There is no shortage of big headlines this week, but underneath them is a bigger conversation about trust.

Trust in our elections, trust in our leaders, confidence in Colorado's economy and trust in the institutions making decisions that affect our communities.

I've got great trust in the four behind me, and they have a lot to say.

So let's get started with this week's Colorado Inside Out.

Hi, everyone.

I'm Kyle Dyer.

Let me get right to introducing you to this week's insider panel.

We start with Patty Calhoun, founder and editor emeritus of Westword.

Krista Kafer, a columnist with The Denver Post, Jesse Paul, political reporter with The Colorado Sun, and Ian Thomas Tafoya, a community leader and environmental advocate and past candidate for mayor of Denver.

Election integrity is once again at the center of a national conversation, after the president's remarks last night.

Colorado has long been viewed as a leader in how elections are run, but the state has also been part of the broader debate over election results and election security.

So what do these latest claims made in a prime time address, mean for trust in our elections?

Here in Colorado?

Party President Trump promised shock, but we got schlock.

There was nothing new at all.

And what he was talking about, you might remember that back in 2016, when he was first running for president, he lost here in in the Republican primary and blamed it on a rigged election system.

So none of this is new, his declassified things, if you looked at any of them, unless we sort of we learned something about Venezuela, but not what Venezuela did here.

There was nothing.

And I think many of us were disappointed not to see Tina Peters, who did spend Colorado primary day at the white House, not to see Mike Lindell, who once snuck Tina Peters out of Colorado and has now been endorsed for governor of Minnesota.

We he didn't have any new proof, but he can still cause problems for us.

As we know, secretaries of states around the country, including Colorado.

Have they been subpoenaed?

They've been.

Their records have been demanded.

Trump is threatening not to allow, you know, mail in voting or the U.S.

Postal Service will have to check all voter rolls so they can still cause havoc.

But there was no proof.

You can see why networks didn't carry that.

Krista.

Well, at least he was awake.

I think that's nice.

It's, you know, it's just more of the same.

And bravo to those networks that didn't carry it because it was his own little commercial of tea.

See, I've got the smoking gun.

Finally, I was cheated out of an election.

There is nothing in that stack of stuff that is a smoking gun.

It is, you know, a basically says that foreign governments have tried to influence our elections, which we've already known.

Nothing big there.

And it's just a just part of that same story he lost.

He continues to want to undermine our elections.

He can't live with the fact that he's lost.

And, you know, he's a chronic liar.

Says these things all the time.

I hold not just him responsible, but for every feckless, cowardly member of Congress, local leader, anyone who continues to repeat those false allegations, knowing in most cases that they're false.

I saw a poll the other day that said 63% of Republicans still think that the 2020 election was stolen when there's been absolutely no proof.

Six years, no proof, and all I can do is blame the president and all of these, obsequious hangers on who continue to repeat these lies over and over again to the endangerment of our elections.

Okay.

I'm curious if what the president said if and satisfied some of the election conspiracy theories that are out there, like Tina Peters and Mike Lindell.

So it was reported that Tina Peters was going to be there.

I think we don't quite know because there weren't photos of the audience, but, she was predicting that there was going to be a national emergency announced by Donald Trump.

That didn't happen, that there would be proof of Chinese and Ukrainian meddling.

There was allegations of Chinese meddling, but no proof.

And Ukraine wasn't brought up.

And also, she thought there was going to be a call for, paper ballots to be used in throughout elections.

We already use paper ballots here in Colorado.

The one thing that Trump did talk about was the mail in ballots.

He attacked that Trump voted by mail earlier this year.

So that's a bit ironic.

You know, when you talk about, problems or fallout from a speech like this, like, yes, there are issues for, local election officials who are facing kind of threats and conspiracy theories, but additionally, this keeps it in the public sphere for all those Republican candidates who no longer want to answer questions on this.

So, you know, it's totally fair game for us all to once again talk to Gabe Evans about it, to Jeff Krank.

Jeff heard Victor Marx, this is something that's going to put Republicans who are running for for election this year in a tough spot.

Okay.

And it felt like a desperate and ridiculous speech to also try to program about how we're the hottest country around.

I'm really it feels hot with climate change and the drought that we're having.

I will say that he keeps talking about how we have more respect around the world than we ever had.

I personally have traveled to the United Nations in the last year or twice.

That's not true.

We've caused terrible problems with energy crisis across the globe.

We've wasted money, killed thousands of children across the globe with our bombs.

I mean to say that we're more respected at this moment in time.

I just is absolutely false.

As false as this claims about Venezuela stealing an election.

As people know, my wife is Venezuelan, so I watch these things closely to say that they did it perfectly right when the percentages added up to like 130% and they had exactly round numbers.

It's all false.

And the more energy we give to defending, each one of these false claims over and over again, it just fills his ego and it gives him a chance to be on TV.

So I think we have to move forward from this.

And what's ridiculous is the Republicans are still willing to say that, who've been elected since then and are in control of the government now.

Okay.

All right.

Staying with elections, the Colorado field is now set for November.

We have discussed how the primary results have reshaped the dynamics for the midterm elections.

And now the focus shifts to how each party really builds momentum heading into the fall.

For Republicans, that includes whether their nominee for governor, Victor Marks, can really rally the party around him.

Coloradans who are running for office have been asked to sign a Colorado, a Republican general election unity compact, publicly committing their support to Victor Marks in an effort to kind of strengthen the broader ticket.

And there's also a big unity rally this weekend.

Chris, so what are you hearing?

What will this be?

The race that brings the Republican Party together in Colorado.

This is going to be the race that goes for clown show.

Okay?

I am super, super stoked.

I think that Mark's needs to pick Tina Peters.

I think Patty's provided that great campaign advice to the campaign and, you know, go.

Mike Lindell's already busy up in in Minnesota.

Go with Tina Peters.

Go clown show.

He's already making false allegations.

He's like, oh yeah, I'm going to get, you know, former Governor Owens, endorsement.

They called up, former Governor Owens and was like, so you endorsed marks, and Owens is like, no, we, you know, we'll think about it, but we haven't so already starting to kind of spin the you know what?

I think it's, it's it's going to be interesting.

A lot of folks are not signing the loyalty pledge.

I don't know who's going to show up at the, the parade and, you know, a unity thing that's going to happen this weekend.

I, I'm not I'm not going to be there, but, I think it should be interesting.

You know, I think this is going to keep us in the, the national news, which is, maybe that's a good thing.

And, keep us on the late night comedy networks.

And I think maybe that's a good thing.

In terms of, you know, it's a fun brand.

We're known as the Rocky Mountain High State for, for many reasons.

Okay, Jesse, the interesting thing about the Owens thing is that he doesn't really have much to lose, right, in endorsing Victor Marx.

And so I think the fact that he's unwilling to just go with it, is a sign, right?

I mean, Victor Marx or, Bill Owens isn't going to run for Senate.

He's not going to be governor again.

He's kind of later in his career.

So obviously there are enough concerns for him that he's decided to kind of keep Victor Marx at arm's length in terms of unity.

I think it's a really interesting question.

You know, Victor Marx won the primary with 40% of the vote.

Only about 200,000 votes were cast for him.

That's 60% of Republicans who said no thanks to Victor Marx.

And so, you know, it was probably going to be an impossibility for a Republican to win the governor's race this year, but it certainly will be impossible if you can't get 60% of the Republican electorate to vote for you and 200,000 votes, compared to the 4 million that are statewide.

I think kind of it spells disaster in this could be something that is a problem for, Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

I talk about, you know, the eighth Congressional District often as being a toss up seat, not a swing district.

And that's because it's really, you know, there's not really a swing electorate there.

It's kind of something that that goes each year based off of the turnout game.

And if you have someone like Victor Marx at the top of the ticket who is an exciting Republicans or disgusting Republicans, they're not going to, actually fill out their ballot or just going to be staying home.

That's a problem for someone like Dave Evans, who's going to win or lose this by a few thousand votes.

Well, I think the, the supporters of Scott Bottoms could still go with Victor Marks just because Scott Bottoms is saying he's not going to endorse them, doesn't necessarily mean that that flavor of crazy isn't available for all of them.

But I think with this move with Bill Owens as this, he could have quietly just stayed out of it.

But by leaking this into the press, right, or using it in this press scenario, he's drawing him in to have to have the conversation.

And if you look at what oh, and said he says, I'm not saying I won't do it.

He's almost waiting to see if he gets hot.

Right.

And so that's a different way of engaging him into the conversation politically than I thought.

But at the end of the day, we have to remember that Marx is about show business.

He's been raising money and producing films and talking about his, what he's been doing for a very long time.

The machine that they have built is reaching independents and people outside of the state of Colorado.

So at the end of the day, he is running a campaign on faith.

And he continues to say this.

If you watch as he prayed to see the turning of the numbers, these people who are so invested in this faith message are going to continue, just like the people who watch faith leaders on TV and pick up the phone and donate.

This is all about building of a brand.

So win or lose, I think his brand is still growing.

Okay.

All right, Patty, but it is not going to grow enough for him to get any kind of race.

Absolutely.

It'll be fascinating to see if he agrees to do any debates with or without his dog, because he only did one of the Republican debates, and it was quite the show.

Obviously we have Bottoms and Kirk Meyer who both said they will not support him, and we're much more effusive when they said why they wouldn't support him.

And I think they will stick to that.

They won't change their mind.

I can't imagine why Owens would endorse him, because what he has to lose his credibility.

He may not be running for Senate at this point, but he's got a lifetime of service.

And why would he do that now?

So I think it'll be fascinating to watch.

Mark's, he is a little duller than Lindell.

I am sorry we don't have Lindell following Jesse Ventura in Minnesota, which is the only state that makes us look sillier.

But it's going to be a real crazy race.

And unfortunately, we will not have a dialog which we need between the gubernatorial candidates and what the state really needs.

Let me just say that Doug is really nice.

I said hi to it after the 19th debate.

So, Mr.

Marx, if you're watching, you're welcome to bring your dog to the color dissent debate, because I like your dog.

So you're having a debate, and we're hoping to.

Yeah.

I mean, they'll they'll be invited.

But I didn't say anything bad about the dog.

I'm just saying, what if a dog showed up in place of Marx?

And that might make things difficult.

All right.

Colorado's economy is sending some mixed signals right now.

A new CNBC rankings shows that the state dropping 14 points in its list of the best states for business, even as Colorado ranks near the top when it comes to innovation.

At the same time, Denver's mayor is launching a $100 million plan to create 10,000 jobs.

But RTD is considering cuts to bus and rail lines that many Coloradans rely on to get to work.

Jesse.

Another new poll from the Colorado Health Foundation found that three out of four Coloradans are really worried that they may not be able to afford Colorado in the future.

I will say it's an old poll.

It actually was done in March and April.

So just a, a note out there to pollsters and groups, please do not wait four months to release your polling, but I'm not surprised by that.

I mean, it's something you see in every single poll.

Coloradans put affordability and the cost of living at the top of the list on the CNBC ranking.

You know, I think that I, you know, I try not to put too much weight on, on rankings like that because they're unscientific.

But there is anecdotal evidence that this is a problem.

And when you're talking about business competitiveness and trying to attract businesses to Colorado, that perspective is a real issue.

And I think it'll be interesting to see how you know it.

Phil Weiser talks about, his plans to improve at least the the anecdotal evidence or the vibes and the business environment in Colorado.

He keeps putting out this, thing he says about garlic and cooking and regulations like garlic.

You don't want too much of it.

But, you know, I haven't heard him talk about specifics there.

And each one of those regulations that was put in place is put in place for a reason, whether it was a decision that was made by a state agency or the Democrats in the legislature to impose those.

So I think it's a lot easier said than done to roll back those things.

And I'd like to hear some specifics from him and Mr.

Marks about what what they want to change on the regulatory front, because every tweak that you make there, there is a consequence.

And I'm curious, you got to do that carefully.

And I tend to agree with Jesse that I don't put too much faith in these, online clickbait stories.

I mean just searching on it to read up for today.

I got more banner ads and pop up ads.

Right.

And it's driven by marketing.

I mean, that's partly what it is when you dig deeper into it.

The top state of Ohio has low rankings and quality of life.

So, 1830 fifth in the workforce.

And so how do you have a good business environment without a workforce that's prepared to take the jobs?

By comparison, there were we had an A in our quality of life here in Colorado.

And so, you know, I think it's you have to dig through each one of these cross tabs.

And they're not scientific, like if you were in school or running a poll that was scientific, I'll say Virginia was ranked high.

There, yet for business.

And of course, they've been exploding with data centers, but the utility rates are skyrocketing, the highest rates in anyone.

How does that impact your quality of life and your kitchen table?

Economics?

So some of the things that I did take away from Colorado, talking about the corporate tax rate and the highest rate that's paid by people, this is going to be on the ballot for people this fall.

So these are some of the deep conversations that are in it.

Maybe, maybe.

Okay.

Patty, a more scientific poll was the one talking about how many people have returned to work.

And it is true that Denver is the city that has the lowest rate of people returning to work in downtowns, so it's like a 39%.

So people are still there enjoying the Colorado lifestyle because they're working at home.

But what happens then is you have all the downtown businesses that aren't feeding, people that aren't selling them aspirin at lunchtime, that aren't that really aren't dealing with that robust economy.

So that's one of the problems.

Downtown is taking longer to come back because you don't have people working in the offices.

And this RTD threat, which has been debunked later, like, oh, we were just thinking possibilities.

We won't have that free ride down the mall.

Excuse me.

Now 16th Street, that's what $100,000 get you.

No one.

Remember, I can stop them all.

That is such a valuable service.

It is free, but it has been a hit since it started 40 years ago.

Sure.

Yes.

There's some homeless people who write it there also, parents with their kids going to get ice cream at the new sundaes place.

So there is no way the city is going to let that mall ride stop.

Whether it's the partnership helping RTD with money, it was just an idle threat that shows us how much trouble RTD is in.

And if we want people to go work downtown, you need that.

You need that mall, right?

And that's a sales tax.

That is funding RTD in the first place.

And the fact that the state is not funding RTD like they do in other places.

So it's a spirals on itself.

You call it the death spiral, get people back downtown, get that sales tax up.

And they're great restaurants, they're great shows.

There are plenty of things to do downtown.

Okay.

So you know, I joke a lot about the state of the Republican Party, but this is what happens when you have a very, very weak minority.

There isn't the kind of pushback that is needed at the legislature and in city councils to a lot of these regulations, to higher fees, to mandates on on energy production and energy use, mandates on health care, all of that drives up costs.

And wait, now we have one of the most expensive states to live in.

And I know this because I'm about to lose my health insurance again.

I have a marketplace insurance, and come January 1st, Cigna will no longer be a part of that.

If you look at what the legislature has done to burden these these, these health insurances, they're still active in other states, they're still in other marketplaces, but they're leaving us.

And for somebody who is a middle income person, I know that I can't stay in the state.

The state of my birth.

I'm a native, but how long will I be able to stay here?

Will I be able to retire here?

Probably not.

We need to make some changes.

Interestingly enough, I serve on the HOA board, and we actually got a 25% reduction in our home insurance, which was like $53,000.

Amazing.

Because it was the difference between whether we were going to have to raise fees to keep up with inflation.

And so it was a nice to open that up.

So I thought that was just I just want to share that as it relates to insurance, because to see insurance rates coming down is a good thing okay.

All right.

You're lucky.

Really lucky okay.

Immigration enforcement once again a major conversation here in Colorado and across the country.

Ice has announced plans for a detention facility in Hudson.

it would become the second major detention facility in our state joining the one in Aurora.

Hudson leaders say they were not consulted before the announcement, and they say they have little authority to stop the project.

And we have also learned that a Denver immigration judge was fired back in June after months of criticism from the Department of Justice.

were following her decisions to grant hearings for detained immigrants.

And when it comes to immigration enforcement, let's talk about who makes these decisions, who's accountable, who has a voice?

Well, I was really surprised to read in that story that the elected leaders of Hudson were unaware of when literally for like eight months, people have been protesting out there raising awareness about this.

And the ACLU has been soliciting documents.

I myself was approached to ask questions about environmental concerns that are related to this one.

I want to note that it's been playing out even in red states in the South is when you're taking, I think, the news that it was like 70 something percent of a population increase into a sound.

Their pipes and their wastewater pipes can't handle this.

And so what you're seeing and as they've been analyzing stuff with ice and how they're moving people around, and I look at her, Alcatraz is our every part.

Along the way, there's Grifting taking place.

There's the markups that are happening.

The privatization of these things is leading to some people making millions of dollars, while people are suffering and dying in this custody of these private prisons.

And so, you know, for for me, as I look at this thing with Hudson, I think local governments do have a place to play in it.

The impacts to utilities.

Again, we want to talk about this.

Corporations that are benefiting and is hurting regular people who just want to be able to flush the toilet or power their house affordably.

All of these things come along with that when you're talking about doubling instantly.

Populations.

Honey, let's remember that the only immigration facility now in this detention facility in the state is also run by Geo Group in Aurora, which would love to have more control, I think, over what happens there.

We have Adams County that's trying to get records about tuberculosis, an outbreak in the Aurora facility.

They are they're not getting cooperation.

There's a deadline today about it.

But this is historic with Geo Group in Aurora that they have screwed up people's health, that they have not provided doctors.

This has gone on for a decade.

So that they're still screwing it up is no surprise.

And it could happen again in Hudson, where Geo Group will open its second facility unless someone stops it.

And you're right, there's a big difference in population in Aurora than there is in Hudson, where it's going to be as big as the town's current population.

When this old facility, a private prison that happened housing Alaska prisoners until 2014, if and when that reopens, it is going to have a major impact on that town.

And we saw demonstrators outside the town council meeting this week, and they have been demonstrating for eight months.

And I was reading that last Friday.

The Denver, Denver's auxiliary bishop and some other faith leaders were outside the Hudson facility saying the rosary for all the people who will be affected, not even just those inside, but in that community going forward.

Krista.

Well, you know, I don't have a problem with with private entities providing public services as long as there's accountable.

And right now the accountability is very, very weak.

We've got private prisons as well as public, prisons and, and internment centers and so forth around the country.

And I don't think there are there is enough accountability from the federal government to go in and make sure that there is clean facilities, food, that all of the, the people that are there are well taken care of.

And so our legislature here in Colorado said is the federal government's not going to step up.

We're going to step up.

We're going to make sure that an agency goes into Geo Group looks at the facility, make sure that there's, appropriate health, food, water, cleanliness and so forth.

And Geo Group instead sued to say, no, you can't come in.

And even with this most recent TB situation, I believe today is the deadline to say, we're coming in, we're going to check this out.

And Geo Group is still saying, no.

I think there definitely is going to be a conflict there without accountability.

These kinds of things don't work well.

So I hope the state prevails.

So yeah, I mean, a few things, on the correctional facility, I will say.

I mean, it has been there for a while, so I think they hopefully have figured out, like, the utility stuff, by now.

But, this was an interesting sign that the of how much, how little power Democrats have in Congress right now, the entire Democratic delegation in Congress was trying to fight this reopening in Hudson.

And obviously it looks like that that was going to be unsuccessful.

So just a reminder of kind of the political dynamics in Washington, something that I think is interesting that that I want to keep an eye on is this idea that, you know, Donald Trump is only going to be president for two more years as long as the Constitution is filed, followed.

And there's always a chance that there could be another Republican president elected in 2028.

But if there is a Democrat who comes into office, I you know, what happens at this Hudson facility, because I would assume that a Democrat, Democratic president would not see immigration enforcement as such a, priority.

And they wouldn't therefore, you know, need this facility to be open to handle the influx.

So then you're talking about people who had jobs at this facility who no longer would have them.

And then again, once again, this this thing closes and you kind of start the cycle all over again.

So it's kind of a two year, like, lease type of thing.

And I'm really curious to see, you know, what happens to Hudson, what happens to the people who work there.

If a Democrats elected in 2028 and all of a sudden you no longer need this, this facility and they haven't said when it's going to open, have they said not yet.

Not yet.

It takes time.

I mean, you know, the state of Colorado was looking at reopening a private prison recently because to handle its own, increases and, inmates and it takes like a year, right?

I mean, I think, these, these facilities get mothballed.

They don't have the latest and greatest Hvac.

You need to clean the pipes.

So it's not a quick process.

So you're right.

I mean, it could be a year that it's open until it gets shut, and then it gets shut down again.

Okay, now let's go around the table and talk about some of the highs and the lows of the cycle.

Start on a low point and we'll start with Patty.

Well, with all the horrific fires in Colorado, you sometimes things get obscured by smoke and you forget the rest of the country.

And the rest of the world really is also suffering.

So Mother Nature across across the country this week is really a disgrace.

That's true.

Now the person in Congress with his pants down in this case it's Representative Diego.

Todd I guess apparently had a bunch of affairs with different staff members not on his own team but in other offices.

And I just, I want, I want Congress to go back to being a a pants on job opportunity.

I just think we need to have some different expectations.

Okay.

Trump mentioned in his speech that reporters were part of the cover up on elections, and I did not get the memo on that.

I can I can tell you that it's just a shame that that, he had to blame the media for this.

Again, it so it's distrust among the public for reporters.

We have nothing to do with this.

Many listeners may be aware that they're discussing a nuclear power plant at the Buckley Air Force Base.

And as I've been engaging in this process, the Department of War does not believe any community engagement needs to take place with the people who live around that facility.

Okay.

All right.

Something good.

Patty, one of the casualties of the changing media has been political cartoonists.

You don't have daily papers, so you don't have political cartoonist Pat Oliphant, who is a Pulitzer winning cartoonist, was at the Denver Post for a decade.

He just passed away.

But it shows what we're really missing now by not having the pen of those cartoonists at work.

Krista, I saw a band this week and went to see my friend's band, Devo, and the opening for them was Wheelchair Sports camp, local band.

Super inspiring back story, great edgy punk rap sound.

And, she's definitely someone people should look into.

Great music.

Okay.

All right.

It's basic, but I'm excited for the monsoonal moisture that we have on the way.

So my yard and trees are happy.

I feel great.

For me, it is really the launch of the new brand for the Colorado Connector, the Front Range rail project I've worked on for a long time, and I was part of the team that decided to send it to the people, to vote for the name they wanted.

And so it's great to see so much engagement with that cocoa Colorado connector and the little fox.

Little fox.

Okay.

Was that your idea?

The fox?

No.

Yes.

Well, it was my idea to send it to the voters, okay.

To the public to vote in a survey.

Good.

Did you run when Caitlyn ran for mayor?

No, she ran the cycle before me.

The tiny mayor.

Yeah.

That's what they call her.

Yeah.

That's true.

She would have been a great mayor, I agree.

Okay.

All right.

My high this week is our Colorado Inside Out panel.

We reschedule the taping of our show.

So our conversation on last night's discussion, would be prevalent and that they would all be prepared with thoughtful insight, which they delivered at a time when so many conversations are polarized.

I am so grateful that we can come to this table and always have a thoughtful discussion, respectful conversation where people listen, disagree, and we have a genuine conversation.

So also, I have to thank all the behind the scenes people who also changed their schedules so we could make this show possible.

And thanks to all of you for who are watching or listening to our podcast.

We appreciate you being part of this conversation every week as well.

I'm Kyle Dyer, I will see you next week here on PBS 12.

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