Kilgore fleshes out tax-relief plan

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Backdoor tax increases resulting from increases in local property-value reassessments are “unfair,” Republican Party gubernatorial-nomination frontrunner Jerry Kilgore said on Wednesday. “I don’t know about you, but the only number that I care about as a taxpayer goes in that little box on the right-hand side of each check that I…

Fitch waging solo campaign for GOP nod

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Somebody forgot to tell George Fitch that he was supposed to have given up on his bid for the Republican Party gubernatorial nomination a long time ago. “I’ve got another 10,000 miles between now and the primary,” said Fitch, the Warrenton mayor, who is waging the most grassroots of campaigns for…

The politics of teacher pay

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham The group from John C. Myers Elementary School in Broadway was wrapping up its Thursday-afternoon field trip to downtown Harrisonburg when it happened upon a real-life civics lesson. Republican Party gubernatorial-nomination candidate Jerry Kilgore was at a Court Square eatery holding court with reporters on the issue of, yep,…

The ins and outs of homeowner tax relief

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham It sounds like magic. The state comes in and guarantees that homeowners aren’t forced to bear the brunt of the tax burden for local governments, and, voila, it is done, and everybody is happy. Except for local-government officials, who have to figure out how to balance their books without…

The cost of homeowner tax relief: Will the burden be borne by business, industry?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham What’s good for residential property owners is not so good for business and industrial property owners. Not to mention local-government officials charged with the responsibilities of providing public services and balancing the books at the end of the day.

House GOP leaders pledge support for bay cleanup: Impact to be felt in Augusta

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   Ken Fanfoni’s eyes are locked on the date … 2010. It’s not a space odyssey that the Augusta County Service Authority executive director has in mind, but rather a bay odyssey. Service-authority customers in Augusta are on the hook for $25 million in improvements to eight wastewater-treatment plants…

A Kerry (Vanessa) stumps the Valley

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham The presidential campaign trail is a long, winding, unforgiving road. Indeed, if it weren’t for the letters DQ, Vanessa Kerry might have a hard time staying in between the white lines. “When I think of the words campaign trail, my mind immediately goes to little sleep, lots of coffee and cravings…

Tweaking NCLB: Republican delegation to ask feds to ‘back off’

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham When Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, brought up his concerns with respect to the No Child Left Behind education-accountability initiative during the news conference in 2003 in which he announced his candidacy for re-election to the Virginia General Assembly, it didn’t take long for fellow Republicans to paint a…