I testified yesterday before the Pennsylvania House of Representatives regarding Attorney General Kathleen Kane’s refusal to prosecute four legislators caught on tape accepting bribes to vote against Voter ID.  The Democrats walked out of the hearing that would discuss fellow Democrats accepting bribes.  Not good optics.  The story is here.

The Washington Post today editorializes that Congress should pass the “sensible compromise” that has been proposed to “fix the Voting Rights Act.” This is the bad bill that was unveiled earlier this year, ostensibly to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision last year in Shelby County v. Holder, which declared unconstitutional the coverage provision of Section 5 of the Act.

But it is a good thing that this bill has gone nowhere. The Supreme Court’s decision was right, and there is no need in 2014 for Section 5 at all — that is, there is no need to treat any jurisdictions today like they are 1965 Mississippi. In any event, the rest of the Voting Rights Act is still available where there is actual discrimination, and the Obama administration and others are, for good or ill, aggressively using those provisions (they won a case in Wisconsin last week, and have brought lawsuits against, among others, Texas and North Carolina, too). What plaintiffs are unhappy about is that the burden of proof is on them to prove discrimination, but that’s the way every other civil-rights law works.

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Newsmax continues to follow the bigger pictures with story on political races at the state legislative level. Among other issues, there could be significant impact on voting laws and integrity measures. Link.  

Republicans are close to gaining more state legislative majorities this year, which will likely affect social issues and energy laws, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“Most of the key issues are taking place at the state level, and you’ll continue to see a clear course of action on the Republican side,” Bill McCollum, chairman of the Republican State Leadership Committee and a former Florida congressman and attorney general, told the Journal.

The GOP only needs to gain a handful of seats to take control of five state senates, the Journal reported, and four more state legislative chambers are also being targeted. Republicans already control legislatures in 26 states and hold the governor’s office in 29 states as this year’s elections near.

“Republicans are at something of a high-water mark,” said Tim Storey, of the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, according to the Journal. “However, there are still a number of states where Republicans could flip chambers and come out even stronger than they came in.”

Elon Poll on Twitter and link here to the Executive Summary of the poll findings.  Support increased by 5% points overall since 2013, including among Blacks, despite a major offensive by left wing groups opposing the ID reforms. 

Voter Identification 

Seventy percent of registered voters support the law requiring photo identification in order to vote. This is a 5 point increase in support since November 2013. Republicans (96%) are the most supportive of the voter id law, followed by Independents (75%), then Democrats (45%). Support among Independents has increased 7 percentage points and 9 points for Democrats.  September 2013 was the first time the Elon Poll found that a majority of Democrats and African Americans oppose photo identification requirements in order to vote. Prior to that time a majority of both Democrats and African Americans supported the voter ID law. The April 2014 poll found a majority of both groups still oppose the law, but support seems to have grown for both Democrats and blacks.

Elon Poll in North Carolina.  Support is increasing despite a rapid onslaught on the law. 

Reports from North Carolina show that turnout has increases and even higher than the mid-term in 2010.

More people cast primary ballots in North Carolina during the 10-day voting period compared with the last midterm primary, according to the State Board of Elections. Nearly 228,000 people voted in person through Friday, and tens of thousands more were expected Saturday.

There were 17 early voting days in 2010. Legislators reduced the number of days last year while requiring the same number of hours in each county compared with 2010. While exceptions were granted for some counties, the total number of hours statewide fell by 1.3 percent, the board calculated.

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Link to presser.

Diana Balderas Castaneda, 48, of Donna, pleaded guilty to one count of vote-buying before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Hinojosa in the Southern District of Texas.   Sentencing has been scheduled for July 25, 2014.

According to a factual statement read during the plea hearing, a general election was held on Nov. 6, 2012, in Donna for the presidential election, as well as various state, county and local offices, including the Donna School Board.   Balderas assisted in the campaign to elect four candidates to the Donna School Board.   In the course of that work, Balderas knowingly and willfully paid and offered to pay voters for voting in this election.  In addition, at least two campaign managers paid voters in her presence.

I’ll be appearing before the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee at a Tuesday hearing.  A snip from the Tribune Review:

Metcalfe proposed impeaching Kane for refusing to defend the constitutionality of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage — something he considers her duty — and for declining to prosecute four Philadelphia Democratic lawmakers who were videotaped taking cash.

Kane claims legal underpinnings of the legislative investigation failed to pass muster. She said she can’t ethically defend the gay marriage ban because she believes it’s unconstitutional.

Metcalfe criticized Kane for giving her twin sister a 19 percent pay raise, but a spokesman said a deputy, not Kane, made that decision. Her sister worked for prior attorneys general and stayed on when Kane took office.

J. Christian Adams, a policy board member of the American Civil Rights Union and founder of the Election Law Center in Virginia, plans to testify about Kane’s “corrosive effect on election integrity.”

In prepared remarks provided to the Tribune-Review, Adams, who grew up in Westmoreland County, said Kane’s “brazen unwillingness to pursue behavior by some elected officials who reportedly took bribes in exchange for votes against voter identification legislation sends a signal that criminal behavior touching on elections will be tolerated.”

A lobbyist who became an undercover informant for the attorney general’s office provided more than $16,000 to legislators to vote against the voter ID bill. The bill became law, but a challenge is pending before appellate courts.

The legislators are Reps. Ron Waters, Louise Bishop, Vanessa Brown and Michelle Brownlee, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kane called it the “Black Caucus investigation” under her Republican predecessors. She said black lawmakers were unfairly targeted. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, who is black, said he sees no racism in the case.

Williams last week took Kane up on her offer to let him review the evidence for possible prosecution.


Read more: triblive.com/politics/politicalheadlines/6049502-74/kane-general-attorney#ixzz30r05LEjZ
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