September 15, 2025 • 11 mins
WANT TO SEE POLITICS DONE CIVILLY? There is a forum where all the Douglas County School Board candidates will be appearing, moderated by me and my friend and show partner Deborah Flora (click here for more on that show). It's part of Douglas County Citizenry's effort to elevate the dialogue and bring back those days where people could express differing viewpoints in a constructive way. Details are below, but I can already tell you that if you are a bad actor wanting to do harm probably half the people there will be skilled carry concealed folks. Just saying.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm feeling much better than I was at the beginning
of the show. I feel calmer, I feel a little lighter.
I feel the happy warrior coming back. And one of
my favorite happy warriors is my friend and co host
of the Mandy and Deb Show. Because we don't name
very creatively. On the Independence Institute's YouTube channel, Deb Laura
(00:21):
joining me to talk about how to do politics the
right way if we do say so ourselves.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, my friend, do you say so? Hello my friend
Mandy of Mandy and Deb. Yeah, Deb a portion in
case anyone wondered.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yes, Yes, I'll be Mandy, you be Deb. There you go.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh I like that? Good good. Yeah, I've got a
lot of experience being Deb. So yes, thanks for having
me on. And definitely, Mandy, I know that one of
the things you and I agree with why we do
our show and why we're going to talk about event
tomorrow night, is because the way to save this great
experiment called America, where everyone has a right to live free,
is to restore civil engagement and civil debate. So that's
(01:00):
one of the things that you and I coordinating on
tomorrow evening.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes, and I'm really excited about this, and I would urge.
I'm just going to say this like I'm going to say,
use us as an example in your local school board race,
because we are working really hard to make sure that
the questions are going to be suitable for everyone. We're
not looking to gotcha anybody. We really want people in
(01:24):
Douglas County to have an opportunity to hear from the
candidates and make their own minds up right, And we're
trying to just ask about the issues that I think
are important, and we're going to take some questions from
the audience. It's going to be a really good event,
and we have all for candidates for school board, so
you will be able to hear from everybody in wind
Fell Swoop.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, And ye know what you're talking about is
tomorrow night at six thirty pm. It'll start directly at
six thirty pm at North Star Academy in Parker. We
are having the school board forum of all eight candidates
for all four positions that are open. And that's from
you know, what people might say is one side or
(02:07):
the other side of the aisle potentially or different sides
of this issue. It is a non partisan race. The
organization that is hosting it is Douglas County Citizenry and
several of US citizens as you know, Nandy and Degas
County formed this in the last year or almost their
one year anniversary, because we don't see too many opportunities
for civic engagement to be done well. DCC Deugast County
(02:30):
Citizeny is solely founded to help engage and inform citizens.
The organization does not endorse candidates, but this is exactly
the type of thing that we were doing, so you
and I will be moderating it. And I think one
of the things that's missing so much in our civic
square and I know this is someone who's been at grassroots,
you know, activator, someone who's been a candidate, and everything
(02:51):
in between is actual forms where we can hear the
real differences between candidates, not hyperbole, not named Collin, not vitrial,
none of that. But really the real difference is on policies.
Because you and I are moms in Douglas County, we
invite everybody to come because we want to know what
are our real options. So that's tomorrow night, Tuesday, September sixteenth.
(03:15):
The forum starts at six thirty pm for the Douglas
County School District candidate forum. All eight candidates will be
there together on the stage, and my kudos to them
because everyone agreed.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, Deborah, a friend said, aren't you nervous about going
to a political event in light of what happened last week?
I'm like, not in Douglas County. There's going to be
some concealed care permit holders there. I'm not worried about
it at all. I hope that doesn't freak anybody out.
But you know, times are tense, and are people going
to have to go through any security or were you
(03:48):
checking bags or anything when people are coming in?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know what we're going to do, and we will
have security there so everyone feels comfortable. Like you said,
it also be very silly of anyone to turn outing
there because there's a lot of law fighting, Second Amendment,
you know, citizens out there. But we will have security
and that is necessary as the time that we're in
it will be obviously a closed environment. We hope for
a great turnout. Please do not let the tragic events
(04:12):
of this last week keep us from doing the very
thing that Charlotte Kirk and others have been you know,
showing an example of, and that's getting together gathering for
civic engagement. We will have security and most will come
and be informed. And like you said, come and see
what it's like to reestablish civic engagement where you and
(04:33):
I are not going to be introducing our viewpoints. We're
going to simply be asking questions of all the candidates
that help citizens get engaged. Because, by the way, we're
also not the folks that believe we need to tell
you what today. Let's just ask the questions and empower
citizens to be informed. And you know, DCC Douglas Kite
Citizen was based on the idea that the key to
(04:53):
a free society is a well educated citizen ry. But
that takes us all getting involved. We invite you to come.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And I just want to have a moment on the
Douglas County Citizenary Organization. It has grown so quickly, and
it's grown because people are hungry for civil conversations where
they can just go and learn about something, where they
can hear from different viewpoints and not have someone you know,
yelling or screaming or carrying on if someone disagrees with them.
(05:20):
And they are wonderful events and people from both sides
of the aisle come and listen and participate. It is lovely.
I mean, it is just such a lovely way to
get your information and whether or not you have kids
in Douglas County schools, Douglas County schools are a big
draw for our community, and it's really important who's going
(05:43):
to be on the school board, what direction they see
in the future, and what's going to be happening at
Douglas County schools because ultimately this affects your property values.
Even if you do not have kids in Douglas County schools,
you want to make sure a vibrant, strong school district
definitely affect your property values in the sense that more
people want to live here if they know their kids
(06:04):
are going to get a great education.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So there's a.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Lot going on. Even if you don't have kids in
schools at this point, you definitely want to know who
is going to be on the school board next and
you're gonna have a chance to hear from all of them.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, Deblah, go ahead, Well sorry, no, no, I was
just going to say, and we invite everybody go to
Facebook and join the public page, which is Douglas County
Citizenry because we invite you also if you're not in
Douglas County. We're really hoping to start a movement across
Colorado of civic engagement right and forums where people can
(06:35):
remember that we're not one another's enemy, and let's learn
to disagree more clearly and better find the common ground.
But in this case, just equipping citizens. You know, I
think it's long past the time where people need to
be told what they should think, who they should blame,
who they should hate. How about we come together and
just talk about what's good for our kids, our schools,
(06:56):
our communities, our society. So go to Douglas County Citizenry
on Facebook. But it's tomorrow night, six thirty at North
Star Academy, and I'd ask them.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, I put a graphic on the blog today, So
if you're driving and you can't remember Citizenry, I did
put a graphic on the blog today where you can
get all the information. One of the things I just
want to throw this out here because you and I
talked about this last weekend as we were sort of
doing our planning strategy session. We're actually sitting the candidates
on the stage by district, and that matters only because
(07:28):
you have four candidates running as a slate on one side,
four candidates running as a slate on the other side,
and we decided it would be better to sort of
integrate everybody so it even feels less us against them
in the way we're seating everybody on the stage. So
that's I want people to understand how committed we are
to making this a phenomenal civic event where people can
(07:52):
come out and learn about their school board candidates, get
a clear view of the differences, and help make their
decisions about who to vote for this November, because we
have a school board election coming up this November.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's a great point because really, you know,
our country, our constitution is not found on collectivism one
group versus another group, right there. Maybe principles shared in
different groups and different slates, but you're voting for individuals,
and that's what we need to talk about and find
out which ones represent what you want. We're not going
to tell you listen. You know, as you listen, you'll
(08:23):
make your decision as an empowered citizen what you want.
And I appreciate your saying that about Douglas County citizenry.
You know the fact that we have all eight school
board candidates attending is really kudos to both slates because
we you know, Mandy, you and I hosted Sunday for
the Home role and we had over two hundred people
attend just to find out information and there was a
(08:46):
diverse group of people there and we got compliments from
everybody of every walk of life that gosh, for once
we were just informed and not dictated to lectured, to
worked up into a ladder of you know, V meant
and that's really what it is. I got a lot
more confidence individual citizens when they are informed and when.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We set the table to have a wonderful, respectful debate,
people who usually pick up that mantle and run with it.
I just want to say, Deborah and I have worked
really hard trying to come up with questions about the
issues that we think are the most pressing in Douglas
County schools. But I want to give you guys an
opportunity if you would like to email me, Mandy Connell
at iHeartMedia dot com with any of the questions you'd
(09:27):
like us to ask. We may already have similar questions
to ask, but if you have questions, and Deborah, is
this going to be filmed? Is this going to be
taped so people can watch it later if they can't
make it tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yes, and I would like to say DCC is different
than much the media. We will not be editing it
afterwards to favorite. We serve this represent We always at
Douglas County Citizenry repost the entire forum so people can
see it. So once again they'll be able to see
that at Douglas County Citizenry on the Facebook page. It'll
link to YouTube. Manny, I'm sure that you can post
(09:59):
it as well. Blog. It will be filmed. It will
not be live stream, but it will be filmed and
it can be seen afterwards. And one thing I want
to say is we will not be taking live questions
from the eyes because we want to really protect you know,
the candidates. Anyone who steps in the arena, whether I
agree with them or not, or you agree with them
or not, deserves respect and your deserves appreciation. However, we
(10:21):
will have people being able to submit cards at the
beginning and we'll look at that as well as what
you're collecting. And people have been communicating with us also
the things that they consider to be the real issues
in this race.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Fantastic, Deborah Flora, I will see you tomorrow night. Deborah's
like my tiny little partner, She's like half my size.
But we make a great team, and I think we
do a pretty darn good job with these moderating things,
as well as the Mandy and dev Show on the
Independence Institute's YouTube channel.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There you go. Yes, I like to quote Shakespeare though,
should be tiny, shed be mighty, let see, and you
are just mighty, so you go.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I'm just the Amazon of the operation there. All right,
Devil' see tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Okay, sounds great. Thanks, Okay, bye bye.
I'm feeling much better than I was at the beginning
of the show. I feel calmer, I feel a little lighter.
I feel the happy warrior coming back. And one of
my favorite happy warriors is my friend and co host
of the Mandy and Deb Show. Because we don't name
very creatively. On the Independence Institute's YouTube channel, Deb Laura
(00:21):
joining me to talk about how to do politics the
right way if we do say so ourselves.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hello, my friend, do you say so? Hello my friend
Mandy of Mandy and Deb. Yeah, Deb a portion in
case anyone wondered.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yes, Yes, I'll be Mandy, you be Deb. There you go.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Oh I like that? Good good. Yeah, I've got a
lot of experience being Deb. So yes, thanks for having
me on. And definitely, Mandy, I know that one of
the things you and I agree with why we do
our show and why we're going to talk about event
tomorrow night, is because the way to save this great
experiment called America, where everyone has a right to live free,
is to restore civil engagement and civil debate. So that's
(01:00):
one of the things that you and I coordinating on
tomorrow evening.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yes, and I'm really excited about this, and I would urge.
I'm just going to say this like I'm going to say,
use us as an example in your local school board race,
because we are working really hard to make sure that
the questions are going to be suitable for everyone. We're
not looking to gotcha anybody. We really want people in
(01:24):
Douglas County to have an opportunity to hear from the
candidates and make their own minds up right, And we're
trying to just ask about the issues that I think
are important, and we're going to take some questions from
the audience. It's going to be a really good event,
and we have all for candidates for school board, so
you will be able to hear from everybody in wind
Fell Swoop.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah. Absolutely, And ye know what you're talking about is
tomorrow night at six thirty pm. It'll start directly at
six thirty pm at North Star Academy in Parker. We
are having the school board forum of all eight candidates
for all four positions that are open. And that's from
you know, what people might say is one side or
(02:07):
the other side of the aisle potentially or different sides
of this issue. It is a non partisan race. The
organization that is hosting it is Douglas County Citizenry and
several of US citizens as you know, Nandy and Degas
County formed this in the last year or almost their
one year anniversary, because we don't see too many opportunities
for civic engagement to be done well. DCC Deugast County
(02:30):
Citizeny is solely founded to help engage and inform citizens.
The organization does not endorse candidates, but this is exactly
the type of thing that we were doing, so you
and I will be moderating it. And I think one
of the things that's missing so much in our civic
square and I know this is someone who's been at grassroots,
you know, activator, someone who's been a candidate, and everything
(02:51):
in between is actual forms where we can hear the
real differences between candidates, not hyperbole, not named Collin, not vitrial,
none of that. But really the real difference is on policies.
Because you and I are moms in Douglas County, we
invite everybody to come because we want to know what
are our real options. So that's tomorrow night, Tuesday, September sixteenth.
(03:15):
The forum starts at six thirty pm for the Douglas
County School District candidate forum. All eight candidates will be
there together on the stage, and my kudos to them
because everyone agreed.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Well, Deborah, a friend said, aren't you nervous about going
to a political event in light of what happened last week?
I'm like, not in Douglas County. There's going to be
some concealed care permit holders there. I'm not worried about
it at all. I hope that doesn't freak anybody out.
But you know, times are tense, and are people going
to have to go through any security or were you
(03:48):
checking bags or anything when people are coming in?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know what we're going to do, and we will
have security there so everyone feels comfortable. Like you said,
it also be very silly of anyone to turn outing
there because there's a lot of law fighting, Second Amendment,
you know, citizens out there. But we will have security
and that is necessary as the time that we're in
it will be obviously a closed environment. We hope for
a great turnout. Please do not let the tragic events
(04:12):
of this last week keep us from doing the very
thing that Charlotte Kirk and others have been you know,
showing an example of, and that's getting together gathering for
civic engagement. We will have security and most will come
and be informed. And like you said, come and see
what it's like to reestablish civic engagement where you and
(04:33):
I are not going to be introducing our viewpoints. We're
going to simply be asking questions of all the candidates
that help citizens get engaged. Because, by the way, we're
also not the folks that believe we need to tell
you what today. Let's just ask the questions and empower
citizens to be informed. And you know, DCC Douglas Kite
Citizen was based on the idea that the key to
(04:53):
a free society is a well educated citizen ry. But
that takes us all getting involved. We invite you to come.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
And I just want to have a moment on the
Douglas County Citizenary Organization. It has grown so quickly, and
it's grown because people are hungry for civil conversations where
they can just go and learn about something, where they
can hear from different viewpoints and not have someone you know,
yelling or screaming or carrying on if someone disagrees with them.
(05:20):
And they are wonderful events and people from both sides
of the aisle come and listen and participate. It is lovely.
I mean, it is just such a lovely way to
get your information and whether or not you have kids
in Douglas County schools, Douglas County schools are a big
draw for our community, and it's really important who's going
(05:43):
to be on the school board, what direction they see
in the future, and what's going to be happening at
Douglas County schools because ultimately this affects your property values.
Even if you do not have kids in Douglas County schools,
you want to make sure a vibrant, strong school district
definitely affect your property values in the sense that more
people want to live here if they know their kids
(06:04):
are going to get a great education.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
So there's a.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Lot going on. Even if you don't have kids in
schools at this point, you definitely want to know who
is going to be on the school board next and
you're gonna have a chance to hear from all of them.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, Deblah, go ahead, Well sorry, no, no, I was
just going to say, and we invite everybody go to
Facebook and join the public page, which is Douglas County
Citizenry because we invite you also if you're not in
Douglas County. We're really hoping to start a movement across
Colorado of civic engagement right and forums where people can
(06:35):
remember that we're not one another's enemy, and let's learn
to disagree more clearly and better find the common ground.
But in this case, just equipping citizens. You know, I
think it's long past the time where people need to
be told what they should think, who they should blame,
who they should hate. How about we come together and
just talk about what's good for our kids, our schools,
(06:56):
our communities, our society. So go to Douglas County Citizenry
on Facebook. But it's tomorrow night, six thirty at North
Star Academy, and I'd ask them.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah, I put a graphic on the blog today, So
if you're driving and you can't remember Citizenry, I did
put a graphic on the blog today where you can
get all the information. One of the things I just
want to throw this out here because you and I
talked about this last weekend as we were sort of
doing our planning strategy session. We're actually sitting the candidates
on the stage by district, and that matters only because
(07:28):
you have four candidates running as a slate on one side,
four candidates running as a slate on the other side,
and we decided it would be better to sort of
integrate everybody so it even feels less us against them
in the way we're seating everybody on the stage. So
that's I want people to understand how committed we are
to making this a phenomenal civic event where people can
(07:52):
come out and learn about their school board candidates, get
a clear view of the differences, and help make their
decisions about who to vote for this November, because we
have a school board election coming up this November.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah. Absolutely, it's a great point because really, you know,
our country, our constitution is not found on collectivism one
group versus another group, right there. Maybe principles shared in
different groups and different slates, but you're voting for individuals,
and that's what we need to talk about and find
out which ones represent what you want. We're not going
to tell you listen. You know, as you listen, you'll
(08:23):
make your decision as an empowered citizen what you want.
And I appreciate your saying that about Douglas County citizenry.
You know the fact that we have all eight school
board candidates attending is really kudos to both slates because
we you know, Mandy, you and I hosted Sunday for
the Home role and we had over two hundred people
attend just to find out information and there was a
(08:46):
diverse group of people there and we got compliments from
everybody of every walk of life that gosh, for once
we were just informed and not dictated to lectured, to
worked up into a ladder of you know, V meant
and that's really what it is. I got a lot
more confidence individual citizens when they are informed and when.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
We set the table to have a wonderful, respectful debate,
people who usually pick up that mantle and run with it.
I just want to say, Deborah and I have worked
really hard trying to come up with questions about the
issues that we think are the most pressing in Douglas
County schools. But I want to give you guys an
opportunity if you would like to email me, Mandy Connell
at iHeartMedia dot com with any of the questions you'd
(09:27):
like us to ask. We may already have similar questions
to ask, but if you have questions, and Deborah, is
this going to be filmed? Is this going to be
taped so people can watch it later if they can't
make it tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yes, and I would like to say DCC is different
than much the media. We will not be editing it
afterwards to favorite. We serve this represent We always at
Douglas County Citizenry repost the entire forum so people can
see it. So once again they'll be able to see
that at Douglas County Citizenry on the Facebook page. It'll
link to YouTube. Manny, I'm sure that you can post
(09:59):
it as well. Blog. It will be filmed. It will
not be live stream, but it will be filmed and
it can be seen afterwards. And one thing I want
to say is we will not be taking live questions
from the eyes because we want to really protect you know,
the candidates. Anyone who steps in the arena, whether I
agree with them or not, or you agree with them
or not, deserves respect and your deserves appreciation. However, we
(10:21):
will have people being able to submit cards at the
beginning and we'll look at that as well as what
you're collecting. And people have been communicating with us also
the things that they consider to be the real issues
in this race.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
Fantastic, Deborah Flora, I will see you tomorrow night. Deborah's
like my tiny little partner, She's like half my size.
But we make a great team, and I think we
do a pretty darn good job with these moderating things,
as well as the Mandy and dev Show on the
Independence Institute's YouTube channel.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There you go. Yes, I like to quote Shakespeare though,
should be tiny, shed be mighty, let see, and you
are just mighty, so you go.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I'm just the Amazon of the operation there. All right,
Devil' see tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Okay, sounds great. Thanks, Okay, bye bye.
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