August 25, 2015 12:38 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Aug. 25)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Jebbbbbbbb!!! 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…

► JEB! is in Colorado today. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush is making his first official visit to Colorado as a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination. This morning he addressed a group of veterans at an Englewood VFW, with much of the focus on completing the Aurora VA Hospital project. From the Denver Post:

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush told veterans at a metro town hall Tuesday that he supports finishing the Aurora VA hospital despite huge cost overruns.

“We need to finish up, we can’t just can’t waste hundreds of millions of dollars,” Bush said, during the event at VFW Post 9644 in Sheridan.

More than 100 people turned out at the event, where Bush highlighted a plan to revamp veteran services.

Bush called the construction project, and  its projected $1.73 billion cost “an unmitigated disaster.”

► The Animas River Stakeholders Group is meeting today to discuss…the Animas River. Colorado Pols has you covered on the latest news from the aftermath of the Gold King minewater spill. Meanwhile, Attorney General Cynthia Coffman continues to demonstrate a bizarre lack of common political sense; on Monday Durango city leaders revealed that Coffman tried to schedule a private meeting with local elected officials, which would be a violation of Colorado’s “Sunshine Laws.”

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► State Representatives Crisanta Duran (D-Denver) and Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) are helping Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as she rolls out her plan to make college more affordable and accessible.

► Republican Sen. Cory Gardner is not from Denver. An October debate among Republican Presidential candidates is also not in Denver. You’re welcome, Republican National Committee.

► State Treasurer Walker “Buy Gold!” Stapleton is on another anti-PERA rampage. From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Details of a proposed new compensation package for the head of Colorado’s employee pension program won’t be made public until after the board votes on the new salary and benefits Wednesday, but one source close to the contract says it’s “lavish.”

State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who has an automatic seat on the board because of his elected position, called in an email to his fellow board members for the contract and the negotiations to be made public to protect the interests of all PERA stakeholders, including taxpayers.

Stapleton’s inherent dislike of PERA is one of the few things that he will actually discuss publicly.

► Colorado continues to deal with smoke and haze from massive wildfires in Oregon and Washington, and the problem may get worse before it gets better.

► Can’t stand Colorado Springs? Pretty soon, you may not be able to sit down in Colorado Springs, either.

► A wild and wooly Monday on the stock market hit some Colorado companies particularly hard, as the Denver Business Journal reports — though there were also a few “winners” on Tuesday.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Congress won’t return to work for another few weeks, but when they do, they’ll be facing a debate that could lead to the second government shutdown in the last three years. Congressional Republicans apparently do not yet have a plan for dealing with this looming crisis, which is a surprise to absolutely nobody.

► President Obama is pushing back against a Nevada proposal that would cripple the rooftop solar industry in that state.

ICYMI

► One Colorado Education Fund honored LGBT activists at its annual Ally Awards dinner in Denver. Well-known Colorado politico Ted Trimpa was scheduled to receive a “lifetime achievement award” at the dinner, but Trimpa was unable to attend because of an unexpected health issue.

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