May 02, 2016 01:05 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (May 2)

• 1 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Holy Crap! It’s May? Really? May? 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…

► The June 28th Primary ballot was supposed to have been finalized by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Friday, but…lawyers. Republican candidates Robert Blaha and Ryan Frazier joined together to ask a judge to issue an order preventing finalizing the ballot until (at least) Thursday. Both Blaha and Frazier failed to make the Primary ballot through the petition process, but they want more time to figure out how to bend the rules like Jon Keyser did last week (Keyser, you’ll recall, also failed to make the ballot until he got his attorneys to shake their fists at a Denver district court judge).

Confused? Here’s more from the Colorado Springs Independent. You can also check out this Colorado Pols Q&A on the State of the GOP Senate Race.

► In a move that was not a total surprise, the Colorado Supreme Court today confirmed that local attempts to “ban” fracking are not fair to the poor oil and gas industry. From Cathy Proctor of the Denver Business Journal:

 The Colorado Supreme Court today upheld decades of state law that places authority over hydraulic fracturing in the hands of state officials, ruling against two cities that tried to block fracking.

The court ruled in a pair of cases that garnered national attention involving voter-approved bans on fracking in Fort Collins and Longmont.

► D’Oh! Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) is reeling from a weekend story in the Denver Post that clearly shows his allegiance to the oil and gas industry over his actual constituents:

A draft bill released this month by U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton is taking heat from activists in the Thompson Divide region because of concerns his proposal to settle a fight over oil and gas drilling was written largely by an energy company that is also Tipton’s largest campaign contributor.

Under the proposal, oil and gas companies with leases in the Thompson Divide could trade their holdings in the wildlife haven for similar plots elsewhere in Colorado — a goal of environmentalists and local leaders who want to keep it free from drilling…

…In an interview, Tipton confirmed its origin, and documents obtained by The Denver Post show that Tipton’s draft legislation duplicates — word for word — entire sections of the proposal offered by SG Interests. [Pols emphasis]

Really, Rep. Tipton? You couldn’t even be bothered to move a couple of nouns and verbs around on the bill before you turned it in? Hey, everybody, I’m not even trying anymore!

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► The U.S. Senate is taking another break from not governing so that they can rest up and recover from all of the stuff they didn’t do. From Politico:

Senate Republicans have left town for another recess with their yearlong claim that the Senate is “back to work” an increasingly tough sell to voters.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has worked painstakingly to craft an identity that’s distinct from the raucous presidential contest — one built on stability and passage of legislation the Democrats couldn’t get through when they controlled the Senate.

But the chamber is on pace to work the fewest days in 60 years, the party continues to insist it won’t act on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, and Republicans’ ballyhooed strategy to shepherd all dozen spending bills through the chamber is in serious trouble.

The level of productivity isn’t just about bragging rights: Senate Republicans are staking their push to maintain control of the chamber in November on a message that a do-nothing Senate is a thing of the past.

► What’s that? You want to see Carly Fiorina falling off the stage at a rally for Ted Cruz? Here you go.

► Tuesday’s Presidential Primary in Indiana is the latest, and potentially last, opportunity for the “Never Trump” movement to actually stop Donald Trump from winning the Republican Presidential nomination. Perhaps the group should change its name to “Maybe Trump,” because according to a new poll from NBC News/Wall St. Journal, Trump maintains a commanding lead over the rest of the GOP field in Indiana.

► The Hospital Provider Fee rides again! If you haven’t been following this story, allow us to break it down for you: Colorado is broke, but we could use the “Hospital Provider Fee” money to pay for stuff like roads and schools.

► Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore delivered quite the controversial speech at Saturday’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner in Washington D.C. We’d be equally shocked at the speech if not for the fact that Larry Wilmore works for COMEDY CENTRAL. What did you expect him to do — present an expansive diatribe on American foreign policy?

► Republican state Sen. Larry Crowder will have plenty of time to explain to his constituents why he supported the latest legislative effort from Loan Sharks in Colorado. Never fear, rural Colorado: Senate Republicans totally have your back sometimes.

► Sleepy Republican Rep. Justin Everett does not think highly of the Senate campaign of former colleague Jon Keyser.

► Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) is an absolute moron. Lamborn wants Gov. John Hickenlooper to appear before Congress to testify about something that’s not happening anymore anyway.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Would Ted Cruz support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President? That depends on how you ask the question, or how many times you ask the question, or…

Let’s just say Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) would be proud of how Cruz ducks and dodges a relatively simple question.

► Why hasn’t former GOP Presidential candidate Marco Rubio publicly endorsed Cruz for the Republican nomination? Well, it could be that…ah, nobody cares.

ICYMI

► The NFL Draft finally concluded on Saturday. You were not selected, unfortunately, but here’s a rundown of which college players were chosen by the Denver Broncos.

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