You bet.

Washington Post
Fairfax sheriff candidate’s ad draws angry responses  11/6/2011

Fairfax County Republican sheriff’s candidate Bill Cooper published a half-page ad in the Connection newspapers Friday [www.ConnectionNewspapers.com, November 3-9, 2011 pg. 6], four days before the election, stating he was ”Supported by Deputies, Police Officers and Firefighters.” But he [Cooper] has not been endorsed by any deputies, officers or firefighters unions or associations, and several of those groups issued angry responses Saturday, as did incumbent Sheriff Stan Barry.

vote the entire Democratic ticket

Professional Endorsements

• COOPER – 0
• BARRY – 11

“Cooper said he doesn’t claim any public safety group endorsements, though he did seek the backing of the Fairfax Deputy Sheriff’s Coalition. “What we are saying is we have support from members of those agencies,” Cooper said. “That ad is true. I didn’t even put Fairfax. It could be police officers from L.A. County for all he [Barry] knows.”

Kevin Pittman, president of the Fairfax deputies coalition, said, “Both myself and the presidents of the other public safety organizations are very disturbed by Mr. Cooper’s willful misrepresentation of the support he has received from the public safety organizations in Fairfax and elsewhere. Sheriff Barry has received the official endorsements of all public safety organizations authorized to endorse in political processes and that is due to the outstanding job he has done during his time as Fairfax County sheriff.”

Barry collected endorsements from 11 groups, including six public safety unions or associations. He also noted that in 10 community forums or debates, Cooper elected not to appear jointly with him at any of them. Cooper said he had better uses of his time than lightly attended debates.

Barry, a Democrat, has been sheriff for 12 years, after being a deputy for 20 years.”

vote the entire Democratic ticket

BUT, there’s more …

Look who actually HAS endorsed Bill Cooper. Doesn’t it affect their credibility? Answer: of course it does (ask them about it).

• Bob McDonnell
• George Allen
• Delegate Dave Albo (R-42nd)
• Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Fairfax Country Board of Supervisors, Springfield)
• Supervisor John C. Cook (R-Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Braddock)
• Spike Williams (GOP candidate, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman)
• Miller Baker (GOP candidate for Senate District 39)

Vote Democratic on Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Special note: on the ballot only the House and Senate races are labeled by party, be sure to get your Democratic sample ballot – and use it.

vote the entire Democratic ticket

Bob Lewis, AP writer reporting on Virginia politics and government since 2000, in his article October 16th “What a GOP Senate might mean for new Virginia laws” details what realistically could happen if Virginians think voting GOP wouldn’t have real consequences.

It’s one thing to talk generically about the vastly different philosophy of the Democratic and Republican parties, but quite another to examine the actual legislation that could be enacted if Republicans and Tea Partiers gained control of the Virginia Senate.

“ … if Republicans gain three or more Senate seats in next month’s decisive legislative elections, conservatives would consolidate their hold on Virginia government and turn state policy hard to the right.

Democrats hold 22 of the Senate’s 40 seats. Should they lose two seats to the GOP, it would force power sharing in an evenly divided chamber with the committees — gatekeepers that determine which bills reach the Senate floor — apportioned equally between senators of both parties headed by Republican and Democratic co-chairmen.

Republicans could prevail once a bill reaches the floor because Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling casts the deciding vote in case of a tie.

With a three-seat gain, however, Republicans would have unchallenged control of the Senate, and the GOP would take total control of both the executive and legislative branches of government for the first time since 2001.

A Senate takeover is a political imperative for Gov. Bob McDonnell, who knows it’s his chance to enact his socially and fiscally conservative goals during the single, non-renewable four-year term Virginia uniquely allows its governors.”

• Reduce State Pensions – attacking government employees
  
  • making the underfunded public employee pension fund less generous
• Increase Virginia Debt – increased taxes sometime if not now
  
  • financing highway construction and repair without taxes
  • privatizing state-owned liquor stores (reduced income to Virginia)
• Gun Rights – a more dangerous society
  
  • allow the manufacture of firearms not regulated by federal law if they are constructed solely in Virginia and are never sold or moved outside the state
  • repeal Virginia’s 20-year-old law limiting individuals to one handgun purchase per month
  • allow people with permits to carry concealed handguns to take their weapons onto most any government property, including libraries, emergency shelters and parks; colleges would also be barred from adopting firearm policies more restrictive than Virginia’s, which are among the most permissive in the nation
• Welfare
  
  • compel drug screening for welfare recipients
• Immigration
  • restrictions on undocumented immigrants
  • bar undocumented immigrants from enrolling in state colleges, deny public assistance to illegal immigrants, track numbers of pupils who take English as a second language and allow employers to fire employees for not speaking English
• Reproductive Rights – attack on women’s rights
  
  • make it a crime for a woman to cause her own miscarriage or to coerce a young woman into having an abortion
  • require doctors to offer to anesthetize a fetus before performing an abortion
  • end abortion by granting legal rights of personhood to fetuses
• Separation of Church and State – officially sanctioning public religion
  
  • amend Virginia’s constitution to allow explicit protections for prayers offered voluntarily in public places and public events
• State Sovereignty - anti-Federalism, nullification
  • establish an alternative Virginia currency should the Federal Reserve collapse
• Increased Death Penalty Use
  • extend Virginia’s often-used death penalty to people convicted as accomplices to murders
• Public Health – increased health risk, playing on public fear
  
  • end vaccinations required of all sixth-grade girls against a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer later, although parents who object can already opt out their children

2011 has been a vociferous year for Fairfax County Public School Board candidates. Outgoing FCPS school board member Stu Gibson (Hunter Mill) describes the clamoring groups well in his Reston Patch commentary:

They have formed a number of different organizations, each to address one or more perceived slights. They have banded together into a coalition, puffing themselves up like a blowfish. They blog and comment constantly, making it appear that they have a vast army of supporters. They communicate one constant, albeit false, message – the FCPS administration and School Board do not listen to parents (e.g. Epstein Statements are Incorrect), and have brought our schools to the brink of disaster.

There’s only one problem with the message: It’s not true. And there’s only one problem with the messengers: they distort their numbers and their support to gain advantage on their narrow issues.

By and large, they reflect the views of people who object to decisions the School Board or administration has made over the past few years.

Stu goes on to describe in detail how the school board has actively listened and worked to effectively address the concerns brought before them. That there are outstanding concerns is a reality, but not for honest lack of trying by the current board members. Things can always be improved in any organization, including FCPS; however, making that materialize will best happen with those people who demonstrate a desire and temperament to work together collaboratively on a broad range of issues, to be effective listeners and communicators, and who have a working knowledge of the existing issues and the system they ask to serve.

Tuesday, November 8th is an opportunity to move the Fairfax County Schools forward with a terrific group of individuals asking to serve their community who demonstrate that desire, who have that temperament, who are effective listeners and communicators, who are knowledgeable, and who are caring – these are your Democratic-endorsed candidates.

A 12-member School Board is elected to four-year terms that are concurrent with the terms of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors; one School Board member represents each of nine magisterial (election) districts, and three members serve at large. School Board elections in Virginia are non-partisan; however, candidates may and usually do seek endorsement from political parties.

Since the inception of elected school boards in Virginia in 1992, and Virginia was the last state in the nation to allow elected school boards, the expression of community values for how our children are raised has been manifest in these boards. Please make sure these values are supported, vote for all of your Democratic-endorsed school board candidates, one in your supervisor district and three at-large candidates (for candidate information  click here).

• At-Large: Ilryong Moon, Ryan McElveen, and Ted Velkoff
• Braddock: Megan McLaughlin
• Hunter Mill: Pat Hynes
• Dranesville: Jane Strauss
• Lee: Tammy Kaufax
• Mason: Sandy Evans
• Mt. Vernon: Dan Storck
• Providence: no candidate
• Springfield: John Wittman
• Sully: Kathy Smith

The Republican solution to fix our economy is more of what took us off the cliff in the first place.  It was Republican deregulation and tax cuts in the Bush administration that took our economy down, and now they want more deregulation and tax cuts to finish off the middle class.  If the Bush administration had not relaxed SEC regulations in 2004 and relinquished all enforcement responsibilities, the subprime housing crash would not have happened and we would not be in the severe situation we are in now.  Republicans claim tax cuts will create more US jobs, but companies like Exxon Mobile and General Electric use loopholes to pay zero US taxes while they have decreased jobs in the US.  Republicans will talk about how most jobs are created by small businesses, while they are voting against tax cuts for those same small businesses and at the same time fighting hard for big corporate tax cuts.  How do people not notice this?  But Republicans are determined to fight every attempt to fix the problems they caused in the first place and push for more of the same old mistakes.

Republicans complain about our health care system and how we pay $800-850 billion more per year than Germany and the Netherlands in health care costs.  Our skyrocketing costs are by far the greatest barrier to creating new jobs in the US.  We pay more than double compared to every country we compete with in the world marketplace.  We are far less competitive on health care costs than we are on taxes or labor costs.  But the Republican solution is to do the opposite of what Germany and the Netherlands have done to achieve the most cost-effective health care systems in the world.  Germany and the Netherlands also have significantly healthier people than we do in the US, even though they smoke more than we do.  This is because their system is based on prevention, while our system is based on treatment, which is far more profitable but not effective.

Republicans campaign about job creation but the second biggest barrier to creating jobs in the US (behind health care costs) is our addiction to oil.  On the day we break our addiction to oil and achieve energy independence, we will have created millions of new green jobs needed to fix our economy, balance our budget and pay down the debt.  But the biggest obstacle to making this happen is the Republican Party, who do everything they can to protect oil industry profits.

It’s no surprise that the largest stock holder in FOX News (behind Rupert Murdock) is Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who also funded the “Ground Zero Terror Mosque” which was used in 2010 to scare people into voting for the Tea Party Republican Congress we have today.  In fact, the parent company of FOX News is largely owned by Saudi investors and the role of FOX News is to keep us addicted to petroleum by helping elect Republicans.  The Republican Party is nothing more than a surrogate for billionaires and oil corporations like the Koch brothers and Koch Industries.  Their number one priority is to protect outrageous tax breaks and outrageous profits, while the rest of us are totally screwed over.

Republicans complain about how China is passing us in education and infrastructure, but the Republican solution is to do the opposite of what China has done to move past us.  China isn’t privatizing their education and infrastructure.  They have invested in public education and public infrastructure projects that are eating our lunch.  Over and over, Republican solutions are the opposite of what actually works in the real world.

As Democrats, we must stand up for our middle-class families and fight against the reckless, right-wing Republican policies that protect billionaires and big oil companies on the backs of working families and seniors.  Republicans are able to spread lies about “Liberal Media Bias,” because Republicans own every major media outlet.  Even MSNBC is owned by General Electric, which is a Republican run company.  We have to do a better job of getting our message out and, that means knocking on doors and making phone calls to talk to voters directly.  This is the most effective means of finding our voters and getting them out to vote for our party and our values.

Voter suppression is a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote. It is distinguished from political campaigning in that campaigning attempts to change likely voting behavior by changing the opinions of potential voters through persuasion and organization. Voter suppression instead attempts to reduce the number of voters who might vote against the candidate or proposition advocated by the suppressors.

The tactics of voter suppression can range from minor “dirty tricks” that make voting inconvenient, up to blatantly illegal activities that physically intimidate prospective voters to prevent them from casting ballots. Voter suppression could be particularly effective if a significant amount of voters are intimidated individually because the voter might not consider his or her single vote important.

Public comment is being accepted on the proposed regulation through October 12. The proposal is available to view, click here, and comments can be made via this site as well. Note that the Fairfax County Republican Committee has submitted a comment in support of the changes (for voter suppression).

By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
© October 5, 2011 

By next year’s election, poor penmanship might be reason enough to disqualify a voter’s mailed absentee ballot in Virginia.

The Republican-controlled State Board of Elections withdrew one set of rules governing absentee ballots – they gave election officials more leeway to count the ballots of voters who made mistakes filling them out – and substituted them with less-flexible guidelines.

The change comes as Republicans in other states work to tighten election laws ahead of the presidential election, a move some observers contend is part of a campaign to reduce turnout among voters, particularly Democratic-leaning ones, next year.

More than 5 million voters in some battleground states could face greater difficulties in voting because of stricter election policies on voter identification, registration and early voting, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The study concluded those “new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities” and they have the potential to “sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election.”

Virginia’s absentee ballot proposal is “in line with what we’re seeing across the country, which we perceive to be the most widespread voter suppression effort since Reconstruction,” said Judith Browne-Dianis, a co-director of the Advancement Project, which lobbies for more open voting policies.

Removed from the current state absentee ballot regulation is language in the previous version that made it clear that illegible voter or witness signatures on a ballot wouldn’t invalidate it, and a catch-all paragraph that specified ballots wouldn’t be tossed if a voter’s identity could be otherwise confirmed by election officials.

Those who support the catch-all provision say verification can be done simply by checking ballot return envelopes mailed by local registrars that contain identifying information for the registered voter who requested the ballot. Not all election officials agree that’s an ironclad way of proving an individual voter cast the returned ballot.

Despite the changes, there are some similarities between the old and new state absentee regulations: They make allowances for voters who write a shorthand name like Bob instead of Robert on the ballot, omit their ZIP code, or make small address or date mistakes.

The policy is to be considered by the State Board of Elections later this month and could be in place by next year if approved by the U.S. Justice Department.

Some voting rights advocates consider Virginia’s current rules too rigid because residents can vote absentee only if they meet certain criteria. Some other states offer absentee voting to all registered voters.

Virginians may vote absentee in person or by mailing their state ballot. Military members and those living overseas can cast federal write-in ballots.

In 2008, half a million Virginians voted absentee in some form – more than 13 percent of participating voters.

Debates over how state absentee ballots should be counted and how the rules should be interpreted aren’t new in Virginia.

While state code makes it clear that improperly submitted paperwork “shall render the applicant’s ballot void,” it also states an application for an absentee ballot shouldn’t be tossed if it has errors “not material in determining whether such individual is qualified to vote absentee.”

And the law doesn’t explicitly define which errors are allowed.

Likewise, federal law also some leaves room for interpretation.

Under the Voting Rights Act, officials are barred from denying a vote because of “an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration or other act requisite to voting” if it’s not “material” to confirming a voter’s eligibility.

Enough ambiguity exists in state law that local election officials have applied the rules for rejecting ballots differently over the years, said former state electoral board chair Jean Cunningham.

That’s one reason why figuring out “the line between a silly oversight and a material omission” isn’t an easy job because of all the possible ballot scenarios, said Chesterfield County registrar Larry Haake, past president of the Voter Registrars Association of Virginia.

Proponents of the current regulations say they’re needed to create uniformity, provide guidance for local registrars, and protect election integrity.

“The goal here is to get things right on a tough issue… to err on the side of the voter,” said Justin Riemer, confidential policy adviser to the State Board of Elections. The goal isn’t to disqualify voters for sloppy signatures, he added.

Virginia Democratic Party executive director David Mills argues the Board of Elections, appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell, is rewriting the regulations to create additional voting barriers for blocs of voters that tend to favor Democrats.

“If they can make just even a small tweak to that law that makes it even harder for an absentee vote to be counted, a critical analysis would tell you that they’re doing this to get an advantage,” Mills said.

Democrats also question the manner in which state officials abandoned the regulations approved last year and have asked the Justice Department to review the rescinded regulations.

Virginia should place a priority on finding ways within the law to count as many votes as possible, not make it more difficult to have your vote counted if you vote absentee, Mills said.

The absentee ballot rules approved last year by the State Board of Elections when it was led by appointees of former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine provided more latitude to election officials to count ballots.

They were published as a final state regulation in December and submitted for review by the Justice Department.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office withdrew the rules in February before the Justice Department commented on them. A Cuccinelli spokeswoman said that was done at the request of the State Board of Elections.

Then in July, state officials canceled the rules so they could be replaced with new guidelines.

The current regulations are to be considered at an Oct. 17 meeting in Richmond.

First, there is no actual political party called the Tea Party. That a co-opted and ill-informed segment of the population refers to their affiliation with this political astroturf word wizardry funded by the rabidly anti-Obama Koch Brothers is a sad thing. They’re not grass roots – corporate America faked a grass roots revolution. The so-called ‘Tea Party’ is a manifestation of the secretive FreedomWorks non-profit, that itself is an outgrowth of the Koch Brothers’ funded Citizens for a Sound Economy. 

Astroturf refers to apparently grassroots-based citizen groups or coalitions that are primarily conceived, created and/or funded by corporations, industry trade associations, political interests or public relations firms.

The Tea Party has served their purpose to protect the billionaires from being affected by the recent debt negotiations. They made sure that only the poor and middle class would feel the pain and they cut the hell out of the largest employer in the US, which is the Federal Government. The Koch brothers got their monies worth out of the Tea Party, which they funded to protect their tax subsidies and loopholes and to dismantle our Democracy. Watch the trailer below (or click here) and please do pass this on to everyone you know.

The GOP’s focus on debt reduction is a public relations masterpiece of misdirection. America’s debt is not its biggest problem (op-ed in the Washington Post, August 10, 2011; by Bill Gross)

“It is critical for politicians and investors alike to distinguish between cause and effect, disease and symptom. Washington has been operating the past few months under the assumption that the United States and our euro-zone economic trading partners are experiencing a debt crisis that must be resolved by exorcising excessive spending in the near term. To Republicans, and even many co-opted Democrats, the debate starts with spending cuts and how much must be done to appease voters and the markets …” and “while our debt crisis is real … “  “debt is not the disease — it is a symptom. Lack of aggregate demand or, to put it simply, insufficient consumption and investment is the disease.”

The super rich are doing just fine, thanks to the Tea Party.

• Sales of Luxury Goods Are Recovering Strongly – NYTimes.com 
• Global Luxury Sales to Grow by 8% in 2011 
• And Virginia’s very own Eric Cantor (R-7th District) has been leading the charge, “Eric Cantor Is The Hedge Funder’s Man In Washington“

And what’s the danger? That people will truly be hoodwinked into believing they are helping themselves all the while voting people into office who in the guise of ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ will do exactly that to those who elected them.

See also, Conservative Agenda Masquerading as Legitimate News, and Corporations Are People, My Friend.

Please be careful about the context and perspective of your news sources. That is not to say that quotes are inaccurate or facts are wrong, but the political persuasion techniques are getting more sophisticated and are an evolution of conservative news media that we’ve seen over the last decade. Below are some conservative content sources that are more prevalent inVirginia news “reporting”, and deserve your very critical eye as a basis for information.

Virginia Statehouse News

Virginia Statehouse News is a product of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity abides by a strict policy not to disclose donor information. According to the organization website, “The Franklin Center protects the identification of its generous donors and ensures anonymity of all contributions.”

The Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity trains right-of-center think tanks to do investigative journalism, as well as funding nonprofits to run news sites and hire reporters (source: Washington Monthly)

The Franklin Center, which is run by a Republican political consultant (Jason Stverak) with no journalism background, supports state-level investigative news sites under the moniker Watchdog.org. Meanwhile, free-market state-based think tanks have begun hiring reporters to work in-house, focusing on local and state spending—in the last six months alone, they have brought at least eighteen reporters on board.

Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia has its origins in a well-funded conservative agenda, founded by the Sam Adams Alliance (SAM), that also launched American Majority and the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. More about this troubling phenomenon of layers of conservative agenda masquerading as legitimate news, click here.

Washington Examiner

The Examiner’s editorial page is heavily conservative; it is headed by Mark Tapscott, with American Spectator senior editor Quin Hillyer serving as its associate editor. The paper’s national political coverage, which also appears in Examiner papers in Baltimore and San Francisco, was previously headed by Bill Sammon, a former Washington Times reporter who has written several books praising George W. Bush. (Sammon is now the deputy managing editor for Fox News Channel‘s Washington bureau.) Chris Stirewalt, who has been described as “a true conservative voice”, is the Examiner’s political editor. Mary Katherine Ham, former managing editor of the conservative Townhall.com, briefly served as the Examiner’s online editor for a few months in 2008  before joining the Weekly Standard. Matthew Sheffield, executive editor of the Media Research Center blog NewsBusters, is in charge of the Examiner’s website. Byron York, formerly of National Review, joined the paper in February 2009.

What You Can Do

Be a wise consumer of news. Look at the source(s) of information with a critical eye, evaluate the content, ask questions about the origin, intent and context. Research the source(s) including the reporters and those who are quoted (and note who is not). Look things up yourself among different sources.

Check these sites for your progressive and liberal balance (and bookmark them):

• Center for Media and Democracy
  • SourceWatch
  • PRWatch
• Open Secrets
  • Open Secrets News
• Huffington Post
• Media Matters
• VPAP (the Virginia Public Access Project)
• Center for American Progress
• MoveOn

Virginia House of Delegates Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong
Response to Governor Bob McDonnell’s State of the Commonwealth Address

I want to begin by offering my deepest condolences to the victims and the families who were affected by Saturday’s tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona. The thoughts and prayers of millions of Virginians and Americans are with the families of those killed and wounded as they cope with this heinous act.

If any good can come from this tragedy it’s this. We should take this opportunity to examine how we deal with one another in political discussions. Words matter. And while it’s important to have vigorous debate on the issues facing our state and our country, tone is important.

We need to be more civil to one another and avoid harshness. I and my Democratic colleagues pledge to work to avoid the political rancor that has consumed Washington and the country these past few months and bring honor to a capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson and occupied by statesmen like Washington and Henry.

We can’t or won’t censor anyone’s first amendment rights to free speech. But we need to remind ourselves that each of us, elected representatives and individual citizens alike, has a personal responsibility to maintain a level of public discourse that is respectful to people we disagree with and inclusive of different points of view.

The Governor’s speech tonight was filled with a number of priorities — funding for transportation, higher education and job creation. Those are goals that Virginia Democrats share. Where we have serious differences is how to pay for them.

In 2010 voters from around the country, including here in Virginia, went to the polls with a very simple message for their government: watch your spending and stop mortgaging our future by spending more money than you are taking in. Virginia Democrats heard you loud and clear.

I recall that Governor McDonnell campaigned for dozens of Republicans and Tea Party candidates who were running on that very message. But while he talks a pretty good game about small government and cutting spending, his legislative agenda suggests that he has not gotten the point made in the last election when it comes to deficit spending.

Virginia has a long tradition of responsible financial management. We don’t spend money we don’t have. We don’t run up massive amounts of debt. We balance our budgets fairly and honestly. For eight years Democratic governors Mark Warner and Tim Kaine ran this Commonwealth using those principles of responsible fiscal leadership and pay-as-you-go budgeting that earned Virginia a AAA bond-rating and a reputation as one of the best managed states in the country.

The legislative agenda that the Governor outlined tonight is a pretty big departure from those principles. Worse, it’s a real threat to Virginia’s long-term economic health. The governor has a long wish list of expensive items but no sound plan on how to pay for them. For example, he wants to take on over $3 billion in new debt to pay for transportation projects. The end result could be that we wind up stacking more government debt on top of Virginia families at a time when many of them are having trouble paying their own bills.

We can’t afford to let the Governor put it all on the state’s credit card for future generations to pick up the tab.

That is at the heart of the philosophical difference between Democrats and Republicans in Virginia. Our party is founded on the principles of economic growth, job creation, good education and expanding opportunity around the Commonwealth. But we also believe in sound financial management.

The Governor and Republicans may be comfortable running up debt to pay for expensive priorities, but I believe I speak for most Virginians when I say we don’t want to run Virginia’s government that way.

This session Democrats are going to continue our fight for legislation that makes life better for Virginia families, without mortgaging the future. Over the next few weeks you’ll hear us talk about bills that will create jobs, keep the cost of important items like electricity and cable service low, improve our public schools and make communities across the state safer.

We are completely focused on the issues that matter to families across this Commonwealth. Which is why we likely won’t support the governor’s plan to sell off the state’s ABC stores. The problem with that plan is the state receives a lot of revenue from our ABC stores. Privatizing them will cost the state money. That means funding cuts to schools and police.

In addition, the governor wants to triple the number of liquor stores in the state. We think most people don’t want more liquor stores in their neighborhood.

I’m proud of the proposals that members of our House and Senate caucuses have put forward. I hope my Republican colleagues, particularly in the House of Delegates, will consider these proposals, not based on the political party of the legislator who introduced them but on the merits of the bills themselves.

Over the next 40 days or so Democrats and Republicans are going to have to work together on a lot of issues that are important to the future of our Commonwealth. Governor McDonnell is my friend. He and I both want Virginians to have good jobs. We both want our kids to have a good education. We want all Virginians to have a great quality of life.

Where we disagree is how to get there.

So what to do. Well we’re taught from our very first days in kindergarten that we have to get along with our neighbors. We have to talk to one another and not just bicker back and forth in the newspaper or on TV.

We have a lot of differences but we also agree on a lot as well. Democrats have some serious concerns about the agenda that the Governor put forward tonight. And while we’ll continue to make those concerns known, that doesn’t mean we aren’t open to working with Bob McDonnell and Republicans to find common ground and get things done.

I really believe we can work together to find solutions to our problems, and do it without saddling taxpayers with too much debt.

So to the Governor and his party I say let’s find that common ground. Work with us because we want to work with you. Let’s create the jobs, improve the schools and build the roads… together. The people of Virginia expect that – no — they demand it.

God bless the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States of America.

Comments regarding the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth Address.

• In his speech the Governor did not cover any new territory, but he did restate his commitment to billions of dollars in debt and new spending without any explanation of how he plans to pay that money back.

• Virginia Democrats are working to create jobs, improve education, fix our transportation crisis and expand opportunity for every family. The Governor seems to agree with many of those goals, but his approach to meeting them is inconsistent with Virginia’s long tradition of balanced budgets and responsible fiscal leadership.

• Running up $3 billion in new debt for transportation with no way to pay for it is not the type of leadership Virginians expected when they elected him in 2009, and it is a direct affront to the message of the 2010 elections in which voters went to the polls and told their government to stop spending more money than it collects.

• We need more funding for transportation, education, job creation and a host of other priorities. However we cannot afford to pay for them in the short-term at the cost of our long-term economic health.

• During this session Democrats are going to advocate for solutions to the challenges we face that do not mortgage the future with billions of dollars of debt.

• The Governor should join Democrats’ call for fiscal responsibility and add to his agenda a sensible way of paying for his priorities. Billions of dollars in debt should not be the biggest legacy of Bob McDonnell’s administration.

• It’s interesting to note that the Governor spent hardly any time talking about his plan to privatize the state’s ABC Stores. That is obviously a reflection of the difficult time he is having finding support in the General Assembly for what amounts to a bad idea. We can’t afford to privatize an efficient and profitable system just because the Governor hopes we will break even on the deal, and there are  not likely any Virginians who think there is a pressing need to triple the number of stores that sell liquor in neighborhoods around the state.

by Senator Chap Petersen (D-34th), OxRoadSouth.com

This year (2010) is the U.S. Census, which means that next year (2011) will see a special session dedicated to drawing boundaries for new Congressional and legislative districts.

Virginia is somewhat unique in that (i) we have a split in power in the legislature and (ii) the Department of Justice has to approve any new legislative boundaries.  Also, we are the only state (I think) having legislative elections in 2011.  

All that means that redistricting will happen very fast next year. We will get the census data, draw the lines and begin campaigning in the new districts — all in a matter of months.  And since there are four independent actors (House Repubs, Senate Dems, the Governor and the DOJ), there is no way to predict how it will end up. 

It’s the expectation, not confirmed in any formal way, that the House Republicans will draw the lines for their body and we will do the same in the Senate.  Needless to say, neither side intends to diminish their numbers. 

(note:  I was a consistent supporter, and still am, of a non-partisan redistricting process.  However, that will be impossible at this point as it would have required a constitutional amendment to be on the ballot THIS FALL).

Virginia has grown by 700,000 residents since theyear 2000.  What localities are gaining thse new residents?  No surprise, the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C. lead the way –

1.  Loudoun (128,000)
2.  Prince William (106,000)
3.  Fairfax (67,000)
4.  Chesterfield (48,000)
5.  Henrico (34,000)
6.  Stafford (33,000)
7.  Spotsylvania (31,000)
8.  Arlington (23,000)

In contrast, the 25 localities that are losing population?  With a couple small exceptions, they are rural counties and small cities (Danville, Halifax, Bedford) located south of Richmond or west of the I-95 corridor.

The high-growth Senate districts largely match the NOVA growth trend:

1.  Herring (302,000)
2.  Colgan (256,000)
3.  Houck (235,000)
4.  Stuart (224,000)
5.  Vogel (224,000)
6.  McDougle (210,000)

All of these districts, with the exception of #6, touch the outer suburbs of NOVA.   By comparison, the “inner suburb” Senators in Fairfax County haveP very stable populations, which range between 180,000-200,000.

The lowest populations are not out west (with one exception).  Rather they’re mostly in Hampton Roads:

40.  Wagner (176,000)
39.  McWaters (177,000)
38.  Miller, Y. (177,000)
37.  Puckett (177,000)
36  Northam (178,000)
35.  Locke (179,000)
34.  Miller, J. (180,000)

These population variances are marginal.  On balance, it appears that the 2001 Assembly chose to squeeze  more districts into Hampton Roads, likely to create more majority-minority districts.

Constitutionally, the districts can vary by as much as 10% (or 5% above the mean) without causing Federal intervention under the “one man/one vote” doctrine.  So the small variations really don’t cause concern.

The real issue will be breaking down the super-size districts in NoVA, especially Colgan and Herring, and seeing how those extra voters can be absorbed around the state — or in a new district in northern Virginia pulling voters from all the others.

My modest goal is to see that all districts are formed in a way to maximize citizen access.  That means no elongated or haphazard districts, where compact or contiguous will work.  For what it’s worth, I believe that drawing districts on a strictly partisan basis is a self-defeating strategy. 

Because you can’t create 21 “safe’ seats in a competitive state. You have to create competitive districts and then recruit (or retain) good candidates who can win.

A 2006 study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation found that states with retail alcoholic beverage monopolies had lower rates of teen drinking and a 9.3 percent lower alcohol-related death rate for drivers younger than 21. That translated to about 200 million fewer ounces of alcohol consumed each year by minors and 45 fewer deaths annually, the study said.

The nonsense of the ABC store privatization, yes nonsense, is that it really won’t solve the transportation problems of the Commonwealth, but it makes an excellent diversion from actually talking about how to do that.

Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan is not a plan, it’s a sentence on the lives of our children.