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<v Speaker 1>Kathleen Chandler's class that is coming up at the Independence Institute.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not at the Independence Institute. It is a zoom class,

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<v Speaker 1>to be clear. So you could sit in your jammi's

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<v Speaker 1>at home and take this wonderful class about how to

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<v Speaker 1>get involved as a citizen. It's part of their Citizen

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<v Speaker 1>Involvement project, and Kathleen is here to talk about it.

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<v Speaker 1>First of all, Kathleen, how did you dip your toe

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<v Speaker 1>in the first time? Like what brought you to be

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<v Speaker 1>the civic involved minded person that you are now?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, at age eighteen, I got involved in my first

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<v Speaker 2>campaign in Colorado Springs. Back in the day. Someone was

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<v Speaker 2>running for mayor and I thought, Mayor, I can help

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<v Speaker 2>with that, and so I got involved with her campaign.

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<v Speaker 2>And ever since then, I've just been keeping my self

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<v Speaker 2>abreast of what's happening in my community. I got a

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<v Speaker 2>degree in political science. I'm a Colorado native, like, I

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<v Speaker 2>want my state to be good. I want my state

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<v Speaker 2>to be what did they say, Colorado again? Yeah, make

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<v Speaker 2>Colorado Colorado again. And so over time, John Caldera about

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<v Speaker 2>eight years ago now sat down and said, hey, we

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<v Speaker 2>want to try to figure out how to start taking

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<v Speaker 2>back Colorado one little bit at a time, because we

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<v Speaker 2>didn't get here overnight, and we're not going to get

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<v Speaker 2>out of this overnight. So we set out a strategy

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<v Speaker 2>of trying to help people understand that they are the

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<v Speaker 2>actual reason and way to stop the overreach of government.

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<v Speaker 2>And so I came up with a way to kind

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<v Speaker 2>of infiltrate these boards and commissions and help people to

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<v Speaker 2>understand that they can actually have an effect on government

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<v Speaker 2>without being elected. And I've been placing people and strategically

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<v Speaker 2>around the state in you know, in very specific places,

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<v Speaker 2>with the hopes that maybe one of them would be

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<v Speaker 2>lit on fire and decide to run for office, because

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<v Speaker 2>not everybody should, not everybody can run for office. And

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<v Speaker 2>in the end, it's not really the be all and

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<v Speaker 2>all be all. It's about cultural change. And so what

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<v Speaker 2>we really want to do is have a cultural change

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<v Speaker 2>of citizenship is really important, and running for office happens

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<v Speaker 2>to be an outgrowth of that citizenship. But it's really

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<v Speaker 2>about just realizing, you me, all of us really need

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<v Speaker 2>to be good citizens and be involved.

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<v Speaker 1>You know what's funny is that when citizens do show up,

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<v Speaker 1>it has a powerful effect on what happens. We just

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<v Speaker 1>saw this happen in Littleton where there was zoning changes

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<v Speaker 1>that were going to be put through and the citizens

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<v Speaker 1>showed up in force. And now they've tabled to measure indefinitely,

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<v Speaker 1>and it really had looked like it was going to

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<v Speaker 1>coast a passage, no problem. So what you're doing is

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<v Speaker 1>critically important, especially in an era where I feel like

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<v Speaker 1>there are in the metro area a variety of different

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<v Speaker 1>levels of government that are really working double hard to

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<v Speaker 1>obfuscate everything. They're doing, the legislature exempting themselves from certain

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<v Speaker 1>aspects of KORA, you know, the school boards creating policies

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<v Speaker 1>to be between parents and their children. So we need

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<v Speaker 1>people to be paying attention. We need people to be

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<v Speaker 1>pushing back and be engaged. So what can people expect

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<v Speaker 1>from this class? How long does it last? Give me

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<v Speaker 1>all the details first?

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<v Speaker 2>Sure, Well the details are. It's going to be held

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<v Speaker 2>on Tuesday, January fourteenth at six thirty pm. As you mentioned,

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<v Speaker 2>it is by zoom. There's a link on our website.

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<v Speaker 2>Go to thinkfreedom dot org. Think Freedom dot org and

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<v Speaker 2>at the very top there's a little thing for the

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<v Speaker 2>Citizen Involvement Project and there's a how to register for

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<v Speaker 2>the class. There is a ten dollars fee that'll give

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<v Speaker 2>you the link to the class. It just helps us

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<v Speaker 2>to kind of keep track of who's in the class

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<v Speaker 2>so that I can do some follow up. But this

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<v Speaker 2>is an opportunity for a couple of hours for you

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<v Speaker 2>to get step one. Like what do I do? I

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<v Speaker 2>find most people just don't realize what step one is.

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<v Speaker 2>They want to do step five. But I'm going to

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<v Speaker 2>help you get to step one. And if you can

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<v Speaker 2>get to step one, and I'll coach you in two

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<v Speaker 2>and three and four. And if you want to get

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<v Speaker 2>step five and run for office, fantastic, I will be

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<v Speaker 2>happy to help you there too. But the point is,

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<v Speaker 2>we need good people on the Water Commission, the Citizen

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<v Speaker 2>Advisory Commission, the Fair Commission. We need good people on

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<v Speaker 2>all levels of government in all areas helping advise so

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<v Speaker 2>that the best happens for the most people.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, Kathleen, one of the things you don't talk

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<v Speaker 1>about is actual like partisan politics.

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<v Speaker 2>Here.

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<v Speaker 1>I noticed there's not any mention of that.

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<v Speaker 2>No, we really aren't about partisanship, right. This is about freedom.

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<v Speaker 2>This is about the best ideas for the most and

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<v Speaker 2>that obviously means that some people are inadvertently left behind.

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<v Speaker 2>But that's where we believe charity picks up a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of that. But once we let government in, we are

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<v Speaker 2>less charitable. So our idea here is government needs to

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<v Speaker 2>be small so that charity and people are big. So

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<v Speaker 2>if we can get good people in there that always

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<v Speaker 2>are asking is this the role of government? Should government

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<v Speaker 2>be doing this or that? Then it allows people to go,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, maybe government shouldn't do that. Maybe government can

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<v Speaker 2>do this and do this well, but the rest should

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<v Speaker 2>be left up to charity. And that's not a right

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<v Speaker 2>or left issue. It's not a blue or red. It's

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<v Speaker 2>an issue that makes people good at heart and allows

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<v Speaker 2>people to flourish in their God given capacity.

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<v Speaker 1>So when do people have to sign up by to

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<v Speaker 1>do this? January fourteen zoom call.

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<v Speaker 2>It is unlimited number of people. It's a statewide obviously

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<v Speaker 2>even nationwide. I have people that have attended from California.

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<v Speaker 2>Because of the format, zoom is available for all, so

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<v Speaker 2>there's really no sign up time. I usually cut it

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<v Speaker 2>up about three o'clock on Tuesday, just because I want

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<v Speaker 2>to get a roster together. But you're more than welcome

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<v Speaker 2>to sign up as late as the link is available

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<v Speaker 2>on the website till about three o'clock on Tuesday, January fourteenth,

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<v Speaker 2>and the classes at six point thirty that evening. I'd

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<v Speaker 2>love to have you attend just so that you can

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<v Speaker 2>see why should I be involved? How do I get involved?

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<v Speaker 2>Kind of the nuts and the bolts and the why.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I think it's the one way to put it,

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<v Speaker 1>says like if you're involvement curious, like you're not ready

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<v Speaker 1>to take the leap, you think maybe there's some issues

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<v Speaker 1>that you might want to engage it the do the

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<v Speaker 1>class because it's it's not very much time. It's it's

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<v Speaker 1>a measly ten bucks, which at this point is you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a cup of coffee at the rate we're going. But

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<v Speaker 1>do the class and at least then you'll have a

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<v Speaker 1>clear picture. Because the reason I'm encouraging that, Kathleen is

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<v Speaker 1>twofold one. I think that people don't realize that there

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<v Speaker 1>are things you can do without a ton of effort,

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<v Speaker 1>okay without without a you don't have to like commit

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<v Speaker 1>forty hours a week right away. There's there's ways to

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<v Speaker 1>make a difference that are kind of low barrier, and

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<v Speaker 1>I want people to know about that. To do what

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<v Speaker 1>you can do you know, maybe you're never going to

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<v Speaker 1>run for office? Yeah, exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>Isn't your freedom worth two hours a month or four

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<v Speaker 2>hours every couple of weeks? I mean I look at

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<v Speaker 2>it that way. Yes, I'm not going to run for office.

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<v Speaker 2>I may, I may not. But isn't my freedom worth

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<v Speaker 2>sitting in and listening to a meeting? We don't have

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<v Speaker 2>enough reporters, local reports, hyper local stuff, and so when

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<v Speaker 2>you hear something weird going on, nobody knows about it.

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<v Speaker 2>So why don't you know about it and then be

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<v Speaker 2>nosy if you want? Put it on next door, but

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<v Speaker 2>at least have an opportunity instead of waiting until it

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<v Speaker 2>becomes a problem. I guess that's when people tend to

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<v Speaker 2>get involved.

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<v Speaker 1>Yep, I just got this text message. I took this

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<v Speaker 1>class last year, even though I didn't put it to

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<v Speaker 1>work as much as I had hoped. This year, I

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<v Speaker 1>got step one covered and know what to expect and

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<v Speaker 1>look for when I get my kids into school and

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<v Speaker 1>I have a little more time.

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<v Speaker 2>Great class, excellent, Yay, Okay, success story. See that's it.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, I think just educating citizens on what their

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<v Speaker 2>responsibility is. I mean, because we cannot have a civil

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<v Speaker 2>society without the citizen being involved and holding accountable each

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<v Speaker 2>other and the elected officials. Right, thank you for attending

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<v Speaker 2>my class. Tell your neighbors.

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<v Speaker 1>Kathleen Chandler is wonderful. She's doing a great job at II,

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<v Speaker 1>and we'll be doing a great job on the RTD board.

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<v Speaker 1>Newly elected rt D Board member. So the class is

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<v Speaker 1>January fourteenth, Kathleen, thank you for making time for us

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<v Speaker 1>to talk about it today.

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<v Speaker 2>Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

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<v Speaker 1>Mandy all right, that is Kathleen Chandler from the Independence Institute.