The 2015 NFL season kicks off tonight; here at Colorado Pols, we’re cheering for “not Tom Brady.” 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).
► Let the 2016 Senate race begin! Republican Robert Blaha plans to kick off his campaign in October, while state Sen. Tim Neville continues his statewide “listening tour” in advance of his own formal announcement. There is still plenty of time for another GOP candidate to enter the race to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, but it’s looking more and more like Republicans will be preparing for a Blaha/Neville Primary next June.
► Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Jefferson County) is planning a Monday light-rail tour to highlight the importance of finding money for the Federal Highway Trust Fund. As Joey Bunch reports for the Denver Post:
You don’t see whistle-stop political campaigns much anymore, but that’s kind of what U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter has in mind as he takes the light rail across his district Monday to talk about his upcoming vote on the Highway Trust Fund — the billions of dollars in transportation projects that are supposed to be paid for with the federal fuel tax. That fund has come up woefully short and is scheduled to go broke (again) next June. Many major projects will run out of money on Oct. 29…
…Last year the Denver Post’s transportation reporter, Monte Whaley, called problems for the poorly funded trust fund a “slow motion car wreck,” one that has been prolonged by multi-billion extensions rather than a permanent solution, or as Monte put it “lawmakers so far have failed to agree on how they should refill the highway piggy bank.”
► As Congress races toward the second federal government shutdown in three years, Congressional Republicans are calling out Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for his enthusiastic willingness to be part of the problem.
Get even more smarter after the jump…
► Congress continues its packed schedule of committee hearings to complain about the EPA and the Gold King Mine spill in Silverton last month.
► Former Colorado Governor Bill Owens (and his daughter’s political firm) are backing Jeb! Bush for President. Owens and State Treasurer Walker Stapleton, who is related to the Bush family, will serve as co-chairs for Jeb! in Colorado.
► The Department of the Interior will allow the Colowyo mine in Northwest Colorado to continue operating, for now, but the legal battle is far from over.
► The race for the Republican Presidential nomination continues to devolve into adolescent name-calling. From Yahoo.com:
Republican frontrunner Donald Trump says he wasn’t talking about Carly Fiorina’s looks when he asked a Rolling Stone reporter to imagine “that face” as “the face of our next president.”
“I’m talking about persona, not about looks,” Trump said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
But Trump also hinted that he was aware of how the remark would be perceived.
This is SO stupid.
► Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released results from a new 10-year study on the effect of oil and gas drilling on mule deer populations in Western Colorado. Dennis Webb reports on the story for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel:
The study released by CPW and Colorado State University last month focused on the Piceance Basin southwest of Meeker, home to the state’s largest migratory mule deer herd, and found that “more than half of the critical winter range was impacted by development during the day, and more than one-quarter of the range was impacted during the night.”
If only Republican Bob Beauprez had been elected Governor — we could have been training these deer to migrate somewhere else!
► Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers delivered his first “State of the City” address on Wednesday as he tries to sell voters on a sales tax increase that would finally allow the city to fix some potholes.
► Colorado is making some changes to high school graduation requirements.
► Politico magazine managed to come up with 50 people making the greatest impact on American politics in 2015. Bonus points if you can recognize even one-fourth of the names on the list.
► Congressional Republicans opposed to President Obama’s foreign policy deal with Iran may have to take their grievances to the courtroom.
► Aurora Sentinel editor Dave Perry compares Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis and her faux-cause to the civil rights movement (and not in a good way).
► Former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall will be honored by the ACLU next month. According to a press release:
The ACLU of Colorado is pleased to announce that Senator Mark Udall and civil rights activist Nita Gonzales have been selected to receive our 2015 Civil Rights Awards, which will be presented at the annual Carle Whitehead Bill of Rights Dinner on Thursday, October 8th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Denver.
Senator Udall will receive the Carle Whitehead Memorial Award in recognition of his accomplishments as a legislator in advancing and defending civil rights and civil liberties.
Nita Gonzales will receive the Ralph Carr Award recognizing her leadership and dedication in the struggle for social justice and racial equality.
► Former U.S. Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is picking sides in another Colorado Democratic Primary, backing Jeff Bridges for State House in HD-3.
► Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman is roping the state into a lawsuit challenging President Obama’s Clean Power Plan, despite the fact that similar clean energy efforts in Colorado have long enjoyed bipartisan support.
► The town of Erie passed new oil and gas regulations that will no doubt be challenged by oil and gas companies.
► Scientists claim to have found remains of a newly-discovered human-ish species in Africa. Creationists are already soiling themselves in anger.
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Ding, dong, dead…..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/iran-deal-safe-in-the-senate_55f1d6bfe4b093be51be1a39
Given that the President has sole authority to implement the Iran deal as the chief Executive officer of this country, House Republicans attempting to challenge the deal in court seems silly. The deal reached with Congress on Iran gives them a veto authority they otherwise wouldn't have – a sop for their delaying the imposition of additional sanctions against Iran during the negotiations – but if the whole deal falls through, a challenge in court is likely to wind up with the court telling the House that they need to pass affirmative measures which the President needs to sign if they want to prohibit the Executive Branch from doing their diplomatic and trade duties.
National Republicans are bullies and whiners, all wrapped up in one annoying set of person-shaped packages.
"Person-shaped packages" is pretty brilliant.
It's just to provide more ranting material to feed the frothing at the mouth ignorant base.