Judges are raising campaign funds in record-breaking amounts. For instance, in 2009 and 2010, state high court and appellate court races attracted $45 million. This begs the question of whether the pattern extends even further, into local courts, and whether that information is readily available.
Thirty-nine states elect their lower court judges, and in each of these states, the candidates can raise money. The National Institute on Money in State Politics assessed the campaign finance reporting systems for lower court candidates in those states. The resulting table provides a comprehensive, at-a-glance reference for those interested in pursuing this money path. Selection Methods and Campaign Finance Reporting Systems in the 39 States That Elect Lower Court Judges adds critical information to selected data on lower courts provided by the American Judicature Society: the courts’ names, their geographic basis for selection, the number of judges and districts, term lengths, the process by which judges are selected and/or elected and retained, where the campaign finance reports are filed, and in what format that information is made available to the public.
Of note, judicial candidates and their campaigns can raise money in each of the 39 states where lower court judges are elected. Those campaign finance reports are available to the public electronically in 27 of the 39 states.
“KISS MY ASS” – W. Mitt Romney’s spokesman Rick Gorka (i.e. Gorilla) tells a journalist.
Romney aide berates reporters as GOP hopeful wraps up overseas trip
By Philip Rucker (The Washington Post)
WARSAW, Poland — Mitt Romney highlighted ties between the United States and Poland in a speech here Tuesday, hailing the European nation’s march toward fiscal austerity as a model for the rest of the world.
Romney said a Polish leader told him during his visit that his country’s economic philosophy is, “You don’t borrow what you can’t pay back.” The presumptive Republican presidential nominee used the line to draw an implicit contrast with President Obama, saying the world — and, by definition, the United States — should emulate Poland’s economic and societal transformation toward smaller government.
Romney continues overseas tour: After stopping in London to visit with British leaders and attend the opening of the 2012 Summer Olympics, the Republican presidential candidate continues his week-long overseas trip by going to Israel. He will conclude his journey with a stop in Poland.
“Rather than heeding the false promise of a government-dominated economy, Poland sought to stimulate innovation, attract investment, expand trade and live within its means,” Romney said. “Your success today is a reminder that the principles of free enterprise can propel an economy and transform a society.”
But the White House hopeful’s overseas tour took another rocky turn on its final day, as a campaign spokesman cursed at journalists shouting questions at Romney.
Romney had just laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw’s Pilsudski Square, personally thanking and shaking hands with about 50 uniformed Polish soldiers who watched the silent ceremony. Then, in a gesture of gratitude, Romney pressed his hand to his heart and bowed his head.
As he walked back to his vehicle, he ignored reporters’ shouted questions. When a journalist noted that Romney has taken almost no questions from his traveling press corps throughout the foreign trip, Romney spokesman Rick Gorka retorted, “Kiss my ass.”
“This is a holy site for the Polish people,” Gorka said. “Show some respect.”
Moments later, Gorka told another reporter to “shove it.” Gorka later called the reporters to apologize.
Shortly before Romney departed for the airport to fly home to the United States, his top campaign strategist tried to put a positive spin on the trip, saying “it was a great success.” But criticism continued to mount over Romney’s series of controversial remarks – the latest made Monday in Jerusalem when the candidate said the Israeli economy was stronger than the Palestinian economy because of “cultural” differences.
“He has a tendency to speak his mind and to say what he believes, and whenever you do that, there will be those that disagree with you, and there will be those that agree with you,” strategist Stuart Stevens told reporters. “That’s what he’s done in these situations. I think people like that. I think that this idea that you have to not speak your mind is something that’s not very appealing to people.”
Romney’s advisers have been arguing that Romney’s stumbles abroad, although unwanted distractions, will not have an impact on the November election, arguing instead that it will be a referendum on Obama’s stewardship of the economy.
Referencing the missteps of Romney’s trip, Stevens said, “I don’t think that will go down in history as very important.”
And Stevens defended Romney’s preparedness to be commander-in-chief, saying “it’s very easy to imagine him being president. I think that given his background, his stature, what he’s accomplished, his age: that he is someone that people think is qualified and ready to be president.”
At a meeting earlier with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, Romney thanked the Polish people for their contributions to the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Our friendship spans centuries and is built by our common values and love of freedom,” Romney told Sikorski. “As we face a world which seeks to determine a course towards greater freedom or more authoritarianism, we will continue to work together to be an example of the blessings of economic and political freedom and personal freedom, and to stand in our mutual efforts to secure peace for ourselves and for others.”
Later, in his 15-minute speech delivered at the University of Warsaw, Romney said the United States and Poland “share a common cause, tested by time, inseparable by foe.”
“It’s been a trip to three places far apart on the map,” Romney said of his trip overall. “But for an American, you can’t get much closer to the ideals and convictions of my own country than you can in these places. Our nations belong to the great fellowship of democracies. We speak the same language of freedom and justice. We uphold the right of every person to live in peace.”
Romney repeatedly praised the late Pope John Paul II, who hailed from Poland and remains a popular figure among American Catholics.
“John Paul II understood that a nation is not a flag or a plot of land,” Romney said. “It is a people — a community of values. And the highest value Poland honors — to the world’s great fortune — is man’s innate desire to be free.”
A posting from a voter in Massachusetts on msnbc’s website:
Please don’t even let me to think about Romney. It pissed me off because it only reminds the destruction he made in our state of Massachusetts.He fired too many public employees especially teachers including many teachers in our town that made us so devastated to see our very good teachers for so many years in service gone. This man is a Pathological liar. He jump almost all taxes in Massachusetts for the middle class while the rich enjoys their tax rate lower than a middle class. My best friend and her co workers lost their jobs because their jobs was shipped to India and China. Our health insurance premium went up like crazy because he just approved the health insurance corporate proposal increasing the premium too high with no second thought from him at all to approved. Please don’t let this vulture capitalist to be a calamitous in our state to be a calamitous to our whole country.
Mitt Romney made a point of insisting that he would adhere to an unwritten rule and often violated rule about candidates not criticizing each other or contradicting American foreign policy on foreign soil. About the only effort he made to keep that promise during his stop in Israel was to avoid mentioning President Obama by name.
Beyond that, with some of the biggest investors in Republican politics in tow, Mr. Romney made no effort to disguise the target and intent of rhetoric that was certainly inflammatory but largely free of any sense of how we would carry out policies he was championing.
The message — on Iran, Jerusalem, the Palestinians — was all anti-Obama: Mr. Romney would be a much better friend to Israel than Mr. Obama ever could be. He would be much tougher on Iran. He would recognize Jerusalem as the capital. For good measure, he insulted the Palestinians by declaring that cultural differences — not decades under Israeli occupation — are the reason Israelis are more successful economically. It’s hard to say how this could affect policy if he were president, but it is not encouraging.
The real audience for Mr. Romney’s tough talk was American Jews and evangelical Christians, some of whom accompanied him on his trip. He is courting votes and making an aggressive pitch to donors, including Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate with the hard-line pro-Israel views who is spending more money than any other American — $100 million — to defeat Mr. Obama.
Despite what Mr. Romney says, all American presidents have been pro-Israel, including Mr. Obama. But that doesn’t mean subcontracting American policy to Israeli leaders or donors. Mr. Romney hit an applause line by calling Jerusalem Israel’s capital and agreeing to consider moving the United States Embassy there from Tel Aviv. But those policies would complicate America’s ability to act as a broker in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Mr. Romney did American interests no favors when he praised Israeli economic growth while ignoring the challenges Palestinians face living under Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza. He showed troubling ignorance by understating the income disparity between Israel and those areas. Israel, in 2009, had a per capita gross domestic product of roughly $29,800, while, in 2008, the West Bank and Gaza had a per capita gross domestic product of $2,900, according to the Central Intelligence Agency.
On Iran’s nuclear weapons program, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney support trying to halt it with sanctions and negotiations but say military action is an option. It is unclear if Mr. Romney, as president, might structure sanctions differently and how committed he is to negotiations.
Already, one of his advisers is contending that Mr. Obama’s strategies have “failed.” On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel seemed to agree. Meanwhile, Mr. Romney ruled out any outcome that would contain rather than eliminate Iran’s nuclear program, and he strongly defended Israel’s right to strike Iran in self-defense. Mr. Obama also recognizes this right, but he has urged Israel to hold back, at least while negotiations are under way.
The tough talk raises concerns that Mr. Romney and his hard-line advisers may be more eager to take military action. Iran’s nuclear ambitions are a threat to Israel, the United States, its Arab neighbors and its own people. But there should be no illusions about the steep costs and limited returns of any attack on Iran’s nuclear complex.
Presidents often say things on the campaign trail that they don’t mean or regret and reverse once in office, but voters can only judge a candidate on his words. The more Mr. Romney digs in on a particular position, the harder it will be to dig out, especially if the people egging you on in the first place have just donated $100 million toward your campaign.
By JEREMY W. PETERS and MICHAEL D. SHEAR (The New York Times)
Democrats appear ready to embrace same-sex marriage as part of their party platform, a policy shift that reflects an expanded acceptance of gay rights in mainstream politics.
The move would place the party in line with the beliefs of President Obama, who in May became the first sitting president to declare that gay men and lesbians should be able to marry.
Democratic Party officials had squabbled over the issue in the past. But at a platform-drafting meeting over the weekend in Minneapolis, they approved the first step to amend their platform, placing the amendment on track for adoption. In two weeks, the entire platform committee will vote at a meeting scheduled in Detroit. Then, if approved as expected, it would go before convention delegates in Charlotte, N.C., for final passage in early September.
According to Democrats who were briefed on the vote in Minneapolis, there was no objection when the issue came up. Though the language that was voted on could still be revised, party officials do not anticipate any major obstacles going forward.
The platform language approved over the weekend also reiterated the party’s disapproval of the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing legal same-sex marriages. The 2008 platform had a similar section.
The Democratic Party’s move comes more than two months after President Obama personally backed the rights of same-sex couples to wed. The president’s reversal — he had said previously that while he could not support same-sex marriage, his views on the issue were “evolving” — was a significant move, though it carried no legal weight.
The Democrats would become the first major party to embrace same-sex marriage. But as historic as the platform would be, the president’s position makes it decidedly less controversial.
News of the platform amendment was first reported by The Washington Blade.
Gay rights supporters praised the Democratic Party’s vote. “Like Americans from all walks of life, the Democratic Party has recognized that committed and loving gay and lesbian couples deserve the right to have their relationships respected as equal under the law,” said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “I believe that one day very soon the platforms of both major parties will include similar language on this issue.”
The Democratic Party platform that was drafted four years ago, when Mr. Obama was first running for president, called for “full inclusion of all families, including same-sex couples, in the life of our nation,” and for “equal
responsibility, benefits and protections.”
But the platform stopped short of endorsing same-sex marriages, in part because Mr. Obama had said he remained opposed.
Despite the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage, the issue remains a difficult one for some Democrats, particularly those in the midst of hard-fought re-election campaigns in conservative-leaning states. Those include Tim Kaine, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who is running for Senate in Virginia, and Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jon Tester of Montana.
And while an increasing number of Republicans are coming around to support marriage rights for gays and lesbians, the Republican Party as an institution is still far from declaring that marriage is for anyone but heterosexuals.
Peter S. Sprigg, a senior fellow at the Family Research Council, predicted that Democrats will regret their decision to include the marriage plank in their platform.
“There are many places in the country where Democratic candidates will not want to be identified with the gay-marriage party,” Mr. Sprigg said. “I think this is more politically correct than it is politically smart.”
Thank you for writing. I have heard from many Americans about ways we can fundamentally rethink, reform, and remake our Government so it meets the demands of our times, and I appreciate your perspective.
My Administration is committed to reform that ensures Government serves the public interest rather than special interests. The day after my inauguration, I signed my first Presidential Memorandum, “Transparency and Open Government,” calling for a more transparent, participatory, and collaborative Government that engages with the American people. That same day, I signed an Executive Order that imposes tougher ethics standards on this Administration than any in history. For too long, lobbyists have wielded undue influence, and this Executive Order helps close the “revolving door” between lobbying firms and Government.
We have continued to deliver on our promise of leading an open and accountable Government by launching Ethics.gov—a centralized online database of lobbying reports, ethics information, and campaign finance filings that gives the public unprecedented access to information about how our Government works. In a single, user-friendly format, anyone can access and search millions of records detailing campaign contributions, White House visitor records, and lobbying registrations and reports. Ethics.gov builds on other resources we have implemented to cut down on fraud, waste, and abuse by tracking Government spending, including Data.gov, Recovery.gov, USASpending.gov, and StopFraud.gov.
Additionally, I established the Campaign to Cut Waste in June 2011, which is aggressively rooting out misspent tax dollars, and sent Congress the Consolidating and Reforming Government Act to reinstate the authority past presidents have had to streamline the Executive Branch and create a leaner, more efficient Federal Government. There are currently six major departments and agencies in the Federal Government that focus primarily on business and trade. Consolidating these agencies along with other related programs would improve efficiency and save money. I will continue to develop proposals to make programs more effective and eliminate duplication, overlap, and excess overhead across our Government—improving services for America’s families and businesses and saving billions of taxpayer dollars.
I am also doing everything in my power to help fight the destructive influence of money in politics and rebuild the trust between Washington and the American people. In April 2012, I was proud to sign the historic STOCK Act into law, which prevents Members of Congress from trading stocks based on nonpublic information obtained from their jobs. While this is a step in the right direction, much work remains. The American people also deserve to know who is spending money to influence their votes, so special interests do not drown out the voices of ordinary Americans. And we should limit any elected official from owning stocks in industries they have the power to influence, and make sure people who raise and bundle campaign contributions for Congress are prevented from lobbying Congress.
I am confident that if we continue to join together in pursuit of a fairer society, our Government can uphold our Nation’s founding principles while meeting the demands of the 21st century. To learn more about how we are bringing change to Washington, please visit http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/21stCenturyGov.
From BBC America: US presidential candidate Mitt Romney has met Polish ex-President Lech Walesa in Gdansk, on the final leg of a tour that has included Israel and the UK.
The Republican candidate is due to lay a wreath on Tuesday, to mark the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939.
But trade union movement Solidarity has distanced itself from the visit.
Mr Romney has just travelled from Israel where comments he made about the Palestinian economy angered a senior Palestinian official.
He told an audience of Jewish donors that cultural differences explained why Israel’s economy was much larger than that of the Palestinians.
“You notice a stark difference in economic vitality. And as I come here and I look out over this city and consider the accomplishments of the people of this nation, I recognise the power of at least culture and a few other things,” he told the gathering in Jerusalem.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Mr Romney’s statements were racist and betrayed his ignorance of the region and the conflict in the Middle East.
Mr Romney’s campaign spokeswoman said his comments had been “grossly mischaracterised”.
The first leg of his tour, in London, had also proved controversial when the UK media reacted angrily to comments he made about the readiness of Olympic Games organisers prior to the opening of London 2012.
The former Massachusetts governor’s tour is intended to drum up support and increase his profile globally as he faces incumbent President Barack Obama in November’s presidential elections.
Mr Romney was met in Gdansk by Mr Walesa – Solidarity’s first leader and Poland’s first democratically-elected president – and by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“He’s very open, and brimming with values, his wife is always by his side, he’s got five kids — we’re very much alike, I really like him and am pleased we met,” Mr Walesa told reporters.
But the trade union movement, which originated in Gdansk and toppled Poland’s communist regime in the late 1980s, said it had nothing to do with Mr Romney’s trip to the city.
“Regretfully, we were informed by our friends from the American headquarters of AFL-CIO (trade union in the US), which represents more than 12 million employees… that Mitt Romney supported attacks on trade unions and employees’ rights,” Solidarity said in a statement.
Mr Walesa and Solidarity have not seen eye to eye for some years.
On Tuesday Mr Romney plans to conclude his tour with a speech in Warsaw where he will address the country’s relationship with the United States.
Are we the only ones really worried about Romney and his sidekick Eric Fehrnstorm and how they behave themselves in this clip? Romney acts like Christopher Walken’s character Frank White in the 1990 movie “A King in New York”. Romney says to AP reporter Glen Johnson in what seems like a very threaten manner to us to Johnson “Listen to my words” and then Romney says to Johnson “Lets you and I talk”. Come on GOP we can’t have these two acting like this in the White House. Time to wake up GOP and Dump Romney Today.
You Tube footage showing “Bain the Bully” Romney and his campaign staff bullying Associate Press reporter Glen Johnson. Watch the whole Press Conference as it is at the end of it when you see the real “Bain the Bully” Romney at work (the real Romney we have heard about) as he thinks the cameras are no longer rolling. Do we really want this bully in the White House?
The campaign staff bullying AP reporter Glen Johnson after “Stick a Dog Up on a Car Roof” Romney is none other then “Flip-Flop Affordable Care Act is a tax is not a tax” Romney Advisor himself Eric Fehrnstrom. We have done a feature on him in this blog that everyone is talking about.
IMPORTANT NOTE: That is NOT our caption on this You Tube clip.
Regarding your editorial “Obama campaign out of touch” in your issue of The Bay Area Reporter on July 26th – August 1, 2012 I don’t want to repeat my letter on the following page of your paper in that same issue entitled “All hands needed to re-elect Obama” that you and I were in touch about while you would have been writing your editorial on President Obama’s visit to Oakland on Monday July 23rd, 2012.
It is a pity you hadn’t mentioned to me in our emails that you or your newspaper were unable to get access to the President’s Fox Theatre, Oakland appearance on Monday July 23rd, 2012. I have no idea why the President’s Press Office didn’t allow you access to this event which is very unlike them. I am sure it was a simple case of miscommunication somewhere along the line. We could have tried to pass the message up along the chain if you had mentioned this to me in our emails back and front about my letter that was published in The Bay Area Reporter last week. I am not saying in any way, shape or form that we could have gotten you or one of your journalist access but we could have let the organizers know that it was important that you have representation there at this event as we were only able to get one of our team in to that event and I was glad she was invited as that person is a very important part of our team and deserved to be there.
We are the process of sharing our idea with the Obama campaign to try and bring the President to the Mission or the Castro area in September and we have been planning this for weeks now, it is however a very tight walk the President has to walk if he was to appear in the Castro. The President’s support as the first President ever in the history of the United States of America to support gay marriage has alienated voters in the very important battleground states like Colorado, Nevada, Ohio, Florida and Iowa that were outraged at the President publicly supporting gay marriage. As someone experienced with the teams who deal weekly with these states for the President it was a tough decision but one the President made but we have lost important votes from these states because of that decision. As I also mentioned in my letter to you President Obama is the first President ever to request his Department of Justice not to defend the 1996 Defense of the Marriage Act (DOMA) when the case is due to be heard in the Supreme Court probably later this year so DOMA is all but dead in the water. This is major for the LGBT community. I really don’t know what you really expect from the President? If we can bring him to the Castro would that be enough? If we got you and your journalists in to see him, will that be enough? I don’t think so because no matter what this President does it seems like it is never enough which like I said in my letter last week, this is playing right into the hands of the GOP’s Super PACS and Mitt Romney. So you really think “Bain Means Pain” Romney as President is going to champion LGBT’s issues? This is the guy who seriously bullied a fellow student when he was in High School for been gay.
On the subject of immigration, it is a hot potato or a banana skin neither the President nor Romney wants to touch during this campaign but the President has serious plans to address this issue in his second term.
Also in your article you mentioned that “on the record” comments need approval from “staffers” before publication. Are you sure The New York Times wasn’t talking about the Romney camp and the Obama camp just got lobbed in as well for good measure? Romney’s advisor and sometimes Press Secretary Eric Fehrnstrom (we have a very disturbing clip of him and Romney bullying Associate Press reporter Glen Johnson on our Facebook page as they were not aware the CNN camera was still rolling) demand a very tight rein on the press as we saw again with Romney very recent visit to Israel. This is nothing new, as we know the John McCain camp kept a very tight rein on the press when it came to Sarah Palin but that didn’t help her or his campaign that much.
Without repeating too much of my letter to you in the last edition it is not impossible from where we are looking at the President losing Nevada and all the experts are saying that Colorado will come down to one percentage point between the President and Romney. If the President loses Florida and Ohio it is all but written on the wall that Romney will be the next President of the United States in January 2013. The GOP Super PACS (which historically don’t support LGBT issues in any way, shape or form) are out raising the Democrats three to one financially. We will see the effect of the GOP Super PACS’ finance really work for Romney in the fall when they start their blanket to blanket negative television advertising against the President. Already sources within media circles inform us that the GOP haven’t even bother to pre-book television station air time in the fall just before the Election which would make it so much cheaper for them. They are waiting to see what the best air times to book and then they will hit the President hard with their negative adverts and they are willing to pay over the odds for this gamble? They have the money, so why not?
To give the President credit on May 22, 2012 also that exciting day that we launched http://www.dashboard.barackobama.com to the public that the President came out in support of gay marriage that he attended an LGBT event in Los Angeles that evening and some of the media reported that the LGBT community raised $15 million dollars for the President’s campaign that day. I didn’t see your paper correct this factual error, it was in fact actor George Clooney’s fundraising event in LA that raised the $15 million dollars for the President’s re-election campaign that day.
From BBC America: Romney: US has moral duty to block Iran nuclear plans Mr Romney is hoping the visit will boost his pro-Israel credentials with US voters Continue reading the main story
US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said his country has a “moral imperative” to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Mr Romney, speaking during a visit to Jerusalem, said Iran was the most destabilising country in the world.
He said the US recognised Israel’s right to defend itself and that it was right for the US to stand with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has focused on using sanctions to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
In his speech in front of Jerusalem’s Old City, Mr Romney said Iran’s leading ayatollahs were “testing our moral defences”.
“They want to know who will object and who will look the other way. We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel.”
He said Iran was “the most destabilising nation in the world” and that the US had “a solemn duty and a moral imperative to deny Iran’s leaders the means to follow through on their malevolent intentions”.
Earlier, one of Mr Romney’s top advisers, Dan Senor, had said the presidential candidate would respect any decision by Israel to use military force against Iran.
While not directly addressing this, Mr Romney said the US should “employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course.”
“It is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded.”
During his speech, Mr Romney referred to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, something the current US administration and most of the international community does not do.
“It is a deeply moving experience to be in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” he said.
Israel claims the entire city but the Palestinians want the eastern part of Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Earlier on Sunday, Mr Romney held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
He told Mr Peres he shared Israel’s concern about the development of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, saying: “The threat it would pose to Israel, the region and the world is incomparable and unacceptable.”
After his meetings with Israeli officials, he went to Jerusalem’s Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holy sites.
Mr Romney will be hoping that burnishing his pro-Israel credentials will help him among key constituencies in a tight race with Mr Obama, analysts say.
Mr Romney says Mr Obama has undermined Israel and supported its enemies.
The Republican presidential hopeful also met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, though not Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
‘Islamist winter’ fears
While not explicitly ruling out military intervention, President Barack Obama’s policy has emphasised non-military means of putting pressure on Iran.
The BBC’s North America editor Mark Mardell says Mr Romney is highly critical of the international talks taking place which might lead to Iran being allowed to enrich some uranium. Mr Romney wants zero enrichment.
The first leg of Mr Romney’s trip, in London, was marred by controversy.
After talking of “disconcerting” signs in London’s preparations for the Olympic Games, Mr Romney backtracked and predicted a “very successful” Olympics.
In a photo opportunity before his talks with Mr Fayyad, Mr Romney said the opening ceremony had been “spectacular” and praised the fact that for the first time, every country has sent women to compete.
The Amazing Democrats 