{"id":639,"date":"2018-03-17T20:45:58","date_gmt":"2018-03-18T00:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=639"},"modified":"2018-03-17T20:46:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-18T00:46:36","slug":"in-californias-rural-conservative-north-there-are-big-dreams-for-cleaving-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=639","title":{"rendered":"In California’s rural, conservative north, there are big dreams for cleaving the state"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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MAR 17, 2018\u00a0<\/span>|<\/span>\u00a05:00 AM<\/span><\/div>\n
|<\/span>\u00a0ANDERSON, CALIF.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"In<\/div>
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Candace Smith holds a shotgun and a bottle of whiskey during a fundraising auction last month in Anderson, Calif. (Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n
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The two young, blond women in figure-flattering ball gowns hoisted whiskey and shotguns.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An auctioneer rattled off bids. Above the stage in the banquet hall hung a green flag for the 51st state of Jefferson, with its pair of Xs called a \u201cdouble-cross\u201d representing a sense of rural abandonment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hundreds of people packed into the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9650 hall on this chilly Saturday night, ready to crack open wallets to help fund their dream of carving \u2014 out of California\u2019s northernmost reaches \u2014 a brand new state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Someone offered $350 for a state of Jefferson belt buckle. Someone else won a lamb, still in its mother\u2019s womb, that should be born in time to be butchered for Easter. Outside, vehicles bore bumper stickers supporting President Trump and the 2nd Amendment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe Okies are fun, aren\u2019t we?\u201d one man quipped.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The scene last month in this small Shasta County city seemed like a perfect we\u2019re-not-in-California-anymore-moment. That is, if you only knew California as the diverse, liberal bastion whose elected officials have tried to stymie the Trump administration\u2019s moves on\u00a0immigration<\/a>,\u00a0legalized marijuana<\/a>,\u00a0climate change<\/a>\u00a0and so on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the so-called Northstate is looking less and less like the rest of the Golden State. The vast, sparsely-populated region is whiter, more rural and poorer than the rest of the state \u2014 and residents are more conservative. While California has become the center of the resistance to Trump, a number of Northern Californians are waging a resistance of their own: against California itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"State
Larry Miller, left, and Vern Garrett look at auction items, including a handgun, at a fundraiser in support of establishing the state of Jefferson. At right, Norman Oilar looks at a portrait of Thomas Jefferson that was up for bid.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Inside the banquet hall, the man many see as the founder of the modern Jefferson movement told the crowd that their gun rights, property rights, grazing rights and water rights were under siege by politicians who write them off as \u201ccountry bumpkins.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019re the ones being exterminated by a lack of liberty,\u201d said Mark Baird, a Siskiyou County rancher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The breakaway state of Jefferson is a decades-old idea, but it has been revived in earnest in recent years by residents who say they are fed up with their voices being drowned out in Sacramento, where outspoken urban Democrats hold a vise grip on the state Legislature.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Supporters say overregulation has hobbled rural industries such as timber, mining and fishing and that the state\u2019s high taxes and cost of living are driving young people away, quickening the decline of small towns. They chafe under California\u2019s strict gun-control policies and are infuriated by its liberal immigration laws.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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They cite California\u2019s new\u00a0gas tax increase<\/a>\u00a0of 12 cents per gallon, saying it has an outsize impact on rural people who drive farther for work and basic needs such as hospitals, schools and grocery stores.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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How likely is it that a new state will be broken off, like a piece of Kit Kat bar, from California? Not likely at all, experts say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Eric McGhee, a political scientist at the Public Policy Institute of California, said that while you can \u201cnever say never,\u201d there are too many legal obstacles to overcome.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s easy to think that because there\u2019s this large piece of territory, that it\u2019s a large share of California in terms of the population,” he said. \u201cThat\u2019s just not the case. \u2026 It\u2019s an absolutely minuscule portion of the state\u2019s population.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Supporters of a breakaway state say they are sorely underestimated and point to the number of passionate people who show up to their events. One man put it this way: \u201cWe\u2019re not a bunch of dumb rednecks.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When we first started … people would say, \u2018What\u2019s Jefferson? … Now, they\u2019re saying, \u2018When are you going to get this done?<\/p>\n

Janet Chandler<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\"State
Clockwise from top left: Jeri Carstens holds a metal seal for the state of Jefferson. The Jefferson seal is engraved on the stock of a shotgun at a recent auction. Raffle tickets, designed to look like money, are displayed. A handmade belt buckle up for bid is shown.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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But some Northern Californians have had enough of talk of breaking away from California. After several county boards began considering Jefferson proposals, Kevin Hendrick, a retired municipal employee from Crescent City, in Del Norte County, formed a political action committee in 2015 called\u00a0Keep It California<\/a>\u00a0to oppose the idea.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou\u2019ve got a handful of residents that are grumpy and pining for the good old days, but that shouldn\u2019t represent all the good people living in rural counties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hendrick said there are rural issues that need do more attention, such as access to affordable healthcare and the internet, but that separating from California would be financially devastating.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cPeople need hope, yes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t need false hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There has been plenty of talk recently about cleaving California. There was the failed 2014 effort to split the state\u00a0into six states<\/a>. There\u2019s a plan to form\u00a0New California<\/a>, which includes everything but a sliver of wealthy, urban coastal counties. And there\u2019s\u00a0Calexit<\/a>, the movement for the state to secede from the Union entirely, an idea that gained steam after Trump\u2019s election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jefferson, which has included some Oregon counties in various iterations, precedes them. In one of the movement\u2019s most colorful eras, armed separatists in November 1941 set up roadblocks along Highway 99 in Siskiyou County. But the movement was halted days later when Pearl Harbor was bombed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Jefferson
Win Carpenter, right, and Terry Rapoza talk during their radio show, “Jefferson State of Mine,” at a KCNR-AM 1460 Free Fire Radio studio in Redding on Feb. 18.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The\u00a0modern Jefferson movement<\/a>\u00a0was kicked off in 2013 when boards of supervisors in Siskiyou and Modoc counties passed declarations of support for withdrawing from California.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Win Carpenter, a Jefferson organizer from Redding, said declarations from\u00a021 counties<\/a>\u00a0have been filed with state officials. Some are proclamations by county boards of supervisors; others are collections of signatures by residents.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Carpenter, 55, a seventh-generation Shasta County resident, quit his job as an appraiser in the county assessor\u2019s office in 2015 to devote his time to Jefferson. Days later, he told the Shasta County Board of Supervisors that, although the board had declined to support the breakaway state, advocates had gathered thousands of signatures anyway.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAs your employers, we have decided you will not be representing us on this issue,\u201d he\u00a0told the supervisors<\/a>. \u201cTherefore, we are moving ahead without you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If Jefferson became a state, it would have 1.7 million residents, a population bigger than 13 other states. It would be 73% white. Present-day California has roughly the same number of whites and Latinos, at about 14.8 million each.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dig deeper into the area\u2019s demographics in The Times\u2019 Jefferson census<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Jefferson supporters have their hopes set on a federal lawsuit. Last year, a group called Citizens for Fair Representation \u2014 including Carpenter, Baird and other Jefferson proponents along with a Native American tribe, the California Libertarian Party and the city of Fort Jones, Calif. \u2014 sued the state, alleging an unconstitutional lack of representation and dilution of vote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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California\u2019s 120 state legislators, the suit states, cannot adequately represent 40 million residents. In Northern California, one senator represents nine counties and parts of two more. The idea, Baird said, is for California to either be forced to add thousands more legislators or that the state would refuse and let Jefferson leave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Shasta
Clockwise from top left: Flags for the U.S. and the state of Jefferson fly in Anderson. Visitors take in the view from Burney Mountain Vista Point. Burney Falls in Shasta County is shown, along with the Sundial Bridge in Redding.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Baird had just finished an impassioned speech about Jefferson in Placerville last month when Riley Taresh, 19, stepped up to the microphone, her voice solemn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cHow much\u00a0longer<\/em>\u00a0do we have to wait?\u201d she asked. \u201cI only have a few more years where I can go to school here before I have to leave because I won\u2019t be able to afford to stay in California.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Taresh, of Shingle Springs, works part time at Payless ShoeSource while attending Folsom Lake College. She can\u2019t afford to move out of her parents\u2019 home. She wants to work in the medical field and stay in Northern California, but \u201cas a working-class poor, it is not possible for me,\u201d she said. She believes her chances at getting into a four-year state university were hindered, in part, because she is white.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m like, excuse me, I have to work my butt off to get anywhere, and you\u2019re going to hand illegals \u2026 a driver\u2019s license, you\u2019re going to hand them an education, and I have to work my butt off until I\u2019m in tears and begging for help to get anywhere. No.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mike Murray, 32, of Rocklin, said he hates \u201cthe perception that it is these old white people that just want to go around and spit their tobacky and shoot their guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Murray has been trying to attract younger, more diverse people. He sees Jefferson as a \u201creset button.\u201d An uncle of his packed up his business and moved to Texas because of high taxes. His in-laws are frustrated by California\u2019s strict gun laws, which, he said, aren\u2019t feasible for them since they are rural farmers who would have to wait a half-hour for police if someone broke in.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I just like the whole idea of getting back to the Constitution, getting back to the principles that made this country great in the first place.<\/p>\n

Sally Rapoza<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Sally Rapoza hands out pamphlets a Rotary Club meeting in February.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Just after 7 a.m. on a recent Friday, Terry Rapoza stood before the Sunrise Rotary Club at a Redding Best Western explaining the case for Jefferson while his wife, Sally, handed out pamphlets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A stout, mustachioed man with a booming belly-laugh, Rapoza said there was \u201cno rule of law in the state of California.\u201d He recently called a White House hotline to say Gov. Jerry Brown had repeatedly violated the Constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A gregarious couple in their 60s, the Rapozas, of Redding, helped start a local tea party group shortly after President Obama took office. A 2009 tea party protest at Redding\u2019s Sundial Bridge drew some 2,000 people, and their son, Clayton, a labor organizer and Civil War reenactor, dressed as a Revolutionary War minuteman and led protesters across the walkway.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI just like the whole idea of getting back to the Constitution, getting back to the principles that made this country great in the first place,\u201d Sally Rapoza said of Jefferson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For the Rapozas, California\u2019s sanctuary policies are emblematic of the unchecked power of the state Democratic party. They were thrilled when the Shasta County Board of Supervisors approved a non-sanctuary resolution last month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhy are we allowing\u00a0illegal\u00a0<\/em>aliens to come into our country?\u201d Sally said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s an invasion. \u2026 It feels like our rights are being diminished and their rights are being exploited, actually, because the Democrats want votes and the Republicans want cheap workers.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sally, whose organizing skills earned her the moniker Rally Sally, uses her Facebook page to live-stream events and drum up Jefferson support. The official State of Jefferson website lists her as a social media organizer. She also shares political posts on her page, including Breitbart articles and a meme calling Hillary Clinton \u201cthe Russian spy who hacked our primaries.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Terry co-hosts a weekly AM radio show, \u201cJefferson State of Mine,\u201d with Carpenter. It\u00a0opens with a country song<\/a>\u00a0about Jefferson:\u00a0It\u2019s a wave on a dusty road. It\u2019s a logger\u2019s heavy load. It\u2019s the cattle on the hills. It\u2019s the ridge full of thrills.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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People cross the street in the Shasta County town of Redding.\u00a0Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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In the small mountain town of Burney, Harold and Janet Chandler live on a quiet street among the pine trees. They have a Jefferson sign in their yard and Jefferson coffee mugs in their cupboards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The couple \u2014 she a retired school teacher, he a retired California Highway Patrol officer \u2014 moved to Burney in 1991, when it was a bustling logging town with two clothing stores, two shoe stores, two grocery stores, they said. But the timber mills cut back. The families left. Now, shuttered storefronts line Main Street.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Janet, who unsuccessfully ran for county supervisor in 2016 and openly supported Jefferson, said regulations would be eased in the new state, bringing back jobs \u2014 and hope. She and Harold are on a committee that recently finished writing a 29-page Jefferson constitution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen we first started handing out brochures and carrying signs at parades, people would say, \u2018What\u2019s Jefferson?\u2019\u201d Janet said. \u201cThen, the phrase became, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s a good idea, but it\u2019s never going to happen.\u2019 Now, they\u2019re saying, \u2018When are you going to get this done?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

hailey.branson@latimes.com<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Twitter:\u00a0@haileybranson<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Times staff writer Ryan Menezes contributed to this report.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS MAR 17, 2018\u00a0|\u00a05:00 AM |\u00a0ANDERSON, CALIF.   Candace Smith holds a shotgun and a bottle of whiskey during a fundraising auction last month…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","category-weapons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_20-44-49.jpg?fit=739%2C475&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8VBh7-aj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":791,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=791","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":0},"title":"Gun Marches Keep Republicans on Defense in Midterm Races","author":"Donnie","date":"March 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By\u00a0ALEXANDER BURNS\u00a0and\u00a0JONATHAN MARTIN\u00a0MARCH 25, 2018 Gov. 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The social network accused the firm of collecting the profiles of millions of Facebook users without the owners\u2019 permission. (Loic Venance \/ AFP\/Getty Images) Facebook Inc. has suspended Cambridge Analytica,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National News"","block_context":{"text":"National News","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=21"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_20-52-45.jpg?fit=743%2C413&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_20-52-45.jpg?fit=743%2C413&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_20-52-45.jpg?fit=743%2C413&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-17_20-52-45.jpg?fit=743%2C413&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":185,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=185","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":4},"title":"Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker sued for not calling special elections","author":"Donnie","date":"February 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"FEBRUARY 26, 2018 Dan Whitcomb (Reuters) - An pro-Democratic redistricting group headed by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sued Wisconsin\u2019s Republican governor, Scott Walker, on Monday for declining to hold special elections for two vacant seats in the state legislature. \u00a0 FILE PHOTO: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker speaks during\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "National Politics"","block_context":{"text":"National Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?cat=11"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-26-19.jpg?fit=694%2C479&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-26-19.jpg?fit=694%2C479&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gopplaybook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2018-03-01_14-26-19.jpg?fit=694%2C479&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1164,"url":"https:\/\/www.gopplaybook.com\/?p=1164","url_meta":{"origin":639,"position":5},"title":"Mein Oops! 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