Re-post: Bob McDonnell speaks out of both sides of his mouth

I originally posted this on March 14 when Bob McDonnell had just breezed down Rt. 11 reassuring right wingers that he was an ultraconservative although he appeared to be running as a Mark Warner moderate. It bears repeating. Perhaps it helps explain all the litter spewing forth from his campaign. My post was based on notes taken by a friend who "snuck" into the room at the Augusta Co. Government Center.

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GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell has been cruising the state conducting grassroots meetings with Republican activists. Although billed as open meetings, they are not widely advertised except by their internal messages, word of mouth, and occasionally on blogs.

You may recall an earlier CCC post about McDonnell telling the Washington Post that he is a moderate. That article was reprinted in newspapers around the state. Well, the wingnuts of the GOP apparently don't like the sound of "moderate" one bit!

According to some who have been to the meetings, folks are showing up with the article in hand, wanting to know what he meant by claiming to be a moderate, and demanding that he explain himself. McDonnell, after assuring himself the door is closed, usually says something about the press not be present so he can tell those present the truth. He then launches into a tirade defending his commitment to ultraconservative principles on the hardcore social and economic issues that are red meat for the right wing who have shown up.

I'm not sure who should be more pissed off about Bob McDonnell's duplicity: the media for being lied to, the GOP conservatives for being stabbed in the back for political expedience, the readers of newspapers because reporters don't ask the tough questions, or the voters who are being sold a bill of goods by a slick talking two-faced liar.

MarshallArtz

Ventured to NOVA this weekend to visit our daughter and celebrate her new job that she'll be starting on Monday. While there we were absolutely thrilled to catch up with old friends Kevin and Mary. Kevin is one-half of MarshallArtz as their site notes a "guitar duo performing a distinctive original blend of rock, jazz, and blues forged together in a kick-ass acoustic style. The duo features the combined talents of Brad Marshall on lead, rhythm, and slide guitar and Kevin Artz on rhythm and fingerstyle guitar, vocals and harmonica."

In the early 80s I'd occasionally accompany Kevin and Mary to gigs in places like Lexington and Charlottesville. Now MarshallArtz plays at clubs, pubs, colleges, and events in NOVA, D.C., and Maryland. They've got several CDs of original music and live performances feature a mix of their original songs plus classics of folk, rock, and blues.

Below, MarshallArtz performs the Beatles classic, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

If you get the chance, check them out sometime. You'll be glad you did!

In Case You Missed Gov. Kaine's Announcements

In all the distractions about sleeping pilots, revival of the public option, and the beautiful weather keeping us busy outside, you may have missed several interesting and important press releases from Governor Tim Kaine. Each, in their own way, are good news for Virginia.

The Governor announced that the Virginia Outdoors Foundation approved 17,000 acres to be placed under conservation easements. Also, the Roanoke City Council agreed to support plans to establish two perpetual conservation easements on Mill Mountain and the surrounding 600 acre park. In 2006 Governor Kaine announced a goal of preserving 400,000 acres within 10 years. To date, about 350,000 acres of open land has been preserved. The Governor has led in the creation of 12 natural preserves, six new state forests, two new state parks, and three wildlife management areas.

Governor Kaine also announced that 119 bridges across the Commonwealth will be replaced or repaired using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Many of these bridges are in the Shenandoah Valley and western Virginia including six in Rockingham, three in Augusta, three in Rockbridge, and 17 in Nelson. Most are obviously smaller bridges but all were deficient and, if left unattended, would become unsafe. The contracts, to private contractors, will total $50.7 million = jobs, paychecks, boosts to local economies. The Commonwealth is receiving $694.5 million in highway funding from AARA.

Governor Kaine also released his statement to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on the Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2009. He is absolutely right that federal recognition of the Chickahominy Tribe, the Chickahominy Tribe – Eastern Division, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock Tribe, Inc., the Monacan Indian Nation, and the Nansemond Indian Tribe is long over due.

Two years after the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, it is especially tragic that these tribes still have yet to receive equal status with the 562 other Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States.

Now is the time to honor their heritage.

Virginia’s Tribes are unique. Unlike most tribes that obtained federal recognition when they signed peace treaties with the United States government, Tribes in Virginia signed their peace treaties with the British Monarchy. Hostilities between the Tribes and the European settlers effectively ended in 1677 with the Treaty of the Middle Plantation, yet these Tribes continued to be tested by centuries of racial hostility, state-sanctioned coercive actions, and systematic mistreatment.

Mr. Deeds Goes To Town

Creigh Deeds and the gubernatorial race captured the attention of Newsweek:

For more than 20 years, [Creigh] Deeds has served the people of Bath County locally and in the Virginia Legislature. They like him in part because he is one of them, and because he's nothing like the picture that pops into your head when you think of a politician. Deeds is the opposite of slick and rehearsed. His accent is country South, not Southern genteel. His campaign speeches ramble. He sometimes tells stories that are funny and endearing, but that don't seem to have a point. "People said a fella from Bath County can't be the nominee," he told a crowd in Danville last month. "Now they're saying a fella from Bath County can't be governor." The punch line of the story: "But I know you gotta do right by people … I grew up on a dirt farm. We ate hogs and deer."

Read the entire article in Newsweek; October 26, 2009; Mr. Deeds Goes To Town.

Virginians/Creigh Deeds Agree: Close the Loophole

According to a poll conducted by Christopher Newport University's Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy, 80% of Virginians want to close the "gun-show loophole" that allows anyone to buy a gun from an unlicensed dealer without a background check. The same sale at the same show from a licensed dealer requires the buyer undergo a criminal background check.

Driven by the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech, Senator Creigh Deeds worked for several sessions to find a bipartisan compromise that will close the gun-show loophole while at the same time preserving the rights of legitimate buyers to purchase a gun. Of course, to the National Rifle Association, any restriction no matter how common sense and reasonable, pulls their hair trigger. Although Deeds wrote the constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to hunt and fish and has an A rating and was endorsed by the NRA in 2005, his due diligence and hard work seeking a way to close this dangerous loophole earned their ire this year. Even with an "A?"

But, as the poll indicates, Creigh Deeds is very much in line with the vast majority of Virginians on closing the loophole. It also found that 63% of Virginians agree with Deeds that redistricting of legislative districts should be done by a bipartisan commission. Fundamental to our democracy, killing the gerrymander is an issue which Deeds has worked on for years and promises to accomplish as Governor.

As we consider who to vote for on Election Day, this poll reminds us of something more than the fact the Deeds is in tune with voters in the Commonwealth. Creigh Deeds has taken on tough issues with a tenacity rarely seen in politicians. For Creigh it is all about finding solutions to tough problems. Solutions that do the greatest good for the greatest number.

The CNU survey was was conducted Oct. 8-13 in cooperation with The Virginian-Pilot and WVEC-TV. It has a MOE of ± 4.4 percentage points.

Finally

Virginia Budget - A Train Wreck About to Happen

In the current issue of The Virginia News Letter, James J. Regimbald Jr. warns that the worst of Virginia's budget woes will occur in the 2010-12 biennium and that "painful changes to state government and policy are forthcoming." That seems to fly in the face of what we're hearing in the national media - the recession is easing, the big financial institutions are doing well, brighter days are ahead.

Regimbald doesn't dispute those rosy forecasts, but he points out that Virginia's reserves are essentially gone, deferred obligations will come due, and (most importantly) federal stimulus funds that helped keep the state, local governments, and public schools afloat will run out. He, like most economists, expects job creation to lag the recovery - unemployment will continue to be paid while tax receipts remain low.

Regimbald concludes in Virginia's State Budget - A Train Wreck About to Happen:

What are our options? First, do everything possible to encourage job creation in Virginia by prioritizing Virginia’s investments in education and improvements to our infrastructure. A healthy economy is the only long-term answer to a healthy public sector. Next, Virginia’s government is going to continue to get smaller and even core programs are going to be reduced further. Finally, determine whether Virginia’s tax structure and rates are adequate to sustain a high quality public education, public safety, health and welfare, and transportation system that Virginians have come to expect. This debate may result in the roll back of tax relief that has been provided over the last decade.

If you look carefully at the words and plans of the gubernatorial candidates, you will find one, Creigh Deeds, willing to honestly discuss the looming train wreck with voters while the other, Bob McDonnell continues playing dodgeball on transportation while engaging in smoke and mirrors budgeting. As the Washington Post points out:

And rather than leveling with Virginians about the cost of his approach, as Mr. Deeds has done, Mr. McDonnell lacks the political spine to say what programs he would attempt to gut, or even reshape, in order to deal with transportation needs.

It all comes down to trust. McDonnell has run a slick campaign to re-image himself. If he wins, which Bob McDonnell will show up? How would he deal with the train wreck? Because of his mixed signals and double talk, Virginia voters don't really know. We know Creigh Deeds. He talks straight. What you see is what you get. We can trust Creigh Deeds. More insights from the WaPo:

[Creigh Deeds'] record in the legislature ably blended the conservative interests of his constituents with an agenda reflecting the prosperous, politically moderate face of modern-day Virginia. He has been a longtime champion of a more enlightened, bipartisan system of drawing voting districts, a stance to which Mr. McDonnell only recently gravitated. He has played a constructive role in economic development by shaping the Governor's Economic Opportunity Fund, which provides incentives for investors in Virginia, and he has stood for responsible environmental policies, including green jobs and alternative energy research. Despite his rural roots, Mr. Deeds has been ideologically flexible....