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The Tap: Tuesday, May 31, 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 #19 of The Tap, which was published on June 4, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

  • A federal judge released documents from the case against Trump University. Documents include depositions from Trump executives and documents related to Trump University programs. The documents reveal the aggressive strategies Trump University employees used to persuade prospective students to purchase instructional programs and the strategies that they used to deal with members of the media. In his order, Judge Gonzalo Curiel noted that the documents were unsealed in part because Trump has “placed the integrity of these court proceedings at issue.” The order came after Trump criticized Curiel, calling him a “hater.”
  • Donald Trump announced that he gave $5.6 million to veterans groups, making good on a pledge he made in January. The announcement came after The Washington Post pressed Trump to reveal who received the money he raised during a campaign event, along with his personal donation of $1 million. Trump criticized the media for the inquiry, saying, "I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job.”
  • Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, sent an email to supporters addressing the ongoing investigations into Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state. Podesta’s email, in part, read, “What she thought would be a convenient way to communicate with family, friends and colleagues – by using one email account for both her work related and personal emails – has turned out to be anything but convenient. If she could go back, she’d do it differently. Had Secretary Clinton known of any concerns about her email setup at the time, she would have taken steps to address them. She believed she was following the practices of other secretaries and senior officials.”
  • California Governor Jerry Brown endorsed Clinton. In a post on his website, he wrote, “On Tuesday, June 7, I have decided to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton because I believe this is the only path forward to win the presidency and stop the dangerous candidacy of Donald Trump.” He explained that although he is “deeply impressed with how well Bernie Sanders has done,” Clinton “knows how to get things done.” He called for party unity, writing, “This is no time for Democrats to keep fighting each other. The general election has already begun. Hillary Clinton, with her long experience, especially as Secretary of State, has a firm grasp of the issues and will be prepared to lead our country on day one. Next January, I want to be sure that it is Hillary Clinton who takes the oath of office, not Donald Trump.”
  • Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, is reportedly recruiting David French to run an independent bid to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. According to Bloomberg, “French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children.” In a recent issue of the Weekly Standard, Kristol wrote, “To say that he [French] would be a better and a more responsible president than Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is to state a truth that would become self-evident as more Americans got to know him.”
  • A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee investigation into an inspector general’s report on the healthcare provided at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, Wisconsin, “found the inspector general’s office, which is charged with independently investigating VA complaints, discounted key evidence and witness testimony, needlessly narrowed its inquiry and has no standard for determining wrongdoing.” Despite finding that two medical providers at the facility had been prescribing patients “alarming levels of narcotics,” the inspector general chose not to release the report in order to avoid publicly addressing the issue. According to USA Today, failure to release the report contributed to at least one death. Jason Simcakoski, a 35-year-old Marine Corps veteran, died from “mixed drug toxicity” five months after the report concluded. One of the physicians named in the report, David Houlihan, added “another opiate to the 14 drugs” Simcakoski was already prescribed days before the veteran’s death.
    • Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said, "The reasons the problems were allowed to fester for so many years is because in the inspector general's office, for whatever reason, for years, the inspector general lacked the independence and had lost the sense of what its true mission was, which is being the transparent watchdog of VA system.”
  • The Supreme Court agreed to hear State Farm v. U.S. ex rel. Rigsby next term. Section 3730(b) of the civil False Claims Act (FCA) permits a private person to bring a civil complaint for alleged violations of section 3729 of the FCA, provided that the complaint meets filing requirements, including a requirement that the complaint be under seal for at least 60 days. In State Farm, the court will address a circuit court split over the appropriate standard to dismiss an FCA complaint when this 60 day seal requirement is violated.
  • The Supreme Court called for the views of the Solicitor General (CVSG) in Endrew F. v. Douglas County (Colorado) School District, a case under consideration for a writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The case concerns the level of educational benefit that school districts must confer on children with disabilities to provide them with the free appropriate public education guaranteed by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The Supreme Court requests a CVSG when the United States is not a party to a case but the court wants the views of the U.S. government known in advance of either a case being granted certiorari and/or a scheduled oral argument.
  • Political activist and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselić tweeted that he gave the maximum contribution to Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Speaking of the campaign, he told Reason, “this election is like Nirvana in 1991. The Johnson/Weld ticket can capture imaginations to bolt to the top.”
  • Politico reported that top aides to Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire Republican megadonor, were in talks with national political consultants about starting a super PAC supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. According to the report, Adelson’s aides met with “former Republican Governors Association executive directors Nick Ayers and Phil Cox, former Rand Paul campaign manager Chip Englander, and former Mitch McConnell chief of staff Josh Holmes.”
  • Michael Biundo, a New Hampshire political strategist who most recently worked with the presidential campaigns of both John Kasich and Rand Paul, signed on as a general campaign consultant for former New Hampshire State Rep. Jim Lawrence (R), who is running for a seat in the U.S. House. Biundo told WMUR, “Jim Lawrence will run a professional campaign, building a district-wide grassroots organization to take his message directly to voters in the media, online, at town hall meetings, and in door-to-door conversations. He will paint a clear contrast with Annie Kuster.”
  • UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurer, announced that it would continue offering individual health plans on Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges in just three states in 2017, out of the 36 where it had been selling ACA plans. The company announced in April that it would be leaving the majority of ACA exchanges, but did not reveal in how many states or which ones it would continue to maintain a presence. It has now disclosed that it will continue to offer plans on exchanges in Nevada, New York, and Virginia, while a subsidiary will maintain a limited presence on exchanges in Georgia, Illinois, and Florida. The company cited expected losses of nearly $1 billion as the reason for its ACA departures.
  • Two of the agencies responsible for regulating offshore drilling released an environmental assessment ruling that fracking off the coast of California poses no significant environmental effects. This ruling lifted a moratorium on fracking off the coast of Santa Barbara that was put into place following a legal settlement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in January 2016. The Center for Biological Diversity had filed the lawsuit challenging the DOI's policy of "rubber-stamping of fracking permits."

State

  • Filing deadline: Minnesota
  • Federal prosecutors announced during a court hearing that they would retry Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley (D) on the 14 charges on which the jury deadlocked during his March 2016 criminal trial. In April 2015, Kelley was indicted on 15 charges including four counts of false declaration, 10 charges of possession of stolen property, and one count of perjury related to allegedly fraudulent fees charged by a real estate escrow firm he previously owned. The jury acquitted Kelley of the perjury charge but hung on the others. A new trial date was set for March 13, 2017.
  • Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who previously managed Mike Huckabee’s presidential campaign and is now a senior advisor to Donald Trump’s campaign, signed on as a senior advisor to John Brunner’s gubernatorial run in Missouri. According to The Missouri Times, Huckabee Sanders “will serve as a senior advisor to the campaign, and will be guiding and executing the campaign’s strategy on Faith Voter Outreach.” She has also previously worked on campaigns for both of Arkansas’ current U.S. senators, Tom Cotton and John Boozman.
  • Illinois is approaching its second year without a state budget. The Illinois General Assembly adjourned their spring session with Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and a majority Democratic legislature still undecided on a state budget. The governor wants to limit collective bargaining rights for public unions, and legislators want to increase taxes—a disagreement that sits in the midst of some other internal conflicts among House and Senate Democrats. The lack of a state budget puts schools in Illinois at risk; many are worried that they will not receive state funds this year unless the governor gets a budget from the legislature. Since a budget was not approved during the regular session, it must now be passed with a three-fifths majority in both chambers instead of a simple majority. House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) said that House lawmakers will meet every Wednesday in June to solve the budget crisis.
  • The Illinois General Assembly approved legislation establishing an automatic voter registration system. Before it becomes law, the legislation must be signed by Governor Bruce Rauner (R), who has "has indicated in the past that he'd support simplifying the voting process but hasn't specifically said whether he'd sign the plan into law." If signed into law, the legislation will enable four state agencies to add eligible individuals to the voter rolls automatically (those agencies include the Office of the Secretary of State; the Department on Aging; the Department of Human Services, Healthcare, and Family Services; and the Department of Employment Security). Democrats, who control both chambers of the state legislature, generally supported the bill. Representative Robyn Gabel (D) said, "Automatic voter registration will modernize voter registration in Illinois, put more eligible voters on the rolls, and make our voting lists more accurate and secure." Republicans, however, were divided on the issue, with some questioning the cost and necessity of the measure. Representative David Harris (R) said, "We've made so many other opportunities with early voting. I think it's important for the voter to have a little bit of initiative to do what they need to do and not just automatically be signed up." If Rauner signs the bill into law, Illinois will become the sixth state with automatic voter registration; the others include Oregon, California, West Virginia, Vermont, and Connecticut.
  • The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that private landowners can challenge in court a federal decision to regulate private property as a wetland under the Clean Water Act. The eight justices concluded that a decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to classify land held by three Minnesota companies as a wetland—preventing the company from mining the land without a federal permit—can be reviewed by a federal court. The Obama administration argued that the Corps’ decision was open to revision and thus did not constitute a “final” agency action that is subject to judicial review. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, rejected that argument, arguing that the Corps’ decision was binding on the federal government and thus challengeable in court. The decision will likely affect future enforcement of the Clean Water Act, as the Army Corps has estimated that between 270 million and 300 million acres of the U.S. are wetlands, according to Roberts.
  • Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) announced plans to address the $600 million shortfall in the state budget—a situation he calls “a bit of a mess”—by offering legislators a list of options to consider during the upcoming special session. Among these items are adjustments to the state’s income tax brackets (which he estimates to bring in $324 million), reduction in itemized deductions ($130 million), and a change in the health insurance premium taxes ($125 million). A prior proposal to adjust income tax brackets failed to pass the House during the first special session, and adjustments to the health insurance premium taxes were rejected by the federal government after meeting approval in the state House.
  • Two of the agencies responsible for regulating offshore drilling released an environmental assessment ruling that fracking off the coast of California poses no significant environmental effects. This ruling lifted a moratorium on fracking off the coast of Santa Barbara that was put into place following a legal settlement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in January 2016. The Center for Biological Diversity had filed the lawsuit challenging the DOI's policy of "rubber-stamping of fracking permits."

Local

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline passed to run for 11 school board seats across three of Minnesota’s largest school districts. The primary election for these districts will be on August 9, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. The state’s third-largest school district—Minneapolis Public Schools, which served 36,817 students during the 2013-2014 school year—has four of its nine seats up for election.
    • The Elk River Area School District in Minnesota also had a filing deadline for one school board seat. The Elk River race is a special election for an unexpired two-year term. The general election will be on August 9, 2016.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #18 of The Tap, which was published on March 28, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Federal

Tuesday, May 31

  • The U.S. Supreme Court will hold a non-argument session on Tuesday. The court is expected to issue orders in advance of the session and to announce opinions in decided cases during the session.

State

Local

  • FILING DEADLINE: Deadline to run for 11 school board seats across three of Minnesota’s largest school districts. The primary election for these districts will be on August 9, 2016, and the general election will be on November 8, 2016. The state’s third-largest school district—Minneapolis Public Schools, which served 36,817 students during the 2013-2014 school year—has four of its nine seats up for election.
    • The Elk River Area School District in Minnesota also has a filing deadline for one school board seat. The Elk River race is a special election for an unexpired two-year term. The general election will be on August 9, 2016.



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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