December 12, 2024 10:33 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Dec. 12)

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• by: Colorado Pols

There are 12 shopping days left until Christmas. Wait…what? Crap. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast.

FIRST UP…

► Democratic State Rep. Stephanie Vigil has decided against continuing to challenge the results of a ridiculously-close election in Colorado Springs. As Sara Wilson reports for Colorado Newsline:

Republican Rebecca Keltie initially had a seven-vote lead over Rep. Steph Vigil. A mandatory recount then resulted in a tie, but the El Paso County canvass board overturned three votes for Vigil. That board is made up of the county clerk, one Republican and one Democrat.

When the recount result was announced last week, Vigil said she would potentially explore legal options over the statistical tie…

…“While I absolutely love this job, these last couple of years have taken a toll, and an additional battle at this juncture is not in the cards for me. I have always endeavored to be the bigger person and rise above the threatening and abusive behavior that’s come my way during my first term, but it is nonetheless draining,” she said. [Pols emphasis]

The outcome in HD-16 doesn’t change much for the legislature overall; Democrats hold a 43-22 majority in the State House. Click here for more information on committee assignments in the State House.

► As Noelle Phillips reports for The Denver Post, the Suncor oil refinery north of Denver is again taking fire from critics:

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is once again revising one of the permits that allow the Suncor Energy oil refinery in Commerce City to pollute, and once again environmentalists and nearby residents are accusing state regulators of doing more to protect Suncor’s finances than the health of the community.

The state’s “handling of this is bewildering,” said Tykee James, senior environmental justice campaign manager with Conservation Colorado. “They have defied the Environmental Protection Agency’s guidance not once, but twice.”

The department’s Air Pollution Control Division has rewritten sections of the air-pollution permit for Suncor’s Plant 2 for the second time after the EPA objected in August 2023 to multiple provisions and sent it back to the state for revision…

…People who participated in Wednesday’s virtual meeting ranged from north Denver mothers whose children suffer from asthma to a Denver public health official, as well as a young woman who recited a protest poem and members of Commerce City’s City Council, including Mayor Steve Douglas.

Everyone called for tighter restrictions on Suncor’s emissions of carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter, which is made up of tiny particles of ash, soot and smoke that are belched into the air during the refining process.

The next public comment session is 8:30 a.m. Saturday via Zoom. To register, visit cdphe.colorado.gov/aqcc.

► Meanwhile, Congress passed legislation to allow for cleanup of thousands of abandoned mines. Some 23,000 abandoned mines are located in Colorado alone.

► Outgoing Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo (D-Adams County) cast a strange vote in the House this week. As 9News reports:

NEW: Outgoing Rep Yadira Caraveo (D-CO) again broke with her party to back a GOP culture war priority. She was one of six Democrats to help Republicans pass the Liberty In Laundry Act rolling back energy efficiency rules for washers and dryers. #copolitics www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0qL…

[image or embed]

— Kyle Clark (@kylec.bsky.social) December 11, 2024 at 9:09 PM

If Caraveo is interested in seeking the Democratic nomination in CO-08 in 2026…this is not the way to do it.

► For an exclusive preview of the 2025 Colorado legislative session, check out this week’s episode of the Get More Smarter Podcast, featuring an interview with Senate President James Coleman:

Click below to keep learning things…

Check Out All This Other Stuff To Know…

► The town of Georgetown does not have any police officers at the moment. From The Denver Post:

The Clear Creek County Sheriff’s Office is stepping in to help after Georgetown, a small mountain town about an hour west of Denver, temporarily shut down its police department.

After a series of resignations following the fatal police shooting of 22-year-old Christian Glass, where two Georgetown officers were charged with failing to intervene in the excessive force of another officer, the police department has no officers left, sheriff’s officials said.

“Due to the loss of its law enforcement officers, the town of Georgetown currently cannot adequately provide its own law enforcement services,” Clear Creek County Attorney Peter Lichtman wrote in a memo for the board of county commissioners on Tuesday.

Georgetown’s news comes just a week after Morrison announced it would be closing its own police department in 2025, citing “financial concerns.”

Whether or not either of these municipalities actually need their own police departments might be debatable — particularly in the case of Morrison.

► In related news, Colorado Public Radio reports on efforts to strengthen requirements to become a law enforcement officer in Colorado.

► President-elect Donald Trump has selected Kari Lake to head up Voice of America, probably in part because he couldn’t give the former Arizona gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidate a job with more responsibility. From HuffPost:

Trump stirred yet more controversy on Wednesday with another pick for his administration ― this time of former news anchor Kari Lake to run the government-funded, historically nonpartisan Voice of America broadcast agency.

As director of VOA, Lake, who has lost twice in statewide elections in Arizona, will help “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote in an announcement on his Truth Social platform…

…Lake had reportedly been considered for the position of Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Mexico. The VOA role is not confirmed by the Senate.

Critics on social media feared what her new role would mean for VOA…

HuffPost included a familiar account in its story; this reaction was part of the headline:

► Colorado Public Radio checks in with Colorado’s Congressional delegation on the “DOGE” dorks.

► Remember when Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema were Democrats. Fun times. As The Hill newspaper reports:

The Senate on Wednesday blocked Lauren McFerran’s renomination to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), opening the door for Republican control of the board starting next year under President-elect Trump.

Senators voted 49 to 50 against a five-year term for McFerran, the NLRB’s chair, with Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) voting with almost every Senate Republican to block it…

…Reconfirming McFerran would have locked in a Democratic advantage on the NLRB. Her term is up next week. [Pols emphasis]

“It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee — with a proven track record of protecting worker rights — did not have the votes,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.

► A vacant state senate seat in Aurora is attracting plenty of attention from Democrats. As Marissa Ventrelli reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

Maya Wheeler, a community activist and business owner from Aurora, has announced she will be running for the vacant Senate seat in District 29. The seat is currently held by Democratic Sen. Janet Buckner, who recently announced she would be resigning next month after running unopposed in the 2024 election.

Buckner started her legislative career in the House in 2015 through the vacancy process, following the death of her husband, Rep. John Buckner. She was elected to the state Senate in 2020.

Wheeler is not the only candidate seeking the vacated seat. Rep. Iman Jodeh, D-Aurora, announced her intention to run for the seat last month.

An Arapahoe County Democratic Party vacancy committee is expected to meet on Jan. 6.

► President Biden commuted nearly 1,500 sentences on Thursday in what the White House is calling “the largest single-day grant of clemency in modern history.”

► Attorney General Phil Weiser is targeting those pesky robocallers.

► The shady landlord of a much-publicized apartment complex in Aurora is suing Attorney General Phil Weiser. As 9News reports:

CBZ Management, the owner of several troubled apartment complexes in Aurora, has filed a lawsuit against Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser arguing that an ongoing investigation into its business practices could harm tenants and overstep legal bounds.

The lawsuit follows an investigation launched by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in September to determine whether CBZ Management has violated the state’s safe housing and consumer protection laws. Two of the company’s properties were declared uninhabitable by Aurora city officials earlier this year. Documents obtained by 9NEWS reveal longstanding concerns about the habitability and cleanliness of CBZ’s complexes, which have faced scrutiny for years.

As part of the probe, the attorney general issued a nearly 300-page subpoena requesting detailed records about tenant screening, financial management, maintenance and safety practices, and marketing tactics.

Rather than hiring PR experts to plant stories about Venezeulan gangs and suing the Colorado Attorney General, maybe CBZ Management should just, you know, take care of their apartment complexes?

► The head of the Federal Aviation Administration is resigning in January, which will allow President-elect Donald Trump to choose his successor.

► Ruth Marcus of The Washington Post offers pointed comments on the resignation of FBI Director Christopher Wray:

FBI Director Christopher A. Wray shouldn’t have made it so easy for Donald Trump.

When he becomes president in 40 days, Trump will have the unquestioned authority to fire Wray. But for the FBI director to announce that he will voluntarily step aside by Inauguration Day so that Trump can install a successor risks normalizing a decidedly aberrational and unhealthy development. Wray should have stayed and forced Trump’s hand.

The FBI director is appointed to a 10-year term in part to shield the office from the ordinary pressures of politics and from being viewed as a political actor. Trump himself selected Wray, whose term runs until 2027, after taking the extraordinary step of firing Director James B. Comey, only the second such removal in the history of the bureau.

When Trump ousted Comey, it was viewed as a cataclysmic, norm-shattering moment. Now, with history set to repeat itself, the replacement of an FBI director by an incoming president threatens to become rule rather than exception. It transforms what is supposed to be the ultimate apolitical job into just another political appointment.

► New polling shows that Americans are not thrilled with several of President-elect Trump’s more high-profile choices for his cabinet.

Say What, Now?

Well, this should surprise nobody:

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► This is how you know that your state lawmakers don’t have enough work to do. From ESPN:

If an Ohio lawmaker gets his way, teams attempting to plant their flags in the middle of Ohio Stadium during Ohio State games will be dealing with more than just pepper spray.

Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams introduced a bill Tuesday that would classify flag planting at Ohio Stadium around Buckeyes football games as a felony.

The O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act, authored by Williams, comes in response to Michigan’s attempt to plant its flag after a Nov. 30 win at Ohio State, which set off a brawl between the teams. Police employed pepper spray to separate players and other team personnel. Ohio State University police are investigating the incident, which involved multiple law enforcement agencies and resulted in an injury to an officer.

► Mystery drones in New Jersey!

ICYMI

► Former Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner is failing upward.