Monthly Archives: March 2016

Another SuperPAC For Donna Edwards

We know that Emily’s List is paying for TV and mail, and now another SuperPAC is paying $386,000 for canvassing. This is going to be the first wholly outsourced Senate campaign in history. Virtually no major aspect of the Edwards campaign is actually being paid for by, y’know, the campaign. At the end of 2015, Working For Us PAC had $73,000 in the bank… Read more »

Accusations Fly In Baltimore

Elizabeth Embry, a Baltimore mayoral candidate, has accused rival candidate Senator Catherine Pugh of ethical transgressions for taking campaign contributions from lobbyists who have business before Pugh’s committee in Annapolis. State Sen. Catherine E. Pugh has repeatedly solicited campaign contributions from lobbyists who are working on bills before her Senate committee, a rival candidate for Baltimore mayor said Wednesday. Lawyer Elizabeth… Read more »

Why Elections Matter, Ad Infinitum

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe yesterday vetoed a “religious freedom” bill that would have given anti-LGBTQ bigots a license to discriminate freely. The bill was similar to laws enacted but then vetoed in Georgia and South Dakota, and signed by right wing governor Pat McCrory in North Carolina, once the bastion of tolerance and moderation in the South. McAuliffe (D) vetoed the… Read more »

Charm City Power Play

A bill to fundamentally alter the “strong mayor” government structure in Baltimore City is advancing in the City Council - at the same time that an election campaign is going on to elect a new mayor. Wow. In a surprise move, a City Council committee unanimously approved legislation Tuesday that would effectively end the “strong mayor” form of government in… Read more »

Yet Another Pena-Melnyk Endorsement

That’s three endorsements in just a little over 24 hours. Press release from the campaign: Plumbers and Steamfitters Union Backs Joseline Union Calls Joseline Passionate Advocate for Labor Today state Delegate Joseline Peña-Melnyk received a key endorsement in her campaign for Congress from the United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 486. The Plumbers and Steamfitters are dedicated to providing… Read more »

Attention Federal Candidates

I love getting emails, I enjoy reading them, and I’m not complaining about the tendency to say urgent but silly things like “give me money now or else the unicorns and puppies are gonna DIE!!!! NOW NOW NOW!!!!” in your fundraising emails. But I do care about accuracy, and it’s never good for you to send out emails that essentially… Read more »

Here’s An Idea

As a lawyer, I love finding solutions to cases that involve all of the following things: (a) winning, (b) being clever, and (c) pissing off my ideological adversaries, now and forever, amen. Here’s today’s trifecta, as applied to the current Supreme Court kerfuffle. It is generally assumed that the Constitution requires the Senate to vote to confirm the President’s nominees… Read more »

National Women’s Political Caucus Endorses Pena-Melnyk In CD4

Press release from the NWPC: National Women’s Political Caucus Endorses Joseline Pena-Melnyk for U.S. House in Maryland The National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC) is pleased to endorse Joseline Pena-Melnyk for U.S. House in Maryland’s 4th Congressional District. She is running in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Donna F. Edwards. Born in the Dominican Republic, Pena-Melnyk arrived in New York… Read more »

A Deafening Silence [UPDATED]

[UPDATE: So after finishing this wonderful opus, I check my email and of course one of my Google alerts tells me that the Post has an article about Barve’s press release. Curse you, Bill Turque, for having the nerve to publish about this issue while I was writing about how nobody had written about it. And the fact that it’s… Read more »