Mental health services in Virginia continue to take center stage after series of ‘incidents’

In a recent report by the Richmond Times Dispatch, the list of available psychiatric beds at public and private hospitals was delayed by budget cuts and “other priorities,” shining an even brighter spotlight on Virginia’s mental health system and the budgetary problems that have undermined its effectiveness.

In June 2012, the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, James W. Stewart III, stated that the software needed to run the Virginia Acute Psychiatric and CSB Bed Registry “is completed,” paving the way for a Web registry for psychiatric beds at public and private hospitals in addition to units run by local community services boards.

Virginia’s mental health system has been given greater public attention following the suicide of Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds’ son, Austin C. “Gus” Deeds. After being admitted into emergency custody, Gus Deeds was released after no psychiatric bed could be located for him. That is, another death that could have easily been prevented became another unfortunate consequence of the Republican Party’s ceaseless efforts to ‘slash’ budget deficits in Virginia and throughout the country.

While no political party is guilt free, the Republican Party’s ideological insistence on “balancing the budget” and individual responsibility have left it either unwilling or incapable of dealing appropriately with mental health services. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 26.2 percent of 

Americans ages 18 and older have a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. The problem of mental health in the U.S. is not going away, in other words. And as long as individuals and groups neglect to hold the Republican Party accountable for its inaction or counter-actions regarding mental health services, mental health problems will not decrease and may even grow with time. 

Terry McAuliffe’s governing inexperience may prove to be a boon for Virginia

Much has been made of Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe’s lack of experience managing the affairs of government. In a recent interview, Mr. McAuliffe acknowledged the skepticism surrounding his ability to govern as well as the reasons why he’ll be an effective governor.

While it’s true that experience is helpful in just about any occupation that comes to mind, Terry McAuliffe will have a number of advisers and cabinet officials that will assist the former Democratic Party fundraiser while he settles in to his new role as governor.

But all of the talk about government experience and its perceived correlation to governing effectiveness has left out the idea that a lack of governing experience may be more of an advantage than a disadvantage. Mr. McAuliffe may not have the personal relationships, the political know-how, or the confidence of more experienced Virginia politicians, but McAuliffe also doesn’t have the personal baggage or entrenched perceptions based upon prior experiences that could inhibit more experienced individuals from being effective governors. In other words, McAuliffe’s ‘blank slate’ could be an opportunity to take on old policy challenges from a new, ‘outsiders’, perspective.

As with any institution, there are rules and norms that members abide by explicitly or implicitly, a culture that every member affirms and reaffirms through their thoughts or behaviors. Virginia government is no different in this respect; each branch of Virginia’s government has its own culture, a set of ideas and beliefs that members either knowingly or unknowingly view the world with.

While an institutional culture may be the catalyst for creativity and innovative problem-solving, government is in essence a conservative institution bent towards maintaining the status quo until the status quo becomes unsustainable. Terry McAuliffe has had little involvement with this institution as a member of Virginia’s government.

McAuliffe represents a ‘fresh’ pair of eyes that could be just what the commonwealth needs to overcome many of the issues that have confounded previous governors such as transportation, energy, women’s rights, political party relations, and so on. There are no easy solutions, of course, but perhaps McAuliffe’s governing inexperience could turn out to be his greatest asset. 

Exploration permit 90484EX quietly renewed for Virginia Uranium Inc.

In case anyone needed additional evidence that Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) hasn’t given up on lifting Virginia’s moratorium on uranium mining, Exploration Permit 90484EX was renewed on November 13^th, 2013 and will remain in effect until November 20^th, 2014. The permit was first issued to VUI in 2007.

With billions of dollars worth of uranium ore deposits on the line, it’s not surprising that VUI has taken a long-term approach to achieving its goal of lifting Virginia’s ban on mining uranium. Once believed to be an inevitable short-term outcome, VUI has had to settle for waiting at least another 4 years before there is a serious chance of mining uranium in the state.

For many residents of Southside Virginia, VUI has been a symbol of the tension between capitalism and democratic governance in our modern era. While some polls have shown a close split among Virginians who favor or oppose uranium mining, no polls that I am aware of have been targeted towards the people of Southside Virginia, where the uranium mining would actually take place. With all due respect to Virginians living outside the Southside, your backyard isn’t the one where the process of uranium mining will take place (at least, not yet).

As long as a majority of Southside Virginians wish to retain the moratorium on uranium mining and the process remains open to considerable risk, the question about whether or not the moratorium should be lifted is moot. The communities that will be most directly affected by this decision should be the ones who have the final say in whether or not the process is started. Isn’t this a large part of what our democratic form of government is about?

Virginia Uranium Inc. throws in the towel until political winds blow favorably

In a not so unfortunate turn of events, Virginia Uranium Inc. (VUI) announced that it would be “suspending its campaign” to purge Virginia of its uranium ore deposits due to the opposition that Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe has publicly voiced for this risky enterprise.

VUI’s faithful ally in the Virginia General Assembly, Sen. John Watkins, had planned on reintroducing legislation in 2014 that would allow uranium mining in Virginia to occur. During the 2013 session of the General Assembly, Watkins’ legislation never made it out of the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources committee.

The “low-key” announcement made by VUI marks a significant short-term victory for opponents of uranium mining in Virginia, marking the culmination of years of raising public awareness about the risks of uranium mining and milling, particularly in a wet climate like Virginia’s.

With billions of dollars on the line, however, there won’t be any shortage of attempts by groups to lift the moratorium on uranium mining, a moratorium that has been held in place since 1982. According to the VUI project manager, Patrick Wales, "We are in this for the long haul and are committed to developing the Coles Hill project. We will continue evaluating all options to move the project forward." And by “all options,” Wales must have also meant half-truths and spurious scientific correlations.

So while Virginians concerned about the vitality of their state can breathe a collective sigh of relief for now, my hope is that Virginians do not completely wipe this issue off of their ‘radars’. VUI has made it clear that the towel is not being thrown in indefinitely.

For all of the Virginians who worked tirelessly to achieve this victory for the commonwealth, enough thanks cannot be given! Many of their names will probably never be household names in the state, but they deserve just as much praise and gratitude as some of Virginia’s most memorial historical figures. Only time will tell, but the contribution of these individuals could one day prove to be absolutely priceless. 

So much for Mark Obenshain’s graceful election defeat for attorney general

As the deadline approaches to formally challenge the results of the November 5^th attorney general’s election, Republican Sen. Mark Obenshain’s lead attorney gave the first indication on Monday that the election could be contested in the Virginia General Assembly if the votes don’t end in Obenshain’s corner. So much for a graceful election defeat…

In front of a three judge court overseeing the recount in the attorney general’s race, Obenshain’s lead attorney, William H. Hurd, stated that it is “critically important” for his legal team to obtain complete access data from electronic poll books before the Dec. 23^rd deadline to formally contest the results of the election in the General Assembly.

Under Virginia law, Obenshain could legally request that a joint session of the Virginia legislature reverse the results of the attorney general’s election. According to the Times Dispatch, “grounds for a contest include objections to “the conduct or results of the election accompanied by specific allegations which, if proven true, would have a probable impact on the outcome of the election.”” That is, prepare for Obenshain and/or his team of legal henchmen to make “specific allegations” that could overturn the election’s results.

Without getting into the nitty-gritty of the court’s ruling on specific ballot recount specifications, the Virginia-wide recount has been set for Dec. 17-18, leaving 72 hours for either candidate to challenge the ballot results.

Although no one can reasonably blame Mr. Obenshain for asking for a statewide recount in an election decided by 165 votes, Virginians will have cause for outrage if Obenshain swings the ultimate outcome of the election to the Virginia General Assembly, an institution “dominated” by Obenshain’s Republican Party.

If we are to assume that Republicans in the legislature will allow party politics to trump ethics and individual integrity (big assumption, I know), the Republican Party could in effect overturn the will of a majority of Virginians on trumped up allegations.

Not only would this set of events undermine the democratic process in Virginia, it would also set up an increasingly toxic relationship between the Democratic and Republican parties as the 2014 session of the General Assembly nears. Neither scenario seems particularly optimal, to say the least.

Here’s hoping that the Democratic Party doesn’t role over as usual in the face of Republican Party aggression.  

The world’s smallest violin is playing for Ken Cuccinelli and his victimization rhetoric

An immediate Cuccinelli political comeback was dispelled on Saturday during a dinner speech at The Homestead Resort. According to one source, Ken Cuccinelli stated “I don’t mind not having an elected role in about a month or so. I’ve been in office 11 years… I look forward to a little bit of a break. … but I’ll be back with you. I’m not talking as a candidate, but just fighting for these principles because I believe in them.”

Before anyone except staunch Cuccinelli supporters get too excited, the attorney general’s words seem more like those of a man still licking his wounds from a recent election defeat rather than those of someone who’s given himself enough time to make a resolute long term decision. And if there is one thing that Virginians should know by now, it’s not to trust a good deal of what Ken Cuccinelli says.

Cuccinelli’s defense of his election defeat should also leave anyone interested more than a little suspect about Cuccinelli’s intentions to stay out of electoral politics. The ‘blame the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) for not supporting me’ defense that Cuccinelli has been playing sets this one-time tea party hero into the role of victim, a good position to put oneself in if and when Cuccinelli ever decided to re-enter politics.

By setting himself up as the victim of ‘unfaithful’ or ‘compromising’ RPV members, Cuccinelli not only shrugs the blame for the election defeat off of his shoulders, he also scores cookie points with a Republican Party base that seems disillusioned with what have been called “establishment” Republicans.

If we learn nothing else from Cuccinelli’s most recent public speech to the Republican Party faithful, however, we should be able to discern a man that is far from being a leader that Virginia wants or needs, a man who is too proud and too blinded by his own ideological beliefs to concede blame for his own political defeat. In typical Cuccinelli-fashion, everyone else is to blame, not him.