Politician of the Year: When I started thinking about this award in early December, I couldn’t settle on a winner. Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, Congressman Scott Peters and Mayor Kevin Faulconer were in the mix, but I didn’t feel like anyone had locked it down. What a difference two weeks, and two votes, can make….
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed away last week with the close of the 113th Congress. It was 40 years old. ENDA had been surviving on life support in the House of Representatives for slightly over a year, its suffering ending when Speaker John Boehner formally withdrew care by not scheduling a vote. ENDA was…
The reports of Todd Gloria’s political death are greatly exaggerated. Let us begin by unpacking the current narrative. Council Republicans feared that returning as Council President would give Gloria the power and profile to launch a challenge to Mayor Kevin Faulconer in 2016. So they conspired with new Council President Sherri Lightner to elect her…
#icantbreathe and #blacklivesmatter have become omnipresent social media tags since the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and the decisions not to indict the men who killed them. They are important statements about problems with our law enforcement system, but they also have important meanings in other discussions, like the assault currently being waged…
Last week, President Obama used executive power to provide legal status to approximately 5 million undocumented immigrants. Now that the details are known, we can start scoring the winners and losers for this round of the immigration debate. Losers: Immigrants not covered by the action. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine a more inclusive immigration reform…
The votes have been counted, and we now know that former City Councilmember Carl DeMaio failed in his bid to oust freshmen Rep. Scott Peters in California’s 52nd District. It’s time to move on and start to heal some of the rifts left in the wake of a largely negative campaign. In that spirit, I…
Election Day is when we hold our elected officials accountable for their policies. The days after are when we hold pundits accountable for their analysis and predictions. I think it’s only fair to take another look at last week’s column (https://lgbtweekly.jeffjungblut.com/2014/10/30/election-preview/) and see how I did. “The most competitive race is for superintendent of public…
For all the talk of blue and red states, what is truly shaping the 2014 elections is the contrast between people who vote every two years and those who vote every four. Unfortunately for Democrats, many of their voters are in the latter group, making non-presidential years a tough slog. This year is no different,…
The GOP started the 2014 cycle with high hopes and a clear path to the Senate majority. Despite Democratic gains in 2012, Republicans needed only 6 of the 7 Democratic controlled seats in states won by Mitt Romney: Alaska, Arkansas, Montana, South Dakota, West Virginia, Louisiana and North Carolina. Naturally, things have not remained so…
It’s been an interesting week at the Supreme Court. Monday, the Court declined to take up any challenges to Circuit Court rulings in favor of marriage equality, apparently adding the five states involved to the 19 states already allowing same-sex marriage. (Those who remember this column, https://lgbtweekly.jeffjungblut.com/2014/02/27/marriage-equality-its-not-over-til-its-over/, will understand why I’m feeling a little smug.)…
