Barry Moore files to run against Martha Roby, setting up Republican primary
State Rep. Barry Moore has filed to run against incumbent Congresswoman Martha Roby, setting up a Republican primary in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Moore, an Enterprise Republican, is a close friend of former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard, who was sentenced to a four-year prison sentence on 12 felony ethics violations. According to the Alabama Political Reporter, Moore is best known for beating felony perjury charges in a case connected to Hubbard. As a lawmaker, though, his other claim to fame is an ability to obtain lucrative State contracts for his personal business interests. Months before his election in 2010, Moore won a $27,000 contract with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), in the name of Hopper-Moore, Inc., DBA Barry Services. Supposedly, Moore’s wife Heather is part Native-American, allowing Hooper-Moore to be classified as a “minority-owned business.” Two payments to Hopper-Moore were made December 15, 2011, from Environmental Management – for $8,950 and $16,900. Three contracts in 2011 and 2012 were labeled for “solid waste.” In 2013, the company received another contract with ADEM, for $11,262 for “sanitation services,” making a total of $64,612 since 2011. Before his election in House District 91, neither Moore nor his wife had ever done business with the state of Alabama. According to Moore, he was an early support of Donald Trump. “One of the many reasons I was so proud to be the first Alabama elected official to endorse Donald Trump was I saw the arrows he was taking from the liberal media,” Moore wrote on his Facebook page Friday. “I’m a firm believer that if they are shooting at you, you must be doing something right. The leftist media is already shooting at me in the hopes of preserving the status quo. I look forward to taking them on as we prepare to embark on the road to Make America Great Again!” Moore says Roby is vulnerable because she condemned comments made in the infamous recording of Donald Trump, where he graphically bragged about grabbing women by their genitals. Several Trump supporters believed the reaction by the 40-year-old mother of two was a betrayal. Roby serves on the influential House Committee on Appropriations, in charge of a wide range of government spending. She also serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee. Yellowhammer News ranks Moore as the most conservative member of the Alabama State House. Nevertheless, it is unusual for a sitting Representative to face a primary challenge.
Martha Roby: Keeping our promise
Republicans in the House of Representatives took a critical first step towards keeping our promise to repeal and replace Obamacare by passing the American Health Care Act (AHCA). While I’ve been committed to making this happen since day one, it took a lot of negotiating and hard work by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence to get it over the finish line in the House. Obamacare is crumbling all around us as premiums continue to skyrocket, deductibles continue to increase, and coverage continues to implode. As if we needed further proof that the status quo is unsustainable, Aetna recently announced they will join several health insurance providers in fully leaving the Obamacare marketplace. When more news about the failures of Obamacare comes to the forefront, it serves as a reminder that the time to give Americans relief from this disastrous law is now. I’m proud that we’ve begun the process of replacing Obamacare with a patient-centered health care system that will offer Americans more choices and lower costs. For seven years I have promised the people of Alabama’s Second District that I would repeal and replace this failed law, and I was finally able to deliver on that promise in a meaningful way with my vote in favor of the AHCA. Passing the AHCA is the first of a three-step plan by Republicans in Congress and the Trump Administration to put an end to Obamacare. Our bill dismantles the taxes in Obamacare that have harmed our nation’s job creators, increased costs for patients, and given Americans fewer options. It also eliminates both the individual and employer mandate penalties that forced millions of Americans into health care plans that they do not want and cannot afford, among many other provisions. Upon enactment of the AHCA, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price will begin using his authority to dismantle the Obamacare rules and regulations that drive up patient costs and force insurers out of the market. Finally, Congress will take up pieces of legislation that conservatives have advocated for over the years to further bring down costs through proposals such as allowing insurance competition across state lines and health care portability. Before AHCA came before the House earlier this month, I sat in the Oval Office with President Trump and assured him that I would help him get this legislation through. House passage of AHCA was just one step, but it was an important one, and it would not have been possible without the direct involvement of President Trump and Vice President Pence. The AHCA now awaits further action by the Senate, and I’m hopeful they will continue our progress. Americans need and deserve relief from Obamacare now and, while it will take some work, I’m confident the Senate can get this done so the president can sign this conservative solution into law. It is refreshing and encouraging to now be working with a unified Republican majority that is committed to delivering results and keeping our promises to the American people. After so many years of gridlock in Washington, Republicans in the House, the Senate, and the White House are working to get things done – together. ••• Martha Roby represents Alabama’s Second Congressional District. She lives in Montgomery, Alabama with her husband Riley and their two children.
New Luther Strange web ad touts role in Robert Bentley resignation, Mike Hubbard conviction
Alabama U.S. Sen. Luther Strange is taking some credit for the resignation of former Gov. Robert Bentley, the man who appointed him to the Senate. AL.com reports on a new 90-second video from Strange’s campaign – which blasts “Washington insiders and liberals” – also touts his ties to President Donald Trump, as well as his prosecution of former state Speaker Mike Hubbard. “We sent him to Montgomery to clean up political corruption,” says a narrator in the ad, which appears on Facebook. “And big Luther Strange kept his word, fighting corrupt Montgomery insiders and special interests.” The ad shows Strange driving a muddy truck into a car wash, spraying men in suits — representing Washington insiders and corrupt politicians. Supposedly, those “insiders” include both Bentley and Hubbard; the ad flashes newspaper headlines saying, “Strange will investigate Bentley” and “AL speaker Mike Hubbard sentenced to 4 years.” As Alabama’s Attorney General, Strange’s office prosecuted Hubbard for several felony ethics violations. Nevertheless, Strange recused himself from the Auburn Republican Speaker’s case because he used Hubbard’s printing company. Hubbard was eventually sentenced to serve four years in prison. “The guts to fight Montgomery corruption,” the ad says. “The prosecution and conviction of a corrupt House speaker. The investigation and governor’s resignation. A new public corruption prosecution unit. Corrupt politicians convicted.” Watch Strange’s ad here:
Donald Trump nominates Birmingham attorney Kevin Newsom to 11th Circuit Court
Birmingham attorney Kevin Newsom is the latest Alabamian to receive a high-profile appointment from the Donald Trump administration. On Monday, Trump nominated Newsom, Alabama’s former solicitor general who now chairs the appellate group at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in Birmingham, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. The 45-year-old Newsom, if approved, would succeed Montgomery-based Judge Joel Dubina, for the seat that covers Alabama, Georgia, and parts of Florida. Newsom was among the 10 judicial nominees named by the White House this week. According to YellowHammerNews.com, Newsom graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, where he served as Harvard Law Review’s articles editor. He earned his undergraduate degree at Birmingham’s Samford University in 1994, graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0. After graduating law school, Newsom clerked for Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and then for U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter from 2000-2001. Newsom later joined Covington & Burling’s Washington-based appellate litigation practice group, where he served for two years before becoming Alabama solicitor general in 2003, appointed by then-Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor. In 2004, Pryor was named to the 11th Circuit, and was on Trump’s list of potential U.S. Supreme Court nominees. A biography online says Newsom personally argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and over 19 federal appellate court cases, as well as several in state appellate courts. In 2007, Newsom stepped down as solicitor general to join Bradley Arant, calling the “the SG gig … the job of a lifetime.” At Bradley Arant, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Newsom twice to the U.S. Judicial Conference’s advisory committee on appellate rules, making him one of only three private practice attorneys to serve on the committee. “Kevin Newsom is an exceptional choice for this high honor. I am confident that his strong principles will enable him to apply the law in a fair and just manner,” Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby told YellowHammerNews.com. “President Trump has made the right decision in selecting Kevin to sit on the 11th Circuit, and I believe he will prove to be an asset to our nation’s judicial system as a federal judge.”
Bill voiding Birmingham Council’s 233 percent pay increase becomes law
Legislation blocking a 233 percent pay raise for the Birmingham City Council was enacted into law on Friday. In 2015, the Birmingham City Council voted to raise the salary of its own council members without public notice, from $15,000 to $50,000, a 233 percent increase. The raise was scheduled to go into effect in August 2017, following the municipal elections. However Vestavia Hills-Republican Senator Jabo Waggoner took issue with what he considered an abuse of authority and sponsored SB247 to correct the Council’s decision. His bill would instead set council members salary every four-years by the State Personnel Board by determining the median household income of the city. “They’re a creature of the legislature and if they’re not going to conduct themselves and control their pay in a reasonable manner then we feel like we have to step in,” Waggoner told ABC 33/40. The state Legislature approved the measure earlier this month, and the bill was sent to Gov. Kay Ivey for approval. On Friday she forwarded the bill to the Secretary of State’s Office where it was enacted without her signature. All’s not lost for Council members. Under the new law, they will still enjoy a pay raise, as the Birmginham medium income is roughly $32,000 — making for a $17,000 increase for the new Council.
Personnel note: Vernon Barnett named Ala. Commissioner of Revenue
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has appointed Vernon Barnett as the new commissioner of revenue, the governor’s office announced Friday. According to governor’s office, the appointment was a part of Ivey’s quest to steady the ship of state. “The Alabama Department of Revenue is vital to state government. The Department ensures that citizens are treated fairly and that all tax dollars are accounted for. Citizens must have confidence in their government, and that starts with the Commissioner of Revenue,” Ivey said in a statement. “This is the people’s business, and being transparent is my goal. I have appointed Vernon Barnett as Commissioner of Revenue because he shares my commitment to integrity and honesty in government. I am confident that Vernon has the necessary skills and experience to lead the Department of Revenue.” Barnett joins the Department of Revenue from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, where he has served as Executive Counsel since 2011. A graduate of Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama School of Law, Barnett served as a senior advisor to the director at ADEM. He has also managed ADEM’s relationship with the state legislature, and has held positions in both the Alabama Corrections Department and the Attorney General’s office. “I am thankful to Governor Ivey for the trust she has placed in me; I look forward to working with her to restore the confidence of the people in state government,” Barnett commented. “I am also excited to join with the dedicated employees in the Revenue Department as we seek to properly collect and account for the monies entrusted to us by the people of Alabama.” Barnett will officially begin his duties as Commissioner of Revenue on May 22, where he will replace Julie Magee whose resignation was accepted on May 5.
Illinois’ Dick Durbin says Donald Trump is ‘dangerous’
The Latest on President Donald Trump and the FBI (all times local): 11:10 a.m. The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, says President Donald Trump is “dangerous.” Durbin says Trump is “dangerous because he may be obstructing justice” in the investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump’s own campaign. And, Durbin says, “his credibility has been destroyed.” Durbin says: “When you’re the leader of the free world you need to be credible” — in your own country and around the world. The Illinois Democrat says Trump has lost credibility, given his firing of FBI Director James Comey and a constantly shifting explanation for why it happened. Durbin made his comments Friday on “Morning Joe” on MSNBC. Piece by piece, the FBI’S Acting Director Andrew McCabe, during Senate testimony Thursday, undermined the White House’s explanations about Director James Comey’s firing. (May 11) ___ 10:10 a.m. President Donald Trump’s lawyers say a review of his last 10 years of tax returns do not reflect “any income of any type from Russian sources,” with some exceptions. The lawyers did not release copies of Trump’s tax returns so The Associated Press cannot independently verify their conclusions. The letter says there is no equity investment by Russians in entities controlled by Trump or debt owed by Trump to Russian lenders. It does reflect income from the 2013 Miss Universe pageant held in Moscow and a property sold to a Russian billionaire in 2008 for $95 million. The White House says Trump asked his lawyers for a letter following a request from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who heads one of the congressional committees investigating Russia’s interference in last year’s election. ___ 8:45 a.m. President Donald Trump is warning that former FBI Director James Comey “better hope” that there are no “tapes” of their conversations. Trump tweeted Friday, “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!” Trump fired Comey on Tuesday, later saying that “he wasn’t doing a good job.” In the termination letter to Comey, Trump thanked him for telling the president “three times” that he personally is not under investigation for collusion with Russia during his 2016 campaign. Trump said in an NBC News interview Thursday that Comey told him once over dinner and twice by telephone that he isn’t under investigation. Comey has not commented since he was fired. ___ 8:30 a.m. President Donald Trump is reiterating his view that reports about collusion with the Russian government by members of his 2016 campaign are “fabricated.” The president tweeted early Friday that “Again, the story that there was collusion between the Russians & Trump campaign was fabricated by Dems as an excuse for losing the election.” He added, “The Fake Media is working overtime today!” In an interview with NBC News Thursday, Trump said he asked FBI Director James Comey point-blank if he was under investigation and was assured three times he was not. Trump sent Comey a letter Tuesday firing him. In it, he thanked Comey for the three assurances. Trump showed no concern that the request might be viewed as interference in an active FBI probe. ___ 8:20 a.m. President Donald Trump says his busy schedule makes it “not possible” for his staff to speak at the podium with “perfect accuracy.” Trump on Friday defended the struggle by his administration to come up with a consistent timeline and rationale for the abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey this week. Trump tweeted, “As a very active President with lots of things happening, it is not possible for my surrogates to stand at podium with perfect accuracy!” He added, “Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future ‘press briefings’ and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???” The president’s advisers said Trump fired Comey in response to a recommendation by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, then said Trump had planned to fire Comey regardless. ___ 3:45 a.m. President Donald Trump is contradicting previous White House explanations for the firing of James Comey as FBI director. Trump says in an interview with NBC News that he had planned to fire Comey all along, regardless of the recommendations of top Justice Department officials. Initially the White House cited a Justice Department memo criticizing Comey’s handling of last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails as the impetus for Trump’s decision. On Capitol Hill, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe strongly disputed the White House’s assertion that Comey had been fired in part because Comey had lost the confidence of the FBI’s rank-and-file. In the NBC interview, Trump derided Comey as a “showboat” and “grandstander” and said Comey had left the FBI in “virtual turmoil.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Donald Trump to James Comey: Better hope there are no ‘tapes’ of talks
President Donald Trump, in an apparent warning to his fired FBI director, said Friday that James Comey had better hope there are no “tapes” of their conversations. Trump’s tweet came the morning after he asserted Comey had told him three times that he wasn’t under FBI investigation. “I said, ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?’ He said you are not under investigation,” Trump said in an interview Thursday with NBC News. He said the discussions happened in two phone calls and at a dinner in which Comey was asking to keep his job. Comey has not confirmed Trump’s account. Late Thursday, The New York Times cited two unnamed Comey associates who recounted his version of a January dinner with the president in which Trump asked for a pledge of loyalty. Comey declined, instead offering “honest.” When Trump then pressed for “honest loyalty,” Comey told him, “You will have that,” the associates said. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed the report and said the president would “never even suggest the expectation of personal loyalty.” Officials did not immediately respond to questions about whether Trump recorded his discussions with the FBI director. The president’s morning Twitter comments again raised the specter of Richard Nixon, who secretly taped conversations and telephone calls in the White House during the Watergate investigation that ultimately led to his downfall. Trump’s firing of Comey already has left him with the dubious distinction of being the first president since Nixon to fire a law enforcement official overseeing an investigation tied to the White House. Even before Trump’s provocative tweet, the White House was scrambling to clarify why Comey was fired. Trump told NBC he had planned to fire Comey all along, regardless of whether top Justice Department officials recommended the stunning step. The White House initially cited a Justice Department memo criticizing Comey’s handling of last year’s investigation into Hillary Clinton‘s emails as the impetus for Trump’s decision. But Trump on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that the Russia investigation — which he dismissed as a “made-up story” — was also on his mind as he ousted the man overseeing the probe. The shifting accounts of the decision to fire Comey, whom Trump derided as a “showboat” and “grandstander,” added to a mounting sense of uncertainty and chaos in the West Wing, as aides scrambled to get their stories straight and appease an angry president. Not even Vice President Mike Pence was spared the embarrassment of having told a version of events that was later discredited by Trump. The White House’s explanations continued to crumble throughout the day Thursday. On Capitol Hill, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe strongly disputed the White House’s assertion that Comey had been fired in part because he had lost the confidence of the FBI’s rank-and-file. “That is not accurate,” McCabe said. “Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day.” Unfazed, Sanders insisted she had heard from “countless” members of the FBI who welcomed the president’s decision. McCabe also pointed out the remarkable nature of Trump’s version of his conversations with Comey. McCabe told a Senate panel it was not “standard practice” to tell an individual whether they are or are not under investigation. Previous presidents have made a public show of staying out of legal matters, so as not to appear to be injecting politics. Trump’s comments demonstrated his striking deviation from that practice. The ousted director himself is said to be confident that his own version of events will come out, possibly in an appearance before Congress, according to an associate who has been in touch with him since his firing Tuesday. Trump and Comey’s relationship was strained early on, in part because of the president’s explosive and unsubstantiated claims that Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. Comey found the allegations confounding, according to his associate, and wondered what to make of what he described as strange thoughts coming from his new boss. The president was no kinder to Comey on Thursday, calling him names and saying he’d left the FBI in “virtual turmoil.” He said that while he received a scathing assessment of Comey’s performance from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Monday, that memo was not a catalyst for his dramatic decision as the White House had said earlier. “I was going to fire Comey,” Trump said. “Regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.” That’s far different from the White House’s initial account in the hours after Comey’s firing. Multiple officials, including Pence, said the president was acting at the behest of Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. But it quickly became clear that the president had been stewing for days over the Russia investigation and Comey’s refusal to defend him in appearances before lawmakers. By Wednesday afternoon, the officials, like Trump, were saying he had in fact been considering ousting the FBI director for months because of a lack of confidence in his ability to lead the agency. And the Russia investigation was still on his mind. “In fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won,” he said. Sanders attributed the disconnect in the week’s explanations to the fact that she had not directly asked Trump when he’d made the decision to fire Comey until shortly before Thursday’s press briefing. White House officials and others insisted on anonymity in order to disclose private conversations and internal deliberations. The White House said Trump is weighing options for replacing Comey, a decision that could have broad implications for the future of the Russia investigation. Some senior officials have discussed nominating Rep. Trey Gowdy, the South Carolina Republican who ran the House committee that investigated Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s actions in connection with the 2012 attack on a U.S. compound
Poll: Most unfamiliar with school choice but like the idea
Even as fierce political battles rage in Washington over school choice, most Americans know little about charter schools or private school voucher programs. Still, more Americans feel positively than negatively about expanding those programs, according to a new poll released Friday. “I wonder what the fuss is about,” said Beverly Brown, 61, a retired grocery store worker in central Alabama. Brown, who doesn’t have children, says American schools need reform, but she is not familiar with specific school options and policies. “Educational standards have to be improved overall.” All told, 58 percent of respondents say they know little or nothing at all about charter schools and 66 percent report the same about private school voucher programs, according to the poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Charters are schools funded by taxpayer money, but they operate independently of school districts and thus have more freedom in setting their curriculum and hiring staff. Vouchers are publically funded scholarships given to low-income families to help cover tuition in private schools, including religious ones. Using taxpayer money to aid struggling public schools or diverting it to fund more charter schools or make private schools available to more families has been hotly debated since Donald Trump was elected president. During the campaign, Trump promised to fund a $20 billion school choice program. He picked a long-time charter and private school advocate, Betsy DeVos, as his education secretary. Last week the president welcomed a group of students who were voucher recipients to the White House and asked Congress to work with him to make school options available nationwide. Those efforts face fierce resistance from Democrats and teachers unions, who say that school choice drains funds from public schools while leaving charter and private schools unaccountable in terms of academic standards and civil rights protections. Patrick McGuin, an education professor at Drew University, said he was surprised by the fact that most Americans had little knowledge about school choice options. “That’s pretty remarkable given the growth and high-profile politics around charters,” McGuin said. “As much as policymakers are talking the heck about this, the debate really hasn’t permeated the general public’s discussion yet.” Charter schools currently operate in 42 states and the District of Columbia. D.C. has only the federally funded voucher program, while 30 states have voucher or similar education choice programs. Even though they are unfamiliar to many, Americans have largely positive reactions to charter schools and vouchers. While 55 percent of respondents say parents in their communities had enough options with regard to schools, about 4 in 10 feel that that the country in general would benefit from more choice. Forty-seven percent say they favor opening more public charter schools, 23 percent are opposed, and 30 percent feel neutral about it. Meanwhile, 43 percent of respondents support giving low-income families tuition vouchers for private schools, 35 percent are opposed and 21 percent don’t have a strong opinion either way. Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to favor opening more charter schools, 53 percent to 42 percent, but there is little partisan variation for voucher programs. At the same time, opposition to vouchers is highest among those who have heard the most about them. John Rekers, a 46-year-old mortgage broker in California, has five kids and all of them are attending charter schools. He believes charter schools are more innovative and progressive. “They are not so oriented to sitting at desks and doing stuff,” he said. “The charter school is much better oriented in teaching children,” Rekers said. “They have higher standards.” Marc Culbreath, a janitor in Philadelphia, spent several years renting a house in the suburbs so that his children could go to quality public schools, but when the family moved into the city, they were appalled by neighborhood schools. “Kids in the city — their public schools are terrible,” Culbreath said. Culbreath sent his son, now in 10th grade, to a charter school and he is now on track to go to college. “They treat the kids in the city same as they treat the kids in the suburbs,” he said of the charter school. But Madolyn Stall, 22, a college student in Kansas, doesn’t support voucher programs. “If you cannot afford to go to a private school, then public school is fine,” she said. “I don’t really want to pay more of my tax money to send people to private school when they can go to public school.” About 7 in 10 respondents feel that both charter schools and private schools funded with taxpayer money should meet the same education standards as public schools. School choice critics point to the fact that most private school don’t need state accreditation to operate and that some private schools teach creationism in science classes. Still, Americans are more likely to say that private schools, both locally and nationally, provide a good quality of education than say the same of public schools. The AP-NORC poll of 1,036 adults was conducted April 20-23 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points. Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Road to passage for Texas ‘bathroom bill’ getting far harder
The path for Texas to enact its version of a North Carolina-style bathroom bill is poised to get far tougher after the Republican-controlled state House ran out the clock Thursday on a key midnight bill deadline. A proposal mandating transgender people to use public restrooms according to their birth certificate gender sailed through the Texas Senate weeks ago, but a similar measure that bans schools and local communities from passing ordinances to protect LGBT rights in bathrooms has been bottled up in the House. That’s despite Republican Gov. Greg Abbott urging fellow members of his party to support it and even calling pastors at top evangelical churches around the state to increase public pressure. Outnumbered House Democrats have been using tactics to delay a vote on this and other hot-button issues since late last week. House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican who sees the bill as bad for business, hasn’t intervened. Bills not approved by midnight aren’t dead, but need some maneuvering to live on. Top firms and lobbyists have opposed the bathroom bill. Many Hollywood actors and music stars have suggested state boycotts, and the NFL and NBA have warned about canceling future Texas events if it passes. State Rep. Ron Simmons, who has been the issue’s top House champion, said supporters will now look to attach public bathroom restrictions for schools onto education legislation — even if wider bans fizzle. “I think the likelihood of something getting passed this session as it relates to schools is pretty good,” said Simmons, a Republican from Carrollton in suburban Dallas. “We’re looking for opportunities to amend to other bills that would allow us to be able to protect the school scenario, which is where our number one concern is.” Texas’ legislative session ends May 29, so while there is still time, it’s beginning to run short. Efforts to save the bathroom bill will have to compete with other conservative priorities that have bogged down, including efforts to further restrict abortion in the nation’s second-largest state. Top Republicans vowed to hit back at the U.S. Supreme Court, which last summer struck down most of Texas’ tough 2013 abortion law, which caused about 20 clinics around the state to close. As stalling tactics became more widespread, a series of Republics took to the floor to lament “pro-life bills dying.” One abortion bill that did get approved Thursday requires medical clinics to offer quick, detailed reports of any complications from abortions, and have Texas’ health department produce an annual report compiling that data. Another removes ectopic pregnancy surgery from the state definition of abortion. Ectopic pregnancies occur when an egg is fertilized but attaches itself somewhere other than a woman’s uterus. Such cases require tissue removal via surgery. Neither of those bills has been lauded by anti-abortion activists as major wins. Democrats delayed other hot-button bills with lengthy debates on noncontroversial issues. The slow pace kept tensions on the House floor relatively low and there were few protests in or around the state Capitol, where groups both supporting abortion rights and opposing the procedure have staged small demonstrations throughout the session. “It’s no secret the legislative process in Texas is designed to kill more bills than pass bills and that’s why these deadlines are in place,” said Rep. Chris Turner, of Grand Prairie, who heads the House Democratic Caucus. Asked about legislation surviving in different forms he said, “We’re always on the lookout for any amendments that are harmful to the state and the so-called bathroom issue is certainly near the top of that list.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
US prosecutors told to push for more, harsher punishments
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is directing federal prosecutors to pursue the most serious charges possible against the vast majority of suspects, a reversal of Obama-era policies that is sure to send more people to prison and for much longer terms. The move has long been expected from Sessions, a former federal prosecutor who cut his teeth during the height of the crack cocaine epidemic and who has promised to make combating violence and drugs the Justice Department‘s top priority. “This policy affirms our responsibility to enforce the law, is moral and just, and produces consistency,” Sessions wrote in a memo sent Thursday night to U.S. attorneys and made public early Friday. The move amounts to an unmistakable undoing of Obama administration criminal justice policies that aimed to ease overcrowding in federal prisons and contributed to a national rethinking of how drug criminals were prosecuted and sentenced. Critics said the change will subject more lower-level offenders to unfairly harsh mandatory minimum sentences. Sessions contends a spike in violence in some big cities and the nation’s opioid epidemic show the need for a return to tougher tactics. “The opioid and heroin epidemic is a contributor to the recent surge of violent crime in America,” Sessions said in remarks prepared for a Thursday speech in Charleston, West Virginia. “Drug trafficking is an inherently violent business. If you want to collect a drug debt, you can’t, and don’t, file a lawsuit in court. You collect it by the barrel of a gun.” The policy memo says prosecutors should “charge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense” — something more likely to trigger mandatory minimum sentences. Those rules limit a judge’s discretion and are typically dictated, for example, by the quantity of drugs involved in a crime. The memo concedes there will be cases in which “good judgment” will warrant a prosecutor to veer from that rule. But any exceptions will need to be approved by top supervisors, and the reasons must be documented, allowing the Justice Department to track the handling of such cases by its 94 U.S. attorney’s offices. And even if they opt not to pursue the most serious charges, prosecutors are still required to provide judges with all the details of a case when defendants are sentenced, which could lengthen prison terms. The requirements “place great confidence in our prosecutors and supervisors to apply them in a thoughtful and disciplined manner, with the goal of achieving just and consistent results in federal cases,” the memo states. The directive rescinds guidance by Sessions’ Democratic predecessor, Eric Holder, who told prosecutors they could in some cases leave drug quantities out of charging documents so as not to trigger long sentences. Holder’s 2013 initiative, known as “Smart on Crime,” was aimed at encouraging shorter sentences for nonviolent drug offenders and preserving Justice Department resources for more serious and violent criminals. Though Holder did say that prosecutors ordinarily should charge the most serious offense, he instructed them to do an “individualized assessment” of the defendant’s conduct. And he outlined exceptions for not pursuing mandatory minimum sentences, including if a defendant’s crime does not involve violence or if the person doesn’t have a leadership role in a criminal organization. The Obama policy shift coincided with U.S. Sentencing Commission changes that made tens of thousands of federal drug prisoners eligible for early release, and an Obama administration clemency initiative that freed convicts deemed deserving of a second chance. Combined, those changes led to a steep decline in a federal prison population that now stands at just under 190,000, down from nearly 220,000 in 2013. Nearly half of those inmates are in custody for drug crimes, records show. Obama administration officials cited that decline and a drop in the overall number of drug prosecutions as evidence that policies were working as intended. They argued prosecutors were getting pickier about the cases they were bringing and were seeking mandatory minimum sentences less often. Still, some prosecutors felt constrained by the Holder directive and expressed concern that they’d lose plea bargaining leverage — and a key inducement for cooperation — without the ability to more freely pursue harsher punishments. Sessions and other Justice Department officials argue Holder’s approach sidestepped federal laws that impose such sentences and created inconsistency across the country in the way defendants are punished. Even while in the Senate, Sessions repeatedly asserted that eliminating mandatory minimums weakened the ability of law enforcement to protect the public. Advocates for the previous policy said the change will revive the worst aspects of the drug war. “It looks like we’re going to fill the prisons back up after finally getting the federal prison population down,” said Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums. “But the social and human costs will be much higher.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Darryl Paulson: President ‘Pants on Fire’
Although a Republican and a conservative, I was never able to support Donald Trump for president for three reasons. First, he has seldom been a Republican in his lifetime. Second, he is a pragmatist and populist, but not a conservative. Finally, he has difficulty telling the truth. So, what was so appealing about Trump that he won 30 of the 50 states and a majority of the electoral vote? His greatest appeal was being a non-politician in an era where Americans demanded political change. Politics is the only occupation where experience is a negative. The next time you or a loved one needs major surgery, will you pick an experienced doctor or one who is doing his first operation? Only in politics do we prefer someone with no experience. We are now reaping what we have sowed. How can you tell if Donald Trump is not lying? See if his lips are closed. Trump has changed virtually every major political position he has held. He then denies doing so, or says that changing positions is a sign of his flexibility. There is nothing wrong with a politician who changes their position, but it is not unfair to expect that person to remain true to their core values. As New York Times columnist David Brooks has written, Trump is the “most dishonest person to run for high office in our lifetime.” Trump “is oblivious to accuracy.” During the presidential campaign, Trump lied about President Barack Obama not being born in the United States; he lied about his own position on the Iraq War; he lied about NATO; he lied about Ted Cruz’s father being involved in the assassination of President Kennedy; he lied about the unemployment and crime rate; he lied about voter fraud in elections, and he lied about his groping of women. The list is far more extensive than this. Once assuming the presidency, President Trump lied about President Obama tapping his phones; he lied about his winning the Electoral College vote by historic margins; he lied about his inaugural crowds being larger than Obama’s, and he even lied about the provisions of his American Health Care Act. Trump’s constant inability to tell the truth led PolitiFact to call Trump’s misstatements during the 2016 presidential campaign to be the “lie of the year.” PolitiFact concluded that 76 percent of Trump’s statements were False, Mostly False or Pants on Fire. Lest one concludes that PolitiFact is merely another liberal hatchet job by the left-leaning media, PolitiFact labeled President Obama’s statements that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep your plan,” and “if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” to be the “lie of the year” after passage of Obamacare. Trump’s latest lie is that he fired FBI Director James Comey because he mishandled the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. Comey was in the third year of a ten-year term as FBI Director when fired by the president. The long-term was designed to protect the FBI Director from political interference from the White House and Congress. During the last few weeks of the presidential campaign, Trump praised Comey for reopening the investigation into Clinton’s emails against strong protests from the Democrats. Trump said, “it took a lot of guts” for Comey to reopen the investigation and, in doing so, Comey had “brought back his reputation.” Comey was currently investigating potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian influence in the presidential election. Five members of the Trump campaign have been found to have contact with Russian officials during the presidential race. The list includes former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, consultant Roger Stone, foreign policy adviser Carter Page, national security adviser Michael Flynn and current Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Corey’s dismissal puts the Trump-Russian investigation in jeopardy. Democrats are suspicious of the timing of Comey’s firing, but their position is weakened by their repeated called for Comey’s ouster. Perhaps the most consistent aspect of the Trump campaign and presidency is Trump’s lies. As bad as those lies may be, what is worse is that Trump is attempting to place himself above the law. Americans would not tolerate that behavior during Watergate, when both Republicans and Democrats joined forces to find out the truth. As Howard Baker said during the Watergate hearings, “what did the president know and when did he know it?” That question is just as relevant as it was over 40 years ago. ___ Darryl Paulson is Emeritus Professor of Government at USF St. Petersburg specializing in Florida politics and elections.
