Podcasts about dlcc

The Atlantic's George Conway shares his insights on President Biden pardoning his son, Hunter. DLCC's Heather Williams details the Democrats' strategy in the years to come to reclaim a majority.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's episode, NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan speaks with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President, Heather Williams. Heather explains how the DLCC works to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate and win legislative majorities. She walks us through the DLCC's strategy of targeting key states and legislature chambers, the opportunities she is most excited about this year, and the organization's important work to raise awareness of legislative candidates and ensure that voters vote down the ballot. Tune in to learn about the many issues being shaped by state legislatures, including reproductive rights, housing, and climate, and why this year's elections matter more than ever.IN THIS EPISODE:  • [01:03] Introducing Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President Heather Williams who joins us to discuss state legislative elections.• [02:55] President Williams shares the three buckets that her work falls into this year.• [06:55] An overview of the DLCC's work and the cycle it follows.• [09:54] How enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz Campaign differs from state-specific voting sentiment.• [12:20] Factors that currently drive voter turnout including access to information.• [15:01] Why it is important to give voters a clear option to vote for issues such as reproductive healthcare.• [17:48] The important moment created by the Dobbs decision and how it widened people's understanding of Roe.• [19:34] The experience of recruiting candidates in 2024.• [22:35] President Williams' journey to public service.• [25:55] What sparked a transition in representation in 2010 and how that has unfolded today. Additional InformationAn Honorable Profession PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

The final polls suggest a silver lining for Kamala Harris ahead of Election Day. Brian interviews legendary reporter Bob Woodward about the danger posed by Trump and his new book, War. And DLCC president Heather Williams joins to discuss which state legislatures we're targeting to flip, the reverse coattails effect from state legislative candidates, and what's at stake in the states.Support the DLCC: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/dlcc-oct24-btcp?refcode=btcpShop merch: https://briantylercohen.com/shopYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/briantylercohenTwitter: https://twitter.com/briantylercohenFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohenInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/briantylercohenPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/briantylercohenNewsletter: https://www.briantylercohen.com/sign-upWritten by Brian Tyler CohenProduced by Sam GraberRecorded in Los Angeles, CASee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In today's episode, NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan speaks with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President, Heather Williams. Heather explains how the DLCC works to elect more Democrats to the House and Senate and win legislative majorities. She walks us through the DLCC's strategy of targeting key states and legislature chambers, the opportunities she is most excited about this year, and the organization's important work to raise awareness of legislative candidates and ensure that voters vote down the ballot. Tune in to learn about the many issues being shaped by state legislatures, including reproductive rights, housing, and climate, and why this year's elections matter more than ever. IN THIS EPISODE:  • [01:03] Introducing Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) President Heather Williams who joins us to discuss state legislative elections. • [02:55] President Williams shares the three buckets that her work falls into this year. • [06:55] An overview of the DLCC's work and the cycle it follows. • [09:54] How enthusiasm for the Harris-Walz Campaign differs from state-specific voting sentiment. • [12:20] Factors that currently drive voter turnout including access to information. • [15:01] Why it is important to give voters a clear option to vote for issues such as reproductive healthcare. • [17:48] The important moment created by the Dobbs decision and how it widened people's understanding of Roe. • [19:34] The experience of recruiting candidates in 2024. • [22:35] President Williams' journey to public service. • [25:55] What sparked a transition in representation in 2010 and how that has unfolded today.

Heather Williams is the President of the DLCC, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee - the party committee focused on state legislative races and chambers. In this conversation, Heather talks her initial path to politics, working in state legislative races in Iowa, early days working in finance, the many hats she's worn at the DLCC, and now her current role as the organization's President. We also go in depth on why state legislative races are so critical, the current battleground map heading into the 2024 elections, the importance of the issue of abortion, and much more with a leading thinker on all things state legislative politics.IN THIS EPISODEHow Heather became interested in politics growing up in Minnesota...Heather's early political roots working in Iowa...What Heather learned from well-respected, Iowa Senate Leader Mike Gronstal...What made Heather gravitate to working in the finance role in campaigns...How Heather was drawn to the DLCC initially, almost 20 years ago...Heather's take on what makes for a successful state legislative caucus operation...The many hats Heather wears as President of the DLCC, and how she's tackled some that didn't come as naturally to her...Legislative lessons learned after big Democratic losses in the 2010 election cycle...Heather's favorite case studies for legislative wins coming out of the 2022 midterms...Heather on her approach to leading a big political organization, despite not being a natural extrovert...What Heather learned from her long-term predecessor at DLCC, Jessica Post...Why it's important to "get comfortable with risk"...How Heather thinks about the current partisan balance at the state legislative level and her priorities for the 2024 cycle...The role that the abortion issue is currently playing in state legislative politics...How the DLCC has to always have future redistricting in mind as a strategic priority...Some of the most dynamic state legislative leaders currently on the scene...Heather's advice to those just starting a career in politics...Heather's most unusual, successful work habit...

We hear the latest on the first case of avian flu affecting humans from the Texas dairy herds.  We hear how South Devon cattle work for the DLCC Ranch.  Plus the latest news, market reports and auction results that you need to hear.  It's all wrapped into this all new  episode of The Ranch It Up Radio Show. Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel. EPISODE 179 DETAILS The first case of human avian flu in Texas has raised an alarm for many officials.  Although there is no concern of any infections in the feed or food supply, experts are researching how this disease is transmitted and what effects may be on humans.   The DLCC Ranch in Pierz, Minnesota is hosting their 32nd annual production sale coming up Saturday, April 20th at the ranch.  This is a tremendous opportunity for producers to select elite females right out of the heart of the DLCC foundation.  We have the sale information along with concepts and management of the DLCC Ranch.   We have market recaps from some of the industries best along with upcoming hay auction information and the news that you need to hear plus the news that you need to hear! DLCC RANCH:  An Elite South Devon Cattle Supplier Focused On Maternal Genetics DLCC is a South Devon seedstock operation committed to helping commercial cattlemen achieve profitability through crossbreeding and maternal heterosis. Our program strives to produce the most profitable genetics for our customer's bottom line. This can only be done by trusting science and using it in all of our decisions. Research shows that crossbred females produce an average of one additional calf and over 600 more pounds of weaning weight than straightbred dams (NBCEC Sire Selection Manual). We are proud of how we've followed this principle with – whole herd reporting, data collection on every animal born, strict AI regimes, ultrasound data collection, and new and novel data. These practices produce “honest cattle, that give you real results.” How DLCC Ranch Breeds Cattle We believe in crossbreeding and the effects it brings our customers. South Devon cattle provide flexibility along with many desired economically relevant traits: Outcross English Genetics Feed Efficient Hybrids Black-hided Bulls with Heavy Muscling Red Bulls with a Balanced Genetic Profile   South Devon History South Devon cattle, while less prevalent than in the past, first arrived in the United States in 1969 and then again in 1974. Demonstrating remarkable adaptability to diverse climates, this breed has gained a solid foothold on five continents. Wherever introduced, South Devons have earned acclaim for their impressive production capabilities and economic viability. Both red and black varieties of South Devons are now widely accessible across the globe.   Poundmaker & Navigator Cattle The DLCC Ranch from Pierz, Minnesota has focused on raising premier South Devon, Poundmaker and Navigator cattle that fit the goals of the commercial cowman.  The Poundmaker is a designed composite made up of South Devon and Angus breeds. Black or Red Angus qualify as the Angus influence.  A Navigator is a designed composite made up of South Devon and Continental breeds.   The DLCC Ranch is located near Pierz, Minnesota, and has been owned and operated since 1980 by Dar and Lynn Giess, with their grown children. SALE DAY INFO: 32nd Annual Production Sale and FALL HERD DISPERSION SALE DATE: Friday, April 20TH LOCATION: At the DLCC Ranch Sale Facility in Pierz, Minnesota SALE DAY CONTACTS: Dar Giess: 320-249-2130 Lane Giess: 320-293-1647 Wyatt Lawrence: 763-242-2804   COW COUNTRY NEWS First Human Case of Avian Flu In Texas Raises Alarm A Texas dairy worker has tested positive for the avian flu, marking the first identified human case of an illness in the U.S. that has sickened cattle across several states over the past few weeks. The infection, only the second human case of H5N1 ever recorded in the country, is worrying public health experts who for decades have cautioned that avian flu could pose a serious threat. The case is the only one state and federal officials have identified, and there is no evidence that it is being spread among humans. The illness is mild and the worker is expected to recover, said two people familiar with the matter. While there have been confirmed avian flu fatalities in other parts of the world, the U.S. has only ever recorded a handful of mild cases, according to the CDC. The new human case follows recent cow infections in Texas, Idaho, Michigan and New Mexico that have raised alarm among public health experts who worry the virus' spread to mammals could make it easier for the virus to infect humans. The CDC, FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture said the virus was found in a Michigan dairy herd that had recently received cows from herds in Texas. The USDA's National Veterinary Services Laboratories said the Michigan strain is very similar to the cow infections in Texas and Kansas, which appear to have come from wild birds.   2024 Stockmanship & Stewardship Tour The 2024 Stockmanship and Stewardship Tour is getting ready to hit the road.  Locations include Richfield, Utah; Lancaster, Wisconsin; Fresno, California; and Hamburg, New York.  You can head to www.stockmanshipandstewardship.org for additional information.   ADM Animal Nutrition Recalls Select Feeds ADM Animal Nutrition is recalling select feed products that may contain elevated levels of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and/or chloride. The lot number can be found at the bottom of the label. Click HERE to view images of the labels involved. Customers who have purchased the recalled feed should immediately stop using it and return it to their distributor or directly to ADM Animal Nutrition for a full refund. Please direct any customer inquiries to 800-217-2007 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Central time Monday through Friday.   Beef On Dairy Webinar Series There has been more and more discussion with the concept of beef on dairy crosses in commercial feeding operations.  A new webinar series is available focusing on the management of beef on dairy crossbreds along with sire selection and early life management on finishing performance. The series called “Ranchers Thursday Lunchtime Series will run every Thursday at noon, which started this past Thursday and runs through May 2nd.  Experts from Penn State University, Texas A&M Agri-Life Extension, West Texas A&M, Oklahoma State University, Washington State University, Cactus Feeders and Buffalo Feeders will cover recent research and real-world experiences in managing and marketing this unique animal resource.  The webinar registration link is available HERE.   UPCOMING BULL SALES ANGUS CHAROLAIS HEREFORD GELBVIEH BALANCER RED ANGUS SIMMENTAL SIMANGUS SOUTH DEVON   Montgomery Ranch: April 13, 2024, Carrington, North Dakota Jorgensen Farms:  April 15, 2024, Ideal, South Dakota DLCC Ranch:  April 20, 2024, Pierz, Minnesota BULL SALE REPORT & RESULTS Churchill Cattle Company Van Newkirk Herefords Gardiner Angus Ranch Cow Camp Ranch Jungels Shorthorn Farms Ellingson Angus Edgar Brothers Angus Schaff Angus Valley Prairie Hills Gelbvieh Clear Springs Cattle Company CK Cattle Mrnak Hereford Ranch Frey Angus Ranch Hoffmann Angus Farms Topp Herefords River Creek Farms Upstream Ranch Gustin's Diamond D Gelbvieh Schiefelbein Farms Wasem Red Angus Raven Angus Krebs Ranch Yon Family Farms Chestnut Angus Eichacker Simmentals & JK Angus Windy Creek Cattle Company Pedersen Broken Heart Ranch Mar Mac Farms Warner Beef Genetics Arda Farms & Freeway Angus Leland Red Angus & Koester Red Angus Fast - Dohrmann - Strommen RBM Livestock Weber Land & Cattle Sundsbak Farms Hidden Angus Wheatland Cattle Company Miller Angus Farms L 83 Ranch U2 Ranch Vollmer Angus Ranch A & B Cattle Carter Angus Farms FEATURING Lane Giess DLCC Ranch https://www.dlccranch.com/ @DLCCRanch   Kirk Donsbach: Stone X Financial https://www.stonex.com/   @StoneXGroupInc      Mark Van Zee  Livestock Market, Equine Market, Auction Time https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ @LivestockMkt @EquineMkt @AuctionTime   Shaye Koester Casual Cattle Conversation https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/ @cattleconvos   Questions & Concerns From The Field? Call or Text your questions, or comments to 707-RANCH20 or 707-726-2420 Or email RanchItUpShow@gmail.com FOLLOW Facebook/Instagram: @RanchItUpShow SUBSCRIBE to the Ranch It Up YouTube Channel: @ranchitup Website: RanchItUpShow.com https://ranchitupshow.com/ The Ranch It Up Podcast available on ALL podcasting apps. Rural America is center-stage on this outfit. AND how is that? Because of Tigger & BEC... Live This Western Lifestyle. Tigger & BEC represent the Working Ranch world by providing the cowboys, cowgirls, beef cattle producers & successful farmers the knowledge and education needed to bring high-quality beef & meat to your table for dinner. Learn more about Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt & Rebecca Wanner aka BEC here: TiggerandBEC.com https://tiggerandbec.com/ #RanchItUp #StayRanchy #TiggerApproved #tiggerandbec #rodeo #ranching #farming References https://www.stonex.com/ https://www.livestockmarket.com/ https://www.equinemarket.com/ https://www.auctiontime.com/ https://gelbvieh.org/ https://www.imogeneingredients.com/ https://alliedgeneticresources.com/ https://westwayfeed.com/ https://medoraboot.com/ http://www.gostockmens.com/ https://ranchchannel.com/ https://jorgensenfarms.com/ https://www.dlccranch.com/ https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/01/first-human-avian-flu-case-texas-00149949#:~:text=A%20Texas%20dairy%20worker%20has,over%20the%20past%20few%20weeks. https://www.stockmanshipandstewardship.org/ https://www.southdevon.com/about-the-breed/history.html https://www.beefmagazine.com/farm-business-management/adm-animal-nutrition-recalling-select-feed-products https://www.adm.com/globalassets/news/news-releases/recall-labels_033024.pdf https://www.beefmagazine.com/farm-business-management/webinar-series-to-focus-management-of-beef-on-dairy-crossbreds

Friday News Flyover, December 8, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, December 8th, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas abortion bans creating legal confusion | MO Pastor jailed facing sexual abuse charges | Sen Josh Hawley and Rep Cori Bush speak against defense bill without funds for St. Louis residents exposed to radiation | AL Senator Tommy Tuberville gives up his misguided military holds | Dolly Parton gives books to millions of kids, if you didn't knowWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado. With me as co-host today is Adam Sommer, how you doing Adam?We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media with @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/06/1217637325/texas-woman-asks-court-for-abortion-because-of-pregnancy-complicationsUpdated Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1:55 p.m."Kate Cox needs an abortion, and she needs it now." Thus began a petition filed in a Texas district court this week, asking a judge to allow the abortion to be performed in the state, where abortion is banned with very limited exceptions.On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas, ruled from the bench, granting permission for Cox to have the abortion she is seeking. Cox's fetus has a genetic condition with very low chances of survival and her own health and fertility are at risk if she carries the pregnancy to term.The petition was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is the group behind a high profile case heard at the Texas Supreme Court last week.In that case the group's senior staff attorney Molly Duane argued on behalf of 20 patients and two OB-GYNs that the medical exception to the ban on abortion in the state's laws is too narrow and vague, and that it endangered patients during complicated pregnancies. An attorney for the state argued the exception is already clear and that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue.On the very day of those arguments, Nov. 28, Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two who lives in the Dallas area, got "devastating" news about her pregnancy, the filing says. At nearly 20-weeks gestation, she learned that her fetus has Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome, a condition with extremely low chances of survival.So, as the Texas Supreme Court considered whether its abortion laws endangered patients with pregnancy complications in the past, Cox was trying to figure out what to do in her present situation.Cox had already been in the emergency room three times with cramping and other concerning symptoms, according to court documents. Her doctors told her she was at high risk of developing gestational hypertension and diabetes, and because she had had two prior cesarean sections, carrying the pregnancy to term could compromise her chances of having a third child in the future, the brief says.Last Thursday, she reached out for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Five days after that, the group filed this petition on her behalf.The filing asked a Travis County district court for a temporary restraining order against the state of Texas and the Texas Medical Board, blocking enforcement of Texas's abortion bans so that Cox can terminate her current pregnancy. It also would block enforcement of S.B. 8, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed against those who help patients receive abortions.That would protect the other plaintiffs in the case, Cox's husband, Justin, and Dr. Damla Karsan, who is prepared to provide the abortion if the court grants their request. Karsan is one of the OB-GYN plaintiffs in the Zurawski v. the State of Texas case.Thursday's ruling will allow Karsan to provide an abortion without threat of prosecution. It only applies to Cox, her husband and Karsan. Issuing the ruling, Judge Guerra Gamble said: "The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice."There are currently three overlapping abortion bans in Texas. Abortion is illegal in the state from the moment pregnancy begins. Texas doctors can legally provide abortions only if a patient is "in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function, " the law says."I don't know what that means," Duane says of the language of the medical exception. "But I think [Cox's] situation must fall within whatever it is that that means."The Texas Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment on Cox's case, but the office argued in the Zurawski case that the medical exception needs no clarification.Sponsor MessageTexas Alliance for Life, a group that lobbied in the state legislature for the current abortion laws, published a statement about Cox's case Wednesday. "We believe that the exception language in Texas laws is clear," wrote the group's communication director Amy O'Donnell, and accused the Center for Reproductive Rights of pretending to seek clarity while really attempting to "chisel away" at Texas's abortion laws.The timeline of this case was very quick. "I have to be honest, I've never done this before, and that's because no one's ever done this before," Duane says. "But usually when you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court will act very, very quickly in acknowledgement of the emergency circumstances."The hearing was held via Zoom on Thursday morning.The State of Texas cannot appeal the decision directly, says Duane. "They would have to file what's called a writ of mandamus, saying that the district court acted so far out of its jurisdiction and that there needs to be a reversal," Duane explains. "But filing a petition like that is not does not automatically stay the injunction the way that an appeal of a temporary injunction does."In the meantime, the justices of the Texas Supreme Court are considering the Zurawski case, with a decision expected in the next few months. "I want them to take their time to write an opinion that gets this right and will protect patients, doctors and their families going forward," Duane says."But the reality is that in the meantime, people are going to continue to be harmed," and Cox couldn't afford to wait for that decision, Duane says.Duane praises Cox for her bravery in publicly sharing her story while in the midst of a personal medical crisis. "She's exceptional – but I will also say that the pathway to this has been paved by all the other women in our lawsuit," she says. "There is strength in numbers."https://www.kmbc.com/article/court-documents-independence-missouri-pastor-charged-child-molestation/46058889Court documents state that multiple people under the age of 18 accused Virgil Marsh of sexually assaulting them between 2011 and 2018.Marsh, 71, is now in the Jackson County jail.He was charged with two counts of first-degree of child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy.A probable cause statement indicates that Marsh told police he was a current pastor in Independence and admitted he had "inappropriately touched" one of the victims.He did tell police he 'potentially kissed' a second victim on the mouth but denied sexually touching them.He also told police he has asked for forgiveness with God and is no longer the man who "had previously done things to the victim," the probable cause reads.https://missouriindependent.com/2023/12/07/compensation-for-st-louis-victims-of-nuclear-waste-stripped-from-federal-defense-bill/Compensation for St. Louis victims of nuclear waste stripped from federal defense billProvisions that would have compensated those exposed to radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project were removed on WednesdayBY: ALLISON KITE - DECEMBER 7, 2023 9:03 AM      A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday he would do everything he could to stop a federal defense spending bill after a provision offering compensation to Americans exposed to decades-old radioactive waste was removed. Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the Missouri Republican called the decision to remove compensation for Americans who have suffered rare cancers and autoimmune diseases a “scar on the conscience of this body.”“This is an injustice,” Hawley said. “This is this body turning its back on these good, proud Americans.”This summer, the Senate amended the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the existing Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include parts of the St. Louis region where individuals were exposed to leftover radioactive material from the development of the first atomic bomb. It would have also included parts of the Southwest where residents were exposed to bomb testing. But the provision was removed Wednesday by a conference committee of senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives working out differences between the two chambers' versions of the bill.Even before the text of the amended bill became available Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was decrying the removal of the radiation compensation policy. “This is a major betrayal of thousands and thousands of Missourians who have been lied to and ignored for years,” Hawley said in a post on social media Wednesday. Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms STL, fought back tears Wednesday night as she described hearing the “gut-wrenching” news from Hawley's staff. Chapman and fellow moms have been advocating for families exposed to or near radioactive waste for years. “I actually thought we had a chance,” Chapman said. But she said the group hopes to get the expansion passed another way. “Nobody has given up on it,” Chapman said.The St. Louis region has suffered from a radioactive waste problem for decades. The area was instrumental in the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Almost 80 years later, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles counties are still dealing with the fallout. After the war, radioactive waste produced from refining uranium was trucked from downtown St. Louis to several sites in St. Louis County where it contaminated property at the airport and seeped into Coldwater Creek. In the 1970s, remaining nuclear waste that couldn't be processed to extract valuable metals was trucked to the West Lake Landfill and illegally dumped. It remains there today.During the Cold War, uranium was processed in St. Charles County. A chemical plant and open ponds of radioactive waste remained at the site in Weldon Spring for years. The site was remediated in the early 2000s, but groundwater contamination at the site is not improving fast enough, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.For years, St. Louis-area residents have pointed to the radioactive waste to explain rare cancers, autoimmune diseases and young deaths. A study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found people who lived along Coldwater Creek or played in its waters faced an increased risk of cancer.Chapman said she knew two individuals who made calls to members of Congress while receiving chemotherapy. It's hard to ask people to keep fighting for the legislation, she said. “They're not going to see another Christmas, and they're not going to see the compensation from this,” Chapman said. “This won't help them.” An investigation by The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press this summer found that the private companies and federal agencies handling and overseeing the waste repeatedly downplayed the danger despite knowledge that it posed a risk to human health.After the report was published, Hawley decried the federal government's failures and vowed to introduce legislation to help. So did U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. In a statement Wednesday night, she said the federal government's failure to compensate those who have been harmed by radioactive waste is “straight up negligence.”“The people of St. Louis deserve better, and they deserve to be able to live without worry of radioactive contamination,” Bush said. Missouri's junior senator, Republican Eric Schmitt, grew up near the West Lake Landfill. He said in a statement that the “fight is far from over” and that he will look into other legislation to get victims compensation.“The careless dumping of this waste happened across Missouri, including in my own backyard of St. Louis, and has negatively impacted Missouri communities for decades,” Schmitt said. “I will not stop fighting until it is addressed.”Already, two state lawmakers have pre-filed legislation related to radioactive waste in advance of the Missouri General Assembly reconvening in January. One doubles the budget of a state radioactive waste investigation fund. The other requires further disclosure of radioactive contamination when one sells or rents a house.In July, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37  to adopt Hawley's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include the St. Louis area. It would have also expanded the coverage area to compensate victims exposed to testing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico. The amendment included residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam and expanded the coverage area in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, which are already partially covered.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that expanding the program could cost $147.1 billion over 10 years with St. Louis' portion taking up $3.7 billion of that. The amendment would have also renewed the program for existing coverage areas. Without renewal, it will expire in the coming months. Hawley said, however, the “fight is not over.” “I will come to this floor as long as it takes. I will introduce this bill as long as it takes,” he said. “I will force amendment votes as long as it takes until we compensate the people of this nation who have sacrificed for this nation.” https://www.azmirror.com/2023/12/06/in-bid-to-flip-the-legislature-blue-national-dems-announce-spending-on-az/With Republicans holding the barest of majorities in the Arizona Legislature, national Democrats are already making major investments in a bid to flip the state's legislature blue. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Wednesday announced it would spend $70,000 in Arizona to aid in candidate recruitment for key races, hiring staff, digital investments and more. The spending is the start of the DLCC's push in swing states where the committee hopes to either solidify Democratic majorities or pick up seats and win legislative control. The money is part of an initial $300,000 push in swing states by the DLCC, with Arizona and Michigan getting the lion's share of the money. The DLCC is also spending money in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. In Arizona, Republicans have one-seat majorities in both the 60-member state House of Representatives and the 30-member state Senate. DLCC interim President Heather Williams told the Arizona Mirror that the committee is hoping to flip the House and Senate in part by highlighting the extreme positions of Republican lawmakers. Many proposed law changes inspired by those extreme positions earned vetoes from Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year. “The Republican majority in both chambers is vulnerable,” Williams said, adding that this is only the committee's “initial investment,” as the group anticipates spending much more in 2024. Williams did not elaborate on which Arizona races the group plans to target, but mentioned that the group aims to do something similar to what happened in Virginia this year. Last month, Virginia Democrats gained control of the House and solidified their control of the Senate. The DLCC hopes to mirror that in Arizona. In that election, all 140 seats in the Virginia legislature were up for grabs, and Democrat wins will block Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's ability to fully enact his conservative agenda. The DLCC ended up spending more than $2 million in Virginia. “Here is what we know about Republicans, they are legislating in a way across the country that is not where their constituents are,” Williams said, citing access to abortion and health care for women as key. Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a number of key state house races for 2024 but Williams is confident that her party will come out on top, adding that the DLCC intends to have a dialogue with voters and to help people get registered to vote. “I think we feel really strong with our position as an organization,” Williams said, adding that having Hobbs, a former state lawmaker as a Democratic ally in the governorship will offer advantages. https://alabamareflector.com/2023/12/05/tuberville-relents-on-months-long-blockade-of-most-military-nominees-blaming-democrats/WASHINGTON — After blocking hundreds of U.S. military promotions for most of 2023 in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Tuesday he will lift his holds on all of them except for a handful of four-star general nominees.The senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, said he told his fellow Senate Republicans “it's been a long fight” but ultimately he said Democrats were to blame for stalling hundreds of service members from moving up in the chain of command. Tuberville had said repeatedly that Democrats could bring each of the nominees to the floor for votes, which would take hours of debate.“We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach, and an abortion policy that's not legal,” Tuberville said after announcing his about-face to his fellow Senate Republicans during their regularly scheduled weekly lunch.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Tuesday that he would move the nominations to the floor “as soon as possible, possibly later this afternoon.”“I hope no one does this again, and I hope they learned the lesson of Sen. Tuberville. And that is he held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted,” Schumer said.Tuberville has blocked hundreds of nominees since the spring because he opposes a recent Pentagon policy that allows armed services members time off and travel reimbursement should they need to seek an abortion in a state where it remains legal.Roughly 80,000 active-duty female service members are stationed in states where legislatures enacted full or partial bans following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a RAND analysis.The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin maintain the policy is legal, as did a 2022 Department of Justice opinion.The list of nominees affected by Tuberville's months-long hold grew to 451 members of the military as of Nov. 27, according to a Department of Defense official. Majority staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee list 445 affected nominees.Tuberville's agreement to halt his protest means that all but 11 of those nominees are expected to clear final Senate approval, according to figures from committee's majority staff.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that GOP senators are “pleased obviously that that situation seems to have been ameliorated by recent announcements by the senator from Alabama.”Sen. Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said in a statement Tuesday he's “glad that hundreds of our nation's finest military leaders will finally receive their hard-won, merit-based promotions.”“They, and their families, have shown us what grace and grit look like in the face of hardship. Senator Tuberville's actions have been an affront to the United States military and the Senate,” said Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island.“He has jeopardized our national security and abused the rights afforded to all Senators. No Senator should ever attempt to advance their own partisan agenda on the backs of our troops like this again.”Threat of Democratic-led procedure changeTuberville's change in course arrived as Schumer was poised to bring to the floor a Democratic-led rules resolution to bypass the Alabama senator's blockade.The proposed temporary change in floor process would have allowed senators to quickly approve large blocs of nominations simultaneously on the floor, saving hours and hours that would have been required to vote on each individually.Tuberville said Tuesday that he and fellow Republican senators decided they did not want to see any changes to Senate floor procedures and that is the reason he decided to lift his blockade.“All of us are against a rule change in the Senate, OK. We're all against it,” Tuberville said.The Alabama senator's own Republican colleagues have grown publicly frustrated with his stalling of military promotions.GOP senators, including Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Todd Young of Indiana, have on two occasions held the Senate floor into the wee hours bringing forward the names of nominees, only to meet Tuberville's objections.Some frustrated Republicans last week mulled whether to support the Democratic-led effort to override Tuberville's blockade. Democrats would have needed nine of them to pass the change in procedure.“I have said that right now I support Tommy Tuberville, but if he makes a statement that he's going to maintain this posture through this Congress I intend to vote for nominations under the rules suspension,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told States Newsroom Nov. 29.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/12/06/ohio-senate-wants-to-stop-you-from-growing-weed-house-fights-back/Ohio Senate wants to stop you from growing weed; House fights backBY: MORGAN TRAU - DECEMBER 6, 2023 4:55 AMWhile Ohio Senate Republicans move to dramatically change recreational marijuana policy, the House is fighting back in a bipartisan fashion — saying the will of the voters must be followed.On Thursday, adults 21 and older in Ohio will be able to smoke weed and grow up to six plants.When Issue 2 passed in November, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) knew he could be part of clarifying public policy. He invited WEWS/OCJ's Morgan Trau to his introduction of H.B. 354 in a “skeleton” session Tuesday morning. Skeleton sessions are when typically two lawmakers gather with the House clerk and take less than five minutes to introduce policy.“We preserve the things that the people voted on,” he told Trau after he banged the gavel and Finance Chair state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) watched.Callender, who has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana, has been working on recreational implementation for years. Issue 2 came after all of his efforts were purposely stalled in the Statehouse.“The Marijuana Legalization Initiative” allows Ohioans to grow up to six plants, with 12 per household. In addition, the proposal would impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction. It also establishes the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce.Ohioans voted in favor of the statute 57-43%.“I'm glad it passed and I'm excited that we're going to be able to take some of these measures that make it a more responsible act,” Callender said. “I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people — and the people have spoken.”His bill doesn't make major changes, but it does add safeguards — like guidelines on advertising, public smoking bans and provisions that give local governments more of a say in where tax revenue goes. It also explains that home grow must take place at residential addresses.“We've seen folks aggregate those six plants and, in essence, create a mega farm which is simply an aggregation or a co-op of a whole lot of home grows,” he said, saying that he is trying to prevent that.The bill, one that Callendar says has bipartisan support in the House, deeply contrasts the Senate's version.The proposal by state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) also includes guard rails to prevent exposure to children, including advertising guidelines. It would require marijuana to be packaged in a child-resistant container and prevents “cartoon character” or other pop culture figures whose target audience is a child from being used in weed marketing.However, those safety guidelines are the end of the common ground.The Senate proposal would reduce how much weed you could possess from 2.5 ounces to 1 ounce and 15 grams of marijuana concentrates to 5 grams; It would make weed less strong by limiting THC levels for plants to 25%, when the minimum was 35%. In addition, it would limit extracts to 50%, when the minimum was 90%; and it would make marijuana more expensive by raising the tax from 10% to 15%.It also changes where the taxes go.As mentioned, it was a 10% tax at the point of sale. It was 36% revenue to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; 36% to the host community cannabis fund to provide funds to jurisdictions with adult-use dispensaries; 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund; and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund. Issue 2 capped the number of dispensaries permitted at once to 350, but the bill cuts that down to 230.The Senate version ups to 15% tax at the point of sale. It is 30% to the law enforcement training fund, 15% to the marijuana substance abuse treatment and prevention fund, 10% to the safe driver training fund, and the remaining 45% goes to the grand revenue fund — aka, the state lawmakers.“The social equity program — when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of it — it was tax revenue being collected to be put right back into the hands of the industry,” McColley said. “It was a tax grab by the industry to prop up more dispensaries within the industry.”The “Social Equity and Jobs Program” was established by Issue 2. It is designed to fix “the harms resulting from the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana-related laws” and “reduce barriers to ownership and opportunity” to those “most directly and adversely impacted by the enforcement of marijuana-related laws,” according to the initiative.The most significant change is the proposal eliminates home grow.“The opposition has been all around the black market,” McColley said. “It's been around, ‘how do we keep these plants from then being transferred and sold illegally?'”After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.“I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products,” the senator added.Clearly, the voters want home grow, Callender argued. Access to products means access to home grow, he said.It isn't just Callender who is frustrated with the legislation moving through the other chamber. Dozens of Republican and Democratic representatives are infuriated with the Senate.One with a unique perspective is state Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) The Senate took his legislation, H.B. 86, that revised the limit on the gallons of spirituous liquor that a micro-distillery may manufacture each year and added their marijuana proposal onto his bill.“Slap in the face of Ohio voters,” LaRe told WEWS/OCJ.The lawmaker doesn't support recreational marijuana, but he does respect the will of Ohioans, he added.“It's unfortunate they want to use a bill that is focused on helping certain small businesses recover from the pandemic to fast-track language that changes the intent of the ballot initiative,” he said. “I believe we should look into where the tax dollars are spent, but this goes way beyond those details.”Democrats agree. House Minority Whip State Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) says she can't and won't support the Senate version.“I'm not a fan of turning my back on the Ohio voters and the will of what they said when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 2,” Miranda said.When asked what happens if the two chambers don't reach a compromise, Callender said he will be in better standing — since the House can just block the Senate version.“I'm okay with just letting the initiated statute go into effect, which is a pretty strong bargaining position,” he said. “If we don't come up with an agreement, I'll trust the rule-making process, trust Commerce to make good rules to do this.”The Senate is expected to pass the marijuana bill out of committee Wednesday morning, putting it on the floor for a full vote later in the day. The House version is set to be heard Wednesday, as well.This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/dolly-parton-imagination-library-officially-launches-statewide-in-illinoisPritzker says goal is to send free books to all children, ages 0-5By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinois families with infants and toddlers now have access to free children's books that can be sent directly to their home, regardless of their income.Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced the official launch of the state's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program founded by the country music legend in 1995 in her home county in east Tennessee. It now sends free books every month to nearly 3 million children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.“Today, I couldn't be prouder to announce that the Imagination Library is working with the state of Illinois to begin our journey to provide every child under the age of five an opportunity to receive a free book delivered to them every single month,” Pritzker said at an event at the Bloomington Public Library.Pritzker first announced in June that the state had formed a partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, Parton's philanthropic organization, after Illinois lawmakers included $1.6 million in this year's budget to fund the state's share of the program. Other funding comes from the Dollywood Foundation and local, county-based organizations.Since then, about 44 local programs have been operating in the state, serving roughly 4 percent of eligible children. But Dollywood Foundation executive director Nora Briggs said the goal is to reach all of the estimated 755,000 children under age 5 in Illinois.“We know that nothing is more basic, more essential, more foundational to a child's success in life than the ability to read,” Briggs said. “The research is clear. We cannot wait until kindergarten for children to have access or exposure to books. It must happen early. It must start in the home environment. And reading at home requires books.”People who are interested in enrolling their child in the program can find their local provider on the “check availability” tab located at imaginationlibrary.com. From there, applicants submit basic information including their address, their child's name and date of birth, and the parents' information.Once a child's eligibility is approved, they will start receiving one book each month, addressed to them. Each child within an age group receives the same monthly book. Books on the distribution list are chosen by a panel of early childhood literacy experts who review potential titles for inclusion in the distribution list. In addition to funding the Imagination Library program this year, lawmakers also approved Pritzker's “Smart Start Illinois” initiative that will provide $250 million this year for early childhood programs, including expanded access to preschool, wage support for child care workers, early intervention programs, and home visiting programs.“We're making our mark on every aspect of early childhood, and working with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library literacy efforts will begin now at the earliest ages,” Pritzker said. “Illinois is well on its way to solidifying our status as the number one state in the nation to raise young children.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.Stories in today's show originally appeared in the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, Alabama Reflector, Michigan Advance, Arizona Mirror, KMBC9 Kansas City, Ohio Capital Journal, and NPR News @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

Friday News Flyover, December 8, 2023Intro: On this episode of The Heartland POD for Friday, December 8th, 2023A flyover from this weeks top heartland stories including:Texas abortion bans creating legal confusion | MO Pastor jailed facing sexual abuse charges | Sen Josh Hawley and Rep Cori Bush speak against defense bill without funds for St. Louis residents exposed to radiation | AL Senator Tommy Tuberville gives up his misguided military holds | Dolly Parton gives books to millions of kids, if you didn't knowWelcome to The Heartland POD for a Flyover Friday, this is Sean Diller in Denver, Colorado. With me as co-host today is Adam Sommer, how you doing Adam?We're glad to have you with us. If you're new to our shows make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star rating wherever you listen. You can also find Heartland POD content on Youtube and on social media with @ THE heartland pod, and learn more at thehearltandcollective.com Alright! Let's get into the storieshttps://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/12/06/1217637325/texas-woman-asks-court-for-abortion-because-of-pregnancy-complicationsUpdated Thursday, Dec. 7 at 1:55 p.m."Kate Cox needs an abortion, and she needs it now." Thus began a petition filed in a Texas district court this week, asking a judge to allow the abortion to be performed in the state, where abortion is banned with very limited exceptions.On Thursday, Judge Maya Guerra Gamble of Travis County, Texas, ruled from the bench, granting permission for Cox to have the abortion she is seeking. Cox's fetus has a genetic condition with very low chances of survival and her own health and fertility are at risk if she carries the pregnancy to term.The petition was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is the group behind a high profile case heard at the Texas Supreme Court last week.In that case the group's senior staff attorney Molly Duane argued on behalf of 20 patients and two OB-GYNs that the medical exception to the ban on abortion in the state's laws is too narrow and vague, and that it endangered patients during complicated pregnancies. An attorney for the state argued the exception is already clear and that the plaintiffs didn't have standing to sue.On the very day of those arguments, Nov. 28, Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two who lives in the Dallas area, got "devastating" news about her pregnancy, the filing says. At nearly 20-weeks gestation, she learned that her fetus has Trisomy 18 or Edwards Syndrome, a condition with extremely low chances of survival.So, as the Texas Supreme Court considered whether its abortion laws endangered patients with pregnancy complications in the past, Cox was trying to figure out what to do in her present situation.Cox had already been in the emergency room three times with cramping and other concerning symptoms, according to court documents. Her doctors told her she was at high risk of developing gestational hypertension and diabetes, and because she had had two prior cesarean sections, carrying the pregnancy to term could compromise her chances of having a third child in the future, the brief says.Last Thursday, she reached out for the Center for Reproductive Rights. Five days after that, the group filed this petition on her behalf.The filing asked a Travis County district court for a temporary restraining order against the state of Texas and the Texas Medical Board, blocking enforcement of Texas's abortion bans so that Cox can terminate her current pregnancy. It also would block enforcement of S.B. 8, which allows civil lawsuits to be filed against those who help patients receive abortions.That would protect the other plaintiffs in the case, Cox's husband, Justin, and Dr. Damla Karsan, who is prepared to provide the abortion if the court grants their request. Karsan is one of the OB-GYN plaintiffs in the Zurawski v. the State of Texas case.Thursday's ruling will allow Karsan to provide an abortion without threat of prosecution. It only applies to Cox, her husband and Karsan. Issuing the ruling, Judge Guerra Gamble said: "The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice."There are currently three overlapping abortion bans in Texas. Abortion is illegal in the state from the moment pregnancy begins. Texas doctors can legally provide abortions only if a patient is "in danger of death or a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function, " the law says."I don't know what that means," Duane says of the language of the medical exception. "But I think [Cox's] situation must fall within whatever it is that that means."The Texas Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment on Cox's case, but the office argued in the Zurawski case that the medical exception needs no clarification.Sponsor MessageTexas Alliance for Life, a group that lobbied in the state legislature for the current abortion laws, published a statement about Cox's case Wednesday. "We believe that the exception language in Texas laws is clear," wrote the group's communication director Amy O'Donnell, and accused the Center for Reproductive Rights of pretending to seek clarity while really attempting to "chisel away" at Texas's abortion laws.The timeline of this case was very quick. "I have to be honest, I've never done this before, and that's because no one's ever done this before," Duane says. "But usually when you ask for a temporary restraining order, the court will act very, very quickly in acknowledgement of the emergency circumstances."The hearing was held via Zoom on Thursday morning.The State of Texas cannot appeal the decision directly, says Duane. "They would have to file what's called a writ of mandamus, saying that the district court acted so far out of its jurisdiction and that there needs to be a reversal," Duane explains. "But filing a petition like that is not does not automatically stay the injunction the way that an appeal of a temporary injunction does."In the meantime, the justices of the Texas Supreme Court are considering the Zurawski case, with a decision expected in the next few months. "I want them to take their time to write an opinion that gets this right and will protect patients, doctors and their families going forward," Duane says."But the reality is that in the meantime, people are going to continue to be harmed," and Cox couldn't afford to wait for that decision, Duane says.Duane praises Cox for her bravery in publicly sharing her story while in the midst of a personal medical crisis. "She's exceptional – but I will also say that the pathway to this has been paved by all the other women in our lawsuit," she says. "There is strength in numbers."https://www.kmbc.com/article/court-documents-independence-missouri-pastor-charged-child-molestation/46058889Court documents state that multiple people under the age of 18 accused Virgil Marsh of sexually assaulting them between 2011 and 2018.Marsh, 71, is now in the Jackson County jail.He was charged with two counts of first-degree of child molestation and first-degree statutory sodomy.A probable cause statement indicates that Marsh told police he was a current pastor in Independence and admitted he had "inappropriately touched" one of the victims.He did tell police he 'potentially kissed' a second victim on the mouth but denied sexually touching them.He also told police he has asked for forgiveness with God and is no longer the man who "had previously done things to the victim," the probable cause reads.https://missouriindependent.com/2023/12/07/compensation-for-st-louis-victims-of-nuclear-waste-stripped-from-federal-defense-bill/Compensation for St. Louis victims of nuclear waste stripped from federal defense billProvisions that would have compensated those exposed to radioactive waste left over from the Manhattan Project were removed on WednesdayBY: ALLISON KITE - DECEMBER 7, 2023 9:03 AM      A joint investigation by The Independent and MuckRock.U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said Thursday he would do everything he could to stop a federal defense spending bill after a provision offering compensation to Americans exposed to decades-old radioactive waste was removed. Speaking on the floor of the Senate, the Missouri Republican called the decision to remove compensation for Americans who have suffered rare cancers and autoimmune diseases a “scar on the conscience of this body.”“This is an injustice,” Hawley said. “This is this body turning its back on these good, proud Americans.”This summer, the Senate amended the National Defense Authorization Act to expand the existing Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include parts of the St. Louis region where individuals were exposed to leftover radioactive material from the development of the first atomic bomb. It would have also included parts of the Southwest where residents were exposed to bomb testing. But the provision was removed Wednesday by a conference committee of senators and members of the U.S. House of Representatives working out differences between the two chambers' versions of the bill.Even before the text of the amended bill became available Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was decrying the removal of the radiation compensation policy. “This is a major betrayal of thousands and thousands of Missourians who have been lied to and ignored for years,” Hawley said in a post on social media Wednesday. Dawn Chapman, a co-founder of Just Moms STL, fought back tears Wednesday night as she described hearing the “gut-wrenching” news from Hawley's staff. Chapman and fellow moms have been advocating for families exposed to or near radioactive waste for years. “I actually thought we had a chance,” Chapman said. But she said the group hopes to get the expansion passed another way. “Nobody has given up on it,” Chapman said.The St. Louis region has suffered from a radioactive waste problem for decades. The area was instrumental in the Manhattan Project, the name given to the effort to build an atomic bomb during World War II. Almost 80 years later, residents of St. Louis and St. Charles counties are still dealing with the fallout. After the war, radioactive waste produced from refining uranium was trucked from downtown St. Louis to several sites in St. Louis County where it contaminated property at the airport and seeped into Coldwater Creek. In the 1970s, remaining nuclear waste that couldn't be processed to extract valuable metals was trucked to the West Lake Landfill and illegally dumped. It remains there today.During the Cold War, uranium was processed in St. Charles County. A chemical plant and open ponds of radioactive waste remained at the site in Weldon Spring for years. The site was remediated in the early 2000s, but groundwater contamination at the site is not improving fast enough, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.For years, St. Louis-area residents have pointed to the radioactive waste to explain rare cancers, autoimmune diseases and young deaths. A study by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry found people who lived along Coldwater Creek or played in its waters faced an increased risk of cancer.Chapman said she knew two individuals who made calls to members of Congress while receiving chemotherapy. It's hard to ask people to keep fighting for the legislation, she said. “They're not going to see another Christmas, and they're not going to see the compensation from this,” Chapman said. “This won't help them.” An investigation by The Missouri Independent, MuckRock and The Associated Press this summer found that the private companies and federal agencies handling and overseeing the waste repeatedly downplayed the danger despite knowledge that it posed a risk to human health.After the report was published, Hawley decried the federal government's failures and vowed to introduce legislation to help. So did U.S. Rep. Cori Bush, D-St. Louis. In a statement Wednesday night, she said the federal government's failure to compensate those who have been harmed by radioactive waste is “straight up negligence.”“The people of St. Louis deserve better, and they deserve to be able to live without worry of radioactive contamination,” Bush said. Missouri's junior senator, Republican Eric Schmitt, grew up near the West Lake Landfill. He said in a statement that the “fight is far from over” and that he will look into other legislation to get victims compensation.“The careless dumping of this waste happened across Missouri, including in my own backyard of St. Louis, and has negatively impacted Missouri communities for decades,” Schmitt said. “I will not stop fighting until it is addressed.”Already, two state lawmakers have pre-filed legislation related to radioactive waste in advance of the Missouri General Assembly reconvening in January. One doubles the budget of a state radioactive waste investigation fund. The other requires further disclosure of radioactive contamination when one sells or rents a house.In July, the U.S. Senate voted 61-37  to adopt Hawley's amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act expanding the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act to include the St. Louis area. It would have also expanded the coverage area to compensate victims exposed to testing of the atomic bomb in New Mexico. The amendment included residents of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Guam and expanded the coverage area in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, which are already partially covered.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that expanding the program could cost $147.1 billion over 10 years with St. Louis' portion taking up $3.7 billion of that. The amendment would have also renewed the program for existing coverage areas. Without renewal, it will expire in the coming months. Hawley said, however, the “fight is not over.” “I will come to this floor as long as it takes. I will introduce this bill as long as it takes,” he said. “I will force amendment votes as long as it takes until we compensate the people of this nation who have sacrificed for this nation.” https://www.azmirror.com/2023/12/06/in-bid-to-flip-the-legislature-blue-national-dems-announce-spending-on-az/With Republicans holding the barest of majorities in the Arizona Legislature, national Democrats are already making major investments in a bid to flip the state's legislature blue. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Wednesday announced it would spend $70,000 in Arizona to aid in candidate recruitment for key races, hiring staff, digital investments and more. The spending is the start of the DLCC's push in swing states where the committee hopes to either solidify Democratic majorities or pick up seats and win legislative control. The money is part of an initial $300,000 push in swing states by the DLCC, with Arizona and Michigan getting the lion's share of the money. The DLCC is also spending money in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina. In Arizona, Republicans have one-seat majorities in both the 60-member state House of Representatives and the 30-member state Senate. DLCC interim President Heather Williams told the Arizona Mirror that the committee is hoping to flip the House and Senate in part by highlighting the extreme positions of Republican lawmakers. Many proposed law changes inspired by those extreme positions earned vetoes from Gov. Katie Hobbs earlier this year. “The Republican majority in both chambers is vulnerable,” Williams said, adding that this is only the committee's “initial investment,” as the group anticipates spending much more in 2024. Williams did not elaborate on which Arizona races the group plans to target, but mentioned that the group aims to do something similar to what happened in Virginia this year. Last month, Virginia Democrats gained control of the House and solidified their control of the Senate. The DLCC hopes to mirror that in Arizona. In that election, all 140 seats in the Virginia legislature were up for grabs, and Democrat wins will block Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin's ability to fully enact his conservative agenda. The DLCC ended up spending more than $2 million in Virginia. “Here is what we know about Republicans, they are legislating in a way across the country that is not where their constituents are,” Williams said, citing access to abortion and health care for women as key. Republicans and Democrats are eyeing a number of key state house races for 2024 but Williams is confident that her party will come out on top, adding that the DLCC intends to have a dialogue with voters and to help people get registered to vote. “I think we feel really strong with our position as an organization,” Williams said, adding that having Hobbs, a former state lawmaker as a Democratic ally in the governorship will offer advantages. https://alabamareflector.com/2023/12/05/tuberville-relents-on-months-long-blockade-of-most-military-nominees-blaming-democrats/WASHINGTON — After blocking hundreds of U.S. military promotions for most of 2023 in protest of a Pentagon abortion policy, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Tuesday he will lift his holds on all of them except for a handful of four-star general nominees.The senator, who sits on the Senate Committee on Armed Forces, said he told his fellow Senate Republicans “it's been a long fight” but ultimately he said Democrats were to blame for stalling hundreds of service members from moving up in the chain of command. Tuberville had said repeatedly that Democrats could bring each of the nominees to the floor for votes, which would take hours of debate.“We fought hard. We did the right thing for the unborn and for our military, fighting back against executive overreach, and an abortion policy that's not legal,” Tuberville said after announcing his about-face to his fellow Senate Republicans during their regularly scheduled weekly lunch.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, said Tuesday that he would move the nominations to the floor “as soon as possible, possibly later this afternoon.”“I hope no one does this again, and I hope they learned the lesson of Sen. Tuberville. And that is he held out for many, many months, hurt our national security, caused discombobulation to so many military families who have been so dedicated to our country, and didn't get anything that he wanted,” Schumer said.Tuberville has blocked hundreds of nominees since the spring because he opposes a recent Pentagon policy that allows armed services members time off and travel reimbursement should they need to seek an abortion in a state where it remains legal.Roughly 80,000 active-duty female service members are stationed in states where legislatures enacted full or partial bans following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a RAND analysis.The Biden administration and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin maintain the policy is legal, as did a 2022 Department of Justice opinion.The list of nominees affected by Tuberville's months-long hold grew to 451 members of the military as of Nov. 27, according to a Department of Defense official. Majority staff for the Senate Armed Services Committee list 445 affected nominees.Tuberville's agreement to halt his protest means that all but 11 of those nominees are expected to clear final Senate approval, according to figures from committee's majority staff.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday that GOP senators are “pleased obviously that that situation seems to have been ameliorated by recent announcements by the senator from Alabama.”Sen. Jack Reed, chair of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, said in a statement Tuesday he's “glad that hundreds of our nation's finest military leaders will finally receive their hard-won, merit-based promotions.”“They, and their families, have shown us what grace and grit look like in the face of hardship. Senator Tuberville's actions have been an affront to the United States military and the Senate,” said Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island.“He has jeopardized our national security and abused the rights afforded to all Senators. No Senator should ever attempt to advance their own partisan agenda on the backs of our troops like this again.”Threat of Democratic-led procedure changeTuberville's change in course arrived as Schumer was poised to bring to the floor a Democratic-led rules resolution to bypass the Alabama senator's blockade.The proposed temporary change in floor process would have allowed senators to quickly approve large blocs of nominations simultaneously on the floor, saving hours and hours that would have been required to vote on each individually.Tuberville said Tuesday that he and fellow Republican senators decided they did not want to see any changes to Senate floor procedures and that is the reason he decided to lift his blockade.“All of us are against a rule change in the Senate, OK. We're all against it,” Tuberville said.The Alabama senator's own Republican colleagues have grown publicly frustrated with his stalling of military promotions.GOP senators, including Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Joni Ernst of Iowa and Todd Young of Indiana, have on two occasions held the Senate floor into the wee hours bringing forward the names of nominees, only to meet Tuberville's objections.Some frustrated Republicans last week mulled whether to support the Democratic-led effort to override Tuberville's blockade. Democrats would have needed nine of them to pass the change in procedure.“I have said that right now I support Tommy Tuberville, but if he makes a statement that he's going to maintain this posture through this Congress I intend to vote for nominations under the rules suspension,” Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina told States Newsroom Nov. 29.https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2023/12/06/ohio-senate-wants-to-stop-you-from-growing-weed-house-fights-back/Ohio Senate wants to stop you from growing weed; House fights backBY: MORGAN TRAU - DECEMBER 6, 2023 4:55 AMWhile Ohio Senate Republicans move to dramatically change recreational marijuana policy, the House is fighting back in a bipartisan fashion — saying the will of the voters must be followed.On Thursday, adults 21 and older in Ohio will be able to smoke weed and grow up to six plants.When Issue 2 passed in November, state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord) knew he could be part of clarifying public policy. He invited WEWS/OCJ's Morgan Trau to his introduction of H.B. 354 in a “skeleton” session Tuesday morning. Skeleton sessions are when typically two lawmakers gather with the House clerk and take less than five minutes to introduce policy.“We preserve the things that the people voted on,” he told Trau after he banged the gavel and Finance Chair state Rep. Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) watched.Callender, who has been an outspoken supporter of marijuana, has been working on recreational implementation for years. Issue 2 came after all of his efforts were purposely stalled in the Statehouse.“The Marijuana Legalization Initiative” allows Ohioans to grow up to six plants, with 12 per household. In addition, the proposal would impose a 10% tax at the point of sale for each transaction. It also establishes the Division of Cannabis Control within the Ohio Department of Commerce.Ohioans voted in favor of the statute 57-43%.“I'm glad it passed and I'm excited that we're going to be able to take some of these measures that make it a more responsible act,” Callender said. “I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people — and the people have spoken.”His bill doesn't make major changes, but it does add safeguards — like guidelines on advertising, public smoking bans and provisions that give local governments more of a say in where tax revenue goes. It also explains that home grow must take place at residential addresses.“We've seen folks aggregate those six plants and, in essence, create a mega farm which is simply an aggregation or a co-op of a whole lot of home grows,” he said, saying that he is trying to prevent that.The bill, one that Callendar says has bipartisan support in the House, deeply contrasts the Senate's version.The proposal by state Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) also includes guard rails to prevent exposure to children, including advertising guidelines. It would require marijuana to be packaged in a child-resistant container and prevents “cartoon character” or other pop culture figures whose target audience is a child from being used in weed marketing.However, those safety guidelines are the end of the common ground.The Senate proposal would reduce how much weed you could possess from 2.5 ounces to 1 ounce and 15 grams of marijuana concentrates to 5 grams; It would make weed less strong by limiting THC levels for plants to 25%, when the minimum was 35%. In addition, it would limit extracts to 50%, when the minimum was 90%; and it would make marijuana more expensive by raising the tax from 10% to 15%.It also changes where the taxes go.As mentioned, it was a 10% tax at the point of sale. It was 36% revenue to the cannabis social equity and jobs fund; 36% to the host community cannabis fund to provide funds to jurisdictions with adult-use dispensaries; 25% to the substance abuse and addiction fund; and 3% to the division of cannabis control and tax commissioner fund. Issue 2 capped the number of dispensaries permitted at once to 350, but the bill cuts that down to 230.The Senate version ups to 15% tax at the point of sale. It is 30% to the law enforcement training fund, 15% to the marijuana substance abuse treatment and prevention fund, 10% to the safe driver training fund, and the remaining 45% goes to the grand revenue fund — aka, the state lawmakers.“The social equity program — when you really got down to the nuts and bolts of it — it was tax revenue being collected to be put right back into the hands of the industry,” McColley said. “It was a tax grab by the industry to prop up more dispensaries within the industry.”The “Social Equity and Jobs Program” was established by Issue 2. It is designed to fix “the harms resulting from the disproportionate enforcement of marijuana-related laws” and “reduce barriers to ownership and opportunity” to those “most directly and adversely impacted by the enforcement of marijuana-related laws,” according to the initiative.The most significant change is the proposal eliminates home grow.“The opposition has been all around the black market,” McColley said. “It's been around, ‘how do we keep these plants from then being transferred and sold illegally?'”After facing backlash, McColley assured he wasn't going against the will of the people, since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.“I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products,” the senator added.Clearly, the voters want home grow, Callender argued. Access to products means access to home grow, he said.It isn't just Callender who is frustrated with the legislation moving through the other chamber. Dozens of Republican and Democratic representatives are infuriated with the Senate.One with a unique perspective is state Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) The Senate took his legislation, H.B. 86, that revised the limit on the gallons of spirituous liquor that a micro-distillery may manufacture each year and added their marijuana proposal onto his bill.“Slap in the face of Ohio voters,” LaRe told WEWS/OCJ.The lawmaker doesn't support recreational marijuana, but he does respect the will of Ohioans, he added.“It's unfortunate they want to use a bill that is focused on helping certain small businesses recover from the pandemic to fast-track language that changes the intent of the ballot initiative,” he said. “I believe we should look into where the tax dollars are spent, but this goes way beyond those details.”Democrats agree. House Minority Whip State Rep. Jessica Miranda (D-Forest Park) says she can't and won't support the Senate version.“I'm not a fan of turning my back on the Ohio voters and the will of what they said when they overwhelmingly passed Issue 2,” Miranda said.When asked what happens if the two chambers don't reach a compromise, Callender said he will be in better standing — since the House can just block the Senate version.“I'm okay with just letting the initiated statute go into effect, which is a pretty strong bargaining position,” he said. “If we don't come up with an agreement, I'll trust the rule-making process, trust Commerce to make good rules to do this.”The Senate is expected to pass the marijuana bill out of committee Wednesday morning, putting it on the floor for a full vote later in the day. The House version is set to be heard Wednesday, as well.This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.https://capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/dolly-parton-imagination-library-officially-launches-statewide-in-illinoisPritzker says goal is to send free books to all children, ages 0-5By PETER HANCOCKCapitol News Illinoisphancock@capitolnewsillinois.comSPRINGFIELD – Illinois families with infants and toddlers now have access to free children's books that can be sent directly to their home, regardless of their income.Gov. JB Pritzker on Tuesday announced the official launch of the state's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, a program founded by the country music legend in 1995 in her home county in east Tennessee. It now sends free books every month to nearly 3 million children in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.“Today, I couldn't be prouder to announce that the Imagination Library is working with the state of Illinois to begin our journey to provide every child under the age of five an opportunity to receive a free book delivered to them every single month,” Pritzker said at an event at the Bloomington Public Library.Pritzker first announced in June that the state had formed a partnership with the Dollywood Foundation, Parton's philanthropic organization, after Illinois lawmakers included $1.6 million in this year's budget to fund the state's share of the program. Other funding comes from the Dollywood Foundation and local, county-based organizations.Since then, about 44 local programs have been operating in the state, serving roughly 4 percent of eligible children. But Dollywood Foundation executive director Nora Briggs said the goal is to reach all of the estimated 755,000 children under age 5 in Illinois.“We know that nothing is more basic, more essential, more foundational to a child's success in life than the ability to read,” Briggs said. “The research is clear. We cannot wait until kindergarten for children to have access or exposure to books. It must happen early. It must start in the home environment. And reading at home requires books.”People who are interested in enrolling their child in the program can find their local provider on the “check availability” tab located at imaginationlibrary.com. From there, applicants submit basic information including their address, their child's name and date of birth, and the parents' information.Once a child's eligibility is approved, they will start receiving one book each month, addressed to them. Each child within an age group receives the same monthly book. Books on the distribution list are chosen by a panel of early childhood literacy experts who review potential titles for inclusion in the distribution list. In addition to funding the Imagination Library program this year, lawmakers also approved Pritzker's “Smart Start Illinois” initiative that will provide $250 million this year for early childhood programs, including expanded access to preschool, wage support for child care workers, early intervention programs, and home visiting programs.“We're making our mark on every aspect of early childhood, and working with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library literacy efforts will begin now at the earliest ages,” Pritzker said. “Illinois is well on its way to solidifying our status as the number one state in the nation to raise young children.” Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.Stories in today's show originally appeared in the Missouri Independent, Capitol News Illinois, Alabama Reflector, Michigan Advance, Arizona Mirror, KMBC9 Kansas City, Ohio Capital Journal, and NPR News @TheHeartlandPOD on Twitter and ThreadsCo-HostsAdam Sommer @Adam_Sommer85 (Twitter) @adam_sommer85 (Post)Rachel Parker @msraitchetp (Post) Sean Diller (no social)The Heartland Collective - Sign Up Today!JOIN PATREON FOR MORE - AND JOIN OUR SOCIAL NETWORK!“Change The Conversation”Outro Song: “The World Is On Fire” by American Aquarium http://www.americanaquarium.com/

While many voters focus their attention on the President and Congress, many of the most important issues and elections are happening in state legislatures across the country. In 2022, Democrats flipped legislative chambers in Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania and made significant gains in other states as well. In this You Should Run Podcast, Heather Williams of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee talks about the value of state legislatures, how to prepare to run for these seats, what the DLCC does to assist parties and candidates across the country, and, of course, why YOU should run for office. Listen, share, and follow the DLCC at www.DLCC.org

Kelly Gibson is the founding partner of Stronger Than Communications, where she works to elect Democratic candidates and advance progressive causes - and is a board member of the American Association of Political Consultants and faculty member of the Campaign School at Yale. Through the AAPC, she has helped lead conversations and spearhead recommendations on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and political campaigns. In this conversation, we talk what Kelly's learned on this subject, both the opportunities and threats A.I. poses for those working in politics, and some nuts-and-bolts insight and advice on how to become a little smarter on a very complicated and evolving topic. IN THIS EPISODE…Kelly's early roots in Buffalo and route to working in politics…The story behind Kelly starting her firm, Stronger Than Communications and some of her signature wins and races…How Kelly got interested in the topic of A.I….What makes A.I. a revolutionary technical tool…Why you should treat A.I. like a toddler…Outside of politics, how you're interacting with A.I. whether you know it or not…Kelly outlines the A.I. recommendations she helped spearhead through the AAPC political consulting trade industry…Kelly's take on the controversy of the DeSantis' campaign's usage of A.I. to attack Donald Trump…How A.I. can change approaches to advertising production…Smart uses of A.I. for campaigns beyond content creation…The political jobs most likely to be disrupted by A.I…The status of legal regulation of A.I. in politics…Kelly's best practices to start using A.I…. AND Barbie, Bard, Yates Baroody, Joe Biden, Bing, Ben Cardin, DLCC, deep fakes, HMP, Martin Hamburger, Kendra Horn, Dawn Laguens, machine learning, Meta, Microsoft, Open AI, Planned Parenthood, silver bullets, solo-preneurs, stainless steel, Marty Stone, takeout taxi, true collectives, Donald Trump, Vogue, Lee Zeldin & more!

Jessica Post returns to The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about how she's grown the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where they support state legislative races around the country.

In the wake of the midterms, An Honorable Profession co-hosts Debbie Cox Bultan and Ryan Coonerty joined forces to discuss what we saw in this week's elections and some main takeaways, including how mainstream Democrats beat back Republican extremism. They were joined by several special guests: former Michigan House Majority Floor Leader Steve Tobocman, who discussed Democrats' great night in his state,  NewDEAL Leader Kentucky Representative Nima Kulkarni on the successful effort to reject enshrining an abortion ban in their state constitution and Heather Williams, Executive Director of the DLCC, who shared the great success stories for Democrats in state legislatures across the country and why it matters. Listen to the episode, and hear more about what we learned from the 2022 midterms.

We've brought Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow (of this famed viral floor speech) and her colleague MI State Representative and State Senate candidate Darrin Camilleri to the Bay Area. The DLCC has identified Michigan as one of the three states where we actually have a chance at flipping the State Senate, in this instance, because of the state's independent redistricting process. Our friends at The States Project and Sister District have joined us in endorsing Darrin Camilleri for one of the country's most critical state legislature seats. These are also two leaders who The Next 50 is firmly behind for their rising leadership in Michigan and in our country. About Senator Mallory McMorrow: Sen. Mallory McMorrow is serving her first term in the Michigan Senate. McMorrow gained more than a decade of experience in product design, media and advertising through her work with Mazda, Mattel, Gawker Media, Hearst and other global brands. She brings a fresh, creative and collaborative approach to addressing and solving some of our state's most complex issues. As a state senator, McMorrow is focused on increasing our state's competitiveness by supporting what makes Michigan unique – our people, unparalleled history of manufacturing and innovation, and our Great Lakes. She will work to diversify our economy by creating more opportunities for small businesses, provide our kids with a world-class education, fight for access to health care and clean water for all Michiganders, and ensure we fix our roads. She earned her bachelor's degree in industrial design from the University of Notre Dame. About Darrin Camalleri: State Rep. Darrin Quiroz Camilleri is serving his third term representing the 23rd District, which includes the Downriver communities of Gibraltar, Grosse Ile, Huron, Trenton, Woodhaven, and Brownstown. He currently serves as Minority Whip for the House Democrats and the Minority Vice Chair on the House Education Committee. In his first few years, he has quickly emerged as a statewide voice on education and a champion for workers' rights. Over the past three years, Camilleri has consistently introduced legislation to keep Michigan's promises to working people and help everyday Michiganders get ahead. Notably, he has been a leader in the fight to protect pensions for police officers, firefighters, teachers and school employees. He has also worked extensively to protect our environment and highlight the state's literacy crisis and teacher shortage. Camilleri was awarded Progress Michigan's Legislator of the Year in 2017, was recognized as one of Crain's Detroit's 20 in their 20s, and given the Michigan Association for Media in Education's 2018's Outstanding Legislator Award for his work on expanding access to school libraries.

Joining us on The Downballot this week is Jessica Post, the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee—the official arm of the Democratic Party dedicated to winning state legislatures nationwide. Jessica talks with us about how the DLCC picks its targets and helps candidates; the impact of freshly un-gerrymandered maps in Michigan and Pennsylvania; and how Democrats are protecting vulnerable seats in a challenging midterm environment. Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard also discuss yet another shameful redistricting ruling from the Supreme Court, Donald Trump pulling the plug on Mo Brooks' Senate campaign in Alabama, and a brand-new special election for the top prosecutor's post in America's fourth-largest county. Episode transcript.

Welcome to the 1 Bitcoin Show! Andy Hoffman is here to talk about Bitcoin dominance, Gold, experience in the space, new opportunities, Altcoins, Elon Musk, Michael Saylor, Coinbase IPO, the news of the day and much more! Recorded in Phoenix, AZ! Watch the show here-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6FE2U6K5rQ Parler- https://parler.com/profile/BitcoinMeister Follow Adam on Twitter- https://twitter.com/TechBalt All of the BitcoinMeister videos are here at- http://DisruptMeister.com Financially support the podcast here- https://anchor.fm/bitcoinmeister/support BOOKMARK SPORTSMEISTER.com DISRUPTMEISTER.com & TECHBALT.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bitcoinmeister/support

In its latest episode, Orrick Public Policy Orrick Public Policy hosts Michelle McGann and Jon Mandel were joined by Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Jessica Post and Republican State Leadership Committee President Austin Chambers for an election recap and the redistricting agenda for 2021.

With all eyes on Trump v. Biden , it can be easy to forget that there's a lot more at stake this November than just the presidency. Even congressional races may finally be getting the attention they deserve. But National Democratic Redistricting Committee president Kelly Burton and Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee preside Jessica Post argue that the real work is far more granular, down at the local legislative level. And the world of political scandal, journalist Seth A. Richardson (The Cleveland Plain Dealer) highlights one of the most staggering examples of graft in American history, involving an energy company, a wide array of figures at the heart of Ohio politics, and $60 million in bribes.

Kelly talks to Jessica Post, President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, about the importance of state legislatures and how the works of the DLCC and campaigning has changed due to social distancing.

Kelly talks to Jessica Post, President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, about the importance of state legislatures and how the works of the DLCC and campaigning has changed due to social distancing.

JESSICA POST Jessica Post, President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC.org) discusses their 2020 strategy to elect more state Democrats and win legislative majorities. We discuss their successes as grassroots fundraising and seats flipped from red to blue over the past 4 years. We also take a look back at the 2010 midterms. Support the Electorette Rate & Review on iTunes: https://apple.co/2GsfQj4 Support Electorette on Patreon for $2/month: http://bit.ly/Electorette-Patreon Also, if you enjoy the Electorette, please subscribe and leave a 5-star review on iTunes. Also, please spread the word by telling your friends, family and colleagues about The Electorette! Want to support the Electorette so that we can bring you more great episodes? You can help us produce more episodes with just $2/per month on Patreon. Every bit helps! Patreon.com/Electorette WANT MORE ELECTORETTE? Follow the Electorette on social media. Electorette Facebook Electorette Instagram Electorette Twitter The Electorette is a proud member of the DemCast Network! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a whirlwind couple of weeks? From the Senate GOP selling out the American people to cater to a dictator to the Iowa and New Hampshire Primaries, do we have an episode that is packed FULL for you. Charlie Hodges, Beto Road Warrior, joins hosts, Chris and Ryan, for a dive into the Iowa debacle. This episode also includes wonderful interviews with Jessica Post, President of the DLCC, and Travis Boldt, candidate for Texas House District 29, you don't wanna miss this one! TUNE IN!

Today we sit down with Megan Hannigan, who is a Manager of Government Relations at PayPal, Inc. Megan is a member of PayPal, Inc.'s Global Government Relations team, which represents the interests of PayPal and its community before governments around the world. Their mission is to work with lawmakers to open markets and remove barriers for consumers and merchants, establish PayPal as a knowledge resource and thought-leader in the payments arena, and protect PayPal and the communities it serves from undue regulatory and legislative burdens. Megan was raised in Virginia, and grew up in a political family; She attended Miami University in Ohio, and graduated with a B.A. in political science; Her first job in politics was an internship in Sen. Sherrod Brown's office; She then interned, and was ultimately hired by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee ("DLCC"); After her time with the DLCC, Megan moved to eBay, and then moved to PayPal after it was spun off from eBay. Help us grow! Leave us a rating and review - it's the best way to bring new listeners to the show.  Have a suggestion, or want to chat with Jim? Email him at: Jim@theLobbyingShow.com. Follow The Lobbying Show on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter for weekly updates about the show, our guests, and more.

Kelly interviews Jessica Post, the President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC). They discuss why state legislatures are important, the recent wins in Virginia, and plans for 2020.

Kelly interviews Jessica Post, the President of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC). They discuss why state legislatures are important, the recent wins in Virginia, and plans for 2020.

Eric Holder served as Attorney General under President Obama from 2009 until 2015. He is also currently the Chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. On this episode, Jessica talks to Attorney General Holder about redistricting, voting rights, the 2019 and 2020 elections, and the impact the upcoming census will have on all of those. Follow us on social media Instagram: @dlcc Instagram: @dlcc Medium Facebook * More about our host: Jessica Post is the Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she leads the national strategy for electing more state Democrats and winning legislative majorities.  More about Stated | More about DLCC | Support our candidates * For comments, feedback, suggestions for who you want to hear on the show, and to share your canvassing stories, email stated@dlcc.org.

Stateside's Johnathan Lozier sits down with Jessica Post, DLCC's Executive Director, to chat about the Group's goals and the benefits of joining the DLCC. Jessica shares the lessons learned during the 2018 election cycle and which states DLCC is targeting in 2020.

Today I spoke with Rick McGowan about the Nicola Fish and Game Club's six-year fight with the Douglas Lake Cattle Company over access to two grassland lakes near Merritt. The club won a key court victory in December, however, despite that, the path forward seems unclear...

Terry McAuliffe served as governor of Virginia from 2014-2018, where he focused on leading Virginia to a more progressive future. He also served as chair of the Democratic National Committee from 2001-2005. This week, The DLCC and Democrats flipped nearly 400 (and counting!) state legislative seats and flipped our 7th chamber of the cycle. This means, 116 million Americans will live in Democratic-led states where we can expand access to health care, safeguard Roe v. Wade, and protect LGBTQ+ citizens and communities of color. But we're not done yet! Before we start thinking about 2020, Democrats still have major state legislative races in 2019, including taking back the House and Senate in Virginia. On this episode. Jessica talks with former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe about all our big election wins, the importance of Democratic state legislatures, and what we can do to win back both chambers in Virginia next year. * Follow us on social media Facebook Twitter: @thedlcc Instagram: @dlcc * More about our host: Jessica Post is the Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she leads the national strategy for electing more state Democrats and winning legislative majorities.  More about Stated | More about DLCC | Support our candidates * For comments, feedback, suggestions for who you want to hear on the show, and to share your canvassing stories, email stated@dlcc.org

Stephanie Schriock is the President of EMILY's List, which helps elect Democratic pro-choice women and is the largest national resource for women in politics. On this episode, Stephanie talks to Jessica about the historic number of women running for office this year, but why she doesn't want to call this another Year of the Woman. They discuss some of the similarities they've seen between the wave of Democratic wins in the Virginia Assembly last year and the races in some of the key targeted chambers in other states across the country. They talk about why electing more women is less about a demographic change and more about a culture change. And Stephanie identifies the one thing this election year that she wishes more people knew about. * Follow us on social media Facebook Twitter: @thedlcc Instagram: @dlcc * More about our host: Jessica Post is the Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, where she leads the national strategy for electing more state Democrats and winning legislative majorities.  More about Stated | More about DLCC | Support our candidates    

In Episode 003 of the Origin Stories: A Podcast About Politics and People, longtime talk radio producer Brent Jabbour speaks Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse about going from being a theatre major in college to working as Communications Director for the Democratic National Committee. Woodhouse also discusses the interesting situation of having a brother who is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party. Subscribe to the podcast onItunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spreaker, TuneIN, or wherever you consume Podcasts.Again, if you like the project share it with your friends, follow me on Twitter @BrentJabbour and/or like the page on Facebook.Transcript:This is episode three of Origin Stories: A Podcast about politics and People. My name Brent Jabbour and this week we speak with Brad Woodhouse. He is the executive director at Protect Our Care. He is the former DNC Communications Director, he was an Obama surrogate in 08 and 2012. He's what I would consider a Democratic operative, that is just a buzzword, it doesn't really mean anything in particular. It's like a Democratic strategist. It just means what's going on. He knows the inner-workings of what is going on with the party. And, we had a pretty good discussion. I always found Brad pretty interesting because his brother is the Executive Director of the North Carolina Republican Party and he is entering his second cycle there. So, he is this key Democratic operative his brother high ranking Republican in the North Carolina party. They've actually played that up, you've seen them appear on Fox together, on CSpan, there is a famous viral clip of them going at it and their mom giving a call into the program. He's a really personable guy, we've had him on the Ed Schultz Radio show and the Ed Show on MSNBC quite a bit. So I have spoken with him many times and he was always friendly. He was just a guy I thought has a lot of personality and I would love to sit him down and talk about what's going on right now in politics in the United States. So, we touched on that.We talked about his Origin Story, if you will, he started out thinking he could be a big movie star because he was a theatre major in college. Then he saw Bill Clinton accept the Democratic nomination in 1992. And, it just clicked for him. And he decided to go into politics as his family had in the past. We talk about a lot of things. We obviously re-litigate the 2016 election because you can't sit down with anyone today without doing that. But we also talk about what is important for Democrats to win in 2018 and then moving into 2020. He is very critical of President Donald Trump so we will talk a lot about that. I think it was a really enjoyable conversation. Just a little bit of a heads up. Next week, I have already recorded it, but I sat down with my first sitting United States Congressman, that's an elected official, that's a big deal for me. I go to go into Congress and actually sit down with somebody. I sat down with Kevin Cramer of North Dakota who is in a big Senate race and I speak a lot about that race. In fact, we talk about that in this particular episode of the podcast. Looking forward to that.If you like what you hear, remember to subscribe on Itunes or wherever you get your podcasts so you can get it delivered right to your ears. Would love for that to be the case for you every Thursday when we release new episodes. You can follow on Facebook. Facebook.com/podcastoriginstories or follow me on Twitter @BrentJabbour. Here we go. I'm not going to waste too much more time. It's Brad Woodhouse, Democratic Operative from Protect Our care. Origin Stories: A Podcast About Politics and People, Episode three, here we go!Brent Jabbour:I don't know why, but you were in my building one time and I rode the elevator up with you. And, I have this little anxiety issue, where I can never remember somebody's name when I see them. It happens to me...Brad Woodhouse:That happens to a lot of people. Brent Jabbour:I don't want to be like: "Hey there big guy, I know you." Because I am sure you get that regularly, being somebody television. But, I also, I should know. I immediately got off the elevator and I said: "It was Brad Woodhouse. Damnit!"Brad Woodhouse:Man, that happens to everybody. That being on the spot. And you have that classic brain fart, they call it. Brent Jabbour:I also have this new thing where I've realized that you see somebody and you say hello to them and then you realize: "Oh, now I have to have a conversation with this person."Not that I want to be rude or anything. But, I just wanted to say hello. Brad Woodhouse:It's also that question of whether you make eye contact or not. If you make eye contact it's like: "Hey, hello, how are you?" And sometimes it's just better to not make eye contact. Brent Jabbour:So, you grew up in North Carolina. Your brother is the RNC chair of North Carolina?Brad Woodhouse:So, he's the Executive Director of the North Caroline Republican Party. I guess this is his second full cycle doing that. So, he's been there awhile. Brent Jabbour:Let's how you guys got to be. How did you become a key Democratic operative and he becomes a face of the Republican party in your home state? Brad Woodhouse:Well, the long-ago story for both of us, the origin story, is our parents. They were both very involved politically. They went into politics right out of college. They both worked in state government, in state politics. My father went on, he had a myriad of interests. He was Democratic operative back in the sixties and then he went later to work for Jesse Helms, so complete opposite of how he started. And, just as a citizen, he supported Ross Perot for president in 1992. So, he was kind of all over the map. But, he was very engaged politically. My mom was engaged politically. And, another thing was, they really forced us to be engaged politically and to pay a lot of attention to the news. I knew at a very early age who Walter Cronkite was, who Frank Reynolds was, Eric Sevareid, all of these anchors. The anchors for our local television, we took two newspapers a day, back when there was an afternoon newspaper delivered in Raleigh. So, it was a combination of politics and news. So, I think it was inevitable. My brother, originally he got a degree in journalism. Originally he was a television reporter doing all the types of things television reporters do. And eventually went on to become the public affairs director for the NBC affiliate in Raleigh. And, had the local version of Meet the Press. And, then from that, he left and went directly into politics. Ya know, when I graduated from college I didn't think I was going to go into politics. My first job was with Marriott as a management trainee. It was always in the back of my mind. I had majored in political science. I was watching the Democratic national convention in 1992, I was in Birmingham, AL, I was working for Marriott. And, I saw Bill Clinton's speech and I basically quit the next day and moved back to North Carolina and volunteered for a congressional campaign. Brent Jabbour:I think that is what the interesting thing about the world of politics is. If you're interested in it. You don't have to be a professional in the business in any way. I mean, you grew up in that realm, so you had that background. But, you can be interested in it and something like that can just inspire you to say i might give up the next six months of my life to go knock on doors, sleep in an office where you eat pizza 6 nights a week.So, was your brother always leaning conservative and you were always leaning (liberal)? Brad Woodhouse:That's what's interesting. When I was in college, Dallas was still in High School in North Carolina. Frankly, we weren't particularly close. You know, he did some of the same things in High School that I did. He acted, he did musicals, he was in show choir, and he had an interest in being out there and being a performer. And, that is one reason... I did a lot of that in high school and college. I was a theatre major in college originally. And, politics gives you an outlet for people who are not actually that talented in performing arts to be on the public stage in another venue. So, I wasn't really sure what his political leanings were when he was in high school and early in college. Then, when he got out of college, he was a television reporter, so he played it kind of straight. And, when he took over, he was the host of NBC 17's version of meet the press every sunday, and you began to see his political leanings started to come out. You could see he had this antipathy towards governent and government programs, and people who recieve government assistance, and one thing led to another.But, he was probably in his mid-twenties before I realized he was moving in that direction. And then it became stronger and stronger and stronger. And incidently, the same thing happened to me. I didn't feel real ideoligically inclined when I was in college. I didn't volunteer for campaigns, I wasn't involved politically. I was just as likely to be inspired by George H.W. Bush giving a speech as somebody else. It's kind of incredible, that speech I watched Bill Clinton give, just turned me on. I said I want to do politics, I want to do government, I want to do that type of work. And then all my families connections in North Carolina were on the Democratic side. So, I moved home, and the rest is kind of history. Brent Jabbour:I have a couple of things I want to hit on here. First, on the theatre major thing, what really drew you to theatre?Brad Woodhouse:Well look, I had at an early age had an interest in acting. Probably when I was in Junior High school, I asked my mom to sign me up for acting classes. I did improvisation training. And then, whenever there was a little thing to do, we had a 6th-grade sing-a-long, and they needed someone to play Rudolf and I say: "I want to do that." I just was drawn to it. Like a lot of kids, I thought I was going to be a movie actor. Then I became a Springsteen freak and I wanted to sing Springsteen at a school show. Now, I can't carry a tune. So, that was another reason I couldn't continue as a performance artist. I can't sing. So, I never got the chance to play Bruce Springsteen in High School. But, I was really drawn to it. I had some leading roles in theatre in High School and even in Raleigh Little Theatre, Peace College, I did some work. And, you know I had the opportunity to go to the University of South Carolina as a theatre major. I went to the University of South Carolina the day after I graduated from High School and immediatly started in a summer musical. So, I thought I was going to be an actor. Brent Jabbour:And, I think the question I was really going to ask here... Because I think I felt the same way, which was initially the reason I got into radio initially too, because I thought there could be some... I wanted people to hear my voice. Like you said, it's easy to go into the political or punditry world. Not that you don't need talent. People, by the way, underestimate the amount of talent that people like you have. The people you see on television everyday. Believe me, there are a lot of people who show up one time and don't make it because they don't know how to articulate a thought, they don't have any exuberance. You can see Brad Woodhouse on television for three minutes, and you get a pretty good understanding of who you are, your personality. You have that southern, North Carolina draw, that kind of draws you in a little bit.Also, the reason I came up with this idea is because I think there are a lot of people who see you for three minutes and they make an immediate snap judgement on you and they don't really get an idea of who you are, besides, sometimes I see this blowhard on television, not that you are a blowhard. So, you were inspired by Bill Clinton in 1992, and I think a lot of people in my generation, I'm 34, we got inspired by Obama probably in the same way to get politically active. And I think you can see the paralells between those two, because they motivated people to get out, they motivated people who you see getting involved now because they saw Obama give that speech or Bill Clinton accepting the nomination in 1992. Who is going to be the next person in the Democratic party to inspire the masses to get out and do something. Look, I have spent a lot of time re-litigating the 2016 campaign.Brent Jabbour:I've said it a million times, Hillary Clinton was probably the most qualified person to ever run for the office, but she just didn't know how to connect with the people that way. And, we as a Democratic party clearly need that because we can't seem to motivate people on good policy.Brad Woodhouse:Right, yeah. Well, look it's a good question. I don't think we have seen that moment yet, where we know who that next person is. Politics is all about timing. It could be that the next Democrat who wins the nomination and hopefully becomes president and hopefully denies Trump a second term, may not be that person. It may be the person who is just the best person to defeat Donald Trump. And that might be what inspires the masses in the country, on our side, and among right-thinking independents might be OK, we have to defeat Trump. This is the best person to defeat Trump. It could be that we have that. But, sometimes it skips a generation. You don't have a Bill Clinton or Barack Obama type politician in every election cycle. So, it remains to be seen. Look, I think some of the potential that we have on the bench... People like to say Democrats don't have a bench, you look at the number of really talented people thinking about running for office, either in politics or not in politics. It's really impressive. The bigger problem we have is we may have 20 people on stage at some point. But, Barack Obama we knew after that 2004 speech. It was almost inevitable that... maybe not inevitable that he was going to be President. But, inevitable that he was going to lead a cohort of Americans down some type of path towards change. Because he was so inspiring. He captured so many people's attention. And, the interesting thing about Obama of course, is that all of the lucky, I don't want to say luck he is a talented politician. But all of the breaks he got. He had a primary that fell his way when divorce records came out. He had a general election when more divorce records came out. Remember they had to import Alan Keyes from Maryland to even run against him in the Senate race in 2004. But that speech that he gave in 2004 you knew... He wasn't in Senate a day before people started to speculating when he would run for president. There are other people who have that same speculation around them. Senators who are in their first term for example. But we'll see. No one right now has quite captured that imagination. Brent Jabbour:I think that in that particular situation as well. You talk about these first-term Senators, Kamala Harris is who you are mostly referring to. Maybe Elizabeth Warren, but she is in her second term. Not that I want to downplay those women's roles, but the fact is, they don't have that Pizzaz that Obama had. Obama/Biden is the most charismatic two politicians that I can think of ever been near each other. I don't know if they really did... but they looked... Look, I'm a big optics guy. While I perceive the reality of what things are, I also spend a lot of time understanding most people just see things on the surface level. And, Presidential races are popularity contests. They aren't about who has the best policies, they are about who can whip up the most votes in America. And, I think that those two Senators I love them both very dearly, I love their politics, I just don't think they move the dial in a national election in the middle of the Country. You would think that Obama/Biden wouldn't, but Biden speaks directly to your heart so that helps. And, Obama said all the right things. He may not have been the best in acting as a president to some people on the left, however, he, in my opinion, he knew what to say at all times. I spend a lot of time, I was just thinking about this-this morning. I spend a lot of time pretending with other people on the left that I don't just love Obama and every moment of the 8 years he was president of the United States. Sure, there were some issues I didn't really care for, but the fact is, I can wipe all that away because he was charismatic, he won, and I think most of the time he did the right thing. Brad Woodhouse:Well, I think, he accomplished a lot. He inspired millions of people in this country. His election, obviously, in 2008 was as historic anything that has ever happened in this country politically. And almost anything that has happened in the country period. And he is such a popular ex-president. I think this charisma that he had with Biden, and the relationship they have it's real, it's true. I mean you think about the fact that they still do things together.When Bill Clinton and Al Gore left the White House, it may have been years before they spoke or did anything together. Cheney and Bush, these are business relationships in the White House generally. I think it was a real friendship, there was a real kinship there. I do think that Biden is an inspiring figure for a lot of reasons. His life story. The travails he's gone through. His son, his family. And bringing himself up by the bootstraps. But, I think we are blessed a number of great candidates and we just don't know until we see them. There are so many tests. Their announcement speech. Did they move the dial? Did they move the needle? Did they move people to cheer and tear up? And maybe we take too much stock in that. Look, I think the country might be better off if the person with the best policies did win. But that's not realistic. Policies get you through editorial board meetings. They don't get you elected. Getting elected is a combination of smart policies, but really articulation of the American people are and where you want them to go. A really forward vision. And, I think Barack Obama had that. And it may have been an idealistic vision. It may have been an almost unreasonable vision that the country could come together. Washington could clean up its act. But It's what people wanted at the time. And, it was a reaction to people's antipathy towards both big government and big business. And, he had an opportunity, in the campaign, to fuse those strands of populism and idealism together. Democrats will find that person again. Is it the 2020 cycle? It might be. The true test is not some persons performance at a hearing on Capitol Hill or one appearance on Meet the Press or CNN. It's going to be when they are out there on the hustings. Are they connecting with the American People? Are they meeting the American people where they are and where the American people want to go? I think we are going to have it in 2020. Is it Obama redux or Clinton redux? It might not be. But given where we see this president, where we see his numbers, we see where he is taking the country down this path of divisiveness and everything. I am not sure we are going to have to have Obama 2.0 to win in 2020.Brent Jabbour:The more you talk about this, the more I think if Joe wants to run, he has my full support. Because he does have the charisma. We'll get to see a lot of Obama. Which I always appreciate. But, also, he speaks to the heart of people in the middle of the country. And, I know we've talked about all of this so much since the election. And there are a lot of people on the left who say: "Stop calling them working-class Americans, what you mean is white people who are racists in the middle of the country." No that's not what I mean, I mean people who work for a living. It's easy for people in Washington D.C., who are Democratic operatives, to say: "Oh, you guys are just mad because it was a woman who ran." No, while I think there was a little of that, I actually had a union leader tell me: "Look, I'm around these guys every day, some of them just aren't going to vote for a woman." But we will grow out of that. I mean ten years ago, everybody would have said: "Look, nobody's gonna vote for a black guy." And he became the President of the United States. Look, Hillary Clinton had so much baggage from the Bill Clinton years. When I was a kid during the Bill Clinton years, I didn't know much about it. All I really knew was Hillary was a ball buster. That's not actually true, it's just the impression that you are given. And, sometimes perception is reality...Brad Woodhouse:The Clintons were interesting. Because there was this vicious cycle where they distrusted the press. The press distrusted them. It fed more and more distrust. And then when you put on top of it all of the made up scandals. Travelgate, made up. Whitewater, made up. All of these kinds of made up scandals. And there was no reservoir of goodwill for the Clintons to go to the press because of their distrust for the press and the press' distrust for them. And to get the fairest of hearings. And, I get the resentment that the Clintons have about that. If you look at one of their chief antagonists, who came around to them, David Brock later on. Think about how many things David Brock, funded by Richard Mellon Scaife and those folks, fed into the American distrust of the Clintons that was all phony. It was all made up. Troopergate, Whitewater, all this stuff. And then the President ultimately stumbles into the Monica Lewinsky thing, which is on him. But, there is no reservoir of goodwill with the press to help him out of that, even though he won in the end. And ended his presidency very popular. Hillary had to live with all of that mud, so to speak. Brent Jabbour:Did Obama get away from the whole distrust for the press and everything because he had African American press to go to. I mean, you would always see him on the Joe Madison show, or several other...Brad Woodhouse:There was a healthy bit of (distrust) between the Obama White House and the press. I think that is true of all White Houses. It is a balancing act. Reporters want access. Presidents want unfettered ability to deliver their message. And to be covered. And, you will have a lot of reporters who felt like there was a little bit of heavy-handed tactics from the campaign and the White House. And, they think they should have gotten more access. But, I think given the state of affairs in the Trump presidency, it's been like 20 days since Sara Sanders held an on-camera television briefing. The pendulum has swung so far. In retrospect... And look, I don't think the press ever really had any antipathy toward the President. I think they occasionally felt like his spokespeople, or others, or when I was at the DNC and I was vociferously defending the President and his policies. And occasionally I went over the line in taking on journalists that I felt like were being unfair. So, I think there is a little bit of that that goes on. I think by-and-large the press looks back now on the Obama years and feels like that they had it pretty good. Ya know, Josh Earnest and Jay Carney, all of those people who stood at that podium tried to be fair and represent the President they worked for, but also tried to help the press.And, you don't have that. There is no feeling that Sean Spicer before or Sara Sanders now is trying to help the American people or help the press understand what the President is thinking and what the President is trying to accomplish. They are trying to bully the press into not being critical of this president and not reporting accurately on this president. Brent Jabbour:I'll tell you what. The White House Press Briefings are an hour long campaign ad for Donald Trump. Which, technically any press briefing is such a thing. Like you said, she just attacks the press and all that does is feed into the base and those people who love Trump and say: "See, he's not going to be pushed around by the Washington elite, they're not going to let them lie to me." And they win. The Trump Administration, they win on a lot of different fronts. And right now, I'm concerned about the Democrats, and as we talked about that whole thing about who will pick up that mantle. Who is going to be the next candidate to really move the dial. I think we are going to have a hard time running against Trump. Because, he is going to be able to talk to those establishment Republicans who maybe they don't really care for the Stormy Daniels payoff and everything. But he is going to be able to say several things to them that is going to really work to his base and those people who really voted for him. Number one, he nominated two Supreme Court Justices.Brad Woodhouse:It's the holy grail for a lot of Republicans. Brent Jabbour:Any other president who does that. You could start four wars and your going back...Brad Woodhouse:The truth is, the Evangelicals they could live with Donald Trump sleeping with and paying off 25 porn stars as long as they get Supreme Court Justices that will overturn a woman's right to choose. They could care less about the President's morality. Brent Jabbour:And we are in trouble because I hope RBG can hold on. Because he could literally go on stage when he's running in 2020 and say: "She's not going to make it 4 years, so you better re-elect me." He's got that. You can hate tariffs and all the things he is doing on trade all you want, but working-class Americans, not just white Americans, I mean people who work for a living they see that and say whether it works or not, he tried. Something that the Obama administration never did, Clinton put in a bad trade deal. So it's easy for him to say that. Job numbers are still going up, which is a lot of work the Obama Administration did. And, he may inadvertently negotiate peace on the Korean Peninsula. Brad Woodhouse:Yeah, well that I think is a big if. The backdrop of all that is the Mueller Investigation. The backdrop of all that is still Manafort is getting ready to go on trial again. Some backdrop of all that 2020 discussion is what happens in 2018. Do the Democrats take back the house? Do they maybe take back the Senate? How do they handle that? Do they push for partisan impeachment? Do they just investigate, investigate, investigate and let Mueller finish what he is doing? I think the most interesting thing that I see that could be... Look, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama had horrific midterms. So, we shouldn't overread what happens in November. But, if you look at the polls that are coming out now, Trump's approval rating is down into the mid-to-high thirties. He's even losing his base in that regard. And, his approval rating in some of the reddest states is at 50 percent or below. Now, those are not states that we are going to go and grab those electoral votes in 2020. But, if he's having to chase reliably red states to guarantee those electoral votes in 2020 there is something going to be left on the sideline. Maybe it's Michigan, maybe it's Wisconsin, maybe it's Pennsylvania. Brent Jabbour:Oh Brad, let me tell you why you are over analyzing this. Because we did the exact same thing in 2016. We looked at the same exact situation, we said: "He's not doing enough in Florida that's going to be a Democratic win, he's not doing enough here, he's not doing enough there." Meanwhile, we didn't go to Michigan and Wisconsin. We lost those states and he still won Florida. Brad Woodhouse:I agree one hundred percent. I'm not in the camp that believes Demographics is destiny and we should just follow that path. Or, that the entire solution is in the white working class. It's crazy, it's nuts, Obama didn't build a single coalition to win in 2008 or 2012. Bill Clinton didn't either. You've got to build a coalition of people that see in their self-interest and their inspiration and in their forward-looking vision for the country something in a President that will inspire a Latina woman to vote in Tucson and a factory worker to vote in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. And, that's what we need. And, this either/or is the craziest discussion. It's also this either the Bernie side or the Clinton side. There is no Bernie side or Clinton side. Right now Clinton isn't running for president, Bernie's not running for President yet. If allow that inner seam warfare to continue then Donald Trump could get elected to a second term.Brent Jabbour:I think what you talk about with that Bernie/Hillary divide. And, I think there is a Bernie Sanders wing of the party, and there is a little wing of the party that is even further left than Bernie. And, i think the problem is... And, I'm going to call you an establishment type, I hope that doesn't offend you. Because I would say I'm a little left of establishment although there were many times when I lived in North Dakota running Ed's radio show for many years and I thought I was as progressive as you get then I moved to D.C. and I realized I may be center-left. But, I think that the people on the establishment side are doing as much damage as the people on the far left Bernie-side are to this conversation. Because, those establishment people are saying: "We're not going to let you run our party." Which means: "We're not going to let you be part of our party. We aren't going to appease you in any way." And there are a lot of things going on behind the scenes at the DNC which I don't want to talk about right now. It's just some nuanced nonsense. But, I just think there is a mutual hatred on both sides of this party for those people. I don't know what the solution in 2018 and 2020 is to kind of bring those two sides together. Brad Woodhouse:Well, first thing in 2018 is to focus on the Republicans. It is not to have an all-out war between various factions of the Democratic party. We've had primaries, and there have been a number of Democratic primaries where single payer was the issue. And single payer advocates won. And there have been other primaries where the single-payer advocate lost. And there are other issues like that that have played out in Primaries. We are almost done with Primary season. What we need to focus on is Republicans, they're in charge. And we need to focus on Republicans. And I say Republicans to the exclusion of Trump. Trump is going to be covered every single day. Trump is making negative news for himself and Republicans every single day. On Twitter, Bob Mueller is driving Trump news, Stormy Daniels is driving Trump news. Democrats need to focus on their Republican opponents and Republican Governance. If you look, people don't like the way Republicans have governed in Congress. They don't like what they did on healthcare. The tax bill is unpopular. Can you imagine? How fucked up are you as a party if you pass a tax bill, a tax cut and it's unpopular. I mean, Republicans couldn't sell Kool-Aid to children if they can't sell a tax cut to the American people. I think those are the things we need to focus on. Inevitably after this election, probably days after this election, we're going to start having a conversation as a party about what our priorities are. And you know what? Good. We'll have that fight. We'll have that argument. It will play out in the 2020 primary for President and maybe it will create a divide that we can't bridge but maybe we will have that person who can talk to both sides. This is not a choice between people who supported Hillary Clinton or people supported Bernie Sanders. In 2020 it's going to be about who can best deny Donald Trump a second term. Brent Jabbour:You made me think because I don't believe there is a "Blue Wave." I don't buy it for a couple of reasons. One, there aren't enough Senate seats up. I think Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota is in trouble. I think Kevin Cramer can win that seat. I've talked about that a lot, I don't know why. It's the one that really strikes me as the one that will probably go Republican. But I think we will get the Nevada seat. Brad Woodhouse:I'll say this. We've done a lot of work with her and her office. And, she is making healthcare the number one issue in that race. She's a cancer survivor. Pre-existing conditions has exploded as an issue on the campaign trail because the Trump administration decided to weigh-in in favor of this lawsuit in Texas that would get rid of all those protections for people. I'll predict on this podcast that she does win. And, I think she'll win because Kevin Cramer can't explain what he would do to make people's lives better, particularly on health care. And I think she can. But, I'm with you in this respect. A blue wave in the Senate is going to be hard because of the map. The truth is we could very well find ourselves with about the same math as we have now. They could knock a Democrat or two. I think the numbers are showing that is going to be increasingly difficult. The President is going to be a drag, even in some of these red states. But, they could knock off a Democrat or two. But, I think there is a good chance that we win Nevada. And that we win either Arizona or Tennessee. But, the map is daunting. We are defending far more seats. But, I think it will be your definition of a wave. If we sweep out 50 Republicans in the House or 40 Republicans in the House and take some state legislative seats, chambers that we don't have, in advance of redistricting. I mean, I feel pretty good about that. Brent Jabbour:Do Democrats not realize that when they talk about the Blue Wave in the House, do they not understand what Gerrymandering is and what has been done to the map in most states. And I'm glad you mentioned House seats. Becaue, I was going to mention that as well. You know, I have strangely spoke with more Republicans than I have Liberals as I have been recording this thing, more scheduling issues than anything. And, a lot of them say, we are really working in the State Houses because we saw the Democrats doing that. And now we're doing better. Democrats aren't focused on those State Houses. We're not winning those State Houses. You've seen what happened, especially since 2010. We're not doing enough. We need to win those legislatures becuase we need to redraw those lines. Brad Woodhouse:There has been a cascading effect of Gerrymandering. People think of Gerrymandering as the U.S. House of Representatives. Remember, Legislative seats, State Senate seats, and it all ladders up. It is not just about winning. We need to win the House. We need to have Democrats in the House be a check on this President, investigate this President, push strong Democratic policies, even if we have a Republican Senate and a Republican President that won't adopt them. We do need to have an agenda going into 2020. Democrats are never going to maintain power in Congress for long if we don't get a hold of these state legislative chambers. Remember, we have a very undemocratic United States Senate. We've got states, where two Republican Senators represent about as many people as a member of Congress does in a Congressional district. Yet, they have as much power in the Senate as two Democrats who represent 40 million people in California. That's the constitution, that's how the Senate is going to be elected, and how it's going to be portioned. So we can do that in the House. We can do that by winning State Legislative chambers and fighting every bit of redistricting legally, legislatively, administratively, anyway we can to make sure we get a better result in this next reapportionment. Brent Jabbour:I just feel... I'm getting jaded even in the middle of my own...Brad Woodhouse:Well look, there is less going on than we'd like, but there is more going on than has been. We have the Holder/Obama group that is doing legislative redistricting. They have a legal strategy, they have a legislative strategy, they have an electoral strategy. That group, along with the DLCC, along with the work that we're doing. Remember, if we win the House of Representatives a lot of those victories are going to sweep in a lot of people below them. Because the turnout machines for some of these congressional races will far exceed anything that a state legislative or State Senate candidate can do. So, we can't count on that. We have to run races all the way down, down to the ZooKeeper level. We need to elect up and down the ballot. But, there is more going to affect the outcome of State Legislative chambers than we've seen in the past. Brent Jabbour:I just think that we need to get to talk about that. I feel like we try to trick people into doing what we need to do. When, if we simply just said: Hey Democrats in Georgia, in North Carolina, in any state that has a purple opportunity. We can say, hey Democrats there, just so you understand we need you to vote, not just because you love this candidate or you love that candidate. We need you to vote because we need to win, and we need to win this State House so we can make this work for everybody. We say "turn out the vote" and almost try to shame people into voting. Not just we, everybody does. There is no explanation of what's going on most of the time. And, normal people do not have an understanding, normal people, but people who are out there...Brad Woodhouse:They're Busy... People running their lives, they don't pay attention to this every day. And, the thing that you're suggesting is exactly right. We need to constantly have a civics lesson with the American people, particularly those we want to come vote for us, about political power. And, I think for too long Democrats across the country felt like political power resided in the presidency. Ask Bill Clinton after 1994 or Barack Obama after 2010. There is a whole lot of political power that resides in Congress, and those things bubble up from redistricting. From districts that are now more favorable to Republicans. You're right. One of the biggest headwinds against Democrats is the actual districts that we're running in. There are those districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. There are enough of them, if you turned every single one of them, to win a bare majority. You want a governing majority. But, you're right, we need a civics lesson to the American people. It is as important for Democrats to control the state legislature in Georgia as it is to control the House of Representatives in Washington. Because they all flow one to the other. Brent Jabbour:Also, the Democrats need to understand 51 Senators ain't going to win you anything. Number one, Republicans will obstruct, we saw that during the Obama administration. Essentially, Mitch McConnell should have been elected President of the United States because he is the one that did the most for Republicans over the last 8 years of his presidency. And, also, we can't always count on Democrats. It's funny, Republicans are now starting to face that now in the House with the Freedom Caucus and they can hold them hostage. Democrats don't do it as heavy-handed. But there are, it's a wide swath of a party, they don't fall in line all the time. So you're going to have people in red states, you know in the Senate it is the Joe Manchin, Heidi Heitkamp, Donnelly, Tester, that you will always have to worry about because they have to worry constituents who are constituents in a red state for the most part. Brad Woodhouse:That's exactly right. Now, look, let's be clear, I'll take 51 Democrats in the Senate over 51 Republican Seats in the Senate any day. The biggest impediment to progress in the event we take back the House and the Senate is obviously a Republican administration. This is looking way ahead. But, if you assume we took back the House and the Senate. You know, Trump's a deal maker. There are a lot of Democrats that will dilute themselves into the notion that they can go make deals with Trump. And, I think Trump is an immoral, illegitimate President. And fuck making deals with that guy. We would not need to help him get re-elected by cutting deals that may be in our favor in the short term and risk that long-term. Obviously, if you take back the House and the Senate you do have to cut some deals because you have to fund the military and keep the government open. Brent Jabbour:While I agree with you to a certain extent about screw that guy why would I want to help him, actually I'm sorry, I can say it. Fuck that guy, I don't want to help him. I don't want you to get the idea that I'm not with you here. But, I think there has to be some sort of governance. Brad Woodhouse:No doubt. But we should just impose our will on him instead of the other way around.Brent Jabbour:Right. The Democrats can give themselves trapped into giving him the wall or something. Brad Woodhouse:Right, give him the wall in exchange for something else. And, I mean that's not the approach we should take.Brent Jabbour:I'd like to go back to you for just a little bit before we wrap up for the hour. So, when you left your job at Marriott and were inspired by President Clinton. What was that road like from knocking on doors to...Brad Woodhouse:I was really fortunate because my parents had been involved in politics and state government since they were in college. I was fortunate, they had some really good people for me to lean on in getting a foot in the door. Look, anybody can make it in politics if they are willing to really gut it out. It helps to know people. The first thing that I did actually. I don't remember my parents having any influence on this. I volunteered for a congressional campaign. David Price was running for re-election in 1992. I got home, it was too late to get involved in the Presidential race, so I volunteered for David Price. He was already in Congress, he had a staff. He didn't have anything for me when it was all over with. So, that same year, Jim Hunt was elected again to his third term, non-consecutive, as governor of North Carolina. My parents knew Hunt, they had been in campaigns with Hunt, but also they knew a very influential State Senator who had a lot of influence over the Governor-elect's inauguration and transition. And, one thing led to another, and I worked in his administration. And, after he had served that first term, and was re-elected for a second, I had a chance to come to Washington and work for Congressman Bob Ethridge who spent seven terms here. Went back in 2001 to work in a Senate race. Erskin Boles ran for United States Senate against Liddy Dole, he lost, but I had the opportunity to succeed a friend of mine who had been Bob Ethridge's press secretary at the DSCC, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Robert Gibbs had been in Ethridge's office, he'd gone on to work on Senate campaigns. Eventually, he made it to the DSCC. He recruited me to do my stint in North Carolina in 02. And then in 03-04 I succeeded him at the DSCC and went on from there. Brent Jabbour:What's it like being seen as a surrogate for the sitting President. Brad Woodhouse:It was a rush. So, I came kind of late in 08 to the presidential game. My wife was pregnant in 2007 when Obama started to run. Gibbs was always trying to get me to go to the campaign. He tried to get me to go to Iowa. Tried to get me to come to Chicago. And, I was running an organization, Americans United For Change at the time. A liberal organization. Biggest claim to fame early on was stopping the President's effort to privatize Social Security. So, I was running this. I was the President of it. It was a multi-million dollar thing. We were neutral, obviously, in the primary. My wife was pregnant. I could never get on the campaign. If I had had an opportunity to go work on the Presidential campaign during the primary itself, I would have worked for Obama. And, after he got the nomination, they asked me to come run the rapid response communications efforts over at the DNC on behalf of the campaign during the general election against John McCain. I got over there and I was nuts and bolts. I was hiring people, getting people out in the field, organizing bus tours, crafting web videos, doing all of the rapid response thing that the DNC is involved in, in a really robust way. And then, somebody asked me one day to go on television. And I was like, What? And, for all I know it could have been Ed Schultz's show, I'm sure it was probably MSNBC. So, it was such a rush. And you start doing it and you don't screw it up. I remember some of the moments. It was 2008, I was on MSNBC, probably with Alex Witt on Sunday morning. And the news broke that Colin Powel was going to endorse Obama. Of course, he was going on Meet the Press to announce it. But, I was just by happenstance the first Obama campaign surrogate on TV to react to it and that was a rush. And then at the end, I didn't know this until later. This is an interesting story, I've never even relayed. I believe it's true, but I heard it second hand. But, the Obama campaign stopped putting any of its surrogates on Fox. And, all of a sudden, I noticed I was doing Fox a lot. Karen Finney, who was Communications Director at the DNC at the time, we were like going down to the studio at the DNC doing Fox and Friends, Shep Smith, we were doing all of the Fox shows. Like, why are we doing so much Fox?We found out after the election, that the Obama campaign just made a decision that they were being so unfairly portrayed on Fox that they just weren't going to do it those last few weeks. That was a whole other thing where you got to be out there and have that kind of platform to yourself as a surrogate. So, there is the rush part of it, which is probably why I was in Theatre, to begin with. The kind of rush you get from being in front of an audience getting kind of instant feedback. And, the other part of it, and this kind of went on as I was in the DNC, and later working for the re-elect in 2012 is you take a lot of crap. I mean, you take a lot of crap. It's also very stressful too. It's very stressful to go on television and know that one misspoken word, one mangled word-salad could hurt the President or hurt the President's chances. Fortunately, I don't think I ever screwed up that badly. But, you do get a lot of incoming. Especially, I got on Twitter in 2010 and just getting killed by these conservatives, Obama haters. Brent Jabbour:It's funny because I have friends who go on Fox and go on a lot of other networks too. But, they go on Fox and they will say I go on MS, I go on CNN, they do some international news here and there. And Honestly, I get positive reaction. And, they are Democrats. And they will go do a Fox hit with Tucker Carleson and they say their voicemail will explode, their office email will get destroyed, their Twitter is just the nastiest, most disgusting things. And just because I am a liberal. And they have told me, I don't mind, Tucker treats me well on the air, but I get hammered by these crazies who are just followers of his. Brad Woodhouse:And you get it. During the height of the election season. I saw less of this in 08 because I wasn't on the campaign trail. But in 2012 and then in 2016 I was running Correct the Record which was a Super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton. I was appearing, basically, as a surrogate, or talker on her behalf. And, that went off the rails. Because all of a sudden, it was nothing like the period where I was at the DNC for Obama's first term, or during the re-elect. I mean, the level of nastiness... And then you know supporters of Trump on 4Chan put all of our addresses out from the FEC report. Our home addresses, our phone numbers. Of course, my phone number was in Wikileaks. And then, you start to really get blown up. So, then, you have these moments where you ask: Is it all worth it? Fuck yeah, it's worth it. I mean I've had death threats on my voicemail. "I wish you would die, and you should crawl off and die." That type of thing. It kind of shakes you up at first. But then you are like fuck this. It's a voicemail. Brent Jabbour:When do you start taking that death threat seriously? I mean, I know people call and they say... They will word it vaguely like: "You should die."Brad Woodhouse:I think you always want to take that type of stuff seriously. Where I think people got a little shook up in 2016 in particular... Never in 2012, I never felt like... I had nasty people on Twitter and voicemail, but never felt unsafe. In 2016, at Correct the Record, we had people doing things to just shake up the staff, because we were so vociferously supporting Hillary Clinton. They would send... You know you can order from the U.S. Postal Service boxes to be delivered to your house and then you paid for them. Well, we had people just getting massive delivery of these boxes to their home. And, it was all meant to freak them out. We had people getting Pizza deliveries to their house. We had a woman who lived out in Maryland who had a nasty note left on her doorstoop. So, some crazy ass person came to her house and left a note. I don't know what the tradition was. I don't know why everytime someone got paid in a campaign their home address had to be on the FEC report, so we just paid people at the office. Of course, it was out there by then. And we took people's names off the FEC report. We took people's names off the website unless it had to be on there. We tried not to release people's cell phone numbers widely to the press unless it was a spokesperson who had to be out there. And we at Correct the Record, at the building on Massachusetts, we hired extra security during the election. We put up extra firewalls for internet security. We know that during that period of time the hacking was going on at the DNC and of John Podesta's emails that there were attempted hackings over there. We don't know the source. But, we can assume, if all this other stuff was going on, that those hackings were coming from the same source. 2016 did more to shake me up, so to speak than 2008 or 2012. The level of nastiness, intrusion, and personal attacks... And then these tactics of things coming to your physical home. Never to mind. This is interesting... This strategy was even discussed on 4Chan, go after the junior people. The senior people have been through this, they know how to handle this. Go after the junior people, freak them out, make them not come into work, disrupt their activity. It was really insidious. Brent Jabbour:Do you expect that to continue. Not just with Trump, but as we move on. I mean, now that people have seen these dirty tactics. Look, probably not the first people in political history to order a bunch of pizzas to a campaign headquarters.Brad Woodhouse:These were going to people's homes. So the signal there is that hey, we have your home address. But, I don't see any end to the level of nastiness of the extremes on both sides. I don't see any end of the nastiness coming from the sitting President of the United States. He got elected dividing the country against itself. He got elected playing the race card, the sex card, everything. So, I have no doubt that that's going to continue. I'm not going to bullshit you and say "oh, I think it will get better." I just don't. I just think we are in a period here where we are essentially in political warfare and it's over the future of... It's not over the future of the country like the direction we will take, whether we have tax cuts or not. It's kind of over the future of our democratic institutions. I mean you have a President who is saying the FBI should investigate someone who submitted a fucking OpEd to the New York Times. It's a police state he wants. And, the people who support him... If the police state defends their interest, particularly what they believe is their birthright for the country to be more like them, and more like the way they look and the way they talk, than the diverse nation that we really are. Then they are going to live with that. And, it's going to be an existential fight. So, I think it's going to stay as nasty as it is. The hope on our side is... I like to believe that when they go low, we aim high. Michele Obama's famous phrase. I would like to believe we can do that and win. I do think, whoever is our candidate in 2020, should not try to out-Trump Trump. We need to be tough on Trump, but we can not divide and win. We have to put together a coalition and win. We can't divide and win. Brent Jabbour:I think we will wrap it right there. I always try to wrap on a solid moment and that one was dire and scary so, we will keep it there. Brad, did you have fun? Brad Woodhouse:Yeah, this was great. And, I'm thrilled. This might be my first podcast. Brent Jabbour:I don't know why I ask everyone if they had fun. Because that is the most important thing.Brad Woodhouse:No, it's great. I enjoy it. I look forward to hearing it and sharing it and lifting it up.Brent Jabbour:Thank you so much, Brad Woodhouse.

Hi, I'm Jessica Post, Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, and I'm excited to announce the launch of our brand new podcast, Stated. At the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee - or the DLCC as you might hear us call it - we work to elect more Democrats in state legislatures, and on this podcast, we'll talk about what's happening state politics across the country. Here's the deal: the laws passed in your state capitol have a bigger effect on your everyday life than anything passed in Washington. When, where, and how you vote is decided by your state representatives. Protections for reproductive rights and the LGBTQ community are enforced by your state representatives. Gun laws, school funding, labor rights, immigration - all of these issues start in the states. It's no secret that since 2010, Democrats have been hit hard in state legislatures, but we've never been in a better position than we are now to change all that. On Stated, we'll talk to Democratic stars and experts about everything you need to know about state politics and how you can get involved in your community.

Jessica Post, Executive Director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, joins The Great Battlefield to discuss the field support, data, and resources the DLCC is providing to Democratic state legislative candidates, and why their work has the Republican party nervous. | Episode 109

A portion of our Young Turks Main Show from February 12, 2018. For more go to http://www.tytnetwork.com/join. Hour 1:  Cenk. A gay school teacher has been fired by a Miami Catholic school after marrying her same-sex partner in an apparent violation of church rules. News producer fired for dropping “N word” in argument with neighbor. NYPD 100th precinct tweets about Black Lives Matter and get backlash. Hour 2: A woman was removed from the West Virginia House of Delegates on Friday after she used her testimony about a fossil fuel-sponsored piece of legislation to list industry donations to state lawmakers. When Democratic legislators gathered in a hotel in Portland, Maine, for a two-day policy conference last August, they were joined by a host of corporate interests who have good reason to want in on those conversations.  The meeting of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the party arm responsible for supporting state legislative candidates, was closed to the press and billed as an off-the-record event, but HuffPost has exclusively obtained a copy of the agenda, which shows the members of the DLCC’s finance council. The finance council includes companies, trade groups, labor unions and public interest organizations, who pay anywhere from $12,000 to more than $100,000 to the DLCC. In return, the conference provided an opportunity for donors to interact with state legislators ― many of whom head their respective chambers ― from around the country. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices