Bacon's Rebellion

  • Jefferson Institute Expands

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    ***** Sponsored Content *****

    The Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy announced the following two appointments today:

    Ali Ahmad, Senior Visiting Fellow

    Ali Ahmed

    A lifelong Virginian and a graduate of the University of Virginia, Ali is a Senior Managing Director at PLUS Communications, located in Richmond, Virginia. He brings more than 20 years of experience in strategic communications, public policy, and legislative affairs across federal, state, and local government, including the U.S. House, the Virginia Senate, and U.S. Census Bureau.

    Most recently, he served as Deputy Chief of Staff to former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, where he oversaw policy development, legislative affairs, and a wide range of communications functions, including speechwriting, digital content, events, and media relations. He first joined the Youngkin team in 2021 as a senior policy advisor during the Governor’s successful campaign.

    Ali will be writing on public policy issues, including those related to job growth, business investment, government efficiency, and workforce development. We are honored to have him join the team.

    LJ Brouillette, Associate Director of Development and Communications

    LJ Brouillette has joined the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy as the Associate Director of Development and Communications. 

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  • “Affordability” Watch: Speed-Camera Tickets

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    by

    James A. Bacon

  • Fairfax Schools Crack Down on Absences — Except When Suspending Politically Inconvenient Students

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Stephanie Lundquist-Arora
    Republished with permission from IWFeatures

    A teenage boy with a backpack walks away from a school building while an adult man in a suit gestures behind him.
    Image credit: Chat GPT

    There rightfully has been a lot of attention paid to radical Virginia Democratsโ€™ day-one blitz as soon as they took back control of the stateโ€™s governorship this year. But those of us who live in the deep blue havens that control Virginia politics know that, for our part of the state at least, it didnโ€™t matter whether our governor was a Democrat or a Republican. Fairfax County, in particular, arguably has remained the same under its local one-party leftist rule. 

    For example, as the K-12 public school districtโ€™s leaders changed policies to reduce out-of-school suspensions for serious infractions, they suspended my three sons for 39 cumulative days for not wearing masks during the COVID-19 era. This occurred despite former Republican Gov. Youngkinโ€™s Executive Order Two, which allowed parents to opt their children out of mask mandates. Since then, district leaders have refused to expunge those suspensions. 

    In 2014, leaders of Fairfax County Public Schoolsโ€”Virginiaโ€™s largest districtโ€”changed the districtโ€™s code of conduct to reduce the number of out-of-school suspensions. At that time, the districtโ€™s leadership focused on the harms of out-of-school suspensions, including lost instructional time and the associated risks of grade retention or dropping out of school. 

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  • Affordability Watch: Hospitality Taxes

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    James A. Bacon

    Table displaying population, meals tax rate, effective sales tax rate, year last raised, effective top rate, and effective bed tax for localities in Central Virginia.

    The state of Virginia and its 133 localities have so many taxes that it’s hard to keep track of them all. The Virginia Restaurant, Lodging and Travel Association (VRTLA) has documented the taxes affecting the hospitality sector — meals taxes, transit occupancy taxes, add-on sales taxes, and bed taxes — in a new report, “2025 Meals & Lodging Tax Study.”

    As local governments reassess spending in the post-COVID era, the restaurant and hotel industries have often been viewed as convenient targets for tax increases. When layered on top of higher menu prices and room rates, these added taxes have created an increasingly difficult environment for consumers.

    Hospitality-related tax increases have been relatively common in recent years. “Based on the most recent tax increase recorded for each locality, ” states the study, “approximately 43 percent of Virginia localities have raised at least one of the examined taxes since 2016.”

    While there is little uniformity in tax levels, the VRLTA makes a few generalizations. By form of government, cities tend to have higher taxes than counties. By geography, coastal Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley tend to have higher taxes than other regions. — JAB

  • Can We Call It the “War” for VMI Now?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    The U.S. Department of War has issued a statement regarding a bill in the Virginia legislature that would transfer control of the Virginia Military Institute to the Board of Visitors of Virginia State University.

    “The Department of War is monitoring Virginia House Bill 1374, focused on the governance of the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), with significant concern.

    “For generations, the unique military environment at VMI has made the Institute a vital source of commissioned officers for the Armed Forces. The stability of this proven leadership pipeline is a matter of direct national security interest and any action that could disrupt the ecosystem requires our full attention.

    “DoW reserves the right to take extraordinary measures to protect the integrity of VMI and our commitment to the cadets and midshipmen currently training there remains steadfast. We urge the Virginia General Assembly to consider the broader implications of this bill on military readiness, as well as the federal government’s long-standing investment in this critical institution.”

    Comments Cville Bubble:

    Black and white image of the Virginia Military Institute in ruins, with historic buildings showing structural damage, set against a tree-lined landscape.

  • Larry Sabato for UVA President

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Close-up portrait of a professional man with gray hair and a mustache, wearing a dark suit and a striped tie, smiling softly.
    Larry Sabato

    by Scott Gerber

    On June 13, 2017, I published anย op-ed in the Charlottesville Daily Progress nominatingย professor Larry Sabatoย to be the ninth president of the University of Virginia. Jim Ryan was selected instead.

    The seemingly never-ending scandals that have unfolded at UVA in recent years demonstrate the Board of Visitors should have picked Sabato. Indeed, Sabato continues to make the university proud with his insightful political commentary, spectacular teaching, prize-winning research and generous financial gifts.

    Frankly, UVAโ€™s new board should fire the universityโ€™s new president and replace him with Sabato. I know that sounds mean, but even putting aside that Scott Beardsleyโ€™s appointment is probably void because the old board that appointed him didnโ€™t comply with the membership requirements of the controlling Virginia statute, Beardsley is unfit to lead a university whose Honor System has shaped its identity for nearly two centuries.

    I mentioned in a Dec. 31 Richmond Times-Dispatch column that Beardsley implemented Ryanโ€™s DEI vision while dean of UVAโ€™s business school; said he planned to ask Ryan for advice on how to lead the university; issued numerous comments in support of the sort of โ€œdiversityโ€ that got UVA into trouble with the federal government; and quietly scrubbed his public CV of the list of pro-DEI activities that previously dominated it. Moreover, Beardsleyโ€™s business school was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice at the time of the standstill agreement.

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  • Bill & Ed’s Excellent Richmond Adventure

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    James A. Bacon

    by Jon Baliles

    The end of 2025 in Richmond was a rough and painful one as the city lost two of our dearest friends, visionaries, change agents, and just down right kind-hearted people that collectively did more to inspire change and keep it on the front burner to make this city a better place.

    I am talking about Bill Martin and Ed Slipek. Slipek passed away on December 15 after a brief illness, and Martin was struck in the crosswalk at Broad and 10th Street on December 27 and died the next day. Itโ€™s hard to put into words what those two men meant to this city because they were both such giants, and both were on a journey to make sure Richmond learned from its past to make sure we have a better future.

    A smiling older man with gray hair wearing a red jacket, standing on a busy street in an urban setting.
    Eddie Slipek. Photo credit: Style Weekly

    Both Bill and Ed were able to affect change in Richmond in ways that politicians and other leaders were not. They committed wholeheartedly to make the city better through ideas, insight, storytelling and their never-ending passion and desire to know more and share all of it. They were human time machines of Richmond history ready to transport anyone within earshot back to a specific neighborhood, year, or historical event and almost instantly convey what happened and what it meant in context of that time and where we are today.

    They werenโ€™t afraid of our history, they embraced it. Each worked constantly to share their knowledge and make sure we didnโ€™t fall prey to the famous Santayana line, โ€œThose who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.โ€ They wanted us to not only NOT forget the past, but also learn about all the things that many of us never knew before or things that werenโ€™t talked about much or taught in classrooms.

    They saw it as an adventure to use history and conversation to change peopleโ€™s minds by learning more about the city around them. It wasnโ€™t a personal journey; they welcomed anyone who wanted to come along with them and explore the history and the DNA of this city, even if it was a trip that, for many years, made some people uncomfortable or they didnโ€™t want to join at first, or didnโ€™t want to go on at all.

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  • If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

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    James A. Bacon

    MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
    SUBJECT: STATEMENT FROM CADET LEADERSHIP ON THE MEANING AND FUTURE OF THE
    VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE

    We write neither in anger nor in defiance, but in duty. We represent the Virginia Military Institute Corps of Cadets as leaders entrusted with responsibility for the Corps’ discipline, morale, and welfare. We live daily under the system now under review. Because of this, it is our duty and Honor to discuss what Vะœะ† is, how it operates, and who it serves.

    Public discussion of VMI has grown increasingly abstract. Reports and testimony now speak about the Institute, while those voices being cultivated within it remain largely unheard. This letter exists as the voice of those being forged by the system under review. What follows is not an institutional defense, but a moral account: testimony from cadet leaders who have embraced the system.

    All who pass through VMI endure the same system of discipline, instruction, and hardship. That shared experience creates bonds, but it also creates obligations. Chief among these is the obligation to speak truthfully; testimony about institutional culture should reflect both context and criticism.

    When failures are cited, has progress also been documented? When problems are named, are solutions being pursued also mentioned? Partial truths, however factually correct, create fundamental misimpressions about our institution.

    We do not deny imperfection; we deny invisibility. Since 2020, VMI’s reforms have been real and lived. Where our experience ends, we rely on the testimony of those who have come before us. Improvement is ongoing, not achieved by dismantlement.

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  • VMI & the Task Force

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    James A. Bacon

    Illustration of a large, symmetrical castle-like structure with multiple towers and battlements, set against a backdrop of mountains.

    by Gordon C. Morse

    Virginia Military Institute, defined in the broadest sense of its extended community, may wish to reconsider its collective commitment to being correct and thoughtful.

    Meaning, under the circumstances, consider this to be a threat assessment.

    VMIโ€™s loyalists should not confuse a proposed legislative โ€œstudyโ€โ€”a proposed task force, in this instanceโ€”for being anything other than hostile to the school itself. The Democrats are coming. They yearn to lash out and there it sitsโ€”VMIโ€”on the open plateau of Virginiaโ€™s culture wars, an optimal target of opportunity.

    To put it another way, youโ€™re as likely to get a sympathetic, balanced, sensible response out of the current General Assembly on the subject of this longโ€‘venerated, stateโ€‘owned schoolโ€”VMIโ€”as you would out of the Trump administration on the subject of immigration.

    The Democrats came before. On October 19, 2020, thenโ€‘Gov. Ralph Northam, along with other Democratic Party leaders (no Republicans), sent a letter to VMI board president John W. Boland and other members of the VMI Board of Visitors, saying, โ€œWe write to express our deep concerns about the clear and appalling culture of ongoing structural racism at the Virginia Military Institute.โ€

    The letter did not say, โ€œWeโ€™re worried about a newspaper report.โ€

    It did not say โ€œcould beโ€ or โ€œmight be.โ€

    The letter offered no doubt or room for discovery at all. It made declarations. It openly condemned VMI.

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  • Court Reverses Intent of 2020 Do-Not-Compete Reform

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    by Chap Petersen

    In the 2020 legislative session, the General Assembly โ€“ with a new Democratic majority โ€“ passed A LOT of bills regarding labor rights. One of the most important and least noticed was SB 840, which protected โ€œlow wageโ€ workers, i.e. those making under the average state wage, from being subject to โ€œcovenants not to compete.โ€

    The definition of โ€œcovenant not to competeโ€ was broad:

    โ€œA covenant or agreement between an employer or employee that restrains, prohibits or otherwise restricts an individualโ€™s ability, following the termination of the individualโ€™s employment, to compete with his former employer.โ€

    The purpose of the bill was to make sure that lower-level service workers were not tied down by onerous post-employment restrictions, but could start their own business or work for a competitor without fear. The only restriction was laid out in Section C of the bill, which preserved non-disclosure agreements relating to confidential information.

    It was an excellent idea. (The sponsor btw was Bill DeSteph, R-VA Beach). I liked it so much I added a floor amendment that employees who successfully enforced the law would be entitled to attorney fees.

    Three years later, I found myself representing a worker in a security firm making $50,000 a year. He judged (correctly) that he could do a better job on his own. He started a company and was immediately served with a 50-page, 10-count lawsuit by his former employer and its Big Law Firm, which sought to shut him down via a non-compete agreement.

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  • Fern Versus Abigail, Storm Crushes Governor’s Energy Promises

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    by

    Steve Haner

    by Steve Haner

    PJM solar output curve January 24, the cloudy day before snow and sleet hit.

    Governor Abigail Spanbergerโ€™s major campaign pledges to lower electricity bills have already been crushed by the harsh reality of last weekโ€™s Winter Storm Fern. Virginians everywhere are about to see their highest energy bills ever, and the energy sources Spanberger wants us to adopt were all but useless during the crisis.ย  ย 

    Day after day,ย if you checkedย theย energy reportsย from regional grid operator PJM Interconnection, it was clear that coal, nuclear,ย naturalย gasย and oilย were providing 90 percent or more of electricityย during the crushing cold spell.ย There were only a few hours whenย the existing wind and solar assetsย approached 10 percent of our supply,ย andย never during the bitter cold nights.ย ย ย ย 

    That is not the whole story. The energy demand in Virginia includes a growing number of large data centers, many with backup generators installed behind their utility meters. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of their diesel generators have been running all week at the request of federal energy managersย to protect PJMโ€™s grid. Those gas-ย or diesel-powered electrons are not counted by PJMย on that website.ย ย ย 

    The backup generators at those power-draining server facilities are a particular target of Democrats in theย 2026ย General Assembly and theย anti-hydrocarbon activists andย donors who areย dictating their policy.ย Theย generatorsย are often a focus when people in a localityย try to prevent new plants. Inconveniently for them, aย post-storm analysis from PJM may demonstrate they saved the day.ย ย 

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  • Establishment Rising?

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    by

    James A. Bacon

    Rockingham County turned around; Harrisonburg could.

    by Joe Fitzgerald

    The most significant thing about the most significant purely local political story of 2025 was not widely reported, possibly because there was no one to report it.

    A School Board member in Rockingham County was defeated by a candidate he had defeated to win his seat four years ago.

    Worth noting that Andrew Payton nearly winning a delegate seat was as significant as the School Board race in the county; however, linked to statewide races as it was, it was less local a story. Hence the phrase โ€œpurely localโ€ above.

    Itโ€™s a hair worth splitting to make a particular point. In 2025, Matt Cross had the support of the countyโ€™s Republican establishment in his win over Hilary Irons. In 2025, that support went to Irons and she won.

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  • Out-of-State Donors Push Nursing Home Campaign Contributions to New Heights

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    sherlockj

    Out-of-State Donors Push Nursing Home Campaign Contributions to New Heights

    by James C. Sherlock

    “Organizing for Virginia Seniorsโ€ has jumped to number two on VPAPโ€™s list of Top Political Donors in Virginia behind Dominion Energy. ย 

    The funding for โ€œOrganizing for Virginia Seniorsโ€ comes from New York and New Jersey nursing home chains, about which this author has been less than complimentary. And then there was the Colonial Heights scandal. They apparently feel the need to influence politicians. ย 

    So far, it has cost them $159,000 to reach Virginiaโ€™s key General Assembly members. They also gave $100,000 to Governor Spanbergerโ€™s Inaugural Committee and $25,000 to that of Attorney General Jones. ย 

    The donations in 2025 totaled $239,500 to Democrats and $44,500 to Republicans. ย Plus whatever they paid to a consultant to tell them how to spread the money. It was all cash. Organizing for Virginia Seniors has $172,000 on hand, so we can estimate they have budgeted $500,000 for political influence in Virginia this year. ย 

    That effort aligns with New Jersey-based Eastern Healthcare Group’s lead sponsorship of the lobby fest in Richmond a couple of days ago by the Virginia Health Care Association (VHCA), the nursing home industry’s suits.ย 

    Bottom line

    It appears that, in this no-campaign-contribution-limits state, paying politicians and lobbyists is much cheaper than paying nurses and physicians to care for nursing home residents.

    There is no law, however, requiring politicians to accept the money, no questions asked.

    The author thinks he can speak for many when he says he hopes the nursing home barons do not get their moneyโ€™s worth.

  • Dominion Wind Price Jumps to $11.5B, Trump Blamed

    Posted on

    by

    Steve Haner

    Dominion photo of installation ship Charybdis

    Dominion Energy Virginia now expects its offshore wind facility, which has returned to full construction activity off the coast of Virginia Beach, will cost $11.5 billion. That is up about $365 million from the last report.ย 

    It really wasnโ€™t that long ago that Baconโ€™s Rebellion was aghast that the price had reached $8 billion. Oh, those halcyon days of old (2019).ย 

    The utility blames the policies of President Trump for the jump. Some of the additional costs are due to the interruption of construction work by a December 22 stop order from the Department of the Interior, and the rest are due to the price increases caused by tariffs on the imported components.ย  ย 

    โ€œIf the current tariffs were to remain in effect through early 2027, the expected project costs for offshore wind and onshore electrical interconnection equipment could increase by an additional approximately $215 million for a total possible tariff exposure of $795 million to the project. Through the end of December 2025, the project had incurred actual tariff costs of $295 million,โ€ Dominion told the State Corporation Commission in its January 30 report.

    Completion of the 176-turbine installation is now projected for February 2027, but some power may start to flow soon. That assumes no more interference from the Trump Administration, which may not be finished with efforts to overturn the Biden Administration-issued permits.ย 

    Under the cost-split agreement the utility made with the SCC to get its approvals, most of the cost overruns will be absorbed by the utility and the private investor fund that shares ownership of the facility. Only about $72 million is added to the construction bill to be collected from customers over the coming decades.ย  — SDH

  • Upholding the Rule of Law Is Everyone’s Responsibility

    Posted on

    by

    James A. Bacon

    by J. Kennerly Davis

    All Virginians, regardless of their political affiliations, should welcome the decision issued this week by Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley to block and void the Democratsโ€™ brazen attempt to defy the clear requirements of the Virginia Constitution and unlawfully redraw the Commonwealthโ€™s congressional districts to their disproportionate advantage. We all win when the courts uphold the rule of law.

    The redrawing of legislative districts always has the potential to unleash partisan overreach and lead to a one-party dominance that saps the vitality of representative government. This danger can be avoided, or at least lessened, if the redistricting process is structured to ensure the bipartisan participation needed to protect the fundamental interest that all citizens have in genuinely competitive elections.

    In 2020, Virginians voted overwhelmingly to do just that. By a roughly two-to-one margin, we approved an amendment to the Virginia Constitution (Article II, Sections 6 and 6-A) that established a bipartisan 16-member Virginia Redistricting Commission to update the map of congressional districts in 2021 and every ten years thereafter upon completion of each decennial U.S. census.

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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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