Bacon's Rebellion

Former Secretary of Finance Steve Cummings explains how the Youngkin administration saved hundreds of millions of dollars a year through tighter financial controls: more internal audits, better cash flow management, stronger cyber-security, and attention to nuts-and-bolts financial management.

 Jim Bacon: Greetings, everyone. I’m Jim Bacon, and this is the Oinkonomics podcast. In our last podcast, we talked to former finance secretary Steve Cummings, who gave us an overview of the Youngkin administration’s fiscal and economic accomplishments. There was a lot more ground to cover, so Steve has graciously agreed to return for another round. This time, we’re going to take a closer look at the nitty-gritty aspects of keeping Virginia one of the most financially strong states in the country. Welcome back to Oinkonomics, Steve.

Steve Cummings: Thank you, Jim. Appreciate being back again.

Bacon: Last time we chatted, you touched upon Governor Youngkin’s thinking that the state secretary of finance should take a CFO-like approach to the job. Traditionally, the position has been organized around budgeting, budget forecasting, collecting revenues, paying bills, and managing debt. But the modern CFO does a lot more. So, let’s start with a high-altitude description of the job as you see it.

Cummings: I mentioned this in our last conversation that as I got into this role, I realized that many states have different structures to their Secretary of Finance function, and many of them have elected officials that are part of finance, but frankly, those elected officials really aren’t accountable to the Secretary of Finance. And that would typically be in the areas of controller or treasurer. And what’s distinctively different in Virginia from many others, is that it is structured like a true CFO office. I had planning and budget, I had tax revenue collections, I had fund management within Treasury and the group that does debt, and then payments that go outside to vendors and to other constituents that the Commonwealth owes money to.

The financial infrastructure behind Virginia’s transformation

by Jeff Bayard

In Part 1, we documented the sanctuary architecture already built across Virginia. In Part 2, we identified the organizations executing the playbook. Now we follow the money—tracing Virginia sanctuary funding to its sources.

Policy campaigns require staff, offices, lobbyists, and lawyers. Someone pays for all of it. Our investigation traces funding flows from major national foundations through policy organizations to Virginia advocacy groups. The trail leads to familiar names.

The three-tier funding model

Virginia sanctuary funding follows a model refined over two decades. It operates on three tiers.

Tier 1: Major Foundations. At the top sit wealthy foundations that have made immigration policy a strategic priority. The most significant include George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSF), the Ford Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation.

Tier 2: National Policy Organizations. Foundation money flows to national groups that develop strategy, create model legislation, and coordinate campaigns. Key players include the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and the national ACLU.

Tier 3: State Advocacy Groups. Money reaches organizations that execute campaigns in specific states. In Virginia, this includes CASA, the Legal Aid Justice Center (LAJC), the Virginia Coalition for Immigrant Rights (VACIR), and ACLU of Virginia.

Money flows down. Model legislation flows up. The coordination is documented. Here’s what we found.