Guess which party is delivering the goods
Guess which party is delivering the goods
Santa's come early with legislative goodies
Congratulations on surviving what was a remarkably exhausting few weeks! Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives (it still occasionally leaves me in absolute stupid shock that Donald Trump is the President of the United States), the UK re-elected their own mini Trump, the new Star Wars movie came out (a big deal at my day job), and the future of fair American elections became even more inscrutable.
Before we officially hit the holiday break, let’s review some of the more important headlines from the last few weeks (if you want to talk about Star Wars, feel free to email me back, I have some big thoughts here).
(By the way, as I try to figure out what a premium edition of this newsletter looks like in 2020, I’m looking at issues that include news analysis and insights into upcoming candidate interviews. Let me know what you think!)
Legislative Preview:
The Washington Post has a good round-up of some of the issues that many of the state legislatures will attempt to tackle when they return in January.
One item they note that caught my eye is the push for single-payer healthcare in New York State. It’s hard to imagine Gov. Andrew Cuomo allowing that to happen — he just vetoed or ignored a whole lot of other, smaller progressive bills — but 2021 may be very different. Now that they’re in the minority, Republicans in the State Senate are retiring in droves, and if Democrats pick up even more seats, things could truly get interesting.
Voting Rights:
New Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear won his race by just 5,000 votes last month, a razor-thin margin that proved just how much every vote matters. One of his first acts upon taking office was signing an executive order that restores the voting rights of non-violent offenders after they complete their sentences. It didn’t go quite as far as activists in the state wanted, it’s still a massive expansion of democracy, especially in a state that was until last month governed by the far-right lunatic Matt Bevin.
Voting rights got an even bigger boost in New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law that will permit anyone not in prison to vote, which now notably includes those on parole and probation. It should expand the franchise to about 80,000 people and goes into effect in 2020.
Alas, democracy took a beating in Wisconsin and Georgia last week, where nearly half a million people are now in danger of being purged from the voter rolls. The two states have been famously awful over the last decade, with Georgia’s massive purges likely costing Stacey Abrams the governorship in 2018 and Republicans’ brutal gerrymander in Wisconsin continuously thwarting the will of the people.
The purges continue unabated in Georgia, where a judge allowed a whopping 309,000 voter registrations to be canceled. While state officials contend that they were largely the registrations of people who had moved or died, over a third of them — 120,000 voters — were chucked off the rolls simply because they hadn’t voted since 2012 or responded to a letter from the state.
Abrams’ group Fair Fight has already won the reinstatement of 22,000 voters, with more to hopefully come.
Over in Wisconsin, a judge ordered that 234,000 voters tossed off the rolls based simply on the fact that they didn’t respond to a letter from the state in October. (For context, it takes me about two months to mail a simple check to pay a bill.) The plan was to remove them from the rolls in April 2021, but due to a lawsuit by a conservative legal group, they’re in danger of being tossed before the 2020 election. And wouldn’t you know it, a majority of them are in urban areas of the state that supported Hillary Clinton in 2016.
A number of organizations are suing to stop the purge, but unfortunately, conservatives have a big 5-2 advantage on the State Supreme Court. This case makes this spring’s high court election even more crucial. I’ve reached out to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to learn more about how they plan on combatting the purge or re-registering voters.
Here’s an interesting piece from someone who had their registration purged in Georgia for no apparent reason.
Ballot Initiatives:
In Florida, the State Supreme Court approved a ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. John Morgan, a rich trial lawyer who also sponsored the ballot initiatives to legalize medical marijuana in the state (it failed in 2014 but passed in 2016) is behind this campaign as well.
While that’s plenty exciting, the big ballot initiative that passed in Florida in 2018 continues to serve as a political football and the perfect embodiment of Republicans’ sheer contempt for democracy.
Amendment 4, which called for the restoration of voting rights to a whopping 1.4 million ex-felons who served their time, received well over 60% of the vote. Almost immediately, the Republican legislature and newly elected Gov. Ron DeSantis got to work sabotaging the will of the people, passing a bill that placed onerous and expensive requirements on anyone trying to have their rights restored. (No coincidence, black men made up a plurality of those who rushed to register to vote before the new poll tax was passed.)
This fall, a court put an injunction on the racist new law, which DeSantis, in turn, appealed in November. The case should go to trial in April, if the legislature doesn’t pass any tweaks.
Healthcare:
Republican legislatures are holding up voter-approved progressive policies in Idaho and Nebraska, as well. Both states passed Medicaid expansion in 2018, but lawmakers have blanched at the sheer audacity of working people and their insane desire to be able to get medical treatment. While the coverage kicks in next month, the legislature is discussing reining it in and limiting its scope, leaving a lot of poor people in a lurch.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, Republicans are working on a waiver that would create a crappy two-tier system of benefits that wouldn’t even go into effect until next October. Everything is up in the air there, and people are suffering because of it.
Oh, and just to really hammer home the difference between Democrats and Republicans, and how much those votes matter, Kentucky’s Gov. Beshear is not only ending his predecessor’s cruel Medicaid restrictions, he’s also canceling a whopping $11 billion in Medicaid managed care contracts Bevin gave out to pals and cronies just before leaving office. The contracts will be re-bid under a more transparent and fair process that, fingers crossed, puts patients’ needs first.
Coming up:
Later this week, I’ll have an interview with Jim Bonfiglio, a Democrat running for the State House in Florida after falling just 32 votes short in 2018. He is running in Palm Beach (District 89), and would be the State Rep. for Mar-a-Lago. The fact that he is a foreclosure defense attorney is absolutely perfect.
I’m also going to be talking to Eliz Markowitz, a Democrat running in a special election for the Texas legislature. If she flips that seat, Democrats will be even closer to taking back the State House.