I should probably preface this post by stating that I will point out inaccuracies by anyone, be them Republicans, Democrats, or Independents. I did support and vote for Albert Pollard in the special election that returned him to the House of Delegates in February 2008. One reason that I voted for him was the Republican candidate that ran against him, Lee Anne Washington, claimed that, amongst other things, that illegal aliens received in-state tuition: they don’t and they never have!
On the 99th Legislative District Republican Committee’s website there’s a web page that attempts to document Albert Pollard’s voting record. I say “attempts” because the majority of the links don’t even go to the correct bill on the General Assembly’s website. And if it isn’t the terrible web-masterly, it’s the factually incorrect statements and just asinine opinions and statements expressed on the web page. I don’t mind disagreeing with someone on policy grounds — I disagree with Pollard on certain subjects — but most of this stuff is just absurd.
To start us off, consider this claim [I’ve fixed any messed up links and formatting in the quoted material]:
Albert wanted to de-regulate farming in the Westmoreland debate but his own bill in 2005, HB 2903 regulates the sales of agricultural products by a farmer on his own farm, with a number of restrictions including prior notification to the Department of Agriculture.
The bill that Pollard submitted was done in an attempt to override over 106 pages of regulations that had been placed on farmers, as detailed in a news story from the Capital News Service at VCU (Google Cache link):
The Virginia House of Delegates had something to say about new state regulations on the production of raw milk and unpasteurized cheese from sheep, goats and other family-farm animals:
“Bah, humbug!” Or rather, “Baaaa, humbug!”
On a 57-39 vote, the House approved a bill to effectively override the regulations, which small farmers said would make it prohibitively expensive for them to make milk and cheese.
House Bill 2903, proposed by Delegate Albert C. Pollard, D-White Stone, is now before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources.
HB 2903 would allow farmers to avoid regulations implemented in January by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
[…]
Under the rules, farmers can make milk and cheese only if they get a permit. The 106 pages of regulations spell out what they must do to qualify for a permit – including installing pasteurizers and other equipment and keeping meticulous records on each batch of cheese.
Small farmers like Carol Baker of Louisa County say the regulations benefit big farms that can afford the required equipment and meet other stipulations. They estimate that it would cost $50,000 to comply with the rules.
If the authors of the committee’s website had bothered to check out the vote tallies they would have seen that Delegate and current Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Jeff Frederick, Delegate Bob Marshall, then-Delegate and now-Senator Ryan McDougle all voted in favor of the bill on the House side. And current Republican Attorney General candidate Ken Cuccinelli and then-Senator for the Northern Neck John Chichester also voted in favor of the bill in committee on the Senate side. The bill did, however, fail to pass the Senate committee 6–9.
Back to the committee’s terrible website:
2004 HB1015 YES vote to allow Family Life Education curriculums to teach certain information to avoid sexual assault and the need to seek medical attention in the event of an assault . This from the man who doesn’t want the ten commandments displayed because he doesn’t want his daughter to ask him what adultery is!!
I seriously can’t believe that a political organization is condemning someone for voting to educate students on how to avoid sexual assault, and if they have been sexually assaulted, to seek medical attention. This is a bill that unanimously passed in the Senate! Can someone explain to me what the heck is wrong with these people? Not to mention that parents can opt their children out of the Family Life Education program in schools, if they choose.
And here’s something stated under the header “Illegal Immigration”:
During the 28th Senate Race Albert proposed a database for employers to take the thumbprint of all prospective employees yet he voted NO to SB62, requiring thumbprints on licenses. (not arguing for thumbprints, just pointing out his flip flop)
Do I really have to explain the difference between requiring prospective employees to submit a thumbprint for employment, versus the government placing biometric information on all government identification cards? Heck, one of the leading opponents of illegal immigration in the House, Bob Marshall, is also one of the leading opponents of government biometric identification cards (see, for example, HB 1587 of this session). There’s also the fact that for this bill (SB 62), the programming costs for implementation alone were estimated to be $2,200,000 and the Department of Planning and Budget couldn’t estimate what the final costs for the whole bill would be (Fiscal Impact Statement [PDF]).
2000 HB 425 NO vote to showing voter identification at the polls (Before he voted yes)
The version of the bill that Pollard voted against did not consider a Virginia driver’s license to be a valid form of identification for a voter who was challenged at the polls under § 24.2-651.1, the version that Pollard did vote for had been amended by the Senate and included a provision allowing the use of a driver’s license.
And finally:
2005 HB 2056 NO vote to only allowing medical benefits to illegals and denying other benefits under Workman’s Compensation.
Can someone explain to me how not requiring a business to pay workers’ comp to illegal aliens is going to stop businesses from employing illegals? If anything, businesses would employ more illegals than ever since they wouldn’t have to shell out as much money if an employee gets injured on the job.