Shall We Dance? Spostylvania Co. GOP to Use Pro Dance Lessons as Fundraiser- Cool!

DANCE your way to helping the Spotsylvania County GOP!

Expert dance instructors Steve and Katherine Thomas are offering lessons in Salsa, Mambo, Waltz, Tango and other styles in three 2-hour sessions.

Enjoy one class or take all three at a savings!

Classes are Aug 6, 13, 20, 2008 at Colonial Circuits (on Route 17N in South Stafford across from Celebrate Virginia and Geico.)

100% of all proceeds will benefit the Spotsylvania Republican Committee!

{CLICK HERE FOR INFO & FLYER}

No experience? okay! No partner? okay! Two left feet? No problem! After a few hours with Steve and Katherine, you’ll glide on your feet like Fred and Ginger.

Bring a check or pre-pay with credit card or check online at http://www.spotsygop.com/ by donating using our secure PayPal link.

Rogue Democrat-Controlled Board One Step Away from Stafford’s Own Kilo Decision

In true communist fashion, rogue supervisors George Schwartz, Jow Brito, Bob Woodson, and Harry Crisp departed from reality and responsible stewardship of Stafford County residents’ finances and just took a huge step against everyone’s personal property rights.

Stafford County Residents should be very pissed off right now…  The “protection” district, drawn by Cecilia Kirkman (extremist nutjob who forced a $60M swamp land deal on taxpayers so she wouldn’t have neighbors clogging her (public) road), randomly wanders around almost the entire county east of I-95 ignoring some of the largest waterways and so-called steep slopes that SHE ONLY says will cause poor water quality. 

Cecilia alleges that a 15% slope of a hill is cause for restricting your land use COMPLETELY for a hundred-thirty-five feet on BOTH SIDES of this slope.  Yes, this includes drainage ditches in your front yard… they may only be a foot deep, but they’re a slope!  So if you need a permit for a job you want to do, you may as well stamp DENIED on it yourself and save the trouble.

This is a SCAM- this overlay district is about stopping ALL construction of ANY KIND (deck, driveway, shed, or house) east of I-95!  The original plan covered the WHOLE COUNTY! 

They’re taking the TYPICAL Democrat INCRIMENTALIST approach…. a little today, a little more tomorrow, and a touch more the next day.  (There now, that wasn’t so bad was it?) Yikes!  What just happened to my property values??!?!

Too late, you didn’t get involved.

You’d better get involved in this process folks- this is not a partisan issue- this is a Stafford County land rights issue, your family’s rights issue, and the financial well-being of the whole county issue…

Seriously, this has to stop. Somebody should be in jail for this kind of piracy!

From The Free Lance-Star:

Stafford County officials will not study the economic impacts of a proposal that would guard part of the Potomac River basin from development, but they will also limit uses for some pro-perty owners.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors nixed the $25,000 study that was meant to evaluate how property values might be affected by the proposed overlay district.

The proposed Potomac River Resource Protection Overlay district covers 24,600 acres east of U.S. 1.

It requires buffers around sensitive waterways and certain slopes adjacent to streams. The buffers would improve water quality in streams and rivers but would also restrict what some property owners could do with their land. New developments and changes to existing lots would be subject to the restrictions.

Several dozen property owners protested the overlay district during a May public hearing. At that meeting, board members delayed their decision on enacting the district and agreed to consider the economic analysis.

But during a quiet work session last week, supervisors voted 4-3 to proceed without the analysis.

Griffis–Widewater Supervisor Bob Woodson said in an interview that the analysis was not the best use of county funds, especially during a tight budget cycle that has forced Stafford to cut its spending.

“We think our latest proposal was a good one, and we think that the county has enough resources to make a good determination of what may be the economic impact,” he said.

But Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde said the analysis would have shown how the overlay district could limit the county’s tax revenue from future development.

“That means high-paying jobs won’t be here, that means the commercial tax base doesn’t expand there,” Milde said. “It will certainly reduce our commercial tax base and therefore further burden our residential tax base. The question is, how much?”

The overlay district includes both Milde’s and Woodson’s districts.

County staff is sampling about seven parcels in the proposed overlay district to see how the proposed buffers could affect properties.

The staff also supported the economic analysis.

“I think that any information that can be made available to the Board of Supervisors during the decision-making process is a good thing,” said County Administrator Anthony Romanello.

Without the analysis, Rock Hill Supervisor Cord Sterling said, it will be difficult to make an informed decision on the overlay district proposal.

“I don’t know the cost-benefit analysis,” he said. “I have not seen a demonstration of enough data to support this.”

The supervisors will consider the overlay district after the completion of the sampling studies, sometime in November.

Letter from Tom Foley to VA House of Delegates re: HB6055

Subject: Re: HB6055

Dear Republican Members of the House of Delegates:

This letter is sent after consultation with members of the First Congressional District Republican Committee. Unique among Virginia’s Congressional Districts, the First is the only Congressional District encompassing both HR/Tidewater and NoVa.

You are considering HB6055 which is such a disappointment. Much time and energy has been expended in trying to redefine or otherwise sugar coat what are in fact taxes or to reestablish agencies rejected by both the Voters and the Courts. Had that same amount of time been spent on trying to find a solution to the underlying problem, we all would have been better served.

At this point in our history, the price of energy and the subsequent lifestyle changes it has caused, with the resulting institutional, manufacturing and trade changes under way, show that you are dealing with yesterday’s problems - not today’s and not tomorrow’s.

Should this bill pass, you all will suffer at election time because the problems will not be solved and neither the Press nor your fellow Republicans will let you forget. More importantly, those of us in leadership roles in getting out the vote have seen volunteer participation both decline and turn against us due to your past legislation in this area.

Should you go down this path again, we can expect more of the same, with the first casualties being John McCain, and Jim Gilmore.

The continuing disruptions which will result from the cost of energy make it imperative that you all review our transportation, commuting, educational, and trading models before money gets thrown at problems no longer relevant to the Commonwealth’s present and future.

We have supported you in good times and bad. This, however, may go beyond anyone’s ability to justify or support in good conscience. It violates the pledges most of you took and it violates the Common Creed we as Republicans profess.

Roll up your sleeves and start dealing with the problems we are facing today and will be facing tomorrow. That is why we worked so hard to put you all in the majority. Your past actions, divorced from our common beliefs, are why you are barely in the majority, and why we have lost the Senate. Put Kaine and the Democrats on the defensive. Make us proud and vote this bill down!

Yours truly,

Thomas E. Foley
Chairman, First Congressional District Republican Committee

McCain Victory 2008 Regional Republican HQ Open House is July 17

Attention Fredericksburg Area Republicans!

Plan to attend this open house reception:

McCain Victory 2008

Regional Republican Headquarters

Thursday July 17, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
150 Riverside Parkway Suites 210-215

(Directions: Exit 133-B off I-95. Left at first light. Proceed 150 yards, turn left entering Riverside Business Park. Proceed to end of complex. Locate 4-story building on Right (faces I-95). Strayer College is on ground floor for reference. Take elevators to second floor.)

Attendees include: Congressman Rob Wittman, Delegate Mark Cole,
and other state and local offiicials.

Hors d’oeuvres and beverages served.

———————————————————————

While you’re there, help support your local GOP committee and purchase some McCain Victory 2008 campaign gear!

http://www.novagop.com/

Stafford BOS Democrats Approved New BPOL Taxes During Economic Lull

Just like when a 12th Century king declares he wants a bigger bejeweled crown and some more wenches, so he sends a goon squad out to plunder his subjects and shake them until hidden coins fall out of their socks, so reigns Chairman George Schwartz in Stafford. “The subjects free will, be damned” you can almost hear him utter when the public hearing session began in a crammed-packed chambers.

If you like keeping some of your money, Stafford County may not be the right place for you. Regardless of your party affiliation yesterday, if it’s not crystal clear that our homegrown crew of elitist Democrats will tax you into bankruptcy when times are good, and tax you even more when times are bad, then you just aren’t living in reality anymore, and you certainly aren’t living in Stafford County.

As if one should need any proof of this on a national level, “America’s chickens have come home to roost” here in Stafford! And after they roost, they’re going to eat your cat and steal your wallet.

Stafford County Democrats George Schwartz, Joe Brito, Bob Woodson and Harry Crisp have approved a highly controversial businesses tax, called the Business, Professional and Occupational License or “BPOL” in a meeting that stretched until later than 3:00 am!

These liberals call it a “revenue generator” for the cash-strapped jurisdiction, but let’s be clear: RAISING TAXES IS NOT A REVENUE GENERATOR- it’s a TAX INCREASE!

A revenue generator could be the world’s largest ball of yarn at a two-seat diner along Route 1. Tourists come, spend their money, we tax them for pancakes, the diner employs people, they buy things, and the economy goes round and round. If we’ve planned our area correctly, the tourist might also decide to fill up with gas while he’s here and “ooh” look at that, something to buy at the farmer’s fruit stand across the street! … more tax income and revenue generation for the county… The farmer gets so busy that he eventually sells to Giant Foods, and the Diner outgrows his two-seater and upgrades to an IHOP franchise a year later, and viola-a growing economy emerges from the FREE MARKET as it was always intended (I’m leaving out the part where Stalinistic building permits, Marxist zoning restrictions and hippy environmental lobyists restrict the sale of the grocery store to less than 10,000sf, and tell the diner owner what he can’t do with his own property which results in a lawsuit that he eventually wins, but nevertheless slows the process to a grinding halt for 36 months just to get a siteplan review—but that’s for another rant.)

What all Democrats seem to never grasp is that REDISTRIBUTING WEALTH is UN-AMERICAN and quite SOCIALIST! A tax on businesses is a TAX. It is something that someone else takes from you that they didn’t earn. Taxing a business for the 15th time - literally, is no way to foster a healthy business economy.

After many DOZENS of people spoke out against this tax in person, they shoved it through anyway. The only people who spoke for it, were the usual crowd of liberals who offer the all famous lines, “someone should do something about our need for more cash.” Isn’t it amazing how that someone is always “someone else” whose checkbook must be opened? Not one supporter of BPOL offered an alternative.

How much combined business experience do to the elected board of supervisors have? On the Democrat side= ZILCH. All three Republicans have owned or currently own a business though! So we can very clearly see who understands the impacts of adding more taxes to a fragile balance of our local economy!

Perhaps we shouldn’t be building $50,000,000 new schools when our student population is declining? Perhaps we shouldn’t be using $60,000,000 to buy swamp land when we have dangerous roads to pave? Perhaps we shouldn’t be building mega-million dollar police, fire & rescue headquarters buildings until we can afford it? Perhaps we shouldn’t be restricting 12,000 acres from any development whatsoever if near a 15% grade? Perhaps we should be lobbying our state and federal boards for more of our own tax dollars to come back so we aren’t a “donor” county and state for road money?

Perhaps we could use some of these savings to improve our infrastructure, invest in tourism initiatives and incentivize new businesses? Nnnaaahhhhh- Let’s just raise the taxes on bread, daycare, gasoline, groceries, diapers, car repairs, water, eyeglasses, shoes, firewood and everything else people need. THAT’S what it means to be a Stafford Democrat apparently.

Beginning in 2010 (thank God for a small favor) the county will charge half the maximum rate allowed by state law. Gross receipts up to $200,000 will be exempt.

Now is the time for Democratic families to take a serious look at their values and consider that even if they ‘like’ big government spending, they may not be able to ‘afford’ it any more. After all, when is enough enough?

At what point in your tax level are you no longer a FREE WORKING AMERICAN? At what point are you a subservient socialist worker? We’re already above the 50% mark of how much taxes you pay in total of your income! When do we start standing in lines for bread and socks?

The DMV is now charging you $5 to stand in line and talk to a live human teller! Someone remind me WHY WE NEED A DMV IN THE FIRST PLACE? My car runs just fine without a sticker on the windshield or a license plate on the back. Everything else is JUST ANOTHER TAX.

I’ve never seen so many NEW TAXES introduced during such a slow economy. My family is tightening up, why can’t my government? I suppose it’s just “someone else’s job” to worry about that since our government is rapidly becoming no longer “of the people, by the people, and for the people”, but rather, “tax the people, from other people, to my people.”

NO BPOL IN STAFFORD! Vote is Tonight!

Here’s what Supervisor Paul Milde has to say about BPOL:

Now is not the time to impose a BPOL tax.

Right now, businesses across our nation and our commonwealth are facing very challenging times.

Stafford County’s businesses are not immune from the uncertainties affecting companies large and small across America. Indeed, the pressures of difficult economic times are keenly felt by every Stafford business.

Despite these circumstances, several members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors are intent on imposing a new tax on our local businesses.

This new tax is commonly referred to as BPOL, or Business, Professional and Occupational License. Its innocuous-sounding name disguises the reality that BPOL is among the most regressive of taxes.

The tax would be assessed on the gross receipts of a business. So, whether they are profitable or not, businesses will have to pay this tax.

If you think this issue matters only to business, think again. Pressures on residential property-tax bills–which are offset by the substantial taxes already paid by local businesses–could only become greater if Stafford were to become less business-friendly.

The growth in revenues from businesses helps to protect Stafford home- owners from having to bear an even larger financial burden.

Stafford’s pro-business policies have greatly benefited our community, creating jobs, improving our quality of life, and providing revenues for our treasury.

In 2002, our businesses produced $38 million in revenues for Stafford. By the end of fiscal 2008, projections show that figure increasing to a very impressive $62 million–a 63 percent increase in just six years.

The current debate over BPOL is more than just a business concern. Its outcome will affect every Stafford resident.

Make sure your voice is heard by attending the public hearing tonight at 7 p.m., immediately prior to a planned vote by the Board of Supervisors on enacting BPOL. Do your part to keep Stafford a great place to do business.

American Patriots Must Rally Around the US Constitution and Hold Leaders Accountable

Post the above image and link to the committee with the following text in your blog or web site:

<a href=”http://www.americanpatriotscommittee.org”><img border=”0″ src=”http://www.americanpatriotscommittee.com/images/banner-ad-200×200.jpg” width=”200″></a>

This is at the crux of a non-partisan new group formed right here in America’s Most Historic City: Fredericksburg, VA.  They’re just getting started but have a nice platform that’s simple for all to understand. 

They’re seeking new members and any-party candidates considering running for any elected office to contact them and learn more about the U.S. Constitution and their future role in upholding it.

If someone is going to raise their right hand and swear to uphold something, shouldn’t they know what it is?

In essence, the APC will endorse a candidate for any office (and presumable help campaign for him/her) who either takes classes on the US Constitution from their recommended sources, or can pass a fundamental test on the subject matter.

The reason this is needed, is that all elected leaders must swear to uphold the office and the Constitution,but so many that do this do NOT have a grasp of the document and its roots of origin. Therefore, they inadvertantly (hopefully that’s the case) create and/or vote for things such as illegal taxing authorities (HB 3202) or illegal property seizing (Kilo) just to name a couple.  Not to mention appropriate YOUR MONEY without the legal authority to do it!  It happens EVERY DAY in State and US Congresses!  … ESPECIALLY in federal congress. 

Who gives them the authority to take our money?  If you think “WE” did when we elected them, you’re dead wrong.

Learning the difference between a Republic and a Democracy is a great start.  Which are we in the USA?

• Can we hold and take a ‘majority vote’ to go seize Aunt Mildred’s house because it’s too big for her now and she doesn’t need it anyway?  Then sell it and redistribute the earnings and giver her a fair cut?
• Can we vote to make a tax on air and charge everyone who breathes it a fee per month? What if they were cigarette smokers who contributed to the need for air cleaners around the world?  What about industrial smoke stacks owners?
• Can we gather and vote in a 2/3 majority to identify people over 6′6″ and charge them an access fee to government/public buildings that had to build taller door frames to give them access since the ADA Act gives ‘everyone’ equal access?
• Can we have our Supreme Court justices vote to make a defacto law through their findings that a father has the right to make his pregnant girlfriend kill her baby once he’s born but no less than 1 hour old?  What if they were married and the baby is joint property?  What about 5 minutes before he’s born then?

In a Democracy we could make such rules, but not in a Republic! Taking a class will teach you why and why not.  Legislators are faced with these types of decisions EVERY DAY.

This says it all [emphasis mine]:

“Congressman Tom Udall of New Mexico introduced, H.R. 1464, a bill named the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act of 2008, last spring. The law would provide for funds to be provided, through the Multinational Species Conservation Fund, to groups working to preserve wild canid and felid species around the world. Projects in Iran, Syria, Cuba, Sudan and North Korea would be excluded. [Well- thank goodness for THAT !]

“It’s especially important to conserve wild cats and dogs, because they’re predators. As such, they help to preserve balance within ecological systems. When predators go extinct, their prey species go through wild boom and bust cycles that endanger large number of animal and plant circles. So, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act of 2008 is arguably the most important conservation legislation to be presented to Congress this year. [????]

“This isn’t pork barrel legislation [?????], either. H.R. 1464 has been certified as containing no earmarks at all.

“This month, H.R. 1464 finally came to the floor of the House of Representatives, for a general House vote yesterday. At 5:17 PM, the measure was passed.[??!!!!??!!??] Of course, now the Senate needs to pass an equivalent bill in order for the legislation to gain the status of law.”

The APC believes that if they can do their part to keep everyone on the same sheet of music then we can all sing the same tune at least when it comes to legally voting for something. Voting for MY MONEY to head to foreign countries to protect their feral cat problem is NOT THE US CONGRESS’ CONCERN! 

Most of us presume that elected leaders have a greater understanding of the government than we ‘commoners’ do, and in many cases like when the leaders are lawyers, they do.  But that isn’t how “We The People” are supposed to govern ourselves!  The government and its laws were never supposed to get this complicated in the first place.  They were certainly never intended to get so ridiculous either. 

How long is the Declaration of Independence? 

How long is The Bill of Rights? 

How long is the US Constitution? 

NOT LONG AT ALL! 

Yet we formed a whole country based on these documents!!

How long is your HOA’s book?  Your mortgage documents? The lease on your car?  Did you read and understand every word of each page?

Did you sign it?

… There ya go. 

This is how we get into national deficits and fund multi-million dollar EPA studies that measure cow flatulence on a dairy farm as a source greenhouse gases that cause global warming. 

Yep, that one exists!  Here it is!

 

 

Learn what the American Patriots Committee means when they say they want all elected leaders to GRASP and UNDERSTAND the Constitution and the ROLE OF GOVERNMENT leaders before they vote: www.AmericanPatriotsCommittee.org .

Gov. Timmy Kaine Wants ALL YOUR MONEY now!

WHAT’S LEFT of your paycheck when you have liberal spendocrats in charge?  NOTHING.  …Especially when you’re retired and the government wants even MORE of your money from raised property taxes for something you’ve worked hard for already and paid for in full.  Think you own it now?

Governor “I will raise your taxes and here’s how” “Crazy” “Timmahy” Kaine laid out his plan to fund roads last night in Fredericksburg.  <Here’s the full Free Lance-Star story>

He gets three nicknames here because just one isn’t enough for the Gov anymore; he wants to raise so many taxes that just one nickname can’t possibly cover the ridiculously flawed and destructive leadership that Kaine offers- and this guy thinks he’s going to be the VP of the USA? ROFL!!

The article writer at the FLS tends to very favorable to liberal spendocrats, so imagine if this story were written by a conservative reporter while reading, because the slant is a far too kind for the damage Kaine is proposing.

Most notable missing from this discussion in any coverage or debate is

• REDUCING GOVERNMENT SPENDING!  this is a Republican concept it seems but the concept is sound.  We DON’T NEED more government in our lives.
• CUTTING NON-PRIORITY PROGRAMS - since when is the government our mother?
• RAISING HOME VALUES AGAIN- they pay taxes that pave roads when they aren’t in bankruptcy.
• GROWING THE BUSINESS ECONOMY- where employment and sales taxes come from.

---

Here’s what Governor “I will raise your taxes and here’s how” “Crazy” “Timmahy” Kaine wants to take from you now.  This is in ADDITION to the taxe hikes that John “liberal democrat” Chichester and then Gov. Mark Warner already implemented in their Billion dollar debacle a few years back that we’re STILL paying for!

TITLING TAX

• Proposal: Boost the sales tax paid on car purchases from 3 percent to 4 percent. Half of the increase would take effect in January 2009, and half would take effect in July 2009.Scope: statewide
• Purpose: fund upkeep and repairs to about 58,000 miles of state-maintained highways
• Yield: $172 million next year, $212 million per year by 2014

Your cost: Fully phased in, it would add $200 to the purchase of a $20,000 automobile.

GRANTOR’S TAX

• Proposal: Increase the tax paid by people selling homes from 10 cents per $100 of the transaction to 25 cents per $100.
• Scope: statewide
• Purpose: mostly funding for rail and mass-transit projects
• Yield: $142 million next year, $155 million per year by 2014

Your cost: Seller would pay an additional $500 at closing on the sale of a $200,000 home.

SALES TAX

• Proposal: Boost the tax rate on all retail sales except groceries and medicines in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
• Scope: Hampton Roads and Washington’s Virginia suburbs
• Purpose: In Northern Virginia, it would fund new highway projects and expand the Metro transit system and the Virginia Railway Express commuter system; in Hampton Roads, it would fund seven priority projects, including expanding the region’s primary choke point, the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel.
• Yield: in Northern Virginia, $306 million next year and $414 million per year by 2014; in Hampton Roads, $168 million next year, $227 million per year by 2014

Your cost: an additional $32 on a 52-inch high-definition flat-screen TV that sells for $3,200

REGISTRATION FEE

• Proposal: Increase by $10 the yearly fee to register a personal motor vehicle in Virginia.
• Scope: statewide
• Purpose: highway maintenance funding
• Yield: $70 million this year, $73 million per year by 2014

Your cost: Vehicle registration at DMV would increase from $39.50 to $49.50.

–Office of the Governor
http://www.governor.virginia.gov

-How about CUTTING TAXES?  CUTTING SPENDING? SPURRING ECONOMIC GROWTH? WANING PEOPLE OFF THE GOVERNMENT TEET?

BPOL TAX- Bad News for Stafford County, VA and Prices of Everything You Buy

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted 4-3 Tuesday to hold a public hearing about implementing the Business, Professional, and Occupational License Tax; aka BPOL Tax.

The board will consider charging half of the maximum rate allowed by state law during a public hearing July 1. When would you presume the second half will be added?  Is this the spoonful of sugar along with the arsenic we’re supposed to say ‘thank you’ for giving us? Should we expect a press release from the Democrats who support this saying, “We cut your taxes in half”?

BPOL is a new tax to Stafford on businesses’ gross receipts. The counties of Spotsylvania, Prince William, and the City of Fredericksburg charge the tax at various levels of maximum allowances.  The Dillon Rules that Virginia is governed by already allow localities to charge this optional tax. Counties who have lived within their means do not charge this tax. Counties who have mismanaged their income and not planned for rainy days or over-promised socialized government services wthout the means to fund them, do charge these taxes as means of sustaining the bureaucracy.

BPOL supporters say it’s a revenue source that residents are ‘missing out on’. Advocates use the cowardly human student/children shield again by saying it will help ‘fully fund schools’. That’s code-speak for ‘we demand more go toward a system of wasteful management without transparent accountability or else we’re going to do less for your babies, even though you gave us more each year than the previous, it’s still not enough, there is so much more we could squander of your money still!’

The county budget ‘income’ is indeed declining due to sales and real estate tax revenue reductions during this near-depression we’re currently in.  Leaders are faced with either raising tax ‘rates’, raising tax ‘values/assessments’ of property, or finding something else to tax you for in order to keep the same cash dollars coming in to the county.

It’s simply a socialist-government way to think that you are entitled to money that you didn’t earn and have no way of repaying. The United States taxing system was NEVER intended to fund what it funds today.

We have to work MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR for OUR GOVERNMENT right now!!!

If we all signed the back of our paychecks over to the government right now, would he have everything we ever wanted? Democratic thinking says YES. Republican thinking says YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME.

Let me repeat myself: The United States taxing system was NEVER intended to fund what it funds today. Somewhere along the line we lost sight of the role of government in America. This is BOTH the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to blame ESPECIALLY the federal ones. The system is broken because the people IN the system don’t understand it or the Constitution when they make laws. Professional ‘BEGGARS’ (ie: wasteful bureaucrats) line up to exploit these weaknesses and get their pork-barrel projects funded on some coattail of a bill we do want.

The waste process beings, and the financial demands on YOUR pocketbook trickles down to the states (to fund federal projects like wars, international space stations, and funding overthrows of other governments, or just bad trade deals with countries that do little for us but take our money), and from the state to the counties (to fund state projects like bridges, Medicaid, unecessary school projects, roads to nowhere, tax subsidies to big businesses that in turn outsource jobs to India), and from local to YOU directly now (via property taxes, BPOL taxes, county decals, user fees, and again school funding of different line items).

I’ll repeat myself once again: We have to work MORE THAN HALF THE YEAR for OUR GOVERNMENT right now!!!

Businesses currently pay about a dozen taxes just to operate, not including all the fees, permits and tariffs just to get open in the first place.  Indeed, business pay more than their fair share already.  Also, keep in mind that any ‘payment’ the business makes to the county—any at all— comes from sales revenues generates by, well, sales that come from us, the customers.

Any BPOL tax is NOT a tax on businesses, it is a tax on Stafford residents and customers.  It is merely collected by businesses whose prices are now higher to offset their profits being lost.  Make no mistake- a business is not going to just ‘take it on the chin’ or  ’suck it up on the bottom line’ as advocates of BPOL suggest.  Business will do what they have to in order to survive; they will raise their price accordingly.

A BPOL Tax is a defacto tax on consumers. We are consumers.  The price of milk, gas, childcare, car repairs, cars, houses, clothes, coffee, soccer jerseys, school books, and everything else you buy in Stafford County will GO UP.  There is no alternative for businesses BUT to raise prices to offset their new tax if this is passed.

The Stafford Economic Development office uses Stafford’s lack of a BPOL tax as a recruiting tool. There’s a reason for that.  It’s a GOOD THING that we DON’T have a BPOL tax.

New RPV Chairman: Del. Jeff Frederick!

Here are the unconfirmed vote results of the RPV Chairman’s race between Former Lt. Gov. Chairman John Hager and challenger Del. Jeff Frederick.

The results were never officially announced due to Chairman Hager’s announcement that he would concede the race in advance of the results being called for. Considering a race had just ended between Gilmore and Marshall with the split being about a car load worth of votes, this was a nailbiter kind of day, and a bitterly fought campaign between the two chairman candidates.

Chairman-elect Frederick should bring a breath of fresh air to the old-guard mentality of the party. I for one am looking forward to some fresh ideas and new blood.

I pray this is the catalyst for change and a rallying point around new membership statewide. I know our county GOP board is working hard to bring new people into the party and expand our base. i hope you are doing YOUR part in bringing a friend to the next meeting too!

The unofficial, unconfirmed results I was given are as follows:

1st District : 579 - 544 Frederick
2nd District : 534 - 422 Hager
3rd District : 117 - 85 Hager
4th District : 426 - 275 Frederick
5th District : 576 - 508 Frederick
6th District : 772 - 285 Frederick
7th District : 908 - 709 Hager
8th District : 176 - 125 Frederick
9th District : 492 - 394 Frederick
10th District : 593 - 154 Frederick
11th District : 1267 - 433 Frederick

Total: 10,374 delegate votes= 6,097 Frederick (58.8%) v. 4,277 Hager (41.2%)

Dear Spanky, Congrats. R U My BFF Again?

 

 

Your guy won- my guy lost.  Congrats fellow Republican.

 

 

 

 

Gilmore Wins VA GOP Senate Convention- Attendance is Everything Folks!

cross-posted on Bloggers for Marshall:

 

In the closest race I’ve seen in many years, Gov. Jim Gilmore’s Goliath met his David today.

Jim Gilmore is officially the Republican nominee for the November, 2008 election running opposite of liberal tax hiker Mark Warner.

The convention, held at the Richmond Convention Center, was a “nearly” packed house of approximately 3,500 delegates who had volunteered to attend on behalf of their respective counties and districts.

Just about every major player in Virginia politics, past, present and future, was in attendance including Senator George Allen, Congressman Rob Wittman, Del. Mark Cole, Del. Bill Howell, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli and my good friends of The Jeffersoniad Blog Alliance whose appearance in numbers simply overshadow the “real” press.

Bloggers had numbers, results, opinions, humor, interviews in audio, video and print, all available in real time to the public whereas the newspapers were still scribbling in little notebooks writing stories you won’t hear until tomorrow sometime!

TV was noticeably weak in attendance, but there were a few cameras, so you might see a snippet on the boob tube tonight, but I doubt it…

It was GREAT to see and meet a lot of the Virginia blogosphere in person for a change.

The crowd was vociferously in favor of Marshall. Based on decibel levels alone, I would have thought a 75-25 split was eminent. You already know, it wasn’t. That was weird.

We were graced by a video made from President George W. Bush who spoke of keeping party unity, taxes low and a few other stock presidential speech items. It was long and frankly, old rhetoric.

Each county was given a total number of possible delegate votes based on its voting population. Each GOP committee nominated its delegates to attend the convention. No committee successfully put forth as many people as the the possible votes they were allotted, so the delegates who signed up basically represented those who didn’t bother to. Furthermore, those delegates who actually attended the convention got to vote in proportion to the total number of allotted delegate slots.

Some counties had a few hundred possible delegate positions to carry one vote each, but only a few dozen signed up to be delegates and therefore those few dozen voted for the rest. On the day of the convention, of those few dozen who signed up, only a handful showed up, and thus there were instances where a single attendee’s appearance and single ballot carried the weight of as many as 30 delegates!

Spotsylvania and Stafford, part of the First District, had some of the highest Marshall supporting vote ratios in the county itself but the overall number of district-wide delegate votes was what made the difference, and the Henrico area of the 7th District had some of the highest for Gilmore.

For example, if County ABC had 150 total delegate votes and 100 showed up with 90 voting for Marshall, then Bob has 135 out of 150 votes (each delegate weights as 1.5 votes), and County DEF had 100 possible delegate votes and only 2 people showed up and voted for Gilmore, then 100 votes went to Gilmore. Thus 2 people carried the weight of 50 votes each in the second county compared to 90 people only weighing 1.5 votes each.

In that example, had ONE extra person showed up in the second county for Marshall, it would have made the vote 66 votes for Gilmore and 33 for Marshall. Had two shown up, it would be 50-50!

You can see how IMPORTANT ATTENDANCE WAS in this convention!

Bob Barry, a dropped third candidate, received 22 delegate votes from a single district. These votes would have almost certainly been for Marshall, but were disqualified from being counted, and a re-vote was not authorized but Chairman Hager (who lost badly to Jeff Frederick, our new state GOP chairman.) This was a small factor in delegate vote losses for Marshall.

Gilmore outspent Marshall 14:1 and got quite the jump start by about nine months since Del. Marshall was prohibited from campaigning and fundraising while the House of Delegates is in session. This isn’t meant to be an excuse, but it was a factor.

Gilmore’s refusal to change his lifetime of advocating for life itself not beginning until the 8-12 week point in development, thus allowing abortions to occur until that time, will likely never earn him favor with pro-lifers.

He has several other chinks in his armor to overcome that have been aired in this campaign and in his brief presidential bid in 2007. Warner is waiting to exploit these weaknesses and Jim’s virtually broke campaign as of now. Gilmore spent nearly a million dollars during this year long ramp up campaign and has nearly nothing on hand at this point. Warner, however, has amassed 3 million dollars and has no opposition to worry about in his party.

Conservatives and core-value loyalists will have to decide between now and November, if Gilmore is “close enough” to conservative to earn their vote or not. The alternative of course is liberal tax-raiser Mark Warner for six years in the U.S. Senate. One hopes that will be enough to turn out the vote when there are few to no state or local races to bring out the grassroots.

We must however, remember to re-elect U.S. Congressman Rob Wittman, so do make it a point to vote if he’s your federal congressman!

This is the breakdown of delegate votes per district (not the number of people who voted, but the total weighted votes that were cast):

Thanks to Bearing Drift blog for his dedication and hard work live at the convention and recording these votes!

1st: 643.27-490.73 for Marshall (confirmed)
2nd: 612-345.6 for Gilmore (confirmed)
3rd: 121.83-75.16 for Gilmore (confirmed)- ABOUT SEVEN VOTE DIFFERENCE!
4th: 382.53-319.45 for Marshall (confirmed)- FIVE VOTE DIFFERENCE!
5th: 666.17-419.65 for Gilmore (confirmed)
6th: 530.62-507.47 for Gilmore (confirmed)- TWO TO THREE VOTE DIFFERENCE!
7th: 1035.79-581.52 for Gilmore (confirmed)
8th: 156.96-145.04 for Gilmore (confirmed) — ONE VOTE DIFFERENCE!
9th: 551.78-335.22 for Gilmore (confirmed)
10th: 584.5-160.5 for Marshall (confirmed)
11th: 1137-577 Marshall (confirmed)

After the announcement of Jim Gilmore’s win, a pre-made video diary of Jim’s life was played on the big screens. It was LONG to say the least and its audio was like that of a 7th grade science class video on the forming of a star. “Wake me when it’s over”, I told my wife.

A very nice, and again very LONG video honoring Jo Ann Davis’ memory was aired having been introduced by her successor Rob Wittman.

Note to whomever hired this media company- DUMP THEM. The videos aren’t interesting and they are very old fashioned. I think the soundtrack was from the 84 Olympics! You will never win the hearts and minds of young people with this type of video style. It’s more interesting to watch grass grow. Whomever you get to do future videos- make them SHORTER also! Two words: “MTV Generation”.

Bob Marshall shook Jim Gilmore’s hand and congratulated him, then took the stage and told us to “beat Mark Warner” at the end of a brief speech and thanking his family, staff and hundreds of grassroots volunteers. They really did a great job with the time and resources they had, and this effort will not go unnoticed. In fact, it will be sorely missed by future campaigns of candidates with lesser qualities and qualifications.

Bob Marshall is still serving us as a Virginia delegate from Prince William County. He brought us a 7-0 win in a lawsuit that challenged HB3202 (abusive driver fees and unelected tax hiking authority), the Marriage Amendment, and many other success stories during his 17 year (so far) service to Virginia’s House of Delegates.

Thank you Bob for all you’ve done for the party, Virginia and the pre-born. Your principled leadership, accomplishements and steadfast loyalty and understanding of the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions are now legendary.

You’re a patriot in every sense of the word.

You didn’t lose today, we, as voting self-proclaimed conservatives, let you down. I’m personally very sorry for that.

… Gilmore wins: 5,222.73 to 5,156.97

ONE SMALL FAMILY’S VOTES would have made the difference in a Marshall Victory. Did you show up?

 

Jack Fowler, publisher of National Review Endorses Marshall for Senate

Jack Fowler, publisher of National Review, had this to say about our little Senate race in a Comment on Jim Bowden’s blog:

I am the publisher of National Review, so I believe I have some conservative credentials. And a long time ago I was a member of the Spotsylvania Republican Party.

That said, I support Bob Marshall as THE conservative candidate, and I have put my money where my mouth is. Go Bob!

Indeed, the record shows he gave $250 to Bob’s campaign.  Many thanks, Jack!

Cross-posted to the right-wing liberal

Desperately Clinging to Hope at Spank That Donkey, Gilmore’s Ship Sinks Faster

The Right-Wing Liberal (a conservative blog if you don’t get the pun) had a nice roundup of the desperation of the few remaining Gilmore bloggers who haven’t jumped the sinking ship yet.

Notably off the chart of paranoia and conpiracy theories, is Chris Green of Spank That Donkey blog. He’s cooking up all kinds of wild theories about why just about everyone has now endorsed Bob Marshall for the US Senate seat at this weekend’s GOP Convention in Richmond.

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Gilmore’s $800,000 failure to perform plus Illegal Alien amnesty plan

Black Velvet Bruce Li has a great summary of Jim Gilmore’s policy positions and failed attempts in political planning to endow him with the senate seat by some kind of predestined entitlement.

While Jim Gilmore is widely respected among Republicans in Virginia, and I believe with pretty good reason, he’s not someone who has been able to build a base of fierce loyalists since leaving the Governor’s mansion.  His race for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, marred by sparsely-attended press conferences, little attention from the public, and a solidly mediocre performance on the campaign trail lead him to be the very first to drop out of that race.  Not long after giving up there, he switched gears to run for the United States Senate upon the retirement of Senator John Warner, and was immediately crowned the almost-certain nominee who would face off against Mark Warner, especially after derailing Tom Davis.  The party establishment lined up behind him early on, and all the conventional wisdom solidified around the idea that Gilmore was the guy.

Republican Party conventions are not an easy thing to entirely control, however.  Utterly dominated by politically active conservatives, it is a perfect place for someone who might connect very well with these activists but who may not be highly regarded by the establishment to mount an insurgent campaign and throw such carefully laid plans into complete disarray.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of money to win a convention.  Direct mail  and robocalls are nearly useless.  This is a ground game of recruiting convention delegates and lobbying those registered, something the mainstream media cannot observe or well understand, where passion and energy completely dominates the equation.  While Gilmore wanted a convention, he’s not really that much of a convention kind of guy.  But Bob Marshall absolutely is, and now Gilmore’s anticipated coronation is not only in doubt, I think it’s almost a foregone conclusion at this point.

Visit Black Velvet Bruce Li for the rest of this great commentary.