Virginia Democrats are facing strong challenges this election from Conservative candidates, such as VVV PAC endorsed Dick Black and Bryce Reeves. Black is running in the 13th District, while Reeves is running in the 17th District against State Sen. Edd Houck.
You can read The Washington Post article here.
Richmond, Va.–The Virginia State Senate voted overwhelmingly today to pass through Governor Bob McDonnell’s education reform agenda. All three of the Governor’s measures to expand public charter schools and college laboratory schools, improve and promote virtual learning received strong bipartisan support.
McDonnell released the following statement:
“I applaud the Republicans and Democrats who came together today to help Virginia school children, especially those who are at-risk and disadvantaged, gain more educational opportunities. In the modern economy, education is the coin of the realm. Without a world-class education our young people will not be able to compete with their peers in the global marketplace. States that move proactively to bring innovation, competition and reform to their public schools are not only serving their young people well, they are improving their prospects for future economic prosperity and job-creation.
The effort to expand educational opportunity is one that reaches across party lines. The leading champion of this movement is President Barack Obama. Here in Virginia, the coalition supporting more educational opportunities for all our young people includes state Senators like Republican Steve Newman and Democrat Edd Houck, state delegates like Republicans Scott Lingamfelter, Dickie Bell and Chris Peace and Democrats Rosalyn Dance and Jennifer McClellan, as well as the VEA, the Virginia School Boards Association, and the Virginia Association of School Superintendents. Today’s passage of our ‘Opportunity to Learn’ education reform agenda means we will not tolerate a public school student in Virginia having her educational opportunities limited by her zip code. Steps like we have taken today will bring hope to our young people, new resources to our teachers, and help for our parents. These new reforms will also help greatly in submitting a vastly improved ‘Race to the Top’ grant application for billions of dollars in federal funds available for states that lead the way in education innovation.”
Richmond, Va.–Yesterday, the Virginia State Senate voted to approve three bills protecting the freedom to decide whether or not to accept health insurance. SB 283, SB 311, and SB 417, which were patroned by Sens. Fred Quayle (R-Suffolk), Stephen Martin (R-Chesterfield), and Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Upperville), will defy President Barack Obama’s health care plan, if it is passed by Congress.
According to a Richmond Times-Dispatch article, Quayle mentioned that these bills were a way of telling Washington that the Federal government is going beyond its authority.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Virginia Chairman, Pat Mullins, indicated that the passage of these three bills should send a clear signal to two vulnerable Congressmen up for re-election, Tom Perriello and Gerry Connolly.
“Monday’s bipartisan vote illustrates just how far out of touch Democrats like Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-11th, are on the issue of health care,” Mullins said. “When Republicans asked Senate Democrats to join them in standing up against federal overreach, five decided to put the rights of their constituents ahead of the wishes of Washington, D.C.”
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“Even Democrats in the Virginia Senate realize that the health care nightmare being negotiated behind closed doors across the Potomac is bad news for their constituents,” Mullins said. “Monday’s vote shows again that Reps. Perriello, Connolly and the rest of the Democrats in Washington, D.C., aren’t listening to their employers — the voters of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
On the other side of the aisle, the Democrats are not satisfied by the passage of these bills. The Times-Dispatch interviewed Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax), and he said that this is nothing but a stunt for the 2011 State Senate elections. His colleague, Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) mentioned that the Senate should be focusing on addressing other important issues, and said these bills are merely playing politics with health care.
Depending on the status of Del. Bob Marshall’s (R-Manassas) HB 10, Virginia is merely standing up to assert its own granted authority under the Constitution of the United States, when it comes to decisions that impact the Commonwealth.
Steve Hunt is a Republican running for the open State Senate seat that will be vacated by Ken Cuccinelli. Hunt is a pro-life candidate, who once served as President of a local Pregnancy Care Center and has previously served on the Fairfax County School Board. Recently, Hunt has received favorable coverage through an interview with Alan Moore of the Fairfax County Conservative Examiner.
