Highway agency yanks funding for southwest highway project

Link here

June 25, 2005 6:42 PM

RICHMOND, Va.

The three-point-eight billion dollar Coalfields Expressway project in southwest Virginia has effectively been halted.

That's because the Federal Highway Administration is withdrawing funding.

The agency cited delays and escalating costs in pulling the money from the 51-mile highway, a four-lane road from Wise County, Virginia, through Dickenson and Buchanan counties to link with the West Virginia Coalfields Expressway near Paynesville, West Virginia.

Highway administration officials say the project is behind schedule with no anticipated date for the start of construction of the first eight-mile section.

About 80 percent of funding for the roadway project would come from federal money.

Virginia's initial plans, developed as part of a public-private partnership under Governor Jim Gilmore, called for the expressway to be finished by 2012. The state hopes the road would be an economic godsend for a region with high unemployment and a shrinking population.

West Virginians reject $5.5 billion pension bond proposal

WCHS NEWS LINK

June 25, 2005 9:39 PM

CHARLESTON, W.Va.

Voters went to the polls today and rejected Governor Manchin's attempt to repair West Virginia's ailing retirement system by selling billions of dollars in bonds.

With 66 percent the state's 19-hundred-and-65 precincts reporting, the pension bond measure was failing 47 percent to 53 percent.

The governor had wanted voters to amend the state's constitution so up to five-and-a-half billion dollars in bonds could be sold to aid the teachers, judicial and State Police pension programs.

The teachers' system would receive more than five billion dollars of the money.

The governor's office did not have an immediate comment on the vote.

The defeat leaves in place a 40-year payment plan that relies on ballooning outlays from the state budget to aid the pension plans. This year's payment takes about 350 million dollars from general revenue: the final, 2034 payment is estimated at 742 million dollars _ about one-fourth of this year's budget.

Dr. Zane Lawhorn

Is he serious?


Click for image 1

Dr. Zane Lawhorn, pictured above, is another no-name Republican contesting Senator Byrd's seat. But unlike Hiram "Bucky" Lewis, Dr. Lawhorn has actually put a lot of work in this, well, so far it seems so. His website consists of a multitude of pages of information and promises. He has a poll on each "issue" page for research. It looks like he is trying to scan the field to see what his chances are. But is he running because he feels Capito will not, or does he thinks he is better than her or Lewis?

A quick scan of his website will reveal that he is already using campaign slogans and gimmicks to woo voters. First example:

"I will 'get-er-done' for West Virginia because I am not concerned about building a 'political career'."


Another example of his political slogan:
Click for image 2

Yeah buddy, git-er-done! (as others say it)

Another thing to think about is the following image he links on his website:
Click for image 3

Does he not know who is opposition is? I mean seriously, someone contact his staff (or himself) and ask that question. What does he mean "it's time to elect a Senator that will obtain billions of dollars of funding for West Virginia"? Has this guy been in the dark? Did he just move here from Ohio or something? Interesing, but on to the next issue.

If you take a look at his "7 promises" page, you will notice that he has promised a "clean campaign based on the issues". Well, let us see how well this Republican can stick to his word.
And most of his promises were fullfilled by Senator Byrd. He will need something more solid to work with if he plans on being a strong contender. And bingo, he may have found it. Take a look at this tactic:

"I promise I will not accept a Senate health insurance plan for myself or my family until the 300,000 + citizens of West Virginia without health insurance has access to their own health insurance. Why should our elected officials have health insurance coverage when their citizens don’t?"

Interesting enough and it may be a clever tactic that West Virginians will listen to. But as for how it measures up against the weight of Byrd's triumphs for West Virginia? It gets squashed and suffocated.

Senator Byrd has proven himself as a trustworthy, caring man time and time again. If he decides to run in 2006 (duh), he will win his seat.

capito2006.com

capito2006.com has been registered as of November 2004, but a closer investigation shows that it may have been registered by the opposition.

Whois information of registered domain name:

capito2006.com

Registrant:
Stephen Skinner


Domain Name: capito2006.com

Administrative, Technical, Billing Contact:
Stephen Skinner

Record created on Nov 4 2004.
Record expires on Nov 4 2005.
Domain servers:
static-1.no-ip.com
static-2.no-ip.com
static-3.no-ip.com

Domain Service Provider:
No-IP.com
702-459-8444

A quick google shows that Stephen Skinner is a lawyer in WV and I think "former" lawyer with Nichols & Skinner, L.C. Other Google information provides information that he is a huge supporter of the GLBT section of the Democratic Party; and a press release issued by a Stephen Skinner in the Eastern Panhandle of Charles Town, which urges others to be aware of fraudulent calls from Republicans.

Other than that, I have not encountered a "Stephen Skinner" that works along side Capito.

Democrats continue crusade over Congressional ethics staffing

Representative Mollohan confronts the slacking behavior in the Ethics Committee.



The slacking behavior of the Ethics Committee to fill these vacancies looks to be another tactic by the majority party to hault the investigations on House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. So Mollohan lays some rules down.

June 21, 2005

HOUSE RULES REQUIRING A NONPARTISAN PROFESSIONAL ETHICS COMMITTEE STAFF MUST BE COMPLIED WITH

Dear Colleague:

In recent weeks a number of Members have made the point that the House of Representatives needs to have a functioning, effective Ethics Committee. As the Ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, I could not agree more. Why, then, is the Committee not proceeding to fill the many vacancies in its staff, so that the Committee can begin to address the heavy workload that it is now facing?

The reason is that an issue has arisen within the Committee that is, in essence, whether the House Rules on the staffing of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct will be complied with. My position on this matter is very straightforward -

The House Rules on committee staff are clear and unambiguous,

Those rules require that the Committee have a nonpartisan professional staff that is selected by vote of the full Committee, and

In staffing the Committee for the 109th Congress, it is critically important that the Committee comply with those rules.

The rules relating to the Ethics Committee staff are set out in clause 3(g) of House Rule XI, and their full text is set out in an attachment to this letter. Those rules provide that the Committee staff is to be "assembled and retained as a professional, nonpartisan staff," and they further provide that -

all members of the professional staff "shall be appointed by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the committee."

1. "each professional staff member shall be professional and demonstrably qualified for the position for which he is hired";

"the staff as a whole and each member of the staff shall perform all official duties in a nonpartisan manner," and

"no member of the staff shall engage in any partisan political activity directly affecting any congressional or presidential election." [Emphasis added.]

These rules were authored by the 1997 House Ethics Reform Task Force, and the report of the Task Force highlights the importance of these rules to the proper functioning of the House ethics process:

In order for the Standards Committee to function effectively, its professional staff must operate in a completely nonpartisan manner, and each member of the staff must have the trust and confidence of all Committee members. A nonpartisan staff is also essential to engendering confidence, both within and outside the House, in the impartiality of the Committee as a whole.

Unfortunately, the Chairman of the Committee has been insisting on implementing an entirely unprecedented proposal on Committee staffing that disregards these key rules. His proposal asserts that the Chairman has the unilateral power to appoint as "Majority Staff Director" of the Committee an individual who is a shared employee of his personal office and the Committee - an appointment that would be made without any vote of the Committee, let alone complying with the rule's requirement for a majority vote of the Committee, and without regard to the rules' clear requirements for staff of professionalism and a nonpartisan background. There could hardly be a worse time to inject partisanship into the Committee staff, in total disregard of both the terms of the rules and the consistent manner in which those rules have been implemented over the past seven years.

After you review the applicable rules, I believe you will be as impressed as I am that this is not a complicated matter, and it does not involve any question of interpretation of the rules. Instead, this is a simple matter of applying the terms of the rules according to their plain meaning. I have repeatedly made my views on this matter known to the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, but with this issue remaining unresolved after several months, I believe it is important that each Member be apprised of the basic questions that are at issue here. I would be happy to respond to any questions you may have on this matter.

Sincerely,

Alan B. Mollohan Member of Congress

Local News: Our elections in the 3rd district are more interesting.

Link

"Anawalt.

This little town in McDowell County also held its municipal election Tuesday, and a slot on its board race ended up being closer than Bluefield's at-large race and Bramwell's contest for mayor.

Two siblings, Scotty A. Chapman and Theresa L. Bridgeman tied with 56 votes for the fifth seat on the board. The canvass will determine whether either brother or sister received an extra vote or two, to change the results."

Interesting enough is that voters gave 56 votes per candidate. But knowing that they are siblings is adding to the plot.

There were also elections in Bluefield and Bramwell that had "too close to call" stats.

"So Bluefield had two votes shifting the election; Bramwell had one - and who knew what would happen, or who might be mayor, after the canvass. What could be more exciting?"

Senate Rejects 40% Cut in Oil Use; Approves 10% Renewable Portfolio Standard for Electricity

Link

"The Senate rejected the Cantwell amendment (earlier post) that proposed a 40% reduction in oil consumption by 2025 from the baseline forecast by the EIA.

The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Feinstein (D-CA), Reid (D-NV, Minority Leader) and Durbin (D-IL) went down 47–53, basically on a party-line vote with four exceptions.

One Democrat (Stabenow, MI) voted against the bill; three Republican senators (Chafee, RI; Snowe, ME; and Specter, PA) voted for it."

Back to the drawing board for the sponsors.

General Update

Just recovered from data error in the template. Not sure what happened, but some of the newer information was lossed. Nothing that can't be fixed or readded though.

For all you diehard MA fans (yeah that's right) I will get everything back up to par tonight. So the rooster, the Byrd image, the hit counter, etc will be back shortly.

General Update

(1) Been working on getting mcydems.org up and running. Got an alternate host since the national YDA is ignoring me. I have been advised that it should be available in 24-48 hours. As you see now (at this time being anyways), the default godaddy reserved page for mcydems.org is no longer available. This is due to the servers swapping. Don't fret, all should work out well and McDowell County Wyoung Democrats [dot] org will be up and running sometime Sunday. Nice day for it to arrive, wouldn't you say?

(2) Also added Draft Mark Warner to the suggested links list. Mark Warner has been receiving national attention for quite some time now and it seems he is gathering much support. I've kept my eye on him and will continue in the coming months. I am sure most of you moderate and Traditional Democrats thought about a Warner/Manchin ticket. Who knows? If Manchin doesn't tick off any more people and happens to turn WV around for the better, a second term as governor may not happen. But let's not pump up anyone's ego here. Save West Virginia today and the nation tomorrow.

(3) Before observing the poll, I would have never imagined more than 5 Neoconservatives would dare enter the realms of traditional territory. Interesting. I wonder if they really believe Capito will win or are they just voting to keep the results from being in the 90 percentile.

Not a scientific poll
Poll Stats

(4) Brandon has been working very hard on getting the MCYD Bluegrass Show organized. It is coming together slowly (rather quickly though in the last couple days), and should be ready sometime in August. More on that will be posted on mcydems.org by Monday (hopefully, depending on the server availability).

(5)
VS

"Byrd still only leads Capito by a less-than-comfortable ten points in the polls. Ten points! That's nothing a good Karl Rove-sponsored $14 million television ad campaign can't handle."

( I was going to edit Capito's pic, but decided not. Maybe another day.)

Heh, $14 million dollars wasted down the drown. I love how these Neoconservatives are packing on weight to this campaign. It's like the snowball affect. It rolls and rolls, picking up more and more crap, then when it gets too big it breaks apart, but not before crashing into an obstacle. And this snowball's obstacle is Byrd. Do they think he will be an easy defeat? Well, I really don't hear Rove, Bush, Limbaugh, and the other high profile Conservatives spending their 2 cents. Most of the gibberish is the lower pundits and wannabe journalists. *cough* Surber *cough*. Ahem, gettin' a cold I think.

It is 5:06 am, lots was done tonight, more to do tomorrow.

Thank God For Senator Byrd

BRAC, Pentagon Wrong

The BRAC team concluded that the Pentagon's stats about Charleston's 130th is incorrect.

After concluding a daylong fact-finding tour, analysts from a federal panel reviewing whether the West Virginia National GuardÂ’s 130th Airlift Wing should be downsized admitted on Monday just what Guard supporters have been saying all along.

West Virginia National Guard Adj. Gen. Allen Tackett has contended that the base can now handle 16 C-130s and has the resources to expand to 24.

With the exception of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who had to attend to Senate business, the state’s full congressional delegation — Sen. Robert Byrd and Reps. Shelley Moore Capito, Allan Mollohan and Nick Rahall — were on hand for the BRAC analysts’ visit Monday. Also greeting them were Gov. Joe Manchin and Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.

Mollohan said it was Byrd who had “marshaled together this delegation” in support of the base.

“We’re here to back up the unit,” Byrd said. “We’re united in this delegation.

But we are not through yet. More chit-chat between committees must be conducted on whether or not the DOD would save money by transferring these base jobs.

Over 1000 jobs is reported to be connected to the 130th Airlift Wing.

Thank God for Senator Robert C. Byrd, who has yet again showed his compassion and willingness to fight for West Virginia.