Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Democrats’ Counterforce Troika

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Peter Galuszka| 6 Comments

Terry McAuliffe, Mark Herring, Ralph NorthamBy Peter Galuszka

Setting up a nice counterpoint to the Republican Party’s strident assault on women’s issues and other social matters, Ralph S. Northam, one of two good options, was selected as lieutenant governor candidate for the Democratic Party in Tuesday’s primary. Winning the attorney general nomination was Mark R. Herring.

The two should be valuable counterpoints to E.W. Jackson, the Republican’s choice for lieutenant governor, and Mark Obenshain, the GOP attorney general candidate. Those two have been noted for over-the-top positions on birth control and abortion that have proved enormously divisive.

Northam, a Norfolk pediatric neurologist who defeated technology guru Aneesh Chopra, ran a freedom-of-choice campaign on women’s issues, pointing out that his profession has given him a special knowledge of the privacy that needs to cloak health issues. As a state senator, he fought last year to stop the Republicans’ pathetic bill requiring trans-vaginal ultrasounds before a woman could have a legal abortion.

Chopra would have made a decent candidate as well. The former top technology officer for Gov. Tim Kaine and President Obama, he symbolizes the importance of Virginia’s tech sector, where many of the state’s jobs have been created over the past two decades. He would have helped draw attention to Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s quest to create jobs.

Voters, however, seemed to say that the Republican troika of hard-liners, led by gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli, required a strong counterattack on social issues.

Jackson only fueled skepticism about his candidacy at a press conference Wednesday when he talked about his past, which includes a bankruptcy and a spotty career in the broadcast media. His statement that he smoked marijuana makes no difference (who hasn’t under the age of 70) but his continued statements that gays and lesbians are “sick” and his claims that Planned Parenthood led a eugenics movement against African-Americans are absurd.

It is rather sad for the state that such wedge issues dominate attention when there are so many other important problems to address. Another disturbing point was that yesterday’s turnout was only a poor 140,000 voters. Either voters don’t care or they are tired of Virginia’s off-year state electoral system.

The lax showing still showed more voter involvement than the convention the Republicans held last month in lieu of a statewide primary. Cuccinelli maneuvered to have the convention to ensure that he would beat out Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling as gubernatorial candidate. At the convention, the hard-right-leaning delegates went for candidates of the same stripe.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged

McAuliffe Engages in First-Hand Research

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Groveton| 4 Comments
McAuliffe

Please click on the photo to get the full benefit of McAuliffe’s expression.

On the road again.  Terry McAuliffe is a busy man.  There are cars to be built in Mississippi and wood to be pelletized in Franklin, VA.  Beyond that, there is an annoying requirement to actually win an election before becoming governor. None of this phases Mr. McAuliffe. Between the cars and the pellets T-Mac may have fallen a bit behind on the issues facing Virginia but he is catching up quickly.  He recently found out about the ultrasound controversy that roiled the last General Assembly session.  Mr. McAuliffe decided to investigate the matter by getting one of these supposedly invasive ultrasounds himself.

Ain’t gonna plank no shad.  McAuliffe was invited to the annual Shad Planking Day.  However, McAuliffe didn’t know what “shad” or “planking” meant so he declined.  Instead of wasting an entire day avoiding both shad and plankings, he decided instead to get one of those ultrasounds that have created all the hubbub.  He dutifully went to a medical facility in Hampton, VA and demanded a pre-abortion ultrasound.

“Maybe watch this video first.”  After demanding a pre-abortion ultrasound from the doctor Mr. McAuliffe was advised that such a procedure is generally used only for women.  McAuliffe insisted that he was no sexist and wanted that procedure done on him, pronto.  The doctor convinced T-Mac to watch a video of the procedure first and the attached photo was taken as McAuliffe saw what the conservatives in the General Assembly have in mind.  Thus continues the education of Candidate McAuliffe.

OK, it didn’t really happen that way…  The photo was actually from a visit T-Mac made on Shad Planking Day to a dental clinic at Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, VA.  In the “truth is stranger than fiction” category, McAuliffe published this photo himself via Twitter with the caption, “Thanks to the fine folks @TNCCfeed Thomas Nelson Community College for showing me around their Dental Clinic today.” Hey, Terry, as Anthony Weiner and Brett Favre discovered, it’s a good safety tip to actually look at the photograph you are about to publish before hitting “send.”

- D.J. Rippert

→ 4 Comments

Posted in 2013, Abortion, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged

Corruption? This is Virginia!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Peter Galuszka| 11 Comments

 By Peter Galuszka

An old adage in journalism has it that good stories just keep getting better.

And so it is with the saga of Jonnie Williams Sr. and the family of Robert F. McDonnell, the governor. First we learn, courtesy of The Washington Post, that the head of Star Scientific gave McDonnell’s daughter $15,000 worth of food for her Executive Mansion wedding in 2011 along with $100,000 worth of corporate jet rides for McDonnell and his staff.

Now we also learn that Williams paid for McDonnell to vacation at Smith Mountain Lake and loaned him a Land Cruiser and a $190,000 Ferrari.

There’s nothing illegal about any of this given Virginia’s toothless government accountability laws. Gifts have to be disclosed annually and the only problem seems to have been that McDonnell did not disclose the wedding meal because the gift was for his daughter even though he signed papers for the wedding celebration.

One reason why Virginia is so incredibly weak in regulating donations and gifts to public figures is another one of its conceits. There is an old saw that if one is elected to office he or she must be a gentleman or lady, after all they are Virginians. Presumably, this also means they are appropriately of English or Anglo Saxon ancestry.

There’s another reason as well, according to Gordon Witkin of the State Integrity Investigation Project that flunks Virginia for acountability.

In an interview I did with him for Style Weekly, he says that Virginia’s preference for loose regulation is based on its limited government, libertarian mind set that is more in keeping with attitudes in the Plains or Western states than the Northeast or Midwest. “It’s like in Wyoming where a state senator was asked why it was OK to make a right or left turn in a car without signaling. His response: “If you want to make a turn, it’s no one else’s damned business.”

That’s about the size of it among some of the most influence conservatives in the state, including gubernatorial hopeful Kenneth Cuccinelli, unless, of course the matter involves abortion in which case the state will add on all sorts of regulations.

Witkin’s group gave Virginia an “F” its recent survey. The Old Dominion was one of eight states to get the rating and was ranked 47th out of 50 stats. The ranking was based on awful scores in public access to information, executive and judicial accountability and budgetary, lobbying and ethics enforcement. “The systems and procedures in Virginia for accountability and procedure are weak,” says Witkin.

Denise Roth Barber, managing director of the National Institute on Money and State Politics, based in Helena MT, says that “Virginia is one of four states that have no limits on contributions. It is one of seven states with no limits on corporate giving.”

Virginia also allows unlimited gifts as long as they are disclosed annually. Florida, by contrast, forbids any gifts at all, including a free cup of coffee.

Virginia is also one of nine states that have no ethics commissions. The State Corporation Commission, which oversees business and sets electricity rates, is  immune from the Freedom of Information Act.

Why so lax? One explanation is that years ago, the idea took somehow shape that Virginia’s politicians are gentlemen and ladies above the tackiness of graft. That would be in marked contrast to such sleazepots such as Illinois and New Jersey, which, curiously, received a “C” and a “B+” ranking for accountability the State Integrity survey. Witkin says that states such as these erect tighter rules after significant scandals.

This leads to a chicken or egg kind of problem. “I don’t think the level of public corruption in Virginia is high at all,” says political analyst Bob Holsworth, noting that the survey rated the toughness of laws not how crooked a state is. However, in light of the McDonnell wedding meal, ‘the gift issue is clearly a loophole that should be closed,” Holsworth adds. For starters, he says, gift disclosures should include immediate family members of the public official.

Sounds like a great place to start.

→ 11 Comments

Posted in Courts and law, Crime and corrections, Electoral process, Finance, Money in politics, Politics, Regulation, Uncategorized

Tagged

Technology and UVa’s Mission

Posted on March 31, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 21 Comments

by James A. Bacon

Three days ago, I criticized University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan for proposing to jack up tuition roughly 20% over the next four years. Clearly, the four-year plan she is submitting to the Board of Visitors champions the interests of the faculty and administration over those of the students. But that doesn’t mean the four-year plan is entirely without merit. In fact, there appears to be some very good thinking in it… assuming the goal of building a world-class university supersedes all others.

In particular, I am intrigued by Sullivan’s proposal to invest more heavily in information technology. Technology is changing the way people “teach, learn, discover, publish and collaborate,” she writes. “The very fabric of inquiry is being altered by data, computation, and emerging tools of digital expression.”

While  current IT funding has allowed the university to meet normal levels of service demand, UVa spends only 2.4% of its institutional budget on central IT compared to 3% for doctoral institutions generally. Proposing to dedicate more resources to IT, Sullivan outlines four “areas of strategic focus”:

Enhanced IT security, records management and compliance. The university is poorly positioned to respond to the rapidly change IT threat environment — the network is tested “thousands of times a day” by hackers and automated bots. Over the next four years, Sullivan proposes, UVa should double its investment in this area, with particular emphasis on mobile technology, enhanced security for big data, eDiscovery, intrusion detection and data loss protection.

Advanced networks, big data and digital scholarship. The national Science Foundation is encouraging research institutions to move to 100-gigabyte-per-second networks. The university is seeking partners to offset capital and operational costs which could amount to as much as $10 million up front and $2 million a year. Sullivan also wants $2 million over four years to add 2.6 petabytes of storage (250 gigabytes per faculty member).

UVa has been at the forefront of digital research and scholarship. Two programs deploy “tiger teams,” groups of computational/ digital experts who work intensively with scholars to raise their research to the next computational level. The programs face more demand than they can handle, and Sullivan wants to hire staff at an annual cost of $700,000.

Analytics. Sullivan wants to add a data warehouse to its Oracle financial system in order to conduct more robust reporting and analysis. The move is all the more necessary as the university moves to a more decentralized financial model holding units accountable for revenues and expenses.

Online and technology-enhanced learning. Over the next two years, central IT should hire five employees to support copyright clearance, video production and project management and accessible compliance at an ongoing cost of $500,000. the positions should be located and funded within the academic units because the need for discipline-specific knowledge limits the ability to scale across units.

I don’t know enough about the technology to agree or disagree with the specifics of Sullivan’s plan, but I do believe she is raising important issues.

Much of the discussion about UVa’s technology future has revolved around utilizing online-learning technology to drive down the cost of education, making the university’s world-class faculty more accessible to a larger number of people at less cost. UVa is experimenting with online learning but, judging by this document, Sullivan’s heart resides elsewhere.

The UVa president sees technology as a tool to empower the university’s faculty members, enabling them to shine as scholars and researchers. This vision is sure to warm the hearts of UVa professors — can there be any question why the faculty loves her so?

If UVa’s mission is to provide an affordable, high-quality education for Virginia citizens, Sullivan’s plan will not get us there. If the university’s vision is to build upon its reputation as one of the nation’s elite universities offering a premium-priced product for the cognitive and income elite as the rest of the world embraces online learning, then Sullivan’s plan is just the thing.

I have been critical of Sullivan because I’ve always thought of UVa as a public university that provided me an excellent education for a price that did not bankrupt my parents. But perhaps that idea is outdated. Perhaps UVa should push to become an elite institution. In a future post,  I’ll play devil’s advocate and make the case for just such a future.

→ 21 Comments

Posted in 2013, Education (higher ed), Science & Technology, Uncategorized

Tagged ,

Fight Global Warming – Stop Eating Meat

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Groveton| 12 Comments

A rose by any other name.  The term “global warming” is often replaced by “global climate change.”  The injunction to stop eating meat could mean an abstention from red meat, vegetarianism, veganism or anything in-between.  There is a lot of nuance in these areas.  However, one thing is certain – the production of meat by humans is a major contributor to the creation of greenhouse gasses.

I’d like to change the world but I don’t know where to start.  The debate over global climate change and what to do about it is mind numbing.  Even as more Americans “believe” in global warming few seem to know what should be done.  Much focus is put on replacing fossil fuel with renewable energy.  While alluring, this “cure” involves complex technology and debatable economics.  It’s also correctly perceived to be very expensive.  One optimistic estimate is that the US could reduce fossil fuel usage by 70% over the next 30 years by spending $200B per year.  After $6T we’d still be burning fossil fuel, just not as much of it.  Maybe.

The secret sauce.  A 2006 report claimed that 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions were attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, pigs and poultry.  However, in 2009 a pair of researchers came to a startling conclusion – livestock and their byproducts account for 51% of annual worldwide GHG emissions.  Wow!  Current research indicates that somewhere between one-fifth and one-half of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the raising of livestock for human consumption.  In fact, producing one calorie from animal protein requires 11 times as much fossil fuel input as does producing one calorie of plant protein.

Whose ox is being gored?  Last week Al Gore declared that now is the time for a carbon tax.  Watching the rotund former Vice President being interviewed on TV I could almost smell the double bacon cheeseburgers on his breath.  Let’s be honest, you don’t get to Big Al’s size by over consuming vegetables.  I’d be a lot more open to his ideas on raising my taxes if he seemed to exhibit even a semblance of personal responsibility for his own carbon footprint.  I mean, how hard could it be?  Well, I am going to find out.

Rule of the Templars.  History buffs will know that the Templar Knights were a monastic order of warrior-priests in the Middle Ages.  The Templars had a problem: They wanted to be humble but they needed to be strong enough to fight. Humility required that the Templars forgo meat in favor of more simple fare. Strength required protein and, in the minds of the Templars, that meant meat. Their compromise was elegant.  The Templar code requires that meat be eaten in only three meals per week. I have a problem too.  I like meat.  A lot.  But in the interests of saving the Earth I’ll follow the Templar example and only eat meat three times a week. Will this dietary change hurt me? I don’t know but it doesn’t seem to have done Alicia Silverstone any harm.

D.J. Rippert

→ 12 Comments

Posted in 2013, Agriculture & forestry, Energy, Environment, Science & Technology, The Economy, Uncategorized

Tagged

Good Amtrak, Bad Amtrak.

Posted on March 1, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 8 Comments

Scene at the Lynchburg train station. Photo credit: WSET-TV.

Passenger rail in the United States is experiencing a renaissance, maintain the authors of a new Brookings Institution report. Amtrak ridership has increased 55% since 1997, faster than other major travel modes. The secret, the authors contend, is Amtrak’s collaboration with states to upgrade tracks, operate routes and redevelop stations.

Hmmm… The report downplays the fact that Amtrak required about $1.4 billion in federal and state support in Fiscal 2012, or that 40 of its routes lose money while only four ran a positive cash balance. The report does note, however, that there really are two Amtraks — a profitable core in the Mid-Atlantic/New England states and an unprofitable everything else. It’s worth noting that Virginia’s Amtrak service, a modest appendage to the profitable core, essentially broke even between 2007 and 2011.

Amtrak runs two high-volume routes in the Washington-Boston corridor, the most densely populated region of the country, where trains are competitive with air for mid-distance travel. The high-speed Acela, which runs 308 miles, carried 3.4 million passengers last year and generated a positive cash balance of $179 million in Fiscal 2011, by far the most profitable leg of the system. The Northeast Regional route, which runs 330 miles, carried 8 million passengers last year and generated a surplus of $28 million in Fiscal 2011.

Then there’s everybody else. Of those routes in the “everybody else” category, only two generated a positive cash balance, both miniscule. One is the Adirondack route, with a surplus of $1.3 million, and the other… drum roll, please… is the 173-mile Washington-Lynchburg route, which racked up a $3.3 million surplus on 185,000 passengers.

Every other route in the country lost money. Of those, the 187-mile Washington-Newport News route was one of the few to come close to breaking even, losing only a half million dollars on 624,000 passengers.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that the Virginia routes are profitable because the state negotiated a sweet deal with Amtrak several years back. Kudos to the unheralded administrators in the Department of Rail and Public Transport who struck such a good bargain. The bad news is that the deal is expiring and Amtrak wants more money. Virginia will be hard-pressed to maintain those routes profitably.

As much as I loathe transportation modes that fail to pay their own way, Virginia is probably justified in supporting its inter-city passenger rail service. Traffic is growing (and will grow even faster in the Old Dominion with the launch of Washington-Norfolk service), and will continue to grow as gasoline prices rise. The long-term future of passenger rail looks bright for the Northeast corridor, which bodes well for Virginians using the train to reach Northeast destinations. Maintaining the rail option for a modest sum provides Virginia inexpensive insurance against future run-ups in gasoline prices that make travel by car, bus and rail more costly. The McDonnell administration’s inter-city rail policy has not been ambitious but it has been sensible.

– JAB

→ 8 Comments

Posted in 2013, Transportation, Uncategorized

Tagged

Introducing the Clownie Awards

Posted on February 27, 2013 by Groveton| 11 Comments

Showtime.  Last Sunday I was doing administrative work at home and decided to turn on the TV for some background noise.  While changing channels to get to the Fishing Network I noticed that the Oscars were being awarded.  I didn’t spend much time considering the matter until I found that the fishing channel was broadcasting an hour long informercial on leader line that I had seen twice.  In a close call I turned back to the Oscars.  I was watching some guy whose claim to fame is being the creator of the Family Guy cartoon arguing with a video feed of William Shatner portraying a super-sized James T. Kirk.  I was thinking that only the Imperial Clown Show in Richmond is more bizarre than the Oscars when it hit me – we need an award contest for the General Assembly session.  The Clownies!

The Rules.  Having conceived of the contest I followed Bacon’s Rebellion protocol and convened a meeting of the editorial board to discuss the concept and the rules prior to a vote of the elders.  Yeah, sure.  There is no protocol, there is no editorial board, no vote and these are my rules.  I make up the categories, I nominate legislators and I pick the “winners.” Anybody who has a suggestion can make those suggestions in the comments section.  If there’s nothing good on the fishing channel I’ll take the comments into account before I select the “winners.”

Clown of the Year.  This coveted award comes with two automatic nominees – Bob Marshall and Dick Saslaw.  Neither one of these legislators disappointed us in the 2013 season with Del. Marshall in the running for the Most Clownish Proposed Legislation award.  I am adding Sen. Donald McEachin to the nominee pool.  In 2013 McEachin coined a new term – Democrat in name only (or DINO) by voting against Sen Chap Petersen’s proposed constitutional amendment to automatically “sunset” tax breaks after 5 years (SJ281).  McEachin was joined in voting “Nay” by other DINOs such as Dick Saslaw, Janet Howell and Barbara Favola.  That alone would have qualified Donny Mac for consideration.  However, his contention that the fee for hybrid cars was “hidden” in the transportation package puts him into the rarefied air of COTY leadership.  It seems that Sen. McEachin was in favor of the fee until he was opposed to it. Super work, Don.

Most Clownish Proposed Legislation.  After 2012′s bumper crop of craziness such as tax breaks for orbiting space urns I expected a drop off this year.  However, as long as there is a Bob Marshall there will be a clownish legislation award.  This year’s leading nominee is HJ590 – a bill from Marshall to fund a study for Virginia’s own currency in the event of a breakdown of the Federal Reserve System.  In an effort to prove his zeal for fiscal responsibility, Marshall proposed that up to $22,560 be spent on the study.  Marshall defended the $22,560 cost by claiming it would only be a single Ginny coin in his new currency system.  Rumors that anti-psychotic drug makers have been bidding to put their logo on the obverse of the 5 Marshall bill have been strongly denied.

Most Clowns in a Volkswagen.  This award is given annually to the proposed legislation or program that attracts the greatest number of looney tunes legislators.  Special consideration is given to programs that ignore simple and straightforward solutions in favor of misshapen ideas that would make MC Escher proud.  This year’s leading nominee is the transportation package. Rather than just raise the gas tax this Rube Goldberg contraption mixes fees for hybrid cars with sales tax, regional authorities and an invisible internet tax to create this year’s version of Bozo Stew.  In the event that this legislation is found to be unconstitutional after being signed into law it will automatically win the award.

Vote early and often.  As previously mentioned, I will consider new nominees and even new categories if submitted in the comments section of this post.

D.J. Rippert

→ 11 Comments

Posted in 2013, Politics, Taxes, Uncategorized

Tagged

So, What Would Happen If Richmond, Like, Got Hit by a Killer Asteroid?

Posted on February 15, 2013 by James A. Bacon| 10 Comments

Asteroid 2012 DA14 is expected to pass 17,200 miles from Planet Earth today. What would happen if a splinter, say the size of a school bus, broke off and plummeted to earth at 12 miles per second, striking downtown Richmond?

You can get a glimmer from these videos on the Atlantic Cities blog of a kitchen table-sized meteor streaking through the sky near Chelyabinsk, Russia. But a school bus is a lot bigger than a kitchen table. Thanks to the good folks at KillerAsteroids.org, we can simulate the impact, as seen above.

The entire downtown area would be incinerated, and the better part of the city would be subject to a zone where “steel buildings are knocked over.” Tragically, the Third Street Diner, a genuine Richmond landmark, would be consumed in the blast. On a positive note, the entire apparatus of state government — including the General Assembly, if the asteroid hit during the session — would be obliterated. Don’t worry: Yours truly resides safely outside the blast zone, so Bacon’s Rebellion would continue publishing.

– JAB

→ 10 Comments

Posted in 2013, Disaster planning, Uncategorized

Tagged

Cuccinelli visits UVa and evades the issues

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Groveton| 5 Comments

Road trip!  Gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General and budding author Ken Cuccinelli visited the University of Virginia this week at the invitation of well known professor Larry Sabato.  Reports from those on the scene indicate that Mr. Cuccinelli spent most of his time dancing around the issues rather than presenting any coherent plans.

Just say maybe.  Asked about the possibility of Virginia legalizing marijuana, Cuccinell had this to say, “I’m not sure about Virginia’s future [in terms of marijuana legalization], but I and a lot of people are watching Colorado and Washington to see how it plays out.” How enlightening.  In the spirit of colleges and multiple choice tests, let’s see if we can help Mr. Cuccinelli organize his thoughts.  Mr. Cuccinelli, please select either a) or b) – “I a) support, b) oppose a ballot initiative for Virginians to decide whether marijuana should be legalized in the state.” Please note, there is no option to pick “both” or “none of the above” for this question.

In a glass house with a bag of rocks.  Having said exactly nothing in response to the question of legalizing marijuana Mr. Cuccinelli moved onto the matter of economic development.  From the Cavalier Daily article, “Cuccinelli criticized Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe, the likely Democratic nominee. He said McAuliffe had failed to take a strong stance on economic policy.  ’In my opponent’s economic proposals he’s talked more about taxes,’ Cuccinelli said. ‘When the economy is in the kind of state it is in, we want to be careful with that.’  Cuccinelli thinks McAuliffe has failed to take a strong stand on economic development? One assumes that Cuccinelli must have a strong position on this matter.  Apparently not.  A visit to the Cuccinelli for Governor web site brings us to the Issues tab.  That tab has the following categories:  The Constitution and Liberty, Healthcare, Life, Immigration, Taxes & Spending, 2nd Amendment.  It seems economic policy didn’t make the cut of major issues for Mr. Cuccinelli.  Maybe there’s something under Taxes & Spending?  ”As Governor, Ken will continue to support a free market environment for starting and growing business in the Commonwealth, including using his political influence to fight tax increases.”  Free market good, taxes bad.  That’s it?  Time for a “yes” or “no” question.  Mr. Cuccinelli, if you were Governor right now would you veto the proposed legislation allowing jurisdictions in Tideater and NoVa to impose up to a 1% income tax without a voter referendum?  Again, Mr. Cuccinelli, that’s either “yes” or “no”.

Mann oh Mann.  Mr. Cuccinelli, an alumnus of the University of Virginia, visited the University of Virginia and “forgot” to mention his two year legal battle against the University of Virginia in regard to Prof. Michael Mann’s research at the University of Virginia.  Perhaps Mr. Cuccinelli should have tied a ribbon around his finger to help him remember his nationally reported legal battle with the university he was visiting. Mr. Cuccinelli, if you ever address a LGBT group you may need all of your fingers for ribbons.

Motherhood, apple pie and college tuition.  Again, from the Cavalier Daily article, “One concern I have is pricing higher education out of the reach of middle class families,” Cuccinelli said. “Making sure students can access an education … and that’s tied into financial stability.”  That’s super helpful, Ken.  Heck, people might vote for you based on that pithy and insightful comment alone.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.  Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign to date has been a train wreak.  He’s refused to honor thirty years of precedent by resigning from his position as Attorney General in order to campaign for governor.  He’s publishing a book that, among other things, takes public swimming pools to task for competing with private physical fitness enterprises (page 240).  Now, he’s bumbling across the state belching great gusts of hot air rather than saying anything concrete about his position on the issues affecting Virginians.  Cuccinelli is widely reported to be a shrewd, brilliant and cunning politician.  So far, he seems a lot more like the Great and Powerful Oz than the savior of the Republican Party.

DJ Rippert

→ 5 Comments

Posted in 2013, Economic development, Economy, Education (higher ed), Gay rights, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged ,

Cuccinelli Shows Leadership on Renewable Energy

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Groveton| 12 Comments

By D.J. Rippert

Greeninelli? Last July I wrote a column on this blog entitled, “The Dirty Deal on Dominion’s Clean Energy Credits.”  In that post I documented the slippery deal between Virginia’s General Assembly and Dominion Resources regarding renewable energy goals. In a clear example of crony capitalism the General Assembly passed a law allowing Dominion to get a “rate bonus” for the implementation of renewable energy sources without actually having to create any renewable energy sources.  Dominion, as usual, thanked its puppets in the General Assembly with a continuing river of campaign contributions.  However, there’s trouble in River City.  Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli just threw a fly into the ointment of the political graft that lubricates much of Richmond’s business community.  He called “foul” on Dominion and the General Assembly.

Odd bedfellows indeed.  Ken Cuccinelli finds himself in a strange alliance with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.  Cuccinelli’s office issued a report calling into the question the dubious renewable energy laws passed by the General assembly.  The Washington Post article sums up Cuccinelli’s position nicely: “Cuccinelli said the incentives given to Dominion Virginia Power and Appalachian Power have not served their purpose and called on the General Assembly to eliminate the bonuses. He painted the law as short-changing consumers and the environment.” On Monday the Chesapeake Climate Action Network issued a report supporting Cuccinelli’s position on this matter.

Through a Nearby Mirror.  In 2009, Bob McDonnell famously transformed himself from conservative firebrand to reasonable moderate.  That transformation landed him in the governor’s house.  Now, Michael Mann’s nemesis Ken Cuccinelli is in cahoots with a group that has as its exclusive mission, “  … fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.”  Can the RPV reprise the Professor Higgins role it played so masterfully in 2009?  With a little bit of luck.

Rippert’s Read-out.  This is a very deft political move by Ken Cuccinelli.  Cooch’s priority is to avoid an Obama-scale turnout at the polls next November. He must convince apathetic Democratic voters that his tenure as Attorney General was that of an honest bureaucrat and not a flame throwing conservative activist.  He must convince them that staying home rather than voting their lukewarm preference for Terry McAuliffe is OK.  Don’t agree with with his actions on the Michael Mann issue?  Just look at his actions against Dominion’s renewable energy hoax.  Meanwhile, he tells conservatives that he is protecting their wallets from what is essentially a government agency in Dominion.  Cuccinelli certainly can’t become a liberal.  It’s debatable whether he can be seen as a right-leaning moderate.  However, he can be less of a pariah to those in the Obama coalition and this is a good first step in that direction.  Remember, his goal is not to convert Democrats to his side.  His goal is to make them comfortable in staying home next November.

→ 12 Comments

Posted in Energy, Money in politics, Politics, Uncategorized

Tagged ,