The secret money influencing our elections isn’t lurking in only Dark Money contributions from wealthy campaign contributors. Turns out it’s also hiding in what candidates and elected officials don’t report about their finances. To detect possible conflicts of interest, the public deserves clear, specific, and relevant information about candidates’ and elected officials’ finances including income sources and investments. AB 10, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), improves the current reporting by requiring more specific dollar amounts and extending behest disclosure requirements to one year after leaving office. It also requires more thorough descriptions of business holdings and partners, plus a list of when each financial interest caused abstention from a governmental decision. Senator Ben Allen is the chair of the Senate Elections Committee which will be voting on AB 10 on Tuesday. So please sign the petition and ask your friends to sign!

The secret money influencing our elections isn’t lurking in only Dark Money contributions from wealthy campaign contributors. Turns out it’s also hiding in what candidates and elected officials don’t report about their finances. To detect possible conflicts of interest the public deserves clear, specific, and relevant information about candidates’ and elected officials’ finances including income sources and investments. AB 10, authored by Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), improves the current reporting by requiring more specific dollar amounts and extending behest disclosure requirements to one year after leaving office. It also requires more thorough descriptions of business holdings and partners, plus a list of when each financial interest caused abstention from a governmental decision. Senator Hertzberg is a key vote on the Senate Elections Committee which will vote on AB 10 on Tuesday. So please sign the petition and ask your friends to sign!

Since the Great Depression in 1938, the GSEs (Fannie Mae and more recently Freddie Mac) have been providing liquidity in the housing market and enabling Americans to obtain 30-year, reasonably priced, fixed-interest rate mortgages so that they can purchase homes. Homeownership is the mostly likely path for middle class Americans to gain some measure of economic independence. Since 2012, the Treasury (in an illegal money grab) has been confiscating all profits of the privately-owned GSEs. This type of abuse of power should concern all Americans, especially since it destabilizes a main component of our economy - the housing market. Many in government want to eliminate the GSEs and give all their business to their political donors, the Too-Big-To-Fail Banks, making these banks (that caused the 2008 recession) even bigger and more powerful and likely eliminating the 30-year mortgage and the American Dream of Homeownership.

Just like the state of New York is reviewing terminating business relationships with Donald Trump, Nevada should do the same. America is place of values and diversity. Trump's racist and hateful comments towards Mexicans cannot be tolerated.

The reasons I believe this is relevant and should be provided to the American people are as follows: 1. Our President is photographed in all types of situations that he cannot control. I want to prevent any pictures that could potentially damage our image around the world. 2. As a fiscal conservative, it is important to ensure that no unnecessary taxpayer dollars will be wasted in this process of hair preparation. I have the right to know how much I will have to pay for that hair.

On July 2, 2015 governor LePage changed the hiring policy for new hires in the State. This will affect the formation of the cold case squad. We ask Governor LePage to continue the spirit of bipartisanship that has driven the cold case squad from its beginning. We respectively request the Governor immediately allow the Office of Public Safety to hire the 2 detectives and 1 lab tech funded within the budget. We want to remind the Governor of his comment from 2014 “Because it’s the right thing to do,” referring to funding for the cold case squad. Thank you to to the 127th Legislature for working together to get this squad funded, and now we are waiting for the Governor to exclude the squad from any partisan politics.

Univision dumped Donald Trump and his Miss USA Pageant after he announced his plans to run for president in part to stop Mexicans who "have lots of problems" and are "bringing those problems to us." "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists," CNN reports. Now Trump announces that Albuquerque-based Reelz Channel will partner with Trump to carry his Miss USA pageant, even though Trump has doubled down on his remarks.

On Thursday July 2nd the BP settlement was finalized requiring BP Oil Company to pay $18.7 billion in damages as a result of gross negligence in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but there are indications that only $5.5 billion of that settlement will be non-tax deductible. BP has already paid about $42 billion to address the Deepwater Horizon disaster since oil first started spilling in 2010. About 80% of those payments have qualified for tax deductions, effectively shifting the cost of BP’s “gross negligence” onto taxpayers. These write offs send the wrong message. They diminish the value of settlements as a deterrent to future misbehavior. They are also costly for the public because taxpayers must make up for the lost revenue through cuts to public programs, higher tax rates, or more federal debt. It's time to demand an end to holding tax-payers accountable for corporate misconduct: no more write-offs for corporate wrong doing.

Univision dumped Donald Trump and his Miss USA Pageant after he announced his plans to run for president in part to stop Mexicans who "have lots of problems" and are "bringing those problems to us." "They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists," CNN reports. Now Trump announces that Albuquerque-based Reelz Channel will partner with Trump to carry his Miss USA pageant, even though Trump has doubled down on his remarks.

He must be held accountable for his discriminatory statements made against the Mexican community.

Juan de Jesus (A095-528-377) came to the United States from the Dominican Republic when he was two. Now, 27, Juan is a New Yorker with deep roots in New York and New Jersey. He graduated from Norman Thomas High School in August 2007, and worked at a bodega before his detention. His entire family is here, including his green-card holder mother Augustina, his four U.S. citizen siblings, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. His U.S. citizen fiancé Alya Aboulhosn, whom Juan has dated since February 2013, attends all his court appearances and visits him in detention weekly. Juan is also a dedicated uncle to his two U.S. citizen nieces and U.S. citizen nephew. Juan has had a hard time getting good legal help. When he tried to regularize his status, an immigration “worker” Vincent Gonzales never followed up with his case. In July 2010, the NY Attorney General obtained a judgment of over $6.25 million against Mr. Gonzalez for engaging in the unauthorized practice of the law and defrauding thousands of immigrants. In August 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained Juan after he was convicted for drug possession. The criminal defense attorney who represented him was recently indicted for attempting to bribe Manhattan court staff. In September 2014, Juan’s attorneys appealed his conviction. Under immigration law, while the appeal is pending, the conviction (a felony for DACA purposes) is not “final,” and, as such, does not disqualify him from DACA. But ICE refuses to release him until the court decides the appeal, which could take up to two years. The DACA guidelines provide that while in ICE detention, Juan cannot apply for DACA though he fully qualifies. Juan also has three possession of marijuana New York violations: two carry maximum penalties of only a fine and do not count as misdemeanors for DACA; and one counts as a non-significant misdemeanor for DACA. These NY violations do not disqualify him from DACA. Juan started using drugs in high school. Becoming homeless after his mother (at the urging of her then-boyfriend) kicked him out of her apartment exacerbated his drug use. If Juan is released, he is determined to stay clean, and has already been accepted into a drug treatment program in New Jersey where he will live with his fiancé. Juan is also seeking asylum. His hearing was scheduled for June 2015, but because the judge assigned to his case retired, the court rescheduled for December 2015. Juan will have been detained for over a year and four months before his hearing. He has already been in detention for ten months. His attorneys filed a habeas petition in federal court on June 16, 2015, so that Juan may be released while he fights his case. That petition is pending. Please sign and ask ERO Field Office Director John Tsoukaris to release Juan from detention so that he can fight his case from home with his family.

Erik Cortez-Sandeniz (A# 096-116-570) came to the United States from Mexico when he was nine years old. This is a letter from his oldest son, also named Erik. “My father grew up in Providence, Rhode Island and attended Central High School. He dropped out of high school to work and provide for his family at the age of seventeen. Since then, he has been the head of our household and has dedicated his life to taking care of his children and wife. He is now thirty-six years old and is in detention. My father grew up in a neighborhood filled with gangs. Like many other young people in his community, he became involved with the gang because that was what he knew. Despite his gang affiliation, he started working at the age of thirteen to provide for his family. One of his first jobs was helping in a local church. This country has been the only place my father has known. His whole family is here including his three U.S citizen sisters and U.S citizen mother and U.S permanent resident father, numerous of aunts and uncles and cousins, but most importantly he has his five U.S citizen children. I am his oldest son and I am nineteen years old. I just recently finished my first year at Brandeis University on a scholarship. His second oldest was recently accepted to Mass Maritime on a scholarship. Before being detained, my father saw his second son graduate high school but if he is deported he won’t see the rest of his children complete this important milestone. Two of his other children are in high school and his youngest just finished the 5th grade. He has been with my mother, his wife, for 20 years. If he does go back to Mexico, there's a possibility that he will be killed by rival gangs. He made mistakes, but I truly believe he has learned from them and moved on. He instilled in us the value of education that he learned from his experiences. My father grew up in circumstances that did not allow him to get an education, but he made sure that did not happen to us. He has two felony charges: one occurred when he was very young for leaving the scene of a car accident and the second for selling a gun to someone he thought was a friend and explained he needed a gun because his family was being threatened and was in danger. My father has provided and raised a wonderful family.” Please sign and ask ERO Assistant Field Office Director Todd Thurlow and DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Esther Olavarria to release Erik from detention so that he can fight his case from home with his family.