Stefanik has another vote to explain
NPR radio reporter Brian Mann is reporting from Ukraine
The Front Page
Morning Update
April 15, 2022
By Ken Tingley
Judge Joseph W. Hatchett was a legal legend in the state of Florida.
After he passed away last year at the age of 88, Sen. Marco Rubio said he had “lived an inspiring life of service.”
Sen. Rick Scott said he “broke barriers that have inspired countless others in the legal profession.”
Remember, both Rubio and Scott are Republicans.
When Judge Hatchett was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to serve on the 11th Circuit in U.S. Court of Appeals, he was the first Black man to serve on a circuit that covered the Deep South. He later became the first Black man to serve on the Florida Supreme Court. He had come a long way. When he first tried to take the state bar exam in 1959, he could not stay in the hotel where it was being administered because of segregation.
So this week, Congress entertained a bill to name a federal courthouse in Tallahassee after Judge Hatchett. Sen. Rubio and Sen. Scott sponsored the legislation in the Senate. It was also backed unanimously by all 27 members of Florida’s Republican delegation.
These votes are mostly ceremonial and regularly voted on without any controversy or bitter partisanship.
Then, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia objected.
First some background on Mr. Clyde:
- The first-term Republican compared the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021 to a “normal tourist visit.”
- Clyde voted against a resolution to give the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who responded at the Capitol that day.
- Clyde voted against the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act which made lynching a federal hate crime.
Those votes might give you a hint of what Clyde stands for and why he did what he did this week. He started circulating a 23-year-old Associated Press story about an appeals court decision that Judge Hatchett wrote that struck down a public school policy allowing student-approved prayers at graduation ceremonies in Florida. The decision overruled a lower court and followed precedent as established by the Supreme Court.
In other words, Judge Hatchett upheld the Constitution.
But considering his voting record, one has to wonder if his reasoning went deeper.
What happened next is another blemish on Congress and its follow-the-leader partisanship.
These types of votes need a two-thirds majority to pass so when the votes were cast this week about whether to honor a judge with an exemplary record, 187 members of the House voted against it - 186 of them were Republicans and the measure failed.
One of those who voted Nay was our own congresswoman Rep. Elise Stefanik.
That says a lot.
On assignment
Brian Mann was the long-time reporter for North Country Public Radio. Over the years, he has been one of the leading reporter on covering all the issues that matter up north. It eventually led to a job with National Public Radio.
I continue to follow Brian on social media and he regularly tweets out thoughts and questions about stories in the North Country. Anyone who follows him is familiar with his “Found this place today” tweets from his hiking excursions in the Adirondacks. Recently, Brian seemed to be taking some time off to be with family and friends.
Then this week, one of Brian’s tweets showed a picture of him with the NPR crew in Ukraine.
He has been tweeting and filing dispatches on the human toll in Ukraine ever since.
After his first tweet, I commented and told him to be careful.
Print reductions
Gannett, one of the largest newspaper chains in the country, announced this week it will reduce the number of days it will publish in 136 of its newspapers. In most newspapers, that means the Saturday newspaper will end. The chain cited that increased costs and the difficulty in finding drivers. Another 50 newspapers will be added this summer.
Over the years, Lee Enterprises, which publishes The Post-Star, has often followed Gannett’s lead with changes to its newspapers.
Real Estate news
Last year I started following Steve Thurston’s “Foothills Business Daily.”
Generally speaking, it grabs headlines from around the region, but it has been breaking news in recent months with its reporting on real estate purchases. Gordon Woodworth, formerly of the Chronicle and The Post-Star, has been doing the legwork on building and property sales. It is important work that shows the real estate market is still thriving here.
Over the past 5 years, the Republicans have responded to everything like contrary teenagers. It doesn’t matter if a bill makes sense or it involves something they agreed to in the past. It has come down to the fact they refuse to support anything democrats ( or even the public) support. I pray they are voted out in the future but sadly, the money is there for them.
I wonder how African American Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, likes that.