The Tap: Friday, November 18, 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

• Trump’s transition team announced two major nominations on Friday morning: Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) for attorney general and Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) for CIA director.
  • Sessions was an early supporter of Trump’s candidacy. First elected to the Senate in 1996, he served as the attorney general of Alabama from 1994 to 1996 and holds a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. President Ronald Reagan nominated him for a federal judgeship, but the Senate Judiciary Committee, with a Republican majority, blocked Sessions' nomination 10-8 in the committee over allegations that he made racial remarks toward a colleague while serving as a U.S. attorney. Reactions to Sessions’ appointment from Republican lawmakers and supporters of Trump have been positive. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said, “Senator Sessions is a respected member and former Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee who has worked across the aisle on major legislation. He knows the Justice Department as a former U.S. attorney, which would serve him very well in this position.” Democrats have been more cautious. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement, “Senator Sessions has served on the Senate Judiciary Committee for many years so he’s well aware of the thorough vetting he’s about to receive. … While Senator Sessions and I differ on a great many issues, I am committed to a full and fair process.”
  • Pompeo entered Congress in the Republican wave of 2010. He served in the Army, holds a seat on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and was a member of the House Select Benghazi Committee. Pompeo endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican primary. He has spoken out critically against the Iran Nuclear Deal and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who, Pompeo said in 2014, has “committed a treasonous act by stealing secrets.” Pompeo has supported NSA data collection programs. Justin Amash, a Libertarian-leaning Republican House member from Michigan, tweeted in response to news of Pompeo’s nomination, “He's a great pick. Yes, we have our disagreements, but Mike will listen to our concerns and serve with integrity.”

State

• Attorneys for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (R) filed complaints with the State Board of Elections alleging voter fraud in 50 of the state's 100 counties. The outcome of the state’s gubernatorial election remains contested. State Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) declared victory on election night due to his 5,000-vote lead, but Gov. McCrory did not concede and stated that the final outcome of the election would not be known until the official county canvasses were completed on November 18, 2016; about 50,000 provisional and absentee ballots had yet to be counted. The board announced on November 18, 2016, that it expected most counties to delay turning in results of the canvass in order to ensure proper tabulation. Following an announcement of the results, a candidate may request a recount if the margin of victory is less than 10,000 votes. The board is scheduled to meet on November 29, 2016, to conduct a statewide canvass of votes. Gerry Cohen, a former advisor to the General Assembly of North Carolina, speculated that McCrory and Cooper might be headed toward a protracted legal battle. This could ultimately end with the General Assembly deciding the winner.
  • On November 11, 2016, the general counsel for the state Republican Party, Thomas Stark, filed a formal complaint with the Durham County Board of Elections requesting that the 90,000 ballots from that county be recounted. Stark argued in the complaint that the ballots should be recounted as they were entered manually by local officials "[with] bleary eyes and tired hands" on election night due to a mechanical error with the tabulation machines. A spokesman for Cooper called the request an “attempt to undermine the election results.” The request was denied on November 18, 2016.
  • North Carolina is one of 23 Republican trifectas. If Attorney General Cooper wins the governor’s seat, it will end the trifecta. After the election, there are 25 Republican trifectas not including North Carolina.

Local

• A battle over immigration policy is brewing between officials in cities across the U.S. and President-elect Donald Trump (R). During his campaign, Trump pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants with a focus on deporting those with criminal records. To aid in this effort, Trump said he would cut all federal funding to “sanctuary cities” immediately after his inauguration on January 20, 2017. Sanctuary cities maintain policies that prevent the deportation of undocumented immigrants by limiting cooperation between local law enforcement agencies and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In these cities, government workers and police officers are barred from asking residents about their immigration status and compliance with ICE detainer requests is limited. According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, six states and 37 cities nationwide have sanctuary policies in place.
  • In the days following Trump’s election, the leaders of many sanctuary cities pledged to maintain their sanctuary status despite the possibility of cut federal funding. San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (D) is among these officials, although the city could lose up to $1.3 billion, roughly 15 percent of the city’s budget for 2016-2017, if its funding is cut by the new administration. Minneapolis, which will retain its sanctuary status according to Mayor Betsy Hodges (D), could lose $26 million in federal funding. That amounts to about 2 percent of the city’s budget in 2016. The nation’s three largest cities (New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) operate as sanctuary cities and face significant funding cuts.
    • The mayors of Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Seattle, as well as the Santa Ana City Council in California, have also publicly criticized the president-elect’s immigration policies and will continue to limit cooperation with ICE. Officials with the Denver Police Department (DPD) have stated that the DPD will not participate in efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.
  • Opponents of sanctuary city policies argue that they incentivize lawbreaking by sheltering criminals from punishment. Critics, including Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, point to the murder of Kate Steinle by Mexican immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez on a San Francisco pier in 2015 as an example. Lopez-Sanchez was previously detained on an old marijuana charge, but he was released under San Francisco sanctuary laws after the sheriff’s office declined to prosecute. The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), a union representing roughly 16,500 border patrol agents, supports Trump’s immigration policy as a way to combat crimes committed by people in the U.S. illegally. “Many Americans, thousands of them, have been killed by illegal aliens,” said NBPC vice president Shawn Moran, the same claim made by Trump at a political rally in October 2016. The Washington Post wrote that there is no data to either support or refute that claim.
  • Proponents of sanctuary cities argue that it is a matter of public safety and constitutional rights. Mayor Hodges released a statement on November 12, 2016, saying, “Witnesses and victims of crimes won’t come forward if they think our police officers will question or detain them about their immigration status.” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D) said that sanctuary city policies protect against being “held against your will without a warrant,” which violates the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) have argued that the widespread deportation of undocumented immigrants would separate families and heighten issues of discrimination against racial and ethnic minority groups.
• In Maine, an election to recall two members of the Peru Town Board was held. The effort to recall board chairwoman Wendy Henderson and board vice chairman John Witherell from their positions was launched in July 2016. Organizers of the recall claim that the council members do not represent the will of the town nor vote in the town's interests. Results were not publicly available at the time of publication.

Preview of the day

The excerpts below were compiled from issue #42 of The Tap, which was published on November 12, 2016. READ THE FULL VERSION HERE.

Local

• The city of Peru, Maine, will hold a recall election for Town Board Chairwoman Wendy Henderson and Vice Chairman John Witherell. Organizers of the recall against Henderson and Witherell claim that the council members do not represent the will of the town nor vote in the town's interests. The recall effort was launched in July 2016, and petitions against the pair were certified by the town clerk on October 10, 2016.