Let me pick up where I left off last, because these process/procedure questions sit at the heart of representative democracy. It matters how you get there and keeping proper order isn’t an idle, wonky issue. It’s pretty much the only way we avoid settling things in the streets.
It’s also kind of fun to argue about this stuff – and argue we should.
“I’ve been in the Senate since 1992,” Senator Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, told The Virginian-Pilot. “For the governor, or the attorney general, or even the secretary of education, to tell board members that they can stay anyway no matter what we say — it doesn’t work like that. That’s not what the constitution requires us to do.”
The constitution? You mean, Virginia’s constitution? If Lucas thinks that the Virginia Constitution – in letter and spirit – means for a legislative committee, on its lonesome, to show up on a June day in Richmond and render final judgment on the governor’s appointments to the governing boards of Virginia’s colleges and universities then she’s … well, cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, as we said as kids.
There are many provisions of the reconciliation bill now being considered by the U.S. Senate that would affect Virginia. One issue that would have a great impact is the proposed crackdown on health-related taxes or assessments used by states.
The federal Medicaid statutes authorize states to levy taxes, or assessments as they are sometimes called, on health-care facilities that serve Medicaid patients and then use the revenue from those assessments for the state’s share of Medicaid expenditures. (This article will use the term “assessment” from now on, primarily because that is the term Virginia uses.) In other words, in addition to its revenue from the General Fund, a state can use any revenue from a provider assessment for its share of Medicaid funding.
Broad based. The assessment must be imposed on all the non-governmental health care entities within a specified class. For example, all hospitals must be subject to the assessment, not just those that treat a high proportion of Medicaid patients.
Uniform. The assessment must be consistent in amount and scope to the services to which it applies. For example, the rate cannot be higher on Medicaid revenue than it is on non-Medicaid revenue.
Hold harmless. Taxpayers, i.e. hospitals, cannot be guaranteed that they will recoup their entire assessment from increased Medicaid revenue.
Forty-nine states and the District of Columbia use at least one type of assessment to help finance Medicaid. The federal Medicaid law establishes minimum levels of eligibility, service provision, and payment rates for participant states. States may exceed those minimums, but they must pay their share of the increased costs. (Virginia’s share of Medicaid costs is about 40 percent.) However, they can use revenue from the health-care assessments to pay all or a portion of the state share. The result is that the number of people served, services provided, or payment rates are increased, with the increased costs being borne by the hospitals, nursing homes, etc. and the federal government. The health care facilities benefit because their overall Medicaid revenue increases, usually more than offsetting the amount of the assessments. Those facilities that have a higher Medicaid caseload benefit the most. There is no question that these assessment programs are expensive for the federal government. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that eliminating the authorization for the assessments would save the Medicaid program $612 billion over a nine-year period.
Taxes and transgender rights are the two big issues that John Reid, Republican nominee for lieutenant general, thinks will bring him victory in a year where the conventional wisdom favors a Democratic sweep in statewide elections.
Most Virginians hate the car tax, and an increasing number are stressed by the steady increase in property taxes. Even families that have paid off their mortgages are getting squeezed out of their homes by surging housing assessments and real estate taxes, said Reid in an interview today with Bacon’s Rebellion.
The other big issue he consistently hears about is the “insanity” of permitting biological boys compete in girls’ sports. That national issue has hit home in places like Loudoun and Hanover Counties here in Virginia, Reid said.
In the money race, Reid is running far behind his opponent, Ghazala Hashmi, a Democratic state senator from Chesterfield County who has outraised him by $1.3 million to $311,000 and, even after fighting a tough Democratic primary, has more than four times as much cash on hand.
While Hashmi has racked up huge contributions such as $475,000 from Charlottesville mega-donor Sonja Smith, compared to Reid’s biggest donation of $12,000, he’s running closer in the total number of donations — 1,875 to 1,142. And now that the Republican statewide slate has settled its internal differences and is presenting a unified front, he thinks fundraising will pick up.
When Governor Glenn Youngkin visited France and the UK last week on an economic development trip, he rededicated the London statue of George Washington at Trafalgar Square gifted by the United States. Imagine that: the Brits honoring a statue of a traitor to the crown!
One wonders what the reaction would have been if Youngkin had tried rededicating in Virginia a statue to Washington, who was a slaveholder and speculator in lands once belonging to indigenous peoples. (Hat tip to Freedom Rider.) — JAB
May a committee of the Virginia Senate act on behalf of the entire body? That appears to be question raised by a group of Senate Democrats and, if the answer is yes, it would contradict legislative norms presently held most everywhere.
Maybe there’s an exception in Albania, I don’t know.
Generally speaking, a committee is a functional part of the larger whole and, while it may be authorized to advise the body, it may not act on behalf of the entire legislative body except in very limited, specific circumstances or when expressly granted such authority.
Do most committee actions prove determinative? Yeah. Sure. But only within in the context of the legislative process and the operations of the entire Senate. A committee may be discharged from the consideration by the body.
In short, the dog rules, not the tail of the dog.
In this lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Fairfax County Circuit Court, nine members of the Senate, all Democrats, insist that a single legislative committee — in this case, the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee – may act alone to reject a group of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s college and university board appointments.
Thanks to the reporting of the Fredericksburg Free Press, more detail is available on the case of the Spotsylvania County judge indicted on bribery charges.
As noted in an earlier article in Bacon’s Rebellion, Richard T. McGrath, chief district court judge of the 15th Judicial District, which includes Spotsylvania County, was indicted on a charge of bribery of a public official, a Class 4 felony.
One normally thinks of bribery as the giving of money or something else of value to a public official to gain some advantage. This is not the case with McGrath. Allegedly, he was seeking pay raises for the local district court staff and, in a meeting with county officials, including the chair of the Board of Supervisors, he allegedly threatened to begin dismissing traffic tickets if the staff did not get raises.
There is a new player in the struggle for the soul of the University of Virginia: Wahoos4UVA, which describes itself as a group of “proud alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends” of the University. Its stated mission is to defend UVA from an “orchestrated campaign of misinformation and political pressure.”
Who is conducting this alleged misinformation campaign? The signature-raising letter published by Wahoos4UVA refers to a “small, unrepresentative group of alumni,” which you can be certain is none other than the Jefferson Council (on whose executive committee I serve). The name of our organization, like that of Lord Voldemort, presumably is too heinous for Wahoos4UVA to actually utter.
These self-professed defenders of UVA President Jim Ryan regard the Jefferson Council as thoroughly reprehensible. Our tactics, states the letter, consist of “lies, personal attacks, and public disrespect” and “stand in direct opposition to the Honor Code and the values that define UVA.” Furthermore, asserts the letter, we circulate “false claims and distortions.”
Wahoos4UVA offers zero evidence to back up its claims. Not one lie. Not one personal attack. Not one false claim. Not one distortion. This is the kind of bilious rhetoric normally found in letters to the editor penned by cranky old men. But I feel compelled to respond, for the group does appear to be backed by significant resources — enough to set up a well-designed website, file incorporation papers in Delaware, and publish full-page ads in newspapers across Virginia — and has won instant credibility with local media. Inevitably, people will hear what they have to say.
The “overwhelming majority of alumni” are proud of the progress UVA has made under President Jim Ryan’s leadership, asserts the letter without providing the slightest documentation of what alumni think. It might be more accurate to say that an overwhelming majority of Wahoos4UVA letter signatories are proud of UVA’s progress under Jim Ryan. That the authors of the Wahoos4UVA screed assume they represent a majority tells us more how rarely they encounter divergent views in their cosseted social milieus than anything about the opinions of UVA alumni as a whole.
I’ve just come back from vacation in England and found it to be a nation of vivid contradictions offering parallels to what we’re experiencing in Virginia. The United Kingdom is torn by the same battle between wokery and tradition as the Old Dominion. Statues have fallen — most notably of Cecil Rhodes, the quintessential colonialist and imperialist, as well as assorted philanthropists who derived their wealth from slavery. But many Brits still revere their past and their memorials.
Statue of Robert Cornelis Napier
There is such a super-abundance of statuary in England that the loss of a few bronze works is scarcely noticed. One cannot walk a few blocks through London without bumping into a statue. The photo at left, which I encountered during my wanderings, honors Robert Napier, a British military engineer and commander, who fought in the Sikh wars in India, the opium wars in China, and the Abyssinian expedition of 1867-68. In the latter campaign, which he led, Napier rescued European hostages from the mad Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. Mission accomplished, his army returned to India and left the Abyssinians to proceed with their nation-building on their own.
For all of Napier’s purported sins against non-Western peoples, his statue still stands in London free from graffiti and protesters. Contrast the fate of his memorial to that of George Rogers Clark, conqueror of the Northwest Territory, which the University of Virginia took down for shame for his role in subduing the indigenous peoples there. And let us not forget the City of Charlottesville’s dismantling of the statue of his younger brother William Clark, Meriwether Lewis, and their guide Sacagawea. Lewis and Clark warred against no one and despoiled no one of their land. The alleged offense of the statue commemorating the explorers was said be to how the artist had displayed Sacagawea in a submissive posture. Any excuse will do for tearing down the past.
A reverence for tradition and tolerance for libertine madness exist side by side in England. As it happened, two notable events took place in London one day that we were there: the Trooping the Colour in honor of King Charles’ birthday and the World Naked Bike Ride.
The University of Virginia (UVA) is currently under investigation by the federal government because its administration is attempting to maintain its illegal “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) regime in secret after the Board of Visitors voted in March to dismantle it. The administration is also stonewalling the Board’s April resolution, which called for more viewpoint diversity at UVA.
To his credit, President Jim Ryan introduced a presentation at June’s Board meeting by Interim Provost Brie Gertler by saying the right things: “Viewpoint diversity is near and dear to my heart;” “John Stuart Mill was right when he wrote in ‘On Liberty’: ‘He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that;’” “the clash of ideas is key to a great education and part of the path towards following the truth wherever it might lead;” “free speech and viewpoint diversity … are the foundation for both academic freedom and effective teaching and learning, and so they are the cornerstones of any flourishing university.”
Unfortunately, what happened before and after Ryan’s encouraging words should alarm anyone committed to the true purpose of higher education: intellectual freedom, the pursuit of truth, and the promotion of virtuous citizenship.
On June 10 Teddy Gottwald, president of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Visitors, wrote a letter to House Majority Leader Scott Surovell, D-Fairfax, in response to Surovell’s statement justifying the Privileges & Elections Committee vote to block four of Governor Glenn Youngkin’s nominees to the VMI Board. The letter is somewhat old news at this point, but it didn’t get the attention it warranted, so I publish it here to keep readers apprised of developments at VMI. — JAB
Dear Senator Surovell,
Thomas E. Gottwald
Thank you for your email and letter dated June 9th. I appreciate your input regarding the governance and oversight of Virginia’s colleges and universities. It is helpful to know the concerns you expressed in your letter, and I can assure you that the VMI Board of Visitors shares your desire for good and proper governance.
The General Assembly in January chose to reject two highly qualified and capable alumni appointees to our BOV with little explanation, leaving us to wonder about the reasoning. Quintin Elliott served for more than twenty years in the Virginia Air National Guard and was later named Deputy Secretary of Transportation by Governor Northam. Clifford Foster is a highly respected financial professional who has given back to VMI extensively. Both were expected to strengthen our Board Finance Committee. The three alumni nominees in question today are all equally qualified. José Suárez is a U.S. Navy veteran, an accomplished businessman and expert on green energy. Steve Reardon is a respected lawyer who served in the US Army and Army Reserve. Jon Hartsock is a twenty-year veteran of the US Army — a combat veteran who later served with distinction in leadership positions at VMI. I respectfully take exception to any suggestion that these five individuals somehow do not possess the judgment, character, or willingness to follow good governance practices per your letter.
There’s a “sign post up ahead.” Planet car tax looms before us. Once again, we’re on a journey to a wonderous land whose boundaries are only that of imagination.
Jim Gilmore -– a cosmonaut of the first order — launched this trip in 1997, when he successfully sought Virginia’s highest elected office on the promise of kiboshing a principal revenue source for local government.
“No Car Tax,” read Gilmore’s bumper stickers. “Elect me and that goes away,” he roughly vowed.
It doesn’t get more direct than that.
Then, as now, the car tax gets vilified as the one tax that Virginians hate the very most. Where that leaves the state income tax, I’m not sure. Probably offended.
Republican Winsome Sears and Democrat Abigail Spanberger, candidates for governor, have now promised to finish what Gilmore presumably started nearly three decades ago.
You just wish both of them had read up on this a bit. They still could. It’s not too late.
Whether it’s actual violence or approved vandalism, the expression of “outrage” is the #1 means of political ascent. The ensuing antics run the gamut from tedious to terrifying — but where does this constant negativity lead us?
There are other ways …
When I first joined the House of Delegates in 2001, there were plenty of political fault lines: Rural vs. Urban, Democratic vs. Republican, Black vs. White. In the aftermath of 9/11, tempers were short and debates were always tense.
But we also created mechanisms to survive, not just politically but socially. Through those gatherings, we forged friendships and eventually partnerships which crossed boundaries and got things done.
This trashing of Levar Stoney’s over his loss should be a cautionary tale to Democrats and commentators. Is everyone becoming infected with the Trump gloating and belittling disease? One of the most damaging aspects of the MAGA crowd is the joy they take kicking people when they’re down. Indeed, they take so much joy in it, they can’t wait to kick people down, so then they can stomp them again.
There was a time when real Democrats, indeed Americans, knew we were better than that. Gloating is a sign of weakness, not character. There was a time when we didn’t see politics as a zero-sum game: when the only way to feel happy was when someone else felt miserable. Is this where we’re heading? Maybe it’s where we already are.
No one in RVA publicly fought Mayor Stoney on key issues more than yours truly. I led the three voter referendums fights he lost: in 2017 on education, in 2021 on the Casino and in 2023 on the Casino again. On Stoney’s I’ll-fated Navy Hill project, the key proponent sent his top paid people to see me and basically promised me whatever I wanted if I would stop trying to defeat it. I said, no way, Stoney is wrong on this one.
Indeed, in the second Casino referendum, the key proponent came to me and offered me several million dollars in stock options if I would just give Stoney a break and not try to defeat him on it. That’s true — a lot of people know it. I even asked my son what I should do. It’s ultimately your money I said. He told me to follow my conscience and hell with the money. Stoney got crushed on that one too.
But I didn’t gloat. As people in Richmond know, eventually the pro-casino forces played the antisemitic card against me. Called me a Judas Jew. The pro-Casino side lost 62 to 38. I didn’t go out gloating on their loss either. But I was surprised no members of the Jewish community came to my defense. People don’t think I’m the proper kind of Jew I guess.
All of which gets me to ask what the hell is happening to our country? This identity politics simply isn’t working. One would think the election of Donald Trump not once but twice would prove it.
The North Carolina legislature has retreated from its aggressive targets to reduced hydrocarbon-fueled electricity in the state, eliminating the goal of being 70% carbon free by 2030. Strong Republican majorities in both chambers supported Senate Bill 266 last week, but so did some Democratic legislators.
That smattering of Democratic support could weigh on Democratic Governor Josh Stein as he considers a veto. The final version of the bill leaves in place the ultimate target of the full elimination of carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, and there are other important regulatory changes in the bill, touted by supporters as the Power Bill Reduction Act.
This follows a decision in Maryland, approved by its Democratic governor, to authorize additional use of natural gas for generation in that state. There are glimmers of energy sanity in both Virginia’s northern and southern neighbors. Virginia retains its laws mandating expensive wind and solar energy buildouts and prohibiting new natural gas. The weather in the next two weeks is going to prove again that reliable hydrocarbon plants keep the air conditioning running, not solar.
North Carolina’s legislature passed the emissions reduction targets in 2021, one year after the Virginia General Assembly placed similar mandates in the Virginia Code. The North Carolina target for 2030 of 70% is far more aggressive than those for that year in the Virginia Clean Economy Act (VCEA).
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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