In a SurveyUSA poll taken for Roanoke’s WDBJ-TV, Virginia Senator Bob Hurt has a 58% – 35% lead over incumbent 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). 

Perriello, who defeated 6-term Republican Virgil Goode by 727 votes in 2008, today trails among most demographic groups. Among men, Hurt leads by 19 points. Among women, Hurt leads by 26. White voters back Hurt 2:1; black voters back Perriello 2:1. Twice as many Democrats cross over to vote Republican as Republicans who cross over to vote Democrat. Independents break Republican. Perriello runs most strongly among Democrats, African Americans, liberals, moderates, those who have unfavorable opinions of the Tea Party movement, among pro-choice voters, and among those who do not own guns … each of which is today a minority among likely voters in VA’s 5th district.

The composition of likely voters for this survey is 42% Republican, 27% Democratic. This composition reflects an energized Republican base and an enthusiasm gap for Democrats, evident in SurveyUSA polling from around the country. If the electorate is more Democratic than shown in SurveyUSA’s model here, the Republican still wins, though his margin of victory is less. For example, if hypothetically there were an even number of Democrats and Republicans in the likely voter model, Republican challenger Hurt wins today by 11 points, not 23.

H/T – Bearing Drift

9th District Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) has been an anomaly for quite some time.  A liberal in a representing a right of center district, Boucher has kept his seat by bringing home the bacon and because he seldom has strong opponents..  Yesterday, Bearing Drift’s Ward Smythe asked whether or not Virginia House Majority Leader  Morgan Griffith can overcome Boucher’s incumbency and large cash balance.

ABSOLUTELY!  Boucher’s support of “Cap and Tax” should really win him him friends in the coalfields.  Plus, if the national anti-incumbency vibe translates to the “Fightin’ 9th” (and it should), the GOP has a great shot.

Boucher’s campaign definitely seems to be feeling the pressure.  If this Tweet is any indication, and if Griffith continues running a strong campaign, it very well could be “Bye Bye Boucher”.

People inside the Boucher campaign are painting a VERY negative picture. This isn’t the way to motivate volunteers.

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has managed to finish out the fiscal year with a $220 million surplus versus the projected #1.8 billion deficit projected when McDonnell entered office in January.

Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that the Commonwealth of Virginia has posted a preliminary revenue surplus at the conclusion of the 2010 fiscal year on June 30th. The Governor estimated the surplus, after miscellaneous interest payments are distributed, will be at least $220 million. The primary source of the surplus comes from individual withholding and non-withholding and corporate income tax receipts. As of January, the Commonwealth faced a $1.8 billion budget shortfall for the remainder of FY 2010. Working together, Governor McDonnell and the General Assembly closed this shortfall during the 2010 legislative session.

New Jersey’s Chris Christie can do it.  Bob McDonnell sure can.  Why can’t the Dems in DC get a grip on their budget?  Hell, they won’t even pass a budget!

H/T – Doug Mataconis @ Below The Beltway

Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) will host two telephone “town hall” meetings this week.  Perriello, who hosted REAL town hall meetings last summer, claims that this format will allow “thousands” of constituents to listen in.  Technically, this is true.  Of course, Perriello doesn’t have to look thousands of constituents in the eye either.

Perriello, who narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Virgil Goode in 2008, is considered a ripe target for replacement in this fall’s elections.  Like his Maryland colleague, Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD), Perriello is attempting to moderate his image among voters.  “Telephone Town Halls” seem to help in this matter.  While claiming to be “more inclusive” and “reaching out to the people”, questions from constituents can be more easily controlled and Perriello doesn’t have to face scores of Tea Party activists demanding a saner national fiscal policy.

It seems that the national GOP establishment is a tad squeamish about Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli.  Little wonder.  Virginia went for Obama in 2008.  The establishment GOP types thought anti-Obama backlash might yield victories by nice, safe, MODERATE Republicans.  Instead, Virginia elected Bob McDonnell AND Cuccinelli.

“We agree with his positions, we don’t like his style,” said a senior official with a national Republican organization. He spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of antagonizing Cuccinelli allies.

Why do they fear the Cooch?

Cuccinelli offers no apologies for his stands, which delight the tea party wing of the GOP. His federal lawsuits are just a way of making good on his campaign to fight what he views as unconstitutional federal usurpation of states’ rights.

“What we have started on in these first two months is … reasserting the state’s role vis-a-vis the federal government in determining its own destiny and in pushing back on the growing, overreaching federal power,” Cuccinelli said during a recent interview with The Associated Press. “And that isn’t just a Democrat occurrence. That happened under Republicans, as well.”

The 41-year-old Cuccinelli is a pugnacious, ruggedly handsome champion of the right who is able to publicly articulate its beliefs and aims without sounding shrill or mean. And he has clashed with what he considers apostates within his own party as much as he has Democrats.

Sure, the GOP establishment likes it when Cuccinelli pokes a stick in Obama’s eye or throws a bomb at the Democrats in Congress.  The problem (at least for them) is that Cuccinelli also won’t hesitate taking on the GOP establishment as well.  That’s why we’ve all heard the comments from these same faux con GOP operatives.  “Cooch is a nut job.”  “He’s a right wing lunatic.”  etc.

Sure, Cuccinelli is crazy like a fox.  First of all, he’s principled.  That’s enough to scare the RNC out of the gate.  He also appeals to grassroots conservatives of every stripe – social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and libertarians.  The Tea Party crowd loves Cooch.  These are the folks that the GOP establishment really fears.  It’s 1976 all over again.

Virginia governor Bob McDonnell must really love Cuccinelli.  McDonnell is a solid conservative, with no need to pander (to build a bona fides).  Cuccinelli can only help as McDonnell becomes a national GOP star.  Compared to Ken, McDonnell actually makes the establishment types breathe a sigh of relief.  McDonnell is smart enough (and principled enough)  to use the talents of someone like Ed Gillespie without being corrupted by him.  McDonnell also doesn’t display the type of ego that resents all of the press Cuccinelli receives.

Establishment types should fear the Cooch.  As conservatives, we should be thankful.

Thanks to Norm Leahy @ Tertium Quids

Thursday night I was traveling through eastern Virginia and picked up a copy of my old hometown paper – the Daily Press.  Low and behold, there was an editorial claiming that the salaries and benefits paid to government employees are OUT OF CONTROL.

Some of you may wonder why this is so significant.  Many of us have known for years that the incessant whining of government workers – that they are overworked and underpaid – is so much hogwash.  However Hampton Roads, the primary market of the Daily Press, is a blood relative of Washington, DC.  There are military bases every few miles; with not only uniformed personnel, but tens of thousands of civilian employees.  Large pockets of non-military federal, state, and local employees also run around numerous bureaucratic hives.  Besides those that DIRECTLY feed at the taxpayer funded trough, there are tens, hundreds, of thousands more who work for government contractors.  Without the taxpayers’ largesse, these nominally private sector employees would be out of work.  Therefore, you may understand why I was surprised to read such an op-ed in THIS PARTICULAR paper.

Here is a copy of the editorial in Thursday’s edition:

At one time, being a public servant included the likely sacrifice of not being paid as well as those in private industry. The calling to public service — and the prospect of job security — offset the sacrifice.

The calling is still there for many. But it abides in the hearts of workers, so it isn’t something economists can measure.

But they can get at the economic sacrifice. And it no longer exists.

Government workers out-earn private sector workers.

That is part of the reason why the state, cities, counties and school boards are agonizing over how to bring their budgets in line with reduced tax revenues. Those budgets bear the pressure of salary scales for government workers that exceed those of the average private-sector worker/taxpayer.

This month, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released its annual look at compensation by region, by employer, by occupation, by just about any way you want to slice or dice it. Here’s what it shows for Hampton Roads, as of July 2009:

The average full-time state and local government worker in our region earned $23.46 per hour. The average private sector worker made $18.87.

You might pass that off as an artifact of differences in the labor force of the two — that the private sector has, for example, more low-end service jobs. And there’s an element of that. But the BLS handily provides numbers by occupation, so you can line up apples with apples.

And when you look many of them, government workers have the advantage. Take secretaries and administrative assistants. In Hampton Roads, they make an average of $16.86 per hour in government offices, compared to $13.72 in the private sector. In our area, health workers get $29.63, on average, in government jobs and $23.80 in private industry. The one place government workers are at a disadvantage is in the top managerial ranks.

But wages don’t tell the whole story — about compensation, or about why governments are in financial distress.

It’s the benefits. The paid leave. The health insurance. And especially, the pensions.

The BLS estimates that nationally, private industry pays $8.03 per hour in benefits while state and local governments pay $13.65 per hour. Add together pay and benefits on that national scale, and government work earns a 45 percent premium over the private sector.

That helps explain the squeeze, as governments try to balance the promises they have made to workers against taxpayers’ ability and willingness to provide the money to honor those promises.

In Virginia, one of the most expensive of those promises has to do the retirement plan that covers state and local government workers and teachers. Because they don’t have to chip in at all and can retire early and collect for many years, that puts a huge obligation on state and local taxpayers and chews up state and local budgets. In Hampton, for example, it claims $19 million.

It’s difficult to dial back commitments already made, but these terms shouldn’t be granted to new employees. And even current employees could contribute something to their generous pensions.
The state and many school boards are deciding they can’t or won’t pay the full amount due their pension plans next year. That pay-me-later trick balances the budget, but it will bite the taxpayers who’ll have to make it up in the future because the pensions will be paid.

Rather than play budget tricks, state and local governments will get their compensation burden under control only if they use real tools and make real decisions. Stop giving raises that outpace inflation. Trim back health and retirement benefits. And require public workers to pay a fair share.

When the Daily Press argues that it’s time to cut back on government pay and benefits, we know that things have truly gotten out of control.  It’s time to force our elected officials at ALL levels of government to fix this problem NOW; or get new elected officials.

Former six-term Virginia Congressman Stanford E. Parris, a decorated Air Force pilot during the Korean War who was active in Virginia politics for four decades and served in a series of local, state and national offices, passed away Saturday, March 27th in Mathews County, VA after a long battle with heart disease.

In addition to serving in Congress as a Representative of Virginia’s 8^th District, Parris served as a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Virginia General Assembly. He was a former Virginia Secretary of the Commonwealth and served as Director of the Virginia Federal Liaison Office in Washington. Parris was a Republican candidate for Governor in 1985 and 1989.

In Congress from 1973 through 1974 and later from 1981 through 1990, Parris was instrumental in the enactment of a number of congressionally approved projects that are still part of day to day activities in Northern Virginia including: I-395 HOV lanes, the Four-Mile Run Flood Control Project, the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria and Locust Shade Park near Quantico. Parris successfully authored legislation to end television blackouts of sold out NFL and Washington Redskins football games and he worked tirelessly for the eventual closure of the District of Columbia’s prison at Lorton.

Born September 9, 1929 in Champaign, IL, Parris attended the University of Illinois and after graduation enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. A combat pilot who flew F-84 jets in Korea, Parris was shot down over North Korea but survived and was rescued. He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Clusters, the U.S. and Korean Presidential Citations and the Korean Freedom Medal. Following his service, Parris attended George Washington Law School while working as a doorkeeper in the U.S. Senate.

While practicing law in Fairfax County, Parris was elected to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and at the time was the only Republican serving on the board. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1969, one of nine Republicans serving in the Virginia House at that time.

Elected to Congress in 1972, Parris was defeated by Democrat Herbert E. Harris in 1974 as Republicans lost seats in the wake of Watergate. In two bruising, hard fought, high profile elections, Parris won the seat back in 1980 and then defeated Harris again in 1982.

In Congress, Parris was a member of the Banking and Finance Committee where he cautioned repeatedly about the looming Savings and Loan Crisis which eventually resulted in the failure of 747 institutions and cost the taxpayers more than $124 billion. Parris also served on the District of Columbia Committee, the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs and the Select Committee on Narcotics and Drug Abuse and Control. He also served as Vice-Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee and was Chairman of the Republican Task Force on Financial Institutions.

After serving in Congress, President George H.W. Bush selected Parris to be administrator of the government owned St. Laurence Seaway Development Corporation. After his career in politics, Parris was Of Counsel to the international law firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin and Oshinsky which has offices in Washington, New York and Moscow.

Parris was an original member of the Board of Trustees of George Mason University, the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Commerce, President of Woodbridge Chrysler Plymouth and Lincoln Mercury, President of Manassas Hyundai Volkswagen and a managing member of Congressional Motor Coaches, LLC. He was a co-founder of the Flying Circus Aerodrome, where he flew aerobatic presentations.

A resident of Melbourne, FL, Parris maintained a summer home in Mathews County, Virginia. He is survived by his wife of 28 years, Martha Harper Parris, as well as a son, Michael Parris of Chesapeake, VA, and two daughters, Ann Parris of Culpeper, VA and Susan Parris Littlewood of Mt. Airy, MD. Also surviving are two grandsons. Funeral services will be held at Arlington National Cemetery with arrangements by Hogg Funeral Home of Gloucester Point, VA.

– RIP

As noted in an earlier post, Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Virginia to void ObamaCare.  You can help to support Cuccinelli’s efforts.

General Cuccinelli has launched a petition supporting the suit and calling for the courts to STOP THE MANDATE!  Show your support and fight this unprecedented attack on our liberty.

Also support the Club for Growth’s new ObamaCare page – RepealIt.org  Join thousands of Americans and leaders such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is supporting the repeal.

H/T – Bearing Drift

We also recommend that you read Jim Hoeft’s excellent post on Cuccinelli and the lawsuit.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that he will file suit, on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia, challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare.  In a statement last night:

At no time in our history has the government mandated its citizens buy a good or service.

Cuccinelli also argues that the bill past by the US House yesterday (the Senate passed the same bill last Christmas Eve) creates a conflict between the federal government and the Commonwealth:

"We believe the federal law is unconstitutional as it is based on the commerce clause. Simply put, not buying insurance is not engaging in commerce."

"If you are not engaged in commerce, the federal government cannot regulate this inaction. Just being alive is not interstate commerce. If it were, Congress could regulate every aspect of our lives."

In earlier interviews, Cuccinelli stated that he would file such a suit in Virginia’s Eastern District, also known as the “Rocket Docket” for it’s speed in handling cases.

Here is a the link to yesterday’s roll call vote in the House.  (I’ve also included last December’s vote in the Senate).

This is how our members voted:

YES (for ObamaCare)

DE         Carper (D)

DE         Kaufman (D)

MD         Cardin (D)

MD         Mikulski (D)

MD-02   Ruppersberger (D)

MD-03   Sarbanes (D)

MD-04   Edwards (D)

MD-05   Hoyer (D)

MD-07   Cummings (D)

MD-08   Van Hollen (D)

VA         Warner (D)

VA         Webb (D)

VA-03   Scott (D)

VA-05   Perriello (D)

VA-08   Moran (D)

VA-11   Connolly (D)

NO  (for Liberty)

DE         Castle (R)

MD-01   Kratovil (D)

MD-06   Bartlett (R)

VA-01   Wittman (R)

VA-02   Nye (D)

VA-04   Forbes (R)

VA-06   Goodlatte (R)

VA-07   Cantor (R)

VA-09   Boucher (D)

VA-10   Wolf (R)

Don’t let your representatives forget!  Thank them for voting right (if they did) and work hard to defeat those how voted to take America one more giant leap down the socialist path.