Thirty-one Calgary election candidates fail to file financial disclosures

The highest-profile candidate on the list was Brad Field, who finished fourth in the mayoral race

Author of the article: Jason Herring
Publishing date: Apr 10, 2022 • 

Calgary City Hall was photographed on Monday, November 22, 2021. 

PHOTO BY AZIN GHAFFARI/POSTMEDIA

More than two dozen Calgarians who ran for office in last fall’s civic election will face sanctions for failing to disclose their campaign donations.

In a report to city council, Elections Calgary published the names of 31 council hopefuls who did not file a disclosure of their election finances and contributions by deadlines set out in provincial legislation.

Candidates were required to file disclosures by March 1 or face a $500 late penalty. Those who still didn’t file by March 11 were named in the report to council, and are now ineligible to run in the 2025 election. Those who don’t file at all will also be barred from running in the 2029 election.

The absence of financial disclosures means Calgarians aren’t able to see how much money these candidates raised, how they spent it and who donated to them.

None of the candidates who failed to file their disclosures won office, and the vast majority finished with only a small share of the vote. The list of non-disclosures includes four candidates who had withdrawn their candidacy and did not appear on the ballot.

The highest-profile candidate on the list was Brad Field. He finished fourth in the mayoral race, behind front-runners Jyoti Gondek, Jeromy Farkas and Jeff Davison, and finished with just under five per cent of the vote share. Field did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Among others who failed to file are Ward 1 runner-up Steve Webb and prominent anti-vaxxer Kevin J. Johnston, who was arrested in the United States in January. Johnston, a fringe candidate in the mayoral race, was sentenced to time served last month for his attempt to flee Canada after failing to show up to complete a weekends-only jail term related to ignoring orders he comply with COVID-19 restrictions.

Election spending and donation disclosures from candidates who did file revealed an election characterized by high spending, particularly among candidates vying for the mayor’s chair.

Farkas ran up the largest bill, spending $821,241 en route to a second-place finish in the mayoral race. Gondek, who won the office, spent $633,342, and Davison spent $359,545 in finishing in a distant third.

Jan Damery, the fifth-place finisher, spent $437,083 on her campaign, racking up a nearly $100,000 deficit when compared to funds raised.

Among all councillors, Ward 9 candidate Gian-Carlo Carra spent the most, dropping $201,345 on his successful re-election bid.

Candidate financial disclosures can be viewed online via calgary.ca/election.

Prominent Hong Kong journalist Allan Au reportedly held on sedition charge

Reporter and lecturer’s arrest in dawn raid another blow to city’s press amid Beijing crackdown

Police stand guard outside the Stand News office building in Hong Kong during a raid by police in December. Former columnist Allan Au has reportedly been arrested on a sedition charge. Photograph: Vernon Yuen/Rex/Shutterstock


Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong
Mon 11 Apr 2022

A veteran Hong Kong journalist has been arrested by national security police for allegedly conspiring to publish “seditious materials”, a police source and local media said, in the latest blow against press freedom.

Allan Au, a 54-year-old reporter and journalism lecturer, was arrested in a dawn raid on Monday by Hong Kong’s national security police unit, multiple local media outlets reported.

A senior police source confirmed Au’s arrest on a charge of “conspiracy to publish seditious materials”. Police have yet to release an official statement.


Hong Kong democracy and media freedom has ‘entered endgame’

Au was a former columnist for Stand News, an online news platform that was shuttered last December after authorities froze the company’s assets using a national security law.

Two other senior employees of Stand News have already been charged with sedition.

National security charges have also been brought against jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six former senior executives of Apple Daily.

Once Hong Kong’s most popular tabloid, Apple Daily collapsed last year when its newsroom was raided and assets were frozen under the security law.

Soon after Stand News was shut down, Au began to write “good morning” each day on his Facebook to confirm his safety. One of the city’s most experienced local columnists, he was a Knight fellow at Stanford University in 2005 and earned a doctorate from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2017 Au published a book about censorship in Hong Kong titled Freedom Under 20 Shades of Shadow. Au spent more than a decade working for RTHK, Hong Kong’s government broadcaster, running a current affairs show.

But he was axed last year after the authorities declared a shake-up that began transforming the once editorially independent broadcaster into something more resembling Chinese state media.


Ronson Chan: the former Hong Kong editor who is now a delivery driver

Introduced by colonial ruler Britain in 1938, sedition was long criticised as an anti-free speech law, including by many of the pro-Beijing local newspapers now praising its use.

By the time of the 1997 handover, it had not been used for decades but remained on the books. It was used by police and prosecutors in the wake of huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Over the past two years sedition has been wielded against journalists, unionists, activists, a former pop star and ordinary citizens, leading the city’s media-freedom rating to plummet.

Sedition is currently separate from the sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020. However, the courts treat it as a national security offence, which means that bail is often denied for those charged.

Next month Hong Kong is expected to get a new Beijing-anointed leader, former security chief John Lee, who oversaw the police response to the 2019 democracy protests and subsequent crackdown.

Asked on Monday whether Au’s arrest would worsen press freedom, Lee declined to comment, saying all investigations should be carried out independently.

The super-rich
Name the eight oligarchs given ‘golden visas’, demands Labour

Exclusive: Call for Priti Patel to name the Russians on sanctions list and publish report on defunct visa purchase scheme

About 3,000 millionaires bought the ‘golden visas’ from 2008 to 2015, more than 700 of whom were Russians. 

Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA


Jasper Jolly
THE GUARDIAN 

Sun 10 Apr 2022 12.00 BST

The government is facing fresh calls to reveal the identities of eight sanctioned Russian oligarchs who were allowed to buy “golden visas” to live in the UK.

Stephen Kinnock, the shadow minister for immigration, is demanding that the home secretary, Priti Patel, name the eight Russians on the sanctions list and publish a long-withheld report on the now scrapped visa purchase programme.

The government closed the “tier 1 investor visa” scheme in February as diplomatic relations with Russia came under severe strain. A week later, Russia invaded Ukraine, prompting the US, EU and UK to impose sanctions on many of Russia’s richest people to try to put pressure on Putin’s regime.
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Those on the sanctions list include Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea FC; Alisher Usmanov, the steel and mining magnate described by the EU as one of Putin’s “favourite oligarchs”; and Andrey Guryev Jr, whose family reportedly owns Witanhurst, a mansion in Highgate, north London, that is London’s second largest home after Buckingham Palace.

Critics had long warned that the golden visa scheme, under which the super-rich could essentially buy the right to reside in the UK, was open to abuse. The scheme allowed people with at least £2m in investment funds and a UK bank account to apply for residency rights, along with their family.

The Home Office last month committed to publishing a 2018 report on golden visas that covered the period from their introduction in 2008 by the Labour government up to 2015. The government has not said when it will do so.

During that period few if any checks were carried out on applicants, in what the campaign group Spotlight on Corruption described as a “red carpet for dirty money”. About 3,000 millionaires bought the visas during that time, more than 700 of whom were Russians.

In the letter to Patel, seen by the Guardian, Kinnock wrote: “By failing to be transparent about the contents of report the government is likely to raise public suspicion, and that this will in turn erode trust in government and politics more widely.

“It is simply not enough that the scheme is now closed and a small number of oligarchs sanctioned; politicians and the public alike must be able to understand the findings of the report and learn the lessons.”

The closure of the scheme in February was welcomed across parliament, although MPs have expressed security concerns related to those granted the visas. Spotlight on Corruption said last year that 6,312 golden visas – half of all such visas ever issued – were being reviewed for possible national security risks.

The Home Office said: “Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the government moved quickly to sanction those linked to the Putin regime and to ensure that there is no safe haven in the UK for his allies to hide their dirty money.

“The New Economic Act, which received royal assent after an expedited passage through parliament, delivers a package of measures to bring tougher sanctions against those who facilitate illicit finance in the UK and empowers law enforcement to investigate entities who do not comply. As part of the Act, a new register of overseas entities also compels faceless foreign companies who own UK property to reveal their identities.”

IT'S A COVEN

These are the 12 most powerful OLD MEN  people in China you've probably never heard of

Cheryl Teh
Sun, April 10, 2022

From Left to Right: Pony Ma, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Huning, Wang Yang, Han Zheng, Xi Jinping, Colin Huang Zheng, Wang Qishan, Zhao Leji, Zhang Yiming, Zhong Shanshan, Zeng YuqunVCG/Getty; Ding Lin/Xinhua/Getty; Yan Yan/Xinhua/Getty; Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty; Rao Aimin/Xinhua/Getty; Ding Haitao/Xinhua/Getty; Ju Peng/Xinhua/Getty; Pang Xinglei/Xinhua/Getty; Ding Haitao/Xinhua/Getty; Rebecca Zisser/InsiderMore

In the chess game of Chinese politics, it's not always clear who pulls the strings. Here are the 12 most influential people who hold the fate — and might — of a country of 1.4 billion people in their hands.

You may not have heard the name Li Keqiang before — but you likely soon will.

That's because when the Chinese premier steps down from power in March 2023, a decision he confirmed in March, it will trigger a significant reshuffle in the upper echelons of the Chinese government. In a country where the succession of power has happened both slowly and deliberately, Li's retirement could kick off a fundamental shift in roles among China's most powerful government body — the Politburo Standing Committee — and lead to further consolidation of power under Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The nexus of China's elite is often obscured by what appears to be the overwhelming control and centralization of power in Xi's hands. Having removed constitutional term limits on his role, Xi has positioned himself as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. He may now rule for life and continue regulating the country of 1.4 billion people with a tight grip on military reform, cybersecurity, and internet censorship.

Xi, the 68-year-old twice-married supreme leader, served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chair of the Central Military Commission before becoming president in 2013. Xi is among China's famed "princelings" — the descendants of prominent Communist Party officials who represent a powerful government faction.

But while his princeling status — being the son of revolutionary Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun — may have helped get him to power, Xi has maintained his leadership role only by closely monitoring his inner circle and regularly shaking up the status quo.

That tendency has proven dangerous for lifelong Chinese bureaucrats who get too comfortable in the bosom of the autocracy. Take former security chief Zhou Yongkang, prominent politician Bo Xilai, and Chongqing communist party chief Sun Zhengcai, for instance, all of whom were purged from the upper ranks of the Party during Xi's reign.
China's impenetrable black box of power

Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping sits securely at the nexus of power in China. But the men who surround him also wield immense political clout.Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via Getty Images
Given the heavy censorship and control over state-linked media outlets in the country — it's nearly impossible to know what's really happening in China's halls of power.

Observers have intently watched China's displays of strength at its military parades; looked into the tea leaves to predict China's line of succession post-Xi; and scrutinized seating charts to suss out government officials' proximity to the pinnacle of power.

"What people really think is opaque beneath the chess game that they play. And the chess game itself goes on inside a highly impenetrable black box," Perry Link, an emeritus professor of East Asian studies at Princeton University, told CNN.

Experts told Insider the Politburo — the highest decision-making body of the Chinese Communist Party — and its top members are the ones who are really in control in the country, despite the clout that high-profile Chinese billionaires seem to hold.

"The government campaigns over the last year — whether focused on celebrities or education tutoring companies — demonstrate the Chinese Party-state is the final arbiter of power. Companies or individuals who seemingly rise too high and supersede the power and/or authority of the Party-state will be subjected to some form of punishment," Jennifer Hsu, a researcher of public opinion and foreign policy at the Lowy Institute, told Insider.

Perhaps no one knows that better than Jack Ma.

Ma, the founder of e-commerce and tech company Alibaba, enjoyed a charmed life of high-profile appearances and an overflowing bank account — Ma was reportedly worth $62 billion in 2020 at the height of his power, making him the richest man in China.

But in October 2020, he criticized China's financial regulatory system, suggesting that Chinese banks were crawling along behind the times, continuing to follow global rules that are part of "an old people's club."

Then Ma disappeared.

Some believed he'd been spirited away by the Chinese government to a detention camp. Others assumed he was deliberately lying low.

Ma finally surfaced — much-chastened — in early 2021. China had opened an antitrust investigation into Alibaba and shut down Ma's plans for an Ant Group IPO. It was a potent reminder that while it's possible to reap huge financial rewards as a business leader in China, the CCP still wields the ultimate power.

"Of course, they have huge resources and 'soft power' that comes from being admired as business executives. But in the end, the Party can influence them to do what they want — it doesn't really work the other way round," Rana Mitter, a professor of history and modern Chinese politics at Oxford, told Insider.

We took a peek into Xi's inner circle and narrowed down the list of the top 12 most influential people surrounding Xi Jinping. We spoke to experts who told us more about the inner workings of the Communist Party, what true power means in China, and who wields it.
Xi's inner circle — the Politburo Standing Committee and his vice president, Wang Qishan — call all the shots

An image of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the Politburo Standing Committee
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) arrives with Premier Li Keqiang (L) and members of the Politburo Standing Committee for a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on the eve of China's National Day on September 30, 2021.

Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

The CCP formed the first Politburo Standing Committee in July 1928. It comprised the top members of the Chinese government — including the future Chairman Mao, who became the Chinese leader in 1949. The contemporary Politburo is now thought to be handpicked by outgoing Standing Committee members in consultation with retired top leaders and previous standing committee members.

The Communist Party's central committee holds closed-door meetings to choose its 25-member Politburo — and within that number is the exclusive Politburo Standing Committee. It comprises Xi and six others who meet and operate largely in secrecy.

The latest reshuffle of the Politburo Standing Committee occurred in 2017 when five new members— Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, and Han Zheng — were promoted to the committee. But given that these men are all 65 and older and either close to or long past the retirement age of 67, there appears to be no clear succession plan for Xi, who has all but paved the way to break with tradition and grant himself a third term.

Xi is also flanked by his vice president, Wang Qishan, who has known the Chinese leader since the two were teens. While Wang is not part of the PSC, he also wields a fair amount of power due to his proximity to Xi.

Whether there will be further changes to the political landscape, and whether Xi will elect more members of allegiant factions, will be decided in the fall of 2022, when the 20th Party Congress commences.

In the meantime, political power under Xi remains consolidated among the following men:

Wang Qishan serves as vice president under Xi and is considered one of China's most potent 'princelings'



Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan is one of Xi's key allies, and met the Chinese leader when they were teens.Pang Xinglei/Xinhua via Getty Images

China's Vice President Wang Qishan, 73, is Xi's right-hand man. Before Xi came to power, Wang was known as a princeling politician by marriage, rising in prominence in the CCP partly because of his marriage to the daughter of former executive vice-premier Yao Yilin.

Ties to Xi: The son of an engineering professor, Wang met and befriended the then 15-year-old Xi when the pair were assigned manual labor roles in a farming community near Yan'an, Shaanxi province, during the Cultural Revolution. Wang later joined the CCP in 1983 and rose to become a ranking member of the Politburo in 2007, helping to front China's trade talks with the US.

Wang also helped helm Xi's pet project, an anti-corruption purge of tens of thousands of prominent Chinese officials that kicked off in 2013. Wang, a long-standing ally of Xi's, reportedly helped the Chinese leader purge their rivals, using the anti-corruption campaign as a tool.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wang is a big fan of the Netflix series "House of Cards."

Victor Shih, an expert in China and Pacific relations and associate professor of political science at the University of California San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, told Insider he thinks there might be a power shift where Wang is concerned after the fall of 2022.

"Wang likely will fully retire, as will many of the technocrats he nurtured in the past," Shih said. "With his own full retirement, as well as the retirement of his followers, Wang's influence will also be much diminished."

Li Keqiang was once expected to be the successor to former President Hu Jintao but was sidelined in favor of Xi

An image of Chinese premier Li Keqiang
Li, 66, is currently the premier of the People's Republic of China — but he's now slated to step down this fall.

Ding Lin/Xinhua via Getty Images

Li, 66, is currently the premier of the People's Republic of China and the Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China.

Li's humble beginnings in Anhui, eastern China, and his career in China's Communist Youth League, helped him climb the Party's ranks. During his tenure, he focused primarily on managing China's economy, which led to the country's economic performance rating system being dubbed the "Keqiang Index." Li has managed several important portfolios — he handled aspects of the Chinese economy and infrastructural growth, and was charged with drafting China's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ties to Xi: Li is a known ally of Xi's predecessor, former President Hu Jintao, and his closeness to Hu led some to speculate that he was being groomed to succeed Hu. But after much hype, Li was sidelined for the top job in favor of Xi. Li was named premier in 2013, but Xi's decision to expand his control of the economy encroached on Li's turf, weakening Li's power to some extent. Li also saw his influence erode after China's 2015 stock market meltdown, for which he was blamed.

"Li Keqiang has been a weak premier, mostly because Xi Jinping has relied on Liu He and the Central Commission for the Comprehensive Deepening of Reform, which Xi heads," said Joseph Fewsmith, professor of international relations and political science and director of the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia.

"I would expect Li to exercise little influence after his retirement. The interesting question is who will replace him as premier," Fewsmith added, noting that Hu Chunhua, a prominent Politburo politician, might be next in line.
Li Zhanshu was relegated to far-flung posts in rural China before staking his claim in the Politburo

An image of Li Zhanshu, politburo standing committee member
Politburo Standing Committee member Li Zhanshu is one of Xi's closest allies in the top echelons of China's power players.

Yan Yan/Xinhua via Getty Images

Li, 71, is a ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee and the current chairman of the standing committee of China's National People's Congress. He's considered the third most powerful man in China.

Li saw a minor setback in his climb to the top when in 2003, he was sent off to Heilongjiang, a far-north province, and put in charge of revitalizing China's "rust belt." He composed a poem about the experience:

"A real man has no fear of dangerous tasks,
Mountains are rich in beauty and peaks are ever breathtaking.
The mighty autumn wind only bullies the weak,
Still the falcon spreads its wings and soars toward heaven."

As governor of Heilongjiang, Li revitalized the province's irrigation project and boosted its agricultural output. But this did little to elevate Li's status. In 2010, he was sent to Guizhou, China's poorest province, and was tasked with improving the province's infrastructure and economy.

It wasn't until 2012 that fortune finally smiled upon Li. Having bided his time for close to a decade, Xi — an old friend of Li's — promoted him to the general office of the Chinese Communist Party, a role equivalent to the "gatekeeper" or Chief of Staff in Xi's government.

He is known to abide by three "nos" — no messing around with people, no playing games, and no slacking off on the job.

Ties to Xi: Li is thought to be one of the senior members of Xi's personal "clique." Li's ties to Xi go back to the 1980s during their early days in the CCP, when Li served as party secretary one county over from Zhengding County, where Xi was CCP chief.

Fewsmith, the Boston University professor, said Li Zhanshu and his colleague, Zhao Leji, were "already very prominent" in the Standing Committee.

However, Shih believes that if Xi were to abide by the old rules that committee members must retire at 67, and not make an exception for Li and Zhao, they both might have to step down.

"However, these two have managed to cultivate and promote sizable networks in the upper echelons of the party, so they will have considerable post-retirement influence," Shih said.

Wang Yang has a reputation as a 'reformer' and an advocate of the free market

Wang is also one of the known liberals and "reformers" in the Communist Party.

Rao Aimin/ Xinhua via Getty Images

Wang, 67, is a member of the Politburo standing committee and the Party secretary of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Wang spent his early years involved in politics in his hometown of Anhui, climbing up through the lower ranks of local government to eventually become the party committee secretary of Chongqing. Wang is also one of the known liberals and "reformers" in the CCP, advocating for free markets and governing with a softer, ground-up approach.

"There's no particularly helpful way to rank (the members of the Politburo Standing Committee), but it's worth noting that Wang Yang is being tipped as a possible premier, which is intriguing as he has encouraged freer markets in the past as a provincial party secretary, and that Wang Huning is widely regarded as the ideological thinker who has influenced Xi the most," Mitter, the Oxford professor, said.

Ties to Xi: Wang criticized the rise of "princeling" power in the early 2010s. That made him an unpopular choice for a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee back in 2012 when Hu Jintao was in control. But he was later elected to the 19th Politburo Standing Committee in 2017 and, in 2018, began spearheading the Chinese government's policies in the highly contested Uyghur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

Like Li Keqiang, Wang is thought to be within the Hu faction, with Li Zhanshu and Zhao Leji being part of the Xi clique. According to think tank Brookings, being part of the Hu faction, backed by former President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, meant being part of a "populist coalition." This was as opposed to being part of Xi's "elite coalition," currently the most powerful government faction.
Wang Huning, described as a workaholic and insomniac, is considered the mastermind behind Xi's massive Belt and Road initiative

An image of Chinese politician Wang Huning.
Wang is known to be the ideological powerhouse of the Chinese leadership, and the brains behind Xi's philosophy — "Xi Jinping Thought."

Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Wang, 66, is the secretary of the Central Secretariat of the CCP. He was an academic at the prestigious Shanghai Fudan University before quitting to pursue politics in 1984. Wang has been described as a shadowy figure, a workaholic, and an insomniac.

He is credited with being the intellectual and ideological mastermind behind Xi's "China Dream," an aspiration for China to become the world's dominant power. He is also the architect of "Xi Jinping Thought," a 14-point policy plan to establish socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Wang is seen as the Kissinger-style strategist behind Xi's Belt and Road Initiative, an aggressive foreign policy and development strategy that seeks to expand China's influence across Asia and beyond.

Ties to Xi: Widely thought to be the most intelligent of all the Politburo Standing Committee Members, Wang has accompanied Xi on many overseas trips. He was also a longtime adviser in the Chinese government, serving under two of Xi's predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.

"Wang is the ultimate survivor, and three general secretaries have relied on his advice. He will also be 67, thus eligible for another term, if the old rules apply," Fewsmith said. "Xi may want him to hang around, but if Xi needs an extra seat (on the Standing Committee) for a valued friend, Wang may be sacrificed."

Zhao Leji has helmed Xi's anti-corruption push and is responsible for arresting thousands of party officials

An image of Chinese politician Zhao Leji
Zhao spearheaded Xi's anti-corruption drive to purge officials accused of improper behavior.

Ding Haitao/Xinhua via Getty Images

Zhao, 65, is a member of the Standing Committee and the chief of Xi's anti-corruption campaign.

He was heavily involved in Xi's crackdown on "tigers and flies" — including the arrest of thousands of high and low-ranking officials alike — and has been at the helm of Xi's top anti-corruption body since October 2017. Zhao's family consisted of senior communist party officials, and he was able to enroll at the prestigious Peking University ahead of the end of the Cultural Revolution — an indication of his family's clout and influence within the CCP.

Ties to Xi: Like Li Zhanshu, Zhao is known to be a member of the Xi clique. He served as party chief in Shaanxi province — Xi's ancestral home. Zhao is known to have close personal links to Xi's family and benefits from a long-standing friendship between his father and Xi's. He has also proved fiercely loyal to Xi and has helped the Chinese president reinforce an iron grip on full and strict Party governance.

Han Zheng has ties to several past PSC members

An image of Chinese politician Han Zheng
Han Zheng worked as Xi's deputy in Shanghai, and earned a Politburo seat himself when Xi became the CCP's general secretary in 2012.

Ding Haitao/Xinhua via Getty Images

Han Zheng, 67, is the Deputy Party Secretary of the State and the first vice-premier of China. He was a career politician in Shanghai and became the city's youngest mayor at 48. He is considered to be one of the top economic shot-callers and a seasoned technocrat.

Ties to Xi: Han was mentored by Huang Ju, Wu Bangguo, Zhu Rongji, Zeng Qinghong, and Yu Zhengsheng — five of his patrons who all later served on the Politburo Standing Committee. Han later worked as Xi's deputy in Shanghai in 2007, before Xi became a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Han then earned a Politburo seat himself when Xi became the CCP's general secretary in 2012.

Interestingly, both professors Fewsmith and Shih expect Han to step down this fall, having passed the retirement age.

"He will retire and it will be an open question whether the Shanghai-line (of power), which started with Jiang Zemin, will continue to produce top-level officials," Shih told Insider.

The outer circle. China's billionaire businessmen have plenty of clout, but they still lack access to Xi

Jack Ma used to be one of China's most influential men — and while he still is a billionaire, his clout in China's elite has been significant reduced. With Ma having been made an example of, other Chinese billionaires have no choice but to toe the line.

Elaine Thompson-Pool/Getty Images

China's rich list comprises individuals who have gained clout by building tech empires and pharmaceutical businesses worth billions. However, China's billionaires operate by different rules, particularly after the fall of Jack Ma. Xi's push toward "common prosperity" — the idea that the wealthy must share their good fortune with the poor — has changed the ways that China's richest operate. Xi vowed in 2021 to "adjust the excessive incomes" of China's crazy-rich and redistribute their wealth in a push for high-income enterprises to "return more to society" in the spirit of "social fairness."

Gone are the days of outspoken billionaires rocking out on stage in flamboyant outfits as Ma did back in 2019. These days, the ultra-rich toe the line and stay under the radar amid intense tech crackdowns, eager to not test Xi's patience and lose it all.

China's richest man, Nongfu Spring Water's Zhong Shanshan, is nicknamed 'Lone Wolf'



Nongfu Spring Water and pharmaceutical billionaire

 Zhong ShanshanVCG/Getty Images

Zhong, 67, is the chairman of Nongfu Spring Water and the owner of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise. He also currently holds the title of China's richest man, with an estimated net worth of $66.2 billion. Zhong is known as the "Lone Wolf," and lives a low-key lifestyle, rarely making media appearances.

Influence: Zhong is responsible for establishing the idea within China that bottled water — like what he sells — helps to improve one's health. He also managed to tap into China's demand for COVID-19 tests, fulfilling that need with Wantai's resources.

ByteDance's Zhang Yiming has been accused of being an 'American apologist'

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Billionaire Zhang Yiming built his fortune when he co-founded Bytedance, the tech giant behind TikTok and its Chinese version, Douyin. With a net worth of $44.5 billion, Zhang is the second-richest man in China, even after stepping down from his role as CEO of Bytedance in May 2021.

Influence: With 600 million daily active users, Zhang's Douyin is undoubtedly one of the most influential technology apps in China. However, Zhang ran into some trouble in 2020; critics in China called him an "American apologist" when rumors brewed of a possible Microsoft acquisition of TikTok. Zhang's tenure as CEO of Bytedance also included tussles with then-President Donald Trump, who he once said was trying to kill the app. Bytedance currently faces an investigation from a bipartisan group of state attorneys-general, who want to investigate TikTok's influence on young people.
Robin Zeng Yuqun's Contemporary Amperex Technology Company supplies lithium-ion batteries to companies including Tesla, Daimler, and BMW

Chinese battery maker CATL CEO Robin Zeng attends a news conference in Berlin, Germany July 9, 2018.

Chinese battery maker CATL CEO Robin Zeng attends a news conference in Berlin, Germany July 9, 2018.REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

Zeng, 53, is the founder of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), which makes batteries for electric vehicles. A self-made man, Zeng began his career in shipbuilding, then transitioned into building a lithium-ion battery empire. With a net worth of $43.1 billion, Zeng is the third-richest person in China.

Influence: Zeng's influence goes beyond China —CATL supplies components to Tesla and other international car companies like Daimler and BMW. CATL also became China's second-biggest stock by market value in November 2021, behind the Chinese liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co., and has dominated the market for electric car batteries.
Tencent's Pony Ma Huateng has a net worth of nearly $50 billion

Pony Ma is chief executive of Tencent

Visual China Group via Getty Images

Ma, 50, is the founder and CEO of internet company Tencent, China's biggest internet portal. Tencent also governs a gaming empire and is responsible for WeChat, the Chinese super-app on which people can message their friends, make payments, and call cabs. With a net worth of over $49.1 billion, Ma is the fourth-richest person in China.

Influence: Tencent remains the most influential tech company in the country, but like other billionaires, Ma has had to pivot to promoting the social media giant in a positive and patriotic light. In line with Xi's crackdown on tech companies, Ma said that Tencent would be a "good aide" to the Chinese government, adding that the company knew its place and would not shirk its duty to serve the country. However, this did not spare Tencent from feeling the effects of Xi's crackdown. Ma lost $14 billion of his net worth from December 2020 to August 2021.
Colin Huang Zheng founded the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, a gamified online marketplace

An image of former Pinduoduo boss Colin Huang Zheng

Huang began his career at Google as a software engineer in 2004 but resigned in 2007 to start his own e-commerce and gaming ventures. He founded the e-commerce giant Pinduoduo in 2015. Huang has a net worth of $33.1 billion and is the sixth-richest person in China.

Pinduoduo is a gamified online marketplace that involves letting users buy items at sale prices by playing games. One of the app's functions allows people to "group-buy" things with friends. Pinduoduo makes money by charging sellers a commission to promote items on the app.

Influence: Wealth and riches could well be a form of power in themselves, but Huang appeared to be shying from the limelight when he quit his roles as CEO and chairman of the e-commerce giant he helped build. In a statement in March 2021, Pinduoduo said Huang was stepping down to "pursue research in the food and life sciences, disciplines where breakthroughs could drive the future of China's largest agriculture platform."

While no overt moves were made to force Huang's hand, he appeared to be joining other tech billionaires in a coincidental move toward giving hundreds of millions in donations to charity amid the Chinese government's crackdown on tech tycoons.

Washington State to preserve 10,000 forest acres as carbon reserve



The Associated Press
Sat, April 9, 2022, 

Washington state has launched a new program to save 10,000 acres of forest land as a carbon reserve.

The Seattle Times reports the state intends to lease the trees as carbon credits to emitters of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The DNR is partnering with Finite Carbon, a developer and supplier of carbon offsets, which will verify the effectiveness of the offsets.

Purchasers are expected to be larger corporations seeking to achieve reductions in their carbon emissions, said Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz, adding that in the first 10 years of the program, the DNR hopes to sell 900,000 credits reducing carbon emissions to the atmosphere by the equivalent of 2 billion vehicle miles traveled.

Money from the leases in these forests will compensate beneficiaries of state trust lands, including the state school construction fund, and money for hospital districts, library districts and more.

In addition to the 840,000 acres of DNR-managed trust land designated for conservation, the 10,000-acre carbon reserve adds a bit more acreage off-limits to harvest, about 0.5% of the state’s forested trust lands. But as climate change threatens the planet, these trees are more valuable living than as lumber, Franz said.

Sequestering carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, in trees which use it as food to grow, helps blunt the worst effects of climate change. Globally, forests absorb about a third of all the carbon emissions annually from the burning of fossil fuels.

“I have a big belief that with climate change here, we need to save our forests to truly save ourselves,” Franz said.

The DNR has come under increasing criticism for harvesting such trees, which are not protected under its old-growth policy but nonetheless have high ecological value.

A total of 3,750 acres is being set aside now, with the balance yet to be identified for preservation in phase two.

The program in Washington is launching with protection of forests in Whatcom, Thurston, King and Grays Harbor counties.

DNR trust lands generate about $180 million a year for schools and counties across the state.

Franz predicted the carbon leases would generate tens of millions of dollars for schools, colleges and local services that state trust lands support.

Peter Goldman, director and managing attorney of the nonprofit Washington Forest Law Center, called the reserve “green lipstick on a pig” because it sets some state lands aside for conservation while other state legacy forests are still being cut down.

“It’s great, who could be against it,” he said of the reserve. “But is she just trying to pour cold water on the political heat she is taking on these sales?”

PRISON NATION USA
How unnecessary time in jail costs public health and local budgets: Opinion


Mark Bolton and Julie Wertheimer

Mon, April 11, 2022

As recently as early February, roughly 1 in 5 individuals held in some jails — as well as many staff — were testing positive for COVID-19. The surging rate of infection, due largely to the omicron variant, drove home the reality that jails — used primarily to incarcerate people awaiting trial, and where people are indoors often in close quarters — can be vectors for disease, particularly as staff or people being rearrested move between facilities and the community.

Decreasing the number of people in jail — to minimize overcrowding and to reduce the number of people who might be exposed to the virus — is an obvious way to mitigate the risk. And there’s mounting evidence that many people in jail could be safely released pending trial. In fact, even before the pandemic, the number of people admitted into jails in the U.S. had been falling for a decade — from 12.9 million in 2010 to 10.3 million in 2019, a 20% decline.

You might be interested: Louisville Metro Corrections revamps drug detection efforts after another jail death

Having been involved in the management of jail populations in Philadelphia and Louisville, we know that unnecessary time in jail can have serious health consequences. In addition, jail time can lead to the loss of a job, housing or even custody of children. And for taxpayers, holding people in jail is costly: More than $25 billion a year — a six-fold increase over the past four decades — is spent locally on jails in the U.S. That’s why finding ways to reduce the number of people coming into jail, and how long they stay, has taken on increased importance, particularly as many courts face backlogs of cases as a result of COVID shutdowns.

A new study by the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College sought to uncover some of the reasons for growing lengths of stay by analyzing the populations of three county jails — St. Louis, Missouri; Durham, North Carolina; and Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky — and produced some surprising findings.

First, the average lengths of stay grew by 18% or more at all three sites from 2014 to 2019. Notably, many of those admitted for serious charges stayed longer, with at least 23 days added to the average of time in jail for a felony across the three counties. With jail admissions declining by about 25% in the three counties (and declining for both felonies and misdemeanors), it’s not clear why the remaining cases are for longer stays. However, one possibility is that a rising median bail amount in all three counties means that more people didn’t have the cash necessary to be released pretrial: The average length of stay for those admitted pretrial on a new charge increased by a third.

More headlines: Judges stymied in bid to keep inmates from other counties from falling through the cracks

Second, the research found that Black people in all three counties not only were overrepresented in the jail population, but also stayed longer in jail than white people; and in Louisville and St. Louis, this disparity increased from 2014 to 2019. The analysis also showed that the odds of staying more than 90 days in jail was greater for Black people than white people in the three counties, even after accounting for factors such as seriousness of the charge.

There have been some efforts in St. Louis and Durham to reduce lengths of stay, such as identifying people in jail who are unable to make bail but could be safely released into the community. However, more can and should be done, particularly because the initial decline in the U.S. jail population at mid-year 2020 — during the first wave of the pandemic — had nearly evaporated by October 2021. Even with the omicron surge now apparently easing, other reasons remain for reducing the number of people in jail — including racial disparities, cost and overcrowding—and how long they stay. And because each jail is different — with some holding prison overflow populations or probation violators, in addition to people held pretrial—county officials will need to dig into their own data for solutions. In doing so, they’ll help ensure that, both during COVID and long after, the health, safety and welfare of their communities will be protected.

Julie Wertheimer

Mark Bolton

Julie Wertheimer oversees research and policy for The Pew Charitable Trusts’ public safety performance project and is a former senior director of the Office of Criminal Justice for the City of Philadelphia. Mark Bolton is the retired director of the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How unnecessary jail time costs public health, local budgets: Opinion

Mexican president wins 90% backing in leadership vote he sought

Mexico holds referendum on whether President Lopez Obrador should continue in office

ONLY 18% VOTED

Sun, April 10, 2022
By Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Nine out of ten Mexicans voting on Sunday in an unprecedented recall election engineered by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador backed him to stay in office, underlining his domination of a polarized political agenda.

Both critics and supporters alike had viewed his victory as a foregone conclusion in a ballot that had fed speculation it could open the door to extending presidential term limits, now limited to a single six-year period.

Between 90.3% and 91.9% voters were predicted to have supported Lopez Obrador, a preliminary estimate from the National Electoral Institute (INE) showed on Sunday night.

Unleashing a string of barbs at adversaries, Lopez Obrador hailed the referendum result as "historic", and compared his tally favorably with the number of votes won by rivals he defeated to win the presidency, and in other elections.

"We don't have a king in Mexico," he said in a video address. "It's a democracy, and the people are in charge."

A pugnacious leftist, Lopez Obrador was the architect of the first so-called 'recall referendum' in modern Mexico, calling it vital to confirm his democratic mandate.

Turnout in the vote was forecast at between 17% and 18.2%, INE said, well below a threshold of 40% for it to be binding, and lower than some polls.

Opposition leaders had actively discouraged supporters from voting, with many condemning the plebiscite as a propaganda exercise and a costly distraction from real problems.

Turnout had been expected to range between 16% and 25% in a poll published by newspaper El Financiero this month.

Political analysts had said Lopez Obrador would seize on the result as a personal triumph in his bid to push a constitutional change to the electricity market through Congress in the coming week, although he looks short of votes.

Lopez Obrador denies wanting to extend his term, but he used the referendum to fire up supporters and test his strength ahead of gubernatorial elections in June.

Since taking office in December 2018, Lopez Obrador has fallen short of campaign pledges to reduce violent crime and lift the economy, unsettling investors by trying to renegotiate contracts and tightening state control of natural resources.

But his successful roll-out of welfare programs and relentless daily depiction of a political narrative in which he stars as a morally upright defender of the poor against a 
corrupt, wealthy elite has helped buttress his popularity.

CONTENTIOUS

Many Mexicans regard the folksy Lopez Obrador as a welcome departure from previous leaders often seen as aloof from the broader population in a society that remains highly unequal.

"I want the president to continue in power," said one of them, Guillermina Gomez, after voting in the central state of Tlaxcala.

The 60-year-old homemaker said his welfare programs had allowed her grandchildren to enroll in high school, which her meager household income had kept out of the reach of her children.

"Thanks to him we've received benefits that no one else has given us."

Costing millions of dollars and heavily publicized in the capital, the referendum asked Mexicans if Lopez Obrador's mandate should be revoked "due to loss of trust," or he should conclude his term as scheduled on Sept. 30, 2024.

Maribel Rosas, 36, who voted for Lopez Obrador to become president in 2018, said she had cast a vote for him to be removed from office, as he was failing to help the middle class and spurring social polarisation.

"This division isn't going to get us anywhere," said Rosas, a resident of Mexico City who works in advertising.

The president had accused the National Electoral Institute of trying to stymie the referendum, which it denied. He quickly criticized it again after the results.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; Additional reporting by Lizbeth Diaz, Diego Ore and Laura Gottesdiener; Editing by Mark Porter and Clarence Fernandez)

GOOD NEWS FOR WOMENS HEALTH
Maryland lawmakers override gov's veto of abortion expansion

Maryland House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat, listens to debate before lawmakers voted to override Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of a measure to expand abortion access in the state, Saturday, April 9, 2022, in Annapolis, Md. 

(AP Photo/Brian Witte)
ASSOCIATED PRESSMore

BRIAN WITTE
Sat, April 9, 2022

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Republican Gov. Larry Hogan's veto of a measure to expand access to abortion in Maryland was overridden on Saturday by the General Assembly, which is controlled by Democrats.

The state will end a restriction that only physicians can provide abortions. The new law will enable nurse practitioners, nurse midwives and physician assistants to provide them with training. It creates an abortion care training program and requires $3.5 million in state funding annually. It also requires most insurance plans to cover abortions without cost.

Del. Emily Shetty said she was supporting the measure on the House floor as a mother who had experienced a high-risk pregnancy. She also described being a sexual assault survivor in college and the difficulties she experienced “with the weight of what had happened after that incident.”

“And thankfully, the incident did not result in pregnancy but had it, it would have drastically changed my life if I had not been able to access the care that I needed at that time," Shetty, a Democrat, said.

Hogan wrote in his veto letter that the legislation "endangers the health and lives of women by allowing non-physicians to perform abortions.”

The measure comes at a time when the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing whether to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that banned states from outlawing abortion.

If they do, at least 26 states are likely to either ban abortion outright or severely limit access, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that supports abortion rights.

“In this context, it’s very important that we keep in mind that the strategies that this bill is using is ensuring that people can access the care that they need, when they need it, no matter what happens with the rest of the country — no matter what happens with the Supreme Court,” said Del. Ariana Kelly, a Democrat who was the lead sponsor of the bill, said.

Republican lawmakers criticized the provision allocating $3.5 million of taxpayer money annually to pay for the training. Del. Haven Shoemaker, the House minority whip, described the bill as "the most radical expansion of abortion in Maryland's history in a state that already has some of the most liberal abortion laws in the country.”

“Madam speaker, this bill is too extreme, even for Maryland," Shoemaker, a Republican, said, referring to House Speaker Adrienne Jones, a Democrat.

Kelly said the measure is modernizing the choice the state's voters made in 1992, when they approved the right to abortion in a statewide vote with 62% of voters supporting it.

“It is making sure that people have access to care, particularly people of color, particularly low-income people, particularly rural people,” Kelly said. "We know that physician-only restrictions exacerbate health inequalities, and we are trying to reduce health inequalities in the state of Maryland with this bill.”

The measure takes effect July 1. The insurance provisions apply to all policies, contracts, and health benefit plans issued, delivered, or renewed in the state on or after Jan. 1.

BILLIONAIRES BLUFF OVER THE POOR

Jeff Bezos responds to Elon Musk's poll asking if Twitter HQ should be converted into homeless shelter

Adam Sabes
Sun, April 10, 2022

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos responded to Elon Musk's Twitter poll asking if the social media giant's headquarters should be converted to a homeless shelter.

"Convert Twitter SF HQ to homeless shelter since no one shows up anyway," Musk asked Twitter users on Saturday.

ELON MUSK PURCHASES STAKE IN TWITTER AFTER SLAMMING ITS APPROACH TO 'FREE SPEECH'

Musk recently became Twitter's biggest shareholder, disclosing a 9.2% stake in the company on April 4.

91.5% of people who responded to Musk's poll voted yes.

"Or do portion. Worked out great and makes it easy for employees who want to volunteer," Bezos responded.

ELON MUSK FLOATS TURNING TWITTER'S HEADQUARTERS INTO A HOMELESS SHELTER

Amazon houses a homeless shelter in its Seattle, Washington headquarters, which occupies part of the building.

Mary’s Place Family Center in The Regrade opened in early March 2020 and provides "shelter and support" for families experiencing homelessness.

The shelter has the space to accommodate up to 200 people every night, and serves food to individuals who are temporarily living in the shelter.

The space also has a health clinic, offices, computer labs, and offers pro-bono legal clinics.

Marty Hartman, Mary's Place Executive Director, said that the space was a "saving grace" as it opened in the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This new shelter, opening when it did, has been our saving grace. It was our Amazon family, that recognized what we needed before we ever realized it, and this space ensures we don’t have to return families to homelessness during this unprecedented and trying time," Hartman wrote.

Bezos said in an Instagram post when the shelter opened that it would help families get back on their feet.

"This shelter spans eight floors — including a health clinic and critical tools to help families in need get back on their feet. Thanks to Mary’s Place for their partnership in bringing this creative solution to life," Bezos wrote in an Instagram post when the shelter opened.

Musk turns down a seat on Twitter’s board leaving the door open for him to pursue a hostile takeover



Nicholas Gordon
Mon, April 11, 2022, 

Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board after all.

In an announcement on late on Sunday U.S. time, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal revealed that the Tesla CEO had turned down an invitation to join the company’s board.

News of Musk's decision comes almost a week after an earlier statement by Agrawal that Musk would be joining Twitter's board—which came a day after Musk revealed that he taken a 9.2% stake in Twitter, making him the social media platform's largest shareholder.

According to Agrawal, the company was set to make Musk’s board appointment official on Saturday, “contingent on a background check and formal acceptance.” Agrawal said that the company was “clear about the risks” of bringing the Tesla CEO on the board, yet said Twitter believed that “having Elon as a fiduciary of the company…was the best path forward.”

https://twitter.com/paraga/status/1513354622466867201

By turning down the appointment, Musk is now free to expand his stake in Twitter. If Musk had accepted the seat on Twitter's board, he would have been limited to a maximum stake of 14.9% in the company.

Without that limit, Musk could now—in theory—pursue a hostile takeover by buying the company outright. A move his extraordinary wealth comfortably enables him to do.

"Twitter is more vulnerable than some of its Internet peers to outside pressure because its founders don't have special voting control," Justin Post, director of equity research at Bank of America Securities, wrote in a note published last week after Musk revealed his stake in the platform.

As of publication time, Elon Musk is still listed as a member of Twitter's board of directors.

Since publicly revealing his investment in Twitter, Musk has tweeted several thoughts about the company’s services, including a poll gauging interest in an “edit” button, and has floated the idea that users might pay for Twitter’s premium service using the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.

On Saturday morning—the same day that Agrawal suggests Musk turned down the board seat—Musk tweeted “Is Twitter dying?” and noted that several of the most followed Twitter accounts “tweet rarely and post very little content.”

According to Bloomberg, Musk’s disclosure of his stake in Twitter risked opening a new rift in the Tesla founder’s already strained relationship with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk revealed his stake later than U.S. equity regulations require, and originally used a form meant for passive investors who have no plan to influence a company's operations. Musk later refiled his disclosure to classify himself as an active investor.

Some Twitter employees feared Musk’s board appointment would hurt the company’s culture. One employee noted that Musk’s tweets would trigger an human resources investigation, and asked whether “board members are held to the same standard”, according to The Washington Post.

Agrawal asked employees in his Sunday memo to “tune out the noise.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com