Press Releases

Demo Memo: 6/27/08

Posted by Greg on Friday, June 27

June 20, 2008 - June 27, 2008
www.vademocrats.org

Renew your membership online

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INTRODUCTION

Thanks to everyone who participated in our record-breaking canvass last weekend! 423 Virginia Democrats knocked on over 18,000 doors to kick off our coordinated campaign's field program. Great work! As the Daily Press said, "It's still early in the campaign, but that's a lot of knocking." [The Shad Plank, 6/24/08]

If you still haven't signed up to canvass your neighborhood, call (703) 636-7270 for information on your local office. We need your help now to turn Virginia blue in November. 

I also want to thank everyone who has supported our 2008 Membership Drive.  We had a goal of 1,000 membership renewals before June 30th, and we are close to meeting that goal.  If you haven't renewed your membership yet, there's still time.  Your contribution helps us provide the infrastructure necessary to turn Virginia blue this year.  Click here to renew your membership today!

Finally, if you'll be in Richmond this Tuesday, Mark Warner will be hosting a Happy Hour With a Purpose event at the Hyperlink Cafe, 814 West Grace Street, from 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM. You can see more details or RSVP on the Warner campaign web site here. Hope to see you there!

Best,

Levar Stoney
Executive Director

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"Parents are missing family dinners and soccer games. Businesses that move goods and services on the road network can't set reliable work schedules. Firefighters and EMTs who race to fires, accidents and health emergencies lose precious time as congestion blocks their path. And working families already struggling with the price of gas feel frustrations rise when a short commute turns into hours of stop-and-go traffic, while the gas burns out of their tanks."
- Gov. Tim Kaine, on transportation [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/23/08]

"I think this whole business of reporting without a recommendation is about the silliest thing I've ever seen. They can't even support their own bill. What has this legislature become? We can't take stands on anything?"
- House Democratic Leader Ward Armstrong, on the House Rules committee advancing two transportation bills 'without recommendation' [Daily Press, 6/27/08]

"This is a politically motivated session. That's all it is."
- Del. Bill Janis (R-Henrico), revealingly [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/24/08]   

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HEADLINES

Gov. Tim Kaine

Sen. Jim Webb

General Assembly             

Election 2008

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EDITORIAL HIGHLIGHTS

"For once, a government official is exercising some good sense. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has ordered that the state Department of Corrections scrap its plan to rent Virginia prison beds to other states." [Potomac News, 6/21/08]  

"Traffic gridlock in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia is nothing compared to the political gridlock Richmond is likely to see starting Monday... There seems to be little room for compromise, mostly because House Republicans refuse to see the obvious: Virginia needs more revenue for transportation." [Roanoke Times, 6/22/08]

"For Northern Virginians, who live in the most urbanized, globalized and economically dynamic part of the state, it is a justifiable source of outrage that lawmakers -- mostly but not exclusively downstate ones -- are incapable of tackling the crisis head-on. For that they can blame Virginia's Republican leadership, arch-conservative ideologues whose insistent sloganeering -- No Statewide Taxes! -- suggests an utter failure to grasp the stakes in the transportation debate. It is not simply that the party's grandees in Richmond -- principally, House Speaker William J. Howell (Stafford) -- are touting a different solution to the problem. They barely acknowledge there's a problem at all." [Washington Post, 6/23/08]

"The Republican leadership of the House of Delegates stands at a crossroads today as the special session of General Assembly begins. The decisions Speaker William Howell and Majority Leader Morgan Griffith will be making in the coming hours will have profound and lasting effects on the Republican Party in Virginia and the commonwealth. Virginia faces a mounting transportation crisis. There's no other word for it other than 'crisis,' whether the head-in-the-sand wing of the Republican Party in this state wants to admit it or not." [Lynchburg News & Advance, 6/22/08]

"Attorney General Bob McDonnell was the featured speaker at a 'Free Lunch' organized by anti-tax activists who insist on the fiction that cutting 'wasteful spending' will produce enough money to pay for $9 billion-plus in projects for Hampton Roads, an equally costly menu of needs in Northern Virginia and fill a $2.75 billion statewide maintenance shortfall. That's a whale of a free lunch, and most Virginians will recognize it for the past-the-expiration-date blubber that it is. It is telling - and disappointing - that McDonnell has chosen to link himself with such an ideological group." [Virginian-Pilot, 6/24/08]

"Renewed Republican calls for transportation audits seem excuses for sloth. Audits unaccompanied by serious steps, such as those outlined in our Sunday editorial, resemble dodges. We are not impressed. The voters should not be impressed, either." [Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/25/08]

"Republicans in Richmond have revived one of their old standbys to justify their inaction on the state's transportation problems. They say they will consider funding options, but only after an independent audit of the Virginia Department of Transportation. The first eight audits apparently were not enough... Virginia needs about $1 billion more a year. Does the GOP really think it will find that much waste at VDOT?" [Roanoke Times, 6/25/08] 

"Virginia's Republican leadership deserves most of the blame for this legislative gridlock. Republicans continue to say they will not support a tax increase until the Virginia Department of Transportation is audited. This is a delaying tactic, and it ignores the fact that VDOT is already doing an efficient job." [Washington Post, 6/26/08]

"Also contributing to internal [House GOP caucus] fissures: The 2009 election, and a sense -- sometimes expressed, often implied -- that House Republicans, to preserve the sanctity of their no-new-taxes orthodoxy in the continuing transportation debate and to sate the conservative base, are willing to sacrifice moderates Dave Albo and Tom Rust from almost-reflexively Democratic Fairfax. Some would say such thinking is denial. Others might call it despair." [Jeff Schapiro column, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 6/22/06]

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DPVA PRESS RELEASES

Bob McDonnell's "Free Lunch" Solution to State's Traffic Problems (June 23, 2008)

Virginia's Party of No Strikes Again (June 23, 2008)

Virginia Newspapers Reject Latest GOP Transpo Excuses (June 25, 2008)

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Democratic Party of Virginia
1710 E. Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23223
(804) 644-1966

www.vademocrats.org

 

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