{"id":1507,"date":"2004-03-11T11:28:07","date_gmt":"2004-03-11T16:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/000af36.netsolhost.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/03\/11\/virginia_news_5-3\/"},"modified":"2004-03-11T11:28:07","modified_gmt":"2004-03-11T16:28:07","slug":"virginia_news_5-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/2004\/03\/11\/virginia_news_5-3\/","title":{"rendered":"VIRGINIA NEWS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virginia to Gays: Get Out of the State<\/u>
\nThe Senate passed<\/a> by a veto proof margin a bill prohibiting same sex unions in Virginia and the recognition of those performed in other states. Right wing nut case Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) proposed the bill. Compatriot in bigotry, Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli(R-Fairfax), said the legislation would prevent court challenges<\/a>, but others say the bill is so broadly written it wouldn\u2019t stand up in court. <\/p>\n

The Assembly has already approved a resolution supporting a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and a bill allowing companies to offer benefits to same sex couples was killed earlier this year.<\/p>\n

“Virginia has a long history . . . of standing in the door,” Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said<\/a>, referring to the state’s earlier ban on interracial marriage. “We’re telling these people who happen to be gay, essentially, ‘stay out of Virginia.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Janet Howell (D-Fairfax) was concerned about the impact on businesses that would be reluctant to come to the state. <\/p>\n

Find the vote here<\/a>. Among those voting for the ban was the supposedly moderate Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites (R-Fairfax), who is proving to be anything but this session. She also sided with the right on the Senate\u2019s budget plan.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post\u2019s Marc Fisher has a column<\/a> this morning. <\/p>\n

What If?<\/u>
\nMichael Hardy And Jeff E. Schapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch \u2013 for my money, the best two reporters on the General Assembly beat \u2013 have a good summary<\/a> of the politics of the budget process and the options if a deal isn\u2019t reached by Friday.<\/p>\n

House GOP Moderates Intimidated<\/u>
\nSeveral House GOP moderates felt intimidated<\/a> by Speaker Bill Howell yesterday when he barged into their meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet Tough, But Not on Us\u201d<\/u>
\nVirginia is tough on crime, right? Former Gov. George Allen built prisons and abolished parole. Legislators love mandatory sentences. Well, except when they\u2019re the perpetrators. A bill<\/a> that would set mandatory sentencing guidelines for public officials caught embezzling was stymied in the Assembly. And they didn\u2019t have the guts to record a vote. They did it on a voice vote.<\/p>\n

“We may be going a little too far to try and help out with a very serious problem,” said<\/a> Del. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem).<\/p>\n

God forbid we should go too far in punishing crooked lawmakers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Virginia to Gays: Get Out of the State The Senate passed by a veto proof margin a bill prohibiting same sex unions in Virginia and the recognition of those performed in other states. Right wing nut case Bob Marshall (R-Prince William) proposed the bill. Compatriot in bigotry, Sen. Kenneth Cuccinelli(R-Fairfax), said the legislation would prevent… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}