Virginia Republicans oust Stosch

Responding to conservatives, and the elections results from earlier this month, Virginia Senate Republicans voted to replace Senator Walter Stosch as their leader.

In a closed door meeting the caucus named Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., of Williamsburg minority leader. The excitement conservatives feel about the removal of Stosch may be dampened a bit when considering that Norment is viewed as a moderate.

Conservatives had hoped to take over the Leadership however such a takeover failed to materialize. While the goal of ousting Stosch was achieved, his replacement is probably not much of an improvement to Stosch.

Conservative senators had been unhappy with Stosch for several years, and the election returns seemed to provide the push that was needed.

In other results Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, Virginia Beach, moved up a position to Republican leader pro tempore, which was previously held by Norment.

Also, Mark D. Obenshain, of Harrisonburg, and Frank W. Wagner, of Virginia Beach, were named minority whips. And Stephen Newman, of Lynchburg, was elected Republican caucus chairman. The addition of Obenshain and Newman to the Leadership should please conservatives.

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The Post-mortem

I wasn’t sure if I was going to attend the traditional election night party, which I usually go to. Based on the polls I knew it would probably be a pretty depressing party. I don’t know maybe a morbid curiosity compelled me to show up.

When I walked into the Fairfax Marriott I could see the defeat in the faces of all my Republican friends, it felt like a funeral, and in some ways it was. I have attended dozens of election night parties and this was the first one I have been to where the concessions speeches started at 8:30 in the evening!

Our party lost control of the State Senate. Assuming Cuccinelli holds on, the Democratic majority will be 21-19.

In Fairfax County Jeannemarie and Jay O’Brien lost, leaving Cuccinelli as the only Fairfax Republican in the State Senate.

The race for O’Brien’s seat was fairly close; however, the Devolites Davis defeat was of Landslide proportions. She ran a very negative campaign which may have hurt her, and she tried to run to the left of Democrat Chap Petersen. Basically claiming he was too conservative!

We did hold the house, winning 56 seats. The Dems hold 42, and there are 2 Independents. Still losing the Senate to the Dems will cause us some problems. Also it gives the Dems a roll in redistricting.

On the plus side, liberal Republicans John Chichester, and Russell “Crack” Potts are gone. They didn’t run for re election, but they did all they could to help the Dems take their seats. Without Chichester and Potts the Senate may be a more conservative place.

There are many reasons for our poor performance last Tuesday. Part of it is the national mood, which is decidedly anti-Republican, and with an unpopular war and an unpopular President our candidates are being hurt at every level.
Ironically, the House, which we held, is known for being conservative, while the Senate has been more liberal. One possible lesson here is that acting like Democrats hurt our Senate candidates. After having raised taxes, increased state spending, and in short governing like Democrats, our base was in no mood to re-elect the Republican Senate.

It may be for the best that we lost the Senate. First, based on the way we have governed since 1997 it is hard to say we deserved re-election. Second, with Dems in control of the Senate they will have to take responsibility. At least now it won’t be our side raising taxes.

Look for a leadership fight in the Republican caucus. Senator Walter Stosch has expressed the desire to be minority leader, but Senator Cuccinelli and Senator Steve Martin are considered possible opponents.

Senate Republicans will meet later this month to pick its leaders.

The Virginia Crime Commission Makes Recommendations On Illegal Aliens

Does anyone want to do anything about Illegal immigration? Well according to a Washington Post poll most Virginians do:

"An overwhelming majority of Virginians want the state and local governments to
do more about illegal immigration. Eight in 10 state residents said they
would
support a measure requiring local police to check the immigration
status of
people they suspect of a crime and think may be undocumented."

Yet, despite the strong support for stopping illegal immigration, our federal and state governments do nothing. Now I do recognize that this is primarily a Federal responsibility, but there are things the state can do.
On Tuesday the Virginia Crime Commission made 17 recommendations on how to combat illegals breaking the law. These recommendations only apply to illegals accused of breaking the law; although one could argue that being here illegally is breaking the law!
The recommendations call on the state to require state troopers to help federal authorities detain and deport illegal immigrants. Another recommendation requires that everyone in jail must have their residency status checked and face the possibility of deportment if arrested for certain crimes. The commission also calls for denying bail to illegal’s facing charges.
These recommendations seem very reasonable to me, and I can only hope that Governor Kaine and the Democrat State Senate will look at this issue seriously. However, I worry that they will not. They may continue to say it is a federal responsibility, so we will do nothing. They may also attack the commission, and say they are just a bunch of Republicans – so who cares what they say.

Under construction

Friends,
I am starting my own blog. The blog will focus on Virginia politics. I will write some about me, but mostly I hope to stick to state politics. I am a proud Virginian, and political junkie.

Check back soon.