The Tap: Wednesday, November 16, 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 #43 of The Tap, which was published on November 19, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

• The Rev. Jesse Jackson called on President Obama to issue a pardon for Hillary Clinton. In a speech at the University of Michigan, he said, “Hillary Clinton has not been tried, but there are those who want to drag her for the next three years. It will not stop until they find a reason to put her in jail. That would be a travesty.” Clinton was under investigation throughout the 2016 campaign for her use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Though the FBI has twice cleared Clinton of any wrongdoings, Trump suggested in the 2016 campaign that, as president, he may pursue further investigations and possibly even prosecution. In a presidential debate on October 9, 2016, Trump said that Clinton would be in jail if he won the election, and chants of “lock her up” were common at his rallies. After winning the presidential election, Trump stated that a potential investigation of Clinton was not one of his administration’s top priorities. The Obama administration has not commented directly on the issue.
  • See also: Executive clemency and presidential pardons
• In a conference call with reporters, Trump transition team member and Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer announced that Trump administration appointees would be prohibited from becoming paid lobbyists for five years after they leave government service. “It goes back to Mr. Trump's goal of making sure people aren't using government to enrich themselves,” said Spicer. Appointees will also be subject to a lifetime ban from lobbying for a foreign government. Registered lobbyists must deregister in order to join Trump’s transition team or presidential administration.
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was unanimously re-elected as the top Republican in the Senate.
• Senate Democrats voted to elect Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) as minority leader, replacing retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). After being elected, Schumer said, "I am going to wake up every single day focused on how Senate Democrats can effectively fight for America's middle class and those struggling to join it.”
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was named Democratic chair of outreach. According to The Hill, “Sanders will be in charge of reaching out to blue-collar voters who flocked to President-elect Donald Trump this year.” Sanders said that he has a "heavy responsibility to help shape the priorities of the United States government. I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure that the budget that leaves the United States Congress is a budget that represents the needs of working families and a shrinking middle class and not billionaires.”
  • Although Sanders was given a leadership position in the Democratic Party, he will remain an independent. Sanders said, “I was elected as an Independent and I will finish this term as an Independent.”
• Donald Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner began putting his stamp on the administration’s transition efforts in a series of personnel moves. According to The New York Times, Kushner fired national security advisor Matthew Freedman and forced out former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) in an effort to reduce the influence of former transition chair Chris Christie and his allies.
  • See also: Donald Trump presidential transition team
• Vice President-elect Mike Pence also made a series of moves, beginning with officially taking over the transition process in writing. After formally signing the transition documents, Pence then ordered that all lobbyists be removed from the transition team, according to The Wall Street Journal. Politico further reported that Pence had “gutted” many of the teams responsible for reshaping federal agencies. The site reported that Pence’s action “was part of Pence installing more campaign people in these slots and pushing aside members of the existing transition structure.”
• One hundred sixty-nine Democratic members of the U.S. House signed a letter condemning Trump’s first staff hire, former Breitbart CEO Steve Bannon. The letter, circulated by Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, calls for Trump to rescind Bannon’s appointment because of remarks they believed to be anti-Semitic and racist. The letter read, in part, “We strongly believe that Mr. Bannon’s appointment will not allow the country to heal and come together as one. As one of your top advisors, the White House chief strategist will help set the tone for your administration. The person in this role must be prepared to serve the interests of all Americans, not those of a select few.”
• The House was scheduled to vote on a plan to bring back legislative earmarks, but House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) persuaded Republicans to delay the vote. Reps. John Culberson (R-Texas), Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), and Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) proposed an amendment that would create a new process to allow “lawmakers to direct spending to projects in their districts under certain circumstances.” Ryan argued that after holding a “drain the swamp” election it would be wrong to reinstitute earmarks so quickly. Rooney argued that the earmarks would allow lawmakers to direct funds to projects in their districts that directly impact their constituents. He said, “What we’re trying to do is actually a constitutional authority given to us by the Founding Fathers, not the executive branch. Do they want to waive our authority of the power of the purse to the executive branch and the answer to that, most people would say, is no.”

State

• Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) was elected chair of the Republican Governors Association for 2017. He will take over for incumbent chair and New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez (R). Walker said he would focus on winning the two gubernatorial seats up for election in 2017—New Jersey, currently held by Republican Chris Christie, and Virginia, currently held by Democrat Terry McAuliffe. Walker was the first governor in the country to ever survive a recall election. He gained national attention in 2011 due to his proposal of Wisconsin Act 10, which limited the ability of public employee unions to engage in collective bargaining. Opponents of the measure targeted Walker for removal from office in a recall election on June 5, 2012, but he won the election by nearly 7 percentage points. He also won re-election to a second term as governor in 2014. Wisconsin is one of 23 Republican trifectas.
• The opposition campaigns for Maine’s marijuana legalization measure and Maine’s income tax for education funding measure both submitted petitions to the Maine secretary of state requesting a recount of the votes after both measures passed by a narrow margins according to unofficial election results. The secretary of state will have to verify that 100 of the signatures submitted from each campaign were from registered voters who voted on November 8, 2016, in order to move forward with the recount. A recount could take as long as a month to complete and would cost the state approximately $500,000. Because both measures passed by a margin of less than 1.5 percent, the state is responsible for all recount costs.
  • The Maine Marijuana Legalization measure, also known as Question 1, was designed to legalize recreational marijuana for adults over the age of 21. The unofficial voting returns show that the measure passed by about 4,000 votes. If a recount does not change the results and the measure passes, it will go into effect 30 days after the governor declares the official results.
  • The Maine Income Tax for Public Education measure, also known as Question 2, was designed to place an additional 3-percent tax on incomes greater than $200,000 per year to fund public education. The unofficial voting returns show that the measure passed by about 9,500 votes.
• The Wyoming State Canvassing Board certified general election results for 2016, including those for Constitutional Amendment A. The amendment, which will allow legislators to invest certain state funds into equities, was approved with about 51 percent of voters submitting “yes” votes. Growing Wyoming's Wealth, a political action committee registered with the Wyoming Secretary of State, raised more than $58,000 in support of the amendment. Amendment A was one of 14 measures addressing government budgets, spending, and finance that voters decided in 2016. One of these measures, Oregon Measure 95, was similar to Amendment A in that it will allow public state universities to invest in equities, and it was also approved by voters.
• The newly elected members of the Oklahoma State Legislature were sworn into office. Only 126 seats out of the legislature’s 149 seats were up for election in 2016. The next legislative session will begin on February 6, 2017. Oklahoma is a Republican trifecta. Prior to the November 2016 election, there were 23 Republican trifectas. Now, after the election, there are 25 Republican trifectas.

Local

• In Illinois, the Chicago City Council voted unanimously to pass a $9.8 billion budget for 2017. Budget issues have plagued Chicago for years, culminating in a $33 billion unfunded pension liability at the close of the fiscal year in 2015. The new budget, proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), will take effect on January 1, 2017, and includes $3.7 billion in operations expenditures. It relies on revenue growth to the tune of $82.3 million but does not include major tax hikes for city residents, although the city enacted new water and sewer usage taxes in September 2016. In contrast, the budget passed for 2016 included a $543 million property tax increase and an increased telephone surcharge. The new budget includes funding for Emanuel’s two-year plan to add 970 officers to the Chicago Police Department, aimed at curbing the city’s recent spike in violence. It also imposes a 7-cent fee on store plastic bags and increases the city’s parking rates. Chicago is the largest city in Illinois and the third-largest city in the U.S. by population.
• Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery (R) ruled that marijuana decriminalization laws passed by city councils in Nashville and Memphis violate state statutes and are unenforceable. Earlier in 2016, both cities gave police officers the discretion to issue civil citations for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. In Nashville, Mayor Megan Barry (D) signed a law that allows police to reduce the penalty for the possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana to a $50 fine or 10 hours of community service. The ordinance passed in Memphis was similar to that in Nashville law and was modeled after partial decriminalization legislation passed in other states. The opinion issued by Slatery argues that these city statutes are preempted by multiple state laws on the issue and therefore cannot stand. He wrote, “A municipal ordinance that attempts to regulate a field that is regulated by state statute cannot stand if it is contradictory to state law.”
  • Under Tennessee state law, individuals in possession of small amounts of marijuana face a Class A misdemeanor charge and can spend up to one year in jail. Supporters of marijuana decriminalization responded to Slatery’s opinion, arguing there are multiple local ordinances, such as Nashville’s seat belt and litter laws, which have less severe penalties than those mandated by the state. The marijuana laws, they argue, similarly operate within the confines of state law. Barry said that she will continue to enforce Nashville’s city ordinance until she receives further legal guidance. Memphis has suspended its civil marijuana ordinance following the attorney general’s opinion. Memphis is the largest city in Tennessee and the 20th-largest city in the U.S. by population. Nashville is the second-largest city in the state and the 25th-largest city in the U.S. by population.

Preview of the day

There were no items for this day in issue #42 of The Tap, which was published on November 12, 2016. See the "Review of the day" tab for more information.