Dan Duckwitz worked a full-time, internship at the Fairfax County Democratic Committee in the summer of 2007, and now serves in Afghanistan with the 374th Financial Management Company. The items listed below have been identified by Dan’s company as difficult to obtain through available channels. In addition to these items below, we request contributions for postage.

Afghanistan Troops’ Wish List

• Peanuts, Almonds in single serving sizes
• Beef Jerky, Slim Jims
• Candy, Gum, Tic-Tacs, Life Savers, mints (nothing that will melt)
• Popcorn (microwavable packages)
• Powdered drinks (such as crystal light, propel etc.)
• Coffee (ground) and Tea Bags
• White socks with no logos for physical training
• Personal Hygiene items and Toiletries for both men and women
• Books, magazines, and DVDs (entertainment items)
• Also the sand colored t-shirts sold at PX facilities state side are impossible to get in Afghanistan.  They can use some medium, mostly large, and a few X-large sizes in these t-shirts.

Please deliver your donations to:

• Bring them to the Crab Feast on September 11th, and/or
• Fairfax County Democratic Committee (2815 Hartland Road, Suite 110, Falls Church VA 22043; map: http://bit.ly/FCDC-HQ) or to a collection site at Democratic Party events in Fairfax County.

Your support is greatly appreciated!

• Saturday, September 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm
• Tickets online, http://tinyurl.com/CrabFeast2010.
  If purchased at the door checks only, please. No cash transactions accepted.
• Collection Box to Support Our Troops in Afghanistan (donate items, see wish list here)

At the home of Sonny Schick, 3219 Valley Lane, Falls Church, VA 22044 (map: http://tinyurl.com/schick-home). Directions: From Annandale, Columbia Pike to left on Sleepy Hollow Road; in 2 miles turn right onto Valley Lane and in 0.3 mile house is on your right. Street parking is limited, so please park at 6201 Leesburg Pike across Juniper Lane from the Sears at Seven Corners. FREE shuttle service begins at 6:30 pm.

Families $120
Adults $50
Senior Citizens 65+ $40
Children 6-16 $20
Children 5 and under – Free

For more information call Rachel Rifkind at 703-941-9574.

Saturday, June 26, 10 am to 12 pm.
Patty Reed, Providence School Board Member, will be my special guest at this session
and
Saturday, July 31, 10 am to 12 pm

Woodrow Wilson Library
Conference Room
6101 Knollwood Drive
Falls Church, VA 22041

Thursday, July 1, 1 pm to 3 pm

George Mason Regional Library
Conference Room
7001 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, VA 22003

Saturday, July 17, 10am to 12pm

In 1917, more than 120 suffragists were imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse, then part of the Lorton Prison complex, in retaliation for picketing the Woodrow Wilson White House for the right to vote. The reports of inhumane conditions, beatings and force-feeding at the workhouse electrified the country and became the “turning point” in the struggle for the 19th Amendment.

The Turning Point Suffragist Memorial Committee is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) to raise funds to erect a suffragist memorial to commemorate the struggle of these women and educate future generations.  Help pay tribute to those who endured harsh imprisonment to secure the right to vote for every women at the Silent Sentinel Award Reception (tickets and information, click here.)

May 12, 2010  7-10 pm
Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court
Vienna, VA 22182-1992 
map, click here

In the first 100 days of Republican rule:

• Governor McDonnell sought hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts to education and healthcare that would have eliminated tens of thousands of jobs;
• Callously declared a month of Confederate history with no consideration for the shameful legacy of slavery;
• A new barrier to rights restoration dredged up painful memories of Virginia’s voter-suppression tactics of the early and mid-20^th century;
• Attorney General Cuccinelli embarked on numerous wasteful and futile lawsuits against the federal government; and,
• Republican officials focused on misplaced priorities that move Virginia backward.

Budget Cuts:

Governor McDonnell failed for weeks to present the $4 billion in budget cuts that he required, prompting the Roanoke Times to declare the new Governor "budget-shy" because of his "extraordinary sloughing of responsibility." After weeks of pressure from Democrats, Governor McDonnell finally presented a budget plan that revealed his true priorities: corporate welfare over schools and the needy. Among his proposed cuts, Governor McDonnell sought:

• $731 million in cuts to K-12 education
• Eliminated state support for school breakfast programs for needy children
• Nearly $20 million in cuts to college tuition assistance
• $5 million from the health care safety net
• Eliminated funding for consumer-based care, a move that would have caused 14,000 job losses.
• Closing of five state parks
• Eliminating support for public broadcasting

These cuts were avoided and mitigated in the Democratic controlled Senate which prioritized education, maintenance of the health care safety net, and protecting jobs.

But for Governor McDonnell and his Republican allies, it was never about creating a good budget. On February 17, the Washington Post reported that "Republicans praise McDonnell for being politically savvy enough to not publicly attach his name to the cuts." 

Lawsuits:

Governor McDonnell sat by, and in some cases, cheered on his Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, as he embarked on wasteful and frivolous lawsuits against the federal government.

On February 16, Attorney General Cuccinelli filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency based on a talk-radio conspiracy of supposedly inaccurate climate change data. When the EPA signed regulations to save Virginians thousands of dollars through increased fuel efficiency in vehicles, the Attorney General doubled-down and sued again.

Finally, The Washington Post reported on March 23 that the Attorney General, with the endorsement of Governor McDonnell, embarked on a crusade against the federal government over the recently passed health care reform legislation. No credible legal expert feels this lawsuit will do anything but waste taxpayers’ time and money. The legislation signed by President Obama will increase coverage and lower costs for thousands of small businesses and uninsured Virginians, but the Attorney General is doing all he can to prevent these important reforms.

On March 23, the Democratic Party of Virginia launched a petition, signed by over 14,000 Virginians, to tell Attorney General Cuccinelli to focus on the issues facing Virginians instead of abusing his office to bankroll personal, political battles. When the DPVA asked the Attorney General to reveal how much time and money he was wasting on his frivolous lawsuit over healthcare, his office refused to provide any information.

Anti-Discrimination Polices

Governor McDonnell reversed the state’s nondiscrimination policies that had served the state workforce well for nearly a decade under Democratic governors.

He pointedly left the door open for discrimination based on sexual orientation, sat silently while House Republicans killed legislation to protect state workers, then concurred with the Attorney General’s advice to colleges that they could not protect gay employees.

Once he realized he had ignited a national firestorm, Governor McDonnell issued a nonbinding "executive directive" on discrimination, offering no legal protections or recourse for victims of discrimination, and boldly declared, "I believe that takes care of it." (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/13/10)

Playing to his Base

Governor McDonnell decided to appeal to a small segment of the radical right wing by declaring April to be "Confederate History Month," a month where we should reflect on "the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens." The Governor callously ignored the role of slavery in the conflict in his initial proclamation and told the Washington Post on April 7 that he only included the aspects of the war that "were most significant for Virginia." Apparently slavery did not reach the Governor’s standard of significance.

Once Governor McDonnell realized he had cast a negative national light on the Commonwealth with his divisive proclamation, he quickly backpedaled, apologized, and revised the proclamation.

This begged the question, what was Governor McDonnell trying to accomplish with his proclamation?  On April 8, Washington Post columnist Robert McCartney offered one possible explanation:

"I’m sad to say that the most likely explanation is that McDonnell and his advisers knew exactly what they were doing and only reversed course when they realized that they’d blown it."

Transportation

Governor McDonnell is quickly realizing that delivering results is considerably more difficult than delivering campaign sound bites. After pledging in December to fix transportation "at some point during his first year," McDonnell quickly backtracked in January.

"Despite making transportation a top priority during last year’s campaign, Gov.-elect Robert F. McDonnell (R) said Thursday that he will not propose a fix during this year’s legislative session," the Washington Post reported on January 15.

Governor McDonnell now says he will work to build consensus before calling a special session to enact transportation solutions. But on the campaign trail he criticized his opponent’s plan to do just that.  As the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported McDonnell saying on Aug 5. 2009, "His plan is ‘elect me’" and that he will call a special session and work with the legislature, McDonnell said. "That’s not leadership. That’s not a plan."

Obstacles to the restoration of rights:

In the last 100 days, Governor McDonnell instituted a new essay requirement for the restoration of voting rights. When the new requirement was reported by the Washington Post, Governor McDonnell’s Secretary of the Commonwealth trumpeted the requirement as "an opportunity, not an obstacle." When public opinion soured on the Governor’s new impediment to voting, his office claimed it was just a "draft policy proposal," even though several hundred applicants had received notification of the new policy. The administration claimed "the letter was sent without approval by a well-meaning staffer."

This second divisive and ill-advised policy prompted the Roanoke Times editorial page to declare that the "Governor is batting .000 on race issues."

In addition to these stumbles, Governor McDonnell:

• Wanted his Secretary of Commerce and Trade to remain on the payrolls of corporations
• Censored the State Police in policy development
• Attempted to weaken new ethics rules
• Held fundraisers at the Governor’s Mansion

cross-posted from VADemocrats.org, April 23

The Committee on Energy and Commerce has prepared, for all 435 congressional districts, a district-level analysis of the impact of health care reform legislation. This analysis includes information on the impact of the legislation on families, small businesses, seniors in Medicare, health care providers, and the uninsured. Click here for PDF reports for each Virginia Congressional District.

The final total vote tally 219-212 DOES reflect the will of the people.

• YEA – Democratic 219
• NAY – 34 Democratic, 178 Republican

Sandy and I can’t thank you enough for all your support and hard work. We were able to claim victory 16 of the 28 precincts as well as both the absentee votes and provisional votes. The net result was that Sandy won with 56.4% of the votes.

We could not have achieved this victory without you. Thank you for the faith you placed in Sandy and her campaign. You made phone calls, knocked on doors, drove Sandy, delivered materials, installed signs, handed out literature, stuffed envelopes and made generous contributions. It was a monumental effort and YOU are the reason we were successful today.

Sandy stands ready to represent you and your family on the Mason District School Board. Now is when the real work begins — and Sandy is eager to dive in and apply her skills and experience to her new job on the School Board.

Again, thank you for all you have done.  Please join me in congratulating Sandy Evans for running a great race.

AND, PLEASE JOIN US at Sandy’s swearing in ceremony tomorrow, Thursday, March 4, at 5:30pm at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church.

Warm regards,
Kimberly Smith
Campaign Manager
Evans for School Board