Thursday, July 31, 2014

Independents Challenge New Mexico's Closed Primary


On July 30, New Mexico Attorney General Gary King asked the Bernalillo District Court that is hearing Crum v Duran to let him intervene in the case.

The case is a state law that bars independents from voting in the primary election.  The lawsuit contends the law allowing only Democrats and Republicans to vote in the primary violates the New Mexico Constitution.

Secretary of State Dianna Duran was named as a defendant in the case.  She has chosen not to defend the law.

The Attorney General is asking the state District Court judge to permit him to intervene in the lawsuit filed on behalf of nearly 294,000 voters registered as independents.

Unless the Attorney General is allowed to intervene, there will be no one to defend the state law that says only party members may vote in party primaries.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Justice Dept. Weigh in on Ohio, Wisconsin Voting Rights Cases


The Justice Department weighed in formally Wednesday in pending voting rights litigation involving Wisconsin's voter identification law and Ohio's election practices.

In April, a federal judge blocked enforcement of the Wisconsin law.  That decision is now on appeal to the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, where the Justice Department filed an amicus brief Wednesday urging the appeals court to uphold the ruling striking down the Wisconsin measure.

The Ohio case, involving challenges to state efforts to curtail early voting and limit same-day registration, is still awaiting a decision in the district court.  The Justice Department lawyers filed a "statement of interest" in that case that doesn't explicitly stake out a position on the key issues, but does say Ohio is misinterpreting its duties under the Voting Rights Act.

"These filings are necessary to confront the pernicious measures in Wisconsin and Ohio that would impose significant barriers to the most basic right of our democracy."

"These two states' voting laws represent the latest, misguided attempts to fix a system that isn't broken."

"The Justice Department will never shrink from our responsibility to protect the voting rights of every eligible American."

"We will keep using every available tool at our disposal to guard against all forms of discrimination, to prevent voter disenfranchisement, and to secure the rights of every citizen."

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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The Oregon WFP Supports the Open Primary Ballot Measure


The Oregon Working Families Party (WFP) supports the Oregon Open Primary ballot measure.  They believe that for too long the political system has been rigged against working people, and see the adoption of this measure as a step toward empowering more voters and enabling a diverse set of voices to set the governance agenda of the state.

As a minor party, the reason they choose to support the Oregon Open Primary is:

"We believe this proposal not only protects but enhances our ability to participate meaningfully in selecting who will govern our state, and what issues they will elevate in their governance."

Unlike the measures that have passed in California and Washington, this version of Top Two maintains the integrity of the role for political parties by permitting party endorsements to appear on the ballot.  It also enhances fusion voting, allowing multiple party endorsements, and to give voters more information about what a particular candidate stands for.

And it opens the door for WFP members and all others who are not registered as either a Democrat or a Republican to cast votes in the primary races that decide so much of who governs the state.

The Ballot Measure, Initiative #55, has these points for the General Election Ballot format:

- There is no write-ins.

- Next to the Candidates name, Registration: Major or Minor Party name, "not a member of a party", or no statement.

- After Registration, Endorsed by: If Major or Minor party has endorsed the candidate through their party process.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

MAYDAY.US Announces Support for their First Two Candidates‏


MAYDAY.US, Dr. Lawrence Lessig Founder and Board Chairman, announced the first two candidates the PAC will support, making campaign finance reform a top voting issue in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In the New Hampshire Republican Senate primary, they are supporting two-term State Senator Jim Rubens, the only Republican U.S. Senate candidate in the nation who has openly endorsed fundamental reform to the way campaigns are funded.  He's made political reform his central issue.  While most Republicans in Congress oppose reform, this is a race where reformers can show their support for the backs of those brave Republicans who buck special interests and do the right thing.

They are opposing former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown.  Brown's record shows that he supports Citizens United, opposes federal public financing, and he was the deciding vote against the most bare-minimum disclosure statute.  And after agreeing to a "People's Pledge" in his race against Elizabeth Warren in 2012, he refuses to now.

In a key open seat in Iowa's 3rd congressional district, they are supporting Democrat Staci Appel, a former State Senator who sponsored a voter-owned clean elections fund and supports small dollar public funding proposals, like Congressman Sarbanes' Government by the People Act.

They are opposing a DC insider whose largest funding comes from Washington lobbyists, David Young, former Chief of Staff to Sen. Chuck Grassley.

If a candidate for Congress wants to be inoculated from being on their target list, there is an easy way to do so, get on the right side of reform and pledge to support one or more of the fundamental reforms:

1. Government By the People Act - Matching funds, tax credit, vouchers.

2. Fair Elections Now Act - Matching funds.

3. The American Anticorruption Act - Vouchers & lobbying reform.

4. Citizen Involvement in Campaigns Act - Tax credit.

5. Taxation Only With Representation Act - Vouchers.

CLICK HERE for more information on each Act.

For each of them would change the way campaigns are funded, by reducing the influence of special interests.

They created a Contact A Candidate site for you to easily locate and call representatives in your area and urge them to inoculate themselves by supporting reform.

CLICK HERE to see where candidates near you stand on the issue.  If your representatives haven't supported any of the reforms, call them, email them, Tweet them, and show up at Town Hall meetings and demand an answer.

Deadline: Candidates have until 5 PM EST next Tuesday, August 5, to inoculate themselves.  That means we have one week to urge candidates to do the right thing.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Saturday, July 26, 2014

Arizona Prop-121 Non-Partisan Elections for 2016 Ballot


Paul Johnson, the former Mayor of Phoenix, will attempt to qualify an initiative in 2016 to convert all Arizona elections, except presidential elections, to non-partisan elections.  There will be no party labels on any ballot, except for President, under the proposal.

The proposal, Prop-121, being prepared for the 2016 ballot would have all candidates of all political stripes run in a wide-open primary.  Then the top-two vote-getters in each race would face off in the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

Johnson said the two major parties rig the system to suppress independent voters, who he believes are more moderate politically than those who remain party faithful.  And he said that is not blunted even though independents, who outnumber both Democrats and Republicans, can vote in partisan primaries.

By law, Johnson and his allies cannot start circulating petitions until after this year’s general election.

The number of signatures will be set at 15 percent of those who vote in this year’s gubernatorial race, a goal likely to approach 300,000.

UPDATE
A new app, from the Open Nonpartisan Elections committee, is designed to drum up support for a 2016 ballot measure that will ask Arizona voters if they want to abolish the existing partisan-primary system and replace it with an Non-Partisan system.  The aim is to amp up the number of independents who actually vote in next month's primary.

You can get the app through your app store by searching for Arizona Nonpartisan Movement.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Accelerating to the Future


In 1994, I attended an event at the Waldorf Astoria in New York to discuss the Internet and what was its future.  There were many of the players in discussion forums like Bill Gates, Steve Case, Larry Ellison, etc.

The keynote speakers were the Futurists, Alvin and Heidi Toffler.

In 1970 they wrote a book called Future Shock.  Tofflers' main point was that the world was going through wrenching change from an industrial to a post industrial or technology society.  Decades latter the book holds up well.  One of their arguments is that the rate of change is accelerating.  In other words, if you think the world is transforming fast now, just wait; soon it will be happening faster.

The Tofflers' concept of accelerating change is most pertinent to Silicon Valley and technology, which drive so much of the transformation in our economy but are also vulnerable to the forces they describe.  How can such business retain their customers when there are always newer, shinier competitors coming along?

Tofflers' concept, Desynchronization, which they describe as “businesses and family structures are transforming at a much more rapid rate than are reforms in our education, political, and legal systems.”

During the event, Steve Case said Tofflers’ The Third Wave, published in 1980, was instrumental in his thinking while he created AOL.  Ted Turner credited the Tofflers' with inspiring him to start CNN.  Bill Gates said the Internet was not going to work and left, but we continued with the rest of the sessions.

In the summer of 1996, I went to work in Seattle as the Acting COO and CIO for Multiple Zones, the direct marketing company that produced The PC Zone and The MAC Zone catalogs, selling hardware and software from Microsoft and Apple.

During this period, I worked with Microsoft to beta test the ability to sell and download software over the Internet.  Bill Gates changed his mind.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Friday, July 18, 2014

New Ways to Propose Legislation to Your Lawmakers


Politicians have long been scratching their heads on how to restore the increasingly fractured relationship with constituents.  So as more Americans migrate online, lawmakers are experimenting with crowdsourcing as a means to better understand voter needs and to create policy that answers their concerns.

In states such as New York and California, code repositories such as GitHub and writing workspaces like Wikispaces are fast becoming mediums for politicians to field feedback or help drafting legislation, Government Technology reports.

In fact, California Democrat Assemblyman Mike Gatto gained great fanfare for his Wikispaces initiative, which enlisted residents to help draft legislation on probate law.  The measure, which enables a court to determine who becomes guardian of a deceased person’s pet, may have been a small contribution to the state, but it motivated Gatto to further pursue the idea of crowd sourcing policy.  Gatto contends that crowdsourcing could bridge the longstanding gap between elected officials and frustrated constituents.

“When you put out a call like I did and others have done and say ‘I’m going to let the public draft a law and whatever you draft, I’m committed to introducing it, I think that’s a powerful message,” Gatto said.  “I think the public appreciates it because it makes them understand that the government still belongs to them.”

New York City Council Member Ben Kallos uses GitHub to collect public commentary on much of his technology-related legislation.  Kallos finds crowdsourcing as an empowering tool that creates a different sense of democracy, he told Government Technology.

The Catwaba Regional Council of Governments in South Carolina and the Centralia Council of Governments in North Carolina are surveying local insight how leaders should plan for growth in the area.  Earlier this year, residents were given iPads at a public forum to review four ideas for growth and provide feedback.

Of course, there’s a chance that special interest groups can manipulate these digital tactics to dictate how policy is shaped.  Crowdsourcing expert Trond Undheim cautions that while the concept is great for public engagement, lawmakers should be careful with whom is influencing how laws are written.  But Gatto maintains that Wikispace provides safeguards about editing a crowdsourced bill if it is apparent someone is changing legislation for the wrong reason.

“I think as long as there is sufficient participation, and that’s the big key, then I don’t think anyone can pull a fast one,” Gatto said.

But perhaps that’s the point of crowdsourcing: underscoring the very idea of democracy and giving everyone an opportunity to speak up

But there are potential problems to overcome.  Who will have access to an online system, who monitors the production of a bill, and how is the potential constitutionality maintained?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, July 17, 2014

Kansas Looking at Repealing the 17th Amendment


On July 12, at Wichita State University, an event was held in Kansas to promote Republicans.  The brain-trust in attendance represented the ideas of Kansas conservative future: Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, current sitting Representative from District 4, Todd Tiahrt, the Republican who is running against Mike Pompeo (frmr. US House of Rep), and Milton Wolf, candidate for US Senate.

The gathering, sponsored by The Kansas Fairtax group, an organization who has as a chief goal the abolition of the IRS took time on Saturday to explain to Kansans why they too should be clamoring for and end to the IRS.

One notable Kansan that was pee-announced as a potential attendee who did in fact not attend became the launching point for a new discussion.  Pat Roberts, sitting US Senator elected not to attend.  His lack of attendance led the Fairtax organization to an entirely new discussion, the repeal of the 17th Amendment, or the Popular Vote for US Senators.

There are some ideas that on first blush when you are told about them you have to laugh.  They seem as though they represent the opinion of the absolute fringe.  In 2004, Republican Candidate Alan Keyes brought up the idea of ending the common election of US Senators, reverting it back to the prior method, having the statehouse chose the two representatives.

In 2004, when Keyes made his pitch, most thinking people wrote it off as quackery.  Even his fellow Republicans on stage were not impressed.

The 17th Amendment, which provided a direct election of senators by the populace was designed to help combat the wealthy from buying political power.  In the era of Citizens United that may seem a stretch, but we have to go back to history and remember what it was like before the 17th Amendment.

On Saturday, repeating the Alan Keyes talking points, Republicans in Kansas reminded us of the powerful senators who were selected prior to the 17th Amendment... Henry Clay, Calhoun and so on.

As Republicans speakers advocated getting rid of the democratic process in selecting a sitting US Senator, at one point yelling from the stage that: It is time for us to return to our constitutional government!  As it was originally imagined by our founding fathers!

This new call to repeal the 17th Amendment has apparently become a calling card for the Tea Party.  As more conservative rallies address the idea and speak of it glowingly.   The audience was asked again in Wichita:

"Do you want the government our founders imagined?"

Which of course delivered the expected cheers.  What kind of government is that though?  That repealing constitutional amendments is now a part of their rally cry toward their base.

While Republicans from the stage were keen to promote the idea of federalism and why the Senate was supposed to be 'The States House" they failed to mention exactly what precipitated the 17th Amendment.  It's funny, especially in Kansas, as the conviction of Joseph R. Burton for taking direct checks as an act of bribery happened right in their backyard.  That's right, one of the last senators sent to prison is the one that helped the push for the 17th, came from Kansas.

Intimidation and bribery marked some of the states' selection of senators.  Nine bribery cases were brought before the Senate between 1866 and 1906.  In addition, forty-five deadlocks occurred in twenty states between 1891 and 1905, resulting in numerous delays in seating senators.  In 1899, problems in electing a senator in Delaware were so acute that the state legislature did not send a senator to Washington for four years.

This included Senators who made their way into office after specifically bribing statehouses, and parties who intentionally refused to select.  This led to Grover Cleveland referring to the Senate as the "Robber House".

Still, nothing stopped Kansas Republicans from taking up the new talking point: Repeal the right of a popular vote.

Because as we all know, the greatest problem facing our country is there is just too darn much voting.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Oregon Will Have a Top-Two Primary Initiative on the Ballot


Oregonians could dramatically alter the way they choose candidates if a ballot initiative to open the state's primary elections passes in November.

The Oregon Open Primary Initiative qualified for the November ballot with 91,716 valid signatures, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

The measure would create a new, nonpartisan primary election process where candidates from all parties appear on a single ballot.  The two candidates who received the most votes in that election would advance to a general election.

Supporters of the measure point to the rising number of Oregonians who choose not to register as a Republican or Democrat as a sign the mood is shifting.  Nearly one-third of the state's voters currently belong to a minor party or have no party affiliation.

Allowing all registered voters from a district to be involved in selecting the general election candidates is one of the strongest arguments for the initiative, said Edwin Dover, a political science professor at Western Oregon University.  He also said the initiative could be a workaround for gerrymandering, which is a way of drawing districts so they favor one party over another.

The campaign has received more than $500,000 in donations, according to online records from the Secretary of State's Office.

"I've seen a number of ballot measures defeated and come back and win," Dover said. "I think there is a general disgust with the legislative process in the country that could push this idea over the top."










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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When Inversion Becomes Evasion




Big Business is eagerly demanding and acquiring rights meant for people.  But when it comes to the duties shared by members of a thriving society, corporations are increasingly skipping town.

Some American corporations are essentially renouncing their citizenship so they can stop paying U.S. Corporate taxes, even as they benefit from innumerable advantages of doing business, and making record profits, here.

This corporate ploy is called “inversion.”

A better word might be “evasion.”

Inversion is when an American corporation seeks out and merges with a (usually smaller) foreign business, then uses the country where that business is located for tax purposes, thereby avoiding U.S. corporate taxes.

For example, Walgreens — the American drugstore chain — has begun the process of merging with a Swiss company and may reincorporate in Switzerland, a well-known tax haven.  If Walgreens goes through with this tactic, it could cost our economy nearly a billion dollars a year in lost tax revenue.

We have to stop this trend before it spins completely out of control.

Walgreens — like most American corporations — relies on public resources like roads to move its products around the country, police to protect its stores from crime, and schools to develop its workforce.  And about 25% of Walgreens’ business comes from taxpayer-funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Dozens of large corporations — including pharmaceutical Pfizer and agribusiness behemoth Chiquita — have already completed or considered this unpatriotic maneuver.

Big Business wants all the advantages of operating in America.  But it expects the rest of us to pick up the tab, even as it sees record profits.

Join Public Citizen and USAction in saying “No!” to Corporate America’s sneaky, unpatriotic scheme to skip out on its financial obligations here at home.

If you agree, add your name right now to the petition to stop the inversion evasion.

CLICK HERE to sign the petition to stop Big Business from setting up sham headquarters in tax havens to dodge their tax obligations here in America.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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