Virginia Partisans PAC Endorses 53 Democrats For Offices All Across Commonwealth

Virginia Partisans, the PAC of LGBT Democrats of Virginia, today announced endorsements of 49 incumbents and candidates for legislative seats and local offices in Virginia’s upcoming Nov. 8th general election. These 49 candidates join four others previously endorsed during and immediately after the primary season this summer, for a total of 53 endorsements.

“Virginia Partisans has looked carefully at races throughout Virginia,” said Tiffany Joslyn, President, “and as nearly as we can determine, there is not a single contest where the Republican is better than the Democrat on issues of concern to the LGBT community. So wherever you live, and whatever offices you’re voting on, the best choice for our community is undoubtedly the Democratic candidate. These 53 endorsees, however, truly stand out for their pro-equality credentials. They have demonstrated their support for LGBT community in their public and personal lives. They have made a pledge to always vote on the side of equality and, in many cases, to take up the charge themselves. These 53 endorsees are a mix of men and women, young and older, from a variety of backgrounds and areas. They include our champions in the legislature, many who vote with us consistently, some openly-gay candidates, and others whose personal experiences and campaign platforms give us high hopes for the future.”

Although the majority of endorsees still hail from Northern Virginia, this class presents a noticeable and remarkable geographic expansion over past years—stretching from Tidewater to Blacksburg, and from Northern Virginia to Southside. Included are ten state Senators seeking re-election plus another three challengers or seekers of open seats; 18 incumbent members of the House of Delegates plus another ten non-incumbent candidates; and nine incumbents and two challengers for local offices.

This November Democrats are especially concerned with maintaining Democratic control of the State Senate, as this is currently the only branch of state government not controlled by anti-equality legislators. Republicans are within two seats of taking control of the Senate and eliminating the only safeguard against hateful and discriminatory legislation. For pro-equality Democrats, keeping the Senate Blue is simply the only option.

It is against this background that the Virginia Partisans proudly announced the endorsement of the following candidates running for election to the Virginia Senate this November:

Senator John Miller (1st – Newport News)
Senator Ralph Northam (6th – Norfolk)
Senator Don McEachin (9th – Richmond)
Senator Henry Marsh (16th – Richmond)
Senator John Edwards (21st – Roanoke)
Senator Janet Howell (32nd – Reston)
Senator Mark Herring (33rd – Leesburg)
Senator Toddy Puller (36th – Mount Vernon)
Senator Dave Marsden (37th – Burke)
Senator George Barker (39th – Clifton)
Senate Candidate David Bernard (10th – Richmond)
Senate Candidate Adam Ebbin (30th – Alexandria)
Senate Candidate Barbara Favola (31st – Arlington)

“Although our primary focus is on maintaining Democratic control of the Virginia Senate, members of the LGBT community should not ignore the other races where our friends and allies are up for election in just a few weeks,” Joslyn pointed out. “While Democrats are unlikely to win control of the House of Delegates this year, we need to begin picking up the seats that will form the nucleus to gaining control of the House of Delegates in the long run. If we do, we can make more inroads in the fight for equality in Virginia. Local races also matter. For example, right now there are only five openly-gay elected officials in the entire state, all in Northern Virginia, and four of the five hold local offices. We have a chance to expand on that with the election of an openly-gay candidate to the Blacksburg Town Council.”

The Virginia Partisans proudly announced the endorsement of the following candidates running for election to the Virginia House of Delegates this November:

Delegate Mark Keam (35th – Vienna)
Delegate Ken Plum (36th – Reston)
Delegate David Bulova (37th – Fairfax)
Delegate Kaye Kory (38th – Falls Church)
Delegate Vivian Watts (39th – Annandale)
Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn (41st – Springfield)
Delegate Mark Sickles (43rd – Franconia)
Delegate Scott Surovell (44th – Mount Vernon)
Delegate David Englin (45th – Alexandria)
Delegate Charniele Herring (46th – Alexandria)
Delegate Patrick Hope (47th – Arlington)
Delegate Bob Brink (48th – Arlington)
Delegate Jim Scott (53rd – Merrifield)
Delegate Betsy Carr (69th – Richmond)
Delegate Jennifer McClellan (71st – Richmond)
Delegate Joe Morrissey (74th – Henrico)
Delegate Robin Abbott (93rd – Newport News)
Delegate Mamye BaCote (95th – Newport News)
Candidate for Delegate Esteban Garces (2nd – Woodbridge)
Candidate for Delegate Dave Butler (10th – Leesburg)
Candidate for Delegate Don Langrehr (12th – Blacksburg)
Candidate for Delegate Carl Genthner (13th – Manassas)
Candidate for Delegate Laura Kleiner (20th – Staunton)
Candidate for Delegate Adrianne Bennett (21st – Virginia Beach)
Candidate for Delegate Pamela Danner (34th – McLean)
Candidate for Delegate Alfonso Lopez (49th – Arlington)
Candidate for Delegate Eric Clingan (67th – Chantilly)
Candidate for Delegate Mike Kondratick (87th – Ashburn)
Candidate for Delegate Gary West (94th – Newport News)

Finally, the Virginia Partisans announced the endorsement of the following candidates seeking election and re-election to a diverse set of local offices this November:

Beth Arthur for Arlington Sheriff
Penny Gross, Janet Oleszek and John Foust for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (Mason, Braddock and Dranesville Districts respectively)
Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada for Arlington Board
Ingrid Morroy for Arlington Commissioner of Revenue
Frank O’Leary for Arlington County Treasurer
Abby Raphael for Arlington School Board
Theo Stamos for Commonwealth’s Attorney, Arlington County and City of Falls Church
Michael Sutphin for Blacksburg Town Council

Endorsement by Virginia Partisans requires candidates to complete a rather extensive questionnaire, and then a favorable vote by the Partisans Board. In this round of endorsements, every candidate who submitted a questionnaire did, in fact, receive an endorsement. As such, if a Democratic candidate is not on the above list, then he or she did not submit a questionnaire. Copies of all submitted questionnaires either are, or will soon be, posted on at www.vapartisans.org.

“Our community’s enemies are pouring millions of dollars into trying to take total control of Virginia government,” Joslyn concluded. “We simply can’t let that happen. This will be a low turnout election, so your vote – or failure to do so – is greatly magnified compared to a Presidential election. We urge every member of the LGBT community to go out right now and work for a candidate of your choosing. We also encourage you to make a campaign contribution to one or more of our endorsees. But, most importantly, we ask you to vote Democratic on Nov. 8th!”

Happy 50th Anniversary Peace Corps 1961–2011

Major h/t to all those who have served our country

Peace Corps 50th Anniversary 1961–2011 | 50th Anniversary | About Us | Peace Corps.

Senator Webb Knows DoD Should Define Each Operation’s Vital National Interest, Role, Plan for Future

What have we learned from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya?

At a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing this week, I questioned Department of Defense officials about past and future strategic models for addressing threats to the United States and how military force is applied.

If we look at the models of the past 10 years — how we have struggled with this issue — we ought to have a better idea of how we are going to move into the future.

In Iraq, we ended up an occupying force in the middle of sectarian violence that followed our invasion. We have spent well over a trillion dollars and have seen the empowerment of Iran in the process.

In Afghanistan, we have assumed the risk and the expense of nation building. It is costly, it is casualty producing, and I, quite frankly, do not know what the outcome is going to be. If the country is to have the patience with respect to fighting a long war, it is going to be even more important to define very clearly what is the vital national interest in terms of our current operations in Afghanistan.

In Libya, we have seen unbridled presidential discretion in terms of the decision when to use military power beyond all normal historical precedent. We have a definition of a humanitarian mission in order to unilaterally introduce the American military into a theater of operations.  It is a vague and worrisome standard, and we ought to think hard about the implications down the road.

So what I come back to is what have we learned from this?  What is the model now in terms of how we define the existential threats to the United States and how we apply military force to them?

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta responded, “Senator, you have raised some very important issues and this is really a very appropriate time to raise those questions.  As we’re in the process of trying to trim over $450 billion from the defense budget, we have to look at larger strategies here as to what kind of defense system we need to build as we confront those challenges and as we look to the future.”

Click here to read more from our exchange.

DPVA Chair Defines 2011 Election

I know that every year around this time your email box fills up with notes telling you about the importance of the next election and how much your time, your money and of course your vote mean to the future of our Commonwealth and our country. It can get tiring continuously being made to feel like we are teetering on the cliff with the Republicans ready to nudge us over the edge. But here’s the thing: It’s true. As long as we live, being a Democrat in Virginia is never going to be easy. Republicans are as committed as ever to dragging Virginia and the country back to the Stone Age. We don’t have the luxury of taking a week, much less a year, off from our fight to make this Commonwealth more just, fair and prosperous for every person. This year Bob McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli and the Republicans are just 2 seats away from seizing control of the Virginia Senate and consolidating their hold on Virginia’s entire government. Will you donate $10, $25 or $50 today to our campaign to keep our Senate majority and preserve balanced government in Virginia? Right now Democrats in the State Senate are the only ones with the power to keep McDonnell and the tea party from running roughshod over working families and the investments in education, public safety, clean air and water, and the social safety net that generate opportunity for them. The Republican candidates for the Senate are the most radical group of right-wingers I’ve ever seen, and that’s really saying something. They’ve taken it to another level in their assault on the Democratic vision for Virginia. It’s up to us to respond in kind. By making a contribution to the Democratic Party of Virginia today, you will support our campaign to preserve our last check on Bob McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli and their reckless tea party agenda. While Democrats focus on creating jobs, improving our schools and fixing transportation, this year’s Senate candidates want to end Medicare and Social Security, privatize Black Lung benefits for coal miners and abolish Virginia’s clean air and water agency. Once again, we are the only ones this year with the power to stop them. Please contribute today and join the Virginia Democrats who are taking their commitment to our shared values to the next level. Sincerely, Brian J. Moran P.S. — This year’s election is just 48 days away. Please don’t wait to make your contribution and help us stand up to the tea party assault on the middle class.

Have You Considered “What If The Tea Party Wins”

Major h/t to THINKPROGRESS the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Ian Millhiser for this thoughtful article:

What If The Tea Party Wins?

Sep 19, 2011 | By Ian Millhiser

This weekend, the Constitution celebrated its 224th birthday. Yet, despite the fact that our founding document has served America well for more than two centuries, the Tea Party now wants to cast its principles aside and replace them with a radical anti-government manifesto. Despite the fact that the Constitution has been amended many times to make America more democratic and more responsive to We the People, the Tea Party believes that we have an authoritarian constitution that prohibits everything they disdain and requires nearly everything that they support.

THE END OF SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE: Last April, the House GOP voted almost unanimously to phase out Medicare and shift crippling medical costs onto seniors and their families. Yet this slow death of Medicare appears downright moderate compared to the Tea Party agenda of simply declaring our entire safety net for America’s seniors unconstitutional. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) claims Medicare and Social Security “contradict the principles of limited, constitutional government that our founders established to protect us.” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) mocked President Franklin Delano Roosevelt for calling upon the federal government to provide “a decent retirement plan” and “health care” because “the Constitution doesn’t give Congress any of those powers.” Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who engineered the House of Representatives’ dramatic reading of the Constitution earlier this year, claimed that Medicare and Social Security are “not in the Constitution” and are only allowed to exist because “the courts have stretched the Constitution to say it’s in the general welfare clause.” And Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) believes that Medicare is “a family responsibility, not a government responsibility.”

THE WAR ON WORKERS: The Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution wouldn’t just leave America’s seniors out in the cold, it would force American workers to compete with their adolescent children for sub-minimum wage jobs. Lee believes that we should return to a misguided era when federal child labor laws were considered unconstitutional because the Constitution “was designed to be a little bit harsh.” Perry believes all “national labor laws” including child labor laws, the minimum wage, overtime laws, and laws protecting workers’ right to organize, are unconstitutional. And Justice Clarence Thomas embraces a vision of the Constitution that would eliminate all these laws and take out workplace discrimination laws in the process.

JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG: Sadly, this wholesale assault on workers and the elderly is merely one small part of the Tea Party’s vision of the Constitution. It’s difficult to count how many laws would simply cease to exist if the Tea Party wins its fight to re-imagine our founding document, but a recent Center for American Progress white paper lists not just Social Security, Medicare, and basic workplace protections, but also all federal health care, education and antipoverty programs, federal disaster relief and food safety programs, and most national civil rights laws. In other words, the Tea Party’s agenda is nothing short of a wholesale repeal of the 20th Century, and a return to the era when families mortgaged their home to pay for their mother’s end-of-life care, higher education was a luxury reserved almost exclusively to the very rich, and rotten meat shipped to supermarkets nationwide without a national agency to inspect it.

Social Security for Working Virginians Dissed By GOP Leaders

Question – Will President Obama’s Jobs Plan Help Manufacturing

h/t to Scott Paul and the Alliance for American Manufacturing for their thoughts and focus ….

Will President Obama’s Jobs Plan Help Manufacturing? | Alliance for American Manufacturing.

The package will soon be sent to Congress where modifications will likely be made. We have a few suggestions – as outlined in a recent piece by Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) executive director Scott Paul – that would help to rebalance our economy and provide a level playing field for American workers.

Tax Reform. Reshape the tax code in a revenue neutral way to provide incentives for job creation and inward investment. R&D tax credits should help firms that not only innovate in America but also make their products here. Lower tax rates for manufacturing activity in America and eliminate tax shelters for hedge funds or financial transactions that have no real value.
•    94% support a tax benefit for companies that conduct R&D in the U.S. and make their new products here.

Skills/Training. Shift some education investment to rebuilding our vocational and technical skills program, which would address looming shortages in the manufacturing sector.
•    91% support increasing investment in “retraining and education programs to ensure workers gain the tools they need to compete in modern, high-tech factories – up 4% from 2010.

Trade Enforcement. Refocus the trade agenda by giving American businesses new tools to counter China’s currency manipulation, industrial subsidies, intellectual property theft and barriers to market access.
•    95% favor keeping “America’s trade laws strong and strictly enforced to provide a level playing field for our workers and businesses.”
•    59% say we need to “get tough with China and use every possible means to stop their unfair trade practices…” – only 34% say we need to “be careful…because they own such a significant portion of our debt.”
•    86% say we should penalize nations like China that manipulate exchange rates and implement trade barriers to gain an unfair trade advantage.

Assessments of 10 Largest Mortgage Servicers Under “Making Home Affordable” Program Show Need For Improvement

h/t to U.S. Department of the Treasury as the Obama Administration releases a housing scorecard showing transparency in the “Making Home Affordable” servicer assessments … the info and links they provided follows:
Obama Administration Releases August Housing Scorecard Featuring Making Home Affordable Servicer Assessments

Administration finds Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase Remain in Need of Substantial Improvement in Second Quarter of 2011; Both Subject to Continued Withholding of Financial Incentives

 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury today released the August edition of the Obama Administration’s Housing Scorecard. Included in this month’s report are detailed assessments for the 10 largest mortgage servicers participating in the Making Home Affordable Program with results from the second quarter of 2011. In addition to providing greater transparency about servicer performance in the program, the servicer assessments – first introduced in June and published quarterly – are intended to set a new industry benchmark for disclosure around servicer efforts to assist struggling homeowners, while prompting them to correct identified deficiencies.

“While tens of thousands of additional homeowners benefit from the Administration’s programs each month, we need to keep the pressure on servicers to effectively assist those homeowners who are still struggling and eligible for assistance,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad. “These assessments provide an unprecedented level of information about servicer performance and are designed to help more eligible homeowners walk away from this process with better results.”

“The Obama Administration is dedicated to helping homeowners who were negatively affected by the housing crisis and this month’s scorecard shows signs of these programs working,” said HUD Assistant Secretary Raphael Bostic. “Data shows improvements in home prices, which have increased three months in a row, and a reduction in foreclosure starts and completions, which have been trending downward since fall 2010. Although the data suggests improvement, we are still continuing to work with homeowners, lenders, servicers, and others so that this positive trend continues. ”

As the Administration continues to take steps to prompt servicers to provide more effective assistance to struggling homeowners through its foreclosure prevention programs, the continued fragility of the housing market demonstrates the need for the Administration’s recovery efforts in hard hit communities:

• Administration efforts have helped improve servicer performance in assisting struggling homeowners. While more progress needs to be made, servicers have been focusing attention on areas of need identified through regular compliance and program reviews, with results published in the Administration’s quarterly Servicer Assessments.  Since inception of the voluntary Making Home Affordable Program, Treasury has required participating servicers to take specific actions to improve their servicing processes to more effectively assist struggling homeowners.As a result, there are more options for assistance available to struggling homeowners today than have ever been available before.
• The Administration’s efforts have helped millions of families deal with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  More than 5 million mortgage aid arrangements were started between April 2009 and the end of July 2011. While some homeowners may have received help from more than one program, the total number of aid offers is more than double the number of foreclosure completions for the same period (2.2 million). In July, more than 28,000 additional homeowners received a permanent modification through the Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP); more than 790,000 homeowners across the country have now received a HAMP permanent modification with a median payment reduction of 37 percent.  To date, homeowners in permanent modifications have realized aggregate savings in monthly mortgage payments of nearly $7.8 billion. View the July HAMP Servicer Performance Report.
• Housing market remains fragile as data through July paint a mixed picture of recovery. Home prices as reported by S&P/Case-Shiller and FHFA were up for the third consecutive month in July after several previous months of decline. Foreclosure starts and completions continued a downward trend, as mortgage aid programs are helping homeowners, although some of the decline remains due to lender processing issues delaying some foreclosure actions. The fragility of the market is underscored by the fact mortgage delinquencies rose slightly in July.

The Servicer Assessments summarize performance for the 10 largest Making Home Affordable participating servicers from reviews largely conducted throughout the second quarter of 2011 on three categories of program implementation: identifying and contacting homeowners; homeowner evaluation and assistance; and program reporting, management and governance.  Although some improvements have been made, based on the reviews for this quarter, Bank of America, NA and J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, NA remain in need of substantial improvement.  Both servicers were subject to withholding of financial incentives under the program based on results from the first quarter and will continue to have their incentives withheld until their performance improves.

While Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC and Wells Fargo Bank, NA were both found to be in need of substantial improvement in the first quarter of 2011, compliance activities conducted to follow up on their progress and assess other areas of program implementation found that both mortgage servicers have corrected identified deficiencies from the first quarter.  Both servicers were found to be in need of moderate improvement in the second quarter.

Details on the review process and more information on the Administration’s Servicer Assessments, which will be issued on a quarterly basis, can be found at link.

Sens. Webb, Warner Push Funding for Craney Island

Sens. Webb, Warner seek $27.4M for Craney Island | HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com.

Sens. Webb, Warner Secure Funding for Expansion of Craney Island in Hampton Roads

September 9, 2011

Washington, DC – Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner today announced the inclusion of $27.4 million for the expansion of Craney Island in the Fiscal Year 2012 Energy and Water Appropriations bill. As in previous years, the Senators had asked the Administration and the Appropriations Committee to include funding for Craney Island for the coming fiscal year.

“The Craney Island Project will generate more than 1,100 jobs immediately and 54,000 sustainable jobs after construction,” said Senator Webb. “The expansion will allow the Virginia Port Authority to nearly double its marine terminal capacity to meet the anticipated increase in shipped goods to and from international ports.”

“The expansion project at the Port of Virginia is a critical infrastructure project that will help support Virginia’s economic competitiveness for decades,” Senator Warner said. “I am pleased that Senator Webb and I were able to partner together to win this funding for such an important infrastructure project for the Commonwealth.”

The Port of Virginia is a gateway for international commerce and is one of thirteen U.S. strategic ports that support the mobilization and readiness of our national defense.  Over 14,000 businesses from all contiguous 48 states move cargo through Virginia.  It is critical that the Craney Island Eastward Expansion project remain on schedule to open in 2020.

“We appreciate the efforts of Senators Webb and Warner to secure crucial funding for the development of the Port of Virginia,” said Jeff Keever, Senior Deputy Director of the Virginia Port Authority. “Their support for Craney Island over the years has paved the way for strategic infrastructure improvements and job creation.”

The project will help assure a competitive posture for the nation and is estimated to stimulate $6 billion in National Economic Development (NED) benefits with a Benefit Cost Ratio of 4.4 to 1.

The Heartland Rail Corridor, which connects the ports of Hampton Roads with the Midwest, opened last year. Additionally, with the Panama Canal expansion scheduled to be operational in 2014, it is important that this project continues to move forward to meet the projected increase in international trade. The Craney Island expansion will allow Virginia to provide the necessary connection to our broad and expansive nationwide rail network to accommodate this increase in business.

President Obama Pushes Jobs Plan In Richmond