| It was a packed house at Los Tios Restaurant in Alexandria a bit earlier today, as State Senator Adam Ebbin - first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2003, then succeeded Patsy Ticer to the State Senate in 2011 - kicked off his reelection campaign. In addition to Sen. Ebbin, speakers at the event were Alexandria Commonwealth's Attorney Bryan Porter and Attorney General Mark Herring. Just a few others in attendance today included: all five candidates (Julie Jakopic, Craig Fifer, Mark Levine, Clarence Tong, Larry Altenberg) running for the 45h House of Delegates district seat being vacated by Del. Rob Krupicka (who was also there today); State Senator Barbara Favola; ACDC Chair Kip Malinosky; Mt. Vernon Democratic Committee Co-Chair Kate Spears; 8th CD Democratic Committee Chair Margo Horner; Fairfax Sheriff Stacey Kincaid; Fairfax County School Board member Ilryong Moon; Alexandria City Council members Tim Lovain, Justin Wilson and Del Pepper; "Ready for Hillary" co-founder Allida Black; etc.To the right is video of AG Mark Herring's speech, in which he talked about several of the many accomplishments his office has achieved in just 15 months or so. According to AG Herring, he is "really proud" to have helped bring marriage equality to Virginia (he noted that Republicans filed bills to impeach and disbar him over this), which has helped allow "over 1,500 same-sex couples [to] have married in Virginia." AG Herring noted that in Virginia's history, there have been times when the state's Attorney General "went to the Supreme Court and argued on the wrong side of key, major, landmark civil rights cases in the past, but this time I was there on behalf of Virginians and standing up for equal rights for all Virginians, and it's a great feeling." Herring also talked about helping "all of our students have a better opportunity for an affordable college education." That includes allowing in-state tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants (aka, "DREAMers"). This allows talented young people to "climb the ladder of success" here in Virginia, which they wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise. Herring further discussed fighting "the heroin and prescription drug abuse spike," "finding concrete ways to stop sexual assault on our college campuses" and to treat victims with the "respect and compassion they deserve." Herring noted that these are "not just independent hodgepodge or random decisions we've taken, but rather they are connected." To the contrary, it demostrates "just what an Attorney General can do for" Virginians. Of course, Herring pointed out, none of this would have happened if he hadn't won an extremely close election, which he pointed out is why we have to work so hard to elect Democrats like Adam Ebbin. With regard to Sen. Ebbin, AG Herring talked about how he's shown "true leadership" on issues ranging from clean energy to LGBT equality to one of the earliest version of a Virginia DREAM Act. Finally, AG Herring argued that Democrats have a "great opporunity to get a majority back in the Senate, which is absolutely critical." (For video of Adam Ebbin and Bryan Porter, see the comments section)
Porter said that "Mark's predecessor used this very important office to further a platform that was divisive and backwards looking," while "as soon as Mark Herring was elected, everything changed, and the office was used to promote a platform that was inclusive and forward looking." Porter added that AG Herring "understands the issues that matter to those of us who do criminal justice and law enforcement" (e.g., on human trafficking and the heroin epidemic). "In other words, just like Adam [Ebbin], our Attorney General is intelligent, thoughful, dedicated and a very very human, human being, with a high level of integrity." No argument here! :)
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Video: AG Mark Herring, 100+ Others, Help Sen. Adam Ebbin Kick Off His Reelection
Saturday, May 2, 2015
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