John Boehner won't support ENDA because he could lose his job if he publicly liked gay people. A member of the House's unofficial Obscure Caucus passed away; friends recalled a loving white man in a suit. And in a journalistic first, a reporter for BuzzFeed included a listicle in a White House pool report. Expect "documenting the leader of the free world's mundane comings and goings" to be included in the next "34 Signs You're Getting Old" entry. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, November 4th, 2013:
ENDA CLEARS HURDLE IN SENATE, WILL DIE IN HOUSE - Senate Democrats were finally able to invoke cloture on the legislation that would ban workplace discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. The vote to end debate on the measure was in the balance for a few tense minutes earlier as no senator would come forward to cast the 60th 'aye' vote (#courage). Republicans Rob Portman and Pat Toomey finally came forward to cast their 'aye' votes, more or less ensuring ENDA's eventual passage in the upper chamber. The bill now moves to the House where it will idle, so ignored and unloved you'd think it were a senator's lovechild.
@jenbendery: The GOPers who voted yes on ENDA procedural vote: Ayotte, Collins, Hatch, Heller, Kirk, Portman and Toomey.
RT @mkraju: In unusual scene, Reid and Schumer now laying on pressure as they enter GOP cloakroom to woo Portman and Toomey on ENDA vote
BOEHNER OPPOSES ENDA - It's such a pity the speaker is so hostile to stuff like this, because you just know he'd be a blast at a gay wedding. Sam Stein: "House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) affirmed on Monday morning that he would oppose a law that would prohibit discrimination against gay and lesbian employees in the workplace, citing the possibility that it would put a financial burden on businesses. 'The Speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs,' Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said in a statement. The remark from Steel is a tough blow for supporters of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. A vote on the legislation is coming Monday in the Senate, and there is growing optimism that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will be able to bypass a filibuster attempt. Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) announced on Monday that he would back ENDA, making him the 60th member to announce support for it. But even if the bill were to make it through that chamber, it would require passage in the House. And with Boehner coming out in opposition, it seems unlikely that it would even get a vote." [HuffPost]
SOME SERIOUS JERRY-MAGUIRE-LEVEL SH*T WENT DOWN TODAY ON K STREET - Grim and Christina Wilkie: "In a move that would make Jerry Maguire proud, a team of four top lobbyists at TechAmerica resigned Monday afternoon, dealing a blow to the struggling tech industry lobbying outfit. The four senior lobbyists, Trey Hodgkins, Erica McCann, Pam Walker and Carol Henton, are all expected to join a rival trade group, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), according to sources with knowledge of the deal. The sources said that ITI was able to raise $50,000 a piece from more than a dozen of its members to cover the cost of bringing on the new team. Plotting mass departures is generally the stuff of post-happy hour get-togethers, but once the booze wears off, the plans usually fade, with the risk and the organizing challenges often outweighing the benefits of quitting. But Monday's resignations are only the latest in a string of setbacks for TechAmerica, which was at one time a leading voice in Washington for the information technology industry. As The Huffington Post reported last month, TechAmerica has shed more than 75 clients since July, including some of the industry's biggest players." This leaves the military-industrial complex without its biggest IT lobbying shop, and will set off a fun game of musical chairs that'll play out over the next few weeks. If you work downtown in this field and have thoughts on it, we're at ryan@huffingtonpost.com.
OBAMA BROKE SUPER PAC PLEDGE DURING CAMPAIGN - If you like your president's fundraising scruples, you can forget about it. Amanda Terkel and Sam Stein: "President Barack Obama quietly attended a fundraising event for the allied super PAC Priorities USA less than a month before the 2012 election, despite a campaign pledge to stay away from such functions, a new book reveals. In February 2012, the Obama campaign gave its blessing to the creation of the super PAC, saying that while the president opposed the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which opened the floodgates to such outside political spending, he couldn't allow himself to be outspent by his conservative opposition. But the campaign attempted to assuage concerns among Democrats and campaign finance reform advocates by promising that Obama would not solicit donations on behalf of the super PAC. "While campaign officials may be appearing at events to amplify our message, these folks won't be soliciting contributions for Priorities USA," Obama Campaign Manager Jim Messina wrote in a blog post at the time. "I should also note that the President, Vice President, and First Lady will not be a part of this effort; their political activity will remain focused on the President's campaign." But according to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann' Double Down, a copy of which was obtained by The Huffington Post before its release, Obama and former President Bill Clinton attended a Priorities USA event on Oct. 7, held at the $35 million estate of DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg in Beverly Hills." [HuffPost]
FURLOUGHED WORKERS SUE - Dave Jamieson: "Not even three weeks since the shutdown ended, hundreds of federal employees who worked through the impasse have now filed paperwork to join a lawsuit against the government over having their paychecks withheld last month, according to the lawyers handling their case." [HuffPost]
FLUSTERED RAND PAUL SCRUBS WEBSITE - Andrew Kaczynski: "Several transcripts of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's speeches have disappeared from his website. The change was noticed after reports by BuzzFeed, Politico, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that said the senator had plagiarized in several of his speeches." [BuzzFeed]
EMBARRASSED PUBLISHER TO UPDATE RAND PAUL BOOKS - Andrew Kaczynski: "The publisher of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's 2012 book Government Bullies is updating future printings to include attribution to a Heritage Foundation case study and report by a Cato Institute scholar he plagiarized. The copied work ran more than three pages." [BuzzFeed]
ANGRY RAND PAUL THREATENS DUEL, IS INCORRECT - Ian Millhiser: "On Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that he would challenge MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and other critics that have accused him of plagiarism to a duel, except that he's worried about a quirk in Kentucky law that could limit his job prospects. 'If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know, it would be a duel challenge,' Paul told ABC's George Stephanopoulos. 'But I can't do that, because I can't hold office in Kentucky then.' Yet, if the only thing keeping Paul from challenging Ms. Maddow to pistols at dawn is fear of losing his senate seat, then he should go ahead and lay down his gauntlet. Though Paul is literally correct that he 'can't hold office in Kentucky' if he crosses broadswords with a liberal TV host in order to restore his lost honor, his current gig in the United States Senate is a federal office, not a Kentucky office." [ThinkProgress]
Only one question remains: pistols or swords?
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Here's an uplifting factoid from the Economic Policy Institute: "[T]he amount of money stolen out of employees' paychecks every year is far greater than the combined total stolen in all the bank robberies, gas station robberies, and convenience store robberies in the country...." [EPI.org]
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CHARLIE CRIST ENTERS FLORIDA GOVERNOR'S RACE AS DEMOCRAT - Our campaign to get Jeff Green to enter the race and conduct a whistlestop tour of the state in his vomit-caked yacht is going nowhere. Anthony Man: Get ready for the second coming of Crist. When Charlie Crist stepped to the microphones Monday in St. Petersburg, he instantly changed the dynamics of Florida politics and set in motion a 52-week campaign that could end up making history: a former governor who switches parties and attempts to unseat his successor. 'The race begins,' said Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, who as a top Democrat in the Florida House of Representatives worked closely with Crist when he was the state's Republican governor. 'Up until now, there has been a lot of campaigning, but there has not been a race. I think it's officially election season.' After waging a shadow campaign for months, Crist emerged to formally announce he's entering the contest for the Democratic nomination for governor. Members of both parties say Crist's move will immediately catapult the Sunshine State governor's race to the No. 1 contest in the country in the 2014 midterm elections." [HuffPost]
BuzzFeed reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro listicle'd his White House pool report today: "FIVE OMG THINGS OBAMA SAID TO THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS"
JEFF FLAKE NOT DOWN WITH GENDER DYSPHORIA - Jen Bendery :"When Jeff Flake was a member of the House, he surprised some in 2007 by voting to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that bans workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. That bill passed the House with the help of 35 Republicans, including Flake... this time, he's signaling he won't vote for it. So what happened? The Arizona senator says he has issues with the fact that the Senate's ENDA bill, which is set for a Monday vote, includes protections for people being discriminated against based on their gender identity. That is, protections for transgender people. 'It's significantly broadened [from the 2007 House bill], and with that comes greater possibilities for litigation and compliance costs,' Flake told Politico last week. 'I'm a firm 'no' if it's the Senate bill.' But there's no reason to believe ENDA would trigger a spike in lawsuits if it includes transgender protections. The Government Accountability Office, for one, issued a July 2013 report that surveyed claims filed with state authorities in the 21 states with statutes barring employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, 17 of which also bar discrimination based on gender identity. The report found that data reported by states from 2007 to 2012 'show relatively few employment discrimination complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity.'" [HuffPost]
TEA PARTY CLASHES WITH GOP ESTABLISHMENT, PART 4,325 - We're have to devise a new term for the GOP "establishment" as the Tea Party sets the GOP agenda lately. The GOP "cabal of pasty dudes who'd rather be working at Venable at this point"? Sam Stein and Paul Blumenthal: "The National Republican Senatorial Campaign announced that it was ending its business dealings with Jamestown Associates as punishment for that firm's work for the Senate Conservatives Fund, a group that's propelled tea party challengers against incumbent candidates. Not only that, the committee is also encouraging 2014 Senate candidates, the RNC and other committees to drop its associations with Jamestown as well. The message is fairly explicit: If you are profiting off of Republican Party infighting, you aren't going to get any money from the NRSC. But how ironclad is this principle? A review of campaign finance data shows that if a new policy has been put in place, it's being applied ad hoc. Jamestown actually hadn't worked for the NRSC for the current 2014 election cycle prior to being told that it will not get any contracts from the campaign committee, so it won't be losing any existing contracts. But there are two groups who have worked for both the NRSC and the Senate Conservatives Fund this cycle, and there is no indication that their checks are in danger." [HuffPost]
OBAMA: I'M REALLY GOOD AT KILLING PEOPLE - What would really be incredible is if his reelection team had packaged this as a talking point and had wide-eyed Obama supporters telling undecideds in Miami-Dade that the president knows how to waste a dude. Mollie Reilly: "A new book on the 2012 presidential campaign claims that President Barack Obama told aides that he is 'really good at killing people.' According to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, the authors of Double Down: Game Change 2012, Obama made the comment while discussing drone strikes last year. CNN's Peter Hamby noted the anecdote in his review of the book for the Washington Post. While the White House has not commented on the president's alleged remarks, senior Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer on Sunday brushed off, but did not dispute, other reports from the book, including that campaign officials weighed replacing Vice President Joe Biden with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democratic ticket. "The president is always frustrated about leaks," Pfeiffer said on ABC's 'This Week.' "I haven't talked to him about this book. I haven't read it. He hasn't read it. But he hates leaks." The quote comes in the context of both the drone program and the killing of Osama bin Laden by a special forces strike force. The passage also specifically references the death of another al Qaeda leader, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by a CIA drone strike in Yemen on Sept. 30, 2011." [HuffPost]
MCAULIFFE AHEAD IN FINAL VA GOV POLLS - Fired up? Read to go? Mark Blumenthal and Ariel Edwards-Levy: "On the eve of Virginia's election for governor, a handful of new surveys conducted over the weekend confirm the result shown by every public poll since July: Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe appears poised to defeat Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. If the polls prove to be collectively accurate, the only uncertainty appears to be the size of McAuliffe's margin. A final poll from Quinnipiac University, conducted over the past week and released Monday, shows McAuliffe leading Cuccinelli by 6 percentage points, 46 percent to 40 percent, with libertarian Paul Sarvis at 8 percent. Similarly, a final automated telephone poll from the Democratic-affiliated firm Public Policy Polling (PPP), gives McAuliffe a 7-point lead (50 to 43 percent) but shows Sarvis winning just 4 percent of the vote. The race largely became a referendum on Cuccinelli, polling indicates -- one that he appears to have lost. Nearly a third of McAuliffe's supporters said they were voting for him because they disliked Cuccinelli, Quinnipiac found. Voters did not view either main candidate favorably. But while McAuliffe's rating was narrowly negative, at 42 percent favorable to 45 percent unfavorable, Cuccinelli's numbers were far underwater. A 52 percent majority of voters, including 53 percent of independents and 54 percent of women, gave him an unfavorable rating." [HuffPost]
Howard Fineman reports that Joe Biden might be using the governor's race to distance himself from the president...or just to get back at him : "Vice President Joe Biden, whom White House aides considered dumping from the ticket in 2012, returned the favor at a campaign event here on Monday, supporting the election of Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe without ever mentioning Barack Obama or any of the president's achievements in office. The omission was all the more noticeable because Obama himself had campaigned in the state the day before. The president won Virginia in both 2008 and 2012, signal Southern victories that changed the Electoral College map in the Democrats' favor. At a get-out-the-vote rally Monday in the grassy backyard of a middle-class suburban home, Biden and other Democratic speakers -- Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly and McAuliffe -- spent most of their time attacking Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli, who trails in the polls after a campaign heavy on mud-slinging by both sides." [HuffPost]
WYOMING REPUBLICANS NOT VERY INSPIRED BY THEIR SENATE CANDIDATES - Paul Blumenthal: "Two different fundraising strategies are emerging in the increasingly bitter Republican primary battle for a Wyoming U.S. Senate seat between three-term incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi and his challenger Liz Cheney, but both are relying heavily on support from outside of the state. Washington insiders, including corporate political action committees, Senate colleagues and lobbyists, populate Enzi's fundraising reports. Meanwhile, Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is counting on a contradictory mix of establishment Republican donors linked to the administration of President George W. Bush and her father, and tea party donors seeking to upend that very establishment. 'What an interesting choice for voters back in Wyoming to make,' said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign finance. 'While they may want to represent Wyoming, the funding base for neither of them is representative of Wyoming.'..Through September, Enzi pulled in $1.6 million, with $1.2 million coming from PACs and just $343,877 coming from 352 individual donors giving at least $200 each, according to Federal Election Commission records. Thirty-two of Enzi's colleagues in the Senate, including tea party favorite Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), contributed $280,053 from their leadership PACs to help him win reelection. He has also raised $60,942 from 64 registered lobbyists." [HuffPost]
Obscure congressman dies: "Former Rep. William J. Coyne, a liberal Pennsylvania Democrat and longtime member of the Roll Call Obscure Caucus, has died at the age of 77...Coyne, who was first elected in 1980 and served until 2003, was a hard-working member of the Ways and Means Committee. An accountant by trade, he spent much of his adult life in public service, starting with the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1970 and continuing with the Pittsburgh City Council from 1973-1980. In Congress, he sidestepped the limelight and was an Obscure Caucus stalwart. In the Sept. 24, 2003, edition of Roll Call, Lauren W. Whittington wrote: "As for former Rep. Bill Coyne, who made the list in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994, we can't think of one good reason why the Pennsylvania Democrat wouldn't have made the cut again had he not retired last year.'" [Roll Call]
REP. MIKE MICHAUD, MAINE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE, COMES OUT - This can only lead to news segments featuring Mainers with thick accents discussing their acceptance of Michaud's lifestyle, which will be adorable. Ashley Alman: "Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine) came out as gay in a column released to three of Maine's major news outlets on Monday morning. Michaud, who officially announced his gubernatorial bid in August, could become the first openly gay governor if successful in 2014. 'For me, it's just a part of who I am, as much as being a third-generation mill worker or a lifelong Mainer,' Michaud wrote. 'One thing I do know is that it has nothing to do with my ability to lead the state of Maine.' The Democratic representative said he became aware of 'whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls' about his personal life following his campaign announcement, and wanted to address the speculation 'with a simple, honest answer.'" [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are two dogs who want to fight in private.
TORONTO MAYOR IS SORRY HE WAS 'HAMMERED' IN OFFICE - He can always run for office in Ward 8. Toronto Star: "Vowing to stay in office and to run in the next election, Mayor Rob Ford apologized Sunday for past public drunkenness and promised to 'make changes' in his life -- but declined to offer any explanation for the bombshell drug-related revelations that threaten his career. Ford, facing intense pressure to resign or take a leave of absence, said he will instead 'ride the storm out' as he called on Toronto's police chief to release the video at the heart of the scandal that has engulfed his mayoralty. He acknowledged for the first time that he was 'hammered' at the Taste of the Danforth street festival in August -- 'pure stupidity,' he said -- and 'a little out of control' on St. Patrick's Day in March of last year, when he was 'running around city hall with a half-empty bottle of brandy.'...His refusal to step aside is likely to send city councillors scrambling to find a way to intensify their futile early attempts at applying pressure. He has resisted private appeals from loyal council supporters, Conservative party officials, and his own aides." [Toronto Star]
COMFORT FOOD
- "Meowfit" is a Tumblr featuring cats in tights. It's Tumblrs like these that make us glad our ancestors discovered fire. [http://bit.ly/1aNG9YD]
- A supercut of Woody Allen saying "making love," which he does... a lot. [http://huff.to/HCvW9c]
- The trailer for "Star Wars" but with clips from the blooper real. [http://bit.ly/1iHO5xn]
- The Simpsons marked the passing of Marcia Wallace, who voiced Mrs. Krabappel with a touching chalkboard gag in its title sequence. [http://bit.ly/HAWmrR]
- "Under the Sea" played on empty bottles. [http://bit.ly/171vFaR]
- Mexico's drug cartels have taken to social media. Gold AK-47s really were made for Instagram. [http://bit.ly/HrbSpw]
- Lasers might one day cure Alzheimers. What don't lasers fix in the future? They're like the duct tape of the 21st century. [http://bit.ly/1aVl8eD]
TWITTERAMA
@radleybalko: Don't believe everything you hear from the jews. #CareerEndingTwitterTypos
@Elahelzadi: wanna see the venn diagram of this RT @eliotnelson: Spelling matters. "Drug cartels" are much different than "drag cartels."
@pourmecoffee: Senate will vote on LGBT rights bill today. In other news, apparently some people's rights must be voted on by other people.
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