May Surprise in 24th GOP race

Story by Chris Graham

You’ve heard of October Surprises. How about a June Surprise – a day early?

A report on a local politics website has brought to light two drunk-driving convictions on the record of Mary Brandt Sayre, the wife of 24th Senate District Republican Party nomination candidate Scott Sayre, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Emmett Hanger in a June 12 party primary. Read more

Night sounds provide sonnabulistic serenade

Bishop’s Mantle column by Jim Bishop

“It’s 3 a.m., there’s too much noise Don’t you people ever go to bed … ?”

-Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones (1965) Read more

Cox wins Dem nomination

Story by Chris Graham

The mood was triumphant, almost giddy.

Republicans in the 24th Senate District seem almost hopelessly divided – and local Democrats think they smell blood in the water.

“We have this unprecedented opportunity to get somebody in this seat who can make a difference in Richmond, who can help Gov. Kaine, who can help unite our people,” said David Cox, a Rockbridge County Democrat who was nominated to run for the 24th District seat in the Virginia Senate tonight at a Democratic Party mass meeting in Verona. Read more

A funny thing happened on the way to the Pirate movie

Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen

(My Conscience, bedraggled and annoyed at never being listened to, crawls out of my ear and sits on my shoulder.)

Conscience: Hey Carly, how come you’re not reviewing that new Pirate movie?

Me: Begone, you blithering jackanapes!

Conscience: I don’t blither. And you just KNOW everybody is anxious to see how you liked the third installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Me: Yeah, right. Well, a funny thing happened to me on the way to the Pirate movie.

Conscience: That smells like a title. And a corny one, to boot.

Me: Oh, why was I born the only film reviewer in the world with a Conscience?

Conscience: OK, I’m sorry. Get on with it. Our reader’s beginning to wonder where all this is going.

Me: Well, I made the mistake of waiting until just last week to even see the second entry in that franchise. It ran two and a half hours, and I’m all pirated-out.

Conscience: Yeah, and the third one’s even longer.

Me: So I went to see “Waitress” instead. It’s coming to the Visulite over in Staunton soon.

Conscience: Fair enough. Let’s hear the review.

Me: This film really grabbed the critics, and movie fans, too. Kinda like the “Little Miss Sunshine” phenomenon. It’s a sweet little thing about a pie-baking waitress who’s trying to escape from her sleazeball husband.

Kerri Russell, that girl from “Felicity” with the heart-shaped face, is so down-to-earth perfect in the lead that she makes you simply ignore a few scenes that border on being cutesy. Her two pal-waitresses are played by Cheryl Hines, a great little actress who’s more remembered for her TV work, and Adrienne Shelly, who also wrote and directed the film.

Tragically, she died just before “Waitress” opened. It takes place mostly in Joe’s Pie Diner, somewhere in the South, where Russell is planning to run off, enter a big pie-baking contest, and escape from her dumbheaded hubby.

Jeremy Sisko gets to play the husband, and it must have been fun. He’s a total low-life – clinging and narcissistic on one hand, violent and dangerous on the other.

Andy Griffith plays a whimsical old goat of a customer, and Lew Temple is the curmudgeonly manager who delivers a great little hunk of philosophy when Russell asks him if he’s happy.

“Happy enough,” he says, “don’t expect much. Don’t get much. I’m just sort of happy with whatever comes along. I’m happy enough.”

While the business of the movie swirls around Russell’s fabulous pie-making ability, natch she meets the man of her dreams: her new ob-gyn. Canadian actor Nathan Fillion plays him not unsympathetically and their relationship is quirky enough to remain interesting.

Young character actor Eddie Jemison proves to be a highlight amongst the requisite cast of wacky customers, playing a “stalking elf” that’s smitten by doofus/waitress Adrienne Shelly.

It’s quite an easygoing movie; real enjoyment, and a chance to finally experience Kerri Russell’s considerable acting chops.

I’ve seen 80 movies this year, and so far, this is the best of the lot.

Conscience: Sounds pretty good. And by the way, happy anniversary.

Me: Huh?

Conscience: It’s Memorial Day, mush-brains! It’s your 35th wedding anniversary! I bet you forgot to get Celeste a present!

Me: Just being married to ME that long is enough of a blessing for anyone! I took her to the movies, for gosh sakes. She should bake me a pie.

Conscience: Oh boy! Wait’ll she reads this! You’re gonna catch it, buster!

Me: You’re blithering again.

Conscience: Am not.

Me: Are, too.

Conscience: Am not. (They continue, ad infinitum.)

Carl Larsen is a regular contributor to The New Dominion. Look for his At the Movies column on Mondays.

Will you support the winner?

Story by Chris Graham

Can the 24th Senate District GOP get back on the same page after the June 12 party primary featuring incumbent Emmett Hanger and challenger Scott Sayre?

That is one question. Read more

Immigration issues in the 24th GOP race

Story by Chris Graham

Emmett Hanger has come under fire from Scott Sayre in their contest for the 24th Senate District Republican Party nomination for his efforts to get legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants meeting several specific conditions to qualify for in-state tuition benefits.

We asked the two candidates to discuss their positions on the issue in our interviews with them for this week’s “New Dominion” Internet radio podcast. Read more

The seniority issue in the GOP primary

Story by Chris Graham

Emmett Hanger has been highlighting his experience and seniority in his race for renomination by the 24th Senate District Republican Party. Read more

Hanger, Sayre address local tax issues

Story by Chris Graham

Taxpayers in Waynesboro, Staunton and communities across the Commonwealth undergoing property-value reassessments this year are feeling more than a pinch. Read more

24th GOP candidates talk budget issues

Story by Chris Graham

The big news out of Richmond this week is that the state is facing a possible $300 million budget deficit due to slowed tax collections. Read more

Who is the fiscal conservative?

Story by Chris Graham

Taxes and spending have been a central issue for 24th Senate District Republican Party nomination candidates Emmett Hanger and Scott Sayre.

The New Dominion asked the candidates in interviews for our Internet radio podcast about a divide that seems to be in place between the two on their positions on fiscal issues – specifically over what it means to be a fiscal conservative and fiscally responsible.

Emmett Hanger

“Actually, it started more in Northern Virginia as far as Virginia – and some in the Tidewater. It’s been sport in the party in Northern Virginia for some time – in fact, some of us from rural areas had somewhat joked, because they have a tendency up there to knock off each other, that if they ever got their act together up there, and stayed behind a candidate, so that they could have a little bit of seniority, then we’d have trouble. Because they have more votes than we do – but they have a tendency to be fighting amongst themselves all the time rather than being able to align all their votes against those of us that represent rural areas. So for those of us in rural areas, obviously that’s a good thing.”
“There are degrees of being a Republican – and certainly I have I think unquestioned Republican credentials, because I go back for over 25 years being a member of the Republican Party and helping to build the Republican Party here in the Valley. Fiscal conservatism, specifically, or fiscal responsibility, to me, has to do with much more than being for or against any particular tax. It has to do with balancing budgets and being fiscally responsible.”
“I won’t call it a fad, but it’s almost that within the Republican Party, and it wasn’t generated here in Virginia, it basically has been something that’s been pushed at the federal level by a group primarily started by Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, and there are probably at least half a dozen other groups that are trying to emulate what he’s done.”

“At the federal level they have banded together to exercise a lot of influence, by requiring people to sign a pledge, and then really giving them a rough time if they violated that pledge – and they had a game plan then of working down at the state level, and that’s what they’ve done across the nation, with varying levels of success or lack of success in some states.”

“We speak to limited government – it’s one of the planks in the creed of the Republican Party, which I’ve basically used as my guideline for political philosophy ever since I joined. It became a plank in the Republican Party back in 1975 – really when the party was somewhat drifting. Prior to that, the Democrats were actually here in the Valley very conservative and in control, and the Republican Party nationwide was reeling in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. And in 1975, a group of people got together and just delineated what the party stood for – and it’s stood the test of time.”

“It’s a good statement of philosophy – but what I find now is there are a lot of people that want to interpret it in a very narrow fashion rather than the broad implications of what fiscal responsibility or fiscal conservatism really means.”

Scott Sayre

“Three things compelled me to run for this Senate seat. Number one, seemingly unending tax increases. Number two, an elected official who seems to be out of touch with his constituents. And number three, wasteful spending.”
“Fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraint are the tenet of the Republican Creed – and in order to stick to the Republican Creed, what we need to do is go back and find out how do you spend the money that you have, and where do you spend that? So while I believe in taxes to support our core services in the government, what’s out of control right now is spending – and whenever you have a lust for spending, you’re trying to find revenues to satisfy that lust. And you’ll never satisfy it as long as you have no restraint in your budgetary practices.”

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