Rob Krupicka takes Democratic nomination for 45th House district in Virginia

After the caucus voting ended on Saturday at the Cora Kelly Rec Center, Alexandria City Councilman Rob Krupicka[1] became the Democratic Party’s nominee for the 45h District House of Delegates position.[2]

The nomination process went under way after Gov. Bob McDonnell called a special election for September 4 two weeks ago in the wake of Del. David Englin’s resignation announcement effective August 31.[3]

Krupicka shouldn’t have a difficult time defeating his Republican Party challenger, Tim McGhee (McGhee’s own bare-bones website is a nod to the slim chances he has of winning the special election) given the solidly Democratic constituencies that comprise the 45^th House District. [4]

So if Krupicka wins, what next, what kinds of policies can Virginians expect out of Krupicka? If the Democratic nominee follows the policy goals he lays out on his website, Virginians can expect a progressive politician with strong ideas to move Virginia down a more equitable and sensible path of growth.  

In order for his ideas to take hold, Krupicka must be a strong voice in the General Assembly, asserting his policies, all the more so given the radical conservatism of many within Virginia’s legislature.

Laws need to be written to reflect changes happening in the 21^st Century. Legislators like Krupicka can help make that happen, in stark contrast to the backwards looking policies that the Republican Party of Virginia prides itself upon.

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[1] http://www.krupicka.com/

[2] http://oldtownalexandria.patch.com/articles/krupicka-defeats-gautney-in-democratic-caucus

[3] http://delray.patch.com/articles/englin-turns-in-resignation-endorses-gautney

[4] http://timmcghee.com/

Mitt Romney and Governors McDonnell and Walker join for campaign stop in Loudoun

Two governors and one former governor after the hearts of American conservatives were on the same stage Saturday when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker joined the Romney campaign and Gov. Bob McDonnell at a campaign event in Loudoun County, the Leesburg Victory Event.[1]

It’s no coincidence that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is campaigning alongside the so-called conservative hero, Scott Walker, and another favorite among conservatives, Bob McDonnell. The Romney campaign is attempting to use the conservative credentials of McDonnell and Walker to bolster Romney’s own conservative luster in the eyes of the GOP base.[2]

Romney will no doubt have difficulty convincing the conservative base of the GOP that he is “their guy.” As governor of Massachusetts, for example, Romney supported and enacted a number of conservative no-no’s that have made conservatives across the country somewhat wary of his true conservative leanings.[3]

For Gov. McDonnell, the opportunity to campaign with Governor Walker and Mitt Romney take on at least two important political consequences. First, appearing with the Republican Party’s unequivocal prince, McDonnell boosts his own conservative credentials, credentials which he may need if he plans on running for higher political office. Secondly, campaigning with Mitt Romney reconfirms McDonnell’s status as a key figure in the Republican Party establishment, a piece of the Republican puzzle that every serious GOP presidential candidate needs on their side.

Ironically, though, for all of McDonnell’s pretensions to be a conservative kingpin for the Republican Party, there are also some conservatives who are less than warm to McDonnell’s image as a conservative.[4] For one thing, McDonnell doesn’t possess the all-or-nothing attitude of the new wave of conservative legislators that have become in-vogue across a number of regions in the U.S.; another big conservative no-no (i.e. compromise).

Secondly, McDonnell believes that invading the personal spaces of Virginians with aerial drones and vaginal intrusions is good policy. I don’t believe many conservatives in the US would agree.

Nonetheless, if Romney can convince a majority of Americans that he is a “real” conservative, then he will have pulled off a fantastic deceit that Karl Rove would even have to tip his hat to. Romney is like water, he goes anywhere the environment dictates, hardly the quality conservative Americans seek in their president.

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[1] http://blogs.nbc12.com/decisionvirginia/2012/08/big-stars-descend-on-virginia-for-busy-campaign-saturday.html

[2] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/us/politics/in-iowa-grass-roots-republicans-are-still-not-sold-on-romney.html?pagewanted=all

[3] http://patriot-newswire.com/2012/01/mitt-romney-a-liberals-liberal-republican/

[4] http://griffinelection.wordpress.com/tag/is-bob-mcdonnel-liberal/

Tim Kaine’s visit to GridPoint highlights forward-thinking energy policy for the U.S.

While former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine’s energy plan isn’t perfect, his focus on cleaner forms of energy is night-and-day compared to George Allen’s heavy reliance upon King Coal[1] and other fossil fuels as the method of choice for powering America. As evidenced by U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine’s visit to GridPoint[2] in Clarendon on Thursday[3], energy policy is an area that Kaine recognizes needs attention and comprehensive, long-term policy.

In a short town hall gathering with employees of GridPoint, Kaine stated that his “all-of-the-above” energy solution consisted of investment in innovation and research, energy conservation, exploratory drilling for natural gas off Virginia’s coastline, nuclear power, and shifting to cleaner forms of energy.

Contrast Kaine’s forward-thinking stances on energy policy with those of George Allen and it would seem as though the latter is living in 19^th Century America, not the 21^st.[4] Rarely does Allen make it a point to insert clean energy into his energy policy platform, in no small part because he has ties with some of America’s biggest fossil fuel companies.[5]

Even if Allen advocated for clean energy, his ties with energy companies like Alpha Natural Resources should be enough to raise anyone’s suspicions about his sincerity. But Allen doesn’t even pretend to be interested in looking for energy solutions that will fuel America for generations to come.

As with so many other issues, Allen’s policy position on energy is outdated, short-sighted and plain wrong. America might have an abundance of natural resources, but what comes after their depletion, and how long will it take for these resources to be depleted in the first place?

Like any good capitalist knows, markets need innovation to continue to prosper. And applying this insight to America’s energy market, we need innovation to keep moving America forward, to keep America prospering.

For politicians like Allen, the point may not be to see a prosperous America as long as their own pockets, and that of their friends, are lined while in political office. For Tim Kaine, I genuinely believe he has the best interests of the country at heart. 

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[1] http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/Clean-Coal-Oxymoron.htm

[2] http://clarendon.patch.com/listings/grid-point

[3] http://clarendon.patch.com/articles/kaine-tours-gridpoint-in-clarendon-talks-energy-policy#photo-10881756

[4] http://www.diffen.com/difference/George_Allen_vs_Tim_Kaine

[5] http://www.vademocrats.org/news/press/allen-hides-his-energy-ties-numbers-don%E2%80%99t-lie

Kaine’s visit to Arlington highlights the dangers of holding the U.S. economy for ransom

In Arlington on Wednesday at the Fairlington Community Center, U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine spoke about the looming sequestration and “extensive” unemployment it could cause to the federal work force if enacted.[1] Kaine noted that all the talk about private defense jobs being lost as a result of the sequestration has overlooked the cuts that would be made in the public sector employment sphere.

The sequestration, if it takes effect, would start on January 2^nd. However, with a six-month continuing resolution set to be approved in September, a January sequestration appears to be off the table. [2]

But the uncertainty that continues to surround the budget process in D.C. still has many federal employees worried about their jobs and political candidates who feel compelled to respond to the situation in Washington to assuage the fears of federal employees.

Political action director for the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Bob Nicklas, noted that “They’re [government employees] not doing it to get rich. They’re just dedicated to what they’re doing.” Indeed, for all of the flack that has been directed at government employees from some conservatives, these individuals are the ones who play a vital role in protecting our freedoms and help make the trains run on time, as the saying goes.

Regardless of the individual groups being affected, the strategy of holding the U.S. economy hostage should be considered just as criminal as a hostage situation involving individuals actually being detained against their wishes. Moreover, Kaine stated to applause, “If anyone thinks it’s okay to hold the economy hostage to gain an election should not be in office.”[3]

The Republican brand of politician’s currently winning office throughout the country is not a phenomenon that can be sustained long term, fortunately, because their form of politics is really no politics at all.[4] Like it or love it, politics is a reality in the U.S. and compromises have to be made on all sides.

Responsibility in Washington has taken a back seat, but political candidates like Tim Kaine can reestablish responsible government at the federal level.  Who can honestly say the same about his opponent?

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[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/tim-kaine-speaks-on-sequestrations-impact-on-federal-workforce/2012/08/02/gJQASjz1QX_blog.html

[2]http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79298.html

[3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/tim-kaine-speaks-on-sequestrations-impact-on-federal-workforce/2012/08/02/gJQASjz1QX_blog.html

[4] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/patty-murray-says-tea-party-growth-bigger-problem-for-gop-than-dems/

Allen’s party problem: defense cuts are a product of the GOP, so why vote Republican?

At a campaign stop in Northern Virginia on Tuesday, U.S. Senate candidate George Allen visited First Line Technology in Chantilly to spotlight an example of a business that is being impacted by the potential for federal budgetary defense cuts.[1]

According to the co-founders of First Line Technology[2], which sells heat-activated cooling vests and other emergency equipment, the budget uncertainty has stopped the expansion of their business.

It is ironic and a sign of our political times that a member of the Republican Party (i.e. George Allen) would be campaigning on the necessity to prevent defense cuts in the federal budget when it was the Republican Party who, by and large, put our country in this budgetary position to begin with.

Under an ideological budget axe, extreme members of the Republican Party held the entire budget hostage and if defense cuts do occur, defense spending will be one of the victims of the GOP’s hostage taking process.

George Allen is hardly the political candidate to convince his fellow extreme Republican Party members to rethink their brinksmanship political tactics. As Delegate Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax) noted, “We’ve already tried it George Allen’s way, and we can’t afford to go back.”[3]

Electing George Allen to the U.S. Senate would be exactly that, a step back for Virginia and the U.S. as a whole.

The Allen approach to economic recovery consists of slashing almost every part of the economy except defense[4] and corporate welfare, and that means a big hit for Virginia’s and America’s middle class.[5]

Virginia and America has seen the Allen approach to political solutions and there are few positive highlights to speak about.

Tim Kaine has shown himself as an able statesman and as an economically minded politician who has a proven record of success. Allen will do little more than acquiesce to the more radical elements of his party and wallow through the remainder of his visionless political career.

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[1] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/31/allen-points-up-local-impact-of-defense-cuts/

[2] http://www.firstlinetech.com/

[3] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jul/31/allen-points-up-local-impact-of-defense-cuts/

[4] http://www.kaineforva.com/news/veterans_address_allens_record_distortions_on_defense_spending

[5]http://www.dscc.org/news?type=press_release&press_release_KEY=2164 

VA coalition outlines opposition to privatizing sex offender rehabilitation in letter to Gov. McDonnell

Don’t worry, we’ll just privatize that, or maybe not so fast. On Monday, eleven organizations sent letters to Gov. McDonnell outlining their opposition to privatizing a state facility[1] that holds violent sex offenders for treatment after their sentences are completed.[2]

The rationale behind the consideration for privatizing the Virginia Center for Behavioral Rehabilitation (VCBR)[3] in Burkeville surrounds, not surprisingly, money. The state is considering privatization as a way to “control costs” of Virginia’s civil commitment program.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia (i.e. taxpayers) spends close to $97,000 a year to “treat” every sex offender at the rehabilitation facility.[4] Moreover, the program’s budget has gone up tenfold since it began in 2004.

Even more worrying to Virginia’s lawmakers is the projected number of offenders who could need treatment by 2016 unless the program’s growth is reduced.

In turn, the coalition of civil rights, labor, and religious and criminal justice reform organizations who sent its letter to Gov. McDonnell argued that “What is currently an overcrowded situation at VCBR could become dramatically worse if run by a company that increases its profits at the expense of programs and operations, including security.”[5]

Thus, the coalition’s argument hinges upon the belief that a private company would exploit the market in sex offenders, so to speak, to turn a greater profit, instead of attempting to reduce the amount of sex offenders. The coalition has also argued that the private companies that submitted proposals have had problems managing other facilities.

The first argument made by the coalition is a logical conclusion given the tenets of capitalism. Why, that is, would a private company put itself out of business by fixing the problem that makes it money? More than likely, it wouldn’t, and that’s why the state has to fill this important role.

Secondly, leaving the rehabilitative services of violent sex offenders to companies with checkered pasts is like leaving a wounded lion to be healed by a poacher. If you want to heal someone, leave the job to someone whose interests are to heal.

Privatization appears at first glance like an attractive short and long-term solution with few negative repercussions attached. Unfortunately, some services do belong in the state’s hands, and the rehabilitation of violent sex offenders is one. The price to Virginians may be high, but the price for the alternative will be higher.

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[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/31/privatization-va-sex-offender-program-opposed-ar-2096318/

[2] http://goaskalice.columbia.edu/sex-offender-forever

[3] http://www.vcbr.dbhds.virginia.gov/

[4] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/31/privatization-va-sex-offender-program-opposed-ar-2096318/

[5] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jul/31/privatization-va-sex-offender-program-opposed-ar-2096318/

ACLU seeks information on law enforcement use of license plate readers

On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Virginia sent requests to numerous police departments and localities seeking information about how these entities are using automated cameras that take pictures of license plates of vehicles as they pass by.[1]

According to Catherine Crump of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, the license plate readers track the location of motorists, storing this information forever.

There’s a fine line between public safety and government overreach[2] into the lives of its citizens for purposes of security. The issue of storing location-data on motorists forever leans more towards the latter (i.e. government overreach).

The question, how much intrusion into the private lives of its citizens in the name of social security are we as a people willing to accept, is rarely asked, at least by lawmakers or the mainstream media (e.g. CNN, Fox News).

The only counterexample that comes to mind surrounds the decision by the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) to use full-body scanners in airports across the U.S.[3] Unfortunately, few if any questions were actually answered and the debate quickly faded while more supposedly pressing concerns came to the forefront of America’s political discussions.

But as America, and hopefully the world, enters a new age of advanced technology, questions of security and privacy will have to be addressed more forcefully.

Most who’ve studied just about any time in Western history, in particular, are aware that the issue of security has oftentimes been used as a justification to crack down on the liberties of the people by their respective governments. But what is it to be secure? How much intrusion are American’s willing to accept to feel “secure?”

Intrusion by the state for security purposes is not, however, an appropriate justification for pulling a “Big Brother.” You’ve heard the phrase before but I think it’s appropriate to use here, it’s a “slippery slope” once society begins acquiescing to the gradual erosion of its privacy for reasons of security, knowingly or not.

The sad truth is that in a free society, stuff happens. We cannot and should not try to control all of society’s moving parts in order to create a more serene society because in many instances, the reverse effect becomes a reality. 

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[1] http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jul/30/aclu-seeks-info-use-plate-readers-ar-2095492/

[2] http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-slams-fbi-privacy-violations

[3] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/us/jan-june10/security_01-12.html