Highlights from the past two weeks include:
- The Washington Independent’s David Weigel traveled to Massachusetts in advance of the special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and spoke with many activists participating in the campaign of Republican candidate Scott Brown. Weigel captured the rapturous enthusiasm behind Brown’s upstart campaign and the frustration of many Massachusetts voters who would ordinarily be solid Democratic votes. When Brown won a major upset victory, Weigel laid out the “perfect storm” scenario that allowed a little-known state senator to become the first Republican U.S. senator from Massachusetts in three decades.
- The Michigan Messenger’sTodd Heywood drew more than 5,000 readers with his report revealing that Secretary of State candidate Paul Scott declared one of his top priorities to be to “ensure transgender individuals will not be allowed to change the sex on their driver’s license.” In an interview, Scott said his agenda was aimed at “preventing people who are males genetically from dressing as a woman and going into female bathrooms.” LGBT activists swiftly condemned the statements. “Representative Scott’s remarks indicate that he is not fit to serve the people of Michigan in this position,” said Julie Nemecek, a transgender activist from Jackson.
- In keeping with its carpet coverage of the 2010 legislative session, the New Mexico Independent (NMI) team was on hand liveblogging and reporting on every day’s proceedings. NMI also hosted its first live Independent Forum event at Rio Chama in Santa Fe, which was attended by legislators from both sides of the aisle, as well as staffers, union representatives and members of the NGO community. The highlight was a panel discussion about taxation and domestic partnerships, featuring Rep. Nora Espinoza (R-Roswell), Sen. Eric Griego (D-Albuquerque), and Richard Anklem of the NM Tax Research Institute, and moderated by NMI editor Gwyneth Doland.
More details on our breaking news stories below.
Best,
David
The Washington Independent’s Spencer Ackerman reported on Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair’s testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, in which Blair surprisingly contradicted the administration’s approach to terror intelligence and suggested that the new High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group should have interrogated would-be plane bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. In response to Ackerman’s reporting, Blair walked back his statement, saying his remarks were “misconstrued.” Ackerman then produced a full piece on the headaches Blair was causing for the administration and the flaws in Blair’s reasoning.
Ackerman also continued his groundbreaking reporting on the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC)—the government’s clearinghouse of terrorism-related intelligence. After uncovering that fewer than 10 of the center’s 300 analysts are assigned to the Middle East, Ackerman spoke with several NCTC veterans who raised serious questions about the center’s anti-al-Qaeda efforts. Among the problems pointed out by the analysts: a cumbersome bureaucratic structure, delegation of resources on groups that don’t threaten the United States, and a focus on publishing papers rather than getting results.
In advance of the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, politics reporter David Weigel traveled to Massachusetts and spoke with many activists participating in the campaign of Republican candidate Scott Brown. Weigel captured the rapturous enthusiasm behind Brown’s upstart campaign and the frustration of many Massachusetts voters who would ordinarily be solid Democratic votes. When Brown won a major upset victory, Weigel laid out the “perfect storm” scenario that allowed a little-known state senator to become the first Republican U.S. senator from Massachusetts in three decades.
In addition to his coverage of the Massachusetts special election, Weigel kept digging into the emerging fault lines between the burgeoning Tea Party movement and mainstream conservatism. Weigel reported that the National Tea Party Convention, where Sarah Palin is earning $100,000 to speak, has become a sticking point between hardcore Tea Party activists and interests closely aligned with the Republican Party, whom the activists fear are trying to co-opt the movement for electoral gain.
Joe Boven gauged local politicos’ reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision to set aside campaign finance laws limiting corporate spending in the elections process. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff blasted the ruling, saying, “It’s as if the justices took a look at America’s political system and concluded that special interests don’t have enough power.” Incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet seemed to agree with Romanoff’s dismal assessment. GOP candidate Jane Norton did not return phone calls asking for comment. Instead her public statements involved tweeting on Republican Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts and on the intelligence failures that led to the Christmas Day attempted airplane bomb attack over Michigan.
Boven also took top traffic with his report on a Senate bill sponsored by Scott Renfroe, R-Greeley, that aims to suspend the governor’s authority to limit citizens’ access to firearms during a state of disaster emergency. “It is important that when Colorado is under threat that its citizens continue to have the ability to protect themselves,” the bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, said. At least one Democrat denounced the bill, but Boven noted that the National Rifle Association objected strongly to and has posted material on events that occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, for example, when authorities confiscated guns from licensed owners.
The Colorado Independent team brought site wide coverage to the state’s key political news: the opening of the 2010 legislative session. Joe Boven covered the initial proceedings and previewed the coming session, which House Speaker Terrance Carroll described as “epic” in its scope. Meanwhile, contributor Beth Potter looked at how Denver’s pro-business lobby was already at work campaigning against Gov. Ritter’s proposal to suspend business tax exemptions. Becca Blond covered the efforts of Colorado’s foremost “pot attorney,” Rob Corry, to file a bill on medical marijuana that would counter any move to pass what he considers pro-law-enforcement proposals on the issue.
David O. Williams talked with the campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis and learned that, even though incumbent Gov. Bill Ritter isn’t his opponent anymore, McInnis is going to keep running against him. McInnis’ campaign says he will continue to make the argument that the new drilling regulations, which went into effect last spring, have cost Colorado jobs and revenue. This strategy comes just as another candidate entered the race, Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, a former oil company geologist who has no record on the regulations.
Editor Jason Hancock took top traffic with his report that Third District U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Des Moines, had introduced legislation last week amending the U.S. Constitution to overturn last week’s controversial Supreme Court ruling on corporate and union spending during elections. Boswell’s office told Hancock the Congressman’s resolution has been formally introduced and is being circulated for co-sponsors. Hancock further solicited input from a number of public interest groups who praised the measure. “This campaign to amend the Constitution will seek to restore the First Amendment to its original purpose,” an official from Voter Action told Hancock.
Hancock also drove high traffic with his report on Republican leaders’ fears that the refusal by an influential social conservative group’s refusal to support the eventual GOP nominee for governor is causing long-term damage to the party. As Hancock reported, the Iowa Family Policy Center recently announced its endorsement of social conservative Bob Vander Plaats, adding that the group would sit out the 2010 governor’s race if former Gov. Terry Branstad won the party’s nomination. Following that report, Brent Oleson, a former member of the GOP’s state central committee, told Hancock he was “stunned and mortified” by the divisive tactics, calling the hard-right conservatives a “jihadist sleeper cell of so-called GOP leaders” that is “refusing to work towards post-primary unity.” Hancock’s reporting was picked up by blogs and news sites across the country, driving nearly 1,300 readers to the site.
Following up on Hancock’s reporting, Doug Burns talked to sources who said state Rep. Rod Roberts is the person who stands to benefit most from this infighting. Though deemed unworthy for the governor’s office by the politically muscular Iowa Family PAC, Roberts is a Christian conservative who pulls both evangelicals and business-oriented Republicans. “He could very well sneak up and pull off a surprise,” one political analyst said.
In response to the GOP turmoil about the governor’s race, first revealed by the Iowa Independent, Linn County Supervisor Brent Oleson told Hancock he would ask his county’s Republican Central Committee to pass a resolution demanding GOP candidates “support the duly-elected nominee that is produced” from the primary process. He was reacting to the recent endorsement of Vander Plaats by influential social conservative group the Iowa Family Policy Center, which vowed that it would sit out the fall campaign if former Gov. Terry Branstad got the Republican nomination. The next day, Hancock reported, the committee approved the so-called “loyalty resolution.”
In her ongoing investigation into questionable Dow-funded dioxin research at the Universtity of Michigan, Eartha Melzer revealed this week that the chemical company is pressuring critics of the study – including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The American Chemistry Council is a powerful advocate for chemical manufacturers, having spent nearly $5 million on lobbying in 2009, Melzer wrote. In a public letter to the EPA, the trade group slammed EPA’s review of the study, calling it “scientifically and procedurally flawed” and demanding that the Dow-funded research be used in the agency’s regulatory decisions.
Melzer took top traffic with her report that a coalition of environmental groups has asked federal regulators to suspend licensing for a new reactor at the Fermi Nuclear Power Plant because the firm running the plant was found to be auditing and regulating itself. “That’s like having the inmates running the prison,” an engineer told Melzer. Last spring, Melzer’s reporting led a similar coalition to file legal contentions with regulators to block the construction of the new reactor.
David Alire Garcia helped fact check the story surrounding a bizarre viral video featuring a woman calling herself “Jackie,” who claimed that she had infected more than 500 people since contracting HIV in 1998. According to Detroit Police, Garcia reported, the 23-year-old woman was not HIV positive and said she was using the video to promote a pornographic Web site. Garcia added that some of the coverage surrounding the media hype incorrectly stated that it’s a felony to infect another person with HIV in Michigan.
Editor Paul Schmelzer revealed that First Congressional District Republican Jim Hagedorn issued a “white paper” on terrorism that offers some controversial rhetoric: “Young men from Islamic-dominated nations, who have no legitimate reason to visit the United States, should not be granted access to our country,” he writes, among many other inflammatory statements. Political scientist David Schultz reviewed the paper and said it “just reeked of all the worst things you do when you want to conjure up people’s fears and prey on people’s racism.” He went onto link Hagedorn’s jingoism with that of fellow Republican Allen Quist, who recently said liberals were a “bigger” threat than terrorists. “In a variety of ways, they’re doing what I call interesting McCarthyite actions,” Schultz said. “It’s a form of red baiting: Equating Democrats and liberals with Muslims and terrorists.”
Andy Birkey reported that a surprising number of Minnesota conservative groups seemed to share Pat Robertson’s striking opinion that the devastating earthquake in Haiti was an act of divine retribution. Adoration Church in Savage, Minn., created Haiti Teen Challenge and it described the nation as a “demonic tyranny.”Adoration’s partner, MN Teen Challenge, immediately distanced itself from the statement. John Helmberger, CEO of Minnesota Family Council, wrote on the organization’s blog that Haiti must become a Christian nation in order to thrive. Within a day of its first appearance that blog post was deleted, Birkey reported.
Birkey also exposed the practices of state-funded religious organizations that are misleading women in crisis by providing inaccurate information about reproductive health. The organizations, funded through Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Positive Alternatives program, make many claims disproven by medical science, including that birth control pills damage the body and abortions cause breast cancer. The day after Birkey’s story posted, Minnesota NOW “applauded the investigation by the Minnesota Independent” and launched a campaign calling on its members to contact legislators. “Let them know today that the Positive Alternatives Act of 2005 is absolutely, positively spreading false information to women about their reproductive health. Demand that your legislators investigate the use of state funds for spreading religious, not scientific, views,” the campaign asks.
After Birkey caught Congressional candidate Allen Quist comparing President Obama and Congressional Democrats to terrorists, Democratic-Farmer-Labor-Party (DFL) leaders issued a combined statement condemning the statements and demanding an apology. “Instead of spewing partisan rhetoric, Allen Quist should be thanking Representative [Tim] Walz for passing the some of the most significant legislation for veterans in history,” said DFL Chair Brian Melendez. DFL Veterans Caucus Chair Trista Matascastillo added, “I can’t imagine a context in which Allen Quist’s comments about Representative Walz would be appropriate, acceptable or in any way defendable.”
Contributor Peter St. Cyr delivered an exclusive on the family dealings of Adam Kokesh, Republican primary candidate in CD-3. Just days before state House Speaker Ben Lujan launched the legislative session, Kokesh accused the powerful speaker of helping send his son, CD-3′s incumbent Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, to Congress through his “ability to make bribes and promises from the statehouse.” Kokesh could not substantiate the claims with any specific charges. However, St. Cyr revealed, Kokesh’s own father is facing federal charges for allegedly misappropriating $45 million from investors in four businesses. The complaint alleges that the elder Kokesh caused his businesses to pay illegal distributions, performance fees, and expense reimbursements and then covered up the expenses by allegedly filing misleading reports to investors and federal officials.
New contributor Bryant Furlow made his debut with an investigation into the relationship between the former Bernalillo town manager and a contract engineer who worked for the town. Town Manager Stephen Jerge resigned last April after reporters discovered he had charged $45,000 to a town credit card. Furlow reported that Jerge was then hired by the contractor’s wife after helping the couple’s firm win a lucrative engineering contract with the town. The contractor also treated the manager and a water department official to Arizona Cardinals playoff tickets. State auditor Hector Balderas told Furlow his office was looking into the allegations and “taking them seriously.”
Department of Good News
Culver praises resiliency, pledges more help for flood victims
Iowa is “resilient,” Gov. Chet Culver proclaimed during his Condition of the State address last week, because Iowans are resilient. And within hours of making the remark, he and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge were on the road to places throughout the state where examples of such resiliency could be seen in action.
Coalition takes aim at Iowa nursing shortage
Experts have known for a while that Iowa is facing a nursing shortage. For the first time, a coalition of groups has formed to tackle the problem and propose legislation aimed at addressing the major issues fueling the shortage.