Virginia Tomorrow

1. From Perhaps to “Most Likely I’m In”

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith essentially announced he’ll be running against Rick Boucher for the 9th district congressional seat. Although Griffith does not yet live in the district, he should be a formidable candidate. He’s a bright guyand his views, overall,  will be very compatible with the voters. Moreover, Griffith is a tough and able campaigner and knows how to get under the Democrats’ skin. And all the national commentators are pointing to the Democrats’ increasing unpopularity in “Appalachia.” Yet Griffith will need all his skills and a favorable national environment to defeat Rick Boucher who will begin with strong support from both local elected officials and a large segment of business leaders in the district.

2. Democrats Against Obama?

Creigh Deeds was criticized by former Governor Kaine and other Democrats for not embracing Barack Obama during the 2009 campaign. Yet on the issue of charter schools, there seem to be a number of Democrats unwilling to put their arms around the Obama administration’s stance. Senator Henry Marsh and others took a strong position against Governor McDonnell’s charter school proposal this week, arguing that it’s not the right time to initiate a new program and that charters will inherently divert support from the public school system. Yet the Obama administration not only voices support for charters, but has made the removal of barriers to their effective implementation a key component in state applications for federal Race for the Top funding.

3. Gay Rights V. Low Taxes

Roz Helderman wrote two pieces in WAPO this weekend indicating that gay rights groups and a Maryland legislator are highlighting Virginia’s stance on gay and lesbian rights in an effort to prevent the Commonwealth from winning the competition for the relocation of the Northrop Grumman headquarters. Maryland State Senator Richad Madaleno sent a letter to NG informing  the company that Virginia is “turning the clock back” and telling gays and lesbians that ”they and their families are unwelcome second class citizens.”  Spokespersons for the McDonnell administration suggested that low tax policies, right to work laws and commitment to limited government will make the Commonwealth far more preferable to companies thinking of relocating than Maryland. But the argument is one of the clearest indications of how gay and lesbian rights groups are recrafting a message around issues of economic development and talent recruitment intended to appeal to companies that have implemented progressive GLBT policies. 

4. The Equality Virginia Letter to Northrop Grumman

Roz Helderman also obtained a copy of the letter sent by Equality Virginia to Wes Bush, NG CEO.  I’ve printed it in its entirety here.

Express Mail

February 26, 2010

Mr. Wes Bush
Chief Executive Officer and President
Northrop Grumman
Corporate Headquarters
1840 Century Park East
Los Angeles, California 90067-2199

Dear Mr. Bush:

Thank you for being the leader of a company that has received a 100 score on the Human Rights Council Corporate Equality Index. We are glad progressive companies like yours are setting the tone in the private sector and welcome your presence among the Commonwealth’s top 50 employers.

I am writing on behalf of Equality Virginia, the leading gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender education and advocacy organization in Virginia, to encourage you, and the leaders of other progressive companies located in Virginia or thinking about locating in Virginia, to stand up for your employees and communicate to Virginia’s Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General that equal employment opportunity is not just good business for Northrop Grumman. It is a “jobs” and competitiveness issue that defines the Virginia business climate and will influence your company’s decisions about locating in and doing business with Virginia.

We understand that Northrop Grumman, in addition to its current substantial presence as a Virginia employer, is engaged in making an important decision about where to locate your corporate headquarters. We also understand that you are currently negotiating with Maryland, DC and Virginia.

The decision you make regarding the location of your corporate headquarters could have important adverse consequences for the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people among your employees and their families, particularly if Virginia’s current elected leadership continues to refuse to stand up even for the basic human right of all employees to work in a climate free from discrimination.

Since taking office in January, and in spite of editorials in the state’s major papers (including the Richmond Times Dispatch, the Virginian Pilot and the Roanoke Times) calling on the Governor to support legislation that would ban discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Virginia’s Governor Bob McDonnell has not only refused to do so, but has taken the affirmative action of removing such protections from a state Executive Order that has been in effect for the last five years. Acting on advice from the new Attorney General, the Governor has also withdrawn a proposal to modify the state’s health plan to allow employees to include “otherwise qualified adults” living in their households in their health coverage.

Just this week, the Virginia House of Delegates killed “home rule” legislation that would simply have allowed local governments the freedom to adopt inclusive employee benefits policies just because it might benefit GLBT employees. And, the House refused to adopt an amendment to the budget that would affirm the right of state employees not to be fired for being gay.

This recent action is on top of current law and a constitutional amendment that deny marriage equality to GLBT Virginians, and go well beyond that to prohibit any recognition of civil unions or domestic partnerships, including recognition of marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships legally entered into in other states.

Contrast this record of continuing intolerance or, as the Roanoke Times called it, the “easy bigotry of inaction,” with DC’s recent recognition of full marriage equality and its existing legal protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and Maryland’s protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation for all employees and the opinion issued by the Maryland Attorney General this week stating that Maryland must recognize all out of state marriages, including same sex marriages.

We are confident that there are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender employees at Northrop Grumman who have entered into legal marriages in California or other states or have registered domestic partnerships. Those employees should know that, if they move to Virginia with your company, their legal relationships will be void when they cross Virginia’s border, and that they will have to spend significant dollars in legal fees to construct with contracts, wills and other legal documents a semblance of legal protection for their partners and their families.

Equality Virginia believes that, as corporate leaders, you and your colleagues in the private sector looking at Virginia as a “business friendly” state should be taking these facts into account when deciding whether it is in the best interest of your company and its current and future employees to locate in Virginia.

We urge you to communicate to Virginia’s Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General that their continuing failure to endorse even minimal protections against discrimination for public employees adversely affects the quality of life that companies like yours seek when making decisions about business location. And, we ask that you tell our leaders that this is a factor that will weigh against Virginia as you move forward with negotiations regarding your move of your corporate headquarters from California.

Very truly yours,

Jon Blair
Chief Executive Officer

Cc: The Honorable Bob McDonnell, Governor of Virginia
The Honorable Bill Bolling, Lt. Governor of Virginia
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli, Attorney General of Virginia
Hugh Keogh, President and CEO, Virginia Chamber of Commerce

5. The Democratic Attack on the GOP Social Agenda

Will increasingly reflect the position that Equality Virginia advances in the letter. For example, Democrats have been attacking the pro-gun legislation such as the right to carry in restaurants and bars and repealing one gun a month on the grounds that it sends the wrong message about the Commonwealth to business leaders in other states. Social issues are obviously not going away, but in 2010 everything’s about jobs.

6. Was Bob Marshall Treated Fairly?

Marshall apologized this week for “poorly chosen words” that linked abortion, the incidence of children with disabilities, and God’s impact on the world during  a press conference intended to support de-funding Planned Parenthood.  Marshall’s comments went both viral and national. Olbermann and Maddow had a field day, at least one group circulated a petition demanding his resignation, Governor McDonnell called his remarks “offensive,”  and all major Virginia papers carried stories on the matters, something that did happen the day afer the press conference. But Marshall also asserted that he had been slandered by the student reporter for the Capital News Service who interpreted his comments to mean he was saying that children with disabilities might be God’s “punishment” for having an abortion. Marshall argued that he never really said that and that, in any case,  the reporter neither gave him an opportunity to respond to his own remarks nor referred to his long record of fighting for disabed kids and their families. With both audio and video of the press conference available, the incident will become a case study in journalism textbooks. And between this and his health care bill, Marshall may be on his way to becoming the most visible legislator of the 2010 session.

7. McDonnell Declares March Pothole Month

The Governor pledged to Virginians that VDOT will make a March blitz on all those weather related potholes that are ruining your alignments and, in some cases, your wheels and axles. (I’m assume he’s also hoping that initial predictions about a Tuesday-Wednesday snowstorm this week turn out to be wrong.) Capitol insiders are looking at the Assembly’s road to adjournment and wondering if the House and Senate can manuever through all the March potholes that stand in the way of a budget agreement or if the wheels will be coming off this vehicle as well. I’m still thinking that we’ll get a relatively on-time departure, but I’ve spoken to a couple of legislators who worry that the cracks might be a sinkhole by the end of the session.