Mary Bottari is the Deputy Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). She helped launch CMD's award-winning ALEC Exposed investigation in 2011 and is a recipient of the Hillman Prize for investigative journalism.
The spill, which closed a major highway and sent at least ten people to seek medical attention for respiratory symptoms, became a catalyst for a renewed political battle over the chemical's future in California.
To win big in this brave new world, forget tested skill-sets and the wisdom of experience: chutzpah and risk-taking, even gambling, are paramount, then the facile ability to learn on the job how to cling to power.
The proposal would make revenue increases extraordinarily difficult while allowing tax cuts to pass more easily, shifting pressure onto widely used federal programs.