Steve Vaughan
Please split up my ‘community of interest’
By Steve Vaughan It’s redistricting time. The General Assembly meets next month to draw the new lines for the state’s 11 Congressional districts, 100 House of Delegates district and 40 State Senate districts. This year we’ve had an appetizer, since the governor’s commission on redistricting (which only has advisory status), college students participating in a … Continue reading
Not a bad year, all things considered
By Steve Vaughan The 2011 regular session of the Virginia General Assembly is in the books. Compared to recent years, I’d say the legislature did pretty well. Sure, they took an extra day to get the budget worked out, but that happens more often than not these days. And it’s not really partisan gridlock that … Continue reading
Still crazy after all these years?
By Steve Vaughan It’s said that the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I don’t want to call the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives crazy, but if the shoe fits… There’s a fairly good chance that we’re headed for another government … Continue reading
Wittman for Senate trial balloon spotted?
Breaking news By Steve Vaughan What may be the first signs of a move by Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st) to enter the 2012 U.S. Senate race came to light Friday. The story should go up some time tonight at The Virginia Gazette.
Goodbye, Jimmy. We hardly knew ye.
By Steve Vaughan Senator Jim Webb announced Wednesday that he won’t seek a second term in 2012. The announcement wasn’t much of a surprise. He only raised $12,000 in campaign contributions in the fourth quarter of 2010 and he’d seemed for months to be vacillating on the decision to run or not run. I’m going … Continue reading
Where McDonnell’s ABC plan went wrong
By Steve Vaughan Governor Bob McDonnell’ s much-discussed, often-changed, plan to privatize the state’s ABC stores and get the Commonwealth out of the liquor business is likely dead for the year. Del. Chris Jones (R-Suffolk), chairman of the House General Laws Committee has said he’ll use his chairman’s discretion not to bring the bill up … Continue reading
What a sweet guy!
By Steve Vaughan I got a press release from Del. John O’Bannon (R-Henrico) Friday. He was pretty proud of himself. He’d asked for and gotten an opinion from Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that two of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed amendments to the budget were unconstitutional. That’s pretty unusual, because everybody involved – O’Bannon, Cuccinelli and McDonnell … Continue reading
Thank God for cable
By Steve Vaughan I don’t find myself in agreement with George Will often, unless the bow-tied curmudgeon is writing about baseball. Will has an ongoing, and I’d guess premature since he’s had it for 20 years or more, case of grumpy oldmanism. Most Will columns can be summed up succinctly as “Hey, you kids get off my … Continue reading
Okay, now can we get down to business?
By Steve Vaughan The House of Representatives just got through wasting time debating the repeal of last year’s health care reform bill. To no great surprise, the repeal bill passed the GOP-controlled House, 245-189, with every Republican and three Democrats voting to repeal it. The debate and vote were largely symbolic. Democrats control the Senate. … Continue reading
One Bad Bill
By Steve Vaughan With the General Assembly in session again, easy targets for the political commentator abound. I usually do a story for the Gazette on silly bills filed each year. I’ll get to that soon. But a bill that’s not so much silly as just bad has captured my attention. Sen. Steve Martin (R-Chesterfield) has … Continue reading
Time for a new round of kick the can
By Steve Vaughan The General Assembly goes back into session Wednesday. So it’s time for our elected representatives to start putting off until tomorrow what they could be doing today. They’ll be ably assisted by Gov. Bob McDonnell. It’s easy to tell the governor is a former legislator, because his administration has been busy pushing … Continue reading
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