Democracy for Virginia

Mame Reiley and Don Beyer Endorse Dean for DNC Chair

Democracy for America announced tonight that Mame Reiley, chair of the DNC Women's Caucus and a DNC voting member from Virginia, has endorsed Howard Dean for DNC Chair.

In the announcement, Reiley explains some of the reasons why she thinks that Howard Dean is the best choice for leading our party:

"I am proud to announce today my support of Howard Dean for DNC Chair. Howard Dean is committed to protecting a woman's fundamental right to choose. Governor Dean supports pay equity for women. He supports quality health care and education for all Americans," Reiley said.

Governor Dean commented on the great honor of having Mame Reiley's support.   "Mame and I agree that if Democrats are going to beat back conservative politicians' attacks on our values, women must have a strong voice in the future of the Democratic Party and a seat at the table in the decision-making process," said Governor Dean. "If I am elected chairman, women will."

Mame Reiley is the Executive Director of Governor Mark Warner's One Virginia PAC and is one of Governor Warner's closest political advisors. 

Reiley's endorsement comes just a day after Governor Dean received another significant Virginia endorsement from Don Beyer, former Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Chairman of Kerry/Edwards Virginia Victory '04, and best known to most of us at Democracy for Virginia as the National Treasurer of Dean for America and the leader of the Dean campaign here in Virginia.

To learn more about Howard Dean's plans for refoming and revitalizing the Democratic Party, visit Dean for Chair and Blog for America.

Letter to Delegates Black and Marshall: Authors of proposed homophobic change to adoption law

Dear Dels. Marshall and Black,

It has come to our attention that you have introduced legislation in the Virginia House to outlaw adoption by gays and lesbians.  As the proud adoptive parents of an eight year old girl my husband and I are frankly astounded at the mean spiritedness of this proposed bill.

Any adoptive parent from the state of Virginia understands that the adoption process as it exists carefully screens applicants for the responsibility of parenthood -- including thorough police background checks and an intensive series of interviews designed to determine the mental and physical qualifications of the applicants.  This process, if performed as designed, eliminates the unqualified -- for whatever reason it may be.  Your legislation suggests that the very state of being homosexual makes someone unqualified to parent.

It is difficult to imagine anyone with such a close minded point of view as yours.  An extremely large number of people in this country are gay.  The odds are that someone you know and respect is, unbeknownst to you, gay.  There is in fact a high likelihood that someone in your own family is gay.  The fact that you would strive to restrict the basic rights of such a huge population is unconscionable.

What possible reason can you have to promote such a hate-filled agenda under the guise of "family values?"  This flies in the face of everything a loving and compassionate Jesus teaches Christians.  I do often wonder what Jesus would say about the so-called Christians who practice hate in his name.  Can it be possible that you would rather see a child floated between foster homes than acquire a permanent loving home with qualified parents?

Rest assured that we will spread the word far and near about this incredibly foul legislation.  You may be certain that adoption groups and other interested people will have something to say about this.

Sincerely,

Julia G. Ide and Nicholas C. Ide
1318 Woodside Drive
McLean, VA 22102

HB2921: VA House Attempts to Ban Adoption by Gays and Lesbians

Maura Keaney has done all of us a great service by unearthing numerous pieces of legislation introduced in the current Virginia House and Senate that call for our immediate action.  This entry highlilghts one of particular concern to me as an adoptive parent.

In another example of the extraordinary extremist actions of some of the majority members of our Commonwealth's legislative bodies, last minute legislation has been introduced in the Virginia House to make adoption by gays and lesbians illegal in Virginia.  The text of the bill can be found by following this link:

HB 2921 Prohibits adoptions by homosexuals.
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?051+sum+HB2921

This not only applies to adoption applications by couples made jointly, but also by adoptions of new partners of parents that wish to complete their family legally through adoption. 

This should anger all of us, but it is particularly despicable to me as an adoptive parent.  It is absolutely unacceptable to think that I would be able to adopt while other qualified loving adults would not -- for a totally arbitrary reason.  This is outrageous and flies in the face of decency and common sense.  This is a hateful crowd that would rather see children not receive permanent homes than place them with a loving parent that happens to be a gay or lesbian.

We need to unite in expressing our outrage over this legislation.

2005 House of Delegates Candidates to Watch

I just heard from the Loudoun County Democratic Committee that David Poisson, a Democratic candidate in the 32nd district running against one half of the Dynamic Duo of Discrimination, Delegate Dick "Baby Pesticides" Black, has launched his campaign Web site.

And I've been hearing great things from many sources about Bruce Roemmelt, who is gearing up for his run against Dick Black's partner in legislative hate crime, the other half of the Dynamic Duo of Discrimination, Delegate Robert Marshall of Manassas.  Bruce does not yet have a Web site up, but please remember his name and consider setting aside a few bucks a week that you can donate to him when he's ready to take donations online.

And I've been remiss in not posting a link to Greg Werkheiser, who has launched his campaign against Delegate David Albo in the 42nd district.  Greg's already out of the gates at a great clip, having outpaced the Republican incumbent in fundraising during the last reporting period. 

Small donations make big differences in these races, and David, Bruce, and Greg deserve great credit for taking on incumbents.  Please help them.  And as new candidates come on the horizon, please post links to their sites in comments (or email me) so we can highlight them as much as possible.

At Democracy for Virginia's meeting last June at the State Democratic Convention, many of us said that our mission as a group was to build progressive Democratic strength around the state so that no Republican would go unchallenged, no seat go uncontested. There is still time to mount campaigns, especially against the 43 Republican incumbents in the House of Delegates who ran unopposed in 2003.  As Howard Dean would say, "We can do better than that.  And we will!"

SB456: A Major Defeat Today for Virginia Women and Families

Terrible news from the Virginia Senate today on SB456, Senator Whipple's Birth Control Protection Act.

The anti-science Devolites-Davis amendment passed the Senate today, 21-17-1, rendering the bill essentially useless as a means for protecting access to all safe methods of contraception for Virginia women and families. 

Senator Whipple's office has confirmed that she will move to withdraw the bill tomorrow rather than allow it to be passed as amended.

UPDATE: Virginia Family Values PAC weighs in and the Hampton Roads Daily Press covers the story.

Legislative Sentry: SB456 - Act TODAY to protect contraception in Virginia

Here's a multiple choice question for you...Which of the following is the best source of information on reproductive medical terminology?

A. Dictionary.com
B. The National Institutes of Health (National Library of Medicine) Medical Encyclopedia
C. The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
D. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Senator Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis (R-Fairfax, wife of Republican Congressman Tom Davis) picked A, Dictionary.com.  Rather than trusting in medically accepted definitions for medical terminology, Devolites-Davis used Dictionary.com as her source of a definition of "contraception" during floor debate this week in an effort to stop Senator Mary Margaret Whipple's (D-Arlington) Birth Control Protection Act (SB456) from passing the Senate as written.

HUH?  Dictionary.com as a source of definitions of medical terminology?  Has the rejection of science and education gone this far?  Read the full story past the jump, and ACT TODAY!

The long Road Back (PAC) to Democratic Strength and Sanity

The following guest post was written by Jean B. Wyant, a DFV leader in Crozet, who will now be a regular author on Democracy for Virginia.

On Saturday, January 15, the Road Back PAC sponsored a free political candidacy training session in Charlottesville. The Road Back PAC is a VA Democratic support group in central VA, started by Del. Mitch van Yahres in 2003 -- just as Gov. Dean's presidential campaign was heading stratospheric. 

To get people's attention, the event was headlined: So, you want to be in politics! About 120 activists, volunteers, potential candidates and future campaign managers, organizers, and consultants, said "Yes, indeed!" and showed up for a morning of hardnosed advice from veterans of VA politics, followed by a lunch address by Dean Dozen candidate Al Weed!

Many DFA regulars and volunteers, and Dean sympathizers from local committees, campaigns and organizations were there (more would have come, but a violent flu bug is making the rounds here). It was a nice chance to see folks from the Al Weed campaign and some of my canvassing buddies and volunteers and election day poll workers, and to actually meet some of the legendary local Dems whose names I've heard ever since I got involved way back in the summer of 03. Some from the old Democrats-DLC crowd were also on hand, as usual beside themselves with nay-saying Howard; for a while yet, I expect that will be the norm.

Continue reading about this great event below the jump...

Legislative Sentry: HB1981 - Keep Your Laws Off My Drawers (Or Not?)

Here's a light-hearted one for a dark day.  Delegate Algie Howell Jr. (D-Norfolk) has introduced a bill to give a $50 fine to anyone who exposes his "below-waist undergarments" in an offensive manner.  The bill is an amendment to Virginia's existing indecent exposure law that criminalizes "obscene display" of "body parts", punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Is this Virginia's equivalent to Louisiana's "baggy pants bill"?  That bill became a national embarrassment after passing Louisiana's criminial justice committe and was ultimately defeated, thanks to opposition from the Louisiana chapter of the ACLU, whose representative stood up for free expression rights, including a spirited defense of the rights of Louisiana plumbers who might occasionally expose, well, let's just say, cracks in their professionalism.

Virginia low-rider wearers, beware. Will we see thong-exposers and droopy-drawer-boxer wearing Virginians uniting in grassroots action to oppose this bill?  I can just see them in protest marches now ...paraphrasing Stockard Channing singing in Grease, "Keep your filthy laws off my silky drawers!"

I can see obscene display of body parts as "indecent exposure", but flashing your tighty whities?  I dunno.  Shouldn't it be called "tacky exposure" instead?

New Progressive Groups in Fauquier County and Hampton Roads

For those of you who are eager for more opportunities to network with progressive Virginians, two new progressive groups in Virginia have become active lately.

The Progressive Women of Hampton Roads is an exciting new group meeting regularly in the Tidewater area.  Dedicated Dean supporter and DFA activist Linda Brooks of Hampton Roads writes:

This is our second meeting and I hope any women who are out there that want to attend and are progressive and want to put an end to the onslaught of the erosion of women's rights will attend.  If you need more info, please email me at lgb293 (at) aol (dot) com.

Details on next meeting of Progressive Women of Hampton Roads:

Thursday, January 20th
5:30 PM
Steve's Steak House (map)
11847 Jefferson Ave (in the Oyster Point section of Newport News)

And in Fauquier County, a group of progressives have founded the Sunday Supper Club.  The club founders worked together in summer of 2004 to register voters and pass out Kerry/Edwards campaign literature.  They began meeting for pot-luck dinners on Sunday nights in November and December to continue working together to bring about progressive change.  They now meet the second Sunday of every month for pot-luck dinners, conversation, and action.  For more information, visit the Sunday Supper Club Web site.

 

HB1677: Further "Miss-Demean-Hers" from Cosgrove

So, yesterday, I gotta admit I celebrated a little about the announcement that Cosgrove would pull 1677, especially when he admitted his own bill's "language was just too confusing".

The good news spread throughout the blogosphere, and many of the women who researched the bill themselves and wrote to Cosgrove celebrated a victory of ordinary people making a difference in the legislative process.  Typical of the hundreds of related comments on blogs, Libby on Chez Marriage wrote in comments:

Talk about feeling empowered!

Fertile or infertile, democrat or replublican, mothers or childfree, it does not matter. We are women first and we can unite to make a difference. I hope we don't forget that.

Well, apparently John Cosgrove doesn't think we're empowered.  According to Ema at The Well Timed Period, who posted a copy of an email from Cosgrove to a concerned citizen, he thinks we're misinformed.  Everyone's concerns are based on "false information".  Cosgrove also makes the condescending point that, "those who would blindly accept the rumors of the internet should also be vigilant to discern the truth."

So, Mr. Cosgrove, the people who wrote to you are just blind dupes?  Just - dare I say it? - hysterical women who believed some crazy rumor unfounded in fact?   Some evidence would suggest otherwise, given that nearly half of the blogs who linked to the story on the first day it gained popularity also linked to the General Assembly's bill tracking system to the full text of the bill itself.

It's an easy defense, really.  The evil Internets are telling lies about me!  And they never let me give my side of the story!

Dave Addis of the Virginian-Pilot, whose family suffered four traumatic losses of pregnancy, called HB1677 a "lulu" of a bill in "Good for us, pregnancy bill is nipped in the bud", and gives Cosgrove this advice:

A lot of..bloggers are morons, but a lot are savvy, dedicated, and on target. Just ask Dan Rather. 

My parting advice: Grow scales, Cosgrove, or do a better job of writing your bills, because these people aren’t going away. And good on ’em, too.

(Continue reading by clicking link below...)