More at stake than felon voting rights

Here are the latest reports from The Washington Posts ‘All Opinions are Local’.

More at stake than felon voting rights

The nation’s eyes might be on Cleveland this week (unless they’re looking for a Snorlax). But in Virginia all eyes are on the state Supreme Court, where an issue that may have just as big an effect on elections is being heard this week: felon voter rights. A quick recap: 34 states in the nation […]

The Virginia Supreme Court should reject McAuliffe’s restoration of voting rights

Virginia law does not allow felons or ex-felons to vote. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) lifted this restriction for all felons who have served their times, adding more than 200,000 mostly Democratic voters to the rolls. The Post supports the governor’s actions. But McAuliffe’s action exceeds his constitutional authority. As prior Virginia governors and attorneys general have recognized, Article […]

Please don’t pollute our Potomac

It may seem as if Dominion Power’s controversial plan to dispose of toxic coal ash along the banks of the Potomac River is a settled matter. For Brian West, who lives 700 feet from Dominion’s Possum Point coal ash ponds in Northern Virginia, the fight over Dominion’s “cap-in-place” plan is just beginning. The same laboratory […]

Celebrating the mysteries of nature in Petworth

Petworth is home to a new, beautiful mural, compliments of two award-winning Brazilian street artists. If you come up Kansas Avenue, just north of Taylor Street, you’ll see the mural on the vacant building at 4115 Kansas Avenue NW. Once a warehouse and offices for a vending company (and a dairy distributor before that), 4115 […]

A new chief judge for the Fourth Circuit
On Saturday, William Traxler concludes his successful tenure as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, and Roger L. Gregory commences his term. The Fourth Circuit — which for years was considered the most politically conservative of the 12 regional judicial circuits — has moderated recently, so it is fitting that Gregory’s outgoing manner and […]

D.C. needs more discussion about recreational fireworks

The local listservs sure have been chatty about the July 4th fireworks in the Petworth neighborhood. There is a lot of passion on the topic of neighborhood fireworks, for and against. These fireworks displays aren’t organized events; these are private residents buying and lighting up gobsmacking amounts of things that go boom, which turns into street-by-street […]

Virginia for the Win: The progressive case for Tim Kaine as Hillary Clinton’s vice president pick

Way back in 2014, we were the first columnists to explain why Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) would be the best choice for vice president on his party’s ticket. While many top Democratic strategists increasingly share our view, news reports suggest the party’s important progressive wing isn’t yet on board. Kaine didn’t back Sen. Bernie Sanders […]

Using “park and pedal” to conquer the last mile

How do you get more commuters to bicycle into the city? Boston is trying “Park & Pedals,” dedicated parking lots where suburban commuters can drive to the edge of the city, then bicycle the last couple of miles. Bicycling is often the fastest way to travel through dense cities. But most commuters from far-flung suburbs […]

Richmond’s governing elite are living off the city’s poor

Richmond’s political class views the poor as little more than an ATM. Their take amounts to millions of dollars every year — money fleeced from poor, majority African American residents — through their manipulation of a 1954 state law governing municipal utility rates. A quarter of Richmond’s population lives at or below the poverty line. For them, even […]

McDonnell’s win is a win for Virginia’s GOP

There were clear winners this week in the Supreme Court’s decision in the corruption case of Robert F. McDonnell, with the former Virginia governor obviously enjoying the biggest victory. McDonnell’s 2014 conviction for corruption was vacated by the court, so he will stay out of jail — for now. Next, a court will have to […]

Back to the old Virginia way

Within minutes of the Supreme Court announcement Monday that it was vacating 11 federal corruption convictions against former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell, Quentin Kidd, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University and frequent commentator on state politics, sent out this tweet: BREAKING (PARODY): Virginia General Assembly to convene special session to repeal all […]

Georgia Avenue boasts bright red bus lanes

The District’s first bright red bus lanes now adorn four blocks of Georgia Avenue near Howard University. D.C. Department of Transportation crews added the red surface this month. The bus lanes run along both curbs from Florida Avenue north to Barry Place. They speed Metrobus’s busy 70-series line through what was the slowest section of […]

Why are some Virginians picking up on Trump’s bigotry toward Mexicans?

The other day, I was lounging at my neighborhood pool. The sun was pleasantly warm and I was cool from a dip. Then, I heard some junior high school kids playing water basketball. “Mexico sucks! “Mexico sucks!” they shouted. I have lived in the neighborhood in Chesterfield County on the fringe of Richmond for nearly […]

Why Susan Swecker should meet with Justin Fairfax
Over the weekend, Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan Swecker raised the shadow of a return to what former lieutenant governor Henry Howell once labeled “appointment and anointment,” the policy where the Democratic Party establishment decided who could be nominated for statewide office. Or put it another way: It’s a “We’ll decide when your turn comes” […]

Include the environment in New Columbia’s constitution

The draft constitution circulated recently by the New Columbia Statehood Commission is a significant milestone for the District that all residents can applaud. The document seriously falls short in is its failure to make mention of the natural environment and the need to conserve, manage and protect that environment for the health and well-being of present and […]

Communities pay the price for congressional inaction on guns

Every night I go to sleep praying to God that I am not awakened by a message from the police commander that someone has been shot in the community I was elected to serve. It’s a feeling of fear and of powerlessness, and it’s a feeling I shouldn’t have to have as a local government […]

An experiment in ornamentation in White Flint

The Pike + Rose development on Rockville Pike is a surprisingly experimental collection of buildings. It’s contemporary in style but also filled with architectural ornament. The result upends the common architectural conceit that ornament cannot be “of our time.” Pike + Rose is one of the region’s most ambitious attempts to retrofit an aging suburban […]

Richmond is ripping off its residents

The government in Virginia’s capital. Richmond, has a dirty little secret: It uses a little-known city charter provision to rip-off poor residents by adding a phony, non-existent “tax” — including a bogus federal “tax” charge — to their water and certain other utility bills. Over the years, this unconscionable rip-off has totaled many hundreds of millions of dollars. It stems from […]

What Metro could learn from private railroads

While the growth rate in Northern Virginia has slowed since 2011, the boom since 2000 is undeniable. From 2000 to 2010, the region witnessed a 24-percent uptick in residents. In 2014, 66,561 additional people called the region home. Without a doubt, many new residents certainly banked on a subway system to carry them to work along […]

Virginia for the Win: Will Trump’s Richmond appearance tonight point to his VP pick?

Virginia for the Win is a series examining Virginia’s crucial role in the 2016 presidential race and national politics. At his Richmond rally tonight, look to see if Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump goes after Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), using Virginia’s chief executive as a proxy for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The Clinton […]

Richmond’s mayoral race gets clearer thanks to fundraising figures

Everyone, it seems, is running for mayor of Richmond. A second candidate’s forum held Tuesday night featured 11 (!) of the 17 (!!!) declared candidates. (A local neighborhood website offers — with tongue firmly in cheek and terrific images by an area cartoonist known as “RVA Coffee Stain” — a great guide to this glut of […]

A market for nativism in Virginia?

The Trump campaign in Virginia is taking an even uglier turn now that Corey A. Stewart, his state campaign chairman, has vowed that if illegal aliens protest violently against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, “we will kick their asses out of the country, just like we did in Prince William County.” The threat might seem […]

GMU’s Scalia Law School is a win for for free thought

The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recently made the courageous decision to officially allow George Mason University’s law school to rename itself in honor the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. At first glance, the word “courageous” may seem a bit melodramatic; to be sure, what George Mason calls its law school will not […]

Did Terry McAuliffe just invite a school law suit?

Could Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) executive order automatically restoring voting and other rights for released felons lead to a landmark education decision? Jim Crow-era “separate but equal” schools defined Virginia’s education policy until ruled unconstitutional by the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision. A unanimous Supreme Court said “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” […]

Working to stop sexual harassment and sex crimes on Metro

As advocates working to stop sexual harassment and assault on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s public transit system, we were horrified to learn last week that a woman was sexually assaulted at knifepoint on the Red Line last month. But, sadly, we’re not surprised. Every day, our organizations, Collective Action for Safe Spaces and […]

Ward 7’s crime cannot be ignored

In 2015, the District saw an alarming increase in homicides. The trend has continued into 2016. In Ward 7, where I live, homicides have tripled so far this year. Tripled. We must all join together to address this crisis now. Local media, too, must fulfill its responsibilities. Ignoring a problem will not make it go […]

Don’t leave tipped workers behind in the fight for fair wages

As the cost of living in the District skyrockets, it should be no surprise that workers are pushing for a $15 minimum wage. Parts of the District are awash in wealth, and yet many of us are struggling to make rent and pay for groceries. What should be surprising — given our city’s restaurant boom […]

The bad timing of the alleged federal probe into Terry McAuliffe

At an inopportune moment, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) is alleged to be the target of a federal probe into his finances, although it isn’t clear what is at stake. CNN reported that the Justice Department and the FBI are reviewing a $120,000 campaign donation to McAuliffe’s 2013 gubernatorial race from companies controlled by Chinese business […]

Why McDonnell and McAuliffe comparisons are wrong

Before Robert F. McDonnell (R) became governor, not a single Virginia chief executive had been federally investigated for public corruption by the Justice Department. Over the years, the governor’s mansion, the oldest in continuous use, has housed heroes and scoundrels, racists and reformers, lifetime politicians and rookies, Southerners and Northerners, Republicans and Democrats, back-room dealers and upfront […]

Holding the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp. responsible
D.C. residents are asking serious questions about plans to dissolve the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp. They deserve answers. Let the chips fall where they may. As the chairwoman of the Committee on Health and Human Services, which has oversight of the D.C. Trust, I had questions long before dissolution plans were announced. […]

A partnership between the attorney general’s office and the community leads to positive change

It’s a recipe for neighborhood drama: Start with a homeowner who dies without a will, add a pinch of a bank that doesn’t care enough to act, swirl in city services that can’t or won’t affect change and add a drop of distant family members who don’t take care of the property. Then let it all […]

Virginia for the Win: As goes Northern Virginia, so goes Trump

Simon and Garfunkel, admirers of New York Yankee great Mickey Mantle, didn’t use the center-fielder’s name in their 1968 hit song “Mrs. Robinson.” Instead, they sang, “Where have you gone Joe Di Maggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you….” Why? Songwriter Simon admitted he wasn’t a Di Maggio fan. But Mantle’s name didn’t work […]

Remembering Benning’s racetrack

Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist is jogging and eating his hay in Baltimore. He’s training for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in the Triple Crown. To see the Preakness or any other live thoroughbred racing, Washingtonians must leave the District. But that wasn’t always the case. For some years, we had our own racetrack: Benning. Benning […]

Terry McAuliffe is having a pretty good year

Being governor isn’t always a picnic. While the governor’s office is the most high-profile political position in a state, governors in most states are actually much less powerful than the legislature. Quick history lesson: Federalists like Alexander Hamilton argued for a strong executive in the national government after seeing how badly a weak executive worked […]

Let’s take race out of the felon voting rights issue

The state’s top elected officials and the state’s biggest newspaper have framed the issue of automatic restoration of voting rights for lawfully convicted felons in stark racial terms. We prefer the rule of reason. In the Age of Trumpism, this may be hopelessly naive. We believe automatic restoration of rights for rapists and violent felons disrespects […]

D.C. Streetcar ridership is decent so far

The D.C. Streetcar is drawing a decent number of riders, so far. Compared to other U.S. light-rail and streetcar systems, it ranks near the middle in terms of riders per mile of track. It’s slightly above average, neither horrible nor spectacular. According to the District Department of Transportation’s latest streetcar ridership report, the H Street line […]

More stunning public corruption in Virginia

If you thought that the conviction of former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell would stem Virginia’s tendency toward corruption, think again. Consider what’s happening in Bristol, a town that straddles Tennessee (six hours by car from the District) and that is considered the home of modern country music. Local corruption, as detailed by the Roanoke Times, […]

Needed at Richmond Public Schools: data and transparency

The state of Richmond Public Schools will play a key role in the city’s elections this fall. The mayoral candidates in an increasingly crowded field are already having to answer questions about school funding, with protesting crowds packing into City Council meetings to demand more for schools in next year’s budget. And at least two sitting […]

Why GMU’s faculty should push back on naming the law school for Scalia

I enrolled at George Mason University School of Law aware of its conservative reputation. Despite my political inclinations, it is not the school’s general reputation that concerns me. After all, I signed up for it. However, I did not sign up to attend a public school that allows itself to become a pawn in a […]

George Mason faculty kick and scream — over the Scalia name

The ridiculous smear campaign against my law school’s recent name change to “The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University” and its subsequent acceptance of a $30 million donation has taken yet another disappointing turn — one that has prompted me to supplement my previous commentary on the subject. As BuzzFeed dutifully reported last week, the Faculty Senate at George Mason University […]

Rapists and other violent felons don’t have a moral claim to automatic voting rights restoration

In recent days, Kings and Queens of High-mindedness have lectured us. Our offense? We had the temerity to oppose the automatic restoration of voting and certain other civil rights to lawfully convicted rapists, specifically, along with lawfully convicted violent criminals generally. The lecturers tell us these individuals deserve to have voting and other lost civil […]

Gov. McAuliffe’s dramatic move to restore voting rights to felons reverberates

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) executive order on April 22 to restore voting rights to about 206,000 violent and non-violent felons also restores their right sit on juries and take jobs in insurance and other functions. His decision does two things in one fell swoop. It takes Virginia one step further from its draconian, racially motivated […]

Fun and chaos would follow a Kaine VP pick

arring a disaster, Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee for president this fall. And so media attention is turning to a favorite pundit pastime: predicting who will end up on the ticket as the vice presidential candidate. (This kind of thinking will only be further fueled by Ted Cruz’s bold — desperate? — attempt […]

Did Gov. McAuliffe say the state criminal justice system is racist?

Did Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe just send a sobering message about the commonwealth’s criminal justice system? Logical deduction says he did. The justification given for McAuliffe’s blanket restoration of civil rights for felons is provided in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch article: The McAuliffe administration has particularly emphasized the disproportionate impact on African-Americans [of the state constitutional provision denying ex-felons […]

McAuliffe’s restoration of felon voting rights may affect Richmond’s mayoral race

The big news in Virginia last week was Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s bold move to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons who served their time. His action could have sweeping effects on elections — national and local. First, some background: a number of state laws prevent convicted criminals, particularly felons, from voting even after they leave […]

Gov. McAuliffe’s move on felon rights upends 2017 races

Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s (D) unexpected decision to give a blanket, automatic restoration of voting rights to ex-felons – the order covers those convicted of all crimes, non-violent to the most heinous – has upended the 2017 contests for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The state’s pundits have been calling McAuliffe’s surprise decision — he never […]

Silver Spring’s Fenton Street Market owner heads west

Over the past decade, you couldn’t go far in Silver Spring without running into Megan Moriarty, community organizer and owner of outdoor craft bazaar Fenton Street Market. But in search of a new start and a new career, she headed to Colorado two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the market’s got a new owner, but there’s no […]

How Richmond’s mayoral race could change American education

Some futurists fear we may be creating a caste system in the United States based on unequal access to quality education. Education in Virginia, and everywhere in the United States, remains the domain of local governments. This is particularly true for raising the funds to modernize deteriorating K-12 facilities. A school building is considered obsolete at age […]

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan should veto the Anne Arundel student nomination

In Anne Arundel County, the student member of the Board of Education has the same voting rights as the adult members. For a school system with more than a $1.1 billion operating budget, 10,000 employees and 80,000 students, that’s substantial power. As of July 1, Anne Arundel’s school board is likely to be divided equally […]

Report on D.C. women in prison was a missed opportunity

The report DC Women in Prison, released on March 25 and published by the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and Covington & Burling LLC with former attorney general Eric Holder, perpetuated what the criminal justice reform movement does regarding women in prison: It made us an afterthought. Once again, the trusted experts failed to sufficiently include the lived […]

Why my business values its employees

When I opened my first hardware store in Logan Circle with my husband, Marc, in 2003, we wanted to be part of the resurgence of small, independent mom-and-pop stores in the District. Now, we have 11 stores all over the area and employ more than 225 people. Since the very beginning, I’ve subscribed to the […]

It’s about being a good neighbor

A neighborhood is special because of the people who live there — and it’s made better by the people who help it thrive. I came along Paul Montesano this weekend working on the median of New Hampshire Avenue with a rake and a pick-ax. Just one guy standing out in the middle of the road tearing […]

The fallacy of Virginia’s love affair with privatized public services

It may seem like good news that Transurban, the Australian firm that runs the high-occupancy toll lanes in Northern Virginia, is settling with motorists who were treated poorly regarding missed tolls. But it once again shows the fallacy of Virginia’s love affair with privatized public services. The problem with the HOT lanes was that motorists often […]

Ward 8 needs investments

Ward 8 is my home.  I’ve lived here for 28 years and represented the ward as a board member for the Alcohol and Control Board, as an ANC commissioner and as a D.C. Council member.  I have witnessed the chronic disparity to which Ward 8 has been subjected. We can no longer tolerate the injustice, lack […]

Virginia for the Win: Is Larry Sabato being too kind to Donald Trump?

University of Virginia political crystal ball gazers issued  their first Electoral College prediction in a Hillary  Clinton v Donald Trump match-up.  Larry Sabato’s  analysis gives Clinton a sure 190 Electoral College votes. It takes 270 to win. The UVA experts put Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, in the “leans Democratic” column.  They have been much too […]

Will the District’s budget recognize the struggles of low-income residents?

Eviction “is a cause, not just a condition, of poverty,” argues sociologist Matthew Desmond in his book Evicted. A recent report released from the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers suggests that the two — seemingly intractable poverty and the struggle for safe, affordable housing — are inextricably linked here in the District. Housing instability and the […]

Let’s celebrate women on the Mall

If you’ve ever walked along the Mall, you’ve seen the marble and stone monuments built to embody our shared American heritage. Sadly, that shared American story doesn’t include many women. In fact, only eight out of 410 national park sites specifically tell the story of women’s history and equality – that’s just 2 percent. For that reason, […]

Virginia for the Win: How big money killed conservatism

During his February campaign swing through Virginia, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) told a crowd at Chesterfield County’s James River High School that he “would not allow the conservative movement to be taken over by a con artist by the name of Donald Trump.” Trump beat Rubio in Virginia; indeed he crushed Rubio in Florida. We […]

Redistricting means new friends for Rep. Wittman

Everyone has been talking about the effect of redistricting on the 2nd and 4th district races, particularly Randy Forbes’s switcheroo. But the new Virginia district map even affects those representatives in less-competitive districts. Case in point: Rep. Rob Wittman dropped by my college campus in Ashland this week. Under the redrawn lines, Ashland and parts of […]

Closed schools, open minds

This Thursday, the Howard County Board of Education will vote on its calendar for the 2016-2017 school year. Normally, such an administrative decision would be of marginal interest to anyone but schoolchildren and their families. This year’s meeting, however, will decide a question of utmost importance, not only to the local community but to anyone […]

Closed schools, open minds

This Thursday, the Howard County Board of Education will vote on its calendar for the 2016-2017 school year. Normally, such an administrative decision would be of marginal interest to anyone but schoolchildren and their families. This year’s meeting, however, will decide a question of utmost importance, not only to the local community but to anyone […]

Redistricting means new friends for Rep. Wittman

Everyone has been talking about the effect of redistricting on the 2nd and 4th district races, particularly Randy Forbes’s switcheroo. But the new Virginia district map even affects those representatives in less-competitive districts. Case in point: Rep. Rob Wittman dropped by my college campus in Ashland this week. Under the redrawn lines, Ashland and parts of […]