09-16-25 FULL SHOW - Unions Act Like The Mob, And Rose Pugliese Leaves The House

When two union members resigned from the union to cross the picket lines the union harassed them anyway, Rose Pugliese stepped out of the Colorado Legislature and we'll find out why, and Robert Redford died! 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
accident and injury lawyers.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
No, it's Mandy Connell and.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Nine FM got the nice three.

Speaker 4 (00:22):
Connelly sad thing.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to at the first hour of a
three hour program that is sure to be absolutely amazing
because I your humble host, Mandy Connall, sitting in the
big chair right over there through the glass, carefully separated,
separated from me for his own protection.

Speaker 5 (00:41):
Anthony Rodriguez we call.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Him a rod that was honored Schwaltzenega doing the airhorn exactly.
We got a lot on our plate today. I'm feeling
much better today. I'm not over it. I don't feel normal,
but I am definitely feeling much better today. Feeling a
little bit like a combination between the happy.

Speaker 5 (01:05):
Warrior and the angry bitter.

Speaker 3 (01:09):
Uh, you reap what you sew, so wherever whatever that
would be, because oh boy, there's a lot of stuff
going on there. Let's talk about the blog, shall we.
It is voluminous today, lots to see. You can find
it by going to mandy'sblog dot com. That is mandy'sblog
dot com. You can look for the headline in the
latest post section that says nine sixteen twenty five blog

(01:33):
unions act like the mob and Rosepeglici leaves the house.
Click on that and here are the headlines you will
find within.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
I don't know where's in office?

Speaker 6 (01:41):
South American all with ships and clipments and say that's
going to press plats.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
Today on the blog unions operate like the mob when
you try to leave now. Former House Minority Leader Rosepoglisi
joins me at two thirty. Why did the ADL know
this and not the FBI? Robert Redford has died. Doug
Co voters don't forget about tonight's school board event. Right
wing folks bash the FBI. Greg Guttfeld loses his mind

(02:08):
and he is all of us, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling. Denver
finds a new way to burden restaurants. Democrats are violating
all the FTC rules. I have to live under. The
old dude first arrested was trying to help the real killer.
How about this for our singles event? Do we really
protect free speech in Colorado? Our airport does have good food.

(02:31):
Please God, let God continue to make a comeback. The
FBI investigated the RNC. Why Charlie Kirk was dangerous. Trump
is suing The New York Times? What do they stand for?
Eric four Denver restaurants get Michelin stars, stop with the
forty step skincare routine already when cancel culture, chickens come

(02:52):
home to roost, scrolling food explore activated. So toe wrestling
is a thing we got. In my view, the Chiefs
suck another mom who's better than me?

Speaker 5 (03:05):
That kid's a real clown.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Favorite story of the day show These tips to your kids.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Those are the.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Headlines on the blog at mandy'sblog dot com. We also
to all Winner.

Speaker 5 (03:17):
Thanks Nancy.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
I felt good about it too. You can also find
it at Randy Cromwell dot com. Now we have to
go immediately to the most. I don't even know what
to say about the toe wrestling Anthony. So yesterday Anthony
announces after the show started that he has discovered a
thing called toe wrestling. And when I went to google it,
he said, no, no, no, wait until tomorrow, and I
did to my own credit. Toe wrestling is a thing,

(03:42):
you guys, and it is what it sounds like. Now,
ay Ron, I'm not gonna lie after watching this. I
don't know if you know this, but I.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
Have incredibly strong toes.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
They're not freakishly long, but they're good sides, you know
what I'm saying. Like I can't palm a basketball, but
I can pick stuff up on a regular basis with
my toes. I feel like I would be an excellent
toe wrestler. Well, only one way to find out. Yeah,
I mean, how do you set that up? Like, how
do you set up the toe wrestling situation?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Is there a Google USA.

Speaker 5 (04:13):
Toe Wrestling League? Find out what we're looking at?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Wrestling league? Maybe there's one in Colorado.

Speaker 3 (04:18):
I feel like this is a bar game that should happen,
you know what I mean, Like the Mandy Connell Toe
Wrestling Invitational should be a thing.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
As of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 6 (04:26):
Of September twenty twenty five, there is no official USA
toe Wrestling League in Colorado or nationally.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Well, I feel like that we could fill this niche
ay Rod, this could be our thing.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
That could be your thing.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
A dude actually makes a fortune every year on the
Hot Dog Eating Championship of Coney Island. Why can't we
just take his model and create the toe Wrestling League. And,
by the way, guys, toe wrestling kind of exactly like
it sounds like only big toes involved, and it seems
like it's common a combination of toe wrestling and tug
of war. Doesn't it like you're trying to push together

(04:59):
person over or something. I still can't figure out what
we're doing there, But now I was like, you know what,
as long as there's toe wrestling going on in the world,
I feel like we're gonna be okay. Because as long
as we have time for nonsense and food for all
like toe wrestling, I feel like things are gonna be
all right.

Speaker 6 (05:16):
And maybe someday you'll be competing in the World tow
Wrestling Championship.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
That is an annual event held in England.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
And by the way people get into it, there's drinking,
there's chanting.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
I went on YouTube and I watched the whole final
round of the toe Wrestling Championship.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Some more down for the slapping one no God.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
No stopping when people have actually ended up in the hospital.
Oh well, yeah, thing is an open face punch, is
what that is.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
If they're facing me, that's where they'd end up. I'd
be ready for that.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Stop it.

Speaker 6 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, I've got some wicked whip on this thing,
because I don't know if you ever had a game
growing up, we had tennis where you lock hands with
one of the hands.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
Yeah, typically you're non dominant.

Speaker 6 (05:59):
And take turns back and forth whipping the back of
the other palm and see who would be the first
person to give So.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
Basically never a modified slap game, is what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, okay, I never.

Speaker 3 (06:09):
Get that is a distinctly boy thing.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yep, like I not quite wasp shooting.

Speaker 7 (06:16):
No.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
I once had a girl friend of mine when I
was a little kid, say hey, let's figure out a
game where we see who can hurt the other one
the most until they let go.

Speaker 6 (06:26):
And for some reason we called the tennis because you'd
be back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Yep, I never lost.

Speaker 5 (06:32):
Toe wrestling might be my jam to get it?

Speaker 2 (06:34):
What I do?

Speaker 5 (06:36):
Cham got it?

Speaker 2 (06:37):
Yep, no anything, Nope.

Speaker 3 (06:40):
Coming up on the show today, we have Rose Paglici.
Until yesterday she was the house minority leader and guys.
Rose and I are not like best friends, but I
do know her. We served on a board together and
she is genuinely one of the nicest, most even keeled
people I have ever.

Speaker 5 (06:57):
Met in my life.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
And this is a huge loss for the Colorado Legislature.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
And I've not read her entire letter.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
I've seen some of the media coverage, and we're going
to find out from her directly at two thirty why
exactly she decided to step down. And I already know
enough of the reason to know it's not good and
it's certainly a poor reflection on the leadership of the
Colorado Legislature. We'll get into that at two thirty. Coming
up at one o'clock. Patrick Simmons from the National Right
to Wipe Work organization right to WIKE wrote, right to work.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
Organization is coming on.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
During the recent King Supers Grocery strike, there was some
incidents when two King Supers Grocery workers said, yeah, we're
going to resign from the union because we don't want
to strike and we want to work. After they did that,
the United Food and Commercial Workers Local seven chose to

(07:55):
illegally threaten to find the workers. And now federal charges
have been filed against the Local seven union and we're
going to find out what exactly this means. According to
the charges, Local seven union bosses illegally retaliated against Ryan
Lamb and Lucas Martin by assessing presumptive fines and scheduling

(08:20):
trials for each of them, despite the union having no
authority to punish non members. The charges note that attempts
to discipline the workers for post resignation conduct violates the
National Labor Relations Act. We'll talk to Patrick Simmons from
the National Right to Work Organization at one o'clock and
then at twelve thirty, Jimmy Sengenberger's gonna pop in. He's

(08:42):
got to call him today, and Jimmy and I. I
always share Jimmy's work because I think he does a
really really good job at the Denver Gazette writing columns.
I agree with pretty much everything he said, and he
wrote a really good column that's in the Denver Gazette.
But I chose not to share it, not because of
anything Jimmy said or did, but because I have made
a firm decision to never mention the names of these

(09:05):
shooters on this program. And you might think that that's
kind of silly, right, You're like, look, the news, you
know mentions the names or whatever.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
And I get it.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
The news has a different responsibility than I do. The
news has the responsibility to inform, and informing is giving
you the name of people that have committed horrific crimes.
But I have a different role, and because I have
three hours when they have ninety seconds, it is you know,
it is my choice on how I want to present

(09:33):
this stuff. And we now know and this is something
we're going to talk to Jimmy about that. The young
man who decided to shoot at fellow students at Evergreen
High School before turning the gun on himself seems to
have been significantly radicalized by websites that exist that urge
people to shoot up schools, They urge people to commit murder,
they urge people to do all of these things, and

(09:56):
the Anti Defamation League seem to know about it. We're
going to talk to Jimmy about that. At twelve thirty.
Now we have horrible news if you love great movies,
and the news is that Robert Redford has died. Now,
in the grand scheme of Wow, I'd love to have
that guy's life continue. That because Robert Redford died in

(10:18):
his sleep at the age of eighty nine, almost ninety
years old. And this is a guy who not only
is one of the biggest movie stars ever and he
is oh, he was such a movie star. He really
really was back when male movie stars were allowed to
be manly. We have some manly movie stars now, but

(10:41):
they are far far out we outweighed by these sort
of I don't know, you know, boyish boy next door,
Mamby Pamby kind of celebrities that just frankly or not
what I would call super manly. And by the way,
manly is not toxic masculinity. Manly is You just feel

(11:01):
like if you were on a date with that guy
and somebody started something, they're going to jump to your
defense and take care of business. Now you might say, Mandy,
are you encouraging violence? You know what, Sometimes violence is
an appropriate response. I'm just saying it is not all
the time, not all the time. But Robert Redford has died. Now, Aron,

(11:23):
I have to ask you, because you are a different generation, obviously,
what Robert Redford movies? If any have you seen that
you remember that you had an impact that you thought.

Speaker 5 (11:35):
Yeah, it was really good movie.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Have you seen any of them?

Speaker 6 (11:37):
I got a cop out he in his later years
he was in a few Marvel movies.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Uh, there you go. So you have seen him as
part of the Marvel movies.

Speaker 5 (11:45):
Yes, that is true.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
His early films, when you start back at his career,
are some of my favorite movies he has done. You know,
The Sting is one of the all time great films.
It's a perfectly constructed movie. It's constructed about a perfectly
constructed sting. The cast is incredible, Robert Redford is incredible,

(12:09):
he's dashingly handsome, and it is a phenomenal movie.

Speaker 6 (12:13):
But I will say in pop culture, my favorite Robert
Redford anything.

Speaker 5 (12:19):
Is the meme from Jeremia Johnson.

Speaker 6 (12:21):
Is the meme and gift from Jeremiah Johnson. For those
that don't know, First of all, very hard to tell.
It's Robert Redford does not look like him Robert Redford
that I recognize.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
You, but that's because that's how he looked back in
the day.

Speaker 6 (12:33):
But for those who are unaware, from Jeremiah Johnson, it
is that side profile of that burly mountain man with
a big old beard, the slow zooming on his face
and the subtle nod.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
Jeremi Johnson is one of the all time great outdoorsman
movies ever made period, hands down, but the best, the
absolute best Robert Redford movie is Bush Cassidy and the
Sundance Kit. And I will die on this hill because
not only do you get Robert Redford, you get Newman,
you get Paul Newman, you got you get a movie
with such a phenomenal score. And I'm allowing, I will

(13:08):
allow on the text line other people to weigh in
with their suggestions of what Robert Redford's best movie was,
or best role or whatever. You can weigh in, but
you're gonna be wrong unless you say Butch Cassidy and
The Sundance Kind. The other movie of his that I
absolutely love is Electric Cowboy. That is a phenomenal movie. Arod,

(13:30):
you have to watch some of these movies.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
I know you're busy.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Arod literally doesn't have a day off for the month
of September because he's got this show, he's got all
of our Broncos coverage, he's got the races in Dakona.
He doesn't have a day off. When you have a
day off, I want you to watch at least one
of these old movies. I think you would really enjoy
The Sting, The Sting, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
Either of those two movies will give you sort of

(13:53):
a vibe for what Robert Redford was, well.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
How was Jeremia Johnson as movies?

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Absolutely phenomenal. Those are my three Robert Redford movies. You
have Butch Cassidy and The Sun Dance Kid on top
of the sting number two, Jeremi Johnson third, and I
will put Electric Cowboy fourth, just because I love that movie.
Oh my god, look at all the dull intervals in
that stupid movie.

Speaker 5 (14:13):
Stop it.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
They weren't dull because then you've got rain drops keep.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Falling on our head. I see he was in the
og Great Gatsby.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Huh oh yeah, oh, and I just watched that. Okay,
let me just say this about that. Okay, I just
watched that movie. I just watched the Robert Redford version
of The Great Gaspy. It's a beautifully shot film. It
is beautiful, and Robert Redford in that movie catches the
sort of just obsession with Daisy way better than the

(14:47):
movie with Leo DiCaprio. No offense to Leo, but he
didn't get it. And Robert Redford captures that. It also
has Golly who who's the guy the original guy from
Law and Order who played the da it is?

Speaker 5 (15:02):
It wasn't the original he was the second one.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
What is his name?

Speaker 5 (15:05):
He's in the original Great Gasby.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
But you do realize in that version of The Great Gasby,
like none of those people are likable characters.

Speaker 5 (15:15):
A river runs through it.

Speaker 3 (15:16):
Another phenomenal movie, Absolutely phenomenal, Mandy A Rudder. Are you
aware the woman on the council with Redford? I have
no idea. And for the person who's sending me hate
speech today saying things like Butch and Sundance was really overrated. No,
no it wasn't. I just watched it and it's so good.

(15:37):
Paul Newman was in the Sting too, Yes he was,
But you get fully gorgeous cowboy Paul Newman and bitch
Cassidy in the Sundance.

Speaker 6 (15:45):
We say, obviously home of the Buffs a cu buff
Robert Redford.

Speaker 3 (15:50):
Oh, I did not know that until right now. Yeah,
went to see you for a year and a half. Oh,
The Natural. The Natural is another phenomenal movie, baseball movie.
Oh it's not a electric cowboy, it's electric courseman, You
are correct, Texter, Thank you for clearing that up. All
the President's men. Another great one, absolutely Sneakers. Sneakers is
super good. He's in Sneakers with Andelina, Joe Lee. Who

(16:12):
else is in that movie? That movie's really good anyway, Mandy.
He was also excellent on an episode of the Twilight Zone.

Speaker 5 (16:19):
He played death.

Speaker 6 (16:21):
Do you know the story about we've talked about before
now the Boulder's getting the Sundance Festival?

Speaker 3 (16:26):
Hey, ron I said, I said on the blog today
that I was going to go to Boulder just to
like stalk him so I could just say thank you
so much for all of the entertainment and joy you
have given me in my lifetime with your work.

Speaker 5 (16:39):
That's what I just wanted to say.

Speaker 6 (16:40):
But do you know, do you know the original story
about how he tried to get Sunday off to originally
be here? No, yeah, he originally pitched the idea to
be in Boulder in nineteen seventy four to the university.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
They never responded to him.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Robert Redford tried to have the Sundance Festival originally be
here in nineteen.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Seventy four, pitched it to see you Boulder. They never
responded to him.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
Of course, Sam Waterson is who I was trying to
think of. Guys, Thank you Texters.

Speaker 6 (17:09):
So I do love that in his final months that
Boulder wound up getting it.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
Maybe that was his final work. Maybe that's why he
was able to go to sleep and just not wake up,
because he finally is bringing the Sundance Film Festival back
to where he wanted it.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
In the very first three day, he was to see
you in the fifties. By the way, well.

Speaker 3 (17:28):
This texter said, Hi, Mandy, I'm fifty. So Robert Redford
was older. Has always been an older man to me,
but he epitomized what it meant to be a manly man.
I was in college when Up Close and Personal came out.
I was taking mass communications TV broadcasting classes at the
time and was obsessed with the two characters. He was
the og McDreamy. He really was, So you guys.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Were he was. I am, literally, as you're saying that,
looking up, looking dude.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
Well, when I was a flight attendant, I'm working the flight,
and when you work the flight, you're gonna work first class.
You get the manifest of first class passengers and I
looked down at the list and it says Robert Redford,
and I'm like, oh my god, Robert Redford is going
to be on this flight.

Speaker 5 (18:08):
I was so excited.

Speaker 3 (18:09):
So here comes down the jetway at the very end
of boarding. Here comes Robert Redford down down the jetway right.
He walks onto the plane and I'm like, mister Redford,
welcome the board, and I'm like dying inside.

Speaker 4 (18:21):
And then the.

Speaker 3 (18:21):
Gate agent runs down the gate, mister Redford, we got
you on a red fly and they pulled him off
my flight. I saw that gate agent like two years later,
and I walked up and I was like, you know
what you did to me. You robbed me of being
able to meet Robert Redford. Screw You can't confirm this.

Speaker 6 (18:40):
I have no sources, but it looks like Robert Redford
is synonymous with aging like fine wine.

Speaker 3 (18:45):
Oh he's gorgeous, well, the late Robert Redford gorgeous, Mandy.

Speaker 5 (18:52):
I do rue him, though for.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
The Sundance catalog, the prices and the cuteness are not compatible. Yeah.
I have never actually purchased something from Sundance that was
not on clearance, and even on clearance, it was still
like fifty bucks. That's where I took my daughter when
we went to the mall for the first time when
she was like six or seven, and she walked up
to a church a shirt and she flipped the price

(19:15):
tag over and just like this.

Speaker 5 (19:17):
In the store in the mall, here goes.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
Four hundred and ninety five dollars for a shirt.

Speaker 5 (19:23):
And I was like, I've raised you well, we'd done that.

Speaker 7 (19:27):
Well.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
Ye, when we get back.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Jimmy Sengenberger's gonna pop in.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
We're talking about the young man who decided to shoot
up Evergreen and who knew about the disgusting chat rooms
he was in before he did it. All right, ladies
and gentlemen, if you hear a harmonica, that means Jimmy

(19:51):
Sangenberger is around. It's practically his bat signal. And today
we're celebrating a birthday first, Jimmy Sangenberger.

Speaker 8 (19:58):
If he were alive today, the King of the Blues himself,
BB King, would be one hundred years old. He was
born September sixteenth, nineteen twenty five.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
Is there any kind of BB King one hundredth anniversary somebody.

Speaker 5 (20:12):
Start of thought about that?

Speaker 8 (20:13):
You know, Joe Bonamasa just dropped the first five songs
in what was a surprise album for the next several
months with a slew of heavy hitters in Blues. That's
all honoring BB King. BB King's Bluesville is that Sirius
XM station. They're doing a lot to celebrate his birthday,

(20:34):
but not nearly enough, because he is one of the
most influential musicians in history.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
Am ender that when you talk to rock musicians, they
all talk about BB King. Let's talk about a more
serious issue. And you've written a column in Today's Denver Gazette,
And I said, I told my audience in the last segment.
I normally share your columns. You and I agree on
so much, but I also think you do a really,
really good job in an investigative column writing. You're not

(20:59):
just here's my opinion. I'm spouting off. You often go
deeper than most columnists do, and just your own investigative stuff.
You've been digging into the story of the teenager who
shot at two students and shot two students at Evergreen
High School before killing himself and how he got there right,
And we're just beginning to hear these stories.

Speaker 5 (21:22):
But I got to tell you this is unnerving to me.

Speaker 3 (21:25):
But at the same time, the speed with which the
video showing graphic footage of Charlie Kirk being murdered in
very graphic fashion.

Speaker 5 (21:36):
I watched it kind of by accident.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
I saw a different view and it looked like you
just got nicked, right, And somebody sent me the other
video and said, no, you need to see this, and
stupidly I hit play, and so.

Speaker 5 (21:48):
We all watched Charlie Kirk get murdered.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
But apparently there's like a whole fetish community around this.

Speaker 8 (21:53):
It is as disturbing as can be. The shooter at
Evergreen was on tick talk on a couple of different communities,
won the true crime community and other true cringe community
and both have very disturbing content. And on there he
would re share posts of videos of Columbine of other

(22:16):
shooters in a way that is glorifying them. He had
a picture of one shooter who did a what this
was I think late last year and she had a
selfie in the bathroom and posted a video that he
had made of her and then him and hear him
her him really fast and actually commented and clarified to

(22:38):
somebody in the comments that the first one is this person,
the second person is me. And this was just days
before the Evergreen shooting. And one another thing that I
will point out is there is a website that watch
people die. It is a terrible name, and it is
exactly what you would expect. The most gruesome video footage

(23:00):
is available there, and the shooter from Evergreen and at
least two other school shooters mass shooters from the last
several months since December of last year, had visited this
site before carrying out their atrocities.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
And we know that the second transhooter. I hate to
say it that way, but guys, I'm not going to
give these people's names out. I'm not going to say
their names, so work with me. The most recent known
transshooter had expressed they idolized the other transhooter. They had
their own manifesto that they were obsessed with death and murder.

(23:37):
This is one of those things that I don't understand,
kind of like I don't understand people who have a
foot fetish. And I'm not knocking you. I'm just saying
I don't get it right. Like a foot fetish is harmless,
it hurts no one. This is not harmless. This is
significant and to me, it seems to feed into some
kind of I don't know, desire for power. Yeah, because

(24:00):
taking someone's life is the ultimate form of power, right,
It's evil. It's also the ultimate form of power. You're
now robbing them of their right to exist, and I
think that for powerless people it can be very intoxicating.

Speaker 8 (24:15):
Part of it is power, part of it is significance.
You make a big point of not naming shooters. I
did name the Evergreen shooter and one other I believe
in my article, and I believe others I did not
mention for similar reasons that I felt that this was
caused for me to mention certain names. Other names I didn't,

(24:36):
and for very specific reasons we need to go into.

Speaker 3 (24:38):
But they do want that notoriety.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
And then there's another piece, and I write this in
my column today in the Denver Gazette. The deeper issue
is that most school shooters are loaners, are outcasts, often
with mental health issues. These platforms offer them a community
with the only people who understand a warped sense of
belonging and valid of their darkest impulses. And that's what's

(25:03):
happening on these websites or in these TikTok communities, is
they really are getting that feeling, in that sense of
community with others, which you wouldn't think would be the
case among shooters.

Speaker 3 (25:15):
And yet here we are okay Arod is now watching
the District attorney in Utah is announcing the charges against
the Charlie kirkshooter. They are seeking the death penalty. And
it was my understanding initially that this did not meet
the standard of aggravated murder in Utah, but apparently they
believe it is. This may also be an opportunity to

(25:37):
get this young this man to plead out in order
to avoid the death penalty and accept life in prison
without parole. We'll have to find out what's going on there.
We'll give you more information as we have it, but
they are going to seek the death penalty in that case. Sorry,
it didn't mean to interrupt you, but a little breaking news.
Get that out.

Speaker 8 (25:54):
And the striking thing is that these both of these
shootings happen within twenty minutes or so of each other.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Jimmy, I gotta tell you, in all of my years
of radio, I have never had a day where I
more felt like the walls were coming in around me.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
When it came to news coverage.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
It's like, give me one crisis at a time, and
I'm your girl, right, I can handle it. But to
have both of those things happen at the exact same
time is just it's too much now. The ADL, the
Anti Defamation League, they actually notified the FBI a couple
of days ahead of time that this that either what
did they notify that these websites existed or I'm not

(26:32):
clear on the specifics.

Speaker 8 (26:34):
Yeah, but I think that there has been more attention dropped.
And they had an article that was very very recent
that had been posted about that website. I mentioned watch
people Die and just the name should send shit r.
And so my understanding is that they had passed but

(26:55):
I'm not clear on what they had passed along to
the FBI, but certainly enough to at least understand a
lot of this.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
You know, it's my belief. And I say this because
my husband is a combat veteran and he has seen
more of his share of death in his lifetime. He
is the last person to consume any of this content
because of his experiences. Right when you've actually seen death,
you don't need to watch it on the internet. And
that's what's kind of so sad and pathetic about these people.

(27:25):
It's like, you know, you don't actually live it, but
you think somehow it's aspirational. This is like a sickness
in the soul of society that these websites exist.

Speaker 8 (27:39):
Yeah, and I'm looking here just because I was curious
about the specifics because I hadn't had a chance to
see it yet. And then yes, apparently in July they've
received a tip of social media and an account tied
to the Evergreen Shooter.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
And I mean, you guys, it is one thing to say.

Speaker 3 (27:56):
And Pam Bondi got shouted down when she said we're
going to go after hate speed.

Speaker 5 (28:00):
You can't go after.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Hate speech as a function of government, Yes, because who
gets to decide what's hateful and who isn't. We're gonna
take a very quick time out. Can you stick around
for one more segment? Jimmy Segeburger is gonna hang out.
We're gonna do one more segment about this next.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
You know.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
Every once while on Jimmy and I were just talking
about this. On my x speed, somebody I follow will
share videos of people being killed in a car, horrible
car accident, or like a piano falling on their head
or whatever. I hate that stuff. I don't want to
see any of that stuff, not even if it's not gory.
I don't want to see anybody die. I'm gonna be

(28:33):
perfectly honest when I tell you that I am still
scarred from watching people on nine to eleven jump out
of the Trade Center rather than burn to death, right Like,
I still remember that in my mind. I don't want
to see anybody else doing that. But that's not even
what we're talking about. We're talking about people murdering other
people on these websites.

Speaker 8 (28:54):
And other really bad things that people do to people,
not just murder.

Speaker 5 (28:59):
Oh great, now watch it on these heads. Don't mention
the site anymore.

Speaker 8 (29:02):
I'm not going to say anything more about it because
it is so twisted.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
But what this.

Speaker 8 (29:08):
Gets to a big point, and that is that we
have teenagers who are able to and have accessed these
websites or these platforms and this kind of content. And
then you wonder, we asked ourselves, how could somebody be
brought to do this? Well, when you are a developing mind,
say sixteen years old, and you're introduced to these things,

(29:29):
you're going through whatever you're going through.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Emotional alienation, the feelings of not fitting in, the feelings
of otherness, and guys, I don't care you are. I
was considered popular in my high school I never felt
like I belonged. I got through it right, like I
managed to pretend that I was. You know, I fit
in in all these areas. But that feeling of otherness
is so universal. It is so common to feel like

(29:55):
something is wrong with just you. Everybody else has the answers,
but just you. You're the one who doesn't. These are
such common teenage things, and what we're doing is allowing
them to go to websites like this. Here's my question.
I have two questions about this, and I don't know
if you can answer either of them. We're gonna ask
them to the ether. Number one, if he was in
these these websites and chat rooms or discord channels where

(30:16):
people were actively encouraging other people to murder people, and
then he did.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
I think all of.

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Those people that actively encourage that kind of behavior need
to be charged as an accessory.

Speaker 2 (30:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (30:26):
I wonder the extent to which liability is a thing there,
Because you can draw a straight line at the very
least the people who put on these websites, whoever are
behind them, or the moderators of a discord server or
what have you. There has to be some responsibility and
culpability there just and.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Heels like if we're going to put age limits on
porn sites, which I got to tell you, I am
a libertarian at heart, but I'm also in favor of
ID verification for porn sites simply because too many children
are being exposed to graphic pornography. And I'm not talking like, oh,
it's like Penthouse, No it's not.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
It's really not.

Speaker 3 (31:07):
Why can't we require age verification for these websites as well? Well,
they should be out now.

Speaker 8 (31:12):
But we're also talking TikTok, where you have teenagers who
are of course using these platforms, and that's where he
was sharing.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
The Evergreen shooter was sharing footage.

Speaker 8 (31:23):
Of other mass shootings and so forth, and with enthusiasm,
we're comparing himself to another school shooter visually and making
comments and encouraging people to go check out that person.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
This sexter, said Mandy.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
When I was in middle school to high school, there
was a series of videos that were passed around by
the kids. I didn't want to watch them, but they
were popular among teens at the time in the nineties.
Of course, getting a hold of those types of videos
were harder to find than the Internet. They were called
faces of Death, I worked at a video store, and
every time someone rented a Faces of Death video, I
swear to god, I just stared at them, just to

(31:57):
make sure. If I ever saw him standing by white van,
I would run in the other direction. Jimmy Segenberger, thanks
for stopping in today, my friend Bandy. All right, we
will be back when we get back. During the recent
King super strike, there were people that were in the
union that said, you know what, I'd rather work than strike,
and I'm gonna resign my union membership so I can

(32:18):
go ahead and work. And then the union did some
shady stuff. We're going to talk to the National Right
to Life folks about that. Not right to life, right
to work folks, when we get back.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and injury Lawyers.

Speaker 4 (32:34):
No, it's Mandy connellyn on KA ninety one FM. Got way.
They through Freny Connell. Keep really sad, bab.

Speaker 3 (32:55):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to a the second hour of the show.
The first hour, we're really really fast. In the second hour,
we're shifting gears entirely. Recently we had a big strike here.
King super workers went on strike. They are part of
the Kroger. Kroger is their parent company. And this is
not the first strike that we've had with grocery workers
and probably won't be the last. But there are a

(33:17):
couple of King Supers employees who decided that they wanted
to keep working during the strike. And now to talk
about it from the National Right to Work Organization, Patrick Simmons,
Welcome to the show.

Speaker 7 (33:29):
First of all, thanks Mandy, great to be on with you.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
Well, let me let you lay out the story here
what happened when the.

Speaker 5 (33:38):
Grocery workers went on strike.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
You have two people that said we want to go
ahead and continue working.

Speaker 7 (33:43):
Tell me what happened, right, Well, these are two that
we know of. There almost certainly are others. But it's
every worker is right under federal law to not be
a formal member of the union, even if they control
your workplace, and even if in a state like Colorado
that you can be forced to pay dues to that union,

(34:04):
but you don't have to be a formal union member,
and you don't have to join union ordered strikes. That's
what happened here, That's what happened previously at King Soupers
for a whole lot of workers back in twenty twenty
two when they had a much longer strike. So they
decided that the best decision for themselves for their family
was I want to continue working. They resigned their union

(34:27):
membership before doing so, and then exercise that right. So
they went back to work. And once they're a non member,
they cannot be fined under what's called internal union discipline
by the union, except that UFCW Local seven tried to
do that anyway, and so they sent them threatening letters
back in August. They told them that they were going

(34:48):
to be subjected to hundreds of dollars of fines. And
as a result of that, because that is quite clearly
illegal under federal labor law, they've now filed these unfair
labor practice charges against UFCW Local seven with the National
Labor Relations Board.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
Let me ask you a couple of questions, because I've
never been in a union, so I don't know how
all of this operates. Okay, So, would if these people
were still in the union, how would the union assess
those fines? Would they would? Would King Supers or Kroger
empower them to take the money out of paychecks?

Speaker 5 (35:21):
How does that process work?

Speaker 7 (35:23):
Yeah, it's a good question. So, you know, they issue
the fines and then ultimately they would have to go
to you know, generally like small Claims court or state
court to collect. If it comes to that, you know,
then there's also the National lib Relations Board process. So
a lot of times if they are issuing those threats
and they are seeking to collect those fines, if they

(35:46):
go beyond what they can legally do under federal law,
then the National Labor Relations Board might get involved. But ultimately,
if the fines were legal, which they aren't in this situation,
it would be up to sort of a collection you know,
activity just like if you were in you know, back
pay on your credit card or or something like that.

(36:08):
So they can force dues which can be taken straight
out of someone's paycheck. Something like this cannot.

Speaker 3 (36:15):
Yeah, but I mean in theory they could ing your
credit they could, They could do a lot of stuff
to you.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
They could cause you a lot.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Of problems as you simply fought what was going you know,
what they were threatening.

Speaker 5 (36:24):
Now you said that.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
This is not the first time something like this has happened,
and you're are you talking about the local seven that
this is not the first time they've done something like this.

Speaker 7 (36:34):
Yeah, well we see these all across the country. Anytime
there's a big, you know, strike, it's often very contentious.
The union bosses will claim all everyone's on board, but
we know a lot of the rank and file aren't
so but but yeah, we've seen this specifically with King
Souper's workers at UFCW Local seven in Colorado back in

(36:55):
twenty twenty two. So there was basically the last contract.
These contracts often the last three years, so the previous
contract had expired, and then twenty twenty two they went
on strike for an extended period of time and there
were a lot of workers who didn't agree with that decision.
A lot of them went back to work, and we
saw a lot of threatening finds thousands of dollars in

(37:15):
that instance. And just we've seen strike finds as high
as like forty fifty thousand dollars, not say for grocery workers,
but across the country. So, I mean, these can really
be things that are a huge threat to the livelihood
of a rank and file worker. But this is all

(37:36):
about punishing workers who don't tow the union line. Union
bosses want to be a top down organization. They want
to tell every worker what's best for them. They want
to deny them choice over something like union financial support.
That's why states like Colorado that lack right to work,
they worker can be fired for not paying money to
a union. And so this is all about top down

(37:58):
union control and not about empowering workers, which is our opinion. Look,
if workers want to voluntarily associate with a union, voluntarily
be a member, voluntarily pay dues, they should be allowed
to do so. If they decide they want to voluntarily
be subject to some internal union court that can find them.
That sounds like a bad idea to me. But I

(38:19):
suppose that should be everyone's free choice. But none of
this should be coerceid. None of this should be forced.
It certainly shouldn't be mandated by federal law, and it
also should be protected by state laws when it comes
to the right to work and the financial support for
those activities.

Speaker 5 (38:34):
So tell me what about this process.

Speaker 3 (38:35):
There's been an official complaint lodge, what happens here and
what is the outcome?

Speaker 7 (38:42):
Right? So, the charges were filed with the National Labor
Relations Board at their regional office. It'll be investigated if
they find that there's a high likelihood that the union
violated the law, which everything I've seen from these facts
suggests they're going to come to that finding. Then, like
they will back in twenty twenty two, they may give
the union an opportunity to settle and basically to avoid prosecution,

(39:05):
you can essentially plead guilty. That's sort of what happened
last time. That would mean rescinding the fines, making it
clear that these workers are non members, they cannot be
subject to these threats. Probably means telling every other worker
about it. It may mean mandatory training. I believe they
had mandatory training last time, and clearly the training didn't

(39:27):
do a whole lot of good since they're back violating
the law again. But it would it certainly let other
workers know. And that's really important because I think it's
highly unlikely that only two workers out of the over
ten thousand impacted by this strike decided to cross and
decided to exercise their right to work. And so if

(39:48):
there's others out there, they should definitely contact the NATIONALID
to Work Foundation. We can protect them against these fines
and against the potential damage to their credit and everything
else that comes with it.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
I have questions from our tom A Spirit Health text
line for you, Patrick. One of them is Mandy, can
you please ask if I am a fee paying member
but not part of the union, do I have to
go on strike or.

Speaker 5 (40:10):
Can I continue to work?

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Which were these union full blown union members or just
fee paying members who said we're going to go back
to work?

Speaker 5 (40:18):
What is the difference and what is the answer to
this guy's question?

Speaker 7 (40:22):
Yeah, So the answer is if you're a fee player,
then that means you are not a union member or
you don't have full union membership, and so that means
you cannot be subjected to any of the internal union finds,
and the union cannot at least legally, though clearly in
some cases they'll they'll break that law. They cannot legally
find you, and so you should be free to return

(40:45):
to work, continue working, not engage in the union strike,
and decide that that working is workings what's best for
you and your family. You have that right to do so,
and hopefully you don't need us, But if you do
the nast right to work wild, the Fence Foundation would
be there to help you exercise that right and fight
for that right and make sure that any illegal, unlawful

(41:06):
attempts to find you. There's pushback and you're ultimately okay, Patrick, can.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
You clarify Colorado's status in terms of we're not a
We're not a right to work state in the fullest
sense of the word, but we do have some protections
in place. I mean, what would you we're kind of
a we're like kind of a right to work I mean,
what are we?

Speaker 4 (41:29):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (41:29):
Well, so obviously right to work states. Union financial support
is completely voluntary pay dues if you want to, if
you choose to, but you cannot be required to. In
other states, and that would include Colorado, a union can
enter into a union force dues clause what they'll call
a union security clause in the contract that says if

(41:50):
someone doesn't pay that, it can be fired solely for
non payment. What Colorado adds to that is they have
an additional vote to authorize the force US at the
beginning of the unionization process. So it's it's not that helpful.
And in you know, the case of something like King Supers,
I mean, this vote almost certainly took place years ago.

(42:11):
A lot of the current employees never had the opportunity
to weigh in on that, and that's why we think
ultimately it should be an individual choice whether force dues
can be required or not. But they do have that
labor piece thing. I know that came up in the
state legislature. They were talking about repealing it. The governor
vetoed it. I think he probably understands that even though

(42:33):
he can't go to businesses and try to recruit them
on the grounds of being a right to work state,
he can say, well, we're not quite as bad as
California or Illinois or New York when he's trying to
attract businesses. But ultimately, right to work is the ultimate
is the real solution to the problem. Just let workers choose.
And it's simple. And we know that the American people

(42:54):
overwhelmingly support that. Eighty percent of Americans say union membership
and just payment should be voluntary. It should not be mandatory.
And that's what right to work simply does.

Speaker 3 (43:05):
And I would say this, Patrick, my editorial comment on
this is, if unions really wanted to sway me and
sway my opinion, they wouldn't do the kinds of things
that you're talking about right now. Provide value for your customer,
earn their business, earn their membership, and if somebody doesn't
want to participate stop doing punitive things to them.

Speaker 5 (43:26):
Now, how long will.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
This process take that you're talking about right now, and
what is the How can someone join you or reach
out to National Right to Work Foundation if they have
faced similar discrimination or similar harassment from the union over
this strike?

Speaker 7 (43:44):
Sure, so, you know, it can take a couple of
months sometimes for them to investigate the charge. Sometimes simply
filing the charge will get the union to back down
pretty quickly. We've seen that sometimes other times it can
it can take you know, months if if if it
goes through a trial in front of an administrative law judge,
we could be talking about six months or a year

(44:06):
or potentially more. Hopefully it doesn't take that long. But
anyone who has experienced anything like this, and if they're
not sure, you know, they don't have to file a case,
but they can just call in talk to one of
our staff attorneys. We've got seventeen full time attorneys. All
we do is represent employees who've had their rights violated

(44:27):
by force unionism and you know the kind of threats
to come along with a strike. As part of that,
you go to our website and RTW dot org you'll
see a thing for request free legal aid you can
put in some details of your situation, someone can get
back to you. You call Wedning one hundred and three
three six thirty six hundred and talk to someone. But

(44:47):
no matter what, just you can you can find out
about your rights and figure out what the best situation,
what the best you know, process forward is for each individual.
But yeah, we're about empower individuals, and when union bosses
seek to violate their rights, we want to hold them accountable.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
I have one last question, and that's about the National
Labor Relations Board, specifically because I asked Patrick off the air,
I'm like, okay, what actually what punitive measures are levied
against unions who continue to engage in the same behavior
over and over and over again. And the answer seems
to be pretty much nothing. It's like, here, take a
re education class that apparently has no effect.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
What do we need to do to change.

Speaker 3 (45:29):
The rules at the National Labor Relations Board to put
teeth into it? To really make unions who violate these
laws pay in some way, shape or form, whether financially,
whether having their actions limited to some extent, like what
needs to happen there?

Speaker 7 (45:49):
Yeah, well it's good question. I mean, I think you know,
ultimately the real solution would be to repeal all the
government powers that let union officials engage in these activities.
So the idea that you can force the worker to
pay dues or be fired, stop that, and that will
that'll fix a lot of it, because if the union
is financially accountable, they're not going to be so reckless

(46:10):
when it comes to violent people's rights. It also goes
to forcing people under representation they disagree with. But yeah,
we would like to see some find especially when you
have I mean, this union is a repeat offender, the
UFCW Local seven, and I've was looking up some information
about that. I mean, there are there are a lot
of people within that union who are members who are
seeking to get rid of their president because they feel

(46:32):
she's been really reckless, uh and some of and basically
is doing what's best for herself and her own power
and and not what's actually best for the rank and file.
So we need more accountability and and I certainly making
dues voluntary it would be an important step. But when
you have a repeat offender, there should be real consequences
beyond just hey, we won't do it again, and and

(46:54):
maybe we'll tell everyone, hey we won't violate your rights
next time, even though we've done it twice already.

Speaker 3 (46:59):
Amen to that. Patrick Simmons with the National Right to
Work Foundation. I appreciate your time today and for helping
workers here in Colorado fight back against just ridiculously unfair treatment.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 7 (47:10):
Glad to do it. Thanks Mandy.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
All Right, that is Patrick Simmons. I will just hear
this text message. Funny these people search out these jobs
for the money and benefits, then not want to support
the representation. I wonder when the raises come if they
give it back. Let me just say this, if the
unions were doing a good enough job representing the people,

(47:34):
no one would want out. But the fact of the
matter is is that a lot of people. There's a
lot of people, and I actually think it's a growing
number of workers, especially they don't like the political persuasion
of the unions. They don't like the fact that the
union's packs only donate to democrats. They're tired of their
hard earned money going to support politicians that they don't like.

(47:57):
And at the same time, what is the union providing.
There are some unions out there, especially in the trades,
that do a great job training people, getting them, teaching
them a skill, all of that stuff.

Speaker 5 (48:08):
I think that stuff is fantastic.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
But can you give me one thing that the teachers'
unions have done to make education better?

Speaker 5 (48:18):
I'll wait. I'm still waiting.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
So there are different kinds of unions with different kinds
of you know, productiveness.

Speaker 5 (48:33):
Let me just put it that way.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Unions should pay to the worker five times the fines
they illegally levied against the worker. That's a great idea.
That's a great idea. Manety years ago I was told
I must join the union, not just pay dues.

Speaker 5 (48:47):
And depending on.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
How many years ago our laws have changed. I did
a quick look up this morning about Colorado's laws because
I knew we weren't a true right to work state,
and we do have this very interesting high system. We
do have union shops in Colorado, and if you have
a fully union shop, you can be forced to join

(49:08):
a union if that whole shop is a union shop.
So yeah, that very well could have happened if you
were in one of those shops.

Speaker 5 (49:16):
Uh, Mandy.

Speaker 3 (49:18):
The only thing that runs through my mind is the
Democrat Party tries to coerce everyone to do whatever it
is they command us to do.

Speaker 4 (49:24):
I e.

Speaker 3 (49:25):
You must be forced to do a union as it
is the Democrats who are behaving like fascists when they
told us to do this. You know what, there's a
lot of truth in that statement, but it's not fascism
when they do it because it's what's best for us.
You guys, you're just not appreciative of what's best for us,

(49:46):
not at all. Guys, if you're in Douglas County, please
don't forget about tonight's school board forum. It's happening at
north Star Academy tonight. We've got all eight school board
members or school board candidates. Rather I should say it's
sorry about that at north Star Academy, starting at doors
open at six.

Speaker 5 (50:05):
Well, now I got my shirt caught in my never mind,
I fixed it.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Fine.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
The things that happen off the air where you can't
see them on the radio. Tonight north Star Academy, doors
open at six. We're going to try and be out
by like eight o'clock. We're going to do our best.
Me Deborah Flora, my good friend and Sidehoustle Project co host,
are hosting this event. It's your opportunity to come out
and hear from the candidates, hear their vision, hear what

(50:34):
they think about unions here, what they think about collective
bargaining agreements. Hear what they think about how to increase
the already really great educational achievement levels in Douglas County.

Speaker 5 (50:45):
So you got that going, Mandy.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
I think it's adorable that people still think the unions
represent them. Do you know what I've heard from union
members for the last fifteen to twenty years. The last
fifteen or twenty years, this is what I've heard. They're
in the trades. I hear I've got a union pension, right, Okay, great,
I totally get that. If they're a teacher, they will
say I'm in the union in case I get sued,

(51:09):
And I always ask them a follow up question, how
many people in your school have been sued?

Speaker 5 (51:16):
And they never have a good answer, well, none.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
But it could happen.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
So the union has.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
Scared them into thinking that they need union protection from
being sued by a parent, which, from what I can
tell from them.

Speaker 5 (51:28):
Never happens.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
If the union's made a compelling case of here are
the things that I offer you, here are the things
you're going to get in return. Here's what it's going
to cost you, and you want to do that, more
power to you. But they don't do that. They just
try and strong arm everyone to come in. Anyway, I
got a text message talking about union stuff, and a
lot of you were weighing in with similar I've never
heard this before, but I don't doubt you. As a teacher,

(51:53):
says this text on the Common Spirit Health test line.
As a teacher, I hated the union told us how
to vote seventy six months, oh excuse me, seventy six
bucks a month California circa two thousand and two. But
I needed them against my administration. I needed the union
to back me up when our vice principal showed up
at my home because I had the flu, and I

(52:15):
won hundred and two feet the day before Christmas break,
I had a doctor's note, came in that morning to
make it sure everything was set up in my classroom,
and went home. I loathed the union, but I needed
it to protect me from my corrupt administration. Wall you guys,
that's sad, really really sad.

Speaker 5 (52:33):
And then someone further down the.

Speaker 3 (52:35):
Line said, uh buh buh buh buh um trying to
find it. It essentially was, why do we need uh.
Here we go, Mandy are E teachers unions?

Speaker 5 (52:51):
Do we really need them?

Speaker 3 (52:52):
Aren't they just a contract with a school district, a
contract that a school district with which balks could choose
just not to renew that From Steve Well back in
twenty twelve, the Douglas County School Board said we don't
need a collective bargaining agreement and they haven't had one
since they have worked very very diligently. And trust me,

(53:13):
I know it doesn't seem like this because Douglas County
actually lags behind other districts when it comes to pay
And I just heard a parent, a fellow parent, say
something along the lines of I don't understand why we
don't have more money.

Speaker 5 (53:27):
We pay all those in property taxes.

Speaker 3 (53:28):
Which is true, but that shows a fundamental misunderstanding about
how schools are funded in Colorado. We have a very
equitable school funding program, and just because you pay a
ton in property taxes does not mean that your schools
get more money. It means that your property taxes are
sent to the state. The state decides how much every
school district gets back, and that is what they send back.

(53:51):
The only way that we would be able to give
our teachers more money is by doing a mill levy override,
which we just did in Douglas County for the first
time I'm in a long time.

Speaker 5 (54:00):
But that's neither here nor there.

Speaker 3 (54:02):
The fact of the matter is is that not having
a collective bargaining agreement has had zero negative impact on
student learning in Douglas County. Zero back in twenty fifteen,
which is the earliest data that I can find for
the c MASS. I think they gave a different test

(54:22):
before that. I honestly don't remember. I know at some
point since I've been here in the last thirteen years,
we've changed tests.

Speaker 5 (54:29):
I think it was in twenty fifteen.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
So back in twenty fifteen, test scores in Douglas County
were about sixty percent of students we're doing math meeting
and exceeding expectations in English. Excuse me now, that number
is up to sixty three point four percent of students
our meeting or exceeding expectations in language English Language Arts.

(54:53):
That is the highest performing district in the metro area
in math. Then let me see here if I can,
if I can see what this number is by giving
me a it looks like about I would say forty
forty five percent. Back in twenty fifteen, we're meeting or
exceeding expectations. Now that's up to fifty five zero point

(55:15):
five percent of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the
semass test. And this is all after they did away
with a collective bargaining agreement. So I again, just as
a point of order, when we first moved here in
twenty thirteen, so we're looking around, we're deciding where we're
going to live. And I was talking to people that

(55:36):
were familiar with the area, and I said, look, I've
got a four year old. She's going to be going
to school. I'd like to send her to.

Speaker 5 (55:41):
A public school.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
I don't necessarily want to have to send her to
a private school. So where should we send her to
a public school? And a lot of people said, oh,
Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek is the district. Cherry Creek is
where you want your kids to go. Cherry Creek is
where it's at. In the last few years, Cherry Creek
has and I'm just going to say it, they're destroying

(56:02):
their school district. They're destroying their school district by focusing
on things that don't matter. They've done away with a
valedictorian because they don't want kids to feel bad if
they're not number one in their class, even though I
guarantee you that valedictorian probably worked his or her behind
off to be valedictorian of their class. But in Cherry
Creek that's not allowed anymore. You're not allowed to excel.

(56:24):
They're spending a tremendous amount of time teaching teachers how
to hide gender changes from their parents.

Speaker 5 (56:30):
This is what Cherry Creek has been very invested in.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
And guests who just saw their test scores in the
English arts English language arts go down in this last semass.
In Cherry Creek, forty eight point two percent of students
now meet or exceed expectations. That is a full fifteen
percentage points lower than Douglas County.

Speaker 5 (56:52):
At some point, are we.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Not going to look at this step and say, wait
a minute, what's going on here? What is happening? Cherry
Creek forty two point eight percent of students met or
achieved expectations in math, compared to fifty five point five
percent in Douglas County. Littleton, you guys are getting it
done too. You guys are doing a great job. Almost

(57:13):
sixty two percent off your kids can read and meet
expectations on reading or English. Fifty four point three percent
are doing math on grade level. I won't even give
you the numbers for Denver and Aurora. It's not good Brighton.
You guys got a lot of work to do. I'm
just saying I have these in.

Speaker 2 (57:31):
Front of me.

Speaker 5 (57:31):
The sea mass results by district.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
By the way, But it's interesting because how do you
make the argument that the district would be better with
a teachers union when you see the district without a
teachers union doing better, not just holding on to pre pandemic. No,
we've exceeded those numbers. Part of it has to do
with the population that goes to school there. I do

(57:53):
know that I don'uld act like I don't know that
that kids from you know, professional parents in an affluent
suburb are not going to be better prepared.

Speaker 5 (58:02):
To go to school than kids who don't.

Speaker 3 (58:04):
But the reality is is that these school districts are
moving in the right direction, but barely, and a lot
of them have a lot of teachers' union control. They
just do ew Mandy Connell, I picked up my favorite
day candy corn crunch trail mix at Target. It has
raisins in it. Ew ew ew Why would you?

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (58:28):
Why why?

Speaker 4 (58:32):
Mandy?

Speaker 3 (58:32):
Years ago, I resigned from the telephone employees union, but
had heard if I sent a letter it would not
be acknowledged.

Speaker 5 (58:39):
Whoops, hang on, that just updated.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
We had to do it in person, but it would
only be accepted on a certain day of the week
between certain hours. That's still the same way if you
were to resign from the union. They make it so
incredibly difficult, Mandy. I've been fighting Cherry Creek to get
my kids IEP in place. Good luck with that. Imagine
that perverse incentives result in perverse results.

Speaker 5 (59:03):
That's why my son is in private school.

Speaker 4 (59:06):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (59:08):
If parents won't leverage.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
They can collectively keep their kids out of standardized test
that determine school funding. That is not as helpful as
you may think. Actually it's not helpful at all. I
mean it's really not because it doesn't have enough of
a connected impact to change the ideology. If you really
want to have an impact in your schools, pay attention

(59:31):
to the dang school board races. Pay attention to the
people that are setting policy. Pay attention to who they
hire a superintendent, pay attention to the priorities that they
express as superintendent and the school board. Because all of
that trickles down. Somebody just asked, what about Jefferson County.
Hang on one second, let me pull this open again,
and I'll tell you jeff Co's doing all right. Jeff Co,

(59:54):
fifty two point five percent of kids can read or
do English on grade level.

Speaker 5 (01:00:00):
In math, they are at.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Forty two point eight percent, so they are tied with
Cherry Creek on math. So there you go. Those are
the numbers you need to see. You can google all
this stuff. By the way, you can google it all.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Mandy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
The Teachers Union did a good job highlighting the need
to abolish the radical left after they started to apply
their identity politics to the curriculums.

Speaker 5 (01:00:20):
I'm going to tell you, I think that the blowback
on all of.

Speaker 3 (01:00:24):
This stuff because one of the most shocking, upsetting, horrifying
parts of the Charlie Kirk assassination has been seeing how
many teachers have been celebrating it. These are people that
are supposed to be teaching our kids. I just I
don't even ah, I don't even understand how you can
do you know. I've said it before when I was

(01:00:46):
in school. I have no idea what the politics of
my teachers were. Still don't don't care, never knew, never
needed to know, And it was just it was perfect.
Can you feel the crispness in the air in the morning,
Ready for apple Sida? Sit by the fire?

Speaker 2 (01:01:01):
Yeah, bring on the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
And you don't have a log slitter splitter?

Speaker 5 (01:01:07):
I can borrow.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
Do you I need a log splitter?

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
Ax?

Speaker 5 (01:01:10):
No, no, no, no, that's two time consuming.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
What the hell you talk?

Speaker 5 (01:01:14):
We have some big logs. They're like this big and
they gotta bust them up.

Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
I can't tell your time about height or right.

Speaker 5 (01:01:20):
No, they're all the way around like like around here,
they're like yes big.

Speaker 3 (01:01:24):
Our neighbor took out a tree a few years ago
and said, hey, you guys want this because it's basically firewood.

Speaker 2 (01:01:28):
Now and it's now it's all a fire.

Speaker 3 (01:01:30):
No, they're too big. They won't fit in the fireplace.

Speaker 5 (01:01:33):
They literally fit in.

Speaker 2 (01:01:34):
The fire fire. I'll take them.

Speaker 3 (01:01:36):
We don't have a bonfire. Are you afraid of setting
my neighborhood on fire?

Speaker 1 (01:01:39):
I do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
I want them.

Speaker 5 (01:01:40):
I'm not giving them away. I want the place this year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Give me your logs. I'll definitely not split them up
and use them.

Speaker 5 (01:01:48):
No, they're so big they wouldn't even burn.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Well no, yeah they would, so anyway anything would well.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
Bring on the fall. Yeah I'm sweater, I'm not. I'm
not a person that for Ryan Edwards.

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
I can't wait to wear my Halloween stuff PSL.

Speaker 5 (01:02:04):
Wait what October first?

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Yeah? October first?

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
Not your costume?

Speaker 2 (01:02:10):
Not the costume?

Speaker 5 (01:02:11):
Okay, have you already established your costume for this year?

Speaker 9 (01:02:13):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:02:14):
Yeah? Multiple costumes?

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Wait?

Speaker 5 (01:02:16):
What what do you what are you hosting the Oscars?

Speaker 4 (01:02:18):
How many cost number one?

Speaker 6 (01:02:19):
That smart a question? Yes, I am basically our Halloween
party super Bowl every year. And two any second costume
for when I host our Halloween races at the Speedway.

Speaker 3 (01:02:30):
A lot of pressure. I gotta be one of the
best dressed.

Speaker 5 (01:02:33):
Okay, okay, So any any hints any you know I
have superpowers? Well you love a superpower costume?

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:02:42):
I I told Chuck I've named I gave Jinks my dog.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
I gave her a superhero name, fluff Bucket, and Chuck
thinks that's a bad name for a superhero. I think
it's a great name for a superhero because her superpower
is covering you with dog hair, so you can no
longer commit crime because you spend like you got dog
here in your mouth, you got dog here in your ear,
you got dog hair all over you, and you're kind
of itchy from it, and you cannot commit any more.

Speaker 6 (01:03:07):
In the overly critical inner Edna mode from The Incredibles,
which judges superheroes, then say what what is that to
do with the name fluff bucket?

Speaker 3 (01:03:15):
Well, then there's also the slobbery. He says, we should
go with like slabber bucket because you know, because she
will drown you. There you go fluff, But the fluff
is more of a nuisance situation. You don't have like
fluff because Poppy doesn't have you have dog hair has fluff?
I mean, and it just flies everywhere, Mandy, I have

(01:03:38):
a log splitter. I live off eightieth and Kipling. You're
welcome to come get it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:41):
How big is it? What the hell is I gotta
see what this is?

Speaker 5 (01:03:43):
You know what a you've never seen it is exactly?

Speaker 6 (01:03:46):
It's not huge, Grant says, the Slabber Monster a villain, exactly,
a superhero. No, that that sounds like a villain. The
slab monster. There's no superhero with monster in their name.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Log splitter.

Speaker 5 (01:04:02):
Yeah, it's a thing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:03):
I mean, it's every thing is that's intrusive. Well, I
mean you don't have it all the time. I don't
need all I just need to borrow it so I
can bust up these lots, these these these logs, the
slabber logs, lobs. Get ready for for winter. I'm ready
for winter already, have Mandy.

Speaker 6 (01:04:19):
You heard it here first from me, somehow, somehow, via
Dave Fraser, even though I has no power. He'd not
tell me to say this. This is gonna be a
good fall. Dammit, long amazing fall.

Speaker 5 (01:04:32):
Here's what I'm worried about.

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
We're gonna get all the beautiful leaves are finally going
to change, and then we're gonna get that snow that
knocks them off the trees. I didn't use your story
about when our first snow is going to be because
I figured we'll ask Dave Fraser about it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:44):
I get it tomorrow, tomorrow, And well, let's go with
last day of November. Oh no, no, that's terrible because
that's when I come back to my cruise. Let's go
first week of.

Speaker 5 (01:04:55):
December's crazy, so you're pushing it way.

Speaker 6 (01:04:58):
Lest's get crazy this okay, Okay, yeah, Jeff, please not
any time around Thanksgiving and please not on Halloween.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Okay, just two asks, not those times.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
And the wine Yogi is weighing in. She has already
got her fall decorp up. She has got her everything
Halloween thing clothing already on her body.

Speaker 6 (01:05:17):
We have so much decorations to make, design put up
for our party.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Oh god, am I going to get invited to your
party this year? I mean I'm not coming. You Am
I going to get invited?

Speaker 4 (01:05:29):
You?

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
You wouldn't come. You know what kind of parties I have?

Speaker 3 (01:05:32):
I know I'm well past the age when drinking to
excess sounds appealing at all, actually drinking at all. I
had cocktails on Saturday night to celebrate Christian Toto and uh,
and they were delicious.

Speaker 5 (01:05:44):
But and then I didn't sleep.

Speaker 2 (01:05:47):
I gotta say shout out to I know you've probably
never been here.

Speaker 4 (01:05:51):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:05:51):
It's a kind of restaurant bar, happy camper. I had
a pumpkin spice espresso martini. Oh my god, there's like
a whole.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
Bunch of stuff in there that I would not I
would not train. I'll take your word for it. I
will not fight you for it. I enjoy it. Enjoy it.
We're gonna take a quick time out when we get back.
I've got a ton of stuff on the blog today.
Some of it's positive, some of its negatives. But I'm
gonna tell you I have now decided I am going
to share videos the show Why Charlie Kirk was so dangerous.
We're talking about that next.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
The Mandy Connell Show is sponsored by Belle and Pollock
Accident and Injury Lawyers.

Speaker 4 (01:06:26):
No, it's Mandy Connell Many Connell on KOA ninety one FM.
God you wanna study the nicety through three? Mandy Donald,
keeping your real sad babe. Welcome Local, Welcome to.

Speaker 5 (01:06:49):
Third hour of the show.

Speaker 3 (01:06:50):
Coming up at two thirty, we are going to talk
to Rose Paglisi. She just stepped down as House Minority
leader in the Colorado Legislature. And when you hear why,
oh boy, you won't be surprised. But it's not a
good look for the Colorado Legislature. Now, in the meantime,
I have several things on the blog that I want
to get to, not the least of which is a

(01:07:11):
long video and I cannot play it because it is long,
but I put it on the blog as part of
what I'm calling the why Charlie Kirk was Dangerous series.
And of course when I mean dangerous, I don't mean
dangerous and he was trying to get people killed or
anything like that. He never preached violence in any way,
shape or form. He was dangerous because he questioned the

(01:07:34):
liberal dogma on which the entire Democratic Party platform is made.
And today's video is a long exchange with a young
black man at Texas A and M University.

Speaker 5 (01:07:45):
And there's a couple of things that you will notice.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
I fully expect you to go to the blog and
watch this because when you're talking to people who will
tell you without ever seeing a second of videos like
this one that Charlie Kirk was a racist, you need
to be able to clearly articulate what it was that
Charlie Kirk said about things like DEI. And in this
video exchange, there's two things that you are going to notice.

(01:08:09):
Number One, Charlie Kirk is very clear about why he
does not like diversity equity inclusion program, same reason I don't.
They're patently unfair and elevate people to positions that they
are not qualified for that they have not worked for,
and that they cannot otherwise get without being considered only

(01:08:30):
because of their skin color.

Speaker 5 (01:08:31):
Right, that's my problem.

Speaker 3 (01:08:33):
Equal outcomes are a lie. People have different skills, they
have different work ethics, they have different drive, they have
different determination. And you could give five million people one
hundred thousand dollars on January first. Some of those people
would have blown through it all by January fifteenth, some

(01:08:54):
of those people by December thirty first would have made
it a million dollars, and a lot of those people
would have been somewhere in between. Right, Because people have
different talents, we have different levels of intelligence, and there's
nothing wrong with any of this. And note I did
not say certain groups of people are not as intelligent.

Speaker 5 (01:09:13):
That's not at all.

Speaker 3 (01:09:14):
They're incredibly intelligent, driven people of every color, of every background.
But one of the things that Charlie Kirk never backed
down from was the notion that black.

Speaker 5 (01:09:25):
Culture is a huge problem. And I agree with him.

Speaker 3 (01:09:30):
And by the way, when I say black culture, here's
specifically what I'm talking about. It is the culture that
glorifies violence, as they do in much of rap music.
It is a culture that embraces violence, whether it's on
the streets trying to entice young people into doing things
that are just bad, bad choices. It is a culture

(01:09:53):
that does not put enough emphasis on education.

Speaker 5 (01:09:57):
And I have something to back that up.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Many many years ago, I don't know how many years ago,
probably twenty five years ago. Now, there was a group
of parents in a very affluent suburb, I want to say,
of Cleveland, Ohio. It's been a long time since I've
looked at this study, and now they've retracted the study
for reasons that have nothing to do with the quality
of the study.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
Hear me out.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
So in Cleveland, they had an achievement gap. Now these
are professional parents of you know, children who have very
affluent upbringings. They all live in the same nice neighborhoods.
But there was still an achievement gap between black and
white students. So they brought in a black psychologist, not psychologists,
sociologists to come and study the situation to find out
what the school could do better to better serve black

(01:10:40):
students so they could close the achievement gap, which is
a worthy goal. So this sociologist, do you know what
he found out? He found out that when white kids
went home their parents overwhelmingly asked questions like do you
have any homework, how are things going in school?

Speaker 5 (01:10:56):
Did you study for your test?

Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
There was a level of support for education that existed
in white homes, and when he found that, he went
to the same level of affluence. Right, they're professional parents
who had gone to college and all of this stuff.
They were not having those same conversations and those same
expectations with their children.

Speaker 7 (01:11:14):
But when the.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
Sociologist, by the way, who was black, put out this study,
there was a hue and cry across the land that
this study done by a black psychologist or sociologist was
actually racist because he had the nerve to tell the
truth and the truth. Here's the thing.

Speaker 5 (01:11:31):
Think about how simple that is to fix.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
Think about how easy it is to say to all parents,
You've got to engage with your kids on education. You
have to talk to them about how they're doing, about
what they're doing they might need help, get them the
help they need, try and help them with their homework.
Do all of these things, because that's what the students
of successful that's what the parents of successful students are doing.

Speaker 5 (01:11:54):
And look no further than Asian kids.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
Do you think the Asian population has inherently higher intelligence
than the rest of the country. No, they don't. What
they have are parents who are absolutely ferocious when it
comes to emphasizing education in their household. They have incredibly

(01:12:18):
high expectations. And by the way, I'm speaking in generalizations here,
they're gonna be Asian parents who don't do this one
hundred percent, just like they're Black parents who are incredibly
invested in their children's education. So these are sweeping generalizations,
but they're large enough that we can kind of say, Okay,
you know, the higher average here is going to take

(01:12:39):
us here.

Speaker 5 (01:12:40):
Asian parents drive their students in a way.

Speaker 3 (01:12:43):
I gotta tell you sometimes I'm not comfortable with just
you know, I maybe my kid's not going to be
as successful as theirs because I'm not that good.

Speaker 5 (01:12:52):
But that's not how we're wired.

Speaker 3 (01:12:54):
But now Asian students are actually being penalized for being successful.
I don't understand it. But Charlie Kirk, in this video
that is on the blog, slowly but surely dismantles all
of this kid's victim centered ideology beliefs. And that, my friends,

(01:13:14):
is why Charlie Kirk was dangerous, because he dared to
say to a young man at Texas A and M University.
You are in the You're in the best place you
could possibly be in the world, and you can do
whatever it is you want to do as long as
you ditch the victim ideology.

Speaker 5 (01:13:29):
This young man never got it, but boy, the point was.

Speaker 3 (01:13:32):
The point was made while I'm speechless as this person,
i am a solid conservative, is now a former listener
of your show. Your over generalization of black as violent
is one of the most racist ideas I've heard on
eight P fifty in the past twenty years. You're certainly
not going to miss a single listener, but I'm guessing
I'm not the only person texting in something similar. I

(01:13:52):
never said that black people were violent. I said black
culture focuses on violence, and I just went to a
Reddit thread. Just give me an example of black violence
so I could share this. Black people are not inherently violent.
I don't think that. But there is a culture in
the black culture, specifically where music idealizes drugs and crime

(01:14:15):
and shooting and killing, and it exists at the same
time that we have in this country. I think because
of welfare destroyed the black family, and we don't have
men in the household to counteract, to counterbalance all of
the things that kids are consuming as part of black culture.
They're wonderful things about black culture. I have a friends

(01:14:38):
that i'm friends with on Facebook that I've known for
a very long time who are black, and they have
this wonderful sense of family and community, and I envy
that because I don't have that. We don't have extended
family here, and I think that's the part of black
culture that we should be celebrating, but we don't. One
of the things Charlie Chirk was so good at talking
about was what would happen if black fathers were back

(01:15:00):
in the home, if black dads were raising their black kids,
and we celebrated that instead of drug dealers and Nick
Cannon who has twelve kids by how many different women.
These are not healthy ways for kids to grow up.
We're giving them a disadvantage. And it's not racist to
talk about it. It's not racist to talk about the

(01:15:22):
issues that exist that are not systemic racism. They are
bad choices. You know, there's a success sequence. It's very simple,
and I tell this to my daughter all the time.
The success sequence is simple, stay in school, graduate, get
some kind of post secondary training, maybe a trade, going
to college, whatever, then get married, then have kids. If

(01:15:44):
you do those things in that order, your life will
be entirely different. Why aren't we talking about that? These
are the things that I can't fix. I'm a white
person in the suburbs. I can't fix black culture. I
can't fix what's wrong.

Speaker 5 (01:15:58):
But we shouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (01:16:00):
We cannot talk about it because then that's racist. I mean, gosh,
there's a lot of black people who are willing to
point out everything wrong that white people do. I'm just
returning the favor. No, I don't know how to explain it, Mandy.
I think that texture was a faker. Those of us
who have listened to you for even a short time, No,
you're not racist. And for that texture to be so

(01:16:21):
hyper sensitive to it makes me think they're really on
the left trying to make the left point, or they themselves.

Speaker 5 (01:16:27):
Are so afraid of being called.

Speaker 3 (01:16:29):
Racist that even the mention of something unpopular makes them
believe that that is racist. I tend to think it's
probably the second, you know, because I will tell you
people on not just people on the right, but white
people have been absolutely cowed into silence against any about
any of this stuff because we've been called racist too much.

(01:16:50):
I gotta tell you, I just don't care anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:16:53):
I just don't care, Mandy. Rap music is not black music.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
It's just rap, hip hop, so many different honors of it.
But to equate rap music and all of rock music
as being misogynistic, to have drugs and guns and violence, it's.

Speaker 5 (01:17:07):
Just totally wrong.

Speaker 3 (01:17:08):
I didn't say that. I never said these words that
you heard, But there is a large portion of hip
hop and rap music that glorifies violence. I mean, you, guys,
no offense. But I listened to NWA back in the day.
I listened to all that music. I know what they said,

(01:17:28):
just saying when we get back. Rose Paglici joins me,
why did she drop out of the House of Representatives
in Colorado?

Speaker 5 (01:17:34):
Wait till you hear one of the really.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
Thoughtful, non hyperbolic kind people that was in the Colorado
House of Representatives has now step down. She was the
House minority leader until yesterday. And joining me now is
Rose Paglaesi to talk about it.

Speaker 10 (01:17:52):
High Rose, Hi, Mandy, thank you so much, and that
was very very kind.

Speaker 3 (01:17:57):
Well, I mean it, I've got to know you a
little bit on board that we both worked on. And
I've always found you to be thoughtful and kind and
generally very very considerate, and so therefore you did not
belong in the Colorado House of Representatives to say it
like that, not to make light of the situation. Why
did you leave?

Speaker 9 (01:18:20):
You know, it was a culmination of a lot of things.
You know, I'm a single mom and raised two kids
all by myself. I have three jobs outside of legislature,
and the legislature had taken on and it had it
had been evolving, you know, in the time I had
been there, but it really hit a new height of

(01:18:40):
I would say, toxicity during this special session, you know.
And and so following that, I was really, you know,
trying to figure out what what my path really was.
And as I said in my letter, I spent a
lot of time in prayer, like really just asking God,
you know, is this where you need me? Is this

(01:19:01):
where I'm best to serve you? And then last week,
you know, the political violence and events that went on,
you know, when my kids were scared. They know that
they see me on TV, they read about me. They're
not supposed to, they're not allowed to google me.

Speaker 10 (01:19:19):
But every once in a.

Speaker 9 (01:19:20):
While, they do do that, right, They're fourteen and eleven,
and I think there was just this heightened stress in
our household and my kids never loved the legislature, to
be perfectly honest, but now it had taken on kind
of a new level. And for my kids, I really
I feel like maybe taking this step spending more time

(01:19:43):
with them.

Speaker 10 (01:19:43):
I mean, I hardly see them.

Speaker 9 (01:19:45):
I take all of my jobs very seriously, including mom,
but you know, it's hard to juggle everything all of
the time, and so there was a real desire for
them to have their mom. And at this point I thought, maybe,
you know, how do I I best be a good
mom and keep them safe? And so the legislature at

(01:20:06):
this point doesn't seem to be the best place.

Speaker 4 (01:20:08):
To do both.

Speaker 3 (01:20:09):
Rose and making that choice, you proved everything that I
said about you, those nice things that I said in
the beginning, because your priorities are one.

Speaker 5 (01:20:16):
Hundred percent correct. But let me ask you this.

Speaker 3 (01:20:18):
You are not the first legislator to resign in the
last five years talking about toxic environment and how difficult
it is to be a member of the Colorado Legislature.

Speaker 5 (01:20:30):
What would you like to see happen? What kind of actions.

Speaker 3 (01:20:35):
Would you recommend on your way out the door to say,
you've got to fix this for the next generation of
legislators that come in here.

Speaker 10 (01:20:44):
So there's two things.

Speaker 9 (01:20:45):
One is more political than the other. The first is
we have got to restore balance. You know, we were
in the super minority. I'm very proud of the work
that we all did to get out of the super minority,
and I was happy to help lead that up.

Speaker 10 (01:21:00):
But we need more seats.

Speaker 4 (01:21:02):
We need to.

Speaker 9 (01:21:02):
Restore balance in both the House and the Senate. I
think that's number one. Number two, you know, and I
said this in my letter at the end, but there
has to be a willingness on both sides, but especially
on the part of the majority to want to engage
with the minority. And I think you see that more
in the Senate. I was very disappointed in how the

(01:21:24):
House operated. I mean, when you're given by the majority
a list of words that you're allowed to say and
not say in the well, I mean censorship. And as
we're in the people's House trying to represent our constituents,
I think that's a bridge too far. You know, we
were shut down in conversations even this special session. You know,

(01:21:46):
it already came in contentious where Republican bills were all
killed on the first day. Only Democrat bills advanced on
the budget, on our priorities as a state, on taxpayer
money and how it should be spent, and our voices
were completely discounted. And so that adds to the toxicity
of the legislature. And then I would say, so there

(01:22:09):
has to be a willingness from the majority to actually
work with the minority, and thus far, you know, that's
kind of ebbed and flowed.

Speaker 10 (01:22:17):
But I have said this actually a.

Speaker 9 (01:22:19):
Couple of times as they've been doing these interviews. You know,
I follow the legislature for a long time, as I
call it, growing up in politics, and there used to
be a desire, like you wanted to leave your legacy
with people saying you are a statesman.

Speaker 6 (01:22:33):
Right now.

Speaker 10 (01:22:36):
Now you just want to be Internet famous.

Speaker 9 (01:22:38):
And I think that dynamic is a dangerous one but
also doesn't allow for that camaraderie, for that really this
sense of working together. So I think, you know, the
combination of the Democrats having so much power at all
levels of government and.

Speaker 10 (01:23:00):
Then on top of that.

Speaker 9 (01:23:02):
Just the lack of general respect for well, you can't
have non violent political discourse anymore, and I think we're
seeing that more and more, and I think that's a
huge disservice to the people of Colorado, because I do
believe most of them, and Mandy, you and I have
had this conversation, really are in the middle.

Speaker 5 (01:23:19):
I agree.

Speaker 3 (01:23:20):
I think that one of the things, one of the
positive things that will come out of the Charlie Kirk
assassination is that I do think it opened a lot
of people's eyes to how much oxygen the fringes are
taking when in reality they're looking at their friends and
neighbors and going, holy cow, this is appalling, whether their

(01:23:41):
neighbors on the right or the left. I've gotten emails
from people saying I've been talking to my neighbors who
are Democrats and they all have their Jared Pola signs
in the yard and they're as appalled as I am,
which is heartening, right, I mean that is heartening. So
I do think that it's kind of open the eyes
to a lot of people who just kind of don't
pay attention and kind of dial in right before an election,

(01:24:01):
and I'm hoping that they engage on a more significant
level to say that this is not okay. I do
want to ask you about what happened at the end
of this last legislative session with the situation with Ryan
Armagosh sharing an unflattering photo of a horrible outfit.

Speaker 5 (01:24:16):
I'm just going to say it on the floor.

Speaker 3 (01:24:20):
And you got sucked into this somehow, And when I
heard about it, I was like, Hell, that does not
sound like the Rose that I know. Can you give
me your version of events there?

Speaker 10 (01:24:31):
Yeah, I'll give you kind of the cliff notes version.

Speaker 9 (01:24:35):
The day that picture was taken and I wasn't even
at the legislature, I hardly ever ever miss a day,
but I had something that I could not get out
of and wasn't at the legislature that day. And then
when I found out about it, the Majority had asked,
you know, can we find out who who? Originally it
wasn't even who took the picture as much as who

(01:24:56):
posted it on the internet, which was kind of where
my focus was. But I didn't figure out who posted it,
but I knew that Rep. Armagoust had taken it. I
had told the Majority leader.

Speaker 10 (01:25:08):
And then there was no follow up. Normally I get
called into.

Speaker 9 (01:25:13):
The Speaker's office numerous times in a day generally or
within a week about something my members have said or
done that has offended another member.

Speaker 10 (01:25:22):
And then nobody asked me about it at all.

Speaker 9 (01:25:25):
And so as far as I was concerned, the matter
was over and we went on and this is you know,
middle of April, and then you know, right before the
special session, this article was coming out about this picture
and threats that this representative had received and all because
of this picture. And you know, I said then and
I will continue to say, I mean, I don't agree

(01:25:47):
with with the way that Rep. Armagaust had gone about
that he and I had had that conversation, but you know,
this representative is a public person in a public place,
also on the Colorado chain.

Speaker 10 (01:26:00):
So like the whole thing was a little bit odd
to me.

Speaker 9 (01:26:02):
But then somehow, you know, the majority was questioning my
integrity publicly lying about the information I had given, and
then basically was trying to paint this narrative that I
don't care about women, which was really difficult for me

(01:26:24):
because Mandy, as you said, like you know me, it's
not of those who know everything I have done my legislation.
Everything I have done is to protect women and children,
and so to have that narrative on me was incredibly difficult.
To have my character and integrity question was incredibly difficult.
And it was bad enough they were doing it in
the press, but then to do it on the house
floor on the Colorado Channel, like for posterity was a

(01:26:49):
bridge too far for me, And so then I had
to defend myself.

Speaker 10 (01:26:52):
And I feel like I did it. You know, even
the press, I think.

Speaker 9 (01:26:57):
Reported it really accurately, but I was able to uncover
that the majority had had the footage just a couple.

Speaker 10 (01:27:04):
Of days after that they had basically lied about it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:06):
And so were really were they trying to suck, like
try and get you to create some cover up by
coming to you later and asking you for help, even
though they already knew the whole story.

Speaker 4 (01:27:18):
What was that?

Speaker 9 (01:27:20):
So on the timing, I don't They didn't know on
that first day, so they they thought, well I told them,
But even regardless, they got the footage later that next week,
So so they did pull the footage, but they had
lied about when and how they were presenting that information.

Speaker 10 (01:27:39):
So it was it was really disheartening. I'm not a liar,
I don't.

Speaker 9 (01:27:44):
I don't enjoy being called a liar and you know,
when you make a mistake, you just own it and
move on, And instead they created this controversy that that didn't.

Speaker 10 (01:27:52):
Exist, and I think that was just a real, a
real shame for.

Speaker 9 (01:27:57):
The institution that you know, like I said, I grew
up in politics admiring.

Speaker 3 (01:28:03):
The entire situation. Seems that there is a concerted effort
to I'm trying to think of a way to say
this without being offensive to other people that are in
the House of Representatives. You know, Colorado Republicans have a
little bit of a brand issue because of some of
the inflammatory statements and information that have come out of

(01:28:24):
the party, and it's almost like they're going after a
normal Republican in order to well, we're going to get
rid of Rose so we can now focus on like
the people that are that are more on the fringe.
Do you understand what I'm saying without Again, I don't
want to insult anyone that's in the legislature, but there
are people that are way far to the right, and

(01:28:45):
just like there are people that are way far to
the left, and when they're going after people like you
that are there trying to be reasonable and work on
compromise and do the things that I've watched you do
that seems like a concerted effort to go after someone
that is inconvenient because of your reasonableness.

Speaker 10 (01:29:03):
Yeah, you know, I don't know.

Speaker 9 (01:29:05):
A friend of mine said the other day, You're never
going to really understand the motivation. But it's all politics, right,
and it's really unfortunate for the institution. I think, you know,
I am leaving the House in a better place than
when I found it. We've got a really strong caucus.
I'm excited to see what they do next.

Speaker 10 (01:29:22):
But my leadership will be very different than whoever comes
in next, just because we're different people, right, And I
think I have heard from from.

Speaker 9 (01:29:31):
Both sides that it will be a very different legislature
at this next session.

Speaker 5 (01:29:35):
Do you want to weigh in at all on the
next leadership? Are you out?

Speaker 3 (01:29:40):
So?

Speaker 9 (01:29:41):
I've gotten some calls, and I keep telling people I
have no vote. I'm not a member of this caucus anymore.
They need to do whatever they think is best for
moving the caucus forward. For me, it's all about fundraising
as much as the internal operations.

Speaker 10 (01:29:57):
Really, you know, I was very blessed to be able to.

Speaker 9 (01:30:00):
Beat fundraising records when I took over as minority leader.
We broke the super majority. We won back three seats.
We need to keep those three seats so we don't
go back into the super minority. And you know, and
I have said I am, I am not out of
the fight. I'm just going to fight differently, and I
think it's really important that we invest our time, talent,

(01:30:21):
and treasure in the House and make sure that it
continues to advance.

Speaker 6 (01:30:26):
Rose.

Speaker 3 (01:30:26):
I just got this text that says I am a
constituent in Colorado Springs and had occasion to email her
a few times. She was always prompt, polite and professional
and responding and clearly overwhelmed that somebody said, three jobs.
How did you juggle all that? Well, it's what moms do,
It's what we do. Rose. I hope this is not

(01:30:48):
the last time you and I crat for sure, because
I'm going to miss you. I think you provided a
wonderful measure of balance and thoughtfulness that is lacking in
our politics today, and I hope that the next leader
can at least pick up that mantle and move forward
and continue the work that you started. I totally understand
why you did what you did, but I'm going to

(01:31:08):
miss you.

Speaker 9 (01:31:09):
Ah, well, I'm going to miss you too, and I
really I'm so grateful to the people of House District
fourteen for continuing to elect me. I know there's a
lot of disappointed people, but you know, I'm I'm putting
my family first and I think it's really important.

Speaker 10 (01:31:24):
Right now.

Speaker 3 (01:31:25):
I agree with that. Rose, Thanks so much for your time,
and not since your time on the show, but for
all of your time dedicated to making Colorado.

Speaker 5 (01:31:32):
A better place to be.

Speaker 10 (01:31:34):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (01:31:35):
Thank you, Thanks Rose. That's Rose Puglisi.

Speaker 3 (01:31:38):
Former House Minority leader Nick Ferguson has walked in the studio.
What does your shirt say? What does your shirt say? Oh,
it's a Lucky brand shirt.

Speaker 1 (01:31:47):
What is that?

Speaker 3 (01:31:48):
What is that crawfish? Is that a crawfish on your shirt?

Speaker 7 (01:31:52):
It is crawfish.

Speaker 3 (01:31:54):
You don't see that every day here? No, you don't, Louisiana.
You do well what you doing. By the way, I
was rooting for you Georgia Tech team this weekend. I
will continue to do that as long as they are
not playing Florida State University.

Speaker 5 (01:32:05):
Okay, well, at some point they're going to play one
another's I.

Speaker 3 (01:32:08):
Know, and then I'm gonna root so hard against him.
You're gonna hear it at your house. I mean, I'm
just letting you know. I always out a soft spot
for Georgia Tech, and I don't know why my dad Actually, so,
my dad never graduated from high school because he was
selected by the Kennedy administration to go straight to college
when he was sixteen because he was considered to be
a They needed more engineers and stuff like that. So

(01:32:29):
imagine unleashing a bunch of sixteen year old boys at college.
Did not go well, Yeah, did not go well, but
he was trying to get into Georgia Tech. Blah blah blah.
So I don't know, I have this affinity for Georgia Tech.
So we cheered for them this past week.

Speaker 4 (01:32:42):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:32:42):
Yeah, that's a hell of a story, man.

Speaker 2 (01:32:45):
You should be really.

Speaker 4 (01:32:46):
Proud of that.

Speaker 3 (01:32:47):
Well, we always joked that my father's the only attorney
high school dropout that you were going to meet, and
he was.

Speaker 5 (01:32:54):
Not exactly that way. But but here on occasion, there
you have it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:57):
Can I ask you a question as a black man
as you are black? Earlier in the show, we were
talking about I have a video on the blog today
about Charlie Kirk. But I'm trying to show people why
Charlie Kirk was dangerous. It's a long exchange between Charlie
Kirk and a young African American man at Texas A
and M University, and there's two things that jumped out
at me.

Speaker 5 (01:33:17):
One, this young man is so invested in the notion
that he is a victim that even though.

Speaker 3 (01:33:24):
He's a college student at Texas A and M University
and he has the opportunity to go forward and do anything,
he is so invested in the notion that whatever he does,
it's you know, it's not enough, it's going to be wrong.

Speaker 5 (01:33:36):
I think that's terrible.

Speaker 3 (01:33:37):
But then Charlie Kirk goes in and starts talking about
fathers in the household and things of that nature in
the black community that have had a huge negative impact,
the fact that men are not in the household with
their kids. Well, it's very true exactly. And I went
on to say, look, there is a culture of violence.
Violence is glorified by black culture in a way that

(01:33:58):
it is not necessarily like made in the same way.

Speaker 5 (01:34:03):
In white culture.

Speaker 3 (01:34:03):
Yeah, we got pockets of idiots the same horrible music
about killing people. But rap music, especially back when it started.
Especially I've seen NWA and concert when I was the
only white person in the bar.

Speaker 2 (01:34:14):
I'm not even that's wild.

Speaker 3 (01:34:16):
It's true though, I mean, because I just love the music,
but the glorification there. And I got an email saying
this is so racist. It's not racist to have a
conversation about things that might be idolized that are not helpful.

Speaker 2 (01:34:28):
Okay, okay, Mandy.

Speaker 11 (01:34:30):
Everything is called racist when you start putting it in
that perspective, talking about it in that particular way.

Speaker 5 (01:34:37):
If I talk about it, it's not if someone that
looks like you, they do then is.

Speaker 11 (01:34:42):
Perceived as being racist, even though the information might be true. Right,
And I know this being African American man growing up
in any city there and being in that hut system
with food stamps and all that, and the idea is
that my mom couldn't have a man in the household.

Speaker 4 (01:35:00):
Right.

Speaker 11 (01:35:01):
There are people and I told my son this last night,
there are people who would come to our home, our
project home, and they would search and they're searching even
in the drawers to make sure that there are no
man belongings in the drawers. Because to me, that was
the first part of breaking the African American family.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
That's what I said, that the welfare system has destroyed
the black family the way our society is now.

Speaker 2 (01:35:25):
You can't say that even though it's true.

Speaker 3 (01:35:28):
If I said, it's like, yeah, he's black, so no.

Speaker 5 (01:35:31):
But I can tell you it is freaking true.

Speaker 11 (01:35:33):
The moment you take the father of the household, it
changes everything.

Speaker 3 (01:35:37):
We're gonna have a longer conversation about this. I actually
just invited a guy who was texting me. I'm like, please,
let's come on in the show. We're gonna get Steven here,
We'll get Nick in here. It'll be black guys on
the Bandy Collins Show all day long. But now we
gotta do a state version of the most exciting segment
on the radio, Honest Guide.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
The World versions the longest.

Speaker 5 (01:36:03):
Here he goes, what is our dad joke of the day?

Speaker 6 (01:36:05):
Playing last night, I had a horrifying dream that disco
was actually making a comeback.

Speaker 2 (01:36:10):
At first, I was afraid. I was petrified.

Speaker 5 (01:36:13):
Stop what is our work?

Speaker 11 (01:36:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:36:16):
It is a verb gleam, gleam gleam.

Speaker 5 (01:36:20):
Yeah, means to shine, doesn't it? To shine brightly?

Speaker 6 (01:36:23):
Like spark time, specifically to send out a flash or
a beam of light.

Speaker 5 (01:36:28):
There you go toothpaste? Do you remember the toothpaste?

Speaker 4 (01:36:32):
Gleam?

Speaker 5 (01:36:32):
It was like a whitening toothpaste. Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
Who wrote the nineteen fifty nine play A Raisin in
the Sun, which explores the lives of black family living
in Chicago in nineteen forty. I know, Oh no, I
thought I knew this and I didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:36:44):
Do you know?

Speaker 2 (01:36:44):
Nope?

Speaker 3 (01:36:45):
It's a good show, Lorraine Hansbury. It was the first
drama by a black woman. They staged on Broadway.

Speaker 6 (01:36:50):
It's a very good shown speed brown cliches.

Speaker 5 (01:36:54):
Okay, let's do it.

Speaker 6 (01:36:55):
Take a chance on something risky and you throw caution
to what is the wind?

Speaker 4 (01:36:59):
Correct? Your plan?

Speaker 2 (01:37:01):
Your plan sounds great, but how exactly will it work?

Speaker 3 (01:37:03):
After all?

Speaker 2 (01:37:04):
The devil is here?

Speaker 5 (01:37:05):
What's in the details?

Speaker 2 (01:37:06):
Correct?

Speaker 6 (01:37:07):
Get out of here refers to a sometimes lawless cattle
city founded in eighteen seventyeen Dodge. Thomas Campbell rhymed up
a cliche when he wrote My Winged Hour, So bliss
have been like Angel visits few and blank man between
correct to mean it looks shady. People say these are bad.

(01:37:31):
It can also mean the science of light blank are bad?
Science of light science of light. Wait, nope, right out
of time. Tay you what is the optics? Oh Andy,
since we were scary we were doing this.

Speaker 3 (01:37:47):
Yeah, oh you just.

Speaker 2 (01:37:49):
Say anything. Yeah, I just wanted to.

Speaker 3 (01:37:53):
You know, when Steve is coming, and I'm dead serious,
we're gonna have a conversation.

Speaker 4 (01:37:56):
We'll be back.

Speaker 5 (01:37:57):
We've got KA Sports coming up next