Welcome to the Kim Monson Show podcast. Kim Monson is your host. 2025 is winding down. Author Pam Long discusses the best and the worst of Colorado politics in 2025. Cheyenne, Wyoming realtor Wendy Volk shares the latest regarding the massive industrial wind projects proposed in Wyoming. Colorado Union of Taxpayers (CUT) board member Cory Ohnesorge addresses the recently announced Public Utilities Commission “Clean Heat Plan” which will make life less affordable for Coloradans. And we’ll talk with Karen Gordey with Radiant Painting and Lighting ————————————————————————————– The Kim Monson Show airs on KLZ 560 AM every Monday thru Friday,
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 20 :
I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas, and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
SPEAKER 11 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 20 :
With what is happening down at the Statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation, and it’s not.
SPEAKER 11 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 20 :
I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
SPEAKER 11 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 20 :
Indeed. Let’s have a conversation. And welcome to the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you to the team that I get to work with. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Thursday, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 19 :
Happy Thursday, Kim.
SPEAKER 20 :
And there is a lot going on out there. So fasten your seatbelts. We’ve got a great show planned for you today. As you know, we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. and it’s never compassionate to take other people’s stuff, whether or not it’s their rights, their property, freedom, livelihood, opportunity, childhoods, or lives via force. And force can obviously be weapon, but it can be policy, unpredictable and excessive taxation, fear, coercion, government-induced inflation, the agenda of the World Economic Forum, and the globalist elites that we see playing out all the way down to local governments. And these local races, these local elected races are so, so important. And we see this playing out through road diets, forced fees, zoning regulations. national monument designations, all these things are an assault upon property rights. And that’s one of the things that we focus on on a regular basis is property rights because property rights are so inherent to the American idea of the fact that everyday people could own property. And all of that is under assault. When you hear the globalist elites say that by 2030 that we will own nothing and be happy about it, well, we will not be happy about it. And quite frankly, this agenda is between high taxes and… fees, really, really taking away our property rights. And so that’s why we do the show is because we have to engage in this battle of ideas that is raging out there. And so stay tuned as we are working on all of this. Now, our word of the day. Is hoodwinked. And yesterday when Bob Boswell was on, we were talking about Senate Bill 24 to 30. And that is where the three big or three big oil and gas producers, those Occidental, Chevron and Civitas made a deal in 2024 with the radical activist party. politicians democrat politicians and this uh this democrat party is not the party of jfk or your grandpa and your grandma and we need to make sure that we uh that we we talk to people about that because the big broad middle of america and that is moderate democrats and republicans and conservatives and unaffiliateds and libertarians We love this American idea, and so we need to be electing representatives that will push that forward. And so anyway, the three big oil and gas producers made this deal, and the deal was that there’d be no new president. regulations or no new legislation regarding oil and gas. So what instead they’re doing is they’re doing it through regulations. So anyway, the deal was made that there would be a fee that would be put on production of oil and gas here in Colorado. And that makes it more expensive all across the board. And so I said, gosh, why? I can’t understand that. I was so concerned about that when I saw that. And he said, well, I think that the big three were hoodwinked. And so I thought, well, that’s a great word of the day. And so this is the definition. It’s a transitive verb. It means to deceive or swindle by deception, to blindfold or to conceal. And so it should be pretty darn easy for you to use the word hoodwinked in a sentence today. It’s spelled H-O-O-D-W-I-N-K-E. And our quote for today is from Thomas Jefferson. And he said this, and this was a letter to Martha Jefferson in 1787, which that was the year the Constitution was signed. He said, determined never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of want. of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing and that you may always be doing good, my dear, is the ardent prayer of yours affectionately. And that is Thomas Jefferson. And, gosh, I think that you could take that and look to these staff programs where people are receiving government benefits and are not working. And so determined never to be idle. And, again, that is Thomas Jefferson. Next thing, I really want to encourage you, the girls were over last night, and we talked a bit about this petition that we put together for Tina Peters to call on Governor Polis to release her by Christmas Eve. And I’ve had several questions on, well, what’s the deadline to sign this? And I’m thinking, well, just sign it now. But they said, no, Kim, you need to have a deadline. So the deadline for this will be Friday the 19th. And send this out not only to people here in Colorado, but throughout the country. Jared Polis is a political animal. And he really watches the tea leaves. And if in fact, and we’re getting good response, I want great response on this. And if we will then present to him a long list of people throughout the country who And we’re going to present first name and the first initial of the last name. And request that he, not request, call on him to release Tina Peters by Christmas Eve. And appealing to, no matter what you feel about her case and the details on that case, it is a humane thing to do. And so Governor Polis has a choice here. He can show mercy, compassion, and kindness and release her. And if he does not release her, he’s showing the opposite. That he does not show mercy, that he is not kind, and that he is not compassionate. And so sign it and send this out to your sphere of influence. Because this is what the petition says. Go to KimMonson.com. There’s a red banner at the top. and say we as fellow human beings respectfully call upon governor jared polis to release former mesa county clerk and recorder tina peters on or before christmas eve december wednesday december twenty four we call on him to exhibit kindness compassion and mercy to tina peters by granting her release release her immediately so that she may seek the medical treatment she needs including care for a possible return of cancer and allow her the opportunity to visit her hospitalized 97-year-old mother. And so go to my website, sign the petition, share it with your sphere of influence, and let’s work to get Tina Peters released by Christmas Eve. We get to do all of these projects here, and I thank all of you for your support because of our great sponsors. And I think we have on the line with us Karen Gorday with Radiant Painting and Lighting. Karen, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Kim. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 20 :
And the girls were over last night. We missed you last night.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m sorry. I’m doing some major validation for the Lakewood referendum. We’re under the gun to get that done. So I was steady working on that and then realized the time and I was like, oh, it’s 730. There’s no way I’m going to make it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, we missed you. Where are you at on these petitions? Because this is the petition, the last petition, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
That is correct. So all four have been turned in. The third protest was received. We’re expecting the fourth in the next couple weeks, and then they have to have a hearing for these.
SPEAKER 20 :
And the protest is saying that you guys should have had a, or not you guys because you’re just working on it, but that the organizers should have registered as an issue committee. Is that right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, that’s what they said. There’s still no, so that, the campaign finance hearing, it was held November 20th. The hearing officer was supposed to make a decision by yesterday, and she notified the city that she could not render her decision within that time frame. So now it’s We just wait and wait and wait. And so they are creating a 501C4, and they’re also going to take donations that go directly to the lawyer because they have to pay for the lawyer now. She did pro bono work for the campaign finance complaint, but we’ve got four protests here, and she’s got to be able to prep for them. And I’m working on, I’m kind of heading up the validation team to get this stuff done and summarized for the lawyer. Because the more we can do, the less lawyer costs there are.
SPEAKER 20 :
Oh my gosh, Karen. And this is the thing. Everyday people, you’re running your business. It takes time to do this and then the money for the attorney. And this is because Lakewood was putting in, initially it was just a blanket rezoning, right? Is that what this is all about?
SPEAKER 04 :
That is correct. Blanket rezoning to allow high density anywhere in the city. They split the zoning ordinance into four parts.
SPEAKER 20 :
And that was once they realized that there was organized opposition to this. And they realized that. And so they did this. It was strategically or strategic. so that the opponents to this would then have to get four different petitions and just try to make it more difficult. They don’t want to hear from the people. They just want to do it, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
That is correct. That is 100% correct. I think they are still trying to figure out how the two co-petitioners… that were never involved in government figured this all out um and that’s probably going to come out during the protest hearings i would imagine um and that’s okay and uh they these but the good news is these four ordinances were supposed to go into effect january 1st um they received um Confirmation from the city clerk that those four ordinances, because of the referendum, are on hold until the final sufficiency reports come from the city clerk. So those four protest hearings are super, super important to see what city council is going to do when they realize they really do have all the signatures they need.
SPEAKER 20 :
Wow. That is amazing. And so good for you citizens out there. Let’s move over to your business, Radiant Painting and Lighting. So you probably have got all the holiday lighting up because we’re, I can’t believe we’re into the Christmas season, but that’s all probably done, yes?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, 100%, and now it’s kind of a slower period for the next couple weeks, and I’m okay with that.
SPEAKER 20 :
I’m sure you are because you ran for city council as well. So I’ve got a question for you. I’ve been working on cleaning the garage, and I’ve got a bunch of old paint, and what do I do with it? What do people do regarding old paint and chemicals?
SPEAKER 04 :
So there’s two things you can do. If it’s regular latex paint and oil-based paint, so whether it’s a quart size, gallon size, five-gallon bucket, you can take those to just about any Sherwin-Williams. The problem you’re going to run into sometimes, though, is their bins for recycling paint may be full. So if you have over 10 gallons of paint, You can actually go out to a website called Green Sheen Paint. So it’s green, the color sheen, it’s S-H-E-E-N paint, P-A-I-N-T, .com. And if you have more than 10 gallons, they will actually come pick it up from your house. And I usually do that at the end of every exterior season. I will schedule a pickup because it’s You know, I have a ton of paint after exterior season. I have way more than 10 gallons. I just call them. They tell me the day and time they’re going to be here, and I set it out right outside my garage door, and then it’s miraculously gone. It’s a little more difficult if you have old mineral spirits lying around or spray paint, things like that. Those are considered hazardous chemicals, and you’ll have to – look up your city or county and see where you take hazardous chemicals for recycling. I know in Lakewood we have the Rooney Road Recycling Center. And that’s where you have to take them, and there’s typically a cost. But to dispose of old paint, no cost. And if you have over 10 gallons, they will come pick it up from you.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, well, that is good to know. And I can’t believe it, but as fast as time is going, spring’s right around the corner, and I need to… get you out here in spring to take a look at my house. And so probably maybe, as you said, this is a slow time, but people can start to think about springtime. And of course, you are always doing interiors. What’s the best way for people to reach you?
SPEAKER 04 :
They can go to my website, which is www.paintwithradiant.com, or you can reach out directly to me at 720-940-3887.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. Well, Karen Gorday, we will talk next week. Thank you for all that you are doing for the people of Colorado, for the people of Lakewood and the people of Colorado. And we’ll talk next week. Have a great day. All right.
SPEAKER 04 :
You too. Thank you.
SPEAKER 20 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And pleased to have on the line with me, Corey Onezorg. He is one of my fellow board members on the Colorado Union of Taxpayers. And before we get into this, I want to say thank you to all of them. That’s Steve Dorman, Greg Golianski, Russ Haas, Bill Hamill, Rob Knuth, John Nelson, Wendy Warner, Marty Nielsen, Ramey Johnson. Mary Jansen, Dave Evans, Cory Onizorg, Paula Beard, and Ray Beard. These are all volunteers that are doing amazing work for the people of Colorado watching the legislation during the legislative session. Our ratings report is being mailed out to members as we speak, and it was an enormous amount of work. If you would like to get a hard copy, you need to join us, and you can do that by going to coloradotaxpayer.org. Corey Onizorg, welcome.
SPEAKER 16 :
Morning, Kim. How are you?
SPEAKER 20 :
I am well. And we did not have an in-person board meeting this week, so I’m missing all of you. But you had sent this over regarding this goofy PUC just came out with a clean heat plan for Colorado, which I’m renaming it, Corey, the Unaffordable Keep Coloradans in the Dark and Cold Plan. But what’s your thoughts on this?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, first thing let’s seriously understand is that Colorado Public Utilities Commission is comprised of three people, all hand-selected, appointed by the governor, and then ratified by our state senate. And so they handle all kinds of issues with utilities. Anything really having to do with utilities. And in this case, we’re talking about Excel. And how we got here was before I ever got on Colorado Taxpayers. Senate Bill 21-264, they passed it, and it basically demanded utilities reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4%, by 2025, by 22%, by 2030. And that was compared to 2015 baseline. And when you look at The numbers on what it’s going to take to electrify Colorado, if you will, the numbers don’t add up. There’s no cost savings really anywhere across the board for residents, and they do have plans. to find buildings such as in denver where if they don’t have uh clean energy uh you know whether it’s solar heat pumps you know all this electrification stuff a lot of building owners are going to get fined and it’s going to drive more business out of out of colorado it’s going to drive all of our rates up because the infrastructure to do this uh is really high and um you know it really just You know, says again, a reader, he said, yeah, how important it is for us to get good people in office and especially a governor. It’s pretty alarming to me because I’ve had to deal with the Public Utilities Commission a number of times. I’m in the solar and electrical industry. They’re usually pretty good about being on time and getting back with you. Then with Excel, they’ve got a representative that liaisons through the process to make sure things are done culturally. I encourage everybody to attend the monthly meetings that Public Utilities Commission has and voice your pain about how stupid this is. And, I mean, at the end of the day, if my chemistry and memory serves me correct, we got, you know, methane, CH4 plus O2 gives you CO2, water, and heat. And they cleverly picked carbon dioxide as sounding something bad like carbon monoxide. And it’s something that we exhale. So psychologically, it’s in a lot of people’s brain. This is a terrible greenhouse gas. And, you know, in reality, it’s what plants breathe. And it’s a it’s a life giving gas.
SPEAKER 20 :
So, well, it is. And well, Rami Johnson, who’s on the board with us, her husband, Walt Johnson, who is a geophysicist. uh wanted to do a documentary about this whole climate change conversation so it is called a climate conversation and people can watch that for free by going to climateconversation.com but co2 as you said it’s been demonized as a greenhouse gas couple of things let’s just dissect that a little bit co2 is what plants need to survive And so it’s really nature’s fertilizer. And then greenhouse gas, again, they’ve demonized that. But, for example, in the marijuana grow houses here in Colorado, my understanding is they will actually put in CO2 in those greenhouses so that those plants produce more and thrive and flourish. So it’s been such a brilliant project. but diabolical play on language with CO2 and greenhouse gases, Corey.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, it goes back to, uh, it’s getting away from our Christian values and worshiping Gaia, uh, you know, the, the planet and all this stuff and making you think that, um, you know, CO2, it’s, uh, it’s something we breathe out. So if we got to get CO2 to zero, as Billy Gates says, uh, on his TED Talks, I mean, that means you. That means all of us, right? That means human beings, getting rid of human beings. And one of the ways I think that they’re going to be doing this is by getting rid of our energy. I mean, economically, our dollar is hurting right now, and we all better be praying every day that Trump’s economic plans work and And this whole thing doesn’t go straight to hell in a handbasket, because by shutting down a lot of our energy, which a lot of Democrat states are doing, our coal production, our natural gas production, we’re, we’re ending ourselves and it’s in the name to save the earth. Well, guess who’s building a bunch of coal plants and, uh, you know, pumping a bunch of natural gas and doing all the energy things and growing, growing, growing. Well, China is, that’s not helping the planet. And our, our coal scrubbers are much cleaner and, Again, with natural gas, it doesn’t get much cleaner than that. At some point, I say this all the time, but maybe it just has to get worse before it gets better. And I’m sure they’re going to write books about how dumb all this climatology stuff was. And you’re never wrong when you say climate change, because, heck, especially here in Colorado, it changes all the time. I remember days where one day it’s different 80, 90 degrees than the next day.
SPEAKER 20 :
I know. I’ve said that Colorado is a place where you can wear your swimming suit and your snow boots on the same day.
SPEAKER 16 :
Exactly right.
SPEAKER 20 :
so court now you mentioned that you are in the electrical solar business and so you’d see benefits in solar but i think where we’re all just so concerned is just all of the incentives and force around these industrial projects what’s your comments on that yeah i don’t think solar was ever necessarily a force thing but
SPEAKER 16 :
I think if we look at our bigger cousins to the west in California, what they ended up doing, especially in Northern California, so they got all these people to go on solar. And then, you know, it was one for one, you know, one kilowatt hour produced every one kilowatt hour used, right, or consumed. And then they switched it, you know, NEM net metering to NEM2. And then they were like, oh, well, now we’re going to sell you electricity at, say, 30 cents a kilowatt hour. And the electricity you produce only going to be worth like 22 cents a kilowatt hour. It’s no big deal. We’ve got infrastructure we’ve got to pay for. So their public utilities commission agreed with that. And then they came up with NEM3, Net Metering 3, which basically, you know, you’re paying $0.40 a kilowatt hour, and your electricity you produce is only worth $0.08 a kilowatt hour. So I think we’re going to start seeing, since they’re a little bit further down the road than we are, and Europe was a little bit further down the road than Europe, California was, we can just look at those instances and guess where we’re going. That’s going to be screwing people that decide to put solar on their homes. So that’s what I would anticipate. I mean, I don’t have a crystal ball, but logic tells me that. History repeats itself, and… It’s going to piss off a lot of people, but we’ve gotten so comfortable with this govern-me-harder-daddy attitude that everybody seems to have, at least especially on the left. I don’t know what else to do. I think solar is great. You can have a battery. You can be backed up when the electrical grid goes down. Especially in the colder months where you could potentially freeze or whatever else. So there’s a lot of benefits to this stuff if you use them properly. And there’s also independence to be had, self-sufficiency. And I’m all for those things. Right. Anyway.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, we are for those things. It’s that whole force component that we are so concerned about. And Corey, it is so great to have you on the board of Colorado Union of Taxpayers. And we really do have an amazing group. We don’t always agree on everything, but we have great discussions. And that’s really foundational to the American idea. So I really appreciate our fellow board members.
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, we all appreciate you president. And, uh, I just wanted to say, uh, have a merry, merry Christmas and, uh, to you and all your listeners as well. And everybody, uh, Jordan, uh, heal the heel with you in this fight. Cause, uh, You’ve got to dig in, and it’s going to be a long one. So thanks for all you do, Kim.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, right back at you, Corey Onusorg. And again, my fellow Cutboard member, you can join us by going to coloradotaxpayer.org. It’s only $25. That’s less than about $2 a month. And you will have access to an enormous amount of great work. So, Corey, Merry Christmas to you as well, and we’ll talk soon.
SPEAKER 16 :
God bless. Thank you.
SPEAKER 20 :
And again, I’m blessed to work with just amazing people across the board. And another great sponsor is Karen Levine for everything regarding residential real estate.
SPEAKER 17 :
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SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 02 :
All Kim’s sponsors are in inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And if you want more freedom and confidence with your money, Mint Financial Strategies can help. They’re an independent firm with over 25 years of experience. and as an accredited investment fiduciary, they put your best interests first, always. With a strategy-first approach, they’ll help you build a plan that fits your life. So call Mint Financial Strategies today. That number is 303-285-3080. 303-285-3080. And on the line with me is a realtor up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. That is Wendy Volk, and she has been… really shedding light on these industrial wind projects that are being proposed up in Wyoming. And as we are starting to realize this, these are big, big land grabs. And so, Wendy, welcome to the show. It’s great to have you. Good morning, Kim. Nice to be on your show again. Well, so updates. It’s been a little while since we’ve talked, and, of course, we’ve talked about the project in Laramie County, Wyoming, which is where you’re at. And so update us, first of all, on that particular project.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. So about six months ago is when we were notified by a company that’s out of Spain named Repsol, That was going to be proposing a wind project outside of Cheyenne in the Horse Creek area. It’s in the Laramie Range wind area. The project’s called Laramie Range Wind. And it went before our county commissioners to get a preliminary site plan approved. And so this fall, based on a tremendous amount of public input, the county commissioners listened to what the citizens said. And based on the application and our Laramie County land use regulations, the county commissioners denied the permit. And our planning commission also said they needed more information. And their recommendation was to postpone voting on the site plan because of the numerous questions that were raised and there was inadequate time to have those answers made. So on the Laramie Range Wind project outside of Cheyenne, that 56,000 acre proposed project, that’s on hold. The company has filed an appeal to our district court to have perhaps the ruling overturned. So we’re in a holding pattern to see how that is going to play out. And then, so I get questions on a regular ongoing basis of what the status of that 170 wind turbine project would be here in our community. Simultaneously, just north of Cheyenne, there’s a small agriculture community called Chugwater. And Chugwater has got a wind, solar, and lithium battery project being proposed that’s on 50,000 acres. And that one is at the stage of going through our state industrial siting permit approval process and they had two full days of um discussion and they’re going I think they’re trying to they were going to wait because there was not enough time to get everything addressed during that two-day period that they’ve had to table that until either it’ll maybe be this month or January. I think it would be unfortunate if it was this month. It’s the holidays. And trying to squeeze that in everyone’s schedule during a very busy holiday season might be impractical. But that’s to wait and see. But Chugwater did an amazing job of raising a wide variety of concerns, historical, environmental, The impact wildlife. It was just amazing to see the discussion and and All of these kind of projects have been kind of taking place over the last six months of me just wanting to see what the impact would be to our families ranch. That’s been there for six generations 150 years while I was just focused on in my county. What could be right directly impacting our family. place over several months in several years multiple industrial wind solar type projects in multiple counties different communities and i hadn’t really connected the dots excuse me i have to clear my throat and all of a sudden i realized oh my goodness this is creating a wind wall we are having this cumulative uh impact of significantly large industrial renewable expansion taking place in our communities and really not talking about what is that cumulative impact. And no one agency is looking at that across county lines throughout the state, you know, either regionally or at a state level. That’s what’s really concerning. It’s just happening so quickly and and with maybe not enough public awareness or public input.
SPEAKER 20 :
So people, and you’ve been, you’ve just been a really thoughtful voice about this, and as people are starting to pay attention, so the project is on hold right now in Laramie County, and it’s working through the process here at Chugwater, right, as well?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yes. So then that same corridor. So if we go just north, Denver from Cheyenne is 90 miles. We’re 90 miles north of Denver. And then Chugwater is farther north of Cheyenne, about 40 miles, 30, 35 miles. And then when you continue up Interstate 80, the next community is Glenrock. And they also are having an industrial project that is going through considerable input and also legal challenges. And that’s, again, part of this continuous industrial corridor. I’m calling it the wind wall, and so are many others.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, and there’s a huge land grab in doing this because, and there’s so many things to consider regarding the construction of this and what it does to the land and what it does to the property owners. And so connecting the dots on this wind wall is really important. And I had done some research trying to figure out who’s owners of Repsol, and just did a quick search, and it says that BlackRock has just under 7% of the shares of Repsol. And then I was out in Elbert County on Tuesday, Tuesday night, making comments to the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, encouraging or really calling them, calling on them to deny a permit for Xcel Energy for an industrial transmission line, which that also is a big land grab. And BlackRock has a significant ownership in that as well. And of course, BlackRock The head of BlackRock is Larry Fink, who Larry is now also the head of the World Economic Forum. And I think it’s important to connect that dot, Wendy.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I think there’s major investors here. There’s major money involved. You want to see economic, smart economic development growth. And it takes sometimes quite a bit of time. coordinated effort and investors for things to progress. What I’m concerned about is irresponsible development and not dotting our I’s and crossing our T’s. On none of these situations is there any type of government trying to do like eminent domain of taking away someone’s property. What most of these projects are comprised of, at least the one here in Laramie County, is on that 56,000-acre property, proposed project, 50,000 acres are on private land owned by two families. And 6,100 acres is owned by the state of Wyoming. It’s in land trust. And so the revenue that’s generated on state land, in Wyoming, it goes towards putting those funds and investment type of a protected trust. And then the interest that’s generated from that goes toward public schools. So the way the state can lease their land, they can lease it out for agriculture purposes. And that’s what the state land that we lease from the state of Wyoming adjacent to this project. We have our privately owned land and we lease some land from the state similar to what this project is. But instead of them using the 6,100 acres for grazing their livestock, they’re going to use the 6,100 acres to generate wind. And so That all of a sudden changes for the fact that these types of wind and industrial projects are typically long-term leases, 30-plus years. Our normal grazing lease with the state is typically a 10-year lease. So all of a sudden, these long-term 30-plus year wind leases, they could be 40, 50 years. All of a sudden, that drastically changes the agriculture component of Laramie County to an industrial component. an industrial component that has a wide variety of impacts to adjacent property owners and the overall community.
SPEAKER 20 :
So, Wendy, have you seen the details of that lease? Because this agenda on industrial wind and solar projects, many times they’ve had incentives and there’s tax incentives. There’s all kinds of incentives that – so are these companies really – Are they really paying money for this land? And as I asked that question, I remember talking with Virginia Maka with Stand for the Land Kansas, and she said that there are some property owners that had leased their land to some industrial wind companies, and they are not being paid for those leases. So have you seen any of the details on those leases?
SPEAKER 05 :
So I tried to find out because when we were going through the process of seeing the site permit being reviewed at the county commissioner level, I went and asked the state if they were also negotiating a wind lease on that state land. And they said, yes, they were. And they were going to be presenting that to the Wyoming Land Commission Board. in January. And I said, well, wouldn’t, not January, I’m sorry, December. So just this month. And I said, can I see a copy of that? And they said, no, there’s about a 10-day review process before that board meeting that I could have reviewed a probably 40, 50-page lease. And I was like, I don’t think that’s an adequate amount of time for the private citizens to be able to review a 40, 50 page legal document and be conversant about it in front of a board. And so that’s something I hope, I mean, through this whole process, I want to see improvement. I want more transparency. I think the community needs more time to be able to read and understand these. Even for me, you know, when this, any type of industrial project, if there’s state land or federal land involved, It takes time to review that. And unless you have a legal degree or you have an attorney on call that can review something in 10 days, I don’t think that’s adequate. It’s taken me the past six months to get up to speed on something that’s very complex. And I think I’m getting up to speed. But when I find out all the connecting points, the more I learn about it, the more concerned I become.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, well, we’re going to continue the discussion with Wendy Volk, who is really, as she said, she’s taken a lot of time to get up to speed on this industrial wind project in Laramie County, but then she’s connected the dot that there’s a real wind wall, and there’s an enormous amount of land that is basically taken for these projects. And I’m not opposed to wind nor solar, but what I am opposed to is government… involved in this with incentives and just putting like a 10-day window to review complex documents is not enough time. And so I really appreciate what she has been doing on that and so we’re going to continue the discussion so a couple of things i did want to mention first of all thank you to laramie energy for their gold sponsorship of the show so that we can have these conversations because it’s reliable efficient affordable and abundant power from naturally occurring hydrocarbons such as oil natural gas and coal which there has been a regulatory and a legislative attack upon that here in colorado But it powers our lives. It allows us to thrive and flourish. And so when you see this attack on things that help us to thrive and flourish, it’s an attack upon that. And that’s why we have these discussions. Another great sponsor of the show is Lorne Levy, and he is going to be in studio tomorrow. I think I saw a headline that said the Fed was going to reduce interest rates, and so we’ll have to talk with him about that.
SPEAKER 15 :
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SPEAKER 10 :
April 26th, 1777. Colonel, the British are raiding Danbury and burning the town. I’ll go tell them. 16-year-old Sybil Ludington mounted her horse and rode 40 miles through night and pouring rain. That’s twice the distance of Paul Revere to sound the alarm.
SPEAKER 02 :
Quickly, assemble at my father’s house.
SPEAKER 10 :
The Kim Monson Show is our modern-day Sybil Luddington, bringing us the latest breaking news in the battle for truth and freedom. Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling is proud to stand with Kim. Will you stand with us? Get engaged with the issue that keeps you up at night so that you can influence your school and community with truth and justice. And for quality craftsmanship at a fair price, call or text Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling at 303-995-1636. That number again is 303-995-1636.
SPEAKER 12 :
Do you strive for excellence as you work with your clients and customers? Does it make sense for you to add a unique and focused branding opportunity to your marketing portfolio? Would you like to access a broad customer base that loves our country and wants to make life better for ourselves, our neighbors, our colleagues, our children, and our grandchildren? Then you may be a perfect fit as a sponsor slash partner of The Kim Monson Show. To learn more reach out to Teresa at 520-631-9243. Teresa would love to talk with you. Again that number is 520-631-9243.
SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And as we’re getting into the end of the year, it’s a good time to make some tax-deductible contributions. And two places that you should really consider doing that, one is the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo. They do several things honoring our Medal of Honor recipients with their Portraits of Valor, as well as educational programs for kids K-12 focused on these principles of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And so they’re doing great work, and you can contribute by going to AmericanValueCenter.org. And then the USMC Memorial Foundation takes care of the Marine Memorial and raising money for the remodel. And you can go and make a contribution there to usmcmemorialfoundation.org. We’re talking with Wendy Volk, and she is a realtor in Cheyenne. Wendy, this has been such a journey for you, and you have really… I’ve been, I think, a really thoughtful voice on this. And these are people I think I’ve also seen where I think these companies in a way are pitting some of the landowners against each other, those that will be making money on the leases and then their neighbors. And I think you’ve worked really hard to navigate through that, yes? Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
And I think the big one is to have civil conversations and not attack one another. I think we’ve seen some real thoughtful discussion and discourse and raising great questions. And this has been taking place. I mean, a lot of these permits and discussions have been taking place that I don’t think a lot of people have seen before. seen and known about it and know that there’s a bigger picture. And we’re seeing one of the most dramatic land use transformations in our history here in Wyoming and probably Colorado, too, that it’s 100 mile. We’re talking the projects that I’m following right now, it’s 100 mile industrial corridor. And so when you go north from Fort Collins up the road 287 to Laramie, where the University of Wyoming is, they have a 26,000 acre wind project that’s been permitted but it’s you know now there’s several lawsuits involved with that um they found out that they’re um that one involves some uh federal land as well as state and private land that one they found out there was 900 pages left out um of regarding the impacts to bald eagles and golden eagles and the mortality records completely left out. And so that’s tied up in a lawsuit right now. There’s the Glen Rock project in Wyoming is called the Pronghorn H2. There was a misapplied law and a misaligned project. That’s a wind solar project. And the energy generator was going to go for a hydrogen facility. And they found out, oh, wait, our state laws say that wind energy is supposed to be connected to a grid through substations. And they found out, oh, wait, the state approved a wind lease on the public land, and it should not, the legal framework, I believe the legal framework was wrong and was used for a project unlike anything that’s ever been contemplated by Wyoming law. So it’s happening very, very quickly. And I think we just need to slow down and make sure we have the appropriate oversight, enough public input. We can just break this down because I think Wyoming, I think Colorado, I think the Rocky Mountains, we deserve better. And we’re not asking to halt renewable energy. We just want to make sure that we are not, you know, that we’re getting all the information. There’s complete transparency. There’s time to weigh in on the matter that our statutes reflect. the new technologies that are emerging, that we have cumulative impact analysis, looking at an entire 100-mile corridor instead of looking at each of these projects on an individual project impact. There’s historic landscapes being impacted. It’s necessary to have meaningful community participation. And I really appreciate your helping raise the awareness on this subject.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, we’ve got a question, and absolutely, I’m delighted to do so. She says, ask Wendy if there is a conservation easement on that state land. If so, was it conserved in perpetuity for ranching? They can’t change the use of that land. That’s why it was conserved to keep it in that original land use. Have you looked into that at all, Wendy?
SPEAKER 05 :
i don’t see any com i haven’t seen any of that on the project in horse creek um i will look on on that that’s a good question i don’t know about in chug water i don’t know about glen rock and i don’t know if in albany county if there’s that component but at least on the horse creek project called the laramie range wind project i did not see that there’s any type of a conservation easement
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay. So, Wendy Volk, we’ve got just a couple of minutes left. Looking into the future, 2026, now there may be something happening here in December. What do you see as we’re moving into 2026 for all of this?
SPEAKER 05 :
Big picture, I think… at least in my lifetime, and I’m 60 years old, that Wyoming’s had a, I would call it an energy state. And it’s been a balanced energy development that I believe should be done with stewardship. And there might be some recent legal victories and some legal challenges. but that I think all of our institutions need to rise to this challenge. And I think we have to insist on this transparency, accountability, evaluation, making sure just simple things, like if someone announces there’s going to be a project next to you on a neighboring property, that someone gives you an accurate map so you can actually see if this is going to be touching your project or your property and what the setbacks are. So Big picture, I would like to see us really improve a lot of our legislation regarding these emerging industries. But we need to step back and assess the full picture and ensure that any other future development reflects our Wyoming treasured landscapes, communities, and values. I just think we’re going too quickly. Okay.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well done. So, Wendy, we will talk again in the new year. I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas, a prosperous 2026, and we’ll talk in January.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you, Kim, and you too. Appreciate it.
SPEAKER 20 :
absolutely and our quote for the end of the show is thomas jefferson and he said this the issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite so today my friends be grateful read great books think good thoughts listen to beautiful music communicate and listen well live honestly and authentically strive for high ideals And like Superman, stand for truth, justice and the American way. My friends, you’re not alone. God bless you. God bless America. Stay tuned for our number two.
SPEAKER 14 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s the Kim Monson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 20 :
I find that it takes work to get your brain around these ideas and it takes work to engage in these conversations.
SPEAKER 11 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 20 :
With what is happening down at the statehouse, I used to think that it was above my pay grade to read the legislation. And it’s not.
SPEAKER 11 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 20 :
I see big danger in as much as we will be giving an unelected bureaucrat the power to make rules about what we inject into our bodies.
SPEAKER 11 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 20 :
Indeed. Let’s have a conversation. And welcome to our number two of the Kim Monson Show. And thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today, strive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. And thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Thursday, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 19 :
Happy Thursday, Kim.
SPEAKER 20 :
And we’re going to be talking with Pam Long in this hour. She’s our featured guest. And she has her annual Best and Worst of Colorado Politics 2025. She titles it We the People versus the Supermajority. And we will roll that out, that essay out this weekend in the newsletter. So make sure that you are signed up for that at the website, bestandworstofcoloradopolitics.org. As you know, we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And it’s not compassionate to take other people’s stuff, whether or not it’s their rights, their property, freedom, livelihood. opportunity, childhoods, or lives via force. Force can be a weapon, we know that, but it can be policy, unpredictable and excessive taxation, fear, coercion, government-induced inflation, and this agenda of the World Economic Forum and globalist elites that is playing out all the way to municipal governments. And so that’s why we’ve got to shed light on this because it’s an assault upon property rights. And property, owning property was foundational to our founding, to the American idea. And the founders didn’t know what would happen if everyday people could own property. Well, what happened was America, where we have this big, broad middle class where people can create wealth for themselves and their families. And we see this assault through taxation and rules and regulations and fees. to take away our property rights. And so that’s why we do the show, is so that we understand what’s happening, shed light on it. A little bit of transparency goes a long way. We must demand accountability and transparency, as Wendy Volk has said. And so that’s why we do what we do. A couple of things. I did want to say thank you to Laramie Energy for their goal sponsorship of the show because it’s reliable, efficient, affordable, and abundant power. that comes from naturally occurring hydrocarbons such as oil, natural gas, and coal that powers our lives, fuels our hopes and dreams, and empowers us to change our own personal climate. And I certainly appreciate a wide range of energy sources for us to live our lives. But there has been an assault upon naturally occurring hydrocarbons. And then there’s been incentives, tax incentives, favorable treatment for other industries that needs to be a level playing field. And then the energy sources will rise to the top if there’s not coercion in that whole thing. We’re seeing all kinds of coercion in Colorado with this Colorado state government that is governed. The supermajority is not a Democrat supermajority, although that’s the moniker. It’s actually radical activists that have taken over the Democrat Party. This Democrat Party is not the Democrat Party of your grandpa and your grandma. This is radical activists pushing this World Economic Forum agenda. And we are at the forefront here in Colorado on all that that is going, all that’s happening. So again, thank you to Laramie Energy. And it allows us to change our own personal climate. And so if you’re having any challenges with your personal climate, such as being warm in the winter or cool in the summer, be sure and reach out to Ben’s Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. and that their information is on my website. And I mentioned that I was out in Kiowa on Tuesday night testifying in front of the Public Utilities Commission, and Ben Williams also with Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling was out there. And he made the point that, and I’m paraphrasing, but this wind and solar issue these industrial projects and these industrial transmission lines, wind and solar is probably going to become a dinosaur, if you will. There’s new energy sources that are being considered. We have Bill Gates that has come out and said, oh, this whole climate change, maybe that’s not real. The reason is because he probably wants different energy sources for data centers. But Ben made some very thoughtful comments out at the PUC as well, and I thank him for doing that. So thank you to Ben Williams, for that. Our quote for the… Well, our word of the day is hoodwinked. And it is spelled H-O-O-D-W-I-N-K-E-D. It’s a transitive verb, and it could be to deceive or swindle by deception, to blindfold or to conceal. And I would say… that many of these projects, these industrial wind and solar projects, in a way are hoodwinking us because they are concealing some of the information. And so we do not want to be hoodwinked. And again, that’s H-O-O-D-W-I-N-K-E-D. And it should be pretty easy for you to use that in a sentence today. And it’s kind of a fun word to say, too. So hoodwinked is our word of the day. Our quote of the day is from Thomas Jefferson, and he is basically was the author of the Declaration of Independence. And he said this. So this was a letter to Martha Jefferson in 1787. And he said this, and I need to check. That may be Martha, maybe his daughter. He said, determined never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is a wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing and that you may always be doing good. My dear is the ardent prayer of yours affectionately. And again, that is Thomas Jefferson. We work with amazing people. And I got to know the owners of Hooters restaurants when I was on city council. And it’s a really important story about freedom and free markets and capitalism. And then PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats and interested parties that want to use control to control our lives instead of the freedom to compete in politics. in the market. And so I got to know them and they are truly entrepreneurs and they love the American idea. And a great way to support the show is to support our, our sponsors as well. And Hooters restaurants has locations in Loveland, Westminster and in Aurora and great specials Monday through Friday for lunch and for happy hour. And I in particular love their fish and chips and their nachos. So be sure and check all that out. And I wanted to also mention our petition to call on Governor Jared Polis to release Tina Peters from prison by Christmas Eve, which is Wednesday, the 24th of December. Please sign the petition by the 19th and share it with your friends and family. And we are calling on Governor Polis to show some compassion and kindness and mercy. Particularly, this is a good time to do this at Christmastime. And if he does not release her, then he is showing the opposite, that he is not kind and that he is not compassionate and he is not merciful. And we see on a regular basis the word kind is being used by the radical activist left to push all kinds of radical things and to. So, for example, they say it’s show some kindness and affirm transgenderism. Well, it’s not kind to affirm a lie to somebody, but they use the word kind all the time. So I intentionally use the word kind. And I think it’s important that he show some kindness. If he does not release her, he is showing the opposite. He has aspirations to run for higher office. And if he knows that people here in Colorado and people throughout the country are are looking at him as unkind, uncompassionate, and unmerciful, then I think that that’s going to play with him. So sign the petition and make sure that you send this out to your sphere of influence. Ask them to sign the petition. It’s coming to me, not an outside service, and we will be submitting first names and first initial in this petition. And so… We want many, many people to sign that. You can do that by going to Kim Monson dot com. There is a red banner at the top and that’ll take you to all of the information, all the background information. But we are calling on Governor Polis to release Tina Peters by Christmas Eve and show kindness, compassion and mercy so that she can get needed medical care. There may be a reoccurrence of cancer that that is happening right now. So we pray for her for healing and strength. And also her 97 year old mother is in my understanding is in the hospital. And it would be very merciful and kind and compassionate to let Tina Peters visit her mother. And so sign the petition there. And we have all these important discussions because, as I mentioned, these great sponsors and the Roger Mangat State Farm Insurance team may be able to help you save some money on your insurance. You need to understand what you have and get a quote on that. And you can do that by going to or giving them a call. That number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangat team is there.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
There was a time in America when a man’s handshake cemented his word. At Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, we are old school and believe in doing a job well. If there is ever an issue with the service that we have provided, we will make it right. Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling is proud to partner with The Kim Monson Show to bring truth and clarity to the issues we face in Colorado, America, and our world. Call or text Ben’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling at 303-995-1636 for all of your plumbing, heating, and cooling needs. That number is 303-995-1636.
SPEAKER 01 :
There’s so much noise coming at us. Sometimes it is difficult to make sense of it all. How can you sift through the clamor for your attention and get to the truth? The Kim Monson Show is here to help. Kim searches for truth and clarity by examining issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Tune in to the Kim Monson Show each weekday, 6 to 8 a.m. with encores 1 to 2 p.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM. The KLZ website, the KLZ app, and Alexa. Play KLZ. Shows can also be found at KimMonson.com, Spotify, and iTunes.
SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to The Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And yes, just confirmed, Thomas Jefferson was writing to his daughter, Martha, in that quote of the day about never to be idle. And that is very appropriate for today as well. So that was yes to his daughter. Pleased to have on the line with me Pam Long. You know her. She is an author here at the Kim Monson Show. She is also the military director for Children’s Health Defense. She is a graduate of West Point, a former captain in the Army Medical Service Corps. She’s a pretty amazing woman. Pam Long, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me today, Kim. Well, and I can’t believe it’s the end of the year, and we are looking at your annual review of the best and worst of Colorado politics, and it’s pretty extensive. So where should we start?
SPEAKER 06 :
It is. And this year I took a different approach. I usually talk about Colorado in terms of best and worst. And this year, because we’re going into an election year to elect a new governor, I really wanted to come at it from a database perspective. So all those voters out there who maybe don’t follow politics like you and I would have an objective measure of saying, of two camps, basically. It’s not Republican and Democrat anymore. I truly think it’s we the people versus the supermajority.
SPEAKER 20 :
I think that’s really appropriate. And on a regular basis, I make the case that this Democrat Party, particularly here in Colorado, is no longer the party of JFK or your grandpa and your grandma. I think some people say, hey, I just vote Democrat. And what’s happened is Colorado’s in trouble is what’s happened to Pam Long.
SPEAKER 06 :
Colorado is in trouble, and for any people who, you know, might think, you know, it’s not that bad, there’s one metric that I include in the article that it’s the U-Haul migration data from the past few years, and that in 2024, Colorado had the largest decline of any state in domestic migration, meaning it fell 31 places in the rankings to the bottom 10th. in just the last year. So this was a state prior to the Polis administration that was the number one state at one point for people wanted to move here and have a business here and raise their family here. And now we are in the bottom 10 after the fall of 31 places. And this is absolutely the problem created by the governing supermajority. They cannot absolve themselves from this, from this exodus trend. And when all those people leave, they take their tax revenue with them. And so today we’re going to look at seven issues, affordability, housing, transportation, taxes, public safety, energy, and education.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, and you’re looking at it from the supermajority and we the people, right? Yes.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. So let’s look at affordability. We have this bizarre affordability concept by the supermajority that instead of looking at how to reduce costs, which is how most people think of affordability, The supermajority has embraced this climatology religion that you’ve talked about in the first hour, which is really hoodwinking people to believe that solar and wind can replace natural gas and oil in our coal plants. And the data absolutely does not support that. And so you have governor Polis who started 2025 in the state address saying really bizarre things about affordability. Quote, our housing and transit goals go hand in hand with our climate goals and our affordability goals. More, better, less expensive transit options with housing closer to job centers and transit hubs save money and mean less pollution and congestion. This is really a disingenuous way to say for cities to create high density housing near unreliable light rail stations in urban areas. while villainizing cars, gasoline, and single-family homes in the suburbs. And Polis thinks that everyone wants to live in a condo by a light rail station while the government is spending millions on a failing health care system and a declining education system. Nowhere in there reduces costs, which is a key component of affordability. So compare that to We the People and how we defined affordability by reducing costs, The average Coloradan spends $10,451 more per year to consume the same quantity of goods and services than they did in 2019. Again, this is absolutely to put the blame on the supermajority. They cannot deny these costs have increased dramatically. The average housing costs in Colorado increased 214%. from 21 to 23. Homeless, crime, immigration, all of those problems over the past few years under the supermajority caused this mass migration out of the states, causing sales tax revenue stagnation. And as you’ve already discussed, this whole climatology and green energy push is going to potentially just triple the rate of electricity prices in the next few years with It’s just going to get out of control.
SPEAKER 20 :
But they talk about affordability. And as I’ve been driving around, these industrial apartment complexes are everywhere. And we’ve been sold that there’s a shortage of housing. And I do not see how there are people that are going to live in all of these apartment buildings that are being built. And they’re receiving, again, favorable treatment from the government to do so, favorable financing. We can see it depends on the municipality, maybe favorable permitting. And these look to me like… Like communists, like Soviet Russia, many of these apartment complexes. But I’m seeing them everywhere, and I’m calling them industrial apartment buildings. And I’m really concerned about that.
SPEAKER 06 :
you have nailed it, Kim, and you’re not the only one thinking that way. So we, we, the people, our approach to housing is most, most of our housing is built in the suburbs. So we’re talking like two thirds of our housing is built in the suburbs and away from rail and transit. And Polis wants to flip that. And we, we even have our, some local governments are just saying they will not comply with these high density goals because of a few factors. One, It is unachievable that we don’t have the infrastructure to support it and that it drastically changes the character of the local communities. And it’s a total undermining of local control. This is overreach. Our Westminster city councilors are right in line with what you’re thinking, Kim. Let me read a quote from Westminster Council. A city councilor took the figure that an indication that Soviet-style apartment blocks could be in the offing with this request to build 50,000 units of high-density housing. And she said, I want to know who the state thinks is going to live in these 50,000 units, said Council Member Kristen Ireland. Everyone’s going to flee the state in droves because people want single-family homes. She added, that’s why people are leaving the state. They don’t want to live in apartments from birth to death. I saw this stuff in Russia, and it was built under Lenin, end quote. Like, the people are not demanding high-density housing. It’s the supermajority. And what they call it, their term for it is transit-oriented development, or TOD. And this is very authoritarian. This is not something that we the people voted for in some type of democratic process. And what they’re calling for are more duplexes, townhomes, and these things called ADUs, accessory dwelling units. Think of like a tiny home or like a shed in your parents’ backyard. Like, nobody wants this. And they use terms, the super majority uses terms that sound so pleasant, like we’re making our communities walkable and affordable housing and transit friendly. This sounds great, right? It’s another way we are hoodwinking the public. And this vision goes along with their climate change agenda with language, and they use these metaphors of our cities being gardens, and we need to remove the weeds. The weeds are cars in parking lots, which are essential to modern society. And they’re just showing in every piece of legislation that the supermajority has just which is truly a disdain for the suburban lifestyle with single-dwelling homes, with backyards, with your personal vehicle. And Denver and some of the other surrounding cities are banning the creation of new gas stations and parking lots. Like, this is a war on personal and private car mobility.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah, the freedom of mobility and the freedom to own a home. And Colorado is at the tip of the spear. And I just… 50,000, really 50,000 new units just in Westminster. Westminster. Yes. So… Is the end game then ultimately that to get rid of all of our single family homes and move all of us into those Soviet block style apartment buildings? I know that’s subjective, but man, that sure seems like that’s what they’re looking on trying to do.
SPEAKER 06 :
When you take all of this information together, you do start asking those questions because you’re talking about investing millions in these high-density housing units and then potentially combined with these energy goals, which are completely unachievable. where we won’t even have enough energy in the grid to supply our homes after you shut down coal plants and you ban natural gas. And then what do you have to do? You have to match the supply and demand. You will have to triple those projections for our energy costs, where people who did want to live in the suburb and want to have their own home are priced out by the energy prices. That is what all of this is leading to.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, and also property taxes. Those two things. Those two things are connected. And you mentioned transit-orientated development. When I was on city council, they were referring to these as TODs. So this was back in 2012 that this agenda was happening. And before we go to break, the goal is by the elites, they want to be able to ride around in their cars, but they want everybody else on transit. But I’d seen a headline just the other day that the RTD board was having a meeting on trying to reduce drug use on trains, and I’m thinking, Well, no wonder people don’t want to ride those. There’s crime. They’re dirty. And people really prefer the safety and convenience of their own personal car. But there is a war on cars. So we’re going to go to break. How would you like to wrap up this first point that you have in the article that will be in the newsletter? Sure.
SPEAKER 06 :
You’re just seeing legislation play out that this push towards high-density housing and removing gas stations, cars, and parking lots from society.
SPEAKER 20 :
Wow. Okay. And we’re going to continue the discussion with Pam Long regarding the best and worst of Colorado Politics 2025. The discussions happen because of our sponsors, and I really appreciate Teddy Collins and Alicia Garcia. Oh, sorry, I had it written down wrong. It’s radiant painting and lighting that I’m supposed to be nurturing, and that is Karen Gorday, who was our guest in hour number one, and she gave us a great… A great resource if you need to get rid of old paint and have more than 10 gallons, and that is greensheenpaint.com. And again, she’s another great valued sponsor of The Kim Monson Show.
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SPEAKER 02 :
All Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmonson.com. That’s kimmonson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMonson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. And as I mentioned, I was out in Kiowa on Tuesday evening to testify in front of the Public Utilities Commission regarding the industrial transmission project that Xcel is… They were denied the permit by the Elbert County Commissioners, and so they then went to the PUC. And it was amazing. It was standing room only when I got there of… The people of Elbert County making their voices heard. It was pretty amazing. But I thought, gosh, I would love, because I was craving some great, well, a great calzone from Little Richie’s in Parker. They have two locations, Parker and Golden. And I called them and I said, you close at 9, right? And they said, yeah. And I said, ah. I was hoping to pick something up, and they said, well, how fast can you get here? I said, well, I can get there a little after 9, and they said, we’ll go ahead and do that for you. And so I just love Little Richie’s. And so if you are craving real New York-style pizza and pasta, then check out Little Richie’s in Parker and Golden. They have authentic New York flavor with Colorado roots and great specials. Daily specials and weekdays, lunch deals. And so anyway, check that out. And that’s Little Richie’s in Parker and Golden. And we have Pam Long on the line. She is an author at the Kim Monson Show. And we will be rolling out her best and worst of Colorado politics 2025 in the newsletter this weekend. And she said there’s seven points that she wants to talk about, and it’s we the people versus the supermajority. And we talked about affordability, housing, and touched on transportation. But let’s delve into that just a little bit more, Pam Long.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right. So the supermajority has decided that Coloradans should spend millions of dollars investing in RTD, Rapid Transit District, and high-density housing near public transportation. And overwhelmingly, people do not want this. People like the suburbs for a variety of reasons, including affordability, having a little elbow room with their neighbors, quietness, safety, and parks. So again, no one voted for this. This is the super majority deciding what you want, telling you what you want. And so the data on RTD is just really alarming. So its budget has been climbing as ridership has fallen between 2019 and 2022. Ridership fell 46%, while its operating budget increased 3%. RTD has a proposed $1 billion budget for 2024, and fares are only covering 4.4% of RTD’s operating costs. So again, this is another, just like renewable energy, this is another government-subsidized program. We the people are subsidizing the system that the supermajority wants at our financial expense and physical safety, as you mentioned. Many people are rejecting this public transportation because crime at Colorado air, bus, and train terminals has spiked. Between 2019 and 2023, violent crime rose 53%, which includes 300% rise in murder, 86% rise in aggravated assault. 32% rise in non-consensual sexual assault, and a 32% rise in robbery. And the number of drug violations at these terminals also rose by 248% between 2019 and 2023. We the people views transportation completely differently. We value our privately owned vehicles. Light rail is a step backwards. It is not reliable. It is not safe. It is not cost effective transportation. Let me share you someone’s personal story as reported in Westward. There’s a woman named Sandra Mader who has three jobs. She doesn’t have a car. She’s completely reliant on RTD and public transportation. She has to get up at 4.15 a.m. every day to get to work on time, walk 20 minutes to catch a bus, and then to light rail. She waits another 25 minutes. She sits there for one to two hours because light rail is so problematic that there’s continuous stops and delays, sometimes 15 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes, sometimes an hour. You never know. And so oftentimes she reports that she has to get off at a station and take an Uber, which is what? a car, right? It is not a bus. It is not a train. And so this is the reality of transportation that the supermajority wants to push everyone into very unreliable transportation. And I would dare say not cost effective, not saving people money. And we the people would like to keep our cars in our parking lots and our own personal decision making on getting to work on time and keeping our jobs.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, yes, and our quote from Thomas Jefferson regarding time, just think of the amount of time that she is having to dedicate to just trying to get to work, but it’s time away from her family and her friends, and it takes away so much freedom there. Did you say that the fair revenue only covers 4% of their budget now? Did I hear you say that?
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s exactly what you heard. It gets worse, Kim. There is a stat that says RTD is estimated at the cost of $72 million per mile of rail. Every mile of rail costs $72 million. I think this is insane.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, and the other thing is, is under a communist model, and I know it’s strong to say the word communist, but it’s a wealth transfer. It’s taking wealth, it’s taking resources from one person to give to another. Of course, the PBIs, you know, they’re in control of everything and they take money off of that. But when I was on city council, that number was, I think, more like, 8% to 10%. And I was aghast at that. But so we have to ask, and you mentioned that we, the people, are backfilling that. But one of the big things is the RTD sales tax. And sales tax is a regressive tax because… The people that can least afford it, you know, trying to make ends meet, they have to pay that tax, and it’s getting close to 10% in some municipalities when you’re all in for all of the sales tax with state, RTD, and municipality. And so people that can ill afford to be paying those taxes to subsidize RTD, they are doing that, and it’s a wealth transfer from money out of their own pocket to RTD. And I think it’s important to connect that dot, Pam.
SPEAKER 06 :
yes thank you for saying that because basically what you’re saying is that all of these taxes and fees are disproportionately affecting low-income families so this whole you know polis and the supermajority saying that we’re trying to make colorado more affordable while you know creating 12 new fee enterprises we use the word fee to avoid to avoid tabor these are This is disingenuous. This is hoodwinked on another level. And I mean, I hate to say this, Kim, when I’m explaining this to people from outside of Colorado who have no idea what’s going on in this state, this transfer of wealth, and even people in our state who do not follow Colorado politics have no idea what is going on at their state capitol. They’re just trusting that people are managing government in a responsible way. I sometimes refer to this as commirato. These policies, once you dig into them and really look at what’s going on in the massive scale of the transfer of wealth, yes, communism is not too strong of a word.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, and I had a friend, I was talking with him recently, and we were talking about what is happening in New York with wealthy people voting for Mondani. Of course, they used ranked choice voting as well. And so that’s another reason he got elected, which ranked choice voting is terrible. And Kintherian companies trying to get that passed here in Colorado, we were able to defeat that. But they said that they referred to them as champagne communists. And so they don’t think that these policies are all ever going to affect them. And they don’t care about we the people. But I thought champagne communist was a good term. I’m like, I’m going to use that. I like that.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay, and that is so telling because, you know, my main issue is medical freedom. And once a year, I really get into the weeds on economics. But when I was at the Capitol a few years ago on a very controversial bill to remove vaccine exemptions prior to the pandemic, one of these Democratic supermajority elected officials, a champagne communist, she told me, hey, people like you and I know how to get around these things, Pam. You know, like, yeah, we’re going to pass this bill, and you didn’t ask for it. It’s not constituent-driven. We’re going to take your rights away, and we know how to get around it. That is very much a real attitude amongst these people in the supermajority.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, and again, champagne communists are trying to control our lives. We’re going to go to break and then come back and continue with this very important discussion. And you will want to make sure that you get the newsletter. Of course, we’ll have it on our website then on Sunday or the evening of Sunday or Monday for sure. And that is Pam Long’s Best and Worst of Colorado Politics 2025. And these discussions happen because of our sponsors. If you’ve been injured, reach out to John Bozen and Bozen Law.
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SPEAKER 20 :
And welcome back to the Kim Monson Show. And if you want freedom and confidence with your money, reach out to Mint Financial Strategies. They’re an independent firm with over 25 years of experience. They’re an accredited investment fiduciary, and they put your best interests first always. With a strategy-first approach, they’ll help you build a plan that fits your life. Call Mint Financial Strategies today. That number is 303-285-3080. 303-285-3080. And then also wanted to encourage you to make a… You’re in tax deductible contributions to the Center for American Values, which is located in Pueblo, as they are putting or they have these great educational programs for our kids. The center is nonpolitical and nonpartisan, but they’re focused on these principles of honor, integrity and patriotism. And then also the U.S. MC Memorial Foundation, which is U.S. MC Memorial Foundation dot org. and it’s really important to honor those that have given their lives, been willing to give their lives for our freedom, and that website is usmcmemorialfoundation.org. I appreciate all of these great texts that are coming in, 720-605-0647. I know Gammy has a question that we’ll try to ask, but I want to get through the high points on this article, Pam. So what’s the next thing regarding the best and worst of Colorado politics 2025, we the people versus the supermajority with Pam Long? So what’s the next thing we want to talk about?
SPEAKER 06 :
It’s taxes. The supermajority believes in increasing taxes to overspend. Big government. And we the people, we believe in reducing taxes in small government. And so we started 2025 in Colorado with a $1.2 billion shortfall. And Democrats will tell you that this is Tabor’s fault. Tabor is a law from 1992. And it’s basically a government spending cap based on population and inflation. It is not now the problem. The problem is… overspending. What happened was the state took a bunch of federal funding during COVID and put it towards reoccurring expenses, and now the federal funding is gone, and they have funded projects, mostly in education, that they don’t have money to fund anymore, these little pet projects. There’s some other, you know, inflation plays a factor, a loss of revenue to the tax loopholes this supermajority created in overspending. It’s not TABOR. 60% of voters approve of TAVR, by the way. So I don’t think this messaging is really resonating with people. And every bill that Republicans – there were many. I don’t have time to go into all of them, but the Colorado Senate Republicans – put forth a package of bills for to get rid of all the fees, you know, that would save families $4,500 a year. That’s significant. And then another package of bills that would have saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in tax relief by cutting the income tax rate and exempting Social Security and retirement benefits. All of these measures fail. So again, it is disingenuous for the supermajority, remember this, going into an election year, voters, to say that they’re trying to save you money. They are not. They vote no on every tax relief and fee repeal bill that is offered in the legislature.
SPEAKER 20 :
And those things would have made life more affordable. And TABOR is actually an amendment to the Constitution that was passed by the people in 1992. And one of the things that Colorado Union of Taxpayers is that is one of the, our mission is to protect TABOR, which is Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights. And this is going to be a big year because I think it was Representative Junie Joseph, I think, I’ll have to check which one. It might have been Lorena Garcia. I can’t remember. But they are going to go after Tabor in 2026. So it’s important to know that. What’s the next thing that people need to be aware of?
SPEAKER 06 :
Public safety. Public safety is absolutely a factor in Colorado. You won’t hear it on the news, but so Colorado has drastically increased in crime since 2021. We have the eighth highest violent crime rate in the United States. We have the fourth highest property crime rate in the nation, and we rank four for highest auto theft in the nation. So All during 2025, you saw these little headlines saying, you know, crime is decreasing and we’re still terrible. Like if you’re, you know, let me tell you some other stats that CrimeGrade.org gave Denver a rare F rating. The rate of crime is much higher than the average U.S. city. It places Denver in the first percentile for safety. That means 99% of cities are safer now. And 1% of cities are more dangerous. We are now considered the likes of Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. So anytime you see a headline that says crime is getting better, maybe by 1%, but not insignificant because the supermajority is soft on crime. We, the people, we’re going to have to bypass the legislature. Like Advance Colorado was successful last year with two ballot initiatives and proposals. Prop 130 to, you know, investing, equipping our law enforcement officers in Prop 128, which would require convicted felons to serve 85% of their sentences. We have a huge problem with violent repeat offenders being released or not serving any jail time. And we just had some horrific tragedies here in Colorado this year. With repeat offenders, carjackings, killing families, stabbing, four people stabbed in what used to be the biggest hot spot in Denver, the 16th Street Mall. Venezuelan gangs took over apartment buildings. And, you know, thank God the Trump administration was put in place this year and we were able to get ICE to get in there to remove and arrest people. We’re talking drug dealers, traffickers, weapon dealers. Hundreds of people were arrested in Colorado this year after the supermajority let it just run the cities of Colorado for years.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, and that is one of the real responsibilities of government is to protect our property rights. And one of the ways to do that is to don’t let criminals take away our property or take away our lives. And so public safety is so important. What’s our next item that you want to talk about?
SPEAKER 06 :
Number six is energy, which I think your first hour really covered. Basically, the supermajority has all these insane to end electricity for Colorado in 2030 and 2040, to go to 100% renewable energy. This is not based in reality. Just so you know, anytime they talk about emissions and numbers, they’re talking about modeling. They’re not talking about real data. Just like the entire pandemic was based off of faulty modeling that we were all going to die, the whole climate change agenda is based off of modeling, not real numbers. And so we the people, we believe in not stressing our electrical grid, not closing plants, coal plants, and not relying on unreliable, inefficient, unaffordable energy. And weather-dependent renewable energy sources are just not the solution. They are not reliable. They have a lot of transmission bottlenecks. And we went even a step further in, I think, insanity this year. We passed a bill here, 25 to 1040, that declared that nuclear energy is now a clean energy resource. I mean, make it make sense for me, you know, that coal is dirty, but nuclear is clean. I don’t… I’m not following any logic or coherence there. The only shining hope we have is President Trump appointed Chris Wright from Colorado as our energy secretary, and he is an all of the above. Let’s use everything. Let’s not be shutting down any forms of energy.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yes, and no special treatment regarding energy sources as well. And I think you referred to electricity. What it is, it’s a real war on oil, natural gas, and coal, which is going to make electricity unaffordable. So let’s talk about the last thing. We’ve got just a few minutes left regarding education.
SPEAKER 06 :
So for years, the supermajority in here in Colorado has been focused on what we call non-instructional categories. We’re talking about DEI in colleges. Boulder was forced to remove the DEI program and act like it never happened. All gender restrooms has made national news here in Colorado. And students choosing their names has been a huge distraction here in Colorado in our schools from actual education. Right. So so what’s been happening is for four consecutive years, we have been losing students in our public school system, a steep drop of 30,000 students in 2021. And it just keeps getting worse while our math and reading for ninth, 10th and 11th graders continues to decline. We’re spending more money on less students to get worse outcomes. So we, the people will continue to trend away from traditional public schools for homeschools and charter schools with better outcomes with less funding.
SPEAKER 20 :
So this is such an important piece that you’ve written. And how would you wrap all this up for us, Pam Long? And I think before we do that, I think we might have a quick question. This was Gammy. She said, were you aware regarding the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment on rulemaking regarding new guidelines from the, I think the Academy of Pediatrics. Is that something you’ve been watching?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, Gammy, we are on it in Colorado. So what is happening is the American Academy of Pediatrics is saying we no longer follow the CDC because the CDC is making changes. It’s not recommending sexually transmitted disease vaccines like the vaccine for newborns anymore, which is overdue by, you know, like two decades, right? This is bad vaccination policy. So how Colorado is responding is saying we will no longer follow CDC. The CDC’s guidance, it used to be the holy grail and do everything they say without questioning, but now since they’re actually getting, you know, good policy in place, that we’re going to follow the American Academy of Pediatrics. So if you want to, you know, dissent to that decision, go to the CDPG’s website where you can see there’s a sign-up form for December 17th to tell the Board of Health, like, We want good vaccination policy and we support the changes that are happening. Not recommending COVID vaccines to children. There’s no evidence to support it. More risk than benefit. Not giving STD vaccines to newborns on the first day of life. There’s been a lot of good change based on real data. But of course, you know, vaccines are very profitable and public health gets millions of dollars for every vaccine that people take. So, you know, there’s a conflict of interest there.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, and again, we’re just about out of time. Where can people go? You said this is December 17th?
SPEAKER 06 :
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment under the Board of Health, they have a posted meeting, and I can send you a link as well, Kim.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, and we’ll get that into the summary then. So, Pam Long, we’re out of time, but this is such an important piece. Thank you, and I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, Happy Advent, and a prosperous 2026. And we are in the fight, and we’re going to continue on, my friend.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thank you so much, Kim, and Merry Christmas, Happy New Year to you, too.
SPEAKER 20 :
And our quote for the end of the show is from Thomas Jefferson. He said, the issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite. So my friends today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 14 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
