US House 38 , CD3 DFL

Ethics panel investigating New York Rep. Tom Reed over groping allegation

Reed, citing fight with alcoholism, has said he won’t run for another term

New York Republican Tom Reed is being investigated by the House Ethics Committee after a former lobbyist said he drunkenly groped her in 2017.

Reed, who is married and 20 years older than the woman, initially said the account was not accurate. Two days later, he apologized and said he would neither challenge Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo nor run for reelection in the House.

“Simply put, my behavior caused her pain, showed her disrespect and was unprofessional. I was wrong, I am sorry, and I take full responsibility,” Reed said in a statement March 21. He noted at the time of the misconduct he was “struggling” with alcoholism and received treatment that year, acknowledging he is “powerless over alcohol.” Continue reading.

More than 100 corporate executives hold call to discuss halting donations and investments to fight controversial voting bills

More than 100 chief executives and corporate leaders gathered online Saturday to discuss taking new action to combat the controversial state voting bills being considered across the country, including the one recently signed into law in Georgia.

Executives from major airlines, retailers and manufacturers — plus at least one NFL owner — talked about potential ways to show they opposed the legislation, including by halting donations to politicians who support the bills and even delaying investments in states that pass the restrictive measures, according to four people who were on the call, including one of the organizers, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a Yale management professor.

While no final steps were agreed upon, the meeting represents an aggressive dialing up of corporate America’s stand against controversial voting measures nationwide, a sign that their opposition to the laws didn’t end with the fight against the Georgia legislation passed in March. Continue reading.

Boehner finally calls it as he sees it

Ted Cruz is a “reckless asshole” and Michele Bachmann a “lunatic.”

Conservative pundits like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are residents of “Looneyville.”

And Donald Trump, pushing a “bullshit” lie that the election was stolen, incited the “bloody insurrection” on Jan. 6 “for nothing more than selfish reasons.” Continue reading.

Democrats see opportunity in GOP feud with business

The feud between Republicans and major corporations over voting laws is creating an opportunity for Democrats and President Biden to build new political ties.

GOP ties with big business frayed during the Trump era, when corporations sometimes found themselves at the end of then-President Trump’s barbs, and were often uncomfortable with his rhetoric about women, minorities and immigrants.

Now the tensions are rising again as companies speak out against Georgia’s voting law, and Major League Baseball pulls its All-Star Game from Atlanta in protest. Continue reading.

Democrats see political winner in tax fight

As President Biden races ahead with a mammoth plan to bolster the nation’s infrastructure, Democrats are gambling they’ll get a political boost from an accompanying proposal: the tax hikes designed to defray the massive costs.

Biden on Wednesday outlined a slate of tax reforms aimed at raising $2.5 trillion — much of it from large corporations — to underwrite the new infrastructure spending. The proposal was quickly roasted by Republicans, who have long portrayed Democrats as the party of higher taxes and are now warning that Biden’s plan would hurt small businesses and kill American jobs.

Yet national polls have consistently revealed that tax hikes on corporations and other wealthy taxpayers enjoy strong support among a broad array of voters, including independents. And some Democrats are practically drooling at the prospect of bringing that debate to the national stage to highlight the GOP’s resistance to a popular concept. Continue reading.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert inadvertently admits to ‘destroying our freedoms’ in latest Twitter rant

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) is facing heightened backlash on Twitter for her latest controversial tweet about America’s “freedoms.” On Friday, April 9, the Colorado lawmaker highlighted the vast nature of American citizens’ freedoms as she claimed one political party was “laser-focused on destroying our freedoms,” reports The HuffPost.

“We live in the freest country on planet earth,” Boebert tweeted. “The rest of the world envies our freedoms. Meanwhile, we have a political party that is laser-focused on destroying our freedoms. It is not only shocking but very dangerous.

Although Boebert did not name the Democratic Party, specifically, it is presumed that she was referring to President Joe Biden’s latest executive orders focused on combatting the widespread issue of gun violence in the United States; an order the Republican lawmaker has outwardly condemned repeatedly over the last several days. Continue reading.

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked chats show Proud Boys integral to planning for ‘White Lives Matter’ rallies

Two self-identified Proud Boys have been involved in the internal planning for a set of simultaneous “White Lives Matter” rallies scheduled for Sunday, according to chat logs leaked to the media.

The association with the White Lives Matter rallies, which are promoting overtly white supremacist messages about a supposed white genocide, is a liability for the Proud Boys, a violent proto-fascist group that claims to be non-racist. The leaked chats show that a Proud Boy responsible for organizing the Michigan White Lives Matter rally went to some effort to hide the fact that members of his group are involved in the effort.

The Telegram user “Telly Savalas,” who was the admin for the @WLM_Michigan channel, expressed concern on April 5 about a user named “BamaPatriot 2º” who wrote, “POYB,” with an A-OK emoji. Those are signifiers associated with the Proud Boys. Continue reading.

House Ethics Committee opens probe into Gaetz

The House Ethics Committee announced it is opening an investigation into embattled GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz (Fla.) on Friday following allegations of illegal drug use and sharing nude photos of young women with his colleagues on the House floor.

“The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Matt Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct and/or illicit drug use, shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gift, in violation of House Rules, laws, or other standards of conduct,” the panel said in a statement announcing it is beginning an investigation to gather additional information.

“The Committee notes that the mere fact that it is investigating these allegations, and publicly disclosing its review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the statement noted. Continue reading.

Rep. Phillips on the Shooting of Daunte Wright

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) released the following statement:

“Yesterday, our community suffered another horrific tragedy when Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer during a traffic and bench warrant stop in Brooklyn Center, just next door to the district I represent in Congress.

At a press conference today, the Brooklyn Center Police Chief asserted that his officer had confused her gun for her Taser, and fired the fatal shot by mistake – which appears to be corroborated by body cam footage. I’m as horrified as I am incredulous that such a mistake is even possible, and this news comes as little comfort to a community that has lived in fear for far too long.

GOP leaders in ‘a state of confusion’ after Trump’s loss leaves them with almost no policy agenda: NYT

While President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress were pushing through a massive pandemic relief package earlier this year, the leaders of the Republican Party seemed obsessed with talking about Dr. Seuss.

As the New York Times reports, this is a marked difference in how Republicans in 2009 were relentlessly focused on attacking former President Barack Obama’s “socialist” economic and health care plans, and it marks a shift in the party toward non-stop culture war grievance above all else.

The Times notes that the all-culture-war-all-the-time focus of the GOP has left party leaders in “a state of confusion over what they stand for,” with many of them now going so far as to say they want corporate America to stay out of politics. Continue reading.

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