State Houses Thread

[fraurosena]

20 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

It's mostly symbolic. There are four states and two territories that also use that name,

So it's a state for 'the common good'? Heh. How remarkably... socialist! 

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is what you get when repug men are in charge:

 

[fraurosena]

I saw this and laughed: 

And then I saw this and laughed even harder!

So funny how his attitude does an abrupt about-turn when it’s about his own reproductive rights, and not those of a woman.

[47of74]

In Iowa there’s a bill to ban conversion “therapy” 

Quote

A new bill in the Iowa legislature would protect children from undergoing conversion therapy.

Conversion therapy is defined as a method used to try and change a person's sexual orientation to heterosexual. It's a scientifically discredited practice.

A bill introduced Thursday would prohibit counselors, psychologists and health care professionals from performing conversion therapy on children. If a professional contradicts the law, they would face disciplinary action.

According to the bill, the Iowa Department of Human Services would be responsible for stopping agencies from trying to identity change efforts. The bill is still in the early stages and has not reached the Senate floor.

Unfortunately I don’t see this going anywhere this session. Not with our current crop of Reich to life freaks having the majorities in both chambers. 

[GreyhoundFan]

More tantrums from Oregon Rs: 'Oregon lawmakers were supposed to vote on a climate change bill. Republicans walked out — again."

Spoiler

This was not “the Oregon Way.” Inside the Salem statehouse Monday morning, the desks on one side of the Senate chamber were empty, and the names of their occupants echoed off wood-paneled walls, repeated twice during roll call to no response. Outside, the horn of a semi-truck blared its protest.

For the second time in eight months, Oregon Republicans walked out of the capitol, denying the Democratic supermajority a chance to pass a bill that would limit greenhouse gas emissions. By absconding, the 11 GOP lawmakers prevented the quorum necessary to vote on the legislation and forced Democrats to adjourn for the day.

It was the same tactic Republican lawmakers employed in June, when they fled to Idaho to avoid a vote on an earlier version of the same cap-and-trade bill, prompting Oregon’s governor to call in state troopers to track them down and return them to the statehouse. The bill eventually died, giving the minority party a playbook for undercutting liberal policy goals. With similar climate change legislation on Democrats’ wish list again this year, Republicans had long threatened a walkout.

The scene this week flouted the state’s maxim, which celebrates collaborative political parley. But instead of following the “Oregon Way,” Republicans accused Democrats of casting off their amendments and ramming the bill through the legislature. Meanwhile, Democrats said Republicans are ignoring the concessions they’ve already made and are disrespecting the will of voters who gave them control of all three branches of state government.

The stalemate illustrates the deep divide between the state’s densely populated, ultraliberal urban enclaves — such as Portland and Eugene — and its sprawling rural counties with proud libertarian streaks, where militia occupations and secession movements have found boosters.

“They’re frustrated that the traditional electoral process has not really benefited them,” Priscilla Southwell, a University of Oregon political science professor, said of conservatives. “Republicans are saying, ‘We’re not just outvoted, we’re ignored.’”

“They’re desperate,” she added.

The 2018 election gave Democrats supermajorities in the state’s House and Senate, and they maintained control of the governor’s office — a sweeping victory that they said represented a popular mandate to pursue their climate agenda.

But Republicans have said the centerpiece of that policy, the cap-and-trade legislation, will increase the cost of living for rural residents, disproportionately harming their constituents. They pledged to do “whatever it takes” to stop it.

Gov. Kate Brown (D) said the resulting political fracas was “a sad moment for Oregon” and accused Republicans of taking a “taxpayer-funded vacation.”

“We were all elected by the voters to represent our communities, and to be the voice of our constituents in the capitol,” Brown said in a statement Monday. “Republicans signed up for this. If they don’t like a bill, then they need to show up and change it, or show up and vote no.”

State House Speaker Tina Kotek called the walkout “a crisis for our democracy.”

“This is not a game,” she wrote on Twitter. “Voters elected us to do our job. The members who refuse to show up and do their jobs are saying to a large majority of Oregonians: your vote doesn’t matter.”

Under the cap-and-trade plan, greenhouse gas emissions would be limited and carbon-producing businesses would be required to purchase pollution credits. Over time, the state would decrease the number of credits available, thereby lowering the level of emissions allowed.

Democrats have already compromised on the bill, which has been in the works for years, said Greg Dotson, a professor of environmental law at the University of Oregon. When Republicans said they didn’t know enough about the bill’s effects, Democrats held working groups and the legislature funded studies, he said. They held hearings across the state.

“At pretty much every point, the majority has made accommodations and slowed the process down,” Dotson said. “The ultimate outcome is a policy that has the votes to pass, but you can’t pass it without a quorum.”

Unlike other states, Oregon’s quorum rules are written into its constitution, making them difficult to change or work around. But the authors of the state’s founding document probably never imagined that the requirement would be put to such use, Dotson said.

“Quorums were originally established because you wanted to make sure you didn’t have secret meetings of the legislature running roughshod over people,” he said. “I don’t think it was ever contemplated as a way to allow a small minority to prevent democratic results.”

Republicans say they’re angry that Democrats have rejected their proposed amendments, especially one that would put the issue on the November ballot and allow voters to decide its fate.

“Pay attention Oregon — this is a true example of partisan politics,” Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. said in a statement.

Senate Republican spokeswoman Kate Gillem said the issue is too contentious to be hashed out among lawmakers.

“Cap-and-trade has become an extremely divisive issue in the state,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what party you’re in, the bases are pulling the legislators in opposite directions. It needs to be referred to voters.”

The bill is also too far-reaching to be considered during the legislature’s 35-day “short session,” which occurs every other year, Gillem argued.

“Denying quorum is one of the only tools that the minority party has right now,” she said.

To some observers, the standoffs portend a grim future for state politics. Also this month, a Republican-led group, Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho, circulated a petition to move Idaho’s border to the west, subsuming Oregon’s rural eastern counties. The effort is unlikely to succeed, but it plainly exemplifies the state’s widening gulf.

However, Southwell, the professor, who also co-edited the book “Governing Oregon,” said the walkout might actually bring the two sides closer together. It will signal to Democrats that “a supermajority is not a guarantee you can get things done.”

“It might have a moderating influence,” she said.

But as they fled the statehouse Monday, Republicans signaled they were willing hide out until the session ended. So even if the conflict forces more Democrats to reach across the aisle, they might arrive there to find their colleagues’ desks still deserted.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Some good news from Virginia: "Here’s a state that’s quietly reversing the tea party’s damage"

Spoiler

A decade ago, the tea party movement — remember them? — helped power a smashing Republican victory in the 2010 midterms, leading not just to GOP control of the House of Representatives, but also to a massive Republican takeover in state governments across the country.

But, while most of the national press corps has been focused elsewhere, one state just undid a bunch of the damage that the tea party movement wrought.

I’m talking about Virginia, where Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam just signed a host of bills that reversed many GOP initiatives of the last decade.

This is a watershed. Virginia may be the first state to reverse so many tea party-driven initiatives. And because Virginia sits at the nexus of many trends in national politics right now — shifting demographics, Democratic gains in the anti-Trump suburbs — this illustrates what those trends could end up meaning in policy terms.

Fueled by anti-Trump energy, Ralph Northam was elected Virginia’s governor in 2017, and Democrats took full control of the Virginia state legislature in the 2019 election.

That is now having a big impact in reversing what Republican officials achieved in the last 10 years.

In recent weeks, Virginia Democrats passed into law a voting-rights bill that repealed a GOP voter ID law — one similar to the many voting restrictions passed by legislatures taken over by Republicans in the tea party wave.

That voting-rights measure also expanded early voting and established automatic voter registration. These measures will make voting easier, which undoes what Republicans had engineered in a very fundamental way, since making voting harder was their aim.

Democrats also passed into law a new measure limiting handgun purchases to one per month. That undid a previous measure signed by Republican former governor Robert F. McDonnell.

Democrats passed a host of other gun reforms, including expanded background checks. Notably, these proposals had drawn thousands of armed gun rights activists to a rally in Richmond, yet Democrats carried through the promises they had campaigned on.

Democrats also passed into law a measure, co-sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, that rolls back a GOP measure requiring women to get an ultrasound and wait a full day before getting an abortion.

Then there’s the role of the Affordable Care Act — which helped fuel the 2010 GOP takeover — in this story.

In 2018, Northam signed into law — with the support of some Republicans, who then still retained some control of state government — an expansion of Medicaid that extended health coverage to hundreds of thousands of poor and working people.

That was a big breakthrough, given that GOP control of state legislatures after the 2010 wave represented a huge barrier to expanding Medicaid in many states. A big Northam win made it possible. Since then, the Democratic-controlled state legislature has also passed into law an ACA exchange.

What makes all this so interesting is that the Democratic takeover in Virginia is on the front lines of many trends in the Trump era.

Northam’s outsize 2017 victory came at a moment when anti-Trump and “resistance” fervor was white-hot. That win was fueled by Northam’s better-than-expected college-educated-white support and surging turnout in the fast-evolving Northern Virginia suburbs — portending trends that drove the 2018 Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives.

The 2018 wave also enabled Democrats to retake a good deal of ground in state legislatures across the country, undoing some of the immense GOP gains earlier in the decade.

Then came the full Democratic takeover of the state legislature in the 2019 election, which was driven by more success in the suburbs, including around Richmond, building on those anti-Trump trends.

Now the results are allowing for the undoing of large swaths of what the tea party wave produced, in a state that has been firmly driven by those trends into the Democratic column.

All this might be the tip of a spear. Democrats have already launched a massive push to win ground in state legislatures across the country. It’s a tall order, but if Democrats can flip chambers in places like Pennsylvania and North Carolina — which have Democratic governors but GOP-controlled state legislatures — more efforts to undo the tea party legacy could follow.

Note that Democrats are campaigning on the promise of expanding Medicaid in state legislative races in North Carolina, where GOP legislators have still blocked the expansion, unlike in next-door Virginia.

“Last decade, Republicans made Virginia into a tea party testing ground,” Jared Leopold, a consultant to state Sen. McClellan, told me. “This session, Democrats undid many of their extreme right-wing policies.”

“If Democrats can continue to swing the pendulum of state government,” Leopold continued, they can keep reversing more “damaging laws passed under the tea party wave, and pass new progressive laws.”

It’s often debated whether reliance on the suburbs could undercut just how progressive the party can get. But one thing we’re already seeing now is that those gains are helping to reverse the real-world policy damage that the last decade’s right wing resurgence brought about.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is what happens when the Dems take over:

 

[fraurosena]

WHAT!??!

 

[fraurosena]

Remarkable, isn't it, that in such cases there's always an R behind the politician's name?

Ohio House Speaker arrested on bribery charges

Quote

The FBI arrested Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder (R) Tuesday morning on bribery charges that are set to be announced this afternoon, according to multiple reports.

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Householder was arrested in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme along with four others: former state Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, Householder aide Jeff Longstreth and two lobbyists.

All five are expected to make initial court appearances on Tuesday.

Householder has been Speaker since January 2019. He previously held the position from 2001 to 2004.

The Dayton Daily News reported that FBI agents were on Householder's farm in Glenford, Ohio, on Tuesday morning.

The Hill has reached out to Householder's office for comment.

U.S. Attorney David DeVillers and FBI officials are scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. EDT to discuss the charges.

 

[fraurosena]

Thead:

The rest under spoiler:

Spoiler

 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

More from the "you couldn't make this up" file: "As John Lewis was honored in Alabama, a state GOP legislator celebrated a KKK leader’s birthday"

Spoiler

As ceremonies honoring the life of civil rights legend John Lewis kicked off over the weekend in Alabama, one Republican state lawmaker elected to take part in a local celebration of another prominent figure in Southern history: Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

On Saturday, state Rep. Will Dismukes, who represents a district northwest of Montgomery, participated in an event honoring Forrest’s birthday at a private property near Selma called Fort Dixie. The gathering coincided with the arrival of Lewis’s body in the city where the late Georgia Democrat almost died 55 years ago as he led hundreds of protesters in a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on what became known as Bloody Sunday.

“Had a great time at Fort Dixie speaking and giving the invocation for Nathan Bedford Forrest [sic] annual birthday celebration,” Dismukes, 30, wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend, sharing a photo of himself standing behind a lectern surrounded by several flags of the Confederacy. “Always a great time and some sure enough good eating!!”

Dismukes’s post, which no longer appears on his Facebook page but has since been circulated widely online, sparked intense outcry from leaders on both sides of the aisle in Alabama, who panned his decision to commemorate Forrest during a weekend in which many across the state and nationwide were remembering Lewis. The 17-term congressman died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer at age 80.

The backlash against Dismukes continued well into Monday as Democrats called for him to resign. At least three GOP lawmakers and the head of the Alabama Republican Party also publicly chastised his participation in the weekend festivities.

“It is one thing to honor one’s Southern heritage, however, it is completely another issue to specifically commemorate the leader of an organization with an indisputable history of unconscionable actions and atrocities toward African Americans,” state party chair Terry Lathan said in a statement. “I strongly urge his constituents to contact Rep. Dismukes to articulate and share with him their thoughts on his personal actions.”

Dismukes did not respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post late Monday, but defended himself on social media and in an interview with local media earlier in the day.

“First and foremost, my post yesterday was in no way related to disrespecting the passing of Rep. John Lewis,” Dismukes wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post. “That wasn’t even a thought in my mind. That is not who I am as a person.”

He went on to dispute claims that his original post about Saturday’s celebration had glorified the KKK, writing, “The very atrocities and actions they committed are a disgrace to our country.”

When reached by WSFA, Dismukes reiterated that he had not been thinking about Lewis’s death at the time or the connection between Forrest and the KKK. But the lawmaker — who is a chaplain for the Prattville Dragoons, a chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans — attributed the intense blowback he’s facing to “anti-Southern sentiment” amid the country’s ongoing racial reckoning.

“I guess, with the anti-Southern sentiment and all, and the things that we have going on in the world today, there’s a lot of people that are seeming to be more and more offended,” he told the news station. “We live in a time where we literally are going through cancel culture from all different areas and people are even more sensitive on different issues and different subjects. This was just one of those times that it didn’t quite go the way I expected, and I never intended to bring hurt to anyone, especially my own family with everything that’s been said.”

Since he was elected in 2018, Dismukes has weathered at least one other controversy that resulted in demands for his resignation, AL.com reported. Late last month, as monuments recognizing the Confederacy were being toppled during protests or taken down by officials in cities nationwide, Alabama’s Democratic Party urged Dismukes to step down after he voiced his support to continue state funding for Confederate Memorial Park, which is located about 30 miles north of Montgomery, according to the Alabama Political Reporter.

In the aftermath of Dismukes’s posting about the “great time” he had over the weekend, Democrats swiftly renewed their calls.

“This is a stain not only on our history but also on our present,” the Alabama House Democratic Caucus said in a statement Monday night, later adding, “We are well past the point where we as Alabamians and society as a whole can entertain this racist nonsense any longer.”

Saturday’s event honoring Forrest, who infamously led a massacre of hundreds of black Union soldiers during the Battle of Fort Pillow in Tennessee before going on to serve as the KKK’s first grand wizard, was reportedly hosted at a property belonging to Butch and Pat Godwin, according to the Montgomery Advertiser. In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Pat Godwin was the author of an Internet essay about the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march, which Lewis had been a part of, and called the historic event “The Mother of All Orgies.”

“This weekend while most people were celebrating the life of John Lewis, a true American Hero, Will Dismukes was in the same city celebrating Nathan Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the KKK,” tweeted state Rep. Christopher J. England (D), chair of the Alabama Democratic Party. “This should clear up any questions about whose side Will Dismukes is on.”

Dismukes’s actions prompted an equally strong rebuke from the SPLC. In a statement, Lecia Brooks, the nonprofit’s action fund chief of staff, said, “Alabamians deserve elected and government officials who do not embrace hate or glorify individuals like Nathan Bedford Forrest who are synonymous with anti-Black racism.”

“Rep. Dismukes’ incessant need to romanticize the failed Confederacy even at the expense of the late Congressman John Lewis — one of Alabama’s favorite sons and one of the nation’s revered civil rights icons — is beyond the pale,” Brooks said. “Dismukes cannot be allowed to play both sides of the fence this time.”

The weekend’s events also appeared to rankle several top Republicans, including Alabama House Majority Whip Danny Garrett and House Speaker Mac McCutcheon.

“I cannot fathom why anyone in 2020 celebrates the birthday of the 1st KKK Grand Wizard. And while the body of a civil rights icon beaten by the Klan lies at state Capitol being honored by GOP/Dem leaders from all over the state,” Garrett (R) tweeted Sunday. “This mentality does not rep my party or my faith.”

On Twitter, McCutcheon (R) echoed the statement from Lathan, Alabama’s GOP party chair, stressing that it is up to voters to “police the beliefs, statements, & activities” of state lawmakers in their personal lives. But he noted that he and many other members of the Alabama House “devoted our weekend” to honoring Lewis.

Meanwhile, Dismukes’s attempts to address the backlash prompted a fresh wave of criticism on Monday.

“Rep. Dismukes offered no explanation for why he participated in a birthday celebration of Nathan Bedford Forrest,” Lathan said in her statement, adding that she found his remarks “to be shallow in understanding why his activities are deeply offensive to so many Alabamians.”

By late Monday, at least one Republican state senator had joined Democrats in demanding that Dismukes step down.

“He has had 24 hours to understand why people are so upset, but his interview on WSFA a few moments ago confirms that he is lacking in understanding and judgement — he should resign immediately,” state Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R), who represents the same district as Dismukes, wrote on Facebook.

 

[RosyDaisy]

Will Dismukes is a racist POS and is playing dumb.  He knows exactly why people are upset.  He's just too much of a coward to be honest.  Mac McCutcheon isn't any better.  He just won't outright say he supports Dismukes.  Instead he says he can't police what members of the Alabama House do outside of the House.  Fuck them both!

[GreyhoundFan]

On 7/28/2020 at 9:28 AM, RosyDaisy said:

Will Dismukes is a racist POS and is playing dumb.

He's not just a racist POS, but also a thief:

"Alabama GOP legislator who was bashed for honoring a KKK leader charged in theft case"

Spoiler

Last week, Alabama state Rep. Will Dismukes (R-Prattville) faced widespread calls for his resignation after he spoke at a celebration honoring the Ku Klux Klan’s first grand wizard during the same weekend that longtime congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis was memorialized nearby in Selma.

On Thursday, Dismukes was arrested on a felony charge of first-degree property theft. Prosecutors say the legislator stole thousands of dollars between 2016 and 2018 from a flooring company where he worked before his election to the Alabama House of Representatives.

“The warrant is signed for an amount exceeding $2,500. I will tell you the alleged amount is a lot more than that,” Montgomery County District Attorney Daryl Bailey told reporters Thursday of the sum Dismukes is alleged to have stolen.

Wearing a T-shirt, shorts and a mesh baseball hat, Dismukes turned himself in on Thursday afternoon before being released on bail. His attorney, Trey Norman, disputed the charges and questioned why the business waited years to bring the complaint to police.

“I don’t think any money was taken by anyone,” Norman told WSFA. “Second of all, if I worked for someone and they accused me of taking money, I wouldn’t expect four years to go by before anyone said anything to me.”

Dismukes refused to resign his seat after speaking at a July 25 party honoring the birthday of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general and early leader of the KKK. The event at a private property called Little Dixie happened the same weekend as Lewis’s body arrived in Selma, the town where he was beaten by police while marching with civil rights protesters on “Bloody Sunday.” Lewis died last month at age 80.

But on July 29, Dismukes did resign from his job as a pastor at a rural Southern Baptist church. Five other local Southern Baptist leaders also put out a statement in the wake of his resignation to “reaffirm our opposition to any kind of racism.”

Now Dismukes faces a felony charge. Prosecutors said that Weiss Commercial Flooring in Montgomery, Ala., contacted them in May to allege that the state legislator had stolen from the company while he worked there.

“After countless hours of investigation, which consisted of witness interviews, obtaining bank records and gathering other evidence, a decision was made by myself and prosecutors in my office, along with these investigators, that probable cause existed that a crime had been committed,” Bailey said Thursday.

If Dismukes is convicted, he would automatically be removed from office, AL.com reported.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) called the charges “disappointing.”

“If true, it is disappointing when a public official, elected with the confidence of the people, abuses that trust. I support the letter of the law, and no one is above it — especially those in public office,” she said in a statement to WSFA.

Alabama GOP Party Chairman Terry Lathan added on Twitter: “We expect our elected officials, regardless of Party, to follow the laws of our state and nation. No one is immune to these standards. It is very disappointing to hear of these allegations. This is now a legal matter and it must run its course.”

 

[RosyDaisy]

I was just about to post this, but @GreyhoundFan beat me to it.  I think he should have been removed from office after his little KKK rally.  This crime, I believe, is being used as a means of getting rid of Dismukes.  He won't resign, and Mac McCutcheon and the rest of the Alabama House won't do a damn thing.  I'm not saying Dismukes is innocent.  I believe he is guilty.  I'm just saying this crime is being used a means of removing him from office because cowards in the Alabama House refused to do what's right.  I just hope it doesn't backfire.

[GreyhoundFan]

Another criminal Repug:

 

[AmazonGrace]

I don't know anything about this man but I notice his mask didn't cover his nose.

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2020/12/10/n-h-house-speaker-dick-hinch-dies-a-week-after-swearing-in

[AmazonGrace]

Georgia GOPer: "A Democrat won an election. Clearly elections are not the right way to govern."

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

He was exposed at a post-election gathering at the State Capitol.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/12/18/minnesota-state-sen-jerry-relph-dies-after-contracting-covid-19/

 

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by AmazonGrace

[AmazonGrace]

A coup.

 

[Howl]

Fetterman was removed from presiding after he refused to recognize a motion to not seat the legally elected Democrat. 

Fetterman is a "fuck around and find out" kinda guy.

He trolls TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick for the 1 million that Dan owes him after PA found three cases of voter fraud.   

His dog Levi has his own twitter account and received a top rating from @ratemyskyperoom. 

I would NOT mess with him. 

Also, Forty Fort, Sheetz, Wawa. 

Edited January 5, 2021 by Howl

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

Was your state rep at the coup?   

 

So crafty of Antifa to get elected as GOP.

[Snarkasarus Rex]

VA's version of Kelly Loeffler just tanked her already long shot bid at becoming governor...

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/09/955128569/more-than-a-dozen-gop-state-lawmakers-attended-rally-that-gave-way-to-riots

 

[WiseGirl]

5 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Was your state rep at the coup?   

Thank Rufus no. My reps are very, very angry.

[Ali]

At least one Michigan State Rep and his wife were part of the protest, but I have not seen evidence on whether or not they were part of the group that entered the Capital.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Ali