LANSDALE -- In a wide-ranging interview with the GBC network, POG Governor and former Conservative presidential candidate Donna Almone spoke passionately about the economy, the environment and police brutality.
The sit-down interview was conducted at her office in downtown Lansdale. The governor, who has largely stayed out of the national spotlight since her razor-thin defeat in the 2016 presidential election, told the GBC's GinaMarie Demuri that she has "never felt more committed to the cause of public service" than now.
Almone - who is POG's longest-serving governor, serving since 2006 - told Demuri that the economy continues to be her main concern as governor.
"Yes, Grassadellians don't like Donald Trump. Yes they care about social justice and equality. Yes they care about the environment. But most of all, they care about putting food on the table for their families. Paying their mortgage. Paying their rent. Paying the light bill. So many Grassadellians are struggling to get by. Wage stagnation is at an all-time high, and yet the cost of living keeps increasing. People are having a tough time keeping up. So that's why my focus as governor has been on building a stronger, more robust economy. Bringing jobs here to POG. Bringing living-wage jobs here, so people can afford to live a comfortable life with their families; so parents can spend more time with their kids and less time working to make money just to scrape by."
Almone said she'd like to see members of Congress focus on economic issues too.
"Governors understand the importance of the economy, because we get unemployment reports regularly, we closely follow new factories that open or shut down, we closely watch welfare rolls and monitor job growth. Economic vitality is something that governors are more in tune with I think, than our legislators. Senators and Assemblymen, they focus on a wide array of issues every day. That's just the nature of their jobs. So we are doing our part, we need the Congress and the President and his team to focus more on reducing the tax burden on families, incentivizing economic growth and creating strong jobs that will be able to sustain families."
The governor was asked about recent environmental legislation she signed in to law that restricts oil drilling off the coast of POG and her opposition to a proposed natural gas pipeline that would criss-cross the southern part of the state.
"Are these new laws you signed and championed, are they harming or hampering economic growth?" Demuri asked.
"No I don't think so. Certainly we would get new jobs from oil companies coming in and developing oil and natural gas. But the bulk of POG's economy surrounds tourism and travel. If we jeopardize our coastlines and jeopardize our environment, if we have an oil spill or cause irreversible damage to our pristine land and waters, we will lose far more jobs than we would gain from an oil rig or a pipeline."
She is open to natural gas exploration in the interior of POG's southwest, however, but not a pipeline.
The interview took a more poignant turn when Demuri asked the governor about the recent fatal shooting of Leon Aruba, a 37-year-old unarmed Black man who was killed by police in Lansdale's southwest last week.
"Is there a problem with police training in our country?" asked Demuri.
"I think there are some systemic problems in the way our law enforcement are trained. I think they are trained to shoot to kill in every circumstance, and while that is good for mass shooting events and we always want to eliminate the threat to innocent human life, I think sometimes our police culture and training has inadvertently caused officers to shoot first and then assess afterwards. Just instinctively that's what they're trained to do and their instincts take over. I don't believe it's a purposeful action, it's instinctive. But I do believe we need to re-evaluate how we train our police and how our police use force."
"The bottom line is, no one in our country should feel unsafe walking down the sidewalk on a sunny afternoon. It absolutely breaks my heart, Gina, that young African-Grassadellian men, and young Hispanic men in our country do not feel safe around police, do not feel like they can walk down the street wearing a hoodie. No Grassadellian should feel unsafe around law enforcement. Our police are here to protect us and make us feel safer, and yet we have a whole segment of our population who feel unsafe around police; who feel like they're always under suspicion and always being watched with a watchful eye in a way that other people aren't. I think that's a cultural issue that we as Grassadellians need to address, and the law enforcement community needs to address as well. We need to apologize to young men of color and make it clear to all Grassadellians that the police respect you, they are here to protect you, they will treat you fairly and treat you the way they'd treat a white person."
The governor added that "we, as a country, have a long way to go on the issue of race and police."
Leon Aruba was walking down a sidewalk on a residential street when he was stopped by Lansdale police officer Luis Perretes.
Perretes stopped Aruba because he matched the description of a theft suspect who stole merchandise from a nearby convenience store.
Aruba was carrying a skate board at the time Perretes confronted him. Aruba approached Perretes, who was still in his patrol car, and raised his skateboard in the air.
Perretes told his superiors he believed Aruba was trying to bash him with the skateboard and feared Aruba would reach into the car and pull his gun from his waist-belt.
After multiple warnings, Aruba did not back away and Perretes shot him at close range, hitting Aruba in the torso three times.
Aruba was unarmed and witnesses said he raised the skateboard slightly but not in a threatening manner.
"It appeared he was just frustrated the officer was questioning him and he raised his skateboard a little but in a way like saying, 'man, why you bothering me,'" said Miguel Ruita, who saw the shooting take place.
Aruba was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead a few hours later. He was not the suspect from the convenience store theft either, police later determined.
Perretes was placed on paid leave, which is standard protocol, as investigators from the POG State Police investigate the shooting.
Lansdale Police Chief Richard Cordanson said he was disturbed the incident took a fatal turn, and a thorough investigation would take place.
Cordanson drew complaints, however, when he later said the fatal shooting could have been avoided if Aruba had heeded Perretes' verbal warnings to back away.
"It's very simple. When a police officer gives you instructions and tells you to do something, you do it. You can argue about it later. But in that moment, you need to follow the officer's commands," Cordanson said.
He later apologized.
Minority groups and community activists have since called for his resignation or firing.
Lansdale Mayor Ollie Fugazzi said he will meet with his public safety committee before making a decision on Cordanson's future.
The sit-down interview was conducted at her office in downtown Lansdale. The governor, who has largely stayed out of the national spotlight since her razor-thin defeat in the 2016 presidential election, told the GBC's GinaMarie Demuri that she has "never felt more committed to the cause of public service" than now.
Almone - who is POG's longest-serving governor, serving since 2006 - told Demuri that the economy continues to be her main concern as governor.
"Yes, Grassadellians don't like Donald Trump. Yes they care about social justice and equality. Yes they care about the environment. But most of all, they care about putting food on the table for their families. Paying their mortgage. Paying their rent. Paying the light bill. So many Grassadellians are struggling to get by. Wage stagnation is at an all-time high, and yet the cost of living keeps increasing. People are having a tough time keeping up. So that's why my focus as governor has been on building a stronger, more robust economy. Bringing jobs here to POG. Bringing living-wage jobs here, so people can afford to live a comfortable life with their families; so parents can spend more time with their kids and less time working to make money just to scrape by."
Almone said she'd like to see members of Congress focus on economic issues too.
"Governors understand the importance of the economy, because we get unemployment reports regularly, we closely follow new factories that open or shut down, we closely watch welfare rolls and monitor job growth. Economic vitality is something that governors are more in tune with I think, than our legislators. Senators and Assemblymen, they focus on a wide array of issues every day. That's just the nature of their jobs. So we are doing our part, we need the Congress and the President and his team to focus more on reducing the tax burden on families, incentivizing economic growth and creating strong jobs that will be able to sustain families."
The governor was asked about recent environmental legislation she signed in to law that restricts oil drilling off the coast of POG and her opposition to a proposed natural gas pipeline that would criss-cross the southern part of the state.
"Are these new laws you signed and championed, are they harming or hampering economic growth?" Demuri asked.
"No I don't think so. Certainly we would get new jobs from oil companies coming in and developing oil and natural gas. But the bulk of POG's economy surrounds tourism and travel. If we jeopardize our coastlines and jeopardize our environment, if we have an oil spill or cause irreversible damage to our pristine land and waters, we will lose far more jobs than we would gain from an oil rig or a pipeline."
She is open to natural gas exploration in the interior of POG's southwest, however, but not a pipeline.
The interview took a more poignant turn when Demuri asked the governor about the recent fatal shooting of Leon Aruba, a 37-year-old unarmed Black man who was killed by police in Lansdale's southwest last week.
"Is there a problem with police training in our country?" asked Demuri.
"I think there are some systemic problems in the way our law enforcement are trained. I think they are trained to shoot to kill in every circumstance, and while that is good for mass shooting events and we always want to eliminate the threat to innocent human life, I think sometimes our police culture and training has inadvertently caused officers to shoot first and then assess afterwards. Just instinctively that's what they're trained to do and their instincts take over. I don't believe it's a purposeful action, it's instinctive. But I do believe we need to re-evaluate how we train our police and how our police use force."
"The bottom line is, no one in our country should feel unsafe walking down the sidewalk on a sunny afternoon. It absolutely breaks my heart, Gina, that young African-Grassadellian men, and young Hispanic men in our country do not feel safe around police, do not feel like they can walk down the street wearing a hoodie. No Grassadellian should feel unsafe around law enforcement. Our police are here to protect us and make us feel safer, and yet we have a whole segment of our population who feel unsafe around police; who feel like they're always under suspicion and always being watched with a watchful eye in a way that other people aren't. I think that's a cultural issue that we as Grassadellians need to address, and the law enforcement community needs to address as well. We need to apologize to young men of color and make it clear to all Grassadellians that the police respect you, they are here to protect you, they will treat you fairly and treat you the way they'd treat a white person."
The governor added that "we, as a country, have a long way to go on the issue of race and police."
Leon Aruba was walking down a sidewalk on a residential street when he was stopped by Lansdale police officer Luis Perretes.
Perretes stopped Aruba because he matched the description of a theft suspect who stole merchandise from a nearby convenience store.
Aruba was carrying a skate board at the time Perretes confronted him. Aruba approached Perretes, who was still in his patrol car, and raised his skateboard in the air.
Perretes told his superiors he believed Aruba was trying to bash him with the skateboard and feared Aruba would reach into the car and pull his gun from his waist-belt.
After multiple warnings, Aruba did not back away and Perretes shot him at close range, hitting Aruba in the torso three times.
Aruba was unarmed and witnesses said he raised the skateboard slightly but not in a threatening manner.
"It appeared he was just frustrated the officer was questioning him and he raised his skateboard a little but in a way like saying, 'man, why you bothering me,'" said Miguel Ruita, who saw the shooting take place.
Aruba was rushed to a hospital but was pronounced dead a few hours later. He was not the suspect from the convenience store theft either, police later determined.
Perretes was placed on paid leave, which is standard protocol, as investigators from the POG State Police investigate the shooting.
Lansdale Police Chief Richard Cordanson said he was disturbed the incident took a fatal turn, and a thorough investigation would take place.
Cordanson drew complaints, however, when he later said the fatal shooting could have been avoided if Aruba had heeded Perretes' verbal warnings to back away.
"It's very simple. When a police officer gives you instructions and tells you to do something, you do it. You can argue about it later. But in that moment, you need to follow the officer's commands," Cordanson said.
He later apologized.
Minority groups and community activists have since called for his resignation or firing.
Lansdale Mayor Ollie Fugazzi said he will meet with his public safety committee before making a decision on Cordanson's future.
Posts
