May 25, 2016 01:37 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (May 25)

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• by: Colorado Pols

No more homework, no more books; no more teacher’s dirty looks. Today is the last day of school for several districts in Colorado, including Jefferson County. 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…

► At long last, you can finally Get More Smarter without even bothering to read words. Today is the debut of the Get More Smarter Show, presented commercial free on YouTube.

► Republican Ryan Frazier’s on-again, off-again relationship with the GOP Primary ballot took another turn on Tuesday. If you thought that this story couldn’t get any more ridiculous…well, obviously you are not familiar with the Colorado Secretary of State. As the Aurora Sentinel explains:

Frazier still has a chance to legitimately appear on the June 28 Republican primary ballot, however, as the state Supreme Court remanded the decision on the legality of another 51 signatures submitted by the former Aurora City Councilman’s campaign back to the Denver district court for reconsideration.

The district court has been ordered to issue a ruling on the final signatures by 5 p.m. Friday, May 27…

…Frazier was one of four Republican candidates who attempted to make the primary ballot by petition. Each of the other candidates — ex-Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham, Colorado Springs Businessman Robert Blaha and former state Rep. Jon Keyser — successfully petitioned on the ballot, despite several hiccups that resulted in various appeals.

The State Supreme Court punted a final decision on Frazier’s candidacy back to a lower court, where a few weeks ago a different judge refused to actually issue a definitive ruling…which is kind of how we got here in the first place. Primary ballots go out in the mail in less than two weeks, BTW.

For a great summary of the mess that is the Republican U.S. Senate race, check out this weekend story from Charles Ashby of the Grand Junction Sentinel.

► Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is attacking New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez even though she is a Republican. Martinez has plenty of her own problems, thank you very much.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► It’s that time of (election) year when a bunch of temporary political websites start popping up. Here’s one that we particularly enjoyed: Doug Lamborn for Retirement.

► State Sen. Laura Waters Woods (R-Arvada) believes that Colorado should just ignore President Obama altogether when it comes to transgender bathrooms.

► Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump is dealing with new criticism surrounding a promised donation to a veteran’s charity that didn’t actually happen until the Internet pointed out the Trump error. As our friends at “The Fix” explain, you can thank social media for cracking the case.

► There’s more news on the ongoing “scandal” surrounding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she served as Secretary of State. From Politico:

A State Department watchdog concluded that Hillary Clinton failed to comply with the agency’s policies on records while using a personal email server that was not — and, officials say, would never have been — approved by agency officials, according to a report released to lawmakers on Wednesday.

The long-awaited findings from the State Department inspector general, which also revealed Clinton expressing reluctance about using an official email account, were shared with Capitol Hill Wednesday, a copy of which was obtained by POLITICO. The report detailed how some employees who questioned the wisdom of the homegrown setup were told to stop asking questions, and the audit confirmed apparent hacking attempts on the private server.

It’s the latest turn in the headache-inducing saga that has dogged Clinton’s campaign. While the report concludes that the agency suffers from “longstanding, systemic weaknesses” with records that “go well beyond the tenure of any one Secretary of State,” it specifically dings Clinton for her exclusive use of private email during her four years at the agency.

Obviously this is not good news for Clinton’s Presidential campaign, but it’s still difficult to gauge how much damage this may ultimately cause Hillary in November.

► Republican Robert Blaha is hoping to drum up interest in his U.S. Senate campaign with a hashtag:

#ThatBlahaMoment #BlahaForColorado #SucceedOrLeave https://t.co/fq0LEZxYST

— Robert Blaha (@BlahaCO) May 24, 2016

► Governor John Hickenlooper is on a media blitz to promote the release of his memoir, The Opposite of Woe: My Life in Beer and Politics. The book is currently listed as a best seller at Amazon.com. To hear Hick dish on some of the more interesting tales in the book, check out his appearance on The Get More Smarter Show. Hickenlooper was also a guest  Monday on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

► Congressional Republicans want to force through some rule changes so that Democrats can’t make them look so stupid quite so easily. From The Hill:

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is changing the way the House considers spending measures to try to prevent Democrats from offering surprise amendments that have recently put the GOP on defense.

House Republican leaders have been blindsided multiple times by Democrats offering politically volatile amendments to appropriations bills. Starting as soon as next month, Ryan is expected to make it harder for the minority party to attempt to embarrass the majority.

Ryan laid out plans at a House GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning to require that members submit their amendments ahead of time so that they are printed in the Congressional Record, according to leadership aides.

The change will not yet be in effect this week for a bill to fund the Energy Department and water infrastructure projects. But lawmakers would have to abide by the requirement, which before now was optional, starting with appropriations bills considered after the Memorial Day recess.

By requiring amendments to be made public in advance, GOP leaders would be able to anticipate difficult votes and figure out a strategy before the last minute. Specifics of the revamped process, such as the deadline for members to file their amendments, have yet to be determined by leadership.

As for Republicans determining what proposals are in the best interests of American citizens…well, there’s no rule change to fix that problem.

► The Colorado Springs Independent ponders the fate of Single Payer Healthcare in Colorado.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Colorado Statesman reports on last weekend’s debate in CD-1 between Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette and Primary challenger Chuck Norris (sadly, not that Chuck Norris).

► The Denver Post reports on the predictable fate of a silly lawsuit filed by anti-choice activists:

A judge has thrown out a lawsuit by abortion opponents that claimed Colorado State University and Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains violated the state constitution by purchasing tissue of aborted fetuses and indirectly used tax dollars to subsidize abortions.

Among other issues, 8th Judicial District Court Judge Devin R. O’Dell in Larimer County ruled last week that Christopher McIntire, a board member of the Faith & Freedom Coalition of Colorado who sued in October 2015, didn’t have standing to file the suit against the university.

ICYMI

► Did we mention the debut episode of the Get More Smarter Show?

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