October 16, 2018 01:03 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (October 16)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Check those mailboxes, people! 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…

► Ballots should be starting to arrive at your mailbox this week. CLICK HERE to visit the Colorado Secretary of State website, where you can check on the status of your mail ballot and double-check your voter registration information. Colorado Public Radio explains what to do with your mail ballot after it arrives.

► Is it Festivus season already? President Trump seems to think so, as CNN reports:

President Donald Trump, with an empty public schedule and a litany of festering grievances, spent Tuesday unleashing fresh vitriol at his enemies over Twitter. His targets began with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who this week released a DNA test seeking to rebut Trump’s insults about her claims of Native American heritage. But he soon moved on, griping about the porn actress who alleged to have spent the night with him, fake news, the Russia “witch hunt.”

Elsewhere, Trump’s campaign has already raised $106 million — more than any previous President at the same point in time relative to his re-election.

► The Colorado Republican Party paid for a mail piece in CO-6 touting the idea that Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) stands up to the Republican Party.

► The truth hurts. Local media outlets are tearing apart a new television ad full of falsehoods aimed at Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► President Trump always believes a “strong denial” if it is in his interest. As the Washington Post reports:

President Trump says Saudi’s crown prince “totally denied any knowledge” of what happened at the consulate in Turkey, and promises answers “shortly” on Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.

Trump’s comments come as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed Saudi leaders “to move quickly with a “transparent” investigation of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Again, from the Post:

Turkish officials have asserted that a Saudi hit team killed Khashoggi earlier this month after he entered the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. On Monday, forensic experts had their first chance to comb the site, and they now plan to expand the searches to diplomatic vehicles and the main residence.

► Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be in Denver on Saturday to campaign on behalf of redistricting ballot measures Amendments Y & Z.

► As the New York Times reports, Democrats are out-fundraising Republicans in key federal races around the country.

► Secretary of State Wayne Williams charged Colorado taxpayers $700 for a pair of boots and $475 for a cowboy hat.

► Governor John Hickenlooper’s federal PAC, created to promote his looming candidacy for President, reported raising $280,000 over a period of about one month.

► Westword reports on the case for Amendment 73, the school-funding measure on the ballot in Colorado.

► The Glenwood Springs Post Independent looks at Proposition 111, the ballot measure seeking to make major cuts to the interest rates that payday lenders can charge.

► State Sen. Beth Martinez Humenik is not the moderate that her proponents are making her out to be.

► The Colorado Sun reports on our state’s “dark money” problem:

It’s not easy to figure out who paid for a political TV ad or mailer in Colorado.

The presence of “dark money” — campaign cash that can’t be traced to its original source — is now a staple each election season. It’s particularly prevalent in the race for governor and battleground state Senate districts. And Colorado’s campaign finance laws allow it to happen.

“It’s been happening for the past decade,” said Caroline Fry, Colorado Common Cause outreach director. “Messages where you can directly tie the funding from those messages to real living, breathing human beings are just becoming a thing of the past.”

► The White House is pushing to replace the Inspector General for the Department of Interior in the midst of investigations into wrongdoing under Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.

► Betsy DeVos: 0, Obama Administration: 1. As CNN reports:

An Obama-era rule designed to help students cheated by for-profit colleges get relief on their education debt finally took effect Tuesday after efforts by the Trump administration to block it.

A federal judge ordered immediate implementation of the rule, delayed last year by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, while a challenge from the for-profit college industry proceeds…

…DeVos has been widely criticized by Democrats and consumer advocacy groups for siding with for-profit colleges over students.

 

► George Stern, a Democrat running for Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder against longtime Republican office-jumper Faye Griffin, is out with a strong new television ad. 

Your Daily Dose Of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

► Likely Democratic Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is taking plenty of heat for her DNA test response to allegations about her Native American heritage.

► President Trump called adult film actress Stormy Daniels “horseface” today. Because of course he did.

► HomeToGo.com, Sandals Resorts, Jenny Craig, ClearChoice Dental Implants and Nutrisystem. These are the major advertisers for Fox News host Laura Ingraham, whose show continues to struggle to recover from a sponsor boycott.