United States Governors

[Childless]

8 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

It's time for another edition of Republicans are Assholes: 

 

Why do they waste time with shit like this when they know they'll have to spend hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars trying to defend it in the court system only to lose in the end?   Certainly, South Dakota has serious problems that need to be solved, unless they're saying they have the top ranked school system in the world, no South Dakotan lives in poverty or lacks healthcare, and crime had been completely eliminated.  Somehow, I don't think that is the case.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Childless

[sawasdee]

OK, I'm going to be alarmist now. This thread, where state by state bills are being enacted to deprive fellow citizens to be marginalized and discriminated against, seems almost like a cry - 'Fascism is coming! Fascism is coming!

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, sawasdee said:

OK, I'm going to be alarmist now. This thread, where state by state bills are being enacted to deprive fellow citizens to be marginalized and discriminated against, seems almost like a cry - 'Fascism is coming! Fascism is coming!

Fascism covered in the lie of "religious freedom"

[bashfulpixie]

6 hours ago, sawasdee said:

OK, I'm going to be alarmist now. This thread, where state by state bills are being enacted to deprive fellow citizens to be marginalized and discriminated against, seems almost like a cry - 'Fascism is coming! Fascism is coming!

 

3 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Fascism covered in the lie of "religious freedom"

It's like that quote that always gets attributed to Sinclair Lewis (even though Snopes proved it false) - "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross"

[GreyhoundFan]

The NYT featured a good article about Governor Roy Cooper of NC: "In North Carolina, Governing With a Punch and a Handshake"

Quote

Perhaps the outcome was to be expected here in deeply conflicted North Carolina. While voters chose the brash, bullying TV boss of “The Apprentice” for president, they simultaneously chose an earnest, low-key character closer to Andy Griffith as governor.

But nearly three months into his term, the Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, will need more than his gentle, tobacco-country politesse to govern effectively. In basketball terms, Mr. Cooper is going to have to throw some elbows.

So last week, Mr. Cooper served a mix of sugar and threat as he delivered his first State of the State address before the famously aggressive Republican-controlled General Assembly. He presented the speech with a smile — but everyone was aware of the uncomfortable fact that the new governor was suing the legislature over laws it passed that significantly curtail his power.

“I promise to listen, to engage, to build consensus, to compromise when possible,” Mr. Cooper said during his address. “I promise to fight only when we can’t come to agreement — or when you leave me no choice.”

North Carolina has been split by extraordinary partisan strife as Republicans, historically the state’s underdog party, enjoyed four years of undivided government, pursuing an ambitious agenda that Democrats saw as an assault on the environment, public education and minority voting rights.

In response, the left repeatedly filled the halls of the State Capitol complex for protests, calling the movement “Moral Mondays.” Conservatives stewed at the implication that their small-government vision, which they credit with restoring the state’s fiscal health and kick-starting a moribund economy, was somehow immoral.

The challenge Mr. Cooper faces as he seeks to patch up North Carolina may serve as a test of whether the nation’s increasingly belligerent political factions can find anything to agree on. The test is best exemplified by the fact that Mr. Cooper has been unable, thus far, to find a way to undo the Republican-backed law known as House Bill 2, which curbs protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. It also requires transgender people in public buildings to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate.

...

 

[onekidanddone]

Just sent two messages to Governor Larry Hogan asking him to take a FUCKING STAND against Orange shit stain.  Okay I didn't' use the work fucking stand, but you get my drift.  I gave him a piece of my mind on health care, hate crimes and education.  On health care I told him that like him I am a cancer survivor.  He  didn't' have to worry about the cost of his treatment.  I asked him to have compassion for his constituents who don't have insurance and would not be able to get treatment. 

I am so damn disappointed, but not shocked at his radio silence about Agent Orange. Hogan didn't attend the convention and made it public that he wrote in his own father's name instead of voting of the evil one in November.

Well that is all nice and cute, but it is time to stand up for his state,  Take a stand or the fine people of Maryland are going to fire him next year. He won in a blue blue blue county.  I reminded him of that.  I also told him he won't get reelected if he continues to toss us under the bus.

[RoseWilder]

I don't think Trump's plan to destroy Obamacare is going to work out as well as he's hoped. He can't even get his own party on board with the idea: 

 

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

I don't think Trump's plan to destroy Obamacare is going to work out as well as he's hoped. He can't even get his own party on board with the idea: 

 

When you've lost Paul LePage...

[onekidanddone]

1 minute ago, Cartmann99 said:

When you've lost Paul LePage...

Wow. That guy.  I really thought he would be named to Agent's cabinet.  The EEOC maybe. When is this fuck stick up for reelection? 

[GreyhoundFan]

5 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

When you've lost Paul LePage...

I was thinking the same thing. He's nuttier than a case of Jif, so I figured he'd be on-board with anything the tangerine toddler did or said.

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

He's nuttier than a case of Jif,

I love this!

[GreyhoundFan]

No big surprise, Scott Walker is being a prick: "Want Medicaid coverage? A drug test should come first, Wisconsin governor says"

Quote

Now that House Republicans have squandered their shot at reordering Medicaid, governors who want conservative changes in the health program for ­low-income Americans must get special permission from the Trump administration.

Near the front of the line is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who not only supports work requirements and premium payments but also a new additional condition: to make applicants undergo a drug test if they’re suspected of substance abuse.

If Walker gets his way, Wisconsin would be the first state in the country with mandatory drug screening for Medicaid enrollees. The governor plans to release his proposal in mid-April and submit it to the Department of Health and Human Services by the end of May.

The approach — which also would mandate treatment for those testing positive — aligns with the goals of several Republican governors intent on tightening the program’s rules. Although the Obama administration allowed them to place expectations on enrollees, they’re hoping for far more leeway from HHS Secretary Tom Price.

The goal behind Walker’s proposal “is to help people get healthy so they can get back in the workforce,” said Julie Lund, communications director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Yet states that have started screening their welfare applicants over the past few years have turned up few drug users. In North Carolina, less than 0.3 percent of applicants to its WorkFirst welfare program tested positive for drugs during a five-month period in 2015. Michigan didn’t find any welfare recipients abusing drugs during a year-long pilot program in 2016.

Opponents of Walker’s idea say the data shows that drug testing for Medicaid applicants isn’t worth the cost and effort.

“They haven’t turned up much use of drugs among that population,” said Jon Peacock, research director for the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

...

Patients in Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Montana must pay part of their monthly coverage premium. Two dozen states require some cost-sharing, up to 5 percent of household income, for certain care.

With President Trump in office, that approach looks more promising than ever to Republican governors. Indiana, Arizona, Kentucky and Pennsylvania have requested to make work a condition of Medicaid eligibility, while Arkansas has said it will submit a proposal to the new administration.

Red states have good reason to believe they’ll be successful. Earlier this month, Price and the new head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services indicated in a letter to governors that proposals related to “training, employment and independence” would be welcome.

Yet it’s less clear how the administration will react to Walker’s request for drug screening. While applicants would be tested only if they’re reasonably suspected of using drugs, the requirement could appear hostile at a time when Trump and Republicans are trying to appear more sympathetic to the problem of drug addiction.

Trump tapped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) to lead a new commission on drug addiction and urged more focus on the problem at a White House forum Wednesday. “This is a total epidemic,” Trump said.

...

My response to the bolded statement:  OH PLEASE, do you think you are fooling anybody?

[Childless]

18 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

No big surprise, Scott Walker is being a prick: "Want Medicaid coverage? A drug test should come first, Wisconsin governor says"

My response to the bolded statement:  OH PLEASE, do you think you are fooling anybody?

Of course people on welfare and Medicaid don't use drugs.  Drug users rarely have enough wherewithal to make it through the reams of red tape, forms, interviews, etc. required to apply for government benefits.

[candygirl200413]

This also blows my mind because I know the UWisconsin college system is having money problems and their elementary education is going to have problems because he leaning towards not putting mandated hours for those wanting to become teachers meaning they won't need experience basically to teach.

This man is such a waste of space.

[GreyhoundFan]

Here in Virginia, we will be electing a new governor this year (VA governors cannot serve successive terms). There are two Democrats running and three Repubs. The Repub who in the past was the most moderate seems to have taken a big step to the right. "Gillespie: ‘I would like to see abortion be banned’"

Quote

Republican strategist Ed Gillespie opposes abortion except in cases of rape, incest and when the mother’s life is at risk. That was his position in 2014, when he nearly unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner (D). And that’s his stance now, as he seeks the governor’s mansion.

But abortion rights groups contend that Gillespie is taking a harder line because he recently said he would like to see abortion “banned.”

“I would like to see abortion be banned because I think it is a taking of an innocent human life,” Gillespie said at a candidates’ forum over the weekend. “It is not the law of the land today.”

Gillespie made the remark after the moderator pressed him on whether he would like to see the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion nationwide.

Gillespie campaign officials clarified afterward that any “ban” Gillespie envisions would include the exceptions that he has always supported.

“Though the attacks may change over the years, Ed’s position has not,” said Abbi Sigler, a Gillespie campaign spokeswoman.

Abortion rights activists took note of what they considered blunter language from Gillespie, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Tarina Keene, executive director of ­NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, said she was surprised to hear Gillespie “blatantly come out and say you want to ban abortion.”

“It’s pretty shocking for anybody to say that,” Keene said. “This does seem to be a new position and a much farther, extreme position for a major candidate to take . . . especially in a state that has gone from red to purple to blue and has suffered the consequences from being overly anti-women’s health and rights.”

...

In the midst of the abortion discussion at the forum, Gillespie touted his credentials as a Catholic. “I not only went to the Catholic University of America, I served on the board of trustees there,” he said. “In order to do that, you have to be in sync with the teachings of the church.”

But the Catholic Church opposes birth-control pills and other means of artificial contraception, and Gillespie has said birth control should be made available without a prescription.

That’s a stand he took in 2014 during a debate with Warner, and it’s a position he maintains, his campaign said.

I love when people are hypocritical.

One of the comments featured a Barney Frank quote about "pro-life" legislators that I had forgotten: "… [they] believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth…" Isn't that the damned truth?

Edited April 5, 2017 by GreyhoundFan

[RoseWilder]

It's so rare when a Republican in office behaves with any integrity at all that it feels like huge news when it happens. 

 

[Childless]

7 hours ago, RoseWilder said:

It's so rare when a Republican in office behaves with any integrity at all that it feels like huge news when it happens. 

 

To be fair, it's Maryland.  If he wasn't toeing the line between Repub and Dem, he wouldn't stand a chance in an election.

[onekidanddone]

On 4/5/2017 at 9:03 AM, Childless said:

To be fair, it's Maryland.  If he wasn't toeing the line between Repub and Dem, he wouldn't stand a chance in an election.

Or our legislators have just voted override a veto of his.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-house-renewable-veto-20170131-story.html

Hogan is okay.  Not great, but it could be worse. I think of of the reasons he won was because the Democratic candidate lead such a lack luster campaign.  However,  I'm thinking he is going to be a one term Gov. I think he will take the fall of a wave of anti-Agent sentiment.  His radio silence on Agent's polices are deafening 

As for the fracking ban.  One theory is that he signed on to the ban is the lobbying by resort owners and wealthy people with homes on Deep Creek Lake. The lake, in very red far west Garrett County is a huge money maker and coveted resort spot.

If the lake is ruined by a fracking accident, property values plummet. I discussed this with a woman very active in Maryland's environmental causes  I also think the people of Accident, Maryland (yes that is the real name of the town) who depend upon the tourist trade and Deep Creek for their drinking water were also apposed. The country voted overwhelmingly for Orange Shit Stain, but go figure.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Rachel Maddow had this story on last night. It's amazing what people in power think they can get away with: "Alabama’s embattled governor may have broken ethics, campaign finance laws, panel finds"

Quote

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, a Republican, could face criminal charges after a state ethics panel’s investigation into his alleged affair with a female staffer found probable cause that he broke ethics and campaign finance laws.

The Alabama Ethics Commission on Wednesday said it would refer Bentley’s case to the Montgomery County District Attorney for possible prosecution after determining that Bentley may have violated the Alabama Ethics Act and the Fair Campaign Practices Act.

The commission offered few details about the decision, which came after a year-long probe into allegations that Bentley used campaign money and state resources to carry on an affair with Rebekah Caldwell Mason, a former aide.

The scandal broke in March 2016, when Bentley abruptly fired the state’s law enforcement secretary, who went on to tell local media that he could prove the governor was having an affair. Shortly after, AL.com published a secret audio recording of Bentley having a sexually explicit conversation with a woman named “Rebekah,” as The Washington Post has reported. Mason resigned shortly after the recording emerged.

Bentley has denied that he broke the law.

In a 4-0 vote Wednesday, the commission found probable cause that Bentley used funds from his campaign to cover legal fees for Mason, according to AL.com. In three other votes, the commission also found probable cause that the governor used public resources for personal interests, received a campaign contribution outside the time frame allowed by state law, and made an illegal loan to his campaign, AL.com reported.

Each of the four violations is a Class B felony, carrying a prison sentence between two and 20 years, and a fine of up to $20,000 per count.

The commission said it reached its conclusions after interviewing more than 45 witnesses and analyzing more than 33,000 documents. It said it was barred from discussing any of the evidence presented in the case because the matter was ongoing.

...

Rumors that Bentley was having an affair with Mason spread after his wife of 50 years filed for divorce in August 2015, as The Post has reported. The following March, Bentley fired Alabama Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier, his former friend. Collier then went public with the affair allegations.

In the secret recording of Bentley, reportedly taped by family members, the governor can be heard professing his love for a woman named Rebekah and talking about putting his hands on her breasts.

After the recording was released, Bentley admitted to having made sexually explicit remarks to a staffer but insisted that the relationship was never physical.

“At times in the past, have I said things that I should not have said?” he told reporters last March. “Absolutely. That’s what I’m saying today.”

I don't know anything about Bentley, but I bet he was free in his criticism of Bill Clinton's infidelities, since most Repubs have always been. And, it's not just the alleged affair, but the misuse of money, that is a concern.

[GreyhoundFan]

More on the Bentley saga: "The salacious affair saga of Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is about to get really serious"

Quote

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (R) has spent the past year unsuccessfully digging out of a growing heap of political trouble related to an alleged affair with a former top aide and allegations that he used public resources to carry it out and cover it up.

Now, the governor is faced with the possibility that he could lose his job, go to jail — or both.

On Saturday, more than a year after news of the affair broke wide open, the Alabama Supreme Court okayed impeachment proceedings in the GOP-controlled state House against the governor.

The House Judiciary Committee is expected to consider his impeachment Monday, based in part on a 3,000-page report the committee's lawyer released Friday that included such scandalous details as "security personnel reported seeing [top aide Rebekah Caldwell Mason] leaving the office with her hair tousled and her clothing in disarray," text messages between the two, allegations the governor threatened to fire or even arrest his wife's staffers for talking about the affair.

The full state House could vote on impeachment in another week.

Impeachment isn't the only battle Bentley is facing in the affair fallout. On Wednesday, a state ethics commission found probable cause that the governor broke laws with regard to the alleged affair, like allegedly using campaign funds to cover her legal fees. The Alabama Ethics Commission suggested four potential felony charges against Bentley for the Montgomery County district attorney to consider.

As he has from day one of this whole saga, Bentley remains defiant. He told reporters in Alabama on Friday: "I do not plan to resign. I have done nothing illegal. If the people want to know if I misused state resources, the answer is simply no. I have not."

But developments these past few days mean Bentley faces some serious consequences for what has, until now, been mostly an eyebrow-raising saga. As Leada Gore, political reporter for AL.com, the largest statewide news organization in Alabama, told The Fix last year: “It's got every part of a scandal you could want.”

...

There is also a good timeline in the article.

[Cartmann99]

Another article about Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's extramarital affair with Mrs. Mason:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/04/gov_bentley_opened_door_of_dc.html#incart_river_index_topics

Gov. Bentley was not very skilled at keeping his affair a secret from his wife. He had his phone set so that the text messages he sent and received could be read from Mrs. Bentley's IPad, so once she figured this out, she was able to access all of his messages.

Follow the link above if you want to read the text messages Mrs. Bentley intercepted.

Quote

 

In 2013, with Mason's family still living in Tuscaloosa, she began spending her nights in the Governor's Mansion pool house, which is sometimes use to house guests. Dianne Bentley became concerned when she noticed Mason was frequently texting her husband. Later, Mrs. Bentley's chief of staff, Heather Hannah, reported that Mason and Bentley both jumped when she walked in the room, an experience later reported to Mrs. Bentley.

Yup, put the woman you are having an affair with in the pool house for easy access. 

Quote

While on a trip to Washington D.C. in 2014, Dianne Bentley saw text messages during a dinner in which the governor said he couldn't take his eyes off Mason. Later that evening, Mason told people in a Washington, D.C. bar that Gov. Bentley had opened the hotel room door to hotel staff while wearing only boxer shorts, expecting Mason to be on the other side.

Mrs. Bentley reported finding towels in the dryer of the couple's Gulf Shores beach house which was unoccupied. The governor also mistakenly sent Mrs. Bentley a text message that said "I love you Rebekah."

Dianne Bentley also commented that her husband no longer held her hand when they were walking together. The governor reportedly told guard Ray Lewis holding his wife's hand "made him look weak."

Forgot this part: 

"Gov. Bentley scheduler Linda Adams reported Mrs. Bentley took a photo of the "love bench," as Capitol employees dubbed the spot where the governor and Mason would meet. Dianne Bentley reportedly told Adams that she was "praying that God would prick (the governor's) heart to change his mind to get him back to his senses."

Edited April 9, 2017 by Cartmann99

[fraurosena]

11 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

she was "praying that God would prick (the governor's) heart to change his mind to get him back to his senses."

Wut? What does that even mean? 

I feel sorry for the woman, nobody deserves a lying, cheating bastard for a husband, but... huh? God "pricking" his heart? What kind of religious fuckery is that?

(and yes, I meant that in all it's various implications)

[Cartmann99]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Wut? What does that even mean? 

I feel sorry for the woman, nobody deserves a lying, cheating bastard for a husband, but... huh? God "pricking" his heart? What kind of religious fuckery is that?

(and yes, I meant that in all it's various implications)

To "prick one's heart" means to reveal to someone the full extent of how their words or actions have negatively affected others, and also how those same words or actions are displeasing to God. Since the Bentleys had taken vows before God to be faithful to each other for the rest of their lives, her last hope was that God would remind Governor Bentley of the promises he made to her, and to God.

It's like when you hear that God "convicted" someone to do X or not to do Y. It's the belief that God can touch a person's heart and get them to change their ways for the better. 

Heh, I should add "speaks conversational Christian conservative" to my skills list. 

[fraurosena]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

Heh, I should add "speaks conversational Christian conservative" to my skills list. 

 

"Speaks conversational Christian conservative" would make an awesome post count title too!

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

On 3/12/2017 at 10:26 AM, sawasdee said:

OK, I'm going to be alarmist now. This thread, where state by state bills are being enacted to deprive fellow citizens to be marginalized and discriminated against, seems almost like a cry - 'Fascism is coming! Fascism is coming!

Fascism is here, it has been for a while now, it is just out and proud now.  The GOP doesn't even have to pretend they care about anything or anyone but themselves anymore.  There is roughly 30 to 35% of the country that will vote for anyone no matter what they have done as long as they are a republican. Mass murderer, child molester, Hitler... they do not care, at all. They care about their party. Since the 80's when the "religious right" rose to pseudo power the Republicans have done a VERY good job of turning republicanism into the ONLY acceptable religion in this country, God is not spelled GOP and instead of worshiping the teachings of Christ they worship Wall Street and selflessness and generosity have been traded in for selfishness and greed.  The Duggar's are a prime example, they don't believe in charity unless they are the ones receiving it. They don't believe in choice of any sort, only what THEY view as acceptable, that is the only option. 

The men who had all the power were slowly watching that power being spread to others and they don't want that to happen. They enjoy their racist sexist exclusively white male world where they are in charge, so much so that they have convinced millions of women and minorities that they really are "less than" and not deserving of everything white men have.  There millions of people in this country are are perfectly OK with certain rights being taken away from others, because they don't think they will be taken away from them.  Just look at the news stories about all these idiot Trump voters who are now losing aid for their housing, or their spouses are being deported, or their jobs are getting shipped over seas, or their pay is being cut and their health care taken away.  They are STUNNED they figured he meant "those people" not them, surly THEY aren't in that group of rabble, sorry sweetie but you are, the best line of heard about republicans came from the Liberal Redneck who said "when are you people going to wake up and realize that the GOP doesn't represent you, they resent you?"