Is Cuccinelli holding town halls or political rallies?

Ken Cuccinelli is planning two political rallies, but he's calling them "town halls" so Virginia tax payers will have to foot the bill. What do you think? The Roanoke Times has an editorial you should read:

Ahem, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli: If we might trouble you a moment, we'd like your opinion on a matter of grave concern to Virginians. We understand you aren't obligated to answer common citizens' questions, but you've been more than pleased lately to plunge right into controversial matters. No shirking opinions for you.

So we were wondering: What's your opinion of a state employee using his position and the people's funds to further his and his allies' political campaigns? We ask this because we noticed a certain high-placed elected official (we won't name names here, but feel free to insert your own) is planning to host two town meetings on Thursday in vigorously contested congressional districts where his party hopes to oust the incumbents.

You can read the rest of the editorial at The Roanoke Times.

Senator McEachin Commends Ruling on Cuccinelli Demands on University of Virginia Professor

State Senator Donald McEachin issued the following statement today:

Richmond – Today, in response to the Judge's ruling on Attorney General Cuccinelli's campaign against Professor Michael Mann, Senator McEachin applauded the judge's decision. "I am pleased to see that our system of laws and checks and balances has, once again, protected individuals from the over reach of figures in power. Attorney General Cuccinelli's crusade has effectively been terminated by the court. The judge has ruled that the Attorney General failed to make a persuasive argument. Apparently the courts recognize what the majority of sensible Virginians recognize: that individuals at our academic institutions should be allowed to conduct research and that, even more important, the attorney general should not be attempting to use his office and his power to intimidate those who disagree with him on policy issues.

"I continue to have faith that our justice system will continue to protect individuals and organizations from the overreach of the attorney general and from his relentless pursuit of ideology at the expense of our rights and liberties," Senator McEachin concluded.

Tom Periello and the 22nd Annual Albemarle County Democratic BBQ

Senator Donald McEachin attended the 22nd Annual Albemarle County Democratic BBQ at Claudius Crozet Park. It was a great party with hundreds in attendance! Congratulations to Valerie L'Herrou and the other members of the Albemarle County Democratic Committee on hosting such a fantastic event!









Speakers included U.S. Senator Mark Warner, State Senator Creigh Deeds, and Congressman Bob Filner from San Diego, California introduced Congressman Tom Perriello, who gave a rousing speech. State Senator McEachin closed out the speeches with an exhortation to the assembled Democrats to get out and pound the pavement on behalf of Congressman Perriello, who is in a close race for re-election this year.

Sign up to volunteer for Congressman Tom Perriello at his website.

Senator McEachin at the Virginia Partisans Annual PAC fundraiser

State Senator Donald McEachin attended the Virginia Partisans Annual PAC fundraiser at Freddie's Beach Bar & Restaurant in Arlington, Virginia. It was a good time with great food by Freddie and lots of old and new friends.











If you missed the event, but would like to make a donation to the Virginia Partisans, you can go to their ActBlue event page to make a donation:

http://www.actblue.com/page/vapartisansbbq

Or you can send a check made out to "Virginia Partisans PAC" to:

Virginia Partisans
P.O. Box 3266
Merrifield, VA 22116-3266

More than half of all Americans oppose the Tea Party

More than half of all Americans polled opposed the Tea Party:

Nearly three in 10 Americans say they are supporters of the Tea Party, according to a new survey, while more than half the respondents say they hold negative opinions of the conservative grassroots movement.

A CBS News Poll released Thursday found 29 percent of those asked considered themselves Tea Party supporters and 54 percent did not. Fully 17 percent had no opinion either way.

Read the rest of the article at Politics Daily.

Senator McEachin responds to Anita Kumar's "Senator McEachin for governor in 2013?"

State Senator Donald McEachin responded to an article on the Washington Post's website by Anita Kumar entitled "Senator McEachin for governor in 2013?" In a comment to the article, later quoted at the Blue Virginia blog McEachin said:

Anita, I am not running for Governor. As Vice Chair for Outreach for the Democratic Party, I AM campaigning for and energizing Virginans about our Congressional candidates. As a member of State Senate I AM preparing for the upcoming session and next year's elections by trying to be the best State Senator I can be. There are a myriad of issues to think about and discuss with the people of Virginia. When you see me do these things, please know that I do them with a deep and abiding love for Virginia and her people. Please know that I do these things because the "fierce urgency of now" demands action. Tomorrow, including 2013, will take care of itself.

Donald

You can read more of the reactions to Kumar's article at Blue Virginia.

Kumar: "Senator McEachin for governor in 2013?"

The Washington Post's Anita Kumar explores the possibility that Senator Donald McEachin could seek statwide office in 2013:

McEachin said in an interview that he's focused on helping out in the 2010 elections and preparing for the 2011 legislative session. He said he plans to run for re-election in 2011.

"I have no idea right now what I might do," he said.

McEachin ran for attorney general in 2001 but lost to Republican Jerry Kilgore. He's been a frequent and vocal critical of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell this year.

You can read the rest of this article at The Washington Post.

Senator McEachin to attend the 22nd Annual Albemarle County Democratic BBQ on August 28th

Senator Donald McEachin will join the Albemarle County Democratic Committee on Saturday, August 28th, 3-6:30 PM at Claudius Crozet Park for the 22nd Annual Albemarle County Democratic BBQ.

Speakers include U.S. Senator Mark Warner, and state senators Creigh Deeds and Donald McEachin, along with your Democratic neighbors and Congressman Tom Perriello as the ACDP puts the "party" into Party and hosts its annual BBQ extravaganza at Claudius Crozet Park.

This is the Albemarle County Democratic event of the season, so buy your ticket now and save! Click on the ActBlue link to purchase your tickets online now.

$25 in advance, $30 at the door
$5 for children ages 5-16, under 5 are free
www.actblue.com/page/albemarlebbq

Senator McEachin to attend Virginia Partisans' 2010 Annual PAC Fundraiser BBQ on August 28th

Join us at Freddie's Beach Bar and Restaurant this Saturday, August 28th for the Virginia Partisans Annual PAC fundraiser! All proceeds will be directed to our PAC and used to fund the campaign contributions we make to our endorsed candidates for office in Virginia.

Come schmooze with many of our local elected officials and LGBT Democrats as we kick off the Fall Campaign!!

August 28th 1-4PM
Freddie's Beach Bar & Restaurant
555 South 23rd Street
Arlington, VA

Full BBQ Buffet, Drinks, door prizes provided with admission.

Special Guest Speakers:
Senator Donald McEachin (VA-9th) & Congressman Jim Moran (VA CD-8th)

TICKETS:
General Admission tickets $40
Discounted (under age 25, over 65) $20
Host Committee Levels
Sponsor $100
Patron $250
Benefactor $500
President's Club $1000
Chairman's Club $2000
Go to our ActBlue event page to make a donation or buy tickets:
http://www.actblue.com/page/vapartisansbbq

Paying by check?? Accepted at the door or mail check made out to "Virginia Partisans PAC" to:

Virginia Partisans
PO Box 3266
Merrifield, VA 22116-3266

Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis: Federal Aid helped balance Virginia's budget

The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis points out that without Federal Aid, Virginia would not have had a balanced budget.

Gov. Bob McDonnell decries rising federal spending, but a handout from Washington is helping him balance Virginia's cash-strapped budget, a fiscal think tank says.

If not for $2.5 billion from President Barack Obama's economic-stimulus program, the state's shortfall would have swelled from more than $4 billion to nearly $5.5 billion, according to the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

You can read the complete article at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

More on the so called "surplus"

The Washington Post has additional commentary from Senator Donald McEachin regarding the "surplus" announced by the McDonnell administration:

Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) said he does not consider this week's announcement a reason to celebrate.

"This is not a surplus,'' he said. "We balanced our budget on the backs of schoolchildren and those who need mental-health care."

McEachin encouraged McDonnell to use the funds to reverse some of the massive cuts to education and mental health or make payments to the Virginia Retirement System for public employees.

Read the entire article at The Washington Post.

Senator Donald McEachin comments on state "surplus"

From NBC 12:

It came by cutting jobs and programs while reducing money given out to education and public safety. Critics wonder, now, if all that was lost, are they coming back? But that's not likely.

"When I hear the word surplus, I assume that we've met all of our unmet needs, and clearly we haven't done that in Virginia," said Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico).

Virginia started the year several billion dollars in deficit, and still, is coming up short - just not as badly as predicted.

* * *

"I think the overarching problem is we do not have the political will to raise revenue," McEachin said, referencing the idea of raising the gasoline tax, or freezing car tax relief.

Read the complete transcript here.

Richmond Times Dispatch: "Baby boomers in shaky retirement position"

A word of caution to all those in my generation (i.e. those of us old enough to remember green stamps):

Fifty-somethings Ronald and Julia Maupin know just how it feels to be sandwich boomers, taking care of boomerang children and aging parents.

For three years, the Amelia couple shared their home with an adult son who returned home.

Now they share a different home with Ronald's 81-year-old mother, who moved into the mother-in-law suite attached to the house.

Read the entire article at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Schapiro: "Governor seeing pink elephants in booze gambit?"

Jeff Schapiro has a column in today's Richmond Times Dispatch entitled "Governor seeing pink elephants in booze gambit?":

Lobbyists look for clues about the direction of an issue much the same way others do: by listening to what people are saying, noting who's saying it and when and where it's said.

That was the case in Norfolk this past week at the latest group gab by Bob McDonnell on ways to cut the size and cost of government, including selling the liquor monopoly.

Only two people spoke about that idea -- one in favor of it, the other opposed.

You can read the entire column at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

What are your thoughts?

"The Republican war on the Constitution"

This article by Robert Shrum in The Week is a good read:

It is the party of Lincoln no more.

As part of a crass strategy to appeal to anti-immigrant paranoia and racism, Republican leaders are now assaulting the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The Amendment, which was passed after Lincoln’s death, ratified his life’s work. Republicans propose to repeal its guarantee of citizenship as a birthright, and while the impetus for this assault on constitutional principle comes from the GOP’s tea-intoxicated fringe, it has been seconded by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. John McCain, and Sen. Lindsey Graham. In today’s GOP, the few with loose morals vie to lead the many with loose marbles.

Read the entire article at The Week.

McEachin and McDonnell debate nullification

Governor Bob McDonnell and Senator Donald McEachin held a proxy debate about the merits of nullification in dueling quotes given to the Richmond Times Dispatch's Olympia Meola. McDonnell went first:

“I have not looked at nullification in a very, very long time so I can’t really comment on that at this point, but I do think that we’ve got to find ways,” he said. “Mr. Jefferson says the government closest to the people governs best, well that’s the local government and the state government.”

Senator McEachin responded:

“Like every other elected official, Governor McDonnell took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and all the articles and clauses within that document,” he said.

“Nullification is not legal and declining to respond is not acceptable. I expect our governor to uphold the law and the Constitution and to refute unconstitutional and illegal drivel when he hears it.”

Meola rightly notes that the concept of nullification carries a lot of historical baggage. Not only was nullification used to justify secessionism, but--as Meola writes--it was also used to justify Massive Resistance to school integration. Read Meola's article at the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Senator McEachin Reminds the Governor that Nullification has been Deemed Unconstitutional

From State Senator Donald McEachin:

Richmond – Today, Senator A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) responded to Governor McDonnell’s comments in Roanoke yesterday (as quoted by the Roanoke Times) that he “declined” to express an opinion on the legitimacy of nullification. Senator McEachin said, “I am extremely dismayed and concerned that our governor has apparently neglected to review recent American history or leading Supreme Court cases. Not even sixty years ago, in a response to attempts to ignore Brown v. Board of Education in which African-American children were first given the opportunity for an equal integrated education with white children, the Supreme Court ruled on Cooper v. Aaron. In this extremely significant case, the Court ruled that because the Supremacy Clause of Article VI made the United States Constitution the Supreme law of the land and Marbury v. Madison gave the Supreme Court the final power of judicial review, then all states are bound by federal law and bound by Supreme Court decisions.

“But even if the Governor has forgotten these Constitutional law principles, he should surely recall the amount of blood spilled, families and homes decimated and young men killed the last time states made foolish decisions based on nullification. Surely, as governor of Virginia which is criss-crossed with battlefields and graveyards of those who died fighting in that war and those who died trying to protect their homes and families and the numbers of slaves and free blacks who died trying to protect their loved ones and their few and meager possessions, he should know that no good can come of this kind of foolish and dangerous talk.

“We are Americans, proud to be part of the greatest democracy on earth, and if we disagree we have legal, political and legislative means to resolve those disagreements. Living in a democracy means that if we don’t like what is happening we will have an election and we can peaceably, within our Constitutional procedures and rights, address those grievances.

“Finally, like every other elected official, Governor McDonnell took an oath to uphold the US Constitution and all the Articles and clauses within that document. Nullification is not legal and declining to respond is not acceptable. I expect our governor to uphold the law and the Constitution and to refute unconstitutional and illegal drivel when he hears it.”

# # #

Senator McEachin on Cuccinelli's immigration opinion

State Senator Donald McEachin has been quoted on The Rachel Maddow Show's blog regarding Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's recent immigration opinion:

The local press makes less note of what spurred Cuccinelli to issue that opinion in the first place. The AG was responding to a request from Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican from Prince William County. Marshall is the same guy who suggested disabled kids are divine retribution for abortion. And Prince William County is where the Federation for American Immigration Reform worked to get an anti-immigration ordinance in 2007. Now FAIR is pushing for a state-level bill.

State Sen. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) tells us he expects to see one proposed as early as December. "The question is will we be prepared to defend against it," he said.

McEachin says officials from U.S. Customs and Enforcement -- ICE -- sought a meeting with Democratic lawmakers in Virginia last month to start thinking about that very question. "Virginia's right in Washington, D.C.'s backyard," he says. "They read the same newspapers we do."

Read the complete post at The Rachel Maddow Show's blog.

Senator McEachin Counters Delegate Gilbert’s Remarks About the Chesapeake Bay

State Senator Donald McEachin's office released the following statement today:

Senator McEachin Counters Delegate Gilbert’s

Remarks About the Chesapeake Bay

Senator A. Donald McEachin (D-Henrico) today released this statement countering Delegate Todd’s remarks about the Chesapeake Bay over the past weekend. Senator McEachin said, “I was dismayed to hear that yet another Republican has joined the Republican efforts to turn back the clock and not do what is critically necessary to protect the Chesapeake Bay. This time it’s Delegate Todd Gilbert who is doing his best to create misplaced fear with false accusations. Just this past weekend he told a group of young farmers that attempts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay are really a conspiracy of “urban” legislators to take farms away and destroy farmers’ “heritage.”

“This is, of course, utter nonsense. Cleaning up the Bay will protect farmers by ensuring they have a clean water source for their crops. Moreover, a clean Chesapeake Bay will protect other critical jobs here in the Commonwealth. Watermen need a clean Bay for their fishing businesses to prosper. Tourism depends on access to clean unpolluted waters.”

Senator McEachin continued, “Pollution in the Bay comes from numerous sources including subdivision runoff, and large “point-source” polluters such as power plants. No legislator has tried to implicate farmers as the primary perpetrators. Delegate Gilbert is attempting to do what Republican politicians like him often try to do – scare people to distract them from the important issue, in this case, ensuring that Virginians and their families have access to a clean and unpolluted Chesapeake Bay.

“And we await Governor Bob McDonnell’s position. Does he accept the huge amount of scientific evidence for climate change or doesn’t he? Does he want to clean up the Chesapeake Bay or doesn’t he? Is he waiting for a poll to reveal his position to him? Delegate Gilbert seems to think that Governor McDonnell is in favor of allowing continued pollution of the Bay. I call on the Governor to demonstrate leadership, acknowledge the facts and ensure that the Bay is maintained for future generations.

“It’s time for Virginia Republicans to stop railing against the facts and against the needs of the Commonwealth. As EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said, ‘A better solution would be to join the vast majority of the American people who want to see more green jobs, more clean energy innovation, and an end to the oil addiction that pollutes our planet and jeopardizes our national security.’"

The Senator concluded, “Virginia Republican leaders need to stop playing politics with our future and our children’s and grandchildren’s future. Let’s create jobs by finding real solutions to address the problems of pollution and climate change right here in the Commonwealth rather than engaging in inaccurate and unnecessary accusations.”

Senator McEachin’s statement comes on the heels of the recent EPA formally rejection of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s misguided attempt to deny the existence of climate change.