Just as states with progressive lawmakers and activists have themselves initiated innovative programs over a wide range of issues, state-based progressive blogs have helped provide us with a point of view, inside information and often an edgy voice that we just don't get from the traditional media. This week in progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching.
Inclusion of a diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement or endorsement of its contents.
At Eclectablog of Michigan, Eclectablog writes—Progress Michigan files Hatch Act complaint against Gov. Rick Snyder for awarding no-bid contracts to campaign donors:
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been pretty deft at shrugging of the many scandals that have enveloped his administration. But the most recent one, the awarding of $26.4 million in state contracts to a campaign donor might be one he can’t shrug off [...]:
Today, Progress Michigan filed a complaint with United States Office of Special Counsel alleging that Gov. Rick Snyder violated the Hatch Act. The complaint alleges that Gov. Snyder improperly used his official authority and influence to award millions of dollars in no-bid Medicaid contracts to a business whose owners and executives had contributed to his reelection, including hosting a lavish fundraiser for the governor.
At question in the complaint are a ritzy fundraiser for Gov. Snyder held by the owners of J&B Medical Supply and millions of dollars in no-bid contracts awarded to the same company, including a contract the day after the fundraiser. The fundraiser earned Snyder $54,000 toward his reelection campaign
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At
Uppity Wisconsin,
Man MKE writes—
Now, the whole ball game is about voter turnout and election integrity:
Here are the key tasks fully engaged Wisconsin citizens should undertake to ensure a healthy vote in the state's Nov. 4 elections: First, they should maximize citizen impact by making sure eligible friends and family members vote, too. Second, they also should, if they can, encourage still others to vote and even register. Third, if possible they should help members of the community—seniors and the disabled, for example—who might have trouble getting to the polls, if those folks haven't already cast absentee ballots.
But the single most important step may be casting a hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballot, at least if you live in one of the 41 Wisconsin counties that use voting machines lacking verifiable paper trails.
Most people don't know it, but under state election law you have the right to insist upon a paper ballot, no matter what other, standard vote-recording method is used in your county. And for too many of us, a paper ballot may be the most reliable voting method, especially in a razor-thin election. Hand-marked ballots that are also hand-counted (as opposed to being scanned in electronically) aren't fool-proof, but seem to be more reliable than some of the other ways state citizens are asked to record their votes.
The Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative published an online article Friday that once again raises questions about the integrity and security of voting procedures across a large swath of Wisconsin.
Below the orange gerrymander you can find more excerpts
At Better Georgia, Bryan Long writes—Record-breaking election:
Change isn’t just in the air. It’s already here.
Progressive voters in Georgia are turning out in record numbers to choose a better future for all of us.
WSB-TV: Early voting turnout could break records
Two issues are at the top-of-mind for early voters: education and jobs. [...]
If these trends continue through election day, Georgia will shock the nation.
Women are voting in larger numbers, and so are minorities. It’s more than speculation—it’s a fact and it's happening right now.
African-Americans already make up a greater share of the vote than during the midterm election four years ago and we’re on track to surpass 2010’s early vote total altogether.
At
Colorado Pols,
Colorado Pols writes—
Um, You’re Breaking the Law, Don Suppes:
When we last left Republican Don Suppes, the Orchard City mayor running for the open seat in SD-5, he and his campaign were still trying to add to their list of reasons why his Twitter account would be linking to a white supremacist website (It was hacked! It was identity theft! It was a rogue staffer!)
We already know that Suppes isn't very good at 1) the Internet, and 2) messaging. Now we can add 3) posing for pictures, and 4) following the law.
According to a complaint submitted to the Trustees of the Town of Orchard City (Suppes-Complaint PDF), Suppes has been using the Orchard City Town Hall as a campaign office. That's right, the Mayor of Orchard City is using the Town Hall as part of his campaign for a State Senate seat.
It doesn't appear as though Suppes' campaign finance records include reimbursements to Orchard City for using its Town Hall, which is such an obvious violation of the law that Suppes should be disqualified from the SD-5 race just for being so inexcusably stupid. But if you think that's dumb, wait 'til you see how the violation was uncovered…
…Hey, there's Don Suppes himself, grinning away in a photo taken in front of a table full of campaign literature and next to a giant poster that proclaims "Town of Orchard City!" What could go wrong? And what are the odds that Suppes' campaign has been using other town property for his campaign (quick, somebody destroy the photocopier!)
At
The Seminole Democrat of Florida,
The Seminole Democrat writes—
Rick Scott sends white supporters to harass black voters:
Nice, Rick:
What began Saturday afternoon in Fort Lauderdale as an early voting rally for Charlie Crist turned into a shouting match, featuring the former governor’s supporters squaring off against those backing his opponent Rick Scott.
Crist’s bus pulled into the parking lot of the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center at about noon Saturday and was greeted by a crowd of supporters, mostly black Democrats. Also on hand were Scott supporters, mostly white, carrying “shame on you” signs. Scott’s group included one person barking into a megaphone.
He had to harass them this weekend, because Rick Scott eliminated early voting the Sunday before election day for the sole reason of preventing black Churches from organizing poll drives.
You know, Rick Scott has spent the last four years suppressing the African-American vote, fiercely defended George Zimmerman while refused any changes to our "Stand Your Ground" law, cut completely state support for our black colleges, refused to appoint minority judges, and even told black legislators they had a sixth-grade education. You'd really think he's done enough to show his contempt.
But you don't know Rick.
At
bluenc,
scharrison writes—
Say the "magic words" or your right to vote is questioned:
New Hanover County BoE administers geography test to student voters:
In New Hanover County, dormitory students who cannot state their street address will not be allowed to cast a regular ballot in the coming election. The New Hanover County Democratic Party is challenging this procedure, saying it disenfranchises student voters.
"In other counties, they send dormitory lists to the polling place, and the poll workers have them, and if the student can identify the dormitory they live in, they assist them with the street address. And there’s really been no good reason stated by this Board of Elections why they’re out of sync with the State Board of Elections and other counties."
There's a reason all right, it just isn't a "good" reason. Assisting average voters is not high on the GOP's list of priorities, and assisting student voters is not on that list at all. It's on another list, that would be titled "suppress these people," if they were dumb enough to actually write it down somewhere.
At
The Mudflats of Alaska,
Shannyn Moore writes—
We Must Retire Don Young, and Here’s Why:
This past week, our 81-year-old congressman addressed a group of high school students in Wasilla. Just days earlier, a Wasilla student had taken his own life. It’s heartbreaking to know that statistically Young could have gone to any high school in Alaska and run into a grieving student body. Ours is the highest rate of suicide in the nation.
In response to a general question about the problem of suicide, Young callously opined that suicide victims lack support from friends and family. When a student—a friend of the deceased teen—said that wasn’t true, Don Young took offense, because he had been “talked back to.” The student dared to tell the congressman the suicide was prompted by “depression—you know, a mental illness.”
To which Young quipped: “Well, what, do you just go to the doctor and get diagnosed with suicide?”
When the principal explained to Young that the student was a friend of the deceased, the congressman responded, “That boy needs to learn some respect.”
At
Hillbilly Report of Kentucky,
Craig Berry writes—
Mum's The Word From Mitch McConnell On Social Security, But We Know He Wants To Privatize It.:
The other day, Louisville’s WAVE TV ran a news story featuring McConnell’s response to the continuing controversy. Predictably, the senate majority leader wannabe tried to fluff it all off.
But what got my attention was how the WAVE story ended: “McConnell also faced a question…about whether if he became majority leader he would push legislation to offer privatized accounts for Social Security. McConnell said he wasn’t going to say what his agenda would be.”
Alison Lundergan Grimes is this union card-carrying, 63-year-old Social Security recipient’s candidate.
Yet if I were a retiree on the fence wavering between Team Mitch and Team Switch, I’d give what McConnell said—or, rather didn’t say—some serious, if not prayerful, consideration before I voted a week from Tuesday.
In any event, this lifelong Kentuckian and out-to-pasture community college teacher is grateful to be getting Social Security. I want Uncle Sam to keep running the program.
Right-wing scare tactics about Social Security going broke are baloney. They are calculated to undermine public confidence in one of the best federal programs, thus helping pave the way for Republicans like McConnell to privatize Social Security.
At
Blog for Iowa,
Tracy Leone writes—
Don’t Be Fooled By Joni Ernst:
To watch the onslaught of television advertising for Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst is to be taken for an idiot.
Her handlers have packaged her simultaneously as the conservative mom next door, or as the courageous veteran, or as the flannel wearing farmer who doesn’t reel at the smell of pig shit, depending on which thirty-second commercial you get treated to as you watch your TV shows. The artifice is so superficially applied that, as one union voter expressed, “I’m tired of Joni Ernst’s Hallmark card moments.”
Unfortunately, the general public does not get the kind of political education the average union member gets which helps union members navigate through the constant stream of televised propaganda. According to a Rasmussen poll in September, “Over one-third of likely U.S. voters remain unaware which political party controls the House of Representatives and which has a majority in the Senate.”
If one-third of likely voters do not know enough about politics to understand the balance of power, what of the 58% of registered voters who are unlikely to vote in the midterm election next week? I’m speaking of the millions of US citizens who will wake up next Tuesday, go to work, or school, or remain unemployed, or serve in the military, or do whatever people do as they fail to engage in the political process that they, in other contexts, laud over and beat their chests to defend (“USA! USA! …blah blah blah…).
The mainstream television media is only incrementally better than the thirty second ad in helping the public understand the issues so they can become actual practitioners of Democracy. What CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, Fox, et all should be doing with their hour long programs is delving into the issues with the point of creating a deeper analysis of how the candidate’s policies affect your life.
At
MN Progressive Project,
Dan Burns writes—
In praise of Minnesota House DFL longshots:
During the past weeks I’ve blogged a lot about what I’ve considered to be at least somewhat realistic pickup opportunities, in elections for the Minnesota House of Representatives. Loosely, that’s meant races with Republican incumbents in districts with hPVIs of R+7 or less. We have a lot of candidates out there who are running in much more Republican districts. I suggest that they are awesome for doing so, and deserve our admiration.
OK, I admit that I’m not exactly the definitive embodiment of what you’d call a “people person.” But even if I was, to get out there night after night, doorknocking, hitting the events, because you know how important it is that somebody does…that takes something special. That goes for their staffers (if they have any) and volunteers, too.
And there is no such thing as an impossible district. It‘s no secret that the electorate is moving left – too slowly and fitfully, alas!, but moving nonetheless. People in general are progressive on most issues; their voting habits (including whether they vote at all) just all too often haven’t caught up. And there’s ample indication that Minnesota is moving faster than most. (I don’t necessarily buy that Minnesota is the “second most liberal state,” but we are in the progressive vanguard, and nothing that happens or doesn’t happen next Tuesday is going to change that in the longer run. And on the whole, next Tuesday isn‘t looking bad, here.) It’s a long haul, but there’s gold—a better state—at the end. And all of our candidates are a big part of it.
At
Ohio Daily,
Anastasia Pantsios writes—
Attorney General Mike DeWine: Corrupt and Hyper-Partisan:
Since Mike DeWine managed to sneak into the attorney general's office, barely beating Rich Cordray thanks to Ohio voter's apathy and inattentiveness, that office has plummeted downward faster than a Cedar Point roller coaster.
On one hand, you have rampant cronyism and a complete disregard for sexual harassment charges in his office, with zero interest in investigating and a dismissive attitude toward the women.
On the other, you have his use of this public office and taxpayer dollars not to defend Ohioans and protect their well-being, but to work virtually nonstop to push an extremist ideology and his personal religious beliefs—all over the country.
Where Rich Cordray took on deceptive mortgage brokers and predatory payday lenders, DeWine has crisscrossed the country working to deprive women of access to contraception under the fake charge of "religious freedom" and pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a heartless, anti-Christian move that would kill thousands and bankrupt many more.
Even the Columbus Dispatch—which endorsed this sorry excuse for an attorney general—has taken notice. In an article yesterday it detailed all the cases around the country in which DeWine's office filed a supporting amicus brief. This isn't an unusual practice, but the cases for which he's done it are a laundry list of extremist causes.
His contempt for women extends beyond his cavalier attitude toward sexual harassment. For instance, he supported the position that protestors should be allowed to bully women outside abortion clinics on "free speech" grounds.
At
Burnt Orange Report of Texas,
Natalie San Luis writes—
The Most Outrageous Things Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick Have Said About Women and Abortion:
Last week, Mother Jones kindly informed the rest of the Union that Dan Patrick is a terrifying Tea Party darling whose antics and outbursts might be hilarious if he were not so close to becoming Texas’ next Lieutenant Governor. The article references many of the absurd comments that Patrick has made over the years, including his belief that God speaks to Americans directly through Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson.
But there’s plenty of Patrick material that Mother Jones missed, and besides, there are equally awful GOP contenders on the ballot—so I compiled some of the most unbelievable things that the Republicans vying for the top two spots in Texas government have said about women and abortion rights.
Greg Abbott
Here’s a doozie: “I’m proud to say there is nobody in the state of Texas who has done more to fight to help women than I have in the past decade.”
Yep, ladies! Have you mailed him a thank-you note yet?
Devastating funding cuts to women’s health clinics and education, defending a bill that requires women to undergo transvaginal ultrasounds before an abortion, attempting to shut down almost every abortion clinic in the state: That’s what Greg Abbott considers to be “helping women.” Thanks but no thanks.