WEBVTT

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Welcome to Empower You. I'm Amy Stevens. You may have heard Pastor Steve's podcast where we had a

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conversation about public policy engagement or civic engagement. You know, COVID changed a lot

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of things in our community and this is where the road really exploded in membership and where people

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began to get engaged. And so Pastor Steve came to me and said, hey, would you consider volunteering

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to help lead this effort? We have all kinds of views in our church, diverse views. And really,

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how do we make sense of that? How do we move forward? People are exhausted. A lot of people

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angry. Some just trying to raise their kids. How do we stay engaged? And I'm convinced it's through

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big, important little things, things that you and I can do every day. And that's what you're going

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to hear on these podcasts. You're going to hear from people in the community, school board members.

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You're going to hear from people that work in the life pro-life space. You're going to hear

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from legislators, people that are going to talk to us about what their lives are really like,

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what their jobs are really like, and actually how we can make a difference and or support them.

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And so that is the hope for Pastor Steve. That's the hope that I have,

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and we look forward to engaging with you.

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Well, hello today at Empower You. We're in our summertime, moving into our general election

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period. And you know, this is a time people say, well, how are you getting engaged? And

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what are we doing? And who are we voting for? We just lasted through a huge primary time.

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And one of the results of that primary is our friend Jarvis Caldwell, who is here,

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who's going to be running for House District 20, which is my old seat and your husband's old seat.

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And so Jarvis is here. Jarvis Caldwell is here today with us,

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as well as County Commissioner for District 2, Carrie Geithner, who also won her primary.

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Welcome both of you. Thank you.

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Well, you know, Carrie, probably what, a year and a half ago, we sat down and you said,

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we've got to have a local organization that starts to get people engaged, right? Like that's,

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that we were talking about private property rights, I think it was, and development and

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what's going on. And is there this kind of anti-growth and development simmering? I would

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probably say among more, some Republican candidates, which I kind of find concerning,

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but we began to talk about that. And you said, I think we really do need an educational

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organization that starts to get people moving towards getting engaged and why they're engaged.

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So talk about that because it's striking how, the moment, by the way, Carrie says,

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I think we need that. You can pretty much start your time clock because then

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something's going to be happening. It's going to come around. So tell us what happened.

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Well, thanks, Amy. And thanks for having us on. I'm really excited to be here. Yeah. You know,

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it's kind of started with that, those exact kinds of conversations around, you know, talking to a lot

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of voters and beginning to understand that there were not a lot of places where they were getting

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good information about our founding principles, about the importance of the way our kind of

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American ideals help to shape the decisions that we should be looking at as citizens and thinking

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about why we vote for things and why certain things are important to preserve essentially

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our very unique republic. And, you know, from those conversations, as you know, Courtney Salt

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is one of our board members as well. Courtney and I really believed that we could help educate

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and help equip people to be ready to really engage in local government. And that's really where

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Engage the Rockies was born. And so we're really excited about that. You know, we are a nonpartisan

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501c3. And so we are focused on helping people understand how government works, how they can best

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be involved. But specifically, we believe that, you know, America is a wonderful, prosperous place,

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specifically because of free markets, individual rights. And we want to make sure that, you know,

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when we have an engaged citizenry, we can maintain that here. But if we don't have citizens who are

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ready to participate and understand what we need to preserve in the United States,

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then we, you know, we could be in a little bit of trouble. And so we wanted to make sure that

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we are providing an avenue for folks to learn about those issues. The media is not always the

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best about giving, you know, good ideas and in depth about the issues. And so we really wanted

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to have a neutral kind of place where we could provide a lot of that information, a lot of the

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stuff that doesn't get covered, and more in depth conversations about those things,

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as well as make sure that folks who are ready to maybe

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dive in a little bit deeper than just voting.

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They wanna get involved, they wanna be on a local board,

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they wanna maybe even run for office one day,

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that they have a very full and comprehensive understanding

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of exactly how our government is supposed to work,

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and that we can help them get connected

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and figure out how to do that.

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Well, I just want the people that watch from the road

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to know Courtney Salt attends our church,

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Aaron Salt attends our church,

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we've had Aaron on the podcast.

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But what I think is important is the kind of education

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that we would love certainly to invite Engage

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to come here and to conduct.

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Because people ask, well, how can I run for a board?

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How am I gonna get on?

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Jarvis, you're running for state house, right?

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You were working within, I think in Denver,

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within the minority office.

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You, you know, stood up,

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give the audience a bit of your background

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so they know who you are

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and why you two suddenly joined up on Engage.

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How did that happen?

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I did 10 years in the military.

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My first five years, I worked on airplanes,

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on F-15s, and then the U-2 spy plane,

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different assignments all around the world.

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And about halfway through,

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went into the criminal justice side.

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I have a passion for the constitution and the rule of law.

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And so I served as a paralegal in the JAG Corps,

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worked on criminal prosecution teams

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and criminal defense teams for about five years.

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And my wife is also Air Force.

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She just retired this year after 22 and a half years.

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And so that's what brought us here.

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I got out at my 10 year mark.

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I was in Washington, DC at the time.

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And then we came here about five years ago.

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And so my wife was stationed at the Air Force Academy.

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And, you know, it's kind of ironic,

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but I was finally free to be involved in the community.

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And plus I hadn't stayed anywhere

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for more than about a year and a half

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while I was in the military, because you move a lot.

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And so once we finally got here, I was out of the military.

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I was free to get engaged in local things.

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I started going to different events

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and started meeting our local leaders.

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And Carrie and her husband, Tim,

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who was elected representative at the time.

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I met them and said, you know, how can I get involved?

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You know, I want to get engaged.

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And so that kind of started me on this path.

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We were getting people engaged even before we had engaged.

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That's true, that's true, that's true.

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I remember the kickoff and then I heard Jarvis

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was going to come on board and I went, wow, that's great.

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And you've started a podcast, right?

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Yeah, and you know, when we really got rolling

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with our organization and we were super grateful

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for a lot of generous donors in our community

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who really saw the need for what we were doing

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and helped us really kick off,

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we decided to go ahead and hire our executive director,

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which is Jarvis.

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And this was before we knew Jarvis might run for office,

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but you know, life hands you all kinds of opportunities.

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So, but we were excited for Jarvis to come on board

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as our executive director and we set

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some pretty ambitious goals for our first year.

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See, Shakespeare said, yes.

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A lot of very ambitious goals.

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But one of those goals is the podcast

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that specifically is designed to help voters

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and citizens understand what's going on.

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And Jarvis, you can talk about that.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So, you know, we looked around and we said, okay,

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well, how do people consume content nowadays?

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Not everybody has a lot of time to sit there and read,

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but usually everybody's commuting somewhere,

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you know, at some point during the day.

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So we said, okay, let's bring it in a podcast form.

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It's both audio and video,

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but the audio is definitely more popular

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because while you're riding to work

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or taking the kids to sports practice

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or whatever, you can listen to it.

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We try to keep it relatively short,

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about 30 minutes or less.

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Good.

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And so, but what we would do is we focus

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on what are the hot button issues.

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And so, I mean, we've covered the migration crisis.

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I mean, we've covered different ballot initiatives.

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If you wanna know how to get something on a ballot,

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we've covered that with Michael Fields,

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who I think is quite the expert on it.

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Yes, Michael's the expert, yes, yes.

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We've covered city council issues such as, you know,

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private versus public ambulance services.

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We've covered election integrity,

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because that's a big one that we feel a lot about.

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Well, you had, right.

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Our county clerk and reporter,

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Steve Schleicher was just on.

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I think probably a lot of people at the road

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would be very interested in that.

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That's, you know.

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And we covered how the recent elections went.

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And then we also said, okay,

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well, let's cover some common questions

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and issues that we hear about election integrity.

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And so, you know, Steve did a great job going through that.

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But that's the kind of content we wanna bring to people,

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you know, because a lot of people aren't engaged

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at that level that Karen are engaged at on a daily basis.

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We know these people individually, and we do.

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And so, we say, you know, if we see an issue

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or we hear a lot of things going on,

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we'll reach out to these people that we know.

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And we say, hey, these are the questions

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that we're hearing, the concerns.

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Can you come on and?

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talk about this, maybe answer some of those questions.

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And so I think because of our involvement,

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we're in a unique position that we have these relationships

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with different elected people or different people

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who are CEOs or run these different organizations.

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And so that's also on the other side of it.

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So that's on the podcast side,

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we wanna introduce you to these people,

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but we also have the ability to connect you personally

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with these people and answer questions for you

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and see how you can get involved.

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And so that's kind of.

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Yeah, and we are working on an event coming up.

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I won't say the date yet, we're still working on it.

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So I don't wanna, in case something changes

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while we're still getting that.

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But things like panel opportunities to Jarvis's point

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to interact with folks in our community.

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And we really do try and keep the podcast.

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I mean, we do a lot about Colorado,

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especially during the legislative session

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because that really does affect folks locally.

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But there's kind of a disconnect between Amy,

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as you well know, what happens in Denver

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and how it's affecting us locally

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and how it even affects our local governments

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and why it's so important.

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So really connecting it down to the local level,

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especially getting involved in,

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there was even a great podcast about oil and gas.

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And I mean, the things that are affecting us,

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we're now hearing about utilities costs going up.

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A lot of that is directly related to that legislation.

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And so really trying to connect it in

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to everyone's everyday life

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and understanding how those policies are affecting

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and how you can get involved

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to be able to take a position on those policies

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and make change in your community

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if what you see isn't working.

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That's good because really, I think people,

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when they say, oh, goodness, my rising prices, right?

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And you can say, yes, we can point to that bill.

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We can, sometimes people just are stuck

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on Second Amendment or the right to life.

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And I applaud, obviously we are,

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we're very pro Second Amendment and right to life,

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but that is a tiny little portion

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of what happens in Denver.

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Just this, it's hard sometimes to understand.

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And you guys know, when I was in office,

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we had a lot of county commissioners saying,

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hey, you send us a lot of unfunded mandates.

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And we would say, yeah.

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And I did, I ran a bill that would say,

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okay, with every fiscal, we need to now have,

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how is this gonna impact counties?

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And everybody screams, we don't wanna do that, no.

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But you have to because these unfunded mandates

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then take a toll on the county.

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And then we don't have enough staff for whatever.

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And then we're overtaxed and we have,

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it just really becomes, it's really,

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it becomes very difficult.

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But the other part, side of that is,

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you've had the courage, particularly

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in the illegal immigration crisis that we've had in Denver.

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El Paso County has had the guts to say,

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whoa, we're not having this, we are restricting.

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Talk about that for a little bit

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because something will become a hot, hot topic.

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And then, oh, wait, what happened to that topic?

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It's out the door, right?

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And you're still dealing with some of that.

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So chat about that because I think

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Engage is looking, people get frustrated by this

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or they'll say, well, what is our county

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or what's our local government doing?

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What are they doing?

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Yeah, and I think that that's, of course,

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a big reason why we want them to understand

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what the role of the county and the city is

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because there are a lot of limitations

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about what we can do.

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And that's a big thing that we try to walk folks through

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as we're doing those is understanding

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what decisions the county can make

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and what we're doing and we can do

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and what decisions we would like to do

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but we just don't have the authority to do.

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Illegal immigration is one of those issues,

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of course, as a county.

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The county doesn't have the ability to regulate the border

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or regulate who's coming into Colorado.

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And so it's a very tangled and difficult

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and I think sometimes purposefully difficult legal web

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that we find ourselves in.

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But at the county, there are some things

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that we are very specifically choosing not to do

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and that is we are not going to set up shelters.

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We are not going to provide the kind of

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what I think is attracting a lot of people

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into Colorado like Denver has done, right?

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All of the free housing and the free, the free,

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the free, the free.

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All of these things which, of course,

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people go, well, hey, I can get this for free.

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I'm gonna go to Denver and that is part

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of what is attracting people to Denver right now.

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And so the county is very specifically choosing

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not to do those things.

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We don't have to do those things legally

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and so we're making those.

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And we've made very public statements at the commission

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that we don't support illegal immigration,

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that we think what is happening at the border is very wrong

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and it has potentially very detrimental effects

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to our community.

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We've all seen that from what's going on in Denver.

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But we are very worried about the.

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safety matters.

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And this is one of the places where we want folks

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to fully know.

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Counties, unfortunately, don't have all the powers

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that we would like to have.

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For example, our sheriff is not allowed

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to communicate with ICE about a lot of these things.

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And so that's really problematic.

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And that is because of a state law.

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That is because of a state law.

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And we've seen other counties be sued over this.

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And then a court says, you absolutely cannot do this.

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You have to stop doing these things.

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And you can't just keep doing them

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because the courts will come in.

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They can literally remove people.

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They can bring down other powers from Denver

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to force you into compliance with those things.

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And so unfortunately, we are in the middle of a legal battle.

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The county is part of a lawsuit, along with Douglas

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and several other counties, over those specific laws

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that are keeping counties from being

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able to essentially keep our residents safe.

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But our sheriff is really concerned about this.

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We've all kind of heard a little bit.

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I think we're still waiting for the dust

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to settle on some of the things that we've

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heard about in Denver, Aurora, around Venezuelan gang violence

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and those kind of things.

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But the reality is we have had situations,

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and our sheriff has talked about that,

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where he has had to let go of very violent criminals who

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have abused children, sexually abused children.

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And then he cannot hold them legally.

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And part of that, again, is due to those restrictions

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that are in state law.

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And so really, really concerning for our community

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that those things are happening.

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And we want, again, and that's where Engage really

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comes in to help people understand

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the nuances of that.

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Sometimes the media really does get things wrong.

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I'll be fair and say sometimes that is purely

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because oftentimes the reporters locally are very young.

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They're not as experienced with government.

345
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And sometimes they might just want a headline.

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And they don't write the headlines.

347
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As you know, the actual journalists

348
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don't write the headlines.

349
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You have someone back at the editing desk

350
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probably writing that headline.

351
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And so they're looking for people to click on those things.

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And there's advertisements and all of that.

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So we don't have those pressures at Engage.

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And Engage can really talk about what

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the ins and outs are, the technical ability of what

356
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people can do so that voters, again, and citizens

357
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can be fully aware.

358
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Not be swayed one way or the other, as we all know.

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Also, the media sometimes has their own agenda.

360
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So to really get them as much neutral, fact-based

361
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information as possible on some of those really important

362
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topics to our community.

363
00:17:48.360 --> 00:17:52.720
Yeah, actually, our very first ever Engage episode

364
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was with John Fabricatore, who's running for Congress

365
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actually up north, I think, in the Centennial area.

366
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So he's a retired ICE field director for this area.

367
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And so the border is something that he

368
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is an absolute expert on.

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And so when we launched our podcast back in March,

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he was our very first episode.

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Because back in March, if you remember,

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that's when buses were still showing up in Denver.

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And they were hitting that $40,000-plus mark.

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And so he really went through.

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And he brought a very unique perspective,

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because it wasn't just around Denver.

377
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It was the root causes of it, current administration,

378
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the policy differences that maybe incentivized this influx,

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and how it actually is to be at the border,

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and what you experience there.

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And then he related it back to Denver and the issues

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they're having there, the fact that this

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is impacting budgets for police, for fire, for roads, for schools.

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And so yeah, that's the kind of information

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we like to bring to people.

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But that's good.

387
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No, it is good.

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And Carrie, I know that even as a county commissioner,

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you are looking at budgets of organizations

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that also could be inclined to perhaps encourage

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some of that activity.

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And you kind of have to say no.

393
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And no, people are just shocked when you say no.

394
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No, we're not doing that.

395
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I want to, on the engage side, have you

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people come to you to say, OK, I want to run for school board.

397
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Tell me about my impact.

398
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I need to.

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I don't think it's any surprise to anybody

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00:19:33.780 --> 00:19:37.820
around the United States that Colorado's Republican Party is

401
00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:39.260
in quite a bit of disarray.

402
00:19:39.260 --> 00:19:41.260
We've had a lot of ruckus, a lot of fighting,

403
00:19:41.260 --> 00:19:43.140
a lot of infighting, which is probably

404
00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:46.420
what some people love to see.

405
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And probably coming to you to go, OK,

406
00:19:48.860 --> 00:19:52.060
how do we make sense of this mess?

407
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And what can I do?

408
00:19:54.260 --> 00:19:58.460
You've always had a very good ground game in your races,

409
00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:00.780
both you and Tim.

410
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.640
cultivated, right? You've cultivated volunteers. Tell me, you know, people that want to do

411
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that. I applaud anybody that will stand up today to say, yes, I will run. You know, I

412
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will serve. I will do this. It's not for the faint of heart. I say this all the time.

413
00:20:16.920 --> 00:20:23.680
Carrie, how do you, through Engage, describe, even to people that fund you, what it is you

414
00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:29.080
really want to accomplish with getting good people, you know, elected into office, right?

415
00:20:29.560 --> 00:20:33.120
Yeah, absolutely. You know, and that's something, again, our donors are really excited about

416
00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:38.200
because when we look around, to your point, it is not for the faint of heart to run, especially

417
00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:43.200
in this environment, right? Which is another thing that, you know, I like to promote, which

418
00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:51.720
is civil discourse. You know, we have a lot of very passionate ideas. And but we do need

419
00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.760
to remember that these are human beings. And sometimes that can be difficult. And so it

420
00:20:56.760 --> 00:21:00.960
is hard to find good folks to run. And oftentimes, we have a lot of people who have not been

421
00:21:00.960 --> 00:21:05.680
paying attention. You know, just like what happened with COVID, they wake up and they

422
00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:10.040
go, Oh, my gosh, things are not, I did not realize how bad things really were. And they

423
00:21:10.040 --> 00:21:14.560
decide they want to run for office, which is great. However, there's a lot to learn

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00:21:14.560 --> 00:21:19.120
before you decide to, you know, kind of throw your hat in the ring, the ring, both from

425
00:21:19.120 --> 00:21:24.640
a, you know, again, a governance perspective on actually understanding the role that you're

426
00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:30.040
taking, we see that a lot where people are very passionate, but maybe they don't actually

427
00:21:30.040 --> 00:21:34.280
understand what a county commissioner actually does, or what a city council member actually

428
00:21:34.280 --> 00:21:38.080
does, what are the limitations of their power, what things, you know, if you go out and you

429
00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:41.880
promise people that you can do a lot of things that actually aren't within your authority,

430
00:21:41.880 --> 00:21:46.040
that's not a great way to begin as a candidate, you know, remember, I thought we had that,

431
00:21:46.040 --> 00:21:50.680
I thought we had that for the coroner's office or something, you know, we had an actual coroner,

432
00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:55.240
you know, an MD, like, you know, and then we had someone that showed up in a white coat

433
00:21:55.240 --> 00:22:01.160
and said, I'm gonna, you know, stop, maybe, and I'm running for coroner and people just

434
00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:07.160
kind of went, okay, what? And so yes, we have that happening, right? It's kind of probably

435
00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:12.960
well meant on one side, but, but you just have to shake your head and go, I'm don't

436
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:13.960
see that.

437
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:17.200
Right. And understanding the parameters. So that's a big piece of what Engage can help

438
00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:22.000
bring to the table. Connect you with people who are already in office, connect you with,

439
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.640
you know, all kinds of experts around governments and the law, and make sure that you really

440
00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:32.240
know A, what you're getting yourself into, B, that you can, you know, make appropriate

441
00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:38.280
goals and, and, you know, tell voters if you're going to actually run, what it is that you

442
00:22:38.280 --> 00:22:43.080
can do for them. And so, you know, it helps keep us all a little honest too, to really

443
00:22:43.080 --> 00:22:46.920
know what those things are. Nobody wants to get into an office and realize, I can't do

444
00:22:47.640 --> 00:22:51.320
the things I thought I was going to do. Right. And so I think that's a big piece of it. And,

445
00:22:51.320 --> 00:22:56.560
you know, just learning the principles of our founding as well. You know, everything

446
00:22:56.560 --> 00:23:03.320
from why free speech is important. You know, we live in a time where it, you know, it's

447
00:23:03.320 --> 00:23:09.520
tempting to some to say, well, I don't like that speech, so we shouldn't have that speech.

448
00:23:09.520 --> 00:23:12.840
Right. And we, and we hear that sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right. You know,

449
00:23:12.840 --> 00:23:18.680
we really want to remind folks why is important that free speech is there. You know, we want

450
00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.760
to make sure folks understand private property rights. You and I have talked about how vital

451
00:23:22.760 --> 00:23:27.400
private property rights are to the foundation of all of our other liberties. Right. They

452
00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:34.480
are foundational and, and to see any of those things slip away would be very dangerous.

453
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.480
So we want anyone who's interested in getting involved in government to have a very firm

454
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:42.320
and thorough understanding, think through all of those issues, think through those lenses

455
00:23:42.320 --> 00:23:48.640
that they're going to use as a potential future, you know, policymakers talk to people

456
00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:55.360
and, and have a you know, a really solid foundation for how they would make decisions going into

457
00:23:55.360 --> 00:23:58.720
that and be thoughtful about that. And then, as I said, you know, kind of the mechanics

458
00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:04.800
of it as well, too in terms of what it actually takes, what that looks like. Yeah. What does

459
00:24:04.800 --> 00:24:08.320
it take to actually get in front of those positions? And again, that, that may be someone

460
00:24:08.320 --> 00:24:11.600
who wants to run for office and we'd encourage anyone listening who thinks that's something

461
00:24:11.600 --> 00:24:16.560
that they, they would be interested in for at any level, any type of office, you know,

462
00:24:16.560 --> 00:24:19.720
to reach out through engage and get involved in some of those programs, even listening

463
00:24:19.720 --> 00:24:24.540
to the podcast, I guarantee you, you'll learn. It's amazing. I talked to even local elected

464
00:24:24.540 --> 00:24:29.080
officials who listened to the podcast and say, I learned something. So it's great. We

465
00:24:29.080 --> 00:24:34.960
really try to get it across.

466
00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:39.160
In particular, John's on the ice stuff. I mean, again, I'm, I'm living this on a daily

467
00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:43.800
basis in my life. And yet I still learn things from that, that were really interesting. So

468
00:24:43.800 --> 00:24:48.240
it really is geared for so many different areas, but, you know, even if you think, gosh,

469
00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.920
you know, I have maybe one night a month and I'd be interested in serving on a volunteer

470
00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:59.040
board. Yes. The County, the city, even school districts have, you know, all kinds of different

471
00:24:59.040 --> 00:24:59.960
opportunities.

472
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.320
They're great for actually affecting what's going on in our local government and also

473
00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:06.560
learning.

474
00:25:06.560 --> 00:25:10.760
And so no matter what level that's at, doesn't have to be, you know, running for, you know,

475
00:25:10.760 --> 00:25:15.160
an office that's at a higher level, there's some way for everyone to get involved.

476
00:25:15.160 --> 00:25:20.000
And even if it is becoming a very informed voter and sharing that information with your

477
00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.040
community, that is also incredibly important.

478
00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:24.040
Yeah.

479
00:25:24.040 --> 00:25:28.120
And the event that Carrie had mentioned kind of at the start of this, that we're still

480
00:25:28.120 --> 00:25:31.820
in the works, but something we're going to do is, you know, we have people who are interested

481
00:25:31.820 --> 00:25:36.320
and want to be involved, don't know how, and this event we're going to hold, we're going

482
00:25:36.320 --> 00:25:40.000
to have a county commissioner, we're going to have a school board member, we're going

483
00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.460
to have a city councilman and likely a state representative there.

484
00:25:44.460 --> 00:25:47.840
And they're going to answer just those like nuanced questions that a lot of people don't

485
00:25:47.840 --> 00:25:50.520
think about, like, hey, you're a school board member, right?

486
00:25:50.520 --> 00:25:52.120
Or you run for school board.

487
00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:53.520
It's not a paid position, right?

488
00:25:53.520 --> 00:25:55.220
This is a volunteer position.

489
00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:57.220
And the grief they take.

490
00:25:57.220 --> 00:26:00.220
And how many hours does that take?

491
00:26:00.220 --> 00:26:01.220
Answering those basic questions.

492
00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:02.220
How do you balance that?

493
00:26:02.220 --> 00:26:03.220
Yes.

494
00:26:03.220 --> 00:26:04.220
Yes.

495
00:26:04.220 --> 00:26:05.220
And same with city council.

496
00:26:05.220 --> 00:26:11.500
It's a little bit paid, but it's a very involved job and you can't just survive on what they

497
00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:12.500
get paid.

498
00:26:12.500 --> 00:26:13.500
I mean, it's very small.

499
00:26:13.500 --> 00:26:16.580
So those are things that people really, a lot of times don't think about.

500
00:26:16.580 --> 00:26:21.820
And so we're going to connect you directly with the people in those positions and, you

501
00:26:21.820 --> 00:26:22.820
know, they can-

502
00:26:22.820 --> 00:26:23.820
Absolutely.

503
00:26:24.420 --> 00:26:25.420
Absolutely.

504
00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:26.420
No, absolutely.

505
00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:28.420
Because very often I'll go, why didn't so and so do this?

506
00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:29.420
I have to call Carrie.

507
00:26:29.420 --> 00:26:33.300
Carrie, wait, why didn't, why didn't this happen?

508
00:26:33.300 --> 00:26:34.300
Or what happened here?

509
00:26:34.300 --> 00:26:37.220
Or what was, or I, or I have to call our county clerk.

510
00:26:37.220 --> 00:26:38.220
Okay.

511
00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:39.220
Yeah.

512
00:26:39.220 --> 00:26:40.220
Here's what we're hearing.

513
00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:41.940
Help me with the voter boxes.

514
00:26:41.940 --> 00:26:43.380
Let's deal with this.

515
00:26:43.380 --> 00:26:44.380
Where are they going to be?

516
00:26:44.380 --> 00:26:49.420
And you know, they're really, I say, I think El Paso's lucky.

517
00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:58.460
We have many of smart, good-hearted, very transparent, I think, people who are willing

518
00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:00.100
to say, well, here's the story.

519
00:27:00.100 --> 00:27:01.620
Here's what's going on.

520
00:27:01.620 --> 00:27:06.580
Before rumors can take hold and people lose their minds over, you know, crazy things,

521
00:27:06.580 --> 00:27:09.180
they can put a stop to that right then and there.

522
00:27:09.180 --> 00:27:10.180
Absolutely.

523
00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:13.980
And being more connected helps them form those relationships to do exactly those things,

524
00:27:13.980 --> 00:27:14.980
right?

525
00:27:14.980 --> 00:27:15.980
Hearing what's coming up.

526
00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:16.980
You're right.

527
00:27:16.980 --> 00:27:21.540
It's so important because in a day where we all know we are inundated with information,

528
00:27:21.540 --> 00:27:26.860
it's so easy to, you know, go down a road of hearing something and not really knowing

529
00:27:26.860 --> 00:27:32.460
and having, quite frankly, real concern and, you know, to be able to find ways to connect

530
00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:37.740
in and learn more so that you can, you know, vet for yourself, is this a real concern?

531
00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:42.060
Is this, you know, propaganda that's out there trying to sway me one way or another?

532
00:27:42.060 --> 00:27:44.220
There's a lot of that out there.

533
00:27:44.220 --> 00:27:50.780
And being well-informed and, you know, that can make the big difference in really knowing

534
00:27:50.780 --> 00:27:52.460
what's going on in our local community.

535
00:27:52.460 --> 00:27:57.500
I highly recommend for your listeners the Steve Slyker episode that we just did a couple

536
00:27:57.500 --> 00:28:00.900
weeks ago with our county clerk in our corner.

537
00:28:00.900 --> 00:28:04.580
There was so much information that I learned just talking to him.

538
00:28:04.580 --> 00:28:09.180
Like, I didn't know that every single drop-off box, ballot drop-off box, has a camera on

539
00:28:09.180 --> 00:28:12.020
it and it's live streamed 24-7.

540
00:28:12.020 --> 00:28:15.900
And Steve implemented that because, you know, he just basically said, well, people were

541
00:28:15.900 --> 00:28:17.060
so concerned with it.

542
00:28:17.060 --> 00:28:22.460
And then when they would do a court request and get asked for the video, it was such a

543
00:28:22.460 --> 00:28:24.940
time process and it was large files.

544
00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:28.500
And so he said, I'm just going to make it available 24-7, so you don't even have to

545
00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:29.500
request the video.

546
00:28:29.500 --> 00:28:31.220
You can just tune in and watch it anytime.

547
00:28:31.220 --> 00:28:33.100
That was something I had no idea about.

548
00:28:33.100 --> 00:28:34.100
That's so great.

549
00:28:34.100 --> 00:28:38.220
And it's something that our clerk and recorders in this day and age take a lot of flack for

550
00:28:38.220 --> 00:28:39.580
because there's a lot of concerns.

551
00:28:39.580 --> 00:28:40.580
Yes.

552
00:28:40.620 --> 00:28:41.620
There's a lot of concerns.

553
00:28:41.620 --> 00:28:42.620
Right.

554
00:28:42.620 --> 00:28:44.980
And that was something I didn't even know.

555
00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:45.980
But that's what we're doing.

556
00:28:45.980 --> 00:28:46.980
Did he talk about Experian?

557
00:28:46.980 --> 00:28:47.980
He did.

558
00:28:47.980 --> 00:28:48.980
I couldn't remember.

559
00:28:48.980 --> 00:28:49.980
He did, yeah.

560
00:28:49.980 --> 00:28:50.980
I listened to it, but I can't remember.

561
00:28:50.980 --> 00:28:51.980
I couldn't remember.

562
00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:52.980
Yeah.

563
00:28:52.980 --> 00:28:54.900
So Experian is another one of those great things.

564
00:28:54.900 --> 00:28:57.500
Again, highly recommend it because it's things that not everyone knows.

565
00:28:57.500 --> 00:29:00.860
You know, Steve has come and spoken about these things at the Board of County Commissioners

566
00:29:00.860 --> 00:29:01.860
meetings.

567
00:29:01.860 --> 00:29:02.860
Yes.

568
00:29:02.860 --> 00:29:03.860
But let's be honest.

569
00:29:03.860 --> 00:29:04.860
Not everyone has time to sit around and watch, you know, me and my colleagues.

570
00:29:04.860 --> 00:29:05.860
Well, Carrie, I'm sorry.

571
00:29:05.860 --> 00:29:08.860
I just text you and say what's going on.

572
00:29:08.860 --> 00:29:09.860
Yes, exactly.

573
00:29:10.140 --> 00:29:13.860
So that's another one of the great things, the number of mail-in ballots that have, you

574
00:29:13.860 --> 00:29:19.940
know, the undeliverable, sorry, the undeliverable ballots.

575
00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:22.660
There used to be thousands and thousands and thousands of these.

576
00:29:22.660 --> 00:29:23.660
Tens of thousands.

577
00:29:23.660 --> 00:29:24.660
Yes, tens of thousands.

578
00:29:24.660 --> 00:29:25.660
You're right.

579
00:29:25.660 --> 00:29:26.660
And it has been significantly reduced.

580
00:29:26.660 --> 00:29:28.780
So, you know, is it a perfect system?

581
00:29:28.780 --> 00:29:29.780
No.

582
00:29:29.780 --> 00:29:31.620
But it's really good to hear about the things that are going on.

583
00:29:31.620 --> 00:29:33.820
And I think, yeah, actually, that's a really good.

584
00:29:33.820 --> 00:29:34.820
There's so many good episodes.

585
00:29:34.820 --> 00:29:37.820
Really, they should just kind of go on and check them all out.

586
00:29:37.820 --> 00:29:38.820
Okay.

587
00:29:38.820 --> 00:29:39.820
Website.

588
00:29:39.820 --> 00:29:40.820
What's your website?

589
00:29:40.820 --> 00:29:41.820
EngageTheRockies.com.

590
00:29:41.820 --> 00:29:42.820
Okay.

591
00:29:42.820 --> 00:29:43.820
EngageTheRockies.com.

592
00:29:43.820 --> 00:29:47.140
Are you looking at a voter guide at all?

593
00:29:47.140 --> 00:29:51.580
That's definitely something that we've been asked about a lot, especially around some

594
00:29:51.580 --> 00:29:57.260
of the key issues that align with our free market, individual freedom, limited government.

595
00:29:57.260 --> 00:30:00.020
Those are three things that we have specifically set out to say we want to address.

596
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:05.920
preserve through that civic engagement so we were really looking at potentially

597
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:09.840
a voter guide for the fall that has some of those things mostly more related to

598
00:30:09.840 --> 00:30:13.000
you know we all know about you know the presidential race there's plenty of

599
00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:16.480
information on that we all know about the federal races there's just seems to

600
00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:21.480
be a lot more information on that but really on the the more local level your

601
00:30:21.480 --> 00:30:28.560
state your state level folks. Ballot initiatives, certain things there it's it's hard

602
00:30:28.560 --> 00:30:34.240
listen I know Jeff Crank is going to be is running for Congress but a lot of

603
00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:38.040
people had Crank's picks you know or would go there but I think we need

604
00:30:38.040 --> 00:30:43.640
something that really takes you know takes our liberty our Constitution our

605
00:30:43.640 --> 00:30:48.360
freedoms and really looks across and gives us something I think it's valuable

606
00:30:48.360 --> 00:30:52.000
for the church I think it's valuable just in general for the public so I'm

607
00:30:52.000 --> 00:30:55.160
glad to hear you're thinking about it. Yeah and I think again what you know

608
00:30:55.160 --> 00:30:58.040
we'll go kind of from that perspective there's a lot of other great voter guides

609
00:30:58.040 --> 00:31:02.360
out there as well I know you know the church voter guide and other things that

610
00:31:02.360 --> 00:31:06.840
are out there so but it is good to kind of get a different perspectives and then

611
00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:09.760
you can kind of use those things all together to help you as a voter and I

612
00:31:09.760 --> 00:31:13.160
think that that's something we're very much looking at you know we just launched

613
00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:21.040
the podcast a few months ago yes yeah February, February, March, March, I think it's early March so

614
00:31:21.040 --> 00:31:27.680
you know we are, you're up and running, you're getting it going, we're really rolling. You guys are ambitious, I love it, I love it.

615
00:31:27.680 --> 00:31:32.960
Listen in closing what if people want to get a hold of you Jarvis or Carrie

616
00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:38.960
specifically or is it info at Engage? Yeah yeah the easiest way is just to go

617
00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:45.080
to www.engagetherockies.com okay we've got multiple places on there where you

618
00:31:45.080 --> 00:31:48.880
can just sign up to our email great and we'll great we'll put you on our list

619
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:53.000
when we when we drop a new podcast usually every Monday okay and every

620
00:31:53.000 --> 00:31:57.160
Friday so we do a weekend review so we go through and just cover the top

621
00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:01.680
headlines every Friday morning okay of what maybe you missed. We'll make that available to our

622
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:04.960
congregation. Yeah and I'm glad that you mentioned that because that's the

623
00:32:04.960 --> 00:32:09.560
second part actually truly ambitious on Jarvis's part I mean we we have a 30

624
00:32:09.560 --> 00:32:14.040
minute podcast that's a lot more in-depth on issues yes on Mondays but

625
00:32:14.120 --> 00:32:19.480
that Friday in review is 15 minutes or less it is an opportunity for you to

626
00:32:19.480 --> 00:32:22.400
just catch up on what's been going on during the week yeah so if you don't

627
00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:25.160
have time to read all the headlines you don't have time to go to all the City

628
00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.600
Council meetings all of those things that's just a you know a quick

629
00:32:28.600 --> 00:32:32.000
opportunity for you to catch up we've gotten a lot of people that really

630
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.920
appreciate that because as we know we're all so busy right and it's different

631
00:32:35.920 --> 00:32:39.120
than like you know the national level because it's much more local to what is

632
00:32:39.120 --> 00:32:42.880
going on here and it's released first thing early in the morning on Fridays so

633
00:32:42.880 --> 00:32:45.880
when you're driving to work good it's already there for you that's good

634
00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:51.240
because seriously local we've got to really understand that I mean people are

635
00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:56.040
pretty tuned in through national organizations you know whether it's

636
00:32:56.040 --> 00:32:59.360
Charlie Kirk or Daily Wire or whatever's going on in the national front but

637
00:32:59.360 --> 00:33:04.320
really where action happens is between your state office right your local

638
00:33:04.320 --> 00:33:09.080
offices and what happens in between so I really I want to encourage our listeners

639
00:33:09.080 --> 00:33:14.840
really tune into this because it's super helpful and again I think it gives

640
00:33:14.840 --> 00:33:18.520
clarity as to what's going on in the community well I want to thank both of

641
00:33:18.520 --> 00:33:22.480
you for being here I always love seeing you I'm always learning something when

642
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:28.680
Carrie shows up Jarvis Jarvis we wish you well coming into the general

643
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:33.120
election I I know you've worked hard I know all the candidates that ran for

644
00:33:33.120 --> 00:33:37.560
this worked hard but you showed some good discipline I think I'm really proud

645
00:33:37.560 --> 00:33:42.000
of you and Carrie as usual you've got everybody out walking so I you know if

646
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:46.920
I need if I need to drop some pounds I say Carrie I've got to walk and I'm sent

647
00:33:46.920 --> 00:33:52.920
to the mountains thank you both thank you so much for being here again let's

648
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:57.480
utilize and empower ourselves think engage it's great and really appreciate

649
00:33:57.480 --> 00:34:01.640
you both thank you so much thank you pleasure