Station:    blogtalkradio.com

Show:      MADASHECC Radio Show with Mad Jen

Guest:      Lyons

Link:        http://www.blogtalkradio.com/madashecc/2012/06/03/interview-wjohn-s-lyons–candidate-for-colo-state-senate

Date:        June 2, 2012

Topics:      Oil and Gas Regulations, Senate District 28, Nancy Todd, Art Carlson, God, Bible Church Group, Abortion as Contraception, Exceptions in Cases of Rape and Incest, Small-Government Conservative,  Illegal immigration, Citizenship, Boulder, Sanctuary City, Radical Islam’s Threat to Colorado, Sharia Law, Jobs, Unemployment, Regulations, Business Climate, Two Party System, Christian Conservative Party, Congressional Committee Chairmanships, Ronald Reagan

Click Here for Audio

 

HOST MAD JEN:  […] Because tonight, we’ve got a very special interview with one of our – when I say ‘our’, I mean me, as in ‘me, locally’, because I am out of Colorado and I’ve got a Colorado candidate on the line tonight, willing to give an interview to talk to you in Colorado, and because it was rumored to me that this man that I have on the line –his name is John Lyons, said he is a true conservative.  And I am going to ask him the questions tonight to see if he can prove to me that he is a true conservative. And with no further ado, I’d like to welcome Mr. Lyons to the phone.  Welcome, Mr. Lyons.  How are you doing tonight?

JOHN LYONS:  I’m doing good.  How are you doing?

JEN:  I’m doing wonderful.  Thank you so much for coming on the show tonight. I appreciate having you.  I’m always welcome to interviewing great conservatives across this nation, but especially across the greatest state in the entire nation, and that would be the great state of Colorado.  Thank you for stepping up to represent conservatives in Colorado.  But first we have to prove that you are a conservative.  Are you up for the challenge?

LYONS:  Sure

JEN:  All right.  Now, I hear that you started off like pretty much everyone else.  You – just a regular guy going about your business, and at some point in your life you decided to run for office.  And so I’m sure, since you’ve walked the walk that most of us have walked for most of your life, you probably understand how a lot of people start to get fed up with politicians these days because they say a lot of great things to get elected but once they get elected, all that stuff seems to go out the window.  What are your thoughts on that sir?

LYONS:  Well, I’ve been asked that question before, as to who is going to keep me accountable.  And the answer is that there is going to be three people that are going to keep me accountable.  The first one is the voters.  If I don’t keep my promises and be conservative then I expect them to vote me out.  The second group that is going to keep me accountable is my close friends and church group.  I expect them to make sure that I do what I say and if they don’t, I hope they call me onto the carpet about it.  And the third group that will keep me accountable is myself.  Because at the end of the day I have to live with myself and if I don’t do what I promise and I don’t do what I expect of myself, well, then I expect myself and my God to keep me accountable

JEN:  All right.  And we will do that.  We’ll keep you accountable.  And you know, one of the things that I’ve always said is that politicians oftentimes – pardon me, at this point I don’t consider you a politician, I just consider you a man running for office, and so this isn’t necessarily –

LYONS:  I don’t consider myself a politician, either.

JEN:  Okay.  Well, what I‘ve felt about people is the reason why a lot of politicians are less than honest is because the American people don’t want to elect an honest man, because they don’t like to hear the truth, they like to hear what they want to hear.  So it’s partially our fault that these guys and gals are not honest with us.  And, so we are equally to blame for that.  We can’t just blame the politicians, because it’s also our fault.  So, on to the next question.  Talk to me, sir, if you will, about illegal immigration.  What are your thoughts, and do you have plans to work on that issue?

LYONS:  Well, the problem with illegal immigration is you can’t pick up and get rid of – well, what is it – an estimated, at least, what, 500,000 illegal aliens here in the state of Colorado.  I’m not quite sure.     But the problem that you have is you can’t just pick up 500,000, let’s say, people, and move them somewhere else, because where are they going to go?  What you need to do is make it difficult for them to get jobs, to get higher education at a cheaper cost, you know, and they need to find a way to actually become legal.  I’m all for legal immigration, but as far as illegal, I mean, how fair is it to the people who struggled and worked hard to become US citizens. It’s not fair, and everybody’s talking about fairness this day, you know, this time.  And we need to make it fair to the people who actually struggled and worked hard and became US citizens, and they pay taxes, and they do the right thing.     It’s just a shame that some cities like Boulder are welcoming illegal aliens into the city and trying to help them out but you know you’re really not doing anything really good for them.  You know, you’re not teaching them the respect for the rule of law, and that for me is a problem.

JEN:  And what about the people who are here, that just because they were born here, or because they came here as legal immigrants, who worked hard to become legal, and you’re taking away a lot of their benefits as well, or a lot of their opportunities, when you help out those who had no respect for the law.

LYONS:  Yeah, exactly.

JEN:  My next question is – I have two issues that are very near and dear to my heart –and, all of these issues are near and dear to my heart but there are two that are really, really top of the list for me as a voter.  And so, of course, I have to ask you about them.  What is your stance on abortion?  Is there ever a time when you think abortion should be allowed?  Or are you semi-pro-abortion, or what is your stance on that?

LYONS:  Well the thing about abortion, and I’m not saying that all women do this, but there’s a portion of them that use abortion as a contraceptive device, and there’s absolutely no excuse for that. I mean, with birth control and with all the methods available, there’s absolutely no excuse for using abortion as a contraceptive device.  As far as, — I tend to think in cases of rape and incest, I would probably be for, — I would hope that the woman would chose to bring the child to term, but I don’t know.    I struggle with this issue.  Especially because it’s a hard thing to do, because as a small government conservative, you know, do I have the right to tell somebody what to do with his body.  But as a Christian, I know that all life is sacred.  And so, I wrestle with this, in what instances does abortion, you know, make sense? You understand what I’m saying?  And I struggle with that, and I haven’t quite got it.  You know?  I’m not —

JEN:  All right.  Well, I encourage you to sit down with some of your pro-life supporters and talk this out with them because I think a lot of… we don’t have time to convince that they’re – that it’s not my place to help you along with that.  It’s just my place to get your views.  But I do encourage you to sit down with some of your supporters and talk this through.  Because I think if you sit down and have a good, long conversation with some of them, the issue would become a lot more clear to you and it would be easier for you to stand out and talk pretty solidly about it.   So, I won’t keep you in a rock and a hard place. I’ll move you on to the next question.

Now, the next thing that is near and dear to my heart is, because I have a husband in the military and he’s been deployed four times, and we have an issue in this nation that a lot of people don’t realize that it is an issue and I really think that people need to look deeper into it, and hopefully you will, too, if you get elected.  But what are your views on Islam?  Do you believe that it’s a threat to our nation?  And if so, or I guess right now you care about Colorado because you’re running for Colorado state senate,  do you think it’s a threat to Colorado?  And if so, what are your plans?  Do you have any plans to battle this issue?

LYONS:  I do think that radical Islam can be a problem.  Now, as a country we allow people to worship as they please.  Whether or not it’s, uh, you know, I’m struggling to find the correct words, but you know, I just, you know, they can do what they want because of how the Constitution is designed.  But you know, radical Islam is a problem.  And one of the things that really bothers me is that some people are actually considering wanting to have Sharia law.  Now, not necessarily in this state, but I would try to make sure that not any kind of Sharia law would come into the state of Colorado.

JEN:  Okay, that’s good news to my ears.  Absolutely, we can not, ever, allow the slippery slope of allowing Sharia law to enter into Colorado’s law books, at any time, ever, in our history of our nation for the rest of our nation’s history, it’s just – it can’t happen, because it’s not compatible with American law.  So, I’m glad to know that you’re up on top of that topic.  What would you say are some of Colorado’s biggest issues and what are your plans for solving them?

LYONS:  A lot of the big issues that are facing Colorado are not strangers to the whole nation.  The big thing is getting the economy and getting jobs within the state.  The big problem with getting jobs into the state is you have to have a friendly business climate.  And how do you do that?  Well, you make it easy for businesses to set up shop, you know, lessen regulations. I — you know, there’s pages upon pages of regulations for businesses to fill out.  If you notice on — I have listened to commercial radio and you hear companies that, their sole purpose is to do compliance issues.  Now, it’s such a wonderful country that you can come up with a company that does compliance issues and that’s how you make money.  But in a way, it’s kind of sad that there are so many issues, so many regulations that you have to have a complete company that does that kind of stuff.  You know most of the time, executives spend a lot of time dealing with compliance issues and regulations and they don’t spend time with the customer.  And that to me is a problem.  Another issue is getting permits.  It should be easier to get building permits, not that the state is really too involved in that.  It’s more a municipal issue, but, you know, drilling permits for instance.  You know it takes thousands of dollars and at least a year, you know, a year-and-a-half, two years to get a drilling permit.  Why would an oil company want to drill here when they can go to Texas for two hundred dollars and a week and a half you can get a permit for an oil well.  I mean, that, for me, is a problem.

JEN:  And one thing that I’ve also heard, through some of my studies and everything, is that there is actually whole a lot of oil here in Colorado that is available, or can be available maybe through some additional technologies applied, but am I incorrect in what I’ve heard that there’s a lot of oil to be had here in Colorado?

LYONS:  No, you’re correct on that.  There’s – I think it’s the Green River formation in northwest Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, that has trillions of barrels of oil, that we can get rather inexpensively and we’re not doing it.    The latest figures I saw on unemployment on the Western Slope is around 19 percent.  You know, that’s the problem.  If you increase the tax base, if you increase more of people working, you increase the income coming into the state and therefore you can afford all the programs – you can fund a lot of programs from the extra tax revenue and you don’t even have to raise taxes.  And that’s, you know, that’s what I like to see.  Make it easier for businesses to come in and set up shop.

JEN:  Okay.  All right.  And I’ve got one final question for you, and that is when you’re running for office and things seem so clear to you. But once you get into the office, there are so many other influences that take place and so much pressure to either go along to get along, or buckle to the establishment, or those sort of things.  I’m sure you’ve thought of that, and you’re aware that those things happen.  So what are you going to do to avoid buckling like a lot of other people do to pressures to do and vote on things that maybe go against the things that you believe in.

LYONS:  I’ll stick to my principles.  Because the principles is part of who I am.  And if I go against that, then I’m going against who I am.  I would hope that my Bible study group would again, be a group that would keep me accountable and something that we could discuss.  Now, the ultimate decision is mine, how I vote.  But I expect that my Bible study group could keep me accountable.  But most of all, I think my wife will keep me accountable.

JEN:  Behind every great man is a great woman

LYONS:  Yes, she is.  She’s a wonderful woman.

JEN:  Alright.  And I said I have one more question, but I actually have two more.  So my final question is, this is something I’ve been thinking very strongly about over the last couple of weeks.  And I’m kind of springing this on you and I haven’t even announced it yet, but, knowing that you’ve talked pretty much about your church and your brothers and sisters at your church keeping you on track and keeping you grounded, in the future at some point in time, because my belief is that the Republican party is becoming very diluted and almost tainted, do you believe that at some point in time if there was something like a Christian Conservative party, what would you think about something like that starting up?

LYONS:  I’m not sure.  The big problem is that this is a two party system.  And the Republican Party tries to have a big tent.  And the thing is, if you dilute it with another party, you pull votes away.  Let’s say a Christian candidate gets into office, what can they do?  Really, not much, because ultimately it’s who controls the chairmanships of the committees and that, and who controls the legislature.  I just – I can’t see where it would honestly be a good thing.  I understand where you coming from, but with the two party system, it really doesn’t work that well.

JEN:  I appreciate your honest answers. [Apologizes for no questions on the phone line.  Hopes people will hear the archive and that Lyons will get some response from this interview, and possibly some new supporters.  Jen volunteers her help to Lyons if he ever needs anything, and wishes him the best of luck]

LYONS:  They can get ahold of me through my website.  It’s lyonsforsenate28.com.  You can email me through there and I’ll answer any questions that come up.  And I guess I have one question for you.  Did I pass your test?

JEN:  [laughs] Well, there are a couple things I would still like to talk further to you about.  You know, the big thing is abortion for me, I think it’s a horrible wrong that’s going on in our nation and I’d like to talk with you more about that, if we can, at some point.  That would be great.   But, after a little more conversation, we’ll see how it goes.  And I do wish you the best of luck.  And I do believe that I really like to hear is that you’ve got a church family that will keep you grounded and that’s always a good thing, and something that’s needed in more of our candidates and politicians these days.  So hopefully, if you make it in there you’ll be one of the good guys we can count on to speak for us.

LYONS:  I mean, that’s my plan, I mean, one of the reasons I got in to this is I’m tired of exactly that, you know, politicians that keep changing their story. I’m definitely concerned about my children.  You know, are they going to have the same liberties and same freedoms that I had growing up?  And that’s really the reason why I’m in this.  And another thing, I’m just tired of sitting, I mean the reason I actually stepped up and trying to do something about this is you know,  I’m tired of sitting in front of the TV  and doing absolutely nothing about it – sitting there screaming at the TV, going, “I can’t believe these people are doing this!  And why doesn’t somebody do something?”  And as Ronald Reagan said, “If not now — or if not who, or if not”  — or what’s the quote?  I just had it on the tip of my ton–

JEN:  I know the quote you’re talking about.  I can’t remember it exactly now, either.  But it’s very relevant.  We’ve all got to stand up and that’s one thing that just frustrates me to no end, is that people can sit back and complain and complain and they think they can just get on Facebook and complain and talk about things and that’s good enough.  And it’s really not.  You know, we’ve got to get up and we’ve got to do everything we possibly can because the future of our children is at stake here.  And I’m glad you mentioned that, because I’ve always found that people who do these sort of things to make a better life for their children and their children’s future are usually the guys who do the best by us.  So I appreciate hearing that tonight.

LYONS:  Well, I’m glad I answered your questions.  And again if anybody wants to contact me they can contact me through my website lyonsforsenate28.com and I’d be glad to answer any questions that anybody has

JEN:  Wonderful.  All right, sir.  Well, best of luck to you, and I hope to be talking to you soon.  And by the way, I didn’t tell everyone listening that you are running for Colorado State Senate district twenty-eight.  So if you’re in district 28, go look up Mr. Lyons’ and see if he’s the right guy for you.  And hopefully you’ll get some new supporters out of this.  So you have a great night, sir.  And invite everyone to come listen to my show every Saturday night.  You’re welcome to call in at anytime if you’ve got some announcement you need to make.

LYONS:  All right.  I appreciate it.

JEN:  All right. Have a great night.  Great talking to you.

LYONS:  Great talking to you