A Richmond grand jury on Monday indicted 10 convicted felons on charges of election fraud for allegedly lying on voter registration forms during the 2008 presidential election campaign.
The grand jury indicted five men and five women on one count each of making a material false statement on a voter registration form, a felony.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring said the charges stem from a statewide investigation by the Virginia State Police into allegations of fraud in 2008.
Herring said each of those indicted spoke with a solicitor who was trying to get people to register to vote. In most cases, the person told the solicitor that he or she was a felon, and some of those indicted told a solicitor they therefore could not vote.
Ken Cuccinelli’s Witch Hunt
Ken Cuccinelli’s witch hunt against climate scientist Michael Mann was stopped by the Supreme Court. Good for UVA for failing to roll over and play dead. However, in the wake of this law suit are a lot of unpaid bills. UVA had to raise about $600,000 to cover its legal costs . Then there are the bills generated from the State Attorney General’s office. Let’s hear Cuccinelli try to tell us to ‘stop the spending.’ He has lost his fiscally conservative street cred.
This witch hunt was motivated by Cuccinelli’s own personal political agenda rather than from anything real that happened or any reasonable suspicion of wrong-doing while Dr. Mann was in residence at UVA. The newly elected attorney general had a bug and he rashly wasted the taxpayers’ money pursuing his own silly paranoid anti-scientific endeavors.
According to the Washington Post:
Mr. Cuccinelli’s inspiration appears to have been the conspiracy theorizing that emerged from the so-called Climategate scandal, in which global-warming opponents stole scientists’ e-mails — including a few of Mr. Mann’s — and then misinterpreted them to justify their activism.
Now that the Supreme Court has shut Mr. Cuccinelli down, what’s left is a range of consequences that can only hurt the commonwealth. The university had to raise nearly $600,000 for legal fees — money the cash-strapped university should have been able to use for something productive. On top of that are the public resources of the attorney general’s office that Mr. Cuccinelli wasted. Scientists in Virginia now have reason to wonder whether they will suffer similar pressure if they publish research government officials don’t like. And, because of some of the Supreme Court’s legal findings, the powers of the attorney general to pursue actual fraud have been clipped.
How many scientists will not want to work at UVA because of the climate of fear inspired by Cuccinelli? Virginia has a long history of enlightenment that goes back to the time of Jefferson, Washington, and even further. To have Cuccinelli try to ride his wave of anti-intellectual hocus pocus through the state at our expensive is simply unacceptable. Mr. Jefferson would not like his school under attack and Virginians are tired of this administration causing them continual embarrassment.
Rachel Maddow does post-mortum on McDonnell’s about face
UPDATE: VA SENATE SHELVED PERSONHOOD AMENDMENT THIS EVENING.
Rachel Maddow sticks the skewer in Right Wing Virginia zealots one more time as she examines the ultra-sound bill once again. The bill sponsor has pulled the bill. Republicans met with Governor McDonnell this week to discuss the problem he had, being painted into a corner. Some legislators simply blew him off. When it was decided to ‘reword’ the bill, they all decried that they knew not what they did. Rachel calls them out as liars. Of course they knew. They were told by women’s groups and the Democrats that ultra sound involved trans-vaginal ultrasound.
This week we will be gathering information on the vote. You might want to examine if you want to cast your ballot in the future for someone who would mandate that a woman be probed without her consent just to undergo a medical procedure.
Making a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out whose naughty or nice. Woman control tried to come to town.
Todd Gilbert: Lifestyle convenience???
Deputy House Majority Leader C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) said Tuesday night that he “regretted” his “insensitive comments”earlier in the day about abortion being a “lifestyle convenience.”
“Abortion is a sad and deeply serious occurrence,’’ Gilbert said in a statement. “Individuals on both sides of this issue agree that it is tragic for all involved. I recognize that few women undergo the procedure lightly. It leaves scars, both mental and physical, that can last forever. I regret that my comments earlier today on the House floor were insensitive to that reality.’’
What was that Elena said about a war on women? What further proof do we need? How dare this arrogant man speak of “Lifestyle Convenience?” How dare he!
I feel so betrayed tonight. My grandfather’s family were Virginians back in the mid-1700’s. My grandmother was a member of the DAR, her family were Virginians. My people were here before there was a United States. Yet tonight I sit here, as a grandmother myself, wondering what has happened to my state. Who are these men who came marching in here and decided what they thought was best for the women of Virginia? These dumb asses will be vanquished. Sic semper tyrannis
Virginia now wants to penetrate your body without permission
Governor McDonnell has said he will sign the ultra sound bill. That doesn’t sound like a real good idea if he wants to be considered for vice president. See the bill in full text.
Meanwhile Rachel Maddow discovered Bob Marshall. She is horrified and pointed out how Colorado and Mississippi rejected a similiar bill by double digits. What are our Virginia legislators doing to us? We have become the laughing stock of America. We have become the anti birth control state. I am mortified.
Meanwhile, make sure you don’t swear in Bob Marshall’s district. I hope he listens in. He will get an earful.
Meanwhile, the women of Virginia have to flood the governors office and tell him not to sign either of these bills should they pass the legislature. Gov. McDonnell’s number: (804) 786-2211
contact via email: https://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm
Enough big government intrustion into personal matters.
Amazon slips through the tax loophole
From Roanoke.com:
When Virginians make purchases from Amazon.com they are not paying sales tax on that item (unless the consumer reports it on their taxes).
The Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill to change that.
The bill clarifies the current law, which says that any retailer with a physical presence in Virginia must collect and remit the 5 percent sales tax. Amazon, which has two facilities in Virginia, hasn’t done that.
Apparently a 2007 ruling from the state tax department said that Amazon isn’t required to collect and remit sales tax because its facilities in Virginia don’t handle sales.
To add to the story, it was announced last month that Amazon would receive more than $4.3 million in financial aid and other incentives from the state to build two fulfillment centers outside of Richmond. Those centers would bring 1,350 jobs to the area. Amazon is investing $135 million in the buildings.
The retail community has voiced its displeasure with the loophole.
Voter ID bill moves to House floor
Richmond Times Dispatch:
A bill that would require voters who show up at the polls without identification to cast provisional ballots is headed to the House floor after being lambasted by Democrats in a committee hearing Friday.
I have to disagree with the Democrats on this one. I see absolutely nothing wrong with requiring voter ID. There are very few rights that an American citizen has to start with. Legal residents pretty much have the same rights we do other than voting in state and federal elections. What happens if if a provisional vote is cast? According to Delegate Albo:
“I’m trying to understand what the controversy of the bill is,” said Del. David B. Albo, R-Fairfax, noting that the provisional ballots are reviewed the day after the election by the local electoral board.
“If they are legit, they get counted,” Albo said. “If they’re not legit, they don’t get counted.”
On Friday afternoon, the ACLU decried the bill as a voter-suppression measure.
Anyone who lacks the proper ID should be able to get one without charge at DMV. I am surprised that people can register to vote without some form of identification. In this day and age, how does a person go anywhere or do anything without some form of ID? Go Republicans! This is one bill that makes sense in a sea of ones that don’t.
Eliminating Teen Pregnancy Prevention Intiative: Pure Stupidity
Why is it that people who want to knock giant holes in abortion rights also want to knock out programs that exist to reduce unintended pregnancy? Governor Robert McDonnell seems to be jumping on the stupidity bandwagon on this very subject.
According to the Washington Post:
McDonnell (R) wants to eliminate funding — $455,000 — for pregnancy prevention programs across the state that offer sex education and birth control to teenagers.
The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative funds programs at schools and clinics in seven health districts, including Alexandria, which have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the state.
McDonnell’s administration says that the money is being discontinued because the initiative has not worked — and that the localities continue to experience pregnancy rates above the state average.Although Virginia’s teen pregnancy rate is below the national average, 28 cities and counties are above the national average. In 2010, 10,970 teen pregnancies were reported in Virginia.
“The elimination of this long-standing health program could have serious consequences for women and girls’ health,” said Katherine Greenier, director of the Patricia M. Arnold Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU of Virginia. “Teens need good information and services to make informed, healthy choices. To ensure a decline in teen pregnancy rates continue we must provide teens with the necessary information, education and resources.’’
The program worked with 4,642 teens in fiscal 2010, including those at the Teen Wellness Center at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, which serves youths 12 to 19.
McDonnell targets VRS and higher education for money infusion
Governor McDonald has targetted 2 critical areas for huge cash infusions: VRS and higher education. The governor plans to pump over 2.2 Billion into the state pension plan. He also intends to spend over $200 million over the next two years in higher education. Both areas are quickly approaching critical mass of not being able to do what they are intended to do.
According to hamptonroads.com:
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcements this week that he intends to pour $2.2 billion into the state pension system and boost spending for higher education by $200 million over the next two years are remarkable in two respects.
First, each implicitly acknowledges what nearly everyone in Virginia has long known but pretended isn’t true: The state’s failure to keep up with its obligations has reached a tipping point.
That much has been clear on any number of issues, perhaps none more than on transportation, which McDonnell has begun addressing through debt and public-private partnerships that ensure costly tolls on primary routes in South Hampton Roads.
But a study released earlier this week by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission underscored the bleak future of the Virginia Retirement System and the thousands of state workers counting on it.
The report explained the pension system’s condition as a consequence of multiple factors: the state’s pattern of contributing less each year than recommended, the economic downturn, increasing numbers of retirees and fewer workers taking their place. Analysts have calculated VRS is underfunded by nearly $20 billion.
Is McDonnell raising taxes?
From the Richmond Times Dispatch:
Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday unveiled a two-year, $84.9 billion spending plan that balances increases in transportation, higher education and the state’s pension system with $882 million in targeted reductions largely to Medicaid and public education funding. The proposed budget for July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2014, contains no tax increases but raises certain fees, including $10 million worth from the Department of Motor Vehicles.
If fees are increased at the DMV, doesn’t that really constitute a tax increase, by another name?
Additionally, if items like Medicaid and public education get shortchanged, doesn’t that simply make local governments more strapped for much needed cash? The real estate market has not rebounded all that much which is where the taxes come from in most localities. There is also a movement under way to do away with the BPOL tax.
Somehow politicians need to accept that we are not all that stupid. We know that neither PWC nor Virginia can print money. We know that a certain amount of money is needed for schools and for medicaid. If the buck stops here, we either do without cops and other public safety services or we have 40 kids in a classroom.
How do you cut back on Medicaid? Where do you start? Do you disqualify people? I don’t know the answers. It just seems that we are playing a shell game. The fed cuts what it gives to the states. The state cuts what it gives to the localities. The localities have things they must do like provide medicaid, education money and public safety. So we move it around.
This is like the song, Where have all the Flowers Gone. Gone to Flowers everyone. McDonnell is on Fox News bragging that he has a surplus. Not really. How about that money owed to VRS that has not yet been repaid? How about what is being shorted the localities? How about the increased fees? Just because we don’t call it a tax, is it still a tax? Yup.
I don’t really care. I noticed a huge hit since the last time I renewed my license. I expected it. But lets call it what it is. It’s a tax increase called a fee.
The Tea Party: Is it a political party or isn’t it?
From the Daily Press:
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jaime Radtke and roughly 30 of her Tea Party supporters stood outside the Capitol on Wednesday to protest Radtke’s exclusion from a debate featuring former Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen.
Democrat Kaine and Republican Allen were the only two candidates for the Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb to meet the qualifications laid out by event organizers, the Associated Press and the Virginia Capitol Correspondents Association. To get an invite candidates must have averaged at least 15 percent in published polls and raised at least 20 percent of the amount of money raised by their party’s front runner.
In addition to Radtke, this left out Tim Donner, E.W. Jackson and David McCormick who are running for the GOP nomination, and Julien Modica and Courtney Lynch on the Democratic side.
Radtke consistently complained that limiting the debate to the two big-name former governors was a circumventing of the primary process and an attempt by the “mainstream media” to pick the Republican and Democratic nominees.
I am still trying to figure out if the Tea Party is a political party or not. If not, what are they? Is it just a descriptor? Right now, it seems like the old Republican Party has a push me/pull me relationship with people espousing TP state of mind. On the one hand, the R’s seem to want to use them in their mix and on the other hand, they seem to feel that undo influence and pressure is coming from that wing of the party.
Virginians not so well off if they work for the state
More than 60 percent of states pay their rank-and-file employees better than Virginia.
And when compared to the average salary among Virginia’s private-sector employees, the outlook for state government worker pay in Virginia is even worse, ranking 48th in the nation.
Those startling statistics come from a recently released report from the state’s Department of Human Resources Management using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The numbers are in stark contrast to this year’s analysis of compensation details for 104,552 state employees by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which shows the average state salary of roughly $52,553 — nearly identical to the average salary in the state’s private sector.
Bob Marshall attempts to add coaches and ADs to list of mandated reporters
The Dailypress:
In the wake of the child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State the cost legendary football coachJoe Paterno his job, a Virginia legislator has filed two bills that add to the list of mandated reporters in the case of child abuse or neglect.
In HB3 and HB4 Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas, proposes adding coaches and athletic directors working at colleges or universities or for private sports organizations to be required to report any suspected abuse or neglect to their local Department of Social Services.
If passed these coaches and athletic directors would be added to a long list of professionals who are considered mandated reporters by the state, including doctors, nurses, K-12 teachers and coaches, probation officers and day care workers.
The emphasis here is on college and university level coaches and athletic directors because these individuals generally don’t deal with minors in their day to day work. Adding these positions to the long list of mandated reporters would remove the guess work out of who is and is not responsible for reporting suspected child sex abuse.
Perhaps it seems like over-kill but it is better to be safe than sorry. In many ways its seems that those at Penn State were ill prepared to deal with child sex abuse. If this bill passes into law, there will simply be no question as to the right and legal behavior required. For once, we give Del. Marshall a rare thumbs up.
ProgressVA gives Gov. McDonnell a frozen turkey
While the native tribes of Virginia plan on presenting Governor Bob McDonnell with a deer later this week, a liberal leaning group, ProgressVA has left a 12 pound turkey for McDonnell, naming him the Turkey of the Year. Why does McDonnell deserve this dubious award in the bestows eyes?
According to Hamptonroads.com:
The deer offering Gov. Bob McDonnell will accept from native Virginia tribes later this week comes with good intentions and a dose of tradition.
The frozen turkey left for him Monday?
Not so much.
A 12-pound gobbler was presented to McDonnell’s staff by ProgressVA, a left-leaning interest group which named the governor its “Turkey of the Year” for what it deemed his use of accounting gimmicks and cuts to core government services to balance Virginia’s budget.
In addition to the bird, the group left a framed resolution for the governor, accusing him of “maxing out the state’s credit card” with borrowing and refusing to close tax loopholes “that benefit his corporate donors.”
Figuring the governor wouldn’t consume the turkey, ProgressVA recommended a donation to a local food bank, which is how his office will handle the gift.
“The fact is in this tough economy many Virginians could use a free turkey at Thanksgiving,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. “With that in mind we will donate the turkey to the Central Virginia Foodbank and we encourage all Virginians to support their local food banks this holiday season.”
But if officials had their druthers, Martin joked, instead of a turkey they “would have preferred a one year membership in the jelly of the month club, the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”
McDonnell has played loosey goosey with the accounting as far as VRS is concerned. I will hold a grudge forever on that subject simply because I believe allowing payments to VRS to be deferred was unconstitutional. Additionally, McDonnell proclaimed a balanced budget. If you still have outstanding debt, is the budget balanced?
But I don’t know what else he has done slippery. Is he still trying to sell our liquor stores? I guess now he gains a little more power with the senate win, we are getting ready to find out.
Virginia rest stops to get food, drinks and merchandise
From the Associated Press:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration has awarded a contract to a Pennsylvania-based catering company to sell food, drinks and merchandise at Virginia highway rest areas.
CRH Catering of Connellsville, Pa., will pay the Virginia Department of Transportation about $2 million a year for vending and advertising rights at the state’s 42 rest areas and welcome centers. Most are along interstate highways.
I thought we were prohibited from installing vendor sales at our interstate rest stops because of federal regulations and that Governor Kaine has applied for relief from the regulations. How is it we can now have vendor machines at interstate rest stops? Actually it is a good idea but the bidding should have been limited to Virginia companies first. If no Virginia companies met the specs, then out of state companies could then bid.
Bringing in CRH Catering is supposed to add an extra million dollars a year to help offset the cost of keeping rest areas open. Rest stops should be open. To do otherwise is dangerous and irresponsible to travelers and it hurts the tourist industry.
