Virginia GOP Congressman Goodlatte's Son Donates to Democrat

The thankfully retiring GOP Rep. Bob Goodlatte - a blight on Virginia.

Like Liberty University and Regent University, Congressman Bob Goodlatte is a blight on Virginia's image and reputation as newly progressive and up and coming state.  If there is a wrong side on any issue, the always reactionary and partisan Mr. Goodlatte can be counted on to be on the wrong side of the issue.  Thankfully, Goodlatte is retiring and will cease to be a blight on the Commonwealth.  Whether or not Democrats can capture Goodlatte's west central Virginia 6th congressional district - gerrymandered, of course to favor Republicans - remains to be seen, but the public spat between Goodlatte and his son is a microcosm of the battle for Virginia's soul between the racist, ignorance embracing, backward looking rural areas and the progressive, forward looking urban areas.  The irony is that while voters in rural areas whine against government handouts to those who are undeserving, these regions are in fact supported by the urban areas of Virginia (just as red states are the ones most on the federal dole). If one wants to know why rural Virginia has difficulty attracting new, progressive businesses, look no farther than its residents and their reactionary and bigoted beliefs.  But back to Goodlatte.  Over the weekend Goodlatte's own son donated the maximum allowable to the Democrat seeking to win his father's open seat.  Here are article excerpts from a piece in Politico: 

A high-ranking Republican lawmaker's son donated the "maximum amount" to a Democrat running to replace his father.

Bobby Goodlatte, the son of House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), made the surprise announcement on Twitter Sunday night. Goodlatte is retiring after 13 terms in Congress.

"I just gave the maximum allowed donation to Jennifer Lewis, a democrat running for my father's congressional seat. I've also gotten 5 other folks to commit to donate the max. 2018 is the year to flip districts — let's do this!" Bobby Goodlatte wrote on Twitter, where he describes himself as a product designer and angel investor based in San Francisco.

Lewis said she was surprised by Goodlatte’s public donation when she woke up Monday, calling it a “very exciting morning, to say the least.” The maximum individual donation is $2,700, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The Lewis campaign raised more than $15,000 in donations after Bobby Goodlatte announced his support, spokesman Josh Stanfield said.

Bobby Goodlatte plans to help out with the Lewis campaign heading into the November midterm elections, Lewis said. His donation has inspired others to follow suit and give money, though Lewis did not say how many donations her campaign had received Monday. Bobby Goodlatte did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Later in the day, Bobby Goodlatte laid into his father after news broke that FBI agent Peter Strzok had been fired.

"I’m deeply embarrassed that Peter Strzok’s career was ruined by my father’s political grandstanding. That committee hearing was a low point for Congress. Thank you for your service sir. You are a patriot," Bobby Goodlatte said in a tweet Monday afternoon. Strzok drew criticism from conservatives earlier this summer when an inspector general investigation unearthed text messages Strzok wrote that were critical of President Donald Trump.

Regardless of his son's criticism, Goodlatte’s district is a challenge for Democrats. Trump carried the central Virginia district with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2016, and Mitt Romney did the same in the 2012 presidential election. Goodlatte received two-thirds of the vote that year.

Republican nominee Ben Cline starts with a base of support in the district after 16 years in the state House of Delegates. Cline had previously served as Goodlatte’s chief of staff. He has outraised Lewis more than 5-to-1 through June 30, the end of the most recent FEC reporting period. Cline’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Bobby Goodlatte's donation comes as Democrats across the country edge toward flipping the House and gaining a majority. Lewis beat three Democratic competitors in the state's primary election in June, grabbing 48 percent of the vote.

“I truly believe we will win in November. We’ve been having these conversations with folks where, yes, you may have never voted for a Democrat before, but if you want health care for you and your kids, if you want a living wage for you and your kids, if you want income equality and affordable housing,” Lewis said. “These are the things people are talking about. We’re seeing very good success from canvassing.”

Goodlatte's office did not respond to a request for comment.

GOP's Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) Plays to Party's Racist Base

When not prostituting themselves to the Christofascists, congressional Republicans can't do enough to make the white supremacists in the party base (the other twin pillar of today's GOP) happy.  A case in point is House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) who said there is no need to undo damage to the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court's ruling in 2013.  Never mind that he once supported the re-authorization of the Act.  Now, the GOP goal is to restrict minority voting as much as possible to compensate for the fact that the party's agenda is increasingly attractive to an aging white demographic that is literally dying off.  Here are highlights from Talking Points Memo:

House Republicans have determined that it's not "necessary" to enact a legislative fix to the Voting Rights Act in the wake of the 2013 Supreme Court decision that gutted a centerpiece of the law, the chairman with jurisdiction over the law told reporters on Wednesday.

"There are still very, very strong protections in the Voting Rights Act in the area that the Supreme Court ruled on, which is the question of whether or not certain states — there were, I think 11 states, all Southern states that were required by law to seek precleareance of any changes in where polling places are located and other matters like that," House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

"To this point we have not seen a process forward that is necessary because we believe the Voting Rights Act provided substantial protection in this area right now," he said. "And we'll continue to examine, we'll continue to listen to the concerns of individuals."

Republican support for fixing the Voting Rights Act is scant. One year ago this week, such a proposal was introduced by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said Goodlatte's remarks "ought to be of very serious concern for everyone who cherishes the fundamental right" to vote, urging him to consider the Conyers-Sensenbrenner bill.

"I am deeply concerned and disappointed by comments from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte that Congress does not need to take corrective action to address the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Shelby v Holder, which guts one of the most important and effective provisions ever enacted to combat voter discrimination," Hoyer said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. "As we prepare to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of the march in Selma and the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, it would be a blow against the march toward fairness and equality at the ballot box for Congress to do nothing to address the Shelby decision."

As I have pondered before, when will it become official GOP policy to hand out KKK robes to city and county GOP committees at the start of each meeting.  It's be very popular I suspect, especially in Southern states and Southwest Virginia.