Category: Politics
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Virginia’s Self-Inflicted Nursing Home Crisis – Part 1
by James C. Sherlock None of us ever knows when we will need a nursing home for ourselves, our parents or our kids. Yes, kids. While long-term nursing care is mostly for older patients, skilled nursing facilities are needed for patients of all ages, including children, for shorter term post-op treatment and recovery. The patients…
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Youngkin V. McAuliffe
by Kerry Dougherty No one who knows my political leanings would expect me to watch a debate between Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe and declare the Democrat the winner. And I’m not going to do that. But I was worried before the cameras rolled. I’ve met McAuliffe. I’ve seen him work a room. The guy…
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The Public Schools’ Crisis of Legitimacy
by James A. Bacon Virginia public schools are facing a crisis in legitimacy. Never in recent history have parents been so up in arms. This morning I published three columns submitted by readers, all on the subject of the dismaying disconnect between educators and parents in K-12 schools. I did not solicit them. Readers sent…
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Redistricting: Incumbents, Race, and Prisoners
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The most recent meeting of the Virginia Redistricting Commission was marked by tension over the two most sensitive issues—incumbency and race. The meeting was supposed to be dedicated to viewing efforts of the two sets of partisan map drawers to come up with a single map for the Senate districts upon which…
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Redistricting: the First Stab at Statewide Maps
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Virginia Redistricting Commission started out by dividing the state into eight regions. Its original plan was to proceed with drawing House and Senate districts, region by region, starting with Northern Virginia. That quickly proved to be inefficient, slow, and impractical. Last week the map drawers were instructed to produce statewide House…
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Rules Are for the Little People: Terry McAuliffe Edition
Terry McAuliffe violated federal mask-wearing regulations while traveling on an Amtrak train this summer, as seen in photos obtained by Fox News. The Democratic Party candidate for governor, who has urged others to wear masks, spoke maskless on a cell phone while walking through Union Station and boarding a train, according to the passenger who…
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Forced Unionism Is Back on the Menu
by Shaun Kenney First things first. Republican challenger Glenn Youngkin’s internal polling has him showing a slight lead against Democratic former governor Terry McAuliffe 48-46. What Afghanistan giveth Texas shall taketh away… Yet with the 2022 Generic Ballot showing the environment at D+0.3 at present? Those numbers can only improve Republican hopes moving forward, as…
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Redistricting: Let the Lawsuits Begin!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The first draft maps had not been drawn when the first lawsuit challenging Virginia’s redistricting process was filed. Sen. Travis Hackworth. R-Tazewell, along with several other plaintiffs, is challenging 2020 Virginia legislation that required, for redistricting purposes, prison and jail inmates to be allocated to the population counts of the locality of…
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Democratic Lawmakers Threaten Spending Bill Over SALT Cap Repeal
Tax that man behind the tree. As Congress works to pass a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package a group of “moderate” Democrats are threatening to block the spending bill unless the State and Local Tax (SALT) caps are repealed. Prior to Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law, state and local taxes were fully deductible on federal income…
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Campaign Finance Reform in Virginia – the New Governor Must Lead
by James C. Sherlock I consider campaign finance reform the foremost issue facing representative government in Virginia. We are one of only a few states with no campaign donations limits at all. We pay for that in legislation enacted and not enacted because of the preferences of huge donors. And in the stink of legal…
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Redistricting is Working – Sen. Barker Threatens to Resign
by James C. Sherlock Something must be going right. Sen. George Barker, D-Alexandria, has threatened to resign. Seems he is unable, at least so far, to pick his voters in the redistricting process. Virginia’s new bipartisan redistricting commission is working the details with two months to complete its work. Barker is on that commission. But…
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Republican Senator Quits Redistricting Commission
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Sen. Steve Newman (R-Lynchburg) has resigned from the Virginia Redistricting Commission. He was one of two Republican Senators appointed to the Commission. Newman did not give any reasons for his decision. However, it is difficult to think it was not out of personal pique at the turn the decision process has taken.…
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Reba McClanan: An Authentic Public Servant
by Kerry Dougherty You wouldn’t know it from some of the news accounts of her life this week, but former Virginia Beach Vice Mayor Reba McClanan was more than just a woman who wanted to plant pretty flowers and trees around the Resort City. Much more. She was a tireless advocate for good government and…
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Redistricting, Part 2: Squabbling Among Democrats, Republicans, and Citizens
by Dick Hall-Sizemore (Author’s note: This is the second installment of my reporting and comment on the Virginia Redistricting Commission. Warning — it is long. I apologize for the length, but it seemed best for interested readers to have a fairly thorough summary of the Commission’s doings up through the end of August in one…
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Holsworth: Setting the Election Table
Dr. Bob Holsworth is a former professor and founding director for both the Center for Public Policy and the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University. Holsworth shared extended thoughts on the current state of play in Virginia on his Facebook page. Shaun Kenney applied some light editing and formatting for…