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June 5, 2026 32 mins

I WATCHED THE DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR’S DEBATE So you didn’t have too. Oof. It was super boring. My claim that it would be a milquetoast bloodbath was spot on. Kyle and Marshall asked softball after softball, never asking about Phil Weiser being Attorney General while crime and drug overdoses skyrocketed while he sued Trump. Never asked Michael Bennet who voted for bloated budget after budget in DC what his budget would look like in Colorado. What a waste of time, but if you think Polis and the Democratic Legislature were bad, wait until one of these guys gets into office. Bennet said he wants a budget destroying public option. They both said they would sign the labor bills Polis vetoes. They kept talking about affordability and then talking about more regulation in the next breath as if they aren’t inextricably linked. We are so screwed. As much as I hate to do this, you need to watch this debate. If for no other reason than see how bad things are going to get. Longtime journalist Chris Rourke is joining me at 1 to talk about it.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm pleased as much to welcome to my program officially
the first time. Officially. Thank you. She used to be
a journalist, but we opinions have dragged her to the
dark side. We were open about our biases and we
tell you exactly working. It is liberating, isn't it. Yes,
it is. I love telling people. I've gotten a lot

(00:20):
of pushback over the last couple of days and this
is just a perfect example of one of the comments
that I got, and that is, shouldn't a talk show
person be uh you know even No, I am an
opinion host, I am not a journalist. I'm going to
tell you what I think. You went to the Democratic
debate last night? I did. It was really interesting set

(00:40):
the scene for those of us who could only watch
it at home.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay, So I went to both debates and the difference
was very interesting, especially in the audience, and I talked
to a lot of people in the audience.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
We were talking about this before we came on.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
The people definitely different, a lot more students there than
were the Red night. In fact, before the debate Tuesday night,
Kyle Clark had to ask people to move up and
fill the seats. People ended up coming in later in
the room did fill, but there was more students at
the Democrats.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
I mean that's kind of logical, Ie.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
You right, but there was more enthusiasm. They were very
knowledgeable about the candidates. I turned around and because I
ended up moving up into a student seat because they
did have to move some people up anyway, So I.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Sat with the kids. You know, it was fun and.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
They're all younger than my kids, right, But I just
chatted them up and I said, look, who do you like?
Why are you here? Did you go to the Republican debate?
And a lot of them didn't, didn't even pay attention.
They do think Republicans are crazy. They I asked one
person and I said, why are you here? And they said,
I want to know who to vote for. And I

(01:47):
did sit next to two young women students and they
had interned for Bennett and they just love Bennett.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
He does have a very personable way. He has a
good reputation with staffers and formers. I've never heard anyone
and that worked for him or with him say anything negative.
But I mean it's kind of his personality. I described
this debate yesterday, and I think I was spot on
as a milk toast blood bath. Certainly not from Kyle
and Marshall, who really were disappointing after the energy they

(02:18):
brought to Tuesday nights debate. That energy was they must
have had a Snickers and a nap. I don't know
because the energy was completely different, and I know I
should expect it. Blah blah blah. I was, what did
you expect? I was hoping, you know, hope Spring's eternal.
I said that earlier. You are a hopeful pride I am.
But Bennett, who do you think? Who do you think?

(02:39):
Who did you? Did they think one last night? Did
you ask after the debate?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I asked them this question, do you think the moderators
were tougher on Bennett than they were Wiser?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
And they both said yes, I agree, thought that too.
I agree, yeah, And it was it was noticeable. And
they didn't ask bil Wiser about things like why is
crime going up gone up so dramatically when you're attorney Janneral,
Why did you say that someone would have to steal
three or four cars before you do something about them?
None of those questions were asked. No, I agree.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
And the other thing about it was there was this
element that he was so rehearsed, and so Phil Weiser,
pil Wiser was rehearsed.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
He stood very still.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
I think Michael Bennett should take a tip because he
fidgets a little bit.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
He gets irritated. It's agitated. It's agitated. You can see it.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
He doesn't lash out, but he definitely gets.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Kind of ruffled. Phil was just like a statue.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
He delivered his lines, but he came off as overrehearsed,
whereas I think Bennett came off as authentic.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Well, I agree with you to a certain extent. But
then here's what we saw on TV. When Wiser was speaking, right,
So Wiser was speaking, it made sense that he was
standing still. It made sense, it made him it seem
statesman like. But we didn't get to see what he
was doing in between. And I think what you saw
was unnatural stiffness. But on TV, we didn't see the

(03:57):
unnatural stiffness. We just saw him bring his points. And
I think the man is wrong about everything. And I
got to tell you, Chris, at the end of that
debate last night, I was like, we are so screwed.
I had the same thought.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
I'll tell you the moment I had the thought was
when they went through the vetos.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Oh, and I'm like every single one. I said, Oh,
can I say crap on the ring? Yes, I say
it all the time. I said, oh, crap, Yeah, we
are in trouble. Yeah, now go ahead.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I did like the questioning at the very end, and
then it kind of drew me back a little bit
when they talked about how to appeal to the rural areas,
because you know, I reported it in a rural area
of Colorado for quite some time, have real attachments to
the Western Slope, and Bennett was there a lot, and
he talked about the Shoshone water rights that they have

(04:45):
just secured for the Colorado River.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
That's that's very significant.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
He and then he gave a shout out to Jeff
Heard and he said, I did that with Jeff Heard,
and so you know, he talked about how important water
is where Bill talked about going to a conference in
Grand Junk and how he had kind of been a
part of it. And I saw Phil Wiser over in
the Western Slope too, but I really feel like Bennett

(05:09):
had has more of a connection to the rural areas.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Do you think this moved the needle for Democratic voters
who had already chosen their candidate. I don't think it
did for those people, but I do think for people
that were undecided, it's kind of like choose your fighter.
And on the one hand, I did think the question
about you're not going to have the ability to sue
anymore if you're a raving or because I mean, let's
be real, Phil Wiser is a one trick pony. Yes, yes,

(05:33):
very much so.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
As far as moving the needle, I think this primary
is really going to come down to personality. I think
they're they're pretty much a carbon valpy of each other.

Speaker 1 (05:43):
That is, that is just devastating we've got. I mean,
nobody's ever going to accuse Michael Bennett of being high energy, No, never.
Phil Wiser can come off a little shrill.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah, kind of acoustic, maybe a little bit alott lately,
a little bidy yeah yeah. But I think that is
going to define who gets elected. To do the Democratic
voters and an affiliate, it's do they want somebody who's
gonna fight fight, fight, you know, against Trump, or do
they want this other you know, kind of uh connecting,

(06:17):
feel good kind of That's how I described Michael Bennett.
He really wants to connect with people and show that
he cares well.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Here's the thing, Michael Bennett sat down with us at
the DNC and did so voluntarily, like we didn't have
to drag him over like we did Jared Polis. I
must show you the picture of Jared Poulis at the
at the DNC. You will cry with laughter. The look
on his face is like he's literally taken a poop.
I mean, he's just it's the funniest thing you've ever seen. However,

(06:44):
Michael Bennett voluntarily plopped down. We had a nice conversation.
We had disagreements about policy. It was a fine conversation.
At the end of it, as he's leaving, he's like,
that was really fun. I would do that again. So
there is that personability. But as far as policy, last night,
the one thing that I heard that was a big
differ differentiator that I think is absurd. Michael Bennett said,

(07:07):
I want a public option in Colorado, when you and
I both know every single state that has looked at
a public option has walked away from it because it
is prohibitively expensive. We already have out of control Medicaid costs,
which we're not asked about. I have issues with Kyle
and Marshall's questions. I have issues. I know you do.
You know I have real issues. And second forth, you know,

(07:31):
there was none of the aggressiveness we saw Tuesday night. No,
none of it.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
No. And I actually acknowledge. You know, some of your
texters brought this up to and I think so too.
They didn't really bring the sensational baggage that the two
on the Republican side.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I mean, they gave those guys so much fodder.

Speaker 2 (07:50):
You can't even get to policy because we're talking demons
and we're talking sedition and all these things that really
should be cleared up. They didn't even really get to
the knee gritty of of policy. But I tell you what,
after last night's debate, I went back and I looked
at some of Arb Kirkmeyer's clips. She's the only one
that if you want change in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
She's the only one.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
I mean, she was talking about these three hundred boards
and commissions and that what she would do. She actually
has a plan for making things affordable, and it starts
with those commissions.

Speaker 1 (08:22):
One of the things that's driving me crazy about the
Republican primary is that there are a lot of voters
who are super angry, and I absolutely get the anger.
I mean, I'm one hundred percent understand it, so I
don't want to make that the issue. But they're so
angry that they're getting sucked into the narrative that either
Victor Marx or Scott Bottom's is going to go in

(08:45):
and somehow unilaterally get all of the people who just
voted all these garbage policies into being to walk them back.
There are so many limits to the governorship that there
aren't to the presidency, and a lot of these these
Republicans in Colorado who are just so angry, they're like,
well Trump is doing with executive orders. Executive orders for

(09:06):
a governor are far different in the way they operate,
and they are far more limited in the way they
operate than they are at the federal level. We cannot
do it alone. And like it or not, whoever is
governor is going to be working with a democratic legislature,
and guys, it could be with a democratic legislature with

(09:26):
a veto proof majority. Democrats are one seat away in
the House, one seat away in the Senate. If they
pick up one seat, they can pass whatever they want,
override the governor's veto and they can do whatever they want.
So the notion that somehow some Republican savior is going
to come kick the doors down and make everything the

(09:47):
way it should be again is not realistic, not realistic
at all. It is not realistic.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
And here's another thing, Mandy, you don't turn an ocean
liner in a sharp turn. We have got the very
far right people. They I think that by going further
to the right, they're going to come in, swoop in
and change Colorado in one fell swoop. It doesn't happen
that way. Nothing happens that way. A garden doesn't grow overnight.
You don't heal a bad joint overnight. It's incremental changes,

(10:15):
incremental decisions that lead to a better good. And the
Republican Party does not get that.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
No, and if you elevate Victor Marks to the top
of the ticket, there is no doubt in my mind
that the down ballot will get killed and then we
end up with that super majority and it doesn't matter
who's governor. But I will say I asked my listeners earlier.
I put the entire debate, the whole thing, on my

(10:44):
blog at mandyblog dot com. Subscribe while you're there pick ups.
I'm a subscribe, Thank you, Thank you, subscriber, Thank you.
It's free and will always be free. But I need
people on the right to watch this debate because one
of two things is going to happen. You're gonna put
your house on the market and get ready to move
right or you are going to go Wow. I need

(11:04):
to engage, and I need to engage to get somebody
elected that's not either of these two people, and I'm
hoping it's.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
The latter, you know, you know, I think that's why
I've gotten more engaged. And I'm kind of a hybrid
because I believe that people make good decisions with information.
A lot of people were asking, well, why'd you go
last night? There is a difference between sitting in the
room and watching it on TV, and you've got to
get the information, You've got to really see it. Because
I sort of went in kind of like Bennett, Like

(11:33):
I said, I've known him from reporting on the Western Slope.

Speaker 1 (11:36):
He's a likable guy.

Speaker 2 (11:37):
But then I'm sitting there and I'm watching everything unfold
and I'm hearing what he's saying.

Speaker 1 (11:42):
I'm like, oh, no, we are in trouble. Yeah, yeah,
we really are in trouble. I mean, if you think Paula,
this is what I heard last night, Chris. It was
so frustrating to me, and I was super frustrated that
neither Kyle nor Marshall asked a single follow up question.
And they're talking about, you know, we need more regulations
for this the public option. Nobody said how are you

(12:03):
going to pay for that? How are you going to
pay for that when you know we're the sixth most
regulated state in the nation. How are you going to
add more regulations and say you're going to make it
more business friendly? Because those two things are antithetical to
one another.

Speaker 2 (12:18):
And it's really interesting because he asked about, you know,
what are you going to do about regulations, and neither
one of them really answered that. They said nothing. They said,
oh yeah, regulations are a problem, but they didn't say
they were going to cut them. They didn't say, you know.
And the volunteer thing was really interesting because he summarized
it by saying, okay, both of you are said that
that polunteers leaving, and they did not say that.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
They said, we are. We don't want to see any
businesses leave. That was the question that got me into
a back and forth with Kyle about that. Yeah, that
was the one question, and I actually sent him back
what I have on the blog today. I thought the
questions were borderline ridiculous in some cases, and I used
this question by Marshall's as an example. Marshall said, Colorado

(13:03):
is an increasingly progressive state putting restrictions on businesses in
the name of consumer and environmental protection. Is that driving
businesses out of Colorado? Mister Bennett? What? Here's how the
question should have been asked. Colorado is the sixth most
regulated state in the nation, and business owners are leaving
or choosing other states because they say the business environment

(13:24):
is too challenging in Colorado. Many of those regulations were
passed by your own party. How do you plan to
fix the exodus of businesses and bring back Colorado's vibrant
business economy? That's how you asked that question. You should
be doing the debate next time. No one will come.
You are debate?

Speaker 2 (13:42):
God, have you had a Democratic one?

Speaker 1 (13:46):
No, we have not. I bet you both of them
will come. Well, I'd like to have both of them
on the show. I do think it's important that everyone
hears from the Democratic candidates. I have deep sigh madesh
coming on money. Oh he Monday, we're going to be
talking about the civil war in the Democratic Party. And
if you don't know, there is a civil war going

(14:08):
on in the Republican Party that everybody knows about. So
there is a civil war going on in the Democratic
Party that people are going to have to pay attention
to it. It is a genuine war for the heart
of the party on the Democratic side right now.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
And it's not in the Republican of the party. Well,
I'll get back to the Democrats, okay. So I talked
to three people last night, a couple in their friend
They were towards the back of the room and we
just got chatting, and the gentleman said that what he
views the Republican Party in Colorado as being ninety percent

(14:41):
maga And I said, oh, sir, let me help you
with this a minute. But one of the things that
they said was they did talk. They talked about the
same things the Republicans do. They talked about it being
unaffordable here. They talked about things being divided and divisive.

Speaker 1 (14:57):
They talked about why they think everything has gone and
so unaffordable. I would have liked to have known the
answer to that.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
A lot of them by the idea that Trump has
done it in eighteen months, But it's been happening ever
since Jerry Paula's took office. Yea, they have the viewpoint
that we need to talk to each other more. And
and I'm like, Okay, I'm hearing the same thing from
Democrats that I hear from Republicans.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Why can't we figure it out?

Speaker 2 (15:21):
Why can't we kind of put down arms and find
something bipartisan wise?

Speaker 1 (15:27):
I don't know, you know as well as I do
that that well, it's not just about power, but it
is about compromise is now a new our word, right,
I mean compromise of you. This is what's This is
what Barb Kirkmeyer is getting killed for right now. Absolutely
when you talk to Barb, and I've had conversations with her,
obviously on the air and off the air, she takes

(15:48):
her role in government as it pertains to the Colorado
and the US Constitution extremely seriously. And it is so
easy when you were in an overwhelming minority to take
a stand and vote no on a bill that constitutionally
has to be passed. Scott Bottoms on the budget correct

(16:10):
Scott Bottom's on so many things. Scott loves to talk
about not yielding, not It's really easy when your vote
doesn't matter anyway, and Republicans can't stop anything. They can't
get anything passed by themselves. Every single thing, every single
piece of successful legislation that Republicans have had their fingers
on has been passed in a bipartisan fashion because they

(16:32):
have no choice. They have no choice. Democrats can pass
whatever they want, they don't need a Republican vote.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's interesting in the Colorado legislature because and I've been
kind of dragged into this fight a little bit, but
there are four lawmakers that believe that they have to
be the no vote all the time, and they have
these uber high Liberty scorecard ratings, right, And then you
have eighteen of these lawmakers that are working together amongst
themselves and then have to engage with the Democrats to

(16:59):
pass bipartisan bills. And they've been I looked at some
of the stuff they've passed this year. I don't have
anything off the top of my head. They were pretty
successful considering the position they're in.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Oh, when I saw the Liberty scorecard gave Rose paglici ac.
I knew that I was done with the Liberty scorecard.
Did you read the debunking report about the liberty score
So I did not.

Speaker 2 (17:19):
So basically, the Liberty scorecard does not take into consideration
if a bill goes through an amendment process or if
it improves or something like that.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
They just take a stand on it.

Speaker 2 (17:30):
And there are lawmakers that will go and check to
see what the Liberty scorecard says about you know, whatever bill,
and they will vote that way. They will not think
on their own. The other thing about it is it
does not wait. Bills like a license plate bill might
have the same weight as a budget bill.

Speaker 1 (17:50):
Right. I think Barb got.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Dinged on the Liberty scorecard because she voted for the budget. Well,
constitutionally a budget has to be passed. Of course, Scott
Bonhams did not vote for the budget, and he gets
a higher score exactly. So it's not really a fair
measure of whether or not a lawmaker is you know
what is conservatives As far as the.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
Liberty Store find that anymore, it's kind of insane. This
text message from the Common Spirit health text line. You
can text us at five six six nine. Oh, my friend,
Chris Rourke in the studio with me. Hey, Mandy, not
much on roads last night, thought Kyle and Marshall threw
too many softballs. I still like Barb. Don't know she'll
make it past primary. That's too bad for the state.
Native of Colorado, I'm seriously thinking about moving to Iowa.

(18:35):
My kids live there, or Nebraska. Not too much traffic
and great roads. Yeah, I too, my sisters in Idaho.
So Scott Bottoms is a Rand Paul. No, Scott Pottams
is a Ron Paul. Yes, and there's a difference. I
realize you guys don't realize that. Trust me, there's a
difference between Ron and Rand. He's a Ron Paul. I
want to share a post that our favorite nerdy statitician,

(18:58):
Mike O'donald Love on X last night. He has been
digging into voter roles. This as the current Secretary of
State is now running for Attorney General. Mike posted this
to illustrate how poorly maintained the Colorado voter role is.
Let me introduce you to a two bedroom unit on
Parker Road, where, between July twenty twenty two and October

(19:21):
twenty twenty three, ninety nine individuals all with Middle Eastern
names were newly added to the Colorado voter role. Eighty
eight percent were women, mostly aged in their thirties or forties,
none likely ever lived there, and toward the end of
whatever was going on, thirty one new registrations were rushed

(19:41):
through and added to the voter role in October of
twenty twenty three alone, usually in daily groups of four, five,
or six scattered throughout the month. No one noticed, no
alarm bells went off. As of now, all having an
inactive status on the voter roll, every election related mailed
to them has been returned undeliverable. But if there been

(20:04):
any basic checks and balances in place at the front end,
does anyone else think it might be unusual that six
people with different last names were added to the voter
role at a single residence the day after five other
people were added there. None ought to have ever been
added in the first place. Sadly, they will stay on

(20:25):
the Colorado voter role until after the twenty twenty six
federal election, three until after twenty twenty eight. This means
that although they won't be mail ballots, they or someone
using their name could potentially still vote in person at
any Colorado election till then it is nonetheless unlikely that
this was a fraudulent voter scheme because five individuals accidentally

(20:50):
provided a contact mailing address that is the secondary practice
for national insurance provider. This tends to suggest a Medicare
Medicaid scheme where perhaps a service provider is billing Colorado
taxpayers for a plethora of non existent services provided to
a plethora of non existent individuals. But even though evidence

(21:12):
of potential fraud against Colorado taxpayers is hiding in plain
sight on the Colorado voter role, it is unlikely that
the Colorado Secretary of State even noticed or cares unbelievable. Now,
I have David mcgoeth from the Denver Gazette coming on
at Q thirty, and he's done a great series in
the Denver Gazette about this really interesting medicaid fraud. I'm
calling it fraud. He doesn't call it fraud yet, but

(21:34):
it is fraud. And now we have a similar fraud
that is also on the voter rules. How many of
these people do you think are actually legal to vote? None?
That's it, Andy, you said we aren't allowed to talk
about stolen elections. A voter fraud remember we are all idiots. No,
this is what would be called evidence, thank you. That's

(21:57):
the difference. Running around screaming about tinpe. He's not the
same as bringing potential evidence of not just voter fraud
but also medicaid fraud to light. There's a difference. There
is a difference.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
I don't think anybody doubts that there's fraud in the
election system.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
The question comes down to, is that all Democrats believe
that it is. It is the gold standard. There's there's
an unimpeachable Yeah. Yeah, these all these people they were
just moving in and then they decided they didn't like it,
so they moved out the next day after they registered
to vote. Mike o'donald's done a lot of good work
on that.

Speaker 2 (22:29):
Even when he ran for Secretary of State, he was
making these posts and showing photos and he had you know,
data and and all of it, and it's it's kind
of falling on deaf ears.

Speaker 1 (22:39):
Yep, yep, Mike says in a later post, responding to
another texture. In this case, because of automatic voter registration
and the fact that any federal or state agency has
the ability to refer someone to the Colorado voter role
I suspect the Medicaid insurance provider may have been the
ones that got them all signed up. Now, if you
are a Medicaid fake provider, if you are a Medicaid scammer,

(23:03):
let's just go with that. Okay, you're a Medicaid scammer.
You get these people signed up, you're getting paid for them.
They're gone now somewhere else. We don't know where they are.
But who are you going to cast those ballots for?
Who are you going to send people in with ID
to go cast ballots for. It's not going to be Republicans.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Dave does good, really good work, and I'm looking forward
to that conversation between you two because I think we
really need to scrutinize Colorado after what happened in Minnesota
and California.

Speaker 1 (23:30):
I mean, the problem with the way that Medicaid is
set up is that the money comes through too many
hands and none of them care about the taxpayers. If
they were really and I've suggested this to so many politicians,
if you want to solve fraud, waste, and abuse and
corruption in government, all you have to do is say

(23:50):
to every government employee, for every amount of fraud that
you bring us. You get ten percent. Okay, if it's
twenty six million, you get two point six million. If
it's fifty million, you get five million dollars. If it's
one hundred million, you get ten million dollars. For ratting
out fraud, wasting abuse, we would have the squeakiest clean
system in the entire world in like six months. Because

(24:13):
I would turn people in for that kind of money.
You should run for secretary attorney job. Oh, come on,
jobs are hard and there they don't pay as well.
I don't want to take the pay cut. I'm not
gonna lie. I'm just not. But at some point does
Jenna have to take responsibility. I'm deathly afraid she's gonna

(24:35):
come out of the Democratic primary. I'm definitely afraid she
is going to be the next attorney general. Out of
every candidate, like Bennett Wiser, what they're gonna do to
Colorado whatever, I get it. It's all very scary. She
really scares me because she has a competence, like the
combination of off the charts in competence and off the

(24:56):
charts Hubris is very dangerous because she thinks she's Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:00):
I talked to an unaffiliated voter who has big ties to,
you know, the election world, and she is very concerned
about Jennick Griswold. Also, she had information that a story
might be coming out pretty soon. But keep your eyes
a story story, A story story might be on a

(25:22):
channel for.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
See how that works there a story could I don't
deal in rumors though, no, never, no, never work gossip.
What were we actually going to talk about this break
that we talked about off the break? We were going
to talk about something I don't remember, jungle primaries California.
We were going to talk about California because it is
now I would say everyone in the country is looking

(25:44):
at California and going, what, Yeah, you can't tell these
ballots for over a month. I'm talking about how long
it takes. Yeah, I get it, yep, I mean that
that is that's nuts. And Chris and I were talking
about this before we came on. California is home to
more tech industry, I think than any other state in
the Union. Maybe Washington State has more, but it's got

(26:06):
to be very close. They can't get someone to design
a system where these ballots with the jungle primary. And
we'll get into that in just a second, and write
choice voting can be tabulated in a timely fashion. This
is ridiculous, you know. One of the things I'm gonna
push back a little bit.

Speaker 2 (26:23):
The population of La alone is bigger than I think,
like a lot of states. Did I hear number like
forty or something like that? The population in La. That's
a lot of votes to count.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
But India has like a billion people and they turn
it in twenty four hours. I heard Michael Brown talking
about this. Given stats from around the world, nowhere else
does it take thirty seven days. That is a civilized
first world nation. Do they stagger when votes are in.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Nine I think if they got rid of that whole
needs to be postmarked by and then we had all
these votes. Try if they had a hard deadline, I
think that could solve the problem.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
The problem is is that it's from the mail in
ballots that are sent out by request. I mean, those
should all be in within five days? How long? What
if one comes in six months? Because the post star sucks,
you know what I'm saying, Like, there should be a
hard stop, like it has to be postmarked by this date,
received five days later. I think received date.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
I think it is up to the voter to make
sure if they want their ballot counted, it is at
the place of counting by seven pm on election day.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I don't like this string. You've got military ballots that
are coming from overseas, but aren't they sent out early?
They are sent out. No, they're sent out I think
at the same time, I don't know. I have to
find that out early. California has forty million people. This
texture looks it up for you. Thank you, Texter. Yep.
I love your texture. I do too, most of them.
Some of them suck really bad. But anyway, we're gonna

(27:50):
take a quick time out. We'll be back. I'm looking
to see what we're going to talk about next. Jimmy Segendburger,
our mutual friend. Right, we'rete a great column in the
Denver Gazette about Rob Andrews, the Aurora City councilman who
just pled guilty to DUI's taking his lumps whatever. Jimmy
makes the case that he should step down off the council.

(28:11):
I actually disagree. We'll talk about that next. I want
to talk about Aurora City Council's Rob Andrews. He was
recently arrested in January. He was arrested for DUI, not
just DUI, but like next level super three times college limit.
Well here's the thing, and this I don't know this
to be true about mister Andrews, but do you have

(28:34):
any of those friends that are you know, they're straight
up alcoholics and they can drink and drink and drink
and drink and never seem drunk. I watched the video
of his arrest. He doesn't seem drunk really, and he
blew a over a point two Oh whoa? So that
is major major. Now he pled and he was He
pleaded guilty to one charge of driving under the influence

(28:56):
at two point zero plus blood alcohol, and he was
sentence to ten days home detention, twelve months of probation,
forty eight hours of community service, and his other traffic
charges were dropped. I believe automatically. He also has to
have an interlock device on his car he has to
breathe into, so now he has to I'm not gonna
make that rude comment about what that has been anyway.

(29:18):
Jemmie Segenberger makes the case in this column that he
should resign from the Aurora City Council, and I'm not there.
I do believe he must resign or be removed from
the Public Safety Commission, which he now chairs. He has
absolutely no ability to serve on that in any way,
shape or form when endangering the public as much as

(29:40):
he did by driving that drunk or drunk at all.
But and this is a big butt, you know. I
hate the notion that somebody makes a really dumb choice.
And two, I mean, in his defense, as bad as
it sounds, no one was hurt. If somebody had been hurt,
we didn't be having a much different conversation. No one was.

(30:00):
I'd like to have the opportunity for Rob Andrews to
go get some help with this, in my mind, clear
alcohol problem. And I'd like him. I'd like to let
the voters decide. That's let the voters decide the next time.
I'm going to say what I say in my car.
A lot of times when I listen to you on
the radio, I agree. I mean, it's logical. People make mistakes.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
I don't know him, I don't know the circumstances of
his life or if this is a habit or what
what have you.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
People do make mistakes.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
I think that some of the things the guardrails that
you're talking about taking them off public safety.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
That was a more judgment call, so he should not
be on that.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
But people do make mistakes, and if the voters think
it's severe enough that he doesn't have the good judgment
to you know, be a policy maker for Aurora, then
they can decide.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
I one has to think about the recent death of
Faith Winter, because I just thought about that had been
she wasn't she actually like disciplined by the House or
the Senate because she was at an event? Drum us. Yeah,
so she showed up an event drunk, she goes to rehab.
Obviously it did not stick, because she ended up dying

(31:12):
in a single car accident. In her blood alcohol I
don't know exactly what the number was, but it was
very elevated.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
Yeah, A lot of people that knew her suspected that
when the accident happened.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
To took a look say that I didn't know her
at all, But how could you not? You know, how
could you not? So I hope that mister Andrews goes
a different path, a different route, and embraces a healthier
lifestyle that doesn't put you know, other people in danger.
But I just I don't like us saying if you
break law short of murder that you should lose everything.

(31:42):
I think you work your way through the justice system.
You do your you know your penance, and you pay
your fines, and you do that, and then we have
to give people a second chance, and then the voters
of Aurora can say we think you don't deserve this
job anymore in the next election cycle. Yeah, I agree
with that. What about burglary. If you can make burglary,
should you? I mean, what kind of burglar? Are you
liking a cat burglar outfit with a mask and everything,

(32:03):
or do you just seeing John Hammond, my friends, your
friends and neighbors. No, I have not Okay, I have
to see I have to catch up on Mandy. Aurora
voters are stupid. He should resign. Well, that is one
man's opinion. Chris Borick has been super fun having you
in here as we closer the election. Let's do this again.
I would love to and have you in because I
know you are you always have your finger on the pulse.

(32:25):
That's such a compliment. That's Chris's finger right there on
the pulse.

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