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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 #15 of The Tap, which was published on May 7, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

Donald Trump named Steven Mnuchin, a hedge fund manager and former chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, as his campaign’s national finance chairman. According to Politico, Mnuchin had previously been a supporter of Hillary Clinton: “Mnuchin donated repeatedly to the Democratic frontrunner's past campaigns and has business connections to George Soros, the Democratic megadonor who has given millions to a pro-Hillary super PAC.”
- For more information about Trump’s key staff, see this page.

In a post published to his Facebook page, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) penned a letter encouraging an independent candidate to step into the presidential race. A portion of the post read, “I’ve ignored my phone most of today, but the voicemail is overflowing with party bosses and politicos telling me that ‘although Trump is terrible,’ we ‘have to’ support him, ‘because the only choice is Trump or Hillary.’ This open letter aims simply to ask ‘WHY is that the only choice?’”

In a letter published on Medium, President Barack Obama announced that he commuted the sentences of 58 nonviolent individuals. He wrote, “As President, I’ve been working to bring about a more effective approach to our criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to drug crimes. Part of that effort has been to reinvigorate our commutations process, and highlight the individuals … who are doing extraordinary things with their second chances. To date, I will have commuted 306 individual sentences, which is more than the previous six presidents combined.”

Republican political operatives John Tate, Jesse Benton, and Dmitri Kesari were convicted of violating multiple campaign finance laws stemming from a payment to then-Iowa State Senator Kent Sorenson in 2012. A federal court found the three guilty of “conspiracy, causing false campaign contribution reports to be filed to the Federal Election Commission and participating in a false statement scheme,” according to CBS News. Benton and Tate were also convicted of causing the campaign to file false records of the payments, a charge Kesari was already convicted of last year. The three strategists working for the Ron Paul presidential campaign funneled money to Sorenson in exchange for an endorsement. Sorenson had already endorsed Michele Bachmann but switched to Ron Paul after the payments. Benton is currently the chief strategist for Great America PAC, a pro-Donald Trump super PAC, while Tate is the founder and president of America’s Liberty PAC.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule that allows them to regulate “all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco and pipe tobacco, among others.” The most controversial element of the new rule is the regulation of e-cigarettes. Supporters of the rule say that e-cigarettes are a “gateway to traditional cigarettes, especially for younger people,” while opponents say that e-cigarettes “are effective in helping people quit.” The rule, among other things, bans the sale of e-cigarettes to anyone under the age of 18. The final rule goes into effect on August 8, 2016.

The Hawaii State Legislature adjourned its regular session. Every year the legislature meets for 60 legislative days. Hawaii is one of seven states with a Democratic trifecta. Democrats control the governor’s office, the House by 37 seats, and the Senate by 23 seats.
- At the conclusion of the session, the legislature approved a constitutional amendment to appear on the ballot in November. The amendment would allow excess general fund revenues to be used to pre-pay general obligation bonds issued and backed by the state or pensions accrued by state employees. The bill joins a measure placed by the legislature at the end of the 2015 session that increases the threshold value for jury trials in civil cases.

Maine Governor Paul LePage (R), whose tenure has been marked by his record number of vetoes, adopted a dog that he aptly named ‘Veto.’ LePage has had a contentious relationship with the state legislature, vetoing a record 187 bills during his first year in office. "As promised, I am vetoing all bills sponsored by Democrats because they have stifled the voice of Maine citizens by preventing them from voting on the elimination of the income tax," LePage writes on each veto in response to repeated efforts by the legislature to block referendums on the matter. LePage adopted the dog from the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, which provoked the ire of another Maine citizen, who stated she had planned to adopt the dog when it was scheduled to be made available for adoption the following day. The shelter confirmed that they bent the rules in order to accommodate LePage: "The governor walks in your front door and it sort of shifts things a little," said the director of the shelter.

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #14 of The Tap, which was published on April 30, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

The Hawaii State Legislature is projected to adjourn its regular session. Every year the legislature meets for 60 legislative days. Hawaii is one of seven states with a Democratic trifecta. Democrats control the governor’s office, the House by 37 seats, and the Senate by 23 seats.

Montana’s only school district in the nation’s top 1,000 by enrollment will hold a general election. Three of the nine seats on the Billings Public Schools school board are up for election to a three-year term. All three seats feature races with only one candidate, but only two of the three are incumbents seeking re-election. The district’s enrollment for the 2013-2014 school year was 11,244.