From the Democratic Party of Virginia…another disaster by Ken Cuccinelli.

Richmond, VA – Today Ken Cuccinelli will roll out an education agenda focused almost on entirely on taking money away from public schools and public students and spending it in private schools. That disastrous plan is an extension of Cuccinelli’s career-long record of putting his own extreme agenda ahead of what’s best for Virginia students, teachers and economy.

“From releasing a tax cut plan that would force dramatic cuts in education, to calling for the abolition of the U.S. Department of Education, Ken Cuccinelli’s education agenda has always had more to do with his extreme agenda than what’s best for Virginia,” said DPVA spokesman Brian Coy. “Virginians need a Governor who recognizes the importance of public education to preparing students to compete and lead in the economy of the future. We can’t afford a Governor who views Virginia’s education system as a launching pad for his extreme agenda.”

Below is a recap of Ken Cuccinelli’s dangerous record on education:

 Virginia Education Association: Cuccinelli’s Tax Plan Could Reduce Funding for K-12 by $422 Million. The VEA analysis stated, “The tax plan proposed by gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli could reduce annual state funding for K-12 public education by $422 million, according to a research analysis by the Virginia Education Association.” [VEA Analysis of Cuccinelli Tax Plan]

   Virginia Education Association: Cuccinelli’s Tax Plan Could Result in Loss of 6,500 Teachers. VEA President Meg Gruber stated, “The magnitude of those cuts would really hurt our schools and the students who attend them. That $422 million equates to the loss of 6,500 teachers. Fewer teachers mean larger class sizes and less individual attention that students need.” [VEA Analysis of Cuccinelli Tax Plan]

   Hampton Mayor: Cuccinelli Tax Plan Would Put “Additional Stress” On Schools. The Mayor of Hampton, Molly Ward, said the proposal would “result in additional stress on municipal budgets for police, fire and schools that our communities cannot afford.” [AP, 5/7/13]

   Supported Abolishing the Department of Education. In June 2009, the Washington Post reported, “Cuccinelli, who is a devout Catholic and home-schools four of his seven children, has said he supports abolishing the U.S. Department of Education.” [Washington Post, 6/12/09]

   One of Three Senators to Oppose Helping Students At-Risk of Failing. In February 12, 2003, Cuccinelli voted against House Bill 1757, which was a bill to require “school boards to provide programs of prevention, intervention, and remediation for students failing an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit needed by the student for graduation.” The bill would require “school boards to provide programs of prevention, intervention, and remediation for students failing an end-of-course test required for the award of a verified unit of credit needed by the student for graduation, however, these students are not required to participate in such programs. School divisions are to add these students to their existing remediation report requirements. Currently, required remediation targets students who are ‘educationally at risk including, but not limited to, those whose scores are in the bottom national quartile on Virginia State Assessment Program Tests and those who fail to achieve a passing score on any Standards of Learning assessment in grades three, five, and eight.’” This bill passed in the state Senate 37 to 3 and in the state House 98 to 0 and became law.  [House Bill 1757, 2003; and Virginia’s Legislative Information System Summary of House Bill 1757, 2003]

   Cuccinelli Opposes Spending More than $10,000 Per Pupil, Slammed “Insatiable” “Edu-Crats” for Demanding More Money for Education. He said, “If you can't educate a kid for [$10,000] a year, the problem is not enough money. The 'need' for more money is insatiable among the edu-crats.” [Washington Post, 3/05/04]

   One of 14 Senators to Vote against Teacher Pay Increases. In March 2008, Cuccinelli was one of 14 state senators who voted against House Bill 29, which was “a $77 billion, two-year budget” that provided “teacher pay raises, increases in state employee salaries and significant new funds for mental health and public education.”  It included “$22 million to expand prekindergarten access for at-risk 4-year olds.”  [Richmond Times Dispatch, 3/14/08, and House Bill 29, 2008]

   Only Senator to Vote against Requiring School Boards to Provide Planning Time to Teachers. In February 2008, Cuccinelli was the only Senator to vote against legislation that would require “school boards to ensure that all school teachers are provided an average of 30 minutes a day of planning time.” The bill passed 38-1 in the Senate and was left in a House Committee. [SB 48, Vote on 2/12/08]

   Voted Against Recognizing Teachers’ Licenses from Other States. In 2005, Cuccinelli voted against legislation that would allow Virginia to recognize valid teacher licenses from out-of-state that was active e at the time the application for a Virginia license was made. The bill passed the House 63-35 and the Senate 28-12 and became law. [SB 949, Vote on 2/24/05]

   Proposed Amendment to Eliminate Funding for Financial Incentives for Teachers to Pursue Advanced Education Related to Early Childhood Education. In 2008, Cuccinelli proposed an amendment to Senate Bill 30 to eliminate funding in the bill “to provide financial incentives for teachers, teachers assistants, and other early childhood education personnel to pursue advanced education and training related to early childhood education.” [Amendment 338 #2s to Senate Bill 30, 2008] 

by Paul Goldman

The latter half of August is campaign shake-up time. Every campaign does it in one form or another. Envision the Virginia governor’s campaign to date as the legendary “off Broadway” run of a play before it gets to the big time, the big Apple, opening night on the big stage. All the previous performances in small towns have been like spring training in baseball or the summer football camp of the Washington Redskins in Richmond. Fun to watch, cheaper seats, more personal interaction among fans with the players, all the stars are there, they perform their parts, trying hard for the most part but everyone knows that if you screw up, there isn’t the same penalty from either the critics, the audience or the Gods of the Game.

To be sure, sometimes the play closes before it ever gets to Broadway. Turns out the script is not savable, the financial backers not “made” of money, the ticket sales the proverbial “canary in the coal mine,” the stars simply not up to the game this time. In that regard, think Reverend E.W. Jackson, the GOP candidate for Lt. Governor. Yes, I know the polls seemingly show that he isn’t that far behind Democrat Ralph Northam, and so in theory, Reverend J along with his many backers among the GOP activist set believe he is merely an underdog, as opposed to DCW (Dead Candidate Walking).

“Hope springs eternal” goes the saying and in a fairer world, guys like me would allow Reverend J and his Jacksonians to have their dreams. But at 200-proof politics, we do the Fox News thing honestly. By that I mean: their slogan is “We Report, You decide.” But in truth, Fox News is based on a different equation: We Tell You What To Think By Giving You The News That Fits That Thinking. So on Reverend Jackson, we play Fox News  Honest Version This Morning: He is going to lose and lose large. The only question is whether he loses with dignity, or he goes out the way he came into statewide politics. That is, trashing everyone he doesn’t like, lashing out at the VA GOP for abandoning him. But what does he expect, given that he is utterly unqualified for a job that barely requires any qualifications?

Forget the polls saying that on Reverend J isn’t that far behind Doctor Northam: the reason he gets to be on the stage this Fall when the play gets to Broadway is that he has a no-cut contract. So he has to have a part in the play. But it will be as a sure loser. His campaign then doesn’t need a shake-up, or even a wake-up: it just needs to be over as soon as this can be done legally in Virginia.

But as to the other four state-wide candidates, they will be there on opening night in lead roles as Labor Day ends and as the general election campaign officially begins. So lets concentrate today on Ken Cuccinelli and the Terry McAuliffe, two guys who the media seem to hold in maximum low regard. Are they really as bad as the media seems determined to portray? No, the media has gone way overboard in my view, and it isn’t even game time yet. They aren’t blogs, they aren’t tabloids, they are (allegedly) the mainstream news. It has been brutal, and it ain’t even started yet.

It figures to get worse, not better, in the future. Each side of course tends to focus on the bad press for the opponent, rationalizing their own press as “it be worse.” Sure, anything could be worse: you could be dead. Trust me guys: It can’t get any worse, yet it will. Cuccinelli and McAuliffe have received the worse press of any candidates for Governor in the run up to the Labor Day opening in the HISTORY OF VIRGINIA. If you don’t believe me – what a shock – then go back and read the papers yourself, or talk to Dr. Sabato. It’s true: and it only figures to get worse.

Neither side quite gets it for one reason: our gifted Governor, and his W—–T—– wife, the biggest embarrassments in the history of the Virginia Governor’s Mansion in the post-segregation era. They are so bad, the next Governor HAS TO be better in the minds of the public. The First Family’s best scenario right now: avoiding indictment, and holding onto their public housing until evicted in January. That’s the Best Case for them. In comparison, even former Governor “Deficit Jim” Gilmore looks better.

Having run a few of these statewide races before, I think the Kenster and the Terrymacker have gotten some bad advice on this basic score. They should have been far more up-front with the voters about what they knew would be in the media by failing to be upfront.  Should they change that? I believe they should, since the alternative is to stoke the media to keep up their narrative even more so into the Fall.

Strategy wise, Terrymacker has the tougher mid-course correction because of the nature of the Virginia press. All the major papers except the Richmond Times Dispatch will back the entire Democratic ticket. So they will want to make sure their news coverage in the Fall can’t be labeled “anti-Cuccinelli.” So they will be unnecessary hard on the McAuliffe. That’s not fair given the facts: but it is what it is.

On the other hand, Kenster’s problem is that he has the easier mid-course correction to make. Thus, by not making it, he gives the press the easier free fire zone. In that regard, I refer to the self-evident: Fair or not, Cuccinelli has to give back in some form the $18K in gifts he took from Jonnie Williams (once Willie The Wonderfullest family friend according to Governor McDonnell, but now Willie The Rat, in league with the prosecutors to ruin McDonnell according to His Excellency’s less than excellent Big Time PR guy).

Any way you cut it, Ken has to give the money back, or the press will ride him harder and harder until election day. Giving back the money isn’t easy at this stage, and to do it basically tells your campaign strategy folks: you guys have ruined me to date by not giving me the right advice.

According to Ken’s top strategy guy, he would have given it back but he doesn’t have the money. Could you come up with a worse excuse even if you were Reverend Jackson? The point being: Sometimes a campaign shakeup involves personnel, sometimes your message, sometimes a little of both. Always it is cosmetic, in that what the public sees is never quite the true story in terms what is really happening inside the shakeup.

But the bottom line is this. Tmacker would not be in his current situation with the press had he had more folks better schooled in Virginia politics than national politics. Once he figures that out, he can deal a lot better with stuff in my view.

As for Cuccinelli, his problem is simple: He needs to take his hit, give the money back, and clear the decks for the Fall.

Terry’s winning right now, so he is less likely to want to do anything different. I get that. Cuccinelli’s losing, so his people are less likely to want to admit that and thus do anything different since it would be an admission. I get that too. But late August in campaigns was designed to give you one last chance to tinker with the script, the actors, the image before opening on Broadway. History says it is a good opportunity to take, as it doesn’t come back after Labor Day.

North Carolina is in a race to the bottom-again!  I’ve told you how it suspended the Jordan Lake rules, years in the making, because some upstream polluters don’t care if Cary, Morrisville and Apex Citizens have clean drinking water. And they have deep pockets. The rules for the lake had barely gone into effect when the GOP leaders in the GA claimed they didn’t “work” and voted to suspend them. While the worst governor in America runs ads pretending to care about water quality, he and the GA have installed a contemptuous regulatory staff, which merely pretends to regulate and oversee water quality. Thanks to a grudging GA, already in place since 2010, the disregard for clean water was already in place before this governor took office though. He’s just helping make it all worse. Now there’s more in the ever-worsening picture for NC water quality. I’ll quote the Raleigh News and Observer to show you I do not exaggerate:

Once an innovative leader in water quality science, North Carolina has fallen behind in meeting federal pollution standards.

North Carolina is the only state in its EPA region – which includes Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida – that has not adopted EPA-approved rules on measuring toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, copper, silver and zinc in its water, according to a letter the EPA sent on July 31 to Tom Reeder, the director of the Division of Water Resources, within the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Read more here

There’s more below the fold…

Worse than Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama! You have to tried hard to accomplish that dishonor.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is supposed to have public hearings and the make proposals to improve water quality every three years. As the News and Observer notes, though, “proposed changes are not a fix.” But the bottom line is the state must at minimum meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act.  NC isn’t doing that much anymore.

The head of the Water Resources planning division states that what’s holding things up is a 2011 bill complicating the requirement that the state identify the financial impact of any changes before they can go into effect. It seems are directed at grinding improved water quality to a halt. But, the former head of this office had completed the budget for the proposed changes in 2011 before she left office.  She couldn’t understand why the hearing hasn’t happened yet.  Hmmm. Can we say obstruction?  

On top of all that, there are also now friends of horizontal fracking throughout state government, especially in the Mining and Energy Commission (MEC) where friends of fracking hold every seat. And they do not care about the consequences to real people under the long reach of the horizontal arms of fracking wells. They reach 1-2 miles outward.

For all these reasons, water quality is in peril in North Carolina. Our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are depending upon us doing better. Heck, the poor recent track record will impact those of us alive now too. Legacy matters. I love my beautiful state.  I will work to defend her and change this harmful direction.  But know this: Its’ easier to avoid rather than reverse bad governance. Don’t NC Virginia (any more than Virginia already has slid backwards). Virginia cannot afford a Cuccinelli governorship. The man doesn’t even believe in science much less environmental quality.