A former field organizer for Mike Bloomberg’s Democratic presidential campaign filed a class-action lawsuit against the campaign on Monday, claiming Bloomberg lured her and thousands of other employees into jobs they were falsely told would last until November.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court in New York City by Donna Wood, who worked for the former New York City mayor’s campaign in Miami and was laid off on Friday.
I'm wondering whether people think this controversial opinion will hurt Trump in the upcoming election. I personally know Trump supporters who were extremely alienated by this comment. I'm wondering if "getting back to work by Easter" will have an effect on Trump's core voter base. Additionally, Trump commented that it is possible that more people will die from losing jobs and not going to work than from the disease itself. Is this a plausible statement given that we have no idea how long it will take to get this pandemic resolved? Additionally, I thought Governor Cuomo made a powerful point that, "No American is going to say 'accelerate the economy at the cost of human life.'" While I generally agree with this point, I have to wonder: Don't policy makers do these cost-benefit calculations all the time? For example, the speed limit of a road has a direct effect on the number of people who die. That does not mean that the government should make every road have a 10 mph speed limit. I guess what I'm saying is that most policy decisions boil down to life and death issues. My general question is: is there any validity to what Trump is proposing, or is he just saying this because he needs a strong economy in order to get reelected?
It's March, and Congress and many state legislatures are busy! If you are a reporter covering proposed bills, be sure to remember this arrow in your quiver: the National Institute on Money in Politics identifies the members of legislative committees in the states and in Congress, compiles data about who contributed to those committee members' election campaigns, and makes tools available to inform your work as you decipher it all. Institute researchers have nearly completed the 2020 legislative committee membership lists; you can access this essential information in three ways, all for free at: www.FollowTheMoney.org.
My Legislature allows you to identify who has contributed to the committee members considering legislation you care about, in addition to seeing who has given to sponsors of any piece of legislation. This enables you to analyze how political contributions correlate with actions by bill sponsors, legislators, and committees. My Legislature also contains information about what actions have been taken on each bill. Simply select for congressional delegates or select your state from the drop-down menu at My Legislature and use the tabs in the upper left to navigate your own very specific search.
Power Mapping for states or for Congress empowers analysis of how members of a legislative chamber or a committee may be inclined to vote on specific legislation or general issues based on their campaign donor pools. If you are an advocate, this tool can be extraordinarily useful for identifying legislators who may be open to persuasion either for or against your issue based on patterns in their fundraising. Journalists may find interesting stories here, as well, particularly in cases of legislators who have donor pools that are dominated by interests pushing a specific agenda. The Power Mapping page includes links in the lower right that describe the tool functionality and provide a video tutorial.
Finally, the Institute's powerful Ask Anything search function serves fully tailored searches. For example, with only a few clicks it is possible to see the largest donors to members of the New York State Senate Housing, Construction, and Community Development Committee or the largest donors to members of the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee.
With the Institute's freshly updated legislative committee membership lists and comprehensive campaign finance data, the possibilities are truly endless.
As always, do call us with any questions. We actually answer the phone: 406-449-2480.
###
The nonprofit, nonpartisan National Institute on Money in Politics collects and analyzes campaign contribution information on state and federal candidates, political party committees, and ballot committees. Its free, searchable database of contributions is online at FollowTheMoney.org
Republican senators are on message pic.twitter.com/BWqrvkYgZB— Anthony Adragna (@AnthonyAdragna) March 24, 2020
(Alyssa Roberts, communications director for CO Democrats, is an alum of CMC).This will be the biggest stimulus *ever* and Dems made sure it:— Alyssa Roberts (@alyssaaroberts) March 25, 2020
-expands unemployment to gig & self-employed workers
-$55 billion MORE for hospitals
-$150 billion for local govs
-no stock buybacks or executive bonuses for corporations#cosen #copolitics https://t.co/MCMJ9Sfq4m
Republicans said Tuesday they're forging forward with their national convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, this summer, even as the coronavirus is shuttering high-profile events across the country.
“We are fully committed to holding the Republican convention in Charlotte as planned and re-nominating President Trump. We have not had any substantive conversations about alternative scenarios,” said Richard Walters, the Republican National Committee chief of staff.
Democrats have also said they plan to move forward with their summer convention in Milwaukee. But the Democratic National Committee issued a statement on Monday that appeared to hedge, saying the party was “exploring a range of contingency options to ensure we can deliver a successful convention without unnecessary risk to public health.” (The party insisted that contingency planning is the norm for conventions, and that nothing has changed.)
As Senate leaders struggled to reach a deal Monday morning, Republicans continued to scapegoat Pelosi, with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasting the speaker during an early appearance on Fox News and accusing Pelosi of trying to blackmail Republicans with a wish-list of demands. Senior GOP aides were also shopping around Pelosi attack lines under the cloak of anonymity Monday morning.
For most congressional Republicans, the blame-Pelosi playbook is a familiar comfort — an easy go-to as party leaders wrestle for the upper hand in negotiations. For over a decade, the GOP has poured millions of dollars into campaign ads decrying the California Democrat and her “San Francisco values” as all that’s wrong in America. And the coronavirus crisis has proved no exception.
What’s less clear is if the blame game will work this time around. Although Pelosi is closely negotiating with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), she doesn’t actually have a vote in the Senate. Schumer is the one who leads his caucus and instructed Democrats to band together against the procedural vote after the two parties failed to reach a deal.
Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has decided to donate significant components of his shuttered presidential campaign to the Democratic Party, a historic bequest that includes an $18 million cash infusion to organize for the general election in swing states.
The decision, which exploits a provision in campaign finance law available only to federal candidates, amounts to a shift in strategy for the billionaire political activist, who had previously promised to personally fund ground staff and offices in six states through an independent expenditure effort.
...
To accomplish the goal, Bloomberg will transfer cash remaining in his presidential campaign account, which he donated, to the Democratic National Committee’s Battleground Build-Up 2020 effort for use in the general election. The money will allow the party to hire hundreds of additional organizers, party officials say. Bloomberg also will transfer the long-term leases he has signed on some offices in some swing states to state Democratic parties.
...
Under normal circumstances, federal rules allow individuals to give a maximum of $355,000 per year to the DNC. The party has set up a Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee with state parties, that allows wealthy individuals to give $865,000 in one year. Bloomberg has already donated the maximum allowed to this account.
But the new shift of resources means he is able to give more than 20 times the maximum a donor can give to the national party in one year, because of provisions that allow federal candidates to donate unlimited amounts of leftover money to national and state parties as they wind down their campaigns. This has effectively given Bloomberg a super-donor status because he self-funded his White House bid.
Campaign finance experts said such a mass transfer of personal money was uncharted territory.
“This has never, to my knowledge, been an issue before, because anybody other than somebody worth multiple billions would want their money back even if they self-funded,” said Charlie Spies, a campaign finance lawyer who served as counsel for Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign.
If someone mounted a self-funded bid solely to evade the individual contribution limit and donate leftover campaign funds to the party, that would be considered a straw donation scheme, experts said.
But Bloomberg is shuttering a real campaign effort, and his decisions point to a loophole in the federal law that wealthy self-funded candidates can exploit, experts said.
“I think it’d be absolutely wrong to suggest that it’s a ploy to get around the limits. . . . But it does suggest you could do that,” said Beth Kingsley, a campaign finance lawyer at Harmon, Curran, Spielberg and Eisenberg. “It does seem that there ought to be limits the same way there’s an individual [contribution] limit.”
The Federal Election Commission does not have a voting quorum currently and cannot conduct official business, such as providing guidance on this matter.
