Author: Steve Haner
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What Democrats Will Pass First if Given Full Political Control
By Steve Haner, Predicting how Democrats will transform Virginia should they gain full control of state government in November’s election is easy. Just look through the list of 400 plus bills vetoed by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, most of them from 2024 and 2025. The progressive bills which reached Youngkin’s desk with unanimous or near…
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“All of the Above” Abigail? She Did Say It.
By Steve Haner, Democratic nominee for Governor Abigail Spanberger told the October 9 statewide debate audience that she favors an “all of the above strategy” in addressing Virginia’s massive demand for new electricity in coming years. If she has used that phrase before in this campaign, it hasn’t made the record. “All of the above”…
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A View from Delaware: States Caused PJM Price, Supply Problems
By David Stevenson, PJM Interconnection, the organization that manages the electric grid for 13 states including Delaware, has confirmed what the Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI) has long argued: state mandates are raising bills and straining reliability. Delaware policymakers now face a choice—continue policies that risk higher costs and outages or adopt measures that keep power…
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Debate’s Biggest Losers: 450,000 Early Voters and Jones
By Derrick Max, Last night’s first and final Virginia gubernatorial debate between Winsome Earle-Sears and Abigail Spanberger had one clear loser — the approximately 446,000 Commonwealth voters who had already cast their early ballots. For a state that has such a storied civic heritage, relying on a single, late-stage debate fails the test of responsible…
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The Rest of America Comments on Jones’ Murderous Texts
By Donald Smith, “Why are so many Democrats such hateful, ‘I hope people die’ bastards?” That’s the headline on the “Irons in The Fire” blog on October 6th. I won’t recap what the blogger, “Firehand,” wrote. We’ve all seen it before, over and over the past few days. It’s about Jay Jones. What’s noteworthy is…
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Roanoke’s Rasoul Draws Highest Share of Out-of-State Dollars
By Scott Dreyer, Del. Salam Rasoul (D-Roanoke City), who goes by the nickname “Sam,” has made a down-to-earth, squeaky-clean image a big part of his political persona. Those acquainted with him know Rasoul to indeed be a friendly, outgoing individual. Rasoul represents House District 38 (see map), which covers most of Roanoke City. However, when…
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Jones’ Behavior: A Stunning Lack of Maturity
By Gordon C. Morse, So, why was Democrat Jay Jones – he of the Quentin Tarantino imagination – sending highly partisan and politically suicidal text messages to a Republican member of the House of Delegates? Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chesterfield, the recipient of these merry notes, says she passed them on to their focus of interest,…
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Sunday Memes on Monday (Again)
Hey, I was still in the Denver Airport and on the plane most of yesterday. Did I miss anything while riding the rails in the Rockies? Jim returns this week, I think.
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State Spending Grows Faster Than Income. Something Has to Give.
By Steve Haner, There was an important story in the preliminary end-of-year financial report that the Richmond Times-Dispatch misinterpreted as the state “running in the red.” State spending has been on a major growth spurt under Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, although the Democrats with the majority in the General Assembly have just as much to…
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Jeanine’s Memes
The Bull Elephant But the overall theme of the batch is “paybacks are hell.” Jim Comey probably regrets his earlier post about those seashells….
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No, Times-Dispatch, Virginia’s Budget Did Not “Run in the Red”
By Steve Haner, It is not clear who should be more ashamed of themselves, the Richmond Times-Dispatch or Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax). Both didn’t just mislead Virginians, but defamed Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin and the entire state finance staff. Even the silly season has limits. Virginia’s state government finances did not “run in…
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“Clean” Energy Mandates are Raising Power Bills, Not Data Centers
By Steve Haner, No, Virginia, we cannot blame the data centers. The impact of the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA) on rising electricity bills is more significant and destined to grow. With the cost of living turning up in election polls as a top voter concern, a repeal of the VCEA is one step the…
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A Million Reasons to Worry Either Way the Election Goes
By Steve Haner Democrat Jay Jones and Republican Jason Miyares have now both accepted more than $1 million each in campaign contributions from major players in Virginia’s energy wars. The job they both seek, Attorney General of Virginia, includes a duty to stand firm on behalf of Virginia’s energy consumers against the elephants in the…
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If Politics Ruined PJM, is More Political Control the Fix? Maybe.
by Steve Haner State elected leaders want more control over the regional electricity marketplace that manages the power grid in Virginia and 12 other neighboring states. They have a point in their complaints about PJM Interconnection Inc.’s problems but they are also deeply engaged in blame shifting for higher energy costs. Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) was…
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New Scholarship Tax Credit Hangs on Future State Decision
By Derrick Max As early voting in the gubernatorial race in Virginia is about to begin, students in the Commonwealth hang in the balance. While Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) was able to implement a landmark school accountability measure that will help inform parents and the public about our students’ true performance, most of his other…