I’m not much into “me, too” type posts. Generally, when a topic is adequately covered by others in the blogosphere, I tend to just let those posts do the talking for me. But some topics require a chorus. Such is the case with the proposed blackout on fundraising proposed by Del. Chris Saxman (HB3150), first mentioned by Ben when it passed the House on 2/7 and then today by Eileen, who commented on the Virginian-Pilot editorial on the subject.
This bill is a no-brainer for me. Moving the JJ Dinner to after the session has ended is simply the right thing to do.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I agree with the spirit behind moving the JJ Dinner until after the General Assembly session, but I do feel as though the Democrats in this case are being directly targeted. If you are going to pass a bill fighting corruption, it just doesn’t seem right that only one political party is going to be forced into making sacrifices — especially when you consider that it is mostly members of the opposing party who have been under criminal investigations for corruption and connections with lobbyists.
One of the other reasons that many people might be hesitant to move the event is because Barack Obama is one of the guests of honor and his schedule is extremely full and might not be able to come at another date. As Delegate David Englin points out on Ben Tribbett’s site, this the main reason people are going to this year’s event — not to necessarily influence the lawmakers. Furthermore, let’s remember that the members of the General Assembly are people too and they probably want to meet the Senator just like everyone else.
When you stop and think about it, Obama’s appearance also might be one of the reasons that Republicans might want to directly affect the JJ Dinner. Why? Because it could be very a great campaign talking point if Obama could tell Virginians that he visited the Commonwealth all the way back in Feb. of ’07 (although he did come out during the ’06 elections too). Plus, this whole debate and his appearance are also obviously giving him some free advertising.
What I believe people aren’t considering, however, is the plain and simple fact that the legislation probably wouldn’t affect this year’s event. Why? Because I highly doubt HB3150 will be passed and signed by Governor Kaine before Saturday, which is when this year’s event is scheduled.
When that is taken into consideration, I believe a lot more people would be willing to change the timing of the JJ Dinner. However, this also ultimately results in the whole debate once again coming down to the fact that Republicans are unfairly attacking the Democrats fundraiser. The Democrats have argued that there isn’t really too much of a difference between having the event during the legislative session, or immediately prior to or following the session. They have therefore attempted to make this a case of actual reform by extending the length of the ban on campaigning by three weeks on either end. When the Democrats showed that they actually wanted to implement some reform, the Republicans all of a sudden no longer believed reform was necessary – a clear illustration that they aren’t really too serious about enforcing some change. That is what the current debate is about – not about whether or not reform is necessary.
Honestly, I never expected that the bill would apply to this year’s JJ Dinner. Most bills have an effective date (this one doesn’t seem to have one specifically) which is at some point in the future, and I just presumed that was the case here.
Vivian, you assumed correct. The discussion with David that Bryan cites was a hypothetical one- the bill would not have impacted this years JJ dinner.