Category: Virginia

Election winners and losers

Lots of lists of winners and losers in the election are showing up in various places. The latest list comes from Michael Shear at the Washington Post. Among his winners is Delegate Donald McEachin: The black Democratic delegate from Richmond supported Webb in the primary, when none of his African American political colleagues did. Included … Continue reading Election winners and losers →

A couple of comments on Economics

First, somehow I missed that yesterday, Milton Friedman died. Friedman won the Nobel Prize for economics in 1976. His ideas of monetarism were in contrast to those of John Maynard Keynes. These were the two dominant economists that I studied (in the dark ages) of college. He [Friedman] said government should allow the free market … Continue reading A couple of comments on Economics →

HB619: Repeal predatory lending

I received the following via email tonight: On Tuesday, December 5th, the Virginia House Commerce and Labor Committee will vote on HB 619, a bill sponsored by Delegate John O'Bannon that would repeal the Payday Loan Act of 2002. It's important that this bill be approved and sent to the House floor when the Legislature … Continue reading HB619: Repeal predatory lending →

HR550: Paper trail

If they can give you a slip of paper verifying an electronic transaction from an ATM machine, then they can give you a piece of paper verifying your vote. This isn't rocket science, folks. Putting paper trails on electronic voting machines is a no-brainer to me. Just take a look at what's going on in … Continue reading HR550: Paper trail →

Delegate Lionell Spruill

In case you missed today's Pilot, they did a front page, below-the-fold article on Delegate Lionell Spruill, Sr. (D-77th) that is worth a read. Included in the article is this chart (click to enlarge) which shows just how hard Delegate Spruill works on behalf of his candidates. Spruill is a hard worker. His pancake breakfasts … Continue reading Delegate Lionell Spruill →

Post-election podcast

Bearing Drift has up the post-election podcast recorded last night. Joining Jim & Squeaky Wheel in the conversation were Brian Kirwan, Republican political consultant, Ben Tribbet and yours truly. Check it out 😉

Negative ads: this needs fixing

Like nearly everyone in the country, I'm sick of the negative advertising that permeates campaign season. Around here, they started running early, with the Moveon ads. In today's Daily Press, op-ed writer John Miller offers some suggestions for making the ads go away: Require candidates appearance in the ads. "If they want to call their … Continue reading Negative ads: this needs fixing →