April 06, 2018 11:38 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (April 6)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Snow in April? Yes, snow in April. 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…

► A long-awaited investigative report about the culture of sexual harassment at the State Capitol was revealed on Thursday. Here’s one of the biggest takeaways, via CBS4 Denver: 

The report says retaliation is a real concern that’s not being adequately addressed. Surveyors say the need for anonymous reporting was brought up by several employees.

You can read the full report here.

► Colorado lawmakers are close to finalizing a new budget, as the Denver Post explains.

► President Trump continues to lob tariff grenades toward China, and as the Washington Post reports, he’s getting plenty of calls asking him to knock it off:

The president’s latest salvo, moving the world’s two largest economies closer to an open brawl, is certain to spook U.S. allies in Europe and Japan as well as American business leaders, who are desperate for a negotiated resolution of the dispute…

…Many in the business community are urging Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to reach a settlement before the tariffs go into effect, and Republican lawmakers have been urging the U.S. president to back down.

The threat of tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods was “irresponsible and destabilizing,” the Information Technology Industry Council said in a statement.

“We call on both sides to halt unproductive and escalatory rhetoric, recognizing that these words and actions have global consequences,” Dean Garfield, chief executive of the council, said.

► As Blair Miller reports for Denver7, Colorado Democrats are pushing back on Trump administration plans to cut emissions standards:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its secretary, Scott Pruitt, said Monday a review had been finished of the 2012 standards the department set, which aimed at cutting car pollution by requiring new cars built between 2022 and 2025 to have higher fuel efficiency standards.

The EPA didn’t specify the requirements of the new standards, but the announcement raised red flags for Colorado Democrats…

…The scaling back of the emissions standards could have financial effects in Colorado, according to a report published last August by the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that supports higher emissions standards.

The report said each Colorado household would save $2,700 by 2030 under the standards if they are left intact, and said the state had at that point already saved $550 million. Those savings come primarily through buying less gas, despite a slightly higher up-front cost for vehicles, the report said.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► When you try to publish a daily metropolitan newspaper with a skeleton staff, this kind of mistake is inevitable.

► President Trump finally responded to questions about an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. As Chris Cillizza explains for CNN, Trump’s public denial was not a surprise, but it was important nonetheless:

But, when you consider that Trump hadn’t said a word about Daniels and the money paid to her in exchange for her silence by Cohen, it’s a significant advancement in the story. Trump is now on record as denying knowing about the payment. That’s a big deal.

Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, quickly seized on the comments — tweeting, “We very much look forward to testing the truthfulness of Mr. Trump’s feigned lack of knowledge concerning the $130k payment as stated on Air Force One. As history teaches us, it is one thing to deceive the press and quite another to do so under oath.”

In short, it’s a significant legal step that President Trump is now on the record with an answer about his alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.

► Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, enters the weekend wondering if his two-day break will end up turning into a permanent vacation. From the Washington Post:

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt fought for his job Thursday, facing a new barrage of allegations about issues ranging from his past housing arrangement and first-class travel to the reassignment of senior staff who criticized how he was spending taxpayer funds.

Even as President Trump repeatedly expressed his support for Pruitt in public, top White House aides began to escalate their disapproval, suggesting the administrator has mischaracterized his role in boosting the salaries of two employees. On Thursday evening, three administration officials confirmed that Pruitt endorsed the idea last month of giving substantial raises to senior counsel Sarah Greenwalt and scheduling and advance director Millan Hupp — although he did not carry out the pay raise himself.

And Pruitt’s decision to ignore White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly’s warnings to be more cautious about giving public interviews only complicated his standing with many of Trump’s key aides.

Trump has recently spoken positively about Pruitt, but as we are all learning, the words that come out of the President’s mouth don’t necessarily translate to later actions.

► Senate Republicans accuse Democrats of promoting hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending…right before they pound their own chests for promoting hundreds of millions of dollars in new spending.

► Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Barlock says that GOP frontrunner Walker Stapleton donated big money to the History Colorado Museum while encouraging them to scrub references of his great-grandfather’s known ties to the Ku Klux Klan.

► The Koch brothers and their financial friends are growing increasingly frustrated with the Republican agenda in 2018. From the Washington Post:

Leaders of the conservative Koch political network are mad about President Trump’s tariffs, the failure to protect “dreamers” and runaway government spending. They’re frustrated congressional leaders do not feel a greater sense of urgency to pass more ambitious legislation during what could be the final six months of unified Republican control for a long time. And they’re worried that squabbling might derail their efforts to roll back financial regulations, expand access to experimental medicines and overhaul the criminal justice system.

For now, the network led by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch still plans to spend between $300 million to $400 million on politics and policy during the 2018 cycle. But they’re growing impatient, rethinking their approach and signaling a willingness to work more closely with Democrats on areas of common ground.

“We’re not going to sit back and wait, as we have in the past,” said James Davis, a senior official at the network who oversees communications. “We’ve also pulled punches in a lot of places where we didn’t want to upset folks that we were going to be working with on other issues. … So we’re going to have to come out and hold Republicans and Democratsaccountable. … If they think they’re going to wait out the clock for the rest of this congressional cycle, voters would be right to ask: ‘Why should I send these people back to represent me?’”

► Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Mitchell is already spending big money on television advertisements.

► Mitt Romney’s Nephew says that we need more “Dougs” in Colorado.

► President Trump dumped his prepared remarks about tax reform in order to go on a strange diatribe about illegal immigrants. 

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Free Steve Barlock!

► An Alamosa City Council Member is ignoring calls for his resignation after a social media post he penned that said “Republicans hate poor people.”

ICYMI

► The safety of Colorado residents is “not the only consideration” in assessing oil and gas drilling, according to Attorney General Cynthia Coffman.

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