Author: James A. Bacon
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Best of Intentions, Unintended Consequences
by Matt Hurt Maintaining an appropriate level of orderliness in school is a delicate, nuanced balance when done well. Without discipline learning can’t take place. Good teachers are loath to remain in schools that do not maintain appropriate student behavior. Students respond to some practices by some teachers and administrators, and run roughshod over others. Many…
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A Delinquent Water Bill Dashboard?
by Jon Baliles The City of Richmond put out a release last week touting the Department of Public Utilities (DPU) “Back on Track” program that offers any customer with an outstanding balance to sign up for a payment plan before March 31st. Both residential and commercial customers with delinquent balances can set up an interest-free…
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Governor Youngkin’s Fiscal Legacy
Jim Bacon chats with former Finance Secretary Cummings about former Governor Glenn Youngkin’s budgetary achievements, Virginia’s economic development track record, and how well positioned the commonwealth is to survive a federal financial meltdown. Lightly edited transcript Jim Bacon: Hello, everyone. I’m Jim Bacon, and this is the Oinkonomics podcast. Whatever your feelings about Glenn…
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Mandated Public-Sector Unions Will Drive Up Property Taxes
by the Liberty Unyielding staff In Virginia, the Democratic state legislature is likely to adopt legislation that requires local governments to engage in collective bargaining with public-employee unions. If the local government and the union can’t agree on a big wage hike, an arbitrator will still be able to order the big wage hike if the arbitrator…
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Quote of the Day — Jim Murray and Meredith Woo
From their column in the Washington Post, “U.S. universities have lost sight of their core task“: America’s elite universities have superb engineering, computer science and medical programs that produce talented graduates. Yet even at the finest flagship schools, and certainly at the hundreds of other schools, too many of our most promising undergraduates remain in…
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Small Business Suffers More from Bad Policies
by Chris Saxman Small business costs and Virginia’s competitiveness in CNBC’s Top States for Business Small businesses are central to Virginia’s economic dynamism, job creation, and regional resilience. However, higher taxes, expanding labor mandates, regulatory complexity, and litigation exposure impose disproportionate costs on small firms compared to large employers. These pressures directly affect Virginia’s performance…
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Gerrymandering in Virginia is a Strategic Blunder for Democrats
Democrats are asking voters to protect democracy by abandoning America’s most sacred of democratic principles: that voters get to choose their politicians, and that elections mean something. by Alex Keena Last year, President Donald Trump started a new “redistricting war” when he pressured Republicans in Texas to redraw their state’s congressional district map to help…
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The Most Aggressive Gerrymander of Any State
by Scott Dreyer In what Cardinal News columnist Dwayne Yancey labels “sheer ugliness,” Virginia Democrats on Feb. 5 finally released their proposed new maps to carve up the Old Dominion into 11 new Congressional districts. According to the US Constitution, House seats are apportioned by population, so since Virginia has somewhat over 8 million residents, we have 11 members in the House of Representatives. Of those current 11…
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Taxing Everything That Moves
Leaf blowers, guns, dog walking, dry cleaning—full government control means everything gets taxed in Democrats’ Virginia. by Jacob Grandstaff It’s a truism that when Democrats gain a trifecta—full control of a state’s executive and legislative branches—they tend to tax every human activity. Virginia Democrats are aiming to exceed the stereotype by taxing animal activity, too.…
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Administrative Bloat in Fairfax County Schools
by Stephanie Lundquist-AroraRepublished with permission from IWFeatures Julie Perry, a high school history teacher in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), told IW Features that she spends thousands of dollars each year on her students’ school supplies, classroom essentials, and decorations. Perry, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District, argues, “Education…
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Spanberger Has Declared War on the Second Amendment
The Democrat governor is preparing to trample the gun rights of law-abiding Virginians, confirming exactly what critics warned all along. by Bronson Winslow Newly sworn-in Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) is hellbent on turning Virginia into California, keeping her campaign promise to completely gut Virginians’ constitutional right to bear arms. Spanberger, a longtime supporter of the…