The Tap: Monday, May 16, 2016

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The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.

Review of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #17 of The Tap, which was published on May 21, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 20 percent of likely Republican voters said Donald Trump should pick Newt Gingrich as his running mate when given the choice of Gingrich and four other potential VP picks. After Gingrich, the runners-up were Ben Carson (19 percent), Scott Walker (12 percent), Nikki Haley (9 percent), and Susana Martinez (7 percent).
  • See also: Possible vice presidential picks, 2016

• The U.S. Supreme Court held a non-argument session during which the court announced opinions in five argued cases: Merrill Lynch et al. v. Manning, Husky International Electronics, Inc. v. Ritz, Spokeo v. Robins, Sheriff v. Gillie, and Zubik v. Burwell (and consolidated cases). The court also issued a per curiam opinion in Kernan v. Hinojosa reversing the judgment of the Ninth Circuit.

• By a vote of 53-34, the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination of Paula Xinis to be a district judge for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

• It was announced that Burlington College, a liberal arts school in Vermont, will close at the end of May because of what the school described as the “crushing weight” of the debt that was accumulated while Jane Sanders, Bernie Sanders’ wife, was president of the school. Sanders, who served as president from 2004-2011, wanted to attract more students by purchasing 33 acres of land to expand the college. According to CNN, documents “showed that the school applied for a $6.7 million loan in order to purchase the property from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington. The school also borrowed $3.5 million from the Diocese itself.”

• Bradley S. Schrager, general counsel to the Nevada Democratic Party, wrote a letter warning the Democratic National Committee that Sanders’ supporters could disrupt the Democratic National Convention in July given the contentious state convention over the weekend. "We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sanders campaign's penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior — indeed, actual violence — in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats,” Schrager wrote. Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said that the campaign “had no role in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about. We have a First Amendment and respect the rights of the people to make their voices heard."
  • See also: Democratic National Convention, 2016

• The only sitting U.S. senator to endorse Sanders, Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), said on Monday that Sanders would not launch an independent presidential bid if he does not win the Democratic nomination. He said, “You know, Bernie went into this and he said, 'There's no way I'll be Ralph Nader.' We're not going to split the party, we're not going to empower the Republicans. He understands the damage that Bush did to this nation, and is not going to allow Trump to follow on and do even more damage.”

• Jake Sullivan, senior policy advisor to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, said that negotiating limits on North Korea’s nuclear program would be one of the top priorities for Clinton as president. Speaking at the Asia Society in New York, Sullivan touched on policy in the Middle East, saying that repairing the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran was especially important for the region.

• The White House sent a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) explaining that Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes would not testify during the committee’s “White House Narratives on the Iran Deal” hearing. The letter said that Rhodes’ presence at the hearing “threatens the independence and autonomy of the President, as well as his ability to receive candid advice and counsel.” Rhodes was asked to testify after he explained in a recent New York Times article how the Obama administration sold the Iran nuclear deal to the press by using journalists who he said “literally know nothing.” Rhodes explained that in order to pass the nuclear deal, he “created an echo chamber. They [reporters] were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.”

• President Barack Obama signed the following into law:
  • S 32 - the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act of 2015 allows the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute foreign drug traffickers.
  • S 125 - the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program Reauthorization Act of 2015 reauthorizes the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Program through FY 2020.
  • S 2755 - the Fallen Heroes Flag Act of 2016 “permits Members of Congress to provide Capitol-flown flags to the family of firefighters, law enforcement officers, members of a rescue squad or ambulance crew, or public safety officers who died in the line of duty.”

State

• The deadline to submit signatures for the Oklahoma One Percent Sales Tax, State Question 779, passed. Supporters of the initiative submitted more than twice the required number of signatures on April 21, 2016. The signatures have been counted by the secretary of state’s office and forwarded to the supreme court for verification. It is likely that this measure will be certified for the November ballot, provided no official protests against the petition or objections to the secretary of state’s signature count are filed and prove successful.

• California ballot measures
  • Supporters of the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Amendment submitted over one million signatures, nearly two times the 585,407 valid signatures required for the measure to qualify for the November ballot. The measure would raise the cigarette tax in California by two dollars and is backed by environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer. The California secretary of state's recommended deadline for signature submission was on April 26, 2016, but supporters have a signature deadline of June 13, 2016, for this particular initiative.
  • Supporters of the California Hospital Executive Compensation Limit Initiative also submitted signatures. The measure would prohibit hospitals from giving annual compensation and severance packages that exceed the salary amount made by the president of the United States (currently $450,000), and it requires the submission of 365,880 valid signatures in order to qualify for the November ballot. The California secretary of state's recommended deadline for signature submission was April 26, 2016, but supporters have a signature deadline of July 25, 2016, for this particular initiative.
  • Due to low voter turnout in 2014, California’s signature requirement for initiatives is the lowest it has been since 1982. Over 120 initiatives were filed with the secretary of state targeting the election in 2016. In 2014, a total of 89 were filed.
  • Currently, nine ballot measures are certified for the ballot in California and 61 measures are being circulated.

• Arizona Governor Doug Ducey (R) signed legislation to allow for greater free speech on college campuses in the state. The legislation prohibits Arizona’s public community colleges and universities from establishing free speech zones that limit where students can participate in expressive activities, such as advocating for a political cause or handing out religious literature. The new law applies only to outdoor common spaces, rather than inside campus buildings, and also allows individuals to bring suit if their rights have been violated and recover attorney and legal fees if the court finds in their favor. According to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, “one in six of America’s top colleges and universities” have established free speech zones.

Local

• In Maryland, the Baltimore City Council was unsuccessful in its vote to override Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s (D) vetoes of city charter amendments to reduce the power of the mayor’s office. If the vetoes had been successfully overridden, the mayor would have lost control of the city’s spending panel and the city council would have gained the power to spend more than the mayor’s budget proposed. The final stage of approval necessary for the charter amendments to be enacted would have been a public vote on November 8, 2016. Although the city council originally passed those measures by votes of 12-1 and 14-1, the attempts to override the mayor’s vetoes failed by votes of 8-5 and 9-5. Twelve votes are required to overturn a mayoral veto in Baltimore. Council President Bernard Young voted in favor of the measures and the veto overrides, and he expressed frustration following the failures of the latter. He stated, "I think we failed the citizens tonight."

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #16 of The Tap, which was published on May 14, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The U.S. Senate is scheduled to go into executive session to consider the nomination of Paula Xinis as a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. If confirmed, Xinis would be the seventh Article III federal judge confirmed since January 1, 2016.
• The Supreme Court will hold a non-argument session on Monday, May 16.