Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Our expert on all transgender rodents, John Caldera, President of
the Independence Institute.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hi, John, why are you such a hater?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
All right, we're not gonna talk about transgender my soul.
I will tell listeners I do have more to add
to the transgender myce story.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's really stupid. We live in a really stupid world
right now. But when I have.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
John on four and we got about six minutes or
start to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This stuff John's involved with.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
There may be more than two, but two that I'm
thinking about right now potential ballot measures for Colorado. One
is about transparency. We'll talk about that, and one is
what's the other one? The other one is oh right,
right to work? Yeah, and so we're gonna talk about
We're gonna talk about all that. Let's let's start with
the transparency one. I saw a piece over at the
(00:47):
Colorado Son.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Why don't you just.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Jump in and tell us what this potential ballot measures about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
First of all, it's transparency, not trans mice. The both
of these initiatives have one hundred percent to do with
the overreach of our current legislature. Last year, if you recall,
the legislature exempted themselves from the open meetings law, which
I've in my thirty five years of political work, I've
(01:16):
never seen something so arrogant. There are five thousand governments
in Colorado, and the legislature said, yeah, but this rule
doesn't count to us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
In the very next few.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Weeks later, they had their special session on property taxes,
and they use this newfound power of secrecy to do
backroom deals and we didn't see what was going on
until they voted on it. So last year we looked
at a we looked at a bill to or an
initiative simply.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To remove that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We did some polling on it and said, yeah, this
would pass pretty comfortably. But I thought, why in the
world are we spending all this energy just to get
back to normal. When the legislate does these private meetings,
they charge so much for getting our records. Every government
in Colorado seems to have a different set of rules
(02:10):
on how you can ask for open records, what it costs,
what the timeline is. And so we started bringing around
a bunch of groups that usually hate us, and they
all have the same response, which is this is getting crazy.
So we bring together this coalition that includes the Press Association,
the broadcasters, the League of Women Voters, the Colorado Times Recorder,
(02:35):
which is a progressive news organization, and more and more
of these groups on left, right and middle. And we're
working on bringing forward a constitutional amendment next year to
address the privacy and lack of transparency we're.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Getting throughout the entire state.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
That is, to have basic rules that every government has
to operate by, all right, And what.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Are the chances that that'll be on the ballot at
this point or is it too hard to predict at
this point?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Too hard to predict? But I think, really, really good.
I've never seen a coalition like this. Listen when the
League of Women Voters and John Caldera are sitting together
working on something, you ought to pay attention.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
This is a bizarre coalition.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And the issue here is that the legislature is getting
more and more arrogant.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
More and more.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Local governments are looking to excuse themselves from open meetings,
and government doesn't work unless we get to see it.
And if they didn't close up government, if they weren't
so secretive. And by the way, Senator Pelton has a
bill up next Monday afternoon, and it's basically what we
(03:44):
would like to see.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
On an initiative.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Of course, they sent it to the Kill Committee, and
I'm sure it'll die, but these are changes the legislature
could make themselves if they wanted to be more open.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
All right, let's switch gears.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
We got about two minutes, and I care really a
lot about this next one, and this is about making
Colorado a right to work state. Colorado is in a
very strange position right now. We're not exactly a fully
you know, you can easily unionize and make everybody pay
dues to have a job, but we're not a right
to work state either.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
We have this thing called the Labor.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Peace Act and Democrats are trying to go after it
right now.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So tell us what we need to know.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Forty years we've had this daytons between labor and business owners, and.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It's a Labor Peace Act. It's not as good as
right to work.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I'll call it protecting workers' rights, but it's lasted, and
now the legislature wants to get rid of this and
force workers to support organizations they may or may not
agree with, namely the union. And so we've always said, no,
we're not going to run a right to work initiative
because we have this Labor Peace Act. I'm not going
to be the first one to draw blood. But since
(04:55):
the unions are doing this, out of state unions are
doing this, and it's likely to pass.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I hope the governor vetos it.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I hope it doesn't pass, but we stand ready to
put forward a bill to protect workers' rights to associate
with those organizations they wish, and more importantly, not to
associate with organizations they don't want. Nobody should be forced
to give political money to an organization they don't agree with,
(05:23):
and the Colorado Legislature is about to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I find it really really ugly. Okay, So if they do,
you'll see it on the ballot. Okay. So I want
to just follow up on that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I bet that Jared Polus will veto this thing also too,
But I have no confidence that the next Democrat would
veto the same thing. And there's there's an i'll say
a ninety percent chance that our next governor will be
a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
That might be a little low, and I'm not that low, right,
So ninety eight percent, yeah, okay?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So, and I don't know, there's there's a bunch of
candidates in I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Who else is going to get in.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I don't don't know if the next Democrat would veto
this thing. So if Jared Polus vetos it, or might
you try to run it anyway?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I haven't decided yet, And it depends on a lot
of issues. Getting a constitutional amendment across the finish line
is an expensive lift. But I tell you what, if
they're going to try to trample on workers' rights to
decide who they associate with you, we are definitely going
going to go forward with this. If the governor vetos this,
(06:32):
we'll have to take a closer look on whether we
want to do this now or do we want to
wait and see if the next legislature gets a little wiser.
It's another thing when a company looks on relocating, one
of the first things they look at is is it
a right to work state? Is the tax policy good?
Is housing costs low? Do they have good infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Good roads? And on all these measure Colorado just stinks yea, Or.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
At least if it doesn't stink, at least it's going
the wrong way on every single one of those things.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's going the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And forcing people to join the union would be the
death nail of Colorado's economy. Can only think, Okay, I
think that would be worse would be a progressive income tax, right.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And they want to do that too, although I don't
think they're pushing for it this year. I could have
missed it. If they are, but I haven't seen. I
think next year they're gonna be. Yeah, maybe next year.
All right, give me a very quick answer on this.
If Jared Poula says to you, John, I guarantee you
I will veto the bill. If you guarantee me that
you won't run the ballot measure, what would you say.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I would say, two seconds after you veto it, I'll
yank it.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
All right, John.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Keldre are, President of the Independence Institute.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We're gonna keep in touch on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
All this stuff, and please let me know if you're
running any other ballot measures as well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
We'll do and check out thinkfreedom dot org if you
want to keep an eye on what we're doing, that's
thinkfreedom dot org. And uh, let me get back to
my transmice. Thinkfreedom dot org people. Thanks John,
Our expert on all transgender rodents, John Caldera, President of
the Independence Institute.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hi, John, why are you such a hater?
Speaker 1 (00:12):
All right, we're not gonna talk about transgender my soul.
I will tell listeners I do have more to add
to the transgender myce story.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's really stupid. We live in a really stupid world
right now. But when I have.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
John on four and we got about six minutes or
start to talk about.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This stuff John's involved with.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
There may be more than two, but two that I'm
thinking about right now potential ballot measures for Colorado. One
is about transparency. We'll talk about that, and one is
what's the other one? The other one is oh right,
right to work? Yeah, and so we're gonna talk about
We're gonna talk about all that. Let's let's start with
the transparency one. I saw a piece over at the
(00:47):
Colorado Son.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Why don't you just.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Jump in and tell us what this potential ballot measures about.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
First of all, it's transparency, not trans mice. The both
of these initiatives have one hundred percent to do with
the overreach of our current legislature. Last year, if you recall,
the legislature exempted themselves from the open meetings law, which
I've in my thirty five years of political work, I've
(01:16):
never seen something so arrogant. There are five thousand governments
in Colorado, and the legislature said, yeah, but this rule
doesn't count to us.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
In the very next few.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Weeks later, they had their special session on property taxes,
and they use this newfound power of secrecy to do
backroom deals and we didn't see what was going on
until they voted on it. So last year we looked
at a we looked at a bill to or an
initiative simply.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
To remove that.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
We did some polling on it and said, yeah, this
would pass pretty comfortably. But I thought, why in the
world are we spending all this energy just to get
back to normal. When the legislate does these private meetings,
they charge so much for getting our records. Every government
in Colorado seems to have a different set of rules
(02:10):
on how you can ask for open records, what it costs,
what the timeline is. And so we started bringing around
a bunch of groups that usually hate us, and they
all have the same response, which is this is getting crazy.
So we bring together this coalition that includes the Press Association,
the broadcasters, the League of Women Voters, the Colorado Times Recorder,
(02:35):
which is a progressive news organization, and more and more
of these groups on left, right and middle. And we're
working on bringing forward a constitutional amendment next year to
address the privacy and lack of transparency we're.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Getting throughout the entire state.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
That is, to have basic rules that every government has
to operate by, all right, And what.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Are the chances that that'll be on the ballot at
this point or is it too hard to predict at
this point?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Too hard to predict? But I think, really, really good.
I've never seen a coalition like this. Listen when the
League of Women Voters and John Caldera are sitting together
working on something, you ought to pay attention.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
This is a bizarre coalition.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
And the issue here is that the legislature is getting
more and more arrogant.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
More and more.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Local governments are looking to excuse themselves from open meetings,
and government doesn't work unless we get to see it.
And if they didn't close up government, if they weren't
so secretive. And by the way, Senator Pelton has a
bill up next Monday afternoon, and it's basically what we
(03:44):
would like to see.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
On an initiative.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Of course, they sent it to the Kill Committee, and
I'm sure it'll die, but these are changes the legislature
could make themselves if they wanted to be more open.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
All right, let's switch gears.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
We got about two minutes, and I care really a
lot about this next one, and this is about making
Colorado a right to work state. Colorado is in a
very strange position right now. We're not exactly a fully
you know, you can easily unionize and make everybody pay
dues to have a job, but we're not a right
to work state either.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
We have this thing called the Labor.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Peace Act and Democrats are trying to go after it
right now.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
So tell us what we need to know.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
Forty years we've had this daytons between labor and business owners, and.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
It's a Labor Peace Act. It's not as good as
right to work.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
I'll call it protecting workers' rights, but it's lasted, and
now the legislature wants to get rid of this and
force workers to support organizations they may or may not
agree with, namely the union. And so we've always said, no,
we're not going to run a right to work initiative
because we have this Labor Peace Act. I'm not going
to be the first one to draw blood. But since
(04:55):
the unions are doing this, out of state unions are
doing this, and it's likely to pass.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I hope the governor vetos it.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I hope it doesn't pass, but we stand ready to
put forward a bill to protect workers' rights to associate
with those organizations they wish, and more importantly, not to
associate with organizations they don't want. Nobody should be forced
to give political money to an organization they don't agree with,
(05:23):
and the Colorado Legislature is about to make that happen.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
I find it really really ugly. Okay, So if they do,
you'll see it on the ballot. Okay. So I want
to just follow up on that.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I bet that Jared Polus will veto this thing also too,
But I have no confidence that the next Democrat would
veto the same thing. And there's there's an i'll say
a ninety percent chance that our next governor will be
a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
That might be a little low, and I'm not that low, right,
So ninety eight percent, yeah, okay?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So, and I don't know, there's there's a bunch of
candidates in I don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Who else is going to get in.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I don't don't know if the next Democrat would veto
this thing. So if Jared Polus vetos it, or might
you try to run it anyway?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
I haven't decided yet, And it depends on a lot
of issues. Getting a constitutional amendment across the finish line
is an expensive lift. But I tell you what, if
they're going to try to trample on workers' rights to
decide who they associate with you, we are definitely going
going to go forward with this. If the governor vetos this,
(06:32):
we'll have to take a closer look on whether we
want to do this now or do we want to
wait and see if the next legislature gets a little wiser.
It's another thing when a company looks on relocating, one
of the first things they look at is is it
a right to work state? Is the tax policy good?
Is housing costs low? Do they have good infrastructure.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Good roads? And on all these measure Colorado just stinks yea, Or.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
At least if it doesn't stink, at least it's going
the wrong way on every single one of those things.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
It's going the wrong way.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
And forcing people to join the union would be the
death nail of Colorado's economy. Can only think, Okay, I
think that would be worse would be a progressive income tax, right.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
And they want to do that too, although I don't
think they're pushing for it this year. I could have
missed it. If they are, but I haven't seen. I
think next year they're gonna be. Yeah, maybe next year.
All right, give me a very quick answer on this.
If Jared Poula says to you, John, I guarantee you
I will veto the bill. If you guarantee me that
you won't run the ballot measure, what would you say.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I would say, two seconds after you veto it, I'll
yank it.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
All right, John.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Keldre are, President of the Independence Institute.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
We're gonna keep in touch on.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
All this stuff, and please let me know if you're
running any other ballot measures as well.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
We'll do and check out thinkfreedom dot org if you
want to keep an eye on what we're doing, that's
thinkfreedom dot org. And uh, let me get back to
my transmice. Thinkfreedom dot org people. Thanks John,
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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