Republican News and Voter Information
Shopping Cart
Your Cart is Empty
Quantity:
Subtotal
Taxes
Shipping
Total
***************************************
WE need MIKE MCFADDEN from MINNESOTA
in the U.S. Senate!
***************************************
WE need TERRI LYNN LAND from MICHIGAN
in the U.S. Senate!
***************************************
WE need THOM TILLIS from North Carolina
in the U.S. Senate!
***************************************
WE need JEFF BELL from New Jersey
in the U.S. Senate!
NEW JERSEY - JEFF BELL
Senate Candidate Bell: Federal Reserve Needs To Be Reformed
***************************************
National Federation of Republican Women
Spotlight on U.S. Senate Race
WE need CORY GARDNER from Colorado
in the U.S. Senate!
COLORADO - CORY GARDNER
Leading on New Generation Energy Policy
***************************************
National Federation of Republican Women
Spotlight on U.S. Senate Race
***************************************
PRIMARY UPDATES
Republican women shine in their primaries. We are going to report on primary results featuring Republican women over the next few issues of the Capital Connection.
We would love to hear about any race involving Republican women. Please contact us at [email protected] with your information and stories.
Arkansas
LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Arkansas Attorney General
I'm a paragraph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, color and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
Last week, Leslie Rutledge came out victorious, defeating David Sterling as the Republican Attorney General nominee. Negative campaign ads portrayed Rutledge as allied with national Democratic figures. Standing her ground, Rutledge denounced all the ads against her. Sterling stated he had no involvement in the ads and ended up endorsing Rutledge after his defeat.
California
MIMI WALTERS
Currently representing the 37th district of the California State Senate, Mimi Walters has proudly served the people of California for 4 years. She now hopes to take that experience to the U.S. House of Representatives.
ETTA WATERFIELD
Etta Waterfield hopes to gain a seat with the Santa Maria City Council in November. As City Councilwoman, she seeks to create a healthy economic environment that lends itself to new jobs, bolster public safety, and hold the government accountable.
Iowa
JONI ERNST
When it comes to serving in Washington, Joni Ernst has an unconventional way of dealing with politicians who support excessive spending. In a recent campaign video entitled "Squeal," Ernst describes her previous experience with a smile. "I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. So when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut the pork." On June 3, Ernst cleared the five-way Republican senate primary in Iowa, becoming the state's first female Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. She is running as a mother, a soldier, and a conservative.
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS
Just days after winning in the primary election, Darlene Senger began her "Jobs and Business Tour." Senger took no time to rest as the months leading up to November continued to pass by. Darlene Senger reigned victorious in a three person primary back in March. She faces incumbent Representative Bill Foster in the 11th congressional district of Illinois.
Illinois
DARLENE SENGER
Just days after winning in the primary election, Darlene Senger began her "Jobs and Business Tour." Senger took no time to rest as the months leading up to November continued to pass by. Darlene Senger reigned victorious in a three person primary back in March. She faces incumbent Representative Bill Foster in the 11th congressional district of Illinois.
Ohio
SHARON L. KENNEDY
Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Sharon L. Kennedy has served for two years on the Ohio Supreme Court and is seeking reelection this fall. In 2012, she won 85 of 88 counties with more than 57% of the vote.
JUDITH L. FRENCH
Ohio Supreme Court
Justice Judith L. French has served on the Ohio Supreme Court since 2013. Governor John Kasich appointed her after Justice Stratton retired. Now, French is running for a full term in office.
Virginia
BARBARA COMSTOCK
In the heart of northern Virginia, Republican congressional candidate Barbara Comstock seeks to gain the open seat of retiring Republican Congressman Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th District. In April, Comstock won the Republican nomination, defeating five other candidates with approximately 54% of the vote. She faces Democrat John W. Foust in November in what is said to be a tight race.
West Virginia
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO
For more than 14 years, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito has been the voice for West Virginians and Coal miners for the 2nd district of West Virginia as the only female of the state's delegation. Committed to being accessible and responsive, she regularly travels to the 17-county districts she represents. Capito will face Democratic challenger, Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, in November. Capito was West Virginia's first female in Congress and could become the state's first female senator. In addition, Capito faces an uphill battle in the state's demographics as West Virginia has not sent a Republican to the Senate since the 1950's. When asked about this difficult battleground state, Capito replied, "I know how to run uphill, and I know how to run uphill hard."
Super Tuesday: A Post-Mortem
Yesterday, important primaries were held in six states: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. As of today, the race towards the general election starts in all of those states except Georgia, where there will be a runoff on July 22nd. Below is an analysis of the results:
Arkansas: Rep. Tom Cotton won the Republican primary and will face Democrat Senator Mark Pryor in the general election for the Arkansas U.S. Senate seat. Considered a vulnerable Democrat incumbent, Pryor has nevertheless been up in recent polls, indicating that this is going to be an interesting race to watch this summer.
Georgia: Democrat Michelle Nunn, who has never run for public office, won the Democratic nomination for senate with 75% of the vote. There were seven candidates running in the Republican primary, including Reps. Paul Broun and Phil Gingrey. Because no candidate received 50% of the vote in the Republican primary, a runoff between the top two candidates--David Perdue and Jack Kingston--will be held July 22. It is projected that Perdue, the former CEO of Dollar General, will win in the runoff. The winner will face Michelle Nunn in the general election.
Idaho: Republican Governor Butch Otter won the Republican primary last night, after being challenged from the right by state Senator Russ Fulcher. Last week a video of a debate between the Republican candidates went viral because of the statements of perennial candidates Harley Brown and Walt Bayes. In case you missed it, see below:
Idaho GOP Governors Primary Debate (May 14, 2014)
Kentucky: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell won in the Republican primary over challenger Matt Bevin 60% to 35%. Now he faces a tough challenge from Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes.
Oregon: Republican pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby won in the primary for senate and will face Democrat incumbent Senator Jeff Merkley in the general election. Merkley has enthusiastically supported Obamacare, whereas Wehby has been a staunch opponent of the law since it was launched, even appearing in an ad opposing it in 2009 when she was on the board of the American Medical Association. Unseating an incumbent is always difficult, but this will be a race worth watching. Accusations of harassment by a former boyfriend and custody issues with her ex-husband may hurt Wehby over the summer.
Pennsylvania: Republican Governor Tom Corbett is considered a very vulnerable incumbent, and will be facing Democrat Tom Wolf in the general election. Wolf won his primary with nearly 58% of the vote after investing $10 million of his own money into the race. Corbett has been struggling in the polls, and if he loses he will be the first governor to lose reelection in Pennsylvania history, according to The Washington Post.
Address on Retirement Security
Yesterday Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) made his first major policy address on his ideas to strengthen retirement security for Americans at the National Press Club. His speech yesterday is being seen as a step for the Senator to position himself to run for president in 2016. He proposed three broad reforms to the American retirement system listed below:
- "The first goal is to make it easier for people to save more and work longer." To do this, Senator Rubio proposed opening the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) to all Americans who don't have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan. The TSP is a retirement plan open to federal employees, and as Senator Rubio said, "it is one of the most efficient savings plans in America. It charges fees which are a fraction of those in private defined-contribution plans, allowing beneficiaries to save more." He also called for eliminating the Social Security payroll tax for seniors and people who employ seniors. This would incentivize employers to hire seniors, and give seniors more money to live off of independent from the federal government. Senator Rubio also pointed out that for every percentage point the employment rate of seniors rises, the employment rate for young people rises by .21 percent.
- "Our second reform goal for guaranteeing a secure retirement for 21st century seniors is to enact reforms that save Social Security for future generations." On this point Senator Rubio called for reducing the growth of Social Security benefits for wealthy retirees. He argued that doing so will make Social Security solvent for a longer period of time.
- "Our third and final goal is also the most difficult, and that is saving Medicare." With the Medicare trust fund set to go bankrupt by 2026, Senator Rubio proposed a premium support system for Medicare which would give seniors a fixed amount of money for them to either spend on a health insurance plan within Medicare or with a private provider. If seniors choose a plan that costs less than the fixed amount they are given by the government, they get to keep the extra money. If they choose a plan that is more than the fixed amount they are given, they have to supplement the cost with their private money. Senator Rubio argued that this proposal gives seniors more freedom in picking health care plans and will spur competition in the health care market.
- To read the speech in its entirety, click here.
On the Scandal in the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care System:
It has been reported that over 40 veterans died while waiting to see doctors in the backlogged Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, and that the VA there kept fake waiting lists showing veterans getting care in a reasonable amount of time and a secret, real waiting list that showed some veterans waiting months to be seen by a doctor. CNN has been reporting on this story extensively:
40 deaths result from VA hospital's secret waiting list
The problem of veterans having to wait months for primary care is not limited to Arizona. Chairman of the House Committee on Veteran's Affairs, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), has set up an "Accountability Watch" page to keep tabs on incompetency in Veteran's Affairs. Click here to access the Accountability Watch page.
ICYMI: Mary Landrieu Re-Creates Senate Hearing and Passes it Off as Real in New Ad:
This month, the Landrieu campaign released an ad that tries to remind Louisianians how the Senator fights for their oil and gas interests as chair of the Energy and National Resources Committee. In the ad, a clip from an Energy and Natural Resources hearing is showed but it has been completely redone. According to Senate rules the footage from the hearing could not be used, so the Landrieu campaign decided to film a re-enactment of the hearing. The staffers in the background are actors, the setting a poor reproduction of a Senate hearing room, and the network it is being showed on is fake. See the ad here:
Document Dump: Data Points
On Friday afternoon, the State Department released a statement saying the interagency review of the Keystone XL Pipeline project would be delayed because of a recent Nebraska state court decision regarding the pipeline route. This is what you need to know about this latest development:
- A February Nebraska state court ruling is currently holding up the Keystone Xl route permitting process. In February, the Nebraska state court declared that the authority to approve the pipeline route lies with the Nebraska Public Service Commission, not the Governor as previously held. This ruling is now being appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which has not set a hearing date. This ruling affects 200 miles of the proposed pipeline route.
- The State Department suspended the review process of the Keystone XL route because of the Nebraska state court ruling. In light of this Nebraska ruling, the State Department declared it will suspend its review of the permitting process for the pipeline. No date for its decision was given, prompting many to speculate that this was a political move to let the Obama administration wait until after the midterm elections to deal with this issue.
- The construction of the Keystone XL route has bipartisan support. Vulnerable Democrat Senators in midterm races who support the pipeline are upset that the administration has delayed the process once again. The Democrat senators up for re-election this year who support the pipeline are:
- Senator Mary Landrieu (Louisiana)
- Senator Mark Begich (Alaska)
- Senator Kay Hagan (North Carolina)
- Senator Mark Pryor (Arkansas)
- Senator Mark Warner (Virginia)
- Senator John Walsh (Montana)
- Support for building the pipeline has grown over the years. A recent ABC/Washington Post poll showed that 65 percent of Americans approve of building the pipeline, an uptick from the 59 percent of Americans who approved building the pipeline in 2012.
In Case You Missed It: David Gregory Asks DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Scultz About Senator Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) attack on the Obama Administration's Pipeline Decision Delay
Wasserman Schultz: Politics Didn't Factor
into Obama Keystone Pipeline Delay
Equal Pay Talking Points
- Republicans unequivocally believe that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work.
- Republicans support the Equal Pay Act (EPA). The EPA was signed into law by President Kennedy in 1963. It garnered 362 votes in the House and was only opposed by nine Democrats.
- New legislation will not necessarily close the wage gap between men and women. It has been widely noted that statistics on the wage gap are contingent on many factors including whether the men and women surveyed are salaried employees, paid hourly, have different levels of education, are married or single, etc. Indeed, President Obama recently was given two "Pinocchios" by The Washington Post fact-checkers for consistently using the 77 cent figure, published by the U.S. Census Bureau but obtained by questionable metrics. To read more about that, click here.
- Republicans applaud companies that seek and celebrate female workers, such as IBM, Marriott, and Ernst & Young.
- Republicans support encouraging young girls to enter into fields typically dominated by men--science, technology, engineering, and math. Work in these fields can yield high earnings.
In Case You Missed It:
Barbara Mikulski got into a heated monologue on the Senate floor last Tuesday after her Paycheck Fairness Act was filibustered:
Dem Sen. Barbara Mikulski's Reaction to
The McCutcheon Ruling: Myth vs. Fact
On Wednesday, April 2, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the McCutcheon vs. Federal Election Commission case concerning political contributions. Congress can only regulate campaign contributions in order to protect against corruption or the appearance of corruption--a quid pro quo arrangement between donor and political recipient, not considered "general influence." The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (FECA) and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, also known as McCain-Feingold) imposed two limits on campaign contributions: a limit on how much money a donor can give to a candidate or committee, and a limit on how many candidates or committees a donor can give to, abiding by the limit for each candidate. Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court struck down the aggregate contribution limits, meaning that donors can give to as many candidates or committees as they like while still abiding by the individual limits.
Here are some quick talking points on the ruling:
- The McCutcheon ruling does not mean democracy is for sale or that individuals can contribute unlimited amounts of money to candidates. The ruling keeps intact limits on how much a donor can give to a single candidate or committee.
- The McCutcheon ruling simply removes the limit on how many candidates or committees a donor can give the limited amount to.
Many on the left were quick to condemn the ruling, but were not clear in their critiques of the ruling and therefore spread falsehoods. Below are some instances of leftist bias obscuring the facts of the McCutcheon ruling: - President Jimmy Carter: In an interview with Politico that was posted Monday, President Jimmy Carter said that the Supreme Court has "exacerbated" problems with last week's McCutcheon ruling, adding that during his presidency, "There was a spirit of harmony there, friendship. ... All of these things are gone, primarily due to a stupid decision that the Supreme Court made on Citizens United and that they exacerbated this past week with another ruling," Carter said Friday. "And this massive infusion of almost unrestricted money going into the political campaign, a lot of it is spent just on negative commercials to tear down the reputation of your opponent and that polarization that occurs, that didn't exist when I ran for office." He also lamented that his grandson Jason, who is running for governor in Georgia, "won't have the ability or the massive sums of numbers from the Koch brothers and so forth that the Republican candidates will enjoy."
- The Washington Post: As Ken Shepherd at NewsBusterspointed out on Thursday, Washington Post Supreme Court correspondent Robert Barnes could barely contain his disdain for the McCutcheon decision in his coverage of the ruling, saying that, "The Supreme Court's divisive decision Wednesday striking a Watergate-era limit on campaign contributions was the latest milestone for conservative justices who are disassembling a campaign finance regime they feel violates free-speech rights."
- Senator Bernie Sanders: Senator Bernie Sanders issued this statement on the McCutcheon ruling: "The Supreme Court is paving the way toward an oligarchic form of society in which a handful of billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson will control our political process." Michael Thielen, executive director at the Republican National Lawyers Association, wrote in the Daily Caller that Senator Sanders "leaves out people like George Soros and the Hollywood moguls who fund the liberal causes he likes." Indeed, wealthy Republicans aren't the only people who will be free of aggregate limits on campaign contributions; wealthy Democrats are now free of the aggregate limits on campaign contributions as well. Watch Senator Sanders speak hyperbolically about the McCutcheon case when the oral arguments were held in October 2013:
Senator Sanders and McCutcheon vs. FEC
The Republican National Committee:
Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) Has a Special Message for NFRW Members on How You Can Ensure a Successful November:
Bobby Jindal vs. the Obama Administration's
On Friday, March 21, Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) published an op-ed in The Washington Examiner about the Department of Education's new regulations concerning institutional eligibility for federal funds under the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965. Here's what you need to know about the new regulations and Governor Jindal's response:
- Two weeks ago, the Department of Education released a draft of new regulations on "Program Integrity: Gainful Employment" concerning the eligibility of postsecondary education programs for the federal student aid programs authorized under title IV of HEA. These regulations, officially published today in the Federal Register, primarily deal with community colleges.
- The regulations set performance metrics for post secondary education programs--mostly community colleges, as stated above--to determine whether graduates of these programs are finding gainful employment after graduation. If the graduates of certain postsecondary education programs are not finding gainful employment after graduation, the regulations would strip the program from federal student aid.
- On March 13, federal officials held a conference call with reporters about these regulations, and said that about 8,000 educational programs will be scrutinized under these new performance metrics. Education Secretary Arne Duncan anticipated about 16 percent of the educational programs will fail to meet the set standards.
- In a March 21, 2014 op-ed in The Washington Examiner, Governor Jindal argued that, "The proposed 'gainful employment' regulation--which imposes performance metrics on colleges when it comes to their students' post-graduation employment and earnings--sounds good in theory." But, adding that the "devil is in the details" he says "Targeting only institutions that serve non-traditional students means these students, who come from disproportionately low-income, African-American, and Hispanic communities, will be harmed. Facing new mandates that could put them out of business, some institutions may respond by avoiding non-traditional students less likely to graduate--thus reducing education access to those who need quality training most."
- Click here to read these new Department of Education regulations. There is a 60 day period after regulations have been officially published in the Federal Register where citizens are free to make comments on the regulations. To make a comment on the new Department of Education regulations, click here.
I'm a paragraph. Click once to begin entering your own content. You can change my font, size, line height, color and more by highlighting part of me and selecting the options from the toolbar.
In Case You Missed It
at The National Press Club
Insights Into a Real
This month, the U.S. State Department released the 2013 Country Report on Human Rights in Afghanistan, which claims that "increased targeted violence and endemic societal discrimination against women and girls" were some of the most widespread and significant human rights problems in Afghanistan last year. Below are highlights from the report, that largely looks to the standards set in the 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women Act as the barometers to determine if women's lives have improved or not:
- The 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women Act: In 2009, the Elimination of Violence Against Women Act (EVAW), which took effect in Afghanistan by presidential decree, criminalizes violence against women, "including rape, battery, or beating, child and forced marriage; humiliation; intimidation; and the refusal of food." The law does not have a provision dealing with spousal rape.
- Male displeasure with EVAW and political inertia to enforce it: In May of last year, a female parliamentarian brought up the law in parliament to reaffirm its declaration of women's equal rights when a male majority used the mention of the law to speak out against it "by saying the protections for women were un-Islamic," according to the State Department. Overall, "there was limited political will to implement the law...and authorities continued to fail to enforce it properly and successfully."
- Two structural problems with EVAW: The report states that some people believe there are substantive flaws with the way the law is written, such as its omission of spousal rape as a behavior worth criminalizing, and problems with the law's implementation and enforcement, to the extent that some prosecutors and judges in rural areas were not even aware of the law's existence.
- Government officials are often complicit in acts of violence against women: The report states that, "Police response to domestic violence was limited, in part due to low reporting, sympathetic attitudes toward perpetrators, and limited protection for victims." Indeed, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) found that "14.6 percent of honor killings and sexual assaults were committed by police" and "only 64 percent of cases referred to the justice sector were prosecuted or adjudicated correctly."
- Forced and underage marriages are illegal yet still occur in overwhelming numbers: The United Nations and Human Rights Watch estimated that 70% of marriages in Afghanistan were forced marriages in 2013, according to the report. The legal age of marriage is 16, yet a "survey of married women between the ages of 20 and 24 found that 39 percent had been married before the age of 18."
- Extrajudicial executions of women and girls still take place: Extrajudicial executions by order of the Taliban and other non-governmental groups still take place. The report cites one example of an extrajudicial execution on April 22, 2013 when a father executed his daughter in front of 300 witnesses in the Badghis Province, after "Four religious scholars issued the execution order for alleged adultery and 'running away.'"
- Freedom of movement is still being impinged upon: The report notes a religious edict that was issued in the Baghlan Province that "banned women from leaving home without a male relative, including when visiting medical clinics, and sought to shut down cosmetic shops."