The Tap: Thursday, July 7, 2016

   ← Jul 6

Jul 8 →   

---

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 #24 of The Tap, which was published on July 9, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• FBI Director James Comey testified before the House Oversight Committee for more than four hours regarding his agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server use and the Bureaus’s recommendation that no charges be brought against her. "I think she was extremely careless. I think she was negligent—that I could establish. What we can't establish is that she acted with the necessary criminal intent,” Comey said. He noted that there were three emails found on her system that were marked as classified with the letter “C,” but he added that Clinton “may not have been as sophisticated as people assume” and may not have recognized what the marking meant.
  • See also: Hillary Clinton email investigation

• A motion hearing was held in the Correll v. Herring case before federal district court Judge Robert Payne. Correll's counsel called Curly Haugland, a national committeeman from North Dakota and a member of the RNC Rules Committee, to give expert testimony. Jesse Binnall was also called as an expert witness for the Trump campaign, which participated in the hearing as an intervenor. Binnall's testimony focused on parliamentary procedure and whether Haugland's interpretation was correct. Defense counsel made additional arguments that the Republican Party elected to participate in a state-sponsored primary and was, therefore, beholden to state law regarding delegate allocation. The attorneys for Correll, in response, frequently cited Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, in which the Supreme Court held that state election law could not override the delegate selection mechanisms of a political party for its national convention. A decision on whether a temporary injunction will be granted for Correll is expected July 11, when the court will next be in session.
  • See also: Correll v. Herring
• Donald Trump met with Republicans on Capitol Hill on Thursday in a private meeting “designed to foster greater party unity ahead,” according to The Washington Post. It was said that the meeting “grew combative.”
  • U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) challenged Trump over his negative comments about Mexicans and about whether U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was a war hero after being held prisoner during the Vietnam War. Trump responded that he had not yet attacked Flake hard but could begin doing so. He also said Flake would lose his seat, although the senator is not on the ballot in November.
  • Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort criticized the media’s portrayal of the meeting in a statement. “Today’s meeting was positive and productive and these characterizations, attributed to unnamed sources, are wholly inaccurate. The conversation was very positive and substantive,” he said.
    • See also: Paul Manafort
• U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) endorsed Trump on Thursday. “As we saw with her disastrous response to Benghazi and never-ending lies to the American people, Hillary Clinton is not fit to lead or protect Americans. The stakes are higher than ever and republicans must come together as a united front to win in November. I am proud to endorse Donald Trump today and I urge all Americans to join me. The future of our nation depends on it,” he said in a statement.
  • See also: Republicans and their declared positions on Donald Trump
• The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) launched an online advertising campaign aimed at vulnerable anti-abortion candidates for Congress. The group’s campaign, which uses the slogan #TrumpSquadGoals, links a candidate to Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Paul Ryan by inserting their pictures into an animated gif from the film Zoolander. According to Politico, targeted candidates include Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), as well as Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.).

• The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) examined “over 55 million Veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation and found “that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died from suicide.” VA Undersecretary for Health Dr. David J. Shulkin said, “One Veteran suicide is one too many, and this collaborative effort provides both updated and comprehensive data that allows us to make better informed decisions on how to prevent this national tragedy. We as a nation must focus on bringing the number of Veteran suicides to zero." According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, “On average, there are 117 suicides per day.”

• Democrats read the names of the victims of gun violence on the floor of the House in an attempt to prompt immediate consideration of a bill that proposes preventing individuals on the federal government’s terror watchlists from purchasing guns. Their efforts delayed House proceedings but did not result in a vote on the measure. The House originally planned to consider a counterterrorism bill that proposes allowing “federal authorities to block a gun sale if they obtain a court order justifying a claim that the buyer is likely to engage in terrorism,” according to The Hill. Democrats oppose the measure because they do not think it goes far enough. Republican members of the House Freedom Caucus oppose the measure because they think it infringes on an individual’s right to due process.
• The Obama administration put forth regulations to strengthen safety standards for oil and natural gas production in the Arctic Ocean. Under the standards, drilling companies must implement spill response plans and be prepared to contain any spills without the use of certain chemicals; drillers would also need backup drilling rigs in order to prevent spills similar to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf Coast. The rules will go into effect despite the fact that no companies are using offshore rigs to drill in federal waters in the Arctic Ocean or have forthcoming plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimated that the standards would cost up to $2 billion in compliance costs for companies that choose to drill in the Arctic Ocean; the Interior Department did not provide an estimate of the standards’ financial benefits. Some environmental groups have argued that the standards are necessary, while other environmental groups have argued the standards do not go far enough to ensure environmental protection. Energy industry groups have argued that the rules are too costly and are unnecessary.

• Key vote: The Senate voted against moving forward with debate on HR 5293 - the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2017 by a vote of 50-44. Sixty votes were needed to begin debating the bill. The $576 billion defense spending bill “[p]rovides FY2017 appropriations to the Department of Defense (DOD) for military activities.”

• Key vote: The House passed HR 5485 - the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017 by a vote of 239-185. The bill proposes providing $21.7 billion to operate “the Department of the Treasury, the Executive Office of the President, the judiciary, the District of Columbia, and several independent agencies.”
  • Key vote: Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) introduced two amendments to prevent Boeing from selling aircraft to Iran. They both passed by voice vote.
  • Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) introduced an amendment that proposed reducing “the salary of the IRS Commissioner to $0 annually from date of enactment through January 20, 2017.” It failed by a vote of 197-224.

• The House passed HR 4361 - the Federal Information Systems Safeguards Act of 2016 by a vote of 241-181. The bill proposes requiring the head of each federal agency to take necessary actions to protect the agency’s information system and “reduce or eliminate a present or future security weakness and risk.”

State

• Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) announced that the state would be using a new voter-registration process at motor vehicle offices and said that the plan would save money and be more efficient. Under the new program, registering will now be done electronically instead of on paper, which in the past caused processing delays and the use of provisional ballots. Now the registrations can be transmitted quickly to local registrars. Virginia already allowed online registration from private computers. Republicans, who control the Virginia General Assembly, did not oppose the plan, even though they have criticized other changes by McAuliffe (D) to voter registration, including his decision to allow 200,000 felons to register to vote.

• The Arkansas Medical Marijuana Act was certified for the November ballot as an initiated state statute. The measure would legalize medical marijuana. Supporters submitted over 117,000 signatures on June 20, 2016, needing only 67,887. This measure joins three other certified measures on the November 2016 ballot in Arkansas. These legislatively referred constitutional amendments are the Gubernatorial Powers Amendment, the Removal of Cap on Bonds Amendment, and the Terms, Elections, and Eligibility of County Officials Amendment.

• Filing deadline: Arizona initiatives
  • Supporters submitted signatures for three potential ballot measures in Arizona.
    • The Arizona Hospital Executive Compensation Act (I-21) would limit total pay for healthcare administrators to the annual salary of the president of the United States.
    • The Arizona Minimum Wage and Paid Time Off Initiative (I-24) would raise the minimum wage incrementally to $12 by 2020.
    • The Arizona Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act Initiative (I-8) would legalize the possession and consumption of marijuana by individuals 21 and over.
  • The signature requirement was 150,642 signatures for each potential initiated state statute. There were 20 potential initiatives vying for spots on the November ballot. These covered topics such as campaign finance, healthcare management, and the death penalty. The secretary of state’s office has approximately 38 business days to verify the signatures. If the petitions are found to be valid, the measures will be placed on the November 2016 ballot.
  • Supporters of the Arizona Political Committee Disclosure of Funds Referendum have until August 5, 2016, to submit 75,321 signatures. This veto referendum would approve or disapprove of Senate Bill 1516, which turned over to the IRS Arizona’s duty to register political committees and oversee election spending for 501(a) organizations.
• Mississippi State Senator Chris Massey (R), his father, and two other men were arrested following an altercation in a suburban neighborhood. Massey was charged with aggravated assault for injuring another man with a shovel during the fight. Massey has not yet released a statement regarding the charges and arrest.
• Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) vetoed legislation providing for the enactment of a photo ID requirement for voters. In a statement to lawmakers, Nixon said, "Making voting more difficult for qualified voters and disenfranchising certain classes of people is wrong." In May 2016, the Republican-controlled state legislature approved two bills. One proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would allow for the enactment of a photo ID requirement; Nixon placed this measure on the November 8, 2016, ballot. The other, which was vetoed by Nixon, was drafted to provide the legal basis for a photo ID requirement if the constitutional amendment is approved by voters. State lawmakers are scheduled to reconvene in September and may opt to override Nixon's veto, given the comfortable margins by which both bills were first passed. State Senator Will Kraus (R) said, "I do not foresee many members switching their votes on this issue. Most legislators recognize this is a common-sense measure, and I believe voter ID will be brought up during the veto session."

Local

• Catholic League President Bill Donohue issued a statement criticizing Philadelphia Mayor James Kenney (D) for "an abuse of his office." On July 6, 2016, Kenney posted a tweet responding to Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput’s guidelines on who could receive communion. These guidelines restrict several groups from communion, including “divorced Catholics who remarry outside the church and remain sexually active, sexually active gays, and cohabiting unmarried couples.” Mayor Kenney’s tweet indicated his belief that all people should be permitted to receive communion, and he stated that Archbishop Chaput’s “actions are not Christian.” Donohue claimed that Kenney was “demonstrably un-American in misusing his public office to conduct his personal war on the Catholic Church.” He added that the guidelines are an “internal church matter.” Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania and the fifth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• Charles Pugh, former president of the Detroit City Council, was extradited to Michigan on six counts of criminal sexual misconduct. He was arrested in New York City on June 23, 2016. The charges were made regarding his alleged molestation of a 14-year-old student from 2003 to 2004. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy called on June 22, 2016, for Pugh to face arrest and criminal charges. Pugh served as city council president from 2010 to 2013 after being elected as the city’s first openly gay public official in 2009. Pugh had reportedly lived and worked as a restaurant waiter since leaving Detroit in 2013. According to the Detroit Free Press, he “fled Detroit in the middle of the night” once the news broke regarding a different relationship with a 17-year-old student in 2012. The 17-year-old student sued Pugh and the school district and won a $250,000 jury verdict against Pugh and $350,000 from the district in November 2015. Detroit is the largest city in Michigan and the 18th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • Three of the six counts against Pugh are first-degree charges, and the other three counts are third-degree charges. The maximum possible penalty of the first-degree charges is life in prison, and the maximum penalty for the third-degree charges is 15 years in prison.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #23 of The Tap, which was published on July 2, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

State

• Filing deadline: Arizona
  • Initiative and referendum signatures. Potential state statutes, such as the Death Penalty Repeal Initiative, require 150,642 signatures to land the measure on the ballot, and potential constitutional amendments, such as the Re-Legalize Marijuana Initiative, require 225,963 signatures. The Political Committee Disclosure of Funds Referendum requires 75,321 signatures for the November ballot. The Trust Land Management and Budget Reconciliation Amendment already made the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment.