(Interesting…Paul Goldman argues that Republicans actually HELPED Chap by purging him.   – promoted by lowkell)

Well, that didn’t take long for Virginia Senate Republicans to start abusing their newfound power, going for the power grab, acting in an arrogant/high-handed manner, etc. Kicking the superbly qualified Chap Petersen off the Courts of Justice Committee simply epitomizes what they’re doing here. I sure hope Virginia voters are paying attention!

Senate Republicans Remove Petersen from Courts of Justice Committee

RICHMOND, VA – Today, in a widely anticipated move, the Republican leadership of the Virginia Senate seized majority control of the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of Lt. Governor Bill Bolling.

In consolidating power, the Republicans removed Senator Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) from the Courts of Justice committee, where he sat on the Civil Laws subcommittee. Senators are typically assigned to committees based on experience and interests.

Senator Petersen has practiced law for 18 years and is an equity partner in the firm of Surovell, Petersen, Isaacs & Levy, PLC. He was recently commended as one of the top 30 Virginia “Leaders of the Law” by Virginia Lawyers Weekly. He has served on the Courts of Justice committee since the 2010 legislative session.

“Obviously I would have liked to stay on the Courts of Justice committee, where my experience and legal analysis could be best utilized. I will continue my efforts to represent the people of Virginia in my other committee assignments.”

The Senate Courts committee is now composed of eight Republicans and seven Democrats.

Senator J. Chapman “Chap” Petersen (www.FairfaxSenator.com) represents Virginia’s 34th Senate district, located in Fairfax County. The district includes the City of Fairfax, the Town of Vienna, portions of Fairfax, Oakton, Dunn Loring, and portions of Centerville. Currently serving his second term in the Virginia Senate, Senator Petersen has previously served as Delegate and City Councilman for the City of Fairfax.

Did you know Arlington Democrats narrowly escaped nominating a House of Delegates member with some very serious ethical questions? That’s right – they could’ve nominated someone who missed a car tax payment. Imagine what a field day the Republican & Green Party candidates would’ve had with that!

That candidate was … me. (Cue Shayna Englin: “Narrowly?” OK, I needed to make it sound more dramatic.) After moving to Virginia in 2002, the first I learned of the personal property tax & Arlington decal fee was a form letter from Treasurer Frank O’Leary’s office telling me it was overdue. I emailed O’Leary promising to pay but pleading ignorance & hoping to get the late fee waived. “It is each taxpayer’s duty to know when taxes are due,” came the terse reply. Welcome to Arlington.

I tell the story because anonymous emailers are now shopping some similar stories about Arlington County Board candidate Melissa Bondi & claiming they make her unfit for office. I will not relate the details because not only do I not reward smears, the attempted smears in question are incredibly boring. I’m sure the people pushing the smears will disagree and be all SURELY YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS and WHY WON’T THE MEDIA COVER THIS SERIOUSNESS and that is what the comments section is for, so go to town making anonymous handles under which to file your complaints. To me, the real questions I’d like answered are about how the anonymous people first learned of the issues, whether they were tipped off by anyone on the Arlington County payroll, and how someone obtained creepy/stalker-ish photos of Bondi’s car from way back in 2006.  

The very anonymity of the attacks is telling. If you won’t put your name behind your incredibly dull & grammatical error-ridden attacks, you’re just making your opponent look formidable. What you’re saying is that you or the candidate you support have nothing positive to run on, are terrified you’re going to lose, and have nothing substantive to attack Bondi with. I’ve already heard from several people who say these desperate smears only make them more likely to support Bondi. (If you’re wondering, I’d vote for Bondi, but I don’t live in Arlington, so who cares.)

Finally, a challenge to the candidates to shake up the race the right way: Say something interesting for once. Aside from Bondi’s pro-Columbia Pike streetcar stance, you’d think all five candidates thought they had the race locked up & just needed to avoid standing out.

And don’t forget to vote in the Arlington Democrats County Board caucuses on January 19th and January 21st.

Here are a few Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, January 12.

*Bolling’s vote gives GOP control of Senate

*After Senate Republicans parlay parity into a majority, Dems say they won’t roll over for GOP

*Va. Dems challenge McDonnell on road funding

*Republicans take control of Va. Senate

*Lawyers ‘on standby’ in fight for Va. Senate as General Assembly convenes

*McDonnell rallies support for agenda

*Protesters rally on Capitol Square as legislators return

*Va. General Assembly kicks off session, swears in new members

*Cuccinelli’s demand for climate scientists’ emails goes to court Thursday (The crazed witch hunt continues…)

*Kaine addresses economic issues

*Tim Kaine to eat and greet in Bowling Green

*Editorial: Redistricting failure (“The Virginia Constitution instructed lawmakers to redraw congressional districts last year. They didn’t.”)

*Solitary confinement in Virginia prisons should be reduced, lawmakers say

*A proposal that would assist troubled youths in Virginia

*After 5 years of cuts, colleges could get more from state

*Supervisors have been warned

*Tax Problems Dog Arlington Board Candidate (“Bondi owes more than $19,000 to IRS, documents show.”)

Great response by Senators McEachin and Barker to Gov. McDonnell’s budget. The bottom line, according to McEachin and Barker: “we are concerned that aspects of the budget Governor McDonnell has put forth will damage Virginia and our economy by cutting hundreds of millions from public education and critical initiatives for children and families.”

Senator McEachin and Senator Barker Respond to State of the Commonwealth Address

Democrats Vow to Protect Public Education Funding

(Richmond, VA) Newly-elected Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) and Senator George Barker (D-Fairfax) delivered the Democratic response to the State of the Commonwealth Address this evening, calling for both parties to come together to protect funding for our public schools.

Senators Barker and McEachin expressed Democrats’ desire to keep doing things the “Virginia Way”, putting problem-solving above partisan bickering. But both senators expressed grave concern with the deep cuts the Governor is proposing to public education, including cuts to Pre-Kindergarten programs and to cost-to-compete education funding, and with his desire to divert General Fund money, money which funds public education, to pay for transportation projects.

Text of Senator McEachin and Senator Barker’s Remarks

EMBARGOED UNTIL 7:45 PM

Senator McEachin: Good evening, I’m Senator Donald McEachin, Chair of the Senate Democrats.

Senator Barker: And I’m Senator George Barker.

We’re happy to be with you to discuss our future as Virginians. We have challenges. We have opportunities. And, most important of all, we have responsibilities.

Governor McDonnell presented some lofty goals tonight.  We embrace challenges and will work with the Governor, Republicans in the legislature, and all Virginians to meet many of them.  Two years ago we adopted a bold plan to restore Virginia’s pension system to fiscal health.  We are pleased that the Governor’s proposed budget restores funding as promised, honoring our commitment to teachers and State employees.

Over the past decade, under Governors Warner, Kaine, and McDonnell, Virginia has received many accolades: Best State for Business, Best Managed State, Best State for Children.  We have achieved such recognition by working together, Democrats and Republicans, in the interest of all Virginians.

Although our economy struggled recently, Virginia has done far better than most states, with unemployment well below the national rate.  Over the past two years, we have partnered with the Governor and our Republican colleagues to help create more jobs in Virginia. We worked with Governor McDonnell to increase funding and improve targeting of money to bring businesses and investment to Virginia.  We have put your interests and problem-solving before partisan bickering.

Over the last several years we cut 6 billion dollars and balanced the budget without raising taxes. We also did it without decimating support for education, public safety, and services for children, the elderly, and those with disabilities.  We look forward to working with the governor to pass a budget that is best for all Virginians.

But we are concerned that aspects of the budget Governor McDonnell has put forth will damage Virginia and our economy by cutting hundreds of millions from public education and critical initiatives for children and families.  Rather than making such cuts, we should be meeting our legal and moral responsibilities to our children and families.

In the past Virginia has met many needs with limited state funds by partnering with local non-profit agencies.  However, the Governor’s budget would eliminate funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs and centers protecting victims of child abuse, and slash support for free clinics and community health centers, among others. We and our children need these programs.

Particularly short-sighted are cuts to pre-Kindergarten programs that put disadvantaged children on a path to success.  These programs serve children who need to catch up to their peers before starting kindergarten.  Studies have shown that children who come to kindergarten well-prepared are more likely to graduate high school, have higher earnings, and are less likely to be arrested.  We all have an interest in continuing Virginia’s tradition of investing in our children.

The governor is also short-changing our kids by proposing to eliminate so called “cost-to-compete” money for our local school districts. This fund allows our localities to keep the best and the brightest school personnel here in Virginia, instead of losing them to higher paying states. This amounts to a nearly 65 million dollar cut to Northern Virginia schools alone.

And now I’d like to re-introduce Senator Donald McEachin.

Senator McEachin: Overall in this, his first budget, the governor is cutting Pre-K and K through 12 public education by hundreds of millions of dollars. His proposal to take more sales tax revenue to fund transportation is perhaps where we have our strongest disagreement. Governor McDonnell’s program would take 110 million dollars out of the General Fund, which is money that pays for our schools.

And taking money from education is a terrible approach to transportation funding.  The governor needs to work on a real long-term solution to funding transportation instead of treating public education as a piggy bank to be raided. Taking money out of our classrooms to pave roads doesn’t  help build Virginia’s future. It doesn’t help our children and it doesn’t solve our transportation problem.

We also oppose another Republican pet project, giving big corporations tax breaks for donations to private schools. We need to educate all of our children, not just the select few who can afford private schools. We strongly believe taxpayer dollars should be used for public education, not for rich private academies.

Weakening our public schools will not only hurt our children’s ability to compete in a cut-throat global economy, but also will make our state a less attractive place to do business. Last year, as in several years past, Virginia was named the “Best State for Business.” We earned that title for a variety of reasons, including education, a category in which received one of the highest ratings.  Businesses will choose to come here if they know their employees’ families will be happy and their children will get a good education. We want to be a first choice for businesses so we can offer good-paying and numerous jobs.

This past November the voters of the Commonwealth elected 20 Democrats and 20 Republicans to the Senate, so to pass a budget we need to work together. We will work with the governor and with senators and delegates of both parties toward putting Virginia on the right track to economic growth, but we will not agree to short-changing our children and our future.  Short-term band-aids are not a real solution to problems. Public education, transportation, a well-run and efficient state government-these are important priorities and all of them will determine whether Virginia is a state that leads the country with a robust economy in the next decade, or whether we fall behind.

We have obligations to future generations, and I hope we can all keep that in mind this session.

So I say tonight to the governor and his party, we share many of the same goals; let’s work together to make progress this session. That is what the people of this great commonwealth voted for and that’s what they deserve.

Thank you, and God bless the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States.