Democracy for Virginia

DFA Training & Candidate Forum in Falls Church tomorrow!

We're now expecting over 175 people to gather in Falls Church for an intensive-two day training program in campaign leadership for grassroots activists - an amazing testament to progressive enthusiasm and strength here in Virginia.  When that many people are willing to give up two beautiful weekend days during the summer to gain political skills, it's a vivid sign that ordinary Virginians are willing to go to extraordinary lengths stand up and fight against right-wing extremism and for sensible leadership for all Virginians.

It's going to be a great weekend of intensive skill-building workshops and networking opportunities.  It's not too late to join us - we hope to see you there!

In addition to our full training day tomorrow from 8:30 - 5:00, our group of fired-up, newly trained activists will have an opportunity to meet with a number of great Democratic challengers for House of Delegates tomorrow night at our Candidates Forum.  If you can't make it for the full two days of training, you're still welcome to stop by and join us for the forum from 5:30 - 7:00PM to meet some inspiring, courageous candidates.

Democracy for Virginia and DC for Democracy Candidates Forum for Virginia House of Delegates
Candidates scheduled to appear include David Poisson, Dave Marsden, Bruce Roemmelt, David Bulova...and other special guests will stop by throughout the weekend!
Saturday, July 9   5:30 - 7:00 PM
George Marshall High School, 7731 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church

We hope to see you there!

With no Democrat on the ballot, race in 91st is still interesting!

The Hampton Roads Daily Press had an interesting article on the race in the 91st district, which includes parts of York County, Hampton, and Poquoson, on Tuesday.

Incumbent Republican Del. Thomas Gear is being challenged by independent candidate Randy Gilliland, a city council member from Hampton.  Though there is no Democrat on the ballot, some of the controversy in this race seems related to which candidate is more closely tied to the Democratic party:

Gilliland's largest contribution is $5,000 from Gov. Mark R. Warner's political arm, the One Virginia political action committee. Gear said that got the attention of Republican leaders in Richmond who assured him that the party will help him try to match Gilliland's spending.

And lastly, there promises to be a good scuffle about who really is a Democrat. The district is solidly Republican. So much so, that since this district was created in 2001, the General Assembly redrew all 100 districts to account for new census numbers, Democrats have not run a candidate in any of the three elections.

Gilliland has always associated himself with the Democratic Party, although city council races are technically nonpartisan. Gear also considered himself to be a Democrat before switching parties when he ran for the House in 2001 and beat an incumbent Republican.

So nobody in this race wants to affiliate with the Democratic party.  But what about the issues?

The contrast between the candidates is not only rooted in personal differences, but also represents the divide that stifled action in Richmond in recent years.

Gilliland believes the state has a responsibility to properly finance core services like educating children and building roads.

Gear opposes new taxes and tax hikes at every turn and portrays himself as a friend of ordinary people and watchdog against special interests. [...]

Gilliland fashions himself as a champion for business owners and public schools. He talks about his role in fostering economic development in Hampton while on City Council, as well as spearheading the effort to pay for new schools for the first time in decades.

Gear touts himself as a social and fiscal conservative who defends ordinary taxpayers.

Given Gilliland's responsible support for funding core government services such as public schools and transportation, it's no big surprise that Governor Warner's One Virginia PAC is supporting him.  It's harder to see the "taxpayer defense" free-luncher Gear running as a Democrat in the past.  The article points out other significant differences in the candidates' personal criticisms of each other. 

At this point, Gilliland is winning the money race against the incumbent, with slightly more raised and significantly more cash on hand.   In 2003, though, even with no opponent, Gear managed to raise over $90,000.  (For someone who purports to be a "watchdog against special interests", Gear sure does take a lot of money from them...but maybe taking money from industry associations is one way to watchdog them?  Hmmm.  Perhaps I am unclear on the concept.)

The Daily Press says the race in the 91st "appears to be shaping up as one of the most costly and contentious races in Virginia."

Verified Voting Hearings in Richmond

Virginia Verified Voting has sent out an alert about an upcoming meeting of the "Joint Subcommittee Studying the Voting Equipment Certification Process" on Tuesday, July 19.  VaVV lists the subcommittee members here.  Their alert reads:

Virginia is holding hearings to consider requiring voter-verified paper audit trails for voting equipment. Many Virginia jurisdictions have purchased paperless electronic voting machines, and others are considering doing so.

Digital voting machines that lack a voter-verified paper trail are subject to programming errors and possible fraud, with no ability for meaningful audits or recounts.

Attend the hearings and show support for voter-verified audit trails by wearing orange shirts or ribbons.  A large audience will show that Virginians care about the ntegrity of our elections, and that we demand transparent and reliable elections.

Joint Subcommittee Studying Voting Equipment, General Assembly Building, Richmond

• Tuesday, July 19, 2005, at 12:30 p.m. in Senate Room B
• Monday, August 22, 2005, at 12:30 p.m. in House Room C
• Monday, November 21, 2005, at 1:00 p.m. in House Room C

More information can be found at http://www.vavv.org and http://www.verifiedvoting.org.

Hat tip to Alice from GOTV.

DNC Chairman...and this weekend's training

The cover story of this weekend's Washington Post Magazine was a profile of DNC Chairman Howard Dean.  It's a fascinating piece, and the latter section contains great personal details about Dean that most media profiles have completely ignored.

I think this exchange, which occurred with a group of students at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, is most emblematic of what Dean hopes to achieve as DNC chair as well as what inspires many of us working with Democracy for Virginia:

Also, Democrats must contest races in all states, at all levels, in all years, not just presidential ones. "It is disrespectful not to come to Tennessee and Mississippi and Alabama as well as California and Michigan and Ohio . . . We need to come to Tennessee because what you could think of Democrats by watching [Republican] ads is all you're going to think of us unless we show up and make our case in person."

A young man stood up and asked what he could do to help the party, other than give money, which he didn't have. Dean bobbed on his feet, delighted with the question, because it allowed him to show off his best side -- the side that grew a presidential candidacy from a small Vermont operation with seven employees into a national campaign with 600,000 supporters.

"The number one thing you can do is run for office."

[Class giggles]

"I'm absolutely serious. I am not kidding."

The class grew quiet. Here was Dean as a Johnny Appleseed, sowing civics in the young. While Democrats have conceded parts of the country considered hostile, Republicans have left no office untested, he pointed out. The result is that Dems have no farm system, no ability to find young political talent in red states and groom it.

Run, he urged the students. Run for county road commissioner. Run for city council. "If you don't have people running for offices like county commissioner, who do you think is going to run for Congress a generation from now?

Dean has said that if you can't run for office yourself, the next best thing is to be a leader on someone else's campaign.  Or be an occasional volunteer.  Or give money.  But just voting is the bare minimum of what is required in a democracy.

Democracy for Virginia is working to help train and support a new "farm team" of candidates and campaign leaders in Virginia.  Over 100 grassroots activists were trained in May in Charlottesville.  We've teamed up with Latinos for America, DC for Democracy, and Democracy for America to host another DFA Campaign Training, this time in Falls Church.  Over 150 people have already signed up for this weekend's training.  We hope you'll join us!

Washington Post story on Virginia political blogging

The Washington Post today ran a story on political blogging in Virginia subtitled "Va. Candidates Find Help, Lies on Web" on the front page of the Metro section.

Unfortunately, the story focuses mainly on the example of Not Larry Sabato's blog running a rumor that Shayna Englin was planning to run for Congress.  Of course, this example highlights the more negative aspects of some types of political blogging -- unconfirmed rumors, anonymous sources, anonymous bloggers, anonymous commenters, innocent subjects.  I consider it a major low point for NLS's blog, which otherwise provided very interesting coverage of House races and has succeeded in attracting and maintaining a bipartisan audience - something that I don't think is true for any other Virginia political blog. 

By focusing on the worst post of this one blog, the WaPo article misses the bigger story on Virginia political blogging.  The opening paragraph mentions it:

David and Shayna Englin are all too familiar with the power of bloggers. Courting these off-the-cuff Internet columnists helped David Englin, a relative unknown, win a Democratic primary for a Northern Virginia House seat last month.

But then the rest of the story ignores this positive aspect of blogging and focuses on ethical concerns about the anonymous NLS blog, which is an outlier in the Virginia political blogosphere in that it is completely anonymous and runs anonymous rumors without confirmation.  (Not to bash NLS's blog - it still has more coverage of Virginia House races than any other source, blog or otherwise.)

What would have been far more instructive and unique would have been to ask the Englins how blogging - their own, and that of prominent political bloggers they befriended - impacted their race.

Was it through giving them buzz they wouldn't otherwise have had?  Did bloggers help attract volunteers to the race?  Did blogging help to feed stories to the mainstream media about their campaign?  Did blog-based coverage of their race inspire donors and supporters?  What are the constructive and useful aspects of blogging?

DFV was mentioned in the "Blog Spots" list which accompanied the article, along with two of my favorite Virginia political blogs, Commonwealth Commonsense and 750 Volts.  Two right-wing blogs, Bacon's Rebellion and Sic Semper Tyrannis were also mentioned.  Welcome to Washington Post readers who've found us today!

Support DC for Democracy - rally for DC voting rights tomorrow!

DC for Democracy, our ally in DC (and co-host of our upcoming Campaign Training for Grassroots Activists in Falls Church on July 9-10), is organizing a rally for equal voting rights for DC tomorrow on Freedom Plaza at 12:30.  Related activities will also be occurring all morning.

If you work in DC, please consider spending your lunch hour with other great progressives at this rally!

More information from Team DC Democracy, an alliance of organizations working for equal voting rights for DC residents, is available here.

Earnie Porta Beats McQuigg in Fundraising

One House race which could get VERY interesting (but hasn't attracted much attention in the blogosphere or the mainstream press) is the race between Earnie Porta and incumbent Republican Michele McQuigg [candidate Web site] in the 51st district, which consists of parts of Prince William County including Occoquan.  Janet, the leader of our Occoquan Meetup, sent me this fundraising update from his campaign:

Porta out raised his opponent during the most recent filing period.  He was able to raise over $24,000 while McQuigg brought in just over $22,000, opening eyes to an already red-hot House of Delegates campaign. 

Even though both campaigns reported raising similar amounts and are neck and neck with each other in cash on hand, their contributions have come from starkly different sources.

"Ours is a grassroots effort," Porta said. "People who believe Prince William County deserves more effective representation are giving of their time and money to help my campaign."

During the April through June period McQuigg raised $775 in contributions of $100 or less.  Porta raised ten times that amount, bringing in over $7,000 in low dollar contributions.  McQuigg has only listed 36 contributors on her most recent filing report including many large corporations and Political Action Committees. [McQuigg's top donor list is here.]  Porta's funds were raised from 159 contributors including Prince William County-based small businesses and individuals. [Porta's top donor list is here.]

The strong fundraising effort demonstrates that Porta is prepared to mount a serious challenge.  "People already know Earnie is running a tough, grassroots campaign that fights for every vote," Porta's campaign manager Lucinda Guinn said. "What this report shows us is that he will also compete dollar for dollar with his opponent."

Earnie Porta is an Occoquan resident running for Delegate in the 51st District.  Porta is an attorney as well as a financial planner, and has spent most of his career working in finance.  Porta is the Vice-Chair of the Occoquan Magisterial District Democratic Committee, and a member both of Historic Occoquan, Inc. and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary.

I had the pleasure of meeting Earnie at a fundraiser for Bruce Roemmelt a few weeks ago, and I believe Earnie is one of the most impressive and likeable Democrats we have running this year.  To learn more about Earnie Porta, read today's great RaisingKaine interview with him.

Nader's Virginia chief sentenced to 30 days for VA election fraud

Remember all the controversy about Nader's efforts to get on the ballot in Virginia last year?  Nader's petitions were originally disqualified because they did not follow the Virginia Board of Elections requirements for submission (specifically, they weren't sorted by Congressional District).

Then Attorney General Jerry Kilgore stepped in to help the Bush/Cheney campaign (for which he just happened to serve as state chairman) and declared those Virginia Board of Elections rules, which had been in place since 1999 and which every other candidate had followed assiduously, invalid. 

In the end, only about half of Nader's submitted 14,000 petitions were certified, well short of the 10,000 signatures needed.

It's not easy to collect valid signatures in Virginia given the rules.  Separate petitions must be kept for all congressional districts and all municipalities within a congressional district.  I remember trying to collect signatures in NoVA in 2003 to get Dean on the ballot, and finding that only about 1 in 3 people knew what congressional district they were in (or who was their member of Congress).  Others couldn't even say definitively whether they lived in Falls Church City or the Falls Church part of Fairfax County, or Alexandria City or the Alexandria part of Fairfax County.  If they sign the wrong petition, their signature is invalid even if they may be a valid registered voter.

For the grassroots Dean campaign in Virginia, our volunteer statewide petition coordinator, Sherry Stanley of Staunton, put in hundreds of hours of work to make sure we followed VBE rules to the letter.  Hundreds of volunteers around the state worked on this effort.  We followed all of the rules and submitted nearly twice the 10,000 required signatures to get on the ballot.

When we found out that Jerry Kilgore was intervening on behalf of the Nader campaign to throw out the rules that the Nader campaign didn't follow, many of our dedicated volunteers were furious at what appeared to be a blatant abuse of power to assist the Bush/Cheney efforts.  The Nader campaign sent out a press release saying the following about the Democratic party, which simply felt that the Nader campaign should have to follow the same rules as everyone else:

The Nader team in Virginia has done nothing wrong and we are getting tired of the Democrats trying to spin the truth and make us look as if we are, in any way, at fault for their disgraceful attempt to subvert democracy.

In that context, I can't help but feel somewhat vindicated at the news that Nader's Virginia Campaign Director has pleaded guilty to election fraud based on illegally certifying Nader's petitions in Virginia:

James P. Polk, 47, was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which he will serve under house detention, and fined $2,500.

Polk was indicted on 10 counts of election fraud in October, but prosecutors withdrew nine of those counts.

Polk was accused of illegally certifying petitions to get Nader, an independent candidate, on the ballot. Nader's name was not placed on the ballot in Virginia.

The original story on Polk's indictment on 10 counts, from last October, is here.

DFA Richmond Phone Banking for Tim

Meet at Kaine HQ for DFA Night phone banking - spend time with DFA friends while helping elect Tim!

Monday, June 20, 2005 at 6:00 PM
Kaine Campaign HQ (Coord. Campaign HQ)
6010 N. Crestwood Av.
Richmond, VA 23230

Hat tip to Kathy at My Own Backyard, central Virgniia's best progressive blog.  :-)

Post coverage of yesterday's canvassing with Kaine

The Washington Post mentions Tim's canvassing in my precinct yesterday in a larger article about the Democratic team's campaign kickoff yesterday:

Early Saturday, Kaine stopped by a cul-de-sac off Federal Hills Drive in Falls Church, careful not to trample across residents' lawns as he knocked on doors of the attached brick townhouses. He was followed by an entourage of volunteers, photographers and reporters. He greeted the neighbors, "I'm Tim Kaine. I'm running for governor of Virginia."

He leaned against the door frame as he talked to Kristin Ruedel, 33, while her 10-month-old pulled on her T-shirt. She said she's a voter who values social programs and doesn't mind paying higher taxes. Kaine helped her fill out a volunteer contact form.

Twenty minutes later, he greeted some men in a parking lot outside a shopping center. " Me llamo Tim Kaine. Soy el candidato democrata para governador de Virginia," he told the men. Kaine, who spent a year as a missionary in Honduras, asked the men what issues mattered to them. They talked about getting driver's licenses for immigrant workers and about finding help for day laborers who were not getting paid.

My writeup of canvassing with Tim is here.  RaisingKaine also comments.