Daily Brew: Fact check; Is the term administrative state used only by conservatives

August 9, 2018

Plus: Heart of the Primaries special editions AND WV House Judiciary Committee adopts articles of impeachment against all supreme court justices   Welcome to the Thursday, August 9 Brew. Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day: Fact check: Is the term administrative state used only by conservatives? Special Heart of the Primaries editions West Virginia House Judiciary Committee adopts articles of impeachment against all four supreme court justices Latest fact check: Who uses the term administrative state? Use of the term administrative state has increased considerably since Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump's former chief strategist, declared in February 2017 that the new administration was seeking "deconstruction of the administrative state." Jeremy Peters, a reporter for The New York Times, claimed in a March 2018 article on judicial nominations, “The Trump administration has a new litmus test: reining in what conservatives call ‘the administrative state.’” Is Peters correct? Is the term administrative state used only by conservatives? Find out         Special Heart of the Primaries edition: August 7 primaries After every major primary, our team of writers stays up late, wakes up early, and analyzes what happened the night before. We deliver an update via our weekly newsletter, The Heart of the Primaries. Here are selected excerpts from both the Democratic and Republican special editions. Subscribe or visit Ballotpedia.org for the full versions. Democratic Heart of the Primaries: Washington’s Top-two primary results suggest Democratic strength for state Senate, House Although Washington’s by-mail election system means that ballots are still being received, initial results from two Republican-held open seats in the state Senate suggest Democrats could expand their current 26-23 majority. In both SD 6 and SD 26, initial results showed the Democratic candidate with 51 percent of the vote in each race. Democrats seemed likely to capture both general election spots in SD 34, the only open seat currently held by Democrats. Republican candidates trailed Democratic challengers for 11 state House seats, where Democrats have a 50-48 advantage. Heart of the Primaries, Democrats-Special Edition 9 (August 8, 2018)→ Republican Heart of the Primaries: Five state House Republicans who voted to repeal Brownback tax cuts lose primaries The Republican state House faction supportive of former Gov. Sam Brownback’s (R) 2012 tax cuts saw a surge last night. They defeated at least five incumbents who voted to repeal the tax cuts in 2017 while only losing one of their own incumbents. Anti-tax cut Rep. Steve Becker could join the list of defeated incumbents. His primary against pro-tax cut Paul Waggoner is too close to call. When accounting for incumbent defeats and open seats, pro-tax cut Republicans boosted their membership from 38 members (45 percent of the 85-member House GOP caucus) to at least 42 members (49 percent). Anti-tax cut Republicans saw their membership decline from 41 members (48 percent of the caucus) to 33 members (39 percent). Members without a clear faction rose from six members to nine members. These numbers could change depending on Republican performance in the 2018 general elections. Heart of the Primaries, Republicans-Special Edition 9 (August 8, 2018)→   West Virginia House Judiciary Committee adopts articles of impeachment against all four supreme court justices The West Virginia House Judiciary Committee approved 14 of 16 separate articles of impeachment on Tuesday against all four West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals Justices -- Allen Loughry, Margaret Workman, Robin Jean Davis, and Beth Walker. The articles of impeachment were sent to the full House of Delegates, which will convene to consider them on August 13. If the House approves any of the articles, the West Virginia State Senate would hold a trial. Two-thirds of the Senate (23 members) must agree to convict an impeached justice. If impeached, this would be the first time a West Virginia Supreme Court judge has been removed from a post. The charges primarily stem from two main issues: the alleged overpaying of senior status judges by the court and an alleged misuse of state funds relating to $350,000 spent to renovate offices in the court building. The state House has been in special session since June 26 discussing the matter. Learn more→