GOP gains at least five Virginia House seats
Virginia Republicans gained at least five seats in Tuesday's elections for the House of Delegates, boosting Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell ahead of his first General Assembly session.
The 21st District race remains too close to call. Republican challenger Ronald A. Villanueva, a member of the Virginia Beach City Council, leads Del. Robert W. Mathieson, D-Virginia Beach, by 16 votes out of more than 15,300 cast.
Overall, Republicans ousted seven Democratic incumbents, while Democrats picked up two seats that Republicans had held.
Not counting the unresolved race, Republicans hold 58 seats and Democrats 39. Two independents usually vote with the Republicans.
Most of the defeated delegates had served short tenures in Richmond. Here is a look at the seats that changed parties:
- Republican T. Scott Garrett, a member of the Lynchburg City Council, edged Del. Shannon R. Valentine, D-Lynchburg, who was first elected in 2005.
- Republican Barbara J. Comstock, a lawyer and co-founder of a public-relations and government-affairs firm, defeated Del. Margaret G. Vanderhye, D-Fairfax, who was first elected in 2007. Comstock is a former director of the Office of Public Affairs at the Justice Department.
- Republican James LeMunyon, co-founder of Sterling Semiconductor, defeated Del. C. Charles Caputo, D-Fairfax, who was first elected in 2005.
- Republican Thomas "Tag" Greason, executive vice president of a business-research firm, defeated Del. David E. Poisson, D-Loudoun, who was first elected in 2005.
- Republican Richard Anderson, who retired this year after 30 years in the Air Force, defeated Del. Paul F. Nichols, D-Prince William, who was first elected in 2007.
- Republican James Morefield, a small-business owner, defeated Del. Dan C. Bowling, D-Tazewell, who was first elected in 2005.
- Republican Chris P. Stolle, a physician, defeated Del. Joseph F. Bouchard, D-Virginia Beach, who was first elected in 2007.
- Democrat Robin A. Abbott, a lawyer, defeated Del. Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News, a 21-year legislative veteran.
- Democrat Luke Torian, a pastor, defeated Republican Rafael Lopez. Torian picked up the Prince William County seat previously held by Jeffrey M. Frederick, who was ousted last spring as chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.
Contact Andrew Cain at (804) 649-6645 or
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Reader Reactions
What has happened to education is that nothing gets cut at the top. I believe that the stimulus did education a bid disservice. The county I teach in was all prepared to do some serious cuts. Then the stimulus money rolled in and no cuts were done other than freezing existing salaries. That sounds great, but it isn’t. Government is no different from businesses. When the money is good, they hire for any need. When the money is bad, they clean out the non-essential people and run lean. This *helps* the recovery. The company becomes more efficient and ultimately more productive. How should the schools have done it? Every school eliminates 1 administrative personnel. Just mandate it. Let the school figure out how to handle which one. The savings would be large because these are the top paid employees. If that doesn’t cover it, next step is to go to the guidance offices and eliminate one employee. Next would be to pay teachers extra to teach 1 additional class in place of their planning period and eliminate a teacher. Tough choices, no doubt, but when the money comes back in, the schools are in a position to work effectively and grow. Prune and grow…prune and grow. It needed to happen and it didn’t. The universities can be made to cut also. Require professors to teach an additional class (most teach no more than 2 per semester and some only 1), remove an asst. dean, etc. Somebody has to make tough choices and reduce spending just like all of the businesses have over the past 2-3 years.
“Posted by Dave on November 05, 2009 at 12:48 pm “
Dave - how many more “administrators” do they have in the central office? And how much are they making?
I use to work in a school district. I was told by one person whose wife was a teacher - “All they do is take burnt out teachers, give them a pay raise and put them in the central office to make more stupid rules”.
Having been there, he is not far from the truth.
GuidoMcGinty: Telling stats. I teach. I have not gotten a raise in any year over 3%. I had a couple of 2% years, and I got no raise this year. Gosh, where DOES all that money go…..?
Education budgets have been cut every year in recent memory.
What do you mean by cut? Educational budgets and expenditures show no net cuts over the last six years.
Here’s the year-over-year rate of increase in education expenditures from 2004-2009:
4.23, 13.5, 7.25, 14.6, 6.59, 12.65
But my question is this, where will you go if the Republicans don’t do as you say? Will you go back to the Democrats and give them another chance?
Doesn’t it make you feel dirty to vote for the lesser of two evils? I absolutely felt dirty voting for Bobby Mac; if that’s the best option Virginia can put forward, there’s no reason for optimism. If there was a Libertarian, he would have had my vote by default.
“Fix the roads. Reign in runaway spending in public education.“
******
Education budgets have been cut every year in recent memory. But that’s just part of the road welfare entitlement mentality. “I do not want to pay for this government service that I think I am entitled to, so make everyone else pay for it by shifting income tax supported government subsidies from education to socialized roads. Do not raise the user fee which is set in 1984 dollars to pay for 2010 roads because I am entitled to my socialized roads which should be more heavily subsidized to hide their true costs.“
Dave and Bob - what I would like to see is the concept of the conservative party that NY has. While it may have cost the repubs a seat in congress, the conservatives showed that they dont care if you have an R after your name - if you are going to screw the tax payer, you dont get their vote.
As for the log jam, we still have to wait 2 years. The senate still has some dead weight (Stosch) and mostly democrats.
Bob: The 300 pound gorilla in the corner is the question everyone is talking around. Legitimacy. How legitimate is a government that offers no realistic, viable alternative? People are already talking about the Republican version of ‘pay for play’. Campaigns are now measured by how much MONEY candidates are collecting as though that counts more than the people who vote (It doesn’t, does it?). Look, I’m no loon survivalist in camou, but I sense a lot of people are feeling a sense of desperation over an unresponsive and unaccountable political culture. How long can people continue to vote only to see it sold out? If a republic is to stand, then its leaders must respect and obey republican principles. If they don’t…. Go look at the end of the Roman Republic.
Dave, I agree with your comments 100%. But my question is this, where will you go if the Republicans don’t do as you say? Will you go back to the Democrats and give them another chance? If the answer to that is YES, then don’t you think you will be cutting off your own nose to spite your face? My take is this, the Republicans will do a better job than the Democrats. To abandon the Repub’s and go back to Dem’s is foolish. If you abandon the Repub’s then your only choice is a third party. I think people wanted to punish the Repub’s in 2008 and we are now stuck with Barak. I have never understood people who get upset with Repub’s for not being conservative enough and then voting Dem to get even with the Repub’s. Then the Dem’s are even more liberal than the Repub’s they are trying to hurt for not being conservative enough. It’s crazy. Makes no sense.
I voted the Republican ticket straight down the line, but here is a warning. Break the legislative logjam and get things done. You have a mandate in the Assembly. Use it. Fix the roads. Reign in runaway spending in public education. Hold government agencies accountable for spending. If you don’t and if you pull the same stunt you did earlier in the decade of going along with one of the highest tax increases in state history then my business will be at an end with this party. I don’t think I’m alone. Your support is a mile wide and an inch deep.
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