Not Larry Sabato

For the next 3 days only, our special platinum constellation casket is priced at only $4,999.95...

Channel 7 in New York City Covers Virginia Gun Laws

Why can't the Virginia media ever do work like this?  Toughest questions to pin down Bob McDonnell have to come from New York?

Mark Warner's Stupidity Of The Week

Just got quite a beat down, heh!

The 26 Virginia Democrats Who Helped Cooch Strike Down Health Care Reform

Earlier this year, as it became clear the Congress was going to settle on a health care reform bill with an "individual mandate" over one with a strong "public option" conservatives began preparing their legal counterattack.  D.C. based groups like the Heritage Foundation began publishing reports that gave a conservative legal rationale for why the proposed "individual mandate" was unconstitutional.  Citing that Heritage Foundation report, Delegate Bob Marshall introduced HB10, legislation that according to him was intended as follows:  "The purpose of HB 10 is to empower the state of Virginia and Virginia citizens to challenge the health insurance mandate provisions of the federal insurance bills."  Simply put, what Marshall said from the time he introduced his bill was it would be used to challenge the federal health insurance mandate coming out of Congress.

Marshall's bill was short and simple adding this text to the Virginia code:

"No law shall restrict a person's natural right and power of contract to secure the blessings of liberty to choose private health care systems or private plans. No law shall interfere with the right of a person or entity to pay for lawful medical services to preserve life or health, nor shall any law impose a penalty, tax, fee, or fine, of any type, to decline or to contract for health care coverage or to participate in any particular health care system or plan, except as required by a court where an individual or entity is a named party in a judicial dispute. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes lawful medical services within the Commonwealth."

With little change, this bill quickly moved through the House of Delegates, passing with a 72-26 vote.  In the Senate the bill faced an uncertain fate, going first to the Commerce and Labor Committee controlled by Democrats by a 9-6 margin.  Republicans would need two Democrats to vote the bill out of committee and on to the Senate floor.  They found those two Democrats in Chuck Colgan (Prince William County) and Phil Puckett (Russell County).  To win their support, the bill was amended in committee to read as follows:

"No resident of this Commonwealth, regardless of whether he has or is eligible for health insurance coverage under any policy or program provided by or through his employer, or a plan sponsored by the Commonwealth or the federal government, shall be required to obtain or maintain a policy of individual insurance coverage. No provision of this title shall render a resident of this Commonwealth liable for any penalty, assessment, fee, or fine as a result of his failure to procure or obtain health insurance coverage. This section shall not apply to individuals voluntarily applying for coverage under a state-administered program pursuant to Title XIX or Title XXI of the Social Security Act. "

With that change in language, the bill was passed to the floor by an 8-7 vote, and then passed in the Senate by a 23-17 vote- with Roscoe Reynolds, John Miller and Edd Houck joining with Puckett, Colgan and the 18 Senate Republicans to pass the bill.

House Republicans correctly noted the potential political victory the Senate had handed them and decided to accept the new bill without any further changes to avoid a potential conference committee that could kill the bill.  The House voted by an 80-17 margin to adopt the Senate version of the bill and send it to the Governor to be signed.  Joining with the Republicans were the following 21 House Democrats:

Ward Armstrong
Mamie Bacote
Bill Barlow
Rosalyn Dance
Adam Ebbin
Algie Howell
Matthew James
Johnny Joannou
Joe Johnson
Mark Keam
Lynwood Lewis
Jennifer McClellan
Delores McQuinn
Paula Miller
Joe Morrissey
Bud Phillips
Albert Pollard
Roslyn Tyler
Jeion Ward
Onzlee Ware
Vivian Watts

Republicans have pounced on these divisions, even mocking DPVA Executive Director David Mills for his wife's vote for HB10 this spring.  While all 26 of these Democrats should be ashamed of themselves, I want to single out a few for specific comments:

Ward Armstrong:  Why do Northern Virginia legislators who take Ward around to events and promote him get a pass?  Ward is pro-life, pro-gun and voted for this bill to create a Virginia law that was announced as an effort to stop the Obama administration's health care reform.   This is how politicians who go to Richmond get so f***ed up- it's all about who their "friends" are and no longer about good public policy.  It's an absolute sham that anyone is taking Ward seriously as a statewide Democratic candidate with this kind of record, and frankly I think the people pushing this ought to get a Democratic primary challenge themselves.

Adam Ebbin:  Let's make this one simple.  Adam stands alone in the Arlington/Alexandria delegation for this vote and he is now running for the State Senate seat held by Patsy Ticer.  I don't really care to distinguish whether Ebbin voted for this because he didn't understand the contents or because he wasn't paying attention to his votes.  The reality is that Bob Marshall made very clear his intent with this legislation and Adam voted the wrong way.  No excuses, and we certainly don't need a Virginia Senator making these kinds of mistakes in a body Democrats only control by a tiny margin.  Democratic Primary voters should make clear to Ebbin their displeasure on this vote.  Absolutely unacceptable.

Mark Keam:  This might be one of the most flabbergasting votes.  Keam was an early supporter of Obama for President, and used his support for that campaign as a way to build support for his campaign in 2009.  But once Mark was elected he decided to vote for a bill that was designed and announced as a way to challenge Obama's health care reform legislation?  It reminds me of the famous quote from Alexander Hamilton- "Those who stand for nothing fall for anything".

For these 26 Virginia Democrats who aided Ken Cuccinelli's legal victory yesterday there will be no Hall of Fame.  Instead, their vote goes into a Hall of Shame (or Lame).  I'm not sure why any of these legislators could make a case for Democratic voters to come out to vote for them this year and return them to Richmond.  Frankly we might be better off as a party long term if none of them did come back.

CUCCINELLI WINS FIRST ROUND OF HEALTH CARE REFORM SUIT

Read the ruling here. 

Never before in history has a Virginia Attorney General filed a lawsuit that will lead to the deaths of so many Virginians he was elected to serve.  If this ruling holds up, today will be a day in infamy that will be remembered every single day at funeral homes across the Commonwealth for those who couldn't afford health care and for those people who insurance companies refuse to cover.

Big Day For Brian And Jim Moran On Friday

The top "bundler" to both of their campaigns is being sentenced to federal prison for his illegal contributions intended to influence Jim and avoid federal campaign finance limits.

My Birthday Accomplishment!

3,000 followers on twitter!

 

 

DPVA Weekly Update

BRIAN MORAN IS...

Is Cuccinelli making George Allen's mistake?

Guest Column by Paul Goldman

Since Ken Cuccinelli was a patent lawyer before getting elected Attorney General, it is fair to ask whether he is paying royalties to George Allen for patent infringement based on the former Senator's 2006 campaign? The reason I ask is this week's story in the Richmond Times Dispatch, clearly leaked by someone who has developed a real addiction reading about himself as a legal "have brief, will travel" gunslinger in 24/7 pursuit of what he calls Obamacare. The RTD story is based on Mr. Cuccinelli eagerly confirming on the record that he has had conversations with the U.S. Department of Justice about fast-tracking his federal district court challenge over the health care law to the Supreme Court of the United States. I can have a conversation with them too by dialing the switchboard operator and asking to be connected to the lawyers handing the health care litigation. Cuccinelli wanted the story for self-evident reasons: he wants to be the one who gets to argue the case before Chief Justice Roberts and company, acing out all the others who have their own federal anti-Obamacare law suits working their way up the legal food chain.

Bottom line: There is absolutely no reason why the DOJ, if it were inclined to seek such rarely granted bypass of the appellate courts, should be favoring the Cuccinelli suit for such a purpose as opposed to the similar challenges. This might change in the future. But right now, this is strictly Cuccinelli displaying that he has a real Jones of addiction for seeing himself as national figure, not a mere state attorney-general doing such mundane things as protecting vulnerable Virginians from financial and other predators.

"Kenny has gone uptown " as they say, his future so bright, he has to wear shades.

Or so he thinks. It maybe that the Public Policy Poll last month is wrong, their results showing Kenny is star only in his own constellation. Yes, Kenny boy has record name ID for an AG, the percentage of voters who are willing to rate his performance astounding. But all that PR has backfired. PPP found that key independent swing voters were strongly unimpressed with their AG, helping to give him an upside down 31-39 negative rating.

Again, one poll doesn't make a truth or trend. But given the RTD story today, they do add up to this: Mr. Cuccinelli may be talking himself out office by thinking he is a lot bigger than is the case.

This same dynamic sunk George Allen in 2006. Conventional wisdom says the heavily favored Senator lost to underdog Jim Webb because of a derogatory comment that Allen made about one of the Democrats staff. But one such comment isn't going to sink a heavyweight like Allen. It takes nothing away from Senator Jim Webb's terrific campaign to state what any good political analyst knows.

But Allen at the time was mentally focused on running for President, the inside-the-beltway crowd having anointed him as one of the first tier Republican hopefuls for the party's 2008 presidential nomination. Allen regard the Senate election campaign as a mere formality and turned it over to the person hired to run his national campaign, who turned out to be incompetent. Precisely why Senator Allen stiff-armed some of the state's incredibly talented GOP consultants, all who were had helped get him elected Governor, then Senator, remains a mystery at least to me. The previous Allen team, even though now older and a few steps slower toward the door, would have known what to do, play damage control, not let thing go viral and consume the Allen campaign from then until election day. First things first: save the Senate seat before you think about national office. But the new Allen team thought Virginia was just a pesky formality, no worry.

Now comes Mr. Cuccinelli, apparently believing his re-election is a formality, thus like Allen free to think about the really important things, worrying about Virginia stuff only to the extent it helps build the national image. Any local criticism is just a fly on the Elephant's back.

Keep thinking those happy thoughts, Mr. AG. At this rate, any credible Democratic for attorney-general in 2013 is going to win as long as he or she can talk and chew gum at the same time. Cuccinelli is going to find out that after he loses, Fox News isn't going to be needing his legal services anymore, there will another hot-shot GOP AG willing to pose for the cameras.

But hey, I like your shades Kenny, whose your eye doctor?

Great Post By Chap!

Totally agree.