June 03, 2015 11:23 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Wednesday (June 3)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado is purty. 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…

► Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner, along with Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) are asking the Veterans Affairs Department to dig into its own pockets to find the money to finish the VA Hospital Project in Aurora. One again, we remind you that Coffman is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations for the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee.

► The runoff for Denver’s Municipal Elections is finally over. Kevin Flynn, Jolon Clark, Wayne New, and Stacie Gilmore were each successful in their respective races.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► With Denver’s 2015 Election Season behind us, Mayor Michael Hancock is making changes to his cabinet. Lauri Dannemiller (Parks and Recreation) and Doug Linkhart (Environmental Health) have not been re-appointed by Hancock.

► The “USA Freedom Act” made its way through Congress yesterday, as the Washington Post reports:

Congress on Tuesday rejected some of the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with the Senate voting to end the government’s bulk collection of private telephone records and to reform other surveillance policies.

The bill, known as the USA Freedom Act, passed on a 67-to-32 vote, against the will of Senate Republican leaders who wished to preserve existing spy programs.

The opposition to the bill, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), prompted an intraparty standoff that exposed sharp splits along philosophical and generational lines, and between the two chambers on Capitol Hill. The standoff led to a two-day lapse in the legal authority for those programs.

The bill passed by a wide margin in the House last month but languished as those who sought to maintain the status quo, led by McConnell, tried to stare down Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and the other senators who supported either ending or reforming the most controversial provisions of the surveillance programs.

► A Longmont charter school will investigate a decision to prevent its valedictorian from coming out as gay in his speech to classmates. The decision came after Congressman Jared Polis (D-Boulderish) sent a strongly-worded letter to St. Vrain School District encouraging “systemic reforms” in school policies.

►Remember that Denver Post endorsement of Republican Senate candidate Cory Gardner last fall? “Gardner’s election would pose no threat to abortion rights,” claimed the editorial. Gardner will soon be casting a vote on a 20-week abortion ban.

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources heard testimony yesterday from Westerners who are growing increasingly concerned about drought conditions. 

► Colorado Republicans continue to scratch their collective heads in search of a candidate to challenge Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet in 2016. With Rep. Mike Coffman declining entreaties to run against Bennet, there is no obvious second choice.

► Governor John Hickenlooper will sign legislation creating the “Clare Davis Safety Act.” As Fox 31 reports, schools can now be held liable for negligence if they fail to adequately respond to threats of violence. 

► A scholarship fund at Overland High School in Aurora is being set up in the name of former Rep. John Buckner, who died last week at the age of 67. Funeral services for Buckner will be held on June 12 at New Hope Baptist Church in Denver.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) plans to hold hearings throughout the month of June on a proposed rate hike by Xcel Energy.

► As Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post, Republican Senators/Presidential candidates are essentially holding Congress hostage in order to bolster their political prospects.

► What’s that you said about Obamacare? As Politico reports — well, you won’t be surprised:

The unlikely epicenter of Obamacare lies in a solidly Republican working-class town just 10 miles outside of the Miami stomping grounds of Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

The city of Hialeah — a Cuban-American neighborhood of Spanish speakers that is blanketed with Obamacare advertisements — enrolled more people under the Affordable Care Act than anywhere in the country.

That coverage is now at risk. The Supreme Court this month will decide whether Obamacare’s tax subsidies can go to people in 34 states such as Florida that did not set up their own health insurance exchanges. Hialeah brings to the fore the political consequences for the GOP if some 6.4 million people — including the reliably Republican voters here — suddenly lose their health insurance subsidies this summer.

Yup.

ICYMI

► Vince Vaughn says banning guns to prevent violence is like banning forks to prevent obesity. Vince Vaughn is not very good at analogies.

► Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is running for President and raising millions of dollars, but as the New York Times reports, he is still not an officially declared candidate for the job. Legal consequences abound.

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