Property Tax Fever

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham Quentin Kidd calls it a “sleeper factor” – though the mini-revolts that we have been witnessing statewide over what have become effective tax increases that have resulted from increased local property-value reassessments this spring could reawaken from their brief slumber in time to play a key role in next week’s Republican…

Immigration issues in the 24th GOP race

Chris Graham

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…

Who is the fiscal conservative?

Chris Graham

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…

Sayre takes no-tax pledge

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham It should be no surprise that Scott Sayre has made formal his pledge against raising taxes. Sayre, a Buena Vista businessman who is challenging incumbent Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, for the Republican Party nomination in the 24th Senate District, made it official on Tuesday – announcing that he has signed…

The battle for the heart and soul of the GOP

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   For a brief moment or two after the 2006 midterm elections, it had seemed that the Republican Party was perhaps going off its ideological moorings. The talk was reaching the level of near-clamor regarding how the GOP was going to have to consider retreating from the right-wing conservative…

What the heck just happened?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   You listen to Bob Goodlatte, Republican congressman from the Sixth District of Red State Virginia, heading into his eighth term, finishing out his second two-year term as chairman of the powerful House Agriculture Committee, talk about life on Capitol Hill, and you realize pretty quickly that a sea…

Warner rallies Dems in Staunton

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Mark Warner has been down this road before – lending his name and expending his political capital to aid political protege Tim Kaine’s run at the governor’s job last fall. The businessman-turned-Virginia political favorite son knows that there is risk involved to engaging in such efforts. “If you feel like you…

Race issues dog Allen

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   A group of former University of Virginia football teammates of U.S. Sen. George Allen alleges that the former quarterback regularly used the n-word to refer to African-Americans. A second group of the Republican’s former teammates has stepped up to say that this is not true. Meanwhile, the state’s…