We now have had several weeks to digest the city-initiated 207-page report on the July 8 and August 11-12, 2017, demonstrations in Charlottesville. While there are many nuances in the report of Timothy Heaphy and his team, and various ways by which it may be interpreted, the conclusions are clear — the city and law enforcement failed in two critical areas. First, the city and law enforcement were unable to ensure that citizens’ First Amendment rights of free speech were protected, whether that speech involved the hateful speech of the neo-Nazis and white supremacists, or the speech of counter demonstrators. Second, the city and law enforcement failed to protect citizens from the violent confrontations that occurred on August 11 and 12. Heaphy did a thorough job of reviewing the events, and we need to pay careful attention to it. [Read more…]
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The Majority Is Still In Play
The results in Virginia’s elections for our 100 House of Delegates seats last Tuesday were nothing short of a massive tsunami that people will write and talk about for years. (There’s more about that in my post Anatomy of a Wave Election.) Few believed that the Democrats could recruit so many great candidates, spread the field so effectively, and marshal resources necessary to help carry 15 candidates over the finish line. Republicans quickly attempted to portray the election as if nothing had changed, issuing press releases that they still control the majority – not so fast! There are at least two districts where the results are still in doubt, and on these two seats rests the actual majority in the House of Delegates. [Read more…]
A Massive Victory of Unprecedented Proportions
Anatomy of a Wave Election
Anatomy of a Wave Election
Update regarding potential recounts is available here.
In a stunning display of grassroots political power, Democrats elected at least 15 new members to the Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, sending shock waves across the country. Democratic numbers in the House now stand at 49, with 3 districts still up for grabs. The majority remains a possibility; a swing of 7 votes in one district will get us to 50. Not since the late 1800s have Virginia Democrats won this many seats in one election. [Read more…]
The Fight of Our Lives—Time to Bend the Arc
We are, simply put, in the fight of our lives. The values that we consider important— social equality and economic justice, diversity and inclusion, tolerance and civility— and the opportunities that everyone should have— the chance for our family members, children, and grandchildren to secure a decent education, obtain a good job that pays a living wage, have access to reasonably priced health care and insurance, ensure the protection of reproductive health, and gain fair access to the ballot box— are all under siege. They are being assaulted, not only by an insensitive and thoughtless President, but by politicians across the country who either mimic his message or, in their silence, have become complicit in his efforts to destroy the great American dream for all but the wealthiest among us.
All Eyes on Virginia
On Tuesday, Virginia will go to the polls in the first major election since the Trump upset. We have heard much about various state house special elections, and even the June Congressional race in Georgia, being tests of the Democratic Party’s “post-Trump” viability. But Virginia is the real deal. Our Governor’s race matches a veteran/doctor/former State Senator/Lieutenant Governor against a Republican who masterminded the GOP’s nationwide gerrymandering strategy, which has brought one-party rule to many states and Tea Party control of the U.S. House of Representatives while encouraging the further polarization of the electorate. Since Republicans control the Virginia House and Senate, putting a Republican in the governor’s seat could make Virginia look like North Carolina in just one legislative session. Take a look at the 120 bills Governor McAuliffe vetoed in his four years, because a Republican victory will mean that many of them will become law very quickly. No one can afford to “sit this one out.” Every vote is crucial.
Mark Herring, Attorney General • Dr. Ralph Northam, Governor • Justin Fairfax, Lieutenant Governor
Democratic Candidates, Virginia Statewide Offices [Read more…]
ACA Update — Trump Creates Health Insurance “Sticker Shock”
I recently wrote about the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance marketplace. Today, as many citizens begin the Open Enrollment Season to sign up for 2018 health insurance, we are discovering just how drastically Trump and his Republican allies in Congress are hurting Americans by actively trying to destabilize the health insurance market in order to kill the ACA.
Insurance Rates Roller Coaster
Insurance companies have to set their premiums, or “rates,” many months before the Healthcare.gov exchange opens, because state agencies (in Virginia, the Bureau of Insurance, which is a division of the State Corporation Commission) must review insurers’ plans and proposed rates in the summertime to meet federal deadlines. As you probably recall, during the first eight months of 2017 Congress tried several times to repeal the ACA. Trump used his Twitter account to agitate for repeal, even threatening Representatives and Senators who did not fall into line with his desire to get rid of “Obamacare.”
He also actively sabotaged a crucial ACA tool that has kept premiums lower by threatening to eliminate the cost-sharing reduction (CSR) payments to insurance companies that helped families afford coverage. Faced with so much uncertainty and increased risk, health insurers began to withdraw their participation in some markets, and requested approval of significantly higher premiums for many of their ACA-compliant policies. [Read more…]
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