Post Promising Breaking News Up

However, since I drafted some of it yesterday, it looks as though it was posted yesterday. It appears here.

Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Is Sean Connaughton trying to screw Prince William County taxpayers and/or the GOP one last time?

One could make the case. According to Riley, Chairman Sean is now Administrator Sean. This means that he can no longer legally hold the office of Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. He has offered nothing more than vague, platitudinous BS as to why he has not resigned and assumed his Federal duties. And "a stellar evening in Tysons in which the Northern Virginia business community and the Troutman Sanders law firm had a relaxed and jovial send-off for Sean Connaughton at the Tower Club," as related by one blog, doesn't count as any kind of justification for delay.

Nevertheless, there is not yet any verification that I have been able to find that he has actually resigned his elective office. A lot of surmise, to be sure, but no verification. And who know? The surmise might actually be true. While I expect a black-bordered banner headline from Chairman Sean's apologists at the Potomac News, nothing has been reported there, either.

This is a serious matter. Aside from the fact that he may be in violation of Federal law, there is apparently a quite formalized procedure for calling a special election to replace him, one which has been anticipated by Prince William's major parties in nominating candidates to replace him in conventions held on 19 August. And at least some interpretations of that law suggest that the window for holding that election contemporaneously with November's general election is quickly closing, and may close tomorrow, on 8 September. Even if it doesn't, I have been told that 8 September is the deadline for printing and ordering absentee ballots.

So what happens if Chairman Sean doesn't resign in time to hold the special election contemporaneously with November's general election? Well, since Commonwealth law requires that the election be held within a certain period, a special election in December or January will have to be called.

The County bears the costs of elections. According to figures that I have heard, a special election costs County taxpayers about $40,000 to $45,000 or more. And it is almost a certainty that turnout in such an election will be far lower than in a general, primarily Federal, election.

Moreover, some of the Internet punditry class has suggested that a special election held at a time other than the general election will favor the Democrat candidate, Sharon Pandak.

With all that in mind, Chairman Sean's inexplicable delay seems to be nothing more than an effort to stick Prince William taxpayers with another unnecessary bill, and/or to stick it to the GOP, and a nominee, Corey Stewart, that he --- by all accounts --- loathes.

If this is the case, there are plenty of Prince William Republicans who will not long forget this latest example of Chairman Sean's perfidy, and contempt for the GOP, which he has long treated merely as a vehicle for his personal ambitions. It was amazing to observe and listen to those who have long strapped themselves to his mast --- at the PW GOP's Labor Day picnic --- who suddenly were no longer unquestioning apologists for Chairman Sean.

I hope I'm wrong. Long, close scrutiny of Chairman Sean makes me doubtful that I am.

UPDATE: In a comment, Jim Riley says that he has it on solid authority that Sean has resigned. If so, that makes the Potomac News look bad, for not reporting it, and/or the County government, for not publicizing it. If correct, it is the Potomac News, not Chairman Sean, which looks bad.

Apologies

Well, a mention on Ben's site seems to be worth about 300 extra hits, at least as of this hour. Even more than a mention on Chad's site.

However, documents I was expecting to receive have not yet arrived, and if they are faxed to my office, I won't see them 'til tomorrow. While my post is written, I would still like to tweak it based upon actual content, and I don't want to rely solely upon my recollection of the comments made to me by the involved party.

Soooooo, honesty and an appropriate humility demands that I apologize for those of you expecting to see the news I promised late last night. I will post it just as soon as I have had a chance to review the relevant documentation. Thank you for checking. It's nice to know you're interested.

Broder Column Excoriates Media

Well, to the extent that David Broder "excoriates" anyone.

With the revelation that the source of the story that third-rank Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative --- I'm still not persuaded that she was --- was not anyone in the White House, but rather notorious dove Richard Armitage at the State Department --- is anyone surprised that the State Department is undermining a Conservative's foreign policy? --- a healthy dose of crow is being served in Broder's Washington Post column today.

One of the things that makes Broder a "must read," notwithstanding his Liberal credentials, is that he is that increasingly all-too-rare breed: an honest Liberal. While few would dispute that he is a Liberal, he is not an unthinking Kool-Aid drinker. The same can now be said of Nation columnist David Corn who, while still an unregenerate foe of anything American, exhibits a commitment to the truth in co-authoring the revelation. Broder's column today on the sordid Plame-gate affair gives no quarter to those among his colleagues who served as little more than mouthpieces for conspiracy-theory Democrat talking points. The likes of first-order hack Sidney Blumenthal comes in for a special spanking:

Blumenthal, a former aide to President Bill Clinton and now a columnist for several publications, has just published a book titled, "How Bush Rules: Chronicles of a Radical Regime." It is a collection of his columns for Salon, including one originally published on July 14, 2005, titled "Rove's War."

It was occasioned by the disclosure of a memo from Time magazine's Matt Cooper, saying that Rove had confirmed to him the identity of Valerie Plame. To Blumenthal, that was proof that this "was political payback against Wilson by a White House that wanted to shift the public focus from the Iraq War to Wilson's motives."

Then Blumenthal went off on a rant: "While the White House stonewalls, Rove has license to run his own damage control operation. His surrogates argue that if Rove did anything, it wasn't a crime. . . . Rove is fighting his war as though it will be settled in a court of Washington pundits. Brandishing his formidable political weapons, he seeks to demonstrate his prowess once again. His corps of agents raises a din in which their voices drown out individual dissidents. His frantic massing of forces dominates the capital by winning the communications battle. Indeed, Rove may succeed momentarily in quelling the storm. But the stillness may be illusory. Before the prosecutor, Rove's arsenal is useless."

In fact, the prosecutor concluded that there was no crime; hence, no indictment.

Also mentioned are WaPo sister publication Newsweek (or, as well called it in high school forensics, Viewsweek), and Clintonista apologist Joe Conason:

Newsweek, in a July 25, 2005, cover story on Rove, after dutifully noting that Rove's lawyer said the prosecutor had told him that Rove was not a target of the investigation, added: "But this isn't just about the Facts, it's about what Rove's foes regard as a higher Truth: That he is a one-man epicenter of a narrative of Evil."

And in the American Prospect's cover story for August 2005, Joe Conason wrote that Rove "is a powerful bully. Fear of retribution has stifled those who might have revealed his secrets. He has enjoyed the impunity of a malefactor who could always claim, however implausibly, deniability -- until now."

I suspect that the rather tepid dose of moral equivalence that he lends to his analysis --- "No one behaved well in the whole mess -- not Wilson, not [indicted former Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney Lewis "Scooter"] Libby, not special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and not the reporters involved" --- is to be anticipated, even though it is laughable in its flagrance.

Broder concludes in his rather understated way, noting that "These and other publications owe Karl Rove an apology. And all of journalism needs to relearn the lesson: Can the conspiracy theories and stick to the facts."

Yeah. But don't hold your breath. And certainly don't expect it to be given the air-time/ink that the conspiracy theorists received.

Randie Mac Update

Just came across this website, dedicated to preserve Randolph-Macon Women's College as a single-sex institution. Discovered it when she linked to this post regarding the proposal to turn RMWC into just another small Liberal Arts college in Virginia.

I did learn something new, however. Apparently, the girls at Randie Mac refer to us Hampden-Sydney boys as the guys from "Hump 'N Screwme."

She worried that I might take offense at her bon mot. Quite the contrary.

Big News Tomorrow

Not sure where it would fall on Ben Tribbett's scale (perhaps a two hair-piece alert), but I anticipate receiving tomorrow documents which will allow me to debunk quite a few blogosphere analyses.

Crow tartare will be served.

Equal Justice

Another "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction" story from Alaska.

It seems that Anchorage strippers are suing under Alaska's wage and hour laws.

Read the story (with a picture!) here.

'Course, if these are standard practices, it may explain why some San Francisco "adult entertainers" voted to unionize a few years back.

Beware Chicken Littles

Delegate Scott Lingamfelter has a great article in today's Potomac News, which he was kind enough to send to me. I reprint it in full here:

Beware of "Crisis" Rhetoric

Have you noticed how every problem we face in government is a "crisis?" And often the single solution proposed by big-government advocates is - you guessed it -higher taxes.

Already the Governor and his "in-tax-icated" allies in the Senate of Virginia are demanding more of our income as we approach the Special Session on Transportation the last week of September, while ignoring overwhelming public opinion opposing tax-hikes.

People in northern Virginia know instinctively that they are sending more than their fair share of money to Richmond and want this changed.

They understand - even when politicians don't - that they don't pay their local taxes out of one wallet, their state taxes out of another, their federal taxes out of yet one more. People understand they are spending huge amounts on government and are fed up with being asked to shell out more.

In Virginia alone, the state budget has risen from $38 billion in 1996 when then Governor George Allen left office to $74 billion today, that's almost a 100 percent jump in just 10 years.

Think about it. It took 230 years for Virginia's budget to rise to $38 billion, and just 10 years to double. At this rate of budgetary growth, our children will be strapped with incomparable financial burdens that will outstrip their ability to make ends meet.

And yet, both the Governor and the Senate think the solution to our problems is making hard working Moms and Dads pay more. This will be their mantra in the coming Special Session on transportation just as it was when the Senate held the budget process hostage to higher taxes earlier this year.

Unfortunately, their motive to raise taxes is not really to "fix transportation." We had a huge surplus in Richmond this year that approached $2 billion, yet the Senate refused the House plan that would have put $1.2 billion of that money in transportation projects to reduce congestion.

Why? It comes down to this: In the House, we see all the money that goes to Richmond as belonging to the people. As such, it should be available, on a priority basis, to be spent where it will have the best impact for the people. But the Senate likes to segment the General Fund, where most of the surplus resides, for everything except transportation.

They argue - wrongly - that if we don't put the General Fund off limits to transportation, there won't be any money left over for core obligations, like education. This is nonsense.

In the last 10 years, government spending on public education has grown by 46 percent while school enrollment has averaged a mere 10 percent. Yet the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), in its 12th annual Report Card on American Education, found no correlation between spending and learning.

Despite these facts, the Governor and the Senate insist on putting a huge amount of the surplus in education to enhance their argument that the only way to fix transportation was to raise taxes.

Interesting, the recent revelation that former Governor Mark Warner's Secretary of Finance deliberately ignored a major miscalculation (that actually put more in the education budget that is permitted in law) serves to illustrate the point.

In January of this year, the Administration failed to inform the General Assembly that there was an error of $137 million per year in over payments to local schools buried deep in the budget.

Only last month were we informed of this major miscalculation, after the budget was signed. And what is the proposed solution by both the Governor and the Senate? If you guessed they want to reallocate this amount to the "crisis-racked" transportation system-well-you would be wrong. Instead, they are proposing that we sustain the over-payment.

That means $274 million in this biennium will be spent in contravention to parameters in the law. And when you add in the $29 million additional surplus the Governor "found" just before we agreed to the budget in June (and the House set aside for transportation), there could be over $300 million on the table right now for transportation.

A pittance, some would argue. But consider this. The widening of I-95 lanes from the Occoquan Bridge to the Fairfax County Parkway that is currently in the budget and set to begin next year will cost only $74 million, while bringing choke-point relief to over 100,000 commuters every day at a third of the amount of available surplus right now.

Likewise, the Tri-County Parkway under consideration for Prince William, Fairfax, and Loudoun Counties is estimated at $201 million, again something that could be financed with current surplus.

So when you are treated to "crisis" high-tax rhetoric this September, remember that we have serious transportation problems that require real reform and re-prioritization of what is currently going to Richmond, not higher taxes.

Delegate L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-31) represents Prince William and Fauquier Counties in the House of Delegates. He serves on the House Finance Committee.

My Father Retires After 43 Years In Business

Been meaning to post on this, but was waiting to hear the final word: my father is officially retired from the business he started ten months before my birth. His local paper, the Logansport (Ind.) Pharos-Tribune did a front-page, above-the-fold Sunday story on his retirement on Sunday, 27 August, reprinted here in full:

Forty-three years Young

Station owner selling out Monday.

By DAVE KITCHELL

Pharos-Triibune staff writer

Gas at an east end Sunoco station is marked down 15 cents lower than it would normally be this weekend, and it is not because of a gas war.

It is because a gas station warrior is retiring.

Joe Young, 73, who has operated a service station at 26th and East Market for 43 1/2 years, has sold the station. Monday will be his final day servicing cars, pumping gas and smiling with a grin as white as his hands are often greasy from working on cars.

After suffering a stroke a year ago and losing 50 percent of his vision, Young says, “It’s time to pick up my marbles.”

Young has sold the station to the owner of four convenience stores. Young’s Sunoco will continue to sell gas, but the full-service pumps will be no longer.

That in itself marks the end of an era. Young’s Sunoco has been continuously operated as a full-service station by one operator longer than any other station in the county.

Since he opened the doors Nov. 16, 1962, Joe says he has no idea how many cars have been serviced or gallons have been pumped, but he has had some notable customers.

Former Sen. Birch Bayh stopped at the station one time to ask for directions. After Joe recognized him and gave him directions, he shook his hand. An Indianapolis 500 race car driver had Joe on his real-life pit crew once when he was in the city for an appearance. Joe fixed his water pump. And he still recalls the doctor who couldn’t diagnose the problem with his engine. Joe did diagnose it. It was out of gas.

For a man who graduated from Logansport High School and received a marketing degree from Indiana University, the station became a passion after he worked for Buick in marketing.

“I was passed over for a promotion that I much deserved,” he said.

“I had the best marketing record for Buick in those days. I took a sales district from 69th to 39th in 19 months. I used to work Saturdays when we were only supposed to work five days a week. They caught up with me when I began reporting expenses on Saturday. Then they said, ‘No, you’re not.’”

Joe was asked to stay and offered a raise, but opted for his own business instead after managing sales in the Philadelphia area.

He brought his work ethic back to Logansport with him.

“We were open seven days a week, most holidays excluding Thanksgiving and Christmas, from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m.”

At one point, Joe purchased a former DX station on North Third Street, and he and his brother, Jack, operated a Shell Station at 22nd and Market where the Corner Cupboard now stands.

But the place where Joe’s face is most familiar is at the corner four blocks east where he has often spent 80 to 90 hours a week. Sometimes he has had up to three employees.

The job was not always a fun one to have, particularly during the winters of 1963 and 1964.

“I once had a battery blow up in my face over on High Street,” he recalls.

The car owner allowed him inside to wash the battery acid from his eyes and then suggested that Joe was responsible for the battery exploding. The customer ultimately paid for a new battery.

His advice for preventing engine problems during Indiana winters?

“Before cold weather, have the battery load-tested,” he says.

“Make sure the charging system is charging at the specified or factory specs. Most cars of recent origin are fuel-injected. Don’t pump the accelerator each time you start the car. Each time you do that, you will flood the sparkplugs real quick. If you flood them, you’re not going to get them started until their dried, off, removed or replaced. If you park a car outside, don’t park a car heading west or northwest because that’s where the prevailing winds come from.”

His current personal car is a champagne Lincoln Continental, but a bit of him is still a Buick man at heart. He has driven half a dozen Buicks since leaving the company.

Becky Crain, a customer who has frequented his station for years, says there are three words that sum him up: “Dependable, trustworthy, honest.”

“It was a great place to go get gas where you could just walk up and know who you were talking, to. We would take him something for Christmas every year.”

Joe says admitting you are wrong about a car is not a fault.

“I tried to be good at what I did, and believe me, it was not easy,” he said Saturday. “For the most part, I think my batting average was pretty. If I was wrong, I would admit it. I’ve never been too proud to say, ‘Hey, I can’t fix it, but I’d recommend so-and-so.”

Dave Kitchell may be contacted at 722-5000, Ext. 5150, or via e-mail at david.kitchell@pharostribune.com

I would wish him a "Happy Retirement, Dad" here, but I'll just have to settle for looking forward to more frequent visits with his grandsons.

My father still doesn't own a computer. And I'm pretty sure he's never sent nor received an e-mail.

"Too Conservative" Endorses Internet Libel and/or Slander

Or, at least one contributor over there does. Boy! Vince may be young, but he was never this foolish. It seems that the pseudonymous poster "Loudoun Insider" (yeah, I'll bet) has said that he's contributing to Greg Letieqc's legal defense fund against a lawsuit brought by Steve Chapman in response to some of the more outrageous allegations on Greg's website in its prior incarnation.

As I've frequently said, I don't know about the merits or the law of the lawsuit, since I am not Chapman's attorney, nor do I specialize in that area of the law.

What I do know is this: Greg, and his former partner, the pseudonymous BVBL, engaged in a campaign of hate and ridicule against Steve Chapman. Some of their allegations may have been false; if they were, they may be actionable. Of course, most of those allegations have been removed from the Internet, when BVBL him/herself disappeared into the ether. The only reason that Greg is still in the suit is because: (a) he lay down with the dog and has picked up a few fleas in the form of potentially joint and several liability; and (b) unlike BVBL, Greg at least possesses the courage to put his name to his allegations, even if he lacks the judgment/circumspection that one should exercise when doing so.

Greg reports that the suit is going to trial, which tells me --- as a litigator --- that there is a colorable legal claim there, and that all of the Internet sound and fury over "free speech" pretty much signifies nothing. If BVBL's factual statements about Chapman were not provably false, the matter would not go to trial, and would be dismissed on a motion for summary judgment, or its Virginia equivalent. Thus, that the case is going to trial demonstrates that BVBL's statements about Chapman were almost certainly false.

That it is says to me that Greg may well be in a whole heap 'o trouble. It also says that anyone contributing to Greg's legal defense fund is, at this point, endorsing the kind of falsehoods that almost certainly form the basis for the decision that the case will go to trial.

And it may well be that some people may be in for a hearty serving of crow, as follows:

Commonwealth Conservative: Steve Chapman is embarrasing himself
Virginia Virtucon: Blog-a-thon
Not Larry Sabato: Outrage
New Dominion: So Sue Me
Too Conservative: CHAPMAN CAMPAIGN BLAMES BVBL FOR MISSING FILING DEADLINE
Jaded JD: “And they shall know that I am THE LORD, when I lay my vengeance upon them.”
Brian Patton: Bloggers Beware
SLANTblog: Black Velvet Bruce Lee Sue-icide
Virginia Virtucon: BVBL faces Legal Eagles over Chapman allegations
One Man’s Trash: The JD Investigates
Virginia Centrist: Blogger threatened by public official
Craig’s Musings: The lamest candidate excuse ever
Not Larry Sabato: Chapman Lawsuit Continues
Free Republic: Candidate misses filing deadline; Claims blogger distracted him; Files $200K lawsuit
Virginia Virtucon: Black Velvet if you Please

Like I said: I don't know the law or the merits. But what little I do know tells me that bravado is not the appropriate attitude for Greg at this point. As for the rest, we shall see.

Anchorage Girl Proves Government Is Ripping You Off

From the "Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction" file, an Anchorage girl has proven that government rips you off.

Readers should note that this eleven-year-old young lady performed her project for an elementary school class. Obviously, more exposure to government schools is needed to disabuse her of her accurate perceptions of the value of government and the "services" it performs.

Connaughton Resignation Imminent

After much questioning over when he would go (and here, and here), it now appears (per Jim Riley at Virginia Virtucon) that Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Sean Connaughton will be assuming his duties as U.S. Maritime Administrator on Wednesday, 6 September.

I wish him success in his new position.

Present at the Creation... Sort of

Any list of Virginia's premier musical artists would have to include, at or near the top, Williamsburg's Grammy Award-winning Bruce Hornsby. Finally picked up his new retrospective album, Intersections 1985-2005, on Friday, and today's horrendous traffic gave me the opportunity to listen to the first CD in the four CD/one DVD set.

What a great collection! I'm no music critic, but as a long-time fan, this was a very satisfying effort. Almost half of the music is never-released versions of Hornsby favorites.

I've got to confess a special affection for his Disk 1 version of "The Valley Road." A quick read of the accompanying booklet/liner notes reveals that this version was "created at a solo concert in Helsinki, Finland in September 2004 and turned into a band version at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia a few weeks later." The latter show was Homecoming 2004, at which I was present, with the family. What a fantastic show!

For What Is He Waiting?

He, of course, is Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Sean Connaughton. Though confirmed weeks ago by the Senate to his new post as United States Maritime Administrator, Chairman Sean has still, nevertheless, failed to resign his post and start the clock running for a special election to choose his successor. Both parties held nominating conventions on 19 August in anticipation of his resignation. The GOP chose Occoquan District Supervisor Corey Stewart as its standard-bearer. Democrats chose (rather surprisingly) former County Attorney Sharon Pandak.

Well, there have already been two posts on this subject. "Independent" Craig Vitter rightly notes the most important issue: " The concern with the timing of the resignation is an issue because it is one part of a complex equation that determines when a special election will be held to replace Connaughton." He goes on to say something with which I absolutely agree: "Here's what it comes down to: Sean Connaughton, if he plans to take this job, needs to make a move and tell the people that he is stepping aside so that the election can go foward on November 7th. The right thing to do would be to announce the resignation at tomorrow's board meeting."

One question which Vitter seems raise is the possibility that Chairman Sean might not plan to take the job. Such a move would be incredibly stupid. Aside from alienating County Republicans AND Democrats who have acted on the presumption that he would not have accepted the appointment and gone through the confirmation processs had he not intended to "take this job" --- though he would accomplish something that his most ardent supporters have always claimed, and bring them together --- one presumes that he would make powerful Republican enemies nationwide for having done so and then backing out of the position. The suggestion that he might do so --- which I'm not sure Craig intended to make --- is simply silly. Were Chairman Sean to do so, I would have to conclude that he is not as politically savvy as many think him to be.

Democrat Ben Tribbett --- as usual, at his best when he brings an objective analysis to an issue --- has an excellent post which addresses all of the major issues:

If he doesn't resign in the next week- it will be too late to call a special election for his seat on general election day- forcing the special election to be called on its own. There are multiple problems with this.

First, a special election in December will draw significantly less people to the polls compared to the general election in November. No one benefits from limiting participation.

Second, there are costs involved in a special election. Besides the money to program voting machines, pay poll workers and all the normal election costs, there are also the costs of taking up rooms in the many polling places around Prince William County. Since many of the precincts are at schools- if the election is held in the gym, the students won't get P.E. that day, if the election is held in the music room, students won't have music class- etc.

Third, special interests can have a much bigger impact in special elections by spending money to turnout voters. In a general election their money has to be spent on persuasion, which has questionable impact from interest groups, while a special election plays to their strength of mobilizing voters.

Personally, I think some of the attacks on Sean Connaughton's fiscal responsibility in Prince William have been misplaced, but if he doesn't resign this week and allow a special election in November then he will have given his critics another chance to cite unnecessary spending, and that would be a shame.

Ben's last point is one with which I take issue, as any regular reader (both of you) would know. Chairman Sean either needs to resign at tomorrow's Board meeting, or give a damn good explanation for his failure to do so. For if he doesn't, he will end up sticking the taxpayers of Prince William County with another unnecessary bill. And there are many --- yours truly included --- who will unnecessarily be given the opportunity to indulge their wildest speculation as to his motives for doing so, absent a compelling explanation.

Another One Bites the Dust?

The Washington Post had a great article in today's "Close to Home" page of the Outlook section, addressing the possibility that Virginia's Randolph-Macon Women's College will go co-ed. Not to be confused with the experiment in co-education in Ashland, R-MWC is in Lynchburg. It is my sister's alma mater. It has quite a few more distinguished alumnae, including CNN's Candy Crowley ('70), Arkansas Senator Blanche Lambert Lincoln ('84), and Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck. I attended and graduated from Hampden-Sydney College, an all-male college just an hour from R-MWC (or, as we affecionately referred to it, "Randie Mac"). Sadly, it appears to be a done deal.

Today's article is by Richard Kurin, father of a current R-MWC student, and notes the dismay among students, alumnae, and faculty students. They suggest that the new iteration of the College --- obviously, the name will have to be changed --- should be "Benedict Arnold College." He notes that "many alums say they will not financially support the college if it enrolls men," which rings true. I have it on good authority that, on that dark day in 1985 when Washington & Lee University (or, as we thereafter called it, "Washington & Leigh University"), three major donors to W & L called and switched their support to H-SC.

I sincerely hope that Randie Mac deviates from this ill-considered course. Single-sex education (both male and female) have an important place in the education firmament. That firmament will be diminished if R-MWC becomes just another small Liberal Arts college in Virginia.

Finish the Job!

Politicians and the blogosphere have been all abuzz over the $137 million error made by Governor Timmy's! budget-writers in Richmond. OK, so Governor Timmy! doesn't deserve all of the credit for the cover-up; apparently the error was discovered by Governor Marky Mark's Funky Bunch before Governor Timmy! took office. It seems that $137 million less is available for distribution to local school districts than budget-writers initially thought.

The most shocking element of this story is reported in the Potomac News:

When it meets Monday, the General Assembly is expected to begin considering legislation that would guarantee that school systems receive what the state promised them in additional aid this year. No budget cuts to other programs would be required.

Doubtless, "budget cuts in other programs" will not "be required" because of the continuing good, ... er dubious news about increasing tax revenues. While the Repubmocrats of the General Assembly have spent ever-increasing tax revenues to buy votes ... er, satisfy "unmet needs," or wants, or whatever, few seem willing to discuss the single most important priority:

Satisfying the promise to end Virginia's ridiculous car tax.

Priceless

Apparently, candidate for the Democrat nomination for U.S. Senate in Maryland (replacing Senator Paul Sarbanes), American University Professor Allan Lichtman, was not allowed to participate in last night's debate, which was between Congressman Ben Cardin and Kweisi Mfume. According to the Baltimore Sun:

Three other Democratic candidates -- American University history professor Allan Lichtman, Montgomery County businessman Josh Rales and former Baltimore County Executive Dennis Rasmussen appeared outside MPT's Owings Mills studio Thursday night to protest their exclusion. With television cameras rolling, Lichtman was arrested by Baltimore County police when he refused to leave a vestibule inside the front doors of the studio. Lichtman's wife, Karyn Strickler, and Gail Dobson, a campaign volunteer, were also arrested, said Bill Toohey, a county police spokesman.

Unfortunately, the Sun failed to mention the best part of the story, which was played this morning on WMAL: Lichtman's wife, in the background, encouraging her husband to "go limp."

I'll resist the urge. Discuss?

Major Preliminary Victory in Fight for Closed Primaries

Ben Tribbett reports favorably on the Fourth Circuit's decision yesterday (.pdf file) to reverse Eastern District of Virginia Judge Henry Hudson's dismissal of a challenge to Virginia's open primary law. The Jaded JD predicted this (four out of six right), and has apparently delayed his impending retirement from the blogosphere to post his comments here, and an analysis of the possible consequences of a favorable decision below here. The reporting by Ben and JD is good; they avoid the pitfall of declaring total victory, as the decision only reverses Judge Hudson's determination that the plaintiffs lacked standing and the dispute was not ripe for decision. The case will now be remanded to Judge Hudson for a decision on the merits.

This is a significant advance for those (like yours truly and the aforementioned young Mr. Tribbett, with whom I am in accord on this issue) who believe that parties should nominate their own candidates without interference from individuals affiliated with other parties. The only surprise to me (and to JD, who predicted otherwise), is that the Fourth Circuit did not proceed to issue a decision on the merits, which appears to be a pure question of law. C'est la vie. Probably just a function of that court's natural conservatism.

A favorable decision on the merits may well provide the impetus for Virginia legislators finally to permit registration by party. At the same time, it may well remove any vestigial authority (more in theory than in practice) for local party organs to discipline their own members, since individuals who stray from the Party path will always be able to point to their "registered [Party]" status, if party registration is enacted. One can hope that the result will be better, more defined choices among candidates, in lieu of the "Repubmocrat" campaigns run by all too many candidates for public office.

Congratulations to State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, who argued the case on behalf of Chairman Larry Miller and his 11th Senatorial District Republican Committee, and former Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat McSweeney, who was on the brief.

Convention/Nomination Thoughts

Owing to a long-planned vacation out of the country (childishness to the contrary notwithstanding, "NoVA Scout" was not with us; I am more particular about the company that I keep), and the dispatch with which the event was planned and occurred, the Youngs missed their first Prince William County Republican Convention in more than a decade. Congratulations to Corey Stewart on a resounding endorsement from his fellow Republicans. I am thankful that our two votes were not necessary to make the difference.

Charles has a brief analysis of the event here. Craig Vitter has a number of analyses of the race over at his eponymous website. Ben Tribbett's comments are now "below the fold," and apparently went there before I got back in the country, so I neither know what he said, nor its quality, though I suspect that his analysis was sound, as usual (excepting the fact that he is in the bag for R2D2), even for a Democrat. Even Vince was magnanimous, though his more peurile and less courageous contributors have been uncharacteristically quiet, save for "NoVA Scout," who offers a discussion which, as one would expect, lends credence to the theory that he is Chairman Sean in its fawning and wailing and gnashing of teeth over his pending departure.

I haven't seen this elsewhere, so it's worth noting here:

The biggest news out of the competing nominating contests is in the fact that nearly twice as many people participated in the GOP nominating contest (411 or 413, depending upon whom you believe) as participated in the Democrat nominating process (211). This dismal showing among County Democrats cannot be attributed solely to the timing of its Convention in the summer vacation season, as Republicans labored under the same handicap. That is, unless the Democrats --- as the party of surrender and appeasement --- can be equated with the cheese-eating surrender monkeys of France, who are notorious for vacationing in August.

The most interesting aspect of the relative reporting is that one finds the Washington Post to have reported this news with less bias than our own local Potomac News. Not unexpected, mind you --- the recent direction of the Pot. News increasingly demonstrates the left-wing biases of its management --- but interesting, nonetheless.

While casting Stewart's resounding victory --- 69% of the Convention vote --- as "a rebuff of the pro-growth policies championed by Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Sean T. Connaughton," the Washington Post reports the fact of the relative numbers relatively closely, mentioning the dismal Democrat numbers before noting the number of GOP delegates attending the Convention. Of course, the same day as the Convention, the Post offered an expectedly fawning editorial (actually on the editorial page!) about Chairman Sean and his imminent departure, virtually ignoring the rate of tax-bill growth and noting his eleventh hour effort to "cap" tax-bill growth at "only" 5.9%. Never mind that, while County population has grown by only 30% during his tenure, County spending has grown by 114%. I guess utter surrender to the desires of a bureaucracy to engage in a spending spree is what the Post means when it dismisses those urging a more measured course as "the zealots in his own Republican Party who couldn't abide his determination to govern pragmatically." No, WaPo, what we couldn't abide was his failure to lead and to take control of County spending.

Of course, the Pot. News took a different tack, burying the relatively dismal showing among County Democrats far within its story. There, one cannot help but notice that, while Keith Walker mentions the 413 (I have no explanation for the difference in the numbers) delegates at the GOP Convention in the same brief paragraph discussing Stewart's speech, one has to read twelve paragraphs farther into the story to learn that only 211 Democrats were delegates to that Convention. And one has to do the math one's self to learn that the GOP is relatively more unified (Stewart received 69% or 70% of the delegate votes) than the Democrats (Pandak received 134 of 211 votes, or 63%) in their choice.

Sadly, given my experience with the Pot. News and the honesty (or lack thereof) of its management, it's probable that Republicans can expect more of the same in the months to come.

Wow

Sometime during my absence, one of those hit-counters (below) --- and obviously the one to which I prefer to pay attention --- went over 50,000 hits.

I'm shocked/humbled. Particularly since it happened during a period when the new content here can best be described by the truism "Move along. There's nothing to see here." Not bad for a one-man operation.

I'm sure there are those who are dismayed. Heh.