Free Republic

Former vice presidential adviser I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is among more than 1,000 felons whose voting rights were restored in the past year by Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, according to a report to the General Assembly. Libby’s name is listed in the Feb. 23 report on pardons, commutations, reprieves and other forms of clemency the Republican governor is required to submit annually. Without elaboration, the report says Libby’s civil rights were restored Nov. 1, 2012. … In Virginia, only the governor can restore felons’ civil rights. McDonnell has streamlined the process and, consequently, has restored the rights of more than...

"Conservative" does not mean the same thing as "pro-business," as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has demonstrated. McDonnell -- whose three-year record is mostly characterized by conservative policies -- this week won the largest tax hike in state history and a package of new spending on transportation. Cheering him on was Virginia's business lobby. The tax-hike-and-roads package fits well into a pattern of McDonnell veering from his conservative principles when the business lobby wants more government. McDonnell, for instance, has subsidized favored businesses and industries through tax credits and special incentives. Also, Virginia's dependence on the military-industrial complex and the "Beltway...

This morning on "Mornings on the Mall" on WMAL-FM in Washington DC, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) used the memory of Ronald Reagan to give himself cover for a tax increase he helped engineer. Once considered a strong contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, McDonnell has found himself under increasing scrutiny from allies on the right for a tax-laden transportation bill that was approved by Virginia's legislature this weekend, despite opposition from many Republicans, including the presumptive GOP nominee to succeed McDonnell, tea-party favorite Ken Cuccinelli.

What is it with Republicans and transportation bills? The pork-packed 2005 highway bill, which included the infamous Alaskan “Bridge to Nowhere,” was the fiscal low point of the Bush-Hastert years, and now Virginia governor Bob McDonnell has decided that his legacy to the commonwealth will be a gigantic tax increase to fund billions of dollars’ worth of dubious transportation projects. Politics is about tradeoffs and compromise, inevitably, but this is a bad deal on most counts. There are two ways to judge the deal Governor McDonnell has cut. For those who take the inerrantist Norquistian view that any tax increase...

On Friday, March 15, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. Bob McDonnell will go to CPAC and address the Faith & Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast. For those of you who attend this event, you will be sitting staring at a liar. If you are a conservative, remember Bob McDonnell thinks you’re an idiot. That’s the only explanation I can think of for what just happened in Virginia this week. That, and that McDonnell is an unprincipled fake conservative whose promises are without value, an exemplar of the kind of big government pro-tax Republican who ruined the party’s stature with fiscal conservatives.

“I am going to fight every single Republican politician that participated in this disgraceful disaster…” Mark Levin Show February 25.Audio

Some Republican governors — all of them elected with strong tea-party support — have moved left since the November election by agreeing to participate in Obamacare’s expansion of Medicaid. The lure of “free money” from Washington has proven too much for governors Jan Brewer of Arizona, Rick Scott of Florida, and John Kasich of Ohio to resist. Obamacare promises to pay 100 percent of the cost of new Medicaid patients, lowering that to 90 percent in later years. Never mind that Uncle Sugar has a notorious reputation for reneging on promises and that history shows that expanding Medicaid only increases...

The Talk Shows February 24th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Govs. Jack Markell, D-Del., and Scott Walker, R-Wis.; Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Govs. Deval Patrick, D-Mass., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Education Secretary Arne Duncan; Govs. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., Bob McDonnell, R-Va., Jan Brewer, R-Ariz., and John Chickenpooper, D-Colo.; Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa.; Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., and Tim Kaine, D-Va,THIS WEEK (ABC): Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): LaHood;...

Dear Friend, Today, Republicans and Democrats joined together to pass the first new significant sustainable transportation funding and reform bill in Virginia in 27 years. Crafted and led by Republicans, the bill received the votes of over 60% of legislators in both houses. Virginians worked together across party and regional lines to find common ground to solve one of our Commonwealth’s most intractable problems. We got results. And the result is $3.5 billion in new transportation funding over the next 5 years, an estimated 35% reduction in the tax on gas at the pump, a shorter commute for you, and...

Virginia's House of Delegates has voted to approve what would become the first major reform in a generation of the state's system for financing its highway network. Friday's vote was 60-40.

By Tom Jackman Hey Northern Virginians! How would you like to pay another one percent of your income directly to your county or city, in addition to the federal and state income tax you already pay? This new income tax would be used strictly to remedy our wide and varied transportation problems. Sound good? Virginia state Sen. Walter A. Stosch (R-Henrico) wants to give Northern Va. counties and cities the ability to impose a one percent income tax to fund transportation. The counties say they don’t want it. (Robert A. Reeder - For The Washington Post) Before you answer, know...

Senate Democrats killed Gov. Bob McDonnell's comprehensive transportation funding plan that eliminates the state's gasoline tax in exchange for raising the sales tax to 5.8 percent Tuesday, just hours after the House of Delegates passed an amended version of the package. Senate Republicans offered two new versions of the plan that would have taxed gasoline at the wholesale level without increasing the sales tax, to no avail. The original measure's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Newman, introduced a new version of the bill that would have done away with the gas tax at the pump, and instead offer a wholesale gas tax...

A few years ago, Alaska’s proposed “Bridge to Nowhere” became a national symbol of wasteful government spending on little-needed projects. Now Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has pushed through his own version of this embarrassment, a $1.4 billion highway outside Hampton Roads that qualifies as a “Road for Nobody.” McDonnell has perplexed people across the state by his insistence on adding a tolled, four-lane highway parallel to U.S. 460. It will stretch for 55 miles from Petersburg, a Richmond suburb, southeast to Suffolk. The deal signed in December to build the road is especially insulting to traffic-jammed Northern Virginia, where...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A day after Virginia Senate Republicans staged a surprise reapportionment of all 40 Senate districts, it was met by ominous warnings from Democrats and nervous dismay by the state's Republican governor and House Republicans. On a party-line power play Monday, the Senate's 20 Republicans struck with one of the 20 Senate Democrats absent and abruptly amended a House bill that previously made minor technical adjustments to House districts. Sen. John Watkins' amendment - never vetted by a committee - adds a sixth majority-black district but substantially strengthens the number of GOP districts.

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- The Senate Courts of Justice committee this week killed or neutralized all but one anti-gun bill. The one bad bill that passed out of committee initially, did so because Senator Edwards was away from the General Assembly due to weather and normally pro-gun Senator Stanley voted to support the bill. :-( Senator Marsh’s “gun show loophole” bill was heavily modified and ended up requiring that only gun dealers could sell guns at a gun show. After the meeting Senator Stanley indicated that he had misunderstood the full ramifications of the modified bill. The committee reconvened on the...

Are abortion clinics in Virginia “beautiful, immaculate, clean facilities” that pass inspections “with flying colors”? According to NARAL Virginia Executive Director Tarina Keene and her Huffington Post water carrier, the answer is yes. But are they right? In March 2011, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell signed into law regulations that required the State’s Board of Health to write new rules for regulating abortion facilities, which had not been largely unregulated for more than 20 years. Late last month, McDonnell signed into law permanent regulations that will now hold the state’s abortion facilities to the same health and safety standards as hospitals....

RICHMOND, Va.— A month after the school shootings in Connecticut, President Obama is preparing to unveil a major gun control proposal Wednesday morning. And Virginia lawmakers are promoting legislation they say will make an immediate impact on gun safety in the state. Arlington Delegate Patrick Hope says he was stunned by how easy it was to purchase a handgun, when he and Alexandria Senator Adam Ebbin visited a gun show in northern Virginia recently. He showed the weapon to reporters at a State Capitol news conference Tuesday morning. "I bought this gun with nothing more than a request to see...

Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell delivered his state of the Commonwealth address on Wednesday, marking his vision for the state as the General Assembly opens the 2013 session. One of the most striking parts of his presentation is a proposal to eliminate Virginia’s 17.5-cent per gallon gasoline tax, and replace this portion of state roads funding with an increase in the state’s sales tax.

Prayer breakfast calls on president to act 'for the people' Barack Obama is “an appointed minister of God to do what is good,” according to the prayer of Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell at the Commonwealth Prayer Breakfast held at the Richmond, Va., convention center. The annual breakfast yesterday drew more than 1,000 people, including many of the state’s leaders. In addition to McDonnell, others offering prayers included Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, House Speaker William Howell and state Democrat Chairwoman Charniele Herring. McDonnell asked, during his prayer for Obama, that God give him “the wisdom of Solomon.” The opening prayer was...

With a flood of new federal regulations hitting everything from healthcare, energy, food safety, and bird protection, it is encouraging to know that some states can still think for themselves. In Virginia, Governor Bob McDonnell declared that he was going to make Virginia the Energy Capital of the East Coast—after all Virginia is blessed with abundant resources such as coal, offshore oil and one of the largest uranium deposits in the world. His plans have been thwarted by the federal government. The EPA is regulating coal mining out of existence. Federal restrictions have prevented Virginia from being able to access...