Monday, July 30, 2018

ELECTION

► From The Stranger — Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers’s ads are so awful that doctors are asking her to stop using them — McMorris Rodgers’s latest batch of negative TV ads and mailers attacking her Democratic challenger, Lisa Brown, are so bad that a group of Spokane-area child abuse and prevention providers have signed an open letter “strongly condemning” McMorris Rodgers. Her campaign will not say whether she plans to apologize to Brown for the ads and to stop distributing them around Spokane.

► In the Spokesman-Review — Latest attack ads against Brown make questionable claims

► From McClatchy — A toss-up, this House race is poised to be the most pricey in state history — Democrats are continuing to out-raise Republicans in Washington’s 8th Congressional District, one of the nation’s most competitive House contests and one that is likely to become the most expensive in the state’s history.

► In today’s Seattle Times — Races heating up in state legislative districts that elect both Democrats and Republicans — With Democrats and Republicans again fighting for control of the Washington state Legislature, the parties are targeting a handful of lawmakers in swing districts.

► From AFL-CIO — If you live in Missouri, vote ‘NO’ on Proposition A — On Aug. 7, Missouri voters will have the chance to vote against Proposition A, a divisive attack on working people funded by big corporations and their wealthy allies. The misleading measure is a direct attack on the rights of the working people of Missouri.

► From The Guardian — Can liberals please work out how to win back the working class? (by Thomas Frank) — For all their cunning, Republicans are a known quantity. Their motives are simple: they will do anything, say anything, profess faith in anything to get tax cuts, deregulation and a little help keeping workers in line. Nothing else is sacred to them. Rules, norms, traditions, deficits, the Bible, the constitution, whatever. They don’t care, and in this they have proven utterly predictable. The Democrats, however, remain a mystery. We watch them hesitate at crucial moments, betray the movements that support them, and even try to suppress the leaders and ideas that generate any kind of populist electricity… Beating the right cannot simply be a matter of waiting for a dolt in the Oval Office to screw things up. There has to be a plan for actively challenging and reversing it, for turning around the fraction of working class voters who have been abandoning the Democratic party for decades. The time is up for happy fantasies of office-park centrism and professional-class competence.

LOCAL

► From CrossCut — Conservative activists find fuel for anti-union campaign in Seattle — The Freedom Foundation, which receives funding from the Koch brothers-backed Donors Trust, has stepped up its campaign to inform union members of a recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court allowing public sector employees to opt out of mandatory union dues. News of internal upheaval is already being put to use as the dueling campaigns between pro- and anti-labor groups kicks off.

► From KNKX — ‘Critical’ shortage of blood at Northwest blood banks — The two biggest blood networks in the Pacific Northwest say the region’s blood supply is suffering a critical shortage. Donations typically decline in summer months when donors go on vacation and schools and universities don’t hold regular blood drives.

THIS WASHINGTON

► From AP — Outside report into lawmaker complete, investigation ongoing — An outside investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct by Rep. Matt Manweller (R-Ellensburg) in his role as a professor at Central Washington University has been completed, but university officials said the report won’t be released until the internal investigation concludes. Manweller has been on paid leave from the school since December. That same month he was removed by House Republican leadership from his ranking member position on a House committee, and resigned his position as assistant floor leader.

► From AP — How many separated immigrant children are in Washington? The state wants to find out. — Across the country, 711 immigrant children separated from their parents at the border still remain disconnected from their families. Now, Washington state wants to know how many of those kids might be here.

THAT WASHINGTON

► From Politico — ‘Eye-popping’ payouts for CEOs follow Trump’s tax cuts — Some of the biggest winners from President Donald Trump’s new tax law are corporate executives who have reaped gains as their companies buy back a record amount of stock, a practice that rewards shareholders by boosting the value of existing shares. A POLITICO review of data disclosed in SEC filings shows the executives, who often receive most of their compensation in stock, have been profiting handsomely by selling shares since Trump signed the law on Dec. 22 and slashed corporate tax rates to 21 percent. That trend is likely to increase as Wall Street analysts expect buyback activity to accelerate in the coming weeks.

► In today’s NY Times — Trump rattles Republicans with threat of a shutdown — In a tweet, President Trump said he would be willing to shut down the government if Democrats do not give him money for his border wall.

► From The Hill — Trump pushes immigration measures after shutdown threat — Trump on Monday doubled down on his call to drastically ramp up border security and overhaul the immigration system a day after he threatened to shut down the government over the issue.

► From Labor Notes — Trump launches war on federal unions — Federal employees are at war with a presidential administration that’s bent on busting their unions. They rallied around the country July 25, their day in court as federal unions sue to halt three anti-union executive orders. President Donald Trump’s push is the most antagonistic he’s ever seen under any president, said AFGE’s David Cann. “It’s aimed at choking the union out of existence,” he said. “The overarching desire is to kill the union.”

ALSO at The Stand — America supports its federal workforce

► From The Hill — Kavanaugh ruled for Trump casino in 2012 unionization case — In 2012, Kavanaugh threw his weight behind Trump Entertainment Resorts’ successful attempt to end a unionization effort at one of its casinos six years ago.

► From CNN — Ginsburg suggests she has at least five more years on the Supreme Court — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she hopes to stay on the Supreme Court until the age of 90. “I’m now 85,” Ginsburg said on Sunday. “My senior colleague, Justice John Paul Stevens, he stepped down when he was 90, so think I have about at least five more years.”

► In today’s Washington Post — Koch group distances itself from GOP and Trump, condemns ‘divisiveness’ in Washington — Officials with the donor network affiliated with Charles Koch reiterated plans to spend as much as $400 million during the 2018 election cycle. But they issued a warning to President Trump and the GOP.

TODAY’S MUST-READ

► In today’s NY Times — How to talk to a racist (by Margaret Renkl) — If you’re a white liberal whose goal is to feel morally superior to such people, go right ahead and urge them to check their white privilege. Call them stupid rednecks. Get online and tweet your feats of moral derring-do in the cause of a more just society. You haven’t made a single thing better for anyone suffering the actual effects of racism, but when has that ever stopped a white person from airing a little righteous indignation? If, on the other hand, you’re a white liberal whose goal is to foster a more equitable culture, you need to stop yelling “Racist!” at anyone who doesn’t see the world exactly as you do. Somehow you need to find enough common ground for a real conversation about race. Very few people are stupid or irredeemably mean. They’ll listen to what you have to say if they trust you’ll listen to what they have to say back.

ALSO at The Stand — Register for WSLC’s Race & Labor Summit on Sept. 14-15

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