Vice Presidential Debate Is Surprisingly Presidential

After an initial presidential debate filled with insults and vague policy prescriptions, the first vice presidential debate held last night at Longwood University was a welcome surprise. The debate, while occasionally contentious, focused largely on... Read More
Race and Climate Change in the First Presidential Debate

As a lobbyist, I hate election season. Campaigns show the worst side of politics: the fake folksiness, the reluctant baby-kissing, and the overstated promises that won’t be delivered on. The actual business of governing is... Read More
DC City Council Considers Death with Dignity Legislation

This week I attended a series of meetings with DC city council members as part of a bipartisan and interfaith effort to promote the Death With Dignity Act of 2015. The bill was introduced by... Read More
O’er the Land of the Free…ish Colin Kaepernick’s Quintessentially American Protest

Would you vow to recite and honor words you don’t understand, written by a man you never knew, without question, simply because someone told you it was your duty? If you said yes, that’s not... Read More
Three Things that Must Happen with the Advent of Ending Private Prisons An In-Depth Look at Private Prison Reform

Last Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a memo addressed from Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates to the acting director of the federal Bureau of Prisons that they would be phasing out the... Read More
More than a Hill of Beans: Political Protests Face Pressure to Be Noticed

As the temperature heats up around the country, so does the political climate surrounding this year’s presidential election. The city of Philadelphia approved twenty-eight permits for demonstrations and marches during this week’s Democratic National Convention,... Read More
We Need to Talk about Lead’s Role in the Cycle of Poverty

We need resources. If there was one resounding takeaway from the Center for American Progress’s event last Wednesday on “Addressing Lead Exposure in Low-Income Communities,” it’s that efforts to remediate lead paint and other health... Read More