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Among the corporations whose $100,000+ contributions to a national super PAC helped fund racial gerrymandering in North Carolina: Reynolds American, Lorillard, Duke Energy, Time Warner Cable, Variety Stores, Bank of America, SAS Institute and Medical Mutual.
Big Money's map mischief in North Carolina
The court battle over North Carolina's congressional and
legislative districts highlights the role of well-funded interests
in shaping political maps. A Washington, D.C.-based super PAC
not only helpe
SOUTHERNSTUDIES.ORG
Big Money's map mischief in North Carolina
By Alex Kotch and Chris Kromm
This week a panel of three federal judges refused to delay its order that North Carolina redraw congressional maps before the state's March 15 primary elections on the grounds that North Carolina's 1st and 12th districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered along racial lines.
The ruling was not a surprise: North Carolina's congressional and legislative districts have been embroiled in litigation since they were devised by state Republicans after the 2010 Census. In their decision, the judges agreed with voting rights plaintiffs who argued that the unconstitutional way race was used as a "nonnegotiable criterion" in drawing up the maps outweighed the inconvenience the ruling posed to the state, which would could be forced to move its primaries if the ruling stands.
State attorneys immediately appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court; elections experts are split in their predictions about which way the high court will rule.
The North Carolina case highlights the growing role of powerful, well-funded political organizations in the high-stakes world of election map-making. In North Carolina, the Republican State Leadership Committee — a Washington, D.C.-based super PAC created in 2002 to elect state-level GOP candidates — played a uniquely influential role in both creating the state's contested districts and helping to elect state lawmakers and a N.C. Supreme Court Justice who would pass and approve them.
WINNING THE LEGISLATURE: As documented by Facing South and others, in 2010 the Republican State Leadership Committee made it a priority to win over state legislatures in time for the biennial redistricting process. The RSLC funneled $1.25 million to Real Jobs NC, a 527 political committee launched by conservative donors including Art Pope, who sat on the group's board.
Real Jobs NC was part of a constellation of Pope-connected groups that targeted nearly two-dozen races. Republicans won 80 percent of the contests, helping fuel the GOP's historic capture of the N.C. General Assembly, and putting Republicans in charge of drawing the state's new Congressional and legislative districts.
DRAWING THE LINES: After winning the election, the Republican State Leadership Committee turned to its nonprofit arm, the State Government Leadership Foundation, to aid in creating North Carolina's new political districts.
As reported by ProPublica, Chris Jankowski — who headed both the RSLC and the Leadership Foundation — wrote a letter to North Carolina lawmakers describing the role his groups could play in the process. The letter, which became public as a result of the redistricting lawsuits, read in part:
Our team would be happy to assist in drawing proposed maps, interpreting data, or providing advice … We are engaged in a number of states and believe we are playing a meaningful role in helping draw fair and legal lines that will allow us to run competitive elections in 2012 and in future cycles.
Heading the Leadership Foundation's redistricting team was Tom Hofeller, a GOP mapmaking veteran. On Feb. 1, 2011, Hofeller came to North Carolina for the first of 10 visits he would make to the state. According to depositions gathered in the lawsuit, Hofeller and others — including Art Pope — used Hofeller's software to create a so-called "10-3" map that would pack Democrats (and African Americans) into three districts, allowing 10 others to be dominated by Republicans.
SECURING THE COURT: With North Carolina's controversial districts guaranteed to face a robust legal challenge, the RSLC moved aggressively to secure a conservative majority on the N.C. Supreme Court, where the redistricting lawsuit would be heard.
In 2012, with conservative Justice Paul Newby facing a tough election and the court's 5-4 conservative majority on the line, the RSLC funneled nearly $1.2 million into the North Carolina-based group Justice for All N.C., formed in May of that year. Justice for All then used that money and donations from other sources to fund another state-based group, the North Carolina Judicial Coalition, which ultimately spent nearly $2 million on ads supporting Newby. Justice for All also spent $175,000 directly on ads supporting Newby, who beat opponent Sam Ervin by a 52-48 margin.
In 2014, the RSLC sent over another $1.3 million to Justice for All, which spent nearly $900,000 on a widely-panned attack ad against incumbent justice Robin Hudson, and $425,000 moresupporting conservative candidate Mike Robinson in a second supreme court race. Both liberal incumbents held onto their seats.
The N.C. Supreme Court ruled twice to accept the congressional and state legislative districts, most recently in December 2015 on a 4-3 decision following party lines. Justice Newby refused a request from attorneys involved in the redistricting lawsuit that he recuse himself, given the role the RSLC played in both drawing the maps and electing him to office.
The conservative N.C. Supreme Court majority approved the maps in December even after the U.S. Supreme Court, which remanded the case back to North Carolina, had taken a clear stand against racial gerrymandering in a similar case in Alabama. As legal expert Billy Corriher wrote for the Center for American Progress, "When it upheld the maps [in December], the North Carolina Supreme Court's four-justice conservative majority essentially ignored the rules laid out in the Supreme Court's Alabama decision."
This week, the state Supreme Court refused to rehear a different case that challenges both the legislative and congressional districts, a case that may also end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Big Money, court conflicts
The RSLC's role in North Carolina's judicial elections has been especially controversial given the backing the political group receives from key corporate interests in North Carolina, including companies and groups with business before the N.C. Supreme Court.
A Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies analysis of reports submitted to the Internal Revenue Service finds that eight North Carolina companies have given $100,000 or more to the RSLC since 2011. While the donations slowed slightly in 2015, they continue to come from many of the companies that have been faithful donors over the years. Total contributions from North Carolina businesses to the RSLC totaled nearly $733,000 last year.
Among the largest North Carolina backers of the Republican State Leadership Committee:
REYNOLDS AMERICAN: Leading the pack by a wide margin is tobacco giant Reynolds American, based in Winston-Salem, which has given the RSLC close to $3.1 million over the past five years. Last year, Reynolds completed a $27.4 billion merger with Greensboro-based tobacco company Lorillard, which is the state's second-biggest donor to the RSLC, having pitched in nearly $335,000 since 2011. The merger unites two already substantial political donors to conservative groups. In addition to funneling money through the RSLC, the two companies — which have had key cases appear in N.C. courts in recent years — have been directly involved in spending on judicial elections: Since 2012, Reynolds American has given Justice for All $130,000 and Lorillard has donated $25,000. Reynolds gave $150,000 to the N.C. Judicial Coalition in 2012.
DUKE ENERGY: The nation's biggest utility company, which has had considerable business before the high court regarding rate hikes and environmental issues such as its 2014 coal ash spill, has given consistently every year since 2011 for a total of $305,000.
Other leading corporate donors to the RSLC from North Carolina include Time Warner Cable($300,000) and Variety Stores, the retail chain owned by Art Pope ($250,000). The following chart outlines North Carolina's top corporate contributors to the RSLC:
While North Carolina's 2010 maps continue to be fought out in the courts, the Republican State Leadership Committee already has its eyes on the future: The group has launched its Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP) for 2020, when the next Census is due, with a goal of spending a whopping $125 million on its efforts.
By Alex Kotch on February 12, 2016
http://www.southernstudies.org/2016/02/big-moneys-map-mischief-in-north-carolina.html
Mikey Amman to America for Bernie Sanders 2016
These 40 quotes, especially the final quote on this list, demonstrate precisely why Ted Cruz should never be allowed to become president.
40 Ted Cruz Quotes That Prove He Would
Be The Worst President Of All Time
These 40 quotes, especially the final quote on this list, demonstrate precisely why Ted Cruz should never be allowed to become president.
ADDICTINGINFO.ORG
40 Ted Cruz Quotes That Prove He Would Be The Worst President Of All Time
February 14, 2016
Ted Cruz is one of the most extreme individuals to ever run for the presidency. As such he has left a trail of quotes that should be held against him as his 2016 campaign continues.
His campaign has primarily focused on religion in an effort to attract the support of conservative “Christians,” much like Rick Santorum did in 2012.
And just like Rick Santorum, Cruz has also made his fair share of statements on topics such as the environment, science, foreign policy, and women’s rights among others based on his fanatical religious views that completely disqualify him as a viable occupant of the White House.
Here are 40 of them.
1. “I am saddened to see that some here, not everyone, but some here, are so consumed with hate… If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you.”
~Ted Cruz trashing his Muslim-American audience, who promptly booed him, September 2014
2. “It is now or never. I don’t think we’ve reached the point of no return yet. But we’re close. We are close! And I believe if we go four or eight more years on this same path, we risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world. Millions of Americans are realizing this isn’t working. The Obama economy is a disaster. Obamacare is a train wreck. And the Obama-Clinton foreign policy of leading from behind — the whole world is on fire.”
~Ted Cruz before scaring a little girl with same ending line as if the apocalypse is upon us, March 2015
3. “You always have to be worried about something that is considered a so-called scientific theory that fits every scenario. Climate change, as they have defined it, can never be disproved, because whether it gets hotter or whether it gets colder, whatever happens, they’ll say, well, it’s changing, so it proves our theory.”
~Ted Cruz bashing science and denying the reality of climate change, January 2015
4. “I think it’s an enormous blessing to be the child of an immigrant who fled oppression, because you realize how fragile liberty is and how easily it can be taken away.”
~Ted Cruz being a hypocrite on immigrants, June 2011
5. “No man who doesn’t begin every day on his knees is fit to stand in the Oval Office.”
~Ted Cruz saying atheists should are unqualified to be president, August 2015
6. “Let me say something to the school-aged kids here. When Heidi’s first lady, French fries are coming back to the cafeteria… The last I checked the cardboard was supposed to be on the tray and not in the food!”
~Ted Cruz tries to pander to kids by promising them unhealthy food for lunch, January 2016
7. “If I am elected president, we will repeal every word of Obamacare. Now, once that is done, everyone agrees we need health care reform. It should follow the principles of expanding competition, empowering patients, and keeping government from getting between us and our doctors. Three specific reforms that reflect those principles: Number 1, we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. That’ll create a true 50-state national marketplace while will drive down the cost of low-cost catastropic health insurance. Number 2, we should expand health savings accounts so people can save in a tax-advantaged way for more routine health care needs. And Number 3, we should work to delink health insurance from employment, so if you lose your job, your health insurance goes with you, and it is personal, portable, and affordable, and I tell you, Bret I think that’s a much more attractive vision for health care than the Washington-driven, top-down Obamacare that is causing so many millions to hurt.”
~Ted Cruz stating that only the rich and healthy will have health insurance if he is president, January 2016
8. “Listen on the question of tithing, all of us are on a faith journey, and I will readily admit that I have not been as faithful in this aspect of my walk as I should have been. That article focuses on ten years ago. We don’t have the ability to go back and change what occurred ten years ago when Heidi and I were newly married and we’d just started a family. But at the end of the day, being a Christian is not about holding yourself out as righteous. It’s about beginning with the understanding that we are flawed sinners and we are saved not by deeds but by Christ’s redemption. I am grateful that God is a patient and forgiving God and this area, as in many areas of my life I am working to do a better job walking in my faith.”
~Ted Cruz lying to a Christian reporter about how much he tithes, January 2016
9. “Well my aspiration is to, uh, oh I don’t know, be in a teen tit film like that guy who played Horatio. You know he was in Malibu Bikini Beach Shop. Well, other than that, take over the world, world domination, you know, rule everything. Rich, powerful, that sort of stuff.”
~Ted Cruz admitting at the age of 18 that he wants to achieve world domination in a video released in January 2016
10. “I’ll tell you, you know who one of those millions of Americans is who’s lost their health care because of Obamacare? That would be me. I don’t have health care right now.”
~Ted Cruz lies about not having health insurance and blames President Obama for it, January 2016
11. “JFK campaigned on tax cuts, limiting government and standing up and defeating Soviet communists. JFK would be a Republican today. He stood for religious liberty, and he would be tarred and feathered by the modern Democratic Party.”
~Ted Cruz claiming JFK would be in the GOP today only to then be smacked down by JFK’s grandson, January 2016
12. “I believe in the death penalty.”
~Ted Cruz in his book as dug up by the New York Times in January 2016
13. “We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion. I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out!”
~Ted Cruz stating his willingness to kill everyone and everything in the Middle East to beat ISIS even though carpet bombing is a war crime, December 2015
14. “If you’re a DACA recipient, you were brought here illegally, and violating th
