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Scott Bottoms, currently running for governor, for a candid and passionate look at Colorado’s political crossroads. They dive deep into the state’s most urgent issues: soaring costs of living, a surging crime rate, parental rights in schools, and controversial policies affecting both taxpayers and children.
Scott Bottoms, a Navy veteran and longtime pastor, shares insights from his campaign trail, recounts stories from frustrated Coloradans, and outlines his comprehensive plan for reform. He calls out misguided government spending, challenges the rise of Marxist ideology in the legislature, and proposes actionable solutions—from streamlining budgets to restoring trust in public institutions.
Hear why Democrats
SPEAKER 14 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 12 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 05 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 12 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did!
SPEAKER 06 :
Get a job, Turk! You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 11 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know, you can’t explain. But you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life. That there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 06 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 08 :
And we’re back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Representative Scott Bottoms joining us now. He’s also running for governor. Representative Bottoms, how are you today?
SPEAKER 13 :
I am great. Thanks for having me on the show.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re very welcome. Did you finish up your day from the special session, or where are we at with that to start with?
SPEAKER 13 :
We just finished about 15, 20 minutes ago.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay. Well, thank you for joining us and for what you’re doing there. And any exciting news there? Is it about what you expected?
SPEAKER 13 :
No, it was actually worse than I expected. I didn’t expect good. The governor calls us and then gives the most narrowly defined parameters I’ve ever seen in a special session to fix the budget. You could not, according to the governor’s call, you could not actually – Pass a tax cut. That was too that was too broad outside of his scope. And so all they did was keep putting spending people in Colorado and more debt.
SPEAKER 08 :
Keep spending. Yep. Which I talk all the time about, you know, where we’re at with Tabor and how they get around it and what the left does constantly to try to eliminate it and so on. And. I tell you, Scott, it’s ridiculous. You already know. I mean, you’re there. You see it way more than I do. It’s ridiculous. We’ve got a bunch of people that have no idea. Well, what we have, Scott, are a bunch of people that have never written a payroll check in their entire lives trying to tell everybody else how they should write one.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, you know, this comes up regularly. One of my better friends in the Republican caucus is Rick Taggart from Grand Junction. The man has run a top company. And he tries to get up and say, you cannot do this in business. And they just laugh at him and say, you don’t know what you’re talking about. This is the lunacy that we have in this building.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yep. No, you are 1,000% correct. I cannot argue with you on any of that. And one of the complaints I have is the majority of legislatures across the country, not just here in Colorado, but, Scott, this is everywhere, including Washington, D.C., have never written a payroll check.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, that’s true. We were listening yesterday. And I’ve hired a lot of people over the years. I’ve been a pastor for 35 years. I have to maintain budgets. I have to make sure we can meet payroll, all that kind of stuff. And listening to people talk about how AI will help people in the hiring process know more about the individual. And then they got up and said how that was such a bad thing. And I’m thinking, I would have loved this over the last 35 years. Yeah, that would be a good thing, actually.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thank you. Yeah, for those of us in that world, it would really be a huge help. Why do they think that would be a bad thing?
SPEAKER 13 :
Like you said, they don’t know business. They don’t know anything. And plus, there’s always this mentality that you’re discriminating somehow. So if I don’t get the job, it’s not because I am not qualified for the job. It’s because I was discriminated against. If I don’t get the loan, it’s because I was discriminated against. And in reality, our actions usually cause most of our problems.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, right. That’s exactly right. In fact, what you said a moment ago might even not be that you’re not the most talented. It just might be that someone else is more talented than you. That’s how things work in this world, Scott.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. And it’s not just AI. They came after everything. They came after every single person. um low-income middle-income person and then get this one then um representative camacho you can look this up he presented a bill that says that the c corporations who they spent three days talking about how they were the evil rich you know the people that actually employ thousands of people that’s right and and then he said that let’s give them a they can buy tax credits so they can buy a hundred million dollars worth of tax credits. And when our economy gets better, they’ll get $125 million back. It may take 10 years. It may take 20 years. And I did encourage them that as long as they’re Democrats in control of the state, it’s never going to get better. So they might want to think about maybe somebody like me being in control of the state.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, because to your point, if they do it, it’ll just continue to be deficit after deficit after deficit. You’re never going to get ahead. There’s never going to be the ability to go back the other direction.
SPEAKER 13 :
And no C Corp is going to buy into Colorado with the way our economy is right now.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, I agree with you on that one. All right, so let’s talk about that. You’ve got a candidacy. Not only are you a representative right now, but you’re also running for governor. So give us a little insight. First of all, tell everybody you said a moment ago you’ve been a pastor for 35 years, but give us a little history as to who Scott is.
SPEAKER 13 :
I’ve also been married for 35 years this year. Congratulations. I’m a Navy veteran. I’ve been a pastor in Colorado Springs for 13-plus years, and before that, right east of Denver. I love Colorado. I love being here. I don’t like being a representative so much because of the craziness, but I’m thoroughly enjoying this gubernatorial run. This has been so encouraging and enlightening to me, traveling around the states.
SPEAKER 08 :
What are some of the biggest, I always ask candidates, you know, what are some of the biggest things that you see or what, you know, what are people that, you know, you talk to and you’re, you’re going door to door and you’ve got different conversations and so on. What are some of their biggest struggles and what, what are some of the things that, you know, as politicians that, you know, as, as someone running for governor that you really need to pay attention to and, and try to solve?
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, there’s always the issues of the economy. Our economy is horrible. The Treasury released a statement, I think it was like March-ish, that said that per capita, with everything included, that Colorado is the most expensive state in the United States to live in. That is absolutely crazy. The word Midwestern Colorado, it shouldn’t be that way. Crime, we’re the second worst in crime, sixth most regulated. Now, with all of that, those are all things that are important to people, but the two biggest things that are important to people in this election cycle is the grooming mentality. My third grade boy goes to school, comes back saying he’s a third grade girl. And then the fact that we’re finding out, I was just at a press conference at Children’s Hospital in Aurora three weeks ago, four weeks ago, because the DOJ is investigating three hospitals in the United States, Children’s in Aurora is one of them, because they have been doing hundreds, of transgender surgeries on minors without parental knowledge. The parents don’t even know what’s happening. And the DOJ is now investigating that.
SPEAKER 09 :
As they should be.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s the number one issue.
SPEAKER 09 :
As they should be. Yeah, they should be.
SPEAKER 13 :
And these administrators and doctors that are doing this, but they’re being funneled in there by the school districts, the teachers and the counselors and the administrators, and they’re all telling the kid, do not tell your parents. These are 12-, 13-year-old kids. Wow. These people should go to jail.
SPEAKER 08 :
I agree. I agree.
SPEAKER 13 :
They really should go to jail.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, I agree, Scott. It’s child abuse. I talk about that on this program all the time. In my opinion, that is the utmost in child abuse, and they should be prosecuted.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, they should for pedophilia, for mutilation of children, for I think it’s the equivalent of kidnapping, too. When you’re taking your kids behind their parents’ back to get medical procedures, this is crazy.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good point. Good point. Can’t argue that.
SPEAKER 13 :
That is the number one issue in Colorado right now.
SPEAKER 08 :
So that and the economy. So you’re running for governor. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 13 :
The second one is not the economy. That’s like fourth. The second one is their personal safety, the Venezuelan cartel and the crime and all this stuff. We are the second most crime-ridden state in the United States, and the people of Colorado know this. They see it. They experience it. And so that’s going to tear this thing apart, too.
SPEAKER 08 :
Okay, so that’s number two. What’s three? We already know what four is, so what’s three?
SPEAKER 13 :
Three is just the distrust in everything. It seems right now there seems to be a – nobody trusts the economy. Nobody trusts politics. Nobody trusts – it’s a disconnected thing. And then when you lead that into the fact that we’re doing things horribly financially in our state, people are done. People are absolutely done with this. And I’ll tell you a couple of things that might be interesting for the average voter to know. I get a bunch of phone calls, emails, all that kind of stuff from Democrats. The Democrats in this House and the Senate and in the governor’s office do not represent the Democrats across the state. And we’re getting a lot of information that the Democrats are fed up with this. It’s not that they’re going to become Republicans, but they’re going to vote for a Republican governor. We had a major Democrat lobbyist say to a few of us Republicans recently that they know, the Democrats, they know that they are going to lose all four state seats. Now, even if that guy is only half right, I’m the next governor of Colorado.
SPEAKER 08 :
Interesting. That’s cool. I mean, I hope he’s right. He may be. I can’t say that I can disagree with that. I know some folks that are on the left that when you sit and talk to them and you have some of these conversations like you have, Scott, you wouldn’t know they were on the left because they’re disgruntled by what’s going on and they have the same concerns that we do.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I have meetings all the time. I had a meeting just recently where there was like a meet and greet kind of thing. And this lady was there. She’s a staunch Democrat. And she argued with me off and on through the whole thing. I’m giving my speech and she’s arguing with me. And at the end of it, she said, I think this was a great event and donated to my campaign.
SPEAKER 08 :
Wow. Good for her.
SPEAKER 13 :
This is what I’m seeing all across the state. This is not hyperbole.
SPEAKER 08 :
Good for her. And good for you, by the way. That’s awesome. I mean, at the end of the day, we’ve got to do something to get us back on track in Colorado. I always hate to use the word, you know, take us back red again, because Scott, I’m a native. I’ve lived here 61 years almost next month. And the reality is it’s never been really, truly red ever in my lifetime. We’ve had some red moments, I guess you could say, where we’ve, you know, controlled the House and done some things, you know, senatorial speaking and so on. But to be truly red like an Oklahoma or a Texas is, we’ve never been that in my lifetime. And I’d love to see that happen in this state.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, I would, you know, even if we don’t get all the way to Oklahoma, I don’t know if that’s possible. But I do know… that the people are saying we have to vote in the right people. We’ve been seeing our state destroyed. We’ve been seeing the borders wide open. We’ve got a cartel set up in one of our cities, and our governor and our attorney general are saying, no, don’t worry about it, nothing to see here. The police have been told to stand down there. You should talk to some of the rural police officers. They’re being told, don’t go in there.
SPEAKER 08 :
I know some Denver PD folks, Scott, that I know the same thing is happening in certain areas there as well. So it’s not just Aurora. It’s happening in multiple places, as you know.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, it is. And there comes a moment in every society, in our microcosm of Colorado society, where it breaks. And everybody says, this is not going to continue. We cannot. And coming after your children is the last line. They are not okay with this grooming stuff, and we are going to stop it when I’m governor.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think, Scott, between a lot of the things even that we talk about, I’ve talked about here a lot, that being one of them, but then you pile on top of that where people are at with their property taxes, and they’re just looking at the cost, your point earlier, what it costs to live in Colorado, and you start stacking all these things on top of one another, and then they look and say, well, wait a minute, who’s in charge right now, and who’s been in charge the last several years? Well, the left has been, and the reality is you’ve put them in charge, and now at the end of the day, you don’t have as much money left over at the end of the month. Maybe you should think twice about who you vote for the next time.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, this is a simple thing. Property tax right now was in Florida a few weeks ago. Looking at this, Florida is doing away with all property tax. We can do that in Colorado, but we have to change our structure of what our priorities are. We gave over $560 million this last spring to illegal immigration, illegal immigrants.
SPEAKER 09 :
Right.
SPEAKER 13 :
to people that are, some are criminals, and we’re propping that system up, that some of these people are very bad actors, and we’re propping that system up to the detriment of the taxpayers.
SPEAKER 09 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 13 :
Why can’t we cut some taxes? Why can’t we cut income tax? Why can’t we do away with property tax? The reason? Because we are 1.2, well, actually, I think we’re closer to 2 billion after this special session, in the hole in Colorado, and we just keep making it worse.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah. And part of that, as you know, Scott, is because we don’t know what when to stop spending money on something that doesn’t work anymore. I mean, I’m so tired of hearing that we need more money and we need more taxes for schools and education and this and that. No, Scott, what we need is a revamp of the entire system and start paying people that really matter in the school system and quit paying those that don’t.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I’ve been saying for years, why don’t we give teachers raises instead of adding 14 new administrators to that one junior high? At some point, we have to say, aren’t our teachers actually the ones that should be getting this money? But that’s not our priority in the state of Colorado.
SPEAKER 09 :
No, it is not.
SPEAKER 13 :
We use it as a point, a talking point. We use it as a bully club. But we don’t want to pay teachers more money.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re right. Everything you’re saying, I agree 100%. I have said this, Scott, so many times over that I could literally, I’m a regular old business owner, never went to college, been fairly successful, I guess you could say, even sitting in this chair. Luckily, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to do that. And, Scott, I can tell you right now that I could sit down with our state budget. And there isn’t a department that I can’t cut 10% to 15% out of, and that includes school districts. I could do it all day long.
SPEAKER 13 :
I say in many of my town halls, the average sixth grader could cut our budget and could fix many of our problems. A sixth grader could. I tell you one of the things we’re going to do, when Governor Polis became governor, we had a $29 billion budget. Now we have a $44 billion budget in six and a half years. We could cut $10 billion off the top without even trying, but you’re going to make a lot of people mad from both parties when you do that. But somewhere we have to say enough is enough. We’re going to stop this. We’re going to stop the crazy spending, not even bad spending, absolute lunatic spending. We’ve got to stop this.
SPEAKER 08 :
On top of that, Scott, and this is a question I’ve always got, do people comment on, because one of the things that’s really big for me is the conditions of our roads, the amount of money that I know we divert away from that to go to other stupid transit projects and so on that at the end of the day don’t really benefit anyone. When you’re out on the campaign trail, does anybody talk about that and the fact that we’ve got to get that fixed also?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes, they do. That’s like one of the biggest issues. That comes to the overall thing, number three, that I was talking about. Well, they don’t trust anybody. They don’t trust CDOT. CDOT is very broken. CDOT is very corrupt, and we need to fix this. There is hundreds of millions of dollars going places it should not go. We cut $180 million out of CDOT budget this last spring just so we could give it to more illegal immigrants. That is literally what the bill said. And so, yeah, until we actually clean up some stuff Fixing the roads and stuff like that is actually part of the job of the state. 80% of what we do is not job of the state, but fixing the roads is, and we don’t do that. We do all this other crazy stuff.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, we’re so worried about not turning over information to ICE, and we’re worried about not doing this and not doing that, and instead we want to manage those things ourselves, which to your point, Scott, we don’t even need to. We could be spending money on other things like you just said, but we’d rather not. And again, I’m telling you, Scott, and you know this as well, people are watching. That middle-of-the-road voter, even some Democrat voters, by the way, are looking at this saying, wait a minute, this isn’t the state that I want it to be. This isn’t what I signed up for. And yet I notice who these knuckleheads are that are in charge right now, and that’s going to have to change.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I get that everywhere I go. Everywhere I go, I have Democrats and independents and unaffiliated saying, We’ve got to stop the madness. And we do. I believe we have a window in 26. And by the way, the Democrats know this more than the Republicans do. We have a window in 26 to fix this thing and to turn some of our major positions in the state over to Republicans. and give them a try because why we’ve let the democrats do it for fifteen years now and they’re destroying it that’s right again i’m not talking about the average democrat across the state i’m talking about the leftist in the house in the senate that people do not know what we are voting in every single day is right building that’s right
SPEAKER 08 :
Again, we have Representative Scott Bottoms with us. He’s also running for governor here in the state of Colorado. And I can go all the way to the bottom of the hour, Scott, if you can. I can rearrange some of my commercials and stuff to honor your time. I know you’re busy, and I appreciate you taking time for us. When it comes to what you just said, because you’re running for governor, but we’ve got a lot of other seats that we’ll need to also fill. We’ve got some senatorial races that are going to be up as well. I mean, there’s all sorts of things that are going to happen, not only locally, but on a national level as well. How do you feel like we as a party need to start attacking that?
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, I already have the plan written out on my website. So here’s what we’re doing. I am working to reclaim the governor’s seat, and I’m going to do that. I will be the next governor of Colorado. The other side of this is I need the seats in the House and in the Senate, right? And most Republicans’ leadership are saying, we think maybe we can flip five or six seats. That is not what our numbers are showing. My campaign team, a phenomenal team out of Washington State and also D.C., we are looking at all of the big numbers, and we believe we can flip 14 seats in the House and six seats in the Senate in 26. And here’s the way to do it. This is one of the elements. We’ve got six things online, but there’s a few more elements that we’re doing this with. But there are six priorities that I put on my website. These are the things we’re going to reclaim in Colorado. Now, if people will just go to my website, look at these things, we’re putting committees together all over the state. We’ve already had a couple committee meetings about this. And you can get on any committee on any of those six things, and then we’re going to have the people develop policy, not elected officials like me, not the lobbyists. The lobbyists control this place. But they’re going to get on board to these committees, and then when we come back to session in January, we’re going to submit all this stuff to both caucuses, Republican and Democrat, And we’re going to let them know what the people want to do in Colorado. Not what the special interest groups, but what the people want to do. And even if you say, I don’t think Scott Bottoms is the governor I’m going to vote for. Go to my committees and get on my committees and we can still flip these 14 seats in the House. We can flip these six seats in the Senate. And I’m already talking to two other people about Attorney General and Secretary of State. And I hope they Jump on board. Guys, we are going to reclaim Colorado in 26. We are going to do it. And we just need the people to help us.
SPEAKER 08 :
Again, it’s scottbottoms.com. That’s the website you can go to. I assume, Scott, I’m there, so I’m assuming that’s the right website, correct?
SPEAKER 13 :
That is the right website.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, scottbottoms.com. You guys can all go there, check things out. And, Scott, again, you know where I come from on all of this. We need to make some drastic turnaround when it comes to Colorado. The Marxists, that’s what I call them, the Marxist left. It’s not even Democrats anymore. It’s the Marxist left that have really taken control. The folks that you’re battling down there at the Statehouse with, I’m sorry to say, they may not think they’re a Marxist, but they think like one. They act like one. They vote like one. At the end of the day, Scott, they are one.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, so the way you said that, they may not even know they are. If I had another hour, I could show you this. But they actually have been to training sessions and developmental sessions to teach them how to be Marxist, many of them in the House. And I can show you this on paper. This is not me thinking this. I can show you where they’ve been, what they have done. They have been training to be Marxist. But the actual Democrats in the House, I mean, the Democrats in the state, not in the House, the Senate or the governor’s office, The average Democrat in the state does not know that they’re not being represented by these people anymore. They left them a long time ago, but they keep pandering to the Democrats across the state because they want their vote while attacking them behind the scenes.
SPEAKER 08 :
Part of that, in my opinion, and I’ve been big on this for the last several years, Scott, is I call them what they are. I don’t call them Democrats. I don’t call them the left. I mean, occasionally it might slip out, but I try to call people what they really are. This is a Marxist movement. I get that not every Democrat feels that way and doesn’t feel like they’re a Marxist, but there’s a lot of folks that are in office that definitely are. And to your point, they may not think they are, but they’ve been trained to be one. In fact, they are one.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, and it’s sad. It’s sad because it’s hurting our state. It’s hurting children. It’s hurting our economy. Crime is up. I mean, every metric you measure, Colorado is one of the worst in the entire United States. We should be one of the top. We’re the most beautiful state. Everything is going for us except we have a small group of leadership that are destroying us, and their intent is to destroy. That’s the thing. That’s the weird part for me because I don’t understand this.
SPEAKER 08 :
No, you’re right, because they have a playbook. For those that don’t know, they have a playbook. And, Scott, you know me. I’ve said this many, many times. It’s good versus evil. It’s not saying that everybody that’s on the right is good, not saying that everybody that’s on the left is evil. But I will tell you, this movement, the Marxist movement, is definitely on the evil sides of things, Scott. It is designed to replace God, take him completely out of the picture. Government becomes God. That is ultimately the Marxist movement. So let’s do everything we possibly can to eliminate your need for God Almighty. and let’s make sure that government becomes God, that is the Marxist movement.
SPEAKER 13 :
That is the Marxist movement. And we’re seeing this propagated even further. So most likely the person that I’m going to be running against for governor is Senator Bennett.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yep, I agree.
SPEAKER 13 :
Attorney General Weiser, there’s already been some, you know, Governor Polis has sent out some subtle messages, not-so-subtle messages through his media people specifically saying, the guy from Channel 9, Kyle Clark. He sent out some messages there making sure Weiser and the Democrats know you’re not the guy. Bennett’s the guy. Well, now they’ve got the agreement between Bennett and Polis, where if Bennett becomes governor, then he appoints Polis to his senate seat so polis can pad his presidential resume with that yep with that no doubt sky i have been predicting some of those things for quite some time that is ultimately polis’s goal when it’s all said and done i said that the very first time he ran yep this has been well it’s all part of the blueprint uh world economic forum has been having these conversations and grooming him for president for a long time that’s right which by the way is why gavin newsom is trying to sound more like a a centrist or a moderate or something else until the last few days when he lost his mind. But this is where we are right now. Is Senator Bennett going to be the same old, same old? Do you want to continue doing this? I’m saying to the people of Colorado, are you proud of where we are? Are you excited with where you are? And when do you say, wait, enough is enough?
SPEAKER 08 :
Right. Great point. Great point. Scott, again, the website for all of you listening, scottbottoms.com. Go there, check it out, donate if you can, whatever we can do to help. Scott, I appreciate your time today very much. And anytime you’ve got something else you want to update us on, just let me know. We’ll get you back on.
SPEAKER 13 :
Thank you, sir. Thank you always for the time.
SPEAKER 08 :
You’re very welcome, Scott. Have a great rest of your day. Appreciate all you’re doing, sir. You too. All right, man. Take care. Have a great evening. Again, scottbottoms.com. Veteran Windows and Doors is up next. And again, at Veteran Windows and Doors, there’s a way that Dave helps you save money. He just cuts out the middleman. That’s one of the ways he does it. Other ways as well. But he’s a great guy. He’ll tell you exactly what you need when it comes to Windows and Doors. Talk to Dave today. Just go to klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 15 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive, this is John Rush.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Debra’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Lots of text messages coming in, by the way. I appreciate each and every one of them. Some of you talking about just the whole thing of schools and teachers and why are there so many administrators and so on. Great question, by the way. In fact, with AI and all of that, it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with some of that because the reality is you’re not going to need them. I would go as far as to say you don’t need them right now at all. So many things can be streamlined along those lines. But as Scott said a moment ago, that means some people will be looking for a job, and it’s going to have a huge effect, and folks aren’t going to like that. But it’s coming. It’s coming. So budgets need cut. There’s ways to do it. The reality is we need somebody with enough guts to make that happen. All right, speaking of guts, I talked last week about credit card fees. And still, from that conversation, getting text messages from you all on what certain merchants charge in credit card fees, which I’m shocked at. Some of the reports that you guys have sent me, I’m literally flabbergasted. I had no idea that some of this was going on. I knew it was bad. I had no idea it was this bad. I mean, some of you guys are giving me reports back that there are merchants charging 5% and 6% for credit card fees. And if you don’t pay it, then I guess you’re not their customer. I can tell you right now what I would be, not their customer. I don’t care how badly I needed something, I would do something different. That is absolute highway robbery. They’re not paying a fraction of… of that 6% or even 5% on average. And folks, how do I know this? Because I have been in that world forever. I have been a business owner since 1986. I very well understand how the whole credit card thing works, what the fees are, how it works on a per transaction basis, on and on we go. Whether you key punch in a typical credit card, whether it’s swiped, whether it’s a chip, all those things vary when it comes to what you pay as a merchant, which they will never tell you, by the way, but that’s how it works. So for those of you that don’t know, A little education. Merchant fees are based upon the risk of that purchase and the cardholder. So things that are done over the Internet, for example, they will have a higher risk than somebody doing a transaction in person where you’re literally handing the card and the chip is being used. The chip, not even a swipe, the chip will be the cheapest because it’s the most secure, meaning everybody involved has very little risk in that transaction not being a problem. In other words, having it be theft, meaning the credit card company is going to be at risk because they’re going to give the person the money back if that card is stolen. That’s why any time the chip is in hand and it can be verified and it’s scanned, it’s always the cheapest transaction amount, the fee, the transaction fee. So on average, though, with everything I just said, from hand-punching, Internet, using the chip and so on, on average, merchants are paying about 2%. Some might pay a little more, some might pay a little less, but on average, it’s 2%. And if somebody tells you it’s higher than that, tell them to prove it. Here’s what I think in most cases. Most merchants have no idea what they’re paying in merchant fees, percentage-wise. They just look at the number that comes out of their bank account. Well, I got to do something. I’m paying too much money in these credit card fees. These are dumb business owners, by the way. Very dumb business owners. If you can’t figure out a way… In your pricing structures, to absorb the 2% that the credit card’s costing you, shame on you. That’s on you. You’re a bad business owner. There’s ways to figure that out internally. In every single company that I coach, I do my very best to make sure there’s no fee. If they still want to charge a fee, that’s on them. But I do my very best to coach them to not do that. Because personally, to me, as a customer, it’s offensive. Because the way I look at it is, oh, you’re a bad owner, you’re a bad business, you can’t figure out how to make this work, so you’re going to charge me a fee for me using a credit card. When everybody does. Rarely does anybody pay any other way. In fact, for you as a merchant, as an owner, it’s better if I pay with a credit card because at the end of the day, at least you know you’re getting your money versus me handing cash over to one of your employees that you may or may not trust. You’re better having me give you a credit card. Trust me. Been down that road. So you all that are paying these exorbitant credit card fees, number one, shame on you. Stop doing it. Start telling the merchant, you’re not doing that. You’re not paying that. In fact, I would go as far as to, do you have a credit card fee? I’m going to use a credit card. Are you going to charge me to do that? And depending upon their answer back, I may turn around and walk out. I may not do business with them. I would negotiate on the front side. There’s no way I would pay 5% or 6% credit card fee, period. Period. Period. It’s highway robbery. It’s extortion. It’s wrong. And I’m not a big law guy. You guys all know that. I hate laws. I don’t want to add any more. But man alive, merchants, if you’re not careful, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to see some state or federal law passed where you can’t do that. Trust me, if you’re not careful, that’s what’s going to happen. And you’ll be forced to do it my way, which is build that into your price. So personally, as a customer, and I’m advising all of you as listeners to do the same thing, I would ask what their fee is, and if it’s too high, don’t go there. Go somewhere else. Shop somewhere else, and tell them that. I’m not shopping here because you don’t know how to run your business. I’d be that bold. You don’t know how to run your business. You’ve got to charge a fee for credit cards, meaning you don’t know what you’re doing. Somebody here doesn’t know what they’re doing. Now, I get it. The person that’s at the counter may just be the messenger, and that’s probably not the right person to say. But you could say, you know what, tell your boss or your manager that they’re not getting my business because they don’t know what they’re doing. You should not be charging a fee for using a credit card. Build that into the price of what you’re doing. And some of these merchants, I can tell you right now, at the 6% range, they’re making money on credit card fees. They’re doubling their money on credit card fees. That’s a great gross margin, by the way. They’re doing very well on your behalf, by the way. I would not allow them to do that. As a customer, don’t allow them to do that. I am on a mission. Here’s the next thing I’m going to do. For those of you, from this point forward, Instead of just telling me I was at a place the other day and this is what they did, I want names and percentages, and I’m going to start talking about it on air. I’m going to name the businesses that do this. So you start texting me who does it and what their rate is, and I’m going to start exposing them on air. And maybe in doing that, we’ll cut back on some of this nonsense because it’s utter nonsense. So for those of you that go out and you’re shopping and somebody wants to charge you a credit card fee, I want to know about it. I want to know the merchant. I want to know what their percentage is because I’m going to start talking about it on here openly. And there’s, by the way, nothing illegal about me doing that. I can talk about anything I want to in that regard. And these are bad businesses and they need exposed. So those of you that are in business that are listening to me that do this, stop. If you want help on how to fix this, I consult on a regular basis, and I can help you do this. One or two sessions, I can help you fix this. So stop doing it. I’m going to expose you for doing it, and I’m going to tell people to not shop there. I’m tired of this stuff. It’s a bunch of nonsense. And I didn’t know it was this bad, by the way. I mentioned it last week kind of in passing, not really thinking much about it. I had no idea I was going to get the feedback from all of you that I’ve gotten. And here’s what’s odd. It’s worse in smaller towns. It’s worse in the small towns. I can tell by the people that text me and where they’re at. It’s worse in the small towns. It shouldn’t be. It should be better there. Well, I hate to say this. There’s ignorant business owners there. Unfortunately, there is. They don’t know what they’re doing. So there’s a way to fix this. We’ll teach them, educate them, and help them get to the point where this isn’t a factor anymore. But quit paying for this, folks. Quit bowing down to them and paying the 5% and 6% on credit card fees. I wouldn’t even pay 3%. So stop doing it. And I’ll help you guys fix some of this as we move forward. So start texting me who these people actually are, and I will help you with that. Dr. Scott is up next. And, again, he is my doctor and would love to be yours as well. Talk to him today. And all you got to do is make a simple phone call, 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
All right, my first mention of the day, because somebody just texted this in, the Bronco Bar in Torrington, Wyoming is 4% for their credit card fees. I can tell you right now, because it’s a bar and people are handing their credit card over, they’re not paying 2%, if that. They’re making 2% on you. So that’s the Bronco Bar in Torrington, Wyoming, which I would not visit because of that. Now, one of you texted in and also said that when you go to pay your license plates or whatever at a lot of the counties and so on, that they charge 3%. They’re making money on that 3%, by the way, but the reality is you’re not going to change that one because I’m guessing the state comes back and says that, you know, we’ve already got a preset fee that we can charge, and if somebody wants to pay on top of that and there’s going to be a charge on top of that, then we have to pass that on. You’re probably not going to get around that on the state. I hate it. I think it’s wrong. I think it’s a bunch of garbage. I think the state could figure out a way around that, but… That one you’re probably not going to fix. These merchants, I had another message a moment ago that somebody’s dentist is somewhere down south here, is thinking, they’re not doing it right now, but they’re thinking about charging a credit card fee. Those of you that are listening to me that own businesses that do this, you’re dumb. I’m sorry, you’re dumb. If you don’t know how to fix this, please reach out to me and I’ll help you fix it. You’re ticking off your customers by doing it and stop doing it. It’s offensive. to most customers, myself included. If you can’t figure out how to run your business correctly and not charge a credit card fee, that’s on you. Stop punishing your customers for your mistakes in business. I don’t know how to be any more blunt than that. If you can’t figure out how to run your business without charging those percentages for credit card fees, don’t take it out on your customers. It’s not their fault. You’re dumb. Sorry, I don’t know how else to say it, folks. I know I’m being very blunt here, but it’s not your customer’s fault. You don’t know how to run a business. Don’t take it out on them. It’s not their fault they’re using a credit card. It’s your fault for not pricing things correctly to have that built into your pricing structure. That’s on you, not them. Stop doing it. So, all right. Golden Eagle Financial coming up next. And Al does a great job here with interviews of late. You hear a different one at different times. So tune in. We’ll be back right after that. Golden Eagle Financial. Find them at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
TJ here with KLZ Radio. Once again, I have Al Smith from Golden Eagle Financial with me. Al, what are some of the common mistakes that people make before they come see you?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, one that I sometimes talk to them about that they really have no control over is not having started to save for retirement at an early enough age, because that’s the biggest mistake people can make. But it’s not one that they can correct. You can only do what you can do right now. Another mistake, once people are fully retired, sometimes they help their children out too much.
SPEAKER 07 :
What’s that look like for someone that helps out one of their kids? You know, obviously they’re just trying to be benevolent, that kind of thing. What are some mistakes that we can make in that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, I’ve met some who allow their children to live in the same household and don’t provide any encouragement for them to leave. And I don’t necessarily mean the 32-year-old who’s playing video games in the basement. I have met a couple one time that had children who were in their 40s, and their children themselves had their own children and were living with the grandparents, and it was… borderline senior abuse. So I think saying no to your children sometimes can make your own retirement better, and it can also provide more respect.
SPEAKER 07 :
It seems like you kind of help people fulfill that whole picture. You’re not just giving them a DIY software kind of fix. You dig into the root causes and look full steam ahead. Is that right?
SPEAKER 10 :
I also, I try to learn from the people I’ve worked with. I met one retired gentleman who had a son that was having some difficulties and he gave his son a gift rather than a loan because a loan, if it’s not paid back, not only is the money gone, but the relationship is gone because the son or daughter feels bad about contacting the parent because they haven’t made the payments.
SPEAKER 07 :
You got it there, folks. klzradio.com slash money for Golden Eagle Finance. Al, thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, you’re welcome. Thank you, TJ. It’s always good to talk with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Listen online, klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Back to Rush to Reason. All right, and these names keep rolling in. I might as well name a few more. Runza, I don’t know what that is. That’s in Nebraska. It’s a franchise, and most, not all, most charge a credit card processing fee. And Cheyenne, Cowboy Dodge, that’s Dillon Doug’s place. Dee’s Four Wheel Drive. Halliday GMC. And there’s a city barbershop up there. And then Novus and Cheyenne, which I know Troy, the owner. Troy and I will have a conversation because, Troy, stop doing that. I know Troy listens to me. So stop doing that, Troy. That’s dumb. You know better than that. Stop doing it. And I’m going to start hammering these folks. You guys keep sending me. And maybe what I’ll do is like one day a week, I’ll just start rattling some of these off. I can’t do it every day. I probably could do it every day with as many of these as you’ll be sending me. But I’ll pick a day each week and I’ll start rattling some of these off. And I don’t know, maybe I’ll even call it a special segment or something because I’m on a mission. I don’t do this very often. I don’t get on a mission very often on some of this stuff. But this stuff ticks me off because it’s not necessary. There are ways around it. In Laramie, some businesses around the campus, mostly bars, won’t take cash, especially weekend nights, but they also charge 3% to use a credit card fee. Food trucks, they do it as well. Again, if you’re somebody out there running a food truck, why? Why are you doing that? Do you not know how to run your business? This isn’t that hard. I mean, again, folks, I’ve been taking credit cards so long. I remember the machine that you had suction cups on. You sucked it down. You shoved it down on the counter. You got the card out. You got the carbon paper receipt that you had to run through the credit card machine itself. You didn’t swipe the card. You ran it through. You got the old chick-chick sound that went across the rollers that made the imprint of the card. You had to then call in an 800 number to make sure that you get the authorization code to make sure the credit card was good. That’s how long I’ve been doing credit cards. and paying the fees. Way longer than the majority of these merchants out there are doing right now. So I’ve been paying fees forever as an owner. I’ve never once in my entire life charged a client for them to use their credit card. Nor will I. It’s garbage, the ones that are doing it. It means, again, I keep harping on this, you don’t know how to run your business. It’s not that complicated. Figure it out. And one more time, and I’ll be nice. If you want help in how to eliminate this and how to be a better provider and not beat your customers up. Let me know and I’ll be happy to teach you how this can be done. It’s not that hard. And by the way, those of you that don’t do it, because so many now are, you could even market it that way and say, guess what? Come here and we won’t charge you that credit card fee that the guy next door does. Look at the opportunity that you have as an owner to do this correctly and then advertise on that as well. That you know what? We’re the such and such bar and unlike the Bronco bar, we don’t charge you 4% to use your credit card. See, folks, you guys that are owners, there’s ways to make this work to your benefit at the end of the day. If you’re smart, it’s not that hard. Be better than your competition. Don’t do what the competition does because they’re doing it. Be opposite of them. Be better than they are. As you guys can tell, this one drives me nuts because the more of you that keep texting me, I had no idea that it was this out of control. I thought just a few people did it. I had no idea this many merchants did this. It’s absolutely wrong. You’re like the state of Colorado. Let’s just keep passing fees on to the end user. We all love that, don’t we? So stop doing it, people. My wife just texted me. She knows I’m very passionate. Yes, I am. She knows me very well. Yes, I can get that way. This stuff drives me nuts because it’s unnecessary. It’s uncalled for. You can be better than this as a merchant, and you can do business better than the next guy. And if you don’t know how, I’ll teach you. All right. We’ve got to take one last break. I’m sorry I’ve got to squeeze everything in here. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning. And Cub Creek will help you with all of your needs when it comes to your HVAC, all of your equipment, what you need to do, even just a repair. You’re heading into winter. You need to make sure your furnace is up and running. All of that. They do all of that and everything else you need when it comes to your HVAC. Talk to them today. Just go to klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 04 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
This isn’t Rage Radio. This is Real Relatable Radio. Back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, some of you are as old as me because you can remember those old credit card machines where you had all the little slips underneath the counter and you had to get those out. And every time somebody had a credit card, you had to roll that thing out and stick it to the counter and roll it through and make the phone call. Brooke, I was telling my wife this the other day. Here’s the part of that that really was the worst. Somebody else just said, Down Home Diner in Cheyenne charges 2.5%. Well, at least they’re fair on their price, but they shouldn’t be charging that. But at least they’re at least… downed about what their cost is won’t beat them up nearly as bad interstate honda in fort collins it’s only two percent still figure this figure this in to the way you do business and stop charging the two percent at least it’s not four or five or six but the one just a real quick story i’ve got a minute This was the hardest thing as a merchant. Back in the day, yes, I’m dating myself, you’d call in on the number and they would, you know, get 1-800 number and you usually got a person and you’d read off the credit card and the dollar amount and you’d be looking for this authorization code that you could put on the ticket because otherwise you weren’t going to get paid by the bank. That’s how it worked back then. Well, what really got difficult is when the guy on the other end of the line said, please take the card. In other words, you as a merchant were required to take the card from the customer and not give it back for whatever reason. Guy was over his limit. I don’t know. I never knew all the stories. All I know was not giving that card back to the customer. That was difficult. Because man alive, they thought you were the bad guy. And you’re just doing what you’re told on the phone. And it was your job as the merchant at that case. That was part of your agreement. If they told you to take the card, you had to take the card. And that was never a fun experience because the guy on the other side of the counter, he was ticked. Or she. Could be either. They were ticked. Let’s just say that. So, yeah, the good old days. We’ll be right back. Hour number three is next. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Bye. The Rich Guy.
