AFP Rally in Richmond - Part 7: SWAC Delegates

Ben Cline (R-24th House)

Sen. Steve Martin (R-Chesterfield) is interviewed in background for Americans For Prosperity Rally.
Chris Saxman (R-20th House)
Steve Landes (R-25th House)

Ran into the SWAC area delegates in the Capitol and the General Assembly Building. They were all in high spirits ... laughing and talking with constituents and each other.

Delegate Steve Landes (R-25th House) covers the eastern part of Augusta County and Waynesboro.

Delegate Chris Saxman (R-20th House) covers the western part of Augusta County, Staunton, and Stuarts Draft.

Delegate Ben Cline (R-24th House) covers the southern part of Augusta County and Middlebrook.

Thanks to them for their dedication and time.

Delegate Ben Cline questions VA lottery on wasteful spending

Should the Virginia lottery pay Donald Trump half-a-million dollars for his picture to appear on lottery tickets? How about $800,000 for use of the name "Deal or No Deal" and Howie Mandel's image? Delegate Ben Cline (R-Rockbridge) says no, and has exposed what he considers wasteful spending of money that could be used for education, the intent of lottery proceeds.

The Waynesboro News Virginian backed Delegate Cline which brought questions from lottery officials.

Yesterday's editorial in the NV followed up on the issue as they reemphasized their backing of Delegate Cline in his pursuit of cost-cutting efforts for the Commonwealth.

Miffed by our editorial last week backing state Del. Ben Cline’s push to halve what he described as a $26 million advertising budget, a Virginia Lottery official fired off a missive that we published Sunday disputing the figure. Lottery officials say the advertising budget is $20 million, not $26 million.

Cline tells us he arrived at the latter figure in consultation with House Appropriations Committee budget writers, who, presumably, know a thing or two about budgets. Lottery officials in response told reporter Bob Stuart that they simply defined the advertising budget more narrowly than did Cline. We’ll stick with the House and Cline on this one.

Read the entire editorial here.

Delegate Ben Cline ... Happy Birthday from SWAC-GOP!

SWAC Republicans would like to send birthday wishes to Delegate Ben Cline who represents the southern portion of Augusta County. A newly-wed -- he married in November -- and a dedicated public official, Ben is appreciated by the grassroots. A leap year baby, he can celebrate his birthday on the actual date this year -- February 29th.

Happy Birthday, Ben! And thanks for all your hard work in Richmond.

SWAC-GOP Breakfast and Americans For Prosperity (AFP)

Paul Harris, State Chairman for AFP.

Delegate Ben Cline, Western Chairman for AFP.

That's my delegate! Chris Saxman (right) is also part of AFP.
Councilman Dickie Bell (left front) and Jim Taetzsch.

Scott Sayre, Greater SWAC Area Chairman for AFP, shares a laugh along with Delegate Ben Cline (front) and AFP Virginia Director Ben Marchi (rear).

Andrea Oakes (right), Chairman of the Citizens Task Force Against Pornography, updates attendees as Delegate Ben Cline, Debbie Summers, and Chairman Kurt Michael (background) look on.

Fellowship before breakfast.
Paul Harris talks with Bob Stuart, reporter with the Waynesboro News Virginian.

Scott Sayre addresses breakfast as Ben Cline and Paul Harris (right) look on.
A packed room listened to Paul Harris' call to hold our electeds accountable.

Fellow State Central Committee rep Trixie Averill.

Ben Cline talks about crossover week in Richmond and the bills he has introduced this year.

Today's SWAC-GOP Breakfast featured an all-star lineup from Americans For Prosperity, providing laughter, information, and an opportunity to be with like-minded folks who believe in low taxes and controlled spending.

Paul Harris, the charismatic Virginia state chairman for APF, said on Saturday:

“We need a surge of conservatism and its ideals from Fairfax to Roanoke to Charlottesville,” Harris said. He asked the audience to speak out and hold their legislators accountable.
...

“We need to stop needless regulation and eliminate wasteful government”...

Emphasizing the grassroots nature of the organization, Harris added that ...

... while special interests spend millions to lobby Congress in Washington and the General Assembly in Richmond, members of Americans For Prosperity can write letters to the editor and stand for responsible government.

Update:Bob Stuart has coverage of the SWAC-GOP Breakfast in the Waynesboro News Virginian.

Kurt Michael has more links at SixtyFour81.com.

More photos at Yankee Philip.

Spanky: "Is the Staunton News Leader desperate for readers?"

It is a legitimate question ... "Is the Staunton News Leader desperate for readers?" In this reddest part of Virginia where most are conservative and 75% voted for George W. Bush in 2004, the NL continues to aggitate and push away readers, lose subscribers, and alienate advertisers. It does not make political sense.

Now they have done it again by attacking Delegate Ben Cline, a very popular representative of voters in the 24th House District. This is not the first time the NL has attacked Del. Cline. They once said that instead of running for reelection he should stick to washing Congressman Bob Goodlatte's car.

Del. Cline has done nothing to deserve such public attacks from this liberal newspaper other than the fact he is a Republican and well-liked by his constituents.

Spank That Donkey has the complete story.

Delegate Ben Cline ... rising young star of the GOP

They are 40 and under ... the rising stars of the Republican Party nationwide ... and they are young and energetic and dedicated to advancing the Party at the local, state, and national levels.

One of them is our own Delegate Ben Cline of the 24th House District. He was first elected in 2002 at the age of 30 ... and he has been recognized in the new issue of RNC's "Rising Tide" magazine along with forty-one other "under 40" Republicans from throughout America.

Delegate Cline is currently the President of New Dominion Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm providing marketing and public relations assistance to new technologies seeking to expand their presence in rural Virginia.

An enthusiastic part of the local Republicans, his District covers the southern part of Augusta County and points south including Lexington and Amherst. He is respected and well-liked by SWAC grassroots volunteers.

Delegate Cline has been a dedicated representative for the people of the 24th House District ... and we look forward to working with him for a long time.

SWAC-GOP offers our congratulations to Ben Cline on his selection as one of the GOP's young rising stars.

SWAC lunch with AG Bob McDonnell

Saturday's luncheon with Bob McDonnell at Rowe's Restaurant in Staunton was a huge success with 70+ people attending. We crammed everyone into the large private dining room and the conversation was lively as old friends visited, new friends were made, and many political contacts took place as business cards were exchanged. Lunch was plentiful with vegetable-beef soup, club sandwiches, pie, and beverage.

Whitney Duff, Bob McDonnell, Chris Saxman

At the head table were Attorney General Bob McDonnell, Delegate Chris Saxman who hosted the event, and Whitney Duff who heads up Americans For Propersity - Virginia (AFP), the nationwide tax watchdog group.

Those attending included Delegate Ben Cline, State Central member Trixie Averill, Rockingham Chairman Mike Meredith, Valley Family Forum director Dean Welty and his grandson, former Staunton Chairman Bruce Grover, former Board of Transportation member Libby Welch, Weekday Religious Education President Jack Hinton, Alex Davis, Jan Saxman, Kim Wiseman, and many others. The surprise guest was Steve Sisson -- "The Blue Dog" -- who sat at my table and gave me a big hug.

News outlets included the Waynesboro News-Virginian, Staunton News Leader, and NBC 29 TV.

Whitney Duff welcomed everyone. Lynn Mitchell led the Pledge of Allegiance. In a townhall-style setting, remarks were made by Delegate Saxman and AG McDonnell with questions taken afterwards from the audience.

[The following is a paraphrasing of the remarks made by Delegate Chris Saxman and AG Bob McDonnell as taken from my notes.]

Delegate Saxman opened by saying our nation is at fiscal risk due to increased spending. He advocated taking a businessman's mentality to Richmond to control spending and avoid increased taxes. He has worked closely with Americans For Prosperity and has been a leading proponent in the "no tax increase" force in the House. He thanked Bob McDonnell for being a mentor for the 21 delegates in the freshman class of 2002.

Bob McDonnell addressed the issue of spending and economic responsibility, saying the first expedition commissioned to the New World by King James in 1606 was an economic as well as freedom mission. He said it's a great time to be a Virginian, and listed his top three issues:

1) Respect for property rights: Citing "Kelo vs. New London," he expressed disappointment that "public use" had been expanded from public roadways, schools, and such to condemning private property for private use such as shopping centers.

2) Reduce the regulatory system: Also known as "hidden taxes." Forbes Magazine called Virginia the most business-friendly state in the nation but there are 24,000 pages of regulations for those businesses. He proposes beginning with small business, health care, and agriculture by reducing regulations on those three.

3) Spending control/budget reform: The state budget has doubled in the past ten years, growing at twice the rate of inflation.

Grassroots organizations such as AFP can have a fundamental difference in spending and in who serves, he said.

A variety of interesting questions, fielded by AG McDonnell and Delegate Saxman, came from the audience. A full two hours after beginning, the luncheon ended and folks stood around and visited, talked with the electeds, and fellowshipped for a while longer.

Our thanks to the Attorney General, Delegate Saxman, Whitney, and AFP for an informational townhall meeting and lunch.

6th District Chair Fred Anderson, Delegate Ben Cline, Rockingham GOP Chairman Mike Meredith

Related stories:
SWAC Girl: "The pie incident with the Attorney General"
Staunton News Leader
Waynesboro News-Virginian