When the Republicans controlled the Virginia House and Senate, they packed committees disproportionately to their slim majorities. Republican committee chairs wielded their power to control the legislative agenda and kill bills in committee rather than allow bills to be debated, amended, and voted on by the full legislature.
Now that the full roster of committee chairs has been announced, it is plain to see that Democrats likely won’t deviate from how things are done in Richmond. The risk is that they also squash bills in committee–including bills sponsored by progressive Democrats. Josh Stanfield of Activate Virginia published a recommendation that the Democrats should reduce the autocratic power of the Speaker of the House by forming a leadership committee to pick committee chairs, vice chairs, and membership appointments. Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn didn’t do that. She made her picks for the 14 house committees. Senate leaders and senate committee chairs can be found here. These picks have been made faster, and with less transparency of the process, than previously.
We can’t allow the ferment of progressive grassroots activism to crest against a shield wall of corporate interests and the timidity of those who fear losing political power. There are disconcerting signs that the current Democratic leadership does not intend to be bold or ambitious with their agenda so as to “not rock the boat” against the powerful corporations they appease:
- Governor Ralph Northam just announced, “I am the leader of this party!” This is the same leader who also announced that Virginia would not be repealing the labor-busting, wage-lowering Right to Work law even though just about every Democrat when running said they supported repeal. He’s also the same leader who now refuses to comment any further on his yearbook scandal…because, well, he doesn’t have to. Outrage does seem to blow over in so many quarters.
- Dominion Energy continues to flood Democrats’ political coffers by laundering it through leadership PACs and accounts. Gov. Northam’s The Way Ahead PAC got $35,000 in October and November. Governor Northam also appointed Dominion’s Director of Strategic Communications, Grant Neely, as his own communications guy.
- Dominion gave $750,000 to candidates and PACs from both parties in 2019 alone. Leadership PACs and the Democratic Party of Virginia itself through candidate-to-candidate pass-through donations all essentially launder these contributions so that elected officials who have pledged not to take Dominion Energy money can basically still take Dominion money (and other big donor money). That’s exactly how senate leader Dominion Dick Saslaw publically explained it.
- Delegate Joe Lindsey (HD90) was made Chair of the Privileges and Elections committee. Dominion Energy is his biggest donor, giving him $20,250 in direct contributions alone. He also received $2,500 from Dominion Energy CEO Tom Ferrell. Any bills relating to campaign finance reform will now be controlled by P&E committee chair Lindsey, such as bills to prevent publicly regulated utilities like Dominion from making political contributions.
- New Senate Majority Leader, Senator Dick Saslaw (SD35), will also now be the Chair of the Senate Commerce & Labor Committee where all energy bills first go, including any bills that would allow for distributed renewable energy. Saslaw is Dominion’s gatekeeper and apologist in the senate. Dominion in turn gave him $50,000 in 2019. Saslaw’s 2019 Campaign Manager, Andrew Whitley, is now the new Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Virginia. He’s replacing Chris Bolling who is now going to work for Terry McAuliffe’s Common Good PAC. And McAuliffe, who paved the way for the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines is considering a run for governor. And the revolving doors between public service and private gain keep turning.
- Watch what happens with the Green New Deal Virginia as an alternative middling path is introduced in the form of the Clean Economy Act which preserves the status quo of power and patronage in this state, so that Dominion Energy can continue to build fracked-gas power plants, pipelines and pipeline extensions, petroleum processing plants, and most significantly, continue to throttle clean energy development , slow-rolling it over 30 years and lowering the target goals from what other states are doing, all in the name of keeping a “business friendly” atmosphere in Virginia, while the actual atmosphere heats up by 9 degrees F.
- Watch how the Democrats fast-track introduction of casinos in Virginia, juiced by massive political donations from coal baron Jim McGlothlin and his friends.
Finally…
VAJDs are tracking bills as they get introduced for the 2020 session and look forward to counting floor votes that will hold our elected officials accountable for the campaign promises they made (or did not make).