The Tap: Thursday, July 28, 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 #27 of The Tap, which was published on July 30, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Hillary Clinton formally accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday night. In her acceptance speech, she acknowledged the historic moment, saying, "Today, we've reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union: The first time that a major party has nominated a woman for President. Standing here as my mother's daughter's, and my daughter's mother, I'm so happy this day has come. Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. Happy for boys and men, too, because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit." Clinton made the case that Donald Trump is unqualified, unfit, and unprepared to serve as president. She criticized him for trying to win the election by dividing the nation, saying, "He's taken the Republican Party a long way, from 'Morning in America' to 'Midnight in America.' He wants us to fear the future and fear each other.” She then contrasted her description of Trump’s leadership style with her own, saying, "America's strength doesn't come from lashing out. Strength relies on smarts, judgment, cool resolve, and the precise and strategic application of power. That's the kind of Commander-in-Chief I pledge to be."
  • Trump posted six tweets during her speech criticizing her for her “refusal to mention Radical Islam,” being “owned by Wall Street,” and her lack of judgment. One tweet read: “Hillary's vision is a borderless world where working people have no power, no jobs, no safety.”
• The final night of the Democratic National Convention featured Chelsea Clinton; Sens. Sherrod Brown, Claire McCaskill, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Barbara Boxer; Reps. Xavier Becerra and Joaquin Castro; and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.
  • Chelsea Clinton: Clinton introduced her mother, calling her a "fighter" as a professional and “wonderful, thoughtful and hilarious” as a mom. Clinton said, "People ask me all the time, how does she do it? How does she keep going amid the sound and the fury of politics? Here's how: because she never ever forgets who she's fighting for. … So, this November, I’m voting for a woman who is my role model, as a mother, and as an advocate. A woman who has spent her entire life fighting for families and children. I’m voting for the progressive, who will protect our planet from climate change and our communities from gun violence. Who will reform our criminal justice system, and who knows that women’s rights are human rights. And who knows, that LGBT rights, are human rights and around the world. I’m voting for a fighter who never, ever gives up. And who believes that we can always do better when we come together and we work together.”
  • General John Allen: Allen, a retired four-star Marine general and former commander of American forces in Afghanistan, explained the importance defeating ISIS and electing Clinton as commander-in-chief. Allen said, "To our allies and to our friends and partners, listen closely, we are with you, America will not abandon you. To those acting against peace, acting against civilization and world order, we will oppose you. And to our enemies, to our enemies, we will pursue you as only America can. You will fear us. And to ISIS and others, we will defeat you! … My fellow Americans, I tell you without hesitation or reservation that Hillary Clinton will be exactly, exactly the kind of commander-in-chief America needs. I know this because I served with her.” While he was speaking, chants of "USA! USA!" erupted to cover up the chants of "No more war!" by a small anti-war crowd in attendance.
• When asked about his request for the Russian government to find Clinton’s missing emails, Trump said, “Of course I’m being sarcastic. … They have no idea if it’s Russia, if it’s China, if it’s somebody else. Who knows it is? … The real problem is what was said on those emails from the Democratic National Committee. They talk about religion, they talk about race, they talk about all sorts of things, including women. What they said on those emails is a disgrace. It’s disgraceful, it’s disgraceful. They’re just trying to deflect from that.” His original comments came two days after the FBI announced that it was investigating whether the Russian government leaked the Democratic National Committee’s emails in order to influence the presidential election.
• During a campaign event, vice presidential nominee Mike Pence said, “I’m pro-life and I don’t apologize for it.” He said that Trump will appoint Supreme Court justices like the late Justice Antonin Scalia and the court will likely overturn the abortion law case, Roe v. Wade, if Trump is elected. Pence said, “We’ll see Roe vs. Wade consigned to the ash heap of history where it belongs. … While we’re choosing a president for the next four years, this next president will make decisions that will impact our Supreme Court for the next 40. ... Go tell your neighbors and your friends, for the sake of the rule of law, for the sake of sanctity of life, for the sake of our 2nd Amendment, for the sake of all our other God-given liberties, we must insure [sic] the next president appointing justices to the Supreme Court is Donald Trump.”
• Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) criticized his Republican colleagues for not being personally involved in the fight against poverty in the second season of an online documentary series titled “Comeback.” In one episode, Ryan and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) attend an anti-poverty meeting with black and other community leaders in Dallas. During the meeting, Ryan says, “Eddie and I have known each other for a long time. We play on different teams, but we’ve got the same goals and one team, in my case, hasn’t been on the field enough lately. What I would love to see is a competition of ideas where we’re not just treating symptoms so we can tolerate something more like poverty, but actually breaking the back of poverty, hitting the root causes. What we learned is you can’t sit in some ivory tower in any big city and think you’ve got it all figured out. It’s really the people together.” The series, produced by the conservative news site Opportunity Lives, focuses on Ryan’s anti-poverty efforts.

Local

• Airbnb sued the city of Anaheim over a new short-term rental law. The new law, passed by the Anaheim City Council earlier this month, ceases the issuing of permits for properties rented for fewer than 30 days. Current short-term rental permit holders will have 18 months to cease operations, starting on August 11, 2016. Tougher restrictions on parking, noise, garbage, and fire hazards will be placed on the properties rented during the 18-month grace period. Property owners can be fined up to $2,500 if found to be in violation of any of the new rules. Listings on short-term rental websites, such as Airbnb, that do not have city permits must be removed within 10 days of posting. If the listing is not removed, the hosting website can be fined up to $2,000 per offense. Airbnb’s lawsuit argues that the regulation violates the right to free speech and the 1996 Communications Decency Act. Under this act, the government cannot hold websites accountable for content published by website users. Airbnb also sued the city of San Francisco in June 2016 after its board of supervisors approved legislation earlier in June that restricts commercial postings from short-term housing rental websites and imposes fines for violating the law. Anaheim is the tenth-largest city in California and the 56th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Chicago, New York, Denver, and Seattle have all recently passed laws that more strictly regulate short-term rentals in each city. In late June 2016, the Chicago City Council passed a law that requires Airbnb to purchase a $10,000 license to operate in the city, enacts a 4 percent tax per rental for homeless services, and sets a $60 fee per city address listed on the website. Earlier in the month, New York lawmakers passed legislation that would levy fines of up to $7,500 on individuals using Airbnb to rent an entire apartment for fewer than 30 days. In Denver, the city council imposed an annual $25 licensing fee for short-term rental hosts. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D) and Councilman Tim Burgess (D) proposed limiting short-term rentals to improve the city’s housing market.
• The Baltimore City Council Labor Committee voted 4-0 in favor of a proposal to increase Baltimore’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022. The proposal will go to the entire 15-member city council for a vote in August 2016. City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young (D) has publicly opposed the legislation, saying, “We just can’t do $15. Even $11.50 is a stretch, but I think it’s a compromise. Anything other than that, I will not be voting for this bill.” A representative for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) said that the mayor would sign off on the proposal if it is approved by the city council. The amended proposal would exempt multiple small businesses, the Maryland Zoo, and the Baltimore YouthWorks program from the wage increase. Proponents, including council member Mary Pat Clarke, argued that the raise in minimum wage would help to lift Baltimore workers out of poverty. Members of the business community, including president and CEO of the pro-business Greater Baltimore Committee, have argued that the minimum wage increase would draw business away from Baltimore and into other nearby municipalities. All members of the city council are Democrats; the last Republican to sit on the council did so in the 1960s. Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and the 26th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., have all begun implementation of $15 per hour minimum wages in recent years. In 2014, the Seattle City Council unanimously supported a minimum wage increase for full implementation in 2021, and San Francisco voters approved a ballot measure to phase in the full wage hike by 2018. The Los Angeles City Council soon followed in 2015 when it voted 14-1 to enact the increase by 2020. A third California city, San Mateo, unanimously voted to increase the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour on July 19, 2016. It will phase into effect by 2019 with some exemptions ending in 2020. On June 7, 2016, the Washington, D.C., City Council unanimously approved a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 by 2020.
• Two more cities—Miami Beach, Florida, and San Diego, California—recently approved smaller minimum wage hikes. The Miami Beach City Commission voted in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $10.31 in 2018 with an increase over time until it reaches $13.31 in 2021. San Diego voters approved Proposition I by more than 63 percent of the vote, which will increase the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 in January 2017.
• In Minneapolis, the city council has proposed letting voters decide on a $15 minimum wage. City Attorney Susan Segal advised the council not to place the issue on the November ballot. Segal says that the proposal is an ordinance, not a charter amendment, and cannot be decided by voters.
• Oakland city residents will have the opportunity to vote on the creation of an independent police commission in the general election on November 8, 2016. The Oakland City Council unanimously voted to put a measure on the public ballot regarding whether or not to establish a seven-member commission that would replace the Citizens’ Police Review Board. If passed, the board would comprise three commissioners appointed by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) and four members by a panel appointed by the mayor and city council. Oakland is the eighth-largest city in California and the 45th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #26 of The Tap, which was published on July 23, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• IN PHILADELPHIA: The Democratic National Convention will conclude with speeches from Hillary Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton.