The Tap: Tuesday, July 5, 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 #24 of The Tap, which was published on July 9, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• After FBI Director James Comey finished announcing that he would not recommend bringing criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, The Hill compiled a list of new details Comey provided about Clinton’s handling of information while serving as secretary of state, including:
  • • Comey revealed that “113 emails in more than 50 chains contained sensitive information at the time they were sent or received by her private setup. … Of those, eight chains contained information considered top secret, the highest level of classification;”
    • “Clinton has previously framed the decision to delete half of her machine’s cache of approximately 60,000 messages as an effort to avoid letting her private life become public. … But FBI investigators uncovered ‘several thousand work-related emails that were not in the group of 30,000 that were returned by Secretary Clinton’ to the State Department;”
    • The FBI was unable to recover all of Clinton’s deleted emails; and
    • “It is possible that hostile actors gained access to Secretary Clinton’s personal email account.”
  • See also: Hillary Clinton email investigation
• During their first appearance on the campaign trail together, President Barack Obama praised Hillary Clinton, saying, “I can tell you this, Hillary Clinton has been tested. There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office.” During the event, Clinton praised Obama’s presidency and criticized Donald Trump. She said, “Can you imagine him, sitting in the Oval Office, the next time the world faces a crisis? Donald Trump is simply unqualified and temperamentally unfit.”
• One of Donald Trump’s advisors told CNN that Trump's “vice presidential pick is expected to be announced next week.” Trump’s vice presidential shortlist at the time included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).
  • See also: Possible vice presidential picks, 2016
• Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was the target of an article titled “An Open Letter to Jared Kushner, From One of Your Jewish Employees.” The article, alluding to Kushner’s ownership of the New York Observer, was written by Observer entertainment writer Dana Schwartz. Schwartz criticized Kushner for allowing Trump to post anti-semitic tweets and encourage his followers to engage in anti-semitic acts. The letter was a response to a tweet Trump’s social media manager posted on Saturday that had “an image of Hillary Clinton superimposed on a pile of $100 bills along with the words ‘Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!’ emblazoned on a Star of David. … Although the presumptive Republican presidential nominee quickly deleted the tweet and replaced it with one that used a circle in place of the star.”
  • Kushner, husband of Trump’s daughter Ivanka, replied, “My father-in-law is an incredibly loving and tolerant person who has embraced my family and our Judaism since I began dating my wife. I know that Donald does not at all subscribe to any racist or anti-semitic thinking. I have personally seen him embrace people of all racial and religious backgrounds. The suggestion that he may be intolerant is not reflective of the Donald Trump I know.”

• In a unanimous three-judge panel ruling, the D.C. Circuit Court held in Competitive Enterprise Institute v. Office of Science and Technology Policy that federal officials are barred from shielding agency documents from Freedom of Information Act requests, even if those documents are located on a private server. In his opinion for the panel, which was joined by Judges Harry Edwards and Sri Srinivasan, Judge David Sentelle said that “an agency always acts through its employees and officials. If one of them possesses what would otherwise be agency records, the records do not lose their agency character just because the official who possesses them takes them out the door or because he is the head of the agency … If the agency head controls what would otherwise be an agency record, then it is still an agency record and still must be searched or produced.”

• The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group, released its analysis of the House GOP’s “A Better Way” tax plan. According to the analysis, the tax plan would:
  • “Reduce federal tax revenue by $2.4 trillion over the next decade;”
  • “Reduce marginal tax rates on labor and substantially reduce marginal tax rates on investment;”
  • “Boost long-run GDP by 9.1 percent;”
  • Create “7.7 percent higher wages;”
  • “Result in 1.7 million more full-time equivalent jobs;” and
  • “Reduce revenue on a dynamic basis by $191 billion over the next decade.”

• After a week in which the Islamic State—also known as ISIS or ISIL—carried out terrorist attacks in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters, “These tragic events once again highlight why it's so important to accelerate the coalition campaign to deliver ISIL a lasting defeat in Iraq and Syria, to further limit the group's ability to carry out attacks in other parts of the world and to do all we can to prevent the spread of its hateful ideology.” The attacks, which were part of ISIS’s efforts to carry out violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, resulted in the deaths of more than 250 individuals.

• The House passed HR 4855 - the Fix Crowdfunding Act by a vote of 394-4. The legislation proposes raising the amount of money a company can accept from crowdfunded sources from $1 million to $5 million. It also proposes modifying some rules related to crowdfunding.

• The House passed HR 4854 - the Supporting America's Innovators Act of 2016 by a vote of 388-9. The legislation proposes “increasing the investor limitation from 100 to 250 persons for qualifying venture capital funds.” The purpose is to allow start-up companies to seek more angel investors for funding.

State

• Hearings began for former New Mexico state Senator Phil Griego (D). Griego, who served from 1996 to 2015, is facing nine criminal charges, including three counts of fraud; one count each of perjury, tampering with public records, financial disclosure violations, and bribery and solicitation; and two counts of "violating the ethical principles of public service." These charges were the result of a complaint that Griego received over $50,000 in the sale of a state-owned building but did not disclose that information. Griego pleaded not guilty to the charges.

• Filing deadline: Michigan
  • State judiciary: Two seats on the Michigan Supreme Court will be up for election on November 8, 2016. The seats are held by Justice David Viviano (R) and Justice Joan Larsen (R) heading into the election. Both have filed to stand for re-election. Viviano is currently running unopposed for a full term after finishing the unexpired term of his predecessor. Larsen was appointed in 2015 and is running to complete the unexpired term of her predecessor, which expires in January 2019. She is being challenged by attorney Kerry L. Morgan (Libertarian). Supreme court elections in Michigan are nonpartisan, but most candidates are nominated by political parties. It is still possible that other candidates will enter the race; candidates unaffiliated with a political party may file by July 21, and the state Democratic Party may nominate candidates at its August convention. The court’s balance is currently 5-2 Republican and can shift if both incumbents lose their re-election bid.

• Arizona State Representative Ceci Velasquez (D) pleaded not guilty to felony welfare fraud charges. Velasquez is accused of illegally using $1,726 in food stamps between 2013 and 2015. Velasquez was indicted by an Arizona grand jury in May 2016, and her next trial date was set for August 17, 2016.

• The Friendsville, Maryland, Town Council voted 5-1 to ban hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") for natural gas in the town. This is the fourth town in the state to ban fracking since 2011. The town council took up the issue because the town lies over a portion of the natural gas-rich Marcellus shale rock formation. On June 1, 2015, a new law allowing the state to create fracking regulations went into effect. The bill set a deadline of October 1, 2016, for these new rules to go in effect. Under current law, there is a moratorium against fracking until October 2017. Maryland has had a moratorium against fracking since 2011, when the state began studying the potential impacts of fracking.

• The Connecticut Insurance Department issued notice to HealthyCT that the co-op, which was established under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), would be placed under the department’s supervision and that its operations would be wound down. HealthyCT is the 14th co-op nationwide to be ordered to shut down. The decision comes as a result of a notification issued to HealthyCT by the federal government informing the co-op that it would have to pay $13.4 million to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the ACA’s risk adjustment program. The Connecticut Insurance Department said that the requirement jeopardized HealthyCT’s ability to pay out medical claims. Its 40,000 policyholders will have to find new coverage at the end of the current policy term.

• Michigan Governor Rick Snyder (R) said he would appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court a ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals ordering the state to return $550 million collected from public school employees to fund retirement for state employees. The ruling was in regard to a 2010 law that required school employees to contribute 3 percent of their incomes to the state retirement system. The Court of Appeals found the law to be unconstitutional for a second time and required the money collected to be returned to the 200,000 employees who contributed. Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) stated he would not provide state attorneys if Snyder appealed the ruling.

• One of Donald Trump’s advisors told CNN that Trump is expected to choose a running mate next week, and his shortlist for candidates reportedly includes two sitting governors: Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R) and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R).
  • See also: Possible vice presidential picks, 2016

Though Christie is not up for re-election until 2017, Pence is currently seeking a second term in a highly competitive race rated as a toss-up. If Pence were to join Trump's ticket, he would have to withdraw from the gubernatorial race by noon on July 15, 2016. If Pence withdraws, the 22-member Republican State Committee would choose his replacement. Potential replacement candidates include Pence’s running mate and lieutenant governor, Eric Holcomb (R), Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks and Todd Rokita, and state Speaker of the House Brian Bosma have also been. Indiana is one of 23 Republican trifectas.

Local

• Two former school board members from the Donna Independent School District in Texas, Eloy Infante and Elpidio Yanez Jr., were sentenced to more than three years in prison on extortion charges stemming from crimes committed while in office. Both men were charged with threatening to cut the school district's contract with a business if they did not each receive a $10,000 bribe. They pleaded guilty to the charges in January 2016. Infante and Yanez both defeated incumbents to win election to the board in 2014. The school district’s leadership has experienced significant controversy in recent years, including a vote-buying scandal in 2012, the board president's suicide in 2014, and the arrest of the superintendent and a board member on bribery and retaliation charges in 2015. The Donna ISD was the 73rd-largest school district by student enrollment in Texas and served 15,376 students as of the 2013-2014 school year.
• The Chicago Tribune reported that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) has begun fundraising for another possible political campaign. Emanuel, who was first elected in 2011 and re-elected in 2015, will be up for a potential third term in 2019. His re-election campaign last year was closely contested and required a runoff election. He ultimately won the runoff with more than 56 percent of the vote. According to the report, Emanuel has raised $316,600 since the start of May, which mostly came from the $244,100 he raised in June. Several of his possible opponents in the 2019 race—including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, and Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers—also reported fundraising activity, but at a lower level than the mayor. Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• In Ohio, Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson (D) called on the city council to pass a resolution requesting the U.S. Congress to strengthen the Clean Water Act. This came in response to the spread of toxic algal blooms throughout Lake Erie, which negatively impact water quality. If passed, the resolution would ask the federal government to expand the Clean Water Act so that it includes regulatory powers over nonpoint sources of pollutants that cause harmful algal blooms, such as agriculture. The city council is expected to consider the resolution during next week’s sessions. Toledo is the fourth-largest city in Ohio and the 67th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

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.

Federal

• Neil Wake, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, will attain senior status on the court. Judge Wake’s elevation will create a vacancy on the court. As a federal judicial position covered under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the vacancy must be filled by a nomination from the president with confirmation subject to the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.

State

• Filing deadline: Michigan
  • State judiciary: Incumbent supreme court justices. Incumbent Justices David Viviano and Joan Larsen must run for re-election this year in order to remain on the bench; both have announced their intent to do so. Michigan judicial elections are nonpartisan but with partisan candidate nominations. Both Viviano and Larsen are Republicans; the partisan balance of the court is currently 5-2 Republican. A separate filing deadline for non-incumbent candidates is set for July 21.