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WASHINGTON Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to be chair of the House Republican Conference again.

In an announcement Tuesday, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, declared her intention to seek a second term in the position, which places her as the third most senior Republican representative in the House.

I am proud to have unified the entire Republican conference around our country in crisis message and shattered fundraising records as House GOP Conference Chair, raising over $10 million for candidates and committees this cycle, she said in a statement. With the broad support of NY-21 and my House GOP colleagues, I intend to run for Conference Chair in the next Congress.

CONFERENCE CHAIR

Stefanik took the mantle in 2021, after the conference removed Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., from the position over her vocal criticism of former President Donald Trump after the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.

The conference chair is typically tasked with developing messaging and public platforms House Republican members are expected to use as they argue for or against legislation and government actions. Rep. Stefanik has led many campaigns against President Joe Biden, congressional Democrats and their policies on issues including border security, election security, baby formula supplies, inflation, job growth, foreign affairs, the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and much more.

Conference chairs typically serve for two-year terms. They campaign for the office and are elected by their party membership before the new Congress starts. Stefanik will have at least one competitor for the role, Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fl., according to reports from The Hill.

CASTELLI RESPONSE

Matt Castelli, Stefaniks Democratic competitor for the 21st Congressional District seat criticized her for planning such a move before the election, arguing that it shows she is assuming the results will go in her favor and disrespecting the will of NY-21 voters.

Without a single vote being cast yet, NY-20 resident Elise Stefanik is already measuring the drapes for her office next year, and choosing which position she believes will boost her climb of the D.C. career ladder, he said. Stefanik doesnt believe NY-21 voters should have a say in who represents them thats why she fails to show up in our community, refuses to meet directly with voters, consistently votes against our interests, and even refuses to debate me.

Stefaniks announcement that she will seek the conference chair position puts to bed months of speculation that she may seek an even higher office, such as House majority whip, should Republicans win control of the chamber.

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Stefanik says she will seek second term as chair of House Republican Conference - Plattsburgh Press Republican

Shane Hernandez, the Republican lieutenant governor nominee and Port Huron resident, met with St. Clair County Sheriff Mat King and Sanilac County Sheriff Paul Rich Friday to discuss challenges facing law enforcement today.

King and Rich said one of their largest challenges is recruiting enough law enforcement officers to fill their ranks. It's also a challenge to retain officers that otherwise might be lured to other larger, more urban departments by the promise of better wages and benefits.

"My number one priority right now would be training staffing that wants to stay and live in our community," Rich said.

Rich said retention is especially difficult for his rural department, which doesn't have the budget to compete with the wages of larger departments. They spend tens of thousands of dollars to equip and outfit new officers, only for them to leave.

While the St. Clair County Sheriff Department offers a pension plan to road patrol deputies, most departments don't anymore. A pension can usually only be collected from a specific department, but other retirement plans such as 401Ks can move with the officer, taking away an incentive to stay with one department their whole career, King said.

Rich said the public sector can't compete in wages and benefits with private sector jobs. King said a possible solution is to create a federally-funded pension program for law enforcement officers so that departments can focus more of their budgets on wages.

King said another factor contributing to the staffing shortage within law enforcement is a loss of respect and interest in the profession from the general public in the last decade due to negative media attention of a few bad police actions.

Republican governor candidate Tudor Dixon's plan slates $1 billion in funding for public safety over four years. Hernandez said this would be drawn from the state's general fund. Although it was not clear where the funding would come from in the general fund, Hernandez said in years past the state has had a surplus and they'd be able to find the dollars for the effort.

The plan is designed to provide incentives to retain and recruit new law enforcement officers, firefighters and EMS professionals as a way to alleviate staffing shortages and increase public safety.

The plan includes:

Hernandez emphasized public safety as the root of a thriving community.

"If we're gonna talk about jobs in our community, or affordable housing in our community, or education in our community, none of those can happen without a safe community," Hernandez said.

Dixon's agenda points to a reported rise in violent crime in the few years prior to 2020.

According to the FBI's Unified Crime Reporting database, from 2019 to 2020, the violent crime rate in Michigan jumped from 438.6 per 100,000 to 478 per 100,000, compared to the national rate of 380 to 398.5 per 100,000, respectively. That is the highest violent crime rate the state and the nation has seen since 2010, when crime was 493 for Michigan and 404.5 for the nation per 100,000.

But from 2016 to 2018, the crime rate stayed relatively stable between 460.9 and 452.5 per 100,000 in Michigan, according to the data.

King said violent crime is on the rise the past couple of years, and pointed to a rise in repeat offenders and violent incidents such as two kidnappings and one attempted murder this year.

King also said the rise of methamphetamine as the predominant drug of choice breeds violence. St. Clair County faces special challenges in policing the illegal drug trade due to the two interstates that begin in the county, as well as an international border and two cities within drivable distance that draw drug dealers to sell their product.

"Violent crime is absolutely on the rise," King said.

King said in 2019, prior to the pandemic, the St. Clair County Sheriff Drug Task Force seized 104 weapons and 107 grams of methamphetamine, compared to 304 weapons and 3,774 grams of methamphetamine seized in 2021.

"Meth and guns equal violence, there is no doubt about it," King said.

In 2020, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 113 violent-crime incidents and 140 offenses reported by the St. Clair County Sheriff Department to the FBI's UCR database. In 2019, there were 130 incidents and 148 offenses, compared to 2018, with 211 incidents and 247 offenses.

The Sanilac County Sheriff Department reported 30 violent-crime incidents and 38 offenses; 24 incidents and 34 offenses in 2019, and 44 incidents and 52 offenses in 2018, according to the FBI data

Violent crime statistics for 2021 and 2022 were not immediately available by either sheriff department.

Contact Laura Fitzgerald at (810) 941-7072 or lfitzgeral@gannett.com.

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GOP lieutenant governor nominee meets with county sheriffs to discuss public safety issues - The Times Herald

Jason Riley is an opinion columnist at The Wall Street Journal, where his column, Upward Mobility, has run since 2016. He is also a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and provides television commentary for various news outlets.

Mr. Riley, a 2018 Bradley Prize recipient, is the author of four books: Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders (2008); Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals MakeIt Harder for Blacks to Succeed (2014); False Black Power? (2017); and Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell (2021).

Mr. Riley joined the paper in 1994 as a copy reader on the national news desk in New York. He moved to the editorial page in 1995, was named a senior editorial page writer in 2000, and became a member of the Editorial Board in 2005. He joined the Manhattan Institute in 2015.

Born in Buffalo, New York, Mr. Riley earned a bachelor's degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He has also worked for USA Today and the Buffalo News.

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Abortion, Polling and Other Republican Midterm Troubles - The Wall Street Journal

Issued on: 16/09/2022 - 14:51

The European Commission unveiled a raft of new rules on Friday to ensure media independence after growing fears of state meddling in eastern EU countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Brussels has grown increasingly worried about the weight of the state on news and media in a growing number of EU countries, with public television in Hungary widely seen as a mouthpiece for Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Media pluralism is also a concern in the Czech Republic where former prime minister Andrej Babis owns a major media group and has been accused of subverting press freedom after he used his newspapers to attack the integrity of other news outlets.

The European Media Freedom Act will provide "common safeguards... to guarantee that our media are able to operate without any interference, be it private or public," said EU commissioner Thierry Breton.

"We're proposing a regulation which will apply across the board in Europe in the same way and according to the same rules," he said.

One of the main components of the law will be a new authority that will allow the EU's 27 countries to have an eye on media mergers that would affect the plurality of media ownership.

It will also demand that funding of state media be "adequate and stable" in order to prevent governments using budget allocations to pressure publicly owned media companies and newsrooms.

The regulation, which needs to be approved by EU member countries and the European Parliament, would also require that national governments pass laws that adequately guarantee the protection of journalistic sources.

The European-wide watchdog will be composed of national regulators that would ensure the proper enforcement of the law across the EU.

They would also coordinate the EU's response to non-EU media, a key source of concern after the difficulty of aligning a united response to the presence of Russia Today, a Kremlin-funded television channel, in the days following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

"We want it to apply as quickly as possible... because we consider it to be a matter of great urgency," said EU commission Vice President Vera Jourova.

(AFP)

Excerpt from:
European Union toughens stance on state meddling in media - FRANCE 24 English

In its Resolution of 15 September 2022 on the situation of fundamental rights in the European Union in 2020 and 2021, the European Parliament calls on EU Member States to accept, without delay, that they should be bound by Article 31 of the Revised European Social Charter on the right to housing.

It stresses in that respect that housing is a fundamental necessity and that access to housing, particularly housing assistance, is a fundamental right, as citizens who lack housing cannot participate fully in society or avail themselves of all of their fundamental rights. It also expresses particular concern that young people are deprived of housing due to the huge increase in house prices, especially in certain urban areas.

In addition, the European Parliament calls on the European Commission to look into steps needed for the EU to accede to the European Social Charter.

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European Parliament calls on EU Member States to accept Article 31 of the Revised Charter on the right to housing - Council of Europe