A quick look back at the top ten posts on my blog for 2009:

1. Norfolk City Attorney tries to swat a gnat – and it swats back
2. EXCLUSIVE: Rich Savage exits LG race
3. Robin Abbott, candidate in the 93rd
4. Bob McDonnell’s world
5. FT debate video part 2
6. No to Lee-Jackson Day, Yes to Virginia Heritage Day
7. Who is Mike Signer?
8. American Idol 02/17/09: The first 12
9. JJ Dinner 2009 wrapup
10. Tax commissioner rules in Norfolk business case

I’m looking forward to 2010. First up will be the General Assembly session. Here in Norfolk, we have council races coming up in May and the field is shaping up nicely. In November, we have the Congressional race. There will be plenty of issues to discuss and I hope you will join me in doing so.

Told by Petts that his convincing primary win positioned him well with the Democratic base – core Democrats, northern Virginians and African-Americans – Deeds was advised: “The battleground now appears to be for independents outside the DC media market.”

This is what led to the misguided plan to ignore the base, a mistake of epic proportions and probably the largest contributor to the size of the loss. Petts should have known better – it’s not the first time he’s worked in Virginia politics. He should have recognized that the voters in a primary are not the same group in the general and the need to reach out to base voters who didn’t vote in the primary was critical.

But, to be honest, I agreed with Petts’ assessment of the possible need for the Democratic nominee to distance himself from Obama and said so in this post.  But the presence of the OFA organizers made that near impossible.

Petts says now that the campaign lost its grip on northern Virginia over the summer, when Democrats nationally took a hit in part as a result of the healthcare debate and raucous town halls.

That’s why I asked the DNC to remove those organizers here. Send them to one of the 48 states that didn’t have a gubernatorial election. Nationalizing this election was about the worst thing that could happen to Democrats in Virginia. But even with them here, the campaign should have adjusted its strategy and gone after voters in NoVA. That it didn’t happen is indicative of how much faith the campaign put into that June memo.

There’s a whole lot of blame to go around. And some of it should rightly be placed on Petts.

In interviews, both appeared taken aback at the thought of a billion-plus hole in the budget. Yet each stuck to the fiscal plan he’s touted during the campaign.

[...]

Both candidates’ plans rest on a more optimistic view of the state’s finances than is held by many budget analysts.

That none of the discussion has focused on how to deal with the lingering effects of the economic problems our country has faced is truly sad. But then why should it? After all, it’s not like Virginians get the opportunity to hold a governor to the promises he made on the campaign trail.

EDIT: I left out a pretty important quote from the story:

John Taylor, president of Tertium Quids, a free-market advocacy group, said given the depth of the budget problems, some sort of tax increase may be coming no matter who wins on Tuesday.

“I would be surprised to see any governor in Virginia over the next four years not support a spending increase,” he said.

Yes, Virginia. Tax increases are in our future. Get used to the idea.

From Creigh Deeds:

From Jody Wagner:

From Steve Shannon:

On the Peninsula

Hampton Meet & Greet
5pm
YH Thomas Youth Center
1300 Thomas St
Hampton, VA

Newport News Event
6pm
Newport News Campaign Office
11838 Cannon Blvd, Suite 100

(Ross Taylor / The Virginian-Pilot)

The line snaked around the building when I arrived at the ODU Ted Constant Center for the rally with Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds and President Barack Obama. Inside, the facility was already filling up.

Although the arena seats 7,319, the area behind the stage was curtained off. Approximately one-half of the arena floor, which can be used to boost seating to 10,000, was occupied by rally attendees with guaranteed admissions tickets, like those I gave away on this blog. The remainder of the floor was occupied by the press, with one row of press seating, then the risers for the cameras, followed by a couple of other rows for the press. The estimates of attendance – between 4,700 and 5,900 – sound about right.

There were two pre-rally receptions: one with the president for high-dollar donors and another with the governor for more modest donations. Both of those receptions were scheduled to take place between 3 and 4pm and came with preferred seating to the right side of the stage (looking forward). The president arrived early, so the initial schedule – pre-progam was to begin at 3:50pm and the rally at 4:55pm – was moved up. In fact, when the program began, the people attending the receptions weren’t even in their seats.

Levar Stoney, former DPVA executive director, now Deeds’ political director, acted as MC for the event. When he announced the first speaker, hesitating after the word “president,” the crowd went wild. He was introducing, of course, ODU President John Broderick.  In fairly quick succession, we heard from AG candidate Steve Shannon,  LG candidate Jody Wagner and Gov. Tim Kaine. Probably the funniest moment of the affair was when the woman singing the National Anthem messed up the words! Perhaps she was nervous but man – she was making up the words as she went along. Not quite the same as Ella Fitzgerald, but still.

Deeds gave a better version of his stump speech than I’ve heard before. He seemed more relaxed, which is a good thing. But the crowd was there for Obama and went wild when the president took the stage. (Both the remarks of Deeds and Obama, as prepared, are available here.)

Do I wish this rally had taken place a few weeks ago? You betcha I talked to some folks afterwards that hadn’t felt any connection to the race until yesterday. One person with whom I spoke had worked tirelessly for Terry McAuliffe in the primary but had done nothing since. (Yeah – I’m looking back at the “unity” rally that wasn’t.)  The good news is that some folks who weren’t planning to vote Tuesday will do so. The question remains whether enough of them will.

~

One more note: where in the heck were Mark Warner, Jim Webb and Glenn Nye?

How Ron may have voted on that legislation we will never know. But we do know that he testified as a character witness on behalf of a convicted felon, and he wanted the man – who pleaded guilty to abduction and attempted rape – to be set free.  He wanted a violent felon among us.

The case came to light back in 2006, when one of Villaneuva’s opponents, French Donald Mackes, Jr., called him “soft on crime.” The man in question was Anthony Fradillada, who is a convicted sex offender.

Mackes, at the request of the victim, sent a letter to The Virginian-Pilot. An article from April 7, 2006 states:

“According to the crime victim, in court during April 2004, Villanueva testified that the Filipino community would support Fradillada and that Fradillada did not need to serve jail time for his crimes against her,” Mackes’ letter states.

[...]

In an interview Thursday, the victim confirmed that she had sent e-mails about the case to the candidates …

“I just think the public needs to know the truth about a representative of the community,” she said. “I think it could affect the election and maybe it should. Maybe he shouldn’t represent us again.”

Villanueva defended his involvement in the case,  and touted the endorsement of – surprise – Sheriff Paul Lanteigne in responding. And he denied that his testimony included the comment that Fradillada, a family friend and member of his church, should not receive jail time.

“I spoke on behalf of him getting proper treatment and help while he was incarcerated,” Villanueva said. “I said he needed to receive counseling. The sentence was just. This kid needed some help. I didn’t condone what he did.”

The newspaper let Villanueva off the hook by not checking what he remembered he said versus what he did say. The transcript of his testimony at the sentencing hearing tells a different story (emphasis mine).

I’m here today to speak on his behalf. You know, it’s unfortunate the circumstances that we’re here for. I believe Anthony has done his time. He’s very redeemable, and we need to give folks like him another opportunity, a second chance so that he can prove himself and be the person that he was always meant to be, a good upstanding citizen.

Done his time? Really? According to the Virginia Courts Case Information, Fradillada commited the crime on January 7, 2003. The record shows that he was arrested the next day; however, what it doesn’t show was whether he was incarcerated at that time or granted bail. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that he was jailed without bond. It appears that he pleaded guilty on January 20, 2004. The sentencing hearing, in which Villaneuva testified, was held three months later, on April 20, 2004.

So had he been in jail the whole time, it would have been a little over 16 months. And Villanueva thought that was enough time for a man who pleaded guilty to abduction and attempted rape? As a woman, I’m outraged. Fortunately, the court saw fit to sentence Fradillada to 14 years in prison – 7 years each on the two charges – although it suspended nine years. The suspended part of the sentence was predicated upon Fradillada being on good behavior for 14 years, supervised probation upon his release from prison, payment of court costs, completion of the After Care Program and no contact with the victim or her family.

(Oh – and there’s nothing in the testimony about Fradillada receiving counseling or any other kind of treatment, although Villaneuva did mention that he was Fradillada’s mentor. As for him being a kid, the offender detail linked above shows that Fradillada is now 32 years old. Six years ago when the crime was committed, he was 26 – hardly a kid.)

I’m told that Fradillada was released in 2007, which means, if he was in prison from January 2003, he served less than the five years to which he was sentenced. He is, however, on probation and lives in Chesapeake. He works in both Virginia Beach and Norfolk.

Ron Villaneuva supported the early release of a violent felon – a sex offender, no less – into our community.  Bobby Mathieson, a 27 year veteran of the Virginia Beach Police, worked to put guys like Fradillada in jail. He also served on the Crime Commission’s Sex Offenders Task Force.

And he hasn’t stopped. In 2008, his first year in the legislature, Mathieson’s bill to have the state police transmit the sex offender registry to the DMV and require them to appear at the DMV and have a photograph taken passed the legislature, one of two sex offender related bills he got passed that year. In 2009, he introduced two other sex offender related bills.

Given this history, I think it takes a whole lot of guts to harp on a single vote for a failed bill.

By the way – the day that Villaneuva testified, there was a City Council Budget Workshop regarding the FY 2004-2005 Resource Management Plan. Guess who wasn’t there when the meeting started? Yep. Villanueva. One of those 105 meetings that he’s missed or been late for. I suppose testifying for his mentee was a bit more important.

Louis Eisenberg
spotter
Barbara Hatton-Hall
Carl Johansen
Teresa Eisenberg

Congratulations! Check your email!

And if you didn’t win, you can still get a ticket through the campaign website here. Just make sure that you show up in plenty of time – doors open at 2pm – as it is first come, first serve.

Thanks to all who entered!

In an editorial for the Sunday paper, The Virginian-Pilot endorsed Democrat Creigh Deeds for governor.  And, as I suspected, the issue in the forefront of the board’s mind was transportation.

He offers a political strategy rather than a substantive plan for solving the state’s most overwhelming challenge. While that strategy does not provide transportation advocates the leadership they crave, the Democrat at least allows them a fighting chance to press forward. In contrast, Bob McDonnell’s plan is a chain-link fence of stall tactics designed to distract voters into believing that progress is being made while not providing the money to actually make it. Under a Gov. McDonnell, transportation advocates would waste four years clawing their way over, under and around barriers erected by the state’s top elected official.

The paper takes McDonnell to task on other issues as well, saying:

McDonnell may be a more persuasive leader, but he is asking Virginia to follow him down a dead-end road. If he is governor, he will spend four years churning out spreadsheets with fantasy forecasts and writing stern letters to the president, Congress, state legislators and city councils demanding that they do something to save him from his own inertia.

The “nobody from nowhere,” a characterization of him that Deeds often reminds us that the Pilot said back in 2005, just snatched one away from “Virginia Beach’s own.”

And that means both of McDonnell’s “hometown” papers endorsed Deeds.

UPDATE: I see the Roanoke Times has also endorsed Deeds. McDonnell didn’t even bother to be interviewed by that editorial board, a sure way to lose an endorsement.

UPDATE #2: Just a reminder to all the McDonnell folks out there: the Pilot endorsed McDonnell over Deeds in 2005.

And you can win one. Here’s how:

In the comments below, tell me why you are supporting Creigh Deeds for governor. And tell me why you think you should win a ticket.

The deadline for entries is 5pm Monday, October 26. At 6pm, I’ll pick the five best comments and announce the winners. Make sure you enter a valid email address as winners will also be notified by email.

I’ll be updating this post with more details about the rally as they become available. And to make it easy to find, I’ll keep this post stuck to the top of the blog until the entry deadline passes. (New blog content will be below this post.)

UPDATE Saturday, 11:24am: Just got some more details on the rally. The doors will open at 2pm. Because parking is an issue, please consider carpooling. The rally program is scheduled to start at 3:50pm.

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Deeds campaign today released more details on the tickets for the Obama rally.

Guaranteed admission: volunteer!

Volunteers who complete a shift this weekend anywhere in the Commonwealth will be guaranteed admission to the rally. To sign up to volunteer this weekend, click here.

General admission

General admission to the rally will be on a first come, first serve basis. To RSVP for general admission ticketing and further information, click here.

Today, the Deeds campaign released a new TV ad featuring the president.

(Steve Helber | AP Photo)

I traveled to Richmond last night to watch the only televised debate between Creigh Deeds and Bob McDonnell. I was in the studio, which prohibited me from blogging or tweeting but gave me a glimpse of the candidates that the camera is incapable of capturing.

The two men sat side by side, facing moderator Judy Woodruff, of PBS. The contrast between them was noticeable from the moment they entered the studio. Deeds, who came in first, walked down the aisle, shaking hands and greeting people along the way. McDonnell strode in purposefully, eyes straight ahead, and took the stage, greeting only the moderator and his opponent.

Their entries set the tone for the remainder of the night. Deeds, while getting in a dig or two at McDonnell, spoke in his earnest manner, not always smoothly but with passion. McDonnell was very precise, working the word “taxes” into nearly every response. In between answering questions, he sat stonefaced, much like he appears in the picture above, not showing any emotion. Only when the camera was trained on him did he warm up.

For those who follow the campaigns closely, there was no new information last night. Others have deemed the exchange between the two men civil; I’d go a step further and say it was boring. The candidates played it safe for the statewide audience. Each man got the opportunity to expand on key points of their platform. For McDonnell it was transportation, and occasionally, jobs. For Deeds, it was transportation and education. There were no game changing moments.

I had intended to follow up after the debate with a couple of people I talked to before it began who are not political junkies. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to do so.

The Deeds campaign released a new TV ad today as well.

And ICYMI, there is a new meme about the Deeds campaign: that Obama won’t be back in the state to campaign for Deeds.  And Gov Kaine can’t say whether the President is coming. This meme started with a Wall Street Journal story yesterday, which alleges that the White House is “stepping back” from the campaign. Of course, every media outlet out there has jumped on this like stink on you-know-what. If the Deeds campaign has addressed this, I haven’t seen it. But then again, VP Joe Biden was in the state today for a Deeds fundraiser.

I have to say I don’t think the race in Virginia is going to turn on whether or not Obama comes to Virginia to campaign for Deeds. This speculation, like so many other things, is just a diversion. Jeff Schapiro of The Richmond Times weighed in on the subject in his latest Virginia Notes video.

(Today the WSJ again weighs in on the VA gubernatorial race, calling it a “page turner.”)

~

The candidates for AG square off in a debate tonight at the Verizon Auditorium of Mason’s Prince William campus. Doors open at 7pm, with the debate starting at 7:30pm. As far as I know, the debate will not be available online anywhere.

UPDATE: Brian says the debate will be streamed live at Inside Scoop.

~

The Virginian-Pilot profiled the candidates in the 83rd House district today – incumbent Democrat Joe Bouchard and his Republican challenger, Chris Stolle.  The article pointed out that Stolle has received $230,000 in the last month from the RSLC. The total received from the RSLC is almost $250,000.

~

Busch Gardens has been sold.

~

Been a heck of a day around here with the tax filing deadline approaching. And this morning, I awoke to find one of my cats had passed away. She’s not been well the last couple of weeks, but I didn’t expect her to be the first to go. I’ve got another old cat  – Sweetness – that has kidney failure but still yells at me every morning to give her some milk. Samantha, who died overnight, used up a lot of her lives early on. My mother-in-law went shopping one day and found her inside of her car. No idea how she got there. We ultimately ended up with her, as she was a real handful. Solid white, she was a beautiful cat who looked so sweet. And, occasionally, she’d have a sweet moment. But that wasn’t her normal disposition.  She’d bite, scratch, and kick. The other cats – in addition to Samantha and Sweetness, I have two others, Tommy and Fluffy – did their best to stay away.

Despite all of that, I’m already missing her. Funny – she has spent the last couple of weeks hanging out near Sweetness. I’ve seen that happen before – I had a dog, Kelly, get sick and one of my cats – Ernie  – stayed by Kelly”s side right up til the end. And a few days after Kelly died, so did Ernie. I’m guessing Sweetness won’t be with us much longer. After all, she’s about 21 years old.

Fluffy, my youngest cat, has diabetes and requires daily insulin shots and frequent trips to the vet to have her glucose levels checked. The only really healthy cat I’ve got is Tommy.

Cats have interesting personalities and it’s pretty easy to get attached to them. Letting go is hard.

The debate will be broadcast live from the WCVE studios in Richmond beginning at 8pm and will be moderated by Judy Woodruff. More information about the debate can be found on the flier to the right (click to enlarge). The four member panel includes representatives from the media as well as the co-sponsors of the debate, the League of Women Voters of Virginia and the AARP of Virginia.

House Dems released an update on the state of the races

Sheila Johnson visited Hampton Roads recently on behalf of Bob McDonnell. According to my sources, her visit included a luncheon at the Westin, a town hall meeting and a meet and greet at McCormick & Schmick’s. I’m told that attendance at all events was “disappointing” and that the attendance of blacks at the events was abysmal.  Further, I was told that she referred to Deeds in less than flattering terms.  I generally don’t pass along stuff like this that I didn’t see with my own eyes. But today, we have a bit of video evidence:

Fight the use of federal funds for state sex-education programs or school-based health clinics giving abortion referrals, contraceptives, and family planning.

Funding from the federal government for various programs often comes with a requirement for state matching funds. So the opportunity exists for a state legislator, which Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell was for 14 years, to resist the use of such funds, primarily through the budget process.

In 2007, then Attorney General McDonnell joined other Republicans in denouncing the decision of Governor Kaine to eliminate abstinence-only based sex education funds from the budget. Those funds were state matching funds for federally funded programs. These were community-based programs, not those in the public schools.

Virginia implemented family life education in 1987 in the public schools, which, of course, receive federal funds. (You can find an interesting student report on FLE in Virginia Beach from 2008 here.) In 2002, the program came under fire for teaching about STDs and other items, prompting the introduction of HB88 by John Welch, then a fellow Republican delegate from Virginia Beach. The bill passed the House, with McDonnell voting in favor, but was defeated in the Senate.

The limitations of No Child Left Behind as laid out in this Powerpoint presentation, seems to render much of McDonnell’s argument moot as far as federal funds are concerned, at least until NCLB is modified.

It appears, then, that this is another proposal that McDonnell has attempted to implement.

Second Annual Pancake Breakfast

Honoring Our Delegates

Bobby Mathieson & Joe Bouchard

Hosted by

The Honorable Lionell Spruill

When: Saturday, Oct. 10^th, from 8am to 10am

Where: New Light Full Gospel Baptist Church

5549 Indian River Road, Virginia Beach

Cost: $5 Per Attendee

Questions? Call 226-0427 or 226-0435.

Among the many electeds and candidates in attendance to this sold-out event will be Governor Tim Kaine and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Senator Creigh Deeds. Invitations were extended to all of the statewide candidates.

You can read about last year’s event here. I’ll have a report from this year’s dinner as well. Depending on what else is going on, I may be able to tweet a bit during the event.

BTW – how do you like the look of the audio player?

I was surprised to see seven percent of those who have participated in the poll choose “endorsements from other politicians.” Really? Democrats endorsing Democrats or Republicans endorsing Republicans seems, well, so self-serving. Even crossover endorsements usually have some baggage associated: rare is the case where a sitting elected from one party endorses someone from the opposite party, unless they happen to be upset with the candidate of their own party for one reason or another. Retired politicians are more likely to endorse someone of the opposite party, but given the very nature of politicians – read ego – even those endorsements are suspect.

Which brings me to two former Virginia governors:  Linwood Holton and Doug Wilder.

Tuesday, Holton, the first Republican governor since Reconstruction and the father-in-law of current Democratic governor Tim Kaine, endorsed Creigh Deeds. Holton was the 61st governor of Virginia, having served from 1970 to 1974. Personally, I only know his name from the history books. His Wikipedia entry paints him as a moderate Republican. Interestingly enough, the motto of his 1969 gubernatorial campaign was “It’s time for a change.”

Holton was a Republican when Republicans were in the wilderness in Virginia. His involvement in the party goes back to the 1950s. By today’s standards, though, he probably would be considered a Democrat. This is a man who put his children in public schools, then 85% black, during the height of racial tensions over desegregation and busing. His successor was Democrat-turned-Republican Mills Godwin, a supporter of Massive Resistance. Holton also came out against the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.

Even so, had this been the first time Holton endorsed a Democrat, the endorsement might mean something. Unfortunately, it is not and it does not. Holton’s first Democratic endorsement was that of Kaine, in 2005 the 2001 Democratic ticket, comprised of Mark Warner for governor, Kaine for LG and Donald McEachin for AG.  He followed it up with an endorsement of now President Obama, in 2008. While it is true that Holton served as a Republican governor, the length of time since his service and his endorsements in the meantime, make me question the value of his endorsement.

One thing I will say about Holton: his motive for endorsements doesn’t appear to be related to his ego.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Wilder.

Wilder, the 66th governor, served from 1990 to 1994. He was the nation’s first elected black governor, and the second to have served in that position. I’m not sure at what point Wilder as a politician came into my consciousness; I was certainly aware of his run for LG in 1985 but only vaguely so.

Wilder, like many of Virginia’s governors, was a moderate. He was praised during his tenure for his sound fiscal policies. His election by such a slim margin, despite the fact that polls showed him having a commanding lead, coined the use of the term “the Wilder effect” in political circles.

He considers himself a Democrat, although if the truth be told, he’s of the party of Wilder. This article points out the many times that Wilder has worked to stymie the efforts of Democratic candidates. His actions as mayor of Richmond have been legendary.

That Wilder has an oversized ego should be of no surprise to anyone who follows politics. I have a problem, though, when people pander to that ego. President Obama should have never tried to influence him. If Governor Kaine wanted to give it a shot, it should have been done behind closed doors, although it certainly would have come out. Pursuing his endorsement was a no-win situation for Deeds. I just don’t see how a Wilder endorsement would have helped Deeds – certainly not nearly as much as it would help Wilder. And that includes helping him get the black vote, as I pointed out earlier.

One other thing: Wilder was campaigning for governor at the same time Bob McDonnell was writing his thesis. Those who claim that the latter is irrelevant have to also admit that is true for the former. I’m of the opinion that the thesis itself, while shocking, is not relevant. It is the implementation of it over the intervening years that is. When I look at Wilder over the same period, I applaud him for having sheparded Virginia through difficult economic times. After that, just what has he done?

At the end of the day, I would hope that voters do their own research on the candidates and their positions, and not rely on the endorsements of others. As for these two in particular, I just don’t see the value of either one.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell appeared on Fox News Sunday.

The 10-minute interview, conducted by host Chris Wallace, wasn’t as friendly as McDonnell had probably hoped. On several occasions, Wallace just nailed him.

Check it out.

Reading through them quickly, I was able to get the gist of Wilder’s comments, none of which were surprising. (I may or may not have more on that later.) As soon as McDonnell finished, I headed over to ask him about them.

Obviously, since they had just been posted, McDonnell was not aware of them. He seemed stunned when I said Wilder had issued no endorsement. I showed him the remarks linked above. He put his glasses on to read them, and very quickly composed himself. I asked him if he was disappointed. He said no, Wilder had never endorsed a Republican. He told me that he and Wilder had worked together on a number of issues over the years.

I left him to deal with other reporters.

Shortly afterwards, once McDonnell had left, Deeds came into the room. (They actually served lunch between speakers.) As he made his way to the front table, I spoke briefly to him about the Wilder non-endorsement. I can only assume that he had already been informed. His answer more closely met the official response from the campaign. He said he has tremendous respect for Wilder and looked forward to working with him when he is governor.

I hope to have a chance to chat with Creigh again later this evening.

And I apologize for the crappy pictures. I took them on my cell and the lighting in the room was horrible.

A new TV commercial, which mentions these items and points to the website, has also begun to air in the Richmond and Hampton Roads markets.

Fight any attempts to redefine family by allowing special rights for homosexuals or single-parent unwed mothers.

I am not aware of any attempts by anyone anywhere to give gays “special rights.” I am aware of attempts to give gays equal rights. And McDonnell has fought that every step of the way.

As a legislator, McDonnell voted in 2004 in favor of HB751, the law which prohibited any arrangement “purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage” on same-sex couples. The next year, he voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, HJ586.

As one of his first acts, Governor Tim Kaine signed Executive Order #1, which prohibited discrimination on “the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities.”  And as one of his first acts, AG McDonnell declared the executive order unconstitutional (pdf). With the passage of HJ41 and HB101,  McDonnell took on the role as cheerleader in chief. Not only did he write the supposedly “neutral” instructions for the amendment, he defended the amendment in his live blog on this site (although he refused to answer my followup question).

As for “single-parent unwed mothers,” one of the biggest issues faced there is child care. I’ve previously mentioned some of those here. HB986, in addition to allowing local distribution of TANF benefits, also would have added an additional year of day care for persons whose TANF financial assistance is terminated. McDonnell voted against the bill. His votes to restrict access to contraceptives (HB1233, HB563, HB1741) help to create the very group of people he seeks to punish.

This, then, is another of the proposals in the thesis that McDonnell has attempted to implement.

I spoke with Sessoms afterwards. He told me that he supported Bill Bolling in 2005 but he had to support Wagner, whom he has known for a long time, this year.

Demonstrate a commitment to advocating the traditional family by using one-minute speeches, floor debates, extensions of remarks, committee testimony and press release to imbue the public with the idea that the traditional family is still normative.

Bob McDonnell took to heart this proposal, especially the floor speeches.

One in particular stands out:

1930, we had 1.1 divorces per 1000 Virginia residents. In 1970, before the advent of no-fault divorce, we had about 2.4 divorces per 1000 residents. And I tell you that is to say that in some 70 years in Virginia, that we’ve had about a 4-fold increment in the number of divorces. And there are situations where divorce is absolutely necessary, but I am telling you that the trend over time has led to an increased dissolution in the basic institution in society, and that is the marriage.

This was a floor speech that McDonnell made on 2/14/00 regarding his Covenant Marriage bill (HB1534). No doubt similar speeches were made on behalf of his other attempts to enact covenant marriage (HB1056, HB2736, and HB2793).

I took a look back through the press releases from part of his tenure as Attorney General. (I don’t have all of the press releases issued via email by his office. However, an archive of some of the press releases is available here.)  Given the opportunity, McDonnell advocated on behalf of the family, such as in this 12/11/07 release (which is not on the website):

Richmond- Attorney General Bob McDonnell released the following statement today regarding the Governor’s proposals for improvements to Virginia’s Child Services:

“I applaud Governor Kaine’s initiatives to serve Virginia’s most vulnerable children, and particularly the commitment to fund more community-based services through the Comprehensive Services Act. Community-based care allows troubled children to be treated locally, with the daily support of parents, rather than in residential facilities that may be many hours away.

My opinion in December 2006 held that the Comprehensive Services Act does not require parents to relinquish custody of their children to access needed services. It was apparent then that parents wanted services to be available in their own communities, so they wouldn’t even have to consider giving up custody to obtain expensive residential treatment. I was pleased that Governor Kaine agreed with that analysis, and he has taken effective steps subsequently to help these families.

Furthermore, offering community-based services, while best for Virginia’s families, also is good stewardship of our tax dollars. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission reports that community-based treatment for troubled children costs $11,360 per child each year, while residential facilities cost more than four times that amount — $48,129. Surely the Commonwealth should take all possible steps to incentivize community-based care. I look forward to continuing to work with Governor Kaine and Secretary Tavenner to advance these common-sense proposals.”

So this is another of the family policy proposals McDonnell has implemented or attempted to implement.

Opportunity

Conversation

Why did you?

The ads will be run across Virginia.

I expect the numbers to continue to narrow. The poll showed that only 46% of the likely voters surveyed had heard a “great deal” or a “good amount” about the thesis. As this number grows, I think McDonnell’s numbers will fall.

The Post also had an article on two female focus groups, composed of women from across Northern Virginia ages 21-66. (I wish the pollsters had convened other focus groups across the state.) The thesis is a problem for all.

(Interestingly enough, I had the opportunity to talk to a Republican-leaning female friend yesterday. She hadn’t heard much about the thesis. When I gave her some of the information in it, she was quite surprised. While not willing to jump to Deeds -yet – she was no longer completely behind McDonnell.)

There will be a lot more polling as we get closer to November 3.  PPP has already announced that they are putting their next poll in the field this weekend.

Cuccinelli wants to move OCA to AG’s office. In a conference call with members of the press Thursday morning, Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli announced that he would like to move the Office of Consumer Affairs into the Attorney General’s office. During the call, Cuccinelli stated that 70% of all complaints are consumer protection related and only about five of the 250 lawyers in the AG’s office are working on the complaints, a situation he called “an inbalance.” By moving the OCA into the AG’s office, he believes the office will be able to respond quicker. The plan is available here (pdf). In response, Cuccinelli’s opponent, Democrat Steve Shannon, notes that Cuccinelli is against putting an interest rate cap on payday loans, an ultimate consumer protection issue.

I would like to see how many complaints the OCA handles to get a better sense of whether this makes sense. Surely the previous AGs would have allocated more than five attorneys to the problem if warranted, right? And the OCA handles more than just complaints. (My own interaction with them has nothing to do with complaints.)

Deeds and McDonnell square off in Fairfax. Gubernatorial candidates Creigh Deeds (D) and Bob McDonnell (R) squared off in front of the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. The debate was streamed live. The first story out of the debate was that the press was moved out of the room where the debate was being held and sent to a press room. They might as well have watched it over the internet like the rest of us

The debate was heavily skewed in terms of national questions, something I really hated. Believe it or not, we actually do have Virginia issues that need to be addressed and not all of them in terms of national issues. Let me know when a governor has to vote on cap-and-trade and then I’ll be concerned about his answer.

In my opinion, there weren’t any knockout punches and no major gaffes. Of course, the spin afterwards would have you think otherwise. The blogs are full of doctored clips of the debate, making one or the other candidate look bad.

Let me take head on one issue from the debate: Deeds saying he is a “Creigh Deeds” Democrat, as opposed to being an Obama Democrat. You know, the Democratic Party supposedly prides itself on being a big tent – that is, until some Democrat says or does something that other Democrats think doesn’t fit their definition of a Democrat. I’m calling BS on this: either we are a big tent party or we’re not. And if someone disagrees with Obama (ahem – yours truly) it doesn’t make them any less a Democrat by saying so.

Last year, I kept being told that we had to support Obama because of the Supreme Court. Well, we have our own big issue in Virginia that requires that Democrats get behind Deeds: redistricting. If you want Bob McDonnell and the Republican-controlled House of Delegates to make the redistricting decisions that will affect us for the next ten years, then go ahead – take your ball and go home.  The rest of us get it: it’s about winning in November.

By the way, there will be another debate on October 6. Sponsored by ABC 7/WJLA-TV, POLITICO, Google and YouTube, voters can submit questions to be considered for inclusion. Details on that are available here.

Gubernatorial race polling. The  release of the latest Rasmussen poll showed the race a virtual tie, with McDonnell at 48% and Deeds at 46%, well within the margin of error of +/-4.5%.  The thesis seems to be having an effect as more people are familiar with it.

To be honest, though, I didn’t believe the numbers when they were released yesterday for the same reason I didn’t believe their earlier poll: the poll was conducted on a single day. I just don’t believe that a one-day poll is as accurate as one that is done over several days.

As if on cue, the DailyKos/Research 2000 poll was released today. Conducted over three days, the poll shows McDonnell at 50% and Deeds at 43%, with a MOE of +/-4%, numbers virtually unchanged since the last poll six weeks ago.

I think the race is a little closer than that and the differences in the polls relates to the voter models the pollsters are using.

PPP is putting a Virginia poll in the field next weekend and is soliciting input on how to poll McDonnell’s thesis. If you have some ideas, head on over and let them know.

Called Virginia Votes 2009, the series features three half hour shows, each including interviews with the nominees for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.

• Virginia Votes 2009 – The Candidates for Governor: Bob McDonnell (R) and Creigh Deeds (D)
• Virginia Votes 2009 – The Candidates for Lieutenant Governor: Jody Wagner (D) and Bill Bolling (R)
• Virginia Votes 2009 – The Candidates for Attorney General: Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Steve Shannon (D)

In Hampton Roads, the shows premiere this Sunday on Cox Channel 11, with all three shows being aired back-to-back, beginning at 8:30pm. The shows will also be shown on Cox Channel 9 in Roanoke, with a slightly different schedule.

Viewers who miss the airings can watch the shows on Cox on Demand in Hampton Roads, Roanoke and Northern Virginia, as well as on YouTube.

For more information, check out the announcement (pdf).

Deeds has spent the summer telling voters why they shouldn’t vote for McDonnell, but precious little time explaining why they should vote for him. Deeds has spent a month trying to scare Virginians about McDonnell’s past as a cultural conservative, but too little explaining his own vision for Virginia’s future.

A candidate has to answer two questions: why to fire (or not hire) the other guy and why to hire him. The board thinks that Deeds isn’t answering that second question.

Further, transportation is the one thing that this editorial board believes is the most important issue in the Commonwealth. I don’t disagree: after the debacle of July 2, it is clear that something has to be done about transportation.

One local paper’s endorsement may not mean much in the overall scheme of things. However, editorials tend to be viral. It doesn’t take long for other papers to follow the lead. The editorial board of The Daily Press has a series of articles on its election agenda. Transportation was one of their big issues, too.

Deeds cannot afford to lose the endorsement of these two Hampton Roads papers. Readership of newspapers may be down, but the folks that read the paper vote.

Bob McDonnell says a bad word. Yeah, he screwed up. I’m more concerned about his policies than his mouth.

Obama says a bad word. Not nearly as bad as the McDonnell one but something one generally doesn’t hear in polite society.

McDonnell gets NRA endorsement while Deeds gets firefighters. Yawn. And in other news, the sun rose today.

Carter’s press secretary died. Just wondering how many people in the blogosphere are old enough to remember Jimmy Carter’s tenure as president (1977-1981) and his press secretary, Jody Powell.  Even the linked story got it wrong – the permalink says “at 66″ while the copy says “at 65.”

Gotta get back to work.

If public benefits are to be paid, utilize the voucher system which maximizes freedom of choice for families and others in the area of housing, education and medical care.

Despite his plans if he is elected, McDonnell’s record on education tells a different story. He has only patroned a few bills. One, HJ187, fits neatly into his proposal above: it calls for a study on the feasibility of implementing school choice.

Further, McDonnell has demonstrated that he is no friend of public education. In 1994, he voted against the budget that restored money to hire teachers, reduce class sizes and invest in classroom technology. Ten years later, in 2004, he voted against the budget which invested $1.5 billion in public schools.

(Incidentally, the only other education bill that McDonnell was the chief patron on was HJ158. As introduced in 2002, the resolution was to incorporate “The American Citizen Handbook” into the cirricula. The book was first published in 1941 and last published in 1968. That alone should give you a hint about its contents but if you are wondering, check out this comprehensive post. And if you’re interested, you can buy a copy here.)

It appears, then, that this is another of McDonnell’s family policy proposals that he attempted to implement during his career as an elected representative.

Hampton Roads and Richmond get a new radio ad called “Breaks.” You can listen to the ad below.

Continue welfare reform to promote work and eliminate all anti-family provisions, with an ultimate goal of transferring social welfare responsibility to the private sector in local communities.

The McDonnell thesis may have never come to light had he not mentioned in an interview “I wrote my thesis on welfare policy.” It should come as no surprise, then, that one of his family policy proposals is in reference to welfare reform.

On his website, McDonnell boasts of having been chief patron on Virginia’s “historic welfare reform legislation.” He is, as best as I can determine, referring to the floor amendments he offered on HB2001 from the 1995 session. The bill passed the legislature and was signed into law by then Governor George Allen.

One area that McDonnell appears to have attempted to “transfer social welfare responsibility to the private sector” was in the area of child care services. When child care regulations were being overhauled in 1993, McDonnell was the point man for opposition to the application of the regulations to church-run facilities. Articles from February 1993 in both The Virginian-Pilot and The Daily Press point to his efforts. He called the regulations “onerous” and even tried – unsuccessfully – “to shield churches from investigations that would result from calls to a proposed statewide hot line for day-care complaints.” (The Virginian-Pilot, 02/09/93)

In 1998, McDonnell voted against allowing the state to discipline child care providers who failed to comply with the regulations, one of only 17 House members to do so. He voted against allowing local distribution of TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) benefits in 2000. In 2001, he voted against studying ways to improve child care and in 2003, opposed then Governor Mark Warner’s proposal to raise the standards for child-care centers. ‘‘That goes far beyond the reach of what the state should be doing,’’ McDonnell said. (The Virginian-Pilot, 09/08/03).

It appears, then, that this is another of McDonnell’s family policy proposals that he attempted to implement during his career as an elected representative.

Part 2 is below the fold.

My camera batteries ran out so yes, there is a slight gap. And yes, it’s a different camera. Sorry.

If you are reading this through email or an RSS feed and do not see the video, please visit my blog.

Not to take away from the discussions Bob McDonnell’s positions on social issue, but I thought it would be a good to start also revisiting Bob McDonnell’s policy proposals. Since some are quick to point out that McDonnell has plans and he’s running on those plans, it would be helpful to examine those plans other than just throwing out there that he has plans. That being said, I started with looking at both his Energy Plan and his Transportation Plan. Now since others have offered recent critiques of his transportation plan, I thought it would be more beneficial to revisit his Energy Plan.

Reading through McDonnell’s Energy Plan, I was quite confused. I thought Republicans were against the stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA) and against the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES). And further I have gotten the impression that Republicans generally think Global Warming is a sham. But then reading Bob McDonnell’s plan, it sounds like he is either out of touch with his own party or I have completely misunderstood Republicans in this area. This equally perplexes me about their boosterism of his plan; did they only read the offshore drilling section?

What I ended up taking away from McDonnell’s Energy Plan are these three points:

1. He has a deep admiration for the work that Congressional Democrats are doing as most of this plan is just directly drawn from the ARRA (the stimulus bill) or ACES. Not that I am pooh-poohing bipartisanship. It’s just surprising. But you know if that isn’t “Me Too”, I don’t know what is.
2. He’s focused on a national issue (offshore drilling in federal waters) that is really beyond his control. Yet he already has designs on estimated revenues that might flow into state coffers in 2012 or 2013.
3. And what I would think should be most troubling to conservatives is that all of this represents an expansion in state government. Albeit the funding (the ARRA) for many of his initiatives will dry up in 2011, does anyone accept at face value that once these programs are in place they will just die out once the stimulus funds are gone? I thought that was the entire argument Republicans made against taking additional unemployment benefits money.

Now on to the details…

The Intro
The entire first page is just an introduction, but he says some things that I just can’t leave alone. First, he has to establish his credentials. I think it quite telling what he has chosen to demonstrate his leadership on this issue. He starts this entire intro with his support for hydrogen power. Hydrogen, you may know, is a very prevalent element; however, it is bonded to other elements. The two main ways to make hydrogen gas are: by splitting it out of hydrocarbons (like natural gas), and by electrolysis (splitting it from water). Currently, it is both costly an inefficient (as compared to other sources) to use hydrogen to power our cars or our homes. Popular Mechanics has good article from 2006 that went into all the issues there are with hydrogen (you can find that here). And unless you are using wind, solar, biomass or nuclear (at some future point in time anyway) to generate it, then it’s usefulness as a green alternative is nil. So, I guess this is really about how he is willing to try anything irrespective of the merits of the technology. And that I don’t think is a good thing. Aren’t Republicans against picking winners and losers in the economy?

He then makes a claim that stunned me. He says he “brought together all the necessary stake holders to re-regulate electricity in Virginia.” So, first, as I recall, it was Dominion who brought together a near unanimous legislative coalition to pass this bill that they designed. The genesis being that the de-regulation bill, that they also designed, wasn’t working out for them. But the biggest jaw dropper is that he is claiming credit for re-regulation. This is super confusing because I thought McDonnell and Republicans were against government regulation. The other point is he likes to claim credit for legislative monstrosities. So, when he wasn’t masterminding HB3202, he was masterminding the re-regulation of our electric markets.

Last on the introduction, we sort of get to his statement of the problem. He notes how we import a lot of electricity which he thinks is a big deal. Well, a lot of the import comes from the GIANT coal-fired generation plant called Mt. Storm in West Virginia, and then generally from West Virginia that is an exporter of power. Is it a crisis that we need to solve though? We operate within PJM (a Regional Transmission Organization). We should be worried about the reliability of the grid as a whole, not just Virginia’s share.

Offshore Drilling
The major piece of his proposal is offshore drilling. And while we can all salivate over the potential revenue that this might generate for the state, it is just that: potential. Being just a potential and one that is not even a solid probability yet, it seems odd to start planning how the government will collect money from this activity and spend it. The first barrier to this is the fact that the lease sale has been put on hold. The lease in question is Lease 220. Even still, the sale would not occur until 2 years into the next governor’s administration. And it would take time to explore and then develop the resources if something economically viable was found. So that money, if this does come to fruition, is still a long ways off. Nothing to base a plan off of anyway. The barriers you have to get beyond are that the Obama Administration (via executive order) or Congress won’t re-enact the moratorium. After that, under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), the lease would need to be within 3 nautical miles of our coastal watershed in order for us to get a slice of the royalties. Congress would have to pass a new law in order for us to get royalties as they did for the Gulf States. However, the major player behind that piece of legislation was Senator Landrieu, the basis being that this money could help restore the Louisiana coast. That’s a lot of moving parts in order to get money that won’t come into government coffers until well past 2011. But I guess if the timing were just right, this money would come in just as the stimulus money he is using to fund the rest of this plan was fading out.

Supporting Coal and Nuclear
The next piece is supporting our coal and nuclear industry. He plans on using the stimulus money allocated for Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) technology to fund those projects. So, in essence, his plan for supporting coal power is what the federal government tells him he should do. CCS also gets a big boost from ACES as well. I know Republicans generally hate all that is ACES, but it doesn’t seem like Bob does.

For nuclear, he doesn’t really have a plan. He just restates Dominion’s plan. The only novel thing here is his desire to speed up the approval process. Environmental reviews and public input take time. So, what is lost when the process is sped up? Coordination with the feds may save time to the extent we are not doing that now, but I don’t know that it will offer a drastic improvement in the length of time. I’d like to see a better definition of the problem first. How long does the permitting and approval process take? What are the primary drivers behind the length of time? If we speed up just to speed up, surely the utility gains from that, but who loses?

Green Jobs
On alternative energy, he wants to create $500 tax credit per “green” job (up to a max of $175k). He wants to create tax credits in other places too, like his jobs plan. So, I don’t know whether he has done the math on all his plans to see whether he can actually fund all these things. After reading through them all, I’ll try to see whether I can make out what the net budgetary impact would be. It depends on how this credit ends up being worded. But if it only applies to new jobs, then I wouldn’t expect it to amount to much. It certainly won’t drive companies to create those jobs; it would just be incidental if they did. But I would expect a lot of companies to try to work with the definition of “green job” in order to get the credit.

His last point on this topic is the Virginia Alternative Fuels Revolving Fund, which has no funds. His plan is to fund that and also include infrastructure as a part of its scope. He will be funding that with seed money; I’m guessing that will be a paltry amount considering he is not raising taxes and has to fund all these other initiatives he is proposing. And again, what is surprising here is the reference that the federal government has incentives for alternative fuel vehicles and we lag behind. So, he is taking his policy queues from the Democratic Congress again?

Transforming Southside and Southwest VA Plus R&D
His next two points are to turn Southside and Southwest Virginia into America’s Energy Corridor and make us a global leader in energy R&D. FYI, those areas are currently in America’s Energy Corridor. There are major natural gas and oil pipelines that come up from the Gulf and pass through that area on their way to the North East. And on top of those pipelines, Bob wants to setup a Virginia Energy Institute using Tobacco Commission existing funds and stimulus money (have you gotten tired of that yet, oh wait there’s more). On the R&D point, he wants to setup a non-profit foundation to help get stimulus dollars for R&D projects related to energy. I think both of these are good ideas. Though on the latter, I would think the universities already have folks in place applying for stimulus funds and government grants. But again with all this reliance on stimulus money, he is just taking the Democratic Congress’s initiatives and putting them into action. It’s sort of a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose scenario for conservatives though.

Energy Efficiency
The last two points are nothing new. On energy efficiency and conservation, he again wants to use those stimulus dollars as Congress has already directed (in this case to weatherize homes). He applauds Governor Kaine’s leadership on LEED standards and he wants to expand on that. He wants to also do something that the federal government is also already doing which is to utilize Energy Savings Performance Contracting. A good idea is a good idea though even if you are just following someone else’s lead.

Smart Grid
The final piece of this plan is about Smart Grids, but I don’t know why it is here. He’s just stating what they are and that they need to be implemented. There is nothing about how he plans to help that. There are many provisions supporting the development and implementation of Smart Grids in the ACES. In addition, there was also money in the ARRA for making smart grid investments. Though not explicitly stated as elsewhere throughout the plan, I take it for granted at this point that he also appreciates the money from the ARRA in implementing smart grid technology.

The smart grid section does finish this entire plan off nicely by allowing me to make a point about cost. So, McDonnell wants to make Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast. And his plan is primarily directed towards higher electric generation. At the same time, Republicans have been hemming and hawing about higher utility bills. What McDonnell glosses over here is that the infrastructure improvements whether that be to implement smart grid technology or build a new nuclear reactor amounts to billions of dollars. All of those capital expenditures get recovered from consumers through the utility rate making process. So, where is the concern about higher utility bills here? You cannot have both massive capital investments by the utilities without higher rates.

The End
On balance, this plan has so little in it for conservatives. So much of it is funded from the ARRA an act of Congress that Republicans regularly condemn. While I appreciate the acclaim for the Democratic Congress’s initiatives, I would think this would be disturbing for conservatives and not something to regularly trot out. As to the efficacy of his plan, offshore drilling is far off; and it is hard to see the tiny sliver of offshore area that Virginia has outdoing Florida. And the rest of the plan doesn’t turn us into an energy giant either. Nothing in it increases the production of other fuels. The only increased electric generation envisioned is Dominion adding on to its North Anna Nuclear Plant. So, his goal of making Virginia the energy capital of the East Coast ends up being just wishful thinking.

Continue to battle the interstate sale of pornography and obscenity to the extent constitutionally permissible, and encourage state Republicans to do the same.

Again, I have not found any legislation that McDonnell put forth regarding this policy proposal. However, during his term as attorney general, McDonnell’s office announced the successful prosecution of at least one case of child pornography. McDonnell’s website says that he “fought for mandatory minimum sentences for online sexual solicitation of minors and child pornography offenses” during his tenure as AG.

This is a policy proposal that I believe most people will agree is a worthy one. In implementation, McDonnell appears to have made it less broad – by focusing on child pornography – than it was originally, but that is not a bad thing. Explotation of children is not a Republican or Democratic issue. I applaud McDonnell and others, including Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, for making this a priority.

Even McDonnell says differently.

In an interview with the editorial board of The Washington Examiner, McDonnell was asked how he has changed in the past 20 years.

The subject of the thesis was that there are government policies — particularly the ones at that time that came out of the Great Society, and the incredible welfare policies from that — that appeared to be not helpful to maintaining an intact family. That was the thesis. And I think that was true then and it’s true today.

[...]

The essence of the thesis, about making sure government policies don’t undermine the family, I think is still an important question today. And as governor, I’ll make sure that we continue to do everything we can to support families.

McDonnell may now, as the article says, disavow “some of the more incendiary assertions” of the thesis but he remains committed to his central theme.

The only question is whether you, dear reader, agree with his premises.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has treated Virginia voters to yet another ‘sleight of hand’ policy proposal when it comes to education funding.

“Bob McDonnell’s latest idea to increase funding for public schools is a ‘clunker’ without the cash,” said Dr. Kitty Boitnott, President of the Virginia Education Association.

The latest McDonnell proposal is a re-tread of an idea that has been soundly rejected in states across the country both in the forms of legislation and ballot initiatives. McDonnell’s proposal is misleading since the calculation of dollars supposedly spent in the classroom simplistically neglects to include essential school services for children that are delivered by school counselors, social workers, nurses, speech and language pathologists, and vitally important special education support staff.

Boitnott added: “After reading his graduate school thesis, I am better able to understand Mr. McDonnell’s voting behavior as a Delegate and the education proposals he has put forward in this campaign. As Governor, his ideas will lead Virginia backward, something our children, our educators, and our citizens simply cannot afford.”

McDonnell’s newest proposal for funding public education comes on the heels of his plan to fund needed state transportation projects by draining General Fund money from schools and other core state services.

McDonnell’s transportation plan foretold the use of his new funding gimmick to address Virginia’s school funding crisis. Two comprehensive studies by Standard & Poor’s have concluded that there is no correlation between setting “classroom instruction” spending at 65 percent and higher student achievement. In fact, the researchers found that many districts that spend less than 65 percent in the classroom do quite well on state tests, while others that exceed 65 percent do poorly.

Boitnott said: “We deserve a Governor who will be forthright with us, a Governor who exhibits steadfast support for public education and not a ‘reborn moderate’ who sees the light of public education during an election campaign for Governor.”

The study that the press release references can be found, in pdf format, here.

The ad, which will run in Northern Virginia,  was released today in conjunction with a new website and “a large-scale Google and banner advertising campaign,” according to a press release.

Support a voluntary parental-leave program by giving tax incentives for businesses that allow lengthy position-protected leaves.

Federal law includes the Family and Medical Leave Act, which was enacted in 1993 and requires certain employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for medical circumstances meeting certain criteria.

I have been unable to locate any legislation that McDonnell introduced or sponsored during his tenure in the legislature.

UPDATE:  For whatever reason, it seems folks do not understand what I’m doing with these posts. All I am doing is taking up McDonnell’s challenge to look at his record and compare it to his 15-point policy proposals in his thesis. Bad, good or indifferent, my point is a simple one: to the extent that McDonnell attempted to implement the proposals, it demonstrates that this thesis was not just an academic exercise. (And The Washington Post reported that he had attempted to implement 10 of the 15.)