Fetterman and Bartos talk bipartisan respect in politics at virtual thwn hall

Lookout: John Fetterman and Jeff Bartos

WATCH: John Fetterman and Jeff Bartos

The Democratic lieutenant governor and his sometime Republican rival have the kind of bromance that proves politics can exist friendly and frontwards-thinking

Sep. x, 2020

"There'southward a cancer in our politics," said Citizen co-founder Larry Platt Wednesday nighttime, as he kicked off a virtual event featuring Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman and borough-minded entrepreneur and philanthropist Jeff Bartos, his Republican rival in 2018. "And these two guys, in my view, are modeling a style out of it."

The "cancer" to which Platt was referring: the entirely depressing and always-worsening divide between political parties in America, and the failure of legislators to reach across the aisle to find common ground in the proper name of serving their constituents.

Fetterman and Bartos, all the same, offering a unlike paradigm.

Back in 2018, when the two were running confronting each other for the lieutenant governor mail, it was Bartos who introduced himself to Fetterman at a campaign event. It's an act that'due south so rare in modern politics that Fetterman at first causeless it was a joke. "To be automatically suspicious that somebody [could be] kind and 18-carat and but directly-up sincere shows you the sad state of affairs," Fetterman said.

The two struck up an unlikely texting and phone friendship, recognizing in each other a confidante. "At some point that summer, we simply started talking about what are you doing today, where are you, what'due south going on? We were able to exchange data and talk to each other near what was going on in a manner that nosotros knew nosotros would respect each other's privacy," Bartos shared.

Their friendship was solidified on Saturday, Oct 27, 2018, when Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh experienced that horrific mass shooting. "Jeff was the first person I called," Fetterman recalled; he knew how proud Bartos is of his Jewish heritage (his groovy-grandfather was an Orthodox rabbi), and how involved he is in Jewish philanthropy. To this solar day, Bartos says, that call remains meaningful. "It'southward something I come back to when I go frustrated with how light-headed the world seems sometimes. I think well-nigh that telephone call, and most that bond," Bartos said.

As the two men made clear to 160 registered guests on Zoom, they share more a bromance: They believe in each other's work.

Bartos has been decorated since early in the pandemic creating the nonprofit Pennsylvania 30 Twenty-four hour period Fund with other PA leaders, a program that gives minor business owners in the Commonwealth a forgivable $iii,000 loan to help them through these devastating times. The fund already has raised $2.4 one thousand thousand.

Fetterman calls the initiative extraordinary. "That should be scaled and modeled all beyond the state," he said. "Democrats, we always become banged for thinking that regime is a solution for everything. Well, information technology'due south not the solution; it's innovative private-sector thinking like what Jeff did… to aid these kinds of businesses. They don't have lobbyists, they just need resources. And that's what Jeff did, and it's genius."

Fetterman, meanwhile, has been working on all aspects of Covid-19 recovery efforts, including revisiting the push to legalize marijuana equally a means to generate funds for the state.

"It comes from a true bipartisan place in my centre," he said. "I don't swallow marijuana, it's not part of my life. Simply I agree all adults should accept safe, legal access to these substances and to partake, and I know we've never been in a identify where we've needed these [revenue] resources more. Yous think of what Jeff'due south doing on his level, well what if yous could directly hundreds of millions of dollars every yr to do just that and accept that exist free money, essentially?"

Both men agreed that, despite what social media and cable news would take yous believe, people are more akin than different, more decent than subversive.

"You can feel strongly about an issue, you can concord to disagree," Fetterman said, "simply yous can nevertheless be friends, yous tin can still take a beer, and you tin can yet work to a ameliorate event for everybody. And I would never desire to lose sight of that."

If y'all missed the event, you can spotter it above.

And exist sure to bring together us adjacent Wednesday, September 16th, at 6pm for our next virtual issue with U.S. Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan. Information technology's free, but you must RSVP here.

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/watch-john-fetterman-jeff-bartos/

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