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September 28, 2015 11:21 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (Sept. 28)

  • 1 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

MoreSmarterLogo-300x218Chag Sameach to all of our Jewish friends (please, just don’t ask us to pronounce it). It’s time to Get More Smarter with Colorado Pols. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example).

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► The U.S. Senate has agreed to authorize an additional $625 million to continue construction at the Aurora VA Hospital project. As Mark Matthews reports for the Denver Post:

But Senate approval doesn’t mean the hospital is in the clear. Although the measure cleared the Senate without opposition, it still requires House support.

Even then, the authorization bill won’t be enough. Congress also needs to agree to a VA plan to shift money to the project; that request is tied to a stopgap spending bill that Congress must approve by Thursday or else plunge the federal government  into a shutdown.

What does Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) say about all of this? He’s not quoted, again, even though the project is in his district and even though Coffman is the Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee for the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

 

► House Speaker John Boehner surprised most political observers when he announced on Friday that he would resign from Congress at the end of October. Boehner is not going quietly, however, and is using his lame-duck status to rip into dysfunctional members of his Republican Party. From the Associated Press:

 House Speaker John Boehner warned Sunday against “false prophets” in his own party making unrealistic promises, saying his resignation had averted a government shutdown this week but not the GOP’s broader battle over how to wield power.

Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Boehner unloaded against conservatives long outraged that even with control of both houses of Congress, Republicans have not succeeded on key agenda items, such as repealing President Barack Obama’s health care law and striking taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood. He refused to back down from calling one of the tea party-styled leaders and presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, a “jackass.”

“Absolutely they’re unrealistic,” Boehner said. “The Bible says, ‘Beware of false prophets.’ And there are people out there spreading noise about how much can get done.”…

“Our founders didn’t want some parliamentary system where, if you won the majority, you got to do whatever you wanted. [Pols emphasis] They wanted this long, slow process” he said. “And so change comes slowly, and obviously too slowly, for some.”

 

► Are you tired of being an elected official? Do you welcome the sweet embrace of political death at the hands of the recall election? Jefferson County School Board President Ken Witt demonstrates how to make the case for your own recall: Step 1) Publicly ignore your own governing procedures, and 2) Talk down to fellow board members and community members whenever possible.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

Students at the University of Colorado are not pleased that they are largely being left out of the Oct. 28 Republican Presidential debate scheduled to be held at the Coors Events Center. As the Boulder Daily Camera reports, the CU student government is drawing lines in sand:

The CU Student Government resolution calls for a “drastic” increase in the number of tickets available to students and the community and states that if the Republican National Committee and CNBC refuse to do so, the university should no longer be involved with the event.

 

► University of Colorado students are the only folks wringing their collective hands over the Boulder debate. Some Republican Presidential campaigns are getting mighty nervous about the qualifications and rules for Oct. 28 It seems unlikely that the next debate will include a “Jayvee Debate” or “Kid’s Table” undercard, so any candidates who are out of the Top 10 — by any measure — are starting to sweat. From Politico:

The uncertain terms of the next Republican debate are setting off a wave of anxiety among middle and bottom tier campaigns, with several lashing out at the Republican National Committee for failing to provide clarity on how many candidates will appear on stage.

The campaigns fear the entry criteria for the Oct. 28 debate are being designed to reduce the number of candidates on stage for the third primetime debate — a life-or-death matter for White House hopefuls on the bubble.

The debate will be held at the Coors Event Center at the University of Colorado, and NBC Political Director Chuck Todd, who has been advising on the CNBC-produced program, seems to be in favor of setting a solid “floor” for inclusion:

“Let’s just say the goal is to create a threshold that candidates have to meet to qualify for the stage rather than committing to putting 10 candidates on the stage. And I don’t think we should commit to more than 10-candidate debates. You have to be viable. So now we’re in debate three it’s time to show viability and only the viable ones survive,” Todd said during an interview on ESPN radio last week…

…While such a floor would clearly eliminate Jindal, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Pennsylania Sen. Rick Santorum, it could also threaten other candidates of lower standing, including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Since nobody has been able to come up with a solid plan thus far, we propose mixing things up considerably. How about doing it “Amazing Race” style, where all candidates begin from a set point on a map, and the first X number of candidate to arrive in Boulder get to participate?

 

► Republican lawmakers may want to ease up on trying to cut federal funding for Planned Parenthood, because they appear to be on the wrong side of public opinion. A majority of voters oppose any efforts to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, and voters definitely don’t approve of shutting down the federal government over the issue.

 

► House Speaker John Boehner announced on Friday that he will resign from Congress at the end of October. Reactions were mixed from Colorado’s Congressional delegation; Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley), perhaps Boehner’s most vocal Colorado critic, was not available for comment.

 

► The City of Golden is among several Jefferson County municipal governments struggling to figure out how to react to a recent Supreme Court decision on yard signs. From Josie Klemaier of YourHub:

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has prompted Golden’s city council to pursue removing its exceptions for unlimited political yard signs during election season. The city council tabled a motion to change its ordinance in order to comply with the ruling at its meeting Thursday night.

The ordinance allows residents to place an unlimited number of political signs in yards in the 60 days leading up to and five days after an election, an exception made to the year-round limit of two signs per yard.

That exception goes against  the U.S. Supreme court decision in the case Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Ariz., which sided with a church pastor, saying a city cannot regulate signs based on their content.

What we really want to know is this: If you allow unlimited numbers of yard signs, will yard sign theft increase or decrease? Sure, there are more signs to steal — but that also means more stolen signs that need to be concealed.

 

► The oil and gas industry says that its workers are perfectly safe, despite a new report showing that the workplace has literally never been more dangerous. From Monte Whaley of the Denver Post:

Still, the work of oil companies didn’t stop 2014 from being one of the deadliest years for oil and gas workers. Earlier this month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said 142 oil and gas workers died in 2014, a 27 percent jump from 2013, when 112 workers died.

That 2014 number may even increase when the final federal breakdown is released in April, said Rebecca Reindel, senior safety and health specialist with AFL-CIO.

The labor group releases an annual report on worker safety and tracks fatalities and injuries in many employment categories. Reindel said she was jolted by the rise in oil and gas deaths.

“Oil and gas deaths are the highest we’ve seen them, possibly ever (recorded), definitely the highest going back to 2003,” she said. [Pols emphasis]

Okay, fine. But what about industry claims that oil and gas drilling is totally not a problem when it comes to air and water contamination? We can believe that, right?

 

► A new study suggests that politicians would be more accessible to voters if not for the presence of humongous Super PACs.

 

► That didn’t take long. It’s only been a few days since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the greater sage grouse was no longer in danger of going extinct, but several mining companies are already filing lawsuits seeking to overturn restrictions that helped keep the grouse from going extinct in the first place.

 

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► August and September were unusually dry months in Colorado, and now one-fourth of the state is considered “abnormally dry,” including all of Denver. See, it’s not just your spouse.

 

► Top Republican donors are running out of patience with Jeb! Bush. As the Washington Post reports, you can choose your own cliche so long as it has something to do with “make or break time.”

 

ICYMI

The Denver Broncos are 3-0 after defeating the Lions last night in Detroit by a score of 24-12. It looks like you can take a week off from freaking out over the health/age/arm strength/forehead size of quarterback Peyton Manning.

 

 

 

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Comments

One thought on “Get More Smarter on Monday (Sept. 28)

  1. Speaking of 'getting more smarter', Jeb! doesn't appear to be…

    CNBC’s John Harwood asked Jeb Bush why the economy has seen more growth under Democratic administrations over the last 35 years than under Republicans, Jeb gave a muddled answer and then pivoted to attacking Obama for being hostile to capitalism.

    HARWOOD: You really think Obama’s hostile to capitalism? Trans-Pacific Partnership—he’s moving forward. South Korea, Colombia, he finished those agreements that your brother had moved down the line.

    BUSH: I definitely do. I think he has a deep-seated belief that through government programs and through government regulation, you can improve the social condition.

    So thinking government can improve the social condition makes you hostile to capitalism? Were Republican presidents Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt hostile to capitalism? If they – along with Democratic presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt — hadn’t improved the social condition, American capitalism might not have even survived. 

    Is it possible that Jeb is the less smarter one? 
     

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