Category: 2009 election

Oh cool, I’m a character assassin now.

That’s a step above a mere hate-blogger right? From Catherine Crabill’s campaign website/blog (get your own link):

As we have all seen in these recent years anyone who stands for the core principles of a free nation are pilloried in the press. Just this past April we saw how Patriots who joined with the Tea Parties across the country were mocked and ridiculed. This is a part of Alinsky’s method: Rule #5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.” I have been a target of such character assassination as will any freedom loving American who dares to speak the truth. The only way to disarm this technique is to recognize it as such and stand against it or ignore it and support that candidate in spite of it!

I guess a character asssassin is just like an “attack ad”, they both tell the truth.

Steve Shannon (D) don’t know much about lawyering…

Right now, Steve Shannon is attacking Ken Cuccinelli for failing to support a bill of Shannon’s from back in 2007 that Shannon claims would have prevented the pending Charlie-Foxtrot regarding forensic techs being required to testify for drunk driving cases. The problem? His bill would have done no since thing according to “The Jaded JD”:

Most importantly, the bill is completely unrelated to the Melendez-Diaz decision.  Melendez-Diaz says the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment allows a criminal defendant to confront the forensic analyst who analyzed the forensic evidence introduced at trial.  Not only does Shannon’s bill not presciently recognize a right of confrontation, it restricts the ability of the defendant to object to the admissibility of the forensic certificate:

[…]

So, had Shannon’s bill become law, it wouldn’t have alleviated the current problem because it would itself be invalid under Melendez-Diaz.  What’s worse, by linking the bill to Melendez-Diaz and criticizing Cuccinelli for not supporting it, Shannon appears not to realize that.  That doesn’t inspire confidence in an Attorney General candidate.

You really need to read the whole thing as they say.

H/t: Bearing Drift.

The astute political observers at The Free Lance–Star apparently don’t know that the 97th House district includes part of Spotsylvania County.

From a recent story (get your own link):

Del. Chris Peace, R-Hanover, (whose district includes part of Caroline County) and Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Woodbridge, (whose district includes Fauquier County) also are unchallenged.

Yes, while Chris Peace’s district — the 97th— does include a portion of Caroline County, it also includes a portion of Spotsylvania County as indicated by the map below:

HoD-097-2001

Spotsylvania County is obviously part of The Free Lance–Star‘s coverage area so they might want to correctly point out which districts are composed of what counties.

Of course, these are the same geniuses that think all of the 99th House district is part of the 28th Senate district; it isn’t.

Jody Wagner v. The Democratic Party of Virgina.

Someone needs to invest in message coordination. First, this e-mail from Jody Wagner in which she attacks Ken Cuccinelli:

During his comments, Cuccinelli said “I tell people this is a rematch, a math test, and a debate, along this ticket.  And I think we should just have the math test this week and end the Wagner-Bolling race right now.  Put her out of her misery!”  Well, we couldn’t agree more with a math test, so we took a look at the numbers, and posted the results below.  Now we need YOUR HELP in spreading the news:

The Warner-Kaine-Wagner Math Test

2

“Best Managed State” awards

3

 “Best State for Business” awards

1

 “Best State to Raise a Child” award

$731 Million

 2004’s record new investment in public education

$1.6 Billion

 2008’s record investment in higher education facilities

195,000

 New jobs created in the Warner and Kaine administrations

= The Warner-Kaine-Wagner Record of Success

First, isn’t she running for Lieutenant Governor, not Attorney General? So why is she focusing on what Ken Cuccinelli has said and not her opponent Bill Bolling? She must really be on the defensive if she’s spending time responding to a wisecrack remark made by someone that isn’t even her opponent!

Anyway, check out these quotes from “Stand Up For Virginia” (get your own link), a “A Project of the Democratic Party of Virginia”, where they attack Republicans for refusing to raise taxes on businesses in the middle of a recession:

Nearly 300,000 Virginians are unemployed — with unemployment rates in places like Martinsville as high as 20.2%.

[…]

291,000

Estimated number of unemployed people in Virginia

6.6%

statewide unemployment rate in Virginia

20.2%

unemployment rate in Martinsville, the highest rate in the state

That’s the real legacy of eight years of Democratic (snort) leadership under Warner–Kaine folks: 20.2% unemployment in one city in our state. Wagner doesn’t get to cherry pick and talk about some stupid award that Virginia has received and then gets to ignore massive unemployment rates in the state and in particular areas, especially when the political party she’s affiliated with is using those same numbers to attack the other side of the aisle for not raising taxes.

Will Creigh Deeds continue to follow the failed Warner-Kaine lead on the Virginia STARS project?

The Virginia STARS (Statewide Agencies Radio System) is an ongoing project that’s supposed to provide a digital, interoperable radio system for the Virginia State Police and other state agencies. The system is also supposed to provide for instance interoperability with local agencies. The contract for this project was awarded back in June 2004 and was supposed to be completely operational by September 2009 according to the original timetable. ((“Frequently Asked Questions About STARS.” <http://www.vsp.state.va.us/downloads/STARSContract/STARS_FAQ.htm>.))

But, as everything the government does (regardless of whether it’s the federal, state, or local government doing it), the project is behind schedule and over budget. And the General Assembly is starting to get fed up with the whole thing according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

Virginia’s new Statewide Agencies Radio System is over budget and behind schedule, in part because of poor planning, the House Appropriations Committee was told today.

The system is to bring new computers and radios to State Police cars and allow them to communicate easily with other public safety agencies.

Exasperated members of the budget committee sharply questioned Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the superintendent of State Police, about the report by a state auditor.

“What the heck are you all doing and how can we trust you?“ asked Del. R. Steven Landes, R-Augusta.

The project is expected to cost about $350 million. It was originally scheduled to be finished at the end of this year, but will need another year of work beyond that deadline, officials said.

Among the problems found by the auditor was that the project management team could not determine whether the work was on budget. It also found insufficient review of a consultant’s invoices before payment.

Flaherty said the deficiencies have been corrected and that some were exaggerated. ((Tyler Whitley. “Auditor critical of work on state public safety radio system.” Richmond Times-Dispatch. 16 June 2009: <http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/article/STAR17_20090616-135201/274164/>.))

Of course: ‘They’re just lying. Everything is a-okay here and we’re completely on budget! In fact, we’re under budget!’ *Snort*.

This is a project that’s currently over $10,000,000 over budget. ((Department of the State Police. “Notice of Award.” 14 July 2004: <http://www.vsp.state.va.us/downloads/stars_files/Notice%20of%20Award%20Posting.tif>.)) ((“Modification #25 to Contract Number 2001-035 Between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Motorola, Inc.” 25 Nov. 2008: <http://www.vsp.state.va.us/downloads/stars_files/Contract%20Mod%2025%20v6%2011-20-08.pdf>.)) This is a program that should have been completely operational by September 2009. ((“Frequently Asked Questions About STARS.” <http://www.vsp.state.va.us/downloads/STARSContract/STARS_FAQ.htm>.)) Now, it’s almost a whole year behind in implementation. ((Department of State Police. “Re: Extended Implementation Justification.” 20 Oct. 2008: <http://tinyurl.com/m2h9bd>.)) According to the original project time table, all but one of the seven Virginia State Police divisions should be using the system currently, but as it stands now, only two are. ((“Frequently Asked Questions About STARS.” <http://www.vsp.state.va.us/downloads/STARSContract/STARS_FAQ.htm>.)) ((Department of State Police. “Re: Extended Implementation Justification.” 20 Oct. 2008: <http://tinyurl.com/m2h9bd>.))

This is a colossal failure of management and leadership by both Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. And Creigh Deeds says he wants to follow in footsteps of the Warner-Kaine style of governance? If so, this whole state is in for more of a Charlie-Foxtrot if he gets elected.

Is “Common Sense Virginia” omnipotent or just plain lying?

Here’s a new ad that “Common Sense Virginia” is running (at least on YouTube, haven’t seen it on television yet):

So, they claim that Bob McDonnell took no questions during his stop in Fredericksburg (technically Stafford), eh? My question is how the heck would they know? Sure, there was guy from the group tracking McDonnell but he left as soon as McDonnell finish speaking. Watch the video below and note the heavy set guy with his Sony HD camcorder on a tripod and a fluffy microphone that’s leaving the event as soon as possible:

I contacted Cheylen Davis of The Free Lance–Star who was covering the event and asked her if she was able to ask any questions to McDonnell following the event and she stated the following: “No, but I didn’t try to ask him anything.” ((Cheylen Davis. “RE: Question regarding the Republican kickoff event at Stafford Regional Airport.” E-mail to the author. 9 Jun. 2009.))

So, did Bob McDonnell take any questions or not? And regardless of whether he did or didn’t, how can “Common Sense Virginia” know for a fact whether he did or didn’t? Makes you wonder what else they may be lying about…

As for the stuff regarding the “Faith & Family Alliance”, I’ve got two different posts I need to write about that whole situation…

How long are we going to have to wait to see any results from Creigh Deeds’ “economic recovery plan”?

After Virginia Virtucon pointed that Creigh Deeds doesn’t even have a section for jobs or the economy on the “Issues” section of his website I remembered this ad he had been running:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC63eh0-Gv0

So, his “economic recovery plan starts with education”? What exactly that does that mean? What education does he plan to improve to help the economy?

K-12? Well, that would only take 12 years to have an effect.

Community colleges? Two years for an effect.

Universities and regular colleges? At least four years.

And then there’s no evidence that someone having a bachelor’s degree is actually going to result in more jobs. It takes more businesses and entrepreneurs out there if you want more jobs.

And while Bob McDonnell has proposed cleaning and clearing up the regulatory system and making it easier for businesses to start or relocate to Virginia, Deeds has been mum on the subject. What is his position on regulatory reform in Virginia? Heck, when an amendment to the Constitution that would have allowed the General Assembly to override regulations imposed by the various state agencies (and there’s too many of them to count) came before his committee, Deeds voted against it (H/t: Virginia Virtucon).

But what else should we expect from someone running for Governor that doesn’t even consider the economy or jobs “issues” for his campaign?

The many positions of Creigh Deeds on gay marriage all in two minutes.

Shot in Fredericksburg:

Okay, his positions are the following:

1.) The voters should have a say on the legality of gay marriage so he voted twice to put the gay marriage ban amendment on the ballot.

2.) Yet he campaigned against the amendment and claims to have voted against it.

3.) He believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

4.) He believes that everyone should have equal rights.

5.) He won’t give a firm answer on whether gay marriage is a civil right.

How many contradictions are in that list? If he believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, why did he campaign and vote against the ban? If he believes that everyone should have equal rights, why doesn’t that apply to gay marriage?

And for the record, this is not intended as a hit piece. I’m just trying to get the person that wants to be our next Governor to give a firm answer on a issue and not try to play both sides of the fence.

And as for the answer regarding the right-to-work amendment to constitution: Five other states already have constitutional amendments guaranteeing an employee’s right-to-work: Arizona, ((“Arizona News & Legislation.” National Right to Work Committee. <http://www.nrtwc.org/states/az.htm>.)) Arkansas, ((“Arkansas News & Legislation.” National Right to Work Committee. <http://www.nrtwc.org/states/ar.htm>.)) Florida, ((“Florida News & Legislation.” National Right to Work Committee. <http://www.nrtwc.org/states/fl.htm>.)) Mississippi, ((“Mississippi News & Legislation.” National Right to Work Committee. <http://www.nrtwc.org/states/ms.htm>.)) and Oklahoma. ((“Oklahoma News & Legislation.” National Right to Work Committee. <http://www.nrtwc.org/states/ok.htm>.))

Republican campaign kickoff event at Stafford Regional Airport: Video.

Introduction by Senator Vogel and Bob McDonnell’s Speech (Part 1):

Bob McDonnell’s Speech (Part 2):

Bill Bolling’s Speech (Part 1):

Bill Bolling’s Speech (Part 2):

Ken Cuccinelli’s Speech (Part 1):

Ken Cuccinelli’s Speech (Part 2):