Decision Virginia

The drama over the replacement of Del. Delores McQuinn in the Richmond City Council has taken another interesting turn. Cynthia Newbille, who recently moved into the district and was asking council leaders to be appointed to the position has withdrawn her request and now plans to run for the seat in November.

Newbille was endorsed by McQuinn for the seat and is widely considered to be the choice of City Council leadership. However, her potential appointment was derailed when a group of citizens in Church Hill (including a number of people interested in becoming candidates) voiced concern that she was not a traditional Church Hill resident and the position was being bequeathed to her unfairly.

This speculation only mounted after Council Leaders discussed suspending their unwritten rule that prevented appointees from running for re-election to the position.

No word on where Council Leaders will go now in their choice to replace McQuinn and if that choice will made in a way to help Newbille’s campaign in the fall.

The transcript of Newbille’s letter to Council President Kathy Graziano is after the jump.
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Ryan Nobles - bio | email

I spoke with Congressman Eric Cantor moments after he cast a dissenting vote on the latest Government stimulus bill. The bill calls for close to $900 billion in spending and tax cuts aimed at jump starting the lackluster American economy.

The bill was the first effort by the Obama administration to push their weight on Capitol Hill. While President Obama’s plan coasted to an easy passage, it did so without one Republican vote. Mr. Obama was hoping for a plan that reached bi-partisan support. That he didn’t get.

Rep. Cantor was among a select group of House GOP leaders that pushed Obama on the plan. They asked specific spending projects be removed and more tax cuts put in. Their requests were not granted by their Democractic counterparts. Cantor is afraid that the new president is not living up to his campaign pledge of changing the dynamics in Washington.  Here is his quote:

“He (Obama) was voted into office on a premise that the American people accepted. That he could come and change the way Washington worked. Well this bill is not the way Washington should work. It’s the way Washington has worked.  It’s the old way of doing things and right now it does not rise to the standard President Obama has set.”

I am working on getting the entire interview posted. I’ll update you when I have it.

***UPDATE*** Hear the entire Cantor interview by clicking here. Read the rest of this entry »

Democratic candidate for Governor Brian Moran today locked in the endorsement of Richmond’s new Mayor Dwight Jones. The move continues Moran’s work to lock in the support of the state Democratic Party establishment. It is not a big surprise that Jones would get behind Moran, given their work together in the House of Delegates. Moran, of course, was the leader of the House Democratic Minority and Mayor Jones was the Chair of the Legislative Black Caucus. 

The Moran campaign released this statement from Jones:
“Brian has a long, proven record of fighting hard for working families in Virginia. I’ve known Brian for more than a decade and worked side-by-side with him in the legislature. We’ve fought for equal rights, quality education and equal opportunity for everyone.”

The full release is after the jump:

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After a 2008 edition that featured Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, it wouldn’t be too big of surprise if the Virginia Democrat’s 2009 Jefferson-Jackson Dinner took a step back. Well today they announced their headliner and its not too shabby. Former President William Jefferson Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the state party’s biggest fund raiser of the year.

(For more on the Clinton visit, the RPV and the race for Governor, click here)…

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Ryan Nobles - bio | email

This week two of the candidates for Governor held dueling press conferences (almost at the same time, in the same city) discussing issues that they hope demonstrate a commitment to the base of their parties. Former Del. Brian Moran took an aggressive stand against the construction of a new coal plant in Virginia and Attorney General Bob McDonnell accepted an award from a group connected to the Commonwealth’s National Guard. It shows an early effort by both gentleman to get the party faithful on their side prior to a fierce general election campaign which will begin after the Democrats settle on a candidate.

Read more, by clicking here:

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We are back in Richmond after three and a half very cold days in the Nation’s Capital. We met and featured many local people from Central Virginia during our coverage. I thought you’d like to see some of the behind the scenes stuff that never made it on to TV.

This was our first brush with a crowd on Sunday. We are on our way up the escalator of the Smithsonian exit of the D.C. Metro. Rarely were there any exits or entrances to metro stations that weren’t packed.  That is our Field Manager Matthew Harris who played an important role in making sure we filed all of our stories and got to our live shots on time. 

To see more behind the scenes pictures click here. 

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Sorry for the lack of posts today. I have had limted access to my laptop and my NBC12 TV stories took up all of my time. It has been a hectic and crazy day.

Sabrina Squire and I will be live tonight at 11. Tomorrow after I get back to RVA. I’ll get some photos up and give you a behind the scenes look at our coverage.

Good morning from the Nation’s Capital on Inauguration Day 2009. We are slowly getting prepared to make the trek into the city. We found a driver with credentials who promises to be able to get us right where we need to go, so we can avoid the Metro.

Let’s hope that works out.

It will be my job today to navigate the massive crowd to find people from Richmond and get their story. We have already been reporting live this morning. Sabrina and I will begin our live reports in the 5pm newscast and we will be live on the mall right through 11.

I will probably have limited access to the laptop today, so keep tabs on our first hand account by following my twitter page and the new NBC12 twitter page.

**UPDATED WITH VIDEO**

To see our coverage from Monday night click here.

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I’m the shadow.. pretty cool.

Ryan Nobles - bio | email

It is the day before Inauguration day and I have got the chance to meet up with some nice people from Richmond. Here are some pictures from some of the things I have seen today.

Here is where our live truck is located. We are at the corner of 7th and Madison. (If you are coming to DC come on by).

I took the picture, with the port-a-johns in the frame on purpose. I have never seen so many portable toilets in my life. They are literally every ten feet. So feel free to have that coffee before you make the trip up.

Traffic has picked up quite a bit in the area by the mall. Here is a look at one of the many intersections near the mall. It is a confluence of big trucks, big  buses and tourists trying to figure out where to go.

Keep in mind that it is busy today, but those personal cars you see won’t be here tomorrow. However there will be way more people making their way on to the mall. Although, I am not sure about the rickshaws.

Sabrina is live at 5, 5:30 at 6. I will have reports at 5 and 5:30pm.