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Indiana Democratic lawmakers came up with a crafty way to force a House vote on marijuana legalization on Thursday after Republican leadership has blocked the issue from being considered in session after session, though the chamber ultimately rejected the reform.

The House took up Senate Bill 20legislation concerning rules for businesses that sell alcohol and hemp productson second reading. Part of what the measure would do is create a regulatory distinction for craft hemp products that could be marketed to adults 21 and older.

Rep. Justin Moed (D) tried to expand the bill with an amendment proposing to strike language defining hemp as cannabis containing no more than 0.3 percent THC by dry weight, which is also the federal definition of legal hemp.

By removing that language, the legislation would have effectively served as a vehicle for marijuana legalization, simply replacing the regulations for the sale of craft hemp, including flower, with cannabis of any THC level.

The amendment failed, however, in a 58-33 vote.

Weve had a really hard time getting an up-or-down vote on the issue, Moed told Marijuana Moment in a phone interview on Thursday. So the way it was drafted was done in a way that they would not be able to use the rules to prevent us from having to vote on it, which is what theyve been doing up to this point.

We had to just basically expand what they were doing with craft hemp, as opposed to doing a direct legalization bill or amendment dealing with that because they would just rule it out of order and prevent us from having an up-or-down vote, he explained.

Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat in supporting the amendment, the representative noted.

Time and time again, we are blocked from casting a vote on cannabis reform in IN. Today, thanks to some creativity from House Dems, we finally got a vote, Rep. Blake Johnson (D) said in a Twitter post on Thursday. If you want to know who is actually for and who is against cannabis in Indiana, the record is now clear.

Advancing marijuana reform has proved challenging in the Indiana legislature, where Republicans hold supermajorities in both chambers.

A bill to decriminalize possession of up to two ounces of cannabis received a hearing in February, but its not expected to move any further this session.

Measures to legalize and regulate adult-use marijuana were pre-filed for the 2023 session, but they have not received committee consideration yet.

Rep. Cindy Ziemke (R) said late last year that she planned to introduce a legalization bill, but the then-assistant majority caucus chair resigned at the end of the last session.

At the beginning of the year, former Indiana Sen. Jim Merritt (R) recognized the challenges of pushing the issue forward in the legislature and advocated for legislation to at least form a commission tasked with studying legalization.

Marijuana Moment is tracking more than 1,000 cannabis, psychedelics and drug policy bills in state legislatures and Congress this year. Patreon supporters pledging at least $25/month get access to our interactive maps, charts and hearing calendar so they dont miss any developments.Learn more about our marijuana bill tracker and become a supporter on Patreon to get access.

Even if a legalization bill did make it out of the conservative legislature, it would likely face resistance from Gov. Eric Holcomb (R), who said earlier this year that he cant support the reform as long as it remains federally prohibited.

That said, hes expressed support for expanding marijuana research and some level of openness to simple decriminalization.

Moed said that Democrats would continue to work to advance marijuana reform, and hed support having a conversation about starting with decriminalization if Republicans were willing to take it up seriously.

I think those of us in the Democratic caucus, we believe we need to take action in some wayand were open, certainly, to whatever compromises and negotiating we have to do to get the ball move forward, he said. But we certainly just dont believe that people who are seeking medical relief or have very low amounts of cannabis product for whatever reason whether its mental health or veteransno one should be a criminal for doing that.

I think that this today was an effort to try to kind of give those people a voice in the legislature because its been stifled up to this point, he said. And, unfortunately, when put to a full vote, even a lot of people who said they were for it didnt take the vote.

Major Alcohol Association Executives Urge Industry To Support Efforts To Legalize Marijuana

Photo courtesy of Philip Steffan.

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Indiana Democrat Forces Marijuana Legalization Vote In House, But ... - Marijuana Moment

Del. Edith J. Patterson (D-Charles) is set to take over as president of the Women Legislators of Maryland caucus after the legislative session ends. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

When Del. Lesley J. Lopez (D-Montgomery), outgoing president of the Women Legislators of Maryland, rises on the House floor Friday to announce the new line-up of the womens caucus executive board, the list will, for the second year in a row, contain only Democrats.

Last year, in an acrimonious split, the caucus elected Lopez as its leader even though informal caucus rules dictated that a Republican, Harford County Del. Lauren Arikan, was next in line. Democrats said they were uncomfortable elevating a vocal conservative like Arikan with an acerbic rhetorical style to the top job of the traditionally bipartisan caucus, even though she had promised to keep partisan politics out of caucus deliberations. All 11 Republican women in the General Assembly at the time resigned in protest.

Del. Lelsey Lopez (D-Montgomery) outlines priorities of the Womens Caucus during the 2023 General Assembly session. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines.

Lopez quickly vowed to try to heal the wounds, and even sent handwritten notes to each of the Republican women in the legislature, but did not encounter much success. A few Republicans have attended some caucus events over the past year and dont make a big production of it, Lopez said. These included a Womens History Month breakfast with Gov. Wes Moore (D) at Government House last month.But no Republican has paid the $150 annual membership dues, so they werent eligible to vote this week in the caucus leadership elections, she said.

More significantly, Republicans and Democrats say, women lawmakers seem unable to come together at the moment and suggest the fissures may be more than just ideological.The legislature currently has 72 Democratic women and just eight Republican women.

I think this has been the most dramatic thing that Ive experienced in my time here, and thats saying something, said Del. Rachel Muoz (R-Anne Arundel), who joined the House in late 2021. I think there are some long-term grudges and theresbias and theres a lack of trust. So the two sides are unable to come together and even have a conversation. And its sad.

In an apparent effort to heal wounds, Muoz was nominated for a position on the womens caucus executive board, at the suggestion of Del. Shaneka Henson (D-Anne Arundel), who represents a nearby district and has an adjoining office in the Lowe House Office Building. Lopez and other Democrats then encouraged Muozto seek the position.

I saw it as sort of an olive branch and perhaps an opportunity, Muoz said.

But when the lawmaker checked in with her Republican colleagues, they advised her not to seek the slot. She reluctantly complied.

Rachel Muoz. Campaign photo.

Its a very sensitive topic and people are highly charged, Muoz said.

Lopez said she didnt understand why some Republican women were pressuring their colleagues to avoid participating in the caucus, especially when conservative Republicans lost many of their races in Maryland last year and when the next election is so far off.

Were four years away from the Republican primary, Lopez said. The extremists who ran in the [last] primary, like [GOP gubernatorial nominee] Dan Cox, didnt win.

The Women Legislators of Maryland is a 51-year-old organization the oldest womens caucus in any state legislature and has traditionally been bipartisan, though it has been dominated by Democrats given the partisan lean of the state and the General Assembly.

Usually in the womens caucus, board members have worked their way up the leadership ladder and for the past several years, the group has informally agreed that a Republican could serve as president every three years though thats not written in stone. Still, when the caucus last year bypassed Arikan, who had been elected vice president in 2021, in favor of Lopez, who was first vice president and by tradition would not have been expected to take over until this year, Republicans were incensed.

It was a lot over the years, said Del. Teresa E. Reilly (R-Harford). We asked for certain things and they never came about. It all just came to a head.

Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), a leading conservative and close ally of Arikans, said theres no reason for Republicans to rejoin the caucus and that GOP members have occasionally discussed setting up their own.

The process was so disrespectful last year and the agenda is very partisan, she said.

Del. April Rose (R-Carroll) said she makes womens issues a priority in her legislative work but also did not see value in re-engaging with the womens caucus.

We fight over a lot of issues already on the [House] floor, so I dont feel the need to fight it out in the caucus, she said.

With an all-Democratic membership, the womens caucus advanced a notably progressive agenda for this legislative session a dramatic contrast to many years when women lawmakers came together publicly over family law, workplace and health issues but tended to avoid more politically divisive matters like abortion rights. This year, the caucus leaned into abortion rights, an issue that became magnified after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down decades-old abortion protections in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

Abortion has been considered settled law in Maryland since voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure preserving reproductive rights in state law in 1992, but the erosion of federal abortion protections compelled many state lawmakers to work to make the laws even stronger here and to offer protections to women from out of state who seek abortions in Maryland.

Several Democratic women said theyve detected more belligerence and name-calling from their GOP colleagues this year over abortion and a raft of other issues not just during legislative debates but on social media posts.

There may be no more branches left on the olive tree, Lopez said.

Now, the Maryland Republican Party is getting in on the act. The state GOP released a statement Thursday from Chair Nicole Beus Harris and two other Republican leaders accusing the Maryland House of turning its month-long Womens History Month celebration into Democrat Womens History Month.

When the Maryland House of Delegates is in session in March, a female delegate highlights a notable woman at the end of each session. It is a lovely tradition. But we were disappointed to learn that the Maryland House of Delegates did not ask even one Republican woman to participate last month! Harris, Republican National Committeewoman Nicolee Ambrose and former state chair Diana Waterman wrote in the statement.

They went on to blast what they characterized as Democratic womens extreme agenda and called excluding Republicans from Womens History Month speeches in the House a new low (Szeliga did in fact offer a tribute on the House floor to Ellen R. Sauerbrey, the former House minority leader and two-time GOP nominee for governor, and received warm bipartisan applause for her speech, even though she had not been invited by House leaders to speak).

With all due respect, please change the name of the Womens Caucus to the Maryland Democrat Womens Legislative Caucus, Harris, Ambrose and Waterman concluded.

The caucus going forward: Its a wait and see situation

Its obvious that as centrists depart the legislature, as the Democratic caucuses in the House and Senate move to the left while the Republican caucuses move to the right, the same trends are evident among women lawmakers in their respective parties.

Weve had wonderful relationships [across party lines] in the past, said Del. Edith J. Patterson (D-Charles), who is set to take over as womens caucus president from Lopez after the legislative session ends.

Besides Patterson, the new womens caucus leadership roster that will be announced Friday features Del. Nicole A. Williams (D-Prince Georges) as vice president, Del. Dana Jones (D-Anne Arundel) as first vice president, Del. Michele Guyton (D-Baltimore County) as second vice president, Del. Brooke Grossman (D-Washington) as secretary, and Dels. Jennifer White (D-Baltimore County) and Linda Foley (D-Montgomery) as at-large board members.

The caucus is also changing its bylaws, so that board members wont automatically advance up the leadership ladder. In other words, its no longer assumed that Williams will take over in 2024.

For her part, Patterson said she absolutely believes Republicans and Democrats can find harmony in the womens caucus.

It will take a decision of Republican women, she said. Its a wait and see situation.

Bryan P. Sears contributed to this report.

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Legislative women's caucus still divided only Democrats installed ... - Maryland Matters

Pennsylvania Democrats are trying to show they can be populists, too.

When Gov. Josh Shapiro took office in January, he sent a symbolic message by using his first executive order to end the four-year college degree requirement for most state government jobs. Sen. John Fetterman campaigned as a Democrat who would fight for forgotten communities. And as U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio has started his first term representing a Western Pennsylvania district, hes delivered sharp criticism of the incompetence and greed of big corporations such as Norfolk Southern.

Its about building a government that serves everyone, not just the rich and powerful, said Deluzio, a Navy veteran and Georgetown Law graduate whose congressional bio emphasizes his work helping form a union at the University of Pittsburgh.

As politics in Pennsylvania and nationally have shifted, and Republicans have gained ground with white working-class voters epitomized by Donald Trumps crucial victory in the state in 2016 the GOP has portrayed Democrats as the party of a snobbish elite, attacking liberals as scolds who have lost touch with everyday workers while trying to impose their views on race, gender, guns, and the environment.

Some of it is just cultural, and the label of the Democratic Party right now just doesnt appeal to some parts of Pennsylvania that they used to appeal to really well, said Nick Trainer, a Republican strategist who worked on Trumps 2020 reelection campaign.

But Democrats argue theyve always been and remain the true party of working people. They say their policies, including support for labor unions, expanded health-care access, and a higher minimum wage, offer tangible help for the working class while Republicans have pushed tax cuts and deregulation that benefit the wealthy and corporations.

But populism a broad term often used to convey everyday peoples attitudes and anger toward the powerful isnt only about policy ideas. Its often about image and approach.

We dont have to overthink it and out-policy the other folks, said Rebecca Kirszner Katz, Fettermans longtime strategist. We have to be smart and remind people what we stand for and how well fight for them. Its not that complicated, and weve just done a terrible job of explaining it.

While some on the Democratic side, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), have embraced populism, railing against financial elites, Trump channeled it most emphatically in his 2016 victory. He blended white racial grievances with raw fury at the establishments in both parties, which he said had sold out ordinary workers. It was hugely successful in some culturally conservative parts of Pennsylvania that had lost much of their industry and that finally broke with their Democratic roots.

Despite Trumps wealth and a business career catering to the upper crust, he made disaffected voters feel seen, Katz said. A lot of Democratic politicians were very clinical.

Democrats have tried to correct for that, nominating more plain-spoken candidates such as Fetterman and President Joe Biden. And theyve used suspicion of wealthy elites in their own way, attacking last years GOP Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz, as a rich out-of-stater, and using a similar approach against David McCormick, a former hedge-fund executive eyeing another Senate bid in 2024.

Pennsylvania has a higher than average share of voters who didnt attend college, giving much of it a blue-collar culture and worldview.

You cant win Pennsylvania if youre not able to appeal to non-college voters, said J.J. Balaban, a Democratic strategist based in Philadelphia.

He argues Democrats have always been the party of the working class, but its become more important to emphasize as Trump and his imitators have adopted populist rhetoric, if not policies.

For Democrats, populism is about economics. For Republicans, its largely about cultural grievances, Balaban said.

The Norfolk Southern train derailment near the Pennsylvania-Ohio border presents a prime target for anger at big business.

Shapiro told The Inquirer about a conversation with a woman in Beaver County, which borders East Palestine, Ohio, the site of the crash. Her family had lost several dozen eggs from their family chickens and this was real money for them and important for their family income.

Shapiro said that when he met with Norfolk Southerns top executive, he cited that story as he pushed the railroad to provide aid.

That kind of stuff happens when you show up, treat people with respect, listen, and then are willing to take on the powerful, Shapiro said, a theme he came back to several times in a late March interview.

Changing the states hiring rules, he said, would expand opportunities for people who didnt attend college. It tangibly affects only a sliver of jobs, but the fact that Shapiro made that move his first official act illustrates the political imperative of showing working-class appeal.

Fetterman rarely emphasized specific policy ideas during his campaign, but his image as the tattooed mayor of a hard-hit steel town was a powerful marker. Katz said his success came down to something more fundamental.

He talks to people like theyre on the same level as him, Katz said. One of the bigger problems with Democrats in the past is that they have spoken down to voters, and John never spoke down to anyone.

While Katz worries some Democrats are still too concerned about appealing to wealthy donors, others appear more comfortable channeling anger and frustration, even as their victories in recent elections have depended significantly on voters from affluent suburbs.

Who we are in Western Pennsylvania, our identity, our history, is wrapped up and tied to the labor movement, and its tied to fighting for working people, said Deluzio, whose district straddles the Pittsburgh suburbs and more blue-collar Beaver County.

His guest at his first State of the Union speech was a mailer on strike from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Many voters, Deluzio said, are right to feel angry about being harmed by businesses and politicians.

Folks were mad for a reason, one that I think is fair and valid: They saw jobs and factories ripped away, he said.

Fettermans pledge to stand up for forgotten communities echoed some of the language that once helped propel Trump.

While the start of his Senate career has been stunted by a hospitalization for depression treatment, Fettermans public statements so far have targeted corporate greed and accused oil companies of disgusting price gouging.

And Bidens approach toward reelection was on full display in his most recent visit to Philadelphia, where he told a room full of union members, For too long, working people have been breaking their necks ... while those at the top get away with everything.

Going after corporations and the ultrarich is overwhelmingly popular, and the fact that many Democrats dont do that is political malpractice, Katz said.

READ MORE:Bidens Philadelphia visit sets the stage for his clash with the GOP, and maybe for his reelection bid

Fettermans victory last year over Oz, for example, was driven by a devastating blitz casting Oz as a rich celebrity from New Jersey who couldnt relate to ordinary Pennsylvanians.

Democrats are already running a similar strategy against McCormick, who ran against Oz last year and is considering another campaign in 2024. They point to his immense wealth, expensive homes, and years leading a hedge fund.

So much of the attacks that worked on Oz can also work on McCormick, Katz said.

McCormick has countered by emphasizing his time growing up in rural Pennsylvania, working on his familys Christmas tree farm, wrestling in high school, and then fighting in the first Iraq War.

As with Trump, populism isnt always an obvious fit.

Shapiro, for example, is an attorney from one of the states wealthiest counties. He has made his career climbing the political ranks and has also won praise from the business community for some of his early steps.

The governor is always going to read like the corporate lawyer in the boardroom, said Trainer, the Republican strategist. You can put him in a polo and a quarter-zip all you want, hes still not going to be an everyman. He never will be.

Shapiro says helping working people is less about where youre from than what you do.

Its about your point of view or your state of mind and your focus on taking on the big fights for the people of Pennsylvania, Shapiro said. And then being willing for years and years and years to show up in their communities and show them respect ... and then go back and show them the results of your work.

Originally posted here:
Pa. Democrats aim to appeal to working-class voters with policy, symbolism, and some anger - The Philadelphia Inquirer

In some ways, it was the turn of events Democratic voters had dreamed of and some of the partys lawmakers had long demanded: After years of telling lies, shattering norms, inciting a riot at the Capitol and being impeached twice, Donald J. Trump on Thursday became the first former president to face criminal charges.

Weve been waiting for the dam to break for six years, declared Carter Hudgins, 73, a retired professor from Charleston, S.C. It should have happened a long time ago, added his wife, Donna Hudgins, 71, a retired librarian.

But as the gravity of the moment sank in, Democratic voters, party officials and activists across the country absorbed the news of Mr. Trumps extraordinary indictment with a more complex set of reactions. Their feelings ranged from jubilation and vindication to anxieties about the substance of the case, concerns that it could heighten Mr. Trumps standing in his party and fears that in such a polarized environment, Republicans would struggle to muster basic respect for the rule of law as the facts unfolded.

They are going to treat him as if he is Jesus Christ himself on a cross being persecuted, said Representative Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat from Dallas who worked as a criminal defense lawyer before she was elected to Congress last year. She blasted Republican arguments that the charges were politically motivated, saying, We knew the type of person Trump was when he got elected the first time.

Mr. Trump, who polls show is the leading Republican contender for the 2024 presidential nomination, was indicted on Thursday by a special grand jury in connection with his role in hush-money payments to a porn star. He was charged with more than two dozen counts, though the specifics are not yet known.

The race begins. Four years after a historically large number of candidates ran for president, the field for the 2024 campaignis starting out small and is likely to be headlined by the same two men who ran last time: President Biden and Donald Trump. Heres who has entered the race so far, and who else might run:

Donald Trump. The former president is running to retake the office he lost in 2020. Though somewhat diminished in influencewithin the Republican Party and facing several legal investigations he retains a large and committed base of supporters, and he could be aided in the primary by multiple challengers splitting a limited anti-Trump vote.

President Biden. While Biden has not formally declared his candidacy for a second term, and there has been much hand-wringing among Democratsover whether he should seek re-election givenhis age, he is widely expected to run. If he does, Bidens strategyis to frame the race as a contest between a seasoned leader and a conspiracy-minded opposition.

Marianne Williamson. The self-help author and former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey is the first Democrat to formally enter the race. Kicking off her second presidential campaign, Williamson called Biden a weak choice and said the party shouldnt fear a primary. Few in Democratic politics are taking her entry into the race seriously.

It is one in a swirl of investigations Mr. Trump faces, on a range of explosive matters including his handling of sensitive government documents after leaving office and whether he and his allies criminally interfered with the 2020 presidential election. He could face multiple other indictments.

But the one this week, centered on a tawdry episode that predates Mr. Trumps time in the White House, struck some Democrats as a sharp contrast in substance with the other possible charges against the former president. Some felt conflicted between their view that no one is above the law, while wondering if this particular case will be worth the chaos for the country, especially when there may be other, bigger targets.

He isnt above the law and anyone who suggests otherwise is un-American, said Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Democratic organization. The question is, is it worth it for this crime?

In Littleton, N.H., Bernd Weber, 65, a dentist, said he was glad the grand jury had voted to indict Mr. Trump, but he worried about the former presidents ability to spin it to make it look like a witch hunt, and there are people that are buying that.

There were any number of things that he could have been indicted for, and this was probably the least of them, he said.

Other Democrats made clear that while they welcomed this indictment, they believed Mr. Trump should be held accountable for far more.

No one is above the law, Representative Barbara Lee, a liberal California lawmaker now running for Senate, wrote on Twitter. Now do the rest of his crimes.

Jon Hurdle contributed reporting from Littleton, N.H., and Melissa Delaney from Charleston, S.C.

Continued here:
Democrats Absorb Trumps Indictment With Joy, Vindication and ... - The New York Times

The recent sparring between Starbuckss longtime CEO Howard Schultz and Senator Bernie Sanders reflects a conflict within the Democratic Party that is likely to get far more intense in the years ahead. Sanders accused Schultz, a self-described progressive who once considered a presidential run, of conducting illegal union busting at the coffee chains shops something that the Starbucks CEO vehemently denied.

Schultz is finding out the hard way that liberal intentions are not enough to prevent his employees from seeking better wages and conditions. This dilemma mirrors that of his gentry progressive allies, who represent the Democrats increasingly affluent, well-educated base. They are now primary funders of the party and it is their agenda that has come to achieve dominance.

Read the rest of this piece at UnHerd.

Joel Kotkin is the author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class. He is the Roger Hobbs Presidential Fellow in Urban Futures at Chapman University and Executive Director for Urban Reform Institute. Learn more at joelkotkin.com and follow him on Twitter @joelkotkin.

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We Are On the Cusp of a Democrat Class War - newgeography.com