Chuck and Julie Show, November 1, 2023
The Chuck & Julie Show with Chuck Bonniwell and Julie Hayden
With Guests, Trent Leisy, John Graboski and Bill Rutledge
RIP Rep. Ken Buck. The RINO announces he will not be seeking re-election and we talk to Trent Leisy, the grassroots Patriot who is running to take his place.
Guest, Trent Leisy
I am writing to introduce myself as I have declared my candidacy for Colorado’s District 4, the seat currently held by incumbent Republican Ken Buck.
For the better part of three decades, I have called Weld County my home, and living in Weld County is what keeps me in Colorado. Like you, I never thought I would see the day when Colorado shifted into a solid blue progressive state run by far-left democrats. Those tentacles are far-reaching and have embedded themselves deep into every corner of the state, including Congressional District 4. For years the Republicans in Congressional District 4 have operated on “complacency”, with the mindset that it will always be red. I hate to break it to the establishment in Congressional District 4, but we can no longer operate on “complacency”, and it will be lost to the Democrats if we do not take action to preserve its greatness. We need to accept the fact that people moving to this district are not Republicans; they are Democrats.
As a Pioneer of Colorado, my roots are embedded deep into the Colorado soil, dating back as far as 1888, on the very soil that they began farming on and continue to farm to this very day. I took my first breath of life in Colorado, and I will take my last breath of life in Colorado. Despite the current climate in Colorado, I will always call Colorado my home. I believe it is my calling to preserve and protect the land my family rooted itself in generations ago. I believe that understanding your heritage, your roots, and your ancestry is an important part of carving out your future.
For as long as I can remember the passion to be a public servant has flowed through my blood. I found this passion rooting itself deep inside me while attending high school in Windsor. I became active in the Weld County Republican Party helping local, state, and federal elections. I walked the streets in small and large towns throughout Weld County, knocking on doors in an effort to get republican candidates elected. While in high school I was voted as senior class president and worked tirelessly to get elected officials as guest speakers in Government and History classes. Upon graduation, I was voted most likely to be president one day. Following graduation from high school, I attended Colorado State University to seek a degree in Political Science. While attending college I interned for the Hon. Senator Wayne Allard at his Greeley office.
After three semesters at Colorado State University, I decided to join the United States Navy where I served on board the USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72, an aircraft carrier that was based out of Everett, Washington. I spent three and half years working in the Supply Department, specifically assigned to the Hazardous Materials division. My responsibility was overseeing the storage and handling of new hazardous materials that were stored on the ship. I served from May 2001 through May 2005 and during my time in the Navy I was deployed to the Persian Gulf for the start of the Iraq War, and following the end of my time we were the first responders on the scene following the horrific destruction of the Tsunami that hit Indonesia. Following the conclusion of my first deployment, and after being the longest deployed carrier since Vietnam, then President George W. Bush made a visit to the ship where he gave a nationally televised address and then spent the night on the ship before heading back to Washington, DC. As a historian, it was an honor to meet President George W. Bush and be a part of history that will forever be a part of my roots.
Upon leaving the United States Navy I returned home to Colorado where I went on to finish my degree at Colorado State University and concluded my collegiate time with a double major in Political Science and History. During that four-year period, I continued my work in the Weld County Republican Party picking up where I left off years before working to get republican candidates elected by making phone calls and walking the streets throughout Weld County. During this period, I solidified my passion for agriculture by working for United Agri Products, now known as Nutrien Agriculture. Following graduation from college, my heart began to veer towards selling corn seed to farms and I was fortunate to land a job for Triumph Seed Company selling corn seed to farms in Colorado.
For the better part of 10 years, I worked with various seed companies building my relationships with farmers throughout Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and New Mexico. In 2018 I had the opportunity to open my own company, Northern Colorado Seeds LLC, where I contracted exclusively with one corn seed brand. The company I still own and operate today is a symbol of the fact that my heart is in agriculture and working with farmers. I have opened various other small businesses that focus on rental properties, farming, and social media advertising. During this time, I found myself drifting away from politics as the State of Colorado and the state of our nation were drifting to the left.
That all changed the day former President Trump entered the 2016 Presidential race. My renewed hope is that our country will be restored back to the greatness our founding fathers worked to preserve and protect. Countless lives have been lost since the forming of our Republic to preserve and protect the freedoms that the United States was founded on. The ultimate sacrifices to defend these principles have allowed me to make a difference in my country by ensuring that equality of opportunity is a reality for all, and not just for some as the political winds blow one direction or the other. Excellent representatives should stand in the gap to keep the government from infringing on us daily in a thousand different ways.
Following the presidential election in November 2020, I felt a calling, a duty, an obligation to myself and my country to get back involved in grassroots politics. I began to become a driving force in the Windsor community working with a group of conservative parents to bring a common sense approach to COVID in the Weld RE-4 School District. In August of 2021, after watching the district fall to state mandates, I felt it was time to move forward and declare my candidacy for the school board. During my campaign, I focused on parental rights as I believe the rights of every child belong in the hands of the parents, not the school district or state mandates. The results were close and even though I did not pull out a victory, a series of events within the school district led to several positive results for parental rights. My first win was that the massive bond failed. The second victory was when the superintendent resigned. Thirdly, our rights were strengthened when the board president resigned. And lastly, the battle was won when an application for a new civics-oriented charter school was approved in June of 2022. The families of Windsor will now have the choice to immerse children in classical, civics-minded, pro-America, principled, and character-driven education.
In March of 2022, I attended my first caucus in several years. I was elected as a PCP and worked my way through the process to become a delegate at the Republican State Assembly. Following the assembly I began attending all the Weld County Republican Executive Committee meetings. In February of 2023, I ran for party chair for Weld County. In the end, I was elected as a District Captain for District D.
Since the beginning of 2022 I had the opportunity to start FyreFox Media LLC which is focused on promoting and advertising for American First patriots who are looking to build their following in the conservative realm. During this venture, I have met some incredible patriots who are freedom-loving like me, and who believe that America First is the right focus for the United States. In December of 2022, I had the opportunity to meet former President Trump in Florida. The opportunity to meet former President Trump was a special moment for me, but what made it even more special was the fact my parents were able to be with me, which was the opportunity of a lifetime for us all.
I believe that when one door closes another one opens. Two months after the Weld County Republican Central Committee, I walked out of the event knowing that God is in control of my life, and He will guide me in the direction I need to go. The opportunity to apply for a vacated Weld County Council seat for District 1 opened and I was one of three applicants. It was an honor to be able to make it through the process and be appointed to the Council. It has been rewarding being a public servant to the constituents of Weld County. This is the second time I have held an elected office. The first was a director district seat for the Weld RE-4 School Board from 2005 through 2009 and now a sitting council member for Weld County.
In recent weeks I have felt a true calling to enter the race for Congressional District 4 in Colorado. I believe that the voice of the constituents is being drowned by the republican establishment both in Colorado and on the national level. This district is a solid republican district, but the influx of people moving into Colorado, especially in this district, are no longer mostly Republicans. We need real representation that is not focused on a select few, we need representation that is focused on all constituents. The influx of synthetic drugs pouring into Colorado is a direct result of the open border policy by the current administration. The legalization of drugs has led to a massive homeless problem throughout Colorado. We are seeing record gas prices as a direct result of the current administration’s attack on oil and gas. Agriculture is under attack on multiple fronts – from high input prices to the regulations put on agriculture through the Environmental Protection Agency, the list of government interventions into private business is hurting Colorado economically on all fronts.
The focus needs to be on solving problems, not attacking the very values your constituents hold. The day has come when new leadership and new representation is needed. I owe it to my family’s heritage to protect the state in which they settled and planted their roots in. Those roots produced a seed that is now blossoming into a public servant. It would be an honor to be a part of protecting the very land on which my family and generations of other families before me fought to protect. The founding fathers framed the greatest doctrine in the world, the Constitution. That document has led to the greatest nation on earth. We are a country of greatness and generosity, and we must use what we've learned from history, that failed political ideology that creates government overreach and tyranny doom our lives and the lives of future generations to poverty and despair. We are on the cusp of doing just that, and without freedom-loving representation, we will soon see the end of a great and prosperous nation. The motto that formed my family’s heritage in Colorado is a motto that is embedded into Colorado: “Nothing without the Deity”. Without God we are nothing. Without God we have nothing. Without God, we are lost. Through God, we are found. Through God we have freedom.
I am a perfectly imperfect man in the eyes of my maker, and I believe the time is now to serve my country again as a United States Congressional Representative in District 4 in Colorado. I cannot do this alone and with your help, the voice of our constituents will finally be heard.
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The Chuck and Julie Show are longtime radio hosts and commentators. Their program is a live Internet call-in talk show providing thought provoking information, conversation and entertainment. They are dedicated to free speech and critical thinking and any and all opinions are welcome. If you want the truth straight up and enjoy passionate debate this is the show for you.