The senior senator from Nebraska has a reputation for integrity and independence. Served in the U.S. Army during Vietnam, strident critic of the Iraq War, and he’ll be looking for a job in January. He’d make a great secretary of defense.
Tags: Chuck Hagel
Please, no. If you really want her to be part of the team give her something[ else - State is too important. And if you want a Clinton, Bill would be much better.
Tags: Hillary Clinton
Updated at 11:01 AM
Governor Sebelius appointed House Minority Leader Dennis McKinney as the new state treasurer to replace Lynn Jenkins who was recently elected to the U.S. Congress.
This creates an opportunity for the Governor to push for a new House Minority Leader more in line with her own views, which must have factored into this decision. That being said, McKinney has a reputation for integrity and he’s a good choice for this position.
Tags: Kathleen Sebelius, Dennis McKinney
You may have heard that last year the Kansas Republican Party amended their rules to say that the Party will take action against any state party member who endorses or contributes to non-Republicans. To enforce this decree? A loyalty committee (seriously).
According to the Kansas City Star last night was the first instance of these rules being enforced. Johnson County precinct committee people gathered to vote for a new JOCO GOP chairman and 17 of them were stripped of the right to participate because they had donated to Democrats.
Apparently there will be a legal challenge, but it probably stands little chance of success. The more pressing question is not whether the KSGOP’s actions are legal, but whether they are wise.
This demand for party loyalty means that the Kansas Republican Party believes that party identification is more important than anything else. More important than the issues, logic, or reason.
So if I am a state legislator and I am observing a contest for, say, Governor, in which a completely incompetent ass-clown with an R next to his name is opposing a smart, capable Democrat, I am obligated to support the Republican - or at least refrain from supporting the Democrat? If I believe that this candidate has the potential to do good things for our state, that he is pragmatic, level-headed, and smart, I can’t support him?
We can disagree about the value of creating a loyalty committee - which sounds more like Communist Russia than anything else - but it is indisputable that nonsense like this is driving people from the Party. If anyone ever wonders why the KSGOP raised $50,000 to the KDP’s $500,000, look no further than this.
Tags: Kansas Republican Party
If you need a refresher on the Valerie Plame fiasco, Wikipedia is here to help.
I would take anything this guy says with a grain of salt, but his allegations are not exactly far-fetched given the Bush administration’s history.
With all the hullabaloo over California’s Proposition 8, another important - and much less painfully stupid - ballot initiative passed: Proposition 11.
Redistricting is the process of redrawing the boundaries of legislative districts. It takes place every ten years after the decennial census. Most states have a process by which the state legislatures draw and then ratify these boundaries.
Ok so far? If so, I haven’t explained it well enough. Under these rules the people who stand to gain the most from this process (elected legislators) get to write their own rules.
In California Prop 11 takes this power away from the legislature and gives is to a 14-member commission made up of Republicans, Democrats, and non-partisans. I’m not sure if the proposal includes a requirement for the legislature to ratify the final result. I would certainly want another layer of approval up from the commission, which is to consist of laypeople.
Iowa has a similar system, but they are the exception to the rule. According to NCSL there are “12 states that give first and final authority for legislative redistricting to a group other than the legislature.” Everything has its benefits and drawbacks, but if the first step to good policy is deciding what not to do, it’s pretty clear that legislatures should not participate in the redistricting process.
The Star is writing about the new - and inexplicably even smaller - Senate Democratic caucus.
Chris Steineger, a Democrat from Wyandotte County, is apparently unhappy with the leadership of Minority Leader Anthony Hensley who has been in the Senate since approximately Reconstruction.
“Under Anthony’s leadership, we’ve gone from 13 seats down to nine despite having good candidates and a lot of money.”
Not an unreasonable argument, especially since Hensley and the Governor worked together to defeat an incumbent Democrat in the primary, thus putting his seat in jeopardy of falling into the hands of a conservative Republican. Yeah, Gilstrap voted with Republicans more than any other Democrat, but that’s the point of “leadership” - if you can’t unite a mere 10 people around an idea, you should give someone else a shot.
The point is, when the size of your caucus is more appropriate for a game of Pictionary than a legislative agenda, it’s time to reevaluate your position. The good news is they’ll have plenty of time to do that in the next four years.
This is a report from February that contains some disturbing statistics about incarceration in the U.S.
1 in 30 men between the ages of 20-34 are in prison
1 in 9 black men from the same age group
That’s absurd. The interesting thing is that there has not been an adjoining increase in crime, which means that we are changing the conditions under which we put people in prison. We’re becoming tougher on crime, as it were.
I read somewhere that nearly half of all inmates were non-violent offenders. How much are we paying to keep these people in prison? Usually imprisonment turns criminals into hardened criminals. That’s fine for violent and repeat offenders, but should people go to prison for drugs and lesser crimes? There’s a pragmatic element to this. We could get a big return on our investment if we put money into reform instead of prisons.
I just saw this story and found it interesting. Yeah, it’s a slow news day.
Republican Carol Elliott lost her bid for her fourth term as country treasurer for Grafton County, MSNBC and The Dartmouth reports. What is remarkable is that she lost to a 20-year-old junior at Dartmouth from Big Sky, Montana. Vanessa Sievers, who is set to graduate with a degree in geography and history in 2010, said that she had nothing against 66-year-old Elliott, but wanted to take the position “to a new level.”
Elliott, who had never been challenged in her previous three-terms, said from the outset that she didn’t believe that Sievers could handle the job. She came at her opponent and said that she couldn’t handle a college schedule and the position. Students didn’t believe her, though, and Sievers won by nearly 600 votes out of 42,000 cast. Much of her advertising targeted voters at Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, spending only $42 on a Facebook ad.
“It was the brainwashed college kids that made the difference,” Elliott, 66, told the Valley News of Lebanon. She said she had little faith that Sievers will fulfill her duties adequately. “You’ve got a teenybopper for a treasurer,” said Elliott, who has held the position for six years. “I’m concerned for the citizens of Grafton County.”
Sievers said Wednesday she was surprised by Elliott’s “brutal attack. She’s never met me before,” Sievers said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “She has no idea what I’m like.”
“I’ve always believed that being involved in local government is part of your responsibility as a citizen and is a way to get involved in your community,” she said. Sievers said her age has nothing to do with her qualifications, noting that she has worked as a bookkeeper, managed her family’s finances and has been thoroughly researching investment options to prepare for her new job.
Don’t kill the messenger.
Palin said she is leaning on her faith and looking for any future opportunities.
“I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door,” she said in an interview that aired Monday on Fox News.
“And if there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”
And upon hearing this, I was like “no.” She can plow elsewhere.
Tags: Sarah Palin
