Statehouse Briefs: $20M for bridge projects; new mobile visitors center

Posted on by Brett Stover

Gov. Laura Kelly and other executive branch officials traveled Thursday to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson to unveil a new mobile visitors center from the Kansas Tourism Division.

The van, a collaboration between the Commerce Department’s Tourism Division and the Department of Transportation, will travel to events inside and outside Kansas to promote the state. It will be operated by Tourism Division staff, who according to a news release will be called “inspiration agents” and will provide personalized travel information.

“The Mobile Visitors Center is an innovative, collaborative approach to telling our story,” Kelly said in a statement. “It empowers us to expand our reach to more people than ever before. This dynamic initiative sends a strong message that Kansas is not just a great place to visit, but a wonderful place to live, work and raise a family.”

Commerce Secretary/Lt. Gov. David Toland, who attended the event with Kelly, said the mobile center “will expand the already powerful impact tourism has on the state economy,” adding to the more than $8 billion visitors spent in Kansas last year.

$40M awarded for local bridge projects

Forty local and off-system bridge projects will receive a combined $40.25 million, Gov. Laura Kelly and Transportation Secretary Calvin Reed announced Wednesday.

That figure is the result of increased federal revenue through the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. According to a news release, the federal infrastructure bill more than doubled its annual funding for the Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program, or IKE.

“Local bridges play an important role in moving people and goods through our state,” Reed said in the release. “With IKE, we have been able to increase the investment in local bridges and provide opportunities to improve these vital connections for our communities.” 

Almost 5,000 of Kansas’ more than 19,000 local bridges need updates, according to the transportation department.

About $20.5 million in funding will go to 21 off-system bridge projects — bridges that aren’t on federal aid highways — in fiscal year 2026.

This fiscal year, about $19.8 million will go to 19 bridge replacement projects through the Kansas Local Bridge Improvement Program, and four bridges will be removed.

The projects were selected from a combined 170 applications. A list of awardees is available on the transportation department website.

New round of digital skills grants open

A second round of applications for the Digital Opportunities to Connect Kansans program is now open, Gov. Laura Kelly said Thursday.

This round includes $1.95 million in grant funding. The state previously awarded $2.8 million through the program in May.

The program gives funds for digital skills development programs up to a maximum of $250,000 per award recipient. Kelly, Senate President Ty Masterson and House Speaker Dan Hawkins announced the initiative in January.

Additional information can be found on the Commerce Department website, and a webinar for interested parties is planned for Oct. 8.

Luckert appoints new director of government relations

Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Marla Luckert has picked lobbyist Cheryl Semmel as the new director of government relations in her special counsel’s office.

Semmel comes to the Justice Department from the Topeka-based consulting firm Ad Astra Government Relations. She was previously executive director for United School Administrators of Kansas from 2006 to 2015.

Now, Semmel will work with Special Counsel Marisa Bayless, Luckert’s liaison to the Legislature.

“Cheryl brings a wealth of relevant experience she will use to help us articulate, quantify, and carry out strategies our courts will use to meet Kansans’ evolving needs,” Luckert said in a news release. “We’re delighted to have her on board.”

Brett Stover is a Statehouse reporter at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected] or on X @BrettStoverKS.

State legislators recall a lifetime of service from Mecklenburg Rep. Kelly Alexander Jr.

Posted on by Matthew Sasser

State legislators regaled the legacy of late Mecklenburg Rep. Kelly M. Alexander Jr. on the House floor Wednesday. 

Alexander died Sept. 6 at the age of 75. He was appointed to the House in 2008 and served as president of the state NAACP, a position formerly held by his father for over three decades. 

During debate on the House floor this week, a state flag and flowers adorned Alexander’s desk. All U.S. and North Carolina flags at state facilities were lowered to half-staff Tuesday in honor of the longtime representative, as ordered by Gov. Roy Cooper. 

Rep. Becky Carney, D-Mecklenburg, said she first met Alexander long before his time in the House chamber. Carney recalled he welcomed her at an NAACP meeting in a local church he was leading alongside his brother, Alfred, while she was running for her local board of education. 

“He made me feel like I was a part of a family,” Carney said. “He [also] did that when he came to Raleigh.”

Two major legislative initiatives of Alexander’s were legalizing cannabis and eliminating an unenforceable literacy test from the state Constitution. Carney said he filed a discharge petition for the literacy test every year that many sitting in the chamber signed in support. 

“He’s an incredible person that we all, if you knew him or if you were even around him,  you had to know his greatness. He did not ever meet a stranger,” Carney said.

A resolution commemorating the life of Alexander will be introduced the next time the House meets in October. 

“Somebody with a great sense of humor and just such a good man who genuinely cared about everyone in this state,” House Speaker Tim Moore said of Alexander, adding he would welcome an opportunity for his family to visit the General Assembly to more formally recognize his achievements. 

Rep. Abe Jones, D-Wake, said Alexander was a great civil rights leader who inspired him as a lawyer to get involved in the work of employment discrimination. “He’s a smart guy and he knew his business, and he inspired me,” Jones said. 

House Democratic Leader Robert T. Reives II said Alexander was always even-keeled as a legislator, someone who was easygoing and relaxed even during contentious debates and provided their caucus a lot of life perspective. 

“As you serve here, know that it is an honor. Know that it is an opportunity,” Reives told his fellow legislators. “What I will always remember [about] Kelly is that he embodied what should be our golden rule: ‘You can disagree without ever being disagreeable.’”

A visitation will be held on Saturday, Sept. 21, from noon to 1:00 p.m. at St. Paul Baptist Church in Charlotte. 

For questions or comments, or to pass along story ideas, please write to Matthew Sasser at [email protected] or contact the NC Insider at [email protected] or @StateAffairsNC 

Longtime legislative administration director Ridley retiring

Posted on by Andy Sher

After 46 years of service to state government and 25 years as director of legislative administration, Connie Ridley is calling it a day and retiring. Krista Lee Carsner, currently the executive director of the Fiscal Review Committee, is stepping in as her replacement.

As part of the shuffle at the Cordell Hull Building, Bojan Savic, the assistant Fiscal Review’s chief, is being elevated to the top job.

Senate Speaker Randy McNally and his House counterpart Cameron Sexton said in a joint statement that it is “impossible to properly convey our appreciation for what Connie has meant to this institution over the years.”

“The Legislature has seen dramatic changes over her tenure and she has been the steady hand throughout it all,” they said. “From overseeing the move to the Cordell Hull Building to the day-to-day management of human resources in the Legislature, she has been critical in making sure each and every member and staff person has been supported in their work.”

The Legislative Administration job can be a pressure cooker. It calls for preparing the General Assembly’s own operational budget, maintaining accounting, payroll and personnel records and office and parking assignments. The job also has oversight of legislative employees, the intern program and staff recruitment and training. 

Called an ‘offensive term’

Her role has also given Ridley a front row seat to history. Her office has featured prominently in the 2022 indictments of former House Speaker Glen Casada, onetime top aide Cade Cothren and then-Rep. Robin Smith.

When Smith pleaded guilty to a public corruption charge, she acknowledged conspiring with Casada and Cothren to drive taxpayer dollars to a mysterious vendor called Phoenix Solutions. The company operated under a fake name to avoid public ties to the two lawmakers and Cothren, she said.

The plot appeared to start getting complicated in January 2020, when Smith was informed by Ridley that under a new policy, third-party vendors could not be paid unless they submitted Internal Revenue Service forms to the General Assembly. A W-9, which includes language certifying under penalty of perjury that it was signed by a “U.S. person,” was filed with the name and signature of Matthew Phoenix.

When payments still weren’t received after several weeks, Smith sent Casada a text calling Ridley what the indictment called “an offensive term.” Casada’s response: “Agreed!” In a later email to Ridley, Smith expressed concern about not receiving payments. “Is there something going on?” she asked.

Ridley was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury and could be called as a witness during Casada and Cothren’s bribery and kickback trial in November.

Sexual misconduct probes

Ridley’s office was created in 1997 when the General Assembly combined its administrative and personnel offices. She quickly found herself dealing with then-Rep. Joe Bell, a Lebanon Democrat accused of making advances to a female employee. Before the creation of the legislative personnel office, the Legislature had no place for such a complaint to be handled without political input.

Ridley also figured in actions involving other scandals, including then-Rep. Jeremy Durham, a then-Williamson County representative with a penchant for trouble. A special committee of the House in 2016 released a report that found Durham had inappropriate “sexual interactions” or attempts with more than two dozen women. He was later expelled by the House.

The Tennessean reported that in 2013, Ridley sent a letter to a staffer telling her she would lose her job the same day, citing “changes that are being made” in the office of the lawmaker where the staff member worked.. The letter said, “Your personnel file will be coded expiration of appointment, in good standing,” states the letter.

The staff member, referred to as “Jane Doe 24” in a scathing report on Durham’s sexual misconduct from Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery, told the paper she had “no doubt” she was let go from her job because of a relationship between the female representative the woman worked for and Durham.

Lawmaker squabble

Earlier this year, Rep. Justin Jones, a Nashville Democrat who rose to national fame last year for being expelled over a House floor gun protest, came under heavy criticism from a fellow Black Democrat after his aide was suspended because of an interaction with the lawmaker. Jones strenuously denied an allegation he asked students for payments before he would pose for a photo with them.

Rep. Torrey Harris of Memphis confirmed his administrative assistant had been placed on disciplinary suspension for what Harris called her effort to intervene in what was said to have been a hallway dispute between Jones and an advocate for Tennessee State University, a historically Black school.

A letter to the staffer by Ridley stated “you were in an inappropriate confrontation with a Member of the House of Representatives … Your conduct failed to maintain a satisfactory and harmonious working relationship with the Member and has caused disruption in daily operations for the Member and other individuals who were impacted by your actions.”

The staffer was suspended without pay for 16 days and for much of the rest of the session while drawing her regular salary. 

You’re fired

Ridley in 2016 fired an aide to then-Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, for also doing political work. Michael Lotfi was also rumored to be among those behind an anonymous blog called Rocky Top Politics that regularly criticized Gov. Bill Haslam and House Speaker Beth Harwell. Lotfi denied running the blog and said he kept his political work separate from his state job. Holt, who now works in Gov. Bill Lee’s adminstration, denounced the firing as “100% political.”

Lotfi was rehired under Casada’s speakership in 2019 for a job paying $48,000 per year that didn’t require him to report to work (the only such arrangement among General Assembly staffers, Ridley confirmed at the time). WTVF-TV reported that Lotfi had been involved in crafting an op-ed while on the clock for his legislative job that ran in Gannett’s Tennessee newspapers criticizing coverage of sexual misconduct allegations against then-Rep. David Byrd, a Waynesboro Republican whom Casada had appointed chairman of an education subcommittee.

Lotfi resigned amid the media scrutiny, but didn’t disappear from entirely from the Cordell Hull scene.

In one of the more bizarre twists in a year of scandal that saw Casada resign the speakership, a chair in former Rep. Rick Tillis’ office was discovered soaked in urine amid the effort to unmask the Lewisburg Republican as the author of anonymous tweets criticizing the speaker and his allies. Lotfi had tweeted at the account that he loved a “good pissing contest,” leading to speculation he was responsible. Lotfi denied to The Tennessean that he relieved himself on Tillis’ furniture.

Lotfi is now a lobbyist for the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

Fiscal Review succession

Carsner became Fiscal Review’s first female executive director in 2014, bringing a measure of stability to the outfit tasked with estimating the cost of legislative initiatives. Through its first four decades, the panel had just four executive directors. But Crasner was the third director in as many years when she took the helm.

Carsner was an analyst for the committee with 11 years of experience when she was promoted to the top job. She later left to take a job out of state in 2020, but that proved to be short-lived and she was soon back. According to an email sent to members at the time by Senate Speaker Randy McNally’s chief of staff, Rick Nicholson, “Krista has returned home.”

“Krista has been with Fiscal Review for 20 years serving nearly a decade as director,” McNally and Sexton said. “Her stewardship of the independent Fiscal Review Committee and its staff have left her well prepared to excel in this role.”

Savic, who had been interim chief, went back to being Fiscal Review’s assistant director. Now, he is officially executive director.

Under a 2019 change in the law championed by Casada, the Fiscal Review director is chosen by the House and Senate speakers rather than the lawmaker members of the panel. 

McCormick envisions path to medical, recreational marijuana legalization in Indiana

Posted on by Jarred Meeks

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jennifer McCormick wants to allow medical marijuana in Indiana before fully legalizing the drug for adult Hoosiers.

McCormick unveiled the latest update to her marijuana plan during a Thursday news conference.

If elected governor, McCormick envisions creating a state cannabis commission. She said the independent body would be responsible for overseeing Indiana’s cannabis industry — its regulations, licensing and safety standards. The commission would consist of experts in various fields related to cannabis, she said. But McCormick did not name who would sit on the commission.

She also wants to establish a regulated medical marijuana industry immediately. Later, Indiana could transition to allowing adults to use marijuana legally, she said. Under her plan, the commission, after learning about other states’ rollouts, would decide when Indiana would allow cannabis legalization for adults, and the commission would determine licensing requirements.

In addition, McCormick said that to ensure Hoosiers’ safety the state needs to regulate hemp-derived THC products commonly sold at gas stations and smoke shops.

Ultimately, the state could generate about $172 million annually in tax revenues if it legalized marijuana, McCormick said, citing an estimate from the Tax Foundation, an international think tank. The additional revenue could help offset the cost of some state expenditures, including possible property tax relief, McCormick said. And while she did not commit to earmarking the expected revenues for a specific purpose, McCormick said she would like to see the funds flow to the local level.

“Right now, that revenue is flowing outside of Indiana,” McCormick said.

Indiana is one of 12 states that have not legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use. Neighboring Illinois, Michigan and Ohio have legalized recreational and medical marijuana use. Kentucky allows only medicinal use of the drug.

“We’re on an island. All the states around us are at some level legalizing marijuana and have benefited in several ways,” McCormick said. “It is time for Indiana to join in.”

Polls show a majority of Hoosiers favor marijuana legalization. According to the Bowen Center for Public Affairs at Ball State University’s annual Hoosier Survey, just 10% of respondents believed cannabis should remain illegal. 

Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Eric Holcomb have been united in opposing any marijuana legalization in Indiana, arguing the federal government must act first. In June, Holcomb said his stance on marijuana had not changed ahead of the drug’s possible reclassification.

At least a dozen cannabis- and hemp-related bills were proposed during the 2024 legislative session. None became law.

McCormick hoped her proposed cannabis commission would detail a plan legislators could support. She said the Indiana General Assembly, and its Republican supermajorities in both chambers, would need “the willingness to move it forward.”

In the lead-up to this year’s primary elections, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, the Republican gubernatorial nominee, said he might support medical marijuana use.

“I’m gonna listen to law enforcement — they have to put up with the brunt of it,” Braun said. “Medical marijuana is where I think the case is best made that maybe something needs to change. But I’ll take my cue from law enforcement there as well. … I hear a lot of input where [medical marijuana is] helpful, and I think that you need to listen and see what makes sense.”

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Donald Rainwater, in a written statement to State Affairs, said he believes the decriminalization and legalization of all forms of cannabis is “a necessary step in acknowledging that government should not have the authority to criminalize the possession and use of cannabis.”

McCormick has also released plans to raise minimum teacher salaries, improve sexual harassment reporting in Indiana government and provide property tax relief for Hoosiers.

Contact Jarred Meeks on X @jarredsmeeks or email him at [email protected].

Harris, Trump paint polar opposite visions for America

Posted on by Brian A. Howey

After they sparred over abortion, Ukraine and whether Ohio immigrants were eating pet cats and dogs, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump presented their visions for America’s future.

“You’ve heard tonight two very different visions for our country,” Vice President Harris said. “One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past and an attempt to take us backward. But we’re not going back. And I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us and we can chart a new way forward. And a vision of that includes having a plan, understanding the aspirations, the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people, which is why I intend to create an opportunity economy, investing in small businesses, in new families.”

Trump offered this: “We can’t sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision. But I just ask one simple question: Why didn’t she do it?” he said of securing the southern border and creating jobs, this most salient of policy points that the former president waited more than 90 minutes to broach.

“We’re a failing nation. We’re a nation that’s in serious decline,” Trump continued. “We’re being laughed at all over the world. All over the world, they laugh — I know the leaders very well. They’re coming to see me. They don’t understand what happened to us as a nation. We’re not a leader. What these people have done to our country, and maybe toughest of all, is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals, and they’re destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country.”

President Bill Clinton used to advise, “Win the future, win the election.”

What millions of Americans witnessed Tuesday night was the 21st century version of Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” and a reprise of Donald Trump’s “American Carnage.”

What Americans saw and heard on the second most consequential presidential debate in history (the first, on June 27, forced President Joe Biden out of the race) was the further ascension of Vice President Harris, who has had the best presidential rollout ever over the past eight weeks. She entered the debate with Trump essentially in a toss-up race. Whether that dynamic changes in the coming days will be revealed by the next spate of polling.

Trump, according to CNN’s Chris Wallace, “looked old” as he scowled at the moderators. He hunched over the podium, squinting and scowling. Harris delivered her points to the people by looking directly into the camera. Her body language and her hand and facial gestures showed how incredulous she was at Trump’s responses.

And she baited Trump with remarks about his rally crowd sizes and how boring they are.

After Harris barbed Trump about crowd sizes, he took the bait: “First, let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s bussing them in and paying them to be there.”

Trump then said that if Harris were to be elected, “You’re gonna end up in World War III.”

Then he shifted to the dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio. 

“What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country,” Trump began. “And look at what’s happening to the towns all over the United States. And a lot of towns don’t want to talk — not going to be Aurora or Springfield. A lot of towns don’t want to talk about it because they’re so embarrassed by it. In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people [immigrants] that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country.” 

When moderator David Muir said there was no confirmation of this story from the Springfield city manager, Trump said, “Well, I’ve seen people on television.”

Harris responded, “Talk about extreme. This is, I think, one of the reasons why in this election I actually have the endorsement of 200 Republicans who have formerly worked with President Bush, Mitt Romney and John McCain, including the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congress member Liz Cheney. 

“And if you want to really know the inside track on who the former president is, if he didn’t make it clear already, just ask people who have worked with him,” Harris continued. “His former chief of staff, a four-star general, has said he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States. His former national security adviser has said he is dangerous and unfit. His former secretary of defense has said the nation, the republic, would never survive another Trump term.”

On abortion, Trump said this: “Her vice presidential pick [Tim Walz] says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth — it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born — is OK. And that’s not OK with me. Hence the vote. But what I did is something for 52 years they’ve been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states.”

Harris responded, “Well, as I said, you’re going to hear a bunch of lies. Let’s understand how we got here. Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did exactly as he intended. And now in over 20 states there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care. In one state it provides prison for life. 

“Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest,” Harris continued, “which, understand what that means: A survivor of a crime, a violation to their body, does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next. That is immoral. Donald Trump, certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.”

There were other revealing moments. When Muir and co-moderator Linsey Davis pressed Harris on the “disastrous” withdrawal from Afghanistan, she hammered Trump’s original deal with the Taliban, saying he even invited the terrorist group to Camp David.

On immigration, Harris said Trump killed a bill last winter negotiated by some of the most conservative members of Congress. 

“That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs and human beings,” Harris said. “But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress and said kill the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”

Trump responded by going off on his Springfield dog and cat sequence.

On Ukraine, the moderators tried to pin Trump down on whether he wants that country to win the war against Russia. 

Trump responded, “I think it’s in the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done. All right. Negotiate a deal. Because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.”

Harris observed, “It has been about standing as America always should, as a leader upholding international rules and norms. As a leader who shows strength, understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on our ability to look out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strongmen instead of caring about democracy. And that is very much what is at stake here. The president of the United States is commander-in-chief. And the American people have a right to rely on a president who understands the significance of America’s role and responsibility in terms of ensuring that there is stability and ensuring we stand up for our principles and not sell them for the benefit of personal flattery.”

Regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Harris said, “I was at the Capitol on Jan. 6. I was there. And on that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation’s capitol, to desecrate our nation’s capitol. On that day, 140 law enforcement officers were injured. And some died. And understand, the former president has been indicted and impeached for exactly that reason.”

Trump responded, “You just said a thing that isn’t covered. ‘Peacefully and patriotically,’ I said during my speech, not later on. ‘Peacefully and patriotically.’ And nobody on the other side was killed.”

When Muir asked Trump, “You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. It’s a very simple question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?”

Trump responded, “I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech. It would have never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington did their jobs. I wasn’t responsible for security. Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn’t do her job.”

Harris made one final point to viewers: “We’re not going back. It’s time to turn the page. And if that was a bridge too far for you, well, there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country, to stand for our democracy, to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos.”

Asked whether he admitted he lost the 2020 election, saying recently he did so “by a whisker,” Trump responded, “I said that sarcastically. You know that. It was said, ‘Oh, we lost by a whisker.’ That was said sarcastically. Look, there’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it. And they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten.”

Harris responded by saying more than 81 million Americans voted to “fire” President Trump.

“She passed the commander-in-chief test,” Democratic consultant Jim Messina, who ran President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Wednesday. “You know when you’re in trouble you put your candidate into the spin room.”

About 30 minutes after the debate concluded, Trump appeared in the media spin room. 

“We thought it was our best debate ever — it was my best debate ever, I think, and it was very interesting,” Trump said. “I felt very good; I had a good time doing it. I hate to speak about our country so negatively, but that’s what happened — they ruined our country.”

“A lot of voters wanted to know more about her, her plans, her biography,” Harris campaign adviser David Plough said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “They wanted to know what Donald Trump’s second term would be like. What they saw last night was Kamala Harris was firmly focused on the American people … and a deranged lunatic in Donald Trump.”

Bill Kristol, writing for the conservative Bulwark, observed, “On June 27, at this year’s first presidential debate, Joe Biden lost his chance for a second term. Last night, at this year’s second presidential debate, Donald Trump may well have lost his chance for a second term.”

Howey Politics Indiana’s take

Appearing on a panel at the Indiana State Medical Association convention Friday night in Plainfield, Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs columnist Brian A. Howey made this observation four days before the debate:

“I’m going to go out on a limb here. I don’t think the presidential race is going to be that close. I’m going to use Stuart Stevens’ metaphor, that the Trump campaign is a paper bag full of water that will break in late October, just like it did for Ronald Reagan in the final days of his 1980 challenge against President [Jimmy] Carter. Not only will Harris benefit from this 1980-style dynamic of the undecideds heading her way, if that occurs she will pull in a Democratic House and Senate.”

Brian A. Howey is senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Find Howey on Facebook and X @hwypol.

Mega Millions has generated over $17M in HOPE, pre-K funding since June

Posted on by Tammy Joyner

By now you’re acutely aware you’re not holding the winning ticket to this week’s $810 million Mega Millions Jackpot. That honor goes to a Texan who matched all six numbers.

Take solace, though, knowing your weekly spending on lottery tickets in Georgia helps preschoolers get an early educational start and pays students’ way through college via the HOPE Scholarship. 

While the jackpot grew from June through Tuesday, Mega Millions generated $17.42 million for HOPE and Georgia’s pre-K programs, according to the Georgia Lottery Corp. The jackpot also paid out nearly $4.5 million in prizes to lottery players. 

The winner of this week’s jackpot is looking at a cash option of $409.3 million. Those Texans sure are lucky. Tuesday’s win is the 15th Mega Millions jackpot won in Texas since the Lone Star State joined the game in December 2003. 

Tuesday’s jackpot is the largest Mega Millions ever won in September and the seventh largest jackpot in the game’s history. The drawing also produced 2.1 million other winning tickets nationwide. 

Just so you know, Georgians are among the nation’s most lottery-obsessed folks, according to Lottery Geeks study. Peach State residents are the seventh biggest lottery spenders, having bought nearly $5.7 billion worth of lottery tickets in 2023. With nearly 11 million residents in the state, that comes to about $520 per person annually.

The study used data from the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries’ 2023 Lottery Sales Report. Rhode Island, with a population of 1.1 million, spent the most on lottery tickets, with residents shelling out an average of $939 per person last year. Rhode Islanders also made the most money in lottery prizes, winning an average of $397 each.

All Georgia Lottery profits pay for specific educational programs. Since 1993, the Georgia Lottery Corp. has returned over $28.3 billion to the state for education. More than 2.1 million students have received HOPE Scholarships and over 2.2 million 4-year-olds have attended the statewide, voluntary pre-K program.

To all the lottery loyalists out there: Another Mega Millions drawing, with an estimated $20 million jackpot, will happen Friday.

Have questions, comments or tips? Contact Tammy Joyner on X @lvjoyner or at [email protected].

Georgia has $2B in lottery reserves, but pre-K child care is in crisis
HOPE Scholarship vs. Zell Miller Scholarship: Key differences

Council of State debates set for September and October

Posted on by Matthew Sasser

A series of debates between Council of State candidates will take place over the next two months leading up to the election. 

While voters may head to the polls with the presidential ticket at the top of their minds, these statewide races can carry just as much impact, according to Brad Young, executive director of the Institute of Political Leadership. 

“These are still very important jobs that have an impact on the lives of a lot of North Carolinians,” Young said. “[It’s] very important for people to know who these candidates are and what the jobs do and give the candidates an opportunity to outline their vision for the office.”

The 2024 Hometown Debate Series will be hosted by the statewide cable network Spectrum News 1 and the NC Institute of Political Leadership. This is the ninth year the institute will put on the event. The last time the series featured Council of State races in 2020, an in-person audience wasn’t allowed because of COVID-19. 

Young worked on two previous Council of State campaigns. He said voters often expressed they didn’t know they could vote in some races, such as state treasurer or labor commissioner.

“We want people to know who these candidates are but also to keep going down the ticket and not necessarily just vote for president and call it a day,” Young said. 

The debate slate is as follows: 

  • Sept. 24, the state superintendent of public instruction debate at East Carolina University in Greenville will feature Democratic nominee Mo Green and Republican nominee Michele Morrow.
  • Oct. 1, the labor commissioner debate at Johnston County Community College will feature Democratic nominee Braxton Winston and Republican nominee Luke Farley. 
  • Oct. 8, the state treasurer debate at Greensboro College will feature Democratic nominee Wesley Harris and Republican nominee Brad Briner.

A previously scheduled lieutenant governor debate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte has been canceled. 

“I think debates are an important part of our civic process, and certainly they require more out of a candidate than you might see out of a one-on-one interview,” Young said. 

Each hourlong debate will take place Tuesday at 7 p.m. It will air on Spectrum the following Sunday.

For questions or comments, or to pass along story ideas, please write to Matthew Sasser at [email protected] or contact the NC Insider at [email protected] or @StateAffairsNC 

A State Fair: The Dodgers and Yankees of politics

Posted on by Morton Marcus

“A State Fair” is a new column from Morton Marcus that runs Thursdays in State Affairs.

INDIANAPOLIS — Dominance in a sports market depresses the ambition of competitors and the spirits of their supporters. Victory is often provided by lots of money. Those funds flow from fortunate financiers and fanatical fans who vanish without victories.

I grew up with the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees when St. Louis was at the western edge of civilization. In my section of New York City (Brooklyn), one was a deviant if not a Dodgers devotee.

Today, I live in Indianapolis, a city so blue that Republicans struggle to find candidates to run for mayor or the City-County Council. Indianapolis is the capital of Indiana, a state so red that to fly the state flag (a field of blue with a gold torch and 19 stars) will soon be declared an act of treason by the red General Assembly.

Indiana is more than a flyover state. It is forgotten. Late one evening several years ago, I sat in a Washington, D.C., bar with my national academic counterparts who, in all sober seriousness, could not recall the name of our capital city.

How could they know anything about Indiana? What does Indiana produce? Idaho has potatoes. We had a vice president who could not spell that word. When I’ve asked Hoosiers what we are known for, their best answer is popcorn.

One myth believed by every politician, political analyst and big-money contributor is that Indiana votes red. We’re so red that blues can’t get any green from inside or outside our borders. Note: In the upper two-thirds of Marion County and the upper tier of Lake County, blue is known to be dominant.

Indiana has been so polarized in the past two decades that one-third of the General Assembly is usually unopposed in the November elections. This is the behavior of a self-defeating people. It is an acceptance of a widely supported myth, a cowardly withdrawal from competition.

Yes, gerrymandering is an evil that facilitates political dominance. But it is money that makes the big difference. Donors want to support winners. They don’t care about competition. Building the capacity of a party to parity isn’t their game.

Democrats and Republicans are weak in many areas of the state because they don’t choose to compete, and their supporters are unwilling to think beyond the current election.

The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers continue their winning ways, backed by huge populations with plenty of money to fill the stands. Hoosier Ds and Rs play in the lowest level of the minor leagues. They compare to this year’s Chicago White Sox.
Morton Marcus is an economist. Reach him at [email protected], and follow him and John Guy on the “Who Gets What?” podcast, available at mortonjohn.libsyn.com.

Opinion: Conspiracy theorist on Tucker Carlson show paints Churchill as WWII villain

Posted on by Joshua Claybourn

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Winston Churchill, like all great historical figures, is often subject to revisionism. But recently, a fringe conspiracy theorist slithered onto Tucker Carlson’s show, peddling an asinine narrative: Churchill as one of the chief villains of World War II. 

The claim is as absurd as it is dangerous, seeking to turn historical truth on its head for a cheap ideological thrill. And in today’s climate, where misinformation spreads like wildfire, it’s imperative to confront this head-on.

Let’s get one thing straight: Winston Churchill was a hero of World War II. He was the very embodiment of defiance when the world teetered on the edge of darkness. In the summer of 1940, when France had fallen and the British Empire stood alone against Nazi tyranny, it was Churchill’s voice, his resolve, that kept Britain from succumbing to Hitler’s barbaric regime. 

It’s easy to underestimate what that meant at the time. Most of Europe had capitulated, and the United States had yet to join the fight. For Britain, surrender might have seemed the safest option. 

But Churchill refused. His speeches — “We shall fight on the beaches …” — were not just rhetorical flourishes; they were the crystallization of moral clarity in a world gone mad. 

Churchill’s insight was simple but profound: some evils cannot be appeased. He understood that Hitler’s regime wasn’t just another geopolitical adversary. It was a monstrous force of unspeakable cruelty that had to be confronted, no matter the cost. Without Churchill’s leadership, it’s conceivable that Britain would have sought terms with Hitler, leaving the Nazi regime to consolidate its power and extend its reign of terror across Europe.

Was Churchill a perfect man? Of course not. His imperialist leanings and controversial decisions, like the Bengal famine, invite rightful scrutiny. But to reduce his legacy to a collection of flaws and failings is a grotesque distortion. The world is messy. Leaders, especially in times of existential crisis, make brutal choices. But Churchill’s overarching contribution to the 20th century is undeniable: He stood against totalitarianism when few others dared, and he prevailed.

To cast Churchill as a villain of the war, as this conspiracist did, is to mock history itself. It’s a disservice not only to the British people but also to all those who fought and died to ensure Hitler’s vision did not become our shared reality. The man who rallied a nation and helped inspire an Allied victory deserves his place in the pantheon of heroes, not among its villains.

In an age when demagoguery and misinformation seem to proliferate, the truth still matters. Winston Churchill’s legacy — his courage, his clarity of purpose and his unwavering stand against evil — reminds us what true leadership looks like. 

He belongs in the annals of history as one of World War II’s greatest heroes, not as some distorted caricature invented by incompetent conspiracy peddlers. Let’s keep the record straight.

Joshua Claybourn is an attorney and author in Evansville, Indiana. Visit him at JoshuaClaybourn.com.

Opinion: JD’s cat is out of the bag

Posted on by Jack Colwell

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The cat’s out of the bag.

And JD Vance can’t get it back in there, or at least stop it from clawing him in polls that consistently show the Republican vice presidential nominee with an unfavorable rating.

Political pundits in early summer explored myriad issues that could affect the presidential election. Not one cited “childless cat ladies.”

Then Donald Trump selected Vance as his running mate. Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential nominee. And with the usual search of what a new member of a national ticket has said and done, the cat was out of the bag. There it was, a past Vance TV interview where he ridiculed Harris as one of the “childless cat ladies” leading Democrats on a mission to make America miserable.

Then that label was tossed back at the Trump ticket in the endorsement of Harris by superstar celebrity Taylor Swift. The strong endorsement, likely to have significant effect with the legions of “Swifties,” came in an Instagram post shortly after the Tuesday presidential debate. It included a photo of Swift with her cat and was signed “Childless Cat Lady.”

“It’s just a basic fact,” Vance said in his cat remarks that went viral. “You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez), the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

Vance ridiculed that “bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

He suggested that without children, they have “no direct stake” in America. In referring to them as “cat ladies,” he brought up past stereotypes of childless women accused of turning attention to pet cats to replace concern for children. 

The attack was terribly timed and cruel for one of those attacked. 

Vance no doubt thought it amusing to cite Buttigieg as one of the “childless cat ladies.” But Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet member, said the Vance slur came right after he and spouse Chasten Buttigieg “had been through a fairly heartbreaking setback in our adoption journey.”

Soon thereafter, however, Pete and Chasten were successful in adopting twins, now 3 years old. Congratulations from Vance? Maybe lost in the mail. 

Harris has two stepchildren. Does that count in determining whether she cares about the nation’s future?     

In poll after poll since the conventions, Vance has had ratings in negative territory, sometimes with a double-digit negative margin. Those polls consistently showed Tim Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, with a comfortable positive margin.

Ironically, Vance’s own words about “cat ladies” and other “weird” issues were cited by Walz to gain national attention and become a surprise selection by Harris for running mate.

In his cat comments, Vance actually was seeking to bring up an important problem, the drop in the birth rate and resulting decline in a younger workforce needed for productivity and for paying into Social Security and health care for an aging population.

Vance could have apologized for slipping into partisan weirdness with slurs against “childless cat ladies.” Instead, he doubled down. That has kept the controversy going.

Well, Vance did apologize to cats.

But why won’t he apologize to all those voters who were offended and now view him unfavorably?

Cat got his tongue?

No, but Trump does.

When Vance signed on with Trump, he swore off his onetime concern of Trump as “America’s Hitler” and pledged to be 100 percent MAGA. That includes following Trump’s style of never backing down or apologizing for anything, no matter how outrageous or wrong.  

Will the cat issue vanish? It had seemed to be slipping away.

Now, with Taylor Swift’s use of it in an endorsement that received millions of  “like” responses in just the first half-hour, the issue could have nine lives.

Jack Colwell has covered Indiana politics for over five decades for the South Bend Tribune. Email him at [email protected].

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