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If you haven’t reserved your seat for this Friday’s Valley Family Forum “Salute to the Family,” with special guest Bishop E. W. Jackson, time is running out. If you live or work in the Shenandoah Valleyare within driving range, or just want to make a night of it, we hope you will join us at this wonderful event.

The program begins at 6:30 Friday, May 13, at the James Madison University Festival Conference and Student Center in Harrisonburg. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of God and Country.”

Bishop Jackson is founder and Chairman of S.T.A.N.D., a national organization dedicated to restoring America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and to preserving our Christian faith and values, and Exodus Faith Ministries, based in Chesapeake. He is a nationally acclaimed speaker, combining immense intellect and passion, whom no one forgets after hearing. He is an ex-Marine, Harvard Law School educated attorney, and frequent guest on the national media programs, including those on ABC, FOX News and NPR. The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post have covered him and he’s even braved the liberals on MSNBC. Bishop Jackson also is the former chaplain at Boston Red Sox Services and for The Family Foundation.

The evening will include special music by The Faithful Men, plus the annual Wilberforce Award presentation. Tickets are $25 per person or $200 for a table of eight. For reservations, e-mail family@valleyfamilyforum.org or call 540-438-8966. The Valley Family Forum is a grassroots chapter of The Family Foundation.

* This event is to benefit The Valley Family Forum and The Family Foundation and is not a campaign fundraiser for Bishop Jackson. Titles, party affiliations and references to elected offices sought are listed for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by The Family Foundation.

Here’s another reminder of the Valley Family Forum’s 10th annual Shenandoah Valley “Salute to the Family,” with special guest Bishop E. W. Jackson. If you live in the Valley, or even outside of it, this is a terrific event that has gained a prominent spot on the political calendar each year. So, we hope you can join us in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley, on Friday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the outstanding James Madison University Festival Conference and Student Center in Harrisonburg. This year’s theme is “A Celebration of God and Country.”

Bishop Jackson is founder and Chairman of S.T.A.N.D., a national organization dedicated to restoring America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and to preserving our Christian faith and values, and Exodus Faith Ministries, based in Chesapeake. He is an ex-Marine, Harvard Law School graduate, acclaimed speaker, and frequent guest on national television and radio, including ABC, MSNBC, FOX News and NPR. He has been written about in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. Bishop Jackson also is the former chaplain of the Boston Red Sox and for The Family Foundation.

The evening will include special music is by The Faithful Men, plus the annual Wilberforce Award presentation. Tickets are $25 per person, or $200 for a table of eight. For reservations, write to family@valleyfamilyforum.org or call (540) 438-8966. The Valley Family Forum is a grassroots chapter of The Family Foundation.

Note: This event is to benefit The Valley Family Forum and is not a campaign fundraiser for Bishop Jackson. Titles, party affiliations and references to elected offices sought are listed for informational purposes only and do not imply endorsement by The Valley Family Forum or The Family Foundation.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who has been very visible on national media outlets in his 10 months in office, will participate in an interview tonight in an interesting venue — the new Parker Spitzer show on CNN (8:00 with re-airs throughout the night). You may remember Mr. Spitzer (aka Client No.9), the governor of New York for a few months until it was revealed he had a proclivity for prostitutes. The interview most likely will center on Virginia’s lawsuits against the EPA and health care law/Obamacare (Christian Daily News).

Before his short reign as governor, Mr. Spitzer served several years as New York’s self-styled crusading attorney general, suing any and every company he could find under any pretense so as to make them conform to his control and mandates. Do business in New York? You’ll do it the Spitzer way. We saw what the Spitzer way is, of course. Worse than that, he also was, perhaps, the most pro-unlimited-abortion, pro-Planned Parenthood attorney general in the country. 

I’ve seen the show once. Mr. Sptizer, who CNN has shamelessly tried to rehabilitate — the road to television stardom for liberals seems to be get in trouble with the law — teams with the mushy Kathleen Parker to “hold people accountable” (but apparently not the viewers, as its ratings already are tanking, per the Wall Street Journal). Who held self-righteous Mr. Spitzer accountable when he was ruining American businesses? In the show I saw, Mr. Spitzer, documents in hand, emphatically whipping off his glasses for dramatic, courtroom-style effect, grilled Senator-elect Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as if he was a prosecutor and Dr. Paul was a defendant. Dr. Paul was patient, but firm, when refuting Mr. Spitzer’s ludicrously lame attempts to portray him as a hypocritical bumpkin, getting in a well-timed deflating shot as well.

Which brings us to tonight. If the interview is anything like the Rand Paul interview, and Mr. Spitzer attempts to don the super-liberal-hero-sophisticate cape again, trying to relive his attorney general glory vs. a true hero, we suspect the arrogant Mr. Spitzer will learn something Virginia liberals learned long ago — try to trip up Mr. Cuccinelli and you’ll end up falling over the cliff yourself.

Senator-elect Rand Paul would have nothing of Eliot Spitzer’s bloviating. 

There are some events taking place next weekend around the commonwealth featuring exceptional speakers on a variety of topics. I encourage you to take advantage of one or more of these great opportunities.

On Saturday, November 20 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m., former Family Foundation Gala keynote speaker Eric Metaxas will be in Richmond at the Richmond Center for Christian Study to discuss his new book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet and Spy (see Wall Street Journal review). Metaxas was on of our most popular gala speakers, mixing humor, a profound intellect and theological principle in his address. He is also the author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. His presentation is at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 1101 Forest Avenue. For more information, click here.

Also on Saturday, Family Foundation Vice President for Policy and Communications Chris Freund will participate in a panel discussion on conservative principles at the annual Republican Party of Virginia Advance in Tyson’s Corner. For more information click here.

On Sunday, November 21, from 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. in the Virginia Commonwealth University Student Commons Theater, 907 Floyd Avenue,  Delegate Robert G. Marshall (R-13, Manassas), a patron of the 2006 Marriage Amendment to the Virginia Constitution that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, will defend the amendment against Sarah Warbelow, state legislative director at the Human Rights Campaign. The event, sponsored by the First Freedom Center, is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the parking deck at 801 West Main Street, across the street from the Commons.

Another annoucement regarding the November Speaks! rally on November 15 on Capitol Hill in Washington: Americans For Prosperity launched a new Web site for the event which includes a page where you can participate in a virtual rally if you can’t make it to the nation’s capital (click here). The rally is designed to raise awareness of, and put pressure on, the lame duck Congress to stand down from any grandiose schemes for still larger government, higher taxes, debilitating regulations and crushing debt, all of which amounts to more control from Washington and less freedom everywhere else.

Ignoring the recent election results, Nancy Pelosi yesterday brazenly threw a celebratory party to laud her “accomplishments.” But she’s not done yet. Starting Monday, she is reconvening Congress, while she still wields the Speaker’s gavel, for one last attempt to ram through the big-government takeovers that remain on her leftist agenda. It’s already being referred to as the “Zombie Congress” since so many members are the walking politically dead. Rejected overwhelmingly by the voters, they should not trample on the will of the people and leave quietly, having done enough damage.

Among the speakers at November Speaks! are U.S. Representatives Michele Bachman (R-Minn.) (see Paul Bedard’s U.S. News Washington Whispers blog), Mike Pence (R-Ind.) (see the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog) and newly elected Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) (see the Washington Post’s Virginia Politics blog), as well as AFP President Tim Phillips. Other partners in staging November Speaks! are 60 Plus, Let Freedom Ring, Institute For Liberty, Tea Party D.C. and Smart Girl Politics. For more information about attending in person, click here.

The results of yesterday’s elections are historic in many obvious ways. Unlike 1994, Virginians participated in making that history by turning over three liberal incumbent members of the House of Representatives (see Washington Post), including a 28-year veteran previoulsy thought unbeatable, someone who hadn’t had a competitive race in years. So we congratulate three friends of The Family Foundation who won their races yesterday and are on their way to Congress:

» Congressman-elect Morgan Griffith (Newsweek’s The Gaggle blog), a 100 percent TFF voter as a member of the House of Delegates;

» Congressman-elect Robert Hurt (Danville Register & Bee), a 91 percent TFF voter as a member of the Virginia Senate; and

» Congressman-elect Scott Rigell (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot), a donor to our organization.

In the 11th district, liberal incumbent Gerry Connolly has a narrow lead over conservative challenger Keith Fimian, a vote likely to be recounted (Wall Street Journal Washington Wire blog). Pending that outcome, eight of Virginia’s 11 Representatives are Republican. We were pleased to participate in the voter education and get-out-the-vote efforts in these districts. Some of you may have received our GOTV phone calls over the weekend.

In some ways, though, the elections went beyond politics. While the national and state media focus on Congressional outcomes, something happened a bit below the surface that is even more historic — and perhaps longer term.

For example, at least 19 state legislative bodies, including those in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio flipped partisan control to Republicans (John Hood at National Review’s The Corner blog and Ryan Beckwith at CQ Politics’ The Eye blog). In fact, the North Carolina Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1870. The Alabama legislature is Republican for the first time since 1876.

I don’t tell you that to trumpet Republicans, but because our sister family policy council organizations inform us that many of those elected yesterday support pro-family policies. These organizations ran campaigns similar to our Winning Matters 2009 program and saw pro-life, pro-family candidates win across the board. More important than simply electing people of one particular party, citizens in these states elected pro-family conservatives.

Possibly more telling, voters in Iowa defeated three Supreme Court judges instrumental in imposing homosexual marriage on that state against the will of the people via judicial fiat (New York Times). It is the first time since judges have been on the ballot in Iowa (1962) that they have been defeated on Election Day. Once again, when the issue of marriage is put to the people, traditional marriage wins.

Now, the question is, will the message sent by the voters yesterday carry over into next year’s crucial Virginia Senate elections? Will party leaders get the message that motivates voters and give us candidates that are unapologetically pro-life and pro-family? Will Virginia follow the lead of other states that brought wholesale change to their legislatures? Will party leaders endorse incumbents for the sake of “party unity” or listen to the voters? Time will tell if they truly got the message.

President Obama’s top economic adviser, Christina Romer, said in her final speech in that capacity yesterday that “there is widespread agreement that the act (so-called stimulus bill) is broadly on track.” Another Orwellian attempt to make true what is not by saying it is despite the instinctive knowledge by almost all not in denial that it is false. Truly galling, especially to the millions suffering from unemployment or underemployment. They are the ones from personal experience, not the ivory tower and its theoretical exercises — from whence Dr. Romer came and to where she returns (UC-Berkeley) — who truly know how off track the president’s policies are.

Here’s how Americans For Prosperity President Tim Phillips expressed his anger in an e-mail today (the president in recent weeks has singled out AFP with vicious attacks): 

Today, the news media reported on the final speech of President Obama’s outgoing economic advisor. What Ms. Romer said helps explain why our economy is so bad. Defending the failed $814 billion stimulus boondoggle, she actually said, “there is widespread agreement that the act (Stimulus bill) is broadly on track.”

What planet is this lady on? Jobless claims are through the roof, unemployment is still almost 10% with 500,000 initial jobless claims, the stock market is plunging again, existing home sales fell 27% in August and new home sales fell 12% (always a key economic indicator), automobile sales fell 25% in August (we knew government run “cash for clunkers” was not genuine prosperity). I could go on.

Is the President’s top economist leaving to go back to business in the private sector? Uh, no. She’s going back to her academic perch at the University of California-Berkley. At least we just figured out the planet.

Reminds me of a famous quote that goes something like this: There are no experts in government. If there were, the private sector would’ve hired them by now. Ms. Romer and the Keystone Cops who comprise the Obama administration — most of whom have never worked in the private sector (Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog) — are, sadly,  fitting that bill.

No wonder the liberal politicians who control the House, Senate and presidency think the economy is flying: Their immediate surroundings are, in fact, humming. There is no recession in Washington, D.C., and when you stay insulated inside the beltway, and all you see is fat cats living it up from from $3.5 trillion in government spending, no wonder President Obama and Vice President Biden call this the :summer of recovery.”

Andrew Little, a Richmond investment banker with John B. Levy & Co. recently wrote in a Richmond Times-Dispatch column that the real estate market, which burst and led to the recession and remains in the tank around the country, is booming in Washington.

As one lender put it, “the closer you are to the printing press, the better chance you’ll have of getting some business.”

Another lender unfortunately described just how exclusive the area is that is attracting capital: “We are focused on Washington, D.C., but only inside the Beltway.”

A recent sale of the Evening Star Building at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington fetched a mind-boggling $790 a square foot, and there is talk that other buildings currently on the market will surpass $900 a square foot.

These numbers indicate a strong desire for investors to put their money into real estate again. But if “frenzied” describes Washington and four other markets, “frail” is more apt for virtually everywhere else.

He adds that interest rates in D.C. are lower than most markets (thus the “printing press” comment). He then notes a Memphis, Tenn., apartment building that sold for a minuscule $2.1 million after costs, or less than $2,500 per unit, even though the average price per unit nationally last year was $72,306. The lender eventually lost $37.3 million on the project. Since this doesn’t qualify for pocket change in Washington, we doubt few in the leadership are raising a red flag of concern. But why should they? Not only is real estate booming in D.C., so, too, are salaries (see CNSNews.com).

According to a CBS News report yesterday:

Federal salaries have grown 33 percent faster than inflation. Their pay and benefits averaged $123,049 in 2009, up 36.9 percent since 2000. Private workers averaged $61,051, up just 8.8 percent during the same time.

Even when factoring out education and experience (federal workers have more of each), The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk found that federal employees get paid 22 percent more per hour on average than private-sector workers. The facts get worse. Conn Carroll of Heritage’s The Foundry blog cites the Wall Street Journal’s findings that personal incomes fell nationally last year except in markets with heavy concentrations of federal employees, as well as a USA Today report that federal salaries average double private sector wages.

Not only that, but Heritage research shows that while private sector jobs have decreased by 6.8 percent since December 2007, federal government jobs have grown 10 percent. Government work at all levels have added 64,000 new jobs in that period while the private sector has lost 7.8 million jobs. I could go on. For example, President Obama is pushing for a 1.4 percent raise for 2 million federal workers who also qualify for seniority raises, not to mention his most recent bailout, this one for the teachers union and rising pay and benefits for local and state employees.

So, the more people suffer, the less Washington liberals know what to do. They seem to care even less. From what they see, all is good.

Liberals always scream at any tax rate reductions. It doesn’t matter if the rates are across the board and equitable. The contrived and demagogic class warfare card gets pulled out faster than a Las Vegas dealer.

We’re at that point again. This New Year’s Eve, the tax rate reductions from 2001 and 2003 will expire and rates will sky rocket, further hammering the economy and deepening the Obama recession. Liberals in Washington, including the president, say with a straight face the revenue gained from the automatic tax increase will bring in more than $700 billion over the next several years, money needed to close the deficit. Apparently spending $787 billion in one year isn’t a problem, however, as he did with the so-called “stimulus” bill, which was supposed to keep unemployment below 8 percent. (Not to mention today’s $26 billion federal bailout of the national teacher union’s pension fund.) (Wall Street Journal Washington Wire blog.)

(By the way, in a move that eerily presages the future under ObamaCare, it will be better to die on New Year’s Eve if you are planning to leave an estate to a loved one. On January 1, that loved one will get hit with a massive tax increase, as the death tax itself rises from the dead.)

But some Democrats are lobbying for an extension of the tax cuts, such as Evan Bayh of Indiana (Washington Examiner). Of course, it won’t happen because the president is busy demonizing every action by the Bush administration as evil, and extendin the tax cut are politically untenable . . . for him. Never mind the bogus premise that raising taxes beyond a certain point increases tax revenue, because it decreases revenue, while lower tax rates increase it as history has shown time and again.

Don’t believe me? Then try this one on for size. One of Virginia’s most quoted economists, Christine Chmura, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch yesterday, wrote about a study on tax rate reductions by two University of California-Berkeley economists (not your most conservative campus). The study was a bit different because it examined a broad scope of federal taxation as well as four categories, including reducing the deficit and economic growth. Their findings?

The resulting estimates indicate that tax increases are highly contractionary.

Then, Chmura summarized the rest of their findings:

The large effects are driven considerably by a sharp reduction in investment.

Other parts of the economy, such as consumer spending on goods and services, as well as imports, also are negatively impacted.

However, the economists also found that tax increases to reduce a persistent budget deficit leads to a reduction in real gross domestic product. …

She urged Congress to heed the study, published in 2007. But perhaps so should the president. It was written by professors David Romer and his wife, Christine — Mr. Obama’s very own Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Time for our every-now-and-then-peek into the world of finance, fiscal policy and macroeconomics — and their affect on the body politic. The widely quoted Kent Engelke (see Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Dow Jones, etc.), the chief economics strategist and managing director of Richmond-based Capitol Securities Management, today wrote this in his daily morning commentary, regarding one of the causes of out-of-control government spending at all levels:

About twenty years ago government workers gained incredible power by being allowed to unionize demanding private sector pay while maintaining generous government benefits under the guise that such were required to attract top talent. Twenty years later I believe the pendulum has swung too far. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics total employer compensation costs are $27.73 per hour in business and $39.81 in state and local government. Wow! Great pay, great benefits and a small probability of losing one’s job. Something is amiss.

Amiss, indeed. In fact, while the private sector is losing jobs, the public sector is adding jobs. Thank you, “stimulus” bill.) The only thing it is stimulating is the growth of government. Six of the wealthiest localities in the country now are those on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., including: Fairfax, Arlington, Stafford and Prince William counties, as well as the city of Alexandria (see Forbes). Not that this has gone unnoticed by the public at large. As Engelke writes, there is a political consequence to the Left’s promiscuous unionization of what once was known as public service:

As all polls suggest, most have little regard for Congress reflected by 15% approval ratings. The President’s approval ratings are the lowest of any President at this time in any administration. The major reasons — (lack of)  jobs and out of control fiscal spending.

Lack of jobs, that is, except for those in government, America’s new growth industry.