Webb, Warner vote against VA citizens & FOR Big Government

Our lock-stepping U.S. senators did it again. Jim Webb and Mark Warner followed the Democrats right over the cliff, voting for even more overreaching Big Government, and voting against the will of their constituents in Virginia.

From Hot Air's Allahpundit:

And so a drama that began last December, when the EPA declared carbon dioxide to be an environmental hazard, ends predictably. Here’s the roll. All 41 Republicans voted yes — even Scotty B, despite an ad campaign in Massachusetts aimed at pressuring him to oppose the measure. Evan Bayh, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson, Mark Pryor, and even Jay Rockefeller, who hails from the coal capital of West Virginia, crossed the aisle to vote with the GOP. Result: The EPA will indeed retain its power to, in Ed’s words, “inject itself into just about every industry in the U.S.” in the name of reducing greenhouse gases.

Former Republican U.S. Senator George Allen commented:

[Thursday], by a narrow 53-47 majority, the US Senate appallingly voted for American economic unilateral disarmament. They voted against American and Virginia jobs and coal-related jobs, manufacturers and business, our competitiveness, and affordable electricity and for ceding legislative responsibility to unelected judges and bureaucrats.

The Washington Examiner wrote in its editorial:

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., predicts that a suffocating new round of EPA regulations will soon descend upon the "one-fifth of our restaurants, one-fourth of our schools, two-thirds of our hospitals and doctor's offices, 10 percent of our churches, thousands of farms and millions of small businesses" that emit greenhouse gases. Considering how the EPA grandees mistreat their underlings, we wonder how the agency will respond to the soon-to-be-swelling ranks of critics on the outside.

More at The Washington Examiner here.

Norm at Tertium Quids (H/T to Virginia Right!) nailed the two lock-stepping Virginia senators. He first notes that Webb voted no and called him inconsistent, commenting:

This would be the same senator Webb who earlier said he was against the EPA attempting to regulate greenhouse gases and who even earlier warned the President not to sign any biding agreements on greenhouse gas emissions at the ill-fated Copenhagen conference.

Perhaps inconstant isn't strong enough to describe Webb's behavior. Flaky is much closer to the mark.

Ouch. Warner, also voting against the measure, prompted Norm to add:

... proving again that the self-described "radical centrist" is neither...though he does have a healthy appetite for more, bigger and costlier government.

Virginia needs to do something about those two senators....

News Virginian thanks citizen watch dogs

Citizens who oversee the government ... it can work when Americans hold their employees -- the government -- accountable.

Case in point is the mess at the Waynesboro treasurer's office that was brought to the attention of the News Virginian and Waynesboro residents by citizen watch dogs, and resulted in a new treasurer being elected to that post. After Ellen and Phil Winter noticed what appeared to be shabby record keeping in the Waynesboro treasurer's office, they took action. From the NV:

Close followers of city politics knew the Winters waved the red flags and then gathered reams of information from city government that showed a Treasurer’s Office in disarray. That led to a front-page story in this newspaper Sept. 30 reporting that Treasurer Sandra “Sandee” Dixon had been thumped in four straight state audits for tardy accounting and sloppy recordkeeping and had botched the handling of hundreds of thousands of dollars in city and state taxpayer money. Within slightly more than two weeks, two write-in candidates joined the treasurer’s race, doubling the field. On Election Day, challenger Stephanie Beverage topped Dixon for the job.

It was more involved than that ... the NV editorial goes more indepth ... but the end result was that citizen watch dogs stepped in to oversee government. As a result, the Winters have been nominated for the American Society of News Editors Local Heroes Award which recognizes people who help improve access to government.

The News Virginian concluded with sage words:

This is how a representative republic, powered by the people through open government and the accountability that affords, is designed to work. Thanks to the Winters for the lesson. Let us all follow it with due and equal vigilance.

It turned out well in this case but too often it is impossible to fight city hall and government overwhelms the watch dog citizen which would never happen if everyone was a vigilent as the Winters.

News Virginian: General Assembly reps "taking the heat" for budget cuts

From the Friday Waynesboro News Virginian we hear about the legislative hearing held Thursday in Harrisonburg relaying the need to cut budgets in light of dire economic news at the state level. Reportedly about 100 people turned out, and many appeared to be government employees protesting budget cuts.

The private sector has taken a hard financial hit lately. My husband's employer has seen employees take a 15% pay cut since the first of 2009 ... management has taken a 28% pay cut plus a mandatory unpaid day a month off. A number of local businesses have had hundreds of layoffs the past year ... some have completely closed down.

From the NV article:

Augusta County Commissioner of the Revenue Jean Shrewsbury told state legislators the change would take away elected officials’ accountability to the citizens and place the assessment and collection of revenue directly under the local government.

Shrewsbury said such a change would remove the voice of the people doing assessment and collection.

“This provides a check and balance between the government who sets the budget and spends it and the part of government who determines what the tax assessment role will be this year,’’ she said.

Remove the voice of the people? Similar to Augusta County suing pro bono lawyer Francis Chester who is representing 10,500 Augusta citizens over outrageous real estate assessments?

A reader to the NV website article left a comment:

You “ain’t” seen nothing yet. These projected cuts in law enforcement funds are nothing compared to the blast being passed by Congress. Eventually we may come to the realization there there is no money. None! It all goes to pay interest to the Chinese on the national debt.

It's time for government to wake up and smell the coffee.

Meanwhile, Friday's NV editorial "Spending's dead end" rings the bell of alarm at the dire financial straits of the Commonwealth:

Never in a history dating to Patrick Henry, who became the state’s first governor July 5, 1776, has Old Dominion encountered a biennial spending chasm of such breadth. An aside: Former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner frequently cited a $6-billion gap he said was left him by Republican predecessor Jim Gilmore. Two points must be made in response: First, that amount covered three years rather than two as in the current case, and second, that deficit largely was driven by new spending that revenues were insufficient to match.
...
No one who relies on state money reasonably can expect to be spared. But the cries will ring from one side of the state to the next, from interest groups and agencies who say they’re wrongly being gutted.

The private sector has been hemmoraging jobs the past year while government has not. Government has not cinched its belt or reined in spending. In Augusta County, pleas from citizens to the supervisors to cease unnecessary spending have fallen on deaf ears and the spending continues ... as it does at the state level:

Since 2000, Virginia’s budget has almost doubled, increasing from $21.4 billion annually to $38 billion. From 1999 to 2007, the budget grew by at least 5 percent every year and the average increase was almost 9 percent. Not once did the total budget, which essentially represents spending, decrease.

The bottom line? Government officials must realize citizens cannot continue upward taxing trends and unnecessary spending sprees. Because citizens are losing jobs or dealing with cutbacks, losing homes in the mortgage crisis, and reeling under ever-expanding taxes at local, state, and federal levels, they expect their elected representatives to exercise the same fiscal restraint.

The NV editorial's conclusion about Virginia's budget is spot on:

A decade’s excesses have snared Virginia by her hindquarters. Interest groups and a tottering bureaucracy must live with the reality they once thwarted but which now refuses their denials. Welcome to the world of others. [emphasis added]

Is Government going after private citizens?

~Democrat Obama White House targets Fox News Channel~

The news that the Obama White House is going after the Fox News Channel is the latest example of how GOVERNMENT is using our taxpayer money to go after the taxpayers.

Cases in point:

* White House now has a blog paid for by taxpayer money to attack Fox News;
* Staunton Economic Director swipes back in letter against citizen in Staunton;
* Augusta County goes after Francis Chester who is representing 10,500 taxpayers in a lawsuit against the county;
* Shenandoah County goes after BOS candidate who dares to questions county about spending and more;
* Gloucester County went after taxpayers who tried to have supervisors removed.

Do you see a pattern?

GOVERNMENT can use all its money (our money) to crush down on our Freedom of Speech. If this isn't tyranny, I don't know what is. Tax money pays for time spent writing letters, responding to judge requests, drawing up lawsuits against citizens....

Private citizens today ... Fox News tomorrow ... when will bloggers begin to be crushed?

Freedom of speech is too dear for all Americans.

Don't Tread On Me.

THE GOVERNMENT does not reward responsible spending

As if THE GOVERNMENT has not caused enough damage already ... now THE GOVERNMENT is legislating what credit card companies can and cannot do ... and they are punishing responsible spenders who pay on time. Leslie Carbone has the latest.

THE GOVERNMENT is telling us that personal responsibility is not necessary because THE GOVERNMENT will be there to take care of us.

Don't quit your day job....

Augusta County goes after local attorney

The Waynesboro News Virginian has details. More to come in a follow-up post.