There have been a couple of skeptical comments to my post about whether Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine can use the recently announced sexual discrimination lawsuit against AG Jerry Kilgore.

Kaine has been forced on the defensive by the death penalty. That, and the fact that Kaine once handled a few cases for the American Civil Liberties Union, are all the Republicans think they need to polish him off. “That’s the whole campaign,” a chortling GOP strategist told me, unable to contain his delight. “You watch, that’s how the campaign will unfold.”

In most other states, it would be a stretch to call Kaine a liberal. He opposes gay marriages as well as civil unions. The ACLU cases Kaine handled are hardly off-the-wall; one was on behalf of a black couple denied housing in a white neighborhood.

No matter. In Republican hands the letters alone — A-C-L-U — will serve as a mark of Kaine, branding him as a political untouchable.

If Republicans take offense at such tactics as painting Kilgore with the broad brush of sexism, I hope they keep in mind that if such should be the case, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

“Medicaid is . . . growing out of control,” said Del. L. Preston Bryant Jr. (R-Lynchburg). “You are seeing well-off folks literally impoverish themselves in order to qualify. That removes available Medicaid funds for those whom Medicaid is truly aimed for.”

Is this true? Does anyone know anything more than an anecdote or two to prove this assertion. Certainly, the rules the House wants to invoke would be impossible for many people to comply with. Six years of immaculate records would be tough for a lot folks — poor and otherwise — to come up with.

I know when my family sought long-term care for our dad, putting my mother in the poorhouse so he could get Medicaid to pay for it wasn’t an option. Not only did we obviously not want my mother to do without, but clearly Medicaid nursing homes were not of the caliber my parents could afford. I wonder how many children are willing to allow their surviving parent to take less than the best care they can give them just so the kids can get their hands on their inheritance a little earlier.

Update: Interestingly, when you type “Medicaid fraud” and Virginia into Google, the first hit is Kilgore’s AG web site.

Mame Reilly, Gov. Warner’s One Virginia PAC director and former Lt. Gov. Don Beyer have endorsed Howard Dean for DNC Chair. Democracy for Virginia has more.

The Senate failed to pass a bill that would have required private parties selling guns at shows to require the same background check that licensed dealers perform.

Here’s the vote on SB 807:

Barely reported out of committee:

YEAS–Saslaw, Marsh, Quayle, Norment, Howell, Lucas, Mims, Puller–8.

NAYS–Stolle, Edwards, Reynolds, Rerras, Blevins, Cuccinelli, Obenshain–7.

Narrowly failed on the Senate floor.

UPDATE: Va. Progressive has info. on why Saslaw didn’t vote for the bill on the floor: He was sick.

YEAS–Chichester, Colgan, Devolites Davis, Howell, Lambert, Locke, Lucas, Marsh, Miller, Mims, Norment, Puller, Quayle, Stosch, Ticer, Watkins, Whipple–17.

NAYS–Bell, Blevins, Bolling, Cuccinelli, Deeds, Edwards, Hanger, Hawkins, Houck, Martin, Obenshain, O’Brien, Puckett, Rerras, Reynolds, Ruff, Stolle, Wagner, Wampler, Williams–20.
NOT VOTING–Newman, Potts, Saslaw–3.

The Virginian Pilot editorial page criticized the House GOP call for complete phase-out of the car tax.

Where’s the Grand Old Party of yore?

Not in the Republican House of Delegates. It’s been possessed by the zealotry of Grover Norquist’s American Tax Foundation.

Five years after GOP lawmakers seized power, promising to govern on conservative principles, the pledge lies bankrupted by an addiction to tax cuts at any cost.

The pattern continued Tuesday as House Speaker Bill Howell and other key Republicans pledged to re-ignite the phase out of the property tax on cars.

Here’s the reckless part:

“We have not worked out the details, but I think perhaps over the next six years” the pledge could be fulfilled, said House Appropriations Chair Vince Callahan.

Callahan knows better.

“We have not worked out the details” may suffice for voters satisfied with “No Car Tax” on a bumper sticker.

But a governing majority has a responsibility to weigh the details of far-reaching policy. And a conservative governing majority, an ideal for which the GOP used to stand, has a particular duty to explain consequences and tradeoffs.

… True conservatives would explain how they intend to fix a transportation program headed toward maintenance-only while also eliminating the car tax. House leaders didn’t.

Before Tuesday, House Republicans had begun sounding as if they cared about something other than tax cuts. They trotted out a modest plan for transportation and proposals on gangs and veteran’s benefits that address several state needs. Now the obsession has returned with a wild tax promise.

The Times calls the GOP ploy another “folly.”

In 1998, in starting to phase in a costly car tax relief program, then-newly elected Gov. Jim Gilmore and the Virginia General Assembly made two remarkably errant assumptions and, by implication anyway, two remarkably cynical misrepresentations.

In 2005, Republican leaders of the House of Delegates seem intent on repeating the folly.

Read more

Wonder how this might play with women during the gubernatorial campaign?

A former assistant Virginia attorney general has filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Richmond alleging that she was fired illegally because she complained that younger, less-experienced men were paid more than older, more-experienced women.

The defendants, including former Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore, the office and five other employees, have 21 days from the time they are served with a copy of the suit to file a formal response.

No caps on jury awards, at least this year. And another article without mention of the insurance industry’s roll in this.

The compromise offers doctors the opportunity to testify to their notes regarding the patient’s history and care, as well an ability to express sympathy for a bad outcome without fear of it being used as an admission of guilt in court.

The bill also requires competency reviews for doctors with claims filed against them three times in 10 years to eliminate the estimated 5 percent of physicians who make up 80 percent of the malpractice claims.

He did the right thing.

Following up on my brief comment the other day about Tim Graham of the conservative Media Research Center suggesting journalists piled on Armstrong Williams because he was a conservative black, please note where today’s Post story is about another faux journalist, another black conservative. CORRECTION: Gallagher is apparently not black.

Recall, Tim Graham thinks the Post is biased.

That’s why this C-3 story ended up on A-1 in the Washington Post

The Post compromised. Today’s story is C-1. Slightly different circumstances. The woman has a cogent argument to make; that is until she writes.

But the real truth is that it never occurred to me.

Then again, anyone working for the Bush administration might say that. None, apparently when it comes to truth, has a clue.

Two sports stories in a row! What’s come over me? Pete Angelos.

Explaining why his Os didn’t get Carlos Delgaldo in the free agent sweepstakes, Angelos said it was to protect the fans.

“Disappointed? I’m not,” Orioles owner Peter Angelos said. “We made a bid that was appropriate for the circumstances. Others want to pay more, that’s their decision. We are not obliged to serve our fans by squandering millions of dollars they will ultimately pay for through increased ticket prices and concession prices.

“We have a duty to be careful how to spend our money because the fans will ultimately pay for it. You reach a certain level when you feel you made the best offer. I thought we went as far as we could go, within reason. And perhaps further than we should have. The owners that are throwing tens of millions of dollars around are making a disservice to baseball fans.”

As if he’s doing all this to be a servant of the fans. What a crock! I’m reminded of an O’s 7:00 game last summer for which I had tickets. I couldn’t leave Newport News until around 3:00. Most of the drive was in a pouring rain. Consequently, the drive took four hours. I was meeting a friend who took three hours to drive to Camden Yards from Loudoun County. The weather forecast was calling for heavy rain all night. I repeatedly talked to people in the ticket office who said the game was not postponed. Angelos wouldn’t call the game. It was with the Giants and was due to draw a big crowd to see Barry Bonds. No, Angelos waited until about 8:00 to call the game — after he collected non-refundable parking fees and had an hour to sell dinner to the folks that did show up.

And now he let Delgado get away in the name of the fans. I’ll never attend another O’s game, and I hope Angelos rots in the cellar of the Eastern Division for a long time.