Good morning! Today is National Dress Up Your Pet Day — as what will you dress your pet? While you’re considering the possibilities, take a look at some of the stories we’re reading this morning…
Governors’ dark money –> MoJo’s Andy Kroll reports that a number of conservative governors are now facing political blowback for creating dark money funds to advance their agendas.
War on Poverty turns 50 –> Mike Konczal offers three lessons for liberal policymakers at TNR.
Bully gets a scandal –> Traffic-jam-gate has blossomed into a full-blown scandal for NJ governor Chris Christie. At WaPo, Ezra Klein says that Christie’s real problem heading toward 2016 is that he’s a genuine bully.
Country of millionaires, sort of –> Norway has taken its oil revenues and banked them, creating a huge sovereign wealth fund whose assets reached the equivalent of one million Krones per citizen ($160,000). Allistair Doyle reports for Reuters.
Speaking of governors –> At ThinkProgress, Bryce Covert reports that Maine Governor Paul LePage’s quest to root out food stamp fraud turned up almost no food stamp fraud. This always happens.
Speaking of millionaires –> Richard Trumka writes in The Guardian that Steve Forbes, who’s worth over $400 million, is launching a campaign against raising the minimum wage.
Speaking of millionaires giving governors dark money –> At PRWatch, Brendan Fischer reports that the Koch brothers’ network funded ads defending Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in the 2012 recall election.
Going on offense on repro rights –> Salon’s Katie McDonough reports that lawmakers in Vermont are considering legislation that would codify a woman’s right to choose in state law.
Not that into science –> Over at The Atlantic, David Graham wonders why the share of Republicans who believe in evolution has dropped off dramatically in a few short years.
Alaska next? –> Hunter Stuart reports for HuffPo that Alaska voters will likely vote to legalize marijuana in August, after organizers delivered 45,000 petitions for a referendum on the question.
War on Terror –> Obama recently said he’d be “open” to repealing the 2003 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which paved the way for the Iraq war. According to Olivier Knox at Yahoo News, Sen. Rand Paul plans to offer legislation to do so this Friday.
