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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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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

Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

FILE - Jenny Wilson, with her son Zach, talks to Democrats gathered Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014, in Salt Lake City.

SALT LAKE CITY Salt Lake County Councilwoman Jenny Wilson announced Monday that she will challenge Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in 2018.

Wilson, a Democrat, said she has been "overwhelmed" by encouragement from Utahns who want change in Washington.

"They are tired of the bickering and recognize the bipartisan successes I have had working locally," she said. "Utahns want an apolitical voice, and that's what I represent."

Wilson, 51, launched an exploratory committee earlier this year and has raised $139,328, according to her campaign. She will hold a formal campaign kickoff event in late August.

"Utahns want a senator who works for them, who listens to them and who gets things done. But after 40 years of Orrin Hatch, Washington is broken. Orrin Hatch is a decent man, but hes part of the problem in Washington, and he has forgotten who sent him there," she said.

Hatch, 83, has indicated he will run for an eighth term, barring some unforeseen circumstance.

President pro tem of the Senate and chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, Hatch pledged in 2012 that his current term would be his last but seems to have changed his mind.

The senator's leadership role puts him at the center of the most critical debates in Washington, including health care and tax reform, said Hatch spokesman Matt Whitlock.

"With all the problems Utahns sent him here to solve, the 2018 election cycle has not been top of mind," Whitlock said. "While he intends to run, he has not yet reached a final decision and hopes to by the end of the year. But should the senator decide to run, he will win."

The seven-term senator raised about $1.3 million in the first three months of this year and another $1 million in the quarter that ended June 30.

The amount raised from January through March is more than he collected in all of 2016. The senator has about $4.1 million overall in his campaign account.

A Democrat hasn't held the Senate seat since Hatch took it from Sen. Frank Moss in 1976.

Wilson, the daughter of former Salt Lake City Mayor Ted Wilson, has worked at various levels of government, including as chief of staff to late Rep. Bill Orton, D-Utah. She also served as an aide to the Utah Legislature and was a candidate for Salt Lake City mayor in 2007.

Wilson said Hatch used to pride himself on being a check and balance on the administration, but that has change since President Donald Trump won the White House.

"The lack of check and balance may be what put me over the edge on this thing, among other things," she said about her decision to run. "We need Congress to be a check on the administration no matter which party has a president in office, and that is not the case. Hatch is doubling down on Trump."

Like Orton, a Blue Dog Democrat, Wilson said she would stand up to her party when necessary.

In the private and nonprofit sectors, Wilson worked for the Sundance Institute and Film Festival, 2002 Winter Olympics, Voices for Utah Children and the University of Utahs John A. Moran Eye Center.

Wilson graduated from the University of Utah and received a master's in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Wilson and her husband have two sons.

"I cant imagine there is anyone out there that is more in touch with Utah than me," the fifth-generation Utahn said. "I think I understand this state."

Wilson has set her sights on Hatch but said she brings collaborative and bipartisan ethics that would play well regardless of who the GOP opponent might be.

"I think that were missing that in Washington, so whether its Hatch or anybody else, I think I can say, Look, Ive been elected. I know how to deliver with accomplishments. Im in touch with the community,'" she said.

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Democrat Jenny Wilson sets sights on Sen. Orrin Hatch in 2018 - Deseret News