Half Changed World

Any one want to make an argument for why I should support Viola Baskerville or Leslie Byrne for the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor?  They both seem to be solid liberals, but I haven’t heard a convincing case yet for why I should support one over the other. 

Playing the "follow the money" strategy, the one thing that jumps out at me from the VPAP data is that Byrne is clearly the choice of organized labor. 

Speaking of money, I had previously noted that in the delegate race for the 45th, Mandela had received 2/3 of her money from a single donor.  According to the Virginia2005 blog, it’s from her boyfriend and she’s using it to buy cable TV ads.  (The things I miss by having TiVo.)

We’re getting closer to the primary to choose a Democratic candidate for Delegate in the 45th district, so I thought I’d provide an update on the race.

When I last wrote about the candidates, Doug suggested looking at the money.  Some contribution and spending reports are now available.  A few thoughts based on looking at them:

• Dick Hobson has raised significantly less money than any of the candidates.  That, combined with the fact that he still doesn’t have a campaign website, makes me wonder how seriously he’s really taking this race.  Or maybe he thinks that only ADC members are going to bother to show up for the primary.
• Laura Mandala has raised the most money, but nearly 2/3 of it is from a single donor (Edward Spoden).  It doesn’t demonstrate widespread support.
• Englin, Garvey and Mosqueda have raised more of their money in small amounts. 

The local Democracy for America group sent all of the candidates a questionnaire, and has posted the answers they all provided.  They’ve also set up forums where anyone can discuss the race.

My Senator, John Warner, is on everyone’s list of the swing votes in the Senate on the "nuclear option" to prevent use of the filibuster. 

I disagree with Warner’s positions on the vast majority of issues, but I will always respect him for standing up against his party and saying that Oliver North was unfit to be a member of the U.S. Senate.  As Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, he’s been active in investigating the abuses at Abu Ghraib.  Most recently, he was one of the few Senators to oppose intervening in the Terri Schiavo case.

He’s one of the few Republicans who I’ve voted for.  I supported him over Mark Warner in 1996, who seemed to have nothing going for him but a lot of money (made flipping telecom licenses, no less), as well as in 2002, when the Dems didn’t nominate anyone.  He may well get my vote again in 2008.  But tomorrow, he’s getting a phone call.

As I’ve mentioned before, my representative in the House of Delegates, Marian van Landingham isn’t running for reelection.  This is a solidly Democratic district, so all the action is likely to be in the primary.  So far, there are 6 announced candidates:

• David Englin
• Libby Garvey
• Richard Hobson
• James Lay
• Laura Mandala
• Elsie Mosqueda

The Alexandria Democratic Committee will be having a candidates’ forum this Sunday, March 6, 2:00 pm. at the Durant Center, 1501 Cameron St, Alexandria.  Open to the public, no charge. I’m planning on going, because I honestly don’t know who I’ll support.  Several of the candidates have impressive experience.  Garvey is a current member of the Arlington school board, Hobson is a former delegate, and Mosqueda is the legislative aide for Brian Moran, the delegate for the adjoining district.  Englin has the most detailed issues statement on his website, and his politics look very close to mine.  He’s young, but he’s got an interesting bio — a liberal Democrat from the Air Force, with degrees from both the Air Force Academy and the Kennedy School of Government. 

If anyone wants to make a case for one of the candidates, I’d love to hear it.  And for the majority of my readers, who don’t live nearby, I’d be interested in your general comments about how you pick a candidate to support, especially in a wide-open primary.

The Post reported yesterday that Russ Potts is jumping into the Virginia Governor’s race as an independent candidate.  Both the Kaine and the Kilgore campaigns are busily spinning that Potts will take away more votes from the other guy.  I honestly have no idea which is more likely.  Raising Kaine (an independent, pro-Kaine blog) argues that Potts is more conservative than not, and suggests checking out his record on VoteSmart.

What jumped out at me on VoteSmart was the ratings under "Family and Children’s Issues."  These turn out to be based on the ratings of a group called the Family Foundation of Virginia.  Their definition of pro-family is anti-same sex marriage, anti-choice (they want to make Virginia "the most pro-life state in the nation"), and anti-taxes.  That’s not my family values.

I’m not blaming Vote Smart.  They explain that "Project Vote Smart collects performance evaluations from special interest groups who provide them, regardless of issue or bias."  It seems that no groups with a progressive definition of what constitutes family and children’s issues are putting out scorecards in Virginia.  (The Children’s Defense Fund does so at the national level.)

This seems like a gap that’s easy enough to fill.  We’d need to figure out a set of specific votes to use, and then fill out a spreadsheet showing all Delegates and Senators voting records.  I’m going to contact Voices for Virginia’s Children and see if they’re interested; the Virginia Family Values PAC might be another possibility.  Anyone want to join me in this project?

(If you’re in another state, check Vote Smart to see whose issuing ratings in your state.  If you want to develop a similar project, the state affiliate of Voices for America’s Children is probably a good place to start.)

Unchallenged Republicans in Northern Virginia:

Via the Women’s Information Network and the Virginia Grassroots Coalition:

As far as we know, two Republican members of the House of Delegates, Gary Reese in the 67th District and Tom Rust in the 86th District are currently running unopposed.   Both these districts are on the Fairfax/Loudon County border. If you live in one of those districts and would consider running for Delegate, or if you think you can recruit someone, contact Jim Edwards-Hewitt and he’ll get you hooked up with the Fairfax Democrats.  As we all know, it’s important  to contest every race, even in areas that lean Republican, both to make each Republican spend money (and keep them from raising money for other Republicans), to put Democratic issues on the table, and to take advantage of any unexpected opportunities.

EMILY’s List Candidate Training

On March 18th and 19th, EMILY’s List will be offering a terrific training opportunity for pro-choice Democratic women in Virginia.  We would like to extend an invitation for you to participate in the training.

As you may know, EMILY’s List is a political donor network and political resource for pro-choice Democratic women candidates. EMILY’s List has initiated a program designed to recruit and train women to run for and serve in elected office in the states.  Whether you are currently serving on the school board, or in the State Assembly, or if you are just beginning to think about running for elective office, we are certain this training will provide you with the skills and inspiration you need.

The program will begin on the evening of March 18th with a welcome dinner and short session.  Saturday, March 19th will be filled with training on fundraising, message development, direct mail and other important campaign issues.  

The program, including materials and meals is free, however space is limited.  Partial participation is not possible- you must commit to attending the full program in order to be allocated a seat at the training.

For details, contact Kate Coyne-McCoy

[My district’s wonderful Delegate, Marian Van Landingham, isn’t running for reelection due to personal health issues.  For about 24 hours, I considered trying to run myself, but since there are already about six Democrats running for the seat, I decided it wasn’t worth quitting my job to run.]

Via and I wasted all that birth control, I found this truly thoughtful discussion at Arwen/Elizabeth’s site about a key question behind the abortion debate, namely when does a fetus become a human being with rights of its own. I’m not sure anyone’s opinion was changed, but people were listening, not shouting past each other.  (And Cecily is one of the world’s classiest people.)

I was particularly intrigued by the comments that some people made about how their positions on this issue were affected by their experiences of pregnancy.  I found that having my children made both the reality of the potential life growing within and the horror of forcing a woman to continue an unwanted pregnancy more vivid to me.  It didn’t change my position on what I think the laws should be, however.

The NYTimes today has an article on how pro-life counseling centers are buying ultrasound machines to use to convince women not to have abortions.  I know such centers sometimes (often?) get women in under false pretenses and put a lot of pressure on them.  But, if you’re going to trust women to make these decisions, I don’t think it’s right to protect them from reminders of the potential for life.  (Although personally, I couldn’t see a thing on any of my sonograms; the simple heartbeat was much more impressive to me.)

Hugo Schwyzer has an interesting post this week on what it means to be male, pro-feminist, and pro-life.  He concludes that his most important work is in the area of changing men’s attitudes and of supporting male responsibility. 

The Nation had a powerful piece a couple of weeks ago on how Mississippi laws have made abortion "out of reach, buried under state laws that make the process unnecessarily difficult, discouraged by a sense of shame enforced by practically every public authority, and inaccessible for many who lack money to pay for it."  This is clearly the strategy being used in Virginia as well.   Unfortunately, this approach makes the sort of honest back and forth discussed above almost impossible.

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Rad Geek People’s Daily is promoting a bit of googlebombing to ensure that searches for Roe v. Wade get you to the text of the decision rather than to an advocacy site. 

Ema at the Well-Timed Period writes:

"The saga of HB 1677 has made me realize that the lives and health of tens of millions of women are literally at the mercy of legislators of Del. Cosgrove’s caliber. This realization is enough to subdue even the most optimistic person.  [By all means, if you were already aware of the existence of legislators like the Delegate, please, carry on with the celebration.]"

I knew that there were legislators like Cosgrove, here in Virginia and even in more "enlightened" states.  That doesn’t even depress me all that much; while they can introduce bills like this, they’re unlikely to get them passed.

What depresses me is that Tim Kaine, who is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Virginia (we have odd year elections) argues that the "partial-birth" (e.g. dilation and extraction) abortion ban should have an exception for the life and health of the mother — but only because the Supreme Court has ruled that such laws are unconstitutional without them.  Reading his letter to the editor, I’m left with the impression that he would have opposed such an exception if it weren’t for that meddling federal court.

Chap Petersen, who is one of the leading contenders for the Lieutenant Governor position, also has taken some positions that I’m pretty horrified by.  In addition to supporting the ban on dilation and extraction (without an exception for the life and health of the mother), he also opposed the recommendation that the feticide bill be amended to clarify that it should not be construed as limiting the right to an abortion.  And he voted for HB751, the anti-civil-union bill that became law last year. (To be fair, he did introduce a bill today, HB2940, that would amend that law to say that it "shall not abridge the right of any person to enter into a lawful contract that pertains to the ownership or devising of joint property, the maintenance of personal health, or the protection of private assets. ")

If that’s what the Democratic candidates look like, I’m more than depressed; I’m scared.

(Most of these legislative links are thanks to Maura‘s posting on Daily Kos.  Thanks.)

First, an update on HB1677 — Maura has posted Del Cosgrove’s email to her, in which he indicates that he will be working with legislative staff to revise the bill language to narrow its application.  (Apparently, he’s been totally swamped with email in the past day or two.  I’m shocked.)  I wouldn’t totally assume the problem is fixed, but it makes sense to at least wait and see what the bill says.

Next, I thought I’d shine a little light on some other proposed legislation.  HJ586, also offered by Del. Cosgrove, would amend the Virginia Constitution to say, under the heading BILL OF RIGHTS:

"Marriage is the legal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife, and no other combination of persons may be licensed to marry or recognized as a marriage by the government. A civil union, domestic partnership, or similar civil arrangement that purports to bestow the rights, privileges, benefits, status, or obligations of marriage upon unmarried persons may not be created, recognized, or enforced by the government. A civil arrangement forbidden by this section shall be void and unenforceable even if lawful elsewhere."

Del Cosgrove feels compelled to propose this amendment, even though the Legislature passed a law just last year that clarified the existing law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, in order to say:

"A civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement between persons of the same sex purporting to bestow the privileges or obligations of marriage is prohibited. Any such civil union, partnership contract or other arrangement entered into by persons of the same sex in another state or jurisdiction shall be void in all respects in Virginia and any contractual rights created thereby shall be void and unenforceable."

This law has already come into play in at least one custody dispute.  It strikes me as pure political grandstanding to push for a Constitutional amendment on top of the existing law, and it just turns my stomach to have it under the heading of Bill of Rights.

Finally, I’d like to point out the really well designed Legislative Information System which makes it possible to find out what bills have been introduced on a subject and their current status with just a few clicks of a mouse. 

Although sometimes I wonder what I’m doing here.

As reported by Maura at Democracy for Virginia (duplicated here if the first link is down) and updated here, Delegate Cosgrove is introducing a bill, HB1677, that would make it a class 1 misdemeanor for a woman to fail to report to law enforcement within 12 hours a fetal death that occurs without medical attendance.  And because another Virginia law defines a fetal death as one that occurs regardless of the duration of the pregnancy, this would affect everyone who miscarried or even had a slightly delayed pregnancy.  I’m not going to try to describe just how stupid and callous this proposal is; instead, read the posting and discussion at Chez Miscarriage for much more eloquence than I could achieve.

Cosgrove is supposedly concerned about the stories you occasionally hear about women giving birth and leaving the bodies in dumpsters.  If it can’t be proven that the baby was born alive, the only crime the woman can be charged with is improper disposal of human remains.  But the proposed response is totally disproportionate to the goal.

It appears that Cosgrove introduced a similar bill in 2003, which died in committee.  (Oddly enough, the 2003 bill was explicitly limited to women who miscarry more than 24 weeks after their last period.)  My guess is that even in the crazy-house that is the Virginia House of Delegates, this bill doesn’t have much of a chance of going anywhere. 

But don’t leave it to chance.  Write or call Cosgrove and tell him what you think of this bill.  If you live in Virginia contact your legislators, and let them know what you think too.  Contact the members of the Committee for Courts of Justice and ask them not to let the bill get out of committee.

And pay attention to what else is happening in your statehouses.  It doesn’t get the attention of what’s happening in DC, but it can make just as much, or more, difference in your life.