November 20, 2015 11:23 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Nov. 20)

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• by: Colorado Pols

To the five people out there who haven’t already left for Thanksgiving Break, enjoy your news! 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…

► As Peter Marcus reports for the Durango Herald, the long-awaited, first-ever, Colorado statewide water plan was unveiled on Thursday. There was much rejoicing:

Surrounded by a large, jovial crowd of Colorado water stakeholders, Gov. John Hickenlooper on Thursday unveiled a final plan that the administration hopes will map the future of water across the state.

Colorado’s Water Plan aims at achieving 400,000 acre-feet of municipal and industrial water conservation by 2050. To get there, the plan encourages a shift in philosophy.

“Now is the time when you rethink how you can be more efficient in the water you use,” Hickenlooper said during a ceremony at History Colorado, which was chosen as a location to highlight the historical significance of the water plan.

“I do think the cultural shift is underway, and I think those conversations, and everyone looking at how they can use water more efficiently, is critical,” the governor said.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Congressman Jared Polis provided a statement to Channel 7 in Denver regarding his vote yesterday on a House Republican bill that severely restricts Syrian refugees from entering the United States:

Colorado congressman Jared Polis is one of 47 Democrats who joined with House Republicans to support making it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the United States.

The measure passed Thursday would in effect suspend admissions of those refugees. It would require the FBI to conduct background checks and oblige security and intelligence officials to certify that each refugee is not a threat…

Here’s the statement from Polis provided to Channel 7:

“I support allowing greater numbers of refugees fleeing violence — beyond the Administration’s suggested number of 10,000 — to find safety here, and I support improving our vetting system to ensure that those we admit will make our country safer and stronger.

The SAFE Act enables us to continue accepting refugees while strengthening our already-extensive vetting process so that we are taking every step within our power to ensure the safety of the American people. Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve forcefully advocated for enabling children and families whose lives have been torn apart by violence to take refuge in the United States, and I very much want to see the United States accept more refugees of all faiths fleeing from ISIS.”

 

► Colorado state Rep. Clarice Navarro-Ratzlaff is doing her best to fear-monger over Syrian refugees, but she took it up a notch yesterday in calling on Gov. Hickenlooper to essentially seal off Colorado from accepting any new immigrants. Hopefully Navarro-Ratzlaff hasn’t talked to fellow state legislator Kathleen Conti, who has long believed that there are terrorist training camps in the mountains of Colorado.

► Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will make stops in Denver and Boulder on Tuesday.

► The newly-elected Jefferson County School Board (all five members are new) took their oaths of office on Thursday as parents and residents look forward to a more cordial relationship. From John Aguilar of the Denver Post:

Applause erupted repeatedly inside the Jefferson County School Board meeting room Thursday evening, as one by one, five new members assumed the seats of their embattled predecessors.

The swearing-in ceremony marks a new chapter in a school district — the second-largest in Colorado — that has garnered plentiful headlines and courted lasting controversy over the last two years.

“The tone in this boardroom needs to change, and that starts with the six of us (including Superintendent Dan McMinimee) up here,” said new board member Ali Lasell, a long-time teacher in Adams County. “We need to build trust and bring respect back to this board.”

Lasell was joined at the dais by new colleagues Brad Rupert, Susan Harmon, Amanda Stevens and Ron Mitchell. Mitchell, a retired Jefferson County principal, was chosen to be the board’s new president, replacing Ken Witt in that post.

Witt, along with Julie Williams and John Newkirk, were recalled by voters on Nov. 3 after a tumultuous period presiding as the majority on the five-person board.

► Garfield County Commissioners almost sound like they are trying to take credit for the more than $25,000 raised for local Planned Parenthood clinics after the Board voted to cut $1,500 in county funding.

► Kudos to John Frank of the Denver Post for taking the all-important extra step of explaining an important story.

► The anti-Islam rhetoric is reaching a fever pitch among Republican candidates for office in 2016.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado Republicans love them some Ben Carson. Too bad the Republican Presidential candidate appears to be completely baffled when it comes to foreign policy discussions. If you’ve ever seen the HBO Movie “Game Change,” just picture the scene where policy experts try in vain to explain foreign policy to then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

As our friends at “The Fix” explain, Carson easily won the title of “Worst Week in Washington.”

► An improbable mathematical tie in a race for the State House in Mississippi will be broken by “drawing straws.” Really.

ICYMI

► Having trouble coming up with what to say before your Thanksgiving meal next week? You could always just be thankful that you don’t have the same name as this poor bastard.

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