Texas Weekly Online

Texas-trans-white
Menu
Menu

Author:

Tammy Baldwin faces conflict of interest concerns over partner’s Wall Street gig

Tammy Baldwin faces conflict of interest concerns over partner’s Wall Street gig

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., has come under increased scrutiny over her years-long relationship with a private wealth adviser whom she owns a residence with, but since the two are unmarried, she is not required by Senate rules to disclose her partner’s finances.  “Sen. Baldwin’s partner, Maria Brisbane, advises the uber wealthy on industries regulated by Baldwin, creating a massive conflict of interest that merits further investigation. Sen. Baldwin should immediately disclose her partner’s assets and client list – the people of Wisconsin deserve transparency,” said a spokesperson for Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde in a recent statement.  Brisbane, whom Baldwin has been dating since 2018, works as a private wealth adviser with the Brisbane Group, which is a wealth management team under the Morgan Stanley umbrella. In her capacity in the role, she serves clients with “ultra high net worth,” the website says. JON TESTER CASTS DOUBT ON UNFAVORABLE POLL IN MONTANA SENATE RACE: ‘GIVE ME A BREAK’ Per Morgan Stanley’s code of conduct, “Examples of confidential information include the identity of our clients, Firm and client trading activities and securities holdings, acquisition, divestiture and tender offer plans, supervisory activities of the Firm’s regulators and Personally Identifiable Information relating to clients and employees.” The Fix Washington PAC, which is promoting Hovde in the competitive Wisconsin Senate race, recently cut an ad about Brisbane and Baldwin, their shared residence and Brisbane’s client list.  “They spend their time in New York and D.C. in their multimillion-dollar homes, but Baldwin fails to report their jointly owned assets or Maria’s clients, who get rich off industries that Tammy regulates,” the ad said. “That’s a conflict of interest raising serious ethical questions to face Tammy Baldwin.” It’s true that Baldwin does not disclose Brisbane’s assets or client list in her own financial disclosures. However, she is not required to by the current rules.  TOP SENATORS BRIEFED ON ‘MAJOR ERRORS’ LEADING UP TO TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT Baldwin responded to the ad with one of her own, titled, “Complete lie.” “This ad is a complete lie,” it said. “The truth is Tammy Baldwin’s never shared inside information with her partner and Tammy Baldwin’s leading the fight to ban senators from purchasing any individual stocks.” In a statement to Fox News Digital, Baldwin campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo said, “Eric Hovde’s attempt to attack the woman Tammy Baldwin is dating is sad and desperate. Tammy works for the people of Wisconsin and only the people of Wisconsin. No matter how low Eric Hovde goes, voters will not forget about the massive conflict of interest presented by his continued ownership of his $3 billion California bank that receives deposits from unnamed foreign banks and governments.”  DEMS RUN ON BORDER BILL REPUBLICANS SAY ‘WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM’ Her campaign also pointed out other senators who have been in dating relationships that did not disclose their partner’s assets, such as Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Cory Booker, D-N.J. Part of the charges by Hovde and his campaign about the supposed conflict of interest posed by Baldwin’s partner and their status as unmarried, is Brisbane’s previous role as manager of a biotechnology mutual fund, per a progress report from 2017 for the Cancer Research & Treatment Fund (CR&T).  Brisbane further listed on her firm’s previous archived website under Merrill Private Wealth Management that she “manages custom-tailored equity portfolios that place emphasis on large-growth stocks – with an effort to enhance performance through small biotechnology and technology companies.” Because her clients are confidential, it’s unknown who they are and what interests they may have.  TOP HANDICAPPER GIVES GOP’S TIM SHEEHY EDGE AGAINST DEMOCRAT JON TESTER IN MONTANA RACE SHIFT Part of the concern put forward by Hovde is that Baldwin serves as chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee’s Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies subcommittee.  “Tammy regulates the biotech industry,” an ad from his campaign said last week. “Maria advises clients in the biotech industry. If they were married, they would have to disclose their financial conflicts. But they aren’t married, so they can share inside information to get rich. It’s time to investigate Sen. Tammy Baldwin. She’s in bed with Wall Street.” While Baldwin and Brisbane are not married, they purchased a residence in Washington, D.C., together and share it. Both of their names are on the property’s deed. According to Baldwin’s campaign, the two split the cost of the condominium and Brisbane paid for hers in cash while Baldwin took out a mortgage on her half.  The campaign also said Baldwin and Brisbane do not share bank accounts. In a recent Marquette University Law School poll, Baldwin led Hovde 51% to 45% among registered voters in Wisconsin.  Top political handicapper, the Cook Political Report, rated the election as a slight advantage for Baldwin, labeling it “lean Democrat,” alongside several other competitive Senate races.  Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

‘Auto Workers for Trump’ leader says thousands poised to break from Dems over green policies, job-killing regs

‘Auto Workers for Trump’ leader says thousands poised to break from Dems over green policies, job-killing regs

A retired autoworker who spent 36 combined years on the line for both Ford and Chrysler – now Stellantis – started a pro-Trump group of colleagues and retirees in 2017 that has ballooned to thousands in recent times. In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News Digital, founder Brian Pannebecker said his group started with 30 active United Auto Workers (UAW) members who all supported former President Trump in 2016. “Word got out around my plant. It quickly doubled and tripled in size. … Other workers at other auto plants started seeing it [on social media] and requesting to join. And all of a sudden I had hundreds of members,” Pannebecker said. Now, he says his group has expanded outside the internet to regular visits to auto plants around Michigan where he and his army of Trump-supporting union members are engaging with others and building support in a sector long known for its reliably Democrat bent. Pannebecker said the UAW has and continues to be an important entity for middle-class workers, adding that he and his members support collective bargaining and the idea that unions built America’s working class. Henry Ford also deserves credit, he said, for creating the five-day work week and defying personal interests to offer his employees a then-best $5-per-day wage. EPA SUED OVER ‘CAPRICIOUS’ BIG-RIG EMISSIONS STANDARDS CRITICS CLAIM COULD CRIPPLE CORN INDUSTRY While Pannebecker underlined that neither he nor his group are at odds with the UAW itself, they notably offer a differing political viewpoint than its leaders, including prominent Trump critic President Shawn Fain. One major issue uniting his growing group in support of Trump and other Republicans is the Democrat favor shown toward what he calls the “Green New Scam.” “We think it’s all a farce,” Pannebecker said, adding that it is obvious the American consumer does not want to be forced to buy electric vehicles and that the government’s insistence on supporting EVs over internal-combustion vehicles has led to lines of workers being cut and innumerable EV vehicles sitting idle on lots in Detroit and dealerships across the country. Pannebecker added that Trump’s forging of the USMCA as a replacement for NAFTA infused a new energy in the automative sector, as it disincentivized offshoring union work. “After [President Clinton] signed it and it … went into effect, the auto companies – who are in business to make money and profits for shareholders – started closing plants here in the United States and moving them to just south of the border, maybe 10 miles [into Mexico].” “Well, the Democrats and even some of the previous Republican administrations never addressed that. So, when Donald Trump was running, he said, ‘If I’m elected, I will tear up NAFTA, and we’ll renegotiate our own trade agreement so it’s advantageous to American workers.’” “And guess what? He kept his campaign promise.” Pannebecker said Auto Workers For Trump is united behind the two issues of the federal push toward EVs and green regulations, including mileage standards and offshoring that has occurred in recent decades. EPA SUED BY CONSUMER, MANUFACTURING, AGRICULTURAL COALITIONS OVER BIDEN’S NEW VEHICLE EMISSIONS RULE “Kamala Harris is on record saying she would like to see all vehicles built in the United States reaching zero-emissions by 2035. She supported legislation to that effect when she was a U.S. senator,” he said, going on to cite broadcasted claims that she was the most liberal U.S. senator. “Even more liberal than Bernie Sanders, so she’s dangerous,” he said. “She knows nothing about manufacturing. She knows nothing about the economy. She’s a San Francisco liberal district attorney. And then she was California’s attorney general. And we all know what’s happened in California. They’ve ruined that state.” “So, it’s just very, very obvious who the choice is in this election for autoworkers: It’s Donald Trump. He’s got a record to run on. Kamala Harris is nothing more than a liberal attorney from California.” Pannebecker said Harris and other Democrats supported legislation in Congress that would “destroy” the auto industry and its jobs stateside. “My group’s job is basically just to make the auto workers … aware of that, educate them and then rally and motivate the other workers who are already aware of those issues … and make sure they get out and vote. We cannot stay home. Nobody can stay home this election.” Rep. John James, R-Mich., whose family business is in the automotive supply sector and who represents many of the workers in Pannebecker’s group, told Fox News Digital in a separate interview that liberal politicians “don’t get” workers’ needs. “They don’t understand that our livelihoods don’t match up with the agendas they cook up in their coastal retreats,” he said. “When you … put these comply-or-die mandates on industry, the automotive industry accounts for 50% of the economic impact in the state of Michigan,” he said. While Harris as a senator supported a Zero-Emission Vehicles Act that would phase out other vehicles by 2040, her campaign sent a “fact-check email” obtained by Axios that suggested her previous position had changed and that she “does not support an electric vehicle mandate.” James said federal policy has repercussions, from the workers to the supply chains to the management themselves that go along with the government much of the time. He said hundreds of autoworkers have and will eventually be laid off because of the green regulatory push and anti-worker policies from the left, and he praised Pannebecker’s work. James pointed to his own Democrat challenger, Judge Carl Marlinga, and comments he made in a 2022 Detroit News interview in which he criticized James by saying he wants to “hold tight and try to stick with a dying industry as long as we can.” “Or we can do it my way, which is to embrace the new products of the future, of the new green-industrial revolution.” When asked Tuesday about such comments by the New York Post, Marlinga campaign manager Alan Fosnacht said that “unlike John James, who is happy

Apache tribe takes fight with feds over sacred land to Supreme Court

Apache tribe takes fight with feds over sacred land to Supreme Court

The Apache tribe in Arizona is taking a fight with the federal government and copper producers to the Supreme Court, which they hope will protect what they say is their religious rights to sacred ground.  Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit group representing the tribe’s interests, is fighting to preserve Oak Flat — what the Apaches say is their “direct corridor to the Creator and the locus of sacred ceremonies that cannot take place elsewhere.” According to the petition filed at the high court, the government “has long protected Apache rituals there.” “But because copper was discovered beneath Oak Flat, the government decided to transfer the site to Respondent Resolution Copper for a mine that will undisputedly destroy Oak Flat — swallowing it in a massive crater and ending sacred Apache rituals forever.”  WINERY, BREWERY, BAGEL SHOP TEAM UP TO CALL OUT BERKELEY’S PERMISSIVENESS OF HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS Apache Stronghold argues that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and the Free Exercise Clause forbids the government to do so and are asking it to reverse a lower court decision. “In a fractured en banc ruling cobbled together from two separate 6-5 majorities, the Ninth Circuit rejected both claims. Although the court acknowledged that destroying Oak Flat would ‘literally prevent’ the Apaches from engaging in religious exercise, it nevertheless concluded that doing so would not ‘substantially burden’ their religious exercise under RFRA, relying on this Court’s pre-RFRA decision in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Association,” the petition states.  “And while the majority acknowledged that singling out Oak Flat for destruction is “plainly not ‘generally applicable,’ it rejected the free-exercise claim ‘for the same reasons’ — no substantial burden,” it continues.  NEW REPORT IDENTIFIES BEST AND WORST US STATES FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY Oak Flat is a 6.7-square-mile sacred site east of Superior, Arizona. The site includes old-growth oak groves, sacred springs, burial locations and a singular concentration of archaeological sites testifying to its persistent use for the past 1,500 years, the Apache’s argue.  Wendsler Nosie of the Apache Stronghold described it as the Mount Sinai of their faith.  “That’s where our ceremonial ways have been born, the identity of who we are, and the continuing of who we are as people, to how we’re created and how we’re placed onto this earth.” Nosie said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “The meaning behind it is made so much more when it comes to the spirituality of an individual tied to mother earth and to the Creator.”   “One example is the Sunrise Ceremony, a multi-day celebration marking an Apache girl’s entry into womanhood,” the legal filing states.  “To prepare, the girl gathers plants from Oak Flat that contain ‘the spirit of Chi’chil Biłdagoteel.’  As she gathers, she speaks to the spirit of Oak Flat, expressing gratitude for its resources. Ibid. Her godmother dresses her in “the essential tools of . . . becoming a woman,’ and tribal members surround her with singing, dancing, and prayer.”  According to the filing, in 1995, a large copper deposit was discovered 4,500 to 7,000 feet beneath Oak Flat. Hoping to obtain the deposit, two large multinational mining companies, Rio Tinto and BHP, formed a joint venture called Resolution Copper. From 2005 to 2013, congressional supporters of Resolution Copper introduced at least twelve standalone bills to transfer Oak Flat to the company, but each one failed.  SOCIAL MEDIA AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RAISED AT GLOBAL SUMMIT AS ‘DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD’ In 2014, Republican Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake attached the land-transfer bill to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), authorizing the transfer of a 2,422-acre parcel including Oak Flat to Resolution Copper in exchange for about 5,344 acres scattered elsewhere. The bill revokes the presidential orders protecting Oak Flat from mining and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the proposed mine. Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack published the EIS on Jan. 15, 2021, which said the mine would destroy Oak Flat. Lawyers for Becket, a nonprofit law firm that defends religious liberties and is representing Apache Stronghold, say the government is trampling their clients’ religious freedoms.  “They effectively say that there’s a carve-out from RFRA for the government’s management of federal land, that if the government makes it impossible for you to exercise your religion, that’s a substantial burden, but that rule doesn’t apply to federal land,” Becket counsel Joe Davis explained in an interview with Fox News Digital.  “But there’s really no basis in the law that Congress wrote for that kind of argument,” he said.  “RFRA, on its face, says that it applies to all federal law and the implementation of that law, and it says that the use of land for religious purposes is a religious exercise that the law is designed to protect.” he said.  The Supreme Court could decide to take up the case as soon as October.  “Blasting the birthplace of Apache religion into oblivion would be an egregious violation of our nation’s promise of religious freedom for people of all faiths,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president of Becket. “The Court should uphold its strong record of defending religious freedom by ensuring that the Apaches can continue worshiping at Oak Flat as they have for centuries.”