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Late last week, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to the state’s taxpayer funded colleges and universities informing them that, without General Assembly approval, they do not have the authority to issue non-discrimination policies that include sexual orientation (see Washington Post). Apparently, the state’s public colleges and universities had issued such policies without the approval to do so (see Richmond Times-Dispatch).

His opinion, initiated at the request of several interested parties, started a media firestorm. Essentially, the Attorney General, the office designated to instruct state entities on the law, told them to actually follow the law — Virginia law does not carve out discrimination protections for homosexuals, as it does for race, color, creed and national origin. But Democrat leaders and homosexual activists immediately pounced, calling Cuccinelli’s advice “hate,” and vowed to revive legislation that died last week which would add sexual orientation to the Commonwealth’s anti-discrimination policy.

Today, several legislators literally screamed about the issue on the floor of the House of Delegates, all but accusing Attorney General Cuccinelli of hatred. They urged the House General Laws Committee to act on SB 66, which was defeated in sub-committee last week. However,  committee chairman Delegate Chris Jones (R-76, Suffolk) cancelled the committee’s last meeting. As today was the last day for committees to act on legislation in order for them to get to the floor before session ends, the issue is dead, again, for this year.

It is quite interesting to listen to proponents of this major change in Virginia’s public policy. In three separate presentations before committees and subcommittees, advocates for making sexual orientation a protected class have admitted that 90 percent of Virginians don’t think there should be discrimination. They have admitted that the last three governors have had policies, either written or verbal, that they will not allow such discrimination. At no point has any actual evidence of discrimination been presented. Late last year the Washington Post editorialized that there are “thousands of homosexuals” working in state government.

Usually, the General Assembly passes legislation to remedy a problem. They often defeat legislation that, as is said, is a “solution in search of a problem.” That is exactly the problem with this legislation.

So what is the goal? It really is not about discrimination. It is about government recognition — acceptance — of the homosexual lifestyle. Make no mistake, this debate is a serious one and it will have long term consequences, not just for state government, but private businesses and, ultimately, our Marriage Amendment. The goal is not anti-discrimination — it is forced acceptance of a lifestyle that many Virginians find antithetical to their faith.

The rhetoric in the capitol today was heated and not very tolerant. It seems that those who oppose creating a special class for homosexuals are hateful and bigoted, which is an easy accusation to make when you have no other argument and no ability to make your case.

Last week, on February 2, old-school crooner Wayne Newton made his way to the General Assembly to testify on behalf of a bill to recognize a Virginia Native American tribe (see Washington Post article and video), to which the Virginia native belongs, in the House Rules Committee. Women staff and lobbyists alike swooned and several got pics and pecs with and by him.

Three days later, however, reports the Detroit Free Press, “Mr. Las Vegas” got stuck with a $61,000 bill for abandoning his plane more than three years ago at an area airport and leaving it to rot and gather mold. Ewwwwwwwwww . . . and they kissed him!

Jefferson, Madison, Washington, Henry, Randolph and a host of legends once met in Richmond to discuss the great issues of the day. But, hey: These days we’ll take our celebrity witnesses where we can get them. We’re just glad Mr. Newton left his plane in Detroit to rot, and saved for that city something more than just a little symbolic given that area’s rapid decline and near 20 percent unemployment.

Last week the Senate General Laws committee passed (see vote) legislation, SB 66, that will add sexual orientation to the state’s hiring policy of non-discrimination. If this bill is successful, it would be the first time in Virginia history that sexual orientation would be elevated to a protected class.

The full Senate will vote (see contact list) on this legislation tomorrow! We urge you to ask your senator to vote against this unnecessary legislation.

While no one endorses discrimination of any type, there is absolutely no need for this proposal. In fact, according to the Washington Post, there are “thousands of homosexuals” working in state government. Both previous governors, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, signed executive orders against discrimination, and Governor Bob McDonnell has said publicly that his administration will not discriminate against homosexuals (see Washington Post). No evidence of discrimination was presented in committee when the bill was debated.

This is a solution in search of a problem. In addition, this legislation will open the Commonwealth of Virginia to costly litigation by people who fail to qualify for employment but sue the state based on this proposal. It also is a first step toward adding sexual orientation to private business hiring practice. We have seen in other states this gradual progression.

The bill also is impractical. To protect themselves against litigation, state agencies would have to begin asking job applicants about their sexuality, a clear invasion of privacy. State employment applications would have to be changed to include boxes to check for one’s sexual orientation, “actual or perceived,” gender identity or expression.

Elevating sexual orientation to a protected class, despite the fact that homosexuality is not immutable, would create an entirely new level of protection — protection based on one’s sexual behavior. So, please contact your senator now and urge him or her to vote no on SB 66 — unnecessary legislation that elevates sexual orientation to protected status in Virginia law.

Four years ago, only a few weeks after taking office and proposing (against his campaign promise) the largest tax increase in Virginia history, Congressional Democrats chose then-Governor Tim Kaine to deliver their party’s response to then-President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address. Yesterday, it was reported (see Washington Post), that Congressional Republicans have chosen newly sworn-in Governor Bob McDonnell to give the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s January 27 State of the Union.

How about that for asymmetrical karma? But there’s more.

Yesterday, House Republicans brought to the floor Delegate Bob Brink’s (D-48, Arlington) HB 1155, legislation that would enact former Governor Tim Kaine’s proposed income tax increase (see Richmond Times-Dispatch). The bill was referred to the House Rules Committee, which alone has the authority to report bills to the floor without recommendation. Thus it did with HB 1155 in order to put Democrats on the spot — vote against their friend and national party chairman or be on record for higher taxes in a recession. Delegate Brink requested that the bill be pulled, normally a pro forma request that’s granted at the will of the patron. Not yesterday!

Instead, it was put to a vote while Democrats vehemently protested. As if they couldn’t have anticipated it. Remember, last year Republicans did the same thing on a bill that would have repealed Virginia’s Right To Work Law (see post here and video here). They forced a vote by bringing that equally controversial bill through a no recommendation vote on the Rules Committee. The Democrats reacted by abstaining, but through a parliamentary procedure that says if a member is in his seat but not voting, and another member points that out, the vote must be recorded in the negative. Thus, Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R-8, Salem) forcibly recorded no votes against the bill which put Democrats at odds with their Big Labor allies.

With this as background, certainly they knew something was coming with a monstrous tax increase bill, and they knew they couldn’t abstain. On the first day of session, when the rules package is adopted, Minority Leader Ward Armstrong (D-10, Martinsville) said as much when he objected to the Rules Committee exception. As it turned out, it was a unanimous blowout, with the House voting 97-0 (with Delegate Brink abstaining) to reject one last Tim Kaine tax increase, sending it down with all his others, this one posthumously, in the political sense.

So, the question is, why file the tax increase bill to begin with? Only Delegate Brink knows for sure, but we suspect some members of the General Assembly like to give a peek of their colors to satisfy certain constituencies, but seek to conceal them altogether from the greater electorate. Increasingly, however, these lawmakers get found out.

This is the fourth in a series of five policy statements on issues that will come before the 2010 General Assembly. The third, regarding constitutional government, can be found here. Each statement covers one of The Family Foundation’s five areas of principle. We will post the fifth issue by early next week.

As with every General Assembly session, the usual suspects will show up promoting legislation that The Family Foundation believes would be harmful to the family or to the values that we share. Of particular note this year, there again are several bills that attempt to extend special rights to homosexuals based on their lifestyle choice.

In the aftermath of Congress passing and President Obama signing legislation that added sexual orientation to federal hate crimes laws, there is legislation that would do the same in Virginia. As we argued against the federal extension, this is a solution in search of a problem. There is absolutely no evidence anywhere that crimes against homosexuals are not being prosecuted, which was the original point of hate crimes statues.

There also is an effort to add sexual orientation to anti-discrimination laws, both for state government and localities’ hiring practices. This annual attempt at “gotcha politics” is of course intended to make anyone who opposes it appear discriminatory. Elected officials often are quizzed on whether or not they discriminate against homosexuals as if that should be a question on the employment application. Unfortunately for proponents, one of their biggest allies — The Washington Post — admitted in an editorial recently that there are “thousands of gays in state government.” There is absolutely no need for this legislation and no evidence of any discrimination given the lack of claims from these thousands.

Also this year, there are additional attempts at expanding so-called domestic partner benefits. Several years ago, despite our warning that such a change would open a floodgate, the General Assembly passed legislation that allowed some businesses to contract with health insurance companies to grant benefits outside of the longstanding standards of “blood, marriage or adoption.” Those standards were always intended to encourage and support marriages and families. Since then, there have been several attempts at expanding this loophole to life insurance, and there will be new attempts this year as well. Already, we’ve seen outgoing Governor Tim Kaine’s blatant political attempt to change state regulations in this area, knowing that the final decision maker will be Governor-elect Bob McDonnell. Unfortunately, in the General Assembly, when the principles of families and business compete, the family is often the loser.

Finally, in what will likely amount to a waste of everyone’s time, there is legislation seeking to repeal the Marriage Amendment passed by the voters in 2006. This bill will be introduced despite the fact that more 30 states now have marriage amendments and three statewide candidates that supported the Virginia Marriage Amendment won landslide elections in November.

We will be ever vigilant watching for other legislation that undermines our values and impacts our families. We will be at the capitol every day during session advocating on your behalf and against harmful legislation, and chronically it all here.

Annotations & Elucidations

Even On New Year’s Day . . .

The News Stand is back after a Christmas/New Year’s break. Not much comment today. With a new administration and two months of General Assembly upcoming, there will be plenty of news upon which to comment in the days and weeks ahead. For now, take a look at some articles of interest to ween you back into the Virginia political mindset: The Wall Street Journal’s Brendan Miniter profiles Governor-elect Bob McDonnell while the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Roanoke Times bid adieu to Governor Tim Kaine; the Washington Times examines McDonnell’s call to eliminate the governor’s one term limit; the Washington Post looks areas of the Virginia budget that may no longer be sacrosanct from cuts; and the AP reports that 13 attorneys general, including outgoing Virginia AG Bill Mims, are  threatening a lawsuit over the pending nationalized health care legislation — and they are not all “red” state AGs, either. We anticipate that Attorney General-elect Ken Cuccinelli will continue Virginia’s participation in the proceedings should the legislation become law.  

But, just to show you it’s always something around here, in case you missed it, CNN called us for a New Year’s Day interview regarding the Isabella Miller custody case. So, below, we posted the video of the report which includes reporter Mary Snow’s interview with Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb.

News:

Back to GOP Basics (Wall Street Journal Online)

Parts of Virginia’s budget may no longer be off-limits (Washington Post)

Kaine had wins but took some lumps as governor (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

A term of crisis: Gov. Tim Kaine exit interview (Roanoke Times)

Va. GOP names new executive director (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Va.’s McDonnell seeks end to term limit (Washington Times)

Va. mom fails to hand over daughter in custody dispute (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

National:

13 attorneys general threaten suit over health care (AP/Roanoke Times)

Video:

*Lesbian Custody Battle (2:13) (CNN.com)

Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb speaks to CNN on New Year’s Day about Lisa Miller apparently running away with her daughter, Isabella. 

The biggest mystery since the Easter Island must be the myth the Mark Warner (contact) is somehow a “fiscal conservative,” not to mention these famous remarks (click here). Starting with his Virginia record tax increase (breaking a campaign pledge) in 2004 to his 50 percent increase in state spending while governor, it’s unfortunate that too many in Virginia’s business community helped perpetuate the myth.

Now, please, can we do away with it once and for all? Senator Warner voted for $787 billion stimulus last winter in his first major vote. Then, he voted for the omnibus spending bill (”stimulus 2″). Now, within the last two weeks, he’s voted for a $1.1 trillion spending bill (”stimulus 3″) (see Richmond Times-Dispatch) and for the trillions-dollar-plus socialized medicine bill. Please tell me how this is fiscal conservatism?

Of course, don’t tell that to the Washington Post, which published a feature Saturday on the senator’s first year. Poor baby. He’s frustrated that he can’t get more of his Democrat colleagues to take a more centrist course. It’s pretty frightening to think of Senator Warner’s definition of “centrist” after stacking up centuries of debt on us. His early record shows little sign of centrism and almost every sign of way-out-on-the-left-wing-Barbara Boxer-Harry Reid-John Kerry-(pick your favorite liberal here)-leftist-elitist-liberalism. Let the lie die now, please.

He did it over the summer. Now, President Barack “Barry” Obama (as he called himself today when calling in to Governor Tim Kaine on WTOP radio, per Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post) is about to do it again: ruin a small business with his vacation plans. It’s horrible enough that he’s destroying all business with his nationalization of the health care, financial and energy industries. (One estimate shows that if all his plans go through, 71 percent of GDP will be under government control, per U.S. Representative Michelle Bachman, a Minnesota Republican.) But does he also have to destroy local small businesses while he’s enjoying himself on the beaches of Hawaii while the rest of us suffer from climate change on the freezing, snowy East Coast?

You may remember that when he summered in Marxist Martha’s Vineyard in August, he put a small air tour company out of work, and killed the business, since it relied on the short annual late summer tourist window for customers. But with the POTUS coming to town, security prohibited any local aircraft from going airborne. The same thing is happening in Hawaii, “Barry’s” Christmas (or does he prefer “holiday”?) vacation spot. According to KITV’s Web site, several local air tour businesses are going to get hurt, and hurt real bad.

From the article:

However, Pat Magie’s seaplane tours will be sunk by the restrictions.

“We can’t fly tourists. We can’t train. We’ve got an enforced two-week vacation without pay,” Magie said.

But Barry, family and friends will have a great ol’ time on our dime. Never mind the little people. That’s what we call a very Barry Christmas.

Annotations & Elucidations

Bringing Back The Car Tax?

Governor Tim Kaine is yanking the commonwealth’s collective chain on whether he will propose re-instituting the car tax in his last budget. Will he or won’t he? We’ll know Friday when he releases it. Republicans, from Governor-elect Bob McDonnell on down, say they will not go along. Meanwhile, the GOP’s sixth House of Delegates seat pickup is official as Ron Villanueva maintained his 16 vote lead in a recount. Speaking of the House, the pre-filing deadline for legislation has brought in a pile of bills and the Washington Times has a preview of some early newsworthy favorites come January. Over in the national House, the Washington Post reports that Dems are fretting over another crush — a crush of retirements that may throw up into the air the issue of control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections.

News:

Kaine coy about plans for car tax (Northern Virginia Daily)

Dems on McDonnell advisers list: I’m doing what now? (Washington Post Virginia Politics Blog)

Pre-filing allowing avalanche of new bills (Washington Times)

It’s official: Villanueva wins close election in Virginia Beach (The Daily Press)

Villanueva winner of 21st District seat in Va. Beach recount (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

Conservatives launch PACs to grab for Tea Party cash (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

State fines disappearing candidate (WVEC.com/WVEC-TV)

National:

House Democrats lose fourth member to retirement (Washington Post)

When ‘real world data’ fails (OneNewsNow.com)

Family group uneasy with FCC appointee (OneNewsNow.com)

FAIR to fight ‘ridiculous’ amnesty bill (OneNewsNow.com)

Obama to work to solidify support for health bill (AP/OneNewsNow.com)

Commentary:

Chinese official pushes ‘one child’ policy in Copenhagen (Matt Friedeman/Rightly Concerned Blog)

‘Religious Test’ — Belong to a Particular Denomination (Bryan Fischer/Focal Point, Rightly Concerned Blog) 

Muslim followers of Jesus? (Matt Friedeman/Rightly Concerned Blog)

Annotations & Elucidations

Obamanomics Claims Victim — The ACLU’s Largest Donor

Governor Tim Kaine’s expansion of state employee health insurance benefits to same-sex and other unmarried couples and announcements by Governor-elect Bob McDonnell  dominate the news. Family Foundation President Victoria Cobb is quoted in the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot article on the former. As for McDonnell, he reiterated vows to balance the budget as well as to reject tax increases. He also named two cabinet secretaries: Bob Sledd, former head Performance Food Group CEO, a Fortune 500 company before taken private, will be Secretary of Commerce; and long time McDonnell aide Janet Polarek will be Secretary of the Commonwealth. He also fulfilled a campaign promise by formally announcing that Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will head up all job creation efforts. If you thought he couldn’t attend certain meetings before. …

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Jim Webb (contact) says he’s not yet decided on how he will vote on health care “reform” (although thousands have asked him to vote ”no”). The Tea Party movement has a message for Republican first district U.S. Rep. Rob Whittman. Nationally, the Washington Post has a feature on the Tea Party movement and whether it will split the GOP. Surely, wishful, but not of the question, thinking. But liberals are not without their divisions, either: The ACLU’s top donor (to the tune of $19 million a year), David Gelbaum,  has stopped cold his donations to that organization, as well as to the Sierra Club and other liberal groups. Guess Obamanomics affects rich liberals, too.

News:

*Log Cabin Republicans back Va. benefits change (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

McDonnell questions Kaine benefits plan (Washington Times)

McDonnell vows not to raise taxes (Washington Times)

McDonnell vows balanced budget (Roanoke Times)

Lt. Gov. Bolling to be named to jobs creation post (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

McDonnell to announce Bolling, Sledd to head economic team (Washington Post Virginia Politics Blog)

Undecided on health-care vote, says Webb (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Push is on to force lawmakers to reveal government income (Norfolk Virginian-Pilot)

Tea Party group chides Wittman (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

National:

For conservatives, a political surge (Washington Post)

ACLU loses donor, one-fourth of yearly contributions (AP/Richmond Times-Dispatch)