Grafic by Dan

Guest Post — April 26, 2013

Note from Dan: Some of you will remember the video below, from March 2012, when police in Richmond mistreated women who marched on Capitol Square to protest Virginia Republicans’ “War on Women.” Well, it’s happening again tomorrow, and below, Sally Foster Mullikin tells us a little about it. She’s a Franklin County native who now lives in Richmond, where she’s active in a number of causes.

By Sally Foster Mullikin

Roanoke’s demographics have been forced into the spotlight of Virginia politics. Last year, starting in February, women throughout the State of Virginia and beyond descended on our State Capitol in response to Del. Chris Head’s (R-Roanpoke) co-sponsorship of the Transvaginal Ultrasound bill (along with Lynchburg’s Kathy Byron who drafted and sponsored it).

The women of Virginia were furious over this as well as a personhood bill and many other attempts by the General Assembly to force government into our uteruses. February began with a protest called “Speak Loudly with Silence” where nearly 1500 or more women, men, and children lined the streets of the Capitol from the administration buildings to the house chambers.

My fondest memory was Senator Donald McEachin with tears in his eyes walking the gauntlet of silent protestors saying, “thank you for standing up for your civil rights, God bless you.” After that initial rally, women’s rights supporters picketed the Governors Mansion and ultimately were arrested sitting on the steps of the State Capitol. (The essay continues below the video)
. Read more »

ncpedia.org

Let us peak into a crystal ball and envision Richmond, Va. in 2014. Gov. Ken Cuccinelli is in the governor’s mansion, the state’s GOP is even more firmly in power in both the House and the Senate.

The theocrats are doing high-fives in the House and Senate chambers. Del. Bob Marshall can’t believe his good fortune. He wonders if he’s living a dream.

Imagine what darling pieces of legislation might emerge from that scenario.

1. A resolution that declares the commonwealth of Virginia may adopt a state religion – never mind the First Amendment, which applies only to Congress (ha, ha!). Hint: It’s not going to be Sufism, or Unitarianism, or Judaism or even Catholicism.

2. A bill that would deny any parent from claiming college-student offspring as dependents on state income tax forms if said college student voted in a precinct other than where his or her parents live. Read more »

MrPrada | Wikimedia Commons

Note from Dan: After decades of twiddling its thumbs over transportation funding, Gov. Bob McDonnell and the Virginia General Assembly enacted a very flawed but necessary transportation funding scheme this year. It increases the general sales tax and  bunch of other taxes and fees on fuel and vehicles. It does away with the per-gallon tax but replaces it will new wholesale taxes. Instead they should have increased the per-gallon tax and indexed it. Here’s the last big scheme Gob. Bob put forth, from a column that originally ran Sept. 9, 2010.

Gov. Bob McDonnell was unequivocal in his January State of the Commonwealth speech:

“We will not turn our economy around by taxing Virginians more. … Therefore, if you pass a bill in this recession that raises taxes on the hardworking families of Virginia, I will veto it. And if you pass a budget embedded with those same tax increases, I will not approve it.”

Now McDonnell seems to have changed his tune when it comes to privatizing Virginia’s state-controlled liquor industry.

Although his administration took pains to deny it at an announcement Wednesday, the various levies McDonnell is proposing as part of his complex privatization plan look, sound and act like new taxes. Read more »

Sign outside a uranium mine and mill in Church Rock, New Mexico. | EPA | Wikimedia Commons

Not everyone has given up . . .

Note from Dan: The issue of uranium mining in Virginia fizzled to a close in the recently concluded General Assembly session, after the legislature wisely refused to lift a moratorium it enacted decades ago. But some stealth efforts remain underway to set up the commonwealth for uranium mining down the road. The letter below from two state lawmakers for Gov. Bob McDonnell sends that message loudly and clearly.

February 22, 2013

The Honorable Robert F. McDonnell
Governor
Patrick Henry Building, 3rd Floor
Richmond, VA 23219

We write to support the suggestion that you direct the responsible executive branch agencies to promulgate regulations addressing the potential mining of uranium in Virginia pursuant to the Administrative Process Act (APA).

We supported legislation this session to life the current moratorium on uranium mining, while others opposed or took no position on it.  Regardless of one’s view on the ultimate question of whether the moratorium should be lifted, it is abundantly clear that future legislative deliberations on the issue–in the various committees we chair and in the Legislature as a whole–will be aided by knowing what substantive and procedural safeguards the regulations will contain. Read more »

Wikimedia Commons

The wheels of justice always seem to grind slowly. But in the Roanoke Valley, with six Circuit Court judges, they turn a bit faster than in some other places. The wait for a civil trial is often measured in months, sometimes as few as three or four.

In Montgomery County you’ll find a different story. There, a plaintiff in an auto accident case can expect to wait 10 months to a year for a trial. That delay is frustrating, said Pete Beller, a veteran attorney from Christiansburg.

For a client disabled by an accident that wasn’t his fault, and who’s lost his primary income, it can easily spell bankruptcy. That harks back to the old saying, “justice delayed is justice denied.”

Unfortunately, the Roanoke Valley appears to be headed in that direction, because of a failure of the Virginia General Assembly. We now have two judicial vacancies on Circuit Court and one in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
In the General Assembly session just concluded, none of them got funded or filled. How did that happen?

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

Osvaldo Gago | Wikimedia Commons

Already, it’s brilliantly clear that Virginia’s grab-bag-of-taxes solution to a decade-long transportation funding crisis is unbelievably and needlessly complex.

The prime thing it seems to accomplish is that it gives Gov. Bob McDonnell bragging rights to say that he’s the first governor in the history of the nation who “abolished the gas tax” — the retail version, anyway. That may prove a useful resume-builder for his future in national politics

The plan replaces the retail gas tax with a wholesale tax that will certainly be passed onto consumers (and which is even higher for you diesel drivers, sorry!); raises the state sales tax, the vehicle transfer tax, and imposes local-option sales taxes for transportation, higher hotel taxes in Northern Virginia and some more fees and taxes.

The bill is 109 pages long, and they could have fixed the whole issue, mostly, by changing two digits in one line — 17.5  27.5 cents per gallon — and indexing the tax to inflation in the next sentence.

Now we have another question, raised in today’s Washington Post. Former Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Paul Goldman and Norman Leahy, editor of the right-leaning BearingDrift.com, ask: “Is it unconstitutional.” They seem to answer yes: Read more »

Wikimedia Commons | Altered by Dan

Your daily Letter to the Columnist — Feb. 26, 2012

Dan,

Your article on Chip Woodrum was excellent. I also knew all of the people you spoke of, being the director of public affairs at that time for Norfolk Southern. In fact Chip was the first legislator I met to start that portion of my career, which I wouldn’t trade for anything, as I learned and became friends with Chip, Dickie Cranwell, Vic Thomas, Granger McFarlane, Virgil Goode, and yes even the Republican Steve Agee. All were and are fine people, with this Commonwealth foremost in their minds.

I miss Chip and we would probably fill another page with the anecdotes and other stories of the goings on in Richmond during those days, 1984-88. Such as the one that comes to mind with the Carolina blue carpet installed in the House of Delegates. (Both Chip and I had a connection to NC — I was born there). Chip nor I let A. L . Philpot, then House Speaker,  forget the Carolina blue carpet. May still be there?

Anyway, thank you and it was good to see Bill Crump’s name again, ( Redi-Kilo watt), Virginia Dominion Power, was always in trouble with the General Assembly. Lordy! It could have been APCO from here. Read more »

Clifton A. “Chip” Woodrum | AP Photo

An extraordinary guy died Tuesday. His name was Clifton A. Woodrum III, but friend and foe alike knew him as “Chip.”

He was an honest and caring state lawmaker, a fount of wisdom who brilliantly represented the Roanoke Valley’s interests for 23 years in the Virginia General Assembly, a partisan Democrat, a talented lawyer and always a gentleman.

Wednesday, many were remembering him.

One was Jim Mullens, a business broker in Roanoke. Mullens recalled the winters of 1989 and 1990, when he was 14 and 15, and long hours he spent in Woodrum’s white Mustang, hurtling between Roanoke and Richmond on the weekends.

During those General Assembly sessions, Mullens was a Woodrum-appointed page in the Virginia General Assembly. That gig relieved Mullens of eight weeks of schooling at Patrick Henry High School. But he learned a lot that turned out very useful later in life, both inside the Capitol and in Woodrum’s front seat.

READ THE REST OF THIS COLUMN HERE.

READ MANY WITTICISMS CHIP WOODRUM WROTE RIGHT HERE ON THIS BLOG.

Chip Woodrum

Note from Dan: Former Del. Clifton “Chip” Woodrum died Tuesday in Florida, something that shocked people through the Roanoke Valley and beyond, including yours truly. He was an honest and caring lawmaker, a fountain of wisdom who brilliantly represented the Roanoke Valley’s interests for many years in the Virginia General Assembly, a talented lawyer and always a class act. He was also source for some column ideas and an occasional contributor to this blog (as recently as Feb. 5). His intellect and cleverness at turning a phrase rarely failed to shine. As Steve C elegantly wrote here back in September: “Chip obviously has more wit is in his little finger than the rest of us put together. . . He is truly one of the giants in Va politics.”

Below, I’ve compiled some of “Chip’s greatest hits” from his comments here.

2.5.13–On the column suggestion a new Virginia currency, the “Virgin:
Regarding the motto for the “Virgin” or the “Marsh” or whatever is chosen, I am torn.

First I’d try “Stultus quod suus viaticus es nunc secui”. This translates “A fool and his money are soon parted.” The sentiment seems altogether appropriate but it is a tad long.

Next–for brevity’s sake: “Operor non recipero ullus memorosus nickles.” This is roughly “Do not accept any wooden nickles.”

1.14.13–On gun nut James Yeager’s over-the-top pro-gun video
He was “angry” when he made the first (and second) video? Well, he could get “angry” again. I recommend calling 911 if anyone sees that guy near a school.

9.18.12–About a column I wrote about my daughter’s mental health struggles:
Dan and Erin, this is a wonderful story of a family working together to overcome adversity. The Casey family showed us how to do it. Never give up! Read more »

By Chris OBrion

More from Richmond-based Chris OBrion is here.