Trump Administration

NPR: ‘The Quiet Man’: The Powerful Conservative White House Lawyer In The Middle Of It All

By Nina Totenberg

If there is a single word most frequently used to describe McGahn, it is “iconoclast”…

That is certainly the role he played when Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chose McGahn to serve as one of three Republicans on the Federal Election Commission, the government agency charged with enforcing campaign-finance regulations. The three Democrats on the FEC soon saw the three Republicans voting in lockstep as never before. The result: a deadlocked commission that didn’t enforce much in the way of campaign-finance rules. That, at least, is the view of Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub.

“McGahn came in with the mission of trying to make the agency as ineffective as possible,” she said…

Unlike the rest of the Trump administration rollout, Gorsuch’s confirmation process – with Leo as the outside man, and McGahn as the inside man – was flawlessly executed, a no-drama affair. And the conservative effect on the Supreme Court will likely be profound.

Indeed, McGahn’s job is to supervise not only the selection and vetting of Supreme Court nominees, but also the filling of some 130 judicial vacancies in the lower federal courts.

New Yorker: In the Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, the Koch Brothers’ Campaign Becomes Overt

By Jane Mayer

It is, perhaps, the most astounding example of influence-buying in modern American political history…

Until recently, those buying the fealty of the Republican Party on these issues tried to hide their sway, manipulating politics from the wings. But what became clear this past weekend is that they can remain anonymous no longer. With their success dictating America’s climate policy, the fossil-fuel industry’s political heavyweights have also won new notoriety. Charles and David Koch, the billionaire owners of the Kansas-based fossil-fuel leviathan Koch Industries, used to attract attention only from environmental groups such as Greenpeace, which labelled them “the Kingpins of Climate Denial.” They were so secretive about their political activities that, when I first wrote about their tactics in The New Yorker, in 2010, the article was titled “Covert Operations.” But now references to the Kochs are becoming almost as commonplace as the Dixie Cups, Lycra, and other household products that their business produces. . . . On ABC’s “This Week,” former Vice-President Al Gore cited “dark money” from fossil-fuel companies as the explanation for Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris accord; on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” former Secretary of State John Kerry specifically chastised the Kochs.

Candidates and Campaigns

Bloomberg BNA: Outside Money in Georgia Special Election Tops $20 Million     

By Kenneth P. Doyle

Democrats are pouring money into a special House election campaign in Georgia, but face a disadvantage in outside spending in a contest that’s already the most expensive U.S. House race in history.

The June 20 election is still two weeks away, but Federal Election Commission reports reviewed by Bloomberg BNA showed a total of more than $20.1 million in independent campaign expenditures in the race so far. The money is coming from political party committees, super political action committees, and other outside groups.

The contest in the suburban Atlanta congressional district is between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel, but outside groups are likely to eclipse the candidates in campaign spending…
The amount of outside spending reported to the FEC in the Georgia race already has exceeded by more than $3 million the record of $16.7 million in outside spending in a 2016 U.S. House race in Nevada, and the money is still flowing.

Washington Post: Amid Trump’s unpopularity, Democrats face criticism for not investing more in special elections     

By Mike DeBonis and David Weigel

A surge in grass-roots enthusiasm has swollen the coffers of candidates such as Ossoff, but with the CLF alone pledging to raise $100 million to support House Republicans, key players say outside Democratic groups must do more now to support the party’s candidates, seize on the unpopularity of Trump and his congressional agenda, and undermine GOP incumbents…

Some put the blame on large donors, who have not previously been asked to give so early in the “off year” of a congressional cycle. By contrast, the CLF’s latest report revealed that it had raised $7.5 million from Jan. 1 through May 5. Seventy percent of that – $5.3 million – came as a transfer from the American Action Network, an affiliated nonprofit group that does not routinely disclose its donors…

And some in the party’s base, echoing Sanders, decry “corporate” influence and the very existence of “dark” money, complicating any effort to match the Republicans.

Political Parties

New York Times: How G.O.P. Leaders Came to View Climate Change as Fake Science

By Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton

The Republican Party’s fast journey from debating how to combat human-caused climate change to arguing that it does not exist is a story of big political money, Democratic hubris in the Obama years and a partisan chasm that grew over nine years like a crack in the Antarctic shelf, favoring extreme positions and uncompromising rhetoric over cooperation and conciliation…

Unshackled by the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision and other related rulings, which ended corporate campaign finance restrictions, Koch Industries and Americans for Prosperity started an all-fronts campaign with television advertising, social media and cross-country events aimed at electing lawmakers who would ensure that the fossil fuel industry would not have to worry about new pollution regulations…
Until people vote on the issue, Republicans will find it politically safer to question climate science and policy than to alienate moneyed groups like Americans for Prosperity. 

Washington Post: Democrats see political opportunity in Trump’s decision to abandon Paris climate deal

By Abby Phillip and John Wagner

Trump’s decision, which came despite the opposition of some in his administration including his daughter Ivanka, reflects the White House’s singular focus on holding on to his small but sturdy base of supporters – especially in the industrial Midwest – who helped him win the presidency…

Climate change alone has never been much of a motivator for the electorate, although younger voters typically name it as one of their top issues in polling…

Yet climate change and the environment are issues that move political money in the Democratic world like little else. Major Democratic donors, such as financier and environmentalist Tom Steyer, who co-founded NextGen Climate, insist that Trump’s move is yet another provocation that will push younger people to become more engaged in politics.

The States

KSBY News California: 86-year-old Atascadero woman found guilty of electioneering, ordered to pay $500

By Matt Van Slyke

Edie Knight, the 86-year-old Atascadero woman accused by the state of violating election laws, was found guilty Monday of electioneering.

Knight was sentenced to a $500 fine plus court fees and assessments in San Luis Obispo Superior Court. The prosecution did not seek jail time for the misdemeanor offense…

“I’m happy about it. I think it was the right verdict,” said Deputy Attorney General Abtin Amir. “I think our election laws are important and I’m glad the jury thought so, too.”

KSBY News has reached out to Knight’s defense attorney, Ilan Funke-Bilu, about whether Knight plans to appeal but has not heard back.

Knight was charged with two misdemeanor counts after video surfaced last June of Knight calling voters from a polling place during the presidential primary…

Amir came in from Los Angeles to prosecute the case. He offered to drop the charges as long as Knight publicly admitted her wrongdoing, but she refused.

One count – soliciting a vote – was dropped last Thursday due to insufficient evidence. Knight was convicted of electioneering on Monday.