January 08, 2016 12:20 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Friday (Jan. 8)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Wow. Jerry Sonnenberg may have set a new record for disgusting political rhetoric. 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…

► State Senator Jerry Sonnenberg is apparently eager to claim a top branch on the asshole tree. Sonnenberg is getting a lot of heat on social media and from other news outlets for Tweeting a picture yesterday of someone oiling up a handgun with a can full of “Obama’s Tears.”

Look, we get pretty snarky on this website, and we’ve given Sonnenberg a hard time in the past, but…come on, Jerry. You can try to make a political point without being such a dehumanizing dickhead. There’s no reason for this.

► On the other hand, here’s President Obama handling a difficult and emotional question about gun safety from a Colorado woman who was sexually assaulted in 2006. Obama talked last night about gun safety during a CNN-televised town hall meeting at George Mason University in Virginia.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Right-wing talking head skull Ann Coulter is joining a crowing chorus of Ted Cruz-hating Republicans who are pushing hard on the idea that Cruz might be ineligible to become President because he has dual citizenship in Canada. Coulter has been a vocal fan of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.

► We’re still running down our Top 10 political stories of 2015. Coming in at #5: Everybody (and Nobody) Wants to Run for U.S. Senate.

► State Senate President Bill Cadman (R-Koch Brothers) is standing on a pretty thin limb as he becomes the face of opposition to an effort by Colorado business leaders to reform TABOR in order to free more money for, you know, roads and stuff.

► Congressional Republicans led by House Natural Resources Chairman Rob Bishop (R-Utah) are speaking out against #YallQaeda — sort of — while also making sure that they blame the federal government over a bunch of armed terrorists taking over a visitor’s center in Oregon. Jennifer Rokala, Executive Director of the Denver-based Center for Western Priorities, has this to say about Bishop’s remarks:

“For the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee to blame the Interior Department for the Oregon standoff is beyond the pale. Congressman Bishop’s sympathy for the armed extremists is appalling. No matter what our policy differences, there is no place in our democracy for threats of violence and the theft of natural resources that belong to all Americans to make a political point.”

► Local officials in Silverton will decide by the end of January whether to request “Superfund status” to clean up scores of abandoned mines in the area. They’re still trying to figure out of tourists actually visit Silverton so they can roll out the old talking point about “Superfund” scaring off visitors.

► Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) continues his long-running feud with the Bureau of Land Management.

► Ed Sealover, the statehouse reporter for the Denver Business Journal, previews the upcoming legislative session and the big battle over the budget.

► Some Colorado Democrats have been discussing the idea of renaming the State Party’s annual fundraising gala (currently called the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner). Joey Bunch of the Denver Post points out one particular idea that should be shelved immediately.

► Frazzled over fracking? Help is on the way, as the Colorado Independent reports:

A new group has formed to give voice to Coloradans facing oil and gas development near their neighborhoods and homes.

Called The League of Oil and Gas Impacted Coloradans, or LOGIC, the group says it’s the first of its kind here to serve homeowners as the advent of fracking moves into residential neighborhoods and closer to downtowns. The organization’s plan is to work with regulators, policymakers, and the oil and gas industry to educate residents who live near drill sites around Colorado.

The new group, however, is not for or against fracking, its director Sara Loflin told The Colorado Independent.

“Our view is sometimes that’s appropriate and sometimes it’s not, and it shouldn’t be done on the backs of these homeowners,” she says. “We think it’s a valid concern to say that soccer moms and a high volume of fracking trucks and school busses don’t necessarily mix. We think those neighbors should be heard.”

Yay for logic!

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► You probably wouldn’t be shocked to learn that the water quality in Flint, Michigan isn’t very good. Sadly, you probably also won’t be surprised to see the lack of response from Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. From the Huffington Post:

NBCNews first reported Wednesday that Snyder chief-of-staff Dennis Muchmore complained to someone at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services last July about Flint residents getting brushed off over water concerns.

“I really don’t think people are getting the benefit of the doubt,” Muchmore wrote. “Can you take a moment out of your impossible schedule to personally take a look at this? These folks are scared and worried about the health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us (as a state we’re just not sympathizing with their plight).”

► It’s almost time to start playing a favorite game among politicos: The Veep-Stakes! Up first, South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley. 

And yes, it is odd that Republicans are vetting potential candidates for Vice President when they are nowhere close to figuring out their nominee for the top job in the land.

ICYMI

► Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the frontrunner to win the Republican caucuses in Iowa. This is a good thing, and a bad thing, if you are Cruz.

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