Tue, March 24, 2009 - 7:28 AM

Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., will co-chair a 37-member panel aimed at changing the presidential nominating process, the Democratic National Committee announced Monday night.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine announced the Democratic Change Commission membership will include fellow Richmond Democrat State Del. Jennifer McClellan.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is the only mayor included on the panel. The group will address: changing the window of time during which states can hold presidential primaries and caucuses; reducing the number of superdelegates (thus giving primaries and caucuses more weight in nomination fights), and improving the caucus system. The commission is to report back to the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee by January 1, 2010.

The prolonged Democratic presidential primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton last year left people still wondering by summertime who would be the party's presidential nominee. Some saw the drawn out primary contest as bruising to the party, while other observers say the process helped to strengthen grassroots organizing since more states had the chance to vote in contested presidential primaries. By August there was still grumbling that superdelegates -- party insiders who can vote at the Democratic nominating convention for any presidential nominee they choose -- could sidestep the will of primary voters.

In announcing the commission, Kaine said he hopes to work with the Republican National Committee on "a common approach that puts voters first."

A full list of the Democratic commission members is below:

Co-Chairs:
Rep. Jim Clyburn, Columbia, South Carolina
Sen. Claire McCaskill, St. Louis, Missouri

Members:
Grassroots Activist Jeremy Alters, Miami, Florida
Political Strategist Jeff Berman, Washington, D.C.
Grassroots Activist Ashley Bliss, Atlanta, Georgia
State Rep. Dan Blue, Raleigh, North Carolina
Political Strategist Bill Carrick, Los Angeles, California
Mayor Michael Coleman, Columbus, Ohio
Political Strategist Jeff Forbes, Washington, D.C.
Grassroots Activist Joan Garry, Montclair, New Jersey
State Chair Larry Gates, Overland Park, Kansas
School Board Member Adelita Grijalva, Tucson, Arizona
Professor Rob Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Former State Chair Ned Helms, Concord, New Hampshire
Former Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, McLean, Virginia
Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
IBT President James Hoffa, Detroit, Michigan
Grassroots Activist Roseanne Hope, Minneapolis, Minnesota
State Sen. Steven Horsford, Las Vegas, Nevada
Grassroots Activist Suzie LeVine, Seattle, Washington
UAW CAP Director Dick Long, Detroit, Michigan
Grassroots Activist Andres Lopez, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Former Attorney General Patricia Madrid, Albuquerque, New Mexico
DNC Member Debbie Marquez, Edwards, Colorado
State Sen. Iris Martinez, Chicago, Illinois
State Del. Jennifer McClellan, Richmond, Virginia
Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, Helena, Montana
Attorney General Tom Miller, Des Moines, Iowa
DNC Member Minyon Moore, Washington, D.C.
Grassroots Activist Sunah Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Campaign Manager David Plouffe, Washington, D.C.
Grassroots Activist Rebecca Prozan, San Francisco, California
DNC Member James Roosevelt, Jr, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Rep. Linda Sanchez, Lakewood, California
AFT President Randi Weingarten, New York City, New York
State Chair Meredith Wood Smith, Portland, Oregon
Grassroots Activist Martin Yeung, Rapid City, South Dakota

--Neil H. Simon

Fri, March 20, 2009 - 12:53 PM

WASHINGTON – Cyber-invaders have hacked into the computer network in U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s office, says the Florida Democrat's office.

Two attacks on the same day this month and another one last month targeted work stations used by three Nelson staffers - a key foreign-policy aide, the deputy legislative director and a former Nelson NASA adviser, says Nelson’s office.

To combat the rising attacks on some of America’s most sensitive computer networks and to close e-security gaps, Nelson said in a statement today that he’s agreed to work with Sens. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, and Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, in calling for the creation of a permanent national cyber-security czar.

“I have had my office computers invaded three times in the last month. One of them, we think, is serious,” Nelson said Thursday, during a Senate Armed Services hearing that touched upon the subject of hackers trying to invade U.S. military computer networks.

But the hackers didn’t make off with any classified information, which isn’t kept on office computers, a Nelson spokesman said Friday.

Nelson is a member of the Senate’s Intelligence, Armed Services and Finance committees; and, he heads a Senate subcommittee that oversees NASA.

Nelson’s office says similar incursions have occurred elsewhere on Capitol Hill. His office also pointed to a Newsweek report last year that federal authorities showed up at the presidential campaign headquarters of both Barack Obama and John McCain and said information on the computers there was being downloaded by a “foreign entity.”

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Wed, March 18, 2009 - 10:09 AM

Terry McAuliffe won a Democratic governor’s race straw poll in Northern Virginia Tuesday night.

McAuliffe, of McLean, won 58 percent of the roughly 1,000 votes cast at Rep. Gerald E. Connolly’s St. Patrick’s Day party. McAuliffe is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee. Former state delegate Brian Moran of Alexandria received 30 percent. State Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County received 12 percent.

With 1,400 people attending the event, Connolly’s $40-a-ticket fundraiser had the largest crowd in its five-year history.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., and former lieutenant governor Leslie Byrne both won Connolly’s straw poll before going on to win their respective races. For more on the straw poll and how McAuliffe organized to win it, go here.
--Neil H. Simon

Thu, March 12, 2009 - 11:34 AM

One of politics’ hottest couplings has come to end.

Brevi (or should they be called Listol) has called it quits.

In a move few – and by few I mean everyone – saw coming, Bristol Palin and boyfriend Levi Johnston have called off their engagement.

Bristol’s pregnancy, as you probably remember, caused a big stir at the Republican National Convention when her mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, revealed her teenager’s pregnancy.

Their baby boy, Tripp, was born in December.

-- Amy Dominello

Wed, March 11, 2009 - 4:25 PM

President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he still supported giving the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products.

In his first public comments on the issue since becoming president, Obama told Southern reporters in a round table interview that “the FDA has an important role to play on an issue that obviously has an enormous impact on the health of the American people.”

In the Senate last year, Obama, who has struggled to quit smoking, co-sponsored legislation to give the FDA authority to oversee cigarettes. The bill failed to pass, but an identical version is advancing in the House this year and supporters expect it to come up in the Senate for a vote later this year.

In the roundtable interview, Obama did not offer specific comments on the House legislation sponsored by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., or an alternative proposal introduced Wednesday by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., that would create a separate federal entity separate from FDA to oversee tobacco regulation.

“We’re probably going to have an announcement on this fairly soon, so I don’t want to step on my own story. But I do think that the FDA has an important role to play on an issue that obviously has an enormous impact on the health of the American people. That’s all you’re going to get out of me,” he said.

--Neil Simon and Sean Mussenden

President Barack Obama, despite appointing no Southerners to his Cabinet, twice today declared, “I love the South.”

The comment came during a roundtable with regional reporters at the White House.

“You guys feeling neglected?” Obama joked with a reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, when asked about the administration’s regional tilt away from the South.

“We thought a lot about finding the very best people for the jobs and haven’t been thinking with great intensity about regionalism,” Obama said. “Except for food, sports teams and weather, we’re one country.”

“I love the South,” he said.

“If you’ve got some great Southerners who want to work for us, let me know, because I love the South.”

Obama cited press secretary Robert Gibbs as an example of Southern representation in the White House. Gibbs is a native of Auburn, Ala., and was graduated from North Carolina State University.

--Neil H. Simon

Tue, March 10, 2009 - 12:05 PM

The long-simmering debate over plans to build new Air Force refueling tankers may continue to simmer for a long time to come.

Congressional Quarterly is reporting President Barack Obama has given the Pentagon the OK to delay purchasing new tankers for five years.

Northrop Grumman and partner European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. beat out Boeing to win the $35 billion order from the Air Force. But congressional auditors recommended in June the decision be reconsidered and the Pentagon decided to wait until the next president was in office to make a decision.

If Obama does push the tanker replacement back, that’s not likely to sit well with Senate and House members whose states were expected to get a big financial boost from construction of the tanker.

Northrop Grumman and EADS had proposed building the tanker in Mobile, Ala., while Boeing would have built it in Kansas and Washington.

Boeing supporters in Congress complained loudly when the contract was won by Northrop Grumman and EADS and felt vindicated when the contract was overturned. Alternately, Alabama officials who had expected a big economic boost from the tanker were dismayed by the decision.

-- Amy Dominello

WASHINGTON – A Tampa Bay area GOP member of the House has joined with a Massachusetts Democrat in introducing a bipartisan bill to make the government-sponsored mortgage corporations known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac subject to added disclosure regulations.

The legislation, the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Full Disclosure Act, would require the corporations to pay registration fees and to disclose information required by the Securities and Exchange Commission just as other publicly traded companies and issuers of private mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) do.

“There are many factors that were involved in our current economic meltdown,” said Republican Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow. “And one of them was a failure to require enough transparency and accountability from Fannie and Freddie. This legislation pulls the blinds up on the windows and lets some much needed regulatory sunshine into the rooms.”

“I have always felt that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities should be subject to the same public disclosure and accounting rules that cover other publicly-traded companies,” added Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Edward Markey.

“Now more than ever, investors and our financial markets need full disclosure regarding mortgage-backed securities and this bill will ensure that such disclosures are required. So long as these companies remain publicly-traded, they must be subject to the same public disclosure requirements as every other public company.”

Putnam, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, noted that the two mortgage giants own or guarantee about half of the $10.6 trillion in outstanding home loan debt.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Mon, March 09, 2009 - 4:20 PM

An analogy is a terrible thing to waste, especially when you’re trying to sell the country on change on many fronts.

During today’s White House press briefing, a reporter asked press secretary Robert Gibbs why President Barack Obama is planning to launch another issue – education reform on Tuesday – when, Obama’s critics say, there’s a house on fire with the economy.

Gibbs replied that education is part of the house that’s on fire. In other words, a strong educational system is necessary to train workers for a healthy economy. Therefore, the government has to beef up education, along with the financial and housing markets, to get the economy back. Then, Gibbs warmed to the analogy of the economy as a house on fire.

“Which room are you going to put out first? Or are you going to call the fire department and ask them to put all of it out? Or are you going to say, `You know what, we love the living room; start over there. And if you can, get quickly to the kitchen, and next to the den.’

“We could do that. And maybe by the time they get to the kitchen or the den, the whole house is in ashes. Instead of asking the fire department to pick different rooms in which to extinguish, the president has decided to alert the fire department and everyone involved.”

Good catch.

-- Marsha Mercer

You know times are tough when the politics of the economy are fodder for a skit on Saturday Night Live.

In good times, it’s debatable whether anyone even knows the name of the Treasury Secretary, let alone would they make an SNL skit.



Can’t say I disagree with SNL’s plan though. How would you fix the economy?

-- Amy Dominello

Thu, March 05, 2009 - 6:54 PM

How do Tampa Bay area members of the U.S. House rank compare against their colleagues in getting spending set aside for favorite local projects – or so-called earmarks – in the omnibus bill now awaiting passage by the Senate?

The government watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, has just come out with a ranking.

Rep. C.W. Bill Young of Indian Shores, the longest-serving Republican in the House and a member of the Appropriations Committee, is listed as tops among Bay Area representatives, and 87th among all 435 House members.

GOP Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow is ranked 231st; Democrat Kathy Castor of Tampa is ranked 249th; Republican Ginny Brown Waite of Brooksville is ranked 352nd; and Republican Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor is ranked 382nd.

Young has secured 21 projects on his own, totaling funding of $8.7 million. At least, that's according to the taxpayers group’s analysis of the $410 catch-all bill that combines nine 2009 appropriations bills.

Including all requests he’s made for projects, even those Young has made jointly with other lawmakers, Young’s total goes to 31 total projects reaching $25.9 million.

Young, the ranking Republican on the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, probably would have had even higher totals. But defense appropriations are not among the nine areas included in the omnibus. Five of Florida’s other 24 House members were ranked higher.

Of the other Tampa Bay area members, the taxpayers’ group found:

-- Putnam has secured eight items on his own in the omnibus bill, totaling $3.5 million. Including requests that Putnam has made for projects in conjunction with others, his total goes to 13 total projects reaching $10.9 million;

-- Castor is credited for seven items of her own, totaling $1.7 million. Including requests made with others, her total goes to 14 projects reaching $9.7 million.

-- Brown-Waite is listed as having two projects of her own, totaling $480,000. Including requests she made with others, her total goes to seven projects reaching $4.1 million;

-- Bilirakis is given credit for two projects of his own, totaling $880,000. Including those he got in conjunction with other lawmakers, his total goes to eight projects reaching $2.2 million.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

Wed, March 04, 2009 - 2:22 PM

The office of Rep. Artur Davis, D-Birmingham, has become a training ground for Obama administration staffers.

At least two have left the Hill to work for President Barack Obama.

The White House announced Wednesday that Obama is nominating Dana Gresham, as Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs for the Department of Transportation. Gresham served as Davis’ chief of staff from 2003 to November 2008. Before that he worked as the legislative director for former Rep. Bud Cramer of Huntsville.

Gresham’s nomination must be approved by the Senate.

In February, Corey Ealons was appointed Director of African American Media and Coordinator of Special Projects at the White House.

According to the Obama administration, Ealons served as director of African American Media during the General Election for the Obama-Biden campaign. Prior to that he was deputy chief of staff and communications director for Davis of Alabama for six years.

Davis, who is friends with Obama from their days at Harvard Law School, is not long for the Hill himself. The four-term congressman announced plans last month that to run for governor of Alabama in the 2010 election.

-- Amy Dominello

Tue, March 03, 2009 - 5:07 PM

Mississippi has earned a dubious distinction from the group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

The state’s two Republican senators – Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker – are rated the worst by the group for earmarks in the omnibus bill currently being debated by the Senate.

The omnibus combines nine 2009 appropriations bills into one. In all, the group found $7.7 billion in earmark spending in the bill.

According to TCS, Cochran was able to get in 65 earmarks in the bill for a total of $76 million. In all though, Cochran’s name was attached to 204 earmarks that included other members of Congress.

Wicker wasn’t as successful earmarking funds on his own and was able to get nine earmarks into the bill for a total of $4 million. But he joined with other members of Congress to support 143 earmarks for projects totaling $391 million.

-- Amy Dominello

Florida GOP Sen. Mel Martinez has just taken to the Senate floor to urge his colleagues to help him strip provisions from a $410 billion spending package that could ease some travel to that country and soften other restrictions.

“I would hope that we could have this debate outside of this omnibus bill … not to have it lumped in this massive spending measure that has to be passed by Friday,” said Martinez, of discussions of changing U.S.-Cuba policy.

Tucked into the bill is not language to outright end the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo with Cuba. But as approved last week by the U.S. House, there is wording tucked into the bill to:

-- allow family members to visit their relatives in Cuba once a year, rather than once every three years;

-- reverse regulations on the sale of food and medicine to Cuba;

-- and eliminate the practice of requiring Cubans to pay for American produce up front before it leaves U.S. ports, and instead let them pay when the products arrive in Havana.

But Martinez asked why these changes – which would be only through the end of the fiscal year in September – would be pursued without first receiving the release of Cuban political prisoners or other “signs of positive behavior.”

“Why just lay these changes out there and ask for nothing?” Martinez asked.

He also complained that what is likely to result is a spike in tourism travel to Cuba in the “guise” of humanitarian aid, something he says does no one any good.
Martinez called the provisions “reaching out in a misguided way.”

Martinez’s remarks come as the omnibus bill is expected to be voted on Thursday.

It also comes as New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, another Cuban-American senator and opponent to softening relations with that country, has placed a “hold”

on the nominations by President Barack Obama of of Harvard University physicist John Holdren and Oregon State University marine biologist Jane Lubchenco.

Holdren has been tapped to serve as head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Lubchenco would lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Menendez is using the holds to try to impact the Senate’s and administration’s policy toward Cuba.

-- Billy House, Media General News Service

WASHINGTON – A Mississippi congressman has reintroduced his bill that would add wind insurance coverage to the national flood insurance program.

In 2007, Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor succeeded in getting the House to pass an earlier version as part of a overhaul of the flood insurance program, which is already billions of dollars in debt.

But the language was blocked in the Senate, where critics led by GOP Sen. Richard Shelby opposed adding more potential debt.

The idea of adding such wind-insurance language to the flood program is to address one of the key issues driving litigation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina - the difficulty of determining whether damage was caused by wind or rising water.

Thousands of Gulf Coast property owners were left after Katrina with large uncovered losses because some insurance companies blamed all the damage on flooding, which is covered by the federal program, and not from wind, for which they would have to pay.

Most of those property owners were in Mississippi, but any changes that result to the flood program could have an impact on Florida more than any other state.

Established by Congress in 1968 after private insurers dramatically raised premiums or stopped selling flood policies, the federal flood program includes 2.1 million policyholders in Florida. That makes up 41 percent of the National Flood Program’s existing 5 million policyholders.

Flood insurance is mandatory for property owners in high-risk flood zones who have federally backed mortgages. The federal program provides this insurance to flood-prone areas while imposing land use and building requirements aimed at reducing future flood damage.

In all, 95 percent of all Florida communities participate in the national program.

Under Taylor’s bill, existing policyholders would have the option of purchasing wind-insurance, although wind coverage won’t be available as a stand-alone policy.

“As we found out after Katrina and our fellow Texans are finding out now after Ike and Gustav,” said Taylor, “short of home and business owners hiring lawyers and engineers to take their carriers to court, insurance companies routinely and deliberately fail to pay on legitimate hurricane-related wind claims. No one should have to go through this. It isn’t fair to American homeowners, and it must end.”

Taylor has launched a website to build support for his legislation. www.taylor.house.gov/insurancereform

-- Billy House, Media General News Service