VOLUME 97 - NUMBER 45
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2018
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Republican senator won’t discuss ‘public hanging’ remark
One of the many participants in the PhoenixFest Parade. The parade and street
fair was held between Phoenix Square and Phoenix Crossing Shopping Centers,.
See page 9.
Democrats promise congressional
action on gun control
By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - Newly ascendant Democrats are promising congressional action on gun con
trol amid a rash of mass shootings, including a late-night assault at a California bar that killed 12 people.
Measures including expanded background checks and a ban on assault-style weapons are likely to
reach the House floor when Democrats retake control after eight years of Republican rule.
“The American people deserve real action to end the daily epidemic of gun violence that is stealing
the lives of our children on campuses, in places of worship and on our streets,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of
California, the Democratic leader who is running for a second stint as House speaker.
Pelosi vowed to push for a range of actions to stem gun violence, including restrictions on high-
capacity magazines and a measure allowing temporary removal of guns from people deemed an imminent
risk to themselves or others.
The measures could win approval in the Democratic-controlled House next year but will face opposi
tion from the Republican-controlled Senate and the White House, where President Donald Trump has
promised to “protect the Second Amendment.”
Still, gun control advocates believe they have the political momentum to make guns a central issue
next year.
The political calculus on guns is changing, said Democratic Rep. Ted Deutch, whose Florida district
includes the Parkland high school where 17 people were killed in February'.
“We saw it start on Tuesday (Nov. 6) and we’re going to see it accelerate in January,” he said.
Gun control was a major issue even before the most recent shootings. Lawmakers debated action fol
lowing the Parkland attack and a 2017 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead, and ultimately took modest
steps to boost school safety funds and improve compliance with the federal background check system for
gun purchases.
The Democrats’ new majority includes dozens of candidates who support gun control, including Lucy
McBath in Georgia, whose 17-year-old son was fatally shot in 2012 and who made gun violence the
centerpiece of her campaign
At least 17 newly elected House Democrats back stricter gun laws, including Jennifer Wexton, Abigail
Spanberger and Elaine Luria in Virginia, who defeated incumbents backed by the National Rifle Associa
tion. In Colorado, Democrat Jason Crow beat GOP Rep. Mike Coffman, who received an A rating from
the NRA and more than $37,000 in campaign contributions from the group.
“I do think there’s new energy” on gun issues, even before the California assault late Wednesday night
and an Oct. 27 shooting that killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, said Kris Brown, co-president of
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
“Our base is worked up, and people are reacting in a positive way at the ballot box,” said Brown, who
campaigned with the three Virginia Democrats in the final week alongside a stream of volunteers. “A
large number of folks showed up and knocked on doors and said they finally have a candidate who will
do something about gun violence,” she said.
Wexton, Spanberger and Luria all made gun violence a central issue in their campaigns - disproving
the notion that gun control is a “third rail” of politics that Democrats should not talk about, Brown said.
"We’re finding candidates who aren’t afraid to talk about this issue,” she said.
(Continued On Page 14)
By Emily Wagster Pettus
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A
white Republican U.S. sena
tor in Mississippi, a state with
a notorious history for lynch
ings, says she will not an
swer questions about a video
that shows her at a campaign
event praising a cattle rancher
by saying she would attend a
“public hanging” if he invited
her to one.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith ap
peared with Gov. Phil Bryant
on Nov. 12 at a news confer
ence at the Mississippi Repub
lican Party headquarters, where
she accepted an endorsement
from the National Right to Life
Committee.
Reporters asked Hyde-
Smith repeatedly about the
hanging comment, which
grabbed attention Nov. ' 11
when the publisher of a liberal-
leaning news site published it
on social media.
“I put out a statement yes
terday, and that’s all I’m going
to say about it,” Hyde-Smith
said.
In the brief video, shot Nov.
2 in Tupelo, Hyde-Smith says
after a man introduces her to a
small crowd: “If he invited me
to a public hanging, I’d be on
the front row.”
Hyde-Smith faces a black
Democratic challenger, fonner
congressman and former U.S.
agriculture secretary Mike
Espy, in a Nov. 27 runoff. She
said Nov. 11 that the remark
was “an exaggerated expres
sion of regard” for a friend
who invited her to speak, and
“any attempt to turn this into a
negative connotation is ridicu
lous.”
Mississippi has a bitter
history of racially motivated
lynchings of black people. The
NAACP website says that be
tween 1882 and 1968, there
were 4,743 lynchings in the
United States, and nearly 73
percent of the victims were
black. It says Mississippi had
581 during that time, the most
of any state.
“Cindy Hyde-Smith’s com
ments are reprehensible,” Espy
campaign spokesman Danny
Blanton said in a statement
Nov. 11. “They have no place
in our political discourse, in
Mississippi, or our country. We
need leaders, not dividers, and
her words show that she lacks
the understanding and judg
ment to represent the people of
our state.”
Bryant appointed Hyde-
Smith to temporarily succeed
Republican Sen. Thad Co
chran, who retired amid health
concerns in April. She will
serve until the special election
is resolved.
Bryant stood with Hyde-
Smith at the news conference
Nov. 12.
“All of us in public life have
said things on occasion that
could have been phrased bet
ter,” Bryant said. “When you
make as many speeches as we
do in public life, that does oc
cur. But I know this woman
and I know her heart. I knew it
when I appointed her. I know it
now. She meant no offense by
that statement. There was noth
ing in her heart of ill will.”
Hyde-Smith and Espy each
received about 41 percent of
the vote in a four-person race
Nov. 6 to advance to the runoff.
The winner gets the final two
years of Cochran’s term.
Espy in 1986 became the
first African-American since
Reconstruction to win a U.S.
House seat in Mississippi,
and if he defeats Hyde-Smith,
he would be the first African-
American since Reconstruc
tion to represent the state in the
U.S. Senate.
Hyde-Smith, who is en
dorsed by President Donald
Trump, is the first woman to
represent Mississippi in either
chamber of Congress, and after
being appointed is trying to be
come the first woman elected to
the U.S. Senate from the state.
Lamar White Jr., publisher
of a Louisiana news site called
The Bayou Brief, posted the
video Nov. 11 on social me
dia. White told The Associated
Press he received the video late
(Nov, 10) Saturday from “a
very reliable, trusted source,”
but he would not reveal the
person’s name. He said that
source received it from the per
son who shot the video. White
said he believes he received
the video because he has been
writing about racism in the
(Continued On Page 14)
SEN. CINDY HYDE-SMITH
Pelosi unveils plans to
establish new House
diversity office
By Lisa Mascaro
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic leader Nancy
Pelosi wants to establish a House diversity office to re
cruit and retain employees from different backgrounds to
Capitol Hill as one of the first acts of the new Congress,
according to a letter obtained Nov. 8 by The Associated
Press.
Pelosi told colleagues in the letter that Democrats “take
great pride” in having a House majority that she says will
be more than 60 percent women, minorities and LGBTQ
representatives.
“We know that the diversity in our ranks is a strength
and a reflection of the American people,” she wrote.
The leader, who is shoring up support to win a race
for House speaker, is tapping into an issue that has been
a priority for the Congressional Black Caucus and other
Democrats and that reflects the results of the midterm
election that swept more female and minority representa
tives into office.
The House Diversity Initiative calls for creating a per
manent office in the House with sufficient staff to help
recruit and retain diverse employees to work in Congress,
said a Pelosi aide.
The office would be led by human resource and diver
sity professionals and would partner with outside institu
tions to attract talent and provide training to help existing
employees advance their careers.
The top Democrat on the Rules Committee, Rep. Jim
McGovern of Massachusetts, has proposed the initiative
as part of the package of rules for the chamber that will
be voted on during the opening day of the new Congress
in January, Pelosi said.
“Embracing the value of diversity within our offices, especially
iri senior positions, will strengthen our ability to represent our con
stituents and craft solutions that benefit all Americans,” Pelosi wrote.
She called members of the “tri-caucus” - the Congressional Black
Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Con
gressional Hispanic Caucus - “a vital resource.”
Democrats had launched a similar effort when they last held the
majority in 2010, but it languished after Republicans took control of
the House. Democrats still run a similar program within their own
caucus. But this move would make it a permanent office of the House.