Justin Douglas traded a career in Public Service for a new job in Public Service

David Martin: This is the good government show.

Justin Douglas: You know, politics is just, in my opinion, how communities organize, our communities choose to organize. Partizan politics is different. I think, you know.

We are in a political moment where people are looking for authentic leaders who, when you talk to them, they’re truly passionate about what they’re passionate about. And some of these systemic problems require, an approach that, that’s thoughtful and takes time to create a plan that’s going to endure.

I will listen to people that, you know, at times I’m going to have disagreements with, but there’s still nuggets of truth, I think, in a lot of different places. So, yeah, I’m all over the place. You know, twice I’ve been with the president of the United States, which is just and by with I mean like standing next to and talking to, which is not something I would have ever thought I would have the opportunity to do in my lifetime.

David Martin: If you’re on the Good Government show, we look for good ideas in good government everywhere. One thing we like to see is younger candidates running for office and getting involved with the average age of a representative in Congress at 57 and the average in the Senate at almost 65. Seeing younger people take off, it seems like a good idea and seems like good government.

Welcome to the good government show. I’m Dave Martin. First, help us share the message of good government by liking us and sharing us where we are on Facebook, Instagram and Blue Sky. Please share a show with your friends and don’t forget to review us! Let’s get everyone excited about good government. So Justin Douglas was elected to his office as County Commissioner in 2023.

How he got there is quite a story. He was a pastor at a church, but as he will explain, he was forced out. Then he got a call. A nationwide organization called run For Something reached out to him. This is an organization that encourages people under the age of 40 to run for office. They provide support and expertise to aspiring candidates.

They helped get people elected to offices like county judge, city council, state representative and county commissioner. Since 2017, they’ve helped over 1000 candidates get elected in 48 states. Justin ran citing prison reform, among other issues. Not, as he will tell you, a popular issue to run on, but he won. And now that he’s in office, he’s helped push for prison reform.

He’s increased the number of ballot boxes in the county and helped create a solution for people who fill out their ballots incorrectly. He’s been accused of being, quote, a bomb thrower, but he’s also been effective in January 2025 after just one year in office. Justin Douglas was elected chairman of the board of the county commission. It’s been a busy year.

I talked to Commissioner Douglas, a few months after he was first elected, but before he made board chair. So listen to my conversation with Justin Douglas as he talks about how he got into office and what motivates him to deliver good government. That’s coming next.

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Welcome to the Good Government show. I am very happy to finally meet and have corralled, County Commissioner Justin Douglas from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Harrisburg. Welcome to the Good Government Show.

Justin Douglas: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. David, you, inviting me on, and I’m looking forward to this conversation.

David Martin: Good. As am I, as am I now, I became aware of you by listening to another podcast where an organization called run for Something urged you to run. Yeah. Is it so what was that call like?

Justin Douglas: Oh, so I’m a I was a CrossFit coach. I’m a pastor and a CrossFit coach, in, you know, early 2023 and, I got a call while I was running an open gym, which just meant I could kind of be in the office while people were working out at the gym and, didn’t recognize the number and thought, you know, hey, I’ll answer it.

We’ll see who this is. And that ended up being run for something. Asking me to run for office, run for county commissioner in Dauphin County, and, Yeah, they, they, they mobilize young individuals to run and, and it was, an exciting call. And, you know, just kind of from there, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to run.

I just kind of started exploring it, but they kind of walked me through that and got some resources in my hand when I made the decision to run that were incredibly helpful to, you know, to where I am today, to where I am.

David Martin: Why did they call you? Why did they target you?

Justin Douglas: I think some of my background, in, you know, in the community locally, being a pastor, but also being very active in community organizing and such, pretty passionate about a lot of social justice issues in the area. And, and I think they had seen that and, and had become aware of me that way.

I don’t know, at some point I might have filled out like a card for them. I, we, we both have gone back and forth on like, did I feel something out then that got me on the radar? Did someone feel something out for me? Yeah. It’s, you know, no mystery.

David Martin: You’re no longer a pastor.

Justin Douglas: Well, technically, I’m. I’m in my church. I founded it, so I’ve gone to founding pastor status. I founded the church in 2019 after losing my license, in a different church for being affirming of LGBT people so that, so it’s very passionate to me. That’s that’s like a passion project for me. So, I’ve gone to founding pastor status.

We’re currently working on hiring a full time pastor.

David Martin: And because you are supportive of LGBTQ rights, they decided you were not fit to be a pastor.

Justin Douglas: That was the case in 2019 of what happened, for LGBT inclusion in the church. So, so yeah, that that in some ways put me, you know, put it put a spotlight on me, I think in the community, as you know, a pastor standing up for, community that’s often, you know, overlooked, not underserved.

David Martin: Isn’t that what church is supposed to be about this community and brings people together? Yeah.

Justin Douglas: Yeah.

David Martin: All that.

Justin Douglas: Yeah. And and I think, you know, there’s a variety of, of, of, views on theology. I have two degrees in theology. I have a master’s in theology. I understand that, you know, this is a contentious view. This isn’t just a simple, you know, one size fits all answer. In our particular case, we were really trying to, just serve the people that had found their way into our community.

And we felt strongly about, those people being part of our community because, you know, God had sent them to us, and I was their pastor, and I wasn’t going to, you know, back down from that.

David Martin: Did you ever consider running for office?

Justin Douglas: No. I mean, I’ve always been very politically engaged, or engaged in, like, you know, different races or different, you know, political ideology and, and, you know, just tried to be mindful and aware, and I’ve had, you know, my own kind of, I grew up very, in very conservative world and I’ve kind of, you know, moved to a more, you know, I guess, liberal for lack of a better term or just a more progressive viewpoint of the world.

And that’s come through a lot of engagement with a lot of different people through, you know, being aware and discussing things. And, and a lot of that is theology, too. You know, it’s not just, you know, politics is just, in my opinion, how communities organize, our communities choose to organize, Partizan politics is different. I think, you know, and so, I always think I’m trying to reclaim the word politics.

I think politics are just simply how we agree to organize our community. The fact that I’m watching a trolley go by right now, that’s political. Someone decided they were going to, you know, divert funds to a free trolley that goes through Tampa, which is awesome. I actually wrote it the other day. I’m excited that that political decision was made.

Yeah. We’re we’re the.

David Martin: County’s convention, and and they have a streetcar that goes from. Yeah, through central.

Justin Douglas: So that’s, that’s a political decision that doesn’t have to be a Partizan decision. That could just be for the good and betterment of the community. And so, I’ve always been engaged in things that I think, at least from my worldview and my scope are for the good and betterment of the community.

David Martin: Okay. And, they came in, they continue to run. What made you decide to flip the switch and say, okay, I’ll do it.

Justin Douglas: The the the hope that I can make a difference. I was going to run on a platform that really, I don’t think anybody else was going to run on, which was prison reform. We’ve had a lot of challenges in Dauphin County Prison. Where we’re at, with prisoner deaths and, you know, challenges for resources.

And, it was something that, you know, I was very passionate about trying to not.

David Martin: A popular topic.

Justin Douglas: No, just about everyone told me you’re not going to win a race running on prison reform. And, I think there’s truth to that. I think there’s also truth to. We are in a political moment where people are looking for authentic leaders who, when you talk to them, they’re truly passionate about what they’re passionate about. And I felt like I had an opportunity to connect with people about something that I could concisely convey as an important thing that mattered to them, even if it didn’t matter to them before the conversation started.

And so, you know, we knocked over, for example, we knocked over a thousand Republican doors, even though people told us not to waste our time. And yeah, many of the Republicans I talked to were very concerned about it from a liberty and freedom perspective of some of the, you know, treatment of prisoners and also the treatment of CEOs, you know, correction officers.

The average lifespan of correctional officers nationwide is 58 years old, which is just horrendous. And a lot of that is because, you know, the the lack of resources in our county jails and in our systems of incarceration and how how we treat our inmates is often indicative of, you know, the lack of resources also for correction officer. So it’s a holistic approach that I think makes everyone’s lives better as we seek to do justice in our communities and hold people accountable for when they break the law.

David Martin: And less people in prison, less people returning to prison.

Justin Douglas: Certainly the.

David Martin: Smaller prisoner population, the need for less guards, the need for services, mental health services, health, other health services, you know, reform services. So having a smaller prison population is good across the board, economically and socially. Correct?

Justin Douglas: Yeah, yeah. Investment and reentry is really important because of that recidivism thing. We see in most particular cases where, you know, people are re-offend and they’re not being given opportunity upon coming out. And, you know, once you spend some time in a prison of any kind, you’re typically kind of bound to repeat that cycle. Unfortunately. And so trying to see how the county can invest in services that help us beat that cycle.

David Martin: What got you interested in prison reform?

Justin Douglas: I’ve always kind of had a heart for people who are, you know, overlooked, underserved. And I think, there’s probably no greater population than a population we lock behind. You know, for.

David Martin: All you done work in ministry in.

Justin Douglas: Prisons. Yes, yes, yes, I I’ve had much contact with prisoners and families of people who are in, in prison. And so that I did most of that work when I lived in Wisconsin. Okay. But, but I’ve had some exposure to it here in Pennsylvania where I’m at now, and so that was an inspiration to me.

But I think ultimately, just looking at the deaths that were taking place in our prison and feeling a sense of, calling, if you will, to, to to really challenge that and try to say we need better systems and structures here to ensure that, like a sentence to Dauphin County Prison, which, by the way, is two years or less, if you got two years or more, you’re going to state, there’s no reason that should ever be a death sentence.

You know?

David Martin: So let’s get back to that. You know, the reason why you got elected and ran for office? Do you hope to inspire other people to run for office?

Justin Douglas: Certainly. I think we’re at this time right now in politics where we need, young, fresh voices that are bringing new perspectives that ultimately are authentic and true to themselves. And, you know, and I think we need that on both parties. I think we need that on both parties and in the middle. And, and I think that would be for the betterment of, of, you know, we talk about representation all the time.

I think, you know, having young people represented, I’ve met so many amazing young people. I don’t consider myself a young person. I’m 40 years old. But, young, but but but I’ve met so many. Amazing. Like, I have an intern right now who’s 20 and, and, I mean, he’s absolutely phenomenal. And I think of him running for office, and I think of, you know, other people that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in this journey that are, you know, under 30, that are, you know, fabulous people and have great ideas and have a work ethic, you know, unlike anything I’ve seen from their generation.

It’s like, let’s go. Like, let’s get you plugged into the right spot and get you work and and get you, unleashed on making a difference in the community. And so I’m very passionate about supporting people, and certainly I’ll continue to support Run for Something and their efforts. And, I’ve already done that. Even, you know, since being elected.

But, but I think any mobilization of young people to get involved is really good.

David Martin: And you’ve had a pretty impressive, start to your, your political career. I understand you’ve introduced the president.

Justin Douglas: Yeah. My second day in office, I was driving my car to the office, and, I got a call from a number I didn’t recognize, which at that point, it was happening a lot. Just because I didn’t come from politics. So I didn’t have. It’s not like I was a township commissioner or supervisor and then became a commissioner of the county.

So I didn’t have a lot of connections. So a lot of people are calling me either congratulating me on taking my oath of office or, you know, trying to set up meetings. And so I answered it and I was told it was the Biden-Harris campaign, and they were asking me if I would be interested in opening for the president on January 5th.

Let’s see, was going to be, Valley Forge area. And, I was I thought I was being pranked and, they asked me to write a speech really quickly. And so I wrote one on my phone, on my notes app, on my phone. I wrote a speech. Okay, send it over. They texted back and said they really liked the speech and, sent me to white House for clearances, and, said, I know, I know.

Later that night, if I passed clearances and found out that that afternoon that I had passed clearances, and that the next day I’d be introducing the president of the United States. When he kicked off his campaign on January 5th, which was just still surreal to even say, like, I’ve looked at the pictures and I’m just like, it was kind of like an out of body moment.

It was so busy during that season and, I just kind of looked up. I was just very focused on delivering my speech as good as I could, and I did. I think I did. All right. You know, I’ve never stood behind the presidential seal and given a speech before. So that was that was a first and it wasn’t sure what to expect.

But I was I was happy with, you know, with it and in, you know.

David Martin: An impressive start.

Justin Douglas: The doors, just when the doors open, you know, I just just walked through room. That’s kind of been my life motto. And that was a random door that I didn’t expect to open.

David Martin: I understand that one of the things you ran on was you wanted to open up the election process. Tell me what your what your vision was and what you’ve been able to do.

Justin Douglas: Yeah, I think, you know, fair and accessible elections and safe elections is really important. And I think part of that fairness is more at ballot access, to drop boxes. And so we went from two drop boxes. And, in the election that I was in where, where I, you know, a successful, which, by the way, every vote counts on the night of the election, I was ahead by 42 votes, and I won by 184 votes.

So every single vote counts. Your vote counts. And we want to make sure it counts. And I think every county would say this. We want to make sure it counts. We want to make sure you have access to it. And so, we’ve now expanded our Dropboxes to seven across the county. Okay. And, this last primary was seven, and then we, we also included a, like, a ballot key for language access for, Spanish speaking voters.

We have a large Bhutanese Nepali community that I’m hopeful we can continue to make headway and language access for them. So there’s still some work on the table to be done, but we’ve made some pretty big strides. Just in the short period of time since being elected.

David Martin: Well, good governance means having more people involved and more people involved in more voting definitely get better government, right.

Justin Douglas: 100%. And that’s that’s a big priority of mine.

David Martin: Okay. Any resistance?

Justin Douglas: I mean, there’s there’s there’s certainly people who, you know, have different views about, you know, ballot drop boxes. And we’ve we’ve listened to those concerns and ensured that security is a is a part of that. All of our ballot drop boxes are in areas where, our MDGs, our magisterial district judges are and therefore their 24 hour, monitored by cameras.

And so we we heard a lot of the concerns and ensured that, like, the security process was put in place, that that it was, it was going to be done and done. Well, because that’s, you know, as you’re of the Good Government podcast, obviously, when we roll out new ideas to be more inclusive and to involve more people, we want to make sure we’re doing it in a way that’s going to be done well and thoroughly and, and that we think through worst case scenarios.

David Martin: So what have you learned on the job in your first year? Not even as.

Justin Douglas: Six months, six.

David Martin: Months? Sorry.

Justin Douglas: Yeah, I think I’ve learned that, you know.

David Martin: There’s a lot I didn’t know.

Justin Douglas: There’s a lot I didn’t know. Oh, my gosh. I could write a book on just things I didn’t know. You.

David Martin: I mean, you could be well-versed in things like strictly and plumbing and water use and land management and zoning.

Justin Douglas: Yes, yes. I think all of the things that most people, you know, the non sexy things about government. Right, that most people don’t really think about, you know, becoming aware of this. Thankfully we have an amazing team in our county. You know, our county is 286,000 residents. We have close to 1600 employees. So. So, you know, I got a great team to lean on.

I have two other commissioners, one with 20 years experience as a commissioner, another with 12. So, you know, I’ve got.

David Martin: To say, well, for the.

Justin Douglas: Most part, yeah, we, we we have our differences and disagreements, but we, we find a way to work together. And I think, you know, one of the good things is seeing their experience allows me to also like, just learn from listening to them talk, like I listen to our chairman, you know, Commissioner Hartwick talking to meeting and and within, you know, a couple minutes of them chatting.

I’m learning about all different kinds of things. So, ultimately, I’d say what I’ve learned is like to be more patient. You know, I’m very much, here’s the problem. Let’s get it solved tomorrow. And learning that, like, some of these systemic problems require, an approach that, that’s thoughtful and takes time to create a plan that’s going to endure.

And so, so that’s something and then compromise. You know, part of the the challenges is like as, you know, more of a community organizer slash activist compromise isn’t really something you do much. But, in this particular role, compromises is a part of it. And, and, and that’s part of working together and finding a solution that, you know, ultimately, in the end, is good.

One of the things I’ve been using our staff uses is kind of like a football analogy. We say, you know, we might score a touchdown on this drive, but if we got to settle for a field goal, that’s okay. Sometimes we’re going to have to punt. And that’s that kind of stinks. But let’s do our best not to turn the ball over.

Let’s get it. That’s kind of what we think.

David Martin: About I mean you sort of hit on this, but you know, being a pastor, you’re literally the voice of God in that community.

Justin Douglas: Oh, wow. Be careful.

David Martin: But the voice of not the actual but the voice of how hard is it to adjust to being one of three?

Justin Douglas: Yeah. I mean, I think that that can see that to be a challenge. I’ve always been a, communal team kind of person, even in my church. Like, I would say it’s very interesting. I’ve been reflecting recently on kind of a, a lot of ways in which I feel very equipped for county government, not because I have a background in government or I have a background in how counties work.

But because I have this very large 20 years plus experience of serving people and, and inspiring people to, you know, find the best in themselves. And I think part of, you know, the county is, inspiring people to see solutions that are going to be for the betterment of the community. And it’s part of and a big part of my job is serving people, serving my staff, serving, the community, and, and, you know, even just showing up for an event and being service to the person who took all this time to put an event on.

There’s there’s a lot of ways that there’s overlap from ministry to this and that I’ve found that to be encouraging.

David Martin: Okay. I know you mentioned and I wanted to ask about this. Dauphin County has built tiny homes for veterans. I think you said you have 12 homes.

Justin Douglas: Yeah.

David Martin: How’s that project coming along and what difference is it made so far?

Justin Douglas: Yeah. So, it just recently, I believe last month we cut the ribbon on that. So we’re very early on in the stages and we’re monitoring it very closely. I believe there’s 15 tiny homes for veterans. So unhoused veterans, are going to each get, a tiny home. There is an application process for that or a process through which they went out and found those individuals in our community.

It’s, largely private, somewhat public funding, and we’re monitoring it just to see what the success of it’s going to look like. They have a community center, it’s detached from the homes that, has like a kitchen and other, other parts of it and then like, resources and it’s a whole program being launched that we’re excited to see what the efficacy of it will be so that we can potentially apply that, in other ways.

And, you know, even as these.

David Martin: Vets now have their own house.

Justin Douglas: Right? Yes. I mean, they have their own one, you know, it almost is like the size of a bedroom. It has just just a bedroom, pretty much, like a bedroom, a bathroom, a shower and, a little bit of a space for storage for, clothing and other items. And then, you know, all their meals are in the community center area, which is just walking distance.

And they live, you know, amongst 14 other vets. And they do, I believe, like group workshops together and other things to, to build some competencies for, getting out into the workforce and, and then just, there’s service providers there that are going to help them, have their needs met so that they can hopefully the goal is that they can become, you know, independent, that this can be a transitional program into, you know, permanent housing.

David Martin: Okay. All right. Now that we’ve got all that out of the way, okay. All the way, now we’re going to find out what you really think about government. Oh, no.

Justin Douglas: Oh, gosh.

David Martin: Sure. All right. We’re going to take a break and we’re going to talk about that.

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David Martin: Here it is. The good government show a questionnaire. Now that you’ve been doing this for six months, define good government.

Justin Douglas: Good government is government that considers the people first and considers how the needs of the community are going to be met through the policies that are, passed.

David Martin: I should have said this before. We’re going to do this now, a review, this again in four years. How everything matches up.

Justin Douglas: So I better remember that quote.

David Martin: Yeah, I will, I will, we will record it. You can listen to it later in the future. How do you judge you six months in. How do you how do you know if you’re doing a good job? How have you judged your success?

Justin Douglas: So, yeah. So we have, GSD list, in my office. We call it the get stuff done list, and,

David Martin: And the.

Justin Douglas: GSD list, our, our get stuff done list. And so there’s things on there that are priorities that we’ve gotten done, and there’s things that we still have yet to get done. But, you know, I think of something like, you know, very tangible, like we had already mentioned, like the ballot drop boxes, but there’s also something very tangible that got passed through our prison, board.

That was something I was very passionate about. You know, we used to have prior to 2023, a very, I guess I would call it a punitive policy of pay to stay in our prison. So you’d pay $10 a day, in essence, and rent to stay in our prison. Prisoners who who paid $10 a day might come out, you know, after their sentence with 3000, 5000, $10,000 in debt, depending upon how long they stayed in our prison.

And let’s say they commit another crime. Come back to our prison. If you’re a parent and you want to put money on their commissary, or give them money for phone calls or things of that nature, 50% of that gets seized to go toward their debt, a debt that in a lot of ways is fake debt. It’s debt that we’ve already paid for, like as a county, we’ve already paid for that.

And so, we changed that policy to stop.

David Martin: Shaking someone when they’re down a little bit.

Justin Douglas: That would be my interpretation. I mean, I’m sure there’s other interpretations. And maybe I’m naive and I don’t know how to balance you know, I haven’t had to balance county budget, and I don’t, but we’re not really we’re not really recouping enough of that money for that policy to make the difference. As much as it’s as much money as we recoup.

We’re really putting a lot of stress on families, which is really hard for me to, you know, if you want to talk to your child who’s incarcerated and you go put money on their commissary and half of it gets taken off. So, so we we abolish that policy of taking 50% off. So there’s things that I’ve been able to see that I think were I not present, that probably wouldn’t have had a champion.

I’m thankful we’ve been able to find some consensus in getting those things done, but there’s certainly things that I’ve been championing.

David Martin: If people feel like they’re not getting the government that they want, what should they do?

Justin Douglas: They should show up to meetings. The that’s one of the most heartbreaking things for me to see is to hear, people who have legitimate issues in the community, and, and they don’t show up to meetings to share. And I think one of the challenges is a lot of our meetings happen during the day, during times when people are at work.

But, you know, right, your legislators, right. If you’re in Dauphin County, please. Jay Douglas at Dauphin county.gov send me an email. I will we follow up with every constituent concern we get. And hopefully your elected officials do too. And if they don’t follow up with your concerns then great thing is you get a vote and you can put someone there who is going to follow up with your concerns.

David Martin: What’s the best part of your job?

Justin Douglas: The best part of my job is interacting with people who are making a difference in our community. Like when I go to events where there are people that are hustling and serving, our community in a way that’s just so commendable, are serving a population that otherwise would not be served if they, their nonprofit or their particular thing that they’re passionate about would not be happening.

You know, that’s a that’s a really uplifting part of my job to, to to go and just kind of support them and, and to be there, just gassing them up and telling them how much what they’re doing is really impacting our area.

David Martin: What’s the hardest part of the job?

Justin Douglas: Sleep now. Finding time? Yeah. I think the hardest part of the job, to be honest, is.

David Martin: It’s it’s.

Justin Douglas: Your kids day out of a job. You, balance, I would say. You know what I mean? I think, I think I’ve been, I’ve been thinking a lot more, like, recently about the Eisenhower. Is it the Eisenhower quadrilateral or whatever? That thing is where he he pretty much would put things in these different cues of whether or not they were urgent and necessary or just urgent, but not really necessary and like and beginning to kind of structure my days in more, you know, the tyranny of the urgent is constantly coming across your desk as an elected official.

And I think that’s whether you’re full time or part time or, you know, volunteer. Like there, like some city officials who aren’t even getting paid are are dealing with a lot of challenges, even in Harrisburg, where we’re at and, I say that just to say, I think that prioritization of, like, what I give my time too early on, it was really challenging because I didn’t know as many people.

So every everybody is requesting a meeting with me. It was like, well, I guess I meet with this person now. I guess I meet with this person. And it just became a flood of meetings. And I think now I’m starting to realize like, the only way I can say yes to the things I want to prioritize is by also saying no to things that aren’t in my priority.

And that’s always, you know, a challenge. So that’s something I’m working through.

David Martin: What has surprised you the most about this job? Six months. It.

Justin Douglas: I think what surprised me the most is just, you know, how much amazing work is being done in Dauphin County that I wasn’t even aware of? You know, I’ve lived in Dauphin County for nine years. I have three kids. So we make our way around the county quite a bit, and we’re very connected to a lot of different communities within the county.

But to see, you know, how many different events and services and the amazing people who work for our county, and there’s things that I didn’t know were happening. And, and I’m passionate about spotlighting how that’s taking place. And, and ensuring that, you know, voters are informed of how, the amazing things happening was in our government that that they don’t even know about.

David Martin: Six months in, what would you now that you’re a government insider.

Justin Douglas: Government insider? I’m gonna put that on my Instagram. Government insider.

David Martin: Government side of you’re a politician. What would you like people to know about it?

Justin Douglas: It’s hard work. Just like your job when you go to work. There’s days when you’re tired on.

David Martin: A job, but.

Justin Douglas: Just. Yeah. Well, I’m sure there’s days when you’re tired and you got to interview somebody, you know? But, I mean, you know, there’s people in, in, in Dauphin County who, who go to work and who have a really great day at work. And then and they feel excited about what they’re doing and they feel like they’re making a difference.

And then there’s people go to work. That’s the next week, maybe, and they have a day where they feel like they’re not making a difference. They’re tired. They’re, you know, they feel beaten down. And I think that’s I think it’s really important that right now we put a lot of humanity on our elected officials, like we’re human beings.

Like, I understand the call that we have to to make a difference in our communities, but we’re not some like, heroic figures who are going to change everything. Like we don’t wear capes, we’re just people. And I think that’s important because some of I think the rhetoric right now is because there’s such a high expectation. And I think we should expect a lot of our elected officials.

But I think at any point where we move away from expecting them to be human beings, it’s dangerous territory.

David Martin: You’re now a newsmaker.

Justin Douglas: Oh.

David Martin: Gosh, you read about yourself. And where do you get your news?

Justin Douglas: I try not to read about myself. I will say it was, humbling to be on the pod save, I guess, because that is one of my favorite podcast to listen to. I love those guys. And so, did you know.

David Martin: What did you do there?

Justin Douglas: No, I had no clue. My phone started. Kind of like going off with people telling me, dude, you’re on Podcast America. I was like, what do you mean I’m on Pod Save America? That’s not possible. So I did not know. And so did you hear.

David Martin: It or did.

Justin Douglas: I tell you I went to listen? I went and listened after people told me about it? Yeah. I mean, it would have been in my regular listening schedule anyway. But, yeah, I, I would say, like, I, I try to really get a diverse news in the sense of like, I will listen to, like, the mainstream here and there.

But mainly where I get my news is I read a lot of local news, so the local newspaper PennLive and The Sun and some of the, the local press, and then, beyond that for like national news, I really like to do podcasts. I think you like that. Welcome to. Yeah. And I guess, you know, some people will probably judge me for the Pod Save America one.

But like, I’ll also listen to Ezra Klein’s show. And here’s the deal. I’ll listen to Joe Rogan, too, like, I will I will listen to people that, you know, at times I’m going to have disagreements with, but there’s still nuggets of truth, I think, in, in a lot of different places. So yeah, I’m all over the place.

David Martin: So that’s okay. Hey, listen, listen to your podcast.

Justin Douglas: That’s why Bob. Yeah, that probably works well for me. It sure.

David Martin: Does. Who’s your political hero? Who inspires you? Who inspires you prior to this and who inspires you now?

Justin Douglas: Well, I mean, obviously Obama, I think Obama for me was a time where I kind of got a lot more active and and began to kind of engage in national politics in a different way than I previously had. And so I think, you know, most people, I think were inspired by Obama and, and what he represented. And, but I think also, you know, I have a record player in my office and one of the records that I have is is Kennedy’s speech, where, you know, he says, ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

And, like, you know, I listen to that speech on occasion in the office. And, you know, I think, you know, that would be another inspiration of mine, for sure. Kennedy.

David Martin: Did you ever, ever think you would have a life or career in politics? Which did you like, run for student council as a kid now?

Justin Douglas: No, no, never thought I would have. I would, I would definitely say never. And I would argue that I haven’t had a life or career in politics. You. No. Four years is the term. And it could very well end after four. And I’m fully aware of that, too. Like, I have no expectations on. You know, it’s been very weird in six months to just see how quickly things have happened and how, you know, you know, twice I’ve been with the president of the United States, which is just and by with, I mean, like standing next to and talking to, which is not something I would have ever thought I would

have the opportunity to do in my lifetime. Right. And so, I just kind of glad you did this.

David Martin: Are you glad you did this?

Justin Douglas: Oh, 100%. I mean, this is like, this is almost like a gift. The gratitude is pretty massive from my end of, like, being entrusted to serve and to, and to, you know, steward the county’s resources and to, you know, ultimately steward this opportunity. It’s definitely something I feel, very grateful for. I also just, I also come at it with a very low expectation on like and an awareness that, okay, it’s a temporary thing.

That’s what the term is. And I’m, I’m, I’m grateful for the, the time I have and hopeful for what what doors might open in the future.

David Martin: I have, asked this question of several Pennsylvania, officials. I will ask you as well. Pennsylvania is known for a lot of different cuisine. What’s Harrisburg famous for? If we’re if I’m running around your town, what are we eating? What do we have? And where are we going? What’s, what’s a what’s a dish? And.

Yeah. About dish. Yeah. You have a background across the nation. So if there’s something that’s regional that you love, let me know.

Justin Douglas: I mean, there’s a lot of things would be pies. Obviously we’re in Hershey, so I’m going to take you out. I’m going to take you out to Hershey and we’re going to get some chocolate. Some chocolate. That’s what I’m going to say. Just to be, you know, politically safe here. But if you’re.

David Martin: You started with whoopie pie, that’s what that place.

Justin Douglas: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

David Martin: I see a dessert trend here, by the way, is it crossed?

Justin Douglas: We’re going to do dessert. That’s all we’re going to do. Yeah. No, I mean, I think I take you to the factory or, you know, drive by and smell the the beautiful smell the factory. Okay, I think I think, I, I do want to give a shout out to my people, though, if you were in my office right now, if we’re doing this interview in my office and we going to go to lunch.

Yes, we would go to Downtown Deli, which is one of the best places in Harrisburg, in my opinion. That’s where I go to lunch all the time, which are one of the best delis. I get something called the Vermont, and it’s, it’s turkey and bacon. On a, I believe Kaiser roll. I don’t know, I’d have to go back and look at that.

I think that’s. Yeah. You have.

David Martin: A steady order from your.

Justin Douglas: Staff. They know when they know when I walk in, what I’m getting. But sometimes I mix it up, you know, on your toes.

David Martin: Are you having fun?

Justin Douglas: I am, I am, and I’m having fun here at Naco, too. Like, this is amazing to be. You know, I’m on the justice and Public safety, committee and, to be talking with other leaders, across the nation that are making an impact in their communities and learning from what they’re doing. It’s been good. And so, yeah, I’m having a lot of fun.

David Martin: This is a good government show. We try to end it with, good government. Give me a good government project that you’re working on that you’re excited about.

Justin Douglas: We’re trying to get a juvenile shower into our prison on the juvenile side of our prison. We’re trying to get, a shower built over there. It allows. It will allow us to be in better compliance for regulations. And it’s something that for many people, it’s a small thing, but it’s a big thing because it’s, it’s important.

And so we’ve gone through the, the RFP process for that has been very painful because it’s it’s gone through and not got bid on because it’s too small of a project to entice people to bid on it. Okay.

David Martin: But it’s too.

Justin Douglas: Big of a project for us to just go hire somebody to do it. Like so that’s been a challenge, and I’m excited that we have now finally got a bid and we’re able to start that project. So that’s something that, I’m excited to see government work and provide them.

David Martin: So showers for kids in prison.

Justin Douglas: Yeah. It’s unfortunate that we have kids in prison. But at the same time, there’s compliance and regulation that we want to make sure we follow.

David Martin: Justin Douglas, a new county commissioner from Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, it is a pleasure to meet you. And it is a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you very much.

Justin Douglas: Thank you, David.

David Martin: And listen, six months in, three years, six months to go. Good luck. Thank you. I will meet you back here in four years.

Justin Douglas: Let’s do it.

David Martin: Let’s do it. Good, good. Thank you. The Good Government show is sponsored by our. That’s. Oh, you are for our community. Get involved. We hear that all the time from government leaders. Our co-branding with your governments name and logo. Your staff and the people you serve are connected and part of your community. From any device. Your members provide reliable data and meaningful feedback.

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I like what Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas said. He said politics is how community agrees to organize. Different, he said, than Partizan politics. He got off to a pretty impressive start. After two days in office, he was called to introduce former President Joe Biden to a campaign rally when he started his reelection campaign, say what you will about the campaign, but giving a speech for the president is pretty awesome stuff for a brand new elected official.

More people voting and more people involved, that’s good government and that’s another area Justin Douglas is working on. As he said, it’s important to have young candidates from both parties running for office and taking their seats in government, and that’s good government. Well, that’s our show. Thanks for listening. Please like us and share this with your friends or of viewers right here we listening and check out our website.

Good government show.com for extras. Help us keep telling stories of good government and action everywhere. Join us again for another episode right here. I’m Dave Martin and this is the Good Government show.

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