Station:   KNUS, 710 AM

Show:      Peter Boyles Show

Guests:    Brauchler

Link:       http://peterboyles.podbean.com/

Date:       November 6, 2013

Topics:    John Hickenlooper, Reprieve, Clemency, Death Warrant, Death Penalty, Capital Punishment, Amendment 66, Nathan Dunlap,

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Boyles: You thoughts on what happened yesterday?

Brauchler: It’s hopeful. I think like everybody else out there, it was only a year ago, this exact same month, other than my own personal victory, that you turned on cable TV, watched the results, and thought to yourself, ‘We’re going to hell in a handbasket; what’s happened to America?’ And twelve months later, you see something like what happened last night, and you think, ‘no, we still get it. we can still be motivated and roused to do the right thing when it’s presented and we have the right issues to go after, so it makes me feel better about us in the future.

Boyles: Jon, what was the emphasis behind yesterday’s wins.

Caldara: If there’s one word, it’s ‘over-reach.’…

Boyles: George your name is bantered as a potential candidate. Is Hick hearing steps.

Brauchler: I think he is. First off, I’m flattered to hear my name mentioned with those ones. It’s nice to be considered. I think what you’re sensing, and the reason there are so many Republicans starting to jump into this race, and after yesterday, I wouldn’t be shocked to see a couple more after the new year. I think what you’re sensing is, people are fine with a politician, an elected representative, who makes mistakes, or who may be opposed to their views, as long as they can commit to something that they think is in the best interests of Colorado or the people. But I think what we’ve seen over the last year, and this is why I think the governor has suffered so mightily in terms of public perception, is that people on both sides can now smell that this man’s decision-making process starts and stops with, ‘how will this affect me? How will this affect my re-election? And that’s what happened with 66.He sheepishly signs off on it. I think he crosses his fingers it wouldn’t pass. Then he sort of side-mouthed it saying, ‘I’m not sure this is best for Colorado.’ Then he whispers his support for it in some closed-door Dener forum meeting, and then he has hip surgery and disappears off the face of the Earth until last night and pops up and says, ‘Good try.’

Boyles: He’s able to get around…He’s reading the tea leaves… I swear to you, and I’ve said this to John before, George, he could not walk into one of those big fundraisers and have them whisper behind his back, ‘That’s the white governor who executed the black man. That is so politically incorrect in the minds of those idiots. And he makes decisions now predicated on what’s good for his future. Your thoughts?

Brauchler: I don’t disagree. I think we need to be fair about how we portray the different things he’s done. Because the perception of how he responded to the disasters, whether he was directly the decision-maker or not. He did great at that. And I think people see a person who puts Colorado first and makes decisions… I’m just saying, I agree with you, because when he leaves that model. When he starts making decisions about how is this going to affect me as Hillary’s vice presidential candidate or running mate. Or how is this going to affect me in my re-election, all of the stuff that people want out of a leader is missing, and they begin to turn on him from both sides. I mean look, if he had granted clemency to Dunlap, would I have been upset and said bad things about the governor, I doubt I would have. But here’s what we all know. Those victims would have had closure. And they don’t have that today.

Boyles: I know. Jon?

Caldara: …How could a man like that become vice president…after the Aurora shooting, I was impressed with our governor. … he didn’t jump on the bandwagon…What happened? What phone call happened?…I suspect Bloomberg.

Brauchler: One thing I think we can predict, though. I think we’ve seen the last of Bloomberg’s fingerprints on large sums of money here. From now on, it’s going to be washed through something else.

Boyles: We have a hard break. Can you both stay over? We’ve got two of the best. What’s up with the Colorado GOP?

Caldara: The party didn’t take a position on 66…this is not a candidate’s issue. It’s another issue.

Boyles: You can’t defend that.

Caldara: …not a single Republican voted for it. …not a single one this time. Republicans are getting stronger.

Brauchler: Let me say this, one of the things that I think you’ve seen, up until right before the recalls through now, is that the party plays its role, and it’s an important role. But I think what you see behind the scenes are [inaudible] and the one I think you have to pay attention to are Americans for Prosperity. They’ve got a new state director, a guy named Dustin Zvonek, who I know really well. He’s a buddy. But they had really helped spearhead issues in a way that the party is either reluctant to do it or incapable of doing it. I think you see groups like that more moving to the front when you ‘ve got the plumbers down south or you’ve got these grassroots issues. I think they are more quick to the fight than the party is.

Caldara: Oh, absolutely.