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Lately, I’ve been glued to my laptop watching CNN news clips from 1999, when Donald Trump was weighing a possible presidential run in the Reform Party. “Everybody wants me to run for President …” he told the media at the time.  The media smirked, “What vanity!” as they turned their attention to more serious matters. But the tragedy-to-farce (or is it farce-to-tragedy?) story gets even more byzantine. At the time, Trump’s possible candidacy was being promoted by some leaders of the Reform Party

The 2018 Farm Bill is a weapon aimed at family-owned dairy farms. For decades, especially since 2000, the federal government has set the price of milk BELOW the cost of production, guaranteeing farm debt and assaulting rural America. Along with this unreasonably low price, fees and assessments are levied on dairy farmers after their milk leaves their farm. Confused farm agencies then allow predatory banking to exploit vulnerable farm owners, and international investors move in and buy out local

Update: After voting discrepancies were discovered, Kris Kobach announced that he will recuse himself from the recount of the GOP gubernatorial primary election. Additionally, sitting Gov. Jeff Colyer, who trails Kobach by a slim margin, sent a letter to Kobach, calling on him to step away from advising local elections officials on the recount. The letter said: "It has come to my attention that your office is giving advice to county election officials — as recently as a conference call yesterd

Seniors in America have it tough. Instead of granting COLA (cost of living adjustments), the Republican-controlled Congress has been hard at work finding ways to slash Social Security and Medicare, the two programs which provide the majority of income and medical coverage to millions of retired Americans. Just this past June, House Republicans released a proposal that claimed it would balance the budget in nine years. A worthy goal indeed, were it not being proposed that we attain it by making

Calling all nonpartisan reform campaigns, projects, and organizations. Do you have a great idea, a new campaign, or an ongoing nonpartisan electoral reform project that deserves attention, endorsement, and funding? The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) is sponsoring a "Breakthrough Reform Projects" initiative to seek out, support, fund, and nurture electoral reform projects that can catalyze similar reforms across the country and channel smart funding dollars to smartly grow

In my latest interview, I talk with independent campaign manager and digital marketing expert Jenn Gray about a new voter suppression investigation she and her group, Arizona Independents United, are conducting in Maricopa County, Arizona. Jenn believes there are multiple layers of inept -- possibly corrupt -- election administration practices in the county that have led to vast numbers of valid ballot petition signatures being discarded, voters being removed from the active voter rolls, and ev

San Diego, CA. - The San Diego City Council agreed to an amended stadium lease with SDSU and voted to kill two proposed ballot measures. City Council Amends SDSU Lease Agreement The City of San Diego has amended its lease agreement with SDSU and the University's use of SDCCU stadium. By a vote of 6-1, with Councilmembers Chris Ward and Chris Cate absent, the City Council and University have an agreement through December 31, 2020. The city will receive annual rent of $1.1 million and all park

Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” In October of last year, Pew Research released a study revealing what many of us already know: the partisan divide has grown dramatically. Even more disconcerting is that even though people have been leaving the Democratic and Republican parties in droves, “fewer Americans hold a mix of views. Instead, “the shares of Americans holding liberal or conservative views across a wider range of issues – is increasingly

San Diego, CA. - Visiting Father Joe Carroll at his East Village home, it doesn't take one long to recognize the pivotal role he played in elevating the issue of homelessness. For 37 years, Father Joe walked the streets of downtown San Diego where he fed, housed, and provided lifesaving services for our community's homeless population. Every day 3,000 men, women and children were cared for by St. Vincent de Paul and now Father Joe's Villages. Father Joe's Villages From his pictures with the

The Michigan Supreme Court in a 4-3 ruling Tuesday rejected a constitutional challenge brought by a GOP-backed group and the state attorney general to remove an initiative from the November ballot that would institute an independent redistricting commission to redraw state electoral districts. "It is not a judge’s role to philosophize a theory of government. Rather, we are stewards of the people and must faithfully abide by the decisions they make through the laws they adopt. We accomplish this