Lakewood’s Zoning Fight, Colorado’s Tax Assault, and the Case for National Repentance

On Thursday, March 5, 2026, Kim Monson examines Colorado’s escalating battle over property rights, taxation, and election integrity with grassroots activist Karen Gordey, CUT board member Dave Evans, entrepreneur Susan Kochevar, realtor Karen Levine, and Discovery Institute senior fellow Scott Powell, who calls for national spiritual renewal in the wake of the Epstein files.

Lakewood Citizens Rally Against Radical Rezoning

Start listening at 9:18 – Hour 1

Karen Gordey updates listeners on the Lakewood rezoning referendum heading to a special election on April 7. Last August, the Lakewood City Council split a single zoning ordinance into four separate ordinances, forcing citizens to mount four simultaneous referendum campaigns instead of one. All four secured enough signatures, and the council voted in late January to send the measures to voters.

The zoning changes would permit high-density development in every Lakewood neighborhood, overriding even HOA covenants. The Green Mountain Water Board has filed suit against the city, warning that its sewer infrastructure is already near capacity. Gordey emphasizes that opposition spans the political spectrum, uniting Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters. Ballots mail out March 16, and citizens must vote YES on all four measures to repeal the radical rezoning. Gordey urges residents to visit LakewoodCitizensAlliance.org for information.

“It’s Republicans, Democrats, unaffiliated, everything, everything across the political spectrum on the yes side.”

Karen Gordey, Owner, Radiant Painting and Lighting

County Commissioner Bill Sneaks in Ranked Choice Voting

Start listening at 20:53 – Hour 1

Dave Evans, board member of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, breaks down HB26-1203, a bill mandating that counties with 70,000 or more residents elect five county commissioners under one of two methods: district-based elections or ranked choice voting. CUT unanimously opposes the measure, noting the bill identifies no existing problem it purports to solve.

The bill affects six Colorado counties that currently have three commissioners: Boulder, Douglas, Jefferson, Mesa, Larimer, and Pueblo. Evans argues the legislation’s real purpose is to install ranked choice voting, a system Colorado voters statewide rejected when Proposition 131 was defeated in 2024. Using a Heritage Foundation analogy, Evans compares RCV to a supermarket cashier swapping your preferred brand for the generic nobody wanted because no clear second-place winner existed. The bill contains no mechanism for voters to undo RCV once implemented, and Evans warns the system is vulnerable to corruption and creates fake majorities.

“The bill never identifies any problem to be solved or any issue being improved. CUT is very concerned with the state legislature’s insatiable appetite to control and or regulate every living thing in Colorado.”

Dave Evans, Board Member, Colorado Union of Taxpayers

Property Taxes Soar as Colorado Blocks Federal Tax Relief

Start listening at 35:51 – Hour 1

Susan Kochevar, owner of the 88 Drive-In Theater in Commerce City, sounds the alarm on Colorado’s exploding property taxes. Her seven-acre business property jumped from $13,000 in annual taxes to $40,000 two years ago, then surged another $20,000 to a staggering $60,000 this year. Kochevar reports that the state legislature is advancing HB26-1289, a 70-page bill designed to prevent Coloradans from benefiting from federal tax cuts on tips, overtime, and Social Security. She is writing a Wall Street Journal op-ed detailing how Colorado is actively working to thwart President Trump’s tax relief package.

The conversation also addresses Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk sentenced to nine years in a maximum security prison for charges similar to those for which a state legislator recently received only probation. President Trump has issued a federal pardon, and Governor Polis indicated on Tuesday that he may consider clemency. Kim recounts delivering a petition with 4,201 signatures to the governor’s office in December calling for Peters’ release. Kochevar highlights broader concerns about unequal justice and the state’s hostile business climate, with AI firm Palantir announcing its headquarters move from Denver to Miami.

“So I am paying $60,000 just to keep my property and my business, and I am a small, seasonal business. They are eating us alive, and they don’t care.”

Susan Kochevar, Owner, 88 Drive-In Theater

Housing Affordability and the Cost of Government Dependency

Start listening at 64:10 – Hour 2

Karen Levine, award-winning RE/MAX Alliance realtor, examines the Denver metro housing market as apartment vacancy rates hit a 16-year high. Despite persistent rhetoric that Colorado needs more housing, Levine observes that entry-level homes hover around $500,000, priced out of reach for first-time buyers. She traces the problem to years of artificially low interest rates that fueled appreciation and construction defect legislation that stifled condominium development for nearly two decades.

Levine pushes back on the idea that all government housing assistance is inherently harmful, acknowledging that Americans have always extended a hand up to those in need. The problem, she argues, is that government programs have crossed the line into dependency at the expense of the middle class. She highlights the perverse economics of vacant luxury apartments being subsidized to house lower-income tenants rather than reducing rents to fill vacancies naturally. The segment illustrates the tension between compassionate intent and policies that erode middle-class prosperity.

“The problem is we have created an environment that people have become dependent on the government at the cost of you and I, the middle class citizen. And that was not the intent of government.”

Karen Levine, Realtor, RE/MAX Alliance

Moral Depravity, National Repentance, and the Iran Engagement

Start listening at 75:07 – Hour 2

Scott Powell, senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, argues in his American Thinker piece that the Epstein files expose a depth of moral depravity that could catalyze national repentance. Drawing on Romans 8:28, Powell contends that America has “bottomed out” morally and that the only direction forward is a return to God. He draws parallels to the Great Awakening that unified the thirteen colonies before the Revolution and the Second Great Awakening that preceded the Civil War, suggesting the nation stands at the threshold of a similar spiritual revival during its 250th anniversary year.

Powell then turns to his Town Hall piece on the U.S. military engagement in Iran, now in its fifth or sixth day. He frames the operation as an opportunity to remove the “chief cancer” destabilizing the Middle East, noting Iran’s responsibility for approximately 4,200 American deaths through improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan. Powell points out that only 30 percent of Iran’s population is Muslim and that Iran has the fastest-growing Christian population in the world, suggesting conditions favorable for democratic self-governance after the mullahs’ regime falls. He acknowledges domestic security risks from Iranian sleeper cells but argues there is no ideal timing for confronting such threats.

“And, you know, when we think of our history, America was really born out of spiritual revival.”

Scott Powell, Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute