As the campaign to recall Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant draws to a close, financial contributions and endorsements help shed light on city and outside forces influencing the recall,” the Seattle Times reports.
“Both sides of the recall were closing in on $1 million in contributions on Tuesday, one week before the end of voting.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) is threatening a $25,000 fine for the state’s capital of Montgomery after the city changed a street’s name from that of the president of the Confederacy, the AP reports.
New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams revealed Saturday that he’s trying to convince Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) to join his administration as a deputy mayor, the New York Post reports.
Said Suozzi: “I am very flattered that the mayor-elect would like me to help him in a big way to tackle the challenges in New York City. It’s a testament to our great friendship and his confidence that I know how to help run a big government, get things done and solve problems. Lots to think about over Thanksgiving.”
“Night after night, hundreds of people marched the streets of Oregon’s largest city, demanding racial justice following the murder of George Floyd by a white officer,” the AP reports.
“Among the rallying cries were ‘defund the police’ — a call for elected officials to reallocate some law enforcement funding elsewhere. In June 2020, Portland City Council and the mayor answered by cutting millions from the police budget.”
“Now, a year and a half later, officials are poised to partially restore those cuts. Portland City Council is considering around $5.2 million in police investments — adding to the approximately $230 million budget — amid a record number of homicides.”
“Andrew Bradshaw, the mayor of Cambridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, has been charged with 50 counts of distributing explicit images of a former romantic partner without her consent on social media site Reddit,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
“Political leaders in D.C. successfully scrambled on Tuesday to prevent one of their own — a D.C. elected official who holds his position while incarcerated in the city’s jail — from being transferred to a federal prison more than 100 miles outside the District,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Joel Castón: “It really puts me at a complete disadvantage to be able to carry out my job as an elected official, to advocate on behalf of my constituents here, if I am not at my post.”
“Minneapolis voters on Tuesday soundly rejected a proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department, crushing the hopes of supporters that outrage over the killing of George Floyd would translate into one of the nation’s most far reaching experiments in transforming public safety,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
“More than 26,000 New York City government employees, including firefighters, police officers, and sanitation workers, flouted the deadline for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” Gothamist reports.
Reuters: “Public safety is at the forefront in dozens of major U.S. cities poised to elect mayors on Tuesday. However, a year after ‘defund the police’ became a rallying cry at protests against racism and police brutality, Democratic candidates from Atlanta to Minneapolis are eschewing proposals to reduce police funding even as they emphasize the need for reform.”
“With most urban areas deeply Democratic, the campaigns provide a preview of how Democrats may seek to bridge the gaps between liberals who support policing overhauls and moderates who worry Republicans will weaponize the issue in next year’s congressional elections.”
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said it’s “a major priority” for the city to be able to pay government employees in Bitcoin, Bloomberg reports.
Said Suarez: “I want us to differentiate ourselves as a crypto capital of the United States or of the world.”
The Atlantic: “In the absence of local coverage, all news becomes national news: Instead of reading about local policy decisions, people read about the blacklisting of Dr. Seuss books. Instead of learning about their own local candidates, they consume angry takes about Marjorie Taylor Greene.”
“New York City investigators concluded that Mayor Bill de Blasio misused his NYPD security detail for personal and political purposes and that the NYPD official who runs the detail actively obstructed the subsequent investigation,” NBC New York reports.
“The Los Angeles City Council approved a new ordinance that requires proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to enter indoor restaurants, shopping malls, movie theaters, hair and nail salons and many other indoor venues,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
As Sen. Dick Durbin revealed how dangerously close he came to a drive-by shooting in Chicago, former White House advisor David Axelrod urged Mayor Lori Lightfoot to declare a “public safety emergency,” Fox Chicago reports.
Public health experts criticized San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) “over images of her singing and dancing maskless in a live music venue this week — a violation of San Francisco’s indoor mask mandate,” the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
“Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) announced on Friday that Portland City Council will vote on an emergency resolution on Wednesday with the intent to ban city business and employee travel related to the state of Texas,” Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.
“The resolution was made in response to the state’s recent abortion laws that greatly restrict access to the procedure. In a statement from the city of Portland, the law was called unconstitutional.”
“The only resident of Nebraska’s only one-person town was surprised when she heard the news,” the Lincoln Journal Star reports.
“The U.S. Census Bureau was reporting Monowi’s population had exploded by 100% and was now home to two people, according to 2020 results it recently released.”
Said Elise Eiler: “Well, then someone’s been hiding from me, and there’s nowhere to live but my house. But if you find out who he is, let me know?”
“His name is Noise, and he was created by an algorithm to try to protect Eiler’s personal information. Monowi didn’t add another resident to its population, but the Census Bureau did.”
Associated Press: “Anyone who wants to eat, drink or exercise indoors in San Francisco must show they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when one of the nation’s most stringent restrictions on unvaccinated people takes effect.”
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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.