07-30-26 Interview - Wade Haerle - Vic Blows Off Club 20

VIC BLOWS OFF CLUB 20 And to say they are not happy about being blown off is an understatement. You may have missed Vic’s announcement that he is not doing any debates. Watch that here if you want.

Victor Marx@victormarxMy challenge to @pweiser1:00 PM · Jul 28, 2026 · 145K Views

The delusion of Vic is stunning here. He thinks, as the massive underdog now, that he can set the terms for a debate going forward? He’s insane. He’s a coward. He knows that Phil Weiser would wipe the floor with him. His “strategy” in the primary was stupid and he almost lost to someone who raised a fraction of the money he raised. And why in the hell would Phil Weiser agree to something this stupid? He won’t. I’m betting Greg Lopez will so there WILL be a gubernatorial debate and Vic will be a no show. What a clown show this campaign is. Club 20 sent out an press release, which reads in part:

Marx’s campaign informed Club 20 Executive Director Wade Haerle on Sunday night that Marx would not be participating in a debate against Weiser in a county where he handily won the Republican primary. On Wednesday, Marx called Haerle personally to inform him he would not be participating in the debate.

“The Republican nominee for governor does not want to come out and discuss western Colorado issues with the people of western Colorado and with Club 20. It’s wrong. We went bat-dung crazy when (current Gov.) Jared Polis refused to come. We’re going to do the same thing when the Republican nominee refuses to come,” Haerle told The Daily Sentinel on Wednesday afternoon.

“My question to him was, ‘Where else do you need to be on Sept. 19, other than western Colorado in Grand Junction, Mesa County, debating western Colorado issues? Where on Earth do you need to be?’.... They said it comes down to schedules and times and resources and money and all these different kinds of things. That’s what we call political calculus. A kindergartner using kindergarten math could have figured this one out, but this is their decision.... It’s just disappointing as hell.”

Why wouldn’t Vic just tell the truth about why he won’t be there? His video above makes him a liar to Club 20. But that doesn’t surprise me. Club 20 Executive Director Wade Haerle joins me at 12:30 to discuss it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Club twenty. It's an organization of twenty counties on the
western slope. And I've got the executive director, Wayne Harley
in with.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Us right now. Wave, let's start.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
I'm gonna let you flesh out a little bit about
what Club twenty does more than just a group of
twenty counties, because it's it's been a long tradition.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
It's the twenty go ahead. Yeah, well, it's a long history.
Club twenties, the twenty counties of Western Colorado started in
nineteen fifty three, started around lobbying Denver in the state
capitol over roads and been involved with political issues such
as water, everything that's pertinent and specific to Western Colorado.

(00:37):
And we host governor's debates, you know, since the nineteen seventies,
or well, senator governor, all of our legislators and Democrats,
attorney generals, all those we host debates every year and
it's the kickoff to the campaign season here in Colorado.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
So when you found out, and you found out, you
said Sunday night, I was chatting with Wade before we
came on the air. You found out Sunday night the
Victor Marx had said he was not going to be
participating in the Club twenty debate. Tell me about that process.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Cool. Yeah, they sent a very nice email, kind of perfunctory,
but you know we're unable to attend the September nineteenth
Club twenty debates. I wrote back and said, you know,
this is not the end of the discussion. We're very
disappointed and we want to talk about it. We want
you to reconsider. Look at who Club twenty is, what
the history is, what the tradition is, and we want

(01:28):
you to reconsider, and we'd like to hear whether or
not you'll participate in the debates by Wednesday close a
business and mister Marx called me personally and told me
he is not their strategy. They looked at it again.
He called me personally and said they will not be
participating in the Club twenty debates. And I said, well,
like I told you, this is going to be an

(01:49):
out loud conversation your choice not to participate in these debates.
And I said, I'm going to, you know, scream it
to the hilltops. I have to protect Club twenty and
our prediction in our traditions and all that. And he said, well,
it's part of a strategy. So I said, well that
if that is your political calculus. That's fine, but we'll
let everybody know that the Republican nominee for governor has

(02:12):
a better place to be than Mesa County, Western Colorado
Club twenty because he, you know, and he doesn't want
to answer questions about water, agriculture, rural hospitals, transportation, And
I'm just gonna let everybody know.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
So Phil Wiser has already agreed to the debate.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Oh god, yeah, he and there's they agreed a year
ago that You're like, what's the date? What time? What
time do I need to be there? You know, what
are the issues? What do you think the questions will be? Now?
He's he's he's been in for a long time.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
So will the debate? How does the debate move forward?

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Because I asked you off the year about Greg Lopez,
because Greg Lopez is now qualified for the ballot as
an independent, and how does Greg Lopez get into this debate?

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, we have a real problem because these that can
be precedent setting kind of things, and so what we
decided through the years at Club twenty we have rules
for this. If a candidate for a major office in
Colorado can show that they have fifteen percent support in
a legitimate poll could be internal. We just want to
look at the methodology. But if they can cross that
fifteen percent barrier, they have made themselves relevant to the campaign.

(03:15):
Club twenty cannot make candidates relevant. That's not our role.
But if a Congressman Lopez can get to that level,
we will give him the microphone, all right.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
So I asked that because there's a lot of people
who don't pick up the phone for polls. I always
pick up the phone for polls because I want things
to go the way I want him to go. So
Greg has to go to fifteen percent to be part
of these debates, I would ask when he said, it's
part of my strategy. So is that strategy ignoring the
twenty counties that make up the Club twenty audience I'm genuine?

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Or is it just not doing debates at all? What
do you think? Speculative?

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I don't know, and I don't want to climb into
a candidate's head. But what they did say was it
was time, resources, money, those kinds of things that they
have to evaluate where their best place to put their
resources and their political calculus came back and said Western
Colorado loved twenty you know, as the Republican nominee was
not where they wanted to be. I would love to know,

(04:12):
you know. And then I asked them, where are you
going to be? What did you accept? What invitations did
you accept? And when did you accept it? Because he's
known about these debates since February, he's known the dates.
And they said, you know, they didn't feel it was
necessary to tell me what their calculus was. So all
I can do is let the people in Western Colorado
and hopefully the people throughout Colorado know that was the

(04:35):
calculus they came up with, which, again I think kindergarten
math would have gotten me to a different conclusion. But
I think the voters need to put that calculus. And
why does he not want to come to Western Colorado?
We bring four hundred and.

Speaker 4 (04:49):
Fifty people from twenty two different counties, plus people from Denver.
Everybody in their brother's going to be there and it's fun.
Where else is he gonna need to be?

Speaker 3 (05:00):
They won't tell me, But I mean if someone could
figure out what invitation he thought was better and where
he needed to be, that will answer a lot of
questions for me, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Well, I mean, wait, don't take it personally. You can't.
Here's the thing.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
I was pretty sure, and I just said this to
Wade off the air. I was almost positive, like I
was probably ninety seven point eight nine to three percent
positive that Victor Marx was not going to debate in
the general election. I just wasn't sure how he was
going to get there. So the combination of you trying
to force his hand and then he puts out that

(05:35):
stupid video yesterday announcing that he's only going to do
a moderator list debate, which here we again, off the air,
we're trying to figure out what that even looks like,
just two guys standing on a stage yelling at.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Each other, or or just hey, is it.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Going to be one of those things where there's no
you go no, you go no, No, it's your no.
It doesn't make any sense. And I don't think he
knows that Phil Wiser is going to say no, so
he's off.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
The quote hook.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
But Wade, you guys have been a part of the
political process since the nineteen seventies on this stuff. If
there's any way, and I don't think there is, but
if there's any way this strategy is successful, this would
be devastating for the entire network of operations around the
state that are designed to serve voters in that area.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
I don't think that we can understate that.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Yeah, it would hurt Action Colorado Progressive fifteen, it would
hurt the Centennial Chamber of Commerce, it would hurt you know,
it would help hurt Weald County, it would hurt Bolder County.
You know that you have a right. You know, when
you decide to run for governor, you've got to tell
people where you stand. And you got it's got to
be more than I'll protect your water, Well, how are
you going to protect my water? You know those kinds

(06:45):
of things. I mean, we have the right to know.
I mean, we we have an electricity crisis, we have
a budget crisis, we have a roads crisis. We have
it all and the bill is coming due. We have
a right to know how you're going to how you're
going to address the problems. So I have a right
to know how I want to vote. It's not hard,
but when you decided to be governor or to run

(07:07):
for governor, you in a way are deciding to participate
in this process. And you could be an outside candidate
and you can do your own calculus and all that stuff.
That's fine, but it doesn't mean we're not going to
hit you. We're we're going to kick you in the shins.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Wade Harley, the executive director of Club twenty. I wonder
if the founders of Club twenty, way back in the
nineteen fifties thought to themselves, we're going to do this
to argue about roads. And I hope in seventy years
we're still arguing about roads, because here we are still
arguing about roads.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Wait, it's good to see you again.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Good to see you, Thanks for having me.