October 22, 2015 10:55 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Oct. 22)

• 5 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Benghazi!!! 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…

► If you have not yet received a mail ballot for the 2015 election, you should contact your County Clerk and Recorder’s office. Go to GoVoteColorado.com to check your voter registration status or to print out a sample ballot. You can also check out JustVoteColorado.org for more information. For more details on local school board elections, check out ProgressNow Colorado’s voter guide.

► Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is back on Capitol Hill today to answer questions in the 103^rd Benghazi “investigation” committee: “The Search for Spock.” Seriously – they need to start giving these Benghazi committees a subtitle to make it easier to track. From Politico:

Hillary Clinton delivered a somber assessment of the Benghazi attacks in 2012 that resulted in the death of four Americans, telling a select congressional committee that the tragedy does not deserve partisan attacks, while insisting the U.S. needs to stay committed to diplomatic engagement.

“Despite all the previous investigations and all the talk about partisan agendas, I’m here to honor those we lost and to do what I can to aid those who serve us still,” Clinton said, speaking slowly and deliberately during her opening statement. “My challenge to you, members of this committee, is the same challenge I put to myself…. Let’s be worthy of the trust the American people bestow on us… they expect us to rise above partisanship. And I hopes it’s what we’ll strive for today and in the future.”

Meanwhile, a new CNN/ORC poll out today shows that 72% of Americans believe the Benghazi investigations are mostly a political stunt by Republicans.

► After a dramatic day of ups and downs, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan is apparently satisfied with having almost the full support of Congressional Republicans, indicating late Wednesday night that he will stand for election as the next Speaker of the House. The conservative House Freedom Caucus, which includes Colorado Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley) among its members, met with Ryan on Wednesday but did not agree to offer a full endorsement of his candidacy for Speaker.

► CNBC has finalized its lineup for next week’s Republican Presidential debate in Boulder (Oct. 28), and there aren’t any surprises in who gets to sit where. There will still be a “Junior Varsity” or “kids’ table” debate at 4:00 p.m., “featuring” Bobby Jindal, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, and Rick Santorum. This is probably a bit embarrassing for Santorum, seeing as how he actually won the Colorado caucuses in 2012 over eventual nominee Mitt Romney.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► If he is elected President, former Florida Gov. Jeb! Bush says that he will push to move the office of the Secretary of the Interior from Washington D.C. to someplace out West – perhaps even in Denver. Bush says it makes more sense for DOI to be based in the West, where a majority of its work is handled. Perhaps Jeb! forgot that the Interior Secretary is a member of the President’s cabinet – because it doesn’t make sense to scatter your cabinet heads all over America.

► A Colorado group is close to gathering enough signatures for a ballot measure that would create a Colorado-focused “single payer” health care system. Initiative 20 is being driven by a group called ColoradoCareYes, which apparently likes to cut back on using the ‘space’ bar.

► Remember when Republican legislators refused to continue funding for Long Active Contraception, or LARC, during the last legislative session? That decision continues to look worse and worse; on Wednesday the Colorado Department of Health reported that the program had actually been even more successful than previously thought. From the Colorado Springs Gazette:

A program offering birth control to low-income teens and young women worked even better than previously thought, Colorado’s health department announced Wednesday.

The initiative, which provided long-acting reversible contraceptives at little or no cost, dropped the state’s teen birth and abortion rates by 48 percent from 2009 to 2014, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found…

…The new data comes as the program remains on life support.

A five-year, $25 million grant from the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation ended in June, and legislation to continue funding the program using $5 million from state coffers failed in the Republican-held Senate. Several Colorado foundations have since offered $2.2 million in bridge funding through June 30, 2016, though the program’s future remains uncertain. The health department said Wednesday it is seeking more sustainable funding.

Maybe we can prevent just as many teen pregnancies by just not talking about sex.

► Governor John Hickenlooper is not impressed by an attempt from Colorado grocers to promote a change in law that would allow them to sell full-strength alcoholic beverages. As John Frank reports for the Denver Post, Hickenlooper says this effort by grocers “sounds like a threat”:

Hickenlooper has stated his opposition to such moves in prior years when legislation and ballot initiatives failed. And he said he hasn’t “heard anything to change my mind.”

“It is fair to say I’m on record in previous occasions (saying) I don’t like the idea, but that being said I want to listen to what both sides have to say and see if they are saying something different,” he said.

Hickenlooper’s concern echoes those expressed by the craft beer industry, which is leading the fight against the effort. The industry is worried that big beer brands, such as Coors, Miller and Budweiser, will dominate the shelves and leave little room for craft brewers. And those that do get room will be forced to cut their profit margins. Furthermore, it could put liquor stores with strong ties to local brewers out of business.

► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is forcing the state to participate in a multistate lawsuit challenging President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, even though Gov. Hickenlooper and a majority of Coloradans disagree with the tactic. So, who’s pulling Coffman’s strings?

► Former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is in Denver for two days to host the 2015 National Summit on Education Reform. Governor Hickenlooper will also participate in the event.

► Workers at the University of Colorado are pushing the administration to set a minimum wage of $15 per hour for all CU employees. The wage campaign comes at a good time for media coverage – next Wednesday’s GOP Presidential debate will draw a media horde to Boulder.

► Black Hills Energy/Colorado Electric has received final approval from the Colorado PUC to construct a 60 MW windfarm near Pueblo.

► Two former directors of the Bureau for Land Management (BLM) are pushing the U.S. Office of Management and Budget to impose strict regulations for reducing methane pollution of federal and tribal lands.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Vice President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that he will not run for President in 2016 (or, realistically, ever, given his age).

► A new “working group” in Denver will meet to discuss proposed ethics changes for elected officials in the City of Denver.

► Marsha Brewer has dropped out of a county commissioner race in El Paso County after her husband, Jimmie Brewer, was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault on a child.

ICYMI

► “Back to the Future Day” is finally over, and you can add another missed prediction to the list of things including a “hover board” and, well, time travel. In the movie “Back to the Future 2,” the Chicago Cubs are the winners of the 2015 World Series; on Wednesday, the Cubs were officially eliminated from the playoffs at the hands of the New York Mets.

Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!