Webb & Boucher vote against repeal of DADT
Webb voted against repeal in committee; Boucher on House floor. Looks like the rest of Va delegation followed party lines.
see house vote here:
Mark Warner Blasts BP, “Lax Oversight”; Agrees With Drilling “Pause”
I’m glad to see this statement from Mark Warner. Obviously, he “gets it.” Now, if only Bob McDonnell, Ken Kook-inelli and Eric Can’tor would get a clue. On second though, oh forget it!
House Democratic Caucus to McDonnell: Replace Fred Malek
I’m glad to see this letter, even if it took more than two weeks almost three weeks since bloggers, David Englin, Donald McEachin, and a few others raised this as an issue. Better late than never, I guess. In addition, I would strongly urge any Democrat on the commission to demand Malek’s replacement. If Malek is not replaced by…oh, I dunno, how about COB tomorrow?…they should resign immediately.
May 27, 2010
The Honorable Robert F. McDonnell
Patrick Henry Building, Third Floor
1111 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23219Governor McDonnell:
We would first like to commend you on your creation of the Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring. Streamlining government and finding cost-saving efficiencies is a laudable goal regardless of one’s partisan leanings. In fact, our Caucus has put our words into action on this issue by supporting House Bill 1053 in the 2010 General Assembly session, which would have saved the Commonwealth millions of dollars.
However, we are increasingly concerned that the important issue of government reform is being overshadowed by questions about the past behavior of the Chairman of the Commission, Fred Malek. We are especially concerned with his actions regarding Connecticut state pension investments and the six-figure penalty paid by Mr. Malek and his company to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. In its findings, the SEC expressed concern about the undisclosed agreements made by Malek’s company with a political associate of the Connecticut State Treasurer. It is these kinds of incidents that create the need for reform and more transparency and sunlight in our government. True reform should not be led by someone with any questions regarding his background.
Therefore, it is our strong suggestion that you replace Mr. Malek with a chairman whose credentials on government reform are unimpeachable. Former U.S. Senator John Warner, Christopher Newport University President Paul Trible, or Commission member John “Dubby” Wynne are all well-qualified alternatives. It is clear that the important work of the commission would be distracted by questions about past behavior by its chairman, and that would be a disservice to the Commonwealth.
Sincerely,
Ward L. Armstrong, House Minority Leader
Kenneth R. Plum, House Democratic Caucus Chair
UPDATE: Need a good laugh? Check out this bizarre statement, straight from an alternate universe the Republican Party of Virginia. WTF?
UVA Files Suit Against Ken Kook-inelli
Go UVA!
“Academic freedom is essential to the mission of our Nation’s institutions of higher learning and a core First Amendment concern. As Thomas Jefferson intended, the University of Virginia has a long and proud tradition of embracing the ‘illimitable freedom of the human mind’ by fully endorsing and supporting faculty research and scholarly pursuits. Our Nation also has a long and proud tradition of limited government framed by enumerated powers which Jefferson ardently believed was necessary for a civil society to endure.”
This is the preliminary statement of a petition filed today by the University of Virginia to “set aside” the Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) issued to the University by Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II on April 23, 2010.
In announcing today’s filing, University President John T. Casteen III said the University intends to protect academic freedom. Casteen said that issuance of the CIDs “has sent a chill through the Commonwealth’s colleges and universities – a chill that has reached across the country and attracted the attention of all of higher education.”
The CIDs seek to investigate the research activities of Michael Mann, an assistant professor of environmental sciences at the University from 1999 to 2005. Mann, who has since joined the faculty of The Pennsylvania State University, is known for his research on global warming.
On May 14, Casteen announced that the Board of Visitors had engaged the law firm of Hogan Lovells and its premier education practice group to represent and advise the University in its response to the CIDs.
Rector John O. Wynne said that the University is prepared to fight for the right of its research faculty to engage in debate and free expression without fear of reprisal. “We are fighting for preservation of the basic principles on which our country was founded,” he said.
The University’s petition, which was filed in Albemarle County Circuit Court this afternoon, is the first step in a legal process to set aside the CIDs. In addition to challenging the CIDs on academic freedom grounds, the petition also argues that the attorney general exceeded his authority under the state’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
A CID has the legal force of a subpoena. The CIDs issued to the University are extremely broad and far-reaching, requesting information and documents in connection with five grants as well as correspondence between Mann and more than 40 scientists and other individuals over an 11-year period.
The five grants at issue – four of them awarded by federal agencies and involving the disbursement of federal funds – totaled some $466,000.
Earlier this month, the University’s Faculty Senate issued a statement regarding the CIDs, reflecting the organization’s concern that this investigation would have a “chilling effect” on scientific inquiry worldwide.
Ann Hamric, chair of the Faculty Senate and a professor in the School of Nursing, said she was deeply grateful to University leaders for mounting a vigorous defense of academic freedom.
“I join with my faculty colleagues in applauding this action from our president and Board of Visitors,” she said. “Academic freedom is crucial to the academic life of our (and any) university.”
Obama Halts New Drilling in Gulf of Mexico; McDonnell Still Doesn’t Get It
As the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history continues to wreck the Gulf Coast of our country, at least there’s a little good news!
President Obama ordered a halt Thursday to drilling operations at all 33 exploratory deep-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico for as long as six months, one of several new restrictions on offshore drilling he announced at a news conference.
Most of the measures, including a six-month moratorium on new wells, concern future operations. But in perhaps the most dramatic shift, Obama ordered nearly three dozen existing rigs or others preparing to drill to stop operation pending the findings of a presidential commission. Production rigs in deep water may continue to operate, and exploratory drilling in shallow water will continue, White House officials said.
Excellent move, thank you President Obama!
In contrast, here in Virginia, we’ve got a Governor who continues not to “get it.” Check out this statement:
…I understand the decision the President has made today. While I respect his decision, and the need for delay and investigation, I do not believe outright cancellation was the only alternative given the fact that this sale was not due to occur until two years from now, and actual drilling would likely take place years after that. The two-year environmental impact statement already underway would provide ample information about the wisdom of proceeding on to an actual lease sale.
It is my hope that the President’s action does not signal the end of offshore energy exploration and production off Virginia in the years ahead. Once we have learned the lessons from this tragic accident, and made the necessary changes and improvements in the offshore industry and government oversight, we should move forward with environmentally responsible domestic offshore energy production for oil and natural gas. This nation needs more domestic energy production. If we decrease the amount of energy produced here in the United States, we will only increase the amount of energy we must import from overseas. We must have the foresight and objectivity to not let this tragic accident cripple our ability to increase energy production in the United States. That would be a tragedy in its own right.
This is ridiculous on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to begin.
First off, it’s bordering on insane to believe that, after this disaster, there’s such a thing as “environmentally responsible offshore energy production for oil.” The fact that it’s taken over a month to stop a gusher of oil from a busted oil well – assuming, that is, that “top kill” actually works – proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s no “fail safe” in this business. And, without “fail safe,” another disaster like this could happen again, at any time. That’s completely unacceptable. Imagine if this happened off the coast of Virginia Beach? Why would Bob McDonnell risk our multi-billion-dollar tourism and fishing industries, not to mention our nation’s crucial military operations in the Hampton Roads area? Crazy.
Second, anyone who seriously argues that offshore oil drilling in the United States will do much of anything in terms of the world oil balance, oil prices, or achieving U.S. “energy independence” simply doesn’t understand world oil markets. The fact is, the U.S. is a “mature” oil province, with the offshore portion extremely unlikely to change that picture, no matter what we do. The far better course of action is to pour resources into the “lowest of low-hanging fruit,” namely energy efficiency. Also, offshore wind power is an excellent idea, one that the Navy, the economy, and the environment can all live with.
Finally, it’s nice for Bob McDonnell to finally admit that “actual drilling [off Virginia’s coast] would likely take place years” from now, because that totally contradicts what he said during the 2009 gubernatorial campaign. It also totally contradicts McDonnell’s nonsense about how offshore oil revenues would supposedly materialize in the next few years to solve Virginia’s budget woes. Now, the truth finally comes/slips out. Nice job, guys!
P.S. Regarding point #2, this is highly relevant:
Opening up offshore areas to oil exploration – currently all coastal areas save a section of the Gulf of Mexico are off-limits, thanks to a congressional ban enacted in 1982 and supplemented by an executive order from the first President Bush – might cut the price of gas by 3 to 4 cents a gallon at most, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
A Simple Question
The BP platform fire and subsequent oil spill is not the first time there has been an offshore spill of this magnitude in this hemisphere. On June 3, 1979, a Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) exploratory well 2 miles below the water surface in Bahia de Campeche had a massive blowout. Just like the BP exploratory platform, the oil and gas blowing out of that well ignited, setting the platform on fire. Again like the BP platform, that platform collapsed into the wellhead area.
The IXTOC I well spilled oil at a rate of 10,000 – 30,000 barrels per day until it was finally capped on March 23, 1980.
As I read about efforts to contain the massive environmental damage in 1979-1980, the measures sure sounded familiar: submersible submarines, booms, skimming equipment, pumping mud and debris into the wellhead, use of toxic chemical dispersants, finally the drilling months later of two relief wells.
Here’s my question for the off-shore oil industry: If this happened before so long ago, why the H*** didn’t you learn better ways to contain such a catastrophe in the 31 years since? (Perhaps because long ago you had bought yourself – through that infamous “access” that campaign contributions buy – a $75 million limit on the damages you cause?)
I contend that there should be a moratorium on deep water drilling until the oil industry can prove that it has better methods of dealing with catastrophic failures than BP has used to date. These people have been catered to by government at the state and federal levels for far too long.
If you, like me, have enjoyed visiting Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks of North Carolina, imagine the devastation that would result if some “Bob McDonnell Oily Dream” offshore well of the future wiped out tourism, fisheries and coastal wildlife off Virginia and North Carolina.
You know, there are some things far more important than some oil company making ever bigger profits each year.
Republicans and Raises
The Washington Post raises an interesting question, do Virginia’s Republican Congressmembers oppose a standard pay raise for Federal employees?
The federal pay freeze proposal is the brainchild of Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.). But the overall YouCut program is being run by Rep. Eric Cantor (R), who, in addition to being the House minority whip is also a Virginian. And Virginia is chock full of federal employees. According to the Office of Personnel Management, Virginia has the second-most non-defense federal employees in the country, behind only California. (That ranking includes only states. The District has slightly more federal workers than Virginia, while Maryland has slightly fewer.) – The Washington Post
The presence of many Federal workers in Virginia has given some of Cantor’s fellow Virginia Republicans pause, including our own Frank Wolf, who stated flatly, “I’m opposed to it.”
Herein lies the problem with Republicans’ undifferentiated opposition to (non-military) government spending and deficit fearmongering. When it comes down to what to cut, and how to cut it, no one – especially Republicans – wants to be the one to give up their money.
Follow below for some discussion of Frank Wolf, raises and spending cuts.
Frank Wolf is a Republican who has voted for every tax cut proposed by George Bush, and also voted for every spending increase proposed by his Party. His entire career has been based on expanding the deficit.
Meanwhile, debt is the biggest threat to the Republic since Barack Obama, according to the Republican party. And Frank Wolf has been on that train as well.
It’s not about fiscal responsibility you see, it’s about rhetorical capability.
Frank Wolf’s own quote from the Post story expose Mr. Wolf’s inherently contradictory philosophy.
“I’m opposed to it,” said Rep. Frank Wolf (R), whose 10th district includes a wide swath of Northern Virginia suburbs.
Wolf noted that the pay freeze would apply to scores of federal employees — many of whom reside in his district — who he considers to be heroes, from the CIA employees who have died in Afghanistan, to FBI agents working at home and abroad, to National Institutes of Health scientists working to cure diseases.
As the co-sponsor of a prominent proposal to create a federal debt commission, Wolf said he was all in favor of identifying ways to cut spending. And he likes the general idea of YouCut, since “it’s good to find out what people are interested in.”
But Wolf doesn’t want federal employees put on the chopping block.
“I just don’t think it’s the right approach,” Wolf said. – The Washington Post
So create a debt commission, but god forbid you put my money on the table to solve that debt! Take a vote on what to cut, but if you don’t like the results of that vote, cry foul! (Where have I heard that before?)
[As a side note, Mr. Wolf’s answer to any problem isn’t to actually solve the problem, but to create a commission to study it. Because study is superior to solutions every time in his world.]
I am opposed to trimming Federal raises. I feel strongly that people who choose public service, and work for you and me (and not their own profit) deserve raises to keep up with the local cost of living. I am willing to increase revenue to make sure that happens. And yet, people like me are lambasted as the prodigal spenders? If only reality would reflect the rhetoric.
Jeff Barnett has a phrase, “We need to start solving our problems now. In our time. On our dime.” Our dime. That is the key difference between Republicans like Frank Wolf and Democrats like Jeff Barnett. Jeff Barnett and the Democrats live the philosophy of financial responsibility, they don’t just speak empty phrases.
So thank you, Mr. Wolf, for opposing your own Party for self-preservation. It’s clear you understand that opposing Federal raises in Northern Virginia is a bad idea. You wouldn’t have been re-elected for 20 years if you didn’t understand that.
But please, Mr. Wolf, don’t insult our intelligence by opposing raise cuts while continuing to decry the debt, and then merely proposing a commission to study the problem. That’s not leadership, that’s not even governance, that’s sheer policy cowardice. That’s not an answer, it’s an avoidance, and we voters of the 10th District deserve better.
(Crossposted from Loudoun Progress.)
McDonnell’s Drilling House of Cards Collapses
President Obama in a press annoucement scheduled for 12:45 today is expected to announce that “a moratorium on new deepwater oil drilling permits will be continued for six months while a presidential commission investigates”.
“Controversial lease sales off the coast of Alaska will be delayed pending the results of the commission’s investigation, and lease sales planned in the Western Gulf and off the coast of Virginia will be canceled, a White House aide said. (Source)
Virginia should never have been enrolled in the early Bush-era drilling program in the first place. It constituted reckless policy considering the huge flaws and gaps in environmental analysis. Virginia’s treasured coastal environment fell otherwise victim to Big Oil’s rushed land grab agenda.
As sickening as the Gulf Coast disaster is, it has at least shed light on how Big Oil’s cozy relationship with MMS has rendered current drilling programs corrupted and now basically void. Firing MMS director Liz Birmbaum is a good first step. (Source)
Add in DoD’s recent report indicating Virginia Lease Sale 220 drill to be “unacceptable” for its military activities, Governor McDonnell’s drilling house of cards has now completely collapsed. He must cease and desist from drilling and dedicate himself full-time to offshore wind development.
RPV’s Battle With the Truth Continues
And in the latest installment of the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV)’s battle with the truth, we’ve got this gem:
“Voters in the 5th and 9th Districts need to know if Democrat Reps. Rick Boucher and Tom Perriello were among the hundreds of Democrats who leaped to their feet to applaud gun control while a leader from a foreign nation scolded the American people for upholding the rights secured to us by our Constitution,” said party Chairman Pat Mullins in announcing the new commercials.
Sensing a blockbuster investigative opportunity, the Ticket did its due diligence and called both offices (as requested by the commercials and the party chair) to find out if they gave Calderon a standing O.
The suspense lasted for about 30 seconds. Nope.
Making it even less suspenseful and infinitely more boring, neither congressman were even there. Yawn.
So, caught in an outright falsehood (aka, “lie”), did RPV Chairman Pat Mullins pull the ad and apologize, like any normal person would do? No way! Instead, RPV communications director J. Garren Shipley doubled down, claiming that Boucher and Perriello should have “publicly condemned” this speech…which they didn’t attend or hear. Using that “logic,” apparently we can now start demanding that Virginia Republicans “publicly condemn” speeches they didn’t hear as well. This could be fun.
Jeff Schapiro on Bob McDonnell’s Constant Gaffes, Screwups
Jeff Schapiro nails it as usual. As Too Conservative’s Loudoun Insider writes, “OK, Bob, Time To Do Some House Cleaning!” The only problem is, McDonnell can’t “house clean” himself, and as Jim Webb likes to say, “the fish rots from the HEAD down!”
