Latest news with #ChrisPappas
IOL News
29-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
ANC caucus supports DA-led budget in uMngeni Municipality
The ANC is an official opposition party in the council it had previously controlled since the inception of local government, until 2021 when the DA took control of the municipality. In a surprise move, the ANC caucus in the DA-led Umngeni Local Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, voted for the budget which many believed was an endorsement of the DA local government plan ahead of next year's elections. The R674.4 million budget was tabled by Mayor Chris Pappas and was passed by all parties on Wednesday. The DA has been hailing its municipalities, including uMngeni, as the beacon of hope and shining examples of what a good governance looks like, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal where many municipalities have been flagged for poor financial management by the Auditor-General's report. UMngeni is one of the few best performing municipalities in the province. This year, the municipality received its third consecutive unqualified audit outcome. Despite seemingly working well under the Government of Provincial Unity, the DA and the ANC are at each other's throats in the local government sphere, particularly in eThekwini. The DA has rarely voted for a budget in the ANC-led municipalities in the province. In defending the ANC's decision, party whip Thulani Weza said his caucus supported the budget because the DA had enough consultation with opposition parties and their input was incorporated in the budget, however, he said the ANC will monitor the implementation of the promises in the budget.
Daily Maverick
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Pay less attention to presidents and premiers and focus on mayors, they matter way more
We pay way too much attention to presidents and premiers and not nearly enough to mayors. Nothing that the first two ever do can directly affect me this afternoon, this week or even this year. In fact, most of what they do never touches sides in real terms. But the mayor can change my life within an hour. Is the power restored after an outage, the gushing water breach in the road stemmed, the blocked sewage pipe cleared, the rubbish collected, the storm-felled tree across the highway removed, the fire brigade turning up timeously? If I lived in a flooded township, it would be the mayor who could ensure that emergency help was available and that it arrived. Competence and incorruptibility at municipal level make a massive difference. And the converse is true. The destruction caused by incompetence and dishonesty at a municipality is both enormous and immediate. And, the converse of the converse is that the opportunity for rapid renewal is immense. Just see what the DA's energetic Chris Pappas has achieved inside a mere 12 months as mayor of uMngeni. Aside from Cape Town, excellently served for the past three years by a hard-working, pragmatic and highly functional mayor in Geordin Hill-Lewis, our track record of governance in major metropoles is abysmal. Johannesburg is the well-publicised poster child in this regard – eight mayors in six years – but the rest are no better. Nelson Mandela Bay has had 10 mayors in 10 years, including Danny Jordaan for a brief time, and they've had an astonishing 15 city managers in five years. Tshwane has had six mayors in six years and Mangaung five in five. eThekwini's recent mayoral list includes Zandile Gumede, investigated by the Hawks in connection with fraud (like fake employment creation), money laundering and corruption. There was a time when our city mayors did not matter that much. They were fundamentally ceremonial and got to prance about with a silly chain around their necks. Often, they rotated on an annual basis. But nowadays they are elected, executive leaders of widespread metropoles with massive budgets and the capacity to inflict misery on millions through exorbitant rates and minimal service delivery. This accurately reflects the fact that the English word 'mayor' is derived from the Latin 'magnus', meaning great or powerful, via the French derivation of 'maire'. (Before that, their equivalents in Britain were known as 'portreeves' … which, in my view, is a far superior name.) Stepping stone to higher office All of this is why the municipal elections at the end of next year should matter to everyone as much as, if not more than, the national ones in 2029. The candidates should be the brightest and best that parties can find, instead of burying their limited talent on the dozing backbenches of Parliament or in the Cabinet. The testing experience of being a successful mayor ideally should be a training ground and a stepping stone for national office. Helen Zille, whose zeal and attention to detail best suited her to the on-the-ground work of being Cape Town mayor for three years, is a local example of this playing out. So, to a lesser extent, is Herman Mashaba's transition from DA Joburg mayor to national shapeshifting irritant. And there are rumours, which he denies, that Hill-Lewis will take a shot at John Steenhuisen's DA leadership job next April. The ANC tends to go the other way — deploying downwards from the Cabinet to dysfunctional metropoles without any success. Maybe Parks Tau, who somehow survived five years as Johannesburg mayor from 2011 and is now an up-and-coming trade minister, can break that mould. The French provide the best example of this kind of leadership production line. Five of its last eight presidents were mayors at some point in their careers, as were 18 of the country's last 24 prime ministers. In London, there have been three mayors under the new structure. One, Boris Johnson, became prime minister. The incumbent, Sadiq Khan, is a good bet to follow him to Downing Street someday. In the US, the sanest, sharpest and most promising figure in their tainted political landscape is Pete Buttigieg, who is known as Mayor Pete because of his eight years' running the small city of South Bend, Indiana. But no mayor of a major American metropole has ever become president unless you count Grover Cleveland's brief experience in 1881 as the boss of Buffalo (and two others in the even more distant past who ran small towns). Possibly more relevant to us is Turkiye, where their authoritarian president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, first made his name as mayor of Istanbul and is now doing his best to illegitimately thwart his rising rival Ekrem Imamoglu, who is the current mayor of that fabulous city. Or Mexico, where their first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, came to everyone's attention as a savvy and strong mayor of its sprawling capital, Mexico City. There's a very strange example in the Philippines where the highly controversial Rodrigo Duterte served seven terms as a 'law and order' mayor of Davao City before becoming a wild and often lawless president, and then being arrested by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, murder, torture and rape. He is currently in detention in The Hague, awaiting trial from where, in absentia, he has successfully run once again for election as Davao City mayor. I am not claiming that being a mayor automatically ensures great national leadership skills – hello Boris! – but it is a real job affecting real people in real time. You face consequences and you get to understand the full implications of actions (or inactions) coming down to you from the national or provincial levels. If you start political life up in the rarified air of Cabinet meetings and Parliament, where the indirect tools of words, policies, legislation and budget allocations are all you have to work with, you may never really get what truly matters — which is the garbage being collected tomorrow and the potholes being filled yesterday. DM
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gay Senate candidate Chris Pappas: The government shouldn't limit trans people's health care
If U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas wins New Hampshire's open Senate seat in 2026, he will become the first out gay man ever elected to the U.S. Senate and only the third LGBTQ+ person. But Pappas, a 44-year-old Democrat now in his third term in the House of Representatives, says his campaign isn't about making history. Keep up with the latest in + news and politics. 'To me, I've never sought to make history,' he told The Advocate in an exclusive interview in his Capitol Hill office. 'That's just happened along the way while I've tried to be of use to people in New Hampshire through public service.' Still, he added, 'I do think it's a moment where we need to ensure that the community is represented in the halls of Congress.' Related: Democrat is lone LGBTQ+ vote in Congress for anti-trans national defense bill Pappas is running to succeed U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a fellow Democrat who announced she would not seek a fourth term. The race is expected to be one of the most closely watched in the country, with potential challengers including Republican former Gov. Chris Sununu and ex-Sen. Scott Brown, who previously represented Massachusetts before relocating to New Hampshire. Pappas enters the contest with the backing of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and a reputation as a seasoned campaigner who has flipped a congressional district and then defended it since. If elected, Pappas would take office in 2027 in the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term. For LGBTQ+ Americans, he said, that reality heightens the urgency of the moment. 'I've worked very closely with my colleagues in the LGBTQ Equality Caucus to help meet this extraordinary moment and make sure that we're standing up for the community and giving voice to the concerns, fears, and outrage that people have with what they see this administration doing on a day-to-day basis,' he said. A Manchester native and Harvard graduate, Pappas launched his political career at 22. He was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2002, and served in several elected offices in the state. In 2018, he became New Hampshire's first out LGBTQ+ member of Congress. He now serves as the top Democrat on the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity and is also a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member. Pappas is one of the co-chairs of the Congressional Equality Caucus and the Hellenic Caucus and is active in bipartisan mental health, addiction, and infrastructure efforts. Related: Out U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas Marries His Boyfriend Related: U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas announces Senate bidRelated: Out U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas Marries His Boyfriend Pappas says his LGBTQ+ advocacy remains central to his mission. In the House, he's co-led the Equality Act, introduced a federal ban on the gay and trans panic defense, and fought for access to Veterans Affairs benefits for LGBTQ+ veterans — including those discharged under 'don't ask, don't tell' When he's not in D.C., he said he tries to unwind with a daily run, yard work (he's notably not a plant person), or — when lucky — some time on the hiking trails back home. 'There's very little downtime,' he admitted, adding that staying active and rooted in New Hampshire helps him reset. Pappas faced backlash last year for voting in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which included a Republican-backed provision barring Tricare, the military health insurance program, from covering gender-affirming care for trans minors. Pappas was the only LGBTQ+ member of Congress to support the final bill. 'Look, that was not an easy vote,' he told The Advocate. 'I made clear at the moment that I opposed the specific provision that targeted trans individuals in the NDAA. I believe that people should be able to access health care that's between families and their doctors, and that the government doesn't have a role to play.' He cited essential investments in defense and district priorities, including support for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which employs thousands of civilian workers. Still, he said, 'I regret that through the negotiations between the House and Senate last year, that we weren't able to have the kind of traditional process that we need on bills like that, which keeps out any amendments that are dealing with issues that are not at the core of our national security.' Related: Gay Democratic reps demand Pentagon resolve cases of 'don't ask, don't tell' dishonorable discharges Since then, Pappas has affirmed his support for trans rights and the right to medical care without political interference. 'I just am really committed to doing what I can to make sure we bring this nation closer to the promise of its founding for everyone,' Pappas said. 'That includes the trans community, which I know is under a great threat and attack from the White House to state capitals across our country, and I want to continue to engage with community members and make sure that they feel heard.' Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) talks to members of the press on November 8, 2022 in Manchester, New threat Pappas described is not theoretical. Since returning to office in January, Trump has issued sweeping executive orders aimed at erasing transgender people from federal policy. His first major directive redefined sex under federal law as immutable and binary — male or female, assigned at birth — eliminating recognition of gender identity across the U.S. government. Federal agencies have begun rewriting regulations to remove references to gender identity. Social security records, passports, and other identification documents must now reflect a person's sex assigned at birth. Trans women are being forced into men's prisons. Schools and shelters are no longer required to accommodate trans students or residents. Federally funded health care programs, including Medicaid and the VA, are barred from covering or providing gender-affirming care. Major U.S. medical associations have condemned the Trump administration's moves as dangerous, unscientific, and discriminatory. 'This administration continues to pursue efforts to deny people health care,' Pappas said. 'We've got to be willing to meet this moment and make sure there's no discrimination — whether that's in the military or public spaces.' He added, 'Whether it's the military ban which this administration continues to pursue or other efforts to deny people health care, I think there's a way for us to focus Americans' attention on how we include everyone because I think that generally has broad support. People want their neighbors to be able to live their own lives and be themselves and have the protection of the law." In May, Pappas joined more than 100 House Democrats in demanding that the Trump administration reverse its plan to eliminate LGBTQ+-specific services from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The specialized line for LGBTQ+ youth has fielded more than 1.3 million contacts since 2022. 'Ending this mental health support for youth in distress would devastate a vital resource for some of our nation's most vulnerable young people,' he and his colleagues wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Trump. The letter called the proposed cut 'shortsighted and dangerous,' warning that it would 'undermine suicide prevention efforts that have already saved countless lives.' Pappas said the erosion of civil rights is part of a broader unraveling of constitutional norms under Trump's second term. 'Our constitutional principles cannot be inconveniences,' he said. 'They can't be mere suggestions. They have to be bedrock principles that all Americans are willing to rally behind.' 'We are a nation of laws. No one is above the law, including the President of the United States.' Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., speaks during a House Democrats news conference on Friday, Sept. 27, 2019. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images He said bipartisan concern about democratic backsliding exists even in New Hampshire. 'I talk to conservative people who share the same beliefs as progressives about the nature of what we've been given in this country,' he said. 'We have to make sure that our democracy continues to stand the test.' That divide, he noted, is just as stark inside the Capitol. 'You quickly learn that some people in this building are serious legislators and others aren't,' he said. 'And frankly, Marjorie Taylor Greene and the kind of people that use the rhetoric that she does are not serious legislators.' He added: 'They just want to throw bombs and try to throw sand in the gears of the ability of Congress to work and make things happen.' Pappas married his husband, Vann Bentley, in 2023. But he said Justice Clarence Thomas's call to revisit past rulings in his Dobbs concurrence — including Obergefell — should be taken seriously. 'What Thomas has laid out is a roadmap for how the far right is going to continue to attack reproductive rights and get at the right to privacy, which is well established by the court,' he said. 'That intersects with the way all of us live our lives — who we are, the protections that exist in statute and constitutionally.' 'I'm from a state that cherishes liberty and freedom,' he said. 'They want to make sure that the government is not in your bedroom, is not interfering with how you live your life.' Pappas came out in college with the support of his parents. 'They were unequivocal in terms of their love and support for me,' he recalled. But even with that foundation, the journey wasn't easy. 'To that younger self, I would say: There's a place for you,' he said. 'You'll be able to find a loving relationship, and really, you'll be able to get everything you want to get out of life.' For LGBTQ+ youth watching today's political climate with fear or dismay, he had a message: 'We've got to take democracy into our own hands,' he said. 'Especially for people of a younger generation, they're going to be dealing with the consequences of the decisions that are being made far longer than me or anyone else here in Washington.'
Fox News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Journalist turned potential House candidate says fellow Democrats 'keep losing' by failing working class
EXCLUSIVE – A seasoned reporter and self-described lifelong Democrat was so fed up by her party's failures with the working class that she's considering jumping into the fray herself. Hanna Trudo, a former reporter for The Hill who's also made stops at such sites as The Daily Beast, Wired, The New Republic and Politico, is mulling a run for the First Congressional District in her home state of New Hampshire. The seat, currently occupied by Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., is opening up next year as Pappas runs for U.S. Senate to replace outgoing Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Trudo, a fourth-generation, millennial New Hampshire native, has reported extensively on the Democratic Party's left flank during her journalism career. And to hear her put it, she's gotten tired of them not delivering for a base of voters that started flocking to President Donald Trump over the past decade. "I've been a lifelong Democrat, but being from New Hampshire, from a working-class family, a lot of the issues that I've reported on over the years in terms of the progressive wing of the party, and even the centrists and the moderates, it's oftentimes a failure in my view to address the needs of working-class people," she told Fox News Digital. "And so when we wonder why Democrats keep losing, to me, the answers are sort of obvious. When you're not able to deliver on what people are asking you to deliver on, you lose." Trudo, who's been in journalism since 2012, said she was considering leaving the profession even before Trump was re-elected last year. The president's win, buoyed by his continued strength with working-class voters flocking to Republicans, crystallized to Democrats like Trudo that her party's leadership had become hopelessly out of touch. "There's a big disconnect from the D.C. punditry that I've seen and observed up close, and the strategist and the consultant class and the donor class, to what actual Democrats, working-class people, of all parties, frankly, what they want," she said. Trudo is the latest mainstream media figure who's gotten wrapped up in Democratic Party politics. CNN's John Avlon lost his bid for Congress as a Democrat in New York in 2024, and ex-ABC News analyst Matthew Dowd launched an ill-fated campaign for Lieutenant Governor as a Democrat in Texas in 2021. Former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera ran an unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2020, and President Barack Obama's second press secretary was longtime Time Magazine editor Jay Carney. Last year, former NPR editor Uri Berliner revealed he found in 2021 that registered Democrats outnumbered registered Republicans 87 to zero in the outlet's Washington office. "I think we're kidding ourselves if we don't come to the table with our own biases," Trudo said about being a journalist with strong political opinions. "My bias has always been not necessarily towards Democrats, but towards the working-class issues, which Democrats, in terms of what I've covered, have been the ones talking about these things as long as I've been in journalism. So to me, it's always been sort of prioritizing that." Asked by Fox News Digital if Americans concerned about liberal media bias had a point, Trudo said it was a good question. "I've debated it a lot over the years," she said. "I do think we have to be really careful. And not so much left versus right. I do think we have to be on the side of truth. And maybe that sounds cliché, but I genuinely believe that. I think we have to be able to call out things as true, period." Trudo, an admirer of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called him the Democratic Party's current leader last month. She noted his and Ocasio-Cortez's headline-grabbing "Fighting Oligarchy" tour is the kind of proactive politics that's capturing the angry mood of the country. However, Trudo, who has no set timeline for when she'll decide about running for Congress, bristled at the "Democratic socialist" label for herself, saying she prefers "working-class Democrat" who embraces economic populism. Sanders won the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primaries in New Hampshire, the former in a landslide over Hillary Clinton that served as notice that his far-left populism resonated with the grassroots. The state, which has one of the country's highest-percentage White populations, is known for its fiscal conservatism and social liberalism that can make it difficult to pigeon-hole politically. Trump lost New Hampshire all three times he ran for the White House, and it sports two Democratic U.S. Senators, but the state's current governor is Republican Kelly Ayotte and the GOP controls the legislature. "I think in New Hampshire in particular, there's sort of this disconnect between the leaders that we elect within the party and the actual mood of the people," Trudo said. "It's always kind of interesting to see this pull towards the middle or towards the centrist approach in a state whose motto is quite literally 'Live Free or Die.'" Trudo said she's worried most about social programs like Medicaid and Social Security being under attack by Republicans and wants Democrats to pursue economic populism to regain credibility with voters. "They hear platitudes," she said. "They hear working across the aisle… I've covered Congress, I've covered Democrats for 10 years professionally. So I'm very well aware of the sort of electoral calculations that come into play when we talk about these kinds of things. But I think it's going to take someone who's not beholden to the inter-party dialog, because so often that has failed. It's definitely failed people here." As she mulls jumping into the race officially, Democrats are going through a wrenching period as reports of a White House cover-up of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline in office dominate headlines. Meanwhile, Trump is more accessible to the media than ever, while also antagonizing the press at every opportunity. While critical of Trump over his anti-media rhetoric, Trudo said she applauds accessibility, and she'll talk to anybody to get her message out, something she feels her fellow Democrats have been too scared to do. "I think we see a big part of the problem with Democrats is that closed-off mentality," she told Fox News Digital. "People go in very rehearsed to interviews. They have specific sound bites that they want to get their point across. They don't want to say anything controversial or off the cuff. And it's alienated a lot of people in the party." A day after she spoke with Fox News Digital, the conservative Ruthless Podcast accused Trudo of "ghosting" them on an interview after she'd offered in an X post on May 5 to speak to the hosts. The show's hosts said they reached out multiple times after her public offer to come on the program, and she ignored them. "Like most politicians, she's saying one thing and doing another. We have many questions and plan to keep asking until the truth is revealed," Ruthless co-host John Ashbrook told Fox News Digital. Trudo didn't immediately respond to a request for additional comment.
Miami Herald
10-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Popular Tex-Mex Chain's Fate Revealed After Bankruptcy Filing
On the Border's fate following the popular eatery's bankruptcy declaration has finally been revealed. Pending court approval, Pappas Restaurants-which operates Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen, Pappasito's Cantina, Pappas Bar-B-Q and Pappas Bros. Steakhouse-has been selected to acquire the flailing chain of Tex-Mex restaurants, the restaurant group has announced. "We're excited to welcome On The Border to the Pappas family," Mike Rizzo, CEO of Pappas Restaurants, said in a statement. "On The Border is a brand with deep heritage and loyal guests, and we see tremendous opportunity to invest in its future. Our shared Texas roots and passion for hospitality make this a natural fit." It sounds like Pappas plans to maintain On the Border's original iconic and recognizable branding, with plans to "strengthen and modernize" On The Border locations" existing locations, with the announcement promising that "Pappas Restaurants will explore ways to enhance On The Border's menu, operations, and guest experience while honoring the brand's history and fan-favorite offerings." "On The Border has always stood out for its energy and bold flavors-it's a brand we've known and respected for years," Chris Pappas, co-owner of Pappas Restaurants, added. "This gives us the chance to bring our passion for Tex-Mex to more guests, and we're excited to build on what makes both brands special." The Atlanta-based Mexican grill & cantina filed for bankruptcy protections back in March, citing "inflation" and "changing customer behavior" as causes of the impending bankruptcy filing. Before that original protection request, the chain had already closed 40 locations, with 60 remaining across 18 states, plus 20 additional franchisee locations in the United States and South Korea. That's down from 150 locations at its peak. Next: American McDonald's Fans Can't Decide if They're 'Jealous' or 'Disgusted' Over International McFlurry Release Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
