Take a minute to [un]wind with our Sunday morning newsletter. Grab a cup of coffee and catch up on what you may have missed from [un]Divided this week.
Be on the lookout for bad bills
On Friday’s podcast (2:30 mark), I urged all of you to keep a close eye on pre-filed bills starting tomorrow. Here is a link to do that.
In an op-ed published today on Future42.org, I explained why it’s so critical to pushback against bad bills as soon as they drop.
As bills are pre-filed starting December 5, it pays to speak out early and often about proposals that miss the mark. In 2021, misguided attempts at police reform gained too much momentum before public pushback began in earnest. Let’s not make the same mistake again.
I offered a great example of what can happen when a bill is debated in the court of public opinion before the session even begins.
In December of 2021, an eagle-eyed [un]Divided subscriber alerted me to a bill that was pre-filed just before Christmas. House Bill 1692 would have lessened the punishment for drive-by shooters who kill someone.
The bill, proposed by Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-Bremerton) would have removed drive-by shooting from a list of aggravating factors that result in an automatic life sentence – an odd, if not downright dangerous bill to propose at a time of record murders.
In justifying the bill, Rep. Simmons pointed to the case of Kimonti Carter, who was serving life without parole for a fatal drive-by shooting on Tacoma’s Hilltop in 1997. Carter fired at least 19 rounds from a MAK-90 assault rifle into a car full of innocent college kids that he mistook for rival gang members.
One of the bullets struck and killed 19-year-old Corey Pittman, who was home on summer break from Alabama State University.
It was Rep. Simmons’ viewpoint that Carter had turned his life around in prison and should not die behind bars for something he did at such a young age.
After getting wind of the pre-filed bill, I contacted Corey Pittman’s brother, who still lived in the Tacoma area. He was horrified to find out about the proposal.
From that moment until the start of the 2022 legislative session, we did not relent. Damian Pittman started reaching out to news outlets to ensure his family’s side of the story was heard. He also contacted elected leaders to ask for meetings.
On the podcast, I hammered the bill every week. In a January 31st episode, titled “What about Corey?” Damian Pittman offered an emotional account of what it was like to lose his brother. In an effort to reach a broader audience, I also penned an op-ed for The Seattle Times that was published on January 3rd.
The attention prompted South King County mayors to write a letter to their Democratic delegation, condemning the proposal as their communities saw an uptick in gang-related shootings. Republican lawmakers issued statements, calling the bill a “tragedy in the making.”
By the time the session began in earnest, the bill was too hot to touch – even for Democrats.
While Republicans are certainly capable of introducing bad bills as well, it’s much harder to get those ideas off the ground when you’re in the minority. So, keep your heads on a swivel, and email me right away if you see something that needs attention: [email protected].
‘The Twitter Files’
This week, via independent Journalist Matt Taibbi, Elon Musk made good on a promise to air Twitter’s dirty laundry – specifically, why it decided to suppress a 2020 New York Post story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.
If you recall, the Post story wasn’t simply suppressed by Twitter – it was the subject of unprecedented monitoring and suspension efforts. Accounts that shared the story were sometimes suspended or locked (including, at the time, that of White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany). Twitter even went as far as to prohibit the link to the article from being shared in private Twitter messages between users (a step usually reserved for things like sexually explicit images of minors).
Musk provided internal emails from Twitter’s deliberations to Taibbi, who began posting them Friday afternoon. You can read the long, detailed thread here.
A few takeaways:
What’s stunning is just how much power Twitter handed over to political institutions to flag tweets for review.
As Taibbi reported, it become “routine” to field requests directly from political campaigns or, in some cases, the Democratic National Committee.
As far as the basis for suppressing the Post story, internal deliberations reveal that even Twitter wasn’t sure it was standing on solid ground. Externally, they claimed the material for the story may have been the result of hacking, which goes against their code of conduct. Internally, they weren’t sure that was even true.
Notably, several mainstream media outlets have since independently verified the Hunter Biden laptop story (long after the 2020 election was decided) making Twitter’s decision to suppress the story even more consequential.
I would also point you to this (entertaining) list of 27 embarrassing reactions to “The Twitter Files.” Some people will do anything they can to deflect from a genuinely important news story.
Can Gen Z restore political balance?
On Wednesday's subscriber show, as well as Friday's show, I played clips of a lengthy conversation with 22-year-old Washington State Senator Simon Sefzik. The young Republican lawmaker narrowly lost his bid to keep the seat that he was appointed to following the death of Senator Doug Ericksen.
In the interview, we discussed the role Generation Z will have in politics and what tweaks the GOP may have to make to its messaging around social issues to stay competitive.
One piece of the interview that struck me was his account of the best advice he received while down in Olympia. It came from a Democrat – Lt. Governor Denny Heck.
“He said, ‘You have a very important job, and you are not a very important person.’”
“That’s the way I try to look at this whole thing," Sefzik said. "I’m about to go down to Olympia for the final set before the term ends, and to me I still pinch myself. This is a very special opportunity, but it’s not because I’m special.”
I think you’ll agree that Sefzik is an incredibly impressive young man. I suspect this is only the beginning of what we’ll see from him. The entire interview is posted here as part of my ongoing partnership with Future 42.
Housekeeping
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Have a greet week and thank you for your commitment to give common sense a comeback!
