Archive for the ‘State Legislature News’ Category
LA: Removing Thousands of Inactive Voters
Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 03:03 Written by rslcpol Monday, 20 December 2010 03:02
From NewOrleansCityBusiness.com:
Louisiana is removing about 121,000 inactive voters from voting rolls.
Secretary of State Tom Schedler said the legally mandated process will take place Sunday. Voters are placed on the inactive list when the secretary of state’s office is unable to verify their addresses or their mail is returned as undeliverable.
The targeted names have not voted for two years beginning with the 2008 presidential election and ending with last month’s congressional general election, Schedler said.
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Alabama: Legislature shaping lasting legacy
Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 03:01 Written by rslcpol Monday, 20 December 2010 03:01
From oanow.com:
When voters went to the polls in November and dramatically changed the make-up of the Alabama Legislature, they signaled a demand to change the way Montgomery does business and a desire to end the political scandals and embarrassing headlines that have plagued our state for the past several years.
We heard their message, and, this week, legislators stepped up to the plate and passed more reform in just seven days than was approved in many previous decades combined. Our ethics laws, which were among the worst in the nation, are now first in the nation. In fact, Alabama Ethics Commission Director Jim Sumner has stated that we now have a “platinum” package of guidelines.
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Kansas Senate Republicans Pick Majority Leader
Last Updated on Monday, 20 December 2010 02:05 Written by rslcpol Monday, 20 December 2010 02:05
From MorningSun.net:
Republicans in the Kansas Senate have picked the chairman of their budget-writing Ways and Means Committee as the next majority leader.
Lindsborg Republican Jay Emler was the only announced candidate for the majority leader’s job going into a Monday’s meeting of GOP senators at the Statehouse. Hutchinson Republican Terry Bruce dropped out of the race beforehand.
Emler was elected on a unanimous voice vote.
The majority leader sets the Senate’s daily debate calendar and runs party caucus meetings. The only higher-ranking position is Senate president.
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Republicans Now Have Majority in the LA House
Last Updated on Saturday, 18 December 2010 11:43 Written by rslcpol Saturday, 18 December 2010 11:42
Another lawmaker leaves the Democrats! For the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans have the majority in the Louisiana House.
From thenewsstar.com:
State Rep. Noble Ellington of Winnsboro has given the Republican Party its first majority in the Louisiana House of Representatives since post-Civil War Reconstruction after leaving the Democratic Party late Friday afternoon.
Ellington’s switch gives the Republicans a 53-52 edge in the House. Democrats still control the state Senate with 20 seats compared to 18 for Republicans.
“It’s historically significant, but the truth is I’ve been a conservative for my entire career, so it won’t affect the way I vote,” said Ellington, who represents District 20.
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Now a Felon, Democrat can’t vote on Election Day but can remain a legislator
Last Updated on Friday, 17 December 2010 02:36 Written by rslcpol Friday, 17 December 2010 02:36
There’s something wrong about someone getting convicted of a felony, barred from ever running for office again, but remaining in office until the next Election Day.
From statesman.com:
As a convicted felon, he now can’t legally run for office. And he can’t vote on Election Day.
But state Rep. Ismael “Kino” Flores, the Palmview Democrat who was sentenced to five years of probation earlier this week on felony ethics charges, remains a legislator in good standing in the Texas House.
He’s still entitled to his $600-a-month, taxpayer-paid salary as a legislator.
The reason: There’s no law or rule that prohibits convicted felons from serving in the House if they are convicted while in office.
The situation has some lawmakers and watchdog groups shaking their heads in disbelief.
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NH: Dems Under Fire for Criticizing Republican’s Religious Speech
Last Updated on Friday, 17 December 2010 02:29 Written by rslcpol Friday, 17 December 2010 02:29
If you want to see the speech, click through the link.
From UnionLeader.com:
Cornerstone Action president Kevin Smith accused the Democratic Party of “religious bigotry.”
Smith said the party’s “mischaracterization” of “Bates’ faith represents the height of hypocrisy for a party that supposedly prides itself in being tolerant of other’s beliefs. The NHDP owes Rep. Bates and the hundreds of thousands of Christians in this state an apology for his truly offensive and ignorant remarks.”
Smith added, “Mr. Kirstein ought to re-read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and realize all people are guaranteed the freedom of religion, whether he agrees with their beliefs or not.”State Republican Party spokesman Ryan Williams said Thursday he was flooded with media calls on the dispute.
He said Bates “is only expressing his personal religious conviction at a prayer event. And the Democrats are trying to belittle and demean him because of it. They should apologize.”
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NY: Democrat Majority Leader and his Son indicted on embezzlement Charges
Last Updated on Thursday, 16 December 2010 02:13 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 16 December 2010 02:12
Another story for DemsBehavingBadly…
From lohud.com:
Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada and his son were indicted Tuesday on charges that they stole more than $500,000 from the Bronx clinic they run, prosecutors announced.
The federal indictment from outgoing Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said that Espada, the Bronx Democrat, and his son, Pedro Gautier Espada, embezzled money from the Soundview Health Clinic that the elder Espada founded in 1978.
Cuomo said taxpayer money that went to Soundview was used as Espada’s personal piggybank, including for Broadway shows, baseball games, home repairs and meals.
“This is a powerful message today that when we say we’re going to clean up Albany, we are serious and we will be effective in that pursuit,” Cuomo told reporters in a conference call. “The days where Albany politicians can victimize the people of this state are over.”
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Republicans in PA look to cut costs
Last Updated on Thursday, 16 December 2010 02:07 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 16 December 2010 02:07
Lawmakers look to give up state fleet cars and require health care contributions. Not just talking the talk but walking the walk.
From Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Republicans who will control the state House in January neared agreement yesterday on a plan to give up state fleet cars, pay toward their health care benefits, and curb per diem abuses.
Lawmakers said it’s a sign they’re ready to work with Gov.-elect Tom Corbett, the Shaler Republican who campaigned to rein in lawmakers’ perks. Corbett suggested reducing the car fleet, requiring contributions for health care and establishing more accountability for per diems, the flat undocumented payments for lawmakers’ overnight stays. The daily rate for Harrisburg trips is $157.
“We want to end what is perceived as abuse,” said Stephen Miskin, the House Republican spokesman.
Corbett’s television ads during the fall campaign drew attention to the costs, but Miskin said House Republicans have been working on the issue for years.
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NJ: GOP Assemblyman wants to reduce High Jobless Benefits
Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:59 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:59
He says getting paid $550 a week to not work may be keeping some folks from trying to work.
From nj.com:
New Jersey’s jobless benefits are too generous and should be reduced, a Republican leader in the Assembly told business owners today.
Residents collecting $550 per week have little incentive to look for a job, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce told the Business and Industry Association. He said cutting benefits is one way to prop up the unemployment fund, which is now $1.7 billion in the red to the federal government.
“I’m one of the few people here … who feel that benefits are too good for these people,” said DeCroce of Morris County. “Why go to work? If you can go for 26 weeks collecting $550 a week, and you get an extension for another 26, that’s close to $27,000 a year or $30,000 a year, and a lot of people figure, ‘Why go to work?'”
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MO: Democrat gets hit with Large Fine from Ethics Commission
Last Updated on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:11 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:03
Former State Senate candidate withdrew campaign donations from ATMs and didn’t report how he used it.
From STLtoday.com:
Former state Senate candidate Rodney Hubbard and his treasurer withdrew thousands of dollars in campaign donations, often at ATMs, without documenting how the money was spent, the Missouri Ethics Commission said Tuesday.
The commission fined Hubbard, a Democrat, and his treasurer Joy Camp, both of St. Louis, more than $350,000 for their roles in violating multiple campaign finance laws related to Hubbard’s failed 2008 race for Senate. If Hubbard and Camp pay 10 percent of the total amount of fines, or about $35,000, and don’t violate campaign finance laws for two years, the rest of the fines will be wiped out.
The Ethics Commission doesn’t keep historical records on fines, but a commission official said the fine was the agency’s largest in recent memory.
The commission concluded Hubbard violated campaign finance law by not properly reporting $129,000 in campaign spending and $86,000 in contributions.
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