Moonhowlings

Why is it that people who want to knock giant holes in abortion rights also want to knock out programs that exist to reduce unintended pregnancy?  Governor Robert McDonnell seems to be jumping on the stupidity bandwagon on this very subject.

According to the Washington Post:

McDonnell (R) wants to eliminate funding — $455,000 — for pregnancy prevention programs across the state that offer sex education and birth control to teenagers.

The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative funds programs at schools and clinics in seven health districts, including Alexandria, which have the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the state. 
McDonnell’s administration says that the money is being discontinued because the initiative has not worked — and that the localities continue to experience pregnancy rates above the state average.

Although Virginia’s teen pregnancy rate is below the national average, 28 cities and counties are above the national average. In 2010, 10,970 teen pregnancies were reported in Virginia.

“The elimination of this long-standing health program could have serious consequences for women and girls’ health,” said Katherine Greenier, director of the Patricia M. Arnold Women’s Rights Project at the ACLU of Virginia. “Teens need good information and services to make informed, healthy choices. To ensure a decline in teen pregnancy rates continue we must provide teens with the necessary information, education and resources.’’

The program worked with 4,642 teens in fiscal 2010, including those at the Teen Wellness Center at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, which serves youths 12 to 19.

Read more…

While the native tribes of Virginia plan on presenting Governor Bob McDonnell with a deer later this week, a liberal leaning group, ProgressVA has left a 12 pound turkey for McDonnell, naming him the Turkey of the Year.  Why does McDonnell deserve this dubious award in the bestows eyes?

According to Hamptonroads.com:

The deer offering Gov. Bob McDonnell will accept from native Virginia tribes later this week comes with good intentions and a dose of tradition.

The frozen turkey left for him Monday?

Not so much.

A 12-pound gobbler was presented to McDonnell’s staff by ProgressVA, a left-leaning interest group which named the governor its “Turkey of the Year” for what it deemed his use of accounting gimmicks and cuts to core government services to balance Virginia’s budget.

In addition to the bird, the group left a framed resolution for the governor, accusing him of “maxing out the state’s credit card” with borrowing and refusing to close tax loopholes “that benefit his corporate donors.”

Figuring the governor wouldn’t consume the turkey, ProgressVA recommended a donation to a local food bank, which is how his office will handle the gift.

“The fact is in this tough economy many Virginians could use a free turkey at Thanksgiving,” McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin said. “With that in mind we will donate the turkey to the Central Virginia Foodbank and we encourage all Virginians to support their local food banks this holiday season.”

But if officials had their druthers, Martin joked, instead of a turkey they “would have preferred a one year membership in the jelly of the month club, the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”

McDonnell has played loosey goosey with the accounting as far as VRS is concerned.  I will hold a grudge forever on that subject simply because I believe allowing payments to VRS to be deferred was unconstitutional.  Additionally, McDonnell proclaimed a balanced budget.  If you still have outstanding debt, is the budget balanced?

But I don’t know what else he has done slippery.  Is he still trying to sell our liquor stores?  I guess now he gains a little more power with the senate win, we are getting ready to find out.

The ACLU has asked Virginia Governor McDonnell to drop two of the questions on the judicial application.  According to the Washington Post:

The ACLU of Virginia has asked Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) to revise or remove two questions from his questionnaire for judicial applicants regarding mental and physical disabilities that the group says may violate the American with Disabilities Act.

The questions are: “Have you ever been treated for any emotional or mental illness or condition. If so, please give the particulars.”and “Do you suffer from any impairment of eyesight or hearing or any other physical limitation?”

“These questions are unnecessary, inappropriate, invasive and very likely illegal,” said Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia. “Persons with disabilities fought for many years to eliminate employment and other forms of discrimination against them. The governor’s questions are an affront to them and the law, and we hope he will move swiftly to remove them.”

The application is available.  After reading it, it seems far more invasive and inappropriate than just the health questions.  Why does the governor need to know what political candidates an applicant has contributed to?  I guess you don’t want anyone who has ever contributed to a Democratic candidate.  This administration seems to just go by its own set of rules.  The hell with  HIPAA laws and the Americans with Disabilities Act. 

Should judges and other appointment applicants be subjected to questions of this personal of a nature?  Should questions like this be part of the initial vetting or should they be part of a final selection?  Perhaps this type of question should never be asked.  How much do we really get to know about a public servant?

The VRS had a great year.  It had an 18.5% return as of June 30 for last year.  It has nearly returned to its all-time high water mark in 2007, before the crash of 2008.  The trust fund now has approximately $55 Billion dollars.  However, the VRS  board of directors warn that its still not big enough to keep promises made to teachers and local and state workers. 

After the crash, the fund dipped to $38.9 billion dollars in March 2009.  According to Roanoke.com:

But with more government workers and teachers retiring, the investment gains don’t erase the need for lawmakers to increase contribution rates, pension administrators told the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission. Pension obligations represent just one of the pressures facing Gov. Bob McDonnell and lawmakers who must shape a new two-year budget next year.

“The fund is aging and will increasingly face the prospect of negative cash flows in years ahead as benefit payments exceed payments from payroll contributions,” said Diana Cantor, the chairwoman of Virginia’s retirement board.

The retirement system has nearly 340,000 active members, including state and local workers, teachers, judges and law enforcement officers. It pays out benefits to more than 156,000 retirees, a number that is increasing. Cantor noted that 5,368 teachers retired in July 2010, a 48 percent increase over the number reported the previous year.

“Recent investment gains notwithstanding, we continue to believe that contribution rates will have to rise to meet our pension obligations over the long term,” she said.

The retirement board will recommend new contribution rates after meeting with an actuary this fall. The state has underfunded the plan, routinely paying rates less than those recommended by the Virginia Retirement System’s governing board over the past two decades.

Read more…

Something strange has happened that I don’t quite understand.  It seems the governor of Virginia has added an amendment to a bill approved by the General Assembly.  How does this work?  Why is the executive branch able to do legislative tasks?  Here is what happened:

Washington Post:

RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Robert F. Mc­Don­nell has added an amendment restricting insurance coverage for abortion into a bill approved by the General Assembly establishing a health insurance exchange as part of the federal health-care overhaul.

The health insurance exchange would be managed by the state and allow individuals and some small businesses to pool together to buy insurance at lower rates. Some who cannot afford insurance would receive government subsidies.

Under the federal law, states were given the option of creating their own exchanges or using ones operated by the federal government.

The bill approved by the General Assembly stated Virginia’s intent to create its own exchange, and directed state regulators to figure out how to run it.

After the bill reached Mc­Don­nell (R) for his signature, he added an amendment that would prohibit any insurance plan offered as part of the exchange from including coverage for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.

Read more…

Governor McDonnell has just upped the ante with the VRS, the Virginia pension fund.  He gets off on the wrong foot by saying that the pension fund has been problematic for years and years.  That simply is not true according to reports over the years from outside sources and independent audits.  VRS has only come under fire in recent years, specifically after the crash of 2008.    McDonnell’s attempts to paint the plan as compromised and unsustainable are purely political. 

McDonnell has outlined his plan which will affect nearly 90,000 state employees, according to the Washington Post:

RICHMOND – Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) proposed Thursday that 87,000 state employees begin making annual 5 percent contributions – the first in nearly three decades – to the state’s retirement fund as a way to shore up the commonwealth’s pension system.

Virginia is one of only four states where government workers make no annual contributions to their retirement fund, the result of a 27-year-old deal in which the state agreed to pick up employee costs in lieu of a pay raise in 1983.

Read more…

Governor McDonnell had a town hall meeting today  with state employees to deliver some sobering news. 

There will be no pay raises next year and state employees will have to pony up a portion  of the VRS contribution.  (Has that passed the General Assembly yet?)   According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:

He did not say how much but cited a Joint Legislative and Audit Review Commission report that found the Virginia Retirement System and other state-supported pension plans have unfunded liabilities of $17.6 billion.

The state has been paying employees’ 5 percent share since 1983. When a state employee at the town-hall forum pointed out that that payment began in lieu of a pay raise, McDonnell said “you are exactly right” but said the state employees will have to begin making a “shared sacrifice.”

What is a” shared sacrifice?”  Who else is sharing this sacrifice?  McDonnell did share some good news after the double whammy.  He informed state workers that there would be no furloughs and health insurance would not go up.  The furloughs were particularly troublesome in the past. 

The good news is, people still have jobs. 

Has pay been frozen for the General Assembly and for the executive branch of the state government? 

This was the first town hall meeting for state employees.  Most employees said that they appreciated the candor.  Those who were not present could view the town hall meeting on the governor’s website. 

The Right Wing extremists are all howling with delight over their boy Ken Cuccinelli socking it to them thar femi-nazis…..the pro-aborts.  It must be full moon.  Let’s take a look at what their glee is over:

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has given a ruling that has the potential of skirting around legislation that the General Assembly as refused to enact since the early 1980′s.  Attorney generals’ opinions are not legally binding, as court rulings are. 

Read more…

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Gov. Bob McDonnell this week formally requested that the Department of Homeland Security authorize some Virginia State Police troopers to perform functions of federal immigration officers.

The request, which was sent in a letter dated Aug. 10 to Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, follows conversations since February on the subject between McDonnell’s administration and federal authorities.

McDonnell is requesting that homeland security enters into a so-called 287g agreement with the state, a pact that at least seven jurisdictions in Virginia already have in some form.

“The [memorandum of understanding] would include how participating State Police personnel will be nominated, trained, authorized and supervised in performing the immigration enforcement functions specified in the agreement,” McDonnell writes in the letter released today by his office.

“We contemplate addressing those aliens who are engaged in major drug offenses or violent offenses such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and kidnapping, as well as DUI offenses.”

Read more…

Many people who have are in the know fear the enforcement end of private sales of booze.  Liquor stores are known to be rife with crime issues, including organized crime.  See what some Virginia law enforcement officers have to say about privatizing the ABC Stores.  McDonnell really needs to get off this campaign promise.  He is being a naive Nelly.  It isn’t good for Virginia.  The true conservative stand on selling the liquor stores is to tell McDonnell NO. 

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Ashland, Va. –

Ashland is a college town with one state-owned store for selling liquor.

Police Chief Douglas A. Goodman Jr. knows that probably would change if the Virginia General Assembly agrees to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposal to give up the state’s 76-year-old monopoly on the liquor business.

“There’s no doubt there would be an increase in outlets,” Goodman said. “I’m not aware of what the number is going to be.”

That’s a big question for local law-enforcement officials, who met with key members of the governor’s staff last week for a briefing on concerns about the potential effects of privatizing the liquor business on the communities they police.

Instead of 334 state-owned stores spaced across Virginia, local law-enforcement officials are uneasy about the prospect of 800 to 1,000 private liquor retailers, many of them concentrated in areas of high demand, trying to boost sales of spirits in a state where liquor consumption is relatively low.

Read more…

I was going to attempt to do a synopsis of this article in the Washington Post. It cannot be done. This article explains how Virgina will lose big bucks if the liquor stores are sold and they become private. Governor McDonnell doesn’t think the state should be involved in liquor sales. How  hypocritical. They sure don’t mind taking taxes from the sale of liquor. So I don’t even want to hear the moral indignation surrounding liquor sales. The Governor also suggests that revenue will be made up in taxes because more liquor will sell because it will be cheaper.

The logic here is simply …missing. Besides, do we want more liquor sold? How is that concept fitting in with the Guv’s supposed moral objections to the sale of liquor. He needs to run the state and leave the liquor stores alone. Virginia needs to just keep raking in the $245 million dollars it is currently making on profits and taxes. Governor McDonnell needs to do the math and get over this hold over from the evangelical Pat Robertson school regarding booze.

Make sure you check out the interactive graphic. It is very interesting.

From the Washington Post:

Virginia’s inner struggle to get off the scotch tax

RICHMOND — For drinkers, a fifth of Jack Daniel’s costs about the same wherever they buy it — about $25 in Virginia and the District, a couple of bucks less in Maryland. But for the governments that regulate that bottle, the difference is as stark as a sip and a chug.

In the District and most of Maryland, just a dollar or two from a fifth of Jack Daniel’s goes to government. But in Virginia, where whiskey and every other kind of liquor is sold in state-run stores, more than $13 of the retail price goes to the state.

As Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) prepares to call the legislature into a special session to consider privatizing the state’s 76-year monopoly on the sale of hard alcohol, he faces a hard economic fact: The liquor business has been exceptionally profitable for the commonwealth.

Every shot poured and every cocktail downed is another cha-ching for the state, and that translates into hundreds of millions of dollars a year that are used to fund schools, prisons and mental health facilities.

Even after paying all of the expenses involved — buying millions of cases from distilleries, paying more than 2,680 employees, keeping the lights on and the rent paid at 332 stores — Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control board deposited $248 million in liquor profits, as well as excise and sales taxes, into state coffers during fiscal 2009. And unlike nearly every other facet of government, the liquor business has proved to be essentially recession-proof, taking in $13.7 million more in fiscal 2009 than in 2008.

Regardless of the profits, McDonnell fundamentally believes that running the liquor business ought not to be a government function. He also believes that selling the system’s assets and new liquor licenses could bring in a one-time windfall of $300 million to $500 million, which he would use to improve the state’s ailing roads. A private system would also mean better selection and more convenient stores for consumers, he contends.

On Wednesday night, McDonnell held the first of a statewide series of town hall meetings in Roanoke, partly to sell the idea.

Read more…

From the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Richmond, Va. –

Gov. Bob McDonnell indicated today that he will try to sell ABC privatization to the General Assembly as “a windfall for transportation.”

The proceeds from the auction sale of ABC licenses — the state expects to realize $300 million to $500 million — will go entirely for road maintenance, McDonnell said.

He appeared on Washington radio station WTOP’s “Ask the Governor” program.

Asked about a recent VCU poll which showed him with a 48 percent approval rating — low by gubernatorial standards — McDonnell said it reflects the people’s concern about jobs and the economy.

He also said there are no plans to proceed with phasing out the personal property tax on cars and trucks because of the state’s current fiscal situation. The 2002 General Assembly froze the phase out was frozen at about 65 percent of the assessed value of vehicles.

– Tyler Whitley

Apparently McDonnell believes in flash in the pan money.  What will he do to make up all the money that the sale of liquor brings in to the state annually?  This seems like a George Bush live for today, hell with tomorrow kind of scheme to me, rather than carefully planning out a course of action to guarantee certain finances we can count on. 

Some of us don’t want to look like Maryland or DC with a liquor store on every corner.  I sure hope a certain someone cornered the governor last night and gave him a piece of her mind about Virginia tradition.

During the 2009 gubernatorial campaign, Bob McDonnell said he wanted to investigate selling Virginia’s state liquor stores to private owners.  Many of us went nuclear at the time but figured he would move on past that bad idea.  Apparently we thought wrong.  In fact, an article in the Washington Post slipped right past me on May 17.

From the WaPo, in its entirety:

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s administration has been quietly meeting for months with members of the alcohol industry and others in the community who would be affected by his proposal to privatize liquor stores.

Eric Finkbeiner, the governor’s senior advisor for policy, has been talking informally with representatives from the Restaurant and Hospitality Association, Diageo Beverages, Miller Coors, Associated Distributors, Retail Merchants Association of Virginia, Virginia Wine Wholesalers, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, Beer Wholesalers Association, Total Wine, Virginia Wineries Association, Wine Institute, Sazerac (which owns Bowman Distilleries in Virginia), Virginia Retail Merchants Association, MADD, public safety organizations and faith-based groups.

McDonnell recently formed a commission on government reform and restructuring, which will consider, among other proposals how the state could sell the state’s 350 liquor stores, which he pledged to do on the campaign trail last year.

Finkbeiner and his working group will bring possible ideas to the commission, which is charged with providing initial recommendations to McDonnell by July 16, and writing a final report by Dec. 1.

McDonnell estimates the sale of the ABC stores could bring in as much as $500 million for much-needed road improvements, but his critics argue that any one-time proceeds would be offset by the permanent loss of $100 million in annual revenue that goes to other state services.

Last week, at a public forum focused to kick off the government reform effort, McDonnell said he would not support holding a referedum to decide whether the ABC stores should be privatized.

“For 70 years, we’ve distributed beer and wine in every 7-Eleven, every Food Lion. But we’ve controlled the distribution of spirits,” he told the crowd of more than 100 people. “From a free market stand point, it doesn’t make sense to continue to control only one part of the distribution.”

McDonnell will call the General Assembly back to Richmond this fall for a special session to approve his recommendations if he can build support for some of them. <

Virginia has a long history of having state stores that dates back to the end of prohibition in 1933.  The history and accompanying pictures can be found at the following link on the ABC website. 

 Additionally, Virginia  makes money off the state stores–lots of money and that money goes in to other programs.  See the 2009 annual report.  Download here.   (pdf)

What is McDonnell’s obsession with privatizing our state ABC stores?  Any private industry will have one objective–making money.  Virginia regulates the use of alcohol and its primary objective is not financial.  McDonnell will run in to a big fight if he continues with this tradition-breaking stupidity.

.

Northrop Grumman is headed to Virginia. It is the 61st largest company in the United States and it is a huge defense contractor.

According to the Washington Post:

RICHMOND — At a news conference last week at Northrop Grumman’s Rosslyn offices, where a panoramic view of Washington loomed outside a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell ticked off the reasons he thinks the giant defense contractor chose to locate its new corporate headquarters in the commonwealth.

He cited the state’s low corporate tax rate, its business-friendly regulations and right-to-work laws that prohibit requiring employees to join unions.

One factor the Republican didn’t mention: The massive flow of federal spending that provides the core of Northrop’s business and has made it the nation’s 61st-largest company.

McDonnell has been a leading voice in railing against rising federal spending. But lost amid the calls for Washington to freeze or reduce spending is this twist: Although most economists agree that mounting federal debt could be dangerous to the national economy, Virginia has thrived on Washington’s decade-long spending spree, according to analyses done by professors at Virginia colleges.

Ten cents of every federal procurement dollar spent anywhere on Earth is spent in Virginia. More than 15,000 Virginia companies hold federal contracts, a number that has almost tripled since 2001. Total federal spending — from salaries to outsourced contracts — has more than doubled, to $118 billion, since 2000, as homeland security and defense spending skyrocketed in response to the 2001 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. By 2008, it accounted for about 30 percent of Virginia’s entire economy.

Federal dollars have filtered through the rest of the economy, too, helping to build the high-tech Dulles corridor and funding new homes and cars for federal workers and contractors and meals at local restaurants. The billions have helped fuel the economic boom cycles of the past decade and have cushioned the blow of the recent recession, particularly in Northern Virginia, where the unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly below 6 percent, less than the state and national rates.

“We have a rich uncle, I like to remind people — Uncle Sam,” said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University.

Maybe Cuccinelli shouldn’t be trying so hard to piss off the feds. It sounds like Virginia is riding the old gravy train. To have less than 6% unemployment in this economy is enviable. To be getting 10 cents of every federal procurement dollar spent anywhere on earth is quite an accomplishment.

Much as McDonnell probably won’t like sharing the limelight, much of Virginia’s pro-business reputation was developed and nurtured by people like Mark Warner. Under the Kaine administration, Virginia was voted the number one state to do business in. McDonnell is savvy and should continue the tradition of attracting and maintaining businesses and a robust economy. He just needs to rein in his attorney general since much of that business originates with federal contracting.

Thanks to Governor Bob McDonnell for doing the right thing. He has signed the Trust Women/Respect Choice license plate into law and has maintained the funding for prevention services. $15 for each plate will go towards Planned Parenthood.

The license plate faced a three-month back and forth challenge in the General Assembly. Apparently some of our legislators confused reproductive rights with first amendment rights and tried all sorts of sneaky tricks to stop the stream of money into Planned Parenthood.

Virginia is one of only FOUR states to have a pro-choice license plate, let alone one with a funding stream supporting reproductive health care services.

Hat Tip to Governor McDonnell. Frankly, I am pleasantly surprised. This really was a free speech issue.

The governor can be emailed from the here. I have already emailed him a thank you.