A local headline revised from "Official: City, Wanzhou near trade agreements" to "Chinese delegation makes rounds." A trade deal that cannot be made public until finalized. No participation by Bill Bolling. The benefit: an invitation to participate in a year-long garden exposition in Chongqing. Where's the ROI?
"I hope we can develop business relationships and promote better understanding of the Chinese culture and people. We're all human beings living on the same planet." - Waynesboro Mayor Frank Lucente
There are countless visits and relationships like the one in Waynesboro across the United States. Harmless on their face, possibly even beneficial. But you'd bet the Mayor of Waynesboro and his business delegation and their counterparts nationwide haven't read their Sun Tzu. And if the "executive deputy governor" of Wanzhou was present, where was someone representing the Commonwealth? How about the fellow appointed by the Governor as the chief jobs officer? While Wanzhou is not technically a state, it has a population if 1.6 million (a tad bit larger than Augusta county's) and the Chongquing exposition is a function of a direct-controlled municipality; translate: a Bejing economic functionary.
"We have a very good first impression of Waynesboro," said Bai Wennong, executive deputy governor of Wanzhou. "It's very beautiful."
Wennong said the delegates are especially interested in opportunities to import agricultural products from the Valley.
Agricultural products? A trade success? For the Chinese, maybe.
For Episode 7, we look ahead to next month's lame duck session and preview a bill likely to be examined in the Senate in the first week back. The "food safety bill" enjoys strong bipartisan support and is likely to receive over 90 Senate votes if it gets that far, but is being blocked from consideration by Sen. Coburn for budgetary reasons.
Its fate at this point will be determined almost entirely by the amount of floor time Democratic leaders are willing to spend on it. But in case you'd like to nudge them one way or the other and want to learn more beforehand, here's the skinny on S. 510, The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.
This week, we've decided to branch out a bit. In Episode 6, we are looking at a report by the Sustainable Defense Task Force, convened earlier this year at the request of several Congresspeople led by Barney Frank and Ron Paul. The commission, whose members range across the ideological spectrum, have examined the defense budget in depth and issued recommendations for savings.
We decided this report would make for a good summary because it:
is directly relevant to a politically charged topic,
is directly associated with certain members of Congress in a way that resembles the sponsors of a bill, and
contains concrete policy prescriptions.
Expect to see more outside reports of a similar nature in the future. In the meantime, here's Episode 6: Debt, Deficits and Defense!
Episode 2, that's right, the big wigs decided not to cancel us after the Pilot!
H.R. 2378 is being discussed in the Ways & Means Committee today and tomorrow. Our Executive Director, Jeremy Koulish has been livetweeting the hearing.
A while back, a couple of us here at Sum of Change got involved in meetings with a great group of folks about working together to provide insider reporting of Capitol Hill with an outsider perspective. In time, we became Main Street Insider. Today, Main Street Insider released a new show, 90 Second Summaries.
The purpose of 90 Second Summaries is simple, provide citizens on Main Street with a quick synopsis of what a bill is all about. The first three episodes come out today, tomorrow and Thursday, with new ones every following Monday. Each video comes with a one-page summary (which you can view online or download as a pdf) containing everything you will need to learn even more about any piece of legislation.
Without further ado, presenting Season 1, Episode 1: H.R. 4790, Shareholder Protection Act
Did Marco Rubio forget to invite somebody to this or what? Hint: the person not on the invitation is a media-appointed "rising star in the Republican Party" like Rubio; he's an attorney who served in the state legislature, like Rubio; he has views as right wingnutty as Rubio's; and, like Rubio, he has issues with campaign contributions. Now who could that be?
UPDATE: In the comments section, Ben Tribbett says that Cooch did an event for Rubio previously, and that "I bet McDonnell/Bolling didn't want him there taking the credit for backing Rubio 'early'." Interesting.
Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that Virginia has added a net 71,500 jobs since he took office. Richard Nixon congratulated Neil Armstrong on the moon and had a speech at the ready if the landing failed. What would McDonnell have announced if Obama's economy hadn't improved?
The inference is made that the "chief jobs creation officer," Bill Bolling, is somehow responsible for those 71,500 jobs. He may deserve some credit for the advertised 110 economic development projects, 7,154 jobs, and $1 billion in capital development that have been announced since McDonnell took office. But those 71,500 since February, that's a stretch. Nixon never claimed credit for the moon landing and most of us know it happened and how. It's pretty easy to throw around numbers, though, particularly in the absence of critical analysis.
"This is not a victory lap. Too many people are still out of work." - McDonnell's Chief Jobs Creation Officer, Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling
Nixon was prepared for the worst and you'd bet Tucker Martin had McDonnell ready too. But neither Nixon nor Bill Safire relished the opportunity to take a swing in the event of tragic news. That is no guarantee with the GOP these days. In fact, taking the opportunity to talk down the economy is evident at every turn.
You gotta love these guys' brazen hypocrisy. On the one hand, we have Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling handing out $800,000 in funding - and bragging about it - "provided through the State Energy Program of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009." On the other hand, we have Governor Bob McDonnell bashing federal spending ("I have significant concerns obviously about the size of the federal deficit at $13 trillion...").
Never let it be said that consistency, facts, or logic ever interfered with these Republicans' anti-government rhetoric.
Some mornings when you hear the news you think how impressive it is that Governor McAuliffe implemented his business plan for Virginia. Then you remember that Taliban Bob won and realize his accomplishments are something old, something borrowed, something blue, but nothing he can claim as his own for true.
Now the Richmond Times Dispatch is running a series on climate change. You may be certain that McDonnell will act. Down the list, issues or initiatives that were stolen or shunned or both by the Republicans have been claimed as discovered by the GOP. McDonnell has embraced the Virginia Coastal Energy Consortium with renewed vigor, proposed credits for film production in Virginia, directed the acquisition of electric vehicles for the state vehicle fleet, ad nauseam.
When it was time for personal attention and action, it was McAuliffe at the soon to be shuttered paper mill in Franklin offering an alternative or two. McDonnell's reaction was that McAuliffe has lots of ideas. Apparently those are the only ideas that McDonnell can seize upon. Really, his team with Malek at the lead...never been done, no one has ever thought of paring the "fat" of government...really. Virginia is among the states with the lowest per capita tax burdens. The only development that will come out of this administration will be a fiscal shell game that will cut essential services to the quick and deliver no savings.
But here we are with McDonnell, his dutiful bridesmaid Lieutenant Governor, and Super Cooch, whose staff either doesn't know McDonnell has moved on or can't find the keys to the AG web pages. Why the silence? Maybe because the Democratic Party of Virginia (DPVA) is afraid of its shadow. The same leadership that was scared to run on Democratic positions last year is now too timid to call out McDonnell and his administration for the lack of initiative and innovation and to challenge bad ideas. Not to mention harping on McDonnell's absence from the state.
From the Democratic Party of Virginia, check out their strong statement on Bob McDonnell's first 100 days in office. I just wish we would get a lot more of this kind of thing from the DPVA. I also wish they hadn't put this out late on a Friday afternoon when nobody is paying attention. Other than that, it's superb! :)
RICHMOND - The administration of Governor Bob McDonnell, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will have been in power for 100 days as of Sunday, April 25, 2010. As the first traditional time stamp approaches, Virginia Democrats must question the priorities of the McDonnell Administration.
Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Dick Cranwell released the following statement Friday declaring that Virginians deserve more from their elected officials, citing ideological distractions that have damaged Virginia's reputation at home and around the nation:
"Governor McDonnell, Attorney General Cuccinelli, and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling have been in office for 100 days. In that time it has become clear that this administration is struggling on one major front: setting clear priorities. Virginians overwhelmingly expect a commonsense, results-oriented government, yet what we have endured for the last 100 days is a distracted government."
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A local headline revised from "Official: City, Wanzhou near trade agreements" to 
The inference is made that the "chief jobs creation officer," Bill Bolling, is somehow responsible for those 71,500 jobs. He may deserve some credit for the advertised 110 economic development projects, 7,154 jobs, and $1 billion in capital development that have been announced since McDonnell took office. But those 71,500 since February, that's a stretch. Nixon never claimed credit for the moon landing and 
You gotta love these guys' brazen hypocrisy. On the one hand, 
Some mornings when you hear the news you think how impressive it is that Governor McAuliffe implemented his business plan for Virginia. Then you remember that Taliban Bob won and realize his accomplishments are something old, something borrowed, something blue, but nothing he can claim as his own for true.
From the 
