April 18, 2023 12:07 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (April 18)

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Comedian Conan O’Brien turns 60 years old today. Let’s Get More 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…

► A trial for the $1.6 billion defamation case between Denver-based Dominion Voting Services and Fox News Corp. got underway today after last-minute efforts to reach a settlement agreement failed to bear fruit. Jury selection took up most of the morning in a Delaware courtroom.

► A controversial land-use policy bill backed by Gov. Jared Polis will get its first hearing in a Senate committee today. Senate Bill 213 is intended to help increase the availability of affordable housing by, among other things, limiting the ability of local municipalities to enact growth gaps.

► Democrat Adam Frisch is having a good week in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in CO-03. New polling suggests that Frisch and Boebert are running neck-and-neck in their rematch of a 2022 election that Boebert won by just 546 votes. Meanwhile, Frisch outraised Boebert by nearly $1 million in the first quarter of this year.

► Last week Republicans marked 100 days in control of the House of Representatives. The first three months of a GOP majority under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been underwhelming at best. McCarthy spoke at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday about his demands for a deal on increasing the debt limit; Wall Street has thus far tempered its panic about a potential government default.

As POLITICO reports, McCarthy is already dealing with dissension in the Republican ranks:

During House Republicans’ first private meeting in weeks, McCarthy and his leadership team laid out the basics of an opening strategy to relieve the nation’s looming debt crisis — a proposal the speaker previewed at a high-profile Monday speech on Wall Street. But while GOP leaders still hope to turn that plan into a formal bill within days, a handful of disgruntled members made clear inside the morning meeting that achieving unity would take more time…

…House Republicans’ internal frustrations go beyond their long-stalled debt limit talks with President Joe Biden. The conference is near its breaking point over a contentious border bill that has exposed divisions between hardline conservatives and politically vulnerable purple-district members. Then there are the simmering tensions that no GOP lawmaker wants to talk about — the evident disconnect between the speaker and his budget chief, as well as chatter over the elevation of a new McCarthy lieutenant with a vast portfolio.

Gee, who coulda seen this coming? Besides, you know, EVERYBODY. Also, maybe not the best idea to push for a vote on something that doesn’t even exist yet.

► Give your eyes a break and put your ears to work with this week’s episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast:

Click below to keep learning things…

Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…

► Former Republican gubernatorial nominee Heidi Ganahl might be the sorest loser in modern Colorado political history. Ganahl has a weekly podcast that is basically all about why everyone else failed her in 2022 — nevermind that she lost to Democrat Jared Polis by 20 points — and her Twitter feed is just one bitter complaint after another:

► Outgoing Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers will join the law firm of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, because of course he will.

► Republican Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Angela Myers will retire on May 31, just six months after winning re-election for a third and final term. The Larimer County Board of County Commissioners will select a replacement for Myers; an election for the final two years of Myers’ term will take place in November 2024.

► The shadow war between Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is personified in this story from the New York Times about powerful Florida Republican Susie Wiles, a former top adviser to DeSantis who has switched allegiances to the Big Orange Guy. 

► Jason Blevins of The Colorado Sun looks at opposition to the running of oil trains that pose the risk of potential spills into the Colorado River:

The politicians are rallying behind the Bennet and Neguse campaign to persuade the Biden administration to pause approvals for the Uinta Basin Railway. The proposed 88-mile railroad will connect the oil fields of the Uinta Basin with the national rail network, which could quadruple oil production in the rural basin and stir economic growth. An environmental review of the new railroad estimated trains could move up to 350,000 barrels on three to 10 daily trains, each stretching several miles long and running alongside the Colorado River from Grand Junction to Kremmling. Then the trains would follow the Fraser River through Grand County to the Moffat Tunnel before rumbling down the Front Range.

Uinta Basin oil already runs along that route, but the new railroad will exponentially increase the number of crude-filled tanker cars on the railroad, which increases the chances of a derailment and oil spill in the headwaters of a river that supports 40 million people in seven Western states.

The federal lawmakers have sent letters to Biden appointees, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Forest Service, urging federal bureaucrats to revisit their reviews and approvals of the new railroad plan. Those approvals — issued since 2020 — largely analyzed the impacts to Utah. Colorado’s elected leaders across the state argue the review of potential impacts should have included threats of trains along the Colorado River. Bennet and Neguse also sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation urging the agency to deny a request for $2 billion in private activity bonds to fund construction of the railroad.

► Senate Bill 184 made it through the State Senate on Monday. The legislation aims to reduce barriers for affordable housing created by landlords.  

► The state legislature is advancing a bill that would make it a felony in Colorado to make a false report of an active shooter situation.

► The Denver Post reports on a temporary exemption to a new Colorado law banning the promotion of scientifically-dubious abortion reversal pills. 

A federal judge over the weekend temporarily blocked Colorado’s new ban on abortion-reversal treatment from being enforced against a Catholic health clinic that immediately sued after the bill was signed into law.

U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Domenico issued a temporary restraining order Saturday that stops enforcement of the ban for 14 days against Englewood-based Bella Health and Wellness.

SB23-190, signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis on Friday, prohibits medical providers from offering so-called abortion reversal medication — designating such care as unprofessional conduct that is subject to professional discipline.

The ban will be reversed if the Colorado Medical Board and the state boards of pharmacy and nursing issue new rules by Oct. 1 that find it acceptable for medical providers to engage in medication abortion reversal and that it is a generally accepted standard of practice.

► Denver7 reports on a policy fight over the potential creation of a mid-level veterinarian assistant classification in Colorado. 

► The new Secretary of the State Republican Party isn’t just an election denier — she’s a full on Qanon nutter. As the Colorado Times Reporter explains, Anna Ferguson of Adams County believes — without any evidence whatsoever — that both former President Barack Obama and current Democratic President Joe Biden are pedophiles. 

► Kirk Wertz, the man accused of making threats against Secretary of State Jena Griswold, was sentenced to probation on Monday.

► The Colorado hookless cactus is no longer considered to be endangered.

► According to Axios Denver, a new poll in the race for Denver Mayor shows that Mike Johnston holds a slim lead over Kelly Brough ahead of the June 6 runoff election. 

In other Denver Mayoral race news, Brough today announced the endorsement of former Mayor Wellington Webb, who had been a prominent backer of Leslie Herod until she fizzled out in the April 4 election.

► The Douglas County School Board has been ordered to pay $832k to settle a wrongful termination claim by former superintendent Corey Wise. 

Elsewhere, Aurora Public Schools is trying to finalize a decision on hiring a new superintendent.

► The man who plays the character known as Republican Congressman George Santos says he plans to run for re-election in 2024.

Say What, Now?

Since we’re doing the “never forgetting” thing, let’s remember that Republican Donald Trump was President at the time.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► The Huffington Post reports on an Oklahoma sheriff missing the point by a wide margin:

A southeastern Oklahoma sheriff’s office says the recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing two journalists was illegal and predicted felony charges will be filed.

A statement on the sheriff’s office Facebook page, the first public statement since the comments by Sheriff Kevin Clardy and others were reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News, does not address the recorded comments about killing journalists and hanging Black people, but calls the situation “complex” and one “we regret having to address.”…

…The McCurtain Gazette-News released portions of the recording in which Clardy, sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning and District 2 County Commissioner Mark Jennings appear to discuss Bruce and Chris Willingham, a reporter for the newspaper who is Bruce Willingham’s son. Jennings tells Clardy and Manning “I know where two deep holes are dug if you ever need them,” and the sheriff responded, “I’ve got an excavator.”

Jennings also reportedly says he’s known “two or three hit men” in Louisiana, adding “they’re very quiet guys.”

Law enforcement officials discussed killing journalists and hanging Black people, but Sheriff Kevin Clardy is mostly worried about whether a recording was made legally.

► Former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is now writing book reviews?

ICYMI

► House Republicans in the Colorado legislature have taken to filibustering legislation that they actually support. 

► Former President Donald Trump says his onetime Chief of Staff, Mark Mulvaney, is a “born loser.” Why, exactly, are Republicans so loyal to a guy who won’t hesitate to throw them under the bus later? 

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