Loved the headline, above, which was on my latest op-ed in Wednesday's paper. Readers of this blog may recognize some of the content as having been from this earlier blog post. It was this Wall Street Journal article that prompted me to dust it off and update it for the op-ed. The stats I used … Continue reading The classroom as prime real estate
Category: Politics
Local races update
A not-so-quick update on what's going on in Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk. I'll have to wait until I have more time to catch up on the other local races in Hampton Roads this November. Portsmouth The interim mayor of Portsmouth, selected by the council, turned out to be a former Vice Mayor Bernard Griffin. … Continue reading Local races update
Opinion, please: posting Social Security numbers
In a ruling yesterday, a three-member panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a website to publish the Social Security numbers of people on a website, The Virginia Watchdog. The site is dedicated to warning the public that various documents are being posted online by government officials that contain this information. In 2008, … Continue reading Opinion, please: posting Social Security numbers
2nd CD update
We are less than 100 days to November 2 and the race in the 2nd Congressional District is well underway. After winning the Republican nomination last month, Scott Rigell found himself a little short on cash. As of June 30, Rigell had a mere $227,000 on hand while incumbent Democrat Glenn Nye had $1.26 million. … Continue reading 2nd CD update
Portsmouth council: vote for yourself
Let me get this straight. Two of Portsmouth's council members want to be appointed mayor. So the four other council members will be interviewing the candidates, including those two. But when the deliberations start on who will be appointed, all six members of council will weigh in. What's wrong with this picture? Am I the … Continue reading Portsmouth council: vote for yourself
Webb’s curious op-ed
Virginia Senator Jim Webb started a firestorm when his op-ed, “Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege,” appeared in the Wall Street Journal. What Webb said is nothing new. His is a nuanced argument: that affirmative action, under the umbrella of diversity, has benefitted groups of people that it never was intended to benefit, and … Continue reading Webb’s curious op-ed
Congress: the millionaires club
Brian Kirwin has an interesting article up about the effect of campaign finance laws. He argues that they have created a millionaires club in Congress. Currently, 44% of all of Congress and specifically 48% of the Senate are millionaires. That compares with the general public, of whom millionaires are only a whopping 1%. There are … Continue reading Congress: the millionaires club
Finalists for Portsmouth mayor named
According to The Virginian-Pilot, the Portsmouth City Council will interview four candidates for the vacant position of mayor. The interviews will be conducted in council chambers Monday at 7pm and the session will be televised on the city's channel 48. The four candidates are current Vice Mayor Charles Whitehurst, current council member Elizabeth Psimas, former … Continue reading Finalists for Portsmouth mayor named
A sad state of affairs
Gotcha politics took center stage over the past couple of days in the case of Shirley Sherrod. A good run down of events can be found here. After that post was written, the full video of Sherrod's statement was made available by the NAACP, who retracted their earlier condemnation of her. This morning, there are … Continue reading A sad state of affairs
For Gov. McDonnell’s reform commission
My latest op-ed piece appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Tuesday. This week's topic: constitutional offices. I think it is an issue that is ripe for the governor's reform commission - just as it has been for prior reform commissions. That nothing has been done to seriously address them is a testament to the strength of the … Continue reading For Gov. McDonnell’s reform commission
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 