Poll: Santorum builds big, if brief, lead in GOP race
It may be fleeting, but Rick Santorum is riding a wave of enthusiasm about victories in presidential contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado earlier in the week to a big lead for the Republican Party nomination in a new national poll.
A Public Policy Polling survey released on Saturday has Santorum with the support of 38 percent among Republican voters, with Mitt Romney at 23 percent, Newt Gingrich at 17 percent and Ron Paul at 13 percent.
Santorum is benefitting from high net favorability among GOP voters (64 percent rate him favorably, 22 percent unfavorably) and the for-the-moment cratering of both Romney and Gingrich. Romney has a +1 net favorability rating (44 percent favorable, 43 percent unfavorable), and Gingrich has a -1 net favorability among Republicans (43 percent favorable, 44 percent unfavorable). Read more
W&L convention picks Romney as GOP presidential nominee
Washington and Lee University’s 2012 Mock Republican Convention awarded its nomination to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on Saturday.
The Indiana delegation put Romney over the top by awarding all 46 of its delegates to him, touching off a flag-waving celebration in the University’s Warner Center.
Following the nomination of Romney, the convention’s tri-chairs announced the choice of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell as the vice presidential nominee. Read more
Federal court dismisses suit against Virginia’s congressional redistricting
On Friday, a federal court dismissed a lawsuit brought by six Virginia residents that sought to have the court draw Virginia’s congressional districts for the upcoming November elections.
Among other reasons, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia dismissed the case based on its finding that the recent actions of the General Assembly in passing a new redistricting rendered the case moot. Read more
Senate passes bill allowing for adoption discrimination
The Senate on Thursday joined the House of Delegates in approving a bill that allows private state-licensed adoption and foster care agencies, many of which are faith-based, to discriminate against prospective parents based on sexual orientation, religion or other bases that may be contrary to the adoption agency’s religious tenets.
The Senate passed SB 349 on a 22 to 18 vote. The House passed HB 189, 71 to 28, on February 3.
“Virginia’s lawmakers are not only allowing private adoption agencies to discriminate against prospective parents, with the passage of this law they seem to be encouraging it,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis.
The legislative measure comes after the State Board of Social Services nearly put in place regulations that would have prohibited discrimination in adoptions and foster care placement, but decided against it when the Governor and anti-gay advocacy groups opposed the changes.
“Less than a year ago, Virginia was on the verge of adopting rather routine non-discrimination rules to apply to state-licensed adoption and foster care agencies,” added Willis. “Now we have turned 180 degrees and are actually enabling discrimination. Suffering most will be the many parentless children in state care whose likelihood of placement with caring families just dropped dramatically.”
Virginia has the second lowest rate of public adoptions in the nation. Currently, over 1,300 vulnerable children in Virginia are in need of homes. More than half of these children are of African-American heritage. This legislation will delay or deny permanency for some children because the state-contracted agency responsible for their placement can turn away qualified families for reasons unrelated to child welfare.
In October, the ACLU of Virginia submitted comments to the Board of Social Services stating that private adoption agencies, including faith-based groups, should not be allowed to discriminate when they perform governmental functions such as certifying adoptive parents or placing children with foster parents.
Crossover: Dems Repubs offer views on ’12 GA session
At a press conference in Richmond on Thursday, members of the House and Senate Democratic caucuses stood together to denounce the dozens of extreme, divisive bills passed over the first month of session.
Republican leaders then responded with a press event aimed at highlighting what they termed their “positive reform agenda.”
“Republicans are so focused on divisive policies that they are hindering our efforts at progress, putting our kids’ education at risk, and leaving them less prepared for the future,” said Senate Democratic Caucus Chair Donald McEachin (D-Henrico). “In the last four weeks, Senate and House Republicans have introduced hundreds of bills that target the poor, women, and immigrants, make it harder to vote, and discriminate against gays and lesbians. It’s time for Republicans to put divisive ideology and raw partisanship aside. Read more
Consumer groups comment on GA’s health exchange gamble
On Wednesday the Senate special subcommittee on health insurance failed to recommend any health exchange bills despite previously acknowledging the irresponsibility of waiting and denying months of work from the governor’s hand-selected health reform panel.
Subcommittee Chair Sen. Jeffrey McWaters moved to wait until after the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the constitutionality of certain provisions of the new federal health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court will begin arguments in March 2012 with a ruling expected in June. Read more
Warner, Webb urge Obama administration to select Mid-Atlantic region as test range for unmanned aircraft systems
U.S. Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.) on Wednesday sent a joint letter to the Secretaries of Defense, Transportation and the NASA Administrator urging them to select the Virginia/Maryland region to host an Unmanned Aircraft Systems test range.
The Senators pointed out that UAS design and testing already takes place in the area, and the region has the appropriate airspace and test ranges for the type of advanced testing and development that will be required. Read more
Group pushes for expansion of Alicia’s Law
Alicia’s Law, the Virginia legislation inspired by the rescue of a captive child, has generated more law enforcement funds than projected in its first two years and should be expanded immediately to ensure more child rescues.
That’s the message delivered today by a group of Virginia law enforcement and legislative leaders who joined the pro-child, anti-crime group PROTECT for a press conference in Richmond.
The gathering included Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, Capt. Kirk Marlowe of the Virginia State Police and Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, as well as Deputy Majority Leader Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) and Sen. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath). Read more
McDonnell touts transportation plan
An analysis of 10 highway projects funded by Gov. Bob McDonnell’s 2011 $4 billion transportation program shows they will provide nearly 3,700 direct jobs during their construction, $190.8 million in personal income, $14.8 million in state and local tax revenues and other benefits to Virginia.
“The Virginia Department of Transportation advertised more than $2 billion worth of construction and maintenance contracts last year, a direct result of the money provided by our 2011 transportation package, which the General Assembly approved,” McDonnell said. “This review of a cross section of new VDOT road projects clearly illustrates that putting such work on the street in turn puts Virginians to work and returns other financial benefits back to the commonwealth.” Read more
McDonnell signs emergency autism legislation
Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday signed House Bill 1106, which covers providers of applied behavior analysis under last year’s autism insurance legislation, into law.
After the 2011 General Assembly adjourned, the Attorney General’s office notified the Board of Medicine they were not authorized by the underlying legislation, House Bill 2467, to promulgate regulations for the licensure of Certified Behavior Analysts. Certified Behavior Analysts provide Applied Behavioral Analysis, the preferred method of treatment, to children diagnosed with autism. Read more
Controversial voter-ID bills pass GA
Both the House of Delegates and the Senate have now passed new restrictions on voting in Virginia that will almost certainly be signed by Gov. Robert McDonnell. SB 1 and HB 9 require voters to show identification at the polls and those without ID must cast a provisional ballot.
SB1 passed the Senate today on a 21-20 vote when Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling cast a tie-breaking vote in favor of the bill.
HB 9 passed the House of Delegates on Feb. 1 on a 69-30 vote.
“The House and Senate voter ID bills have only one purpose — to make it more difficult to vote in Virginia,” said ACLU of Virginia Executive Director Kent Willis. “Most people carry IDs these days, but if they don’t have one, or theirs has been misplaced or stolen, they will have to cast a ballot that will not be counted until the electoral board is convinced of the voter’s identity at a meeting held the day after Election Day.” Read more
Dems urge McDonnell to come back to reality on economic recovery
The Democratic Party of Virginia today urged Bob McDonnell to focus on his job as governor and less on making tortured and patently absurd efforts to explain the nationwide economic recovery as anything other than a reflection on President Barack Obama’s strong leadership.
On Sunday Bob McDonnell went on CNN’s State of the Union and said: “Look, I’m glad the economy is starting to recover, but I think it’s because of what Republican governors are doing in their states, not because of the president.”
In making that argument, McDonnell failed to acknowledge the reality of a nationwide recovery in which states with governors of both parties are emerging from the national recession, including states like Maryland, which created eight times more private-sector jobs than Virginia did last year under the leadership of Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley. Read more
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