Meet Dave Martin from Good Government Show

The Democracy Group is growing! We’re excited to welcome the newest addition to The Democracy Group: the Good Government Show — a podcast that explores the important work of public service in America through conversations with governors, senators, mayors and county commissioners.

We caught up with veteran journalist and host Dave Martin to talk about “good government” stories on the show, why they’re absent from mainstream media and what the show has planned for 2026.

Through conversations with elected officials on the show, what insights do you hope to provide that might be missing from mainstream media?

Dave: Former President Ronald Reagan said many years ago that "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.’” We want to show that the statement is completely false.

One of our guiding lights is to show people that everyday people work hard in the government. They get up and go to work. They’re not in it for the money, the glory or the press attention. They want to do a good job because they work in government, and that’s what government is supposed to do.

Some of the “good government” stories covered on the show, such as a youth mental health initiative using Chicago barbershops and a movement to replace non-native palm trees with native trees in Los Angeles, aren’t typically picked up by mainstream news. Given your background in TV, why do you think that is?

Dave: A local TV newscast has 20-22 minutes to tell you the news of the world. That’s two to three minutes for sports, two minutes for weather, then the news of the day like fires, accidents or national news, and a kicker at the end of the show. That leaves five minutes a night to tell stories like this, and there are millions of stories like this out there.

I want people to walk away with two things from the show. The first is when they listen to the show, I want them to go, “That’s what the government does? That’s a good idea.” The other thing I want listeners to say is “That’s how the government spends our money? That’s money well spent.”

What’s in store for 2026?

Dave: There are a lot of conversations coming up. I talked to the mayor of Columbia, Mo., about how they’re planting trees, since trees bring a lot of perks: they lower the temperatures, they make the city prettier and they make neighborhoods safer. I also talked to some county commissioners, one in Minnesota who decided that they were going to clean up their part of the Mississippi River and another in Minneapolis about cleaning up garbage in a bigger city.

I have a lot of folks who worked in the federal government at various levels like inspectors general and directors of different agencies who can talk about all the things they did in the government. I’m really excited.

We’ll continue to work with the people that like to have us around and where I can find excellent guests, including the National Association of Counties (NACO) and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. There’s a lot of great episodes coming out and we’re looking forward to sharing those with The Democracy Group.

Discover the top episodes selected by our hosts

Good Government Show: Boise the City of Trees 🌳

Mayor Lauren McLean of Boise, Idaho, joined the episode to talk about trees and good government stories! In the city of trees, planting trees brings the community so many benefits, such as cooler streets and neighborhoods. This, in turn, saves residents money. Tune in now to listen to the conversation!