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Seattle Mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan and her supporters celebrate her first place position in the primary race, as returns come in Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017.

Seattle Mayoral candidate Jenny Durkan and her supporters celebrate her first place position in the primary race, as returns come in Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2017.

Guess who deep-pocketed Republicans like for Seattle mayor?

Coming off a primary election that included 21 candidates, the Seattle mayor's race was left with two liberal Democrats contending in the nonpartisan election.

Standing to the left of center -- but just barely is former U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan. Durkan is a liberal political insider in the image of her endorser, embattled incumbent Mayor Ed Murray. She draws backers from many of the same people and groups who supported Murray before he left the race in May amid sex abuse allegations.

And in the farther left corner is Cary Moon, an urban planner and activist who fought hard against the state Route 99 tunnel. Moon has self-identified as a city hall outsider, and her politics are considerably less moderate than Durkan's.

RELATED: Connelly: It's Durkan vs. Moon for mayor, but with Oliver declaring victory

Each has announced her platform, but that only tells part of the story. They have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars together and, like all fundraising, there is another story to be told there.

Campaign finance records filed with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) and collected atFollowTheMoney.org show who donated to whom, and what that might say about each candidate. We looked back at many donors' history of giving to see what they supported in candidates and issues.

The story that emerged was simple: Only a sliver of Moon's donors have given to anything other than Democrats or Dem-backed issues. Durkan's donors, however, include a sampling of the city's wealthy, some of whom almost exclusively backed Republicans or Republican-backed causes in the past.

(Moon, who was something of an underdog in the crowded primary, has self-funded more than half the $181,478 that she has raised so far.)

Take Tom Alberg who donated the maximum $500 to Durkan's campaign. Alberg, the managing director of Madrona Venture Group, has given to candidates 72 times since 1999. Of those donations, 57 went to Republicans, including Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush in 2016, according to data from FollowTheMoney.org. In 2010, Alberg gave $25,000 to a campaign against a measure to institute a state income tax. He also backed campaigns in seven states outside Washington.

Suzanne Burke, president of real estate organization The Fremont Dock Company, gave Durkan $500 toward her candidacy. Burke, who has donated more than $86,000 to campaigns since 1995, has given most of that to Republicans, including $250 in 2016 to U.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. She has also made several donations to the King County Republican Central Committee.

Durkan has a number of endorsements from labor groups, but the business sector has given to her campaign, either through CEOs and other figureheads, or directly from companies themselves.

RELATED: Connelly: Labor Council endorses Jenny Durkan for mayor

Kansas-based Ash Grove Cement Company (they have operations in Seattle) handed Durkan $500, but the company has a tendency to back more conservative candidates overall. Of the $1.1 million donated by Ash Grove in the last 23 years, $812,000 has gone to Republicans, according to data from FollowTheMoney.org.

Moon has set herself out as the anti-establishment candidate, and pointed to Durkan as more her opposite than a kindred leftist.

"The fact that we had an unprecedented turnout, and 70 percent of voters were for one of the more progressive candidates, the five of us to the left of Jenny Durkan, is a real sign that voters have had enough with big money and the political establishment running this city in the wrong direction, and they're ready for change," Moon told Seattle Weekly.

In Durkan's case, big money is certainly accurate, as she has accrued more than $523,000 in 2,470 donations compared to Moon's 380 donations totaling just shy of $69,000 in cash, according to PDC records. But Moon pledged not to accept corporate donations and instead has funded $109,000 of her total campaign funds out of her own pocket.

And those who gave to Moon bear little resemblance to Durkan's donors.

Jabez Blumenthal, an investor who is known for being a big campaign giver, gave Moon $500. He has donated more than $400,000 over the last 14 years. Most of it has gone to campaigns on ballot initiatives backed by Democrats or Democrat-minded interests; none went to Republican candidates.

A number of Moon's donors had no records of campaign donations at FollowTheMoney.org, which collects campaign finance data from across the U.S. in local, state and federal elections.

But still, some of her donors have lobbed money to the right before.

Steven Fetter, a consultant, gave $2,700 in support of efforts to get Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich on the presidential ticket.

And then there's Peter H. Van Oppen, a partner in Trilogy Equity, who has mostly given to Dems, but in 2012 gave $1,000 each to President Barack Obama and Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

Even if most of her donors are, in fact, honest leftists not of the Seattle establishment, Moon is known around town as a powerful figure and she's not exactly poor (as evidenced by her funding more than $100,000 of her own campaign).

Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, city hall, and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 ordanieldemay@seattlepi.com.Follow him on Twitter:@Daniel_DeMay.

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Guess who deep-pocketed Republicans like for Seattle mayor? - seattlepi.com

Massachusetts Republicans lost one this week, but they got the potential to pick up a bigger one.

First, just when you think the states House Republican caucus couldnt shrink any further, one of its members Susannah M. Whipps of Athol is bailing out of the GOP.

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Whipps, who has refused to back President Trump and sided with Democrats on several important issues in the House, said in a Tuesday statement that she was registering as an independent. That, she said, will allow me to better serve all the people of the district with the obligation of towing any particular line.

But just a few days later, Governor Charlie Baker pulled what looks like a very clever political move when he appointed fifth-term State Senator Jennifer Flanagan of Leominister, a Democrat, to head the states new Cannabis Control Commission. Flanagans district marginally votes in favor of Democrats: Hillary Clinton got only 50 percent of the vote there last year, compared to 61 percent statewide over Trump.

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The district, which is dominated by northern Worcester communities and their conservative independents and Republicans along with a strong strain of conservative-leaning Democrats, is ripe for a GOP pick-up for the even-smaller six-member Senate GOP caucus, out of 40 seats. (There are just under three dozen Republicans out of 160 House members. )

Flanagans departure will set off another special election this fall, creating a challenge for Democrats to keep a seat the party has held since 1991 and for Republicans to seize a rare opportunity to be competitive in legislative races.

Continue reading here:
Mass. Republicans lose a member but gain an opportunity - The Boston Globe

Republican lawmakers are casting a wider net in their search for wrongdoing at federal agencies in past election cycles, after learning the Postal Service violated the law by allowing employees to do union-funded work for Hillary Clintons campaign while on leave.

The lawmakers blasted out letters on Monday to 10 other federal government agencies questioning their unpaid leave policy for union-related political work.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., led the charge on the review of agencies practices after spurring an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) beginning in October 2016. That inquiry revealed that the USPS violated federal law by letting employees perform union-funded work for Clintons campaign and other Democratic candidates while on leave from the agency.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., joined Johnsons efforts this week by penning joint letters to the departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Defense, Justice, Labor, Transportation, Treasury, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and the Social Security Administration Monday. The letters concerned what's known as union official Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for political campaign activity.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, left, and Sen. Ron Johnson.

USPS BROKE LAW IN ALLOWING WORKERS TO BOOST CLINTON CAMPAIGN, WATCHDOG SAYS

The letters cited the OSCs findings regarding the USPS that only [employees] who wanted to campaign for the [unions] endorsed candidates were given the opportunity to take several weeks of leave on short notice, over the objections of local supervisors who raised concerns about potential operational impact. The OSCs findings revealed that the USPS violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits certain political activities of federal employees. While employees are allowed to do some political work on leave, the report said the USPS showed a bias favoring the unions 2016 campaign operation.

The procedures by which federal employees request LWOP, and by which managers and supervisors consider these requests, are the product of negotiation between the agency and the employees collective bargaining representative, Johnson and Gowdy wrote, requesting specific information to ensure federal agencies are granting LWOP in a politically neutral manner.

USPS TAKES HEARING HEAT FOR 'FAVORING' PRO-CLINTON UNION'S CAMPAIGN WORK

Johnson and Gowdy asked for information regarding use of LWOP in the three months prior to a federal election dating back to 2008, agreements between the agency and employees regarding their leave, written policies and all documents and communications related to the use of LWOP.

Johnson and Gowdy requested state-by-state data for the requested information, giving a deadline of 5 p.m. on Sept. 11.

Brooke Singman is a Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.

Originally posted here:
Republicans dig deeper after Postal Service cited for workers ...

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump's stepped-up attacks against Senate Republicans are threatening the fall's busy legislative agenda and any cooperation that remains between them.

In a raucous speech Tuesday night followed up by Wednesday morning tweets, Trump endorsed a government shutdown, criticized both of the state's GOP senators, called out Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by name and once again called for drastic changes to the rules governing the upper chamber of Congress.

By Wednesday evening, however, the White House put out a statement that said Trump and McConnell "remain united on many shared priorities, "including middle class tax relief, strengthening the military, constructing a southern border wall, and other important issues." The statement also promised the two would hold previously scheduled meetings this month.

But the onslaught of criticism continues to erode a relationship between Senate Republicans and the White House that has grown more tense in recent weeks, especially after a series of failures on health care reform. And the president took out his frustration in front of a crowd of supporters in Phoenix Tuesday.

Reviving one of his biggest campaign promises, Trump pressed Congress to build a wall on the nation's southern border, threatening to shut down the government if Congress doesnt move forward.

Build that wall," he demanded. "The obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it. But believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall, Trump said.

The House of Representatives has approved a down payment of $1.6 billion for a wall while the Senate hasnt committed to such an expenditure.

Trumps statement is setting up another intra-party fight with Republican senators just as a Sept. 30 deadline is quickly approaching to continue funding the government. Even though a shutdown appears unlikely with the party in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, Republicans believe they would suffer severe repercussions at the ballot box in 2018 if the government were forced to close its doors.

In a move likely to further strain what is supposed to be a partnership with the Senate majority leader, Trump also called out McConnell by name as a way to pressure him into changing Senate rules so that passing legislation would require the support of just 51 senators instead of 60.

We have to get rid of what's called the filibuster rule; we have to. And if we don't, the Republicans will never get anything passed. You're wasting your time, Trump said. And we have to speak to Mitch and we have to speak to everybody.

Trump followed up with a tweet Wednesday morning.

But McConnell has no plans to change the Senate rules. Even if he wanted to, he would need the support of 50 senators.

Theres not a single senator in the majority who thinks we ought to change the legislative filibuster. Not one, he told reporters in April, a position that hasnt changed.

Trumps focus on changing Senate rules and building the border wall is out of line with what Republicans want to accomplish. They are facing a busy fall in which they must raise the debt limit to allow the U.S. government to pay its bills, and to pass vital legislation like reauthorizing the childrens health insurance program. Theyd also like to accomplish tax reform, but Trump didnt mention any of these priorities at his rally.

Hes got the best pulpit out there and he understands the importance of messaging, said Billy Piper, former chief of staff to McConnell. Piper said the president "ought to be talking about" moderate Democratic senators like Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., "and the need to get them on board with tax reform.

Instead of pressuring Democrats, Trump appears to be focused on the shortcomings of his own party after months of bubbling tensions.

Trump was not supportive of sanctions Congress overwhelmingly passed against Russia earlier this summer, even though he did sign them into law.He has publicly attacked McConnell, suggesting he should step down as leader and blaming him for the failure of health care legislation. And the two had at least one contentious phone conversation in early August that resulted in Trump lobbing additional attacks on the majority leader.

And Senate Republicans have been expressing their own frustration more openly in recent weeks. After Trump's defense of some of the white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, some members of the party stepped up their criticism. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said that Trump doesn't have the "stability nor some of the competence" necessary for the job.

In public, Republican leaders have tried to downplay any challenges with Trump. The President and I, and our teams, have been and continue to be in regular contact about our shared goals, McConnell said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. We have a lot of work ahead of us, and we are committed to advancing our shared agenda together and anyone who suggests otherwise is clearly not part of the conversation."

And House Speaker Paul Ryan dismissed the idea of a shutdown.

I don't think a government shutdown is necessary and I don't think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included, Ryan told reporters in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Theres no desire to get into it with Trump, Piper said of congressional Republicans.

But the president's criticisms continue. He attacked Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake in their home state Tuesday night despite admitting that Republicans asked him not to criticize members of his own party.

Flake refused to respond to Trump's attacks on Fox Radio's Brian Kilmeade show Wednesday, saying, "I saw that part where he talked obviously about me and about Sen. McCain and you know Im just focused on working for the state doing my day job."

Steven Law, a former chief of staff to McConnell and current CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC endorsed by McConnell to elect Senate Republicans, said that Republicans will be hyper-focused not on Trump but on tax reform in the fall.

"The president needs to make up his own mind on how to invest his political capital," Law said.

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Trump's Continued Attacks On Senate Republicans Hamper Party's Agenda - NBCNews.com

Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally Tuesday night in Phoenix, President Trump vowed to make good on one of the signature promises of his campaign-- the wall along the Mexican border. He even went as far as to threaten a government shutdown over the issue.

Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me -- we have to close down our government -- we're building that wall! he declared.

While some Republicans back the idea of funding and building a wall on the southern U.S. border, there is far from universal support across the party. There has been little indication that Republican leadership would be willing to risk a government shutdowns to get their way, as shutdowns can cost the federal government billions of dollars, and tend to be politically unpopular.

Despite the presidents remarks, House Speaker Paul Ryan Wednesday afternoon said a shutdown is unnecessary.

I dont think most people want to see a government shutdown, Ryan said during a press conference in Oregon today. He added that both he and the president share very legitimate concerns about the border and agree on the need for a physical wall, but said that a shutdown is not in our interest.

In a written statement Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not directly address the presidents comments on the border wall, but suggested he does not want to hold basic federal funding hostage over this issue. He wrote that his team was working with the White House to "prevent a government default" and "fund the government.

Trumps comments in Phoenix, however, likely emboldened staunch conservatives on the Hill who have held up negotiations over budgets and raising the debt ceiling in the past.

Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) has argued repeatedly that the GOP should go to the mat over funding for a border wall, and on Tuesday tweeted, "I applaud @POTUS @realDonaldTrump for his commitment to keeping a promise that was central to his campaign -- securing our southern border." He added, "Congress would do well to join the president by keeping our own commitments and including border wall funding in upcoming spending measures."

If the Freedom Caucus, which consists of conservative and libertarian Republican members, is unwilling to compromise on spending bills, as expected, GOP leadership will likely need to win over some Democrats in order to pass their budget bills or raise the debt ceiling and avoid a shutdown.

Knowing this, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer today warned Republicans and the White House not to draw a line in the sand over the wall.

If the president pursues this path, against the wishes of both Republicans and Democrats, as well as the majority of the American people, he will be heading towards a government shutdown which nobody will like and which wont accomplish anything, he wrote in a statement.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi echoed Schumers criticism of Trumps willingness to risk government shutdown in order to secure border wall funding.

Trump will purposefully hurt American communities to force American taxpayers to fund an immoral, ineffective and expensive border wall, she wrote in a statement. She warned of the large financial costs that come with a shutdown, saying, The last time Republicans shut down the government, their callous recklessness cost the American economy $24 billion and 120,000 jobs.

Pelosi signaled that Democrats will push back on Trumps efforts, adding they will stand fast against the immoral, ineffective border wall and the rest of Republicans unacceptable poison pill riders.

While Ryan has emerged as a vocal advocate for a wall, his Senate counterpart McConnell has been more tepid about the idea. When asked in March about how much the wall was a priority for him this year, he replied, Im in favor of border security. There are some places along the border where thats probably not the best way to secure the border. In a press conference in April, McConnell said funding for border security or a wall would be subject to negotiation with our Democratic colleagues.

Lawmakers in the last few years have used the threat of a government shutdown as a tricky negotiating tool. Democrats have said they will not work with Republicans on the budget if they feel like they are being backed into a corner with ultimatums.

During an April 23 interview with ABC News on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that he can't imagine the Democrats would shut down the government over an objection to building a down payment on a wall that can end the lawlessness. In the coming months, Democrats will likely say the same line back to their Republican colleagues.

ABC News' Saisha Talwar and Dylan Wells contributed to this report.

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How Republicans are responding to Trump's government shutdown threat - ABC News