Sorry about that, I honestly didn’t see it until you made mention. You’re right, we do need a statewide transportation solution. No one region should pay alone as no one region benefits. Hampton Roads benefits the whole state as does Northern Virginia. 95% of all new job growth in Virgini has been in NOVA, it’s an enginge we can’t afford to choke off. Virginia is a Commonwealth and that means we’re in it together.

- Brian

Thanks for the question. First let me tell you how great it’s been to be with you for the hour today. I have a dinner meeting which (although it’s only 10 miles away) will take me over an hour to get too. We really do have a transportation crisis in Virginia. So I’m going to have to signoff. Thank you for the great questions and thank you, Vivian, for inviting me.

The Republicans actions on Governor Kaines amendments were unconsionable. For partisan benefit, they defeated vital child care funding for 1900 kids in Fairfax County, allowed sewer to continue to flow into the James River, and cut funding for modeling & simulation at the Hampton Roads partnership. That’s exactly the type of rigid partisanship that is putting Republcians out of touch with Virginia voters.

As Chairman of the Caucus, I’m proud to travel the state and carry our Democratic message of hope and opportunity. Virginia and, I believe, America, have been best when they’ve been lead by Democrats always pushing us forward. We have great challenges ahead but we can meet them if we work together.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at my office at any time with further questions or other groups that need to hear this message. Thanks for letting me visit with you today.

- Brian

Democrats have a very clear message of equality and opportunity. We don’t believe in an ownership society, we believe in an opportunity society. However, our party is a diverse party – a big tent. With regional diversity and diversity of opinion. That’s what makes us strong.

Loyalty is important and I value that quality, but it’s loyalty to our principles and ideas. We don’t believe in rigid loyalty to extreme stances and coercive policies that motivated Republicans to attack great Virginia leaders like Danny leBlanc and Jim Dillard this session. That type of loyalty is not the Virginia way.

Thanks for your question. I’ve been proud of a number of things this session:
- a sexual predator bill that helps protect our children
- nearly 1/2 a billion $ of new funding for higher education, and significant raises for teacher salaries
- a new statewide coordinator for the faith communities response to natural disasters
- additional 45 state police officers in the budget
- $200 million for improving the chesapeake bay
- a back-to-school sales tax holiday to help families afford school

I’ve also worked hard for our law enforcement and first responder communities. AND, actually, today, I got word that the Virginia Sheriff’s Association has named me there 2006 legislator of the year. It’s not enough to talk tough on crime, our actions should meet our rhetoric.

Rest assured though, while we’ve made some great progress this session there are a lot of important initatives that have been stopped by the House Republican Leadership. Hopefully that will change in the comming years.

I’ve had the benefit of seeing Al Gore’s presentation live in February of this year. It is an alarming presentation that warns of potential peril if we fail to act.

Governor Kaine, Senator Whipple, and others have begun to make progress on examining alternative energy sources. I’ve been exploring a number of altneratives ranging from solar and wind power to ethanol. We have to find the right way to protect our environment and our vital natural resources. It’s not about protecting these things for our generation, it’s for the next generation, and the one after that.

I join you in being embarrased when we can’t do the job we are elected to do becuase partisan leaders fail to work across the aisle and confront our biggest challenges. Virginia has a noble tradition for nearly 399 years and, recently, that reputation has been tarnished.

The easy answer is to elect more fiscally responsible Democrats in 2007. Our caucus and leadership has a proven record of being fiscally responsible and following the lead of Governor Kaine and former Governor Warner. We must put extremism and partisan ideology aside. We must focus on the kitchen table issues confronting the Commonwealth.

It’s wrong to have commuters stuck in traffic, children without health insurance, far too many lakes and waterways contaminated, and teacher salaries which haven’t reached the national average. These issues and others – like early childhood education – should be the focus of our 2008 budget debate.

Continuing to work around the state to spread this message and electing more Democratic delegates in 2007 will ensure we don’t have the embarrasment we’ve had for 3 out of the last five years.

Thank you very much for the question and encouragement. Virginia’s been blessed with good leadership over the years and Tim Kaine is a great example of that tradition. I’m so proud to have him in the mansion.

It’s too early to make any decisions and right now my focus is helping Tim Kaine address the priorities of the Commonwealth, particularly investing in transportation and helping candidates get ready for 2007. I’m not unware that there is no statewide Democratic officeholder other than Governor Kaine, who can’t succeed himself. I’ve been proud to lead our Democratic Caucus for the past few years and am looking forward to 2007.

Mark Warner is a long-time friend (since before either of us was in elective office), in fact he was one of the first people to encourage me to run for the House in 1995. He was one of Virginia’s finest Governors and, I believe, will make a terrific President. If he becomes President, our nation will be the better for it. If he runs for Governor again, Virginia will be the better for it. We can’t lose!

- Brian

I have sponsored legislation to create a bipartisan or nonpartisan redistricting commission.

It would require a constitutional amendement. This past year I sponsored a study so we could begin to learn from our sister states that have embraced some democratic reform.

Partisan redistricting was taken too new heights in 2001 with the use of computers to redistrict around houses and firehydrants. It’s been used to create far too many ‘safe’ districts that don’t force legislators to compete for the center. It polarizes our representation. 3 out of the last 5 years, we have been unable to adopt a budget on time. This is a direct result of partisan redistricting forcing us to the extreme.

As Chairman of the Democratic Caucus, I spend my time focusing on elections here in Virginia. As you know from reading my post earlier, I’ve spent a lot of time working for Phil Kellam. I’m also planning events for a number of our other Congressional candidates this year.

The energy this election has generated from Connectiuct to Virginia bodes particularly well for Jim Webb. He is a great candidate who I’m proud to support against Senator Allen.

Virginians should be focused on helping make Jim Webb the next Senator from Virginia.

Mike understood that discrimination harms Virginia businesses and costs Virginian’s jobs, particularly those high-tech companies that seek to locate in open-minded, diverse communities. We should heed his message.

- Brian

ANSWER: I would encourage the most objective analysis of non-state agencies request that’s possible. Many of these organizations provide critical cultral experiences and benefits in thier communities. They serve vital community interests but the money should not be distributed on partsian political considerations. There are some great organizations like Wolf Trap in Northern Virginia or the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk or the Museum of Western Virginia. They deserve our strong support.

- Brian

Answer: This years Freshman class in the House of Delegates is the best class that I’ve seen in my 11 years in the House. It gives me great confidence that we are moving Virginia in the right direction to have strong candidates like these step forward. They represent diverse areas of the state and represent diversity in our own caucus.

Answer: I am committed to recruiting in every region of the Commonwealth. I’ve spent considerable time in Hampton Roads, travled up and down the Shenandoah vally, and have trips scheduled to Southside and Southwest Virginia. We have a message of making fiscally responsible investments in critical services. It’s a message that resonates in all corners of the Commonwealth. Since I took over as Chairman in 2001, we have picked up seats in every general election and a series of special elections. We are winning from Loudoun to Lynchburg and it won’t stop there.

- Brian

Answer: Provide free hotdogs and free cotton-candy for kids under 6 (the age of my daughter). I wish they were all that easy.

It’s great to be here. I’ll start addressing some of the more recent questions and we can go from there. Thanks!

- Brian

How do you feel about the process for determining which nonstate entities receive funding through the Virginia budget?

I have been spending a lot of time researching the process and the numbers show that the entities that get funded are selected not based on worthiness but rather the Delegate or Senator that proposes the organization for funding. Would you agree with this statement?

Further, would you like to see any changes to the process or an elimination of nonstate entity funding altogether?

Thank you.

If you were commissoner of your favorite sport for a day (I’m guessing it’s baseball and Red Sox, but it can be whatever sport you prefer), what would be the first thing you do to improve the game?

Also, keep up the good work.

What is your position on opening up Virginia’s coastline to off-shore drilling?

Does Phil Kellam have a chance to win in November? If so, what specifically can we fellow Dems do to help him out?