Station:   KOA, 850 AM

Show:      Mike Rosen Show

Guests:    Beauprez

Link:        http://www.850koa.com/onair/mike-rosen-15488/money-monday-12161837/

Date:       March 17, 2014

Topics:            Endorsement, Doug Bruce, Colorado Springs, 2002 Elections, GOP Primary, Nominee, Governor Bill Ritter, 2006 Midterm Elections, Congressional Campaign, George W. Bush, Nathan Dunlap, those gun bills, Pro-business, Veto, Governor Bill Owens, Family Dairy Farm, Lafayette, Community Bank, Walden, Bison, US House District 7, 2000 Census, 17^th Street, Leadership, State auditor, Economy, Job Market, Jobs, Unemployment Rate,  Establishment GOP, Tea Party, Congressional Campaign, George W. Bush, Nathan Dunlap, Governor John Hickenlooper, Jake Jabbs, Oil & Gas Industry, Air Quality, Methane Standards, Renewable Energy, Coal, Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Ukraine, Europeans, Putin, State Employees’ Labor Union, Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA)

Click Here for Audio

 

[The following represents notes and transcribed portions from an interview.  All portions, except where identified as transcribed sections, are paraphrased from the questions and responses between the host and the guest.]

HOST MIKE ROSEN:   Faithful to my pledge to have all gubernatorial candidates on, I invited Bob Beauprez.  Some are petitioning on to the ballot, like Tom Tancredo.  Disclosure:  I’ve known Bob Beauprez for many years, and we’re good friends.

My policy, I don’t endorse as a partisan Republican, with a couple exceptions, like when I endorsed Doug Bruce’s opponent in the Colorado Springs area.  Given that policy, there are some people who are simply out of bounds and Doug Bruce is one of those.

[to guest, Bob Beauprez]  Good to see you

FORMER CONGRESSMAN AND GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE BOB BEAUPREZ:

• Good to see you
• Welcome back from spring training and other points around the globe

ROSEN:  Spring training report – we still have good position players, and some depth, we need help in bull pen

BEAUPREZ:

• Seems to show up every year late in the season
  • Arms get tired
  • Someone gets injured
• To start the season a little short on personnel is not the place where we want to be
• Maybe someone steps up, or maybe they make an acquisition or two

ROSEN:  Let’s talk about your campaign.  Why did you decide to get in late?

BEAUPREZ:

• No surprise to you, Mike, we all watch and observe
• I have an interest in the party and the state
• And it became apparent in January/February, that CO was looking for another choice in an already crowded field
  • I got a lot of encouragement, flattered
  • We took assessment of what it might take to win
  • Thought we had a credible case to make
  • I’m going to work very hard to make my case to the voters in CO and hopefully earn their support
• Not my first time in a crowded field.
  • In 2002, I got in in March and I was the 7^th to get in the primary
  • I became the nominee
  • And eventually the winner

ROSEN:  Email from listener:  If Bob Beauprez couldn’t beat Ritter, what makes him think he can win now

BEAUPREZ:

• Sometimes good things take two tries at getting them done
• Diff. environment
  • In 2006, I grossly underestimated how difficult it would be to serve in Congress and campaign on weekends.
  • Didn’t give adequate consideration.
    • Environment wasn’t all that good for ppl with an “R” behind their name
    • Running against a bit of a head wind
    • This time, I wouldn’t say it’s all favorable to my side of the aisle
    • But certainly it’s nice to have the pendulum swing back the other way

ROSEN:  Footnote: 2006 was midterm of GWB’s second term.  Republican Party lost majority in Congress.  2008 was a bad year as well.

BEAUPREZ:

• I’ll freely admit, every time you take the field you don’t necessarily play your best game
• I did not run a good  campaign in 2006
• I’ve stubbed by toe a time or two
  • Not normally so publicly
  • I learn from my mistakes
  • I think anybody worth his salt learns from mistakes
• In ’06 we didn’t have an incumbent
  • We have an incumbent with a record
    • Not sterling record
    • Our economy is still struggling
    • State auditor’s report begs the question that leadership is wanting in governor’s office
    • If the governor doesn’t want to lead, I will

ROSEN:  Pueblo recall, Dem territory, — Hick won easily for mayor and governor, he’s not as popular as he was earlier.  Suffered some damage.  Nathan Dunlap

BEAUPREZ:

• The no decision decision

ROSEN:  Not vetoing one bill, including all those gun bills

BEAUPREZ:

• I expected:
  • Not to agree with John on everything
  • I expected evidence that he was a moderate, pro-biz,
  • You put your finger on it
• This was the most anti-biz session in history, and he vetoed ZERO bills
  • Owens vetoed in 8 years 149 vetoes
  • 91 in last two years
  • He vetoed whether it was R or D control in assembly
  • Bill tells me he Saved taxpayers $Millions in the process

ROSEN:  Background—cattle rancher, banker, business man

BEAUPREZ:

• Grew up on family Dairy farm
  • 1^st forty years of my life
  • Worked with dad and brother
• We were approached to annex by the city of Laffayette
  • I looked after that development – on behalf of our family and a neighbor
    • On west side of Laffayette
    • Now 1300 residences
    • Hale Irwin designed golf course
• My wife and I had bought into a community bank
  • I had been on board of little affiliated bank
  • That was a great experience
    • Partnering with small biz people
    • Ended up with 12 different branches
    • Great success
• Went to Congress
• Now back to land – came full circle
  • Have a ranch in North Park mountains…
    • Near walden
    • very rural, very ranchy
    • spectacularly beautiful
    • raising Bison
      • vertically integrated – to a biz guy, you understand that
        • we grow the feed
        • harvest the animals
        • we process the meat
        • selling to customers from Connecticut to California
        • MR:  When the bulls are Breeding, they’re vertically integrated too

ROSEN:  Farmer or rancher – if you owe the bank $500,000, the bank owns your farm.  If you owe the bank $5,000,000, you own the bank

BEAUPREZ:

•  [laughs]
• I learned another lesson about agriculture from my Dad, and it’s on that point
  • After struggling for a number of years early in life, and dry years
  • He almost lost the place a couple of times
  • Working hard he paid off the farm in ’71.
  • And from then on, he never borrowed another dime
    • I was in partnership with him for another 20 yrs
    • And I asked
    • I wanted to grow and expand.  And thought borrowing capital was the obvious way
    • But he had a hard and fast rule, “if we don’t owe anybody anything, they can’t come and take it away.
    • Like Jake Jabbs, the way he does it, from then on
    • “if we don’t have it, we don’t need it.”
    • And you had to find a way
    • Good training for getting into government

ROSEN:  Depression era

BEAUPREZ:

• Both mom and dad were depression era kids
• They did grow up hand to mouth
• And the memory of that never left them
• I learned from a master
  • Always the possibility of another rainy day
  • Great discipline
  • Great training

ROSEN:  US House District 7 was a new district after 2000 census… were you the first in that seat?

BEAUPREZ:

• I was

ROSEN:  When you won, it was a toss-up district, now it’s leaning Dem

BEAUPREZ:

• It is.
• And in that regard it’s not unlike running state-wide
  • Toss up
  • My experience in the 7^th prepared me well to take on the state wide race
  • Diverse state
    • 17^th street
    • Rural areas – there’s a great deal of

ROSEN:  Touch on some of the key issues you’ll be zeroing in on

BEAUPREZ:

• Leadership
  • Always is an issue, but now in particular
  • This “pro-biz” middle-of-the-road guy couldn’t find a bill to veto
  • State auditor – it’s almost like he’s water-boarding the governor
    • Everyday we get another report
    • Begs the question: is anybody really in charge?
• Economy
  • In 11 or 12 recoveries from recession, there’s never been one slower than this
  • In CO, our rate of decline of our labor force is steeper than the national rate
    • Rate of participation
    • 70,000 left the job market during the last half of last year
    • 30,000 jobs disappeared
    • 500,000 still on food stamps – 2x the number at beginning of recession
      • Our real Unemployment rate is over 10%
      • That’s 5 yrs into a recover
• Jobs
• Ppl got into this office, and obviously didn’t have an agenda to improve CO, if he won’t lead, I will

CALLER DOUG:  Establishment GOP or Tea Party?

BEAUPREZ:

• I’m more aligned with – you know, some people would call them traditional values
• I think both the groups you highlight, in general, adhere to the same
• We like to get subsets, and try to win elections by subtraction
  • I never figured out how we could win elections with less people
  • Argument that I’m going to make
    • This obamalooper track we’ve been on doesn’t work
    • Especially for those people they claim to represent and be on their sided
      • Young people
      • Minorities
      • Women
      • They’re taking it on the chin harder than anybody in this economy
      • They’re the ones seeing the jobs come back slower
      • They’re the ones seeing their health insurance premiums going up when they were supposed to go down
      • They’re the ones who’re seeing their real household income continue to deteriorate.
      • I hope my message will connect with them
      • If you believe we’re headed down the wrong track
      • As 2 or 3 say we are
      • Maybe it’s time for some real change
      • Someone who’s been out there, who’s created jobs built things up
      • Understands how gov. sometimes gets it right, but more often than not,  usually gets in the way of job creation, creating opportunity
      • As CO has always been good at
• Call that Tea Party, or call it Republican, I hope it resonates with more than half of CO because that’s what it’s going to take to win this election.

 

[The following section is a transcript with direct quotations from the interview]

[@18:44]

ROSEN:  Okay, Doug, thanks for your call.   Let’s go to Rick in Erie. You’re on 850 KOA.  Hello, Rick.

CALLER RICK:  Hello, Mike.  I have a question for Bob.

ROSEN:  Shoot.

CALLER RICK:  Hey, Bob.  Um, several years ago they shut down all of the – not all of them, but a lot of the irrigation wells from Lafayette to the eastern plains.  At our caucuses the other day, some of the state officials were talking about, as an experiment, re-opening these wells.  Would you be in favor of that?

BEAUPREZ:  Yeah. In fact, Rick, what I think we need to look at is storing more water, and one of the ways to store it is underground, and replenish a lot of that underground water that’s been lost.  It’s a process called ‘porosity’. I’m told by some engineers that Colorado’s geology is very, I guess, encouraging of, very adaptive to that kind of thought process.  We don’t have to –the good news in Colorado is we really don’t have to steal anybody else’s water.  We don’t have to change or trample on Colorado water law or national water law, the water compact agreements.  But we do have to be in a position to be able to slow down some of the water before it leaves here, be that in a tragic situation like last September with the flood, but more naturally as it happens every spring when we see the rivers fill up and lots of run off and you know, we don’t have any place to put it.  A lot of it could be, I believe, put underground [and] replenish these wells, and then hopefully be able to get in a situation like you refered to, to where we can turn back – uh, turn on again many of those wells that I think, tragically, were turned off and really impacted—I mean, dramatically impacted the value of communities and busted the backs of a lot of individuals.  You know that.  I know that.

[end transcript, resume notes from the interview]

 

CALLER CARLA:  Thanks for coming down to Sunrise Republican Women’s forum.  Meet Virginia Anne – [Bob’s 6 year old granddaughter].  When you win, would you be able to use the expertise of your Republican opponents – in cabinets or on committees.  Ronnie Bell Sylvester, by far the weakest candidate, but w/ expertise in water.

BEAUPREZ:

• They’ve been supportive of me, and I of them
• Entire field of candidates are friends of mine
  • We all put on the same team jersey
• I don’t know if it’s Ronnie, or Mike, or Scott, or Danny or the rest of them
  • Assuming I win
  • Conversation to see if they’re interested
• I’d like to put a collective team of talented ppl together
  •  One of my concerns has been the last two Dem adminstrations
    • Not strong
    • Lacking  experienced leadership
    • I learned in running our family farm
      • No one person can do and know everything
      • Leader needs to:
        • Attract talent
        • Motivate and direct that talent
        • hold them accountable
        • build a culture that ppl clearly understand
        • When I talk about a lack of leadership, that’s what I’m pointing to

CALLER CRAIG from Colorado Springs:  [Bob knows the caller]  I wanted to say hi and let you know I’m working on weekends getting these petitions signed.

BEAUPREZ:

• Make sure you get enough rest
• Craig:  I hope we’re going to win this one

CALLER OLIVER:   in Cherry Hills:  are you going to put this Nathan Dunlap to death if you get elected?

BEAUPREZ:

• Yes
• I’ll enforce that law and the rest of the laws for the state of CO

ROSEN:  I’ll give Hick credit, since he’s a geologist, he’s been pretty good on fracking, defending the procedure.  How would your energy policy differ from his?

BEAUPREZ:

• It would differ
• He has been good on fracking
• He’d like us to believe he’s pro O&G
• Out of the other side of his mouth he brags about the toughest regulations in the country
  • Imposed on O& G industry
  • And now more with Air Quality and methane standards –toughest in nation
• I’m for clean air
  • This is my home too, the only one I’ve ever had, My grandkids are here
  • Everyone wants clean air
  • But reasonable regulation is different from the most restraining in the nation
  • You tax something more, you regulate something more, you get less of it.
• I think what we need is common sense regulation
  • I want to encourage energy development
  • I want energy industry to be the engine that leads us into the direction we should have been on already –
    • Renewable
    • Oil
    • Gas
    • Coal
    • A healthy, robust, job creating economy – wealth and opportunity are created with access to affordable, sustainable supplies of energy.
      • Example from someone in the industry
        • In 2008 there were 99 rigs operating in the pEON space on the western slope
        • Today there are 9
        • Part of that is regulation
        • Part of that is our lack of ability to export LNG
          • It would be great for our economy
          • Ukrainians and Europeans would have an alternative as well
          • We could send them the LNG that Putin is holding them hostage for.
          • Enormous benefits
          • Great for our economy
          • Creating jobs and revenue for our state and our nation
          • Jobs
          • National security
            • WE ought to be at the epicenter of all things energy
            • Not shoving it into the corner
            • But unleashing that wonderful blessing we’ve got

ROSEN:  Ritter signed an executive order that in essence that enabled a state employees’ labor union.  Would you reverse that by executive order?

BEAUPREZ:

• I would
• That was a mistake
• Many of Ritters supporters back then threw a complete hissy fit when he did that, and rightfully so
• I’d reverse the legislation that Hick signed regarding the early release of violent criminals
  • There are other things we can do

ROSEN:  How about the Public Employees Retirement Association and their defined benefit plan which is  Grossly underfunded, even moreso than they admit, because they use an unreasonably optimistic rate of return on their investment portfolio

BEAUPREZ:

• You’ve spoken out on this as much as anyone in CO
• I know you know the issue very well
• They numbers, unless you cook the books and use phony numbers like you just cited, they don’t lie
• This thing is headed down the path of many other public employees trust funds in other states
  • Just like federal entitlements
  • Not beyond repair
  • Those choices are pretty obvious as well
• Immediately, upon taking office, will put together a panel to make those recommendations, and then I, not my underlings, but I will lead the charge to get the state legislature and the reforms in place that will need to be in place in order to save something, before it completely collapses and falls to the taxpayers to bail out.

ROSEN:  PERA trustees and managers say that any shortfall HAS to be made up by the taxpayer

BEAUPREZ:

• Wouldn’t it be nice if you had that ability to  operate in your own house?
• Regardless of how you overspend, or misplan, or mistakes you make, or the warning signs you ignore
• That somebody else is going to bail you out
• Nice bed, if you can get it

ROSEN:  Thanks