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Good Wednesday morning. WE KNOW most people are vacationing and relaxing this week, but we have a bit of news for you. The buzz bouncing around town: the Republican-controlled House is looking to take up three bills immediately after new members are sworn in next week: THE REINS ACT, legislation that would require Congress to approve new major regulations, MIDNIGHT RULES ACT, which allows Congress to disapprove of late-stage administration regulations en masse. Also: a RESOLUTION DISAPPROVING OF THE U.N.’S RECENT ISRAEL ACTION. This is important, because it will give President-elect Donald Trump three bills he would be likely to sign early in his presidency.
FIRST IN POLITICO -- “[Kelly] Ward picked to lead Obama-Holder redistricting project,” by Isaac Dovere: “Barack Obama and Eric Holder’s quickly expanding Democratic joint project to tackle redistricting reform has picked a leader: Kelly Ward, fresh off four years as the executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Ward is coming in initially as the interim executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee as it continues to come together, meeting with donors, hiring staff, managing groups joining as members and beginning to identify races to target as the effort gears up for action in 2017, 2018 and into 2020 — and then the actual rounds of redistricting in 2021. Many of the current maps for state legislature and House districts represent Republicans’ ‘fundamental challenge to our democracy,’ Ward said, because of how much gerrymandering they entail.” http://politi.co/2iq9oLK
-- THIS GROUP is quickly becoming a top destination for Democrats in D.C. It's expected to attract big dollars, as Democrats look to try to turn maps toward their favor across the country. Kelly’s phone will be ringing off the hook shortly.
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PLAYBOOK EXCLUSIVE -- MIKE SMITH will be the DCCC’s finance director for the 2018 election cycle. From the DCCC: “Mike most recently served as Hillary Clinton’s Deputy National Finance Director in her campaign for president. As the second most senior member of Clinton’s Finance team, Mike oversaw the campaign’s National Finance Committee of nearly 5,000 high-dollar donors. Previously, Mike served at the DCCC as both the Mid-Atlantic Director and Leader Pelosi’s Finance Director.”
WHAT RON DERMER IS READING -- “Leaked Document: U.S. Colluded With Palestinians 10 Days Before UN Settlements Vote: If authentic, the document, leaked to an Egyptian website, confirms some of the claims voiced in Israel against Obama since the UN vote against the settlements last week,” by Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz’s top-notch diplomatic correspondent: “Secretary of State John Kerry and White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice told a Palestinian delegation in Washington 10 days before the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution against Israeli settlements that the U.S. would not impose a veto on such a resolution if its wording was balanced, according to a document released by an Egyptian news site. The State Department denied the contents of the document. …
“Israel’s [U.S.] ambassador, Ron Dermer, said Monday that Israel had evidence that the Obama administration was behind the wording of the resolution and had cooperated with the Palestinians behind Israel’s back. The document published on the Egyptian news site might be the evidence Israel has.” http://bit.ly/2hMJkK6
-- DAVID SANGER on A3 of the NYT: “John Kerry, in a Final, Pointed Plea, Will Outline a Vision of Mideast Peace”: “In a last-chance effort to shape the outlines of a Middle East peace deal, Secretary of State John Kerry is to outline in a speech on Wednesday the Obama administration’s vision of a final Israeli-Palestinian accord based on bitter lessons learned from an effort that collapsed in 2014. A senior State Department official said that Mr. Kerry, who will be out of office in three weeks, would use his remarks to ‘address some of the misleading critiques’ directed at the Obama administration. That was a clear reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, who has charged that the United States ‘orchestrated’ a United Nations Security Council resolution last week condemning Israel’s continued building of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The United States abstained from the resolution, infuriating Mr. Netanyahu. …
“The speech, the latest salvo in a final conflict between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Obama as Donald J. Trump prepares to assume the presidency, will make the case that ‘the vote was not unprecedented’ and that Mr. Obama’s decision ‘did not blindside Israel.’ Mr. Kerry, the official said, would cite other cases in which Washington officials had allowed similar votes under previous presidents. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a coming speech, said Mr. Kerry would also argue that, with the notable exception of Israel, there was a ‘complete international consensus’ against further settlements in areas that might ultimately be the subject of negotiations.” http://nyti.ms/2hvFUiW … The speech is at 11 a.m. -- livestream www.state.gov
-- SHELDON ADELSON’S Hebrew-language “Israel Hayom” leaving no doubt where it stands today. Its front page has a photo of Kerry and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Its headline is “After pairing with the Palestinians, today Kerry’s speech.” The headline on the inside reads, “‘Kerry’s vision,’ with the Palestinians’ approval.” (Translation by Jake) http://bit.ly/2hnXIaR
-- WHAT NETANYAHU’S PARTY THINKS, per Ynet: “Internal Security Minister and Cabinet Minister Gilad Erdan said: ‘It is very unfortunate that the Obama administration, which has taken the wrong steps in the Middle East, is trying to ensure that there will be chaos even after his tenure. Kerry’s speech at the last minute combined with the Security Council resolution will ensure Palestinians will not agree to negotiations in the coming years. It’s pathetic and obsessive to introduce a formula for ending the conflict at the last moment when you couldn’t move anything in your term -- except the conference of Hamas supporters in Paris.’” http://bit.ly/2i6Jter
COMING ATTRACTIONS -- “Obama administration is close to announcing measures to punish Russia for election interference,” by WaPo’s Ellen Nakashima: “The Obama administration is close to announcing a series of measures to punish Russia for its interference in the 2016 presidential election, including economic sanctions and diplomatic censure … The administration is finalizing the details, which also are expected to include covert action that will probably involve cyber-operations ... An announcement on the public elements of the response could come as early as this week.” http://wapo.st/2igxnjp
--“‘What the Russians Did Was Utterly Unprecedented’: The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee criticizes Donald Trump, and the leader and members of his own party, for mishandling a ‘grave danger’ to the republic,” by Uri Friedman in The Atlantic: “[Rep. Adam] Schiff is refusing to move on. The future of liberal democracy in the United States and around the world is at stake, he told me, and the U.S. government is rapidly running out of time to respond to the threat (Schiff says he has no confidence that Trump will punish Russia over its role in the election). ... Schiff is also critical of Obama, whose ‘excess of caution’ ended up ‘inviting too much Russian interference.’” http://theatln.tc/2iDhqAq
CHRISTIE’S COMEBACK PLAN -- NYT A19, “‘Abandoned’ in New Jersey, Chris Christie Returns to a Changed Landscape,” by Kate Zernike and Patrick McGeehan: “Christie still believes he has a political future nationally. He wants to write a book and his friends have been telling people in New Jersey that the governor expects Mr. Trump to eventually come around to him. According to their scenario, the White House management team of Jared Kushner, Stephen K. Bannon and Reince Priebus will be a disaster and Mr. Christie will be tapped as the skilled manager, like David Gergen, the former aide to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan who swooped in to steady Bill Clinton’s administration after a raucous first year.” http://nyti.ms/2hsvIGf
HILLWATCH -- “Experts: Ryan’s livestream crackdown may be unconstitutional,” by Rachael Bade: “Paul Ryan’s new crackdown against protests on the House floor -- a direct response to the Democrats’ gun-control ‘sit-in’ last summer -- is prompting questions from experts in both parties about its constitutionality. As part of a House rules package members will vote to approve in early January, House GOP leaders want to empower the sergeant-at-arms to fine lawmakers up to $2,500 for shooting video or taking photos on the chamber floor. But experts say Ryan’s proposal may run afoul of Article 1 of the Constitution, which says ‘each House may … punish its Members for disorderly behavior.’
“For more than 200 years that has been interpreted to mean any contested sanctions against lawmakers must be approved by the full House with a floor vote, attorneys steeped in congressional legal matters say. ‘The Constitution gives the House the authority to discipline members; I have never heard of anything where an officer of the House was given that authority,’ said Mike Stern, a former lawyer for the nonpartisan House counsel’s office and the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s GOP staff. Stern, who called the proposed rule a ‘plausible Constitutional issue to raise,’ said Democrats could take the matter to court. ‘Their strongest argument would be: The House doesn’t have the authority to give these officers the power to punish us; only the power of the House can do that, and [Republicans] have short-circuited our rights by the way they’ve done it.’” http://politi.co/2i6DDK9
FUN CLICK – “The (Very Luxe) Real Estate Holdings of Trump’s Cabinet Picks,” by Beckie Strum in Mansion Global: “From Rex Tillerson to Ben Carson, a look at the opulent homes of the millionaires and billionaires serving the next president”. 9 pix on one page, which also includes the homes of Betsy DeVos, Vincent Viola, and Wilbur Ross http://mansion.global/2iq27f7
-- “Mystery investor plans to flip Trump’s boyhood home: In real estate jargon, the property has potential,” by Lorraine Woellert: “After languishing without a buyer for months, the five-bedroom Tudor in Jamaica Estates, New York, was sold Dec. 16 to a buyer who will auction it to the highest bidder in January, according to Paramount Realty USA. That’s a quick turnaround for any house flip, but it’s an especially bold undertaking in a time of rising mortgage rates and winter market doldrums. ... To generate interest in a sale, Paramount is circulating a copy of the president-elect’s birth certificate, which shows the home’s Wareham Place address. His father, Fred Trump, a developer, built the 2,000-square-foot house in 1940.” With a pic of the house http://politi.co/2iq2RAy
THIS CAN’T GO WRONG, RIGHT? -- “As Home Prices Rise, Flippers Make a Comeback,” by WSJ’s Kirsten Grind and Peter Rudegeair: “The number of investors who flipped a house in the first nine months of 2016 reached the highest level since 2007. About one-third of the deals were financed with debt, a percentage not seen in eight years. Now Wall Street, which was nearly felled by real-estate forays almost a decade ago, is getting back into the action. … Investors are making an average profit of about $61,000 on each flip, up from about $19,000 at the bottom of the market in 2009. … In recent months, big banks, including Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. have started extending credit lines to companies that specialize in lending to home-flippers.” http://on.wsj.com/2hnMW4i
SPORTS BLINK -- NYT A1, “Russians No Longer Dispute Olympic Doping Operation,” by Rebecca R. Ruiz in Moscow: “Russia is for the first time conceding that its officials carried out one of the biggest conspiracies in sports history: a far-reaching doping operation that implicated scores of Russian athletes, tainting not just the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi but also the entire Olympic movement. Over several days of interviews here with The New York Times, Russian officials said they no longer disputed a damning set of facts that detailed a doping program with few, if any, historical precedents.” http://nyti.ms/2iDn3mc
TOP READ -- NYT A1, “Saudi Royal Family Is Still Spending in an Age of Austerity,” by Nick Kulish and Mark Mazzetti as part of the paper’s “Secrets of the Kingdom” series: “These are anxious times for the royals, led by an 80-year-old who has already had at least one stroke and is likely to be the last of six sons of the founding monarch to serve as sovereign. ... In his two-year reign, King Salman has upended the traditions of succession, creating rifts after bypassing several brothers to position the next generation — a nephew and a favorite son — in line for the throne. He has ousted prominent members of other branches of the family from governorships and top ministry jobs, consolidating power but sowing some discontent in a family that demands unity.” http://nyti.ms/2iDglMR
BEYOND THE BELTWAY -- S.F. CHRONICLE (front page, lead story), “Latinos in tech wary of Trump … Workers vowing they’ll stand up to president-elect” -- A1 PDF http://politi.co/2hnK7jI … Story http://bit.ly/2igztjh … THE STATE (S.C.) (top of the front page), “Legislator accused of domestic violence ... Aiken Rep. [Chris] Corley punched his wife, pointed gun at her, officials allege” -- A1 PDF http://politi.co/2hsIi8b … Story http://bit.ly/2iDGNG7 … CHARLOTTE OBSERVER (top of the front page), “How Trump could affect bank hiring in Charlotte” -- A1 PDF http://politi.co/2hsrcrg … Story http://bit.ly/2i6Igne
WORTH THE CLICK -- Ancestry.com has searched for school yearbook pix of incoming senators and congressmen, as well as returning members. At this link you’ll find hi-res yearbook photos of newly elected members, including Sen.-elect Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Sen.-elect John Kennedy (R-La.), Rep.-elect Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Rep.-elect Charlie Crist (D-Fla.), Rep.-elect Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Rep.-elect Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) and more. Also included are school yearbook photos of returning Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.). http://bit.ly/2iDnskz
CYBERWARS -- “U.S. Charges Three Chinese Traders With Hacking Law Firms: Indictment says the traders bought shares of at least five publicly traded companies before announcements that the firms would be acquired,” by WSJ’s Sara Randazzo and Dave Michaels: “Three Chinese traders earned more than $4 million in illegal profits after they hacked into the computer systems of prominent U.S. law firms and stole nonpublic information on mergers and acquisitions, according to a federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The allegations are the latest alarm bell for law firms, which have long been considered vulnerable to cyberattacks. … The Wall Street Journal reported in March that federal investigators were probing hacks of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, which represent Wall Street banks and Fortune 500 companies in matters including lawsuits and multibillion-dollar merger negotiations. While prosecutors didn’t identify the law firms, details in the indictment closely match Weil Gotshal and Cravath.” http://on.wsj.com/2i6H57l
THE NEW GILDED AGE – “As Populists Won 2016 Ballots, World’s Richest Made $225 Billion,” by Bloomberg’s Tom Metcalf and Jack Witzig: “Triggered by disappointing economic data from China at the beginning, the U.K.’s vote to leave the European Union in the middle and the election of billionaire Donald Trump at the end, the biggest fortunes on the planet whipsawed through $4.8 trillion of daily net worth gains and losses during the year, rising 9995.4 percent to $4.4 trillion by the close of trading Dec. 27, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. ... The gains were led by Warren Buffett, who added $12 billion during the year.” http://bloom.bg/2iq5dzp
INAUGURATION WATCH -- “A Rockette Speaks Out: Amidst the media storm about the pressure to perform at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, one dancer breaks rank for an exclusive MarieClaire.com interview about the turmoil behind the scenes,” by Kaitlin Menza: “Mary says[:] ‘The majority of us said no immediately. Then there’s the percentage that said yes, for whatever reason—whether it’s because they’re young and uninformed, or because they want the money, or because they think it’s an opportunity to move up in the company when other people turn it down.’ ... [T]o her knowledge, no women of color have signed up to perform that day. ‘It’s almost worse to have 18 pretty white girls behind this man who supports so many hate groups,’ she says. ... ‘They’re going to be branded in history as one of those women,’ Mary says. ‘How’s it going to look?’” http://bit.ly/2iq4VZu
TOP-EDS -- RICHARD TRUMKA in the NYT, “Don’t Let Trump Speak for Workers”: “Mr. Trump’s emerging cabinet and policy pronouncements seem to treat actual working people as bottom lines rather than human beings, our unions as a threat rather than a partner, and rising wages as a problem rather than the foundation of our prosperity.” http://nyti.ms/2iDrTM4
-- SEN. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.) in the NYT, “Fix Immigration. It’s What Voters Want”: “Donald J. Trump smashed many orthodoxies on his way to victory, but immigration was the defining issue separating him from his primary opponents and Hillary Clinton. President-elect Trump now has a clear mandate not only to stop illegal immigration, but also to finally cut the generation-long influx of low-skilled immigrants that undermines American workers. ... For too long, our immigration policy has skewed toward the interests of the wealthy and powerful: Employers get cheaper labor, and professionals get cheaper personal services like housekeeping. We now need an immigration policy that focuses less on the most powerful and more on everyone else.” http://nyti.ms/2iDGTxs
-- “Does Trump Have a Secret Master Plan for Wilbur Ross? We need a good distressed investment guy to buy up the distressed properties of the world economy,” by Andy Kessler in the WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/2i6wn0v
SNEAK PEEK -- This coming Sunday’s NYT Mag features a big cover story by C.J. Chivers in one of his first major features since being named a writer at large for the magazine -- “The Fighter: The Marine Corps taught Sam Siatta how to shoot. The war in Afghanistan taught him how to kill. Nobody taught him how to come home”: “Since leaving the corps in 2012, Siatta had been unable to switch off the habits of war. He was hypervigilant and struggled to relax. He watched people, sizing them up and scanning for threats. In the varying situations of everyday life, he constantly repositioned himself so no one got behind him. Much of this was appropriate for combat patrols. Some of it drew from his training. All of it was mentally and emotionally exhausting, unsuited for a peaceful life. Going to a restaurant, moving through knots of people at a party, visiting the mall, finding a seat in a classroom relative to other people and windows and doors — each was a challenge requiring effort and will.” http://nyti.ms/2hMQhe4 ... The cover http://bit.ly/2hMMuh0
JASON ZENGERLE in NY Mag, “Who Will Do What Harry Reid Did Now That Harry Reid Is Gone? Nevada’s departing senator would have fought Trump with a ruthlessness perhaps no other Democratic leader has”: “As I spoke to him in his office that afternoon, he seemed to go out of his way to insult his opponents. He sarcastically dismissed John Barrasso, a Republican senator who helped spearhead the opposition to Obamacare, as ‘Doctor Barrasso, the orthopedic surgeon from Wyoming’ — as if treating rotator-cuff injuries on the Great Plains wasn’t real medical work. Steve Bannon, Trump’s incoming senior White House adviser, was ‘a white supremacist, and if you spend a good part of your adult life being a white supremacist, it doesn’t change overnight.’ As for Trump, Reid offered a comparison: ‘As you know, I opposed a lot of stuff that [George W.] Bush did, I think he was a really bad president, but it appears the Bush family is at least in the realm of rationality.’” http://nym.ag/2iD7BGy
STRATEGERY -- “Donald Trump’s Path To 300 House Votes On Infrastructure Runs Through The Black Caucus,” by HuffPost’s Ryan Grim, Laura Barron-Lopez and Matt Fuller: “The Huffington Post spoke with 11 of the 45 members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the House of Representatives and found the vast majority skeptical but willing to work on an infrastructure bill with Trump, even if Trump cuts House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and her lieutenant, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), out of the process." With a Sam Geduldig cameo http://huff.to/2hsol1e
OOPS -- “The Worst Political Predictions of 2016: It was another rocky year for the political sages,” by Ruairi Arrieta-Kenna: “Hillary Clinton will be elected president ... Trump won’t be the Republican nominee ... There will be a viable independent or third-party candidate ... The Republican National Convention will be contested ... Women will form a firewall for Clinton against Trump ... Red states will go blue ... Hillary Clinton will defeat Bernie Sanders in the Michigan Democratic primary in a landslide ... Merrick Garland will be confirmed for the Supreme Court ... The United Kingdom won’t vote to leave the European Union.” http://politi.co/2hMRqCr
CLICKERS -- “The new household names: Garcia is now the sixth-most-common surname in the U.S.,” by Vice’s Spe Chen: “The 2010 [Census] data … show that six of the 20 most common last names in the U.S. now have Hispanic or Latino origin. In 1990, just 2 of the 20 most common names were Hispanic. ... The Hispanic population in the U.S. grew by 43 percent between 2000 and 2010. That year there were some 50.5 million Hispanic-Americans, or 16 percent of the overall population.” http://bit.ly/2hnwwJ8
--“2016: The Year in Cartoons”: 24 of the best from The New Yorker this year http://bit.ly/2hsNgBR
REMEMBERING CARRIE FISHER -- NYT’s Dave Itzkoff: “Carrie Fisher, the actress, author and screenwriter who brought a rare combination of nerve, grit and hopefulness to her most indelible role, as Princess Leia in the ‘Star Wars’ movie franchise, died on Tuesday morning. She was 60. ... Ms. Fisher established Princess Leia as a damsel who could very much deal with her own distress, whether facing down the villainy of the dreaded Darth Vader or the romantic interests of the roguish smuggler Han Solo. ... Wielding blaster pistols, piloting futuristic vehicles and, to her occasional chagrin, wearing strange hairdos and a revealing metal bikini, she reprised the role in three more films ... [including] 32 years later [in] ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ by which time Leia had become a hard-bitten general.” http://nyti.ms/2hspkyw … The first Star Wars trailer http://bit.ly/2i6UaNQ
--“50 of 2017’s Most Anticipated Movies,” by The Hollywood Reporter’s Ashley Lee -- with trailers http://bit.ly/2hnS6gz
PLAYBOOK METRO SECTION -- “Man charged with murder in slaying of D.C. actress,” by WaPo’s Peter Hermann and Michael E. Miller: “On Christmas Day, Tricia McCauley made a pie and prepared her signature Brussels sprouts to take to a holiday party with fellow members of the District’s theater scene. At 4:30 p.m., she posted on Facebook that she was on her way. She never showed for dinner. A frantic search by friends and family, scouring city blocks, ended just after midnight Tuesday, when a man walking his dog near Dupont Circle spotted McCauley’s white two-door Scion iQ with its ‘Plant more plants’ bumper sticker. He called police. Police found the car a few minutes later parked in the 2200 block of M Street NW in West End. In a nearby CVS store, they confronted a man who had been spotted driving the Scion. A police report says that an officer asked the man for the keys and that he surrendered them. Inside the car, police found McCauley’s 5-foot-4, 115-pound body.
“McCauley had been strangled and beaten, authorities said. Police charged the man, Adrian Duane Johnson, 29, with first-degree felony murder, among other crimes. Police said they don’t know how the 46-year-old McCauley first encountered Johnson. The two were strangers, police said. Interim D.C. police chief Peter Newsham said detectives don’t know where or when McCauley was killed.” http://wapo.st/2hvXm6F
MEDIAWATCH -- “‘Profitable’ Washington Post adding more than five dozen journalists,” by Ken Doctor: “Twenty-sixteen was the year The Washington Post came of age -- again. ... Now, come 2017, the Post seems to be doing something unique in daily journalism: It is adding journalists early in the year. … [C]ontent will be bolstered by the new quicker-response investigative team, more breaking news and positions added in both video and audio/podcast (built on the success of its 44-episode presidential podcast series). Then, the Post — which now sends out 62 different newsletters to its readers — will increase its newsletter and alerts staff.” http://politi.co/2iDpelF
--HOWARD WOLFSON in The Daily Beast, “The Media Blew Overall, Yes, But There Were Noteworthy Exceptions, And Here They Are”: “Alec MacGillis and Chris Arnade looked at the campaign from the outside in, spent considerable time with working class voters in the Midwest and asked why they voted for Trump. Their answers defy simple characterizations. Glenn Thrush examined the campaign from the inside out in a deeply sourced piece. Joshua Green and Sasha Issenberg talked with the Trump data nerds, and Edward-Isaac Dovere looked at the Clinton campaign’s mistakes in Michigan.” http://thebea.st/2iDrQ2I
--“Real Clear Education Editors Leaving to Bring Aggregation to The 74,” by EdWeek’s Mark Walsh: “The two top editors of Real Clear Education ... are moving to The 74, the education news website partly funded by the family foundation of President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for U.S. secretary of education. Andrew J. Rotherham, who served as a White House domestic-policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, launched Real Clear Education in 2014 ... Emmeline Zhao, a former editor at the Huffington Post, has been Real Clear Education’s editor since its inception.” http://bit.ly/2hvQfLG
--LARA JAKES to the NYT as a new night editor – Per a staff memo from NYT D.C. bureau chief Elisabeth Bumiller: “Lara was most recently managing editor of news for Foreign Policy magazine … Before that, she worked as a reporter at The Associated Press for more than 12 years, including three in Baghdad, where she served as bureau chief in 2012. ... Lara starts on Jan. 17.”
SPOTTED: D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser dining last night with former Mayor Adrian Fenty and four others at Bourbon Steak in the Four Seasons in Georgetown ... Hamilton Place Strategies’ Tucker Warren (a Gore alum) walking around San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with his family last night
TRANSITIONS -- JUAN RODRIGUEZ, Sen.-elect Kamala Harris’s campaign manager, will become a partner at SCN Strategies as the powerhouse consultancy expands from San Francisco into Los Angeles. Rodriguez will establish the L.A. office for the firm, which has worked on campaigns for Gov. Jerry Brown, Harris and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom. Consultants around the state are positioning for a wide-open gubernatorial race in 2018. Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor who is running for governor in 2018, is trying to make inroads in L.A. and Southern California. … LIZ BARTOLOMEO, the managing director for communications at the Center for American Progress, is leaving CAP to join Rep. Ro Khanna’s office as communications director and senior adviser.
PLAYBOOKERS’ NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS: Laura DeMaria, executive director of the National Association for County Community and Economic Development: “It’s the same as 2016’s: pet more dogs.” ... Bill Arnone, CEO of the National Academy of Social Insurance: “To help promote a renewed respect for evidence and facts – and accept those that might not be in sync with my own world view.” ... Giovanni Hashimoto: “Find time for more recreational reading and travel to 12 new countries.” ... Mary Elizabeth Russell: “Allocate a limited amount of time per day to social media so it does not demand too much time”.
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Susanna Quinn, founder of on-demand fitness and beauty service Veluxe, celebrating by “Weather permitting, hiking the Billy Goat trail with family and then, dinner with my handsome trophy husband, Jack Quinn. Joining us will be my mentor, Allen Gannett and his husband, Trever Faden and my best guy friend, Matt Dornic” – read her Playbook Plus Q&A: http://politi.co/2i6Ghzt
BIRTHDAYS: NPR’s Melissa Block ... Seth Meyers is 43 ... John Legend is 38 ... Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) is 72 ... former Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is 7-0 ... former Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe is 7-0 ... Politico’s Zach Montellaro, who helps bring you Playbook every morning, is 23 (h/t Colby Bermel) ... Mark Katz is 53 ... Shari Yost Gold, Democratic fundraiser and the pride of Akron ... Debbie Willhite ... Michele Altemus, alum of Hillary for America and the Depts. of Agriculture and Interior ... David Eisner, CEO at Repair the World (h/ts Jon Haber and Teresa Vilmain) ... Bloomberg Politics’ Sahil Kapur, a TPM alum, is 3-0 ... Politico’s Han Ah-Sue ... David Dunn ... Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) is 8-0 ... former Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.) is 69 ... DLCC political director Kevin Boyd ... Christa Robinson, SVP of comms. for CBS News, a Tribune and CNN alum ... D.J. Jordan, comm. director for Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) ... AP economics writer Josh Boak ... Cam Cullman, account exec at BBDO Worldwide and former US Sailing Team member ... CEB’s Will Candrick ...
… Ed McFadden, secretary of comms for the Archdiocese of Washington, celebrating with a small, private affair highlighted by old California Cabs, Yippee-Ki-Yay bourbon, jambalaya meatballs and pork belly corn dogs (h/t Blain Rethmeier) ... Katy Montgomery, Bush 43 DHS alum and current director of comms at the Chertoff group ... Kathy Kraninger, also a Bush 43 DHS Alum, now with Senate Approps and a Trump DHS transition team member (h/ts Ed Cash) ... Lou Gallo (I’d like to thank Phil) is 59 ... Virginia Del. Jennifer McClellan ... Janne Emilie Nolan ... Chris Cooper, principal at Convergence Targeted and an SKDK alum, is 46 ... Raquel Wojnar ... Douglas Wiley ... Jack Lynch is 66 ... Adrienne Fox Luscombe ... Savannah Short … Alexa Marrero, director of operations in corporate comms. at Boeing and a Fred Upton and E&C alum ... Erica Martinson, DC reporter for Alaska Dispatch News and a Politico alum … Corinne Elise McGrath ... Molly Varoga … David Drews ... Randall Snow ... Mike Snyder ... comic book creator Stan Lee is 94 ... former United Auto Workers union president Owen Bieber is 87 ... Denzel Washington is 62 (h/ts AP)