Accountability | Maine
Susan Collins’ Campaign Bankrolled by Bankers, Alt-Right Boosters and Special-Interest PACs
Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign motto is “Our Senator.” But after her latest fundraising disclosure, it’s hard to say whose senator she is. Significant chunks of the more than $1.5 million Collins raised this year came from far-right figures like the Mercer family, an inventor who has funded white-supremacist online trolls, bankers and hedge-fund managers, and special interests.
Accountability | Louisiana
Ralph Abraham Touts Endorsements from Controversial Local Officials Accused of Peddling Racist Rhetoric
Rep. Ralph Abraham’s campaign for governor of Louisiana is boasting about the endorsements of a local official who caused a stir with a campaign sign evoking the state’s lynching past and a mayor who last week downplayed a racist meme shared by his town's police chief.
Accountability | New Hampshire
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu Went to Dubai but Didn’t Disclose Everything He Did There
At least two of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu’s activities in February at the World Government Summit in Dubai were not disclosed to the New Hampshire Department of State, as required by law.
Education
Betsy DeVos Brags About Giving to the Special Olympics, but Her Charity Has Only Donated 0.006% of the $17.6M She Wants to Cut
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos this week defended the Trump administration’s effort to wipe out the $17.6 million in federal funding for the Special Olympics, telling congressional panels the nonprofit should depend on the private sector and contributions from wealthy patrons like herself. But the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, which doles out tens of millions of dollars to her and her husband’s favorite causes, has given just $1,000 (or 0.006 percent of the funding she wants to cut) to the Special Olympics of Michigan since 2001, according to its filings with the IRS.
Health Care | Louisiana
Steve Scalise Stays Quiet on Ralph Abraham’s Remark That Medicaid Recipients ‘Vote for a Living’
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise took a fellow Republican to task last week for saying his constituents sat idly waiting for the government’s help after Hurricane Katrina, but he’s been mum on a fellow Louisianan’s characterization of Medicaid recipients as lazy people who vote in order to stay on the dole. Rep. Ralph Abraham, a third-term Republican now running for governor, was recorded last week telling donors at a fundraiser that Medicaid recipients were “voting for a living instead of working.”
Immigration | Arizona
These 12 GOP Senators Jeopardized $2.6B in Military Funding for Their States to Build Trump’s Wall
The Pentagon on Monday released a list of $6.8 billion worth of military-construction projects that could be scuttled to pay for President Donald Trump’s border wall, posing political issues for Republican senators who could see bases in their home states lose hundreds of millions of dollars. More than $2.6 billion of that funding would come from 12 states where Republican senators who supported Trump’s declaration are facing re-election next year.
Immigration
Pentagon Refuses to Confirm McSally’s Claims That Border Wall Won’t Undermine Funding for Arizona Projects
Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., defended her vote against blocking President Donald Trump from diverting billions of dollars toward a wall on the southern border, saying the Pentagon assured her it wouldn’t impact military projects in her home state. But by Monday the Pentagon and the White House had not said which projects would be bumped in order to build the wall, raising the political stakes for McSally and other Republicans who will run for re-election next year after voting to take money from military projects.