March 29, 2016 12:04 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Tuesday (March 29)

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• by: Colorado Pols

It is Tuesday, once again, though this one isn’t even sorta-super; there are no Presidential primaries or caucuses today. 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…

► State Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg was taken to the Republican Party woodshed yesterday after referring to fellow Sen. Kerry Donovan as “eye candy” during a Senate committee debate about legislation dealing with offshore tax havens.

► Vice President Joe Biden will be in Boulder on April 8 to speak about sexual violence. From the Longmont Times-Call:

Biden will be in Boulder on April 8 as part of the Obama administration’s “It’s On Us” campaign to prevent sexual assault on college campuses, according to press secretary Meghan Dubyak.

The time and location of Biden’s visit were not yet available, she said. In a news release, the university said ticketing information would be announced at a later date.

Biden also will visit the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Nevada Las Vegas during the “It’s On Us Week of Action” next week, Dubyak said.

Shortly after the launch of the campaign in the fall of 2014, the Boulder campus embraced the idea and applauded the White House for acknowledging a serious national issue.

► Former Colorado State University Athletic Director Jack Graham is the first Republican U.S. Senate candidate to submit petition signatures to qualify for the June Primary ballot.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Liar, liar! Pants are aflame across America.

► On Monday we wrote about a strongly-worded editorial published by the Colorado Springs Business Journal that takes sharp jabs at State Senate President Bill Cadman’s stubborn refusal to allow the so-called “Hospital Provider Fee” to even make it to the floor for debate. Colorado Senate Republicans, using the official Twitter account for the Senate Majority, responded by calling the Business Journal “faux-journalism.”

Faux journos question our independence https://t.co/bTbSBXJXfX while aping dim Dem talking points #copolitics pic.twitter.com/k1Et3NqrRC

— Colorado Senate GOP (@ColoSenGOP) March 28, 2016

Classy!

► Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison is backing Colorado state Sen. Morgan Carroll in her bid to unseat Rep. Mike Coffman in CD-6.

► House Speaker Paul “DJ Paulie D” Ryan has been an outspoken critic of Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, and today His Hairness takes his message to Ryan’s hometown. From Politico:

When Donald Trump plants a flag Tuesday in the hometown of House Speaker Paul Ryan, he’ll be sounding the opening shot of a weeklong battle for Wisconsin — a symbolic beachhead in his fight to vanquish the Republican establishment.

“I think he may be trying to make a point there,” said Congressman Reid Ribble, a Republican who has vowed not to support Trump even if he becomes the GOP nominee. “I don’t think it’s going to go over that well with Paul Ryan supporters.”…

…A win in Wisconsin’s April 5 primary would keep Trump on pace toward collecting the delegates he needs to clinch the GOP nomination. It would also net him a win in the home of three of the party establishment’s biggest names: Ryan, Gov. Scott Walker and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

Speaking of Wisconsin, remember that Republican Governor who briefly ran for President…what’s his name…oh, right, Scott Walker. Yesterday Walker endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as his preferred choice to become the GOP Presidential nominee.

► Ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby.

► A majority of the dozen-or-so Republican candidates seeking the U.S. Senate nomination participated in a nearly THREE HOUR DEBATE on Monday in an event streamed live by Denver’s Channel 7 and hosted by the South Metro Chamber of Commerce.

► Labor unions are applauding a Supreme Court “decision” today that allows them to continue to require union members who receive union benefits t0 actually pay their union dues. From the New York Times:

A case that seemed poised to deal a major blow to public unions ended in a 4-4 tie on Tuesday at the Supreme Court, effectively delivering a big victory to the unions.

When the case was argued in January, the court’s conservative majority seemed ready to say that forcing public workers to support unions they had declined to join violates the First Amendment.

But the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February changed the balance of power in the case, which was brought by California public schoolteachers who chose not to join unions and objected to paying for the unions’ collective bargaining activities on their behalf…

…Government workers who are not members of unions have long been able to obtain refunds for the political activities of unions like campaign spending. The case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, No. 14-915, asked whether such workers must continue to pay for any union activities, including negotiating for better wages and benefits. A majority of the justices seemed inclined to say no.

► Democrat Michael Carrigan captured the top spot on the ballot for the June 28 Denver District Attorney Primary.

► Donald Trump’s campaign manager lied to the media when he claimed that he did not physically assault former Breitbart News reporter Michelle Fields. Color us…unsurprised.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► Republican Governors around the country are finding themselves in a tough spot when it comes to LGBT and so-called “religious rights” issues: Do they back “big business” or the religious right?

► Superdelegate lobbying is taking on new life as supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders seek to convince elected officials to back their guy instead of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Congressman Jared Polis (D-Boulderish) is even being nudged to feel the Bern via takeout order.

ICYMI

► The Aurora Police Department will be affected by a General Motors decision to recall some 6,300 police cars that could have a defect in the power steering operations.

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