Washington news in brief

Bolton to reclaim PACs, back Cotton

WASHINGTON -- John Bolton, who was pushed out as national security adviser last week, isn't done with politics.

He announced Friday that he's retaking the helm of the John Bolton Political Action Committee and the John Bolton Super PAC.

In a news release, he announced that he's endorsing U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., plus four other Republican candidates in the 2020 cycle. His PAC will also be contributing $10,000 to Cotton's re-election campaign, he said.

The John Bolton PAC has donated more than $1.5 million to 219 candidates since 2014, while his Super PAC reports independent expenditures of nearly $6.2 million.

Of that, $825,687 was used to help Cotton defeat incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., in 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based nonprofit group that tracks money in politics.

Asked Thursday to react to Bolton's departure, Cotton said: "The President can have the advisers that he wants. I've long known John Bolton and we agree on many matters, but if the president decided he wanted to go in a different direction, that's his prerogative. Ultimately, advisers advise and presidents decide."

Arkansan hired on Klobuchar campaign

A Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, has hired an Arkansan to help her reach black voters.

Kimberly Hunt, a graduate of Lonoke High School and a former Little Rock resident, will be based at Klobuchar's campaign headquarters in Minneapolis, officials said.

"I'm thrilled to be a member of the Amy For America team as National Director of African American Outreach," Hunt said in a written statement. "Senator Klobuchar understands that winning campaigns are built from the ground up and I look forward to putting my organizing skills to use as we build a grassroots operation to bridge divides and take back the White House."

Hunt, the daughter of retired Lonoke County educators Willie and Vergia Hunt, has substantial campaign experience, including stints in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas.

A graduate of Texas Woman's University in Denton, she later completed a master's of arts degree program in professional development and consulting at Amberton University in Garland, Texas.

In 2015, she participated in the Congressional Black Caucus Institute's Political Leadership Development Program after being selected by U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.

Hunt was in Houston last week ahead of Thursday's Democratic presidential debate. Klobuchar was one of 10 candidates who qualified to participate in the three-hour-long faceoff.

UA professor favors Sanders' platform

A professor at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has endorsed an education blueprint championed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Sanders' Democratic presidential campaign announced last week.

Ted Swedenburg, a professor of anthropology, is one of more than 100 leaders voicing support for the "Thurgood Marshall Plan for Public Education," a 10-point proposal that Sanders unveiled on the 65th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Thurgood Marshall argued the Brown case before the U.S. Supreme Court, later serving as a U.S. Court of Appeals judge, solicitor general and U.S. Supreme Court justice.

Among other things, Sanders' plan calls for federally funded busing to encourage integration and more vigorous enforcement of desegregation orders.

In addition, it would ban for-profit charter schools, guarantee teachers a starting salary of at least $60,000 per year and increase federal funding for education.

It also calls for the federal government to provide "year-round, free universal school meals; breakfast, lunch and snacks ..."

The measure has drawn scores of educators, including Diane Ravitch, a New York University research professor and a former U.S. assistant secretary of education.

"No president or presidential candidate has offered a proposal so bold and sweeping, which directly addresses the fiscal starving of American public education at the same time that the federal government got into the business of regulating, mandating, and controlling the nation's schools and classrooms," she said.

Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, said Sanders' "vitally important" plan will "invest in public schools and provide real accountability over private alternatives."

Planning to visit the nation's capital? Know something happening in Washington, D.C.? Please contact Frank Lockwood at (202) 662-7690 or [email protected]. Want the latest from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Washington bureau? It's available on Twitter, @LockwoodFrank.

SundayMonday on 09/15/2019

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