Western Virginia’s three congressman — Bob Goodlatte, Morgan Griffith, Robert Hurt, all Republicans — today all voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare.”

Here’s what each had to say about it:

Rep. Bob Goodlatte

From Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County:

Ever since President Obama was first elected and chose to push through a federal takeover of America’s health care system, House conservatives have led the charge to repeal the law commonly known as Obamacare and replace it with true reforms that will increase access and lower costs for consumers. With a string of broken promises from its authors and prominent backers, this law has already forced people off of the insurance they previously had, has increased premiums by thousands of dollars, and has reduced work hours for millions.

The fundamental question facing uninsured Americans was never, “how do we give the federal government more power over our lives?” Yet government control over health care was what the Democrat majority provided. House Republicans offered alternatives that gave our constituents the peace of mind to know that a safety net would be in place for the least fortunate amongst us, and provided commonsense reforms to allow those uninsured or underinsured to get the insurance they needed at an affordable price. Unfortunately, what we got was a law that, as former Speaker Pelosi famously stated, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” Well, we’ve read the bill, and the tens of thousands of pages of regulations to enforce it, and I can tell you the backlash and opposition to the law continues to mount.

One small example of the absurdity of this law is provided by a constituent of mine who lives in Virginia. This small business owner has chosen to insure his employees for the last forty years, helping his employees afford the insurance they need to keep their families healthy. Because of Obamacare, this company is required to spend more than $30,000 to reenroll their current employees. Let me repeat that. Even though these employees already have health insurance, the company is required to pay a fee for each and every one of them, to enroll the employee back into the exact same plan. That $30,000, which could have been used to hire new workers or grow the local economy, will now be sent to bureaucrats in Washington. Instead of health insurance for Main Street, this appears to be health insurance for K Street.

Today the House has a chance to stop growing the size of government, and to give power and freedom back to the American people. Instead of propping up health care exchanges, bureaucratic IPAB rationing panels, and mandates which cost Americans thousands of dollars each year, let’s start over and focus on the real needs of access to care and reduced costs of insurance. We can all admit that our health insurance system can use strengthening, but this is not the way to do it. If you are serious about reforming the health insurance system in this country, then join me in voting to repeal Obamacare and send a message to the American people that we have heard their anger and outrage over this law and we will do what it takes to see it repealed.

Rep. Morgan Griffith

From Morgan Griffith, R-Salem:

“However you feel about the philosophy of Obamacare, what has become increasingly clear is that it was not built carefully enough to work. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is infamous for having said that Congress had ‘to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.’

“Well, they passed it. We now know what’s in it, and the American people don’t like it. So far, what the President promised hasn’t come true.

“President Obama promised in a speech before Congress that his health care proposal would not add to the national deficit, but the Government Accountability Office estimated that it will add to the long-term deficit by $6.2 trillion.

“The Administration promised that premium rates would go down, but the Energy and Commerce Committee released a report just this week revealing that consumers’ premiums could spike as high as 400 percent. In Virginia, the small group market is projected to increase by 31 percent.

“CLASS, the law’s long-term care program, was determined to be financially unsustainable and has been suspended.

“Furthermore, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is now soliciting funds for the law’s implementation from the very same companies and groups that her agency is responsible for overseeing, because they underestimated the cost of implementation.

“Even with a stack of regulations taller than I am, the Administration cannot tell the American people what will happen with their health insurance in January when Obamacare is fully implemented. Why? Because the Administration still has more decisions to make, and more regulations to promulgate.

“Senator Max Baucus, one of the law’s main architects, recently described Obamacare as ‘a huge train wreck coming down.’

“We have a chance to save Americans from being casualties of the train wreck. We can yank them off the tracks. Today, my vote shows that I am doing what I can to do just that.

“I call on the United States Senate to join us in rescuing the American people from the tracks of health care destruction.”

Rep. Robert Hurt

From Robert Hurt, R-Chatham:

“At a time when the American peoples’ trust in the federal government is at all-time lows, the last thing we need is another federal program that expands its size and scope and further threatens individual freedoms. Not only does the President’s health care law overtly extend the federal government into the lives of all Americans by increasing premiums, raising taxes, and requiring all Americans to purchase health care – but it does so inadvertently as well by harming our small business owners and families by forcing employers to choose between providing coverage for their workers or – in many cases – closing their doors. A federal government takeover is the wrong way to go about true health care reform and I stand by House initiatives to repeal this misguided law and replace it with patient-centered solutions that will improve access to care without putting our small business owners out of business and causing 5th District Virginians to lose their employer-based coverage or their jobs.”

Zach Martin received an endorsement from former Virginia Governor and US senator George Allen on Tuesday April 16.

Former Sen. and Gov. George Allen is back on the campaign trail today, stumping for Zach Martin, one of the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the House of Delegates seat that Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, is vacating.

The other candidates are Buchanan District Supervisor and business owner Terry Austin, Eagle Rock minister Zachary Hatcher, and Moneta businessman Jim McKelvey.

The Republican nominee for the 19th House of Delegates will be chosen at a Legislative District Party Canvas (Firehouse Primary) on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM at the following locations:

1. Lord Botetourt High School, Daleville, Virginia
2. The Thaxton Community Center, Thaxton, Virginia
3. The Old Alleghany County Board of Supervisors Board Meeting Room, Covington, Virginia

Here’s Allen’s schedule: Read more »

Rep. Morgan Griffith

Country music star George Jones has passed away. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, issues this tribute:

“Like many country music fans throughout the United States, I am saddened to learn of the passing of country legend George Jones. I had front-section tickets to see him live on April 20 as a birthday gift from my wife, and hoped to see him at the rescheduled May 9 concert. George Jones’ stirring voice has gone silent, but like hundreds of thousands of fans, I will not stop listening to his albums and CDs.”

Ahead of his July court date, a chef charged with embezzling from Virginia’s Executive Mansion in a recent Richmond Circuit Court filing requested information on his payment for catering services and about Gov. Bob McDonnell‘s family use of state goods.

The motion from chef Todd Schneider of Sarasota, Fla., provides insight into his possible defense against the four felony counts he faces as well as the potential for the exposure at trial of details about McDonnell’s family life in the state residence.

His requests seeks information about instances when Schneider submitted a payment invoice that was denied, went unreimbursed for services rendered, or “was told to pay himself or his catering company by ‘taking it out in trade,’ ‘the usual way,’ or in any other way.”

And it inquires about “state goods and resources that were consumed, provided to, or taken by family members of Robert and Maureen McDonnell.”

That section of the motion mentions several McDonnell children, cites specific episodes when they allegedly enjoyed real and perishable state property, and asks for information about gifts to the governor or his family from Star Scientific Inc. chief executive Jonnie Williams.

McDonnell’s connections to Williams have come under scrutiny in the wake of media reports revealing Williams spent $15,000 to cover catering costs at the June 2011 wedding of one of McDonnell’s daughters at the Executive Mansion.

Williams has given campaign contributions and other gifts to McDonnell, as well as Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who until recently was a shareholder in Star Scientific, a company suing the state over a disputed $700,000 tax bill.

The company is also the subject of a federal securities investigation.

Schneider, 52, last month turned himself in to Virginia State Police after a grand jury indicted him on embezzlement charges.

He was released on a $2,000 personal recognizance bond.

The chef joined the governor’s staff in April 2010, earning a $60,000 annual salary as executive chef until he left McDonnell’s employ in March 2012 after being placed on paid administrative leave in February of that year.

McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin Tuesday said declined comment other than to say the “motions made by a defendant in a pending criminal proceeding will be addressed by the appropriate authorities in court.”

Schneider’s attorney, Steven D. Benjamin of Richmond, also declined comment when contacted about the motion.

-Julian Walker, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot

Democratic candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe Monday gave reporters summary tax statements showing his reported earnings from 2009-2011 in an effort to silence Ken Cuccinelli and other Republicans who’ve harangued him for days about releasing those records.

The documents show McAuliffe, a businessman and political fundraiser, made $8.3 million in 2011 from business earnings, investments and other income.

He paid $2.3 million in taxes, an overpayment of more than than $163,600, according to the tax forms.

McAuliffe previously filed a financial disclosure form with the state, as is required of candidates for public office, showing him with assets worth at least $6.7 million.

But until Monday he resisted calls for his tax returns from Cuccinelli, who last week allowed reporters to inspect his tax filings for the past eight years.

Cuccinelli’s paperwork showed an lawyer making six figures in private practice and as publicly-elected state attorney general — he earned $192,279 in 2012.

It has not been a custom for Virginia gubernatorial candidates to release their tax records.

By releasing those documents, McAuliffe spokesman Josh Schwerin said the candidate has gone “above and beyond the disclosure requirements.”

He also said the candidate will release his 2012 tax summaries.

Schwerin then sought to turn the tables on Cuccinelli, calling out the candidate for his own disclosure shortcomings about stock he owned in company, Star Scientific Inc., locked in tax litigation with the state he didn’t initially report.

Cuccinelli’s campaign dismisses that as a paperwork oversight, while McAuliffe’s team casts it as something more sinister and says Cuccinelli should appoint an outside investigator to review inaccuracies on his state disclosure form.

The tax records McAuliffe released are insufficient, countered Cuccinelli spokewoman Anna Nix.

“Lest there be any confusion, tax summaries are not tax returns,” she said.

“Terry McAuliffe needs to come clean with Virginians,” Nix added. “Releasing three years of summaries after Ken Cuccinelli allowed the press to fully examine eight years of returns just isn’t going to cut it. What is Terry hiding?”

-Julian Walker, The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot

Zachary Hatcher

Botetourt County businessman and pastor Zachary Hatcher has joined the race to be the Republican nominee for the 19th House of Delegate District seat.

Hatcher is the fifth person seeking the party’s nod in the race to succeed the area’s legislator for the past half-century, Lacey Putney, I-Bedford. The Constitution Party is also running a candidate.

David Ress of The Roanoke Times has more on the story here; we also have more on our Botetourt County community news site.

The district covers virtually all of Botetourt, and parts of Bedford County and Alleghany County.

Gov. Bob McDonnell

Gov. Bob McDonnell has issued the following statement:

Governor Bob McDonnell issued the following statement this evening following news of explosions at the Boston Marathon. The governor is currently in China on a trade mission. Chief of Staff Martin Kent briefed the governor by phone about this developing situation.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Boston, and with marathon participants and attendees from around the country and the world, including many from here in Virginia, following the tragic events of this afternoon. There are no words that can properly express our grief and our concern. I have asked members of our Administration to immediately offer any and all assistance that Virginia can provide to Massachusetts in the days ahead. This is a sad day, but America is the strongest and greatest nation the world has ever known. When we face tragedy, we respond with unity, courage and resilience. We’ve seen that already this afternoon, from the very first reactions to this event. I know we will continue to see that kind of response from Boston in the days and weeks ahead. Virginia stands ready to help our friends in Massachusetts in any way possible.”

Jeb Bush

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks Tuesday at Bluefield College as part of the school’s lecture series.

Previous speakers in the lecture series include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former Vice President Dan Quayle.

Bush’s address will be broadcast live online; you can listen in at www.bluefield.edu/bushlive.

He’s scheduled to speak at 11 a.m.

Margaret Thatcher, 1925-2013. Courtesy of Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died today. The so-called “Iron Lady” visited Virginia Military Institute in 1992 — this was after she had stepped down. Here’s the story I wrote about her speech on January 25th of that year:

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher urged Western governments Friday to increase their aid to the former Soviet republics.
“We should be doing this on a larger scale than we’ve thought so far,” she told a crowd of more than 4,400 at Virginia Military Institute.
She said the United States and Europe, after spending four decades standing up to communism, have a moral obligation to help the people of the now-disintegrated Soviet Union avoid starvation.
“They are reaching out, they are crying out for liberty,” Thatcher said. “It didn’t cost us a penny apiece to beat them, to beat communism, to release the people into freedom. No sacrifice, no third World War, no sacrifice of life.
“Wouldn’t it be right for those who love liberty to give them a much greater helping hand when we will have surpluses of food in the United States and Europe? We need to get them through the winter,” so the former Soviet republics can then concentrate on building up democratic institutions.
But she quickly added a geopolitical note: “It is in our interest to do so.”
Thatcher, with a touch of her characteristic sharp-tongued humor, also urged Americans not to fear the emergence of new nations from the rubble of the Soviet system.
“Please do not worry that the Soviet Union is breaking up,” she said. “After all, the British Empire was, at one time, about 1776. And that would have turned out better if I had been there at the time.”
More seriously, Thatcher pointed to the breakup of the British Empire after World War II, giving birth to some 50 nations. She ticked off a list of other doomed empires from history, the Hapsburg Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Spanish Empire, the Portuguese Empire – even the current demise of Yugoslavia.
“Nations put together artificially will break up,” Thatcher said. “Do not be afraid of it.” Instead, she said Western governments should work with the former Soviet republics to encourage what she considers the bedrock of democracy – private property.
Nevertheless, Thatcher also warned the United States not to cut back its military too much in the wake of the collapse.
“The unexpected won’t stop happening,” Thatcher said. “Tyrants won’t stop being born. The very best assurance . . . that tyrants won’t succeed is to retain your defenses in peak condition,” a line that brought thunderous applause at the 153-year-old military school.
Thatcher spoke at VMI’s basketball arena as part of the school’s distinguished lecture series. Her appearance brought requests for tickets from a dozen states.
Thatcher spent much of her nearly hour-long talk taking the audience on a greatest-hits tour of military crises during her three terms from 1979 to 1990.
She said the lesson was that “if you ever commit your forces, we put our whole weight, whole might, whole economy behind them.”
Thatcher cited her own country’s example when Argentina seized the Falkland Islands in 1982.
She told of being interrupted, late one night during debate in the House of Commons, and told that the Argentine fleet had set sail, likely for the disputed islands.
The response required little debate – at least on her part. “It was one thing I was certain of. If they landed – it was the Queen’s islands, everyone who lived there was British, had been British for 150 years – if they took them, we would recover them.”
Nevertheless, Thatcher said she still marveled at Britain’s ability to project its military power 8,000 miles away – an ability she attributed to her emphasis on defense spending.
But even more impressive, she said, was the response of civilians. Workers at a Scottish factory spent a frantic three weeks fashioning refueling equipment needed for the Falklands war. “They didn’t give a damn the hours they worked, they were doing something for the armed forces,” she said.

We also refer you to our post about the movie about her, starring Meryl Streep, that played at the Grandin Theatre last year.

Rep. Morgan Griffith

The Crooked Road announced on Thursday that it has given up its attempt at National Heritage Area designation, after three separate county boards of supervisors voted not to support the effort.

Washington, Wythe and Russell counties had recently voted against it after public hearings in which residents spoke of concerns about zoning issues and property rights.

Music writer Tad Dickens of The Roanoke Times has details here.

Meanwhile, Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, releases this statement on the matter:

“I respect the organization’s decision to discontinue its efforts to seek a National Heritage Area (NHA) designation. It was never the intent to have any local jurisdiction placed into an NHA without its approval. No matter what you think about NHA, the Crooked Road has been and will continue to be a great asset to our area. It provides a good opportunity for folks to visit numerous sites that embrace our musical heritage across the district.

“As I have previously stated, I do not support any legislation that does not respect the private property rights of individuals.”