VB Dems

Apparently, the hesitancy of Sandra Smith-Jones to resign from the Virginia Beach School Board has to do with some Republican behind-the-scenes maneuvers. They would like to see Republican Scott Seery back on the School Board, despite the fact that he got shellacked last year by Dottie Holtz. Scott Seery lives in the Princess Anne district so he can’t be considered to replace Smith-Jones, who represents the Kempsville district. There lies the Republican dilemma.

Here’s their answer to the problem. Republican At-Large rep Patrick Salyer moves to the Kempsville district which he wanted to do eventually anyway as he plans to run for Harry Dietzel’s seat on the Virginia Beach City Council when he retires. They do the “Carolyn Weems” and automatically make him the Kempsville School Board rep. That leaves an opening for Patrick’s former At-Large seat. Voila! Scott Seery gets the appointment. Pretty clever, don’t you think?!

Welcome to the Banana Republic of Virginia Beach!

Share on Facebook

On November 20, 2010, my daughter tore her ACL playing soccer. Her insurance at that time was through Blue Cross Blue Shield which had a $7,500 deductible, which means I’m out of pocket for the initial doctor visit, X-Ray, the orthopedic visit and the MRI. Ouch!

Within days of her injury, my employer had open enrollment and I added Paul and my 3 kids to my existing plan with Aetna, which went into effect for them on January 1, 2011. Sophie had her knee surgery on January 13 and is covered for 60 physical therapy sessions.

So, what happens if the Affordable Care Act is repealed? Is Sophie’s surgery and rehab not covered as it is a pre-existing condition? My 19-year-old son also has a pre-existing condition (ADD/depression). Could he be bounced from my plan? Or would I be forced to pay a lot extra in premiums to keep him covered on my plan?

I’m looking to you, Rep. Scott Rigell, for answers here. You know what you’re doing here, right?

Share on Facebook

We’re in trouble! Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton told the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce that the McDonnell administration “will seek to find new revenue sources to pay for projects. These could include state royalties from off-shore drilling, as well as money from Governor McDonnell’s plan to privatize ABC stores.” (Source: Charlottesville Tomorrow)

If (and that’s a big if) the Feds were to share revenue from drilling with coastal states, it would be ten years before that money would be realized. Some think money would come immediately from the investment into drilling infrastructure from Big Oil (refineries, pipelines, etc.). Ummmm…. no. If Virginia is to a point where rigs are allowed off its coast (a regulatory process that’s also years in the making) so too are rigs allowed off the rest of the Atlantic coast’s states. Big Oil’s not interested in Virginia. There’s too little oil off our coast.

Privatization of alcohol sales conversely are a potential shot in the arm for transportation. From Tim Hughes, Washington Business Journal:

“The governor has estimated a one-time windfall from the sale of $300 million to $500 million … compared to $231 million in annual profits and taxes garnered on gross sales of $675 million. The loss of these profits makes no sense unless Virginians can expect huge increases in alcohol prices to cover new licensing fees imposed to replace these profits.”

I work from home and my husband’s employer for the last couple years has had the knack for picking up jobs in the nearby Croatan area. In other words, our jobs aren’t dependent on having to get anywhere in Hampton Roads on time. I feel so sorry for the thousands that do however. It’s one thing to deal with the traffic stress let alone the stress of knowing those in a position to possibly fix the situation are total stinking idiots.

Share on Facebook

Share on Facebook

This editorial in today’s Virginian-Pilot (“A modest to-do list for the AG” by Daryl Lease) made me spit out my sip of coffee.

Share on Facebook

Bwaaaaa! I stumbled across this page looking for a website for School Board candidate Carray Banks. They had nothing on Carray, but I wonder who’s on this secret “Political Operative” list???

Political Operatives (12 Articles) – Political operator in either party or organizations outside of party structure. Registration Required!

I laugh, but perhaps I should instead be a little sad. The days of fearmongering aren’t over yet. Why are these people so anxious to return to the days of yore, some even reminiscent of the McCarthy era.

But then with articles such as this, can they ever be taken seriously? Back to laughing! Bwaaaaa!!!

Share on Facebook

UPDATE: Vivian has the schedule of redistricting public hearings posted, which includes one Sept. 22, 7pm, at Roper Performing Arts Center, Tidewater Community College in Norfolk.

When voters go to the polls in November 2011 will they be showing up at new, redrawn districts? What will those districts look like?

I’ll be curious to see if or how the 90th, 21st, 84th, and 81st might get re-drawn. According to NLS, overflow from Beach house districts would be pushed into Algie Howell’s district, thus “de-Democrating” the 21st, Bobby Mathieson’s old district. They could also push certain blue-trending precincts in Sal Iaquinto’s district into the 90th district.

The Beach gets redder. Oh joy…

The 2nd congressional district is too small while Forbes’ 4th district is too big. Look for red Chesapeake to be added to the 2nd is my prediction.

The 2nd congressional district gets redder. Oh joy…

We’re moving back to the 1950’s. Is there anything Democrats can do to stop this or at least to minimize the punishment?

Share on Facebook

I attended Gov. McDonnell’s Town Hall meeting at ODU on Monday night. This meeting was all about McDonnell pushing his agenda which I assume is supported by all his minions in the General Assembly. Yet few of his foot soldiers could bother showing up.

Democrats outnumbered Republicans at this meeting 3-2. Showing up were Sen. Ralph Northam, Del. Lynwood Lewis, and Del. Paula Miller for the Dems, and Del. Chris Stolle and Del. Glen Oder for the Repugs. Where was Iaquinto, Purkey, Tata, Knight, Villanueva?

Share on Facebook

Judging by the emails filling my In Box, conservatives want to dominate the Governor’s town hall meetings so they can claim broad popular support for, and no opposition to, McDonnell’s conservative agenda. “Reform state government” and “build a strong jobs-friendly environment” mean eliminating regulations and programs to protect the environment, granting businesses the right to rip off and even threaten the health and safety of consumers while denying them recourse in the courts, and slashing funding for public education and programs that serve Virginia’s most vulnerable citizens.

We can’t let this happen. The Governor needs to hear that his right wing chums are not the voice of the people of Virginia.

Be there TONIGHT (Monday Aug. 9), 7:00-8:30 at Old Dominion University’s Webb Center, Webb University Center, 4201 Hampton Blvd., Norfolk.

Share on Facebook

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?

Share on Facebook

State Senator Jeff McWaters in an email blast said “It is understandable that accidents do happen; however we must be more prepared in the future for such disasters. Americans must learn from what happened, creating new science to improve our current drilling technology for future oil discovery.”

Um… no…

Like Rachel Maddow points out the only technology that has improved is our capacities to drill deeper and in deeper water. Mention “drilling” and “technology” in the same sentence and me and a majority of the United States citizenry will personally beat you down. We call “bull shit” to all the “oh technology is the answer” con artists.

We need to break our addiction to dirty fossil fuels and be smart about our investments in energy. President Obama gets it! He announced today that it’s time to roll back “billions of dollars in tax breaks” for oil companies and use the money for clean energy research and development. Amen!

Share on Facebook

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?

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

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.

Share on Facebook

Here’s the Facebook message from the Hampton Roads Tea Party:

Hi Everyone-

We’ve been getting a bunch letters asking what the Hampton Roads Tea Party is doing about the primary election June 8. We have been meeting with and observing the candidates since mid-January. As time has gone on, the candidates have indeed differentiated themselves.

One candidate in particular, the GOP pick Scott Rigell we felt that we had to bring to your attention. Read below our “Scott Rigell Facts”. There is NO hearsay in any of them. They have all been validated. Rigell is still defending them.

****************************************************
Scott Rigell Facts:

Scott Rigell is in the GOP –backed candidate for the 2nd Congressional District Primary race. His endorsements include Governor Bob McDonnell, Minority Whip Eric Cantor, and Former Massachusetts Govenor Mitt Romney. He is a pro-life social conservative. He’s a business man, not a lawyer. Sounds good so far, right?

There’s just a couple of problems:

Rigell, who promotes himself as a fiscally conservative Republican gave $1,000 o Barack Obama’s primary presidential campaign. (Source: Federal Elections Commission). Why did a “conservative” give money to such an extreme left wing candidate? In Rigell’s own words: “The thought of another Clinton in the White House was worse than Barack Obama”. And later, “…I was moved by his
rhetoric….”

As of Sunday May 16, 2010 (on his Facebook “Likes” page) – Rigell still stands by his “reasons”.

Does that sound like a fiscal, or even a socially conservative Republican?

But wait! There’s more!

(more…)

Share on Facebook