|
|
Books by and about 2020 presidential candidates |
|
Crippled America,
by Donald J. Trump (2015) |
Fire and Fury,
by Michael Wolff (2018) |
Trump Revealed,
by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher (2016) |
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2016) |
Promise Me, Dad ,
by Joe Biden (2017) |
The Book of Joe ,
by Jeff Wilser (2019; biography of Joe Biden) |
The Truths We Hold,
by Kamala Harris (2019) |
Smart on Crime,
by Kamala Harris (2010) |
Guide to Political Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2017) |
Where We Go From Here,
by Bernie Sanders (2018) |
Our Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2016) |
This Fight Is Our Fight,
by Elizabeth Warren (2017) |
United,
by Cory Booker (2016) |
Conscience of a Conservative,
by Jeff Flake (2017) |
Two Paths,
by Gov. John Kasich (2017) |
Every Other Monday,
by Rep. John Kasich (2010) |
Courage is Contagious,
by John Kasich (1998) |
Shortest Way Home,
by Pete Buttigieg (2019) |
Becoming,
by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Higher Loyalty,
by James Comey (2018) |
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2017) |
Higher Loyalty ,
by James Comey (2018) |
Trump vs. Hillary On The Issues ,
by Jesse Gordon (2016) |
Outsider in the White House,
by Bernie Sanders (2015) |
|
|
Book Reviews |
(from Amazon.com) |
(click a book cover for a review or other books by or about the presidency from Amazon.com)
|
Legislative coverage by the National Conference of State Legislatures
(Click for external website)
Click on a participant to pop-up their full list of quotations
from NCSL State Legislature Summaries (number of quotes indicated):
- Bruce Rauner (1) Illinois Republican Governor
- Chet Culver (1) Iowa Democratic Gubernatorial Challenger
- Chris Christie (1) New Jersey N.J. Governor; Republican Presidential candidate
- David Hadley (1) California Republican candidate for Governor
- Eric Holcomb (1) Indiana Republican candidate for Governor
- Jack Dalrymple (1) North Dakota Republican Governor
- Jamie Raskin (1) Democrat U.S. Rep Maryland- 8
- Jerry Brown (1) California Democratic Governor
- Jim Douglas (1) Vermont Former Republican Governor (2002-2010)
- Jim Oberweis (1) Republican Senate Challenger Illinois
- Jimmy Gomez (1) Democrat U.S. Rep California-34
- Joe Heck (1) Republican Challenger Nevada
- John Jay Lee (1) Nevada Republican Challenger
- Kathy Szeliga (1) Republican Senate candidate Maryland
- Larry Hogan (1) Maryland Republican Maryland Governor
- Lee Bright (1) Republican Challenger South Carolina
- Napoleon Harris (1) Democratic Senate candidate Illinois
- Ray Lesniak (1) New Jersey Democratic 2017 Gubernatorial candidate
- Richard Madaleno (1) Maryland Democratic candidate for governor of Maryland
- Rick Becker (1) North Dakota Republican 2016 Gubernatorial candidate
- Rob Bonta (1)
- Rob Hogg (1) Democratic Senate challenger Iowa
- Rocky Chavez (1) Republican Senate candidate California
- Sue Minter (1) Vermont Democratic Gubernatorial candidate
- Tracy Potter (1) 2010 Democratic Challenger North Dakota
- Young Kim (1) Republican U.S. Rep California-39
OR click on an issue category below for a subset. |
The National Conference of State Legislatures provides an on-line resource for locating state legislation. That's their purpose for OnTheIssues, but their overall mission is to:
- Improve the quality and effectiveness of state legislatures.
- Promote policy innovation and communication among state legislatures.
- Ensure state legislatures a strong, cohesive voice in the federal system.
|
Their purpose isn't really to provide an on-line resource for locating state legislation -- so we'll use this space to complain that it SHOULD be their purpose!
OnTheIssues excerpts state legislation when state legislators run for Governor or Senator, or when they first win a House seat. So we've read a lot of state legislation websites. And they are AWFUL. Some of the standard problems include:
- They only post "House Journals" and "Senate Journals," which say things like "A vote was taken on bill H.1; the vote was 25-15". Journals tell you ABOUT the vote, without telling you WHY they voted. At the federal level, the voting records are accompanied by the "Congressional Record," which includes floor debates on each legislation. With that resource, OnTheIssues can provide pro & con statements -- at the state level it's challenging.
- Some states provide the full bill text. But even that is insufficient in many cases, especially for funding bills (which are often the most decisive legislation of the year). A funding bill will say things like this: "Change line item 117 paragraph B subparagraph 2 from $1 million to $10 million." Yes, online bill text provides what the bill SAYS, but it doesn't provide what it MEANS. At the federal less, the Congressional Research Service summary is provided that explains the purpose of the bill.
- Even with the state equivalent of the Congressional Record, readers would still have to plow through things like "cloture votes" (a vote to end debate and move to a vote); "tabling votes" (to "table" a bill means to kill it); and "referral votes" (to refer a bill to committee MIGHT mean killing it, or might not). If legislatures actually wanted their votes to be understood, they would use plain English.
|
That list of shortcomings makes us suspect a darker truth: That legislators don't want their constituents to know their voting records. Here at OnTheIssues, we've been at this a long time, and we are well beyond the suspicion level: we hereby accuse state legislators of hiding their voting records from their constituents. And they SHOULD tell their constituents their voting records. And the NCSL should promote that.
Alas, the NCSL has taken only the first step. It's a useful step: to help votes find state legislative records online. On our State Legislation summary page, OnTheIssues provides links to all 50 states' online voting records -- but each one is different and requires practice to navigate them -- NCSL provides a standard interface by bill number. It’s a useful step, but only a small first step.
|
| OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
|
Crime
Jack Dalrymple: No use of drones for criminal investigations.
Rick Becker: No use of drones for criminal investigations.
|
Families & Children
Tracy Potter: Immigration law should be about respecting family.
|
Government Reform
Eric Holcomb: Budgeted for election security: covers about 10% of machines.
|
Homeland Security
Jerry Brown: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
Rocky Chavez: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
Young Kim: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
Bruce Rauner: Task Force to study drones vs. privacy rights.
Jim Oberweis: Task Force to study drones vs. privacy rights.
Napoleon Harris: Task Force to study drones vs. privacy rights.
Larry Hogan: No county or city restrictions on drones; study state use.
Jamie Raskin: No county or city restrictions on drones; study state use.
Kathy Szeliga: No county or city restrictions on drones; study state use.
Richard Madaleno: No county or city restrictions on drones; study state use.
|
Immigration
Lee Bright: Make permanent the E-Verify program.
Joe Heck: Opposed resolution celebrating contributions of immigrants.
John Jay Lee: Co-sponsored celebrating contributions of immigrants.
|
Social Security
Chris Christie: Close deficit in state retirement fund over next 7 years.
Chet Culver: More employee & employer contributions to public retirement.
Jim Douglas: Fully fund teacher retirement fund.
Ray Lesniak: Close deficit in state retirement fund over next 7 years.
Sue Minter: Fully fund teacher retirement fund.
Rob Hogg: More employee & employer contributions to public retirement.
|
Technology
Rob Bonta: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
David Hadley: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
Jimmy Gomez: Ban drone use for photography on private property.
|
The above quotations are from Legislative coverage by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
|
