theintercept--2020-01-31--Attorneys From Union-Busting Law Firms Are Throwing Support Behind Joe Biden

of unions endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders for president has been growing longer , with the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union announcing its support this week , former Vice President Joe Biden ’ s presidential campaign has been accepting campaign contributions from attorneys at law firms with anti-worker histories .
Their support includes maximum donations from partners at Jackson Lewis , one of the most notorious union-busting firms in the country .
At least five of Biden ’ s bundlers , individuals who have raised at least $ 25,000 for the campaign , are connected to union-busting firms , including one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ preliminary analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that attorneys at law firms with anti-worker histories are largely throwing their financial support behind Biden .
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have also received some support from partners at anti-union firms , but both have received far less from these law firms than Biden , indicating that the firms see Biden as the candidate most in line with their interests .
Biden took in a total of $ 4,200 from attorneys working with Jackson Lewis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Election Commission , a powerful New York-based firm the AFL-CIO has called the “ No .
1 union buster in America.
” In recent years , furniture retailer IKEA , Ivy League colleges , and Adecco , a staffing company that contracts labor to Google and other tech firms , have all brought in Jackson Lewis to assist in sabotaging their workers ’ unionization efforts .
A 2017 Village Voice article about the firm ’ s foray into New York politics resurfaced some of its most notable anti-union work , including its role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a unionization effort at a South Carolina battery factory .
“ They ’ re writing speeches , training supervisors , making video and websites to convey the anti-union message , ” John Logan , a professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University , told the outlet .
“ They script everything.
” The CEPR analysis , which was based on FEC filings and other publicly available information , also found that more than 10 Cozen O ’ Connor employees have maxed out contributions to the Biden campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president and managing partner Vincent R. McGuinness , and Joseph Quinn , a member of the firm ’ s Labor Relations and Disputes department .
According to the Cozen O ’ Connor website , the firm helps employers “ prepare for and respond to picketing , strikes , lockouts and other economic tactics , ” in addition to helping corporations “ avoid unionization through positive employee relations and regain nonunion status when employees indicate they no longer wish to be union-represented.
” Employees from Morgan , Lewis , and Bockius and O ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ union-avoidance ” advice , have also contributed to Biden ’ s campaign .
When Biden kicked off his presidential campaign last April , he did so with a $ 2,800-a-plate fundraiser at the home of Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen in Philadelphia alongside Steve Cozen , the founder of Cozen O ’ Connor , and Ken Jarin , Ballard Spahr partner and lobbyist .
In December , the Biden campaign released a list of bundlers who had all brought in at least $ 25,000 — including Cohen , Cozen , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FEC filings , Cozen also gave Biden ’ s super PAC , called Unite the Country , $ 25,000 .
Ironically , the former vice president declared himself a “ union man ” at his first campaign rally , held by the International Association of Fire Fighters .
The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment .
Buttigieg , meanwhile , has more than 20 donors from Barnes and Thornburg , a firm that has declared it a goal to “ engage clients in union avoidance activities prior to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are partners at the national firm and have maxed out .
Andrew Luger , a partner at the anti-worker law firm Jones Day , has raised at least $ 25,000 for Klobuchar ’ s campaign , according to her list of bundlers .
( Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren don ’ t have bundlers or private high-dollar fundraisers , so they don ’ t have similar lists to release . )
“ Employees of these firms range from associates to CEO ’ s and from low dollar donors to bundlers , but their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the labor policies they expect from a Biden ( or Buttigieg ) administration are more employer-friendly than what unions are expecting , ” CEPR wrote .
“ At the very least , these firms may be looking to influence strategic appointments at Departments and Agencies like the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board , where sympathetic board members can help ensure the firm ’ s clients stay ‘ union free.
’ ” Although union membership in the American workforce has plummeted to around 10 percent , that ’ s still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ labor unions remains critical for political candidates , especially for canvassing and phone-banking efforts in early states .
Most national labor unions have remained on the sidelines this presidential primary cycle .
This marks a shift from the previous presidential primary cycle , when organized labor ’ s unquestioned loyalty to the Democratic establishment led to most influential unions lining up behind the presumptive nominee , Hillary Clinton , early on .
But while national unions have been holding off on making endorsements this time around , local unions ’ support for Sanders @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Postal Workers this week , the Vermont senator has nabbed high-profile endorsements from National Nurses United , the largest nurses ’ union in the country with its 150,000-plus membership ; United Teachers Los Angeles , the second-largest teachers local in the country ; and the United Electrical , Radio , and Machine Workers of America , which represents 35,000 industrial workers .
Early on , Biden picked up an endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters , which staunchly opposes Medicare for All .
On Wednesday , he was endorsed by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Structural , Ornamental , and Reinforcing Iron Workers .
Sanders ’ s campaign has also been endorsed by regional affiliates like Roofers , Waterproofers & Allied Workers Local 36 in Los Angeles ; Teamsters Pennsylvania Federation Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division ; and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 230 in Ottumwa , Iowa .
In September , the National Union of Healthcare Workers endorsed both Sanders and Warren .
Neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has received any labor union endorsements yet .

While the list of unions endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders for president has been growing longer, with the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union announcing its support this week, former Vice President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has been accepting campaign contributions from attorneys at law firms with anti-worker histories. Their support includes maximum donations from partners at Jackson Lewis, one of the most notorious union-busting firms in the country. At least five of Biden’s bundlers, individuals who have raised at least $25,000 for the campaign, are connected to union-busting firms, including one who hosted a high-dollar fundraiser.
A preliminary analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that attorneys at law firms with anti-worker histories are largely throwing their financial support behind Biden. Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar have also received some support from partners at anti-union firms, but both have received far less from these law firms than Biden, indicating that the firms see Biden as the candidate most in line with their interests.
Biden took in a total of $4,200 from attorneys working with Jackson Lewis, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission, a powerful New York-based firm the AFL-CIO has called the “No. 1 union buster in America.”
In recent years, furniture retailer IKEA, Ivy League colleges, and Adecco, a staffing company that contracts labor to Google and other tech firms, have all brought in Jackson Lewis to assist in sabotaging their workers’ unionization efforts. A 2017 Village Voice article about the firm’s foray into New York politics resurfaced some of its most notable anti-union work, including its role in a decadelong effort to beat back a unionization effort at a South Carolina battery factory.
“They’re writing speeches, training supervisors, making video and websites to convey the anti-union message,” John Logan, a professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told the outlet. “They script everything.”
The CEPR analysis, which was based on FEC filings and other publicly available information, also found that more than 10 Cozen O’Connor employees have maxed out contributions to the Biden campaign, including its CEO Michael Heller, president and managing partner Vincent R. McGuinness, and Joseph Quinn, a member of the firm’s Labor Relations and Disputes department. According to the Cozen O’Connor website, the firm helps employers “prepare for and respond to picketing, strikes, lockouts and other economic tactics,” in addition to helping corporations “avoid unionization through positive employee relations and regain nonunion status when employees indicate they no longer wish to be union-represented.” Employees from Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius and O’Melveny and Myers, which provides “union-avoidance” advice, have also contributed to Biden’s campaign.
When Biden kicked off his presidential campaign last April, he did so with a $2,800-a-plate fundraiser at the home of Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen in Philadelphia alongside Steve Cozen, the founder of Cozen O’Connor, and Ken Jarin, Ballard Spahr partner and lobbyist. In December, the Biden campaign released a list of bundlers who had all brought in at least $25,000 — including Cohen, Cozen, and Jarin. According to the most recent FEC filings, Cozen also gave Biden’s super PAC, called Unite the Country, $25,000. Ironically, the former vice president declared himself a “union man” at his first campaign rally, held by the International Association of Fire Fighters. The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Buttigieg, meanwhile, has more than 20 donors from Barnes and Thornburg, a firm that has declared it a goal to “engage clients in union avoidance activities prior to an actual campaign.” Four of the donors are partners at the national firm and have maxed out.
Andrew Luger, a partner at the anti-worker law firm Jones Day, has raised at least $25,000 for Klobuchar’s campaign, according to her list of bundlers. (Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren don’t have bundlers or private high-dollar fundraisers, so they don’t have similar lists to release.)
“Employees of these firms range from associates to CEO’s and from low dollar donors to bundlers, but their support of these candidates may hint that the labor policies they expect from a Biden (or Buttigieg) administration are more employer-friendly than what unions are expecting,” CEPR wrote.
“At the very least, these firms may be looking to influence strategic appointments at Departments and Agencies like the Department of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board, where sympathetic board members can help ensure the firm’s clients stay ‘union free.’”
Although union membership in the American workforce has plummeted to around 10 percent, that’s still 14.6 million people, and support among labor unions remains critical for political candidates, especially for canvassing and phone-banking efforts in early states.
Most national labor unions have remained on the sidelines this presidential primary cycle. This marks a shift from the previous presidential primary cycle, when organized labor’s unquestioned loyalty to the Democratic establishment led to most influential unions lining up behind the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, early on. But while national unions have been holding off on making endorsements this time around, local unions’ support for Sanders has been snowballing.
In addition to the Postal Workers this week, the Vermont senator has nabbed high-profile endorsements from National Nurses United, the largest nurses’ union in the country with its 150,000-plus membership; United Teachers Los Angeles, the second-largest teachers local in the country; and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, which represents 35,000 industrial workers.
Early on, Biden picked up an endorsement from the International Association of Fire Fighters, which staunchly opposes Medicare for All. On Wednesday, he was endorsed by the 130,000-member International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers.
Sanders’s campaign has also been endorsed by regional affiliates like Roofers, Waterproofers & Allied Workers Local 36 in Los Angeles; Teamsters Pennsylvania Federation Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Division; and the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 230 in Ottumwa, Iowa. In September, the National Union of Healthcare Workers endorsed both Sanders and Warren. Neither Buttigieg nor Klobuchar has received any labor union endorsements yet.


theintercept--2020-01-31--Trump Administration Gives Texas the Green Light to Limit Family Planning Services for Poor Women

on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court ’ s landmark Roe v. Wade decision marked its 47th anniversary , Texas got news from the federal government that it would be allowed to receive millions in Medicaid funding to support a family planning program that discriminates among providers — the same strategy that in recent years likely caused a rise in unintended pregnancies .
“ The Lone Star State is once again in partnership with the federal government to provide meaningful family planning and health services while fostering a culture of life , ” Gov .
Greg Abbott said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 350 million available to the state over the next five years .
“ This collaboration is a symbol of our commitment to championing the lives of Texas women.
” At issue is Texas ’ s long-standing quest to avail itself of federal taxpayer funds to provide contraceptives and basic reproductive care to low-income , uninsured women , while also barring those women from choosing to seek services at Planned Parenthood or other clinics the state believes “ affiliate ” with abortion providers .
Medicaid rules require that patients in the federal fee-for-service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any qualified and willing provider — a long-standing provision designed to ensure choice when it comes to family planning and gynecological services .
Texas disapproves of that rule and for years has sought to have it waived .
The federal government ’ s announcement on January 22 gave Texas that permission — and , advocates for women ’ s reproductive health care fear , may now provide an avenue for other states to follow Texas ’ s lead .
The federal government has never before allowed the provider-of-choice rule to be waived for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bottom line here is that the government is once again putting ideology ahead of patient needs , ” said Robin Summers , senior counsel and vice president of health care strategy and analysis for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association .
“ You ’ re supposed to be focused on furthering patient access , improving patient health .
And that just doesn ’ t seem to be what is at the top of the priority list right now.
” Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , nearly 26 percent of women of reproductive age are uninsured — more than double the national average .
This problem is exacerbated by stringent Medicaid requirements ; parental income above $ 302 per month is enough to render a family of three ineligible for the program .
Not only has the state refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act , but it is also leading the charge to have the ACA ruled unconstitutional .
The kind of Medicaid waiver program that the feds approved for Texas generally allows states to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of innovation in health care delivery .
In the mid-2000s , Texas did just that when it asked to waive financial eligibility rules in order to expand access to reproductive health care for women not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid unless they were pregnant .
Known as the Women ’ s Health Program , the pilot got off the ground in 2007 and expanded rapidly .
In 2008 alone , the program reduced the number of unintended pregnancies that Medicaid would have paid for by more than 10,000 , saving taxpayers more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of 2011 , nearly 130,000 clients had enrolled in the program , with 90 percent of them accessing services .
It was a clear success .
Still , Republican state lawmakers were determined to defund Planned Parenthood from all state programs by any means necessary .
At the time , Planned Parenthood was serving more than 40 percent of Women ’ s Health Program clients , making it the single largest provider .
State lawmakers came up with a new rule that would bar any group “ affiliated ” with an abortion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The federal government balked and said that if the state did not remove the ban , it would not reauthorize federal funding for the waiver program .
So Texas pulled out of the federal deal , rebranded the Women ’ s Health Program , barred Planned Parenthood , and funded the program solely with state money .
It hasn ’ t exactly worked out .
The program , now known as Healthy Texas Women , floundered for years with enrollment steadily declining — down to an average monthly enrollment of 94,851 by fiscal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a concerted outreach campaign and enrollment increased , up to 244,153 in 2018 .
Still , the percentage of patients served has continued to lag ; in 2018 , roughly 70 percent of enrolled clients actually accessed services .
This is at least in part due to the fact that while the state signed up thousands of potential providers after ousting Planned Parenthood — including individual doctors ’ offices — a majority of them haven ’ t served any clients .
In 2018 , according to the state ’ s Health and Human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ providers enrolled in the program billed for services provided .
Moreover , research from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas ’ s Population Research Center found that after the state bounced Planned Parenthood ( and other smaller providers ) from the program , the number of women receiving long-acting reversible contraceptives — the most effective forms of birth control — decreased by 35 percent .
The number of women receiving injectable contraceptives declined by 31 percent , while Medicaid-paid births among this cohort increased by 27 percent .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by Texas lawmakers likely increased the number of unintended pregnancies , one of the health outcomes the program aimed to reduce .

In late January, on the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision marked its 47th anniversary, Texas got news from the federal government that it would be allowed to receive millions in Medicaid funding to support a family planning program that discriminates among providers — the same strategy that in recent years likely caused a rise in unintended pregnancies.
“The Lone Star State is once again in partnership with the federal government to provide meaningful family planning and health services while fostering a culture of life,” Gov. Greg Abbott said of the deal, which will make $350 million available to the state over the next five years. “This collaboration is a symbol of our commitment to championing the lives of Texas women.”
At issue is Texas’s long-standing quest to avail itself of federal taxpayer funds to provide contraceptives and basic reproductive care to low-income, uninsured women, while also barring those women from choosing to seek services at Planned Parenthood or other clinics the state believes “affiliate” with abortion providers.
Medicaid rules require that patients in the federal fee-for-service program be able to access care from any qualified and willing provider — a long-standing provision designed to ensure choice when it comes to family planning and gynecological services. Texas disapproves of that rule and for years has sought to have it waived. The federal government’s announcement on January 22 gave Texas that permission — and, advocates for women’s reproductive health care fear, may now provide an avenue for other states to follow Texas’s lead. The federal government has never before allowed the provider-of-choice rule to be waived for a family planning program.
“The bottom line here is that the government is once again putting ideology ahead of patient needs,” said Robin Summers, senior counsel and vice president of health care strategy and analysis for the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. “You’re supposed to be focused on furthering patient access, improving patient health. And that just doesn’t seem to be what is at the top of the priority list right now.”
A Failed Experiment
Texas has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country: nearly 18 percent. Even more abysmal, nearly 26 percent of women of reproductive age are uninsured — more than double the national average. This problem is exacerbated by stringent Medicaid requirements; parental income above $302 per month is enough to render a family of three ineligible for the program. Not only has the state refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, but it is also leading the charge to have the ACA ruled unconstitutional.
The kind of Medicaid waiver program that the feds approved for Texas generally allows states to opt out of certain rules in favor of innovation in health care delivery. In the mid-2000s, Texas did just that when it asked to waive financial eligibility rules in order to expand access to reproductive health care for women not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid unless they were pregnant.
Known as the Women’s Health Program, the pilot got off the ground in 2007 and expanded rapidly. In 2008 alone, the program reduced the number of unintended pregnancies that Medicaid would have paid for by more than 10,000, saving taxpayers more than $92 million. By the end of 2011, nearly 130,000 clients had enrolled in the program, with 90 percent of them accessing services. It was a clear success.
Still, Republican state lawmakers were determined to defund Planned Parenthood from all state programs by any means necessary. At the time, Planned Parenthood was serving more than 40 percent of Women’s Health Program clients, making it the single largest provider. State lawmakers came up with a new rule that would bar any group “affiliated” with an abortion provider from participating in the program. The federal government balked and said that if the state did not remove the ban, it would not reauthorize federal funding for the waiver program.
So Texas pulled out of the federal deal, rebranded the Women’s Health Program, barred Planned Parenthood, and funded the program solely with state money. It hasn’t exactly worked out. The program, now known as Healthy Texas Women, floundered for years with enrollment steadily declining — down to an average monthly enrollment of 94,851 by fiscal year 2016. The state subsequently launched a concerted outreach campaign and enrollment increased, up to 244,153 in 2018. Still, the percentage of patients served has continued to lag; in 2018, roughly 70 percent of enrolled clients actually accessed services. This is at least in part due to the fact that while the state signed up thousands of potential providers after ousting Planned Parenthood — including individual doctors’ offices — a majority of them haven’t served any clients. In 2018, according to the state’s Health and Human Services Commission, just 10 percent of providers enrolled in the program billed for services provided.
Moreover, research from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas’s Population Research Center found that after the state bounced Planned Parenthood (and other smaller providers) from the program, the number of women receiving long-acting reversible contraceptives — the most effective forms of birth control — decreased by 35 percent. The number of women receiving injectable contraceptives declined by 31 percent, while Medicaid-paid births among this cohort increased by 27 percent. In other words, the policy decisions made by Texas lawmakers likely increased the number of unintended pregnancies, one of the health outcomes the program aimed to reduce.
Ultimately, what the state has demonstrated is that you cannot eliminate the network’s highest-capacity provider and also maintain services, let alone increase them. “The capacity was yanked out of the system. There’s no question about what happened,” said Stacey Pogue, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin. The state said “they could kick out Planned Parenthood and that everything would be the same. And there was a mountain of evidence over time showing that was not true.”
This is what makes the federal government’s approval of the waiver request puzzling. If the Medicaid waiver is meant to encourage innovation in the system as a means to increase access and positive health outcomes, Texas’s program has already demonstrated that it has not done that.
According to the approval letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services determined that Texas’s proposal to have Medicaid fund the state’s women’s health strategy is “likely to assist with promoting the objectives” of Medicaid “by providing access to high-quality family planning services that produce positive health outcomes for individuals.” It also notes that granting the waiver “will increase access to family planning services to avert unintended pregnancies.”
But in the same letter, CMS essentially acknowledges that Texas is not proposing any actual changes to the state-run program that saw access decline among the very population it was intended to help. The agency notes that it isn’t necessary for the state to “show in advance” that the waiver program “will in fact achieve particular outcomes,” and concludes that regardless of whether it succeeds, “the information it yields will provide policymakers real-world data on the efficacy of such policies. That in itself promotes the objectives of the Medicaid statute.”
“We know it’s a failed experiment,” says Pogue. “We’ve run it since 2011. We know how this experiment turns out.”
Asked about the disconnect between the stated objectives of Medicaid and granting the Texas waiver, a CMS spokesperson simply reiterated language contained in the agency’s approval letter, writing that “overall” the waiver program would provide uninsured women “access to family planning providers they would not otherwise have.”
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
A Harmful Agenda
Because of the way the state has budgeted the Healthy Texas Women program, it will be dependent on the infusion of federal cash going forward, as opposed to using that money to augment a healthy state budget allocation. In other words, Pogue says, the state is simply decreasing its portion of the budget and swapping in the federal money. As such, there is even less reason to think that the program will actually be able to extend its reach beyond the clients it is already serving.
The schism between what the waiver program is designed to do and how it is being applied in Texas points to the fact that health care policy in the Trump administration is ideologically driven, says Summers.
“They have an agenda they have been executing for the last several years. This is one more step in that agenda,” Summers said. “It doesn’t seem to matter what the data show, that people are getting poor-quality care, that they’re lacking access to care. At the end of the day, it’s all serving an agenda that is harmful to patients.”
“This is setting up a road map for other states to follow to get federal funding but also to be able to block providers they don’t like.”
Indeed, in the waning days of the Obama administration, CMS issued a “clarifying” letter reminding states that they could not eliminate certain providers on ideological grounds. Shortly after Trump took office, Texas was reportedly “encouraged” to apply again to do just that.
On January 29, a group of 16 health care, legal, and religious organizations, including the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, penned a letter to CMS urging it to rescind the decision to waive the provider-of-choice provision. “This approval will do nothing to expand access to family planning care and will only grant federal dollars and imprimatur to a discriminatory and failed Texas program,” the organizations wrote.
There are at least two additional waiver requests currently pending before the agency, from South Carolina and Tennessee. And in recent years, two other states, Iowa and Missouri, followed Texas’s lead in dropping their federal waiver programs for family planning in favor of dumping providers like Planned Parenthood. Texas’s success in regaining access to funds could set these states up for similar success. “This is setting up a road map for other states to follow to get federal funding but also to be able to block providers they don’t like,” said Summers.
The reshaping of federal health care strategy is proceeding on multiple fronts. The Trump administration has told California that it will withhold federal funds unless the state repeals a law requiring private insurers to cover abortion. And on January 30, the administration announced a plan to refashion Medicaid altogether, into a block grant program, which critics say could cause major damage across the system. Medicaid is the nation’s single largest health insurance program, covering roughly 65 million people in any given month. It is also critical to ensuring that low-income individuals can access family planning and reproductive care, reports the Guttmacher Institute. In 2017, Medicaid covered 21 percent of all women of child-bearing age, including 50 percent of those below the federal poverty line.
“All of these moves by the federal government, quite honestly, have been decreasing access to high-quality care,” Summers said. “That’s the common thread that they all have.”


Mayor Pete: Flip-Flopper-in-Chief

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Name a big issue: health care, immigration, special interests, political reform, and you’ll find that in the past 12 months alone, presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has switched positions. The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan says if you’re looking for a candidate who sticks to their principles no matter what a focus group or a big donor says, then maybe Mayor Pete isn’t your guy.


theintercept--2020-02-03--In Michigan, Where Pot Is Legal, Will Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Take Up Case of Man Serving Decades for

In Michigan, Where Pot Is Legal, Will Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Take Up Case of Man Serving Decades for a Weed Offense?

Whitmer now has a chance to do just that .
On January 29 , Michael Thompson , who has spent nearly 24 years in prison for a pot crime , filed his third petition for clemency .
The petition will go through the state ’ s parole board , which will consider the severity of Thompson ’ s crime and whether he ’ s changed .
Once they issue their recommendation , Whitmer can decide whether to pardon Thompson or commute his sentence .
A spokesperson from the governor ’ s office told The Intercept that if recommended by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we will review closely.
” In 2018 , when Michigan legalized recreational marijuana , then-Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer pledged to help people trapped in the criminal legal system for pot crimes .
“ I think that the people of Michigan have said that for conduct that would now be legal , no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct , ” she said .
The longest part of Thompson ’ s sentence stems from the gun charge , and he and his lawyers argue that his case should be viewed as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incarceration , which he ’ s serving at Michigan ’ s Muskegon Correctional Facility , stems from a 1994 incident in which he sold pot to an old friend who was working as a police informant .
After he was busted , police raided his properties , where they found guns , including some that were antiques , some locked in a safe , and a firearm that belonged to his wife .
He hadn ’ t been armed during the pot delivery and didn ’ t have a history of gun violence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michigan ’ s three-strikes law , mandatory minimums , and “ constructive possession ” — a vague legal term that allows prosecutors to pin a gun possession charge on someone who was not carrying a gun at the time of the alleged crime — to get him locked up for 40 to 60 years .
Even as pot becomes legal in more states , people can still get entangled in the criminal legal system for using or selling weed ( according to the American Civil Liberties Union , black people are four times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , despite not using the drug at greater rates than white people ) .
Although — obviously — marijuana arrests rates fall when pot is legalized , they don ’ t end entirely , new data from the Department of Justice shows .
And as The Intercept previously reported , in some nonlegal states , pot arrests can go up after legalization in neighboring municipalities , while in legal states they don ’ t fall as sharply as one would assume : It ’ s actually pretty easy to run afoul of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Unsurprisingly , young people of color are more likely to be targeted , as NPR reported in 2016 .
The length of Thompson ’ s sentence is extreme , but his case is typical in the sense that few people are serving long sentences solely for possessing pot .
The continuing prevalence of habitual offender laws and mandatory minimums ( and , in some cases , the rush to impose gun control without considering what that would mean in terms of locking more people up ) mean that despite good-faith efforts to roll @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawmakers have to reframe “ violent ” and nonviolent crime if they ’ re serious about reform .
And that means considering mercy for someone like Thompson , who wasn ’ t a first-time offender but shows all indications that he doesn ’ t intend to commit crimes if he is released early from his 40-year sentence .
It will take the state ’ s parole board at least two months to decide whether Thompson ’ s clemency petition has merits .
That time frame is designed to allow two separate 30-day notification @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and other public officials to weigh in .
Overall , the process will likely take four to eight months , Corral said .
If he ’ s denied , he can ’ t reapply for another two years .
“ I am truly anticipating the Michigan Governor to show humanity , instead of continuing this political madness , ” Thompson , who is 68 years old , wrote in a message to The Intercept last week .
“ After [ almost ] 24 years I have become sort of numb .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ !
Because I truly believe that ‘ God ’ will answer all my prayers and turn this evil incarceration into a promising future.
” for freedom was denied by the parole board and then-Gov .
Rick Snyder on November 21 , 2018 , a few weeks after Michigan voted to legalize pot .
The parole board is not required to give a reason for its denial — and didn ’ t in this case — making the process opaque and confusing to petitioners trying to gain their freedom .
His latest petition argues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and essentially legal now .
Plus , his sentence is far harsher than penalties handed down for actually violent behavior .
“ All of Michael ’ s convictions were victimless crimes , ” the petition reads .
Legally speaking , Thompson is still in prison because of the gun charge .
But Corral points out that this is a technicality that does not negate his argument that he counts as a nonviolent drug offender .
“ The nexus between the sale of the marijuana and the guns is preposterous , ” said Corral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s case , after hearing about it from Brittany K. Barnett , a lawyer for Alice Marie Johnson , the nonviolent drug offender whose sentence was commuted by Donald Trump .
“ He sold marijuana .
The transaction didn ’ t happen in his home , so the warrant was suspect .
The money to buy the drugs wasn ’ t found in his home either .
He didn ’ t ever have a gun on him .
The concept of constructive possession … it ’ s a legal fiction .
Michael was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t use the gun.
” In contrast to Thompson ’ s victimless crime , actual violent crimes are , on average , punishable by far less time in Michigan .
In 2017 , the average sentence handed down for homicide or attempted murder in Michigan was 12 years .
Child sexual abuse : 7.5 years .
Armed robbery with serious injury : 11.3 years .
“ You can shoot somebody with a gun and get less time , ” Corral said .
She hopes Thompson will be let out by his birthday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bureaucratic drag will unduly delay his release .
“ He shouldn ’ t spend one more day in prison , ” she said .
Thompson is almost 70 .
Even if he had been violent in his youth — of which there ’ s no evidence — research affirms that almost all people age out of violent criminal activity .
And Thompson has had a stellar disciplinary record .
“ I ’ ve only observed Thompson as respectful towards the officers and other inmates , ” his morning correctional officer wrote in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve heard of no complaints about him + haven ’ t had any negative interactions with him.
” A Department of Corrections spokesperson told WZZN that Thompson ’ s record was “ remarkable.
” His clemency petition is supplemented by statements from a handful of men he has been incarcerated with .
At Muscogee , Thompson organized a workshop intended to help men process their feelings , eschew violence , and fulfill their family obligations .
Some of the men he spoke with will get out ; many have life sentences .
Nevertheless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the parole board , helped them talk about their lives , process their feelings , come out with a better understanding of themselves .
The men described the power of watching Thompson break down crying when he shared with them what it was like to learn that his only son had died while he was in prison .
Robert Cannon , who helped organize the workshop , said he broke down after listening to Thompson .
“ I too revealed some deeply hidden secrets and when I shared how I had been used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I broke down , which surprised me because I don ’ t remember the last time I shedded tears.
” Another man concurred .
“ You have to understand that it was very unusual for men in prison to bear their heart and souls to total strangers , but these guys did , so it compelled me to tell me more of what they were saying to everyone , ” the man , who is serving a life sentence , said .
“ I have to say that I have never met @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who became like a grandfather figure to me , which I never had and he showed me that I was more of man because I wasn ’ t afraid to show my emotions in prison , ” a younger incarcerated person observed .
Thompson also counsels younger people who are incarcerated alongside him , sharing his story to help them do better on the outside .
He thinks most of them are smart kids , who need some help dealing with their emotions as well as access to good , mentally stimulating jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a life of crime .
If Thompson ’ s petition for clemency is approved , he wants to continue counseling young people to stay away from violence and crime , especially those involved in gangs .
“ I want to help our community big time , ” he told The Intercept .
“ These kids … everyone is turning their heads .
We need to get these guys in a workshop , get them jobs , good quality jobs .
”

In 2018, when Michigan legalized recreational marijuana, then-Gov.-elect Gretchen Whitmer pledged to help people trapped in the criminal legal system for pot crimes. “I think that the people of Michigan have said that for conduct that would now be legal, no one should bear a lifelong record for that conduct,” she said.
Whitmer now has a chance to do just that. On January 29, Michael Thompson, who has spent nearly 24 years in prison for a pot crime, filed his third petition for clemency. The petition will go through the state’s parole board, which will consider the severity of Thompson’s crime and whether he’s changed. Once they issue their recommendation, Whitmer can decide whether to pardon Thompson or commute his sentence. A spokesperson from the governor’s office told The Intercept that if recommended by the parole board, “this is something we will review closely.”
Thompson’s incarceration, which he’s serving at Michigan’s Muskegon Correctional Facility, stems from a 1994 incident in which he sold pot to an old friend who was working as a police informant. After he was busted, police raided his properties, where they found guns, including some that were antiques, some locked in a safe, and a firearm that belonged to his wife. He hadn’t been armed during the pot delivery and didn’t have a history of gun violence. But prosecutors used a mix of Michigan’s three-strikes law, mandatory minimums, and “constructive possession”— a vague legal term that allows prosecutors to pin a gun possession charge on someone who was not carrying a gun at the time of the alleged crime — to get him locked up for 40 to 60 years.
The longest part of Thompson’s sentence stems from the gun charge, and he and his lawyers argue that his case should be viewed as a nonviolent drug offense.
“It’s a marijuana case,” said Kimberly Corral, Thompson’s attorney. “And even if it were a gun sentence, it’d still be absurd.”
Even as pot becomes legal in more states, people can still get entangled in the criminal legal system for using or selling weed (according to the American Civil Liberties Union, black people are four times as likely to be arrested for pot, despite not using the drug at greater rates than white people). Although — obviously — marijuana arrests rates fall when pot is legalized, they don’t end entirely, new data from the Department of Justice shows. And as The Intercept previously reported, in some nonlegal states, pot arrests can go up after legalization in neighboring municipalities, while in legal states they don’t fall as sharply as one would assume: It’s actually pretty easy to run afoul of the rules of tightly regulated legal markets. Unsurprisingly, young people of color are more likely to be targeted, as NPR reported in 2016.
“I am truly anticipating the Michigan Governor to show humanity, instead of continuing this political madness.”
The length of Thompson’s sentence is extreme, but his case is typical in the sense that few people are serving long sentences solely for possessing pot. The continuing prevalence of habitual offender laws and mandatory minimums (and, in some cases, the rush to impose gun control without considering what that would mean in terms of locking more people up) mean that despite good-faith efforts to roll back the excesses of criminal law, lawmakers have to reframe “violent” and nonviolent crime if they’re serious about reform. And that means considering mercy for someone like Thompson, who wasn’t a first-time offender but shows all indications that he doesn’t intend to commit crimes if he is released early from his 40-year sentence.
It will take the state’s parole board at least two months to decide whether Thompson’s clemency petition has merits. That time frame is designed to allow two separate 30-day notification periods for prosecutors, the sentencing judge, and other public officials to weigh in. Overall, the process will likely take four to eight months, Corral said. If he’s denied, he can’t reapply for another two years.
“I am truly anticipating the Michigan Governor to show humanity, instead of continuing this political madness,” Thompson, who is 68 years old, wrote in a message to The Intercept last week. “After [almost] 24 years I have become sort of numb. However, I feel truly blessed today!! Because I truly believe that ‘God’ will answer all my prayers and turn this evil incarceration into a promising future.”
Thompson’s last bid for freedom was denied by the parole board and then-Gov. Rick Snyder on November 21, 2018, a few weeks after Michigan voted to legalize pot. The parole board is not required to give a reason for its denial — and didn’t in this case — making the process opaque and confusing to petitioners trying to gain their freedom.
His latest petition argues that his offense was nonviolent in 1994 and essentially legal now. Plus, his sentence is far harsher than penalties handed down for actually violent behavior. “All of Michael’s convictions were victimless crimes,” the petition reads. Legally speaking, Thompson is still in prison because of the gun charge. But Corral points out that this is a technicality that does not negate his argument that he counts as a nonviolent drug offender.
“The nexus between the sale of the marijuana and the guns is preposterous,” said Corral, who recently took up Thompson’s case, after hearing about it from Brittany K. Barnett, a lawyer for Alice Marie Johnson, the nonviolent drug offender whose sentence was commuted by Donald Trump. “He sold marijuana. The transaction didn’t happen in his home, so the warrant was suspect. The money to buy the drugs wasn’t found in his home either. He didn’t ever have a gun on him. The concept of constructive possession … it’s a legal fiction. Michael was never seen carrying the gun, didn’t use the gun.”
In contrast to Thompson’s victimless crime, actual violent crimes are, on average, punishable by far less time in Michigan. In 2017, the average sentence handed down for homicide or attempted murder in Michigan was 12 years. Child sexual abuse: 7.5 years. Armed robbery with serious injury: 11.3 years.
“You can shoot somebody with a gun and get less time,” Corral said. She hopes Thompson will be let out by his birthday in April, but she worries that bureaucratic drag will unduly delay his release. “He shouldn’t spend one more day in prison,” she said.
Thompson is almost 70. Even if he had been violent in his youth — of which there’s no evidence — research affirms that almost all people age out of violent criminal activity. And Thompson has had a stellar disciplinary record. “I’ve only observed Thompson as respectful towards the officers and other inmates,” his morning correctional officer wrote in a recent behavioral report. “I’ve heard of no complaints about him + haven’t had any negative interactions with him.” A Department of Corrections spokesperson told WZZN that Thompson’s record was “remarkable.”
His clemency petition is supplemented by statements from a handful of men he has been incarcerated with. At Muscogee, Thompson organized a workshop intended to help men process their feelings, eschew violence, and fulfill their family obligations. Some of the men he spoke with will get out; many have life sentences. Nevertheless, the workshops, they wrote to the parole board, helped them talk about their lives, process their feelings, come out with a better understanding of themselves.
The men described the power of watching Thompson break down crying when he shared with them what it was like to learn that his only son had died while he was in prison. Robert Cannon, who helped organize the workshop, said he broke down after listening to Thompson. “I too revealed some deeply hidden secrets and when I shared how I had been used up by the men that raised me, I broke down, which surprised me because I don’t remember the last time I shedded tears.”
Another man concurred. “You have to understand that it was very unusual for men in prison to bear their heart and souls to total strangers, but these guys did, so it compelled me to tell me more of what they were saying to everyone,” the man, who is serving a life sentence, said.
“I have to say that I have never met another man in prison like Mr. Thompson who became like a grandfather figure to me, which I never had and he showed me that I was more of man because I wasn’t afraid to show my emotions in prison,” a younger incarcerated person observed.
Thompson also counsels younger people who are incarcerated alongside him, sharing his story to help them do better on the outside. He thinks most of them are smart kids, who need some help dealing with their emotions as well as access to good, mentally stimulating jobs, to prevent them from succumbing to a life of crime. If Thompson’s petition for clemency is approved, he wants to continue counseling young people to stay away from violence and crime, especially those involved in gangs. “I want to help our community big time,” he told The Intercept. “These kids … everyone is turning their heads. We need to get these guys in a workshop, get them jobs, good quality jobs.”


theintercept--2020-02-03--As a Prosecutor, Amy Klobuchar Went After Somali Users of Khat, an Herbal Stimulant

“ The county has spent so much time , money and effort on what is a social gathering in the Somali community , like meeting for a cup of coffee , ” attorney Rene Clemenson told the Associated Press at the time .
“ It ’ s sad because it has seriously affected the Somali community , which in my experience is industrious and hardworking.
” At a time when khat-related prosecutions were rare , the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in 1999 that as county prosecutor , Klobuchar defended charging people for using it “ despite the cultural usage of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ offenders ’ native country.
” An attorney for six Somali defendants she prosecuted said it made little sense for law enforcement to expend resources on a drug that has effects similar to that of “ a Scandinavian cup of coffee.
” Though khat is an illegal narcotic in the U.S. , with its most active chemical prohibited by the Drug Enforcement Administration alongside heroin and LSD , there ’ s a widespread understanding among communities using khat socially , criminal justice reform advocates , and scholars that its potential harms are similar to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ decades ago Minnesota ’ s Hennepin County attorney , now-Sen. Amy Klobuchar , prosecuted the possession of khat , an herbal stimulant grown in Northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula .
It is used widely in social gatherings as an equivalent to drinking coffee or tea , and has also been used as an Indigenous tribal medicine .
Her record came under particular scrutiny last week , as the Associated Press published a yearlong investigation suggesting that in prosecuting a case of a little girl who was shot and killed by a stray @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prison for life .
Klobuchar boasted about Myon Burrell ’ s conviction in an ad for her 2006 Senate campaign .
In response to AP ’ s reporting , the Klobuchar campaign said that Burrell was tried and convicted twice for the murder , and that his second trial took place after Klobuchar left the office for the Senate .
“ If there was new evidence , she said , it should be immediately reviewed by the court , ” AP reported .
Following AP ’ s investigation , the foreman of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regrets his vote to convict .
Klobuchar , who is now running for president , was Hennepin County ’ s top prosecutor from 1999 to 2006 , the year she was elected to the U.S. Senate .
She has faced criticisms on the campaign trail for aggressively pursuing drug prosecutions that disproportionately impact black and brown communities , and for declining to prosecute a number of controversial police shootings .
In 2002 , for example , Klobuchar declined to prosecute six police officers who shot a mentally ill Somali man who was walking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a crowbar .
More recently , the senator has been accused by former staffers of physical and emotional abuse .
The AP report led to prominent Minnesota activists , including the Twin Cities Black Lives Matter chapter , the Minneapolis NAACP , and Communities United Against Police Brutality , calling on the senator to drop out of the presidential race .
Klobuchar enters Monday ’ s Iowa caucus with single-digit polling .
She had 8 percent support in the latest Siena/New York Times survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers , compared to 4 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than doubled her support since December in the latest WBUR poll of likely New Hampshire caucus-goers .
( A candidate must receive support from 15 percent of caucus attendees to be viable . )
Klobuchar is polling at less than one percent among black voters nationally .
On the campaign trail , she has touted her support from Minnesota ’ s Somali community , the largest community of Somalis in the country .
At Iowa ’ s Black and Brown forum with Democratic presidential candidates on January 20 , Martin Luther King Jr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about immigration policy by stating that she was the only candidate “ running in the Midwest , in a state that didn ’ t have as big of a Hispanic population but does have the biggest Somali population , which I have a lot of support , because I ’ ve worked for them for so long.
” On the question of prosecuting khat cases , Klobuchar ’ s campaign provided The Intercept with news reports from the time that emphasize that khat was not a top concern for the prosecutor ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ relatively few such cases .
The campaign also touted the senator ’ s work with the Somali community , citing her work to extend Temporary Protective Status and reduce visa delays for Somali citizens and undo a rule prohibiting remittances to Somalia .
The senator does have the support of members of Minnesota ’ s Somali community , said Abdi Barkat , an organizer and program manager at Ka Joog , a nonprofit serving Somali American youth in Minnesota .
“ We are supporting her , ” Barkat said , noting that Klobuchar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of immigration and housing .
“ That ’ s why they are caucusing in Minnesota.
” Barkat said he couldn ’ t speak to her record as a prosecutor , but he ’ d known her over the past 10 years .
“ I do not know what was before that , ” he said .
ramped up prosecution of what they describe as khat smuggling rings over the past two decades .
But at the time Klobuchar prosecuted the 1999 case , there had been little police activity around the substance .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ staunch defender of prosecuting khat in a case involving six Somali residents in Hennepin County , which includes Minneapolis and its western and southern suburbs .
“ This is an illegal drug in our country .
It is our job to prosecute the cases , ” Klobuchar said at the time , noting that khat ’ s use is not limited to use in the Somali community .
The Tribune reported that authorities in the surrounding St. Paul , Anoka , and Dakota counties said “ they have seen little or no khat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 1999 that few khat cases were being prosecuted .
While Klobuchar has said that khat wasn ’ t her office ’ s focus , she still prosecuted around a dozen cases a year , the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported in 1999 .
Those were typically fifth-degree possession charges , which don ’ t get prison time , but are still felonies .
Klobuchar ’ s khat cases largely resulted in probation or diversion and drug treatment programs that can help reduce sentencing .
“ These are user cases where treatment or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the AP in 1999 .
In 2000 , the Minnesota Court of Appeals made it easier to prosecute khat possession , ruling that prosecutors could move forward with charges without proving the amount of the active ingredient cathinone present in the khat in question .
In 2002 , a spokesperson for Klobuchar ’ s office told AP khat-related charges were filed against “ 10 to 20 people in the past year.
” Such prosecutions have continued in Minnesota and elsewhere in recent years .
New York state sent the first men in state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Officials in the U.S. have recently brought charges against khat smuggling and use in New York , Virginia , Texas , and other states .
In 2016 , two Somali men were convicted in McLean County , Illinois , in connection with trafficking 150 pounds of khat .
The consensus among criminal justice scholars and advocates is that khat is a substance not worth prosecuting .
Eric Sterling , who leads the nonprofit Criminal Justice Policy Foundation , told NBC in 2007 that his “ understanding of the use of khat is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ priority for federal law enforcement , ” saying he thought such “ cases are largely a waste of very precious federal criminal justice resources .
”

Some two decades ago Minnesota’s Hennepin County attorney, now-Sen. Amy Klobuchar, prosecuted the possession of khat, an herbal stimulant grown in Northeast Africa and the Arabian peninsula. It is used widely in social gatherings as an equivalent to drinking coffee or tea, and has also been used as an Indigenous tribal medicine.
Though khat is an illegal narcotic in the U.S., with its most active chemical prohibited by the Drug Enforcement Administration alongside heroin and LSD, there’s a widespread understanding among communities using khat socially, criminal justice reform advocates, and scholars that its potential harms are similar to those of chewing tobacco.
At a time when khat-related prosecutions were rare, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in 1999 that as county prosecutor, Klobuchar defended charging people for using it “despite the cultural usage of khat and its legal status in the offenders’ native country.” An attorney for six Somali defendants she prosecuted said it made little sense for law enforcement to expend resources on a drug that has effects similar to that of “a Scandinavian cup of coffee.”
“The county has spent so much time, money and effort on what is a social gathering in the Somali community, like meeting for a cup of coffee,” attorney Rene Clemenson told the Associated Press at the time. “It’s sad because it has seriously affected the Somali community, which in my experience is industrious and hardworking.”
Klobuchar, who is now running for president, was Hennepin County’s top prosecutor from 1999 to 2006, the year she was elected to the U.S. Senate. She has faced criticisms on the campaign trail for aggressively pursuing drug prosecutions that disproportionately impact black and brown communities, and for declining to prosecute a number of controversial police shootings. In 2002, for example, Klobuchar declined to prosecute six police officers who shot a mentally ill Somali man who was walking down the street, wielding a machete and a crowbar. More recently, the senator has been accused by former staffers of physical and emotional abuse.
Her record came under particular scrutiny last week, as the Associated Press published a yearlong investigation suggesting that in prosecuting a case of a little girl who was shot and killed by a stray bullet, Klobuchar sent an innocent 16-year-old to prison for life. Klobuchar boasted about Myon Burrell’s conviction in an ad for her 2006 Senate campaign. In response to AP’s reporting, the Klobuchar campaign said that Burrell was tried and convicted twice for the murder, and that his second trial took place after Klobuchar left the office for the Senate. “If there was new evidence, she said, it should be immediately reviewed by the court,” AP reported. Following AP’s investigation, the foreman of the jury on the case said he regrets his vote to convict.
Photo: John Minchillo/AP
The AP report led to prominent Minnesota activists, including the Twin Cities Black Lives Matter chapter, the Minneapolis NAACP, and Communities United Against Police Brutality, calling on the senator to drop out of the presidential race. Klobuchar enters Monday’s Iowa caucus with single-digit polling. She had 8 percent support in the latest Siena/New York Times survey of likely Iowa caucus-goers, compared to 4 percent in October. She also more than doubled her support since December in the latest WBUR poll of likely New Hampshire caucus-goers. (A candidate must receive support from 15 percent of caucus attendees to be viable.)
Klobuchar is polling at less than one percent among black voters nationally. On the campaign trail, she has touted her support from Minnesota’s Somali community, the largest community of Somalis in the country. At Iowa’s Black and Brown forum with Democratic presidential candidates on January 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Klobuchar responded to a question about immigration policy by stating that she was the only candidate “running in the Midwest, in a state that didn’t have as big of a Hispanic population but does have the biggest Somali population, which I have a lot of support, because I’ve worked for them for so long.”
On the question of prosecuting khat cases, Klobuchar’s campaign provided The Intercept with news reports from the time that emphasize that khat was not a top concern for the prosecutor’s office, and that her office prosecuted relatively few such cases. The campaign also touted the senator’s work with the Somali community, citing her work to extend Temporary Protective Status and reduce visa delays for Somali citizens and undo a rule prohibiting remittances to Somalia.
The senator does have the support of members of Minnesota’s Somali community, said Abdi Barkat, an organizer and program manager at Ka Joog, a nonprofit serving Somali American youth in Minnesota. “We are supporting her,” Barkat said, noting that Klobuchar stood up for the community on issues of immigration and housing. “That’s why they are caucusing in Minnesota.” Barkat said he couldn’t speak to her record as a prosecutor, but he’d known her over the past 10 years. “I do not know what was before that,” he said.
Federal officials have ramped up prosecution of what they describe as khat smuggling rings over the past two decades. But at the time Klobuchar prosecuted the 1999 case, there had been little police activity around the substance.
As county prosecutor, Klobuchar was a staunch defender of prosecuting khat in a case involving six Somali residents in Hennepin County, which includes Minneapolis and its western and southern suburbs. “This is an illegal drug in our country. It is our job to prosecute the cases,” Klobuchar said at the time, noting that khat’s use is not limited to use in the Somali community. The Tribune reported that authorities in the surrounding St. Paul, Anoka, and Dakota counties said “they have seen little or no khat use.” Klobuchar told the Associated Press in 1999 that few khat cases were being prosecuted.
While Klobuchar has said that khat wasn’t her office’s focus, she still prosecuted around a dozen cases a year, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported in 1999. Those were typically fifth-degree possession charges, which don’t get prison time, but are still felonies. Klobuchar’s khat cases largely resulted in probation or diversion and drug treatment programs that can help reduce sentencing. “These are user cases where treatment or probation is usual,” Klobuchar told the AP in 1999.
In 2000, the Minnesota Court of Appeals made it easier to prosecute khat possession, ruling that prosecutors could move forward with charges without proving the amount of the active ingredient cathinone present in the khat in question. In 2002, a spokesperson for Klobuchar’s office told AP khat-related charges were filed against “10 to 20 people in the past year.”
Such prosecutions have continued in Minnesota and elsewhere in recent years. New York state sent the first men in state history to prison for khat in 2015. Officials in the U.S. have recently brought charges against khat smuggling and use in New York, Virginia, Texas, and other states. In 2016, two Somali men were convicted in McLean County, Illinois, in connection with trafficking 150 pounds of khat.
The consensus among criminal justice scholars and advocates is that khat is a substance not worth prosecuting. Eric Sterling, who leads the nonprofit Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, told NBC in 2007 that his “understanding of the use of khat is that it should be a very low priority for federal law enforcement,” saying he thought such “cases are largely a waste of very precious federal criminal justice resources.”


theintercept--2020-02-03--Pork Plant Workers Turn Out for Sanders in First Caucus in Iowa

in Iowa was held at noon at a union hall in Ottumwa , about an hour and a half from Des Moines , where meatpackers and other workers unable to vote in the evening ’ s official caucuses were given the chance to cast ballots at a satellite caucus .
Just over a dozen workers gathered at the headquarters of the local United Food and Commercial Workers , with 14 casting their votes for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders .
One attendee cast their vote for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren .
Satellite caucuses will continue to be held at union halls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the afternoon , leading up to the regularly scheduled caucuses on Monday evening at 7 p.m. central time .
The caucus in Ottumwa , population 24,550 , on the banks of the Des Moines River , will net Sanders four delegates for their congressional district , according to caucus chair Frank Flanders , the political director for the UFCW Local 230 .
The Warren supporter said she would not realign , meaning that her vote effectively won ’ t count toward anything .
The turnout for Sanders among union members reflects the campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many of the Ottumwa meatpackers are immigrants , largely of Ethiopian origin or descent — not the corn-fed farmers typically associated in the popular imagination with the Iowa caucuses .
Phillip Cross , a 67-year-old defatter at the JBS pork plant and a first-time caucuser who showed up for Sanders , said it was a decision his union made .
“ Local 230 pretty much decided that it was Bernie Sanders , ” he told The Intercept .
Asked whether he was worried about Sanders ’ electability , Cross brushed off the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will tell you , anyone is capable of winning , ” he said , saying he liked Sanders ’ s goals of equal pay regardless of gender and universal healthcare .
“ I like a lot of his goals .
… He believes everybody deserves to be taken care of when they ’ re sick .
He ’ s just being pretty much what everybody else really dreams about.
” While the Ottumwa caucus was the first in the state , the first Iowa caucus was actually held in Tbilisi , Georgia .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be announced on Monday night .
Iowa polls have shown an extraordinarily close and volatile race , with Sanders capturing late momentum heading into the caucus .
A number of recent polls showed Sanders consistently surging in the days leading up to Iowa , followed by a slew of stories on how Democratic Party stalwarts are strategizing and spending to keep Sanders from winning the nomination .
Their argument centers on the question of electability and the idea that Sanders is not equipped to beat President Donald Trump .
Sanders does lead Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re competing head to head , and in polls in which he ’ s behind the president , he performs fairly close to the center ’ s idea of electability : former Vice President Joe Biden or former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg .
Warren performs similarly to Sanders .
On Sunday , the Sanders campaign released an ad highlighting his ability to defeat Trump in the general election .
The center ’ s attempts to derail Sanders ’ s nationwide surge have seemed to backfire .
Outside political action committees spent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a Democratic pro-Israel group with deep ties to the far-right Israel lobby group , the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee spent on the first ads attacking Sanders by name just last week .
Hillary Clinton launched another attack on Sanders in a podcast interview .
The attacks only boosted Sanders ’ s war chest : His campaign raised $ 1.3 million in a day after the attack ads ran in Iowa .
States that hold caucuses instead of primaries use the process to elect state delegate equivalents .
Iowa ’ s 41 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ party convention in June .
The number of state delegates for each candidate determines how many national convention delegates they get ; those national delegates vote in July at the party ’ s national convention in Milwaukee .
None of the backlash to Sanders ’ s rise comes as a surprise .
He faced a similar battle against Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in 2016 , struggling to beat her superdelegate count in multiple states where he won the popular vote comfortably .
That included Washington state , where he won close @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Colorado , where he won 59 percent of the vote ; New Hampshire ; Kansas ; and Maine .
“ If I win a state with 70 percent of the vote , you know what ?
I think I am entitled to those superdelegates , ” Sanders said .
The Democratic National Committee attempted to address those concerns with a historic rule change in 2018 , stripping superdelegates of the power to vote on the first ballot at the national convention , something critics said allowed a small group of powerful party figures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For all the fanfare around the first-in-the-nation caucus , Iowa accounts for only around 1 percent of the total national delegates who will determine the party ’ s nominee in July .
Candidates have faced increased pressure this cycle to denounce what critics say is an arbitrary order that unfairly centers majority white voters in an increasingly diverse nation .
But the event is largely seen as setting the pace of the coming months , as a number of states hold their caucuses in the coming weeks .
Follow The Intercept and subscribe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Iowa caucuses .
Update : February 3 , 2:35 p.m .
This piece has been updated with details about the delegate count and an interview .

The first caucus in Iowa was held at noon at a union hall in Ottumwa, about an hour and a half from Des Moines, where meatpackers and other workers unable to vote in the evening’s official caucuses were given the chance to cast ballots at a satellite caucus.
Just over a dozen workers gathered at the headquarters of the local United Food and Commercial Workers, with 14 casting their votes for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. One attendee cast their vote for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Satellite caucuses will continue to be held at union halls, senior centers, and universities throughout the afternoon, leading up to the regularly scheduled caucuses on Monday evening at 7 p.m. central time.
Photo: Elise Swain/The Intercept
The caucus in Ottumwa, population 24,550, on the banks of the Des Moines River, will net Sanders four delegates for their congressional district, according to caucus chair Frank Flanders, the political director for the UFCW Local 230. The Warren supporter said she would not realign, meaning that her vote effectively won’t count toward anything.
The turnout for Sanders among union members reflects the campaign’s strategy of mobilizing nontraditional voters. Many of the Ottumwa meatpackers are immigrants, largely of Ethiopian origin or descent — not the corn-fed farmers typically associated in the popular imagination with the Iowa caucuses.
14 of 15 caucusgoers are standing with Bernie Sanders on the first alignment. One is standing with Elizabeth Warren. pic.twitter.com/RkJ3ldo9Df — Brianne Pfannenstiel (@brianneDMR) February 3, 2020
Phillip Cross, a 67-year-old defatter at the JBS pork plant and a first-time caucuser who showed up for Sanders, said it was a decision his union made. “Local 230 pretty much decided that it was Bernie Sanders,” he told The Intercept. Asked whether he was worried about Sanders’ electability, Cross brushed off the idea. “From 2016, it will tell you, anyone is capable of winning,” he said, saying he liked Sanders’s goals of equal pay regardless of gender and universal healthcare. “I like a lot of his goals. … He believes everybody deserves to be taken care of when they’re sick. He’s just being pretty much what everybody else really dreams about.”
While the Ottumwa caucus was the first in the state, the first Iowa caucus was actually held in Tbilisi, Georgia. The results of that three-person caucus will be announced on Monday night.
The Tbilisi caucus was conducted successfully, over a traditional Iowan meal of pizza and ranch dressing – accompanied by Georgian wine. The results will be reported along with the rest of the results after the caucuses in Iowa take place. pic.twitter.com/SraYlfxAUq — Joshua Kucera (@joshuakucera) February 3, 2020
Iowa polls have shown an extraordinarily close and volatile race, with Sanders capturing late momentum heading into the caucus. A number of recent polls showed Sanders consistently surging in the days leading up to Iowa, followed by a slew of stories on how Democratic Party stalwarts are strategizing and spending to keep Sanders from winning the nomination.
Their argument centers on the question of electability and the idea that Sanders is not equipped to beat President Donald Trump. Sanders does lead Trump in a handful of polls when they’re competing head to head, and in polls in which he’s behind the president, he performs fairly close to the center’s idea of electability: former Vice President Joe Biden or former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Warren performs similarly to Sanders. On Sunday, the Sanders campaign released an ad highlighting his ability to defeat Trump in the general election.
The center’s attempts to derail Sanders’s nationwide surge have seemed to backfire. Outside political action committees spent big to back Biden and Buttigieg, and a Democratic pro-Israel group with deep ties to the far-right Israel lobby group, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee spent on the first ads attacking Sanders by name just last week. Hillary Clinton launched another attack on Sanders in a podcast interview. The attacks only boosted Sanders’s war chest: His campaign raised $1.3 million in a day after the attack ads ran in Iowa.
States that hold caucuses instead of primaries use the process to elect state delegate equivalents. Iowa’s 41 pledged delegates will vote at the state party convention in June. The number of state delegates for each candidate determines how many national convention delegates they get; those national delegates vote in July at the party’s national convention in Milwaukee.
None of the backlash to Sanders’s rise comes as a surprise. He faced a similar battle against Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in 2016, struggling to beat her superdelegate count in multiple states where he won the popular vote comfortably. That included Washington state, where he won close to 73 percent of the vote; Colorado, where he won 59 percent of the vote; New Hampshire; Kansas; and Maine. “If I win a state with 70 percent of the vote, you know what? I think I am entitled to those superdelegates,” Sanders said.
The Democratic National Committee attempted to address those concerns with a historic rule change in 2018, stripping superdelegates of the power to vote on the first ballot at the national convention, something critics said allowed a small group of powerful party figures to override the will of voters.
For all the fanfare around the first-in-the-nation caucus, Iowa accounts for only around 1 percent of the total national delegates who will determine the party’s nominee in July. Candidates have faced increased pressure this cycle to denounce what critics say is an arbitrary order that unfairly centers majority white voters in an increasingly diverse nation. But the event is largely seen as setting the pace of the coming months, as a number of states hold their caucuses in the coming weeks.
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Update: February 3, 2:35 p.m.
This piece has been updated with details about the delegate count and an interview.