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Nancy Pelosi’s Tough Choice

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Jonathan Bernstein: “Now that Senate Republicans have defeated an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving ahead with a backup plan and setting up a House select committee. Right away, she’s going to have a difficult decision to make.”

“By rule, Pelosi has the authority to veto Republican selections for the committee; by custom, parties choose their own members for such panels. But this is, to say the least, an unusual situation. Only a handful of House Republicans voted to impeach former President Donald Trump over the attack on the Capitol. Only 35 voted to support the originally proposed commission. It’s not clear how many Republicans even acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election and was legitimately inaugurated; most of them will at least say that he’s president, but many duck the question of how he got there. Some still back Trump’s false claims about fraud. And a handful participated publicly in riling up the crowd on Jan. 6.”

Gavin Newsom Sues His Own Elections Chief

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is suing his own appointed elections chief to get two words next to his name on the recall ballot: Democratic Party, Politico reports.

“The governor and his staff overlooked paperwork last year that would have allowed him to state his party preference on a recall ballot… That apparent misstep means that Newsom would appear on the recall ballot without a party designation, while dozens of challengers will have their party preferences listed.”

Tucker Carlson Doubles Down On Spy Claim

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Tucker Carlson once again insisted that he is being spied on by the federal government despite the nation’s leading intelligence agency refuting his claim earlier the same day, The Hill reports.

Said Carlson: “Did the Biden administration read my personal emails? That’s the question that we asked directly to NSA officials when we spoke to them about 20 minutes ago in a very heated conversation. Did you read my emails? And again, they refused to say… ‘We can’t tell you and we won’t tell you why we can’t tell you.’ My emails. And the message was clear: ‘we can do whatever we want.'”


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The Vaccine Gap Grows

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Bloomberg: “In the least vaccinated group of counties, many of which are in the South and Central regions of the U.S., less than half as many people have gotten at least one Covid vaccine dose as in the most vaccinated counties in the cities and on the coasts. Those less vaccinated places are not catching up, either.”

“The gap between more- and less-vaccinated counties is expanding, and the trailing counties are far below levels needed to halt future waves of infection.”

Biden Says No Double-Dipping on Infrastructure

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Playbook: “At his press conference celebrating the bipartisan infrastructure deal, Joe Biden suggested there would be no coming back for seconds: When it comes to spending on basic physical infrastructure (for roads, bridges, public transportation, etc.), the bipartisan deal is it. There will be no using the parallel, Democrats-only reconciliation package to spend more on those things than Republicans agreed to.”

“Instead, Biden indicated, the reconciliation bill is exclusively for stuff that Democrats want but Republicans oppose — like spending for family care, climate change and health care.”

“This may seem like a minor point, but it has big implications. On the left, some progressives have argued that they would simply add to the reconciliation bill anything that wasn’t fully funded in the bipartisan bill. That’s not happening.”

Big Biden Donors Are Grumbling

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Teddy Schleifer: “While bundlers do like to complain, bundling is not easy work, and the unspoken promise of low-stakes political appointments is the grease that makes the big-money machine run. An ambassadorship is like the goodie bag that newlyweds give their guests in exchange for schlepping to the ceremony. Tokens of appreciation matter. Or as one Biden bundler summarized the relationship to me: ‘People need to be thanked more.’”

“Cutting out the perks of fundraising, whether it’s a V.I.P. badge at a nominating convention or an appointment to an exotic country, could make some donors less likely to participate in the process, despite bipartisan, highfalutin’ rhetoric about fundraising being a labor of love. That’s a concern that some Biden bundlers tell me they hold. Over time, according to a Biden official, the White House expects about 30 percent of its ambassadors to be political appointees — that would be more or less in line with the average before Trump, who gave away 44 percent to his friends.”

Quote of the Day

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“It doesn’t surprise me. The president has said, you know, that he’s gonna endorse anybody that has a pulse. This, apparently, is somebody with a pulse.’

— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), quoted by Politico, on former President Trump endorsing challenger Kelly Tshibaka (R).

Tensions Rise In Policing Talks

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“High-stakes talks over a major revamp of policing laws are at a precarious state, with influential law enforcement groups divided, lawmakers struggling to bridge a gap on long-standing sticking points and skepticism among many congressional Republicans about the need for legislation at a time of rising crime in the United States,” CNN reports.

“The complicated dynamic comes at a crucial time: After blowing past two deadlines, lawmakers say they need to make a decision by August on whether they can reach a deal or pull the plug. And now it’s anyone’s guess whether a deal can be reached, a sharp shift from just weeks ago.”

The Grio: Rep. Hakeem Jeffries says police organizations are trying to “torpedo” George Floyd reform bill.

Latest New York City Mayoral Count Voided

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“Tallies released Tuesday afternoon indicated that Kathryn Garcia had come within 2.2 points of leading Democratic candidate Eric Adams after ranked-choice tabulations were processed. But, shortly after the results were released, reporters and campaign staffers noticed there were roughly 135,000 more votes counted than those reported on election night,” Politico reports.

“Three hours after releasing the numbers, the Board of Elections issued a statement acknowledging a ‘discrepancy’ and subsequently took down the totals from their website, but offered no clear explanation for what had happened. After 10 p.m. Tuesday, the board finally came clean with a statement: The ‘test’ ballots were never cleared out of the tabulation system and thus added the additional votes into the total, skewing the numbers.”

“The board said that it has removed all of the erroneous ballots from the count and will re-run the results — though when the new rankings will be ready was still unclear.”

Democrats Fret Over GOP Choices for Select Committee

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“Democrats wanted a panel of outside experts to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection. Instead they might have to deal with the Trump wing of the House GOP,” Politico reports.

“The House is set to vote Wednesday to create a new committee with a weighty mandate to dig into the worst attack on the Capitol since the War of 1812. But as Democrats prepare that panel, both parties are still unsure about which Republicans, if any, will serve on its 13-member roster — a decision that will dramatically shape the direction of the investigation.”

Kim Jong Un Berates Officials for ‘Grave’ Virus Lapse

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“North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated senior ruling party and government officials for their failures in the fight against the coronavirus, which created a ‘huge crisis’ for the country, state media reported,” Politico reports.

“The alleged ‘grave incident’ in North Korea’s pandemic fight was not specified in the report Wednesday from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.”

“North Korea has claimed to have had no cases of coronavirus infections throughout the pandemic, despite testing thousands of people and sharing a porous border with its ally and economic lifeline China, where the first Covid-19 cases were confirmed in late 2019.”

‘Critical Race Theory’ Bills Go Further Than You Think

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Jeffrey Sachs: “As the bills’ defenders are quick to point out, state governments have always had broad discretion to set curricular standards, require or prohibit certain texts, and restrict faculty speech. And besides, according to anti-CRT activist Chris Rufo, these bills ‘simply prohibit teachers from compelling students to believe that one race is inherently superior to another.’”

“The problem is that Rufo is lying. He and his supporters are counting on people to not read the legislative texts, and instead take anti-CRT activists at their word. This is a mistake. Most of these bills, including many of the ones that have become law, go much further than simply banning compelled speech. If allowed to stand, a pall of orthodoxy will settle over classrooms in a way unseen in years.”

About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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