Email: Hillary Clinton campaign tried to move back Illinois primary date
Hillary Clinton‘s campaign tried to move the Illinois presidential primary to a later date, saying a contest held after the Super Tuesday primaries might stop momentum for a moderate Republican candidate and emphasizing that Clinton and her husband “won’t forget” a political favor, emails made public on Thursday show. A November 2014 email hacked from the accounts of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta was among nearly 2,000 new emails published by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. The email, from Clinton’s future campaign manager Robby Mook to Podesta, said Obama administration officials should use their connections in the president’s home state to try to push back the March 15 Illinois primary by at least a month. “The overall goal is to move the IL primary out of mid-March, where they are currently a lifeline to a moderate Republican candidate after the mostly southern Super Tuesday,” Mook wrote. “IL was a key early win for (GOP presidential candidate Mitt) Romney” in 2012. While the request would come from Obama, the president and former Illinois senator, “the key point is that this is not an Obama ask, but a Hillary ask,” Mook said. “The Clintons won’t forget what their friends have done for them,” he added. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, famously gave special attention to allies considered “friends of Bill.” Clinton’s campaign said the FBI was investigating who hacked Podesta’s email. Vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine told ABC’s “The View” Thursday that the FBI and director of national intelligence have said “the Russian government is behind” the hack, adding that “anybody that would hack to try to destabilize an election, you can’t automatically assume that everything in all of these documents are even real.” Questions were raised on social media about the speed with which Russia Today, a news site funded by the Russian government, tweeted about Podesta’s e-mails, the latest in a series of hacked emails published by WikiLeaks. The group said the e-mails were visible on its website “well before” it started tweeting them. RT dismissed the questions as conspiracy theories. “We were fastest on #Podestaemails6, faster than @wikileaks, and the US conspiracy machine can’t handle it,” the network said in a tweet. On the Illinois issue, Mook suggested that Bill Daley, a former White House chief of staff and longtime Illinois power broker, should reach out to Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to make the request. Mook made it clear it would be a tough sell because Madigan and other Illinois Democrats “feel forgotten and neglected by POTUS,” a reference to Obama. Daley, whose father and brother were both Chicago mayors, told The Associated Press that he called Madigan as requested, but warned Clinton’s team that moving the primary was unlikely because of a short time-frame. “I made the call and talked to Mike and he listened and understood the reasoning,” Daley said. “But my own judgment was the likelihood that either side would want a primary later in the legislative session was going to be slim to none.” The Illinois legislature moved up the 2008 primary to benefit its favorite son, then-Sen. Barack Obama, in his bid for the White House. The primary was held in early February that year to give Illinois more influence, but then moved back to its traditional date in mid-March. This year the primary was held as scheduled on March 15. Clinton won the Democratic primary, while Donald Trump won the Republican contest. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Early voting offers positive signs in key states for Hillary Clinton
Advance voting shows positive signs for Hillary Clinton in two states that could help her lock up the presidency, North Carolina and Florida, as the election enters a critical, final stretch. There are encouraging signs for Donald Trump in Ohio. That’s a vital state for the Republican presidential nominee, but a victory there would be only one of many steps he would need to win. The latest data, representing at least 758,000 ballots cast – and millions more requested – highlight Trump’s difficult path to the White House. And these numbers may understate his problems: The figures don’t yet reflect any voter response to the recording released last Friday of Trump making crude remarks about women. Even if Trump can capture two states he’s targeted – Pennsylvania and Ohio – he would need to pull off major upsets in multiple Democratic-leaning states to reach the 270 electoral votes in the state-by-state contest for the presidency. If Clinton picks up states Republicans won in 2012, Trump’s task becomes harder. In a statement, the Republican National Committee, which provides much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump as well as congressional candidates, said it remained confident its “significant and early investment” will put the party in a strong position. But Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who worked on past presidential campaigns, sees the Democrats with the advantage. Madden cited the Clinton campaign’s especially heavy investment in data analytics and getting supporters to vote. “For Clinton, it may be now starting to pay its dividends,” he said. Advance voting has surged nationally as states try to boost turnout. Early voting can be done by mail or in voting booths that open before the Nov. 8 Election Day. More than 45 million people are expected to vote early, with preliminary data compiled by The Associated Press suggesting that advance voting could reach 40 percent of all votes nationally. While Democrats tend to do better in early voting, Republicans usually post an initial lead with mail-in ballots before Democrats surpass them when most in-person voting begins in mid- to late October. In North Carolina, a must-win state for Trump, early voters typically make up 60 percent of total ballots. At least 141,000 have been requested and 31,000 have been returned, according to AP data. By party, Republicans had a slight edge over Democrats in ballots returned, 38 percent to 37 percent, or 300 ballots. At this point in 2012, Republicans had posted a significant 2-to-1 lead, boosted by older white voters. Republican Mitt Romney narrowly won the state. So far in 2016, white votes are down by more than one-third while the number of black voters, who tend to favor Democrats, slipped lower. In-person voting, critical for Clinton, begins in the state next Thursday. Democrats are stepping up outreach in North Carolina and will begin launching “souls to the polls” programs on Oct. 23, taking church attendees to vote immediately after Sunday services. Popular among African-Americans, “souls to the polls” played a substantial role in boosting Democratic turnout and record shares of black voting for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012. In Florida, a record 2.9 million people have requested ballots, or more than one-third of the total voters in 2012. Republicans are running ahead in ballot requests, 41 percent to 38 percent. But that reflects a narrowing gap. Two weeks ago, Republicans led by 5 percentage points, as state Democrats stepped up efforts to boost mail-in balloting among blacks and Hispanics. In the last week, new ballot requests from Democrats outnumbered those from Republicans by nearly 2-to-1, according to data analyzed for the AP by Catalist, a Democratic firm that helped run data operations for Obama’s 2008 race. A change in Florida laws is likely partly responsible for the increase in ballot requests – those who voted in 2014 were able to automatically receive ballots this year. It’s a much better initial position for Democrats compared to 2008, the most recent data available. At that time, Republicans held a much bigger lead in ballot requests, 50 percent to 32 percent. Obama won the state by 2.8 percentage points. Still, Trump may be holding steady elsewhere, such as Ohio. After a record pace for weeks, the number of ballot requests fell 2.6 percent from a similar period in 2012. The state does not provide breakdowns by party registration, but data compiled by Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who runs the U.S. Elections Project, show bigger declines in requests in the heavily Democratic counties of Cuyahoga and Franklin. By race, voter modeling by Catalist for the AP found the share of Ohio ballot requests by white voters was up, to 91 percent from 89 percent. The black share declined from 9 percent to 7 percent. Early voting started a week later for Ohio in 2016 after the Supreme Court last month declined to restore the state’s “Golden Week,” a period when voters could register and vote at the same time. That period was popular among black voters. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Red State says boot Donald Trump apologist Jeff Sessions from Judiciary Committee
For continuing to back Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions must be removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Caleb Howe of the conservative blog Red State, is calling for Sessions’ ouster, says the Alabama senator “can’t, or won’t, properly and accurately define sexual assault,” because he is too “committed to the cause” of supporting Trump at all costs. What the Republican presidential nominee described in the infamous 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape was sexual assault — as a “factual matter of law.” And since Sessions refuses to admit that simple fact, Howe says “he should not be on the judiciary committee and should step down or be removed immediately.” Howe is not the only one taking that position. Ultraviolet Action, which Howe describes as a “leftist feminist group” that exclusively targets Republicans and conservatives “opposed to women,” has begun a petition to remove Sessions, garnering 32,000-plus signatures as of Thursday. The group calls Sessions’ words “a clear part of the ‘War on Women’ narrative.” “On this,” Howe writes, “they are correct.” In an interview with Jim Jamitis of The Weekly Standard, Sessions admits it was “very improper language,” and that Trump “acknowledged that.” However, Sessions does not characterize the behavior described in the video as sexual assault, if that behavior — grabbing a woman by the genitals — should actually take place. “Think that’s a stretch,” Sessions said. “I don’t know what he meant … I don’t know. It’s not clear that he — how that would occur.” As for those excusing Trump’s words, some suggest “all women want it” because of the popularity of books like “50 Shades of Grey,” which was made into a movie. “Just to be clear,” Howe writes, “a man going up and grabbing a woman by the crotch is sexual assault. Just because the assaulter claims ‘she wanted it because I’m famous’ does not make it consensual. That is stupid and you are a stupid person if you say that.” “And Jeff Sessions is stupid,” he adds. “Or a liar.” Both Trump and Sessions are giving fodder to the leftist “War on Women” by “acting exactly as despicably as the caricature such groups have created.” These actions are hurting all Republicans, Howe says, “especially Sessions, who at least had some credibility before now.” “Kick Sessions out,” he concludes. “Do it now.”
Gary Palmer clarifies position, he’s still on the Trump train
Alabama 6th District U.S. Congressman Gary Palmer said Thursday his support for Republican nominee Donald Trump has not wavered, he intends to vote for him Nov. 8. Palmer clarified his position in a news release following assumptions he would not be after his statement last week in which he condemned lewd remarks made by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in a 2005 video. He said the choice between voting for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Trump is easy — he will be voting for Trump. “Let me be clear, we are looking at two very imperfect candidates, but supporting the Republican nominee —Donald Trump — over the Democratic nominee — Hillary Clinton — is not a difficult choice,” said Palmer in a statement. “Even in recent days, we have seen more evidence from the emails released by WikiLeaks confirming that Mrs. Clinton is a pathological liar; we know that she is guilty of being extremely careless while mishandling classified information, that her actions caused four Americans to lose their lives in Benghazi, and she and President Obama are principally responsible for the disaster unfolding in the Middle East that has left over a half million people dead and millions more as refugees.” Palmer made sure to again condemn Trump’s remarks, calling the comments, “offensive and inappropriate.” “Last week, it was revealed that 11 years ago, Mr. Trump had made some offensive and inappropriate comments about women,” Palmer continued. “This election is not about comments made 11 years ago or even 11 months ago, but about the policies represented by the two candidates.” Palmer believes Clinton’s policies directly contradict his beliefs. He continued, “Hillary Clinton will continue the assault on the Second Amendment; she will continue to allow the killing of the unborn; she will continue to appoint judges who legislate from the bench; she will continue to issue executive orders not based on law or logic; she will continue to destroy our military and national defense; and she will continue to drive up the national debt and harm economic growth with regulatory burdens.” “When every poll shows that over 75 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, it should be evident that we need to change direction. That is why I will support Mr. Trump as the Republican nominee, because Hillary Clinton must not be the next president.” Last week, several other prominent Alabama Republicans pulled their support from Trump following the video release, including Gov. Robert Bentley along with Alabama 1st District U.S. Congressman Bradley Byrne, and Alabama 2nd District U.S. Congresswoman Martha Roby.
Private prison company hires former Jeff Session aides to lobby in D.C.
GEO Group, the Boca Raton-based private prison corporation, recently hired three lobbying firms in Washington D.C. POLITICO Influence reports that this month, GEO brought on David Olander of Capitol Counsel for real estate investment trust tax issues; David Stewart and Ryan Robichaux of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings — former aides to Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions — to advocate on federal government use of contract correctional facilities; and the Scrivner Leon Group’s Michael Scrivner and Peter Leon for privately operated correctional facilities. GEO previously retained Leo Aguirre and Da Vinci Group’s Mark Smith. According to the GEO website, the company operations include the management and/or ownership of 104 correctional, detention, and community re-entry facilities with approximately 87,000 beds worldwide. In the U.S., GEO maintains 64 facilities, with 75,152 beds. In August, the Justice Department announced it will end the use of private prisons, which have lately come under fire for poor conditions and business practices.
Martin Dyckman: Cowards who stand aside
“Once to every man and nation “Comes the moment to decide “In the strife of truth with falsehood “For the Good or Evil side ….. “Then it is the brave man chooses, “While the coward stands aside” The American poet James Russell Lowell wrote those words in 1844 during the intensifying crisis over slavery. They speak to us again. Donald Trump is a uniquely evil candidate for president. It is indeed a moment to decide. Evil? I don’t wield that adjective casually. Trump’s gross sense of sexual entitlement, as he boasted in the Billy Bush tape, isn’t even the worst of it. We already knew about that aspect of his sleaziness, a misogyny bordering on perversion. But just as it appeared it couldn’t get any lower than that, it did. The cornered hyena struck back by threatening to prosecute and imprison his opponent if he wins. And that didn’t end with the debate. He’s been feeding it like raw meat to his howling mobs, reveling in their chants of “Lock her up.” There has never been anything like that in American politics. It’s what foreign tyrants like his darling Vladimir Putin do — that is, when they’re not simply killing their rivals. It’s what Fidel Castro, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Augusto Pinochet did to theirs. The list is long: Zimbabwe, Iran, North Korea, Turkey and others. “Republicans should not be okay with @realDonaldTrump threatening to jail his opponent after the election,” wrote Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake. “That is not who we are.” Flake was an early and honorable critic of his party’s putrid nominee. He didn’t wait for the sewer to overflow. But far too many other Republicans still pretend for public consumption that Trump is fit to be president. They are the cowards who stand aside. That Trump is morally and mentally unfit and unworthy in every respect for the presidency is only part of the problem. The other is that he has laid bare and energized the ugly underside of American society. We host a virulent racism rooted in the original national sin of slavery. There is angry intolerance for the diversity reflected in our founding motto, e pluribus Unum — from many, one. There is hostility especially to the give-and-take political process upon which our democracy depends. Not all Trump supporters harbor these hatreds, but those who do will not fade away with his defeat. He seems, in fact, to be setting himself as up as a third force in American politics, subsuming the Tea Party in an authoritarian movement that most of us hoped could never happen here. The Republican Party bears enormous blame for this. Although conscientious Republicans were instrumental in passing the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts of the 1960s, it was a series of their presidential candidates — Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan — who exploited Southern resentment to infect their party with racism and move it far to the right. There has been an endless parade of Republican politicians making their way into government by denouncing the very same political system at whose trough they feed. This is the paranoia upon which Trumpism feeds. Who in the GOP spoke out to denounce Trump in the four years he spent subverting President Obama‘s administration with the birther myth? I can remember only Colin Powell defending the president’s legitimacy. Other Republicans were happy to see someone with Trump’s celebrity doing their dirty work for them. Now they are shocked — shocked! — that someone so vile is their nominee. Give credit to those who refused, early and honorably, to wallow in the sewer. They include the former presidents Bush, Jeb Bush and his friend and adviser Mac Stipanovich, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and others who couldn’t stomach Trump’s demonization of Hispanics and Muslims, and also marked him — accurately—as not conservative. The good news, according to USA Today, is that more than a fourth of elected top Republicans — governors and members of Congress — are now refusing to endorse his candidacy. But the bad news is that nearly three of four of these so-called leaders still refuse to repudiate his candidacy despite his contempt for women and his threat to become a tyrant. Denouncing his gross behavior and his dirty mouth isn’t enough. He is unfit in every way for any office, let alone the highest in the land. No politicians who pretend otherwise are fit for office themselves. As has been written, Marco Rubio would rather debase himself — and his office — than risk alienating the Tea Partiers who put him into the Senate. It figures. He’s been nothing but an opportunist throughout his career, which has been defined by winning offices he hasn’t earned and puts to no good use. Rubio is hardly alone, of course, in putting his own welfare ahead of his country’s. Rubio and all other Trump apologists deserve to be defeated, every one of them. For our country’s sake, they must be. For the Republican Party’s own sake, they must be. The cowards should be pushed aside. ___ Martin Dyckman is a retired associate editor of the newspaper now known as the Tampa Bay Times. He lives in suburban Asheville, North Carolina.
Paul Ryan’s break from Donald Trump prompts talk of GOP rebellion
House Speaker Paul Ryan‘s abandonment of Donald Trump is aimed at protecting Republican control of the House. But it may test his hold on his own job, and his long-term ambitions. Ryan’s announcement that he won’t defend his party’s presidential nominee and that GOP candidates should choose their own paths to victory – with or without Trump – has led some Republicans to suggest they may not back Ryan’s re-election as speaker. “Given the stakes of this election, if Paul Ryan isn’t for Trump, then I’m not for Paul Ryan,” Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., said Wednesday on Twitter. Assuming Republicans remain in control of the House after November’s elections – which no longer seems assured – Ryan may need every GOP vote he can get to keep his post. That means Ryan, R-Wis., cannot afford to let this week’s trickle of defiant Republican lawmakers grow much larger. Ryan, 46, was the 2012 vice presidential nominee and many think he could run for president in 2020, or beyond. Losing an election for speaker could be a blow to any loftier political ambitions. Ryan’s tactic has cheered many GOP lawmakers nervous that Trump’s flagging candidacy could cost them their jobs. But it has infuriated other Republicans and conservatives, in and out of Congress, especially Trump’s die-hard backers. They consider Ryan’s decision a betrayal that will weaken Trump’s chances of beating Democratic Hillary Clinton. “I suspect whatever he said would be a no-win for unanimity” among Republicans, former Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., said Wednesday. “He’s walking on a tightrope, like any speaker up for re-election,” said Reynolds, who led the House GOP’s campaign organization a decade ago. On Monday, Ryan told House Republicans in a conference call that he will spend the time until the Nov. 8 election working to keep GOP control of the House, and will do nothing to help Trump. That call came after the revelation of a 2005 video showing Trump making vulgar remarks about forcing himself physically on women. Trump has since assailed Ryan, on Twitter and in public remarks. Trump said Wednesday while campaigning in Florida that Ryan and other Republicans are involved in a “sinister deal” against him. He offered no evidence for the assertion. Bridenstine is a conservative and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which often bucks leadership. But he backed Ryan when the House elected him speaker last October. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., who also supported Ryan then, hinted in an interview with The Associated Press that he might not favor keeping Ryan in the House’s top job. “I never doubted he should be speaker. However, if he can’t prevent himself from panicking and helping the enemy in a situation like this, well, then we’ll find out,” Rohrabacher said Monday. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Ryan was under pressure from Republicans in conservative districts to back Trump and from candidates from more moderate areas to distance themselves from him. “The risk he took was a plausible one, it was well intentioned. And we’re not going to know until Nov. 9 whether it’s going to work or not,” King said. AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokeswoman, said Wednesday that Ryan is “fighting to ensure we hold a strong majority next Congress, and he is always working to earn the respect and support of his colleagues.” House Republicans meet after the November vote to select their nominee for speaker. Ryan would need 218 votes – a majority of the House’s 435 members – to become speaker when the full House votes in January. There are currently 246 House Republicans, plus a vacant seat the GOP seems likely to retain. But that number probably will shrink after Election Day, with GOP moderates among the likeliest to lose. That means a greater proportion of conservatives, some of whom are hostile to established GOP leaders, and indicates Ryan may not be able to afford losing much support. Ryan succeeded former Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who retired last October after it became clear that opposition from conservatives within his party’s caucus meant he did not have the votes to retain his job. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
New Robert Bentley drought declaration bans all outdoor burning in 46 Alabama counties
With drought conditions persisting in across Alabama, the state has issued burn bans. Governor Robert Bentley on Wednesday signed a Drought Emergency Declaration due to extremely dry conditions banning burning in 46 counties in north and central Alabama. The declaration, often referred to as a ‘No Burn Order’, went into effect 3 p.m. Wednesday, October 12, 2016. “The current drought condition in our state is posing a serious threat for wildfires,” Bentley said in a news release. “The continued lack of rain combined with low relative humidity and strong winds are putting several counties at a very high risk. This declaration is meant to prevent unnecessary burning, reducing the chance of avoidable fires.” Additionally, the Alabama Forestry Commission (AFC) has issued a Fire Alert for the remaining counties in south Alabama, effective immediately. “We need rain desperately. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve seen an increase, not only in the number of wildfires, but also in the size of these fires. Several of them have been very large wildfires,” State Forester Gary Cole said. “With this extremely dry weather, conditions are such that any fire can quickly spread out of control, not only resulting in damage to our forests but also threatening and destroying homes. These burning restrictions are a necessary result of the ongoing lack of precipitation, the recent increased number of fires, high probability of fuel ignition, as well as the reduced availability of firefighting manpower and suppression resources across the state.” Over the last seven days, 341 wildfires have burned over 4,100 acres in Alabama, according to Alabama Forestry Commission fire officials. The Drought Emergency Declaration order will remain in effect until rescinded by the State Forester, at which time conditions will have changed sufficiently to reduce the occurrence and frequency of wildfires. The No Burn Order affects the following counties which have been upgraded from the previously-issued Fire Alert: Autauga Bibb Blount Calhoun Chambers Cherokee Chilton Clay Cleburne Colbert Coosa Cullman Dallas DeKalb Elmore Etowah Fayette Franklin Greene Hale Jackson Jefferson Lamar Lauderdale Lawrence Lee Limestone Lowndes Macon Madison Marion Marshall Montgomery Morgan Perry Pickens Randolph Russell Shelby St. Clair Sumter Talladega Tallapoosa Tuscaloosa Walker Winston
Barack Obama to campaign for Clinton, Ohio Dems as 2016 map narrows
President Barack Obama will try to rev up Democrats in Ohio during a two-day visit, as the number of states that could swing to either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump narrows to just a handful. Obama heads to Columbus on Thursday to be the featured speaker at an annual dinner benefiting Ohio Democrats and Gov. Ted Strickland, who is running to oust incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman. On Friday, Obama will hold a rally in Cleveland for Clinton emphasizing early voting, a major focus for Democrats across the U.S. this year. This week Obama entered the final 100 days of his presidency, and he’s increasingly devoting his time to trying to push Clinton over the finish line in the presidential race. With Trump and Republicans threatening to undo much of what Obama has accomplished over the last eight years, campaigning for Democrats is the most productive way for Obama to try to protect his legacy. Before flying to Ohio, Obama planned to speak in Pittsburgh at the “White House Frontiers Conference,” where aides said he’d announce new funding for technology and research and tout innovations like self-driving cars and artificial intelligence. Obama, in an op-ed in the magazine Wired, said the U.S. needed to adapt its skills to address emerging threats like antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,” cybersecurity and climate change. “To accelerate that change, we need science,” Obama said. Ohio, with its diverse mix of cities and rural areas, is a coveted prize every four years, seen as a barometer for the shifts in the nation’s political climate. This year, it’s one of just four states that polls suggest are currently toss-ups between Clinton and Trump, along with Nevada, North Carolina and Florida. Trump, too, was setting his sights on Ohio on Thursday, with a speech in Columbus and an evening rally in Cincinnati. The shrinking of the political battlefield reflects demographic shifts that have benefited Democrats in several states and Trump’s struggles to expand his appeal to a broad cross-section of America. But Obama and Democrats have been wary not to take anything for granted, particularly as the final weeks of the campaign have taken a series of unpredictable turns. Obama and his wife, Michelle, are two of the country’s most popular Democrats, making them the most effective voices to vouch publicly for Clinton. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that makes the first couple particularly useful in freeing up Clinton to focus her limited time elsewhere. “The real value of having somebody as high-profile as the president or the first lady on the stump campaigning for you is that you don’t have to also go there in order to get attention. You’ve got somebody else there who can make a forceful case in support of your candidacy,” Earnest said. Hoping that broad disdain for Trump will sink other Republican candidates, Democrats have been particularly bullish this year about retaking the Senate, which would significantly strengthen Clinton’s hand legislatively should she win the White House. Democrats had expected Strickland’s race to be one of their better prospects to win a GOP-held Senate seat, but he has been running consistently behind Portman in the polls. Yet in a sign of how toxic Trump has become for other Republicans, Portman revoked his support for Trump after video emerged of Trump making offensive comments about women. Portman has said he’s backing Trump’s running mate Mike Pence instead. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Daniel Sutter: Wells Fargo, fraud and markets
One of the nation’s largest banks, Wells Fargo, recently agreed to a $185 million settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other regulators regarding sales tactics and fraud in the opening of two million customer accounts. As first reported by the Los Angeles Times in 2013, employees desperate to meet monthly quotas created accounts for customers without permission. Bank executives’ claims that they did not intend for employees to use fraud strike me as willful ignorance: they did not want to know how employees attained sales four times the industry average. This instance of fraud, sadly, is hardly unique. Recently we’ve seen Volkswagen cheat on emissions and for-profit colleges falsify job placement records. What do such cases mean for our market economy? For starters, they make many Americans distrustful of business and receptive to government regulation. Free market economists interpret business fraud differently, based on how markets discipline corporate malefactors. But I think we economists are too dismissive of business fraud. Markets generally harness self-interest, like business’ pursuit of profit, to increase prosperity. Market exchange is voluntary, so businesses must provide us with goods or services we want to buy. And competition results in many banks (or supermarkets, or restaurants) vying for our business, providing options if we are unhappy with quality, service or price. But as the Wells Fargo case demonstrates, businesses can cut corners or even cheat. Selling customers extra accounts or services increased the bank’s revenue without providing value to customers. I do not know why bank executives decided to do this. Perhaps they thought customers would not realize that they were paying extra fees, or would not take their business elsewhere if they did. If I wanted to downplay fraud, I could argue that such fraud is rare. Or that it illustrates the challenges of managerial economics and the design of incentives. Or that cheating customers is not profitable for businesses in the long run. All of these arguments, however, ignore the fraud. We should, however, recognize how customers discipline even the largest corporations, through what economists call the power of the market. The Fortune 500 has tracked America’s largest companies for decades. Economist Mark Perry found that 88% of 1955’s Fortune 500 no longer made the list 60 years later, having either fallen out, gone bankrupt, or merged. Consumers discipline firms through our actions. I am not a Wells Fargo customer, and will not be anytime soon. Perhaps some of you closed accounts following the scandal. Indeed, the Times interviewed a customer with a six figure line of credit who closed her accounts after an employee created an unauthorized $8,200 line of credit. Wells Fargo’s reputation and profitability will suffer for years. We often fail to recognize our influence over corporations. In part, this is because customer punishment is collective; the loss of any one customer’s business is not a blow to a major corporation but losing thousands of customers is. Further, the loss of future business appears mild compared to the punishments we experience personally, like being grounded, spanked, fired, or even serving detention. That $185 million fine looks more like a real punishment. Only regulation may fail to work as effectively as we might hope. The CFPB, established by the Dodd-Frank Act, should protect consumers against this type of fraud. And yet a newspaper, not the CFPB, revealed Wells Fargo’s misdeeds. Government regulators often have discretion to rule that misdeeds do not violate rules despite appearances. Today’s regulators may hope to work for banks at higher salaries in a few years, and consequently employ that discretion to overlook acts which should be punished. The freedom indispensable for the innovations by businesses which grow our economy will also allow some businesses to take advantage of customers. Americans have every right to want to see businesses which cheat them punished. We will never be able to eliminate fraud entirely, but the vigorous competition for customers enables consumers to punish miscreants. ••• Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
In key battleground, love for late Democrat shifts to Donald Trump
Countless former Democrats in Ohio’s blue-collar Mahoning Valley are transferring their adoration for the late Democratic U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. When 76-year-old Connie Kessler casts her vote for the brash and big-haired billionaire Trump, she is sure the equally brash and big-haired Traficant, who died in 2014, will be looking down and smiling. “Jim Traficant used to yell and holler and scream for the people,” Kessler said. “I mean, he went out there and fought his heart out. And that’s what Trump is doing.” It’s a pivotal voting trend in the battleground-inside-a-battleground that is Youngstown. More than 1 million registered Democrats and independents voted Republican in Ohio’s presidential primary, according to state elections data. One of the biggest swings was in Mahoning County, where more than half of Trump’s 11,000-vote primary victory came from crossover voters. The area’s anti-establishment electorate cheers politicians who ruffle feathers, and brushes off criminal activity – even prison time like that which Traficant served for taking bribes and kickbacks – as a cost of doing business. “They look at it as, ‘Jim Traficant may be a criminal, but he’s our criminal,’” said filmmaker Eric Murphy, who grew up in the valley and recently released the documentary, “Traficant: The Congressman of Crimetown.” Speak to almost anyone in the hardscrabble valley where steel was once king and they seem to be asking, “WWJD?” – that is – “What would Jimbo do?” Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras knew Traficant when he was a populist superstar strutting around Washington in bell-bottoms, a cowboy hat and a barely-disguised toupee. “On the surface, they sound very much alike. They’re populist and crass. Traficant wanted to send the National Guard to the border, he opposed NAFTA. But when you look a little bit deeper, you would realize that if Jim Traficant were alive today, he’d never be voting for Donald Trump,” Betras said. “Both say, ‘I’m the only one fighting for you,’ but the difference is Jim Traficant was fighting for them, and Donald Trump never fought for a working guy in his life.” Kessler doesn’t agree, and she’ll take her convictions into the voting booth. That’s even after the release of a 2005 video that features Trump making lewd and sexually charged comments about women. The footage has many fellow Republicans pulling endorsements or asking the nominee to step aside. “The Trump supporters have one thing going for them, they don’t care whatever he does,” said Kessler, a Roman Catholic who now volunteers daily at GOP headquarters. “I don’t care if he never shows his taxes, I don’t care if he’s married 15 times and has a girlfriend on the side. This man loves America, and he loves me.” Such loyalty frustrates Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton‘s efforts in Mahoning County, which has swung loyally Democratic in all but two presidential elections since 1946 – including both times Bill Clinton ran, according to data compiled by Columbus-based election statistics expert Mike Dawson. Cognizant of the stakes and optics of losing the state’s blue-collar crown jewel, Clinton and running mate Tim Kaine have campaigned in the Mahoning Valley. They’ve also sent a parade of big-name supporters, including Chelsea Clinton with “Norma Rae” actor Sally Field, cast members of the political TV drama “The West Wing” and former President Clinton. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders campaigned for Clinton in nearby Akron and Kent. Seth Unger, who speaks for the Trump campaign in Ohio, called it “a long sad train of surrogates” engaged in “an attempt to salvage the votes of labor union members, veterans, millennials and disaffected Democrats.” Don Warg is a disaffected Democrat who cast his vote for Trump in the primary. But the 52-year-old from Austintown said he plans to skip the presidential election entirely this fall. “I can’t stand Trump. I’m completely disgusted with everything that’s gone on. They have us picking between a couple of imbeciles,” he said. “I knew Jim Traficant personally. I loved Jim Traficant. Trump isn’t even close.” Murphy, the filmmaker, said comparisons of Trump and Traficant were prevalent over the past two weekends, as he was screening his film at a local theater, holding question-and-answer sessions and appearing on local broadcasts. “It was all, ‘What would Jimbo be saying?’ ‘What would Traficant be saying?’” Murphy said. “And I don’t think he’d be putting up Hillary signs, but I think he’d be calling B.S. on Donald Trump quicker than anyone.” Early voting began in Ohio on Wednesday. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
2016 race devolves into ugly fight over treatment of women
Deeply divisive all year, America’s campaign for president has devolved into charges and countercharges of predatory treatment of women. As Donald Trump is rocked by allegations of sexual assault, he is fighting back by shaming former President Bill Clinton, who isn’t on the ballot, for his infidelities. Trump’s campaign is now signaling it will spend the election’s final month relitigating Clinton’s marital affairs and unproven charges of sexual assault, as well as what Trump says is Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton‘s role in intimidating the women who were involved. But Trump is a deeply imperfect messenger, given that almost everything he says is being overshadowed by a flood of allegations that he kissed and groped women without their consent. Just four days ago, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway promoted a tweet from Clinton declaring that “every survivor of sexual assault deserves to be heard, believed, and supported.” “‘Every’ the operative word here,” wrote Conway, whose campaign is now attacking the credibility of the new allegations against Trump. The New York Times and the Palm Beach Post on Wednesday reported stories about three women who alleged Trump had inappropriately touched them. Separately, a People Magazine reporter wrote a detailed first-person account of being attacked by Trump while interviewing the businessman and his wife, Melania Trump. Trump on Thursday took to Twitter to denounce the Times story as a “total fabrication,” and to assert that the incident cited by People “did not happen.” His campaign threatened to sue. The stories come less than a week after the publication of a 2005 recording in which the Republican nominee boasted of using his fame to kiss and grab women. In an interview broadcast Thursday, the soap opera actress in the video said Trump’s comments were offensive. But actress Arianne Zucker, on NBC’s “Today,” said she wasn’t shocked, given “that type of personality.” She said that’s “probably why it doesn’t mean a lot to me.” The revelation of the video last Friday prompted many Republicans to withdraw their support for Trump – with some calling for him to drop out of the race – though a handful have since switched back to supporting him. Clinton adviser Jennifer Palmieri said the latest revelations match “everything we know about the way Donald Trump has treated women.” Taken together, the stories about Trump and his retorts about Bill Clinton have plunged an already rancorous campaign to new lows. The real estate mogul has also aggressively charged that Hillary Clinton not only needs to be defeated in November but also “has got to go to jail.” And his campaign is facing questions about ties to Russian interests accused of hacking Democratic groups, as well as the hacking of a top Clinton adviser’s emails. For Trump, the cumulative effect appears to be a tumble in the battleground states he needs to win in November. What was already a narrow path to the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory is virtually indiscernible for Trump unless there’s a significant shake-up in the race between now and Nov. 8 Rather than trying to make up ground by shifting attention back to issues like trade that have energized Trump backers and could appeal to new voters, the Republican campaign appears to be moving swiftly to make Bill Clinton’s past a centerpiece of its campaign. Building on Trump’s decision to bring three Bill Clinton accusers to last week’s presidential debate, the Republican nominee is expected to have the women appear with him on stage at rallies and do television interviews, according to a person briefed on the plan but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Trump supporters are also confronting Hillary Clinton with the accusations about her husband. Multiple Clinton rallies were interrupted this week by hecklers shouting “Bill Clinton is a rapist.” Bill Clinton never faced any criminal charges over the allegations, and a lawsuit over an alleged rape was dismissed. He did settle a lawsuit with one of the women who claimed harassment. The Trump campaign’s hope is to showcase the decades-old accusations to young voters, particularly women, who may not have been old enough to remember the controversies that dogged the Clintons in the 1990s. If the campaign can’t get them to vote for Trump, the hope is that they will stay home and depress turnout, which would likely hurt Democrats. Former Trump senior adviser Michael Caputo said the businessman’s only way to win is to “go nuclear” on the Clintons. “There’s no way Trump can do anything positive to earn back women,” Caputo said. “The only way he can stave off the bleeding is to drag them into parity.” But it’s unclear whether Trump’s strategy is even aimed at winning the election at this point. Increasingly, Trump’s campaign feels like an opportunity for longtime Clinton opponents to air decades worth of grievances about the Democratic power couple on the biggest stage in American politics. Trump confidant and informal adviser Roger Stone has long encouraged Trump to make Bill Clinton’s alleged assaults and the way his wife treated his accusers a centerpiece of the campaign. Steve Bannon, the campaign’s chief executive, ran Breitbart News, a conservative website that eagerly promotes conspiracy theories about the Clintons. Hillary Clinton, who is on pace to become America’s first female president if her lead holds, has tried to stay above the fray. She has yet to respond directly to Trump’s decision to resurrect accusations about her husband. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
