The Tap: Sunday, June 19, 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 #22 of The Tap, which was published on June 25, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• A group of conservative activists seeking to unbind the delegates to the Republican National Convention next month in an effort to prevent Donald Trump from winning the party’s nomination held a conference call on Sunday that reportedly included more than 1,000 attendees. In attendance were delegates and alternate delegates as well as members of the convention Rules Committee, who will set the rules for the convention in July. The focal point of the call was on expanding the movement. According to ABC News, attendees were encouraged to begin grassroots campaigns in their own states and to promote the idea of unbinding Republican delegates to the national convention. The call—which took place as several national polls showed Hillary Clinton opening up a sizeable lead over Trump—represents the latest phase in a renewed effort on the part of some Republicans to stop Trump from becoming the party’s nominee. Supporters of the movement have argued that the convention Rules Committee should pass a “conscience amendment” that would allow delegates to vote for a candidate other than the one to whom they were allocated by their state’s primary or caucus results if that vote violated their moral or religious beliefs. Others have argued that the delegates should be—and, in the opinion of some, already are—unbound at the convention, with or without a conscience amendment. The movement is being spearheaded by three key groups, none of which have aligned themselves with a specific alternative nominee to Trump.
  • One group calls itself Free the Delegates. It is led by Kendal Unruh, a delegate from Colorado and member of the convention Rules Committee. Unruh has been a leading advocate for a conscience amendment, calling it “a permission slip to unbind.” Free the Delegates launched a website and Facebook page last week.
  • A second group is Delegates Unbound, a group that, according to The Hill, is more focused on the notion of unbound delegates. Eric O’Keefe, one of the group’s founding members, told The Washington Post, “It’s not an effort for a candidate or against a candidate, but it’s an effort to educate people on what their real authority is.”
  • The third group is Courageous Conservatives, a political action committee led by Steve Lonegan of New Jersey. The group was founded to support Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign and previously ran ads backing U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward of Arizona over John McCain. The group has focused its efforts on unbinding the delegates specifically to prevent Trump from securing the nomination.

State

• The California Democratic Party’s executive board took positions on a number of California ballot measures last Sunday. The board decided to support five of the 10 measures certified for the November ballot: the California Marijuana Legalization Initiative (also known as the “Adult Use of Marijuana Act”); the California Death Penalty Repeal; the California Medi-Cal Hospital Reimbursement Initiative; the California Public Education Facilities Bond Initiative; and the Overturn of Citizens United Act Advisory Question. They also voted to support the California Hospital Executive Compensation Limit Initiative, an initiative that has had signatures submitted to the secretary of state but has not qualified for the ballot yet. The board decided to oppose one of the certified measures, the California Condoms in Pornographic Films Initiative, as well as the California Death Penalty Procedure Regulation Initiative, which has had signatures submitted to the secretary of state by supporters but has not qualified for the ballot yet. They also decided not to take a position on the California “Drug Price Standards Initiative.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #21 of The Tap, which was published on June 18, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.