Abortion Ban Bills Die, Colorado Press Corps Mansplains

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  by: Colorado Pols February 23, 2018 at 2:54 PM MST

Ultrasound wand. Some of you know where it goes.

The Colorado Independent’s John Herrick reports on hearings yesterday in the Colorado House on two Republican-sponsored bills: one banning abortion outright and another imposing onerous medically unnecessary requirements to abortions in Colorado with the clear intent of making them harder to get:

Democrats on Thursday blocked a bill that would have required doctors to offer women seeking an abortion an ultrasound of the fetus 24 hours before the procedure and, if available, an audio of its heartbeat. Doctors also would have had to to inform the patient of the health risks of an abortion.

The bill failed in the Health, Insurance and Environment Committee on a party line 7-6 vote…

[D]octors and women who testified on the bill said it could lead to physicians giving out medically inaccurate information. And other provisions of the bill, they said, would have the effect of making it harder to get an abortion.

[Rep. Lori] Saine has proposed similar bills in the last two years without success. It is one of three bills introduced this legislative session that would restrict or criminalize abortion. In a split legislature, with a Democrat in the governor’s office, the bills are destined to go nowhere.

Another bill, sponsored by Rep. Stephen Humphrey, R-Eaton and Sen. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, among others, would make it a crime to perform an abortion. Voters have rejected similar personhood proposals, which define life as beginning at conception, when they voted down ballot measures in 2008, 2010 and 2014. The two have proposed the same bill every year since at least 2016.

Eric Galatas of Colorado News Connection also reported on yesterday’s debate, with useful national context:

Victoria Gomez Betancourt with the Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, said these kinds of measures perpetuate a dangerous culture of silencing and shaming people for their reproductive health care decisions: “That seek to demonize people for seeking abortion care or other types of reproductive health care services,” Gomez Betancourt said. “That becomes an obstacle for having frank conversations in the family space or with health care providers.”

…According to the Population Institute’s annual 50 State Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights, the nation as a whole slipped from a “D” to a “D-minus” because of tightened state and federal policies that limit access to contraceptive and other health care services. [Pols emphasis]

Our understanding is that dozens of women showed up yesterday to testify against these two bills. The abortion “information” bill debated yesterday included a requirement to notify women about the dangerous practice of “abortion reversal, and the other was legislation to make abortion a class 1 felony in this state–which would obviously trigger a court battle to overturn the historic Roe v. Wade decision upholding abortion rights.

Colorado is fortunate that the state’s all-female and pro-choice leadership in the House means these bills don’t go far–for now. But in other states, they do. So-called “abortion reversal” legislation has passed in the Arizona legislature, mandatory ultrasounds in many states, and the abortion restrictions in House Bill 18-1082 were actual Texas law before being struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016.

With all of this in mind, the overall lack of press coverage of yesterday’s abortion bills is a real problem. We get that the press corps is stretched thin and tugged in multiple directions. But we’ve heard that the Capitol press corps was actually rather snotty to representatives of pro-choice groups who asked them to cover the event, declaring that abortion bills destined to die in the House were undeserving of their time.

That’s just wrong. Colorado is never more than one election away from going backwards on reproductive rights, and given what is passing into law in other states, these rights cannot be taken for granted in Colorado. In 2014, the local press became openly hostile toward abortion rights activists who insisted that Cory Gardner was deceiving Colorado voters when he “backed off” his support for the Personhood abortion bans.

And then Gardner spent the next three years making them eat their words.

The only thing we have to add to this story is this: the political press in Colorado should consider asking itself why bills that would have such a devastating effect on women are unworthy of coverage when so many other bills destined to die in Colorado’s split legislature do get covered. When we think about this in the context of separate but related issues, like the sexual harassment scandal in the General Assembly that stayed so quiet for so long…

Well, suffice to say we can see a connection.

Cynthia Coffman apparently doesn’t want to talk about Planned Parenthood anymore

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  by: Jason Salzman February 23, 2018 at 1:02 PM MST

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Attorney General Cynthia Coffman

Republican gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Coffman, who’s also Colorado’s attorney general, spent a substantial chunk of time during her early career helping Colorado Republicans develop legal arguments to defund Planned Parenthood.

She became widely known as an expert on the arcane topic, and last year, anti-abortion activists repeatedly cited Coffman’s 2001 legal opinion as evidence in a lawsuit (footnote 3 here) claiming that Colorado’s ban on using tax dollars for abortion precludes the state from funding Planned Parenthood at all, even for the women’s health organization’s non-abortion services for low income people, such as breast cancer screening.

Colorado’s Supreme Court disagreed, ruling last month that the state can provide funds for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services, despite the constitutional abortion-funding ban.

You’d think this would be a major disappointment for Coffman, who once boasted about her role in defunding Planned Parenthood, “We went through the legal process, since I was [Jane Norton’s] attorney, and we defunded Planned Parenthood in that case, because they were using public funds to subsidize abortion.”

Coffman’s campaign did not respond to my request for comment after the Colorado Supreme Court decision last month.

But during a brief interview Wednesday, prior to a debate, Coffman indicated that her hard stance against Planned Parenthood may have softened.

Asked whether she still opposes public funding for Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion services, Coffman declined comment, saying, “That’s a longer conversation we should have another time.”

If Coffman were still opposed to funding for Planned Parenthood, a quick “yes” would have ended my interview.

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Get More Smarter on Friday (February 23)

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  by: Colorado Pols February 23, 2018 at 11:15 AM MST

Huzzah! Happy National Banana Bread Day! It’s time to Get More Smarter. If you think we missed something important, please include the link in the comments below (here’s a good example). If you are more of a visual learner, check out The Get More Smarter Show.

 

TOP OF MIND TODAY…

► Senate Republicans are facing a new round of serious questions about sexual harassment at the State Capitol after another complaint was filed against state Sen. Randy Baumgardner and an earlier complaint against state Sen. Jack Tate was deemed credible by outside investigators. From Bente Birkeland at KUNC:

A complaint alleging that Sen. Jack Tate harassed a woman at the state Capitol has been found credible. The woman, a former intern, alleged that Tate flirted with her and touched her in an elevator in an unwelcome manner during the 2017 legislative session. The former intern was 18 years old at the time, and has asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution.

In an independent investigation, the Employers Council sided with the accuser…

…Tate declined to comment for the moment. He added that he would make a comment when he feels it is appropriate to do so. The woman said she wants leaders in the state Senate to hold Tate accountable.

You may recall that a group of female lobbyists rushed to Tate’s defense in December as some sort of pre-emptive character defense of the accused sexual harasser; we’re guessing these women feel about as terrible now as they looked at the time.

The Tate story is actually the second story of harassment involving Senate Republicans breaking in the last day. Bente Birkeland of KUNC reported on Thursday that a third sexual harassment complaint has been filed against Baumgardner. It was just last week that Senate President Kevin Grantham gently slapped Baumgardner on the wrist after an initial harassment complaint was investigated and found to be valid…but not before complaining that the investigation itself was flawed.

In all, three sitting Republican Senators are facing sexual harassment complaints deemed credible by an outside investigation (Sen. Larry Crowder is the third). Harassment complaints about state Rep. Steve Lebsock (D-Thornton) are still under investigation.

 

► The National Rifle Association (NRA) is spinning wildly out of control amid escalating concerns over gun violence in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Florida. Efforts to combat gun violence are being met with newfound support from unlikely sources, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Here in Colorado, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) checked his courage at the door.

Also, President Trump completely changed his tune on gun control (surprise!) during his CPAC speech today. From CNN:

President Donald Trump spent the last two days insisting that he was ready to find compromise on gun control measures in the wake of the murders of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last week…

…That all changed during Trump’s speech Friday morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington. Talking about the stakes of the 2018 election, Trump said that if Democrats win back control of Congress “they’ll take away your 2nd Amendment.”

As he closed his speech, Trump again said Democrats want to repeal the 2nd Amendment: “They will do that, they will do that,” he said.

Which is, of course, not true. It is also hugely toxic to any attempt to find shared ground on the sort of “common sense” changes to gun laws that Trump, um, trumpeted later in his CPAC speech.

Of course, it is completely implausible that the 2nd amendment could actually be “taken away.” Repealing a Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and Senate just to move that proposal along to each of the 50 state legislatures (of which 38 would need to approve).

 

► Governor John Hickenlooper quietly (inexplicably-so) signed his name to legislation on Thursday evening that fixes a drafting error related to the most consequential bill of the 2017 legislative session. The “special districts” or “pot tax” legislative fix signed by Hickenlooper is essentially the same bill that Colorado Republicans refused to consider during a brief special legislative session in October 2017.

 

► Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. As the Washington Post reports, the Russiagate scandal engulfing the White House takes another leap forward today:

Rick Gates, a former top official in President Trump’s campaign, plans to plead guilty to conspiracy and lying to the FBI, according to court papers filed Friday by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

The guilty plea, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday, caps a busy week for Mueller’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and related issues. It also ends a tumultuous period for Gates, who found himself re-indicted, changing lawyers, and agreeing to plead guilty all within 24 hours…

…Gates’ plea raises the pressure on Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman. Both men were hit with a 32-count indictment on Thursday, following an earlier 12-count indictment of the pair back in October.

Gates could provide the special counsel with valuable information about the inner workings of Trump’s operation: He served as a senior figure in the campaign and had access to the White House as an outside adviser in the early months of the administration.

Click here for more analysis on the importance of these latest moves from special counsel Robert Mueller.

 

Get even more smarter after the jump…

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BREAKING: Complaint Against Sen. Tate Found Credible

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  by: Colorado Pols February 23, 2018 at 10:24 AM MST

Sen. Jack Tate (R-“Handsy”).

KUNC’s Bente Birkeland breaks yet more news this Friday on the Colorado General Assembly’s expanding sexual harassment scandal–a complaint against GOP Sen. Jack Tate has been found credible by outside investigators:

In an independent investigation, the Employers Council sided with the accuser.

The investigator found it “more likely than not that in early 2017, Jack Tate said to the [complainant], while alone with her in the elevator: ‘I like the way that skirt looks on you.’ More likely than not that in March of 2017, Jack Tate nudged the [complainant], looked her up and down and acted flirtatious. More likely than not that between January and early April of 2017, Jack Tate put his hand on the [complainant’s] shoulder multiple times. More likely than not that around March of 2017, Jack Tate nudged the [complainant] around her waist or rib area, around seven or eight times.”

In particular, this latest report confirming sexual harassment by a Colorado Senator is very bad for the lobbyists who leapt to Tate’s defense–lobbyists who just happened to have disproportionate business before Tate and Tate’s Business, Labor, and Technology Committee:

After we first reported the woman’s allegations against Tate, several women who work at the Capitol rallied to his defense. Six women, mostly lobbyists, and a Democratic lawmaker, told the Colorado Springs Gazette’s political publication, Colorado Politics, that they had not observed any inappropriate behavior while working with Tate.

That effort led our source to file a formal complaint against him. The comments of Tate’s defenders, she said, seemed to downplay her experiences and an official complaint would force a response. Yet Tate’s defenders led her at times to doubt her own story. [Pols emphasis]

“I thought, what if everybody was right?” the woman said. “What if he was just being Southern-ly polite?”

Well, as it turns out, he wasn’t. It was sexual harassment.

Although the focus in this ongoing story should always remain on the perpetrators, the actions of a few female lobbyists who rushed to defend Sen. Tate with a clear ulterior motive for doing so is another low point in a story that is full of low points. The courage shown by Tate’s accuser stands in stark contrast to well-paid lobbyists who tried to run cover for behavior that society as a whole is no longer willing to tolerate.

With that said, we really have no idea what happens next. GOP Senate President Kevin Grantham’s highly controversial non-punishment of Sen. Randy Baumgardner after a similar finding of credible allegations by the same outside investigator, in which Grantham attacked the investigator’s supposed “inaccuracies, bias, conflicts of interest, and inconsistencies,” doesn’t bode well.

But even if accountability has to wait until November, it’s coming. This is all happening in full view of the #MeToo movement. The well-publicized inaction by Republican leadership today will have a cost in votes against Republicans in November.

Until then, it’s now one Republican lawmaker harder to deny there’s a problem.

Friday Open Thread

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  by: Colorado Pols February 23, 2018 at 6:44 AM MST

“If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must man be of learning from experience.”

–George Bernard Shaw

Once Again: Everybody Knew About Randy Baumgardner

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 4:17 PM MST

Sen. Randy Baumgardner (R).

KUNC’s Bente Birkeland breaks the latest news on the ongoing sexual harassment scandal plaguing the Colorado General Assembly–a new complaint alleging that Sen. Randy Baumgardner created a “hostile work environment” for legislative staffers:

Sen. Randy Baumgardner, who is facing calls to resign in the wake of sexual harassment allegations, has been named in a new complaint at the state Capitol. The accuser, a man who worked as a non-partisan Senate staffer in 2016, alleges that Baumgardner created an offensive and hostile work environment.

In a formal complaint filed with the Senate on Wednesday (Feb. 21, 2018), the male staffer alleges that Baumgardner repeatedly gave a female staffer unwanted attention throughout the 2016 legislative session.

The male staffer, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said when Baumgardner entered the room where they worked it felt negative and disruptive, and made others uncomfortable and impeded his ability to do his job.

“The female staffer would shake her head and call him ‘creepy and disgusting,’” the male staffer wrote in the complaint. “Bottom line, this became an environment that we all endured. It was a cloud that hung in the air, and at the time we didn’t know what to do about it.”

This latest complaint reinforces a point we have made repeatedly since the first word of allegations against Sen. Baumgardner made it into news reports. Like Rep. Steve Lebsock in the House, Baumgardner was well known as a lawmaker prone to sexual harassment. A recurring theme in news reports about the culture of sexual harassment in the Colorado General Assembly has been common knowledge among staff and others professionally obligated to do business with Colorado lawmakers of who to avoid–or not be caught in the same room alone with, or not drink with, et cetera.

…this became an environment that we all endured. [Pols emphasis]

In contrast to the ostracization Lebsock has earned from his fellow Democrats, it is this common knowledge of Baumgardner’s behavior that makes the relative absence of punishment from Republican Senate leadership so galling. There is simply no way that Senate President Kevin Grantham can claim ignorance of Baumgardner’s reputation. And if Grantham really was this ignorant, that’s a problem too.

Either way, this new complaint means that despite Grantham’s efforts, “the matter” is not concluded.

Ultra-conservative CPAC conference has Colorado connections

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  by: Erik Maulbetsch February 22, 2018 at 3:50 PM MST

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

The 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference kicked off today in Maryland. It features a lengthy list of speakers and panels, including NRA President Wayne LaPierre, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Vice President Mike Pence. You can watch the livestream here. Coloradans, though, may be more interested in tomorrow’s program, which not only features former Congressman Bob Beauprez interviewing two Trump cabinet members, but also two live events taking place locally at Lakewood’s Colorado Christian University. Tickets for the Friday events at CCU are available here. Here’s a rundown of all the Colorado-related events:

Friday, February 23, 6:35 am MT

A Conversation with Secretary of Energy Rick Perry and Secretary Ryan Zinke, interviewed by former U. S. Rep. Bob Beauprez

Former CD7 Representative, twice-failed GOP gubernatorial candidate, conservative blogger and occasional right-wing radio host Bob Beauprez will interview two powerful members of President Trump’s cabinet: Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. No specific topics are listed, but issues such as fracking, the oil & gas industry and public land management are safe bets. If a discussion of federal vs. state responsibility for public land does occur, it’s always possible that Beauprez will reiterate his support for the failed “Northern Colorado” secession movement launched by conservative activists in 2013. It’s also possible that Beauprez will raise his fears of “creeping Sharia” with Secretary Perry, who has been accused by fellow CPAC speaker* Pam Geller of being overly friendly with Texas Muslims.

Friday, February 23, 11:50 am MT

Michelle Malkin: “A Time for Action,” Live from the Colorado CPAC Stage

 It’s unclear what specific action Michelle Malkin will advocate for during her ten-minute speech, but a review of her past positions and statements reveals some possibilities. She may suggest placing Muslim-Americans in internment camps, which she justified in her 2004 book, “In Defense of Internment: The Case for “Racial Profiling” in World War II and the War on Terror.”  She may call for Americans to mock the suicides of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, as she did in 2006, shocking her interviewer, Bill O’Reilly.  Perhaps she’ll pose for selfies with those who believe President Obama was a Nazi, as she did in this picture, taken at the Colorado state capitol in 2009.    

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Paid For By The NRA–But What About Paid TO The NRA?

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 3:28 PM MST

As bloggers who focus on Colorado politics, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we spent a fair amount of time running searches on the Colorado Secretary of State’s TRACER campaign finance disclosure website. Recently, with the National Rifle Association’s controlling influence in Republican politics under the spotlight, we’ve naturally looked at the NRA’s funding of candidates like we assume plenty of others have.

But we also ran another search that turned up something interesting–what about payments made to the NRA?

As you can see, there’s not very many of them. You can disregard the larger amounts which appear to be transfers from one NRA entity to another. That leaves a couple of very old payments from obscure figures, a payment from Sen. Randy Baumgardner back in 2008, and several payments from Colorado Secretary of State Wayne Williams.

Before the controversy over the NRA’s role in American politics escalated after last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida, these expenditures most likely wouldn’t have attracted any attention. But now we’re obliged to ask the question: is Wayne Williams paying his NRA dues out of campaign funds? Even if that’s legal, we can’t say it looks good. Maybe if he had some company with other Republicans doing so, but it doesn’t appear so.

It’s not like Williams, like any Republican with a pulse in the last three decades, would be worried about recouping his investment. Obviously, the NRA doles out more to Republican politicians than they expect to get back in dues and magazine subscriptions. Nobody’s suggesting the existence of a kickback scheme in $25 increments.

It’s just weird, in a way that doesn’t look great below contemporary headlines.

No More Faux-Hawk, but Still Very Weird

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 12:29 PM MST

Mark Barrington has trimmed his “faux-hawk” for 2018 (“swing” image via Ernest Luning/Colorado Politics)

We were a little sad to read of the official return to the political stage of Republican Mark Barrington, but only because he seems to have foregone the “faux-hawk” that we came to love from previous campaigns.

Ernest Luning of the publication formerly known as the Colorado Statesman has the story of the latest Republican candidate who will not be defeating Democratic Rep. Ed Perlmutter in a General Election:

Barrington, a 39-year-old salesman, says he looks forward to campaigning door-to-door on a Hoverboard and plans to hold a campaign kick-off event at a trampoline park in the heart of the suburban district. Count on balloon rides for children and popsicles encasing campaign messages on popsicle sticks…

…It’ll be Barrington’s fourth run for office. He tried to win a seat on Lakewood’s city council in 2005, when he was a recent graduate of the city’s Colorado Christian University, and again in 2011. In between, Barrington, who lives with his wife and their two young sons in Lakewood’s Green Mountain neighborhood, mounted a 2010 challenge against then-state Rep. Andy Kerr, D-Lakewood. (Kerr, now a term-limited state senator, was one of four Democrats running for the congressional seat who stepped aside when Perlmutter announced he wanted a seventh term.)

Barrington is not without campaign experience, but can he pose a serious challenge for Perlmutter in 2018? This paragraph from Luning’s story speaks for itself:

The National Republican Congressional Committee put the seat on a target list a year ago — when Perlmutter was considered a likely candidate for governor — and a spokesman said last fall the group still believed it was up for grabs after the incumbent got back in. The spokesman didn’t respond this week to a message seeking comment about Barrington’s candidacy. [Pols emphasis]

We have officially added Barrington to “The Big Line” with a generous 2% chance of winning in November. We look forward to pictures of Barrington going door-to-door on his Hoverboard.

The NRA is Losing Control

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 11:25 AM MST

UPDATE: Chris Cillizza of CNN takes a look at how and why the gun violence debate isn’t petering out in the same manner that it has after other high-profile mass shootings:

The reason for that is simple: Dozens of Stoneman Douglas students have become articulate and vocal spokespeople in support of future gun control legislation. These students are becoming household names as they rally in Tallahassee, and next month in Washington, to keep the national spotlight on the gun issue.

A cadre of young adults speaking out in the wake of watching their classmates be gunned down is a very powerful force that had not been mobilized in anything close to this manner before.

—–

NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch (top) and CEO Wayne LaPierre

Firearm advocates are having a difficult time defending their positions in the wake of last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida. High school students in Florida are organizing themselves, and inspiring others, to push their elected officials to enact stronger gun regulations. Diehard gun rights supporters such as Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and even President Trump are striking a different tone as a result.

This is all very distressing to folks at the National Rifle Association (NRA), who are not dealing well with the blowback. Here’s NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch speaking today at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC):

“Many in legacy media love mass shootings,” Loesch said after walking on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference to a standing ovation. “I’m not saying you love the tragedy, but you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold.” [Pols emphasis]

Her comments echoed a video that NRATV released Wednesday, which slammed the mainstream media for being the “casting call for the next mass shooting.” Loesch also said she is debuting a one-hour show on NRATV next month to combat the mainstream media.

Loesch’s absurd comments were merely a warm-up act for NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre, who later delivered a speech that was heavy on the crazy. From NPR:

LaPierre defended Second Amendment rights and warned of a “socialist agenda” intended to strip firearms away from law-abiding citizens.

“As usual, the opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain,” LaPierre said, adding that 20th century community organizer “Saul Alinsky would have been proud of the breakneck speed for gun control laws and the breathless national media eager to smear the NRA.”

LaPierre, who was not listed on CPAC’s official schedule, accused Democrats of making gun control a political issue in order to achieve their ultimate goal to “eradicate all individual freedoms.” [Pols emphasis]

“What they want are more restrictions on the law-abiding — think about that,” LaPierre said…

…”I hear a lot of quiet in this room, and I sense your anxiety,” LaPierre said, turning to the political consequences of the debate. “And you should be anxious, and you should be frightened. If they seize power, if these so-called ‘European socialists’ take over the House and the Senate, and God forbid they get the White House again, our Americans freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever.” [Pols emphasis]

We wouldn’t blame anyone for being outraged at the commentary from Loesch and LaPierre today, but our first reaction here was a little different: The NRA is going completely off the rails.

When Loesch says that “crying white mothers are ratings gold,” and LaPierre says Democrats “want to eradicate all individual freedoms,” they are ignoring all rational-minded observers and appealing instead to the sort of people who believe that mass shootings are elaborate staged conspiracies instead of very real tragedies that are a uniquely-American problem. This absurdist anger speaks directly to the NRA’s particular choir but demonstrates to everyone else that groups like theirs are indeed the caricatures of gun-hoarding, fear-mongering lunatics that critics have long alleged.

The NRA does not typically embrace this kind of conspiratorial talk so whole-heartedly. That LaPierre and friends are so openly venting their fears and breaking away from prior restraints is a very clear indicator of just how quickly Americans are moving toward a real approach of combating gun violence in 2018. Fear is truth.

Rubio Shows Courage on Guns That Coffman Couldn’t

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 10:34 AM MST

UPDATE: Democrat Jason Crow, Coffman’s likely General Election opponent, released this online ad today addressing the need for gun safety and Coffman’s wishy-washy approach to the issue:

—–

The Hill reports from yesterday’s CNN town hall event in Florida on gun violence in the wake of last week’s school shooting at a high school in Parkland–at which GOP Sen. Marco Rubio made new statements about gun safety that could shift a debate that has been fractiously stalled in Washington for many years, and in Colorado since the dramatic 2013 recalls over gun control bills passed that year:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Wednesday announced he supports a law that would raise the age requirement to purchase a rifle, and would consider a ban of large-capacity magazines…

“I absolutely believe that in this country, if you are 18 years of age you should not be able to buy a rifle. I will support a law that takes that right away,” Rubio said.

He added that he supports banning bump stocks and improving the country’s background check system, measures that have received support from the Trump administration and other lawmakers.

Later in the town hall, Rubio also announced he is rethinking his past support for large-capacity magazines.

“I’ll tell you why,” Rubio said. “Because while it may not prevent an attack, it may say lives in an attack.”

Of all the gun safety bills passed in Colorado in 2013 in response to the Aurora theater mass shooting, by far the most controversial in terms of stoking anger among gun enthusiasts is the ban on gun magazines with a capacity higher than 15 rounds. It was the so-called “mag ban” that gun rights supporters called a step too far, and helped fuel the short-lived fire that ended with the recall of two Democratic state senators.

Today, Sen. Rubio’s newfound willingness to at least consider a limit on magazine capacity, after so many mass shootings have proven how high-capacity magazines balloon the casualty count, shows how far the debate on guns has come since 2013. Rubio is of course notorious for flip-flopping on hot-button issues, and it remains hard to imagine that a magazine limit could pass in the current NRA-dominated Republican Congress. But there’s no question that the landscape of this debate is shifting. Rubio, who represents a state that has witnessed extreme carnage in mass shootings in 2016 in Orlando and again last week, could represent a break in one of the great logjams in American politics.

Contrast Rubio’s responsiveness to that of Colorado’s Rep. Mike Coffman, whose district includes the Century Theater in Aurora where in July of 2012 12 people were killed and dozens injured by a shooter utilizing a 100-round drum magazine, as AP reported yesterday from his very tough town hall Tuesday night:

Sharp questions about guns dominated the hourlong town hall. Coffman said he was willing to discuss “reasonable restrictions within the parameters of the Second Amendment,” a statement that drew fierce boos from the crowd…

He spent much of his time defending some of his previous votes, including for a bill last year to require states to accept concealed-carry permits from other, less-regulated states and another for a bill rolling back an Obama administration rule confiscating guns from people judged not competent enough to manage their Social Security benefits. Coffman contended it was a civil rights issue and noted the American Civil Liberties Union and disability rights groups supported the rollback, a statement that also drew hearty boos.

“I cannot understand how somebody who represented the district that has the Aurora theater in it can say this is a bad idea,” Alex Tillman, 48, who works in risk management, told Coffman.

Press this week for Rep. Coffman on guns, both before and since his town hall on Tuesday, has been very bad. We wrote before that event how Coffman’s response to last week’s shooting that we need to be “laser-focused on mental health,” in dissonant contrast to Coffman’s record of voting against wider access to and coverage for mental health, was totally inadequate.

Now, with other Republicans leapfrogging Coffman’s weakness on guns, he looks even worse.

DeGette called a “White Supremacist” by Republican opponent

5
  by: Jason Salzman February 22, 2018 at 10:14 AM MST

(Oh, good, more Casper Stockham — promoted by Colorado Pols)

Denver congressional candidate Casper Stockham is accusing his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep Diana DeGette (D-CO), of being a “white supremacist.”

Asked about the comment, which he made on Facebook last week, Stockham told the Colorado Times Recorder he thinks DeGette “wants to help black people because they are lesser than her.”

“She believes the white race is higher than the black race,” Stockham told me, explaing that “black people don’t need government assistance.”

[DeGette] doesn’t want equal status,” he continued. “She wants to help them because she thinks they are lesser than her.”

Asked if he has evidence to back up the accusation, Stockham, whose extreme Facebook posts have drawn attention before, said:

“It’s my opinion, based upon how I see her operate. It’s just like people calling Trump a racist. I haven’t seen any evidence of it. But that’s their opinion. And if it’s the majority of the people’s opinion, there is nothing I can do about it. But it is absolutely my opinion that she feels the white race is higher than the black race.”

Stockham, who is African American, made the Facebook comment in response to a post by DeGette’s Democratic primary opponent Saira Rao, who called told ColoradoPolitics.com reporter Ernest Luning that “we have white supremacists running the country.”

Stockham, who lost to DeGette in 2016 and is the likely GOP nominee for this year, responded to Rao on Facebook with, “I agree with Saira but the White Supremacist Elite she is fighting to replace is the real problem.”

Asked to explain her comment about “white sumpremacists running the country,” Rao spokeswoman JoyAnn Ruscha said via email:

“In 2017, we saw candidates of color, LGBTQ individuals, millennials, immigrants, and people from all walks of life beat the odds and swipe seats from Republicans. If we want to take our government back from Donald Trump, we need to build a diverse and united party that looks more like the America we love.”

This is not the first time in our history that white supremacists have run our country – but we can make it the last.

DeGette’s campaign declined comment.

Thursday Open Thread

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  by: Colorado Pols February 22, 2018 at 7:13 AM MST

“Sometimes one likes foolish people for their folly, better than wise people for their wisdom.”

–Elizabeth Gaskell

Gun Safety Debate Escalating from Colorado to Florida

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  by: Colorado Pols February 21, 2018 at 3:37 PM MST

UPDATE 7:45PM: After over 6 hours of testimony overwhelmingly opposed and lent emotional weight by last week’s school shooting in Florida, “guns in schools bill” dies in the House State Affairs Committee.

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UPDATE: Testimony is set to go late into the night in the Colorado House State Affairs Committee–but for much of the hearing on the first bill up for debate today, HB18-1037 to allow concealed weapons on school campuses, Republicans on the committee (seats right) were reportedly absent:

Seems like a dereliction of duty to us.

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Victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida last week (via CNN)

The Colorado legislature is largely focused today on debates about ill-timed gun rights legislation from Republicans, but a similar scene is unfolding across the country.

The New York Times reports on a quickly-growing movement in Florida:

The campaign ads are already blaring, attacking Florida Republicans for supporting pro-gun laws. Now students — survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — have traveled by busloads hundreds of miles to protest at the State Capitol.

Seven days after the killing of 17 people at the Broward County school, Republicans, who dominate government in the state, are facing pressure unlike any they have experienced before to pass legislation addressing gun violence. The State Legislature is in session for roughly two more weeks, and Republicans have concluded that it would be catastrophic to wrap up without doing something to address the mounting outcry.

The debate now is over what counts as doing enough. [Pols emphasis]

Republicans split — sharply, and sometimes face to face — with student demonstrators over that question on Wednesday morning.

As the Washington Post reports, right-wing conservatives recognize that this new group of activists, in the form of Florida high school students, are a force to be reckoned with:

The American right is officially terrified of the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. [Pols emphasis]

Those students, who rapidly turned themselves into activists and organizers after 17 of their fellow students and teachers were murdered at their school, have become the most visible face of this new phase of the gun debate, and conservatives are absolutely livid about it. As a consequence, they’re desperately arguing not just that the students are wrong in their suggestions for how gun policy should be changed, but also that they shouldn’t be speaking at all and ought to be ignored.

There are two critical reasons the right is having this reaction, one more obvious than the other. The plainer reason is that as people who were personally touched by gun violence and as young people — old enough to be informed and articulate but still children — the students make extremely sympathetic advocates, garnering attention and a respectful hearing for their views. The less obvious reason is that because of that status, the students take away the most critical tool conservatives use to win political arguments: the personal vilification of those who disagree with them.

Also on Wednesday, President Trump met with families affected by school shootings to hear their perspectives on the change that is needed. From CNN:

President Donald Trump heard a series of heartfelt stories and pleas for change during a meeting Wednesday with people affected by some of the nation’s highest-profile deadly school shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre and last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Andrew Pollack, a father of one of the 17 victims who died in last week’s Florida shooting, said he was speaking Wednesday because his daughter couldn’t.

“We as a country failed our children,” he said. “This shouldn’t happen.”

He asked how it was that America could protect its airports, its concerts, its embassies and even the elevators at the Department of Education, but not its schools.

“How many schools, how many children have to get shot? It stops here with this administration and me. I’m not going to sleep until it is fixed. And Mr. President, we’ll fix it. Because I’m going to fix it. I’m not going to rest,” he said.

“My beautiful daughter, I’m never going to see her again. It’s simple. Let’s fix it,” he said. [Pols emphasis]

Support for gun control policies in the United States has never been higher, according to one recent polling estimate. Will our elected officials actually reflect that desire for change?

Existential Crisis: The New Republican Brand

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  by: Colorado Pols February 21, 2018 at 11:32 AM MST

 

In the mid-1950s, “Mad” magazine popularized the image of Alfred E. Neuman proclaiming, “What, me worry?” Nowadays, Neuman would be a strong messenger for a new Republican slogan: “What, me try?”

As Kara Mason reports for the Aurora Sentinel, Congressman Mike Coffman (R-Aurora) held a town hall meeting on Tuesday in Greenwood Village in which a central theme of inaction quickly emerged. Coffman received a lot of questions on a host of different issues, but the basic underlying query was the same: Why won’t you do something?

Coffman said at a town hall meeting Tuesday he’d look into age restrictions on gun purchases and sides with President Donald Trump’s move to regulate ‘bump stocks,’ devices that allow semiautomatic guns to operate like fully automatic weapons.

Gun legislation dominated the hour-long meeting…

…Coffman told the crowd he supports strengthening background checks, and that no firearm should be in the hands of an irresponsible gun owner, and said he wondered if an 18-year-old can be a responsible gun owner. But he stopped short of making any indication that he’d support legislation that would limit the purchase of “military-style guns,” which was asked of him by more than one attendee at the town hall.

If it sounds like Coffman was waffling on Tuesday, it’s because that was the strategy for dealing with tough questions. Here’s the money quote:

“The West is different,” said Josh Penry, a veteran GOP strategist and Coffman adviser. “There’s this basic understanding that Congress passing a lot of laws isn’t going to stop evil people from committing evil acts.” [Pols emphasis]

You see, here in the “West,” people understand that there is no point in trying to do anything at all!

Uh…no.

As conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin explains today in the Washington Post, it’s not just on the issue of gun violence where Republicans are defaulting to the “shrug” emoji:

One can look at guns and dreamers as discrete issues, but they can also be seen as issues on which Democrats want to change the status quo, while Republicans would prefer a logjam. The GOP is a prisoner to its anti-immigrant base and to the NRA, both of which would love for nothing to be done on their respective issues. [Pols emphasis] Democrats not only have substantive support for legalizing dreamers and toughening gun laws, but they can make the case that the GOP is thwarting the will of the people and is beholden to special interests. That is a dangerous position for Trump — who promised to shake things up — and his party to be in.

As we noted yesterday, a new poll from Quinnipiac University demonstrates “the highest level of support ever measured” for gun control policies in the United States.

The. Highest. Ever.

“Doing nothing” is not a strategy you can effectively explain to people — particularly to our youngest generation of Americans who are fed up with inactivity. As one Florida high school student eloquently explained:

“We’re all here because we need to strive for change, and the legislation needs to change, because we’ve fallen victim to lazy legislation for far too long,” student Kai Koerber said.

Policies matter. Positions matter. Elections matter. For many, many Americans, November can’t come soon enough.

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