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Saturday, August 15, 2020
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Atomic! Starving USPS; Gov won't expand mail vote; Spartz leads 5th CD poll
Friday, August 14, 2020 10:13 AM

By BRIAN A. HOWEY, in Indianapolis


1. Trump to starve the Postal Service


Here are your final power lunch talking points for the week: President Trump, who has lied and spun tales about the dangers of voting by mail, told the Fox Business Network that he opposes more funding to the United States Postal Service so it can’t handle the expected rise in that voting method brought on, in part, to his botched response to the pandemic. “If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump, who ran in 2016 as an epic dealmaker, told host Maria Bartiromo on Thursday. “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”


Vice News reported that the USPS, under the direction of Postmaster Louis DeJoy, has removed 19 mail sorting machines from five processing centers. Multiple national news sources have reported a slow down in the delivery of mail. And the Philadelphia Inquirer  reports the USPS  has warned in a July 29 letter to Pennsylvania election officials that some mail ballots might not be delivered on time because the state’s deadlines are too tight for its “delivery standards.” NBC says a similar warning went to Michigan officials. Both are swing states with wide vote-by-mail systems.


There are several problems with this. First, President Trump appears to be willing to tip the scales on the conduct of the election, whether it’s appealing to China for help, or damaging the postal system. Second, the USPS delivers many vital communications (including medications) that now appear to be delayed. He appears to be on the course to delegitimize the electoral process. This is simply unacceptable. President Trump and the First Lady have requested absentee ballots in Palm Beach for the November election. He’s exempted Florida from his list of states he says are going to run a “rigged election.” Finally, former Trump "fixer" Michael Cohen writes in his forthcoming book "The Real, Real Donald Trump": Trump wants to be "leader for life" in order to avoid prison time.


2. Holcomb defers expanded vote by mail to legislature


Democrat gubernatorial nominee Woody Myers and attorney general nominee Jonathan Weinzapfel called on Gov. Eric Holcomb and Secretary of State Connie Lawson to ask the Indiana Election Commission to expand vote by mail at today's 10:30 a.m. Indiana Election Commission meeting. “This is failed leadership,” saidMyers. “Indiana is one of only eight states that do not allow all voters to vote safely by mail in times of a pandemic.” Weinzapfel added, “An overwhelming number of Hoosiers have been calling for safer voting options. With the election fast-approaching, our Indiana counties need direction now.” Holcomb believes expanding vote by mail is an issue that should be addressed by the Indiana General Assembly next year. "I think that question would be more appropriately answered with the General Assembly," Holcomb said at his weekly COVID press conference on Wednesday. "Obviously we were under a stay-at-home order statewide that was Exhibit A, if you will," he said of expanded, no-excuse absentee balloting in the delayed June 2 primary that drew more than 500,000 Hoosiers. "Exhibit B is we are very open right now in the State of Indiana and so to make that kind of drastic change on the fly while we are mobile would be inappropriate. Now that is a discussion worth having for all kinds of various reasons, set aside COVID-19, for all kinds of other reasons. I look forward to having it in January when we have statewide input."


3. Another internal 5th CD poll


A poll for Club For Growth shows Republican State Sen. Victoria Spartz with a 47-40% lead over Democrat Christina Hale in the 5th CD, with Libertarian Ken Tucker at 5% and 8% undecided. This follows an internal Hale poll released last month showing her with a 51-45% lead. Hale got her money’s worth of out that survey, as Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Cook Political Report  and National Journal  shifted the race to “tossup” without seeing the cross tabs. Howey Politics Indiana  has it “Leans Spartz,” in part because the Woody Myers gubernatorial campaign is simply uncompetitive and the 5th has been a long-time GOP bastion. That’s not to say this race won’t shift in HPI’s “tossup” zone, but I’m looking for credible metrics. We’re hearing that the Spartz campaign has been mowing through consultants and President Trump’s play to “suburban housewives” seems tone deaf in this emerging purple district.


4. COVID updates


Greater Clark County Schools reported 58 staffers and 210 students are now in COVID quarantined. Supt. Mark Laughner told the News & Tribune,  “As we get more cases throughout the communities and in schools, will we have the staff to cover buildings? And if we don’t, we’re going to have to close down that building for a week or two weeks.” North Adams County Schools has pushed back in-school sessions until Aug. 31 due to an outbreak following a downtown Decatur concert on July 30. Warrick County reported two students tested positive, with quarantines to follow. Porter and Tippecanoe counties are imposing new crowd restrictions. Officials in Bartholomew County (Vice President Mike Pence’s home), have expressed concerns about a spike in cases there. State Rep. Terry Goodin has tested positive, saying he has serious flu-like symptoms, a terrible headache and a raspy throat. Indiana reported 1,046 additional confirmed cases and 20 deaths on Thursday. The new Fishers Health Department’s only epidemiologist, Eileen White, resigned, telling the IndyStar  that Mayor Scott Fadness is cooking the COVID books to keep schools open. “This is a level of interference I had never seen before in a public health agency,” she said. Fadness denies the allegation.


5. Utility moratoriums and evictions


Indiana’s utility disconnection moratorium ends today. There are still 19,000 people in Indianapolis on the Marion County Rental Assistance Program’s waiting list; 3,100 households had been approved. Congress has adjourned until after Labor Day, so there will be no renewed pandemic rescue help from the Feds.


Have a great weekend, folks. It’s The Atomic!
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