RUDY’S REVISION: Remember when former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani suggested Chris Christie may have known about the devious tactics behind the George Washington Bridge scandal? Well, now he’s changed his mind: “I believe the governor 100%,” Giuliani told multiple outlets.
‘PORTRAIT OF A SMEAR’: New Jersey city mayors are not the only targets of political ire, it would seem: a new New York Times report reveals an unlikely target of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno: the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. According to the Times, Guadagno spent months blaming the group of “unethical” practices and accused an artist of contract fraud in 2011–an accusation he wasn’t aware of until after the allegations were made.
CONTINUING OPPOSITION: During the annual House Republican members’ retreat, leaders outlined principles for rewriting immigration laws–an issue that has hurt the GOP over the last few years with voters. According to reports, the document presented to House Republicans called for a path to legal status, but not citizenship, for the undocumented immigrants living in the United States already.
THE REAL NUMBERS: Republicans are blasting the president for announcing plans to take executive action where Congress could not (or would not) act–a move Obama is doubling down on in a new interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “The truth of that matter is that every president engages in executive actions,” he said. “In fact, we’ve been very disciplined and sparing in terms of the executive actions that we have taken.”
“Sparing” is an accurate word when you look at the real numbers. As our colleague Steve Benen points out over on MaddowBlog, Obama has averaged fewer executive orders per year than any president in the last 117 years: IN OTHER NEWS…
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