Colorado Springs Mayoral candidate John “Tig” Tiegen is also known for founding a right-wing militia called United American Defense Force (UADF). Last week, at an event with extremist Pastor Matthew Trewhella, Tiegen lamented that his group used to have thousands of members, but that many of them quit after January 6th, because they were “scared of the government.”
“These guys back here are with UADF, the organization that I started,” said Tiegen. “I get hounded on a lot by the left, because they don’t like people that stand up and want to fill that gap. We were out there in the city while our elected officials were hiding behind their doors, I guess, writing paperwork. We’re on the street actually making sure our city doesn’t burn. Not even just here, but even up in Denver, up in Fort Collins, up in Berthoud, all across, even the country. UADF was huge at one point. But January 6th happens. People run. They get scared. They get cowered. Why? Because what does the government do again? They make you live in fear. We shouldn’t fear government. The government should be fearing us!
What it showed me — we had thousands of members in UADF. I can use it as a prime example. Oath Keepers, the same way. Three Percenters were the same way. Thousands of members left. They all got scared of the government. They got scared of being labeled. You ain’t doing nothing wrong. Don’t be scared. It’s the government that’s always wrong, anyways. We have the right to assemble. We have the- you know, it’s in the Constitution. We’re not a militia. But a well-regulated militia is in the U.S. Constitution. So don’t be afraid to be inside of a militia. There’s nothing wrong with it as long as you’re abiding by the U.S. Constitution.
But you have to stand in the gap. You have to get up. Again, we did a lot here in El Paso County, flipping the boards. We did it. We got to keep doing that. We got to show up to the boards. UADF, we do that a lot, too. We show up to the boards. We help the families out that get injured. Here in Colorado, we show up for the parents that are being threatened by Antifa or BLM members. And don’t be afraid to call them out. Let them call you racist. They’re the ones that are actually the racist are the ones are the oppressors. They’re the ones that are the facists. We’re not .”
“The boards” Tiegen mentions are local school boards, which indeed are a focus of UADF activity. The militia has called upon members to attend school board meetings and they have done so in multiple districts including Cherry Creek, D20 Colorado Springs, and Douglas County, often in UADF shirts.
Tiegen insists his group isn’t a militia, which would be illegal in Colorado, but essentially everything else he says about the group belies that claim. In his speech last Thursday he noted that UADF wasn’t the only group to lose members, citing two other well-known anti-government militias, the OathKeepers, whose leader Stewart Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy in January, and the Three Percenters. According to evidence from federal investigators, members of those two groups coordinated their efforts during the Capitol breach.
Dwindling membership likely impacts UADF more than other militias, as it stands out from other armed groups in that it charges members a monthly fee. When it launched, UADF charged $50 to join and then $10 monthly for dues.
Tiegen defended the fees at an FEC United Republican candidate event in 2020, saying that what set UADF apart from other groups that teach “urban warfare” is that his members will “show up” to defend the community from perceived threats like Antifa.
“We have to come together, Tiegen told supporters. Even if you don’t join UADF —I know Joe [Oltmann] don’t want me to say this— but there are other groups, other organizations that ain’t going to charge you a member fee. There’s other organizations that will train you how to do urban warfare. They’ll train you how to do all kinds of stuff, but they never show up either. That’s why I’m standing here, because they never showed up.”
At the time, the leader of another local militia, the III% United Patriots of Colorado, released a statement saying he would not endorse UADF or encourage his members to join up specifically because of the fee structure and because “the same guy collecting the funds also owns the store which you get a discount in, which didn’t sit well with several of us.”
The “guy collecting the funds” referenced above isn’t Tiegen, but Joe Oltmann, who founded FEC United, which includes UADF, and also owns DCF Guns. The UADF website currently lists a lower membership fee at $40, but the monthly dues have doubled to $20. After the Oct. 2020 “Patriot Muster” event hosted by FEC United and UADF resulted in the death of an armed UADF member who was shot by a private security guard, Oltmann has publicly insisted the two groups are separate, while still embracing the term “militia” in speeches at FEC United events.
At the time of the Patriot Muster event, FEC United’s President was Kristi Burton Brown, who was also serving as Vice Chair of the Colorado Republican Party, before stepping down from FEC United to mount her successful campaign for GOP Chair, a position she held for the past two years.
As a mayoral candidate Tiegen continues to embraces election denialism. The first image on his campaign website features him posing with two supporters in front of a row of flags proclaiming “Trump Won.”
