06-18-24 Interview - John Carson Wants To Be A DougCo Commissioner

JOHN CARSON WANTS TO BE A DOUGCO COMMISSIONER And I'm gonna ask him at 2:30 why he wants to join the soap opera and I'm going to vote for him. Find out more about him here.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's time to bring it back localagain. When we've got John Carson in
the studio with me. John,welcome to the show. Thank you,
Mandy, good to be on.You appreciate it. And I said this
to Laura Thomas yesterday. I'm notreally talking to County Commission candidates because there's
too many of them. But thesoap opera that has been Douglas County and
the County Commission has been so ridiculousthat I'm having people that I want on

(00:21):
the County Commission on the show justto kind of shove it down the throats
of those who are trying to rapRose and really create I think chaos.
But that's just me talking about things. But tell me, why do you
want to stick your face in thewood chipper of the Douglas County Commission.
Well, I got into this racefor mainly three reasons. The property taxes,
of course, are out of control, up at least thirty percent on

(00:43):
average in Douglas County. Commissioners cankeep reducing those, preserve and expand the
open space protections, you know,iant to make sure we have a good
balance in Douglas County between development andpreservation of open space. And third,
support law enforcement, particularly with thisillegal immigration issue. That our current commissioners
have really been strong on that,and I'll continue that. You know,

(01:06):
we got to make it clear we'renot providing subsidies or anything of that nature.
We're going to enforce the law inDouglas County. Well, you know,
I know that Douglas County has filedsuit against the state. Yes,
tell me a little bit about that. Would you support that lawsuit? Yes,
definitely. That basically is saying thatthe state is out of line in
restricting our ability to comply with federallaw. I mean, the state has

(01:30):
come in and said Douglas County can'tcooperate with federal immigration agencies and officials on
criminal issues. And it's ridiculous.I mean, this is as a county,
we have to stand up for ourrights. I think what the state's
doing is unconstitutional, and I thinkwe'll prevail. I do too, I
hope. So anyway, let meask you about the controversy I think that

(01:55):
has been raging at the Douglas CountyCommission has come from a very controversial water
project called We're Done from a companycalled RWR. That's correct, and they
want to from the way I understandit. You can correct me if I
wrong. Buy and dry out ofthe Sand Louis Valley. They say they
have all these people who want tosell their water, all these farmers who
want to sell their water. Andthey also say that there's all these water

(02:17):
providers in Douglas County that want thewater. Well, I called the water
providers a year and a half ago, and not a single one of them
wanted the water. Yeah, whatis your take on this, Well,
I'm one hundred percent opposed to it. I would vote the way Commissioner Thomas
did. It's it's a bad proposal. It would cost the taxpayers money in

(02:38):
Douglas County. Our water providers donot want it. We have fourteen great
water districts, We have other waterproviders. They're in good shape, they
have good plans they want Initially theywanted ten million dollars, but that would
just be a down payment of taxpayermoney, not a good project. And
as for the farmers and the agriculturalinterest in the San Louis Valley, they

(03:01):
do not support it at all.And I've tried to get information from one
of the commissioners that he says hewould provide he has not. I've just
asked for any kind of documentation.And when I talk to water providers,
some of them were quite myfed atthe suggestion that they had not done their
planning for the last twenty years thatthey've been doing. So I'm happy to

(03:22):
hear you say that, But thathas really been a huge issue in the
County Commission. Has created a hugeschism. I think it is at the
route of the sort of vitriol that'sbeen leveled at Laura. But how do
you avoid just stepping into that?How do you avoid not being in the
position that Laura is in now whereyou are triangulated out of anything by two
commissioners who want this project. Well, I think public sentiment is the key

(03:46):
there and talking to folks in thiscampaign, and Laura Thomas has done a
great job of highlighting this issue.I can't find anybody that supports this among
the voters, and they know aboutit now. The education is out there.
I think if the commission County Commissiontried to pass this policy or this

(04:08):
proposal, there would be a citizenuprising. I'm very confident. I mean,
that's the job of a commissioner.You got to stand up for what
you believe in, and that's certainlywhat I'll do if I get elected.
Now, you have a history ofbeing involved in the schools and the school
board. So how do you,as a county commissioner continue to advocate for

(04:28):
things like school choice. Well,I will be very vocal on that issue.
When I was president of the schoolboard in Douglas County, we put
all the school choice policies in.Today, one in four students in Douglas
County is in a charter school.There's nobody else in the state that comes
close to that, probably in thecountry. Huge believer in school choice.
So I'll work with the school districtkeep supporting that supports school security initiatives.

(04:55):
I will mention too, it's justcome up that there's a proposal before the
school board tonight to you know,implement this Biden administration directive to allow men
in women sports and locker rooms andthose type of things. So I would
urge parents to really vocalize their oppositionto that. This has just come up

(05:16):
and they're going to consider it initiallytonight. So I know already a lot
of parents are and I would certainlyoppose it. What do you you said
that when you were knocking doors,a lot of people were talking about illegal
immigration. But what do you personallyfeel is the biggest challenge facing Douglas County
right now? Well, I dothink that's the issue that comes up,

(05:38):
illegal immigration. You know, theCommon Sense Institute just put out a study.
Went to their breakfast the other day. They're saying up to three hundred
and fifty million dollars is being spentin Colorado now to subsidize the illegal immigration.
You know, everything from healthcare,to education, to transportation and housing.
You know, the citizens are alreadythe cost of living is really the

(06:00):
key issue, and he's the costof living is hitting from all ends,
you know, inflation, taxes,government subsidies, to illegal immigrants. People
have had enough, and that's whatI hear is the cost of living is
out of control. We've got todo whatever we can at the county level
to reduce the taxes, to reducethe regulations and burdens on the citizens.

(06:23):
Would you be in favor if propertyvalues keep doing what they're doing now of
considering a further reduction of the mill. Levey and Laura talked yesterday about the
creative ways that the current County commissionhad been trying to bring down the property
tax hit that we all took.So that's an option going forward, is
it not. Yes, they've donethat a number of times in the past.

(06:45):
I would support it in the futureto make sure that the county government
doesn't get more revenue. You know, I'm a big believer in tabor.
I think it should be limited topopulation growth and inflation. Anything above that
should be refunded to the taxpayers.I support all of the property tax relief
options. The county commissioners what theycan do. What we did, our

(07:08):
legislators did. The Republicans really ledthe fight there. It's not perfect,
but it's the start of reducing whatwould be very high property taxes. In
third, I'm supportive of what wecan do with the ballot box this fall
to reduce property tax I think that'sgoing to be I hope that's going to
pass. We shall see. There'sgoing to be a ton of stuff on

(07:28):
the ballot this fall. Have youhad a chance to look at ranked choice
voting at all, Well, Ihave, and I'm one hundred opposed to
it. You know, I thinkthere's a lot of things we might want
to change in our election. Peopleneed to get more involved. But this
ranked choice voting that's going to beon the ballot, I don't think that's
what people want. You're going toend up with, you know, candidates

(07:51):
that don't have you know, thecertainly the party support. You know.
It's something that I think is beenimplemented in a couple of states, and
you can end up some uh strangedecisions. Well, I actually think the
Douglas County GOP does a good job, but the state GOP is a mess.
Yes, an absolute mess. Haveyou come out either for or against

(08:16):
the the various initiatives that are askingDave Williams to step down? Well,
I haven't been involved in it directly, but I but I think the state
party needs to focus on winning electionsand bringing people together. I've been disappointed
in you know, just a lotof division and and uh, you know,

(08:37):
loyalty tests and these type of things. We need. We need to
unite as a Republican party, getmore people involved in Right now, we're
heading down the road to getting fewerpeople involved. There's a lot of special
interest money coming into this race,a lot, yes, Yeah, why
is that and where are they?Who are they? Well, the RWR
project is a big part of it. And not only are they supporting one

(08:58):
of my opponents with tens of thousandsof dollars to her campaign, but also
in uh independent expenditures, and they'regoing after Laura Thomas as well in her
race for the state legislature and HighlandsRanch. They're spending independent money, all
coming you know, from folks behindthis RWR water project. Though they want

(09:20):
to get the back at Laura foropposing it, well, they they certainly
must think it is going to beextremely profitable, and that makes it look
even what's the word I'm looking formore shady to me. I want to
John, I want to give youthe chance to pitch your Why should people
vote for John Carson for Doug COCommissioner. Well, I think I've demonstrated

(09:43):
the tough leadership. You know,when I was school board president, we
ended the teachers' union contract, weput those school choice policies in. I've
got a backbone. I'm tough.You mentioned the RWR project and other things.
I'll be able to stand up toother commissioners if I need to get
the job done. I'll stand upfor the taxpayers. I'm a fighter for
lower taxes when I've got the experienceas a CU region, I oversaw a

(10:09):
four billion dollar budget, you know, the county budgets seven hundred million,
So you need someone in there withexperience. I've been in law and business
for over three decades in the privatesector, and I'm very well prepared for
this job. John, I appreciateit. I've got your website linked on
my blog today, Carsonfrocommissioner dot com, and hopefully you make it through the

(10:30):
primary and then we'll have a conversationgoing to the general about you and why
you should be on the County Commission