Good morning! Here’s your daily digest of money-and-politics news and the headlines of the day, compiled by BillMoyers.com’s John Light. (You can sign up to receive Morning Reads daily in your inbox!)
Planning on staying in? –> The next Democratic debate is scheduled for this Saturday evening on CBS at 9 p.m., ET. In fact, many of this year’s Democratic debates are scheduled at times when people are unlikely to be watching, writes Alvin Chang at Vox. Some accuse DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz of doing this intentionally to protect Hillary Clinton from her challengers.
The political money for and against the Fight for $15 –> At OpenSecrets.org, Brianna Gurciullo takes a look at the money aligned on both sides of the battle to raise the minimum wage. Without some sort of dramatic shift, labor’s SEIU, one of the main forces pushing the initiative, likely will be heavily outspent by business interests like the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Restaurant Association.
Through the revolving door with great velocity –> Longtime Department of Energy second-in-command Daniel Poneman started talking to potential employers two years before leaving the agency. He eventually negotiated for nine different jobs before leaving his post to work for a company that operates nuclear power plants and a company building a liquefied natural gas facility. “Lydia Dennett, an investigator at the Project on Government Oversight, said the documents are interesting given the group’s concerns that Poneman was perhaps making decisions in the industry’s best interest — as opposed to taxpayers’ — while working at DOE,” Kevin Bogardus and Hannah Northey report for Greenwire.
Postal workers union endorses Sanders –> Democrats are competing to win the labor vote, and the postal workers union is a big win for Bernie Sanders. “‘Politics as usual has not worked. It’s time for a political revolution,’ said Mark Dimondstein, president of the union, citing efforts by Sanders to keep post offices and mail facilities open amid budget cuts.” Luciana Lopez and Amanda Becker report for Reuters.
How to make a candidate –> At Politico, Ken Vogel looks at how the Kochs pluck unknowns who share their worldview from the lower echelons of government and politics, then use their well-heeled political network to launch them into America’s most powerful offices. Case in point: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst.
Shhhh… –> Edward Snowden offers tips on how to protect your privacy to Micah Lee at The Intercept.
Clinton’s deal for coal country –> Hillary Clinton announced a $30 billion plan to help spur the Appalachian economy as the coal industry continues to implode. Washington insiders are painting it as a cynical bid to shore up Democratic votes in the region, and it may be, writes Nancy LeTourneau for Washington Monthly — but it’s also good policy: “The fact that energy production is transitioning away from coal is a good thing for all of us that value a healthy planet. But we should not be content to allow the negative results of that transition fall only on our fellow citizens who have depended on this dying industry for their livelihood.”
It’s not just red states –> Abortion clinics “in many blue states are struggling to keep their doors open just as much as in red states. And by some counts, they are shutting down just as fast.” Molly Redden reports for The Guardian.
“A classic strange bedfellows story” –> Startups taking advantage of the “gig economy” have joined with worker protection groups to issue a letter calling for a strengthening of the social safety net. The coalition wants to help independent contractors get paid a fair wage — and startups want to make sure that they can rely on independent contractors without getting hit with lawsuits. But the mix of political ideologies among the letter’s signees might make the next steps difficult, writes Lydia DePillis at The Washington Post.
Make your own tax haven –> Adam Sherwin for the UK’s Independent: “When independent traders in a small Welsh town discovered the loopholes used by multinational giants to avoid paying UK tax, they didn’t just get mad. Now local businesses in Crickhowell are turning the tables on the likes of Google and Starbucks by employing the same accountancy practices used by the world’s biggest companies, to move their entire town ‘offshore.'”
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