Jose Garcia
Jose Garcia's JournalWhat Happened to Jill Stein's Recount Millions?
Shortly after the 2016 election, Jill Stein raised more than $7 million from shell-shocked liberals eager to pursue a swing-state recount. Nearly two years later, the U.S. Green Party’s last candidate for president is still spending that money.
Ongoing litigation, travel costs, and staff salaries are also likely to eat up whatever is left, meaning those who donated to Stein are unlikely to receive a once-promised chance to vote on how the post-recount money would be spent. Nor have donors been given much of a window into how Stein is actually spending their donations.
The last FEC filing from the Stein campaign was for the month of September 2017. And the last update from the campaign itself came in a post on April 20, in which it said it was down to $932,178 in recount funds.
"It is strange that they would just stop filing reports given they were a legitimate, professional campaign, and despite still having more than a million dollars in cash on hand,” Andrew Mayersohn, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, told The Daily Beast.
More: https://amp.thedailybeast.com/what-happened-to-jill-steins-recount-millions?__twitter_impression=true
Sanders to run as a Democrat -- but not accept nomination
Source: Politico
Bernie Sanders is running for the Democratic nomination in Vermont — but he won’t accept it if he wins.
The famously independent senator, who briefly joined the Democratic Party to run in the 2016 New Hampshire presidential primary only to un-enroll later, officially announced Monday that he would seek a third term in the Senate this fall. He also said that he’ll pull the same maneuver that he did in his 2006 and 2012 Senate races: Running as a Democrat, declining the nomination when he wins and then running as an independent.
The move makes it virtually impossible for another Democrat to seek the party’s nod. And it allows Sanders to loom large in the party primary in August, but still preserve his independence.
But the move also comes at a time when Sanders supporters are pushing for changes to the presidential nominating process as part of the Democratic National Committee unity reform commission. One priority is to open up the party’s primaries to voters who aren’t registered as Democrats.
Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.com/amp/story/2018/05/21/bernie-sanders-democrat-independent-vermont-601844
Florida to monitor Broward election chief after judge finds 'unlawful' ballot destruction
Source: Politico
MIAMI — The elections supervisor in Florida’s second-most populous county broke state and federal law by unlawfully destroying ballots cast in Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s 2016 Democratic primary, a judge ruled Friday in a case brought by the congresswoman’s challenger who wanted to check for voting irregularities.
In light of the ruling, Gov. Rick Scott’s administration — which has expressed concerns with how Broward County Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes has handled the case — told POLITICO that he’s reviewing the judge’s order and will have her office monitored.
“During the upcoming election, the Department of State will send a Florida elections expert from the Division of Elections to Supervisor Snipes’ office to ensure that all laws are followed so the citizens of Broward County can have the efficient, properly run election they deserve,” Scott’s office said in a written statement.
Snipes and her lawyer, Burnadette Norris-Weeks, did not return an email from POLITICO for comment, though a consultant working on the office’s behalf confirmed its receipt. Snipes’ predecessor was removed from office by former Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Senate for botching the 2002 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2018/05/14/florida-to-monitor-broward-election-chief-after-judge-finds-unlawful-ballot-destruction-in-wasserman-schultz-race-415832
Four Women Accuse New York's Attorney General of Physical Abuse
Source: The New Yorker
Eric chneiderman, New York’s attorney general, has long been a liberal Democratic champion of women’s rights, and recently he has become an outspoken figure in the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment. As New York State’s highest-ranking law-enforcement officer, Schneiderman, who is sixty-three, has used his authority to take legal action against the disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, and to demand greater compensation for the victims of Weinstein’s alleged sexual crimes. Last month, when the Times and this magazine were awarded a joint Pulitzer Prize for coverage of sexual harassment, Schneiderman issued a congratulatory tweet, praising “the brave women and men who spoke up about the sexual harassment they had endured at the hands of powerful men.” Without these women, he noted, “there would not be the critical national reckoning under way.”
Schneiderman is facing a reckoning of his own. As his prominence as a voice against sexual misconduct has risen, so, too, has the distress of four women with whom he has had romantic relationships or encounters. They accuse Schneiderman of having subjected them to nonconsensual physical violence. All have been reluctant to speak out, fearing reprisal. But two of the women, Michelle Manning Barish and Tanya Selvaratnam, have talked to The New Yorker on the record, because they feel that doing so could protect other women. They allege that he repeatedly hit them, often after drinking, frequently in bed and never with their consent. Manning Barish and Selvaratnam categorize the abuse he inflicted on them as “assault.” They did not report their allegations to the police at the time, but both say that they eventually sought medical attention after having been slapped hard across the ear and face, and also choked. Selvaratnam says that Schneiderman warned her he could have her followed and her phones tapped, and both say that he threatened to kill them if they broke up with him. (Schneiderman’s spokesperson said that he “never made any of these threats.”)
A third former romantic partner of Schneiderman’s told Manning Barish and Selvaratnam that he also repeatedly subjected her to nonconsensual physical violence, but she told them that she is too frightened of him to come forward. (The New Yorker has independently vetted the accounts that they gave of her allegations.) A fourth woman, an attorney who has held prominent positions in the New York legal community, says that Schneiderman made an advance toward her; when she rebuffed him, he slapped her across the face with such force that it left a mark that lingered the next day. She recalls screaming in surprise and pain, and beginning to cry, and says that she felt frightened. She has asked to remain unidentified, but shared a photograph of the injury with The New Yorker.
In a statement, Schneiderman said, “In the privacy of intimate relationships, I have engaged in role-playing and other consensual sexual activity. I have not assaulted anyone. I have never engaged in nonconsensual sex, which is a line I would not cross.”
Read more: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/four-women-accuse-new-yorks-attorney-general-of-physical-abuse/amp?__twitter_impression=true
George Zimmerman charged with misdemeanor stalking
Source: NY Daily News
George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watchdog who was acquitted in the fatal shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, has been charged with misdemeanor stalking.
Zimmerman threatened and harassed a private investigator in December 2017, according to the Brevard and Seminole State Attorney's Office.
The Seminole County Sheriff's Office conducted an investigating into the allegations and notified the state attorney's office of its findings on March 14, prosecutors said.
In July 2013, Zimmerman was found not guilty in the shooting death of Martin, who was killed on Feb. 26, 2012. His death sparked outrage from activists, including the Black Lives Matter movement, and protests nationwide.
Read more: https://www.google.com/amp/www.nydailynews.com/news/national/george-zimmerman-charged-misdemeanor-stalking-article-1.3976166%3foutputType=amp
Alan Grayson to take on fellow Democrat Darren Soto
Source: Tampa Bay Times
WASHINGTON – Alan Grayson will announce Tuesday he'll challenge Congressman Darren Soto of Orlando, taking on a fellow Democrat he faults for not joining in a push to impeach President Donald Trump.
"The people who are appalled by the Trump presidency are demanding it," Grayson told the Tampa Bay Times prior to filing candidate papers. Soto has not joined liberals in voting to proceed with impeachment.
"The district is, if anything, more anti-Trump than the country by a significant margin," Grayson said. "These are critical times. I mean, the president is trying to dismantle democracy."
Party leaders have worked to quiet impeachment talk — Republicans are fashioning it into a rallying cry – but grassroots activists want to see it happen. "I think there are a lot of Democrats who are in fact concerned that there is not enough leadership and spine in the party to stand up to the bullying president."
Read more: http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/05/01/alan-grayson-to-take-on-fellow-democrat-darren-soto/
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