Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have a candidate for Colorado House District fifty two.
It is a district that is in Fort Collins and
there is no Republican running in that race. And I
could go on for days about the incompetence of the
Republican Party, but instead I'm going to introduce you to
a candidate running in the Colorado Center Party. His name
(00:22):
is Stevie Rash. He's been on the show before when
he was first building the Center Party, and now he
is running for the State House with a platform that
is I think very indicative of the sort of mission
of the Center Party in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Steve, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thanks Mandy. I appreciate all the things you've said about
me and the campaign already. Thanks you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So let's talk about the Center Party briefly, and then
we're going to get into some issues because I think
your platform is really interesting in that you appear to
pluck ideas that I guess you think are good ideas
from the right and the left. So tell people about
the Center Party, the Colorado Center Party in and of itself.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we got our minor party status last year August
when we got over the one thousand registered voter affiliation threshold.
We now have one thousand and nine hundred voters affiliating
with us, so when you register to vote, we're one
of the choices. And I started working on it, of course,
(01:32):
in twenty twenty one, so we have our full minor
party status. We have two other candidates, Bernadette to Desco
for Adams County Commissioner right or husband Chaz has been
county commissioner for a long time and is term limited.
And we also have Skinny Winkler, who's also in Adams
County running for State House. There is a Republican in
(01:55):
his race. Bernadette does not have a Republican in race
for County commissioner.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, the Center Party was formed.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Why Oh, because neither major party was representing the majority
in the middle. Forty eight percent of the voters in
Colorado are unaffiliated. They don't want to be associated with
either of the major parties. Both Democrats and Republicans have
(02:26):
been losing registered voters by about one thousand every month.
It's a thousand or one hundred anyway, but they every
month they lose registered voters. So the way the primaries
are set up, the not very many people vote in
the primaries, and so your more extreme elements, both Republicans
(02:49):
and Democrats will end up winning their primaries. Jim hernandez
Elizabeth Epps in Denver were defeated in their primaries because
there was a lot of money put in there and
they made total fools of themselves in the legislature. My opponent,
you are, a ze Zoki, is of that same ILK.
(03:10):
She's a far left progressive and she won because there
was no incumbent and her opponent in the primary ran
a very poor campaign and is a lobbyist. Was I'm sorry,
was a lobbyist for Excel Energy, and people don't want
to vote for that right of background in a candidate.
(03:30):
So I've served on the Larimer County Board FELT and
for Han's Electric Board.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So let's talk about your platform, because I think this
is very interesting. You have some traditionally conservative positions like
supporting school of choice, charter schools, and local elementary schools.
You want to maintain tabor, tax refunds and tax increase
limits to control spending. You are a local control guy
(03:56):
when it comes to land use policy. You don't want
this kind of one fits all that the state is
trying to shove down our throats. You are a Second
Amendment guy, except you are in favor of red flag laws,
and for many on the right, second Amendment is absolute
and no limitations are the best limitations. You also go though,
(04:18):
and say the gun controls we have today are sufficient
enforce them. Now, where you start to go on the
other side of the aisle is you want to protect
women's reproductive rights and freedom, So I'm assuming that's access
to abortion. We also, yep, we also have very much
in favor of supporting teacher pay while not supporting the
(04:41):
Pewter School mill levy.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So you're kind of all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
How did you decide to go with these particular policy positions?
And you can pick any of them as an example
of why you chose that.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, the big one is abortion rights. And when you
look back at the history in Colorado, the personhood Amendment,
which was on the ballot quite a few years ago,
only got twenty two percent of the vote. Yeah, people
do not want to restrict abortion rights. Now nationally, the
polls will tell you that they're okay with restrictions in
(05:15):
the third trimester. I'm not going to be able to
come forward with any kind of a change in that.
I don't think it's possible to legislate what the exceptions
should be in the third trimester. My personal issue there
is what if the fetus has a defect, down syndrome
(05:36):
or brain defect. You know, it has to be between
the person and their doctor. But I want to defend
crisis pregnancy centers so when they talk to at risk
women who are at risk of having an abortion, that
they are allowed to talk to them, right, so that
(05:56):
you can try to reduce a number of abortions outside
of a change in the law. Also, nurses and doctors
should not be forced to participate in abortion procedures if
they are against it philosophically or religiously. They should not
lose their job over that. And I think that might
(06:19):
be an issue that will come before the legislature in
the future. And so you know, there's other ways of
dealing with the abortion issue besides just trying to create
a law to ban them.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So you're actually truly pro choice, you want women to
have all the options available to them, including crisis centers
that may try to talk them out of an abortion,
or have that available if that's their choice of last resort.
What do you feel like the biggest issue facing Colorado is, well.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
The budget is going to be a problem. If we
slip into recession, We're going to have budgetary issues. You
got the property taxes that have skyrocketed for a lot
of people. That's going to really hurt seniors. And the
senior exemption is pretty small. And so you know, the legislature,
the Democrats and the legislature had to be dragged kicking
and screaming to get the final bill in the second
(07:17):
special session to reduce the property taxes and people aren't
aware of it, and so we need to protect that
and make sure that the legislature doesn't backslide on it. Now,
the local control, I think I have a lot of
Democrats supporting me in my campaign. I have Democrats and
Republicans because I've spent time in the Republican Party, so
(07:40):
personal friends through those connections are supporting me. And I
have important issues on the Republican side, so they support
me for that. But the Democrats are all pissed off
about the local control of land use and what the
state has done to you serp that. Particularly in Fort Collins,
the city council, very liberal, twice tried to change the
(08:03):
land use code similar to what the state has done,
and the Preserved Fort Collins group collected signatures to overrule
the city council not once but twice, and in the
second time I carried petitions for that effort. So you know,
and the state legislature may not be over with that, right.
(08:26):
The U plus two or the number of people who
live in one house is a big problem. And you
look at the trash at the Aurora apartment complexes with
all the trash building up. That wasn't a garbage collection issue.
That was because of how many people are living in
each unit. So they create a lot of trash and
(08:49):
it's not getting picked up because it's too much. And
so how many people are allowed to live in each
unit is actually a very important issue, and I think
that will come up again.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Steve, who are you going to caucus with?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Mostly do you feel if you are elected into the
state House.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I know, I think I will probably end up coxing
with the Republicans. They don't have enough people to fill
all their committee positions, right and the Democrats, with the
number of people they have with control and they're near
super majority, they're not going to be interested in dealing
with me, so I think by default I'll end up
(09:29):
coxing with the Republicans to make sure I get some
caucus assignments.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Steve your Rash is my guest. He is running in
House District fifty two. Fascinating platform, Steve. I wish you
the best, and I would love if people would vote
for you in Fort Collins. Again, there's no Republican on
the platform. You are probably the right kind of person
to get elected in this race, and I'm going to
be rooting from you, for you from Afar. I appreciate
you making time for me today.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Thank you, Mandy, I really appreciate it.
We have a candidate for Colorado House District fifty two.
It is a district that is in Fort Collins and
there is no Republican running in that race. And I
could go on for days about the incompetence of the
Republican Party, but instead I'm going to introduce you to
a candidate running in the Colorado Center Party. His name
(00:22):
is Stevie Rash. He's been on the show before when
he was first building the Center Party, and now he
is running for the State House with a platform that
is I think very indicative of the sort of mission
of the Center Party in the first place.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Steve, welcome back to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Thanks Mandy. I appreciate all the things you've said about
me and the campaign already. Thanks you.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
So let's talk about the Center Party briefly, and then
we're going to get into some issues because I think
your platform is really interesting in that you appear to
pluck ideas that I guess you think are good ideas
from the right and the left. So tell people about
the Center Party, the Colorado Center Party in and of itself.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
So we got our minor party status last year August
when we got over the one thousand registered voter affiliation threshold.
We now have one thousand and nine hundred voters affiliating
with us, so when you register to vote, we're one
of the choices. And I started working on it, of course,
(01:32):
in twenty twenty one, so we have our full minor
party status. We have two other candidates, Bernadette to Desco
for Adams County Commissioner right or husband Chaz has been
county commissioner for a long time and is term limited.
And we also have Skinny Winkler, who's also in Adams
County running for State House. There is a Republican in
(01:55):
his race. Bernadette does not have a Republican in race
for County commissioner.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Okay, the Center Party was formed.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Why Oh, because neither major party was representing the majority
in the middle. Forty eight percent of the voters in
Colorado are unaffiliated. They don't want to be associated with
either of the major parties. Both Democrats and Republicans have
(02:26):
been losing registered voters by about one thousand every month.
It's a thousand or one hundred anyway, but they every
month they lose registered voters. So the way the primaries
are set up, the not very many people vote in
the primaries, and so your more extreme elements, both Republicans
(02:49):
and Democrats will end up winning their primaries. Jim hernandez
Elizabeth Epps in Denver were defeated in their primaries because
there was a lot of money put in there and
they made total fools of themselves in the legislature. My opponent,
you are, a ze Zoki, is of that same ILK.
(03:10):
She's a far left progressive and she won because there
was no incumbent and her opponent in the primary ran
a very poor campaign and is a lobbyist. Was I'm sorry,
was a lobbyist for Excel Energy, and people don't want
to vote for that right of background in a candidate.
(03:30):
So I've served on the Larimer County Board FELT and
for Han's Electric Board.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
So let's talk about your platform, because I think this
is very interesting. You have some traditionally conservative positions like
supporting school of choice, charter schools, and local elementary schools.
You want to maintain tabor, tax refunds and tax increase
limits to control spending. You are a local control guy
(03:56):
when it comes to land use policy. You don't want
this kind of one fits all that the state is
trying to shove down our throats. You are a Second
Amendment guy, except you are in favor of red flag laws,
and for many on the right, second Amendment is absolute
and no limitations are the best limitations. You also go though,
(04:18):
and say the gun controls we have today are sufficient
enforce them. Now, where you start to go on the
other side of the aisle is you want to protect
women's reproductive rights and freedom, So I'm assuming that's access
to abortion. We also, yep, we also have very much
in favor of supporting teacher pay while not supporting the
(04:41):
Pewter School mill levy.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
So you're kind of all over the place.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
How did you decide to go with these particular policy positions?
And you can pick any of them as an example
of why you chose that.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
Well, the big one is abortion rights. And when you
look back at the history in Colorado, the personhood Amendment,
which was on the ballot quite a few years ago,
only got twenty two percent of the vote. Yeah, people
do not want to restrict abortion rights. Now nationally, the
polls will tell you that they're okay with restrictions in
(05:15):
the third trimester. I'm not going to be able to
come forward with any kind of a change in that.
I don't think it's possible to legislate what the exceptions
should be in the third trimester. My personal issue there
is what if the fetus has a defect, down syndrome
(05:36):
or brain defect. You know, it has to be between
the person and their doctor. But I want to defend
crisis pregnancy centers so when they talk to at risk
women who are at risk of having an abortion, that
they are allowed to talk to them, right, so that
(05:56):
you can try to reduce a number of abortions outside
of a change in the law. Also, nurses and doctors
should not be forced to participate in abortion procedures if
they are against it philosophically or religiously. They should not
lose their job over that. And I think that might
(06:19):
be an issue that will come before the legislature in
the future. And so you know, there's other ways of
dealing with the abortion issue besides just trying to create
a law to ban them.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
So you're actually truly pro choice, you want women to
have all the options available to them, including crisis centers
that may try to talk them out of an abortion,
or have that available if that's their choice of last resort.
What do you feel like the biggest issue facing Colorado is, well.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
The budget is going to be a problem. If we
slip into recession, We're going to have budgetary issues. You
got the property taxes that have skyrocketed for a lot
of people. That's going to really hurt seniors. And the
senior exemption is pretty small. And so you know, the legislature,
the Democrats and the legislature had to be dragged kicking
and screaming to get the final bill in the second
(07:17):
special session to reduce the property taxes and people aren't
aware of it, and so we need to protect that
and make sure that the legislature doesn't backslide on it. Now,
the local control, I think I have a lot of
Democrats supporting me in my campaign. I have Democrats and
Republicans because I've spent time in the Republican Party, so
(07:40):
personal friends through those connections are supporting me. And I
have important issues on the Republican side, so they support
me for that. But the Democrats are all pissed off
about the local control of land use and what the
state has done to you serp that. Particularly in Fort Collins,
the city council, very liberal, twice tried to change the
(08:03):
land use code similar to what the state has done,
and the Preserved Fort Collins group collected signatures to overrule
the city council not once but twice, and in the
second time I carried petitions for that effort. So you know,
and the state legislature may not be over with that, right.
(08:26):
The U plus two or the number of people who
live in one house is a big problem. And you
look at the trash at the Aurora apartment complexes with
all the trash building up. That wasn't a garbage collection issue.
That was because of how many people are living in
each unit. So they create a lot of trash and
(08:49):
it's not getting picked up because it's too much. And
so how many people are allowed to live in each
unit is actually a very important issue, and I think
that will come up again.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Steve, who are you going to caucus with?
Speaker 1 (09:02):
Mostly do you feel if you are elected into the
state House.
Speaker 3 (09:08):
I know, I think I will probably end up coxing
with the Republicans. They don't have enough people to fill
all their committee positions, right and the Democrats, with the
number of people they have with control and they're near
super majority, they're not going to be interested in dealing
with me, so I think by default I'll end up
(09:29):
coxing with the Republicans to make sure I get some
caucus assignments.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Steve your Rash is my guest. He is running in
House District fifty two. Fascinating platform, Steve. I wish you
the best, and I would love if people would vote
for you in Fort Collins. Again, there's no Republican on
the platform. You are probably the right kind of person
to get elected in this race, and I'm going to
be rooting from you, for you from Afar. I appreciate
you making time for me today.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Thank you, Mandy, I really appreciate it.
The Mandy Connell Podcast News
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