're ready to see happen in philadelphia? the compromise might be make it a 2 1/2-cent or a 2-cent, and then, as the mayor would like to do, apply that money to pre-k. what do you think's gonna happen on this one, val? >> i think there's gonna have to be a compromise. darrell clarke said, i think it was last week or 10 days ago, that 3 cents was ridiculous. that telegraphed that the votes weren't there for 3 cents, and he knew it. so it's gonna have to be some kind of compromise, whether it's a penny and a half, 2 cents. it remains to be seen. it's got a lot of support for

it, though. i was talking to john doc about it last night. he thinks it's gonna be great for the city to fix these rec centers and the rest. he also gets a few jobs for his people, so that'll... >> right, the union leader john dougherty did finally come out and give the green light to his ideas on it, anyway. but cent taxes haven't always necessarily accomplished what they were set out to do. certainly, they raise money, but they don't necessarily stop the behavior -- with cigarettes, with alcohol, other things. you can make the argument that it really didn't cure the physical ills, as it were. what do you think is gonna happen on this front? >> i think you ought to make things binary so you choke the supply of these things. but put it this way. what is not being talked about as much are the health effects. if you live in philadelphia and you have a sudden cardiac event outside of hospital, your survival rate is 10%. compare that to seattle, which is 65%. if you live in the zip code in society hill where i live, 19106, your life expectancy is 88 years old. in 19132 zip code, it's 68 years

old. >> 20 years shorter. >> that means there's a 20-year life sentence. so when you think about it, if you take one sugary drink per day and you're a woman, your risk for diabetes increases by 80%. if you're a man, your risk for heart attack goes up by 20%. american teens, in just a decade, went from diagnoses of diabetes and pre-diabetes from 9% to now a whopping 25%. >> absolutely. >> that is not being talked about. so the question is not about a progressive tax or who they're imposing. they're killing themselves out of ignorance, and the policies are steering that lifestyle in their hands. and if it means that we ought to make it more difficult, then we save money and lives. >> well, new york certainly tried to do it a different way. i'm sorry, nia. they tried to say, "let's limit the size. you can't have the giant 16- and 32-ounce drinks." that failed in court, ultimately. >> of course it would, because what we're saying is, "okay, we're going to legislate this certain size or what have you," but to ajay's point and to the points i've been making all along, education is so critical to this. i mean, yes, we can talk about taxes -- it's 3 cents or

2 cents. we know the 3-cent was high and it was gonna negotiate down. that's just how that works. but the larger issue is looking at the health ramifications. i mean, you can pick certain zip codes, but look across the city. where you have high poverty, you tend to have high obesity rates, high diabetes rates, high healthcare costs, and, again, we are bankrupting ourselves, we are poisoning ourselves in this city, and we don't have to. we can do it a better way. even out in chester county they have something called the rethink your drink campaign, where they're having people just think about, "how else can you hydrate yourself outside of sugary drinks or what have you?" we're not doing enough of that along with this other aspect of the campaign. it's become all political. >> of course. >> can i say something quick to what ajay -- you made a fabulous point, and so did you. the idea -- libertarians and conservatives have been saying, "the government shouldn't legislate the way i live my life. i should be able to do what i want to do." well, when you have sick people, society, in general, is going to have to take care of those sick people somehow. so society and the government should have a say in how those

people live their lives, because if they're going to increase the possibility that they're going to get heart attacks, they're going to have to be hospitalized, they're going to go on disability, i think society has a voice in how we try and manage that health risk. >> early on. all right, let's talk about another proposal that may come up -- whether we should allow for two days for the muslims in our area to celebrate their very important holidays. there's been a bit of an outcry. it may come to a vote. but the point is that some people say this, in their opinion, legitimizes a religion they weren't even aware that we had 300,000 muslims in our area, which we do, but on the other hand, at what point do you cut it off? i mean, how many different kinds of backgrounds and religions can you acknowledge without totally disrupting your school year? >> well, i guess we have some days on the calendar to accommodate muslims. there's certainly a lot of muslims in this city. their religion and their religious views should be respected. i think it's a local issue. >> would you like to see the schools decide it on their own and not the city mandate it?

>> that's something that should be explored. but, you know, if you have a neighborhood where you have a big muslim community, then, yeah, it might be better to do a neighborhood. and that gets back to whether the school district is really too unwieldy to manage anyway and should be broken down into subdistricts. but, yeah, i think probably on a school or neighborhood by neighborhood basis might be a better way. but clearly, we should recognize muslims and their religion. >> of course. and, ajay, do you think the schools should just have three days allocated to every family for religious purposes and stop making actual christmas eve and christmas day and mandating which days people are off? let them choose for themselves? >> well, i think that as the composition of our country and our local communities shift and change, we have to be deferential and respectful for the diversity that comprises that community. well, this country, among no other country other than this country, was built on a dream of ideas and a set of ideas. and at that point, religious freedom and recognition and diversity was honored. and the early founders talked about hinduism, talked about islam, talked about christianity. so it was not an issue of

legitimate religion versus illegitimate religion. it's an issue of what the majority had -- majority of christians at one point. we now have a sabbath -- thank god -- two-day weekend, which i enjoy. we have muslims within our community, and we ought to respect and honor islam. but if you have every religious holiday observed, you'll go back to things like in india where you have more holidays than you have work days, so there is that balance that you have to strike. maybe it's a voluntary thing. >> sounds like philadelphia. [ laughter ] >> all right, we're gonna have to leave it at that. inside stories of the week coming your way right after this. stick around.

>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact. >> time for inside stories of the week, and let's start with

nia. >> well, we've been watching some heart-wrenching issues and heart-wrenching pictures coming out from across in europe, where we're seeing so many migrants that are drowning in the sea. it is horrifying to watch. but we should also keep in mind that there are a lot of drowning deaths that happen right here in the united states. in fact, drowning is the second leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14. 7 in 10 african-americans do not know how to swim. 6 in 10 latinos don't know how to swim. you can make a real impact right here. donate to the red cross and help those migrants but also consider donating a swimming lesson right here in your own community. >> all right. val. >> well, good news in coatesville after decades of loss of jobs because steel mills left town and mismanagement by administrations that just couldn't seem to get their act together. they're finally working there with a new township manager, mike trio, in a bipartisan way to bring in some jobs and some industry there. they're working with the county commissioners, commissioner farrell and kichline along with democrat kathi cozzone, and representative harry lewis, who's a republican, along with the democrats in coatesville to spark some new business there,

bring in some development, and some good things are gonna start to happen in coatesville. we're excited about it in chester county. >> terrific. ajay. >> monica, there are 32 states in america that mandate -- that require cpr training for all high school graduates. pennsylvania is not one of them. so we, the germination project and initiative for our foundation, we're partnering with the american heart association to both lobby harrisburg, and also we're trying to teach 10,000 people in low-income neighborhoods cpr. a way for people and empowering them to serve each other. >> christine. >> monica, in my immigration practice, i deal with a lot of latinos, and they are actually oriented toward a more conservative outlook. they're sort of like the natural base for the gop. the gop, unfortunately, with the current nominee, seems to be alienating them with rhetoric. when donald trump criticizes a judge who is presiding over the trump university litigation as having a conflict of interest

because he is of mexican origin, that's a problem, and the gop needs to change the rhetoric and appeal to that natural base. >> all right, thank you, christine. that's "inside story" for this week. thanks to all of our viewers for tuning in. thank you so much for our insiders' ideas and your time. we appreciate that. hope you have a great week ahead. we'll see you right back here next sunday morning. connections.

you're not just in the classroom; you're part of the community. you meet these tiny kids every year, and you help them learn and grow. but you also get to know their families, and over the years they become a part of your life, and you become a part of theirs. when you build those connections, you can accomplish some pretty amazing things. i'm jackie kruzik and i'm proud to be a new jersey educator.

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