Governor Bob McDonnell declared yesterday that April is officially “Confederate History Month.” Setting aside the incendiary and offensive nature of McDonnell’s declaration, how does such a divisive act further the interests of Virginia?
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors — Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — refused to do.
Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a “lightning rod” that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has pledged to file a lawsuit challenging the health care reform law once its signed into law. First, for all you non-lawyer tea partiers out there who are touting a violation of the Tenth Amendment as the basis for claiming unconstitutionality of the health care reform bill, the Supremacy clause in the Constitution trumps the Tenth Amendment every day. The Supremacy clause in the Constitution establishes that the Constitution, Federal Statutes, and U.S. treaties are the “Supreme law of the land” even if state laws conflict. The Tenth amendment and the Supremacy clause must be read together and not in isolation when it comes to federal laws. So all the Republican politicians who are hitting you up for donations under the guise that they will fight this as Attorney General and prove that health care reform is unconstitutional they are playing you for suckers. Just like Chairman Michael Steele and the RNC told them to do when hitting you up for money.
Second, established law dictates that a state in and of itself does not have the right to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law if it does not have a legal construct called “standing.” Meaning, to challenge a federal law a plaintiff must have been harmed in some way among other things. If a state is not harmed in a way that legal standing requires to bring a lawsuit in federal court the lawsuit will not proceed. Under Article III of the Constitution a state must show some sort of actual injury to have standing. We do not see how te state of Virginia establishes standing in this case. Individuals, however, who are adversely affected by a federal law do have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law. In the case of an individual having standing to challenge the health care reform bill the individual must first be adversely affected by the law. The only type of challenge that may be available in the the health care reform law and may pass the non-frivolous test concerns the individual mandate that requires citizens to buy health insurance. If an individual decides not to buy health insurance and is assessed a penalty he/she can challenge the constitutionality of the penalty in federal court. However, the individual mandate does not kick in until 2014 therefore no individual can be harmed until 2014. Any challenges brought before 2014 are not “ripe.” “Ripe” is another legal construct that prohibits preemptive law suits. Because such suits are not ripe they are frivolous and done merely for political theatre and are therefore a GIGANTIC waste of taxpayer money. A Massachussesetts citizen challenged its individual mandate and the court dismissed the case as frivolous even though it was ripe. It is baffling that at a time when Virginia is struggling to meet its budget goals Cuccinelli wants to use state funds to bring a frivolous lawsuit in order to try and score political points.
To be fair…these are Cuccinelli’s arguments:
The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Cuccinelli said. He indicated it wil take aim at a provision which imposes a penalty on individuals who do not purchase health insurance.“With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce,” Cuccinelli said. “We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person – by definition – is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate.”The General Asembly passed legislation this winter declaring that Virginia residents cannot be forced to buy health insurance, taking aim at the “individual mandate” provision in the federal law. Cuccinelli said the state legislation puts Virginia in “a unique situation that allows it the standing to file such a suit.”"The health care reform bill, with its insurance mandate, creates a conflict of laws between the federal government and Virginia,” Cuccinelli said. “Normally, such conflicts are decided in favor of the federal government, but because we believe the federal law is unconstitutional, Virginia’s law should prevail.
This is a loss cause and Cuccinelli knows it. The Supreme court has already decided a case similar to this where a state law allowing possession of marijuana conflicted with a federal law (Controlled Substance Act) prohibiting such activity. The Supreme Court of the United States decided that the federal law passed by Congress preventing pot possession is constitutional because the person MIGHT sell the pot in interstate commerce therefore Congress was within its powers under Article I of the Constitution. In the case of the HCR bill, even if a person decides he/she will never buy insurance (impossible to predict), his/her decision affects ”supply and demand” in the national insurance market and would be within the realm of interstate commerce. Conclusion, the Supreme Court is very likely to rule exactly the same way with respect to the HCR bill. Take a look at the marijuana case below.
In Gonzales v. Raich, a 6-3 opinion delivered by Justice John Paul Stevens, the Court held that the commerce clause gave Congress authority to prohibit the local cultivation and use of marijuana, despite state law to the contrary. Stevens argued that the Court’s precedent “firmly established” Congress’ commerce clause power to regulate purely local activities that are part of a “class of activities” with a substantial effect on interstate commerce. The majority argued that Congress could ban local marijuana use because it was part of such a “class of activities”: the national marijuana market. Local use affected supply and demand in the national marijuana market, making the regulation of intrastate use “essential” to regulating the drug’s national market.
In other words, the Commerce clause is viewed VERY broadly by the Supreme Court when it comes to Congress’ power to make laws. And because the Supremacy clause dictates that federal law trumps state law the state law was struck down. For those who are saying that the federal government has never mandated the American people to pay something, the government requires us to pay taxes, medicare, social security, etc. In addition, the federal government, in the Civil Rights Act, made business owners serve African-Americans in their business establishments as well as hire AA’s in their companies. So the claim by these Attorneys General that the federal government has never mandated citizens to do something is rediculous. Besides, whether Congress is prohibiting or mandating citizens to do something makes no difference. Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce regardless of what form that regulation takes. There is no limitation in the Constitution distinguishing between “mandate” and “prohibit.” Therefore such a contrast by the right wingers is a distinction without a difference. Such claims are a waste of time, money, and energy in such tough economic times.
A loud and proud alleged birther,Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has raise the possibility of using the Commonwealth’s coffers to challenge President Obama’s birthplace if given the opportunity. This guy actually went to law school and is not the least bit embarrassed about perpetuating this idiotic meme. This is why Virginians need to be as informed as possible when making voting decisions in the state. Take a look at an interchange between Cuccinelli and a reporter that took place recently:
Question: What can we do about Obama and the birth certificate thing?
Cuccinelli: It will get tested in my view when someone… when he signs a law, and someone is convicted of violating it and one of their defenses will be it is not a law because someone qualified to be President didn’t sign it.
Q: Is that something you can do as Attorney General? Can you do that or something?
Cuccinelli: Well, only if there is a conflict where we are suing the federal government for a law they’ve passed. So it’s possible.
Q: Because we are talking about the possibility that he was not born in America.
Cuccinelli: Right. But at the same time under Rule 11, Federal Rule 11, we gotta have proof of it.
Q: How can we get proof?
Cuccinelli: Well… that’s a good question. Not one I’ve thought a lot about because it hasn’t been part of my campaign. Someone is going to have to come forward with nailed down testimony that he was born in place B, wherever that is. You know, the speculation is Kenya. And that doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility.
This is what this person wants to spend Virginia taxpayer money on. Mr. Cuccinelli you are an embaraasment to the Virginia bar and all reasonbly intelligent members of the nation’s citizenry.
Cuccinelli issued the following quasi-denial to the Washington Post yesterday.
…..saying that audio posted online of him saying it is not “beyond the realm of possibility” President Obama was born in Kenya reflected “a hypothetical legal answer” to a question. “I absolutely believe that President Obama was born in America. I don’t buy into the claims that he wasn’t,” Cuccinelli told The Post in a statement.
So why are you, an elected official, continuing to promote such ignorance. For those of you not familiar with Cuccinelli he also penned the letter to various Virginia universities and colleges informing them to discontinue their policies forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation. The letter was written after the new Virginia governor, Bob McDonnell, rescinded a Virginia executive order banning descrimination based on sexual orientation within his first month in office. What a piece of work.
UPDATE:
And now the new AG has pledged to sue the federal government when the health care reform legislation is signed in to law.
The attorney general of Virginia, Ken Cuccinelli, will file a lawsuit against the federal government should health care reform legislation be signed into law, his spokesman confirms to TPMDC.
Wise words from the current Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine:
Kaine said the key to victory for Democrats in a highly competitive Virginia is recognizing that party members need not be “apologetic” about their affiliation to find success. He noted that about 200,000 more people voted in the Democratic primary for president on a frigid February day in 2008 than cast ballots for Deeds this year, and said McDonnell successfully spooked Deeds by suggesting that Virginians had grown anxious about the Democratic agenda.
“I think the issue of being nervous about the Virginia electorate was overdone and I think Creigh did exactly what the McDonnell campaign hoped he would do, which was distance himself from the president and national issues,” Kaine said.
We could not agree with Governor Kaine more. The gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey a couple of weeks ago was a lesson to Democrats who take their base for granted. This year’s gubernatorial races boasted the lowest turnout in modern government races. Virginia turnout was less than half the percentage of the 2008 election and the lowest in forty years in the Commonwealth. As for turnout of specific groups, Governor Kaine pulled 38 percent African-American turnout whereas Deeds only managed 27 percent.
Here are the stats from the Deeds vs. McDonnell contest:
Conservative turnout increased from 11 percent in 2008 to 21 percent in 2009
Young adults turnout dropped from 20 percent in 2008 to 10 percent in 2009
African-American turnout went from 20 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009
3.7 million people turned out for the 2008 election as compared to 1.97 million turnout for 2009
President Obama received 2 million votes to McCain’s 1.7 million in 2008. Deeds only received .8 million votes total or 1.2 million votes less than Obama in 2008. Deeds lost by 345,000 votes.
The Obama’s winning coalition in Virginia consisted of 40 percent African-American votes, 59 percent Caucasian votes and .5 percent Hispanic vote
Looking at the above statistics one would think that because Obama’s winning coalition relied heavily on the African-American vote that this would be a group high on the Deeds campaign’s priority list. However, when we approached the Deeds campaign a few weeks prior to the election to inquire about its African-American outreach we heard crickets. The Deeds campaign did not have any sort of task force in place to help galvanize the minority community. As a result, black folks along with other Democrats stayed home. Never take a Democratic base for granted or you will be disappointed.
At least 45 percent of the Virginia electorate turned out for the 2005 gubernatorial race whereas only 40 percent turned out in 2009. Deeds did not persuade Democrats that he deserved their vote and voting for him would be much better than not voting or allowing McDonnell to win. Instead Deeds presented himself as a less capable version of Bob McDonnell. Why vote for a fake Republican when you can have the real thing and a person to blame with impunity when it all goes wrong.
Mr. Deeds also billed himself a “Creigh Deeds Democrat” as opposed to an “Obama Democrat.” The former candidate perpetuated this view with Virginia Democrats by distancing himself from Obama whenever possible. One major rejection of the President’s policy agenda was when Deeds said that as Governor of Virginia he would opt out of the health care reform bill if given the opportunity. One quick lesson to all Democrats and first stated by a freshman Congressman from Florida: You do not beat Republicans by becoming one. And you certainly do not motivate the Democratic base or folks that voted the President into office a year prior by rejecting that same president’s policy agenda. Are you listening Congressman Nye, Blue Dogs, and Conservadems? Reject the policy agenda of the Democrats in favor of the special interest and there is a high probability that you will be looking for a new line of work come November 2010.
Remember fellow Democrats that if you water down this health care reform bill so that it is “reform” in name only or kill it via the Stupak (abortion) amendment you are jeopardizing your seat in Congress. The same goes for financial reform. President Obama said it correctly in New York when he said that Democrats “are an opinionated bunch.” While the other side tends to do what they’re told, Democrats think for themselves. Therefore, just because President Obama, as the head of the Democratic party, must campaign for you, free-thinkin Democrats will not vote for you if your words and deeds do not inspire us to do so. We don’t show up just because you have a “D” next to your name. Ask Mr. Deeds.
This past weekend the House passed H.R. 3962 the health care reform bill. This was a much tougher vote for some than others. Though the pundits cite Rep. Cao of Louisiana as the sole Republican to vote for the health care bill as being courageous, we posit that it was Rep. Tom Perriello a Democrat representing the very red 5th district in Virginia who deserves the courage award. Especially because Cao represents a majority Democrat African-American district in Louisiana thereby making his yes vote a matter of survival and conceivably completely within his own self-interest. Perriello on the other hand, voted yes for the bill even though it is not the most popular piece of legislation amongst his very red constituents. The 5th district in Virginia is the right leaning conservative district where Perriello unseated five-term Republican incumbent Virgil Goode by a mere 727 votes in the 2008 election. Needless to say it was a tough vote for the freshman member and instead of voting his own self-interest Perriello voted his conscience.
Perriello: “In the choice between solving a problem and sitting on the sidelines, I thought it was important to solve this problem.” Perriello went further by saying “I thought it was important to solve this problem because families are being crushed under the cost of skyrocketing premiums.”
Because of this courageous act Perriello will be vulnerable in 2010 and it is up to us to make sure that he keeps that seat. The Congressman is holding a town hall telephone call on Thursday so if you live in the 5th District make sure that you call in a thank him for his support. He is receiving a lot of flack from the very loud minority at the moment so voices of support from the majority will be very welcome. We need more like him in Congress.
Also, a big thanks for NOTHING to Rep. Glenn Nye (Democratic Congressman representing the 2nd District in Virginia ). Nye voted his self-interest and against the health care reform bill. Apparently freshman Nye didn’t learn the lesson of Creigh Deeds. Here it is again for those who missed it the first time. If you do not give Democrats a reason to vote for you, meaning that in words and in votes you are no different than your GOP opponent, then Democrats will sit on there hands and their wallets in 2010. Lets see how many of your newly found GOP friends will be knocking on doors for you next year.
Public Policy Polling shows that Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds has narrowed Republican candidate Bob McDonnell’s lead by half in the last month. The poll was taken before the news broke about McDonnell’s views on a woman’s place. The race is now in single digits.
The race to be the next Governor of Virginia is back in single digits, as Creigh Deeds has pulled to within 49-42 against Bob McDonnell after trailing 51-37 a month ago.
The movement in the race seems to be driven largely by an increase in Democratic enthusiasm for Deeds’ candidacy. For instance where Deeds was winning only 64% of the black vote a month ago he’s now at 81%, perhaps an indication that radio ads on his behalf from Barack Obama are paying off. And where a month ago Democratic interest in the election was so low that those planning to vote in November had supported John McCain by a 52-41 margin last year even though Obama won the state by six points, we now find that spread at only 49-45 in McCain’s favor. So even though the likely electorate is still considerably more conservative than the folks who turned out in 2008, Deeds is at least closing that gap.
Democrat Creigh (Cree) Deeds is in a hotly contested Virginia gubernatorial race against the Republican nominee Robert McDonnell. However, last Sunday’s Washington Post expose may have cooled the race down somewhat in Deeds favor. It appears that Bob McDonnell holds some very interesting views about women in the workplace. The GOP candidate asserts in a thesis that he wrote during law school that working women are “detrimental to the family by entrenching status-quo of non-parental primary nurture of children.” And though he tries to explain that he no longer holds such views McDonnell wrote the thesis when he was a 34-year old married man. McDonnell offers up as a counter argument that his wife and daughters work thus he definitely supports women in the workforce. What he fails to mention however is that the statement is against working mothers in the workforce and his daughters are not married with children. As for his wife, she is a few months away from being an empty nester. In other words, no minor children at home to parent. So the real question is has McDonnell’s views about working mothers changed at all since the tender age of 34?
At age 34, two years before his first election and two decades before he would run for governor of Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell submitted a master’s thesis to the evangelical school he was attending in Virginia Beach in which he described working women and feminists as “detrimental” to the family. He said government policy should favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.” He described as “illogical” a 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing the use of contraception by unmarried couples.
The 93-page document, which is publicly available at the Regent University library, culminates with a 15-point action plan that McDonnell said the Republican Party should follow to protect American families — a vision that he started to put into action soon after he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
During his 14 years in the General Assembly, McDonnell pursued at least 10 of the policy goals he laid out in that research paper, including abortion restrictions, covenant marriage, school vouchers and tax policies to favor his view of the traditional family. In 2001, he voted against a resolution in support of ending wage discrimination between men and women.
A few more zingers:
He argued for covenant marriage, a legally distinct type of marriage intended to make it more difficult to obtain a divorce. He advocated character education programs in public schools to teach “traditional Judeo-Christian values” and other principles that he thought many youths were not learning in their homes. He called for less government encroachment on parental authority, for example, redefining child abuse to “exclude parental spanking.” He lamented the “purging of religious influence” from public schools. And he criticized federal tax credits for child care expenditures because they encouraged women to enter the workforce. “Further expenditures would be used to subsidize a dynamic new trend of working women and feminists that is ultimately detrimental to the family by entrenching status-quo of nonparental primary nurture of children,” he wrote.
In remarks given in Lynchberg, Virginia, GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell praised George W. Bush for his economic policies and expressed that he hopes to repeat them in Virginia.
“President Bush put in a ten-year tax-cut on everything from the death tax to capital gains tax and it was followed by an unprecedented period of economic recovery and economic growth,” he said. “In fact, it almost overheated the economy through about 2006. So, I think that’s the way you stimulate business. And that’s the kind of governor that I’m going to be to reduce those impediments to entrepreneurship, to let small businesses grow and thrive and create some opportunity.”
One supposes that McDonnell hopes to leave Virginia in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression also. About those tax cuts, GW used the surplus lest by President Clinton to pay for them. Had W been fiscally responsible and left them aside for a rainy day perhaps we would not have had to implement two stimulus packages. No thanks McDonnell, it sounds like under your leadership Virginia will be broke in no time.
We’re going to call it for Creigh Deeds and Jody Wagner the new Democratic Governor and Leutenant governor nominees for the Commonwealth. Democrats get ready to fall in line for the fight against GOP Governor and Lieutenant governor nominees Robert (Bob) McDonnell and Bill Bolling. Deeds is McDonnell’s worst nightmare given his conservative blue dog bent. McDonnell had his sight set on running against “carpetbagger” Terry McAuliffe. Congratulations Mr. Deeds for a well won victory.
So here is the Virginia Democratic line-up for November 2009:
Please don’t forget to vote in Virginia today. The polls are open from 6am - 7pm and you may vote at any time during those hours. Everyone who is registered to Vote in Virginia can vote in the Virginia primary today.
For those who have not been paying attention, Virginia has a hot Democratic governor’s primary going on at the moment where all three candidates are neck and neck in the polls. The three contenders are Brian Moran, Creigh (pronounced Cree) Deeds, and Terry McCauliffe. The Republican, Robert McDonnell, is running unopposed.
Brian Moran has been praised for fighting for Virginia families in the trenches for decades. Moran’s brother Jim has been cited as a potential liability but Brian Moran has been praised for his strong record on public safety, his 20 years in Virginia public service, his commitment to improving transportation, his solid record as a lawmaker, his advocacy of victims of domestic violence, working to raise the minimum wage, expanding healthcare for every child, and raising teacher salaries. Moran has been endorsed by Mayors, Board Chairs, Democratic Committee leaders, the majority of the Democratic Steering Committee, Democratic leaders in Arlington, Alexandria, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Falls Church, Richmond, etc. counties, and numerous Grassroots groups. See the growing list of Brian Moran endorsements here and here.
Creigh Deeds also has a record of public service but has been criticized for his far right leaning stance on gun control and for being the only Democrat who sought and received the endorsement of the NRA. More specifically, Deeds voted against banning guns for convicted domestic abusers and other violent crime offenders. In addition, Deed co-sponsored legislation proposing to repeal Virginia’s prohibition against concealed weapons in restaurants and bars. In fact, Deeds voted repeatedly to allow concealed weapons in bars (four votes total) in the last two years. There is also concern by some Democrats as to whether Deeds can beat McDonnell because he went up against the presumptive Republican gubernatorial nominee for attorney general four years ago and lost by 323 votes. Btw, in that attorney general race the NRA endorsed Democrat Deeds over GOP candidate McDonnell. So Deeds is the first Virginia Democrat that the NRA has endorsed in the last twenty years. However, Deeds has been praised for his record of green jobs promotion, land conservation, and has been endorsed by the Washington Post.
Terry McCauliffe was chairman of the Democratic National Committee and has a fundraising ability nationally that has been touted as second to none but McCauliffe has also been criticized for boasting that he launched five businesses in Virginia none of which created any jobs in the Commonwealth. It turns out that the Virginia businesses launched by the former DNC Chairman were investment partnerships with no employees. McCauliffe cites a Washington Post article as proof that as a businessman he has created thousands of jobs. However, what McCauliffe fails to mention in his television ad is that the cited Post article in such ad goes further to explain that as the head of a Florida-based home-building company that created thousands of jobs, McCauliffe did not create any of those jobs in Virginia. As a result, the McCauliffe ad has been criticized as being misleading. See full article here. One new endorsement McCauliffe will receive this weekend is from Brian Schweitzer, Governor of Montana and Chairman of the Democratic Governor’s Association. Brian Moran’s campaign manager, Andrew Roos, had this to say about the Schweitzer endorsement:
“The guy who was rumored to be running for governor of New York and wanted to be governor of Florida is having the governor of Montana tell us why he should be governor of Virginia?” Roos asked.
We at ProgressPolitics have decided not to endorse any candidate until the after the primary. However, we do encourage everyone to go out and vote on Tuesday. If you don’t vote then you cannot stake a claim in how the Commonwealth is lead. If energy efficiency is important to you, if gun control is important to you, if bringing new jobs, green or otherwise, to Virginia is important to you, if investing in education in Virginia is important to you, if reducing crime in Virginia is important to you, if keeping Virginia BLUE is important to you, then PLEASE VOTE TUESDAY! Anyone who is registered to vote in Virginia can vote in the Virginia’s open primary on Tuesday, SO PLEASE VOTE. Just go to your normal voting place or click here to find your polling place. Polling hours are 6am – 7pm.
Below is one of the Gubernatorial debates moderated by bloggers FireDogLake and the Collegiate Times. The debate lasts for 1 hour 49 minutes.
