| Let me ask you this: Do you think it is fair for people to ask whether Brian Moran or the Democratic Party of Virginia would permit this kind of thing if President Obama were white?
Don't blame me for asking the question I know is going to be on the minds of a lot of grassroots Democrats if this lawsuit gets ugly. Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes.
When Doug Wilder became Governor, Democrats began attacking him in ways they had never attacked a Democratic Governor before. For example, Democratic Attorney General Mary Sue Terry sued Wilder, or I suppose his Administration in a technical sense (but that's not how the politics comes out, as she knew, and as Mr. Moran knows). Stuff happens all the time in politics that gets out of control.
In 2002, Governor Warner asked me to help defuse a situation between him and AG Jerry Kilgore. I was able to do it with the help of Bob Blue, the Governor's counsel. A possible law suit, or at least embarrassment to the Governor, was avoided.
In my mind, the way Wilder felt treated by his fellow Democrats led him to challenge Robb the next year in the 1994 Senate race. Wilder felt he had not been given the deference previously given Governors. It also led Wilder to stop talking to me when I decided to help Robb after speaking with Warner about it. We knew Wilder had some legitimate grievances. But that was for another day, not for a time when Ollie North might become Senator. The Terry law suit killed her chances, in my view.
No Governor had ever been sued like that, ever, by a member of his own party in the modern area (there were some suits over segregation if I remember my history). Former Democratic AG Andy Miller also sued Governor Wilder (again, the state technically, but he knew the politics) in an unprecedented case. Wilder literally begged him not to, arguing that it would upset Wilder's efforts to help poor children get a better education by reforming old allocation formulas. Miller refused, supported by other Democratic officials. I tried to talk them out of it too.
As Wilder predicted, the suit was thrown out of court, and the changes that could have been made have not been made even today! Another generation of poor children got hurt unnecessarily.
NOW, ONCE AGAIN, A DEMOCRATIC CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS TRYING TO HELP POOR KIDS FROM BEING RIPPED OFF BY THE SYSTEM; AND ONCE AGAIN, A TOP DEMOCRATIC OFFICIAL IS SUING TO STOP HIM!
As Yogi Berra said: Some things may be too coincidental to be a coincidence.
Look, I don't blame Brian Moran for wanting to keep his (highly lucrative) job, or for doing what he's paid to do. I don't much agree with his organization, but I accept his duty to do what he thinks is necessary to protect his clients.
However, Brian is also chair of the DPVA, and that organization only further marginalizes itself by allowing a Democratic Chair to sue a Democratic President in court. A press dust-up is one thing. But a lawsuit says the President is acting in a lawless manner, and that a court needs to step to protect citizens from their (Democratic) President.
I might expect this kind of move from Michele Bachmann or Sarah Palin. I do NOT expect - or accept - such a move from the head of the Virginia Democratic Party! |
...A DEMOCRATIC CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS TRYING TO HELP POOR KIDS FROM BEING RIPPED OFF BY THE SYSTEM; AND ONCE AGAIN, A TOP DEMOCRATIC OFFICIAL IS SUING TO STOP HIM!
