The Daily Signal - Andrew Lewis on Pennsylvania's Potential: 'We Should Be Leading'

Episode Date: October 11, 2024

Andrew Lewis, a former Pennsylvania state representative, is the new president at the Commonwealth Foundation, the state's premier public policy organization. He stepped into the job in September, just as America turned its attention to the Keystone State, which will play a decisive role in the 2024 election. In an interview with The Daily Signal, Lewis pinpointed the key issues facing Pennsylvania voters, starting with the higher prices they're paying for gas, groceries, and housing. "The big issue on everybody's mind is inflation and the cost of living," Lewis said. "Over the last few years, voters and citizens have been given what's tantamount to a 20% tax hike ... and not being able to afford what they used to be able to afford just a few years ago." As a near-lifelong Pennsylvanian, Lewis shared his aspirations for the state, faulting poor leadership as an impediment hampering the Keystone State. He cited Pennsylvania's strategic location and natural resources as key advantages, but blamed high taxes and regulations as reasons why its residents are fleeing for other states. "We're the Keystone State. We're the epicenter of the East Coast. We've got great competitive advantages here," Lewis explained. "We should be leading economically, we should be adding to our population base. We've got so much potential, but unfortunately, a lot of leftist policies have held the state back for years." Lewis plans to use his experience in the state legislature to guide the Commonwealth Foundation's efforts and help Pennsylvania achieve its true potential. He cited the energy sector as crucial to Pennsylvania's economy, warning that restrictive government policies could undermine its competitive advantage. "If you were to rank Pennsylvania as its own nation, you would see we're in the top of exporters globally," Lewis said. "We have this massive opportunity." Education reform is another priority for Lewis. As a lawmaker, he championed parental rights and the need for school choice.  "Parents know best what their kids need for their educational journey," he said. "And it's not always the government school." The Lifeline Scholarship Program, which would provide educational opportunities for students in underperforming schools, was a step away from becoming law until Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a line-item veto in 2023. Shapiro, who touted his support for the idea during his 2022 campaign for governor, flip-flopped when faced with pressure from teachers unions. Looking ahead to the future, Lewis outlined his vision for the Commonwealth Foundation, promising to maximize the organization's impact through policy development, government affairs, and storytelling.  "We transform free-market ideas into actionable public policies so that all Pennsylvanians can flourish," he said. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I love Pennsylvania. We're the Keystone State. We're the epicenter of the East Coast. We've got great competitive advantages here. We should be leading economically. We should be adding to our population base. We've got so much potential. But unfortunately, a lot of leftist policies have held the state back for years. This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, October 11th. I'm your host, Rob Bluey. And those are the words of Andrew Lewis, the new president of the Commonwealth Foundation. in Pennsylvania. He joined me to discuss his vision for the state policy organization and specifically how its work on education and energy will transform the lives of Pennsylvanians for the better. And you'll want to hear his take on the 2024 presidential campaign that has the candidates

crisscrossing the Keystone State in their quest to secure its 19 electoral votes, the most among swing states. Stay tuned for our interview right after this. Your government is out of control. It's doing things it has no business doing. It spends way too much money. It gets involved in way too many wars. It not only tells you what you can and can't say, it actively censors you.

And the things your government should do, it can't, or worse, won't, do it all. It can't keep your streets clean of crime and filth. It can't keep your neighborhoods safe enough for kids to play outside. It can't even prevent your country from being invaded by millions of illegal immigrants. Why is that?

Because your leaders no longer represent you, they represent themselves, and their friends. In my new show, The Signal Sit Down, we'll expose how the sausage really gets made in Washington, D.C., with guests who have experience on the inside. Fingers will be pointed, names will be named. You ready? Pennsylvania is in the news a lot these days, and for good reason, the Keystone State is

the crown jewel in presidential politics. It is the battleground state with the most electoral votes up for grabs this election year. And for as much as there is to talk about politics, today we're going to focus on policy with the new president of the Commonwealth Foundation, the state's premier policy organization. Andrew Lewis has just stepped into the role after serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Andrew, welcome to the Daily Signal. Thank you, Rob. Really good to be on with you.

And thanks so much for having me. Very excited. Well, we all know that state policy organizations play a critical role not only in helping to shape what goes on in the state. legislature, but also the debates that take place on a daily basis in places like Pennsylvania. Tell us why you were motivated to take this role and your aspirations for the Commonwealth Foundation. Yep, I'm extremely motivated to take this role, Rob, as a almost lifelong Pennsylvania. I kind of joke that I escaped communism at a young age. I moved from the People's Republic of

Maryland at the age of eight years old and moved up here to Pennsylvania, where I spent most of my life. I love Pennsylvania. We're the Keystone State. We're the epicenter of the East Coast. We've got great competitive advantages here. We should be leading economically. We should be adding to our population base. We've got so much potential. But unfortunately, a lot of leftist policies have held the state back for years. And we actually, we lose congressional districts almost every time there's redistricting because people are leaving the state because of taxation, because of regulation, because of just a lack of opportunity. And so I'm excited to be able to take this role at Commonwealth Foundation to really continue

the momentum of this organization and to bring policies to Pennsylvania that are going to once again make us the Keystone State. Well, excellent. And congratulations on the new role. You served in the state legislature. Can you share a little bit about your background and experience and how having that firsthand knowledge of how the sausage is made in the legislative branch will help you in this role at Commonwealth? Absolutely. I had the privilege of spending two terms in the legislature,

came mostly from a military background and then spent some time in small business with my family before joining the legislature and learned a lot about the legislative process, learned that it takes a lot of perseverance, that it is not easy to get any bill into laws, let alone the bills that we fight for to advance freedom, to limit the growth of government, to promote opportunity and individual liberty. And so for me, that experience just has really taught me that, look, we're going to need to be persevere, we're going to need to be persistent, we're going to need to make sure that from the time a bill is introduced until it goes into committee, till it comes out of committee, till it's heard on first, second, and third consideration in the

House, and then rinse and repeat in the Senate or vice versa. Look, it takes a long time. it takes, or I should say, a lot of effort. And whether that time is long or short, the effort is great that's required. And so just understanding that going in is going to be key, I think, for me to make sure we set expectations with the government affairs team and with our stakeholders that we all know kind of what that process is going to entail. And so I think that experience and perspective will be really helpful as we communicate with the host of stakeholders.

Well, thank you for that answer. And I do want to get into some of those legislative priorities in just a moment, but I'd be remiss if we didn't start with some of the issues that are really animating voters in Pennsylvania right now. You recently wrote for Newsweek about some of those issues that you see front and center. You have, obviously, the presidential candidates making frequent stops in the Keystone State. You have a really critical U.S. Senate election. So there is a lot of attention, media attention on Pennsylvania right at this moment. What are some of the things that you're hearing from voters in Pennsylvania that they would like to see their political leaders focus on? Yeah, well, it's not lost on us here in Pennsylvania that the race for the presidency will be won or lost here in the Keystone State.

The big issue on everybody's mind is inflation and the cost of living. You know, over the last few years, voters and citizens have been given what's tantamount to a 20% tax hike with just the affordability, crisis and not being able to afford what they used to be able to afford just a few years ago. And I think that's front and center on a lot of people's minds. My most recent employment, as I talked about in the Newsweek article, was running a home building division that spanned across central Pennsylvania. So kind of the heart and soul of Pennsylvania from state college all the way out to Bloomsburg, central part of the state.

And what we saw was with the drastic increase in the cost of goods and in the cost of labor and with supply chain issues, homes are almost unconstitutional. affordable now. Folks who once need, you know, could have been able to afford a home and frankly need to move into a larger home with families growing and things like that. They really can't do it because the cost of homes has gotten so high. Interest rates have continued to spike. Mortgage rates are significantly higher than they used to be. And so that's what's front and center on the minds of Pennsylvanians. And then you look at not only with the wages that folks are earning, they can't afford as much, but earning those.

wages in the first place is now a struggle, especially when energy is driving a significant part of our economic sector here, and we see the kind of war on energy with a lot of the issues happening at the federal and state levels. And so we really want to, one, defend people's rights to earn a living, especially in the energy sector. And two, and I say especially because it's such a key part of our economy here in Pennsylvania, but two, we want to make sure that when they do earn that wage, they're able to afford a home and afford a lifestyle that is consistent with the American dream. Andrew, I'm glad you brought up energy.

That has obviously been one of the critical issues. It's come up in debates between the presidential candidates. It's an issue that really resonates, I think, with Pennsylvanians, giving the natural resources that you have in your state. Can you talk more about the opportunities that you see for Pennsylvania in the future when it comes to producing more energy. Absolutely. So for those unaware, Pennsylvania, we have Marcellus and Utica shale formations down below us under our feet. Pennsylvania is one of the largest exporters of natural gas, not just in the country, but in the world. If you were to rank

Pennsylvania as its own nation, you would see we're in the top of exporters globally. And so we have this massive opportunity. Now, what we've seen with not only projects being canceled like Keystone XL pipeline, but also even on the state level, what our governor's trying to do, which is to say, hey, we want to mandate that 50% of all energy in Pennsylvania is going to be from unaffordable, renewable, or other type of energy sources. What that does, it kneecaps our number one competitive advantage as a state. It hurts a sector of our economy responsible for about 400,000 jobs, and it really undermines what should be our top competitive advantage as the Keystone state. And so our goal here at Commonwealth Foundation is making sure that we defend the free energy market and make sure that, look, energy producers can compete to make sure that we keep rates low for rate payers and make sure energy bills stay low.

But the way to do that is not what the left is trying to do, which is shuddering the natural gas industry and shuddering some of these industries that we really depend on. And obviously, some of that stems from Washington. Some of it stems from Harrisburg, I would imagine. And the Biden-Harris administration has certainly put restrictions on states. We recently spoke with the governor of Alaska who said that he has more sanctions on his state than Iran has from this administration. So what are some of the things that you'd like to see change both in Washington and in the state capital there? Well, just the moratorium on, for instance, the pipeline shutdown for Keystone XL.

That's just one example of an executive. action that can be taken on day one to really turn the fortunes of the country and states like mine where from an executive standpoint, that shuttering the Keystone XL pipeline was done through executive action. It was done, I think it was day one or week one of the Biden administration. And so seeing that policy reverse is something that can be done very early in the next administration. So that's on the federal level, just making sure that these projects can continue on, that these investments can actually continue to create jobs. That's on the federal level. On the state level, again, not only do we see what I talked about with our alternative energy portfolio standards of forcing a certain percentage of energy generation and energy creation to come from renewable sources and unaffordable sources, but also we see the state cap and trade program.

It's called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative here in this area. And it's a cap and trade for states. It's the wrong answer. Governor Shapiro has lost in court. He's appealed it to the highest court to try to enact this gas tax, which is going to make energy bills even higher. It's the wrong answer. This continued meddling in the economy to undermine our top competitive advantage as a state

is not sustainable. And when you have it coming from both the third, federal and the state governments, it makes people wonder, like, why do we, why? You know, government's supposed to work for the people. Why are they working to take our jobs and make our energy bills higher? Andrew, does it give you any hope that Vice President Harris appears to have changed her position on the issue of fracking? You know, a lot of times I look at the record of folks versus what they say, and I look at, hey, what is the administration that you're a part of doing? That administration has undercut and has undermined, you know, the energy sector. And so,

promises at the 11th hour, 30 and 40 days before an election hold a little, not a ton of weight, but I'll tell you what, at least promises are being made. So we'll see. My focus is on the policy and I don't see a lot of great policies being enacted by the administration that's in power at the time. Well, one of the other policies that you championed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives was education freedom. And obviously this is an issue nationwide where parents are just demanding more choice for their families and their children when it comes to schooling these days. We saw an explosion of this happen during COVID in the years since. Bring us up to speed on what's going on in Pennsylvania, the situation there with Governor Shapiro. And what opportunities

might exist in the next legislature? Absolutely. So, I mean, when we start with this basic premise that the ability to achieve the American dream starts with access to a world-class education. And we just start with that basic understanding of, hey, every kid deserves access to that world-class education. We at the Commonwealth Foundation have been working to get Lifeline scholarships passed. Lifeline scholarships would allow an education opportunity account scholarship to be given to kids in the bottom 15% of performing schools across Pennsylvania to go to a school of their choice. And just to frame this for you, the bottom 15%, Rob, we're talking 18 of those schools. There are zero kids proficient in math. Eight, almost 20 schools, zero of the kids are

proficient in math. How are they going to go achieve their American dream or even be successful on any level if they can't have any proficiency in math? So we're trying to create a lifeline to say, look, if you're trapped in one of these schools and all the money that's been pumped into government school system still has not resulted in your ability to succeed in math, in the basics. Then here's a lifeline to get, and it's about, it's roughly, I think, a third of the funding. It's about $6 to $8,000 of the state portion of funding. So all the local dollars would still stay with that public school, but the state portion, which is a, which is just a small percentage, would go to the kids' family to get them to

a school of their choice. That's lifeline scholarships. Now, Governor Shapiro, he has pledged support for this. He's campaigned saying he supports it. But last year, when it was passed as part of the budget, he actually line item vetoed it. Look, we've got to hold him accountable for his promise. And one of our top priorities, this next legislative session will be to get that on his desk and get that signed into law so we can get a lifeline to these kids stuck in these schools. I mean, it's abysmal when you look at the graduation rates and you look at the proficiency rates in these bottom 15% schools,

it's a moral duty that we have to get them a lifeline. Andrew, one of the things that we noticed those of us who are from Pennsylvania, the left was attacking Shapiro when he was under consideration for vice president for some of those promises that he did make on the campaign trail. So maybe it's partially politics. I'm not sure, but I'm glad to hear that you're going to continue to pursue it. What makes you personally so passionate about this particular issue? Yes.

You know, when I was in the legislature and I got to travel around the state and get to know the people of Pennsylvania, and I heard the stories of kids who were stuck in failing schools, had an opportunity, and then were able to succeed in life. And hearing some of these stories, Rob, it's insane. Kids that would be, would say, look, I probably, not only would I have not graduated, I would not be alive today because of the environment that I was stuck in, but because I had an opportunity that I'm now, successful. So that has really, really made me passionate about this issue. I was already very, you know, familiar with the need for every Pennsylvania. You know, one size doesn't fit all in education. And I love education policy and had an unconventional upbringing. I was homeschooled. I went to, you know, college and grad school and the GI Bill. So I already had an unconventional educational journey myself. And I already knew, hey, one size doesn't fit all when it comes to education. But But then hearing these stories from real people in Pennsylvania whose actual life journeys were dramatically affected and impacted by the opportunity that they had galvanized this for me

and made it a passion project to make sure every kid in Pennsylvania has that access and has that opportunity. As somebody who lives in Virginia and saw firsthand how this issue animated the governor's race and really propelled Governor Glenn Yonkin to Richmond, I'm wondering, do you feel that the intensity is still there among Pennsylvanians and parents in particular to really go to the polls and vote on an issue like this and then hold their legislators accountable? I think the momentum is continuing. I think the issue of school choice is really is still front and center, and I think it's something that's now mainstream. And what I would tell you, what it really boils down to

is the parental rights and a parent knows best what their kid needs for their education. And that's what really was part of that race in Virginia, where there was almost this argument of, well, you know, we know better than the parents do. And that's where parents were like, excuse me, and they came in and voted the way they did. But one thing I found in the legislature, I had introduced it and gotten a bill passed in both chambers, which just would have allowed parents to see what their kids were learning. Basically, it would just publish, hey, here's the curriculum for the next school year. the governor, a Democrat governor, vetoed that bill. So it was this, that was a contentious issue for them. And so I think that it's important to really go back to the core issue, which is parents know best what their kids need for their educational journey. And it's not always the government school. And when it's not, we need to make sure they have the opportunity to attend the school of their choice so that they can succeed in life.

That's so true. And well said. One of the things that we've seen, over the past few decades is the growth of state-based policy organizations. They've had a tremendous influence in setting the agenda there in state capitals. What is your vision for the Commonwealth Foundation over the next five to ten years and the opportunities that you see on the horizon where you can really leave your mark and have an impact? Absolutely. So I think federalism is one of the greatest gifts given to us by our founders and this kind of layered government where we have state governments that have such broad autonomy to be laboratories of innovation and uphold that American promise of freedom and opportunity. And so for the Commonwealth Foundation, I start with our mission, which is we transform free market ideas into actionable public policies so that all Pennsylvanians can flourish.

And when I start there, it's like, okay, how do we maximize that impact? How do we maximize the impact of getting free market ideas into actionable public policies so all Pennsylvanians can flourish? And to me, the vision is, and it's, I'm in week three, so we're currently really narrowing it down to that vision statement that really captures where we're going. But where we're going is to maximize that impact, and we're going to leverage the policy team and really build a robust policy scholar team that will grab those free market ideas and write what a solution would look like. And then from there, we're really going to optimize our government affairs team. And then I want to tell the story. I want to really kind of you do a tremendous job at Daily Signal, telling the story and talking about how the policies affect people's lives and talking about the current events that intersect with these policy solutions. And I think there's a huge opportunity for Commonwealth Foundation to tell those stories on a number of platforms and a number of mediums. And we're going to go after it. Well, we would love to tell some of those stories at the Daily Signal. So be sure to keep us in mind when it comes to any.

of that news, I think it's critically important. You know, and, you know, a couple of final questions for you here. What about the network of policy organizations that exist now at the state level or even at the national level? How do you see interacting with them to make sure that, as you said, the importance of federalism, but maybe sharing ideas, what worked in one state could potentially work in Pennsylvania? You know, the network is so important just for that reason, because there are ideas that come up in one state that will see what a sister organization's doing. And then we can say,

hey, that's a great, not only a great idea, but let's learn from them. And so lessons learned that peer exchange and peer encouragement is so important. When you look at organizations like the state policy network and the affiliated organizations throughout the United States, SPN is just such a gift to our country. And I think working closely with these organizations, with my fellow CEOs and with my fellow groups here is going to be key to not only sharing ideas from CF, but gaining ideas and learning from those other organizations as well. Andrew, of course, you couldn't do your work without the support of people who make contributions. Tell our listeners and viewers how, if they want to help you accomplish your goals at the Commonwealth

Foundation, the best way to go about doing that. Absolutely. So we are 100% privately funded. We depend on investors and donors who are so generous to give, to allow us to continue our mission. If you go to commonwealthfoundation.org, you can learn more about us. Of course, you can give a gift there, or you can just reach out to us and meet with us. And we'd love to talk to you about the mission and the vision of Commonwealth Foundation and everything we're doing to make Pennsylvania once again earn its title of being the Keystone State.

Andrew Lewis is the new leader. less than a month on the job of the Commonwealth Foundation. Andrew, we appreciate you spending time with the Daily Signal today. Thank you so much, Rob. Thanks for having me on. It's been an honor. For The Daily Signal, I'm Rob Lewy. We'll see you again soon. And that'll do it for today's episode. If you want to stay ahead of the curve on the latest political news and analysis, be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal for our free email newsletters. You'll get the latest headlines, detailed news coverage, and exclusive interviews delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up at dailysignal.com

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