Conservative Blogger
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Sanders off the DC primary ballot after Dems bungle paperwork
 | |
| Clinton fights off challenge from Sanders in New York |
The Democratic Party failed to submit Sanders' primary registration paperwork on time to the D.C. Board of Elections. While the party received paperwork and fees from both Sanders and Hillary Clinton's campaign, it only turned over Clinton's forms on time.
That means as of today, Clinton is slated to appear on the ballot, but Sanders isn't, according to a report by NBC-4. Sanders' campaign said it handed in its forms and $2,500 in fees earlier this month and ahead of schedule.
Democrats did not inform the board of its oversight mistake until a day after the March 16 registration deadline, which will create another hurdle to including him. A Washington, D.C., voter has already filed a challenge against Sanders' eligibility.
The Democrats called the incident a minor administrative dispute, according to NBC's reporter Tom Sherwood. Party chairwoman Anita Bonds, a member of the city council, said the city could choose to fix the problem by holding an emergency vote.
Rubio moves to keep delegates on lockdown until convention, to 'stop Trump'
 | |
| Spoiler |
A Rubio spokesman confirmed the push Wednesday, while suggesting it’s more an effort to thwart Trump by denying him the necessary delegates than to somehow get Rubio back in the game in the event of a contested convention.
"Of course, he's no longer a candidate and wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump," spokesman Alex Burgos told FoxNews.com.
Rubio is making his personal appeal in a letter to the chairs of state Republican parties across the country, the entities that decide how to divvy up delegates.
While some of the senator’s delegates might otherwise be allowed to support other candidates before the July convention, Rubio is asking that those delegates be “bound” to him through at least the first round of voting at the convention.
The letter, a copy of which was obtained by FoxNews.com, says the decision to suspend his campaign was “not intended to release any National Convention Delegates bound to me as a result of the 2016 delegate selection process that took place in your State.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
According to MSNBC, Rubio is sending the letter to parties in all 21 states and territories where he won delegates.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Rubio had 171 delegates to his name. In a normal year, such a delegate haul might not matter much – but in the competitive 2016 GOP primary race, keeping all those delegates off the field could potentially keep Trump from clinching the nomination pre-convention with the necessary 1,237.
Trump currently has 736; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 463; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 143.
Under the complex set of rules governing each state’s primary, dozens of Rubio’s delegates – though not all of them -- would normally become “unbound” before the convention and free to vote for whomever they choose.
Ever since Rubio suspended his campaign, those delegates have been an attractive target for the remaining candidates. Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, recently told FoxNews.com the campaign already had started “going after” the “unbound” delegates.
“We aren’t going to waste resources on them, but if you’re 'wooable' we plan to woo,” Bennett said.
It’s unclear whether any sizeable number of Rubio’s delegates would back Trump anyway, as Rubio himself describes Cruz as the only true conservative left in the race. But Rubio’s letter-writing push is an attempt to prevent Trump from peeling off any before the convention.
MSNBC reported that the chairman of the Alaska GOP already has agreed to grant Rubio’s request.
Alaska previously had divvied up Rubio's five delegates to Trump and Cruz. However, since the actual people have not been selected yet, the state party said the delegates will go back to Rubio.
In Oklahoma, state party Chairwoman Pam Pollard said she also received a letter from Rubio saying he has not released his 12 delegates from that state.
Meanwhile, the three remaining Republican candidates are ramping up efforts to win over Rubio's delegates, in addition to claiming dozens more unbound delegates, in the contentious battle for the 1,237 delegate majority.
Acknowledging a late start in the nuts-and-bolts business of political wrangling, Trump's campaign will open a Washington, D.C. office in the coming days to run its delegate operation and congressional relations team, Bennett told the AP. In addition to the new space, Trump has hired a veteran political operative to serve as the campaign's convention manager. Paul Manafort, a seasoned Washington hand, will oversee the campaign's "entire convention presence" including a potential contested convention, said Bennett.
There are certain states where the allocation of delegates to the GOP convention is so complicated that they could produce outcomes where a candidate who did not prevail in a given primary might yet win that state’s delegates to the convention.
Trump has vowed to both file a lawsuit and an internal challenge within the Republican National Committee over reports that Cruz, despite losing the Louisiana primary to Trump in early March, could draw the support of enough “unbound” delegates and from Rubio supporters to actually overtake Trump in the state by as many as 10 delegates.
Asked on March 15 if he was preparing for a contested convention, Cruz told Fox News, “We make preparations for every contingency.”
Trump walks back statement on women being punished for abortion if procedure banned
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump quickly walked back a statement he made earlier Wednesday that if abortion were illegal in the United States, then women who have the procedure should be punished - saying later that only those who performed the procedure should be punished.
“If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in a written statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”
Earlier, at a taped MSNBC town hall to be aired later Wednesday, Trump said if abortions were illegal, women should be held responsible.
Host Chris Matthews pressed Trump to clarify, asking him whether abortion should be punished and who ultimately should be held accountable.
“Look, people in certain parts of the Republican Party, conservative Republicans, would say, ‘Yes, it should,’” Trump said.
The candidate later put out a statement saying: “This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination.”
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
When asked specifically at the town hall what he thought, the New York businessman answered, “I would say it’s a very serious problem and it’s a problem we have to decide on. Are you going to send them to jail?”
“I’m asking you,” Matthews prompted.
“I am pro-life,” Trump said.
Matthews pressed on, asking again who should be punished in an abortion case if it were illegal.
“There has to be some form of punishment,” Trump said.
“For the woman?” Matthews asked.
“Yeah,” Trump responded, adding later that the punishment would “have to be determined.”
His rivals seized on the remarks. Ohio Gov. John Kasich later told MSNBC “of course women shouldn’t be punished.”
An aide to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted: “Don't overthink it: Trump doesn't understand the pro-life position because he's not pro-life.”
Supreme Court appears skeptical about feds applying Clean Water Act to family biz properties
For decades, the Pierce family has operated a peat-mining business that involves draining muddy bogs, scraping away the plant material, drying it, then selling it for use in golf greens and athletic fields.
The company hoped to add hundreds of acres to its operation. But in 2011, the Army Corps of Engineers announced the Minnesota land in question was connected to the Red River, roughly 120 miles away, and would be subjected to the Clean Water Act permitting process.
The property rights dispute landed Wednesday in the Supreme Court, where Justice Anthony Kennedy called the federal act “quite vague in its reach, arguably unconstitutionally vague ... ."
The property owners are fighting for the right to challenge the corps’ findings in federal court, while the corps argues the landowners cannot do so without going through a time-consuming permitting process that will likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“We're talking about the effect, direct effect on millions of land owners nationwide, couldn't be a bigger precedent,” said the plaintiffs' attorney, Reed Hopper of the Pacific Legal Foundation.
With the exception of Justice Elena Kagan, the court seemed nearly unanimous in its skepticism about whether the property is indeed “wetland” and subject to the act.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called the process “arduous and very expensive.”
“It’s going to take years and cost ... a lot of money," she also said.
Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Steward, the federal government’s attorney, argued the landowner could simply roll the dice by moving ahead with developing the land despite the court’s findings.
That prompted Justice Stephen Breyer to respond: “Then he goes to jail.”
A decision is due by the end of June.
Kevin Pierce, one of three land/ business-owners in the case -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co. Inc. -- has not been willing to take such a risk.
"We could have expanded a couple of years ago and different things,” he said outside of the court room. “But we've been held up because of the threat of high fines and criminal charges and all of the things that come out of the corps and jurisdictional determination.
Critics of President Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, Merrick Garland, say the case is the kind they’re worried about if Garland is appointed to the high court, considering his overwhelming deference to federal agencies.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
States moving to restore work requirements for food stamp recipients
 | |
| States moving to require able adults to work for welfare |
The slow-moving reversal follows the administration pulling back on Clinton-era changes that required recipients to work for government welfare benefits. Signing the reform bill in 1996 alongside then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, then-President Bill Clinton said the goal was to make welfare “a second chance, not a way of life.”
But during the last recession, President Obama allowed states to suspend a requirement that able-bodied adults without children work at least 20 hours per week or participate in a training program to receive benefits for more than three months.
He allowed recipients to stay on food stamps indefinitely, arguing the three-month maximum was unfair with unemployment at 10 percent.
"Food stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis, Wall Street did," said Obama at this past January’s State of the Union address.
Unemployment today is half of what it was in 2009, yet last year more than 40 states did not require welfare recipients to work.
Kansas was one of the first states to reverse that in 2013.
"I believe most Americans and most Kansans think it's common sense," said Andrew Wiens of the Kansas Department for Children & Families. "These are able-bodied adults without dependents. They don't have children in the home. They're not elderly, they're not disabled. These folks should be working."
Since Kansas reinstated work rules, food stamp rolls
dropped by 20,000 and the incomes of those who left increased by 127 percent, Wiens said.
The state also imposed limits on how recipients could use their benefits after finding some enrollees used their welfare cash and food stamps cards on cruise ships.
"Those benefits should be used for necessities," Wiens said. "You can't use them at casinos, strip clubs, massage or tattoo parlors."
Maine followed the Kansas lead in 2014. In the first three months, the number of able-bodied adults without children on food stamps fell by almost 80 percent. It also cracked down on recipients using their welfare benefits out of state after finding hundreds of Maine residents used their EBT cash cards at or near Disney World.
"Maine found millions of dollars being spent in Florida," said Josh Archambault of the Foundation for Government Accountability. "That raised all sorts of red flags."
Another red flag -- a Maine state employee recognized the name of a large state lottery winner. It turned out the state did not require an asset test, allowing food stamp recipients to have vacation homes, multiple cars and lottery winnings and still qualify. After a 2015 state study found 4,000 welfare recipients won more than $22 million in the state lottery funds, Maine imposed a limit on assets.
"An individual could win a half million dollars," said Archambault. "In the month they receive the lump sum they may not qualify because it counts as income. The very next month and every month going forward, they can legally sign up for food stamps."
Since 2010, nearly 4,000 welfare recipients in Maine won $1,000 or more. Eleven of them won 10 or more times, and eight individuals won prizes in excess of $500,000.
Trump stands by campaign manager charged with battery over alleged reporter grab
The Republican front-runner told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an exclusive interview he saw “virtually nothing” in the surveillance tapes of the incident.
“I’m very glad that we were able to produce the tape because I don’t see anything. I see virtually nothing,” he told Hannity. “And we’re going to destroy a man’s life over this?”
Lewandowski initially denied the incident had taken place, telling Fields over Twitter he had never even met her. Trump also backed Lewandowski, telling reporters a few days later that "everybody said nothing happened. Perhaps she made the story up, I think that’s what happened.”
However, the Jupiter Police Department obtained video from the ballroom that it says parallels Fields' version of events, and subsequently charged Lewandowski. Trump said a surveillance system he had set up in the ballroom captured the incident.
The latest headlines on the 2016 elections from the biggest name in politics. See Latest Coverage →
Earlier on Tuesday, while on his campaign plane, Trump said that Fields was seen running up and grabbing him after a news conference which he claimed she was "never supposed to do," and that Lewandowski was trying to block Fields from "grabbing and asking questions."
“She grabbed me and she had something in her hand, I don’t know what it was,” Trump told Hannity. “It looked like it could have been a pen. But you know, from the standpoint of where we are, who knows what it is. So she grabs me and then he maybe brushed her aside, and we’re going to destroy his life for that? I don’t think so.”
He called the situation "very unfair" to Lewandowski, one of his closest advisers. He says he hopes the matter doesn't change Lewandowski's role on his campaign.
“I think this was very unjust, nobody called me, nobody interviewed me,” Trump said “I wasn’t interviewed by the police.”
The police report says Lewandowski "grabbed Fields left arm with his right hand, causing her to turn and step back."
The Trump campaign issued a statement Tuesday calling Lewandowski “absolutely innocent.”
“Mr. Lewandowski was issued a notice to appear and was given a court date. He was not arrested. Mr. Lewandowski is absolutely innocent of this charge,” spokeswoman Hope Hicks said in a statement. “He will enter a plea of not guilty and looks forward to his day in court. He is completely confident that he will be exonerated.”
Lewandowski is due to appear in court on May 4th to face one count of simple battery.
Ted Cruz's campaign said the incident is indicative of the culture of the Trump campaign.
"Unfortunately, this abusive behavior seems to be part of the culture of the Trump campaign. Personal attacks, verbal attacks, and now physical attacks have no place in politics or anywhere else in our society," campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart said in a statement.
Cruz said during a town hall Tuesday night that if Lewandowski was his campaign manage, he would ask him to resign.
"It shouldn't be complicated," he said. "The members of the campaign staff shouldn't be physically assaulting the press."
Meanwhile, John Kasich's campaign strategist John Weaver called Lewandowski a "bully" and said he would have already been fired if he worked for the Ohio governor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Tit for Tat ? ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — A statue of abolitionist Frederick Douglass was ripped from its base in Rochester on the an...
-
NEW YORK (AP) — As New York City faced one of its darkest days with the death toll from the coronavirus surging past 4,000 — more th...
