State and National Government

The House of Representatives has been called back from its August recess for an unusual Saturday session tomorrow, one that will consider a proposal for increased United States Postal Service funding through the November election. Congressman Morgan Griffith says while he is ready to be in Washington at any time, this session is not addressing the country’s most pressing issue. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones.

 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has filed paperwork to run for his old job next year but says he’s still hasn’t made a decision yet.

McAuliffe filed paperwork with the Virginia State Board of Elections on Wednesday listing himself as a Democratic candidate for governor. But his spokesman, Brennan Bilberry, said McAuliffe won’t made an official decision to run until after the November election.

“Governor McAuliffe is making no decisions on 2021 until after we defeat Donald Trump and his hateful ideology,” Bilberry said.

The filing is the clearest indication yet that McAuliffe is planning to run.

McAuliffe, once best known as a top Democratic money man and close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s, reinvented his image during a largely successful four-year term as governor that saw him tirelessly market the state, make major transportation deals and restore voting rights for thousands of convicted felons.

He briefly flirted with a presidential run last year but decided against it.

Many longtime lawmakers have urged McAuliffe to run again for governor, but it’s unclear how broad his support is among Democratic primary voters. McAuliffe proudly governed as a centrist and some of his business-friendly policies and actions as governor may alienate the party’s progressive wing.

Other announced Democratic candidates for governor include state Sen. Jennifer McClellan and Del. Jennifer Carroll Foy, either of whom would be the nation’s first African American woman to lead a state.

Carroll Foy blasted McAuliffe as out of touch and and too cozy with corporate interests after his filing was made public.

“The politics of the past are not change we need, and the politicians of the past won’t save us,” she said in a statement.

Virginia bars governors from seeking consecutive terms. McAuliffe’s successor, Gov. Ralph Northam, is set to leave office at the start of 2022.

The General Assembly’s Democratic majority has begun moving a number of criminal justice-related bills through the current special session. It begins in committee, and today, the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Roanoke’s John Edwards, advanced several proposals for further consideration — including one that could create greater civilian oversight of police conduct in many localities. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

 

Brandy S. Faulkner – Va Tech photo

A reality check perhaps concerning the selection of Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate in his bid for the presidency. WFIR’s Gene Marrano spoke with a widely-quoted political science professor at Virginia Tech.

Click below to hear the full length conversation with Brandy Faulkner:

The General Assembly special session that begins next week was called after the COVID-19 pandemic sharply reduced state revenues. But it is clear that police-related proposals will also command much of the attention. The new Democratic majority passed many initiatives this winter that they had long sought; now, Virginia Tech Professor and WFIR Political Analyst Bob Denton says they will have to consider whether some of those should face budget cuts. At the same time, many Democrats are using the opportunity to propose major changes to Virginia crime and police-related laws, like one to reduce assaulting an officer from a felony to a misdemeanor. More from WFIR’s Evan Jones:

 

Democrats in Richmond are laying the groundwork for changes in Virginia criminal justice laws when they meet next month in special session. Two House of Delegates committees conducted an on-line  hearing today focusing on sentencing and parole, subjects that included current minimum sentences in Virginia for hundreds of felonies and a lack of discretionary parole. WFIR’s Evan Jones has the story:

Photo: Ken Cuccinelli Twitter

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says that acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and his deputy, Ken Cuccinelli – a former Virginia Attorney General – violated their oaths of office when they barred his state’s residents from participating in a program that allows U.S. travelers quicker passage through borders and airport lines. He notes that this occurred during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo says this happened after New York passed a law curtailing cooperation with federal immigration enforcement:

Wolf says New York continues to maintain provisions that undermine the security of the American people and purport to criminalize information sharing between law enforcement entities.