Virginia Tomorrow

1. Ken Cuccinelli

Has in less than two months become the most visible Attorney General in our lifetime. During the campaign, Bob McDonnell successfully reframed conservatism as a problem-solving, job-creating, economic recovery vehicle for Virginia. Not all that sexy (Norm Leahy keeps pushing him for “bigger” ideas), but very effective politically.  In the last two weeks, however, most of of the political oxygen in Virginia has been consumed by Ken Cuccinelli, Bob Marshall and the battle over guns in the General Assembly. Cuccinelli, in particular, is taking the feds to court over climate change. And this week he released a letter to Virginia’s colleges and universities that instructs them to remove sexual orientation as an explicit category in its non-discrimination policies.

2. Cuccinelli v. the Colleges

The dynamic emerging here may be far worse than the initial reports have captured. It is clear that the Attorney General’s office believes that it is a relatively open and shut issue: unversities have adopted policies about discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation when they have no authority to do so under Virginia law. They must heed the AG’s advice and rescind these policies. Yet I can’t imagine a single Virginia university doing this. It would be counter to the prevailing opinion on every campus that has adopted these policies.  At the moment, the members of all university boards were appointed by Tim Kaine, who himself had issued an executive order applying non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation to all of state government. In addition, it is simply inevitable that the academic community across the country will be expressing its outrage next week over Cuccinelli’s letter. So, you have a situation where the colleges and universities will be actively resisting the instructions of the Attorney General. At the same time, the colleges and universities are also clients of the Attorney General and rely on his office for advice in dealing with their own complex legal affairs. What a recipe for trouble.

3. The Re-Emergence of Donald McEachin

Senator Donald McEachin ran for Attorney General against Jerry Kilgore in 2001 and lost in a landslide. A little less than 10 years later, McEachin is re-emerging as a significant  voice for Senate Democrats and as a media go-to person for the Democratic response to Cuccinelli’s actions and other issues related to how discrimination is handled in Virginia. As his party searches for new leaders in the wake of last year’s debacle, McEachin has clearly indicated that he intends to take a more prominent role. He has also been an important player in the Senate Democrats’ internal dicussions on the budget and a host of other matters.

4. How Do McDonnell and Bolling Respond to Cuccinelli?

This has become the political junkies’ favorite parlor game this week. Make no mistake. Ken Cuccinelli has a real base inside the Virginia GOP. Moreover, his references to “constitutionalism” and “first principles” fit well with the emergent idas expressed by many tea party activists. It’s not easy for a Republican with ambitions to take him on directly in today’s environment. At the same time, it does not serve either McDonell’s or Bolling’s interest to have the Attorney General consume so much of the political oxygen in the state. Watch for reporters to be insistent in exploring the nuances of the relationships between the GOP statewide officeholders this week.

5. Virginia Out of Sweet Sixteen

In Race to the Top Funding.  The Obama administration announced the finalists for hundreds of millions in education dollars and Virginia’s application was rejected. States moving more aggressively toward charters, implementing merit for teachers, and expressing willingness to adopt federal education guidelines were far more likely to be selected. Virginia’s relative success in building a high performing school system was not a major criteria in the process. The Race to the Top denial came on the heels of  the rejection of Virginia’s application for high speed rail dollars. It’s obvious that there was no Commonwealth Kickback or Dominion Purchase involved in the decision by Tim Kaine to accept the job as Chair of the DNC.

6. McDonnell Wins Charter Vote in Senate

A compromise that the Governor reached with the major education associations intended to promote more charters without removing local school district approval received support in a key Senate committee. The Governor hopes that movement in this direction will make the state more competitive in the next round of Race to the Top Funding and is a step toward his goal of putting Virginia in the “vanguard of the charter school movement.”

7. Senate Sets Up Special Subcommittee to Kill Gun Bills

Dick Saslaw and Henry Marsh set up a special subcommiteee to kill much of the GOP sponsored Second Amendment legislation that was heading to the Senate. Worried that rural Democrats might join their GOP colleagues in a full committee vote, Saslaw and Marsh stacked the committee with urban and NOVA Democrats who eagerly killed the House legislation, including an effort to repeal the landmark one gun a month bill. Saslaw-Marsh only wish they had come up with the idea two weeks ago, prior to the time that their colleagues approved a House bill to allow individuals with concealed carry permits to bring guns into bars and restaurants so long as they don’t consume alcohol. The GOP cried foul, but Saslaw insisted that he just adapted a tactic invented by the House.