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Lisa Desjardins:

That's right, Judy.

We have never seen an address like this in U.S. history. And it's possible, we may not ever see one like this again. Because of COVID restrictions, let me run through a little bit about what's going to happen in the House chamber tonight.

First of all, just 200 people total, about that many, will be in the chamber for that speech. That's different than the 1,400 that are usually crammed in side by side, even up in the galleries.

Now, tonight, everyone in the chamber will have needed to either be tested negative for COVID or prove that they are fully vaccinated, meaning two weeks after that final vaccination shot.

And to space out the lawmakers that will be in there, they will be using the balconies. So, it's hard for me to say what people will be seeing, but likely you will be seeing lawmakers dotted throughout the chamber. I was able to get in there and look, and you will see that some rows only have one person in them. Republicans are seated on one side of the chamber, Democrats on the other.

They had been mixing that up in years past, but, this year, it looks like they will keep them in partisan aisles.

Now, as much as I think that that will be the dominant image, this strange image of lawmakers dotting the House chamber, we will also have something else unprecedented happening tonight. That will be the two people standing behind President Biden will be two women for the first time, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris, because she is the president of the Senate.

So, that is something also to look forward to. And, in addition, we will have the first address from an African American Republican senator be in the response for the Republicans, Tim Scott. He told me he's been practicing for days.

And we know a little bit about what he's going to say. To counter President Biden's message of his agenda, we expect Senator Scott to talk about the Republican agenda, the idea that Republicans are the party of opportunity. And he will say that the economy was at its best before the pandemic, when Republicans were in charge.

And he will make an argument that Republicans should be back in charge again.

Link:
What to expect from Biden's joint address to Congress and the Republican response - PBS NewsHour

Asked specifically by Wallace whether former President Donald Trump had, as CNN has reported, told him in a phone call that the rioters cared more about the 2020 election than he did, McCarthy side-stepped, offering this:

"What I talked to President Trump about, I was the first person to contact him when the riots was going on. He didn't see it. What he ended the call was saying -- telling me, he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did, he put a video out later."

"Speaking to the President from inside the besieged Capitol, McCarthy pressed Trump to call off his supporters and engaged in a heated disagreement about who comprised the crowd. Trump's comment about the would-be insurrectionists caring more about the election results than McCarthy did was first mentioned by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington state, in a town hall earlier this week, and was confirmed to CNN by Herrera Beutler and other Republicans briefed on the conversation."

So, McCarthy is engaging in a massive bit of underplaying of that phone call. But he's doing more, too.

He says Trump "didn't see" the rioters overtaking the Capitol building. Which is very hard for me to believe, given that a) it was on EVERY cable channel as it was happening and b) Trump watches cable constantly. It is, of course, possible that he turned off cable TV on the day that the Electoral College results were being certified (and shortly after his headlining of the "Stop the Steal" rally in DC) but, man oh man, is it unlikely.

Then there's McCarthy's timeline. He told Wallace that Trump ended the phone call with him by insisting that "he'll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that's what he did, he put a video out later."

Which, uh, not exactly.

"It's been more than two hours since a chaotic mob of rioters surrounded and breached the Capitol. Despite many calls from both Republican and Democrats for President Trump to demand his supporters leave the Capitol building, the President has not yet done so."

And remember that even AFTER the insurrection at the Capitol, almost 150 Republicans voted to object to the Electoral College results -- despite zero evidence to back up Trump's claims of fraud and theft.

McCarthy's whitewashing of what happened on January 6, then, is a survival tactic for him. In a party in which untruth about the election and January 6 has run rampant, the only way for McCarthy to hold onto power is to tell you that what you saw and heard is not what you saw and heard.

Read the original post:
The top Republican in the House is trying to rewrite history on the January 6 Capitol riot - CNN

Editors note: South Hills Record is only spotlighting contested races in the primary election.

According to the Allegheny County Office of Elections unofficial candidate list, in Whitehall, five Republicans are running for four spots on the ballot incumbent Linda Book, John Paravati, Harold Plusa, Stone Sobieralski and incumbent William Veith.

Democrat Kathy DePuy is running unopposed in the primary.

Incumbent Mayor Jim Nowalk, a Democrat, is running unopposed in the primary. He will face Republican Chris A. Mooney in the November election.

Here are the Republican council nominees and their responses to the election questions posed by South Hills Record.

Linda Book

Why did you decide to run for election? I want to continue to provide Whitehall residents the best services they deserve in our police department, public works department, parks and recreation and Whitehall Library, along with strong support for our dedicated Whitehall Volunteer Fire Department.

What is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed? To continue providing those services to Whitehall residents with responsible planning and budgeting during the uncertainties of the pandemic.

What should voters know about you? As a Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs member of the board of trustees and board of directors, I work to provide updates to our borough regarding training and education and utilize the opportunity to reflect on state-level discussions of the important issues to Whitehall, such as grant availability, infrastructure, police radar and veteran benefits, just to name a few.

As an Army veteran, I am proud to continue working annually with our Whitehall resident veterans and Whitehall Lions Club to provide the annual venue in honoring our veterans on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

John Paravati

John Paravati did not respond to requests for information for this article.

Harold Plusa

Why did you decide to run for election? As a Whitehall resident and homeowner for 22 years, I have pursued my interest and involvement in borough affairs as a member of the Whitehall Environment Action Committee (formerly Wildlife Management) and, prior to the pandemic, regularly attended borough council meetings.

What is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed? I am an advocate for term limits for all elected executive positions and legislative bodies, including borough council. Our council needs a combination of experience and fresh, new ideas. The most significant issue facing the borough today is replacing the borough swimming pool. My wife, Lynn, and I have discussed this with family members prior to responding to the borough survey. To the best of my knowledge, decisions regarding the pool will have been made prior to the election. A swimming pool is an important component to any community.

What should voters know about you? I am a lifelong resident of Allegheny County (excluding active military service). A graduate of South Hills High School and Duquesne University, Im married with grandchildren in Baldwin Whitehall schools. I have more than 20 years of military service, Army and Army Reserve, as a unit commander, staff officer and assistant professor of military science. Im a member of the American Legion, the Reserve Officers Association, Veterans Breakfast Club and a Whitehall Library discussion group organized for World War II veterans. I have more than 30 years of experience in human resources management and information systems, and I am a Republican Party committeeman for Whitehall Borough and Allegheny County.

Stone Sobieralski

Why did you decide to run for election? Whitehall is an outstanding community to be a part of. I would like to help contribute to the continued success of the borough.

What is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed? Fiscal responsibility. The borough had an operating deficit in 2019 of $1.2 million. The councils number one job is to spend money responsibly and as efficiently as possible, which I would be committed to. Property taxes also need to remain the same since they have not gone up in 16 years. As big projects start to be mentioned, it is more important than ever to have someone on council that will consider the financial positions of the Whitehall residents.

What should voters know about you? I am hardworking and dedicated to helping my community.

William Veith

Why did you decide to run for election? Im seeking my fourth term to continue to keep Whitehall Borough one of the most respected boroughs in the state.

What is the biggest issue that needs to be addressed? One of the biggest challenges we face is maintaining our wonderful community resources and amenities without increasing taxes.

What should voters know about you? I have lived in Whitehall for the past 31 years, serving on many committees both locally and statewide.

Katie Green is a Tribune-Review news editor. You can contact Katie at kgreen@triblive.com.

View original post here:
5 Republican candidates running for 4 Whitehall council spots on the ballot - TribLIVE

MADISON -A Dane County judge voided a contract Thursday between Republican legislators and their redistricting lawyers.

Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled Republican leaders didn't have the power to hire two law firms this year to help them with expected litigation over congressional and legislative maps they must draw before next year's elections.

States must draw new maps every 10 years based on population changes detected by the U.S. Census Bureau. Those maps can give one political party an advantage over the other.

Republicans who control the Wisconsin Legislature expect Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to veto whatever maps they draw. That will leave it to courts to decide what the maps should look like.

In anticipation of that, they hired lawyers in recent months and planned to pay them $1 million or more this year.

But Ehlke found the leaders didn't have the power to hire the attorneys and canceled their contracts with them.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu of Oostburg did not immediately react to the decision but could appeal the ruling.

The lawsuit challenging the hiring of the attorneys was brought last month by four Madison teachers.

In 2019, Republican lawmakers passed wide-ranginglame-duck laws to limit the powers of Evers and Democratic Attorney Josh Kaul.

Those laws made it easier for the Legislature to hire attorneys, but Ehlke found that ability applies only when litigation has already been filed and not when lawmakers simply expect they will be sued, as is the case with redistricting.

"Under the plain terms of the statute the defendants did not have authority to enter into the two contracts at issue in this case," Ehlke wrote.

Under one contract,Vos and LeMahieu agreed to have the state pay as much as $965,000 for the services of attorney Adam Mortara and Consovoy McCarthy, the boutique law firm that has represented former President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee.

As part of that arrangement, the state began paying $30,000 a month starting in January to cover pre-litigation consulting. The monthly fee was to jump to $200,000 in July or when a redistricting lawsuit is filed, whichever comes first.

Under a second contract, Vos and LeMahieu agreed to pay $375 an hour to former Deputy Attorney General Kevin St. John at the Madison firmBellGiftosSt. John.

Evers has not hired attorneys for redistricting. Last year heestablisheda commission to draw nonpartisan maps.

Republicans have said they don't trust that those maps will be nonpartisan and plan to draw their own maps.

ContactPatrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Followhim on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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Dane County judge voids redistricting contract with Republicans and their lawyers - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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The next major fight over voting rights in the US kicked off Monday: a hugely consequential battle over the boundaries of electoral districts for the next 10 years that will have profound implications for American politics. And Republicans seem to be pulling ahead.

Census officials released a decennial tally of people living in the US, a number thats used to apportion the Houses 435 seats among the 50 states. The Census Bureau announced that Colorado, Montana, Oregon, North Carolina and Florida will all gain an additional seat in the House, while Texas will get two more. Seven states California, California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia will lose a seat.

The numbers accentuated what many have predicted for months: Republicans are extremely well positioned to draw districts that will give them an advantage both in their effort to reclaim control of the US House in the 2022 midterms, and cement control over congressional seats for the next decade.

The constitution gives state lawmakers the power to draw districts and, because of their continued strength in state legislative races, Republicans will dominate the process later this year and can manipulate the lines to their advantage, a process often called gerrymandering.

Even though Democrats earned about 4.7m more votes in 2020 House races around the country, Republicans will have control over the drawing of 187 congressional districts later this year (down from 219 in 2011) while Democrats will have complete control over the drawing of 75 districts (up from 44 a decade ago), according to the Cook Political Report.

Republicans need to win just five seats to retake control of the US House of Representatives, a gap observers believe they can wipe out with gerrymandering alone. Eric Holder, the former US attorney general, told reporters Wednesday he was concerned Republicans could use their complete control of the redistricting process in Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina alone to overcome that gap.

What were seeing is a Republican party that has shown theyre willing to bend or break the rules of democracy simply to hold on to power, said Holder, who is leading the Democratic effort to push back on excessive GOP gerrymandering. If Republicans gerrymander those states, as they have indicated they will, they will have the ability there, almost to take control of the House of Representatives just based on what they do in those four states.

In 2019, the US supreme court said for the first time that federal courts could not do anything to stop severe manipulation of district lines for partisan gain. One lingering uncertainty is whether Democrats in Congress will be able to pass pending federal legislation to place new limits on the practice. Passing that legislation, however, requires getting rid of the filibuster, a Senate rule requiring 60 votes to advance legislation. Democrats do not yet have the votes to get rid of the procedure.

You could pass new criteria, including a ban on partisan gerrymandering require greater transparency in the process, said Michael Li, a redistricting expert at the Brennan Center for Justice. Theres a lot that could be done.

Because of a 2013 supreme court ruling, states with a history of voting discrimination, like Texas and North Carolina, will not have to get their maps approved by the federal government before they go into effect. That leaves an opportunity for lawmakers to draw maps that discriminate based on race. Kathay Feng, the national redistricting and representation director at Common Cause, a government watchdog group, warned that voting advocates would be closely monitoring for that kind of discrimination. Much of the Americas population growth over the last decade has come from non-white people.

Our top priority is ensuring that states that are adding congressional seats recognize the population growth fueled by communities of color in the upcoming redistricting process, Feng said in a statement.

As federal legislation stalls, Democrats are already signaling they will move aggressively in court to challenge gerrymandering. Shortly after the apportionment numbers were released, Holders group filed three separate lawsuits in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Louisiana states where Democrats and Republicans share control of the redistricting process asking courts to be prepared to step in if lawmakers reach an impasse. Such quick machinations are crucial because the redistricting process is moving on a condensed timeline this year because of delays releasing data due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Marc Elias, a top Democratic election lawyer, said this week more lawsuits are likely to follow.

While the Republicans made possible gains, the biggest surprise of the Census Bureaus Mondays announcement was that it didnt result in more of a shift for the party. Projections based on population estimates had predicted Texas would gain three seats and Florida would gain two. Arizona, where districts are drawn by an independent commission, was expected to gain a seat, but ended up not doing so. Minnesota and Rhode Island were both projected to lose seats, and New York could have lost an additional seat.

Overall, the population shifts to the the south will definitely benefit Republicans, but definitely not as much as people were expecting, just because they got fewer seats, Li said.

Its not unusual for the final tallies to be slightly off from apportionment, but Li said he was surprised to see the kind of variation there was this year. There is some concern that the variation in the data may signal an undercount of Hispanic population, especially after the Trump administration repeatedly tried to tamper with the process. Bureau officials said Monday they are confident in the data.

Holder told reporters on Tuesday that it was impossible to separate the upcoming battle over redistricting from an aggressive GOP effort underway in state legislatures to restrict access to the voting booth.

I have no doubt that the same Republican legislators that have pushed these bills will now try and use the redistricting process to illegitimately lock in power for that party, for them, for the next decade, he said.

Read more:
The next major US voting rights fight is here and Republicans are ahead - The Guardian