Bradlee Dean Interview, Part 2: Taxes, Michele Bachmann, and the Capitol Prayer Debacle
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| Leidiger called inviting Smith an "honest mistake." |
BDS: Let me ask you a question. What has been the kickback since day 1? The gay agenda. And 90 percent of it is the gay agenda.
CP: How big is your street team?
BDS: Well first of all, now some of the questions you're asking me for, if I was talking to the average Joe, I'd know what you're going for.
What specific do you want to know?
CP: I'm interested in how many people, but I think what you're going to say, is [City Pages] wrote about the Walmart issue.
BDS: Yeah, that's offensive. You can't stand in front of a store until you pass their test, per se. You have to give them an exemption form. The secretary of state has all that information. But people don't just let anybody come and hang out in front of their store. And outside of the fact that we've been around for 10 years, that might tell people a little something. I think everybody and their dog in the tri-state area knows who we are.
CP: Well, if I'm remembering the piece...when we had talked to Walmart, they said the street told them they were going to talk about suicide prevention. They didn't say--
BDS: Well that's a part of the assembly. That's a part of "My War." That's a part of who we are and what we do. No question. I mean, we've got letters. Hundreds and hundreds, probably thousands of letters from people who are alive today because of the ministry standing in front of the store. Not just suicide prevention, keep in mind there's a whole plethora of things we talk about.
CP: So you don't think that when the street team goes to Walmart or goes to Hyvee or whatever, you don't think that they mislead?
BDS: If they misled people, I'd have a serious problem with them. A serious problem.
CP: Is it a pretty big street team? Is it a lot of people?
BDS: No. Well, let's put it this way, we have, in the ministry here, in the five-state area. That's pretty much, I mean, I'd love to have teams all across the country, but we're not there. We're local.
CP: And is it comprised entirely of ordained ministers?
BDS: They are. Every one of those guys, you can bring them in here, and you could ask them any question throughout the top and bottom. And I want to say this, go to a theological school, and tell me how many theologians can do that. These guys can do it. And by the way, it's not every one of them. We call them the veterans, they've been here for 10 years.
Smith's ministry made almost $1 million in 2009. Source: Tax records filed with the IRS.
CP: Has "You Can Run" grown considerably larger in the past couple years?
BDS: As far as the base, we've done the "My War" documentary. We've had like 1,200 people go through it. A lot of people know who we are. They really know who we are. They know what our purpose is, they're on our mailing list.
CP: It looked like from 2008 to 2009, revenue-wise, you guys made--
BDS: You can ask Jake [MacAulay, You Can't Run's business manager] about all that. I don't do none of that. What was it?
CP: The revenue tripled from 2008 to 2009.
BDS: The bottom line is, as far as the revenue, I know that the last 5 years, we've just been getting kicked in the teeth. Three years hard, I know that.
CP:The last thing I want to ask you about is this whole debacle with the prayer. I read a week or two ago that you had said you actually had talked to Zellers before.
BDS: Nicole [another ministry member] had ran into Zellers, and he had said to her, "I know you guys." And he gave his card and said, "Get a hold of so and so, I'd like to be on your radio show."
I think what happened is he just felt a little heat and he bowed. That's what he did.
CP: He made it seem like he had no idea who you were.
BDS: He's a liar, he straight up lied.
CP: Was it [Ernie] Leidiger that invited you?
BDS: He came to one of our events, and sat there and watched the whole debunking.
He knows what was done, he sat and watched the whole program. I think what happened was that it was brand new. Listen, when the media first comes down on you, it's not a secure feeling.
We went through it, but the bottom line is I just don't think he was really for it. But what was interesting is, when we did the event, he was there and he was the first one to stand up, "We need to get behind these guys. We need to stand up."
CP: So Leidiger was at an event?
BDS: He's seen the whole thing.
One of the documentary premieres. Which, by the way, is being attacked from, again, the homosexual communities without even seeing the documentary.
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