Tag: Capitol Records

Why do Americans love boycotts? If you want to stick it to conservatives, don’t buy Hobby Lobby craft supplies, Yuengling beer, or Chick-fil-A sandwiches. If you’re eager to own the libs, then avoid Nike shoes, Gillette razors, and Keurig coffee machines. These actions may not make much of a difference to corporate bottom lines, but they are a reminder that arguments over symbols—salad combs, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Navy Yard apartment—are increasingly filling our rotted-out political core. That’s why it’s kind of amazing that, even in these blisteringly partisan times, a holiday like July 4 still spans cultural divides. (Last year’s “A Capitol Fourth” concert at the Capitol featured the Beach Boys, country star Luke Combs, and gospel singer CeCe Winans.) That could be because more than eight in ten Americans still think the US is better than most other nations and enjoy celebrating the birthday of the country they love. Or, more likely, it could be because Donald Trump hadn’t quite figured out how to insert himself into the holiday. It’s too early to know whether Trump’s July 4 party will be something truly new and different or if it will prove to be political vaporware, like Space Force, the DC military parade, and the Wall before it. Here’s the thing to remember: The Mall fireworks cap off one of the best days around here.

Tonight on Capitol Talk: Medicaid politics; how Sen. Tester has moved to the center; and what's Gov. Eric Whitney: Howdy and welcome to “Capitol Talk” our weekly political analysis show. There was some pretty big news out of Washington on Tuesday; the Senate passed a major public lands package. And so I think there is a space out there in the media universe, for sure, for the kind of face of the moderate Democrats in the Senate, and he does a good job of filling that. I think probably the most significant thing to happen was the release of this new analysis of the changes that Republicans say they want to make to Montana's Medicaid expansion. EW: Work requirements have been something that Republicans have been asking for in Medicaid and Medicaid expansion for years. I know in 2015 when Sen. Buttrey carried the bipartisan bill that enacted Medicaid expansion in Montana he initially wanted work requirements. And one of the researchers at George Washington University who looked at the kinds of work requirements Sen. Buttrey is calling for came up with an analysis of what that would mean in terms of enrollment. But Republicans have been saying that they think there are too many people enrolled in Medicaid expansion. Bullock going to end up with a bill that has work requirements that he'd have to veto, or do you see the parties compromising?

Roll Call staff photographer Tom Williams has won the distinguished Political Photo of the Year award in the White House News Photographers Association’s 2019 Eyes of History contest. The same photo, featuring Vice President Mike Pence in the Capitol, won first prize in the On Capitol Hill category of the visual awards. “The photographer caught an incredible face. “I was talking to his photographer so I think his detail kind of let me go about my business and I felt as though I was in some kind of secure bubble. Thanks to my fellow photographers, judges and the WHNPA for this high honor.” Williams joined Roll Call in 2000. Jabin Botsford of the Washington Post was named Photographer of the Year — the other top award given out by the association — after winning first prize in four different categories of the contest, including Domestic News and Insiders Washington. Bill Clark, Roll Call’s photo editor, also won two awards for his photojournalism. Clark won an award of excellence in the Pictorial category for the following image. Want insight more often? Get Roll Call in your inbox And he won an award of excellence in the Picture Story: Politics category for the image below.

She wasn’t planning to attend the inaugural ceremony for Gov. And when Lt. Gov. “I’m not a terribly emotional person,” Holden said after the ceremony concluded. But she “finds it very moving” that the new administration “is going to try to make Wisconsin a state that will work together.” “I’m an economist,” she added. “I think good policy is not a partisan issue.” She noted that the state needs an educated workforce and that Evers, the state’s former schools superintendent, has worked in a field where “you can’t be partisan… and you have to work with everybody.” In keeping with his conciliatory tone since ousting two-term Gov. We’ve been indifferent to resentment and governing by retribution.” Walker was presumably one person Evers had in mind with this reference to the politics of resentment. That was left to Josh Kaul, who, after being sworn in as attorney general, declared that the inauguration was taking place “in atypical circumstances.” “Last month the powers of two of our state constitutional officers were diminished after the elections of those offices had been held,” Kaul said. Barnes, who is black, was sworn in after State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Secretary of State Doug La Follette. Godlewski, who started by noting she was a fifth-generation Wisconsinite, promised to revitalize the treasurer’s office. “It’s hard to believe we nearly lost this constitutional office but together we made our voices heard.” In April, Wisconsin voters rejected a measure to eliminate the treasurer’s office.

But the Democratic nominee for governor, who later served a decade on the city commission before being elected mayor, has long hinged his political identity on his humble roots far from the state's capital city. There, as one of only two African-American male students in his AP-level classes in high school, he met and befriended the son of a state legislator who — long before Gillum went to college — helped open some of Gillum's first doors to Tallahassee politics. "At that time it seemed something major to have Skittles, Snickers and real Doritos, not generic taco chips, in the vending machines," Gillum told the paper in 2003. But it wasn't until he entered Gainesville High School in the fall of 1994 that he would meet and befriend Christopher Chestnut, the son of two local politicians. "When you saw one you'd see the other," said Cynthia Chestnut, who still lives in Gainesville. Those early trips, Gillum said, were the first time he had ever been to the Capitol or to Tallahassee. Cynthia Chestnut "was the gateway for me," he said. "I could see the influence of exposure to government" on Gillum," Christopher Chestnut recalled. Gillum eventually graduated as student body vice president his senior year of high school. The lawyer, who used to practice law in Gainesville but moved his firm in Atlanta, also has two disciplinary actions against him still pending with the Florida Bar.)

He said as much Thursday at an event in the Capitol and has made similar comments before. At a Q&A with Jeff Mayers of Wisconsin political news site WisPolitics, Ryan said: Twenty-first-century technology has proven that tribalism and identity politics is effective. Internet, money has proven identity politics and tribalism works. It’s morally wrong, but it’s politically effective. What bothers me is it’s being practiced on both sides: the right and the left. It’s not that surprising that Ryan criticized identity politics. For years — particularly those tea party years when Ryan began to climb the leadership ranks, Republicans criticized the concept of identity politics as a weapon that liberals use to stoke division. I think identity politics is neutral. According to Dictionary.com, identity politics is “political activity or movements based on or catering to the cultural, ethnic, gender, racial, religious, or social interests that characterize a group identity.” Obviously, we can see how something like identity politics can be abused, and perhaps that is what Ryan is referring to, but just because something can be abused and manipulated does not make it inherently wrong. The reality is that throughout American history, groups have had interests and even priorities based on their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, class or another identifier that, at best, was not a significant concern for people outside of their group.

Welcome to the midweek of one of the busiest times in the political world, especially for California lawmakers. In the state Capitol, it’s crunch time for bills and budgets. On the campaign trail, it’s the final push before election day Tuesday. Thirteen days from today, the world might witness a historic meeting between the leaders of the United States and a country that’s been isolated for decades. The administration of President Trump moved on multiple fronts Tuesday to lay the groundwork for a nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore, as diplomats scrambled to revive a meeting that Trump publicly scrapped last week. It’s hard to overstate just how different the process of crafting a California state budget was when I began covering Sacramento in the fall of 2001. Back then, the constitutional deadline for the Legislature to send a budget to the governor — June 15 — was routinely missed. And then, voters made the failure to do so by lawmakers punishable by forfeiting their paychecks. On the campaign trail, the days are numbered before the field of 27 candidates in the race to replace Brown is down to just two. Our reporters caught up with three of the most talked about hopefuls: Lt. Gov.

“They want to be treated like every other business, and part of that is making campaign contributions so they can get access to politicians and have their voice heard,” said Jim Sutton, an attorney who represents cannabis businesses organizing political campaigns. Since then, the industry has donated more than $600,000 to California political campaigns—more than four times as much as it spent on politics in the state during the 2013-14 election campaigns. Cannabis money is flowing to Democrats and Republicans running for re-election to the Legislature, as well as to Democratic candidates hoping to be elected governor and attorney general. It was one of three marijuana companies that donated to the state party for the first time this year, for a total of $45,000. “It’s a legal industry in California. So we welcome their dollars.” The party prohibits donations from tobacco and oil companies. Gavin Newsom, the front-runner in the race for governor, has raised more money from cannabis interests than any other California politician: at least $495,000 as of April. A Democrat who has received at least $10,100 from marijuana interests, Chiang has highlighted his interest in creating a state bank that could serve cannabis businesses. That point was illustrated back in the hearing room, where lawmakers were considering the bill to expand marijuana delivery services, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Democrat from Bell Gardens who has taken at least $18,900 from cannabis interests and is now running for Insurance Commissioner. Sen. Mike McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, took a $4,000 check from a marijuana delivery company last year but sided with the local governments that opposed limits on their power to ban delivery services.

I image it was much of the same for educators across the state. To call the teacher walkout an anti-Republican demonstration could ignore the fact that most teachers are registered Republicans. You can read that story here. Back to school Many schools reopened last Friday. While the Oklahoma Education Association called off the walkout on Thursday, and most teachers returned home on Friday, there were some who came to the Capitol for one last day of demonstrations. Yukon schools to close on Election Day As the teacher walkout ended this week, many educators said they were turning their attention to the November elections. Yukon Public Schools intends to help. Oklahoma colleges enroll record number of Hispanic students The Hispanic student population at Oklahoma public colleges and universities grew 44.5 percent in six years — from 9,810 in 2010-11 to 17,684 in 2016-17, according to data from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, speaking at the Reagan Institute's Summit on Education, said that more money and more regulation aren't the solution to the recent stagnant scores on the National Assessment for Educational Progress, reports Education Week. Two state teachers win ag awards Two Oklahomans are among 40 K-12 teachers from across the United States selected to receive scholarships to attend the 2018 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference scheduled June 27-29 in Portland, Maine.

Rally in support of teachers gather in Frankfort to protest the recent pension bill. Many Kentucky educators have vowed to vote out lawmakers who supported the pension bill, which Republican Gov. Although the governor indicated that the Kentucky Education Association is the problem, not average teachers, his comments angered and united many educators. A lot is online, sharing things and also talking at school,” Foudray said of teachers’ recent political organizing. “Education issues cut across party in a way few social welfare policies do,” he said. Voss also noted that government workers’ unions have stayed strong in recent years. The night the pension bill passed in Frankfort, Gray said she was there with other concerned teachers and noticed a Republican representative who came out after the vote to where they were demonstrating and “smirked.” “You’re creating an enemy that you do not need to create,” she said of such behavior. “I think there was a lot of frustration specifically with the teachers' unions and I think sometimes that came across as frustration with teachers, which it wasn’t," Watson said of Republican officials' comments during recent debates. Potential pitfalls If teachers want to vote out incumbent legislators who supported the pension bill or cuts to public education, Voss indicated that it’s vital for them to avoid alienating other voters. They organized those disruptions well, timing the demonstrations to when legislators were in Frankfort making decisions that impact public education.