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The Tap: Wednesday, August 10, 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 #29 of The Tap, which was published on August 13, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton announced that his campaign intended to use the augmented reality game Pokemon Go to draw in potential young voters. According to The Boston Globe, Moulton’s “campaign team plans to draw in potential young voters next week by placing a Pokemon Go ‘lure,’ a special item in the game used to attract rare Pokemon to a specific area, on the Lynn Commons, in Lynn. The area is a known ‘Pokestop,’ where players can collect Pokeballs and other objects.” Moulton said, “We’re going to put a lure out to encourage more people to come over to our voter registration site, and sign people up to get involved in the political process at a time when it’s important.”
  • WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said the organization was offering a $20,000 reward for information concerning the death of former DNC staffer Seth Rich. Assange suggested that Rich—who was the DNC director of voter expansion and who was murdered in July in his Washington, D.C., neighborhood—was the source for the DNC email leak during the Democratic National Convention. While Assange did not identify Rich as the source of the leak, he did make a more general statement about those aiding WikiLeaks, saying, “Whistle-blowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often very significant risks. As a 27-year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington.”
  • A newly released batch of emails revealed potential ties between the State Department and the Clinton Foundation during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state. Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, told The New York Times that the emails show that “the State Department and the Clinton Foundation worked hand in hand in terms of policy and donor effort.” Donald Trump addressed the emails in a speech in Virginia on Wednesday, saying, “A couple of very bad ones came out. And it's called pay for play. And some of these were really, really bad and illegal.”
    • In one exchange from the emails, a representative from the Clinton Foundation requested assistance from the State Department in getting in touch with the U.S. ambassador to Lebanon. Another exchange showed a Clinton Foundation representative requesting that the State Department find a job for a “foundation associate,” according to The New York Times.
    • Clinton’s campaign addressed the emails in a statement, saying, “Neither of these emails involve the secretary or relate to the foundation’s work. They are communications between her aides and the president’s personal aide, and indeed the recommendation was for one of the secretary’s former staffers who was not employed by the foundation.”
    • See also: Hillary Clinton email investigation
  • On Wednesday, Clinton’s campaign launched Together for America, a group focused on leading the “campaign’s recruitment and outreach to the growing number of Republicans and Independents who are stepping forward to endorse Hillary Clinton for president.” Clinton’s campaign announced endorsements from two former officials from George W. Bush’s administration on Wednesday: John Negroponte, a former Director of National Intelligence, and Carlos Gutierrez, a former secretary of commerce. The Together for America website features a list of almost 50 prominent Republicans who have endorsed Clinton.
  • After Seddique Mateen, the father of the shooter who killed 49 people at a nightclub in Orlando in June, expressed support for Hillary Clinton at a campaign rally on Monday, her campaign disavowed his support. A spokesperson said that Clinton, “disagrees with his views and disavows his support. … The rally was a 3,000-person, open-door event for the public. This individual wasn’t invited as a guest and the campaign was unaware of his attendance until after the event.”
  • Hillary Clinton published an op-ed in the Utah newspaper Deseret News in which she sought to appeal to Mormon voters in the state by highlighting her record on religious freedom. “I’ve been fighting to defend religious freedom for years. As secretary of state, I made it a cornerstone of our foreign policy to protect the rights of religious minorities around the world — from Coptic Christians in Egypt to Buddhists in Tibet. And along with Jon Huntsman, our then-ambassador in Beijing, I stood in solidarity with Chinese Christians facing persecution from their government,” wrote Clinton. Though Utah has voted Republican in 72 percent of the last 29 presidential elections, some have speculated that the state could be in play for Democrats this year, as Mormon voters in Utah have expressed disapproval for Donald Trump.
  • At a rally in Florida, Donald Trump called President Obama the “founder of ISIS” and Hillary Clinton the “co-founder.” Trump said, “ISIS is honoring President Obama. He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. And, I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton. … He was the founder of ISIS, absolutely. The way he removed our troops -- you shouldn't have gone in. I was against the war in Iraq. Totally against it.” Jake Sullivan, a senior policy advisor for Clinton, responded in a statement, saying, “What’s remarkable about Trump’s comments is that, once again, he’s echoing the talking points of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and our adversaries to attack American leaders and American interests, while failing to offer any serious plans to confront terrorism or make this country more secure.”
  • Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin told The Weekly Standard that he plans to get on the ballot in all 50 states, despite ballot access deadlines that have already passed or soon will. He said, “We expect to be on a broad number of states' [ballots], and in some especially critical states across the country. And we expect to be competitive. And we do see, even at this late hour, a difficult but very possible route to winning, and that is the goal, and that is what we're going to fight for until the end. … It's a multi-pronged strategy that involves getting on ballots through signatures where we can do that. We're also talking to other parties who are interested in what we're doing. We are preparing some legal challenges.”
  • The U.S. Interior Department advised state governments to hold coal companies responsible for the cost of cleaning up abandoned coal mines. State mining agencies will enforce the federal rules requiring coal companies to meet “legally mandated reclamation obligations.” The department argued that the rules are necessary to ensure that taxpayers do not have to bear the costs of mine cleanup. Industry groups argue that the rules would harm coal companies struggling with the decline in coal demand and that the federal government would still be responsible for paying cleanup costs even if coal companies go bankrupt. Other opponents have argued that rules are unnecessary because coal companies already comply with cleanup regulations issued by states and other federal agencies.
  • The U.S. Department of Justice issued a 163-page report detailing violations of the constitutional rights of Baltimore residents by the Baltimore Police Department between 2010 and 2016. The report focused on the department's disproportionate use of excessive force, high volumes of traffic stops, and discretionary arrests on black residents.

State

  • On Wednesday, August 10, the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit stayed a lower court's ruling permitting Wisconsin voters to sign affidavits in lieu of presenting qualified forms of identification at the polls. On July 19, federal judge Lynn Adelman issued a preliminary injunction against Wisconsin's voter ID law, finding that "a safety net is needed for those voters who can't obtain qualifying ID with reasonable effort." According to election law scholar Rick Hasen, the appeals court opted to stay the ruling "because it believes it is very likely to reverse the requirement for the affidavit alternative, because it is not targeted enough to the kinds of people who face special burdens on voting."
  • Three bills aimed at reducing government waste and efficiency went into effect in Colorado. The bills affected reporting requirements that were previously mandated by the legislature, but which are now deemed wasteful and irrelevant; some of the reports were for programs that no longer exist. Bill 1081, sponsored by Rep. Kim Ransom (R), “repeals a number of obsolete tasks in the Departments of Health Care Policy and Financing and Education, which includes those pointless reports.” Bill 1130, proposed by Rep. Kevin Priola (R), “gets rid of a report the Department of Education provides the General Assembly on student enrollment options.” Bill 1114, sponsored by House GOP leader Brian DelGrosso (R), “repeals a requirement that businesses submit a form to the state proving confirming it completed a federal employee verification form.” All three bills were introduced by Republican legislators in the Colorado House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, and signed into law by Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper.
  • A federal judge approved an interim agreement remedying Texas' voter ID law in light of a July 2016 court ruling. On July 20, the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that Texas' voter ID law violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The appeals court ordered state officials to "ensure that any remedy enacted ameliorates [the law's] discriminatory effect, while respecting the [Texas State Legislature's] stated objective to safeguard the integrity of elections by requiring more secure forms of voter identification." On August 3, state officials and opponents of the voter ID law reached an interim agreement, under which voters will be temporarily permitted to use the following forms of identification at the polls, provided their names appear on voter registration rolls:
    • A form of identification specified in the original voter ID law (SB 14), including a Texas driver's license, a Texas identification certificate, a Texas personal identification card, a Texas concealed handgun license, a United States military identification card containing the person’s photograph, a United States citizenship certificate containing the person’s photograph, or a United States passport
    • A "valid voter registration certificate, a certified birth certificate, a current utility bill, a bank statement, a government check, a paycheck, or any other government document that displays the voter’s name and an address"
    • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the state would appeal the decision.

Local

  • The Cleveland City Council rejected a $15 minimum wage proposal by a vote of 16-1. Council member Jeffrey Johnson was the sole “yes” vote. Proponents argue that the increase is needed to keep Cleveland’s business sector regionally competitive and to propel workers into the middle class. Opponents claimed that the wage hike would ultimately lead to lost jobs and would be implemented too quickly for businesses to adjust. There is concern that raising Cleveland’s minimum wage would make the city less competitive compared to the rest of Ohio, where the minimum wage would remain $8.10. The minimum wage increase could go to voters on November 8, 2016, if proponents are able to collect an additional 5,000 petition signatures to put it on the ballot. Cleveland is the second-largest city in Ohio and the 48th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
    • Here’s the background on this story:
      • In late July, the local advocacy group Raise Up Cleveland filed a lawsuit against the city of Cleveland with the Ohio Supreme Court. The lawsuit alleged that the office of city council clerk Patt Britt refused to accept boxes containing several thousand signatures in support of placing the issue on the November ballot. Britt argued that she could not accept the signatures because the city council had not taken a final vote on the proposal. The lawsuit is currently pending.
      • June 15: Two city council members, Jeffrey Johnson and Brian Cummins, proposed separate plans to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour. Johnson's plan would set the wage at $15 by 2021, while Cummins' plan would reach that level at 2022. The proposals came in response to the plan put forward by Raise Up Cleveland, backed by the Service Employees International Union, to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2020. On June 4, 2016, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson (D) and city council president Kevin Kelley publicly opposed the Raise Up Cleveland proposal to raise the city's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020.
    • Debates over the minimum wage have become commonplace in cities across the United States.
      • Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie called for a $15 minimum wage for city workers. All city job descriptions and functions will be evaluated and Cownie is seeking feedback from city council and legal advisers.
      • The Baltimore City Council voted 7-4 to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2022. A final vote on the wage increase is expected on August 15, 2016. At least eight of the 15 city council members must support the measure in order for it to pass. Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and the 26th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
      • In Minneapolis, the city council blocked a proposal to add a $15 minimum wage vote to the ballot on November 8, 2016. City attorney Susan Segal advised the council not to place the issue on the ballot, saying that the proposal is an ordinance, not a charter amendment, and cannot be decided by voters. Minimum wage supporters filed a legal complaint against the city on August 8, 2016, asking the Hennepin County District Court to reverse the decision. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-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. In San Mateo, California, the city council will vote on a $15 minimum wage ordinance during an August 15, 2016, meeting. It would phase into effect in 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. San Diego is the second-largest city in California and the eighth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • In Minneapolis, Mayor Betsy Hodges (D) proposed a 5.5 percent property tax increase. Hodges proposed the tax increase as part of the 2017 Minneapolis city budget, citing the need for more municipal police officers and improved city services. Over the previous five years, Minneapolis’s population has grown by 8 percent. “We have more people using our parks and our streets, we have more people taking advantage of all that Minneapolis has to offer and therefore managing the growth of our city requires more resources,” Hodges said of the city’s growth. The increased tax rate would fund the addition of 15 police officers and pay for long-term city park and street plans. Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota and the 46th-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to file in the special election for the District 3 seat on the Phoenix City Council. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. The winner of this election will serve a term that expires in January 2020. Phoenix is the largest city in Arizona and the sixth-largest city in the U.S. by population.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to file in retention elections for magistrates in Idaho. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. In these elections, judges do not compete against another candidate, but voters are given a "yes" or "no" choice whether to keep the judge in office for another term. The judge must receive a majority of "yes" votes to remain in office.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to file in the general election for 86 school board seats in 29 of Arizona’s largest school districts by enrollment. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. These districts served 630,417 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which was 57.9 percent of all Arizona public school students.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed for Independent Party candidates to file in the general election for six city council seats in Washington, D.C. The general election will be held on November 8, 2016. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run for the Democratic, Republican, Green, or Libertarian parties was March 16, 2016.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #28 of The Tap, which was published on August 6, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.


Local

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to file in the special election for the District 3 seat on the Phoenix City Council. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. The winner of this election will serve a term that expires in January 2020. Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the United States by population and the largest in Arizona.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to file in retention elections for magistrates in Idaho. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. In these elections, judges do not compete against another candidate, but voters are given a "yes" or "no" choice whether to keep the judge in office for another term. The judge must receive a majority of "yes" votes to remain in office.
  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to file in the general election for 86 school board seats in 29 of Arizona’s largest school districts by enrollment. The election will be held on November 8, 2016. These districts served 630,417 students during the 2013-2014 school year, which was 57.9 percent of all Arizona public school students.



The Tap covered election news, public policy, and other noteworthy events from February 2016 to February 2022.
March: 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
April: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
May: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
June: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
July: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
August: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
September: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
October: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7• 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
November: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30
December: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 31
January: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31
February: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17
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