Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When mister Dick wadhams he's known more about Republican politics
than anybody else's forgotten in.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The state and still trying to fix things.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Has a great column in the Denver Gazette from today
about whether or not the courts should allow political parties
to spend unlimited dollars on their candidates. And I realized that,
and I said this in the first segment. I realized
a lot of people kind of get that, Yeah, we
need to get money out of apology. Well, it's not
ever going to happen, though, I mean, it's just not.
(00:28):
That's such a fantasy. So make the case why should
the courts undo this?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Well, when that law was enacted, the two parties basically
and candidates basically spend all the money in campaigns. Right,
But what we've had emerged in the last I would
say twenty years, maybe a little longer, is the increased
influence of super PACs, which are things they are totally
separate from political parties, totally separate for candidates, and they
can spend any amount of money on anything at any time.
(00:55):
And that puts candidates and political parties at a disadvantage
because they have to they can only raise so much
money and spend so much money in these races, and
so the only way to really reduce the impact of
super packs, which are very unaccountable and they have nice
sounding names like the Citizens, Yeah yeah, Americans for puppies
(01:16):
and kitty stuff like that, but you have no idea
who finances them.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
And this is a one This is one way to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Level the playing field also for for wealthy candidates who
try to buy elections. Correct, because Jared Polus, he's saying
he bought Congress, and he bought the governor, and his
Democratic and Republican opponents were very, very very upset by.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
This bought board of Education.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I mean, he spent an obscene amount of money for
a Board of Education race. He's bought every single office.
And don't get me wrong, I think you would have
gotten re elected without a ton of money in this
last election cycle. But he has definitely way out spent
shockun on amount of money all of his opponents to
get into where he is.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I'm not anti money mandy at all.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
In fact, it takes money to educate the voters on
your candidacy. But what I am against is false limits
on that spending by groups that allegedly are getting quote
money out of politics.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
It can't be done. We need to level the playing field.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And by the way, three of the campaigns I ran
for Senator Allard and Governor Owens, those three campaigns do
for Albert win. For Rowens, we were outspent by our opponents.
So the fact is just because you get outspent doesn't
mean you're going to lose. So you just need to
raise enough money to do what.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You need to do well.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So what could potentially happen in this are we moving
to that of the courts making a decision that.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Could up in this what's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I think the courts will probably move to eliminate these limits,
and they've been in place since nineteen seventy four. I
think they're probably going to come down. It will be
one more chink in that armor of a campaign finance
reform that that created these ridiculous swimmits. But what we
really need to do long term, Mandy, we just need
(03:06):
to eliminate all limits on all contributions and spending for
everybody because today we have the Internet and we have
search ability.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
This I've been making this argument for absolute years. In
my mind, there should be no more cash donations of
any kind, totally, totally, no more cash donations. Everything has
to have an electronic trail. Every campaign should have to
upload that information daily, daily, and I should be able
to search it daily.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And there's no reason why they can't do that.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
And that's the thing. So and by the way, we
have smart voters.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
If they're given the opportunity to make their own decisions
on this, they can decide if Mandy Connell for governor
is taking too much money from a big wealthy gun
or you're spending I mean, voters can handle this right
these public interest groups. Mandy too often treats voters like
they're dumb and they need to be coddled, and they
(03:59):
don't need to be.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So I would to ask you, secondarily, you should guys
should read the whole column. I was ready to hate it.
I'm not gonna lie. I was ready to hate it,
but then I read what we were actually talking about,
and it does make a lot of sense, especially if
we'd like to get back to that system where we
have full transparency. That's the reality of what we should
all want. Okay, I want to talk about John Caldera
has a column today about the America Party. This has
(04:22):
been kind of lofted by Elon Musk as the potential
for a third party, and John makes great comments in
this column where it basically says, look, you can't create
a party built on we hate you, which is kind
of how this feels. But is there ever going to
be the potential for a third party that would give
the disenfranchised center anywhere to go? Because I feel very
(04:46):
I don't understand the Republican Party right now. I don't
understand they're not the Republican Party of fiscal responsibility that
has just been thrown off, and for me that's the
most important right. But I'm also like not super animated
by social will issues at all.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then people on the left who may feel.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Like, oh, I want to be you know, I want
women to be able to choose whether or not they
want to have an abortion, But I also don't want
this ginormous government paying for everything.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I mean, I think there's there's like this blob in.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The center that is completely underserved by what we have
right now.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I agree, but I don't think a third party can
address that, Mandy, I really don't. I think John made
a great point, you have to be for something, and
I think John's right, And then think about it. The
last time a third party replaced one of the major parties,
the Republican Party, he replaced the Whig Party and they
in the middle of the Civil War. So I'm not
(05:40):
sure it'll happen. I think we're going to go through
a period for quite a while on this, this warfare
within the Democratic Party and within the Republican Party, and
it's just going to have to play itself out. Right now,
Donald Trump owns their Republican Party, there is no doubt
about it. And he's done some wonderful things. But one
of the problems with the party right now now is
(06:00):
that you cannot express any disagreement whatsoever with Trump the
Trump administration. Look what happened with the governor or Senator
Tillis in North Carolina. Yeah, he pulled out or Congressman
Bacon in Omaha. I mean, we've seen anybody who disagrees
with the administration on anything gets gets thrown out of
the party. The same thing in the Democratic Party. I'll
(06:21):
tell you what. The Republican Party gives a lot of attention,
but the Democratic Socialist Socialists are single wrecking right they are,
and Actually, what they're doing to the Democratic Party is
I think more dangerous for the nation than what's going
on in the Republicans.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
The Republican Party is they're all there are arguing about purity, right,
are you Trump enough? Which is in some ways terrible
because when you indulge Trump's worst instincts, that is when
I like, in the least right, I'd rather he be
sort of reined in by Republicans. I'd rather Republicans be
able to go in and say, mister President, you can't
(06:57):
threaten to take away Rosie o'donald's citizenship. And our party
should be able to say that, okay, but they can't.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
To your point, that is on this side.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
On the on the left, you have the establishment Democrats
absolutely losing control of the part.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I mean they it is spinning.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Does anybody really think of Hakeem Jeffries.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
As any kind of leader?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Compare him to Nancy Pelosi's iron fit?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes? Right, I just you know, everything is kind of
a hot mess right now.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
This is that kind of funny to watch this Epstein
situation and how.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I feel so mad about this, Dick. I'm mad because
it's two layers of justice. You're mad because once again,
once again, we were all promised that the bad guys
will get it, no matter who they were, and once
again they pulled the football away as we want him
to kick it.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And look at the turmoil that is going on within
the Mega movement right now. I mean, they're they're accusing
Trump of essentially not being Magan enough, right.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I know, I know, I know, I just I to
your point about the various factions going on in the
two parties. The thing that makes me worry the most
is that I am seeing and I've loved the Republican Party.
I left it when Dave Williams was elected, and I'm
waiting to see if it's worthy to go back for it.
And the big beautiful Bill tells me no, right right now, no,
(08:16):
because why I was in it doesn't exist anymore. Right,
I'm afraid there's going to be more attrition from the
Republican side than the Democratic side. And even though I
will probably vote Republican ninety nine maybe one hundred percent of.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The time, well, look what's happening in Colorado. Fifty percent
of the electorate is now unaffiliated. I know, only twenty
three percent Republican twenty six percent Democratic. For decades it
was a third to third, a third, and now people
are gravitating towards unaffiliated because they don't like either party.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
That's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Take Waddams.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I know you've got to be somewhere at once, so
i'll let you show after this. Read it Calum today
in the Denver Gazette.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Let's do this again soon, because we've got.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
To start talking about I hate to say it, but
we've got to start talking about the governor's rate. Yes,
because there is an opportunity because I don't find any
of the Democrats particularly strong. No, So we'll need to
get back in and have a conversation. Good basic, We'll
be right back
When mister Dick wadhams he's known more about Republican politics
than anybody else's forgotten in.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The state and still trying to fix things.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Has a great column in the Denver Gazette from today
about whether or not the courts should allow political parties
to spend unlimited dollars on their candidates. And I realized that,
and I said this in the first segment. I realized
a lot of people kind of get that, Yeah, we
need to get money out of apology. Well, it's not
ever going to happen, though, I mean, it's just not.
(00:28):
That's such a fantasy. So make the case why should
the courts undo this?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Well, when that law was enacted, the two parties basically
and candidates basically spend all the money in campaigns. Right,
But what we've had emerged in the last I would
say twenty years, maybe a little longer, is the increased
influence of super PACs, which are things they are totally
separate from political parties, totally separate for candidates, and they
can spend any amount of money on anything at any time.
(00:55):
And that puts candidates and political parties at a disadvantage
because they have to they can only raise so much
money and spend so much money in these races, and
so the only way to really reduce the impact of
super packs, which are very unaccountable and they have nice
sounding names like the Citizens, Yeah yeah, Americans for puppies
(01:16):
and kitty stuff like that, but you have no idea
who finances them.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
And this is a one This is one way to.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Level the playing field also for for wealthy candidates who
try to buy elections. Correct, because Jared Polus, he's saying
he bought Congress, and he bought the governor, and his
Democratic and Republican opponents were very, very very upset by.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
This bought board of Education.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
I mean, he spent an obscene amount of money for
a Board of Education race. He's bought every single office.
And don't get me wrong, I think you would have
gotten re elected without a ton of money in this
last election cycle. But he has definitely way out spent
shockun on amount of money all of his opponents to
get into where he is.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
I'm not anti money mandy at all.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
In fact, it takes money to educate the voters on
your candidacy. But what I am against is false limits
on that spending by groups that allegedly are getting quote
money out of politics.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
It can't be done. We need to level the playing field.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And by the way, three of the campaigns I ran
for Senator Allard and Governor Owens, those three campaigns do
for Albert win. For Rowens, we were outspent by our opponents.
So the fact is just because you get outspent doesn't
mean you're going to lose. So you just need to
raise enough money to do what.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
You need to do well.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
So what could potentially happen in this are we moving
to that of the courts making a decision that.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Could up in this what's going on?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I think the courts will probably move to eliminate these limits,
and they've been in place since nineteen seventy four. I
think they're probably going to come down. It will be
one more chink in that armor of a campaign finance
reform that that created these ridiculous swimmits. But what we
really need to do long term, Mandy, we just need
(03:06):
to eliminate all limits on all contributions and spending for
everybody because today we have the Internet and we have
search ability.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
This I've been making this argument for absolute years. In
my mind, there should be no more cash donations of
any kind, totally, totally, no more cash donations. Everything has
to have an electronic trail. Every campaign should have to
upload that information daily, daily, and I should be able
to search it daily.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
And there's no reason why they can't do that.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
And that's the thing. So and by the way, we
have smart voters.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
If they're given the opportunity to make their own decisions
on this, they can decide if Mandy Connell for governor
is taking too much money from a big wealthy gun
or you're spending I mean, voters can handle this right
these public interest groups. Mandy too often treats voters like
they're dumb and they need to be coddled, and they
(03:59):
don't need to be.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
So I would to ask you, secondarily, you should guys
should read the whole column. I was ready to hate it.
I'm not gonna lie. I was ready to hate it,
but then I read what we were actually talking about,
and it does make a lot of sense, especially if
we'd like to get back to that system where we
have full transparency. That's the reality of what we should
all want. Okay, I want to talk about John Caldera
has a column today about the America Party. This has
(04:22):
been kind of lofted by Elon Musk as the potential
for a third party, and John makes great comments in
this column where it basically says, look, you can't create
a party built on we hate you, which is kind
of how this feels. But is there ever going to
be the potential for a third party that would give
the disenfranchised center anywhere to go? Because I feel very
(04:46):
I don't understand the Republican Party right now. I don't
understand they're not the Republican Party of fiscal responsibility that
has just been thrown off, and for me that's the
most important right. But I'm also like not super animated
by social will issues at all.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
And then people on the left who may feel.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Like, oh, I want to be you know, I want
women to be able to choose whether or not they
want to have an abortion, But I also don't want
this ginormous government paying for everything.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
I mean, I think there's there's like this blob in.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
The center that is completely underserved by what we have
right now.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I agree, but I don't think a third party can
address that, Mandy, I really don't. I think John made
a great point, you have to be for something, and
I think John's right, And then think about it. The
last time a third party replaced one of the major parties,
the Republican Party, he replaced the Whig Party and they
in the middle of the Civil War. So I'm not
(05:40):
sure it'll happen. I think we're going to go through
a period for quite a while on this, this warfare
within the Democratic Party and within the Republican Party, and
it's just going to have to play itself out. Right now,
Donald Trump owns their Republican Party, there is no doubt
about it. And he's done some wonderful things. But one
of the problems with the party right now now is
(06:00):
that you cannot express any disagreement whatsoever with Trump the
Trump administration. Look what happened with the governor or Senator
Tillis in North Carolina. Yeah, he pulled out or Congressman
Bacon in Omaha. I mean, we've seen anybody who disagrees
with the administration on anything gets gets thrown out of
the party. The same thing in the Democratic Party. I'll
(06:21):
tell you what. The Republican Party gives a lot of attention,
but the Democratic Socialist Socialists are single wrecking right they are,
and Actually, what they're doing to the Democratic Party is
I think more dangerous for the nation than what's going
on in the Republicans.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
The Republican Party is they're all there are arguing about purity, right,
are you Trump enough? Which is in some ways terrible
because when you indulge Trump's worst instincts, that is when
I like, in the least right, I'd rather he be
sort of reined in by Republicans. I'd rather Republicans be
able to go in and say, mister President, you can't
(06:57):
threaten to take away Rosie o'donald's citizenship. And our party
should be able to say that, okay, but they can't.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
To your point, that is on this side.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
On the on the left, you have the establishment Democrats
absolutely losing control of the part.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I mean they it is spinning.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Does anybody really think of Hakeem Jeffries.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
As any kind of leader?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Compare him to Nancy Pelosi's iron fit?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes? Right, I just you know, everything is kind of
a hot mess right now.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
This is that kind of funny to watch this Epstein
situation and how.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I feel so mad about this, Dick. I'm mad because
it's two layers of justice. You're mad because once again,
once again, we were all promised that the bad guys
will get it, no matter who they were, and once
again they pulled the football away as we want him
to kick it.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
And look at the turmoil that is going on within
the Mega movement right now. I mean, they're they're accusing
Trump of essentially not being Magan enough, right.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
I know, I know, I know, I just I to
your point about the various factions going on in the
two parties. The thing that makes me worry the most
is that I am seeing and I've loved the Republican Party.
I left it when Dave Williams was elected, and I'm
waiting to see if it's worthy to go back for it.
And the big beautiful Bill tells me no, right right now, no,
(08:16):
because why I was in it doesn't exist anymore. Right,
I'm afraid there's going to be more attrition from the
Republican side than the Democratic side. And even though I
will probably vote Republican ninety nine maybe one hundred percent of.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
The time, well, look what's happening in Colorado. Fifty percent
of the electorate is now unaffiliated. I know, only twenty
three percent Republican twenty six percent Democratic. For decades it
was a third to third, a third, and now people
are gravitating towards unaffiliated because they don't like either party.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
That's going on right now.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Take Waddams.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I know you've got to be somewhere at once, so
i'll let you show after this. Read it Calum today
in the Denver Gazette.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Let's do this again soon, because we've got.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
To start talking about I hate to say it, but
we've got to start talking about the governor's rate. Yes,
because there is an opportunity because I don't find any
of the Democrats particularly strong. No, So we'll need to
get back in and have a conversation. Good basic, We'll
be right back
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