>> it's time to redraw goofy kicking donald duck. "inside story" starts right now. ♪ good morning, everyone. it's january 28, 2018. i'm matt o'donnell, and this is "inside story." let us meet the panelists we have gathered for you on this sunday. sharmain matlock-turner, nonprofit executive. >> how you doing, matt? good to see you. >> doing great. how are you? >> i'm terrific, thank you. >> dom giordano, radio-talk-show host. >> hi, matt. good morning. >> rich negrin, attorney. >> hi, matt. good to be here. >> and ed turzanski, foreign-policy analyst. >> good morning, matt. >> all right. here they are. [ laughter ] so, this is goofy kicking donald. this is the 7th congressional district in pennsylvania. this is another one that i just threw out there because someone thinks that this looks like god touching man. >> ohh. >> that would me man -- you know the michelangelo painting? >> yes, okay. >> that's the 12th congressional

district, which is out in western pennsylvania. so gerrymandering, that's what we're talking about right here. the pennsylvania state supreme court ruled this week that all 18 of the state's congressional districts need to be redrawn because they were gerrymandered to favor republicans. the gop-led 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. we'll get governor wolf's 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 don't 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 don't see how anyone would see it differently. the reason why there are 13 republicans in the state is because they're spread out. democrats are more in concentrated areas. this is ridiculous, this district. i get that, but it's part of the legislature, matt, to set this,

no matter how ridiculous. that's 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 didn't 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 i'm glad to see the supreme court has taken this issue on. >> we'll 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 i'm sure they'll 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 it's 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, we've 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. it's a very clear violation. i'm just wondering what the reaction will be and how the public will take to a court

redrawing a map. >> mm-hmm. >> i think that gets very problematic. >> yeah, but the legislature -- i'm sorry. >> no, please go ahead. >> no, i'll say -- but the legislature has had time to work on this for a number of years. this is not a new issue. it's 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, we're 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 can't get past the fact that it's 13-5 in pennsylvania. if republicans were on the other side, they wouldn't like it either. if it were a republican-dominated court, i'd say the same thing. they're elected, what, every 10 years? they're not in touch with the people. >> right, but i think the process, for this particular election, for redrawing the lines, we've waited too long. and the courts don't have to draw it. the courts have said, "you have until february 15th." so they're giving the legislature an opportunity to do it. if they don't do it, then the courts draw the line. >> to matt's point, though -- till february 15th, though, to draw the whole state. >> well, it's not like, you know, we don't have, like, really super computers these days and that we can't 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 don't think so. >> seizing a majority i think would be... >> yeah, no. >> pick up a couple seats. >> i'm hearing that, if you could get it right, i'm hearing, at the most, you might make three competitive. >> yeah. >> that's what i'm hearing. >> one thing i'm hearing is, with the 7th district, with pat meehan now resigning, or after he's not up for re-election, 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. >> i've said this on this show before. we always complain that you can't 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 there's a penalty to pay to reach across the aisle and

talk to the other guy because you're going to get primaried, you're going to lose. so i think the overall goal of getting balanced districts that are more representative and don't look quite the way donald and goofy do is a good thing. the question is how do you get there. and i'm not sure you can rush yourself to that answer. >> couple of weeks left, so we'll see what happens. we'll talk about congressman pat meehan, that you mentioned, dom. he represents the 7th district, the "goofy kicking donald" district, and he's going to -- well, he's not retiring, as you -- he's not gonna seek re-election in november. the delaware county republicans office settled a former aide's sexual harassment complaint with taxpayer money. it's not clear how much. meehan, who is married, told us he saw the aide, decades younger than him, as his soul mate. here's what he told us. >> but i did...struggle with the idea that this was somebody who i had a-a 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 re-election 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 don't understand why he would respond in the way that he did when it's 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 it's outrageous. i think, just like as the other cases that we've heard, this has to stop. >> dom? ed?

>> yeah, i'm 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, that's bad. >> sanford ended up resurrecting his career. >> exactly. >> it's interesting to compare it to him. >> i've known pat for almost 20 years. he was the federal prosecutor. we were on the anti-terror 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 doesn't 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 i'm just genuinely saddened because i think he was a great prosecutor, a great representative in congress. be a real loss, and i'm so sorry this happened. >> rich, i want to get your comment, and there's another dynamic to all this that you all know about, and that's that state senator daylin leach, who was seen as the likely democratic opponent, put his campaign on hold because he is facing his own sexual-misconduct controversy, so we could end up having two candidates, republican and democrat, nonincumbent, but also people that no one knows. >> yeah, look, i think there's gonna be -- this is an important seat. it's gonna be impacted by the redistricting going on around the gerrymandering issue. i think there's gonna be good candidates on both sides. i don't think there's 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 everybody's sentiments with regard to the behavior, but we've got to do something -- there's no laws in pennsylvania that requires you to disclose how you're utilizing those taxpayer dollars, and there needs to be. the sunshine act is... >> yeah, that'll 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. that's got to stop. >> and it happened with a democrat in michigan we know about, as well. >> it's happening across the country. >> let's 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. there's also mike turzai, the house speaker, paul mango, and laura ellsworth, who are both

from the western side of the state. wagner's really been aggressive, running ads in philadelphia. he's also from york county, which is where tom wolf is from, whom he'd 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, wagner's message of being -- and these are from his commercials, really -- this tough businessman who will give them heck in harrisburg and also a guy who's kind of laying the groundwork of a trump-like campaign in pennsylvania? >> well, and there is receptivity to that message in the central and western part of the state. it's 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 mango's giving us some money, too, for -- >> that's right.

[ laughter ] unless you do that quickly, the later dollars aren't nearly as impactful. the message is, "get out early, and make sure that you're on television as much as you can be." >> as governor wolf did. >> he's running some of those commercials during this show, by the way. [ laughter ] that's where i've seen them. scott wagner's got the obvious early lead. i think it's way too early, though. i think commercials that you run -- i think name recognition's important, but commercials that you run right now or last year aren't gonna impact the election in may all that much. i think it's 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 state-gop lead, right, in terms of the committees across the state, so he's gonna be the person to take down. >> dom? sharmain? >> my observation is -- i know with our listeners and all -- they don't know these guys.

they don't know wolf. they don't what's going on in harrisburg. i have turzai on. they don't 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. that's gonna be the key here. it's a snoozer, though. i really think that's my judgment -- the primary, and even the general election, other than for insiders and activists and all that. we've lost touch with that mystical kingdom of harrisburg. >> yeah, i was gonna say i think it's gonna be hard for anyone right now, if we're still looking, by november, that everyone is really coming out to be an anti-trump vote, for any of the republican candidates to be able to beat governor wolf, but we'll have to see. >> it's 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. >> 6abc's "inside story" is presented by temple university.

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♪ >> we talked about the governor tom wolf, the democrat who is seeking re-election as governor in pennsylvania. i moderated a discussion with governor wolf for the greater philadelphia chamber of commerce this past week. i've done it for the last six years. it's really an honor to do it. here's what governor wolf told me during that talk. and you won't raise taxes? >> that's right. >> 'cause you say you won't need

to. >> well, that's right, except that i've 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 we're the only major -- i think we're the only natural-gas-producing 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 pollyanna-esque about this? >> you know, i'm an optimist, so i hope the -- >> you share his view. >> i share his view. i hope the governor's right. look, it's an election year. things are gonna be crazy, right? we all call it the "silly season" for a reason. i think we're gonna see a lot of back-and-forth on the budget. but they also are all, you know, well-incentivized to get a

budget on time. so, hopefully, this will be the first year -- in how long? -- that we've 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 year's kind of was but wasn't '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 don't do too much anyhow, and then, with the election season -- i'm not an optimist. [ laughter ] i've seen these guys. i don't really know what goes on there day to day. anytime i have them on, they say there's no time to do some of these big issues that are out there that are big reforms -- liquor, things like this. or they just can't come together. it amazes me. so i'm not an optimist. >> i mean, there shouldn't be -- first, matt, congratulations. you did a great job again. >> oh, thank you. yes, sharmain was there. donna gentile o'donnell was there, yeah. >> but i do think that, because it's an election year and because there are gonna be questions around are they gonna

redraw districts or are there gonna be new dis-- there's a lot of politics going on. i do believe that they're actually gonna get there. they don't have to really raise taxes in order to balance the budget, according to the governor. so i think they'll get there. so, dom, we may be way too optimistic -- >> we'll bet a pizza on this. >> right, right. >> what i'm 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 it's 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 don't know what that's 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 governor's term of office, whether it's wolf or someone on

the republican side, it's gonna be very difficult because those pressures aren't going away. and they're making the available options fewer and much more painful. >> optimist, we have a pessimist, and you're 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 -- they're moving to a defined-contribution 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 don't do anything, it's a 20-year payout. the more money that comes in, there's the option to bring that down. so there seems to at least be something around that issue that wasn't there before. >> budget address on february 6th. philadelphia plans to become the first u.s. city to open safe injection sites. addicts would be able to use them to take their illegal drugs safely and get clean syringes.

drug treatment would be offered. city officials say the clinics will save lives, but pennsylvania attorney general josh shapiro says, "not so fast." in fact, he had the talk with governor wolf, and i talked to him about his. he's said he is concerned about public safety with the clinics, and he adds that changes in state and federal law would need to occur to even make them legal. rich, we've talked about this on "inside story" before. what do you think about that dynamic going on? are these things ever going to happen, given what josh shapiro is saying? >> well, look, i mean, i'm proud of philadelphia being the first major city in the united states considering this. this has been done successfully in toronto. it's about saving lives. i think josh, the attorney general, has a really important point, though. these things -- they haven't thought through this all the way. it's about whether you're gonna provide an opportunity for people to actually break the law by using an illegal drug. that's a conversation that needs to be had at the harrisburg level, at the philadelphia level. one of the things i talked about, matt -- and you remember we had this conversation here before -- is i'd like to see us

try to use mobile units, right? because i think, unlike having these stationary places that are impacting neighborhoods -- and there are legitimate concerns around public safety and crime around sites like this -- that having mobile units that move around and actually are well-publicized, so that folks figure out where they are, is probably the answer here. we should look at all of those options. this is a crisis. the governor declared this a crisis just a few weeks ago. so we need to take action. >> they shut down "hamsterdam" in "the wire." >> mm-hmm. >> it was maybe successful for awhile, until people really found out about it. do you see this ever happening, dom? >> i think it's gonna happen. i think philadelphia is out of control, in my view, and is bold -- except philadelphia is not behind this. philadelphia is palming this off to volunteers and others. the mayor and others are not involved. it's illegal, first of all. how do we get past that? i believe it's immoral. and that conversation, i think, would be a deep debate. i don't support any of it, and i think it's ghastly, and i challenge the idea that it's been successful in vancouver.

i've written this, researched this. they're talking about tents. are we gonna put a tent in the middle of rittenhouse square for addicts to come in? do you think people are gonna accept that? and i had richard ross on, and this man is a great cop, and he is being put in the most horrible situation imaginable. >> really quick. 10 seconds. >> i actually think the good thing is that we're talking about this. this is, i mean, this is -- people are dying, and if we ignore it, it's not going to change the fact that people are laying on street corners and that are actually dying from this. no, city council's not behind it yet. i think there's a lot of conversation to be had, but we have got to figure out how to do it. and i think rich's idea of mobile units might be the compromise that we're looking for. >> got to go. inside stories of the week coming up.

>> 6abc's "inside story" is presented by temple university. >> inside stories of the week. we start with sharmain. >> yes. in listening to the governor this week, i was glad to see that he put raising the minimum

wage back on the table again this year. and i hope the legislature will look at it seriously. if we look at our neighboring states -- maryland, delaware -- they already have raised the minimum wage. we're still at $7.25. we need to do a better job at that. >> thanks, sharmain. dom. >> my inside story is commissioner ross. he told me on my show he was unhappy with the results of the crisco cops with the poles and the eagles fans, and he assured me they have something that is foolproof. i couldn't get it out of him. he's a good cop. but you guys have all kinds of journalists, whatever. let's get it out of him. i want to know what it is they're gonna put on those poles. >> i will give him a call. >> okay. >> i promise you. thank you, dom. rich. >> matt, we had a school shooting in kentucky this past week. we've had 11 school shootings in january of 2018. there are 27 states that have child-gun access prevention laws. pennsylvania is not one of them. pennsylvania needs to wake up before we get a bad school shooting in pennsylvania. >> thank you, rich. ed. >> matt, in 1918, one-third of humanity was infected with the spanish flu.

20 to 50 million died. here we are 100 years later in the throes of a very bad flu epidemic. people dying in larger numbers than usual. it's not too late. get the flu shot. if you're allergic to eggs, get it at your doctor's office because it's an egg-based shot. and also, wash your hands. use clean wipes. >> that's "inside story" for this week. thanks to my panelists and for you for watching. i'm nydia han with gray hall. coming up next on "action news" we will have live team coverage as eagles prior to fly, to the super bowl this afternoon. plus, when they live in minnesota what can they expect we have crews in the airport and team hotel to break it down. january may come to an end but we are not done with winter just yet, details on the possible snow, headed our way this week. those stories, the accu weather forecast and much more

next up on "action news".

"action news", delaware valley's leading news program, with gray hall, nydia han and meteorologist chris soars. good afternoon it is sunday january 28th, i'm nydia han with gray hall. here are stories we are following for you right now on "acti