November 23, 2015 12:39 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (Nov. 23)

• 3 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Nope, we can’t spell Osweiler without looking it up first; perhaps next week. 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…

► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia “Sues-a-Lot” Coffman has asked the Colorado Supreme Court to dismiss a complaint from Gov. John Hickenlooper over lawsuits the Governor says have been filed without his approval.

Hickenlooper petitioned the state Supreme Court on Nov. 4 after he complained that Coffman should not have joined about two dozen other states in suing the Environmental Protection Agency over new air pollution rules without his authorization.

Coffman said the rules are an illegal overreach. The governor supports the rules and is trying to implement them.

Hickenlooper is asking the court to force Coffman to withdraw lawsuits against the federal government that were filed without his permission, including one in Wyoming over fracking rules, one in North Dakota over clean water rules and the latest in Washington, D.C., over the EPA’s air pollution rules.

If the Governor does not back down, Coffman is threatening to force Colorado into a lawsuit against the entire galaxy.

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Louisiana voters have finally — finally — had enough of Sen. David Vitter, The Republican Senator, who was re-elected even after his admitted involvement in the “D.C. Madam” prostitution scandal in 2007, was thoroughly drubbed be Democrat Jon Bel Edwards in Saturday’s runoff election for Governor.

Or, as Salon so eloquently stated in the headline to this story: “Gutter politics from a prostitute-procuring politician don’t work against a conservative Democrat from West Point.”

► Funeral services were held in Englewood today for Jaime Jursevics, a Colorado State Trooper who was killed after being struck by a drunk driver on Nov. 15. Governor John Hickenlooper order flags to be lowered to half-staff today in honor of Jursevics, who is survived by her husband and 8-month-old daughter.

► A panel of scientists who have reviewed comments made by the various 2016 Presidential candidates have come to a conclusion that probably won’t surprise you. From the Associated Press:

At the request of The Associated Press, eight climate and biological scientists graded for scientific accuracy what a dozen top candidates said in debates, interviews and tweets, using a 0 to 100 scale.

To try to eliminate possible bias, the candidates’ comments were stripped of names and given randomly generated numbers, so the professors would not know who made each statement they were grading. Also, the scientists who did the grading were chosen by professional scientific societies.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had the highest average score at 94…

…Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas had the lowest score, an average of 6. All eight put Cruz at the bottom of the class.

“This individual understands less about science (and climate change) than the average kindergartner,” Michael Mann, a Pennsylvania State University meteorology professor, wrote of Cruz’s statements. [Pols emphasis]

In response, Cruz challenged the scientists to “say that to my face” and said he would fight all of them outside on the front lawn of the Capitol grounds.

► In a story for the Huffington Post, Jason Salzman examines Rep. Mike Coffman’s six votes to defund Planned Parenthood — even though he uses their logo in campaign ads.

► Former Arkansas Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appears to be making a claim for the “clickbait muppet” mantle once held by GOP candidate Bobby Jindal. Huckabee says that President Obama “probably” wants to force Americans to memorize the Quran.

Coincidentally, we’ve heard that Huckabee “probably” insists on a daily sponge bath using Krispy Kreme donuts instead of soap. Hey — we said “probably,” so that makes it cool, right?

► Open carry laws in Colorado are facing new scrutiny in the aftermath of a Colorado Springs shooting earlier this month. As Kevin Simpson reports for the Denver Post:

When a caller to 911 warned of a  man carrying a rifle and gas cans in a Colorado Springs neighborhood recently, the operator explained that open carry is legal.

The call was assigned a non-urgent priority and, several minutes later, the man opened fire on a passing bicyclist and two women.

All three died, as did the gunman after eventually exchanging fire with police. The episode tragically underscored — especially in a state such as Colorado, with few open-carry restrictions — a difficult balancing act of rights, risks and cultural norms…

…U.S. laws governing the open carry of firearms vary widely across the country, from a handful of states that prohibit the practice to some that require a permit to others that have relatively few restrictions.

Colorado largely falls into the last category:  Generally, state law allows firearms to be carried openly, although local governments can impose some restrictions on specific areas within their jurisdiction — places like parks or courthouses, for instance.

► Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) is really very sure that the reason Americans are worried about terrorist attacks is…Benghazi!!!

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Who will be the next Republican candidate for President to formally exit the 2016 campaign? Colorado Pols readers are looking at you, George Pataki.

► The Auroral Sentinel blisters former Aurora City Council Member Ryan Frazier after the latter announced that he will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016:

You may know Mr. Frazier best for losing the last two elections he ran in — one to hizzoner Steve Hogan, another to Congressman Ed Perlmutter — before joining the likes of Dr. John Torres as an on-air “expert” for the Denver NBC affiliate. But you’d be wrong to label him simply as an electoral loser as a candidate — Ryan also pushed a loser of a ballot measure back in 2008 with the would-be union-crippling Amendment 47.

Yet hope always springs eternal in politics, and F. Scott Fitzgerald must have been really deep into some bad absinthe when he wrote that “there are no second acts in American lives.” If anything, Frazier was tailor-made for the U.S. Senate, a halfway house for politicians with low attendance records and high aspirations. Put Frazier’s Aurora council attendance record right up against the show-up rates of Marco Rubio and you’ll realize he’s downright presidential material. So let Quid be clear: It’s time for Ryan Frazier to end this farce of a Senate campaign and announce his intent for the White House, so the good people of Iowa and New Hampshire can learn to love/loathe him the way Quid does. Onward and upward.

Oooh, that’s gotta sting a little bit.

ICYMI

► The terrorist attacks in Paris are an obvious result of lazy white women refusing to have more European babies, or something.

Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!