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Maryland Democrats enlisted retired Rep. Barney Frank, one of the architects of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, to bring some national party support to their latest proposal to hold the Trump administration to account.

Democrats in the General Assembly are proposing to create a commission to look out for moves in Washington to undo Dodd-Frank and other financial rules put into place as a response to the economy-wrecking housing crisis of 2008. President Donald J. Trump has said he thinks the regulations stop banks from being able to make as many loans, hurting businesses.

Del. Bill Frick, the House Majority leader and sponsor of the legislation, introduced Frank and an Obama-era Treasury official to a committee hearing as financial protection "luminaries."

Frank, who represented a district in Massachusetts for three decades before retiring in 2013, told Maryland lawmakers he appreciated their efforts. Frank has spoken out repeatedly in defense of the law he championed in recent weeks, but said it's the first time he's come to a state capitol to testify on a piece of legislation connected to it.

"I would hope it would be done widely because people tend to take certain things for granted," he told members of the House Economic Matters Committee.

State Democrats have been seeking ways to use the new president as a foil. Trump was deeply unpopular in Maryland in the November election and remains so, according to a poll released last week. With deep differences between many Democrats and the administration in Washington over policies including on immigration, the environment and health care state Democrats want to motivate supporters as they plot to unseat popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan next year.

Ahead of Trump making an address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, more than 100 people rallied on Lawyers Mall by the State House in Annapolis, waving signs showing, variously, support for Planned Parenthood, backing of the Affordable Care Act and opposition to fracking.

The House of Delegates and the state Senate moved quickly this month to pass a resolution empowering Attorney General Brian E. Frosh to sue the federal government and have pressed the governor to take public positions on national issues. Democrats also back a suite of legislative measures to blunt the impacts of policy changes made by Trump, including a bill that would prohibit law enforcement agencies in Maryland from aiding deportation efforts.

The financial regulation commission idea is one modest part of that package. It would create a small body of lawmakers and members of the public to scrutinize moves in Washington to deregulate banks and other financial institutions and require it to report back to the General Assembly with ideas on how to blunt those changes. The commission itself would not have any regulatory powers.

Sen. Jim Rosapepe, the bill's sponsor in the upper chamber, said at a news conference that undoing the protections in the Dodd-Frank law would "unleash the wolves of Wall Street again."

"Delegate Frick and I have introduced this legislation to set up a watchdog to protect Marylanders from President Trump's plan to deregulate Wall Street and endanger Marylanders as we were endangered 10 years ago," he said.

Senate Minority Leader J.B. Jennings, a Republican who represents Baltimore and Harford counties, called the effort "wasted time." Trump, he said, can't repeal Dodd-Frank without Congress.

"Checks and balances are keeping everything in line. The travel ban, guess what? The courts interceded and it stopped. People need to take a deep breath, and, again, let our ... members of Congress, let them do their job. Legislators in Annapolis, let them stay focused on issues in the state of Maryland."

Mileah Kromer, a political scientist who runs the Goucher Poll, said Democrats need to be careful to strike the right balance between taking positions on national issues while shaping policies that address the concerns of Maryland residents.

Polling results Kromer released Monday showed that about a quarter of respondents think Democrats in Maryland are spending too much time talking about Trump's early executive actions, with about a third saying they have the balance right and a further quarter saying they're doing too little. The risk, Kromer said, is nudging people from the second category into the first.

"They'll have to pick and choose their battles," she said.

Republican lawmakers and the governor's office have said that they're focused on Maryland and have urged their Democratic colleagues to follow suit.

Financial regulation also might be a poor vehicle for exciting voters. While banking policies have important economic consequences and have become a staple issue on the left, they're harder to grapple with than job creation programs or policies to revitalize manufacturing.

Frank, though, said there is a role states can play in keeping an eye on banks and setting rules for them to play by. Before the financial crisis, the federal government had taken much power away from the states, Frank said, but the Dodd-Frank bill handed a great deal of it back.

"We restored to the states significant power," Frank said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Erin Cox contributed to this article.

iduncan@baltsun.com

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Continued here:
Barney Frank joins Maryland Democrats pushing bill to scrutinize Trump on banks - Baltimore Sun

Seeking a path back to power in Congress, Democrats first want to hold on to the governorship in Virginia this year. Then theyre setting their sights in 2018 on crucial governors contests in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

The targeted races are part of a strategy by a new Democratic coalition led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder that aims to undo what he denounces as the rigged political process that has favored Republicans since congressional and state legislative districts were redrawn after the 2010 Census.

To win in Washington, Democrats have come to believe that they must first gain ground locally through elections for governors and state legislators, court cases or ballot initiatives. Most governors elected in 2017 and 2018 will still be in office when the next round of redistricting occurs after the 2020 Census, wielding a potential veto pen over maps drawn by legislatures.

Democratic-backed legal challenges to the current districts in some states also could set new precedents for how redistricting must occur nationally. And in some states, Democratic-aligned groups are considering state ballot initiatives that could diminish the power of legislatures to draw districts, instead entrusting the process to bipartisan or independent commissions.

Republicans won a 241-194 majority over Democrats in last years U.S. House elections, claiming more than 55 percent of the seats even though they edged Democrats by just 1 percentage point in the nationwide popular vote. Holder contends that disproportionate ratio is partly the result of partisan gerrymandering engineered by Republicans, who now control about two-thirds of all state legislatures.

The will of the people, I think, has ultimately been frustrated both at the state level and at the federal level, Holder said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Because of the way districts are drawn, Holder says it will be difficult for Democrats to regain control of Congress in the 2018 elections during the middle of Republican President Donald Trumps term. But hes hopeful of laying a foundation for future success.

Holder, who was attorney general under former President Barack Obama, is chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a new alliance of Democratic leaders, unions and progressive groups trying to bolster Democratic prospects ahead of the next round of redistricting.

The mission is simple: Better maps in 2021 than we got coming out of the census in 2010, Holder told a group of reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

He views the effort as a continuation of his work as attorney general protecting voting rights against Republican initiatives such as photo identification requirements, although the new committee will leave it to others to challenge such laws.

Obama also will be involved in the redistricting effort and already has helped with fundraising, Holder said. He declined to say how much money has been raised so far.

The Democratic initiative is modeled after the Republicans successful Redistricting Majority Project, which contributed to a wave of state legislative and gubernatorial victories in 2010. Those new Republican majorities then were able to control the 2011 redistricting, helping to lock in favorable political maps for years to come.

Since then, Republicans have seized even more states, now controlling the governorship and full legislature in 25 states while total Democratic control has diminished to about a half-dozen states. Republicans contend their dominance is due primarily to superior candidates and issues, not manipulated maps.

Right now, the Democrats are in their nightmare scenario, and theyre responding with talented strategists and fundraisers, said Matt Walter, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee.

But he said if Democrats take a top-down approach to targeting local races, well continue to win.

Many Democrats say the party failed to focus enough on local candidates during Obamas tenure. Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is pledging to rebuild the party at all levels, from the school board to the Senate.

Holders redistricting initiative is dividing states into four tiers, focusing foremost on those with the largest gaps between the partisan popular votes and seats won, and where Democrats can have the greatest impact by winning a key election or court battle. At the bottom are states with few members of Congress, unlikely to flip to Democrats or where there is little ability to influence the redistricting process.

Among their top targets is Virginia, where Democratic congressional candidates received about 16,000 more votes than Republicans last November yet won just four of the states 11 U.S. House seats. Even that marked a gain: Democrats flipped one Republican seat after a federal appeals court ordered new district boundaries because too many black voters had been packed into a single district under the Republican-drawn maps.

Democrats want to retain the governors office, now held by term-limited Gov. Terry McAuliffe, to provide leverage during the 2021 redistricting against a state legislature currently led by Republicans.

A similar scenario exists in Michigan, where Republican congressional candidates edged Democrats by a single percentage point in last years statewide vote yet won 9 of the 14 districts, which were drawn under a GOP legislature and governor. Democrats are taking a three-pronged approach: considering filing suit against the current districts; backing a ballot initiative to change the future redistricting process; and trying to win the governors office being vacated by term-limited Republican Rick Snyder.

There are a lot of big governors races in states where maps are particularly egregious, said Kelly Ward, executive director of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Where Republicans control the state legislature, those governors are essential to get a Democrat at the table in the redistricting process, she added.

Governors races also will be the top targets for Democrats in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two places with Republican state legislatures where GOP congressional candidates received a mid-50s percent share of the statewide vote yet won around 75 percent of their U.S. House seats.

Florida is another high-stakes state, with a term-limited Republican governor in 2018, a GOP-led state legislature and a 16-11 Republican advantage in U.S. House seats.

Republicans will be mounting similar offensives in Illinois and Maryland, hoping to hold on to GOP governorships as a redistricting buffer against Democratic-dominated state legislatures that drew congressional maps in their favor after the 2010 Census.

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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.

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Democratic effort led by ex-AG Holder targets swing states - The Seattle Times

Democrats must say outright that illegal immigration is not OK. Its a problem, and the place to enforce the laws is the employment office, not the Mexican border.

Donald Trumps roundup of undocumented immigrants is cruel and racist in its execution. His plan to build a wall along the Mexican border would be a massive waste of at least 14 billion taxpayer dollars.

But that doesnt give Democrats a free pass to fudge on the issue of illegal immigration. They need to say, We support a generous immigration program, but people without the proper papers cannot come here and take jobs.

Such a policy would not turn this country into a xenophobic police state. It would make the U.S. more like Canada and Australia, two pleasant democracies that take in large numbers of newcomers but dont tolerate illegal immigration.

Democrats dont say theyre for illegal immigration. But many finesse the subject by instead expressing support for comprehensive immigration reform. As policy, thats a sensible stance: Legalize most of the undocumented immigrants while ensuring enforcement of the law going forward.

But comprehensive reform is too indirect a term. Democrats must say outright that illegal immigration is not OK. Its a problem.

A bipartisan bill for such reform passed the Senate but was killed in the House. It would have forced all employers to use the E-Verify system, a database that confirms the right of new hires to work here. The place to enforce the immigration laws is the employment office, not the Mexican border. Over 40 percent of unauthorized workers arrived legally (many by air) but then overstayed their visas.

Polls show Americans overwhelmingly open to immigration and greatly opposed to illegal immigration. Candidate Hillary Clinton did herself no favors by all but ignoring the difference.

Some diversity liberals join with cheap-labor conservatives in arguing (implausibly) that a massive influx of low-skilled workers hasnt hurt the job prospects or pay of low-skilled American workers. They generally avoid the question of why the low-paying jobs that Americans allegedly dont want to do are low-paying.

Interestingly, Bernie Sanders has drawn some liberal fire for discarding that nonsense. Citing the real unemployment numbers for recent high-school graduates 33 percent for whites, 36 percent for Hispanics, 51 percent for African-Americans Sanders told an interviewer: You think we should open the borders and bring in a lot of low-wage workers? Or do you think maybe we should try to get jobs for those kids?

The Trump approach, meanwhile, is long on spectacle, short on humanity. Heres what else is wrong with it:

The number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. peaked in 2007 and has been coming down ever since. So this is not a crisis that couldnt be handled with the gentler comprehensive reform.

More Mexicans have been leaving than are coming in. Trumps wall folly seems like just another opportunity to beat up on brown people.

Most unauthorized immigrants are now from countries other than Mexico. Asia currently accounts for the highest growth rate in unauthorized immigration.

Hiring undocumented workers happens to be illegal, but Trump isnt arresting the employers. (Trump himself got away with using an illegal workforce while building Trump Tower.)

But here are some truths that Democrats must heed:

Some 77 percent of Americans support immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship, according to the American Values Atlas. But a Harvard-Harris poll shows a huge majority (80 percent) opposed to sanctuary cities municipalities that dont let local police report undocumented immigrants they encounter to federal agents.

Clearly, the issue isnt pro-immigrant versus anti-immigrant. The issue is legal immigration versus illegal immigration.

The open borders position, Sanders explained, says, essentially, there is no United States. The public wants there to be a United States that protects its workers. Democrats should agree with that and out loud.

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Democrats, man up on illegal immigration and enforce it in the workplace - The Seattle Times

Newly elected DNC Chair Thomas Perez shown here in June 2016 as the secretary of the Labor Department under President Obama says Democrats need a "50-state strategy" to defeat Republicans at all levels of government. Pete Marovich/Getty Images hide caption

Newly elected DNC Chair Thomas Perez shown here in June 2016 as the secretary of the Labor Department under President Obama says Democrats need a "50-state strategy" to defeat Republicans at all levels of government.

When President Trump delivers his speech at the Capitol on Tuesday, he'll be looking out at a GOP-controlled Congress. It's now new DNC Chairman Tom Perez's job to coordinate the opposition to change that dynamic.

The former labor secretary was elected on Saturday in Atlanta.

Perez tells NPR's Steve Inskeep Democrats have a lot of work to do.

"We need a 50-state strategy plus the territories, and that's what we talked about down in Atlanta last week, making sure that we redefine our mission as a Democratic Party so that we're not simply electing the president, but we're also working to elect people from the from the school board to the Senate across the nation," he says.

On whether a 50-state strategy has a realistic way of competing in red states

Well, absolutely. You look at what happened in Kansas. Donald Trump won by 14 points, and [Democrats] picked up 14 seats in the state legislature because there's radical social engineering going on by Gov. Brownback. [Editor's note: Democrats in Kansas netted 12, not 14 seats in the legislature.] In Alaska, for instance, the House of Representatives flipped Democratic. When we invest in these states and when we have an "every ZIP code strategy," we can succeed because our values and our message, I think, it resonates with the American people. We are the party that fights for Medicare. We're the party that fights for Social Security. We're the party that fights for good wages and we have to communicate that.

On opposing a president who says he wants to preserve Medicare and Social Security

Well, that budget will not allow him to preserve Medicare and Social Security. He talks the talk but they don't walk the walk. He's talked the talk of "I'm going to help the little guy" and ... one of the first things he does on Jan. 20 is to take executive action to make it harder for first-time homeowners to buy a home. A few days later he's making it harder for people to save for retirement. We implemented an overtime rule at the Department of Labor, and he's seeking to roll that back. So he talks the talk, but the reality is he's not draining the swamp. He's filling it with billionaires.

On whether Democrats in Congress will work with Republicans on an Affordable Care Act replacement

The reality is the Republicans don't have ... a replacement. This is a repeal, and when you repeal, what you're saying to people like Ward, who I met a long haul truck driver who in 2015, March 1, got his coverage, on March 15 got his liver transplant. And when I asked him "What do you want to do now, Ward, that you have your life back?" He said, "I want to work again." That's what the Affordable Care Act has done. It has been a lifesaver for people. And when you are trying to repeal something that has created access to health insurance for so many people, that makes no sense. And that's why we're fighting against it.

Originally posted here:
With Republicans In Charge, Democrats Plan To Redefine Their Mission - NPR

Jon Ossoff stood ramrod-straight and spoke in sparing phrases, as if a great burden rests on his 30-year-old shoulders. To hear from many of the 150 people who crowded a Dunwoody synagogue the other night to meet him, its easy to understand why.

The Republican side has been showing up to vote here for years, and we havent been energized, said Melanie Manning, among the Democrats pinning her hopes on Ossoff. Now we are. This election will be different.

No Democrat has represented Georgias 6th Congressional District since Newt Gingrich won the seat in 1978, and since then the reliably conservative district, which now spans from east Cobb County to north DeKalb County, has launched the congressional careers of Johnny Isakson and Tom Price.

But Ossoff, a documentary filmmaker who was until recently unknown to even veteran Georgia strategists, has quickly captured the imagination of Democrats hoping to notch an early victory against Donald Trump. The special election will be among the first in the nation since Trump became president.

His campaign claims nearly $2 million in donations in less than two months, an almost unfathomable amount for a political newcomer. He has racked up celebrity support and a string of big-name endorsements. And national Democrats are pouring staff and resources into his race.

Still, the odds are stacked deeply against Democrats in the 6th, which routinely elected Price by huge margins. The April 18 special election to fill Prices seat has 18 candidates, and Ossoff isnt even a shoo-in to make the June 20 runoff.

Democrats seem willing to take the risk. Many see him as a first chance to turn the wave of left-leaning outrage at Trumps election and channel it into action. Trump eked out just a 1-point victory in the 6th, and Ossoffs campaign casts him as a way to get under the presidents skin.

Make Trump Furious, his website proclaims.

The making of a darling

Ossoff makes for an unlikely Democratic darling. His campaign announcement was met with fits of head-scratching by some influential Democrats and shrugs by local Republicans.

And for all his polish the London School of Economics graduate speaks French and talks earnestly of the need for extremely competent constituent service Ossoffs tone doesnt match the anti-Trump outcry from those who want an all-out battle against the president.

This is not going to be a campaign focused on opposition to Donald Trump. This is going to be a campaign focused on the needs and concerns of every voter in the 6th District, he said. Many people are concerned about the White House, but theyre more concerned about pocketbook issues.

A north DeKalb native, Ossoff was a 17-year-old student at the Paideia School when he read U.S. Rep. John Lewis autobiography and, on a whim, wrote a letter asking for a job. Within months he was interning in the Atlanta Democrats Washington office.

While a student at Georgetown University, he volunteered for Hank Johnsons 2006 challenge against U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney. He wound up becoming deputy communications chief during the campaign, and he worked as a legislative aide for Johnson on Capitol Hill after his victory.

Ossoff joined a filmmaking firm after leaving Johnsons office, and his documentaries exposed corrupt judges in Ghana and Islamic State atrocities in Iraq. He entered the congressional race in January armed with $250,000 in cash commitments and the blessings of Johnson and Lewis.

Hes quick to bring up the fact that he doesnt live in the district, but just south of the line so his girlfriend of 12 years, an Emory University medical student, can walk to work. Members of Congress dont have to live in their districts, although Ossoff said he will move to the 6th after she graduates.

Ossoff quickly shook up the Democratic side of the race, scaring off former state Rep. Sally Harrell and another fresh-faced contender. But four other Democrats are still in the hunt, including ex-state Sen. Ron Slotin, who said he wont bow to pressure to drop out.

I trust the voters of the district to select who the best person is to represent them, and I think Ill be that candidate, said Slotin, who represented an intown Atlanta district in the 1990s.

The Republican side is a free for all, with several big names among the 11 GOP candidates in the field. GOP contenders also wrestle with the Trump effect, with staunch supporters of the president running alongside others who vow to be a check on his power.

Special elections are typically low-turnout affairs, and this one is likely to be no different, in spite of anti Trump sentiment. What makes it even more unpredictable is that all 18 candidates two independents are also in the race will be on the same ballot.

If history is a guide, there will be no upset. The last time a Georgia congressional seat flipped in a special election was in 1872, according to an analysis by University of Minnesota political scientist Eric Ostermeier, and few of the 30 races since then have even been close.

Im not saying its impossible, former U.S. Rep. Buddy Darden said. But the numbers are very difficult for a Democrat in that area.

The Marietta Democrat has a perspective on the race unlike any other. In 1983, he emerged the winner of an even more crowded Georgia special election his race featured 20 contenders to represent the neighboring 7th District. He served the Cobb County-based district until his 1995 defeat.

Ive been real impressed with Jon Ossoff. Hes doing all the right things. And I think hes got a great chance at getting in the runoff, said Darden, who now works for the mega-size Dentons law firm. But look at it realistically: Its a very difficult task.

The big guns

Ossoff will have some timely reinforcements in his corner.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it would commit nine field staffers to organize on-the-ground efforts in the district. Democratic National Committee officials told reporters in Atlanta that the party would also invest in the race.

Several celebrities, including the actresses Debra Messing and Kristen Bell, have pledged their help. And Georgia Democratic Party spokesman Michael Smith said the state organization would work to deliver the White House its first electoral defeat.

Theres also support from the left-leaning Daily Kos website, which so far has raised nearly $1 million for Ossoff.

Thats painted something of a bulls-eye on Ossoffs back. No leading GOP contender has directly confronted him, but the National Republican Congressional Committee painted the Democrat as a far-left Bernie Sanders guy. (Ossoff, for his part, said he backed Hillary Clinton.)

Many of Ossoffs rival campaigns envision a scenario where he emerges as the leading vote-getter against a splintered field of Republicans in April, only to face a unified GOP front in the runoff. Analysts are quick to note the highest-propensity voter in those contests are also the most likely to side with the GOP: senior citizens.

If Republican candidates split the vote, a Democrat could conceivably sneak into the runoff, Kennesaw State University political scientist Kerwin Swint said. But that Democrat would almost surely lose the runoff. The numbers just arent there yet. Lets see what it looks like in 2024.

The cold electoral calculus helps explain why Ossoff tries to tread a careful line. He talks often of the embarrassment of a Trump White House while also trying to appeal to moderates and disillusioned Republicans who dont want anything to do with the Democratic applause lines.

This is about more than Donald Trump. Its about the way people feel about Washington, Ossoff said. The case Im making to people is that we can be strong and prosperous and secure without giving in to division and fear and meanness.

Its exactly what Jill Vogin wanted to hear. The Dunwoody executive hardly paid attention to local politics before November, but Trumps victory triggered a wave of energy that led her to march in Washington the day after his inauguration.

Trump has really turned politics on its head, Vogin said. And people want a candidate like Jon who is interested in reaching across the aisle and bringing sanity back.

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Newcomer with war chest gives Democrats hope in Georgia's 6th District - MyAJC