Decision Virginia

Just breaking from the State Capitol… Governor Bob McDonnell uses his veto pen for the first time in this session. He has rejected a plan by the General Assembly to require Virginia public schools to offer physical education.

The governor called the bill “an unfunded mandate”.

His full release can be found below:

Governor McDonnell Vetoes Unfunded Mandate on Localities

Mandatory Physical Education Bill Would Cost Local School Districts Millions; Take Time Away from Instruction in Other Subjects

McDonnell: “While I strongly agree that we must encourage exercise and physical activity, I oppose unfunded mandates, whether they come from Washington or Richmond.  In the fight against childhood obesity and preventable disease, we all have a role to play. Government cannot just pass legislation and make this problem go away. Kids need to get off the couch and away from the computer and onto a soccer field or basketball court.”

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell has vetoed legislation (SB 966) that would force local school districts to provide 150 minutes of physical education per week for all students in elementary and middle school by the year 2014. The state mandate was strongly opposed by local school districts and teachers concerned about the financial impact of its implementation.

Speaking about his decision Governor McDonnell noted, “In my Inaugural Address I stated very clearly that Washington does not always know better than Richmond, and, equally, that Richmond does not always know better than Fairfax or Galax. I have long opposed significant unfunded mandates passed from one level of government to another. Thus, I cannot in good conscience sign this legislation.”

“While the objective of this legislation is laudable, the proposed means of accomplishment is problematic.  Education officials advised me that this measure would cost them tens of millions of dollars. Fairfax County estimates the fiscal impact at $18-24 million; Chesterfield County places their potential costs at $6.9 million,” the Governor remarked. “In addition, this mandated time for physical education would exceed the time dedicated to any other subject in our public school system, and potentially cut into crucial time in the classroom needed for instruction in math, science, history and reading.  Our local school districts are facing tough budgetary times, and we simply cannot ask them now to incorporate an expensive new policy with no new funding.”

The Governor continued, “I am a strong proponent of the importance of exercise for our young people. My wife, Maureen, has made combating childhood obesity and inactivity, and promoting preventative healthcare, one of her chief issues as Virginia’s First Lady. However, we should not attempt to achieve important goals by disproportionately placing the burden of implementation on others.  While I strongly agree that we must encourage exercise and physical activity, I oppose unfunded mandates, whether they come from Washington or Richmond.  In the fight against childhood obesity and preventable disease, we all have a role to play. Government cannot just pass legislation and make this problem go away. Kids need to get off the couch and away from the computer and onto a soccer field or basketball court. We should look for every opportunity to encourage children to turn off the TV and go outside and play. Our young people should be taught by parents, teachers and mentors about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and to pick active, rather than passive, recreational activities.  I have instructed officials in my administration to look for creative and innovative means by which we can promptly help get our children more physically active, and motivated to exercise on their own. One solution is to utilize mechanisms already in place – through our local School Health Advisory Boards – to create wellness policies for our schools.  This allows for local level decision making based on each localities needs.  I applaud both Senator Ralph Northam and Delegate John O’Bannon for their leadership on health care issues and commitment to improving the health and wellness of Virginia’s children. I have pledged to work with them on this issue as part of a comprehensive review of the curriculum priorities for our public education system over the next year.”

The General Assembly will consider the Governor’s veto when it meets the first week of April for the reconvened session.

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UPDATE: A consortium of health care advocates just released the  following statement statement regarding the Governor’s veto.

The Virginia Chapters of the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as the YMCA’s of Virginia issue the statement below regarding Gov. McDonnell’s veto of SB 966.

Statement:

As Virginia’s leading public health organizations, we are deeply disappointed that Gov. McDonnell has vetoed SB 966 and missed an unprecedented opportunity to help address childhood obesity, a pressing and costly public health crisis.

This important legislation would have required 150 minutes of physical education each week, but did not require schools to hire additional instructors nor build new facilities.  Some school districts in Virginia, including Virginia Beach, have shown that they can offer even more than 150 minutes of physical education each week within their existing budgets and without a negative impact on education in other subjects.

Today, nearly one in three Virginia children is overweight or obese, and Gov. McDonnell has missed an ideal chance to show significant leadership on this problem by vetoing this legislation.

We are grateful for the strong bipartisan support this bill received in the General Assembly. In particular, Sen. Ralph Northam, Del. John O’Bannon, Del. Algie T. Howell, Sen. Louise Lucas, and Sen. John Miller showed strong leadership on this issue.

We will not give up on our fight against childhood obesity – and we will not give up on Virginia’s children.

Did you even realize that she had one?  Elizabeth Taylor‘s marriage to former Senator John Warner was more than just Beltway meets Hollywood romance. The diva used her star power to help launch the career of Warner. A career that was one of the most significant in Virginia political history.

Here is my story from NBC12:

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) – The death of movie star Elizabeth Taylor is sending ripples through the entertainment community tonight.

But while Taylor was an icon in Hollywood, she played a significant role in launching an important political career right here Virginia.

Taylor’s fifth marriage was to a former naval officer by the name of John Warner.

That was in 1976, right before John Warner launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate.

Taylor criss- crossed Virginia with her groom, playing a big part in his election.

Warner said he never would’ve had the chance to serve 5 terms and 30 years in the Senate, if Elizabeth Taylor had not come into his life.

You can see and read the full story on NBC12.com.

This week was Sunshine Week across the country, an effort to bring a attention to transparency and openness of government.  We took advantage of the opportunity to introduce you to two of my favorite organizations doing incredible work shining a light on government business.

On Thursday we talked to Megan Rhyne. She is the Executive Director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. They lobby the state legislature to prevent limits on public access to government work. They also help average citizens obtain information by helping them with the FOIA process (Freedom of Information Act)

We talked about all of the good things VACOG is working on during a live interview on NBC12 First at 4:

Then on Friday we welcomed David Poole, the Executive Director of the ever expanding Virginia Public Access Project.  VPAP is an incredible tool to track down everything you could ever want to know about about campaign finance. A resource that is very important in a state like Virginia that has no campaign donation limit.

VPAP recently expanded and is now covering donations to County Supervisors in Henrico and Chesterfield. An incredibly important addition to a group of leaders that don’t often get much attention.

My conversation with David is below:

VPAP is also doing some incredible work tracking the progress of redistricting in the Commonwealth.

By: Ryan Nobles – bio | email

It was is becoming a drawn out process, former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine admitted to his law school undergrad leadership studies class at the University of Richmond that he is “increasingly likely” to run for the Senate.  What Kaine didn’t say was that he was in for sure.

His offhanded comment turned into an internet firestorm with reputable sources reporting the DNC Chairman was in the race to replace outgoing Senator Jim Webb.  However, Kaine sent his DNC communications team to work to play down his remarks to the class and continue to leave a fog over what the leading democrat for the job really wants to do.

In a statement, Brad Woodhouse admitted that Kaine is leaning toward a run, but made it clear is not ready to commit completely.

“No final decision will be made or announced until the governor has had a final round of consultations with folks about how he can best serve the President, the people and the causes he cares about,” Woodhouse wrote.

Presumably that is what Kaine has been doing for the last month since Webb announced he would not seek re-election. Webb’s  announcement came at the behest of party insiders that were concerned that they would not have the time to prepare for what is bound to be a serious Republican challenge. (Former Sen. George Allen is already in as is Tea Party leader Jamie Radtke. Several other Republicans continue to mull campaigns)

But while Webb made his intentions known several months before he had planned to, Virginia Democrats have not been able to take advantage of the opportunity, in part because the field is waiting for Kaine to make up his mind.

Over the last several weeks Kaine has talked to President Obama about a potential run, huddled with former staffers at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner and went away on vacation with his family to clear his head with the goal of making a final decision. All of that consultation is apparently not enough, because Kaine still seems hesitant to make the plunge.

No one seems to really know what is in Kaine’s head except for Kaine himself. It looks now like we won’t know his intentions until at least the end of the month.

The complete statement from Brad Woodhouse can be found below:

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“In response to a student’s question, Governor Kaine told his law school class today what is already widely known which is that he is increasingly likely to run.  However, no final decision will be made or announced until the governor has had a final round of consultations with folks about how he can best serve the President, the people and the causes he cares about; he is assured that the Democratic Party will be in good hands should he choose to make the race and leave the DNC; he has the support that would be necessary to mount a successful campaign and he completes commitments for travel and fundraising he has made to the Party and the President through at least the end of the month.”

- Brad Woodhouse DNC Communications Director

UPDATE: The University of Richmond’s excellent College Newspaper, the Collegian is challenging the DNC claim. According to the paper, which spoke to students in the classroom, Kaine told them he was going to “give it a shot”.  They report  that the students in the class said Kaine didn’t qualify his intentions with “very likely’, but said that he was in for sure and will formally announce in a week or so.

By: Ryan Nobles – bio | email

Senator Mark Warner has been very cautious about his comments regarding Tim Kaine‘s future. Virginia’s soon to be senior senator inadvertently made some news last week when he told Bloomberg that he thought the chances of Kaine running were “slim to start with…(but) they’re getting a lot better right now.”

Kaine is still on vacation with his family out of state, and is not expected back in town until mid-week. The Politico’s Mike Allen reported this morning that the former governor is “increasingly likely” to leave the DNC to jump into the race.

Today (Monday), in a short chat with NBC12 after his morning forum with Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), Warner refused to handicap the odds of Kaine getting in, but made it clear that his “friend” was his top choice.

“I hope Tim Kaine decides to run for the United States Senate,” Warner said. “I think he would bring an important, new voice to the Senate.”

Warner did not give any indication of which way he thought Kaine was leaning. He said that the former Richmond Mayor still needs time with his family to make the right choice.

“I think folks ought to give him the chance to make that decision.”

Warner is very close politically and personally with Kaine. The two served together when Kaine was Lt. Governor and Warner lived in the Governor’s mansion.  Kaine was the Commonwealth’s chief  democratic cheerleader when Warner and his good friend Barack Obama were elected to their current posts in 2008.

While Warner is asking people to give Kaine space, he doesn’t think the wait will be very long.

“I think he will probably make it (the decision) this week,” he said. “I’m rooting that he will take the plunge.”

You can see extended clips from our conversation with Senator Warner, including his thoughts about what happens to the Democratic field if Kaine decides to this one out.

There are few people in America that don’t sympathize with the family of Matthew Snyder. Snyder died fighting for his country in Iraq and when his memory was honored with a funeral, his family was forced to endure protests from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.

Westboro and their lightning rod leader, Fred Phelps protest just about everything. Churches, high schools, museums anything that they can pin back to a homosexual agenda in the United States. They are widely considered to be extremist and outside of mainstream American thought.

And while most Americans were annoyed with, but tolerated their frequent protests it seemed to cross an imaginary line of discretion when they started protesting at military funerals. Matthew Snyder’s father Albert was so upset by the indignity that he took the Phelps family to court. His argument was that Westboro’s right to freedom of speech went too far, causing him emotional distress.

The Snyders won the first round of the court battle. They were awarded a $5 million verdict. But that decision was quickly turned back by a federal appeals court in Richmond.  Not only did the Snyders lose the appeal, but they were also ordered to pay the court costs of the Phelps family.

That is where the Supreme Court got involved. They agreed to hear the case last spring. The announcement by the highest court in the land brought with it a flood of support for the Snyders. That support led to briefs from influential leaders like Senators and Members of Congress.

Joining in support of the Snyder case was every single Attorney General in America except for Maine and Virginia. At the time Ken Cuccinelli said he deplored the behavior of Westboro Baptist Church, but the First Amendment protects all forms of speech.

His decision to not join the Snyder’s effort was vilified across the country and used as a baton for political attacks by Virginia Democrats. Del. Ward Armstrong appeared on NBC12 First at 4 to attack Cuccinelli. He said the Attorney General’s decision to sit the Snyder v. Phelps case out, was an example of  his extremist positions on a number of topics.

Fast forward to today. The Supreme Court of the United States had the final say. They did not side with the Snyder family, the entire U.S. Senate and 48 Attorneys General. No, in a convincing 8-1 decision they agreed with Ken Cuccinelli.

In his statement on behalf of the winning decision Chief Justice John Roberts wrote  ‘Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and—as it did here—inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker.”

Cuccinelli said that his willingness to stand apart from the pack is an example of the type of Attorney General that he is, focused on the rule of law, not an agenda.

“My office is committed to the rule of law and to the principles of the First Amendment,” Cuccinelli said in a written statement.  “We agree wholeheartedly with the chief justice, and that is why we declined to join the amicus brief in this case, even when doing so was decidedly unpopular.”

But will this act of courage help Cuccinelli with his biggest detractors? Many feel that he is driven by an ideological agenda that has more to do with his personal convictions than upholding the law.  It will be interesting to see how he uses this development to make the case that he is a responsible Attorney General, not someone hellbent on carrying out a political agenda.  The result could play a big role in his political future.

Extended clips from our interview with Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli can be found below: