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Speaker 1: KRFX HDQ Denver khow Denver they say six thirty KOW Denver's talk station.
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Speaker 2: Then iHeart Radio Station.
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Speaker 3: Guaranteed Human Here.
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Speaker 4: With Scott Bottom's representative of the fifteenth district post debate.
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Speaker 2: Now, Scott, what stood out to you the most in this experience.
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Speaker 5: Well, I appreciated a few things. One is the candidates had showed up.
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Speaker 6: That's huge because they're not afraid to get out and say what they believe.
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Speaker 5: It's different.
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Speaker 6: You know, Senator kirk Meyer and I were different on different subjects, but she's not afraid to come here and talk about it. One of the things that stood out, I think is that they're kind of the reaction of the crowd of some of the things that I know are the most important issues that are seeming to get married a little bit in the process, and so that was encouraging. And then they did such a fine job and moderated everything. Well, the questions were solid. It was just a good event.
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Speaker 2: Now overall, I would say it was a good mix of a crowd.
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Speaker 4: Obviously got Greg Hear, he's the former mayor of Parker Barb Kirkmeyer.
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Speaker 2: I know you had supporters here.
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Speaker 4: You did as well, but I think something about what you presented, Like you just talked about move the crowd. There were laugh lines, there were applause lines, you had fun with the crowdtelling not to clap.
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Speaker 2: What stood out to you most about that part of it?
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Speaker 6: You know, this is the thing is I don't put on any pretense.
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Speaker 5: It's just me.
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Speaker 6: Because I've had people say you were too serious and then people say, well, you're too joking.
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Speaker 5: Well, you're just getting me.
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Speaker 6: But I really am passionate about these issues. I am passionate about what I believe and how much we need to change Colorado. I am not trying to gain votes. I'm truly trying to change a culture in our state. And I'm gonna do that from the governor's seat.
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Speaker 5: I hope.
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Speaker 6: And it's overall, it's not political talking points. That's not who I am, and that always resonates with every crowd like this that we go to.
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Speaker 4: There was another kind of page turned in the injunctive relief for the Republican Party to prevent unaffiliated voters from participating in the primary. Can you give us a little bit more deep tails they're your feelings on it?
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Speaker 7: Where it goes from here?
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Speaker 6: Yeah, We've been working on this for a while, a handful of us, and there's been some people that have joined, some people dropped out, but we've got a kind of a good core base right now where we're trying to push back and say, look, if you're a Democrat, vote for your team. If you're a Republican, vote for your team. It's interesting that the people are saying, well, we should let unaffiliates an independence vote in Republican or Democrat primaries, except no unaffiliated independence are in those primaries. So why are we letting d crowd vote for either Democrats or Republicans to just become one of those If you want to vote, if not, wait till the general. It's not an attack against them. It's saying this is our team. And so yeah, we do have a legal motion that we've moved a lawsuit on this, and we're moving very strongly forward over the next couple of weeks or this. And I've been kind of keeping this quiet, yeah, because we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row. Same reason I was keeping that resolution quiet is these are things I've been working on for quite a long time.
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Speaker 4: You had mentioned that you're very bullish on your appeal with unaffiliated with younger voters. How do you turn that around when you're saying, we don't want unaffiliateds to participate in the primary.
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Speaker 2: But oh, by the way, I want to win those votes in the general.
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Speaker 8: One.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't think that most unaffiliates independents actually care as much as a small group of people within let's say the Republican party. But I know it's on the Democrats side too, where they say, well, we need to let all these unaffiliated independents vote. There are not masses of unaffiliateds independents knock them do on the door saying we want to vote in a Republican primary or a Democrat primary. Why, that's why they become unaffiliated independent. They don't want to be part of either party. They think both parties are broken and corrupt with I can't disagree with that. That's why I believe in the reform and everything else. But this is a small subject to a small handful of people that are in the parties.
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Speaker 7: It's not a.
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Speaker 6: Major subject to the unaffiliated independence.
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Speaker 5: They say, vote for your own party. We'll catch you at the general.
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Speaker 6: If they felt strongly enough about it, they'd be in the party, and they tell me that, right, And so I am. I am very strong, very strong personality, very strong leader. And the unffilates and independents are circling us like crazy, they are so strongly supporting us all across the state.
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Speaker 5: So yeah, I know I'm gonna catch that crowd. Part of it.
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Speaker 7: One of the.
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Speaker 4: Things you talked about is getting separation from the other candidates so that voters get a clear idea of who you are, how you're different, what you stand for. Was there an answer particularly that surprised you from either Senator Kurt Meyer, Greg Lopez, or that stood out jumped off the page.
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Speaker 1: No.
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Speaker 5: I think on the.
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Speaker 6: Major issues like the economy and things like that, we're kind of on the same page.
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Speaker 5: On some things, I think you go about it a little differently.
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Speaker 6: And I do believe and this is where I disagree with Senator Kirkmeyer.
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Speaker 5: I do believe that our budget.
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Speaker 6: Is broken and she does have She said she's one of the six people in the state that can write the budget. Well, then why are we still spending more every year? Why does there have to be all of these increases?
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Speaker 5: Why can't we cut.
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Speaker 6: A million dollars or a billion dollars or ten billion dollars, because it's not a priority for me, it's a priority. And that was that was some of the things that kind of jumped out at me.
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Speaker 5: She kind of defended that.
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Speaker 6: One of the things that jumped out at me also is that that Greg really felt like he was gonna win by four percentage points all through all through the the before we got to the assembly, he was at around two to three percent. So how do you go from two to three percent to four percent over everybody else? That makes no sense. And then also the scorecards. I know that was foot food, but she knows what liberty scorecard is and cut and see pack and all these and I'm either number one or within the top two in every one of those categories. Because why not because I'm voting the way they want me to, but because how my votes line up to strong conservative values, strong physically conservative values, and I'm in line with those with those assessments by these different groups.
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Speaker 5: It's not because I'm voting the way they want me to.
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Speaker 6: They happen to line up with me, and I pick on them all the time when they give me awards and I say, well, thanks, thanks for lining up with me.
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Speaker 4: You know so one of the interesting parts of this forum was you got to ask a question of the other two candidates, sad of the Kurt Meyer Lopez Victor Marx was staging his own live stream tonight encounter to this about if you could have asked him one question on the stage tonight, what would it have been?
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Speaker 6: A man, I've got a lot more than just one grade. I would say the same thing that Dan Kappas said on his show was we need to spend about an hour going over all of your corruption and con man accusations. We need to go over your one point two million dollars worth of a donation in discrepancies, all these There's all kinds of questions we'd like to ask, but I think the biggest one is why you disrespect because people of.
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Speaker 5: Colorado so much? But you can't just show up at.
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Speaker 6: One of these things. How bad would it have been if he would have just showed up. Well, here's the truth. Anytime you get at Mark supporters, and I've already had five come to me tonight, anytime you get Mark supporters in the same room with me, they become bottom supporters.
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Speaker 5: And that's what. He's scared to death. That's why he did this.
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Speaker 6: Whatever he did tonight, this whatever, that's why he did it tonight because he's scared that some of his followers would have.
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Speaker 5: Actually come to this.
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Speaker 6: He cannot afford that.
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Speaker 5: He can.
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Speaker 6: Mark Kirkmyer can can debate him into the ground. Greg Lopez can debate him into the ground. It's not just me, but usually they follow me. So I'm taking I'm taking that.
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Speaker 4: The final questions got always appreciate your time. What's your biggest takeaway from this event? Where it marks you in the campaign between now and June thirtieth. Where does your campaign.
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Speaker 5: Go from here? Our ground game has already started. We're moving. We're moving people all over the state.
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Speaker 6: Into houses, on phones, all kinds of stuff, signs.
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Speaker 5: I mean, we've got a bunch of stuff.
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Speaker 7: But we are.
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Speaker 5: We are way far ahead.
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Speaker 6: Of Senator kirk Meyer. Greg's not even in the conversation. I'm not picking on Greg, but he's not. He guaranteed that when he went on affiliated. But here's the thing is Marx is crashing right now.
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Speaker 7: He is crashing and.
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Speaker 6: Burning and he cannot sustain. Here's my prediction. I've been saying this for a couple of months. I believe he will drop out before the primary. I'll do this with you right here. If he does not drop out, I owe you a state dinner at McDonald's. And so, no, I really believe he's going to drop out. And and Kerkmyer is not even in the statistical arrangement, He's not in the same numbers, not even close. And so we're excited. We know we've got the momentum, not just for the primary. We're already setting the stage for going after Center Bennett, who I believe it will be, and we're headed for the general election. Our ground game is not just trying to get Republican voters right now for the primary. We've got the overall picture and we're hitting it pretty hard.
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Speaker 4: We're judging by the crowd reactions to night, a strong performance by Representative Scott Bottoms in the Douglas County Citizen Reforum.
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Speaker 2: Scott, appreciate your time by s luck going forward.
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Speaker 5: Thank you.
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Speaker 6: It's always it's always fun to these forums. I do know this is my strength and I love to do it. So looking forward to the next one.
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Speaker 4: Go to the people, meet them where they are, and as Tricia CALVARESI says, show up and shut up. Well, Scott Bottoms, I thought effectively communicated his message to a warm and receptive crowd that was put together by the likes of the Douglas County citizen Where you've got an update on that front. And we have Deborah Flora joining us in studio, who co moderated the very successful event.
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Speaker 7: It was all packed house that were standing only.
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Speaker 4: Mandy Connell also moderating as well, with Greg Lopez, Senator bar Kirkmeyer, Representative Scott Bobhams all participating.
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Speaker 1: Deborah, welcome, thank you so much, great to be here and thank you for coming last night.
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Speaker 3: It was a great event.
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Speaker 1: It was a great night, by the way, for civic engagement. That's why we started Douglas County Citizenry, a group of us about a year and a half ago.
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Speaker 3: Because this group does.
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Speaker 1: Not belong to any one person or people or whatever. But the question was this when we started, Ryan, are there people of goodwill that want to come together, not to push the dopamine rage button and cast dispersion, but to actually come together and talk about real issues, real policies, real solutions, real principles.
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Speaker 3: And yes, there are going to be times that we talk.
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Speaker 1: About issues that either have character for leadership or not. But it's not about just blindly attacking. And when we started that nearly two years ago, we didn't advertise it. We kept it really close to the vest so the people of goodwill would feel free to show up.
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Speaker 3: First one.
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Speaker 1: We had over one hundred people not advertised last night for this forum. That has been belittled by many fronts as oh, we don't need to do forums anymore, And I would say, by the way, we don't need to do twenty five forms with twelve people up on the stage. But this was specifically designed to be after the assembly the only Conservative candidates that are still in the mix.
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Speaker 3: Shall we say? We had nearly three.
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Speaker 1: Hundred people only standing room only. We didn't do Facebook live last night because I want people to come in person, because we think that's very important.
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Speaker 3: It will be posted most likely by the end of the day.
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Speaker 1: But in addition to those nearly three hundred people, just one of the Facebook lives that someone did in the audience had over six thousand views. And I'll just say this, because I stay neutral in the primary, I run a nonprofit. But these are just facts. Last week Victor Marx, who chose not to come. He declined, and he declined by the way, stating simply, these grassroots, citizen led forums are not a part of his plan. I hope he's rethinking that, because he said, oh, the day after, let's.
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Speaker 3: Compare the numbers.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's compare the numbers from what we understand his Facebook live event last night, which was purposely scheduled the same time. He did not have a prior conflict, though some people have floated that had from what we understand, about five hundred views. We had nearly three hundred in person, over six thousand watching online. And today, by the end of the day, we hope to post the event in its entirety and then many people are waiting for that to happen to watch it. It's important to do these kind of events, and it encouraged me, by the way, the level of engagement and enthusiasm by citizens who just want to show up and just want to be educated was really encouraging.
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Speaker 3: It was really heartwarming.
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Speaker 7: Now you have a name update.
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Speaker 3: Yes we do, Yes, we do.
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Speaker 1: You know what that which started as an experiment and was so encouraging to me, having seen this division that's being driven by the extremes on each end of the spectrum and the attacking constantly, especially on our side. By the way, when I believe in the big tent, I believe that eighty percent of citizens agree on eighty percent of things, and then the public squares where we should debate on the other twenty percent. But let's just pull government back. So as an experiment, it has grown like crazy. We regularly at Douglas County Citizenry have well over you know, around one hundred people for every single event. Well, we're now launching another chapter. Wonderful Stephanie Hancock and Michael Hancock. Stephanie whos Aurora City Council. They're going to launch Aurora and excuse me, a Rapahoe County Citizenry. So last night we announced that we are now Colorado Citizenry, which means we're going to be.
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Speaker 3: Able to serve the citizens even better.
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Speaker 1: Because while other people also said, oh, this was just Douglas County, it wasn't.
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Speaker 3: We had Lincoln Club.
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Speaker 1: Of Colorado's one of our co hosts last night, Douglas County Republican Women, Douglas County Young Republicans, lots of young people showed up last night, which was phenomenal and helped organize. But we're now Colorado Citizenry and the goal going forward is to host more of these events that will actually serve the citizens by asking the real questions. You know, if you're hiring somebody for a job. Last night we focused on what's the job of governor? It's not just all about your personal story. What is the job of governor?
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Speaker 3: What are your.
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Speaker 1: Specific policies, your specific solutions, what do you know about that particular job of being in an executive branch of our state.
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Speaker 4: We'll get into much more on the details of this event from the first person perspective of one of the moderators, Deborah Flora. Of course, joints is each and every Friday right side of Hollywood and does cameos.
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Speaker 7: Throughout the night.
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Speaker 3: I am me today, but in a different seat.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, kind of like Larry from Freeze Company. Jonathan, I'll get that reference. You know. Let's go to the Regal Beagle, which we did last night.
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it wasn't the Regal Beagle, but it was the close.
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Speaker 1: It was the Douglas County Alternative and that was wonderful to celebrate liberty.
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Speaker 3: And by the way, Ryan, what was great.
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Speaker 1: You brought people to the afterwards that have slightly different views on a lot of things, and isn't that what we should come in reason together? It was a beautiful night.
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Speaker 7: Special hat tip.
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Speaker 4: They don't pay for advertising, but we chose to go there Tailgate Tavern we gathered after the Douglas County Citizen Reforum last night, now Colorado.
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Speaker 3: Citizen right, Yes, indeed.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, the thing I love about the tavern is that is where our founding fathers they would debate on the floor and then they would go to a tavern, and that is actually where the solutions actually happened. There is a city tavern in Philadelphia that is just a walk from the Independence Hall.
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Speaker 3: They'd go and they'd sort it out there.
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Speaker 1: We were just in New York and there's the Francis Tavern where seventeen sixty two revolutionary times they would go and they discussed there. Because really it's about people coming together and looking for solutions. And by the way, you know, a pint of beer doesn't hurt when you're doing that.
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Speaker 4: Such a great reference to the Founding fathers because that's exactly what would happen. It is, And with the crowd that we had assembled there, you had the mcpikes I call them b mcpee and ce mcpee, Brian and Charity mcpikee Charity a strong supporter of representative bottoms. And then my good friend Leslie Thomason, who helped secure us front row seats at the events. She got there early or thanks to her for doing that and then contributing the conversation. Both of the Floras twice the power you got Jonathan and Debra yet ash App, who of course conducted the interview with Senator Kirk Meyer. Tricia Calvaretza what a story is. Yes, indeed, he's a Democrat who had run in the fourth congressional against Greg Lopez then interviews him after the event. That was a neat twist. Jennifer Waller was there. She's the CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association. I'm just sitting there going, like you said, it's this meeting of the minds. Is Tricia and jen having a conversation, I would say, maybe a moderate Republican and a moderate Democrat. You got ash and you know she got into a spirited discussion. I hear after I left so I wasn't there to referee. I guess it was you and her regarding but.
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Speaker 3: It was good.
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Speaker 1: You can have a spirited discussion and then come to that understanding once again that we agree on ninety five percent of things there is. This is how our country was found. And I'm a big tent believer because we need to remember. My husband and are working on a documentary, a project about nine to eleven, and one of the most important things to remember is nine to twelve. The day after when we've remembered who our enemies really are, those who want to destroy freedom and Western civilization, and it is in our neighbors.
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Speaker 3: We need to understand that we.
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Speaker 1: Can come together and talk about things and realize that we actually agree on most things, and then where we don't, let's break that down and let's find out where we can come to a consensus. Now, I don't believe on compromising on the Constitution in any way, shape or form. Those principles lead to the greatest flourishing and freedom of everyone. But by the way, those who are maybe left of center, it's not my job to tell them how to pursue their own unique idea of happiness. But we can agree to pull government back. So we can do that, and it's time to get back to that because, by the way, Ryan, you and I know this. The fringe elements and those entrenched in treating others as the enemy don't want us to talk together. They really don't, because then we're going to find out, Oh my gosh, you really aren't my enemy. I disagree with you on this policy or this policy. So let's come and reason together. Last night in that room, we don't tell people, oh, tell us ahead of time, or are you Democrat or Republican? It is a true public event, no idea how many people were going to come. We put out one hundred and thirty chairs and next thing you know, we ran out of chairs, a standing room only and people have a lot of different viewpoints were there, And isn't that the point?
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Speaker 4: Embrace debate, celebrate true diversity of opinion and thought. And thanks to the Floris and to the Douglas County citizen Rine for not kicking trishalld or trying to as we experienced down in Pueblo.
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Speaker 1: And by the way, don't we want to persuade others? Isn't that the point? Isn't the point to say, hey, you're a Democrat, you're a leftist center, but you're reasonable, and then how about we persuade If we believe our viewpoints are correct, then persuade other people. Don't shut them out, don't purge and purify, because there's a reason why that. Particularly the Republican Party is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. When you look at the Assembly. Just a few years ago, it was thirty five hundred that would show up the state Assembly.
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Speaker 3: Then it was three thousand.
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Speaker 1: When I ran for the US Senate, it was barely over two thousand this year. There is not necessarily a goal by many to expand it.
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Speaker 3: They want to.
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Speaker 1: Purge and purify and only have people who agree one on everything. And that's actually a scary place to be.
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Speaker 4: You gotta win hearts and minds, You got to build a broad coalition, You got to build a bigger tent.
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Speaker 3: Yes, indeed, that's what last night.
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Speaker 7: Was all about.
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Speaker 4: More on that after this your text five seven, seven thirty nine. The conversation continues with Jeborah Flora after this, Well, if you're asking the question who is Victor Marx, we didn't get a lot more in terms of answers last night that.
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Speaker 7: We really want and deserve, I.
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Speaker 4: Think as Colorado citizens and voters, the event that Deborah Flora and Mandy Connell Jonathan Flora, the Colorado citizen right now.
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Speaker 3: Yay, got that name right, absolutely.
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Speaker 4: But prior to last night, the Douglas County Citizen right trying to put this on as a public service, and that Victor Marx, as a major serious candidate for the office of governor in the state of Colorado, would participate, would show honor and respect for that process the way Greg Lopez did, the way Senator Barb Kirkmeyer did, and the way the Representative Scott Bottoms did. But he shows a disdain and a disrespect not only for the process but the people involved, a condescension of sorts. There was a social media post in which is a video with music and there's a placard of the Douglas County Citizenry Forum on the bottom of the screen. Thank you, Michael, and he choos it away, shakes his head thumbs down, and then comes back with his streaming event that he decided to do instead after the fact, after the invite, after declining the invite.
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Speaker 7: Oh, we got something on the schedule. You didn't.
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Speaker 4: Now you did, Okay, whatever I mean, it's off putting, to put it mildly, and this was Ross Kaminski. I mean no firebrand conservative, as he a libertarian and a host of around KOA. My colleague here at iHeart, and he goes, nevertheless, I have serious concerns, which for now I will lay out in no particular order without much elaboration, And he says it's unacceptable for a serious candidate for an important office to persistently refuse to debate, and makes one wonder whether he's hiding quote skeletons in the closet unquote a term he used on the dan kaplis show a couple of days ago, or a lack of grasp of issues. I say that understanding that it's not uncommon for a candidate who believes himself to be in the lead to choose not to take an unnecessary risk of a bad moment in a debate. But that's for Gazy, that's not necessarily his position. There's no polling to suggest that he's way out in front of Kirkmeyer and Bottoms. And even if he were, he is an unvetted candidate. In so many ways we don't know that much about him, at least in the political realm. And he tries to compare himself to Donald Trump. But I want to compare him to Donald Trump twenty sixteen. Yeah, that candidacy in which Trump took on all comers, when in all arenas, did all interviews, competed in all debates with like eighteen other candidates, called him low energy jeb.
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Speaker 2: Lion ted by La Marco Carly her face it.
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Speaker 7: Looks like a horse.
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Speaker 3: Yeah. So here here's the thing.
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Speaker 1: The reason why we do this, because let's just talk about Colorado citscenary, all volunteer led. We do not do this for anything other than to serve. And I want to give a shout out to my cooderator, Mandy Connell.
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Speaker 3: We just asked the question.
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Speaker 1: The guidelines are, do not layer it with your own commentary, because the very center of what this is about is serving the citizens. And to your point, when when I ran for office, I'd done radio, I've done public policy. I started, you know, civic organizations to support parental rights. I'd introduced a bill written one for sex said transparency after it got past you know, I'd done all that. But it's the onus on the candidate to let people know what the action stand for. So I was sensitive the fact that I'd never held elected office before. So I released an entire ten page document that outline very specific policies because I have a respect for the process. To say I'm asking citizens.
00:23:07
Speaker 3: To hire me for a job. You bring up a great point.
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Speaker 1: We cannot compare it to Donald Trump when he ran after having already been president, deciding not to do it. He was a known entity, Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, one of the most famous men on the planet. People knew pretty much who he was, knew his story, it had been very, very documented and confirmed. He still felt an obligation to the citizens to do every single debate, to take every single question that was fired at him, because he understood as an employer and a business owner, he's asking to be hired for a job. I'll just refer to that video because I stay neutral. I don't go after one candidate because I want to provide a service to those who are being served by what we do with having these forums. Different job than being a moderator, excuse me, than being a radio commentator. But when that video came out, Victor Marx pointing down at our graphic. And by the way, it wasn't just Douglas County citizen right now, Colorado citizenry. It was Lincoln Club of Colorado, Douglas County young Republicans who we want to encourage to be engaged. It was Douglas County Republican Women, a very storied and an ethical organization. When he looked down, did thumbs down, shook his head no, and wiped it across for his own event. I wasn't offended for our organization. I was offended for the citizens who come to these things, who want to know. And the reality is he's not being served as a candidate either. When I ran, I had to learn about Eastern Colorado plans, water issues because I'm not an expert on it, but I darn well better know those things and be able to discuss them because if I want to represent those people, that's.
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Speaker 3: What it takes.
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Speaker 1: Last night was completely about specific policies, specific principles, and we help people to that. Don't give us a general answer about the Constitution, which I love and adhere to give us specific What do you know if you day one become governor of Colorado about the executive policies, the commissions that you'll be appointing to, what kind of regulations can you cut, what affects the economy.
00:25:25
Speaker 3: That we are going in the wrong direction that helps people.
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Speaker 1: Whoever becomes the Republican nominee is going to have to debate with people far less friendly on the constitutional side of things, and the voters, the citizens deserve to know more than just your story, more than just what you want.
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Speaker 3: To share, but the specific qualities.
00:25:48
Speaker 1: And policies that it takes to actually be the CEO of Colorado.
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Speaker 7: She's Deborah Flora.
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Speaker 4: She co moderated the event last night, a big success, the Douglas County citizen a Ry now Colorado Moto Citizenry four with three of the candidates for governor participating on affiliated Greg Lopez, Republicans, Representative Scott Bottoms, and Senator Barb Kirkmeyer. And when I think about Victor Marx and his refusal to participate, I hearken back to one of the all time great Saturday Night Live sketches, the Sinatra Group and Phil Hartman portraying Frank Sinatra and getting on the case of Billy Idel portrayed by Sting by saying this contempt for the audience. That's right, contempt for the audience.
00:26:32
Speaker 1: And by the way, Mark, one of the things we shared last night is people are hungry to actually know we have got to honor and respect the citizens that want to be engaged and want to be educated. Because one of the reasons why we founded Douglas County Citizenry a group of people and it's now Colorado Citizenry because it has grown so much, there's now going to be Douglas County Citizenry, a rappo count of citizenry and those serve the local people, is because we've got to get people engaged in it educated. The founding father said, the key to a free republic is a well educated citizenry. People showed up and drove last night. We had standing room only, we ran out of chairs. Nearly three hundred. Just one of the Facebook live events, over six thousand people viewed it and we're going to be posting the video in its entirety by the end of the day today. People can see it at Douglas County citizen Around Facebook page.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: That will also be a YouTube link for anyone who wants to share it far and wide.
00:27:29
Speaker 1: It is about respecting the citizens. You're asking for them to hire you. What are your qualifications, what's your vision, what's your handle on the actual policies and principles?
00:27:41
Speaker 2: Wrapping things up for this hour of Ryan's schuling live.
00:27:44
Speaker 4: After this contience, conum audience.
00:27:55
Speaker 2: Let's here one more time show, joins us in studio.
00:27:59
Speaker 4: She was there at the event, stranger in a strange land, Democrat amongst all those Republicans.
00:28:04
Speaker 7: How did she fare? Is she still alive? Not sure?
00:28:07
Speaker 4: She can't figure out the headphones, Deborah Flora winding.
00:28:10
Speaker 2: Down this hour of r s L.
00:28:12
Speaker 7: Before we had absolutely doing over.
00:28:17
Speaker 3: There there you go, there you go.
00:28:22
Speaker 8: Okay, well, well listen, I'm not construction would be required.
00:28:26
Speaker 4: Good morning.
00:28:27
Speaker 7: Okay, got those cans. I know she doesn't have a right to hear this.
00:28:33
Speaker 4: You ready, that's from Sinatra Group.
00:28:37
Speaker 2: So I want to get your snapshot tape. We'll get into much more of this.
00:28:40
Speaker 4: With Trisha specifically, but witnessing that event, and you and I were wondering the same question sitting there in the front row watching Deborah and Mandy do their thing with the three candidates. You've been in that situation before as a candidate in a forum in a debate. Could you imagine Victor Marx answering the question about the budget or any other that we heard last night?
00:28:57
Speaker 8: No, I can, and can. I just huge out to Deborah, to Mandy, to everybody who attended, right, Like, I am such a nerd.
00:29:05
Speaker 3: For these forms and debates.
00:29:07
Speaker 8: So even if it's not my party, right, even if I disagree on some of the ideas discussed exactly, like Debora said, coming together and debating discussing these ideas is such a critical part.
00:29:18
Speaker 3: Of our Western tradition.
00:29:20
Speaker 8: I mean, if you look at it, like how did we get the Roman Empire?
00:29:23
Speaker 3: Through persuasion?
00:29:24
Speaker 8: It's literally what what helped civilize the world, And it is a great tradition. And I love to, you know, just to even participate in any shape or form, and it just it's so energizing, though, for people to get offline, to get out of their echo chambers, to come together in person.
00:29:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
00:29:40
Speaker 8: And it's that in person aspect that I think is just it's so critical in this moment.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: It's humanizing, it really is. And I appreciate your coming because it takes courage.
00:29:49
Speaker 1: And I do believe that the vast majority of people of goodwill a grand eighty percent of things, and then the rest of it should be in the public square to debate, and government actionally.
00:29:58
Speaker 3: Needs to do less.
00:29:59
Speaker 1: But what I I appreciate it, and I want to tell everybody listening, do make sure that you check out the video when it's posted later today, because we talked about the things that we as citizens should care about as we vote for our next governor.
00:30:12
Speaker 3: We talked about water policy because.
00:30:14
Speaker 1: Right now California wants more of our water and they haven't built a dam in forty five years, so how are you going to stand up for colorance. We talked about transportation and roads. I have lost almost three tires on the eastern planes because of how bad they are when we were traversing the twenty one counties over there. We talked about the budget one point five billion dollars in deficit. How are you going to take care of that? We talked about crime, How are you really going to turn that around? When we are now number one again in car theft and we are number one of the most violent crime amongst the twenty two most popular states. We talked about actual policies, because we the people deserve that someone who actually knows how to do the job and isn't just kicking the can on down the road. So I ask everybody to watch that on the Facebook page and then.
00:31:01
Speaker 3: Share it from the YouTube.
00:31:03
Speaker 1: We'll have it up later today because we want people who know the job we're asking them to do.
00:31:09
Speaker 7: Triture.
00:31:10
Speaker 4: From your perspective, again, as a person that's been on the other side of that stage, I've been in Deborah's position along with Mandy Connell, conducting a debate.
00:31:18
Speaker 7: As a moderator.
00:31:19
Speaker 4: But what was going through your head when you watched each of the three candidates respond to the questions that were posed by Deborah and Mandy.
00:31:25
Speaker 8: You know, I just again, outstanding job in terms of the questioning. I thought, were you know it limited time, economy and just they packed in so much and it was substantiative like it was on actual policy issues where you you know, you held all of them, you know, all their feet to the fire, and I think, you know, it was it was really interesting. I think they all had their own in different ways and it just was so interesting to feel, you know, the audience react.
00:31:49
Speaker 3: Shout out to Greg Lopez.
00:31:51
Speaker 8: I think he has come, you know, just a long way too in terms of debating. And this is why it was so sad not to see Marks there because if he is a serious candidate, you got to show up, like, you know, you might want to do it your own way, but like these are the rules of the game, and you don't you can't show up and you can't perform if you're not getting your repsent if you're not you know. And again to dismiss that full room of people, that was an opportunity, yeah, really to really engage in to reach people. And I'm sorry he missed it.
00:32:15
Speaker 1: And you can't ignore the people you want to represent. That's the bottom line. And I you know, Trishia and I were both ran for CD four. I would I would not recommend doing twenty six forums in twenty one counties, which is what I think we did by the end of it, with ten people on the stage. That's not actually I think is helpful. Which is why we joined together with three other large organizations. This wasn't just some small thing because we want to serve everyone. So this was after the Assembly with the only constitutionally conservative candid set are still in the mix, so we could have a substance of one so you can't say, oh, I'm not going to do all of them and then say I'm not going to do any of them. And by the way, we showed last night a form and a debate are not different.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: You and I had done this.
00:32:59
Speaker 1: We actually had a mon where we let each of the candidates ask the other candidates a question and then let them respond to it. I think that's the difference, and it serves It serves the candidates, you know, to make sure you know the actual issues and policies that you want to enact if you get elected.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: And one of the things I'll leave the conversation with us we head to the top of the hour, is how well Tricia Calvareesis somehow fit in with what should be hostile territory.
00:33:25
Speaker 2: But we gathered last night at.
00:33:26
Speaker 4: Talgate Tavern meeting in the minds like the founding fathers, as Deborah Flores cited, and then Leslie Thomas and our friend again shout out to her for reserving the front row seats for Tricia. Ash and myself says the following, We all love Tricia.
00:33:40
Speaker 7: So how about that from Leslie?
00:33:41
Speaker 8: Well, thank you because and I will say to my duns, who are you know? I'm sure some of them are not so friendly towards me. Right now, I don't do it. Don't open your minds, open your minds. I'm engaging with my with my, with fellow citizens, Okay, with with my, my fellow man, and we're finding common grounds, and.
00:33:57
Speaker 1: We should never be hostile to fellow Americans. There the world. There is an ideology, that's what nine to twelve was about, that wants to destroy our right to even have these conversations together. Our neighbors are not our enemy. They are people we need to persuade. And Tricia, you and I are going to continue have conversations. I'm going to persuade you of why I'm right.
00:34:16
Speaker 8: And we're gonna I'm going to persuade you on some of my points and we'll agree to you as agree on others. But that's that is the foundation of a society, of a healthy society.
00:34:25
Speaker 1: We should persuade one another's. We should come together in reason. We should practice the very thing that led our founding fathers to come to this great, great structure that we now have as the United States of America. Our neighbors are not our enemies.
00:34:39
Speaker 4: Both these strong women were candidates in the fourth Congressional District Deborah Flora in the primary and the Republican side and Tricia Calvareesi had to head with Greg Lopez and then Lauren Bobert as a Democrat candidate in that same district. Thursdays with Tricia, It's straight ahead on Ryan Schuling Live Well
Speaker 1: KRFX HDQ Denver khow Denver they say six thirty KOW Denver's talk station.
00:00:07
Speaker 2: Then iHeart Radio Station.
00:00:10
Speaker 3: Guaranteed Human Here.
00:00:12
Speaker 4: With Scott Bottom's representative of the fifteenth district post debate.
00:00:16
Speaker 2: Now, Scott, what stood out to you the most in this experience.
00:00:20
Speaker 5: Well, I appreciated a few things. One is the candidates had showed up.
00:00:23
Speaker 6: That's huge because they're not afraid to get out and say what they believe.
00:00:27
Speaker 5: It's different.
00:00:28
Speaker 6: You know, Senator kirk Meyer and I were different on different subjects, but she's not afraid to come here and talk about it. One of the things that stood out, I think is that they're kind of the reaction of the crowd of some of the things that I know are the most important issues that are seeming to get married a little bit in the process, and so that was encouraging. And then they did such a fine job and moderated everything. Well, the questions were solid. It was just a good event.
00:00:53
Speaker 2: Now overall, I would say it was a good mix of a crowd.
00:00:56
Speaker 4: Obviously got Greg Hear, he's the former mayor of Parker Barb Kirkmeyer.
00:00:59
Speaker 2: I know you had supporters here.
00:01:01
Speaker 4: You did as well, but I think something about what you presented, Like you just talked about move the crowd. There were laugh lines, there were applause lines, you had fun with the crowdtelling not to clap.
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Speaker 2: What stood out to you most about that part of it?
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Speaker 6: You know, this is the thing is I don't put on any pretense.
00:01:18
Speaker 5: It's just me.
00:01:20
Speaker 6: Because I've had people say you were too serious and then people say, well, you're too joking.
00:01:24
Speaker 5: Well, you're just getting me.
00:01:25
Speaker 6: But I really am passionate about these issues. I am passionate about what I believe and how much we need to change Colorado. I am not trying to gain votes. I'm truly trying to change a culture in our state. And I'm gonna do that from the governor's seat.
00:01:40
Speaker 5: I hope.
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Speaker 6: And it's overall, it's not political talking points. That's not who I am, and that always resonates with every crowd like this that we go to.
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Speaker 4: There was another kind of page turned in the injunctive relief for the Republican Party to prevent unaffiliated voters from participating in the primary. Can you give us a little bit more deep tails they're your feelings on it?
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Speaker 7: Where it goes from here?
00:02:02
Speaker 6: Yeah, We've been working on this for a while, a handful of us, and there's been some people that have joined, some people dropped out, but we've got a kind of a good core base right now where we're trying to push back and say, look, if you're a Democrat, vote for your team. If you're a Republican, vote for your team. It's interesting that the people are saying, well, we should let unaffiliates an independence vote in Republican or Democrat primaries, except no unaffiliated independence are in those primaries. So why are we letting d crowd vote for either Democrats or Republicans to just become one of those If you want to vote, if not, wait till the general. It's not an attack against them. It's saying this is our team. And so yeah, we do have a legal motion that we've moved a lawsuit on this, and we're moving very strongly forward over the next couple of weeks or this. And I've been kind of keeping this quiet, yeah, because we're trying to get all of our ducks in a row. Same reason I was keeping that resolution quiet is these are things I've been working on for quite a long time.
00:02:58
Speaker 4: You had mentioned that you're very bullish on your appeal with unaffiliated with younger voters. How do you turn that around when you're saying, we don't want unaffiliateds to participate in the primary.
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Speaker 2: But oh, by the way, I want to win those votes in the general.
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Speaker 8: One.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't think that most unaffiliates independents actually care as much as a small group of people within let's say the Republican party. But I know it's on the Democrats side too, where they say, well, we need to let all these unaffiliated independents vote. There are not masses of unaffiliateds independents knock them do on the door saying we want to vote in a Republican primary or a Democrat primary. Why, that's why they become unaffiliated independent. They don't want to be part of either party. They think both parties are broken and corrupt with I can't disagree with that. That's why I believe in the reform and everything else. But this is a small subject to a small handful of people that are in the parties.
00:03:53
Speaker 7: It's not a.
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Speaker 6: Major subject to the unaffiliated independence.
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Speaker 5: They say, vote for your own party. We'll catch you at the general.
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Speaker 6: If they felt strongly enough about it, they'd be in the party, and they tell me that, right, And so I am. I am very strong, very strong personality, very strong leader. And the unffilates and independents are circling us like crazy, they are so strongly supporting us all across the state.
00:04:16
Speaker 5: So yeah, I know I'm gonna catch that crowd. Part of it.
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Speaker 7: One of the.
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Speaker 4: Things you talked about is getting separation from the other candidates so that voters get a clear idea of who you are, how you're different, what you stand for. Was there an answer particularly that surprised you from either Senator Kurt Meyer, Greg Lopez, or that stood out jumped off the page.
00:04:36
Speaker 1: No.
00:04:36
Speaker 5: I think on the.
00:04:37
Speaker 6: Major issues like the economy and things like that, we're kind of on the same page.
00:04:42
Speaker 5: On some things, I think you go about it a little differently.
00:04:45
Speaker 6: And I do believe and this is where I disagree with Senator Kirkmeyer.
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Speaker 5: I do believe that our budget.
00:04:50
Speaker 6: Is broken and she does have She said she's one of the six people in the state that can write the budget. Well, then why are we still spending more every year? Why does there have to be all of these increases?
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Speaker 5: Why can't we cut.
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Speaker 6: A million dollars or a billion dollars or ten billion dollars, because it's not a priority for me, it's a priority. And that was that was some of the things that kind of jumped out at me.
00:05:10
Speaker 5: She kind of defended that.
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Speaker 6: One of the things that jumped out at me also is that that Greg really felt like he was gonna win by four percentage points all through all through the the before we got to the assembly, he was at around two to three percent. So how do you go from two to three percent to four percent over everybody else? That makes no sense. And then also the scorecards. I know that was foot food, but she knows what liberty scorecard is and cut and see pack and all these and I'm either number one or within the top two in every one of those categories. Because why not because I'm voting the way they want me to, but because how my votes line up to strong conservative values, strong physically conservative values, and I'm in line with those with those assessments by these different groups.
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Speaker 5: It's not because I'm voting the way they want me to.
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Speaker 6: They happen to line up with me, and I pick on them all the time when they give me awards and I say, well, thanks, thanks for lining up with me.
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Speaker 4: You know so one of the interesting parts of this forum was you got to ask a question of the other two candidates, sad of the Kurt Meyer Lopez Victor Marx was staging his own live stream tonight encounter to this about if you could have asked him one question on the stage tonight, what would it have been?
00:06:26
Speaker 6: A man, I've got a lot more than just one grade. I would say the same thing that Dan Kappas said on his show was we need to spend about an hour going over all of your corruption and con man accusations. We need to go over your one point two million dollars worth of a donation in discrepancies, all these There's all kinds of questions we'd like to ask, but I think the biggest one is why you disrespect because people of.
00:06:52
Speaker 5: Colorado so much? But you can't just show up at.
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Speaker 6: One of these things. How bad would it have been if he would have just showed up. Well, here's the truth. Anytime you get at Mark supporters, and I've already had five come to me tonight, anytime you get Mark supporters in the same room with me, they become bottom supporters.
00:07:06
Speaker 5: And that's what. He's scared to death. That's why he did this.
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Speaker 6: Whatever he did tonight, this whatever, that's why he did it tonight because he's scared that some of his followers would have.
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Speaker 5: Actually come to this.
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Speaker 6: He cannot afford that.
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Speaker 5: He can.
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Speaker 6: Mark Kirkmyer can can debate him into the ground. Greg Lopez can debate him into the ground. It's not just me, but usually they follow me. So I'm taking I'm taking that.
00:07:30
Speaker 4: The final questions got always appreciate your time. What's your biggest takeaway from this event? Where it marks you in the campaign between now and June thirtieth. Where does your campaign.
00:07:39
Speaker 5: Go from here? Our ground game has already started. We're moving. We're moving people all over the state.
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Speaker 6: Into houses, on phones, all kinds of stuff, signs.
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Speaker 5: I mean, we've got a bunch of stuff.
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Speaker 7: But we are.
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Speaker 5: We are way far ahead.
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Speaker 6: Of Senator kirk Meyer. Greg's not even in the conversation. I'm not picking on Greg, but he's not. He guaranteed that when he went on affiliated. But here's the thing is Marx is crashing right now.
00:08:03
Speaker 7: He is crashing and.
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Speaker 6: Burning and he cannot sustain. Here's my prediction. I've been saying this for a couple of months. I believe he will drop out before the primary. I'll do this with you right here. If he does not drop out, I owe you a state dinner at McDonald's. And so, no, I really believe he's going to drop out. And and Kerkmyer is not even in the statistical arrangement, He's not in the same numbers, not even close. And so we're excited. We know we've got the momentum, not just for the primary. We're already setting the stage for going after Center Bennett, who I believe it will be, and we're headed for the general election. Our ground game is not just trying to get Republican voters right now for the primary. We've got the overall picture and we're hitting it pretty hard.
00:08:48
Speaker 4: We're judging by the crowd reactions to night, a strong performance by Representative Scott Bottoms in the Douglas County Citizen Reforum.
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Speaker 2: Scott, appreciate your time by s luck going forward.
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Speaker 5: Thank you.
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Speaker 6: It's always it's always fun to these forums. I do know this is my strength and I love to do it. So looking forward to the next one.
00:09:06
Speaker 4: Go to the people, meet them where they are, and as Tricia CALVARESI says, show up and shut up. Well, Scott Bottoms, I thought effectively communicated his message to a warm and receptive crowd that was put together by the likes of the Douglas County citizen Where you've got an update on that front. And we have Deborah Flora joining us in studio, who co moderated the very successful event.
00:09:27
Speaker 7: It was all packed house that were standing only.
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Speaker 4: Mandy Connell also moderating as well, with Greg Lopez, Senator bar Kirkmeyer, Representative Scott Bobhams all participating.
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Speaker 1: Deborah, welcome, thank you so much, great to be here and thank you for coming last night.
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Speaker 3: It was a great event.
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Speaker 1: It was a great night, by the way, for civic engagement. That's why we started Douglas County Citizenry, a group of us about a year and a half ago.
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Speaker 3: Because this group does.
00:09:50
Speaker 1: Not belong to any one person or people or whatever. But the question was this when we started, Ryan, are there people of goodwill that want to come together, not to push the dopamine rage button and cast dispersion, but to actually come together and talk about real issues, real policies, real solutions, real principles.
00:10:09
Speaker 3: And yes, there are going to be times that we talk.
00:10:11
Speaker 1: About issues that either have character for leadership or not. But it's not about just blindly attacking. And when we started that nearly two years ago, we didn't advertise it. We kept it really close to the vest so the people of goodwill would feel free to show up.
00:10:28
Speaker 3: First one.
00:10:28
Speaker 1: We had over one hundred people not advertised last night for this forum. That has been belittled by many fronts as oh, we don't need to do forums anymore, And I would say, by the way, we don't need to do twenty five forms with twelve people up on the stage. But this was specifically designed to be after the assembly the only Conservative candidates that are still in the mix.
00:10:51
Speaker 3: Shall we say? We had nearly three.
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Speaker 1: Hundred people only standing room only. We didn't do Facebook live last night because I want people to come in person, because we think that's very important.
00:11:03
Speaker 3: It will be posted most likely by the end of the day.
00:11:06
Speaker 1: But in addition to those nearly three hundred people, just one of the Facebook lives that someone did in the audience had over six thousand views. And I'll just say this, because I stay neutral in the primary, I run a nonprofit. But these are just facts. Last week Victor Marx, who chose not to come. He declined, and he declined by the way, stating simply, these grassroots, citizen led forums are not a part of his plan. I hope he's rethinking that, because he said, oh, the day after, let's.
00:11:38
Speaker 3: Compare the numbers.
00:11:39
Speaker 1: Well, let's compare the numbers from what we understand his Facebook live event last night, which was purposely scheduled the same time. He did not have a prior conflict, though some people have floated that had from what we understand, about five hundred views. We had nearly three hundred in person, over six thousand watching online. And today, by the end of the day, we hope to post the event in its entirety and then many people are waiting for that to happen to watch it. It's important to do these kind of events, and it encouraged me, by the way, the level of engagement and enthusiasm by citizens who just want to show up and just want to be educated was really encouraging.
00:12:21
Speaker 3: It was really heartwarming.
00:12:22
Speaker 7: Now you have a name update.
00:12:24
Speaker 3: Yes we do, Yes, we do.
00:12:27
Speaker 1: You know what that which started as an experiment and was so encouraging to me, having seen this division that's being driven by the extremes on each end of the spectrum and the attacking constantly, especially on our side. By the way, when I believe in the big tent, I believe that eighty percent of citizens agree on eighty percent of things, and then the public squares where we should debate on the other twenty percent. But let's just pull government back. So as an experiment, it has grown like crazy. We regularly at Douglas County Citizenry have well over you know, around one hundred people for every single event. Well, we're now launching another chapter. Wonderful Stephanie Hancock and Michael Hancock. Stephanie whos Aurora City Council. They're going to launch Aurora and excuse me, a Rapahoe County Citizenry. So last night we announced that we are now Colorado Citizenry, which means we're going to be.
00:13:17
Speaker 3: Able to serve the citizens even better.
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Speaker 1: Because while other people also said, oh, this was just Douglas County, it wasn't.
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Speaker 3: We had Lincoln Club.
00:13:24
Speaker 1: Of Colorado's one of our co hosts last night, Douglas County Republican Women, Douglas County Young Republicans, lots of young people showed up last night, which was phenomenal and helped organize. But we're now Colorado Citizenry and the goal going forward is to host more of these events that will actually serve the citizens by asking the real questions. You know, if you're hiring somebody for a job. Last night we focused on what's the job of governor? It's not just all about your personal story. What is the job of governor?
00:13:52
Speaker 3: What are your.
00:13:52
Speaker 1: Specific policies, your specific solutions, what do you know about that particular job of being in an executive branch of our state.
00:14:01
Speaker 4: We'll get into much more on the details of this event from the first person perspective of one of the moderators, Deborah Flora. Of course, joints is each and every Friday right side of Hollywood and does cameos.
00:14:12
Speaker 7: Throughout the night.
00:14:12
Speaker 3: I am me today, but in a different seat.
00:14:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, kind of like Larry from Freeze Company. Jonathan, I'll get that reference. You know. Let's go to the Regal Beagle, which we did last night.
00:14:21
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, it wasn't the Regal Beagle, but it was the close.
00:14:24
Speaker 1: It was the Douglas County Alternative and that was wonderful to celebrate liberty.
00:14:27
Speaker 3: And by the way, Ryan, what was great.
00:14:29
Speaker 1: You brought people to the afterwards that have slightly different views on a lot of things, and isn't that what we should come in reason together? It was a beautiful night.
00:14:39
Speaker 7: Special hat tip.
00:14:40
Speaker 4: They don't pay for advertising, but we chose to go there Tailgate Tavern we gathered after the Douglas County Citizen Reforum last night, now Colorado.
00:14:49
Speaker 3: Citizen right, Yes, indeed.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: And by the way, the thing I love about the tavern is that is where our founding fathers they would debate on the floor and then they would go to a tavern, and that is actually where the solutions actually happened. There is a city tavern in Philadelphia that is just a walk from the Independence Hall.
00:15:09
Speaker 3: They'd go and they'd sort it out there.
00:15:11
Speaker 1: We were just in New York and there's the Francis Tavern where seventeen sixty two revolutionary times they would go and they discussed there. Because really it's about people coming together and looking for solutions. And by the way, you know, a pint of beer doesn't hurt when you're doing that.
00:15:27
Speaker 4: Such a great reference to the Founding fathers because that's exactly what would happen. It is, And with the crowd that we had assembled there, you had the mcpikes I call them b mcpee and ce mcpee, Brian and Charity mcpikee Charity a strong supporter of representative bottoms. And then my good friend Leslie Thomason, who helped secure us front row seats at the events. She got there early or thanks to her for doing that and then contributing the conversation. Both of the Floras twice the power you got Jonathan and Debra yet ash App, who of course conducted the interview with Senator Kirk Meyer. Tricia Calvaretza what a story is. Yes, indeed, he's a Democrat who had run in the fourth congressional against Greg Lopez then interviews him after the event. That was a neat twist. Jennifer Waller was there. She's the CEO of the Colorado Bankers Association. I'm just sitting there going, like you said, it's this meeting of the minds. Is Tricia and jen having a conversation, I would say, maybe a moderate Republican and a moderate Democrat. You got ash and you know she got into a spirited discussion. I hear after I left so I wasn't there to referee. I guess it was you and her regarding but.
00:16:27
Speaker 3: It was good.
00:16:28
Speaker 1: You can have a spirited discussion and then come to that understanding once again that we agree on ninety five percent of things there is. This is how our country was found. And I'm a big tent believer because we need to remember. My husband and are working on a documentary, a project about nine to eleven, and one of the most important things to remember is nine to twelve. The day after when we've remembered who our enemies really are, those who want to destroy freedom and Western civilization, and it is in our neighbors.
00:17:00
Speaker 3: We need to understand that we.
00:17:01
Speaker 1: Can come together and talk about things and realize that we actually agree on most things, and then where we don't, let's break that down and let's find out where we can come to a consensus. Now, I don't believe on compromising on the Constitution in any way, shape or form. Those principles lead to the greatest flourishing and freedom of everyone. But by the way, those who are maybe left of center, it's not my job to tell them how to pursue their own unique idea of happiness. But we can agree to pull government back. So we can do that, and it's time to get back to that because, by the way, Ryan, you and I know this. The fringe elements and those entrenched in treating others as the enemy don't want us to talk together. They really don't, because then we're going to find out, Oh my gosh, you really aren't my enemy. I disagree with you on this policy or this policy. So let's come and reason together. Last night in that room, we don't tell people, oh, tell us ahead of time, or are you Democrat or Republican? It is a true public event, no idea how many people were going to come. We put out one hundred and thirty chairs and next thing you know, we ran out of chairs, a standing room only and people have a lot of different viewpoints were there, And isn't that the point?
00:18:11
Speaker 4: Embrace debate, celebrate true diversity of opinion and thought. And thanks to the Floris and to the Douglas County citizen Rine for not kicking trishalld or trying to as we experienced down in Pueblo.
00:18:23
Speaker 1: And by the way, don't we want to persuade others? Isn't that the point? Isn't the point to say, hey, you're a Democrat, you're a leftist center, but you're reasonable, and then how about we persuade If we believe our viewpoints are correct, then persuade other people. Don't shut them out, don't purge and purify, because there's a reason why that. Particularly the Republican Party is getting smaller and smaller and smaller. When you look at the Assembly. Just a few years ago, it was thirty five hundred that would show up the state Assembly.
00:18:52
Speaker 3: Then it was three thousand.
00:18:53
Speaker 1: When I ran for the US Senate, it was barely over two thousand this year. There is not necessarily a goal by many to expand it.
00:19:01
Speaker 3: They want to.
00:19:02
Speaker 1: Purge and purify and only have people who agree one on everything. And that's actually a scary place to be.
00:19:08
Speaker 4: You gotta win hearts and minds, You got to build a broad coalition, You got to build a bigger tent.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed, that's what last night.
00:19:15
Speaker 7: Was all about.
00:19:16
Speaker 4: More on that after this your text five seven, seven thirty nine. The conversation continues with Jeborah Flora after this, Well, if you're asking the question who is Victor Marx, we didn't get a lot more in terms of answers last night that.
00:19:32
Speaker 7: We really want and deserve, I.
00:19:35
Speaker 4: Think as Colorado citizens and voters, the event that Deborah Flora and Mandy Connell Jonathan Flora, the Colorado citizen right now.
00:19:43
Speaker 3: Yay, got that name right, absolutely.
00:19:46
Speaker 4: But prior to last night, the Douglas County Citizen right trying to put this on as a public service, and that Victor Marx, as a major serious candidate for the office of governor in the state of Colorado, would participate, would show honor and respect for that process the way Greg Lopez did, the way Senator Barb Kirkmeyer did, and the way the Representative Scott Bottoms did. But he shows a disdain and a disrespect not only for the process but the people involved, a condescension of sorts. There was a social media post in which is a video with music and there's a placard of the Douglas County Citizenry Forum on the bottom of the screen. Thank you, Michael, and he choos it away, shakes his head thumbs down, and then comes back with his streaming event that he decided to do instead after the fact, after the invite, after declining the invite.
00:20:37
Speaker 7: Oh, we got something on the schedule. You didn't.
00:20:39
Speaker 4: Now you did, Okay, whatever I mean, it's off putting, to put it mildly, and this was Ross Kaminski. I mean no firebrand conservative, as he a libertarian and a host of around KOA. My colleague here at iHeart, and he goes, nevertheless, I have serious concerns, which for now I will lay out in no particular order without much elaboration, And he says it's unacceptable for a serious candidate for an important office to persistently refuse to debate, and makes one wonder whether he's hiding quote skeletons in the closet unquote a term he used on the dan kaplis show a couple of days ago, or a lack of grasp of issues. I say that understanding that it's not uncommon for a candidate who believes himself to be in the lead to choose not to take an unnecessary risk of a bad moment in a debate. But that's for Gazy, that's not necessarily his position. There's no polling to suggest that he's way out in front of Kirkmeyer and Bottoms. And even if he were, he is an unvetted candidate. In so many ways we don't know that much about him, at least in the political realm. And he tries to compare himself to Donald Trump. But I want to compare him to Donald Trump twenty sixteen. Yeah, that candidacy in which Trump took on all comers, when in all arenas, did all interviews, competed in all debates with like eighteen other candidates, called him low energy jeb.
00:21:58
Speaker 2: Lion ted by La Marco Carly her face it.
00:22:03
Speaker 7: Looks like a horse.
00:22:06
Speaker 3: Yeah. So here here's the thing.
00:22:09
Speaker 1: The reason why we do this, because let's just talk about Colorado citscenary, all volunteer led. We do not do this for anything other than to serve. And I want to give a shout out to my cooderator, Mandy Connell.
00:22:20
Speaker 3: We just asked the question.
00:22:22
Speaker 1: The guidelines are, do not layer it with your own commentary, because the very center of what this is about is serving the citizens. And to your point, when when I ran for office, I'd done radio, I've done public policy. I started, you know, civic organizations to support parental rights. I'd introduced a bill written one for sex said transparency after it got past you know, I'd done all that. But it's the onus on the candidate to let people know what the action stand for. So I was sensitive the fact that I'd never held elected office before. So I released an entire ten page document that outline very specific policies because I have a respect for the process. To say I'm asking citizens.
00:23:07
Speaker 3: To hire me for a job. You bring up a great point.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: We cannot compare it to Donald Trump when he ran after having already been president, deciding not to do it. He was a known entity, Donald Trump in twenty sixteen, one of the most famous men on the planet. People knew pretty much who he was, knew his story, it had been very, very documented and confirmed. He still felt an obligation to the citizens to do every single debate, to take every single question that was fired at him, because he understood as an employer and a business owner, he's asking to be hired for a job. I'll just refer to that video because I stay neutral. I don't go after one candidate because I want to provide a service to those who are being served by what we do with having these forums. Different job than being a moderator, excuse me, than being a radio commentator. But when that video came out, Victor Marx pointing down at our graphic. And by the way, it wasn't just Douglas County citizen right now, Colorado citizenry. It was Lincoln Club of Colorado, Douglas County young Republicans who we want to encourage to be engaged. It was Douglas County Republican Women, a very storied and an ethical organization. When he looked down, did thumbs down, shook his head no, and wiped it across for his own event. I wasn't offended for our organization. I was offended for the citizens who come to these things, who want to know. And the reality is he's not being served as a candidate either. When I ran, I had to learn about Eastern Colorado plans, water issues because I'm not an expert on it, but I darn well better know those things and be able to discuss them because if I want to represent those people, that's.
00:24:56
Speaker 3: What it takes.
00:24:57
Speaker 1: Last night was completely about specific policies, specific principles, and we help people to that. Don't give us a general answer about the Constitution, which I love and adhere to give us specific What do you know if you day one become governor of Colorado about the executive policies, the commissions that you'll be appointing to, what kind of regulations can you cut, what affects the economy.
00:25:25
Speaker 3: That we are going in the wrong direction that helps people.
00:25:30
Speaker 1: Whoever becomes the Republican nominee is going to have to debate with people far less friendly on the constitutional side of things, and the voters, the citizens deserve to know more than just your story, more than just what you want.
00:25:45
Speaker 3: To share, but the specific qualities.
00:25:48
Speaker 1: And policies that it takes to actually be the CEO of Colorado.
00:25:52
Speaker 7: She's Deborah Flora.
00:25:53
Speaker 4: She co moderated the event last night, a big success, the Douglas County citizen a Ry now Colorado Moto Citizenry four with three of the candidates for governor participating on affiliated Greg Lopez, Republicans, Representative Scott Bottoms, and Senator Barb Kirkmeyer. And when I think about Victor Marx and his refusal to participate, I hearken back to one of the all time great Saturday Night Live sketches, the Sinatra Group and Phil Hartman portraying Frank Sinatra and getting on the case of Billy Idel portrayed by Sting by saying this contempt for the audience. That's right, contempt for the audience.
00:26:32
Speaker 1: And by the way, Mark, one of the things we shared last night is people are hungry to actually know we have got to honor and respect the citizens that want to be engaged and want to be educated. Because one of the reasons why we founded Douglas County Citizenry a group of people and it's now Colorado Citizenry because it has grown so much, there's now going to be Douglas County Citizenry, a rappo count of citizenry and those serve the local people, is because we've got to get people engaged in it educated. The founding father said, the key to a free republic is a well educated citizenry. People showed up and drove last night. We had standing room only, we ran out of chairs. Nearly three hundred. Just one of the Facebook live events, over six thousand people viewed it and we're going to be posting the video in its entirety by the end of the day today. People can see it at Douglas County citizen Around Facebook page.
00:27:25
Speaker 3: That will also be a YouTube link for anyone who wants to share it far and wide.
00:27:29
Speaker 1: It is about respecting the citizens. You're asking for them to hire you. What are your qualifications, what's your vision, what's your handle on the actual policies and principles?
00:27:41
Speaker 2: Wrapping things up for this hour of Ryan's schuling live.
00:27:44
Speaker 4: After this contience, conum audience.
00:27:55
Speaker 2: Let's here one more time show, joins us in studio.
00:27:59
Speaker 4: She was there at the event, stranger in a strange land, Democrat amongst all those Republicans.
00:28:04
Speaker 7: How did she fare? Is she still alive? Not sure?
00:28:07
Speaker 4: She can't figure out the headphones, Deborah Flora winding.
00:28:10
Speaker 2: Down this hour of r s L.
00:28:12
Speaker 7: Before we had absolutely doing over.
00:28:17
Speaker 3: There there you go, there you go.
00:28:22
Speaker 8: Okay, well, well listen, I'm not construction would be required.
00:28:26
Speaker 4: Good morning.
00:28:27
Speaker 7: Okay, got those cans. I know she doesn't have a right to hear this.
00:28:33
Speaker 4: You ready, that's from Sinatra Group.
00:28:37
Speaker 2: So I want to get your snapshot tape. We'll get into much more of this.
00:28:40
Speaker 4: With Trisha specifically, but witnessing that event, and you and I were wondering the same question sitting there in the front row watching Deborah and Mandy do their thing with the three candidates. You've been in that situation before as a candidate in a forum in a debate. Could you imagine Victor Marx answering the question about the budget or any other that we heard last night?
00:28:57
Speaker 8: No, I can, and can. I just huge out to Deborah, to Mandy, to everybody who attended, right, Like, I am such a nerd.
00:29:05
Speaker 3: For these forms and debates.
00:29:07
Speaker 8: So even if it's not my party, right, even if I disagree on some of the ideas discussed exactly, like Debora said, coming together and debating discussing these ideas is such a critical part.
00:29:18
Speaker 3: Of our Western tradition.
00:29:20
Speaker 8: I mean, if you look at it, like how did we get the Roman Empire?
00:29:23
Speaker 3: Through persuasion?
00:29:24
Speaker 8: It's literally what what helped civilize the world, And it is a great tradition. And I love to, you know, just to even participate in any shape or form, and it just it's so energizing, though, for people to get offline, to get out of their echo chambers, to come together in person.
00:29:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is.
00:29:40
Speaker 8: And it's that in person aspect that I think is just it's so critical in this moment.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: It's humanizing, it really is. And I appreciate your coming because it takes courage.
00:29:49
Speaker 1: And I do believe that the vast majority of people of goodwill a grand eighty percent of things, and then the rest of it should be in the public square to debate, and government actionally.
00:29:58
Speaker 3: Needs to do less.
00:29:59
Speaker 1: But what I I appreciate it, and I want to tell everybody listening, do make sure that you check out the video when it's posted later today, because we talked about the things that we as citizens should care about as we vote for our next governor.
00:30:12
Speaker 3: We talked about water policy because.
00:30:14
Speaker 1: Right now California wants more of our water and they haven't built a dam in forty five years, so how are you going to stand up for colorance. We talked about transportation and roads. I have lost almost three tires on the eastern planes because of how bad they are when we were traversing the twenty one counties over there. We talked about the budget one point five billion dollars in deficit. How are you going to take care of that? We talked about crime, How are you really going to turn that around? When we are now number one again in car theft and we are number one of the most violent crime amongst the twenty two most popular states. We talked about actual policies, because we the people deserve that someone who actually knows how to do the job and isn't just kicking the can on down the road. So I ask everybody to watch that on the Facebook page and then.
00:31:01
Speaker 3: Share it from the YouTube.
00:31:03
Speaker 1: We'll have it up later today because we want people who know the job we're asking them to do.
00:31:09
Speaker 7: Triture.
00:31:10
Speaker 4: From your perspective, again, as a person that's been on the other side of that stage, I've been in Deborah's position along with Mandy Connell, conducting a debate.
00:31:18
Speaker 7: As a moderator.
00:31:19
Speaker 4: But what was going through your head when you watched each of the three candidates respond to the questions that were posed by Deborah and Mandy.
00:31:25
Speaker 8: You know, I just again, outstanding job in terms of the questioning. I thought, were you know it limited time, economy and just they packed in so much and it was substantiative like it was on actual policy issues where you you know, you held all of them, you know, all their feet to the fire, and I think, you know, it was it was really interesting. I think they all had their own in different ways and it just was so interesting to feel, you know, the audience react.
00:31:49
Speaker 3: Shout out to Greg Lopez.
00:31:51
Speaker 8: I think he has come, you know, just a long way too in terms of debating. And this is why it was so sad not to see Marks there because if he is a serious candidate, you got to show up, like, you know, you might want to do it your own way, but like these are the rules of the game, and you don't you can't show up and you can't perform if you're not getting your repsent if you're not you know. And again to dismiss that full room of people, that was an opportunity, yeah, really to really engage in to reach people. And I'm sorry he missed it.
00:32:15
Speaker 1: And you can't ignore the people you want to represent. That's the bottom line. And I you know, Trishia and I were both ran for CD four. I would I would not recommend doing twenty six forums in twenty one counties, which is what I think we did by the end of it, with ten people on the stage. That's not actually I think is helpful. Which is why we joined together with three other large organizations. This wasn't just some small thing because we want to serve everyone. So this was after the Assembly with the only constitutionally conservative candid set are still in the mix, so we could have a substance of one so you can't say, oh, I'm not going to do all of them and then say I'm not going to do any of them. And by the way, we showed last night a form and a debate are not different.
00:32:58
Speaker 3: You and I had done this.
00:32:59
Speaker 1: We actually had a mon where we let each of the candidates ask the other candidates a question and then let them respond to it. I think that's the difference, and it serves It serves the candidates, you know, to make sure you know the actual issues and policies that you want to enact if you get elected.
00:33:15
Speaker 4: And one of the things I'll leave the conversation with us we head to the top of the hour, is how well Tricia Calvareesis somehow fit in with what should be hostile territory.
00:33:25
Speaker 2: But we gathered last night at.
00:33:26
Speaker 4: Talgate Tavern meeting in the minds like the founding fathers, as Deborah Flores cited, and then Leslie Thomas and our friend again shout out to her for reserving the front row seats for Tricia. Ash and myself says the following, We all love Tricia.
00:33:40
Speaker 7: So how about that from Leslie?
00:33:41
Speaker 8: Well, thank you because and I will say to my duns, who are you know? I'm sure some of them are not so friendly towards me. Right now, I don't do it. Don't open your minds, open your minds. I'm engaging with my with my, with fellow citizens, Okay, with with my, my fellow man, and we're finding common grounds, and.
00:33:57
Speaker 1: We should never be hostile to fellow Americans. There the world. There is an ideology, that's what nine to twelve was about, that wants to destroy our right to even have these conversations together. Our neighbors are not our enemy. They are people we need to persuade. And Tricia, you and I are going to continue have conversations. I'm going to persuade you of why I'm right.
00:34:16
Speaker 8: And we're gonna I'm going to persuade you on some of my points and we'll agree to you as agree on others. But that's that is the foundation of a society, of a healthy society.
00:34:25
Speaker 1: We should persuade one another's. We should come together in reason. We should practice the very thing that led our founding fathers to come to this great, great structure that we now have as the United States of America. Our neighbors are not our enemies.
00:34:39
Speaker 4: Both these strong women were candidates in the fourth Congressional District Deborah Flora in the primary and the Republican side and Tricia Calvareesi had to head with Greg Lopez and then Lauren Bobert as a Democrat candidate in that same district. Thursdays with Tricia, It's straight ahead on Ryan Schuling Live Well
