Author: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Two “Day One” Proposals Fail
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Glenn Youngkin is quickly learning that being governor is not like being CEO of a large corporation. Just because the guy at the top wants something done does not mean that it will be done. One of Youngkin’s campaign promises was to require local governments to have a referendum before they could…
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A Conservative Proposal
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Gov. Glenn Youngkin has reported to the General Assembly that the state can expect to bring in an additional $1.25 billion in general fund revenue in the current fiscal year. This is an astounding mid-session revenue projection. He is proposing that the state “give it back” to taxpayers. Of the projected $1.25…
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You Want to Raise Your Tax on Yourself? Forget It.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Several years ago, officials in Halifax County were confronting the problem of what to do about the local high school. There was consensus that something needed to be done. The only question was whether to make extensive renovations or build a new one. Depending on the option selected, the price tag was…
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Should It Be OK For The Police To Lie?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore On at least five occasions over a four-year period, Virginia Beach police confronted suspects with fake documents that indicated the suspect had been connected to a crime through DNA evidence. The documents were forged certificates of analysis, complete with the letterhead of the Virginia Department of Forensic Sciences and the Seal of…
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Follow-up: Appointment War Called Off
by Dick Hall-Sizemore House Republicans backed off late yesterday afternoon from their threat to let over 1,000 appointments by former Governor Northam lapse. They did, however, single out and deny eleven appointments to a few regulatory boards that have recently been the subject of controversy: Board of Education — denied three appointments, but confirmed one,…
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War Clouds On the Horizon
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The potential warfare that is simmering near Crimea may pale in comparison to the war that is threatening to break out in the Virginia General Assembly. First, a little background. During the course of a year, a governor makes hundreds of appointments to various agency boards, boards of visitors, etc. These are…
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Parole Board Bill: Minimal Benefit vs. Possible Harm
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Legislation to make the activities of the Parole Board a little more transparent has cleared one committee. The bill, SB 5 (Sutterlein, R-Roanoke) would require individual Parole Board member votes to be available to the public on request. I understand the motives behind this bill. The call for more transparency, to know…
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Damn the Constitution! Full Speed Ahead!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Leaving aside the issue of whether masks should be required in schools, there is a larger issue in question in this legislative fight over masks. The plan now seems to be that each house will pass Sen. Petersen’s substitute for SB 739, which would prohibit any school district from requiring students to…
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Move On, Can’t Have Divisiveness Over Schools
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Here is a comment by a politician that would fit very well in the comments in BR over the last year or so and is in full accord with Governor Youngkin’s effort to “root out” divisive concepts in schools: “Nothing in my lifetime, and I doubt at any other time in the…
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More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About the Regulatory Process in Virginia
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been a fair amount of general discussion on this blog lately about promulgating or repealing regulations in Virginia. As a recent post of Steve Haner indicates, the regulatory process also figures prominently in bills being introduced in the current General Assembly. To help inform this and future discussions, the following…
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Welcome to Reality, Governor!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore As reported in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, Senate Democrats are pretty much making mincemeat of Governor Youngkin’s Day One agenda. The Governor’s reaction? “I’m disappointed at the partisan politics that I see being played in the Senate.” What? Did he actually expect the Democrats to roll over and go along with his proposals…
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Warning: These Comments May be Divisive
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Rather than allowing teachers to expose students to ideas that challenge long-held beliefs and perhaps teaching those students to think critically, Governor Youngkin would prohibit teachers from raising ideas that make some people uncomfortable. When he first directed the Superintendent of Public Instruction to delete departmental policies and guidance to local school…
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The Games Have Begun
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Senate Democrats are up in arms over Governor Youngkin’s nomination of Andrew Wheeler as Secretary of Natural Resources. Today, The Washington Post reports that Republicans have upped the stakes. It seems that a member of the State Corporation Commission is up for election. Angela Navarro was elected by the Democratically controlled 2021…
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Et Tu, Brute?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The backers of Glenn Youngkin on this blog have got to be feeling confused, at least, if not downright betrayed. Youngkin promised to expand the number of charter schools in the Commonwealth. They cheered. Now, he has revealed his plan for charter schools. As reported today by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Governor has…
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Showdown at the GA Corral
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares recently announced on the nationally televised Laura Ingraham show that “there’s a new sheriff in town.” That new sheriff was gunned down Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The issue was Miyares’s marquee proposal to broaden the Attorney General’s authority to prosecute criminal cases in circuit court.…