Bacon's Rebellion

Given the unrelenting assault on family budgets in NOVA, with higher property taxes, last year’s tax increase (the largest tax increase in the history of our State), the proposed toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road, just to list a few, I find it preposterous that any elected official from NOVA would vote for even higher taxes against NOVA residents.

I’m not surprised that Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple would propose greater tax burden on her own constituents (SB 1099 – Motor Fuels Tax; Additional Imposition in the NOVA Transportation District), while Richmond is diverting NOVA’s taxes to other parts of the State. She’s after all a Democrat and that’s what they believe in.

But I’m shocked, shocked that any Republican Senator representing NOVA would vote for this abomination. Unfortunately, Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Vienna) and Sen. Bill Mims (R-Leesburg) voted in favor of this bill.

The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors has voted 5-2 in opposition to adding a reactor to the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant. They cited conerns about the water level in Lake Anna and the fact that they are one of the fastest growing regions in Virginia.

Wonder where they expect the electric power new residents will require to come from? Wonder if they’re ok with the coal-fired plants outside their jurisdiction that Barnie says are killing 1000 of us annually?

by Becky Dale

The monitoring of public meetings throws open the question of how to count a quorum.

It’s normally easy to know if a quorum exists at a public meeting. You count who’s there. A quorum is usually a majority of members. When a council has seven members, four is a quorum. If four are present, there is a quorum and the council can then transact business. More

by John Goolrick

A hardy perennial in Virginia politics is the ritualistic denunciation of gerrymandering. Sure, redistricting is unfair. But none of the alternatives looks any better.

My hometown paper, despite its philosophical permutations over the years, has constantly railed editorially about changing Virginia’s system of redistricting. And in response I have always called their proposals half-baked. More

by James Atticus Bowden

The Higher Ed lobby defines the “charter” university issue as all about money. But Virginia citizens must guard against educrats imposing an unwelcome brand of political correctness.

If “war is too important to be left to the generals”, then certainly “higher education is too important to be left to the educrats”. Generals need civilian authority to set the political goals for wars. Likewise, the goals for Virginia’s colleges and universities need legislative authority. Education, not indoctrination, requires accountability to elected representatives of the people.
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by Phillip Rodokanakis

Jerry Kilgore hasn’t come out in favor of higher taxes, but he refuses to sign an anti-tax pledge. A circumstantial case can be made that he’s cut a deal with the pro-tax wing of the GOP.

State Sen. John Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is on the warpath for higher taxes. Without wasting any time or taking a breather from the massive tax increase he imposed on Virginia taxpayers last year, Chichester already is talking about increasing taxes again in 2006. More

by Steven Sisson

Choir boy Tim Kaine is a political moderate informed by his Catholic beliefs. But look for the Kilgore team to paint him as a liberal for his record on tax hikes and the death penalty.

The Blue Dog personally views Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine as a moderate-to-conservative politician. Kaine has never been an Amway Christian, nor does he hold a lifetime membership to the C-E Club (i.e., only attending church service on Christmas and Easter holidays). More

by Chris Braunlich

The House of Delegates has passed a bill that could provide school choice for up to 5,000 poor kids. Foes are desperate to stop it in the state Senate.

Stung by House passage of a bill providing new educational opportunities for poor kids, the Virginia Education Association (VEA), People for the American Way (PFAW) and other opponents are gearing up to block the bill in the Virginia state Senate. More

by Barnie Day

We talk, we write, we revel in the power of words.

Even as a small boy I never could get past a hornet’s nest without throwing something at it. Most anything would do—sticks, rocks, pop bottles, shoes—but my projectile of choice was a brick. More

by Barnie Day

With a budget surplus looming, Virginia legislators are abandoning all fiscal restraint. Big winners could include beekeepers and Japanese snails.

Remember the “surplus?” That extra $1.2 billion—give or take a hundred million or so—that a robust economy might be kicking into the state’s coffers? Don’t get any ideas about laying hands on any of it. Through Tuesday of this week, members of the Virginia House of Delegates had filed budget amendments—865 of them—that would spend it three times. More

by E M Risse

A failing education system puts Americans at risk in a globally competitive economy and undermines our democracy.

Most readers of this column, some grudgingly, have come to agree that there is a direct connection between the pattern and density of land use and transportation (aka, mobility and access). Some were surprised to see that in our last column (“Education and Human Settlement Patterns”, Jan. 31, 2005 ) we dragged education into the discussion by examining importance of the size and location of school facilities. More

by Patrick McSweeney

Virginia tried funding transportation projects through “public-private partnerships” in the 19th century. Advocates of that approach today might think twice if they knew their history.

There is at least one good reason for requiring the teaching of Virginia history. It might allow Virginians to learn from the painful lessons of the past instead of experiencing the same pain over and over again. More.

by Patrick McSweeney

If you’re used to thinking of our northern neighbor as a land of liberalism, you might want to reconsider. While Virginians talk of raising taxes– again–guess who’s been cutting them?

Who would have thought? Even the Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly seem to be more opposed to tax increases than leading Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly. More.

by Douglas Koelemay

Now more than ever, Virginia’s General Assembly needs to tread lightly on matters of liberty, opportunity and the Constitution.

The ugly gorge cut into Capitol Hill facing Franklin Street in Richmond is a most dramatic indication that the rehabilitation of Virginia ’s Capitol is well underway. The draping of the western walls of the Capitol to shield work and workmen is another. Despite current disfigurements, this project ultimately will strengthen the foundations and utility of the structure originally designed by Thomas Jefferson. To that end, project directors have installed seismic devices as an early warning system to ensure their work doesn’t erode or undermine that foundation. More.

by James A. Bacon

As Americans sort themselves out geographically by lifestyle affinity, the culture wars can only get worse.

I got a chuckle after the 2004 presidential elections when droves of distraught Demos started applying for Canadian visas rather than live four more years under the oppressive rule of George W. Bush and the yahoos who re-elected him. I also took note, with some sympathy, of gay Virginia couples who talked of decamping to a state where they are more welcome rather than in a Commonwealth that considers them a threat to the institution of marriage. More.