H4a news Clips [April 11, 2015] Summary of Today’s news
Download 492.4 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Jeb Bush backed background checks at gun shows [Benjy Sarlin, MSNBC, April 10, 2015]
- In South Florida, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are forcing locals to pick sides [Ed O’Keefe, WaPo, April 10, 2015]
National Coverage - GOP National Stories Jeb Bush's Emails: Why Are So Many Key Episodes MIA? [Pema Levy & Sam Brodey, Mother Jones, April 10, 2015] Bush’s own published email archives reveal little about key episodes that occurred during his governorship. When the New York Times revealed that Hillary Clinton used a private email address as secretary of state, GOP presidential candidate-in-waiting Jeb Bush pounced. "Transparency matters," he tweeted, linking to the archive of his own emails that he had made public a month earlier. But Bush is hardly in a position to take potshots at Clinton over her emails. Like Clinton, he conducted government business using a personal email account (two of them, actually). He released only a portion of his correspondence from his time as governor of Florida. And it took Bush more than seven years to hand over his self-selected emails, as required under a Florida public records law. Moreover, Bush's email archive, which includes more than 250,000 messages, has produced no piercing insights or major news stories about his gubernatorial stint. There are an immense number of emails from constituents weighing in on the issues of the day. But when it comes to the major issues of his governorship, there are—curiously—very few, if any, emails between Bush and his aides. This email archive is not easy to search. It is comprised of 248 separate files and is hardly user-friendly. But employing the most obvious search terms for key episodes that occurred during his governorship, as well as combing messages covering certain time periods, we mounted an extensive review of this gigantic collection of correspondence and looked for emails about the most important moments of Bush's eight years leading the Sunshine State. This search yielded little correspondence revealing Bush's actions and decisions regarding pivotal events. It turns out that what's most notable about Bush's email trove is what's not in it. THE 2000 ELECTIONS When the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore came down to Florida, Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris found themselves at the center of the political universe. Bush's email archive contains reams of messages that poured in from constituents during the controversial recount process, but there are barely any notes between Bush and his aides. The day after the election—which ultimately took 36 days, several Florida court rulings, and a final intervention by the US Supreme Court to resolve—Bush officially recused himself from the election certification process. But an investigation by theLos Angeles Times found that Jeb Bush's office and top aides were in contact with his brother's legal team and other top members of George W. Bush's staff during the recount. Jeb officially handed the state's 25 electoral votes to his brother on November 26, while court battles over the recount were still underway, andindicated he would sign legislation to preempt the courts and give the election to his brother. But if Bush and his top aides were discussing these important decisions or communicating with George W. Bush's team, it does not show up in Jeb's email archive. The archive does include Jeb Bush's responses to a few constituents. When one emailed to ask Bush to certify the election, he responded: "I am doing what i can within the laws of our state." ELIÁN GONZÁLEZ On Thanksgiving Day 1999, five-year-old Elián González was rescued off the coast of Florida after fleeing Cuba in a small boat with his mother and other refugees. Elián's mother had drowned during the trip, setting off a months-long international custody battle between the child's relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba. In emails to constituents throughout the saga, Bush supported allowing state courts to adjudicate the issue; he opposed the Clinton administration's decision not to grant Elián asylum and denounced the federal raid in April 2000 that removed Elián from the custody of his Miami relatives. Yet internal deliberations about this high-profile matter between Bush and his staff are scarce in the email archive. One email thread does show Bush looking for a way to intervene after the commissioner of the US Immigration and Naturalization Service announced that Elián should be returned to his father. On January 6, 2000, he forwarded a constituent email to his general counsel, Carol Licko, asking, "Carol, I think we should ask that ATTY General Reno overturn the INS decision and allow a custody proceeding take place in state court. We should do this manana. what do you think?" And that's about it for Bush emails on this dramatic subject. Several media outlets have scoured Bush's email archive for clues about his actions during this episode. Beside his back-and-forths with constituents, they've turned up almost nothing. VOTER PURGE, PART I When Bush became governor in January 1999, the state was working on a project to purge felons from its voter rolls. Before Bush took office, the state had hired a company named Database Technologies Inc. (DBT) to cross-check criminal records against the state's 8.6 million registered voters. The list of about 100,000 supposed felons that DBT generated was deeply flawed; it included thousands of misdemeanor offenders and Floridians with no criminal records. It disproportionately singled out minorities, particularly African Americans. At the urging of Florida officials after Bush took office in January 1999, DBT conducted an overly broad search for potential felons. "[W]e want to capture more names that possibly aren't matches and let [county election] supervisors make a final determination rather than exclude certain matches altogether," a lawyer at the Florida Division of Elections told the DBT project manager in March 1999, according to a 2001 investigation by the Los Angeles Times. The Times concluded that the flawed list could have affected the outcome of the 2000 election—which came down to just 537 votes—by disenfranchising more black voters, who largely vote Democratic. A search of key terms, relevant officials names, and variations of key phrases such as "felon list" came up largely empty, except for news articles that were circulated around about the scandal. VOTER PURGE, PART II In May 2004, another presidential election year, Jeb Bush's administration once again sought to purge its voter rolls of convicted felons. Owing to the previous controversy with DBT, the state Legislature decided that the Department of Elections should create its own list. Once again, the process was flawed. When the list became public in July 2004, a major error became readily apparent: Of the 48,000 people on the new purge list, 22,000 were African Americans but only 61 were Hispanic. African Americans vote heavily Democratic while Hispanics, at that time in Florida, largely voted Republican. This prompted speculation that Jeb Bush's administration was at best incompetent and at worst, playing politics with its purge list. Facing widespread criticism, it agreed not to use the list. The Bush email archive holds little material on this major controversy, and we found no messages discussing how to deal with the issue or discover what went wrong. Only a few emails stood out on the voter purge issue. On August 19, 2003, Bush received an email from a county elections supervisor, Kay Clem, on voter purge efforts. "Talked to [Secretary of State] Glenda Hood about purging voter rolls today. She said she had just returned from a meeting with you and your staff," Clem wrote. A few hours later, Bush forwarded Clem's email to his chief of staff and Hood, writing, "we need to discuss." As the scandal was swirling in July of 2004, Bush noted to the CEO of Accenture, the outside consulting firm that developed the formula used for the purge, "we have issues regarding the felons voting list work that you company have done." There's not much else. TERRI SCHIAVO In 2003, Bush confronted one of the most contentious battles of his governorship: whether to allow Terri Schiavo to die after 13 years in a persistent vegetative state. Her husband, Michael, was fighting to take her off life support, while her parents were battling to keep her alive. Following a court order in September 2003, Schiavo's feeding tube was removed. Bush and the Republican Legislature in Florida responded by quickly enacting what was called "Terri's Law," which allowed the governor to overrule the courts with an executive order to reinsert her feeding tube. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously ruled Terri's Law unconstitutional in September 2004. Schiavo died on March 31, 2005, after all the legal options pursued by her parents, Bush, and Republicans in Washington and Florida had run out. An autopsy later confirmed that Schiavo had been completely brain dead with no chance of rehabilitation. Bush's email archive contains thousands of Schiavo-related messages from people around the country, but this collection reveals little about Bush's decision making as a key player in one of the culture wars' biggest battles. There are a few emails of note, however. When Bush officially entered the legal battle in the fall of 2003, his administration hired attorney Ken Connor as the outside counsel on the case. The archive shows nothing about the decision to hire Connor, but Bush's aides did circulate "Ken Connor talking points" and his biography for Bush to use in media interviews. There are also emails from Bush's legal team throughout the years-long saga providing updates on the case. After the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Terri's Law, the emails do show Bush and his aides looking for other legal avenues. On October 21, 2004, Bush forwarded to his general counsel an email from a constituent, who pleaded for Bush to take action. "We cannot open a criminal investigation? Are we sure that the statute of limitations applies?" Bush asked. No, his top lawyer replied: "for anything that happened to cause her current condition, S/L [statute of limitations] ran a long time ago." The general counsel also noted that even accusations of recent abuse against Michael Schiavo weren't enough to warrant state intervention in the case: "am looking into criminal penalties for abuse or exploitation as a vulnerable adult (within past 5 years or so), but law requires that it be referred to local law enforcement and local state attorney, neither of which have shown a disposition to do anything. have not found anything yet that bumps up to state law enforcement level, but still looking but we can't yet be out there announcing anything." Despite this advice, Bush did use accusations of abuse to launch an unsuccessful, last-ditch effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive. The Schiavo case raised a host of vexing legal, policy, and political questions over nearly two years of Bush's term. But the email trail is rather thin. MANATEES
To avoid what the New York Times said could become a campaign issue, the governor in 2001 requested that the US Fish and Wildlife Service delay federal mandates for manatee protection and hand the issue to the state. The agency agreed, a move that raised eyebrows in Florida among those who felt the governor's brother was doing him a political favor. A federal judge ultimately overturned the decision. Bush's archive show manatees were a popular topic among constituents. But it contains no email exchanges between Bush and advisers on the question of federal involvement to protect manatees. CYNTHIA HENDERSON When he took office in January 1999, Bush appointed Cynthia Henderson—a Florida attorney and former Playboy bunny—to oversee the state agency in charge of business regulation. By December of that year, she faced investigations by the state's chief inspector general and state Ethics Commission for a host of allegations, including giving plum government jobs to friends. She was also accused of attending the Kentucky Derby on the dime of a restaurant business she regulated. The allegations against this appointee became a major headache for Bush. In September 2000, Bush finally removed Henderson from her post, transferring her to the state's Department of Management Services; he denied that the ethics charges had anything to do with the shakeup. Bush's email archive includes no correspondence between Bush and his aides regarding the politically explosive allegations levied against Henderson. But Bush did respond to constituents who were concerned with Henderson's alleged behavior. "If i felt that Cynthia was unethical or incompetent, I would ask her to leave. I don't believe that it is the case," he wrote to one constituent. Jeb Bush backed background checks at gun shows [Benjy Sarlin, MSNBC, April 10, 2015] Jeb Bush has previously supported instituting background checks. NASHVILLE, Tennessee – After months defending his conservative bona fides on immigration and education, the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting must have come as a relief to Republican Jeb Bush. He has plenty to brag about to Second Amendment groups: He earned an A+ rating from the NRA as Florida governor and signed the “stand your ground” law that gained national attention after the Trayvon Martin shooting. “I’ve been in the trenches with you and when I was governor, we were passing laws and creating protections for gun owners that set the bar for other states to follow,” Bush said in his speech on Friday. “I will match my record against anyone else’s when it comes to the support and defense of the Second Amendment.” But on one issue that has since become a top cause for gun control advocates (and the enemy of groups like the NRA), Bush’s policy choices may be out of step: background checks for gun purchases. In 1998, then-candidate Bush backed a Florida law instituting background checks for firearms bought at gun shows, a type of purchase that is not covered under federal law. The issue was part of a broader fight with Democratic opponent Buddy MacKay, who backed a constitutional amendment to allow individual counties to institute their own background check and waiting period laws. MacKay ran ads at the time arguing Bush “sides with the gun lobby and opposes criminal background checks,” perThe Miami Herald, a charge Bush rebutted to the local press by pointing to his support for a statewide law. “A simple rule would simply say that anybody that buys a gun at a gun show should get an instant background check,” Bush said in a debate. “And so you would take out the criminals.” MacKay lost, but the amendment authorizing counties to expand background checks passed via referendum in the same election with 72% of the vote. At the time, background checks for private sales were less controversial in the GOP – even NRA leader Wayne LaPierre testified that he could support them in 1999. Background checks became a partisan lightning rod after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut took the lives of 20 children and six adults, and President Obama urged Congress to pass a federal law closing the gun show loophole. LaPierre and the NRA lobbied hard against the proposal along with Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio – all likely 2016 candidates. The gun control measure ultimately failed. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told msnbc as he shopped for a birthday gun for his wife at the NRA exhibition hall that he opposes the expanded background checks as well. RELATED: Jeb Bush: All about that base “I just have a real fear any time the government wants to get involved in the process of knowing who I am and why I have a firearm,” he said. “There’s too much history that gives me pause.” A spokeswoman for Bush, Kristy Campbell, did not directly answer a question on whether Bush still supports background checks at gun shows, but attested to his overall gun rights record. “[As] demonstrated by his A+ rating from the NRA, Governor Bush’s strong record on protecting and supporting second amendment rights is clear,” Campbell told msnbc in an e-mail. As LaPierre’s past support for closing the gun show loophole indicates, Bush’s position is a case of the political ground moving beneath his feet since he left office in early 2007, rather than a lurch to the left. But this is a phenomenon that could be a recurring issue for a presidential hopeful whose political rise, unlike almost every one of his expected rivals, took place entirely in the pre-Obama era of the party. In South Florida, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are forcing locals to pick sides [Ed O’Keefe, WaPo, April 10, 2015] With both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio mounting presidential bids, Florida natives are forced to pick sides. MIAMI — Marco Rubio was raised in West Miami and still lives just a few blocks south of “Calle Ocho,” the famed boulevard where Cuban Americans often gather to protest the Castro brothers. The Florida senator’s parents immigrated here from Cuba in the 1950s — a familiar history for many locals. His presidential bid will be announced Monday at the iconic Freedom Tower, which long served as an immigrant reception center. About 12 minutes east is Coral Gables, where Jeb Bush lives. He came to South Florida in the 1980s to launch a real estate business and move his Mexican-born wife closer to her mother and sister. The couple raised three children, and Bush used his leadership of the local Republican Party to launch a political career that resulted in two terms as governor. Never before in modern political history have two presidential candidates claimed the same hometown at the same time. But now Miami — better known for its beaches, its sports teams and as a hub of Latin American commerce and culture — is poised to become a major center of national Republican presidential politics. Geographically and otherwise, Rubio and Bush represent different parts of Miami. The senator is a product of the city’s powerful and tight-knit Cuban American community, which Rubio supporters believe will get behind his bid. Bush, the transplant, has moved a few times across the city, but now lives in a traditional upper-class enclave. The rise of Bush and Rubio, whose political careers are inextricably linked, is a testament to the growing importance of Florida in presidential elections. Their bilingual and bicultural backgrounds will bring an urban feel to a race packed with rivals from rural states. Local Republicans say that both have what the GOP needs to win the White House. “We’re in a presidential love triangle,” said Jessica Fernandez, president of the Miami Young Republicans. “Who doesn’t want to be in a presidential love triangle?” Some here are backing Bush out of personal allegiance to him or his family. They see Bush, 62, as a seasoned manager and like that he embraced his wife’s Latino heritage. Others identify with Rubio’s life story and admire how the 43-year-old senator has risen through the ranks so quickly. “A South Florida Republican is in large part a Republican that’s really significantly influenced in one way or another by the Bush experience,” said Jorge Arrizurieta, a longtime Bush friend and donor. “To those who’ve been active Republicans, they’ve been inevitably exposed in one way or another to a Bush campaign of some sort.” The coming decision “marks a coming of age for South Florida — not only the politics, but the culture, the Pan-Americanism, the melting pot of sorts,” said Armando Ibarra, another member of the Miami Young Republicans. “I like both of the candidates; Jeb was a great governor, Marco Rubio was a great senator. Personally, I just really believe in the transformational qualities of a Marco Rubio candidacy.” There is the possibility of a real Bush-vs.-Rubio battle in Florida next year. If both men run for president and perform well in early primary states, they would face off in Florida’s winner-take-all primary in mid-March. They might be joined by other potential candidates who also live in the state. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has a home near Destin in the state’s Panhandle, and Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and conservative activist, lives in West Palm Beach. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) might also enjoy support here because of his Cuban American heritage. But the focus is on Bush and Rubio. Anticipating a brawl, the Tampa Bay Times has already dubbed its 2016 coverage “Jebio” — a combination of “Jeb” and “Rubio.” Early polling gives Bush an edge over Rubio in a primary. “It’s a massive decision that I can’t even begin to think about,” said Nelson Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party, a position once held by Bush. “I can’t imagine how difficult a decision it would be for some people.” Diaz met Rubio in 1996, when the future senator was running Bob Dole’s presidential campaign in South Florida. At the time, some other guy named Rubio was running for local office. So as a joke, Diaz took the man’s pink “Rubio” sign, cut it in half, took a “Bob Dole for President” sign, cut it in half and taped them together: The new sign read “Rubio for President.” Sadly, he didn’t keep it. Jorge Luis Lopez, a Miami-area lobbyist, was one of the 200 Floridians who traveled with Bush to New Hampshire in 2000 to hand out oranges and campaign for his brother, George W. Bush. But Lopez is closer in age to Rubio and appreciates that the senator is drawing new, younger people into the process. “The bulk of the people we’re talking to, they’re a different group,” he said. “They’re aware of politics, but not engaged, and this is an interesting opportunity for them to get engaged.” [In drive to be 45th president, Jeb Bush faces legacies of 43rd and 41st.] As he prepares for his announcement, Rubio has been selling a chance to win tickets to his campaign kickoff for $3.05 — a tribute to Miami’s 305 area code. At the start, Rubio is expected to divide his campaign operations between South Florida and Washington, where most of his top aides and their families reside, aides said. Later this month, Jeb Bush will host his top fundraisers at a two-day conclave at the swanky 1 Hotel in South Beach. Once Bush announces, he’s expected to open a campaign headquarters here. Top aides, including campaign manager-in-waiting David Kochel, are relocating to Miami in anticipation of a run. In West Miami, Rubio’s house is at the end of a cul-de-sac, where his large, gray Ford pickup truck sits in the driveway. He briefly put the home up for sale last year for nearly $696,000. Rubio is a frequent customer at the CVS pharmacy a few blocks away, where signs in each aisle are printed in English and Spanish. “He comes all the time — weekends, during the week, with the kids, the wife,” a shift manager said recently. The pharmacy is on Calle Ocho (or “SW 8th St.” on street signs) amid locally owned print shops, medical clinics and tax accountants whose signs urge customers to “Preparé los taxes aquí.” When his top aides are in town, they like eating at La Palma Cafeteria, one of several family-owned Cuban restaurants in the neighborhood. Much of Rubio’s free time is absorbed by a devotion to football and the Miami Dolphins. He’s been a devout fan since the age of 6, when he started developing an encyclopedic understanding of the game. Colleagues gifted him two years of Dolphins season tickets when he left the Florida House in 2008. He still attends games with his children. [From 2011: Marco Rubio’s compelling family story embellishes facts] Bush’s home is on a tree-lined street, just a few blocks from buildings housing the regional offices of HBO, Bacardi and Del Monte produce. Bush and his wife, Columba, are fans of a nearby restaurant, Talavera, which serves meals inspired by Mexican street markets and some of Mexico City’s top restaurants. Until recently, Bush shared an office with his son, Jeb Bush Jr., at the luxurious Biltmore Hotel, where they based their investment company. The father and son often play golf together on the hotel’s course on Sunday mornings. He drives a Ford Fusion hybrid and recently told a crowd in Iowa last month that he shops at a Publix supermarket near his home for “Iowa beef.” During a recent visit to the store, workers behind the deli counter conversed with customers in English and Spanish. In the back aisle, meat and poultry are labeled in both languages — but there is no sign that the beef comes from Iowa. A few blocks away is the Church of the Little Flower, one of the region’s oldest Catholic parishes. The Bushes are members. On Sundays, Bush “is like clockwork, he comes in about five minutes beforehand, he gets his seat in a certain spot in our church and does what everybody else does,” said the pastor, the Rev. Michael W. Davis. Rubio also has ties to the church. It was where he married his wife, Jeanette, in 1998. The couple and their four young children regularly attend Christ Fellowship, a local evangelical church. But they attend services at Little Flower around the holidays, Davis said. Ninoska Pérez Castellón, a talk-show host on the local “Radio Mambi,” remembers meeting Bush in the 1980s when she used to lead marches protesting the Castro regime. Despite not being Cuban or originally from Miami, “he really felt like these were his people,” she said. Rubio has been a frequent guest on Pérez’s weekday show, and she said her audience feels a personal bond with him. “One time he came by and was late,” she recalled. “He showed up and said, ‘I’m sorry I’m late, but you know how it is. The kids . . . and the washing machine broke.” Within minutes, “we had 22 calls from people who repair washers calling, saying that they wanted to repair his washer,” she said. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2016 -> HRC -> HRC1 Clips 2016 -> An introduction to centre’s interventions expanding access to justice 2016 -> Sanchar Shakti 2016 -> Unit analysis should help here. We want number of bananas 2016 -> The Autobiography of Elder Joseph Bates 2016 -> The Great Heat and the Rhode Island Deep Water Bay Scallop (Argopecten irradians) Fishery 1875-1905 HRC1 Clips -> Office of Secretary Clinton News Analysis HRC1 Clips -> Hrc clips October 19, 2016 hrc HRC1 Clips -> H4a news Clips [May 1, 2015] Summary of Today’s news HRC1 Clips -> H4a news Clips [April 26, 2015] Summary of Today’s news HRC1 Clips -> Hrc clips October 19, 2016 hrc Download 492.4 Kb. Share with your friends:
|