Polls: The people are speaking

Chris Graham

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham [email protected] The Augusta Free Press and The News Virginian have been polling their web readers on the news involving the forced resignation of Waynesboro city manager Doug Walker, and the early returns aren’t looking good for the new conservative majority on Waynesboro City Council.

Michael departure bad news for GOP, good news for Dems

Chris Graham

The Local Beat column by Chris Graham [email protected] The Republican Party is going to miss Kurt Michael – big time. Michael affirmed in a blog posting at sixtyfour81.com on Tuesday that he will step down from the position of chair of the GOP committee in Augusta County as he had promised back in April. He…

The loudest silence I’ve ever heard

Chris Graham

Fear and Loathing in Waynesboro column by Chris Graham [email protected] Silence. Absolute silence. That’s what we’ve gotten from Bruce Allen regarding the effective firing of city manager Doug Walker that he helped engineer. The official word, according to a News Leader reporter with whom I spoke Thursday, is that Allen is out of town, and…

County Republicans to decide future this week

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] This has been coming for some time. You could say dating back to the walkup to the 2007 Republican Party primary that saw Scott Sayre challenge Emmett Hanger for the 24th District GOP nomination, though I think it was significantly before that. The discord between Hanger, who held off Sayre’s…

Rasoul, Richardson talk budget, taxes

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Bob Goodlatte threw down the gauntlet. “Their budget proposal calls for $683 billion in new taxes over the next five years. That would mean a tax increase for more than 116 million American taxpayers, who will face an average tax hike of $1,800. And while obviously businesses large and small…

Overtime

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline Under Article 4 of the Constitution of Virginia, “no regular session of the General Assembly convened in an even-numbered year shall continue longer than sixty days.” That means that the 2008 session should have adjourned for the year on Saturday, March 8. However, as the hours passed last Saturday,…