GOP voters favor conservatives in Senate primaries

In balloting shaken up by a Virginia-centered “once-in-a-century” earthquake that forced some voting precincts to move operations outdoors, the GOP and Democratic parties set up sharp contrasts in November elections that will determine whether Republicans take total control of Virginia policymaking for the first time in 10 years.

In the Senate, a net Republican gain of two seats would create a 20-20 split in the 40-member chamber, but Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling holds the tie-breaking vote. Republicans already control the House of Delegates and the governor’s office.

Among the Republican winners was former state GOP Chairman Jeff Frederick, a former Virginia House member who defeated Tito “The Builder” Munoz in the 36th Senate District. Munoz, a Colombian immigrant and contractor running his first campaign, gained a nickname and fleeting fame from a cameo campaign appearance in 2008 alongside Sarah Palin in Prince William County. Frederick challenges Democratic Sen. Linda “Toddy” Puller in November.

Another conservative former House member, Dick Black, won the GOP nomination in the 13th Senate District.

First, on to Fairfax County, where in a 7-3 vote, the Board of Supervisors voted in favor of bringing back the car tax (decal fee) and increase the storm water tax. The three voting against the tax increase were:

• John Cook, Braddock
• Pat Herrity, Springfield
• Michael Frey, Sully

You can read more about the Fairfax County tax increases by clicking here.

The General Assembly convened today to vote on Governor Bob McDonnell’s budget recommendations. The House Republican Caucus also voted on a new caucus chairman to replace Del. Sam Nixon (Chesterfield), who recently resigned to take over as Chief Information Officer of the Virginia Information Technology Agency. Del. Tim Hugo (Centreville/Clifton) was elected as Chairman. You can read more about the caucus here.

Cuccinelli discusses where President Obama’s legislation directly violates the Constitution.

The first is textual. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution provides that “the Congress shall have Power . . . To regulate Commerce with Foreign Nations, and among the several States.” Although there have been disputes about just how far this should reach into commerce that is entirely intrastate, until now, it has been recognized that this constitutional provision deals with regulation of commerce — that is, with the use of law to impose reason and order on the voluntary commercial actions of citizens, as well as on activities that substantially affect commerce. An individual mandate to purchase health insurance is not regulation in that sense.

Virginia recently passed legislation which specifically states that residents of the Commonwealth are not mandated to have health insurance. This legislation was signed into law by Governor Bob McDonnell, and the new health care law would be in direct violation of Virginia law. Currently, Cuccinelli has a lawsuit in federal court challenging the unconstitutionality of the new law.

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• Bearing Drift has a roundup from all of the GOP Congressional Campaigns in Virginia. It’s spot-on analysis.
• The General Assembly passed legislation to grant Virginians the freedom to decide whether or not they have health insurance. Tom White over at Virginia Right! has a great post up on the health care issue.
• What is it with the General Assembly and their obsession with raising fees this session? The budget deficits have caused great discussions and debate about fee increases to generate revenue. Family Foundation Blog has a great post up encouraging the General Assembly to tame its appetite for these increases.
• Could a tax hike on businesses in Virginia be enacted? According to the rightwingliberal at Virginia Virtucon, the House of Delegates is strongly considering the tax hike, while Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling believes that a tax hike would break promises of a general tax increase.
• Meanwhile, The Washington Post’s Virginia Politics Blog reports that hundreds protested an Arlington Delegate’s invitation for a Fairfax Imam to deliver the opening prayer during the House session.

Why HB 112 Personhood Bill Failed

Despite excellent testimony in favor of HB 112, Delegate Bob Marshall’s bill to begin the process of restoring civil rights for preborn children, HB 112 was rejected five to two in the House Courts of Justice Constitutional Laws subcommittee Wednesday, February 10.

Delegates Albo (R-Springfield), Kilgore (R-Wise), Toscano (D-Charlottesville), McClellan (D-Richmond) and Watts (D-Annandale) voted no. Delegates Athey (R-Front Royal) and Jackson Miller (R-Manassas) voted yes. Delegate Miller moved to report HB 112 and Delegate Athey seconded the request. (Please thank them!)

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent his Solicitor General to testify in support of passing HB 112 and to affirm its constitutionality. Attorney Rita Dunaway expertly fielded questions of Committee members. Attorney Pat McSweeney along with Delegate Marshall also testified in favor of HB 112.

The ACLU, Planned Parenthood and NARAL representatives testified against HB 112. Virginia Family Foundation (VFF) representatives were present but did not speak. The Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC) told the Committee that the bill’s purpose was acceptable, but they did not support HB 112.

Delegate Dave Albo cited the VCC’s position in his explanation for voting against HB 112. “Even the Catholic Church through its legislative affairs representative stated that … the Church does not think this bill is the way to implement it. (See Black Velvet Bruce Lee (BVBL) political Blog (Comment 11 at http:///www.bvbl.net/index.php/2010/02/11/are-albo-and-kilgore-pro-abortion/#comments) Delegate Kilgore in a 2/11/10 email told an HB 112 supporter that “The bill as presented was not even supported by the Catholic Church.”

Had delegates Kilgore and Albo voted for HB 112, it would have passed to the full House of Delegates! (The position of the two Virginia Catholic bishops and the Catholic Conference in not supporting HB 112 is in direct opposition to the testimony of four Catholic American Cardinals before the US Senate in 1974. The Cardinals said establishing legal personhood for preborn children was essential to outlawing abortion. For details, contact Del. Bob Marshall.)

Opponents to HB 112 claimed the bill would have adverse consequences, such as counting preborn children in the census, criminalizing miscarriages as homicide, outlawing birth control, taking income tax deductions for children before birth, or closing in vitro clinics, yet in the three states which have laws similar to HB 112, nothing like this has happened. HB 112, though not identical, was modeled after a 1986 Missouri law which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Delegates Albo and Kilgore both told Delegate Marshall and other HB 112 supporters Wednesday night at the hearing and later that had HB 112 contained the original Missouri language they would have supported HB 112. Delegate Marshall therefore had the Missouri language drawn up as an amendment the next day, hoping a Courts Committee member would offer the original Missouri language at the full committee meeting on Friday.

However, on Friday, February 12, no Republican member of the full Courts of Justice Committee brought up HB 112 in order to amend it, apparently because a Republican Caucus policy (applies only to Republican delegates) states that bills failing in Subcommittee should not be taken up by the full committee even though the Rules of the House of Delegates and Parliamentary Rules allow for such actions.

Delegate Albo noted that HB 112 did not stop even one abortion. Delegate Marshall explained that HB 112 was not introduced to outlaw abortion now. However, HB 112 challenged the two legal assumptions of Roe vs. Wade by affirming the humanity and personhood of preborn children, and providing a definition for a human being which the Roe Court said it was unable to do. However, HB 112 would require Virginia Courts to allow “wrongful death” suits for the parents of a preborn child who was killed. HB 112 would also create a public policy tension by questioning why some persons are not protected under Virginia law, and then later offering a direct challenge to the conclusion of Roe and Doe by outlawing abortion and providing for criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions.

Delegate Albo wrote to a constituent on February 12, that HB 112 “is in violation of Roe vs. Wade.” This is not correct as the original Missouri language was upheld in 1989 by the US Supreme Court in Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services, which also affirmed Roe vs. Wade.

This fact was explained to Delegate Albo by attorney Rita Dunaway at a public hearing on February 10 and in a memo from Rita Dunaway sent to Del. Albo several days before the hearing. Del. Albo also wrote that HB 112 would make the Pill and In-Vitro clinics illegal, even though he was told that this has not happened in Missouri, Louisiana or Illinois which have similar laws, and the Dunaway memo pointed out this claim was false. Delegate Marshall also explained that a corpus dilecti, (dead body) is needed for proof of homicide, which would be impossible to produce by use of the Pill.

HB 112 provided rules of legal construction for statutes for Virginia Courts and state agencies to affirm personhood for preborn children. HB 112 could not be applied as a criminal statute because of constitutional due process requirements to clearly specify the elements of a crime.

Attorney Pat McSweeney (former Chair, Republican Party of Virginia) eloquently told the Subcommittee that it was unconscionable for legislators to duck the simple task of affirming personhood for preborn children and that legal definitions matter and have profound personal and social consequences. McSweeney pointed to the practice of German guards, who wrote on box cars containing Jews, the number of “sticke” which meant “pieces,” a dehumanizing label which allowed the Nazi’s to rationalize the killings.

Please ask your delegate if they support the original HB 112 or with the modified Missouri language. This personhood fight might not be over for 2010 just yet.

Bob Marshall

Delegate Bob Marshall,
Office: 804-698-1013, Cell: 703-853-4213, www.delegatebob.com

P.S. Below is the original Missouri personhood language applied to Virginia.

1. The General Assembly of Virginia finds that:

(1) The life of each human being begins at conception;

(2) Unborn children have protectable interests in life, health, and well-being;

(3) The natural parents of unborn children have protectable interests in the life, health, and well-being of their unborn child.

2. The laws of Virginia shall be interpreted and construed to acknowledge on behalf of the unborn child at every stage of development, all the rights, privileges, and immunities available to other persons, citizens, and residents of this state, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and decisional interpretations thereof by the United States Supreme Court and specific provisions to the contrary in the statutes and Constitution of Virginia.

3. As used in this section, the term “unborn children” or “unborn child” shall include all unborn child or children or the offspring of human beings from the moment of conception until birth at every stage of biological development.

4. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as creating a cause of action against a woman for indirectly harming her unborn child by failing to properly care for herself or by failing to follow any particular program of prenatal care.

HB 112 provides that:

1. § 1. That a human being is any organism, including an embryo, who possesses a genome specific for and consistent with a member of the species Homo sapiens. For the purposes of certain inherent and constitutionally guaranteed rights, every human being is deemed a legal person in the Commonwealth.

§ 2. Unborn children have protectable interests in life, health, and well-being, and the natural parents of unborn children have protectable interests in the life, health, and well-being of their unborn children.

§ 3. Subject to the United States Constitution and the Constitution of Virginia, the laws of the Commonwealth shall be interpreted and construed to acknowledge on behalf of all human beings, including unborn children at every stage of development, the equality and inherent rights guaranteed by Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution of Virginia and the right to due process guaranteed by Article I, Section 11 of the Constitution of Virginia.

§4. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit, or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes appropriate medical services for pregnant women.

Funny, how this happens? Governor Bob McDonnell wrote a letter to Salazar shortly before being sworn in to urge him not to delay the offshore drilling.

“Any effort to remove or delay Virginia’s participation in the lease sale would significantly hamper our efforts to create jobs, eliminate much-needed new revenue, and undermine support for President Obama’s stated commitment to make the United States more energy secure”

And now, Virginia’s U.S. Senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner, are angry at Salazar’s delay of allowing offshore drilling.

The Honorable Kenneth Salazar
Secretary of the Department of Interior
1849 C Street, N.W.
Mail Stop 7229
Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Mr. Secretary:

We are writing to state our support for the development of oil and gas resources off the coast of Virginia, specifically for the Minerals Management Service’s (MMS) Lease Sale 220, scheduled for 2011. In the 110th Congress, then-Senator John Warner and Senator Webb jointly sponsored legislation (S.3147) to allow the Commonwealth of Virginia to conduct energy exploration activities in the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), with revenue-sharing provisions, a view that we share today.

Support among Virginia’s political leadership for the development of oil and gas resources is strong. Virginia’s governor, Robert F. McDonnell, as well as members of the General Assembly from both parties, recognize the potential benefits to the Commonwealth and to our nation. Therefore it is understandable that recent media reports highlighting additional delays are a source of frustration to Virginia and to a nation that is looking to turn around the economy while simultaneously addressing energy security.

In October 2008, months after S. 3147 was introduced, the 26-year federal moratorium on OCS oil and gas exploration expired. We believe the time has come for implementing the intent of this legislation by going forward with Lease Sale 220 in a more expedited manner. We understand that additional steps must be completed for this sale to occur, including the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Sale 220, and potentially a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement that would allow seismic surveys of the Atlantic OCS by private entities. But we would urge you to promptly commence these steps in order to ensure that the Virginia Lease Sale is conducted in a manner that is timely and consistent with the interests of the environment and our national security.

If accomplished with a fair and equitable formula for sharing of revenues between the federal and state government, Lease Sale 220 will attract well-paying jobs to the Commonwealth to support a range of projects, from the transportation sector to coastal restoration. Further, it holds significant promise for boosting needed domestic energy production. The MMS estimates that the Sale 220 area could contain 1.14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 130 million barrels of oil.

Over the next 20 years, U.S. demand for energy is expected to grow at an annual rate of 1.4 percent. Lease Sale 220 would be part of a comprehensive approach to meeting our critical energy challenges. The offering of 2.9 million acres 50 miles off the coast of Virginia would significantly improve Virginia’s and America’s energy security, as well as assist in meeting growing energy demands. Improved technology that allows for minimally invasive drilling techniques many miles off shore and out of sight from Virginia’s coastline can provide oil and natural gas in an environmentally sustainable manner.

We look forward to working with you to ensure that this resource is developed in a timely fashion, through a fair distribution of revenues between the federal and state government, and in an environmentally sound manner.

While this may not seem like a family related issue, this issue will impact family economics. With the economic situation and outlook looking grim, families are forced to cut back and evaluate their budgets. Since fuel prices are increasing significantly across the Commonwealth, families are being forced to pay more, resulting in more economic hardships. Fuel prices are expected to take a sharper climb due to the outright demand and reliance on foreign oil. Allowing offshore drilling in Virginia will help eliminate our reliance on foreign oil, create more employment opportunities, as well as reducing the cost of fuel prices.

This agenda will double the Governor’s Opportunity Fund, provide tax credits for movie production, etc. These initiatives will lead to over $311 million in new revenue to the Commonwealth over five years, in addition to the creation of 29,000 new jobs.

Speaking about the agenda, Governor McDonnell stressed the importance of job creation, stating, “This is a Jobs Administration—I have made creating jobs and bringing more opportunity to every region of Virginia my top priority. I am honored to be joined by Republicans and Democrats all committed to ensuring that practical solutions are put in place to obtain positive results for our citizens. Job creation is not a partisan issue, it is a Virginia issue. These bills will help in the effort to create the opportunity for good jobs for all Virginians.”

Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, who serves in the McDonnell cabinet as Virginia’s Chief Job Creation Officer, remarked, “As we have said for months creating new jobs and growing the economy are our top priorities. By investing in proven economic development programs with a high return on investment, our budget and legislative initiatives take significant steps towards reaching these goals. A preliminary estimate finds that the budget amendments that are part of this agenda will lead to the creation of 29,300 new jobs over the next two years and over $311 million in revenue for the state over the next 5 years. It has been my pleasure to work with the Governor and our economic team to develop these recommendations and I look forward to working with Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly to secure their passage.”

Delegate Danny Marshall (R-Danville) joined McDonnell at the event and noted, “My district has been hit hard by the staggering economy—Virginians are anxious for what the future holds and I am proud to be able to introduce legislation on behalf of Governor McDonnell to help workers and their families regain some economic stability.”

Delegate Mark Keam (D-Fairfax) also attended the morning press conference and remarked, “In these tough economic times, the most important task for the General Assembly is to focus on job creation and turning the economy around. As a Democrat, I am proud to work with Gov. McDonnell to help grow the economy of the Commonwealth by attracting new jobs. Citizens in my district sent us to Richmond to work in a bipartisan manner, and that is exactly what Gov. McDonnell and I are doing.”

You can read more about the Governor’s agenda by clicking here.

In a statement released by the Republican Leader’s office, Boehner said,

“As the American people continue to ask, ‘where are the jobs,’ Gov. McDonnell has offered common-sense economic policies in stark contrast to Washington Democrats’ job-killing agenda. We don’t need a government takeover of health care or a ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax – we need a common-sense plan to help middle-class families and small businesses and allow them to keep more of what they earn so they can save, invest, and hire.”

McConnell said,

“Gov. McDonnell understands that the American people are more interested in shrinking unemployment than expanding government. He is an impressive public servant and an excellent choice to offer Republican solutions for our country.”

McDonnell joins two other Virginians in delivering a response to the President’s State of the Union Address. In 2006, former Governor Tim Kaine delivered the response to President Bush’s State of the Union, and U.S. Senator Jim Webb delivered the response in 2008.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, former U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd, Jr. discussed in an interview that he is appalled by Warner’s decisions to vote for the health care bill.

“When a Virginia Democrat is elected to the Congress — Senate or House — he or she must decide whether to vote the party line or vote the Virginia tradition of financial responsibility,” said Byrd, who turned 95 on Dec. 20.

“Hundreds of thousands of Virginians — independents and conservative Democrats who voted for Mr. Warner — must be puzzled by his votes.”

Meanwhile, Senator Warner defended his actions.

A Warner spokesman defended the votes, saying that a federal stimulus package stabilized the economy, while reform of the health system can help control the deficit.

Byrd was originally a Democrat, who switched to an Independent status, because he was dissatisfied by the party’s embrace of funding government programs with deficit spending. Byrd also endorsed Warner in 2008, but there is no doubt that he, along with others from both sides of the aisle, are regretting their support now.