By Peter Galuszka
Sound the klaxon horn at Bacon’s Rebellion! More DARK MONEY is coming to pollute the state’s glorious electoral process.
Emily’s List, a PAC supporting female Democratic candidates, has announced that it is planning on donating an extra $1.5 million to help flip the GOP-controlled Virginia General Assembly.
Along with another $600,000 Emily’s List gift made jointly with Priorities USA, the money is the largest single investment the PAC has ever made in an individual state’s legislative elections, according to WTOP Radio of Washington.
Emily’s List President Stephanie Schriock said the races are underfunded and the funds should help 39 women running in Virginia’s off-year elections flip the General Assembly.
That’s not all. According to The Washington Post, U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria (D. 2nd) has created a committee to raise $228,000 to match the same amount raised by Republicans to fight her reelection next year. The reason for the GOP largesse? Luria, along with U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-7th), had the unmitigated gall to sign a letter in the Post of several Members of Congress with defense or intelligence calling for the impeachment of President Donald Trump (not a bad idea in my book). Luria is a retired Navy commander and Spanberger was a covert officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.
To read Bacon’s Rebellion of late, you’d be drenched in coverage about so-called “Dark Money” supposedly raised secretly by Democrats and their nefarious PACs to destroy American democracy as we know it. I personally take considerable amusement in such columns because the Republicans and Libertarians who tend to dominate the blog didn’t say a heck of a lot a few years back when money was flowing from the likes of the Koch Brothers to such right-oriented outfits George Mason University, The Mercatus Foundation, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy and others.
Why would women be so concerned about politics in Virginia? It may be an odd question to ask on this blog since there are few female commenters and most of us are older, white guys like me. I can think of a couple of reasons.
One is how the General Assembly, under GOP control, has treated women. The Post editorialized about a federal court opinion on abortion the other day: “To have an abortion in Virginia, a woman by law must undergo an ultrasound and listen to the state-mandated information designed to shame her. She must then wait 24 hours before having the abortion. There is no medical reason – absolutely none – for this requirement. It just makes it harder and more costly to have an abortion. That is exactly what Republican lawmakers had in mind when they imported this and other abortion restrictions . . . .”
Personally, I am not a fan of abortion but I do recognize that women have rights to one, according to the U.S. Supreme Court. What is offensive is this extremely patronizing attitude that women need to be shamed and abused while they are making a very serious, personal decision. And, the ones doing this are Republican males.
That’s one reason why Emily’s List is interested in the Virginia races. I can think of another. Poll after poll shows that gun violence is the leading concern among the state’s public, especially women. For years after year, GOP lawmakers have kicked the can down the road on any changes in gun control. Most attempts are killed in committee and never get a fair hearing. Absolutely nothing was done about gun control after the mass shooting at a Virginia Beach Municipal office building last May. An emergency session called for by Gov. Ralph Northam but was quickly shot down.
One result? Republican (House Speaker) Kirk Cox will soon be meeting Emily’s List. Meanwhile. here at Bacon’s Rebelllion, the relentless hunt for DARK MONEY continues!
