Speaker 1: He is a man who just did a don Keyxoti
Speaker 1: like quest to unseat a Democrat in a highly democratic district.
Speaker 1: But now he's found himself in the middle of a
Speaker 1: new kerfuffle. Vladimir al Jouetta posted something on his ex
Speaker 1: page and it turned into a thing. Valdemar, good to
Speaker 1: see you.
Speaker 2: First of all, it is great to be back. Thank
Speaker 2: you for inviting me.
Speaker 1: In low stress environment, not trying to earn votes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's what was supposed to happen. The election
Speaker 2: was over.
Speaker 3: I was supposed to have a nice, peaceful holiday, no
Speaker 3: more politics.
Speaker 2: That may not be how it's going to end up.
Speaker 1: So what did you post on X the other day?
Speaker 3: People are that, well, I had you know you think
Speaker 3: you recently just talked about the what Mike Johnson had
Speaker 3: said and the whole blow up from that. So I
Speaker 3: kind of made a comment about it. People started talking
Speaker 3: about recall. So I looked up some information on in
Speaker 3: post digital. Here's how you do it. He wants to
Speaker 3: know you go, And then that blew up on Twitter
Speaker 3: or X and so a whole movement has now started,
Speaker 3: and I was contacted by several people.
Speaker 2: Who really want to follow through with this, or at least.
Speaker 3: Investigate the possibility of following through with the recall of
Speaker 3: Mike Johnston.
Speaker 1: You know, let's break it down for just a few
Speaker 1: Minutes's let's talk about reasons that people want to recall
Speaker 1: Mike Johnston. But then I'm going to remind them of
Speaker 1: something very important. Everything that I find horrible about Mike
Speaker 1: Johnston's administration were the exact same things he campaigned on.
Speaker 1: He campaigned on micro communities, he campaigned on warehousing, homeless people.
Speaker 1: He campaigned on these things. Now did he campaign to
Speaker 1: spend one hundred and sixty five million dollars on homeless people?
Speaker 1: He did not. And Valdemar and I were trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what we have spent in Denver, and not
Speaker 1: just the city of Denver, but education services, but hospital
Speaker 1: services for U see health. This is a big reason
Speaker 1: why you see health needed that cash injection and attacks increase.
Speaker 1: And the Common Sense Institute estimated in a sport from
Speaker 1: May thirtieth that between city, education and healthcare organizations, they
Speaker 1: have spent between two hundred and sixteen million to three
Speaker 1: hundred and forty million on the response of taking care
Speaker 1: of forty two thousand illegal immigrants that made their way
Speaker 1: to Denver. So all, and I'm just use the lower number, right, Well,
Speaker 1: we'll just use the two hundred and sixteen million. So
Speaker 1: do you think people in Denver signed up for three
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty something million of their tax dollars to
Speaker 1: go to people who are either mentally illan on drugs,
Speaker 1: on drugs, addicted to alcohol, or who broke into the
Speaker 1: country and then got all their services. No.
Speaker 3: And this is a concern of many people in Denver,
Speaker 3: and it's not a partisan issue. This is across the board.
Speaker 3: People have been concerned about that. This past year in campaigning,
Speaker 3: I've gone to tons of town halls with different city
Speaker 3: council individuals and.
Speaker 2: That the city put on.
Speaker 3: And by far the biggest town hall I ever attended
Speaker 3: was just about a month ago at Remington element School
Speaker 3: when they were talking about making the possibility of making
Speaker 3: that an immigrant shelter. Basically, it would only happen if
Speaker 3: the mayor called an emergency and they needed somewhere to
Speaker 3: house people. They were saying it probably won't happen, but
Speaker 3: just in case, we're looking at this as a possibility.
Speaker 3: And there are several other elementary schools throughout the city
Speaker 3: they are looking to do the same thing. But there
Speaker 3: were hundreds of people there from that neighborhood. And this
Speaker 3: is in the Sunnyside neighborhood, north west denver, Ish kind
Speaker 3: of a.
Speaker 1: Cityside is a very diverse neighborhood. It has some it
Speaker 1: has some people there are maybe on the lower socioeconomic spectrum.
Speaker 1: There's some areas where you have a little bit of
Speaker 1: gentrification going on there.
Speaker 2: It's a cross section.
Speaker 3: The southern part of it is like where the Highlands are,
Speaker 3: and so it's already been gentrified. But then you have
Speaker 3: like the northern part where it's kind of remained working class,
Speaker 3: working class, and that's so so there are a lot
Speaker 3: of people there, and there were a lot of people
Speaker 3: actually there, even from the Highlands neighborhood. But they had
Speaker 3: heard about this happening and they were concerned. And there
Speaker 3: were a few people there who are like, you know,
Speaker 3: we want to help the migrants, how can we volunteer,
Speaker 3: what can we do And they were fine with that,
Speaker 3: but the majority of the people there were concerned about
Speaker 3: what that was going to do to their neighborhood and
Speaker 3: they were not happy with the answers that the city
Speaker 3: was giving them and beyond that, even like back in
Speaker 3: February when we kind of had this big surge come
Speaker 3: to Denver and it became a big issue.
Speaker 2: I was at a.
Speaker 3: Meeting where they were and this was I think in
Speaker 3: park Hill, Mountainbalow somewhere over there, and they were talking
Speaker 3: about the when they cut back the hours of community centers.
Speaker 3: The communities up there were concerned because they're cutting.
Speaker 2: The hours here, what are our young men going to do?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is where they go because off the street.
Speaker 3: If they're not going to be in the community centers,
Speaker 3: where are they going to be? And again, these are
Speaker 3: not Republican citizens. They are probably vast majority Democrats, but
Speaker 3: they recognize this is a problem. What's happening is not
Speaker 3: benefiting our community. Our community is being put second to
Speaker 3: take care of migrants who are coming into the country illegally.
Speaker 1: One of the most interesting conversations that I have heard
Speaker 1: about this I heard on a light rail train going
Speaker 1: downtown and I was sitting behind two young women and
Speaker 1: they were probably in their early twenties, and one of
Speaker 1: them was Hispanic and one of them was African American,
Speaker 1: and they were p owed that they as American citizens
Speaker 1: could not get anything from the city, and they had
Speaker 1: heard that immigrants were getting free apartments and free you know, healthcare,
Speaker 1: computers and phones and all this stuff, and they were livid.
Speaker 1: And I think from that perspective, when you have people
Speaker 1: on the on the other end of the economic spectrum
Speaker 1: who are trying to get ahead in Denver and they're like, look, dude,
Speaker 1: what are you know? What are we doing? Why is
Speaker 1: everything so expensive for me? You're putting all of these
Speaker 1: people ahead of me. So I think it really does
Speaker 1: kind of cut across also socioeconomic lines. But as you
Speaker 1: get to the rich liberals, those are the Highlands moms
Speaker 1: that Mike Johnson was talking about. He was talking about
Speaker 1: Highland's moms showing up because their lives are not directly impacted.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and that is the demographic he was speaking to.
Speaker 3: And I believe when he made his comments in the
Speaker 3: Denver are to the Denver right, that's what he was
Speaker 3: thinking about. The base in these areas where they're going
Speaker 3: to be okay with what he was saying because they
Speaker 3: aren't seeing the effects effect their lives directly, and so
Speaker 3: they want to.
Speaker 1: Make sure they can get their house cleaned for a
Speaker 1: really inexpensive rate, and they want to make sure that
Speaker 1: their organic produce doesn't cost mark that's the extent of
Speaker 1: their concern for the impact that this has. So let's
Speaker 1: talk about the actual process for a second. What does
Speaker 1: that look like? Because you just looked it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so work like that.
Speaker 3: This is still kind of in the beginnings of Look enough,
Speaker 3: they're going to be thrown away, so you'll probably need
Speaker 3: like thirty five thousand.
Speaker 2: Signatures, so you're going to know that.
Speaker 1: They can hire. I heard there's a bunch of illegal
Speaker 1: immigrants that are available for work.
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, that would be wouldn't that would be ironic?
Speaker 2: It would be amazing. Mayor Well, and the question about
Speaker 2: whether or not.
Speaker 1: It's it's a good idea or not, we're going to
Speaker 1: talk about because I have nixed feelings about whether or
Speaker 1: not this particular deployment of resources, time and energy is
Speaker 1: the right way to go. Can you stick around through
Speaker 1: a break? Yes, I've got Valdemar Archiletta. We're talking about
Speaker 1: whether a recall of Mayor Mike Johnston makes sense, if
Speaker 1: it's a good idea, or if it's worth it, if
Speaker 1: the juice is worth the squeeze, to use a very
Speaker 1: popular cliche. Right now, we'll be right back. We're back
Speaker 1: with Valdemar Archiletta talking about what it might look like
Speaker 1: to do a recall of Mayor Mike Johnston. To be clear,
Speaker 1: Valdemar is not doing a recall of Mayor Mike Johnston.
Speaker 1: This is a kind of an exercise, a conversation and
Speaker 1: what that might look like.
Speaker 3: So here we're looking into the possibilities of a recall,
Speaker 3: but is it the.
Speaker 1: Best use of resources? And that's where it gets tricky.
Speaker 3: It is because again it's going to cost money, So
Speaker 3: we want to figure out how much money will this
Speaker 3: cost financially and of course people's time as well, going
Speaker 3: now into the holiday season, is it worth the time
Speaker 3: of the volunteers in that who are going to be
Speaker 3: out there collecting signatures and that to do this and
Speaker 3: then even afterwards it should we be successful in creating
Speaker 3: a recall, who do we have to replace, right Mike Johnston?
Speaker 2: And I am looking into that as well.
Speaker 3: People have asked me, I am not going to run
Speaker 3: for mayor, but let me just throw that out there
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: Will I will not run for.
Speaker 4: If I am nominated, but I am looking into you know,
Speaker 4: I want to contact some people, talk to them and
Speaker 4: see if we do have someone lined up, because if
Speaker 4: we were to recall Mike Johnston and then we'd get is.
Speaker 1: Talking about more aggressive person mayor or at Leasta caldar
Speaker 1: on God forbid, I mean now in Aurora.
Speaker 2: So Aurora, my head's up. I do believe.
Speaker 3: My thought is like in a few years he's going
Speaker 3: to run for city council and Aurora or something like that.
Speaker 2: So Aurora just you know, he's.
Speaker 1: All yours now. The problem that we have, honestly is
Speaker 1: that Denver is so deeply democratic. There's a zero percent
Speaker 1: chance that a Republican is going to win in Denver, and.
Speaker 3: So we want someone maybe just a step in the
Speaker 3: right direction. So someone who's maybe a more moderate Democrat
Speaker 3: would be great. You know, it's going to be a
Speaker 3: step up from where we are.
Speaker 2: Someone who's going to.
Speaker 3: Be more supportive of getting you know, Prime under control
Speaker 3: and doing some things that will help bring business back
Speaker 3: to Denver.
Speaker 1: Here's what I want to see that, Here's what I
Speaker 1: think Denver needs. Not that anybody ask me, but this
Speaker 1: is what I think Denver needs. Though the mayor has
Speaker 1: been concentrating on get homeless people off the streets. The
Speaker 1: success rate of these programs and getting people into stable,
Speaker 1: permanent housing is very low. So we are throwing good
Speaker 1: money after bad. We have to have somebody in office
Speaker 1: that says we are going to be results oriented. We
Speaker 1: are going to say to our providers, we need a
Speaker 1: detailed account of what you've done for each resident to
Speaker 1: get them the help that they need, the drug treatment
Speaker 1: that they need, the alcohol treatment that they need, the
Speaker 1: mental health care they need, and moving them towards independence
Speaker 1: or into some kind of stable housing situation that the
Speaker 1: government's going to have to pay for forever, because unfortunately
Speaker 1: there are people that are not going to be able
Speaker 1: to take care of themselves. And then you go to
Speaker 1: all those businesses on the sixteenth Street mall and you say,
Speaker 1: we're taking the money that we've spent on homeless people
Speaker 1: and immigrants and we're pouring it into your businesses with
Speaker 1: grants to keep you afloat until all this is done.
Speaker 1: They're about to destroy businesses on Colfax Avenue with its.
Speaker 3: Stupidvice all right, that whole button, and not just that.
Speaker 3: The people in the neighborhood's there are quite upset. Was
Speaker 3: at another town Hall. I forget the name of the
Speaker 3: middle school over there, but kind of like Congress Park,
Speaker 3: Capitol Hill area, right. They they know that when this
Speaker 3: happens to Coalfax, if people who don't know out there,
Speaker 3: what they want to do is basically make Coalfax one
Speaker 3: one lane direction and the other one's going to be
Speaker 3: buses and like a little park down the middle whatever,
Speaker 3: which looks pretty and I can I can see that,
Speaker 3: but you're going to be pushing people off Coalfax and
Speaker 3: onto Fourteenth Street or fourteenth Avenue, thirteenth and so the
Speaker 3: neighborhoods there are concerned that they've already gotten too many,
Speaker 3: too much traffic over there. Now that all these other
Speaker 3: traffic from Coalfax is going to be in their neighborhoods,
Speaker 3: it's going to make things worse. So the businesses are
Speaker 3: upset because the people are leaving Coalfax. The neighborhood's upset
Speaker 3: because now they're coming into their neighborhoods.
Speaker 2: So that's a mess.
Speaker 3: And they're also looking at doing that to Colorado Boulevard,
Speaker 3: which is a mess as it is.
Speaker 1: I hate Colorado Boulevard.
Speaker 3: I imagine Colorado Boulevard one lane each direction.
Speaker 1: There are two roads that I will avoid at all costs.
Speaker 1: Colorado Boulevard is one, Parker Road is the other, because
Speaker 1: oh my god, so so Wich traffic. Anyway, Valdimore, it's
Speaker 1: a nice thought experiment. We'll see if it goes anywhere.
Speaker 1: My concern is that we waste a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: time and energy. The mayor keeps his seat and is
Speaker 1: then emboldened to double day.
Speaker 3: That is something too, because you look at the likeli
Speaker 3: of this outcome will probably be like, it's really difficult
Speaker 3: to replace a mayor. It's really difficult to recall someone.
Speaker 3: So what do you be emboldened? Or is the statement
Speaker 3: going to be good? That we made a stand? We
Speaker 3: made a statement because I think a lot of people
Speaker 3: in Colorado are really upset that our leadership across the state,
Speaker 3: whether it's the governor the secretary of State, are doing
Speaker 3: all these things and no one ever pushes back from them.
Speaker 3: And they already feel that they can just do whatever
Speaker 3: they want because there is no pushback.
Speaker 2: So will the pushback be worth it? Or you said,
Speaker 2: will it make it worse?
Speaker 1: That is Valdimar. Archiletto will keep you posted on whether
Speaker 1: or not this movement gets legs. Felt good to see you,
Speaker 1: My friends, good to see you too, and happy Thanksgiving.