Speaker 1: This is Dan Caples and welcome to today's online podcast
Speaker 1: edition of The Dan Caplis Show. Please be sure to
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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Dane Caprick Show tonight. I'm Christy Burton Brown.
Speaker 2: Good to have you all with us.
Speaker 3: Anytime during the show, you can always call in and
Speaker 3: join the conversation eight five five or zero five eight
Speaker 3: two five five, or you can text Dan at five seven,
Speaker 3: seven three nine. Have a lot of news coming out
Speaker 3: today to talk about some very local Colorado news and
Speaker 3: then national ones as well, with the attacks in New
Speaker 3: Orleans and Las Vegas over the New Year's holiday. One
Speaker 3: of the most concerning pieces coming out of Las Vegas
Speaker 3: is that the cyber truck driver the attacker, was a
Speaker 3: Colorado resident and actually rented the cybertruck here in Colorado.
Speaker 1: He was.
Speaker 3: Additionally, he was an active duty Green Beret officer that
Speaker 3: was reported today, formerly also in the National Guard the
Speaker 3: Army Reserves, and was on leave when he attempted to
Speaker 3: set off a bomb in the Tesla's cyber truck.
Speaker 2: He actually shot himself before he.
Speaker 3: Set off the bomb, and he was the only one
Speaker 3: I believe as of right now, that died from that attack.
Speaker 3: Lots of reports out on how the cyber truck itself
Speaker 3: protected the explosion from being as bad as it otherwise
Speaker 3: could have been. Even the glass doors on the hotel
Speaker 3: that he was parked directly in front of were not
Speaker 3: broken at all because the cyber truck is designed in
Speaker 3: such a way to contain the majority of the explosion
Speaker 3: and the rest of it went up so not into
Speaker 3: most people and not into the building.
Speaker 2: So that's the good part of that.
Speaker 3: But as the FBI has continued to investigate the Las
Speaker 3: Vegas attack and the New Orleans attack that I believe
Speaker 3: as of right now has killed at least fifteen people
Speaker 3: with thirty five injured, they.
Speaker 2: Do not believe the two are connected.
Speaker 3: Did and it's very clear that the New Orleans attack
Speaker 3: came from someone who identified himself with ISIS. Whether or
Speaker 3: not he was on mission from ISIS is still being
Speaker 3: investigated by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. But
Speaker 3: he himself believed that he was doing this on behalf
Speaker 3: of ISIS, flew in ISIS flag as he plowed into
Speaker 3: the crowd in New Orleans. He also was actually, rather
Speaker 3: than being current military, he was former military, and there
Speaker 3: are people close to him say that he converted to
Speaker 3: Islam and became an isis supporter. I find this clip
Speaker 3: to be particularly interesting that I'll play for you. Jay Johnson,
Speaker 3: a former Homeland Security secretary, talked about what he would
Speaker 3: be concerned about with these terrorist attacks, specifically in New Orleans.
Speaker 3: With you.
Speaker 4: You obviously have a lot of experience with needing to
Speaker 4: safeguard major events.
Speaker 5: There's Eve on.
Speaker 4: Bourbon Street certainly one of them. And that's even before
Speaker 4: we talk about the couple football games that are coming up.
Speaker 4: What do you see yesterday that may had went wrong?
Speaker 4: Where do you see the investigation going from here?
Speaker 5: Well, if I were still in office, first and foremost,
Speaker 5: I'd be concerned about what appears to be the reality
Speaker 5: that there are terrorist accomplices still at large and one
Speaker 5: of them was willing to take his own life. That
Speaker 5: presents a real public safety security challenge in the New
Speaker 5: Orleans area. I won't second guess the situation with the Ballards.
Speaker 2: I'm going to stop him right there.
Speaker 3: When he was talking about the Ballards, He's talking about
Speaker 3: some of the barricades that New Orleans was still getting
Speaker 3: ready for I think the Sugar Bowl that was going
Speaker 3: to be played later that day, and they hadn't quite
Speaker 3: finished it, and so it was not overly difficult for
Speaker 3: the truck to drive down this street that I was
Speaker 3: supposed to be blocked off from traffic. And so that's
Speaker 3: what Jay Johnson, former Homeland Security Secretary, is saying. He's
Speaker 3: not going to question that part of what New Orleans
Speaker 3: was organizing, even though in New York, where he's from,
Speaker 3: a lot of those cities keep up permanent in barricades
Speaker 3: to block anyone from driving onto sidewalks and getting into
Speaker 3: streets that are supposed to have locked off for parades
Speaker 3: or other events. So you know, obviously that may be
Speaker 3: something that in the future, big cities they're going to
Speaker 3: have events like this need to consider in order to
Speaker 3: protect citizens who live there.
Speaker 2: But the interesting part I think of.
Speaker 3: What he was saying is that in his opinion, with
Speaker 3: all his experience in homeland security, he would consider whether
Speaker 3: or not there are still terrorist accomplices at large, with
Speaker 3: specifically New Orleans' attack due to different potential explosive devices
Speaker 3: I believe they found in other areas, and they're obviously
Speaker 3: i'd be able to question the guy who drove the
Speaker 3: truck down there because he also died and he did
Speaker 3: not take his own life like the guy did in
Speaker 3: Las Vegas and said he was shot when he attempted
Speaker 3: to shoot police officers and in several of them and
Speaker 3: then they were able to shoot him, so they won't
Speaker 3: be able.
Speaker 2: To question him.
Speaker 3: But the FBI needs to continue and do their investigation
Speaker 3: to find out if there are terrorist accomplices still at.
Speaker 2: Large in the New Orleans attack.
Speaker 3: But again the FBI is saying they don't believe there
Speaker 3: is a connection between Las Vegas and New Orleans, even
Speaker 3: though both were former or current military. I don't think
Speaker 3: there's been any details yet come out about whether the
Speaker 3: cyber truck driver was associated with ISIS or Islam or
Speaker 3: any terrorist organization, whereas that has definitely been proven in
Speaker 3: New Orleans. Here's another clip on the Las Vegas cyber
Speaker 3: attack driver, specifically since he is connected here to Colorado.
Speaker 3: A Colorado Springs resident and on active duty with the
Speaker 3: Green Beret.
Speaker 6: Hayley has confirmed in just the last few minutes that
Speaker 6: he is an active duty US Special Forces soldier assigned
Speaker 6: to tenth Special Forces Group. According to four US officials,
Speaker 6: that he holds the rank of Master serget, a senior
Speaker 6: enlisted rank.
Speaker 2: These officials said. Three officials said.
Speaker 6: He was on active duty serving in Germany and he
Speaker 6: was on leave when this happened on New Year's Day.
Speaker 6: He has not been identified publicly, and authorities are still
Speaker 6: trying to work out whether.
Speaker 2: This was a terrorist attack.
Speaker 6: Just to recap a little bit of what happened behind
Speaker 6: us just twenty four hours ago, approximately, There are still
Speaker 6: police presence here around the Valet area where you pull
Speaker 6: into the Trump International Hotel just off of the Vegas Strip.
Speaker 2: This cyber truck that he.
Speaker 6: Allegedly rented was rented from Colorado from the Truro rental platform.
Speaker 6: Authorities say that he drove it here to Las Vegas
Speaker 6: by seven thirty am on New Year's Day, that he
Speaker 6: drove up and down the strip, and then about an
Speaker 6: hour before the explosion drove past the Trump Hotel as well.
Speaker 2: And police did.
Speaker 6: Make note that the damage was really limited because of
Speaker 6: the bottom construction of this Tesla cyber truck.
Speaker 3: All right, so there's a clip on the cyber truck
Speaker 3: driver and the lack of damage that was really done
Speaker 3: to any human being and very many.
Speaker 2: Structures in that blast.
Speaker 3: Elon Musk and Tesla have been cooperating and in fact
Speaker 3: they actually helped investigators find the charging sites that the
Speaker 3: driver used so that he could be identified quickly, and
Speaker 3: one was in Monument here in Colorado. It's one of
Speaker 3: the places he charged the cyber truck before he continued
Speaker 3: on to Las Vegas. They say he rented the truck
Speaker 3: at seven thirty am that morning from Colorado and drove
Speaker 3: to Las Vegas, obviously with the plan to set off
Speaker 3: his bombs. I think he had a lot of fireworks
Speaker 3: and other explosives inside the truck. And again because the
Speaker 3: cyber truck is built so heavy duty and so in
Speaker 3: such a protective way, the blast was contained by the
Speaker 3: truck and also went up but not out, so didn't
Speaker 3: even break the glass on the hotel doors. I'm Christy
Speaker 3: Burton Brown on the Dan Kappl Show tonight. You can
Speaker 3: call in and add your thoughts to the conversation. Obviously,
Speaker 3: there's a lot of investigations still being done into the
Speaker 3: New Orleans and.
Speaker 2: Las Vegas attacks.
Speaker 3: You can call in eight five five four zero five
Speaker 3: eight two five five or text Dan to five seven
Speaker 3: seven threey nine when we come back. In the next segment,
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about the latest Democrat here in
Speaker 3: Colorado to announce his run for governor, and in fact,
Speaker 3: he's the first to do so, but he's already pulling
Speaker 3: forth well behind the front runners in the Democrat field
Speaker 3: for the governor's race in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 7: All that and more on The Dan Kapla Show. And
Speaker 7: now back to The Dan Kaplis Show Podcast Day Caplis Show.
Speaker 2: I'm Kristy Briton Brown. Thanks for tuning in.
Speaker 3: Tonight we are going to talk about the first Democrat
Speaker 3: to announce their officially announced they're running for governor here
Speaker 3: in Colorado in twenty twenty six. And if you're thinking
Speaker 3: it's much too early to start a governor's race, it's
Speaker 3: never too to run a political campaign, if you ask
Speaker 3: the politicians. But I think there's some reasons why this
Speaker 3: particular candidate is announcing so early. And it is indeed
Speaker 3: Attorney General Phil Wiser who today announced that he is
Speaker 3: actually running for governor. And I say actually running for
Speaker 3: governor because nine News Marshall Zellinger had actually asked him
Speaker 3: time and time again if he was running for governor,
Speaker 3: and in fact he wrote on Twitter that it is
Speaker 3: new ish in Marshall's size. I say new ish because
Speaker 3: it's been obvious. I asked him if he's running about
Speaker 3: a half dozen times. The most recent denial, on December sixteenth,
Speaker 3: was about his focus on Kroger Albertson's and rent collusion
Speaker 3: by landlords. Now, obviously, if you know anything about politics
Speaker 3: that I know a lot of Dan's listeners, do you
Speaker 3: know that politicians don't decide in two weeks that they're
Speaker 3: suddenly running for office. So despite his denials, which is
Speaker 3: also very common among politicians until they think it's time
Speaker 3: to announce, they know what they're doing well in advance,
Speaker 3: but like to keep people guessing. Now, what's also interesting
Speaker 3: is that there was a poll done recently, I think
Speaker 3: about a month ago in Colorado, polling which Democrat would
Speaker 3: likely win the nomination. Now, again, we're so early, this
Speaker 3: poll result isn't necessarily what's actually going to happen. But
Speaker 3: what I find interesting since phil Wiser announced today is
Speaker 3: the numbers available for him. So according to the poll,
Speaker 3: Jonah Goose, Congressman from Boulder Area, I believe yeah, Congressional
Speaker 3: District two, he was at twenty percent.
Speaker 2: Twenty percent would go with him.
Speaker 3: Jennat Griswold to everyone's not favorite secretary of State was
Speaker 3: in at sixteen percent.
Speaker 2: Ken Salazar from.
Speaker 3: A very long time ago, but still remembered by a
Speaker 3: lot of Democrats across the state. Eleven percent then came
Speaker 3: Phil Weiser at eight percent, which is the same number
Speaker 3: of those who selected other eight percent, and then thirty
Speaker 3: seven percent in the poll were undecided. The other interesting
Speaker 3: point in this poll is that Phil Weiser ranked first
Speaker 3: among those who people didn't know. People are like, I
Speaker 3: don't know who that guy is. People said that most
Speaker 3: often about Phil Wiser. So why is he announcing that
Speaker 3: he's running for governor right now, well in advance of
Speaker 3: when he needs to. I mean, you know, maybe he
Speaker 3: thinks he can clear the field. Maybe that's what he
Speaker 3: wants to do, but the reality is that he has
Speaker 3: the most work to do in order to get a
Speaker 3: nomination like this, because he has the lowest name id,
Speaker 3: people don't know who he is, and also last in
Speaker 3: the poll among Democrats. I'm going to play you a
Speaker 3: clip from Phil Wiser in just a minute. That's back
Speaker 3: from I believe twenty twenty two. At that time, I
Speaker 3: was chairman of the Colorado Republican Party and Phil Wiser
Speaker 3: was obviously running for reelection as Attorney General. John Kellner
Speaker 3: running for election on the Republican side, and so we
Speaker 3: obviously did a lot of deep dives into phil Wiser,
Speaker 3: into his comments, some scandals he's been a part of.
Speaker 2: But specifically how he deals with crime.
Speaker 3: This is one of the reasons I think he would
Speaker 3: be a terrible choice for governor in Colorado. He has
Speaker 3: not been heavy handed when it comes to crime at all.
Speaker 3: And you, according to US News and World Report, colle
Speaker 3: It is the third most dangerous state in the nation
Speaker 3: when it comes to crime. Well, back in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 3: we were number one in the nation for auto thefts.
Speaker 3: Now I think we're third or fourth for auto thefts.
Speaker 3: Not a big improvement. But here's what phil Weiser said
Speaker 3: about we should what we should do with auto thieves.
Speaker 8: After someone commits a third or fourth car theft in
Speaker 8: say three months, they should be kept in with a
Speaker 8: really high bond because you got a sense they're gonna
Speaker 8: get out, they're going to commit more crimes.
Speaker 2: Okay, now, if you listen to that. He said, after
Speaker 2: how many car thefts by the same person.
Speaker 3: Three or four at that point, according to phil Wiser,
Speaker 3: after three or four car thefts, then they should be
Speaker 3: held without a PR bond, which is a personal recognissance
Speaker 3: bond that means they can get arrested and get out
Speaker 3: immediately because they basically just say to the judge, oh, hey,
Speaker 3: I will make sure and come back, you know, for court,
Speaker 3: And that's a personal recognizance bond. Way too many criminals
Speaker 3: are getting out on those in Colorado's actually a.
Speaker 2: Huge problem right now.
Speaker 3: And I recently, in my capacity with Advanced Colorado met
Speaker 3: with some sheriffs in Colorado. We were actually talking about
Speaker 3: exactly this PR bonds and how common they are in
Speaker 3: Colorado and how many violent and repeat criminals are granted
Speaker 3: them by so many judges across the state and the
Speaker 3: law allows it, and the judges use their discretion to
Speaker 3: grant it.
Speaker 2: Well, what the sheriffs actually brought up was that auto theft.
Speaker 3: Is one of the things where PR bonds should not
Speaker 3: be granted because they are some of the most dangerous
Speaker 3: criminals in how they treat law enforcement. They are willing
Speaker 3: to just literally attempt to run them over, and they
Speaker 3: are actually quite violent, especially because they know that they
Speaker 3: get out on pr bonds, are arrested, get immediately back
Speaker 3: out on the streets, go out and steal another car
Speaker 3: the exact same day, and then they're often the ones
Speaker 3: who assault police officers who are trying to keep the
Speaker 3: community safe and get people's cars backs. My car was
Speaker 3: actually stolen that same year. I happened to have one
Speaker 3: of the common models of a car that year that
Speaker 3: was being stolen all the time. It was stolen out
Speaker 3: of parking lot right by Cherry Creek State Parking area
Speaker 3: you might think was safe, but the Greenwood Village police
Speaker 3: were actually extremely good in getting back my car that day.
Speaker 3: But they found it in a storage unit that's where
Speaker 3: the auto thieves had taken it, and they believed there
Speaker 3: was a ring that they had uncovered actually of auto
Speaker 3: thieves who were taking people's cars from outside of Aurora
Speaker 3: and then driving into Aurora, which is where this storage
Speaker 3: unit was storing the cars there, and then you know,
Speaker 3: doing whatever that if they were taking the catalytic converters or.
Speaker 2: Doing something else with the cars. But they were able
Speaker 2: to recover.
Speaker 3: Mine within a few hours, which was really really great
Speaker 3: for me. But auto theft in Colorado has just been
Speaker 3: exponentially high. And Phil Wiser, who wants to run for
Speaker 3: governor that same year in twenty twenty two, when we
Speaker 3: were a number one in the nation, said that we
Speaker 3: should go ahead and wait until auto thieves have stolen
Speaker 3: three or four cars. I notice he also said in
Speaker 3: three or four months. If they've done this in three
Speaker 3: or four months, then okay, we should make sure they
Speaker 3: have a high bond, high bail situation. What he's not realizing,
Speaker 3: in my view, this goes to demonstrating that he has
Speaker 3: no clue what's actually going on with crime in Colorado.
Speaker 3: It doesn't take out of thieves three months to steal
Speaker 3: cars three or four times. If you talk to the
Speaker 3: actual law enforcement on the ground, they are getting back
Speaker 3: out that same day and stealing another car and then
Speaker 3: going and doing it the next day, and doing it
Speaker 3: the next day. And there's these huge rings of auto
Speaker 3: thieves that absolutely should be in jail and get no pr.
Speaker 2: Bonds at all. So anyway, that's Phil Wiser for you.
Speaker 3: There's a whole lot more that we could talk about
Speaker 3: with him when it comes to fentanyl, and he does
Speaker 3: not have a hardline enough position on that to solve
Speaker 3: issues in Colorado, and a number of scandals he's been
Speaker 3: involved with as well. I don't think he's really going
Speaker 3: to do all that well in a Democrat primary. Would
Speaker 3: be curious if any of you have thoughts as well.
Speaker 3: You can call in eight five five four zero five
Speaker 3: eight two five five or text Dan to five seven
Speaker 3: seven three nine give your thoughts on who you think
Speaker 3: the Democrat.
Speaker 2: Front runners will be in the governor's race.
Speaker 3: Because now that of course everyone knows Jared Polis can't
Speaker 3: run for reelection, it is going to be a free
Speaker 3: for all for every Democrat who thinks they should be
Speaker 3: the next governor of Colorado. And Phil Wiser has certainly
Speaker 3: kicked it off in the new year by saying he's
Speaker 3: in and he's not going to be the.
Speaker 2: Only one to do it.
Speaker 3: Now. There were a lot of people who thought that
Speaker 3: Jenna Griswold, Secretary of State, was going to be a
Speaker 3: front runner for the Democrats, and I still think she's
Speaker 3: definitely going to get in the race.
Speaker 2: I think that's been clear for a very long time.
Speaker 3: But she's damaged herself a lot over this last election cycle,
Speaker 3: in particular with how her office and herself personally dealt
Speaker 3: with that leak of passwords on.
Speaker 2: The voting equipment, the voting machines.
Speaker 3: If you listen to the calls that were made public
Speaker 3: with Jenni Griswold's office, her deputy secretary of State, and
Speaker 3: I believe she was on some of the calls too
Speaker 3: with the clerks. I mean, you even have Democrat county
Speaker 3: clerks really really mad that secretary of state didn't even
Speaker 3: bother to tell them that the passwords releaeked, and they
Speaker 3: found out when the media reported it and the call
Speaker 3: of Republican Party did it investigation released it. So Jenna
Speaker 3: I think, has a lot of problems of just incompetence
Speaker 3: that she's going to deal with, and any Democrat who
Speaker 3: wants to run for governor can do it. So she's
Speaker 3: no longer top of the field. Phil Wiser trying to
Speaker 3: get an edge on her by jumping in today. We'll
Speaker 3: see who's next. I think there's a lot of people
Speaker 3: who think Jonah Goose or Kensel's are if they jump in,
Speaker 3: will be front runners in this race. We'll find out
Speaker 3: soon enough. You're on the Dan Kaplas Show. I'm Christy
Speaker 3: Burton Brown, you can call in over the break eight
Speaker 3: five five four zero five eight.
Speaker 2: Two five five.
Speaker 7: You're listening to the Dan Kapliss Show podcast.
Speaker 3: Texter says, I'm so shocked not that Budweiser announced he's
Speaker 3: running for gov today. Will he still be able to
Speaker 3: attend the AG boondoggle in Hawaii like he previously did,
Speaker 3: which was paid for by corporations? Wiser was suing, Hey,
Speaker 3: that's a great reminder to everyone of the scandals that
Speaker 3: Phil Wiser was caught up in that were brought to
Speaker 3: light a little bit when he ran for Attorney General
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty two. I actually pulled up an article
Speaker 3: in the break about that in Hawaii, and CBS News
Speaker 3: Channel four actually did a really good story at the
Speaker 3: time about it, and they received video from the annual
Speaker 3: AG's conference which was hosted in Maui. But what was
Speaker 3: specifically interesting about it is the organizations that were paying
Speaker 3: for the Attorney Generals, including Phil Wiser's stay in Maui
Speaker 3: was not only paid for by taxpayers because a portion
Speaker 3: of the AG stay is paid for by taxpayers, but
Speaker 3: the main sponsors were corporations like Google, Facebook, Jewel, and Pfizer,
Speaker 3: all of which attorney generals were suing at the time.
Speaker 3: It was basically like, sue us, but while you're suing us,
Speaker 3: we're gonna host lavish celebrations and stays and vacations for
Speaker 3: you in Hawaii and tell me that didn't influence any
Speaker 3: attorney general. So this is what we're talking about when
Speaker 3: we say they're scandals with Phil Wiser in Hawaii and
Speaker 3: big sponsors, corporate donors also involved with people who he
Speaker 3: is suing as attorney general.
Speaker 2: I think another interesting points and.
Speaker 3: Is fentanyl and how he's handled the fentanyl crisis in Colorado.
Speaker 3: That's going to keep coming up, I think in the
Speaker 3: next election cycle. If you talk to any law enforcement
Speaker 3: official across the state, they will tell you that not
Speaker 3: only is fetanyl itself continues to be a rising danger
Speaker 3: in Colorado. The last reported numbers with that nearly two
Speaker 3: thousand people in twenty twenty three died from fentanyl overdoses.
Speaker 3: But every single drug, including marijuana, is being laced with
Speaker 3: fentanyl right now across the state. And so even people
Speaker 3: who are taking a legal substance like marijuana are absolutely
Speaker 3: at risk of actually getting fentanyl in that drug and
Speaker 3: potentially dying by the drug dealers, they don't care right now.
Speaker 3: They want to get people addicted to the substances they're selling,
Speaker 3: and they can get fentanyl in. It's pouring across our border,
Speaker 3: and so they are happy to lace every single drug,
Speaker 3: every single.
Speaker 2: Type of drug, with fentanyl.
Speaker 3: I think that's a really shocking to a lot of parents,
Speaker 3: probably whose kids are going to school, but something absolutely
Speaker 3: every parent needs to talk to their kids about. And everyone,
Speaker 3: even who takes marijuana, which might be legal, it is
Speaker 3: being laced with fentanyl and becoming very, very dangerous. At
Speaker 3: the time, though, when Phil Wiser ran for reelection to
Speaker 3: Attorney General, he was confronted with the fact that in
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen here in Colorado, possession of fentanyl was lowered
Speaker 3: to a misdemeanor if it was a gram or less.
Speaker 2: I believe it was lowered to a misdemeanor.
Speaker 3: Used to be a felony, but you know, Democrats and
Speaker 3: legislature like to be soft on crime, so they lowered
Speaker 3: it down to a misdemeanor. And he took no position
Speaker 3: at the time, didn't say anything. And the attorney general
Speaker 3: is not only supposed to be the state's top law
Speaker 3: enforcement official, but they could also use the bully pulpit
Speaker 3: to talk about big crime related issues, even if it's
Speaker 3: local das that typically prosecute these cases. The attorney general
Speaker 3: has the biggest bully pulpit, biggest soapbox. To stand up
Speaker 3: there and talk about a law like that and to
Speaker 3: oppose a terrible crime related idea like that by the legislature, well,
Speaker 3: he acknowledged and admitted that he hadn't said anything about
Speaker 3: the law, and hadn't opposed it or supported it. He
Speaker 3: just kind of did nothing. Definitely the kind of person
Speaker 3: you wants to be governor, someone who does nothing. But
Speaker 3: his excuse was that he was very focused on the
Speaker 3: Red Flag Bill at the time and passing the Red
Speaker 3: Flag Bill, and so he decided that giving the government
Speaker 3: more ability to look into gun owners was of higher
Speaker 3: importance than opposing lowering penalties for fentanyl, which since then
Speaker 3: has spread even wider across the state.
Speaker 2: So that is Phil Wiser for you.
Speaker 3: And that's the first Democrat to jump in the race
Speaker 3: for governor. Certainly not going to be the last, but
Speaker 3: here we are. If you have thoughts, you can text
Speaker 3: them in to Dan five seven seven three nine or
Speaker 3: call eight five five four zero five eight two five five.
Speaker 3: I'm Christy Burton Brown in for Dan Caplis today and
Speaker 3: speaking of fentanyl, we actually have an interview coming up
Speaker 3: at the top of the next hour five oh six
Speaker 3: that you should not miss. We're going to bring on
Speaker 3: Senator Byron Pelton. He is from the Eastern Plains, but
Speaker 3: he every year brings drug related bills to crack down
Speaker 3: on the drugs and the drug dealers in particular that
Speaker 3: are spreading across Colorado. He has a very interesting bill
Speaker 3: related to fentanyl that he's sponsoring and bringing this year.
Speaker 3: I believe he's starting at the Senate because he is
Speaker 3: elected to the Senate. So we'll talk to him at
Speaker 3: five oh six about the details of that bill, whether
Speaker 3: or not he currently has bipartisan support, and what he
Speaker 3: thinks the chances of that bill passing in the House are.
Speaker 3: I know, at Abans Colorado, where I'm the executive vice president,
Speaker 3: we're looking at a whole host of potential ballot measures
Speaker 3: to bring to the ballot in twenty twenty six. We
Speaker 3: brought two specific crime related ones this year. In twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four that both passed. The Truth and Sentencing Bill
Speaker 3: was the most popular citizen initiated ballot measure across the
Speaker 3: entire state got the highest percentage of any citizen initiated measure.
Speaker 3: And then Prop One thirty was the Law Enforcement funding
Speaker 3: bill that, without raising taxes, required the legislature to spend
Speaker 3: their general fund money three hundred and fifty million dollars
Speaker 3: of it for law enforcement across the state, and also
Speaker 3: to provide a one million dollar death benefit for any
Speaker 3: the family of any peace officer who dies in the
Speaker 3: line of duty. That includes firefighters as well. So those
Speaker 3: are the two we passed in twenty twenty four. People
Speaker 3: across Colorado want to fix our crime laws and want
Speaker 3: to protect the victims and communities, not the criminals. So
Speaker 3: we're looking at a whole host of potential ballot measures
Speaker 3: for twenty twenty six. We do have to wait until
Speaker 3: twenty six. A lot of people ask about that, like
Speaker 3: why aren't you bringing more ballot measures in twenty five.
Speaker 3: According to Colorado law, the only measures that can come
Speaker 3: in odd years on a statewide capacity are ones that
Speaker 3: take TABOR funds or deal with TABOR. So typically you'll
Speaker 3: see advance Colorado Conservatives opposing measures like prop CC Prop
Speaker 3: AGH that come in the odd years because they're usually
Speaker 3: grab by the government into your TAPOR refunds. In the
Speaker 3: even years, that's when we can bring the substantive ballot
Speaker 3: measures that deal with crime, deal with education, or can
Speaker 3: cut income taxes. Good ideas like that. Fentanyl definitely being
Speaker 3: one of the main issues we're looking at because it
Speaker 3: is such a terrible situation across the state that's getting
Speaker 3: worse and local law enforcement doesn't have all the tools
Speaker 3: they need to deal with it. So don't miss the
Speaker 3: interview at five h six with Senator Byron Pelton, who's
Speaker 3: going to explain what he's going to try and do
Speaker 3: to fix some of.
Speaker 2: The fentanyl crisis.
Speaker 3: What we know in Colorado is that with the legislature
Speaker 3: refuses to deal with things that the people are asking for. Thankfully,
Speaker 3: we can go right to the ballot and ask the
Speaker 3: people to pass the laws that the legislature refuses to pass.
Speaker 3: One another big example i'd like to bring up at
Speaker 3: PR bonds. We talked about this a little bit in
Speaker 3: the last segment, that violent and repeat criminals are getting
Speaker 3: out on personal recognizance bonds, meaning they just promised to
Speaker 3: the judge that they'll show up for their hearing and
Speaker 3: they get out free law enforcement across the state saying
Speaker 3: this is a very dangerous situation with auto thieves and
Speaker 3: violent criminals that repeat criminals, they go back out and
Speaker 3: often do way worse things. But there was a bill
Speaker 3: to fix this, to ban pr bonds for violent and
Speaker 3: repeat criminals, run just last year in the legislature and
Speaker 3: it almost passed committee in the House. Is sponsored by
Speaker 3: Gabe Evans, who's now a congressman from CD eight, so
Speaker 3: not in the state House anymore, but he sponsored the
Speaker 3: bill and got Democrats to supporter. There was bipartisan support,
Speaker 3: but they were still one vote short on the Democrat
Speaker 3: side of the aisle of getting this through committee. We
Speaker 3: have another new state representative, Jarvis Caldwell from Colorado Springs,
Speaker 3: who is going to bring that bill again this year
Speaker 3: because it's very very clear these are the kind of
Speaker 3: things people want to see passed. If they don't pass them,
Speaker 3: these are the kind of measures that can go to
Speaker 3: the ballot. The truth and Sentencing measure that advanced Colorado
Speaker 3: passed in twenty twenty four actually was killed in care
Speaker 3: committee for two years in a row on a straight
Speaker 3: party line vote, and yet when the voters were asked.
Speaker 3: It was the most popular citizen initiated ballot across the state,
Speaker 3: and one in every single county across Colorado except I
Speaker 3: believe for Boulder. So apparently Boulder wants to keep all
Speaker 3: the criminals, but the rest of us don't.
Speaker 2: I'm Christy Britton Brown. You're on the Dankpla Show.
Speaker 3: You can call in over the break eight five five
Speaker 3: four zero five eight two five five. When we come back,
Speaker 3: we're going to talk about breaking news out of Jefferson
Speaker 3: County School District where the very high up official was
Speaker 3: arrested for possession of child porn and committed suicide.
Speaker 2: Today we'll talk about that in more on The dan
Speaker 2: Kapla Show.
Speaker 7: And now back to the dan Kapla Show podcast.
Speaker 3: A terrorist attack in New Orleans and Phil Wiser deciding
Speaker 3: that he's going to run for governor, as comes to
Speaker 3: a shock to no one here in Colorado, but he
Speaker 3: wanted to get ahead of the field because polling showed
Speaker 3: that he's only at eight percent, and which is forth
Speaker 3: I believe, fourth, behind Jonah Goose, Jennat Griswold, and even
Speaker 3: Ken Salzar, which of course he was very popular in
Speaker 3: his time. It's just been a very long time and
Speaker 3: a lot of Colorados aren't necessarily familiar with him. But
Speaker 3: he's still beating out Phil Wiser, the current attorney general.
Speaker 3: So I think phil Wiser decided he needed to up
Speaker 3: his name might because he's number one in low name
Speaker 3: d The same poll showed that he was the person
Speaker 3: that the most people didn't recognize when they heard his name,
Speaker 3: so he has a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2: I think that's why he's jumped into the race now.
Speaker 3: I really don't think he's going to be the Democrat nominee,
Speaker 3: and I'll be very happy about that because he's soft
Speaker 3: on crime, not good for Colorado's current needs as a state.
Speaker 2: One thing that we definitely need to.
Speaker 3: Cover though, in the last bit of this hour, is
Speaker 3: some news coming out of Jeffco Public schools today. Lindsay Datko,
Speaker 3: which runs a p she runs a parents group in Jeffco,
Speaker 3: wanted to join the show today, wasn't able to do
Speaker 3: so I think she will at a future date. She's very,
Speaker 3: very familiar with firsthand information in the Jeffco Public schools,
Speaker 3: but she did point people to a statement today from
Speaker 3: the Jeffco Sheriff's office. I don't know how many of
Speaker 3: you been following the story because it kind of happened
Speaker 3: over the holidays. But the chief of schools in Jefferson
Speaker 3: County here in Colorado was let go, and the Jefferson
Speaker 3: County Public Schools haven't provided a lot of information to parents,
Speaker 3: which a lot of parents have found concerning. I mean,
Speaker 3: I've seen parents even posting saying, Hey, I was gonna
Speaker 3: put my kids in this school districts I think they
Speaker 3: just moved there, and they're like, I don't know what's
Speaker 3: going on with officials at this school and children. I'm
Speaker 3: not even sure it's safe to enroll my children here.
Speaker 3: And so today though, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department put
Speaker 3: out a statement.
Speaker 2: I'm going to read it for you.
Speaker 3: It says, on January first, twenty twenty five, the Maryland,
Speaker 3: Washington County Sheriff's Office informed the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
Speaker 3: that they were conducting a death investigation of David Weiss
Speaker 3: and David Weie is the chief of schools from jeff County.
Speaker 3: Statement continues, Weese was in Maryland with family for the holidays.
Speaker 3: Information regarding Wesa's death will come from the Washington County
Speaker 3: Sheriff's Office in Maryland that Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is
Speaker 3: conducting an investigation of Weese involving the possession of child
Speaker 3: sexual assault material. That investigation will continue until it is completed.
Speaker 3: There will be no further information released. And now I
Speaker 3: believe that was the first time there was an official
Speaker 3: confirmation that the reason David Weese was removed from Jefferson
Speaker 3: County public schools and under investigation was because of possession
Speaker 3: of child porn And I think the use of how
Speaker 3: that Jefferson County Sheriff's Department worded that the possession of
Speaker 3: child sexual assault material. Experts in the area say that
Speaker 3: that is actually what child pornography should be called. It
Speaker 3: is child sexual assault material. It is used to assault children,
Speaker 3: and any child used in the production of child pornography
Speaker 3: has been assaulted, and we should be honest with our
Speaker 3: terms and call it for what it is. I'm actually
Speaker 3: very pleased to see that Jefferson County Sheriff's Office using
Speaker 3: the language that's appropriate language and what everyone should be adopting.
Speaker 3: What is hugely concerting to parents and called Republic Radio
Speaker 3: actually put out a really solid article on this today
Speaker 3: is that as Jefferson County Public Schools has not been
Speaker 3: revealing enough information to parents. And I understand sometimes when
Speaker 3: there's a criminal investigation going on, there's a limited amount
Speaker 3: of information you're allowed to provide.
Speaker 2: That can be true.
Speaker 3: Sometimes, but we also know that a lot of school
Speaker 3: districts are flat out not transparent with parents and aren't
Speaker 3: honest about what is going on so.
Speaker 2: That parents can make a fully informed.
Speaker 3: Decision about whether the school they are sending their child
Speaker 3: to is safe for them or not. If you are
Speaker 3: running a school, I don't care if it's private, I
Speaker 3: don't care if it's charter, I don't care if it's
Speaker 3: your neighborhood public school. Your number one priority should be
Speaker 3: the safety of children under your care, Not the jobs
Speaker 3: of teachers or officials, not the reputation of the school district,
Speaker 3: not you know how much information you can hide so
Speaker 3: that more people send their kids to the school. Number
Speaker 3: one concern should be the safety of children in the schools.
Speaker 3: If you read the CPR article, and I'd encourage you
Speaker 3: to read it if you're interested in this story, they
Speaker 3: published it this morning, but they have confirmed also with
Speaker 3: the Jefferson County Sheriff's office that David Weez died in
Speaker 3: the middle of this investigation. He committed suicide, is what
Speaker 3: the report is saying. I don't think CPR is saying
Speaker 3: that he committed suicide, but a number of other people
Speaker 3: involved in the situation are saying that's what happened, and
Speaker 3: no one is claiming that it's a murder investigation. It's
Speaker 3: a death investigation, which means he committed suicide.
Speaker 2: He was fired less than.
Speaker 3: A month ago, and only now our parents having confirmation
Speaker 3: that it's because he was in possession of child sexual
Speaker 3: assault material. And this article interviewed a number of parents
Speaker 3: who have children in the Jeffco Public schools, and you
Speaker 3: can just when you read it, you just see how
Speaker 3: concerned parents are with what all is going on behind
Speaker 3: the scenes in Jefferson County, the school district. They already
Speaker 3: were in the news not too long ago for the
Speaker 3: hotel room situation on a field trip where a male
Speaker 3: was allowed to sleep with a female in the same
Speaker 3: hotel room and parents weren't notified or told that was
Speaker 3: going to happen. And the CPR article says that the
Speaker 3: allegations against David Weiss were the fifth such case in
Speaker 3: Jeffco Public schools in twenty twenty four alone. And I'm
Speaker 3: looking at the article while I'm telling you this, so
Speaker 3: you can go to the source yourself. But they're saying,
Speaker 3: first of all, a year ago, in January twenty twenty four, someone,
Speaker 3: a paraprofessional or classroom aid at a high school was
Speaker 3: taken into custody for several charges, including sexual assault on
Speaker 3: a child by a person of trust and multiple other charges.
Speaker 2: The second arrest happened in.
Speaker 3: February, where two boys under the age of fifteen said
Speaker 3: a family liaison at the middle school called them into
Speaker 3: his office to perform what he called medical exams, and
Speaker 3: the police arrested him for sexual assault on a child
Speaker 3: by a person of trust. Then another individual who worked
Speaker 3: in after school care programs was arrested in May of
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four for sexual assault on a child in
Speaker 3: jeff coo schools, and then in November, a social worker
Speaker 3: in the district was arrested after a kid's parent found
Speaker 3: inappropriate messages from the social worker on the child's phone.
Speaker 3: She was also arrested with a charge of sexual assault
Speaker 3: on a child by a person in a position of
Speaker 3: trust and a child was a student was a teenager
Speaker 3: at the time. The parents found these messages but told
Speaker 3: police the relationship began when he was only eleven years old.
Speaker 3: After all of those incidences, and another one that's not
Speaker 3: an accusation of sexual assault on a child, but of
Speaker 3: another very troubling incidents, there's a lawsuit in Jefferson County
Speaker 3: by parents who say that the district claimed their child
Speaker 3: was homeless and reported their child as homeless when the
Speaker 3: child absolutely was not and lived at home with the
Speaker 3: parents along with several siblings who also went.
Speaker 2: To this school.
Speaker 3: So we see a lot of extremely troubling scenarios coming
Speaker 3: out of specifically Jefferson County Public schools. And now it's
Speaker 3: revealed that the chief of Schools, David Weis, is being
Speaker 3: uh well, he was being investigated for a possession of
Speaker 3: child sexual assault material. Super troubling scenarios coming out of
Speaker 3: Jefferson Public schools. You have thoughts, you can call in
Speaker 3: eight five five four zero five eight two five five
Speaker 3: or tech Dan to five seven seven three nine.
Speaker 2: I'm Christy Burton Brown. You're on the Dan Kapla Show.
Speaker 2: Stay with us.
Speaker 3: We'll have Senator Byron Pelton in our next segment, talking
Speaker 3: about fentanyl in his solution to solving the drug crisis
Speaker 3: in cala