Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm very pleased to welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
For the first time, at least first time as Senate
Minority Leader Cleave Simpson. So Cleave represents Colorado's Senate District six.
I know nobody really pays attention to the Senate district numbers,
but it is a massive in terms of physical dimension.
Massive senate district covering most of south central and southwest Colorado, Alamosa, Dolores, Laplata, Mineral.
(00:29):
I'm not going to name them all, San Juan, San Miguel,
there's more, but just a very very big state senate district,
as often happens with rural districts, because Senate districts and
because legislative districts are defined based on population, not based
on square miles, So if you are representing an area
with relatively low population density, then you get an enormous
area in order to get the same population as, for example,
(00:52):
a state senator that covers part of Denver. Cleave Simpson
is a farmer and a rancher, as his family has
been for a long time. He's also a graduate of
the Colorado School of Mines, and as I said, he
is the newly named leader of the Republicans in the
Colorado State Senate. Cleeve, welcome back to the show. It's
good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Okay, good morning, Ross, great being with you this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Did I say anything wrong in that introduction or was
that about right?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Now? That was about right to your point. There are
fourteen counties in Senate District six, so not necessary to
name them all, but it is a big district Native Colorado,
though I don't know if that was mentioned. I was
born and raised in almost so this is home and
I would just take a minute time. Yesterday we were
going to do this yesterday and it didn't work out
(01:39):
quite right. But yesterday I married my high school sweetheart
and yesterday was our forty second wedding anniversary. So well,
happy anniversary, Thank you, Ross.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
How many kids, grandkids? Dogs?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, we have one grown time together who now lives
in Tomball suburb of Houston, Texas, and they have two grandkids,
a four year old and a two year old who
happened to be here at my house now most of
this week. So enjoying some and they are enjoying some
time away from Houston and the milder, cooler climate here
(02:15):
in the land of cool sunshine. In the sand Louis Valley.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I bet they are wall You didn't answer the dog question.
That's important. What do we got going for dogs?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah? Just one? A Jack Russell terrorist is how we
like to ar. I lived a couple of years in
Australia working at a coal mine, and while we were there,
my wife bocked this Jack Russell terrorist and brought him
home with us. So he's are enjoy all right?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Wait before we get to the local stuff, I lived
in Australia too, but I'm sure I wasn't near where
you were because a lot of the mining stuff is
in the center or the west, and I was in
the east.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
But where were you?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I was in the east, southern Queensland.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Really for what kind of mine? Did you say? A
coal mine?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, surface coal mine. We're mining metal, allergical grade coals,
so it would have been coal shipped overseas for coking
purposes for steel production.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. What was the nearest city to you when you
were there?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, I lived in a little community called Diceart. There
was a community on the on the beach on the
coast on the east side called Mackay that was really
the closest one of any size. Emerald was the one
within about an hour and alfter it was pretty remote.
Emerald was the closest one of any size. It had
(03:30):
like an equivalent of a safeway or a target or
a place to go shop. So wow, pretty pretty remote
and isolated. I loved it. My wife wasn't this crazy
about it, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Mackay is is spelled like like if you saw it,
you might say, McKay, is that the same place?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I think I've been there, but it's.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
About size of Pueblo roughly.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It was you know there, you got very cool? All right,
we have that in common. We lived in Australia. All right,
let's talk about your job a little bit, so first,
so I want to kind of split this conversation up
between policy and politics, and let's start with Let's start
with policy, because when I asked you, you know, one
of the things you want or what are some things
you're going to focus on. The first thing you said
(04:14):
was making Colorado more affordable, and I guess maybe a
subset of that is reducing the size of government.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
But tell us a little about your goals there.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah, I just again being a native Colorado and I've
just watched how how it's changed and really over the
last seven sessions. Now, life is just continues to be
less affordable in Colorado, and I argue that that didn't
just happen organically. This is a result of policies, and
I'll say well intentioned my Democratic colleagues, but really we've
(04:48):
we've added now close to probably two hundred new offices
and programs in state government over the last decade, and
I've just reached a point and look last session we've
finally worse. We're challenged with some real budgetary restrictions and
trying to force us the legislature into identifying where our
(05:11):
priorities are. And I just find it challenging to sit
back and think about in a very short term, we've
created things like the Office of Rail Safety, the Office
of Saving People Money on healthcare, the Office of Sustainability.
Is just a barrage of those that I wish we
would take a moment in time and stop and reevaluate
(05:33):
and go which one of these actually of the two hundred,
close to two hundred new programs and offices, which ones
are really bringing value to Colorado's and which ones are
just burdensome in creating making life less affordable in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So oh, all right, I want to tie this into
politics a little bit now, So obviously I share all
those goals with you. Colorado government has grown in terms
of in terms of number of employees, in terms of cost,
in terms of any metric you want to measure by
much more on a percentage basis than the population. And
(06:11):
we can all feel it. We are over taxed, Well,
we're overfeed. We're not so much over taxed. We're overfeed
because they hide the taxes as fees, and we're overregulated,
and we're overburdened. But I shouldn't say, but it's all
and I would like to know, just turning towards politics
a little bit, given the state of the Republican Party
(06:34):
right now in Colorado, what can you do to try
to give your party a little more influence? Right, It's
not that we're not going to have a Republican governor
anytime soon, and we're probably not going to have a
Republican majority in the state House of Representatives anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But the Senate's not impossible, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You've got to get a majority to make any different
or an important difference.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So how are you going to do that?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Well, I mean that's the part of the challenge. I'm
tasked with us and others a state party, which it
feels rough like there's a bit of a momentum change
now where look and I represent kind of the wing
of the party that I'm on all the rhino watch
(07:19):
lists you could think of, But I just try to
be very engaged and thoughtful and demonstrate Republicans, particularly when
it comes to economic positions and policies. And I think
polling demonstrates this that people trust us, that understand to
your point, how many enterprises have we created over the
(07:40):
last ten years that circumvent the intention of the taxpayer
Bill of Rights and just layer on more burdensome financial
burdens on Colorado constituents across the state. So I think
if we can come together the Republican Party, have great
relationship with Minority Leader Bluesy Gleasy in the House, have
(08:03):
started to build a relationship with a new party chair
and Britt of Horn, and come together and create, you know,
a very thoughtful strategic messaging path going forward. And it's
not just about messaging, but it is a reflection that
people are filling this financial burden more and more year
after year after year, and trying to help create, you know,
(08:26):
a path forward that says there is an alternative and
you can still have a good quality of life in Chlorada.
Republicans care about the environment. We also care about trying
to make people make life affordable here again, and I
think if we can focus on those economic issues, I
think we can. I think we actually can. To your points,
there's room to have conversation about gaining some seats in
(08:48):
the in the Korida Senate. It would be a stretch
in one election cycle to flip it. But stranger things
have happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, Okay, So I I have the distinct honor of
being the Mike A. Loprino Free Enterprise Fellow at the
Common Sense Institute, and in that role I recently, I'm
not saying I did most of the work, but the
team and I released a report about the many many
assaults on Tabor coming from the legislature in recent years,
(09:21):
and all these bills the Democrats have passed and Governor
Polis primarily there's some that predate him, but primary primarily
Polis have signed that kind of steal TABOR refunds and
designed to spend away the TABOR refunds. And then of
course we saw this thing where there was you know,
there was rumor or just it didn't I guess they
(09:44):
didn't get it done, but a ballot measure to essentially
destroy TABOR. So what can you do and what do
you want to do to protect one of the few
things that is keeping Colorado from fully turning into California.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Well, I I guess we just keep pounding the message
ross and highlight again. Proposition HH from a couple of
years ago, I think really demonstrated that people value the
taxpayer Bill of Rights and limiting the growth of government.
Part of me worries a little bit about it's been
so long since the Bill of Rights was crafted and adopted. Uh,
(10:22):
I think people have lost connection to what the not
not broadly, but there's this, you know, growing sector that
lost connection to what taxpayer Bill of Rights means more
than just oh I get it, I get a check,
I get a refund check in the mail every year,
and really trying to focus in again, this is about
(10:43):
responsible limited growth of government. You can still you can
still provide the necessary services that that that the public
entity should be providing. But you really got to focus
on all the extra stuff that's been added on and
to point thinking about all the enterprises that were created
that circumvented what the intentive taper was. For me, Ross,
(11:07):
it's about making sure we continue to highlight that message
and reinforce the outcomes from Proposition HH ballot initiative a
few years ago. And I could almost assure you. I
think I text you a note about that. You know,
there was a House Joint resolution this session that was
going to ask a require legislature hire an attorney to
(11:30):
file suit against the State of Colorado about the constitutionality
of our textpayer bill of Rights. I would be willing
to go out on a limb and say be prepared
that or something similar to that will come back again
in the General Assembly and or at the ballot.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I agree for sure it will. They're not going to
give up. The left wants all of your money. And
you know, you guys in the in the State Senate
are as close to a bulwarks as we have because
you know, you're not the major already in the State Senate,
but you're not an almost meaningless minority like it is
in the house right now, unfortunately. So you got your
(12:07):
work cut out for you, and you have a lot
of responsibility. There's a there's a real burden there, but
I'm sure it's it's one you're glad to take on,
and I'm glad you're there to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Cleve Simpson represents.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Colorado's sixth Congressional District, which is basically sixth Senate District
I'm sorry, sixth Senate District, which represents much of south
central Colorado and almost all of southwest Colorado, and he
is the newly minted Colorado State Senate Minority Leader.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Cleve, I'm sure we're gonna have you on a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
In fact, I should just ask you this now because normally,
you know, I've had lundin and I've had Grantham and
all of you guys on for like a monthly legislative
update during the session.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Can we arrange to do that with you?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Absolutely? Yeah. I look forward to that, all right, So.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
We'll keep in touch for that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's good to get to get to know you a
little more and get my listeners to know you a
little more as you head into this important job.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Thanks Cleve, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Ross A right, good talking to you. July. Everybody joyce,
there you go,
I'm very pleased to welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
For the first time, at least first time as Senate
Minority Leader Cleave Simpson. So Cleave represents Colorado's Senate District six.
I know nobody really pays attention to the Senate district numbers,
but it is a massive in terms of physical dimension.
Massive senate district covering most of south central and southwest Colorado, Alamosa, Dolores, Laplata, Mineral.
(00:29):
I'm not going to name them all, San Juan, San Miguel,
there's more, but just a very very big state senate district,
as often happens with rural districts, because Senate districts and
because legislative districts are defined based on population, not based
on square miles, So if you are representing an area
with relatively low population density, then you get an enormous
area in order to get the same population as, for example,
(00:52):
a state senator that covers part of Denver. Cleave Simpson
is a farmer and a rancher, as his family has
been for a long time. He's also a graduate of
the Colorado School of Mines, and as I said, he
is the newly named leader of the Republicans in the
Colorado State Senate. Cleeve, welcome back to the show. It's
good to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
Okay, good morning, Ross, great being with you this morning.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
Did I say anything wrong in that introduction or was
that about right?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Now? That was about right to your point. There are
fourteen counties in Senate District six, so not necessary to
name them all, but it is a big district Native Colorado,
though I don't know if that was mentioned. I was
born and raised in almost so this is home and
I would just take a minute time. Yesterday we were
going to do this yesterday and it didn't work out
(01:39):
quite right. But yesterday I married my high school sweetheart
and yesterday was our forty second wedding anniversary. So well,
happy anniversary, Thank you, Ross.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
How many kids, grandkids? Dogs?
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, we have one grown time together who now lives
in Tomball suburb of Houston, Texas, and they have two grandkids,
a four year old and a two year old who
happened to be here at my house now most of
this week. So enjoying some and they are enjoying some
time away from Houston and the milder, cooler climate here
(02:15):
in the land of cool sunshine. In the sand Louis Valley.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I bet they are wall You didn't answer the dog question.
That's important. What do we got going for dogs?
Speaker 3 (02:23):
Yeah? Just one? A Jack Russell terrorist is how we
like to ar. I lived a couple of years in
Australia working at a coal mine, and while we were there,
my wife bocked this Jack Russell terrorist and brought him
home with us. So he's are enjoy all right?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Wait before we get to the local stuff, I lived
in Australia too, but I'm sure I wasn't near where
you were because a lot of the mining stuff is
in the center or the west, and I was in
the east.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
But where were you?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
I was in the east, southern Queensland.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Really for what kind of mine? Did you say? A
coal mine?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Yeah, surface coal mine. We're mining metal, allergical grade coals,
so it would have been coal shipped overseas for coking
purposes for steel production.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow. What was the nearest city to you when you
were there?
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, I lived in a little community called Diceart. There
was a community on the on the beach on the
coast on the east side called Mackay that was really
the closest one of any size. Emerald was the one
within about an hour and alfter it was pretty remote.
Emerald was the closest one of any size. It had
(03:30):
like an equivalent of a safeway or a target or
a place to go shop. So wow, pretty pretty remote
and isolated. I loved it. My wife wasn't this crazy
about it, but I enjoyed the heck out of it.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Love it.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Mackay is is spelled like like if you saw it,
you might say, McKay, is that the same place?
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, yeah, okay, I think I've been there, but it's.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
About size of Pueblo roughly.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It was you know there, you got very cool? All right,
we have that in common. We lived in Australia. All right,
let's talk about your job a little bit, so first,
so I want to kind of split this conversation up
between policy and politics, and let's start with Let's start
with policy, because when I asked you, you know, one
of the things you want or what are some things
you're going to focus on. The first thing you said
(04:14):
was making Colorado more affordable, and I guess maybe a
subset of that is reducing the size of government.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
But tell us a little about your goals there.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Yeah, I just again being a native Colorado and I've
just watched how how it's changed and really over the
last seven sessions. Now, life is just continues to be
less affordable in Colorado, and I argue that that didn't
just happen organically. This is a result of policies, and
I'll say well intentioned my Democratic colleagues, but really we've
(04:48):
we've added now close to probably two hundred new offices
and programs in state government over the last decade, and
I've just reached a point and look last session we've
finally worse. We're challenged with some real budgetary restrictions and
trying to force us the legislature into identifying where our
(05:11):
priorities are. And I just find it challenging to sit
back and think about in a very short term, we've
created things like the Office of Rail Safety, the Office
of Saving People Money on healthcare, the Office of Sustainability.
Is just a barrage of those that I wish we
would take a moment in time and stop and reevaluate
(05:33):
and go which one of these actually of the two hundred,
close to two hundred new programs and offices, which ones
are really bringing value to Colorado's and which ones are
just burdensome in creating making life less affordable in Colorado.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
So oh, all right, I want to tie this into
politics a little bit now, So obviously I share all
those goals with you. Colorado government has grown in terms
of in terms of number of employees, in terms of cost,
in terms of any metric you want to measure by
much more on a percentage basis than the population. And
(06:11):
we can all feel it. We are over taxed, Well,
we're overfeed. We're not so much over taxed. We're overfeed
because they hide the taxes as fees, and we're overregulated,
and we're overburdened. But I shouldn't say, but it's all
and I would like to know, just turning towards politics
a little bit, given the state of the Republican Party
(06:34):
right now in Colorado, what can you do to try
to give your party a little more influence? Right, It's
not that we're not going to have a Republican governor
anytime soon, and we're probably not going to have a
Republican majority in the state House of Representatives anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
But the Senate's not impossible, and.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
You've got to get a majority to make any different
or an important difference.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So how are you going to do that?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Well, I mean that's the part of the challenge. I'm
tasked with us and others a state party, which it
feels rough like there's a bit of a momentum change
now where look and I represent kind of the wing
of the party that I'm on all the rhino watch
(07:19):
lists you could think of, But I just try to
be very engaged and thoughtful and demonstrate Republicans, particularly when
it comes to economic positions and policies. And I think
polling demonstrates this that people trust us, that understand to
your point, how many enterprises have we created over the
(07:40):
last ten years that circumvent the intention of the taxpayer
Bill of Rights and just layer on more burdensome financial
burdens on Colorado constituents across the state. So I think
if we can come together the Republican Party, have great
relationship with Minority Leader Bluesy Gleasy in the House, have
(08:03):
started to build a relationship with a new party chair
and Britt of Horn, and come together and create, you know,
a very thoughtful strategic messaging path going forward. And it's
not just about messaging, but it is a reflection that
people are filling this financial burden more and more year
after year after year, and trying to help create, you know,
(08:26):
a path forward that says there is an alternative and
you can still have a good quality of life in Chlorada.
Republicans care about the environment. We also care about trying
to make people make life affordable here again, and I
think if we can focus on those economic issues, I
think we can. I think we actually can. To your points,
there's room to have conversation about gaining some seats in
(08:48):
the in the Korida Senate. It would be a stretch
in one election cycle to flip it. But stranger things
have happened in the past.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, Okay, So I I have the distinct honor of
being the Mike A. Loprino Free Enterprise Fellow at the
Common Sense Institute, and in that role I recently, I'm
not saying I did most of the work, but the
team and I released a report about the many many
assaults on Tabor coming from the legislature in recent years,
(09:21):
and all these bills the Democrats have passed and Governor
Polis primarily there's some that predate him, but primary primarily
Polis have signed that kind of steal TABOR refunds and
designed to spend away the TABOR refunds. And then of
course we saw this thing where there was you know,
there was rumor or just it didn't I guess they
(09:44):
didn't get it done, but a ballot measure to essentially
destroy TABOR. So what can you do and what do
you want to do to protect one of the few
things that is keeping Colorado from fully turning into California.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
Well, I I guess we just keep pounding the message
ross and highlight again. Proposition HH from a couple of
years ago, I think really demonstrated that people value the
taxpayer Bill of Rights and limiting the growth of government.
Part of me worries a little bit about it's been
so long since the Bill of Rights was crafted and adopted. Uh,
(10:22):
I think people have lost connection to what the not
not broadly, but there's this, you know, growing sector that
lost connection to what taxpayer Bill of Rights means more
than just oh I get it, I get a check,
I get a refund check in the mail every year,
and really trying to focus in again, this is about
(10:43):
responsible limited growth of government. You can still you can
still provide the necessary services that that that the public
entity should be providing. But you really got to focus
on all the extra stuff that's been added on and
to point thinking about all the enterprises that were created
that circumvented what the intentive taper was. For me, Ross,
(11:07):
it's about making sure we continue to highlight that message
and reinforce the outcomes from Proposition HH ballot initiative a
few years ago. And I could almost assure you. I
think I text you a note about that. You know,
there was a House Joint resolution this session that was
going to ask a require legislature hire an attorney to
(11:30):
file suit against the State of Colorado about the constitutionality
of our textpayer bill of Rights. I would be willing
to go out on a limb and say be prepared
that or something similar to that will come back again
in the General Assembly and or at the ballot.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
I agree for sure it will. They're not going to
give up. The left wants all of your money. And
you know, you guys in the in the State Senate
are as close to a bulwarks as we have because
you know, you're not the major already in the State Senate,
but you're not an almost meaningless minority like it is
in the house right now, unfortunately. So you got your
(12:07):
work cut out for you, and you have a lot
of responsibility. There's a there's a real burden there, but
I'm sure it's it's one you're glad to take on,
and I'm glad you're there to do it.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Cleve Simpson represents.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Colorado's sixth Congressional District, which is basically sixth Senate District
I'm sorry, sixth Senate District, which represents much of south
central Colorado and almost all of southwest Colorado, and he
is the newly minted Colorado State Senate Minority Leader.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Cleve, I'm sure we're gonna have you on a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
In fact, I should just ask you this now because normally,
you know, I've had lundin and I've had Grantham and
all of you guys on for like a monthly legislative
update during the session.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Can we arrange to do that with you?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Absolutely? Yeah. I look forward to that, all right, So.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
We'll keep in touch for that.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
It's good to get to get to know you a
little more and get my listeners to know you a
little more as you head into this important job.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Thanks Cleve, Thanks.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Ross A right, good talking to you. July. Everybody joyce,
there you go,
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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