April 13, 2017 09:32 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Thursday (April 13)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Politics can be terrifying at times — but nothing like this horrifying furless Tickle Me Elmo doll. It’s time to Get More Smarter! If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) finally held a town hall meeting on Wednesday. The event, held at the Anschutz Campus of the University of Colorado in Aurora, drew scores of national media outlets and generated a narrative that was not at all kind to Coffman and his fellow Republican Members of Congress. Here’s Rachael Bade reporting for Politico:

During a roughly two-hour town hall here on the outskirts of Denver Wednesday night, nearly every other constituent brought up health care.

But not a single one did it to thank Rep. Mike Coffman for backing the beleaguered House GOP Obamacare replacement. Instead, dozens of local inhabitants in this swingiest of swing districts — both Democrats and Republicans — pummeled the Colorado Republican for supporting legislation they believe would harm their community…

…“I voted for you because I thought you’d be a leader,” said one angry constituent. “I don’t see you leading.” [Pols emphasis]

The chaotic scene that unfolded Wednesday foreshadows the problem dozens of centrist Republicans will face during the 2018 mid-term elections in swing districts across the country. While Coffman was one of the few moderates to brave a town-hall setting during the two-week Easter recess, his colleagues will hardly be able to dodge constituent blowback at the polls.

Coffman was a full-throated supporter of the Trumpcare efforts that failed spectacularly in Congress last month, even going so far as to praise the bill “in its current form” literally hours before a Congressional Budget Office appraisal estimated that more than 24 million Americans would lose health coverage if the bill were passed. Coffman walked straight into this political buzzsaw of his own volition, and he’s paying the price for it now.

► Coffman also created national news on Wednesday by saying that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer “needs to go.” As CNN reports:

The pointed question to Coffman came from a woman who said her great-grandparents died in Auschwitz…

…”I need to hear from my congressman that these things are unacceptable,” the woman said.

“Spicer made a terrible mistake yesterday. If you’re not familiar with what he did is that he…” Coffman began to say, but the audience made clear that it didn’t want to hear excuses.

Throwing up his hands, Coffman said: “He needs to go.”

► State Senator Andy Kerr (D-Lakewood) became the first candidate to make a big splash in announcing his campaign for CD-7 on Wednesday. As Ernest Luning writes for the Colorado Statesman, Kerr had some big names on hand for his kickoff announcement — including outgoing Rep. Ed Perlmutter’s wife, Nancy:

For Kerr, who went to Dunstan and then taught social studies there for nearly a decade after he became a teacher, his campaign launch had the air of a homecoming shared with an enormous extended family. He introduced his parents, his brother, his 101-year-old grandmother — born before women had the right to vote, Kerr said, she was glad she could vote for a women in last year’s presidential election and can’t wait to vote for her grandson for Congress next year — and his immediate family, his wife, Tammy, and their children, Braden, 13, Kennedy, 11, and Griffin, 8, who stood alongside Kerr during the speeches.

In the audience, Perlmutter’s wife, Nancy, stood near members of Kerr’s family, a big smile on her face as Kerr spoke. She made clear to The Colorado Statesman, however, that her presence didn’t signify an endorsement in the primary or anything other than wanting to share an important moment with a decades-long friend…

…“Our friendship is a deep and abiding one that’s been maintained for many years,” she told The Statesman. Then, prompted to relate the nearly apocryphal tale surrounding her first date with Ed Perlmutter — the two met and married a decade ago, “later in life,” as the congressman says — Nancy Perlmutter smiled and leaned in slightly. “The story goes that at one of the events when I was introducing Andy during that vacancy process, there was Ed Perlmutter, who took note of the speaker — me — and said, ‘Maybe I want to ask her out for coffee sometime.’ And the rest, as they say, is history.”

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Mitchell made good on his promise to put $3 million of his own money into his bid for the 2018 GOP nomination.

► The ACLU of Colorado is joining in a lawsuit targeted at uncovering documents related to President Trump’s Muslim travel ban.

► The Aurora Sentinel reports on a pay raise proposal for Aurora city council members that includes some questionable allocating of retirement benefits.

► Hey, lookie here: Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) actually held a town hall meeting. In person. In real life.

► President Trump is backtracking on positions almost faster than the media can keep up. As the Washington Post explains:

President Trump is abandoning a number of his key campaign promises on economic policy, adopting instead many of the centrist positions he railed against while campaigning as a populist.

Trump will not label China a “currency manipulator,” he told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, despite a campaign pledge that he would apply the label on his first day in office. He also said he was open to reappointing Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet L. Yellen after saying last year that the central banker should be “ashamed” of what she was doing to the country.

And he embraced the Export-Import Bank, a government agency that he mocked last year and that has long been despised by conservatives who labeled it crony capitalism.

Trump is also flipping his position on NATO, which he once called “obsolete.” On Wednesday, Trump pledged his full support for NATO.

► President Trump also said these things in an interview with Fox Business News.

► You might remember state Rep. Tim Leonard (R-Evergreen) as the first sitting Colorado legislator to spend time in jail in at least 40 years. You probably won’t be shocked to learn, then, that Leonard is opposing legislative efforts to bring so-called “dark money” political organizations into the light.

► One Colorado Republican lawmaker is fighting back against incendiary charges from a fellow GOP House Member regarding a vote to fund a program that allows some illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.

► Thousands of protestors are expected in Denver this weekend as part of an effort timed to tax day that seeks to push President Trump to finally release information about his tax returns.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Legislation aimed at extending setbacks between oil and gas operations and local schools was defeated by Republicans in the state Senate.

► Investigations into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign are getting hairier and hairier for the White House.

ICYMI

► American taxpayers are spending tremendous amounts of money to pay for President Trump’s regular forays to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. But it’s not just money that should be a concern, as NBC News reports:

But since his January inauguration, President Trump has spent seven of 13 weekends at his Palm Beach, Florida estate. According to NBC News’ estimates by Sunday Trump will have spent 28 percent of his term traveling to or staying at Mar-a-Lago.

More than one-quarter of the President’s time is spent traveling to or staying at Mar-a-Lago. That’s stunning.

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