NH-GOV: Kelly Ayotte (R) campaigned at a school with pervert who called teenage girls "ripe" and "fertile".

RFK Jr.: I have cognitive problems

“I have cognitive problems, clearly. I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me.”

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr., quoted by the New York Times from a 2012 deposition.




https://politicalwire.com/2024/05/08/quote-of-the-day-3830/

Pennsylvania sees fewer mail ballots rejected for technicalities, a priority for election officials

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania election officials said Wednesday that the number of mail-in ballots rejected for technicalities, like a missing date, saw a significant drop in last month's primary election after state officials tried anew to help voters avoid mistakes that might get their ballots thrown out.

The success of the mail-in vote could be critical to determining the outcome of November's presidential election in Pennsylvania when the state is again expected to play a decisive role in the contest between Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Pennsylvania's top election official, Secretary of State Al Schmidt, said counties reported a 13.5% decrease in mail-in ballots that were rejected for reasons the state had tried to address with a redesigned ballot envelope and instructions for voting by mail. That drop was calculated in comparison to the 2023 primary election.

Those reasons included voters writing an incorrect date on the outer “declaration” envelope; forgetting to write a date or put their signature on the outer declaration envelope; or failing to insert their ballot into an inner “secrecy” envelope.





https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/pennsylvania-sees-fewer-mail-ballots-rejected-technicalities-priority-110031119

CA: City, industry push November ballot measure to cut many business taxes

In an effort to support and retain San Francisco companies amid a flagging local economy, city officials have joined with business interests and others to craft a proposed ballot measure that would cut business taxes — notably for small enterprises — while raising them for others.

The measure — the “Local Small Business Tax Cut Ordinance” — was submitted Monday to the San Francisco Department of Elections by two small-business representatives. Proponents have until July 8 to submit 9,951 valid signatures to qualify the measure, which would need just over 50% approval from voters in November to pass.

It was the result of a process involving small and large businesses, labor representatives and others that Mayor London Breed, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman initiated.

City officials have projected that the reform package will reduce business-tax revenue by $50 million to $60 million through fiscal year 2026-27. Those losses would be offset by future across-the-board tax increases of 4% in 2027 and 3% in 2028, which would replace future rate increases that were adopted by voters in 2020 and are set to go into effect next year.





https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/business/sf-industry-2024-ballot-measure-to-cut-many-business-taxes/article_0f40ee64-0cce-11ef-bb3e-b3a450934fca.html

CA: This month is make-or-break for ballot measures

The year’s most contentious ballot measure is about to have its day in court. On Wednesday morning, California’s Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over the constitutionality of the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, which would amend the state constitution to require a majority of voters to approve all state tax increases and raise the thresholds to approve some types of local taxes to two-thirds of voters.

The proposal was developed by the California Business Roundtable and Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which submitted the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot more than a year ago. Newsom denounced the proposal as a “radical effort led by wealthy business interests.” Organized labor and progressive allies prepared to defeat the proposal whose passage they expect could constrain California’s policy ambitions for generations.

“Obviously this is something that has gotten their attention,” said Mark Baldassare, a Public Policy Institute of California pollster who frequently measures voter sentiment on ballot measures. “Which means not only does it have far-reaching implications, but they’re also not sure which way the wind is going to blow on this issue in November.”

Newsom and the Legislature, with backing from major labor groups, sued the business groups behind the measure last fall and saw their case immediately taken up by the state’s highest court. The suit argues that the proposal amounted to an “unlawful” revision of the California state constitution because it strips the governor and the Legislature of one of their basic powers, to impose or raise taxes. Under California law, a constitutional amendment can go directly to voters for approval, but a revision would first require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature or a Constitutional Convention.



https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/08/this-month-is-make-or-break-for-ballot-measures-00156714

Campaign video targeting Muslims faces India police probe as critics accuse Modi's party of divisive election tactics

CNN — Police in southern India are investigating a senior leader of the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a political video targeting Muslims, as critics accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running an increasingly divisive re-election campaign.

The police probe comes as the world’s most populous nation votes in a mammoth weeks-long election in which Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party is widely expected to secure a rare third consecutive term.

The party has long denied being anti-Islam but opposition politicians and prominent Muslims have warned that its leaders have been deploying openly divisive rhetoric to turbo-charge their campaign.

According to a police report seen by CNN on Tuesday, Karnataka state police are investigating whether local BJP leader B. Y. Vijayendra and the unnamed holder of the party’s official local X account “promoted enmity” between religious groups after the clip was posted online on May 4.




https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/08/india/india-bjp-muslim-video-police-investigation-intl-hnk/index.html

St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones ready to launch '25 re-election bid

ST. LOUIS-—The political consulting firm for St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones confirmed Tuesday that Jones will launch her 2025 re-election campaign next week.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported the news.

In a message to supporters this week, Jones said “after three years of working hard every single day to show real, tangible results for the people of St. Louis, we have so many amazing things to talk about — and still so much more to do to keep improving our City.”

In 2021, Jones, then the city’s treasurer, defeated Alderwoman Cara Spencer in a general election after both women defeated former aldermanic board President Lewis Reed and Andrew Jones, an executive with the Southwestern Electric Cooperative, in the primary.





https://spectrumlocalnews.com/mo/st-louis/news/2024/05/08/tishaura-jones-running-for-re-election

Another German politician attacked as concerns rise over pre-European elections violence

A prominent Berlin politician was violently assaulted and suffered injuries to her head and neck, police said Wednesday – the latest in a series of attacks on elected officials that have raised concern over rising political violence in Germany.

Franziska Giffey, the city's top economic official, a former mayor and an ex-federal minister, was attacked at an event in a Berlin library on Tuesday by a man who approached her from behind and hit her with a bag containing a hard device, police said.

Giffey was taken to a hospital and treated for head and neck pain, police said. Berlin prosecutors said Wednesday morning that they had identified the alleged perpetrator but did not give details.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner strongly condemned the attack.



https://www.euronews.com/2024/05/08/another-german-politician-is-attacked-as-concerns-rise-over-violence-ahead-of-eu-elections

Michigan Republican Unseated After Losing to Democrat by 20 Points

A Republican county commissioner has been unseated in Michigan after losing to her Democratic challenger by 20 percentage points in a recall vote.

Chris Kleinjans won an Ottawa County election on Tuesday with 60 percent of the vote share, while the Republican incumbent Lucy Ebel lost, having gained 40 percent.

The county election comes as Michigan is a key battleground state in November's presidential election. Former President Donald Trump won the county with 61 percent of the vote in 2020. He also narrowly won the state in 2016 before losing it to President Joe Biden in 2020.




https://www.newsweek.com/michigan-republican-unseated-democrat-election-vote-lucy-ebel-chris-kleinjans-1898212

SF: Breed Threatens to Back Out of First Mayoral Debate, Questions Whether It Might Be Rigged by Organizer

The first San Francisco mayoral debate for the 2024 election is scheduled less than two weeks away, on May 20. And it’s being organized by the political action committee (PAC) Together SF Action, the same folks who are behind those bizarre “That’s Fentalife!” ads, and who’ve traditionally been pretty friendly to Breed.

But Breed's camp is apparently upset that Together SF has been even more friendly toward a couple of her opponents (and perhaps flouting campaign laws in the process), in a long, involved saga that includes secret $15,000-a-month job offers, campaign officials working for tech PACs, a married couple running two separate supposedly unaffiliated tech PACs, and for good measure, the husband in that couple being dogged by 14-year-old sexual assault allegations.

According to a new report in Politico, Breed’s campaign is threatening to boycott the debate because of Together SF’s admittedly thorough ties to the Farrell campaign (it’s the third story down in the article). As the SF Standard explains, Together SF founder and CEO Kanishka Cheng is a former Farrell staffer, the organization's former chief of staff Jade Tu is now Farrell’s campaign manager, Farrell campaign staffer Margaux Kelly is currently on leave from Together SF, and Farrell’s mayoral campaign spokesperson Jess Montejano is currently contracted to handle communications for Together SF through his PR agency Riff City strategies. Oh, and SF Standard financier Michael Moritz also largely finances Together SF.

And does it seem ethically sketchy that Kanishka Cheng is married to Jay Cheng, executive director of yet another tech PAC called Neighbors for a Better San Francisco, which is SF’s biggest-spending PAC over the last four years? And that Jay Cheng offered someone a $15,000-a-month position to work for Farrell, as the Chronicle reported last month? Cheng also apparently connected Lurie “with a political consultant whom Lurie eventually hired,” though that was last April, before Lurie announced his candidacy.





https://sfist.com/2024/05/07/breed-threatens-to-back-out-of-first-mayoral-debate-questions-whether-it-might-be-rigged-by-organizer/