April 04, 2016 12:37 PM UTC

Get More Smarter on Monday (April 4)

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• by: Colorado Pols

Today is the deadline to submit petition signatures for access to the 2016 Primary ballot. 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…

► The Supreme Court dealt a significant blow to conservative challenges intended to make it easier for more Republican voters to be corralled into a single legislative or congressional district. From the Washington Post:

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that states may satisfy “one person, one vote” rules by drawing legislative districts based on total population of a place, a defeat for conservative interests who wanted the districts based only on voting-age populations.

The case, Evenwel v. Abbott, was considered to be one of biggest on voting rights this term, and a decision the other way would have shifted political power away from urban areas, where Democrats usually dominate, and toward more Republican-friendly rural areas.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority decision.

 

► Republican State Sen. Tim Neville, the favorite to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, is not particularly happy that the Colorado Springs Gazette called him out in a weekend editorial. Neville reacted to the editorial in a manner in which most few of us can relate — he used an assault rifle to shoot holes in a piece of paper with the Gazette‘s name printed on the front. Seems reasonable.

► Colorado Republicans are preparing for Saturday’s State Convention in Colorado Springs, which seems likely to include appearances from GOP Presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. John Kasich, however, will not be coming to Colorado; the Ohio Governor will instead send former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu to Colorado Springs as a surrogate).

Meanwhile, Cruz supporters were successful in filling delegate seats being decided at district assemblies over the weekend. Sadly, this group includes former Secretary of State Scott Gessler, whom we had almost forgotten about altogether.

Get even more smarter after the jump…

IN CASE YOU ARE STANDING NEAR A WATER COOLER…

► Republicans appear to be backing David O. Williams to represent them in HD-15, where Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt is not running for re-election in order to seek the SD-12 State Senate seat. Williams may not be in the same “class” as Dr. Chaps, but he’s equally problematic for the GOP.

► Today is the deadline for candidates in Colorado to submit petition signatures in order to gain access to the June 28th Primary. This is big news for Republicans, who have numerous candidates seeking to bypass the caucus process (Jack Graham, Jon Keyser, Robert Blaha, and Ryan Frazier among them). Many of the GOP candidates got together last week for a couple of debates; we graded the candidate performances at a debate in Weld County.

► Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump apparently has a pretty bleak view of the current state of our country.

► Republican Senator have thus far refused to do anything that would allow for confirmation hearings of a new Supreme Court justice, prompting opponents to start beating the drums of a “Do Your Job” campaign. As Politico reports, it seems to be working:

Chuck Grassley flashed frustration as a constituent pressed him on why he’s refusing confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland.

“When somebody says I’m not doing my job, I kind of resent it,” the Senate Judiciary chairman shot back at a town hall meeting, explaining that he arrives at work at 6:15 a.m. sharp and hasn’t missed a floor vote in 22 years. “I think I do my job.”

For Democrats, Grassley’s irritation over the Easter recess was one small sign that their “Do your job” campaign to get Garland confirmed is moving the needle, if only slightly. Top party aides say more than 400 editorials have been written in their favor, that 2,500 liberal activists turned out over the two-week break and that hundreds of thousands of messages have been delivered to GOP senators demanding they change their position.

► House Speaker Paul “DJ Paulie D” Ryan continues to be mentioned as a potential Presidential choice for Republicans in a brokered-convention scenario. For his part, Ryan continues to insist that his name should not be mentioned in a conversation about 2016.

► Senator Michael Bennet (D-Denver) was traveling around Colorado over the weekend to promote wind energy.

► You can pull those dusty rain barrels out of your shed pretty soon.

► Good news for next winter: Adjustments to Colorado’s “puffer” law will allow people who can remotely start their car engines to do so without facing a potential penalty.

OTHER LINKS YOU SHOULD CLICK

► The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel previews the upcoming week in the Colorado legislature.

► Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the current chair of the Democratic National Committee, has been endorsed by President Obama for re-election. This might not have been the result Schultz’s campaign was expecting.

ICYMI

► Republican Bob Beauprez is not running for office in 2016. As far as we know, anyway.

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