Jared Polis’s ill-fated meeting last week with Fort Morgan farmers and energy workers was profoundly indicative of the sheer animosity many Coloradans have for the liberal governor and laws he’s forced upon us in just a few short months.
If we were to describe it in one word, it would be KA-BOOM!
The whole audience was hostile over the oil and gas bill, furious over the red flag bill, and still chaffing mightily over the loss of their presidential vote to more populated cities like New York and Los Angeles.
The whole audience had it in for Polis, but none put it all together more succinctly than Ky Chapman, a high school student who took Polis to task for all the harm he’s done after only three months in office.
Here’s the video, and you can read along with the transcript below.
We’ll remember that name, Ky Chapman, because we hope to be seeing more from this young man in the future.
Governor Polis, I’m Ky Chapman, and I’ve lived here in Morgan County all of my life, and grew up on a farm. It’s a privilege to be speaking here today.
As you may be aware, we Coloradans are not happy with you but I’d just like you to listen to me for three minutes; this isn’t all going to be about agriculture.
So us here in Colorado are dumbstruck about what you’ve done and where Colorado is going.
Starting with the national popular, vote it is extremely disgusting that this bill was passed without a vote from us Colorado citizens; the Electoral College was created to protect our state’s voice compared to states like California and New York, and news flash: we have different values from them.
Our voice is wiped out by their massive populations, and it is extremely, extremely ironic that we didn’t even get a chance to vote on this but instead was forced down our throat.
Next on the list is the “red flag bill” which you signed despite 76%, or 48 out of 63 counties and sheriffs in the state opposing it.
This bill is utter nonsense and is unconstitutional. Why should someone with a previous or current relationship to me be able to call the sheriff’s office and tell them that they can come take my guns?
This has already turned deadly in Maryland and I can guarantee you it will become deadly in Colorado. This will hurt law-abiding citizens and put both the public and officers in danger. There is no way that this bill is going to make Colorado safer.
Next is Senate bill 181, and this one is by far the most important issue for Coloradans.
Last fall we overwhelmingly defeated proposition 112, the disastrous 2,500 foot setback.
Now this bill has another layer of red tape getting permits and certifications as well as getting local counties and communities chances to regulate the industry however the hell they want.
And the lives of hundreds of thousands of Coloradans work in this field and you are effectively destroying it in the widely (unintelligible) systems of this state.
You punched Coloradans directly in the nose after we chose a different path last fall.
Next is the “Easter-worshiper” comments. I’m sorry, but I don’t worship the holiday; I worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and I am a damn proud Catholic and Christian.
Those Catholic and Christians who were murdered in Sri Lanka aren’t Easter worshipers, but persecuted Christians by radical extremist Islamic terrorists.
I guess you’d rather not offend a bunch of terrorist murderers by calling them radical Islamic terrorists but instead be extremely ignorant and call Christians “Easter worshipers.”
Pathetic.
Finally, the latest target is the agricultural industry.
With the budget you just signed, you removed the tax exemption for fertilizers. As someone who lives on a farm, this is going to have a greater impact than you believe.
Every last penny makes a huge difference on a farm, and this removal of a tax exemption takes away from farmers coming from a small family farm; we aren’t rich, and this is going to have a huge impact on our operations and many others.
Time after time you’ve attacked each industry in this state, and all while doing so you say you want to be a governor for all.
Yet all we’ve seen you do is be a governor for Boulder.
Gov. Polis was left tongue-tied, muttering something about writing a note to Chapman’s teacher before playing his Get-Out-Of-Political-Jail Card — free kindergarten.
That immediately exploded all over his face.
Fort Morgan already has free kindergarten, and as the audience so aptly pointed out, it’s not free, because taxpayers are on the hook for the costs.