Radio America Online News Bureau

Virginia

Dossier Twist Points to Dems, Jeff Flakes Out, Fact Check Flop

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss the Washington Post revelation that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee provided some of the funding for the infamous and largely discredited Trump dossier that involved significant collaboration with officials in Russia, and they shake their heads as Democrats insist this was just simple opposition research.  They’re also unmoved by Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake’s denunciation of President Trump or Flake’s decision to fight back by retiring from the Senate, when it’s obvious the real reason he ended his campaign was because he can’t win.  And they get a kick out of the Washington Post fact checkers making a big deal out of determining that Virginia GOP gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie was wrong by claiming there were 2,000 MS-13 gang members living in one Virginia county when the best guess of law enforcement is there are just 1,400 violent criminals from that gang roaming area streets and neighborhoods.

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Gillespie Gains, Alabama Dead Heat, Pathetic Plan to Make Hillary President

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America note Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie grabbing a small lead in one poll and greatly closing the gap in others as his tough stance on gang violence resonates with voters.  They’re also stunned to see Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones knotted at 42-42 in a new poll of the special election to fill a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.  And they suggest an intervention may be needed after Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig unveils his ludicrous five-point plan to make Hillary Clinton president in the near future.

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John Adams Takes Aim at Activist Attorney General

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He’s not the same John Adams that played a key role in America’s founding, but he is related to our second president and is running for attorney general in Virginia to restore the rule of law and adherence to the Constitution to an office he says is being used for political activism.

“I actually am from the same family in Massachusetts and I always tell people I think we’re going to be in good shape as long as Thomas Jefferson doesn’t get into the race,” said Adams.

The contest for attorney general is one of three statewide races in Virginia, along with contests for governor and lieutenant governor.  The Old Dominion is one of only two states in the U.S. electing top leaders in 2017.  New Jersey is the other.

Adams is an attorney in private practice who has never before run for public office.  But he points to plenty of public service, including time in the U.S. Navy and serving as a federal prosecutor, a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and associate counsel in the President George W. Bush administration.

He is challenging incumbent Democrat Mark Herring, who scored a razor-thin and controversial victory over Republican State Sen. Mark Obenshain in 2013 to become attorney general.  Adams says Herring has turned the office into a political apparatus for the Democrats.

“Our attorney general in Virginia has politicized the office and he’s taken it from being the law firm of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which has a lot of important things to do, and he’s turned it into almost a political weapon for his causes.  To me, that’s just entirely improper,” said Adams.

“In our form of self-government,once the citizens of Virginia decide what they want the law to be and the law is passed, it’s the job of the attorney general to defend that law and to support the citizens of Virginia as their lawyer, not to pick and choose what laws he’ll defend or even attack,” said Adams.

Adams says there are several issues on which Herring abdicated his responsibility to defend existing and instead held the opposite position.

The most well-known example came on the definition of marriage.  Virginia voters approved a state constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  As a state lawmaker, Herring himself voted to preserve traditional marriage.

However, upon entering office in 2014, Herring soon announced he would not defend the amendment against court challenges and actively supported the couples challenging it.

Adams says regardless of what voters think about the definition of marriage, Herring’s actions were way out of line.

“Setting aside what your belief is on the issue, it was not his right as our attorney general to sue his own client on that case and take a position opposite to the people who hired him to be their lawyer.  That’s really problematic,” said Adams.

But Herring’s activism extends to many more issue and costs Virginia taxpayers a lot of money.

“Our voter ID law was challenged.  He refused to defend that.  That cost Virginia taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, going out and hiring another law firm to do the job the AG should have done,” said Adams.

Another alleged abdication came on the issue of right to work, a which Virginia law embraces.

“He doesn’t like right to work laws.  He filed briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case last year, arguing that public schoolteachers in California should be required to join a union to get a job.  but that’s not the law and policy of Virginia.  And we shouldn’t have an attorney general using our attorney general’s office to pursue his own political agenda,” said Adams.

Adams is also slamming Herring for being a political activist on issues such as concealed carry and illegal immigration.

“(Herring) singlehandly revoked concealed carry reciprocity, which was so outlandish that he was overruled by that bastion of conservatism, (Virginia Democratic Gov.) Terry McAuliffe.  Mark Herring did that and people remember it and they know it.

“His decision on allowing in-state slots and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants is something he did on his own,” said Adams.

In addition to defending laws on the books, Adams says the attorney general needs to exercise good judgment in deciding which cases to prosecute and he says Herring has dropped the ball there as well.

“As the attorney general, when do you use the power of the attorney general’s office to go on offense to sue, typically the federal government, could be another state or other entities.  Clearly Mr. Herring uses that power in a very highly political, highly partisan way,” said Adams.

As an example, Adams pointed to Herring challenging the Trump administration’s travel ban.

“His challenge to the immigration executive order, which he called unconstitutional and un-American.  They lost 9-0 in the U.S. Supreme Court.  Even Ruth Bader Ginsburg didn’t agree,” said Adams.

There are also major ethical concerns, including Herring’s repurposing of money from a fund created from seized assets that the previous attorney general had set aside to assist victims of human trafficking.  The Associated Pres reported earlier this year that Herring used that money to give raises to his lawyers and other staff.

“As a policy matter, we don’t allow them to use that money for pay raises or bonuses because that gives terrible incentives to give those in the government [reason] to seize assets,” said Adams.

With that track record over the past four years, Adams says it’s not hard to make a case against another term for Herring.

“He’s actually not running on his record.  I’m running on his record.  He’s trying to run from it.  but he’s got it.  We’ve gotten a lot of attention and we feel great about it coming down the homestretch,” said Adams.

Adams is well-versed on his indictment of Herring, but how would he conduct himself as attorney if elected.

“I’m a lawyer.  I have a client and my client is Virginia.  If the federal government, for example, exceeds its legal authority and harms Virginia, then I will go on offense because that’s my job.  I’m a lawyer and I know how to do it,” said Adams, noting that he has experience as a prosecutor and Herring does not.

He says he has no problem filing suit against an administration of either party if he believes it is violating the law and harming Virginia.

“I’ll go against the federal government whether there is a Democrat president or a Republican president.  It doesn’t matter to me.  What matters to me is I have a client.  That client is the sovereign Commonwealth of Virginia.  The citizens of Virginia have a right to govern themselves.  If their rights are infringed by the federal government, I will take action to defend those rights,” said Adams.

Adams says it goes without saying that he will vigorously defend all laws on the books in Virginia and that he will also take aim at growing problems like the opioid epidemic and rising crime due to the scourge of gang violence in several Virginia cities.

With federal politics playing out just across the river in Washington and two other races higher on the ballot, it would be easy for the attorney general’s race to take a very low profile, but Adams says Herring’s record is well known by the voters even before they hear his message.

Adams promises Virginians will “be sick of me by the end of the next few weeks” as he plans an aggressive campaign to highlight Herring’s record and his own promises.

As always, Adams says the results come November will depend upon turnout.

“This is coming down to the wire.  The most important thing is for people to get out and vote on November 7th.  Call all your friends, your family, your friends from church, your co-workers.  If we’re going to restore some sanity to the attorney general’s office, we need to get everyone out to vote on November 7th,” said Adams.

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Right to Work Wins Again, Students Clueless on Free Speech, ‘Top Gun’ Ad Flops

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer a court decision that upholds Wisconsin’s right to work law and rejects the argument of organized labor that it has a right to part of workers’ paychecks.  They also shudder as a new study shows students of all political stripes evenly divided on whether “hate speech” should be protected speech, whether it’s OK to shout down speakers they don’t like, or even whether uncomfortable views should be allowed on campus.  And they have fun with a political ad that is a horrible parody of a famous scene from “Top Gun.”

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Haley Wins Again, Politicians Not A Panacea, Frivolous Fashion Week

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for leading another round of sanctions aimed at North Korea in response to another nuclear test.  They also groan as the Democrat running for governor in Virginia implies that voting her him will give kids there a better chance for success and Jim slams any politician who promises that electing them will solve everyone’s problems.  And they discuss Jim Carrey’s on-air castigation of New York Fashion Week as meaningless, leading Jim to reveal tales of how the recent National Review cruise shared the ship with a lot of people connected to this superficial event.

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Capitol Police Stop Shooter, Political Attack?, Polarized Media Reactions

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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Rich McFadden of Radio America discuss the Capitol Police response to the shooting early Wednesday morning in Alexandria, VA where House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and others were injured during their practice for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game. They also speculate about the possible motive of the 66-year old shooter from Illinois based on reports of his incendiary political views found on his social media account. And they react to the polarized responses on social media that are erupting across the political spectrum following the attack.

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Trump’s Terrorism Speech, Virginia Looking Blue, Trump & the Sword Dance

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After offering an alternative explanation for why some graduates walked out of Vice President Mike Pence’s commencement speech at Notre Dame, Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud President Trump’s speech imploring Middle East leaders to do their part to stamp out terrorists.  They also grimace as polling shows either Democrat running for governor in Virginia winning the general election by double digits.  And they wonder what the Secret Service was thinking when they gave the green light to the elaborate sword dance in Saudi Arabia involving President Trump and members of his cabinet.

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Virginia Battle Continues Over Transgender School Policy

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The Virginia Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the new transgender accommodation policy at one of America’s largest school districts, but the lead attorney for the plaintiffs vows the case will come back and his side will win when the decision focuses on the facts and the law.

Last week, the Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the case against Fairfax County Public Schools – the largest school district in Virginia and one of the ten largest in the United States – because it concluded the plaintiffs lacked standing before the court.

“They ruled on what’s called standing, whether there was an actual injury here.  What we have here is the school board passed the policies but they haven’t actually enforced them yet against any student to the point of disciplining them,” said Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver, who represented the unnnamed student, the student’s parents and another parent with kids in the Firfax Public Schools.

“Fear of discipline should be enough.  That’s what we argued,” said Staver.  “But the Virginia Supreme Court ultimately ruled that it’s not ready for a decision yet until someone actually has standing.  They have to have a real injury, rather than just fear that they’re going to have an injury, even though the fear is very real and very legitimate,” said Staver.

He says once the case comes back with standing, the court will be compelled to side with his clients.

“Whenever we get them to rule on the actual merits, that is whether the school board can add additional non-discrimination categories that are not included in the state law, then we win.  It’s an easy decision at that point in time,” said Staver.

Staver strongly disagrees that a student must be disciplined to have standing to challenge the policy, noting that a formal punishment, even if later reversed, could tarnish a student’s efforts to be accepted at a military academy or work in sensitive areas like national security and intelligence.

He also says students shouldn’t have to negotiate a policy that doesn’t meet state law.

“The school can’t do something that’s clearly illegal, which it’s done, hang it over the heads of the students and threaten that they will be disciplined and then simply void legal repercussions by not disciplining them, but threatening discipline.  The fact that they threaten discipline is enough to deter someone’s actions.  For the good students, they’re not going to want to walk into a buzzsaw  of discipline,” said Staver.

Staver is confident of winning on the merits because of the Dillon Rule, which states no local non-discrimination policy can add protected classes beyond what has been added under state law.  Virginia has not added transgender or sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy.

He says the looming fear of punishment based on an illegal policy is already condemned in legal precedent.

“If you have a violation of free speech, you can file for that action.  But if you’re threatened in your free speech, you don’t have to go through discipline or threat or arrest, if the law or the rule or the policy or the ordinance actually creates a chilling effect so that you refrain from speaking, because you are fearful that you will be disciplined or charged or arrested, that’s enough,” said Staver.

Nonetheless, Staver says he is already gathering evidence that will argue his clients has suffered injury because of the policy.  In fact, Staver says evidence came in during the lead-up to oral arguments before the court that would have greatly strengthened his case, but he points out evidence discovered after filing the case is inadmissible.

Staver is unsure whether other left-leaning school board in Virginia will take the court’s dismissal as a green light to enact their own policies.  He strongly urges districts not to follow the lead of Fairfax County or else they will end up paying massive court fees when they lose on the merits.

On the other hand, Staver says the more school districts pursue the transgender accommodation policy, the easier it will be to gather evidence to being the case back to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Another advantage for Staver, is the Trump administration’s repeal of the Obama Justice Department’s directive that all public schools adopt transgender accommodation policies.

“It definitely strengthens our case on the merits because Fairfax County or any other county could say, ‘We’re just doing it because we’re compelled to do so by this federal directive.  They can’t do that anymore.  That particular argument , that crutch has been taken away from them,” said Staver.

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Three Martini Lunch 11/15/16

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review have only crazy stories today.  They discuss Pres. Obama urging Donald Trump to reach out to those who didn’t support him, after Obama spent eight years dismissing and demonizing the opposition.  They also cringe at reports that Donald Trump is trying to get cabinet-level security clearances for three of his children.  And they sigh as faculty and students at the University of Virginia condemn the school’s president for quoting Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University of Virginia.

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‘It’s Not Possible’: Dems Push Back on Claims of Stuffed Absentee Envelope

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Democratic Party officials in Fairfax County, Virginia, are categorically denying that pro-Democrat campaign materials were included in the same envelope as a voter’s absentee ballot, arguing that pamphlets were sent in a separate mailing to absentee voters from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, or FCDC.

Earlier this week, Jena and David Jones shared their story of finding more than they expected in the envelope that contained her ballot.

“I found a letter from the governor of Virginia asking me to please vote Democrat and ‘help keep Virginia blue’ this year.  Then I got a letter from the Fairfax County Democratic Committee, giving me a step-by-step, yes-and-no what I should vote for as far as the meal tax and all those other things on the ballot,” said Jena.

In recent days, at least two more people contend they received the same materials in the envelope with their absentee ballots.

After the report was first published, and shared on Facebook by David Jones, Fairfax County Democratic Committee Executive Director Frank Anderson replied to David’s post to dispute their account of what the ballot envelope contained.

“These materials were NOT sent in the same envelope as the ballot. The ballot is mailed separately by the Office of Elections. Political parties are free to mail items to voters who request absentee ballots. The two envelopes arrived at the same time,” commented Anderson, showing a photo of the pro-Democratic materials and the separate envelope they are designated to be sent in.

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That triggered a quick back-and-forth between David Jones and Anderson.

“I hate to tell you but you’re wrong. All items came in one envelope,” said Jones.

“Impossible. That letter came out of my office. We never have access to other people’s ballots,” replied Anderson.

“Then it seems those that sent the ballots have access to YOUR letters,” said Jones.  “Who should I believe? You or my lying eyes?”

Anderson then stated that political parties are informed when anyone requests an absentee ballot and mailings are sent to those voters to promote Democratic candidates and positions on ballot initiatives.

“I am literally sitting down the hall from the place where those envelopes are stuffed. We are a political office and have no business handling anyone’s ballots. You can believe what you want to believe,” concluded Anderson.

The Virginia Department of Elections did not respond to repeated attempts for a response.  But after seeing our reports, Anderson protested the premise of the story.

“Please stop spreading these absurd allegations that are just hearsay from a misinformed voter who cannot verify his claim,” stated Anderson in an email, in which he also explained why he believed the Jones account could not be accurate.

He also shared a photo sent by State Sen. Scott Surovell, showing his absentee ballot envelope next to a separate envelope containing Democratic Party advocacy.

jones-ballot-4

In a formal interview, FCDC Communications Adviser Bruce Neilson says the Jones version of opening the envelope cannot be true.

“It’s not possible,” said Neilson, who then explained how absentee voters are approached by the local Democrats.

“Voting is a sacred privilege and a right of every citizen.  The activity of voting is also a public record.  The Fairfax County Democratic Committee receives a notice of everyone who has requested an absentee ballot.  We get that information as public information on the day the ballot is mailed,” said Neilson.

“The same day the ballot is mailed, our volunteers prepare materials to advise voters what the Fairfax (County) Democratic Committee knows to be Democratic positions on the ballot,” said Neilson, noting the materials include fliers on candidates and ballot proposals like the meals tax.

However, he insists those materials are never sent with the ballot itself.

“That material is mailed in a separate envelope, labeled with our initials – FCDC – and our return address in Fairfax, Virginia, and would be received either the same day, perhaps the day before or the day after she received her official absentee ballot from the government,” said Neilson.

“It’s a separate mailing.  It’s a separate stamp.  It’s a separate envelope.  It’s very easy to confuse where they came from if you have all those materials on the table at the same time while you’re filling in your votes,” said Neilson.

Jones is standing by her story 100 percent, as is her husband.  David says it’s a very clear memory.

“Jena opened the envelope that contained her ballot, the green sample ballot, the two-sided letter from the governor and card with kids on it saying “go vote” or something of that nature. There was also the return envelope which I signed,” said David.

The coverage of Jena’s story has also elicited similar stories from two other Fairfax County voters.  Both of them commented on Reddit.

“I can confirm this.  I live in Herndon, VA (Fairfax County) and also received these materials in my absentee ballot.  I thought it was fishy at the time but didn’t look into it,” stated a comment by a reader using the handle thisisaterriblename.

Another, under the Reddit handle Nightingale-Nights, said the same thing happened to them and posted similar photos to the ones David and Jena shared last week.

Neilson says there is no way the county government, which sends out the ballots, could be including partisan materials in the envelope containing the ballot.

“They don’t have our materials.  Our materials are printed for us, by our printer, and we have complete control over our materials in our office and they come from our office in our mailing.  They don’t go anywhere else,” said Neilson.

“It’s not possible that the county government is distributing partisan Democratic materials.  It’s never happened before.  I’m not aware of it happening now.  And I don’t think that it would happen anywhere in the future,” said Neilson.

There are only a few known complaints of stuffed ballot envelopes in Fairfax County, leading David Jones to believe an individual in the government is responsible.  He accepts the explanation that the Fairfax County Democratic Committee is not responsible for what he and Jena discovered with her ballot.

“I understand Frank’s comments about his office has nothing to do with the ballots. I believe that. I think what we are seeing here is a person that actually stuffs and mails the ballots is taking it upon themselves to add in extra material. I don’t see how Franks office could be held accountable for what’s in the ballot envelope. But it does seem odd that others are now reporting similar issues,” said Jones.

Neilson says there is no chance of that scenario being true.

“I just can’t imagine that happening because of the internal controls that we have on the literature that we mail,” said Neilson.

He also says the internal controls at the county government are air-tight.

“I am an election official.  On Election Day, I serve in a non-partisan capacity for our county election office.  I can assure you, you have Democrats and Republicans working in the office.  You have plenty of oversight of the voting process and there’s no way that a partisan political piece was mailed with her ballot.  There is no way that happened,” said Neilson.

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