Former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer was sentenced to 18 months in state prison, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Greer last month “pleaded guilty to money laundering and theft, admitting he had created a company called Victory Strategies to siphon to himself and an associate some $200,000 of party donations.”
Said a judge: “You’re now a convicted felon, sir. I feel that this crime deserves prison. You egregiously violated a position of trust.”
SCOTUSblog: “If the Supreme Court can find its way through a dense procedural
thicket, and confront the constitutionality of the federal law that
defined marriage as limited to a man and a woman, that law may be gone,
after a seventeen-year existence. That was the overriding impression
after just under two hours of argument Wednesday on the fate of the
Defense of Marriage Act.”
Roll Call: 14 most telling moments from today’s hearing.
Mike Huckabee was asked by Newsmax if he thinks the Republican party will eventually support same-sex marriage.
Said Huckabee: “They might. And if they do, they’re going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk.”
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Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) “got into a late-night verbal altercation with U.S. Park Police officers earlier this month, pulling rank in an attempt to get out of a parking ticket near the Lincoln Memorial,” Politico reports.
“He told the Park Police that his congressional parking placard allows him to park in that spot, and he’s on the committee that oversees the agency.”
“I am going to spend the entire day with Prince Harry. Believe me, no one is going to be getting naked.”
— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in a radio interview on Prince Harry’s visit to New Jersey.
Troubled Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks (D) “was recommended for expulsion from the Legislature by a panel of his colleagues Tuesday, the culmination of more than three hours of closed-door debate about his fitness to serve,” the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
The panel voted 6-1 to oust Brooks from his seat “following weeks of erratic behavior, including a domestic violence arrest and alleged threats of violence toward Assembly Speaker Marilyn Kirkpatrick (D)… The full Assembly will now decide Brooks’ fate, a decision that could come as early as Wednesday. An action to expel Brooks will require a two-thirds vote, and would be unprecedented in Nevada history.”
Wonk Wire: Nearly half of Americans surveyed have no idea their taxes went up this year.
Charlie Cook: “It has long been true in Washington
that it is harder to stop something than to do something. The late House
Speaker Sam Rayburn was fond of saying, ‘Any jackass can kick down a
barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.’ Today, even the best
carpenters in this process are rendered ineffective and are
outnumbered.”
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) hinted that he is leaning toward a run next
year for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-IA), saying the odds are “a little more than 50-50” that he will
launch a campaign, the Des Moines Register reports.
Said King: “I have never wanted to be the guy who looked back
and said, ‘Woulda, coulda, shoulda…’ So that is part of the
consideration.”
A new Quinnipiac poll in Virginia finds Ken Cuccinelli (R) edging Terry McAuliffe (D) in the race for governor, 40% to 38%, but neither is well-known to voters.
The decision by Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling that he would not run for governor as an independent has had no effect on matchup as the current dead heat is the same as two previous surveys this year.
Said pollster Peter Brown: “Neither candidate for governor is that well known to voters although Cuccinelli has a small edge in that department. Because of their relatively low profiles at this point, the horse race numbers pretty much reflect a generic Democratic-Republican race.”
A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds the popularity of the U.S. Congress, while weak overall, has gained sharply among Hispanics, likely reflecting its current efforts on immigration reform.
Key findings: “Strongly negative views of Congress haven’t changed compared with 2011 among Americans overall. But among Hispanics, strongly negative opinions have eased, shrinking what was a 27-point negative gap in intensity (6-33 percent) to an even split now (17-16 percent).”
A new CBS News poll finds support for stricter gun control laws overall “has dropped since the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School from 57% then to 47% now.”
Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) reiterated his stance against same-sex unions, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Said Perry: “In Texas, it is fairly clear about where this state stands on that issue. As recently as a constitutional amendment that passed – I believe, with 76% of the vote. The people of the state of Texas, myself included, believe marriage is between one man and one woman.”
“Needless to say, I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago. I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing.”
— Former CIA Director David Petraeus, quoted by the Washington Post, apologizing publicly for the extramarital affair that forced him to resign.
Roll Call: “With the latest Senate Democrat’s retirement announcement, there are now three open Democratic seats in highly competitive states. That’s half the total number of seats Senate Republicans must net to win the majority.”
David Freedlander notes that potential Democratic 2016 contenders may be shifting on same-sex marriage at breathtaking speed — Sen. Mark Warner, Sen. Tim Kaine, and Gov. Brian Schweitzer this week alone — but he’s found a few last opponents.
Marc Ambinder: How gay rights tipped so quickly.
A new Quinnipiac University poll in New Jersey finds voters are divided on scandal-plagued Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) with 40% approving and 41% disapproving.
A new WBUR poll in Massachusetts finds Rep. Ed Markey leading Rep. Stephen Lynch by double-digits in the Democratic Senate primary, 35% to 24% but 30% are still undecided or don’t know the candidates.
On the Republican side, Michael Sullivan (R) leads Daniel Winslow (R), 28% to 10%, with Gabriel Gomez at 8%.
Taegan 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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