#electoral commission payment

[probablyasocialecologist]

According to the Sunday Times account, between 2017 and 2020 McSweeney failed to declare £730,000 in donations from a slew of millionaire businessmen, misreported and underreported other payments, and falsely assured supportive MPs that electoral law was being followed. A 2021 investigation by the Electoral Commission found Labour Together guilty of more than 20 separate breaches of the law, imposed a higher-end fine, and rebuked the organisation for failing to provide a “reasonable excuse”. But by then, as Pogrund and Yorke observe, “money at a scale rarely seen in Labour politics had already changed the party’s future, setting Starmer on the path to Downing Street.” McSweeney (and through him, Starmer) has since avoided being connected publicly to the scandal – until now. The old Watergate adage of “follow the money” may at last be shedding some media light on Starmer’s political ascendancy. The Sunday Times revelations are of a piece with Starmer’s own refusal to reveal the donors to his leadership campaign until after the ballot when it was too late. Pull at the threads of this story and preferred official accounts of Labour party politics over the last five years begin to unravel, with a far more sinister picture of antidemocratic plotting and scheming emerging instead.

#labour party #keir starmer #uk politics #ukpol

[mariacallous]

After decades talking tough on immigration and a year after becoming Italy’s most right-wing prime minister since the Second World War, Giorgia Meloni finds herself dealing with a surge in arrivals from Africa that is sorely testing her electoral pledge to keep irregular migrants away from Italian shores.

With political instability, war, poverty, and global warming plaguing much of Africa and the Middle East, more than 140,000 migrants have already reached Italy by boat this year, almost twice as many as in the whole of 2022. Thousands more lost their lives during the journey. Last month, 7,000 people arrived over just a couple of days in Lampedusa, a small Italian island between Malta and Tunisia that has become a flash point of Europe’s migrant crisis, overwhelming reception facilities there.

As the European Union reels from Islamist attacks in the French city of Arras and in Brussels, which highlighted the shortcomings of its migration system, and amid heightened security concerns linked to the war between Israel and Hamas, Meloni’s immigration woes show the struggles of populist leaders with so-called easy solutions confronted with the reality of government. More than 70 percent of Italians believe that Meloni has done less than she had promised on immigration, and 66 percent say the government is not capable of handling the issue.

“This is a big problem for Meloni,” said Matteo Villa, a senior research fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies. “The government is under a lot of pressure.” 

Right-wing populists around the world are often accused of selling simplistic, unrealistic fixes to complex problems, especially immigration. Former U.S. President Donald Trump never did build the wall, though his successor still aims to do so. Britain continues to be reached by tens of thousands of irregular migrants every year well after pro-Brexit right-wingers convinced it to break away from the EU to “take back control” of its borders. France’s centrist President Emmanuel Macron repeatedly trounced far-right leader Marine Le Pen in presidential debates by laying bare the incoherence of her program. 

Italy, meanwhile, is the main point of arrival for migrants leaving from countries such as Libya and Tunisia in a bid to reach Europe by sea. During last year’s electoral campaign, Meloni claimed that “illegal immigration threatens citizens’ security and quality of life” and promised to stem the influx. Her proposals included establishing an EU “naval blockade” off North Africa’s coasts as well as setting up EU immigration centers in Africa to evaluate people’s asylum requests there.

One year on, Meloni’s government and her voters are facing a harsh reality check. 

An Italy-sponsored deal struck by the EU and Tunisia in the summer, entailing the payment of hundreds of millions of euros to the country in exchange for its help to stop departures, appears to be faltering, with Tunisian strongman Kais Saied saying this month that he will not accept any “charity.”

Meanwhile, despite some vague pledges from the European Commission to step up border surveillance, the kind of massive military operation that would be required to “blockade” large stretches of Africa’s Mediterranean coasts is nowhere near to becoming reality. Finally, repatriations of failed asylum-seekers, which over the past decade hovered at a dismal 18 percent of all those ordered to leave Italy, have only slightly grown on Meloni’s watch compared to last year.

In a bid to maintain support from hard-line voters, the Italian government—which includes Meloni’s post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, as well as the far-right League and the conservative Forza Italia—has resorted to a mix of blame game and headline-grabbing announcements.

Senior right-wing figures recently lambasted Germany over its public funding to a nongovernmental organization rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, which the Italian government says incentivizes human trafficking. The NGO’s ship has rescued and disembarked 753 people in Italy this year, barely 0.6 percent of total sea arrivals, yet Meloni formally complained to her German counterpart, Olaf Scholz, with a letter leaked to the press, while a top League member alleged that the German left-wing government was seeking to make Meloni’s cabinet look bad by “filling us up with illegals.”

But Meloni’s government has done more than rant. Over the past year, it has approved a slate of measures including tougher punishments for smugglers, stricter procedures to grant humanitarian protection, and more detention centers and longer detention periods for rejected asylum-seekers awaiting deportation.

“For years, center-left governments have simply been passive toward a phenomenon that, on the contrary, we are governing,” said Sara Kelany, a member of parliament with Brothers of Italy. 

Critics say most of these actions will achieve little but make asylum-seekers even more miserable than they already are. “Initial reception is being blended with a detention system,” said Fabrizio Coresi, a migration expert at Action Aid, a human rights NGO. And due to the lack of agreements between Italy and many of the migrants’ countries of origin, rejected asylum-seekers often can’t be deported, and after being locked up for a certain period, they are simply released. The government has also run into legal trouble, facing adverse rulings in recent weeks on parts of its asylum policy.

“These are measures adopted with an eye on the government’s base, rather than actual solutions,” said Lorena Stella Martini, a migration analyst based in Milan.

Meloni may be achieving better results on the European level, where she can take some credit with her electorate for putting the migrant issue back on top of the agenda. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accompanied Meloni to Tunisia over the summer and visited Lampedusa last month, aligning herself with the Italian prime minister on the need for urgent action to reduce arrivals and promising “a coordinated response.”

The EU is also making progress on a new pact on immigration, which entails stricter procedures for asylum-seekers coming from countries deemed safe, looser rules to expel rejected applicants, and the transfer of thousands of migrants from front-line countries, such as Italy, Greece, and Spain, to other member states—which would otherwise have to pay thousands of euros for every asylum-seeker they refuse to take. 

“For the first time in years, the majority of European countries are converging toward the Italian stance,” said Kelany, the Italian parliament member.

It might be less than a blessing. Experts note that the deal, which confirms the rule that most migrants should be processed by the country of first arrival, is less of an Italian triumph than an own goal. “Meloni’s diplomatic victory is being able to show that everybody in the EU now accepts that the objective is curbing irregular immigration,” said Villa, the research fellow, “but then when you look at the policies that are being discussed [from an Italian perspective], if they were actually implemented, it would be a disaster.”

And yet, for all the grumbling over her handling of immigration, Meloni’s party continues to top the polls with an almost 10-point lead. That might be because Italy’s so-called migrant crisis is not as bad as it seems. Since many migrants end up moving on to other countries, over the past decade, the total number of foreigners in Italy has actually remained stable. Italy has half as many residents born outside the EU as Germany, and 2 million fewer than France, which has only a slightly larger population.

Italy could even use more immigration: Over the summer, Meloni’s government quietly approved the entry of almost half a million non-EU workers by the end of 2025 to fill gaps in the Italian labor market.

The bigger question is how long her voters’ patience will last. “Despite the talk of stopping immigration flows and carrying out mass expulsions of irregular migrants, neither one will happen or is even possible,” said Martini, the expert from Milan.

[hunkydorkling]

Hello, friends and followers! I'm opening up emergency commissions to help fund my people and keep them safe in the streets while they protest for our rights. If you want to read more about in detail, read further.

From today until May 12, I am offering 3 SLOTS FOR FICS and 3 SLOTS FOR FANART services for the fandoms I'm in. Refer to the photos above for more deets!

If you're interested, feel free to DM me here or otherwise on Discord (which I will freely give in DMs to those to ask).

☕️ Ko-fi link:

https://ko-fi.com/cornybabe

OTHER TERMS NOT MENTIONED ABOVE:

Payment will be upfront as I will immediately donate it to different organizers.

I will message you once I start working on your piece, but because of my loaded schedule, it may take me time.

All commissions will be tracked in a dedicated spreadsheet.

I have the right to refuse a commission.

WHY I'M HOLDING THESE COMMISSIONS

I and my fellow Filipinos are currently in the midst of a creating a pivotal moment in history as we expose the unjust and corrupt election day that occurred last Monday, May 9, 2022.

As I write this, my people—some I know personally, most of whom I share the same principles and thirst for justice—are camping out in the streets in front of the Commission on Elections, protesting peacefully yet strongly against the blatant disenfranchisement and electoral fraud that occurred yesterday: from broken vote counting machines to corrupted SD cards, people had to wait in line for more than six hours only to personally feed their ballots into the machines. A day after the elections, we've learned of additional anomalies that contribute to the spread of misinformation that contributed to Marcos Jr.'s win by (alarming) landslide. This has been the nastiest election day that I've ever encountered, and it will keep going.

Keeping us in your thoughts will matter to us taking a stand for our right to democracy. And whether you're a friend, a follower of mine, or even some random internet passerby, know that there are millions of us—millions—who are woke enough to take a stand to fight the powers that be.

P.S.: There will be Opinions circulating around news outlets; if you read World News, it's impossible to miss. But let me assure you that the last thing I would want is to identify with the red-and-green clad, misinformed masses who resist the change we've been promised by a dream candidate. There's only one president and for me and that's a woman—enough said. I hope you take a chance on me as a tool for my country's democracy.

Thank you for reading all this wall of text—I am eternally grateful you took the time to do so.

#commissions #emergency commissions #cobra kai #the karate kid #severance #breaking bad #better call saul #i make art #reblogging is also a massive help if you won't be able to commission me! #but if you do donate however i will thank you endlessly #it's been a trainwreck so far #and democracy is at play #i know i haven't said a lot but i feel like it's time i prioritized what is right

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson's Senate campaign has paid over $20,000 to a Wisconsin-based law firm that played a role in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the state, paying the firm for "legal consulting," including efforts for a possible recount, Federal Election Commission records show.

Per FEC records, Johnson's campaign has made two payments to the Wisconsin-based Troupis Law Office -- one payment of $13,287.50 on July 15 for "Legal Consulting," and a subsequent payment for $7,000, dated July 18, for "Recount: Legal Consulting."

The firm, which is owned by Wisconsin attorney Jim Troupis, was previously employed by the Trump campaign for recount efforts during the former President's attempts to overturn the 2020 election and has been the target of recently issued Department of Justice subpoenas probing the January 6, 2021, insurrection.

The Johnson campaign defended its move to retain Troupis' legal services in a statement Monday to CNN.

"As anyone who works on campaigns in this state knows, close elections in Wisconsin are the rule, not the exception," Johnson campaign spokesperson Alexa Henning told CNN. "It would be reckless to be unprepared for any possible circumstance -- and this campaign has been preparing for months for just that."

For his part, Johnson's opponent, Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, has retained legal services from prominent Democratic election law attorney Marc Elias, FEC filings show.

In an interview with local conservative radio host Vicki McKenna in June, Johnson said Troupis was responsible for providing his Senate staff with a slate of fake Wisconsin electors on January 6, asking the Wisconsin Republican to deliver the slate to then-Vice President Mike Pence ahead of the congressional session that day to certify Joe Biden's 2020 election win.

"I was originally sent a text at 11:36 by [Jim] Troupis, and it just -- I'm trying to find it real quick -- and it said 'Need to get a document on Wisconsin electors to you and the VP immediately. Is there a staff person I can talk to immediately. Thanks, Jim,'" Johnson told McKenna.

Johnson has drawn fire after the House Select Committee investigating January 6 revealed in June that an aide to the Senator attempted to hand-deliver the false slate of electors to Pence, but was rebuffed by the vice president's staff. Johnson has attempted to downplay his role in the scheme, telling reporters his involvement only lasted "a matter of seconds."

#us politics #news #cnn #sen. ron johnson #Wisconsin #federal election commission #2020 election #trump's big lie #the big lie #election recounts #Troupis Law Office #Jim Troupis #false slate of electors #house select committee #capitol riot investigation #Alexa Henning #Vicki McKenna #conservatives #gop #Republicans #2022

[hardynwa]

Imo University Students Allegedly Embarrass Governor Uzodinma During Visit

Students of the Imo State University (IMSU) on Monday booed Governor Hope Uzodinma when he visited the institution for his campaign, as they continued chanting “no light, no light” as the governor mounted the rostrum. According to videos obtained by KOKO TV NG on Tuesday, the students refused to grant audience to the governor after the electricity workers cut off the power supply to the institution for four days. “Uzodinma went to the Imo State University to speak to the students and campaign. After mounting the rostrum, we started shouting ‘no light”, because we have not had light for the past 4 to 5 days,” a student narrated. “This is because electricity workers went on strike over the assault on NLC president, Joe Ajaero,” another student said. The state will be electing its next governor on Saturday in a contest which is already generating controversies due to the activities of the police, other security operatives and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC.) KOKO TV NG had on November 2 reported that Uzodinma explained that the reasons behind the attack on national president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero in the state was because he meddled in partisan politics. KOKO TV NG reported last Wednesday that operatives of the Nigerian Police Force arrested Ajaero while organising a rally to protest against stalled wage payments for workers in the state. It was also reported that the NLC confirmed its President, Comrade Ajaero was thoroughly brutalised and rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri with his right eye completely shut. The NLC’s Head of Information and Publicity, Comrade Benson Upah, had described the arrest and assault suffered by Ajaero as “attempted murder”. But reacting to the incident, Governor Uzodinma, who is facing a reelection on November 11, had claimed that the NLC President was attacked because he was meddling in the state’s politics. Uzodimma who spoke to journalists after receiving the All Progressives Congress’ flag from President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, said he stopped the NLC’s national leadership from dissolving the Imo State chapter of the Congress. “What has happened in this ugly coincidence is that the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress is from Imo State and has not been able to demarcate the difference between being a national leader of an organisation and then an interested party in local politics,” he said. He had said, “I understand the sensitivity of this event (protest). But I want you people to be careful because there is an attempt to mix up partisan politics or an attempt to blackmail my government. “I can tell you that my people are already aware; that was why the NLC Imo State chapter addressed a world press conference that what their national leadership is doing is not correct and that they are not going to embark on any strike or protest. “In the process, they decided to dissolve them to put in a caretaker. Of course, I’m the Chief Security Officer and I have a responsibility to intervene. I encourage the national leadership not to dissolve a management team that their tenure has not expired, and that was what they did.” Read the full article

[crimechannels]

By • Olalekan Fagbade INEC Chairman Yakubu assures of prompt payment of staff allowances, ahead of guber poll The Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu has promised to ensure payment of all staff allowances, ahead of the Nov.11 Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo governorship election. Yakubu said this when he addressed the commission’s members of staff in Yenagoa, during a visit to assess the preparations for the election in the state. The commission said this in its bulletin issued in Abuja. “I know that many of you are not happy because you have not received the alert for the 40 per cent palliative awarded to all civil servants to cushion the effect of the economic hardship being experienced due to the removal of the fuel subsidy,” Yakubu said.(NAN)

[ghanashowbizonline]

GH Trends - 2024 election: Replacement of Voter ID cards begins today

The Electoral Commission of Ghana has started the process of replacing lost or damaged Voter ID cards for the 2024 general elections. The replacement exercise will run from October 3rd to October 9th, and an online payment portal has been introduced for applicants to make the necessary payments. Eligible Ghanaians who were present on or before October 2nd can also register on October 3rd. The aim…

View On WordPress

[ahaan10723014]

A grandiose falsification

In the Russian Federation, the so-called single voting day (September 08-10, 2023), within the framework of which several election campaigns took place, has ended. Quite expectedly, nominees from the ruling pro-Putin United Russia party won everywhere (all of them allegedly received 70-80% support). In addition, the posts of governors (heads of subjects of the federation) in the Oryol region and in the Republic of Khakassia were received by representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (which for the last 32 years has been playing the role of pocket / court opposition and fully supports the Kremlin's policy). United Russia also won a complete victory in the "new regions of Russia", that is, in the Crimea and the four occupied regions of Ukraine. Moreover, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation insisted that the expression of will took place even in a number of those settlements (for example, Kherson and Lyman), which, in fact, have long been controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine.

In general, elections in an autocratic state have long turned into a farce and, in fact, voting without a real choice. However, the scale of falsifications in the Russian Federation this year was so grandiose that it should prompt the world community to doubt the legitimacy of the government and the entire regime of V. Putin! Of course, the main tool of the CEC for "drawing" the necessary figures was electronic voting - completely opaque, unaccountable to anyone and not controlled by anyone.

Interestingly, in some Russian regions, at the moment when technical access to electronic voting was opened, at the same time information appeared on the site that tens of thousands of "voters" were already voting.

Inside Russia, everyone is well aware that on this single voting day, a rehearsal for the presidential election, which is to be held in March 2024, took place. According to confidential information from the Kremlin, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, set the task of ensuring that the turnout in the elections of the guarantor of the constitution was 70%, and the result was at least 80%. At the same time, the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation does not get tired of coming up with more and more new methods in order to ensure the achievement of these results. Thus, the deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Bulaev, announced some "point changes" in the electoral legislation until the spring of 2024, arguing that "time is running out and everything needs to be updated." Such devastating news is puzzling even among outside observers from the democratic world, because it is already quite clear to everyone that the CEC and V. Putin (or his protégé) will receive as many votes as they need!

Of course, a certain unfavorable event for the Kremlin's popularity should be the general mobilization in the Russian Federation, predicted by many military analysts. On the one hand, the human potentials of Russia and Ukraine are incommensurable. Kiev can rely on about 30 million people (since 8 million people have left for the West, 2.5 million people have been deported to the Russian Federation, and several million more are under occupation), while Moscow has 143 million (even if independent demographers insist on figures of 95-115 million). On the other hand, according to military analysts, the Kremlin ideally needs to bring about 100,000 new troops to the front every month. And even with huge human resources at hand, we are talking about hard organizational work for any government - to call on these next 100 thousand people, equip, arm, discipline, train and, ultimately, transport to the Ukrainian front. Part of the discontent due to new waves of mobilization during the March 2024 elections will be extinguished by generous state payments for the military, the wounded and family members of the victims. Well, аnd the rest is compensated by joint exercises with electronic voting and convenient "point changes" in the electoral law.

#election #falsification #russia #putin

[moragarsia]

A grandiose falsification

In the Russian Federation, the so-called single voting day (September 08-10, 2023), within the framework of which several election campaigns took place, has ended. Quite expectedly, nominees from the ruling pro-Putin United Russia party won everywhere (all of them allegedly received 70-80% support). In addition, the posts of governors (heads of subjects of the federation) in the Oryol region and in the Republic of Khakassia were received by representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (which for the last 32 years has been playing the role of pocket / court opposition and fully supports the Kremlin's policy). United Russia also won a complete victory in the "new regions of Russia", that is, in the Crimea and the four occupied regions of Ukraine. Moreover, the Central Election Commission (CEC) of the Russian Federation insisted that the expression of will took place even in a number of those settlements (for example, Kherson and Lyman), which, in fact, have long been controlled by the armed forces of Ukraine.

In general, elections in an autocratic state have long turned into a farce and, in fact, voting without a real choice. However, the scale of falsifications in the Russian Federation this year was so grandiose that it should prompt the world community to doubt the legitimacy of the government and the entire regime of Putin! Of course, the main tool of the CEC for "drawing" the necessary figures was electronic voting - completely opaque, unaccountable to anyone and not controlled by anyone.

Interestingly, in some Russian regions, at the moment when technical access to electronic voting was opened, at the same time information appeared on the site that tens of thousands of "voters" were already voting.

Inside Russia, everyone is well aware that on this single voting day, a rehearsal for the presidential election, which is to be held in March 2024, took place. According to confidential information from the Kremlin, the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, set the task of ensuring that the turnout in the elections of the guarantor of the constitution was 70%, and the result was at least 80%. At the same time, the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation does not get tired of coming up with more and more new methods in order to ensure the achievement of these results. Thus, the deputy chairman of the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Bulaev, announced some "point changes" in the electoral legislation until the spring of 2024, arguing that "time is running out and everything needs to be updated." Such devastating news is puzzling even among outside observers from the democratic world, because it is already quite clear to everyone that the CEC and Putin (or his protégé) will receive as many votes as they need!

Of course, a certain unfavorable event for the Kremlin's popularity should be the general mobilization in the Russian Federation, predicted by many military analysts. On the one hand, the human potentials of Russia and Ukraine are incommensurable. Kiev can rely on about 30 million people (since 8 million people have left for the West, 2.5 million people have been deported to the Russian Federation, and several million more are under occupation), while Moscow has 143 million (even if independent demographers insist on figures of 95-115 million). On the other hand, according to military analysts, the Kremlin ideally needs to bring about 100,000 new troops to the front every month. And even with huge human resources at hand, we are talking about hard organizational work for any government - to call on these next 100 thousand people, equip, arm, discipline, train and, ultimately, transport to the Ukrainian front. Part of the discontent due to new waves of mobilization during the March 2024 elections will be extinguished by generous state payments for the military, the wounded and family members of the victims. Well, аnd the rest is compensated by joint exercises with electronic voting and convenient "point changes" in the electoral law.

#ukraine war #russia #ukraine #electionn2023 #election 2024 #kremlin #putin #donetsk #kherson

[mycatwantstoeatpins]

Still on the Robodebt report, but first I'm making a note that I think I'll want to reference later.

The 2023 base salary for a Member of Parliament is $217,060 per annum, with an additional electorate allowance of at least $32,000 per annum. This does not include superannuation, vehicle allowance, payment for phone and internet services or other allowances.

The base salary in 2014 was $195,130 per annum. I could only find a fact sheet from 2017 (PDF link), but that sets additional salary for Cabinet Minister at a minimum of 72.5% of the base salary. This fact sheet was previously linked from the Department of Finance's website.

In 2023 the secretary of the Department of Social Services was classified at $845,650-$892,630 per annum.

From chapter 4 of the report (emphasis mine):

(part 21.1) In oral evidence, Ms Campbell [DSS secretary] accepted that the NPP was apt to mislead Cabinet. She contended that her failure to eliminate its misleading effect was an “oversight.” That would be an extraordinary oversight for someone of Ms Campbell’s seniority and experience. The weight of the evidence instead leads to the conclusion that Ms Campbell knew of the misleading effect of the NPP but chose to stay silent, knowing that Mr Morrison [Minister for Social Services] wanted to pursue the proposal and that the Government could not achieve the savings which the NPP promised without income averaging.

(part 21.2) Weighing up all the considerations, the Commission concludes that Ms Payne [Minister for Human Services] was entitled to regard the assurance she received in the NPP as sufficient. There was no reason for her to anticipate that DHS officers intended to implement the NPP by the use of income averaging contrary to the language of the NPP. There is, of course, the broader question of ministerial responsibility. Ms Payne was responsible for a department which instituted the flawed Scheme and officers of which misled Cabinet as to what it involved. Those are matters for Parliament and the electorate, not this Commission.

(part 21.3) Mr Morrison allowed Cabinet to be misled because he did not make that obvious inquiry. He took the proposal to Cabinet without necessary information as to what it actually entailed and without the caveat that it required legislative and policy change to permit the use of the ATO PAYG data in the way proposed in circumstances where: he knew that the proposal still involved income averaging; only a few weeks previously he had been told of that caveat; nothing had changed in the proposal; and he had done nothing to ascertain why the caveat no longer no longer applied. He failed to meet his ministerial responsibility to ensure that Cabinet was properly informed about what the proposal actually entailed and to ensure that it was lawful.

(continued)

Mr Morrison accepted that his approach as a minister, including as the Minister for Social Services was “… having set the policy direction, expect them to get on and deliver it.” That policy direction, as Mr Morrison made public, was one of “ensuring welfare integrity” from his position as a “welfare cop on the beat.” Coupled with this was an ongoing need to identify savings in the social security sector, as part of the Government’s agenda to reduce debt and balance the Budget. It was a requirement that proposals be fully offset. Members of the senior executive of both DSS and DHS were acutely aware of Mr Morrison’s policy direction, and the drive for savings. As previously described, there was a resulting sense of pressure which filtered through the management of both departments. There were concerns within DHS that the proposal was not ready to be put forward as a Budget measure; however, its progress to being included in the NPP was rapid and unchecked. As Mr Britton said, there was pressure to “…get on with it. Just get on with it… And we collectively got on with it.” The SIWP NPP met both Mr Morrison’s declared policy direction and the drive for savings. The PAYG proposal was critical to the success of the NPP as a whole. It provided the majority of the proposed savings for the measure, and offset not only its own costs but also those of the other elements and other potential initiatives. If it could not be pursued, the viability of the entire proposal would be threatened.

#robodebt #robodebt royal commission #auspol #classism #long post

[skytrendnews]

[mariacallous]

Moldovan anti-corruption prosecutors on Sunday raided the offices of the pro-Russian Ilan Shor Party in the southern autonomous region of Gagauzia, suspecting they have used illegal means to solicit votes for the party’s candidate, Evghenia Gutul, in elections for the post of governor.

Investigators says activists of the Shor Party have been offered 15,000 lei [about 750 euros] each if they manage to convince 30 voters to vote for Gutul in the second round of the local elections in Gagauzia on May 14.

“Representatives of the electoral staff of the candidate of the Shor Party allegedly committed violations of electoral legislation,” the General Police Inspectorate said.

Authorities say they found found proof of the organised transportation of voters to polling stations in return for payment, the placement of electoral material in unauthorized places and the acceptance of money by an organized criminal group that was not declared to the Central Electoral Commission, CEC.

During their searches, law enforcers found lists and documents with information about people and the financial means paid by Ilan Shor Party. They confiscated money, mobile phones and other devices containing information about the operation.

In response, the fugitive oligarch, Ilan Shor, called the arrests and searches in Gagauzia just a week before the elections “a disgrace that exceeds all legal and moral limits.”

After the first round of elections on April 30, the two candidates who came first were Evghenia Gutul, with 26.5 per cent, from the Shor Party, and Grigori Uzun, with 26.4 per cent, from the Socialist Party in Moldova, PSRM.

Shor called on Turkey, China and Russia to try to stop what he called “the unprecedented abuses by [President] Maia Sandu’s regime”.

Shor was definitively sentenced in April to 15 years in prison for the so-called “Grand Theft” of one billion US dollars from the Moldovan banking system between 2012 and 2014.

He is now hiding in Israel, where he holds Israeli citizenship. Moldova and Israel do not have an extradition agreement.

Parliament voted on April 27 to remove Shor’s parliamentary mandate. He appealed to the Moldovan Constitutional Court, but on May 5, the court rejected the appeal.

[ok9ja]

Election Day: No Pay, No Work - INEC Adhoc Staff Stage Protest In Kano (Video)

It was gathered that the aggrieved INEC adhoc staff embarked on the protest at Dorayi, Gwale LGA, Kano State. Adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC staged a protest to lament the non-payment of allowance at Gwale Local Government of Kano State. It was gathered that the aggrieved INEC adhoc staff embarked on the protest at Dorayi, Gwale LGA, Kano State. The INEC staff declared “no pay, no work.” They blocked voters from accessing the polling units and vowed that they would not allow election materials to be taken away. The INEC ad-hoc staff, in their numbers, said they were not paid their training allowances of N4000. The incident delayed commencement of voting at the Dorayi Karama voting centres. Watch Video Below; Read the full article

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in a case involving the use of campaign funds to repay personal campaign loans, dealing the latest blow to campaign finance regulations.

The Court said that a federal cap on candidates using political contributions after the election to recoup personal loans made to their campaign was unconstitutional.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 decision. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the dissent for her liberal colleagues, Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

"The question is whether this restriction violates the First Amendment rights of candidates and their campaigns to engage in political speech," Roberts wrote. He said there is "no doubt" that the law does burden First Amendment electoral speech. "Any such law must be at least justified by a permissible interest," he added, and the government had not been able to identify a single case of so-called "quid pro quo" corruption.

Roberts concluded that the "provision burdens core political speech without proper justification."

In her dissenting opinion, Kagan criticized the majority for ruling against a law that she said was meant to combat "a special danger of corruption" aimed at "political contributions that will line a candidate's own pockets."

"In striking down the law today," she wrote, "the Court greenlights all the sordid bargains Congress thought right to stop. . . . In allowing those payments to go forward unrestrained, today's decision can only bring this country's political system into further disrepute."

Indeed, she explained, "Repaying a candidate's loan after he has won election cannot serve the usual purposes of a contribution: The money comes too late to aid in any of his campaign activities. All the money does is enrich the candidate personally at a time when he can return the favor -- by a vote, a contract, an appointment. It takes no political genius to see the heightened risk of corruption -- the danger of 'I'll make you richer and you'll make me richer' arrangements between donors and officeholders."

The ruling is a further erosion of a 20-year-old law that governs how elections are funded.

The Supreme Court already has chipped away at the law, granting corporations and unions the right to spend unlimited amounts to influence candidate elections in its 2010 Citizens United decision.

In 2008, the justices also struck down the so-called millionaire's amendment that aimed to level the playing field when wealthy candidates financed their own campaigns. That provision had relaxed contribution limits for opponents of self-funded candidates in an attempt to close the funding gap.

In the case at hand, campaign finance regulators at the Federal Election Commission argued that the cap -- a part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 -- is necessary to protect against corruption, but a three-judge appellate court ruled in favor of Cruz last year, holding that the loan-repayment restriction violates his First Amendment right to free speech.

At oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the conservative justices seemed skeptical of the government's claims that the law serves a purpose of fighting corruption.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett said that Cruz had emphasized that the after-election repayment scheme would simply replenish his coffers from money he had loaned. "This doesn't enrich him personally, because he's no better off than he was before," she said, adding, "It's paying a loan, not lining his pockets."

And Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that a candidate may feel reluctant to loan money before the campaign out of fear he would not be able to recoup it. "That seems to be," he said, "a chill on your ability to loan your campaign money."

Kavanaugh echoed a lower court opinion that went in favor of Cruz.

"A candidate's loan to his campaign is an expenditure that may be used for expressive acts," the court said in an opinion written by DC Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Neomi Rao. She and DC District Court Judges Amit Mehta and Timothy Kelly ruled unanimously.

"Such expressive acts are burdened when a candidate is inhibited from making a personal loan, or incurring one, out of concern that she will be left holding the bag on any unpaid campaign debt," the ruling added.

Federal law allows candidate to make loans to their campaign committees without limit. The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, however, imposes a $250,000 limit on a campaign committee's ability to repay those loans with money contributed by donors after the election.

A day before he was reelected in 2018, Cruz loaned his campaign committee $260,000, $10,000 over the limit -- laying the foundation for his legal challenge to the cap. While he could have been repaid in full by campaign funds if the repayment occurred 20 days after the election. But Cruz let the 20-day deadline lapse so that he could establish grounds to bring the legal challenge.

#us politics #news #cnn #us supreme court #scotus #sen. ted cruz #gop #Republicans #conservatives #campaign finance laws #misuse of campaign funds #campaign funding #chief justice john roberts #justice john roberts #Justice Elena Kagan #1st amendment #first amendment #Federal Election Commission #citizens united #Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 #justice amy coney barrett #justice brett kavanaugh #DC Circuit Court of Appeals #DC District Court #2022

[hardynwa]

INEC explains irregularities in ad-hoc staff’s bank details reason for delay in payment

The delay in the payment of the ad-hoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has been attributed to irregularities in their account details. Some ad-hoc staff had approached DAILY POST in Taraba over the delay in paying their allowance by the commission. They told our correspondent they would distance themselves from the governorship and State House of Assembly elections slated for March 18. Narrating their ordeals during the last exercise, they expressed dismay at the alleged inability of the Commission to encourage them to participate in the next exercise. But when contacted on Monday in Jalingo, the state capital, the commission said arrangements to begin the payment have commenced. The commission’s voters education desk officer, Olasupo Adeoye, blamed the delay on irregularities in bank details, including omissions of names in their bank details and names not corresponding with account numbers. Adeoye, who said the Commission has been working round the clock to address this, said the ad-hoc staff would be paid their allowance before Saturday’s elections. He also denied the allegations making the rounds that the ruling Peoples Democratic Party PDP, in the state have mapped out plans to collaborate with the Commission to scuttle Saturday’s polls. Adeoye described the allegations as false, stating that ” such can not be possible because the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), has addressed the whole thing”. He urged the public to disregard the allegations as the Commission will not cease from treading every legitimate path to create a level playing field for all the candidates and their political parties. Read the full article

[crimechannels]

By • Olalekan Fagbade FEC approves N2.1trn Supplementary Budget for Defence, Security and other urgent National issues The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday approved N2,176,791,286,033 supplementary budget to fund urgent national issues including N605 billion for national defence and security. The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Abubakar Bagudu, made this known while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of FEC meeting in Abuja. ” The council considered a request for supplementary appropriation which is a second for 2023. ” And graciously approved the sum of N2,176,791,286,033, as supplementary budget and this supplementary budget is to fund urgent issues including N605 billion for national defence and security. ” This is to sustain the gains made in security and to accelerate and these are funds that are needed by the security agencies before the year runs out. ” Bagudu also said that FEC approved N300 billion for the repair of Eko and Third Mainland bridges as well as construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of many roads nationwide before the return of the rainy season. Similarly, he said council approved N200 billion for the provision of seed, agricultural input, supplies and agricultural implements and infrastructure to support expansion of production. ” Equally the sum of N210 billion is provided for the payment of wage Awards. In negotiation with the Nigeria Labour Congress. ” The federal government Federal agreed to pay N35,000 each to about 1.5 million employees of the federal government for September , October, November and December. ” And that amounts to about N210 billion which has been approved and also N400 billion as Cash Transfer payments.” He recalled that the federal government has secured 800 million dollars loan from the World Bank to pay cash transfers of N25,000 to 15 million households. According to him, the 800 million dollars is for October and November. ” The President graciously approved that an additional month should be funded by the federal government and that is what this N100 billion is for. ” Equally, N100 billion has been provided for the Federal Capital Territory in order to support them in urgent and immediate capital expenditure works that can enhance the infrastructure in the city. ” ” Also, N18 billion was provided for the Independent National Electoral Commission to support them in the conducting the Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo states elections.” The minister stated that N5.5 billion was also provided for the funding of the takeover of the student loans board and N8 billion for the take-off grant of new ministries. ” Equally the sum of N200billion was provided as capital supplementation to deal with urgent requests that have been made to President Bola Tinubu from various parts of the country.” (NAN)