It is glorious summertime. Even if smoky air now seems a regular part of the Colorado condition during these warm and warming months.

Through heat, wildfire and blessed rain, and with only the briefest of breaks for baseball’s all-star extravaganza, the political world churns on. With that in mind, this week’s column is devoted to a number of quick takes; a smorgasbord of random observations, if you will.

? While Gov. Jared Polis has received more plaudits than jeers for his management of the public health crisis, a hard look is in order for the wisdom and efficacy of those weekly vaccine lottery drawings. The evidence is that they did little to spur the vaccine rate. And, somehow, it cheapened the whole rallying cry.

If Colorado has million-dollar checks to pass around, it is arguable that the state is awash in too much COVID stimulus money. Though for Polis, after this gubernatorial gig is over, there could be a future as a game show host. Move over, Wink Martindale.

? A number of folks whom I respect believe ranked-choice voting to be a worthy procedural reform which could, over time, move politics marginally away from the overheated extremes. For my part, I need to study more the pros and cons of the process.

But if it is to gain real traction, there has to be a way of tabulating results more quickly and seamlessly. The two-week spectacle of the vote count in the New York City mayoral race is hardly a calling card. In this digital age, why can’t this be done in real time?

? Am I alone in thinking that the standard used by the Colorado Supreme Court in reviewing single-subject challenges to proposed ballot initiatives is a rather loose and arbitrary one?

Don’t get me wrong – I thought the so-called “animal cruelty” ballot measure was an ill-considered mess and was glad to see it stricken. But over the years, it has sure seemed that the Court manages to get past single-subject problems with proposals to which it gives a favorable political nod while using such purported flaws to cut the legs out from under less pleasing submissions.

One frequent participant in the process conceded that the standard is, “not exactly a black-and-white one.” From this vantage point, the single-subject requirement for ballot measures has become as much about the political whims of seven lawyers in black robes as it about clarity.

? Perhaps Rep. Lauren Boebert may wish to walk the corridors of overrun hospitals in Mesa County, the population center of her district, while slurring front-line public health professionals as “needle Nazis.” And also ponder one of my political axioms – that whoever plays the Nazi card first is losing the argument.

? For the umpteenth time, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is trying to walk back a comment or tweet that flirts with or crosses the line of anti-Semitism. It is time to end this charade. Omar is entitled to her viewpoint. There is no requirement that every last member of Congress offer positive utterances as to Jewish people. But this cycle of questionable comment followed by clarification followed by non-apology apology has played itself out. There is no longer any mystery as to her thinking or her prejudices.

? The ongoing legal attacks on baker Jack Phillips should be regarded as what they are, ideological harassment, instead of a test of high Constitutional principle. This long ago stopped being about cakes, or even public commerce. Instead, it has turned into an unrelenting grudge held by a few true believers who are bound and determined to enforce conformity on Phillips’s part.

I am old enough to remember when those on the left walked their talk when it came to “tolerance.” And when “conscientious objection” was a liberal value in refusing participation in an unpopular war. For my money, Phillips’s views on gay marriage are narrow-minded and wrong. But so what? Let the man have his beliefs and leave him alone.

? The news of late has contained reports of two well-known, local politicos behaving badly. Former State Republican Chair Ryan Call is accused of embezzling nearly $280,000 from a Trump-affiliated super-PAC.

Showing that greed does not respect party lines, longtime Democratic operative Steve Bachar, who got his start with President Bill Clinton, stands accused of defrauding former clients of millions of dollars that they entrusted to him for pandemic-era personal protective equipment, but never received.

Bachar is alleged to have spent that money instead on Caribbean beach vacations (amid the pandemic), exorbitant restaurant bills, and a multi-million dollar Country Club mansion. Some of the stories in circulation are even more sordid.

One of my all-time favorite headlines dates to a 1985 profile in the New Republic of the even-then infamous Roger Stone. It read, “The state of the art Washington sleazeball.” Perhaps that headline can be repurposed for Denver and Bachar.

? On the flip side of that coin, the now-dismissed ethics complaint against state legislator Bob Gardner of Colorado Springs struck me as flimsy and politically motivated from the get-go. Knowing Gardner over many years (as I also have Bachar; and, to a lesser extent, Call), these charges never rang true. Kudos to the Senate ethics panel, including all three Democratic members, for making quick work of this. Such complaints should be saved for real transgressions and not used as a political cudgel.

? For Denver School Board member Tay Anderson and a few of his most ardent backers: Try showing a bit of class and backing off (way off) from the trolling and online harassment of some who have authored critical posts. The venom seems particularly directed at women, hardly demonstrating the gender respect that is at the heart of the ongoing investigation of Anderson’s conduct.

? Finally, a word of sympathy for Mike Stratton. Anyone who has been around Colorado politics on either side of the aisle for any real period of time knows Stratton. In an exchange over these past two weeks, he reminded me that the two of us “have been in some phase of this biz for nearly 50 years.” Stratton’s wife, Cassie, was among those missing and now confirmed lost in the horrific collapse of the Miami condominium building. They were on the phone with each other as the structure gave way. How utterly incomprehensible and sad.

See you next week with more of the usual fare.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Denver Gazette. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann on Twitter.

Read his previous columns here.