February 25, 2016 12:21 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Feb. 25)

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• by: Colorado Pols

You show me your tax returns and I’ll show you mine! 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…

► Republican Presidential candidates will debate for the final time before Super Tuesday when they meet tonight in Houston. As Politico reports:

The final Republican presidential debate Thursday night before the Super Tuesday contests has the potential to be an epic display of anger and rhetorical aggression, with Rubio and Cruz going after each other on everything from policy to character as each struggles to emerge as the single alternative to Donald Trump.

Rhetorical aggression!!!

► Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is not universally despised by Latino voters…but he’s getting there. More than 8 out of 10 Latino voters have an unfavorable opinion of Trump.

Elsewhere, 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is warning that Trump may have a “bombshell” in his tax returns. His Hairness responded in typical Trump fashion:

“Mitt Romney, who was one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics, is now pushing me on tax returns. Dope!” the billionaire businessman said in a series of Tweets attacking Romney.

► Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) won’t agree to meet with a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, but he will travel to Cuba to meet with officials about Guantanamo Bay.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► A new poll from Center for Western Priorities shows that candidate views on public lands and the outdoors may be swing issues in 2016. From a press release:

Looking towards the general election, Colorado voters, by a 54 to 33 percent margin, favor a hypothetical Democratic candidate with a balanced approach to public lands – one who supports protecting land, water, and wildlife, while providing public access and managing energy development in a responsible way – over a Republican candidate who supports state control of national public lands, selling off public lands to balance the budget, and expanding oil and gas development.

► Maybe it’s just not your year, Rep. Kevin Priola.

► Republican Sen. Laura Waters Woods (SD19-Arvada) is expected to be a top target of Democrats in 2016 as they seek to retake control of the State Senate. If SD-19 becomes the key swing seat this fall, Waters Woods may be in trouble because of her fervent anti-choice voting record.

► Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is quite a maroon.

► Democratic Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are touting local endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s caucuses in Colorado. Elsewhere, Clinton is making a big push to tout her plans for curbing gun violence.

► Our current group of Congresspeople may very well be the most anti-environment politicians in the history of Congress. As the Colorado Independent reports:

The League of Conservation Voters released an environmental scorecard Wednesday for what it has called “the most anti-environmental Congress in our nation’s history.”

Since the first Earth Day in 1970, the LCV has written a scorecard after every Congress to evaluate lawmakers’ voting records on important environmental legislation. The sheer number of votes included this year — 25 in the Senate and 35 in the House — reflects “the breadth and depth of attacks both on our cornerstone environmental protections and on the Obama administration’s significant progress,” according to the report…

…Colorado delegations in both House and Senate received average rankings of 40 and 50 percent, respectively, but scores are clearly divided along party lines.

Every Republican scored below 20 percent, and all Democrats scored above 80 percent.

Here in Colorado, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver) received a score of 100 percent as graded by the League of Conservation Voters. Meanwhile, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) was the only member of the Colorado delegation to receive a score of zero.

► Union plumbers and pipefitters are converging on Flint, Michigan to help with that city’s municipal water crisis. As Workers Independent News reports, hundreds of volunteers have been working since October to “replace faucets, install water filters, and deliver bottled water and water testing kits to hundreds of Flint residents.”

► Colorado House Democrats killed proposed legislation that would have required local governments to compensate mineral-rights holders in the event of a local fracking ban.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Colorado’s Open Records laws may someday move into the 21st century — here’s hoping it happens during the 21st century. From the Associated Press:

A state Senate committee on Wednesday defeated a bill that was designed to bring Colorado’s open records law into the 21st century by requiring government agencies to release public records in their original spreadsheet or other computer-friendly formats.

The bill was intended to speed the delivery, lower the cost and make it easier for the public to search state and municipal databases, rather than have to pore through printed documents that agencies often try to charge exorbitant sums for retrieval and copying.

More than 15 states and the federal government have made it easier for the public to obtain and analyze computerized government data that, for example, can include crime statistics, sales tax rates, budgets or salaries. User-friendly formats include Microsoft Excel and other programs.

But the Republican majority on the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee expressed security concerns about databases that are transmitted electronically to the public. The panel voted 3-2.

► Texas Republican Rep. Kevin Brady wields the gavel as the Chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, but that doesn’t mean he has a safe re-election ahead of him. Brady may lose his Houston-area seat in a four-way primary that has political experts recalling the surprise 2014 loss of Rep. Eric Cantor.

ICYMI

► The surprise death two weeks ago of Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia has been followed by speculation about how and why he died at the age of 79. As the Washington Post reports, the story gets weirder:

When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died 12 days ago at a West Texas ranch, he was among high-ranking members of an exclusive fraternity for hunters called the International Order of St. Hubertus, an Austrian society that dates back to the 1600s.

After Scalia’s death Feb. 13, the names of the 35 other guests at the remote resort, along with details about Scalia’s connection to the hunters, have remained largely unknown. A review of public records shows that some of the men who were with Scalia at the ranch are connected through the International Order of St. Hubertus, whose members gathered at least once before at the same ranch for a celebratory weekend.

Members of the worldwide, male-only society wear dark-green robesemblazoned with a large cross and the motto “Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes,” which means “Honoring God by honoring His creatures,” according to the group’s website. Some hold titles, such as Grand Master, Prior and Knight Grand Officer. The Order’s name is in honor of Hubert, the patron saint of hunters and fishermen.

Because nothing is more honorable for an animal than to be gunned down by an old dude in a secret society.

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