February 13 is Election Day in Oklahoma

Help flip a Republican Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin on February 20.

Washington State Senate Votes to Ban Conversion Therapy

After the DLCC helped Senator Manka Dhingra flip the Washington State Senate in a critical special election last November, the brand new Democratic majority in the state Senate has brought a major victory for LGBTQ advocates with the passage of a bill to ban conversion therapy. With champions in both chambers of the legislature and in the Governor’s office, LGBTQ children will soon be safe from the detrimental and discredited practice. The Senate bill will likely pass, making Washington the eleventh state to ban conversion therapy. Joining Democratic-led California and Oregon, West Coast kids from the border with Canada to the border with Mexico will no longer live in fear of being punished for who they are. As state Democrats’ blue wall expands protections on the Pacific, the DLCC is working to flip majorities in state legislative chambers throughout the country in the hope of protecting many more at-risk citizens in 2018.


http://www.dlcc.org/friday-five/friday-five-january-26-2018

Ohio Republicans apologize for crude remarks at going-away party

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Two Republican state lawmakers apologized on Friday for offensive remarks they made during a top House staffer’s going-away party that made light of recent sexual misconduct scandals and disparaged female lawmakers.

State Rep. Bill Seitz, of Cincinnati, and state Sen. Matt Huffman, of Lima, separately expressed regret for vulgar and derogatory jokes cracked on Tuesday at the farewell celebration for House Chief of Staff Mike Dittoe. Their remarks came less than a week after the House completed newly mandated sexual harassment training.

Seitz, a veteran lawmaker known for his oratory, issued an open letter overnight Thursday to House Speaker Clifford Rosenberger and fellow House members saying he regretted any shame, distress or embarrassment he caused with his comments. Among other things, he maligned GOP state Rep. Candice Keller and former state Rep. Diana Fessler with name-calling and suggestive and sexist jokes.

“My words were irresponsible as a member of this esteemed institution and as a member of House leadership,” wrote Seitz, the House majority leader.

Huffman apologized for remarks including a vulgar term for female genitalia.

“I understand why people at the event were offended, and I apologize,” Huffman said in a statement released through Senate leadership on Friday. “I am truly sorry.”

The event, styled as a roast and offering an open bar, was held at the posh Athletic Club in downtown Columbus. About 100 legislators, lobbyists and staff members attended. Keller was not there, but at least one other female House member walked out because the proceedings got so vulgar. Seitz fell afterward and broke his ankle.


https://apnews.com/5c5268b2a4654ec3b4a9cdaa190a9a6e?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Trump Launched Campaign to Discredit FBI Witnesses

President Trump “pressed senior aides last June to devise and carry out a campaign to discredit senior FBI officials after learning that those specific employees were likely to be witnesses against him as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation,” Foreign Policy reports.

“In testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, recently fired FBI Director James Comey disclosed that he spoke contemporaneously with other senior bureau officials about potentially improper efforts by the president to curtail the FBI’s investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”


https://politicalwire.com/2018/01/26/trump-launched-campaign-discredit-fbi-witnesses/

Jimmy Kimmel to host Stormy Danials on January 30.

UT-04: Mia Love Vulnerable In Re-Election Race

As Rep. Mia Love bids for a third term this year, she faces a well-known and well-liked Democrat while Republicans nationally are expected to perform poorly in the midterms. Her campaign won’t be easy.

A new Salt Lake Tribune-Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shows Love, a Utah Republican, with a small 5-point edge over Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams — a slightly narrower lead than she had three months ago and just outside of the margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points. That means the matchup could be a dead heat.

“This is going to be an exceptionally close race,” said Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute. “And I think it’s going to stay close to the very end.”

Political handicappers have already listed the race as a possible opportunity for Democrats to nab a seat typically considered safely Republican. That assessment is at least partially owing to the unpopularity of President Donald Trump.

While 48 percent of voters statewide approve of Trump’s job performance, just 42 percent do in the 4th Congressional District — and 56 percent disapprove. So neither Love nor McAdams, Perry said, will be successful by cuddling up to the president.

The latest poll, conducted by Dan Jones & Associates, put the GOP congresswoman ahead of the mayor, 47 percent to 42 percent, with 11 percent undecided. Love earned more of the vote in both of her previous elections against Democrat Doug Owens (whom she beat in 2014 with a 5.1 point margin and in 2016 with a 12.5 point margin).


https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/01/25/mia-love-has-a-small-lead-over-ben-mcadams-in-exceptionally-close-race-to-represent-utah-in-congress-new-poll-shows/

US Olympic Committee Orders USA Gymnastics Board To Resign Within Six Days Or The Federation Will L

he United States Olympic Committee has requested that the entire USA Gymnastics board resign by next Wednesday, or the federation will lose its status as the governing body of the sport, according to a new report from USA Today.

The order reportedly came in an email sent to the board today from USOC CEO Scott Blackmun. Yesterday—just after former national women’s gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar received his prison sentence, following his sexual abuse of more than 150 girls and women, including several Olympic gymnasts—the USOC released an open letter calling on the board to resign, among other recommended changes for USAG. The letter did not give a timeline or specify what would happen if the board did not do so; however, it did mention the possibility of decertification and say that it was on the table if USAG did not cooperate with all of the suggestions:

“We have strongly considered decertifying USAG as a National Governing Body. But USA Gymnastics includes clubs and athletes who had no hand in this and who need to be supported. We believe it would hurt more than help the athletes and their sport. But we will pursue decertification if USA Gymnastics does not fully embrace the necessary changes in their governance structure along with other mandated changes under review right now.“


https://deadspin.com/report-us-olympic-committee-orders-usa-gymnastics-boar-1822437920

FL: New HD 72 polling puts James Buchanan, Margaret Good in virtual tie

Sarasota Republican James Buchanan and Democrat Margaret Good are virtually tied in the House District 72 special election, according to new polling released Wednesday.

With about three weeks left in the race, Buchanan enjoys a three-point lead over attorney Good, 49 to 46 percent, in a St. Pete Polls survey of likely HD 72 voters conducted for Florida Politics Jan. 23.

But since Buchanan’s lead is within the poll’s 3.7 percent margin of error, the race is a statistical tie.

Libertarian candidate Alison Foxall also received about 3 percent; less than 2 percent said they were unsure.

Nearly 61 percent of respondents plan to vote in the race, which is set for Feb. 13; more than a third (39 percent) said they already voted.

As expected, the race is falling mainly within partisan lines, with Good taking more the 81 percent of Democrats; Buchanan takes about the same number of Republicans (80 percent). Independents are breaking toward Good 54 to 34 percent.


http://floridapolitics.com/archives/254405-new-hd-72-polling-puts-james-buchanan-margaret-good-virtual-tie

Female journalist asked to remove bra while covering Pence in Israel.

JERUSALEM — If there’s one thing female journalists covering the trip of Vice President Pence to Israel will remember it is the “special treatment” they received, first by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security detail and second, in their “unique” vantage point while covering Pence's visit to the Western Wall on Tuesday.

At Netanyahu’s office on Monday morning, a visiting female journalist from Finland’s state television was asked to remove her bra during an overly zealous and demeaning security check. When she refused, the journalist — who is of Palestinian descent — was prevented from covering Pence's news conference with Netanyahu..

Then, on Tuesday, female journalists were particularly perturbed to discover that they had been relegated to covering Pence’s spiritual stop at the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, from the other side of a fence.

In response to inquiries about the matter, Pence spokeswoman Alyssa Farah said in a statement: “Every effort was made to accommodate both female and male journalists while observing the rules in place at the Western Wall.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/01/23/for-female-journalists-strip-searches-and-segregation-mar-pences-visit-to-israel/?utm_term=.b413094540e9