Dear Friend of TJI,
When Democrat Delegate Jennifer Carroll Foy resigned, Governor Ralph Northam called a Special Election for January 5, 28 days later. When Democrat Delegate Joseph Lindsey resigned, he called for an election to be held 58 days later. Their successors both took office in time to represent their constituents in the current General Assembly session. When Republican Senator Ben Chafin passed away on January 1, Northam called for a Special Election on March 23 – 83 days later, well after the General Assembly adjourned.
Thus did he ensure that a Senate controlled by Democrats 21-19 would be controlled by a less-close 21-18. Thus were the rural residents of southwest Virginia denied representation. Thus does the Left define “Count every vote,” with the codicil “except for those people.” Had a Republican Governor done this to voters in a heavily black district, it would have correctly been called a form of “voter suppression.”
Meanwhile …
1,) On Wednesday, Joseph Biden will be sworn in as President of the United States. We wish him success. That we do so is not a repudiation of conservative ideals but an affirmation of them, for Mr. Biden will only succeed if America succeeds and America will succeed only if he abandons plans to further grow the size of the national government while kicking the can full of debt down the road to our children and grandchildren. We do not hold out much hope … but in the quadrennial springtime of American government, hope springs eternal.
2.) Virginia ranks 48 out of 50 in the percentage of COVID vaccine distributed. One reason might be the Virginia Department of Health’s Spanish website telling readers “the vaccine is not necessary.” This came about because of a reliance on Google Translate, rather than human translators that can pick up context, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The lesson: Humans, not algorithms. Still, had a Republican Governor cared so little about the Latino population ... but … we repeat ourselves.
3.) Worse, the General Assembly came back to town and the Northam Administration wasted no time in demonstrating its support for the slogan “What is the state’s is the state’s and what is the taxpayer’s is negotiable.” While Virginia has traditionally been a “conformity” state (meaning our tax laws largely conform to federal laws), it is decoupling that conformity in an effort to retain the financial bonanza it has received from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The cost to taxpayers, especially business taxpayers, will be enormous. The Jefferson Institute Senior Fellow Steve Haner has the story in Bacon’s Rebellion here.
4.) When expensive “emergency” standards are imposed raising the cost of business (and the cost to consumers), the standards should be repealed when the emergency is over, right? Not so the COVID mandates imposed by the union-dominated Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board appointed by Governor Northam. Haner has that story, too, reporting that “pandemic” regulations may outlive the “pandemic” (click here). Clearly, the labor unions did not let this crisis go to waste.
5.) Two studies and a podcast: The American Enterprise Institute offers an interactive map showing the percentage of 8th graders lacking minimum competence in reading and math, achievement gaps between lower income and higher income students and per-pupil spending based on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). Virginia scores among the worst states in Reading, among the best in Math, spending an average of slightly more than $12,000 per pupil (click here).
One way to improve those scores would be with more high-quality charter schools, like Success Academy Charter Schools – a network of 47 schools with 20,000 children outpacing nearby traditional public schools. Former Virginia Secretary of Education Gerard Robinson interviewed Success Academy Founder Eva Moskowitz on his podcast. Well worth a listen here.
Meanwhile, Partners for College Affordability released its College Governing Board Accountability Assessments, grading Boards of Visitors on their transparency, accessibility and receptiveness. Five public universities received failing grades (click here). Delegate Mark Keam has introduced legislation mandating greater transparency and accountability by Boards of Visitors (here).
6.) On January 10, State Senators Chap Petersen (D), Siobhan Dunnavant (R), and Joe Morrissey (D) co-authored a commentary saying it was time to re-open public schools (click here). On January 12, citing studies that schools do not drive community spread of COVID, the trio announced plans to introduce a budget amendment requiring in-person public education as a condition of receiving state money (here). On January 14, demonstrating the leadership for which he has become famous, Governor Northam announced it was time to re-open the schools (here).
7.) The Senators, who will meet in person during the legislative session, unquestionably deserve the $211 in daily per diems they will receive for lodging and meals while in session. Delegates, on the other hand, will meet virtually, but still collect their “per diems” for sitting home. National Public Radio has the story here.
8.) An economically healthy state is one that people want to move to, not the other way around. The United Van Lines’ National Migration Study looked at where people moved in 2019 and found that 4,008 households moved out of the Commonwealth while only 3,536 move in. Jim Bacon, of Bacon’s Rebellion, looks at the data here.
9.) We've previously reported on the suspicious award by Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney of an unadvertised $1.8 million contract to one of his political donors to remove the city's Confederate statues. In an update, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has now authorized the Virginia State Police to investigate Stoney's handling of the contract.
10.) In another update on the Virginia Redistricting Commission, the commission members are now appointed. The Virginia Public Access Project has a helpful page enabling you to track the commission's activities and its members here. VPAP also reports on the funds raised by all the candidates for statewide office here. Dig into the details here.
11.) Philip Van Cleave, head of the Second Amendment Virginia Citizens Defense League, which has sponsored peaceful gun rights rallies for a quarter century (they did not participate in the January 6th events), now reports that his personal Facebook account was suspended as was VCDL's email service (here) The debate over Big Tech has sharpened with social media’s recent actions, but the debate is not about First Amendment rights but about the power of monopolies. Kerry Dougherty offers a full-throated explanation in her recent blog post (here). The editorial board at Quillette,a self-described “platform for free thought” (“We respect ideas, even dangerous ones”) says much the same thing (here). Both point out the hypocrisy of Big Tech, and even the ACLU has jumped in. Amazon, meanwhile, has argued that they took down Parler because of violent posts and repeated death threats (here) and warned Parler for months. The debate is on. It will not end soon.
Happy Sunday, Everyone.
Take a news break; it is good for your mental health.
Cordially, | |
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