Category: Politics
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McAuliffe’s Offshore Drilling Flip-Flop
By Peter Galuszka Terry McAuliffe’s flip-flop on opposing offshore oil drilling in Virginia is unsettling given that the last time the Democrat ran for governor in 2009, he seemed skeptical of drilling for oil although he thought searching for natural gas might be beneficial. He apparently changed his position because he’s been with fresh legislation…
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Bob Dole’s Memorial Day Remembrance
By Peter Galuszka Memorial Day is typically a time for remembrance of the sacrifice of military veterans, cook-outs and the unofficial beginning of the summer season. As always, the media is filled with photos, video and stories of crippled vets, salutes and the like, but one opinion piece stands out: that of Republican stalwart Bob…
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The Cooch’s Freak Show Dream Team
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in Business and Economy, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Demographics, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Ken Cuccinelli just can’t keep away from the bizarre, but perhaps that’s what makes him what he is. He stages a convention instead of a primary to neuter Bill Bolling. And since a convention is smaller, it draws more GOP hard-righters than June bugs on a humid night and they succeed in…
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Data Shows Hospital Billing Outrages
By Peter Galuszka It’s long been fascinating how Big Hospitals, linked with Medicare, Big Pharma and Big Managed Care, have come up with an extraordinarily convoluted system of setting prices for various hospital procedures. There is plenty of nonsense about including on this blog about bringing “free market efficiencies” to health care, as if human…
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The Tea Party and IRS Abuse
By Peter Galuszka News that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has targeted Tea party groups, including one in Virginia, along with other right wing organizations is deeply disturbing and conjures up ghosts of other government witchhunts. President Barack Obama has chastized the IRS for singling out the Tea Party and other groups that say they…
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“The Grimmest” Gubernatorial Race
By Peter Galuszka National media outlets are casting the Virginia gubernatorial match as “the grimmest election” featuring Atty. Gen. Kenneth Cuccinelli as “a Republican nutjob” and Terry McAuliffe as a scummy fundraiser who has revealed his failings in a “self-Borking book.” Those, at least are the summations from New York magazine and The Daily Beast.…
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Cuccinelli: Promote Economic Development by Creating Level Playing Field
by James A. Bacon In a press conference this morning at a Richmond SweetFrog restaurant, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli laid out the philosophical principle that would guide his approach to economic development if he were elected governor: Create a level playing field for all businesses rather than incentives for a lucky few. He would close…
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McAuliffe’s Poll Problems
By Peter Galuszka Terry McAuliffe is well behind in a recent Washington Post poll — as much as 10 points (51% to 41%) among those who say they will cast ballots in November. Otherwise, the race is five points apart, still not good news for McAuliffe. Previously, polls had put McAuliffe and opponent Kenneth Cuccinelli…
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Still Looking for the Scandal
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s GiftGate has escalated from a minor brouhaha into a full-fledged media feeding frenzy with national overtones. The Washington Post editorial page has referred to the relationship with Star Scientific founder Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and Virginia’s two leading elected officials, Governor Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinell, as “Virginia’s…
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GiftGate: “If I Were a Rich Man . . .!”
By Peter Galuszka Richmond’s “Giftgate” scandal just gets worse. On Friday, Atty. Gen. and presumed GOP gubernatorial candidate Kenneth Cuccinelli announced that he was amending his required disclosures of gifts to show that he took more goodies from Star Scientific plus previously undisclosed gifts of a $7,750 trip in 2010 to Southwest Virginia from coal…
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First They Came for Our Tax-Subsidized Sodas, then They Came for our Tax-Subsidized Snack Foods
by James A. Bacon I had occasion the other day to visit an inner city convenience store in Richmond while working on an article I hope to post to the blog shortly. I am not exactly Mr. Health Food Guy — I won’t touch tofu, cauliflower or fish oil — but even I was appalled…
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Corruption? This is Virginia!
By Peter Galuszka An old adage in journalism has it that good stories just keep getting better. And so it is with the saga of Jonnie Williams Sr. and the family of Robert F. McDonnell, the governor. First we learn, courtesy of The Washington Post, that the head of Star Scientific gave McDonnell’s daughter $15,000…
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McAuliffe: Can a Schmoozer Transform?
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in Education (K-12), Electoral process, Energy, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government workers and pensions, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, LGBQT, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka On Easter Sunday, I was driving in a cold rain to Charlottesville for a family event. My cell phone started beeping with messages from Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe. He said he was on his way to his own family brunch but wanted to tap me for $5. I got similar messages…
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Sunnier Skies for Virginia Solar
Thanks to a new law making it easier for non-utilities to sell solar electricity, backers of solar power are viewing the future with cautious optimism. By Andrew Jenner Virginia gets enough sunshine, relative to other states, to give it better-than-average potential for solar energy development. A 2012 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated…
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No Reform Three Years After Massey Disaster
By Peter Galuszka Three years ago today, a tremendous blast caused by bad safety conditions at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va., killed 29 miners. It was the worst coal mine disaster in this country in 40 years. But three years later, very little has been done to toughen mine safety regulations…