Republican Del. Bob Marshall of Prince William County, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, was on CNN this morning to explain why he led the fight to block the appointment of an openly gay prosecutor to a judgeship on the Richmond General District Court this week. The House of Delegates thwarted the nomination of Tracy Thorne-Begland early Tuesday morning, and the ensuing controversy is getting national media attention. Democrats have denounced the House vote as an act of bigotry, and some conservatives are expressing dismay over the vote and its fallout.
It will be interesting to see if this issue is raised next week when the Republican Senate candidates — Marshall, former U.S. Sen. George Allen, Jamie Radtke and E.W. Jackson — hold their final debate before the June 12 primary.
Roanoke native Dwight Holton, the son of former Virginia Gov. Linwood Holton, lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Oregon attorney general in a race that may have turned on marijuana, of all issues.
Holton, a former federal prosecutor, was trounced by former appellate judge Ellen Rosenblum in the primary. According to this story in The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Rosenblum’s campaign gained steam after Holton criticized the state’s medical marijuana law.
As reporter Jeff Manning wrote: “A pungent whiff of weed enveloped the Rosenblum campaign in the race’s closing days. Marijuana legalization advocates threw their support to Rosenblum, contributing nearly $200,000 – about a third of her total – to her campaign in May.”
Holton’s father was Virginia’s first Republican governor of the 20th century. And his brother-in-law, former Gov. Tim Kaine, is the Democratic nominee for Virginia’s open U.S. Senate seat.
The legal issue of whether a copy of the Ten Commandments should be posted in a Giles County school became a political one today.
Chesapeake minister E.W. Jackson, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for a U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, held a news conference this afternoon in Pearisburg to offer his views on the dispute.
Jackson said he thinks a lawsuit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a student at Narrows High School upset by the display, should be dismissed.
He called the lawsuit, and a recent suggestion by U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski that the first four of the commandments be redacted to convey a more secular message, just the latest in a long list of government intrusions into people’s religious freedoms.
“We’re simply not going to be backed into a corner any longer and be told that the mere mention of God is a violation of who we are as Americans,” Jackson said in a telephone interview following the media event.
Courts have held that the posting of the Ten Commandments in a public school violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits government from endorsing one religion over another.
“I think there’s a lot of wrong-headed judicial precedent that has been going on for a long time,” Jackson said.
Jackson is one of four candidates — including former Sen. George Allen, state Del. Bob Marshall of Prince William County and Virginia tea party leader Jamie Radtke — seeking the Republican nomination to run for the seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Webb, a Democrat.
A well-funded conservative group announced plans today to launch a month-long, $25 million advertising campaign against President Barack Obama in targeted states, including Virginia.
The first phase of the Crossroads GPS blitz starts Thursday with a 60-second spot that takes on Obama’s economic record. It features footage of Obama making pledges about housing, taxes, health care and the deficit, and argues that the president’s record has not matched the promises.This ad is hitting Virginia airwaves in the same week that Obama’s campaign began a television advertising attack on presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s record running the private equity firm Bain Capital.
Crossroads GPS, founded in part by GOP strategist Karl Rove, is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that is not required to disclose its donors. It is one of several independent interest groups on both sides of the political battlefield that are poised to take advantage of looser campaign finance laws in the 2012 presidential election. Crossroads began running anti-Obama ads in Virginia last year. And the election is still 174 days away.
“President Obama made commitments on core issues to the American people, and this ad holds him to account,” said Crossroads GPS President Steven Law of the new ad. “Our country faces serious economic and fiscal problems which require practical solutions and not just promises. If we don’t hold Washington politicians accountable, we won’t fix these problems that are holding our country back.”
State tax collections for April were 10.6 percent greater than in the same month last year, keeping Virginia ahead of its annual revenue forecast with two months remaining in the fiscal year.
Total revenue collections for the first 10 months of the fiscal year have increased by 5.9 percent from the same period last year, exceeding the 4.6 percent growth forecast embedded in the state budget, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration announced this afternoon.
The April surge was fueled by a 17.5 percent increase in individual incomes taxes from sources such as dividends and the self-employed. Individual income taxes from all sources showed a net increase of 7.1 percent, according to a letter from Secretary of Finance Ric Brown.
McDonnell’s administration cautioned that May is a major month for income tax returns and that revenues from April and May must be looked at together to get a clearer picture of the state’s finances.
“Our bipartisan effort enact pro-business policies focused on job creation continues to foster a recovery more robust than elsewhere in the nation,” McDonnell said in a statement issued by his office. ” However it remains too soon to celebrate and lose focus on our fragile economy. We must redouble our efforts to ensure our government is running at peak efficiency, and we must continue to aggressively pursue new business investments and job-creation strategies in Virginia to fan the flames of this recovery and put back to work the 250,000 Virginians still in need of good-paying jobs. May and June are also very important months for revenue collections, so we should see more data in the coming months that will confirm whether Virginians can expect this recovery to return us to prosperity again.”
President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign is back on the airwaves today with a two-minute television ad attacking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s record running the private equity firm Bain Capital.
The spot features former employees of Kansas City steel company GST Steel, which was bought by Bain Capital then shut down after more than 100 years in business. The ad, which is running in Virginia and select battleground states, also directs viewers to a website with more criticism on Romney’s private sector record. It’s all part of an effort to paint Romney as someone who was interested in generating profits for wealthy investors and not in building businesses or creating jobs.
Romney’s campaign hit back equally hard this morning, noting that Romney had left his day-to-day responsibilities at Bain two years before the GST bankruptcy and layoffs occurred. Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said the Republican’s camp is eager to take on Obama on economic issues.
“We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record,” Henneberg said. “Mitt Romney helped create more jobs in his private sector experience and more jobs as Governor of Massachusetts than President Obama has for the entire nation.
“President Obama has many questions to answer as to why his administration used the stimulus to reward wealthy campaign donors with taxpayer money for bad ideas like Solyndra, but 23 million Americans are still struggling to find jobs. If the Obama administration was less concerned about pleasing their wealthy donors and more concerned about creating jobs, America would be much better off. ”
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney addressed graduates of Liberty University in Lynchburg this morning. Here is a text of his remarks, provided by Romney’s campaign:
For the graduates, this moment marks a clear ending and a clear beginning. The task set before you four years ago is now completed in full. To the class of 2012: Well done, and congratulations.
Some of you may have taken a little longer than four years to complete your studies. One graduate has said that he completed his degree in only two terms: Clinton’s and Bush’s.
In some ways, it is fitting that I share this distinction with Truett Cathy. The Romney campaign comes to a sudden stop when we spot a Chick-fil-A. Your chicken sandwiches were our comfort food through the primary season, and there were days that we needed a lot of comforting. So, Truett, thank you and congratulations on your well-deserved honor today.
There are some people here who are even more pleased than the graduates. Those would be the parents. Their years of prayers, devotion, and investment have added up to this joyful achievement. And with credit to Congressman Dick Armey: The American Dream is not owning your own home, it is getting your kids out of the home you own.
Lately, I’ve found myself thinking about life in four-year stretches. And let’s just say that not everybody has achieved as much in these last four years as you have.
That’s a theme for another day. But two observations. First, even though job opportunities are scarce in this economy, it is not for nothing that you have spent this time preparing. Jerry Falwell, Senior, long ago observed that “You do not determine a man’s greatness by his talent or wealth, as the world does, but rather by what it takes to discourage him.” America needs your skill and talent. If we take the right course, we will see a resurgence in the American economy that will surprise the world, and that will open new doors of opportunity for those who are prepared as you are.
Of course, what the next four years might hold for me is yet to be determined. But I will say that things are looking up, and I take your kind hospitality today as a sign of good things to come. Read more »
Does President Barack Obama’s campaign have its own Etch A Sketch?
Republicans would argue yes, based on an omission and subsequent change to the president’s campaign website in the past couple of days.
On Thursday, Republicans pointed out that an infographic highlighting Obama’s “all of the above” energy plan contained no mention of coal. And they argued that the omission was further evidence of the administration’s hostility toward the coal industry, which is important to Southwest Virginia.
Today, the website has been updated and a section on fuel efficiency has been replaced with a section on “clean coal.”
“President Obama has set a 10-year goal to develop and deploy cost-effective clean coal technology,” the site says. “The Recovery Act invested substantially in carbon capture and sequestration research, including 22 projects across four different areas of carbon capture-and-storage research and development.”
Representatives of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee jumped on this, of course, and dashed off emails with screen shots of the “before” and “after” graphics, which you can see below.
Said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg: “President Obama has broken his promise when it comes to pursuing energy independence – and no politically-expedient website change can hide the fact that President Obama’s energy policies have led to higher prices and destroyed jobs.”
– Michael Sluss
The original version, which excludes coal (click to enlarge).
The updated version, with a section on "clean coal." (Click to enlarge)
Sometimes, it just doesn’t pay to plan a vacation.
Just ask Del. Greg Habeeb, R-Salem. He’s leaving on Saturday for a long-planned trip to Disney World with his wife and three young children (ages 7, 5 and “almost 3”), and interrupting it to return for Monday’s session of the General Assembly.
The legislature will meet Monday to act on Gov. Bob McDonnell’s amendments to the state budget, a budget that was delayed by a partisan standoff in the Virginia Senate. In a normal year, the assembly would have passed the budget during its winter session and acted on the governor’s changes in April. And a legislator would be pretty safe scheduling a vacation in May.
“We did a lot of planning on this – months ago – Saturday through Thursday, we’re going Disney,” Habeeb said, adding that this is the first time his kids will see the Magic Kingdom.
But “normal” years seem fewer and farther between in Richmond. So, Habeeb will board a pre-dawn flight out of Orlando Monday to get back to the Capitol in time to take a last read through the budget amendments before the 1 p.m. session in the House of Delegates. He’s already stashed a suit in his General Assembly office, he said.
“Even as of two weeks ago, it still looked like we were fine,” Habeeb said Thursday. “Apparently, in order to get enough senators in town, they had to do it on the 14th.”
But Habeeb isn’t complaining. He chalks it up to the hazards, and responsibilities, that come with being a citizen legislator.
“I think it’s our obligation to our citizens to do everything in our power to be there whenever we can be,” he said. “In two sessions, I have never missed a day in the General Assembly. As difficult and expensive as it is for me to get back this time, I’m able to do it. So I don’t see how I can justify not doing it.”
But Habeeb is hoping the work gets done quickly. He optimistically booked 6 p.m. flight out of Richmond to get back to his family vacation.
Last weekend, President Barack Obama swooped into Virginia for part of his campaign kickoff tour. And First Lady Michelle Obama is back in the state today to speak to graduates at Virginia Tech.
On Saturday, Republican challenger Mitt Romney comes to the Old Dominion to deliver the commencement speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg. Much has been said and written during the Republican primary battle about the relationship between Romney and evangelical Christians, so his appearance at the university founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. could help him shore up support with those voters. Obama’s public endorsement of same-sex marriage this week also may help Romney consolidate support with social conservatives.
Here are some excerpts of Romney’s planned commencement address, which the campaign released this morning:
I’m not sure quite why, but lately I’ve found myself thinking about life in four-year stretches. And let’s just say that not everybody has filled these past four years with as much achievement as you have.
That’s a theme for another day, except for this reminder to you and other graduates across our country: Although opportunities seem scarce in this economy, it is not for nothing that you have spent this time preparing. America needs your talent and your energy, all the more now that our country’s in a tough spot. For you and so many young Americans, our current troubles can be discouraging. You are ready for jobs that were supposed to be ready for you. Millions wait on the day when there are jobs for everyone willing to work, and opportunities to match your hopes and your goals. But don’t lose heart, because that day is coming.
In the most practical, everyday terms, the best cultural assets are values as basic as personal responsibility, the dignity of hard work, and, above all, the commitments of family. Take those away, or take them for granted, and so many things can go wrong in a life. Keep them strong, and so many things will go right.
**
In this life, of course, the commitments that come closest to forever are those of family. Maybe you’ve heard that Ann and I have a pretty large family, and I’m sure glad I like having grandchildren because every time I turn around there’s more of them. Two more arrived last week, twin boys David and William, which brings us to eighteen grandchildren we have welcomed into the world.
Their great-grandfather, my Dad George Romney, was successful by any measure you’d care to apply. I asked him once, “What was your greatest accomplishment?” Without a moment’s pause, his answer was, “Raising you four kids.” I had his example to follow, and I have never once regretted missing any experience or opportunity in business in order to be with my wife and five sons. Regrets usually come the other way around, from missing moments with your children that don’t come again. The same holds true for time with your parents as the years fall away. Among the things in life that can be put off, being there when it matters most isn’t one of them.
You also may have noticed this week that the Obama campaign has yet another new television ad on the airwaves in Virginia, this one dealing with the auto industry rescue. The ad, which began airing Thursday, is the second television spot the campaign has released in this week alone. You can see it below.
The Blue Ridge Caucus, as written by Roanoke Times reporters Mason Adams and Michael Sluss, will cover all things politics, especially west of Virginia's Capitol, with historical perspective on issues and positions, and money and campaign finance. Read more about Mason Adams, Michael Sluss and other contributors.
