Shutdown, bribery, and kindergarten

Quick update from the campaign trail

After several weeks in our home states, we’re all flying back to D.C. on Monday. 

As soon as we get back, the government shutdown debate is going to sputter back to life and take us for another spin.

But let me tell you up front:

The government won’t shut down. 

Instead, we’ll play our familiar game.

In round one, the right-flank will demand various poison pills in the government funding bill in exchange for their support. The Speaker will pretend to agree with them. He’ll even do TV interviews where he loudly tells us how much he agrees with them. He really has to sell how much he agrees with them… because of what he’ll do in round two.

Round two is the Speaker throwing his right-flank under the bus and saying no to all their demands.

There are a few ways he can do that, but the most likely path is that he’ll let their version of a funding bill pass the House and then become dead-on-arrival in the Senate. At which point, he’ll turn to his right-flank and say, “Guys, you know I tried. You watched me try. I did all those interviews where I agreed with you. But it looks like we’re outta moves here, so unfortunately I have to remove your excellent suggestions from the budget bill. Really sorry about that.”

Round three is the right-flank pretending to be upset and going on TV to blast the Speaker for his “weakness” - but in reality, losing this fight works well for them.

Why?

Because pretending to be upset on TV is their favorite thing to do, so they won’t be genuinely upset with the Speaker because he’s giving them an excuse to do it. As I’ve seen many times, this is a group that would rather accept a policy defeat that opens a political opportunity than give up a political opportunity to achieve a policy victory.

So don’t buy the hoopla. Things will get super contentious leading up to September 30th (when the money to fund the federal government runs out), but we’ll get it done.

Our bribery bill

Three weeks ago, I told you I was filing a bill to close a loophole about bribing politicians.

The loophole has only existed since June, when the Supreme Court ruled that paying a politician after they do the thing you’re bribing them to do isn’t a bribe, it’s a perfectly legal “gratuity.”

I told you that my office had drafted a bill to close that loophole and the next step was seeing if I could get someone from the majority party to join me.

And we have.

I normally don’t use people’s names in this newsletter because I try not to make things personal, but I’d like to say how much I appreciate Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) joining me on this totally nonpartisan bill that really shouldn’t have any serious opposition.

That doesn’t mean it’ll pass, but it means we’ve got a shot.

Hopefully, with his name and my name on the bill, it will signal to the rest of the House that this is truly nonpartisan and support will grow. I’ll keep you posted.

Photos from the trail

I got lots of requests for more pictures from my campaign for Attorney General, so here you go!

The best part of campaigning is traveling and meeting with folks from around the state. Looking forward to seeing you all on the campaign trail.

Thanks for your support

Now that we’re past Labor Day, things are about to really heat up. We were in Brunswick County this week and over 200 folks showed up to hear about our campaign.

You’ve been fantastic. Your support has really opened a lot of opportunities for us  to reach people.

If you haven’t had a chance to support us yet, I’d really appreciate it. You can contribute through ActBlue (here) or non-ActBlue (here). Thanks so much.

Best,

Jeff Jackson

P.S. - And here was a special moment for our family. Avery started kindergarten last week, and for the first time she and Owen rode the bus to school together. They’re getting so big.