Democrats elect Perez as new national chairman
Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez is the first Latino to lead the Democratic National Committee.
ATLANTA — Democrats chose former Labor Secretary Tom Perez as their new national chairman Saturday over a liberal Minnesota congressman, capping a divisive campaign that reflected the depths of the party’s electoral failures as well as the energy from resistance to President Donald Trump.
Perez, the first Latino to hold the post, edged Rep. Keith Ellison in the second round of voting by Democratic National Committee members gathered in Atlanta. The new chairman must rebuild
KIOWA, Colo. (AP) — A former Colorado sheriff’s deputy wanted for allegedly poaching deer near Elbert is being sought on a nationwide warrant.
Former Elbert County deputy Steve Few was arrested Dec. 20 in Georgia, where he had lived prior to Colorado. Authorities say Few bonded out following a party that in the last decade has lost about 1,000 elected posts from the White House to Congress to the 50 statehouses, a power deficit Democrats have not seen nationally in 90 years.
In a nod to his winning margin of 35 votes out of 435 cast, to say nothing of the lingering friction between old-guard Democrats and outspoken upstarts, Perez tapped Ellison to serve as deputy chair.
“We are all in this together,” Perez said, calling on Democrats to fight “the worst president in the history of the United States.”
Ellison, who had backing from many liberals, his arrest and has not returned to Colorado for a court appearance. It’s unclear if he has an attorney. He faces charges including two counts of destruction of wildlife, trespassing, shooting from a road, hunting with a light and two felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant. Branden Camp / The Associated Press including 2016 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, added his own call for unity and noted that he and Perez both want to rebuild state and local Democratic parties across the country.
“We don’t have the luxury of walking out of this room divided,” Ellison said, as the erstwhile rivals stood together on stage as some young Ellison supporters jeered from the gallery.
Trump chimed in via Twitter: “Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party!”
— Georgia driver’s licenses for immigrants with permission to be in the U.S. would be stamped with the word “noncitizen” under legislation introduced this year that’s being watched closely by immigration advocates.
Rep. Alan Powell, a Republican from Hartwell, is sponsoring a bill that is facing opposition from critics who say it is unnecessary. Enactment would make Georgia one of the first — if not the first — state to use a “noncitizen” label on licenses.
A bill in Tennessee would also use a similar label on licenses issued to people with temporary permission to be in the country, but it faces an uncertain future because the state’s Republican governor, Bill Haslam, has expressed concerns about the message it would send to foreign-owned companies investing in the state.
A similar argument could be made in Georgia, where companies like Mercedes Benz have established U.S. headquarters. Serving Floyd, Chattooga, Walker, Bartow, Dade, Catoosa, Gordon and Whitfield Counties.