Category: Bobby Orrock

General Assembly gives a big middle-finger to Caroline County.

How? By refusing to fill the judicial vacancy created by the retirement of Circuit Court Judge Horace Revercomb on March 1st.

The General Assembly decided that instead of funding essential services like judges, they could save a few bucks by using substitute judges. They don’t care if that causes problems with continuity of leadership, if it makes it more difficult for the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office to prosecute cases, or for defense attorneys to represent their clients.

Even more insulting that the General Assembly voted to increase fees for deed recordation (something done by the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office) and court fees. But did they decide to use that money to pay for judges? Of course not.

But what did the General Assembly have money for? The “Wine Promotion Fund” ($745,000), the “Motion Picture Opportunity Fund” ($1,000,000), and the “Governor’s Opportunity Fund” ($12,100,000). So, they have money for corporate welfare but not for essential services. They also refused to completely cut government funding for “arts” and “public broadcasting”.

The worst part? Three of the four people in the General Assembly that are supposed to be representing Caroline County and its citizens voted for this budget: Delegates Bobby Orrock, who lives in the county, and Chris Peace, and Senator Ryan McDougle. Hopefully the citizens of Caroline County remember this during the next election.

In the mean time, maybe us citizens should send a copy of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to our elected representatives.

And an aside, was Delegate Bobby Orrock busy chasing down the dreaded puppy mills while not giving two hoots about acquiring full-time funding for the Caroline County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office like in 2008?

Cross-posted at On The Right and Virginia Virtucon.

I need video of this: Bobby Orrock got booed down by the House of Delegates.

Follow-up to my previous post. From The Washington Post:

This year, there were echoes — distant perhaps — of Webster vs. Clay as delegates debated clotheslines. The energy-saving bill, sponsored by Sen. Linda T. “Toddy” Puller (D-Fairfax), would have prevented rule-happy homeowner associations from banning clotheslines.

Taking aim at the bill as if wielding a rug-beater, Del. Robert D. “Bobby” Orrock Sr. (R-Caroline) said Northern Virginians might regret seeing clotheslines strung from “tree to tree to tree.”

“Go ahead and pass this, and then when your folks come screaming that this looks like a West Virginia subdivision,” Orrock began, but boos cut him off.

Christ, what an elitist.

Does Bobby Orrock think his district “looks like a West Virginia subdivision”?

Apparently so:

The House of Delegates yesterday killed a bill regarding “wind energy drying devices.”

Sounds fancy–until you realize that a “wind energy drying device” is, essentially, a clothesline.

[…]

First, delegates amended the bill to make it apply only to community associations in Northern Virginia.

That prompted Del. Bobby Orrock, R-Caroline, to join the debate.

Orrock said the policy should be uniform statewide and not apply just in Northern Virginia.

He said that in some areas in his district, “they have strung clotheslines from tree to tree to tree.”

Orrock earned himself some groans by adding that if the bill passed, Northern Virginia homeowners would “start screaming, ‘This looks like a West Virginia subdivision.'”

Will someone — anyone — please announce that they are running against this buffoon?

Why is Bobby Orrock supporting legislation that has been declared unconstitutional in Ohio?

As “theRadical” pointed out in a comment on my post about Bobby Orrock’s proposed voted registration legislation, the portion of Bobby Orrock’s legislation which makes it illegal to pay someone to collect signatures or distribute voter registration forms on a per-signature rate has been ruled unconstitutional in Ohio (specifically by the Southern District of Ohio and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals).

The state of Ohio appealed the Sixth Circuit’s opinion and the Supreme Court refused to hear the case on November 17, 2008.

Unfortunately, cases from the Sixth Circuit don’t directly affect Virginia since Virginia is part of the Fourth Circuit, but the Supreme Court obviously didn’t disagree with the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in the matter since they refused to hear Ohio’s request for an appeal.

The House of Delegates Elections Subcommittee shows Bobby Orrock the door.

Thank God.

As I pointed out a couple days ago, Bobby Orrock’s original version of HB 2642 was a monstrosity which required that anyone, who distributed a voter registration form to a citizen, register with the State Board of Elections (SBE) and provide quarterly reports to the SBE about who conducted voter registration activities and where such activities were conducted at.

Thankfully, the Elections Subcommittee of the of the Privileges and Elections Committee in the House of Delegates unanimously voted to remove that provision, along with a lot more of the bill, leaving only the requirement that registrars check the people currently on the voter rolls with those that are listed as being dead with the Social Security Administration. The subcommittee version of the bill also retains the prohibition on paying people on a per signature basis to solicit signatures on candidate forms or for voter registration forms, which was also part of Orrock’s original bill.

Nice to see that some folks in the General Assembly have some sense.

Bobby Orrock wants to suppress voter registration!

At least that’s what can be determined by his sponsorship of HB2642:

Elections; voter registration procedures and revisions; duties of the State Board of Elections with respect to registration procedures; payments for petition signatures or registrations; penalties. Provides various revisions in voter registration procedures: (i) requires proof of citizenship with registration applications effective January 1, 2010; (ii) provides that third-party voter registration organizations must register with the State Board, which shall maintain a list of all registered voter registration drives and post this list on its website, that such organizations must provide quarterly reports to the State Board of all voter registration drives they conducted during that quarter

Let’s break this down, first:

Provides various revisions in voter registration procedures: (i) requires proof of citizenship with registration applications effective January 1, 2010;

Applicants are already required to show that they’re citizens as noted on the voter registration application form [emphasis in original]:

For Registration

If you are registering for the first time by mail, federal law (the Help America Vote Act) requires you to provide identification. To avoid delays, please enclose a copy of one of the following documents that shows your name and address with your application: (1) current and valid photo ID, (2) current utility bill, (3) bank statement, (4) government check, (5) paycheck, or (6) other government document. You can also present this required identification at the polls but may experience delays.

For Voting

Virginia law requires every voter voting in person to show identification or sign a statement, subject to felony penalties for false statements pursuant to §24.2-1016, that the person is the named registered voter.

But now Orrock wants you to provide of a copy of your birth certificate (or naturalization papers) before you can register to vote! I would say that about 10% (or more) don’t have a copy of their birth certificate with them due to whatever causes. Apparently, Delegate Orrock doesn’t think that those people should be allowed to register to vote in this state.

Then you have this part from Orrock’s bill:

(ii) provides that third-party voter registration organizations must register with the State Board, which shall maintain a list of all registered voter registration drives and post this list on its website, that such organizations must provide quarterly reports to the State Board of all voter registration drives they conducted during that quarter

Care to guess how broadly defined a “third-party voter registration organization” is?: “‘Third-party voter registration organization’ means any person, entity, or organization soliciting or collecting voter registration applications, except it does not include a person who solicits or collects voter registration applications (i) from any family or household member, as that term is defined in § 16.1-228, or (ii) pursuant to the provisions of Article 3 (§ 24.2-411 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of this title [relating to general registrars].”

Well, hot damn, that pretty much includes anyone that dares to hand out a voter registration form to anyone (excluding family or household members). Hell, it even includes candidates that happens to have voter registration forms with them while campaigning.

Imagine this scenario: Candidate John Doe is going door-to-door in a community during his campaign for whatever office. He comes across someone who wants to vote for him but isn’t currently registered to vote.

If John Doe happens to say something like, “Well, sir, I happen to have a voter registration form right here!” and gives the citizen a voter registration form, then John Doe would have to go to the State Board of Elections (SBE) and provide them with “the the name of the registered agent and the names of the individuals responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization, including, if applicable, the names of the organization’s board of directors, officers, or other individuals engaged in similar duties or functions” to register as a “third-party voter registration organization”.

John Doe would then have to provide quarterly reports to the SBE “providing the date and location of any organized voter registration drives conducted by the organization in the prior calendar quarter.”

This bill would essentially criminalize the distribution of voter registration forms unless you want to register with the SBE and provide quarterly reports to them.

Hopefully the voters will show Orrock the door this year…