It’s Cinco de Mayo, which translates in Denver to “Election Day.” 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…
► It’s Election Day in Denver. If you still have a mail ballot at home, you’re going to need to truck that sucker to a drop-off location before 7:00 p.m. Visit the website of the Denver Clerk and Recorder for drop-off information.
► Republican-led efforts to pass a fetal homicide Personhood bill in the legislature came to a predictable end yesterday when a House Committee axed SB-268 on a party-line vote.
► The U.S. Supreme Court seems a little hazy about what to do with legal marijuana, so they are asking the advice of the U.S. Solicitor General. As it turns out, we still have a Solicitor General.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
SHOULD YOU FIND YOURSELF STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…
► Colorado legislators had been discussing a plan to give the state more clout in the 2016 Presidential election…and then Republicans killed their own bill because of Steve House, or something.
► The Jefferson County PTA is asking the Jeffco School Board to formally censure School Board Member Julie Williams for being a complete dunce and promoting information from a noted hate group opposing last month’s “Day of Silence” for LGBT rights.
► Legislators are still working on a bill that would allow the State of Colorado to keep more of its tax revenue to pay for critical infrastructure needs.
► Sportsmen are celebrating the demise of SB-39, the last of this year’s crop of bills aimed at trying to take control of federal lands within the state.
► Put those rainbarrels away for now. As Marianne Goodland of the Colorado Statesman reports, legislation to allow Coloradans to collect rainwater has gone dry:
A stubborn Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, is blocking any opportunity for House Bill 15-1259 to get to the Senate for a vote. The bill would allow Coloradans to collect up to two 55-gallon rain barrels of water that drain off their rooftops. The water could then be used for outdoor purposes, such as lawn and garden irrigation.
The bill was heard on April 16 in the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources and Energy Committee, which Sonnenberg chairs. Sonnenberg opposes the bill but it does have the support of Senate President Pro Tem Ellen Roberts, R-Durango, the committee’s vice-chair. That would give the bill enough votes to go to the Senate floor for final action.
Supporters, including municipal water districts, believe allowing rain barrels would help educate people on how much water they use and eventually help reduce water consumption. The legislation accomplishes two goals, according to Chris Arend of Conservation Colorado. It legalizes the use of rain barrels, which most Coloradans support. People would like to use rainwater on their gardens, he explained. Secondly, the legislation would increase awareness of water issues, such as the scarcity of water. When it doesn’t rain, a rain barrel would illustrate that Coloradans live in a desert environment and should be careful with water. “It’s a practical, common sense bill,” Arend said.
► The State Senate is taking another look at legislation regarding the pension plan for Denver Public Schools. There was some controversy surrounding the discussion last week when Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post reported that Republicans were getting political pressure from Washington D.C. that might influence their decision on HB-1391; the current pension plan was set up by then-DPS Chief (and now U.S. Senator) Michael Bennet, who is running for re-election in 2016.
OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK
► The Office of Consumer Counsel may be “disconnected” if legislators can’t come up with a compromise solution, as Peter Marcus of The Durango Herald reports:
It seems like a simple concept. The OCC is up for renewal, and in the past, the Legislature has gone ahead and continued the office. But this year, it has become locked in partisan politics, as lawmakers debate whether to keep telecommunications as part of its purview…
…At stake is the entire office. If lawmakers are unable to advance a measure to the governor, the office would sunset. It is set to begin to close in July, though the actual process to close would take about a year.
It was created by legislation in 1984, operating under the Department of Regulatory Agencies. The OCC represents consumers on utility issues before the Public Utilities Commission. Supporters of the office state that it has saved consumers an estimated $1.7 billion in rates over the last 30 years. [Pols emphasis]
Pffft. Why would Republicans want to save consumers money when they could make a handful of telecom lobbyists happy instead?
► Congressman Scott Tipton (R-Cortez) is among several Members of Congress asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to clarify grazing rights (for sheep, not for Congressmen).
► The Democratic National Committee says it will sanction a half-dozen Presidential Primary debates for 2016. Do we really need to hear Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talk to each other six different times?
ICYMI
► Legislation is still moving ahead in Colorado that would give elected officials a much-needed pay raise beginning in 2019.
► Retired surgeon Ben Carson, who is seeking the GOP Presidential nomination in 2016, is apparently a big fan of Ben Carson.
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Re Clinton and Sanders: yes. I think we do.
We'll have 12 opportunities to hear the ever-more-crowded clown car of Republicans debate; 6 Democratic debates doesn't seem a bad thing, and given the smaller field (maybe with O'Malley as a third) the debates might be topic-focused…
Agree. After all, the whole point of Bernie running is to bring attention to and pressure to bear on issues. To do that we need a full schedule of debates. It's not as if anyone, including Bernie, thinks he's got a serious shot. His is an issues and pressure campaign. Kind of like all the clown car candidates on the right who know they don't have a snowball's chance in hell but want to push the Republican party choice or eventual candidate in a more Tea Party direction except that Bernie is no clown and, in fact, Bernie's ideas make more sense than anyone's.
Warren isn't running so it's going to be just Bernie for a more progressive than dead center voice. HRC had better get used to some pressure before the general and where else is it going to come from in the primary stage? All the other as yet uncommitted maybes (and more likely nots) are just as centrist as she is or farther to the right.
BTW, Glad the click to edit is still around.
Shameful!!! Parker teens (Chaparral HS) show themselves not only classless, but racially insensitive and tone deaf about gun violence. Aurora theater trial underway only 4 miles from the HS. http://www.rawstory.com/2015/05/gun-toting-colorado-teens-pose-for-prom-pics-with-confederate-flag-as-parents-egg-them-on/
Arghhhh!
That is all.
If you don't care about policy, as CO Pols likes to pretend (I'm guessing this relates mostly to Dems who they dare not criticize) then you wouldn't want these debates
But many of us do care about policy, CPols, and we know that politics affects the policy, and that even discussing the issues on our side can drive intelligence into the debate and can provide resistance to the constant rightward drift of our politics and policies the last 30+ years.
This is the dilemma Michael Bennet finds himself in now. The politics of several of these issues has changed dramatically over the course of Obama's presidency. Where Bennet and Udall could openly flout more populist elements of the Democratic Party in '09 and link their stars to the DLC, Fix the Debt, Corporate Democrats who hadn't yet been thoroughly vanquished at the polls, that political strategy and policy emphasis has since lost its momentum, and many of its adherents, thanks to Bennet and the wayy too predictable DSCC and the disemployed Udall.
If Bennet continues to ignore those shifts, continues to ignore the economic realities that Hillary Clinton quite obviously sees (at least for now), and ignores the results of a valueless, technocratic campaign, and ignores the true populism and popularity of Bernie Sanders then he probably won't invoke the wrath of CPols, but he won't incite the enthusiasm of voters, either.
Good luck with that, guys, and your specious claim to care about the politics, not the policy.