April 24, 2019 11:50 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (April 24)

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

The Denver Nuggets are one win away from their first playoff series victory in a decade after Tuesday’s blowout home win against the San Antonio Spurs. It’s time “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…

► As the Washington Post reports, President Trump is trying to play an Ace of Spades in a game of “Uno:”

President Trump suggested Wednesday that he would ask the Supreme Court to intervene if Democrats move to impeach him — a notion that legal experts said showed a misunderstanding of the Constitution.

It was unclear how Trump would legally justify such a move, since the Constitution delegates impeachment proceedings to Congress, not the courts. Trump mentioned the idea briefly in morning tweets in which he lashed out at Democrats who are continuing to investigate him after the release of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report…

…The notion was ridiculed by several legal experts, including Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor, who accused Trump of “idiocy.”

“Not even a SCOTUS filled with Trump appointees would get in the way of the House or Senate,” Tribe wrote on Twitter, adding that Trump apparently thinks his recent court appointments would give him a “ ‘get out of jail free’ card.”

The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only……

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post wonders if Trump might be inadvertently making a stronger case for his own impeachment. This story in Politico reaches a similar conclusion.

► As the New York Times reports, White House staffers are discouraged from discussing anything about potential Russian election interference because it makes President Trump very sad:

But in a meeting this year, Mick Mulvaney, the White House chief of staff, made it clear that Mr. Trump still equated any public discussion of malign Russian election activity with questions about the legitimacy of his victory. According to one senior administration official, Mr. Mulvaney said it “wasn’t a great subject and should be kept below his level.”

Even though the Department of Homeland Security has primary responsibility for civilian cyberdefense, Ms. Nielsen eventually gave up on her effort to organize a White House meeting of cabinet secretaries to coordinate a strategy to protect next year’s elections.

As a result, the issue did not gain the urgency or widespread attention that a president can command. And it meant that many Americans remain unaware of the latest versions of Russian interference.

► The School Finance Act has advanced through State Senate; the legislation would increase funding for rural schools and for special education needs.

► Colorado’s Congressional delegation is not overly enthusiastic about pushing for impeachment proceedings against President Trump.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Jamie Giellis, the candidate for Denver Mayor who rarely bothers to vote herself, is making the wrong kind of news again. As Andrew Kenney reports for the Denver Post:

A letter to Republican voters advocating for Denver mayoral candidate Jamie Giellis failed to disclose that it was paid for by Giellis’ campaign.

The letter, dated April 11, went out to about 25,000 people. It was signed by several Republican activists and former officials under the name “Republicans for Jamie Giellis.”

The mailing didn’t include the usual “paid for” language required of political ads, though it was funded by campaign contributions. That was a mistake, according to campaign spokesperson Meghan Dougherty. There was no intent to deceive, she said: In fact, the envelopes listed the address for the campaign’s headquarters on South Broadway.

“Unfortunately, through an administrative error there was no disclaimer on the bottom of the final letter,” Dougherty wrote in an email. The letter’s signatories included a former state senator and a former chair of the local Republican Party.

► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) says that he wants to hear from YOU! So long as you don’t try to talk to him in person or anything. Cool hat, though.

► As Anna Staver reports for the Denver Post, the Colorado legislature is finally discussing legislation to address a sexual harassment problem at the State Capitol.

► Chris Cillizza of CNN is flabbergasted by President Trump’s Twitter tirade earlier this week in which he Tweeted and Re-Tweeted 52 different things:

As a peek into the mind of the President, it was — even by the abnormal standards by which Trump gets judged — somewhat breathtaking. There was a manic-ness in the tweets — a sense of lording a victory over your foes while fuming at your current situation — that was the sort of thing that we just shouldn’t ignore…

…I get that Trump is a “different” kind of politician who doesn’t play by “the rules” or whatever. But — and this is a serious question here — is anyone, no matter your level of support for or opposition to Trump, super comfortable with what the last 24 hours on Twitter have shown us about the President?

If so, how? Because what it looks like to me is a series of erratic half-baked theories, rants and touting of “yes” men and women. Which, last time I checked, isn’t what being president means.

► Congressman Jason Crow (D-Aurora) is pushing for a new “Space Force” to be headquartered at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado.

► Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Johnston is recycling some of his bigger-name endorsements from his 2018 gubernatorial campaign.

► Governor Jared Polis and legislative Democrats are looking to increase taxes on nicotine in order to help cover education and health care funding needs.

► As Ed Sealover reports for the Denver Business Journal, today could see some big changes to family leave legislation in Colorado.

SB 188 seeks to establish a state-run insurance program into which both employers and employees contribute a percentage of workers’ weekly pay to allow employees to take as much as 12 weeks of partially paid leave to care for a newborn, themselves or family members during a time of serious illness. Supporters say the measure will increase employee retention and allow residents to take care of their family members without worry of losing their job; business leaders have said it is an expensive one-size-fits-all program that will be especially burdensome on small companies that must keep the same jobs open for those workers when they return from leave.

Sen. Faith Winter and cosponsor Sen. Angela Williams, D-Denver, made more than two dozen changes to SB 188 as it went through the legislative process — narrowing the definition of family member, capping the amount of fees that can be placed on workers and employers, and requiring workers to foot more of the cost of the program than companies, for example. Most business groups said, however, that the changes did not go far enough, and a study from the Common Sense Policy Roundtable raised questions about the actuarial soundness of the program that have reverberated all the way up to Democratic Gov. Jared Polis’ office.

► The Colorado Springs Independent reports on the latest in efforts by Colorado lawmakers to increase vaccination rates in our state. Meanwhile, as CNN reports, the number of people believed to be infected with measles has reached its highest number since the disease was thought to have been eradicated in 2000.

► Politico takes a look at The Intercept and its apparent obsession with promoting blue-on-blue political fights. 

► Lawmakers and staff at the State Capitol may be working through the weekend in order to finish their business before the end of the legislative session next month. You can thank Republicans for wasting so much of everyone’s time.

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► At least he’s not your sole finalist to be the next CU President…oh, crap.

► One of the “leaders” of the many groups trying to recall Gov. Jared Polis says that their prime motivation is a sex-education bill that does not do what they think it does.

ICYMI

► Don’t forget to cast your vote in this month’s poll projecting the 2020 Democratic nominee for President.

► The surge in recall talk from Colorado Republicans is about grift and misdirection. This has nothing to do with issues, as Republican strategists freely admit.

Check out the latest episode of The Get More Smarter Show, featuring an in-depth interview with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. You can also Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!