Bacon&#039;s Rebellion

Five Virginia companies — including the frequently criticized Dominion Energy and Altria Group — are included among the 57 transparency “trendsetters” in the 2018 CPA-Zicklin Index. The others include Northrop Grumman Corp., Capital One Financial, and Norfolk Southern Corp. The Index benchmarks political spending disclosure practices and political spending policies of S&P 500 corporations. The ideal…

Transparency? No, Alignment Drives PAC Decisions

Oct 1, 2018

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in Elections, Money in politics, Politics

Abigail Spanberger won’t take money from corporate political action committees but will from ideological political action committees because the issue PACs have their position statements on their web pages. Spanberger said that Friday to a business organization that donates no political money, Virginia FREE, but there were plenty of big donors or their representatives in…

CrowdLobby: A Cool Idea Still Needs Work

Sep 24, 2018

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in Agriculture & forestry, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Economic development, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, General Assembly, Libertarians, Money in politics, Politics

Samantha Biggio and Heidi Drauschak, both recent University of Richmond law school grads, had an idea for a new business, and they raised $35,000 through the crowd-funding Kickstarter website to fund it. Their business idea? To launch a website, Crowdlobby… where people can raise money through crowd funding to launch lobbying initiatives. The idea has…

Will Virginia Legalize Recreational Marijuana Use?

Sep 17, 2018

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djrippert

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U&w=500&h=288] High times today. The marijuana legalization wave is beginning to wash over North America. Nine states (WA, OR, CA, NV, CO, MA, VT, ME and AK) along with the District of Columbia have legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Well over 20% of Americans now live in states which have legalized recreational marijuana…

Higher Ed’s Hidden Influence: Alumni Legislators

Aug 28, 2018

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in Education (higher ed), General Assembly, Money in politics

Fund-raising tip for public colleges and universities: Get more of your alumni elected to the General Assembly. Across the country, a higher number of graduates of public colleges and universities is associated with higher funding for a state’s public higher-ed system, finds a new study, “School Spirit: Legislator School Ties and State Funding for Higher…

Who Are These Guys, and Where Do They Get All Their Money?

Aug 15, 2018

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in Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Money in politics, Poverty & income gap, Race and Race Relations

The report issued by the Northam administration investigating charges of abuse at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center has come under withering criticism by nonprofit groups that filed a lawsuit last year bringing attention to the treatment of unaccompanied immigrant children held there. The Virginia Mercury has the story here. While I used the Department of…

Transparency for Thee But Not for Me

Jul 30, 2018

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in Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Money in politics

In response to attacks from left-wing critics, the Charles Koch Foundation said last week that it will post all future multiyear agreements with universities online. The Foundation is one of the nation’s most generous contributors to higher education in the United States, ladling out $90 million in gifts in 2017. Among the biggest beneficiaries has…

Irony: Clean Money Group Donates More than Power Company

Jul 30, 2018

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in Energy, Money in politics

The Virginia Public Access Project has updated its list of largest campaign donors in Virginia, and the results making good reading. My money is cleaner than yours. Perhaps the most fascinating tidbit is that Charlottesville-based Michael Bills, founder of Clean Virginia and scourge of Dominion Energy Virginia’s influence on state politics, has injected more money…

Updates: Money, Power and Politics (Oh, My)

Jul 20, 2018

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in Energy, Money in politics, Politics, Race and Race Relations

The following are updates on earlier Bacon’s Rebellion stories of mine. Clean Virginia Files First Report Clean Virginia Fund, the political action committee that is trying to buy legislators’ loyalty away from regulated utilities, has filed its first report with the State Board of Elections. Charlottesville financier and hedge fund magnate Michael D. Bills is…

AP’s Latest Hit Piece: Journalism or Polemic?

Jul 12, 2018

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in Energy, Environment, Money in politics

Here we go again. The Associated Press’ Alan Suderman has popped out another context-free article making an issue of Dominion Energy’s tenfold increase in lobbying expenses over the past year to more than $1 million. That spending, writes Suderman, “came during a period when the company successfully pushed through legislation that could lead to substantial increases…

The Strings On The Money Revealed

Jun 26, 2018

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And now, from our You Can’t Make This Stuff Up Department, come two Richmond lobbyists providing strong evidence that the money really does have strings and you only get it if you play along. We had no idea, right? First, see the story on Blue Virginia, with newly-elected Del. Dawn Adams, D-Henrico, sharing a recent…

Remembering Tim Kaine’s Caribbean Vacation

Jun 19, 2018

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by D.R. Rippert Rolexes in Paradise. Ask most people about former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and the first thing you’re likely to hear is, “You mean Governor Rolex?” or some other reference to his trial and conviction on bribery charges. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously overturned the conviction doesn’t matter. McDonnell’s once promising…

Their Money is Bad and Our Money is Righteous

May 28, 2018

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