Cuccinelli calls for easing of ballot requirements after Gingrich, Perry fail to qualify

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli would like to see Virginia relax its requirements for candidates to qualify for the presidential primaries, saying current state laws "have reduced our relevance," after two big-name GOP candidates failed to qualify for the GOP primary.

Cuccinelli opined that the commonwealth's requirements should be relaxed in the Dec. 26 edition of his e-newsletter, The Cuccinelli Compass, after former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed to qualify for Virginia's March 6 Republican presidential primary election.

Gingrich is launching a write-in campaign, which isn't allowed in primary elections in the commonwealth, and Perry has filed a federal lawsuit in hopes of gaining access to the ballot under state law.

In Virginia candidates are required to gather 10,000 signatures of registered voters in the state, including at least 400 from each of the commonwealth's 11 Congressional districts to qualify for the ballot. Officials from the state party organizations then certify the petitions for the State Board of Elections.

Cuccinelli suggested lowering the requirement in each Congressional district to 100 legitimate signatures.

"In 2012, Virginia won't be nearly as 'fought over' as it should be in the midst of such a wide open nomination contest," Cuccinelli wrote. "Our own laws have reduced our relevance.  Sad."

Cuccinelli urged the GOP dominated General Assembly to change the rules in their upcoming session.

"I hope our new GOP majorities will fix this problem so that neither party confronts it again," he wrote.  "I for one would like Virginia to be heard from in our nomination process, and I'm sure you would too."

Kaine decries proposed 'cuts' to pet program

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former Gov. Tim Kaine is calling $81 million in "cuts" to the Virginia Preschool Initiative as proposed by Gov. Bob McDonnell in his two-year budget plan "fiscally unwise."

As governor Kainechampioned the program that offers public preschool classes to at-risk 4-year-old children in the commonwealth.

Kaine said the cuts will hurt Virginia families and the state itself in the long run in a press release Monday.

"The proposed removal of $81 million in funding from early childhood programs in the introduced biennial budget has the potential to hurt thousands of children and their families now and in the future," Kaine said. "It signals a retreat from Virginia's commitment to winning the battle for talent. And, it represents a short term approach to expense cutting that will actually prove fiscally unwise in the future.

"The more we do to help our youngest succeed, the more the Commonwealth succeeds. Saving at children's expense is always the wrong approach."

The McDonnell administration said the $81 million is not a cut, but a "targeted savings" realized by "readjusting" the expected enrollment in the program in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.

Secretary of Finance Ric Brown said when the Department of Education turned in it's budget request for the program to the governor's office it was based on an assumption that every eligible 4-year-old child in the state would participate.

What it didn't account for, Brown said, is families not taking part.

The savings were realized by adjusting the rate for "non-participation," Brown said.

Brown said McDonnell's proposed budget actually increases funding for the Virginia Preschool Initiative over fiscal year 2012 spending levels and does increase the number of available in the program.

The two-year budget proposal increase spending by $5 million in 2013 more than 2012 and $5.5 million in 2014, Brown said.

Yancey to help feed 1,000 with SCLC Saturday

Delegate-elect David Yancey, R-Newport News, will join the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Newport News City Council Member Tina Vick as a "celebrity server" at the “Feeding 1,000 Holiday Feast and Community Celebration" in Newport News Saturday.

The event is open to "citizens who are in need of a meal for the holidays," and runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the Alley,  100 West Newmarket Square.

“I look forward to working on the front lines, rolling up my sleeves and serving meals to individuals and families during the event," Yancey said.

Volunteers to help with the event are still needed - if you'd like to help or have questions contact Vick at 757-926-8634; event director Andrew Shannonat 757-877-0792 orSCLC chapter vice president Edna V. Davis  at 757-218-8157.

Poll shows Gingrich, Allen, Cuccinelli leading in Virginia GOP primaries

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is crushing his GOP rivals in Virginia three months ahead of the state's Republican presidential primary, according to a poll released Tuesday.

The poll conducted by the Democratic-leaning, North Carolina based Public Policy Polling shows Gingrich to be the clear front runner in the commonwealth with  41 percent of respondents supporting him, compared to 15 percent for his closest competitor, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. The rest of the field of GOP hopefuls don't even break into double digits heading into the March 6 primary contest. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and Texas Gov. Rick Perry came in at 8 percent; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul recieved 6 percent; former Utah Gov. John Huntsman garnered 3 percent and former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson got 1 percent.

In the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination for the seat being vacated by Democrat Jim Webb, former Gov. George Allen is dominating his competition more handily than Gingrich with 67 percent of respondents saying he should be the GOP nominee.

Allen's closest competition is Tea Party favorite Jaime Radtke, who polls at 5 percent. Rounding out the Republican field for the June primary are E.W. Jackson with 3 percent and Tom Donner and David McCormick each receiving 2 percent.

Moving even farther out, the poll looked at the 2013 Republican primary for the governor's office. In the race which so far is between Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli,  Cuccinelli is the strong favorite a year and a half out from the primary election leading Bolling 44 percent to 25 percent.

“The Virginia Republican electorate is trending very conservative right now with its preference for Newt Gingrich, George Allen, and Ken Cuccinelli,” said Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam. “It will be interesting to see how viable those guys end up being in a general election.”

The survey of 350 Republican primary voters was conducted between Dec. 11 and 13 using automated telephone calls, and has a +/-5.2 percent margin of error.

DOC to close Mecklenburg Correctional Center

Due to a Pennsylvania decision remove roughly 1,000 its inmates who were incarcerated in Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell announced Tuesday he has ordered the Department of Corrections to close the Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Boydton by May as a cost cutting measure.

Pennsylvania's removal of it's prisoners from the commonwealth is expected to cost the state nealy $20 million a year.

The state is expected to save an additional $10,000 per inmate by transferring the inmates housed at the 35-year-old Mecklenburg facility to the more modern Green Rock Correctional Center in Chatham, which opened in 2007. The out-of-state prisoners were housed at Green Rock, which has a capacity for approximately 300 more inmates than Mecklenburg.

"In these difficult times, it is incumbent upon the Department of Corrections and state government to ensure that public safety continues to be paramount and, while doing so, to be the best stewards of taxpayer’s money," McDonnell said in a press release. "By transferring the prisoners in Mecklenburg Correctional Center to our other facility in Pittsylvania County we will save approximately $10,000 per inmate on an annual basis."

McDonnell has asked state agencies to help find employment for the 300 state employees at the prison and to help minimize the economic impact of closing the prison on the local economy.

"While this closing is the fiscally responsible step to take, I know the hardship it will present for the employees of the Mecklenburg Correctional Center and the surrounding community," McDonnell said. "Our administration is committed to working with those employees, and local partners, to provide as much assistance as possible in the wake of this announcement."

Secretary of Public Safety Marla Graff Decker said up to 50 percent of the employees at Mecklenburg prison can be moved in to vacant positions within the Department of Corrections.

“I have tasked the department to work directly with all employees at the facility to answer questions, explain options, and place as many of them in other positions as possible," Decker said. "We believe we can place 45 to 50 percent of MCC employees in currently vacant positions within the Department of Corrections.  We will also work hard to find positions in other state and local agencies for those who we cannot place within the Department of Corrections.”

McDonnell sent Decker and his chief of staff Martin Kent to the Mecklenburg County Board of Supervisors to personally inform board members of the closing. He said Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade for Rural Economic Development Mary Rae Carter will work with the community to help them weather the loss of the state prison.

New Kaine, Allen attack ads

Last week we had a great duel in the debate between former Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Jim Webb. On Monday we had dueling Kaine and Allen attack web videos.

Following up on themes used by the candidates during the debate, both the Democratic Party of Virginia and the Allen campaign unveiled videos going after statements made by the candidates.

The DPVA video goes after Republican Allen for government spending he voted for while he held the Senate seat he lost to Webb in 2006.

The video parodies the Mastercard "Priceless" commercials, using clips of Allen from the Dec. 7, AP Day debate. The "priceless" moment comes when Allen admits spending "was a problem" when he served in Washington.

"George Allen talks a lot about fiscal responsibility, but his record tells another story,"DPVA executive director David Mills said in a press release. "He wants Virginians to re-elect him to the U.S. Senate even though he's already spent six years there turning a record surplus into a record deficit by voting for tax cuts for the wealthy, the war in Iraq and a new entitlement program without paying for them."

Allen's senior campaign strategist Dan Allen said the DPVA video it's ironic the video mentions that federal spending averaged $16,000 a second during Allen's six years in the Senate.

"It's odd that this attack came from the Kaine team when spending under (President Barack) Obama is $49,000 a second - kind of absurd," Dan Allen said.

The Allen video continues to tie Kaine to Obama and his policies.

The video features Kaine in his time as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a post he was appointed to by Obama in 2009 and resigned from when he announced his candidacy for the Senate last spring, praising the presidents cumbersome and controversial health care reform package, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - which Allen insists on calling "Obamacare."

Between scenes of Kaine promoting the legislation, the ad shows statements from editorial deriding the president's plan.

“As Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Kaine declared Obamacare would ‘go down in history as one of the great achievements of this president’,” Dan Allen said.“Instead families and small business owners are struggling under another failed Washington policy, on which Chairman Kaine sided with President Obama instead of Virginia.”

Kaine spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said said the Allen video was an attempt to distract voters from his debate performance.

"Given the dismal reviews George Allen continues to receive for his debate performance, it's not surprising that his campaign is trying to change the subject," Hoffine said. "But, no amount of negative advertising from the Allen campaign will change the fact that Allen admitted he helped cause our fiscal mess, has nothing but the same failed Washington policies to help 'fix' it, and can't give voters a single reason to reelect him."

 

 

Gov. McDonnell: It's hard to run for governor and run A.G.'s office

Unlike his predecessors who stepped down as attorney general to run for the commonwealth’s top office, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has said he will continue to serve during his gubernatorial campaign.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, one of those who held the office before Cuccinelli and gave it up to run for governor, said that while every candidate is different and needs to make their own choices, he made the "painful" decision to step down because he felt "it was in the best interests of the people of Virginia to have a full-time attorney general."

He said the intense demands of running a gubernatorial campaign "preclude you from working full time as attorney general."

"It’s incredibly tough to run the state’s law firm and run for governor," McDonnell said.

But in an interview with the Associated Press, Cuccinelli pointed out that in most states attorney generals who decide to run for governor stay in office.

"We are the only state in the country that sees any strain of thought where people feel the need to take that step," Cuccinelli told the AP.

In addition to McDonnell, former Govs. Jim Gilmore, Mark Earley, Jerry Kilgore all left the attorney general’s office during their gubernatorial campaigns.

Cuccinelli’s decision to run for governor in 2013 is expected to create deep divisions within the GOP, which presumed Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, who decided to fore go a bid for the top office in 2009 in a deal with McDonnell, to be the party’s nominee.

McDonnell reiterated his support for Bolling’s bid as he promised back in 2009.

"I told the lt. governor three and a half years ago, ‘Let’s work together as a team. Let’s run together as a team in 2009. And then if you want to run in 2013, I’ll be there to support you,’ " McDonnell said.

The governor, however, did bring up the point that the 2013 gubertorial elections are a long way off and the state has a difficult General Assembly session ahead of it in January.

"For the next 90 days I don’t want to hear anything about a campaign," McDonnell said. "I want to have people focused on what we need to do to improve the quality of life for Virginians, and fix the problems that we’ve got now."

 

Obama campaign to open Newport News office Saturday

With just 11 months to go until the November 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama's campaign is opening two campaign field offices in Virginia Saturday - one in Newport News and one in Fairfax.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Newport News, Neport News Mayor McKinley Price and Hampton Mayor Molly Ward will be on hand for the Newport News opening, which takes place at 12 p.m., at 2712 Chestnut Ave.

Obama's campaign, Organizing for America, said in a press release it has been active in the commonwealth since the president announced his election bid April 4, holding more than "2,000 grassroots trainings, planning sessions, house parties, voter registration drives and phone banks."

The Fairfax office opening will began at 11:30 a.m. at 11215-P Lee Highway and will include U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly.

Obama won Virginia in 2008, and the coomon wealth is considered a key battleground state for the 2012 election.