issues

‘Phyllis Schlalfly Was Right’

April 3, 2017 by GregC

A prominent conservative, female attorney in Washington is ruffling feathers in the modern women’s movement by suggesting victory has been achieved on the issues that drove activism in the first place, but she says abortion activists have since hijacked the movement and any dissent is considered treasonous.

In a recent column for the the New York Times, Cleta Mitchell says the original women’s movement was not about abortion but about giving men and women a level playing field.

“[Abortion] wasn’t the genesis of the women’s movement. It was really to identify laws that treated women and men differently,” said Mitchell, who is a partner in the Washington firm of Foley & Lardner. She has been prominent in many politically-charged cases. Her clients include individuals and groups targeted by the IRS while seeking tax-exempt status.

Mitchell points out that U.S. law evolved from English common law, which inflicted inequities such as not allowing women to inherit property. For many years, the law excluded women from certain professions or precluded them from serving on juries. In the 19th century, women were often not allowed to speak in public. More recent issues focused on equal opportunity and pay.

Mitchell says women should be eager to point out they won all those debates.

“Fortunately, we were successful. Those laws were eradicated. There is no disparate treatment of women under the law in the United States today. Period,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell was active in the women’s movement in the 1970’s, but within a few years, she could see the emphasis changing to embrace abortion.

“I began to see that happening towards the end of the time I was active in the women’s movement, where I began to see that it was morphing at that time into the abortion issue. We were also being confronted with things like gay rights. I didn’t have any interest in those things because I thought that wasn’t what represented most American women and the challenges women faced,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell says that morphing continued until abortion rights became the foundation for the movement.

“The women’s movement refuses to declare victory mainly because it has morphed into a giant lobby for abortion. It’s not within the construct of Roe v. Wade. It is abortion on demand with no restrictions,” said Mitchell.

In addition to the rhetoric, Mitchell says the proof is in who are considered leaders of the women’s movement today.

“Today, that is really Cecille Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood. That’s who they look to as a key leader as well as (avowed communist) Angela Davis. And they bring Gloria Steinem out of mothballs,” said Mitchell, who also denounced the women’s march in January as well as the aggressive speeches from Davis, Madonna and Ashley Judd.

She says the past 45 years have proven a conservative icon 100 percent correct.

“The truth of the matter is Phyllis Schlafly was right. In the final analysis, Phyllis was absolutely right. I’m glad I was able to tell her that many, many times before she died last year. She said that it wasn’t possible to have an Equal Rights Amendment and the women’s movement without it morphing into something we didn’t want to have happen,” said Mitchell.

“Phyllis was right that it was the natural progression that it would be taken over by the left wing, which it was,” said Mitchell.

So instead of empowering all women, Mitchell says abortion quickly became a wedge issue by which liberal women would shun their conservative counterparts.

“I think that conservative, professional women are virtually invisible within the ranks of what would be the women’s movement. If you are a pro-life, conservative professional woman, you’re really a pariah,” said Mitchell, who recounted how women at a conference sponsored in part by her firm turned on her after learning of her legal work on behalf of conservative clients.

“When they found out who my clients were, one of them looked at me and said, ‘Does that mean that you know Tom DeLay?'”

“I said, ‘Yes, I know Tom Delay.’ He was House Majority Leader at the time.”

“They said, ‘Well, you can’t be friends with him.'”

“I said, ‘As a matter of fact I am friends with him and I think he’s a fine legislator and I help him every chance I can.'”

These women just looked at me and instantly turned away. One of them said, ‘What are your views on abortion?'”

“I said, ‘I’m pro-life,’ and they said, ‘How can you be pro-life and pro-woman?’ These women just pounced on me,” said Mitchell.

In some cruel irony, Mitchell says it’s often liberal, pro-choice women who stunt the career growth of women who don’t agree with them politically.

“There is no daylight if you are a pro-life, conservative professional woman. You are not welcome in the ranks of the women who put together networks and events to promote themselves,” said Mitchell.

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What Happens In A Transition

November 29, 2016 by GregC

While the mainstream media camp out in the lobby of Trump Tower, the work being done upstairs by the Trump transition team is a seemingly endless stream of personnel decisions, policy briefings and figuring out the personal and political chemistry of the president-elect’s inner circle.

Trump won the 2016 election on Nov. 8. He now has just over 50 days to prepare to assume the most powerful office in the world. And that means his team needs to get him ready.

“The idea is that when a president takes office Jan. 20, that he can literally step into his desk that first morning and begin to function as commander-in-chief and handle all the duties of the presidency,” said Reagan White House Political Director Frank Donatelli.

He says the first order of business is growing the president’s staff.

“When someone runs for president, chances are they have a small coterie of advisers around them. Of course, once you become president, you need a lot more people than that. So they have to expand the circle pretty rapidly,” said Donatelli.

While much of the media attention centers on the high-profile cabinet selections, there are a total of about 4,000 political appointments for a president to make.

“Any position that is cabinet-level, deputy secretary or assistant secretary, generally those require Senate confirmation. The president will have some involvement at that level,” said Donatelli.

He adds that while 4,000 may seem like a lot, there are about one million career government employees.

Donatelli says some of the lower political appointments often go to people with some sort of connection to the president or the party.

“The president will give some direction to the kinds of people he wants. Generally, the Office of Presidential Personnel in the White House is responsible for filling out the bureaucracy. They’ll take into consideration campaign workers and key members of the Republican Party and fundraisers for the president, and oh by the way, people who actually have some expertise in the job,” said Donatelli.

In addition to personnel matters, there is the issue of bringing the president-elect up to speed on a wide range of policy issues.

“You want to be able to hit the ground running and so the president needs to be broadly familiar with the issues that are going to be hitting his desk immediately: budget issues, economic issues, obviously foreign policy issues and briefings,” said Donatelli.

It’s an intense process of poring over critical information that is a challenge for every incoming president.

It’s a big curve. It’s no comparison. Some people say it’s a lot more fun to run to be president than it actually is being president. You’ve got a lot of decisions to make. I think it’s true. Only a past president can understand the burdens that a new president is going to take on,” said Donatelli.

While Trump studies his briefing books and makes key nominations, Donatelli says it would be wise for his inner circle to be studying Trump, beginning with the issues he’s most passionate about.

“I think another important thing is if you have people around you that understand the president-elect, so that you know what the president-elect is most interested in and what he’s not interested in – the stuff he’s not interested in that he really doesn’t have to know that much about and can be delegated elsewhere,” said Donatelli.

He says President Reagan had a very smooth transition because some of his closest aides from his days as California governor were by his side and knew how he operated. Donatelli says the learning curve could be steeper for Reince Preiebus and Steve Bannon, who have been close to Trump for a much shorter time.

“Reince Priebus has not worked for Donald Trump before. Steve Bannon was on his campaign but it was only for a short period of time. So I think there is going to be a feeling out process here so that the White House staff knows how this president operates; what he wants to know, what he’s doesn’t need to know, how he functions, etc. etc.,” said Donatelli.

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Ready to Replace Reid

October 25, 2016 by GregC

Senate Republicans are playing a lot of defense in the 2016 election cycle, but their brightest hope for winning a seat held by Democrats not only buoys GOP hopes for keeping a majority but has the party on the brink of capturing the seat held by retiring Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid.

Reid, D-Nevada, is stepping down after 30 years in the Senate. The battle for his seat is a very close contest between GOP Rep. Joe Heck and Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, the former attorney general of Nevada.

Heck, who is also a physician and Army reservist, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010. He says in this chaotic election season, keeping the U.S. Senate in Republican hands ought to be a major priority.

“The most critical issue is to ensure we have a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate, regardless of who’s in the White House. We want to make sure there’s a system of checks and balances. We want to make sure that we facilitate good ideas, block bad ideas and, of course, make sure that we are running the confirmation hearings for the next Supreme Court justices,” said Heck.

Heck was the the party’s top choice to seek the open Senate seat. For much of the general election season, he enjoyed a small but steady lead over Cortex Masto. In the past couple of weeks, however, Masto has edged ahead although the race is easily within the margin of error.

Heck says Nevada is a tough state for Republicans but he is vigorously pursuing every vote.

“It’s the demographics of our state. The population has changed significantly. Nevada, which had historically been a red state, is now really a blue state. There’s an 88,000 Democrat voter edge in our state, a growing Latino population. So it makes it that much harder to get out and talk to folks and earn their votes, but that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said Heck.

“We’ve done that over the last 18 months. I’m the only candidate in this race that has held public events in all 17 counties, making sure that people all across the state have the opportunity to learn about who I am, where I am on the issues, and why I want to be their next U.S. senator,” said Heck.

The congressman says four issues come up most with voters: jobs and the economy, national security, health care, and education. Heck says he has direct experience in all those areas that can improve the lives of Nevadans and all Americans, starting with the economy.

“I owned my own company. I had a business. I know what it’s like to make a payroll, to actually hire folks and put people to work. I know what the impact is of every regulation that’s passed by a state, local, or federal government and what it does to a small business owner,” said Heck.

On national security, he says his time in the U.S. Army prepares him very well to face the challenges confronting our nation.

“I’ve served in uniform for 26 years. I continue to serve in the Army Reserve. I’ve had the honor to command some of the finest men and women this country has to offer, three tours of duty overseas. I know what it takes to keep our country safe,” said Heck.

According to his website, Heck directed emergency services and the aeromedical evacuation section of a combat support hospital in Al-Anbar province during his time in Iraq. He says he is acutely aware of America’s health care needs as well.

“I’m a practicing physician. I’ve worked in inner city hospital emergency departments for over 20 years. If you ever want to see what works and what doesn’t work, come spend some time in an inner city hospital emergency department,” said Heck.

He is also the parent of three children who have gone through the public school and public universities in Nevada. He says that gives him the same insights as other Nevada parents.

“My opponent has no real world experience in any of those issues,” he said.

On the other hand, Heck says people know they’ll just get more of the same with Cortez Masto.

“She is Harry Reid’s hand-picked candidate, so we would expect her to continue down the same path of failed policies that Harry Reid has championed over the last decade, certainly over the last eight years in aiding and abetting the president, and one of the reasons we still have a stagnant economic recovery with sluggish economic growth, stagnant wages, a failed foreign policy that has caused our allies to no longer trust us and our adversaries to no longer fear us,” said Heck.

“She came out in support of the Iran nuclear deal, which certainly does nothing to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. She did so in a quid pro quo, after Harry Reid and the president conducted a fundraiser for her here in Nevada,” said Heck.

Heck is also committed to protecting land rights for ranchers and other family businesses in Nevada. He vows to fight against protected federal status for the sage grouse and against the Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, Rule.

“A dry irrigation ditch on a farm, once it has some water in it, would be considered a navigable waterway, subject to all the regulatory requirements of the Clean Waters Act. That’s going to have a significant impact,” said Heck,

The federal government owns about 87 percent of all the land in Nevada. Heck wants to see the federal government relinquish some of that back to the state and locales. He says doing that, while protecting treasured parks and forests, would allow the state to bring in more property tax revenue and use that to improve Nevada’s lagging schools.

Heck says his six years in Washington have proven he can get things done. He says he has built relationships on both sides of Capitol Hill that will pave the way for positive change. He says his track record in the House proves that he can things done, even with President Obama in the White House.

“I’ve had bills that address veterans’ homelessness, bills that have addressed the victims of human trafficking, legislation that actually creates good-paying jobs in southern Nevada by transferring an old abandoned mine site that’s owned by the federal government to a local redevelopment authority so that it can be remediated, reclaimed and developed at no cost to the taxpayer, and supporting our men and women in uniform which is critical to our national security,” said Heck.

Republicans currently hold a 54-46 majority in Senate. Democrats need to flip four Republican seats to retake the majority if Hillary Clinton wins the presidential race. They would need to win five GOP seats five if Donald Trump wins.

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