July 28, 2015 09:46 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (July 28)

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• by: Colorado Pols

If you don’t want to get traded, you might want to avoid Coors Field this week. Let’s 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…

► Parents and activists in Jefferson County will submit 90,000 petition signatures to the County Clerk today on what supporters are calling “Turn-In Tuesday.” Proponents of  recalling three right-wing Jefferson County School board members needed less than three weeks to collect 30,000 signatures (for each member; by completing the signature-gathering process so quickly, there should be plenty of time for the recall questions to appear on the regular November ballot for all Jeffco voters.

► The Colorado Rockies traded star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki on Monday night, sending the 9-year veteran to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for shortstop Jose Reyes and — more importantly — two top pitching prospects. This has nothing to do with politics, of course, but Tulo is a big enough name in Colorado to warrant a mention here.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Congress is not particularly effective these days, but they can still pass legislation when they make an effort (and there is a news peg for the right-wing to shout about). Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) emerged from hiding to vote YES on a bill intended to punish so-called “sanctuary cities.” As Colorado Pols wrote yesterday:

Defending Thursday’s vote, Coffman said “it cannot be seen as anti-immigrant, as anti-Hispanic.” But with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump demagoguing the tragic yet anecdotal incident universally cited as the reason for rushing this bill through the GOP-controlled House, making this a focus of a campaign that has already outraged Hispanics over Trump’s unapologetic racist overtures…how can it possibly be seen as anything else?

► Another day, another opportunity for Republican infighting. Senator Mike Lee
(R-Utah) really wanted to demand another pointless vote to repeal Obamacare, but as the Washington Post reports, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not pleased:

Lee gave up his plan to seek an amendment to the must-pass highway bill with a simple-majority vote — a tactic known as the “nuclear option” — after serious backlash from Republican colleagues, including McConnell.

Republicans were angered by an e-mail sent by a Lee staffer to outside groups, including the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, encouraging them to “score” the amendment vote. That would have forced Lee’s colleagues to support his Obamacare gambit or risk criticism from the right.

Lee’s actions prompted McConnell to call an hour-long closed-door meeting Monday night to bring the party together on a central strategy after weeks of infighting. Lee at first proposed pulling the amendment in favor of getting a later vote during budget reconciliation.

► The Boy Scouts of America have decided to change a rule that prohibited openly-gay men from serving as scout leaders.

► The family of one of the Aurora Theater Shooting victims is likely to declare bankruptcy after unsuccessfully suing an online ammunition dealer.

► When you have 16 candidates seeking the Republican Presidential nomination, it’s only a matter of time before some of them start to fade from lack of support. It is a bit of a surprise, however, that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is cratering so early. From Politico:

Rand Paul, once seen as a top-tier contender, finds his presidential hopes fading fast as he grapples with deep fundraising and organizational problems that have left his campaign badly hobbled.

Interviews with more than a dozen sources close to the Kentucky senator, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, painted a picture of an underfunded and understaffed campaign beaten down by low morale.

► The City of Aurora and Adams County are finalizing a deal to allow Aurora to house more jail inmates.

► Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry explains why raising the minimum wage affects everybody — whether you realize it or not.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Congress is discussing a GMO-labeling bill that proponents of GMO-labeling don’t like very much.

► Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has installed a low ceiling for his own ambitions.

ICYMI

► The Vice-Chair of the Colorado Republican Party seems to think that the most wanted criminals in Los Angeles are all Hispanic. We don’t know why he’s talking about this, either.

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