The LuLac Edition #3151, February 23rd, 2016

GOP NEVADA CAUCUS

The polls/caucuses close tonight at 10PM Eastern time for the Nevada GOP results. Donald Trump seems to think he will win but his runner ups Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz won’t cry uncle.
Nevada is one of the most transient states in the county with people coming and going. There will be more participants than 2012 but a good indicator is that many will be first time goers. Clark County, the most populous of the counties in the state will be one to watch. 

TOM RIDGE ENDORSES JOHN KASICH 

Former Congressman, Governor and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge. (Photo: Newsmax)

Tom Ridge was a backer of Jeb Bush even before Bush decided to run. Ridge has had a very good history and working relationship with the Bush family going back to his days in Congress during the 1980s.  But another person Ridge worked with closely in Congress with was John Kasich. So it comes as no surprise that Ridge went against the GOP grain today (a bunch of GOP politicos jumped on the Rubio bandwagon) and endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich. Kasich's campaign said that Ridge would also be a national co chair for the Ohio Governor. 
Ridge has said that Donald Trump is an embarrassment to the party and said if Trump was the nominee, he, (Ridge) may not vote in the General Election.                                       

BUSH MONEY MAN: “WE COULD HAVE WON THIS”.

If you weren’t listening to NPR this morning, you missed one hell of an interview with a Jeb Bush major donor. Jamie Wareham was interviewed by Steve Inskeep and it was dynamite. This points to the way that sometimes a candidate that is a front runner is burdened and not served well by so called staff. Here’s part of that and the link to NPR.Org at the end of the article.
"I think the campaign was winnable, and we lost," Jamie Wareham, a Washington, D.C., lawyer, told NPR's Steve Inskeep on Tuesday. Wareham donated more than $40,000 to Right to Rise USA and helped the group rake in cash from other donors.
Questions abound about whether it was the campaign, the superPAC or, as is usually the case, the candidate himself who was to blame. Bush has been criticized for being too slow to respond to a campaign that was different from the one he — and almost everyone else — expected. No one foresaw the political force Donald Trump would be, and Bush — and every other candidate, for that matter — had difficulty knocking the seemingly underqualified Trump off stride.
Above all, Bush seemed to be the victim of a Republican Party that may be fundamentally changed from the one that elected his father and brother president. But Wareham still felt, maybe wished, the campaign could have done something, anything to change the dynamic.
"I hoped there would be a change at the top when in the early, midsummer it was clear we had the wrong people leading the campaign," Wareham said, referring to when Trump began his rise.
Wareham put the onus on campaign manager Danny Diaz, who joined as campaign manager in the summer of 2015. "He lacked the temperament," Wareham charged. "His major accomplishment prior to being hired was losing the Ken Cuccinelli campaign in Virginia. So he had no successful experience. Though he did have experience."
Cuccinelli was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for governor of Virginia in 2013. Diaz, a veteran hand of four presidential campaigns and a former Republican National Committee communications director, certainly has more experience than one failed race.
Though he has never run a presidential campaign, and only a few have run successful ones, he helped elect Republican Govs. Doug Ducey of Arizona and Susana Martinez of New Mexico. He also became known as a "fixer" on Senate campaigns, helping elect Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.
A former campaign operative familiar with the situation accused Wareham of having an ax to grind. "Within the campaign, James Wareham was well-known as a malcontent who routinely sowed problems and required significant levels of handholding," the former operative said.
The operative added that Wareham "became largely intolerable when his personal friend — the campaign's previous chief operations officer — was dismissed for subpar performance. Wareham represents everything that's wrong with politics, someone whose self-anointed importance drives their every action and decision."
NPR reached out to Wareham for response.
"Sadly, this type of sophomoric, self-possessed intemperance is illustrative of the atmosphere Mr. Diaz created inside what was supposed to be a joyful campaign," Wareham said in an email. "My views are anything but personal. Indeed, they are shared by dozens and dozens of loyal Jeb supporters who for many months held their tongues out of concern they might possibly harm Gov. Bush. Mr. Diaz always seemed to think the campaign was somehow about him. In the end, it largely was because the candidate who is, by far, the most qualified person to run this country in such hazardous times is no longer in the race, in large measure, because of Mr. Diaz's incompetence."
Here’s the link: http://www.npr.org/2016/02/23/467745559/where-did-all-that-jeb-bush-superpac-money-go

BARLETTA RESOLUTION RESERVES CAPITOL GROUNDS FOR POLICE HONORS

NATIONAL PEACE OFFICERS MEMORIAL SERVICE ON MAY 15, 2016, BEGINNING OF “POLICE WEEK”

Congressman Lou Barletta. (Photo: LuLac archives).

Congressman Lou Barletta, introduced a resolution authorizing the use of U.S. Capitol Grounds for the 35th Annual National Peace Officers Memorial Service and the National Honor Guard and Pipe Band Exhibition. The memorial service, sponsored by the Grand Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police and its auxiliary, will take place on Sunday, May 15, 2016. It will mark the beginning of “Police Week,” which is an annual event drawing as many as 40,000 law enforcement officers, their friends, and family to the nation’s capital. Barletta introduced the resolution in his role as Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management.
“The sacrifices of our peace officers, and the sacrifices of their families, should not be forgotten,” Barletta said. “These officers risk their lives every day to protect our communities and their bravery and selfless services shall not be overlooked by a grateful nation.”
Five law enforcement officers from Pennsylvania lost their lives in the line of duty in 2015. They were:

John James Wilding, Scranton Police Department

Eric A. Eslary, Ligonier Township Police Department

Paul John Koropal, Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, Investigative Division

Lloyd E. Reed, Jr., St. Clair Township Police Department

Robert Frances Wilson III, Philadelphia Police Department

The event was begun in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy, who signed a proclamation designating May 15th as Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which the date fell as Police Week. The service itself began in 1982 as a gathering in Senate Park of approximately 120 survivors and supporter of law enforcement. Over the decades, the event has grown into National Police Week as it exists now. For more information on National Police Week and the official events surrounding it, please visit www.PoliceWeek.org.