The Tap: Thursday, September 8, 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 #33 of The Tap, which was published on September 10, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Donald Trump delivered a speech on education policy in Ohio. He said, “As your president I will be the nation's biggest cheerleader for school choice. I understand many stale old politicians will resist, but it's time for our country to start thinking big and correct once again.” On his campaign website, he proposed allocating $20 billion toward school choice policies “by reprioritizing existing federal dollars.” In his speech in Ohio, Trump also commented on the issue of merit pay for teachers, saying, “I will also support merit pay for teachers so that we reward our best teachers instead of the failed tenure system that rewards bad teachers and punishes the good ones.”
  • See also: Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016/Education, 2016 presidential candidates on education, and School choice information by state
• Trump conducted an interview on RT America, a state-funded Russian news network. The interview came amid criticisms from Hillary Clinton’s campaign that Trump is too close to Russian president Vladimir Putin. Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, said that Trump did the interview as a favor to Larry King, who was the interviewer on the program, and that “nobody said it was going to be on Russian TV.” In the interview, Trump said that it is “unlikely” Russia is seeking to intervene in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He said, “I think that that is pretty unlikely. I think it’s probably unlikely. I don’t know. I’ve been hearing about it, I’ve been reading about it. I think maybe the Democrats are putting that out. You know, who knows? I hope that if they are doing something, I hope that somebody’s going to be able to find out so that they can end it, because that would not be appropriate at all.”
• When asked in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” how he would address the refugee crisis in Aleppo, Syria, Gary Johnson responded by saying, “What is Aleppo?” Mike Barnicle, a panelist on the show, asked if he was kidding, and Johnson said “No.” Barnicle replied, “Aleppo is in Syria. It’s the epicenter of the refugee crisis.” Johnson said, “Okay, got it,” and then discussed his views on partnering with Russia to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
  • Johnson later addressed the issue in an official statement, saying, “This morning, I began my day by setting aside any doubt that I'm human. Yes, I understand the dynamics of the Syrian conflict -- I talk about them every day. But hit with 'What about Aleppo?', I immediately was thinking about an acronym, not the Syrian conflict. I blanked. It happens, and it will happen again during the course of this campaign. Can I name every city in Syria? No. Should I have identified Aleppo? Yes. Do I understand its significance? Yes.”
  • See also: Gary Johnson presidential campaign, 2016/Foreign affairs

• Vice President Joseph Biden held a press event with Democratic members of Congress on the steps of the U.S. Capitol urging the Senate to avoid setting a "dangerous precedent" in failing to give an up or down vote on Merrick Garland's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The vice president said, "Do your job in terms of not spreading the dysfunction of the Congress to the Supreme Court of the United States."

• The Senate Judiciary Committee held an executive business meeting to vote on whether to report three federal judicial nominees out of committee. Such an action would move those nominees toward a final vote for confirmation on the floor of the U.S. Senate, a vote that must be scheduled by the majority leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Kathleen Sweet, a nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, was reported out of committee. The other nominees, Lucy Koh, a nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Florence Pan, a nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, were held over until the next executive business meeting on September 15, per a statement from committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

• An analysis written by Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E) reported that 15 of the approximately 70 competitive U.S. House races will focus on environmental policy issues, such as environmental protection, federal land issues, and energy policy. In Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Scott Tipton (R) faces former state Sen. Gail Schwartz (D). Schwartz criticized Tipton’s support for transferring federal land ownership to the states. Tipton argued that state and local governments know best how to manage the land. In Florida’s 18th District, an open-seat race could be decided based on which candidate has the better plan for cleaning up toxic algae blooms in the state’s waterways. In Michigan’s 1st District, Lon Johnson (D) supports shutting down an oil pipeline through the Great Lakes until the pipeline is proven safe. His opponent, retired Marine Lt. Gen. Jack Bergman (R), said he supports safety inspections at the pipeline but argued shutting down the project would harm the region’s economy.

• Massachusetts held congressional primaries.
  • There is no U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts in 2016.
  • Massachusetts has nine U.S. House districts. The Democratic Party currently holds all nine seats. All nine incumbents are seeking re-election, but none faced a primary challenger on Thursday. All nine of Massachusetts’ House races are rated safely Democratic in the general election.
  • Massachusetts’ 9th District featured the only contested primary in the state. Mark Alliegro defeated Tom O’Malley to win the Republican nomination. Alliegro will face incumbent Bill Keating (D) in the general election.
  • Massachusetts held its primary on a Thursday rather than a Tuesday so that it did not immediately follow Labor Day. This was in order to prevent extra costs, so that workers would not need to be paid overtime to set up polling places on the holiday. Massachusetts also held its primaries on a Thursday in 2012 for the same reason.

• The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC Priorities USA announced that it had raised $21.6 million in August, ending the month with $41.5 million cash on hand. According to CNN, this fundraising haul is nearly equal to the amount of money pro-Trump super PACs have collectively raised in 2016.

• The New York Times reported that Paul Combetta, the computer specialist who deleted emails from Hillary Clinton's private email server in March 2015, was given immunity by the Justice Department during its investigation into whether classified material was mishandled on the server.

• The Pentagon confirmed that U.S. military forces tried but failed to rescue two American University of Afghanistan professors—one American and one Australian—during a raid in August near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that the hostages were not at the location when the raid took place and “[a] fierce firefight ensued, with U.S. personnel killing ‘hostile forces.’” He added that “No U.S. personnel or civilians were harmed.” The Haqqani network, an Afghan insurgent group, is suspected of kidnapping the professors on August 7, according to Fox News. Their whereabouts remain unknown.

• The White House named retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Gregory Touhill as the government’s first federal cyber security chief. According to Reuters, “Touhill's job will be to protect government networks and critical infrastructure from cyber threats as federal chief information security officer.”

State

• Ballotpedia completed research about signature petition costs in California; over $44 million was spent to qualify 14 citizen initiatives and one veto referendum for the November 2016 ballot. That figure is greater than any year in the prior decade, eclipsing the previous record by almost $16.5 million (in nominal dollars).
  • The cost per required signature (CPRS) compares dollars spent on a petition drive to the number of signatures the state requires for an initiative to make the ballot. The average CPRS of the 2016 measures was $6.20. Between 2006 and 2014, average CPRS counts ranged from $2.98 to $3.92. However, in 2005, the average CPRS was higher: $6.53.
  • Proponents of Proposition 54, a measure requiring the legislature to provide public access to bills before voting on them, expended the most contributions to get their initiative on the ballot. Hiring National Petition Management, Inc., the Yes on Prop 54 committee spent $11.31 per required signature.
  • Spending $2.72 per required signature, supporters of Proposition 52 spent the least to get their initiative on the ballot. Their measure necessitates voter approval to change dedicated use of certain fees from hospitals used to draw matching federal dollars.

• Thursday was the last day for the Michigan State Legislature to refer measures to the ballot. Currently, no measures are certified for the 2016 ballot. The legislature considered dozens of proposed constitutional amendments during the 2015-2016 legislative session, but did not refer any to the ballot. The last time the legislature put a measure on a November ballot in an even-numbered year was in 2010.
  • See also: Michigan 2016 ballot measures

• The U.S. Justice Department declined to re-indict former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) on corruption charges following a June 2016 Supreme Court decision that vacated his conviction. McDonnell was found guilty of conspiring to take cash and gifts from the owner of Star Scientific in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement in 2014. McDonnell appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously decided that the jury was given incorrect instructions regarding what constituted an "official action," and remanded the case back to prosecutors to decide whether or not to re-try McDonnell under a new definition of an "official act" provided in the Court's opinion. "After carefully considering the Supreme Court’s recent decision and the principles of federal prosecution, we have made the decision not to pursue the case further," said a statement from the Justice Department.

• Jury selection begins in the trial against former aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) Bridget Anne Kelly and former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Bill Baroni. Both were indicted on nine charges in April 2015—including conspiracy to commit fraud—over allegations that the two conspired with former Port Authority Executive David Wildstein to purposely create traffic jams on the George Washington Bridge. The traffic jams were allegedly intended as retaliation against the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for declining to endorse Christie's 2013 re-election bid. Wildstein had pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiracy in January 2015; both Kelly and Baroni have maintained their innocence.
  • Governor Christie has also denied any involvement, stating that the employees acted alone and without his knowledge. However, Wildstein's lawyer has publicly stated that there is evidence that Christie did have prior knowledge of the plan. Christie told reporters in August 2016 that he would testify if subpoenaed and that he was confident he would be absolved of any wrongdoing. Opening arguments are set to begin on September 19; Christie is term-limited from running for re-election in 2017.

• Governor Jerry Brown (D) signed legislation extending the state’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as part of its statewide climate change policy. The bill requires reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2030, a greater reduction than the state’s previous goal of reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The 2016 legislation builds upon Assembly Bill 32, one of California’s strongest environmental laws, which established a statewide cap-and-trade program requiring companies to purchase permits for emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Supporters of the legislation, including Democrats and environmental groups, argued that the bill would help California reduce its emissions further and push the state’s economy into using fewer carbon-emitting energy sources. Opponents of the legislation, including Republicans and energy industry groups, argued that the bill would drive out jobs and raise energy costs.

• Massachusetts held its primary elections. In the Senate, only two incumbents faced primary opponents. Both incumbents won their elections, including Patrick O’Connor (R). O’Connor was elected in May through a special election and will face Joan Meschino (D) in November. Representative Brian Mannal (D) elected not to run for re-election for his seat in the House’s 2nd Barnstable District, instead running for a position for the Senate’s Cape & Islands District. He was defeated by Julian Cyr (D). In the House, 17 incumbents faced primary opponents. Two of them, Marcos Devers (D) and Timothy Toomey Jr. (D), were defeated. In the state’s 7th Norfolk District, seven Democrats competed for the open seat left by Walter Timilty (D), who chose to run for the state’s Senate. William Driscoll Jr. won that race and is unopposed in the general election. In the House’s 12th Plymouth District, Peter Boncek (R) defeated Michael Cowett (R) by eight votes. Under Massachusetts law, Cowett has 10 days to petition for a recount.

Local

• In California, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (D) announced the firing of four police officers and the suspension without pay of seven others. This disciplinary action came in the aftermath of a city investigation that found a number of officers had sexual relations with an underaged sex worker and then attempted to cover it up. The Oakland Police Department has been embroiled in controversy for months, leading to the resignation of four separate police chiefs and calls for Schaaf’s resignation. Oakland is the 45th-largest city in the United States by population, and the eighth-largest in California.
• U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts sentenced four Detroit-area principals to six months to a year of prison. The principals were involved in a vendor’s plan to scam Detroit Public Schools out of $2.7 million. The four received kickbacks from school supplies vendor Norman Shy in exchange for approving fake invoices, meaning the school district paid for supplies it never actually received. Shy received five years in prison for his role in the scam. The district is the largest in Michigan and served 51,979 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which is roughly 3.3 percent of all the public school students in Michigan.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #32 of The Tap, which was published on September 3, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• Massachusetts will hold congressional primaries.
  • There is no U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts in 2016.
  • Massachusetts has nine U.S. House districts. The Democratic Party currently holds all nine seats. All nine incumbents are seeking re-election, but none face a primary challenger on Tuesday. All nine of Massachusetts’ House races are rated safely Democratic in the general election.
  • Massachusetts’ 9th District Republican primary between Mark Alliegro and Tom O’Malley is the only contested congressional primary in the state.
  • Massachusetts is holding its primary on a Thursday rather than a Tuesday so that it does not immediately follow Labor Day. This is in order to prevent extra costs, so that workers would not need to be paid overtime to set up polling places on the holiday. Massachusetts also held its primaries on a Thursday in 2012 for the same reason.

State

• Last day for the Michigan State Legislature to refer measures to the ballot. No measures are currently certified to appear before voters in Michigan in 2016. The legislature considered several proposed amendments in this year’s legislative session.
  • Multiple citizen initiative petitions, including petitions for an anti-fracking measure and a marijuana legalization measure, were circulated, but none of them qualified for the ballot.
  • See also: Michigan 2016 ballot measures
• Primary election: Massachusetts
  • In the Senate, all 40 seats are up for election, and two incumbents will face primary challenges. In the Plymouth and Norfolk District, newly elected Republican incumbent Patrick O’Connor will face Stephen Gill in one of Ballotpedia’s 2016 Massachusetts races to watch.
  • In the House, all 160 seats are up for election, and 17 incumbents will face challengers in the primary.
  • With both chambers controlled by Democrats and the office of governor held by Republican Charlie Baker, Massachusetts is one of 20 states under divided government.