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Chris Jacobs, a congressman from New York, uttered the unthinkable on national television the other day: Im now the only Republican thats come out and said Im in favor of an assault weapon ban.

Wow.

Except there is a caveat: Jacobs is NOT seeking re-election. He is from the Buffalo area, the site of a mass shooting last month by an avowed White supremacist.

As Jacobs said, Im here for seven months. I think these could be a pivotal seven months for gun-control activity and legislation.

For most conservative Republicans, staunch supporters of the National Rifle Association and ultimate believers in gun rights, the Second Amendment is the imprimatur for weapons.

Jacobs supports the assault weapon ban on the way out of the door. Head for the hills. Why not stay and lead the fight for the ban since assault weapons shouldnt be on the streets anyway?

Because Jacobs brethren will roast him mercilessly for being a moderate Republican on the gun issue. Conservatives repeatedly say assault weapons are used by farmers and ranchers to kill varmints. Which is comical.

By the way, whatever happened to the term moderate Republican. More specifically, what about Rockefeller Republicans?

Iconic Black bandleader Count Basie once said of his friend then-New York governor Nelson Rockefeller that Rockefeller was rich enough to air-condition a cotton field.

The family riches were derived from the oil business, thanks to patriarch John D. Rockefeller founding Standard Oil Co. in the 1800s. By todays values, analysts figure he was worth $400 billion, or two to three times more than Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

A Rockefeller Republican means fiscal prudence can coexist with a social conscience. To many right-wing conservatives, especially today, that phrase is an oxymoron.

Rockefeller, Gerald Fords vice president, supported civil rights for Black Americans, rejected conservative Barry Goldwater, supported cultural liberalism, and advocated investment in national health care, higher education and labor unions.

Even Richard Nixon adopted some of the principles of Rockefeller Republicans, such as creating the Environmental Protection Agency and signing Title IX in the 1970s.

In fiscal policy, Rockefeller Republicans believed in balanced budgets. Auto mogul George W. Romney Mitts father was a Rockefeller Republican, as was New York senator Jacob Javits, baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson, former EPA director and ex-New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman and style icon Kim Kardashian possibly.

Dr. Martin Luther King once said in the segregated 1960s,If we had one or two governors in the Deep South like Nelson Rockefeller, many of our problems could be readily solved.

Now, the term Rockefeller Republican is taboo in the conservative Republican party. Pure profanity. No centrists are allowed in the club.

The Rockefeller Institute of Government, a think tank in Albany, N.Y., reported that only five states experienced a decline in firearm deaths between 2019 and 2020, with New Hampshire having the largest decrease at2.10 fewer deaths per 100,000 residents.

Perhaps, Jacobs would have been better off serving in the 1960s and 1970s during the height of Rockefeller Republicans instead of the 2020s, when the powerful right-wing rules the GOP.

Said Jacobs, And, again, its about that level of trust and, look, right now, Im seeing this in our party that you cant concede anything: Since I said Im receptive to gun control, Im not really a Republican and Im ostracized.

But there was a time when Senate Republicans and Democrats during Watergate voted 77-0to create the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities. As for Goldwater, he led the charge for Republicans against culpable Richard Nixon during Watergate.

On Aug. 7, 1974, Goldwater and fellow Republicans Hugh Scott and John Rhodes visited Nixon at the White House. As former Washington Post writer Carl Bernstein, one of the lead Watergate reporters at the time, recalled on CNN remembrances of the 50th anniversary of the 1972 scandal, Goldwater pulled out this diary and started reading to us (Bernstein and Bob Woodward) how he and the leadership went to the Oval Office, sat across from Nixon, and Nixon asked him, Barry, how many votes do I have in the Senate for acquittal in a Senate trial because Nixon knew he was going to be impeached by the full House.

And Nixon really expected that he could be acquitted. And Goldwater looked at the president, directly across from him, and said, Mr. President, you may have four to six votes for acquittal, and you DONT have mine. And the next day, Richard Nixon announced his resignation from the presidency.

So there is precedent for doing whats right even for Republicans.

Go here to see the original:
Even Republicans Can Do the Right Thing InsideSources - InsideSources

(Read this article in Spanish/Lee el artculo en espaol aqu)

For the first time in nearly a quarter century, Illinois will elect a new secretary of state, with two Republicans among the candidates battling to replace Jesse White in the position.

First elected in 1998, White -- the longest serving secretary of state in Illinois history -- announced in 2019 that he planned to retire at the end of his sixth term. White has been the top vote-getter in four of the last five election cycles in which he was on the ballot, handily winning each race by roughly 30 points or more.

The secretary of states office is tasked with tracking millions of drivers and vehicles, registering corporations and lobbyists, as well as overseeing the state archive, library and Capitol, among other responsibilities generating billions in revenue and employing thousands of state workers.

Illinois Secretary of State's Race: Key Endorsements Among the Primary Candidates

Four Democrats and two Republicans have lined up to try and succeed White, most touting plans to modernize the technology of the office and strengthen ethical oversight.

Rep. Dan Brady:

Brady, of Bloomington, is a licensed funeral director and embalmer who has represented the 105th District in central Illinois since 2001. He was appointed to Republican leadership in the chamber in 2003, rising to Deputy Minority Leader in 2017. Prior to his time in the legislature, he was elected McLean County Coroner in 1992.

Key Issues

On Bradys website, he highlights several key issues in his campaign, including wanting to lower the age of consent for Illinois residents to become organ donors from 18 to 16.

He also has pledged to streamline processes at Department of Motor Vehicles offices, and is seeking legislation that would help older Illinois residents access those services. Finally, he says that prioritizing and investing in libraries is a key part of his platform.

You can find his full platform here.

Endorsements

Reps. Darin LaHood, Mike Bost and Rodney Davis

House Republican Leader Rep. Jim Durkin

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police

The Daily Herald

The Chicago Tribune

A full list of his endorsements can be found here.

John Milhiser:

Milhiser, of Springfield, served as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois from 2018 to 2021 and prior to that, was a prosecutor in the Sangamon County States Attorneys Office.

Key Issues

Milhisers primary focus will be using the Secretary of States role in ethics oversight to help end years of corruption, according to his campaign website.

Aside from combating corruption, Milhiser has also pledged to invest in programs to improve driver safety and to improve efficiency at DMV offices.

He also says that he plans to communicate more often with officials at the county level to help ensure equitable access to SOS services.

You can read more on Milhisers platform on his website.

Endorsements

Milhiser has received backing from GOP megadonor Ken Griffin, who is also supporting gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin among a large slate of candidates.

The candidate does not have a list of endorsements on his website.

See original here:
Illinois Primary Election 2022: Here are the Republican Candidates for Secretary of State - NBC Chicago

When the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed the evidence that showed Republican members of Congress sought preemptive presidential pardons after January 6, one of the most striking requests came from Congressman Mo Brooks.

The request from Brooks to the Trump White House came in an 11 January 2021 email obtained by the Guardian that asked for all-purpose, preemptive pardons for lawmakers involved in objecting to the certification of Joe Bidens election win.

Brooks in the first instance sought preemptive pardons for every Republican who signed the Amicus brief in the Texas lawsuit that sued then-vice president Mike Pence to unilaterally decide whether to certify Bidens win in certain battleground states.

The Alabama congressman also recommended in the email to former Oval Operations coordinator Molly Michael that Donald Trump issue pardons for Every Congressman and Senator who voted to reject the electoral college vote submissions of Arizona and Pennsylvania.

Brooks was one of at least a half dozen Republican congressmen who sought pardons immediately after the Capitol attack. It came after Trump hinted at a blanket pardon for the Jan. 6 thing for anybody, the head of White House presidential personnel John McEntee testified.

But the request from Brooks stands out because he explicitly outlines two groups for whom he was seeking preemptive pardons, opening a window into his thinking and potentially revealing for what conduct he worried that they might have been guilty of a crime.

The reference to the Texas lawsuit is revealing since that suit pushed Pence to commandeer the ceremonial congressional certification to overturn the results of the 2020 election which the select committee has argued amounted to a violation of federal law.

Meanwhile, the reference to Arizona and Pennsylvania is notable since the objections to those states occurred after the Capitol attack, which, seen with Trumps attorney Rudy Giuliani asking senators to keep objecting to stop Bidens certification, could suggest further corrupt intent.

Brooks has rejected the notion that the pardon requests showed any consciousness of guilt, saying in a statement that he feared Democrats would prosecute and jail Republicans who acted pursuant to their Constitutional or statutory duties under 3 USC 15.

The statement referred to the statute governing the congressional certification of the presidential election, at which members of Congress are permitted to raise objections to the results in any of the states.

But the trouble with Brookss statement remains that if he truly believed that Republicans were engaging in only lawful activity on January 6, then he could defend that conduct in court without the need for a pardon.

The select committee at the hearing also showed testimony by Cassidy Hutchinson, a top former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who said House Republicans Louie Gohmert, Scott Perry, Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz also expressed interest in pardons.

Hutchinson recalled that House Republican Jim Jordan did not directly ask for a pardon but did ask whether Trump was going to give them to members of Congress, and that House Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed interest to the White House counsels office.

The testimony by Hutchinson and McEntee and other top White House aides showed that at the very least, Republican members of Congress were concerned about potential legal exposure over their roles in Trumps efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

And the accounts, delivered under oath to the select committee, showed the extraordinary and brazen inquiries by some of Trumps top allies on Capitol Hill to use the power of presidential pardons for their own political and personal ends.

I think the American public understands folks asking for pardons generally feel they did something illegal, select committee member Pete Aguilar told CBSs Face the Nation on Sunday morning of the preemptive pardon requests.

Gohmert had brought the Texas lawsuit while Perry had played a role in Trumps efforts to pressure the justice department to reverse his election defeat in battleground states. Biggs and Gaetz had strategized with Trump about objecting to Bidens certification.

The Republican members of Congress accused of seeking preemptive pardons near-universally rejected the allegations.

Gohmert denied making a request for a pardon. Perry said in a statement that he never sought a presidential pardon for myself or other members of Congress. Biggs said Hutchinson was mistaken and Greene accurately called Hutchinsons testimony hearsay.

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January 6 hearings: if Republicans did nothing wrong, why were pardons sought? - The Guardian US

The biggest story in US politics right now continues to be the state of the Republican Party, and the bottom line is: Its complicated. So its a good time to take a quick tour of developments within the party.

Item: ApollinNew Hampshire has former President Donald Trump losing narrowly to Florida GovernorRon DeSantis in a 2024 primary. There are two ways of looking at this poll. One is that it adds to the evidence, contrary to some speculation, that Trump is hardly a sure thing to win the nomination next time. The other? Its one poll, in one state, more than 18 months before anyone votes. It tells us very, very, little. Ohsure, it lets us know that DeSantis has decent name recognition already. But remember: By the time voters turn out, every significant candidate will be well known. Bottom line: Be wary of anyone who tells you at this point that any candidate is a sure thing to win or to be an also-ran. (And yes, Ive learned the second part the hard way.)

Item: Trump is taking credit for endorsing the winner in the Alabama Senate primary run-off. This is actually more about reporters than it is about the Republican Party. Trump had originally endorsed one candidate, then pulled his support and switched to the polling leader. He did a similar thing in the Pennsylvania governors primary, with a very late endorsement to a big polling leader. Hey, theres nothing wrong with endorsing sure winners. Its part of politics. But any pundit or journalist who buys the idea that the subsequent results say anything at all about Trumps strength within the party or among Republican voters is failing a very easy test. The truth is that Trumps endorsements havent been very effective in moving voters during this election cycle (or, for that matter, previous ones). That doesnt mean Republican voters dont like him. They do. But voters usually like all of their partys politicians.

Item: That Alabama nominee (and almost certainly the statesfuture senator), Katie Britt, is 40 years old. Good job, Republicans! Last year it appeared that theyd be replacing retiring (and elderly) Senator Richard Shelby with someone over 60. All things equal, thats generally a bad idea. The key to having a wide range of ages in Congress is to nominate plenty of young candidates, especially as is the case here for open, safe seats. I just wish Vermont Democrats had the same commitment to choosing someone who can grow into the job.

Item: Senate Republicans continue to be more open to compromise and, basically, acting like normal politicians during this Congress than many people expected. Theyve reached a deal on gun safety. Theres a bipartisan bill rolling out on insulin pricing. And there are small things, too. HuffPosts Jennifer Bendery reportsthat Montana Senator Steve Daines heaped praises onSecretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and her team for their response to flooding at Yellowstone National Park.Its good to see a Republican senator acknowledge such help, because it indicates that the positive, healthy incentives built into the system are working. Too often, Republicans have acted as if any cooperation with Democratic administrations was a mistake because it would tend to make the president more popular and, therefore, cost Republicans in the next election. Such effects in truth are pretty marginal. But its good for their constituents if Democratic administrations have incentives to govern well even in states they wont carry in the next election.

Item: Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who testified about his commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution beforethe Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday, turned around and said that, if the choice for president in 2024 came down to Trump and President Joe Biden, hed vote for Trump, much to the (understandable) consternation of many Trump opponents. A few things about this. First is that Democrats should recognize that Trump creates almost impossibledilemmas for Republicans. Second, many Republicans have yet to find any way out of that dilemma. Third is that all of this was entirely predictable (and predicted) back in 2015 and 2016, and Republicans should have realized it and dealt with it back then. And fourth is that US democracy needs all the support it can get. Pro-democracy forces should therefore take whatever allies they can find, for as far as those allies are willing to go.

Would it be ideal if folks such as Bowers were prepared to take a stronganti-Trump position, and were willing to completely purge any trace of anti-democraticfeeling from the party? Of course. But real-world politics isnt about ideals. What Bowers did when it mattered counts, and how he spoke up about it counts. Whether hes able to be as strong an ally as one might wish or not.

See the article here:
Five Notes on the Republican Party's Future - Bloomberg

Robin Ficker is one of the Republican candidates running in the primary for Maryland governor July 19. Read the WTOP interview.

This interview is part of a series of interviews with the Democratic and Republican candidates for Maryland governor in 2022. In these interviews, WTOP asked all the candidates the same or similar questions on education, public safety and crime, jobs and the economy, and transportation. The Maryland primary is July 19.

The candidate: Robin Ficker

Running mate: LeRoy F. Yegge, Jr.

Website: CutMDSalesTax2Cents.com

In the past decade, Robin Ficker, a former one-term state delegate, has lost his fair share of races: He twice ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. House Seat and a state Senate seat, and lost the 2018 race for county executive of Montgomery County.

When it comes to ballot measures, its a different story.

Ive essentially been serving as governor in many ways, because I have placed and this is a Maryland record 25 ballot measures on the ballot in Marylands largest county, collecting 18,000 signatures for each, he says. All told, the measures many of them anti-tax proposals have received more than 2.5 million votes.

In his current bid for governor, Ficker is running on a proposal to cut the state sales tax by 2 cents, which he says will equate to an extra $780 a year in the pockets of Marylanders.

Regarding his recent disbarment relating to his work as an attorney, Ficker chalks it up to having rubbed a couple of judges the wrong way. He adds, Im prepared to represent the people of Maryland in a way that is going to make them prosperous.

The interview below has been edited for length and clarity.

WTOP: As kids have gone back to school this year, there are concerns about everything from mental health, learning, loss, budgeting. And, of course, the Blueprint for Marylands Future is now a part of the education landscape. The next governor is going to have to implement that. What would you do to see that those dollars are well spent and that the blueprint is successful?

Robin Ficker: Well, the first thing Im going to do is cut the state sales tax 2 cents, by one-third giving every Marylander a personal family fiscal stimulus of $780 a year. And then that will act as a lure to bring in the big businesses, all of which every single one of which is shunning Maryland. Once we bring them in, therell be plenty of money to pay for whatever educational blueprint we desire.

WTOP: OK and in the blueprint, what are some of the issues that you feel most strongly about?

Ficker: One issue I feel most strongly about is that its not being said how were going to pay for the blueprint. It seems as though they want to pass property tax increases along to all the local jurisdictions. And as you know, I was successful in Montgomery County in getting a limit on property taxes passed over the opposition of every elected official, which limited increases in property tax revenue to the rate of inflation. But now the blueprint wants far more than that, and people are already having trouble paying their gas bills, their rent, their mortgages we dont need tax increases.

Were not going to shut down the schools in Maryland, I can tell you that. I was the only speaker at the July 2020 Open Maryland rally to call for opening the schools fully in September of 2020. Instead, what happened? Maryland ended up with the lowest percentage of students of any state in the union in actual physical school.

It can be parental choice as to whether or not kids should have to wear masks. But if you want to give a small child a mental concern, the best way to do it is to not let him or her associate with other kids, keep many of them home alone, and then make them wear a big piece of cloth over their face eight hours a day so they cant breathe properly. Were not going to go along with these mandates. If some parents want to have their little kids wearing masks, thats up to them. But its going to be personal choice. Were not shutting down the schools. Its going to be in-person learning, not virtual.

WTOP: Were seeing police accountability boards that are going into effect because of a state law that requires each jurisdiction to do so. What are your concerns with those boards, how theyre being implemented? And what are your thoughts on the need to balance police accountability with also the need to attract and retain police in the county?

Ficker: Well, you know, its the governors job to see that people are safe. And we want police that are doing that. Weve had a tremendous surge of fentanyl across our southern border, coming in unchecked. And as a result, fentanyl is the No. 1 cause of death for people between 18 and 45. Dont bring your fentanyl into Maryland when Robin is governor, I will tell you that. The police should be Officer Friendly, treat the constituents as they would their brother or sister. But, of course, if a criminal is going to act violently, were not going to put up with that. And if you want to act violently go out into the boxing ring or go and play football. But dont bring a gun with you and try to hold up an innocent person.

WTOP: And what about recruitment and retention? There are concerns that policing looks like a less attractive field to many people, or that police who are in and eligible for retirement may be slated to retire early just because of the current climate.

Ficker: I dont know why anyone would like to retire early except maybe if theyre earning a full salary and a second job, in addition to retirement. I think we ought to make the jobs enjoyable. We ought to give them adequate pay to be able to live in the county where theyre working, and we ought to be friendly to the police as they should be to the constituents.

WTOP: I think you hit this at the top, but Ill ask you about it: You know, people are concerned about inflation, housing costs, even apartment prices are very high relative to peoples salaries. What would you do about that?

Ficker: Well, Im the only candidate for governor in either party thats going to have a job strike force that will be in the air within one hour to go out to these multibillion dollar companies that are having multibillion-dollar expansions except theyre all in other states. Theyre not in Maryland.

Just this morning, I saw that Hyundai is having a $7 billion EV battery plant built in Georgia. Why not Maryland? I know that Toyota is building a multibillion-dollar car battery plant in North Carolina. Why not Maryland? Amazon moved to Northern Virginia. Boeing just recently moved in Northern Virginia. Why not Maryland? Apple just decided to build a billion-dollar campus in North Carolina. Google is spending $9.5 billion in capital improvements in 2022. Not one dollar in Maryland.

Marylands Department of Commerce has been asleep. They havent been doing their job. And thats going to change when Robin is governor. Our job strike force is going to bring in these jobs. Were going to go out and talk with these companies that are paying very well but which are shunning Maryland. Each one of these multibillion-dollar companies Microsoft, Nucor Steel, Samsung, Taiwan Semiconductor, Texas Instruments, Toyota, Global Foundries, Amazon, Apple, Facebook theyre all shunning Maryland. Theyre not located here. Maryland is not a business-friendly state. But with Robin, were going to be very friendly and were going to cut that sales tax to act as a lure. No state has ever cut its sales tax before.

WTOP: Governor Hogan has that plan for adding what they call about the managed tolls along I-270 and I-495, redoing the American Legion Bridge. I think everyone recognizes theres a bottleneck there. What are your thoughts on that plan? And what would you do about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?

Ficker: Well, Im going to make sure that the Chesapeake Bay Bridge is expanded, that the capacity is improved very, very quickly, because Im the only candidate who spent the last two summers on the boardwalk in Ocean City meeting more than 50,000 voters there so far. And I know that people are coming from Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, West Virginia, New Jersey theyre all coming to Ocean City to spend money that benefits Marylanders. We have to make sure people can get to Ocean City. Its the second-largest city in Maryland in the summertime.

Now, as for 270, I wouldnt be surprised if some of these officials in Montgomery County decide to start issuing parking tickets to people driving on 270 and the Beltway, because were not moving. The road in the northern sections of 270 is the same as it was when I graduated from high school. Come on! Weve got to improve these roads. Urbana has tripled in size and theres been no road improvement. Clarksburg has been built no road improvement. They put a big mall there on I-270. We needed to improve I-270, have some reversible lanes, 20 years ago certainly today.

WTOP: And so it sounds like you want to widen from, say, Urbana 109 up to Frederick.

Ficker: I want to widen from Georgetown up to Frederick; certainly we have to do that. We need to have reversible lanes. Weve got to get Maryland moving. The reason these big companies arent locating here is because were in gridlock. And you know, we need to improve the roads, because people in their cars have freedom to travel that people on mass transit dont. People in their cars can go anywhere they want; they can go any time they want. So we need to make sure that our roads are improved, and that hasnt been done.

WTOP: Would those improvements include that tolling?

Ficker: Well, you know, tolls are not my goal, OK? And I fought the high tolls on the Inter-County Connector, which many people didnt want built and which every day Im thankful that that road was built because I use it. But we need to keep tolls at an absolute minimum if were going to have tolls. But keep in mind that Maryland had the largest gas tax increase in U.S. history in 2013. And we should be using that money to improve our roads, including 495 and 270. Its incredible to me that some of these officials dont want to improve the Beltway. Evidently, theyre not driving on it. But people who are, are really upset by the time they get home, because after working all day, theyre in gridlock for a few hours and then they get indigestion when they come home for supper.

WTOP: Back to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. There are these plans, for example, right now the EIS, the Environmental Impact Statement. They got a green light on going forward with a plan to add another span alongside the current one. What do you see as the solution there?

Ficker: Something should be done right away. Were not going to be sitting around in Annapolis wondering what should be done. The environmental impact of the Bay Bridge has been studied forever. We know what the environmental impact is. We must widen that environmental transitway We must widen it. Weve got to include more lanes so that people arent backed up for two, three hours in the steaming heat, backed up all the way to Annapolis, or backed all the way back to Grasonville. Come on! Get off it, Maryland, and get this bridge built. It doesnt matter whether its an additional bridge or whether we widen what we have but get off it and get it done.

WTOP: What in your background makes you the candidate of choice for people to serve as governor?

Ficker: Well, you know, Ive essentially been serving as governor in many ways, because I have placed and this is a Maryland record 25 ballot measures on the ballot in Marylands largest county, collecting 18,000 signatures for each. Theyve received 2,537,000 votes, which is more votes than Larry Hogan and Ben Jealous got put together. We imposed term limits; we limited property tax increases; and we kept garbage dumps and sewage sludge trenching out of residential zones. So I have done it. Ive gotten matters passed with all Democratic opposition, although I can work with the Democrats and disagree without being disagreeable.

WTOP: Last question; I have to ask you about it: Recently, you were disbarred. What should a voter make of that?

Ficker: Look, Ive completed 40,000 cases; overturned four state laws in federal court, laws that were passed unconstitutionally. And, you know, my clients love me. I rubbed a couple of judges the wrong way. But theyre opposed to defense attorneys anyway, because were battling them every day. Im prepared to represent the people of Maryland in a way that is going to make them prosperous. Its going to bring in jobs, and its going to reach the jobs that no one else has been able to bring in. Our Maryland Department of Commerce has been asleep. No jobs are coming in here, and we need to get our state moving by improving the transportation.

Interview by Kate Ryan; edited by Jack Moore

Excerpt from:
Meet the Republican candidates for Maryland governor: Robin Ficker - WTOP