Baltimore County Executive and Congressional Candidate Johnny Olszewski joins Nestor from MACo in Ocean City to discuss hometown issues, diversity in our area and the legacy of Dutch Ruppersberger.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
dutch, baltimore county, work, johnny, mako, milkshakes, election, year, congress, vote, hispanic, bridge, baltimore, running, gun safety legislation, republicans, french, great, spent, maryland
SPEAKERS
Johnny Olszewski, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, Dallas, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We’re positively down here in Ocean City, Maryland. We’re makeup. We’re at the fish pal Convention Center, giving away the gold rush. Seven stops. Johnny o needs one here, even though he’s gonna get even scratch off next month, but he comes to dinner. Let’s go, go our Baltimore County Executive running for Congress. Johnny o where you been hiding? Dude, I’ve been trying to have you on all summer. You’ve been, like, busy running for things and running things. How do you do this? I have a few things sitting Baltimore County, and then you’re like, running for this Congress thing. It’s just double duty for you. I
Johnny Olszewski 00:39
have an amazing wife and daughter and family and support structure. But so yeah, we’re busy running a county of 860,000 people, running a campaign for Congress, which has been great and incredibly rewarding. And then I decided, you know, we’re here at Mako, it’d be fun to be the president of the Maryland Association of Counties. On top of all that, being a dad, being a father, see the president of Mako. I’m also the president this year. So what does that mean? Thank you for being at our conference. Thank
Nestor Aparicio 01:05
you for having me at
01:07
your conference. Now that it’s your conference, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 01:10
ours, it’s all so Look, dude, we’re gonna do we’re gonna do a longer visit. You only have a few minutes because, like, you’re doing stuff down here. And I appreciate you coming by. And I I’m sorry for your staff that there are no truck city milkshakes here for you, a South Chuck will hook it up. He’ll give you a big girl milkshake too, if you want one makeup. Let’s just do a couple minutes on this. And what this is, yeah, because, um, you know, I knew about it, and Don Muller, five years ago, said you should come down. He was true. My wife came down for the first time this year, and she’s like, Are you registered for this party? He’s walking me. Nobody cares. You know, every down your drink I went to bed in at nine o’clock last night. I know you find that hard to believe responsible. I was losing my voice. Man, I was not. I was not cut out for 45th Street last night, or that dry dock thing they do across the street. But this is, um, this is where the businesses state really gets done. And a lot of it does happen after dark with a beer. I’ll be honest, this
Johnny Olszewski 02:00
is the political epicenter of the year where you have federal, state, local leaders come together for this Maryland Association of Counties. You have county leaders from across the state convening. This is probably the largest gathering of elected officials in Maryland. Every year. Did you come here when you were a kid like interning and figuring things out? My father was on the county council. I started coming down, and Mako has sort of grown in those years since, I mean, that was back in the 90s, early 2000s and this is another record shattering year for us. We’ve got 1000s of attendees, exhibitors, the evening events, as you mentioned, business continues over a beer later in the day. It’s gotten to the point where, like, the calendar becomes so overwhelming. Yeah, I can’t, I can’t do anything gets but like, that’s the great thing is, like, during the day, there’s so much great content. I went to a republican
Nestor Aparicio 02:46
party yesterday. That’s okay. They were happy to have me. I love that hair out. That’s what’s great about
Johnny Olszewski 02:51
local government is, like, you know, potholes and roads and picking up trash that that’s not really a partisan thing. We just try to deliver the same services. And so as I’ve been traveling, and part of my job is to visit all 24 jurisdictions during the year as president like there, we have so much in common in terms of what we’re trying to do, some of the concerns that we’re sharing. So this is just a great opportunity to be together, talk to our partners in the state. There are secretaries, the governor’s here. We’ve got I just saw United States Senator Chris Van Hollen, so I
Nestor Aparicio 03:21
just spent 30 minutes with him, met with Doug. I’m gonna get 10 with Johnny go, you know, but that’s okay. Well, you’re gonna get bonus time. We
Johnny Olszewski 03:27
get back to Baltimore, well,
Nestor Aparicio 03:28
you’ll be a congressman, and we hope you’re a congressman. I
Johnny Olszewski 03:31
hope so. We’re working on it. Things look good. Folks have been great. We’re knocking doors. We’re sharing our message, and honestly, it’s just telling the story of what we’ve done in Baltimore County. We’ve been able to do those common sense things where we sense things, where we bring people together to make sure we’re making those investments in schools and parks in our rec centers, that we are providing the quality of life services, and we’re not making it partisan. We’re bringing Democrats and Republicans together on those common sense things and on the hard things. Right? So in Baltimore County, we passed gunlet gun safety legislation through the SAFE Act, which is about gun safety storage for the gun shops, we brought that the gun owners to the table. We brought gun advocates to the table. We brought the gun store owners the police department, and we got Democrats and Republicans to and bipartisan, bipartisan, overwhelming fashion vote for gun safety legislation. Those are the kinds of lessons that I think Congress needs to learn about coming together and finding compromise without compromising our values. I mean, we can do these things in a way that brings everybody to the table, and we don’t have to agree on everything, but like, there we should be making a lot more progress on a lot more, many more issues.
Nestor Aparicio 04:35
I’m gonna give you curveball. Sean will hate this one, but this is Eastside Baltimore thing. So my kid lives in Colgate. You’re from a Colgate, your East Side. Guy, you built Colgate. We got the new school there, and all that. Kevin Kamenetz, of all them, all that Hispanic, Hispanic population. There’s a young lady here, that two down from montgomery county, who’s doing a podcast in Spanish. Yep. And I chatted with her in English, because my Spanish. It’s just good enough. And I was saying to her, the neighborhood I grew up in, I was the only person of color, and I’m barely of color. People think I’m white, I’m Hispanic. Hear me out. Whistler, I am the only Hispanic journalist in the city like and also banned by the Orioles and the Ravens. But the Hispanic population, I had a debt Ramos on talking about the city. My elementary school is 72% Hispanic in a neighborhood it was 1% me 35 years ago. Populations changing all throughout the county, all throughout the state, in so many ways. I And that’s we’re having a real integrated, you know, moment, I think, for the county, when that when I go back to my school and Spanish is the first language being spoken in that neighborhood,
Johnny Olszewski 05:45
not a curveball. I mean, we think diversity is our strength, and we love that we’re seeing this incredible growth of diversity across our communities. In Baltimore County, we have recognized in our administration that we need to be more responsive to that changing, those changing demographics that we’re experiencing. So we are, well, that’s what I thought
Nestor Aparicio 06:04
the Spanish language podcast was kind of interesting in montgomery county. So, you know, I thought that was kind of kind
Johnny Olszewski 06:08
of wild. County has created the first ever Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We have significantly invested in helping to have people who use Spanish or other languages as their first language to learn English, to also help them navigate, you know, work school. We so we’ve significantly invested in English as a second language teachers and support. There we are, you know, really using our immigration Affairs Coordinator. We have Juliana Valencia banks, who’s an amazing person. She now has a three person team. I hope we’re spending better than mine, specifically for new American Outreach. Well, my problem is I learned French in high school and college.
Nestor Aparicio 06:46
Listen, I grew up in a gringo household in Colgate and Dundalk with half my family Hispanic, half my family, Archie Bunker, everybody fighting all the time. And the one thing that my gringo family won on was that they didn’t want me to speak Spanish, which is dumb. Yeah. So dumb. So 1978 so, you know, I don’t speak it as well as my wife and I talk about it all the time, like, How much better would my relationships have been in the baseball locker room? How much better would they be with anyone whose first language span? Communication is a beautiful thing for everybody in any language. It really is. Just spent
Johnny Olszewski 07:23
a week with my wife and my daughter in Canada. We were in Montreal. We it was a great trip
07:33
Bonjour Paul.
Johnny Olszewski 07:40
But what was great was,
Nestor Aparicio 07:41
like, some Dundalk French, bro,
Johnny Olszewski 07:45
what? What was great? What was like we go to these restaurants and intersect with just people on the street and taking the effort. I mean, they’re they’re bilingual there, right? Both, both cities, Montreal and Quebec City, are English and French are just coexisting, and it’s a beautiful thing, but French is sort of predominant a little bit, but like, if you as an American are taking the time to, at least, you know, learn a couple of basics, say,
Nestor Aparicio 08:12
poutine, poutine. How to say that?
Johnny Olszewski 08:16
Well, the the ball Marie’s dialect is a whole different version of French. Though,
Nestor Aparicio 08:21
Johnny always here. I have been promised him for 10 minutes on the Congress thing, on the running thing. And I guess having you on for 10 minutes means I have to offer equal time, which will be something. What do you what is there gonna be a debate? I mean, like, where are you? Because I can’t even find I just passed Andy Harris’s thing over here, the Trump side of a dialog leads me to he led an insurrection. He should be under a prison. And thinking that way, I have no tolerance for it as a journalist, as a citizen, I see the signs driving down 50. I don’t get it, but you’re running against a wing of that. And I don’t know if she can win or be competitive, but you tell me that there was going to be a competitor in this race. You didn’t think this is going to be a cakewalk. We’re gonna have to. People have to fill your name out and select you. But this is a difficult thing, arguing against all this fiction, and I find it hard in my real life to do that. And by the way, the man you defeated in your previous election, who I had on the show who was a sponsor of mine, who I like. We sat and had a beverage last evening, and he sort of admitted to me that the Trump thing’s really bad for everybody, bad for his party, probably bad for Larry Ogden in this election. Yeah.
09:32
So maybe we’re at the end of trumping. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe
Johnny Olszewski 09:35
we’ll find out in November.
Nestor Aparicio 09:37
Well, tell me about your election, because you’re running against that. So yeah, I
Johnny Olszewski 09:40
mean, and Al’s a great guy, by the way, so I love that. What I’ll say is, before that race, I won my primary by 17 votes. So we’re taking nothing for granted. We know that every vote actually matters, and any race can be you were out there counting them, right? We were actually it was nine votes before the recount, so people filled in the O and Johnny O, as opposed to the Oval. So we had to, like, fight as to whether or not the. Votes counted. So that’s a whole other story. But you know, in this race, we’re taking nothing for granted, overwhelmed by the support we had in the primary, we had a six person open field to replace my good friend and mentor, Dutch Ruppersberger. There were six candidates. We got almost 80% of the vote in the primary. We’re working hard to win over now independents and Republicans who are open to supporting a Democrat. And I think, to your point, there are Republicans out there who, I think, look at our record of working with Democrats and Republicans to deliver for the residents of Baltimore County. It’s the anchor of the district, but there’s also parts of Baltimore City that I’ve loved getting to know better. There’s also almost all of Carroll County, and I’ve really enjoyed spending time with folks who live out there, but they just look at what we’ve done. And I think the comparison to from a Democrat who believes in, again, forging common sense compromise from a democratic perspective, right? But I want to hear all the voices. It’s what we’ve done in our town halls. It’s what we do working with our council members, contrasting that to someone who is just a hard line right wing believer and dogma, who doesn’t believe in compromise, doesn’t believe in working together, sort of buys into, you know, proudly, admits that she was at and around the January 6
Nestor Aparicio 11:14
festivities, insurrection is what it was. Yes,
Johnny Olszewski 11:17
I’m saying what she would perceive, right? So I think that there’s not a clearer choice for voters in the second congressional district, and so we’re just very proud about talking about our story. We really believe that, like our message will is resonating and will resonate, and then if people are and I really haven’t seen her much on the trail, I know she’s very active on social media, that’s fine, but when they see us together, that that’s even more stark, because you have sort of this right wing dogma, unwillingness to sort of come together and find solutions, and more of just like this absolutism and so, You know, I
Nestor Aparicio 12:00
and social media versus getting things done, just in a general sense of what Trumpism is and what it did to our country, throughout our country, just to divide itself,
Johnny Olszewski 12:09
yelling, yelling into the void, hurling insults at people, is not how you drive progress. And so if people want a candidate who’s going to go do that, then they should vote for if you want someone who has proven to be able to deliver results, sit down, work across the table, work with my party, work with the Republican Party, to figure out how we fix the problems that are in front of us, and try to do so in a not no nonsense, transparent sort of way. We hope to have folks support bridge
Nestor Aparicio 12:39
real quick on the bridge. Yeah, we’ll do longer on the bridge next time. But where are you on that right now? So
Johnny Olszewski 12:46
we’re supporting the state’s effort. They just recently, I think, announced they’re going to be releasing an award to a company to do the design build, 1.7 to $2 billion project. The federal government is close to agreeing with the state on financing of it. It will be at least 90% constructed by or financed by the federal government. We’re trying to get to 100%
Nestor Aparicio 13:06
but either way, 10% is a lot on that bridge. 10% of
Johnny Olszewski 13:10
$2 billion is not not change so, but we’re going to work both in my role as county executive and my role as a member of Congress, if the voters have us to make sure that this bridge gets done, gets done quickly, safely, effectively. It is a huge hub for commerce. I live on the one side in Baltimore County. Of it. Have experienced it, have lived it. So we know how important this is. I lived it
Nestor Aparicio 13:32
the other day driving down to the beach because I said to her, we used to go across the Key Bridge, take Sally road before 97 was built. That was the Dundalk way to get there. And, you know, I thought like, the tunnel, oh, there’s no bridge, you know, like, and you realize that when you fly to BWI and you look down, or when you see the shots from the Inner Harbor in the morning, and it’s gone Dutch. And legacy for Dutch, if you are the man to replace Dutch Dutch, those are big shoes, dog, huge
Johnny Olszewski 13:57
shoes. Huge shoes. Dutch is a tremendous guy. I’m honored to be his friend. I’m honored to call him a mentor. Honored to have his endorsement in this race. He has spent a lifetime of service. He was Mako president. He was county executive before he became a member of Congress. In a lot of ways, and Dutch and I have our own styles and our own approach, but in many ways, this is like a refresh of having that local perspective and that common sense approach. Dutch is very much I’m cut from the same cloth of Dutch in terms of trying to be about relationships and bringing people together and solve problems. But Dutch has done so much. He’s a great storyteller. He’s accomplished so much in his career, particularly around the national security work that he’s done in the United States Congress. But he will be missed, but I know that he’s also I was talking to him earlier today. He’s looking forward to more time with his wife and his grandkids, and, you know, as a father of a amazing eight year old little girl, and what I see with my grandparents, with her just I, I respect that, and I wish him well and all of his future endeavor. I think he’s retiring from Congress, but I don’t, I don’t know that we’ve, you know, we’re going to continue to see more of Dutch Ruppersberger, I’m sure. Well, you’ll
Nestor Aparicio 15:06
be he’ll have him on the bat phone, I’m sure. So Dutch story at fates in April. DUNS been on the show in a couple years. He had some health issues. I’m trying to get him on. I saw him here last year, just walking out of the building as you run into people here, always warm with me. But I saw him at fates in April, right before the election, and he had Trone with him, and we were failing, because it was a grand opening. And John Sarbanes was a lot of people there. BJ stars, a lot of people. Couple 100 people. Molar was there. We’re all banging around. And Dutch is there with David trona. Never met David Trone in my life, and I never had him on the show. Kind of had wanted to before the election and all that. And I walked up to both of them and I said, Hey, David, I’m Nestor Aparicio ball, and Dutch is next to him. And Dutch goes, he’s real bomber. And that’s all he said. It’s all he said. He went a real Baltimore. And I’m like, Thanks, dodge. Nicest thing I’ve ever heard a real Ballmer, Johnny. O is here. He is running for Congress with a capital C. Send him, John. Send Johnny o to DC. Sounds good to me. All right, man. Be good. Come back and Okay, milkshakes, crab cakes. Milkshakes. For all I’m doing the oyster tour next month. I’m doing 26 oysters in 26 days after the election.
Johnny Olszewski 16:18
We’ll try to bring more near scorecard on that too, though. So Well,
Nestor Aparicio 16:21
I don’t feel like I need an hour with you to get you elected, given the circumstances of the election. So I’ll the more time I offer you, the more equal time I have to offer. So you’re out November 10. So Johnny always here go vote for him. If you’re sensible and you’re in the second. I’m Nestor. We’re Mako. The president of Mako has now stopped by, so I’m now blessed back for more in Ocean City. Stay with us. You.
