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In the wake of Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.V.) recent op-ed in defense of maintaining the filibuster, an attorney, activist and lobbyist in pushing back against the Democratic lawmaker's defense of the legislative rule.
Fred Wertheimer, founder, and president of Democracy 21, dismantled Manchin's arguments in an NBC News op-ed of his own. He began by highlighting how Manchin's views conflict with the views of his predecessor, the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.V.) As the longest-serving senator in United States history, Byrd was a pivotal figure who helped shape the Senate's legacy.
Although Manchin claims his beliefs are part of an effort to protect the Senate legacy, his defense appears to contradict what it stands for. Wertheimer noted that while Byrd's record suggests while he did recognize the Senate's filibuster rule, he also understood that it "was not sacrosanct."
"He supported changing the rule when it had been abused or when the times demanded it," Wertheimer wrote, later adding, "Byrd obviously believed revising the filibuster rule when abuses or circumstances called for it was good for the country and for West Virginia, the state he represented and loved."
He went on to highlight another area where their differences lie: exemptions to the filibuster. "Byrd also supported a number of exemptions to the filibuster rule," Wertheimer explained. "He played the crucial role in the 1974 creation of the budget reconciliation process — which Manchin criticized in his opinion piece — and which the Senate just used to pass the Covid-19 relief bill and could use again for the coming infrastructure package."
Byrd also expressed concern about campaign finance. In fact, Wertheimer noted that the late lawmaker "decried the 'money chase' of senators."
"We spend countless hours," Byrd previously said, "chasing campaign funds all around the country — to the detriment of our duties and our constituents."
Lastly, Wertheimer noted Manchin's contradictory stance regarding S.1 (the For the People Act). He noted that both Manchin and Byrd expressed deep concern about "the disturbing role money plays in our democracy."
Manchin even expressed sentiments similar to Byrd's saying "More and more lawmakers spend their time dialing for dollars, instead of legislating for their constituents. That is why I have and will continually support changing our campaign finance rules."
However, Wertheimer argues that Manchin "a classic Catch-22 situation" with his arguments. He wrote, "He says he wants a bipartisan solution to voting rights and campaign finance legislation. Yet there is no basis to believe that any Republican senator, let alone the 10 needed to break a filibuster, will support a bipartisan solution to real campaign finance and voting rights reforms. Led by McConnell, the GOP wants to kill the reform bill — just as it killed Byrd's reform bill in 1988."
Wertheimer's op-ed comes just days after Manchin laid out his arguments in a piece published to The Washington Post. In his op-ed, he explained why he opposes the idea of weakening the filibuster.
"The filibuster is a critical tool to protecting that input and our democratic form of government. That is why I have said it before and will say it again to remove any shred of doubt: There is no circumstance in which I will vote to eliminate or weaken the filibuster. The time has come to end these political games, and to usher a new era of bipartisanship where we find common ground on the major policy debates facing our nation."
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One of Arizona's kookiest pro-QAnon ‘Stop the Steal’ wingnuts wants to be secretary of state
April 13, 2021
Arizona State Rep. Mark Finchem will not be mistaken for a Never Trump conservative anytime soon. The far-right Republican conspiracy theorist, who comes from the Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene/Rep. Lauren Boebert school of extremism, has voiced his support for QAnon, praised the Oath Keepers, promoted former President Donald Trump's bogus election fraud lies and falsely claimed that antifa attacked the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6. And now, Finchem is running for Arizona secretary of state — which, journalist Cameron Joseph stresses in an article published by Vice on April 12, would put him in charge of elections in the Grand Canyon State.
"Some Republicans worry that Finchem could be a force to contend with in primary, given how virulently pro-Trump much of the GOP base is in the state," Joseph observes. "And Democrats are terrified at the prospect of Finchem in charge of Arizona's election system heading into 2024 — when the state could once again be at the epicenter of the presidential map."
One of the Arizona Democrats who is sounding the alarm about Finchem is Bonnie Heidler, who chairs the Pima County Democratic Party Chair. Heidler told Vice, "I'm totally freaked out that he's running. He cannot hold that position. If he does, democracy is completely out of the question."
Heidler is right to be concerned given Finchem's history. After now-President Joe Biden defeated Trump in the 2020 presidential election, Finchem joined Trump in promoting the false claim that the election had been stolen from him because of widespread voter fraud — and he claimed that Trump really won Arizona. Finchem, like Trump, was furious when Gov. Doug Ducey, a conservative Republican, certified Biden's Electoral College victory in the state.
On his website, Finchem claims, "Since my very first election, I knew something was very wrong with our elections process. Then on November 3rd, 2020, the unthinkable happened: Americans witnessed real-time reallocation of votes from one candidate to another, broadcast on national television."
Such claims have been totally debunked by cybersecurity experts for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but that hasn't prevented Finchem from promoting them. And on January 6 — before the storming of the U.S. Capitol Building — he was in Washington, D.C. for Trump's Stop the Steal Rally.
During a March 4 appearance on Victory News — a Christian Right outlet — Finchem pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory, saying, "They're finding so many kids. We've got a serious problem in this nation. And that's one of the things that disturbs me so much about our current congressional state of affairs. There's a lot of people involved in a pedophile network and the distribution of children, and that makes me absolutely sick. And unfortunately, there's a whole lot of elected officials that are involved in that."
In order to become Arizona's secretary of state, Finchem would have to win the GOP primary, followed by the general election. A Republican strategist in Arizona told Vice that a Democrat will easily win the general election if Finchem is the nominee — saying, "If he wins the primary, we're done."
But Democrat Tony Cani, who worked on Biden's 2020 campaign in Arizona and is now working on an effort to get Finchem thrown out of the Arizona House of Representatives, told Vice, "I think that he is a legitimate threat to not only win the nomination, but to ride a wave of lies and conspiracy theories into office. Elections in Arizona are a wild card, and we have a history of people with extreme views navigating their way into office."
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'I'm sick of you all': Angry residents shout down 'corrupt' cops at Minnesota press conference
April 13, 2021
Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott and city law enforcement officials faced angry questions from residents at a press conference on Tuesday after Daunte Wright was shot and killed by a police officer.
Elliott began the press conference by explaining that 48-year-old Kim Potter, the officer who shot Wright, had resigned. He said that Police Chief Tim Gannon also resigned.
One mother who said she had lost her son said that she was concerned that the acting police chief could not relate to the community.
"I wrap my head around it every day," she explained. "We need him to have empathy, sympathy and compassion and you need to look yourself in the mirror and speak to your own. If it was your kid, how would you feel? What would you do?"
"And you all keep traumatizing us over and over again," the woman continued. "And you can't wrap your brain around it but yet you go home to your kids and wife every day. And I'm left without a child. When Sandra Bland got killed, I could wrap my head, my heart and everything around it and my son was living then. I'm going to need you to do more."
The woman went on to blast "corrupt cops" in Minnesota.
"But you can't wrap your head around it," she said. "But you go home and you wrap your arms around your kids every day. Every day! I'm going to need you to wrap your mind around it."
"Act like you care about Black, brown and indigenous bodies," she added. "Act like they were your kids! No more racial profiling! No more! I'm sick and I'm tired and it's people like you and you... that causes our families, that causes us to suffer. You don't know what it feels like. I'm sick of you all."
Moments later, a man stood up to lash out at the two police department officials who were in attendance.
"Right now, Brooklyn Center looks like a sundown town," he explained. "Black people better not be driving through here after sundown."
"My tags are expired. I can be racially profiled and killed," the man pointed out.
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