Sam Oliker-Friedland
@SamOlikerF
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ED @Responsive_Gov. Voting, Election Admin, Airplanes, Dogs, Practical Policy. Former @CivilRights. Opinions my own.
Joined July 2022
The 2025 elections were hailed as secure, fair, and accessible thanks to dedicated election officials. Read the full statement from @SamOlikerF here: https://t.co/y7uB4HC7N6
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This is a bad policy (more public transit is way more important than free public transit), and it's phrased annoyingly. I get doing bad policies for a good sound bite, and that good policy can yield a bad sound bite. I deeply do not understand choosing the bad version of both.
Public transit is a public good—and it should be free. That’s why @RepPressley and I are reintroducing the Freedom to Move Act to make fare-free transit a reality and close the transit equity gap.
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"[Medicaid] re-enrollment is more time consuming and expensive than a regular renewal, leaving state administrators, caseworkers and clients with more work." The solution? Ex-parte Medicaid renewal. @AmandaRenteria from @codeforamerica writes in @thehill on why:
thehill.com
When we build government services that actually serve people, we don’t just create programs — we restore faith in the possibility that our institutions can be a force for good in people’s lives. …
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The Trump administration’s latest effort to undermine trust in our elections & the public servants who administer them? DOJ efforts to prosecute election officials. We're appalled. Read our executive director @SamOlikerF's @nytimes letter to the editor:
nytimes.com
Readers react to the latest turns in the Jeffrey Epstein case. Also: A threat to election officials; smoke from Canadian wildfires.
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Clarity is as important as accuracy in policy work product. But very few policy shops reward clarity or penalize lack of clarity with nearly the same oomph as they do with accuracy.
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This is an important lesson for everyone in policy world. The nonpartisan CBO doc that this number came from was unclear about who the 4.8M estimate was, yet it should have been obvious that the number would be cited in exactly the way it's being cited in media right now.
The distinction matters! Best evidence we have suggests work requirements largely screen people out of coverage because they don't know about them — you can't comply with reporting requirements you don't know about — or don't adequately report their qualifying activity/exemption
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This is true *especially* for hourly-wage workers, where clocking in late because the bus schedule is unreliable and unpredictable is much more expensive than a transit fare.
When I was taking hourly buses on NJT to get to work, I understood very well that a second bus per hour had more value to me than a free fare. I would also prefer a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth bus to a free fare.
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This is good! Forcing every governmental decision to be made in public does little to prevent corruption or improve transparency, but it *for sure* makes it impossible to have honest and candid discussions about policy.
The Michigan Senate is scheduled to vote today on a bill that would significantly expand the allowed reasons for government agencies to meet in closed session, meaning the public is locked out of the discussion:
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It's not pro-regulation to create a regulatory state that doesn't actually work correctly.
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I love the idea behind this, but the response to realizing its impossible to comply with "over 6,000" regulations can't just be to cut fines, and the answer also isn't programs that already exist and only 3% of businesses use: 3% means that's not the right solution.
It’s time this city empowered small businesses—not bury them in fines, fees and endless bureaucracy. Here’s my plan.
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Rather than promoting efficiency or accountability, proposed cuts to federal Medicaid funding would undermine state flexibility, strain local economies, and ultimately cost taxpayers more in the long run. Read our latest report:
responsivegov.org
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Fascinating work!
It's great to finally see this out in the world as a no-longer-working paper — this was the first project I started working on as a PhD student, helping put together the grant application in *checks notes* 2017
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This story isn't just blatantly unconstitutional; it's also just such poor quality work by the Biden DOJ. We should be furious at DOGE. We should also be angry at years of needlessly crappy government by both parties that opened the door to it.
This is Linda Martin. A few years ago, the FBI seized her life savings: $40,200. The kicker: She was never charged with a crime—and the government couldn’t tell her why it took her money. Martin is far from the first. But she is trying to make sure she is the last. A thread.
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NEW: The latest white paper from Responsive Gov Fellow Jamila Michener makes the case for government agencies to more meaningfully engage with the people they serve – so they can build more efficient & effective programs.
responsivegov.org
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“Moderate” and “left” are no longer analytically useful terms that provide purchase on our political situation. Populist economic messaging is no longer viewed as especially radical or even “left.” Voters who think Dems are “too liberal” are talking about culture not the economy.
@davidshor 4) We also discussed a tension in Shor's polling: Voters say that Democrats should be more moderate, but also, want them to deliver "major change" Shor argues that economic populism can appeal to such voters, and that Harris's promise to "take on landlords" was her best message
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Democrats keep treating paperwork like crack cocaine — the party has a whole ton of noble priorities, but far too often, they seem to only serve the endless desire for meetings, paperwork, and internal/environmental review without actually getting anything *done*
Here are the consequences to the Democratic love of process and review: They passed a 42B rural internet bill. Got nothing accomplished in four years because they're hopelessly devoted to paperwork. Now Trump/Musk are just going to change how the program works because they can.
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Our ED @SamOlikerF returned to the Gaily Show to talk about our latest Election Policy Progress Reports. Minnesota was 1 of 3 states to receive an A+ this year, including for passing a state Voting Rights Act, ensuring civil rights protections across MN.
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In North Carolina, a losing Supreme Court candidate is seeking to overturn the results of a free & fair election by dismissing up to 60K ballots, falsely claiming that the voters who cast them were ineligible. https://t.co/rus7VHrWD1
propublica.org
A Republican judge is trying to overturn his election loss by challenging more than 60,000 ballots. These are some of those voters’ stories.
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No. In the middle of one of the worst housing crises nationwide, with Democrats fully in power to solve that problem, governing based on feelings is a perfect example of why we're in the mess we are.
Is it possible to be both YIMBY while also feeling that 60 stories is a tad bit tall for the West Village? Asking for a friend.
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