Virginians should Vote NO on the Constitutional Amendments

There will be three constitutional amendments on the ballot in Virginia this election. While the first two help people in the military, they use the military to open the property tax system to one of special breaks for people. The third amendment encourages the government to not cut spending, by increasing the size of the rainy day fund from 10%-15%.

For more detailed information on why you should vote NO on the constitutional amendments, check out these articles on Virginia Right, and Tertium Quids.

Morgan Griffith the Pro-Life Choice for Congress

There comes a time when tenacious commitment to ideological purity makes you at best detriment to the cause you claim to support, and at worse an enemy of that which you are trying to protect. Virginians for Life, and their Executive Director, Kellie McHugh, have definitely reached this point. This blog is unashamed to call out Republicans when they don't stick to their principles. What Virginians for Life has done here is not one of these occasions.

In their most recent e-mail entitled, "Cuccinelli Endorses Pro-Abort," Virginians for Life calls Morgan Griffith (Republican congressional candidate in VA-9) a "pro-abortion Republican" without giving any evidence to support this claim. It also claims that Ken Cuccinelli "sold out again" by endorsing Morgan Griffith. To conclude an e-mail of baseless accusations, the group decides to ask for money, and asks you to call Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and ask him to stop supporting "pro-abortion Republicans."

Since no evidence was given as to why Morgan Griffith is a "pro-abort," I decided to do my own research. In his issues page, Morgan Griffith's second issues is that he believes in the importance of the sanctity of life. He was endorsed in his bid for the 9th congressional seat by the National Right to Life because he "supports pro-life legislation, and opposes the use of federal funding for elective abortion." As a result of his strong commitment to support families, Morgan Griffith received a perfect score from the VA Family Foundation in their 2009 Report Card. This is not the record of a "pro-abort." In most people's minds an endorsement from the Virginia's pro-life champion would at least insure that the person is at least not a "pro-abort." This is the record of someone who has consistently worked for and advanced pro-life legislation as Majority Leader in the VA House of Delegates. May he have cast one vote that Virginians for Life disagrees with? Possibly. Calling a Morgan Griffith a "pro-abort" is a lie. Doing it without providing evidence is inexcusable.

Morgan Griffith's opponent Rick Boucher is most certainly a strong supporter of abortion. During the healthcare debate, he opposed the Stupak amendment, an attempt to make sure federal healthcare money would not fund abortion. His votes in the last congress earned him a 25% approval rating from the Family Research Council on family issues.

Not only is it a lie to call Morgan Griffith a "pro-abort" the timing of this e-mail is very troubling. Virginians for Life pretends like this is a recent development that Ken Cuccinelli endorsed Morgan Griffith. Cuccinelli actually endorsed Morgan Griffith in a Cuccinelli Compass e-mail sent out on May 20th. This summer Virginia Republicans participated in competitive nomination contests in five congressional districts: 2, 5, 8, 9, and 11. Ken Cuccinelli chose to endorse candidates in two of those nomination contests: Keith Fimian and Morgan Griffith. If Virgians for Life were actually upset about Ken Cuccinelli's endorsement they would have sent this e-mail out in May when Ken made the endorsement.

Choosing to send this baseless attack out the weekend before the election serves only one purpose, suppressing pro-life votes for Morgan Griffith. I do not know the intentions of the person who sent the e-mail, but it is the only possible result. Normally baseless smear attacks a couple days before an election are reserved for your political enemies. It is unimaginable to use such tactics on your friends. Under the guise of supporting life, Virgians for Life are helping reelect an enemy of family values, and the unborn, Rep. Rick Boucher.

The race in Virginia's fighting 9th will be a close race. If you believe in family values, look at the records, and vote for Morgan Griffith on Tuesday.

Victoria Cobb Declares War on the State Senate

At the Family Foundation Gala tonight, Victoria Cobb declared that the next step in making Virginia a family values friendly state was putting a conservative majority in the State Senate. She made a point of not just wanting a Republican majority in the State Senate. She noted that Republicans lead by Russ Potts consistently killed bills relating to abortion and choice in education in the Senate Health and Education Committee. Victoria talked about the impact the Winning Matters campaign had on the statewide and House of Delegates races in 2009, and believes that a similar strategy will significantly impact the senate races in 2011. Hopefully the Family Foundation and other conservative groups succeed in this goal, and Steve Martin or Steve Newman hold the chairmanship of the Senate Health and Education Committee. When that happens Virginia will be the leader in all of the important battles of our time.

FRC Action Launches Ad Targeting Tom Periello

FRC Action just announced that it has spent 125k to target 5 congressmen over the next two weeks. One of those congressmen is Tom Periello who is being challenged by state Sen. Robert Hurt. Here is an excerpt from the announcement with a list of the targeted seats.

FRC Action PAC, the political action committee connected with FRC Action, the lobbying arm of the Family Research Council, started a television ad campaign today against five members of Congress who have furthered a big government agenda to the detriment of American families. This $125,000 cable news ad buy is connected with the "20 in 10" campaign targeting those members of Congress who voted for business-crushing pieces of legislation, including the new health care law that allows for taxpayer funding of abortions.

The members of Congress currently targeted in the two week ad campaign are:

Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ-8)

Betsy Markey (D-CO-4)

Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH-1)

John Boccieri (D-OH-16)

Tom Perriello (D-VA-5)

Keith Fimian Fact Checks Gerry Connolly's New TV Ad

Gerry Connolly released his first TV Ad. Here is Keith Fimian's fact check on the ad.