Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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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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More on Vetoes
by Dick Hall-Sizemore At least one reader has requested that I post a list of all the bills that Governor Youngkin vetoed, along with summaries of the bills and the Governor’s explanation for his veto. Such a list is at the end of this post. I agree with some of the Governor’s vetoes, particularly of…
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What’s That About Telecommuting?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore For those who have predicted that the pandemic would result in a fundamental shift in commuting patterns and highway traffic, I invite you to get on I-95 at its junction with the Beltway at 3:00 on a week-day afternoon, driving south. Thursday afternoon, it took me more than two hours to get…
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Things Are Not Always As Intuitive As They May Seem
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Sometimes, public policy proposals can be counterintuitive. Virginia law authorizes health insurance companies to charge smokers up to 50% greater than the premium that would otherwise be effective. The 2022 General Assembly passed legislation that would have repealed this authorization. The bills, HB 675 (Hope, D-Arlington) and SB 422 (Edwards, D-Roanoke), passed…
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Where Are The Parents?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A story in today’s Washington Post enraged me, amused me, and filled me with admiration. It starts off with a first-grade teacher in Fairfax County. She had expected that her incoming students last fall would be behind in reading and math due to the pandemic. She was surprised that they also could…
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What Is It About Adam Ebbin?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Youngkin seems to have it in for state Senator Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria. Of the 26 bills from the 2022 Session that the Governor vetoed, nine (35 percent) were bills sponsored by Ebbin. (Midnight yesterday was the deadline for the Governor to take action on bills passed in the last session.) From…
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A Continuation of the Gun Debate
by Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock yesterday brought up a case in which a man in Virginia Beach had pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun; in his case, it was a modified Glock. The maximum sentence for the offense is 10 years. There was a robust discussion, primarily on the Second Amendment in general and…
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A Tale of Three Schools
by Dick Hall-Sizemore One school allots time in its schedule for students “to engage in critical conversations around topics of race, antiracism, social justice, and inclusion.” Its student handbook endeavors to train a “lens toward fairness, equity, inclusion.” Diversity training is required for all faculty and staff. Summer reading included: Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You…
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Youngkin’s Legislative Scorecard
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Almost all recently-elected Virginia governors confront their first General Assembly session at a disadvantage. The legislative session has begun before the inauguration; their personal staffs, Cabinet members, and agency heads are either not yet all in place or are just getting oriented. Finally, they have not had the time to establish the…
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Tell Me Again. Why Are Virginia Taxes So Bad?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore I have taxes on my mind. It is sort of hard not to be thinking a lot about taxes these days. I just finished compiling my tax returns (yes, I realize that I am a procrastinator). The Governor is telling me that the state taxes me too much and he wants to…
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Not the Normal Governor Means Not the Normal Ethics
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Glenn Youngkin recently declared, “I guess I’m maybe not the normal governor. I think one of the differences is that I am an outsider and I come in with ideas on how we communicate.” We are beginning to find out how true that is. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that one of the…
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A Knee-jerk Reaction and Changes in the Wind
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been a kerfuffle over another one of Governor Youngkin’s appointments. Late last week, the Governor named Susan Beals to be Commissioner of the Department of Elections. In contrast to Chris Piper, whom she will replace and who had never worked on a campaign nor donated to a political candidate, Beals…
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The General Assembly Punts
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The 2022 General Assembly left town on March 12 with a great deal of public business still pending. Most importantly, it adjourned without adopting a budget. That is not uncommon, however. Since 2000, the legislature has adjourned six times without adopting a budget, having to come back in special session to deal…
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Transformation Has a Long Way to Go
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Eric Moeller, Governor Youngkin’s Chief Transformation Officer, has his work cut out for him. In Executive Order No. 5, the Governor said that the chief responsiblities of the position would be to “to help build a culture of transparency, accountability, and constructive challenge across our government.” As for building a “culture of…
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NCAA Champions!
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Commonwealth is home to another NCAA basketball champion. The Randolph-Macon (Ashland) Yellow Jackets won the Division III championship yesterday. Most sports fans in the state will be unaware of this accomplishment. Of the major media outlets, only the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Roanoke Times covered it.