Salon.com > Jillian Rayfield

NRA is getting a new president

Thu, 02 May 2013 22:21:00 +0000

David Keene will be replaced by Alabama attorney Jim Porter as president of the NRA, once Keene's two-year term officially ends at this weekend's NRA convention in Houston.

CNN reports:

While Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is widely known as the face of the NRA, Keene had an active role in publicity and media appearances, especially in the wake of the Newtown elementary school massacre that left 26 people dead.

Porter has been serving as the NRA's first vice president, and before that he served as the group's second vice president. The presidency, an unpaid position, is the next stop in the NRA's leadership rotation.

House GOPer: Romney was the kid who couldn’t explain his science project

Thu, 02 May 2013 21:17:00 +0000

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, doesn't think that the Republican party really needs to rebrand - it just needs to pick better candidates. “We are winning when we have good candidates,” he told D Magazine. “We lose when we have bad candidates.”

He continued that Mitt Romney in particular was one of those bad candidates. “Mitt Romney appeared like a kid who showed up for his science project and the teacher said, ‘Explain it,’ and Mitt couldn’t do it,” Sessions said. “His ‘dad,’ Paul Ryan, explained it to him, but Mitt didn’t get it. … That’s why we lost the last election.”

Poll: Background checks vote could improve Dems’ 2014 chances

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:43:00 +0000

A new survey from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling finds that Sen. Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Sen Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, both Democrats and both vulnerable in their 2014 reelection campaigns, could get a boost from their support for gun background checks.

Forty-five percent of voters in Louisiana say they're more likely to support Landrieu following the vote, compared to 25 percent who said they're less likely to support her. For Kay Hagan, 52 percent said they were more likely to support her, compared to 26 percent who said they were less likely.

Conversely, the poll shows, Hagan and Landrieu's Republican colleagues aren't doing as well:

Hillary Clinton is still the clear favorite in a potential Dem primary

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:52:00 +0000

A new poll from Quinnipiac University finds that Hillary Clinton is still the clear favorite to win in a potential 2016 Democratic primary field. If she doesn't run, Biden is the frontrunner by a significant margin.

From the poll:

Ms. Clinton would get 65 percent of Democratic votes compared to 13 percent for Vice President Joe Biden, 4 percent for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and 1 percent or less for Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. If Clinton is not in the race, Biden would get 45 percent, with 15 percent for Gov. Cuomo, 6 percent for, Gov. Patrick, 3 percent O'Malley and 2 percent for Warner.

Audit finds Scott Walker’s job creation agency repeatedly broke law

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:45:00 +0000

Gov. Scott Walker's job creation agency has been plagued by repeated law-breaking and mismanagement, according to an audit released by the state's non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau.

In a report that was almost 100 pages, the Bureau sharply criticized the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., created in 2011 by Walker and the state legislature, and called for much more oversight.

From the Associated Press:

The audit faulted WEDC for not having sufficient policies to administer its $520 million worth of grant, loan and tax credit programs effectively, including some policies required by law. It awarded $80 million in its first year.

The agency did not consistently follow the law or existing policies when making awards, and had no policies for determining how to handle delinquent loan amounts, the audit said.

It lacked invoices or other contractually required documentation showing authorized costs for seven of 29 grants reviewed, the audit said. Four contracts gave $906,000 total in tax credits for job creation and employee training that had already occurred, the audit said. Twelve of 14 recipients of grant and loan contracts worth at least $100,000 did not submit verified financial statements as required by law, the audit found.

"This audit dates back to 2011 and largely reflects information that WEDC has known for some time," a Walker spokesman said in a statement. "This new agency has taken proactive and positive measures to address its issues, and Governor Walker is confident in the direction of WEDC as an agency that aims to promote job creation and economic growth for Wisconsin."

Peter King: “I wouldn’t want to be involving New York with Ted Cruz”

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:50:00 +0000

Rep. Peter King doesn't think the New York GOP should have invited Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to host its fundraiser this month, in light of his vote against Hurricane Sandy relief aid. "I wouldn't want to be involving New York with Ted Cruz," King said.

"He went out of his way to attack New York on the bill,” King, R-N.Y., added, the New York Daily News reports. "It's a little early to forgive and forget."

“It’s life and death,” King continued. “There were really false and phony charges made against the Sandy aid, and if Ted Cruz had prevailed, my constituents would be homeless."

Poll: Support dropping for pathway to citizenship

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:23:00 +0000

A new poll from Quinnipiac shows that support for a pathway to citizenship has dropped by 7 points in just one month, with 23 percent saying their stance on immigration reform has changed since the attacks in Boston.

Fifty-two percent of voters surveyed said that they support allowing a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. When the same question was asked on April 4, 59 percent said they supported it.

From the poll:

Illegal immigrants should be required to leave, 30 percent of voters say, up from 25 percent four weeks ago.

Creating a path to citizenship for illegal aliens would increase the likelihood of terrorism, 22 percent of voters say, while 66 percent say it will not make a difference. And 23 percent of voters say that the Boston bombing has changed their mind on whether there should be a path to citizenship for such immigrants.

Iowa panel OKs probe of alleged payments by Bachmann campaign

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:18:00 +0000

The Iowa Senate Ethics Committee approved moving forward with a probe into alleged criminal and ethics violations by Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign. Iowa’s Supreme Court chief justice will now appoint a special investigator who will look at alleged payments made by the campaign to state Sen. Ken Sorenson for work on the campaign.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

An affidavit reviewed by the committee on Wednesday showed that former Bachmann chief of staff Andy Parrish said Bachmann approved plans to indirectly pay Sorenson $7,500 a month to work on her campaign. The alleged payments could violate an Iowa Senate ethics rule that prohibits members from accepting payments for work on political campaigns.

Parrish’s affidavit included copies of e-mails between him and other staff members discussing plans to use a company run by Bachmann’s then-national political director, Guy Short, to funnel payments to Sorenson. Sorenson has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. He filed an affidavit from an attorney who claimed to have reviewed his bank account and found no payments from the Bachmann campaign, her political action committee or Short’s company, C&M Strategies.

Poll: 3 in 10 voters say “armed revolution might be necessary”

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:26:00 +0000

A new survey of voters by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind finds that 29 percent agree with the statement, “In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties" - including 18 percent of Democrats, 27 percent of Independents and 44 percent of Republicans.

From the survey:

Only 38 percent of Americans who believe a revolution might be necessary support additional gun control legislation, compared with 62 percent of those who don’t think an armed revolt will be needed. “The differences in views of gun legislation are really a function of differences in what people believe guns are for,” said Cassino. “If you truly believe an armed revolution is possible in the near future, you need weapons and you’re going to be wary about government efforts to take them away.”

The poll also found that 25 percent of those surveyed "think that facts about the shootings at Sandy Hook elementary last year are being hidden." 11 percent are unsure.

h/t TPM.

House GOPer: My constituents love the sequester

Wed, 01 May 2013 20:26:00 +0000

Rep. Billy Long, a Republican from Missouri, boasted on Monday that his constituents can't get enough of the sequester, and tell him that they want more of it. "The people that I've talked to seem to be doing well," he told KOLR10 News. "In fact, when I go out in restaurants here in town, people come up to me. They want to see more sequestration, not less."

"So I think that's different than it could be in some parts of the country, but we haven't seen any measurable effect here at all," he added.

A new poll from CBS News shows that 69 percent of Americans don't believe the sequester has impacted them. That may be because the cuts have been very specific and localized, and particularly affected low-income communities.

On the other hand, Congress did take urgent steps to rectify the part of sequestration that was being felt by wealthier people: FAA furloughs, which were causing flight delays.

Toomey: Background checks aren’t happening “any time soon”

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:11:00 +0000

Sen. Pat Toomey says that he doesn't think the Senate will take up his gun background checks measure any time in the near future. “It’s a pretty heavy lift to get five senators to change their mind on a big issue like this,” Toomey told a group of Digital First Media editors at the Times Herald. “It’s not likely to happen any time soon. I hope people will reconsider over time.”

The measure, which Toomey, R-Penn., introduced with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., was five votes short of the 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Though a few Democrats also voted against the bill, Toomey blamed the measure's failure on the politicization of the Republican Party. “In the end it didn’t pass because we’re so politicized," he said. "There were some on my side who did not want to be seen helping the president do something he wanted to get done, just because the president wanted to do it."

Anti-Colbert Busch push polls reported in South Carolina

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:05:00 +0000

South Carolina's special election just got a little bit dirtier, with a conservative group reportedly using push polls -- phone calls disguised as polls, but aimed at influencing voters -- to dissuade voters from supporting Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch.

According to ThinkProgress, multiple individuals in the state have reported receiving phone calls from the shady conservative group “SSI Polling," which claims to be polling on the race between Colbert Busch and Mark Sanford, but does not mention Sanford at all in the calls.

According to ThinkProgress, some of the questions were:

Christie’s first ad: “‘Compromise’ isn’t a dirty word”

Wed, 01 May 2013 15:40:00 +0000

Chris Christie released his first ad for his 2013 reelection campaign, reportedly part of a $1.5 million buy, touting his handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and responding to backlash he's received from Republicans for his work with and praise of President Obama.

Christie has been “working with Democrats and Republicans. Believing that as long as you stick to your principles, 'compromise' isn’t a dirty word,” the ad says.

”The most important thing he did has little to do with numbers, statistics or even politics. He made us proud to say we we’re from New Jersey,” it continues.

Watch:

Koch Brothers doubling down on political involvement

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:37:00 +0000

Despite the overall failure of conservative Super PACS to sway the 2012 elections their way, the Koch Brothers are planning to double down on their efforts in the next election cycle.

The New York Times reports on the Kochs' recent conference in Palm Springs, Calif., during which the Kochs reportedly discussed strategy for the next election cycle:

They have not yet decided whether to intervene in Republican primaries, people involved in the discussions say. But the brothers want their network to play a bigger role in cultivating and promoting Republican candidates who hew to their vision of conservatism, emphasizing smaller government and deregulation more than immigration and social issues. They are also seeking closer control over groups within their network, purging or downgrading those that did not deliver last year and expanding financing for those that performed well.

Also in attendance at the conference were Republican superstars like Dr. Ben Carson, Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and John Kasich, the Times reports.

Majority want death penalty if Boston suspect is convicted

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:23:00 +0000

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that the majority of Americans want Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to get the death penalty if he is convicted of the bombings in Boston, by a margin of 70-24 percent.

The poll also finds that most of those surveyed agreed with the decision to try Tsarnaev in the federal court system, as opposed to a military tribunal, by a margin of 74-19 percent.

From the Post:

Tea Partyers want Sarah Palin to run for Senate

Wed, 01 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000

A group of Tea Partyers is hoping Sarah Palin will challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in 2014, when he is up for reelection. "We know that, with Sarah in the Senate, conservatives across America can rest a little easier at night knowing that she's at the watch," said Todd Cefaratti of the Tea Party Leadership Fund, in a fundraising email to supporters.

"You and I both know that Sarah Palin is a fighter who will stand up to Harry Reid and his pals in the Senate to protect our Constitution in issues like amnesty, gun control and our nation's crushing debt," Cefaratti wrote.

But the Los Angeles Times, which obtained the email, reports that Palin might not have the "clear path" to victory that the Tea Party Leadership Fund says she does. A February PPP poll had Begich's approval rating at 49 percent, and winning in a potential match-up against Palin by a margin of 54-37 percent.

Republicans embrace conspiracy theory that DHS is buying up ammo

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:25:00 +0000

A conspiracy theory is getting renewed life among Republicans who claim that the Obama administration, specifically the Department of Homeland Security, is buying up ammunition in order to thwart gun owners by taking over the market. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Rep. Frank Lucas, both Republicans from Oklahoma, introduced a bill last week to crack down on the alleged practice.

The Hill reports:

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas have introduced a bill that would prohibit every government agency — except the military — from buying more ammunition each month, than the monthly average it purchased from 2001 to 2009.

The lawmakers say the Obama administration is buying up exceedingly high levels of ammunition in an attempt to limit the number of bullets the American public have access to on the open marketplace.

Inhofe argued that Obama has been "adamant about curbing law-abiding Americans’ access and opportunities to exercise their Second Amendment rights," and that "One way the Obama Administration is able to do this is by limiting what’s available in the market with federal agencies purchasing unnecessary stockpiles of ammunition."

Texas AG rules domestic partnership benefits violate state constitution

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:43:00 +0000

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued an opinion arguing that providing domestic partnership benefits to same-sex couples in the state is a violation of the state's constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

The non-binding opinion was in response to a request by state Sen. Dan Patrick, a Republican, who objected to the Pflugerville school district's decision to offer domestic partnership benefits.

From the Dallas Voice:

Pflugerville’s decision also prompted a Republican state lawmaker to introduce a bill that would cut funding for school districts that offer DP benefits. The bill — HB 1568 by Drew Springer of Muenster — is awaiting a vote in the House.

While Pflugerville was the first school district to offer DP benefits, several other local government entities do so, including the cities of Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio; as well as Dallas County and Parkland hospital. Most offer DP benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex domestic partners.

In his opinion, Abbott writes that domestic partnerships "have various characteristics in common with the criteria for marriage," enough that "a court is likely to conclude that the domestic partnership legal status about which [Patrick inquires] is 'similar to marriage' and therefore barred by article I, section 32 of the Texas Constitution."

Many Americans aren’t sure if Obamacare is the law

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:48:00 +0000

A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that a big chunk of Americans are not sure whether the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land -- and an even bigger chunk of uninsured, low-income families don't know how it will impact them.

According to the survey, which asked about the "current status of the health care law," 12 percent believe Congress repealed the ACA, 7 percent believe it was overturned by the Supreme Court, and 23 percent are unsure.

When it comes to low-income families making less than $40,000 a year, 56 percent said they did not have enough information about how the law will impact their families, while 58 percent of those who are uninsured said the same thing.

Pro-gun billboard sparks outrage over depiction of Native Americans

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:48:00 +0000

A billboard in Greeley, Colorado, is causing outrage among residents because of its use of Native Americans to oppose gun control. The billboard features a picture of three Native Americans with the sarcastic message: "Turn in your arms. The government will take care of you."

The billboard was paid for by a group of locals who asked to remain anonymous, according to Lamar Advertising, which spoke with KUSA.

From the AP: