Author: James A. Bacon
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Cuccinelli on Health Care Reform
by James A. Bacon In his book “The Last Line of Defense,” Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli delineates his constitutional views as the state’s top lawyer and he opines on the philosophical principles that undergird his approach to public policy. But he provides few specifics on how he, as the presumed Republican candidate for governor this…
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A Book from the Man Who Was Tea Party before There Was a Tea Party
By James A. Bacon If you’re doing opposition research on Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and you’re looking for evidence of a wild-eyed culture warrior, you’ll find thin gruel in his new book, “The Last Line of Defense,” co-written with his communications director Brian Gottstein. The book chronicles the struggle of the AG and his conservative…
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I’m Going to Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come
My blogging will be light for the next few days, as I am heading to the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Kansas City. I am flattered to participate in a plenary session in which I will get to deliver my spiel, “Smart Growth for Conservatives.” I’m stoked because this will be the largest…
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Tell Us What You Really Think, Jim
by James A. Bacon A month after getting the sack from the Commonwealth Transportation Board, James E. Rich, former Culpeper District representative, has unloaded on the $245 million Charlottesville Bypass and Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton in far harsher terms than he did immediately after his resignation. (See “Our Way or the Highway.”) “Despite the contrary…
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Rejoice, Virginians, in the Rise of America’s Imperial City
Washington, D.C., may have been the United States capital since the earliest days of the republic, but it is only in recent years that it has emerged as one of the nation’s leading cities. The metropolitan region has ridden the growth in federal government spending, benefiting from what Aaron M. Renn in City Journal calls…
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Spending our Way to Failure
The General Assembly has advanced key elements of Governor Bob McDonnell’s incremental reform for K-12 education, including one measure that would overhaul teacher accountability and another that would provide for an A through F rating system for schools. But the legislature has shot down any bill that would challenge the status quo, such as provisions…
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Can We Have a Reality Check, Please?
In a potentially useful coincidence, the General Assembly was madly amending Governor Bob McDonnell’s transportation tax plan yesterday just as the Texas Transportation Institute prepared to release its 2012 Urban Mobility Report (UMR), the nation’s most authoritative assessment of the cost of traffic congestion. Let us hope that Virginia legislators pause from their frenetic activity…
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Have HSAs Peaked in Virginia?
by James A. Bacon After surging for several years, sales of Health Savings Account policies in Virginia dipped sharply in 2012, according to a new report by the Department of Taxation. However, the number of policies in force eroded only slightly and the number of individuals covered by those policies continued to grow, albeit more…
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The Economics of Cigarette Smuggling
Shipping black market cigarettes from Virginia to New York City is more profitable than peddling cocaine, heroin or illegal firearms. So states a new report by the State Crime Commission, “Illegal Cigarette Trafficking.” The report also issues a warning, “If organized crime continues to view Virginia as an ideal location to obtain cigarettes, their habitual…
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A Modest Proposal for Bailing out Metro Rail: Raise the Friggin’ Fares!
by James A. Bacon The Washington Metro system continues to crumble, as hundreds of riders found to their consternation Wednesday when a fire near the Anacostia Metro station stranded several Green Line trains underground for several hours. A rider named Scott posted an incredible first-person story on Unsuck DC Metro, describing getting stuck in a…
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Patents and Regional Prosperity
by James A. Bacon Here’s more evidence that economic growth in the innovation economy will gravitate toward existing centers of technology prowess: According to a Brookings Institution report, “Patenting Prosperity: Invention and Economic Performance in the United States and its Metropolitan Areas,” 63% of all U.S. patents are developed by people living in just 20…
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Documenting the Federal Distortion of Real Estate Markets
by James A. Bacon Between zoning codes, parking regulations, development fees, tax abatements, transportation and infrastructure spending, caps on building permits and other local government intrusions into real estate markets, the surprisingly widespread notion that dysfunctional human settlement patterns can be blamed on unchecked capitalism has always been a ludicrous one. Now Smart Growth America…
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Good Correctional Policy Starts with Good Data
by James A. Bacon It costs roughly $25,000 a year on average to incarcerate people in jails and prisons across Virginia — totaling more than $1 billion a year for the state Department of Corrections and hundreds of millions more for local governments. One of the few things upon which everyone can agree is that…
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Latest Talking Points on the Transportation Tax Debate
by James A. Bacon The debate over Governor Bob McDonnell’s transportation tax plan is heating up. The Governor has been stumping the state, giving speeches and enlisting the support of new businesses, labor unions and trade associations every day. The latest announcement from the governor’s office touts the endorsements of Richmond-based Universal Corp., the Virginia…
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Here’s a Novel Idea: Base Billion-Dollar Investment Decisions on Latest Data, Not Decade-Old Data
by James A. Bacon In the 2000s, Loudoun County grew at a prodigious rate, averaging 6,000 housing starts yearly before the Great Recession. Construction took a dive during the recession and continues at only half the pace of a decade ago, contends Rob Whitfield with the Dulles Corridor Users Group and a long-time foe of…