Friday is “National Wear Teal Day” to promote awareness of ovarian cancer; can we skip the teal if we just tell a few people to be aware of the signs of ovarian cancer? 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…
► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) is expected to publicly announce his support today for President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. As Mark Matthews reports for the Denver Post, Bennet is also announcing a new legislative plan to improve the Iran deal:
As part of his declaration, the Colorado lawmaker and former Democratic party leader also will unveil a new legislative plan that Bennet says will strengthen the deal while steering more money to Israel for its national defense…
…By coming forward now, Bennet still is able to register his support while avoiding the political fallout that comes with being the “deciding” vote, a label that was used to great effect in past elections to target Senate backers of the Affordable Care Act.
Which is why Bennet’s roll-out of a new legislative package that includes funding for Israeli security is also significant.
► Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis seems a bit confused about the purpose of her continued refusal to issue same-sex marriage licenses. From the Associated Press:
A defiant county clerk went to jail Thursday for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, but five of her deputies agreed to comply with the law, ending a two-month church-state standoff in Rowan County, Kentucky.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning said he had no choice but to jail Kim Davis for contempt after she insisted that her “conscience will not allow” her to follow federal court rulings on gay marriage…
…”Her good faith belief is simply not a viable defense,” Bunning said. “I myself have genuinely held religious beliefs … but I took an oath.”
“Mrs. Davis took an oath,” he added. “Oaths mean things.”
Judge Bunning told Davis that she could go free as long as she promised not to interfere with issuing marriage licenses to all couples, but she chose to go to jail instead, according to her attorneys (her counsel also compared Davis to a “Jew living in Nazi Germany,” because, you know, somebody had to make the inevitable Nazi comparison).
To recap, Davis is now sitting in jail while Rowan County clerks are issuing same-sex marriage licenses, so her protest is accomplishing very little. Maybe she just likes the food in jail.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…
► The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a report on their investigation into failures with the Aurora VA Hospital project, and the results don’t really highlight anything we didn’t already know. As the Denver Postreports:
An Army Corps of Engineers report concludes that the poor choice and use of an unfamiliar contracting method was the primary factor in busting the budget of a veterans hospital in Aurora by a billion dollars.
The Corps report was released Thursday as Sloan Gibson, deputy secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, made his 10th visit to the construction site and again expressed confidence that the hospital will be completed…
…But “the single biggest driver of cost and schedule delays is unquestionably the fundamental mismanagement of Integrated Design and Construction (IDC) methodology,” the Corps reported, which resulted in a breach of the construction contract and a shutdown last December.
For some reason, the report was dated “June 8th” but wasn’t released to the media until yesterday — which was not June. What did Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) have to say about the report and the visit from Gibson? The Post doesn’t mention Coffman, the Chairman of the Oversight Committee for the House Veteran’s Affairs Committee. Unless Congress approves an extension, funding for the Aurora VA Hospital runs out on Sept. 30.
Unlike Trump, within the past few years Mike Coffman has been awkwardly running/stumbling away from this anti-immigrant legacy as fast as he can. In fact, he started learning Spanish – I know because he attempted to speak with me in Spanish during an event we both attended in 2013. But, despite his newfound bilingualism, the truth is that Coffman is alarmingly similar to Trump.
► Colorado Springs Republican Robert Blaha says he will enter the race for U.S. Senate because he is not happy about Sen. Michael Bennet’s decision to support President Obama’s nuclear policy with Iran. Blaha tried unsuccessfully to defeat Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) in 2014, so there’s no reason to think he’ll fare much better in a statewide race. But, whatever.
► JEB! Bush might be having more success as a Republican Presidential candidate if he wasn’t so damn boring.
► Officials in Durango and La Plata County continue to discuss a potential Superfund designation to clean up old mining sites such as the Gold King Mine, which turned the Animas River orange after a spill in early August.
Throughout the recall campaign, concerns were expressed on both sides about when the election might take place. If a special election had to be called separate from the already scheduled coordinated election in November, the school district would have pay around $500,000 in election costs.
Thursday afternoon, Griffin set the recall election date as November 3, which is the same day as the coordinated election where two school board seats are already on the ballot. Now, these three recall elections will be included in the same mail Coordinated Election Ballot going out to voters.
► The Denver Broncos lost their final preseason game on Thursday, falling to the Arizona Cardinals 22-20 in Denver. The Broncos finish the preseason with a 3-1 record, which usually translates into…absolutely nothing of relevance once the regular season begins next week.
Speaking of the Jeffco School Board Recall, Denver's (mis)Leading Newspaper appears to have put a fresh coat of whitewash on the whole affair.
You see, those God-fearin', Union-bustin' righteous recall targets are just victims of a rising tide of partisanship that just came out of, like, nowhere!
Thank you, Senator Bennet for your support of the Iran deal. You could call me an "Obama Democrat". I have supported Senator Bennet from the beginning because it was obvious that President Obama and Michael Bennet are sympatico. To my knowledge, Senator Bennet has always had President Obama's back whenever his vote was truly needed. This vote is yet another example of Senator Bennet's support for President Obama agenda.
I think there's a good chance of getting to 41 but, even if we do Bennet could choose not to go along with a filibuster. Manchin suggested that even if he goes along with support he probably won't go along with a filibuster. Small "d" democracy and all that, or maybe just a desire to partly appease the anti lobbies if he chooses to support. Denying Dems total, no veto necessary victory could be worth something to him politically.
It does still matter whether a veto is required or there's enough support to prevent the need for a veto. I agree with reporter Matthews that Bennet got out of one tough spot by waiting until after the 34 required to sustain a veto was reached but not that Bennet's choices now and going forward no longer matter. Still do.
As for Manchin, no matter what he decides, for or against, it's hard to argue against the principle of refusing to filibuster to allow a small "d" democratic vote though I'm against it on political grounds and naturally would love to see the GOP fail as abjectly as possible on this. Also not convinced it's an action he's contemplating as a matter of principle instead of appeasement.
I'm not hearing anything about Bennet contemplating a similar route. Supporting no voting Cardin's legislation appears to be enough for him. Here's to getting enough to filibuster the SOBs.
September 04, 2015 12:38 PM UTC
6 Comments
This website is running about as well as Obamacare today.
That's not really an insult anymore, so…thanks?
Speaking of the Jeffco School Board Recall, Denver's (mis)Leading Newspaper appears to have put a fresh coat of whitewash on the whole affair.
You see, those God-fearin', Union-bustin' righteous recall targets are just victims of a rising tide of partisanship that just came out of, like, nowhere!
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_28754957/recall-use-rise-jeffco-school-board-effort-is?source=hot-topic-bar
Thank you, Senator Bennet for your support of the Iran deal. You could call me an "Obama Democrat". I have supported Senator Bennet from the beginning because it was obvious that President Obama and Michael Bennet are sympatico. To my knowledge, Senator Bennet has always had President Obama's back whenever his vote was truly needed. This vote is yet another example of Senator Bennet's support for President Obama agenda.
Six more years! (Deal with it, Zap.)
I think there's a good chance of getting to 41 but, even if we do Bennet could choose not to go along with a filibuster. Manchin suggested that even if he goes along with support he probably won't go along with a filibuster. Small "d" democracy and all that, or maybe just a desire to partly appease the anti lobbies if he chooses to support. Denying Dems total, no veto necessary victory could be worth something to him politically.
It does still matter whether a veto is required or there's enough support to prevent the need for a veto. I agree with reporter Matthews that Bennet got out of one tough spot by waiting until after the 34 required to sustain a veto was reached but not that Bennet's choices now and going forward no longer matter. Still do.
As for Manchin, no matter what he decides, for or against, it's hard to argue against the principle of refusing to filibuster to allow a small "d" democratic vote though I'm against it on political grounds and naturally would love to see the GOP fail as abjectly as possible on this. Also not convinced it's an action he's contemplating as a matter of principle instead of appeasement.
I'm not hearing anything about Bennet contemplating a similar route. Supporting no voting Cardin's legislation appears to be enough for him. Here's to getting enough to filibuster the SOBs.