Station: 560 AM, KLZ
Show: Grassroots Radio Colorado
Guest: Olvera, Martinez
Link: http://grrc.podomatic.com/
Date: April 11, 2012
Topics: Colorado Hispanic Republicans, Messaging, Outreach, Democratic Party
Click Here for Audio

KEN CLARK:  And we are going to move right along.  I hope you enjoyed the last segment.  That was a town hall, a live town hall over the radio from the Blaha campaign.  But as you know, we’ve got something coming up on Saturday.  What would that be?  That would be the State Republican Party Assembly.  And we’ve been trying to do a lot of work with a lot of different groups around the state.  Derrick Wilburn is the head of the Rocky Mountain Black Tea Party.  We’ve had Solomon Martinez in the studio with us a bunch of times.   Right now, we have Pauline Olvera in studio with us, talking about the Colorado Hispanic Republicans, because … well, Pauline, let me just pitch it to you, what have you guys been up to?

PAULINE OLVERA:  We’ve been very busy, Colorado Hispanic Republicans.  We’re growing very fast and Solomon Martinez will be here soon.  He is our first chapter that we are opening up in the northern part of our state.   So, we are… we seem to be growing very fast.

KEN CLARK:  So the biggest problem I’ve seen in the Hispanic community and the Black community is that they share our values.  They just hate the Republican Party.  So what are you doing about that?

PAULINE OLVERA:  We are working to help connect the Republican principles with those communities’ values.  Like you said, they are right in line.  They are prolife, they are faithful.  Our logo, our slogan, if we had one, so to speak, would be “faith, family, and freedom”.   And they want… they’re small business owners and they want the government off their back.  They understand that lower taxes helps to increase business and it helps their business. So, we need to be able to connect more those principles with that community.

KEN CLARK:  What do you think the biggest problem has been with the messaging from the Republican Party, and the success, let’s say, of the Democratic Party when they do a better job messaging, they do a better job … oh, I don’t know, just in their outreach. Because let’s face it, they just do a better job.  And in my opinion, it’s based on lies.  Because I believe that we all do share the same core values.  Yet… and let’s face it, I was a disenfranchised Republican as well, and I’ve been mixing it up in the Republican Party for twenty-five years.  And I left and went back to the Tea Parties and the 9/12 groups and all that wonderful stuff.  But I also realize that the Democrats are the wrong way to go.

PAULINE OLVERA:  Most definitely.  I think part of that has been, like you said, we became a little, um … what’s the word I’m looking for— a little complacent.  And it was hard to decipher between a Democrat and a Republican.  I know I woke up when we had McCain, and I thought that here is a man that is going to sign that TARP bill, this is a man who is for amnesty – blanket amnesty, and I thought, “is this what the Republican party is giving us?”  There really wasn’t that much difference.  So it could have been something on that line that had people disenfranchised from the Republican Party.  But now we stand a firm line in the sand, as to where we stand as a Republican Party.  We have to stand firm on those principles, and get in there and do the right thing.

KEN CLARK:  Well I do love the idea that you guys are doing outreach, and Grassroots Radio is going to do everything we can to help you.  And Solomon, I wanted to ask you a similar question:  Why do you think the Democrats are having better success messaging than the Republicans are?

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  Ah, maybe they don’t speak the truth all the time?

PAULINE OLVERA:  mm-hmm

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  You know, they go on ahead and promise this, promise that. You take a look at Obama;  you promise taking care of the illegal immigration… ah, deal — when he was campaigning, you know, that he was going to provide amnesty.  All that died, what, a year [into] his presidency.  And all of a sudden, like, nothing’s there.  Now he’s talking to the Hispanics again about it.  You know, a lot of it is,  you know,  my mom and dad were Hispanic… I mean, democrat.  I’m a Democrat.  They don’t really explore.  I tell people, “Take the test.”  There’s websites you can go onto, uh…  [coughing and nervous laughter in studio]….  You know, it’s Republican Democrat Test.  Take the test.  If it still shows that you’re a Democrat, then stay the Democrat Party.  But you’re going to find that you’ll probably be a Republican, on… in most cases.

KEN CLARK:  Well, yeah and one of the things … I agree with you, Pauline, and one of the things that I saw, especially when we had McLame who was running for president,  you know, I don’t know what’s going to happen when we throw Romney up there.  I really don’t.  I mean we had some real conservative choices , and the only thing that I would say to people is that Obama is so much worse.  I mean, he is the most dangerous man in America because he holds the Oval Office.  And he, … all you have to do is take a look… Solomon , you were at the eleven…  9/12 meeting with us last night.  You listened to Tom Tancredo ‘s speech.  I just got done in the first half hour of the show today railing on the EPA because it’s nothing but an extension of the United Nations, trying to cram Agenda 21 down our throats.  And people don’t know the truth.  And the thing  I love about your guys’ outreach is you’re showing them the truth, and the difference.

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  Um, exactly.  You know, we’re … all we’re doing is trying to be honest, … you know, we’re honest with people,  and we’re not promising anybody anything.   We’re promising that, you know, we will stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and it’s a time Americans come together.  It’s a time for Hispanics to unite, because we are a huge voice across the country.  It is time we stand shoulder to shoulder and go on in and have our voice heard, and that’s what the Colorado Hispanic Republicans [are] doing.  We are out there reaching out to Hispanics that have the same values, talking about faith, family, freedom … you know, “fe, familia, libertad”. You know, we are all … you know, combined together.  It’s, … why do we have to be segregated?  All right.  It’s Americans for America.  That’s what we have to push.  You know, we have to go on and come together like we did after 9/11, you know, where we go on ahead and unite as a nation.  And that’s what we need to focus on, and that’s the message we need to send out .   And that’s what we’re doing for the Hispanics.  We’re saying, “Come and join us! Come and talk to us! I’m not going to try and switch you over to Republican, come and talk to… Hear our values, hear our views.  If you align with that, join us!”

KEN CLARK:  Are you having any luck when you talk to people about saying, “Okay, these are the values that we share.  This is a particular candidate that we share.”  Pauline, have you done it that way at all?

PAULINE OLVERA:  With regard to the candidate, we are going to unite behind our candidate – whoever that person is that comes out of our national convention.  But yes, we reach out to the community.  We’re going to start going out into the churches.  We’re going to start talking about our values.  And we do start… we do talk about our values when we go outreach.  And that’s what you do.  You pick an issue and you discuss the values associated with that particular issue.  And most often times, 99% of the time, the values behind that issue are conservative values.

KEN CLARK:  You are listening to Grassroots Radio.  We have Pauline Olvera and Solomon Martinez in the studio with me.  And we are talking about the Colorado Hispanic Republicans.  And Solomon, you started the first chapter…   We do have a caller waiting on the line, and I’ll get to him in just a minute.  You started the first chapter up north, and you used to do a breakfast club that I’ve gone to a couple of times, way back when.  And then you started getting back into it again and so you have…. How is that chapter going?  How are you doing with your outreach?

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  I think we’re doing great.  We’re actually, ah setting … you know, we’re setting up and reaching out to Greeley, we’re reaching out to Longmont, … but just in, you know, as a  northern Colorado chapter, right now.  And realistically, in Greeley, I believe, we can go on and have another chapter started there within the next 30 days.  We’re getting a lot of response.  After that thirty days is up, I’m actually going on ahead and focus on Longmont.  And, I’m actually cutting my hours down to ten hours a week, so I can focus my rest of my time into going on ahead and getting the message out there to other Hispanics and to other Republicans, and  … I mean to other Democrats, and just learn what’s going on.  You know, if I can share this message, … You know, I was talking to a guy I ran into at Home Depot.  And I gave him one of my cards and he goes, “Oh, you’re an elephant!  I’m a donkey!”  And he goes, “I voted for Obama last time around, you know, “ and he goes, “But I’m not going to be a donkey’s behind and vote for him again.”  So there is a lot of people that feel the same way.

KEN CLARK:  That’s very good, and we have definitely got to reach out to more and more of those people.  Let’s go ahead and ask Keith, from Roxborough, to join us.  I think he has a question.  Keith, welcome to Grassroots Radio.

CALLER KEITH:  Hi, Keith!   Or   [chuckles]  I’m sorry! Hi, Ken…

KEN CLARK:  I’m Ken, you’re Keith, remember?

CALLER KEITH:  I know Pauline, and Solomon as well.  I had the opportunity to go down for Colorado Hispanic Republican Day down at the capitol, here, a couple months back.  And it was a pleasure to meet Pauline there.  But, I’ve got to take exception, Ken, with kind of what you said in your opening statement, that Hispanics hate Republicans.  And I know you probably kind of made it a broad based statement,  but I definitely don’t think that’s accurate

KEN CLARK:  Okay.  Well, I would agree with you – that was a pretty broad brush.    And, uh, but more … the percentage of Hispanics that vote Democrat is larger than the percentage of Hispanics that vote Republican.  That’s why I say something like that.  So, what’s you’re …

CALLER KEITH:  Very true…

KEN CLARK:  Yeah, so…

CALLER KEITH:  I think a lot of that has to do with the entitlement aspect and mentality of what’s driven the Democratic Party … ah, in the past few decades.

PAULINE OLVERA:  I would like to say that, I think it’s more…. I think that Ken touched on it earlier, that the Democrats lie.  They just lie.  They make all these promises, and they don’t follow through with their promises.  And if they do try to follow through with their promises, their promises don’t made sense in the end.  And people get confused.  Those entitlements don’t really, … I mean, you have to take it from one person’s pocket to give to another person, so it ends up damaging everyone’s pocket overall.  And so, it never comes to fruition – the help that they offer, the help that they promise.  And I think that’s what attracts people to the Democrat party, –not just Hispanics.

KEN CLARK:  Well, I would agree with you.  Keith, I want to thank you for calling in.  That was a good point. And you’re right, Keith, I did paint a pretty broad stroke with that brush.  We’re going to run to a break.  When we come back, we’ll going to have more with the Colorado Hispanic Republicans.

[After the commercial break, Ken returns with a welcome to listeners, a reminder of the call-in number, and a station and show identification.  He then elaborates on an anecdote concerning his recent jaw surgery, a broken tooth, a root canal, and his personal appreciation  to Dr. Barnes for attending to him.  Ken also refers briefly to Jason Worley’s physical stature and the unexpected preference Mr. Worley has for sedation dentistry]

 

KEN CLARK:  I do have, in studio with me, I’ve got Pauline Olvera and Solomon Martinez, and they are with the Colorado Hispanic Republicans.  Now, Solomon, during the break you had started talking about some  numbers that you wanted to share with the listening audience.  So why don’t you dive into that.

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  That’d be great.  Let’s take a look at unemployment.  And, you know, I’m not making these numbers up.  This comes from the Heritage Foundation.   Unemployment fell, with a drop … let’s see, Hispanics fell by sixty-six percent as compared to a drop of fifty-three percent among Blacks, and  [16 percent(?) – inaudible] among non-Hispanic whites.  The unemployment rate among Hispanics in March was ten-point-three percent, compared to eight-point-two percent along the border.  Hispanics increased more than any other group from twenty-point-six percent to twenty-six-point-six percent, all according to the Pew Hispanic Center.  And a majority of Hispanics believe that the economic downturn has been harder on them than on any other group in America.  It is not surprising then, that Hispanics rank jobs, not immigration, as the number one issue in the 2012 election.  Additionally, fifty-six percent are dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed.

KEN CLARK:  That’s amazing.

PAULINE OLVERA:  People come to this country because we value the individual.  We value hard work.  And you get to reap the benefits of your hard work.  And when that’s getting taken away from you, we… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you’re headed in the wrong direction.

KEN CLARK:  Well, you know it is interesting, because I constantly spew out on Grassroots radio that liberals lie.  They have to.  I mean let’s take ….

PAULINE OLVERA:  Of course,

KEN CLARK:  Yeah, I mean, let’s face it, I mean we’ve got the Buffett rule coming out that Obama actually tried to say, “Should have been called the Reagan Rule.”  All right.  [Pauline laughs]   You heard that today?

PAULINE OLVERA:  Yes, I heard that today.

KEN CLARK:  Wasn’t that the most infuriating thing you’d ever seen?

PAULINE OLVERA:  It was just disgusting.  And I also saw a video, you know that somebody sent out.  Obama…. It was like some kind of Obama campaign material, talking about all the wonderful things he did for us.  And this wonderful healthcare that he did. But they never talked about how the American people didn’t want it because we understand ‘socialized medicine’.

KEN CLARK:  Oh yeah…

PAULINE OLVERA:  We understand what that is, and we didn’t want it. We understood there was a problem with rising costs, but we also understood that that wasn’t going to fix it.  And they did it anyway.  They didn’t talk about Massachusetts hiring Scott Brown to vote against that bill.  They didn’t talk about  how they passed that bill with an accounting method called ‘reconciliation’ because they couldn’t get the votes for it.  Democrats lie.  That’s the only way they can get elected.

KEN CLARK:  So Solomon, you’ve got these groups that are going on, and are you working with other groups?  Are you working with, for instance, Derrick Wolburn was just in here in the last segment, and he’s got the Rocky Mountain Black Tea Party.  And I know that guy is tireless.  We’ve also got a new chapter of the Rocky Mountain Black Tea Party here in Denver, that is just starting up.  Oh yeah, I met that gentleman, I think his name is Leland and he is doing it.  I met him on Monday.  I was at a bunch of meetings down at the Independence Institute and he was there.  And he’s got a chapter going.  I’m going to try and get him in to start talking about that.  Because we’ve got to circle the wagons with everybody.

PAULINE OLVERA:  mm-hmm.

KEN CLARK:  If Obama gets elected, it’s over.   I mean, it’s over.  This country will never, ever make it back from the damage he will do.

PAULINE OLVERA:  He won’t be have to be accountable, this next four years.  I mean, this four years he has to be somewhat accountable for what he’s done these last three-and-a-half, four years.  If he’s in office again, he’s not going to have to be accountable because there is no re-election after that.

KEN CLARK:  Right

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  Our liberty is gone.  And I’m glad there’s another Black Tea Party starting up here in Denver.  I want to go on ahead and stand with them, side by side, and let’s go and do what we need to do.  I’m working with, you know, Right Turn Colorado.  We want to get some training, go on out there talk to precincts, get voter registration training.  Those are the things we need to get good at.  And, you know, that’s why I’m running as a national delegate candidate.  Okay?  In the second congressional district.  And I would appreciate your vote.  I want to go to the national for a couple of reasons.  One, I’m going there to work.  I’m not going on vacation.  I want to go on ahead and meet with other Hispanic leaders from around the country, share ideas with them, get ideas from them, so that we can go on ahead and do everything we can so we can turn Colorado red again, and go on ahead and fire Obama.  I mean, the Hispanic vote is critical, and we need to fire Obama and I think the Hispanics, if we join together, it’s going to happen and I know, it’s just like…. A snowball effect.  It’s going to keep on growing.  We’re headed down the mountain and that snowball is going to continue to grow, and we are moving forward, and we are going to be huge in the state of Colorado.

PAULINE OLVERA:  If there’s one job America can do without, it’s Obama’s

KEN CLARK:  [laughs]  I like that.  Yeah, we definitely want to get that guy fired.  But you know, Solomon, you bring up a very good point.  Because I went the first Tea Party Rally in DC in 2009.  There were two million people there.  Well, okay, that’s a little bit tough to network with two million people.  But this going to be a little bit different.   You’re going to the Republican National Convention in Florida …

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  That’s my goal.

KEN CLARK:  Right.  Could you imagine the networking opportunity you’re going to have to meet other Hispanic leaders throughout the country, and bring those ideas together.  Because believe me, I met a lot of top quality people in DC there.  I met with Freedom Works, and now I’m the Colorado field director for Freedom Works.  And it helps.  And if you can get that network on a nation-wide basis, you can … that’s powerful stuff.

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  You know, Colorado’s a critical, critical state, okay?  And, you know, if I get a chance to go, and I can bring in some of that information, and by … I figure that between now and August CHR is going to be … we’re going to be huge.  We’ll be already over 1600 members, easy–  Just in CHR, okay.  We’ll have 1600 people out there, basically sending out the same message from the information that I receive from other Hispanic leaders around the country.  This is a golden opportunity for us to take advantage of this, and I need everybody that is in the second congressional district’s support.  I need your help. I need your vote, to send me to the national.

PAULINE OLVERA:  Are you also a candidate, delegate candidate for the state as well?

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  I’m a delegate for the state, but I’m not running for national at the state.  I think there’s like 800 people running for twelve spots.  I figure the best shot I have is at the 2^nd congressional district.  I’m well known in Larimer County, and I’ve been to Boulder County. I’ve done some talks there, spoken at… you know, [at Tim’s(?)—inaudible] breakfast, the Republican Women of Longmont – they gave me an opportunity to go and talk with them a little bit.  So my name is known a little bit in Boulder and Longmont County, but…

KEN CLARK:  Well, but you’re also a Marine.  And that almost came in handy very much last night.  ‘Cause I was telling everybody about when we were at CJ’s Patio Grill, that – I didn’t tell them this story, but… and actually, we won’t go into it. But you also served our country, and so for that, thank you.

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  Yes, I am a retired Marine.  I went from … I joined the Marine Corps in 197…

KEN CLARK:  Marines never retire, from what I hear

SOLOMON MARTINEZ:  Well, I retired from active duty.  But I am active on the Commandant of the Marine Corps League in Loveland, I’m active … you know, we’re always out there doing whatever we can to help other veterans.  That’s what I’m involved in, you know.

PAULINE OLVERA:  And CHR can be found online.  “Coloradohispanicrepublicans.org” and you’re more than welcome to sign up for our constant contact newsletter.  It gives people ideas of what we’re doing when we go out.  I just spoke with a rabbi the other day, and we’re setting up little things where they go out in their community, they get the Hispanics in their community together and we go do little meet-and-greets and we talk about our values, and we connect our Republican principles to the Hispanic community values.  Um, we’re doing a lot of that.  This week, on Thursday, at El Senor Sol – it’s the old Zang’s over by the aquarium, — that’s where we have our  monthly meet and greet – this Thursday we’ll have Lee Andre Goldsten, who’s the former vice-chair for the state Republican Party.  He’ll be speaking about the electoral college, which is a very important subject.  And that’s going to be fun.  So, yeah.  You can go to coloradohispanicrepublicans.org and you can find our information there, and shoot us emails if you have questions.

KEN CLARK:  All right.  We’ll be back with more Grassroots Radio after this.