Welcome to Empower You. I'm Amy Stevens. You may have heard Pastor Steve's podcast
where we had a conversation about public policy engagement or civic engagement.
You know, COVID changed a lot of things in our community and this is where the
road really exploded in membership and where people began to get engaged. And so
Pastor Steve came to me and said, hey, would you consider volunteering to help
lead this effort? We have all kinds of views in our church, diverse views. And
really, how do we make sense of that? How do we move forward? People are exhausted,
a lot of people angry, some just trying to raise their kids. How do we stay
engaged? And I'm convinced it's through big, important little things, things that
you and I can do every day. And that's what you're going to hear on these
podcasts. You're gonna hear from people in the community, school board members,
you're going to hear from people that work in the life, pro-life space, you're
going to hear from legislators, people that are going to talk to us about what
their lives are really like, what their jobs are really like, and actually how we
can make a difference and or support them. And so that is the hope for Pastor
Steve, that's the hope that I have, and we look forward to engaging with you.
We have a wonderful, accomplished woman that I'm so excited to be speaking with.
Lynette Crow Iverson is a newly elected City Council member here for El Paso
County, Colorado Springs, not El Paso County, Colorado Springs. Lynette, I want
to welcome you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Now we've known
each other for quite a while, but I'd like you to talk about your original
business that you started that boomed and that you recently sold. Lynette Crow Sure, happy to.
When I first moved to Colorado Springs in the early 90s, I'm a Colorado native.
With my late husband, I was a newly registered nurse and I worked at
Memorial Hospital in labor and delivery for about six years and, you know, caught
more babies than the doctors and kind of discovered I'd rather tell you what to do
than you tell me what to do. We had a big joke and laugh about it, but in that
mindset, I actually went down the road of opening a medical clinic with a
physician in occupational medicine and pain management and ran that, expanded
that, franchised a piece of it, Conspire, the drug compliance program, sold that
before COVID, and then sold the medical clinic in April of 2022. So for 23 years
we grew and expanded across the nation. Lynette Crow And then instead of taking it easy,
you thought you'd just run for city council. Lynette Crow I did. I swear, I woke up, I was like, I was so happy you won.
And then I think one day later, I find out you're Mayor Pro Tem. Now that is good for you.
Lynette Crow Thank you. Lynette Crow Good for you. I love it. Okay, so tell me what your, tell me about that
experience because I, I don't think people understand enough that we deal with two
things when you decide to run for office. What that experience is like to get
elected, and then when you get the office, and what happens there, that
adjustment, right, that whole transition, and it is a transition, right? So what was
it like when you ran for office? What are, what are some of the things that stick
out to you that, that, you know, the people asked you and that you didn't
really understand, I think at the time, what surprised you when you ran?
Lynette Crow Right. So for me, for the last two years, I ran campaigns with Mayor Southers. So I ran 2C, the first one, and I ran PPRTA, and I ran this last top. So I was always behind the scenes.
So it was easy for me to run campaigns behind the scenes. But then when you run, you're in front of everyone, all the time, everything you say, everything you do, how you comb your hair, what you wear, it's all critiqued.
And so it's a whole different ballgame, right? You hear a lot more from, you get inundated with emails on your opinions and who you are, and, and what party you're affiliated with, because it's a nonpartisan race.
And so, and all the voter questionnaires, right? 30. Oh, my 30 questionnaires. I stopped at 30. But it's, you know, luckily, you can cut and paste some. Yeah. Yeah, I did. Right, right. But a lot, a lot per industry, right?
So the industry has questions you wouldn't have, right? You have questions that downtown partnership wouldn't have, right? And so on. So you really get educated in that process as well, of what's important to organizations in town, what's important to the citizens, because you get a lot of emails based on recreational marijuana, based on taxes, based on potholes, anything to do with the city.
And so you really do get to educate yourself in those three months of what's important to the community, and you probably are set up in a, in a,
good mind space to hit the ground running until you're in that seat and then it shifts.
And then it shifts, yes. And one thing before we get into that, what is, people are often confused
about the differences between city council of Colorado Springs versus being an El Paso county
commissioner. So what does a city council person do? What are the issues that city council covers?
In city, the city council role is to oversee the budget. So we approve the budget from the
mayor's office first and foremost. That is a very big role of ours every year in October. We will,
we will start getting pieces of it now in July and in October it has to be solidified. So we
oversee the budget of the city and all land use, metro districts, annexation,
anything that has to do with land use, which is really a big deal, especially right now. And the
city council is the board to our utilities, which is a nonprofit. That's an interesting
relationship, isn't it? You were asked, I believe, I remember seeing this, what would you do with
utilities? How is that transition? What is that going to look like? It's not a common thing.
It is not common to have a city owned utility. And we talk about it being a $2 billion utility,
but if it was traded on the market, like other utilities, it would be a $6 billion utility.
So you have nine city council members running and making decisions on behalf of your very big and
very growing utility that now has a lot of mandate issues coming down from the state and the feds on
clean plan and coal and electricity. And it's a big lift. It is a huge lift. I remember
in state office, I had a very controversial vote because the Obama administration had wanted to
tell the state how we were going to cut back. And the state pretty much said, no, thank you very
much. We will do that. We will decide. Now that entailed a vote on Drake. It entailed a number of
things that is very complicated, right? And at the time, and still am, I'm very supportive on
natural gas. Suddenly that's a dirty word. Don't know how, when that happened and suddenly
everything's electric and I, I'm not letting my conspiracy mind go, but I think there's reasons
for that, which is, which are crazy. But these are the issues you're dealing with and they affect
housing. They affect the cost in housing. They're, they're also going to affect the rate payer. Yes.
Because we cannot afford to be on electricity. The rate payer cannot afford it. Building cannot
afford it. Housing cannot afford it. We will never have affordable housing. Right. So there,
there's a lot, um, at stake with how we, um, react to this. We need to be, um, proactive and not
reactive. Yes. Yes. I thoroughly agree. So when we get into then you get elected, then I wake up in
the morning and one day later you're our mayor pro tem, which is amazing. Okay. So what then
was that transition like between running for office and then getting into office?
So now you're sitting on the dais. Yes. And now, you know, you have the concerns right in front of
your face. Yes. And many of them do have to do directly with what, um, you do as a city council
person. And a lot of them don't, but you still have to be very respectful. And I would never
shut the door to people coming and expressing their opinions and their thoughts, because if
we ever go down that road, um, that, that would be a terrible day. So, um, you know, it's, it's long
days of listening to opinions and concerns and worries of the citizens. And so that's democracy.
And that is a great thing. Um, unfortunately some of it should be over at commissioners.
Unfortunately, a lot of it needs to be up at the state. Right. Um, cause there,
there laws that are coming down from the state. Yes. And that's why elections matter. Yes. And
this is what I say to people, elections matter. You need to go back up to the state house because
there's nothing we can do about some of the decisions they have made at the state. We can
only make decisions around our city, our budget, and you know, anything that has to do with the
city. That's interesting because I think within city government, there are areas we want to bring
it down to its most local, we would say. Right. Power. Right. I, even, you know, the state having
been there, I almost want to rely more on my city and or municipalities to protect us in many ways.
And I know that you, you get requests as sanctuary cities for this or sanctuary for that or whatever.
There's a part of me that says yes,
particularly when we went through COVID, right?
Our county commissioners ran a resolution.
It's really how this church got involved in so many things
because of the clamp down on freedoms during COVID.
And I know you are a nurse
and you believe in personal autonomy
and you believe in health freedom, right?
And yet you've sat on boards, you've watched this.
I'm interested in your thinking particularly on that
at a local level.
And to be fair, nobody knew it happened so fast
and it came barreling through that nobody knew
really what was the truth and not the truth.
Nobody knew how to react.
And in government, there's some things you can do
coming from the feds, coming from the state
that you have to be careful for.
And I applaud Mayor Sethers.
I think he did a really good job.
And I think the county commissioners did a really good job
holding the line where we could.
We were the fastest metro city in the state
to come out of COVID financially.
So we clearly didn't clamp down as hard as many,
didn't follow exactly what everybody wanted us to do
and council was split.
Some wouldn't come back to council for three or four months
or even a year or two just based on fear
and the fear mongering that went on.
And then some held the line.
So it was an interesting dynamic at that time.
And it caused a lot of division,
which I think was part of the plan.
Ah, yes.
Yeah, sure.
But I think our city did,
hindsight, there's things we could have done better
and we've all said that.
But I think any major thing would happen in the future,
I think we're better prepared to kind of have an idea
of what that looks like with personal freedoms.
You know, Target can stay open, but your boutique can't
and you're selling the same thing.
Right.
Things like that.
And your church.
Right, and your church.
Well, yeah, but to the point of, you know,
the business and, you know, liquor stores are essential,
marijuana is essential, but your church isn't.
Right.
And yeah.
Yeah, right.
And I agree.
I thoroughly agree.
And maybe this is an area of future conversation,
I think, to avoid some of the pitfalls that happened.
And, you know, I was reading a scripture this morning
and I wanted to talk to you about it
because I don't think sometimes people understand,
particularly in this age of social media,
prior in the late 90s or whatever,
you didn't have as much public scourging, so to speak.
Right, I mean, but.
Well, you have social media.
Well, social media, good gracious.
But a wonderful wise friend of yours and mine
who just recently passed away would very often,
I think, give this,
I would call it supportive words,
but particularly from the Bible.
It says, how joyful you are when you make peace,
then you're recognized as a true child of God,
how enriched you are when you bear the wounds
of being persecuted for doing what is right.
For that is when you experience
the realm of heaven's kingdom.
That is the Passion Bible, which I love,
but it's said different ways.
But really, when you're persecuted for doing what's right.
And we're living in times right now
where doing what's right comes at quite the cost, right?
Absolutely.
It comes at such a cost.
I viewed the Monument Charter Academy's
board meeting last night
because they're dealing with the transgender issue
and they're dealing with parents saying,
look, this is, we want our kids safe.
What policies are going to come from this resolution?
Our city's dealing with this.
Absolutely.
Actually, it just came up at council yesterday
and anyone can go watch the council meeting.
In June at the community center,
there was a drag show.
So Inside Out made a reservation
for the community center to hold an event.
And the event was a drag show
where they had a male in drag show,
exposed butt, parading up and down an aisle
and like a runway.
Was it for children?
There were children.
There were very small children.
There were families there, very small children there.
And I sat on the dais and listened to this
and I just kept thinking,
when my children were small in the summer,
we were encouraged to go find all the children
in the neighborhood
and ask them to go to vacation Bible school.
And those were the things that were important
to parents and children then.
And they would go to church and they would sing songs
and they would do.
and they would have fun and they would learn about Jesus and here we are now
taking our children to drag shows. The reason it came to City is because it was
in a city-owned building and that's what our taxpayers dollars are going to and I
believe the majority if not all of my constituents would not think that's a
good use of dollars when we are we are putting that stuff in children's minds.
Right the sexualization of children. Right yeah so you can go watch it and
the CEO of Inside Out you know verbalized that it's no different than
watching a gymnast it's no different than going to the swimming pool but the
swimming pool children are there having fun the intent of swimming is family
clean fun activity exercise it's water that's what you do in the summer that's
the intent of swimming. No different than swimming. The intent of a drag queen show
is sexualizing children. That's right. Wow. Wow. So again you're sitting at the
dais and you're listening to this right and you know it's hard I've had some
issues where you're very right that you're watched all the time you really
are in a glass bowl because you have cameras pointing down you've cameras
actually at every angle I as I've watched same in the house right but I I
have to tell you I have to watch myself in terms of going rolling like rolling
my eyes I in fact one reporter my favorite Lynn Bartles would come to me
and say you rolled your eyes you know I'd have to stop that because some
things are so outrageous they're so ridiculous that you're going wow okay I
thought I'd heard it all but today we're at a new we're at a new point and and
respectfully you have to you just it's these are things that you learn on the
job right and right these are these are tough issues yeah for me it wasn't even
an eye roll it was very sad it was very sad for to think that there's actually
people out there that think this is okay for our children and Councilman
Donaldson asked the question were there small children there and they said yes
there were how how young very young I mean it's it's recorded very young
children this is the problem with America today yeah what are we teaching
our children what are we stilling in our children what's the next generation
gonna look like so when you talk about the scripture light versus dark yes of
course we have to listen and we should listen right but to agree and to go
along with for our children for me is not okay and I'm very convicted that
this is evil and it's a spiritual war and I can tell you this council will be
putting something in place that this does not happen again Wow well thank you
thank God for you I I am I couldn't agree more I watched last night as
monument dealt with this and put some principles in place on modesty on child
privacy on and parents had really thoughtful questions it really was I
thought just such a well-done meeting now are they gonna fight over the
policies that come out are could there be some legal action with the state
because there was a law passed this year on some of the title 9 issues which you
know as someone very and you too pro-woman I disagree with biological
males being able to participate in women's sports that women have fought so
hard so hard to attain and attain a level of of leadership we had Eli
Bremer here on empower you and Eli brought up an excellent point that women
who participate in sports really the the numbers of them going into executive
positions and holding leadership positions is very large is that do we do
we want to strike women down from being able to accomplish that and all the
things you learn from sports right right amazing well to me it's common
sense it's an unfair advantage a male I feel different than a female it's
ridiculous to think that it's just now that's an eye roll that's more of a
you've got to be kidding me right in what world right yeah that even a thing
I mean who would have thought so absolutely but at some point we have to
be the light but we also have to love what God loves and hate what God hates
and God hates that sin he loves the people and we love the people yeah but
we don't love the sin right and when you're an adult you can make those
choices but when you're five years old right with a developing brain that's
right yes no developmentally that's crazy you know there's a there is a
passage I read today that as your profile grows as a leader that it
takes more courage at every step of the way,
because your profile is growing, your profile is grown.
You are going to be in the middle of this whole,
and the city has been in the middle,
of all of the marijuana slash mushroom, all of that.
Tell me what's going on with that,
because I think the byproducts,
particularly when you came from,
you had Conspire, which looks at employee testing,
drug-related testing, which is insane right now,
the amount of people that just use marijuana
and are driving around, and it's just,
and the amount of accidents that we have,
and lives lost, but no one wants to talk about that,
because the media shuts that down.
Tell me what you've seen, because I think the days ahead,
particularly on the mushroom issue, is very important.
Well, lucky for us, we are a home real estate,
which is one thing that Governor Poulos
would love to take from us,
and he was at CML this week,
and saying there, he's not done,
and that is a priority for him,
and so the city's better geared up for that,
because he would love to take that away from us.
So we are able to vote on recreational marijuana,
and be able to, and the voters voted.
Right, they did.
In November, they did, and it passed.
That's not something we want in our city.
The voters had the right to do that,
because we're a home real, and even though,
you know, the polling was close,
but I just, I had faith, I knew they'd come through,
because people are waking up to it.
The education is there.
There's a reason it's a scheduled drug.
It's still a federally illegal drug.
It's still federally illegal,
because it's under that schedule that it causes harm,
especially in a maturing brain.
So we still have that power and authority in our city,
and I think as long as we continue to keep that,
and again, because it's federally illegal,
any company receiving federal dollars has to test,
and they have to show the testing.
And so, federally, they crack down on anybody
receiving federal dollars, DOD companies, military.
So it's very much a confusion
between the state and the government,
when they're saying this is dangerous,
and you're not getting money
if you don't test your employees.
On the one hand, it's legal.
I was in office when that thing passed.
And the employer has the right to test,
and so it is confusing to people.
Yes, it is.
It is, and it is, even locally, right?
When Palmer Lake in our area
was looking at the marijuana issue,
and my husband wanted to run a resolution saying,
monument doesn't support this,
we wanna protect our children,
because we're getting closed in on either side.
And there are people, again, his colleagues were like,
oh no, we can't tell people what to do.
And he said, we can't tell people
when our kids are going to be in the middle of this
because of these different bedroom communities?
You're crazy, you've gotta be kidding me.
But we have that up there.
I don't know, we can't really say that, can't do that.
And I, for one, think it's crazy,
because the amount of addiction issues
we're seeing with kids everywhere
is just stunning in this state.
There's many studies of cities
who do have recreational marijuana.
They tax it, and this is the big thing for the pro is,
well, we get all this tax money,
and we'll put it to prevention.
Well, that in itself is an oxymoron,
so why would you need to do that?
But the cities that do have recreational marijuana,
if you look at their studies,
for every dollar that they bring in on the tax,
they spend three on prevention and social costs,
meaning homelessness, addiction,
emergency room visits, healthcare.
So the one to three ratio,
just, and the studies have been done,
it doesn't make sense.
Doesn't even pay, frankly.
It doesn't, we actually pay.
And crime.
Right, exactly, police, crime, the social cost.
The social cost is huge, right?
Absolutely.
And the medical provision part was the gateway, right?
It was the, and we still have a gray market going on.
We still have a gray market.
That was predicted the moment that thing passed,
which is insane, right?
That just is crazy.
Well, and back to educating the voter.
People are awake now.
Yes.
And they're starting to pay attention.
But when 64 passed,
because the language said that the proceeds
of the sale of medical marijuana
would go to building construction of schools.
And so people thought,
oh, they're going to put money in schools,
meaning raises for teachers, or laptops,
or air conditioning.
No, it's building.
It's construction of new schools.
How many schools are we building right now?
And by the way, we have schools that are empty.
Are closing.
Exactly.
So again, back to the voter not being educated
on what they're reading and being tricked
into something ridiculous,
where we're gonna do something bad for good
or good for bad, again, is a split mind.
And so after that, people are like,
well, I wouldn't have voted for it if I knew.
I hear so many people say that now.
Well, that train left the station.
That train is down the, yeah.
I mean, you're not putting that back in.
And so we're not, we're, you know, we have HVAC issues.
We, you know, you saw through COVID,
schools didn't have ventilation, so they couldn't open.
That money did not go to schools.
That money was to construct schools.
And I don't know even how easy that was to get.
So where is the money going?
Prevention, addiction programs?
I mean, think about it.
Listen, there's always someone, always, every year,
every year with the program ready to go, you know.
We'll save, you know, and by the way,
prevention, I am, I get it, right?
From a holistic health point of view,
prevention, wee-haw, I'm there.
But very often, it's, people don't want to see the numbers.
Now, particularly in this issue, right?
This is an issue where your numbers actually
aren't adding up.
Well, and when we, I would go to a lot of debates on this
along during 64, before it passed.
And parents would say, oh, Lynette, I did marijuana,
I was in college, look at me, I'm an attorney now.
In the 70s, it was like your daddy's ditchweed.
You had one joint that was probably 8, 9% THC
and you passed it around the room.
We are genetically modifying those plants
to be 60 to 80% THC.
It is not the same drug.
Yeah, this is not your dad's marijuana, no.
That's right, it's not ditchweed that they talked about.
It is a very strong, potent gummy worm.
And it's like in a worm, in a cookie, in a candy,
in food, you can get pot-tarts, like Pop-Tarts.
You keep pot-tarts.
So it's not just that, I've never done it in my life,
but I was terrified of my parents
and I lived in a small farm community
and we just didn't do that, right?
You're better than me because I was not terrified.
I did not do drugs, I did not.
But I've studied them at length over the years.
And they just, again, weren't educated.
There was no, I hate regulation,
but they should have at least regulated
how you could modify that plant.
Because now you've got plants
and who knows what's in those plants?
Fungus and mold, and who knows what they're putting in them.
But we're finding it out.
People are starting to ask on that
and I think it's a good thing.
I wanna round up our conversation here
with how, as a uniter,
because that's what I know you and your career as,
how do you unite those,
particularly that you're working with right now on council,
how do you come to some consensus
on where you should go on difficult issues?
How do you relate in those ways?
How do you bring people around?
How do you attempt to do that?
Well, I think for me, it's not even about personalities
and getting into political issues.
It's the facts.
Here are the facts.
Here's how it's going to affect our city.
This is going to then affect our citizens.
And is that what we're here for?
You can have an opinion one way or the other.
You can be pro this all you want.
That's fine what you do in your personal life.
But as an elected official of the city,
our job is to take care of the city,
not to take care of anything else
except for the city assets and the citizens.
And so I just come with facts.
I just come down to the facts
and how is that going to affect?
What's the outcome of this decision
going to be on our citizens?
And I try to stay out of the emotional part
and the drama part.
And if you can just keep listening
and bring it back to the facts,
bring it back to the facts,
then I think that that's been beneficial.
I don't know that we're only in nine weeks.
We've only had a few votes.
With many more to come.
Yeah, with many more to come.
Some disruption in utilities
which way they want to go
and direction they want to go.
And how are we going to fix
and pay for all of our infrastructure that's really old?
And how are we going to annex and still keep up?
But I firmly believe in private property rights.
So I'm not not growth.
I'm not not annexation.
But at the same time,
how are we going to pay for that?
And what is that going to do the rate payer?
So these are really hard decisions.
Very hard.
Oh, I have no,
I just feel for you because seriously,
one thing I've seen,
particularly where I'm where I live,
and we're now a lot of people that are fleeing Denver
from crime.
then they come down to our bedroom community and put their kids in the
schools and you know they they have a very different view coming you know from
Denver and then they'll commute. To me there has been almost it's it's really
it's frightening to look at I see it in the Gazette I see it in the papers your
land as a developer is my land I have a right to tell you well I get it if you
want to apply for permits and we go to the town councils and we do that there's
been this growing oh my gosh we have so many apartments you're just wrecking my
view you yeah we don't need another apartment in a in the space of this
table okay and it's become and I've watched conservatives and Republicans get
this way and literally it was the fight that we had a monument I mean this whole
not just anti-development but that your land is my land now your land hadn't
been used for years so therefore who do you think you are suddenly wanting to
put a Whataburger or whatever in my community right right how do you deal
with that I mean I I'm gonna tell you it's been a fight it has been we have
well-meaning people who are like yeah I don't want that I don't want I don't
want this here I don't want that it's your Planning Commission right we're
planning right right and we have to rely on the experts right of our Planning
Commission to do their due diligence yes that's their job and then they bring it
forth to council and then we review all the public process we review Planning
Commission we listen to the developer that's our job is to make sure that it's
all packaged up before it gets to us I don't really pay attention to it until
it gets to us because I don't want to have any opinion right on any piece of
it until it gets to me right so that I'm getting just the information I need
and it is hard because I call them growing pains we're a lot I mean our
parks are loved to death which is why right you know through COVID that's what
we had right so thank goodness we had it so there's some assets that Colorado
Springs has that many people want now they're fleeing from other states yeah
and they're coming here and they're bringing other ideas and their
ideologies and they're bringing you know that here having said that we have
a plan for the city to grow we have plan COS we put these things in play in place
now we've got Annex COS and we've got the HBA that is very smart people Home
Builder Association on how to grow wisely right we're not gonna not grow
that isn't possible no not with the amount of people moving here no and look
at the military many of them read to come back and retire here my area right
in the case that's right new no and we do we want to put walls up and stop
people from going and limit our taxes and limit what we can do we don't want
to do that either but we have to go smart yes yes very good very good so in
closing I want to ask you what can we do to support you what supports you in a
City Council position I'm a citizen I'm not in office anymore well first and
foremost just prayer prayer for every single City Council member because
they're all filling it yeah as much as I am yeah they're all getting their
district people are getting district staff that are at large we're getting at
large I mean we're getting it from everyone so I just think that you know
there's power in that and for each one of them just to have you know the
discernment that they need to make the decisions based on the city they have
favor to be in that seat that's right so how do we you know keep our city going
in that trajectory because we're a faith-based community and we pray and
now we're a praying city first and foremost and then you know pay attention
to what's coming to council look at the agendas see what's on see what's coming
watch the council meetings and get involved in these situations that you
don't you can if you don't do anything then that that's on the citizens too
this is your city you voted for these people to be in City Council reach out
give your opinion show up at council when you think things aren't right for
the city I mean you're wait we do listen we do read those emails we do pay
attention if it's something we can do as a City Council person we do check
into it I love it because I know you do yeah you know some wonderful people now
on council I'm I'm very impressed yeah I think there is a lot that can be
accomplished and I'm thrilled that a person of faith is on council and someone
who is attentive and that's you and I am praying for your leadership because we
need just so many
I think courageous, courageous and wise people in this hour.
And I view you as that.
I just want to thank you for being on Empower You.
You heard it here.
Please pray.
Pray for our council people.
Pray for the city.
Pray for the mayor.
Pray because it's important.
And frankly, quality people like councilman, councilwoman
Crow Iverson make Colorado Springs better.
So thank you very much.