A Silver Lining in Virginia's Election Results

While Republicans maintained their hold on the Virginia Senate and thus will likely block Medicaid expansion and other progressive measures proposed by Governor McAuliffe, they did not increase their overall seat count and saw loses in the House of Delegates and in other lower tier elections.  It also must be noted that since 2015 is an off year with low voter turnout, the GOP's ability to largely hold back losses does not mean that things will be rosy in the GOP bubble come next year, especially of the GOP nominates a lunatic as its standard bearer.  Over at Bearing Drift, Brian Schoeneman, one of the few sane Republicans left looks at the dark spots - that Democrats need to capitalize on - in the GOP's election results.  Here are highlights:

One of the reasons why your average voter has a tendency to hate politicians is that we often do our best to bring out the silver lining in even the darkest of storm clouds.  We will find the one or two good outcomes in a sea of bad ones and focus on those rather than on the big picture.  That’s a human tendency, especially when anybody’s job is on the line.

On the other hand, I’ve always been of the opinion that the truth is better than spin, and that as adults we should be willing to accept the bad with the good, because an unwillingness to confront things that didn’t go so well is an inherent obstacle to fixing those things the next time around.  Given that we’ve got a presidential cycle just around the corner, we need to look objectively at what happened last night in Virginia and have a long conversation about what it actually means.  So let’s throw away the posturing and be honest.

By any objective measurement, the GOP had a bad night  The only news story that most of America saw last night – the one that was blasted out by Politico, CNN and the non-Virginia news outlets – was that we held the State Senate, which threw a wrench into Governor McAuliffe’s long-term legislative plans.  Medicaid expansion is dead, as are his misguided attempts at turning guns into a political issue in a staunchly pro-gun Commonwealth. 

But what did the wins in the State Senate mean?  We maintained the status quo.  That’s it.

Maintaining the status quo in the Senate was a must win, and we won it.  But we gained no ground, and the millions poured into the Commonwealth by outside groups didn’t have an overall impact on the final outcome.  In the two races they targeted, they went 1-1.  The only people really pleased with that outcome should be the TV stations in Richmond and Northern Virginia.  On the House of Delegates side, we lost ground overall. 

Northern Virginia, however, should be concerned – our power in the House just dropped considerably.  We lost control of the House Transportation Committee and we lost two Republican seats that are now in Democratic hands, and thus marginalized.  And losing GOP incumbents in Northern Virginia before a presidential election is a bad thing – we lose the network, the lists, the activist contact with an incumbent.  All those things matter.  And now they’re gone.  

On the local level, the constant in-fighting and back-biting among different sectors of the Republican Party tore up areas that had previously been considered Republican strongholds.  . . .  Despite the feeling that this was a Republican year on the ground in Fairfax, all of our challenger candidates for Board of Supervisors lost and the open seat race in my home Sully District was a GOP loss, flipping that seat to the Democrats. 

The biggest loser of the night – by far – was the Republican Party of Virginia.  Early this morning, RPV sent out a self-congratulatory email that was long on self-praise but short on facts.  It was, if anything, an obvious attempt (and clearly pre-election results written) at turd polishing by Chairman John Whitbeck, going into this reelection campaign next year.  Despite the fact that we maintained the status quo and our messaging didn’t really work  . . . .

Whatever GOP momentum we may have built up was just released last night with a resounding “meh,” after losing a lot of races that folks thought we would do well in.  Let’s be honest – not flipping a single Senate seat Blue to Red is not momentum. As for RPV’s vaunted “Faces of the GOP” campaign – straight out of 2007’s Corporate Public Relations playbook – it was a disaster.  Of the 20 Republican races profiled, 14 of the candidates lost. 

Last night must be viewed by every Republican in Virginia as a wake up call.  The idea that we can win “base,” low-turnout off-year elections just by turning out Republicans should have died last night.  Wherever we nominated a candidate who didn’t reflect their district, we lost.  We lost two critical seats in Northern Virginia that will make next year’s presidential race harder to run.  And, most important, we saw obvious examples in Loudoun that the constant in-fighting between sections of the GOP has real world implications – and those implications are bad.  Bottom line – we had a bad night and we have a lot of work to do.

Will the Virginia GOP accept this message?  I doubt it since the Party more and more lives in an alternate universe dominated by the Christofascists, white supremacists and ignorance embracing elements  of the party base.

The Importance of Voting Tomorrow

Tomorrow is election day in Virginia and the results of tomorrow's election will have a profound impact on Virginia's future.  If one lives in one of the contested Senate districts in particular, it is crucial that you get out and vote.  The following is a reprint of my October, 2015, VEER Magazine column that makes the case why one needs to vote and preferably vote Democrat.  Here's the full column:

By many accounts, the race for the Virginia Senate is just weeks away and it’s still a complete toss.  Republicans hold a two-seat (21-19) lead in the Virginia Senate, but since Lt. Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, presides over the Senate and can break the tie on most issues, Democrats only need a net gain of one seat in the general election to take control of the state Senate.  And, if the Democrats retake control of the Virginia Senate, they can control the Senate committee appointments and chairmanships and kill divisive legislation that gives the Commonwealth a bad name.  Similarly, they can provide a bulwark against some of the most extreme measures that may secure passage of in the Republican controlled House of Delegates. 

Sadly, in half of the 40 Senate districts up for election in 2015, are uncontested. And in the other races, many are not seriously contested.  As a result, a few key races may determine Virginia’s future. Out of the handful of races that will determine who controls the Virginia Senate, three critical Senate districts are located right here in Hampton Roads.  These districts and their respective candidates are as follows:

• District 1: In this district, incumbent John Miller (D) will face attorney Mark Matney (R).

• District 6: Incumbent Lynwood Lewis (D) will face challenger Richard Ottinger (R) in the general election. Lewis won this seat last January in a special election by only 11 votes.

• District 7: Incumbent Frank Wagner (R) and Gary McCollum (D) will face off in the general election.

John Miller and Lynnwood Lewis are personal friends and even though my husband and I do not live in their districts we have supported them financially because we fear the reactionary agenda of their opponents and/or the Republican Party of Virginia.  My concern is that a vote for either of the Republican challengers - not withstanding Richard Ottinger disavowal of being motivated by so-called social issues - would be a vote to drag Virginia backwards in time.  Like it or not, both Ottinger and Matney, if elected, would be under great pressure to vote in accordance with the religious extremist, anti-gay, anti-tax (no matter the consequences to the Commonwealth's infrastructure), and anti-Medicaid expansion agenda of the Republican Party of Virginia.  Indeed, Matney’s campaign website discloses that he has embraced the Virginia GOP’s reactionary social issues agenda.

The District 7 race is the more difficult for me personally since Frank Wagner has been a friend for over 20 years and is one of the few Republicans in the General Assembly who is not rabidly anti-gay.  That said, he has until recently historically voted with the anti-gay, anti-women, and anti-minority members of the Republican caucus in the General Assembly.  To my surprise, he has voted to enact employment non-discrimination protections for state employees (the measures were killed in the GOP controlled House of Delegates) and in 2014 he was a patron of resolution commending Equality Virginia, the 25-year-old nonprofit that advocates for equal treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Virginians.  The issue is, therefore, whether or not Frank has truly seen the light and will now work for equality for all Virginians.  Between now and election day, Frank Wagner would need to go to great lengths to disavow more of the extreme positions of the Virginia GOP to ensure my vote if I lived in his district.  

Turning to the situation in the House of Delegates, the Republicans hold a strong majority.  This is unlikely to change after the November 3, 2015, Virginia elections.  Perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that in 71 of the 100 House of Delegates districts up for election in 2015, there is no contested election.  Only 29 of the 100 district seats up for election will have a contested race.  Why is this the case?  Largely due to gerrymandering which the Virginia GOP has admitted - in court pleadings in pending cases challenging the constitutionality of Virginia's voting districts - was done to protect Republican incumbents and aid in holding a Republican majority.  The dictates of the Virginia Constitution that voting districts must be compact and contiguous meant little compared to the quest for partisan advantage.

But back to why is this November's election so important.  Because these elections, especially in the Virginia Senate, will determine whether or not Virginia moves forward into the future or tries, as it has so often in the past, to retreat backwards in time.  A number of critical issues will face the General Assembly in the 2016 session. Two of the most important are as follows:

Medicaid Expansion: As I shared in a column earlier this year, my husband I have experienced firsthand the nightmare that is Virginia's Medicaid program in connection with securing placement for my adopted brother-in-law who suffers from intellectual disabilities.  To listen to Republicans - including statements on Richard Ottinger's campaign website and Mark Matney’s campaign site- Medicaid is some out of control program where free loaders predominate and money is squandered.  The reality, of course, is something far different than what Republicans would have one believe, especially when it comes to disability services.   The Commonwealth of Virginia ranks either 5th or 7th in the nation in per capita income depending on the income ranking utilized. But despite it "wealthy state" status, in terms of its spending on the needs of those suffering from intellectual and developmental disabilities, Virginia ranks 49th in the county.  Only Mississippi spends less on those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  Virginia’s Medicaid system needs a huge infusion of money.

Making matters even worse, as the Virginian Pilot recently emphasized, Republican obstructionism to Medicaid expansion hurts the Commonwealth's economic viability but it also seriously threatens the viability of many Virginia hospitals. Here is a brief quote:

REPUBLICAN state lawmakers' refusal to accept billions in Virginians' federal taxes to subsidize insurance for some 400,000 uninsured people has repeatedly been exposed as the partisan political ploy that it is.

The expansion of Virginia's managed-care Medicaid program, the most efficient of two divisions of Medicaid in Virginia, is a prime objective of Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act.

Republicans have chosen to bleed hospitals in their own districts of necessary revenue, diminishing access to quality health care while undermining local and statewide economic development efforts. All so they can politically oppose a lame duck president over a law twice declared constitutional and which the GOP doesn't have the votes in Washington to overturn.

The analysis is harsh, but sadly accurate from all of the data that I have reviewed to date.  Republican candidates who merely mouth the anti-Medicaid talking points of the Virginia GOP prove that, in reality, they are clueless on the issues on which they are campaigning.

Job Creation and Economic Growth.  All of the candidates regardless of political party talk about wanting to create jobs and build Virginia’s economy.  Most of the Republican proposals boil down to cutting taxes, repealing safety regulations, and pushing the same strategies that have fails to yield results over the years.  Electing representatives that understand that the state and global economies have changed is critical to Hampton Roads.  As recently reported, the Hampton Roads economic has remained static and in the doldrums even as other parts of the country have seen their economies grow.  This needs to change.  Private sector job growth is also critical because Virginia is the No. 1 recipient of Department of Defense spending and has seen a $9.8 billion decrease in defense spending from 2010 through 2012.  One way to counter balance this economic threat is to boost private industry growth to generate new jobs to replace those lost to decreases in federal government spending in the coming years, especially if a new round of sequestration cuts take effect.

As I and others have argued before, to attract new businesses, Virginia needs to ensure that it is welcoming to all would be private business and their employees whether these employees are black, white, Hispanic, Hindu, Christian, foreign born, gay or straight.  Equality is a powerful key to recruiting top employees and retaining others.  Yet, in contrast to this vision of a Virginia where all are welcome, the Republican controlled House of Delegates has consistently blocked every effort to enact employment non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees, pushed through voter ID laws to disenfranchise minorities under the ruse of protecting against nonexistent “voter fraud,” and made all kinds of anti-immigrant statements that impact not just Hispanics but also Asian-Americans.  Just as frightening is the fact that  Virginia Republicans have pledged to make the 2016 General Assembly session all about protecting "religious liberty" through what I call “license to discriminate laws” that enable anti-gay and other religious based discrimination.   If enacted, such laws will make it painfully obvious to potentially relocating businesses that not everyone is welcome in Virginia.

How do we protect Virginia's future and move its economy forward?  Get out and vote come the November elections.  We have elected officials who are working to generate new private industry jobs, seeking to make Virginia a welcoming state for businesses and their employees, and pushing to expand Virginia's health care system (and in the process recapture Virginians' own money sent to Washington).   But these elected officials from the Governor on down need your help: get out vote, especially if you live in the 1^st, 6^th or 7^th Senate districts, and vote for Democrat candidates who want to end Republicans’ failed, irresponsible policies that threaten Virginia's economy and future.

Democrats Target Virginia in Push to End Voter Disenfranchisement

I have long bemoaned the Virginia GOP's effort to disenfranchise voters that they fear will not vote for its Kool-Aid drinking candidates: voter ID to stop non-existent voter fraud and gerrymandered districts have been the Virginia GOP's primary tools to toward trying to rig elections.  Now, national Democrats as well see the obscenity of Virginia's efforts to maintain the voting strength of the dwindling angry white voters.  As a result, as a piece in the Washington Post describes, Virginia is to be targeted as part of a wider effort to roll back GOP voter disenfranchisement efforts.  Here are article excerpts:

After Tracey Bell tried to register to vote in Virginia last year, she got a letter in the mail saying her citizenship was in doubt and she would have to pay $10 to prove it. Confused and annoyed, Bell ranted on Facebook.

It was the rare Facebook rant that actually led to government action. A friend put her in touch with the Virginia Democratic Party, which connected her to a lawyer who explained that she had forgotten to check a box confirming her citizenship. She fixed it — and a year later, Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is pushing to have the box requirement eliminated.

Both the lawyer and the governor are participating in a national Democratic effort to expand turnout that could make or break presidential election results in highly competitive states — and Virginia is a key target.

According to voting rights activists, 15 states with 162 electoral votes face new voting restrictions in 2016. Because of a 2013 Supreme Court decision overturning part of the 50-year-old Voting Rights Act, next year’s presidential election will be the first in which Southern states, including Virginia, will not be required to have election-law changes approved by federal authorities.

Democrats are hoping to bring in new voters across the country by breaking down barriers to voting through legal challenges, regulatory changes and grass-roots organizing. In Virginia, the only battleground presidential state that also has elections this year, Democrats are working closely with their national counterparts to expand the electorate — testing ways, for instance, to work around voter-identification laws, narrower voting windows and other restrictions generally backed by Republicans.

McAuliffe’s proposal, however, is not certain to succeed. The state GOP has objected forcefully against the change in the voter-registration form. And on Tuesday, the head of the Virginia Board of Elections postponed action on the plan, saying it needs to be reworked.

The Virginia Republican Party says that voter-ID requirements are common-sense safeguards against fraud. 

State Democrats have formed a Voter Protection Council, working year-round with registrars, election officials and local parties to identify problems and publicize changes. They are identifying former felons and helping them get their rights restored, something McAuliffe has made easier.

The council is working on setting up a year-round hotline for voters to call in with questions. And Virginia Democrats plan to test a new model of the Democratic National Committee’s voter incident reporting system, a mobile application that logs problems at the polls. They want to improve volunteer coordination and sign up election officers earlier.

They are supporting lawsuits that would overturn the state’s voter-ID laws and redraw its congressional and legislative districts. At the same time, McAuliffe is leading a national effort to win governor’s seats in states that will draw new maps after 2020.

With a Republican-controlled legislature — and a Republican governor until 2014 — Virginia has voter-ID requirements that were made stricter in recent years. . . . In 2014, the then-Republican-controlled elections board ruled that the photo ID must be current or have expired within the past year. McAuliffe has since revamped the board with a Democratic majority.

“Virginia has been unique over the past few years because they have an election every year,” Pratt Wiley, national director of voter protection for the DNC. “There isn’t a state like Virginia . . . that is as appealing to be a testing ground and a proving ground.”

Virginia Democrats Condemn Virginia GOP Plan for License to Discriminate Laws

In a previous post it was noted how the Virginia GOP is stating that it will make "religious freedom" laws, a/k/a license to discriminate against gays a priority in the 2016 session of the General Assembly.  It is but further proof that the Virginia GOP remains a puppet of the foul hate group, The Family Foundation, and that demonizing gays as a wedge issue remains a higher priority for the Virginia GOP than addressing the state's infrastructure needs, pathetic support for the disabled, and growing the states economy.  Seemingly, the fiasco that GOP Gov. Mike Pence and Republicans in Indiana wrought for themselves has made not impression on the political whores and knuckle draggers at RPV.  A piece in the Roanoke Times looks at the pledge by Virginia Democrats to oppose the GOP effort to enact license to discriminate legislation and to make the GOP's backward thinking an issue in the 2015 Virginia elections.  Here are article highlights:

Democratic lawmakers and gay rights advocates on Monday fired back at Republican leaders in the House of Delegates for wanting to make religious freedom legislation — which they see as discriminatory against same-sex couples — a top priority in the 2016 General Assembly session.

“While Virginia Democrats are focused on creating jobs, Republicans have admitted that their top legislative priority is discriminating against people,”said Democratic Party of Virginia chairwoman Susan Swecker.

“Focusing on Indiana-style discrimination laws instead of growing our economy is irresponsible, dangerous and hopelessly out of touch.”

While Republicans say they will abide by the recent historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling that made same-sex marriage the law of the land, Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, said in an interview last week that protections of religious liberties will be “the primary focus” for the House GOP next year.

House Minority Leader David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, said Monday that “some Republicans want to try to use fear of that as a wedge issue” to drive their voters to the polls in November, when all 140 seats of the General Assembly are up for election.

“There are some people that are scared that the sky is going to fall and all our liberties are going to be taken away, and I will speak loudly and clearly against any notion that we are going to compromise religious liberty or freedom. But I also will speak very strongly against using religion as a rationale for discrimination,” Toscano said.

To Democrats, gay rights and anti-discriminatory policies are about jobs and the economy, Toscano added.  “We hear from a lot of companies who are trying to recruit people that a lot of folks don’t feel that Virginia is all that hospitable,” Toscano said.

“And when you have provisions that allow people to discriminate based on their sexual orientation, it’s not at all helping with recruitment. To us, it’s an economic issue and not related to lifestyle as Republicans aim to make it.”
 
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said that almost anything that state legislators stress just four months before their names are on the ballot is related to the election.  “This was an organized Republican effort to capitalize on the Supreme Court’s gay marriage decision,” Sabato said. “The November election for the General Assembly will have the lowest turnout of the four-year election cycle. That means both parties have to focus on themes that will generate decent turnout among the party base.”

In Virginia, religious and social-issue conservatives make up a large part of the GOP supporters.  “That’s why the legislators made their appeal as much about religious freedom as gay marriage. When people think the stakes are high, and their beliefs are seriously threatened, they tend to vote,” Sabato said.

Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, called the GOP plan a “thinly veiled attempt to activate the most emotionally engaged parts of their base” for the upcoming elections.

Democrats could use Gilbert’s harsh language to increase turnout among their own supporters, as polls show every age group below 50 now supports gay marriage, and those under 30 back the idea by a massive majority. While the House is firmly in Republican hands, the Senate majority remains up for grabs.

The lesson?  Democrats have to turn out in November and drive a wooden stake through the heart of the Virginia GOP. 

Virginia GOP Pledges to Pass License to Discriminate Laws

Anti-gay Virginia Republicans

Ever since the Supreme Court issued its same sex marriage ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, most Republicans have been falling all over themselves to not only condemn the ruling but to prostitute themselves to the Christofascist by promising to "protect religious freedom."  Even Southern Baptist Convention windbag Albert Molher has conceded that no threat exists that any church or denomination will be forced to perform same sex marriages or to cease preaching anti-gay rants from the pulpit.  Likewise, no one will be forced to cease worship in anti-gay churches.  There is, in short, NO THREAT to religious freedom notwithstanding Mike Fuckabee Huckabee's calls for the enforcement of public accommodation laws to be prosecuted as hate crimes.   All of this is, of course, a total distortion of the Founding Father's concept of religious freedom.  Compliments of a reader, her are excerpts from George Washington's address to the Jewish Community of Newport, Rhode Island (emphasis added):

The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past, is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and a happy people.

The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

Pretty clear stuff: no special rights, no government sponsored discrimination. Yet the Virginia GOP has pledged that it will enact laws that will fly in the face of Washington's words and the concepts advanced by Founding Fathers from Virginia.  The Richmond Times Dispatch reports on the matter.  Note how hate group leader, Victoria Cobb of The Family Foundation is once again playing puppet master.  Here are highlights:

After the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly are preparing to push back in what they call a culture war aimed at destroying religious freedoms.
Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, said protections of religious liberties are going to be the primary focus for House Republicans in the 2016 General Assembly session, which begins in January.

“My concern is that the ultimate goal of the far left is not to secure rights for gay individuals but to tear down religious institutions and the belief systems that support them,” Gilbert said this week.

A.E. Dick Howard, a constitutional law professor at the University of Virginia and author of the modern Virginia Constitution, said lawmakers who will not accept same-sex marriage as a proposition must be gathering their forces now and thinking of ways to craft legislation aimed at preserving, and even expanding, religious liberties.

“If you can’t defeat same-sex marriage as such at this point, then I think the next obvious step is to see how much protection can you give religious people,” Howard said.

In a year when all 140 seats in the assembly are up for election, some lawmakers in safe GOP districts remain loyal to opponents of same-sex marriage and advocates of religious freedom, believing that the Supreme Court ruling opens the door to discrimination against Christians who refuse to embrace marriages between same-sex couples.

“Given that the majority on the court refused to acknowledge that Americans have a constitutionally protected right to exercise our faith in the public square that’s not limited to ‘teaching’ or ‘believing’ as Justice (Anthony) Kennedy implied, we are concerned that at the very least religiously based organizations that provide a host of services from health care to homeless shelters will be forced to give up their tax-exempt status,” said Victoria Cobb, president of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

Cobb also said she is concerned that businesses that don’t want to participate in same-sex unions will be punished, “like they have been in other states, even though they will provide their services to any individual, gay or straight.”

James Parrish, executive director of the gay rights group Equality Virginia, said his organization will continue to work toward protecting gays and lesbians from discrimination by business owners who deny them service for religious reasons.

“We truly believe when you open your doors to the business to the public, you are serving the entire public,” Parrish said. “We believe there is a social contract out there: When you open a public business, you are opening your business to the public.”

But efforts to push anti-discrimination legislation ends at the church door, Parrish said. “Any faith leader can refuse to marry anyone for any reason. That is all protected,” he said.

Rebecca Glenberg, legal director with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which supports same-sex marriage, said the federal gay marriage ruling will not affect how churches conduct marriages.

As is always the case, the lies and distortions come from the godly folk.  As for the organizations that Cobb whines about, the choice is simple: either stop taking state and federal funds or obey non-discrimination laws and public accommodation laws.  Once again, the Christofascists want special rights and to have their cake and eat it too.  

Support Don Shaw - Let's Retire Bob Marshall

Don Shaw and his family

A few days ago I wrote a post about the need to defeat GOP Del. Bob Marshall in November.  Marshall is perhaps one of the most hate-filled homophobes in the Virginia General Assembly and once boasted that he'd like to drive all the gays out of Virginia.  I noted in the post that Marshall has a Democrat challenger who needs our support.  Much to my surprise, I received the following e-mail from Don Shaw, Marshall's opponent:

Thank you for the blog post yesterday.  It's definitely time to Retire Bob Marshall.  He has furthered his anti-LGBT hate agenda at the expense not only of those against whom he campaigns, but also at the expense of progress and economic security here in Virginia.  I'm a strong ally of the LGBT community not only because I'm a Democrat, but because I absolutely believe in equality for all.  As was mentioned in the WaPo article, my 23-year-old son is gay.  I am unequivocal in my assertion that equal rights should not be contingent on his sexual orientation, but on the fact that he is a person.  I also have a 21-year-old daughter who has special needs.  Contrary to what Marshall has said, she is not God's punishment for abortion.  On the contrary, she's a blessing I count fortunate to have received every single day.  I would be remiss if I didn't mention our youngest.  She believes, and I agree, that she deserves equal pay for equal work and that she should be able to make her own healthcare decisions.  My wife is a wonderful and accomplished person in her own right, without whom I wouldn't be where I am today.  My family keeps me grounded and inspired me to step up and run for office to put an end to the continuous social war being waged by Bob Marshall.

Anyway, I wanted to send you a personal note of thanks for picking up on the WaPo story and blogging about it.  I've read some of your entries; I wish I had the time to go back and catch up on all of them.  You have a powerful story in your own right and I thank you for sharing it.  

Please share information about the campaign liberally and encourage those in a position to contribute to do so.  We're fighting the good fight and we will win!  Thank you!

Best,

Don

Don Shaw

Democratic Candidate

VA House of Delegates

13th District

http://www.shawfordelegate.com

PLEASE SUPPORT DON'S CAMPAIGN AND MAKE A CONTRIBUTION (USE THE LINK ABOVE) WHETHER YOU LIVE IN VIRGINIA OR NOT.  SENDING BOB MARSHALL INTO RETIREMENT WILL PERHAPS SEND A MESSAGE TO THE GOP.

It Is Time to Retire Del. Bob Marshall

Speaking of Republicans who are a scourge on decency, here in Virginia, no one is more anti-gay and opposed to modernity and equality for all citizens than Del. Bob Marshall.  Marshall has been a blight on Virginia's reputation for years and can be relied upon to back every racist and reactionary cause favored by the Virginia GOP.  Indeed, Marshall is usually leading the Virginia GOP effort to return to the 1950's.  Marshall - along with the rest of the House of Delegates - is up for re-election this year and his anti-gay batshitery and support for Indiana's license to discriminate law is rightly becoming an issue in his re-election campaign.  Marshall needs to be defeated and sent into permanent retirement.  The Washington Post looks at how events in Indiana are becoming an issue in Marshall's re-election effort (NOTE: like every good Christofascists, Marshall is lying when he says the Indiana statute is no different than Virginia's statute):

The national firestorm over an Indiana law that some say legalizes discrimination against gay and lesbian people has spilled over into a Virginia House of Delegates race.

Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William) is defending the Indiana law, to the chagrin of his Democratic challenger, Don Shaw, who called the effort “offensive.”

“Virginia has the same law. We passed it in 2007. The sky did not fall!” Marshall wrote in a letter to the Indianapolis Star.

Marshall wrote the letter in response to one that Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) wrote to the newspaper imploring Indiana businesses to consider relocating to Virginia for its “open, inclusive and thriving business environment.”

Shaw and the governor’s office said there are significant differences between Virginia’s law — and similar ones in other states — and the law under scrutiny in Indiana.

They say Indiana’s law was designed to give private companies legal cover for discrimination against gay and lesbian people, while Virginia’s law seeks to protect an individual’s freedom of religion from government intrusion.

Shaw said he is running in part to support laws protecting his 23-year-old son, who is openly gay.  “Bob Marshall wants to basically allow people to discriminate against my son and I don’t think that’s right,” he said. “I want to live in a robust and thriving Virginia economy and I believe Bob Marshall is doing everything he can do to prevent that.”

During the recent legislative session, Marshall introduced two bills that Shaw said mirror the Indiana law.  One would have blocked McAuliffe from making nondiscrimination against people because of their sexual orientation a condition of entering into a government contract. The other said anyone who gets a license or authority from the state would not have to serve or counsel same-sex couples if he or she has moral or religious objections.

Marshall, one of the most conservative members of the Virginia House, was the author of Virginia’s now defunct 2006 ban on same-sex marriage.

Businesses in Marshall's district need to make it clear that Marshall is a liability to economic growth and prosperity and that he must be defeated in November.

MAKE A DONATION TO SHAW'S CAMPAIGN HERE.