House Republicans agree to halt secret votes.

House Republicans in the General Assembly have assented to end their practice of holding secret subcommittee votes to kill bills, which they’ve used to kill hundreds (perhaps thousands) of bills in the past few years. Nobody with two brain cells to rub together thought it was a good idea. This practice that would have been …

A British tale of a conservative fall and rise.

A parallel to Republicans’ current situation can be found in England. The logical conclusion would be that if Republicans want to regain power, they’ll have to support the sorts of things that the great majority of the country support—for starters, stop fussing about gays and embody the “conservative” in “conservation.”

Gerson: Republicans are a victim of their enormous success.

If I were the type to drink coffee in the car, I would have spat coffee all over the windshield this morning when I heard Michael Gerson’s comments on NPR’s Morning Edition this morning: The Republican Party is undergoing a strange transformation, because the issues that brought it popularity and power—tax rates, crime, welfare reform, …

Halsey Minor: Not running for governor.

Halsey Minor says that he’s not, in fact, running for governor. He’d be as terrible a candidate for Virginia governor as I’d be for the fifth congressional district. (I adore the sporadic rumors that I’m going to run against Virgil. Have these people never read a word I’ve written about the district?) And, as Halsey …

Halsey Minor for governor.com.com!

CNet founder and Republican Halsey Minor wants to run for governor of Virginia: Though CNET brought Minor to the West Coast, where he still owns homes, his love for Virginia remains so strong that in 2007, he told a local paper that he was interested in becoming governor. Asked about it again, he nods. “I’ve …

The RPV’s newsletter takes a turn for the worse.

The RPV newsletter has generally been pretty even for the past few years—they hate Kaine, Warner, etc., and that’s basically been the theme of every installment for as many years as I’ve been reading it. But it’s really gone to hell under Jeff Frederick, becoming angrier and unhinged with each new e-mail. But this week’s …

Irony, thy name is anti-tax Republican.

Anti-tax Republicans hold community meeting in new firehouse, complain that firehouse has wasteful features like the community meeting space. Impressively, this fire house was built to stand for 100 years. I once asked one of the heads of a major hospital about how long their new construction was designed to last for. He said that …

Frederick elected RPV chair; Dems to gain his seat.

In a wish come true, Delegate Jeff Frederick has been elected RPV Chairman, replacing Lt. Gov. John Hager after less than a year on the job. The 32-year-old Frederick is considerably to the right of Hager — your stereotypical angry Republican — and he’s all but promised to accelerate his party’s plunge off the cliff. …

My RPV convention wish list.

The Republican Party of Virginia is having their state convention this weekend. I’m excited about it. The theme of this blog for the past few years has been that, given a choice, Virginia Republicans will always choose wrongly. Not wrong in hindsight, but wrong like should I pick up some dinner on the way home, …