Today is May Day, when Americans recognize the advances wrought by the labor movement and solemnly engage in some union thuggery in their office break rooms. The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow, a shameful reminder that horses are still denied the five-day work week we all enjoy. And a loaded gun was found in John Boehner’s bathroom, prompting some RSC members to denounce the firearm as a RINO and vow to support a primary challenge against it. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Friday, May 1st, 2015:
BERNIE SANDER$$$ - Gonna redistribute that cash into victory. Dan Merica: "Bernie Sanders' nascent presidential campaign announced Friday that it raised more than $1.5 million in its first 24 hours, a number that far outpaces what Republican presidential hopefuls posted in their first day. Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, kicked off his dark horse campaign for the Democratic nomination on Thursday with an email to supporters and a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol. Since then, more than 100,000 people signed up for the campaign and 35,000 people donated money, according to a campaign press release. The average donation was $43.54...Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's campaign announced that it had raised $800,000 a day in. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's campaign raised $1 million in the first 24-hours of its existence. And Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign raised $1.25 million in its first day." [CNN]
WHAT EXIT? JAIL. Time for some jurisprudence in Fort Lee. Kate Zernike and Marc Santora: "The United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, announced the indictments at a news conference on Friday afternoon, breaking his long silence about a scandal that started as an inquiry into a plot to cause a traffic jam and has since led to a host of other investigations into the Christie administration, threatening the political future of one of nation’s leading Republicans...Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, were charged with nine counts, including conspiracy to commit fraud by 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.' David Wildstein, another former Port Authority official and a high school friend of Mr. Christie, pleaded guilty at the United States District Court in Newark to conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy against civil rights." [NYT]
@ZekeJMiller: Bridget Kelly: "For the indictment to suggest that I was the only person in the gov's office who knew about the bridge issue is ludicrous."
FREDDIE GRAY COPS FACING CHARGES - Paige Lavender: "Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby gave an update on the investigation into the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old who died after suffering a spinal cord injury while in police custody in April, calling his death a homicide. "We have probable cause to file criminal charges," Mosby said in a press conference Friday. Charges including second degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and assault, among others, will be filed against the officers involved in Gray's arrest, Mosby said." [HuffPost]
Haircuts: Akbar Ahmed (h/t Mike McAuliff), Justin Bieber (h/t Ryan Seacrest)
DAILY DELANEY DOWNER - Many of the Baltimore residents protesting the April 19 death of Freddie Gray in police custody have said they or someone they know has been treated unfairly by police. Data from a major lawsuit against the city shows that police have indeed had a habit of improper arrests in the recent past. In 2006, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action complaint alleging a pattern of false arrests. Of more than 76,000 people arrested the previous year, prosecutors declined to charge 25,000 with any crime -- meaning roughly 30 percent of the arrests were basically bogus. In a 2010 settlement the city agreed to reform its police practices, though last year the Baltimore Sun reported on a persisting pattern of police brutality. [HuffPost]
Does somebody keep forwarding you this newsletter? Get your own copy. It's free! Sign up here. Send tips/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to huffposthill@huffingtonpost.com. Follow us on Twitter - @HuffPostHill
FRIENDLY REMINDER THAT POLITICIANS ARE CORRUPT - We'd support a law that strips the meager regulations on leadership PACs in exchange for a stipulation that all donations to them be delivered in sacks stamped with dollar signs. Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer: "Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo has dipped into her campaign fund to buy more than $2,000 in gifts for her good friend and fellow Californian, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, from swank stores such as Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) has dropped nearly $3,400 in campaign cash servicing his BMW in Alexandria, Virginia... Disgraced former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) resigned after a firestorm of criticism over his use of campaign dollars to underwrite a lavish lifestyle, among other alleged misdeeds. But the truth is, while Schock was by all accounts an extreme case, he is far from the exception. It fact, elected officials routinely tap their campaign accounts to pay for things that appear to have little to do with seeking another term in Congress, according to a POLITICO review of campaign documents." [Politico]
Steve King spent the day with a guy who thinks Muslims have cantaloupe calves.
POLL: WHITE PEOPLE SORT OF RECOGNIZE THAT THERE'S A POLICING PROBLEM - Ariel Edwards-Levy: "Sixty-nine percent of black Americans say Gray's death is part of a larger trend. Similarly, many black Americans said the same of Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, last year. White opinions, however, have varied. In a survey taken just after Brown was killed in Ferguson last August, white Americans said by a 5-point margin (40 percent to 35 percent) that the shooting was an isolated incident, not part of a broader pattern in the way police treat black men. Later, as the case attracted more attention, the perception only grew that Brown's case was an anomaly. After a grand jury decided not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson for the death of Brown, 53 percent of whites said Brown's death was an isolated incident, while just 29 percent considered it reflective of a broader pattern in the way police treat black men. A survey this February found similar results. But in the wake of Gray's death, and for the first time, white Americans are slightly more likely than not to cite a broader pattern. Thirty-eight percent call Gray's death part of a broader pattern, while 36 percent say it's another isolated incident. The remainder are unsure." [HuffPost]
CHILD FINDS GUN IN JOHN BOEHNER'S BATHROOM - Awwwwwwww!!! Wook a the widdle baybay! Who's exercising his Second Amendment rights? You are! That's right! You are! Hannah Hess: "When a member of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s security detail left his Glock and magazine stuffed in the toilet seat cover holder of a Capitol Visitor Center bathroom stall, a CVC worker found the gun, according to a source familiar with the Jan. 29 incident and two other disturbing instances when Capitol Police left loaded firearms in problematic places. A 7- or 8-year-old child visiting the Capitol with his parents found the next loaded Glock lost by a dignitary protection officer, according to the source. A member of the security detail for John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, allegedly left the firearm in the bathroom of the Speaker’s Suite on March 24. A third Glock was found the night of April 16 by a janitor cleaning the Capitol Police headquarters building on D Street NE. The weapon was left in plain sight, sparking additional concern about the department charged with protecting one of the world’s most important and frequently visited complexes." [Roll Call]
INDIANA GOP ESTABLISHMENT UPSET WITH PENCE - That sound you hear is Susana Martinez blazing by Pence in the veepstakes. Amanda Terkel: "'It didn't do our brand any good, for sure. One, it didn't do the state brand any good. Two, it didn't do the Indiana Republican Party brand any good. And three, it didn't do Mike any good. And that's pretty obvious,' said former Indiana GOP Chair Jim Kittle... One Republican operative in the state, who declined to be named in order to speak openly, said the Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy brought to the forefront 'a simmering disconnect between the [former Gov.] Mitch Daniels-era people and the Mike Pence people.' Others took issue with that description, saying the real divide is broader: between Pence and, essentially, the rest of the state Republican Party. Daniels, who served from 2005 to 2013 and is now the president of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, still inspires intense loyalty among many Republicans in the state. He helped bring the state party out of the wilderness after 16 years of Democratic governors. Daniels made fiscal issues his focus, declaring a "truce" on social issues (although he did sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood in 2011)." [HuffPost]
HUCKABEE PREVIEWS CAMPAIGN STRATEGY - He's... wait for it... fiscally responsible and a consensus builder. Marina Fang: "Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) slammed fellow Arkansas native Bill Clinton in a video released Friday morning, hinting at Huckabee's possible campaign strategies in his anticipated bid for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination…in the video, Huckabee claims Clinton left the state in shambles after the end of his tenure in 1992, when he was elected president. The video suggests Huckabee may try to draw on his experiences in what he called 'Bill Clinton's Arkansas' to go after Hillary Clinton as she seeks the Democratic presidential nomination...Huckabee first set off rumors that he would launch a 2016 bid in January, when hequit his job as host of his Fox News show, 'Huckabee.' Last month, he began plotting campaign strategy and hiring staff." [HuffPost]
BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are two cats and a box.
GAME CHANGE - This coupled with the Bunny Ranch endorsement should really lock up Alabama. John Heilemann: "The impresario behind the Hustler empire is adding a new element to his persona: [Larry] Flynt is officially ready for Hillary...Few Clinton supporters will take issue with the animating impulse behind Flynt’s endorsement: the future makeup of the Supreme Court. 'We’ve had a right-leaning court for half a century,' he says from the gold-plated wheelchair he’s occupied since being shot and paralyzed in 1978. 'But if Hillary gets in, chances are she’s going to have an opportunity to appoint two, maybe three justices … and we could shift the balance there.'" [Bloomberg]
COMFORT FOOD
- This is what a massive arctic military airdrop looks like.
- How top-shelf sake is made.
- Explaining why Las Vegas isn't really Las Vegas.
TWITTERAMA
@elisefoley: I enjoy hearing people say “Thanks for having me” on the phone because then I know that if I yell I can be on the radio.
@timothypmurphy: Yo dawg I heard you like announcements so I got you an announcement of an announcement of an announcement of an announcement.
@SimonMaloy: where were the fathers of these police officers??????
Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com) or Arthur Delaney (arthur@huffingtonpost.com). Follow us on Twitter @HuffPostHill (twitter.com/HuffPostHill). Sign up here: http://huff.to/an2k2e