David Reynolds | A conservative for Deeds

David Reynolds

This one won’t be easy. Last week’s commentary was a piece of cake. We suggested Jody Wagner for lieutenant governor and Steve Shannon for attorney general. Now for the main event between Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds. Writing about the gubernatorial contest last summer would have been easy. A clear picture was seen. There was…

AFP Focus | Treasurer candidates debate audit issues

AFP

Waynesboro treasurer Sandee Dixon is facing three challengers, including two write-in challengers, in the wake of a series of four state audit reports raising issue with her management of the city money office. The four faced a question on the audit issue at a candidates forum sponsored by Waynesboro Citizens for Responsible Spending Wednesday night….

AFP Focus | Checking homework in 20th

Chris Graham

Two issues to delve into the 20th District race today, both involving homework. First, regarding Adrian Rogers and Dickie Bell being a “Republican for a Reason.” The website for Bell, the Republican nominee, featured a quote from the late Rogers, the former head of the American Southern Baptist Convention, on socialism on a webpage titled…

VPT InDepth | Road worriers

Chris Graham

You’re Pierce Homer, the Secretary of Transportation in Virginia. For five years, you’ve been overseeing reforms at the Virginia Department of Transportation that have six in seven projects completed on time and on budget, nearly three times the rate of efficiency that we saw out of VDOT from the Allen and Gilmore administrations. You’ve seen…

Analyst: Fiscal outlook for localities not good

Chris Graham

Staunton City Council got a bit of a fiscal reality check on Thursday from James Reginbal from the Richmond consulting firm Fiscal Analytics. “Nobody in Virginia has really felt the effects of this recession yet. Localities are behind the state because the state has been able to shield localities from the worst effects so far,”…

Kaine announces stimulus funds for bridges

Chris Graham

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Thursday announced that 119 bridges across the Commonwealth will be replaced or repaired using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Commonwealth Transportation Board has awarded seven construction contracts to replace 119 structurally deficient bridges across the state that would otherwise have gone unaddressed. The awarded contracts, totaling…

UVa. baseball class ranked ninth nationally

Chris Graham

Virginia’s 2009 baseball recruiting class has been ranked ninth nationally by Baseball America, as announced by the magazine on Tuesday. This marks the second Top-10 ranking this class has accrued – Collegiate Baseball ranked the class 10th in September. “I am very excited about this new group of players,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said….

AFP InDepth | A ‘strategic quiet’ on the LGBT front

Chris Graham

You don’t need to go as far as gay marriage. A candidate can win the support of the LGBT community by advocating legislation that would allow employees to include gay and lesbian partners in group life-insurance policies. Indeed, it doesn’t take much to break through what Jay Fisette, the Arlington County Board of Supervisors member…

GOP, for the most part, dominating local House money races

Chris Graham

26th District Democrat Gene Hart is giving Republican incumbent Matt Lohr a run for his re-election money, literally. Aside from Hart, though, Democratic candidates contending for seats representing the Central Shenandoah Valley in Richmond are struggling to keep pace with their Republican counterparts. Hart actually outraised Lohr in the Sept. 1-30 reporting period, according to…