My favoritest RPV chair ever, Jeff Frederick, is running for state senate! (Or, apparently, he and some friends will be sharing the seat, because in his e-mail to supporters, he wrote that “we’ve decided to run.“) This is for the 36th district, Toddy Puller’s open seat. I don’t know the dynamics of the district well …
Category Archives: Virginia Politics
Claudia Tucker, Wilkins’ eavesdropper, is running for senate.
Claudia Tucker is running for state senate. Does that name ring a bell? RPV executive director Ed Matricardi fingered Tucker in the Republican eavesdropping scandal, back in 2003, rolling over on her and four other Republican leaders as having orchestrated and participated in the illegal monitoring of DPVA phone calls. (After serving prison time, Matricardi …
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Most Virginians support gay marriage.
Just over five years ago I wrote this about the Virginia constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage: So we’re going to spend a lot of time and effort into passing a constitutional amendment to ban something that’s already illegal, only to have the state collectively slap itself on the forehead in 5-10 years when everybody …
Hurt is “on the same page” as the Tea Party.
Rep. Robert Hurt on the Tea Party: We’re all on the same page. We’re singing off the same sheet of music. Let’s just get that on the record.
The background to the redistricting process is starting to emerge.
In the Post, Anita Kumar explains how the redistricting proposals came about: This year, despite the appointment of a bipartisan commission to advise legislators, the lines were largely drawn by two men: Sen. George L. Barker (D), a health-care planner from Prince William County, and Rep. S. Chris Jones (R), a pharmacist from Suffolk. The …
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First thoughts on redistricting.
I’m getting home too late to provide much in the way of useful commentary, but I really want to point to the redistricting plans that became public this evening. Just one week before they’re due to be voted on, we’re all getting our first look at them. (To be fair, I thought odds were good …
Tea Party disappointed by Hurt’s inaccessibility.
The Tea Party is upset with Rep. Robert Hurt: The group gathered in the parking lot outside Hurt’s Berkmar Circle office for about half an hour. After a few speeches, the crowd dispersed, with some attendees going to speak to office staff who were inside handling casework. Some were upset that no representative from Hurt’s …
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Virginia Redistricting Competition winners announced.
Quentin Kidd (of CNU) and Michael McDonald (of GMU) held a competition for the best redistricting plans for Congress, the Senate, and the House. Fifteen teams from eleven universities participated. The winners, selected by folks from the the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute, were announced today. Of all of the submissions, UVA won …
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McDonnell on open government.
Gov. McDonnell, on open government: “I’ve long been an advocate of putting our full budget, all our legislation, a number of things about state government online in an easy to download, easy to access fashion,” the governor said. Really? I mean, if that’s true, that’s great, but it’s news to me. If there has been …
Bigger textareas mean longer comments.
At the bottom of every bill on Richmond Sunlight is a comment form, with a textarea for typing a message and a few text input fields for name, URL, and e-mail address. On January 30, I significantly increased the size of the textarea, making it more than twice as large in area. My theory was …