The funny part of the interview is when the woman appears to be shocked that gays and lesbians will continue to be born – to straight parents outside the fence, as if the thought never occurred to her.

On a related note – if you are looking for a fun quiz, here are a couple:

• Are you homophobic?
• What’s your sexual orientation?

Have a good weekend!

After all, he was so right on the “sodomy is not a civil right” thing. Not!

Tonight’s GOP Senate debate ought to be interesting

Not enough has been written about this primary, in my opinion, which is a shame because one of these candidates could wind up being our next U.S. Senator. There’s a whole lot of time between now and November and anything could happen. I hope we get some more articles over the next three weeks so that voters will be engaged enough to show up on June 12.

My column appears in The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesdays (unless something comes up, in which case it’s Thursdays). You can see the columns as they are published here, or navigate to them from the PilotOnline.com homepage by clicking on Opinion and then choosing my name at the bottom of the dropdown list. You can also see the columns by liking my Facebook page. Although my column appears weekly, I am not and have never been an employee of The Virginian-Pilot.

Follow @vpaige

Virginia Beach is going to allow electronic gadgets, including tablets, in the classroom. The devices will be required to use the school’s WiFi networks, which limits the sites that they can visit. Personally, I have no problem with allowing these things in the classroom. If it helps the kids learn, I’m for it. I am concerned, though, that such things not get in the way of learning. School teachers have enough on their plates; they don’t need to add tech support to their obligations.

A Norfolk panel has recommended that older students be allowed to have cell phones in school. This is a no-brainer in my mind. The kids should be able to have them – as long as they are not in use during the day.

Finally, former Del. Phil Hamilton has filed an appeal of his conviction, based on the trial court judge’s allowing of emails between Hamilton and his wife into evidence at trial. The attorneys say this violated marital privilege. If nothing else, this is going to be interesting to watch.

The criticisms of Booker are unwarranted. The man made a mistake. It happens. Move on. But no – listening to the “talking heads” on MSNBC last night – something I rarely do – one would have thought the man had committed a crime. With “friends” like these, who needs enemies?

And some of the criticism was downright ridiculous. “Democratic strategist ^TM” Krystal Ball went after Booker for his number of Twitter followers, for goodness sake, saying that he promotes himself on there. As I said last night:

Um pot meet kettle @KrystalBall1 You promote yourself as much on Twitter as anyone.

—
Vivian J. Paige (@vpaige) May 22, 2012

If there is anything that has been nauseating in the last couple of days, it’s the treatment of Booker by the likes of Ball and some of the others at MSNBC. Give it a rest.

LTJG Thorne going public on national TV while on active duty 20 years ago doesn’t disqualify him to sit on the bench today. I actually believe fighting for what you think is right, regardless of the consequences, is exactly the quality we should all aspire to.

Society changes slowly. For example, Galileo was found guilty of heresy in 1633 for supporting Copernican astronomy. He spent the last nine years of his life under house arrest for something that he knew to be true via his own eyes.

In 1992 I didn’t have an opinion on gays serving. I knew gays served and the policy at that time was pretty straightforward. You’re gay, you’re out. I would NOW argue the regulation that prohibited gays from serving was fundamentally wrong. Like Galileo, the LTJG Thornes of this world who knew the regulation to be wrong, stood up to be heard and paid a heavy price twenty years ago and again last Tuesday.

LTJG Thorne likely didn’t know that there were roughly 40,000 active duty gays serving in 1992. But he did know that speaking out on national TV was a violation of the UCMJ Article 133, Conduct Unbecoming an Officer. The beef is this showed poor leadership and decision-making skills when he opted to “come out” on national television. I would argue, based on what I read in the Board of Inquiry transcript, that he was an outstanding officer, an up-and-coming leader, had a strong moral compass and was doing what history will one day show to be in the highest tradition of the naval service.

One thing that keeps rattling in my mind from reading the Board of Inquiry transcript is this: By 1992, no other major organization in the US other than the US Military was actively discriminating against gays for just being gay. If it wasn’t for service members like LTJG Thorne, I’m certain there would still be a ban on gays in the military, who now and have always numbered in the tens of thousands.

David Beemer has been a Virginia Beach resident since 1991. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, class of 1987.

Anyone who knows your email address could have easily linked their comment to your account in a way that was indistinguishable from you leaving it, and you would have no way of knowing it or stopping them. Now comments linked to your account are always going to be from you.

So, if you have a wordpress.com account or a gravatar account (gravatars are those little pictures that display next to your name) and you use an email address that is linked to one of those accounts, you are going to have to sign in to post your comment. If you have lost or forgotten your password, you can use the Forgot Password links at either http://wordpress.com/ or http://en.gravatar.com/ to regain access to your account.

The only alternative I can come up with off the top of my head is to use an email address not connected to either of the accounts. Note that your email address isn’t public, anyway.

(By the way – for those of you who have logged in using your gravatar email, you can also visit the site linked above to change how your name appears in the comments.)

I apologize for the inconvenience.

Your Word is Imagination

You are a colorful person who only sees potential. You love to create and explore. You could never feel bored; there are entire fantasy worlds that live in your head. You are very open to the world. You try to say yes to as many opportunities as possible. Your mind knows no limits. You always allow yourself to dream big.

Um, OK So what’s your word right now?

Bob Marshall calls himself “Virginia’s chief homophobe.” And he and his merry band over at the “Family” Foundation managed to derail the election of a judge for no other reason than that the man is gay. That four major newspapers in Virginia, including the conservative Richmond Times Dispatch, agreed that this was despicable behavior on the part of the House of Delegates should give the 67 no/non-voting members pause.They are out of step with the majority of Virginians, regardless of party.

Marshall and his friends won this battle. But they are going to lose the war.

My column appears in The Virginian-Pilot on Wednesdays (unless something comes up, in which case it’s Thursdays). You can see the columns as they are published here. With the recent update to the PilotOnline home page, navigation to my columns has been simplified: click on Opinion and then choose my name at the bottom of the dropdown list. You can also see the columns by liking my Facebook page.

Follow @vpaige

Gotcha! Actually, the whole list is pretty good. Check it out.

David B. Albo, R-Fairfax
Kenneth C. Alexander, D-Norfolk
Mamye E. BaCote, D-Newport News
David L. Bulova, D-Fairfax
Betsy B. Carr, D-Richmond
Barbara J. Comstock, R-Fairfax
Rosalyn R. Dance, D-Petersburg
Peter F. Farrell, R-Henrico
Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax
Charniele L. Herring, D-Alexandria
Patrick A. Hope, D-Arlington
Algie T. Howell, D-Norfolk
Matthew James, D-Portsmouth
Mark L. Keam, D-Fairfax
Terry G. Kilgore, R-Scott
L. Kaye Kory, D-Fairfax
James M. LeMunyon, R-Fairfax
Lynwood W. Lewis Jr., D-Accomack
Alfonso H. Lopez, D-Arlington
G. Manoli Loupassi, R-Richmond
Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond
Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond
Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico
Thomas Davis Rust, R-Fairfax
James M. Scott, D-Fairfax
Mark D. Sickles, D-Fairfax
Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake
Scott A. Surovell, D-Fairfax
Luke Torian, D-Prince William
David J. Toscano, D-Charlottesville
Jeion A. Ward, D-Hampton
Vivian E. Watts, D-Fairfax
Joseph A. Yost, R-Montgomery

As for the others – well, you’ll have to read their names over at the RTD.

I spent Thursday and Friday last week at the Virginia Society of CPAs Leaders’ Summit. We had a number of speakers over the course of the two days, including one whose remarks I always enjoy: Sen. Walter Stosch, the only CPA currently serving in the General Assembly.

I attended the PAC breakfast Friday morning. I support the VSCPAs PAC for one reason: they contribute to any member running for state or local office. Given how difficult it can be to raise money, plus given the fact that many PACs have dumb rules, like to only contribute to incumbents, or only to certain offices, I believe the VSCPAs PAC to be a worthy entity.

Speaking at the PAC breakfast was Clayton Roberts, President and Executive Director of Virginia FREE. The organization is a 501(c)(6) non-profit.entity, and Roberts was quick to say that it is nonpartisan. His words, though, were overshadowed by his repeated use of the “Democrat” Party. I didn’t get out of bed at o’dark thirty – the breakfast started at 7:30am – to be insulted.

CPAs are a natural constituency of business-friendly organizations like Virginia FREE. The opportunity to get in front of such a group was, no doubt, welcomed by Roberts. But I doubt if I was alone in missing his message because of his use of an epithet. It’s like nails on a chalkboard.

If Mr. Roberts truly wants to engage folks on both sides of the aisle, then perhaps he should start with checking his Republican-speak at the door.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Naturally, my thoughts this week turned to my mother, and prompted my latest op-ed, title above, which appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Thursday.

The picture I keep in my mind is the one shown here, which accompanied the column in the print edition. I still can’t bring myself to visit my mother by myself. One of my sisters – usually Jeanette – always goes with me. I have a hard time handling her deterioration, both mental and physical. But I do so look forward to hearing her sing, the one thing that she retains of her former self.

At least I can still wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

And wear a red carnation.

“It has been just two years since President Obama signed his health care bill into law and with each passing day it becomes clearer that the President’s health care law is the wrong prescription for our nation’s ailing health care system. The people of Central and Southside Virginia now face higher premiums and increased taxes at a time we can least afford it; mandates that challenge the very foundations of our democracy; and no greater access to the affordable, quality care that was promised when the law was enacted. This law has provided a path for unprecedented expansion in the size and scope of the federal government, adding to the national debt and digging deeper into the deficit. And this law fundamentally represents an ideology contrary to the values that this great country was founded upon, placing greater trust in the government than in the American people. The people of the 5th District have sent a message, loud and clear, that this law must be repealed and replaced with market-based solutions that improve access to quality care. And over 20 times the House has voted to repeal, defund, or dismantle this law, delivering on their unequivocal message. As we continue to work towards repeal and replace, we in the House remain committed to fighting for solutions that reform our broken health care system by ensuring Central and Southside Virginians have access to affordable, quality care, maintaining the patient-doctor relationship, and putting the American people in control of their medical decisions and not the federal government.”

You can pick out the laughable part yourself, I bet. I don’t have all day to dissect this, so here are few quickies:

Yes, the Republicans and Rep. Hurt want to put the American people in charge of their own healthcare. Sounds like what we are moving towards with the reforms. And if anyone believes that or “…access to affordable, quality care, maintaining the patient-doctor relationship…”, then I have some oceanfront property I’d like to sell you. It’s in Montana.

The exchange got testy at times, prompting Cuccinelli to say at one point, “Right, because you have all the facts, Bill, just like Monday, when you got it wrong on Monday.”

If the comments on this post are any indication, I guess the Cooch is now a RINO and part of the grand conspiracy to “cover up” this incident.

Or maybe he knows a thing or two more about the way the law works in Virginia than, say, O’Reilly.

Cuccinelli acquitted himself very well last night.

Video is below the fold.

It’s good to be able to get updated information like this at a moments notice. This could be useful in a lot of situations.

At the expense of being classified by Bill O’Reilly as “pin-head,” the normally astute Fox News talk show icon really got this one wrong. And now he won’t own up to his own editorial malfeasance.

O’Reilly’s attempt to spin a yarn about how Virginian-Pilot Editor-in-Chief Denis Finley is part of some vast left-wing conspiracy to cover up an alleged mob attack by a group of African American teenagers against two unsuspecting white Pilot reporters in downtown Norfolk two weeks ago is pure political fantasy.

While Finley and his city editors may have missed the significance of the story in deciding it was not worthy of making the newspaper, to accuse Finley of consciously making the call to ignore the story for ideological or political correctness reasons is playing fast and loose with the facts.

It’s sensationalism on a grand scale not worthy of the grocery store tabloids, let alone a national television show.

But why let pesky facts get in the way of an otherwise powder-keg story?

First, Finley is one of perhaps a handful of remaining conservative Republican editors of a major daily newspaper left in the United States. Like me, Finley was an early Newt Gingrich for President supporter. Now he’s for Mitt Romney. So much for his “liberal” bias.

But as editor, he keeps his political views out of the newsroom. That’s the way it should be, and Finley is the consummate professional.

Second, the police report submitted by Norfolk cops on the scene was vanilla. Their report made no mention of unruly mobs engaged in race baiting. They classified the alleged attack as a “simple assault” and cited “vandalism” of $300, the cost of one of the two alleged victim’s broken spectacles.

Third, neither Pilot employee wanted to come forward — or even file a police report — the day after the alleged crime. It was only later that they had a change of heart. Rather than go back to their news editors, they went to the editorial department. Editorial writer and Pilot opinion columnist Michelle Washington seized on the opportunity and took it from there. The Drudge Report picked up her column nationally – and inserted a bogus, contrived headline: “100 black teens beat white couple – media buries story.” The conspiracy theorists then ran amuck with it.

Enter “The Factor.” Not bothering with tedious fact checking, O’Reilly ran with the conspiracy theory lock, stock and barrel. He first reported on the story by saying there was a mob of 100. Then he changed it to 30. Now we find out it was more like five who were actually involved.

Should Finley and his editors have published a story about the altercation at first blush? It’s a judgment call. You can legitimately bring into question Finley’s decision, and claim he erred in dismissing the attack as not newsworthy. That’s fair fodder. We all make mistakes. But to classify him a left-wing conspirator who attempted to manipulate news coverage to serve his personal philosophical viewpoint is downright irresponsible. That’s what a local NBC news affiliate did with the Trayvon Martin 911 tape.

O’Reilly has created a false and disingenuous narrative to serve his own political – not to mention ratings – agenda at the expense of an innocent man, tarnishing an otherwise impeccable 25-year reputation in the process.

On this story, “The Factor” has morphed from a “no-spin” zone to the virtual roulette wheel of political hysteria. Who’s the pinhead now?

And that’s a wrap, Bill.

John Fredericks
Morning drive conservative radio talk show host- WHKT AM 1650
“Commonsense for the Common Wealth” 6 – 9 a.m.; M – F
Cross-posted from The John Fredericks Show

And if that doesn’t tickle your fancy, then check out this one. Lots of cool old photos from the newspaper’s archives, some of which have never been published.

Back to Hurt. The information about this ‘tour’ shows visits at gas stations, restaurants, loggers camp, and myriad other businesses. Whoever he happens to meet, people who just happened to be at the convenience store or tire store, doing their business.

All the people he has met this way, on the road, probably equals less than 500 people. The demographic makeup of the group is not representative of the district. No large group could assemble to ask questions as there is no advance notice of the visits.

The advantage in a Town Hall meeting goes to the citizens. Any question they want to ask can be. Of course, the citizens can then gauge for themselves whether the answer was satisfactory or not. There are invariably the fringe of the community at the meeting, for whom a long list of totally fictitious problems is at the ready.

The problem with this, from a politician’s point of view is that this is a time waster, that it doesn’t meet the goal of communicating. The truth is, there are those who do not want to answer questions about the performance of the House, and Robert Hurt is one of them. I would describe the House as an exercise in futility for two years running.

Robert Hurt does not want to answer why the House passed bill after radical bill, with no hope of ever seeing the light of the Senate chambers. 30-40 abortion bills, actually cover a lot of subjects, including contraception. No jobs bill, efforts to dismantle the EPA, plenty of corporate welfare. As recently as March, Hurt talked about ‘it’s our time to address jobs’.

If the House can’t be more productive, then it should be cleaned of those who wish us back in the 1600-1700′s instead of looking ahead to solve our compounded problems of economy and energy. That’s what I plan to do, change my little corner of the world by doing whatever I can to defeat Robert Hurt.

We just can’t afford another term of no productivity in the Congress. That’s where my effort goes.

Here’s the big thing: if the folks who turned out Tuesday stay involved in the process, they can make a difference. About 4300 more people voted Tuesday than they did four years ago. When turnout in council races is so low – just over 10% of registered voters this cycle – those votes really, really matter. Two years from now, those votes could easily turn the tide in Norfolk, and allow us to remake council.

Don’t go away mad that your candidate didn’t win. Resolve to stay involved.

My thanks to all of the candidates who ran this cycle. Your running will help make Norfolk a better place.

When City Manager Jack Tuttle proposed a budget two months ago that included increases in the real estate tax rate, personal property tax rate, cigarette tax and in EMS fees, I wrote that he’d “thrown the three incumbents up for re-election a live hand grenade.”

When it became apparent that only one challenger would run, with three seats up for grabs, there seemed to be a good chance that Mayor Clyde Haulman, Vice Mayor Paul Freiling and City Councilwoman Judy Knudson would end up in a game of hot potato with that grenade, with whoever got caught holding it getting an unpleasant surprise.

Challenger Ginger Crapse, though in her own words “a rank amateur” as a politician, latched on to the tax increase issue with laser-like focus and showed message discipline worthy of Jim “No Car Tax” Gilmore or George “Liberal, Lenient, Parole System” Allen.

Crapse even got some odd “good luck” on the campaign’s final weekend. She was out campaigning door to door when she saw a house on fire and ran into it to alert the residents. While Crapse may have dramatized her role in the incident a little — some published reports had her “kicking in the door,” which didn’t happen, and the residents said they already knew there was a fire — the fact remains that Crapse saw a burning building and ran into it to try to help people. She ran to the sound of the guns. A lot of people would not have done that.

But neither anti-tax fervor nor firefighting helped Crapse much on Election Day. In a very low turnout election, she finished nearly 300 votes behind Knudson, 400 behind Haulman and Freiling.

And it wasn’t really a surprise.

As the campaign played out, two things were obvious — that Williamsburg didn’t care too much about this election and that Crapse had failed to spark a tax revolt.

The lack of enthusiasm for the election was likely because for the first time in five election cycles there was no candidate from the College of William & Mary. The presence of student candidates had boosted participation in Council elections by students (who wanted to elect one of their own) and by townies (who, by and large, wanted to prevent that from happening). When then-student Scott Foster broke through in 2010, leading the ticket and amassing more votes for Council than anyone has in the last ten years, the urgency went out of that effort.

So turnout dropped to under 15%. That could have helped Crapse. But it ended up making no difference.

Why didn’t her anti-tax message resonate more with Williamsburg voters?

Some of the reasons are peculiar to Williamsburg. The city has a very low 54 cents per $100 real estate tax rate. It’s lower than either of the adjacent counties. That may be a situation that’s unique in Virginia. The reason Williamsburg has such a low rate is that it relies much less on the real estate tax to fund government than other Virginia localities. For years, tourism-related taxes, principally the hotel room tax and the meals tax, have provided more than half of the city’s budget. That percentage has fallen some during the Great Recession, but Williamsburg still depends less on the real estate tax than most localities.

A second uniquely Williamsburg factor is that city voters are spoiled. For their Yugo level of real estate taxes they’ve enjoyed a Cadillac level of government services over the years, with tourists footing the bill. They don’t want to lose those services.

As an example, in most localities in Virginia, and probably in most in the United States, garbage pickup is once a week. You pay a fee for it and you have to pull your can out to the street. Until two years ago, Williamsburg had two garbage pickups a week, for no fee and the garbage men would go around to the side or the back of your house to get the trash and then take the empty cans back.

When the city cut back to one pickup a week two years ago, still with no fee and still without requiring residents to pull the cans to the street, many residents reacted as if the world would end. It didn’t and the city saved about $800,000.

So, I think it’s fair to note that Williamsburg voters are more predisposed to favor increased taxes to reduced services than most across the state.

Still there are some lessons from Williamsburg that could be applicable to other local government or even the state when tax increases are needed. And, yes, sometimes they are needed.

1. Don’t make a tax increase the first option – It certainly wasn’t in Williamsburg, which last raised taxes more than 20 years ago. City Council has cut the budget in four of the past five years to deal with the recession. They’ve cut services. They’ve cut personnel. They’ve cut back on employee benefits. As a result the proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget, even with the tax increase, is smaller than the FY 2009 budget.

2. Explain why it’s necessary — In Williamsburg a tax increase was needed because the city got hit with a perfect storm of forced expenditures and reduced revenues at the same time. State-mandated increases in VRS contributions from city employees and for school teachers hit the same year that the city’s percentage of children in the Williamsburg-James City County school system went up for the first time in 20 years, likely because the recession left some folks who would have bought houses in one of the counties renting in the city. The city’s cost for employee healthcare were also up. In addition the city’s real estate revenues were off because of reduced assessments. And the room, sales and meals taxes, while recovering, have yet to regain pre-recession levels. The end result was a hole in the budget of about $900,000, which the tax increases and further cuts in expenditures would fill.

3. If you have to raise taxes make it as little as possible – Taking a page out of the General Assembly’s book, the current Council asked Tuttle and Finance Director Phil Serra to come back with more optimistic projections for room and meals tax revenue, which would cut about $300,000 out of the hole to be filled. That’s possible because, as Crapse rightly noted in the campaign, for years Tuttle and Serra have lowballed those revenue estimates. That’s a conservative form of budgeting that has led to the city generally outperforming the budget and guaranteed that any end-of-the-fiscal-year surprises were good ones. Council may yet regret this decision.

4.  All taxes are not created equal – The proposed budget included a 3-cent increases in the real estate tax, a 50-cent hike in the personal property tax and a nickel increase in the current 25-cents per pack city cigarette tax. To the extent that any organized opposition has been raised to the increases, the jumps on the personal property tax and the cigarette tax have been most strongly opposed. Businesses in the city feel that the personal property tax hike hits them disproportionately because they pay the tax on more categories of property than private citizens. Freiling, at least, has publicly agreed with this and might favor a larger real estate increase and smaller personal property tax increase. One city convenience store has said the cigarette tax already put them at a competitive disadvantage to stores in the counties, which can’t levy such a tax. They fear an increase would put them at a bigger disadvantage. As a smoker who spends a lot of time in the area, I’d be surprised if people are price shopping for cigarettes. Especially since it’s almost impossible to remember exactly where the city stops and the counties start. Look at Williamsburg on a map some time; it’s shaped like an amoeba.

5. Play your cards close to the vest - Although all three incumbents made it clear they “weren’t necessarily opposed to a tax increase,” none of them exactly jumped out in front and led the parade for it. Haulman at one point said, “This isn’t our budget, it’s the city manager’s budget.” All three said it was “too early to tell” about the tax increase because of lingering uncertainty about the state budget and the school system’s budget. Freiling probably came the closest to advocating the tax increase when he said the hole in the budget was so large that he couldn’t see how the city could fill it “without some increases in revenue.”
The bottom line was that the three incumbents knew the election was on May 1 and they didn’t have to go on the record voting for a tax increase until May 10.

Last night the School Board meet and voted on their final version of the policy.  Thank goodness they also saw the problem and removed the threat of being sued or fired for this policy.   They also went a step further and protected teachers/staff ability for civic involvement in the School Board process by clarifying their concerns more specifically by saying:

The clause “prejudicial to the interest to Hampton City Schools” is defined as speech or actions made with intent to harm Hampton City Schools. It is not intended to discourage employees from attending to procedures for the improvement of Hampton City Schools or promoting matters of public concern involving Hampton City Schools. “

School Board member Joe Kilgore expressed reservations from the outset that the policy could be “problematic in a lot of different ways.” He said the Board must avoid boxing itself in with a lengthy, complicated policy. Much of the items he suggested be deleted were already covered in existing polices about harassment, ethics and confidential information. (you can read the full story in the daily press but the have a subscription requirement now)  Mr. Kilgore also pointed out how other areas had use social media to be beneficial to their schools.

He was focusing the possibilities of implementing something while keeping in mind possible effects their decision could have on the staff , teachers and the citizens.  Good job to Mr. Kilgore and all of the Hampton School Board.

A number of the commenters on the story seemed to confuse op-eds and reports, calling for Washington’s story to be on the front page of the newspaper. Um, no. There has always been a line between the news side and the editorial side of the newspaper, as the editors (Finley, Luzzatto) of the respective pages pointed out a couple of years ago. Obviously, it’s time to dust off those columns and put them out there again, because while newspapers observe this very bright line, it seems most of the rest of the media does not.

As to why the story was not reported as news, we have  this from Denis Finley. The excuse may sound lame, but it is what it is: a case of simple assault. I happened to have caught both the 5:30pm and 6pm newscast of WAVY Wednesday. The smoking gun – that a box was checked on the police report that indicated it was a hate crime – turns out to have been a computer glitch. The TV reporter said that something was written in the box next to it, causing the computer to check the box.

As far as the attitude of the police is concerned – they have now issued a statement on the incident. (The City of Norfolk posted the statement to its Facebook page. Sometimes, you can take social media too far. Not everyone has – or wants – a Facebook account.) They deny the officer made the statements attributed to him. One was particularly galling: telling a victim to “shut up.”

So what, really, do we have? We have a group of black thugs attacking a white couple. And it is this element of race that is really at the center of the firestorm.

If the races of the perpetrators and victims had been the same – both white or both black – we would be focusing on the real problem: thugs attacking an innocent couple.Would that have made the news?

But it is, instead, far easier to focus on the race here. Because race, above all, remains the thing that continues to divide us. Statistics – like these (pg 13) that show that most murder perpetrators and victims are of the same race – be damned. Almost since the beginning of our country, the media has whipped up fear in whites of blacks.

Until and unless this country deals with the issue of race, we can forget about doing something about the crime problem.

~

I wrote the above last night, with plans to publish it this morning, but forgot to set the auto-post. The newspaper today has a more expanded explanation from Finley, as well as this editorial, which, ironically, comes to a similar conclusion as I did: we have work to do on the issue of race.

The candidates with the most money won. Only a couple of incumbents lost. Slates of candidates did well: witness the results in Hampton and Chesapeake.

With more and more localities moving local elections to November, primarily because of state funding, I suspect it won’t be long before these May elections come to an end. I think that’s a shame. While I really dislike the lower voter turnout, I like even less the loss of the focus on local issues.

My congratulations to all of the winners. My condolences to the losers. My thanks to all who ran.

Original post, Tuesday, 8:15pm, updated 8:22pm:

Polls have been closed for an hour and the results are rolling in.

Norfolk – looks like the two incumbents have won re-election. Winn is above 50% in a 4-way race. That’s stunning. Winn has slipped below 50%.

Chesapeake - Mayor Alan Krasnoff is way ahead. Leading the way for the three council seats are incumbents Rick West and Debbie Ritter and newcomer Robert Ike. For school board, the four ahead right now are Tom Mercer, Jeff Bunn, Sam Boone and Victoria Proffitt. Looks like incumbent Tina Pullen isn’t going to make it.

Hampton - Mayor Molly Ward wins a resounding re-election and her ticketmates for council – George Wallace, Chris Snead and Billy Hobbs – also appear headed for victory.

Newport News – The only race I’ve been following is that in the North district. Looks like Rob Coleman is going to pull this off. I know Maria is in heaven smiling at this.

Williamsburg – The three incumbents win re-election.

In the City of Norfolk, there are six candidates vying for two city council seats. Given the opportunity to vote for the two best candidates of my choice, I would vote for one candidate who happens to be black and another who happens to be white. But, alas, in Norfolk voters do not have such a choice. The wards in Norfolk are racially districted. Therefore in the superward election nearly 69% of voters in ward 6 are white; nearly 64% of voters in ward 7 are black. The candidates vying for the ward 6 seat are all white and the candidates for the ward 7 seat all black (per our “racial” classification system)… and so it has been for almost 20 years.

Candidate positions on quality of life, education, economic development, size and role of government, and how to make all of Norfolk more competitive, et. al. — those issues are secondary.

Vote your “race” and may the best white candidate in ward 6 and black candidate in ward 7 win.

Here are the Voter Guides for Hampton and Newport News from the Virginia Peninsula MAL Unit of the League of Women Voters

Hampton Mayoral Race

Hampton City Council Race

Hampton School Board Race

Newport News City Council Race

Newport News School Board Race

The Virginian-Pilot posted Voter Guides for the races on the Southside:

Chesapeake Mayor

Chesapeake City Council

Chesapeake School Board

Norfolk Superward 6

Norfolk Superward 7

The polls are open until 7pm. Not sure where to vote? Use the lookup tool here.

Yes, I read through them all. Seems like some folks didn’t understand the questions

As I’ve mentioned before, my precinct was the only one in the city moved – from Ward 6 to Ward 7 – for this election. (I’m still smarting over the mayor saying that doing so would make Ward 7 “whiter.” While true, I took it as one more reason that Norfolk’s race-based ward system needs to go.) So I’ve tried to pay attention to this contest, despite the fact that I’ve just been through tax season.

My civic league held a meeting on April 17, the tax filing deadline, and because at least one of the candidates was to appear, I was determined to attend.  As it turns out, only Williams was invited to speak. Given that the person who is elected Tuesday will represent us beginning July 1, I found it unreasonable that only Williams was invited. (The excuse I was given was that they thought she already represented us.)

More importantly, why was it necessary to invite Williams in the first place? Seems to me that the first place a candidate needs to go is to new areas that she would like to represent, because the people there are least likely to know her. If you have to be invited to show up, that doesn’t give me much confidence that the concerns of my neighborhood will be considered.

I can’t give Smith a pass on this, either. She should have been at my civic league as well. Folks can’t vote for someone whose name they don’t even know – and yes, there were folks there who asked who Williams’ opponent was. It’s not like we’ve gotten tons of mail or anything to let us know who is on the ballot. (In fact, the only mail I’ve received this cycle is from a candidate in Ward 6.) If you’re not going to show up when you’re running, it’s pretty unlikely that you are going to show up later.

About the only thing the average voter has learned about Smith during the course of this campaign is that she would have voted in favor of the Tivest project. Honestly, I can’t believe anyone would admit that now, particularly after the spectacular way that deal fell apart.

Of course, Williams changing her vote on the coal plant resolution ranks right up there, too. Rumor has it that Norfolk Southern officials put pressure on her – and other council members – to do so. (For those not making the Norfolk Southern connection to the coal plant, as this editorial states, they stand to benefit by transporting the coal.)

Williams used part of her time at my civic league to denounce fellow council member Paul Riddick (something that Barclay Winn did in an article in Sunday’s Compass). No doubt that is why one of the Smith yard signs I pass every day is in front of Riddick’s Funeral Home. I’m guessing there’s no love lost between Riddick and Williams.

To say I’m not thrilled with either of the choices in Ward 7 would be an understatement. Yes, Ward 7 is the poorer, blacker half of the city. But when I look back at the giants who have come out of this part of Norfolk, I have to wonder: where are today’s giants?

Norfolk deserves better but we’ll have to settle for one of these.

In case you missed it, here is the Ward 7 voter guide published by The Virginian-Pilot

What makes this an effective and rational strategy, of course, is the phenomenon known as “free riding.” When you think about it, it’s pretty irrational for any of us to vote. During these endless campaigns, it takes an extraordinary amount of time and energy to inform yourself about the candidates and their positions. And it takes time and energy to interrupt your daily schedule and vote. And for what? Rarely, if ever, does any single vote make a difference in the outcome. The rational thing is to just stay home and let everyone else do their civic duty while we still enjoy the full benefits of democracy.

I have to admit: I’d not heard the term “free riding,” at least not as it was being used by this writer. But a Google search revealed plenty.

One working paper explains it like this:

There are two basic reasons why a citizen may choose to engage in political activity: She may wish to achieve particular results (“extrinsic motivations”) or she may simply enjoy engaging in the political activity itself (“intrinsic motivations”). However, most citizens’ ability to affect political outcomes is extremely limited, and attempts to do so impose real costs. Thus, citizens are strongly discouraged from acting on their extrinsic motivations, in the hope that others with similar policy preferences will act for them.

As I delved deeper into the subject (for example, pdf, link to pdf), I found myself shaking my head. In my column for The Virginian-Pilot this week, I tried to explain the problem, not an easy task in less than 750 words.

We all benefit from the public good that is our democracy. But even without our participation – unless we all simultaneously choose not to participate – our democracy will continue. So where is the incentive to participate? It is far easier to sit back and just let someone else do it, right?

I intend to continue to explore this topic, because I think it is one of the more important ones I’ve run across in a while.

Perhaps the very best part of the forum was the questions themselves. Rare is the case when I attend candidate forums that the questions are so complete and so thoughtful. The seven questions, which were not provided to the candidates beforehand, fell into three broad categories:

• Role of NPS in the City’s short and long term development strategy
• Strategy for fulling funding NPS
• Relationship between City Council and School Board

Unfortunately, the questions were far better than most of the answers. By and large, the candidates provided answers that weren’t answers at all, but rather campaign talking points. I could scarcely believe what I was hearing when a question about a dedicated funding stream for the schools was asked. It seemed to me as if most of them had no idea what a “dedicated funding stream” meant. Have they not read the newspaper’s articles about what the fight between the Virginia Beach City Council and School Board is about?

The best answers to the questions came from Jesse Scaccia, which, given his background, is to be expected. Scaccia stood to offer his opening statement, an annoying move that was copied by most of the candidates at various points during the evening.

None of the candidates pointed out what, to me, was an obvious point: that while the council’s role is to provide funding for the schools, the actually running of them is properly left to the school board. None of the candidates addressed the type of school board member they would like to see appointed; after all, until the question of elected school boards is put on the ballot, Norfolk will continue to have an appointed board. Far too many of the answers delved into the operations of the schools, which is outside of the role of council.

I expected incumbent members Barclay Winn and Angelia Williams to make this point, but neither did. Winn was definitely off his game last night, appearing tired. If one of the values of incumbency is a better understanding of how things work, neither of them demonstrated that in-depth knowledge. I expected more from Winn, not so much from Williams.

Kudos to Norfolk GAINS for offering the citizens of Norfolk an opportunity to hear from the candidates on the important issue of our schools.

Given how dry council meetings usually are – I mean, they act as if they never disagree on anything – I have no problem with the display of emotion that came from the members. It shows me that they are human.

The focus of this forum is education. Norfolk GAINS is a community group, open to all residents of the city, “working to raise awareness about the value of public education.”

I’ve written previously about how important schools are to most people’s largest asset: their homes. I’m glad to see an organization sprout in Norfolk that is concerned about them.

Wednesday’s forum is open to the public. I plan to be there. Hope you can make it, too!

About the only thing they did in this editorial that I didn’t expect was to mention by name every candidate running. That’s a good thing: name ID is one of the top issues that challengers face.

In its editorial Sunday regarding Chesapeake, the board mentioned the need for “leadership that includes more people willing to challenge the prevailing views on a variety of topics,” a situation that applies equally to Norfolk, particularly in light of the numerous scandals that our city has faced.

That being said, I don’t expect the board will stray from its “incumbency is the best experience” ideology. In Superward 6, I expect Barclay Winn to get the nod, with some kind words from the editorial board for Jesse Scaccia. In Superward 7, despite the fact that they endorsed one of her opponents for the special election in November 2010, I expect the board to endorse Angelia Williams.

For those who are reading these predictions for the first time, please be advised that they are worth exactly what you are paying for them: nada. They are simply fun to do, and something I’ve been doing almost since I started this blog. I’m not a member of the editorial board nor am I privy to their discussions.

The board did not endorse Debbie Ritter for re-election, opting instead to go with newcomer Kevin Amick.

For school board, the editorial appears to have endorsed five people instead of four, unless I’m mis-reading that part. (Which is entirely possible, given my fatigue level.)

UPDATE: It appears that I did mis-read that section. especially now that the endorsees are in bold. So that makes me 5 out of 7.

Recall, if you will, the standards by which The Virginian-Pilot makes its endorsements:

If you read the editorial page regularly – and I hope you do – you probably have a good idea what the editorial board thinks is important: Good roads, effective schools, safe streets, a clean environment, an adequate social safety net. Taxes should be only high enough for government to do what only it can do: Building roads, for example.

From politicians, we like integrity, both in governance and promises. We want leaders, not followers. We prefer problem-solvers to flame-throwers. We want government to be small both in its spending and in its intrusion. We favor folks who get stuff done. We like smart people.

Incumbency is important – deep understanding of the issues typically tilts in that direction – but experience is not a clincher. It can be if a challenger’s knowledge deficit will take years to overcome. Seniority matters, at least where it provides power used for Hampton Roads’ benefit. Again, not a clincher.

In other words, a challenger has to be able to answer two questions: why to fire the other guy and why to hire him or her.

And just a reminder once again: although I write a weekly guest column for the opinion page, I do not sit on the editorial board nor am I privy to their interviews or decision-making process.

On to the predictions!

Mayor (financial info)

The power of incumbency is probably too much to overcome here, despite the fact that Alan Krasnoff’s failure to sign a letter from Hampton Roads mayors to their counterparts in NoVA and Richmond about transportation garnered a “miss” from the board last week. It is worth noting that the board endorsed Krasnoff’s opponent last cycle.

City Council (financial info)

Three seats are available, with only two incumbents running. The board will likely endorse the incumbents, Debbie Ritter and Rick West. I suspect the final choice will come down to one of the two former council members running – Bryan Collins or Dwight Parker. I’m going with Parker.

School Board

Seven candidates are vying for four seats, including all four of the incumbents. I haven’t heard anything to make me think the four – Jeff Bunn, Brenda Johnson, Tom Mercer, and Tina Pullen – would not receive the endorsements.

Coming tomorrow: my predictions on the Norfolk council races.

As an editorial today pointed out, our knowledge of this came only because of the efforts of the reporter:

When The Pilot’s Jeff Sheler broke this story by digging into the appendix in the city manager’s 2013 budget proposal, and found on page 265 an ordinance that spelled out exactly how big those salaries would grow, it was the first that most folks outside City Hall knew about this.

When defenders argued that the city manager was simply presenting a consultant’s recommendation, Sheler tracked down the consultant, who said the proposal wasn’t her idea.

Even though I don’t live in Suffolk, I appreciate the efforts of Sheler. This kind of stuff goes on too often – and we need the newspaper to help the citizens keep those who spend our money honest.

Candidates make promises to voters all the time, some big, some small. Rare is the case when there is an effort to track whether they actually keep them.

When you combine that with a real lack of widespread coverage, particularly at the local level, the voters have their work cut out for them trying to figure out who is best to represent them. The easy choice is to just vote for the man or woman who is already in office.

We deserve better.

Morton actually accused the SBE of committing election fraud, in what she had claimed was an effort of others to remove Virgil Goode from office. The Hook(Lisa Provence) and The Fluvanna Review (Carlos Santos) do the reporting here.

I agree with Waldo that the Republican Party has been so busy trying to prove election and/or voter fraud, one of their members allegedly committed it herself.

I’m convinced more than ever that it’s time to make some serious changes to the timing of tax returns. Give the brokerage firms until February 28 to issue their statements, and we’ll avoid all the corrected statements that come out right up to the filing deadline. I can’t even begin to count the number of corrected statements that clients received this year.

And while I think reporting basis is a great idea, the implementation is lousy. And whomever thought up the 8949 ought to have their head examined.

Right along with the ones who came up with publicly traded partnerships. Seems every broker discovered these this year, and clients were in and out of so many of them that I was swimming in K-1s.

And then there’s the required minimum distributions. You know, if the government truly wants to do something, force folks to put these on automatic distributions. Because I spent way too much time getting these straight for clients who had missed them.

Finally – just move the personal tax return deadline back to June 15. Yes, there will still be procrastinators. But by leaving the partnership deadline at 4/15 (and perhaps moving the S Corp deadline to the same date), at least we won’t be waiting around for stuff to come at the last minute.

Oh – and all the states need to tie their due dates to the federal. As I have clients all over the country, I had to figure out which of them were honoring the April 17th deadline and which weren’t. (Most did – but Virginia didn’t.)

Another tax season is over. Thank goodness!

Unlike most states, Virginia didn’t move its deadline for returns that are due normally on April 15. (Don’t panic – that’s not for individual returns. Those are due May 1.) I’d say this is a big “oops” on the part of our legislature. Guess they were too busy on other, more important things, like the ultrasound bill.

In any event, the worst tax season of my 26-year career in public accounting is coming to a close. And it can’t get here fast enough.

If you haven’t filed your returns, do me a favor: don’t call me

When I received the email announcing the press conference -

RICHMOND, VA – Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates William J. Howell (R – Stafford) will host a press conference detailing the results of the 2012 Rich States, Poor States survey, an annual assessment by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranking states based on business climate, growth indicators and other factors.

- a couple of thoughts immediately came to mind. Given all of the press surrounding ALEC, why would the Speaker be holding a press conference touting them? Wouldn’t the Speaker be subjecting himself – unnecessarily – to some tough questions from the reporters present?

Who thought this was a good idea? What could possibly go wrong?

As it turns out, it wasn’t a tough question that tripped up the Speaker. Instead, it was his own flippant remark:

I guess I’m not speaking in little enough words for you to understand.

I’m a smart girl, actually. I went to the University of Virginia and benefitted from public education in Virginia. I think words with multiple syllables will be just fine for me.

I ask again: who thought this press conference was a good idea? All it did was make the Speaker look like an arrogant jerk.

UPDATE: At 4pm Friday, Speaker Howell released a public statement, in which he says he has apologized:

After the news conference, I responded to a series of questions from Anna Scholl, Executive Director of ProgressVA, in a manner that was not consistent with my own standards of civility or reflective of the way I believe discussions over public policy disagreements should be conducted. I have since called Ms. Scholl and offered my sincere and heartfelt apology for my comments to her.

Good for the Speaker.

For herself.

Nevermind that “Surprising Suffolk,” as it used to be known, is smaller than its neighbors and has fewer employees. Nevermind, even, that the paltry 2% raises for its teachers will likely be scrapped. Nope, the city manager – and the city attorney and the city assessor – should be paid like their colleagues in neighboring localities.

It should be of no surprise, then, that the crowd last night ridiculed the proposed pay plan.

I’m guessing the only ones surprised in Suffolk now inhabit City Hall.

Breakfast is served from 8am-10:30am at the Zulekia Court Building, 641Woodlake Drive, Chesapeake. I know where I would be if it weren’t for the tax filing deadline Go and have a pancake or two for me!

For obvious reasons, I won’t be there. But I hope the attendees have a good time. And have a drink (or two) for me

By Kevin Amick

My decision to run as an “independent” candidate for Chesapeake City Council was based on my concern over the direction the city is headed. Sure these are hard economic times and our current council can blame the economy for the current city deficit, but we have not been good stewards of our finances over the past few years. Our planning has been poor. As an Independent candidate I can vote on issues based on those issues and not party ideology. I pledge my COMMITTMENT to you and every Chesapeake citizen to: 1) Wise Spending 2) Setting Priorities 3) Managing Growth 4) Resolving Issues and 5)REMAINING Accessible to citizens. Bringing community issues and concerns back to the forefront to council should be a top priority. We need representation on council that truly LISTENS to the people. May 1st is an important election in Chesapeake, regrardless of who you support, do your part and get to the polls. A vote for Kevin Amick is a vote for the PEOPLE of Chesapeake.

Kevin Amick is a candidate for city council.

The Suburban Acres Civic League Ward 6 forum will be held at the Norfolk Collegiate (Upper School),
Suburban Parkway & Granby Street. Doors open at 6, meeting at 6:30. All four Superward 6 candidates will be in attendance.

A Ward 7 candidates’ forum will be held at Queen Street Baptist Church (413 E. Brambleton Ave) from 6pm to 7:30pm.

The Norfolk NAACP is also hosting a forum Monday for the Ward 7 candidates. The regular meeting will be held at 7pm, during which time questions for the candidates will be collected. The forum will start at 7:30, once the candidates arrive. The forum is open to the public.

The list of candidates for Norfolk council can be found here.

UPDATE 04/07: The earlier version of this post did not include the details of the NAACP forum.