May 16, 2016 12:43 PM UTC
Get More Smarter on Monday (May 16)
8 Comments- by: Colorado Pols
Too bad you have to wait until August for those rain barrels to become officially legal. 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…
► How bad is it this time? That may be the new internal mantra for the Jon Keyser for Senate campaign. Keyser’s EPIC meltdown in response to questions about alleged forged petition signatures has gone more than viral — it is transcending politics altogether now. Comedian Samantha Bee, who hosts a nightly talk show on TBS, Tweeted out a couple of Keyser-related barbs this morning, comparing him to a character on HBO’s “Veep” and highlighting their own remix of Keyser’s stumbles into the “I’m on the ballot dance.”
The Denver District Attorney’s office is now investigating the alleged forgeries that helped Keyser get his name on the June 28th Primary ballot. And editorials around the state are piling on, like this one from Dave Perry of The Aurora Sentinel:
No, Jon Keyser. You won’t be winning Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet’s seat in November. You’ve just lost the primary election by losing your dignity, integrity and above all, respect for voters.
In what looked like a pathetic stunt straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook, Keyser — hand-picked and hand-groomed by big-player state Republicans to take on the politically vulnerable Bennet this fall — trashed his already tattered political career Thursday.
Keyser, acting the insolent spoiled brat, refused to answer questions from reporters about why there are at least 10 forged signatures on petitions that got him a place on the GOP primary ballot…
…For godsake, if you fold like a whiny teenager from this, what would you have done when Sen. Elizabeth Warren or Sen. Ted Cruz got in your face or tripped you on the Senate floor? Cry? Repeat the Pledge of Allegiance like some kind of secret spell?
Coincidentally, Perry just recently won an award from the Colorado Press Association for Best Editorial Writing. Read the entire editorial above and you’ll see why.
ICYMI, Keyser’s absolutely epic #FAIL(s) on Thursday are must-watch TV — as is this MSNBC segment from Rachel Maddow.
Elsewhere, The Denver Post is hosting a debate among the Republican U.S. Senate candidates on Tuesday. The event begins at 6:00 pm tomorrow evening (May 17).
► The U.S. Supreme court has decided to punt on an issue related to contraceptions and Obamacare. From the Washington Post:
A short-handed Supreme Court declined Monday to decide challenges to an Affordable Care Act requirement about providing contraceptive coverage, saying that there was a possibility of compromise between religious objectors and the government.
The court punted the issue back to lower courts, and said its unanimous ruling “expresses no view on the merits of the cases.”…
…The unanimous three-page decision maintains the status quo, and indicates that the court — evenly divided along ideological lines following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia — could not reach agreement.
A week after oral arguments in the case, the justices took the highly unusual step of floating their own compromise about how to resolve the case, and asked the parties to weigh in.
► The Colorado legislature wrapped up its 2016 session late Wednesday, but they may yet be called back to the Capitol. Rumors continue to grow that Gov. John Hickenlooper could call legislators back into a “special session” in order to focus on the “Hospital Provider Fee” issue that Senate President Bill Cadman basically killed in order to appease his rulers at “Americans for Prosperity.”
Get even more smarter after the jump…
IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…
► Former state Sen. Gail Schwartz is rapidly gaining attention as she ratchets up her campaign for Congress against incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez). According to a press release from the Schwartz campaign:
On Friday, the DCCC promoted the Schwartz campaign from “Emerging Race” status to the top status level of “Red-to-Blue.” This designation demonstrates that Gail Schwartz is running a strong campaign and is in excellent position to unseat the incumbent this November.
“This terrific news adds to our momentum in working to unseat Congressman Tipton. We will win this seat by continuing to connect with Coloradans who support my approach to public service, which is putting community interests before special interests and partisanship,” said Gail Schwartz, Democratic candidate for the 3rd Congressional District.
DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, in promoting Schwartz to the Red-to-Blue program said, “Gail Schwartz has a proven record of independent leadership and delivering for rural communities across Western and Southern Colorado. Her commitment to creating good paying jobs, protecting our natural resources, and keeping Americans safe will make her an excellent representative for Colorado’s 3rd District.”
The Pueblo Chieftain has more on the rising momentum of the Schwartz campaign.
► Some longtime Colorado mining towns are worried about what will happen to their local economies as the coal industry rapidly becomes obsolete.
► Is Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper really on a short list to become Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the race for President? Hickenlooper’s spokesperson shrugged off rumors that Hick could be Vice President material. But as Amy Parnes writes for “The Hill,” Hickenlooper is among the top 5 candidates “getting the most buzz in Clintonworld””
Some in Clintonworld say the Colorado governor’s name should be on any short list.
For starters, a win in Colorado would cement the race for Clinton.
Hickenlooper has also been a loyal soldier to Clinton during the primary, particularly when his state voted for Sanders by nearly 20 percentage points.
Clinton and Hickenlooper spent time together in April when she attended a fundraiser at his home.
Insiders say if he doesn’t get a nod for VP, Clinton will likely consider him for a cabinet position, should she be elected.
All of this VP talk could just be chatter, but from what Parnes writes, is certainly sounds as though Hickenlooper is a frontrunner for some sort of Cabinet position in a potential Clinton administration.
Meanwhile, “The Fix” tackles an easier list: The 5 people who will definitely not end up as running mates with presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump.
► Politico wonders whether it is a fair comparison to put Bernie Sanders and Ralph Nader in the same sentence. Here on Colorado Pols, longtime reader Voyageur takes a look at Bernie’s chances in Tuesday’s Primaries in Oregon and Kentucky.
► Sorry, Loan Sharks, but nobody will an ounce of intelligence really believes that your predatory lending business model can’t survive in Colorado unless you can ratchet up interest rates to ridiculous levels.
► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) testified on Friday about…well, we’ll just quote from the Greeley Tribune instead:
The legislation would reform the IRS rules as they apply to mutual irrigation, reservoir and water companies.
► How did issues of “open government” fare in the 2016 legislative session? As the Colorado Independent reports, it was a mixed bag.
► The Boulder Daily Camera takes a look at the Democratic Primary battle underway for the right to replace term-limited House Speaker Dickey Lee Hullinghorst.
► The NORAD facility in Colorado Springs has a new boss, and it’s an historic move. From the Colorado Statesman:
Air Force Gen. Lori J. Robinson on Friday became the first woman to lead a top-tier U.S. warfighting command when she took over as leader of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command in Colorado.
Robinson is one of just two female four-star generals serving in the Air Force.
OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK
► Former Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is an active surrogate for Trump’s Presidential campaign. This is both good and bad, as the Washington Post notes.
► He hasn’t just suffered through a week as bad as Jon Keyser, but the last few days have not been kind to Donald Trump. Or “John Miller.”
ICYMI
► Democrat Hillary Clinton is the pundit pick to become the next President of the United States, but here are 12 possibilities for how she could come up short.
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We already have an "at least he's not your…" post today, so I'll leave this here…
"At Least He's Not Your (Conservative) Congressional Candidate": Mike Webb, a conservative candidate for Virginia's 8th Congressional District, posted an example today of the "hands on" approach he'll take if he's elected. He posted to Facebook a screen grab of him using his browser to demonstrate a political point… capturing a couple of tabs showing his taste in porn.
This (the ACA contraceptive case) has to be one of the weirdest Supreme Court non-decisions ever to be handed down by the Justices. WTF do they think they're going to get from the lower courts that they didn't get before? 9 different opinions on how the Federal government could possibly implement a less effective but less burdensome solution that still won't satisfy the plaintiffs? That'll work…
I think they were just trying to push the case back off this docket and hoping that by the time it reemerges at some later date we'll be back to up to nine justices (or down to seven)? SCOTUS seems to have some understanding that continued 4-4 splits only make them look as silly and ineffectual as a Republican House voting over and over to repeal the ACA.
There actually is a good shot they can comprpmise. The key is to keep the church wholly out of the loop so the deal is strictly between the woman and insurance company. Plausible deniability in other words.
The devil will be in the details. The administration pointed out in its reply brief that the current solution already does what you suggest needs to be done. On notification (to the government, or to the insurance company / third party administrator), the insurance company itself sets up the policy covering contraceptives for the organization's employees. Their take on the Justice's clarification question was that the formal notification could be omitted, but that it would open up potential legal questions (such as "how did you verify that the organization was eligible for exemption?").
The petitioners, in response to the Justices' request, suggested that the insurance companies follow that lower standard of notification, and then on top of that notify each plan participant that they were eligible for contraceptives, and set up completely independent policies for each on explicit confirmation of desire to enter in to the plan. That seems like it would be a non-starter if I were coming at it from the government's POV. Group insurance is for groups; it's managed by group, costed by group. Even if the contraceptive plan is separate (and it is as currently administered), it's still done on a manageable and known group.
The RFRA states that the government must implement the most minimally intrusive method that is still effective at attaining a particular (valid) government objective. In this case, the objective is uniform and universal coverage of contraceptives (a legitimate medical need) with adequate validation of eligibility for exemption from organization-sponsored coverage. The government's response indicates that it feels that although compromise is possible, it would lessen the effectiveness of validation at best, and become unworkable at worst.
The petitioners aren't really looking for a fig leaf in their challenge; they want out from contraceptive coverage altogether, and I don't see the appeals courts who have already rejected their challenge as coming back with a more supportive view this time around. This was a punt by the Supreme Court, and an odd offside punt at that.
Well, maybe they will find a fig leaf. Otherwise, let them go 4-4 to uphold the appeals court even if it doesn't set national precedent. And we can remind the voters once again what assholes the republicans are being about garland.
Glad to hear about Smallwood. Hope he suffers every similar fate.
I made the mistake once of giving our midget watermelon hunter my e-mail address to see one of his Bowman-recommended web inanities (I owe you Bowman). And, that doofus must of sold his list to Smallwood, as I'm getting fundraising e-mails from that Brophy-endorsed fool now . . .
HAHAHAHA!! The coveted 'Brophy endorsement…'