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TODAY’S QUOTE:

“What came after the Gilded Age? The progressive era. We are doing that same dance in the 21st century.” — Congressional candidate Nina Turner, on The Daily Poster live chat last month.

TODAY’S READS:

  1. Washington’s Dangerous New Consensus on China
  2. The Problem With the ‘BlackRock Buying Houses’ Meme
  3. Biden Subsidies For Liquid Natural Gas Could Doom Climate Goals
  4. How To Cheat On Your Taxes

TODAY’S STAT:

Over 8 in 10 metropolitan areas in the United States have become more segregated since 1990, according to new research from the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. This residential segregation is central to racial disparities in policing, education, health, and other areas, according to the study’s authors.

TODAY’S SCOOP:

As progressive icon Nina Turner racks up local endorsements and surges in the polls in a closely watched congressional race, Washington lobbyists and business-friendly Democrats are working to try to block her victory in the August 3 Democratic primary for Ohio’s 11th congressional district.

Last week, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed Turner’s opponent, Shontel Brown, in what observers saw as a response to Turner’s association with Bernie Sanders. On that same day, lobbyists and a corporate-aligned Democratic House coalition hosted a fundraiser to boost Brown, after a poll sponsored by Turner’s campaign found her with a commanding 50-15 lead in the race.

Punchbowl posted an invite for the fundraising reception “honoring” Brown. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., a caucus vice-chair of the corporate New Democrat Coalition in the House, was listed as a special guest at the event. The coalition’s PAC, NewDem Action Fund, was listed as a host.

The fundraising invite says the “host committee in formation” for the event was Protecting Our Vote Federal PAC, a voter rights-oriented political action committee (PAC). The organization has an affiliated super PAC, called Protecting Our Vote PAC, that has made small independent expenditures supporting Brown.

The super PAC’s treasurer is Marcus Mason, a corporate lobbyist who is also listed as a host of the event. Mason’s clients include Fox News parent company Fox Corp, private equity giant Carlyle Group, student loan servicer Navient, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools; tech giant Google, and gig delivery company DoorDash.

Every other host named on the fundraising event appears to be a lobbyist, too.

Read the rest of the story: Corporate Lobbyists Declare War On Nina Turner.

TODAY’S FLASHBACK:

“Democracy is fragile,” President Joe Biden warned during his inaugural address, just over five months ago. Today, the Senate is voting on the For the People Act, a historic piece of legislation that would make it easier to vote in federal elections, end political gerrymandering, and more.

According to CNN, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., “have reached an agreement” to put the bill up for debate, meaning that the whole Democratic caucus is now on board.

But the legislation still won’t pass the Senate, because Democrats like Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona don’t want to end the filibuster — purportedly in the name of bipartisanship. That will allow Republicans to block the legislation from advancing at all.

A fragile democracy, indeed.

TODAY’S CLICKS:

  • GOOD, BAD, AND UGLY ON HOUSING: First the good news: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has announced that the state will pay off all the rent owed in the state as a result of the pandemic. The bad news is that the United States is facing an intensified housing crisis as eviction moratoriums end, rents increase, and homes become more expensive.
  • COURT CORPORATE CAPTURE: The Supreme Court has had some not-terrible rulings recently on issues including the Affordable Care Act, collegiate athletics, and LGBT rights. But a closer look at those decisions and other, less high-profile cases reveals that the Supreme Court “is much closer to a 9-0 corporatist supermajority than some even-handed triad,” Alex Sammon writes for The American Prospect. Meanwhile, across the federal courts, some senators are stymying efforts by progressives to keep people with backgrounds in corporate law off the bench. Why does that matter? “Obama judges with corporate backgrounds were 36 percent less likely to decide in favor of workers in employment cases, and former prosecutors were 50 percent less likely to decide in their favor,” according to a report by the progressive judicial group Demand Justice.
  • CORPORATE GREENWASHING: Fossil fuel front groups are trying to convince the Biden administration that offshore oil drilling is better for the planet than onshore drilling. Conservative Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana is working to help them, repeating their spin as if it were his own. “Documents show that these claims originated with a little-known lobbying group that advocates for offshore oil,” Vox reports, “and experts told Vox that they’re dubious at best.”

TODAY’S OWN:

Photo credit: AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

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