Category: Governance
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Inflation and the Budget
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In addition to conventional budget requests, the Youngkin administration is likely to receive requests from agencies in the fall budget development exercise for additional funding to enable them to cover additional costs resulting from higher inflation. (Yes, I realize that the 2022-2024 biennial budget has not even been agreed upon yet, but,…
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Virginia Supreme Court Gives Hope to Competitors of Regional Healthcare Monopolies
Is the Virginia Antitrust Act now in play? by James C. Sherlock There is good news this morning for those of us hoping for more competition to regional healthcare monopolies in Virginia. The Virginia Supreme Court (the Court) overturned the decision of the State Health Commissioner to deny the application of the Chesapeake Regional Medical Center…
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A Seat at the Table — State and Local Advisory Boards in Virginia Need Ideological Balance
by James C. Sherlock One of the opportunities offered by investigative journalism that is denied to the average citizen is to observe appointed government advisory boards in action. It has been enlightening, but almost always disappointing. The way the members of appointed boards are generally selected in Virginia is an artifact of a political spoils…
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De Facto Secretary?
On April 15, Governor Youngkin issued a press release announcing “additional key administration appointments”. Several of those appointments were duly noted by various newspapers and other media outlets. Others were not, although they are interesting in their own right, raising some issues and shedding light on the administration. Because different issues are raised with different…
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Help Wanted–Contact Glenn Youngkin
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Glenn Youngkin is having trouble keeping filled the top posts of a couple of his top priority agencies. Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) A little background information is in order. Nelson Moe had been the Chief Information Officer (CIO), or director, of VITA since 2015. During that time, he faced two…
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Planning for Telecommuting’s Effects on Virginia
By James C. Sherlock I think that we don’t yet realize the full impact of the revolution being wrought by the telecommuting that accelerated during COVID. I am sure I don’t. But Virginians, and our state and local governments, must try to figure it out. We are moving towards a world in which white collar…
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George Orwell Call Home
by James C. Sherlock This blog, while proudly based in individual research, often offers controversial ideas. Uniform agreement is not expected. Debate is encouraged. We learn from one another and even occasionally change a few minds on both sides. Yesterday the Biden administration announced the establishment of a federal “Disinformation Governance Board” in the Department…
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Election Mulligan
by Jim McCarthy Virginia’s new governor has proposed a legislative amendment preempting the normal election cycle and terms of office for a county school board in what can only be described as a “do over.” The amendment moves a school board election date from 2023 to 2022 and authorizes a new election for the nine-member…
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Unionize Virginia’s Worst Nursing Home Chains
by James C. Sherlock If you go back to the series of articles I published here in October of 2021, you can refresh your memory on the dangers represented by Virginia’s worst nursing home chains. If you look at the complete spreadsheet of every Virginia nursing home from that data sorted by ownership, the bad…
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Early Exits
by Dick Hall-Sizemore After barely three months in office, there has already been turnover among the ranks of Governor Youngkin’s appointments. The first to go was Phil Wittmer, whom Youngkin appointed to replace Nelson Moe as head of the Virginia Information Technology Agency (VITA). He left less than a month after his appointment was announced.…
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Forming a More Perfect Legislature
by Jim McCarthy Recently, Bacon’s Rebellion (BR) hosted an article and discussion concerning part- versus full-time legislators as members of the General Assembly. The topic arose from the failure of the General Assembly to conclude its session business without agreement on a state budget. The online conversation favored opposition to full-time legislator positions that might…
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The General Assembly Adds New Requirements for Teachers that Virginia Schools Do Not Have and Cannot Hire
by James C. Sherlock A tip of the hat to Dick Hall-Sizemore for pointing out the following bills. I have written often on how Virginia is constantly loading up teachers and schools with additional reports and requirements. This General Assembly is trying to add new requirements for teachers that we do not have and have…
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Does Loudoun Need a Police Department?
by Ken Reid The latest battle between the Left and Right in Loudoun is not over CRT, but PD – as in, “police department.” Should Virginia’s most-populous county transfer key law-enforcement functions from the elected sheriff to a newly created civil-servant police chief? No crime problem in Loudoun is driving this debate. No scandals, budgetary…
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Exploding Requirements and Workforce Shortages – An Existential Threat to the Public Schools
by James C. Sherlock The hottest buzz around many of the public schools, including my home area of Virginia Beach, is around the very real hardships posed by unprecedented staff shortages. On return from COVID, it seems that our schools faced record shortages of personnel to deal with students that were traumatized and afflicted with…
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Keep Virginia’s Part-Time Citizen Legislature
by Kerry Dougherty Mark Rozell, a political scientist and Dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, has a terrible idea. It’s not original. It surfaces from time to time. Let’s hope it goes nowhere. In an opinion piece published recently in The Washington Post, “Virginia’s Legislature Was Built for…