Virginia Politics Blog

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R), wearing a green tie for St. Patrick's Day, re-opened a highway rest stop off Rt.85 S in Dinwiddie County this morning -- one of eight rest stops to re-open today, among them two on I-66 in Manassas and two in Dale City.

Four others re-opened last month. The remaining seven facilities are slated to be back in service by April 15.

McDonnell announced in January that the state would re-open 19 rest stops that were shuttered last summer because of budget cuts. Private contributions through an "adopt a rest stop" program and $3 million from the state's maintenance reserve fund will pay the expense. The state will also use the labor of nonviolent prison inmates at the facilities.

(Photo courtesy of Michaele White, Governor's Office)

A spokesman for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) said this afternoon that Virginia will file suit against the federal government if the Democratic health care reform bill is approved by the U.S. Congress.

Cuccinelli has long said he was examining the legal issues and suggested he would likely file suit. Brian Gottstein, a spokesman for the office, said this afternoon that a lawsuit is now a definite. Gottstein would provide no details of the legal rationale for such a suit, indicating the process is "still being worked out."

Virginia last week became the first state in the country to pass a state bill declaring it illegal for the government to require individuals to purchase health insurance, a key part of bills under consideration on Capitol Hill.

We are also expecting to receive a letter shortly that Cuccinelli is sending to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warning her that using the so-called "deem and pass" procedure to pass the Senate health reform bill in the House would open the measure to additional constitutional challenges from the states.

UPDATE: We've received a copy of Cuccinelli's letter to Pelosi. In it, he writes: "Should you employ the deem and pass tactic, you expose any act which may pass to yet another constitutional challenge."

The full letter is included after the jump.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) said in a recent interview that he will not appoint a special counsel to oversee his new executive directive prohibiting discrimination as he has been requested by the gay advocacy group Equality Virginia.

McDonnell's directive to all 102,000 state employees prohibits discrimination in the state workforce, including on the basis of sexual orientation, and warns he will reprimand or fire anyone who engages in it.

He issued the non-legally binding directive a week after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II (R) distributed a letter to the state's public colleges and universities asking them to remove references to sexual orientation from their campus nondiscrimination policies. Cuccinelli says that only the General Assembly has the authority to extend legal protections to gays.

In a letter sent to McDonnell Friday, Equality Virginia executive director Jon Blair argued Cuccinelli's advice indicates he and his staff would be "unable to render" legal services on the issue.

McDonnell has yet to officially respond to the letter, but told us in an interview that a special counsel would not be necessary because Cuccinelli and Virginia Secretary of Administration Lisa Hicks-Thomas will ensure that no employees are discriminated against.

"The attorney general and I both agree that you can't amend the Human Rights Act by any action other than the legislature. We both agree on that,'' McDonnell said. "The attorney general also agrees with most of what I said in my directive...so I don't the attorney general and I disagree on what the law is. The attorney general's job is to declare the law. It's my job to set the policy and help the General Assembly set the policy."

At first, we were flattered to see that Fairfax Republican Congressional candidate Keith Fimian used a quote from this blog in the very first radio ad of his campaign against U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D).

But when we looked a little closer, we were less amused.

The ad works on a pig theme and accuses Connolly of going after earmarks at a time when the national debt is rising. Pretty standard political stuff.

But then, the radio narrator tells you this: "Gerry Connolly says, quote, 'I want to be there with all four paws and snout in the trough.' "

Connolly did indeed utter that quote during a July conference call with reporters about Republicans and the stimulus package. We put the quote on this blog.

But was he talking about himself? Nope.

President Obama will give hold a final, pre-vote rally for health care at George Mason University in Fairfax County on Friday, White House officials announced today.

The rally, to be held in the university's Patriot Center auditorium, will begin at 11:30 a.m. and is open to the public, officials said.

Officials described the event as one in which Obama would make remarks about health care. The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up the final votes on health care late Friday or early Saturday.

The capacity of the Patriot Center is 10,000 people.

-- Michael D. Shear

As local governments continue to pore over the General Assembly's new budget to assess the impact for the next two years, the early reviews were mixed, at least in Fairfax County.

Fairfax schools superintendent Jack Dale told county supervisors Tuesday that despite a decision to unfreeze a key school-funding formula that would have cost the county even more, Virginia's largest school district will still have to cut back almost across the board. And he expressed concern that the cuts spelled out by the budget are likely to far outlast the two-year budget cycle.

"These are permanent," Dale said. "Nothing's coming back in two years."

Former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) called the so-called "birther" remarks by the state's attorney general "ridiculous" and blamed the comments on "the realm of psychology."

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II (R) denied accusations Monday that he is a birther, saying that audio posted online of him saying it is not "beyond the realm of possibility" President Obama was born in Kenya reflected "a hypothetical legal answer" to a question.

Cornered by reporters at the White House after a lunch with Obama, Kaine -- the chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- lumped Cuccinelli in with those who call themselves "birthers."

"I scratch my head in amazement that somebody in a position of that altitude would express an opinion like that," Kaine said. "It's ridiculous. This president is an American citizen, duly elected by the voters. But some people just can't accept that and they are still having trouble accepting it. I think that's what the attorney general is, maybe in that camp."

Asked whether he thought Cuccinelli's comments were "a racial thing," Kaine shook his head no and said, "I just think it's maybe in the realm of psychology."

-- Michael D. Shear

Gov. Bob McDonnell has appointed Del. Matt Lohr (R-Rockingham) as the next commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

"Matt understands the importance of agriculture to Virginia's economy,'' McDonnell said in a statement. "Virginia's farms don't just grow food; they also provide critically important jobs and revenue for our Commonwealth. I want an aggressive, experienced leader to head up the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. It is a crucial agency to the future prosperity of our state."

Lohr, 38, was elected to his third term last November. McDonnell will set a special election to fill his seat in the Republican-leaning district when Lohr resigns. He will start his new job May 1.

Lohr, a farmer, will replace Todd Haymore, who McDonnell promoted to secretary of agriculture and forestry.

"I have been passionate about agriculture my entire life and have enjoyed being an advocate for it, whether it's through my work on the family farm or from my seat in the House of Delegates,'' Lohr said. "I look forward to continuing those efforts."

Ben Loyola, one of several Republicans competing in a 2nd congressional district primary in the Hampton Roads area to run against U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye (D), said in an interview posted on the blog Bearing Drift that he is not sure President Obama was born in the United States.

When asked if Obama was a "natural born United States citizen," Loyola responded "I'm not sure, and that troubles me."

Read the full interview. The interview from Va Blogger of Too Conservative was conducted in August 2009, but just posted online today.

Loyola spokesman Joshua Clark said today that his boss's answers were accurate -- and that he answered that way because he doesn't know whether the president was born in the United States or not.

Yesterday, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) denied accusations that he is a birther, after audio posted online of him saying it is not "beyond the realm of possibility" Obama was born in Kenya.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has talked for the last couple of months about donating his excess inaugural funds to charity, and while everyone agrees that's a generous gesture, let's not forget that state law has changed and that's now required.

A report released today by the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in politics, shows that last year's statewide candidates actually raised far less for their inaugural festivities than their counterparts four years ago, who were able to hold onto the excess money by transferring it to political accounts.

In 2006, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) transferred $800,000, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R) transferred $168,000 and Attorney General McDonnell transferred $280,000. That money helped Bolling and McDonnell with their future runs and Kaine support other candidates.

This year, McDonnell announced that he will contribute about $100,000 to charity, while Bolling and Cuccinelli raised exactly what they needed for their inaugural festivities.

McDonnell raised $1.9 million from more than 1,554 donors. Top donations came from attorneys, state employees, those who work in the defense industry, veterans and Realtors, according to VPAP.

Bolling raised $85,964 from 155 donors. Cuccinelli raised $244,935 from 326 donors.