Author Archives: Dick Hall-Sizemore

Let’s Make a Deal

Posted on December 18, 2023 | 17 comments

Sen. Louis Lucas (D-Portsmouth)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Gov. Glenn Youngkin earned his spurs (and his money) making deals in the private sector. He came into the governorship with no political experience. During his first two years in office, he showed little inclination to compromise or make deals. He bet big this fall on coming out of the November elections with Republican majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. He lost, big time.

Now there is something that he wants; something that would be a feather in his cap: engineering the move of two major-league sports teams, the NBA Washington Wizards and the NHL Washington Caps, to Virginia.

His major obstacle is a General Assembly controlled by Democrats, whom he spent all fall trying to defeat. To get what he wants, he is going to have to be willing to make deals. How good a deal maker will he be in the political realm?

At least one legislator has signaled her willingness to deal. Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the incoming chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee recently observed, “While some people want sports stadiums … I want tolls to disappear from Hampton Roads and I want recreational sale of marijuana. Guess we will have to find compromises this session.” Want to make a deal, Governor?

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Posted in General Assembly, Politics

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Subsidizing a Billionaire

Posted on December 17, 2023 | 66 comments

Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals; Gov. Youngkin on left. Photo credit: Virginia Business

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

If approved by the General Assembly and the City of Alexandria, the deal reached between Gov. Glenn Youngkin and the owner of the Washington Wizards and the Washington Capitals for those teams to move from Washington, D.C. to the Potomac Yards site in Alexandria would constitute the largest public subsidy for a sports team in the nation’s history.  That is the conclusion of a report by JP Morgan commissioned by the state, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post.

The total estimated cost of the project is $2.2 billion.  The owner of the sports teams, Monumental Sports and Entertainment would contribute $403 million up front.  The City of Alexandria would be on the hook for $106 million.

The state would create a sports and entertainment authority which would own the land and the buildings and lease them to Monumental. The company would sign a 40-year lease with rent beginning at $29.5 million annually and increasing to $34.5 million.  In addition to the arena for the two sports teams, the project would include a concert hall, underground parking, a conference center, a Wizards practice center, and Monumental’s  corporate offices and media station. Continue reading →

66 Comments

Posted in Economic development, Finance (government)

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Oh, That Song of Solomon!

Posted on December 14, 2023 | 39 comments

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

A Hanover County parent has submitted a complaint to the school system’s Library Materials Committee about a book in school libraries, writing that its “vulgar and inappropriate” content depicts rape, prostitution, sexual assault, violence, illegal activities and sexual activities. The book:  The Bible;  specifically, the New International Version of the Bible.

To emphasize the harm she feared emanating from the accessibility of The Bible to her child, she stated, as reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, that she feared “it would absolutely turn my child into a groomed, immoral, prostituting, violent, polygamist and/or rapist.”

Under the Hanover County School Board’s  book review policy, amended last summer, any parent of a child in a Hanover County school or any resident of Hanover County “may file a challenge regarding any material located in a school’s comprehensive library or within a classroom library which is believed to contain sexually explicit content.” If the school principal or librarian determines that the challenged material meets the criteria for “deselection,” the material is removed from the school libraries. If the principal or librarian determines that the material does not meet the criteria, the challenge is forwarded to the Library Materials Committee, which reviews the material and makes a recommendation to the School Board. The School Board, by a majority vote, in its sole discretion, may remove any material from school libraries or classrooms. Continue reading →

39 Comments

Posted in Culture wars

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Deja Vu, All Over Again

Posted on December 11, 2023 | 46 comments

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Virginia is trying again to land a sports facility for a national professional sports team, The Washington Post reports. This time it is an arena for the Wizards of the National Basketball Association and the Capitals of the National Hockey League. Both teams have the same owner and are currently located in Washington, D.C.

The facility would be located in Potomac Yards in Alexandria. (If that name sounds familiar, that is where then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder tried to lure the Washington Redskins football team 30 years ago.) According to the Post, the arena would anchor a “massive mixed-use development.” A stadium authority would own the facility and lease it to the company that owns the sports teams. There are no public details on potential costs yet. The owner of the Wizards and the Capitals would be expected to put up “hundreds of millions of dollars of its own money,” with the remainder being provided by the authority. The authority would sell bonds to raise the cash and use revenue from ticket sales, concessions, and parking to repay the bonds (theoretically).  Continue reading →

46 Comments

Posted in Economic development, General Assembly

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A Day Which Will Live In Infamy

Posted on December 7, 2023 | 10 comments

10 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Stuck in the Secretary’s Office

Posted on December 5, 2023 | 52 comments

Andrew Wheeler, Director, Office of Regulatory Management

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The Youngkin administration is sitting on regulations needed to implement important legislation enacted by the General Assembly in 2020. The delay constitutes a violation of that law.

In its 2020 Special Session, the General Assembly expanded the grounds for decertifying law-enforcement and jail officers. The background of this legislation was described in detail on this blog in a previous article, so there is no need to repeat that information here.

The legislation required the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), under the direction of the Criminal Justice Services Board (CJSB), to adopt statewide professional standards of conduct for law-enforcement and jail officers. The timeline set out in the legislation would have required the standards of conduct to go into effect by mid-December 2021, two years ago. DCJS missed the deadline. The CJSB approved the regulations on June 16, 2022. The Attorney General certified the regulations on Aug. 2, 2022. The Department of Planning and Budget completed its review of the economic impact of the regulations on Aug. 22, 2022. The regulations have been under review in the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security’s office since then—470 days, more than a year and a quarter. Continue reading →

52 Comments

Posted in Efficiency in government, Law enforcement, Police reform, Regulation

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Musical Chairs

Posted on December 5, 2023 | 8 comments

Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth),  Speaker-designate

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

One of the most potent powers of the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates is the assigning of members to committees and designating the chair of each committee. He has sole prerogative over this important function.

Speaker-designate Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) has broken a little with tradition (in addition to the other ways he is a “first”).  In the past, a Speaker would wait until a day or two after the Session had convened to release the committee appointments list. In recent days, Scott has been releasing the names of committee chairs, one by one. Perhaps he is hoping to get some publicity for the new chairs, but, so far, the press has taken notice of only one, Sam Rasoul of Roanoke.

These are the chairs named so far:

  • Sam Rasoul (Roanoke)–Education
  • Vivian Watts (Fairfax)–Finance
  • Patrick Hope (Arlington)–Courts of Justice
  • Jeion Ward (Hampton)–Labor and Commerce
  • Mark Sickles (Fairfax)–Health and Human Services
  • Luke Torian (Prince William)–Appropriations

With one exception, none of these appointments is a surprise. Continue reading →

8 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Uncategorized

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Follow-up on Sen. Hashmi

Posted on December 2, 2023 | 97 comments

Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield)
Photo credit: VPM

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Kerry Doughtery has evinced a certain amount of outrage on this blog about state Sen. Ghazala Hashni (D-Chesterfield) not living in the district in which she ran and won re-election. (See here and here.)

The recent redistricting had placed Sen. Hashmi’s long-time residence just outside the district which she represented. In order to be able to run in her old district, the senator rented an apartment in that district and listed it as her primary residence. A group of residents filed a petition with the court claiming that she had not abandoned her longtime residence in which her husband still lived. They monitored the movement of the family’s vehicles and claimed that Hashmi still spent time there.

A retired judge has ruled that the evidence showed that Sen. Hashmi had established a domicile at the apartment and thus met the requirements of the law and had not falsified her residency in papers she filed with the Board of Elections. In her testimony, Hashmi said that she had moved furniture and personal effects to the apartment, established an office there, and changed her voting registration and driver’s license to reflect her new address. She did not deny spending some nights at her former home, partly to help care for her husband, who was dealing with a medical issue. She said that she and her husband plan to buy a home in the new district.

My Soapbox

The actions taken by Sen. Hashmi to deal with being redistricted out of her legislative district are not unusual; other legislators have resorted to similar moves in the past. They may not seem right, but they are not illegal. It is amazing that legislators will go to the hassle and expense of renting apartments and then moving, and perhaps uprooting their families, just to remain in the General Assembly.

97 Comments

Posted in Elections, General Assembly, Politics

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Around the Commonwealth: Local Unions and Housing Help

Posted on November 29, 2023 | 24 comments

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Some interesting recent actions by local governments:

Local employee unions–Many on this blog predicted that local government bodies, especially those in “progressive” urban areas would not be able to resist attempts by local employee unions to enter into collective bargaining. The City of Norfolk has demonstrated that it can and will resist. As reported by The Virginian Pilot, the Norfolk City Council this week voted 5-3 against a request by the Police Benevolent Association to enter into collective bargaining. The city council did create four “employee committees” that are to meet with the city manager. Input from those committees will be factored into council’s budget decisions.

Helping employees buy a house–Henrico County will pay up to $25,000 for a down payment on a house for qualified county or school employees. The county has designated $2 million for this initiative. Therefore, at least 80 employees will be able to benefit.

To benefit fully from this offer, the employee must work five years for the county. According to the county administrator, the county views this as a tool to retain employees.

As reported by the Henrico Citizen, the program is available to first-time home buyers who have worked for the county or school system for at least year on a full-time basis.  The home to be purchased must be located in Henrico County and cost no more than $425,ooo. Furthermore, eligibility for the program is limited to employees who live in a household with income not exceeding $98,400 for two or fewer persons or $114,900 for three or more persons. The down payment provided by the county will be treated as an “interest-free, forgivable loan, and 1/60th of the balance will be forgiven each month that the employee lives in the house and remains employed by Henrico. If the employee stops working for the county or sells the house before the five-year window has ended, he or she will be required to repay the remaining balance.”

24 Comments

Posted in Housing, Public employee unions

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Another Local Newspaper Shuts Down

Posted on November 25, 2023 | 15 comments

Tom McLaughlin, editor and general manager, News & Record (South Boston) Photo credit: News & Record

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

A local newspaper closing down is not really news these days. However, the circumstances surrounding the News & Record in South Boston in Southside Virginia and its shutting down are unusual. In addition, the news is personal to me.

For as long as I can remember, the South Boston/Halifax County area has had two newspapers. The Halifax Gazette, later known as the Gazette-Virginian, was the dominant paper in terms of circulation. The South Boston News and the Halifax County Record-Advertiser were essentially the same newspaper, published by the same folks and put out on two different days of the week.

For about a year, I delivered the News and the Record-Advertiser to houses in about half the town of Halifax on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. It was the first regular-paying job I had. I have a lot of fond memories of delivering those papers, although being regularly chased by a large German shepherd is not one of them. I knew the family that bought the paper after I had gotten married and moved away. The current editor is too young for me to have known him, but I knew his older brother; his father was my midget football coach; I remember his unbelievably calm mother coming into the grocery store accompanied with a rowdy bunch of four or more kids; my wife taught one of the boys in seventh grade. Continue reading →

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Posted in Media, Uncategorized

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“Parental Rights” Movement Fading?

Posted on November 19, 2023 | 97 comments

Loudoun County School Board meeting, 2021 Photo credit: What’s Trending

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

When Glenn Youngkin was elected Governor in 2021, largely on a platform of “parental rights” in schools, a national movement seemed to have been born.  In Virginia, and elsewhere, school board meetings were packed with fervent citizens shouting at the board members and at each other about banning books in school libraries and classrooms, LGBTQ policies, and other issues.  Law enforcement had to be called in to keep order.

With the last election, that movement seems to have lost momentum.  Nationally, Democrats won school board elections in many key districts and candidates backed by progressive groups did well.  Moms for Liberty, one of the leading “parental rights” groups, lost some of the ground it had won two years earlier.  The group pushed back against claims that voters were rejecting its platform, saying that 40 percent of the candidates it had endorsed won, although that hardly seems like a case that its agenda is winning.  Furthermore, it quickly took down its list of endorsed candidates from its website, thereby making it impossible to verify even this claim. Continue reading →

97 Comments

Posted in Culture wars, Education (K-12), Elections, Politics

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Just Wondering

Posted on November 16, 2023 | 26 comments

U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) Photo credit: NBC News

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Four Republican Congressmen from Virginia, Wittman (1st District), Good (5th District),  Cline (6th District), and  Griffith (9th Distict), recently voted against the continuing resolution, introduced by the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives, to fund the government.  In effect, they would have shut down the government.

I wonder how they will vote. when they come back from the Thanksgiving recess, on the resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) following the release of a unanimous, scathing report by the bipartisan Ethics Committee recommending that he be expelled.

26 Comments

Posted in Politics

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Here and There Around the Commonwealth

Posted on November 15, 2023 | 52 comments

Virginia History

For those interested in Virginia history, here are two great sources.  One is new; one is not new, but I just discovered it.

Cardinal News has started a three-year project  “to tell the little-known stories of Virginia’s role in the march to independence in advance of the nation’s observation of its 250th anniversary, or Semi-quincentennial.”  In addition to a story about the chosen topic, Dwight Yancey, editor of Cardinal News, has promised “occasional columns about the politics of the era, written the same way I’d write them today.”  The project is called Cardinal 250. The first monthly article, about the “Proclamation Line of 1763,” and Yancey’s political analysis, which is a lot of fun, can be found here.

The other item is the website Virginia Places.  This is the brainchild of Manassas resident Charles Grymes, who first created it in 1998 for a geography class he was teaching at George Mason University. He has lovingly nurtured it ever since.  It now consists of 1,000 pages on topics ranging from agriculture to Virginia journeys.  Grymes describes the website as “an exploration into what makes Virginia special. It is an interdisciplinary journey through the history, economics, geology, biology, sociology, and other -ologies that can help explain how Virginia has evolved in the past, and what the state may look like in the future.”  It is a work in progress which he describes as “far from complete.”  He is constantly adding to it and updating content added earlier.  I have run across items from this website in my search for sources for articles for this blog and I did not realize what it was.  Now I know; it is a delightful treasure trove of information about the Commonwealth.

Perpetual Election Machine

Ah, to live in Virginia where there is always an election campaign in progress.  It is not enough that, right after we have finished a heated campaign for General Assembly seats, we have U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger announcing that she is not going to run for reelection to Congress, but will be running for governor in 2025, thereby ensuring that, before the present governor is through half his term, we will be talking about who is going to replace him.  Now we have Del. John McGuire (R-Goochland), recently elected to the Virginia Senate, announcing he will challenge Republican Fifth District Congressman Bob Good in a primary next year.

As reported by Cardinal News, McGuire, in an email to his supporters (at least it was not on X), declared that Good “has failed us time and time again.”  He declared that Good had “abandoned” Donald Trump by endorsing Ron DeSantis in next year’s Presidential primaries.  He went on to assert that Good voted for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker, then “threw a temper tantrum, reversed himself, and allowed the party to fall into chaos, costing us the 2023 elections.”   As a result of those elections, “Marxist Democrats now control the Virginia General Assembly, which is going to hurt the people of Virginia badly.”  That last comment should endear him to his fellow legislators and encourage smooth inter-party relations.

RWH

52 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Rumblings Among House Republicans

Posted on November 11, 2023 | 28 comments

Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), Minority Leader

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), the current Minority Leader in the House of Delegates, seems to be on a smooth glide path to making history by being elected Speaker when the General Assembly convenes in January. The fate of the current Speaker, Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), is less certain.

Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah), currently Speaker

One might logically expect a Speaker to maintain leadership of his party caucus after it moved from the majority to minority. But it seems that some members are unhappy, and that Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott), the current Majority Leader, is campaigning to be the Republican floor leader in the next Session, rather than Gilbert. The Virginia Political Newsletter reports that the unhappiness of some members stems from feeling that “the talking point of a new 15-week restriction was forced upon them by House leadership and Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s PAC, Spirit of Virginia.” One Republican delegate told the newsletter, on the condition of anonymity, “Many of us understood that the messaging and focus on the abortion issue was wrong from the start, and would hurt Republicans, especially in competitive districts.”

Del. Terry Kilgore (R-Scott), currently Majority Leader

It is not uncommon for legislators to rebel against their leadership when their party loses its majority status. In fact, Scott owes his current position to a coup he led two years ago against then-Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn (D-Fairfax) after the Democrats were toppled from the majority.

28 Comments

Posted in General Assembly, Politics, Uncategorized

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Posted on November 11, 2023 | 9 comments

9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized