The Pursuit of Community Connection and Change with Ohio House Representative Nick Santucci

Nick Santucci: 0:00

My point is that we always do our best to respond to everybody. Sometimes things fall through the cracks, but I'm very intentional about getting back to folks, and seeing what is on everybody's mind is very important to me because, like we talked about earlier, I'm walking onto the house floor to cast a vote that is going to impact everybody.

Ashley: 0:24

Welcome back to the United she Stands podcast, the show that brings kindness and women into politics. I'm Ashley.

Sara: 0:30

And I'm Sarah, and we're two women from Ohio who are here to become more educated about American politics and build a community so we can all get involved and make an impact together.

Ashley: 0:40

We hope we'll inspire and empower you along the way. Hello everyone and welcome back to the United she Stands podcast. Today we're excited to sit down with State Representative Nick Santucci, who represents the 64th Ohio House District, which encompasses the southeastern portion of Trumbull County. State Representative Nick Santucci is serving his first term in the Ohio House District, which encompasses the southeastern portion of Trumbull County. State Representative Nick Santucci is serving his first term in the Ohio House District and State Representative Nick Santucci is serving his first term in the Ohio House of Representatives. Santucci currently serves as a senior consultant for workforce and community engagement at VASA Consulting. Prior to joining VASA, santucci was the director of government affairs and workforce development at the Educational Service Center of Eastern Ohio. He also served as manager and later director of education and workforce development at the Youngstown-Worn Regional Chamber. He then moved into the Economic Development Department and was promoted to director of government and public affairs. Representative. Santucci received his bachelor's degree in political science from John Carroll University. Nick learned the value of hard work from working with his grandfathers, one a union bricklayer and the other a barber. His passion for public service and his community was sparked at a young age and has driven him toward dedicating his career to serving the Mahoning Valley. He previously served as the president of the governing board for Valley STEM Plus Me Too Academy. He also has served as a member of the Development Committee at Bright Energy Innovators and of the Business Advisory Council at the Educational Service Center of Eastern Ohio. Representative Nick Santucci currently resides in Howland Township with his wife, alexis. Thanks for joining us, nick.

Nick Santucci: 2:16

Thanks for having me, thanks for being here. It's good to be with both of you. Appreciate the opportunity.

Ashley: 2:20

Yeah, we're so excited to have you yeah.

Sara: 2:23

We'll start off pretty, you know, pretty casual and very much so at the beginning of your passion for politics. So I know we kind of maybe touched a bit on it in your intro. But what led you to running for office? Where did that passion start? I'm assuming your grandfathers.

Nick Santucci: 2:46

Yeah, so it. You know it's a long and windy story, but I'm happy to kind of go through it. So I graduated from Howland in 09. I moved away to John Carroll University and was a major in political science. I think you guys had touched on that in my bio and you know, like every political science grad, I graduated and I was all fired up, you know, for government and politics. And we were coming right off of the cusp of the 2012 election and I was really engaged and fired up and I wanted to run for office. I thought, you know, politics was a great career path. I was super engaged and I ended up getting a job at the Youngstown War Regional Chamber, where I began to see how the political process actually worked. I was a lobbyist for a little while. I worked in education and workforce development. I worked a little bit in economic development as well, and so I got to kind of get to see how the sausage gets made. And when I was at the chamber I lost all interest in running for public office. I really had no vision or direction into what office I would want, or even interest in being in any type of governmental entity, and it was actually my wife that ended up convincing me to jump into the race for state representative of the 64th district. There was an open seat. Representative Michael Brian was a Democrat and I got a phone call from a few of the local party members and a few members of the legislature at the time because I was a lobbyist. So I was in Columbus once a month and in DC once a quarter and they called me on a Saturday and said, hey, we really think you should jump into this open seat that Michael Brian is leaving. And I said, no thanks, I really appreciate the opportunity, but I'm doing just fine. I was at the ESC at the time and it was my wife that came around the corner after I hung up the phone and said who was that? And I said, oh, it was party members, elected officials, et cetera. They want me to run for state rep. And she said, just do it. They call you every year. You're a natural, it would be a great fit for you. And I said, well, if you're in, then I'm in, because having a spouse that supports you through that career and that pathway is really, really important. And so we jumped in and my district was a D plus 10 district, which ultimately means I was 10 points in a deficit the minute the polls closed on election night, and so it was an uphill climb for me to run, but ultimately we won and we are now in Columbus serving and it's been an honor of a lifetime, really, that's awesome.

Ashley: 5:34

I followed your campaign because obviously I went to do in falls with Alexis, so I followed your campaign closely. I followed just what you've done and, yeah, it's just been a really cool journey to watch, even from the outside, just everything you guys have accomplished.

Nick Santucci: 5:47

Thank you very much. I appreciate that. That's a very kind compliment.

Ashley: 5:50

Yeah, so overall, I know this is a pretty broad question, but we'll kind of just leave it wide open for you to go with. What has your overall experience been like? This is your first term in the Ohio State House. What has that experience been like?

Nick Santucci: 6:02

Well, I say this often, even at my events and when I'm on the campaign trail. You know I get very emotional because I live in Holland, I graduated from Holland and I represent Holland, I represent the community I grew up in and so you know I normally get down to Columbus early in the morning. I'm up at five Typically, I get down to Columbus at 8am. I meet with my legislative aide walking through the state house and, you know, walking onto the house floor seeing my name on the front of my desk If you watch the Ohio channel and the camera pans on me, you'll often see that. I look around and I looked at the ornateness of the building and it never gets old and it's a very, very emotional, humbling experience for me to walk down the halls where so many other Ohioans have walked. The responsibility of it all and ultimately representing the area that I grew up in and I've been a part of all my life is really just amazing. It's amazing. But with that, you know, we have challenges in the state. We have human trafficking concerns here in the Mahoning Valley, we have a drug issue. When I worked at the chamber we would talk with the business community that 40 to 60 percent of applicants would fail their drug tests, going through an interview process which crushes our smaller businesses in the area. We, you know we have a lot of roadblocks here and, as great as this area is and as district 64 is, it's been eyeopening to see the data and the numbers. I'm now exposed to information that you know a lot of the public probably is not, and I have high level conversations with, with folks that see things that the general public does not, and it's it's concerning and the. You know I mentioned the responsibility of it all, but it's very true that we have to begin to solve some of these major problems, and I know it's very popular to watch Fox News or CNN or MSNBC and whatever they're talking about or whatever the buzzwords are for the day. You know politicians go down to Columbus or even DC and they try to solve those problems. The reality is is those are very high level problems. There's underlying challenges that we need to solve and if we don't, you know we're at risk of families getting hurt, young people getting hurt, the state losing, you know, support, and so it's a huge responsibility, but I love the job, no doubt.

Ashley: 8:44

I love that so much and a couple of things you said. First of all, I could like sense, I could see you get emotional about talking about it, which I just think your humility around it is so great and I think just you can tell you you're there to serve, which I think is just so huge. And, you know, I wish every elected official approached the situation like that. But then second, your comment on these huge level buzzwordy issues that are constantly feeding the news cycle and being down here on the ground floor, like where there's different things we need to accomplish. Sarah and I talk about that all the time. We've, you know, we've really gotten to know a lot of the grassroots orgs in Ohio through our efforts and it's just really incredible the amount of work and the impact that your local and state make on your life, like on your livelihood, and I think so many Americans don't even really realize that. So, yeah, your job is so, so much responsibility and so hugely important.

Nick Santucci: 9:33

No, you're in your spot on, and I think that you know a lot of these issues, and I say this all the time too. They're not Republican or Democrat issues. These are challenges that we are facing as an area. I represent the 64th district, but the truth is I walk on to the house floor and I press either a green button or a red button, and that impacts families in Toledo and families in Cincinnati, and so my vote is a statewide vote. It's not just I'm representing only the 64th district, even though where I come from and my values and my morals represent the 64th district. The reality is is we're voting on on major issues that are going to impact families all across the state and and so human trafficking needs addressed. We Ohio is actually ranked number five of the in the country for the worst human trafficking states. That's very alarming. One of the one of the most major challenges that we have in the state is Youngstown, particularly Youngstown Austin town. There's the access to freeway in our region. Is is a blessing and a curse because we have access to freeway, which attracts businesses here, but that same access to freeway causes problems with human trafficking and things like that. We've got to address that. Human trafficking isn't just a Republican or Democrat issue, it's just a quality of life issue that we have to address. You know, same thing with the drug issue. That's not only a workforce challenge, that's a human life, quality of life challenge. So I I appreciate you acknowledging you know my emotion in the job, but I get very frustrated with just the buzzwords and the hot potato issues. I think we need to actually sit down and take a laundry list of what's going on in our state and do our best to try to solve that the best we can and then move the needle for for people. My job or my vision or my goal is to make Ohio number one in the country. I'm not responsible for Pennsylvania. I'm not responsible for Michigan. My role, the way I see it, is how do we attract families and businesses here into the state so that we can boom and boost the economy and basically grow and thrive? And I think we're getting there.

Sara: 11:46

We just have a lot of work to do so so I actually had the same exact same two points that Ashley just said. That's why I was like kind of laughing in the background like this.

Ashley: 11:58

I'm actually not surprised we hang out too much.

Sara: 12:00

I'm not surprised that happened. But yeah, like when you were talking about just walking on, like walking through the hallways, like through this Zoom call, I felt your emotion and I got chills. Like that is incredible. And just hearing your passion like I am very impressed and honestly relieved, because knowing that there are politicians out there like you that are just so passionate about quality of life issues Like that is exactly what it is, and I have done some research on the human trafficking in Ohio and it is, like you said, nothing less than alarming and just the fact that you're so passionate about you and you understand that you represent this one district but your decisions also affect the entire state and that's a lot of people, and it really sounds like your heart's in the right place. So I mean, we're 10 minutes in, but I'm already very impressed by everything you've had to say.

Ashley: 12:50

Sarah is going to move home, so she can vote for you.

Nick Santucci: 12:54

We'll take you back in the 64th. You come on back. That would be great. We'll get you a Santucci yard sign. I'll get you a swag.

Sara: 13:04

I do love Columbus and the reason is I can be a little distance from home.

Nick Santucci: 13:11

Well, if ever you're near the state house, come on in. You could come up and see my office. We'd love to give you a private tour of the Capitol. You're more than welcome anytime. We'd love to have you.

Sara: 13:21

Oh my gosh, that'd be amazing. Yeah, I live just like less than two miles from downtown so and Ashley comes and visits sometimes, so we'll have to, we'll have to come visit you at the state.

Nick Santucci: 13:29

Yeah, we'd love to have you. Grace is my legislative aide in my office and we could coordinate calendars and set you up, and we'd love to have you down At least, for we could go to lunch and then you can tour the Capitol. Would love to have you.

Ashley: 13:41

That would be amazing. We will take you up on that in 2024. Thank you so much, nick. That's great, absolutely.

Sara: 13:46

Yes, thank you. So what do you do as your biggest accomplishment so far that you've been in office? I know, as we mentioned, it's your first term, kind of probably still getting the feel, the feel the role a bit, but do you have anything that kind of sticks out for biggest accomplishment so far?

Nick Santucci: 14:03

Sure, so I. So there's a, there's a lot of things that I'm, you know, really proud of and I don't think I'm special in any way. But you know, what has been unique about my experience is my career path is somewhat unique as opposed to maybe some of the other legislators that are down in Columbus. So, you know, in the Mahoney Valley there's the Youngstown War Regional Chamber, which I worked for. I worked for the Educational Service Center, and working on projects for those organizations had really given me a leg up into understanding the challenges that we had here, you know, in the market, and so you know, education and workforce development, economic development, how do we attract businesses here and keep them here, help them grow? Being a registered lobbyist, so going to Columbus once a month and in DC once a quarter, I got to see how legislation was made and what capital budgets mean and what how an operating budget gets done. And so my learning curve and again I'm not special, but my learning curve was a little bit different and a little bit shorter because I, once I was elected and sworn in, I stepped into the role, knowing kind of the path I wanted to carve for myself. And so, you know, vice chair of the Economic and Workforce Committee, which you know I'm grateful that the speaker appointed me to, because that that's my passion. That gets me really fired up. I'm also on insurance committee and commerce and labor committee and higher education committee. So all of my specialities, you know. I'm able to utilize them in the legislature and so a lot of the legislation that I've been working on, you know surrounds that and kind of fits in that space. You know I introduced a bill that cut taxes on baby care items and baby care products. I was really proud of that. A lot of that got incorporated in the operating budget that the governor signed into law. I was really excited about that. There's still work I think we need to do in that space. I still think that there's a lot of baby care items that probably we could still help families by cutting those taxes. But that's a bill that Representative Melanie Miller and I can try to continue to push in the next General Assembly. One thing I'm super passionate about is youth employment, and this is another thing. Oftentimes Republicans and Democrats, we tend to target and not target, but we tend to focus on individuals that are on benefit packages and there's often a buzzword that says you know we really need to get folks off of benefits and get them back into the workforce, and I'm supportive of that. I think there's conversations that need to be have in order to move people along and get them back in the workforce, but what we don't talk about is the human capital of young people that are qualified and capable, that could be working, especially in the entry level jobs, and how do we incentivize them and encourage them to enter the workforce? And you know we're all relatively young on this call and I would say that we probably know somebody that has gone all through high school, never worked, gone all through college, never worked, and then they show up at their first job and they expect to make $100,000 a year, and the reality of that situation is is just not the reality. We absolutely need to start using our platforms and I plan to do that, you know, in my role as a state rep but encouraging our young people to enter the workforce. There's thousands of jobs available in the Mahoning Valley and young people could be filling those jobs. We could be saving and solving some of the workforce challenge if we encourage our young people to get to work, and so I have a bill House Bill 71, that will encourage young people to enter into the workforce and the state will pay for someone to go into the school districts and recruit students, teach them soft skill training and professional skills and then ultimately place them in a job opportunity and give them the nudge out the door so that they can build their resumes and really, you know, focus on their career path. That's what we need, that's what we want. We want a really productive society of not only young people but folks on benefits and you know every able-bodied person to be working. They could be contributing to society in that manner. And so I've introduced lots of bills. I'm very proud of all of them. I'm very proud of my, you know, work experience and the life trajectory that I've had. That has given me the opportunity to kind of be ready on day one when I got elected, and so just, it's just an honor to serve and try to move the needle for Ohio. Even if we move it that much, I think it's a step in the right direction.

Ashley: 18:42

Yeah, I'm so glad you touched on those two things specifically because I think I don't know if I sent it over to you but I specifically like knew about these two bills that you had either cosponsored or I think I think the youth working one you sponsored on your own correct, I did, that was my. Yeah, it was my bill.

Nick Santucci: 18:56

Yeah yeah.

Ashley: 18:57

So I knew about these two because, like I said, I followed your journey here a bit and so I was really excited about them and I think a couple reasons. I'm a mom, like you know. We know the burden. Right, there is a burden that comes with that and so to lessen that burden in any way, I just think it's huge and that really does impact family's day to day life. So thank you for your work you've done on that. And then I loved the piece about the soft skills in your second bill. I just think that's so huge and that's something today that I don't know it's been. You know, I graduated in 192. So I don't know, it's been a few years since I've been in high school but I don't ever remember being taught these things and I don't think they are taught. You know, and even in college, like you maybe start to get a taste of it, but it's not really the soft skills aren't really focused on. So it's such a huge part of being in the workforce and no one today there's no, there's really nothing around that to like support young people or to help young people. So when I read some of your work around that bill I was I really liked just the, the components that you had put into it to bring it to life.

Nick Santucci: 19:55

Well, thanks, and I mean you're spot on with the soft skills and professional skills that that actually is a huge workforce barrier that we face. So when we talk with companies, they often say I would rather hire someone that has no skills in my job description but can answer a phone professionally and make eye contact and show up on time and I'll train them for the job. But just give me somebody that has professional skills or soft skills or I think they're calling them power skills now, and we'll train them for the job. Because you know, there's some folks that go to Harvard. They're geniuses, they come back and they could you know, they could fill any job that exists, but they don't have that communication skill or that soft skills, professional skills that a company really needs. And I think having that component and just just beginning to prepare our young people that those skills will get you further than going to Harvard in some instances. And so starting to work with our young people, get them prepared for the workforce, giving them the nudge out the door, allowing them to actually work, is the best opportunity that we can for creating a productive society. And you know, I'm sure we could go around on this call. My first job. I laid brick with my grandfather and I argued that the skills I learned with him probably propelled me to where I am today. There are certain transferable skills that you get from just working. It doesn't matter if it's at Wendy's or McDonald's or somewhere in the Eastwood Mall or wherever somewhere on the trade with trades and labor. The idea is that you learn fiscal responsibility by getting a paycheck. You learn accountability by showing up on time. You learn basic customer service skills by interacting with public. There's just skills that you absorb and you obtain, that they do carry with you to your next role and your next role and your next role, and that's what we ultimately want. At least that's what I see. You know, my vision for the state and for our young people and that was the whole intent of that bill was just to begin to work with young people and say, hey, like it's okay for you to go to work and make some money. It's a good thing and in fact it'll probably put you on a better career and life trajectory. If you start, you know, as soon as you can working. So thank you for your acknowledgement and your appreciation of the bill. I'm grateful for that.

Sara: 22:22

Yeah, and I've seen that play out with my own eyes just in corporate America, with even internships. I have seen college students get internships over others that maybe don't have a strong technical skills but they can, you know, talk to anyone, they can, their hard workers, they get it. They have those soft skills and I have, like when you said that, I'm like I can think of at least three examples in my head right now, whether it's internships or people up for promotions or different roles that are on a higher level. That's, it's so true. Soft skills are so important and that's not what is taught in our education system.

Ashley: 23:00

Yeah, okay, we're going to switch gears just a little bit. So, first term in, we've talked about this, but what has been like your biggest surprise since you've got elected, or maybe your biggest challenge that you've faced since being in office?

Nick Santucci: 23:12

Yeah, so I reviewed your questions before I came on and that that was a tough one. But but I do have to admit so I come from the consulting world. I worked for Vaza Consulting on the side and again working for the Chamber and the ESC. When you're in those types of roles, you tend to become very possessive of the projects or the jobs that you're working on. So when I was at VOSA as I am with VOSA, but when my role was a little different than it is now it's a lot more diminished now that I'm a state rep but when I was at VOSA we would pick a project, we would work with our client, we would try to get them funding and resources and we'd advocate for their project and I became kind of an expert of their project, even though it wasn't my project. And the same thing even at the Chamber when solving workforce and education issues. It was my job to work with the business community, trades and labor and the educational partners and try to get them in the room to try to solve some of the workforce challenges. I became very familiar with the talking points and understanding their issues. As a state rep I always say that I'm a generalist. Now you are the experts and so you have to reach out to me and communicate with me on your project now and how I can really help you If you have a legislative idea. I always say I want to know that Because if I can change a law or remove some regulations or remove barriers for people to grow and thrive in their lives, I want to do that. I'm no longer an expert in what I used to work on. I'm now just a generalist, and so that has been probably the biggest surprise, because I was always very used to being an expert on a project until we saw it through and got it accomplished. Now I'm just kind of I touch a lot of different things, but I'm not an expert much in anything, and a mentor of mine had given me that advice as soon as I was sworn in and he said you're a generalist, you're not the expert any longer. You need to reach out to the experts and bring them in so that they could advise you on policy and advise you on accomplishing goals and objectives that you want to accomplish as a legislator. But that's probably been the biggest surprise that I've had is just transitioning from that expert role into more of a generalist, I would say.

Ashley: 25:34

That makes sense. I would have never thought of that, but that makes a lot of sense.

Sara: 25:38

Yeah, and I personally would have a lot of difficulty with that transition as well. So that's amazing that you got that advice right when you were sworn in. So you're like, okay, you know, change of mindset, so that's no, that's a great, great answer. So we saw you're running for reelection. What do you want to focus on in your upcoming campaign, and is there anything that you would change or do differently from the first time around?

Nick Santucci: 26:06

Yeah. So that's a great question. I'm not quite sure what I would do differently. You know, my focus is, like I told you earlier, is to make Ohio number one, and so a lot of the legislation I've introduced majority of it, is already passed committee we're. You know it's what we call it under the black line, where the speaker of the house chooses what bills we're going to hear on the house floor. Any of the bills that we don't hear sit below a black line, kind of in a holding pattern. So my hope is that the speaker will move my bills up to above the black line. We'll get them all passed through and send them over to the Senate so that the Senate could go through the committee process and put it on the Senate floor and send it to the governor. But if not, my vision is to maintain the bills that I have and just reintroduce them to the next General Assembly and really try to continue to get things through. I think that this is kind of the beauty and the curse of our government is things move very quickly if we want them to, or things move very, very slowly if we want them to. And I'm in it for the long haul. I plan to continue to focus on the things that I'm very passionate on, which is the economic development and the education and workforce development. I think one thing that the state of Ohio does a bad job of if I could be a little critical is not supporting our assets, and I've been pretty vocal about that in caucus and with some of my other members. We've got a lot of really unique assets here in the state of Ohio. We have Cedar Point and Lake Erie. In the Mahoning Valley we have Lake Erie and there's a lot of hunting and fishing. Those things, in my mind, need propped up and elevated and supported, and I feel like sometimes we get really distracted, sometimes even with social issues, sometimes with whatever like I mentioned, the buzzwords and Fox News and MSNBC and I really think that what needs to happen is just general support of those assets and elevating them so that we can continue to attract people into Ohio. In the Mahoning Valley we have the Mahoning Valley Scrappers. That's a huge asset. We attract tons of people to Scrappers games. So how can I, as a legislator, support the Mahoning Valley Scrappers and improve their facilities so that maybe they can open their facility up to more shows other than baseball games and things like that. So I really plan to kind of focus on those types of things in the next General Assembly once I'm reelected, and I have not heard of an opponent in the primary or the general quite yet. I'm waiting to see what that all looks like. But either way, whether we're in a heavily Democrat district or a heavily Republican district, my work ethic doesn't change. We're focused on serving the community and the families that I represent, and that's kind of my end game. So some of that is out of my control. I can't control who runs against me or what's going to happen in the future. I also don't like hypotheticals a lot, but I'm responsible for myself and I plan to step up and run really hard and I think there's a lot of work that needs done, and so I plan to rock and roll and get out there and try to solve these problems.

Ashley: 29:19

That's awesome. I love the focus on the assets because I mean, it just aligns so much with, like, your values and what you've talked about making Ohio number one right. Those assets make your economy go, those assets make quality of life better. Those assets make people want to live in Mahoning Valley. So, yeah, I think that was really. It's just very in line with you and the answer just in the short time that we've been talking, I would expect to hear from you and I just really like that.

Nick Santucci: 29:45

Yeah, we have Robin's Theater too, and actually I've had conversations with other community organizations and they say we have state of the art arts here. We have Robin's Theater and your performing arts. Those are all really amazing assets and you bring up quality of life. Ashley, and the truth is is if we also don't fix our bridges and our roads and improve just the quality of life, beautify the freeways, clean up the trash and litter along the roads, it doesn't matter what assets or entertainment we have in Ohio. If families don't feel safe driving there or parking their car and walking into the theater or the facility, they're never coming back. And so when I ran last year for state rep and I plan to continue to beat this drum all the way through my career I always talk about the four L's of my vision for the state improving better litter, control, supported and enforced law enforcement, better lighting and improve landscaping. Those four L's are quality of life issues and it sounds so silly. It sounds like well, of course we should be doing all those four L's. But when I was running I would ask the voters. I would say if you look out your window and you don't like what you see, we're all responsible for that Somebody is accountable for the litter on the road and on the freeways, somebody's responsible for mowing that and beautifying our area. So we need to identify who those folks are and articulate and say, hey, this isn't good enough for us. We need to clean up the graffiti and clean up our roads and bridges and fill the potholes, because it's not acceptable any longer. And I'll never forget, I had a friend that came in from Cleveland and he had said I've never been to your area, will you take me around? And I said sure, and so he met me at my house and we were driving through the area. I showed him how in high school where I graduated, and I showed him the gym I used to work out at, and took him downtown Warren and showed him Courthouse Square and drove him around the square and was talking about all the beautiful restaurants that were coming in and I showed him Robin's Theater and Courthouse Square was beautiful. And then we pulled up next to the hot dog shop and I don't know how familiar you guys are with that area over there.

Sara: 31:59

I should have worn my hot dog shop shirt. It's literally I have a hot dog shop shirt.

Nick Santucci: 32:04

That you should have. That's a staple. That's a staple. That is yeah.

Sara: 32:08

I'll wear it to the court or to the state house when we come visit you.

Nick Santucci: 32:12

You got it. You got it. And so we pulled up next to the hot dog shop and we turned left on 422 because I was going to make a big square and he didn't say much the whole trip around the area. But he leaned over to me and said geez, you guys have a lot of trash on this road by the hot dog shop. And I felt like the biggest loser because here I am showcasing our community and all he noticed was the trash. And I was really embarrassed because I've driven down that road a million times, you know, working for the chamber and all the organizations that I've worked for. I've been through our area so much I was just totally shell shocked that I never noticed it and shame on me for not speaking up and saying, hey, this looks like crap, we need to clean this up. And so you know, the 4L's litter control is something I'm pretty passionate about. It's such a simple idea that just needs improved and I think we in the Mahoney Valley in Trumbull County deserve better. It's unacceptable and I think we should hold our elected officials accountable to fix that. It's just, it looks like crap and we can attract families or businesses back if we don't do things like that. If I'm a multi-millionaire which I'm not but if I was a Fortune 100 or 500 CEO bringing businesses or looking at this area to bring my company here and my car is bouncing along the road because of the potholes and I see trash and litter on the street, there's no way I'm moving my company here. Yeah, so we really just need to raise our standards overall in Trumbull County and I plan to continue to be an advocate for that.

Ashley: 33:56

Yeah, I mean you're right, it does sound so simple. Right? It's like, yeah, basic things you're taught don't litter. It's like, okay, we should pick up the litter. Like those are all basic ideas. But you're absolutely right, it makes such a huge difference. All right, we're gonna switch gears just a little bit. So we are pretty vocal about engaging with your. We tell our listeners engage with your politicians, register to vote, vote right. Like engage in democracy. So we tell our listeners all the time contact your reps. Like your phone calls matter, your emails matter. I know specifically that you hold coffee with your constituents, which I think is just such a fabulous idea. Can you just tell us a little bit about like what kind of like impact hearing from your constituents does? Like? How does it impact the work you do, or how you do your work? Does it shape your opinions or your efforts?

Nick Santucci: 34:42

So that's a great question, ashley, and it absolutely does, and so I'm normally up pretty early in the morning and I arrived to Columbus pretty early. My legislative aide is Grace. She's a rock star. I always joke that she's the real estate rep because she is the day-to-day office manager and I'm the guy that's kind of out there working and doing things like this, working with you folks, and Grace and I sit down every morning Normally it's at eight am, sometimes nine, nine, 30, depending on our day but I go through every email and every phone call that we receive in the office. It drives Grace crazy, but the way I see it is your taxpayer dollars pay my salary and, for that matter, pays Grace's salary too, and so we are responsible for giving you a response, whether we like that or not, and some instances it might be just a canned response. Thanks so much for reaching out. We appreciate hearing from you, and other times we go really in depth and we try to respond in depth based on the issue that we're getting advocated hearing from folks on, and so my point is that we always do our best to respond to everybody. Sometimes things fall through the cracks, but I'm very intentional about getting back to folks and seeing what is on everybody's mind is very important to me because, like we talked about earlier, I'm walking onto the house floor to cast a boat that is gonna impact everybody and we hear from people from Toledo and Cincinnati and Dayton and everywhere in the state Wintersville, people that don't in Cortland and Bezetta, not even in my district. They reach out to my office and I do appreciate that. I can only speak for myself because I wanna understand the pulse of a community or of an area and that pulse I get that pulse from feedback and from constituent calls. We do have. I call them coffee and constituents. They're just. Typically they're a monthly event, depending on the availability of my schedule. If I have to be in Columbus, we have to. Sometimes we kick it to the next month, but I love to hear from folks. I am responsible for individuals that have elected me and I have to be responsive to those folks. So that's kind of my vision and the approach I take as a state rep is this job. I don't pretend to know everything. I talked about being a generalist, but I think it's really unfair for me to be bop down to Columbus and pretend like I have all the answers or vote on bills that I think I should be voting on. I try very hard to listen to the constituents. There's times where I'm pretty resolute on an issue, but I always tell people that I don't pretend to be on one side of the issue and then flip and flop, I'm pretty direct you have me on this vote or you don't have me on that vote. But I do always try to be as responsive as possible and I think that's essential.

Sara: 37:30

Yeah, I mean, communication is huge, so yeah, and I just love that you do these coffee chats. Like when Ashley told me this, I was stunned and I'm actually embarrassed at how stunned I was. I was like I can't believe it does that, Like that's so cool. But it just again, like it's refreshing and it's comforting for me to hear that there are politicians out there that will take time out of the day to just sit and listen to their constituents and I'm sure there's a lot more than I'm imagining that actually do things like that. But yeah, when Ashley first told me, I'm like that's amazing, that is so cool, so major props. I love that you do that and really take listening to your constituents that seriously. That's incredible and, again, like I said, very motivating and relieving.

Ashley: 38:17

So yeah, I think just that you make yourself accessible. Like I know we all can go on the Ohio DECA website and get our representatives emails or phones, but like you are going into the community specifically in saying open door, guys, come have coffee, like I just think how accessible you make yourself is definitely at least seeing you out in my book. I mean, I haven't looked around, I guess enough, but I don't know that. I don't know any other rep that does that and I mean I don't know. I know there's hundreds, I don't know how many. How many do 99?

Nick Santucci: 38:47

Oh, I just heard some members of the House and 33 members of the Senate.

Ashley: 38:50

Yeah, so I'm sure there's others out there, but you know, just from my awareness, like I just I had never heard of anyone doing that either.

Sara: 38:55

Yeah, accessible that's the perfect way to describe it Like I've never. I've never seen someone so accessible to their constituents.

Nick Santucci: 39:03

Yeah, thank you. I, one of my mentors that I still talk to I meet with him normally monthly when I was at the chamber would always say we always take every meeting. You always, you always sit. You're. You have to be willing to sit with everybody. And so he kind of ingrained that in me from back then when I was at the chamber. And that's the way I approach the state rep job. When folks reach out, I meet with everybody. Sometimes it's in Zoom, sometimes it's in person, but I I meet with everybody. Sometimes you may not like how the meeting turns out, sometimes we disagree on policy or you know certain issues, but that doesn't mean I have to hate you, and that's become a very, very popular thing today. We have to fight each other and everybody's got to, you know, stick it to the other guy, and I just I don't necessarily agree with that posture. I think that there are policies that are going to be very important to move Ohio forward. Those policies I think are important to change the direction of Ohio. I will vote on policies like that. There's other policies that I think you know we have to compromise, we have to work together on and we have to try to make the state as as open as and available to everyone as possible. But yes, I, I take a meeting with everybody and I try my best to be as available and accessible as possible. Sometimes we get inundated so sometimes it takes me a couple of days to get back to people. I know we've exchanged emails a little bit and I felt bad because I'm a couple of days late getting back to you folks but oh no, you're fine.

Ashley: 40:35

No, yeah, I mean, like I said, we're just thankful you took it and thank goodness that's your approach, so we got on your calendar. But no, it's so refreshing to hear you just talk about compromise and you know, I think to your point, the news can grab these very partisan views, right, and that's that's what apparently gets clicks. But as we talk to more and more people through the podcast and like most Americans don't want that, like they don't want that part in fighting, they just want government to function and they want people to work together, and so it's just super refreshing to hear, to hear from you, right, I mean, you have your morals and your beliefs and you will vote accordingly. But you can have a civil conversation, an illogical conversation, and find a solution and you're willing to do that and that's, I think, that's all I mean, that's all I want from my representatives.

Sara: 41:20

I want.

Ashley: 41:21

Yeah, so I think that's such a majority of Americans, so it's just super refreshing to hear.

Sara: 41:26

Okay, so last two questions for you, wrapping up here. We try to inspire people mostly women who listen to our podcast to get more involved and engaged in politics, and one way to do that, of course, is to run for office. So what is your best piece of advice for anyone wanting to run for an elected office or possession?

Nick Santucci: 41:49

So that's another great question and I'm probably unique, maybe because I come from the private sector and I moved into government. But I would say two major things and this is just from the lens that I wear from being down in Columbus and seeing what I've seen. Probably the first thing is know your community, and that sounds silly and so generic, but the truth is is if you don't have a fundamental understanding of what the area needs, you probably shouldn't run for office. And maybe a subcategory of knowing your area is having a vision, because oftentimes people jump into politics and they're like oh, I want to get out there and I want to be a township trustee or a state representative, all wonderful, all really great. But if you don't have kind of a vision or a direction of where you want to take your community with the responsibility that you have, I really don't know if you should be involved in politics. And then I would say the second thing is, very similarly to that, is having a vision, understanding your community. But also, just if you're not in it for the right reasons, we don't need you in politics either. I've had friends and other elected officials that have jumped into politics because they need health care, they want to have an ego boost and they want to be a state rep. I always say to folks that I'm one election away from being irrelevant again and so I don't let this job get to my head or pretend like I'm somebody special or important. It's a huge responsibility. It's a huge just end game that we're trying to get to to make Ohio number one. But if you're jumping in to make yourself feel important or feel special, please don't get involved. We really don't need that in government. We need good public servants that are willing to maintain that posture all the way through the moment that they're sworn in, all the way until they get out of government. And my favorite president is George Washington, and the reason is because he's the consummate public servant. I mean, the guy had the opportunity to essentially be a king of the United States and chose to be a two term president and retired. He went away to his wife and to his farm and lived the rest of his life on Mount Vernon and was was a happy camper that's. Those are the type of people we need in government. So I guess my advice is I'm always also. I'm always open and willing to sit with anybody that's interested in running. I'd be happy to talk with them or coach them or mentor them or do whatever I can to support good people getting an elected. But my hope in my prayer would be that you have good morals, you have good faith and you serve the public with the responsibility that that we have, and I think that that changes the whole trajectory of the country, changes the whole trajectory of the state. When you get in it to be a lifelong politician or you get in it so that you can pad your pocket or get the healthcare or get whatever benefits and perks come along with being an elected official, we don't need you in politics and we prefer that you don't come. At least my that's my lens that I wear. I love all that.

Sara: 45:09

Yeah, we wear that same lens.

Nick Santucci: 45:10

Yeah, we don't need you.

Ashley: 45:14

Okay, we're going to end with how can our listeners learn more about you? If they're interested or, you know, just support you or your work or follow along kind of on your journey, where can they find you?

Nick Santucci: 45:24

Thank you. So there is a. I have two websites. There's a statehouse website. If you go to Ohiohousegov you can search my name and I pop right up. The other option is nixantuccicom. I'm also on Twitter and social media all of the social media platforms. If you reach out to me through social media, I don't monitor those inboxes, so the best way normally to reach me is through my statehouse website and call my office. Reach out to me via email and we will respond to you. Like I said multiple times in this segment, I'm happy to make myself available to anybody and happy to offer advice or guidance or mentorship. Whatever I could do to try to, you know, make our area better, I'm willing to do. I'm willing to take ideas, willing to take criticism. I know that's a rarity in politics, but I'm not perfect. I don't pretend to be and I just want to do a good job and make everybody proud. So anytime, anybody's welcome to reach out to me at any time.

Ashley: 46:26

That's awesome. We will have all of your information contact info in our show notes for listeners if they want to grab it. Nick, it has been an absolute pleasure. I don't think we can thank you enough for coming on today and chatting with us. Seriously, we will hit you up in Columbus this year, 2024.

Sara: 46:43

Thank you so much for being here. This conversation really filled my cup and I'm just, I'm just very happy with everything that you're working on and just your motivation. It's in the right place and that's just really, like we've said a few times, is refreshing to hear and see and I feel like we took a trip down memory lane. Like Eastwood Mall, hot Talk Shop, favorite places growing up Like those are stables of my childhood. So that's a nice, fun little twist. So thank you again for being here.

Nick Santucci: 47:12

Thank you guys. I appreciate the opportunity. Thanks so much.

Ashley: 47:15

Yeah, and thanks everyone for tuning in this week. We'll catch you next week.

Sara: 47:28

Thanks for joining us for today's episode. We really appreciate the support.

Ashley: 47:32

We would also really appreciate it if you hit the follow button and share this episode with anyone you think would enjoy it.

Sara: 47:37

And we'd like to thank Kevin Tanner, who edited this episode. If you're interested in learning more about him and his services, his website and Instagram are in the show notes.

Ashley: 47:45

With that, we'll see you next week.