Bolton Bombshell Requires Public Testimony

I’ve previously argued that the American people deserve a thorough and transparent senate trial. Such a trial requires that senators and the public hear testimony from former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Interim Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and others as well as the opportunity to review documents pertaining to the illegal withholding of military aid funds approved by congress. Bolton and Mulvaney among others are first-person witnesses to the words and actions of Donald Trump and therefore have direct knowledge pertinent to the trial. That should have been more than enough reason, but now that the New York Times has reported John Bolton wrote in his proposed book that Trump specifically told him that the funds were being withheld until Ukraine announced an investigation into Joe Biden and his son. Even those who still believe Trump should demand that Bolton publicly testify under oath so that we all have the opportunity to evaluate Bolton’s credibility.

Senator Cornyn voted 11 times on January 21st and 22nd to block first-hand witnesses from testifying and to prevent relevant evidence from being included. Voting against witnesses and evidence is like covering one’s ears and eyes to block out the truth.

Just over 45 years ago Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency when Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, Senator Barry Goldwater, and House Minority Leader John Jacob Rhodes met with him to inform him of failing support among Republicans in congress. Rhodes told Nixon he faced certain impeachment in the House. Scott and Goldwater told the president that he had 15 votes or less in his favor in the Senate, less than half the 34 needed to avoid removal from office. Those members of congress were no less partisan than those in congress today, but they did respond to pressure from the public.

With the current partisan split in the Senate it’s going to take 4 Republican senators to vote with Democrats in order to allow the public to hear that testimony. It’s going to take public pressure on Republicans to make that happen. There are several Republicans whose names are being bandied about as candidates for those 4 votes including Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine because of their perceived moderate positions or election vulnerability. While John Cornyn of Texas isn’t on the media list and unlike those who have been named he hasn’t made any public statements indicating any possible support for calling witnesses he is up for re-election and Democrats here have already shown the state is competitive which makes him vulnerable to public opinion.

This is much bigger than just President Trump. Preventing witnesses, evidence, and transparency in President Trump’s impeachment trial sets a dangerous precedent and potentially undermines the Constitution for generations. While impeachment might just seem like some abstract exercise, this process could affect Texans for years to come. It might be a Republican ignoring the Constitution this time, but it could just as easily be a Democratic president at some point in the future. 

Republicans and Democrats must put country over party to allow evidence and critical first-hand witnesses as part of the impeachment trial. Only public participation can keep our political process on track and that means you, your family and your neighbors need to take part. All it takes is a simple two minute phone call to Senator Cornyn’s office, (202) 224-2934. Just leave a message with your name, zip code and the fact that you want to hear what John Bolton and Mick Mulvaney have to say in public and while under oath.

Honesty and Transparency Demand Witnesses

I think it’s fair to say that most Americans believe that no one should be above the law and the overwhelming majority of us think justice is best served by a fair trial. It is generally accepted that a fair trial requires the ability of both sides to call witnesses and that evidence be presented such as documents that may be in the hands of the person on trial. That standard we held to in the Senate trial of President Bill Clinton and should apply to the Senate trial of President Donald J. Trump.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, aided and abetted by his second in command our own Senator John Cornyn, has made it clear that he wants to avoid hearing from witnesses and the presentation of documents. Since Trump withheld thousands of documents requested by the House impeachment inquiry team and instructed White House staff to ignore subpoenas the trial in the Senate is last chance the American people will get to find out all the details regarding the administration withholding congressionally approved funds for the defense of Ukraine.

In their efforts to provide cover for Trump, Republicans have claimed that all the witnesses in the impeachment inquiry were second and third hand witnesses. Now that the Senate is about to take up the case all indications so far are that will turn their backs on the opportunity to call first hand witnesses like former National Security Advisor John Bolton and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney among others. Sunday morning on Face the Nation Senator Cornyn was asked directly about this and he just dodged the issue claiming that the House shouldn’t have voted to impeach without all the necessary evidence. Cornyn’s claim relates directly to one of the articles of impeachment, abuse of power, since Trump refused to produce the documents and demanded that administration members not testify. Senator Cornyn’s circular argument shows the blatant dishonesty congressional Republicans have indulged in for months isn’t going to stop anytime soon.

Last week Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts administered an oath to all 100 senators which says in part "that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help me God." Given that Mitch McConnell stated weeks ago that he is coordinating with Trump on how the Senate will handle the trial it’s hard to imagine him acting impartially when it comes time to vote.

The American people deserve honesty from their elected officials that means a thorough hearing of all the evidence including that which has previously been withheld and the testimony of administration witnesses that have so far refused to testify anything less is a cover-up and we shouldn’t stand for that. It’s going to take our senators to vote for both of them and which means it’s going to take you to demand it of them. Call our senators this week and tell them you expect to hear John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney and others testify in the senate trial. Senator Cornyn’s office number is (202) 224-2934, Senator Cruz’s office number is (202) 224-5922.

2020 US Senate

In March 2018 when Beto O’Rourke ran in the Democratic Primary he faced only two other candidates both of whom were unknowns with no background suggesting they understood campaigns or even government. His near miss in the general election prompted pundits to claim that Texas was turning purple from its long time red status. In 2020 we see the fruit of that close race with a dozen candidates, three hold or have held public office, three lead community or labor organizations, one other ran for office in 2018 and came about as close to beating their Republican opponent as Beto did. Two more ran for office in 2018 but didn’t make it out of the primary. The field is crowded with some really interesting candidates and I think we have a tremendous opportunity to win this Senate seat.

To me the most important issue is climate change because the window for holding back the worst effects of our greenhouse gases is fast approaching yet our federal and state governments are doing next to nothing to address it. I’ve found that the candidates who recognize the urgency of that issue also generally hold views similar to mine on a wide range of other issues as well. Healthcare, a living wage, education, criminal justice reform, and immigration are important to them too though some don’t go as far as I wish with their proposed solutions.

My top two are both women, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez and MJ Hegar. Ramirez is a labor organizer and working mother who co-founded the Workers Defense Project, serving as its Executive Director from 2006 until 2016 when she started Jolt. Jolt is a civil rights organization that works to amplify the voice Texas Latinos on issues impacting them. Jolt organizes communities on issues and elections ranging from local school boards all the way to Congress.  Jolt works to accomplish this through voter engagement, leadership development and community and student organizing. Remember that a certain former President by the name of Barack Obama was once a community organizer.

Hegar is a retired Air Force major and working mother who ran for U.S. Congress in 2018. She is a former combat search-and-rescue pilot, served three tours in Afghanistan and was awarded a Purple Heart after she was shot down by enemy fire, protecting her crew and patients. She was also part of a 2012 lawsuit against then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta challenging the ban on women in ground combat. Hegar has a compelling personal story told in a video created for her 2018 U.S. House campaign, check it out on Youtube search for MJ Hegar Doors.

Other major candidates include: Amanda Edwards who is a current Houston City Council member and former member of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s staff; Royce West who is a long time Texas state senator out of Dallas with a solid track record; Chris Bell who is a former U.S. Representative for Texas's 25th congressional district, Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas in 2006, and candidate for mayor of Houston in 2015; Sema Hernandez who is a community organizer for the Poor People's Campaign and Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018; and Michael Cooper who is a pastor, NAACP chapter head, and Democratic primary candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 2018.

Early voting for the Primary starts February 18 so you don’t have much time left to do your homework and decide which candidate ticks the most boxes for you so get started soon because there are other contested races you need to check out besides President and U.S. Senate.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 15, 2020

Low Wage Workers In America

Nearly half of all Americans workers age 18 to 64 hold low wage jobs according to a recently released study by the Brookings Institute. Don’t let your MAGA hat wearing relatives and neighbors claim that’s all liberal propaganda, Brookings may lean slightly left on analysis but their data checks out every time. While even Texas, with one of the highest poverty rates and some of the lowest wages in the country, has seen a reduction in the percentage of workers earning minimum wage in the last couple of years the fraction of workers earning near poverty level wages hasn’t shown any improvement.

Nearly 6 in 10 low-wage workers work full time, year-round. 1 in 7 have a bachelor’s degree and more than 4 in 10 have children. When I was a teenager in the late 70’s about 48% of teenagers worked year round now that's down to less than 30% today so don't let anyone tell you that low wage jobs are just for kids or that it’s just for part-time workers and the uneducated.

After inflation the federal minimum wage has dropped 17% since 2009 and 31% since 1968. Workers earning the federal minimum wage today have $6,800 less per year to spend on food, rent, and other essentials than did their counterparts 50 years ago. A minimum wage worker in 1968 earned the equivalent of $10.54 in today’s dollars, that’s more than nearly quarter of today’s entire workforce earns.

Analysis by the Pew Research Center shows 19.8% of U.S. adults ages 65 and older or nearly 10.5 million people, reported being employed full- or part-time, likely because were unable to save for retirement due to low wages. Older workers represented 6.6% of all employed Americans last July, that’s more than double the 3% in July 2000. Workers 55 are a much larger fraction of the workforce than in July 2007, just before the Great Recession generated mass unemployment. Employment rates have returned to pre-recession levels for adults younger than 55 but not increased like rates for older workers. Currently workers 65-72 are working or looking for work at a rate 50% higher than workers the same age in prior generations.

After inflation, wages for the working class Americans are still below pre-recession levels. While worker productivity sharply increased, total income for working class families has been falling since 1979 all while corporate profits shot up. This includes wages for college graduates, whose hourly wages have dropped significantly since 2000, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

It is way past time for the United States to increase the minimum wage. We can argue about how much it should be but there is no excuse not to at least restore it to 1968 levels and while we’re at it index it to inflation so low wage workers don’t keep getting the short end and have to fight the same battle over again every decade.

Texas could raise the state minimum wage like quite a few others have but Republicans here are averse to data driven decision making so they refuse to acknowledge that those state which have raised minimum wage are doing better than those which did not. Frankly I’d settle for the state legislature repealing the law that prohibits cities from setting their own minimum wages. We could then watch the results of come cities raising theirs while others don’t and see which overall economy does better.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 8, 2020

Looking Forward In The New Year

This is the time of year when you’ll see a lot of year in review articles but I prefer to look forward so let’s look at some important issues our nation will be addressing very soon and what we can do about them. Next week our members of congress will be back in their Washington, D.C. offices and Donald Trump’s potential trial in the Senate looms large now that the House has voted to impeach him. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has so far withheld the articles of impeachment from the Senate because the Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, who controls the agenda there has suggested that he might not allow witness testimony or demand documents from the Trump administration. The American people deserve a thorough trial based on the facts and that can only happen if witnesses to the actions of the president and his appointees are required to testify publicly. Of course, no trial would be complete without documentary evidence from the White House.

Since one of our senators, John Cornyn, is the second most powerful Republican we, the citizens of Texas, have an opportunity and a duty to try to persuade him to demand that witnesses like former member of the National Security Council John Bolton and Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney be called and documents provided so that the American people are assured of a fair trial. It doesn’t hurt that Cornyn is up for re-election and that Texas has become more competitive since Trump became president so our senator is likely to consider how his behavior is viewed by voters more than he might in other years. You can make your views known to Senator Cornyn by calling his San Antonio office at (210) 224-7485. While you’re at it take another moment to call our other senator, Ted Cruz, with a similar message, his office number is (210) 340-2885.

The next big event this year is the March 3^rd primary election where Democrats and Republicans will have the opportunity to choose their candidates for offices from president down to county commissioner. In Guadalupe County the only state offices with a Democratic primary are for seats on the Fourth Court of Appeal and there are no county offices being contested at all. There are 17 names on the Democratic presidential primary ballot though only 15 are running nationwide campaigns and of those only 8 seem to have any real chance of earning the right to run in the November general election. Those that appear to be competitive are Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, Mike Bloomberg, Cory Booker, and Pete Buttigieg. Early voting in Texas starts February 18 so it’s not too early to start investigating who you’ll want to vote for if you haven’t already started or made up your mind.

The Democratic primary for U.S. Senate is also a hotly contested race with 12 candidates and deserves your close attention as well since Beto O’Rourke’s close loss in 2018 shows that Texas is truly a competitive state. There is a very real chance our primary winner could end up as our next U.S. Senator. Of the 12 only 5 appear to have garnered enough financial support to run professional campaigns statewide. M. J. Hegar, Chris Bell, Amanda Edwards, Royce West, and Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez have all visited in Guadalupe County or nearby. It’s time to do your research on them as well.

Tomorrow morning take 5 minutes and call our senators and let them know you expect them to serve our nation over their party, it’s important.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - January 1, 2020