Just When You Thought Virginia's Pathetic Campaign Finance Disclosure System Couldn't Get Any Lamer...

by Lowell

UPDATE 6:24 PM: After assuring me multiple times that their numbers were accurately presented on their website, the VPAP folks now tell me that they actually were wrong. They've apologized and stated that they definitely didn't "live up to our own standards" on this one. Uhhhh...alrighty then. Anyway, given the changes, my analysis of course will change, especially since VPAP's new/improved/corrected (let's hope!) numbers now show just 22% of General Assembly members under $10k in stocks/investments, with 16% between $10k and $100k, 38% between $100k and $500k, 11% between $500k and $999,999; and 13% over $1  million. What to make of this? I still think Virginia's got a horrendously bad system for ethics, that "disclosure" is not even close to sufficient as a counter to all kinds of shenanigans, and basically that this entire system reeks to high heaven. Other than that, it makes a lot more sense to see that the well-to-do members of our General Assembly actually admit to having significant stocks and investments. Still, none of this leaves me with a warm/fuzzy feeling...

You're probably aware that in Virginia, almost anything goes when it comes to financing political candidates and elected officials. That includes essentially unlimited donations even from individuals and corporations (e.g., Dominion Power) with pending and/or current business before the very elected officials they're donating money to! That, in turn, is the very defintion of "legalized corruption."

The one "check" in Virginia's pathetic "ethics" system regarding money in politics is supposed to be "full disclosure"/"transparency," particularly on the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) website. Of course, the fact is that only a miniscule percentage of Virginians probably even know that VPAP exists, let alone have ever used it. In addition, VPAP only reports the information it's given; it has no investigatory, let alone enforcement, powers to speak of. But even with regard to reporting the information it's given, there's the good old "garbage in/garbage out" problem: if the information VPAP receives is utter crap, then the information they display on their website will be...yep, you guessed, it utter crap as well!

Case in point: check out VPAP's "Legislators at a Glance" page regarding stocks/investments by members of the Virginia General Assembly. Anything jump right out at you? Like, for instance, that supposedly 75% of Virginia General Assembly members - almost none of whom are hurting financially - report less than $10k in stocks/investments? And that nearly 80% report $100k or less in stocks/investments? Seriously? We're actually supposed to believe this is accurate? Quick quiz: how many of were born yesterday?

What on earth is going on here? I've asked around, and as far as I can determine it's probably a combination of things. First off, the requirements in Schedule C ("Statement of Economic Interests: Securities") are a combination of opaque, inscrutable and utterly bizarre. Thus, for instance:

If I Were Advising Bernie Sanders…

by Andy Schmookler 

If I were advising Bernie Sanders…I’d advise him to focus his campaign on calling out the Republicans the various outrageous things said or done by any of the major contenders.

Not only would this be good for the Democrats—since every likely Republican nominee has been saying things that are indefensible and disgraceful.

Not only would this be good for the country because high-lighting the ugliness of today’s Republican Party, which has become more blatant than ever before, could help the nation return to more sane and constructive politics.

But it would also be good for Bernie in his race against Hillary. Here’s why.

Thursday News: "God Isn't Fixing This;" "Thoughts and Prayers" Are Not Enough

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Thursday, December 3. As for the "thoughts and prayers" crowd among politicians, the issue is that they could actually DO SOMETHING about this situation, not just offer "thoughts and prayers," but they don't because they are either terrified of the NRA or gun nuts themselves. As Andy Parker says: "So sick of 'thoughts and prayers' from sanctimonious politicians. It's not going to bring back Alison or any of victims of senseless gun violence. Only action will."

• Two dead suspects named after mass shooting that killed 14 at Calif. office party ("Syed Rizwan Farook 28, a U.S.-born county health inspector, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, who was said to be his wife or girlfriend, were killed in the San Bernardino shootout, authorities said. Officials were still trying to determine a motive and have not ruled out terrorism.")
• My Right to Safety Outweighs Your Right to Own a Gun ("America must not value the liberty to own a gun over the liberty to live free from violence.")
• Editorial: U.S. should lead on climate change (We should also race to gain the lion's share of a multi-trilion-dollar market for clean energy in the 21st century.)
• On Guns, We’re Not Even Trying
• The GOP’s latest doomed quests to kill Obamacare ("Both House and Senate Republicans appear headed yet again towards failure.")
• Michael Signer: Trump wasn't a textbook demagogue, until now (I agree Trump is a "textbook demagogue," but that's been the case for months now.)
• Dredging up the swamp: The 2016 GOP race is shining a light on scummy right-wing politics ("The 2016 GOP field has close ties to conspiracy theorists, anti-gay extremists, and scam artists")
• Fox News is lying to itself: Its violent rhetoric really is putting lives at risk ("O'Reilly & Co. can rail against Black Lives Matter all they want, but they're the ones actually inciting attacks")
• The BBC’s Distressingly Accurate Intro To The San Bernardino Shooting (“Just another day in the United States of America, another day of gunfire, panic, and fear.” Yep, our country is truly "exceptional" in this respect. Ugh.))
• Hours After Interviewing Trump, Alex Jones Suggests San Bernardino Shooting Could Be Staged
• Right-Wing Media's Unhinged Reactions To San Bernardino Shooting
• Shep Sides With Obama: Shootings Happen Here ‘More Than Anywhere Else in the World’ (Ya think?)
• How Often Do Mass Shootings Occur? On Average, Every Day, Records Show
• CNN goes there on Trump’s campaign: ‘Adolph Hitler, when he first rose to power, was elected’
• Graham submits signatures for Virginia ballot (I wonder if he'll even get 5,000 votes in the primary! LOL)
• With another House seat possible, Virginia needs independent redistricting more than ever
• Va. GOP: Promise you're a Republican if you want to vote in 2016 primary ("Voters in next year's Republican presidential primary in Virginia will have to sign a statement affirming that they're Republicans. This 'Statement of Republican Party Affiliation' runs three sentences and the Republican Party of Virginia called this week for the extra step.")
• Va. firm’s uranium mining lawsuit dismissed by federal judge
• At first public screening of heroin documentary, Herring laments drug's impact on Virginia
• Bridging Virginia’s pension gap ("Virginia’s House speaker takes a step toward reckoning with a $21 billion unfunded obligation.")
• Prince William board chair Corey Stewart to meet with Trump
• Our view: Why is Goode backing Trump? (Seriously? Donald Trump's supposed to be an economic "populist" now?!? That's "rich" - literally!)
• In Prince William, Trump praises law enforcement, asks moment of silence for Calif. victims
• D.C. area forecast: Sunshine returns today and stays put for the weekend

As San Bernardino Mass Shooting Unfolds, EW Jackson Speculates It Could Be "Paris-like Islamic terrorist attack"

Just keep in mind a few things about EW Jackson: 1) he was nominated in 2013 by the Republican Party of Virginia to be the Lt. Governor of our state; 2) he frequently has top-level Republicans on his weekly call-in, such as Ted Cruz in mid-November, Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA) a few months ago, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) yesterday, etc; and 3) he spouts a constant stream of extremism, bigotry and lunacy which (to my knowledge) nobody in the Republican Party of Virginia has ever condemned. What does that all tell you about the Republican Party of Virginia (or nationally)?

P.S. Oh yeah, one more thing: he's a total gun nut, just like much of the rest of his party.

Virginia House Democratic Leader David Toscano Provides "A Preliminary Look at the Virginia Budget"

The following is by Virginia House Democratic Leader David Toscano:

State of Play:
A Preliminary Look at the Virginia Budget

With the 2015 election over, legislators and commentators are now turning their attention to the upcoming General Assembly session and Governor McAuliffe’s first two-year budget.  Even though the Governor has been in office almost two years, this is his first budget: it is not widely understood that a governor does not have a chance to propose a budget that is totally his own until well into his second year in office. In Virginia, we have two-year budgets and this is Gov. McAuliffe’s chance to establish a legacy of budgetary priorities. His budget will be unveiled to the money committees in the House and Senate on Thursday, December 17, 2015.   Between now and then, you’ll begin to read about possible initiatives in the proposed budget and will undoubtedly hear criticisms from the Governor’s detractors of his various proposals.

(lots more on the "flip")

Fossil Fuel Divestment Commitments Reach $3.4 TRILLION; Virginia Nowhere to Be Found

According to DeSmogBlog:

More than 500 institutions that manage $3.4 trillion in assets have now committed to divesting holdings in fossil fuels, divestment campaign groups announced today in Paris.

As recently as September 2014, just 181 institutions managing $50 billion in assets had made some sort of divestment commitment.

350.org and Divest-Invest, two of the key groups organizing the divestment movement, announced the new additions to the growing list of divestors this morning in Paris at the UN COP21 climate negotiations.

Some of the 500 institutions that have made commitments plan only to dump parts of their fossil fuel portfolios, the groups note. But the groups say the news nonetheless provides further evidence that investors are increasingly moving their money away from fossil fuels and into clean energy technologies.

“Wednesday’s announcement is another sign in the early days of the Paris Climate Summit that investors are reading the writing on the wall and dramatically shifting capital away from fossil fuels and towards clean, renewable energy,” the groups said in a statement.

So what is Virginia waiting for? As I wrote in September, it's LOOOONG past time for the Virginia Retirement System (VRS) to divest from fossil fuels. Actually, in some sense it might already be too late, given that "the four largest American coal companies had lost 95 percent of their value over the last four years," and also that fossil fuel companies like ExxonMobil could be in serious legal and quite possibly financial trouble due to its decades of fraud and deception regarding the severe harm their products do (very much like the tobacco industry denying the link between its product and cancer, emphysema, etc.).

Unfortunately, we've seen essentially no leadership on this issue from our state's elected officials. For instance, last April, Gov. McAuliffe bizarrely said he OPPOSES fossil fuel divestment by the VRS. Even more bizarre was McAuliffe's "reasoning" (in quotes because I'm using that word very loosely here), that "as governor I am not going to sit here and tell the people who manage these funds what to do -- not my role...it is not my job to come in and tell our businesses what to do." Seriously, that's it? Faced with both the most severe threat humanity has ever faced, plus the greatest business opportunity in human history (the transition from dirty to clean energy), Gov. McAuliffe's response is "not my job?" Utterly unacceptable, and it needs to change, ASAP. It also would be great to see AG Mark Herring joining NY's AG in investigating Exxon (which has had a major corporate presence in Virginia, so Herring should certainly have "standing") under RICO and other relevant state laws. With the planet careening towards diaster, what the hell are we waiting for?

Wednesday News: "On climate change, Republicans are truly exceptional" (and not in a good way!)

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, December 2.

• ISIS Dream of Statehood Said to Be Fading in New Fighting (The only question is WHEN this group ultimately collapses. However, the root causes - corruption, bad governance, ethnic divisions, economic and environmental problems - will remain unless they are seriously addressed/ameliorated.)
• The Toll of Violent Anti-Abortion Speech
• For Robert Dear, Religion and Rage Before Planned Parenthood Attack
• Donald Trump is a bigot and a racist (Ya think? Same for Ted Cruz.)
• Mark Zuckerberg, wife will give 99% of their Facebook stock to charity
• Republicans deserve some blame for the Planned Parenthood shooting ("Politicians who fueled the ‘baby parts’ controversy bear partial responsibility.")
• A disturbing new glimpse at the Reagan administration’s indifference to AIDS (Worse than "indifference," they actually thought it was a big joke. Just remember, THIS is who Republicans practically deify.)
• It's not just Trump: Islamophobia in America is spiraling out of control
• John Kerry on Climate Change: The Fight of Our Time
• On climate change, Republicans are truly exceptional ("Nowhere else among the world’s major nations (and maybe the minor nations, too, though I don’t claim to be familiar with all 200 of them) is there a political party representing half the electorate which is adamantly opposed to doing anything to address climate change. So congratulations, Republicans: you have made America truly exceptional.")
• The real reason the media is rising up against Donald Trump ("Their twin idols — objectivity and influence — are being exposed as illusions. That's what has them so anxious about Donald Trump.")
• The right’s anti-choice death count: They can’t pretend to think abortion is murder without encouraging terrorism ("Anti-choicers denouncing terrorism are unconvincing, because they need to perpetuate the lies for political gain")
• Chris Christie joins the torture caucus: Another 2016 hopeful wants to bring back waterboarding (Christie is utterly demented. BTW, why haven't Cheney et al been prosecuted for war crimes?)
• Bump For Trump As Carson Fades In Republican Race, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Clinton, Sanders Surge In Matchups With GOP Leaders ("On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton widens her lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to 60 - 30 percent, compared to 53 - 35 percent in a November 4 survey by the independent Quinnipiac...University Poll. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has 2 percent, with 6 percent undecided.")
• Kaine says House bill would punish ISIL victims, not protect the U.S. (Kaine is 100% correct on this.)
• Schapiro: Two delegates from different eras and their shared bond ("Bunny Tucker died last Friday. He was 101. Tom Moss died last Thursday. He was 87.")
• Bell in for 2017 AG's race (No thanks.)
• Belote: Paris climate talks will help grow businesses in Virginia (Bingo!)
• A Virginia elections official did an unsanctioned fraud investigation. Now he may be in trouble. ("While the registrar was away, Prince William Republican Guy Guiffré and some friends inspected absentee ballots and registration records, which Democratic electoral board members say violated voter privacy.")
• Lawyers for elections board want map work to proceed ("The plaintiffs and the original defendants in Virginia’s congressional redistricting case want a three-judge panel to proceed with drawing a new map over the objections of Republicans in the state’s delegation.")
• A new ramp at the Virginia governor’s mansion: Allowing dignity or disrespecting the landmark?
• Will Sessoms' conflict of interest case
• Carfax expands its Northern Virginia footprint, will invest additional $15 million
• Former inmates, some connected to white supremacist group, indicted in federal court
• O’Malley discusses education, energy and immigration at U.Va.
• Editorial: Tough fracking rules needed in Tidewater region
• D.C. area forecast: Still soggy today, then sunshine returns for an extended stay

Upcoming Virginia GOP "Advance" Features Bigots, Warmongers, NRA, etc. Fun times...not!

The upcoming Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) "Advance" (because they refuse to call it a "retreat" - soooo clever!) looks like it's going to be one heck of a wild and crazy (emphasis on CRAZY) time.

For starters, the RPV just announced that Laura Ingraham will be one of the "headlining" acts. Just as a refresher, this is the same Ingraham who mused in September 2014 about how Ebola aid to Africa was actually about President Obama's "father's rage against colonialism," and as a means to carry out wealth redistribution while exposing "a few American military personnel...to the Ebola virus." Ingraham also suggested this morning "that President Barack Obama would be perfect to play the part of African-American singer Ray Charles, but she insisted that it had 'nothing to do with his skin color.'" Ingraham also opined earlier today about how "We don't want our boys raised as girls and we don't want our girls raised as boys. And that's what the schools are doing, they're gender norming the kids." She's also busy defending Donald Trump's false, bigoted, outrageous claim about "thousands" of Muslims in New Jersey cheering 9/11. We could go on and on (see here for tons more of Ingraham's extremism, bigotry and insanity), but for now, just consider that Virginia Republicans are proud and excited to have this nutjob as one of their featured guests at the party's annual "Advance."

As for John Bolton, this guy's a warmonger who recently wrote an op-ed in the New York Times advocating for bombing Iran. Bolton is also a Benghazeeeee conspiracy theorist and has vowed to never let the (non-)issue go away. Perhaps not surprisingly given what we know about him, Bolton's also a raving anti-Muslim bigot (see Romney Adviser John Bolton Warns the Obama Administration might 'Reinstitute Blasphemy Laws' and Romney Adviser John Bolton Defends Michele Bachmann's Anti-Muslim Witch HuntK, for instance).

Finally, check out the sponsors of the RPV "Advance." They includ, among others extremists: the blood-on-its-hands NRA; the far-far-right-wing FreedomWorks (its mission "is headed by privatizing Social Security, implementing a flat tax and abolishing the estate tax, limiting tort liability, and expanding school vouchers," also weakening environmental regulation and more broadly trashing the environment, and lots more heinous stuff); bigot and blowhard Donald Trump; and of course our pals at Dominion "Global Warming Starts Here" Power.

Sound like a fun time? Well, no, of course not. But it IS highly revealing of what the Republican Party has become...the 2015 version of the John Birch Society.

How Not to Run Direct Mail Campaigns: The Shakedown of the Little Guy

By KathyinBlacksburg

Everyone knows by now that little guys, like most of us, are small fish. Big donors pretty much flood the donation pool and swamp democracy. Still, Democratic groups have outdone themselves trying to go after the crumbs from the “mere mortals,” like you and me. For all they put us through via our inbox and incessant phone calls, you would think we really mattered. But we don't and we all know it. Well, most of us know it. The attack on the little guy consists of several shakedown approaches designed by manipulative campaign finance folks, and executed by their fairly dastardly contractors. They know nothing about real human motivated behavior. If they did, they wouldn't behave the way they do. But they pretend otherwise. And they engage in deception, hysteria, catastrophizing and even in some instances bullying. Let's look at some of the low-spots in fundraising.

Fake Claims.
Fake claims are a mainstay of the attack on the mere mortals. This week DPVA, conjured up an email from the supposed "membership department” (note: there is no such thing) which asserted that the recipient Virginian has a “status pending," presumably because s/he hasn't donated yet. As if. Great job turning off donors, btw.

Tuesday News: Antiabortion rhetoric "unleashes the unhinged"; Barbara Comstock About to Get a Strong Challenger?

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Tuesday, December 1. Oh, and how completely bonkers and dishonest is Donald Trump? Check out Trump's advisor wildly lying, over and over again, and not backing down an inch from those lies, in his interview with Jake Tapper.

• The common thread in America’s unacceptable carnage: Access to guns (Combine that with a constant barrage of extremist rhetoric from the far-right-wing media echo chamber, and we can see where that leads...to disaster.)
• Words matter in attacks on Planned Parenthood, Black Lives Matter and Muslim refugees ("Leaders incite and inflame with fiery speeches and threatening words. They cite heavily edited propaganda videos. They use violent language. And they unleash the worst impulses of the unstable and the unmoored.")
• Antiabortion rhetoric unwittingly unleashes the unhinged (Why does he assume it's "unwittingly?")
• Obama: Climate summit a turning point in fight to ‘save our planet’ (If it isn't, we are toast.)
• In Paris, clean energy gathers steam
• The Planet's Most Important Meeting, Decoded ("Here we are, closing out what's quite possibly the warmest year since the invention of agriculture 10,000 years ago, with our atmosphere's carbon dioxide at record levels and emissions still rising. But, alas, the most interesting drama and diplomatic wrangling are buried in a sea of legalese and acronyms.")
• The GOP’s insidious Christmas list: How congressional Republicans are planning to screw the country this holiday season ("While most people are busy soaking in the holiday spirit, Republicans are planning to gut essential regulations")
• Ted Cruz lashes out: ‘The overwhelming majority of violent criminals are Democrats’ ("Cruz did not cite any data to back up his accusation" - of course not!)
• Attacks on Abortion Clinics Should Be Prosecuted as Terrorism
• Behind Hillary Clinton’s $250 Billion Infrastructure Plan (I'd focus it overwhelmingly on clean energy, water and transit infrastructure.)
• Conservative Media Criticize U.N. Climate Change Summit (A lot of these people actually DENY the science itself. Ignore them, they are either fossil fuel industry hacks or nutjobs.)
• Virginia's GOP primary roster grows — but who will last until March?
• Democrats: LuAnn Bennett to announce campaign against Barbara Comstock soon ("Adam Zuckerman, the director of Attorney General Mark Herring’s political action committee, would serve as her campaign manager.")
• McAuliffe positive on budget, prepares for showdown with GOP legislature
• McAuliffe: 2016 will be 'banner year' for economic development
• Shh! let's talk state budget and tax collection forecasts!
• Editorial: Virginia's war on weed is misguided (Wow, yet again I agree with the right-leaning RTD editorial board. Amazing.)
• State rest-stop contract steered to procurement team's former employer?
• Richmond group wants to save the Diamond
• Here’s what other chambers are saying about Fairfax’s rebranding
• PM Update: A chilly and damp night, then more clouds and showers on Tuesday