Source: Politico

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exacted revenge against one of her most outspoken detractors Tuesday night, blocking Rep. Kathleen Rice from landing a seat on the high-profile House Judiciary Committee.

Pelosi lobbied for other members to join the panel over Rice, leaving the third-term New York Democrat off a list of her preferred members for the committee during a tense closed-door meeting Tuesday night, according to multiple sources. The effort came despite a full-court push from the New York delegation to secure a spot for Rice, a former prosecutor, on the panel that oversees everything from impeachment to guns to immigration.

The push by Pelosi was seen as payback by many in the room after Rice was one of the main megaphones behind a campaign to block the California Democrat from becoming speaker again.

“She was boxed out and the result was cooked before we walked in the room,” said a source in the room. “If you went by seniority then yes [she would have got the position]. But that’s not what happened. Scores being settled was first priority.“

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/15/pelosi-rice-judiciary-committee-1102772

Source: The Hill

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is in damage control mode following allegations of sexual harassment in his 2016 campaign, as he weighs a second presidential campaign.

Sanders is seeking to make changes to his campaign team to show it won’t be run the same way as in 2016 to get the controversy behind him.

On Wednesday, he is set to meet in Washington with former staffers who allege they were harassed. That meeting will follow two public apologies from Sanders.

“To the women on my 2016 campaign who were harassed or mistreated, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for speaking out. I apologize,” Sanders said in a tweet Thursday with an attached statement.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/425532-sanders-to-meet-with-staffers-as-he-does-damage-control

The first six months of the work requirement for Arkansas’ Medicaid program ended with 18,164 people being kicked off for noncompliance, including more than 1,200 who lost coverage Jan. 1, the state reported Tuesday.

The enrollees who have lost coverage so far represent about 47 percent of the 38,000 enrollees the state initially estimated would be subject to the requirement in 2018 and not automatically exempt based on information in state records.

The state phased in the requirement last year for Arkansas Works enrollees age 30-49 and began phasing it in this month for those age 19-29.

To meet the requirement, enrollees who don’t qualify for an exemption must spend 80 hours a month on work or other approved activities and report the hours using a state website or over the phone, an option that was added last month.

Read more: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/jan/16/18164-medicaid-6-months-work-rule/

Libertarian Party of Georgia members attended the 57th annual Wild Hog Supper on earlier this week. The Wild Hog Supper, co-hosted by the Georgia Food Bank Association, the Department of Agriculture, and Commissioner Gary Black, is open to the public and widely attended by legislators and movers and shakers from across the state.

From the press release:

Members of the Libertarian party attended to network with legislators and seek sponsorship for the party’s proposed ballot access bill. Georgia has some of the nation’s worst laws surrounding ballot access. Republicans and Democrats are granted near-automatic access to appear on ballots, while independent and minor-party candidates must collect signatures, petition, and pay dearly to earn that access.

Ted Metz, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Georgia commented about the event: “It was discouraging to have to explain the petitioning requirements to so many of the legislators, they have no understanding of the process for 3rd party and independent candidates to get on the ballot. One Representative, who made sure to let me know that she was a Democrat, insisted that Libertarians already had ballot access. After explaining that Libertarians only had ballot access for State-wide seats and non-partisan races, and that all other positions required petition signatures from 5% of the registered voters in the prior election, she said, ‘So, you can run for School Board, that’s non-partisan.’ This type of response is why we will continue to promote and seek sponsorship for the proposed ballot access legislation during this year’s legislative session.”

In 2016, all 180 members of the Georgia House were up for re-election, and 82% of those members did not have a challenger in the general election. A single candidate race is not choice, it’s tyranny. No third-party candidate in Georgia has ever collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot for the U.S. House since Georgia passed an election “qualifying law” in 1943, according to the AJC. Georgia also leads the nation in unopposed races, an unwelcome distinction for a state still recovering from a history of election abuses.

Read more: http://evans.allongeorgia.com/georgia-state-politics/libertarian-party-members-continue-lobby-for-ballot-access-draft-legislation/

Wild Hog Supper?

A Furman University fraternity has been suspended until 2023 after repeated hazing and alcohol violations, university officials confirmed Monday.

An internal email from Connie Carson, the school's vice president for student life, said the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter was suspended as a "result of repeated and significant conduct violations by the chapter, which include hazing, provision of alcohol to minors, and risk management violations."

Tau Kappa Epsilon members had previously been under police investigation after four women who attended a dry house party in September 2018 were hospitalized, according to a student organization conduct report posted on Furman's website.

The women reported concerns their drinks had been tampered with, the conduct report said, but a joint investigation by Greenville County Sheriff's Office and Furman police found no evidence that members of Tau Kappa Epsilon tampered with any drinks.

Read more: https://www.greenvilleonline.com/story/news/2019/01/14/furman-tau-kappa-epsilon-suspended-tke/2574211002/

Gov. Doug Ducey urged lawmakers Tuesday morning in a press conference with leaders from both parties to pass a Drought Contingency Plan before a fast approaching deadline at the end of this month.

The plan is part of a seven-state agreement, including Mexico, that would see all of them initiating certain restrictions and changes to keep the Colorado River from reaching an all-time low.

A federal deadline of Jan. 31, 2019, was imposed on the deal, so all seven states must pass legislation approving of the plan and outlining the finer details before that day.

“This is a huge, monumental task,” Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, R-Prescott, said. “We’re going to work together, we are going to make this happen.”

Read more: https://www.azmirror.com/2019/01/15/ducey-urges-lawmakers-to-pass-drought-plan-but-farmers-have-concerns/

The UNC Board of Governors accepted UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt’s resignation Tuesday – but said they want her out of the position by the end of this month.

Folt announced her resignation abruptly Monday after tensions with the board of governors over the future of the “Silent Sam” Confederate statue. In a press conference Tuesday morning, Folt said she hoped to stay until graduation in May.

The Board of Governors has authorized interim UNC President William Roper to to appoint an interim chancellor “at such time as he deems appropriate” until a new full-time chancellor can be chosen.

UNC Board of Governors Chair Harry Smith said in a statement Monday that the board was blindsided by Folt’s resignation and upset by her order to remove the base of the Confederate statue, which was taken to an unnamed secure location Monday night.

Read more: http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2019/01/15/update-unc-board-of-governors-wants-unc-chapel-hill-chancellor-gone-by-january-31/

'At least light blue:’ Virginia’s new Democratic delegation is a sign of a changing state, observers say, but will the trend outlast Trump?


WASHINGTON — After the GOP’s trouncing in Virginia last November, Democrats and Republicans alike are declaring the long-purple state at least a light shade of blue.

Virginia’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives, sworn in last week, is the bluest it’s been since 1995, when the Republican Revolution swept out Democratic incumbents across the country. Three of the newly elected Virginia Democrats are women — the most the state has ever sent to Congress.

“It’s a new day,” said Rick Boucher, a Democrat who represented southwest Virginia’s 9th District for 28 years before he was ousted by Republican U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith in 2011.

The House delegation that included seven Republicans and four Democrats in the last Congress flipped in the November elections, part of a national trend that put Democrats in control of the chamber this year. Now, the Virginia delegation’s Democrats outnumber Republicans seven to four. Add in the two senators — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — and Virginia’s congressional Democrats now outnumber Republicans nine to four.

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2019/01/15/at-least-light-blue-virginias-new-democratic-delegation-is-a-sign-of-a-changing-state-observers-say-but-will-the-trend-outlast-trump/

An official oppression charge against former Williamson County Judge Dan Gattis was dismissed the day after Sheriff Robert Chody sent an email to an assistant county attorney saying he longer wanted to pursue it.

“It is not my desire to see any conviction on the Judges record for an anger outburst,” said the email Chody sent to Assistant County Attorney Jason Nassour on Jan. 8.

“I also do not want to utilize county resources any longer for someone who is not employed with the county.”

Williamson County Sheriff Chief Deputy Tim Ryle told the American-Statesman in July that Gattis threatened to “zero out” the budget of the sheriff’s office if Sheriff Robert Chody did not stop tweeting about internal county issues. Ryle said Gattis made the threat to him at a Commissioners Court meeting July 17.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20190115/oppression-charge-against-former-williamson-county-judge-dismissed

By Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune


SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Julián Castro, in his first stop since announcing his presidential campaign, told Hispanic political leaders here Monday that President Donald Trump "failed the people of Puerto Rico" with his administration's response to Hurricane Maria and vowed to far better represent the U.S. territory if elected to replace him.

Castro, the former U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, spoke at the Latino Victory Fund summit two days after the the long-anticipated launch of his presidential campaign in his hometown. He said he chose Puerto Rico as his first post-announcement trip "because I want all the people of Puerto Rico to know that you count — that we respect you" — especially after Maria, which devastated the island in 2017.

"The administration failed to prepare for the hurricane," Castro said, "it failed to coordinate a swift response and it has failed in the recovery process as well."

"What's worse?" Castro asked before bringing up reports that the administration is now weighing whether to divert disaster relief funds to help fund Trump's long-sought border wall. "To do so is completely objectionable, immoral and should never happen."

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/14/julian-castro-puerto-rico-trump/