Ykcutnek
Ykcutnek's JournalKY Speaker Greg Stumbo calls on AG Conway to convene grand jury, investigate KY GOP & McConnell
The way the mailer is designed drew criticism from the Democratic Party of Kentucky as they referred to the approach as “voter suppression tactics.”
“After trying for 16 months to buy this election, Mitch McConnell and the out-of-state special interests that support him are now trying to steal Kentucky’s Senate seat using questionable and possibly illegal voter suppression tactics. The despicable mailers targeting Kentucky voters with misleading information are just another sign of Mitch McConnell’s desperation as Kentuckians hold him accountable for his 30-year failed record in Washington,” Kentucky Democratic Party Chair Dan Logsdon said in a statement.
The tactic also caught the eye of Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, who received the mailer himself and sent a letter to Attorney General Jack Conway about it saying it violates state and federal law and calls on Conway to “exercise your powers of investigation and prosecution by immediately convening a grand jury to investigate these wrongful actions.”
Stumbo’s full letter and copy of the mailer can be seen here: http://mycn2.com/file_download/103/SpeakerStumboLetterMailer.pdf
http://mycn2.com/politics/state-party-groups-reach-out-to-voters-through-mail-before-election-day
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This is how you fight the GOP.
Alison Grimes to sue Mitch McConnell, state GOP
The mailer warns, "You are at risk of acting on fraudulent information" that the mailer said is being disseminated to voters.
Jonathan Hurst, Grimes' campaign manager, said the Grimes campaign has been receiving phone calls from voters in Eastern Kentucky worried that they will be violating the law if they go to the polls next Tuesday.
"This is clearly a scare tactic and what they are doing to try to manipulate voters," he said.
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/politics-blog/2014/10/31/grimes-to-sue-mcconnell/18261617/
DECEITFUL MAILERS - The KY Democratic Party accuses McConnell of "possibly illegal" actions
Mailed in envelopes that blare “ELECTION VIOLATION NOTICE” and state “You are at risk of acting on fraudulent information,” the Kentucky Republican Party issued a letter that accuses Grimes of “blatant lies” about McConnell’s advocacy for a local coal plant and his support from “anti-coal activists like Michael Bloomberg.” The letter also takes Grimes to task for her support among “anti-coal and anti-gun” Hollywood celebrities and accuses her of hypocrisy in her call for an increased minimum wage because a restaurant owned by her family pays employees less than the minimum.
“This document serves as a notification to you, as a resident of Kentucky and a registered voter in the aforementioned Commonwealth, of fraudulent information that is being deliberately spread to voters in your area,” the mailer reads.
“This information is provided as a public service,” the letter concludes.
In a statement Friday, Kentucky Democratic Party chair Dan Logsdon condemned the mailers as “possibly illegal.”
“After trying for 16 months to buy this election, Mitch McConnell and the out-of-state special interests that support him are now trying to steal Kentucky’s Senate seat using questionable and possibly illegal voter suppression tactics,” Logsdon said. “The despicable mailers targeting Kentucky voters with misleading information are just another sign of Mitch McConnell’s desperation as Kentuckians hold him accountable for his 30-year failed record in Washington,” he added.
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/31/mitch_mcconnells_sick_new_low_new_mailers_expose_the_gopers_shameless_voter_suppression_tactics/
If the GOP Takes the Senate, Climate Change Deniers Will Control Key Committees
– Environment and Public Works Committee: Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is in line to take control of the EPQ chairmanship, which would give him authority over the EPA. Inhofe, who has compared climate change activists to Nazis, has already signaled that he will go after regulators on a raft of issues concerning greenhouse gases, from methane leaks to the new rules over coal-fire power plants.
– Subcommittee on Science and Space: As current ranking member of this subcommittee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a good shot at becoming the chairman. This vital subcommittee oversees the National Science Foundation, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and issues relating to federally funded scientific research. Cruz is a proud denier of climate change science. When he ran for office in 2012, Cruz told reporters in Texas that global warming ceased in 1997. Earlier this year, in an interview with CNN, Cruz again questioned the science, claiming the “data are not supporting what the advocates are arguing.”
– Homeland Security and Governmental Reform Committee: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), in line to take control of the Homeland Security Committee, would likely use his perch to continue to harass scientists. The committee is the Senate’s chief investigative and oversight body. Johnson has already distinguished himself with outbursts against Dr. James Hansen, using a hearing earlier this year as an opportunity to tell the award-winning NASA scientist that climate “science is far from settled.” Johnson, who claims that “sunspot activity” is responsible for any changes in climate, has also railed against groups pushing for reform, accusing one of “environmental jihad.”
– Budget Committee: Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) has brushed aside the threat of climate change, calling the debate over the issue a “waste of money.” As the next possible chair of the Budget Committee, Enzi may have a chance to rewrite the budget and reduce funding for agencies attempting to regulate carbon pollution. There has been talk about Republicans shutting the government down in a bid to defund the EPA over its climate change rules. Enzi has already criticized the EPA’s coal regulations, and could move such a strategy forward.
http://billmoyers.com/2014/10/28/gop-takes-senate-climate-change-deniers-will-control-key-committees/
KY Sec. of State Alison Grimes predicting 49% voter turnout, on par with 2010
BREAKING: @KySecofState #Grimes projects abt 49% of 3.1M voters to turn out Tuesday for #KYSen & other races, abt same turnout as 2010.
http://www.twitter.com/JRCarrollCJ
Ugh, that's when Randy and that thing on his head was elected.
Mitch McConnell widens lead over Alison Lundergan Grimes in final Bluegrass Poll
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has opened up a five-point lead over Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes and appears well positioned to win a sixth term, according to the final Bluegrass Poll before Tuesday’s election.
McConnell leads Grimes 48 percent to 43 percent in Kentucky's U.S. Senate race, with Libertarian candidate David Patterson pulling 3 percent.
In a Bluegrass Poll released early last week, McConnell was clinging to a one-point lead, with 44 percent backing him and 43 percent choosing Grimes.
The latest poll of 597 likely voters in Kentucky was conducted by SurveyUSA between Oct. 25 and Oct. 29 on behalf of the Herald-Leader and WKYT-TV in Lexington and The Courier-Journal and WHAS-TV in Louisville. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
With just five days to go until Election Day, McConnell has surged as Republican voters show increasing unity and President Barack Obama’s popularity hits a new low in the state.
Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/30/3510712_mitch-mcconnell-widens-lead-over.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
Matt Taibbi Left First Look Media After Female Staffer’s Complaint
These tensions exploded earlier this month, after a female staffer leveled a complaint against Taibbi for his behavior:
These simmering problems came to a head this month when a Racket staffer complained to senior management that Taibbi had been verbally abusive and unprofessionally hostile, and that she felt the conduct may have been motivated, at least in part, by her gender. [First Look President John] Temple conducted an investigation, and First Look determined that while none of the alleged conduct rose to the level of legal liability, the grievance bolstered their case that Taibbi should not be the manager of Racket.
http://gawker.com/matt-taibbi-left-first-look-media-after-female-staffer-1652961860
Mitch McConnell Paid For Koch Group Meeting Shortly Before Blitz Of Pro-GOP Senate Ads
McConnell's campaign already reports renting offices in Washington from two different lobbyists. This makes it all the more likely that the use of the Freedom Partners office was not for want of convenient space, but because it was occupied by the Koch-linked group.
McConnell's campaign and the outside groups funded by the Koch brothers are forbidden by law from getting together to coordinate campaign strategy for his own race. Moreover, none of the Koch-linked groups have reported spending in support of McConnell or opposition to Grimes to the FEC.
But since McConnell's campaign held that meeting at Freedom Partners' office, an affiliated super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, has launched a blitz of nearly $16 million in spending aimed at the races that Republicans need to win in order to take control of the Senate and lift McConnell up to Senate majority leader. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Freedom Partners Action Fund has spent more than $3 million in the Arkansas, Iowa and Kansas Senate races, more than $2 million in Colorado, and more than $1 million in Alaska, North Carolina and Oregon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/30/mitch-mcconnell-koch-brothers_n_6076746.html
Mitch McConnell's Freighted Ties to a Shadowy Shipping Company
The seizure of the narcotics shipment in the Caribbean port occurred far away from Kentucky, the state in which Senator Mitch McConnell is now facing a career-defining election. But the Republican Senate minority leader has the closest of ties to the owner of the Ping May, the vessel containing the illicit materials: the Foremost Maritime Corporation, a firm founded and owned by McConnell's in-laws, the Chao family.
Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell's life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That's because, like many international shipping companies, Chao's firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.
In recent weeks, McConnell has touted his role in calling for more federal money to be used for drug enforcement.
http://m.thenation.com/article/186689-mitch-mcconnells-freighted-ties-shadowy-shipping-company
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