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WASHINGTON/POLITICS
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 5A
16 Dems want new leadership, not Pelosi
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE I Associated Press
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., talks to
reporters during a news conference at the Capitol in
Washington, Thursday, Nov. 15.
BY ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Six
teen Democrats who’ve
opposed Nancy Pelosi’s quest
to become speaker released
a letter Monday saying they
will vote for “new leader
ship” when the House picks
its leaders in January, under
scoring a significant threat to
her effort to lead her party’s
House majority in the next
Congress.
The letter’s release sug
gests that rather than spend
ing the next six weeks
focusing on a fresh agenda
to present to Americans,
House Democrats could be
consumed with a bitter and
attention-grabbing internal
leadership fight.
The battle pits the party’s
largely liberal and diverse
membership backing Pelosi,
D-Calif., against a small
group of mostly moderate
male lawmakers. Of the 16
Democrats who signed the
letter — which stops short
of explicitly saying they will
vote for an opposing candi
date for speaker — all but
two are men: Reps. Kathleen
Rice of New York and Cali
fornia’s Linda Sanchez.
“We promised to change
the status quo, and we intend
to deliver on that promise,”
the authors wrote, referring
to campaign pledges to back
new House leaders made
by a number of Democratic
candidates. “Therefore, we
are committed to voting for
new leadership in both our
Caucus meeting and on the
House Floor.”
Pelosi has activated an
aggressive campaign for
the job involving House col
leagues, prominent outside
Democrats and party-aligned
interest groups. She is known
as a precise vote counter with
a keen sense of her caucus’
leanings and is aided by the
lack of a declared opponent
and many weeks during
which she can dangle choice
committee assignments,
rules changes and other good
ies to help attract support.
“Leader Pelosi remains
confident in her support
among Members and Mem-
bers-elect,” spokesman
Drew Hammill said in a writ
ten statement. He said 94
percent of House Democrats
declined to sign the letter,
though Pelosi opponents said
they expect others who didn’t
sign to vote against her.
Though the mavericks’
numbers represent a handful
of the 232 House Democrats
elected — with a handful of
races still undecided — they
could still garner enough
opposition to thwart her.
Pelosi seems certain to
have enough support to
become her party’s nomi
nee for speaker when House
Democrats hold a secret bal
lot election on Nov. 28. She
will need only a majority of
Democrats in that contest.
But when the full House
elects its new leaders Jan.
3, the speaker will need a
majority 218 votes, assuming
that no one votes “present” or
misses the vote and Republi
cans oppose her en masse,
as seems likely. At 232 seats,
Pelosi could afford to lose
just 14 Democrats and still
become speaker.
The rebels’ letter to their
Democratic colleagues
praises Pelosi, 78, for her
long career and calls her “a
historic figure” who helped
the party win major victories.
Pelosi was speaker from 2007
through 2010 when Demo
crats briefly held the major
ity and has been the party’s
leader since 2003.
“We also recognize that in
this recent election, Demo
crats ran and won on a mes
sage of change,” they wrote.
“Our majority came on the
backs of candidates who said
that they would support new
leadership because voters in
hard-won districts, and across
the country, want to see real
change in Washington.”
Pelosi’s critics say the par
ty’s long-serving top leaders
must make room for younger
members.
They say years of Repub
lican ads portraying her as
an out-of-touch liberal have
made it hard for moderate
Democrats to win elections
in swing districts.
Pelosi allies counter that
despite that, the party just
won House control with their
biggest gain of seats since the
1974 post-Watergate elec
tion. Many bristle at dumping
her at a time when Presi
dent Donald Trump and the
#MeToo movement have
helped attract female candi
dates and voters to the party.
Rep. Steny Hoyer of Mary
land has been No. 2 House
Democrat since 2003 and
South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn
has been No. 3 since 2007.
Both are in their late 70s
and are running, unopposed
so far, for those posts once
again.
Of the letter’s signees, five
are incoming House fresh
men or hope to be. Two of
them — Anthony Brindisi of
New York and Ben McAd
ams of Utah—are in races in
which The Associated Press
has yet to call a winner.
Pelosi critics assert there
are several more Democrats
who’ve not signed the letter
who are prepared to vote for
a candidate opposing Pelosi.
That includes Rep. Marcia
Fudge of Ohio, who has said
she is considering running for
speaker.
Trump has tweeted his
respect and support for
Pelosi and even offered to
round up GOP votes to help
elect her speaker. Pelosi’s
office has said she will win
with Democratic votes, and
it seems a stretch to expect
Republicans to help elect her
speaker — a vote that could
open them up to primary
challenges in 2020.
Others signing the letter
were incumbents Jim Coo
per of Tennessee; Bill Foster
of Illinois; Brian Higgins of
New York; Stephen Lynch
and Seth Moulton of Massa
chusetts; Ed Perlmutter of
Colorado; Tim Ryan of Ohio;
Kurt Schrader of Oregon;
and Filemon Vela and Texas.
Incoming freshmen were Joe
Cunningham of South Caro
lina, Max Rose from New
York and Jeff Van Drew of
New Jersey.
Trump admin, to restore
Acosta’s pass, with a warning
MANUEL BALCE CENETAI Associated Press
CNN’s Jim Acosta speaks to journalists on the North Lawn
upon returning back to the White House in Washington,
Friday, Nov. 16.
BY DAVID BAUDER AND
CATHERINE LUCEY
Associated Press
NEW YORK — The
Trump administration on
Monday abruptly dropped
its effort to bar CNN reporter
Jim Acosta from the White
House, but warned he could
have his credentials pulled
again if he doesn’t follow
guidelines governing journal
ists’ behavior.
The White House said
reporters would be permit
ted one question each if
called upon at news confer
ences and allowed follow-ups
only at the discretion of the
president.
In a letter to Acosta, White
House communications
director Bill Shine and press
secretary Sarah Huckabee
Sanders said they will be
forced to reconsider the
decision “if unprofessional
behavior occurs.”
CNN said that, as a result,
it has dropped its lawsuit
against the White House filed
on Acosta’s behalf.
“Thanks to everyone
for their support,” Acosta
tweeted. “As I said last Fri
day ... let’s get back to work.”
The White House initially
revoked Acosta’s credentials
after he and Trump tangled
verbally during a Nov. 7 press
conference. The administra
tion’s initial reasoning was
that Acosta had manhandled
a White House intern seeking
to take his microphone, but
that fell apart after Sanders
distributed a doctored video
sped up to make Acosta look
more aggressive than he
actually was.
Instead, the White House
focused on behavior they
deemed disrespectful to the
president. Acosta and CNN
have been frequent targets of
a president who has derided
coverage of his adminis
tration as “fake news” and
called the media the enemy
of the people.
CNN filed suit to get Acos
ta’s credentials restored,
arguing that the action vio
lated the constitutional right
to freedom of the press and
that he had been denied due
process. In Washington, D.C.
District Court Judge Timo
thy Kelly cited the due pro
cess argument last Friday in
granting Acosta a two-week
injunction to get back to
work.
The White House initially
fought back, saying it had
made a preliminary decision
to keep Acosta out when the
two weeks were up. But after
CNN requested a hearing,
Shine and Sanders changed
course.
“The view from here is
that White House interaction
with the press is, and gener
ally should be, subject to kind
of a natural give and take,”
Shine and Sanders wrote.
“President Trump believes
strongly in the First Amend
ment and interacts with the
press in just such a way. It
would be a great loss for all
if, instead of this give-and-
take, and instead of relying
on the professionalism of
White House journalists, we
were compelled to devise a
lengthy and detailed code of
conduct.”
Still, they did outline
rules compelling journal
ists at news conferences to
physically surrender micro
phones if the president hasn’t
granted them a follow-up
question, and said a failure
to abide by these standards
could result in them losing
their passes.
In Acosta, the media had
an imperfect First Amend
ment champion. Even some
critics in the media world
have said he occasionally
seems more interested in
making a point than in ask
ing a question. In the Nov.
7 news conference, he and
Trump briefly argued over
the president’s contention
that a group of Latin Ameri
can migrants headed to the
southern U.S. border repre
sented an invasion.
Yet dozens of news organi
zations filed briefs support
ing CNN in its case against
the White House.
“We are not the enemy
of the people,” Acosta
tweeted Monday. “I am not
your enemy. You are not
my enemy. It is wrong to
call your fellow Americans
the enemy. We are all on
the same team. We are all
Americans.”
The administrations got in
one last twist Monday. CNN
was informed of the decision
to drop the case in a letter to
Acosta — delivered after his
competitor, Fox News Chan
nel’s John Roberts, tweeted
the “SCOOP” that the White
House would not seek to
revoke his pass.
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No comedian at White House
next correspondents’ dinner
BY DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The White House Cor
respondents’ Association announced Mon
day that Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron
Chernow will address its annual dinner next
year, breaking from its tradition of featur
ing an entertainer following the pushback
over comedian Michelle Wolf’s sharply anti-
Trump performance last time.
At a time of increasingly tense relations
between President Donald Trump and the
White House press corps, Chernow said the
association asked him to “make the case
for the First Amendment and I am happy to
oblige.” He’ll also share his perspective on
American politics and history at the April 27
event in Washington, said Olivier Knox, the
association’s president.
“As we celebrate the importance of a free
and independent news media to the health
of the republic, I look forward to hearing
Ron place this unusual moment in the con
text of American history,” said Knox, chief
Washington correspondent for SiriusXM.
Chernow said “freedom of the press is
always a timely subject and this seems like
the perfect moment to go back to basics. ”
“My major worry these days is that we
Americans will forget who we are as a peo
ple, and historians should serve as our chief
custodians in preserving that rich store
house of memory,” he said. “While I have
never been mistaken for a stand-up come
dian, I promise that my history lesson won’t
be dry.”
The shift away from a comic comes about
six months after Wolfs nationally televised
performance at the last dinner attracted
attention for the negative barbs she directed
at Trump, his daughter Ivanka, press secre
tary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and counselor
Kellyanne Conway.
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