Tag: Dick Hall-Sizemore
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Off the Interstate: An Old Church Still Serves its Community
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Along Rt. 30 in King William County is the community of Mangohick. There is not much to see there, except a very old church whose congregation is still very much active. The Mangohick Baptist Church was built between 1730-1732. It is listed on both the Virginia Historic Landmarks register and the National Register…
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Spanberger Pushes Back
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Gov. Abigail Spanberger is pushing back against the elimination of a sales tax break for data centers being proposed by Senate Democrats in their budget recommendations. (For background on the sales tax exemption, see Steve Haner’s discussion here.) There is a tradition in which the governor meets with the budget bill conferees (those…
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With Friends Like This…
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia Republicans seem to be very frustrated with their party’s attempts to thwart the redistricting changes being pushed by Virginia Democrats. A lot of their frustration has been directed at former Gov. Youngkin. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the incumbent Republican members of Congress,whose seats are in jeopardy, met with…
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ERIC is Back
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Despite professing concern for election integrity, former Gov. Youngkin pulled Virginia out of Electronic Registration Information Center, Inc., (ERIC), an organization developed to enable states to share data in order to clean up their election rolls and identify people who might try to vote in different states. The General Assembly has passed,…
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A Dangerous Bill
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The General Assembly has passed, and has sent to the governor for her review, legislation that would require that any “program of instruction on or relating to the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol” shall: “1. Not describe, portray, or present as credible a description or portrayal of the…
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Follow-up on Voter Registration Rolls Suit
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There was considerable reaction to my recent article regarding the U.S. Dept. of Justice suing Virginia for not turning over an unredacted copy of the statewide list of registered voters. Two comments in particular struck me as needing some response from me. Matt Hurt posed this question: “The National Voter Registration Act of 1993…
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VDH Rejects CDC Vaccination Guideline Changes
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Virginia has joined 23 other states and the District of Columbia in rejecting the new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control regarding childhood vaccinations. The CDC guidelines no longer include hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, flu, COVID-19 and meningitis in the routine immunization schedule. Explaining that the recent changes in the…
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Give Us Your Voter Registration Rolls
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Trump administration has sued the Commonwealth of Virginia for refusing to turn over its voting registration rolls to the U.S. Dept. of Justice (DOJ). The Commonwealth is not alone. Currently, the administration has sued 24 states and the District of Columbia for refusing the demand. The states sued were primarily those…
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A Recent Graduate’sTake on VMI
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Because I have no personal contact or knowledge of VMI, I have been loath to weigh in on the debates that have been raging on this blog. However, last week, I had the opportunity to have an extended conversation with a recent VMI graduate, which I found enlightening. Here is some background about…
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Redefining Time
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Most people to understand a “day” to constitute a 24-hour period of time. They understand that the term “work days” generally exclude weekends and holidays. Furthermore, for those that follow government and politics, “legislative days” is understood to mean those days in which the legislature is in session. Notwithstanding those commonly accepted definitions, Virginia’s Republican…
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This is Overreach
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The redistricting map presented by Democrats is outrageous, embarrassing, and just plain outlandish. I can’t think of other words to describe it. It certainly violates the state constitution’s requirement that districts be compact. The traditional ideas of respecting communities of interest and jurisdictional boundary lines to the extent possible were thrown out the…
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Followup: Canadian Owner of Hanover Warehouse Pulls Out of ICE Deal
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Jim Pattison Developments, the Vancouver-based owner of the warehouse in Hanover County which the Dept. of Homeland Security was proposing to purchase and renovate into an ICE processing center, has pulled out of the deal, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The company issued a brief statement, “The transaction to sell our industrial building…
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A Vapid Performance
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Out of curiosity after reading Derrick Max’s article on the family and medical leave act, I watched the video recording of that subcommittee meeting on HB 1207. Derrick Max raised legitimate questions and objections to the bill. There were two Republican Delegates on that subcommittee. Neither asked a single question of the bill’s…
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Hanover Opposes ICE Detention Center
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Trump administration has to know it is in trouble when Hanover County opposes the establishment of an immigrant processing center within its boundaries. Hanover is the most reliably Republican jurisdiction in the Richmond area and one of the most reliable in the state. In each of the last three Presidential elections, Trump…
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Judge Declares Redistricting Amendment Invalid; Democrats Proceed Nevertheless
by Dick Hall-Sizemore A Tazewell circuit court judge has ruled that the attempt by the General Assembly Democrats to amend the state constitution to allow for a redistricting of Congressional districts this year is invalid, both on unconstitutional and statutory grounds. He based his ruling on three issues: Legislative rules of procedure—The original resolution establishing…