Politico Influence: Geoff Holtzman joins REFORM Alliance

Geoff Holtzman has joined REFORM Alliance, the criminal justice reform group launched by recording artist Meek Mill and CNN contributor Van Jones, among others, as communications director. He previously was communications director at Charles Koch-backed Stand Together.

Link to full article: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2020/02/19/crapo-aide-heads-to-k-street-785533

Denver Post: Just how far should Colorado go to lure Amazon’s HQ2? Debate over incentives, transparency intensifies.

Any amount is too much, said Geoff Holtzman, who is with the Koch family funded Generation Opportunity. The conservative political group, representing millennials, this week launched a social-media campaign to oppose such corporate deals.

 “Americans, especially young people, believe in the concept of fairness, and there is really nothing fair when you have cities and states conducting shady deals in darkness and giving money to a corporation that doesn’t need the help,” Holtzman said.

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Washington Post: Conservatives say Trump's plans to roll back Obamacare aren't enough for them

An executive order just doesn’t satisfy conservatives’ enduring hunger for total elimination of the ACA, a task that appears impossible with the slim 52-48 GOP Senate majority.

 “At the end of the day there’s no substitute for legislation, so we still believe for Congress a top priority should be to repeal Obamacare,” said Geoff Holtzman of Freedom Partners, a group funded by the Koch brothers network.

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Washington Examiner: Freedom Partners urges Price to make regulatory changes to Obamacare.

In a blog post, spokesman Geoff Holtzman pointed out that the Department of Health and Human Services secretary has enforcement discretion over 1,440 of the law’s regulations.

He encouraged allowing states to have more flexibility on the type of health insurance that is sold and through the use of waivers that allow them to craft their own plans. He also suggested allowing people to buy short-term insurance plans for a longer period of time, which could be accomplished by altering an Obama-era regulation that capped them at three months.

The group advocates on behalf of conservative principles and is funded by the Koch brothers.

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National Review: Hillary’s System Probably Let Obama’s E-Mails Get Hacked. Probably.

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Op-Ed: Yes, college athletes should be paid, but not as employees

The truth is I do support the premise that college athletes should be compensated. But the how is important.

Under the collective bargaining model, should the backup kicker who rarely ever plays be eligible to earn the same benefits package that the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback receives? Of course not, that would be absurd. Should schools be able to fire student athletes who don’t reach their potential on the field? That wouldn’t seem right to me.

Yet, if a school strikes gold by inking a lucrative broadcast agreement made possible only by its star-studded football roster, or if it rakes in cash by selling jerseys with those students’ numbers on the back, don’t the schools then owe it to their players? If the NCAA hauls in millions by licensing video games that feature those students’ likenesses, then maybe those athletes ought to see a little slice of the pie.

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Op-Ed: Why Obama shares blame for blocking immigration reform

That potential scenario explains why Obama might be making a giant mistake by not considering the Republican proposal. It’s a likely win-win for him. By embracing the plan he would force Republican leaders into doing one of two things: either they’d stand by their principles and work with Democrats to pass a bill that would bring millions of immigrants out of the so-called shadows of society, or they’d risk further alienating the growing illegal immigrant community by walking away from the table.

Instead, it looks like the president will continue running the same play he’s been calling for years, which is to tell Republicans it’s my way or the highway. That might score him a few political points in the short-term, but it won’t do anything to get GOP lawmakers to negotiate with him, and it certainly won’t solve the broader problem in the long-run.

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Fox News appearance: Media giving Obama a free pass on Syria?

Fox News appearance: More federal regulation of the cruise industry?

My debut on FNC's "America's News HQ".

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Fox News appearance: How the media covered Benghazi

I appeared on FNC's 'News Watch' to discuss the media's coverage of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

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Fox News appearance: Reid attacks Romney

I appeared on FNC's 'News Watch' to talk about Harry Reid's attack on Mitt Romney's taxes.

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NPR features my pool report on President Obama in Hurricane Sandy story

President Obama made an impromptu visit to the headquarters of the American Red Cross in Washington. According to a pool report, Obama spoke at a podium in a conference room, where he was flanked by Red Cross employees.

He praised the Red Cross and state and local officials for their response to Sand.

The pooler, Geoff Holtzman, adds:

"POTUS urged government response officials to cut through bureaucracy and red tape to get assistance to states and localities as quickly as possible. He also slipped in a campaign slogan by telling officials to 'lean forward' to help those in need. He ignored a shouted question at the end about when he'll resume campaigning. He could be heard joking with employees afterwards to 'get back to work.'"

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Politico Playbook covers my wedding!

WEEKEND WEDDING: Geoff Holtzman, the deputy bureau chief of Talk Radio News Service, married his longtime girlfriend, Jaime Stanton, during a ceremony in Arlington on Saturday. Among the guests were Ellen Ratner, lead of TRNS; Justin Duckham, TRNS Washington correspondent; and former Bush official Mark Pfeifle.

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