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AP: Democrats strike back against GOP voting restrictions
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 20, 2013The Associated Press this morning profiled Democratic efforts across the country to ensure access to the polls for all eligible voters - and Republican efforts to restrict that access in order to win elections.
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Maine Republicans admit their obstruction raises health care costs
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 20, 2013Maine Republicans, like those in many other states, rabidly oppose expanding Medicaid under the President's Affordable Care Act. So a recent study by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation (and confirmed by the conservative Heritage Foundation), which found that "Maine would save $690 million over the next 10 years if the state expanded eligibility," is a serious political problem for them. It's so much of a problem, in fact, that "Republicans have since attempted to discredit the study" by claiming "that the study is based on every state participating in expansion... so the study, and the savings, are flawed."
What's "flawed" is the GOP logic in this case, as it is with most Republican objections to Medicaid expansion: As a Kaiser spokesperson points out, Texas rejecting Medicaid has no impact on the savings Maine would realize by accepting it. But if Maine Republicans are under the impression, at least, that obstructing implementation of Obamacare will increase the cost of health care (which, despite missing the mark in this instance, is true overall), then why are Maine Republicans obstructing implementation of Obamacare?
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Iowa property taxes to skyrocket under GOP's Obamacare "alternative"
By Nathan Thomas on Tuesday, May 14, 2013The AARP, the Iowa State Association of Counties, and the American Cancer Society "released a map today showing how much Iowans in each county will pay in property taxes to support the Republican alternative" to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, according to Radio Iowa. The much-criticized GOP alternative, developed by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, would cost Iowa taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than simply expanding Medicaid, while covering tens of thousands fewer families.
But in order to make the numbers work at all, Radio Iowa notes, "The governor’s plan is financed with $85 million in local property taxes," compared to $0 in property taxes under the Senate Democrats' plan. Property taxes have been an extremely contentious issue in Iowa in recent years, and if enacted, the Republican plan to siphon property tax revenue away from local governments would further complicate efforts to provide relief. AARP provides a helpful map showing how each county's property taxpayers would be affected.
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Minnesota legislature approves marriage equality
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 13, 2013Earlier this afternoon, the Democratic-led Minnesota Senate joined the state House in passing HF 1054, to make Minnesota the 12th state in America to establish civil marriage equality.
KSTP News has the video of the final vote, including the cheers that rose up immediately thereafter (NOTE: video volume drops after the 1:10 mark):
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FL HD-35: GOP campaign launch highlights candidate's tax delinquency
By Nathan Thomas on Friday, May 10, 2013The Tampa Bay Times reported on the embarrassing campaign launch of GOP state House candidate Blaise Ingoglia, running in the open-seat race for House District 35 next fall. At the time of his announcement speech, which was attended by Hernando County Tax Collecter Sally Daniel, "Ingoglia owed Daniel's office $11,864.75 for two years' worth of delinquent property taxes on his Spring Hill home." Ingoglia "paid the outstanding amount on Thursday, the same day the Tampa Bay Times sent him an email asking about the debt."
Oops.
Going forward, this episode could seriously undermine Ingoglia's campaign message. "Ingoglia made a name for himself locally in 2007 with his 'Government Gone Wild' seminars that chronicled what he described as the county's wasteful spending," but Ingoglia will have a tough time convincing voters that he cares about their tax dollars when he's been late "a total of six times" paying his own.
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Potentially deadly N.C. bill could prevent emergency health care for minors
By Nathan Thomas on Thursday, May 9, 2013When children or teenagers have a medical emergency, their parents may not be immediately available to approve care. But according to the Charlotte Observer, North Carolina House Republicans are advancing dangerous new legislation that could delay the delivery of emergency care by requiring parental consent before teenagers "could receive birth control or be treated for sexually transmitted diseases, substance abuse or mental illness."
But the text of HB 693 reveals even more damaging implications than the Observer's report identifies. The bill would make it illegal for doctors and hospitals to provide "services for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of (i) sexually transmitted diseases, including Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, (ii) abuse of controlled substances or alcohol, (iii) mental illness, or (iv) pregnancy." And the re-written medical emergency exemption only applies if "a medical emergency exists that so complicates the pregnancy as to require an immediate abortion or the immediate provision of health care services." [emphasis added]
In other words: Hospitals could no longer even diagnose some potentially life-threatening diseases without a parent's consent. Pregnancy tests without a parent's consent could no longer be administered simply to avoid the catastrophic birth defects associated with some medications. And medical emergency exceptions for HIV/AIDS, drug or alcohol overdose, and many other life-threatening conditions would not apply to boys or non-pregnant girls. (Even if a patient were pregnant, how could a doctor legally make that determination, since "diagnosis" of a pregnancy would be illegal while her parents are out of touch?)
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North Carolina GOP's "Everything Tax" to hit Social Security and health care
By Nathan Thomas on Wednesday, May 8, 2013Yesterday, North Carolina Senate Republicans unveiled a multi-billion dollar tax bill, whose centerpiece is a massive tax break for the state's richest earners. The GOP plan would cut the top income tax bracket nearly in half, "to 4.5 percent from the current 7.75 percent." To pay for it, "A married couple with two children making $30,000 a year would pay an estimated $1,000 more in taxes each year, according to a calculator on a political website designed to support the plan." [emphasis added]
That's because the plan expands state taxes to include "Social Security," "prescription drugs and food," and "nearly 170 types of services" that aren't presently taxed - including legal, accounting, and doctors' visits. Most of these new taxes will fall heaviest on low-income families and small businesses who can't afford, for instance, to hire their own in-house attorneys and accountants.
The plan also throws salt in the wounds of almost 500,000 working North Carolinians, who won't get access to affordable health insurance because GOP legislators already rejected Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. Thanks to the GOP's new health care taxes, coverage will be even more impossible for these families to afford, and most of them now also be hit with that thousand-dollar tax hike.
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New Hampshire GOP Rep. claims possibility of armed insurrection
By Dan Roth on Wednesday, May 1, 2013A New Hampshire Republican State Representative is claiming that President Obama’s appointees, the push to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, and the proposal to ensure that people who purchase firearms at gun shows and over the Internet undergo a background check will lead to citizens rising up against the government.
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Indiana Republicans propose slashing prenatal care
By Nathan Thomas on Tuesday, April 30, 2013In the oft-quoted words of Vice President Biden, "Show me your budget, and I will tell you what you value." And that's never been more true than with Indiana Republican legislators, who recently tried to push through a backdoor plan to cut "$40 million through 2020 by limiting the number of low income women covered for prenatal care under Medicaid."
The Republican proposal is not the result of declining need, as Indiana "still ranks near the bottom nationally in first trimester prenatal care and high in the number of preterm births, babies with low birth weights and infant mortality." And "research that shows reducing funding for pregnant women will lead to poorer care for mothers and their babies, more spending on health problems for the children later in life and higher infant mortality and low birth weights."
Nor did the GOP plan get any public hearing; its chief supporter urged legislators to insert the cuts secretly, behind closed doors in a House-Senate conference committee. And the Republican Chairman of the House Public Health Committee noted that "there had been no discussion before this week about cutting Medicaid benefits for pregnant women."
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Wash. GOP complains DREAM Act will make people think "Republicans are racists"
By Nathan Thomas on Wednesday, April 24, 2013The Republican state Senator who single-handedly blocked consideration of Washington State's version of the DREAM Act, Barbara Bailey, discussed the issue on right-wing talk radio with state GOP Chair Kirby Wilbur last week - where Bailey reportedly agreed with Wilbur's claim that the purpose of the bill was "to continue this mantra that Republicans are racists."
But if that's something Washington Republicans are really worried about, they could always simply join 70% of their fellow Americans and actually support the DREAM Act. But instead, Bailey and other Republicans "wouldn’t permit the state Senate even to vote on it" - preferring instead to continue punishing immigrant children for the actions of their parents.
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AP: Democrats strike back against GOP voting restrictions
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 20, 2013The Associated Press this morning profiled Democratic efforts across the country to ensure access to the polls for all eligible voters - and Republican efforts to restrict that access in order to win elections.
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Maine Republicans admit their obstruction raises health care costs
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 20, 2013Maine Republicans, like those in many other states, rabidly oppose expanding Medicaid under the President's Affordable Care Act. So a recent study by the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation (and confirmed by the conservative Heritage Foundation), which found that "Maine would save $690 million over the next 10 years if the state expanded eligibility," is a serious political problem for them. It's so much of a problem, in fact, that "Republicans have since attempted to discredit the study" by claiming "that the study is based on every state participating in expansion... so the study, and the savings, are flawed."
What's "flawed" is the GOP logic in this case, as it is with most Republican objections to Medicaid expansion: As a Kaiser spokesperson points out, Texas rejecting Medicaid has no impact on the savings Maine would realize by accepting it. But if Maine Republicans are under the impression, at least, that obstructing implementation of Obamacare will increase the cost of health care (which, despite missing the mark in this instance, is true overall), then why are Maine Republicans obstructing implementation of Obamacare?
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Iowa property taxes to skyrocket under GOP's Obamacare "alternative"
By Nathan Thomas on Tuesday, May 14, 2013The AARP, the Iowa State Association of Counties, and the American Cancer Society "released a map today showing how much Iowans in each county will pay in property taxes to support the Republican alternative" to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, according to Radio Iowa. The much-criticized GOP alternative, developed by Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, would cost Iowa taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars more than simply expanding Medicaid, while covering tens of thousands fewer families.
But in order to make the numbers work at all, Radio Iowa notes, "The governor’s plan is financed with $85 million in local property taxes," compared to $0 in property taxes under the Senate Democrats' plan. Property taxes have been an extremely contentious issue in Iowa in recent years, and if enacted, the Republican plan to siphon property tax revenue away from local governments would further complicate efforts to provide relief. AARP provides a helpful map showing how each county's property taxpayers would be affected.
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Minnesota legislature approves marriage equality
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, May 13, 2013Earlier this afternoon, the Democratic-led Minnesota Senate joined the state House in passing HF 1054, to make Minnesota the 12th state in America to establish civil marriage equality.
KSTP News has the video of the final vote, including the cheers that rose up immediately thereafter (NOTE: video volume drops after the 1:10 mark):
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Delaware approves marriage equality
By Nathan Thomas on Thursday, May 9, 2013This week, Delaware became the 11th state in America to provide equal marriage rights to same-sex couples. Under the terms of HB-75, which passed with overwhelming Democratic support and was quickly signed into law, "no new civil unions will be performed in Delaware after July 1, and existing civil unions will be converted to marriages over the next year. The legislation also states that same-sex unions established in other states will be treated the same as marriages under Delaware law."
While historic, the bill's many supporters viewed it as the obviously fair decision for the state and its people. State House Majority Leader Val Longhurst, a member of the DLCC Board of Directors and one of the bill's Democratic sponsors, argued weeks before the vote that "I think it’s the nation moving and I think everybody has accepted it and has said why not let’s move forward with it."
Crowds on hand erupted in cheers as the final votes took place, and later as Governor Markell signed HB 75 into law:
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FL HD-35: GOP campaign launch highlights candidate's tax delinquency
By Nathan Thomas on Friday, May 10, 2013The Tampa Bay Times reported on the embarrassing campaign launch of GOP state House candidate Blaise Ingoglia, running in the open-seat race for House District 35 next fall. At the time of his announcement speech, which was attended by Hernando County Tax Collecter Sally Daniel, "Ingoglia owed Daniel's office $11,864.75 for two years' worth of delinquent property taxes on his Spring Hill home." Ingoglia "paid the outstanding amount on Thursday, the same day the Tampa Bay Times sent him an email asking about the debt."
Oops.
Going forward, this episode could seriously undermine Ingoglia's campaign message. "Ingoglia made a name for himself locally in 2007 with his 'Government Gone Wild' seminars that chronicled what he described as the county's wasteful spending," but Ingoglia will have a tough time convincing voters that he cares about their tax dollars when he's been late "a total of six times" paying his own.
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2014 Analysis: California Democrats still rising
By Nathan Thomas on Monday, April 22, 2013In the days after Election 2012, which saw Democrats surge to a two-thirds supermajority in the California Legislature, Republicans insisted that the pendulum would soon swing back their way - that with "lower turnout" and "President Barack Obama no longer at the top of the ticket," voters would return the GOP to relevance in 2014. But three factors suggest the opposite may be true, and California Democrats may continue to rise in next year's midterms.
First, it turns out that the new Democratic supermajority is extremely popular with voters. Conversely, California Republicans remain in free-fall, recently dropping to fewer than 29% of the state's registered voters. But most importantly for 2014, a recent analysis pairing Assembly election results and President Obama's district-by-district performance reveals that even after their 2012 surge, Democrats still have more opportunities for growth than Republicans.
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N.J. Republican: Vote for me, or I'll fire all my employees
By Nathan Thomas on Wednesday, April 17, 2013Republican state Senator Anthony Bucco runs a glue factory in Paterson, New Jersey, which employs between 11 and 50 people. But if Bucco loses re-election this November, those jobs won't be sticking around, as Bucco made clear in a threat he issued at a legislative hearing this week:
"Bucco, (R-25), said Wednesday he would give little thought to keeping his manufacturing company in New Jersey if it weren’t for the fact that he was elected to the state Senate. 'I’ve said this before and I’ve said it here, if I were not a state senator, I’d move my business to Pennsylvania,' said Bucco during a Senate budget hearing."
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Democrats still show massive early lead in Michigan generic ballot poll
By Nathan Thomas on Wednesday, March 6, 2013According to the latest survey from Public Policy Polling, Michigan Democrats continue to hold a massive early lead in the generic state legislative ballot question. PPP's Tom Jensen writes that "Democrats lead the generic legislative ballot 48/36, including 41/28 with independents."
The Democratic edge is, remarkably, down from a massive 24-point advantage PPP found in the immediate aftermath of the recent lame-duck legislative session in which Republicans rammed through "legislation to make Michigan the nation's 24th right-to-work state;" "a replacement emergency manager law, less than two months after voters rejected the former law;" and "bills that make it tougher to recall state lawmakers."
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2014: GOP pollster gives early lead to Nevada legislative Democrats
By Nathan Thomas on Tuesday, February 26, 2013Nevada political analyst Jon Ralston got his hands on a poll by Republican pollsters Public Opinion Strategies that seems to show state legislative Democrats in the driver's seat heading into 2014. Asked which party would support if the 2014 election for state legislature was held today, likely voters preferred Democratic candidates by a 43% to 39% margin. That's up from an improbable 1-point deficit POS found for Democrats in their last generic ballot question, in September of last year.
The entire Nevada Assembly and roughly half of the 21-member Senate are up for election in 2014, but the Democratic edge probably carries the most significance in the closely-divided state Senate, which has been one of the most competitive state legislative battlegrounds in America over the last three cycles.