The "Best" Legislature Money Can Buy

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Wed Mar 10, 2010 at 10:31:36 AM EST

One involved a revenue bill which appeared to have no opponents in the General Assembly until it found itself the target of a successful big-money lobbying effort that ultimately doomed it.

The second instance of political prostitution concerned bills that passed this week. Those bills, introduced by Sen. Steve Newman (R-Falwell) at the behest of Gov. Bob McDonnell, give the state a role in the creation - and funding - of charter, online and virtual schools despite objections from some that doing so would raid public school funding in a time of unprecedented budget cuts.

My disgust was caused by the fact that K12, a Herndon company that would benefit greatly from the online education part of the bill, was invited by the governor's office to sit in on working group sessions that essentially wrote the legislation.

I guess K12 got a good return on the $40,000 it donated to Bob McDonnell's campaign and inauguration and the $17,500 it gave to various legislators who sit on the education committees. I knew that the world's oldest profession in a political sense was rampant in Richmond. I just never knew how cheaply those people could be purchased.

Here's more detail of what went on in Richmond.

The Buck Passes to Local Government

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Sun Mar 07, 2010 at 12:15:10 PM EST

There is one week to go before the end of the General Assembly session, but no budget agreement appears on the horizon. Even so, one thing is sure about this budget. It will put pressure on local government officials to either raise revenue - increase property taxes - or be the face of the cuts in services that will be deeply felt in Virginia's cities, towns, and counties.

We can look at public education as an example of how the state passes the fiscal buck for their own demands on localities. The state, even in these bad times, requires schools to maintain 21-to-1 student-teacher ratios, provide free textbooks and transportation and offer programs for at-risk students and free and reduced-price breakfasts in any school where at least one-fourth of students qualify for them.

The federal No Child Left Behind law mandates frequent testing, which carries a high price tag while delivering dubious data. It also mandates a certain level of improvement per year in educational outcomes and remedial instruction for those who fail to meet the minimum standards.

I haven't even scratched the surface of the mandates for education.

So, what does Bob McDonnell have to say about the state passing mandates on to the localities without sufficient state revenue to fund them? "They'll be innovative, they'll be creative, and they'll find a way to manage better," he said.

No, they won't. Virginia's localities can't be "innovative;" they can't "manage" better. McDonnell and the rest of the "don't tax me" crowd have identified the problem facing us right now the wrong way.

We Need an Echo Chamber

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Thu Mar 04, 2010 at 10:00:00 AM EST

Let me quote just a couple of things from the man who took political lying to a new low - Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister for Adolf Hitler:

"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over...If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it...The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

So, to us it may be obvious that Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and others are repeating obvious lies and following the advice  of Goebbels. To many Americans, all they know is that they heard different people say the same thing over and over, so it must be true.

Dr. Anthony P. Young, a psychologist, says that if a person believes that a lie is real, it will become real in its consequences.

"Individuals construct reality in their own mind. If you believe something is true, it becomes true regardless of what the facts are," maintains Young, a specialist in forensic psychology. This is what we are fighting against.

Virginia Will Pay a Price

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 13:07:30 PM EST

We all know by now that incoming Republican Bob McDonnell did not see fit to continue the eight-year pattern by Democratic governors of  issuing a non-discrimination policy that rejected bias in hiring and promotion of state employees based on their sexual orientation.

He contended that only the legislature had the ability to protect those citizens from the actions of bigots. That is his "opinion," despite the fact that the Code of Virginia gives the governor the right to set policy for state agencies, unless prohibited from doing so by the Code of Virginia.

Meanwhile, certifiable nutjob Del. Bob Marshall (R-Far Right Field) has made another ridiculous, homophobic comment about a bill introduced by Democratic Sen. Don McEachin to do what the governor said was necessary - make discrimination in state hiring on the basis of sexual orientation illegal by legislative action.

"I think there first should be some finding that homosexuals, as a class, are being discriminated against," Marshall said. "In all of my experience and reading, gay individuals seem to have more income, to attend more cultural events, to take more vacations than the rest of us."

Words escape me in commenting on the stupidity of that remark.  So, I'll just move on to the harm these homophobes may cause the state.  

Let's Find Our Own Solutions

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 08:58:38 AM EST

Radmacher's column, "An Obituary for America's Job-Creation Machine," addresses - as I did -  publications by Barry Lynn and Philip Longman of the New America Foundation which attempt to understand why the American economy had no net job creation in the decade from the 2000 recession until 2009, the first time in our modern history that situation has occurred.

Outsourcing of jobs, technology, international competition, and reduced investment in research and development are some factors, but Lynn and Longman attribute much of this disturbing situation to the monopolization of whole sectors of our economy by one or two multinational corporations.

We can study the causes for the lack of jobs ad nauseum. Let's, instead, turn our attention to possible ways to mitigate the damage to society and look at ways to create jobs in spite of the intransigence of the corporatocracy.

One possible solution is being tried right now in Cleveland, a city that has seen massive job losses  and a population decline from 900,000 in 1950 to less than 450,000 today.

House of Delegates Proposes a Medicaid Disgrace

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 17:58:30 PM EST

Instead of using the money that would flow from President Obama's proposed six-month Medicaid extension - the very Medicaid money Bob McDonnell talked about when he went to meet with the state's congressional delegation earlier this week - for health care, the House has other ideas.

The House budget allocates $100 million of the potential $350 million for the Virginia Tobacco Commission, $82 million for a three percent bonus for state employees, $75 million for higher education, and $37 million for K-12 education. Only $38 million of the possible $360 million Federal Medical Assistance Percentages Medicaid fundind would go to health care.

At least, the Democratic-controlled State Senate has taken a different approach to possible new Medicaid money. Its budget allocates any additional funds for the program itself, as Congress would expect.

Saudi Prince Invests in Fox News [Sic]

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 12:10:00 PM EST

Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a funder of families of suicide bombers and terrorist groups like Hamas, has become a huge investor in News Corporation, the parent company of FOX News. Of late, he has raised his stake in the corporation such that he is now the fourth-largest shareholder.

According to Joseph Trento, a sometimes Fox commentator, Prince Al-Waleed , nephew to the Saudi king, met with Rupert Murdoch in Hong Kong on Jan. 14. The prince issued a press release after the meeting stating that the prince's Kingdom Holding Company had discussions that "touched upon future potential alliances with News Corp."

Such an alliance gives the prince an outlet for his films and other media ventures, not to mention a say in how news from the Middle East is presented on Murdoch's network.. In return, Murdoch gains a way to fight off a possible takeover of his mega-corporation by an outfit called Liberty Media, which is the second-largest shareholder after the Murdoch family.

Al-Waleed has told the press that he is "a vocal and open ally of Mr. Murdoch." The prince said he hasn't given Murdoch official control of his shares but that Murdoch "has my verbal proxy." His payback is that he influences how Fox reports news on Saudi Arabia and terrorism.

Has the prince used his 7% ownership of Rupert Murdoch's empire - worth about $4.3 billion - to affect how Fox News reports? You bet.  

McDonnell the Latest GOP Hypocrite

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Wed Feb 24, 2010 at 13:01:29 PM EST

Bob McDonnell has caught the rampant "hypocrite flu" that is raging in the GOP community this year.

The Washington Post is reporting that Gov. McDonnell met with Virginia's congressional delegation in Washington and asked them to help him secure stimulus funds to help build a Rolls Royce manufacturing plant in Prince George County near Petersburg.

I will give McDonnell this much. His hypocrisy is tempered by the way he has danced around his party's criticism of the president and the Recovery Act. During the campaign for governor, McDonnell trashed the Recovery Act as a waste of money on a regular basis. At the same time, though, he said Virginia should accept the money.

McDonnell met with the entire congressional delegation, minus Sen. Jim Webb, who had another obligation. Besides begging for stimulus act money for the state, McDonnell discussed his desire to see off-shore oil drilling, ways to prevent a Norfolk-based aircraft carrier from being relocated to Florida, and various measures to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.

Gov. Wimpy also told the legislators he supports Congress extending the federal stimulus bill to help states cover rising Medicaid health care costs, a infusion of funds that he hopes will help close that $4.2 billion budget shortfall Virginia is facing. President Obama's proposed six-month Medicaid extension could pump $350 million into the state's coffers for health care.

So, let me get the governor's "logic" sorted out here.  

Right-Wing Hypocrisy Watch

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Mon Feb 22, 2010 at 09:27:57 AM EST

My favorites this week are Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and all those Republicans who "hate" the Recovery Act but love the money it brings to their state or district.

I was a bit surprised to find that Palin's own family partakes of dreaded "government-run" health care, especially after the headlines she got last year on the subject. Even more surprising was Limbaugh's praise for a government-mandated, universal health care system.

I also particularly enjoyed hearing one of their own, Arnold Schwartzenegger put the "H" name to what we have witnessed across this land as GOP lawmakers - who voted against the federal Recovery Act and swore up and down it was useless - have rushed for photo ops featuring Recovery Act projects in their communities.

How To Gut the State Retirement Fund

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Sat Feb 20, 2010 at 09:49:06 AM EST

The Times-Dispatch ran a lengthy article on the subject February 19.

According to McDonnell's "crystal ball," the VRS will provide a way for state and local governments to escape some of the pain that would come from balancing their budgets. How? By not putting in the government's share of money to cover future obligations for a few years.

That may help McDonnell's - and localities' - budget woes this year, but it could well create terrible problems in the future. Problems that will put in jeopardy the retirements of teachers, police officers, firefighters, all those who work for state or local government.

McDonnell is proposing cuts in contributions to the VRS by more than $600 million. At the same time, he has rejected former Gov. Kaine's proposal to ask present employees to pay into the fund themselves. Instead, he is advocating reduced retirement benefits for future employees, plus making them the only ones to pay into the system.  

If the guys around Gov. Wimpy believe that creating a future group of "second-class citizen" public employees in VRS is going to solve the problem created by cutting government contributions, they better think again. Officials at the VRS warn that reduced payments now would have to be made up in future budgets, either that or jeopardize the solvency of the fund. Any savings the state might realize from reducing benefits for new hires would take decades to realize.

Education Cuts: You Get What You Voted For

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 11:40:28 AM EST

The Roanoke Times had an eye-opening article today on the impact on education in our area of Virginia of Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to slash three quarters of a billion dollars from public education state funding over the next two years.

School boards statewide know that they have to look at shuttering schools, letting teachers go, postponing necessary maintenance, and slashing the instructional program to make up for the loss of revenue from the state.

Meanwhile, McDonnell's first response to his cuts in educational funding is a meeting in Richmond with students from "virtual schools" - kids who "go to the school" over the Internet - touting that as a great "advance" in education.

You know, you would think that the parts of the state that voted overwhelmingly for this guy will now see the cost to be paid for four years, but I doubt that. Any time anyone mentions any sort of tax increase, no matter how small, these people act as if they are being asked to live on the street and beg for food.

Education in my area of Virginia is going to be especially hard hit, at a time when southwest Virginia also has some of the highest unemployment in the Commonwealth.

McDonnell's Budget a Job Destroyer

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 10:24:48 AM EST

Remember when "Mr. Moderate" McDonnell was going around Virginia promising all sorts of goodies if the electorate would just send him to the governor's mansion? Well, I've been keeping score on how his "efforts" are working out so far. I will paraphrase Gov. Wimpy's promises and then take a look at reality.

"I have a transportation plan. My opponent just wants to study the problem. We can't wait another year to tackle the most important problem facing the Commonwealth."

Oh, yes we can wait another year. McDonnell has decided that the poor, overworked General Assembly just can't do anything on transportation this year. Besides, the oil rigs aren't up and pumping yet, the federal government hasn't been asked to put tolls on Interstate highways yet, and the state can't afford to lose the $100 million it gets from ABC store revenues.

"I will be the 'jobs governor.' My opponent has no plans to bring jobs to Virginia. I do."

No, he doesn't. In fact, the budget cuts he's recommended - now that he finally got up the courage to let the citizens in on them - will destroy thousands of jobs in Virginia. Here are just a few examples:  

Vicious Budget Cuts, Cowardly Governor

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Wed Feb 17, 2010 at 11:45:58 AM EST

I'm angry today. I'm angry that we in Virginia are poised to make the most vulnerable citizens in the Commonwealth pay the highest price for the budget crisis that Wall Street greed caused in Virginia and the rest of America. I'm also angry that we have a guy sitting in the governor's mansion who is too cowardly to share with the rest of us what he wants done.

The way this whole thing is unfolding is wrong. Normally, we would be having a spirited discussion about the cuts that have to be made to balance the state budget. However, as I have written before, this mess is unfolding in secret.

According to today's Washington Post, Gov. Bob McDonnell is very specific in secret meetings in describing the kind of budget cuts he wants to see made in the state budget, in order to meet his demand for no new taxes.

He apparently doesn't want any advocates for the poor, the sick, the elderly, or the children to be able to make a case for sparing those groups some of the sacrifices they are going to be asked to make. Plus, he actually must think he can keep his own hands clean in this mess and have the legislature get all the negative fallout.

I am thankful for the Washington Post and its reporter Anita Kumer, who has been writing about the secret budget discussions by using leaks from Richmond. Those efforts are the only way we citizens have to keep an eye on McDonnell and his plans for the state.

The cut list Gov. Wimpy has given Republicans in the General Assembly is pretty horrendous:

Governor Wimpy Fibs Again

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 11:08:37 AM EST

"I have followed the robust debate over redistricting for a long while...I do believe that we need to institute bipartisan redistricting to ensure greater citizen involvement, and the vigorous exercise of democracy that is the prerequisite for successful government."

He even had a specific proposal on the subject:

"[A] bipartisan commission, comprised of Virginia citizens who have not held any elected office for at least 10 years, will select its own non-partisan chair and will provide the citizens with access to the process through public meetings, proposed maps online, and a website that will allow public comment and interaction in this important process."

Now, the Washington Post is reporting that last week McDonnell had a golden opportunity to advance the cause of redistricting reform that he embraced as a candidate. He didn't.

Did he mean anything that he said about fair redistricting? Evidently not.

I won't dignify this latest news from Gov. Bob McDonnell by calling it a flip-flop. That's giving it too much credit. Let's just call his campaign promise what it was - a lie.  

Smack Dab in the Middle of the Second Gilded Age

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 12:05:45 PM EST

Most of the ongoing debates about globalization, competitiveness, and risky finance, Lynn says,  aren't pointing out the widespread consolidation of power in nearly every sector of the American economy.

Monopolies are gaining ever greater power, largely surreptitiously through takeovers that preserve existing brand names. The creation of these monopolies has been aided by decades-long encouragement by the federal government.

A bipartisan government prostitution to its corporate masters led companies to buy one another up, outsource their production, and make their profits by leveraging market share - creating a corporatist oligarchy.

Savings achieved by these consolidations - eliminating duplicate and unprofitable products, closing facilities, cutting jobs - are often used simply to fund ever more consolidation and concentration of market power.

Vulnerability to high prices and to supply problems increases as the number of suppliers is decreased. Consumer power in the marketplace and competition are mainly myths.

So, where are we right now? Well, we are smack dab in the middle of the "Second Gilded Age."

McDonnell, the "Cowardly Lion"

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Sat Feb 13, 2010 at 14:07:19 PM EST

Well, according to the Washington Post, Gov. Bob McDonnell has plenty of ideas on how he wants the budget cut; the problem is that he just wants to whisper them to GOP legislators in the General Assembly. Evidently, he is afraid of  sharing them with the rest of us.

I have two mental images of Bob McDonnell these days. The first is the "Cowardly Lion" from "The Wizard of Oz." The other one is Charles Durning, who played the governor of Texas in "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

As Durning bobbed and weaved and popped out from columns he was hiding behind, he sang, "Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don't/ I've come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step/ cut a little swathe and lead the people on."

So, what's our "Cowardly Lion" sidestepping around in Richmond? We are finally getting some specifics from details leaking out to the rest of us.  

Get Ready for the Worst

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 12, 2010 at 11:24:03 AM EST

"Do we, as Democrats, believe in core government services? Do we believe it or not?" Sen.  Ed Houck (D-Spotsylvania) said recently.

On the other side is Senate Finance Chairman Charles Colgan (D-Prince William), who absolutely will not support former Gov. Kaine's proposal to stop subsidizing a reduction in the local car tax and instead raise the state income tax by one percent and give localities enough money to eliminate the car tax altogether.

Meanwhile, over in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates and at the Governor's Mansion, there is a single budget philosophy: cut, cut, cut, especially programs that affect the "little people."

The people who are being targeted for the worst of the budget cuts are children in public schools, the poor on Medicaid, those in need of mental health services, state and local employees, and local government services partially supported by the state.

New Tools for Politics

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Tue Feb 09, 2010 at 10:48:45 AM EST

Brown's campaign bought Google ads for keywords related to the race,  including their opponent's name, so when anyone Googled "Martha Coakley," a Brown ad popped up at the top of the results page. Bob McDonnell did the very same thing in Virginia's gubernatorial race.

Brown spent nearly 10 percent of his total campaign ad budget online. For example, his Google ads were hit by Massachusetts citizens over 65 million times. (Note that the population of Massachusetts is about 6.5 million.) Unfortunately for Democrats, the complacent Massachusetts state Democratic party didn't play the Internet game.

While I know that the McDonnnell campaign in Virginia used Google ads and other Internet techniques, that race didn't come close to the Brown one in being tech-savvy. It hardly mattered since the Deeds campaign was hopelessly lost in how to use the old tools of electioneering, never mind the newest ones.

I have some thoughts on the lessons the Brown campaign has for Virginia Democrats.

Budget Deficit Burns; McDonnell Fiddles

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 16:20:04 PM EST

Perhaps McDonnell is praying that four or five Republicans in the legislature will meet in a back room and devise ways to eliminate more than $4 billion from the budget and then take all the blame for the program cuts that will follow. That won't happen.

In an interview in the Richmond Times-Dispatch this weekend, State Sen. Tom Norment (R-James City), the Senate Republican floor leader, said, "It's going to take divine intervention."

I don't know if he is asking God to write the state budget or asking God to prod the new governor to show at least a tiny bit of leadership. Both appear to be long shots.

Learning To Market the Democratic Party

by: Elaine in Roanoke

Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 10:33:47 AM EST

We Democrats in Virginia have a product to "sell," as well. I'm assuming that the product we are trying to sell is government that works for the average American, not just for the wealthy elite; government that protects ordinary citizens from the tyranny of the powerful; government that puts the environment and real people above court-mandated corporate "persons."

If we Democrats are going to market our party to voters, we should be able to tell people, concisely and clearly, exactly what we believe in and what we want government to do.

Recent history certainly has shown that the Democratic Party of Virginia needs to learn to market itself to the Commonwealth's citizens. It must communicate in clear, unequivocal language. It's time to stop talking vague policy and arcane procedure to the voters and start talking principle. Then, those principles must be translated into a legislative and executive agenda that can be presented to voters.

How else do we think we will ever get those first-time and presidential-election-only voters to realize that they are vital to bringing progressive change to Virginia and that we need then for every election. They need to be sold on the idea that their self-interest is at stake in local and statewide elections, not just national ones.