Bacon's Rebellion

  • Virginians Overtaxed as Youngkin Urges Budget Deal

    Posted on

    by

    Robin Beres

    by Shaun Kenney

    With state revenue projections north of $5 billion, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) renewed his call for a budget deal with Senate Democrats as negotiators with the Virginia General Assembly met for the first time since June.

    “Virginians remain overtaxed. Last year we provided $4 billion of tax relief for individuals, families, and veterans. What this year’s preliminary numbers tell us is that even after that historic tax package, the Commonwealth ended fiscal year 2023 with $5.1 billion in excess resources, far more than forecasted,” said Gov. Youngkin.

    “There is plenty of money in the system to fund our shared priorities of education, behavioral health, and law enforcement while returning more of Virginians hard-earned dollars back to their wallets. Just as we did last year, I am calling on the General Assembly to reject the partisan, business-as-usual approach in Richmond, and agree on a deal that lowers the cost of living and cost of doing business in Virginia while investing in our shared priorities. This is not about Republicans and Democrats. It’s not about the Senate or the House. It’s about delivering for Virginians.”

    Already, Virginia is returning some $1 billion to small businesses, with Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings confirming Friday that the state expects to return “something more than a billion” dollars to taxpayers who had taken advantage of a new tax benefit for pass-through entities, such as limited liabilities and other unincorporated businesses, that allows them to avoid a $10,000 cap on federal income tax deductions for state and local taxes.
    (more…)

  • Slush Funding Housing

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    Robin Beres

    by Jon Baliles

    There has been a lot of talk about the affordable housing crisis in the region in recent years, but it has been constant in 2023. The entire region needs 39,000 units as fast as it can get them; but interest rates are high, the market is stalling — every week there is a new twist or turn in the drama. And this week is no exception.

    Em Holter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a disturbing story about the meeting this week of the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) Board that drew an overflow crowd reacting to the reckless idea by Mayor Levar Stoney and his administration for dissolving the Board and creating a commission instead, that allegedly would allow for raising more money from other sources and involve other partners. The mayor’s and the administration’s argument is that because there is more money to be allocated, there should be more oversight. But what they are proposing is not more sunlight, but less.

    The AHTF Board is tasked with oversight of the money in the fund to help support and spur more affordable housing projects. Just last year, the Mayor and Council finally approved a commitment of putting $10 million per year in the fund for five years. Who doesn’t need more money and more partners to help tackle an issue as large and complex affordable housing? Sounds sensible, right? Except…

    As the Times-Dispatch article points out, what this is really about is who controls the money and who gets to pick the “partners”:

    But with more funding comes more oversight, which city administrators are hoping to achieve. To do so, City Hall wants to eliminate the board and establish a commission that would allow for more money and more partners.

    Those in opposition argue that administrators are overstepping their bounds, which could lead to an imbalance of power, loss of control of funds and elimination of public input.

    (more…)

  • Understaffed Nursing Homes and the False Claims Act

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Nursing home operators, paid by government insurance programs on a per diem basis for caring for their patients, make higher profits if they understaff than otherwise.

    The less staff they have, the higher their operating margins.

    The federal government, with much experience in such situations, tries to offset those incentives with disincentives. It thinks, reasonably, that patients should actually receive the care that is paid for with government insurance funds.

    In Virginia, some senior members of the health committees of the General Assembly are in love with our nursing home operators, offering legislation as gifts. That love is requited in the form of unlimited campaign contributions from the operators.

    Touching story.

    This being Virginia, that is legal. And too common.

    However, help for patients is available and very active on another front: fraud charges brought by states and the Justice Department in federal court.

    The unanimous Supreme Court opinion in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016) • 195 L. Ed. 2d 348 Decided Jun 16, 2016 provided precedent for such filings under the False Claims Act.

    The Court validated the government’s theory of law that a provider can be guilty of making a false claim based on the underlying representation that the care provided complies with the government Conditions of Participation.

    Grossly understaffed nursing homes can be guilty of criminal or civil false claims or both by accepting payments for services which they do not provide or provide inadequately.

    Both state and federal governments know exactly who those understaffed nursing homes are and have the payroll-based data to prove that some could not have provided it.

    And they are taking the worst offenders to court. (more…)

  • Miyares Loses in Court

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    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Jason Miyares, Attorney General of Virginia

    by Dick Hall-Sizemore

    Our Attorney General has taken his lumps in court recently.

    First was a jury acquittal in a high-profile criminal case he engineered. Later, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously ruled against an agency that had been administering a provision of the Code based on guidance from the Attorney General.

    The first case was that of Wayde Byard, the spokesman for the Loudoun County Public Schools who had been indicted for lying to the special grand jury established by Miyares to investigate the school system’s handling of the notorious sexual assault cases. The trial jury took less than two hours to render a verdict of not guilty. Miyares’ spokesperson commented that “we are disappointed with the jury’s decision.” Byard had been on administrative leave without pay. Shortly after the verdict, the county gave him nearly $89,000 in back pay and he was back at his desk.

    The second instance is more complex. It is based on statutory interpretation and can get a little tedious. It is this stuff that lawyers and legislative nerds love. Also, some background is needed to understand the case. So, bear with me a little while.

    The case involves the changes in earned sentence credits enacted by the 2020 General Assembly. (more…)

  • Hadley Departs UVa Without Explanation

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    James A. Bacon

    Robyn Hadley. Photo credit: University of Virginia

    Robyn Hadley, the University of Virginia’s dean of students, will leave her job effective Aug. 1, announced President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom yesterday in a letter to the university community.

    The letter provided no explanation for Hadley’s sudden departure. Hadley had served two years in the position, which oversees 300 employees engaged with student life. She supervised key functions such as the Office of African-American affairs, the career center, student housing, student health, fraternity-sorority life, event planning, and facilities operations. (more…)

  • Bacon Meme of the Week

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    James A. Bacon

  • Pay No Attention to That Man in the Governor’s Mansion

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    by

    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    If Glenn Youngkin is not running for President “this year” and wants to concentrate on Virginia elections, as he says, why is Wilbur Ross, former Secretary of Commerce under Donald Trump, throwing a fund raiser for Youngkin in the Hamptons? And did Youngkin, as the rumor goes, really get the word to Trump that all he is doing is getting into position to be Trump’s running mate?

  • Info-Wars at UVa: Who Decides What the BoV Needs to Hear?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Provost Ian Baucom

    by James A. Bacon

    Last October University of Virginia Provost Ian Baucom briefed the Faculty Senate executive committee about a package of four multimillion-dollar academic initiatives that were in the works. The camera angle in the video recording shows him as a tiny, barely discernible figure at the far end of a long conference table. But his fast-clipped, staccato voice comes through loud and clear.

    One initiative would address society’s “Grand Challenges” while another would build the university’s R&D infrastructure. Two others, largely geared to the pursuit of diversity, would set up a $20 million fund to aid the recruitment of graduate students and a $20 million fund to boost recruitment of “under-represented” faculty.

    Members of the Faculty Senate were on board with the diversity programs, and Baucom felt at ease talking about them. “Behind [the faculty-recruitment initiative],” he said, “is the reaffirmation of the Audacious Futures Report to double the number of under-represented faculty. The president and I have been very clear that he stands by that goal.”

    Four months later when the initiatives had moved further through the administrative pipeline, though, the Provost was less forthcoming with the Board of Visitors than he had been with the faculty. He described the Grand Challenges and R&D initiatives in considerable detail, but barely acknowledged the other two strategic priorities. He never explained that the faculty and graduate-student initiatives were designed in part to advance diversity.

    The dichotomy in Baucom’s presentations raises important questions of governance at UVa. At a time when racial preferences in admissions and hiring are coming under increasing scrutiny, how much information about those practices is the Ryan administration withholding from the Board of Visitors? Who decides what to tell the Board? What power does the Board have to demand a fuller accounting? (more…)

  • When Local Registrars Get Caught in the Middle

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    by

    Robin Beres

    by Martin Davis and Shaun Kenney

    Last week, Cardinal News published a piece by reporter Markus Schmidt about the difficulties facing several Democratic candidates for state and local offices in Virginia, owing to complications with their paperwork.

    Mistakes related to paperwork happen every year, and sometimes the Virginia Department of Elections can sort out the problem. Schmidt’s story notes two instances in recent years when this happened. Notably, in 2019, when the department accepted late paperwork for Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, and in 2021, when it placed Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun County, on the ballot despite a missed deadline.

    City and county registrars, however, are the people who are on the front lines of most issues relating to candidates’ paperwork issues. And these people are often caught between conflicting interpretations of critical statutes.

    In Spotsylvania County, concern over signatures collected by two candidates for local office provides an interesting look into the challenges local registrars face. It also reveals some issues with the way the state is relaying information to candidates and registrars. (more…)

  • Is Hopewell the Next Petersburg?

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    Downtown Hopewell. Photo credit: Richmond BizSense

    by James A. Bacon

    Long-time Bacon’s Rebellion readers will remember the fiscal saga of Petersburg, a struggling rust-belt city whose finances were so mismanaged that the city had to call in outside consultants to fix them. The City of Hopewell, another struggling rust-belt industrial town, may be facing the same fate. City Council has appointed Concetta Manker — its former information technology manager — to lead a financial turnaround.

    Finances had deteriorated to the point where Virginia State Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings ordered an outside audit and outlined steps the city should take to get back on track. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cummings stressed the need to bring in experienced help to get the municipality’s books in order. He even offered $200,000 to help the city find such an executive.

    But Council voted “no” yesterday on the idea, and elevated Manker, who was serving as interim city manager, to step into the role officially. Manker’s job would be tough under any circumstances: the city with a population of 23,000 cannot take on debt because it hasn’t even had a credit rating since 2017. Making the challenge even greater, her professional background is IT, not finance. (more…)

  • Youngkin Upholds Parents Rights in Transgender Debate

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    James A. Bacon

    by James A. Bacon

    With educational outcomes for Virginia public school children collapsing across the board, I’m not sure that the use of pronouns and restrooms for transgender students is the most urgent policy facing our schools today. But both sides of the culture wars are determined to fight this battle, so it continues to consume an inordinate share of our attention — as when Governor Glenn Youngkin issued yesterday his revised “model policies” for treating transgender students.

    I will spend little time rehashing the details of the new model policies, which you can read here. The Washington Post summarizes the key points, as do the state’s other major newspapers. In broad brushstrokes, Youngkin’s purpose is to strengthen parental rights, restricting the ability of schools to make contentious decisions regarding a student’s gender identity without the parents’ knowledge and consent.

    I’m more interested in peripheral — yet telling — aspects of this story. I’m interested in seeing how the shapers of public opinion are constructing their narratives.

    It is interesting to see how Team Youngkin attempts to frame the narrative. You can see it in the full title of the document: “Model Policies on Ensuring Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools.” (more…)

  • Can Virginia Republicans Find 500,000 Votes?

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    by

    Robin Beres

    by Shaun Kenney

    Back in November 2019, the Commonwealth of Kentucky was well on its way to being a blue state. That is, until the state’s Republican leadership saw the trend and decided to do something about it. Aided by terrible Biden numbers, Kentucky’s GOP reversed the decline in short order:

    If you’re like myself, the palpable groan about seducing moderates and independents into the Virginia GOP becomes audible. Yet that is the old way of doing voter outreach. Today’s Virginia is more transient than ever, with military families and highly educated suburban families — particularly immigrant communities who share our traditional values — migrating into places such as Northern Virginia and Richmond.

    To make matters even more digestible, it may shock many a reader to find out that evangelical Protestants and pew-sitting Catholics simply do not vote in similar numbers to our more secular “nones” and liberal friends — politics being a sordid and nasty thing.

    So there are three constituencies where Virginia Republicans stand to gain:

    1. Rural and suburban Christians.
    2. African-American voters.
    3. NOVA and Richmond immigrant communities.

    I mean — it would be just perfect if Virginia Republicans elected three statewide candidates who just happen to have inroads to all three, right?

    Weird, right?

    (more…)

  • Too Fearful to Cross the Rubicon

    Posted on

    by

    Bob Rayner

    Washington and Lee

    by Donald Smith

    Maximus:  Still no word?

    Quintus: Not a sign.

    Maximus: How long has he been gone?

    Quintus:  Nearly two hours.

    “He” was a Roman liaison sent to see if the Germanic tribes lined up across the valley from Maximus’ (and Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius’) legions wanted to avoid a fight.  Shortly after Maximus’ conversation with his executive officer Quintus, the liaison’s horse rode back into the Roman lines.  Strapped in the saddle was the liaison’s headless body.  Across the valley, the leader of the Germanic tribes held up the head and shouted defiance.  “They say no,” said Maximus.

    Earlier this past week, W&L students blanketed a plaque honoring Traveler, General Lee’s horse, with apples.  This effort was endearing — and also offered the W&L leadership an opportunity to NOT escalate the ongoing fight over the place of Confederate heritage in the public square. This wasn’t a Faithful Slave monument.  It was a plaque about a horse, which mentioned General Robert E. Lee and the United Daughters of the Confederacy.  Here was a chance to demonstrate that wokeness hadn’t crushed common sense at Washington and Lee.  

    The students offered their school’s leadership a chance to show Virginians that W&L leaders and faculty could handle complex thoughts and reason through complicated subjects.  America’s history is complex.  It can’t be properly handled by shallow, emotional thinking.  The apples were a plea for the W&L leadership to demonstrate that they understood that.  That they really could walk AND chew gum at the same time.

    They said no.   (more…)

  • An Utter (and Videotaped) Disgrace of the Virginia General Assembly

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    sherlockj

    by James C. Sherlock

    Scott Johnson at the podium on Jan 17, 2023 testifying before the House Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions.

    Whatever the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA), the state’s nursing home lobbying organization, pays its General Counsel, Scott Johnson, it is not enough.

    He has been representing them for 20 years, and he owns the General Assembly.

    This is going to sound boring as I frame the background that is the subject of the hearing. But I feel I must try to explain the complexities to make what happened in the hearing understandable.

    But I promise the hearing itself is not boring. There are heroes, heroines and villains.

    That hearing was a thoroughgoing disgrace to the General Assembly of Virginia. Members are seen clearly to surrender their authority, their duties, and their personal dignity to an industry they are elected to oversee.

    It was videotaped for posterity.

    It represents the “Virginia Way.” a product of unlimited campaign donations. It is reprehensible.

    The law passed through this process must be repealed in its entirety. (more…)

  • Empty, Airy Words

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Credit: Bing Image Creator. Letters lighter than air.

    by James A. Bacon

    After the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling restricting the use of race as a higher-ed admissions criteria, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan and Provost Ian Baucom released a statement proclaiming that they would do everything in their power to admit a class of students that is “diverse across every possible dimension.” That commitment extended not just to race, ethnicity, and gender, they proclaimed, but “geography, socioeconomic status, first-generation status, disability status, religion, age, sexual orientation, viewpoint, ideology, and special talents.” (My italics.)

    Some of those dimensions have occasioned far more attention than others. For example, UVa has put into place a large Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy to advance racial/ethnic diversity. By contrast, far from promoting viewpoint and ideological diversity, university practices — hiring of left-of-center faculty, mandatory DEI statements and Student Guide tours — serve to drive off prospective students and faculty who are conservatively inclined.

    In this post, I will argue that the Ryan administration pays little more heed to the geographic and socioeconomic criteria on its checklist than it does to viewpoint and ideological diversity. Students from poor households and rural households are severely underrepresented. But UVa does not care enough to even track their numbers. (more…)

Now Available

Book cover of 'Dust Mites: A Second American Revolution' by James A. Bacon, featuring astronauts planting a flag with a blue and white emblem on a lunar landscape, with Earth visible in the background.
For sale on Amazon.com

The year: 2075. The American colonies on the Moon are getting restless under Washington’s tyrannical rule….

This second edition of “Dust Mites” has a snazzy new cover, includes helpful lunar maps, and is 5,000 words tighter than the original. The sequel, “Trogs,” is scheduled for publication this summer.

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Bacon’s Rebellion is Virginia’s leading politically non-aligned portal for news, opinions and analysis about state, regional and local public policy. Read more about us here.

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