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Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate education committee, is calling for the ouster of the Education Departments civil rights chief, saying she is unfit for the job.

Candice Jackson, the acting head of the agencys Office for Civil Rights, triggered fierce criticism last week when she told the New York Times that 90 percent of campus sexual-assault complaints fall into the category of we were both drunk, we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.

In days since, Jackson apologized publicly, disclosing that as a survivor of rape herself, she believes all sexual harassment and sexual assault must be taken seriously. She also apologized privately to assault survivors in a meeting to discuss the departments role in enforcing Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded schools.

[DeVos: Too many college students treated unfairly under Obama-era sexual-assault policy]

Murray said Monday that apologizing for such callous, insensitive and egregious comments is not enough. Jacksons words crossed a serious line and highlighted her clear biases in this area in a way that, to me and many women and men across the country, should disqualify her from service in the position of top Department of Education protector of students right to be safe at school, the senator said in a statement.

In a statement to The Washington Post, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Jackson had apologized for her remarks, which did not represent her own point of view nor that of the department. Candice is a valuable part of the Administration and an unwavering advocate for the civil rights of all students, DeVos said.

If nominated for the permanent job at the helm of the Office for Civil Rights, Jackson would need Senate confirmation. Murrays position suggests she would face opposition.

Murray led Democrats unanimous opposition to DeVoss confirmation as education secretary and has been a relentless critic since then. She has repeatedly questioned DeVoss commitment to enforcing civil rights laws in the nations schools and colleges, pointing to the agencys decisions to rescind guidance protecting transgender students and narrow some civil rights investigations.

DeVos is also a strong supporter of voucher programs, many of which allow private schools to discriminate against voucher recipients who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender or have LGBT parents. In testimony before Congress, she has declined to say whether she would block such private schools from receiving federal funds.

[DeVos wont say whether shed withhold federal funds from private schools that discriminate]

Murray was among 34 senators who sent DeVos a letter in June outlining their concerns about her teams approach to civil rights enforcement. The senators also asked DeVos nine questions about the departments civil rights division, including lists of open cases involving two of the agencys most controversial issues transgender students and sexual-assault allegations and any memos discussing policy changes.

They asked for a response by July 11, and DeVos sent a letter that day defending her commitment to the agencys civil rights work as unwavering.

She did not answer the senators questions, but she did acknowledge changes in the agencys civil rights office under her watch. Under President Barack Obama, DeVos wrote, the office had sought to punish and embarrass institutions, collecting reams of data from schools and colleges in search of violations at the expense of resolving individuals complaints quickly and fairly.

The civil rights office is no longer automatically treating individual complaints as evidence of systemic problems, DeVos wrote.

The Department today is returning [the Office of Civil Rights] to its role as a neutral, impartial investigative agency, she wrote.

Murray responded three days later, reiterating the request for answers to the nine questions DeVos had ignored.

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Key Democrat calls for ouster of DeVos's civil rights chief in light of 'egregious' remarks about sexual assault - Washington Post

The Atlantic

Dems' unity against GOP health bill masks dangerous divide Belleville News-Democrat Democrats are showing uncommon unity in fighting Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. But the discipline masks a deep and fundamental divide within the party that could complicate Democrats' efforts to gain ground in the ... The Disturbing Process Behind TrumpcareThe Atlantic all 1,364 news articles »

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Dems' unity against GOP health bill masks dangerous divide - Belleville News-Democrat

Clarendon Hills regulatory attorney Jennifer Zordani has joined the growing list of Democratic candidates looking to unseat U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Wheaton).

She is one of six Democrats, five of whom are women, from across the Sixth Congressional District who've officially announced they'll run in the March 20, 2018, primary for their shot at Roskam Nov. 6, 2018.

Zordani said the district is fortunate to have good communities and schools for people to live and raise their families.

"That is not enough. We know people care about social issues," she said. "I will bring our voice to D.C. to say we want truly fair and affordable health care, that our veterans need the medical care and benefits that they were promised, that our children are starting out their adult lives buried in college debt and we need to do better."

Zordani attended George Washington University in Washington, D.C., for two years, before transferring to the University of Chicago, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics. She graduated with honors from Chicago Kent School of Law and has been a practicing attorney for more than 20 years.

Although new to the political scene, Zordani said her knowledge and experience as a regulatory attorney makes her qualified and sets her apart from the other candidates.

She added Roskam was elected to represent the values and integrity of the entire district, not just a few on the far right side of the party.

"I don't want our people to be divided," Zordani said. "The time is absolutely right (to remove Roskam)."

The congressman has come under fire by some constituents because of his refusal to hold public town hall meetings and his support for President Donald Trump. He's also considered vulnerable by the Democratic Party, since Hillary Clinton won his district with 50.2 percent of the vote in 2016.

The winner in the Democratic primary likely will receive a great deal of support and financial backing prior to the November 2018 election.

And that field of Democratic candidates continues to grow.

Last week, former aide to U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, and Aurora resident Carole Cheney threw her hat in the ring.

Cheney, who is an attorney and former partner with the Kirkland & Ellis law firm in Chicago, made an unsuccessful bid for state representative in Illinois' 84th District in 2012, losing to state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego. She also ran for DuPage County Board chairman in 2010 but lost to Republican Dan Cronin, who currently holds the post.

In April, Naperville's Suzyn Price announced her bid for the seat. An adjunct faculty member at the College of DuPage, Price is a former Naperville District 203 board member.

From the north end of the Sixth Congressional District are candidates Amanda Howland and Kelly Mazeski.

Howland, of Lake Zurich, is a trustee on the College of Lake County board and unsuccessfully ran against Roskam in 2016.

A Barrington resident and breast cancer survivor, Mazeski lost to Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, for the Illinois Senate seat in the 26th District in 2016. She is a plan commissioner in Barrington Hills.

Also running is Glen Ellyn resident Austin Songer, who works in technology at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons in Rosemont, according to his campaign website.

Shaped like the letter C, the Sixth Congressional District include portions of Crystal Lake to Hawthorn Woods in the north and down the Fox River from Port Barrington to St. Charles. It also extends diagonally through DuPage County from Barlett and West Chicago to Hinsdale and Willowbrook.

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Twitter @SBakerSun1

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New Democrat enters race to unseat Roskam - Chicago Tribune

A top House Republican savaged the mainstream media during a short speech on the House floor, claiming they'd love President Trump if he "were a Democrat."

Rep. Lamar Smith, who chairs the House Media Fairness Caucus, said in a one-minute speech, "If Donald Trump Jr. were a Democrat, the media would be defending him for doing what every campaign doesconducting opposition research."

Instead, he said the media is sabotaging Trump and the meeting of Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. with two Russians who had information on Trump foe Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"In their irrational obsession with destroying the Trump presidency, the liberal media have forgotten journalism's profound responsibility to be fair and objective," said Smith.

His full address, given Friday and posted on Facebook Monday afternoon, is below:

If Donald Trump Jr. were a Democrat

The media would be defending him for doing what every campaign doesconducting opposition research.

The media would be praising him for ending a meeting when it became obvious there was no evidence to back up an informant's allegations.

The media would be pointing out that many countries' leaders openly supported Barack Obama for president, including those from the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and Nicaragua.

Maybe the real "crime" is the media's double standard?

In their irrational obsession with destroying the Trump presidency, the liberal media have forgotten journalism's profound responsibility to be fair and objective.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com

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Top Republican: Media would defend Trump if he 'were a Democrat' - Washington Examiner

Judges across the United States are wiping away student loan debts worth, in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars, all because National Collegiate Student Loans Trusts has been unable to show in court that it owns the loans it says it does.

National Collegiate is comprised of 15 different trusts, holding 800,000 private student loans. Those loans add up to $12 billion, and more than $5 billion is in default, court records state. The private loans were made by banks, then sold to investors, and when the borrowers struggle to pay these loans which often have high interest rates back, National Collegiate takes them to court; on average, at least four new collection lawsuits are filed every day, The New York Times reports, and more than 800 have been filed this year so far.

When borrowers don't go to court, National Collegiate almost always automatically wins the case, but when they do show up, most of the time judges throw the suits out because National Collegiate was not able to produce the paperwork proving it owned the debt it said it did. An audit of the company, organized by one of the financiers behind National Collegiate's trusts, conducted in 2015 looked at nearly 400 random loans owned by National Collegiate, and found that none had the proper paperwork documenting the chain of ownership. This is similar to what happened in the 2000s during the subprime mortgage crisis, when judges ruled in favor of borrowers, saying the companies could not collect subprime mortgage loans because the documents were either missing or forgeries.

The lawyer for Samantha Wilson, a 33-year-old mother of three, said when she was sued by National Collegiate, the paperwork was riddled with errors. She earned her degree in psychology from Lehman College in the Bronx. and fell behind on payments when her daughter was ill and she had to quit her job. Documents claimed she attended a school she never went to, and a judge dismissed four lawsuits against her because trusts "failed to establish the chain of title" on her loans. Wilson told the Times she was "responsible" for the loans she took out and was prepared to pay them off over time, but "some of them I didn't take." In the end, $31,000 worth of debt was wiped clean. Read the entire report at The New York Times. Catherine Garcia

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Top House Democrat promises the Democratic Party will finally have its core message figured out 'by this fall' - The Week Magazine