Anti-abortion group targets Sen. Locke at church with brutal ads

As Sen. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, and other parishioners left the St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church in Hampton after services Sunday morning they were greeted with images of dead fetuses on a sign proclaiming, "Locke Pro-Abortion!"

A new right-to-life group, Save the Babies Fund, LLC, parked three trucks in across from St. Vincent DePaul and anti-abortion activists stood outside handing out leaflets that listed Locke's voting record on abortion issues.

"It's absolutely disgusting," Locke told the Daily Press Monday.

The pictures were taken by Hampton Democratic Party chair Gaylene Kanoyton, who attends St. Vincent DePaul with Locke. She gave the Daily Press permission to use the photos.

For his part, Locke's Republican opponent, Thomas Harmon, in the state's 2nd Senate District said Monday his campaign was not involved in any way and that he was just finding out about the incident Monday.

Locke clarified her stance on abortion, saying she is pro-choice, which is not the same as being pro-abortion.

"I'm pro-choice and I do not see that as favoring abortion," Locke said. "I don't feel I'm in a position to tell any women who makes the decision to have an abortion or not that I can tell her what she can and can't do."

She also questioned the groups motives.

"The interesting part is there were three trucks parked in the parking lot of a church adjacent to ours. That's clearly mixing religion and politics," Locke said.

The organization, Save the Babies Fund, LLC, is apparently targeting other local senate campaigns as well and has proved difficult to track down.

 A representative from Sen. John Miller's, D-Newport News, campaign said he wasn't aware of ads targeted against Miller. However, an official with Mickey Chohany's, Miller's GOP opponent for the 1st Senate District, campaign said a van with the same message directed towards Miller was spotted recently in a Walmart parking lot in Williamsburg.

She said the Chohany campaign has no knowledge of the group and is distancing itself from the ads.

Locke said as one of the vans left the area near her church Sunday, she saw members of the group responsible peeling off the Harmon-Locke sign to reveal one that had the same message in the Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk,-Ben Loyola race in the 6th Senate District which read, "Loyola Pro-Life!," "Northam Pro-Abortion!"

Save the Babies Fund, LLC was incorporated with Virginia's State Corporation Commission on Sept. 22, using a Nevada based company InCorp Services as its registering agent.

No information was available on Save the Babies Fund, LLC from the State Corporation Commission other than an address in Virginia Beach, 6405 Auburn Drive, and a signature from organizer Peter Barker.

The group is not registered with the State Board of Elections, nor does it have to be.

The organization is within its rights to produce such messages as long as they don't specifically advocate for a particular candidate - i.e. saying, "Vote for Harmon," or "Don't vote for Locke," according to the State Board of Elections.

This type of political speech was protected by the U.S. Supreme Court in its "Citizens United" decision last year.

The Daily Press did contact InCorp Services to see if more information on Save the Babies could be obtained. InCorp said it could not give out client information but offered to contact the organization with a message to call the Daily Press. As of publishing we have received no calls from the group.

The Daily Press online section email account received the following email Sunday night:

"A group of pro-life Catholics witnessed outside the Catholic church of Senator Mamie Locke today - St. Vincent DePaul's in Hampton Va.  Mamie is up for re-election this year, and the group wanted to address her 100% pro-abortion voting record in the Senate.  The Family Foundation of Virginia gave Mamie a zero for Family Friendly votes in this last session.

After Mass this morning, Mamie was surprised to see several large signs in front of St. Vincent's that said, "Harmon, Pro-LIfe!, Locke Pro-Abortion! with a picture of a live baby for Harmon and an aborted one for Locke. And despite Mamie's obvious displeasure at the signs, her 100% pro-abortion voting record stands on its own.

The pro-life Catholics were there to witness to their Catholic faith.  You can't be Catholic and pro-abortion!  Many parishioners took flyers with Mamie's contradictory voting record - a record that puts her in suspension with the larger Catholic Church.  Politicians who support abortion are required to refrain from receiving communion, but Mamie does not honor her suspension.  In fact, she was a scheduled lector at the morning Mass, and she commented to one witness that her church supports her.

The pro-life witnesses hope that Mamie's parish priest or Richmond Bishop DiLorenzo will take a closer look at the scandal Mamie is causing in her church and for the diocese."

Follow-up emails from the Daily Press to the sender of this message for comment or information on Save the Babies fund, LLC have gone unanswered. If anyone has any contact information on the organization please send it along to Daily Press political reporter Todd Wilson by email to tawilson@dailypress.com or by phone at 757-897-2148.

For her part, Locke said in her political career, which includes serving on the Hampton City Council and Mayor of Hampton prior to being elected to the state Senate, said she's never seen this level of attacks before.

"In all the campaigns I have ever run - and I've been in a heated primary and heated elections before - I've never been in one where it was felt you had to engage in this kind of tactic," Locke said.

 

 

Chohany to hold tele-town hall Tuesday

Mickey Chohany, Republican candidate for the state's 1st Senate District, is holding a tele-town hall Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. to reach out to voters.

Chohany's campaign office will take questions from voters about the issues and where he stands.

In order to participate people must email their phone numbers to brandy@mickeyforsenate.com and they will receive a call from the tele-town hall.

Chohany is challenging incumbent Sen. John Miller, D-Newport News, in a highly competitive race targeted by the state GOP in it's attempts to win back control of the state Senate from Democrats.

Northam plays trump card during Wednesday's debate

Sen. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk, waited until the end of Wednesday night's debate at Old Dominion University with his Republican opponent for the state's 6th Senate District, Ben Loyola, to drop a perfectly timed counter to what he said were accusations from his opponent of being a "roadblock" in the General Assembly to Gov. Bob McDonnell's policy agenda.

Throughout the debate Loyola praised the popular Republican governor - recent polls show McDonnell with a 62 percent job approval rating - for keeping unemployment rate in the commonwealth lower than the national average, for helping to solve the state transportation woes with a package that included $3 billion in bonds, and making Virginia the best state in the country to do business.

Loyola repeatedly said he couldn't wait to get up to Richmond to work with McDonnell in support of the governor's policy agenda.

While Northam did paint himself as a bipartisan, moderate lawmaker willing to buck his party in favor of what he saw as legislation that was good for his district and the state as a whole, pointing to being a member of the Commonwealth Caucus, which is made up of two Democratic and two Republican Senators who are all freshman lawmakers, and to being a cosponsor of McDonnell's transportation proposal, he saved his best evidence of his bipartisan credentials for last.

"I want to read to you just a quick statement from a letter that I received actually on my birthday, Sept. 13. And I'll tell you who signed it in just a second," Northam said as he neared the end of his closing remarks. "It was to thank me for what I had done for making Virginia the best state to start a business in. And the end, the last sentence, 'Your commitment to economic development continues to serve all Virginians well as we maintain our focus on job creation and economic development. Thank you for your partnership in creating new opportunities for our citizens. Sincerely, Robert F. McDonnell, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.' "

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, which tracks campaign contributions in Virginia politics, McDonnell's Opportunity Virginia PAC has not made any contributions to Loyola's campaign as of the last reporting period - which ran through Sept. 30, with candidate reports being due Oct. 17.

We don't know if McDonnell sent Loyola a birthday card too, but it doesn't look like the governor has given him any presents. 

Gary West releases transportation plan

In a follow up to a jobs plan and an education plan he has put out over the past couple of weeks, Gary West, Democratic candidate for the 94th House District, unveiled his transportation plan on Wednesday.

“I want to reduce gridlock on our roads and in the general assembly.  While we spend more time in traffic, the House of Delegates does nothing.  It’s time for dedicated, stable solutions and VDOT reform,” West said in a press release.

The  seven-point plan says West will fight for the Peninsula's fair share of transportation funding; calls for long-term infrastructure projects and a dedicated funding source for transportation projects - although it offers no specifics on what he believes that source should be.

The plan also opposes tolls on I-95 and I-64, and says West will fight against foreign companies receiving contracts to collect those tolls.

“While we have gridlock in the legislature, we continue to have gridlock on our streets.  We must change the way operate in Richmond so we can help provide real transportation solutions here in Hampton Roads.  My plan puts partisanship aside and the people first.  I will fight for our fair share of funding and will fight against a take-over of our roads from foreign companies,” West said.

West in running for the seat vacated at the end of August by longtime delegate Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, who left the House to take over as head of the Ft. Monroe Authority. West is running against Republican candidate David Yancey, a Newport News businessman. West ran against Oder in 2009 and lost.

Here is West's transportation plan in it's entirety as released by his campaign staff:

Gary West

Common sense solutions for transportation 

I want to reduce gridlock on our roads in and the general assembly.  While we spend more time in traffic, the House of Delegates does nothing.  It’s time for dedicated, stable solutions and VDOT Reform.  As Delegate I’ll,

• Fight for the Peninsula’s fair share of transportation funding.  The current funding formula is in unfair to our region.
• Make long term investments in infrastructure, not just short term solutions.
• Create a dedicated and sustainable revenue source for transportation.
• Use projects for roads and bridges to put people back to work in our area.
• Direct state and local governments to give Virginia companies a weighted preference when awarding contracts for transportation projects so we use our tax dollars to create jobs here, not in other countries like India or China.
• Fight against attempts to add tolls at nearly every exit on I-95 and I-64
• Fight against foreign corporations taking over our roads by collecting expensive tolls.

VA Dems unleash horror movie web ad

 

The state Democratic Party unleashed a both eerie and funny web video Wednesday that evokes old Halloween horror movies that run on late-night TV to encourage voters to choose Democrats on election day.

The ad titled "Before it's too late," just shows an old black-and-white TV, with creepy horror film music running in the background. Across the TV screen, in a tongue-in-cheek movie trailer fashion, run words made to look like they were written on a wall in cheesy special effect blood, which lay out what they believe will happen if Republicans take back control of the state Senate on Nov. 8.

The messages start with "Bob McDonnell and the Republicans are coming for the Virginia Senate,' and continue with "And can't wait to unleash their terrifying agenda."

The "terrifying agenda" includes, "Divert money away from public schools to voucher schemes," and "Make it possible for Virginia to repeal any federal law including the civil rights act." The video culminates with a picture of Gov. Bob McDonnell in a wearing a witch's hat. 

"Virginia families cannot afford for the Republicans to have full control over our state government. Just in time for Halloween, Virginia Republicans are running a cast of characters who would pass an agenda that should be frightening for middle class families," said Democratic Party of Virginia executive director David Mills in a press release about the ad.

The GOP is making a concerted effort to take back control of the Senate from the Democrats, which hold the chamber 22-18. Republicans would take effective control by winning just two seats as Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who serves as Senate President, would cast the deciding vote in the case of a tie.

McDonnell asks for disaster declaration for Louisa County Schools

Gov. Bob McDonnell asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a federal disater declaration Monday that would help with repair costs for Louisa County schools damaged in the Aug. 23 earthquake.

Engineers have estimated the cost of repairs to the county's schools at $31 million, well over what would be covered by insurance, according to a press release from the McDonnell administration.

Two of the schools in the Virginia county hit hardest by the quake, Thomas Jefferson Elementary and Louisa County High School have been closed indefinitely and students have been moved to temporary classrooms.

If approved, the disaster declaration would allow the state and local government to recoup some money from FEMA.

FEMA has already denied a request from McDonnell for individual assistance for county residents to repair their homes and businesses. This led the governor to invite President Barack Obama to tour Louisa County during his visit to Virginia last week. The invitation was declined by the president and McDonnell plans to officially appeal FEMA's decision this week.

Allen to speak at Peninsula Chamber Tuesday

U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. George Allen will be speaking at a meet and greet with the Virginia Peninsula Chamber of Commerce in Hampton Tuesday.

Allen, who is seeking the GOP nomination to replace retiring Sen. Jim Webb, will speak about his campaign at 4:30 p.m.

The event is open to the public but the business organization recommends people register to attend by calling 757-262-2009 or visiting its website at http://vpcc.chambermaster.com.

The Virginia Peninsula of Commerce is located at 21 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 100, Hampton.

Allen is being challenged in the Republican primary for the seat he lost to Webb in 2006 by Jaime Radtke, Tim Donner, E.W. Jackson and David McCormick.

Gary West issues education plan

Gary West, Democratic candidate for the state’s 94th House of Delegates District, issued an education plan this week saying he wants to make education the top priority in the General Assembly.

“The key to our future and our economy is education. We must provide our children with a world class education,” West said in a press release.

West’s education plan calls for fighting against budget cuts to education; the improvement of early childhood education programs; lowering class sizes in the K-12 system; increased focus on math and science curriculum; raising academic standards and increased investment in local community colleges and Christopher Newport University.

“Newport News needs improvements in our local schools. Our children’s future and our economy depend on it. We can’t afford to continue playing political games in Richmond; the legislature needs people who will stand up for our children and our schools,” West said. “I will not only work to improve our education system, but I want to be a champion for our children and our schools.”

West in running for the seat vacated at the end of August by longtime delegate Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, who left the House to take over as head of the Fort Monroe Authority. West is running against Republican candidate David Yancey, a Newport News businessman. West ran against Oder in 2009 and lost.

Here is West's education plan in its entirety as released by his campaign staff:

Gary West

Investing in our children, our future

The key to our future and a strong economy is education.  We must make the appropriate investments in our children and our future.  Having raised two daughters and putting them through our local schools, I understand the needs of our schools and the needs of our children.  I know the importance a parent can play in a child’s education as well.  I will take my life experience and my passion for better education to Richmond.  As Delegate, I’ll work to:

• Ensure education is a priority and fight against budget cuts that hurt our children's chances to succeed.
• Improve early childhood education so our children are better prepared for secondary and post-secondary education.
• Invest in our 2 year college programs and Christopher Newport University. Use our schools to focus on workforce development with area businesses.
• Lower classroom sizes and raise educational standards.
• Increase attention on subjects like math and science to keep pace with children in other countries.

The ultimate Shad Plank moment?

We pledge all politics no fish, but one exception may be made for what may be the living embodiment of the Shad Plank blog.

Wayne Pugh, 47, a frequenter of the James River Fishing Pier, waited out President Barack Obama's motorcade while casting his rod Tuesday night. He pulled in more than half a dozen bluefish, which are commonly referred to as shad in Virginia.

More than a dozen people were on the pier as Obama's motorcade passed over the nearby James River Bridge. Most anglers were doing quite well in advance of the visit, the pier was teeming with striped bass, croaker, and crabs.

Some, like Monique Riccolo,19, and her fiancee, Anthony Elias, 19, of Smithfield, thought the procession was grandiose. "Don't you think it's just a little bit exaggerated?" Elias asked.

And here you can judge for yourself:

 

Kaine unveils new "state-of-the art" website

U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Tim Kaine unveiled a new campaign website Tuesday that includes mobile and Spanish versions.

Kaine's campaign unveiled the new site in an email to supporters, saying it is "one of the first fully functional mobile campaign sites of the 2012 cycle."

“I am thrilled with the outpouring of grassroots support our campaign has received in these early months,” Kaine said in a press release. “The new website and mobile site will allow us to communicate more frequently and effectively with our supporters as well as attract a diverse group of new supporters to our campaign.”

In addition to the mobile application and the comprehensive Spanish language section, the website includes twitter and facebook feeds that the campaign said will allow people to "interact" with the candidate, campaign staffers and each other.

Kaine is seeking the Democratic nomination to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Jim Webb. He is being challeneged in the primary by Courtney Lynch and Julien Modica.

Leading the field in theRepublican primary to replace Webb is former U.S. Sen. and Gov. George Allen, who lost the seat to Webb in 2006. Allen is being challenged by Jaime Radtke, Tim Donner, E.W. Jackson and David McCormick.

Kaine and Allen are scheduled to debate each other Dec. 7th, a full six months ahead of the Virginia primaries, in Richmond as part of AP Day. Radtke and Donner have protested being excluded from the event, saying the "mainstream media" has essentially already picked the candidates for the Nov. 2012 general election.