The Colorado Rockies are still undefeated. 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 lawmakers are digging deeper into the issue of standardized testing in public schools. Strange things are afoot at the State Board of Education, meanwhile.
► Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul formally announced his bid for the Republican Presidential nomination today, telling supporters in Louisville (KY) that he is a “different kind of Republican” and framing himself as a Washington D.C. outsider. A “new kind of Republican,” eh? That sounds familiar…
► Since we’re on the topic of Presidential candidates, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is in Colorado today to get all chummy with executives from the oil and gas industry.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…
► Senator Cory Gardner spent his spring break in the Middle East, and he says he took “copious” notes during his eight-day, six-country tour. Mark Matthews of the Denver Post catches up with the “amorphous” Gardner:
Asked how long he thought U.S. military personnel should remain in Afghanistan — which he estimated at 10,000 in strength — the freshman senator demurred.
“That’s something that our president and commanders and leaders on the ground will work through,” he said.
His position on Afghanistan troop levels — forceful in some ways but deferential or amorphous in others — is representative of how Gardner, new to both the Senate and its foreign relations committee, is approaching his growing role as policymaker in U.S. global affairs.
Last week Gardner penned an Op-Ed for the Denver Post in which he sought to remind readers that the Middle East is really scary.
► Right-wing radio show host Randy Corporon (560-AM) is sad that Gardner won’t make an appearance on his talk show.
► The City of Denver is among 71 cities and counties that have thus far joined a court brief in support of President Obama’s executive action on immigration.
► Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet is widely considered to be the only Democratic incumbent facing a difficult re-election bid in 2016 — which has a lot to do with the fact that Bennet was one of just a handful of Democrats to win a Senate race in 2010. Bennet’s campaign raised more than $2 million in the first quarter of 2015, and now has about $2.9 million in the bank.
► A State Senate committee is debating how to move forward on a proposed bill dealing with federal public lands after witness testimony on Monday muddled the issue further. As Peter Marcus of the Durango Herald reports, Senate Republicans might want to do some research before they start debating new legislation:
Senate Bill 39 would allow Colorado to exercise authority along with the federal government over federal public lands. Brandon Siegfried, director of the Public Land Access Association, pointed out that the vast majority of public lands in Colorado are held in what is known as a “proprietorial interest only,” meaning the state already has authority…
…After a brief recess by the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee – where the bill was being heard – the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, acknowledged the situation.
“What Mr. Siegfried is saying is we already have supremacy and jurisdiction, and we probably need to take a look at that again and see what we can do to clarify that,” Lambert said. “If that’s actually the case, we may want to take another track on this.”
Good work, Kent Lambert. Really, really, really good work.
► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman announced appointments for five senior positions in the AG’s office.
OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK
► The right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) may be coming to terms with the fact that Climate Change is a real thing.
► The majority of Colorado’s water supply comes from snowmelt, and a dry March has water experts concerned about potential droughts this year.
► Democrat Michael Carrigan is kicking off his campaign for Denver District Attorney on Thursday. Carrigan just completed a very strong initial fundraising quarter.
ICYMI
► Dave Perry of the Aurora Sentinel doesn’t understand why Colorado lawmakers would want to make it easier for homebuilders to get away with shoddy work.
► Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO and a 2010 Republican Senate candidate in California, is blaming environmentalists for California’s droughts.
Get More Smarter by liking Colorado Pols on Facebook!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Don’t Even Try It: Attempted Vote Fraud In Mesa County Stopped Cold
BY: Pam Bennett
IN: Don’t Even Try It: Attempted Vote Fraud In Mesa County Stopped Cold
BY: JohnNorthofDenver
IN: Don’t Even Try It: Attempted Vote Fraud In Mesa County Stopped Cold
BY: Pam Bennett
IN: Don’t Even Try It: Attempted Vote Fraud In Mesa County Stopped Cold
BY: harrydoby
IN: Don’t Even Try It: Attempted Vote Fraud In Mesa County Stopped Cold
BY: bullshit!
IN: Truth Test: Congress Isn’t Shackled By TABOR, Thank Goodness
BY: Chickenheed
IN: Anti-Choice Zealots Beg Pueblo To Reconsider Being Their Petri Dish
BY: 2Jung2Die
IN: Many invalidated ballots likely to result from Proposition 131
BY: NOV GOP meltdown
IN: The Tragedy Of Mayor Mike’s Cowardly Refusal To Say Trump’s Name
BY: harrydoby
IN: Wednesday Open Thread
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!
It’s like Republicans have been saying all along . . .
. . . Of course, climate change is real!
. . . And, of course, it’s all Obama’s fault!
. . . We didn’t have all these terrible droughts back in the 1950’s when we didn’t have all these silly environmental laws and regulations.
. . . The solution is drill-baby-drill, Keystone pipeline, frack more, and strip mine Kentucky down to sea-level.
(GOP talking points, h/t FOX/O’Reilly/Hannity and the Republican/Koch brain trust.)
The problem with acknowledging the problem isn’t the problem, it’s the solutions which The Party of Fiction will never accept.
Yadda yadda yadda….war on coal. Now you’re getting the hang of it.
Why is Dave Perry puzzled? The realtor/developer/homebuilder complex donates huge amounts to compliant legislators’ campaigns.
After Sen. Ray “NEXT IN LINE!” Scott tossed struggling rural communities under the bus to get back at Kerry Donovan for having the audacity to win an election, he had to do something. Why not screw new home buyers statewide?
Its an obvious step up from local to statewide hazard.
South Carolina GOP head charged with criminal domestic violence. This never surprises me. Those who yell the loudest about their superior family values don’t typically value their families much as people.
And those a-hole tweets are real nice, too.
Dudley Brown and Rand Paul…such a cute couple. Looks as though Paul is trying for the gunhead vote.
OK. This isn’t in reference to any of today’s Get More Smarter stories but I bet it would have been if you’d noticed it. Maybe it’s more of a They Must Think They’re Way Smarter Than Us Saps story but it’s just priceless. The NRA, the same organization pushing to legislate loaded guns into schools, churches, bars, government buildings etc, will…. get this… not allow operational guns at its convention for security reasons. Honest to God. Nobody could make this up.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/04/06/nra-bans-operational-guns-at-nra-convention-for-security-reasons/
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2015/04/05/nra-nashville-things-to-know/25291131/
they’re now afraid of their own kind?
“R-KY” makes me snicker.