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Monday, June 30, 2008Marshall on HB 6055(forwarded by Delegate Bob Marshall -- reprinted with permission) Can Virginia fix transportation without raising taxes? Yes, but unless you contact House of Delegates members before July 9 you may be facing higher taxes and fees, not just from Democrats who want higher auto, sales, real property and gas taxes, but from Republicans too! Tax/fee increases are in the Republican Transportation Bill, H.B. 6055 pushed by Republican Speaker Bill Howell. The bill authorizes Northern Virginia counties and cities to increase the sales tax on home and commercial property sales (grantor's tax) of an additional $0.40 cents per $100 of the sale price. Last year the Assembly authorized No VA localities to impose an additional tax on commercial real estate of $0.25 per $100 for roads and transit. This tax can never be rescinded by the local governments as long as there is any outstanding debt for Northern Virginia projects funded by this tax! While HB 6055 provides that funds raised in No. VA are to be spent only for No VA transportation projects, it may be diverted to other uses and areas of Virginia “as may be required by any other law.” HB 6055 also adds $100 to the cost of a new driver's license. Hampton Roads residents will pay $20 more for a registration fee and $20 more for inspection fees. HB 6055 authorizes a real estate tax increase on all property of $0.10 cents per $100. It diverts up to $250 million in yet to be collected taxes from business and individuals in the cargo container business to Hampton Roads transportation projects. With Virginia families facing falling home prices, increased real property taxes, skyrocketing gas and food prices, an 18% electric rate hike for Dominion, a 6.4% monthly increase in natural gas prices, almost five decades of federal deficit spending, and a devalued dollar, the General Assembly should not raise taxes and fees. If we say yes to a tax increase again, what happens when the next "crisis" happens a few years from now? Enough is enough. Taxpayers are not bottomless ATM machines. Rather than raise taxes, the legislature should support changing work schedules, use toll and fare supported transportation bonds, set up bio-fuel capture centers in Virginia, make state government more efficient and spend the savings on roads and transit. Here are some practical non-tax transportation proposals: HJR 6007: Lock up the Transportation Trust Fund so transportation dollars are not diverted for other means. More than $1.2 Billion has been diverted has been diverted to non-transportation uses over the last 18 years. This must stop. HB 6030: Fund major transportation projects using bonds paid by tolls or rider fares, i.e., Hampton Roads Bridge tunnel expansion, I-81 truck improvements (trucks pay tolls), Tri-County --Prince William-Fairfax-Loudoun-- Connector, expand commuter rail in No VA to Haymarket, buy more Metro Subway rail cars, etc. HB 6049: Allow naming rights in exchange for corporations and individuals paying for building roads and other transportation projects, just as is done for stadiums and school buildings. Implement the 2002 Wilder Commission efficiency recommendations that were projected to currently save $1.1 Billion annually without reducing services. Allocate a greater portion of state revenue to transportation. Out of a 2-year budget of roughly $79 Billion, surely a greater percent could be allocated for transportation. HB 6031: Require all tractor trailers (VA and out of state) to pay for a per mile road maintenance and damage charge which is now passed on to other Virginia drivers. HB 6032: Set up a permanent state oversight Commission, similar to the federal cost cutting BRAC Commission, to evaluate whether state holdings should be sold, identify duplicate programs, and cut unnecessary overhead while maintaining the same level of services. HJR 6011: Stop burning food! Request a waiver from the federal ethanol mandate. Ethanol results in less miles per gallon and increases food prices from diversion of food to fuel. (Speaker Bill Howell publically announced I would have all of 30 seconds—literally--to present this measure to his Rules Committee!) HJR 6008: Assess methane resources now being wasted in Virginia which could be converted to fuel for cars/trucks. Unfortunately, despite Rule 37 of the House of Delegates which provides that: "The Clerk shall, under the direction of the Speaker, refer all such original papers (i.e. bills) to the proper committee…" Nearly all bills introduced into the special session that would reduce expenses and use the money saved for roads and transit have been referred to the House Rules Committee, Chaired by Speaker Bill Howell, so he can kill them. See http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?083+com+H20N01 for all bills referred to the House Rules committee for the special transportation session. For Delegate Marshall’s bills see http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?083+mbr+H57C. To find out how to contact your state delegate and senator (or learn who they are) go to: http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform Sunday, June 29, 2008Cure for Cancer?Maybe so. Israel: A 60-year-old start-upCNET News has a rather interesting take on the State of Israel: Maybe it's the Israeli knack for compartmentalization, but the entrepreneurs and venture capitalists I've been meeting on this trip take the security question more in stride than do the outsiders. They continue to wax optimistic about prospects for the country's high-tech industry, particularly in the area of clean technology. And even though most would agree with Eric Benhamou's apercu that Israel is a 60-year-old start-up, one that's often overlooked strategic aims in favor of the tactical, the "return on investment" is enviable. In 1950, Israel had average annual gross domestic product of $3,500. Last year, it was $22,500.Never thought of Israel in those terms before, though the nation's reputation for high-tech has grown dynamically with the rise of the Internet and clean industry. Wait -- I Thought Abstinence-Only Wasn't Working?Via NPR, we see the latest version of media-induced panic. Namely, that movies such as Juno and other young and pregnant celebrities are driving up the teen pregnancy rate: Jane Brown, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the Juno effect is real.So let me get this straight. Teen pregnancy rates have been falling, statistics are backing this up, and instead of attributing this to a shift away from contraception-based sexual education... we blame abstinence-only education and movies such as Juno? To be perfectly blunt, it's not the government's responsibility to teach my kids anything about sexual mores. Still, a line of argumentation that treats the symptoms (teen pregnancies) without addressing the root causes (sexually active 13-19 year olds) then band-aiding a solution by saying 95% effective contraception solves the problem... is missing the point. Welcome to the World of Viral MarketingGatorade paid for this, though I wonder whether I would have gotten the point if every blog in the universe wasn't screaming how Gatorade did indeed pay for the ad. Saturday, June 28, 2008New Virginia Blog: I’m Surrounded By IdiotsNew-ish blog from Caroline County native Timothy Watson entitled I’m Surrounded By Idiots. More than happy to up bloggers from my old stomping grounds! UK Telegraph: Bill Clinton says Obama must 'kiss my ass' for supportDAMN. It has long been known that Mr Clinton is angry at the way his own reputation was tarnished during the primary battle when several of his comments were interpreted as racist.That is indeed sour news for the Democrats, and the telltales of internal fracturing amongst Democratic leadership aren't unexpected. Of course, most of this is hullabaloo... the Dems will unite at the last minute, as both major parties tend to do. It's bandwagon psychology, after all. Good Sense: Live Blog w/ the Barr CampaignCharlie Fugate over at Good Sense scores an interview with the campaign spokesperson for LP nominee Bob Barr. Deo Vindice: Regional Government Reveals the Rot in the Republican PartyJim Bowden reveals his thoughts on the second coming of HB 3202: HB 6055 puts billions of dollars in the hands of the Hampton Roads Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) The con the Republican bill HB 6055 is running skips putting the money in the Un-Constitutional Hampton Roads Transit Authority but shoves it at the MPO. The MPO, the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, and the Hampton Roads Transit Authority are the same people. They meet at the same time. The Republican shell game moves the new, higher taxes to the State Treasury in Richmond (as our Constitution requires) which dumps the money in a new holding account (professional thieves would use an off-shore bank), which sends the money to the MPO.The angst is palpable, without question. Friday, June 27, 2008Roanoke Red Zone: Frederick Confirms He’s Raising Money for Re-ElectionRPV Chairman Jeff Frederick revokes his promise not to run for re-election to the House of Delegates in 2009, as former Senator Brandon Bell opines: I’ve got some friendly, albeit unsolicited advice for Jeff. Pick one. If you want to be Chairman, great. Announce you’re not running for re-election and, if there is interest, have your wife begin her campaign. Then focus on the job of being Chairman. If you want to stay in the House, that’s fine too. You’ve got the best shot at holding the seat. But resign as Chairman. You cannot do both effectively. This is already fodder for the Dems, who no doubt look forward to running someone against you to keep you pinned down and ineffective as Chairman. I can almost hear Chairman Dickie laughing all the way from Vinton.Apart from the promise-breaking, Bell brings up several excellent points. With the exception of a handful of appointments, I have been largely disappointed with the replacements (and non-Virginians) at RPV. Fundraising is going to be extremely difficult as Frederick inevitably is forced to defend his seat -- with or without him running in the race -- while simultaneously doing all the work Virginia Republicans expect from an active chairman. Having been so close to the throne, I can tell you it ain't gonna happen unless something gives. All this comes in the wake of Hager's long-awaited swan-song, via e-mail today: While we did not win this time, I am confident that a great deal of good came out of our efforts. We left our Party with a sound balance sheet and out of debt. We left our party with plans in place to grow the membership. Most of all, we left our Party with a greater sense of identity. It is this identity as the Party of low taxes, strong defense, and individual liberty that will move our Republican Party forward.Hager rings 100% true. Now some of this is in defense of the Frederick e-mail fundraising letter that was issued just before special session started -- thankfully, Hager does not trade blows with Frederick here. But he does leave one instruction clear to his successor: Execute the Plan. Whether there is anything left after the housecleaning at RPV is yet to be seen. But there is some part of me that wonders: Virginia Republicans are heavily fractured. Conservatives vs. moderates. Marshall conservatives vs. Gilmore conservatives. State Central vs. the RPV Chairman. NOVA vs. ROVA. Western Virginia vs. Eastern Virginia. The list continues ad infinitum. Here's a real kicker: Of all the changes at RPV, not a single Marshall insider was put on staff... Frederick has to know his seat is owed, not earned. Add to it the revisitation of HB 3202 and the flight of all the heavy-hitting fundraisers from RPV, and one really has to wonder whether "the Democrats are worse" is really all we have left to fight with intellectually. If so, we are in sorry shape. Asparagus Farm on Mars?NYT says you probably could... well, if you had air and water and the appropriate air pressure, perhaps. Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole!!!...of course, when you read the article, it talks about the possibility of there maybe being no ice at the North Pole this summer: Seasoned polar scientists believe the chances of a totally ice-free North Pole this summer are greater than 50:50 because the normally thick ice formed over many years at the Pole has been blown away and replaced by hugeswathes of thinner ice formed over a single year."Seasoned" polar scientists... what the hell is that supposed to mean? Then there's the graphs which only show the average melting sea ice from 1979 to 2000. Now if anyone would like to dig up the statistics from the 1970's when global cooling was all the rage, I'd be interested in seeing those numbers stacked on as well... an a year-by-year analysis rather than something grouped together to prove a point. Until the quackery can be removed from the science, my patience grows thin with environmentalists projecting their hypothesis onto otherwise scientific data. Tuesday, June 24, 2008Try voting against THIS in an election year$300 billion in taxpayer funded relief for Big Clue that Hillary will not be VPPatti Solis Doyle has been brought on to Obama's staff. So much for the Obama/Clinton ticket. Monday, June 23, 2008Field NotesNice: INSPIRED BY the vanishing subgenre of agricultural memo books, ornate pocket ledgers and the simple, unassuming beauty of a well-crafted grocery list, the Draplin Design Company, Portland, Oregon in conjunction with Coudal Partners of Chicago, Illinois bring you “FIELD NOTES” in hopes of offering, “An honest memo book, worth fillin’ up with GOOD INFORMATION.”I have long sold out to the Moleskine notebook for jotting down notes and writing down information... half notepad, half commonplace book. These things are awesome. To think they ever went out of style... WSJ: Anti-Americanism Is Mostly HypeDovetailing into yesterday's missive is this excellent piece from the Wall Street Journal going after the favorite dead horse of the American left; anti-American sentiment overseas: The deference of American liberal opinion to the coffeehouses of Istanbul and Amman and Karachi is nothing less than astounding. You would not know from these surveys, of course, that anti-Americanism runs deep in the French intellectual scene, and that French thought about the great power across the Atlantic has long been a jumble of envy and condescension. In the fabled years of the Clinton presidency, long before Guantanamo, the torture narrative and the war in Iraq, American pension funds were, in the French telling, raiding their assets, bringing to their homeland dreaded Anglo-Saxon economics, and the merciless winds of mondialisation (globalization).Excellent article, if a bit tilted towards Huffington's clash-of-civilizations hypothesis. Sunday, June 22, 2008AP: EVERYBODY PANIC! (and what to do about it)Not undaunted by its recent fisticuffs with the bloggers of the world, the Associated Press now chooses to manufacture alarm by claiming the American can-do attitude is "under assault." Of course, the article goes on to say this is cyclical, that we have nothing to fear, that the 21st century will challenge all previously held assumptions... ...blah blah blah. I reject this entirely. America is doing just fine, with or without the regurgitated nonsense media spinsters, commercial interests, speculators, and politicians ask us to eat and believe on a near daily basis. True we have our challenges. The state of the individual liberty in America is being actively challenged by the same aging crowd that trampled it in the latter half of the 20th century. And once again, these same Baby Boomers are looking to dip into the pockets of the future, passing along a $9 trillion dollar national debt in their wake, an unsustainable government-run health care network, thousands of government programs, a teetering dollar, and a legal jurisprudence that will require a Justinian Code to unravel. If there are faults, if there is a mess, it is because a generation rejected the wisdom of prior years for the sake of "a great unraveling" of things past. I do not credit it the victories of the civil rights movement or the defeat of Soviet Communism -- these are the laurels of the Greatest Generation, laurels I am certain Baby Boomers of the 1960s covet, but will never rightfully claim. There is a simple solution to all of the hype, to the network of 24 hour news and the steady ding of infotainment keeping so many American minds in the chains of consumerism and weak argumentation. Just. Unplug. Let's be honest: There is no possible decision on any policy position of the day that an educated mind cannot make. True, we don't need to operate in a vacuum. But do we really need the steady diet of misinformation, spin, and bad statistics that passes for news to make decisions about public education, transportation, the environment, social issues, and all the rest? So just unplug. Come back in two weeks and discover that the news of today has been the same news of the last two months. Come back and discover that the media picks and chooses crises based on what readers plugged-in will instinctively bleat like sheep as relevant. Come back and discover that slogans like "hope" and "experience" are really what you're voting for president in 2008 -- not true policy issues. Unplug for two weeks. Read some non-fiction books. Go camping this weekend sans blackberry or cell phone. Tear up a four foot by four foot patch of your backyard and plant some corn and potatoes. Ignore the media, and start asking why people are asking you to believe so-called news and information. If the fearmongers at the AP are so damnably right, then take some time away from the media -- and stop being told that America is falling apart. America is your backyard. No need to let anyone live there rent-free. Saturday, June 21, 2008Eric Cantor for Vice PresidentI've been beating this drum for about three months now (though I am not the first to recommend this excellent idea), and it seems that others are picking up the battle standard. Why Eric Cantor? Forget for a moment that he is a fundraising powerhouse. Forget also that he is from the Mother of Presidents and would be an excellent compliment to Senator McCain. Cantor is about as rock solid a conservative as one is going to find in Washington. Cantor is young, he is articulate, he has most certainly been leading the charge on energy reform, and best of all Cantor is an excellent compliment to Barack Obama's utter fantasy land when it comes to terrorism and Middle East policy. McCain would do well to take on Eric Cantor as a running mate, without question. Every compliment is there, and it would definitively rile up the conservative base. Reason: The Right to Own a BazookaIt's a comic, but I do have to admit that the artist makes a fairly compelling argument. Friday, June 20, 2008John McCain: Pork InvadersI love it. Sure it's just Space Invaders mocked up as killing pork (with neat info on Obama vs. McCain on pork barrel spending), but dead pork means bacon... and I loves me some bacon. Thursday, June 19, 2008100 Push UpsIn six weeks. Not bad -- I might (might) give this a whirl. David All is......channelling John Rocker: So I was stranded near Tysons Corner at some ridiculous hotel where cabs apparantly (sic) don’t service.Guess the commoners of Northern Virginia weren't up to par with the Capitol Hill tastes of some folks. No great loss. Roanoke Red Zone: Everquest Scandal ContinuesBrandon Bell has a point, and it's not going away: When this story involving Everquest first broke earlier in the year, I posted that it caused me great concern for our potential US Senate nominee. It was apparent from my research that there may be a "purp walk" for those involved in the Everquest scheme. Everquest was, if you don't remember, a company set up to offload non performing sub prime mortgage investments from Bear Stearn's hedge funds. The company tried to go public in the summer of 2007 but failed when it became apparent what the purpose of the company was. The problem for Gov. Gilmore was, and is, he was the Chairman of the Board of Everquest Financial. It was his responsibility for hiring Ralph Cioffi as CEO. I noted when the Gilmore campaign issued a press release when the story first broke that it was filled with holes. It seemed to be written by someone with no true knowledge of the situation or someone with something to hide.Fair point... and given the most recent 27point deficit Gilmore is running, things don't look good for the home team. Monday, June 16, 2008HA!The Vatican has banned Dan Brown film Angels and Demons from being filmed in Rome's Catholic parishes: Archbishop Velasio De Paolis, head of the Vatican's Prefecture for Economic Affairs, said that the author had "turned the Gospels upside down to poison the faith. It would be unacceptable to transform churches into film sets so that his blasphemous novels can be made into mendacious films in the name of business."One only wishes our bishops would be so firm on other, more important items. TechCrunch Bans the Associated PressI've always wondered whether or not the good old-fashioned interdict would hurt or help: The stories over the weekend were bad enough - the Associated Press, with a long history of suing over quotations from their articles, went after Drudge Retort for having the audacity to link to their stories along with short quotations via reader submisisons. Drudge Report is doing nothing different than what Digg, TechMeme, Mixx and dozens of other sites do, and frankly the fact that they are being linked to should be considered a favor.A hypothetical: What if Americans divided their news between several competing columnar sources? One American reads only the left-leaning news, another the right-leaning news, one reads only sources such as the AP, and yet another reads exclusively open-sourced media. How do they converse? SkepticalObservor: WOW!James Young notices that the Democratic candidate in the 6th District running against Congressman Goodlatte claims to have visited Palestine, to which the lunatic fringe responds: What do I care about the opinion of someone who thinks it's cute and funny to use a McCarthyite political slur like, "Democrat Party"?Not exactly the most erudite response, but a worthwhile reflection of the Democrat(ic?) he is supporting. Good Sense: ResurfacingCharlie Fugate returns to the Virginia Blogosphere, this time with an announcement. The Next Right: The fallacy of liberaltarianismSoren Dayton gives an intensive look at the failings of liberaltarianism. His criticisms are remarkably similar to those leveled by many conservatives against The Daily Kos' nemesis par excellence, one President George Bush: (T)o really win, we are going to have to develop a serious anti-government and anti-big business critique. Only when people see that the Democrats have (and indeed already are) whored themselves out to business will we be able to credibly get the majority back.. But we aren't going to win by advocating for our own crony capitalism. We are going to need a reform agenda that attacks precisely this problem. And it is going to have to be relevant to the information ecomony that we are increasingly moving towards.Excellent post. Wednesday, June 11, 2008Cantor: ‘The Drill Nothing Congress’Rep. Eric Cantor takes a crack at the the Drill Nothing Congress: Congress should act to pass a bill prior to July 4 that would allow for the exploration of oil and gas in the deep ocean floor, as well in ANWR and other parts of the United States. We should streamline the regulatory process for the construction of nuclear power plants as well as refineries. A bill like this would send a serious signal that America intends to address the current supply crunch. In turn, global markets would likely respond and downward price pressure could set in.Amen to that. Not to stir the pot or anything, but an argument could be made that the Democrats want higher gas prices, for two reasons: (1) the environmentalist faction of the Democratic Party truly and honestly revels in the proverbial car wreck, and (2) high energy prices are -- like all things in the Democratic Weltschauung -- the fault of President Bush. Tuesday, June 10, 2008EchoDitto: Do Journalists Care About Blogs?Survey says... yes, and in huge ways. Lessons and Ideas to Replicate from Campaign '08Not bad. Monday, June 09, 2008TetrapharmakonIt's an Epicurean poem, of sorts. One of the consolations of philosophy, reading as follows: There is nothing to fear from God,Truth be told, I have never read much of Epicurus. Yet as a response to the first century Roman Empire's love of all things cynical and cruel, it was a remarkable intellectual response to the material excesses of the day. I stumbled upon the tetrapharmakon while reading another book from my grandfather's library about the moral values of the ancient world. The author touched on a number of subjects, but one that he specifically mentions is that of autarxia, or self-sufficiency as the highest good in the eyes of the Greeks -- specifically as a reaction to hedonism and excess. In the end, the author is particularly critical of Aristotle for being of two minds on the subject. Aristotle, while he praises self-sufficiency, does not go so far as to say human beings should be so independent that they shun social contact. Seeing a contradiction, the author pushes further in saying that the Greeks (and the Romans as their inheritors) both shunned the concept of pity as a sin against self-sufficency, namely because pity imposed a certain feeling that the misfortune of others required an act on those who displayed high levels of autarxia, and therefore was a vice. Christianity would be the salve that would heal such a wound, as it preached the virtues of mercy in a world which thought little of the mass slaughter of human beings -- whether in war or by the entertainment of the Colosseum. In our modern age, one day there will be a temptation to withdraw from the excesses of commercialism, luxury, and hedonism. The ancient philosophers took these to extremes themselves in order to demonstrate the virtuous nature of their cause, living in caves or disposing of every possession possible. Does this necessarily mean that the self-sufficent must lack in pity in order to be logically consistent? Jefferson certainly did not believe so, and in fact one might argue that self-sufficiency is the prerequisite for any true sense of altruistic pity, otherwise how could one give that which is not yours? Otherwise, the objectivists such as Ayn Rand are totally correct by saying altruism is the greatest sin one could commit. I've certainly disagreed with this sentiment before, and proscribed the antidote for such intellectual mayhem: That altrusim communicates trust, and that without trust there is no free market -- which is probably the single best basis for self-sufficient individuals to interact with one another and resolves neatly the problem of social interaction (and incidentally, saves Aristotle from the critics). 'Che' Brand Irks Guevara's ChildrenWell deserved. God indeed has a sense of humor. Sunday, June 08, 2008The George Mason College Republican BlogThe GMU CRs are getting into the blogging game with a damn good blog. Altria Funds Local GOP UnitCan we get a little love in Fluvanna County, please? Friday, June 06, 2008CRFV: A suite representation of the party?Pseudonymous blogger Righthanded over at the CRFV Blog asks the question: The weekend, however, might have been misconstrued by an outsider as simply a Star Trek convention with an elephant logo. While the entire voting part of the convention occurred on Saturday, the majority of attendees came Friday afternoon in time for Friday's festivities. Friday night various elected officials and party organizations hostedThe Jeffersoniad Suite (alcohol free) was in near proximity to the Gilmore hospitality suite, where cheers of "Four More Beers" could be heard in the later hours of the hospitality. I can't say I necessarily agree with everything written over at the CRFV blog. Newcomers might decry the "inside baseball" and loyalty-based politics that dominate our environment. Loyalty is the only currency most care to banter in, and it would be wise for any neophyte to learn this quickly. All that having been said, could it be argued that a newcomer to Virginia Republicans would have gone to some of these suites, and instead of finding deep conversation would find instead a drinking society. Not exactly the best first impression one would want to give to a principled young conservative. So Much for 50,000...Bring Obama to Virginia, get only 10,000 at the Nissan Pavilion. Neil Diamond could get more people to the Nissan Pavilion than Barack Obama. Thursday, June 05, 2008RWL: I’ll see your Republican State Senator and raise you a Democratic GovernorMark Warner will always have John Chichester, but Gilmore has former Democratic Governor Doug Wilder: So let’s recap. Doug Wilder, a Democrat who as Governor appointed Warner to lead the DPVA in 1993, considered the 2004 tax hike to be “broken promises” which ensured that “the voice of the hardworking taxpayer is hardly being heard in Richmond,” and angered him so much that he said he wouldn’t have endorsed Warner if he knew of it ahead of time.Of course, there's that little dig that Wilder did beat Chichester in '85 for Lt. Governor... but who's counting that? Wednesday, June 04, 2008ShaunKenney.com Makes McCain Top National Bloggers ListOf course, I could really care less that I made a silly blogroll... but this is a pretty cool way to influence new media: Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below. After your comments are verified, you will be awarded points through the McCain Online Action Center.Not bad... netroots influence peddling. I like that! Tuesday, June 03, 2008Dirtwoman for Richmond MayorThis is either insanity, or genius. Democratic Central: Jack Jouett begins his rideJack Jouett is a local hero in this part of Virginia. Most folks have never heard of him, but his story as Virginia's Paul Revere in the wake of Tarleton's Raid on Charlottesville was as instrumental as any during the Revolutionary War: Jouett, then 26 years old, lay asleep on the lawn of the Cuckoo Tavern (Jefferson's own account says, erroneously, that Jouett was at his father's house) in Louisa County, Virginia on the night of June 3, 1781. Tarleton's forces stopped at Cuckoo Tavern from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., to rest and water the horses. Jouett overheard snatches of their conversation and guessed that the cavalry were marching to Charlottesville to capture the government. Jouett knew that the legislature was completely undefended. Very little fighting had taken place on Virginia soil from 1776 to 1780, so most of Virginia's forces were deployed elsewhere (a small contingent headed by Lafayette was about 50 miles from Charlottesville, and an even smaller force was stationed at the confluence of the Rivanna and the James, at what is now Bremo Bluff in Fluvanna County). With no possibility of defense, the only hope for Jefferson and the legislators was warning and escape. Jouett quickly mounted his horse and, at about 10 p.m., began the 40-mile ride from Cuckoo to Charlottesville.The "smaller contingent" was a band of Fluvanna militia under the command of Baron von Steuben based at Point of Fork Arsenal near Columbia, Virginia -- not Bremo Bluff (about 10mi up the James River). Cornwallis dispatched a contingent of British cavalry under Lt. Colonel Simcoe to wipe out the arsenal. Marquis de Lafayette and his regulars tracked Simcoe along the Three Notched Road (today's U.S. 250) as the Tarleton burned their way towards Charlottesville. When Tarleton was unsuccessful in capturing the Virginia General Assembly and her then-former Governor Thomas Jefferson, he returned to Point of Fork, killing the horses and destroying what he could not take with his rangers at Elk Hill Plantation before withdrawing further south towards Yorktown. Winners and Losers at the RPV ConventionTaking my time to post this... but let's face it: When the Richmond press corps does a collective "oh sh*t" in reaction to Frederick's win over Hager for RPV Chairman, the Fife and Drum set that played for the RPV Gala might as well have stuck around to play "The World Turned Upside Down" out of courtesy. WINNERS Delegate/Chairman Jeff Frederick: There is no question the Jeff Frederick pulled off one of the biggest upsets since Mike Farris in '93. With the departure of most of RPV's fundraising team and the promise to take out most of the staff, Frederick is setting himself up for a major realignment. Whether he can pull it off might mean winning and losing the House of Delegates in 2009. Former Governor Jim Gilmore: Governor Goliath beat David. Marshall supporters are carrying over a nasty hangover, but Gilmore eeks out a win. Delegate Bob Marshall: For Marshall to be outspent 14 to 1 against a former governor of Virginia -- and come that close -- turns what was formerly assumed to be a "gadfly" into the New Right in Virginia. His supporters having stuck around and supported Frederick while the Gilmore/Hager votes left in droves after the Senate nomination means that Marshall gets all the perks of statewide influence, without having to do the heavy lifting Frederick must do. It's political capital Marshall will be able to cash in repeatedly for the next five years. Jeffersoniad Blog Alliance: Tooting our own horn? Perhaps... but given a hospitality suite and a commanding presence on the convention floor that absolutely rolled the MSM in it's professionalism and energy, the Jeffersoniad proved itself a rather indispensable (and dare I say popular) addition to the RPV Convention. Hat's off to Rhumb Line for sponsoring the hospitality suite! The New Right: The "Marshall Coalition" of lowercase-l libertarians, pro-lifers, 2nd Amendment supporters, and pro-family organizations made a statement by nearly bumping off Gilmore and electing Frederick. Some folks are writing it off as angst, but there is a new wind blowing... first one to define it (and its principles) wins! LOSERS The 52nd District: Delegate Jeff Fredeick will keep his promise to bow out... which further hurts Speaker Howell's chances at retaining the majority in 2009. Richmond Convention Center: How much does a cup of coffee and a cake cost at the Richmond Convention Center? $1,500 if you're buying a set of eighty. I will never use the Richmond Convention Center ever again for anything. Overpriced, underserviced, and an entirely unhelpful (even rude) staff in the front office. My advice? Go to a hotel, go outside of Richmond... but don't ever use the RCC. Chairman John Hager: Hager truly is the hardest working man in Virginia politics. I enjoyed working for him while at RPV, and wish him all the best in the future. Hopefully, he will find a way to remain active within Virginia politics. The Republican Party of Virginia: The Gillespie/Hager era is over, but sadly the Charlie Judd era is over at RPV as well (despite having run against Hager in 2007). People quickly forget what a shambles RPV was known as in 2006. The place was a dump when I first stepped in as Communications Director in early 2007. Since then, RPV raised more money than it ever has before in a fiscal year, turned out more Republicans statewide in 2007 than the Democrats did in the November election, put Political Directors in the field for the first time, broke out into new media, helped stitch together warring factions in the House and Senate, and helped broker the McDonnell/Bolling ticket for 2009. All of it -- every single bit of it -- can be attributed to Charlie Judd's exemplary leadership at RPV. He is the best Executive Director we have had in my 16 years of involvement with Virginia politics, and will not be easily replaced. Former Governor Jim Gilmore: This must be said as well -- Gilmore must reach out to values voters, and he must reach out to Marshall. Of course, it would be easy to gloss over Marshall with a convincing victory at the RPV Convention, but Gilmore literally won by a razor's edge. I am 100% certain that the back channels are being worked... but without some concession to the pro-life community, Gilmore will never get a clean start. Thankfully, former Republican State Senator John Chichester has given all the ammo for fiscal conservatives to come out in droves. Gilmore is in a stronger position to position himself than ever before, but without the base secured there will always be a persistent nagging question as to whether values voters will work as hard for Gilmore as they did for Marshall. For my part, I hope Gilmore does reach out. Former Governor Mark Warner: Whoever thought it was a good idea to put John Chichester in an ad claiming bi-partisanship should be pointed out and laughed at. Nothing fired Republicans up more than to see big toothy Mark Warner join forces with Lord Chichester. Last time that happened, my taxes went up... Democratic Party of Virginia: Note to Levar "Slash-and-Snitch" Stoney:
NOVA Moderates: Finally -- the old guard is out, the new guard is in, and they're tired of hearing Northern Virginia whine about candidates being too conservative while they run squishy moderates and get hammered. Conservatives carried most of the NOVA delegations at the RPV Convention, which bodes well for Keith Fimian and others. **** There's not a whole lot more to add for the moment. The Gilmore-Warner race is going to narrow significantly, especially when Gilmore mends the fences with Marshall and gets to hammering Warner in a good, clean tax fight. Frederick will have his hands full making sure he has the resources (and leadership) to implement his 100-Day Plan. Conservatives are edging out the moderates, and Marshall's near-win is going to bring out a host of new leadership in unit and district committees. It's a new day in Virginia. Throw Me In This Briar PatchObama/Clinton '08 would be spectacular. Just think, with Hillary as Vice-President she's just a heartbeat away from being President... or is that too easy a shot to take? Monday, June 02, 2008WaPo: Marshall Seeks Concessions From GilmoreNot surprising: A few days before the convention, Gilmore sent out a mailing that questioned Marshall's conservative credentials. The Gilmore campaign said it was responding to three negative mail pieces that Marshall had sent out.At some point in time, Gilmore will have to reach out to value voters... quietly, and with a good deal of integrity that heals wounds without the "well, who else you gonna vote for?" mentality. Until then, Gilmore has been handed a gem with Chichester's endorsement of Warner. Fiscal conservatives are galvanized. The real question is whether Gilmore is being advised well enough to follow it up with an olive branch to social conservatives... Sunday, June 01, 2008Here it comes...The feature in this Warner ad? His Lordship John Chichester... Killing the GOP with kindness. Wonderful.
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JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General?1) John Brownlee2) Ken Cuccinelli AboutShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia.ContactThe Jeffersoniad
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