Dem Primary Chatter Week of 5/20

[ESF]

Harris starts the week off with a plan to address pay equality.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-kamala-harris-vows-as-president-to-fine-companies-that-pay-men-more-than-women/2019/05/19/af151a96-7a7f-11e9-a5b3-34f3edf1351e_story.html?utm_term=.95b0ebb5cfc7&tid=sm_fb

[boiler717]

May 20, 2019 8:49:48 GMT -5 ESF said:

Harris starts the week off with a plan to address pay equality.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-kamala-harris-vows-as-president-to-fine-companies-that-pay-men-more-than-women/2019/05/19/af151a96-7a7f-11e9-a5b3-34f3edf1351e_story.html?utm_term=.95b0ebb5cfc7&tid=sm_fb

I love fining companies who fail to show equal pay. Brilliant.

[ESF]

Is she going to run?

[pixy0stix]

I saw this the other day, and it just reminded me that while people are passionate they really don't know shit about what is going on. Fully half of the field are Senators with seats that they will keep should they not win the presidency race. Some of the others aren't running for office since their name recognition was nill before throwing their hat in, but now could run for higher office later. Still others are running to elevate a platform.

[sonrisa]

May 22, 2019 8:28:18 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I saw this the other day, and it just reminded me that while people are passionate they really don't know shit about what is going on. Fully half of the field are Senators with seats that they will keep should they not win the presidency race. Some of the others aren't running for office since their name recognition was nill before throwing their hat in, but now could run for higher office later. Still others are running to elevate a platform.

It doesn't apply to the majority of candidates, but there are enough for whom trying to flip a Senate seat was an option: Gravel (AK), Bullock (MT), Hickenlooper (CO), and both Castro and Beto (TX).  I also hope Abrams decides to go that route. 

[ESF]

May 22, 2019 10:40:08 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

May 22, 2019 8:28:18 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I saw this the other day, and it just reminded me that while people are passionate they really don't know shit about what is going on. Fully half of the field are Senators with seats that they will keep should they not win the presidency race. Some of the others aren't running for office since their name recognition was nill before throwing their hat in, but now could run for higher office later. Still others are running to elevate a platform.

It doesn't apply to the majority of candidates, but there are enough for whom trying to flip a Senate seat was an option: Gravel (AK), Bullock (MT), Hickenlooper (CO), and both Castro and Beto (TX).  I also hope Abrams decides to go that route. 

Gravel isn't actually running, from what I understand, he's senile and there's a bunch of kids running his campaign.

Joaquin Castro is exploring a senate bid, so the comment doesn't work for Julian. MJ Hegar is also running in Texas.  So no shortage of talent in that state.

Abrams has said she's not interested in running for Senate. I also think that unlike the white men on your list, she actually has something to add to this race.

I'm with you on Bullock and Hinkenlooper though. But I think that gets to pixy's point. The problem isn't really as huge as it seems. But yes, I seriously judge them for running for president, and not senate.

[ESF]

@@@

Gillibrand released a Family Bill of Rights policy. Most interesting piece is mandatory insurance coverage of infertility treatments.

www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/5/22/18634668/kirsten-gillibrand-family-policy-2020-democrats

[pixy0stix]

May 22, 2019 10:40:08 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

May 22, 2019 8:28:18 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

I saw this the other day, and it just reminded me that while people are passionate they really don't know shit about what is going on. Fully half of the field are Senators with seats that they will keep should they not win the presidency race. Some of the others aren't running for office since their name recognition was nill before throwing their hat in, but now could run for higher office later. Still others are running to elevate a platform.

It doesn't apply to the majority of candidates, but there are enough for whom trying to flip a Senate seat was an option: Gravel (AK), Bullock (MT), Hickenlooper (CO), and both Castro and Beto (TX).  I also hope Abrams decides to go that route. 

We're starting to get good candidates for CFG's seat, we don't need Hickenpooper fucking things up here. So there's also the "you don't know what's happening in the state senate races" flavor to this, too.

[sonrisa]

May 22, 2019 12:02:56 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

May 22, 2019 10:40:08 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

It doesn't apply to the majority of candidates, but there are enough for whom trying to flip a Senate seat was an option: Gravel (AK), Bullock (MT), Hickenlooper (CO), and both Castro and Beto (TX).  I also hope Abrams decides to go that route. 

We're starting to get good candidates for CFG's seat, we don't need Hickenpooper fucking things up here. So there's also the "you don't know what's happening in the state senate races" flavor to this, too.

Fair enough.

ETA: honestly, I have low accuracy expectations for memes so it takes more cluelessness and disinformation to get my attention. 

[pixy0stix]

May 22, 2019 10:50:30 GMT -5 ESF said:

I'm with you on Bullock and Hinkenlooper though. But I think that gets to pixy's point. The problem isn't really as huge as it seems. But yes, I seriously judge them for running for president, and not senate.

Goddammit, don't saddle us with Hickenlooper.

[Deleted]

May 22, 2019 10:50:30 GMT -5 ESF said:

May 22, 2019 10:40:08 GMT -5 sonrisa said:

It doesn't apply to the majority of candidates, but there are enough for whom trying to flip a Senate seat was an option: Gravel (AK), Bullock (MT), Hickenlooper (CO), and both Castro and Beto (TX).  I also hope Abrams decides to go that route. 

Gravel isn't actually running, from what I understand, he's senile and there's a bunch of kids running his campaign.

Joaquin Castro is exploring a senate bid, so the comment doesn't work for Julian. MJ Hegar is also running in Texas.  So no shortage of talent in that state.

Abrams has said she's not interested in running for Senate. I also think that unlike the white men on your list, she actually has something to add to this race.

I'm with you on Bullock and Hinkenlooper though. But I think that gets to pixy's point. The problem isn't really as huge as it seems. But yes, I seriously judge them for running for president, and not senate.

Joaquin Castro is not running. I’m not sure if Hegar is going to have a serious primary challenger.

I am not sure what is going on in MT, but my hope is that Bullock’s presidential run will raise his profile, he’ll drop out before the primaries start, and he’ll still have time to run for senate.

[redheadbaker]

WaPo published this artice: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/while-teaching-elizabeth-warren-worked-on-more-than-50-legal-matters-charging-as-much-as-675-an-hour/2019/05/22/9ce56840-7ce0-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.8604a3ab5ba5

While teaching, Elizabeth Warren worked on more than 50 legal matters, charging as much as $675 an hour

It reads like some sort of scandal exposé. "OMG, woman holds down two jobs at the same, does both well, and charged the fee her time and expertise are worth!"

[juliej]

May 23, 2019 9:02:16 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

WaPo published this artice: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/while-teaching-elizabeth-warren-worked-on-more-than-50-legal-matters-charging-as-much-as-675-an-hour/2019/05/22/9ce56840-7ce0-11e9-8bb7-0fc796cf2ec0_story.html?utm_term=.8604a3ab5ba5

While teaching, Elizabeth Warren worked on more than 50 legal matters, charging as much as $675 an hour

It reads like some sort of scandal exposé. "OMG, woman holds down two jobs at the same, does both well, and charged the fee her time and expertise are worth!"

At least the ratio on Twitter is coming after them.

[pitta12]

$675 is not an insane billing rate at all. I worked with benefits consultants who charged that for much more useless advice. Also, of course, the billing rate is not paid directly to her and covers all the overhead and other stuff. I wish I got paid my billing rate when I was a consultant. The gap was infuriating enough that I did not calculate it often.

[StrawberryBlondie]

$675/hr is lower than I would expect. My firm billed me at $225/hr when I was fresh out of law school.

[smock]

If you want to read some of the Twitter reactions, check out this thread:

[ESF]

May 23, 2019 10:30:37 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

$675/hr is lower than I would expect. My firm billed me at $225/hr when I was fresh out of law school.

That was my thought.It's low! That rate is about what my firm bills me out to our one paying client (rest are contigency). I'm not a Harvard professor!!

[hocus2]

I think the Warren piece could be relevant and insightful but it was framed so poorly. I'm assuming that working on cases while you're a faculty is fairly common in the law world and that shouldn't be the headline nor her hourly rate which I would guess is not particularly high or different from other folks at Harvard.

An analysis of her cases and the fact that she often worked on corporate clients vs. folks more negatively impacted by bankruptcy is newsworthy. Some of her legal work appear to at odds with her brand, though frankly this article doesn't really do a good job of laying that out.

[ESF]

May 23, 2019 11:06:16 GMT -5 hocus2 said:

I think the Warren piece could be relevant and insightful but it was framed so poorly. I'm assuming that working on cases while you're a faculty is fairly common in the law world and that shouldn't be the headline nor her hourly rate which I would guess is not particularly high or different from other folks at Harvard.

An analysis of her cases and the fact that she often worked on corporate clients vs. folks more negatively impacted by bankruptcy is newsworthy. Some of her legal work appear to at odds with her brand, though frankly this article doesn't really do a good job of laying that out.

This is also why the article is so problematic.  It actually was consistent with her brand because the nature of a corporate lawyer in bankruptcy is very different than one in a thriving, healthy company. You need to make sure there is money set aside to cover unpaid wages and benefits and ensure those people with legal claims against the company, e.g. those injured by their product or discriminated against while working there, are also compensated, and that these things happen before the shareholders get paid.

[jeaniebueller]

Here is a thread about one guys experience with Sen Warren mentoring him as a newbie law prof: