NEWS ROUNDUP

Create your own town hall, Trumpers ‘don’t get it’…

Monday, February 20, 2017

CREATE YOUR OWN TOWN HALL

► From McClatchy — Contentious town halls over health care? Sounds familiar for Democrats in Washington state — Back in 2009 and 2010, it was the Democrats battling rowdy town halls as they tried to figure out how to write the very same health care law the GOP now wants to undo. Tea party members and other opponents of Democratic health care reform often flooded those meetings… “I don’t mind people yelling at me at all,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-9th) said of his 2009 town halls. “Some people got very passionate and very strong, but I let them say their piece.” Smith said if he went through it, Republicans should too. He urged GOP members of the delegation to schedule the meetings, “particularly because Republicans seem so divided on exactly what to do with health care.”

EDITOR’S NOTE — Rather than refusing to schedule town hall meetings — as every Republican from Washington state is doing this week — Rep. Rick Larsen (D-2nd) memorably moved one of his 2009 town hall meetings to Everett Memorial Stadium so 3,000 could attend.

► In today’s NY Times — Ryancare: You can pay more for less! (editorial) — President Trump promised to replace the Affordable Care Act with something that is better, is cheaper and covers more people. Scratch that. Republican leaders in the House and Trump’s secretary of health and human services released a plan last week that would provide insurance that is far inferior, shift more medical costs onto families and cover far fewer people… Congress is in recess this week. If people can reach their representatives and senators — many lawmakers have cowardly canceled town halls to avoid angry constituents — they can send a strong message that Americans want legislation that improves health care and makes it more affordable for everyone, not the opposite.

ALSO at The Stand — Stand up, be heard at actions across state this week

TUESDAY, Feb. 21 in VANCOUVER — Rally outside Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s office to urge her to protect all Washingtonians from the administration’s attack on immigrant families and health care. It begins at 11 a.m. at Howard House, Officer’s Row, 750 Anderson Street #B, Vancouver.

WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22 in YAKIMA — Rally outside Rep. Dan Newhouse’s office in Yakima to urge him to protect all Washingtonians from the administration’s attack on immigrant families and health care. It begins at 11 a.m. at 402 E. Yakima Ave.

THURSDAY, Feb. 23 in ISSAQUAH — Rally outside Rep. Dave Reichert’s office to urge him to protect all Washingtonians from the administration’s attack on immigrant families and health care. It begins at 11 a.m. at 22605 SE 56th St. #130, Issaquah.

THURSDAY, Feb. 23 in SPOKANE — Rally outside Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ office to urge her to protect all Washingtonians from the administration’s attack on immigrant families and health care. It begins at 11 a.m. at 10 N. Post St., Suite 625, in Spokane.

LOCAL

► In today’s News Tribune — ‘Our existence is not a crime’ — The Washington Dream Coalition hosted an immigrant-rights rally Sunday afternoon at People’s Park in Tacoma that drew more than 150 people, including local and state politicians. “People are being detained in their own backyard, and they don’t even realize what’s going on,” said Paul Quiñonez, referring to the Northwest Detention Center on Tacoma’s Tideflats.

► From KUOW — ‘Dreamer’ Daniel Medina facing deportation in Tacoma sues for his release

► In today’s Columbian — Clark County council neutral on I-5 Bridge — Clark County took a position on one of the region’s most politically fraught topics and then abruptly reversed itself after emerging from a closed-door meeting.

THIS WASHINGTON

► In the Spokesman-Review — New ferry director young and passionate — “Total ridership is up and missed sailings are down,” said 40-year-old Amy Scarton, the new WSF director. “Order one is to stay the course, When you look at what you need, it’s not just the terminals and vessels but the people. Roger asked me to bring into the ferries a greater understanding of our WSDOT agency-wide emphasis areas. Those are workforce depth, inclusion and practical solutions.” Workforce depth is recruiting, training and compensating employees “because it’s really the people that make the system work.”

THAT WASHINGTON

► In today’s Washington Post — Trump supporters see a successful president — and are frustrated with critics who don’t — “There’s such hatred for the man,” said Patricia Melani, 56. “I just don’t get it.” She blames the media for circulating “fake” stories about the president.

ALSO at The Stand — Let’s call out Trump administration’s big lies (by Mark M. McDermott)

► From Huffington Post — A mild-mannered woman from Washington is the Democrats’ deadliest weapon — Sen. Patty Murray has made a habit of maintaining bipartisan relationships and working across the aisle, passing things like the rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act. A firm member of the Pantsuit Nation, and a politician who launched her Senate career as a “mom in tennis shoes,” she politely and privately wielded a stiletto against Labor Secretary nominee Andrew Puzder, offering trenchant insights into Puzder’s attitudes in private conversations with Republicans in hallways and on the Senate floor.

► From AP — AP source: Revised travel ban targets same countries — A senior administration official said the order, which Trump revised after federal courts held up his original immigration and refugee ban, will target only those same seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.

► From AP — Senior Trump appointee fired after critical comments — A senior Trump administration official on the National Security Council was fired following criticism in a private speech of President Donald Trump’s policies and his inner circle of advisers.

► In the Washington Post — House Republicans launch latest hit on federal unions — Republicans are hitting what they consider to be abuses of “official time.” That system allows government labor organization officials to engage in certain, but certainly not all, union-related activities while being paid by federal agencies.

ALSO at The Stand — Trump’s federal hiring freeze is killing jobs, hurting vets

► In the Seattle Times — To federal-government workers: Persist! (by Frederick J. Kaplan) — My message to my former colleagues in the federal government is: Don’t go. Instead, speak truth to power. You are needed now more than ever.

► In today’s NY Times — Once again, the estate tax may die — It has been a political issue for years. Now, President Trump wants to eliminate it, a move that would benefit the wealthy.

► In today’s NY Times — Dysfunction and deadlock at the Federal Election Commission (by Ann M. Ravel) — The agency’s three Republican commissioners have paralyzed efforts to keep the financing of elections open and honest.

NATIONAL

► From McClatchy — ‘You and your family are fired … Love you’: Dozens lose jobs over immigrant protest — In Tulsa, Okla., 12 Latino workers at the I Don’t Care Bar and Grill told KTUL that they were fired over text message because they did not show up for their scheduled shift and did not call in. The restaurant owner texted one employee: “You and your family are fired. I hope you enjoyed your day off, and you can enjoy many more. Love you.”

► In the Seattle Times — Inferiority complex might be keeping some American workers down (by Jerry Large) — Economic inequality is high in the United States, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and it wouldn’t be if our attitudes, laws and business practices placed a higher value on the people who work to produce the profits that go to the top.

The Stand posts links to Washington state and national news of interest every weekday morning by 10 a.m.