Category: Campaign finance reform
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A Compelling Case for Campaign Finance Reform – Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys
by James C. Sherlock Remind me why, exactly, Virginia permits massive out-of-state campaign contributions to dominate local races. I can’t hear you. Because we do, an out-of-state organization is by far the biggest donor to Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys races in elections of local prosecutors. Justice and Public Safety PAC, based in Washington D.C., utterly dominates support to the…
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A Campaign Finance Reform Lesson – the 2021 Elections for the Virginia House of Delegates
by James C. Sherlock Money in politics matters for a lot of reasons. Most of them are unsupportive of a republican form of government. The majority of the Virginia political class is addicted to unlimited campaign donations, a powerful incumbent protection mechanism. They do not blush when they contend that transparency is all that is…
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An Unmistakeable Odor of Corruption
by James C. Sherlock The data offered by the Virginia Public Access Project in Money in Politics have long left a perception that privileged access to Virginia elected officials is for sale. Perception matches reality. It is for sale. No one denies that: a republican form of government is based on a rough equality of…
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Hands Off My Donations!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Senators wasted little time killing off an attempt to limit campaign contributions. On its first day of meetings, the Privileges and Elections Committee took up Senator Chap Petersen’s bill to place a $2o,000 cap on campaign contributions (SB 44). Voting to report the bill were five Democrats: Deeds (Bath), Ebbin (Alexandria),…
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Terry McAuliffe as Governor Aggressively Denied Charter Schools to Poor Minority Children
by James C. Sherlock Terry McAuliffe demonstrated as governor that he will fight public charter schools. He will oppose them regardless of the lifelong costs to the students of some truly pitiful Virginia public schools, many with majorities of minority students. When governor, he vetoed a major attempt by the General Assembly to help those…