Saturday, January 26, 2013
Petersen: Republican effort to end winner-take-all system is 'anti-Democratic'
A Republican-led effort to end the Old Dominion's traditional winner-take-all approach to picking a president has drawn national attention and could weaken the influence of voters in urban areas like Northern Virginia. The bill, authored by state Sen. Charles Carrico, a Galax Republican, would divvy up electoral college votes based on who wins each of this state's 11 congressional districts. Carrico has said that the current system casts aside the wishes of rural voters and that his bill is an attempt to even the playing field, according to the Roanoke Times. More broadly, proponents in the GOP say the new system would better reflect the popular vote. The bill heads to the full Senate Privileges and Elections Committee next week. Gov. Bob …
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Virginia senators say GOP redistricting plan is unconstitutional; Republican legislators say proposal helps the state better comply with the Voting Rights Act.
By Mark Robinson, Capital News Service Virginia Democrats continued to call a Republican-backed plan to redistrict the state's senate seats unconstitutional on Wednesday -- but GOP leaders say the measure could actually help the Commonwealth better comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. After Republicans narrowly passed a bill Monday that included an amendment to redraw the lines of several state senate districts, the result of which in many cases was more seats with GOP-leaning voters, Democrats took to the Senate floor Tuesday to blast the measure, calling it unconstitutional. In remarks on the Senate floor on Monday, the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, said the move would create a sixth majority-African American …
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Virginia State Sen. Janet Howell would also lose some of her constituents in Republican redistricting plan.
A Republican effort to redistrict Virginia's state senate would move most Vienna voters into different districts. The changes, introduced as an amendment to a larger bill late Monday, are awaiting House approval, but Democrats — who called the move an attempt to gain control of the evenly-split senate — are gearing up for a fight. Republicans called the redistricting attempt "an effort to create another majority black Senate district." It comes two years after Gov. Bob McDonnell signed the state's traditional redistricting plan, crafted every 10 years with census data in years that end in "1." Introducing yet another plan is unconstitutional, Senate democrats say; voting while Democratic State Sen. Harry Marsh, a 79-year-old civil rights …
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tie vote sends part of senator's proposal to restore voting rights of felons to full Virginia Senate committee.
- GOVERNMENT
-
Tuesday, January 15
By Sam Isaacs, Capital News Service RICHMOND – A Senate subcommittee tied 3-3 Tuesday on proposed constitutional amendments — including one proposed by Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th) — to restore the voting rights of nonviolent felons who’ve completed their sentences. The vote occurred in the constitutional amendments subcommittee of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee. The tie vote is adequate to send the matter to the full committee for consideration. The subcommittee considered constitutional amendments proposed by Democratic Sens. Chap Petersen of Fairfax, Louise Lucas of Portsmouth and Donald McEachin of Richmond. The panel combined the measures and then voted on them. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and other officials spoke …
Monday, January 14, 2013
At town hall in Vienna on Saturday, residents push for early voting, more online options.
Though it's January, the long wait times at Fairfax County polls in November's election are still a fresh memory in many voters' minds. When Sen. Chap Petersen asked the more than 100 residents at a town hall meeting Saturday in Vienna who among them stood for hours in hopes of casting a ballot, hands flew into the air — and calls to improve the process came with them. One way Petersen is hoping to prevent such long wait times, which plagued polling stations across the state in the 2012 General Election, is SB739, which would require there be at least one voting device for each 500 registered voters in a precinct, instead of the current 750 voter standard. Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova has already called for a …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Ahead of 2013 General Assembly, legislators from Vienna-Oakton area take issue with some parts of Gov. Bob McDonnell's plans during town hall with residents Saturday.
When Del. Mark Keam (D-35th) first ran for office four years ago, he said the two issues almost exclusively on voters' minds were transportation and education. Four years later, as he hosted a town hall Saturday in Vienna with fellow legislator Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th), the issues haven’t changed, he said. And while Keam was optimistic he and Petersen would see some progress through bills they’ve introduced this year, both Keam and Petersen said they anticipate “a fight” with certain parts of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation and education plans, which the governor unveiled last week as the General Assembly began its 45-day session. Transportation Petersen has introduced his own plan in response to McDonell’s transportation overhaul, …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Chap Petersen sounds off on McDonnell's new proposal to fund transportation projects.
Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34) called Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to eliminate the gas tax and fund state transportation projects by increasing the sales tax nonsensical in a blog post Wednesday. McDonnell's plan calls for the elimination of the 17.5 cents per gallon gas tax and an increase of the sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 for more than $600 million in more transportation funds. Read more about the proposal here. If it passes, Virginia would be the first state to fund transportation projects this way. Petersen said: "The [Governor's] justification is that the gas tax at a fixed rate brings in less money in our hybrid age. But that hardly seems like a reason to jettison it. (And no other state has). Indeed, eliminating our traditional…
Monday, January 7, 2013
Constituents invited to ask questions, talk issues at Saturday meeting in Vienna.
Del. Mark Keam (D-35th) and Sen. Chap Petersen (D-34th) are teaming up to host their annual town hall Saturday, just days after the start of the Virginia General Assembly's 2013 Session in Richmond. The meeting is scheduled from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the American Legion Dyer-Gunnell Post 180's Auxiliary, 330 N. Center Street, Vienna. Keam and Petersen will give an overview of the bills they have filed, or plan to file, this session, as well as the House and Senate's agenda for the year. Constituents can also talk about issues or give ideas and suggestions to the legislators. Petersen has pre-filed several bills (see Petersen's bills for the 2013 session), including one that would help restore voting rights to residents convicted of …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Petersen announced on his blog Thursday that he would not run in 2013.
State Sen. Chap Petersen has announced that he is not running for governor in 2013, as many have speculated in recent months. "I did not deny the inquiries, because I was seriously considering it," Petersen wrote on his blog, OxRoadSouth, on Thursday. Petersen cited obligations to his family, his law practice and constituents in the newly designed 34th district as the reason he decided not to run. The 34th District consists of portions of Centreville, Vienna, Oakton, Annandale, Burke, Fairfax Station and Fairfax City. "To run for public office, a lot of pieces must be in place: family, financial, professional and spiritual. A candidate must also have a vision which is congruent with the moment. Timing is everything," Petersen wrote. "…
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Tell us: Should state law be able to retroactively override private agreements?
The Virginia Senate rejected an appeal to override Gov. Bob McDonnell's veto of what's known as the solar freedom bill Wednesday, disappointing state Sen. Chap Petersen, who sponsored the legislation. "This is a common sense bill that would have brought high-paying, high-technology jobs across Virginia while protecting individual property rights within HOAs," Petersen wrote in a statement. "While the Governor continues to protect big coal and provide subsidies for mountaintop mining, Virginia tax payers are losing out on thousands of Federal tax credits from clean, efficient solar energy." The bill (HB 627), which passed the Senate on a 31-8 vote during the legislative session, attempted to invalidate any community associations' provisions…
Bill Strandberg
8:46 am on Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Interesting comment from Sen. Peterson calling the measure "anti-Democratic" with a capital "D". That is precisely the problem. The measure dilutes the "D"emocratic Party's ability to cluster votes in large population areas of a state where the usual liberal, Democratic constituency can overcome the greater good of an entire state. Besides Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York and Ohio all … more ›