The Tap: Sunday, October 2, 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 #37 of The Tap, which was published on October 8, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Hillary Clinton was criticized by Donald Trump for how she described supporters of Bernie Sanders at a private fundraiser in February. "Some are new to politics completely. They’re children of the Great Recession. And they are living in their parents’ basement. They feel they got their education and the jobs that are available to them are not at all what they envisioned for themselves. And they don’t see much of a future," she said in audio leaked by The Washington Free Beacon last week. Trump tweeted in response, "Bernie should pull his endorsement of Crooked Hillary after she decieved [sic] him and then attacked him and his supporters."

• Speaking at a church in North Carolina, Hillary Clinton discussed gun violence and improving police-community relations. She said that police officers should receive training on implicit bias and called for the release of the Charlotte police shooting video of Keith Lamont Scott. "I’m a grandmother, and like every grandmother, I worry about the safety and security of my grandchildren, but my worries are not the same as black grandmothers, who have different and deeper fears about the world that their grandchildren face," she said.
  • See also: 2016 presidential candidates on the Black Lives Matter movement

State

• The Center for Public Integrity released the results of an investigation detailing the close relationship between some state insurance commissioners and private insurance companies. State insurance commissioners are typically responsible for the oversight of the private insurance industry, which can include consumer protection, rate changes, and handling complaints or fraud cases. "[H]alf of the 109 insurance commissioners who have left their posts in the last decade have gone on to work for the industry they used to regulate—many leaving before their terms expire. Just two moved into consumer advocacy," said the report. The investigation also detailed instances of insurance commissioners owning stock in private insurance companies, taking vacations paid for by private insurance companies, and frequently attending events held by insurance lobbyists. Data collected by the National Institute on Money in State Politics found that in six of the 11 states that elect insurance commissioners, private insurance companies were among the top contributors to commissioners' campaigns over the past decade—despite bans on such contributions in four of those states. Former Texas insurance commissioner and consumer advocate Bob Hunter said that personal relationships between commissioners and private insurance carriers raise “among the public more and more doubt about the honesty of government and about government generally." President John Huff of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners asserted that "state insurance regulators are committed to their shared dual responsibilities of consumer protection and the regulation of insurance company solvency."

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #36 of The Tap, which was published on October 1, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.