There are 13 more days until Boxing Day. Now, let’s GetMore Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.
FIRST UP…
► We made it!
The 2022 election in Colorado is finally complete. According to a press release from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office:
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has announced the certification of the 2022 General Election, making the results of the election official and final. The certification was conducted after each county’s bipartisan canvass boards submitted their official abstract of votes to the Secretary of State’s Office, as well as the conclusion of a mandatory recount in the race for Colorado’s U.S. Congressional District 3 and permissive recount of the Colorado House District 43 race…
…After the election, the Secretary of State’s office worked with Colorado’s county clerks to complete a bipartisan risk-limiting audit that verified the results of the election. After the audit, each county’s bipartisan canvass board certified the election results. The canvass boards then submitted the final results to the Secretary of State’s office, including the recount results from the 3rd Congressional District and House District 43.
Colorado voters had more options than ever to cast a ballot in the November 8 General Election. In addition to Colorado having 411 drop boxes – a more than 65% increase from the 2018 midterm – and 366 voting centers available to voters, the Secretary of State’s Office worked with Colorado Ute Tribal communities to increase access to early voting; voters in the RTD region had two zero fare days to take the bus or train to cast their ballot at no cost; and the office launched a Language Assistance Hotline to assist voters who don’t speak English as their primary language with ballot content.
Returning a mail ballot was the preferred method for voters with 95.3% of voters choosing to cast their mail ballot during the 2022 General Election – accounting for 2,444,360 total ballots returned – and only 4.7% of voters choosing to vote in-person – 120,159 total ballots returned.
Also on Monday, the SOS office announced the results of two recounts — in CO-03 and HD-43 — that predictably ended up making no meaningful change to the final results.
► President Biden will sign into law the “Respect for Marriage Act” today, with a prominent guest from Colorado in attendance. From The Associated Press:
Among the attendees will be the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been charged with hate crimes.
Plaintiffs from lawsuits that originally helped secure the nationwide right to gay marriage are also expected to be there, according to the White House.
The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriages. In 1967, the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia struck down laws in 16 states barring interracial marriage.
► A proposed anti-abortion ordinance in Pueblo appears to have been defeated. If you can figure out how in the hell to access your account with The Denver Post, you can probably even read this story from Seth Klamann:
Pueblo’s City Council voted down a proposal Monday night that would’ve effectively banned abortions in the city, ending a contentious month-long saga that threatened to pit Pueblo against state law and drag it to the forefront of America’s abortion fight.
After the council president read a statement criticizing the measure as hastily drafted and outside the body’s authority, the council voted 4-3 to pull it from the agenda and table it, effectively killing it. It had passed two weeks before on an initial reading, albeit because some council members — who complained that they knew little about it — wanted more information about it before making a final decision.
The ordinance would’ve banned providers in Pueblo from receiving abortion-related materials in the mail under a federal law that’s nearly 150 years old. Experts and opponents of the ordinance cast the approach as the latest attempt by anti-abortion activists to limit abortion access nationally, in the wake of the Supreme Court decision in June that struck down Roe vs. Wade. Supporters said they wanted Pueblo to be in compliance with federal law and that the ordinance wouldn’t specifically ban abortion.
Heather Graham, the council’s president, rejected that argument and said abortion access was not something the city could — or should — wade into.
►Be careful out there, particularly if you are traveling in Eastern Colorado or trying to navigate your way to Denver International Airport.
Click below to keep learning things…
Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…
► A new group called The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network — which is just a long way of saying “transgender people are scary” — is getting attention from journalist Heidi Beedle in both the Colorado Times Recorder and the Colorado Springs Independent. From the Indy:
The Colorado Parent Advocacy Network (CPAN) is the latest addition to a group of conservative, anti-LGBTQ, pro-charter school activist organizations in Colorado that includes the Independence Institute, FAIR [Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism], and FEC United…
…CPAN officially launched Nov. 13, holding an event in Douglas County that recognized Douglas County School District Superintendent Erin Kane and a number of prominent conservative voices, including conservative radio hosts Deborah Flora and Kim Monson, and Pam Benigno, the director of the Independence Institute’s Education Policy Center.
According to reporting from the Douglas County News-Press, during the event, “Flora later railed against schools for supporting trans students and suggested schools were encouraging students to transition.”
Monson’s website regularly publishes transphobic screeds warning of the dangers of “transgenderism.”
Benigno has been raising alarm over Colorado’s recently revised social studies standards, which were amended last month to include references to racial, ethnic, and LGBTQ minorities.
► It’s that time every two years before a new Congress where elected officials hire new top staffers. That includes Sen. Michael Bennet, who has a new Chief of Staff. From the “Unaffiliated” newsletter:
Bennet’s new chief of staff is Neil Kornze, who was director of the Bureau of Land Management from March 2013 to January 2017 under President Barack Obama, including during the 2014 standoff in Nevada between BLM officers and cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters.
Kornze, who grew up in northeastern Nevada in a gold mining family, was most recently working in Seattle as CEO of the Campion Foundation and Campion Advocacy. He led the nonprofits, which “make investments on the federal, state and local levels to end homelessness and protect public lands and climate,” from 2019 until earlier this month.
Bennet’s decision to hire Kornze, who also worked for the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, as his next chief of staff is a big indication that public lands and environmental issues are going to continue to be core focuses for the senator going forward.
►Ian Silverii talks with Michael Roberts of Westword about making the decision to bounce from Twitter:
Since billionaire and controversy-lightning-rod Elon Musk officially acquired Twitter in late October, the list of celebrities who’ve left the service has grown to include Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Shonda Rhimes, Sara Bareilles, Jack White and many more. But the decision to ditch has been a difficult one for politicos who have used Twitter fruitfully for years.
That includes Silverii, the past executive director of the House Majority Project, former chief of staff for Democrats in the Colorado House of Representatives, onetime executive director for ProgressNow Colorado and regular Denver Post opinion columnist (he stopped writing for the paper earlier this year to avoid a conflict of interest with Pettersen’s campaign). He also co-hosts the Get More Smarter podcast with Jason Bane and is the founder of the Bighorn Company, a communications outfit that helps run campaigns — the firm backed Proposition FF, a measure to provide free school lunches for Colorado students, which voters approved in November — and consults with candidates and organizations across the country.
► The Associated Press reports on a significant new breakthrough in fusion energy that could mean big, big things for the entire planet:
Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the decades-long quest to harness the process that powers the sun.
Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.
The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.
“Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,″ Granholm told a news conference in Washington. “This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.″
Can you imagine if former President Trump and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry had to try to explain this? That would have been fun.
► As The Colorado Sun explains, a redistricting case before the U.S. Supreme Court could have repercussions in Colorado:
A redistricting case out of North Carolina that went before the U.S. Supreme Court last week for oral arguments is threatening to upend Colorado’s new, voter-approved system of drawing congressional district boundaries.
The North Carolina case — Moore v. Harper — hinges on the question of who has the ultimate authority when it comes to redistricting. Republican lawmakers in that state argue it’s the legislature, and that nothing — not a state’s constitution nor its judicial branch — can supersede that power…
…GOP state lawmakers in North Carolina challenged the decisions in the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing what’s called the “independent state legislature” theory, which contends that only Congress and legislatures have the power to regulate federal elections. If justices side with the state lawmakers, Colorado’s congressional redistricting commission, created through the 2018 passage of Amendment Y, which was aimed at limiting politics in the map-drawing process and enhancing transparency, could simply be overruled by the legislature.
“Certainly Colorado Amendment Y would be in peril if the North Carolina plaintiffs were to prevail,” said Scott Martinez, a Democratic campaign attorney who worked on Colorado’s redistricting processes in 2001 and 2011. “The legislature could draw or redraw districts as they see fit.”
Martinez thinks the legislature could also change Colorado’s congressional maps from election cycle to election cycle, as opposed to waiting every 10 years after each census.
Redistricting every two years? Egads! That’s a timeline we want nothing to do with whatsoever.
► As The Washington Post reports, there are new signs that inflation is cooling off. Thanks, Joe Biden!
►Colorado Newsline examines the leadership battles for the Colorado Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Both parties will hold elections for leadership positions early next year. The story includes a discussion with GOP hopeful Casper Stockham, whose ideas are summed up well by these two contrasting paragraphs:
He said he wasn’t surprised at the lackluster results for Republicans in the midterms, because the party “keeps doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Stockham also wants the state party to form a task force focused on election security and transparency and larger support for local candidates.
► Xcel Energy is hiking rates in Colorado. Again. From CBS4 Denver:
Xcel Energy is asking the Colorado Public Utilities Commission to approve a more than $312 million revenue increase to help cover improvements to the power grid. If approved, the cost will translate to the customer’s electricity bills starting in September of 2023…
…The proposal would cost the average residential customer $7.33 more a month (8.2%), and the average small business $10.16 more (7.77%).
“As we bring on more electric vehicles, as more customers move to Colorado and the Denver metro area, that requires us to make sure that the grid is able to handle that new load,” said Robert Kenney, President of Xcel Energy Colorado. He says the money will be used to strengthen the power grid, repair and replace infrastructure, and create new programs.
►Nate Cohn of The New York Times explains how winning the overall popular vote didn’t get Republicans what they wanted in 2022.
The bottom line, as POLITICO also explains, is that Republicans fielded awful candidates.
► A Super PAC that supported Republican Erik Aadland in CO-07 is under scrutiny for all sorts of shady maneuvering. The money didn’t do much for Aadland anyway; he lost to Democrat Brittany Pettersen by 15 points.
► Don’t miss the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) and a discussion about the “Infinity War” within the Colorado Republican Party.
Don’t forget to give Colorado Pols a thumbs up on Facebook and Twitter. Check out The Get More Smarter Podcast at GetMoreSmarter.com.
11 thoughts on “Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Dec. 13)”
Alva, the bill the President is signing today is the Respect for Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act is what is being repealed by it. A correction is in order.
OK, OK. I'll quit Twitter. I always used to follow some right-wingers, but now their deranged commentary dominates my Twitter feed. It's getting more difficult just to get real news from there. Where will the journos go?
I'm on Tribel; it's friendly, but kind of an echo chamber. I'll check out Mastodon and Post.
I've been very torn about this. On one hand Twitter is turning to a cesspool, but on the other I use it as a means to promote the books I publish thru my company's feed @DXVaros. At the rate we're going soon the answer will be obvious: those left on Twitter won't be the reading types. But for now I keep sticking it out.
A note on the redistricting issue. Even if the SCOTUS were to agree with NC, and I doubt they will, one could argue that our legislature delegated that responsibility to the independent commission they created with the Referenda they submitted to the voters.
December 13, 2022 09:46 AM UTC
11 Comments
There are 13 more days until Boxing Day. Now, let’s Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (
Alva, the bill the President is signing today is the Respect for Marriage Act. The Defense of Marriage Act is what is being repealed by it. A correction is in order.
D'oh! Fixed
Elmo tweets that haven’t aged well…
OK, OK. I'll quit Twitter. I always used to follow some right-wingers, but now their deranged commentary dominates my Twitter feed. It's getting more difficult just to get real news from there. Where will the journos go?
I'm on Tribel; it's friendly, but kind of an echo chamber. I'll check out Mastodon and Post.
I've been very torn about this. On one hand Twitter is turning to a cesspool, but on the other I use it as a means to promote the books I publish thru my company's feed @DXVaros. At the rate we're going soon the answer will be obvious: those left on Twitter won't be the reading types. But for now I keep sticking it out.
A note on the redistricting issue. Even if the SCOTUS were to agree with NC, and I doubt they will, one could argue that our legislature delegated that responsibility to the independent commission they created with the Referenda they submitted to the voters.
"Just don’t ever go to Alabama"
I was sentenced to … er .. lived there for 8 years. I could have told you that!
I spent most of last week in Montgomery and Selma. It is both the worst and the best of humanity; another world.
Only those who have been there understand your words.
The contrasting lyrics of “Southern Man” by Neil Young and “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynrd Skynyrd lend themselves to understanding that conundrum.
💥💥💥