VB Dems

Writes the RTD: “About 1,000 polling places will be open today when Virginians go to the polls to nominate five Republican congressional candidates.”

“A total of 19 candidates are running in the five districts. Seven are seeking the GOP nod in the 5th District and six in the 2nd District.

Nonparty candidates, who run as independents, must file their candidacy by the end of today.

The general election is Nov. 2. Currently, Virginia has six Democratic congressmen and five Republicans.”

Bearing Drift did some last minute Rigell bashing – outing him as “desperate” with a last minute infusion of $75,000 of his own money into his campaign. But it looks like that blog post got pulled. (Eyes rolling…)

An LTE in today’s Pilot endorses both Councilman Bill “the Bigot” DeSteph and Scott Taylor, praising both with the same brush. Ouch for Scott Taylor! (Eyes rolling…)

Mizusawa in a TV ad says “”As a combat tested conservative, I will… [blah, blah, blah]” WTF is that supposed to mean? A Facebook friends responds… “He is conservative in combat?” (Eyes rolling…)

And I love David Campbell’s comment on the Pilot write up on today’s primary… “How long will it be after the primary before the Hampton Roads Tea Party and the Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance reverse themselves and embrace Rigell?” I think that’ll depend on how much Loyola collects. If it’s close, it may enrage them and they drop out. I’ve been told that Teabaggers make up 40% of the 2nd district GOP. I suspect half of that 40% will half-heartedly switch to Rigell while the other half either stays home or switches to Kenny Golden or Glenn Nye.

If Loyola wins, we’re in trouble! So go Rigell! I’m not voting though. Are you?

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Over the last few weeks it seems that many veterans eager to use their service as a campaign talking point, have had a little problem with following the rules.

First, we had Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal who claimed that he had served in Vietnam when he actually spent the war pursuing a series of deferments before landing in the Marine Corps Reserves.  These days you can be pretty sure that any reservist you meet has spent time in a combat zone or will be pretty darn soon.  But that wasn’t the case in the 70’s when Blumenthal served.  He never got anywhere near Southeast Asia and veterans are justifiably upset at his false claims.

Next up was Rep. Mark Kirk, a Republican candidate for Barack Obama’s former Senate seat in Illinois.  Kirk has spent the last 9 years claiming that he won the prestigious Naval Intelligence Officer of the Year award in the late 90’s.  Turns out that his entire unit received an award for outstanding service from the National Military Intelligence Association, a professional group that is not part of the Department of Defense.  Now, that’s nothing to sneeze at and a wonderful award for an intelligence unit, but Kirk’s exaggeration (and it’s a pretty big one), whether intentional or not, is unacceptable.

With that backdrop, I headed out of my home in Chesapeake the other day and, while driving down Virginia Beach Blvd.,  saw a large campaign sign for Ben Loyola, a Republican candidate for Glenn Nye’s seat in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District.

Loyola’s campaign sign has his name and it sports a rather large photo of Loyola in his Navy dress whites.  I did a double take.  As the wife of a Navy veteran and an advocate for military families, I’m perhaps hyper aware of Department of Defense regulations drafted to essentially mirror the Hatch Act. The Department of Defense has a series of directives specifying exactly how active duty personnel and veterans may or may not engage in the political process in order to avoid the appearance of the DoD endorsing a particular party or political viewpoint.  Of course, these directives also cover the political campaigns and campaign materials of active duty service members and veterans. (more…)

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Bearing Drift announced its endorsement of Bert Mizusawa as the Rethuglican nominee in the 2nd district. Interesting…

My voting record is as clean and pure as Christmas snow. I have never nor ever will vote in a Republican primary. But I do understand the rationale for Democratic crossover voting. You vote for the candidate that the Democratic candidate (in this case Rep. Glenn Nye) would have an easier go at beating.

Scott Rigell is the GOPper chosen son and has more money than God. But he’s built in the same creepy right-wing mold as Bob McDonnell. Will voters make the same mistake twice?

Rigell is tapped into the same network of voters that allowed Jeff McWaters to shellack his opponents. In low turnout primaries, this hard-core righty-tighty group will crawl over broken glass to vote for the annointed one. And had this been a closed primary, Rigell would win by a landslide.

But it’s an open primary on Tuesday, June 8. All registered voters can cast a ballot by showing up at their usual polling places anytime between 6am and 7pm. It’ll be Democratic crossover voters that upset poor Rigell’s apple cart. Ha!

Should Rigell prevail, all that $ will go into his extreme makeover. Independents fell for it last year. Did electing Bob McDonnell teach them any lessons?

Now, if Mizusawa muster a win this Tuesday, he has several huge obstacles to overcome in order to beat Glenn Nye. Number 1 of which is the fact that his wife and children live, work and play in Fairfax County.

With Mizusawa the general election race becomes almost 100% about military issues and campaigns centered around military voters. Advantage goes to Nye who seems to think 100% of his constituents care about nothing else than military issues.

So, if I were voting on June 8th, I’d vote for Mizusawa. How about the rest of you VB Democrats?

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Jay Ford at Alt Daily has been interviewing Repug candidates for the 2nd district. Check out his interview with Bert Mizusawa here.

Now I know this is a military town and family life carries extenuating circumstances but this strikes me as wrong… Mizusawa’s family lives in Fairfax. He obviously maintains a second home and feels rooted here as he grew up in Hampton Roads.

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Here’s the conversation had on the way to school with my daughter whose first paychecks in life came from Young Democrats for America in 2008 and Mathieson for Delegate in 2009:

Sophie: “A lot of the kids at school [First Colonial HS] are getting paid to work for this guy Rigell.”

Me: “You know he’s a right-winger Republican, right?”

Sophie: “So I suppose you won’t let me work for him, right?”

I told her it was up to her if she wanted to work for him. I also explained that he’s paying now, but it’s all in run up to a primary that ends June 8. Both camps (Repug and Dem) will again be paying kids in run up to the general in November, and that she could probably get a paying gig with Glenn Nye starting after Labor Day.

Sophie: “But I could make some $ now if I worked for Rigell.”

Me: “Is that what’s it about for you… making $ even if it’s in support of somebody who is terrible and terribly wrong?”

Sophie: “Yeah.”

So we’ll see. This should be an interesting test for my daughter’s God-given (and mother-nurtured) left leanings.

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The situation status map of the Gulf Coast spill refers to the things pictured here as “orange pancakes”. And that map shows the line of “orange pancakes”, “silver sheen”, “brown oil” and “tar balls” pushing closer to landfall than indicated yesterday, which was closer still than 48 hours ago.

Yesterday, BP also released 30 seconds of video depicting the “[o]il and gas stream from the riser of the Deepwater Horizon well May 11, 2010. This video is from the larger of two existing leaks on the riser. This leak is located approximately 460 feet from the top of the blowout preventer and rests on the sea floor at a depth of about 5,000 feet”.

It sickens me to think that our Virginia policy makers support drilling off our coast. A spill even a small fraction of the size of this Gulf Coast spill occurring off our Virginia coast would devastate our coastal economy. It is so not worth the risk! These policy makers are in complete denial to a number of things: 1) spills still occur despite all the technological advances (look to the Australian spill as another example of this failure – 3 month long blowout before it could be controlled, a spill almost the footprint size of Virginia, a rig built in 2007); 2) spill response is inadequate and adds insult to injury; and 3) 8 years of oilies controlling the Bush administration has resulted in slipshod Federal regulation and oversight of drilling operations.

A moratorium on new drilling must be enacted!

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Tit is Gov. Bob McDonnell. Tat is Scott Rigell. Tat gives over $98,000 in campaign contributions. Tit gives Tat his endorsement. Tat spat. Tit Shit.

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The wealthy Freedom Ford car salesman in the race for the Republican nod for the pleasure of taking on Rep. Glenn Nye has more to sell than just used cars. He’s all say one thing, do another.

From USA Today “Dealers-turned-candidates run into trouble”:

Scott Rigell, who is running for a House district that includes Virginia Beach, criticized Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a January speech for “reckless bailouts and an out-of-control federal debt.” But records show he sold 138 cars under Cash for Clunkers last year.

“It’s the hypocrisy of it,” said Ben Loyola, a Republican challenging Rigell in the primary. “You can’t say you’re against these programs, bailouts, and yet benefit wholeheartedly from them.”

FYI… it’s an open GOP primary on Tues., June 8. Crossover voting permitted!

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Jim Hoeft of the Republican blog Bearing Drift has decided to organize his supporters to join him in participating in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s “Clean the Bay” Day on Saturday, June 5. This is terrific! The Bay needs all the help it can get.

It’s also very interesting how Jim had to amend the context of his invitation to Republicans to join this event. You see CBF is a 501(c)(3) and is strictly prohibited from engaging in political activities. They are hyper-sensitive to anything that smells like politics anywhere near them.

Last year I was helping Brian Moran in the Democratic primary. He wanted to participate in “Clean the Bay” Day and invite his supporters to join him. He asked me to work on setting it up. The attorney for CBF came down on that idea hard, doing everything he could to stop that from happening with all sorts of restrictions such as no photography, no campaign T-shirts, buttons, stickers, lit, no press release, no reporting, etc., etc. and personally policing our participation that day. We got the picture, respected their position and abandoned the idea.

Jim Hoeft in his blog post announcing Bearing Drift’s participation originally pointed out how June 5 was just a handful of days away from the GOP primary for the 2nd congressional district and how it would be great to see the GOP 2nd candidates join him. One candidate, Jessica Sandlin, responded with “Love it, Jim! I’m in and I’ll bring my kids”. Jim has since struck that language from the blog post. He’ll hopefully also remind the GOP candidates like Jessica of CBF’s restrictions.

I talked to VBDC Chair Susan Mariner about this and she thinks it would be a great activity for Virginia Beach Dems to be involved with too. Look for more details on that coming soon!

Save the Bay and Drill Baby Drill! Right, Jim?

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“The fact is, these things happen”, said Louisiana’s U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu at a hearing of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on November 19, 2009. The flaming oil rig pictured here was responsible for a blowout that took almost three months to bring under control. During that time it dumped over 400 barrels of oil per day into Australian waters, eventually growing to the footprint size of New Jersey.

The Montara was built in 2007 and represents everything the oil industry touts as state-of-the-art advanced technology for “environmentally safe” drilling. BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig responsible for the recent blowout off Louisiana’s coast was built in 2001 and is also touted as safe.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) said 39 fires or explosions were reported offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in the first five months of 2009, the latest period for which statistics are available. Since 2001, there have been 69 offshore deaths, 1,349 injured and 858 fires and explosions in the Gulf of Mexico according to the federal Minerals Management Service. An MMS review published last year found 41 deaths and 302 injuries out of 1,443 oil-rig accidents from 2001 to 2007.

“The tragedy off the coast of Louisiana shows we need to be asking a lot more tough questions of big oil,” U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said. “I think we need to look back over 10 years or so to see if the record denies the industry’s claims about safety and technology.”

Our Virginia legislators, from Webb to Warner to McDonnell to Nye, have jumped lock, stock and barrel into bed with Big Oil, ignoring #1 that “these things happen” and ignoring #2 that the environmental sensitivity analysis is flawed. So said a DC Court of Appeals last year, and the fact that MMS is proposing seismic exploration of the Atlantic is evidence all the more that for Virginia to proceed in the 2007-2012 program, with as little as we do know about the impacts of drilling, is very suspect and irresponsible.

Speak out against the rush to drill Virginia on Thursday April 29. MMS is holding a public hearing on Atlantic seismic surveying at the Hilton Norfolk Airport at 1pm and again at 7pm. The deadline for public comment is May 17. Email comments to GGEIS@mms.gov.

MMS is also accepting public comment on the 2007-2012 program. That deadline is May 3. Email comments to PRPcomments@mms.gov.

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Writes CQ Politics, “As Nye and his party shift to playing defense in a historically challenging midterm election year, CQ is shifting the rating of the 2nd district race to ‘Tossup’ from ‘Leans Democratic.’”

“[H]is party”?????

Oh, that’s right… I remember now. Nye’s a Democrat, for now. That is until Rep. Eric Cantor gets to him.

CQ says they are making the rating change as heir-apparent Scott Rigell with his personal fortune as a car salesman has muscled his way to the top of the crowded pool of Republican nominees.

“And it will be difficult for Republicans to portray him as a lockstep adherent of Democratic leaders because his voting record is among the least liberal in the House Democratic Caucus. Nye voted for the economic stimulus law but bucked his party on the cap-and-trade climate change bill and a Democratic-written health care bill President Obama recently signed into law”, writes CQ.

Ah… silly CQ has forgotten that Republicans lie. Nye will be painted as a liberal Pelosi Democrat no matter what. That is unless Cantor intervenes, shifts course away from Nye, leaving Rigell dangling on his own.

And wouldn’t it be the ultimate kick in the crotch if Glenn somehow manages to gain back Democratic grassroots support, pulls off a win, and then says “fuck it” and jumps parties.

Things would have been so different for Glenn Nye if he had only bothered to listen to the folks that got him elected in 2008. Oh well…. there’s always Tom Perriello’s race to get excited about!

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What zodialogical sign was Glenn Nye born under? Coz damn… the accidental good fortune he keeps getting handed is unbelievable!

“It is disappointing that the former chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Party no longer feels he has a home in his own party”, writes 2nd district GOPper candidate Scott Taylor to the news that Kenny Golden has dropped out of the Republican nomination race to face Glenn Nye as an Independent. Way to split the Republican vote, Mr. Golden!

According to Virginia News Source, the charming current chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Party, Gary Byler, is shitting in his pants. “Unglued? The 2nd District GOP is wrangling with bruised egos, defecting candidates, and a district leadership under internal attack”, they write.

There’s also news that former 2nd district GOPper candidate and former chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Party Chuck Smith has carpet-bagged his way to the 3rd district to wrestle his way into being the GOPper nominee blessed with the good fortune of facing Rep. Bobby Scott in November. Bwaaaaa!!!

(Photo credit: Virginia News Source “Unglued! The Republican political way?”)

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President Obama will be announcing plans today to open up new areas to offshore drilling to include the Atlantic Coast from Delaware south.

My tremendous disappointment with this announcement doesn’t come from the fact that Virginia still stands in line for potential lease sale as early as next year. That’s never going to happen for two reasons: 1) Virginia wants to keep a hold of Oceana’s jets and not kiss off the 11,000 jobs, $773 million in annual payroll, and $452 million in annual local contracting it brings in; and 2) because the 6.5 days worth of oil off Virginia’s coast isn’t worth the lawsuits impending as a result of the Federal government continued slipshod environmental sensitivity analysis nor has it or will it garner any interest from Big Oil especially now as much greener pastures have been opened up.

No, my disappointment comes from how allowances for offshore drilling are been used as a political football to jockey support for the climate bill from especially U.S. Senators in southern Atlantic coast states. Sen. Jim Webb is too in bed with Big Coal to ever support it. Sen. Mark Warner who placates all too often to Chambers of Commerce interests is not very likely to support it either. Meanwhile insertion of more drilling in this supposed “clean energy” climate bill will cost Obama in his quest to garner 60 votes as Senators from northern Atlantic coast states, who strongly stand in opposition to offshore drilling, bail.

So now for this game of political football to work out successfully, that climate bill must stay clean without insertions of drilling, “clean coal”, nuclear and other dirty energy sources. Will it be worth having to suffer through the short-lived “Drill, baby, drill” celebrations in Virginia today? I think so, because like I said… drilling ain’t never going to happen off Virginia’s coast.

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I wonder if GOPper 2nd district candidate Scott Rigell did his homework on this guy Mike Farris before he so gushingly announced his endorsement on Facebook.

Publicly proclaiming that “homosexual behavior is immoral“, this founder of the Home School Legal Defense Fund is a faithful adherent to the “Christian World View of Law“. Not only do these Dominionists believe that homosexuality is immoral, but they want it outlawed as well.

2.6. Sexual Morality

2.6.1. Recognizing in law that monogamous, heterosexual marriage is the only legitimate place for sexual expression and pleasure;

2.6.2. Opposing by law all other forms of sexual relationship and expression—e.g., homosexual and lesbian relationships, bestiality, incest, etc.

So whacked is Farris’ extreme “world view” and the political agenda of HSLDA, that the Organization of Virginia Homeschoolers which represents over 85% of the homeschooling community in Virginia that its President is forced to “doing damage control behind HSLDA.” Unlike HSLDA, OVH is an inclusive grassroots advocacy group that provides accurate information and advocacy for ALL homeschoolers.

So this endorsement from this extreme right winger begs a number of questions to candidate Rigell, number 1 of which is his beliefs on homosexuality and number 2 of which is his concerns for the 85% of Virginia’s homeschooling community not under Farris’ control and domination.

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This is the header image on an email (“Game Time”) from Rep. Nye today.

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