Introduction to U.S. National Politics

The state of Michigan is controlled by a bicameral legislature: the Senate (upper house) and the House of Representatives (lower house). Michigan’s political actors include its Governor (Gretchen Whitmer), Speaker (Lee Chatfield), and its Majority and Minority leaders. Of the Majority, Mike Shirkey (Senate) and Tristan Cole (House) are its current legislative leaders. Of the Minority, Jim Ananich (Senate) and Christine Greig (House) are its current legislative leaders. Although previously a Republican trifecta, the state of Michigan is currently a divided legislature with no current party trifectas (when a party holds Governor’s office and Majorities in both state chambers). In terms of success, a divided legislature will not help matters and only perpetuates the need for a productive agenda-setting session. In the Senate, the new margin is 27-11 with a Republican majority. In the House, it is a much smaller margin of 58-52 Republican. Since Gretchen Whitmer is of the opposing party, legislative success this term might be slightly stagnant. It might be easier for the state to accomplish its set goals if the same party held the Governor’s office and at least one chamber majority.

Since her inaugural remarks on January 1, 2019, Governor Gretchen Whitmer has initiated a total of 5 executive directives to address the concerns of Michigan’s denizens. Her first order of office was to protect the public’s health, safety, and welfare. On January 3, Whitmer ordered a directive focused on establishing and maintaining an ethical state government. Of the many issues, this directive will mostly target any budget irregularities, prohibiting solicitors from making any political contributions in state facilities, and much more. On January 4, she passed another directive focused on rehabilitating zones in Michigan where small local businesses and communities have lost capital and has since diminished. Whitmer is relying on the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget to partner with small business with new policies to create and expand new opportunities for growth. On January 8, she passed an equality directive aimed at ethical payment and management between employees and employers. Overall, the agenda of Michigan seems to strive toward supporting ethical practices and equal opportunities and growth for the state.

I live in Neshannock Township, a small suburban area outside of New Castle, PA in Lawrence County. My statewide representatives are Elder Vogel (R-Senate) and Chris Sainato (D-House). Chris Sainato, who is a family friend, was just sworn in for his 13^th term as PA’s House Representative. On January 7, he was reappointed (9^th term) as the democratic chair of Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee. His continuous reappointment of this committee’s chair says a great deal about his stance/platform. New Castle, historically known as a steel mill town, has been decrepit and rundown for generations. There is some monetary wealth left from the “20^th century” representative of old factory buildings and business. All these vacant buildings are still being filed for tax cuts from through family inheritance, so the city cannot revitalize those areas until the owners sell. Throughout his 12 terms, Chris has done much to revitalize New Castle at its worst. Recently, he fought for $180,000 in tax credits to help rebuild distressed areas. Launched a plan that granted surrounding townships $425,000 for sewer upgrades. He also presented a statewide emergency planning commission with 27 recommendations to increase emergency preparedness and strength for the city of New Castle. Although Chris shares many ideals with a party that I disagree with, he has and will continue to regenerate the community of New Castle.

My state senator is Elder Vogel, Jr. I know very little about him, but he seems has runs a similar platform to Chris Sainato. He was reappointed as chair for the Senate Agricultural and Rural Affairs committee. Recently, he has helped procure over $100,000 in funding for New Castle’s local airport in addition to more supplemental community safety grants. He also is fairly active in veteran’s affairs and supporting our heroes and their families, given he recently hosted a rep. from the American Legion’s Veteran Assistance Program.

In general, I believe both of these officials represent me well but more importantly, represent New Castle/statewide townships better and making community needs a priority. As of now, I would vote for their re-election come next term.

 

Sources:

 

Ballotpedia: Who Represents Me?

 

Ballotpedia State Legislatures

 

www.senatoreldervogel.com

 

www.pahouse.com

Hawaii: Control & Party Structure

The Governor of Hawaii is currently David Ige, he has been in this official position since 2014 and will be serving another term based on the 2018 elections. Currently, Hawaii runs a Democratic state government, which means that the democratic party has continuously led the Hawaiian government over any other political party. The democratic party has been in power for about forty years. The Current leaders are Ronald Kouchi (Senate President), Scott Saiki (House Speaker), Jamie Kalani English and Della Au Belatti (Majority Leaders) and Gene Ward (Minority Speaker).  These leaders were re-elected after the 2018 elections, some have been in the same position for a couple of years. The way the Hawaiian government structures their government is through having 25 members of Senate and 51 members of the House, 88% of their government are Democrats while 11% of their members are republican. The total terms for a Senate official are 4 years while a house representative is 2 years. The constitution they follow in order for their structure to work is Article III of the Hawaii Constitution, which is a guideline of what the role each member has and does not have.

The Agenda

Based on David Ige’s website, he lists the important priorities that the legislature has to come into terms with. The legislature’s mission is to restore faith into the government and preserve the Hawaiian Islands, so future generations are able to call Hawaii home. They prioritize their time in laws concerning education, housing and homelessness, health, effective, efficient, and open government, economy, energy, agriculture, environment, treatment of native Hawaiians, traffic, taxes and preserving their core values. Ige has been very involved in making sure housing can be affordable for everyone and create shelters for the homeless in order to keep them out of the streets. He seemed to accomplish a lot of these goals during 2017. So, it may seem he will continue to do more projects on this.

Illinois: Who represents you at the state level?

I currently live in the US Congressional District #4 in Chicago, IL, which means Iris Martinez is our state senator and for the house, Jaime Andrade is our representative. They are both members of the democratic party as well as Latinos. Martinez has been in office for 16 years while Andrade has only been in office for about 6 years. The issues that they are currently trying to resolve seem to be the same but what they prioritize is different. For Martinez, her priorities are education, energy, labor, and pensions. Andrade is more focused on business licenses, Cybersecurity, Human services and regulations of roads and bridges. I think I feel more represented by Iris Martinez because it seems to care more about how the people of Illinois leave in an everyday life, while Andrade seems to be more focused on the technological aspect of our lives, which is also important, but interactions socially seem to be more my priority, and Martinez seems to understand that.

 

 

2018’s Fall elections resulted in victory for Democratic leaders in New Mexico, providing the party with an overwhelming majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. New Mexico’s executive branch followed a similar trend by welcoming the Democratic candidate Michelle Lujan Grisham into the office of Governor. In her State of the State address Grisham indicated that the year’s work within the legislature would be focused on education, crime, and economic development. Her address introduced plans to invest in universal pre-k and raising salaries within public schools so as to attract qualified and skilled professionals who can enhance the education available to all students. Expanding upon this thought, Grisham stipulated that New Mexico needed to utilize its resources to raise the minimum wage to at least $10, and furthermore invest in local business at the state level to alleviate the economic stress this change would incur for small business owners. Additionally, Grisham called for more restrictive gun control policies, and an increase in localized community policing. She promoted investment in rehabilitation efforts so that New Mexico can handle the immense issue of opioid addiction, as well as investment in health care services that are accessible to more people, as well as more ailments.

This agenda is supported by Democratic leaders within both the House and the Senate, including: Speaker of the House, Brain Egolf, House Majority Floor Leader, Sherill Williams Stapleton, and House Majority Whip, Doreen Gallagos. As well as the Senate Leader, Mary Kay Papen, Senate Majority Leader, Peter Wirth, and Senate Majority Whip, Mimi Stewart. Supplementing the apparent Democratic cohesion is the sheer numbers within both the House and the Senatorial margins. Democrats make-up over 65% of the House of Representatives having 46 members opposite 24 Republican members. Similarly, the Senate is composed of 26 Democrats and 16 Republicans providing the Democratic party with a 60% majority. Governor Grisham’s address called for legislatures to “bring me that rocket docket” referring to a series of bills crafted in the state legislature that she believes would be beneficial to the state. Republican representatives–namely: House Minority Floor Leader, James Townsend, House Minority Whip, Rod Montoya, Minority Senate Leader, Stuart Ingle, and Minority Senate Whip, William Payne—have renounced this action on the Democrats part. However, considering the margin within both the House and the Senate, Republican influence will probably be unlikely.

I reside in Ohio’s 11^thcongressional district; meaning I am represented by Marcia Fudge in the U.S. House of Representatives, and, along with the rest of Ohio, Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman in the U.S. Senate. Senator Portman is primarily focused on economic issues, as well as sectors such as health care and energy that are tangentially connected to the revitalization of the economy. His proposals request privatization and de-regulation among almost all sectors, which he believes will stimulate competition, business vitality, and innovation across the American economy. For Ohio, in particular, he thinks that investment in clean energy reforms can enhance job growth within the state, and nationally allow the country to reduce dependency on foreign energy supplies. Generally, Senator Portman is working to produce what he believes to be fiscally responsible policies, which requires reduced government spending and sizeable tax cuts for businesses that, to him, removed from government intervention would make substantial gains for the economy. Senator Brown is similarly interested in revitalizing the economy but suggests alternative avenues to achieve economic success. Instead of calling for massive de-regulation and tax-cuts, Senator Brown asserts that investment in small businesses, education, and infrastructure is necessary at both the State and Federal level. Additionally, he demonstrates support for social services, which he believes would alleviate economic turmoil. Aligned with Senator Brown, Congresswoman, Marcia Fudge, calls for investment into the economy through job training and small business incentives. Aside from the economy, she adamantly supports the provision of Medicaid, and making education more accessible at primary, secondary, and post-secondary levels.

I think that both Senators, and Congresswoman Fudge are addressing invaluable issues, however, my personal ideology aligns me more with the proposals of Senator Brown and Congresswoman Fudge. Privatization and de-regulation will not necessarily spur economic growth by allowing markets to interact on their own. Market failures are real issues that require the government to act in a way that may appear counterintuitive to traditional economic theory. Additionally, small businesses cannot be expected to always compete in any scale of economy without educational, and financial resources. Additionally investment in health care and education is vital to a society that values the well-being of and meaningful contributions from its citizens.

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