Category: Money in politics
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Dark Money and Think Tanks
by James A. Bacon When writing about the passing of Mike Thompson, founder of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy (TJI) (see previous post), I chanced to look at TJI’s 990 forms. It had been my impression that Mike ran the small-government think tank on a shoestring, and the IRS filing confirmed it. The…
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We’ll Miss You, Mike
by James A. Bacon Mike Thompson, president of the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy (TJI), passed away this weekend after a battle with leukemia. Founder of Virginia’s only state/local think tank with a conservative bent, the Northern Virginian was a regular fixture in Richmond and a consistent voice for small government. I had the…
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Democrats Dominate Dark Money
by James A. Bacon Left-leaning groups have done an amazingly effective job of highlighting the role of conservative and libertarian “dark money” in the public sphere. Newspapers like the Washington Post and New York Times have eagerly amplified the findings, for example, of a student group, Transparent GMU, that raised issues about the influence of…
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Virginia’s Left Consumes Another of Its Own
Dario Marques Jr., former government contractor and major contributor to Virginia Democratic Party poohbahs, has come under fire from Virginia progressives for his role in running an Arizona shelter for unaccompanied children who crossed the border illegally. Although Marques’ contract originated in 2014 during the Obama administration, work continued into the Trump administration — and…
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Sanctimonious Money in Politics
The older I get, the more irritable I get. Perhaps, upon passing the threshold to Medicare eligibility, I became a cranky old man. In my defense, however, I do find myself continually provoked. The latest vexation comes from a Community Idea Stations article describing how an increasing number of Democratic Party candidates for General Assembly…
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What is Going On?
Can someone from Northern Virginia please tell me what is going on when almost a million dollars is being raised in each of two primary contests for Commonwealth’s Attorney? I can understand the money being raised, as reported by VPAP, in the primary for chairman of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors. That is a political…
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Corruption Allegations Mar Fairfax County Board Race
I’m shocked, shocked to find that there’s gambling going on here. Long time residents of Fairfax County will hardly be shocked to hear the news of a Fairfax County Supervisor being accused of unsavory business dealings with a land developer. Jeff McKay has been Lee District supervisor since 2007. He is currently vying for the…
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Barbara Favola Makes Disingenuous Statements about Dominion Funding
A clarification has been added to the end of this article. Setup. Barbara Favola is the Democratic State Senator from Virginia’s 31st district. That district is centered in Arlington but includes areas of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties as well. Favola is a politician-for-life having served on the Arlington County Board from 1997 through 2012 and…
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Dominion Tool? The GA Is an Entire Toolbox
Retiring state Senator Frank Wagner gets appointed to some job by Governor Ralph Northam Friday and the headline on Blue Virginia labels him a “Dominion tool.” But has the other legislator being rewarded with a full-time job, Delegate Mathew James, cast any votes against the state’s favorite political whipping boy?
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2019 Assembly Had No Bark, Bite On Ethics
It is always important to listen for the dogs that don’t bark, and the 2019 General Assembly showed neither bark nor bite on issues of money, politics and ethics. Everything in Virginia is just fine with the legislators themselves, apparently. So fine that the only significant bill involving the Virginia Conflict of Interests and Ethics…
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Proffers: They’re Baaaaack!
Gentlemen may prefer blondes but localities prefer proffers. A proffer is an arrangement between a locality and a land developer whereby the developer offers something of value in order to get a rezoning request approved. Why do developers want land rezoned? For residential development they want to build more homes on the land than the…
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Sorry, Mr. Bloomberg, You Can’t Pay for Virginia Justice
Earlier this year I described how Attorney General Mark Herring had applied for funding from the Michael Bloomberg-funded New York University School of Law to hire a special assistant attorney to pursue climate-change and clean-energy initiatives. (See “Following the Dark Money.”) NYU had agreed to provide the funding but, for reasons as yet unclear, Herring’s…
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Tommy Norment’s Turn in the Yearbook Whipsaw
Da Bomb. The Virginia Pilot is reporting that Tommy Norment, R-Williamsburg, Republican majority leader of Virginia’s State Senate, was an editor for a VMI yearbook called The Bomb that printed “racist photos and slurs, including blackface”. The yearbook in question was published in 1968. African Americans were allowed to enroll at VMI in the Fall of…
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I’m Shocked, Shocked To See Corporate Checks In Here! (Your Donations, Sir.)
Interesting to see Governor Ralph Northam channeling Claude Rains Monday, choosing the first day of the annual two-day General Assembly campaign finance feeding frenzy to highlight his support for a series of campaign finance proposals. Campaign fundraising by state legislators and their pooled caucus accounts goes dark with the opening of the regular session today. …
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Following the Dark Money: Bloomberg to NYU to Virginia’s OAG?
Here is a counter-factual mental exercise for you. Imagine that former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a conservative skeptic of climate change, had applied for a grant from the conservative-libertarian Koch Foundation to cover the cost of hiring an AG staff member dedicated to litigating environmental groups. Then imagine that Cuccinelli’s office had to compete nationally…