06-21-24 Interview - Jeff Crank Wants Your CD-5 Vote

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
A candidate for the fifth congressional district. His name is Jeff Crank, and
I sure hope you vote for himfor a variety of reasons. We're going
to get into you here in justa few minutes. Jeff, welcome back
to the show. Thanks so much, Mandy. Great to be with you.
So it's weird that you're on theshow today because I'm reading in the
Colorado Sun that your opponent, theunethical GOP party chairman, seems he's been

(00:28):
out there telling tales and he's beencaught by the Federal Elections Commission. Dave
Williams told nine News in an interview, and this is a quote. There's
been no direct spending from the partyfor myself, but a Federal Elections Commission
report filed by the Colorado GOP lastThursday discloses nineteen thousand, four hundred and

(00:51):
forty five dollars in twenty nine centsspent by the party in support of mister
Williams congressional campaign. Surprised are youby this, Jeff, Well, not
at all, because this has beenDave's master plan all along, was to
be able to, you know,cajole the Republican Party to endorse him and

(01:14):
some other candidates so that he couldbankroll his campaign through that. He knew
he couldn't raise very much money,and he hasn't raised very much money.
I've outraised him five to one probably, and so he knew he couldn't do
that, so he needed to finda way to get money. And I
think this is this was his planall along, was just to go through
and get this money. But youknow, it's one thing to do that,

(01:37):
but it's also another to compound itby continuing to lie about it as
if people are never going to findthis out. And you just have to
ask, if somebody is willing todo this in a campaign, what in
the Lord's name would they do ifthey were able to have control or access
to public funds, to lobbyists,to others. You know, what you

(01:57):
do, you know in your privatelife, and when people aren't looking,
it really talks or speaks volumes aboutwhat you may do when when when people
you know, when you have publicaccess to public money. Jeff, you've
been Here's the thing about your candidacyand your campaign, right. I think
you're obviously doing well. I've seenpolling data that puts you well ahead of

(02:21):
Dave Williams. Because now the knivesare out from all all different angles coming
at you, one of them fromRocky Mountain gun owners. And this is
especially disheartening to me because I wastold by Taylor Rhodes that the Rocky Mountain
gun owners were not meddling in primariesanymore, and that's turned out to be
a lie. That's just really disappointing. What are the attacking you on right
now? Well, I mean they'rejust they're just making stuff up at this

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point. You know, I havea thirty year history of being a conservative
and being active in the community hereand defending the Second Amendment. You know,
I was one of the leaders inhelping recall Senator John Morris when he
asked the magazine ban. He wasone of the Democrats that voted to pass
it. So imagine my surprise whenI hear rmgo it's actually through their Federal

(03:09):
National Association of Gun Rights saying thatI somehow supported a compromise with Democrats.
I mean, I never did anysuch thing. Okay, so Dudley Brown
is the one behind it. Ifeel better about Taylor right now that you
clarified that. I appreciate that veryvery much. That's not surprising at all.
I have no love for that manbecause of stuff like this. So

(03:30):
you had nothing. I mean,what they're saying you supported the magazine in
what way do they allege or sincethey've made it up, I guess they
could say anything. Oh sure,yeah, well they made it up.
Basically what happened is, as youknow, the Colorado legislature passed a fifteen
round magazine ban back I think itwas like twenty thirteen, twenty fourteen,

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and of course there were senators recalledfrom that first time in the history that
senators were recalled. By the way, I was very active even that,
far more active than Rocky Mountain gunOwners was in that recall, and we
recalled some state senators over over thosebad gun votes. Well, then two
years later a bill came up tomove the ban from fifteen rounds to thirty

(04:15):
which for most people who shoot pistolsknow that the Democrats in the left chose
fifteen rounds for a reason. There'slots of pistols that have fifteen round magazines,
and several legislators supported a bill tomove it to thirty. Our MgO
said they didn't want, you know, to any kind of ban at all.
So they fought that. I hada guest on my radio show who

(04:39):
talked about it, and you know, they tried to pin me with being
you know, supportive of that orwhatever. But I guess if I wanted
to be honest about it, they'rethe ones that prevented it from going from
a fifteen round band to a thirty. So they supported stricter gun control measures
than I ever did in that.But those are the kind of games,

(05:00):
silly games that people like that playwhen they really spend their time attacking Second
Amendment supporters like myself instead of goingafter actual democrats. So let me ask
you this, Jeff. Do youthink that they are attacking you because they're
afraid that you are going to,I don't know, do things as a
congressman that they don't like, orare they trying to curry favor by sucking

(05:24):
up to your opponent. Well,I think they're currying favor by sucking up
to my opponent. But also,look, let's be honest. They make
money off of primaries. That's howthey've played this game. They make money
off of going and attacking pro gunlegislators. It's no different than Dave Williams.
Look at Dave Williams' reign as chairmanof the Republican Party. He doesn't

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generally spend much time attacking Democrats.Most of his fire is for other Republicans.
Every email he sends out, everytext, every communication seems to be
going after what he calls rhinos,people that are unpure in his mind.
But the reality is he doesn't spenda whole lot of time going after Democrats.

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I mean, you know, he'sattacked Americans for Prosperity several times.
Well, Americans for Prosperity is workingto get Gabe Evans elected in CD eight
and unelecting Yadiro Caravea, who hasbeen terrible on a whole host of issues.
But they've spent AFP spent a heckof a lot more money than the

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Colorado Republican Party has spent, whichthey have spent zero in trying to get
rid of Caravejo. So you know, that's what they do. It's all
about money, raising money for theirfriends, putting it into their pockets.
It's never about actual gun rights inmost cases. So, Jeff, you've
got I've got your website up rightnow, Jeff Crank for Congress. I

(06:47):
also linked to it on the blogtoday. If people want to find out
more about you, give you money, support you. You have the policy
positions that you are talking about,secure the southern border, fixed Joe Biden's
broken economy, and fight for conservativechange. And I want to start at
the bottom, because fight for conservativechange. What does that mean to you?

(07:10):
Well, to me, it meansjoining a team. Look, we're
getting our tails handed to us inColorado. I mean, are we better
off than we were five years agoor ten years ago? In Colorado?
We aren't the establishment chairman of theRepublican Party, the guy who decides who
the candidates are by picking them andendorsing them. He's been doing that,

(07:30):
taking that voice away from voters.So I think we need to do a
much better job of working to fightfor conservative change by electing conservative leaders who
can win at the state legislative level. And I'd take that to the federal
level as well in Congress. Ifyou look at that, I mean,
I don't want to go there justto overthrow a speaker every couple of months

(07:51):
with no plan, like others havedone, and others suggested, and my
opponent has suggested, was a goodtactic. It wasn't it dumb. I'm
going to go there and fight.I'm not going to vote that every time
the way the speaker wants me tovote. I'm not handing my voting card
to the speaker. I won't handit to Donald Trump. My voting card
will belong to the people and thecitizens of the fifth Congressional District, and

(08:16):
I'll be a conservative voice for them. But we need to be team players,
and we need to go build abench, much like the Democrats have
done. You know, they've beenvery good in Colorado and in Washington,
d c. Of sticking together toget their agenda, their liberal agenda past.
Why can't we do that as conservativesinstead of just attacking other conservatives for

(08:37):
political gain. I'm tired of that, and that's what my opponent would do.
Chev Craig. Why should people votefor you? Got one minute?
Well again, I'm a tried andtrue conservative. I've been a thirty year
record in our community. Unlike myopponent, I've been here. That's why
I've got so many endorsements from withinour community. Experience with military installations here,

(09:01):
on solid second Amendment, solid prolife candidate, and going to go
to Washington and make a difference andmake government smaller. All right, Jeff
Crank, we will talk to youhopefully after the primary, hopefully after you
secure victory, and when we getback. I just want to remind people
of some of the things that youropponent has done. The good news is,
though, Jeff, is that itlooks like there may be enough will

(09:24):
to force a vote on bouncing himout of his current office because he's doing
an absolutely terrible job and looting theparty for his own benefit in my opinion.
And hopefully we won't be talking abouthim much longer as you move on
to the general election, So wewill keep fingers crossed for you, Jeff
on Tuesday. All right, Thankyou many, appreciate it, all right.

(09:45):
That is Jeff Crank. You canfind out more about him on the website.