October 08, 2015 10:19 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Oct. 8)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Back to the Future called it — the Chicago Cubs will win the 2015 World Series. 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 University of Colorado is trying to defend itself against student outrage over a complete lack of access to the Oct. 28 Republican Presidential debate in Boulder. Both the Boulder Daily Camera and the Durango Herald are covering the controversy today.

► Congressman Mike Coffman is facing scrutiny for speaking to an anti-Muslim “hate group” last month. Coffman was a featured speaker in September at a conference for “ACT for America,” which has been labeled a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

On another note, Coffman’s congressional campaign announced yesterday that it had raised $475,000 in the third quarter of 2015. This is Coffman’s biggest fundraising haul of the year, but it also comes after a Q2 that was his worst fundraising performance in the last four years.

► Conservative Republicans have found their own candidate to challenge Rep. Kevin McCarthy as the next Speaker of the House. As the Washington Post reports:

The House Freedom Caucus’s backing of Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) ahead of a crucial internal party vote Thursday deeply complicates Majority Leader Kevin O. McCarthy’s bid to succeed Boehner. The group counts enough members — about 40 — to deny McCarthy the majority of the whole House he would need to claim the speaker’s chair.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Renewable energy may have reached a tipping point recently. Wind power is now the cheapest form of energy in both Germany and the U.K., and the “capacity factor” of wind and solar energy has made it more economically-viable than other sources of energy in the U.S. From Bloomberg Business:

For the first time, widespread adoption of renewables is effectively lowering the capacity factor for fossil fuels.  That’s because once a solar or wind project is built, the marginal cost of the electricity it produces is pretty much zero—free electricity—while coal and gas plants require more fuel for every new watt produced. If you’re a power company with a choice, you choose the free stuff every time.

► Governor John Hickenlooper is facing criticism from all sides for his plan to address Climate Change. As John Frank reports for the Denver Post:

The Democrat’s climate plan seeks to identify strategies to lower the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming and prepare the state for the effects of climate change, but critics argue the 93-page document downplays the urgency of the issue and lacks concrete objectives.

For Hickenlooper, the plan highlights a deep rift with a key constituency in his party and highlights a spotted record on a crucial political issue, just as the battle on environmental regulations hits a peak moment.

 

► There are a lot of Republican state legislators contemplating a run for U.S. Senate in 2016, but Sen. Tim Neville seems to have the early lead when it comes to fervent supporters. Jason Salzman has more on the state of the Republican field of candidates for Senate.

► On Monday, California became the fifth state in the U.S. to institute so-called “right to die”   laws for terminally ill people. Colorado legislators are now taking another look at a similar policy in our state.

► Colorado Springs residents showed strong support for TABOR reforms at an event held Wednesday at The Broadmoor.

► Former Senate Minority Leader Mike Kopp has a new job as the Executive Director of Colorado Concern, one of the more active conservative/business advocacy groups in the state.

► The oil and gas industry is not happy about new draft rules for drilling and production in Colorado. As Cathy Proctor reports for the Denver Business Journal:

Colorado’s oil and gas companies, already reeling from low crude oil commodity prices, got their first good look today at draft rules from the state designed to calm years of controversy over big wells drilled in and around neighborhoods unused to such activity.

Energy companies would be required to discuss their plans with local governments when they want to drill eight or more horizontal wells near homes, or if they expect that the oil and gas coming out of the ground would require 4,000 barrels or more of storage capacity onsite, under one state proposal.

They also might see new state limits on the amount of time they

have to drill a series of wells and bring it into operation.

► Voter information pamphlets produced by County Clerks don’t actually have to contain true information, which came as a surprise to Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers.

► It has not been a good week for Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson, who has stuck his foot in his mouth in so many interviews that he can use his shoelaces for dental floss. Yesterday Carson demonstrated a strange lack of understanding about financial issues when he couldn’t answer questions about raising the debt limit.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Voters in Arvada will have an unusually crowded ballot to deal with in 2015.

► The Washington Post reports on the disconnect about gun safety that continues to swirl between gun owners and advocacy groups:

Gun owners who favor restrictions on firearms say they are in the same position after last week’s mass shooting in Oregon as they have been following other rampages — shut out of the argument.

The pattern, they say, is frustrating and familiar: The what-should-be-done discussion pits anti-gun groups against the National Rifle Association and its allies, who are adamantly opposed to any new restrictions on weapons.

Gun owners who occupy the middle ground complain that they are rarely sought out or heard, yet polls show the majority of gun owners support universal background checks and other controversial limits.

ICYMI

► An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that candidates for President and Congress should have a basic understanding of science, according to a new poll.

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