Rigell, Hirschbiel push for campaign ad agreement

Democrat Paul Hirschbiel and U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Virginia Beach, opponents in the fall election for the 2nd District Congressional seat, exchanged letters Monday asking for positive campaigns.

"Unlike candidates in many congressional races, Paul, you and I are not strangers," Rigell said in his letter to Hirschbiel. "We know each other. We respect each other. We believe the other is sincere in his desire to serve. That level of mutual respect presents us with an uncommon opportunity and a firm foundation upon which to engage in a far more civil and honorable debate, one deserving of those we seek to serve."

Then he made his offer, saying "I propose we agree upon the following:

• We will not question the other's character, compassion or ethics.
• We will not engage in negative campaigning or run ads that mention the other candidate, but rather focus instead on highlighting our respective sets of solutions for America.

We agree that the success of this agreement is dependent on outside groups honoring the spirit and intent of the two candidates. We agree to publicly state our desire for this kind of positive campaign to be reflected in all campaign advertising, including advertising ran by outside groups."

Hirschbiel replied later, with his own set of suggestions.

"I believe it’s imperative that we both agree to run an honest and open campaign that is focused on the facts and the issues," Hirschbiel writes. "With many pressing challenges facing our country, Hampton Roads voters deserve a substantial discussion on these critical issues facing our nation.  Therefore, I am proposing the Commonwealth’s Commitment to Honest and Open Campaigns. 

• We will have an honest campaign focused on the issues and facts. 
• We should ensure that shady outside groups who do not publicly disclose their donors do not run television, radio or web advertisements. 
• We will agree that if any outside group, that refuses to publicly disclose their donors, advertises on a candidate’s behalf that one-half the cost of that advertising buy will be donated out of the campaign’s account to a charity of the opponent’s choice.

Hampton Roads will be the ones to hold us accountable if this pledge is broken. "

No word yet as to whether the campaigns have been able to broker an agreement.

 

What Gov. McDonnell said about homosexuality and judges in 2003

Virginia is again in national headlines thanks to actions taken by the General Assembly, this time the rejection of a gay judicial candidate by Republicans in the House of Delegates.

The New York Times story includes a statement issued by Gov. Bob McDonnell on the matter, and points out criticism of the statement by Democrats:

Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, weighed in on the debate Tuesday, sending out a statement that implicitly condemned the vote, saying judicial candidates “must be considered based solely on their merit, record, aptitude and skill.”

The statement also said Mr. McDonnell had “long made clear that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is not acceptable in state government,” an assertion that his Democratic opponents say contradicts his own record.

The Democrats are referring in particular to the handling of a Newport News judge back in 2003. At the time, McDonnell was a state delegate and chairman of the House Courts of Justice Committee, which considers judicial appointments.

In an interview with the Daily Press, McDonnell said that while a person's sexual orientation should not disqualify him or her from being a judge, engaging in homosexual sexual activity might, as it violates the state's "crimes against nature" law, which remains on the books.

"There is certain homosexual conduct that is in violation of the law," McDonnell told the Daily Press. "I'm not telling you I would disqualify a judge per se if he said he was gay. I'm talking about their actions."

The complete 2003 Daily Press story follows below the fold.

E.W. Jackson to discuss beatings of Pilot reporters in Norfolk

 Republican Senate hopeful E.W. Jackson will appear on The O'Reilly Factor Wednesday night to discuss the assault of two Virginian-Pilot reporters last month.

The host of the show, Bill O'Reilly, has run several segments about the beatings. A news release from Jackson's campaign said he would "challenge political leaders of all levels and party affiliations to "de-racialize" the problem of violence in our communities and realize these  realize that these issues are really problems of values, lawlessness, the breakdown of the family and turning away from God."

McAuliffe says he'll run for governor -- if Warner doesn't

Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic fundraiser and Clinton family friend, tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch that he is going to run for governor again -- unless Sen. Mark Warner runs.

Then, he says, he'll be the first to endorse Warner.

McAuliffe jumped into the governor's race in 2009, in what became a three-way race for the Democratic nomination. The two other contestants were Sen. Creigh Deeds and Rep. Brian Moran. Moran had spent years building a campaign network, and was considered the frontrunner.

In the three-way race, Moran recevied about 76,000 votes, McAuliffe took about 84,000, and Deeds walked off with 159,000 votes and the nomination.

The low-key -- some would say lackluster -- Deeds went on to get slaughtered by Republican Bob McDonnell.

This election cycle, McAuliffe is the only Democrat publicly talking about running. So what does Warner have to say?

In a meeting with the Daily Press last week, Warner was quite clear that he loved being governor -- the best job he ever had, he said.

He was asked if that meant he was going to run for governor again and if so, when.

Warner said something vague about how "the model would have to be different," then spoke for several minutes about how Virginians all used to know someone from other parts of the state.

When he concluded his somewhat lengthy, wistful monologue, he was then asked what that had to do with him running for governor.

"Nothing really," he admitted. "I was trying to punt on that."

Our conjecture is that the "model" he referred to had to do with how to organize and run a campaign. And it was clear that it wasn't the first time he'd given it thought.

Our suggestion for Terry McAuliffe would be: Don't jump in just yet -- and thanks for trying to flush Warner out of the brush.

Read the full Times-Dispatch story here.

Allen, Kaine will make Hampton Roads stops this weekend

The campaign for the U.S. Senate will be in full swing this weekend in Hampton Roads. Former Gov. Tim Kaine and former Governor and Senator George Allen both made speeches Friday in Hampton at the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance convention.

Kaine will speak Friday evening at the James City County Democratic Banquet, which is being held at the Williamsburg Hotel and Conference Center.

Allen will be speaking Saturday night at the Virginia Federation of Republican Women Convention being held at the Williamsburg lodge.

Shad Planking draws conservative crowd

Shortly after former Sen. George Allen gave the keynote speech at the 64th Annual Shad Planking, Chairman Robert W. Bain, told reporters he didn't think any Democratic candidates for statewide office were at the event.

“I wish the Democrats were here,” Bain said. “It would sell more tickets. We are non-partisan. We don’t endorse.” In recent years, the festival which Allen heralded as the "pre-eminent bi-partisan political event in Virginia" has had a more Republican-oriented feel, according to Christopher Newport University political scientist Quentin Kidd.

Allen kicked off his speech making a sports joke.

"With the 2nd pick in the NFL Draft, the Washington Redskins select," Allen said, before cutting himself off. "Oops that's my brother's speech," he said, referring to his brother Bruce Allen, general manager of the Washington Redskins. At the draft next week, the Redskins are expected to select the highly touted, Heisman trophy-winning quarterback, Robert Griffin III.

Allen drew loud cheers throughout his speech, especially when he said he would like to cast the deciding vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act Congress passed in 2010.

Event organizers estimated the crowd size at about 2,000 this year. The line for the festival's heralded smoked shad stayed long through much of the day. Attendees also were treated to corn muffins, baked beans, cole slaw, pickles and fried fish.

Allen arrives at Shad Planking

Former Sen. George Allen has arrived at the Shad Planking with a long trail of supporters following him.

Allen is the only speaker this year after event organizers said they didn't hear from his likely opponent, former Gov. Tim Kaine, by February's deadline. Kaine's campaign has claimed they were never aware of any deadlines to respond.

E.W. Jackson, who is running for Senate in the Republican primary, said it was "unfortunate" event organizers only allowed one speaker.

"We did ask if we could speak," Jackson said. Jackson said he'd spent the day talking with voters and was hopeful he could gain traction before the race was over.

64th Annual Shad Planking underway

We're out here at the 64th annual Shad Planking in Wakefield, Va., where former Sen. George Allen is the keynote speaker. The festival, devoted to greasy fish and political chatter, is filled with campaign booths and lapel stickers.

Among the more interesting sights so far is a three-week old lamb, in a Randy Forbes T-shirt, named Rambo.

Rep. Gordon Helsel comments on budget delay

Lost in Tuesday's kerfluffle over the state budget was the relatively peaceful House of Delegates. As the Senate wrangled over the compromise spending plan, ultimately failing to pass it, the same compromise sailed through the House 77-19.

Del. Gordon Helsel of Poquoson weighed in on his frustration with Those On The Other Side.

“It’s a very difficult thing to understand as to how the Democrats in the Senate are able to hold the entire state of Virginia hostage over this budget. It’s a compromise. The entire state is in a quandary with no funding for judges, teachers, localities.”

For the record, he's not optimistic that the issue will be settled today.

UPDATE: As of 1:12 p.m., no action on the Senate on the failed budget. (Not that we were holding our breath.) Sen. Walter Stosch, R-Henrico, said Republicans who support the budget are still hoping to get at least one Democrat to go along with them, getting to the necessary 21 votes.

The current problem relates to highway tolls in Northern Virginia, the revenue of which will go toward extension of MetroRail to Dulles airport. Northern Virginia Democrats want financial assistance so toll payers don't shoulder so much of the burden.

Perhaps, Stosch said, there is away to convince the other side that their needs will be addressed in a meaningful way over the long term. This would require more than a "we've-agreed-to-come-back-and-talk-some-more" - something more substative.

What form that takes, we'll have to wait and see.

 

Does the state budget rise from the dead today?

Welcome to the one-day reconvened session of the General Assembly, where lawmakers meet to consider amendments and vetoes sent down by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

And on a personal note, it's nice to be blogging back on Shad Plank -- and on the day of the Shad Planking, no less! As the former statehouse reporter for the Daily Press, I helped start this blog back in the dark days before Twitter and Facebook and smart phones. I think Shad Plank was powered by coal back then.

Ah, those halcyon days of budget stalemates and partisan bickering and Sen. Tommy Norment giving the in-your-face quote.

I'm talking about 2001, when a dispute over the car tax dragged the session into overtime, without a budget agreeement, and Norment wondered aloud whether then-Gov. Jim Gilmore was smoking hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Fast forward to 2012, when a dispute over transportion has dragged the General Assembly into overtime, and Norment said yesterday that he pitied poor Sen. Chuck Colgan for getting kidney-punched (figuratively speaking, of course) by Sen. Dick Saslaw.

Good to know things haven't changed.

Anyway, we digress.

Attention will be focused today on whether the Senate can bring back the budget compromise that fell apart yesterday on the Senate floor.

The budget failed to pass 20-19 on Tuesday (It needs at least 21 votes) and that will undoubtedly make school officials and local government types very nervous. Also threatened: the timing of VDOT work and various interesting projects on the drawing board in Hampton Roads.

UPDATE: The Senate convened at 11:45 a.m. to restart yesterday's failed budget session, they recessed that until 1 p.m. and at 12 noon they began the one-day session on amendments and vetoes.

Got it?

So glad we're back.