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
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
AG’s office to fight redistricting suit
The Supreme Court of Virginia on Tuesday denied a writ of prohibition and declined to grant an immediate appeal of a Circuit Court of the City of Richmond decision that refused to dismiss a challenge to the authority of the General Assembly to draw new congressional district lines.
In its order, the Supreme Court said the circuit court’s ruling was not sufficiently definitive to permit immediate review. The Supreme Court also explicitly declined to reach the merits of the underlying case at this time.
The attorney general’s office intends to do everything within its control to obtain an immediate, definitive, reviewable order from the circuit court.
“The elected representatives of the citizens of Virginia have passed a redistricting plan through the legislative process,” said Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, “and we will continue to seek to protect the result of that process.” Read more
Farm Bureau: Farmers visit Capitol to lobby on eminent-domain
Farmers said their Jan. 24 visits to members of the General Assembly during Virginia Farm Bureau Federation’s annual Legislative Day were a critical step in securing a constitutional amendment to protect private property from eminent domain abuse.
Farm Bureau leaders meet annually with their state delegates and senators to share their thoughts on legislative issues relevant to agriculture and to explain why Farm Bureau has taken some of its specific stands.
“There is no substitute to being present … emails don’t compare to a good, solid handshake,” said Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who spoke to about 150 Farm Bureau leaders. He also has voiced support for the constitutional amendment. Read more
Bolling takes swipe at Cuccinelli over primary
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has reversed his position on an earlier public call for immediate action that would allow candidates who failed to qualify for the March Republican presidential primary a spot on the ballot.
Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling took a swipe at his rival for the 2013 GOP gubernatorial nomination in the aftermath, encouraging Cuccinelli to “avoid making public statements that criticize our state election laws while his office is defending the State Board of Elections.”
“I am concerned that such public comments could be used against the Commonwealth in our effort to defend these lawsuits, and I am confident that the attorney general would not want to do anything that could jeopardize his office’s ability to win this case,” Bolling said in a statement. Read more
Cuccinelli amends stance on ballot access
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has reversed course on his call for immediate corrective action regarding ballot access for the March Republican Party presidential primary.
“After working through different scenarios with Republican and Democratic leaders to attempt to make changes in time for the 2012 presidential election, my concern grows that we cannot find a way to make such changes fair to the Romney and Paul campaigns that qualified even with Virginia’s burdensome system,” Cuccinelli said in a statement Sunday night. Read more
Poll: Virginians divided over State Senate split
A new Public Policy Polling survey reveals that Virginia voters think that Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling would be acting in accord with the state Constitution if he were to break a tie in favor of giving Republicans control olf the State Senate, but that at the same time the GOP should share power with Democrats in accord with the results of the November General Assembly elections.
Fifty-five percent of Virginia voters think there should be some sort of power-sharing arrangement, according to a PPP poll released Friday, while only 31 percent of voters think Republicans should have full control of the senior chamber. The key voting bloc there is independents, who side with Democrats in backing power-sharing by a 53 percent-to-28 percent margin.
The split in favor of Bolling’s power to vote to break ties is much closer – with 37 percent saying they feel he has the power to side with Republicans in the Senate organization and 34 percent saying they don’t think he has that power. Read more
