Category Archives: Liberal

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Posted: Jul 19, 2017 12:01 AM

Recently, Gallup published the results of its annual Values and Beliefs poll.

The headline of the report speaks for itself: "Americans Hold Record Liberal Views on Most Moral Issues."

Gallup has been doing this poll since 2001, and the change in public opinion on the moral issues surveyed has been in one direction -- more liberal.

Of 19 issues surveyed in this latest poll, responses on 10 are the most liberal since the survey started.

Sixty-three percent say gay/lesbian relations are morally acceptable -- up 23 points from the first year the question was asked. Sixty-two percent say having a baby outside of marriage is OK -- up 17 points. Unmarried sex, 69 percent -- up 16 points. Divorce, 73 percent -- up 14 points.

More interesting, and of greater consequence, is what people actually do, rather than what they think. And, not surprisingly, the behavior we observe in our society at large reflects these trends in values.

Hence, the institution of traditional marriage is crumbling, Americans are having fewer children, and, compared with years gone by, the likelihood that children are born out of the framework of marriage has dramatically increased.

Undoubtedly, the liberals in academia, in the media, in politics, see this as good news. After all, doesn't removing the "thou shalt not's" that limit life's options liberate us?

Isn't the idea of freedom supposed to be, according to them, that you have a green light to do whatever you want, as long as you're not hurting someone else?

But here's the rub. How do you measure if you are hurting someone else?

No one lives in a vacuum. We all live in a country, in communities. We are social beings as well as individuals, no matter what your political philosophy happens to be. Everyone's behavior has consequences for others.

For instance, more and more research shows the correlation between the breakdown of the traditional family and poverty.

In 2009, Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution published his "success sequence." According to Haskins, someone who completes high school, works full time, and doesn't have children until after marriage has only a 2 percent chance of being poor.

A new study from the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies focuses on millennials -- those born between 1980-1984. And this study reaches conclusions similar to those of Haskins.

According to this study, only 3 percent of millennials who have a high school diploma, who are working full time, and who are married before having children are poor. On the other hand, 53 percent of millennials who have not done these three things are poor.

Behavior increasing the likelihood of poverty does have consequences on others. American taxpayers spend almost a trillion dollars a year to help those in poverty, a portion of whom would not be in this situation if they lived their lives differently.

But the same liberals who scream when Republicans look for ways to streamline spending on antipoverty programs like Medicaid, scream just as loudly at any attempt to expose young people to biblical values that teach traditional marriage and chastity outside of marriage.

The percent of American adults that are married dropped from 72 percent in 1960 to 52 percent in 2008. The percentage of our babies born to unmarried women increased from 5 percent in 1960 to 41 percent by 2008.

This occurred against a backdrop of court orders removing all vestiges of religion from our public spaces, beginning with banning school prayer in 1962, and then the legalization of abortion in 1973. In 2015, the Supreme Court redefined marriage.

Losing all recognition that personal and social responsibility matters, that the biblical tradition that existed in the cradle of our national founding is still relevant, is bankrupting us morally and fiscally.

We are long overdue for a new, grand awakening.

Women's March Organizer Labels CNN's Tapper 'Alt Right' for Calling Out Her Group

What McConnell Said When He Was Asked to Justify Health Care Failure to Voters

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Liberal Values Are Bankrupting Us - Townhall

Toronto Sun

Plant closure underscores Liberal energy blunders Toronto Sun Because of the incompetence of the Kathleen Wynne and Dalton McGuinty Liberal governments, Ontarians are now facing a perfect storm of multiple energy crises. They're paying the highest electricity rates in Canada - which the Liberals say they're going ...

Excerpt from:

Plant closure underscores Liberal energy blunders - Toronto Sun

One of the candidates vying to be the next West Australian senator for the LiberalParty has described supporters of refugee-friendly policies as "a bunch of cockroaches" swarming all over his former electorate.

Michael Sutherland, the former Speaker in the WA parliamentwho lost his inner city seat in March, made the comments at a Liberal Party event in Sydney last month.

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Canadian-born Queensland senator Larissa Waters is forced to resign after discovering she is a dual citizen.

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Warnings have been issued about Australia's lax building laws and the risk of a Grenfell style fire happening here, during a Senate inquiry into non-compliant cladding.

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Ethan Wright had a close call after falling off his scooter without a helmet and is now fronting a new publication that targets child safety practices.

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Warning: graphic images. A cooler bag bearing a swastika and a bloodied animal head was left out the front of Islamic College of Brisbane.

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A plane bound for Brisbane returned to Perth because of this one passenger, who had to be forcibly removed from the flight.

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In the prequel to Prime Suspect, follow a young Jane Tennison in the early days of her police career as a probationary constable.

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The Greens leader has responded to suggestions Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam should repay their salaries after both resigned from Parliament because they hold dual citizenship.

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Family and friends have gathered to remember Justine Damond who was shot and killed by a US police officer, while the PM says the government is pushing for answers.

Canadian-born Queensland senator Larissa Waters is forced to resign after discovering she is a dual citizen.

He is one of the five menrevealedto bevying in this weekend's pre-selection for the Senate vacancy created by the retirement of Liberal Chris Back. Born in South Africa,Mr Sutherland has refused to provide proof he has relinquished his dual-citizenship,despite two Greens senators resigning in the past weekafter it emerged they were citizens of other countries.

Speaking at a panel discussion on how the Liberals can combat anti-fracking campaign groups, Mr Sutherland said such activists had overrun his former electorate of Mount Lawley.

"My seat was an inner city seat and these people were crawling all over the seat, so, it's a big problem," he said.

He then turned his attention to the organisation representing Western Australia's 139councils (WALGA)for promoting refugee-friendly spaces.

"Youknow WALGA as well gets involved in things like refugee-friendly zones and if we don't all stand together and fight this bunch of cockroaches, we're going to have a real problem."

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Liberals attending can be heard laughing atMr Sutherland's comments in audioobtained by Fairfax Media.

The Refugee Council said in 2015 there were146 Welcome Zones created by local governments across the country. The Refugee Welcome Zones is a voluntary scheme created in 2002 to encourage councils to help refugees, people who have fled persecution in their home countries, settle in their new homes.

Under the scheme, the Refugee Council suggests local governments organise street fairs, hold picnics andfund community projects that help resettle refugees and develop English tutoring programs through local libraries.

Asked to clarify his comments, Mr Sutherland cited Russian communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin.

"The 'cockroaches'are the greenies and activists I referred to -they have infiltrated WALGA local councils and wherever they can.

"WALGA and the local councils who promote this stuff are better describedby the term used by Lenin, 'Useful idiots,'" he said.

"I did not know of the Refugee Zone business until my wife, who is a councillor, came home and told me about it.I nearly fell off my chair as I did when I learned that WALGA is encouraging councils to disinvest from financial institutions who support fossil fuel industries.

"I am waiting for my local council to do away with all fossil fuel vehicles, perhaps we will have 'sheep in the meadows'to mow the park lawns.

"People must not squeal when there is mass unemployment which is coming with this nonsense coupled with mechanisation."

He also released to Fairfax Media his letter to State Council formally seeking their support ahead of this Saturday's preselection.

In it he vowed to continue to fight "left-wing groups who wish to shut down or curtail economic development."

And he said he would champion "maintaining strong borders and combating the existential threatsfaced by Australia caused by instability in the Pacific Region and by Islamic terrorism."

Former staffer to the influential right-wing powerbrokercabinet minister MathiasCormann, SladeBrockman, is considered most likely to win the pre-selection contest.

Dual Nationality

Mr Sutherland was born in South Africa in 1954. His father served for the South African army in the Second World War in Egypt, where he met Mr Sutherland's mother - a Lebanese Christian who spoke Arabic, French, Italian and Greek. He moved to Australia in 1987, and held onto to his dual nationality while in state parliament, as there is no rule against dual citizens in the WA legislature.

Earlier this month he assured Fairfax Media that he is no longer a dual-citizen.

Since then, the shock revelations of dual citizenship that forced two Greens senators to resign haveprompted calls for all MPs born overseas to provide proof, and not just assurances, that they have relinquished their second citizenships.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott, who has faced a relentless online campaign claiming he still holds a British passport, was the first to provide evidence that he gave up his dual-nationality before standing for Parliament.

WA Liberal Ian Goodenough has also provided documentation. But Mr Sutherland said the people who "needed to know" would be shown the evidence and not the public.

"I am a solicitor.I have attended to the necessary -the people who need to know are aware of my actions," he said.

"To reiterate, I have relinquished my South African citizenship," he said.

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Refugee and fracking activists a 'bunch of cockroaches', says Liberal pursuing Senate vacancy - The Sydney Morning Herald

The Tony Abbott-aligned group urging NSW Liberals to attend a party reform meeting this weekend is campaigning with a political app used by the organisation behind the 2010 National Tea Party Convention in the United States.

The app being used by the group, the Democratic Reform Movement, is created by Right Mobile Pty Ltd.

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In October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull draws laughter from his colleagues after claiming the Liberal Party is not governed by backroom deals. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

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Warnings have been issued about Australia's lax building laws and the risk of a Grenfell style fire happening here, during a Senate inquiry into non-compliant cladding.

Play Video Don't Play

The Greens leader has responded to suggestions Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam should repay their salaries after both resigned from Parliament because they hold dual citizenship.

Play Video Don't Play

Family and friends have gathered to remember Justine Damond who was shot and killed by a US police officer, while the PM says the government is pushing for answers.

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Labor will support all 50 of Chief Scientist Alan Finkel's energy policy recommendations, says Opposition Leader Bill Shorten. Vision courtesy Ten Eyewitness News.

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The deputy Greens leader becomes the second to resign in less than a week.

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Malcolm Turnbull explains how his new super department headed by Peter Dutton will work.

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Not everyone in the Liberal Party is happy with the idea of Peter Dutton leading a super portfolio including ASIO, the AFP and Border Force.

In October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull draws laughter from his colleagues after claiming the Liberal Party is not governed by backroom deals. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.

It gives mobile phone users access to videos and articles featuring Mr Abbott and others arguing for an overhaul of the NSW Liberal Party preselection rules and urges party members to attend.

The same template was used by Right Mobile to create an app for Tea Party Nation, which organised the 2010 convention for the Tea Party conservative Republican splinter group at which former Republican governor Sarah Palin was keynote speaker.

Fairfax Media has also learnt questions are being asked about $10,000 in party funds spent on the Democratic Reform Movement campaign by the Federal Electorate Conference for Mr Abbott's seat of Warringah.

The reform group is led by Warringah FEC president Walter Villatora.

Internal documents show Warringah FEC spent $10,334.90 on a "Democratic Reform Workshop".

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This is understood to be the subject of a complaint to NSW Liberal head office ahead of the Party Futures Convention to be held at Rosehill racecourse this weekend.

The convention is set to thrash out changes to how state and federal candidates are preselected by the NSW Liberals.

The Democratic Reform Movement is pushing a Warringah FEC motion to introduce plebiscites whereby every local party member would get a vote. At present, voting is restricted to branch representatives and some party officials.

The ruling left and centre right factions claim this will open the door to large-scale branch stacking by Mr Abbott's "hard" right faction.

They support a compromise that would introduce plebiscites but with strict safeguards such as a member activity test and a requirement for several years' membership.

On Monday Fairfax Media reported the Democratic Reform Movement was accused of trying to "stack" the convention, including by paying the $150 fee for members to attend.

The convention is being seen as the next potential flashpoint between Mr Abbott and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over the Liberal Party's direction.

Former party member and plebiscite campaigner John Ruddick has predicted a split in the Liberals should the Warringah motion fail.

Right Mobile has created apps for numerous US Republican party groups as well as for charity.

Sasha Reid, a founder of Sydney company Hyper Apps, estimated the Democratic Reform Movement app would cost between $10,000 to $15,000 to set up, plus potential ongoing fees.

However, a source close to the Democratic Reform Movement said Right Mobile was owned by a "mate" and therefore cost "next to nothing" and denied the owner had Tea Party or Republican links.

A Warringah FEC source said it had passed the Warringah motion unanimously twice and that "gives the Warringah conference the mandate to spend [the $10,000]".

But a Liberal source accused the Warringah FEC of "spending party funds to support the hard-right faction in its campaign to introduce the branch stacker's plebiscite".

"They should have their guns pointing at Labor, not fellow Liberals," the source said.

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Tony Abbott-aligned Liberal reform group using Tea Party political app - The Sydney Morning Herald

Retired army general Jim Molan, who is an architect of the governments border policies, said other Liberal party state divisions were doing better than NSW because their constitution allowed forms of plebiscites. Photograph: Dan Peled/AAP

Preselection candidate and retired major general Jim Molan has dared the New South Wales Liberal party to expel him by speaking publicly to broadcaster Alan Jones.

Ordinary Liberal party members are not entitled to speak in public on party matters but his comments come as the party prepares for a bruising fight at the weekend futures convention to discuss the partys constitution.

An architect of the governments border policies, Molan is one of a number of high-profile members who accuse the moderate or left faction, including the former NSW minister turned lobbyist Michael Photios, of wielding too much power in the party.

They are turning up the heat in a campaign to win support for the Warringah motion, hatched in Tony Abbotts seat by his federal electorate conference president, Walter Villatora. Abbott has spoken out in favour of reform since losing the leadership. A former member, John Ruddick, has predicted a split if the rule change does not happen.

John Howard originally proposed the rule change in a review of the party after he lost government and has since backed the change. Other high-profile supporters include the monarchist and legal academic David Flint and the assistant cities minister, Angus Taylor, who says people are regularly barred from joining the party in order for powerbrokers to maintain control.

If passed and accepted by the partys governing body, the state executive, the Warringah motion would give ordinary members a vote in local preselections for all MPs and office bearers.

Molan said while he respected the prime minister and the premier, the members had a right to seize back the party.

This party is not owned by the prime minister, its not owned by the premier or elected parliamentarians, much less its not owned by factions, its owned by us, the members, Molan said. There is a great old military philosophy of what you walk past you condone.

Tony Abbott urged Liberal members to vote for the Warringah motion because the NSW party had too many lobbyists and factional warlords.

That means one member one vote for all positions, particularly the preselection of candidates because at the moment weve got too many lobbyists, too many factional warlords who are pulling the strings, Abbott told 2GB.

We dont want our party to in any way resemble the faceless men of the Labor party and if we want the Liberal party to be a better party, I think weve got to get out there on Sunday in particular, and vote for one member one vote.

Molan urged Malcolm Turnbull and the NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, to use their authority to ensure there were no last-minute motions and that the conference was conducted fairly. Turnbull has previously supported more open preselections in NSW.

Fifteen-hundred members have registered for the event where the prime minister will speak on Saturday and the premier on Sunday.

It begins with a party state council meeting on Friday night, followed by a day of debate before the motions are discussed on Sunday.

After a video on what it means to be Liberal, debate topics include Future challenges and Does gender really matter? On Saturday afternoon, members will discuss how the party can remain relevant, winning back the youth from the left, social media in modern campaigning as well as preselection.

Opponents of the change in preselection rules suggest it will lead to branch stacking. The Liberal backbencher Julian Leeser and the assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, have suggested compromise motions that impose waiting periods before members can vote, activity tests and a grandfather clause to protect sitting members. Both MPs have been contacted for comment.

Molan described alternative motions as the plebiscite you are having when you are not having democracy.

Its not a play to replace the current lobbyist influence, leftwing faction with a rightwing faction, Molan said. All factions within this party over the last number of years have been as bad as each other.

Molan said other Liberal state divisions were doing better than NSW because their constitution allowed forms of plebiscites.

If it was a fair contest, one person one vote, we will get through this contest no problem at all because it is what the people want, Molan said. Brave elected members of parliament who have worked for their people over time should have nothing to fear by sitting in front of their people and saying vote for me.

The NSW Liberal party was contacted for comment.

More here:

Jim Molan dares NSW Liberals to expel him by speaking to Alan Jones - The Guardian

AUSTIN The sunset red granite of the Texas state capitol stands at 302 feet. It towers over nearby Travis County and Austin municipal buildings, as if to convey a physical superiority over those lesser government bodies. When legislators return for a special session this week, they will advance a series of laws that would make that state supremacy more concrete.

Republicans who run Texas are increasingly targeting laws passed by cities and counties with so-called preemption measures, bills that would restrict a local government's power to pass laws regulating certain industries or setting policy. It is part of a national trend in which Republican legislators are moving to preempt local governments, on issues ranging from minimum wage laws to immigration enforcement and even the use of plastic bags at retail establishments.

Supporters say the preemption laws are meant to create a consistent set of laws around a state. Opponents say it is a way for conservative legislatures to overrule more liberal city governments, at the cost of local control.

"Part of it is motivated by our urban communities that are very blue and Democratic and have different ideas about the environment and workers rights. I think it's just offensive to Republican leaders," Gina Hinojosa, a Democratic state representative whose district includes the core of downtown Austin, said in an interview in her Capitol office.

In Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has the power to set the agenda in this week's special session, legislators will consider eight new measures to take power away from county and municipal governments.

Two proposals would set caps on taxes and spending. Two others would govern permitting and construction projects. One would prevent cities from requiring homeowners to seek approval before cutting down historic trees on their own property. Another would set a statewide standard for texting while driving, superseding local efforts to crack down on distracted driving.

The last, and perhaps most controversial, would limit a local government's ability to dictate whether transgender students have the right to use bathroom and locker room facilities of their choice.

The bill, similar to one passed in North Carolina last year, has generated intense opposition from business groups across Texas.On Friday, IBM, one of the largest employers in the state, took out a full-page ad in major papers around Texas opposing the bill. Business groups plan a rally at the CapitolMondayto reiterate their opposition to the bill, which they say will cost Texas billions in lost economic activity.

Abbott said the legislation is his way of ensuring local governments do not step on the rights of Texans.

"What we've seen in Texas is a growing rise of actions at the local level that infringe upon people's liberty. And just like I fought back against the federal government that was infringing on people's liberty, I'll fight back against federal, state or any government that infringes upon people's liberty," Abbott said in an interview in San Antonio, where he kicked off his bid for a second term as governor.

As Republicans have built their political power in state capitals across the country, Democrats who run the nation's largest cities have increasingly found themselves at loggerheads with state officials. Some state legislatures have prohibited local jurisdictions from raising the minimum wage. Others have blocked cities from enacting tougher restrictions on gun possession.

Earlier this year, Texas passed a law meant to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities, where local police do not comply with federal immigration detainer requests even though there are no sanctuary cities in Texas.

"Austin is always number one on that target list," Hinojosa said.

Nationally, at least 140 measures preempting local government actions were introduced in legislatures this year, according to Grassroots Change, a California-based group that opposes preemption laws. Nineteen of those measures became law, including three so far in Texas.

"These have really become just out-and-out fights between the state legislature and communities," said Mark Pertschuk, who runs Grassroots Change. "This is an issue of democracy."

One state, Arizona, has passed a law that could withhold state funding from city and county governments that pass laws any state legislator finds objectionable, a so-called blanket preemption. Texas Republicans proposed a similar measure, though state House Speaker Joe Straus (R) quietly killed that plan.

Pertschuk said laws that start at the city and state level have frequently become national models on everything from workers' rights to public health like child labor laws, fire prevention measures and smoking bans.

"Almost everything that keeps us from being crushed to death or dying from chronic disease too early in the history of the United States has been done at the local level," he said. Preemption laws "will stop innovation in civil rights, in safety and in community health."

Abbott, a former state Supreme Court justice and Texas attorney general before winning the governorship in 2015, said the state is well within its rights to set standards for local governments. It is the state constitution, not the United States Constitution, that lays out a city's or county's powers.

"Tell me in the [U.S.] Constitution where it mentions cities. Tell me where it mentions counties," Abbott said. "The way the country was created, the way it was designed, the architecture of the United States of America puts states at the centerpiece. States create counties and cities and give them the authority that they can have."

Both Abbott and Hinojosa said the clash stems from a changing Texas, in which the state's population is increasingly moving from rural areas to urban cores and booming suburbs. Four of the 10 counties that added the most new residents in the last year are in Texas, the Census Bureau reported in March.

Since 2010, 26 counties in America have added more than 100,000 new residents; eight of those counties are in Texas, more than any other state. That growth has meant a shifting power dynamic between cities and rural communities one the legislature wants to shift the other way.

"People have gone from a rural setting in Texas to a largely urban setting. With these rules and regulations coming out the way they are, at the local level, there truly is a patchwork quilt of rules and regulations that makes it impossible for people to live their lives, to know how they're governed," Abbott said. "It makes it difficult for Texas to retain its brand as a low-government, low-tax state."

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Texas Republicans take aim at liberal cities - The Hill

Protesters gather outside Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake's office voicing their opposition to Republican plans to repeal and replace Obamacare on July 10, 2017. | John Shinkle/POLITICO

Liberal activists fighting to save Obamacare are seeking to capitalize on an unexpected gift at least another week, if not more, before the Senate GOP will bring its repeal plan to the floor.

Progressive groups already had stocked this week with public protests against the Republican legislation, expecting a make-or-break vote. But Sen. John McCains absence from the Capitol following surgery for a blood clot handed the left a major opportunity to rally opposition and keep the spotlight on the GOPs struggle to even begin debate on a bill that polls dismally with the public.

Story Continued Below

Activists are preparing protests well into next month aimed at keeping the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) conference, particularly the half-dozen most closely watched moderate swing votes.

Every day the Senate doesnt repeal ACA and gut Medicaid is a day that makes it less likely theyll be able to, MoveOn.org Washington director Ben Wikler told reporters. "Every day this bill is dangling out there in public, it becomes more unpopular."

The fresh push kicked off on Monday. The Bernie Sanders-backed group Our Revolution staged sit-ins at a half-dozen Senate GOP offices throughout the day, while the upstart liberal organization Indivisible prepared for more than 100 demonstrations in 39 states on Tuesday. More activist groups returned to the Hill for a series of near-daily rallies against the bill, with appearances by Democratic senators.

The right mounted no similar flurry of public activity in defense of the bill, underscoring the mismatch in grassroots energy between liberals and conservatives who had pressed McConnell to embrace a more straightforward repeal strategy.

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And the harder McConnell pushes for a vote on uprooting the Affordable Care Act, the more his opponents relish his failure to notch that quick victory.

With only two public GOP no votes on taking up the bill Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky activists are expecting to see several Republicans hop off the fence at once. They acknowledge that the extra time provided by McCain's recuperation also gives McConnell time to cajole undecided Republicans one-on-one, but they're banking on the imminent Congressional Budget Office score of the bill and negative headlines to make the majority leader's job even harder as the clock ticks toward August.

"Extra time matters a lot more when youre appealing to the general public that despises this bill than it does when youre playing an inside the Beltway game of trading buy-offs and favors with people who were listening anyway," Jesse Ferguson, a veteran Democratic strategist advising pro-Obamacare groups, said in an interview.

Rather than organize the sort of massive marches that anti-Trump groups favored earlier in the year, health care organizers are focusing on personal stories from constituents appealing directly to their senators. Capitol Police reported arresting 33 demonstrators in the Senate as of midday Monday during liberal groups' protest actions.

"The message weve been telling our groups, especially the ones in D.C., is to go to an office," said Indivisible policy director Angel Padilla. "You want to go rally and march? Great! But if you want to be effective at congressional advocacy, go to your member's offices and make sure they see you inside."

In that vein, Planned Parenthood is setting up a Wednesday event for supporters to share personal stories about how the seven-year-old health care law has helped them and call their senators, national organizing director Deirdre Schifeling told reporters. Another liberal group UltraViolet told reporters Monday that it had commissioned planes to fly in Ohio, Alaska and West Virginia all swing states represented by moderate Republicans undecided on the repeal bill.

Ferguson also identified another benefit to anti-repeal activists from the delay in a Senate vote: The CBO may have time to release a nonpartisan score of a new addition to the legislation, authored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), that would allow insurers to sell plans not compliant with Obamacare. Republicans had suggested they might rely on a score of the Cruz proposal from the Trump administration if the CBO were not able to finish an independent assessment in time for a vote this week.

"They would have to rely on whatever sham analysis" the Department of Health and Human Services could produce, Ferguson said, "but now theyve lost that excuse."

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Liberals pounce on Obamacare vote delay - Politico

The Washington Budget & Policy Center has agreed to pay more than $30,000 in relation to violations of state campaign-disclosure law, according to the state Attorney Generals Office. The action stems from a complaint by the right-leaning Freedom Foundation.

Seattle Times Olympia bureau

OLYMPIA The Washington Budget & Policy Center has agreed to pay about $30,000 in relation to violations of state campaign-disclosure law, according to the state Attorney Generals Office.

The center didnt properly report independent expenditures that it made while opposing Initiative 1366, according to court records detailing the settlement.

Voters in 2015 approved I-1366, a Tim Eyman-sponsored, anti-tax proposal.

But a court tossed the initiative a few months later.

Under a Thurston County Superior Court judgment, the center, a liberal think tank based in Seattle, received $33,510 in penalties.

Half of that is suspended for four years, however, as long as the center doesnt commit any other campaign-finance violations during that time.

The court also ordered the center to pay $13,790 in attorney fees and court and investigation costs, according to a statement by the Attorney Generals Office.

The action stems from a complaint filed by the right-leaning Freedom Foundation, according to Misha Werschkul, executive director for the center.

We are committed to tracking and disclosing all reportable activities and we have taken action to update our internal policies and practices for campaign reporting, Werschkul wrote in an email.

The settlement comes as the Attorney Generals Office takes action on another Freedom Foundation complaint. The office last week announced a lawsuit against SEIU 14 over alleged campaign-finance violations.

The office determined the union made significant campaign contributions but failed to register and report as a political committee in at least 2014 and 2016, according to a statement released last week.

That lawsuit marks the seventh time in less than two years Freedom Foundation complaints have led to legal action and/or penalties against government unions or their allies for violating state campaign finance laws, according to a Freedom Foundation statement.

Continued here:

Liberal think tank in Seattle ordered to pay $30000-plus in campaign-disclosure fines - Seattle Times

AURORA | Aurora City Council could become considerably bluer this fall if three candidates, all graduates or soon-to-be alumnae of a program designed to get more Democratic women involved in politics, are as successful as their peers across the state and country.

A trio of women running for three different city council posts this November were each molded by Emerge Colorado, an organization that guides women who are also registered Democrats through a six-month-long crash course in how to run a political campaign.

The three candidates are: Allison Hiltz, whos running for one of two available at-large seats, Crystal Murillo, whos currently the sole challenger to Ward I incumbent Sally Mounier, and Nicole Johnston, whos vying for the up-for-grabs Ward II seat. The current Ward II representative, Renie Peterson, is term limited.

All three of the candidates running in Auroras upcoming election have not run for political office before. Both Hiltz, a policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures, and Murillo, who works in the admissions office at the University of Denver, graduated from the Emerge Colorado program last summer. Johnston, a community activist and consultant for non-profit organizations, is still in the process of finishing the Emerge program during its week-long summer intensive course.

The Colorado chapter of Emerge is the local spoke of a nationwide network, which comprises efforts in 21 states. Since it was founded in 2002, the group has trained more than 2,500 women across the country, according to the Emerge America website. The Colorado branch was founded in 2012.

But the organization has seen a considerable uptick in interest since last years presidential election, according to Jenny Willford, executive director of Emerge Colorado.

Willford said Emerge chapters nationwide saw a nearly 90 percent bump in inquiries. Locally, the chapter saw at least a two-fold increase in the number of inquiries, she said.

Its exciting to see all of the renewed interest and almost like a sense of duty to step up, Willford said. And, yes, I think this new interest in politics is going to translate to municipal elections.

After applying and paying a tuition fee, about 20 women in last years Emerge class attend 70 hours of training, which is spread over the course of about one weekend each month, according to Hiltz and Murillo. Training topics ranges from campaign finance to constituent relations to media navigation.

In Aurora, each of the Emerge-affiliated candidates said they want the local city council to better reflect the city it serves. That means candidates who are younger and of various political persuasions and backgrounds.

I just felt it was necessary to add a different perspective, especially when realizing the lack of representation embodied on our current city council, said Murillo, who is 23-years-old.

Auroras current city council is made up of six females and fives males, the vast majority of whom are white Republicans. The average age among council members is roughly 64 years old, according to voter registration records.

The median age in the city is about 37 years old, according to data compiled by Aurora officials. Nearly one-third of the citys population identifies as Hispanic, according to census data. Less than half of the citys some 350,000 residents report their race being white alone, according to statistics reported by City-Data.com.

Emerge has experienced wild success in Colorado in recent years, with a nearly 90 percent win-rate in municipal-level and state-level elections last year. Seven of the eight graduates who ran in a 2016 election won. Two of last years Emerge winners make up a portion of Auroras delegation in the state legislature; Dominique Jackson in House District 42 and Dafna Michaelson Jenet in House District 30.

And its not unusual for several Emerge candidates to run in the same race, as they are this year in Aurora, according to Willford. In 2015, three different Emerge graduates won three seats on the Westminster City Council. A previous Emerge alumnus, who was already on the council, brought the total number of Emerge Councilmembers in that city to four more than half of the total seats.

Across the country, the group succeeds in placing about 70 percent of affiliated candidates into elected office, according to the Emerge America website.

But Willford said the Emerge Colorado graduates are not targeting specific cities with vulnerable seats. The organization and its participants are more focused on creating a more well-rounded government, she said.

I would say the community is changing in a way that who is representing (community members) on council should be reflective of the voters, she said. At the end of the day, we dont want to take over city council. We want a more reflective democracy.

Aurora Sentinel reporter Cassandra Ballard contributed to this report.

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3 new liberal faces emerge as groomed Aurora city council candidates - Aurora Sentinel

NDP Leader John Horgan, shown after his June 29 meeting with Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon at Government House in Victoria, will be sworn Tuesday as B.C.s 36th premier. CHAD HIPOLITO / CANADIAN PRESS Files

VICTORIA B.C.s New Democrats will introduce a gender-balanced cabinet Tuesday, as the party transitions to power a day after laying off more than 100 Liberal political appointees at the legislature.

The cabinet will be a mix of old and new NDP MLAs, but will also maintain a balanced proportion of male and female ministers. Yet the NDP will stop short of creating a stand-alone ministry of womens equality, which the party has operated in past governments. Instead, the new government is expected to consider womens equality and gender equity issues in each ministry separately.

Premier-designate John Horgan will become B.C.s 36th premier during a ceremony at 2 p.m. at Government House, where his cabinet will then be officially unveiled. NDP MLAs who made the cut received phone calls late Monday evening telling them of their portfolio.

Horgans first public event will be anopen house at the legislature Tuesday evening, where the new premier and his cabinet will mingle with the crowd.

Its an opportunity for the public to come and tour the legislature, to meet the new cabinet, to meet the new MLAs and to have a chance to see their new government get down to work, said NDP MLA Carole James, who is widely expected to be named finance minister on Tuesday.

We expect a big crowd and lots of families.

Former NDP leader Carole James is expected to be named as B.C.s new finance minister on Tuesday. CHAD HIPOLITO / PNG

Tuesdays swearing-in of the new NDP government waspreceded Monday by its transition team terminating numerous Liberal staff, senior civil servants and communications officials inside government, as the party prepared to install its own officials in key positions.

Across government about 125 BC Liberal-appointed staff are leaving, said NDP spokesperson Jen Holmwood. The staff we are replacing were politically appointed by the Liberals. This is not unique to our government. This is actually fewer than the Liberals let go in 2001.

Such terminations are not unusual when one political party replaces another in government.

Staff inside the 220-person government communications branch appeared particularly hard-hit by the firings, with deputy minister John Paul Fraser being removed by the NDP. The incoming New Democrat head of the civil service Don Wright will set his own senior management team of deputy ministers, and several other Liberals were believed to be displaced.

Several communications directors were also let go, including finance ministry communications director Jamie Edwardson, widely considered one of the most professional and non-partisan of the officials in government communications. Many staff in ministerial offices were also fired, which includes a mixture of partisan assistants and non-partisan scheduling clerks.

James described the staff turnover as a routine part of transitioning to a new government and downplayed the numbers.

You are not looking at wholesale change. You are looking at people who are able to fit and able to be committed to the agenda we are moving ahead with, she said. So its a number of very committed civil servants who are staying and doing good work and will continue to do good work and you will see some changes that you always see with a change in government.

James said the NDP will at a future date release the exact figures on firings. Terminated staff are eligible for severance of generally up to 18 months salary depending on their years of service, age and other considerations though the NDP did not have a breakdown of costs available yet or a list of the new NDP staff.

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NDP to usher in gender-balanced cabinet as it ousts Liberal-appointed staff - Vancouver Sun