November 10, 2015 11:39 AM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (Nov. 10)

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• by: Colorado Pols

If you have been spending a lot of time being concerned about holiday coffee cups at Starbucks, you might want to try pouring the hot liquid over your head. 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…

► Republican Presidential candidates will square off in yet another debate tonight in Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Theater. The Theater — formerly the Milwaukee Auditorium — is the same venue where former President Teddy Roosevelt famously delivered a 90-minute campaign speech after being shot in the chest by a would-be assassin on Oct. 14. 1912.

Presumably none of the Republican candidates will be speaking tonight with a bullet lodged in their ribs (although you never know with Ben Carson). Neil Cavuto, one of tonight’s moderators from Fox Business News Channel, is warning candidates not to look like “whiners and babies” — a clear reference to the complaining that occurred before, during, and after the Oct. 28 CNBC debate in Boulder.

The big debate starts at 7:00 p.m. (MST), with a four-candidate “Junior Varsity” debate at 5:00. Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee have been demoted to the “kid’s table” tonight, replacing Lindsey Graham and George Pataki.

Can’t wait for the debate to begin? Cast your own vote in our regular poll about who will be the next Republican to drop out of the race for President.

► Colorado Lieutenant Governor Joe Garcia announced today that he will step down from office sometime before next July in order to begin a new job with the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education in Boulder. Garcia’s decision makes it less likely that he will attempt his own bid for Governor when John Hickenlooper is term-limited in 2018.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Colorado voters will get a chance to decide on the merits of single-payer health care, as the Denver Post reports:

Proponents of a single-payer state system gathered enough signatures to put ColoradoCare on the ballot, the secretary of state’s office announced Monday.

They needed 98,492 valid signatures to put a state-governed health care system to a vote. After reviewing a 5 percent sample of the  158,831 signatures submitted, the secretary of state projected that the valid total would be 110 percent of the number required — and certified that Initiative 20, the “State Health Care System,” will be on the 2016 ballot.

Residents would choose their own health care providers, but ColoradoCare would pay the bills.

The measure is likely to ignite a fiery debate because of the costs involved. Backers estimate ColoradoCare would raise $25 billion a year for health-care costs through a proposed 10 percent payroll tax. Critics decry it as a massive expansion of government that would double the size of the state budget.

If opponents of the proposed measure have a crystal ball anywhere near as hazy as the one used by anti-Obamacare folks, this could be an interesting battle to watch.

► The U.S. Forest Service says it needs more funds to fight wildfires effectively.

►Wombghazi! A group of far-right Republican legislators held a long and pointless hearing about Planned Parenthood on Monday. This was not an official legislative hearing — it was called by legislative members of the Republican Study Committee of Colorado — yet many Republicans were still somehow perplexed that virtually nobody showed up to testify.

► Political corruption is reaching new heights in New Mexico, with federal and local investigators looking into a host of serious allegations against Gov. Susana Martinez and her top political advisor, Jay McCleskey. Before heading up Martinez’s political machine, McCleskey did a lot of work in Colorado as a regional political director for the Republican National Committee.

► El Paso County Commissioner Peggy Littleton has launched a website that she claims will help her to decide whether or not to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2016. Littleton insists that there are a lot of people encouraging her to run — and not all of them are imaginary!

► Some law enforcement officials in Colorado are seeking guidance on how to proceed with implementing new laws targeting cyberbullying.

► Mark your calendars for Nov. 19th! The final draft of the first-ever Colorado State Water Plan will be released in about 10 days. Leaked copies of the Water Plan are already being sold on eBay for tens of thousands of dollars (probably).

► The Denver City Council has approved a $1.8 billion budget for 2016. The City Council also agreed on new panhandling rules, as Jon Murray reports for the Denver Post:

Unlike the budget, which council members generally applauded, the panhandling ordinance changes won quiet approval in a 9-0 block vote with no discussion.

Reacting to a recent federal ruling striking down Grand Junction’s panhandling law, Denver city attorneys  asked the council to make changes that stripped out provisions based on what a person says. That leaves intact restrictions that are based on actions and threats.

The upshot is that panhandlers legally will be able to solicit for handouts near ATMs and after dark, ask a person for money repeatedly after being turned down, and solicit on light-rail trains and buses.

► The editorial board of the Denver Post thinks it is time to revisit a misguided 2005 law that made it more difficult for local governments to partner on broadband Internet service projects. Results from last week’s election back up that argument.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Senate President Mitch McConnell once vowed that his chamber would work longer hours under the Capitol dome in order to get more accomplished…sorry, what was that? As Politico reports, the Senate will work a whole 31 weeks in 2016:

The Senate next year will take its longest summer break in two decades, a quirk of the presidential party conventions that will give lawmakers off half of July plus all of August. When they finally return, it won’t be for long. The chamber is slated to be in session a total of five weeks during the final three months of the year.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s awful. I don’t even know how to respond,” rookie Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) said after perusing next year’s calendar.

Perhaps this is the GOP’s big plan for “shrinking government” — just stop showing up to work.

► Brad Miller, the controversial attorney hired by three different right-wing school boards (Douglas, Jefferson, and Thompson Valley), apparently has no trouble reading the writing on the wall in the aftermath of the 2015 school board elections. Miller resigned from the Thompson Valley School District, and is expected to be canned in Jefferson County if he doesn’t do the same.

ICYMI

► Is it time to make Election Day an official holiday in order to encourage increased voter turnout? The Nation likes the idea.

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