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.

Eliminating this program is penny wise and pound foolish.  One teen pregnancy can very well impact medicaid, the food stamp program, and other forms of social service  for many years.  Teen pregnancy often keeps both the mother and child in a cycle of poverty that is difficult to break. 

It makes no sense.  Why does this administration want to take us backwards?  Historically, saying “don’t do it”  doesn’t work. Obviously programs like this endangered one don’t stop all pregnancy.  They reduce the instance and help those who are pregnant.  In other words, it is a comprehensive program.  Sadly, eliminating programs like this one often causes a higher abortion rate. 

Governor McDonnell is simply wrong on this issue.  Frankly, I don’t want to have to pay for his mistake.  This is the same gang who wants to defund Planned Parenthood.  They can’t stamp out sex for others, regardless of how much effort goes into it.    McDonnell and his merry band of conservatives are sticking their heads in the sand if they think that eliminating the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Intiative is going to save the state money or reduce the number of teen pregnancies.  What is he gaging ‘it doesn’t work’ on?  If it reduces teen pregnancy by 10% it is ‘working’ in terms of quality of life issues and in terms of state financial obligation down the road.   A penny saved is a penny earned. 

If this is the best men can do in logic, perhaps McDonnell just needs to sit down and shut the hell up.

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 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?

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.

Yes, Diana Cantor is the wife of Rep. Eric Cantor.  What is left out of this story is the money that the State of Virginia borrowed from the VRS and is supposed to repay at 7%.   When the state defers its payments, that is money that is not subject to that 18.5% return rate.  The rate of return just isn’t there. 

Adjustments are in the process of being made for contributors to the VRS.  Heretofore, the General Assembly has assumed an 8% return when calculating projected liabilities.  Now it is being advised to consider a lower 7% rate of return for calculations.  When doing that, the VRS appears to be not able to meets its obligations, down the road.  The Powers that Be will take a closer look in October when the VRS meets with its actuary.  It should be noted that Senator Chuck Colgan, D-Prince William, is chairman of JLARC and the Senate Finance Committee.   

Interesting that almost 50% more teachers retired than expected.  Hmmmmm….I wonder why that was.  I would venture a few guesses but why bother.  It all falls on deaf ears.  Could it be that the climate in this country is just not very welcoming to those people who are now treated like glorified baby sitters and moochers.  What is it some of you conservatives say?  Living off the ‘teat of the American public?’  I think that some of the folks said “screw you,” pulled up their tent and will go live off that said “public teat” without having to put up with the crap that teaching nowadays involves. 

Be careful what you wish for.  After what went on in Wisconsin last winter and listening to the conservative rhetoric that is blasted all over the news, many people just decided why bother.  Perhaps it just seemed like a good time to cash in one’s chips.  The handwriting is on the wall.  Meanwhile, the people of Virginia need to take a lesson from Aretha Franklin and give those teachers a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T along with their paychecks that some folks seem to fund so begrudgingly. 

Additional reading

Richmond Times Dispatch

Note:  Diana Cantor also sits on the Board of Directors for Media General which owns the Richmond Times Dispatch.

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.

The governor does not believe elective abortions should be covered through the exchange or with taxpayer dollars,” said Mc­Don­nell spokesman Tucker Martin. “This is consistent with his pro-life position and policies passed with bipartisan backing at both the state and federal levels.”

Abortion opponents across the country have been working to get the health-care exchanges to exclude abortion coverage, and similar measures are pending in more than 20 states. They say a government-managed market should not allow dollars to be spent on the procedure.

The Pro-choice groups were not pleased.  The Washington Post reported:

Advocates for abortion rights say the measures are part of a national drive by conservatives to restrict access to abortion.

Federal and state law prohibit using tax dollars for abortions except in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk. McDonnell’s amendment would extend such prohibitions to insurance plans purchased by individuals in exchanges

How can anyone tell private insurance plans what they can or cannot offer if it is a legal service?  How can a governor all of a sudden become a legislator and start inserting amendments into a bill?  Don’t all bills need to go before legislative bodies?  Perhaps I fell asleep during Virginia history class or maybe that is when I lived in Georgia.  Something sure seems out of wack to me. 

NARAL Pro Choice Virginia sent out an emergency email response which included the following clarification:

Governor McDonnell’s amendment is so extreme, it even prohibits women in the new health system from using their own private dollars to purchase abortion coverage. It also prohibits private insurance companies from offering coverage!

This flies in the face of the governor’s conservative principles – free markets, limited government, and individual rights and liberty. Not to mention, privacy! 

The more extreme Governor “Pat Robertson”  McDonnell gets, the sooner he and his ilk will become a thing of the past.  Unfortunately, they have to get a little worse before things get better.   He also added close to a million dollars into abstinence programs.  Did the GA cut funding to Planned Parenthood?  I can’t even keep up with it any more. 

The House and the Senate will vote on the governor’s amendment to HB 2434 next Wednesday.  Here is the Naral Pro Choice form for your convenience:

 Contact your senator today and ask them to reject the governor’s amendment to HB 2434 and protect women’s health and safety

Exact wording of amendment

If people sincerely want to reduce the incidence of abortion, then all sexually active people have to have easy access to safe, reliable contraception.  Abstinence programs are just feel good programs that have proven over and over again to be ineffective.  If some of the people promoting them had any clue what is really going on in many high schools they would hang their heads in shame for being so gullible.  It’s time for a reality check.

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.

Employee salaries have been frozen for four years because of the economic downturn. To help offset the pain of his pension proposal, McDonnell will request that the General Assembly approve a 3 percent pay raise this year. Employees would see a net reduction in their take-home pay of about 2 percent.

McDonnell will incorporate the policy proposal into a package of budget spending and cuts he will unveil Friday to members of the money committees in the State Senate and House of Delegates.

McDonnell presented the proposal, which he will ask the General Assembly to consider when it convenes in January, as a shared sacrifice between employees and the state to ensure the long-term solvency of the retirement system.

McDonnell also proposes for the state to pick up a 2%  contribution to the fund.  That would make a 7% contribution per state employee.  The increase should go a long way towards fixing what is wrong with the pension.  McDonnell also admitted that the loan from the system was a very bad idea.  The loan begins the payback in 2013 and will continue over the next 10 years.

“This is a start for fixing a pension system that has been out of whack for years and years and years,” McDonnell told reporters. “I will not pass on a broken system to another governor. I will make every effort this year to begin to fix this system.”

Of course the system is out of wack.  Several jurisdictions haven’t paid what they owe including the state. There was a stock market crash, and the State used the pension fund as its own ATM.  It hasn’t been out of wack for “ years and years and years.”  McDonnell simply is not being truthful.  To add insult to injury, Eric Cantor’s wife is the chairman of the board of directors of VRS.  While not exactly conflict of interest, it seems a little too cozy to me. 

The McDonnell plan will also involve some 130,000 teachers.  Localities will be allowed to ask the teachers to pay their ‘shared sacrifice’ of 5% if  the teachers are guaranteed a 3% raise next year.  The question then becomes, how long will that 3% be guaranteed?  It sounds like for just 1 year.  The net loss would be 2% of one’s salary. 

All of the changes taken together would result in an infusion of $311 million to the pension fund, which has been pressured by shrinking investment returns during the economic downturn. A recent state audit showed the state faces unfunded pension liabilities of $17.6 billion in coming years.

“In order for me to be able to look an employee in the eye and say ‘your money is going to be there when you retire,’ these are the kind of changes that have got to be made,” McDonnell said.

 McDonnell also is recommending a 2% bonus to state employees if there are sufficient funds at the end of fiscal year 2011.  (June 30).  This bonus would lessen the pain of the first year of shared sacrifice.  McDonnell did say that this plan does not affect the $620 million dollars borrowed from VRS to balance the state budget and that repayment would begin in 2013.

McDonnell took fire after his decision to dip into the retirement fund to close a budget gap, which also required billions in spending cuts. He told reporters Thursday that borrowing from the  Virginia Retirement System – a maneuver he and the General Assembly jointly undertook just a few months ago – “frankly, wasn’t a good idea.”

He said that the money would be repaid and that the state had not siphoned enough to affect the already-underfunded system in the long haul.

But Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian J. Moran said McDonnell balanced the budget this year only through the loan and was now “asking state employees to pay for his sleight of hand.”

Del. David Englin (D-Alexandria) called on McDonnell to support a constitutional amendment that would prohibit raiding the employee retirement system to pay state operating expenses in the future

Englin is correct.  The VRS cannot be raided again.  It is not the state ATM.  On the other hand, McDonnell certainly didn’t cause VRS to go out of wack.  There were many reasons for the problem, some inherited by McDonnell.  I commend him for trying to fix the problem rather than brushing it under the rug.  I also commend him for admitting that the state putting its hand in the cookie jar was a bad idea. 

As for those who are now saddled with paying their contribution, well…many people before them paid into their own pension fund, especially those state and local emplyees who picked up the full tab before 1983.   It is what is.  It was a nice ride and now the party is over.  The VRS must work for past, current and future employees.  The article covered the state employees and the teachers.  What about all the county workers?  They were not mentioned.  What can our Prince William County employees expect in the future? 

On thing, we can expect the General Assembly to be on fire with this one, come January.  The VRS issue was sneaked  in last year.  Now it has people’s attention.  Moonhowlings was one of the first places to start howling, last year. 

The Washington Post

The Richmond Times Dispatch

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. 

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. 

According to WTOP.com:

But on Monday, Del. Robert G. Marshall of Prince William, one of two outspoken legislative opponents of abortion rights who had sought Cuccinelli’s opinion on clinic regulations, asked Gov. Bob McDonnell to swiftly implement Cuccinelli’s findings. McDonnell is a fellow Republican and abortion foe.

The other, state Sen. Ralph Smith of Roanoke, wrote last week that the opinion “sets the stage for regulating abortion clinics like other medical facilities.”

McDonnell chief spokesman J. Tucker Martin said the governor had just received the opinion and is reviewing it, but noted that McDonnell believes abortion clinics should be regulated as outpatient surgery facilities already are.

Currently, clinics where first trimester abortions are performed operate as outpatient facilities and must abide by the same regulations as other outpatient facilities.  Cuccinelli decrees that Virginia can require abortion facilities to function more as a surgery center.  The Richmond Times Dispatch states:

Currently, doctors working at a clinic must be licensed by the state Board of Medicine, but clinics themselves handling abortions in the first trimester are considered “physicians offices” — places where some surgical procedures may be performed, such as a plastic surgeon’s office.  Abortions after the first trimester must be performed in licensed hospitals.

The ball is now in Governor McDonnell’s court.  He can direct the Virginia state board of health to require first trimester abortion clinics set up as surgery units.  If he choses to do that, there will be a legal challenge.  Virginia will have law suits coming at it from all sides.

Ken Cuccinelli appears to be Delegate Bob Marshall’s puppet.   Bob asks and Ken comes back with a legal opinion.  Marshall wants to outlaw all birth control.  Abortion is just the tip of the iceberg.  Cuccinelli, Marshall, and a host of other anti-abortion zealots failed to enact legislation that would regulate clinics, so this is just a typical end run to get around their inability to get legislation passed to take an even bigger chunk out of abortion rights.

The pro-choice folks weighed in, as expected.  The Times Dispatch quotes several spokeswomen:

“This is basically an effort to use his executive power to push through a political agenda that he was unable to achieve through the democratic process,” said Tarina Keene, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, an abortion rights advocacy group.

Jessica Honke, the director of public policy at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Virginia, said she agrees that Virginia can regulate all medical facilities, including abortion clinics.

“But if they use the opinion to impose an agenda that singles out one medical procedure that interferes with women’s rights to health care, we will have objections to that,” she said.

 

McDonnell is probably getting sick of Cuccinelli painting him in a corner. McDonnell pledged to govern from the center. It will be interesting to see what happens. The anti-choicers are all puffed up and ready to take up the sword. There is a much simpler solution. Opposed to abortion? Don’t have one or cause anyone else to have one. It’s just one of those libertarian ideas.

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.”

Currently, state police policy gives troopers the option of asking about immigration status when it is relevant to a criminal investigation.

In a statement accompanying the letter, McDonnell said, “A partnership of this nature will serve to improve public safety, while providing more resources to an underfunded and understaffed federal agency in the fight against criminal illegal immigration.”

Governor McDonnell, rather than poke a stick in the eye of the Federal Government, has applied to work WITH the government to solve immigration issues. It is expected that those trained under a MOA with I.C.E. and Va State Troopers, will use 287(g) to handle the ‘worst of the worst’ criminal illegal aliens.

The News & Messenger ran a similar story from Corey Stewart’s perspective. It appears that Corey Stewart has quite different expectations for the 287(g) program that McDonnell has applied for. The News & Messenger Reports the following from Stewart:

“Now state police and other state law enforcement officials who are in Prince William County will be part of the effort,” Stewart said.

Stewart said Prince William’s enforcement of federal immigration laws has driven illegal immigrants out of the county into neighboring counties.

A statewide agreement with ICE would be helpful, he said.

“I think there’s also something to be said for a statewide cooperative effort instead of a county-by-county effort in terms of better coordination with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” Stewart said. “The problem that we’ve had is that illegal immigrants have simply been going back-and-forth to other counties and they’re not going to stay out of Prince William County forever unless we can get this adopted on a statewide basis.”

Stewart said McDonnell’s move was a “good first step.”

“Ultimately to address illegal immigration in Virginia, we’re going to have to adopt an Arizona-like statute,” he said.

Perhaps Stewart simply doesn’t understand this state initiative. His analysis of what is being applied for seem far off base. The one thing that is clear is his desire for attention, even at the expense of upstaging the governor of Virginia.

Governor McDonnell should be commended for attempting to give State Troopers more tools at their disposal in solving crime. Additionally, this measure thwarts the efforts of some to get bills passed that are F.A.I.R. bills. Perhaps the governor knows that the rogue bills only get the state sued.

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.

 

“They want to increase consumption,” Dana G. Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said of private liquor interests. “I hope an increase in consumption doesn’t mean an increase in alcohol-related violations.”

Local law-enforcement officials are pleased with the audience they have had with the governor’s staff to air their concerns. They are happy that McDonnell wants to leave enforcement of alcohol laws at the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and that localities will have a strong say in the licensing and siting of outlets for booze.

“It is a good sign, a very good sign,” said Mark Flynn, director of legal services at the Virginia Municipal League, which met with the governor’s staff along with the Virginia Association of Counties.

Law-enforcement officials are especially happy that the governor is not pushing a privatization proposal that potentially would have issued licenses to thousands of businesses that sell wine and beer off premises.

“It’s not going to be exponential,” said Goodman, who oversees a staff of 24 police officers for a town of 8,000 people, including students at Randolph-Macon College.

. . .

But local concerns about the effects of privatization on law enforcement go back to one thing — money. They fear that Virginia will not spend the money necessary to expand ABC’s enforcement division, which has lost one-third of its sworn field agents in eight years.

“We’re lean in enforcement,” acknowledged W. Curtis Coleburn III, chief operating officer at ABC.

ABC’s enforcement division took a 20 percent budget cut in fiscal year 2003. Since then, the division’s number of sworn field agents has fallen from 124 to 83. Sixteen positions are unfilled because of the state’s economic woes, though the state is currently hiring to fill half of them.

“We have to beef up the number of agents out there,” said Eric Finkbeiner, senior policy adviser to the governor and point man for privatization.

Finkbeiner said the administration expects license fees for wholesale and retail distributors to generate revenue, along with taxes from increased sales, especially in Northern Virginia. The money would be used to enhance enforcement across the state.

Localities also would benefit from local licensing taxes, as well as their share of the state sales tax that would be generated, he said.

McDonnell already has tried to allay concern that the state would lose revenue — $231 million in profits and excise taxes in the last fiscal year — by giving up its wholesale and retail monopoly. That’s a big concern among law-enforcement officials, who have seen their state funding dwindle.

“We’re going to make sure that the revenue doesn’t decrease,” said John W. Jones, executive director of the Virginia Sheriffs’ Association.

Local government already has lost its share of ABC profits — two-thirds under state law, but progressively less in state budgets over the years — because the state now keeps all of the proceeds for the general fund.

The McDonnell administration has pledged to propose a privatization model that guarantees the state the same revenues it receives through ABC — keeping the current wholesale markup on liquor and the state excise tax proceeds. The administration acknowledges that, as a result, prices won’t drop much.

A state-funded study completed 17 years ago concluded that prices on liquor would have to increase for partial or full privatization to be revenue neutral for the state. The 1993 study by Pricewaterhouse Consulting also estimated that the state would have to add up to 46 special agents to handle licensing, regulation and enforcement of alcohol sales in a privatized industry.

The study further estimated that the state would have to add 16 people in the ABC accounting division to ensure the full collection of state taxes, which Virginia now adds to the marked cost of spirits that pass through its central warehouse in Richmond on their way to state-owned retail stores.

“My concern is there will not be adequate resources given to ABC to properly take the additional workload this will create,” said Robert E. Colvin, an ABC commissioner from 1990 to 1994 under then-Gov. L. Douglas Wilder.

Supporters of privatization say enforcement won’t change much in Virginia under the governor’s plan.

“They don’t control the delivery and sale [of liquor] but, as they do with beer, they regulate the delivery and sales,” said Theodore F. “Trey” Adams III, a Richmond attorney who represents retailers at ABC.

Adams also represents a wine wholesaler who is interested in the liquor business. He said many retailers and wholesalers would simply expand to include liquor.

“It’s not like it’s going to be 800 new buildings selling liquor,” he said.

 

We don’t need additional crime in Virginia. There is enough associated with the beer and wine distributors (and if you think there isn’t, don’t kid yourself.)

Once this is done, it cannot be undone. I certainly hope every legislator in Virginia will take the conservative position on selling our ABC stores and will just say NO. 76 years of profit and tradition must stand for something. Long time Virginians are very concerned and do not want to see their state screwed up by people just calling themselves conservative.