The Tap: Thursday, December 8, 2016

   ← Dec 7

Dec 9 →   

---

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 #45 of The Tap, which was published on December 10, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

You’re Hired

• Andrew Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns fast food chains like Hardee’s and Green Burrito, is Trump’s pick for the Department of Labor. Puzder served as a trustee for a joint fundraising committee for Trump’s presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee. At the 2016 Republican National Convention, he was on the Platform Committee as a delegate from California and was a co-chairman of the subcommittee on “Restoring the American Dream,” which focused on economic, labor, and tax issues. In 2010, he co-authored a book called Job Creation: How it Really Works and Why Government Doesn’t Understand It. In the book, he argued, “Private enterprise, unencumbered by excessive government intervention, will create jobs.” In our daily briefing on the Trump transition (which you can subscribe to here), we highlighted where Puzder stands on a few key labor issues such as the new overtime rule, minimum wage, and immigration. Click here to read more.

• Trump has selected businesswoman Linda McMahon to lead the Small Business Administration, a federal agency that was created in 1953 “to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns.” McMahon is the co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She has never held public office but ran as a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012.
  • Earlier this year, McMahon co-founded a company called Women’s Leadership LIVE, LLC, which aims to promote leadership opportunities for women. In describing the new venture, McMahon said, “Our goal is to build a world where women obtaining and exercising power is both expected and commonplace. Even in 2016, women are clearly underrepresented in leadership. ... This is not about setting quotas, but about having a diversity of perspectives and experiences in decision-making roles. We are making progress, but there are still glass ceilings that need to be cracked.”
  • The administrator position is a cabinet-level position and will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who ran against McMahon in 2010, reacted positively to news of her nomination. “Her sense of focus and drive are qualities much in need along with her devotion to jobs and economic growth which the Trump administration needs. I’m hopeful she will create jobs and drive economic progress for the country,” said Blumenthal. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who ran against McMahon in 2012, also spoke positively of her nomination, saying, “Linda McMahon's a talented and experienced businessperson, there's no doubt about it. She helped shepherd the WWE from a mere idea into an incredibly successful enterprise. Of course I know firsthand what a fierce fighter Linda McMahon is, and though we haven't always seen eye to eye, I have confidence she'll bring that fight to the SBA on behalf of Connecticut small businesses.”

Congressional Legislation

• Key vote: The Senate passed S 2943—the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017—by a vote of 92-7. They legislation authorizes $618.7 billion in defense spending.

• Key vote: The House passed HR 2028—the legislative vehicle for the Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017—by a vote of 326-96. The legislation funds the government through April and includes:
  • a budget cap of $1.07 trillion from fiscal 2016;
  • $8 billion in funding for the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS);
  • $170 million in funding for cleaning up contaminated water in places like Flint, Michigan;
  • $4.1 billion in disaster relief;
  • $872 million for medical research and drug abuse; and
  • an expedited process to waive the requirement that executive cabinet members be retired from active duty military service for seven years, which would allow General James Mattis to be considered for secretary of state.

• Key vote: The House passed S 612—the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act—by a vote of 360-61. The legislation provides aid for resident of Flint, Michigan, who are still dealing with a contaminated water crisis. The bill also includes funding for water-related infrastructure projects.

State

Dropping a Virginia Gubernatorial Bid

• U.S. Representative Rob Wittman (R) withdrew his 2017 election bid for the Virginia governorship. He had previously declared his intention to run in December 2015. In the statement announcing his withdrawal, Wittman said, “I think the best place for me to serve right now is staying there in Congress. Especially now with an administration coming in that’s committed to rebuilding our military.” The move results in the Republican primary field dropping to the following three candidates: political consultants Ed Gillespie and Corey Stewart and state Senator Frank Wagner. The incumbent, Terry McAuliffe (D), is term-limited and ineligible for re-election in 2017. Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam is the only Democratic candidate who has declared for the race thus far. The filing deadline is April 7, 2017, and the primary election will be held on June 13, 2017. Virginia has a divided government. Republicans control both state legislative chambers, but Democrats control the governorship. Following swearing-ins from the 2016 election, there will be 25 Republican trifectas and six Democratic trifectas. Trifecta control of Virginia is at stake in the 2017 elections.

• MILegalize, the group behind a marijuana legalization initiative that was not put on the ballot in 2016, has filed an appeal with the United States Supreme Court for a lawsuit seeking to put the measure on the ballot in 2018. Prior to June 2016, Michigan law featured a loose 180-day window for signature gathering but allowed initiative proponents to prove older signatures valid. The state legislature passed a law to restrict the petition circulation window to a strict 180 days and Gov. Rick Snyder (R) signed it into law on June 7. MILegalize filed its suit after 137,000 of the more than 350,000 signatures it gathered to qualify the marijuana legalization initiative for the ballot were deemed invalid because they were collected outside of the 180-day window, which dropped the petition below the requirement of 252,523 valid signatures. The lawsuit argued that the process required by state elections officials to prove validity was so difficult that it amounted to a denial of due process, that it was illegal for the legislature to impose a new restriction in the middle of a petition drive, and that the signatures in question should have been counted. The case first appeared before the Michigan Court of Claims in June 2016, where the judge found the 180-day law to be constitutional. MILegalize asked the Michigan Supreme Court to bypass the court of appeals and take the case, but the state supreme court denied that request. The group asked the U.S. Supreme Court to direct the case back to the lower courts and order them to canvass existing petitions.
  • MILegalize also announced a new initiative petition drive targeting the 2018 election that would begin in spring of 2017.

• State Circuit Court Judge Mark Barnett issued a preliminary injunction after hearing arguments for a South Dakota Initiated Measure 22 lawsuit, temporarily putting the measure’s effects on hold. The measure revised state campaign finance and lobbying laws and created a publicly funded campaign finance program as well as an ethics commission. Most of the provisions enacted took effect on November 16. The lawsuit—which was launched by 24 Republican members of the state legislature, a number of their family members, and the South Dakota Family Heritage Alliance Action, Inc.—argued that many of the initiative’s provisions, including the $100 limit on gifts to legislators, were unconstitutional and that the measure violated the state’s single-subject rule. South Dakotans for Integrity, the group that backed the initiative, filed a request to intervene in the defense of Measure 22. South Dakota is a Republican trifecta. Prior to the November 2016 election, there were 23 Republican trifectas. Following the election, there will be 25 Republican trifectas.
  • The measure was one of five 2016 ballot measures that addressed campaign finance issues. One of these, Washington Initiative 1464, would have also created a publicly funded campaign finance program by allowing each citizen to allocate state funds called “democracy credits” to qualified candidates. Initiative 1464, which was also designed to repeal the state’s non-resident sales tax exemption to pay for “democracy credits,” was defeated by voters.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #44 of The Tap, which was published on December 3, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

State

• State Circuit Court Judge Mark Barnett will hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of South Dakota Initiated Measure 22. The measure revised state campaign finance and lobbying laws and created a publicly funded campaign finance program as well as an ethics commission. Most of the provisions enacted took effect on November 16. The lawsuit—which was launched by 24 Republican members of the state legislature, a number of their family members, and the South Dakota Family Heritage Alliance Action, Inc.—argued that the many of the initiative’s provisions, including the $100 limit on gifts to legislators, were unconstitutional and that the measure violated the state’s single-subject rule. South Dakotans for Integrity, the group that backed the initiative, filed a request to intervene in the defense of Measure 22. South Dakota is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta—in which the state legislature and governor’s chair is controlled by Republicans.
  • The measure was one of five 2016 ballot measures that addressed campaign finance issues. One of these, Washington Initiative 1464, would have also created a publicly funded campaign finance program by allowing each citizen to allocate state funds called “democracy credits” to qualified candidates. Initiative 1464, which was also designed to repeal the state’s non-resident sales tax exemption to pay for “democracy credits,” was defeated by voters.