This week in progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching.
Inclusion of a diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement with or endorsement of its contents.
At The Seminole Democrat of Florida, Vin Fl writes—Alan Grayson Senate Bid Absolutely Terrifies FL Right-Wing:
Sunshine State News is a far-right conservative blog that does its level-best to look like a legitimate news website. It's kin to WorldNetDaily and NewsMax, except a lot worse--and primarily focuses on Florida.
Conservatives in this state are used to milquetoast candidates like Alex Sink and Charlie Crist that they can steamroll. Yet Alan Grayson is one hell of a fighter. This is how I know that an Alan Grayson Senate bid is getting under their skin. Sunshine State News says this:
But Grayson’s acerbic style, insults toward conservatives and endless procession of snide remarks about Republicans often get him in trouble and can turn off moderates and independents.
Absolute garbage. Grayson says the truth, albeit very bluntly. He said the GOP healthcare plan was to "not get sick", and if you do get sick, "die quickly". That's very accurate. I don't recall any moderate or "independent" getting turned off by that; in fact, most people said it was about damn time someone called the GOP out for their crap.
We need SOMEBODY who can motivate the base to work the campaign and, most importantly, show up at the polls for on election day. Grayson is a true liberal that will fight for us, so we will fight in return.
You will find more excerpts from progressive state blogs below the orange gerrymander.
At Jason Salzman, ColoradoPols writes—Getting an ID for voting isn’t as easy as Wayne Williams implies:
Back in January, Colorado's new Secretary of State, Wayne Williams, suggested that people who register and vote on Election Day should present a "Department-of-Revenue-issued ID."
Williams made it sound like this would be a snap for voters: "And it’s important to note that in Colorado, ID’s are free, to anyone who’s indigent. Anyone who’s poor, anyone who’s elderly can get a free ID," Williams told Colorado Public Radio's Ryan Warner Jan. 11.
Technically, that's true. But in reality, especially if you're old or indigent, getting an ID is often neither easy nor free. With the Colorado state legislature debating a bill today requiring IDs for Election-Day registration, now is a good time for Warner to air some of the facts that run counter to Williams' simple view.
The core problem is that, while an ID itself is free, through the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), the underlying documentation required to get an ID can be expensive to obtain and time-consuming to assemble. […]
So when you explore the world of getting identification cards for the poor, what you find out is that it's a huge problem without a simple fix, especially with current resources. A Loyola University study found that while some votes would be voided by a photo ID, tens of thousands of people without IDs would be disenfranchised.
At
Better Georgia,
Amy Morton writes—
Opportunity School District isn't an opportunity for students:
Politicians like Gov. Nathan Deal have cut billions from our local public schools, causing larger classes, fewer school days and lingering teacher furloughs.
Now, the same politicians who refused to fully fund our schools have a new scheme to “save” the schools they helped destroy.
Gov. Deal calls it an “Opportunity School District,” but the question is, “opportunity for whom?”
Certainly not for our children or teachers.
Local communities, local Boards of Education and parents will have no choice if Gov. Deal gets his way. Instead, the state will decide the fate of up to 100 of Georgia’s most vulnerable schools.
Once designated as “failing,” these schools could be left alone, managed in coordination with local school boards, turned into charter schools or closed. The state could lead a hostile takeover of some schools without any local input.
At
Blue Oregon,
Kari Chisholm writes—
Clean Fuels Program passes Senate, despite Oregonian's Cylvia Hayes obsession:
Yesterday, the State Senate voted 17-13 to reauthorize the Clean Fuels Program. It was a party line vote, with Senator Betsy Johnson (D-Scappoose) voting wth the Republicans. SB 324 now moves to the House.
The vote came after a months-long editorial campaign by the Oregonian newspaper, that ultimately led to their call for Governor John Kitzhaber to resign. Republicans took up the Oregonian's arguments, claiming that the legislation to extend the Clean Fuels Program was tainted because it had been supported by the soon-to-be-former first lady.
Even the hard news side of the Oregonian got into the act, headlining the story of yesterday's vote, "Oregon Senate approves clean-fuels extension despite tie to Cylvia Hayes" and talking about the Hayes scandal in 10 of the 16 paragraphs about the vote.
That is, of course, absurd. After all, it's legislation. Every word is on paper. Whether the support by Hayes was the product of some unethical conduct or not, the fact is that legislation can be evaluated by reading it. Whether Cylvia Hayes supported it or not, it is legislation on a page—and the right thing to do is to read the bill and vote on its merits. (Unless the GOP opposition is an admission that they didn't bother reading the bill.)
It's also worth noting that the 17-13 vote is the outcome of the hard-fought campaigns for Senators Sara Gelser and Chuck Riley. If they hadn't won their races, we'd have had another 15-15 vote. Elections matter. We're making progress on climate change.
At
Burnt Orange Report,
Joe Deshotel writes—
Rebels Roused By 13yr Old’s Plan to Rename “Confederate Heroes’ Day”:
This year that state holiday coincided with the federal holiday “Martin Luther King Jr. Day.” To a lot of folks, that just doesn’t sit well, including Jacob Hale, an 8th grader and constituent of Austin state representative Donna Howard.
Jacob told KVUE that, “it’s ironic that we celebrate MLK Day, where we’re supposed to be celebrating racial progress and the fight for equality, but then also we have ‘Confederate Heroes Day’ which acknowledges the men who fought for slavery as ‘heroes.’”
That gave him the idea to approach his legislator about changing the holiday to “Civil War Remembrance Day,” which would honor the veterans who fought on both sides.
After hearing his case, Rep. Howard filed HB 1242 which strikes, “[the 19th day of January, “Confederate Heroes Day,” in honor of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and other Confederate heroes;” and replaces it with, “the second Monday in May, “Civil War Remembrance Day,” in honor of the men and women who served during the Civil War.”[…]
[David Moore with the state Sons of Confederate Veterans] pushed back against one of Hale’s primary issues with the current holiday in the first place—that the Civil War had anything to do with slavery. Marshall told KVUE, “The war between the states was not about slavery…It was about state’s rule and economics.” Of course, most of the political and social justice battles still brewing between Texas and the federal government are framed around “states’ rights,” and slavery was equally an economic issue. It’s insulting to the intelligence of educated people and the descendants of slaves to devalue the importance of the Union victory to ending slavery across the South.
At
Madville Times of South Dakota,
caheidelberger writes—
Dems Working with Docs on Medicaid Expansion; Daugaard Open?
Could Medicaid expansion happen this year? South Dakota has already given up two of the best years of the federal government's offer under the Affordable Care Act to cover most of the cost of putting 48,000 low-income South Dakotans on affordable public health insurance. But John Tsitrian notices that Governor Dennis Daugaard is hinting at a shift from his ideological excuses to an openness to accepting some form of the Medicaid expansion.
And Democrats are working hard to make that possible. AP reports that our man Bernie (that's Senator Hunhoff, D-18/Yankton) is working behind the scenes with health care providers to bring some sort of Medicaid expansion to South Dakota.
Hmm... just a thought: if health care philanthropist T. Denny Sanford can kick in $25 million to match state funds and launch Governor Daugaard's scholarships for welders, might we be able to persuade Sanford to spend a fraction of that money each year to bring hundreds of millions in the Medicaid economic stimulus to South Dakota?
At
Capital & Main of California, as part of an extensive series on what's driving economic inequality in the state,
Gary Cohn writes—
Top Five Corporations in California Driving Inequality:
Economist William Lazonick caused a stir last year when the Harvard Business Review printed his critique of corporate America, Profits Without Prosperity. In it, Lazonick extensively analyzed data that showed how the country’s largest companies were exacerbating economic inequality by cutting back investment in research and development, as well as skimping on employee wages and benefits. Instead, Lazonick found, the companies were throwing their massive revenues into stock-buyback schemes in order to reward shareholders and increase the compensation packages of top executives. (See our companion piece, Misfortune 500: How One Economist Exposed a Dirty Corporate Secret.)
Many of the corporations Lazonick studied are headquartered in California. Below are the top five in the state, based on how much money they spent on stock repurchases during the period 2004-2013.
CISCO SYSTEMS INC. The San Jose technology company devoted 110 percent of its net income to stock repurchases and dividends from 2004-2103. (Companies are able to go over 100 percent partly by selling corporate bonds). Last summer Cisco announced it was laying off up to eight percent of its work force. The news came following reports that Cisco was not demonstrating growth potential and was not expanding its client list. There was a silver lining for the corporation in its 6,000 layoffs, however. According to CNN, “Cisco did manage to boost its stock price earlier this year by increasing its dividend, and has returned $13.3 billion in total to shareholders in the past four quarters.” At the same time, Cisco was set to receive $12.9 million in hiring incentives from the state of North Carolina. […]
HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. This Silicon Valley legacy information and technology corporation, which is based in Palo Alto, devoted 168 percent of its net income to stock repurchases and dividends from 2004-2013. By 2014 HP began laying off 50,000 employees in advance of splitting itself into two companies. This, after its investment in research and development had plunged to a miniscule three percent of its revenues. (Most tech firms invest between and 11 and 35 percent in research and development.) […]
INTEL CORP. […]
ORACLE CORP. […]
CHEVRON CORP.
At
Cottonmouth of Mississippi,
Matt Eichelberger writes—
MS voters like Gov. Bryant, but not enough to reelect him, poll shows:
GarinHartYang Research Group conducted a poll last week of Mississippi voters, focused on this year's races for Attorney General and Governor. I outlined the results regarding the Attorney General's race in a previous post, so let's now turn our attention to the results concerning Gov. Phil Bryant.
As this poll was mainly focused on the Attorney General's race, I don't have as much information from the poll on the Governor's race. What I do have, though, is interesting, and tracks with what internal Democratic polls have found for the past 2 years. […]
Gov. Bryant is a popular guy. 66% of Mississippians approve of him. But. […]
While Mississippians might like Gov. Bryant as a person, we are not very enthusiastic about having him serve as governor for another 4 years. Where nearly 60% of Mississippians want to reelect AG Jim Hood, only 45% of Mississippians want Gov. Bryant to serve another term. Importantly, only 33% of independents would vote to reelect Bryant. (By contrast, 58% of independents would vote to reelect Hood.)
But who is the opponent?
At this moment, there is no Democrat qualified to run for governor against Phil Bryant.
At
4&20 Blackbirds of Montana,
William Skink writes—
Amidst New Push for War, a Push Back Against Netanyahu?
On almost every foreign front the U.S. is escalating, which I’m guessing is why Obama wants Congress to give him cover for the new war he’s already started with that old, dusty AUMF. Truthout frames it succinctly:
As President Barack Obama presented his proposed Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to Congress, he declared, “I do not believe America’s interests are served by endless war, or by remaining on a perpetual war footing.” Yet Obama’s proposal asks Congress to rubber-stamp his endless war against anyone he wants, wherever he wants.
It’s kind of like how Obama said he ended the war in Afghanistan, but not really. I hope the new AUMF includes a new war against the various factions that have torn Libya apart after that little humanitarian thing that happened a few years ago. Go Hillary 2016 yeah!
I’m not breaking from the mediocre poetry I’ve been keeping myself to here just to toss the usual jabs, no, instead I must commend Obama for what looks like maybe could possibly be a significant push back against apartheid Israel being led by a man who may have finally over-played his hand.
At
Eclectablog of Michigan,
Eclectablog writes—
Michigan GOP moves to fill budget crater from corporate tax breaks by robbing a quarter billion dollars from schools:
To hear Michigan Republicans tell the story, they are all about the importance of education in Michigan. Get them in front of a microphone, camera, or a reporter and they will tell you it’s one of their highest priorities. Their hypocrisy on this issue is in clear display this week as they passed to bills, H.B. 4110 and H.B. 4112, which take over a quarter billion dollars out of the state School Aid Fund.
I’m not kidding:
Much of the surplus in the current budget for Michigan schools could be used to pay down the state’s projected deficit after members of the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday.
House Bill 4110 would use about $250.3 million from the state’s School Aid Fund to pay down a deficit in the general fund, a separate part of the state’s budget. On Wednesday, lawmakers in the House passed the bill 62-48, mostly along party lines. […]
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They are forced to do this because of the gigantic budget crater created by corporate tax breaks passed by Republicans in past years.
At
Miscellany Blue of New Hampshire,
William Tucker writes—
National Right to Work Committee funneled over $25K to state Senate candidates in 2014:
Using an elaborate network of political action committees, the National Right to Work Committee (NRTWC) funneled over $25,000 in out-of-state campaign contributions to five New Hampshire senatorial candidates in an apparent attempt to shift the balance of power in favor of right-to-work legislation.
NRTWC, a leader in the national anti-union movement, describes its mission as an “all-out fight to stop Big Labor’s radical agenda.” They write, “It is absolutely vital we stop Big Labor exploiting this time of crisis to crush our freedoms and our fragile economy!”
The group funded four Granite State senatorial candidates who were attempting to oust incumbent Democrats: Kevin Avard (R-Nashua), Mark Evans (R-Berlin), George Lambert (R-Litchfield) and Kathleen Lauer-Rago (R-Franklin). The fifth candidate, Jane Cormier (R-Hookset), was running in a primary against Sen. David Boutin (R-Hookset) who had opposed right-to-work legislation. […]
Four of the five candidates supported by NRTWC went down to defeat. The resulting lack of veto-proof majorities in both chambers likely guarantees right-to-work legislation will now suffer the same fate.
At
Scrutiny Hooligans of North Carolina,
Gordon Smith writes—
Rethink Your Precinct 2015:
Are you excited about the victories we celebrated in November? Brian Turner defeated Tim Moffitt. John Ager defeated Nathan Ramsey. Todd Williams is our new District Attorney. Buncombe Democrats won every local race we ran, and now it’s time to gear up for next year’s big elections for President, County Commission, and more. That’s where you come in. Are you a Buncombe County resident? Are you a registered Democrat? We want you and need you!
When we know that the Koch Brothers intend to spend nearly a billion dollars in 2016 to elect people who want to make the rich richer at the expense of the rest of us, then it’s clear we need to begin organizing now. The battle for North Carolina will be front and center next year, and Democrats will have to organize like never before in order to combat conservative efforts to buy our democracy.
The county is made up of voting precincts. You know which one you’re in? If not, check here: http://www.ncsbe.gov/...
On the morning of February 28th, Democrats from across the county will come together to lay the foundation for victory in 2016. You’re invited. We need your energy, ideas, and effort. Glenda Overbeck is a volunteer who’s marshaling Buncombe Dems’ precinct organizing this year, and I asked her “what’s this all about?”
Glenda told me, “Organizing at the precinct level is the best way to counter the money in politics. It also gives people a chance to get acquainted with their neighbors who share the same concerns. You can not have a voice if you don’t participate.”