October 24, 2017 11:37 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (October 24)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Happy United Nations Day! It’s time to 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 a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who recently announced that he would retire in 2018 rather than run for re-election, is ratcheting up his public criticism of Donald Trump on the same day that the President is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill for discussions on tax reform legislation. As the Washington Post reports:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) admonished President Trump on Tuesday to stop interfering in the debate over tax legislation and said his volatility could lead the United States into war, prompting a slew of Twitter insults from the president and renewing a long-simmering feud just hours before he is scheduled to visit Capitol Hill.

“I would just like him to leave it to the professionals for a while and see if we can do something that’s constructive,” Corker said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” referring to the debate over restructuring the tax code. “If you start taking things off the table before you get started, you make it very difficult.”…

…The feud lays bare tensions between Trump and congressional Republicans that are already complicating GOP efforts to advance tax cuts, the party’s last-ditch attempt at a major policy accomplishment this year.

Trump has promised changes to the tax code will not affect tax-deferred retirement plans, the mortgage interest deduction or the deduction for charitable contributions. Republicans like Corker, one of the GOP’s most vocal Trump critics, say these promises raise expectations prematurely while making it more difficult for lawmakers to make up the revenue that will be lost to tax cuts.

Corker also spoke to CNN about his many concerns with Trump:

In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, Corker said the President consistently doesn’t tell the truth, dodged on whether Trump should have the nuclear codes, said Trump wasn’t a role model for children, said he would not ever support him again and repeatedly suggested that Trump “debases” the country…

…”When his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, and the — just the name calling, the things that I think, the debasement of our nation is what we will be remembered most important, and that’s regretful.”

As you might expect, Trump took to Twitter to attack Corker, saying the Tennessee Senator “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.” As CNN’s Chris Cillizza notes, Trump has now personally attacked 1 in 5 U.S. Senators.

► Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) is the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) for the 2018 cycle, and he keeps proving that he is absolutely NOT up to the job.

Gardner is also apparently very popular on Twitter — but not for good reasons.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► State Sen. Vicki Marble can’t shake the story of her Q&A discussion with a group of Cub Scouts in Broomfield. Remember, friends: You heard it here first.

► The ACLU has filed a brief in the “gay wedding cake” case that is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court in early December. From the Denver Post:

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a Colorado court’s ruling that a Lakewood bakery violated the state’s anti-discrimination laws in 2012 by refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding reception.

The civil rights organization, which is representing the couple, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, reaffirmed its position that a business owner is not allowed to refuse service to customers under the guise of the First Amendment.

“In essence, the bakery seeks a constitutional right to hang a sign in its shop window proclaiming ‘Wedding Cakes for Heterosexuals Only,’ ” said the brief, filed Monday.

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) will hold a telephone “town hall” phone call on Wednesday.

► HUD Secretary Ben Carson was in Colorado on Monday. As Joe Rubino reports for the Denver Post:

The famously sedate former presidential candidate, now secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was in town Monday to deliver a speech at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association. There, he vowed to follow through on President Donald Trump’s promise to reduce regulatory burdens on industry, particularly when it comes to working with lenders to provide home loans to low-income Americans.

► Republican candidate Victor Mitchell would be leading the 2018 field for Governor…if the election were based on Facebook “likes.”

► Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cary Kennedy has a plan to increase salaries for Colorado teachers.

► Governor John Hickenlooper is tamping down expectations that the Denver area could be the home of a new headquarters building for Amazon.com.

► There’s a new economic study touting the benefits of a “Jefferson Parkway” that nobody actually wants.

► An oil and gas drilling company touting a fracking project in Eastern Boulder made sure that “public meetings” were only accessible if you were in favor of new drilling proposals.

► The Denver City Council approved an initial step for banning smoking along the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver.

►  Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is now taking criticism from Republicans for his fundraising habits. From Politico:

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has directed millions of dollars in political contributions since 2014 to a network of Washington operatives that prominent conservatives have accused of profiting by misleading donors.

Beneficiaries of Zinke’s largesse include groups linked to Washington-area political operative Scott B. Mackenzie, organizer of a Virgin Islands GOP political action committee that hosted the secretary at a St. Croix fundraiser in March. Before that, when Zinke was a Republican congressman from Montana, his political operation steered significant portions of its spending to a handful of Washington, D.C.-area consulting firms that also have had ties to Mackenzie and his associates.

Zinke has continued this relationship even as other Republicans have recoiled from dealing with Mackenzie, whose critics say he operates “scam PACs” that raise small-dollar donations from conservative voters but then spend the bulk of the money on consultants and overhead. The critics include former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who filed a suitaccusing Mackenzie and other defendants of running a “national fundraising scam” after they gave his 2013 campaign for governor less than a half percent of the money they had raised in his name.

► Colorado election officials are reminding voters to get those 2017 mail ballots returned. The Colorado Secretary of State’s office is tracking ballot return numbers.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► President Trump apparently asked Alaska’s two U.S. Senators if they wanted him to reverse an Obama-era decision to rename Mt. McKinley to “Denali.” Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan had to explain to Trump that this wasn’t just some random decision made by Obama. 

► Kid Rock is not running for Senate in Michigan after all.

► Ugh. This guy will probably be a U.S. Senator in December.

ICYMI

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) is not in a good position when it comes to the issue of opioid prescription abuse.

► Pollution is directly responsible for 1 in 6 deaths worldwide.

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