Election Season, Eminent Domain, and a Duty to Disobey

On Monday, May 11, 2026, Kim Monson opens election season with a studio announcement: former Congressman Greg Lopez, running for governor as an independent, names health-care executive and property-rights advocate Taralyn Romero as his lieutenant governor pick. Colorado Rep. Chris Richardson walks listeners through Xcel Energy’s use of condemnation to push an industrial transmission line across Elbert County after the Public Utilities Commission overturned the county’s denial. Former Army Lt. Col. Brad Miller urges listeners to buy a ticket by May 15 to Duty to Disobey, the documentary about the COVID military vaccine mandate. State house candidate William Switzer outlines a bipartisan pitch for Colorado House District 30, and State Farm agent Roger Mangan explains diminished-value claims after an at-fault accident.

An Independent Gubernatorial Ticket Comes Into Focus

Start listening at 02:49 – Hour 1

Greg Lopez, the former mayor of Parker and former member of Congress now running for governor as an independent, used his time in studio with Kim Monson to introduce his running mate for the first time publicly. Petition signature gathering begins Thursday, May 14, with a meet-and-greet at the Highlands Ranch Sunridge Rec Center at 7 p.m., and Lopez urged listeners to sign because a petition signature only puts the names on the November ballot.

The Lopez-Romero ticket frames itself against what Lopez calls one-party rule under Governor Jared Polis, a budget that needed $1.5 billion in cuts this year and is projected to need $1.7 billion next year, and a state that has driven major employers and individuals out by stacking regulations and fees. Lopez points to the Colorado Power Plan and the green-energy buildout on the Eastern Plains as evidence that decisions are being made for the convenience of the few at the cost of property owners.

“Don’t ever believe that if you vote for the person you truly want to support, that you’re throwing your vote away. You’re exercising your democracy in action.”

Greg Lopez, candidate for Colorado governor (independent)

A Health-Care Executive Steps Onto the Independent Ticket

Start listening at 31:26 – Hour 1

Taralyn Romero, a fourth-generation Coloradan, was publicly named on the show as Lopez’s lieutenant governor selection for the November 2026 ballot. Romero spent twenty-five years inside a major U.S. health-care company before being laid off, and first appeared on the show in January 2023 to discuss her Jefferson County eminent-domain dispute, a fight that began in 2022 when the county sued her over access to her own property.

Romero tells Kim that affordability never improved despite annual efforts because new mandates and administrative overhead piled up each year. She frames the ticket’s purpose as putting people over party-line voting and recovering a quality of life many Coloradans no longer feel, citing her family’s deep military background and her own gradual shift from someone who stayed away from politics into a candidate.

“My rose-colored glasses were punched right off my face when I saw how it really works.”

Taralyn Romero, candidate for Colorado lieutenant governor (independent)

Diminished-Value Claims After an At-Fault Accident

Start listening at 09:29 – Hour 1

Insurance agent Roger Mangan of Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance walks Kim through diminished value, a relatively new concept under Colorado law that lets a driver whose vehicle was damaged in an at-fault accident by another driver recover roughly ten percent of book value from the at-fault party’s insurer, even after repairs are complete. Mangan describes a recent caller whose car’s book value was $12,000 and whose initial settlement offer was significantly less, and explains the two-year window to file the additional claim. He also flags an emerging issue: late-model vehicles with advanced driver-assist systems can come out of the shop without features like lane assist working again, raising open questions about what counts as a fully restored vehicle.

“Diminished value basically says that if your car is in an accident, it’s not your fault… When you go to sell that car, that accident is going to be on the record of that car.”

Roger Mangan, State Farm agent

Duty to Disobey: A Documentary on the Military Vaccine Mandate

Start listening at 18:57 – Hour 1

Former Army Lt. Col. Brad Miller, who resigned his commission as a battalion commander with the 101st Airborne Division rather than enforce the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, returns to talk about Duty to Disobey, a documentary releasing June 30 at more than 100 AMC theaters nationwide, with four Colorado screenings in Fort Collins, Denver, Castle Rock, and Colorado Springs. Miller asks listeners to buy a $20 ticket by Friday, May 15, because AMC requires fifty percent of seats to be pre-sold to confirm a screening location.

Miller tells Kim that the Pentagon’s official separation figure of roughly 8,500 service members understates the real impact, which he places closer to 100,000 once early retirements, refused re-enlistments, and resignations like his own are counted. He links the mandate’s damage not only to individual careers but to a multi-year erosion of unit readiness and a loss of trust between service members, their families, and senior Pentagon leadership. Kim notes that Pam Long, a former Army Medical Service Corps captain and West Point graduate, is also involved with the film.

“Service members have a duty obligation to disobey unlawful orders.”

Brad Miller, former Lt. Col., U.S. Army, 101st Airborne Division

Xcel’s Eminent Domain Power Play in Elbert County

Start listening at 70:09 – Hour 2

Colorado state Rep. Chris Richardson represents House District 56 and is one of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers’ Taxpayer Protectors. A former Elbert County commissioner with 23 years of Army service, Richardson walks Kim through what Xcel Energy is doing to fifty-two property owners along a 500-mile transmission corridor that crosses twelve Eastern Plains counties. The Elbert County commissioners denied Xcel’s land-use application in the summer of 2025 for safety reasons after the Marshall Fire and a Texas wildfire ignited by an Xcel project. The Public Utilities Commission, a three-member governor-appointed body, overturned the denial earlier this spring; the county has asked for reconsideration.

Richardson argues that Colorado granted private corporations like Xcel the authority to begin condemnation proceedings before a route is even approved, with Xcel initiating takings against 13 to 18 of the 52 landowners while the county was still hearing the application. He carried a bill earlier this session that would require local route approval before condemnation can begin, citing both the U.S. Constitution’s takings clause and the Colorado Constitution’s stronger judicial-determination requirement. He shares three accounts: a widow whose husband had a fatal stroke after receiving an Xcel route letter that turned out to be wrong; a small-business owner whose retirement was delayed five to ten years after selling his land for a half-million below value to avoid living under the line; and a rancher fighting cancer who put her remaining resources into preserving the land for her children rather than treatment.

The Colorado Union of Taxpayers has taken a no position on House Bill 26-1326, which extends the PUC’s life to 2037, expands its mission, allows private conversations outside adjudicatory matters, and directs the commission to study energy assistance, water utilities, and rideshare regulations. Kim is also tracking Senate Bill 26-193 on local minimum-wage ordinances, which defines “employer” to cover every business in Colorado except the state itself, and Senate Bill 175, which would refer a question to the ballot gutting TABOR in the name of education funding.

“The convenience of others should always be secondary to the rights of an individual. And somehow we seem to have lost that in this individual process.”

Chris Richardson, Colorado State Representative for House District 56

A New Republican Pitches Bipartisanship for House District 30

Start listening at 103:13 – Hour 2

William Switzer, a Republican running for Colorado House District 30 covering Edgewater and Lakewood, tells Kim he moved from Nashville to Colorado five and a half years ago after a career in the music industry and startup consulting. Switzer was on the winning two-to-one side that flipped the Lakewood upzoning fight, which he calls an example of the legislative left overshooting by going district-wide instead of targeting specific areas. His campaign emphasizes protecting TABOR, financial freedom, and pulling extreme legislation off the docket. Switzer’s website is williamswitzerforcolorado.com.

“My campaign’s main goal is to move Colorado forward, not just simply left or right.”

William Switzer, candidate for Colorado House District 30 (Republican)