Gov. Jared Polis - Colorado Pols

It Is To Laugh: Recall Polis 4.0 (Maybe) Collecting Signatures

by: Colorado Pols February 28, 2022 at 10:42 AM MST

The sad end of “Recall Polis 1.0.”

Practically from the moment Gov. Jared Polis was elected in 2018, Republicans in the state have been trying to recall him. Immediately following the 2019 legislative session, the first Recall Polis campaign–actually several competing and mutually distrustful campaigns of which one eventually emerged to collect signatures–launched their 60-day window to collect the over 630,000 valid Colorado voters signatures required to qualify a recall question for the statewide ballot. That campaign never turned in their petitions to verify the signatures but only claimed to have gathered around 300,000–less than half what was required, even without the “padding” necessary to withstand validity checks.

The Recall Polis movement should have ended there, but it didn’t. In 2020, the “Recall Polis 2.0” (or Recall Polis 2020) campaign tried again and failed by an unverifiable but presumably even greater margin, lacking even the meager resources that the first attempt had. An unsuccessful court battle to extend their signature gathering time led to promises throughout most of 2021 of an imminent “Recall Polis 3.0” campaign, now expanded to two petitions calling for the recall of Gov. Polis as well as Secretary of State Jena Griswold. Given that the group hasn’t raised enough money to cover even printing petitions for one race, it wasn’t surprising that no campaign to collect signatures ever kicked off.

Until last week, gentle readers!

Over at the Recall Polis/Griswold 2022 website, the fundraising page to collect those welfare checks from patriotic invalids is live. The countdown for their 60-day window to collect a total of over 1.2 million valid Colorado voter signatures kicked off last Thursday, so it’s all hands on deck!

Back in 2019, there was a argument that although having zero chance of success, a petition drive to recall Gov. Polis could be a useful activity to keep the conservative base organized ahead of Polis’ next election. Instead, the humiliating failure of every single one of these campaigns helped discredit not just Polis’ opponents but the misuse of recall power in general that has plagued Colorado politics for almost a decade. In 2022, the year Polis is actually up for election, the “Recall Polis 4.0” petition drive is a laughably counterproductive diversion of resources away from what Republicans should always have been focused on: winning this November.

For the next 60 days, get ready for fake news about signatures the recall campaign isn’t really gathering, increasing tension as the realization of futility sets in, concluding in a sad little press conference that absolutely, positively refuses to accept defeat. No voters will be won over by this sloppy exercise, which will serve as a metaphor going into November for failure by Republicans to lay a glove on our state’s popular incumbent governor.

Democrats can only say thanks again.

The GMS Podcast: It’s Really Happening!!!

by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2022 at 9:15 AM MST

Tina Peters’s mug shot

This week in episode 98 of the Get More Smarter Podcast, hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii marvel at something we predicted all the way back in September 2021: Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters is running for Secretary of State!!!

We also discuss doxxing in Douglas County; ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl using the NextDoor app as her source for crime news; a new anti-choice ballot measure in Colorado; and a Republican endorsement for U.S. Senate that is the kiss of death.

Listen to previous episodes of The Get More Smarter Podcast at GetMoreSmarter.com.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Let us have it at AngryRants@getmoresmarter.com.

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Guns at Polling Places? You Bet, Says Heidi Ganahl

by: Colorado Pols February 18, 2022 at 11:54 AM MST

I said I love me some guns, oh yeah!

Republican gubernatorial candidate ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl has been traveling around Colorado speaking to small GOP audiences in advance of the April State Assembly. Ganahl doesn’t even pretend that she isn’t pandering to the right wing; Two-Sidey Heidi just tells every crowd what she thinks they want to hear, regardless of how much it exposes her to problems in a potential General Election matchup with incumbent Democratic Gov. Jared Polis.

On Thursday, Ganahl was conducting a meet-and-greet in Pueblo when the discussion turned to guns and a bill in the state legislature seeking to restrict the ability to openly carry a weapon at polling places.

House Bill 22-1086, “The Vote Without Fear Act,” is sponsored by gun safety advocate Rep. Tom Sullivan (D-Centennial). According to the bill text, the proposal “prohibits a person from openly carrying a firearm within any polling location or central count facility, or within 100 feet of a ballot drop box or any building in which a polling location or central count facility is located, while an election or any related ongoing election administration activity is in progress.” The point here is pretty obvious: Nobody should feel intimidated by another person while casting their ballot in an election.

But Ganahl, of course, is much more worried that people who insist on carrying guns might be sad if they couldn’t vote without one. Listen below to what she had to say about this bill, or read the transcription that follows:

GANAHL: “And we’ve got to follow the Constitution. I’ve got to trust people and follow the Constitution. I’ve got to defend your Second Amendment rights. I’m the daughter of a police officer. I got concealed carry. I was raised to know how to shoot and we cannot let them degrade our rights anymore at the Capitol. Have you guys seen this? What’s it called? Vote for, say — about having guns around — open carry around the polling? Yeah, polling places. That’s their latest tactic to, you know, basically water down our rights.”

This probably plays well to a right-wing audience, but it is a position that could prove costly in a General Election. We seriously doubt most Colorado voters would oppose the idea of keeping firearms away from polling places.

“The Vote Without Fear Act” passed out of a House committee this week and now heads to the floor for discussion. Republican lawmakers have made been making silly arguments in opposition to the legislation, as Nick Coltrain reported this week for The Denver Post:

Rep. Mary Bradfield, R-Colorado Springs, decried voter intimidation but said that her constituents sent her to the Capitol to protect their Second Amendment rights.

“Voter intimidation is wrong at any time. It was wrong in the past, it’s wrong today and it’s going to be wrong in the next election,” Bradfield said. “… But I see what happens here with the passage of this bill is what my constituents will see as their Second Amendment rights beginning to be eroded. That is troublesome.”

In other words, carrying a gun is more of a fundamental right than being able to vote without intimidation. That’s not a position that we’d be excited to defend in an election year.

Throwback Thursday: Bob Beauprez And The 2014 “Crimenado”

by: Colorado Pols February 10, 2022 at 10:15 AM MST

2014 GOP gubernatorial loser Bob Beauprez (right).

With Colorado Republicans pulling out all of the logically consistent stops in order to blame local Democrats for crime rates on the rise in our state along with most of the country in the last three years, let’s take a brief trip back to the last time the issue of crime became a political sparring ground in our state, the 2014 governor’s race between incumbent Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper and Republican challenger Bob Beauprez. Ernest Luning at the then-Colorado Statesman reported in May of 2014 on a controversial and exceedingly bitter line of attack on Hickenlooper pressed by Beauprez, falsely blaming the murder of Colorado Department of Corrections director Tom Clements on Hickenlooper being “soft on crime.”

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez this week linked Gov. John Hickenlooper’s policies to last year’s murder of Colorado Department of Corrections chief Tom Clements, who was gunned down by parolee Evan Ebel after the white supremacist prison gang member removed his ankle monitor and killed part-time pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon…

“There’s an important piece of a healthy economy that John Hickenlooper’s completely missed. That’s the public safety component,” Beauprez told about 100 supporters gathered at the Tavern Tech Center in Greenwood Village.

“You’ll all remember the name Evan Ebel,” Beauprez continued. “If you don’t remember Evan Ebel, you certainly remember Tom Clements. Tom Clements was our director of Corrections in Colorado. Evan Ebel was paroled directly from — they call it ‘administrative segregation’ — directly from solitary confinement onto our streets, and within a matter of hours, he killed a pizza driver, guy working a second job to try to keep his family whole. Killed him for his uniform, his pizza delivery uniform. Then about 48 hours later, he knocked on Tom Clements’ door and killed him.”

Beauprez’s attack on Hickenlooper over the death of Tom Clements, which continued into the fall with a controversial ad (still above) that invoked Clements’ murder to ask “with John Hickenlooper as governor, is your family safe?” mangled the timeline of events leading up to the tragedy, but perhaps the most cruel and thoughtless aspect of misusing Clements’ murder as a political football is that Clements at the time of his murder was working to reduce solitary confinement of problem inmates–the very issue that Beauprez bewailed in his attack on Hickenlooper.

In the end Bob Beauprez lost the 2014 race for governor, blighting a year that overall was still pretty good for Colorado Republicans–arguably the last election in Colorado in which they came away with something to celebrate. The problem then as with today is that voters actually understand the complex origins of rising crime far better than politicians looking to scare them believe. Beauprez’s dark and brooding negative campaign ads contrasted unfavorably with Hickenlooper’s positive message and personal popularity, and turned voters off.

In 2022, here we’ll go again.

Confirmation Bias 101: Challenging The “Crimenado” Narrative

by: Colorado Pols February 9, 2022 at 2:23 PM MST

George Brauchler.

One of the principal issues that Republicans in Colorado are running on for the 2022 midterms is fear over increasing crime rates. An undeniable increase in violent crimes has been accompanied by a lesser but still measurable increase in property crimes in the last several years across the nation, though still not at historic levels seen before crime levels plunged in the 1990s, has Republicans coast to coast looking for ways they can pin this complicated societal development on their political adversaries via the straightest line possible.

Apropos, Westword’s Conor McCormick-Cavanagh has a feature-length story out today on how the “crimenado” also known as the “crime tsunami” scare tactics are being rolled out in our state, backed by a report on the subject from a conservative policy “stink tank” known as the Common Sense Institute. It’s a revealing look at how this nationwide message strategy is being grafted on to Republican campaigns here in Colorado–arguing flat-out that criminal justice reforms passed in Colorado in recent years are the cause of the increase in crime the state is experiencing:

“Crime has undeniably and dramatically increased over the last decade in Colorado,” the report states. “The primary and consistent policy trend in Colorado has been to discourage the jailing of those arrested for committing crimes and to reduce the severity of punishment for those convicted. However well-intended, these recent policies must be monitored to ensure the costs from the unintended — albeit predictable — consequences do not outweigh the anticipated benefits.”

“It is simply undeniable that the legislature over the last decade or so has made it easier to decrease penalties for criminal conduct,” Brauchler says, citing the creation of a framework that allowed for the more frequent granting of personal recognizance bonds. And the uptick in crime “seems to be happening at the same time.” [Pols emphasis]

The problem big enough to drive a truck through in failed Attorney General candidate-turned AM radio provocateur George Brauchler’s argument is that the increase in crime in Colorado is in no way unique to Colorado, and that makes it extremely difficult to argue that a policy change solely affecting our state is responsible. In this case, the old saying “correlation is not causation” is backed up by the simple fact that the cause Brauchler is arguing here cannot explain rising crime rates elsewhere.

But let’s take a step back. You do accept that correlation, as the old axiom goes, is not necessarily causation–right?

“A correlation is not causation” is a “ridiculous statement,” Brauchler responds. [Pols emphasis]

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman pretending to be homeless.

That’s not what we learned in Philosophy 101! Let’s get some actual expertise in here, shall we?

“This report wouldn’t meet the research standards of a freshman term paper,” says Christie Donner, executive director of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, who is often on the opposite side of prosecutors like Brauchler and Morrissey when testifying at the Colorado Capitol. “I was actually pretty surprised at how shoddy this was.”

…Brauchler’s view of that research axiom is exactly “why he shouldn’t be writing research reports,” Donner suggests. [Pols emphasis] “It means whoever said that statement doesn’t understand research and shouldn’t be writing a report. It’s an aggrandized op-ed. For people who are actually serious about this, we really do know the difference between what’s coincidence, what’s correlative and what’s causal.”

At the end of January, one of the new GOP majority members of the Aurora City Council ran into an earned media debacle when she stated that the city she represents is “not safe” and that the chief of police should be fired. In response, Republican Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman was forced on the defensive, noting the nationwide increase in crime rates and calling on his City Council majority to “acknowledge” the situation “without creating an unnecessary sense of fear throughout our community.”

Mayor Coffman didn’t realize it at the time, but what he said in defense of Aurora’s reputation applies equally to the entire state of Colorado, and therefore directly undercuts the “crimenado” narrative Coffman’s fellow Republicans are trying to exploit for political advantage in this year’s midterm elections.

In both cases, truth in context is how you defeat the scare tactics.

“Deus Ex Rando” Saves Ganahl From Another Unforced Error

by: Colorado Pols February 7, 2022 at 12:52 PM MST

Heidi Ganahl.

As the Colorado Sun’s Sandra Fish reports, a convenient short-lived primary challenge from a candidate no one has ever heard of has provided Republican gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl the chance to undo an odd and inexplicable error she made early in her campaign (among so very, very many), accepting campaign spending limits prescribed by Amendment 27 in order to increase her per-donor contribution maximum:

As the Colorado Sun reported earlier, the spending-limit pledge is rarely used, and candidates often agree to it only in error. But Ganahl and Pam Anderson, a GOP candidate for secretary of state, both agreed to the limits at the start of their campaigns — on purpose.

By agreeing to a $3.4 million limit spending, Ganahl was able to accept individual campaign donations that were double the traditional $1,250 limit.

There’s an out, however, and Ganahl decided to use it Monday. When another candidate files to enter a contest but doesn’t accept the voluntary spending limits, those who are already in the race and have accepted the limits have the option of backing out of their pledge.

And that’s exactly what happened when someone named Bradley Wynn of Denver filed to run for governor as a Republican on January 18, only to formally withdraw from the race ten days later rather than file the required personal financial disclosure. We don’t know anything about Bradley Wynn, with no political donation history in Colorado we can find, and Wynn claims he doesn’t know Ganahl. But it looks like the pretext Wynn gave Ganahl to back out of the campaign spending limit pledge will be his lifetime contribution to Colorado politics.

As for Ganahl personally, the decision to accept binding spending limits against a self-funding candidate with limitless resources was a silly and amateurish mistake from a campaign typified by such mistakes–one she needed to undo before the general election cycle began. If it comes out that Ganahl colluded with Bradley Wynn to arrange for Ganahl’s window to walk back the campaign spending limit, obviously, that’s a huge problem–and the timing is awfully suspicious.

Absent anything nefarious, Wynn’s brief time in the race was a stroke of luck for a beleaguered candidate who needs all the luck she can get. None of this was necessary, and none of it makes Ganahl look like a frontrunner.

Get More Smarter on Monday (Jan. 24)

by: Colorado Pols January 24, 2022 at 11:07 AM MST

Happy Day of the Unification of the Romanian Principalities. Please celebrate responsibly. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► Russia is moving ever closer toward a potential invasion of Ukraine, which would have ramifications across the geopolitical spectrum. From The Washington Post:

The tense conflict over Ukraine shifted further into full crisis mode Monday, with NATO saying it was moving more military equipment into Eastern Europe and Russia continuing to build up massed forces along the border with Ukraine, amid fears that it will invade its neighbor.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was watching NATO’s moves and President Vladimir Putin was “taking measures to ensure that our security and our interests are properly protected.”

The Belarusian Defense Ministry said Monday that Russia troops continued to arrive in the country, which borders Ukraine, ahead of a major training exercise next month. Further video surfaced on social media Monday showing Russian military convoys and trains with military equipment moving across southern Russia and Belarus

NATO said Monday it would send additional ships and fighter jets to Eastern Europe. That followed reports that the Biden administration was considering sending thousands of U.S. forces as well as armaments to reinforce NATO allies in Poland and the Baltics and imposing new export controls aimed at damaging strategic Russian industries.

Over the weekend, the U.S. State Department ordered nonessential Ukraine embassy staff, as well as families of all staff members, to leave the country.

► It may still be too early to know what kind of Republican Primary fight State Sen. Don Coram (R-Montrose) will be able to put up in CO-03, but as Charles Ashby reports for The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Coram isn’t going to be shy about throwing punches against incumbent Rep. Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert:

“If I wanted to make a million dollars, maybe I should try ‘consulting’ for an oil and gas firm for $500,000 a year and lie about it on public filings,” Coram said, referring to Boebert’s husband, Jayson. “That seemed to have worked out for others in this race.” [Pols emphasis]

Boebert failed to report the $460,601 income her husband earned in 2019 when she filed her first financial statement with the Federal Election Commission. That figure wasn’t known until she filed her second statement last year, showing he also earned $478,386 in 2020 from the same oil and gas consulting services.

Coram, like others, have pointed out that Boebert has advocated and voted for things that related to the oil and gas industry, saying that would constitute “enrichment.”

“Bottom line, this is just another production created by Lauren Boebert to distract from her record as an out-of-touch extremist who would rather spend time defending the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene than doing her job representing the people of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District,” Coram said.

CLICK HERE for more background on the Jayson Boebert story.

► Alex Burness of The Denver Post looks at how Democrats plan to save Coloradans money in 2022.

► Colorado Democrats are planning a reproductive rights bill in the state legislature as worries mount of a “post-Roe” world. From Colorado Newsline:

The policy is planned as a backstop in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that established the constitutional right to abortion. While Coloradans currently have access to abortion at all stages of pregnancy, the bill would add an affirmative statement to that effect in Colorado law…

…State Rep. Meg Froelich, a Greenwood Village Democrat, is sponsoring the bill along with House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, a Pueblo Democrat, and Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Democrat from Denver. The lawmakers first announced their intention to run the bill during a December press conference. Froelich later provided more details.

“It will state clearly that access to abortion and the full range of reproductive health care — so, ‘full range of reproductive health care, including abortion,’ is the way that we talk about it — is a fundamental right in Colorado and that the government cannot interfere with that right,” Froelich told Newsline.

The bill would attest to the rights of all Coloradans to access, and to refuse, reproductive or contraceptive care.

► Just a few days after Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper announced that she would not run for Congress in CO-07, Democratic State Rep. Brianna Titone made a similar decision and endorsed State Sen. Brittany Pettersen (D-Lakewood) to succeed retiring Rep. Ed Perlmutter.

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Yet Another Sad Trombone for Heidi Ganahl

by: Colorado Pols January 18, 2022 at 10:25 AM MST

Re-enactment of Heidi Ganahl’s Q4 fundraising period.

As readers of this blog are well aware, we have regularly labeled the gubernatorial campaign of Republican ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl as the worst campaign for governor in the entire country. For her part, Ganahl has been very helpful in cementing that argument through her own campaign #FAILs.

Ganahl’s gubernatorial campaign quietly filed its Q4 2021 fundraising report over the weekend. We say “quietly” because we wouldn’t want anybody to know these numbers, either.

In the last three months of 2021, Ganahl raised $267,000 and wrote herself a check for $200,000, leaving her fledgling campaign with $351,430 in the bank to start 2022.

If you’re wondering how these numbers compare to previous Republican candidates for governor — none of whom were ultimately elected to the position — we did the research for you.

It’s not good.

We include Dan Maes here because he did (improbably) go on to win the Republican Party nomination for governor after Scott McInnis imploded in a plagiarism scandal. Other than Maes, however, no legitimate Republican candidate for governor has started an election year in the last decade-plus with less money in the bank than Ganahl. And it’s not like fundraising dollars are being split among multiple Republican candidates in 2022. Ganahl is bombing despite being the clear frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

The only thing that saved Ganahl from a Maes-like fundraising quarter is her own $200,000 contribution to the campaign. Ganahl burned through $239,000 in Q4, largely to pay salaries and fees for various consultants. Had she not written herself that check, she would have only added $28,224 to her campaign coffers in the final months of 2021.

Perhaps Ganahl is able and/or willing to self-fund her campaign to the tune of many millions of dollars. If not, there is no realistic scenario whereby she ends up being the next governor of Colorado.

State of the State Open Thread

by: Colorado Pols January 13, 2022 at 10:28 AM MST

Watch it live at 11:00AM MST:

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Jan. 13)

by: Colorado Pols January 13, 2022 at 10:27 AM MST

Governor Jared Polis delivers his “State of the State” speech today. In Iowa, they call it the “Condition of the State.” See, you’re already 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► The Denver Post updates on the first day of Colorado’s legislative session, which (as always) was mostly about the speechifying:

Colorado’s 2022 legislative session started Wednesday under the shadow of a still critical pandemic, and with party leaders primed to spend months debating how to apportion a historically flush state budget, and make the state safer and more affordable.

The parties identify many of the same pressing problems, but present largely opposing ideas to address them. For the fourth straight year, however, Democrats control both the state House and Senate, plus the governor’s office, so they can always claim final say if they want it.

It’s evident once again that the COVID-19 pandemic is one subject area with little common ground. The politicization of the pandemic was clear as Democrats in both chambers donned masks and all but a couple of Republicans did not. Health care workers administered rapid virus tests outside the Capitol, and guests — unlike lawmakers — were required to mask up indoors. However, partitions between lawmakers’ desks that were taken down at the end of last year’s session did not go back up.

“Health care and public health will continue to guide many of the decisions we make in this building,” House Speaker Alec Garnett of Denver said. “Despite our exhaustion and fatigue, COVID has not relented yet.”

As the Post points out, this will be the last legislative session for many familiar names who are term-limited in 2022, including House Speaker Alec Garnett, House Majority Leader Daneya Esgar, Senate President Leroy Garcia, and Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert.

Elsewhere, 9News previews today’s “State of the State” speech from Gov. Jared Polis.

► As The Washington Post reports, Arizona Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema once again confirmed that the United States Senate is dumb:

Democrats’ hopes of finally pushing through voting rights legislation after months of Republican opposition appeared to be fatally wounded Thursday after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) announced she would not support changing Senate rules that have long allowed a minority of senators to block legislation.

Sinema’s position, outlined in a midday floor speech, echoed her previous public statements where she defended the filibuster, the Senate’s 60-vote supermajority rule, as a tool to facilitate bipartisan cooperation and guard against wild swings in federal policy.

But the circumstances in which she reiterated it — as Senate Democratic leaders prepared to launch a decisive floor debate and less than an hour before President Biden was scheduled to arrive on Capitol Hill to deliver a final, forceful appeal for action — put an exclamation point on her party’s long and fruitless effort to counter restrictive Republican-passed state voting laws.

“While I continue to support these bills, I will not support separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country,” Sinema said.

What, exactly, is Sinema’s suggestion instead? We’ll let you know when we hear it. But at least West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin approves!

► Grocery workers at King Soopers stores in Colorado are on strike after failing to reach agreement on fixing what the employees call “unfair labor practices.” As Axios Denver reports, the picketing could go on for several weeks at minimum.

► The case of Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters and her efforts to tamper with voting equipment following the 2020 election is headed to a grand jury. And, as The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel’s Charles Ashby reports:

Peters rejected the state’s offer of a settlement agreement that would allow her access back into her own Elections Division, but only under strict supervision.

Peters said in a press release Wednesday that the “deal” the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office offered her wasn’t much of a deal, in part, because it called for her to repudiate some of her statements about election integrity.

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) continues to raise big bucks in his bid for re-election. As Ernest Luning reports for the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman:

Bennet raked in more than $2.1 million in the final three months of 2021, surpassing the Colorado Democrat’s own record for an off-year quarterly haul and boosting his re-election war chest to more than $4.7 million, his campaign said Wednesday.

The sum brings Bennet’s fundraising total for the 2022 midterm cycle to roughly $8.7 million as the primary field of his potential Republican challengers is still taking shape.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate/aspiring motivational speaker Gino Campana reported about $950,000 in receipts for Q4 — $500,000 of which came from himself.

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Heidi Ganahl “Kicking Off” Campaign for Governor (Again)

by: Colorado Pols January 10, 2022 at 11:50 AM MST

This time, it’s really, really personal!

We’ve written over and over again in this space that Republican ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl is running the worst gubernatorial campaign in the entire country in 2022.

We’re not wrong, and here’s more proof: Ganahl is planning a big “2022 Kickoff” for her campaign…nevermind that she already did that back in September.

As we wrote last month, Ganahl’s September 2021 kickoff was legitimately one of the saddest statewide campaign launches that we’ve ever seen. She completely botched efforts at building even a modicum of suspense; presented herself as a bumbling idiot in multiple media interviews; didn’t even bother to offer even a basic platform of ideas; and ended up cutting a planned two-week launch tour in half because nobody was showing up to any of her events. Fellow Republicans were publicly stating that her campaign was a disaster before it was even a month old.

We can’t blame Ganahl for WANTING a do-over for her campaign, but that’s not how any of this works. You can’t just shake the old Etch-a-Sketch and start again; ask 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate Walker Stapleton how well that worked out. Or Mitt Romney, circa 2012.

Ganahl’s re-kickoff campaign reminds us of this spoof trailer from the “Back to the Future” trilogy of movies teasing a future “Jaws 19” with the tagline, “This time, it’s really, really personal.” Perhaps Ganahl will follow a similar formula and “kick off” her 2022 campaign once a month for the rest of the year.

Joe Biden Heads For Colorado Disaster Zone

by: Colorado Pols January 7, 2022 at 9:00 AM MST

9NEWS reports, President Joe Biden accompanied by Gov. Jared Polis, Rep. Joe Neguse of Boulder, and both of Colorado’s U.S. Senators will visit Louisville and Superior this afternoon to assess the damage from devastating wind-driven wildfires that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes one week ago:

Biden will be joined by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) and Neguse (D-Colorado) on Friday’s tour. It was announced Friday morning that Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) and Sen. John Hickenlooper will also join them. Both will travel with the president on Air Force One before touring fire damage and visiting with survivors…

Once in the area, the officials, also including First Lady Jill Biden, will tour an area of Louisville that was damaged by the Marshall Fire. Following the damage tour the president will meet with survivors at the Louisville Recreation & Senior Center and deliver brief remarks about the federal response to the fire.

“This week, many in the Boulder County community – throughout Superior and Louisville – are beginning the long road to recovery in the wake of the unprecedented and terrible Marshall Fire,” Neguse said in a statement.

Traffic through the Denver metro area is not expected to be disrupted, with the President taking a helicopter from Buckley Air Force Base across town to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jeffco. President Biden’s remarks are scheduled for 5:15PM local time (video will stream above).

All we can say is, it’s refreshing to have a presidential President in these moments of need.

The GOP “Crimenado” Narrative Hits a Snag

by: Colorado Pols December 29, 2021 at 12:41 PM MST

It has been three months since Republican ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl officially launched her campaign for governor. Nobody would argue with a straight face that things are going well for the last remaining statewide elected official in Colorado (Ganahl is currently a CU Regent). In fact, Ganahl appears to be running the worst gubernatorial campaign in the entire country in 2022, which is almost impressive when you consider that 36 states will be holding elections for governor.

Ganahl has had trouble finding staffers, supporters, donors, or spellcheckers, which is at least consistent with a campaign that also has no policy ideas. As she struggles to find purchase in the 2022 election cycle, Ganahl has focused her attention on one particularly dubious narrative: “Crimenado!”

“Crimenado” is Ganahl’s attempt to shift the election away from questions about her own ability to govern. Instead, she wants Colorado voters to believe that the single most important issue of 2022 is that our streets are teeming with criminals. To hear Ganahl tell it, the City of Denver has burned to the ground two or three times in 2021 alone.

Ganahl’s Twitter account is a perfect reflection of the narrative that she hopes to land in order to get her elected Governor next November. Ganahl basically tweets about two things: University of Colorado athletics and stories about crime in Colorado. As of this writing, six of her last 10 tweets are about criminal malfeasance. She is practically gleeful in retweeting stories about murder, including this montage from Dec. 6 prefaced with this commentary: “It breaks my heart to continue seeing crime increasing in our state day after day, week after week. Colorado is a place people run TO, not FROM. As your governor, I will make fighting crime a priority.”

In her zeal to exploit the idea of criminals rampaging through the streets with impunity, you can see how events this week seemed irresistible to Ganahl. But here, she is already running into her own sort of trouble. Roughly 12 hours after news broke of a shooting spree in Denver and Lakewood, Ganahl jumped at the opportunity to blame Gov. Jared Polis:

If you have been following the reporting on this story, you’ll probably recognize the problem with Ganahl’s finger-pointing. It now appears that the suspected gunman was a right-wing extremist acting out his own violent fantasy.

Via Chase Woodruff of Colorado Newsline

Ganahl was eager to try to shoehorn a mass tragedy into her narrative against Gov. Polis, yet new reporting on the shooter suggests that he was exactly the sort of alt-right lunatic that experts on domestic extremism have warned about for years and have manifested multiple times since Donald Trump descended the escalator in 2015.

Via Heidi Beedle of The Colorado Springs Independent

More about the shooter’s motives will no doubt become known over the course of the investigation, but if the immediate picture we’re seeing continues to come into focus, then Ganahl’s eagerness to politicize a horrific tragedy as an issue of street crime instead of say, violent extremism, certainly raises questions about her judgment as a candidate for governor and her own moral sensibilities about the lives affected. And more to the point, these violent movements are exactly the problem with winking and nodding to the most fringe elements of the Trump base, which has been a quieter theme since Ganahl first announced her campaign.

The truth about crime, in Colorado and elsewhere, is much more complicated than Ganahl and friends would have you believe. As Alex Burness of The Denver Post noted this week, gun violence has been a problem FOR DECADES, not merely since Polis took office in January 2019. And while there is some data indicating that violent crime rates have increased over the last 25 years, that information needs to contain the appropriate perspective; as Alayna Alvarez noted for Axios Denver in September, “The rate of some violent crimes, like murder, remains far lower in Colorado than those recorded throughout the 1980s and ’90s.”

Via Newsweek (12/29/21)

The problem with extremists armed to the teeth who are egged on by the irresponsible rhetoric of right-wing Republicans…well, that is also a very real trend that needs attention from leaders without ideological blinders.

The next time you see Ganahl or one of her surrogates yammering about Colorado’s “Crimenado,” remember this story.

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Dec. 9)

by: Colorado Pols December 9, 2021 at 10:39 AM MST

On this day in 1979, smallpox was officially declared to have been eradicated. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-ifle) may have done significant damage to her political future with her recent anti-Muslim rhetoric. On Wednesday, the editorial board of The Durango Herald straight up called for Boebert to be defeated in 2022, using some of the strongest and most direct language we can recall from a local media outlet. This came just days after Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw blasted members of the House Freedom Caucus, which includes Boebert, as “performance artists” with no interest in doing the hard work of governing.

“The woman is an embarrassment – to her district and her party…Boebert is not representing Western Colorado. Nor does she seem interested in doing so. Enough is enough.”

— Editorial in The Durango Herald (12/8/21)

The publisher of the Montrose Daily Press and the Delta County Independent also recently called for Boebert’s ouster in 2022, for the same basic reasons. Writes Dennis Anderson: “She’s become a national embarrassment, but, more importantly, she’s become an embarrassment to western Colorado.”

For her part, Boebert responded to the latest criticism in a very predictable manner: She set herself up as the victim in this saga.

► Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that progressive Democrats continue to push House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take some sort of punitive action against Boebert. A resolution was introduced on Wednesday to remove Boebert from her House committee assignments.

► We say it all the time in this space: Elections matter.

Look no further than Aurora for the latest example.

► As Colorado Public Radio reports, we may get a better look at a prominent “dark money” group that has been operating in Colorado:

The Colorado Secretary of State’s office on Tuesday ordered a nonprofit organization to reveal its donors and pay a $40,000 fine, saying it violated Colorado law by contributing millions of dollars to conservative causes in the 2020 election.

The group, Unite for Colorado, paid for signature gathering and digital advertisements related to several ballot initiatives last year, according to documents in a complaint that prompted the fine. As is common with “dark money” nonprofits, it did not disclose where its funding came from.

Critics of the group argued that Unite for Colorado crossed the line between nonprofits and political groups. A complaint filed in August 2020 argued that the group was spending so heavily — and was so closely involved in politics — that it should have registered as a political issue committee and reported more detail on its financial activities.

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The GMS Podcast: Boebert Finds a New Low (ft. Sara Loflin)

by: Colorado Pols December 6, 2021 at 9:27 AM MST

Sara Loflin, Executive Director at ProgressNow Colorado

This week in episode 93 of the Get More Smarter Podcast, hosts Jason Bane and Ian Silverii discuss the persistent problems for Republican gubernatorial candidate ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl; a new low for Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-ifle); and more weirdness from Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters.

Later, we talk with Sara Loflin, the new Executive Director of ProgressNow Colorado, about her perspective on Ganahl — and the idea that Colorado should elect a woman as Governor — as well as her thoughts on Boebert’s awfulness and her vision for leading ProgressNow Colorado into 2022.

Listen to previous episodes of The Get More Smarter Podcast at GetMoreSmarter.com.

Questions? Comments? Complaints? Let us have it at AngryRants@getmoresmarter.com.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn

‘Stretch that rope’: Colorado conservative leader suggests Gov. Polis should be hanged

by: Colorado Pols December 4, 2021 at 10:59 AM MST

by Chase Woodruff, Colorado Newsline
December 3, 2021

A prominent right-wing activist with ties to many Colorado Republicans on Friday called for the mass executions of politicians he said were “traitors” to the country, including Gov. Jared Polis and many U.S. senators.

Joe Oltmann, founder and president of the activist group FEC United and host of the “Conservative Daily” podcast, made a series of comments about the hanging of political opponents on his show throughout the week.

On Friday, Oltmann listened as his co-host, Max McGuire, read aloud the names of the 19 Senate Republicans who this week voted with Democrats to approve an 11-week stopgap spending bill, amid far-right demands to force a government shutdown over federal vaccine mandates for employers.

“There’s your list of 19 traitors to the American people, along with all the other traitors to the American people,” Oltmann said in response. “I want people to go out there and get some wood. The gallows are getting wider and longer. We should be able to build gallows all the way from Washington, D.C., to California.”

“We just have a line of executions of traitors through the United States of America,” Oltmann continued. “If you guys don’t think that’s funny — I think it’s kind of funny, actually.”

“This talk makes me incredibly nervous,” replied McGuire.

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Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Dec. 1)

by: Colorado Pols December 1, 2021 at 10:50 AM MST

Yeah, we know there isn’t much snow right now in Colorado; we’re trying to suggest it into existence. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► All eyes are on the U.S. Supreme Court as the nation’s top judges debate, potentially, the fate of legal abortion in the United States. From The New York Times:

The Supreme Court seemed poised on Wednesday to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, based on sometimes tense and heated questioning at a momentous argument in the most important abortion case in decades.

Such a ruling would be flatly at odds with what the court has said was the central holding of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion and prohibited states from banning the procedure before fetal viability, or around 23 weeks.

But the court’s six-member conservative majority seemed divided about whether to stop at 15 weeks, for now at least, or whether to overrule Roe entirely, allowing states to ban abortions at any time or entirely.

Elections matter.

► Congressperson Lauren “Q*Bert” Boebert (R-ifle) has become a YUGE story nationwide. Consistent with her brand, however, Boebert is making headlines for the wrong reasons.

Boebert continues to generate news coverage for her disgusting comments suggesting that Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar is a terrorist/suicide bomber. The Denver Post editorial board felt compelled to apologize for Boebert’s behavior, while former President Donald Trump decided to see if he could say things about Omar that were even WORSE.

Boebert inspired TWO separate columns from Chris Cillizza of CNN, one on Tuesday and another on Wednesday. Today, Cillizza ultimately comes to a conclusion that we’ve discussed for years in this space:

As ugly and unsavory as Boebert’s actions are, they do provide insight into just how radically the mission of serving in Congress has changed — particularly for those, like Boebert, who have come into politics in the age of Donald Trump…

…Gone is the idea that politics is about making the country (and its people) better through compromise. Or even that passing any sort of legislation — or sponsoring any — matters at all.

In its place is politics as performance. Running for office and being in office are about promoting your personal #brand (barf). The best way to show “effectiveness” is not in bills passed but in appearances on Fox News…

…The unfortunate thing for our politics is that there are a whole lot of Republican politicians like Boebert in the pipeline. She’s the rule, not the exception, in the modern Republican party.

Performative Obstruction. That’s what this is. That’s what it has always been with Boebert. Whether or not she actually believes the crap that comes out of her mouth is secondary to the overall goal of just being the center of the discussion. Boebert also doesn’t seem to care that her persistent lies about Rep. Omar might literally be life-threatening accusations.

Republicans aren’t universally thrilled with Boebert, either. Here’s former Republican State Representative Cole Wist:

I grew up on the Western Slope. My parents and most of my family live there. It will always be home.

The people of Western Colorado are decent, kind, compassionate and fair. Their communities are open and welcoming. My heart breaks for the way they are represented in Congress.

— Cole Wist (@colewist) December 1, 2021

► Congressional Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, are doing NOTHING in response to Boebert’s hateful rhetoric. McCarthy is instead trying to prevent GOP caucus members from tearing each other apart over Boebert’s horribleness.

Elsewhere, Robin Givhan of The Washington Post weighs in on The exhausting, soul-sapping meanness of Lauren Boebert.

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post writes that Boebert “is what George W. Bush called ‘the worst of humankind.'”

► As Jason Salzman writes for The Colorado Times Recorder, Boebert is throwing everything she can imagine at Rep. Omar — including completely unsupported claims that Omar denigrated Jews when she moved into her congressional office.

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Polis/Griswold Recall Update: A Whole Lot of Sad

by: Colorado Pols November 30, 2021 at 1:41 PM MST

We’ve been doing our best to keep an eye on the latest efforts by right-wing grifters to “recall” Gov. Jared Polis and/or Secretary of State Jena Griswold. When last we checked — on August 31 — “lead organizer” Lori Cutunilli was promising the Facebook faithful that recall petitions were just a few weeks away from circulation!

However, Recallpalooza seemed to be gasping for air by the time California Gov. Gavin Newsom easily turned back an attempt to oust him from office in September. According to the latest campaign finance report for the “Recall Polis – Griswold 2021” committee, momentum remains elusive:

You’re reading that correctly. The recall committee raised $12 in the last month — all of which came from Cutunilli herself. Things are so bad, in fact, that they would need to raise $1,307 just to be able to report that they have no money.

The grift may be strong among Colorado Republicans, but it is apparently not without end.

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (Nov. 10)

by: Colorado Pols November 10, 2021 at 10:45 AM MST

On this day in 1775, the United States Marine Corps was established. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► The Washington Post catches up on the COVID-19 problems spreading in the Mountain West:

At the foot of the Rocky Mountains, Tom Gonzales, director of public health in Colorado’s sixth-largest county, made a decision in mid-October that felt like a dismaying retreat in the battle against the coronavirus. He reinstated an indoor mask mandate.

It was not a popular move, but Gonzales felt he had no choice. In Larimer County, which stretches eastward from the Continental Divide to the high plains and encompasses the city of Fort Collins, hospitals were overwhelmed by a surge of covid-19 patients that began slowly in August, plateaued for a while — and then exploded unexpectedly once the leaves began to turn.

By the end of last week, the number of covid-19 patients in the county’s hospitals matched the peak in December 2020.

“Everyone was like, ‘No, not again, please,’ ” Gonzales said. “There’ve been lots of twists and turns in this pandemic where we’re really surprised — and this is the biggest surprise for me.”

Colorado’s current COVID-19 rates are trending upward even as the rest of the country is slowing down on the rate of infections. As The Denver Post reports, emergency measures are being reactivated in the state:

Colorado health officials reinstated “crisis standards of care” for hospital staffing Tuesday amid a surge in new COVID-19 infections and patients, a day after declaring the entire state at high risk from the virus.

The crisis standards, previously activated from April 2020 to February 2021, give hospitals and other providers a framework for stretching limited personnel, including how and when National Guard troops and even family members and volunteers can be used to free up medical staff.

They also provide legal cover if the care that hospitals can provide under the crisis standards isn’t what usually would be acceptable.

On Monday night, Colorado health officials declared the entire state a high-risk environment for COVID-19, saying all vaccinated adults now qualify for booster shots once enough time has elapsed since their original inoculation.

Vax (or boost) that thang up, people! All Colorado adults now qualify for a COVID-19 booster shot.

► Colorado Republican candidates either believe the 2020 election was fraudulent or they are too afraid of the GOP base to admit the truth. Either way, refusing to answer perhaps the most important question of 2022 is disqualifying.

► Colorado Newsline and Colorado Public Radio explain how Colorado could benefit from billions of dollars through the new infrastructure deal.

► If you’re not sure where your beliefs might place you on the current political spectrum, you can take this Pew Research Study for more insight into yourself.

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Republicans Still Not Optimistic About Governor’s Race

by: Colorado Pols November 8, 2021 at 12:57 PM MST

State Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert was the featured speaker last week at a meeting of the Jefferson County Republican Men’s Club, where he basically acknowledged the sentiment that Republican gubernatorial candidate ~~Hiedi~~ Heidi Ganahl is not going to defeat Democratic incumbent Gov. Jared Polis next year. Holbert was more diplomatic about his opinion than fellow Republican State Sen. John Cooke, who admitted in August that Polis was unbeatable for the GOP, but nobody listening to Holbert speak would feel very optimistic about Republican hopes for the top race in the state in 2022.

Near the end of his presentation on Nov. 1, Holbert responded to a question about running for future office by saying that he has been approached several times in the past about potentially running for Governor in 2022. Holbert dismissed the idea, in large part because Polis has the ability to self-fund his re-election campaign; according to Holbert, Polis can and will regularly write $25 million checks to his campaign.

You can watch the full video at the Jeffco Republican Men’s Club website, which is hilariously titled “Ken Hulbert.” We excerpted the key part below and transcribed the relevant remarks:

Senate Minority Leader Chris Holbert:

So, I’ve told people who say, ‘Chris, run for Governor! Chris, run for Governor, you’d be great!’ I was like, ‘No, but if you bring me 25,000 checks from individuals like you, for $1,050 [the maximum contribution limit for Governor in Colorado], that would at least cover the first $25 million check that he [Polis] can write to his own campaign.

Am I saying that it’s hopeless? No. And people will say, ‘Well, money isn’t everything.’ Well, money is the gasoline that this engine runs off of. And it’s like being in NASCAR for a 500-mile race and not having any gasoline in the tank…or having a few gallons, and the competitor has more than 500 miles worth of gas.

I’m not going to stand here and tell you that a Republican can’t win. Um, I’ve seen news that some have said that Heidi [Ganahl] can’t win — I’m not going to stand here and say that. [Pols emphasis]

Got that? Holbert is NOT going to say that a Republican cannot win the race for Governor in Colorado…but he IS going to say that he thinks your money would be better spent on trying to win back seats in the state senate:

I believe that Ms. Ganahl can write a check to her own campaign for, I don’t know, six figures? Seven figures? I don’t know. I’d be really surprised if she can get up to the $25 million level. But the reason that I bring this up is not to point to something that I think is hopeless, but to point to something that…she needs money. [Pols emphasis] Whether it’s Heidi or somebody else, how many of you are willing to write a check for $1,050? Or for a couple, $2,100?

[Holbert pauses and looks around the room]

Not a lot of hands going up. Do you know anybody who could? We need as many of those for the account as possible, and I would say, in increments of $25 million for one seat…does that make more sense, or winning a net of three seats in the state senate for an average of about $1 million apiece? [Pols emphasis] If we have a majority in the state senate, we can stop any bill we want to.

Heidi Ganahl for Governor! Or, whatever.

Colorado Dems Celebrate As Biden Gets Part One Done

by: Colorado Pols November 6, 2021 at 11:06 AM MDT

(Clockwise from top left): Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Ed Perlmutter, and Jason Crow

Denver7’s Robert Garrison reports on the final and narrow passage last night of a bipartisan roads and bridges bill by the U.S. House, a vote made possible by 13 Republicans who crossed party lines to offset “no” votes from a handful of progressive Democrats led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez–handing President Joe Biden a major and much-needed victory that will have voter-visible effects in the near term, but also putting the onus squarely on Democratic Senate holdouts to ensure the much larger Build Back Better reconciliation package actually gets passed:

Colorado leaders hailed the passage of the $1 trillion infrastructure package as more details as to what it will mean for the state comes to light. But not everyone was in a celebratory mood.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act with bipartisan support late Friday.

Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement the bill is a “win” for the state.

“Let’s fix the roads and reduce traffic! This is a win for our country and a win for Colorado! I’m thrilled that Congress has passed with bipartisan support this once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve our roads, create new jobs, improve our drinking water, and tackle climate change,” Polis said in a statement. “Paired with our state’s historic bipartisan infrastructure plan that I signed this summer, Colorado will see a transformation across all four corners of our state to make our roads safer and better for all Coloradans. Thank you, President Biden and Congress for your bipartisan work to bring real change across our country’s entire infrastructure system.”

Rep. Joe Neguse, who serves as a vice-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), is ebullient and tallying up the wins for Colorado this morning:

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act which the House PASSED yesterday includes several key priorities for #Colorado:

Major investments in wildfire prevention 🔥 & forest programs 🌳

Upgrades to our power grid💡

& reauth of the secure rural schools program 📝

— Rep. Joe Neguse (@RepJoeNeguse) November 6, 2021

Although passage of the bipartisan roads and bridges bill is making some progressives nervous about the fate of the larger Build Back Better plan (more on that in a moment), this morning the big story is the red-on-red rage from conservative Republicans including Colorado’s own Rep. Lauren Boebert, vowing retribution against the “fake Republicans” who enabled passage of the bill in the House last night:

While Republicans busy themselves eating their own for a few news cycles and President Biden enjoys a major win after an undeniably difficult few months, it is necessary to acknowledge the real concerns raised by the six dissenting Democrats, who say they voted no because it had been previously assured that the bipartisan roads and bridges bill and the larger “human infrastructure” Build Back Better plan would pass as a package deal. As of now, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is operating on a promise by moderate House Democrats to support the larger bill once the Congressional Budget Office completes its necessary scoring–the same thing America’s Most Important Senator® Sen. Joe Manchin claims to be waiting for.

In exchange for accolades today, the stakes are now higher to pass the larger bill Democrats still very much need to deliver ahead of the 2022 midterms. Colorado Democrats have not at any point been part of the problem here, in fact both Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper have seen their own priorities threatened and even cut from the bill at Manchin’s whim. It’s a major test of discipline for the razor-thin Democratic majority in Congress–and as Will Rogers famously observed in 1935, organization has never been the Democratic Party’s strong suit.

When there’s a deal, Colorado Democrats will be on the right side of it.

Beyond that, pray and/or bet according to your preference.

Get More Smarter on Thursday (Nov. 4)

by: Colorado Pols November 4, 2021 at 11:04 AM MDT

There are exactly 50 days until Christmas. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► Colorado hospitals are straining to deal with a consistent influx of COVID-19 cases. As The Colorado Sun explains:

The Colorado Hospital Association announced Wednesday that it is activating Tier 3 of the state’s Combined Hospital Transfer Center.

How bad is that? Hospitals didn’t have to activate Tier 3, the highest level, during even the busiest months of last winter’s COVID surge. But what the hospital association calls “monumental strain” on the health care system caused by the most recent spike in coronavirus cases has led to the unprecedented activation.

The new level means the transfer center, or CHTC, which helps move patients around from crowded hospitals to less-crowded ones, will operate on a statewide basis. Previously, it had operated regionally or within big health systems. But, as COVID hospitalizations continue to climb in Colorado, that’s no longer enough.

“This is an extraordinary step taken by the state’s hospitals and health systems,” Dr. Darlene Tad-y, the hospital association’s vice president of clinical affairs, said in a statement. “… Activating Tier 3 of the CHTC should send a clear message to Coloradans: our health care system is in jeopardy of being overwhelmed.”

► The Washington Post reports on details about a COVID-19 vaccine requirement from the Biden administration:

Companies with more than 100 employees will now be mandated to require coronavirus vaccinations for their workers or do regular testing by Jan. 4 under the terms of a new federal rule that will be released Friday by the Biden administration after weeks of deliberation, senior government officials said.

The hotly anticipated rule, which is being implemented on an emergency basis by the Department of Labor, is one of the White House’s most strenuous attempts to increase vaccination rates across the country to address the lingering public health crisis. The policy is already being contested by Republicans and the small but vocal anti-vaccine factions that have proved so disruptive politically over the past year.

It would require weekly testing and mandatory face-masking for workers who choose not to get vaccinated. It also specifies that employers must provide paid time for workers to get vaccinated or recover from any side effects — something critics have been asking for months. But companies are able to require employees to foot the bill for tests, officials said.

Companies with 100 or more employees will have until Jan. 4 to have all staff either fully vaccinated or implementing the testing requirements, pushing the deadline beyond the holiday season amid concerns about labor shortages.

► Congressman Joe Neguse is introducing new gun safety legislation spurred by a mass shooting at a Boulder King Soopers earlier this year. From The Denver Post:

Neguse will introduce legislation in the House Thursday to prohibit people convicted of violent misdemeanors from purchasing a firearm for five years, a measure the Lafayette Democrat said could help prevent tragedies like the Boulder King Soopers massacre from happening again…

…That suspect in the March 22 King Soopers mass shooting that left 10 people dead was convicted of misdemeanor assault in 2018 after attacking a classmate at Arvada West High School the previous year. Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, then 18, punched the classmate in the head without warning, and when the boy fell to the ground, continued to punch him, according to an affidavit in the case.

Alissa was sentenced to probation and 48 hours of community service. But that didn’t stop him from purchasing a gun at an Arvada gunshop days before his deadly assault at the Boulder grocery store, Neguse said.

► Are you anti-mask? Anti-vaccine? A believer in the “Big Lie”? Then the majority of Colorado voters are not very happy with you.

Click below to keep learning stuff…

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Get More Smarter on Friday (Oct. 22)

by: Colorado Pols October 22, 2021 at 10:55 AM MDT

You only have a few more days to vote and stick your ballot in the mail, so get to it. Visit GoVoteColorado.com to check on the status of your mail ballot for 2021. Let’s 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 an audio learner, check out The Get More Smarter Podcast. And don’t forget to find us on Facebook and Twitter.

CORONAVIRUS INFO…

*Colorado Coronavirus info:
CDPHE Coronavirus website

*Daily Coronavirus numbers in Colorado:
http://covid19.colorado.gov

*How you can help in Colorado:
COVRN.com

*Locate a COVID-19 testing site in Colorado:
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

► The refusal of Senate Republicans to even debate a new election integrity bill SHOULD be the last straw for Democrats such as Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia. As Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent write for The Washington Post:

On Wednesday, all 50 Republicans in the Senate — including supposed moderates such as Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — voted to filibuster the Freedom to Vote Act. That’s a stripped-down version of sweeping voting rights legislation Democrats have advocated.

If Manchin (or anyone else) needed more proof that Republicans will never partner with Democrats to secure voting rights and democracy, this was it.The Freedom to Vote Act was, for all intents and purposes, Manchin’s own bill. He demanded the changes that made it less ambitious than the For the People Act championed by progressives.

It was redesigned to his specifications. So instead of requiring nonpartisan redistricting commissions, it allows states to determine the mode of redistricting while establishing standards of fairness that would be enforced by courts. It also creates national standards for early voting and mail voting, but also allows voter ID requirements, albeit with some protections.

No Republican voted for this.

Waldman and Sargent note that two prominent voices are growing louder about the need to reform the filibuster: Angus King of Maine and Jon Tester of Montana. Says King:
“I’ve concluded that democracy itself is more important than any Senate rule.”

President Biden is also signaling that he would be open to changing Senate filibuster rules in order to pass voting rights legislation.

► Colorado Republican candidates continue to struggle to come up with a decent answer about the “Big Lie.” Many of the top statewide candidates seem to have coalesced around the shaky narrative that Joe Biden is the President and that the election was not fraudulent in Colorado…but maybe it was everywhere else.

The latest attempt by a statewide Republican candidate to answer this question came from Senate hopeful Gino Campana; check out the transcript of this BRUTAL back-and-forth with right-wing radio host Peter Boyles. The interview contains a line that could go down in infamy: “Don’t 9News me!”

► Hospitalizations from COVID-19 in Colorado are trending in the wrong direction compared to the rest of the country, as Colorado Newsline explains:

There are 1,130 people in the hospital with COVID-19 as of Oct. 21, Gov. Jared Polis said during a news briefing Thursday, and 893 of those cases, or about 80%, are unvaccinated individuals.

“This is a very stark reminder to anyone who thought this pandemic was over and that they could slip by without getting vaccinated,” Polis said. “This is a wake up call. If you haven’t been vaccinated, you’re facing a grave threat.”Polis said that crisis standards of care are “ready to be implemented if needed, potentially tweaked or improved.” Idaho and New Mexico both recently implemented crisis standards of care.

Hospitalizations are increasing among all age groups, but more rapidly in older populations. State epidemiologist Rachel Herlihy said during the briefing that could be due to waning immunity in older people who got a vaccine earlier this year.

As Denver7 reports, 93% of Colorado ICU beds are currently in use. Governor Jared Polis says Colorado may need to ask for help from the National Guard if these trends continue.

► And now, some good COVID-19 news: Boosters for everyone! As The Washington Post reports:

Tens of millions of Americans can sign up to get Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters beginning Friday after the nation’s top public health official endorsed recommendations from expert advisers that the shots are safe and effective at bolstering protection against the coronavirus.

The green light from Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, means that eligible Americans at risk of severe disease can choose any of the three boosters now authorized in the United States regardless of their original shot.

“The evidence shows that all three COVID-19 vaccines authorized in the United States are safe — as demonstrated by the over 400 million vaccine doses already given,” Walensky said in a statement Thursday night, several hours after receiving unanimous recommendations from the expert panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “And, they are all highly effective in reducing the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, and death, even in the midst of the widely circulating delta variant.”

Get moving, folks. Boost that thang up!

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