Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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“Frequent Flyers” Are Not Harbingers of Anarchy
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In a recent article on this blog, Jim Bacon cited the case of Ronald Thomas as a possible harbinger of a “descent into anarchy.” One commenter cited 13 prior charges, many of which were “nol prossed”. Just looking at a list of charges and their results can be misleading. It is necessary…
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Details on Real Estate Assessments and the Property Tax
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I am following up on James Sherlock’s article on local property taxes. In Article X, sections 1 and 2, the state constitution requires that all property be taxed at fair market value. There are exceptions, but those are not relevant to this discussion. So, there you have it. Unless the constitution is…
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Who Needs the General Assembly? Let the Budget Conferees Do It.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Although legislating through the budget, a practice that used to be frowned upon, is not new, this year’s budget conferees are taking the practice to a new dimension. The amendments released by the budget conferees include the following new provisions in the “General Provisions” section. In most cases, the Code of Virginia…
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Hanover Schools to Get “Biblical Lens” Turned on Them
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Some contributors and commenters on Bacon’s Rebellion who have recently expressed distress over schools and society in general should be able to take solace in the views of Johnny Redd, who is the newly appointed member of the Hanover County School Board. (Hanover County is one of the few jurisdictions in Virginia…
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The “Divisive Concept” Wars Have Begun
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Williamsburg-James City County School Board was due to adopt new texts this spring for its AP U.S. Government and Politics course, as well as other social studies classes, for use next fall. As reported by The Virginian-Pilot and Virginia Gazette, these deliberations may be an indication of how the Youngkin administration’s…
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A Budget Deal Emerges
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports there is an agreement on the state budget. There have been hints in the news about it all week, with the General Assembly announcing that it would come back to Richmond June 1 to take up various measures. All the details will not be available until late Sunday…
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A Rebuttal Regarding Changes in Election Laws and Changes in Turnout
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Putting aside the comparison with Georgia, I want to take issue with James Sherlock’s comparison of turnout in earlier Virginia gubernatorial elections with the turnout after significant recent changes in the Commonwealth’s elections laws. First of all, comparing the 66.5% turnout in the 1989 election, in which Doug Wilder became the first…
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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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What’s the Governor Waiting For?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore At the reconvened session on April 27, Governor Youngkin returned 116 bills to the General Assembly with recommended amendments. Legislators accepted the Governor’s recommendations on 91 of those bills. The remaining 25 bills were returned to him as originally passed. The Governor has three options for each of these remaining bills: sign…
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Diverse Opinions in Higher Ed
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Those commenters on this blog who are always decrying the dominance of liberal ideas and the quashing of conservative viewpoints in Virginia’s higher ed institutions need to broaden their horizon beyond the University of Virginia. As reported by The Washington Post, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke yesterday to a crowd…
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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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Some Basic Transparency Education Needed
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One of Governor Youngkin’s “Day One” actions was the establishment of the Commonwealth Chief Transformation Officer as a member of his cabinet, along with the Office of Transformation within the Office of the Governor. Executive Order Number Five lays out the functions of that official and his office: “The primary responsibilities of…
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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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1619–A Portentous Year. A Book Review and Summary
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Horn, James. 1619: Jamestown and the Forging of American Democracy. New York: Basic Books, 2018. Notwithstanding the title, this book is not part of the controversial 1619 Project. The author is currently the most prominent and knowledgeable scholar of early colonial Virginia. He is the president and chief officer of the Jamestown…
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Virginia Partisanship in Congress
Virginia Congressmen have scored at the extremes on a national measure of bipartisanship in Congress. As reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-7th, has been ranked as the fifth most bipartisan member of the House of Representatives and Rep. Bob Good, R-5th, the fifth least bipartisan member. The Lugar Center, founded by the…