The car tax as a Senate voting issue

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] “Since my time as your governor,” Jim Gilmore writes in a fundraising letter that went out last week, “I have routinely been vilified by the biased liberal media, by the state Democratic Party and even by the liberal tax-and-spend members of my own party. Why? Because I promised…

Deeds stops in Staunton, pledges to fight for Dem nomination

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Another afternoon, another dinner with a few dozen friends, another few thousand dollars to take back to the campaign treasurer, which ought to keep what could turn out to be a $25 million election going for, well, another hour or two, at the least. Creigh Deeds has been down this…

Winners and Losers: July 11, 2008

Chris Graham

Compiled by Chris Graham [email protected] LOSER: Did GOP have ulterior motives in pushing transportation stalemate? I ask that in light of the talk today about how the ongoing stalemate could impact Kaine’s chances for being named the #2 man on the Barack Obama ticket. I would suspect that kicking Timmy in the shins to keep…

Early start to ’09 Dem governor’s race

Chris Graham

Special Commentary by Chris Graham [email protected] The battle for next year’s Democratic Party nomination is ever-so-quietly heating up. House Democratic Caucus chair Brian Moran seems to have been focusing his attention on cornering the Mark Warner market at the outset of the ’09 nomination race. Moran has some of the big guns from the Warner…

Winners and Losers: Lucente, Goodlatte, Virginia GOP, Sixth District Dems

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] WINNER: Frank Lucente gets his majority Give the old codger credit. A lot had to work just right for him to do it, but he did it. Now comes the hard part. He proved himself adept at being in the minority. But how will he do running the show when…

Landes provides updates on legislative activities in Richmond

Chris Graham

Column by Steve Landes This last week in Richmond was one of the busiest and most eventful of the session, as the General Assembly has now reached the home stretch in completing its work for 2008. In a week that began with a federal holiday and ended with my attendance at the celebration of the…

House releases conservative budget

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report by Rob Bell With the worsening budget numbers, the House of Delegates released its biennial budget. Unlike the governor’s budget, the House budget does not cut $220 million in school construction and lottery money that was going to local schools. These cuts would have cost my four local school divisions over $3…

Budget Sunday

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline This past Sunday was “Budget Sunday,” the day that the House and Senate appropriations committees released their amendments to the two-year budget that the governor introduced last December. Legislators, lobbyists and other groups with a stake in the budget waited in line for hours to get copies…