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Friday, January 9, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court to decide if Voting Rights racial protections still needed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Eleven days before Barack Obama’s inauguration, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is still needed to protect black and other minority voters in Georgia and five other Southern states.
This from the New York Times:
The court’s decision in the case, expected by June, will help define the Roberts court. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. opposed efforts to expand the voting rights law in 1982 as a young lawyer in the Reagan administration, and he has expressed skepticism on the court about racial classifications made by the government.
The decision will also have significant practical consequences for elections in 16 states.
“This could be the biggest election law case on the court’s docket since Bush v. Gore,” said Richard L. Hasen, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
The case concerns the requirements in Section 5 of the law that certain state and local governments, mostly in the South, must obtain permission, or “preclearance,” from the Justice Department or a federal court before making any changes affecting voting.
The requirement applies to nine states — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia — and scores of counties and townships in other states that Congress found had a history of discrimination at the polls.
The case under review comes out of Texas, and involves an Austin utility district.
My AJC colleague Bill Rankin just hung up the phone with Laughlin McDonald, director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project in Atlanta.
McDonald was not surprised the court agreed to hear the challenge to the key provision but predicted Section 5 will be upheld.
“The court has rejected every challenge that’s ever been brought to the constitutionality of Section 5,” he said.
Congress compiled a comprehensive record for the continuing need for reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act in 2006, McDonald said. It passed the Senate unanimously and cleared the House by a 390-33 vote.
“I think that under those circumstances it will be difficult for the court to find it unconstitutional,” he said.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, of course, is agin any change in the legal reach of the Voting Rights Act:
“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the most powerful and effective piece of legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in the last half of the 20th century to insure the rights of all people to participate in the democratic process.
“During the recent congressional reauthorization of certain sections of the act, the House and Senate were presented with undeniable evidence that voting rights discrimination still exists in many political subdivisions throughout America. All parts of the act are still needed today to help protect the voting rights of American citizens. ”
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Westmoreland gets a second crack at whip job
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland has been appointed to the Republican whip team up in Washington. Again.
As a deputy whip, his job will be to encourage rank-and-file members to stick to leadership positions.
Westmoreland’s appointment is significant because this is the second time he’s held the job. The first time, in 2006, the Coweta County congressman was fired after only 17 hours.
Republicans were in control of the U.S. House then, and the deficit-conscious Westmoreland committed the unpardonable sin of voting against a leadership-backed emergency spending bill.
Westmoreland never even got a chance to twist an arm. He found himself trapped in a Capitol elevator during the only vote covered by his brief tenure.
That Westmoreland has been offered a second tour of duty demonstrates the change in fiscal attitude among House Republicans — and their recognition that, when you’re the minority party, the hammer of absolute discipline isn’t always the best tool on your belt.
Photo credit: W.A. Bridges Jr./AJC
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Cagle, the governor’s race, and Sunday sales of beer and wine
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As the state Senate’s presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has been viewed as one of those standing in the way of legislation that would allow Sunday beer and wine sales at grocery and liquor stores.
Cagle denies any opposition to the measure, but he has tremendous influence over what the Senate considers, and the Sunday sales bill has never made it to the Senate floor for a vote. Proponents of Sunday sales say they’ll try again this year — and earlier this week, Cagle promised neutrality on the matter.
Now Cagle is running for governor. My AJC colleague James Salzer took a look at Cagle’s first campaign fund-raising report, through Dec. 31, and found that he has received plenty of money from the alcoholic beverage industry.
Beer-maker Anheuser-Busch, for instance, contributed $10,000. Various families and businesses in the booze/wine/liquor wholesale and distributing industry chipped in another $56,000. But in the fight over Sunday sales, wholesalers and distributors have been largely neutral.
However, Cagle has received $10,000 from Board of Regents member Richard Tucker. The Gwinnett County businessman owns the biggest liquor store in the state. Tucker is a close ally of Cagle and Senate Regulated Industries Chairman David Shafer (R-Duluth), who happens to be running for lieutenant governor to replace Cagle.
And Tucker opposes Sunday sales. He and some other liquor store owners say opening another day probably would cost them more in payroll and overhead than they would bring in at the cash register. Meanwhile, other retailers already open on Sundays would just rack up more revenue, they say.
Grocery and convenience stores are the driving force behind the Sunday sales push. The Georgia Association of Convenience Stores has given Cagle the grand sum of $500.
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CNN’s Sanjay Gupta vs. Michael Moore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Speculation in Washington is building that Democratic opposition to President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of CNN’s Sanjay Gupta as U.S. surgeon general is rooted in Gupta’s clash with another media figure — liberal documentarian Michael Moore.
Earlier this week, The Hills, a D.C. newspaper and web site, reported that U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) had written a letter to House colleagues objecting to Gupta’s selection.
Today, the newspaper notes:
Conyers also cited a Jan. 6 blog item by Paul Krugman in The New York Times. Unlike Conyers, however, Krugman does not have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications.
Krugman pointed out that Gupta engaged in a televised argument with Moore in 2007 over his movie, “SiCKO.”
Conyers is friends with Moore, a Michigan native who is an ardent backer of the legislator’s universal healthcare bill. Moore’s film made the case for the U.S. to adopt a “single-payer” healthcare system like Canada’s.
On Thursday, Moore’s website prominently highlighted Krugman’s blog on Gupta.
Specifically, here’s what Krugman posted on his NYT blog:
I don’t have a problem with Gupta’s qualifications. But I do remember his mugging of Michael Moore over Sicko. You don’t have to like Moore or his film; but Gupta specifically claimed that Moore “fudged his facts”, when the truth was that on every one of the allegedly fudged facts, Moore was actually right and CNN was wrong.
Moore’s web site now also gives prominent display to both Krugman’s remarks and Conyer’s letter of objection.
Below is a YouTube clip of the Moore-Gupta confrontation on CNN’s “Larry King Live” that seems to have caused several pairs of underwear to twist themselves into a wad:
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Cagle leads (barely) in 2010 cash race for governor
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Campaign disclosures for 2008 have hit the State Ethics Commission web site.
In the governor’s race:
— David Poythress, a Democrat and former adjutant general, reported raising $304,045 in 2008 for the campaign. But more than half of that amount, $185,000, is in the form of a personal loan. His balance on hand is $282,980. Read the his entire disclosure here.
— State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, a Republican, reports $564,270 raised in the last six months for the governor’s race, for a total of $1,036,370. His cash on hand stands at $870,346. A list of contributors can be found here.
— Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a Republican, raised $1,244,932 in the last six months, for a total of $1,255,543 fore the year. Cash on hand is $1,176,653. Here’s a list of contributors.
In the lieutenant governor’s race:
— State Sen. Eric Johnson, a Republican from Savannah and former Senate president pro tem, raised $465,546 in 2008 — and all of that balance remains available for spending. Check out his contributors here.
— State Sen. David Shafer, a Republican from Duluth, reported $82,626 raised in 2008 and available for spending. His entire report can be found here.
Among others:
— State School Superintendent Kathy Cox, who with her home-builder husband filed for bankruptcy last year, reported raising $9,250 in the last six months of 2008, for a total of $12,736 for the year. She currently has $5,221 on hand. See the entire report here.
