Station:     KLZ, 560 AM

Show:        Grassroots Radio Colorado

Guests:     Gessler 

Link:          http://grrc.podomatic.com/profile?p=1

Date:         July 2, 2013         

Topics:      Colorado Observer, Valerie Richardson, Illegal Voters, Non-Citizen Voters,  Same Day Voter Registration,  All-Mail-In Ballot, HB-1303, Election Modernization, Marxist Revolution, 5280 Magazine, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Database, District Attorneys, Voter Suppression, Felony, Prosecutors, Mexico, Photo ID, Fair and Honest Elections, Voter Fraud, Oregon, Rookie Politician of the Year, Customer Service All Star, Gubernatorial Campaign, Minnesota, Business Services Center, 88 Drive-In, Governor Hickenlooper, To Be Determined Listening Tour (TBD), Jellyfish, Michael Bloomberg, Gun Control, Renewable Energy Mandates, Anti-Discrimination Law, Increased Liability for Small Businesses, Trial Lawyers, Anti-Death Penalty, Honey Badger

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HOST KEN CLARK:  There’s an article today in the Colorado Observer by Valerie Richardson and this is the headline:  “Gessler Blasts Dems As He Refers Suspected Illegal Voters to Prosecutors”.  As you know, they have passed a bill—Same Day Voter Registration and an entire All-Mail-In Ballot for the state of Colorado.  That was our jewel — the crowning jewel of the 2013 Marxist Revolution in the state of Colorado. 

HOST JASON WORLEY:  They want everyone’s voices to be heard, unless they sign a petition against us.  Sorry, I was just having some fun with that!

CLARK: [laughs]

WORLEY:  With very little ado, let’s bring on Secretary of State Scott Gessler, the honey badger, the top rookie politician according to 5280 magazine, even though the editors aren’t really happy about that. Welcome!

COLORADO SECRETARY OF STATE SCOTT GESSLER:  Well, thanks very much for having me on. 

CLARK:  So, tell us what is going on with this.  You referred a bunch of potentially illegal voters to prosecutors today.  What’s happening with that?

GESSLER:  Well, what happ — this actually goes back to last year.  And if you remember last year, we were doing checks against the federal database to find out who was and wasn’t a non-citizen.  And what we wanted to do is put together sort of a hearing process, if someone was a non-citizen, if they came up on the federal database, to give them a chance to remove themselves or to be removed before the next election.  Well, there’s all kinds of criticism about that and why we shouldn’t prevent problems –lot’s of claims of, you know, voter suppression and stuff like that, which is sort of absurd.  Well, anyway, we sent out letters to these folks.  And we got a lot of responses, but some we didn’t get a response and people voted –[stammers]  they voted.  So what happened is they showed Colorado proof of noncitizenship when they got their drivers’ license.  And then they came up twice on the federal databases as non-citizen.  Then we sent them letters, and then they voted.  So, there’s a likelihood that they voted illegally as a non-citizen.  We can’t be absolutely sure, because sometimes the federal database contains mistakes.  I know that may be a surprise to some people who think the federal government is infallible, um, but sometimes it contains a few mistakes.  So what we did is we referred these folks over– these names over to the District Attorneys throughout the state, for them to investigate and, you know, if necessary, prosecute. 

CLARK:  Well, I think that’s a step in the right direction.  I mean, your voting right is a very sacred right.  When it is abused, when people are voting illegally, that’s a problem! And I take that very personally.  You know? Because we have enough trouble in the United States without people stealing our voting rights!  And so, Mr. Secretary, I appreciate you doing this.  What do you think is going to happen?

GESSLER:  Well I think the DAs are going to investigate this.  And here’s what I want to know. I mean, I want to know how many folks have done this illegally, and — who are being prosecuted, and I really want to know why, too.  And so, if they say, “Look, I was misled by a voter registration drive, and I thought I could vote” – if they say that, and the DA decides not to prosecute, then, well, you know, we need to take action so that voter registration drives are giving people the right information, that people are being educated, so that this doesn’t happen.

WORLEY:  Listen, when you sign your voter registration card, when you register to vote,  isn’t there  a statement right there that says, “If you are not a citizen of the United States of America it is a felony to vote in an election”? 

GESSLER:  You know, sometimes it is.  On the voter registration form itself, it says, you know, “Are you a U.S. Citizen?”  And we have had a lot of people who will check the box, saying, “No, I am not a U.S. citizen.”  They fill out the form to register to vote and turn it in, because they don’t know better.  And what I call it – I call it a ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ culture that the Left in particular has really sort of pushed upon us.  That, “Oh, my gosh!  You can’t talk about this stuff.  You don’t want to enforce the law.  It’s a terrible thing.  Just be quiet and pretend that there’s no problem.”  And so, I think –my view is, I think a lot of folks who vote – who register illegally, are doing it because they don’t know better.  And I mean, and I agree. They should be better educated.  They should know what they’re doing. But the fact of the matter is, a lot of times they just don’t.  And –.

WORLEY:  Well, and that’s it!  If you’re registering, that’s one thing.  But if you actually go vote!  I’m sorry, but if you’re living in this country and you know that you’re not a citizen, and you go vote, I’m not going to have a whole lot of sympathy for that.  I –, that’s fraud!

GESSLER:  Well, and that’s why we turned these names over to prosecutors.  I mean, I’m on board with you.  You’ve got to take action.  But, here’s the deal.  I would much rather, if I can, build a system where we prevent these problems from happening.  Because once that vote’s been cast, I mean, you can’t retrieve it.  You know?  So, we need to build a system that prevents this from happening.  And if that means, you know, poking people and making sure they know what’s going on and, you know, doing whatever we need to to make sure that they don’t illegally vote before the election, I’d rather do that.  And now I got – there’s all kinds of criticism for this because that’s what I wanted to do last cycle.  You know, now this is the back end of it, after the election, and we clearly have identified a problem, and we’re taking action.  Because people on the Left still want to pretend there’s no problem.  But there is a problem.  And we have to take action. 

CLARK:  Well, they absolutely want to pretend that there isn’t a problem, and that is for one simple reason.  They are using the laws, they are circumventing the laws,  — and I’m going to say this, Scott.  And you don’t have to agree with it or not, but I’m going to say it.  They use fraud to their advantage – the Democrats, the Lefts do.  I mean, that’s why they do these things.  And this Same Day Voter Registration, this All Mail-in Ballot, that is an invitation for voter mishaps, voter fraud, voter irregularities.  That whole bill is an invitation to circumvent our voting system.  Now, there was an amendment that was floated – I can’t remember if it was in the House or the Senate – to put voter ID into this bill.  And it was flat out rejected by the Democrats.  The big question I have is, “Why?”  If you want everybody to vote, every legal person to vote, why not have voter ID?  That would have solved a lot of problems. 

GESSLER:  Yeah.  You know, my favorite story, along those lines of photo ID, is I — before the election, you know, I’m the election official election here in Colorado, and it’s a battleground state – there was a Mexican newspaper who interviewed me.  And so, the reporter – you know, he and I are talking, and he was sort of pushing me, criticizing me a bit on the whole photo ID, you know, with respect to Hispanic voters.  And finally I told him, I said, “Look, all I want to have in Colorado is the Mexican system.”  Because in Mexico, you have to have a photo ID.  You have to have a voter identification, and it’s biometric.  They’ve got thumbprints as well, it’s not just photo, but your thumbprint as well.  And I said, “So, I’d be happy to have the Mexican system as well.”  And he said to me, “Well, well, that’s different!”  And I said, “No, it’s not.  Hispanics in Mexico and Hispanics in Colorado are human beings and it is a human aspiration to have fair and honest elections.”  So, he didn’t really like that response. 

CLARK:  Yeah, I find that absolutely amazing.  And you know, the double standard is alive and well in the state of Colorado.   And you know, we’ve seen and we’ve heard stories all across the country, going back to the last election, of massive abuse of mail-in ballots, massive abuse – massive fraud!  We’ve heard it.  I don’t know if anybody has been able to prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt or not, but we heard story after story after story.  Well, okay, so now let’s pass laws to make it easier to do that very thing in the state of Colorado.  And I’m not accusing the Democrats of voter fraud.  Oh, wait.  Yes, I am.  Because that’s what they do!

GESSLER:  Well, and you know, I’ll tell you something.  So, in Colorado, in my view, we combined, in this last legislative session in that bill, the two worst fraud-prone systems possible:  Same Day Voter Registration and mandatory Mail-in ballots.  And one of the Democrats said, “Well, this is an historic bill.”  And my response is, “No, it’s not.”  Oregon did the exact same thing.  They had All Mail and Same Day Voter Registration.  And what happened is a religious cult came in and basically took over a town through voter fraud – on Same Day Voter Registration.  And so, by popular initiative, they repealed at least that part of it.  So, there’s only been one state in the country that’s ever done what Colorado wants to do, and they had a disaster on their hands.  And so, — so I guess the Democrats use that as their example and want to emulate it.

WORLEY:  That sounds historic to me.  That’s a great example of ‘historic’ – a historic failure!

CLARK:  Yeah, Oregon repealed that portion of the law because it was a monumental failure.  Mr. Secretary, I’m going to ask you if you can stay through the break?

GESSLER:  Sure.

CLARK:  All right.  We’ll be right back.

[commercial break]

WORLEY:  We’re back.  Grassroots Radio of Colorado.  A litte Led Zeppelin!  Thank you.  A good way to end our Friday.  […] And we have Secretary of State, the honey badger himself, 5280’s most popular rookie, which I think people may have been a little bit confused about the rookie because you’ve been there for a couple years, now.  Secretary Scott Gessler, welcome back!

GESSLER:  Well, thanks again! 

WORLEY:  I love mentioning that story because it is amusing.  If you’re the editors of 5280, and you ask people for their favorite, and then they answer you, and you actually have the wherewithal to go back on and complain about it.  It’s just—it — Look down your nose at your readers, a little bit more.  Thank you very much, 5280 editors! 

CLARK:  Well, and stomp all over their opinion.  I mean, what a good way to lose a whole bunch of listeners – or readers, whatever.

WORLEY:  I think it’s great that you are their favorite politician.  I think it’s a perfect opportunity, right here on Grassroots Radio today, to announce what you’re going to do in the next election. 

GESSLER:  [laughs]  Well, let me talk about 5280 first. 

CLARK:  [laughs] 

GESSLER:  I think the funny thing about 5280 is, — I think, you know, —5280 looks at me, they’re – you know, 5280  is like liberal and really hip, you know.  And for that reason, they don’t like me, because I’m conservative.  On the other hand, they sort of like me because I’m a heck of a lot more fun than most politicians, and I’m going to call it as I see it, and that’s sort of refreshing to them, I think.  So, I actually give them kudos, for two reasons.  You know, I mean, they had – they printed me as the readers’ choice for Rookie Politician of the Year.  And that’s right – I’m probably not that much of a rookie, now that I’ve been here a whopping two-and-a-half years, but you know, it shows you that their readers like me, and they were willing to print that.  The other think actually, if you look in the paper one, they gave me a little – a shout out for a –Customer Service All Star, is what they called it.  So, it didn’t show up on the online version.  But, they had an out-quote from someone who was happy that I had actually done a listening tour and gone out to get input on elections and so, 5280 gave me a shout out on that.  So, I’m not complaining about 5280 right now.  I may in the future, but not at the moment. 

WORLEY:  Hey!  There is no such thing as ‘bad press’ especially when you’re about to run a campaign.  And I’m going to get right back to it.  I’m circling in.  I am quote/unquote ‘a journalist’, I guess.  Which campaign will you be running? 

GESSLER:  Okay, so what I — I’m going to give you the party line, here.  So, I’ve taken the necessary steps to run for a gubernatorial campaign – to run a gubernatorial campaign.  And I continue to look at that very hard.  I’ve suspended my Secretary of State race.  And you know, I’m out talking to people and building support.  

CLARK:  Well, I tell you what, one thing I do know, is that you have taken a lot of shots as Secretary of State.  And a lot of that is stupid.  But there’s a reason.  And this is something I talk about on Grassroots Radio quite a bit.  Secretary of State’s office is a very important office simply because you are in charge of – guess what?  Voting!  You are in charge of elections!  So, Secretary of States throughout the country that happen to have an ‘R’ next to their name, are all under attack by the Left.  It is an orchestrated effort.  They will find pretty much everything and anything they can to do – they can to go after Secretary of States.  They want to put in their operatives in that office so that, you know, when something bad happens in a certain precinct, they can turn a blind eye to it. 

WORLEY:  Or like in Minnesota, they can keep counting the votes until they get the actual number they want. 

CLARK:  They can have cars — and this happened in Minnesota, they can have cars show up with a bunch of, “Wow!  Look at all these Mail-in ballots I found and we’re going to keep counting them until all of a sudden What’s-His-Bucket wins the Senate race.”

GESSLER:  Let me give you guys my secret weapon […] So, everyone focuses on the election side of Secretary of State.  But I have a business services side.  […]  And so, here’s the deal.  I have over half a million active businesses in the state of Colorado, every year, who come to our website to transact business.  And you know what?  We give great customer service for them.  I have over 150,000 people a year who call in asking questions to our Service Center.  We pick up the phone when they call and we answer their questions.  We have redesigned our website so that people can actually go on there easily.  We had 8.2 million transactions last calendar year, 9.7 million visits.  And everyone of those folks, I think – I can’t – maybe I can’t say ‘everyone’.  But we provide great customer service.  I cut my fees.  I lowered some of them permanently, and I did temporary reductions for some of them, as well.  We’ve cut fees.  We produce great customer service.  We operate efficiently, and we utilize technology.  And when you say half-a-million businesses see how that works, 80,000 notary publics see that, 150,000 people who call in a year see that,– and there’s overlap, of course – you know, 8.2 million transactions, that makes an impression on people.  So, when you talk about, you know, keeping government cost effective, and making it efficient, making it work, we actually do at the Secretary of State’s office.  So, all the election stuff, you know, the press and the Left wing and I mean, they obsess about that.  But the nuts and bolts of government, the people who are sort of, don’t worry about all that noise but want to get their business done, they know the Secretary of State is the place to come to. 

WORLEY:  Well, and Secretary, let me give you a huge pat on the back, because one of the things I’ve heard,  and it’s kind of amusing because both you and one of our advertisers, 88 Drive-In, both made 5280  magazine this month.  It’s kind of cool.  But you’ve also – I’ve heard through our executive producer, that you’re actually out there on a listening tour, talking to business owners, and saying, “Hey, how can we make this easier?”  I haven’t seen Governor Hickenlooper go out and ask people, “Hey, how can we make business easier in Colorado?” except to the big people who pay into his campaign. 

GESSLER:  Yeah, well, he did that TBD –you know, “To Be Determined” –

WORLEY:  You mean with all his union people?  Yeah! 

GESSLER:  And apparently, some people told him stuff and I have no idea whatever happened to that.  I think nothing happened from it. 

CLARK:  Well, I know what happened to it.  It got caught on top of the fence post and it didn’t fall either way, so it’s right up his alley, because, as you know, he can not decide what side of the fence he lands on. 

GESSLER:  He’s a complete jellyfish.

WORLEY:  But he serves a great beer.

CLARK:  He’s absolutely worthless as a governor.  I mean, even with that – the reprieve he gave that convicted murderer on the death penalty, I mean, he found a way that nobody would have ever thought of to split that right down the middle, and in fact, pissed off everybody. 

WORLEY:  And yeah, people really don’t like Solomon’s baby.  I’m sorry.   They just don’t.

GESSLER:  Well, now I – you’re going to get no argument with me.  He is a – he has not provided any leadership in the state. 

CLARK:  Well, I know that he did one thing, and that is– or no, — that he didn’t do one thing.  And this was actually a really good stand on his point.  He did not veto a single bill.  Not one!  Every single bit of the radical Marxist agenda that the 2013 Democrats pounded through the state of Colorado, he signed every bill!  Then he has the gall to go to Grand Junction and say, “Well, I sign a lot of crappy bills!”  Really?

WORLEY:  Yeah.  The key word there is ‘have” – “have to sign”.  He doesn’t have to sign anything, but he would have to take a stand in order to veto any of them. 

CLARK:  I guess Michael Bloomberg was not available for comment that day, so he went ahead and signed them anyway.  Or, you know, you never know, maybe Bloomberg was getting ready to write him a big old fat check, and so that’s why he signed them all.  So, Scott?

GESSLER:  Are you guys asking me a question, there? 

CLARK AND WORLEY:  No!  Just having fun!

WORLEY:  Sometimes we just get on a roll and have some fun.  Because it’s such an easy target!  I mean, it’s not exactly like, you know, finding a needle in a haystack as going after the lack of spine of most Democrats and some Republicans lawmakers.

GESSLER:  Well, what’s unfortunate is, you know, he —  when he ran for office, he sort of declared himself a moderate, that he was going to govern from the middle, and all that stuff.  And basically what he’s done,  he’s been a sort of a partisan rubber stamp for a partisan legislature.  And I know most recently he has said that there’s no way he’s running for US President.  Although, it’s very clear he was interested in that for a long time.  And I think what we saw in this legislative session, if he were to be running, and I’m guessing that is still in the back of his mind. You know, if you say, “Okay, well, what do I need to do to run in a Democratic primary for voters outside of Colorado for president?”  Well, gun control?  Check.  You know, driving up the cost of electricity in rural America but, you know, calling it renewable energy stuff – check.  Got that.  Um, you know, more liability for small businesses so that I can appease uh, you know, trial lawyers – check.  Got that.  And you just sort of go down the list.  You know, anti-death penalty –check.  Got that.  You know, and after a while, he’s like, you know, he’s sort of done each one of these things so that he’s got his credentials.  And I don’t think he’s really governing from the middle, certainly, like he said he would.  I mean, he misled, I think, the electorate when he said that stuff, and he has not carried through on those promises. 

WORLEY:  No. He hasn’t.  And you know what?  He needs a great opponent.  I – hopefully – I encourage you to throw your hat in the ring.  I think you’d be a great candidate.  I’m not endorsing anybody, but I really, really like you as a candidate.   There’s no question about that.  I’ve seen you speak personally multiple times you’ve had the chance to talk.  You know what?  The Honey Badger has his nickname for a reason– 

GESSLER:  [laughs]

WORLEY:  –and we enjoy it. 

GESSLER:  Well, what always cracked me up, is when people started calling me the Honey Badger – and it was the folks on the Left that did it.   I thought, “You know, the honey badger fights the poisonous pit viper.  And wins!  So, I can take that.

WORLEY Hey, it drags it back to it’s den.  It’s nasty, but it has to be done. 

GESSLER:  I’m sorry?  

WORLEY:  Oh, I’m just having fun with you, Secretary. 

[website URL is provided and Gessler solicits donations for his campaign]