Category Archives: Politics

Republican Rock Star Campaigns with Kiggans

Posted on January 8, 2024 by | 15 comments

Rep. Jen Kiggans in Virginia Beach. (Photo by Kathy Sargent)

by Kerry Dougherty

An enthusiastic, overflow crowd crammed into a ballroom at the Marriott Oceanfront on 42nd Street Sunday afternoon to kick off Rep. Jen Kiggans’ re-election campaign. I’m not good at crowd estimates – plus I’m short and didn’t have a good vantage point – but there had to be 500 or more people in the room.

Present was a who’s who of GOP Virginia politicians from former Governors George Allen – who introduced Kiggans – and Bob McDonnell to Attorney General Jason Miyares, former members of Congress Thelma Drake and Randy Forbes and former Del. Glenn Davis, who resigned his seat in the General Assembly to become Director of the Virginia’s Department  of Energy, Del. Barry Knight and Sen.-elect Danny Diggs.

Kiggans ticked off an impressive litany of bills passed by the slim Republican majority in the House, including one that would have stemmed the flow of immigrants entering the country illegally.

“We used to call it a crisis on our Southern border,” Kiggans said, “Now we call it a catastrophe.”

Kiggans noted that the 2nd District seat was one of just six that the GOP managed to flip in 2022 to take control of the House. The Democrats desperately want to flip her seat back into the D column next year and have been running negative ads against Kiggans since last summer. The congresswoman said she hates the “lies” that are told about her, but is willing to take the abuse to continue serving the 2nd District. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Politics

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Showdown in Hill City

Posted on December 28, 2023 by | 15 comments

Stephanie Reed, Mayor, City of Lynchburg Photo credit: Lynchburg City Council

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

The members of the Lynchburg City Council have been embroiled in fighting among themselves for the past year. At the close of the year, the council took the unprecedented step of censuring one of its members.

Because of the dearth of the coverage of local government by today’s media, not much news of those goings-on has filtered to the eastern portion of the Commonwealth. Fortunately, we have Cardinal News, along with The News & Advance, to chronicle these events. Using FOIA requests, Cardinal News was able to use e-mails and phone conversations among the members to report and comment extensively on the situation.

Marty MIsjuns, member of Lynchburg City Council. Photo credit: Lynchburg City Council

The main characters in this drama have been Stephanie Reed, the mayor, and Marty Misjuns, at-large member of city council.

Before getting into the current controversy, a little prologue will help shed some light on the situation. In January 2021, Misjuns was a captain in the city fire department and the Ward I chair of the Lynchburg Republican City Committee. That month, he posted on his Facebook page political cartoons that included “caricaturized illustrations of transgender women.” In October 2021, the Lynchburg Fire Department fired him. His Facebook page identified him as a “public figure” due to his party position. Misjuns sued the city claiming wrongful termination, violation of equal protection, conspiracy, municipal liability, violation of First Amendment freedom of speech rights, and violation of First Amendment freedom of religion rights. In April 2023, a federal judge dismissed all the claims except for the First Amendment claims. Those claims were allowed to proceed to the discovery phase. Misjuns appealed the dismissal of the other claims to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The trial for the upheld claims is set for mid-March of 2024. No date has been listed for the appeals to be heard. Continue reading →

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An Obstructionist Rises to the Top

Posted on December 27, 2023 by | 28 comments

Rep. Bob Good (5th District)

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

Amid all the other topics being discussed and debated on Bacon’s Rebellion, we have neglected to note that the Commonwealth has recently picked up a dubious distinction. It is now the home of the chair of the House Freedom Caucus — Rep. Bob Good (R–5th District).

His selection was not cheered by all conservatives. Those supporting Donald Trump’s presidential bid are upset that Good is backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. State Senator-elect John McGuire (R-Goochland) announced soon after the November elections that he would challenge Good in the Republican primary in the spring. “I’m running for Congress against ‘Never Trump’ politician Bob Good,” he declared. Continue reading →

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Posted in Political Influence, Politics

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Let’s Make a Deal

Posted on December 18, 2023 by | 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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Racism Comes in All Colors

Posted on December 15, 2023 by | 48 comments

by Kerry Dougherty 

What follows here is fiction. Totally imaginary. Still, picture this with me:

The mayor of Virginia’s largest city — that would be Virginia Beach, population 458,000 — decides to hold a holiday party for city council members on city property.

The mayor — and let me remind you this is hypothetical, it did not happen — sent out invitations characterizing this in some kind of strange pidgin English as a party for “white electeds,” which meant that the four black members of council were not welcome.

Because of their skin color.

What would the reaction be when the whites-only party became public?

I can tell you.

There would be loud cries of “racism”! Calls for the mayor’s immediate resignation. There would be  protests in the streets, with both whites and blacks denouncing the mayor’s shocking behavior. The local newspaper would call for the mayor to be removed from office and the editorialists would lament that Virginia hadn’t progressed from the days of Jim Crow.

The news would make national headlines and no doubt state and federal prosecutors would be looking at the civil rights violations in an exclusive, all-white Christmas party for elected officials.

It would be — pardon the expression — a poopstorm.

Odd then, that when something similar actually happened, not in Virginia, but in the largest city in Massachusetts, Boston — there is just a mild outcry. And lots of folks defending the move.

Could it be because the Boston mayor excluded whites, not blacks? Continue reading →

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Posted in Culture wars, Media, Politics, Race and race relations

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The “Chanukah Dilemma”: Is the Menorah a Religious or Political Symbol?

Posted on December 14, 2023 by | 16 comments

Chabad-Lubavitch of Williamsburg Rabbi Mendy Hebor leads a menorah lighting at William and Mary.

by Ken Reid

Thursday night is the final night of Chanukah, the eight-day Festival of Lights that I (and millions of Jews across the world) celebrate, to mark the miracle that occurred when the 2nd temple was restored following a rebellion by religious Jews against secular Hellenistic Jews and their Greek-Syrian allies in the 160’s BCE.

Because of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, in which 1,200 Israelis and other nationals were murdered by Hamas thugs, Chanukah has a really special meaning this year – bringing “light” to conquer the “dark” (i.e. Hamas).

But while the ongoing war has united Israelis, and probably most Jews worldwide, there is a deep divide in the U.S. and other nations on whether Israel’s response in Gaza is inhumane; some 18,000 Gazans have died in Israel Defense Force (IDF) aerial bombing and ground attacks.  The pressure, mostly from the far Left, for a permanent ceasefire keeps pressing on,  

Enter the controversy about lighting a menorah in public at a recent Williamsburg arts festival.

There, the board of the festival voted not to allow CHABAD of Williamsburg to light a menorah at the festival, thinking it was a one-sided political statement for Israel.  Arguments also were made that this is a religious holiday, and the festival was to be secular – although Christmas decorations and Christmas stuff abounded there  But then a sop was thrown at Rabbi Mendy Heber to have a pro- ceasefire message there as equal time.

Kerry Dougherty’s  article on the controversy is here  but a more detailed article in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is worth reading. too  

Chabad moved the menorah lighting to the William & Mary campus, but the incident went viral.  Gov. Glenn Youngkin denounced the arts festival’s ban and Chabad has complained to the Virginia attorney general’s anti-Semitism task force.

Is the menorah a religious or political symbol, both, or neither? Continue reading →

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Posted in Civil Rights, Culture wars, Freedom, Politics

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Sorry, Senator. Zalenskyy is No George Washington

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | 68 comments

Sen. Tim Kaine

by Kerry Dougherty

Tim Kaine jumped the shark.

Get a load of the nonsense this United States Senator – from VIRGINIA – Tweeted on Tuesday:

President Zelenskyy spoke to the Senate today about the critical role of American support for Ukrainian democracy. He stood beneath a portrait of George Washington, who helped birth an America free from domination by a great power. A moving moment.

— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) December 12, 2023

Seriously, senator?

No member of Congress should ever compare America’s first president with this little corruptocrat.

This is the problem when Virginians vote for a Kansan to represent them in Washington. He missed fourth grade Virginia history and apparently they didn’t teach American history in the schools he attended either.

If they had, the senator would know that Washington was a humble man who fervently believed in freedom and the rights of man. He was an educated, measured leader who stepped down after two terms in office and refused to allow himself to be set up as anything more than a man of the people.

In his farewell address, Washington warned against foreign entanglements.

Presidents have been ignoring Washington’s admonitions for decades, unfortunately. Continue reading →

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Posted in Budgets, Defense, Democracy and Western Civilization, Immigration, Politics

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Online Porn Star/Democrat Candidate Continues to Play Victim

Posted on December 12, 2023 by | 45 comments

Susanna Gibson at work

by Kerry Dougherty

Let me get this straight. A married mother of two, a Democrat, who engaged in smutty livestream sex for money with her husband, is still playing the victim card because she lost her bid to represent Virginians from the 57th House District.

Politico just featured a laughable Q and A with the “victim” headlined: “Her Online Sex Life Was Exposed. She Lost Her Election. Now She’s Speaking Out.” In which Gibson basically said that the only people who cared about her escapades were aging Republicans.

The cool kids — you know, millennials like her — know that abortion rights are way more important than anything she did on her side hustle with “Chaturbate.”

“Younger voters don’t care. Very, very few of them, I would say. My age and younger, maybe even mid-40s up to 50 or so, didn’t care. I’m a millennial, I’m the oldest possible millennial — 90 percent of millennials have taken nude photos. So, I think we all understand.”

So, the entire younger generation is morally bankrupt? Good to know.

While it may be true that 90% of millennials have taken nudies, that’s not smart or a sign of good judgment. Still, there’s a difference between a nude snapshot and live-streamed sex acts for cash. Continue reading →

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Asleep at the Switch in Harrisonburg

Posted on December 11, 2023 by | Leave a comment

by Joe Fitzgerald

At some point while on the Harrisonburg City Council, I quit worrying about or getting angry about being misquoted by the Daily News-Record, and I got used to the people I met saying I wasn’t anything like what they expected. The expectations the paper created were just part of the gig. And I remember one time that I was pretty sure I’d be misquoted when I opened my mouth. I don’t remember what we, the council, had screwed up, but I told the reporter we had been asleep at the switch.

I thought as I said it that he’d quote me as using the more well-known expression, asleep at the wheel. One means, in railroad terms, letting the train go down the wrong track. The other means, in driving terms, losing control through inattention. I didn’t complain. The difference didn’t matter, because it was just a metaphor.

A lot has changed in 20 years. In the city politics of 2023, being asleep at the wheel is no longer just a metaphor. The other change is that City Council members no longer talk to the media. City publicist Michael Parks is quoted as often as the council members, and some weeks it seems he writes half the News-Record. The recent statements to school officials from Councilman Chris Jones at least brought comment from Mayor Reed, although Jones only answered through a prepared statement and the other three members were silent. Reed indicated the three were not upset by Jones’s remarks. It’s too bad they couldn’t speak for themselves.

School officials, on the other hand, have legal and policy restrictions on what they can say about any situation in the schools, leaving Jones free to claim he was courteous and respectful and to claim school officials confirmed that characterization. Continue reading →

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Dem Shrouded in Controversy Announces Gubernatorial Run

Posted on December 7, 2023 by | 18 comments

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney

from The Republican Standard 

It’s official.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney (D) is running for governor of Virginia in what’s set to become a free-for-all primary.

Stoney has courted controversy in the past as former Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s chief strategist. Critics, including former Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), accuse the ambitious politician of being a hatchetman. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Politics

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Norfolk Hipsters & Lefties Try to Block a Military-Themed Brewery

Posted on December 6, 2023 by | 28 comments

by Kerry Dougherty

Now is the time. If you believe that cities ought to be open for business, regardless of the viewpoints of the business owners, if you support the military and don’t consider flag-waving a provocative act, you might want to let Norfolk’s City Council hear from you.

On December 12th it is scheduled to vote on the application of Armed Forces Brewery to open its doors on the same premises that housed O’Connor Brewing in the so-called Railroad District of Norfolk.

The business was lured to Virginia by Gov. Glenn Yougnkin who helped the founders secure tax incentives to open their craft brewery in Norfolk rather than in Florida. The owners have pledged that 70% of their employees will be veterans.

Normally, that would be seen as good news in this military town. Continue reading →

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Posted in Consumer protection, Culture wars, Economic development, LGBQT, Politics, Regulation

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Daughter of Heroines

Posted on December 6, 2023 by | 28 comments

Roanoke College women’s swim team (front row) and supporters at press conference at Hotel Roanoke, Oct. 5. (photo/Scott Dreyer)

by Margot Heffernan

The year is 2023 but it feels as if the calendar has rolled back a hundred years for women and girls in Virginia, and just about anywhere else in the Western world. Hyperbolic? Over the top?

Sadly, no.

Each day women are censored, denigrated, and erased; called bigots for speaking biological fact; losing to men in female sports; redefined with terms like “chest feeders” and “uterus havers.” Violent male felons are routinely housed in women’s prisons in at least four states because they “identify” as women. And private female spaces are ceded to biological men in schools and other public places.

Virginia is a microcosm of the problem writ large. Remember the scandalous sexual assault of two Loudoun County girls over two years ago that were perpetrated by a male who gained access to girls’ restrooms. Recall the recent Roanoke College attempt to hijack the women’s swim team by allowing a man to join. Then, on September 27th, at a Turner Ashby High cheerleading event in Rockingham County, several males entered the female locker room without consent from the girls. Some cheerleaders felt compelled to change in the shower stalls or bathrooms of their female-only locker room. Continue reading →

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Posted in Civil Rights, Culture wars, Feminism and women's rights, Parental Rights, Politics, Virginia history

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Follow-up on Sen. Hashmi

Posted on December 2, 2023 by | 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.

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Posted in Elections, General Assembly, Politics

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Open House Races in NoVa Already Crowded

Posted on December 1, 2023 by | 3 comments

by Jeanine Martin

Here are the candidates so far in the 2024 election for open seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 7th District, currently held by Democrat Abigail Spanberger, and in the 10th District, currently held by Democrat Jennifer Wexton:

Virginia’s 10th district

Del. Michelle Maldonado (D-Manassas) is the latest to announce her candidacy in the crowded Democrat field competing for the nomination for Congress in the 10th district.

Other Democrats running in the 10th are:

Eileen Filler Corn (D-Fairfax), former Speaker of the House of Delegates. (She does not reside in the 10th district but that is not necessary to run for Congress.)

State Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax)

Del. Suhas Subramanyam (D-parts of Loudoun and Prince William). He was elected to the state Senate earlier this month.

Del. Dan Helmer (D-part of Loudoun and Prince William)

Del. David Reid (D-Loudoun)

Atif Qarni, former Secretary of Education under Ralph Northam. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Politics

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How Youngkin Can Avoid Lame Duck Status

Posted on November 30, 2023 by | 33 comments

by Scott Lingamfelter

Elections produce clarity. One thing is noticeably clear after Republicans failed to achieve majorities in both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly. For the next two years, the prospects for Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin‘s legislative agenda are bleak.

That’s the bad news.

Here is the good news: it doesn’t have to be that way.

The inclination of those defeated in elections is to engage in “blamestorming,” seeking to find fault with this or that election strategy. We’re seeing that now as some Republican legislators grouse about the governor’s decision to emphasize abortion restrictions that played badly in some swing districts. That messaging debate should occur. But it’s imperative that the governor and the GOP in Virginia do some serious brainstorming on how to win back the hearts and minds of voters. Serious-minded governance can do that. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Excellence and grace, General Assembly, Governance, Politics

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