March 21, 2025 • 35 mins
In the first hour of today's editon of The Dan Caplis Show, Jon Caldara talks about how Mayor Mike Johnston's Strike Force coverup is a major problem.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Dan Kaples and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No astake, I'm John Caldera in for him and give
me a call. Three oh three seven one three eight
two five five. That's seven to one three talk so
much to go over? What a busy day. Let's let's
start at this one. And this, this one just hacks
(00:34):
me off. Why was it that when you say the
word Nixon, people, grimace? What is it about Richard Nixon
that offended us so? Because he kept secrets, because he
had these tapes that he would not hand over. How
(00:59):
to put it simply, we no longer trusted him because
he wasn't transparent. He didn't tell us the truth. He
had this attitude of, oh, those little people, they can't
handle the truth, so we'll just keep it away from
(01:20):
them because we know what's best. Now, that's really good
work in a totalitarian regime. That's how it does work.
We won't tell you what's going on, and that works really,
really well in fascist countries and communist countries because the
(01:43):
elite know what's going on, but we don't. Why am
I bringing all this up? Because governmental transparency is crucial
for democracy to work, for our republic to work. That's
why we have the First Amendment. That's why we have
(02:06):
to have an active branch of media and reporters to
find out what's going on. And in Colorado we have
open records laws. It's called the Colorado Open Records Act
KORRA for short, and it means that we regular citizens
(02:28):
have a right to see public information. Reporters rely on
open records. When politicians and their lackeys hide information, keep
it covered up, destroy communications between themselves, what they're doing
(02:51):
is destroying the record and we won't know what goes on.
That's how that works. Pretty cool. Huh, Well, who's playing
Richard Nixon? Now Denver Mayor Michael Johnston, the guy who
(03:12):
campaigned on being transparent. Thanks to Brian Moss at Channel seven,
what a great, great report he did. As always on
Mayor Michael Johnson and fourteen of his top advisors, appointees
(03:32):
and lawyers nick named themselves Strikeforce. Pretty cool, Strikeforce, and
communicated about the city's migrant crisis through an end to
end encryption app. The app proceeded to automatically delete their conversations.
(04:00):
This is Nixonian crapola three or three seven one, three
eight two five five seven to one three talk. Now,
remember the Colorado Open Records Law says that these type
of communications must one be open to the public and
(04:20):
two stick around for three years. That's the law unless
you're doing something you don't want people to see. Now
there's a difference. You see, Privacy is for the people,
that's for you and me. Privacy transparency is for government.
(04:44):
Transparency is so that we can see what they're doing
and how they're doing it because they work for us.
It makes some sense. So remember when when progressives get
caught with their hands in the cookie jar or no
(05:05):
matter what they do, they claim victimhood. That is the
progressive operating system. Who's today's victim? What is the oppression?
Who's being Just remember whenever you talk to a progressive,
whenever you listen to national public radio, whenever you read
(05:29):
the mainstream media, it's all the same theme. It's another
somebody's done somebody wrong song. Who's the victim today? So
when they get caught deleting their own messages in direct
violation to Colorado law. They don't talk to the reporters.
(05:54):
They don't talk to the reporters. So the mayor and
his team did did not return calls from Brian Moss
at Channel seven, but a spokesman did set out a
message saying the signal messaging Signal is the name of
the app, by the way, and it's a it's a
(06:16):
great app. If you don't have it, you should, and
the idea is to help keep your messages from being overheard.
Spokesman for Johnson said the signal messaging was prompted by
President Trump and how his administration could have significant impacts
(06:36):
on how Denver operates. Uh yeah, okay, but that doesn't
quite answer why you're keeping secrets from citizens and reporters
and breaking the law three or three seven one three
(06:59):
eight two seven one three talk help me with this one.
So you say, well, you know we're we're having this
battle with Donald Trump. Yeah, welcome to politics. What happens.
A city has a beef with the state, a state
(07:20):
has a beef with the feds. The Feds have a
beef with everybody. Yeah, this is the machinery. This is
the mess of politics. This is why we demand open records.
This is why we demand to see what you're doing.
This is Richard Nixon and I can't say the S word,
(07:44):
but you know what I'm talking about. Getting back to
Brian's story, the use of such messaging apps by government
officials has been controversial and viewed as way to avoid
public disclosure of government decision making. In Michigan after the
State Police, After state police leaders were found in twenty
(08:06):
twenty one to be using signal on state issued phones,
lawmakers outlawed the use of encrypted messages. Steven Sandsberg is
a guy I know. He's a First Amendment lawyer. He
was interviewed pretty simple quote it's unlawful and it's breaking
(08:28):
the law. That's it. That says it all. Another guy
I worked with, Jeff Roberts of the Colorado Freedom of
Information Coalition, characterized the what Channel seven found as an
intentional effort to undermine Colorado's open records law. Yeah. Quote,
(08:52):
it's not transparent. Let's listen to this one. According to
Johnson's daily skill calendar obtained through open records request, on
January fourteenth, he convened a strikeforce introduction meeting the following day,
(09:13):
on the fifteenth of January, text messages obtained by CBS
News Colorado via the Open Records Act shows Johnson's director
of Strategic Initiatives that an identical message to multiple members
of the administration. Quote, now they could see because it
(09:36):
wasn't on an encrypted app and it wasn't set to
self destruct like all the other ones, that we will
never be able to see. Now, he said to his team,
we are going to use signal to communicate with Strikeforce,
(09:57):
so that communication remains encrypted and secure and messages auto delete.
All right, So let me see if I got this
and see if we can put this together. Mike Johnson
and fourteen of his for the people we pay for,
(10:25):
knowingly signed up to communicate in a way that is
in direct violation with Colorado's open meetings law. Not one
of them blew a whistle. Now one of them said, no,
we cannot do this, guys, it's against Colorado open records law.
(10:51):
None of them hmm. Hey, This director of Strategic Initiatives
said that, uh. He sent staff members a link to
download signal, saying, once that was done, I can add
you to the group. All right, Do I need to
(11:12):
take a breather here three O three seven one three
eight two five five. I'm John KELDERA. I keep it
right here. You're on six point thirty K how.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
It's after I'm John KELDERA. Give me a call three
or three seven one three eight two five five. So
right now is Sunshine Week? What is that you ask?
Sunshine Week is March sixteenth through twenty second. It is
a week that reporters and people who like transparency and
(11:59):
government celebrate eat sunshine. It doesn't happen in Colorado's go
back one year during Sunshine Week. The Colorado State Legislature,
during Sunshine Week last year, passed a bill that the
(12:19):
governor signed exempting itself from most of the open meetings law.
Colorado has a law that says, when when government meets,
when your elected officials meet to talk policy, they need
they need to let you know, they need to allow
(12:42):
people to watch it. They need to let people you
know come and witness. And if they don't do that,
they're breaking the law. It's called an open meeting. Otherwise
all the decisions would be made in the back room.
Well lo and behold the Colorado legislature doesn't like that.
(13:06):
They just don't like it. So what did they do?
They passed a law during Sunshine Week to exempt themselves
from open meetings. Pretty spectacular, if you ask me, pretty spectacular. Now,
(13:29):
there are about five thousand different governments in Colorado. These
are small government's large governments, and all of them still
have to operate under Colorado's open meetings law, but not
the state legislature because they're special and we don't need
to understand what they're doing. This week on Sunshine Week,
(13:54):
Brian Moss was CBS Colorado finds out out that low
and behold, our mayor is destroying open records. Our mayor
is breaking the open meetings and Sunshine laws in the
(14:15):
Colorado Open Records Act by having his communications disappear disappear.
The city has confirmed that this Johnson group, fifteen of them,
not one of them, stood up and said, mister Mayor,
(14:35):
this is a legal We're not doing this. The city
has confirmed that Johnson's group was auto deleting their internal messages.
Mayor's spokesperson said the auto deletion went from January fifteenth
to the twenty fourth, when they set it to retain messages.
(14:57):
For get this. Four weeks, four week, No, no, I'm sorry.
Three years, I believe is the law. Three years. Think
about this. Every woman that I have sent a naughty
text to or an inappropriate email, well that thing lives
(15:24):
in the internet forever. My Gmail account goes all the
way back to my very first email, which I'm sure
was something like so what are you wearing? And it's
still there. But these guys are destroying their messages after
(15:45):
four weeks. The mayor's spokesperson says, Strikeforce Signal Group. That's
what they call themselves, you know, when they get together
and they have a little name for themselves, like Strikeforce
instead of Keystone Cops. Ye know, they think highly of themselves. Anyway,
(16:06):
he says, the group is still in use. When there
are relative updates that impact Denver. What the hell does
that mean? You're the mayor of Denver. These are your employees.
Everything you talk about affects Denver. That's just the way
(16:28):
that is. That means it means nothing, nothing, all right.
So here's what the spokesman said. Now keep in mind
they wouldn't talk in person or on camera. In a
written statement, spokesman said the move to this disappearing encrypted
(16:52):
app was because quote, when President Trump took office in January,
it was clear that there would be rapidly changing and
developing changes to the way the federal government interacts with cities,
and that could have significant impacts on how Denver operates. Yeah,
and what who cares? Does that mean? You get to
(17:15):
go all full of Nixon and break the law? The
particular group was started, he said in January for internal
staff to easily keep track of and share information regarding
federal actions that impact Denver under the new administration. Great
(17:36):
sounds good to me. Don't hide it. Don't destroy government records.
How's that for a simple, simple rule? Don't destroy government records.
I don't want to hear from any of these people
who hate Trump. How wait did Trump? Did Trump take
(18:00):
government records? Did he destroy government records?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I guess he's free to do so. The left now
is happy, happy to destroy records. Excuzandsperg a First Amendment.
It was unlawful. Breaking law deprives us as rights we
have as color Radden's to observe the conduct of public business.
(18:29):
What does this do to your faith's faith in our mayor.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
You're listening to the Dan Kapliss Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Really they're on the phone. I got empty lines here.
Wait a second, there are no capitalist listeners. That's why
you haven't called me at three h three seven one
three eight two five five. Either that or you're just
fine with your destroying government records. I mean, Johnson is
(19:09):
a nice guy. I know the man. I like the guy.
He is an affable, approachable guy. But he's had a
lot of time at the Helm right now, and well,
how to put this, I don't think he's done a
really good job. There I said it. There it was.
(19:33):
He has housed the homeless at great, great expense, but
we're still a very unsafe city. And he can prattle
on about how safe the city is, but we don't
believe him. And he can spout numbers, but businesses are
(19:54):
going out of business. Three hundred restaurants have gone out
of business. People don't want to go downtown. Restaurants can't
afford the huge minimum wage to make this stuff work.
(20:14):
So so what does it mean? And now we find
that we can't trust him? Or do you do you
still trust the mayor knowing that he and fourteen of
his closest employees we're just fine keeping secrets from you.
(20:37):
Was that just dandy by you? I'm really curious three
or three seven one three eight two five five seven
one three talk. Let me see if I can find
what I'm looking for here. Oh, give me a second,
I'll find it. In the meantime, let's talk to Kevin. Kevin,
(21:00):
welcome here with John Caldera. So glad to have you.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Hey, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm great? Thanks.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, So, you know, we can talk about until we're
blue in the face about what he's doing. But when
is when is law enforcement going to act on something?
How do you mean, well, you say it's illegal, So
wouldn't somebody like go after him and after the other fourteen?
What's the deal there?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What has what has happened is or what will happen
is somebody will have to bring a legal case against him. Now,
I remember when Governor Ritter tried to hide communications on
his private cell phone. The Denver Post at that point
took him, took him to task and got a court
(21:52):
order that forced those records open. Somebody can sue let
me finish the thoughts. Somebody can sue the Somebody can
sue the city and get a court order. But we're
never going to know what was on those texts because
(22:14):
they've been automatically deleted. This is why we need to
pass a law that prevents that and makes it clear
it's unconstitutional. And you're right, somebody does need to bring
this up legally and take them to task.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Well where do we sign up?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Well, there's a couple of great organizations. One is the
Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. They've got a wonderful open
records handbook. You got to check it out. Steve Zansberg
is a lawyer who does this kind of stuff. I
will be talking with him to see if he is
interested in doing that. But really what needs to happen
(22:59):
is people need to get outraged. People need to get outraged,
and I'm wondering maybe they're not. Why is it? Let
me let me put it a different way. If this
was a Republican destroying records and breaking the open records law,
(23:20):
what do you think would happen?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Impeach him, impeach him?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I agree. I believe there is a complete double standard,
and that's why this isn't that big of a deal.
It's it's maddening.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Go ahead, I got one, I got one. Thing to say.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I'm listening and you hear me.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Yes, yeah, Republicans out there, independent, you gott to grow
a pair.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Get a set of balls? Do something, get outraged?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's crazy. Well, what I'm looking for, I know what
get a pair of means. Let me be more precise.
What exactly do you think they should do? Be precise
and not flippant.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Okay, I'll be precise. Use your brain and do some
research when you're at the voting box.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
And if they do, what will happen? Finish the equation
for me?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Well? Hopefully, hopefully things will turn out for the.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
All right, Hey, Kevin, thanks for the call, Have yourself
a great afternoon. I believe what Kevin is trying to
say is something like this. You know, we get what
we vote in, and if we don't hold our politicians
to a higher standard, particularly a legal standard, it's just
going to destroy our democracy. We will lose trust. Let
(25:03):
me put it in my terms, This state and most
of our cities are run by people who think they
are elites. They know what's right, and therefore it's fine
for them to work in smoky back black rooms. Smoky
(25:24):
back rooms. Why because we wouldn't understand it, we little simpleton.
It's a good thing those elitists are there. And this
is a perfect example. Michael Johnson who looked voters in
the eyes and said, oh, we're going to have an
(25:44):
open and transparent government in Colorado and in Denver, Well,
that was a lie. His people are destroying records in
direct violations of the law, and when CBS Colorad ask
them about it, he wouldn't go on the record. Nobody
went on camera to explain why it's okay to use
(26:07):
encrypted apps except to say Trump bad. It was Trump bad.
Why are you breaking because Trump's bad? And that means
you get to break the law because our duly elected
president you don't agree with his policies. Yeah, he's bad,
He's really really bad. A year ago, our democratic state
(26:31):
legislature did the same thing. They exempted themselves from open meetings.
That means they no longer need to have their caucuses open.
They can decide all of their votes behind closed doors
and then go out into the Capitol, go to the well,
(26:55):
vote the way they decided, and we don't get to
see the sausage being made, We don't get to see
the deals being cut. We don't know what they're doing
to us. In the meantime, they keep throwing us more
and more politically correct silliness. A friend of mine sent
me this this femail. She said, these two slides that
(27:22):
prefaced Mike Johnson's presentation about the bonds he wants to
put on the November ballot. So they're gonna have a
PowerPoint presentation to voters. And here here is what they
first have to put out before we talk about anything.
(27:43):
We're going to have a land acknowledgment. And they put
up a slide, a PowerPoint slide on the screen and
it says Land Acknowledgment. The City and County of Denver
honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside
is the radish territory of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples.
(28:06):
We also recognize the forty eight contemporary tribal nations that
historically tied to the lands that make up the state
of Colorado. We honor. It just keeps going on, this goofiness.
We honor elders past, present and future, and those who
(28:28):
have stewarded this land throughout generations. They have to recite
all of this before they can get to anything like,
excuse me, why are you destroying government records? We also
recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon
and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.
(28:55):
Oh really, may this acknowledgment demonstrate a commitment to working
to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities and recognize
the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver?
(29:18):
All right, so they want to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression.
You know what's a good legacy of oppression? Politicians keeping
secrets and breaking the law and destroying records. That is
a legacy of oppression that the mayor's administration, with his
(29:41):
full knowledge and support, is doing. All right, So they
give that, they give that slide. Then you think you're
done all right? Now, can we get to this boring
meeting and get to something done or do we have
to waste everybody's time doing this? And then up comes
another one? How about this one? Laborer acknowledgment? Labor acknowledgment,
(30:05):
And then somebody's got to read this silliness. We acknowledge
that our country's economy, infrastructure, and resulting generational wealth would
not exist as they do today without the stolen and
forced labor of enslaved Africans who suffered transatlantic human trafficking,
chattel slavery, and Jim Crow. So let me see if
(30:32):
I got this right. The same city that opened itself
up to hoardes of illegal immigrants, many of them being trafficked,
many of them being enslaved by Venezuelan gangs, is acknowledging
(30:56):
the ugliness of slavery. And then they say we acknowledge
how these dehumanizing policies have social, legal, and economic legacies
that continue to haunt to this day. Now, personally, I
love this kind of silliness. This is the kind of
(31:17):
silliness that got Donald Trump elected. So please keep doing this,
keep sending this stuff out. Go for it.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
WELDERA, Hey, I hope you check out the Independence inst shoot.
Go to thinkfreedom dot org. That's Thinkfreedom dot o RG.
I was talking about the silly statements that they have
to make before meetings. Now you have to go through
(31:59):
your white guilt and doctrination. So if you're going to
a meeting that the mayor is putting on. If there's
a PowerPoint presentation, they will tell you how sorry they
are that we're on Indian land and you just want
to know, why are you trying to raise my taxes?
(32:21):
And then then they make you feel guilty for slavery.
We acknowledge that our country's economy, infrastructure, and resulting rational
wealth would not exist as they do today without the
stolen enforced labor of enslaved Africans. That is an assertion
that is not proven. Yes, we can talk about the
(32:43):
ugliness of slavery, the moral wrong of slavery, But to
say that our industrialized nation wouldn't be this industrialized nation
today if we didn't have backward slavery is something for
academics to argue, not a statement a government needs to
(33:09):
white guilt people. And oh, by the way, and I
think this is the important part. And oh, by the way,
Colorado fought on the Union side to end slavery. Let's
just remember this. It's not Alabama, this is Colorado. Colorado.
(33:36):
Lives were lost ending the ugliness of slavery. Should we
celebrate those people who worked to end that awful institution?
Is there any gratitude there? Well, there was in fact
on the west steps of the state Capitol. For decades
(33:59):
and decades and decades, as long as I can remember,
we had a statue of a Union soldier to commemorate,
to commemorate and honor our veterans of Colorado who gave
their all in the Civil War. But during one of
(34:20):
the Black Lives Matters riots, it was toppled and taken away.
It is no longer there. So you know, we had
this wonderful salute to the people who helped end slavery,
who fought and paid with their own blood, their own lives.
(34:45):
Doesn't matter because you're still supposed to be guilty. Now.
These are the same people forced this stuff up on
these presentations and we all have to sit there and
roll our eyes and go, oh, so awful. Oh it's
terrible being white. Oh, guilt, guilt, guilt, I feel so bad. Now,
(35:06):
can we talk about how much you're taxing me? The
mayor wants to go for another debt increase. This is
a guy who who is destroying open records.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Do you believe.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
The city government of Denver deserves that more of your money?
Do you think the mayor is treating you with respect
when he destroys open records when he breaks the law
and has software packages that destroy his communications so they
(35:47):
cannot be inspected, does that make you trust it. Let's
break for news. I'm John Calderic. Keep it here.
This is Dan Kaples and welcome to today's online podcast
edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
give us a five star rating if you'd be so kind,
and to subscribe, download and listen to the show every
single day on your favorite podcast platform.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No astake, I'm John Caldera in for him and give
me a call. Three oh three seven one three eight
two five five. That's seven to one three talk so
much to go over? What a busy day. Let's let's
start at this one. And this, this one just hacks
(00:34):
me off. Why was it that when you say the
word Nixon, people, grimace? What is it about Richard Nixon
that offended us so? Because he kept secrets, because he
had these tapes that he would not hand over. How
(00:59):
to put it simply, we no longer trusted him because
he wasn't transparent. He didn't tell us the truth. He
had this attitude of, oh, those little people, they can't
handle the truth, so we'll just keep it away from
(01:20):
them because we know what's best. Now, that's really good
work in a totalitarian regime. That's how it does work.
We won't tell you what's going on, and that works really,
really well in fascist countries and communist countries because the
(01:43):
elite know what's going on, but we don't. Why am
I bringing all this up? Because governmental transparency is crucial
for democracy to work, for our republic to work. That's
why we have the First Amendment. That's why we have
(02:06):
to have an active branch of media and reporters to
find out what's going on. And in Colorado we have
open records laws. It's called the Colorado Open Records Act
KORRA for short, and it means that we regular citizens
(02:28):
have a right to see public information. Reporters rely on
open records. When politicians and their lackeys hide information, keep
it covered up, destroy communications between themselves, what they're doing
(02:51):
is destroying the record and we won't know what goes on.
That's how that works. Pretty cool. Huh, Well, who's playing
Richard Nixon? Now Denver Mayor Michael Johnston, the guy who
(03:12):
campaigned on being transparent. Thanks to Brian Moss at Channel seven,
what a great, great report he did. As always on
Mayor Michael Johnson and fourteen of his top advisors, appointees
(03:32):
and lawyers nick named themselves Strikeforce. Pretty cool, Strikeforce, and
communicated about the city's migrant crisis through an end to
end encryption app. The app proceeded to automatically delete their conversations.
(04:00):
This is Nixonian crapola three or three seven one, three
eight two five five seven to one three talk. Now,
remember the Colorado Open Records Law says that these type
of communications must one be open to the public and
(04:20):
two stick around for three years. That's the law unless
you're doing something you don't want people to see. Now
there's a difference. You see, Privacy is for the people,
that's for you and me. Privacy transparency is for government.
(04:44):
Transparency is so that we can see what they're doing
and how they're doing it because they work for us.
It makes some sense. So remember when when progressives get
caught with their hands in the cookie jar or no
(05:05):
matter what they do, they claim victimhood. That is the
progressive operating system. Who's today's victim? What is the oppression?
Who's being Just remember whenever you talk to a progressive,
whenever you listen to national public radio, whenever you read
(05:29):
the mainstream media, it's all the same theme. It's another
somebody's done somebody wrong song. Who's the victim today? So
when they get caught deleting their own messages in direct
violation to Colorado law. They don't talk to the reporters.
(05:54):
They don't talk to the reporters. So the mayor and
his team did did not return calls from Brian Moss
at Channel seven, but a spokesman did set out a
message saying the signal messaging Signal is the name of
the app, by the way, and it's a it's a
(06:16):
great app. If you don't have it, you should, and
the idea is to help keep your messages from being overheard.
Spokesman for Johnson said the signal messaging was prompted by
President Trump and how his administration could have significant impacts
(06:36):
on how Denver operates. Uh yeah, okay, but that doesn't
quite answer why you're keeping secrets from citizens and reporters
and breaking the law three or three seven one three
(06:59):
eight two seven one three talk help me with this one.
So you say, well, you know we're we're having this
battle with Donald Trump. Yeah, welcome to politics. What happens.
A city has a beef with the state, a state
(07:20):
has a beef with the feds. The Feds have a
beef with everybody. Yeah, this is the machinery. This is
the mess of politics. This is why we demand open records.
This is why we demand to see what you're doing.
This is Richard Nixon and I can't say the S word,
(07:44):
but you know what I'm talking about. Getting back to
Brian's story, the use of such messaging apps by government
officials has been controversial and viewed as way to avoid
public disclosure of government decision making. In Michigan after the
State Police, After state police leaders were found in twenty
(08:06):
twenty one to be using signal on state issued phones,
lawmakers outlawed the use of encrypted messages. Steven Sandsberg is
a guy I know. He's a First Amendment lawyer. He
was interviewed pretty simple quote it's unlawful and it's breaking
(08:28):
the law. That's it. That says it all. Another guy
I worked with, Jeff Roberts of the Colorado Freedom of
Information Coalition, characterized the what Channel seven found as an
intentional effort to undermine Colorado's open records law. Yeah. Quote,
(08:52):
it's not transparent. Let's listen to this one. According to
Johnson's daily skill calendar obtained through open records request, on
January fourteenth, he convened a strikeforce introduction meeting the following day,
(09:13):
on the fifteenth of January, text messages obtained by CBS
News Colorado via the Open Records Act shows Johnson's director
of Strategic Initiatives that an identical message to multiple members
of the administration. Quote, now they could see because it
(09:36):
wasn't on an encrypted app and it wasn't set to
self destruct like all the other ones, that we will
never be able to see. Now, he said to his team,
we are going to use signal to communicate with Strikeforce,
(09:57):
so that communication remains encrypted and secure and messages auto delete.
All right, So let me see if I got this
and see if we can put this together. Mike Johnson
and fourteen of his for the people we pay for,
(10:25):
knowingly signed up to communicate in a way that is
in direct violation with Colorado's open meetings law. Not one
of them blew a whistle. Now one of them said, no,
we cannot do this, guys, it's against Colorado open records law.
(10:51):
None of them hmm. Hey, This director of Strategic Initiatives
said that, uh. He sent staff members a link to
download signal, saying, once that was done, I can add
you to the group. All right, Do I need to
(11:12):
take a breather here three O three seven one three
eight two five five. I'm John KELDERA. I keep it
right here. You're on six point thirty K how.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
It's after I'm John KELDERA. Give me a call three
or three seven one three eight two five five. So
right now is Sunshine Week? What is that you ask?
Sunshine Week is March sixteenth through twenty second. It is
a week that reporters and people who like transparency and
(11:59):
government celebrate eat sunshine. It doesn't happen in Colorado's go
back one year during Sunshine Week. The Colorado State Legislature,
during Sunshine Week last year, passed a bill that the
(12:19):
governor signed exempting itself from most of the open meetings law.
Colorado has a law that says, when when government meets,
when your elected officials meet to talk policy, they need
they need to let you know, they need to allow
(12:42):
people to watch it. They need to let people you
know come and witness. And if they don't do that,
they're breaking the law. It's called an open meeting. Otherwise
all the decisions would be made in the back room.
Well lo and behold the Colorado legislature doesn't like that.
(13:06):
They just don't like it. So what did they do?
They passed a law during Sunshine Week to exempt themselves
from open meetings. Pretty spectacular, if you ask me, pretty spectacular. Now,
(13:29):
there are about five thousand different governments in Colorado. These
are small government's large governments, and all of them still
have to operate under Colorado's open meetings law, but not
the state legislature because they're special and we don't need
to understand what they're doing. This week on Sunshine Week,
(13:54):
Brian Moss was CBS Colorado finds out out that low
and behold, our mayor is destroying open records. Our mayor
is breaking the open meetings and Sunshine laws in the
(14:15):
Colorado Open Records Act by having his communications disappear disappear.
The city has confirmed that this Johnson group, fifteen of them,
not one of them, stood up and said, mister Mayor,
(14:35):
this is a legal We're not doing this. The city
has confirmed that Johnson's group was auto deleting their internal messages.
Mayor's spokesperson said the auto deletion went from January fifteenth
to the twenty fourth, when they set it to retain messages.
(14:57):
For get this. Four weeks, four week, No, no, I'm sorry.
Three years, I believe is the law. Three years. Think
about this. Every woman that I have sent a naughty
text to or an inappropriate email, well that thing lives
(15:24):
in the internet forever. My Gmail account goes all the
way back to my very first email, which I'm sure
was something like so what are you wearing? And it's
still there. But these guys are destroying their messages after
(15:45):
four weeks. The mayor's spokesperson says, Strikeforce Signal Group. That's
what they call themselves, you know, when they get together
and they have a little name for themselves, like Strikeforce
instead of Keystone Cops. Ye know, they think highly of themselves. Anyway,
(16:06):
he says, the group is still in use. When there
are relative updates that impact Denver. What the hell does
that mean? You're the mayor of Denver. These are your employees.
Everything you talk about affects Denver. That's just the way
(16:28):
that is. That means it means nothing, nothing, all right.
So here's what the spokesman said. Now keep in mind
they wouldn't talk in person or on camera. In a
written statement, spokesman said the move to this disappearing encrypted
(16:52):
app was because quote, when President Trump took office in January,
it was clear that there would be rapidly changing and
developing changes to the way the federal government interacts with cities,
and that could have significant impacts on how Denver operates. Yeah,
and what who cares? Does that mean? You get to
(17:15):
go all full of Nixon and break the law? The
particular group was started, he said in January for internal
staff to easily keep track of and share information regarding
federal actions that impact Denver under the new administration. Great
(17:36):
sounds good to me. Don't hide it. Don't destroy government records.
How's that for a simple, simple rule? Don't destroy government records.
I don't want to hear from any of these people
who hate Trump. How wait did Trump? Did Trump take
(18:00):
government records? Did he destroy government records?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
You know?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I guess he's free to do so. The left now
is happy, happy to destroy records. Excuzandsperg a First Amendment.
It was unlawful. Breaking law deprives us as rights we
have as color Radden's to observe the conduct of public business.
(18:29):
What does this do to your faith's faith in our mayor.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
You're listening to the Dan Kapliss Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Really they're on the phone. I got empty lines here.
Wait a second, there are no capitalist listeners. That's why
you haven't called me at three h three seven one
three eight two five five. Either that or you're just
fine with your destroying government records. I mean, Johnson is
(19:09):
a nice guy. I know the man. I like the guy.
He is an affable, approachable guy. But he's had a
lot of time at the Helm right now, and well,
how to put this, I don't think he's done a
really good job. There I said it. There it was.
(19:33):
He has housed the homeless at great, great expense, but
we're still a very unsafe city. And he can prattle
on about how safe the city is, but we don't
believe him. And he can spout numbers, but businesses are
(19:54):
going out of business. Three hundred restaurants have gone out
of business. People don't want to go downtown. Restaurants can't
afford the huge minimum wage to make this stuff work.
(20:14):
So so what does it mean? And now we find
that we can't trust him? Or do you do you
still trust the mayor knowing that he and fourteen of
his closest employees we're just fine keeping secrets from you.
(20:37):
Was that just dandy by you? I'm really curious three
or three seven one three eight two five five seven
one three talk. Let me see if I can find
what I'm looking for here. Oh, give me a second,
I'll find it. In the meantime, let's talk to Kevin. Kevin,
(21:00):
welcome here with John Caldera. So glad to have you.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
Hey, how you doing today?
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I'm great? Thanks.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, So, you know, we can talk about until we're
blue in the face about what he's doing. But when
is when is law enforcement going to act on something?
How do you mean, well, you say it's illegal, So
wouldn't somebody like go after him and after the other fourteen?
What's the deal there?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
What has what has happened is or what will happen
is somebody will have to bring a legal case against him. Now,
I remember when Governor Ritter tried to hide communications on
his private cell phone. The Denver Post at that point
took him, took him to task and got a court
(21:52):
order that forced those records open. Somebody can sue let
me finish the thoughts. Somebody can sue the Somebody can
sue the city and get a court order. But we're
never going to know what was on those texts because
(22:14):
they've been automatically deleted. This is why we need to
pass a law that prevents that and makes it clear
it's unconstitutional. And you're right, somebody does need to bring
this up legally and take them to task.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Well where do we sign up?
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Well, there's a couple of great organizations. One is the
Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. They've got a wonderful open
records handbook. You got to check it out. Steve Zansberg
is a lawyer who does this kind of stuff. I
will be talking with him to see if he is
interested in doing that. But really what needs to happen
(22:59):
is people need to get outraged. People need to get outraged,
and I'm wondering maybe they're not. Why is it? Let
me let me put it a different way. If this
was a Republican destroying records and breaking the open records law,
(23:20):
what do you think would happen?
Speaker 4 (23:22):
Impeach him, impeach him?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
I agree. I believe there is a complete double standard,
and that's why this isn't that big of a deal.
It's it's maddening.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
Go ahead, I got one, I got one. Thing to say.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
I'm listening and you hear me.
Speaker 4 (23:48):
Yes, yeah, Republicans out there, independent, you gott to grow
a pair.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
What does that mean?
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Get a set of balls? Do something, get outraged?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
It's crazy. Well, what I'm looking for, I know what
get a pair of means. Let me be more precise.
What exactly do you think they should do? Be precise
and not flippant.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
Okay, I'll be precise. Use your brain and do some
research when you're at the voting box.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
And if they do, what will happen? Finish the equation
for me?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Well? Hopefully, hopefully things will turn out for the.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
All right, Hey, Kevin, thanks for the call, Have yourself
a great afternoon. I believe what Kevin is trying to
say is something like this. You know, we get what
we vote in, and if we don't hold our politicians
to a higher standard, particularly a legal standard, it's just
going to destroy our democracy. We will lose trust. Let
(25:03):
me put it in my terms, This state and most
of our cities are run by people who think they
are elites. They know what's right, and therefore it's fine
for them to work in smoky back black rooms. Smoky
(25:24):
back rooms. Why because we wouldn't understand it, we little simpleton.
It's a good thing those elitists are there. And this
is a perfect example. Michael Johnson who looked voters in
the eyes and said, oh, we're going to have an
(25:44):
open and transparent government in Colorado and in Denver, Well,
that was a lie. His people are destroying records in
direct violations of the law, and when CBS Colorad ask
them about it, he wouldn't go on the record. Nobody
went on camera to explain why it's okay to use
(26:07):
encrypted apps except to say Trump bad. It was Trump bad.
Why are you breaking because Trump's bad? And that means
you get to break the law because our duly elected
president you don't agree with his policies. Yeah, he's bad,
He's really really bad. A year ago, our democratic state
(26:31):
legislature did the same thing. They exempted themselves from open meetings.
That means they no longer need to have their caucuses open.
They can decide all of their votes behind closed doors
and then go out into the Capitol, go to the well,
(26:55):
vote the way they decided, and we don't get to
see the sausage being made, We don't get to see
the deals being cut. We don't know what they're doing
to us. In the meantime, they keep throwing us more
and more politically correct silliness. A friend of mine sent
me this this femail. She said, these two slides that
(27:22):
prefaced Mike Johnson's presentation about the bonds he wants to
put on the November ballot. So they're gonna have a
PowerPoint presentation to voters. And here here is what they
first have to put out before we talk about anything.
(27:43):
We're going to have a land acknowledgment. And they put
up a slide, a PowerPoint slide on the screen and
it says Land Acknowledgment. The City and County of Denver
honors and acknowledges that the land on which we reside
is the radish territory of the Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho peoples.
(28:06):
We also recognize the forty eight contemporary tribal nations that
historically tied to the lands that make up the state
of Colorado. We honor. It just keeps going on, this goofiness.
We honor elders past, present and future, and those who
(28:28):
have stewarded this land throughout generations. They have to recite
all of this before they can get to anything like,
excuse me, why are you destroying government records? We also
recognize that government, academic, and cultural institutions were founded upon
and continue to enact exclusions and erasures of indigenous peoples.
(28:55):
Oh really, may this acknowledgment demonstrate a commitment to working
to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression and inequities and recognize
the current and future contributions of indigenous communities in Denver?
(29:18):
All right, so they want to dismantle ongoing legacies of oppression.
You know what's a good legacy of oppression? Politicians keeping
secrets and breaking the law and destroying records. That is
a legacy of oppression that the mayor's administration, with his
(29:41):
full knowledge and support, is doing. All right, So they
give that, they give that slide. Then you think you're
done all right? Now, can we get to this boring
meeting and get to something done or do we have
to waste everybody's time doing this? And then up comes
another one? How about this one? Laborer acknowledgment? Labor acknowledgment,
(30:05):
And then somebody's got to read this silliness. We acknowledge
that our country's economy, infrastructure, and resulting generational wealth would
not exist as they do today without the stolen and
forced labor of enslaved Africans who suffered transatlantic human trafficking,
chattel slavery, and Jim Crow. So let me see if
(30:32):
I got this right. The same city that opened itself
up to hoardes of illegal immigrants, many of them being trafficked,
many of them being enslaved by Venezuelan gangs, is acknowledging
(30:56):
the ugliness of slavery. And then they say we acknowledge
how these dehumanizing policies have social, legal, and economic legacies
that continue to haunt to this day. Now, personally, I
love this kind of silliness. This is the kind of
(31:17):
silliness that got Donald Trump elected. So please keep doing this,
keep sending this stuff out. Go for it.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
And now back to the Dan Kaplas Show podcast.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
WELDERA, Hey, I hope you check out the Independence inst shoot.
Go to thinkfreedom dot org. That's Thinkfreedom dot o RG.
I was talking about the silly statements that they have
to make before meetings. Now you have to go through
(31:59):
your white guilt and doctrination. So if you're going to
a meeting that the mayor is putting on. If there's
a PowerPoint presentation, they will tell you how sorry they
are that we're on Indian land and you just want
to know, why are you trying to raise my taxes?
(32:21):
And then then they make you feel guilty for slavery.
We acknowledge that our country's economy, infrastructure, and resulting rational
wealth would not exist as they do today without the
stolen enforced labor of enslaved Africans. That is an assertion
that is not proven. Yes, we can talk about the
(32:43):
ugliness of slavery, the moral wrong of slavery, But to
say that our industrialized nation wouldn't be this industrialized nation
today if we didn't have backward slavery is something for
academics to argue, not a statement a government needs to
(33:09):
white guilt people. And oh, by the way, and I
think this is the important part. And oh, by the way,
Colorado fought on the Union side to end slavery. Let's
just remember this. It's not Alabama, this is Colorado. Colorado.
(33:36):
Lives were lost ending the ugliness of slavery. Should we
celebrate those people who worked to end that awful institution?
Is there any gratitude there? Well, there was in fact
on the west steps of the state Capitol. For decades
(33:59):
and decades and decades, as long as I can remember,
we had a statue of a Union soldier to commemorate,
to commemorate and honor our veterans of Colorado who gave
their all in the Civil War. But during one of
(34:20):
the Black Lives Matters riots, it was toppled and taken away.
It is no longer there. So you know, we had
this wonderful salute to the people who helped end slavery,
who fought and paid with their own blood, their own lives.
(34:45):
Doesn't matter because you're still supposed to be guilty. Now.
These are the same people forced this stuff up on
these presentations and we all have to sit there and
roll our eyes and go, oh, so awful. Oh it's
terrible being white. Oh, guilt, guilt, guilt, I feel so bad. Now,
(35:06):
can we talk about how much you're taxing me? The
mayor wants to go for another debt increase. This is
a guy who who is destroying open records.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
Do you believe.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
The city government of Denver deserves that more of your money?
Do you think the mayor is treating you with respect
when he destroys open records when he breaks the law
and has software packages that destroy his communications so they
(35:47):
cannot be inspected, does that make you trust it. Let's
break for news. I'm John Calderic. Keep it here.
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