March 09, 2016 12:42 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (March 9)

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• by: Colorado Pols

There’s always the Virgin Islands, Marco Rubio. 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…

► Voters in four more states were asked to choose a preferred Republican Presidential candidate, and once again, businessman Donald Trump had a good Tuesday evening. Trump picked up decisive victories in the Michigan and Mississippi GOP Primaries, as well as a win in the Hawaii caucuses (Texas Sen. Ted Cruz managed a meaningless win in the Idaho GOP caucus). If Trump’s momentum carries him to victory in Florida and Ohio next Tuesday, His Hairness will have essentially locked up the Republican nomination for President.

Meanwhile, things are going about as bad as they could possibly go for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Not only was Rubio not competitive in any of the four states on Tuesday, but he actually finished fourth (behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich) in Michigan and Mississippi. The campaign death watch is on for Rubio’s organization, and establishment Republicans are now trying to decide if they can hold their collective noses to try for one last anti-Trump stand behind [cough, cough] Ted Cruz.

► On the Democratic side of the Presidential field, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders picked up an upset victory in Michigan on Tuesday. Hillary Clinton remains the frontrunner for the Democratic Presidential nomination, but by winning in Michigan, Sanders has re-energized his campaign for one last final push through states that have yet to cast ballots.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► State Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt (R-Colorado Springs) is facing a litany of inquiries from a government watchdog group and the Internal Revenue Service over some eyebrow-raising moves involving his “nonprofit” religious ministry.

► Republican businessman Jerry Natividad has only been an official candidate for the U.S. Senate for about a week, but the Republican is already changing his strategy for gaining ballot access for the June 28th Primary. Natividad had previously said he would seek ballot access via the petition process, but with time quickly running out (April 4th is the deadline to submit signatures for ballot access), Natividad has apparently decided that his best bet is to try the caucus/GOP Assembly route.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) is repeating one of his favored Tea Party red meat lines. On Tuesday, Coffman once again declared that President Obama is “a recruiting tool for terrorists” because Obama projects a weak American foreign policy, or something.  

► The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) might need to take a closer look at how many people are allowed access to the organization’s official Twitter account. The NRSC Tweeted a message on Tuesday — which was removed soon afterward — alleging that Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Duckworth has a “sad record of not standing up for our Veterans.”

Duckworth lost both of her legs while serving in the Iraq War.

► National Republican strategists continue to sound the alarm that down-ballot Republicans could suffer massive losses if Donald Trump is the name that tops the GOP ticket in November.

► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) has been right at home serving in the do-nothing Republican Congress. On Tuesday, Gardner managed to “officially” do something meaningless, as the Denver Post reports:

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado joined with four of his Republican colleagues on Tuesday in introducing a symbolic resolution criticizing efforts by the administration to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

The measure — which would not carry the force of law even if it passes the upper chamber — aims to express the “sense of the Senate” that it would oppose the transfer of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to the U.S. mainland.

Last week Gardner returned from a trip to visit Guantanamo Bay by announcing that he believed the United States should actually find more combatants to lock away in Gitmo.

► Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-Denver) is speaking out about new efforts at campaign finance reform on the fifth anniversary of the “Citizens United” court ruling that infamously found that “corporations are people, too.”

► Colorado House Speaker Dickie Lee Hullinghorst continues to try to convince her Republican colleagues of Colorado’s mounting budget problems that are directly related to TABOR.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The phrase “conflict of interest” seems to be confounding one Republican candidate for State Senate in Douglas County. From The Highlands Ranch Herald:

Douglas County School Board President Meghann Silverthorn said she hasn’t ruled out keeping her seat if she is elected to the District 4 state Senate post in November.

But John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University, said holding both seats would be problematic.

“First, it’s simply illegal,” Straayer said. “Colorado Constitution Article V, Section 8 makes that clear. Second, even if it was legal, it would put her in a position that, in some manner, could be construed as a conflict of interest.”

A spokeswoman for the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office also said the state constitution prevents a person from holding an elected legislative position and a local elected position at the same time. A person holding an elected office may run for a new post, but if the candidate wins, he or she would be expected to resign from the first seat, she said.

Silverthorn said she does not see a conflict of interest because she could recuse herself from votes that would affect the school district.

Colorado law clearly states that one person may not hold two elected positions at the same time. Silverthorn says she doesn’t agree, but her opinion is not particularly relevant here.

► Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is beginning to pivot his campaign message toward a General Election audience.

ICYMI

► Well, you didn’t miss it altogether. There is a heated debate underway in the State House over closing so-called “tax loopholes” for Colorado companies that use offshore subsidiaries to dodge their tax bills.

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