Daily Archives: October 19, 2021

Then theres the political calculus. Several Republican governors, including Abbott in Texas, are facing primary challenges from their right. Some, like DeSantis in Florida and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, have eyes on 2024. Both of those factors are sending GOP governors scrambling to shore up support among the partys base.

That audience is front and center in all of these decisions, Republican consultant Brendan Steinhauser said.

And right now that base is anti-mandate. A recent CBS News/YouGov poll found that 64 percent of Republicans would prefer to vote for a candidate who encourages vaccines but that an even greater number 75 percent want a candidate who opposes mandates. A Morning Consult/POLITICO poll from August found only about 35 percent of Republicans were in favor of mandatory coronavirus vaccines.

Vaccine requirements remain very unpopular with the Republican base, GOP strategist Ryan Williams said. Any support for a vaccine mandate at this point would be damaging for any governor thinking of running for president as a Republican.

DeSantis has built a national reputation for fighting any type of Covid restrictions, including school mask mandates and efforts to force businesses to implement vaccine mandates on staff for customers.

As the Delta variant surged and DeSantis battled schools over mask mandates, his approval rating dropped below 50 percent, according to an August Quinnipiac University poll.

But DeSantis dug in. And as the Delta variant began receding and the number of new infections decreased, DeSantis saw his poll numbers nationally remain high among Republicans. A GOP poll found that DeSantis led former Vice President Mike Pence, 22-15, in a theoretical presidential matchup without former President Donald Trump on the ballot.

Now DeSantis is opening a new battle with the Biden administration over the proposed federal vaccine mandate, vowing to challenge the requirement in federal court and fining a local county $3.57 million after it ordered hundreds of its employees to be vaccinated.

We basically don't want people to be discriminated against, DeSantis told reporters this past week. This has become about politicians wanting to control people. Why would you want to see people lose their livelihoods?

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These Republicans torpedoed vaccine edicts then slipped in the polls - POLITICO

By Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven, North Carolina Health News

Nearly an hour into the August meeting of Macon Countys board of commissioners, Casey Cooper approached the podium. Cooper is the CEO of the Cherokee Indian Hospital. In addition to running the hospital, Cooper serves on a handful of different boards and has three kids in other words, hes busy.

In the interest of efficiency, I will just jump right to the punchline, he began. Its my hope that at the conclusion of this presentation tonight that you will feel compelled to support a resolution to help close the coverage gap in North Carolina.

By close the coverage gap Cooper was talking about expanding Medicaid to offer health insurance to the hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid right now, but dont earn enough to qualify for subsidies to buy an insurance plan on the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

He had good reason to believe Macon County commissioners might support it. Cooper had already given the same presentation to Swain and Jackson counties Boards of Commissioners the month before, after which they unanimously passed resolutions supporting Medicaid expansion.

Jackson and Swain, both rural counties in western North Carolina, arent exactly outliers. In signing their resolutions, they joined two towns in the region, Waynesville in Haywood County and Franklin in Macon County, which already signed resolutions supporting expansion, along with Reidsville in Rockingham County, and two other rural counties Watauga and Franklin that signed their own resolutions.

Brian McMahan, the chairman of Jackson Countys Board of Commissioners, explained that he was in favor of Medicaid expansion before Cooper came to speak with the board, but he described the presentation as thorough and compelling. He said it strengthened his resolve.

We literally have people who are dying because they dont have access to health care, McMahan said. And if thats not enough reason, the fact [is] that its a job creator.

Ben Bushyhead, the chairman of Swain Countys Board of Commissioners, said the same.

We cant afford not to do it, he said. It is not a Republican-Democrat thing at all. Its what the needs are within our county and the people who need these services.

Though Swain and Jackson voted for Republican Donald Trump in the 2020 election, their county commission boards are majority Democratic. Franklin and Wataugas boards were also majority Democratic at the time they passed the resolutions, while the mayors of Waynesville and Franklin were elected without party affiliations.

In North Carolina politics, the issue of Medicaid expansion usually falls along rigid partisan lines: Democrats support it, Republicans oppose it. But Cooper held steadfast to the belief that this Republican region of the state could be persuaded to depart from the party line if only someone would give residents the straight facts.

Macons board agreed to hear Coopers presentation, but gaining the countys support would perhaps pose a greater ideological challenge than Cooper faced in the other WNC counties: four Republicans and one Democrat sit on Macons Board of Commissioners. Nonetheless, he was ready to make his case.

Back in 2019, Dale Wiggins, the Republican then-chairman of Graham Countys Board of Commissioners, publicly clashed with Senate leader Republican Phil Berger (Eden) over Medicaid expansion. Graham Countys board passed a unanimous resolution supporting a bill, co-sponsored by then-Rep. Kevin Corbin (R-Franklin), which would have expanded Medicaid coverage.

What we have learned is if you cut out all the political rhetoric and just get down to the real facts of this issue, which then that puts it on a human being level, its not about Republicans. Its not about Democrats, Wiggins said in a recent conversation. Its about my neighbors, your neighbors, [who] are human beings. And in 2021, people need health care.

Wiggins and Cooper began working closely together at the end of 2020 while serving on the North Carolina Council on Health Care Coverage, a bipartisan group convened by Gov. Roy Cooper tasked with studying how other states expanded health care coverage to its residents, and coming up with plans for how North Carolina might do the same.

North Carolina is one of 12 states that has not expanded Medicaid coverage. The Affordable Care Act originally mandated that states expand their Medicaid coverage, but a 2012 Supreme Court ruling overturned that part of the law, instead making expansion of each states Medicaid program an opt-in policy.

In order to qualify for Medicaid coverage in North Carolina today, Casey Cooper explained in an interview, If you are an adult, you have to be below 42 percent of the federal poverty level to qualify, and, I mean, thats horrible. Thats like $7,000 or $7,300 a year.

If youre a mama with two babies and its not uncommon, right, to be a single mom with two babies you dont qualify for Marketplace subsidies until you get to $21,000 a year, Cooper said. If you make between $9,000 and $21,000 a year, you cant get coverage.

People who work full-time minimum wage jobs in North Carolina fall squarely into this gap. State minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, meaning someone working 40-hours a week would bring home $14,500 before taxes.

Expansion would open up eligibility to workers with and without children earning below 138 percent of the federal poverty level ($23,791 for a family of two).

In North Carolina, there are about a million nonelderly people who are uninsured, according to a 2020 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Were the state to expand Medicaid, between 400,000 and 626,000 of those people would become eligible for coverage. A good chunk of those people live in Western North Carolina.

Cooper said it was overwhelmingly clear that rural North Carolinians and their health systems would benefit from expansion. As he and Wiggins began planning how to get the message out, the advocacy coalition Care4Carolina also got involved.

In March Brittney Lofthouse, engagement coordinator in WNC for Care4Carolina, joined Cooper and Wiggins on a Medicaid expansion information panel held at Southwestern Community College.

I lost my dad to cancer in 2013. And one of the biggest reasons why we lost him as quick as we did was he didnt have health insurance, so he couldnt get treatment for his cancer, said Lofthouse, a Sylva native.

For decades, studies have found that people who are uninsured are far more likely to die from cancer than those with insurance. Lofthouses father died just a month before she gave birth to her first child.

We wanted to focus on how else other families in western North Carolina could be impacted, she said. Knowing that I lost my dad to cancer, and I knew that not having insurance was a primary factor in that, we wanted to see what we could do to kind of bolster that support in the west and kind of dispel a lot of those myths.

They imagined that by addressing each county individually they could tease out the specific data that might persuade people, regardless of their party affiliation, such as how many more people would gain coverage, how many jobs would be created, how much money the counties might save on things like health care for people in jail awaiting pretrial detention, and more.

Cooper gives essentially the same presentation to each county. He begins with context about who conducted and who funded the research hes about to present Georgetown University, George Washington University, and the task force on coverage expansion that he sits on.

He follows with a disclaimer: This data has been shared pretty widely across the state and to my knowledge has not been contested or questioned by anybody.

Then, he customizes his presentation with county specific facts.

While making his case to Macon County this summer, Cooper said about 21.7 percent of your working, nonelderly adults are uninsured, and closing the coverage gap could lead to providing coverage for about 1,300 of your citizens, create about 62 jobs and about $169,000 in county revenues, and about $10 million a year in new business activity.

Then Cooper goes through the myths about expansion.

One of the misconceptions about closing the coverage gap is that the folks that are uninsured are too triflin to work, and its simply not true. The data clearly demonstrates that the majority of folks that are uncovered are working, he told the Macon commissioners. Unfortunately, theyre working and theyre working poor.

Cooper points out that many of the uninsured in the western part of the state are white people, mothers and veterans.

Most of the time, its mamas who are taking care of babies who still have Medicaid, they got their babies covered, theyre getting well child visits for the babies, but these mamas are going without coverage, he said.

Cooper argues that expanded coverage would help rural hospitals by decreasing the number of uninsured people who use the health care services, but arent able to pay their bills. Uninsured patients overusing the emergency room often put rural hospital budgets in the red.

The more folks you can bring into your system that have health insurance coverage, the more people that you can use to offset the loss youre going to have from the uncompensated care, Cooper said.

Then, he gets to the biggest sticking point for many: Theres another misconception that the state of North Carolina cant afford [Medicaid expansion].

Over the next three years, Cooper explains, the cost of expanding Medicaid coverage in the state is estimated to cost about $5 billion. Federal law guarantees that the federal government pays 90% of the cost of expansion beneficiaries indefinitely, leaving the state to cover about $500 million over the next three years.

The state has identified a number of ways to foot its 10% of the bill, he said. Options include premium tax collections on the health care entities now providing coverage through the states Medicaid transformation program, taxes on hospital assessments, and money the state will no longer need to spend on uninsured people.

Now is exactly the right time for North Carolina to expand because there is an additional $1.7 billion worth of incentives for the state of North Carolina if it expands Medicaid, he told the commissioners.

In an effort to convince the 12 states that have not yet expanded Medicaid to do so, the federal government is offering to increase their contribution to each states program by 5%. In 2022, the federal government will pay almost 74% of North Carolinas Medicaid cost, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. If the state expanded, the federal government would pay 79% of the cost for those already enrolled in the program, and 90% of the cost of coverage for those newly added.

On your regular Medicaid, that increase by 5% is estimated to be $1.7 billion over the eight quarters following expansion. And that $1.7 billion has been estimated to cover the state share for six years. That gives the hospitals and the health plans six years to ramp up and to be able to pay the assessments, Cooper said.

Not only is it affordable, this is exactly the right time for the state to do it.

After a few minutes of discussion and questions, the Macon County Board of Commissioners set the resolution to a vote. It passed, 4-1.

Republican commissioner Paul Higdon, the sole no, said at the meeting he thought Coopers presentation was good and compelling, but that the commissioners were the wrong audience for it, considering its a policy voted on at the state level.

Those who voted in favor of Medicaid expansion resolutions disagree.

McMahan, the chairman of Jackson Countys Board of Commissioners, said, It sends a message to the state government to say, We feel like its important for our community, for our area.

Im here. I live and work in the district Sometimes theres this sense of disconnect. [State and federal representatives] dont really have the connections that local people have, McMahan said. I think having that recommendation coming from a local government entity carries some weight.

If you can get all 100 counties in our state to speak with one voice, its probably the most powerful thing you can have, concurred Macon County Commissioner Ronnie Beale. If you get the 548 County Commissioners pulled in one direction, you can get about anything you want passed.

Following Macon Countys yes-vote, Cooper gave his presentation to the commissioners in Haywood, Clay and Cherokee counties. Majority Republican Clay County passed a unanimous resolution in support of expansion last week.

Cherokee Countys board has not yet voted on the resolution, and no commissioners responded to requests for comment.

Kevin Ensley, the Republican chairman of Haywood Countys Board of Commissioners, said he does not plan to put the resolution to a vote.

I mean, I support it. And I think another one of my commissioners does, but I got three more that are a little uncomfortable with it, I guess, he said. Im not ready to put it on the agenda to vote on because I dont think itll pass.

Jennifer Best and Tommy Long are two of the hesitant Haywood County commissioners. Best is an insurance agent. She hasnt sold health insurance for a few years, but when she did she saw many people who fell in the coverage gap.

They deserve coverage, too, but I just dont know who pays for it, Best said.

The funding of the program is also what gives Long pause, though he complimented the presentation.

His comments were well taken and his points about the impoverished western counties health care needs sobering, he said, Certain counties here in the mountains and the Eastern Band have circumstances that limited Medicaid expansion would certainly help.

The Raleigh News and Observer reported in early October that Senate leader Berger indicated behind closed doors that he was open to negotiations involving expansion. However, in a statement last week, Bergers office maintained the senators opinion has not changed, and that he believes Medicaid expansion is bad policy.

At the federal level, legislators are considering offering Marketplace subsidies for residents in non-expansion states who make up to 138% of the federal poverty line and providing coverage through a federal Medicaid program.

In the meantime, Coopers presentations and the votes on local resolutions chug on. At the end of September, Brevard, the largest town in Transylvania County, signed a resolution supporting expansion. Monday evening, Cooper is set to make his case before the Transylvania County Commission.

Story note: A representative for Care4Carolina is quoted in this story. Care4Carolina pays for a sponsorship on NC Health News website.

Correction: This story initially said Medicaid expansion would open eligibility for those making 100% to 138% of the federal poverty rate. Medicaid expansion would open eligibility for anyone making up to 138% of the federal poverty rate.

North Carolina Health News is an independent, non-partisan, not-for-profit, statewide news organization dedicated to covering all things health care in North Carolina. Visit NCHN at northcarolinahealthnews.org.

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From NC Health News: Six Republican counties in WNC pledged their support for Medicaid expansion. What's changed? - Mountain Xpress

Republican legislators said on Thursday that they will not immediately schedule an override vote for a bill that would have allowed police officers to sue people for civil damages in cases of harassment, menacing, assault or injury.

The bill, which was initially approved 12-6 by the Nassau County Legislature in August, was subsequently vetoed by Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. Majority officials said until Legislators Josh Lafazan, who proposed the legislation, and Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) supported an override vote, they would not schedule one.

Because of the 13 vote threshold needed to override a veto by the County Executive, the Majority will not schedule an override vote of the bill prohibiting discrimination against first responders until Legislators Lafazan and DeRiggi-Whitton state that they will support an override, a statement from the Republicans said. The Republican Majority remains committed to protecting our law enforcement from harassment, menacing or attack because of their service to the public.

Efforts to reach Lafazan, an independent from Syosset who caucuses with Democrats, and DeRiggi-Whitton for comment were unavailing.

The Legislature has 30 days to schedule an override after the veto was made on Sept. 27. An override would need 13 votes in the Legislature, which the Republicans control with an 11-8 majority.

Under the legislation, if a first responder is in uniform or is clearly identified as a first responder, there is an irrebuttable presumption that the harassment, menacing, assault or injury is motivated by his or her status as a first responder.

First responders would be able to sue protesters or other civilians for up to $25,000 for such actions, or $50,000 during a riot. Police officers and other first responders are already protected in the Nassau County Human Rights Law against housing, employment and public accommodations discrimination.

The police are essential to protect citizens freedom to speak, or refrain from speaking, from individuals who would use threats and violence to silence those with whom they disagree or to enforce conformity of thought, the bill states.

Curran, in a veto letter, expressed concerns that the law would intimidate free citizens from engaging in peaceful demonstrations without fear of retaliation. She also said there was no consensus from elected officials that the legislation was necessary at this time.

Curran, a Democrat, also referred to the opinion of the office of state Attorney General Letitia James, whom the county executive asked for advice on the bill. Curran said James office questioned the bills constitutionality.

In September, Nassau County was deemed the safest county in America, according to U.S. News & World Report, for the second consecutive year.

The report, which factors in per capita spending for health and emergency services in its ratings, said Nassau received a perfect score this year.

According to federal statistics, the county spends $1,148 per capita on police and fire protection, compared with the national median of $359. The countys violent crime rate is 143.6 per 100,000 people, compared with the national average of 204.6 per 100,000 people, according to the statistics.

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Republican legislators will not schedule override of police discrimination bill, for now - Featured - The Island Now

Election Day 2021 will be another day of continuing misery for the New Jersey Republican Party. It will mark another GOP event of self-destruction due to the pernicious political cancer of Trumpism.

The prime victim will be the GOP gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli. He was a bright shining light for the NJGOP four years ago when he courageously waved the anti-Trump banner, but since then he literally sold his soul to Trumpism. He went so far as to appear as a featured speaker at a Stop the Steal rally last November, and if you believe his denials of lack of knowledge of the rally purpose, I have a bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn that I can sell you.

Most shamefully, after the despicable and traitorous Trump- inspired and fomented Day of Insurrection on January 6, 2021, Jack tried initially to blame Democrats and Republicans equally, only first publicly ascribing the primary blame and responsibility to Donald Trump eight months later at the first debate on September 28, 2021.

Ciattarelli would have been a substantial underdog in this campaign to begin with, given the fact that Phil Murphy has been New Jerseys most successful governor since Tom Kean. The polls show that the electorate rightly gives him favorable ratings, on balance, for his handling of the Covid crisis and overall job performance. From an historical point of view, Murphy has created a magnificent legacy as Americas leading social justice governor, with towering accomplishments in the areas of environmental justice and voting rights protection for New Jerseyans of color.

Ciattarelli totally failed to change any of the pre-existing election dynamics in the two debates. Murphy will win reelection by at least a high single digit margin and at best an overwhelming landslide if urban turnout is high.

Yet Ciattarelli is not the only election day catastrophe facing the New Jersey Republican Party. The Republicans are a virtual certainty to lose two state Senate seats they currently hold, in the 2nd and 16th Districts. In both districts, the incumbent Republican Senators are not seeking reelection.

In the 2nd District, comprised solely of municipalities from Atlantic County, inthe battle of the Vinces, incumbent Democratic Assemblyman Vince Mazzeo is well positioned to defeat former Republican Assemblyman Vince Polistina. People who have heard or seen Mazzeo do not as a rule confuse him with the genius Albert Einstein or the suave and urbane Jack Kennedy. He is a person, however, of genuine decency and character, especially in his business affairs, a quality most valued in the era of Trumpian excess.

In the 16th District, consisting mostly of Somerset and Hunterdon County municipalities, Democrat Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker is an overwhelming favorite to defeat former Republican Congressman Mike Pappas, who is well on his way to earning a reputation as the Harold Stassen of Somerset County a one time winner, but now a perennial losing candidate.

Nor is the overwhelming advantage of 52-28 that the Democrats currently enjoy in the State Assembly likely to change. Republicans profess hopes of picking up Assembly seats in the 2nd and 16th Districts and also the 11th District, solely comprised of Monmouth County municipalities. GOP 2nd District Assembly Candidate and former Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian, while an underdog, does have an outside chance of scoring an upset.

As for the 11th and 16th Districts, the GOP Assembly hopes are pipe-dreams. In the 11th District, the Democratic Senate reelection candidate is Vin Gopal, a figure of outstanding political and governmental accomplishment, giving the Democratic Assembly incumbents Joann Downey andEric Houghtaling an extra level of electoral protection.

If the New Jersey Republican Party were a synagogue, Election Day 2021 would be a most appropriate day for Republicans to recite the Mourners Kaddish for the deceased, praying for consolation from the Almighty. On Election Day 2021, however, New Jersey Republicans will be able to take supreme solace in a magnificent source of consolation, Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield, who will defeat incumbent Democratic Senator Dawn Addiego in New Jerseys 8th Legislative District, consisting largely of Burlington County with four Camden County and one Atlantic County municipalities.

In a nutshell, Jean Stanfield is a state legislator with a compelling biography, flawless character and decency, superb demonstrated competence, a magnificently warmly attractive personality without offensive flamboyance, and a significant departure from the current image New Jersey voters have of Republican candidates.

New Jersey voters will always deservedly hold former Governor Tom Kean in the highest esteem. Since the days of Tom Kean, however, the image of the Republican candidate has changed, largely due to the less than stellar legacies of other statewide GOP office holders and candidates. And the contrast between Jean Stanfield and these other GOP so-called luminaries is vivid.

Jean Stanfield is NOT a Republican woman from the country club wine and brie set, pontificating to other Republicans from an outdated playbook as to how GOP recovery in New Jersey and nationally can be effectuated.

Jean Stanfield is NOT a bully, an object of ridicule sitting bovinely on a beach chair, giving the appearance of being Nero while Rome burns.

And on the personal level, there is another aspect of Jean Stanfield that is most endearing. At the tender age of 64, she is already a GREAT -grandmother of two great-grandchildren! That is an accomplishment I most admire, as I did not become a grandfather until the age of 65!

Jean Stanfield is indeed the paradigm of what New Jersey Republicans should be seeking in future candidates for governor and US Senator.

In an era where Republican toxicity among African-American voters is at an all- time high, due to the Trumpian racism and bigotry now institutionalized in the GOP, Jean Stanfield is a remarkable exception, a mother of an interracial family. Her InsiderNJ column, Our Black Community Has Withstood Trauma for too Long was a powerful message that should not just have been adopted as required reading for the New Jersey Republican State Committee. It deserves to be must reading for all Americans.

Indeed, Jean Stanfield is the personification of the American dream. The daughter of working-class educators, she worked her way through college and law school and entered politics by being elected sheriff of Burlington County in 2001 and serving in that capacity until 2019. Her record as sheriff was distinguished by excellent grassroots outreach regarding all Burlington County community service programs.

In 2019, Jean was elected to the Assembly from Burlington Countys 8th District. She has served on the Assembly Human Services, Education, and Law and Public Safety Committees.

In nearly a quarter of a century of public service, including her tenure as assistant prosecutor in the Burlington County Prosecutors Office.Jean Stanfield has been untouched by scandal. Her trademark is competent honest service. The word you hear most often in connection with Jean Stanfield in Burlington County is beloved.

The incumbent Democrat Senator Dawn Addiego was elected to the Senate as a Republican in 2011, but switched to the Democratic Party in January, 2019. Retention of her seat is a major priority for the South Jersey George Norcross led Democrats, due to the power of Senatorial Courtesy. With Burlington County residents Troy Singleton representing the 7th Legislative District and Addiego representing the 8th, the Democrats have two Senators with Burlington County residency, and accordingly, each having senatorial courtesy plenary power to block all appointments of Burlington County residents that require State Senate approval. The election of a Republican Burlington resident Senator, Jean Stanfield would substantially reduce the leverage of the Democratic Party over such State appointments.

Accordingly, the Norcross- led South Jersey Democrat leadership cabal has arranged for a torrent of funds in support of the Addiego campaign and a plethora of negative anti-Jean Stanfield commercials. These commercials have failed to lay a glove on her.

For the Republican Party of South Jersey, a victory in the 8th District Senate Race will be the 2021 political version of the1942 Britishvictory at El Alamein, a decisive turning point in the Second World War. And Jean Stanfield makes a most compelling and commanding version of British General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery.

My next column will focus on the ramifications of a Stanfield victory, both statewide and in South Jersey. As the late Tonight show host Jack Paar used to say, more to come!

Alan J. Steinberg served as regional administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as executive director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.

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On Election Day 2021, the NJ Republican Consolation will be Jean Stanfield - InsiderNJ

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The Texas Legislature has signed off on new congressional districts that shore up the GOPs dominance and yield little ground to the people of color who have driven the state's growth.

Wrapping up their work to build a decade of population change into new political maps, the Senate and House on Monday each approved a negotiated, final version of the congressional map, which will go to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his signature. In complete control of the redistricting process, Republicans designed a map that will tighten their hold on diversifying parts of the state where the partys grip on power was waning and lock in the GOPs majority in the 38-seat delegation for the U.S. House.

The map also incorporates two additional House seats the state gained, the most of any state in this years reapportionment. Though Texas received those districts because of explosive population growth 95% of it attributable to people of color Republicans opted to give white voters effective control of both, which were drawn in the Houston and Austin areas.

The Senate approved the map on a 18-13 vote. The House followed with an 84-59 vote.

Previewing the legal battles that will follow, Democrats decried the lack of adequate representation for voters of color, shunning a map that diminishes their voices instead of reflecting the states changing racial and demographic makeup. Half of the 4 million residents the state gained in the past 10 years were Hispanic.

"What we're doing in passing this congressional map is a disservice to the people of Texas. What we're doing is hurtful to millions of Texans it's shameful," state Rep. Rafael Ancha, the Dallas Democrat who chairs the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, told his colleagues before the vote. "I'd love to be able to say it is a stain on the legacy of voting rights, but that seems to be the playbook decade after decade after decade in this state."

The Republicans who led the redistricting process offered little defense of the maps from the Senate and House floors before the final votes. They have previously said the congressional map was drafted based on a series of "priorities," including partisanship and keeping communities of interest together. They've also argued the map complies with federal laws protecting voters of color from discrimination, though they have declined to offer specifics about their legal analysis.

But in fortifying GOP districts, the congressional map often manipulates district lines around communities of color. In some instances, Republicans drew diverse suburban areas into sprawling rural districts dominated by white voters. They reconfigured a district in the typically blue Rio Grande Valley to boost Republican performance even though the areas Hispanic voters usually dont prefer GOP candidates. And Republicans rejected repeated Democratic efforts and pleas from members of the public to create additional opportunities for voters of color to meaningfully influence elections.

Those efforts focused in part on North Texas, where Hispanics make up the largest portion of Dallas Countys population and where the white population declined over the last decade.

Republicans placed a new district, the 37th Congressional District, in the Austin area to capture Democratic-leaning voters that were endangering the prospects of Republican incumbents in nearby districts. They also drew in a new district, the 38th Congressional District, that would offer Republicans safe territory in the Houston area. In both districts, white residents would make up more than 60% of eligible voters.

During the Senate's first debate over the map earlier this month, state Sen. Joan Huffman, the Houston Republican who led the Senate's redistricting process, told her colleagues her team had seen "no strong basis in evidence" to create a new opportunity district for voters of color.

In the final map, Republicans reduced the number of districts in which Hispanics make up the majority of eligible voters from eight to seven. A House effort to just barely maintain the Hispanic-majority electorate of a Central Texas district was undone during backdoor negotiations ahead of Mondays vote. The number of districts with Black residents as the majority of eligible voters drops from one to zero. Meanwhile, the state would have 23 districts with a white majority among eligible voters up from 22 in the current configuration.

The 2020 census showed that the states white and Hispanic populations are nearly equal in size. The white population increased by just 187,252 over the last 10 years while the state gained nearly 11 Hispanic residents for every additional white resident.

This years political mapmaking marks the first time in nearly half a century that Texas lawmakers are free to redraw the states maps without federal oversight meant to protect voters of color from discrimination. But like the maps for the statehouse, the congressional map has already drawn a legal challenge.

Earlier Monday, a group of individual voters and organizations that represent Latino voters filed a federal lawsuit alleging the maps intentionally discriminate against Latinos by unconstitutionally diluting Latino voting strength and violate the federal Voting Rights Act.

Throughout their path to the governors desk, civil rights groups and redistricting experts repeatedly alerted lawmakers that their proposals would undermine the electoral strength of voters of color and raise issues under the Voting Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits discrimination based on race. The Legislatures long history of violating those protections includes the last round of redistricting in 2011, when lawmakers were found to have intentionally discriminated against Hispanic and Black voters in their mapmaking.

On the partisan front, the GOP appeared to prioritize using the redraw following the 2020 census to protect incumbents instead of aggressively running up the party's numbers.

In narrowing the battlefield of competitive races, the map also benefits incumbent Democratic members of Congress. Based on 2020 presidential election results, if the map had been in place at the time, there would have been only one district in the state the 15th Congressional District in South Texas with a margin of victory between Donald Trump and Joe Biden of less than five points.

But the map still heavily favors Republicans.

The states current delegation consists of 23 Republicans and 13 Democrats. The new map increases the number of districts that would have voted for Donald Trump in 2020 from 22 to 25. Statewide, Trump got 52.1% of the vote.

Republicans carved a new path for the party in CD-15, anchored in the Rio Grande Valley, by flipping it from a district that Biden narrowly won to one that Trump wouldve carried by 2.8 points. That shores up neighboring CD-34, which was unexpectedly close in 2020 but would have had a healthy Democratic margin of victory under the new map. The final version of the map draws CD-15 incumbent, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-McAllen, into the reconfigured CD-34 where the incumbent is retiring.

Among Democrats few wins in the redistricting battle, the final map keeps incumbent U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green in different districts. Republicans had originally proposed pairing the two Houston Democrats who represent large Black populations and some of the citys historically Black neighborhoods.

The House undid that pairing over the weekend, following outcry from Jackson Lees constituents who spoke against the change in large numbers during a public hearing. Both lawmakers also came to the Capitol to oppose the configuration.

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Texas GOP passes congressional maps that protect conservative power - The Texas Tribune

House Ways and Means Committee member discusses IRS surveillance on 'Fox Business Tonight'

Republican senators sniped back and forth with the White House and Treasury Department Tuesday as debate over Democrats' yet-to-be-written IRS bank account reporting proposal flared yet again on Capitol Hill.

The reporting requirement is one potential provision in Democrats' unwritten reconciliation bill. It would require banks to report the inflows and outflows of certain accounts to the IRS in an effort to find unreported taxable income and help fund the bill's other social and environmental programs.

Democrats Tuesday touted a new proposed threshold for their plan that they say would exempt wage income and people with less than $10,000 of overall yearly bank activity instead of $600, underscoring their commitment to target rich people for tax enforcement. Meanwhile, Republicans argued that the new plan would still sweep up many regular Americans despite what Democrats say is just an effort to catch rich tax cheats.

BIDEN ADMINISTRATION SCALES BACK IRS BANK-MONITORING PLAN AMID GROWING PUSHBACK

"The average American will be picked up by this plan and I think virtually every small business," Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said at a press conference.

"If the only income that a household has is wages, I'm pretty sure that they're going to spend some of that income and hit the $10,000 threshold. And then they're pulled into the game," Crapo added, implying that if a wage worker spends more than $10,000, they would be included

Democrats' initial proposal would have required banks to report inflow and outflow information of every bank account with more than $600 in total yearly activity to the IRS, no matter the source of income or size of any individual transaction.

"The National Debt Clock" in New York City on 44th Street above an Internal Revenue Service office. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images) U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the International Union of Operating Engineers Local (. (Photo by James Leynse/Corbis via Getty Images) Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

But the Treasury, which backed the initial reporting requirement, pushed back on Crapo's characterization of the adjusted proposal. It said that for a person making only wages, their expenditures up their total yearly wages are exempt from counting toward the $10,000 threshold too not just their wage income.

A person who makes wages, salary or receives government benefits, according to the Treasury, would only be subject to the reporting requirement if they make $10,000 in income from another source, or if they spend $10,000 more than their wage income.

Crapo's comment, notably, was made when the main source of information on the proposal early Tuesday was a Washington Post story published late Monday about Democrats' adjusted proposal.

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"The revised version of the bank reporting proposal will also weaken its scope by exempting all wage income from counting toward the $10,000 threshold," the story said of the exemption for wage earners, without detailing whether their spending would count.

Other bits of information including a statement by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Treasury Department fact sheet lacked details about how the proposal would work, and therefore it wasn't clear how it would apply to wage earners who spend more than $10,000.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks during a news conference, after attending the G7 finance ministers meeting, at Winfield House in London, Britain June 5, 2021. Justin Tallis/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo (Justin Tallis/Pool via REUTERS / Reuters Photos)

"Under the current proposal, financial accounts with money flowing in and out that totals less than $10,000 annually are not subject to any additional reporting," the Treasury fact sheet said. "Further, when computing this threshold, the new, tailored proposal carves out wage and salary earners and federal program beneficiaries, such that only those accruing other forms of income in opaque ways are a part of the reporting regime.

"Todays new proposal reflects the Administrations strong belief that we should zero in on those at the top of the income scale who dont pay the taxes they owe, while protecting American workers by setting the bank account threshold at $10,000 and providing an exemption for wage earners like teachers and firefighters," Yellen said in her statement.

Shortly after Crapo and several other Republicans hammered the adjusted proposal Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki also weighed in on it.

"People who get W-2s that's not what we're talking about here," Psaki said. "We're talking about high net worth individuals who are not paying the taxes they owe."

Psaki added: "The $10,000 is, the, anything under that would not be applicable, nor would people who receive W-2s."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., also said on a Tuesday press call that the threshold will be based on "the total number of dollars that have come into an account and the total numbers that have gone out, not including wage W-2 income."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, March 1, 2021, to unveil a proposed Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (AP / AP Newsroom)

There is still technically no legislative text for the adjusted reporting proposal information is limited to a series of statements and fact sheets released by Democrats and the Treasury Department. So it is impossible to know all the details of it.

But according to the information that is available, it would still almost certainly sweep up many investors and other people who are far from millionaires. And it would send bank inflow and outflow information for virtually every small business to the IRS.

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"The exclusion of payroll and federal program beneficiaries does not address millions of other taxpayers who will be impacted by this proposal," Crapo said on the Senate floor later Tuesday. "Not every nonwage worker is a millionaire. How about self-employed hairstylists, convenience store owners, and farmers, just to name a few?"

Crapo added: "If enacted, this new proposal would still raise some of the same privacy concerns, increase tax preparation costs for individuals and small businesses, and create operational challenges, particularly for community banks."

"It's a stupid idea," Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Tuesday. He added that Iowans "don't want the peering eyes of the IRS snooping on them."

Grassley went on to cite a recent leak of IRS information to ProPublica as evidence that Americans' banking data would not be safe in the hands of the IRS.

FOX Business' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

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Republicans, Democrats and Treasury wrangle over effects of Biden's new IRS bank account reporting proposal - Fox Business

A former Forsyth County Republican Party chairman is accused of stealing from a church and Habitat for Humanity store in Brunswick County.

John NathanTabor, is charged with four counts of felony larceny of motor vehicle parts, felony larceny of a motor vehicle, felony larceny, felony breaking and entering, and misdemeanor injury to real property in Brunswick County.

Tabor was arrested in Ocean Isle Beach the night of Oct. 7and is accused ina string of catalytic converter thefts, includingfromSeaside United Methodist Church and a Habitat for Humanity Restore. He also allegedly stole catalytic converters from two other residents, arrest warrants state.

Tabor, 48, was in custody at the Brunswick County detention center on a $75,000 secured bond. The detention center confirmed Tabor was released on Oct. 14.

In August, Tabor was alsoaccused of cyberstalking the pastor of the Kerwin Baptist Church in Forsyth County. He has an upcoming court date for the misdemeanor cyberstalking charge on Nov. 5, according to N.C. Courts. He also has an upcoming court date onNov. 10 for a charge of cyberstalking with the use of electronic communication in Catawba County.

According to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, Tabor's broker license was permanently revoked in May following a commission hearing which found Tabor allegedlyattempted to collect finder's fees while his company was unlicensed.

Tabor was the chairman of the Forsyth County Republican Party from 2009 until 2012 and branded himself as a "biblically-based" conservative.

He is scheduled to appear in court on the Brunswick larceny charges on Jan. 4, according to N.C. Courts.

Reporter John Orona can be reached at 910-343-2327or jorona@gannett.com.

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Former Republican party chairman accused of stealing car parts in Brunswick - StarNewsOnline.com

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New York state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy kicked off his Just Say No tour on Staten Island Monday in opposition of five ballot proposals that will be on the ballot on Nov. 2.

Langworthy was joined by the boroughs Republican delegation - North Shore City Council candidate Patricia Rodinelli, Assemblyman Michael Reilly (South Shore), Sen. Andrew Lanza (South Shore), Councilman Joe Borelli (South Shore), Borough President candidate Vito Fossella, Mid-Island City Council candidate David Carr, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (Staten Island/South Brooklyn), Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (Mid-Island) and Staten Island GOP Chairman Anthony Reinhart -- who are also in opposition to the ballot proposals.

The main opposition is to three of the five proposals:

The other two proposals would add a new amendment guaranteeing clean air and water to the state constitution and allow residents to sue in certain circumstances. It would also raise the limit on claims in the citys Civil Court from $25,000 to $50,000.

(Staten Island Advance/Kristin F. Dalton)

Langworthy said its his belief, and that of the Republican party, that the ballot proposals defy common sense and threaten democracy.

Its almost as if Democrats are working to legalize rigged elections, Langworthy said.

Fossella referenced the 2020 presidential election and how many Americans and lawmakers alike are still questioning the validity of the results. Youd think people would want to make sure the election is fair, Fossella continued.

Regarding same-day voter registration, there is a consensus among the GOP members that removing the process where city Board of Election (BOE) workers verify a persons identity, district, and eligibility prior to election day would undoubtedly increase fraudulent votes.

Mallotakis said its completely inappropriate.

These proposals are nothing more than an attempt by Democrats to increase their strangle hold on the state of New York. They undermine the integrity of the election; thats exactly what [Democrats] want, Lanza said.

Easy to vote, hard to cheat its the American way, Lanza said.

Borelli, who spoke briefly, said hes confident the people of Staten Island will vote against the proposals and vote Republican because they are frustrated with the one-party rule.

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Former President Donald Trump speaks during a "Save America" rally in Perry, Ga., on September 25, 2021. AP Photo/Ben Gray

Trump loyalists have become the dominant voice in many GOP chapters across Georgia, per the AJC.

The sea change threatens GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, who is loathed by the former president.

The wave of new leadership is set to shift the party's agenda on the local and state levels.

For decades, Cobb County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, boasted one of the most influential Republican Party chapters in the state, propelling the careers of well-known lawmakers like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Johnny Isakson.

However, in recent years, what was once a solidly Republican suburban bastion has morphed into a politically-competitive jurisdiction where Democrats have been ascendant over the last decade - which culminated in President Joe Biden's countywide victory in the 2020 election, along with the locality backing Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in their respective races earlier this year.

In the wake of Georgia supporting Biden in 2020, local Republican chapters - including the Cobb County GOP - have become increasingly dominated by loyalists of former President Donald Trump, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was endorsed by Trump in 2018, is now on the outs with the former president after refusing to overturn Biden's victory in Georgia last fall, rejecting calls to initiate a legislative session to install pro-Trump electors.

Now, animosity against the sitting GOP governor has spread from the party's kingmaker to the grassroots level.

Four years ago, Kemp was welcomed with open arms by the Cobb County GOP when he kicked off his nascent gubernatorial bid. However, in late September, he was censured by the organization for failing to meet campaign promises on immigration, party chairperson Salleigh Grubbs told the Marietta Daily Journal.

"[Kemp] has consistently said, 'I've got a big truck in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself,'" she told the publication, alluding to a widely-viewed advertisement from the governor's first campaign. "So the resolution portion of it says that Gov. Brian Kemp be censured for his failure to keep his campaign promises and meet his obligations to end illegal immigration in the state of Georgia."

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Rep. Jody Hice is running in a GOP primary to oust Brad Raffensperger as Georgia's secretary of state. Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Hice in the race. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Trump boosters are now driving the agenda within local GOP chapters, even more so now that the former president continues to repeat debunked claims about the 2020 election and tease a potential 2024 campaign.

According to the AJC, Trump loyalists have wrestled control of the local GOP machinery "in at least a dozen counties" in Georgia; while the loyalists have brought new energy to the local organizations, they have also "contributed to the ongoing friction" that the party must overcome to win in 2022.

Trump has so far refused to endorse Kemp in 2022, and he's eagerly seeking to replace Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger with conservative Rep. Jody Hice next year. Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has been highly critical of the former president's election claims, declined to run for reelection in 2022. And former NFL star Herschel Walker is the leading 2022 Republican Senate candidate to contest Democrat Raphael Warnock in what will likely shape up as one of the most competitive races in the country.

DeAnna Harris, who leads the Cobb County Young Republicans and opposed the censure of Kemp, told the AJC that it was essential for the GOP to present a united front to voters.

"All families have disagreements, but we've got to learn how to disagree in private and move forward in public together," she said. "Because it's going to set the stage for next year - and the next presidential election."

Harris also said that the "Trump takeover" is not just about optics, but is indicative of allies having a say in the party agenda, along with their ability to recruit candidates and spread their message to voters.

Trump for years has rebuked party members who were not firmly in his camp, and his loyalists are now waging an "internal war on mainstream Republicans who long controlled the gears of power," according to the AJC.

In recent months, the changes within local parties have been swift.

Kerry Luedke, who chaired the Cherokee County GOP for much of 2020 and focused on turnout efforts, told the AJC that she was ousted from her post after a wave of activists arrived, inspired by former Trump strategist Steve Bannon's call for loyalists to seize control of the party.

"While I was out there knocking on doors for the runoff candidates, they were Christmas shopping. But in their view, we had to go," she said. "It didn't really matter to some of these activists what we had done. They just wanted a clean sweep."

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Trump loyalists are leading a 'takeover' of local Republican parties across Georgia - Yahoo News