December 29, 2015 11:12 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Dec. 29)

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

You can’t stop the Brockweiler. 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…

► A federal judge kicked the can down the road on Monday in a hearing about marijuana businesses and access to banking. As Kirk Mitchell reports for the Denver Post:

A federal judge said Monday he sympathizes with pot businesses faced with contradictory regulations, but he expressed misgivings about forcing federal officials to approve a marijuana credit union.

U.S. District Judge R. Brooke Jackson made it clear at a court hearing that he was not inclined to issue an injunction forcing the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City to grant a master account to Fourth Corner Credit Union…

…He said if he were a member of Congress, he would vote in favor of allowing pot banking, but he is a federal judge and must uphold existing laws. [Pols emphasis] As long as pot is considered a Schedule I drug, which puts it in a category that is considered a greater risk than cocaine, it is illegal to manufacture and trade marijuana in the U.S., he said.

Jackson repeatedly urged attorneys for the Federal Reserve and Fourth Corner to negotiate a resolution under the stipulation that any agreement they reach follows federal law.

This is probably what the Founding Fathers envisioned when they created three branches of government — it makes for a nice circle when everybody points to somebody else.

► We’re finishing off the year with our annual Top 10 list of the biggest political stories in Colorado. Coming in at #10: The GOP Discovers the Animas River.

► Remember, friends: If you want to participate in party caucuses coming to Colorado in March, you must declare your party affiliation by January 4th, 2016 (we’ll keep this reminder near the top of the list for the next week). For a complete list of election-year deadlines, check out this handy guide from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Governor John Hickenlooper has a new First Lady. Hickenlooper got engaged to girlfriend Robin Pringle over the Christmas holiday. The couple has not yet announced a wedding date.

► The oil and gas industry has long argued that any restriction on fracking could cost Colorado gazillions of jobs (literally, gazillions). That argument may be tough to maintain as industry job growth in Colorado plummets all by itself. From the Denver Post:

Weld County, the epicenter of Colorado’s oil and gas drilling boom, fell to 243rd among the nation’s 342 largest counties for job growth in the second quarter, according to an  update from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Job growth in the county rose at a 1.1 percent annual rate in the second quarter of 2015, down from a 5.2 percent gain in the first quarter that was still strong enough to rank ninth among all large U.S. counties.

What is remarkable is the speed of the slowdown. Weld County consistently held the top spot for job growth quarter after quarter throughout 2013 and 2014.

In the third quarter of 2014, the  county was adding jobs at a nearly 9 percent annual clip. But that was before Saudi Arabia said it would not restrain production and oil prices began a steep descent.

Now Weld County’s rate of job growth, while still positive, matches that of Camden County, N.J., or Albany County, N.Y.

► Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is about as popular as herpes among his Senate colleagues, but there are still plenty of wackadoo supporters to be plucked from the House of Representatives. From Politico:

Not a single U.S. senator has endorsed Ted Cruz for president. But over in the House, a dozen activist conservatives are going all out to catapult the first-term Texan into the White House.

Call it the Cruz caucus: a small but committed collection of likeminded rebels who’ve bonded with Cruz in their recurring, often quixotic clashes with GOP leaders.

Lawmakers like Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Mo Brooks of Alabama are attending campaign rallies with Cruz. Others are serving as surrogates at Republican debates, lending their names to fundraising appeals, and taking to conservative radio and cable TV in an effort to burnish Cruz’s credibility with crucial evangelical and conservative primary voters.

Let’s take a moment here to consider what the Cabinet could look like under President Cruz…

(Pause for uncontrollable shivering)

► As Eugene Robinson writes for the Washington Post, history will remember 2015 as the year that Donald Trump destroyed the Republican Party.

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is closing in on his first full year in the U.S. Senate, and he’s already getting attacked from his right flank:

Gardner was one of 65 senators to back the spending bill, but his vote hasn’t sat well with everyone back home. Republican state Rep. Justin Everett said he considers Gardner a likable guy, but that his vote in favor of the spending package didn’t make sense.

“You would think this is exactly where he would want to draw a line in the sand,” he said. “This is not a fiscally responsible budget.”

Adding to his frustration, he said, is his belief that Gardner has been “buddying around with Michael Bennet.”

“I don’t see why Cory is going to benefit from moderating his image because he already has proven he can win (as a conservative),” Everett said.

It’s nice of Rep. Everett to wake up from a nap long enough to comment to the Denver Post.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Make sure to take a minute to caption this bizarro fundraising picture from Republican Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley). All aboard the crazy train!

► Congressional Republicans continue to duck and cover from the facts about gun violence. Just before the Christmas holidays, Congress quietly killed a provision that would have provided federal funding to study gun violence in America.

ICYMI

► How do you know when your Presidential campaign is truly a lost cause? When only one person shows up to your campaign event in Iowa…and promptly declares that they are still undecided.

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