Jeff Sessions.

All the Jeff's I've known have been good guys so it's a shame he broke the streak.  Let's just call him Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III which is the appropriate name for a man who may as well be a re-incarnated Southern Plantation owner.

He is not a nice man. He's the worst Attorney General we've had since John Ashcroft.  He's sort of like if John Ashcroft was racist and wanted to repeal the Voting Rights Act.

Now that I mention it, I wish I'd thrown in some concerns about Jefferson's opinions on the Voters Rights Act to the huge laundry list letter I just wrote to Senator Dean Heller.

I believe I will write one to my other Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. Unfortunately I can't copy and paste the two because they come from two very different places.  I usually don't have to prod Ms Masto to do the right thing because so far she's been great. The letter to her will be because we need her to speak out. She is a former Attorney General herself and is uniquely qualified to challenge what Mr. Sessions is doing


My primary concern is Sessions recusing himself from the investigation into the Trump-Russian connection.

If Loretta Lynch had to recuse herself from Hillary's investigation because Bill chased her down to talk to her on an airplance (which was stupid) then no one in their right mind could think Jefferson Sessions is the one who should be heading up this investigation

Neither should James Comey for that matter, but that argument is harder to make.   Really what we need is a Bi/Non Partisan commission to investigate this.

Sessions has done 3 other things to piss me off in the last 24 hours

Starting with rescinding the protections on Transgender kids (showing himself to be a bully just like his boss), continuing with Sean Spicer announcing that he's going to escalate the Drug war by overruling the states that have legalized Marijuana, and conveniently capping that off by rescinding Obamas order to limit the growth of Private Prisons.

Gotta have somewhere to put all those potheads and immigrants he's gonna lock up.

Anyway, this guy is the worst and I needed to vent about him to someone.  And who better than our local "I'll have a town hall if you promise not to boo" Republican Senator Dean Heller to receive the brunt of it.

I know this letter is unfocused and addresses too many things at once, but so is the Trump administration. I'm not writing a seperate letter for each issue. (Yet).  My biggest concern is Sessions burying the Russia investigation, but I'm also fearful of what else he has in store for us.

This just seems like the tip of the iceberg and our Senators need to speak out against him before it gets worse. And if we don't find a way to Watergate Trump and get him out of there soon, it's gonna get worse.

See below

Dear Senator Heller,

I am writing you today because I am highly alarmed by the actions of our new Attorney General Jeff Sessions and because as your constituent I need you to speak out on our behalf.

First and foremost I respectfully ask that you respectfully ask Mr. Sessions to recuse himself from any investigations into contacts between the Trump Campaign and the Russian Government and that you add your voice alongside voices like Senator Susan Collins who are demanding a Non/Bi-Partisan Independent investigation into this issue.

I don't question the legitimacy of Trump's election but I am concerned over Intelligence findings that Russia attempted to intervene on his behalf. I am concerned because there have been allegation that the Trump Campaign and possibly Trump himself was colluding with the Putin regime on this.  I am further concerned that President Trump may be compromised and considering Russia's known animosity towards our Government, I feel this is an issue of National Security that should concern every American regardless of party.

Mr. Sessions was a prominent surrogate for Mr. Trump's campaign and can hardly claim impartiality in investigating his own Boss.

When Bill Clinton foolishly flagged down AG Loretta Lynch's plane on the tarmac at the Phoenix Airport she was forced to recuse herself from the investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails.  I agree with that decision and see no reason why AG Sessions shouldn't do the same.

My concerns over Jeff Sessions have amplified over the past 24 hours due to a series of highly partisan decisions/opinions he has expressed that give me little hope that he will be a fair and just Attorney General.

In the past 24 hours he has reversed Barack Obama's Executive Orders protecting Transgender students and limiting the growth of Private Prisons. In addition, Press Secretary Sean Spicer has indicated that Mr. Sessions intends to override the voters in states where Recreational Marijuana has been legalized.

President Trump and AG Sessions feel as though the issue regarding the rights of Transgender students is best left up to the States. However, the rights of states to allow Marijuana use is apparently not allowed.  I can't help but feel as though States Rights are only important if they involve Conservative causes.

In fact, the Conservative Principle opposing Federal Overreach seems to mean nothing to this administration. Our state and others voted for Recreational Marijuana. Many cities are designated as "Sanctuary Cities" because it allows the Undocumented to cooperate in police investigations as witnesses or as victims.  

However, Jeff Session and Donald Trump seem to care nothing about states and cities rights. They will send in Federal Agents to arrest people for whatever they want to. President Trump even threatened to send in Federal Agents (or troops?) to Chicago to lower their murder rate.  I have no idea what his exact plans were (I doubt he does either) because it was an angry tweet he fired off.

I can't help but think their wanting to expand Private Prisons rather than increase them. along with their wanting to step up enforcement on minor drug crimes and broaden the scope of undocumented immigrants to target, is no coincidence.

What Jeff Sessions and Donald Trump are proposing is a return to Mass Incarceration. I don't know if you've ever known anyone who's been incarcerated Mr. Heller but it is hell. Incarceration rips apart families, destroys people's careers/futures and puts people on the path of being Career Criminals due to the people they meet on the inside and the resentment that forms towards society as a whole.

Our rate of incarceration is the highest in the Free World.  This is not something to be proud of.

I ask you to please tell Jeff Sessions to back off of this push to revive the Private Prison Industry and to escalate the Drug War. I also ask you to please ask him to recuse himself from the Russia investigations.

You have a voice Senator, but no one ever hears it. You are courteous enough to send me back form letters when I write to you which is more than I can say for my Congressman Amodei. But I never hear about you taking a stand on anything in contrast to your party.  At least not since Trump has been elected, I know you've done so in the past.

I hear about Senators like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, John McCain and Lindsey Graham taking principled stands and putting country over party but I don't hear it from you. 

I'm not asking you to become a Democrat. None of the Senators I just mentioned are particularly Liberal. They vote with the party a lot of the time. 

I'm asking you to do what's right. In your heart you have to know that Jeff Sessions is not unbiased when it comes to any investigation that could spell trouble for his Boss who he campaigned fervently for.

I don't know how you feel about Mass Incarceration and Legalization of Marijuana but at the very least I hope you can see how this violates the Conservative principle of an intrusive Federal Government.

Our state voted to Legalize Marijuana. I don't use Marijuana but have been around it enough to know it's about as dangerous as a Girl who was born a Boy using the Girls room at school.   That is to say, it's an imagined threat that is all hype.

Governor Sandoval opposed the legislation. However to his credit he respected the will of the voters and used the decision to impose taxes that will help fund our schools, roads and other functions of our Government.

As you know, ours is a state without an income tax. As a result our budget is tighter than many other states. What the Attorney General is threatening to do is going to lead to a huge budget shortfall because Governor Sandoval has already worked the estimated taxes from Marijuana sales into our budget.

I could also point out that the Governor let go 100 Plus Mental Health Workers to trim the budget because people can now get Mental Health coverage through the Affordable Care Act, which is going to be on your head if you go along with plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  But that's a topic for another letter.


Senator, I do appreciate that you respond to my letters. I am disapointed that you voted for Jeff Sessions' confirmation, but it happened. Now that he's there, I hope you will hold him accountable.

I know this is a long letter, I will print this out and mail it to your offices in Reno and Washington DC because I want you to read this and take it to heart.

Thank you for your service. I know you get a lot of letters and calls these days but I hope you understand why this is happening. The election of Trump has awakened the American people.   Nevada went Blue last election. The more you continue to go along with Trump, the worse your chances are for re-election. That's the reality of things sir.

Sincerely,

Mike Jones