From the Richmond Times Dispatch:A public watchdog group has accused Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, of accepting major donations from the financial sector after questioning President Barack Obama's relationship to the financial industry.Read the entire article here.
Public Campaign reported that Cantor received more than $460,000 in the second quarter from the financial sector, including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
Said state Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico: "They have a right to speak their piece and I have a right to disagree with what they say, and I just hope they conduct themselves in a manner befitting Americans."You can read the entire article at the Richmond Times Dispatch.
The Richmond Times Dispatch has an article about eagle scouts, and Senator Donald McEachin talks about his experience as an eagle scout:"Once an Eagle, always an Eagle," said state Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, who became an Eagle as a member of a troop at St. Philip's Episcopal Church in North Richmond in the 1970s.Read the entire article here.
"I think any time you reach a goal, you have a sense of satisfaction," said McEachin. "That's probably doubly so attaining the rank of Eagle."
Scouting, in general, "prepares you for life," he said. The step-by-step achievements required to earn Eagle merely enrich that preparation.
"There's no doubt many of the experiences I had in Scouting in dealing with a large group of people with different personalities certainly serves me well in elected office," he said.
Senator Donald McEachin has released the following statement regarding U.S. Senator Jim Webb's op-ed in yesterday's Wall Street Journal:I applaud Senator Webb's thought provoking op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal that reaffirms his support of needed affirmative action programs. Poverty and inequality know no boundary, whether it is geography, gender, race, age or disability. We need to provide opportunities so all those individuals can become productive, constructive members of society.You can read Webb's op-ed at the Wall Street Journal.
Gov. Bob McDonnell has a mixed favorability rating among Virginians, according to a new poll by Virginia Commonwealth University.Read the entire article here.
Of the 810 adults surveyed, 10 percent rated McDonnell's job as governor as excellent, 30 percent as good, 34 percent as fair and 10 percent as poor.
It's the first independent poll aiming to capture the governor's approval rating since he took office in January. A poll commissioned in June by his political action committee, Opportunity Virginia, pegged his approval rating at 63 percent.
In the VCU poll, 47 percent of those surveyed said the state is headed in the right direction, 37 percent said it's on the wrong track and the remaining 16 percent had no opinion.
Fred Malek, the chairman of Gov. Bob McDonnell's government reform commission, met yesterday with one of the most vocal critics of his service on the panel.Read the entire article here.
Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, was among several people that Malek had face time with yesterday in advance of the full commission's second meeting, set for this morning in Richmond.* * *
Democrats have hammered McDonnell over Malek's appointment as chairman of the panel because of Malek's work in 1971 to create a list of Jews in a federal government agency at the request of the Nixon White House. They also have cited a separate case, in 2004, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the Northern Virginia businessman to pay a sixfigure civil penalty.
McEachin had blasted McDonnell for keeping Malek in light of that penalty. But McEachin said the meeting yesterday with Malek in McEachin's legislative office was civil, and that the past did not come up. They focused on the commission's work, he said.
"Since he asked for the meeting, I pretty much came in there with an open mind to see what he wants to talk about," McEachin said. "At this point, the end product is what I think I will be focused on and what most folks should be focused on."
"It's hard for me to view this as a true surplus when there are so many unmet needs," said Senator Don McEachin (D-Henrico).What Senator McEachin is getting at is that McDonnell's "success" rests upon a foundation created by the state's failure to meet the basic needs of its citizens.
Senator Donald McEachin is turning up the heat (from the RTD):State Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, has formed a political action committee, Believe in Virginia PAC, to promote a progressive agenda.According to the Virginia Public Access Project:
Politicians considering a run for statewide office often form agenda-driven PACs. McEachin said Believe in Virginia is designed to support Democratic candidates who back the PAC's agenda -- to improve the environment, support public education, devise "a real transportation plan," and provide equal opportunity and justice.
As for statewide office, McEachin said, "if you do good things, the rest will take care of itself."
The Believe in Virginia PAC was formed by Sen. Donald McEachin in 2010 to improve the environment, support public education, devise a real transportation plan, create jobs, and provide equal opportunity and justice.It will be interesting to see where McEachin goes with this new effort.
