Breaking Battlegrounds

This week, Chuck and Sam are joined by Congressman John Curtis of Utah’s 3rd Congressional District. Congressman Curtis currently serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committees. After being elected to Congress on November 13, 2017, John sponsored 12 bills in his first year in office. Four of these bills passed through the House and three were signed into law: The POPPY Study Act to combat the opioid crisis, the Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking Act, and the Small Business ACE Act. The Congressman cares deeply about hearing the diverse perspectives and feedback from his constituents: he has held hundreds of town halls. Utah’s third district is the youngest in the country, with an average age of 26 years old. John is also sensitive to the many constituents that live in rural Utah, and has focused on legislation that can fit needs of both demographics such as student loans, rural broadband access, and more. John has been committed to helping Utah’s growing tech scene flourish, and was recognized by Silicon Slopes as their first Community Hero Award recipient. Other personal awards comprise of Civic Innovator of the Year by Utah Valley University, Thayne Robson Award for Leadership in Economic Development, and Outstanding Citizen Award from the Office of Civic Engagement Leadership by Brigham Young University. Prior to coming to Washington, John was the 45th mayor of Provo City, serving two terms. Known for his personal approach to city government, Mayor Curtis prioritized his outreach to residents of Provo by utilizing various channels including his popular blog. He was named the #1 Top Elected Official on Social Media 2015 by the Government Social Media group and has been recognized by Forbes for his commitment to citizen engagement. Curtis was re-elected for a second four-year term as mayor in 2013 with 86.49% of the vote. As mayor, he averaged an approval rating of 93%. During his terms in office, the city of Provo ranked #1 in the nation for Business and Careers by Forbes as well as #1 for Well-Being by Gallup. Other recent awards include national recognition for the quality of life, family environment, a booming tech and entrepreneur culture and a successful revitalization of downtown. With the help of the City Council, employees, and residents, Mayor Curtis’ administration brought Google Fiber to Provo, regularly scheduled air service at the airport, expanded parks and trails, and completed Provo’s state-of-the-art recreation center. Before becoming mayor, John was a small business owner in Provo, working with his partners to build their business “Action Target,” where he led sales and operations strategy. Congressman Curtis and his wife Sue have six children and seven grandchildren. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and almost certainly has more socks than you do.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week, Sam and Chuck are joined by Matt Lewis. Matt is a senior columnist at The Daily Beast and the author of  Too Dumb to Fail: How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections (And How It Can Reclaim Its Conservative Roots).  Matt's work has appeared in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, GQ, The Washington Post, Politico, The Telegraph, The Independent, and The Guardian -- and he has been quoted or cited by major media outlets including New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times, andThe Associated Press. Over the years, Matt has provided political commentary on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, C-SPAN, PBS NewsHour, ABC’s “Nightline," HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," and CBS News' "Face The Nation." He has appeared on numerous radio outlets like NPR and the BBC, and on various conservative programs such as "The Hugh Hewitt Show." (And who could forget his mention on ESPN's "The Tony Kornheiser Show"?) He previously served as a contributing editor for The Week and as a weekly columnist for Roll Call. Before that, Matt served as a columnist for AOL's Politics Daily and as a blogger for Townhall.com. Matt currently hosts his own podcast, "Matt Lewis & The News" (subscribe on iTunes; Sen. Ben Sasse is a listener!), and co-hosts The DMZ show on Bloggingheads.TV. He is also the editor of the book, The Quotable Rogue: The Ideals of Sarah Palin In Her Own Words. Matt grew up in Frederick County, Maryland, and graduated from Shepherd College (now University) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Broken Potholes, Chuck and Sam are joined by Congressman Drew Ferguson, the Chief Deputy Whip for House Republicans. Congressman Drew Ferguson is a proud resident of West Point whose family roots in the West Georgia area are several generations deep. He attended the University of Georgia and gained early acceptance to the Medical College of Georgia. After graduating with a degree in dental medicine, he moved back to his hometown and established a successful family dental practice. In 2008, Congressman Ferguson was elected mayor of West Point and was at the forefront of attracting and keeping jobs in his community. By lowering taxes, eliminating government barriers and reforming education, he led a community in economic ruin back to life. Today, a wide range of new businesses and industries call West Point and the surrounding area home. Led by KIA Motors, automotive suppliers and related businesses, 16,000 new jobs have been created so far. Congressman Ferguson came to Washington to apply the lessons he learned revitalizing West Point to creating policies that once again make America the most competitive place to do business. Just as important as the creation of jobs, Congressman Ferguson wants to remove barriers that prevent those in poverty from moving into the middle class. Smart and effective welfare entitlement reform that actually helps people move ahead rather than trapping them in a cycle of poverty is the first step. Congressman Ferguson believes these problems cannot simply be regulated away, but should look for solutions that get government out of the way of American innovation growth. This is as much a moral issue as it is a practical matter. Congressman Ferguson is the Chief Deputy Whip for House Republicans. He also serves on the Committee on Ways and Means.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Broken Potholes, Sam and Chuck take a deep dive into the crumbling politics of America. They tackle some of the biggest issues facing our country, including bias in the media, the movement to defund our police, the water shortage looming over the southwest, and the latest on the crisis at our southern border. Plus Kiley Kipper stops by the show to bring a moment of sunshine into the studio.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Broken Potholes, Chuck and Sam are joined by Nicole Martin, the Community Relations and Public Information Officer for Provo City, Utah. Nicole previously worked as the Communications Director and Deputy Mayor for Sandy City under former Mayor Tom Dolan. She was also the Communications Director for Herriman City and has served the last three years as a member of the Herriman City Council. As both a public relations officer and an elected representative, Nicole has seen first hand how social media and national trends affect the way local government operates, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. In her work as a communications officer, Nicole has worked to ensure that citizens understand what is really happening in their city.CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Ryan Tyson of the Florida-based Tyson Group joins Chuck Warren on this week’s episode of Broken Potholes to offer his insight into the current state of Florida politics.Also on the show this week, Chuck talks to Ryan Smith, the Director of Communications and Government Relations for Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. His responsibilities include marketing and community relations, as well as all government relations duties for the airport. Ryan graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in Political Science and is a fifth generation Arizona resident.  Ryan Tyson is the President and managing partner of The Tyson Group, which is a center-right polling and market research firm with polling experience in 48 states.  He serves as Executive Director of Preserve the American Dream, a Florida based 501(c4) that primarily educates the public and media on quantitative and qualitative research it conducts across the state and around the country.    As a Florida based strategist, Tyson has developed multiple organizations devoted to fundraising, research, electioneering and independent expenditure efforts. He has served as strategist and pollster on multiple statewide ballot initiatives in Florida, using his research techniques to not only to craft successful ballot titles and summaries on ‘Yes’ campaigns, but also exposing the weaknesses in ‘No’ campaigns. He has also  worked for some of the largest corporations in Florida and his political acumen and prowess are known to many across the country.     Tyson’s wide range of experience in all levels of national, state, and legislative campaigns and has made him a valuable asset in the Sunshine State. Having advised on multiple statewide campaigns including for former President Donald Trump’s Florida campaign, Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Rick Scott, Tyson’s unique mix of data driven campaign strategy has resulted in Florida Politics twice naming him as one of the top 100 “most influential people in Florida Politics.”   He received his Bachelor of Science in Public Relations from the University of Florida. He currently resides in Tallahassee with his wife, Mary Beth, and three sons, John David, Brennan and Benjamin.  CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Broken Potholes, Sam Stone is joined by former Navy SEAL Frank Montano and civil rights leader Rev. Jarrett Maupin.Frank Montano was born in Mexicali and, after his father died when he was 7, his  mother sent him and his brother to California to live with family who could care for him. At a young age, Frank decided that he would dedicate his life to becoming a SEAL and serving on the front lines for the country that gave him freedom and opportunity. After graduating high school, Frank joined the Navy, became an American citizen, and earned his SEAL Trident. The Reverend Jarrett Maupin has been a minister since he was 12 years old. At 19, he became one of the youngest people to hold elected office in the state of Arizona when he was elected to serve on the Phoenix Union High School District Governing Board. Since then, he has become one of the most prominent community organizers and civil rights leaders in Phoenix. CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Mike Noble of OH Predictive Insights joins Sam Stone and Chuck Warren on this weeks episode of Broken Potholes. Mike Noble is the Chief of Research & Managing Partner of OH Predictive Insights (OHPI), a sister company of Arizona’s largest advertising agency, OH Partners. Noble is a thought leader on public opinion tracking and analysis and is known for being a trailblazer in the rapidly changing fields of predictive insights and market research. Mike found a passion for politics while working for an Arizona Congressman before starting OHPI, the premier non-partisan Arizona polling and consulting firm. Since then, Mike has become one of the top pollsters in the West, working with clients throughout Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. Mike’s approach involves getting in the trenches with his clients, striving to fully understand their businesses and goals with the result of providing accurate, unbiased, and actionable information. He is known for his presentations, public and private speaking engagements, and interviews where he interprets the meaning of the data. Providing this insight has led to interviews with The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Politico, The Hill, The Guardian, TIME magazine, Huffington Post, LA Times, BBC World News, and other respected television and radio outlets. CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

This week on Broken Potholes, Merissa Hamilton joins Sam Stone with an update on the important work the Arizona State Legislature is doing, including the Election Audit. Merissa Hamilton is a former Phoenix Mayoral Candidate and currently is a business professional with over 19 years of leadership experience in the supply chain, food service, retail, grocery, and technology industries. She led national committees to create data standards transforming food safety and improving public health. With a strong commitment to helping her community, her work for over a decade has focused on helping girls in crisis pregnancies, women and their children in domestic violence, and helping those experiencing homelessness find permanency. CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Spencer Case and Henry Olsen join this week’s episode of Broken Potholes with our hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Dr. Spencer Case is a freelance writer and 2018 CU Boulder philosophy Ph.D. He is now an international research fellow at the Wuhan University school of philosophy in China. He is the author of the recent article You Have the Right to Email Politically Silent. Dr. Case spent eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve, working as a public affairs specialist with an emphasis on print and photography. During this time he completed two deployments: to Iraq in 2005-2006 with the 207th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment and to Afghanistan in 2009-2010 with the 304th Public Affairs Detachment. Henry Olsen is a Washington Post columnist focusing on politics, populism, and American conservative thought. Olsen began his career as a political consultant at the California firm of Hoffenblum-Mollrich. After three years working for the California Assembly Republican Caucus, he returned to school to become a lawyer. Following law school he clerked for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs on the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and as an associate in the Philadelphia office of Dechert, Price & Rhoads. He then joined the think tank world where he spent the next eighteen years as an executive at a variety of institutions, serving as the President of the Commonwealth Foundation, a Vice President at the Manhattan Institute, and as Vice President and Director, National Research Initiative, at the American Enterprise Institute. He left AEI in 2013 to pursue a career in political analysis and writing at EPPC. During that time his work has appeared in variety of leading publications in America and the United Kingdom. He is the author or co-author of two books, “The Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism” and (with Dante J. Scala) “The Four Faces of the Republican Party”. His biennial election predictions have been widely praised for the uncanny accuracy, and he is a frequent guest on television and radio programs. CONNECT WITH USTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrokenPotholesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/brokenpotholesInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brokenpotholes/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/broken-potholes Show notes: www.brokenpotholes.vote Get full access to Breaking Battlegrounds at breakingbattlegrounds.substack.com/subscribe