Dear Friend of TJI, When the State Inspector General concluded its investigation of the Virginia Parole Board's release of cop-killer Vincent Martin, it provided a nearly totally blacked out report (click here). When Republican leaders in the Virginia House and Senate pointed out the law required its release to legislative leaders, the IG was forced to provide a very different version (click here), demonstrating that the Parole Board (including its then-Chair recently appointed a judge by the progressive General Assembly) violated the law. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a complete story here. Republicans have called for Governor Northam to do what Governor Warner did: Fire the Parole Board. Expect legislation in the General Assembly special session. We know who investigates the Parole Board. Who investigates the investigators? Meanwhile ... 1.) A lack of transparency in government has become a hallmark for the Northam Administration - something that upsets liberals with integrity as well as conservatives. In the progressive Virginia Mercury, Bob Lewis asks the question: "Is opacity the legacy Northam's regime hopes to leave on state government?" (click here). 2.) When Sabina Levy was first hired to teach 30 years ago, she was handed a membership packet for the Virginia Education Association union and told "This is how you get your liability insurance" - a needed commodity for teachers. For many years she paid her dues despite watching them used for liberal candidates and causes with which she disagreed. Only after searching did she discover an alternative, non-political education association. These alternatives are frequently blocked by school superintendents from presenting their opportunities to teachers and denied use of school facilities even to meet with teachers. No more. Starting this week, the Thomas Jefferson Institute's VATeacherChoice.com project is sending a letter from Sabina to more than 12,000 right-leaning Virginia teachers outlining the problem (click here), a brochure describing the alternatives (click here), and a way to get more information. They (and you) can watch a short video of teachers telling their personal stories (click here). Each teacher leaving the union is a blow for workplace freedom, taking away about $700 in dues money from the VEA and its parent, the National Education Association. You can donate to help reach even more than 12,000 teachers by clicking here. 3.) Virginia Senate Democrats have introduced their version of policing reform for the special session, endorsed by all 21 members of their Caucus (a majority of the Senate). The 33-page bill avoids many of the far-left proposals rampant in the media and includes some obvious fixes (Why is it not already illegal for police to have sex with prisoners?). But missing from the formula is preventing forthcoming police union contracts from protecting "bad cops" and returning them to the streets. Our paper describes why (click here). And we talk about it on Freedom & Prosperity Radio with Joe Thomas here. 4.) Perhaps the reason "Defund Police" cannot be found in the Senate Democratic proposal is a recent Gallop Survey demonstrating 81 percent of Black Americans want the police to spend as much time or more in their neighborhoods - something hard to do if you cut the budget (click here). 5.) In other special session shenanigans, the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis has a new list of tax proposals in the coming session (as if the two dozen already passed was not enough). Steve Haner, Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow for State and Local Tax Policy writes about it here, and comments on Virginia Public Radio here. 6.) Twenty is enough. After that many Executive Orders, a Republican Senator and Delegate are proposing bills to rein in the emergency powers of the Governor - any Governor - when the General Assembly is not in session. Democratic Senator Chap Peterson would seem to agree. "The executive branch has the authority to protect us during a public health emergency, but that authority is not unlimited nor is it indefinite," says the Fairfax Senator (click here). Notes bill sponsor Senator Steve Newman: "I hope that we can debate this issue, because this is not about pro- or anti-Gov. Northam. This is about whether the Senate of Virginia and House of Delegates matters, it's about whether the Code of Virginia matters, about whether we trust democracy in tough times." The Roanoke Times reports the story here. 7.) The Virginia General Assembly this year passed a host of labor union sponsored bills (see here), bills that will make a trial lawyer's heart beat faster (see here), and finished it with new workplace regulations (see here). Over at Bacon's Rebellion, Hans Bader believes that when the feds get started, those Virginia actions will look like pea-shooters in an air raid (click here). 8.) On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court extended the moratorium on eviction proceedings until September 7. We empathize with renters who cannot afford their rent. Unlike the Governor, we also empathize with landlords -- particularly small ones - who soon may not be able to afford their properties, resulting in even worse economic failure (see here and here). Bacon's Rebellion, meanwhile, reprinted an outstanding analysis by L. Steven Emmert of the long-term impact of the decision. For must reading, click here. 9.) Olivia deHavilland's death at the age of 104 marked the passing of the last Gone With the Wind survivor. It also marked the passing of one of those Hollywood actors (among them Ronald Reagan) who saved Tinsel Town from a communist takeover. National Review's John Fund publishes parts of a never-before seen FBI memoir here. Ronald Radash fleshes out the story in The Wall Street Journal here. Given the current state of affairs, Hollywood could use their like today. 10.) "The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ... are regarded with horror and regret. But not using the atomic bomb would have been far worse," argues John C. Hopkins in the Wall Street Journal, costing many more millions of Allied and Japanese lives (click here). An invasion would have taken up to a year and a half and cost up to four million Allied casualties. As the Left continues its revision of history, the piece contains facts worth remembering. Finally ... this Friday is the 75th Anniversary of VJ Day. Among those celebrating the first one were these men and women, who suddenly knew they would not be among the four million, and might actually live to see more of the world they saved ... and that we inherited. From 75 years later, Thank You. Happy Sunday, Everyone.
Cordially, Chris Braunlich President
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