Great coverage by the Richmond Times-Dispatch of a press conference held at the Islamic Center of Virginia featuring dozens of faith leaders from Central Virginia speaking out in favor of civility and religious freedom in our public debate.
Rev. C. Douglas Smith
While traveling out of state recently, I found myself in an urban center where alcohol sales have been privatized. It was an ugly scene: corner stores selling liquor next to seedy bars; steel grates covering smokey windows lit only by the neon signs that beckoned people inside for cheap whiskey. The traffic was regular. Not far away a Salvation Army drop-in facility did its best to provide refuge for God’s children afflicted with life’s challenges — abuse, mental illness, addiction — and beset by struggle.
You have seen the newspapers and now know that there are those in state government who want to increase the number of liquor stores from around 300 to over 1000. While I am sure they are not interested in having our cities and towns turn into the kind of place I described, too often the unintended consequences of well meaning politicians become damaging and detrimental to families. If we truly believe that encouraging family values begins with valuing families we need to ensure communities are given every chance to thrive.
A few weeks back we reached out to you and asked what you thought about the Governor’s plan to privatize ABC retail sales and increase the number of outlets. Your response was overwhelming: 80% of you said “No.” Since then we have heard directly from a number of leaders in the faith community: from bishops, rabbis and imams. We seem to be all in agreement that the state should not be in the business of selling liquor at all. But we also seem to be in agreement that having the state control the sale of distilled spirits in a highly regulated way is far better than multiplying the number of retail locations by 100, 200, 300 percent or likely more.
Today we are making our position on the issue clear in our report, Off the Wagon: Why ABC Privatization is a Bad Idea. Virginia does not need to privatize liquor stores. We are releasing a policy paper clearly outlining how other states have failed to benefit from store expansions; connecting the dots on previous research that shows the social downside to privatizing liquor sales; and showing how ABC is a well-run, efficient, and reliable revenue generator for the state and provides funding for important programs that address substance abuse and mental health.
We don’t need to turn every Sheets and Wawa gas station, every corner store, every roadside bodega into a cocktail motor-through. Our communities don’t need it. Our state doesn’t need it. And the risks are too great.
P.S.: To tell a friend about this issue and what we’re doing about it, click here!
Rev. Crystal Sygeel
Rev. Crystal Sygeel wrote a moving op/ed which was published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on July 23, 2010 about her Native American roots and the current struggle of Virginia’s tribes to get federal recognition.
The only surviving photo I have of my great-great-grandmother, on my mother’s side, hangs in my parents’ house. She was a Native American. In the aging photo she stands next to her white husband on a windy hillside, her long braids slightly lifted in the wind.
Very little has been passed down through the oral history of our family about this woman. I understand that her presence in the family was awkward at best and avoided when possible. Despite this awkwardness she raised several children whose children’s children raise families of their own. However, in comparison to my Euro-American ancestors, her life stories are all but unknown. Amid the wealth of blessings and lessons passed through the generations of my family, I have no way of knowing which gifts can be traced to her.
This is a guest post by Darren Rippy. Darren is a graduate student in the Master of Public Policy program at the College of William & Mary. He is a summer policy fellow at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
Of the 562 federally recognized native tribes, not one is a Virginia tribe. Currently there are six tribes (Chickahominy, Chickahominy Eastern Division, Monacan, Nansemond, Rappahannock, and Upper Mattaponi) in Virginia who are only one legislative step away from finally receiving the federal recognition that is long overdue. A sustained 10-year partnership between the Virginia Council of Churches and the Virginia Indian Tribal Alliance for Life has made this near achievement possible. Unfortunately, the long road traveled may be all for naught if the Senate bill, S1178, granting the tribes federal recognition does not reach the Senate floor for a vote before the August recess. If this recognition does not happen during the current session, it may take another generation to garner the near unanimous support for S1178.
This is a guest post by Anjum A. Ali. Anjum has her MA in Islamic Studies, concentrating on Islamic Law, and is trained as a paralegal. She currently works with Hope in the Cities/Initiatives of Change and has two small children. Her husband Hadi YazdanPanah serves on the Board of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
I attended the Virginia Law Foundation’s 2010 Law Day Conference which brought together law professionals, public policy analysts, advocates and educators to discuss how speech, as a tool, can impact our world positively or negatively. We discussed how to maintain free speech while still controlling words of hate and fear that contribute to, and almost always incite, the kind of violence which besets our world today.
This is a guest post by Martin Beifield Jr. Rabbi Biefield is the Sophia and Nathan Gumenick Senior Rabbi of Congregation Beth Ahabah in Richmond Virginia. He is also a member of the Board of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.
The United States faces a multitude of problems which demand our vigilant attention. The economy, war in Iraq, healthcare, and climate change, among others, compete in the polls for the number one position for what the American people are most concerned about. Each has a legitimate claim. Let me add one more to our agenda. It does not have the same urgency as some of the others but it is, in its own way, quite important to the health of our nation. There is a clear erosion in our country of the wall of separation between church and state. All of our constitutional rights, privileges, and obligations are precious, and we should not ignore threats to any of them.
When the first amendment to the Constitution says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” it is saying two things. It prohibits Congress from passing laws which restrict or interfere with an individual’s exercise of religion. This is referred to as the free exercise clause. It means that we are free to practice a religion or free not to practice a religion and that the government can not interfere with the way we do either one. When it says that Congress may not establish religion, it means that Congress can not create a state or national religion, favor one religion over another, or favor religion in general. This is referred to as the establishment clause.
This is a guest post by Laura Goren. Laura is a Policy Fellow at the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and a PhD student in Sociology at CUNY Graduate Center.
How do we, as a society, and as people of faith, learn to navigate a world in which extreme fringe perspectives, including hate speech, are amplified and visible due to the tool of the internet?
Has hate speech and uncivil discourse increased with the internet or has it just become more visible? How do we respond to hate speech and other forms of uncivil discourse?
Today’s 3rd Annual Law Day Conference, sponsored by the Virginia Law Foundation and Virginia Holocaust Museum, was an opportunity for a diverse group of about 100 people from across Virginia to learn about hate speech, its consequences and to grapple with these questions.
The protesters from Westboro Baptist Church are a distant memory now, but their presence prompted some deep questions about free speech in America and how a productive citizenry should be engaged. That’s the focus of a conference at the Holocaust Museum tomorrow, Friday April 30, entitled “Free Speech, Fair Speech, Fear Speech: Civil Discourse in a Volatile World.”
The conference is organized by the The Virginia Law Foundation and is their 3rd Annual Law Day Conference. It starts at 8:30am and features topics such as:
Governor Bob McDonnell has avoided being a lightning rod on race since his run up to state-wide, and now national, visibility. He had a major endorsement from democratic-funder Sheila Johnston, a prominent African American, during his run for Governor who became an excellent validator of McDonnell on many levels since she is an entrepreneur, African American leader, and of course the founder of BET. There were questions when McDonnell suggested closing Twin Lakes State Park as part of a budget fix. The park has significant ties to the black community as our only state park open to African Americans during segregation, but the Governor has avoided the broader race debates that George Allen fought given that Governor’s many encumbrances with historical southerness.
Now McDonnell may have some explaining to do after reclaiming April as “Confederate History Month” yesterday, and it may become his own Macaca Moment. There are many months commemorated in VA but rarely those dealing a war over a state’s right to protect chattel slavery. And no other commemorative month coincides with a month when Virginia seceded from America. [time will tell how our attempt to secede from health insurance reform will be venerated.]
McDonnell says he issued the proclamation in an effort to revive Virginia’s tourism knowing the 150 Anniversary of the Civil War is approaching. And yet, he says:
he did not include a reference to slavery because “there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states. Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia.“
Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip were the major entryway for trading slaves who survived the middle passage. I know that the Governor is new to the neighborhood but about a 1/4 of a mile from the Governor’s Mansion there is a memorial to the slave trade that indicates how despicable slavery was in Richmond as the former capitol of the confederacy and Virginia as a whole. One might even describe the horrific love affair that Virginia had with slavery, significant.
I certainly hope that this does not become Macaca Moment because with all of those Civil War tourists we are trying to attract to the state it would be a shame to not have a strong Governor who can hel recognize the whole history of Virginia. Let’s not overlook the realities that the Civil War (not a “conflict,” Governor) was actually quite uncivil for those families who fought on all sides, including my own.
Slavery was even more uncivil.
This is a teaching moment. Governor McDonnell should learn, and then teach.
The Virginia Pilot has an interesting news piece providing quotes from Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell including an excellent statement about the extremists threatening violence. Kudos to the Governor for returning us to the ideals of democracy and the importance of civic engagement saying:
“I think there are people in all parts of the political spectrum that are doing some things that are not reflective of the highest ideals of American democracy: threats, actual acts of violence against members of Congress, governors. Our solutions are at the ballot box and in the legislature. That’s the way we do things in America,” McDonnell said.
I wonder what the extremes of his base have to say about those sage words. I wish I was hearing more from the left and right, including the tea party folks, about the need for civil discourse. Instead we have too many people that think freedom’s ring sounds like a shot from a gun.
The way of democracy is the way of unity. The way of a united America should be the way of peace.
To my amazement, a slew of letters to the Richmond Times Dispatch shows at least a few Virginians are suggesting they voted for our Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. It’s been harder and harder to get those confessions even from Republicans with his constant screes.
There is also a spate of well-conjectured letters claiming health insurance reform opponents still have shot at losing that debate again. Must be hard to hear that the over-financed campaign to keep the health care industry broken has lost with all that yelling going on at tea parties.
Below is a video of Beth Kimbriel, who’s family had to choose between food and doctor visits because they were denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. She’s shocked that Ken Cuccinelli would want to take health reform away from her family and force them into that desolate situation again.
Next stop – financial reform!
Gov. McDonnell just appointed a lawyer who represents Club Velvet, a strip club, to lead Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board of Commissioners. The strip club recently had its license to serve alcohol revoked and it’s appeal would go before this Board of Commissioners setting up an obvious conflict of interest for James Neal Insley.
Stacey Johnson, press secretary for McDonnell, said last night that “there is no conflict” between Insley’s past work for the LeClair Ryan law firm and future duties on the board.
No conflict of interest? The article continues:
However, Insley has been sharply critical of the department he will oversee. He accused ABC agents of going too far in an undercover investigation of Velvet and its controversial owner, Samuel J.T. Moore III, whose liquor license was revoked last month, pending appeal, on nine violations of state law.
The tacky Club Velvet next to the train station is just blocks from the Governor's Mansion
What? Insley is also the same lawyer working to defend Club Velvet, a girly-bar in Shockoe Bottom? Gov. McDonnell must not be too concerned that his new ABC Board pick is defending a topless bar that shocked Richmonders last year by hanging a photo of the President as the “Joker.” Or that the owner, Sam Moore, has been arrested breaking many of the laws the Governor supported when he headed the Courts Committee in the House of Delegates.
Insley has a huge conflict with his interest in a topless club under investigation.
Didn’t the whole Bob Sledd affair that resulted in Sledd being an “unpaid advisor” to the Governor mean that McDonnell would kept this from happening again? Guess a conflict of interest is harder to define than I thought.
Sam Moore, Richmond's most notorious strip club owner.
Everyone deserves to be defended in a court of law. I don’t fault Insley for being his lawyer. But Moore’s connection to Insley as the new ABC Board Chair while being under investigation seems untimely and distracting. It feels more like sandpaper than velvet.
Maybe the Governor doesn’t mind that big picture of Obama in his neighborhood. If placing Insley on the ABC Board means that big banner might hang around a little longer it might make sense to not worry about the conflict and just see what, er….., shakes out.
It is unfortunate that our Attorney-General Ken Cuccinelli wants to keep playing partisan games while hard working Virginians suffer in our broken health care system. We are grateful that Virginians will finally be protected from some of the worst health insurance industry abuses.
Folks in the Northern Shenandoah Vally are welcome to attend the Shenandoah University Davis Lectures at no cost on Sunday and Monday. I will be speaking about responses to anti-semitism and racism, budgets and moral documents, and the restoration of felons rights in the context of faithful citizenship.
I am sure that questions from the audience will include an opportunity to celebrate what I hope will be the passage of the health insurance reform bill in Congress. It should be a great time to be back in Winchester, VA and see so many friends from my old pastorate Ebenezer Christian Church.
By: Michael Cassidy, Director of The Commonwealth Institute
Many Center members embraced the important findings of The Commonwealth Institute’s report back in the fall on the growing costs of state tax expenditures and the general lack of accountability and transparency in this part of the budget that now costs $2.5 billion. As the legislative session draws to a close, we do have a small, but important victory in that area to celebrate.
On March 8, 2010, the House unanimously passed HB 355, sponsored by Delegate David Englin (D-45) to strengthen transparency and accountability in the budget process by improving the annual corporate income tax relief report produced by the Department of Taxation. The Senate had already unanimously passed the legislation on March 4, 2010.
Charlottesville blogger, Waldo Jaquith, was highlighted earlier this week by the Daily Progress for his creation of www.richmondsunlight.com Web site which he kindly donated to the Virginia Interfaith Center in 2007.
The site is a fantastic way to track and talk about legislation before the General Assembly as well as research legislator’s, voting history, and even how much cash-on-hand a legislator has for the next election.
A feature of the site that’s long been requested is the ability to list a bunch of members of the legislature to compare different attributes. It’s great that Richmond Sunlight tells you how partisan each member of the General Assembly is, for instance, but that means you’d need to look at 100 legislators’ pages to find out who is the most partisan! The solution to this is the new detailed legislator listing. You can list the whole legislature along with any of a half dozen attributes (and growing) and sort the list by any of those attributes, making it easy to see how the legislature stacks up.
Check it out!
Bill Mims was named to the Virginia Supreme Court today by an overwhelming vote of the Virginia General Assembly. Bob McDonnell must be pleased, and he has every right to be.
In what has been a hit and miss session for both Democrats and Republicans, it was great to be in the gallery as the Senate of Virginia found overwhelming common ground to send Mims to the bench. As I said last week, Mims’ appointment is great for Virginia.
Tea Party leaders let the cat out of the bag this weekend, pointing out that their message of patriotism and government reform is a big sham. At a multi-day training in Yorktown, where the revolution ended, it was revealed that the real purposes of the tea party movement is three fold:
Lester Gabriel, one of the the lead organizers, told the Daily Press that the goal “is to turn over 20 percent of Congress this year from Democrat to Republican-held seats.”
Gabriel is a Republican operative who focuses solely on party politics. That is a real shame given the kind of reform that we need in Washington and Richmond that impacts both Democrats and Republicans. Lester Gabriel let us all know what this sham of a movement is really about; politics and politicians trying to fleece us all by using words like reform and good government.
The number one company on the Fortune 500 list, WalMart, puts it this way:
“Walmart will not tolerate discrimination in employment, employment-related decisions, or in business dealings on the basis of race, color, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion, disability, ethnicity, national origin, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, or any other legally protected status. We should provide an environment free of discrimination to our associates, customers, members, and suppliers.”
That is no surprise since there is actually only one company, ExxonMobil, on the Fortune 50 list that does not include sexual orientation in their formal anti-discrimination policies. Businesses get it; you can not run a modern day company without letting employees and the world know that discrimination has no place in America today. Sadly, Ken Cuccinelli prefers pushing his social agenda over keeping Virginia the best place for businesses.
Virginia, a state trying to lure as many of those Fortune 500 companies to its tax roles as possible, should ensure its policies are in line with the anti-discrimination policies of the companies it seeks to attract. To do otherwise is foolishness.
In a tough economic year when budget fights are creating a rough and tumble environment in Richmond, Gov. Bob McDonnell has a tremendous opportunity before him to begin to leave a legacy that is very positive. Governor McDonnell should forward former State Senator, and Attorney General, Bill Mims as the next Virginia Supreme Court Justice. Bill Mims is a natural choice among leaders who know and respect his tremendous integrity.
