Glad EW Jackson clarified that (yesterday in Roanoke), just in case anyone had any doubts that Ken Cuccinelli has always been, is now, and will continue to be, a far-right-wing extremist.
h/t: Washington Post/Laura Vozzella (not to Post: see how that’s done?)
by Paul Goldman
“Herring goes on attack in attorney-general race” is the headline in today’s Richmond Times Dispatch profile article on the Democratic AG candidate. Given how newspapers – still important venues for influencing voters in off-year lower turnout races – cover campaigns, these profile pieces are doubly important because they tend to signal the “news angle” taken by reporter’s writing about the campaign which in turn convinces the TV news folks how to “spin” their coverage. So the Herring Attack Dog image has a lot of potential downside risk in the view here at 200 proof. We believe it is also totally unnecessary on a net-net vote winning basis.
UVA Professor Larry Sabato, the media’s VA political guru, boldly asserts Herring’s best hope is to run this kind of aggressive, attack campaign pointedly aimed at GOP AG candidate Mark Obenshain, not letting “Obenshain get away with redefining himself.” Thus, if Herring wants the image as the aggressive attack guy in this campaign, Sabato says go for it, and the RTD headline says Amen to that.
BUT: Here at 200-proof, we have been waiting for this first profile type piece to occur post Labor Day to set-up a discussion on this fundamental point of strategy: is it optimum, as Dr. Sabato says, for Mark Herring to be defined by this RTD headline, or would another strategy – producing a different type of headline image – be better for getting votes on election day? This is a fundamentally important question because Obenshain appears to have the greater financial resources. Do you really want to get into a negative fight with this guy if there is a better more optimum strategy?
There is no way to prove one strategy is better than another, it all comes down to a matter of judgment. Even after the votes are counted, the question can not be finally resolved. The winner might have followed a bad strategy, the loser a far better one: but voter reaction to the candidates for Governor might have determined the final down ballot result in the AG’s race.
HOWEVER, I do believe there is a logical analysis in support of my gut instinct: in 2013, the current Herring strategy is not the optimum one, there is a better campaign strategy in terms of getting additional votes, above and beyond the ballots certain to fall into your column. Or put another way: Professor Sabato’s strategy, the one being followed by the Herring campaign, is surely the conventional approach, “the road usually taken” to play off the poem by Robert Frost. On paper, it makes all the sense in the world for Herring given the DEM AG’s basic approach to the campaign this year.
HOWEVER #2: This year, I believe the “road not taken”, as Mr. Frost suggests, is the one that could make all the difference in a close AG’s election. Here’s why.
As Dr. Sabato correctly points out, history and logic suggest that Republican Obenshain will win if Cuccinelli defies my prediction and comes out on top in the Governor’s race. Virginia’s two major parties basically reached their current alignment in 1977, after the historic battle between Democrat turned independent Henry Howell and Democratic former Governor turned Republican Miles Godwin in 1973, a race brilliant covered by Dr. Sabato in one of his many books. It is also the setting for the best novel on Virginia politics, The Shad Treatment by Garrett Epps.
While 36 years of data points are way too slim to draw any historic axioms, it is instructive that in this period, the GOP AG candidate has won every time the Republican GUV candidate triumphed. However, it is also true that each of these GOP Governors won by landslide margins. Godwin won a close race: the Democratic AG candidate, running effectively unopposed, won easily.
Herring is not the incumbent: no VA AG has ever been defeated for re-election. Thus, Dr. Sabato is correct in assuming that if Cuccinelli wins, then Obenshain is the heavy favorite despite Herring running the best attack campaign ever.
Dr. Sabato is also correct in predicting that Dem LG candidate Ralph Northam will win easily despite current polls showing the race not completely lost for Jackson. The best GOP conservative website, Bearing Drift, is already conceding the race to Ralphie Boy, finding GOP LG candidate E.W. Jackson living proof that maybe Columbus was wrong, there is actually an edge that one could over.
I don’t back down from my prediction of a sweep back when Sabato was calling Cuccinelli a “sure winner” if the campaign unfolded precisely as it has in the succeeding 4 months. I could be wrong of course, Larry could be right. It is mentioned only to point out that Larry wasn’t exactly right in believing a negative attack McAuliffe campaign would produce a sure victory for Cuccinelli. So maybe the same conventional wisdom now being applied to Herring should also be re-examined even though, again, it might be right.
HOWEVER #3: I am concerned when I think a candidate is not running an optimal strategy especially when it seems to me this optimal strategy should not be hard to discern. In that regard, the conventional attack-strategy being urged on Herring – and apparently adopted by Herring – naturally concerns me.
Fact: Herring, despite all the advantages, barely won the AG’s nomination against a rookie, albeit very talented, late-starting challenger. By and large, Herring ran the same kind of strategy as he is running now. It didn’t prove very convincing to even a DEM audience.
HOWEVER #4: Herring made some good moves in the primary as we wrote at the time. But the results should be a warning to the Herring team: he might not be a very effective attack dog, it might not run true with key voters.
HOWEVER #5: But true, you could counter by saying the reason for the under-performance of the Herring primary campaign was the fact he wasn’t running against Cuccinelli. There was no reason to think Fairfax would be any less Cuccinellish, so the attack had little resonance in the context of that campaign. In the general election, with Herring’s opponent being the AG candidate on Cuccinelli’s ticket and with Obenshain being a former Senate posse buddy of Cuccinelli, the Dr. Sabato and Team Herring attack strategy should finally win them oodles of votes in November according to conventional theory.
HOWEVER #6: The fundamental element of any campaign strategy is to ADD VOTES TO YOUR COLUMN FROM VOTERS YOU WOULD NOT LIKELY OTHERWISE GET. The Democratic candidate for AG isn’t starting a 0, and thus having to figure out how to get 50.1 of the electorate. Any Democratic candidate for AG this is year is going to get the support of certain blocs of voters even if they don’t campaign, even if they never say a word about Mr. Obenshain. That is to say, Herring has those voters, he doesn’t have to appeal to them.
HOWEVER #7: There is nothing Mr. Herring can do to increase partisan Dem voter turnout on election day. This is a job strictly for the Dem party machinery and Terry McAuliffe. The AG candidate is along for the turnout ride so to speak, any money he spends on turnout is wasted money relative to winning the majority needed on election day.
HOWEVER #8: Terry MAC will therefore be using his vast resources and campaign team smarts to max out the anti-Cuccinelli “too far out of the mainstream” vote on election day. Those voters will go to the polls on election day and vote a STRAIGHT DEM TICKET with maybe a small drop-off for AG if Obenshain follows his smart strategy of running from his record. MOST CANDIDATES RUN FROM THEIR RECORD if you know much about politics. Otherwise, they couldn’t get elected!
HOWEVER #9: Thus, from a strategy point of view, the Herring campaign has to weigh the cost/time/lost opportunities relative to trying to max out the anti-Cuccinelli/anti-Obenshain vote with their current attack strategy vs a strategy that paints a different image for Herring.
HOWEVER #10: In the heat of the 2013 contest, especially since Herring has tried to compensate for his switching on his 2006 gay marriage/civil union vote along with a few others, the clear anti-Cuccinelli feelings among key blocs of female voters pulls the DEM AG campaign into the attack strategy currently being employed. This is hard to resist as Dr. Sabato and others feel safe in advocating the conventional wisdom, that is to say, going after Obenshain as Cuccinelli-lite. We at 200-proof get that, we fall prey to it ourselves at time. There is no perfect campaign or commentary. This is why one has to constantly rethink what they are doing, because in politics, the path of least resistance is always Newton’s First law of motion.
200 PROOF CONCLUSION
Gut-wise, a far more positive image would be NET, NET better for Herring on election day. In turn, this requires the Dem AG candidate to avoid having a strategy that leads to the type of headline in the RTD today. Again: If the working press believes the attack strategy is your MO, that it is the fundamental nature of your claim to the office, then they will spin their coverage of you that way. Moreover, you will “love it” since by definition this is your strategy.
However in 2013, I believe the conventional attack strategy being employed against Obenshain will LEAVE VOTES ON THE TABLE as the saying goes.
I don’t know Mark Herring well enough to say the following but I will say it anyway: Being seen as the attack dog strikes me as out of sync with his overall personality and mind set, that is to say I believe he is campaigning in a uniform that doesn’t suit him ideally. That’s just my hunch.
This has always struck me as high risk for a candidate since in our political culture, the candidate is the best advertisement no matter how much TV you can afford, no matter how good your social media campaign.
And in that regard, what a candidate says is less important in a close race than the basic “feel” the voters get from the candidate’s image.
Bottom line: In my view, Obenshain is being given a gift that Jonnie Williams couldn’t afford if Herring allows himself to painted as the attack dog. In my view, this image is always a net loser, even if your attacks are right on the money. Why? The swing independent vote – and it could decide this election even given the super partisanship out there this year – equates that image with the wrong kind of officeholder.
IF Obenshain were to do what Wilder and Warner and Kaine agreed to do: let the other guy campaign in a manner that allowed us to paint the GOP candidate as the attack dog – then he will get 2% more votes than he otherwise could get.
The 200-proof view: In politics, a good offense beats a good defense all the time. So while we agree with Herring wanting to be seen as the one taking the game to the opponent, we question whether his strategy is the best one for 2013 given how it is likely to play out.
Net, net: at 200-proof, we don’t believe spending the rest of the campaign trying to paint Obenshain as Cuccinelli-lite is the optimum strategy because in the end, Herring is going to get that voter anyway with very little slippage. If it is enough for him to win, then basically he can run the Warren Harding campaign and relax.
But if those voters aren’t enough, then Herring is costing himself votes because the voters he will need will tune out the anti-Cuccinelli, anti-Jackson, anti-Obenshain yadda, yadda, yadda, 24/7 in his race, it will lead to a slight backlash. Herring risks looking shrill and without substance: and this will play into the Obenshain narrative that Herring is too liberal for Virginia. Pushing Obenshain to the right isn’t the right strategy if it allows him to push you to the left.
Here at 200-proof, we don’t think today’s RTD headline is what Herring should want. It gives Obenshain too big an undeserved gift. Right now, it might not matter. But if 200-proof is wrong about there being an irresistible McAuliffe pull on election day all the way down ballot, the RTD headline might be seen as an unheeded omen.
While wind power continues to grow across the country, the winds of hypocrisy have blanketed the Commonwealth of Virginia in the form of Dominion Virginia Power. While Virginia’s energy Goliath leased close to 113,000 acres of the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia Beach to supposedly construct an offshore wind farm, “their statements and company documents showed they have no intention of building anything larger than a small, two-turbine offshore test project unless the costs come down.” Did I also mention that Dominion Virginia Power’s executives are liars?
On the one hand, it’s impressive that Dominion Virginia Power would go to such great lengths to deceive the people of Virginia into believing that it was serious about Virginia’s future. During a six-round auction held by the Department of the Interior, Dominion managed to outbid Apex Virginia Offshore Wind with a $1.6 million winning bid to build wind turbines 27 miles off of Virginia’s coast. As it turns out, Dominion’s investment in Virginia’s energy future was nothing more than an investment in protecting Dominion’s virtual monopoly on large-scale renewable energy efforts off Virginia’s coast.
By staving off serious competitors from actually following through on building large scale wind farms, Dominion Virginia Power has fortified its comfortable place as Virginia’s fossil fuel distribution king. That is, a push towards renewable forms of energy like wind power would disrupt Dominion’s current business model and potentially reduce its profits in the short run.
What has been abandoned by Dominion and its political puppets, then, is the future of Virginia’s energy needs, ecosystem, and the welfare of its people in favor of Dominion’s own narrow interests. As long as Virginians and their political representatives remain apathetic about this unnecessary situation, business as usual will remain business as usual for Dominion.
To demand that Dominion Virginia Power begin investing more heavily in renewable energy is not to request that Dominion forego all attempts at turning a profit in Virginia. Dominion has been given a privileged position in Virginia’s energy infrastructure by the people of Virginia through their elected representatives and as such, has a responsibility to look out for the welfare of Virginians in addition to turning a profit every quarter.
It can no longer be argued that fossil fuel energy is in the best interest of Virginians or the planet. The consequences of fossil fuel energy on our planet have become so clear that even energy giants like Dominion have pretended to mitigate its use of fossil fuels vis-à-vis renewable energy. Dominion’s false promises, however, must come to an end and the people of Virginia and their elected representatives must hold the executives at Dominion Virginia Power accountable for their deceit and their stubborn inability to do what is right for Virginia. The costs of the average Virginians energy bill may rise, but so too will our health care and insurance costs as a consequence of fossil fuel energy’s negative effects on Virginia’s ecosystem.
Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Sunday, September 15. Also, check out Ken Cuccinelli’s rally with right-wing hate radio/shock jock Mark Levin. That really should tell you all you need to know about Cuccinelli – none of it even remotely good.
*Plan to rid Syria of stockpile poses new challenges (“Lessons from Iraq and Libya loom large as diplomats map out a path for finding and destroying an estimated 1,000 metric tons of chemical agents in a war zone.”)
*Why peace sometimes needs force (“At some point, isolationism becomes a form of genocide.” Agreed; at some point, the bottom line is that if we do nothing, people in places like Syria will be slaughtered in horrendous ways and huge numbers.)
*Why Syria’s images of suffering haven’t moved us
*The Annual Republican Crisis (“The fiscal year is about to end, so the annual awakening of Tea Party Republicans in the House and Senate is about to begin. Most of the time they sit around and do virtually nothing but gripe (they have made the current Congress the least productive ever), but a new fiscal year finally gives them a chance to govern the only way they know how: by creating a false crisis in order to tear down a piece of the government.”)
*If elected, McAuliffe faces showdown with Va. Republicans over Obamacare (“Democratic candidate says he will not sign a budget in Virginia unless it includes the Medicaid expansion.”)
*Herring goes on attack in attorney general race (Why does the corporate media always refer to “Candidate X tells the truth about Candidate Y’s record” as “Candidate X ATTACKS Candidate Y?” Is it laziness, cowardice, or both?)
*Schapiro: Democrats plotting to kill same-sex marriage ban? (“A Democratic governor and a Democratic attorney general might pursue procedural options that could leave the state’s prohibition on same-sex marriage with virtually no one to defend it.” Great, let’s make that happen!)
*McDonnell legal field grows (“2 more outside firms added; tab to taxpayers already tops $240,000.” Can you imagine if this had been Mark Warner or Tim Kaine? Republicans would be going NUTS!)
*Cuccinelli denies ‘at will’ comments (“Two say he backs state worker status allowing firing without cause.” Wow, that would be a disaster – totally politicizing our state government. NO NO NO!)
*Democrat Ralph Northam runs low-key lieutenant governor campaign
*Republican E.W. Jackson’s lieutenant governor candidacy flies in face of conventionality (The understatement of the day.)
*Northern Virginia Technology Council endorses Cuccinelli but delays announcement (If true – and I’ve known about this since Friday afternoon – NVTC endorsing Cuckoo is utterly insane, from their own self interest point of view. The fact is, “The Cooch” would be horrible for the businesses in the Northern Virginia Technology Council. Of course, this is basically a Republican group, but still…WTF?)
*Today’s top opinion: Unanimity (“All three – Democrat Terry McAuliffe, Libertarian Robert Sarvis, and Republican Ken Cuccinelli – have expressed support for eliminating the Business, Professional, and Occupational Licensing tax.” The question is, what would the lost revenues be replaced with?)
*Abortion issue draws sharp divide in governor, lieutenant governor races
**Shenandoah Valley’s Obenshain focused on A.G.’s post (And that should scare all Virginians, especially women, but everyone else as well.)
*A victory for property rights
*Lt. Governor candidate profile | Ralph Northam
*Pat Robertson steps in as Regent University CEO (Crazy-ville.)
*Keeping peace in Stadium Woods (“A Virginia Tech Board of Visitors subcommittee last week approved a location for a new indoor football practice facility, sparing the 14 acres of old-growth forest known as Stadium Woods.”)
*A transparent tab for college students (“Virginia Tech’s athletic program relies little on student subsidies, and makes it easy for students to see that. Other universities should provide similar disclosure.”)
Dominion Virginia Power won’t build offshore wind farm on tract it leased unless cost drops (I suspected this all along: Dominion purchased the rights to build offshore wind, so that nobody else could do it. Brought to you by the company whose slogan should be, “Global Warming Starts Here!”)
*Mostly nice weather in the near future
*Nationals fall to Phillies 5-4, ending their seven-game winning streak (Bummer: “The loss brings Washington 5½ games behind the Reds for the second National League wild card.”)
As if the photo of Ken Cuccinelli and Rand “Aqua Buddha” Paul weren’t enough, how about this flyer of a rally “the Cooch” is planning on holding with Mark Levin on Tuesday in Sterling? But wait, who is Mark Levin you ask? Here are a few quotes and citations to give you a flavor of this far-far-far-right-wing radio host’s “thinking.”
*GOP is filled with “cockroaches” who aren’t conservative enough: “The Republican Party, the RNC, needs to be fumigated. Need to get rid of all the cockroaches, clean it out, start new bottom-up top-down with conservatives. They all pretend to be conservatives, but I’m telling you folks, they hate our guts. The feeling is mutually, by the way, but they hate our guts.”
*Says Syria is all about distracting from Obamacare fight: “Just like the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman case…now [the Syria situation]…I’m not a conspiratorial person…but I do see a pattern here, a pattern of distraction. Obama goes off to golf, nothing affects him…We have a fight going on on Capitol Hill to defund [Obamacare], it’s getting zero attention…I don’t believe that’s a coincidence…”
*Racial profiling rocks!: “Why Would We End Racial Profiling For Law Enforcement Purposes? Are We All Supposed To Be Helen Keller?”
*Climate science denier: “Levin cited ‘global cooling’ study to dismiss efforts to ‘control carbon dioxide’ emissions, ignoring warning by study’s co-author not to do so”
*Raging misogynist: “It’s not the National Organization of Liberal Women. It’s the National Organization of Ugly Women.” He also attacked Nancy Pelosi’s appearance, saying “You could bounce a dime off her cheeks” and also “One more face lift and … those eyes are going to pop right out.” And he attacked two female Supreme Court justices: “Sotomayor is ‘Ruth Bader Ginsburg plus about 50 pounds.'” Oh, he also told a female caller, “I don’t know why your husband doesn’t put a gun to his temple. Get the hell out of here.” And he called Rachel Maddow “Rachel Mad-Cow.” More? He called Hillary Clinton “Her Thighness.” Sensing a pattern here?
*Detests women in the military: “Allowing Women In Combat ‘Is Radical Egalitarianism Gone Nuts'” and “Women In Combat Pose A Danger To ‘A Real Man’ Who Will React Differently If They’re In Danger.”
*Raging homophobe: “Levin Attacks Christie For Meeting With Obama: ‘Same-Sex Politicians’ Getting Together To ‘Check Out The Jersey Shore.'”
*Defends George Zimmerman: “If Zimmerman Is Harmed, I Blame The President Of The United States”
*Perpetuates “Death Panels” Myth: He told Sarah Palin, “You’re absolutely right about” ‘death panels.'”
*Hates clean air and clean water: “Oh, we want clean air and clean water. And what does that mean? Poverty!”
*Defended BP during the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster: “BP hearings are a ‘Soviet-style spectacle’ and are part of a ‘huge cover-up'”
*Like EW Jackson, compares liberals to the KKK: According to Levin, “‘the Klan’s agenda’ and “the radical left’s agenda…are pretty similar.'”
*Obama=Hitler: “Levin asserted that Obama is ‘really into these big German-like events that he creates in this country, isn’t he? Have you noticed that?…Yeah, we’ve seen this. It’s scary.”
*Mark Levin’s Electoral Kryptonite:
In The Liberty Amendments, Levin lays out a conservative dystopian nightmare. Among the most toxic of his ideas would be the redefinition of the Commerce Clause to wipe out nearly all the hard fought protections of the 20th century…
The results would be disastrous with nearly every legislative achievement since the New Deal wiped out. The Fair Labor Standard Act that established a minimum wage and outlawed child labor would be a thing of the past.
…it would also endanger seminal civil rights laws and national law enforcement authority.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, for example, prohibited private employment discrimination and service discrimination by hotels and restaurants under the Commerce Clause, a power explicitly upheld by the Supreme Court in rejecting the immediate right-wing challenges to the historic anti-discrimination law’s constitutionality.
Federal law enforcement has also relied on the expansive breadth of the Commerce Clause to ensure the FBI can fight interstate crime, as this constitutional authority is at the root of criminal laws from the Federal Kidnapping Act to the Church Arson Prevention Act…
Another amendment Levin endorsed would result in a corporate welfare gold rush. The conservative radio host proposes that the government, including state and local authorities, should be constitutionally mandated to reimburse entities if a new regulation “results in a market value reduction of the property, interference with the use of the property, or a financial loss to the property owner exceeding $10,000.”…
…Under this proposal, if your town passed a referendum preventing a multinational corporation from polluting a local water supply, it would be on the hook for the “economic damage” to the company.…
Levin’s numerous other amendments, including a reorganized tax system, the elimination of the direct election of Senators, and an enshrinement of disenfranchising voter ID laws into the Constitution are equally unworkable…
Need a long, hot shower right about now? Yeah, THAT is the stark, raving lunatic (and bigot) who Ken Kookinelli’s proudly appearing with this coming Tuesday – at a “Constitution Day Rally,” no less. Can someone please tell me how Cuccinelli can be the nominee for Governor of the Virginia Republican Party?!?
This photo, posted on Ken Cuccinelli’s Facebook page, sums up SO much that’s wrong with “the Cooch” that it’s hard to know where to begin. But just for fun, here are a few that leap out at me.
1. The Governor of Virginia has ZERO – nada, nil – ability to even mildly influence foreign policy. Yet Ken Cuccinelli, trailing by 6-7 points in the polls in his race for GOVERNOR, has repeatedly commented on foreign policy (Syria, specifically), in recent weeks. Utterly bizarre. Doesn’t this guy have other things to focus on, like his flailing, failing campaign (which just experienced a shakeup, in part due to near-panic among Virginia Republicans that Cuccinelli is going to lose, and possibly lose badly, in 1 1/2 months.
2. The fact that Cuccinelli thinks foreign policy – Syria, specifically – might be a campaign issue in the Virginia Governor’s race indicates how he will govern: focusing on his own agenda (and not on ours!), plus fighting constantly with the federal government (one of Virginia’s biggest employers, as well as the basis of a good chunk of Virginia’s economy) regardless of whether it benefits Virginians, and even where he has ZERO influence or “say” in the matter.
3. The news this morning is that the U.S. and Russia have agreed on a plan to seize Syria’s chemical weapons, “backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution that could allow for sanctions or other consequences if Syria fails to comply.” In other words: the Syria crisis is most certainly not over yet, but right now this agreement – and the policy of negotiating from a position of strength, including the credible threat of military force – looks like a MAJOR SUCCESS for the Obama administration. Yet Ken Cuccinelli will NEVER say anything positive about Barack Obama, or any “Democrat” (he refuses to say the word properly, just to prove that he can be a puerile putz, basically) politician. With regard to Obama, the fact is that Cuccinelli suffers from a SEVERE case of Obama Derangement Syndrome. Either that, or he’s just pandering to his Teahadist base, which is driven to a frothing-at-the-mouth frenzy by a mixed-race guy named “Barack Hussein Obama” in the White House.
4. Cuccinelli’s standing next to Rand Paul in that photo. Rand Paul? Seriously? You mean the guy who gets ZERO ratings from: a) NARAL Pro-Choice America (for supporting “personhood” legislation that would ban abortion and many forms of contraception, etc.); b) the League of Conservation Voters (for being an anti-environment, climate science-denying nutjob); and c) the National Education Association (for his radical, anti-public-education agenda). Paul also gets abysmal ratings from groups like NETWORK (“A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby”), of course organized labor (that goes without saying for politicians like Rand Paul and Ken Cuccinelli), the Humane Society of the United States (for being anti-animal welfare), and the Alliance for Retired Americans (perhaps for saying Social Security is socialism and Medicare is a Ponzi scheme, etc, etc. On the other hand, Paul gets superb ratings from groups like the NRA, the “National Right to Life Committee,” anti-Latino nativist groups like NumbersUSA, the Christian Coalition of America (founded by raving madman Pat Robertson, and advocating for a theocratic America), the Family Research Council (labeled an anti-gay “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, etc, etc. How is this relevant to the Virginia Governor’s election? Because Ken Cuccinelli holds the same views as Rand Paul on all these things.
As I said, this photo sums up just about everything wrong with Ken Cuccinelli, and certainly why he’s wrong for Virginia!
P.S. I’m not aware that Rand Paul is outright corrupt, so that might be one area where Cuccinelli has him beat (although both take huge sums of cash from the Koch brothers and other fossil fuel interests, then eagerly do their bidding).
Here are a few Virginia (and national) news headlines, political and otherwise, for Saturday, September 14. Also check out President Obama’s weekly address, in which he notes that the credible threat of military force has led to the possibility of a diplomatic solution in Syria. I couldn’t agree more; now, let’s cross our fingers that this works.
*U.S., Russia reach agreement on seizure of Syrian chemical weapons arsenal (” The United States and Russia agreed Saturday on an outline for the identification and seizure of Syrian chemical weapons and said Syria must turn over an accounting of its arsenal within a week. The agreement will be backed by a U.N. Security Council resolution that could allow for sanctions or other consequences if Syria fails to comply, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said.”)
*Exclusive: John McCain Will Attack Vladimir Putin in the Pages of Pravda (Hahahaha, you can’t make this stuff up!)
*Some in GOP growing nervous about Cuccinelli’s campaign for governor
*Cleaner alternatives to coal slag blasting available in Hampton Roads, companies say
*Judge frustrated in coalbed methane case linked to governor’s race (“Federal judge to rule on whether case will proceed as a class action against coal and energy companies.”)
*Chef lawyer not renamed to state board (“McDonnell office: Action on forensic science post not tied to Schneider case” Hmmmmm…are we supposed to believe that?)
*U.S. senators endorse local Democrats
*Spokesman Galen leaves McDonnell’s legal team
*EPA can go forward with Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan (“Judge’s decision ends farmers’ challenge to federal role in effort to limit pollution.”)
*Fairfax County library under fire for tossing books
*A streak of very pleasant days ahead (“It’s nice weather season, and that’s pretty much all we’ve got in the forecast.”)
*Ohlendorf spot on as Nationals roll (“He delivers in place of scratched starter Stephen Strasburg as Nats beat Phillies for seventh straight win.” And gain a game in the wild card standings. When you’re hot, you’re hot!)
“Corrupt public officials undermine our country’s national security, our overall safety, the public trust, and confidence in the U.S. government, wasting billions of dollars along the way. This corruption can tarnish virtually every aspect of society.” — Special Agent Patrick Bohrer, assistant section chief of our Public Corruption/Civil Rights program at FBI Headquarters.
Virginia is in need of launching a grand jury investigation into the cozy relationships between controversial Arlington, Va elected judges, lawyers and politicians in response to community allegations that civil judgeships – with annual salaries $150,000 or more – are for sale. At issue is an arcane system in which voters pick delegates to a judicial nominating convention, but do not pick the judges themselves. The system allows political party leaders to steer nominations to judicial candidates who have strong party ties and deep pockets – not sound legal credentials. And because Arlington is heavily Democratic, that party has a near lock on selecting judges. You have to be connected to get on the bench in Arlington. Are there payoffs? There’s always been that buzz in the court community. Democratic party leaders have denied that the selection process in Arlington is corrupt. It’s time for independent judge-selection panels, nonpartisan elections and other reforms to counter Virginia’s reputation for one of the most corrupt state, starting with judicial corruption in Arlington. Virginia Corruption Risk Report Card http://www.stateintegrity.org/…
Janice Wolk Grenadier “The Judge’s are not elected – well they are by other attorneys – so they owe those attorneys- This is an Old Boy Network – You have to start from the top Judge Donald Kent – Judge Donald Haddock – yes retired – but, still have there hands in the till – I have enough on both of them – But, having the documents – and everything it takes – Doesn’t matter – because the Corruption goes to the Federal Courts – So who is going to listen? The problem is the Press has no balls to report the Truth – and they are all covering up for each other – THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM IN AMERICA IS BROKEN – WE HAVE BECOME A “DO AS I SAY NOT A DO AS I DO ” COUNTRY iT IS VERY SAD”
Does she have a point about the Old Boy Network in Virginia?
1) PETITION TO THE VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE FOR THE REMOVAL OF 17TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT JUDGE ESTHER LYLES WIGGINS :
http://www.ipetitions.com/peti…
No Arlington family courts do NOT have anything in common with recketeering schemes uncovered in several other states: IFCAA Fighting State Court-Based Racketeering Announces Advances in Illinois, Georgia, PA and Utah: http://www.mmdnewswire.com/ifc…
The county prosecutor is Marry Craig (Moran), the first wife of Jim Moran and a mother of his older children.
The avid supporter of Judge Wiggins, Federal Judge Gerald Bruce Lee – Alexandria Virginia has his share of questionable practices: http://www.scribd.com/doc/1161…
In 2003, Lee dismissed the kidnapping and murder charges against Jay E. Lentz, a former naval intelligence officer, even though a jury had found him guilty. It marked the first time a judge dismissed a jury verdict in a federal death penalty case. Earlier in the case, Lee advised a witness that if she cried he would stop her testimony, a move that is unusual in that it is rare for a judge to preview testimony in a death penalty hearing or restrict how witnesses can act or what they can say: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G…
No Judge Wiggins was NOT removed, in fact, she was REAPPOINTED regardless of numerous complains to the legislative panel, including DC lawyer Roy Morris testimony on December 17, 2009 before the joint Courts of Justice Committee in Richmond. Morris told the committee that something is rotten in Arlington J&DR – he insinuated that money is changing hands in Arlington. He told the committee how his client was told she needed to pay $20,000 to get her child back. http://thepitchforkrebellion.b…
2) Corporations, pro-business nonprofits foot bill for judicial seminars. George Mason University top host of events: http://www.publicintegrity.org…
No, there are NO issues.
3) Major Developer John Shooshan Is Now Chair of Barbara Favola’s Fundraising Committee?!?
https://bluevirginia.us/sho…
Developers Donate to Favola’s Senate Campaign:
http://www.arlnow.com/2011/04/…
“there is NOTHING illegal about what I have received” –Favola
Walter Tejada, Chairman of the Arlington Board is a former aide to Jim Moran, he was appointed by Mark R. Warner when he was a Governor.
4) Arlington County Board member Chris Zimmerman’s consulting job with a subsidiary of a global company that works with the county does not constitute to a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict, according to County Attorney Stephen MacIssac.
http://arlington-va.patch.com/…
There is NO conflict of interest.
5) Jim Moran (D-Va ensnarled in scandals, including the investigation into the lobbying firm PMA Group that was accused of trading earmarks for campaign funds. The House ethics committee has exonerated Moran. http://www.publicintegrity.org…
No, there is NO corruption, Jim Moran NEVER does ANY favors to the contributors of his campaigns.
6) Prosecutors in Arlington County, Va., say they will not pursue charges against the son of U.S. Rep. Jim Moran, Patrick Moran, in voter fraud, http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/pro…
No, there was NO fraud, it was all a joke by Arlington ethical standards.
And NO do not expect anything to change, Brian Moran, a former Virginia delegate and former chairman of the state Democratic Party, a brother of Jim Moran is bidding for the position of the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. Typically, Virginia’s senators, Timothy M. Kaine and Mark R. Warner, would recommend someone for the job, and the president would consider that strongly in making an appointment: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
There is little doubt to what will happen next.
Is Tim Kaine Now a Danger to Democracy? http://reason.com/archives/201…
Virginia’s governor provides an appalling example of the crony system in VA.
Corruption? This is Virginia! http://www.baconsrebellion.com…
Connecting the Dots of Corruption: http://reason.com/archives/201…
Private-citizen Thompson, owner of multiple oceanfront properties, stands to benefit personally from the very legislation which he wrote: http://www.virginianewssource….
“Virginia has this rather elite political culture where the elites have always been somewhat immune from scrutiny” –James Madison University ethics law expert and political scientist Robert Roberts http://www.roanoke.com/news/po…
Gov. McDonnell described as aware of gifts from Virginia businessman: http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
No, NO bribes, NO favors, only “gifts”.
Government Graft, Corruption, and Retaliation in Democrat-Run Virginia: http://pjmedia.com/jchristiana…
Virginia Law Shields Police From Transparency: http://wamu.org/news/12/06/24/…
Virginia: The story behind the F score for corruption: http://www.stateintegrity.org/…
Under the “Lax Virginia Ethics Law,” there is no cap on the amount of gifts an elected official can receive, so long as all gifts valued at more than $50 are disclosed annually. Moreover, any gifts to spouses and immediate family members are not counted as gifts to the official: http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bi…
House of Delegates Dave Albo and Supreme Court Regarding Judge Review. Virginia legislator Dave Albo did not follow the Virginia Supreme Court order in an oversight hearing where the legislator-lawyers “approve” the judges. In Virginia, House Delegates who appoint judges often appear before those same judges — creating a clear conflict of interest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Who is going to develop state wide accountability for judicial officers in VA? All of us are aware that a court has to follow procedural guidelines mandated by law. They frequently don’t and we end up with malicious and malevolent rulings that have devastating consequences. The public has a right to hold their judicial officers and their Courts that they pay for as taxpayers accountable.
Have more examples of NO corruption in VA?
Virginia clearly cannot handle self-government. Corruption is out of control. Federal government intervention is needed. https://petitions.whitehouse.g…
Update: Impressive record of the Arlington County Board
Vornado/Charles E. Smith, a division of Vornado Realty Trust | “I urge you to perform a thorough investigation of Vornado.” — Sincerely,William J. Walczak Candidate, Mayor of Boston http://www.bostonmagazine.com/…
The board agreed to Vornado/Charles E. Smith’s plans to build as much as 1.8 million square feet of commercial space on nine acres of vacant land, one of the largest undeveloped parcels close to downtown Washington (PenPlace) http://www.washingtonpost.com/…
Chris Zimmerman’s consulting clients and “Smart Growth” “irregularities”: http://o.canada.com/2013/06/17…
No Arlington has NO ‘Taj Mahals’, NOT AT ALL, only a $1 mil bus stop as tip of an iceberg. Building ‘Taj Mahals’ with Taxpayer Money http://voiceofsandiego.org/201…
Links:
VA Ol’ Boy Network @VAOldBoyNetwork
https://twitter.com/VAOldBoyNe…
Corruption in Arlington, Va
https://www.facebook.com/group…
From the McAuliffe campaign:
To: Interested Parties
From: Brennan Bilberry, McAuliffe Communications Director
Memo: State of the Campaigns
It is clear that the Cuccinelli campaign is seeing the same things in their internal polls that Virginians see in public polls: Terry’s position continues to strengthen while Cuccinelli’s position continues to slip as a result of his ethics scandals and extreme social agenda. Just today, the Virginian-Pilot reported that Cuccinelli is shifting his campaign staff and focus in an effort to reverse the decline.
Those facts have caused major changes in Cuccinelli’s tactics and we wanted to provide an update on what we expect to see going forward:
1. Desperation leads to strange tactics. This week, Politico reported that the Cuccinelli campaign is considering spending their resources on 30-minute infomercials across Virginia. This expenditure is designed to earn media coverage for advertising that will have no impact on the race.
News of 30-minute infomercials came shortly after a hastily put-together web video and interview that saw Cuccinelli simultaneously apologizing and saying he did nothing wrong while admitting for the first time that he has been questioned by the FBI about his ties to Star Scientific.
2. Second guessing becomes more common. After weeks of resisting calls for him to return gifts from Star Scientific – at first suggesting he shouldn’t have to – Cuccinelli made the political decision to give the value of the gifts away. While he guaranteed another week of news dominated by his unethical relationship with Star, Cuccinelli’s tactic was also transparently political, coming just 8 weeks out from Election Day. Voters notice when politicians only do the right thing under pressure from polls. And editorial boards already have.
3. Attacks become more shrill. Cuccinelli’s strategist issued an 800-word agitated memo Wednesday attacking the Virginia media for covering his candidate’s ethical lapses. Strangely, it was released the day after the Cuccinelli campaign was asking media to cover his relationship with Star by issuing a press release and video about his gifts.
4. The Tea Party is Back. After months of publicly seeking to paper over his Tea Party ideology, Cuccinelli has shifted gears. Cuccinelli’s new campaign leadership just announced a Tea Party rally being organized on Tuesday with a national right-wing radio host.
I wanted to highlight these changes because we know that the attacks from the Cuccinelli campaign are going to become more desperate and more outlandish. It already started when Cuccinelli’s campaign lied to workers to trick them into appearing in an attack ad they wanted nothing to do with.
As the Cuccinelli campaign is struggling in the final weeks, they’ll likely to engage in even more inaccurate and over-the-top attacks.
Our message is and will continue to be the same: Terry is focused on bipartisan solutions to mainstream issues like jobs, education, and transportation while Cuccinelli has spent his political career focused on an extreme, divisive social agenda.
