Yes, Virginia . . .
We do have a budget, but dipping into VRS is cause for concern
March 17, 2010

A day late and, in our view, some $620 million short. But Virginia, facing a $4.2 billion shortfall, managed to close the budgetary gap. And the General Assembly achieved said balance without having to raise taxes statewide — something for which all residents should be happy during this time of economic uncertainty and, for many, woe.

Still, the manner in which this was accomplished hardly sits well — and that’s where that $620 million comes in. No matter how defenders of this move care to spin the stratagem, it still comes down to this: The money was taken from the Virginia Retirement System.

Yes, the cash must be paid back (starting in 2013) and with interest (7.5 percent over 10 years). But, as state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel said, in explaining her “No” vote against the final version of the budget, this “raid” on the VRS sets an alarming precedent.

“In my view,” Mrs. Vogel wrote in her final Legislative Update, “this use of VRS monies . . . raises grave concerns about the stability of our retirement fund and our commitment to teachers and state employees. Additionally, credit agencies evaluate VRS as a means of establishing Virginia’s bond rating, which could place our triple-A bond rating at risk.”

In other words, the freshman Mrs. Vogel sees, as perhaps more seasoned Senate hands do not — Walter Stosch, please call your office — that such a move on the part of the Legislature amounts to risky business. Walking a fiscal tightrope, as it were, hoping and praying another economic ill wind doesn’t sweep through the markets, thus endangering Virginia’s high-wire act.

Budget-writing, in any General Assembly session, entails trade-offs. Even in dire economic times — and perhaps especially in such times — politicians seek to minimize pain. But some pain, in the form of sharp and penetrating budget cuts, was inevit-able from the start, once Republican lawmakers, taking their cues from incoming Gov. Bob McDonnell, resolved to attain constitutionally mandated balance without raising taxes.

This was a major plank of Mr. McDonnell’s highly successful campaign, and we deemed it then, as we do now, a good one. Increasing taxation during recessionary times is, plainly and simply, as wrong as it is economically counterproductive.

So the Assembly was left with this alternative: to cut, or cut even more. It chose the former, opting to make up the difference by raising a few fees (court and recordation levies) totaling $95.4 million and by dipping into VRS. By doing the latter, lawmakers believed they could offset even deeper cuts, originally envisioned in the final budget plan offered by outgoing Gov. Tim Kaine, to core services, especially K-12 education.

On this latter score, they were right. Core services were spared deeper pain, much to the relief of officials obliged to provide these services. Clarke County Sheriff Tony Roper, whose office stood to lose three full-time positions as the result of an anticipated 22 percent reduction in state funding, perhaps spoke for many when he said, “We did pretty well, all things considered.” Translated into dollars and cents: a 6 percent cut in state funds rather than 22 percent.

Good, or at least better, news for such agencies, but at what potential cost to the state as a whole? Only time and economic conditions will tell. Virginia faces a testy trip on the tightrope.

Vogel’s votes
VRS ‘raid’ key issue in her ‘nays’
March 08, 2010

Late last month, the state Senate approved its version of a biennial budget whose critical element is resolution of a $4.2 billion shortfall. On Wednesday, the Senate decided to reject House budget amendments and formally send its spending blueprint to a joint committee of conference. Both tallies were identical, 30-10. Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Upperville, voted with the minority both times.

During an extended interview Thursday morning, Mrs. Vogel admitted feeling “guilty, in a way,” about these votes, particularly the second one.

“I’m very proud of the Senate,” she said, noting its approval of a budget without a “$2 [billion] to $3 billion tax increase. There was no way the people would support that . . . But, on the flip side, I had some concerns that, had I voted the other way, I would have trouble looking folks in the eye.”

Foremost among these concerns was an effort to balance the budget on the backs of state employees and pensioners. Borrowing — or, as she said, “raiding” — $500 million from the Virginia Retirement System sets “a terrible precedent.”

Her bottom line: “I just couldn’t vote to underfund [the VRS]. You don’t borrow money like this to pay for bread and milk.”

What’s more, as Mrs. Vogel wrote in her weekly legislative update a few days earlier, “Mortgaging that fund undermines the integrity of the retirement system which credit rating agencies consider when establishing our bond rating, meaning we place our triple-A bond rating at risk.”

Mrs. Vogel also took issue with the Democrat-controlled Senate’s educational priorities, specifically its elevation of Virginia’s pre-K program — a treasured legacy of former Gov. Kaine — at the expense, in her view, of K-12 funding.

“I’ve yet to hear any educator I’ve talked to say that’s more important,” she said. “They’d rather have the money in K-12.”

Mrs. Vogel also had reservations, as she noted in her weekly update, with “a multitude of new fees and fee increases” in the Senate budget.

If she were a conferee, Mrs. Vogel would hone in on priorities — “K-12 education, social services, public safety, meat-and-potatoes stuff” — while calling for the elimination of “the many extraneous programs that are still around.”

She realizes that once the conferees gather, considerable horse-trading ensues — i.e., “folks fighting to put things back in” the budget. Given the chance, she would make the case, as the Senate has, for retention of arts funding so critical to tourism and local economies, particularly here in the Valley.

Still, for all the horse-trading sure to come, Mrs. Vogel is “cautiously optimistic” that a budget can be hammered out on time, by the end of next week. One reason: There are “no chasms,” no huge overriding — and divisive — issues separating the state’s solons.

“This sort of unanimity, it was the result of the election,” she said. “The people said, ‘Please don’t raise my taxes, not this year.’ We all understand that.”

Another reason for Mrs. Vogel’s optimism is the “inclusive” approach taken by Gov. McDonnell, which will be the subject of Monday’s editorial.

Lieutenant Governor, Legislative Leaders Urge New Course on Health Reform
Leaders Express Disappointment with Health Care Summit
March 01, 2010
PRESS RELEASE - Campaign For Responsible Health Reform - Andy Poarch (804) 648-6299

Richmond, VA - Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling, State Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel and Delegate Scott T. Garrett commented today on the proposals discussed at the recent White House Health Care Summit. As part of their comments, the Lieutenant Governor and lawmakers expressed disappointment that the proposals mirrored the irresponsible legislation passed by the House and Senate and that legislative leaders failed to agree to start over on health care reform.

“I am disappointed that the White House and majority leaders in Congress did not take this opportunity to chart a new course on health care reform that leverages areas of broad agreement and relies on common-sense solutions to reducing the cost of health care,” said Lieutenant Governor Bolling. “Instead, they continued to advance ideas that would result only in additional taxes on Virginia families and businesses, deep cuts to Medicare and new funding burdens on Virginia taxpayers as we struggle to bridge a $4 billion state budget deficit.”

The Virginia Campaign for Responsible Health Reform identified several areas where Congress and the White House should find agreement and enact common-sense reforms, including cutting down on waste and fraud, creating new pooling options for small businesses, relief for individuals with pre-existing conditions, and medical liability reform.

“The White House proposals, which are cribbed from the House and Senate bills firmly rejected by the American people, will not achieve the stated goals of making the health system sustainable or stabilizing the budgets of the federal government and American families,” said Delegate Garrett (R-Lynchburg). “At a time when our economy is still in turmoil, plans for trillions of dollars in new health care spending paid for by taxes on middle class families and small business will be devastating, and they will still fail to reduce the cost of health care in America.”

“While I agree with the President’s statement at the White House summit on health reform that we must look for ways to lower the cost of health care, we can’t achieve this goal with legislation focused on penalizing small businesses and individuals,” said Senator Vogel (R-Winchester). “We need to increase access to health care by reducing the cost of health care, and that is the place where Congress should be laser-focused instead of how the federal government can impose control on the health care of Virginians.”

For more information, please visit the website www.responsiblehealthreform.com.

Va. Senate OKs bill for health freedom
Purchasing insurance wouldn’t be required
February 02, 2010
Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

It’s likely that Virginians will soon have a new law that protects them from being forced to buy health insurance as part of the proposed federal health-care reform.

The Health Care Freedom Act crossed its biggest hurdle Monday: the General Assembly’s Democratic-controlled state Senate, where it passed 23-17.

Five Democrats defected to support three identical bills submitted by state Sens. Jill Vogel, R-Upperville, Stephen Martin, R-Chesterfield, and Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk.

“This sends a huge message to Washington,” Vogel said after the vote. “It’s an absolute deal-changer.”

Similar legislation will now be debated in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, where it’s all but assured passage.

From there, the bill will go to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who is expected to sign it into law.

Vogel said she has “every confidence” that will happen.

Virginia could be one of the first states to approve such legislation. Nearly 40 state legislatures are considering similar bills.

“When Republicans asked Senate Democrats to join them in standing up against federal overreach, five decided to put the rights of their constituents ahead of the wishes of Washington, D.C.,” said Pat Mullins, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia. “Even Democrats in the Virginia Senate realize that the health-care nightmare being negotiated behind closed doors across the Potomac is bad news for their constituents.”

The five Democrats who voted with the Republicans were Charles Colgan of Prince William, R. Edward Houck of Spotsylvania, John Miller of Newport News, Philip Puckett of Russell, and Roscoe Reynolds of Henry.

“I don’t think the government has any right telling people they have to buy health insurance,” said Colgan, Senate Finance Committee chairman and the chamber’s most senior member. “We talk about being a free country, let’s be free.”

The Health Care Freedom Act would make it illegal to require Virginians to buy health insurance or punish those who refuse with stiff fines or jail time.

Vogel said it is unconstitutional for the federal government to force people to enter into a contract for health care or anything else.

While she agrees that the nation’s health-care system is broken, she maintains this is not the way to fix it.

“Having to hand our health care over to a massive federal government scares people,” said Vogel. “These reform measures should be left to the states.”

Much of Monday’s debate on the Senate floor focused on mandated health insurance as a violation of the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which provides that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states, and the Constitution’s commerce clause.

Even though Vogel went into Monday’s vote confident that the bills had enough support to win approval, she was still surprised by the outcome.

“This was a really bold act by the Senate, for sure, and a big day for health care in Virginia,” she said. “This is my whole story for the General Assembly session.”

Democrats have a 22-18 majority in the state Senate.

Virginia Democrats were no doubt influenced by the recent election of Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate. His upset victory over Democrat Martha Coakley in a historically liberal state was viewed as public backlash against President Barack Obama’s health-care reform because it gave Republicans enough votes to filibuster the legislation.

Vogel, who represents Winchester, Frederick and Clarke counties, and parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties in the 27th District, says health care is the leading issue among her constituents.

“Individuals and their families should have access to quality, affordable health care,” she said. “However, ceding that authority to a massive federal bureaucracy is not the answer.”

Questions remain about how the state Senate’s health-care bill would hold up in federal court.

Va. Senate clears bill banning mandated coverage
Vogel-sponsored legislation passes 23-17
February 02, 2010
James Heffernan - Northern VA Daily

A bill from state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel that would make it illegal to force Virginians to purchase health insurance has cleared the Senate.

The legislation, designed to pre-empt a crucial component of Democrat-controlled health care plans currently before Congress, passed the chamber by a 23-17 margin.

"I will never dispute that our healthcare system is broken," Vogel, R-Upperville, says in a statement. "Individuals and their families should have access to quality, affordable healthcare. However, ceding that authority to a massive federal bureaucracy is not the answer, and these reform measures should be left to the states."

On the Senate floor Monday, Vogel argued that any attempt by the federal government to mandate health insurance and impose penalties is a violation of the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which reserves those powers not expressly granted to the federal government for the states.

Requiring that Virginians purchase health insurance is unprecedented, Vogel said.

"This really comes down to federalism and honoring that there are some issues best left to the states," which she said serve as the breeding ground for innovation and competition.

Sen. Charles J. Colgan, of Manassas, a co-patron and member of the Commerce and Labor Committee that sent the bill to the floor last month, was one of five Democrats to vote for the measure Monday.

In a statement, Virginia GOP Chairman Pat Mullins praised the group for crossing the aisle on an issue that has become a thorn in the side of congressional Democrats, both in rancorous town hall meetings and in Republican Scott Brown's upset win in a special election for a U.S. Senate seat last month in Massachusetts.

"When Republicans asked Senate Democrats to join them in standing up against federal overreach, five decided to put the rights of their constituents ahead of the wishes of Washington, D.C.," Mullins said.

"The fact the bill got out of Commerce and Labor was impressive," Vogel said by phone Monday. "The fact it got out of the Senate with bipartisan support, there is no question in my mind now that the House [of Delegates] will pass it and the governor will sign it into law."

Identical legislation was submitted in the Senate by Sen. Stephen Martin, R-Chesterfield, and Sen. Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk, and in the House by Del. Bob Marshall, R-Prince William.

Thirty-eight state legislatures currently have similar measures before them, and 13 attorneys general are ready to challenge a federal health insurance mandate on constitutional grounds.

Sheriffs: Restore cuts in budgets
Sheriffs say cuts would hurt their offices
January 28, 2010
Chelyen Davis - Freelance Star

-- Fewer sheriff's deputies in jails and courts, slower emergency response times, elimination of school drug programs, and limited response to traffic accidents could all be a reality under state budget cuts to law enforcement, sheriffs and police chiefs said yesterday.

The officers held a news conference in Richmond to protest more than $160 million in cuts to their state funding that are proposed in former Gov. Tim Kaine's two-year budget bill.
They said the cuts would "devastate" their ability to provide services and ensure public safety.

"We will not be able to adequately protect our communities," said Stafford County Sheriff Charles Jett, who is the president of the Virginia Sheriff's Association. "These proposed cuts may very well compromise the safety of families across the commonwealth."

The budget reductions include changing the ratio of police officers to members of the public, from one officer per 1,500 people to one for every 2,000; slashing in half, from $8 a day per inmate to $4, the state per diem reimbursement for jail inmates; changing retirement benefits; and other cuts.

Jett said the cuts could eliminate nearly 1,500 deputies statewide, and police departments would also likely see job cuts.

The Stafford Sheriff's Office would lose $1.2 million, just under 30 percent of its state funding, Jett said. That equates to 27 deputies that the state won't be paying for, and Jett said he doesn't yet know if the county can help pick up the tab.

In Spotsylvania County, the loss would be about $1.1 million, or just over 30 percent, equating to 26 deputies, said Sheriff Howard Smith.

They and other sheriffs and police chiefs said having fewer officers makes it more dangerous for the remaining officers, who won't be able to rely on quick backup in emergencies, and for both deputies and jail inmates in jails that might have fewer staff.

It would also be more dangerous for the public.

"When people dial 911, they expect someone to show up," said Kevin Carroll with the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police.

Jett and leaders of police chiefs' associations and the state police said that they are already understaffed--there are about 200 state trooper vacancies, said Wayne Huggins, executive director of the Virginia State Police Association.

"It's an extremely dire situation," Huggins said. "The single most important function of the commonwealth is public safety."

William Davenport, the commonwealth's attorney in Chesterfield County, said commonwealth's attorneys are also being cut, and that could impact their ability to prosecute misdemeanors and traffic offenses. He, too, said public safety should be the state's top priority.

"If you're not safe in your community, it doesn't matter how good your schools are, your roads, and your parks," he said.

The cuts were proposed to help make up a $4 billion budget shortfall in the 2011-12 state budgets. Kaine's cuts actually covered just about half of that; he did the rest with tax and fee increases that Republicans say are a no-go, so more budget reductions are likely to be coming as the legislature tries to balance the budget.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, who replaced Kaine, has said he is concerned about the cuts to public safety, but has not yet made a proposal to limit the reductions.

In Spotsylvania, Smith said, he's concerned that a loss of deputies would result in slower response times to traffic accidents. He would probably also have to give up school resource officers and DARE programs. Smith's department has about 192 deputies, he said, of which 88 are paid for by the state.

"It'll be a rough time for the people in Spotsylvania," he said. "The days of being proactive are gone, because all we'd be doing is responding to calls."

Several lawmakers attended the press conference, all promising to do what they could to protect public safety from budget cuts.

"It's really important that people understand the job losses that are going to come," said state Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, who chairs the public safety subcommittee of the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee.

Sen. Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland, came because he has a bill that would raise the fees to file civil lawsuits, with much of the money to go to sheriff's departments. He said police need more, not less, funding in bad economic times.

"When the unemployment rate goes up, you can pretty much guarantee the crime rate's going to go up," said Stuart, a former commonwealth's attorney. He said police "simply cannot provide the services we need if these cuts go through."

Vogel’s bill advances in Senate committee
Measure would make it illegal to mandate that Virginians purchase health insurance
January 27, 2010
Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

Democrats in the General Assembly seem to have taken a cue from last week’s election in Massachusetts of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate.

His victory gives the GOP enough votes in the Senate to filibuster the health-care reform bill proposed by Democrats.

A similar message was sent Monday during a meeting of the state Senate’s Commerce and Labor Committee in Richmond.

Two Democrats — Sen. Phil Puckett of Russell County and Sen. Chuck Colgan of Prince William County — provided the needed votes to pass Republican-sponsored legislation to make it illegal to require Virginians to buy health insurance.

The 8-7 vote came as a surprise to GOP legislators because the state Senate and its Labor and Commerce Committee are controlled by Democrats.

The legislation was submitted in three identical bills by Sens. Jill Vogel, R-Upperville, Stephen Martin, R-Chesterfield, and Fred Quayle, R-Suffolk.

“I’m very happy,” Vogel said of the outcome. “I thought it would die” in the committee.

While it is unlikely that the legislation will pass the full Senate, Monday’s vote sent a message that the federal government has no business forcing people to buy something, Vogel said. “It’s like the federal government telling you that you have to go out and buy a car and what color it needs to be.”

While she conceded that the nation’s health-care system is broken, requiring people to buy health insurance is not the way to fix it, Vogel said.

“This really comes down to Federalism and honoring that there are some issues best left to the states,” Vogel stated in a news release.

Similar legislation is being proposed in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

The outcry is not occurring just in Virginia and Massachusetts. At least 13 attorneys general across the country have vowed to fight the health-care reforms if they become law.

In addition, other state legislatures are proposing bills similar to the ones being considered in Virginia.

“The federal government doesn’t always know best,” Vogel said.

Tea Party turns out for Vogel bill

January 19, 2010
Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

A states’-rights, pro-gun rally brought about 1,000 people to the State Capitol in Richmond Monday.

Many came to support two bills that have been submitted for this legislative session: the Health Care Freedom Act (House Bill 10 and Senate Bill 417) and the Firearms Freedom Act (House Bill 69), said Jamie Radtke, chairman of the conservative Virginia Tea Party Patriots.

The organization, with more than 25,000 followers, supports limited government, fiscal restraint, and strict adherence to the Constitution.

The health-care bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Upperville, would make it illegal to require Virginians to buy health insurance or to punish those who refuse to do so.

The measure is in reaction to efforts by federal leaders to reform health care and mandate insurance coverage.

Legislators in at least 19 states are proposing bills to limit, alter, or oppose parts of the health-care reform package, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Requiring citizens to enter into a contract is unconstitutional, Vogel said.

Radtke praised Virginia for “leading the charge” on 10th Amendment issues. (The amendment provides that powers not granted to the federal government are reserved for the states.)

“The national government has overstepped its bounds on what it has the authority to do under the Constitution,” said Radtke. “This is really going to create a conflict between the states and the federal government, and it’s going to be settled in court.”

Attorneys general in 13 states, including Virginia, are threatening to sue the federal government if the health-care reforms become law.

“We are seeing an enormous response from average Virginians who are tired of the national government eroding our freedoms and taking control of all their decisions,” Karen Hurd, communications director for the Virginia Tea Party Patriots, said in a news release.

Vogel, who represents the 27th Senatorial District, said concern about health-care reform is the top issue with her constituents.

But her bill will probably face an uphill battle in the Senate, where Democrats have a two-vote majority.

The firearms act, sponsored by Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, dictates that guns manufactured or sold in Virginia are not subject to federal regulation.

Montana and Tennessee recently passed similar laws.

Even though questions remain about the legality of the health-care and firearms-freedom acts, Radtke was optimistic: “If we can get both of these bills passed, it will set a precedent that will hopefully start a ripple effect across the country.”

The state’s Republican legislators, who have an ally in Bob McDonnell, Virginia’s first Republican governor in eight years, are submitting other bills as well to fight federal overreach.

Vogel gets a ‘startling’ message

January 13, 2010
Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

Winchester — Constituents from the 27th Senatorial District used the keypads on their phones Tuesday night to send a loud and clear message to state Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Upperville.

During an hour-long interactive town-hall meeting, a large majority said cuts in Virginia’s budget must be made.

Vogel conducted the meeting via conference call. Constituents participated via phone in their homes. The session drew 4,713 callers.

When Vogel asked them how state legislators should close the budget gap in Virginia’s $4.2 billion revenue shortfall, 82 percent voted in favor of more budget cuts.
 
Just 17 percent favored raising taxes.

Their votes were cast by pushing a button on the telephone keypad.

“That’s pretty startling,” Vogel said, seconds after the votes were tallied.

Her town-hall session was held on the eve of the start of the 2010 General Assembly session in Richmond. Last year, Vogel conducted a similar meeting in which 2,400 callers participated.

“It’s a great way to communicate,” she said earlier in the day.

About 120,000 people live in the district, which encompasses Winchester, Frederick and Clarke counties, and parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties.

Callers asked Vogel a variety of questions on topics that ranged from the budget crisis to jobs creation to concerns about health-care reform.

Two calls came from Clarke County about outgoing Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s budget proposal to freeze the Composite Index at current funding levels. The index is used to calculate the amount of state funding local school divisions receive.

“That would have a pretty negative impact on a lot of your counties,” Clarke County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Hobert told Vogel.

She agreed, saying she wants to “fix the index, not freeze it.”
At the beginning of the call, Vogel discussed some of the 30 bills she is proposing this legislative session.

They include measures to study local government, to allow school divisions to set their school calendars, and to create a bipartisan commission to help redraw the state’s political districts in 2011.

Vogel spent most of the day in Richmond, where she described the mood among legislators as “very positive” despite the grim budget outlook.

“There's a real spirit of cooperation ... but we know we have some weighty, weighty, weighty tasks ahead,” she said. “There’s probably nobody at the end of this who’s going to be spared.”

The General Assembly’s 60-day session will begin today.

Lawmakers prepare for Assembly
2010 session to convene Wednesday in Richmond
January 09, 2010
Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

Winchester — Constituents streamed into state Sen. Jill Vogel’s Piccadilly Street office Tuesday afternoon, eager to voice their concerns before the annual legislative session starts next week in Richmond.

Area lawmakers plan to propose bills ranging from requiring state colleges and universities to accept 80 percent of their students from Virginia to requiring people who pick up waste kitchen grease for rendering into biofuel and other products to register with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Del. Joe T. May, R-Leesburg, is helping to draft a transportation revenue bill that addresses state road funding issues.

But the 2010-12 budget will dominate General Assembly discussions.

“These are unprecedented budget times,” said Vogel, a Republican who represents Winchester, Frederick and Clarke counties, and parts of Fauquier and Loudoun counties. “People are telling me, ‘Try to do as little harm as you can.’”

Faced with Virginia’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the state’s 140 legislators must find a way to close the gap on a $4.2 billion revenue shortfall during the 60-day session that begins Wednesday.

Gov-elect Bob McDonnell, the state’s first Republican governor in eight years, will take office Jan. 16. He will inherit an unpopular $77 billion spending plan drafted by outgoing Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

Kaine’s two-year proposal raises the state income tax 1 percent, removes $2.3 billion from public education, law enforcement, and other core services, and reduces the $950 million the state government gives localities as car-tax relief.

About $7 billion has been carved from the budget during the past two years.

McDonnell has not unveiled his budget, but May — who serves on the Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over state budget matters in the House of Delegates — said the panel will offer some “innovative approaches” to soften the budget cuts.

“But it won’t eliminate them,” said May, who represents Clarke County and western Loudoun County.

“It’s just going to hurt”

Bipartisan cooperation?

Seeking a “silver lining”

A ‘great opportunity’
Vogel: ‘Real crises make great leaders’
December 22, 2009

Though their philosophies of governance are diametrically opposite, we could not help but notice the similarities in the responses of presidential chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel to the notion of administrations beginning amidst crisis. In Mr. Emanuel’s case, that crises present great opportunities. In Mrs. Vogel’s, likewise — but also that “real crises can make great leaders” and “tough times demand bold statements.”

In Mrs. Vogel’s mind, as in many others’, there’s no question that Virginia faces a fiscal crisis, one made all the more daunting by the state’s gnawing needs, most principally in the transportation arena.

Of two verities Mrs. Vogel is certain, the first being that money to both balance the budget and “keep the lights on” in the State Capitol must come from somewhere. And, following a number of trips across the top of the state, the second is this: that voters are angry — about proposed cuts to higher education, road woes (“Fix transportation or be fired”), and the prospect of their taxes going up. “It’s an awful place to be,” she told us last week of the upcoming General Assembly session, “but it also presents an awesome opportunity.”

You see, amidst that anger, Mrs. Vogel also sensed a yearning for solutions — new solutions to old problems — and therein lies, in her opinion, Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell’s potential for greatness.

Restructuring government in his conservative image, enacting agency reform, revamping VDOT, even privatizing the ABC stores — all present themselves as possibilities in a fluid political environment to a man extended an unmistakable mandate by state voters.

But, before any such initiatives can leave the station on what Mrs. Vogel calls a “parallel track,” Mr. McDonnell must get Virginia’s fiscal house in order, which will be the subject of Wednesday’s extended editorial chat with our state senator.

8 churches will offer haven to area's homeless
Shelter project will start Jan. 4
December 07, 2009
By F.C. Lowe - The Winchester Star

Winchester — The area’s homeless population will be granted a reprieve for the months of January and February with a new temporary shelter.

Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter (WATTS) will begin Jan. 4 and continue through March 1 in eight area churches, which will each host one week at a time.

“This is a last resort for those who may not be accommodated at other shelters,” said David Witt, pastor of Opequon Presbyterian Church in Kernstown.

The shelter is needed because of the increase in the homeless population and other shelters reach capacity in the winter months, Witt added.

WATTS grew out of two groups — the downtown clergy and faith-based groups from the city and county, said Dan McCoig, associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Winchester and president of the downtown clergy organization.

This is not an original idea in Virginia, according to organizers. One of the closest temporary shelters is in Harrisonburg, McCoig said. “We want to make sure nobody freezes on our streets.”

While no definitive numbers area available for the homeless population, Joseph Shtulman, president/CPO of United Way of Northern Shenandoah Valley, included the following homeless population information in his Community Profile Report: “On any given night, approximately 0.3 percent of the population is homeless. This equates to around 450 individuals in the area of Winchester and Frederick, Clarke, and Shenandoah counties.

“Our local shelters are stretched and the church-sponsored initiative will be much needed to serve those unable to access other shelter care,” he added.

He also noted that in this economy, there is a phenomenon of more homeless young families who aren’t getting picked up in the national statistics. “They are living with friends and family, sleeping in cars, and not going to social agencies. They are trying to make it on their own.”

Informing the public

Informing the public has been a goal of the shelter organizers, who are seeking a 501c3 nonprofit status, so that no one is surprised about the project and to find others who want to help.

“Our FAQ sheet and an accompanying ‘up-to-date’ information was mailed to over 30 community partners and agencies over two weeks ago,” Witt said. “Groups included fire and rescue, law enforcement, Social Service departments, and many others who have volunteered to help us with many tasks.”

Some concern has been expressed by parents at a preschool operated by one of the shelter’s hosts, the First Presbyterian Church on the Loudoun Street Mall in Winchester.

Tara Shifflett of Winchester has two daughters in the program but is not a member of the church. When she received information, she was disturbed by the types of people the shelter may accept — “those with alcohol and drug addiction and sex offenders,” according to the literature distributed by WATTS.

“I believe people do need a place to stay but couldn’t resources be provided by other churches so it would not be in the same place as a preschool?” she said. “I don’t have to have my children in that environment.”

The shelter will operate from 7 p.m to 7 a.m. so that it will not interfere with the regular church programs, Witt explained.

“Our number one concern is for the safety and security of the churches and volunteers,” Witt said. “There is no overlap and there will be no children present either staying in the shelter or serving as volunteers.”

Erica Truban of Winchester, who is affiliated with the church, is also concerned for her 4-year-old who attends the preschool. The possibility of registered sex offenders being housed is her main concern, not the program itself.

“We spend time trying to protect our child,” she said. “I would feel 100 percent comfortable if this group would be dropped.”

The parents have the support of Art Major, a Winchester City Council member.

“Their hearts (shelter organizers) are in the right place, but my responsibility is to all the citizens to provide a safe environment,” he said.

A meeting was held recently to address the concerns and another will be held this week, McCoig said. “There were expressions of support for the ministry,” he said. ”There were also expressions of serious reservations as well as objections.”

He reinforced that this is an emergency shelter of last resort — keeping persons out of the coldest weather during the overnight hours. “In one sense WATTS is ‘death prevention.’”

“We don’t want anyone consumed with fear,” Witt added, and said the concerns will be addressed and the program will be even better because of them.

Community outreach

Shelter organizers are reaching out to other programs for guidance and direction as well as to the community for assistance.

“We have consulted with others and are learning from them,” McCoig added.

Jimmy DeMartinis, daily operations director for the Union Rescue Mission in Winchester, calls the temporary shelter a good idea. “We absolutely need another way to help people get back on their feet and become a responsible functioning member of society,” he said.

One of the four mission’s programs is providing temporary shelter and serves adult males over the age of 18 and usually houses about 30 a night.

“If we are full, we have to turn people away for the night, but we give them food,” he said.

As far as using churches, he said that is a good idea since the homeless will be around Christians.

Major Dan Turner, corps officer of The Salvation Army, calls the temporary shelter a good thing that will draw attention to the need for housing in the community.

His facility has a 48-bed capacity and in the winter months will have an overflow of about 20 to 25 people.

He has advised the organizers of the temporary program and is excited about it. “It’s all good but just a first step.”

The WATTS shelter will accommodate about 20 to 25 people a night, men or women ages 18 and older.

Eight churches will host and partner churches will help staff the shelter, prepare meals, provide transportation and personal care, and make financial contributions.

Supplies and cots will be owned by WATTS and moved from church to church each week, Witt explained.

Habitat for Humanity will provide a truck to move the items, Shenandoah Valley Westminster-Canterbury will provide linens and laundry service, C-CAP will house the supplies during the off season, according to organizers. State Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Upperville, is providing legal expertise.

Marc Roberson, pastor of Welltown United Methodist Church, explained that they are working with city officials and state and city police for advice on procedures as well as working with existing agencies and food banks.

“People are coming together, Roberson said. “They have stepped up and this is bringing people together.”

Work in progress

Pat Konschak, a member of the planning group, is helping with numerous aspects of the project including procuring supplies.

“This is a work in progress and we would like to include as many people as desire to be part of this greatly needed effort,” he said.

The planning began at the beginning of 2009, according to McCoig, and continued with a work group of 12 lay and clergy members that meets periodically to hash out details.

“In mid-September, we were afraid we couldn’t get it going and then it started to come together,” McCoig said.

The staff will include one paid manager to stay up all night. The rest will be volunteers.

The host church will provide shelter seven days a week from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m with an evening meal and a light breakfast served.

Fran Ricketts, director of The Congregational-Community Action Project, said her organization has been on board since day one.
“I’ve seen the need for more than eight years. It’s been a long time coming,” she said.

She predicts the program will start off slowly since the homeless are usually skeptical and used to being on their own.
 
An example is the soup kitchen run weekly by the Knights of Columbus on Cameron Street that has been in operation for at least 10 years.

“They started with three people and now it is up to about 100 people,” she said.

C-CAP, 112 S. Kent St. will serve as the pickup and drop-off site for the eight weeks for those seeking shelter.

“This is such a loving, giving community that the shelter will grow and maybe start sooner next winter,” she added.

And Witt agrees, “We are starting small, but expect it to grow in the future.”

What you should know

WATTS

Winchester Area Temporary Thermal Shelter participants will be transported by van from the C-CAP office at 112 S. Kent St. in Winchester to temporary shelters set up at these churches:

* Opequon Presbyterian (213 Opequon Church Lane, Kernstown), Jan. 4 to 11
* First Presbyterian (116 S. Loudoun St., Winchester), Jan. 11 to 18
* Grace Evangelical Lutheran (26 W. Boscawen St., Winchester), Jan. 18 to 25
* Braddock Street United Methodist (115 Wolfe St., Winchester), Jan. 25 to Feb. 1
* Stephens City United Methodist (5291 Main St.), Feb. 1 to 8
* Christ Episcopal (114 W. Boscawen St., Winchester), Feb. 8 to 15
* Sunnyside Presbyterian (1270 N. Frederick Pike), Feb. 15 to 22
* First Baptist Church (205 W. PIccadilly St., Winchester), Feb. 22 to March 1.

Vogel: Jobs would ease funding gap

November 19, 2009
By Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, says she’s “all ears” when listening to ideas about saving money and creating jobs and revenue for the cash-strapped state.

Virginia officials need to cut $250 million more from its already ravaged budget, then brace for a projected shortfall of nearly $3 billion for the next two years, legislative budget writers learned this week.

“Where are we going to find $3 billion to cut?” Vogel asked Wednesday after hosting a private fundraising breakfast for her 2011 campaign at The George Washington Hotel. “That’s an enormous amount of money.”

Sometimes the direst situations lead to the greatest opportunities, she said.

The state’s financial crisis could create a more “business-friendly” Legislature, she added. “We need jobs and revenue to solve our budget problems.”

The 27th District’s senator, 39, is seeking “creative ideas” to take to the 2010 session of the General Assembly, which begins Jan. 13 in Richmond.

Thirteen business and government leaders attended Wednesday's event, paying $250 to $2,500 a plate to voice concerns and offer suggestions. It was one of several fundraising events Vogel has held in advance of her 2011 re-election bid.

“It was a good opportunity to get together and talk with some folks,” said Vogel, who is in Portsmouth today for a special meeting of the Senate Finance Committee. “The best ideas and solutions are coming out of the business community.”

As she raises money for 2011, Vogel is mindful that the General Assembly will draw new legislative districts in 2011.

“I like to think that my district will stay reasonably intact,” she said. “I’m confident it will.”

The 27th District includes Winchester, Frederick, Clarke, Shenandoah, and Warren counties, and parts of Fauquier and Loudoun counties.

Vogel was elected to her first four-year term in 2007, claiming the seat vacated by longtime state Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester.

She won with 48 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Karen K. Schultz and independent Donald C. Marro.

It was a costly victory. The Vogel campaign spent $1,228,467 on the general election and $519,944 on the Republican primary leading up to it (Vogel defeated challenger Mark D. Tate with nearly 60 percent of the vote).

She hopes her next campaign will not be so pricey, noting that she has worked hard to build support in the district.

“A state Senate race shouldn’t cost that much,” Vogel said, adding that the 2007 race was “unusally contentious.”

The freshman senator now has about $15,000 in her campaign war chest.

Dynamics changed, say lawmakers

November 05, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Tuesday’s elections will change the dynamics of the General Assembly, lawmakers from the region say.

Republicans swept all three statewide offices and added four seats in the House of Delegates, where they now hold at least an 18-seat majority.

Another seat is subject to a recount because of Ron A. Villanueva’s 16-vote victory over incumbent Del. R.W. Mathieson, D-Virginia Beach.

If Villanueva keeps his lead, Republicans will hold 59 seats to 39 for the Democrats. The House also has two independents.
In the state Senate, Democrats hold a slight advantage, 21 seats to 19 for the GOP.

The 2010 General Assembly session will begin Jan. 13.

The election results have significantly altered the political landscape, said Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County.

“It is going to change the dynamics of the General Assembly quite a lot,” he said. “Instead of a Democratic governor and Senate, we will have a Republican governor and a Republican-dominated House, making our work a lot easier.”

May won re-election along with Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, and Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal.

Athey said Tuesday’s vote gives Republicans an opportunity to work to implement the agenda of Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell.

“We need to follow through on the issues Bob McDonnell ran on, which is spurring job growth, cutting taxes, and reducing the size of government,” he said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity and a big responsibility.”

Athey added: “With decreased revenues, there are a lot of difficult decisions to make. Now is not the time to consider raising taxes or expanding the scope of government.

“At the state and local level, we have got to look at ways where we can reduce government,” he said, without hurting core services such as transportation, education and public safety.

Sherwood said voters signaled their displeasure with the federal government on Election Day.

“It was their opportunity, and they wanted to talk about it, whether it was their vote today or their concerns about the future,” she said.

Democrats still have a role to play in the General Assembly, noted Del. Ward L. Armstrong, D-Martinsville, the House minority leader.

“Our role hasn’t changed,” he said. “I think the role of the minority is to present alternative views to make certain both sides ... are considered.”

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said the election could push Senate Democrats in either of two directions.

“In some instances it may force them to really dig in their heels since they won’t have a governor of their own party to do the heavy lifting and defend their ground,” she said by e-mail Wednesday. “On the other hand, I think it is a catalyst for greater compromise with such a narrow majority.”

“It will sure be a first for me to have a governor of my own party,” added Vogel, “and I look forward to more support and collaboration from the executive [branch] on issues where I need to go to the mat for my district. I like to think that I can work with anybody, no matter what their party, and that has been the case so far. But this can only make it easier.”

Vogel said her Commonwealth Caucus is an example of the two parties working together. The caucus — two Republicans and two Democrats — has been able to stake out some middle ground and advance legislation that otherwise could have failed.

“I don't always vote with my party; I vote what is in the best interest of my district and [the] same will happen with their side,” she said.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel Debates the Issues
Forum provides chance to hear issues, if not the candidates
October 28, 2009
By Monty Tayloe

Winchester — At the National Association of Retired Federal Employees forum Friday, political candidates of both parties made their respective cases for the voters — in absentia.

Instead of Republican gubnatorial candidate Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling, the nearly 100 attendees at the event held at the Best Western Lee-Jackson heard from fellow Republican State Sen. Jill H. Vogel.

In place of Democratic opponents state Sen. Creigh Deeds and Jody Wagner, Winchester City Council Democrat Evan Clark spoke.

According to Clark and Vogel, the intense schedules of statewide candidates a little more than a week from election day kept McDonnell, Deeds, Bolling, and Wagner from attending.
“This is a very competitive race and every vote counts,” Clark said to explain Deeds’s absence.

“I guess they thought I was enough of a windbag to speak for all of them,” joked Vogel.

Clark and Vogel spoke to the assembled NARFE members on the merits of their parties’ respective tickets.

Vogel said Bolling had impressed her in his role as president of the Senate as “very savvy and very pro-business.”

She said that McDonnell was focused on improving transportation in Northern Virginia and creating jobs in the state.

In his turn as a surrogate candidate, Clark read laudatory editorials about Wagner and Deeds from the Washington Post.

Though Vogel and Clark each presented their party tickets’ views on a broad range of topics, when the forum moved to the question-and-answer phase most attendees seemed to be focused on a single issue — high density power lines. Several members of the audience asked questions about the statewide candidates’ stance on the PATH power line and on possible legislative ways to stop it.

“Sen. Deeds wants to make sure there’s a balance between meeting energy needs and impact on the community,” Clark said.

Although Vogel has a history of fighting against the construction of the lines, she admitted that her collegues in other parts of the state didn’t all see the issue the same way.
“It’s very difficult for those outside the area to appreciate the devastating impact here,” Vogel said, pointing out that Dominion Power is the largest political contributor in the state.

“They give to everyone but me,” she said. The surrogate candidates also spoke about a proposal, endorsed by McDonnell, to sell the state-owned Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores to provide an infusion of cash to prop up Virginia’s hurting budget. Clarke said that Deeds does not support the measure because of its possible effect on liquor store employees.

Vogel said the money generated by the sale could be very important in the upcoming fiscal year. At the start of the forum, Vogel spoke for a few minutes about the upcoming issues facing the General Assembly, and according to her, the prognosis is grim.

She said that while this year’s budget had included substantial cuts, legislators had been able to soften the blow by “backfilling” with federal stimulus money.

“There won’t be any federal stimulus this year,” Vogel said. She said that while she would work to protect funding for education, and public safety without raising taxes, next year’s budget would be a hard one for legislators.

“Nobody believes the economy is going to turn around by January,” Vogel said. “We’re not sure what the right answer is,”

A driving need
New law protects volunteers who help with transportation
October 19, 2009
By Cynthia Cather Burton - The Winchester Start

Three times a week, a Faith in Action volunteer gives Mike Shifflett a ride to his dialysis appointment at Winchester Medical Center.

The 43-year-old Frederick County resident said doesn’t know how he would get there otherwise.

“Their help means everything to me because I don’t drive,” Shifflett said. “They do this on their own time, with their own car, with their own gas.”

And until recently, at their own risk.

Though volunteer drivers are protected by Good Samaritan laws, they can still be vulnerable to litigation if an accident occurs, according to Faith in Action Director Nancy Feldman.
That’s why a new piece of legislation approved by the General Assembly is crucial to the well-being of programs that rely on their help.

Effective July 1, volunteer drivers for nonprofit organizations such as Faith in Action and Meals on Wheels are eligible for free driver liability coverage through the Virginia State Division of Risk Management.

The coverage protects a volunteer and his or her own insurance from liability.

“This is very important for our program,” said 71-year-old Mike Morrison, who drives about a dozen times a week for Faith in Action. “It gives us an added sense of security.”

Faith in Action is the “model program” for the new legislation, said Feldman, who praised two local legislators — state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Upperville, and Del. Beverly Sherwood, R-Frederick — for sponsoring the bill.

She also cited David Ziegler, executive director of Our Health, a local agency that promotes community wellness, for shepherding the bill.

“Charity giving and volunteerism have taken a bit of a hit because of the economy,” Feldman said. “This is just one way to help encourage people to continue volunteering.”

During a three-year period ending Dec. 31, 2008, Faith in Action volunteers provided 4,521 client transports, logging 6,488 hours and 78,722 miles.

This year, the group’s volunteers have logged 8,081 miles for 459 transports.

“We have become a relied-upon service, and the need is growing,” Feldman said.

Winchester-based Faith in Action was established in 2004 in affiliation with Valley Health, parent company of Winchester Medical Center, and with support from more than two dozen area congregations.

The organization has an annual budget of $72,000, mostly funded through donations and grants. Two part-time employees coordinate the volunteer pool.

About 50 people regularly drive elderly, disabled, and chronically ill clients from Winchester and Frederick, Clarke, and Shenandoah counties to medical appointments.

Feldman said the volunteers are safe and conscientious behind the wheel. In fact, she isn’t aware of any of them being involved in an accident while driving a client.

But all it takes is one wreck to discourage others from volunteering, she said. “This legislation helps alleviate a lot of concerns potential volunteers may have.”

So far, about 40 Faith in Action volunteers have signed up for the liability coverage.

To register, volunteers must complete an eight-hour AARP driver safety course.

Suzanne and Bernie Demski are among those who have taken the class.

Personal liability wasn’t a big concern for the Demskis, but they’re glad to have the extra protection, said Suzanne, adding: “It’s a good idea.”

Completing the course can also help participants to obtain a better rate on their automobile insurance.

The free driver liability coverage is expected to become available to volunteer drivers across the state next month.

“People are so grateful for the help we provide,” said Morrison, whose clients have included transplant and cancer patients. “We help fulfill their dreams.”

Faith in Action needs volunteer drivers. To learn more, call 540-536-1006.

Sen Jill Vogel says citizen-intervenors should be heard where they live
State Senator Jill Vogel also asks the SCC to move PATH hearings to Leesburg
October 13, 2009

State Senator Jill Vogel wrote the SCC last week, and asked them "to respect the numerous citizen intervenors in my district who have a stake in the outcome of these proceedings and who wish to have an opportunity to hear testimony on the matter, present evidence and question witnesses in a venue convenient to Leesburg, Virginia."

Senator Vogel has appeared at the public hearings and, in an earlier power struggle, opposed the TRAIL initiative by Dominion.

Her correspondence, addressing the site of the SCC's evidentiary hearing to consider PATH's proposed 765kv power line through Northern Virginia was based on what's fair and just; she wrote the SCC's Joel
Peck: "It is critical to the outcome of these proceedings that every interested party have a fair and equal opportunity to be heard. It is clear that a venue far from Leesburg places an increased hardship on these citizen participants who have much to contribute to your deliberations." The SCC proposes to hold the hearings in Richmond, rather than where the dispute resides.

Senator Vogel also commented on the fact that the SCC went almost twice as far to Grundy, VA (350 miles from Richmond) just last year to hold another hearing in that community; she wrote: "I appreciate that there is precedent for such a change of venue and I can think of no more compelling case than this to extend that same consideration to my community."

A copy of Senator Vogel's letter is enclosed (below) and attached.

"We have been privileged to have our local elected officials fighting for the communities they represent," said John Flannery, who represents River Edge, a citizen-intervenor opposing PATH.

"We're glad and grateful," Flannery said, "that Jill is fighting for her community and for our right to be heard by the SCC and to participate where we work and live, rather than to watch the proceedings on a web broadcast without any opportunity to inspect the evidence, question the witnesses, or object to the proceedings; we can only hope the SCC gets the message and does the right thing here."

Bolling stresses GOP’s focus on jobs
Seeking another term as Virginia’s second in command, candidate visits city
September 30, 2009
By Drew Houff - Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling believes he and Robert F. McDonnell form the perfect ticket for Virginians in the November election.

Bolling, who visited the city Tuesday as part of his campaign against Democrat Jody Wagner, talked with local Republicans and businesspeople on the Loudoun Street Mall.

To Bolling, the concerns of area residents seem no different than those of other Virginians, with many worried about the direction taken by Congress and President Barack Obama. And in state and local issues, Virginians are concerned with the economy and jobs, he said.

Bolling, 52, said he is seeking re-election as lieutenant governor because he decided early in 2008 that he could not afford to leave his regular job and devote himself full-time to a campaign for governor.

He said McDonnell, then the attorney general of Virginia, was surprised but appreciative that Bolling was willing to run again for lieutenant governor.

“It was my decision [not to challenge for the gubernatorial nomination],” Bolling said. “The tough thing about being lieutenant governor in Virginia is it is still a part-time job. I just wasn’t in a position in my life to run for governor, and the last thing the [Republican Party] needed was a protracted battle between two friends.

“It was the right decision for me, personally, and the right decision for the party. It really gives us the best chance to win.”

Bolling, who works as an insurance broker in Hanover County, said the pairing is a strong ticket for the GOP against state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds and Wagner.

“People are worried about the economy and jobs. They need fiscal integrity, and people are scared to death about what is going on in Washington,” he said.

The biggest change for the Virginia GOP, Bolling said, is that it has gotten over a malaise that made it “the party of no” and instead is willing to offer solutions.

“When a [political] party has been the party of power for a while, it is the tendency for that party to be influenced by an arrogance of power,” he said. “It makes them think they can win and stay in power without offering up any solutions and ideas.”

Bolling said the Democrats’ string of successes in Virginia have led them to make the same mistakes.

“The Democrats are gripped by the same arrogance of power that they do not offer any positive solutions to real-life problems,” he said. “What they don’t realize is that the majority of people don’t give a rip about party labels.”

Bolling said transportation, a key issue for former Democratic Gov. Mark Warner and current Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, highlights the different perspectives held by the two parties.

The Democrats wish to raise taxes for transportation, while the GOP seeks innovative solutions to provide for road construction and maintenance, he said.

Bolling said he and Kaine have managed to have a good working relationship — despite their political differences.

The two worked closely on developing new state regulations for coal mining safety and some state health-care innovations, he said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate main player at nonpartisan political rally

September 24, 2009
By Gary Shipley

WINCHESTER -- It was all about face-to-face contact at the 10th annual HobNob in the Valley on Thursday.

The annual nonpartisan political rally and mixer at Shenandoah University's Dunn School of Pharmacy drew a sizable crowd.

So many politicians showed up that the organizers decided to forego stump speeches in favor of old-fashioned retail politicking.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell was the headliner at Thursday's event. Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, was unable to attend.

That didn't prevent some verbal sparks from flying, though.

Deeds' campaign has hammered the Republican former attorney general over a controversial college thesis he wrote in 1989, but recent polling indicates that the damage has been limited.

There's a reason for that, McDonnell said.

"I'm focusing on what people care about. Right now overwhelmingly it's jobs, it's economic development, it's improving schools and roads," he said. "That's what everybody is telling me."

"Sen. Deeds is focusing on past governors, past presidents and old college papers," he said.

McDonnell also took issue with a TV ad Deeds' campaign is running in southwest Virginia, which accuses McDonnell of siding with American Electric Power when it sought a rate hike at the State Corporation Commission.

The ad accuses McDonnell of recommending a $180 million rate increase to state regulators.

"It evinces a profound misunderstanding of what the attorney general of Virginia does. It is false," he said. "We were actually able to reduce the rate hike by hundreds of millions of dollars."

The ad is "flat wrong, and I think it's knowingly wrong," he said.

"If he had any decency, he'd pull the ad."

McDonnell was the only politician to give anything resembling a stump speech. But several candidates for the House of Delegates did make their pitch to voters.

Del. Beverley Sherwood, R-Winchester, said she has the experience to be an effective voice in Richmond.

"I'm very much involved at the state level, and we're in very challenging times," she said.

A House budget conferee, Sherwood said she continues to work on the state's financial problems even though the legislature isn't in session. Her opponent in the 29th District, independent Aaron Tweedie, argued that he deserved voters' support because of the accessibility he'd bring to the office.

"My platform is incredibly simple: accessibility, accountability and transparency," he said.

Tweedie pledged to hold a yearly session in each of the district's precincts to talk to voters about how he should vote going into the session, as well as make his home phone number and e-mail address available to the public.

"Anyone and everyone will have a chance to contact me and have an equal chance to affect legislation," he said.

Jack Todd, the Constitution Party candidate in the 18th House of Delegates District, said he'd focus on a coming agricultural crisis if elected to office.

"We have a farming crisis in Virginia," he said. As older farmers retire, they're not being replaced.

"Fauquier County has about 30 percent of the farming industry in Virginia. A lot of retiring farms are going to be closing down, and that's something we have to prevent," he said.

Todd hopes to unseat incumbent Del. Clifford L. "Clay" Athey, R-Front Royal, who was not at the event.

Election Day is Nov. 3.

Federal jobs transforming area economy

September 23, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

Winchester — Uncle Sam is putting a white collar on this blue-collar area.

One of the fastest-growing employers in the Winchester-Frederick County region is the federal government.

In 2004, 431 people worked for the federal government in the city and county.

Now the number exceeds 1,200 — and hundreds of jobs are expected to be added in the next few years.

Timothy O. Kestner, an economist with the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) in Richmond, said the northern Shenandoah Valley is an attractive spot for federal jobs. It offers relatively easy access to main offices in Washington, yet falls outside the “blast zone,” the area within a 50-mile radius of the capital that could be the target of a nuclear attack.

Federal jobs are a vital component of the local workforce, said Eugene Schultz, manager of the local VEC office.

Not only does the government offer better salaries than many jobs in the private sector, but the benefits are also quite generous.

A growing presence

For years, local residents have found jobs with such federal agencies as the U.S. Postal Service and the Social Security Administration.

Another wave of federal workers arrived in the early 1990s when the local Army Corps of Engineers office increased its activities during the Desert Storm and Desert Shield military operations.

In 2008, the Federal Emergency Management Agency — on Mount Weather since 1959 — expanded and opened a new facility off Martinsburg Pike (U.S. 11) in Stephenson.

The FBI has 150 local employees at offices in Winchester and east of Stephens City. Hundreds of jobs will be added once the FBI builds its high-security records-storage facility in Clear Brook.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said the northern Shenandoah Valley is a rich source of talented workers who can meet the federal government’s demand for skilled labor.

Federal employees, she said, subsequently enjoy a better quality of life in the Shenandoah Valley than in the Washington metropolitan area.

“We have excellent schools, less congestion and a lower cost of living. In short, we have a dream place to live and work.”

Army Corps of Engineers

When Deborah Duncan moved back to the United States after working for the Corps of Engineers in Japan, she had a few requirements for her new job.

She wanted to stay with the federal government, but did not want to have a grueling commute.

In 2004, Duncan found a position at the Corps of Engineers’ Transatlantic Programs Center in Frederick County.

“What a great quality of life for my family,” she said. “It has beautiful scenery and I get to work an exciting mission for Transatlantic Programs, where I am helping soldiers.”

On Prince Frederick Drive off Millwood Pike (U.S. 50) east of Winchester, the Transatlantic Programs Center employs about 330 civilians and 36 military officials.

It is the 15th-largest employer in Winchester-Frederick County, according to VEC data.

The center plans to hire 60 more employees this year to conduct work in Egypt and Central Asia. When a new division is added later this year, 18 additional workers will be needed.

The Corps of Engineers has had a longstanding tradition of assisting in military efforts, said Roger L. Thomas, chief of the local Construction Operations Division.

The corps, a division of the Department of Defense, placed more than $14 billion in construction projects in Saudi Arabia from 1970 through the early 1980s. It also built more than 300 schools in Iraq, as well as a hospital in Baghdad.

Personnel at the local office have designed airfields, hospitals, and even the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center in Jordan to battle regional terrorism.

The center employs financial and program analysts, as well as civil, electrical, and mechanical engineers.

For Thomas, being able to do exciting work while still participating in community activities (he’s a member of the Frederick County Planning Commission) and helping his children in after-school activities is a huge plus.

FEMA

In April 2008, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, opened a $12.7 million Disaster Operations Center in Stephenson.

With 600 full-time employees, FEMA ranks as the 10th-largest employer in Winchester-Frederick County, according to VEC data.

Hundreds of additional workers are hired on a temporary basis during active hurricane seasons.

Its 120,523-square-foot building is the second largest FEMA facility in the country, trailing only the headquarters at Federal Center Plaza in Washington.

Twenty-four hours a day, the rows of cubicles in the Stephenson building are full of employees helping disaster victims nationwide seek federal aid.

Recruiting the FBI

The region’s success in attracting federal jobs was highlighted when the FBI decided to build its records facility on farmland owned by George Sempeles east of U.S. 11 and Interstate 81 at Clear Brook.

The proposed 974,000-square-foot complex, which will house all the agency’s records, will include an office building and a records-storage facility.

When it eventually opens, an estimated 1,000 to 1,300 people will work there.

Ground has not been broken for the complex, which was originally supposed to open in 2010. FBI officials said this week that a revised project schedule will be issued soon.

Recruiting the FBI was more challenging than attracting other employers to the northern Shenandoah Valley, said Patrick E.W. Barker, executive director of the Winchester-Frederick County Economic Development Commission, who played a large role in regional officials’ pursuit of the facility.

“With the FBI, details of the actual occupations are not clearly defined yet,” he said. “It’s difficult to articulate what sort of information on similar jobs in the commonwealth [are appropriate].”

Adding to the obstacles, the FBI originally needed to transfer a large number of employees from Washington.

Barker said the government officials requested information on Winchester-Frederick County, with details on schools, housing, and cultural amenities.

County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard C. Shickle Sr. said the county government didn’t have to make extraordinary efforts to attract FEMA, but actively wooed the FBI.

“We found out the average [pay with benefits] and it was above average by a company here,” he said.

The latest information provided to county leaders indicates that the FBI will not move as as many workers as expected. This will open more job opportunities for local residents.

Still, Shickle said he might not be as willing to aggressively pursue another federal employer in the future.

The government’s demands are extensive, he said, making it tough for local officials to decide between turning a piece of property into another government facility or making it a commercial enterprise — a much simpler operation.

Deciding on a site

Upon learning that the FBI sought a site for its records center, Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, pitched the Winchester-Frederick County area as a good fit.

“The FBI is very happy with the location,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “They wanted a place outside the Washington, D.C., metro area, yet close enough so they can have access to their main offices. They also wanted it done in a cost-effective way.”

It was up to the FBI and local officials to work out the details in an agreement suitable to each side, he said.

County Administrator John R. Riley Jr. said the recruitment of the FBI was interesting because the federal officials did not like the initially proposed site off U.S. 50 east of Winchester.

The FBI’s chosen site probably indicates the way it plans to recruit employees, possibly seeking a large number of workers from Martinsburg, W.Va., or Hagerstown, Md.

Those workers, Riley said, can easily travel along I-81.

“Just like with any other industry, we try to guide them to sites we have prepared in anticipation of their arrival,” he said. “It’s not the optimal site [that was chosen], but at the same time we will make it work.”

Too much of a good thing?

Some people aren’t happy with large-scale federal employers moving into the area, but Riley isn’t one of them.

“Some people say the federal government doesn’t pay real estate taxes, but they lease these facilities,” he said. “The owners of these facilities do pay real estate taxes, and that is a real substantial revenue from that tenant.”

Area state legislators say the prospect of more federal jobs in Winchester or Frederick County is a good thing, and the jobs are a strong indication of the quality workforce available.

Wolf, however, cautions against a buildup of federal jobs in the region. A continued influx of federal agencies could lead to overcrowding or other problems.

“You don’t want to become like Washington, D.C.,” he said. “The quality of life, the beauty of the area, and everything about living in the Valley is too important.”

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com

Americans for Prosperity Applauds Virginia State Senator Jill Vogel
Signs No Climate Tax Pledge
September 03, 2009
Americans for Prosperity

RICHMOND—The Virginia chapter of the grassroots free-market organization Americans for Prosperity (AFP-VA) today applauded State Senator Jill H. Vogel (27th District) for signing the group’s “No Climate Tax Pledge.” Vogel joins over 245 lawmakers on the federal, state and local levels pledging to “oppose legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue.”

“The one thing elected officials should all be able to agree on is that global warming shouldn’t be used as an excuse to hike taxes on citizens and businesses,” said AFP-VA State Director Ben Marchi. “We encourage all of Virginia’s elected officials and candidates for elected office to sign the pledge.”

Prominent Virginia pledge signers include: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor; Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling; St. Sens. Martin, Ruff and Cuccinelli; and St. Delegates Carrico, Wright, Cox and Pogge.

Cap-and-trade took its first step toward enactment when the U.S. House narrowly passed the Waxman-Markey energy bill, which escaped the lower chamber by a scant seven votes despite significant bipartisan opposition. However, key Democratic senators have expressed opposition to attempting to pass cap-and-trade this year. President Obama has made no secret of his support for the bill, which would be the largest tax increase in American history. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has scored the plan as an $846 billion increase in federal revenue, a burden that will be borne by taxpayers and consumers for decades to come.

“Using the guise of climate change to transfer dollars from hard-working citizens to bureaucratic big government is unacceptable,” said Marchi. “Regardless of their stance on global warming, this should be common ground for all of our elected officials at all levels of government.”

The pledge is available online at www.NoClimateTax.com. AFP does not endorse candidates. All elected officials and candidates are encouraged to sign the pledge and go on the record in opposition to using the climate change issue to increase taxes and grow the size of government.

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. AFP has more than 700,000 members, including members in all 50 states, and 25 state chapters. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

Lawmakers demand I-81 safety fix

August 11, 2009
By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star

Winchester — State Sen. Jill H. Vogel and her children narrowly avoided becoming another Interstate 81 statistic Friday as she drove here from Mount Sidney.

Vogel, R-Upperville, had to react quickly two times as trucks cut in front of her on the congested roadway.

“That day, I had the kids with me when traffic was merging in,” she said. “One time, the truck was merging in — it merged over and there was no place for me.”

Vogel said the volume of traffic on I-81, especially in the summer, is hazardous. “You have to be careful when it is a crowded feeling, like it was on Friday.”

Vogel has joined Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th; Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock; and others in calling for efforts to improve conditions along the roadway.

“I think it’s imperative we do something,” she said. “All of the comments and concerns — from widening I-81, to tolls, and all of the other issues — go back to safety.

“Just like with the closing of the rest areas, that means we don’t have an option for a person to get off [the interstate] when they are tired,” Vogel said.

Wolf was especially critical of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s decision to close some of the rest areas because of economic woes, saying safety would be compromised.

Two recent fatalities along I-81 just south of Frederick County have raised the level of concern at the federal and state levels.

In a recent telephone interview, Wolf said the July 30 accident on I-81 that claimed the lives of Stone Taylor Weeks, 24, and William Holt Weeks, 20 — a tractor-trailer rammed their Honda from behind in Shenandoah County — should be enough to prompt action.

He also said something should be done before college students begin their return to campus in the coming weeks at James Madison University, Washington & Lee University, Bridgewater College, Roanoke College, Virginia Tech, Radford University, and Winchester’s own Shenandoah University — all near I-81.

State Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer said in separate telephone interview that Virginia officials must decide to improve overall safety using the tools that are available — such as increasing the number of police officers on patrol.

Despite the concerns, the interstate remains one of the safest ways to travel.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles reported 1,206 traffic deaths in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available). Of those, 25 lost their lives on I-81.

The state Department of Transportation did not have any information specific to the 25-mile stretch of I-81 through Frederick County.

Drivers questioned Monday generally do not see I-81 as the safety hazard that some lawmakers have described it to be.

“I’ve lived in Clear Brook all my life, and when I want to go to a place, I want to use the highway that is fastest — and that’s the interstate,” said Candi Pocha. “An accident can happen on back roads, too. I’ve seen accidents right down from home.”

Tina Morano, who was driving through Frederick County Monday from her home in Binghamton, N.Y., said she always uses an interstate when taking a long trip.

“I’ve been driving for seven years, and I just feel more comfortable on the interstate,” she said. “I still would rather be on an interstate to go from one place to another than on some back road.”

But how safe drivers feel while driving on I-81 could depend on the size of their vehicle.
Alan G. Williams, an independent trucker from Roanoke County, said he has driven I-81 all of his 17-year career — and is not worried about his safety.

Of course, he is protected in the cab of his tractor-trailer. “Our semis win all of those battles against a Toyota or a Honda, so they had better be sure to understand that.”

Even if I-81 is generally safe, however, officials would like to make conditions better.
Gilbert recently asked Shenandoah County Sheriff Timothy Carter to increase an existing program of speed enforcement on the roadway, and Carter has directed his staff to schedule more days allotted for such efforts.

Gilbert, at the request of Carter, also has taken steps to designate I-81 in Shenandoah County as a Highway Safety Corridor.

The designation can be made after thorough analysis by the State Police, DMV, VDOT, and local officials and requires public hearings.

Once granted, the designation authorizes higher penalties for such offenses as speeding, tailgating, and reckless driving, including the doubling of fines.

Gilbert submitted a written request Aug. 3 to the commissioner of transportation, asking VDOT to take steps necessary for the designation.

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com

PATH hearing begins
36 testify in first day of session
August 04, 2009
By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star

Winchester — For those who oppose plans for the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, the goal will be to prevent history from repeating itself.

More than 100 watched testimony Monday during the first day of hearings by the Virginia State Corporation Commission at Handley High School.

The hearings will continue at 10 a.m. today at Handley. Subsequent hearings are set for 2 and 7 p.m. Wednesday and 10 a.m. Thursday at Loudoun Valley High School in Purcellville.

The $1.8 billion 765-kilovolt transmission line will travel 276 miles from the Amos Substation in Putnam County, W.Va., to the proposed Kemptown Substation in Frederick County, Md.

It will enter Frederick County, Va., in Gainesboro, head east and pass through a small portion of Clarke County before re-entering West Virginia. It will then return to Virginia in Loudoun County, and then travel to the Kemptown Substation.

Those opposed to the project suggest the line is unnecessary and simply a profit-making endeavor for the two companies developing it — Greensburg, Pa.-based Allegheny Energy and Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power.

Some in the audience at Monday’s hearings may have felt the gathering was similar to hearings in August 2007 regarding the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL), which is to be completed by June 2011 at a cost of $1.3 billion.

The testimony took place before SCC Hearing Examiner Alexander F. Skirpan Jr., who heard the remarks regarding TrAIL and eventually recommended its approval to the commissioners.

He heard more testimony Monday than he did in two days of local testimony for TrAIL — 29 people testified during the afternoon session, and another 17 during the evening session.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, began Monday’s testimony by thanking the SCC for making sure that one of its commissioners, Chairman Mark C. Christie, was also in attendance.

“As I have stated on numerous occasions, I believe that having a commissioner in attendance benefits the SCC’s decision-making process down the road,” Wolf testified. “The Supreme Court justices listen to the cases they preside over so they will have the full benefit of hearing what each side puts forward.”

He said Congress also sits at hearings to develop legislation and to ask questions.

Wolf noted that Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine had agreed that a commissioner needed to attend, asking that one attend each PATH hearing.

“Hopefully, there will be a commissioner at each of the hearings this week,” he said. “And maybe this will be a start of a precedent for commissioners to attend other hearings.”

Wolf said he was sorry the hearings were being held in August, when many people are away on vacation.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, also testified, acknowledging that Frederick County is ground zero for transmission projects.

“Frankly, I am heartbroken that I am back before the State Corporation Commission to testify again on a transmission project,” she said. “With each new project, the citizens and property owners along the path face the devastating prospect of a permanent blight that negatively impacts their property values, destroys the viewshed, compromises the integrity of conservation easements in the area, and threatens some of the most culturally and historically significant property found anywhere in this country.”

A letter from Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, was read by Vogel to add to the record.

In her letter, Sherwood noted that her constituents were troubled that their property values were likely to decrease.

Several of the citizens speaking about the PATH project questioned how the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had allowed Allegheny and AEP to be guaranteed 14.3 percent profits from the project.

Julia Moss of Frederick County said citizens were frightened by that guarantee.
“Where is the protection for ratepayers if the companies have no risk?” she asked. “Virginia seems to be the go-to state for this.”

Mike McIntyre, whose home along Northwestern Pike (U.S. 50) is near the West Virginia line, said his yard already has three power lines, and PATH would be a fourth that is even larger.

“How many power lines is a man supposed to have in his lifetime?” he asked.

David Didawick of Hunting Ridge Road in Frederick County said the proposal putting three power lines together on a tower was an invitation for terrorists.

Some also offered support for PATH, but most of them were Northern Virginia residents.
Vicki Robb of Alexandria said PATH was needed to ensure a continuous supply of energy to homes in her area.

She said it would help an already congested power system, ensuring that she could still work and that other small businesses could prosper in Virginia.

Austin Kane of the National Wildlife Center countered that the increase of greenhouse gases alone would be reason for denial of the project.

Skirpan will take all of the testimony and formulate a recommendation to the full SCC.
The SCC will review his recommendation, along with information from its own hearings in Richmond, and then decide on PATH, which must be approved by officials in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com

Officials express frustration as state boards up 18 rest areas

July 15, 2009
By Drew Houff, The Winchester Star

Winchester — With Tuesday’s shuttering of 18 rest areas and another closure planned for September, Virginia’s budget squabbles have now made their way to the Interstate Highway System.

The closures have become political in nature, pitting Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and his appointees to the Commonwealth Transportation Board against state Republicans, who say the move is an attempt to force GOP leaders to fund additional highway projects amid the economic downturn.

The area’s representative on the CTB, former Shenandoah University president James A. Davis, in June attempted to delay the closure of the 19 rest areas.

His motion would have kept them open until additional revenue sources could be found.
Davis, a board member appointed by Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, said Monday that the decision to close the rest areas came as the CTB sought to find $2 billion in savings.

He said the public may not have fully understood what was at stake, despite complaints from AAA — an 800,000-member organization for travelers — about the closing of the facilities.

Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, said the closing of the rest areas will hurt the state.
“It makes Virginia much less friendly to visitors,” he said. “It’s going to compromise tourism, and most importantly, it is going to be a real threat to public safety.”

The rest areas, operated by the Virginia Department of Transportation, include the Welcome Center at Clear Brook, which will remain open.

Jeff Caldwell, VDOT’s director of communications, said the agency sought public suggestions as it tried to make cuts in transportation funding.

The public comments altered the final plan considerably, he said.

FFor example, the original plan closed all of the Interstate 81 rest areas in Virginia — a span of 319 miles. The only exceptions were to be the Welcome Center in Bristol and the other in Clear Brook.

After public comment, Caldwell said, five rest areas along I-81 will remain open.

Those staying open are for northbound traffic at mile marker 262 at New Market; at mile marker 195 at Fairfield; at mile marker 129 at Ironto; at mile marker 108 for southbound traffic at Radford; and at mile marker 13 for truck traffic at Abingdon.

“Our guideline was to have one open so there is not much more than a 120-mile span between rest areas,” Caldwell said. “That is about a two-hour drive, which is what is recommended.”

He said the closure of some rest areas, including the ones for northbound and southbound traffic at Mount Sidney (mile marker 232), was chosen because drivers would have other options available to make a stop.

Caldwell said the rest areas staying open reflect a need by travelers to have a place to stop.

He said the closure of 19 rest areas — seven on I-81, four on I-85, four on I-95, two on I-64, and two on I-66 — is part of VDOT’s efforts to help ease a $2.6 billion budget gap in the next six years.

Each rest stop costs about $500,000 annually to operate.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said the decision to close the rest areas will hurt residents of her district, as well as other drivers.

“This is a serious safety issue,” she said Tuesday. “It is a place where a large truck can stop. It’s a comfort issue, a safety issue when there are not enough places for them to be able to stop. This isn’t a luxury; it is a necessity.

“I’m disappointed the governor doesn’t view it in the same way. It is within the governor’s purview to halt this directive so that we would not see money taken out of rest areas.”
Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, said he was hopeful that legislators and Congress can find some way to reopen the sites.

As chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, May watches transportation needs closely.

He said he is hopeful that Congress may lift the federal ban on private business involvement in the rest areas.

May said Kaine also seemed willing to push for the privatization. “It is a safety issue, a quality of life issue, and an economic development issue.”

He added that one of the rest areas that closed this week, at Ladysmith at mile marker 107 on I-95, is one he was known to use traveling to and from the General Assembly in Richmond.

Gordon Hickey, Kaine’s press secretary, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the governor had considered moving money from other budget items but decided in the end to close the rest areas.

Davis said his chief concern was the appearance of the closed rest areas and the signal this would send to visitors in Virginia.

“I believe they should clear the sites, remove the buildings, and make it look like nothing was ever there,” he said. “The appearance of fences and gates is the worst thing for Virginia.”

Gilbert said state officials could have found a way around closing the rest areas.

“I think it is self-evident to the commonwealth that it’s a relatively insignificant amount of money in the scheme of the things of the public’s transportation budget,” he said in an interview Monday.

“I’m concerned that the department, specifically the governor and the secretary, really want this to be a pawn in a larger game of chicken over transportation taxes.”

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com

Student’s letter gets the attention of state senator
Plea for more school funds earns invitation to capital
July 01, 2009
By Laura Oleniacz, The Winchester Star

Winchester — One seventh-grader’s concerns about cuts to Frederick County Public Schools’ middle-school sports programs has taken her to the heart of state politics in Richmond.

Kayla McDaniel, 12, was busy this month penning letters to School Board members, state legislators, and even President Barack Obama.

Her letter-writing campaign was motivated by county school officials’ proposal to eliminate middle-school sports due to a projected $12.2 million budget shortfall in fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1.

Kayla said the loss of athletic programs would be devastating to her and some of her friends.

“My life has been pretty much about sports in the last eight years, since kindergarten,” she wrote in a letter to state Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville. “Sometimes when I am feeling down, I remember that at least I am good at playing basketball.”

The Adm. Richard E. Byrd Middle School student said in her letter that she tries to keep up her grades in order to play basketball, and that she believes abandoning sports could lead to increases in obesity, drug use, youth gangs, fights, and students skipping school.

In addition to the possibility of losing athletic programs, Kayla is concerned about increased class sizes due to projected employee layoffs and salary reductions for teachers.

“If classroom size increases, no teacher would even have the time to even try to understand us or for that matter, care about understanding us,” she wrote.

When Vogel read the letter, she invited Kayla to visit her during the General Assembly session in Richmond.

Kayla said she was “shocked.”

“It’s really nice to see that someone actually listens and cares, and doesn’t just look at [letters from constituents] and throw them to the side and stuff,” she said Friday.

Although Kayla and her classmates can’t vote, children are among the most important members of Vogel’s constituency.

“They should be everybody’s priority, and that’s why I’m always delighted to respond whenever they contact me,” Vogel said in a phone interview Friday.

Kayla and her mother Jodi Blanton drove to Richmond Wednesday to meet Vogel in her office at the General Assembly Building.

They were guided to the Capitol, where mother and daughter sat in the front row of the gallery above the Senate floor, which is reserved for family and special guests.

Vogel introduced Kayla and her mother to the senators, and they were greeted by Lt. Gov. William T. Bolling, president of the Senate.

They received a round of applause from the legislators, Blanton said. “They clapped for us and welcomed us to the Capitol.”

They watched about an hour of the session, took a tour of the building, stopped at a McDonald’s restaurant for lunch, and drove home.

Kayla said that during her discussion with Vogel, the senator asked what it would be like if she didn’t have middle-school sports.

“And I told her that I would pretty much be bored all the time,” she said, adding that sports motivates her to do well in school.

Her mother said Vogel was responsive to Kayla’s concerns, but the General Assembly’s session was scheduled to end today, so it is unlikely that much more can be done.

“But she’s going to continue to fight for the money for public schools,” Blanton said.

Vogel said she has made efforts to restore funding for public safety and education that was removed in Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s proposed state budget to counteract the revenue shortfall.

“She very much supported Kayla’s perspective, Kayla’s comments,” Blanton said.

In addition to taking the trip to Richmond, Kayla attended a county School Board meeting Feb. 9, where Blanton read Kayla’s letter during a public hearing on the proposed school budget.

Kayla was too embarrassed to speak, and when she was asked to stand, she turned “three shades of red,” Blanton said.

“That’s when I decided to write [other] letters to the president [and state officials],” Kayla said. “Because I saw that when I was there, it was mostly adults that were speaking, and not really any other kids were there.”

Some of her friends, including seventh-grader Madison Pugh, helped Kayla to point out things that “bugged her” about the proposed budget cuts.”

“I hope they just see that kids actually care about what’s going on,” Madison said, “and if you cut things that’s close to them, it can take really permanent affects on them.”

— Contact Laura Oleniacz at
loleniacz@winchesterstar.com

Senate approves transportation funding bill

June 26, 2009
By Garren Shipley -- Daily Staff Writer

The gasoline tax would go up 6 cents per gallon over a six-year period, and general sales taxes would also rise under a bill that passed the Virginia Senate on Wednesday.

Supporters said the bill would keep the state's highway construction fund from running dry in the coming decade and improve roads and mass transit all over the state.

But local legislators said they have serious concerns about what the bill could mean for the Shenandoah Valley.

The bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield, passed on a 21-16, party-line vote after hours of debate.

"I don't know how you solve transportation problems of the magnitude that we have in this state with no money," said Saslaw, arguing for his bill on the Senate floor. "You can't build [roads] for free, and all the creativity in the world isn't going to change that."

Under the tax provisions of the bill, general sales taxes would increase from 5 percent to 5.25 percent, while the 2.5 percent tax on food would go down by half a percentage point.

The sales tax on cars and trucks would go up, from 3 percent to 3.5 percent.

Higher levies would raise $707 million per year by the time they were fully implemented in fiscal year 2014. Separate taxes in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia would raise another $500 million or so collectively.

But Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, said he was concerned that one portion of the bill would return authority to impose tolls on Interstate 81 to the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

Legislators approved a measure earlier this year putting the valley's major thoroughfare off-limits for tolls for any reason unless the General Assembly specifically agreed.

But Saslaw's bill "seems to state the intent of the GA to give the CTB that authority to impose those tolls on Interstate 81 for additional lanes that are constructed," Obenshain said, speaking from the floor of the Senate.

That wasn't the intent of the bill, Saslaw said, but "I can't give you a definitive answer."

Saslaw said he wasn't even sure the no-toll law would keep tolls off regardless of what was in his bill.

"I'm not sure that the [no-toll] bill we passed last [session] would apply to a [Public Private Transportation Act] agreement in the future," he said. "I know that it bars it on the existing lanes."

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, who voted for the bill, said he was more sure than Saslaw.

"That bill that was passed is in no way affected by" Saslaw's gas tax bill, he said.

People who commute from western Virginia into Northern Virginia are sick and tired of sitting in traffic and want something done, Saslaw said.

"Ask those people who live out in Leesburg or ... further out in the valley or over toward Winchester who are paying $50 a week on the Dulles Greenway," he said. "Tell them we didn't raise your taxes."

Some families will likely come out slightly to the good in the bill, according to Saslaw. Higher taxes would cost about $45 per year in most cases, while the lower food tax rate would save them about $50.

The bill is likely to hit strong opposition in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

"What the Democrats did in the Senate today was, in my mind, unconscionable," said Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock. "It was in complete disregard for the plight of working Virginians.

"To ask people at a time like this to pay more for gas demonstrates that Senate Democrats really have a tin ear about the everyday needs of their constituents," Gilbert said.

More money needs to flow into transportation, said Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Upperville. But it shouldn't come from tax hikes.

"There's no doubt that the burden outweighs the benefits right now," she said.

"We do need revenue for transportation," she said. But "every time we do this, the very next year you come back and it's like it never happened."

The measure now goes to the House Rules Committee.

Transportation talks show little progress

June 25, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

RICHMOND — The chances of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s transportation funding package getting full legislative consideration seem remote.

Speaker of the House William J. Howell, R-Fredericksburg, told fellow members of the House of Delegates on Monday that the proposal from the Democratic governor would be assigned to committee until the House and its GOP majority receives a version adopted by the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Kaine’s bill, however, does not have a patron in the Senate, meaning that no action is expected on the proposal until a Democratic senator steps forward.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, said Tuesday’s action by the Senate was to take up many of the procedural matters that the delegates handled on Monday.

"We really wanted to consider [Kaine’s proposal], but none of the Democrats would introduce the governor’s bill," she said. "I’m a little taken back by this.

"I hate to be overly cynical, but am I the only one who doesn’t think the governor’s got the support he needed before he called us all down here?"

Kaine’s proposal to fund Virginia’s transportation needs has been criticized because it contains numerous tax and fee increases:

* A $10 increase in the annual motor vehicle registration.

* An increase in the sales tax on motor vehicles from 3 percent to 4 percent.

* A special regional increase of 1 percent in sales taxes in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.

* An additional 25-cent tax per each $100 of assessed value on property as a grantors’ tax to be used in a transportation change fund, with 75 percent for new strategies and 25 percent for economic development.

The governor’s proposal is not the only transportation bill being considered by the General Assembly during its special session, which began on Monday.

Vogel said the Senate has already killed a combined measure from Republican Sens. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach and Ken Cuccinelli II of Fairfax.

Individual bills from each senator were consolidated and died Tuesday in an 8-5 vote by the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake, and Natural Resources.

The measure would have set aside royalties from oil and natural gas leases to pay for transportation in the event a federal moratorium on drilling off the coast of Virginia is lifted.

The Senate committee’s Democratic majority opposed the consolidated bill chiefly on environmental grounds.

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that she was unsure what may come from the special session if the governor’s transportation bill isn’t considered.

She said various other bills introduced by House members attempt to resolve some of the state’s transportation issues.

Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, said the House Committee on Transportation, which he chairs, considered eight bills on Tuesday, one of which has already been forwarded to the full House.

He said the bills proposed increased use of public-private partnerships and tolls to pay for road projects.

"I think there is a lot more of that to work with than just taxes," May said. "The tolls and the public-private partnerships are much more supported than just taxes."

He said Kaine’s proposal may find a patron in the Senate today, or the House may release his bill from committee for further discussion.

No end date for the special session has been determined. It’s also uncertain whether the General Assembly will pass any of the transportation funding bills.br />
The Associated Press contributed some information to this report.

Vogel's Abusive Driver Fee Legislation Passes Virginia Senate

January 31, 2009

State Senator Jill Vogel's legislation to repeal abusive driver fees was rolled into a bill that finally passed the Virginia State Senate during the Senate's general session on Wednesday.

Vogel declared it a victory for Virginia drivers. "This is long overdue and I am happy to help relieve Virginians of these unfair penalties," Vogel said in an interview Wednesday. "This is a critical first step in ending the excessive fines that discriminate against Virginia drivers and I am proud to be part of the effort," Vogel added.

Vogel voted for the bill to include an emergency clause that would make the repeal immediate and provide a vehicle for a refund for those already assessed the penalties. That vote had failed earlier in the week, but the clause was part of the final bill that passed the Senate.

Vogel called the bill a significant legislative accomplishment. She said it was part of a package of bills that she carried this session to keep the promises she made this fall, including legislation to repeal abuser fees, tackle energy conservation and the power lines, and address the overwhelming burdens of illegal immigration.

Vogel achieves a General Assembly First

January 16, 2009
Julian Walker

Freshman state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel made history recently, becoming the first person to give birth while an elected member of the Virginia legislature.

Vogel, a Fauquier County Republican elected in 2007, became a mother for the third time seven weeks ago when she gave birth to her infant son Thomas. She has two other sons, 5-year old Will and 3-year old Jack, as well as two step-children.

Her feat was announced by Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, at the end of the chamber's floor session Friday.

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, then joked that he felt discriminated against because his family has added children since his 2002 election -- two of his brood of six have been born in that time.

But he admitted "Jill worked harder for hers than I've had to work for mine."

Vogel downplayed the event, noting "you have to consider there haven't been that many (women) in the legislature."

The Virginia General Assembly is the oldest English-speaking legislature in the Western Hemisphere, tracing its roots to 1619.

Local legislators see difficult days ahead

January 15, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

RICHMOND — A governor faced with a grim budget scenario delivered his final State of the Commonwealth address Wednesday to the Virginia General Assembly.

Republican legislators who represent the Northern Shenandoah Valley said during telephone interviews after the address that Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine did not seem as upbeat as he was in his three previous addresses.

“What was pretty evident was how retracted, how much of a retraction in the governor’s agenda that we saw,” said Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal.

He said Kaine’s previous budgets generally needed tax increases to cover the full scope of his agenda, but the 2009 version is different.

“I think his big initiative on the environment is laudable and deserves to be looked at closely,” Athey said, adding that the state’s projected $3 billion revenue shortfall in the fiscal year that starts July 1 could delay any substantive work on that issue.

Kaine has proposed “green” jobs through the development and deployment of new energy sources at Virginia colleges and universities.

Athey said such noble efforts may need to be delayed until the economy rebounds.

He said the governor also seemed to pass the torch to the General Assembly, letting its members judge how Virginia’s budget should be spent.

“I think he left it to the Legislature to make the difficult choices to be made in this economy,” Athey said. “He did set out a wish list once again, but it is up to us to decide on that.”

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, said her work on the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committee provided early updates on the state’s economic picture.

She said the challenge for Kaine and the Legislature is the final revenue figures, which will not be available for a few weeks and will force the legislators to work without complete information.

“We’re at a bit of a standstill; trying to get all of the [revenue] numbers will be important,” Sherwood said.

She said the General Assembly’s fiscal conservatism over the years will help Virginia to weather the current economic climate.

“We could be worse off than we are right now,” she said, adding that various committees have begun work on revising the state budget for fiscal 2009 and preparing for further cuts in fiscal 2010.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said Kaine’s address did not cover anything new, instead underscoring his budget objectives.

She said the concern among Republicans centers on the governor’s revenue projections and how accurate they will be.

Republicans generally seem worried that the lean economic times could continue, but Kaine’s proposed budget cuts do not seem to reflect any long-term problems, Vogel said.

“We’re more concerned about what it is now, because definitely again we could be digging a hole deeper and deeper,” she said.

Athey said Kaine’s address seemed a bit nostalgic, striking a tone of willingness to work with the Legislature — Republicans control the House of Delegates, while Democrats hold the majority in the Senate — in the final year of his term.

“It’s clear we don’t have enough money to do everything he wants,” Athey said. “With the size of the deficit, we have to be careful with our spending.

“I think some of the new initiatives are clearly better off delayed to when we are in a much better financial state.”

Efforts to reach Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, were unsuccessful Wednesday night.

Worries taint session’s start

January 15, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

Richmond — Bleak.

That’s how area legislators view the budget scenario facing them during the 45-day General Assembly session that began Wednesday.

Dire budget figures anticipated for Virginia in the second year of its biennial budget naturally dominated discussion by the legislators, who are still awaiting final figures on the state’s economic situation going into fiscal year 2010, which begins July 1.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said in a telephone interview that Wednesday was like most of the Legislature’s opening days, with representatives catching up on colleagues’ recent activities before wrestling with the issues.

“Just from my perspective, we all know we are going to see bleak [budgetary] figures,” Vogel said. “Everybody has a sense of what the reality is.”

She said that tone of pessimism also comes from the delay in obtaining final budgetary estimates. Because of that, “I’m not putting in any bill asking for any money.”

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, agreed that monetary concerns will curtail various initiatives during the 2009 session.

She said Wednesday’s opening mirrored that theme, with her spending a little more time on the House floor than on the first day of past sessions.

Sherwood said she was pleased not to be introducing a large number of bills, allowing her to spend much of her time in the coming weeks discussing the budget.

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey, R-Front Royal, agreed that the day’s session generally offered a chance to catch up with colleagues.

He said the grim budget picture did temper discussions, however, with most conversations alluding to the problems ahead.

A caucus for the commonwealth

January 15, 2009
The Virginian-Pilot

Imagine a group of Democratic and Republican legislators who meet regularly in Richmond, putting aside partisanship in order to act in the best interest of their constituents and all Virginians.

Theoretically, that group already exists. It's called the General Assembly. But the reality is that too many legislators promise voters they'll work together to solve problems, then go to Richmond and beat the living daylights out of each other.

Newcomers are often dismayed by the tone when they arrive at the Capitol, but most assume they can't change the system and instead assimilate into the snarling masses.

A new quartet seems determined not to follow that path.

Four first-term state senators - two Republicans and two Democrats - have formed the Commonwealth Caucus, chartered as a way to cut through ideology and find solutions.

Sens. Ralph Northam, D-Norfolk; John Miller, D-Newport News; Richard Stuart, R-Westmoreland; and Jill Vogel, R-Winchester, bring new eyes and much-needed pluck to old problems.

Sure, they are few in number, but they hope other colleagues will join them. The only requirement is that members pledge to put Virginia ahead of politics.

The group's priorities reflect the issues where bipartisan cooperation is most needed. Members say they'll work to create a nonpartisan process for drawing legislative districts, support the best-qualified judges rather than those favored by party officials, and fight for programs preserving the Chesapeake Bay and other natural resources.

Can four legislators make a difference? The obstacles are considerable. It will be difficult to attract members in the House of Delegates, where politics is a blood sport compared to the Senate.

But there are good reasons to try. Democrats control 21 of 40 seats in the Senate. Republicans hold 53 of 100 House seats, with two independents who often support the GOP.

The close margins and competing majorities are too often an excuse for failure, but Northam, Miller, Stuart and Vogel see instead an opportunity for collaboration. There's no question which perspective better serves the commonwealth.

State lawmakers may alter gas tax

January 10, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Gov. Timothy M. Kaine called the General Assembly back to Richmond for a special session on transportation last June, but the lawmakers accomplished little in their brief meetings.

The senators and delegates will begin the 2009 General Assembly session Wednesday no closer to a solution for the issue, with Republicans and Democrats still divided on ways to fund road projects.

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, said Friday that House Republicans will submit legislation for different method of collecting taxes on gasoline, and that additional money will also go toward road improvements.

Athey said the GOP’s plan would change the way the state taxes gasoline — from a per-gallon fee to a somewhat sales tax-specific fee.

Virginia’s gasoline tax is 171/2 cents per gallon.

During the special session in June, state Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Annandale, offered a bill to increase that tax by 6 cents per gallon.

The measure and some others offered by Kaine, a Democrat, were killed in either the Senate or the House.

Athey said the new proposal from House Republicans likely would increase sales taxes on gasoline, adding funds to transportation coffers.

President-elect Barack Obama, also a Democrat, has called on states to work on infrastructure improvements — providing an opportunity for Virginia, Athey said.

“We need to make sure Virginia is in a position to utilize that funding,” he said. “With VDOT downsizing its budget and the influx of the addition of money available through our ports, we can afford to make these [infrastructure] improvements.”

He said the House GOP still needs to get its bill passed, but Kaine and the Democratic-controlled Senate seem unlikely to seek the use of economic stimulus from Virginia’s ports to spur transportation funding.

Del. G. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, will introduce House Bill 1579 to gain extra funds from the use of the commonwealth’s ports, including the Virginia Inland Port near Front Royal. “That bill would mean about $50 million in our region out of the Inland Port,” Athey said.

To Athey, using the money from the ports to improve roads in those regions makes sense, particularly since the roads will be necessary to help transport cargo delivered to the ports.

He added that the ports also will benefit from the widening of the Panama Canal, which is to be completed by 2015.

The widened canal, in turn, will create additional opportunities for the Port of Virginia, the most-used port on the East Coast. Subsequently, items will be shipped to the Inland Port and the Port of Richmond, helping to ship those items elsewhere in the state and country.

“We’ve received a good signal because of the president[-elect], but we need to be ready for the extra traffic at our ports,” Athey said. “We need to improve our transportation system around our ports. We want to be even more competitive with ports in Wilmington, N.C., and Savannah, Ga., and also the Port of New York.”

He said officials from Virginia’s ports are in agreement that the funding could improve the state’s ability to ship products throughout the country.

Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, is the chairman of the House’s Committee on Transportation.

He said transportation and education combine to account for about 60 percent of Virginia’s budget, emphasizing the importance of the issue for the state.

“We will need to minimize the damage,” he said. “I think that this downturn will last for a while. We’ll just have to wait until things get better. Next year will be a very, very down year. I expect us to start climbing out of this in 2010.”

May said he was glad Virginia’s budgetary worries are not of the scale of those in California or New York state.

“I’m absolutely very pleased that we don’t have those sorts of budget issues,” he said of the large deficits faced in those states.

Virginia, according to estimates from the governor’s office, may face a shortfall of about $3 billion for fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

New York reportedly may have a $1.7 billion current-year shortfall and a $13.7 billion deficit for FY 2010.

In California, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had to makemajor cuts just to prevent its deficit from growing to $41.6 billion by June 30, 2010.

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, said the chief concern in Virginia is evaluating any possible flexibility in the budget. She said her goal is to introduce no legislation that requires additional state money.

Sherwood and May serve on the House Committee on Appropriations, and on the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committee.

Athey said another of his concerns is that House legislation may get weighed down by the state Senate.

He said the Senate’s approach is almost the opposite of the House, and he expects Senate Democrats and Kaine to block any Republican-offered solutions so they will become an issue in the 2009 elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and delegates.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said the stage is set to have a debate on transportation.

“I think that the dialogue from last summer's special session on transportation will surely extend to this session,” she wrote in an e-mail Friday. “[It might get accomplished] perhaps as part of a broader economic stimulus plan and in conjunction with federal grant money that might come to Virginia for infrastructure.

“There are a number of proposals afoot, and I think we can expect to make some headway.”

Assembly faces tough choices in new session

January 08, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Looming state budget cuts will likely cause legislators to roll up their sleeves when the General Assembly goes into session Jan. 14.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, said recently that the shortfall, created by declining sales tax revenues and the loss of other funds, would total more than $3 billion in fiscal years 2010 and 2011.

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, said he mostly supports leaving services such as transportation, education, and public safety untouched.

“There are certain responsibilities, some [key] responsibilities of the government,” he said. “I think along those lines that citizens would like the state to be continuing to fund those items.”

Athey said such core responsibilities also include programs that some may consider a “safety net” to help citizens survive the economic crisis.

Funding for the federal school lunch program, for example, will probably become even more critical to help children get at least one good meal a day.

“I believe you set [such programs] aside and then decide, ‘What amount do we want to do?’” Athey said.

Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, chairman of the House’s Committee on Transportation, also said education and transportation are services that the Legislature must work to protect.

“While they badly need funds, they already have trimmed some expenses,” he said. “One good thing in Virginia is we always take a very cautious view on our budget. It makes it easier than if we were an extravagant state.”

The tough economy, May said, likely will continue through the 2010 General Assembly, forcing legislators to view long-term reductions.

Athey agreed, adding that he strongly viewed the cuts as necessary to offset a probable continuation of limited funds for projects.

May said legislators must evaluate the risks and rewards of the cuts for citizens. “Virginia doesn’t rush into things. It is an excellent exercise for Virginia to trim away [what is not necessary].”

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, who serves with May on the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committee, said Kaine had been updating that panel on the financial picture in the recent months.

Sherwood said her plan for the 2009 General Assembly likely is to introduce just a few bills, leaving her ample time to work on budgetary matters.

Athey said certain funding standards may need to be examined. In education, for example, school systems may need additional flexibility to use funds rather be subject to earmarks or mandates that limit what they can do for the local systems.

“We need to ask about money, ‘Is it properly utilized?’” he said.

Athey said some individual educational programs may be used by just a third of the more than 130 school systems, but others may be used by nearly all of them.

Individual school boards and superintendents, he said, should be allowed to make their own decisions on whether to spend funds for the programs.

That flexibility will allow school funds to go farther in the budget process, Athey said.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said through an e-mail that the current budget picture merely confirms what legislators already knew — that economic conditions will force the General Assembly and local governments to trim expenses.

“It is going to be an extra challenging session with a lot of tough choices,” she said. “The grim forecast changes the tone of everything. I won't bring bills that cost the state money and instead will look to support an aggressive reform and cost-cutting agenda so that we spare deep cuts in core services.

“ Everyone will be asked to do more with less.”

Gordon Hickey, press secretary for Kaine, said the governor has attempted to pare down expenses in ways to allow the legislators to make some of their own cuts, yet still fund key services.

He said spending reducations and use of the Revenue Stabilization Fund should help to provide ways to balance the budget.

Legislators concerned about Kaine’s dual role

January 06, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s selection by President-elect Barack Obama as the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee has some local legislators worried.

Dels. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, and Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, are concerned that Kaine’s new job may detract from his job as governor.

State Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said in an e-mail that Kaine’s appointment is predictable since Virginia played a key role in getting Obama elected. The state supported a Democrat for the first time in a presidential election since 1964, voting for Obama over Republican nominee John McCain.

“I think it is indicative of the new role Virginia plays at the national level,” Vogel wrote.

Sherwood and Athey, however, questioned whether Kaine would be able to manage both jobs, even though the party chairmanship is supposed to take just a small amount of time until his work as governor ends in January 2010.

“My knee-jerk reaction is concern,” Sherwood said. “He needs, as he promised, to be giving more than 100 percent of his time to the challenge of the budget. Quite frankly, I think that should be his priority. As for him taking this new job, that disturbs me.”

Athey said Kaine’s appointment as DNC chairman was appropriate because of his efforts to orchestrate Democratic success in campaigns.

“Gov. Kaine has focused much of his time in Richmond on elections, and I have to give him credit,” Athey said. “He is good at creating wedge issues. His big problem is that unlike Mark Warner, who reached across the aisle as Democratic governor, Gov. Kaine was known far more growing the Democratic Party in Virginia.

“This appointment reflects the interest that President[-elect] Obama has in the next election for governor. Gov. Kaine has been the quarterback of the Democratic Party in Virginia the last [few] years, so he is probably an appropriate choice as chairman,” Athey said.

Like Sherwood, he questioned whether Kaine will be able to devote enough time as governor to help Virginia emerge from the economic crisis with strength to compete in the changing market.

Sherwood said one of her chief objections is that Kaine has repeatedly said he would not be interested in any job other than completing his term as governor.

“I think I wasn’t concerned with him because he said his charge was going to be as governor,” said Sherwood, who recently had praised Kaine for his efforts to keep the General Assembly’s Joint Money Committee updated on budget forecasts.

“I think he now is not going to be able to be governor full-time. He is letting politics take him away from that job,” she said.

Kaine’s work as chairman of the Democratic National Committee also affects Sherwood, a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, on a personal level.

“It is going to make our job even more time-consuming,” she said. “We will need focus on that. Evidently, I will be working to get that done.”

One of the Democrats competing to succeed Kaine as governor, Terry McAuliffe, also has experience as DNC chairman.

McAuliffe, in a statement issued Monday, lauded Kaine’s selection as party chairman.

“The governor’s appointment is a reaffirmation of the power of the Virginia Democratic brand — and I can’t think of a better next step for the Democratic Party,” he said. “Over the last seven years, Democrats have made huge gains in Virginia, specifically because we have focused on delivering results instead of partisanship.

“The governor’s commitment to putting Virginia first is clear, and if he manages the DNC with even half the skill he’s shown at managing the state, the future will be very bright for Democrats,” McAuliffe said.

Another Democratic candidate for governor, former House Democratic Caucus chairman Brian Moran, also praised Kaine for the new national role.

“Gov. Kaine will join President-elect Obama at a critical point in our nation’s history, bringing the type of Virginia values and vision that Washington so desperately needs,” he said in a press release.

“Being Tim Kaine’s legislative partner has been a pleasure, and I wish him the very best,” Moran added.

Jeffrey M. Frederick, chairman of the Virginia Republican Committee, wasn’t as complimentary about Kaine’s appointment.

Frederick, a delegate representing the 52nd District, said in a statement released by the party that Kaine was abdicating his job as governor.

Kaine even admitted before the election that accepting the chairmanship would require him to be “taking my eye too much off the ball about things that need to happen here,” Frederick said.

“It is very disappointing that at a time when Virginia needs its elected leaders from both parties to come together and work to solve the serious issues currently facing our commonwealth, Tim Kaine breaks yet another pledge, this time taking a job he said he wouldn’t accept,” he said.

Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, could not be reached for comment.

State bill could aid region’s highways

January 01, 2009
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

FRONT ROYAL — The use of the Virginia Inland Port in Warren County could be boosted by legislation that will be introduced during the 2009 General Assembly session.

House Bill 1579 will be presented by Del. G. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News, as a way to use economic growth spurred by the state’s ports to help fund transportation improvements near or related to those facilities.

Oder’s legislation is similar to a bill considered during this year’s General Assembly session, except that it also incorporates the Port of Richmond on the James River and the Inland Port off U.S. 522 (Winchester Pike) near Front Royal.

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he liked the concept of the 2008 bill, but opposed it because it did not include the Inland Port.

He said inclusion of the Inland Port — where items shipped from other countries are delivered by truck, stored, and then distributed to U.S. destinations via trains — means funds would be available to improve the northern portion of Interstate 81, as well as Interstate 66 and U.S. 522.

He said the initial legislation simply covered road improvements near the Port of Virginia in Hampton Roads and Washington Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County.

The exclusion of the Inland Port and the Port of Richmond, Athey said, caused the bill to have insufficient support in the 2008 legislative session.

He said he and Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, voted against the bill.

“By 2015, the widening or deepening of the Panama Canal will be completed, increasing [freight] traffic to Virginia,” Athey said. “Because the Panama Canal was built for a much smaller cargo ship, it had to be widened. All of the imports from Asia and exports to Asia have to travel across our highways. By 2015, the largest cargo ships will comfortably fit within the Panama Canal.”

Athey said those ships will deliver goods to the Port of Virginia and, subsequently, the Port of Richmond and the Inland Port.

He said the timing of the canal upgrades can be advantageous to the state’s transportation system.

For every $20 the state pays in infrastructure improvements, the federal government can contribute $80.

If House Bill 1579 is passed, that means the federal government will pay for the bulk of road improvements around the designated ports.

“A lot of transportation projects in the Northern Shenandoah Valley could benefit from this bill,” he said.

In addition to improvements to I-81, I-66, and U.S. 522, the money could help with upgrades on Va. 37 in Frederick County, Athey said.

He said potential industrial development near the Inland Port would generate additional revenue in the region, particularly after the Panama Canal is upgraded to handle the wider ships.

Athey said his concern is that the bill, which is expected to receive strong support within the Republican-controlled House of Delegates, may be questioned by the state Senate, where the majority of members are Democrats.

He said Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Annandale, generally have opposed funding transportation projects other than those funded by a dedicated revenue stream.

Athey said Oder’s bill would be a hybrid, allowing Virginia to take advantage of a possibility for increased business.

But that funding would come without a tax increase, he said, so the hybrid nature of the bill also could be supported by state senators.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Upperville, said in a telephone interview that she would strongly support Oder’s bill if it includes the Inland Port.

“The only reason to support it is if it helps [the 27th District, which includes the Northern Shenandoah Valley],” she said.

Vogel said the bill would lead to infrastructure improvements, which would result in long-term benefits to various localities in Virginia.

“I support anything that gets revenue back to my communities ...,” she said. “I would like to see us use the Virginia Inland Port. We have to expand that use. Its economic strength grows, and it is something we already have.”

Efforts to obtain comments from Sherwood and Del. Joe T. May, R-Loudoun County, were unsuccessful.

Eventful year looming for politics in Virginia

November 29, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

Winchester — Virginia holds an election each fall, and next Nov. 3, voters will select a governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general.

Also, all members of the House of Delegates must decide whether they want to run for another two-year term, because all 100 seats are up for grabs.

After what promises to be a particularly busy General Assembly session beginning Jan. 14, some delegates may not be too eager for a campaign.

Del. Beverly J. Sherwood, R-Frederick County, said recently that economic issues will remain paramount for the legislators, who will hold a 45-day session — referred to as a short session — and must trim spending from the fiscal year 2009 and FY 2010 budgets.

“We really do need to focus on what we need and where we are in the economy,” she said. “We also will have new figures around the opening of the session, and it will change our focus. We’re going to need to do more with less.”

Sherwood said the more-with-less theme also may affect legislation, as the lawmakers try to implement programs that could help to form regional alliances to solve problems around Virginia.

Delegates must remain responsive to the voters and their concerns because they are running for office every two years, she said.

Del. Clifford L. “Clay” Athey Jr., R-Front Royal, agreed that financial issues will be the chief concern of the 2009 legislative session.

The tight economy is also causing the loss of jobs, with companies struggling to balance budgets and make payments, he said. “Many people are not able pay mortgages on the house they have dreamed of. They also are finding being able to send their children to school or college very difficult.

“With Christmas coming up, many parents are finding what types of gifts they can afford to give their children.”

Athey said the General Assembly must make tough choices on ways to trim the state’s budget deficit, projected at $3.5 million to $4 million.

Such a deficit will require legislators to determine which programs are important, cutting away the rest, he said.

Athey said he opposes simply making across-the-board budget cuts, noting that the reductions should come from less-effective programs so that the state’s money buys the best programs for long-term benefits.

“I think it is clear that the management of our resources is important, and unlike the federal government, we cannot print money,” he said. “I do think that is a good thing.”

Athey and Sherwood did not say if they would run for re-election in 2009.

The area’s other delegate, Republican Joe T. May of Loudoun County, could not be reached for comment.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, who is entering the second year of her four-year term and won’t be up for re-election until 2011, said another issue likely to be debated by the General Assembly is the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which, like the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority, will help to govern transportation funding for a portion of the state.

The Republican Party, which fared poorly in the Nov. 4 elections, seems to have one advantage going into the 2009 elections, as its nominees for governor and lieutenant governor already seem apparent: Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell is the likely choice to run for governor, and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling is in line to seek re-election.

The Democrats, in contrast, have three candidates aiming for a gubernatorial run in November: state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds of Charlottesville, Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria, and former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe.

Longwood University professor and political observer Brian Bates said Democrats will try to continue their progress from this year’s presidential election, when Virginians voted in a majority for a Democrat for the first time since 1964.

“Virginia Democrats will certainly try to build upon this year’s success, but tying their future to the national success of Barack Obama may prove a little challenging for several reasons,” he wrote in an e-mail.

Bates said the economy may remain poor, and Democrats will not have President Bush to blame for the bad news any longer.

Virginians tend to look for long-term solutions rather than simple ideas, he wrote, making it important for candidates to offer possibilities for a sound economic recovery.

“In the end, the party that is the first to figure out that Virginians want solutions, not partisan bickering, will be the party that prevails next November,” Bates wrote. “It may well be time for honest statesmanship to once again enter the political arena in Virginia.

“Neither party has done a very good job in the area of statesmanship in recent decades, but both have the potential and the talented people to do much better. The first to figure this out will probably hold sway over Virginia politics for a generation.”

— Contact Drew Houff at
dhouff@winchesterstar.com

Senator delivers (literally!)

November 27, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WARRENTON — State Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Warrenton, has likely become the first sitting member of the General Assembly to give birth.

She delivered Thomas Preston Bird Vogel by Caesarean section at 8:32 a.m. Wednesday at the Fauquier Hospital in Warrenton.
The baby — 20 inches tall and 7 pounds, 2 ounces — is named “Thomas” for a close family friend, the 38-year-old Vogel said by phone from her hospital room Wednesday.

The names “Preston” and “Bird” are in honor of the senator’s great-grandfather, Preston Michael Sigler Bird.

“I’m so excited and so relieved to have him,” Vogel said about three hours after the baby’s birth. “He is OK, and he is happy.”

Vogel said modern science made giving birth a much better experience for her and her child.

The senator, who must stay in the hospital for three nights because of the surgical procedure, said the newborn is doing fine.

“He’s perfectly normal, according to the Apgar test, which he passed with flying colors,” she said.

The Apgar score evaluates a newborn’s activity, muscle tone, pulse, grimace response, appearance, and respiration. It is usually given to a baby twice — once at a minute after birth and the second time five minutes after birth.

Vogel’s husband Alex Vogel helped with the birth. The senator said his stress level decreased sharply after the safe delivery.

“I’m excited,” Alex Vogel said in another telephone interview. “It’s a perfect Thanksgiving.”

The senator said she was told by Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Annandale, that she was the first sitting member of the Legislature to give birth.

Vogel has two children by birth — 5-year-old William Alexander Vogel and 3-year-old John “Jack” Benner Vogel — and two stepchildren, 8-year-old Alexander Nicholas Vogel Jr. and 10-year-old Peyton Elizabeth Vogel.

The stepchildren live in San Diego half of the year, but were in Warrenton for the birth of Thomas.

“I am relieved to have had him so easily,” Vogel said. “It was wonderful, and he is doing so well.”

Riley: Builders vital to region’s fiscal prosperity

September 12, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

Winchester — Consider them a valuable resource.

Despite some slower times due to the current economic conditions, the region’s homebuilders are responsible for a large part of the local economy, said Frederick County Administrator John R. Riley Jr.

Riley and state Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, spoke Thursday evening to the Top of Virginia Building Association, which met at the Piccadilly Brew Pub and Restaurant for its annual Fall Harvest Dinner.

Frederick County’s connection to Winchester, Riley said, has helped the city’s downtown area to thrive.

That development, in turn, has assisted Frederick with its own development, helping to make it a major economic player in the region, he said.

Riley said less than 10 percent of the land area in the county is in its Urban Development and Sewer and Water Service areas.

“Between 1970 and 2000, the county had an annual growth rate of 2.9 percent, and the population in 2000 was approximately 60,000 people,” he said. “From 2000 to 2006, the average population growth rate was 3.17 percent [each year], a slight increase over the annual growth rate of the past.

“Frederick County is ranked 10th statewide in terms of population gained since 2000.”

Riley noted that the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center had estimated the county’s population in January 2008 to be 72,949, which exceeded an earlier projection for the county in 2010.

He said the 2000 census showed that half of the county’s population lived within the Urban Development Area, meaning that half of the county’s population base lives on less than 10 percent of its land area.

“With the increased population, there is an increased demand for county services,” Riley said.

He said public safety demands have been addressed, growing from 1990 when the county had 10 volunteer fire companies with no full-time employees.

Riley said the last volunteer station to develop in Frederick County — with the exception of the former Winchester company, Millwood Station, which moved to the county — came in the 1980s.

He said current professional staffing for fire and rescue crews is 78 people, supported by more than 400 volunteers at the fire and rescue companies.

Riley said consolidated services such as the Northwest Regional Adult Detention Center also demonstrate how working together can benefit the entire region.

“When the Regional Jail Board was created by joining the city of Winchester, the Frederick County and Clarke County resources, the new facility was constructed in Fort Collier Industrial Park,” he said. “Fauquier County joined the Northwest Regional Adult Detention Center in the early 2000s.

“Today, our new facilities are estimated at a construction cost of $38 million.”

Riley said the regional jail houses 617 inmates and is staffed by 206 employees.

“It is quite a success story, and again, it gives you a good idea of what consolidated services and regional cooperation can do to save the taxpayers money,” he said.

Riley also said the new $16.5 million Frederick County Public Safety Building near Winchester Regional Airport also has provided for the continued welfare of the county and its residents.

He noted how much the county’s needs and costs have grown — from a nearly $61.6 million budget for fiscal year 1990 to a nearly $255.9 million budget for FY 2009.

He said the primary change is in the growth of the county school system, which had 11 schools and 8,399 students in 1990, compared with 19 schools and 12,905 students in 2008.

Riley said the housing industry is a key part of the county’s growing economy, and expressed his hope that the industry will be supported so it can continue to provide for future needs in the region.

Vogel told the group she expects the 2009 General Assembly session to concentrate more on transportation and avoid issues that require tax increases, which make it difficult for real estate and car sales in the current economy.

“I think you will have a lot more dialogue about transportation, a lot more dialogue about the economy and the building industry, and more and more about what we can do to support you,” she told the association. “If you look around this room and think about this community, some of the most generous people are sitting right here in this room.

“It is so important for people like me in the General Assembly to support this industry.”

www.buildingva.com

Vogel believes Palin can provide ‘spark’ for party

September 03, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

Winchester — John McCain’s likely running mate on the Republican presidential ticket this fall seems to be all that anyone is talking about at the party’s convention in the Minneapolis-St. Paul.

That’s the assessment of the Winchester area’s state senator, Jill Holtzman Vogel of Warrenton, who is attending the convention, but not as a voting delegate.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Vogel said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s choice for vice president, provides just the spark necessary to bring the party together and put the GOP on its way to victory in November.

Although a surprising choice to some, Palin gives the Republicans something they needed in 2008, Vogel said.

“She is a real person,” the senator said. “Every time I see people here talking about her, by one degree or another, the people are excited.”

Vogel attended Republican conventions in 1996, 2000, and 2004, but this one is more exciting to her because of Palin.

“This is the first candidate who has much in the way of connecting to my life,” said Vogel, who is the mother of four with another child due in late November. “She reflects my demographic.”

Vogel said Palin’s obstacles, as governor and as a vice presidential candidate, connect with women voters who will like her willingness to challenge the establishment and shake up things.

She said Palin’s reforms in just two years as governor have changed Alaska, which had been a state that previously adhered to an “old boys’ network,” but now rewards all good work.

“She talked about Alaska with a reporter from The Wall Street Journal and was tough,” Vogel said. “She called it ‘a Republican welfare state,’ and she meant it.”

Palin also connects with voters because they appreciate her ability to get things done, Vogel said.

McCain’s running mate has already been exposed to a bright media spotlight. Her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant, and Palin is being investigated for trying to have her former brother-in-law fired from his job as an Alaska state trooper.

To Vogel, the talk about Palin not being properly scrutinized before being asked to serve as vice president is just that — talk.

“People are getting to know where her loyalties are, what she is about,” Vogel said. “People know about McCain and [Democratic vice presidential nominee] Joe Biden because they have heard about them for years.”

She said Palin quickly impresses voters, so it should not be much of an issue that she is McCain’s running mate.

Instead, Vogel said, she should bring an energy that should revitalize the Republicans and worry Democrats.

She said every Palin appearance has elicited a good response from Republicans at the convention. “They are up out of their seats, approving and cheering and giving her standing ovations. Women are so excited.

“I don’t even recognize this convention being like the others. The response has been overwhelming and more than I had expected,” Vogel said.

Palin has brought a sense of unity among the conservatives in the GOP who want her to be a strong leader, the senator said. “She is a real person with a moving story. She ran for office [in Alaska] to change things, and that happened because she won. She has been a leader as a member of PTA, as mayor, and as governor, and as the parent of children.”

Vogel said her trip to the GOP convention has offered her a chance to meet with old friends and colleagues, including many she has not seen in the four years since the 2004 convention in New York.

Since then, Vogel has become Virginia’s 27th District state senator and mother to 2-year-old Jack, her second son.

She also is mother to Will, 4; stepson Alex, 8; and stepdaughter Peyton, 10.

Senate backs property owners’ association bill

June 26, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

RICHMOND — Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, made sure her bill to reform the Virginia Property Owners Association Act made it through the full Senate on Wednesday.

Vogel, whose bill is intended to clarify and clean up some of the language in the act, said she was pleased when the bill finally emerged from the state Senate following a 29-6 vote with one abstention.

Earlier in the day, the bill had been defeated as an emergency measure — an item that is pushed through quickly and is immediately enacted upon approval from the General Assembly and governor — because it did not have the required 80 percent support from senators who voted.

Only 36 of the Senate’s 40 members voted when the bill was first presented. It failed as an emergency measure on a vote of 28-8.

The bill would have needed a 29-7 vote to succeed.

Vogel reintroduced the bill later on Wednesday, after she picked up support from Sen. Toddy Puller, D-Mount Vernon, and Sen. Stephen D. Newman, R-Forest.

Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, voted against the measure earlier in the day, but the announced candidate for attorney general did not cast a vote later in the day.

The second vote of 29-6 surpassed the 80-percent requirement for an emergency measure.

Vogel said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that she was pleased to be able to answer questions posed by fellow senators.

"I gave a rather long introduction [to the bill during its first presentation] because I felt like they needed a total introduction on the issue," she said.

Vogel said she had to take a head count to make sure her bill would get enough support to pass the Senate on its second try, in part because the special session has sporadic attendance by some legislators.

Vogel’s bill comes shortly after a lawsuit was filed against the Lake Holiday Country Club Inc., the property owners’ association for the Lake Holiday residential development in northern Frederick County.

The legal action seeks to thwart the group’s efforts to collect assessments from lot owners by having a court rule that Lake Holiday Country Club is not a property owners’ association as specified in the Virginia Property Owners Association Act.

Vogel has said her bill is not related to the lawsuit, but it could help to avoid future problems within property owners’ associations.

She met with about 150 of the Lake Holiday property owners on June 18 and with attorneys for the plaintiffs on June 19.

The lawsuit was brought by some Lake Holiday property owners who say the association does not offer adequate services. The lead plaintiff — Mildred B. Bemis of Oakton — owns property at the development.

In accordance with an April 25 ruling by Frederick County Circuit Court Judge John R. Prosser, each lot owner at Lake Holiday who is not a plaintiff has been named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

Vogel said her legislative bill is not designed to stymie the current legal action, but to protect land owners in similar developments as intended in the Virginia Property Owners Association Act.

She said similar problems regarding the language in the act are likely to raise issues with each of the other 9,111 property owners’ associations throughout the state.

Vogel’s bill has been sent to the House of Delegates.

The senator said she is unsure when the delegates will take up the measure, which may first be assigned to a House committee.

Property owners’ association plan gets favorable look

June 25, 2008
By Drew Houff - The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Despite a distance of about 160 miles to the Capitol in downtown Richmond, Lake Holiday still managed to be a part of Tuesday’s discussion at the special session of the General Assembly.

Sen. Jill H. Vogel, R-Warrenton, introduced a bill intended to clarify and clean up some of the language in the Virginia Property Owners Association Act.

Vogel hopes to better explain some of the terms in the act, which allows property owners’ associations in Virginia to collect assessments from landowners within residential developments.

Her bill follows a lawsuit filed against Lake Holiday Country Club Inc., the property owners’ association for the Lake Holiday development in northern Frederick County. The legal action seeks to thwart that group’s efforts to collect assessments by having a court rule that it is not a property owners’ association.

The Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology passed Vogel’s bill Tuesday by an 11-2 vote, with one abstention.

Vogel said she was pleased by her bill’s success in committee: "It was a huge coup for me. I explained that some of the plaintiffs [in the lawsuit against Lake Holiday Country Club Inc.] were overall good with it."

The lawsuit was brought by some Lake Holiday property owners who say the association does not offer adequate services. The lead plaintiff is Mildred B. Bemis of Oakton, who owns property at the development.

In accordance with an April 25 ruling by Frederick County Circuit Court Judge John R. Prosser, all lot owners at Lake Holiday who are not plaintiffs have been named as defendants in the lawsuit.

The property owners who were added to the suit are being defended by one of two associations: Friends of Lake Holiday, represented by attorney Robert T. Mitchell Jr.; and the Alliance to Save Lake Holiday, represented by attorney Mark E. Stivers.

Vogel said the chief attorney representing the plaintiffs, Wayne Travell of Leach, Travell, Britt PC in McLean, spoke Tuesday before the Committee on General Laws and Technology, a panel of legislators that includes several real-estate lawyers.

Vogel said Travell, who has questioned why the senator would introduce a bill that could influence a pending court case, admitted that the proposed legislation does not jeopardize the lawsuit.

"He had to actually tell the truth, so I felt vindicated," she said. "Wayne Travell had his chance to be heard."

Vogel has said her bill does not take sides in the Lake Holiday lawsuit, and would benefit all 9,112 property owners’ associations in the state.

Vogel met with a group of property owners at Lake Holiday June 18.

She heard their concerns about the lawsuit against Lake Holiday Country Club Inc., its board of directors, and individual property owners.

The next day, Vogel met with Travell and other legal counsel representing the plaintiffs in the case.

Her bill on the Virginia Property Owners Association Act may go before the full Senate today. The full General Assembly and the governor would have to approve the bill in order for the original act to be revised.

The GOP reply to Gov. Kaine's speech

June 23, 2008
Daily Press

This afternoon Delegate Phillip A. Hamilton (R- Newport News) and Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Faquier) offered the Republican perspective on the Special Session II on transportation following Governor Kaine's address to a Joint Assembly of the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate of Virginia. The remarks are as follows:

Delegate Hamilton:

Hello. I'm Delegate Phil Hamilton from Newport News, and I'm joined today by Senator Jill Vogel of Fauquier County. We'd like to offer another perspective on transportation in Virginia.

Governor Kaine's most recent plan to increase taxes lacks a comprehensive vision for addressing the transportation issues facing Virginia today and in the future.

Relying solely on $1 billion in higher taxes, Governor Kaine's plan adheres to outdated thinking that will only perpetuate the current status quo. Repeating the failed policies of the past hardly represents a solution for the present or the future.

A new statewide vision for transportation, with a focus on transforming the system, is long overdue. What we need is a transportation vision that directs resources to where they are needed the most.

Virginia's current and future transportation resources must be used for the preservation, renewal and replacement of an aging transportation infrastructure; the reduction of metropolitan congestion; ensuring safe and efficient mobility; and strengthening the economic competitiveness of the Commonwealth.

To accomplish these goals, the vision for transportation should integrate new strategies and innovative financing techniques such as tolling, congestion-pricing, and public-private partnerships, while directing existing resources to where they are most needed.

In meeting the goals of a transformed transportation system, the vision must be shaped by customer-oriented, performance-driven criteria. After all, the transportation system must address the needs of the people and businesses that use it, producing a network of different modalities that can be measured for efficiency, effectiveness, and safety.

We believe that an independent audit of existing VDOT operations must be conducted before taxes are increased for transportation. While some bemoan the lack of sufficient revenues for statewide highway maintenance, most are not aware that the current Administration classifies everything in the transportation budget – except for new construction – as maintenance.

What do expenditures for administrative operations and office supplies have to do with legitimate maintenance needs like filling potholes, repaving roadways, reinforcing bridge structures, and ensuring that tunnel walls are watertight?

Before declaring a maintenance budget shortfall, let's clearly define maintenance as the costs of necessary materials and the labor to get those materials installed. How much does a lane-mile of maintenance cost using this definition? Disappointingly, no one seems to know.

Before declaring that millions of increased tax dollars are needed for transportation, let's determine what funding is currently available from the primary traditional sources – motor fuels tax, vehicle titling tax, and vehicle registration fees, etc. – and project what funding might be available from tolls, congestion pricing, transportation concessions, and other potential public-private ventures.

Before Virginia imposes massive tax increases to address a claimed transportation budget shortfall, it is essential to: have a defined vision with specific, measurable goals and objectives for Virginia's transportation system; determine the cost to accomplish the vision, goals, and objectives; and determine the current and the potential revenues from all transportation financing strategies.

To date, Governor Kaine and his Administration have failed to comply with any of these simple and obvious standards. Once these steps have been accomplished, Virginians will have a tangible idea of what funding is needed to maintain existing transportation facilities, reduce congestion, and have a safer, more efficient transportation network.

Until such a process is completed, Virginia will continue to do what it has always done and will continue to get what it has always gotten. This is neither progress nor a solution; it is the status quo.

Transportation transformation requires thinking and ideas that represent a new transportation paradigm for the future.

Virginia's transportation system needs proactive and progressive leadership for the future, not increased funding for an out-dated, unaccountable, transportation management bureaucracy from the past.

Senator Vogel:

Thank you, Phil.

Right now across Virginia, our citizens are dealing with one of the most challenging and uncertain economic environments since the months immediately following the September 11 attacks.

But you know that already. You know it every time you have to pay for a fill up at a gas station. You know it when you pass by a home in your neighborhood with a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn that's been there for months. You know it when drive by your local car dealership and see a parking lot full of shiny new vehicles with very few people looking to buy.

Yet, despite the price of fuel, and despite a home and vehicle sales market that are the worst we've seen this decade, legislators are back in session to consider proposals by the Senate Democrat Majority to raise the gas tax and Governor Kaine's plan to increase the tax on home and vehicle sales.

Unlike the special sessions called by Governor Baliles to address transportation, or by Governor Allen to abolish parole, or by Governor Gilmore to reduce the car tax, Governor Kaine has failed to build consensus or support for his plan before calling legislators back to Richmond.

During the six weeks since Governor Kaine unveiled the tax increase plan he detailed for you moments ago, he has held town hall meetings across Virginia to gain support for his approach. That strategy has not met with success, and there is no indication that the people of Virginia support his proposal.

During these six weeks, Governor Kaine has dismissed or discounted every conceivable idea to improve transportation that does not include massive statewide tax increases. He continues to push for higher taxes on car and home sales, and his fellow Democrats in the Senate still insist on increasing the gas tax.

Adopting a stance that virtually guarantees gridlock, Governor Kaine and legislative Democrats have made it clear they will not accept any transportation proposals that do not include massive tax increases. As a result, Governor Kaine now stands in the way of proposals to add transportation revenues without increasing taxes on Virginians.

During these days in Richmond, we could pursue innovative energy solutions, dedicating revenues to transportation. But Governor Kaine insists on tax increases. We could be enacting some of the innovative ideas we've heard on tolling or public-private partnerships. But Governor Kaine insists on tax increases. We could begin a thorough audit of VDOT, initiating a process that would ultimately make existing transportation tax dollars go farther. But Governor Kaine insists on tax increases.

In recent days, Governor Kaine has called for "adult" leadership. But what Virginia desperately need now is real leadership: leadership that respects the opinions of all, seeks to build consensus, and has an agenda that looks beyond gaining partisan advantage for the next election.

Republican legislators stand ready to provide that leadership. We are prepared to consider every reasonable proposal. We will cooperate with all parties to find consensus. But, we will not concede the best interests of the citizens whose voices we are entrusted to represent and whose interests we are here to serve.

Delegate Hamilton and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to hear our message this afternoon. May God bless all of you and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Lake Holiday suit spawns legislation Vogel to introduce bill to better define property owners association rights

June 21, 2008
By James Heffernan -- Daily Staff Writer

WINCHESTER — State Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel plans to introduce legislation during next week's special session of the General Assembly that would more clearly define the rights of property owners associations in Virginia.

The bill comes in response to a lawsuit brought last summer by a group of property owners at Lake Holiday in northern Frederick County over the collection of assessments. The suit claims the annual assessments, which help cover the gated community's operations and maintenance costs, are unfair because some of the residential lots lack water and sewer service.

Lake Holiday, with 2,700 lots surrounding a 240-acre lake, developed over time beginning in the late 1960s. The result is that the language in the deeds of dedication recorded for certain sections varies, calling into question whether its property association, Lake Holiday Country Club Inc., can legally impose and collect tax assessments, dues and fees under Virginia law.

During a recent interview, Wayne Poyer, president of the board of directors of LHCC, said the suit threatens to bankrupt Lake Holiday and force Frederick County to become responsible for its upkeep.

Vogel, who met with local residents Wednesday night, said the goal of her legislation is to clean up some of the language in the Virginia Property Owners Association Act without interfering with the plaintiff's claim.

"My hope is that both sides can agree on a solution and the community can move forward," she said.

Last month, Frederick County Circuit Court Judge John R. Prosser ruled that every property owner in Lake Holiday who is not listed as a plaintiff in the suit be named as a defendant. He also ordered that each homeowner receive a copy of the ruling advising them of their options, including legal representation.

Two groups of defendants — the Alliance to Save Lake Holiday and Friends of Lake Holiday — have since organized and sought counsel.

Winchester attorney Mark Stivers, who represents the Alliance to Save Lake Holiday, said he believes that LHCC qualifies as a property owners association under the Virginia statute and has conducted itself as such for more than 30 years.

The plaintiffs "knew about the association when they purchased their lots, they were expected to be members of the association, and in a significant number of cases they signed agreements to be members of the association," he said.

Property owners in Lake Holiday pay different assessments depending on whether their lot is approved for residential building, Stivers added. Only about 850 of the lots have occupied homes.

Vogel said there are more than 9,100 property owners associations across Virginia that stand to benefit from a minor tweaking of the language in the state statute that governs them.

However, her "emergency" legislation faces hurdles during a special session in Richmond devoted to transportation.

The first hurdle already has been cleared — getting the Senate leadership to consent to putting the bill on Monday's docket. Vogel is hoping the House of Delegates will agree to follow suit.
But there are underlying philosophical issues, not the least of which is the fact that the legislature tends to be reluctant to take up a measure when there is pending litigation, Vogel said.

In addition, approval of a bill introduced during a special session requires a two-thirds majority vote — known as a "supermajority" — in both houses, she said.

"It's unclear whether we will have language we will all agree on," she said.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for July 3.