RandySF
RandySF's JournalOH-12: Democrats gain a top recruit
COLUMBUS, Ohio--After weeks of being on the fence, Franklin County Recorder Danny O'Connor has decided to run to take over Pat Tiberi's former 12th District congressional seat.
"I didn't want to sit this fight out," the Columbus Democrat said in an interview Tuesday with cleveland.com. "I'm running because I believe I can be the best voice for the 12th congressional district in Washington."
O'Connor said he plans to focus on issues of job growth and health care in his campaign.
The 31-year-old Shelby County native has a bachelor's degree in political science from Wright State University and a law degree from Syracuse University. If elected, O'Connor would be younger than any currently serving member of Congress.
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2018/01/franklin_county_recorder_danny.html
CA-50: I think Duncan Hunter is on his way out.
for his reelection bid in the final quarter of 2017, all while paying six-figures on legal bills over an investigation into improper use of campaign cash.
The sum is staggeringly low for a sitting member seeking reelection and it gives Hunter $290,904 in his campaign account. That’s less than half of the money he had in the bank two years ago, before his 2016 reelection.
He’s also been out-raised by both of his top Democratic challengers, Ammar Campa Najjar and Josh Butner. Campa Najjar’s campaign raised about $176,000 while Butner’s campaign raised $104,000.
Hunter has been dogged by allegations that he spent campaign dollars on personal expenses, including spending on video games, clothes and air travel for his family’s rabbit. The FBI is investigating those charges, and the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in December that a grand jury is subpoenaing witnesses.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/371788-gop-rep-hunter-posts-meager-campaign-fundraising-amid-controversy#.WnMvYz6ZLKA.twitter
CA-04: McClintock Outraised by Democratic Opponents
Rep. Tom McClintock, the Northern California Republican whose district was recently added to Democrats’ list of vulnerable California seats, was outraised by two Democratic challengers last quarter.
McClintock, of Elk Grove, raised $215,854 between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, less than the $260,724 Regina Bateson reported raising and significantly lower than Jessica Morse’s $291,761 haul.
The incumbent was already raising money at a faster clip than previous cycles, bringing in $651,168 in 2017 as opposed to the $523,986 he had raised in 2015.
Morse now has more cash in the bank than McClintock, with $488,842 reported as of the end of the year compared with his $461,943.
Morse, who previously worked on national security issues for the federal government, also raised more than McClintock in the previous quarter and had already been gaining on him in cash on hand. Bateson, a political science professor and former foreign service officer, is further behind with $276,060 in the bank.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/essential/la-pol-ca-essential-politics-updates-rep-tom-mcclintock-democrats-newest-1517447427-htmlstory.html
Octavia Spencer To Buy Out Screening Of Black Panther For Mississippi Community
Octavia Spencer announced Wednesday that she plans to buy out a screening of the highly anticipated Marvel film “Black Panther” in an underserved community in Mississippi. The star’s reason is crucial, simple yet often overlooked: representation matters.
“I will be in [Mississippi] when this movie opens,” Spencer posted in a message on Instagram. “I think I will buy out a theatre in an underserved community there to ensure that all our brown children can see themselves as a superhero. I will let you know where and when Mississippi. Stay tuned.”
Spencer made a similar move last year, when she bought out a screening of “Hidden Figures” in a Los Angeles movie theater as her Oscar-nominated film reigned at the box office.
“My mom would not have been able to afford to take me and my siblings,” she wrote in an Instagram message posted January last year. If you know a family in need that would like to see our movie but can’t afford it have them come.”
“Black Panther” doesn’t premiere until Feb. 16, but the long-awaited Marvel comic film starring a black superhero, T’Challa, who becomes king of the African nation Wakanda following his father’s death, has been getting rave reviews. Critics have been in a frenzy since attending early screenings, calling the film “astonishing,” “game-changing,” “iconic” and “exceptional.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/octavia-spencer-black-panther-theater-buyout_us_5a723c63e4b09a544b563491
Arizona House votes to kick out GOP lawmaker over sex misconduct
PHOENIX — The Arizona House voted Thursday to expel a Republican lawmaker after a report ordered by legislative leaders of his own party showed he engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment toward women.
Rep. Don Shooter of Yuma is believed to be the first state lawmaker in the U.S. to be voted out of his seat since the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct began last fall. Other legislators nationwide have resigned or been stripped of their leadership posts after being accused of misconduct.
The fallout comes months after Republican Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita said Shooter propositioned her for sex and repeatedly commented on her breasts. Many other women, including the then-publisher of Arizona's largest newspaper, then complained that he subjected them to inappropriate sexual comments or actions.
Shooter told The Associated Press that he deserves to be punished but did nothing to justify expulsion.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/arizona-house-votes-to-kick-out-lawmaker-over-sex-misconduct/ar-BBIzZ2K?ocid=st
PA-18: GOP Nominee Spent $430K from Tax-funded Expense Account
Expense records show that Rick Saccone (R), who is running in the upcoming Pennsylvania special election for Congress, spent $435,172 in taxpayer money using his expense account in his first seven years as a state lawmaker, The Intercept reports.
“Pennsylvania provides state lawmakers with generous salaries and expense policies, allowing them to bill the government for activities they deem as necessary for their job… But Saccone’s profligate use of the legislative expense account may come as a surprise. He was elected in 2010 during the tea party wave on a pledge to cut government spending.”
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/01/rick-saccone-congress-pennsylvania/
Ex-Trump legal spokesman to tell Mueller that Hope Hicks was considering obstructing justice.
A former spokesman for President Trump’s legal team is expected to testify to special counsel Robert Mueller that White House communications director Hope Hicks may have planned to obstruct justice, The New York Times reported Wednesday night.
Mark Corallo, who resigned last summer, will reportedly tell Mueller about a previously undisclosed phone call between Trump and Hicks that took place after Donald Trump Jr. and others met with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower in 2016.
Corallo plans to tell Mueller and his team that Hicks said during the call that emails from Trump Jr. about the meeting “will never get out,” prompting concerns that she may be considering obstructing justice, The New York Times reported.
A lawyer for Hicks issued a denial to the newspaper.
“She never said that. And the idea that Hope Hicks ever suggested that emails or other documents would be concealed or destroyed is completely false,” Robert Trout told the Times in a statement.
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/371754-former-trump-legal-spokesman-to-testify-to-mueller-about-undisclosed?__twitter_impression=true
GOP Rep. Invited Holocaust Denier to State of the Union Address
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) invited an activist affiliated with the white supremacist "alt-right" movement to President Trump's State of the Union address on Tuesday, the Daily Beast reported Wednesday.
Gaetz said that he invited Chuck Johnson to the address when he "showed up at my office" on Tuesday, according to the Daily Beast report. The congressman, who has risen in prominence amid a Republican push to release a GOP House Intelligence Committee memo on alleged surveillance abuses, said he did not have a pre-existing relationship with Johnson, saying that he only had an extra ticket because his father came down with bronchitis.
Johnson gave a different explanation for his appearance at the congressional address, saying that while he received invitations from several members of Congress, he accepted Gaetz's invitation because "he's into stuff on the issues that I care about," including the cryptocurrency bitcoin and marijuana.
Johnson runs a crowdfunding site that has raised tens of thousands of dollars for legal fees related to the white supremacist website the Daily Stormer, as well as various other figures in the alt-right movement.
Johnson has also said that the actual number of Holocaust victims is far lower than the accepted total, and questioned whether gas chambers were used at Nazi concentration camps, though he maintains that he is not a Holocaust denier.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/371644-gop-rep-invited-alt-right-troll-to-the-state-of-the-union
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