Gerry Connolly Speaks About Health Care Reform at GMU

As part of their senior project, graduating seniors at GMU in the social work program joined forces with AARP to work on the project “Voices for Change: Project Healthcare.” Through having each student interview two older members of the community to discuss their struggles with health care and what they’d like to see result from the health insurance reform bill. What resulted were stories of older adults that had been affected by pre-existing conditions, problems with the Medicare Part D coverage gap, long term care issues, difficulty navigating the health care systems, and hopes that the health insurance reform bill will help (which it will).

At the culmination of their project was a press conference yesterday which featured students and AARP members who had participated in the project, officials from GMU, and Rep. Gerry Connolly who was there to listen to what the students had learned and speak about the health insurance reform bill. One of the interesting aspects of this press conference was that it featured to groups that arguably have the most to benefit from the bill -- college students who will be able to stay on their parent’s health insurance plan as they’re finishing school and looking for a job (a concept that got a lot of applause) and seniors who (among other things) will benefit from the closing of the donut hole.

What was also very interesting about this press conference was that it focused on some of the personal stories that the students collected during the semester. Since we‘ve heard a lot about the political side of the debate surrounding the new law, it‘s rewarding to hear directly for the public about how they‘ll be able to benefit from reform. In a conversation after the press conference, Rep. Gerry Connolly highlighted the personal stories. One of the things he said we could take away from the event, for instance, is the fact that “when you listen, everyone has a story about health care.” Whether those personal stories covered issues such as care giving, pre-existing conditions, having coverage rescinded, or not being able to afford health insurance, Gerry stressed that he’s heard from a variety of constituents about their horror stories with health insurance companies. That is why he was proud to support a piece of legislation that will help to address those issues.

With that in mind, here’s the video of Gerry speaking yesterday.

Lafayette Park Closed Down to Prevent Media Coverage of Protest Supporting DADT Repeal

While he mentioned the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in his State of the Union Address and there is currently a study taking place on the issue, there is still a lot more that President Obama could be doing to prevent discrimination based upon sexual orientation in our armed forces. That is why there are a number of organizations like Get Equal that are taking action to demand that action be taken on the issue through the Defense Authorization Bill (DAB) that will be coming up for renewal soon. According to Get Equal, “the DAB provides a way to repeal DADT immediately. And you know that repealing the policy quickly and decisively is the right thing to do for LGBT servicemembers and for all of the armed forces.”

It’s definitely a good thing that we’re seeing some progress on these issues, but I tend to agree that we need to put pressure on the Obama Administration if we want to see discrimination based upon sexual orientation end in our country’s military. After all, it’s clear that there’s going to be plenty of delays in repealing DADT if the public doesn’t speak up because the White House is already backing off it‘s promises to encourage a vote on the issue this year. The clear implication of this is that he isn’t willing to take a political risk on the issue before the mid-term elections. Supporters of repealing DADT therefore have to make it clear that failure to move forward with the repeal could also have some political repercussions.

Realizing that the Democrats are likely going to lose seats in Congress during the mid-term elections, which could then give the White House yet another excuse not to move forward on repealing DADT, activists from Get Equal have been holding protests outside of the White House that call for Obama to display more leadership on the issue. Following up on the action that Lt. Dan Choi did a few weeks ago, Lt. Choi was joined by five other service members (Capt. Jim Pietrangelo, Petty Officer Larry Whitt, Petty Officer Autumn Sandeen, Cadet Mara Boyd, and Cpl. Evelyn Thomas) who showed their solidarity and support for the repeal of DADT by chaining themselves to a fence outside of the White House.

Instead of taking the hint that this was an issue where we need to move forward, it turns out that efforts were made to make sure the activists couldn’t even get their point across to the general public who were in the area at the time. As the folks over at AmericaBlog caught on video, the situation raised even more questions when security actually closed down Lafayette Park and ordered the media to leave. When the White House is already backtracking on promises they’ve made regarding DADT, it certainly doesn’t look good that a public park is being closed down in a blatant attempt to prevent the media from covering a protest. So the question now becomes: Will the president take leadership on the repeal of DADT, or are we going to see the White House continue trying to dismiss the calls for action?

A Look At How Virginia's Delegation Faired on ADA's Congressional Scorecard

Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) has become well known for have a long history of standing up for progressive causes. In addition to the grassroots movements that the organization has been involved with since it’s founding in the 1940’s, the scorecard ADA releases every year based on crucial votes in Congress has also become something that’s really examined by leaders on both sides of the aisle to see were certain legislators fall. In a post over at the Huffington Post, Michael J. Wilson (ADA’s National Director) wrote about how this year’s results at the national level appear to support the argument that things have become more partisan in recent years on the Hill.

Judging by our scorecard, all the talk about growing political polarization has a basis in fact. We score 20 votes in each house, on a wide range of foreign and domestic issues. In 2007, there were 53 House members who achieved a perfect score (our "ADA Heroes"), and 43 who got every vote wrong (the Zeros). In the latest survey, the ranks of the Heroes swelled to 98, but there were also a lot more Zeros--75. In the Senate, the three Heroes of '07 became 16 last year. (Zeros are generally scarcer in the Upper Chamber: 3 in '07, 1 last year.)

If you take a look at what happened in Virginia, however, it appears as though it’s only the Republicans who are involved in the extreme partisanship. 3 of the 5 Republicans in the Virginia Congressional Delegation (Cantor, Goodlatte, and Forbes) all scored a 0 on ADA’s scorecard. This is important to note because you truly have to work extremely hard to make sure you vote the wrong way on every single bill that was being considered for the scorecard. What’s really a shame is that ADA has been focusing on things like it’s Working Families Win project in recent years, which means that these folks are really voting against working class families during an extremely tough economic time.

Now Frank Wolf and Rob Wittman might not have scored a 0, but they still didn’t show too much of a desire to pass productive legislation. Wittman scored a 5% because he voted the wrong way on almost every bill, but did support H.R. 626 which gave federal employees the ability to take up to 4 weeks leave to help care for a newborn child. Wolf managed to score a 10% because he voted in favor of HR 2, a motion that helped provide health insurance to children by concurring with the Senate amendment to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Virginia’s Democrats in the House of Representatives had a variety in how they scored, but averaged a 81%. Here are the individual scores.

Glenn Nye -- 70%
Bobby Scott -- 95%
Tom Perriello -- 70%
Jim Moran -- 85%
Rick Boucher -- 75%
Gerry Connolly -- 95%

In the Senate, Mark Warner scored a 95% and Jim Webb scored a 100%. For those of you whose interested, you can now compare those results to the “snapshot” below of the national averages.

Pat Herrity has Poor Showing For Quarterly Financial Numbers

With the quarterly financial numbers coming in from the campaigns, there has been some numbers coming in for the candidates in Virginia's 11th District. In the Republican primary, Pat Herrity appears to be rolling through all his money relatively quickly. With two months to go until the primary, FEC reports show he has less than $200,000 cash on hand. On top of that he has $25,000 in debt and another $5,000 that can only be used in the general election. Based upon the fact that Keith Fimian will be able to self fund his campaign and Herrity's already spending a lot of money on overhead and staff, it looks like Herrity will have very little money left in the bank if he wins the Republican nomination.

These financial numbers are important because the Republicans are already very divided in who they are supporting. Considering that there has already been a lot of bad blood between the two campaigns, things are likely to only get worse during the final two months of the primary. The eventually Republican nominee could therefore benefit from having some money in the bank to help restore his reputation after the bitter battle he'll emerge from. Based upon the numbers we're seeing from Pat Herrity's campaign, however, it appears as though he'll have to face the difficultly of restoring his reputation after the primary at the same time that he's desperately trying to raise money for the general election. In other words, things aren't looking to good for Pat Herrity.

UPDATE: In sharp contrast to the poor numbers that Herrity is reporting, I just received word that Gerry Connolly has over $1 million cash on hand and raised over $450,000 in the first quarter. What's even more impressive about Gerry's numbers is that he received a large amount of his support from over 1,500 individual grassroots supporters who attended events such as his annual St. Patrick's Day gathering. As people begin to pay more and more attention to this election, I also expect that we'll see Gerry continue to produce good fundraising numbers which means he'll have a significant financial advantage of his Republican opponent. When you combine this with Gerry's history of providing good constituent services to people in the district, this is absolutely a great sign for his campaign.

Rich Anthony Drops Out of Democratic Primary in 10th CD

After running a good campaign in the 10th Congressional District and putting forward some strong, progressive ideas, Rich Anthony has announced that he will be dropping out of the race for Congress due to medical reasons.

Dear Friends,

It is with great disappointment that I must announce that I will no longer be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the United States Congress in the 10th district of Virginia.

Over the past 3-4 weeks I have been experiencing a reoccurrence of a back injury I suffered years ago. While I attempted to push through the pain and continue on, I found myself in an orthopedic surgeon's office on Monday. He gave me the news I hoped I would never hear, I need to have surgery on my back.

After discussing all of my options, I was told that postponing the surgery until after the election could result in permanent nerve damage. The best case scenario puts my recovery at 4 to 6 weeks. During that time I would not be able to actively campaign. With only 8 weeks until the election, such a time frame simply does not allow me to run an effective primary campaign. So, in conjunction with my doctor and my family, I have come to the sad conclusion that I must end my campaign for congress in Virginia's 10th district.

The decision is disappointing, and was difficult to make. I truly feel that with my background in economic and workforce development and my strong message of getting our economy on the right track would have made me a strong alternative to Frank Wolf in the fall. But I believe this is the best decision for my family and me.

I want to thank all of my supporters, my staff and my family for all of their help. I can't put into words how much it has meant to me personally. I will contact as many of you as I can in the days ahead.

Once my treatment is complete I intend to do everything I can to support Jeff Barnett's campaign and focus on our ultimate objective, defeating Frank Wolf in the Fall.

All my best,
Richard Anthony

As Lowell mentioned when he posted Rich's statement, "this is a bummer." I've been grateful to have the opportunity to talk with Rich on numerous occasions over the last few months and thought he would make an excellent Member of Congress. He was passionate about making a difference and I'm confident he would have truly stood up for the working class if he was elected. When he came to the Inside Scoop studios recently to take part in a debate, his family was also there with him and it was extremely obvious that his wife and kids really enjoy his self described "dry sense of humor" and passion for what he does. I sincerely hope that makes the treatment process go a little easier for Rich and I certainly hope this isn't the last we see of him because he brings a whole lot to the table.

Constance McMillen to be Grand Marshall of NYC Pride Parade

With Pride coming up in just a couple of months (most cities hold their Pride festivities in June), NYC Pride has just announced that Constance McMillen will be one of the Grand Marshalls of the NYC Pride Parade. For those of you who don’t know, Constance is a high school student from Mississippi who fought back when her high school wouldn’t let her bring her girlfriend to the prom. In fact, the school was so intent of promoting discrimination that it actually canceled the entire prom in order to prevent Constance from bringing her date to the dance.

In order to combat this blatant discrimination by her school, Constance decided to file a lawsuit with the ACLU. That lawsuit has had some mixed results as a federal judge did rule that the school had violated Constance’s first amendment rights, but he didn’t force the school to still have the prom “because of assurances that an alternative ‘private’ prom being planned by parents would be open to all students.” While that would have been somewhat acceptable if all students were indeed invited to attend, it turns out even that wasn’t exactly the entire truth. While there was indeed a private prom that was supposed to help the school avoid the lawsuit, it turns out there was yet another one held in a nearby town. The third prom is where the vast majority of students went, but Constance wasn’t allowed to attend it. In other words, discrimination was allowed to continue.

Nonetheless, there were some good results from the situation as Ellen DeGeneres gave Constance a $30,000 scholarship check and there has now been a significant amount of attention brought to the discrimination that still takes place in some school systems. In order for Constance McMillen’s courage to be truly honored, however, we must take the lessons from this situation and use them to make sure that school systems aren’t allowed to get away with discrimination in the future. That will primarily be accomplished through having discussions with the general public about the topic and having Constance be a grand marshal at the NYC Pride Parade is one small way of making sure the public hears about the discrimination that still takes place in some school systems.

Right Wingers Express Anger Over Positive Reaction to Obama Throwing out Ceremonial First Pitch

Baseball fans are used to various community figures throwing out the ceremonial first pitches a few minutes before the game starts. While me might not know much about the people throwing the pitch or agree with all of their politics (if their a politician), fans usually show respect towards the person who’s there making the throw. Even as someone who couldn’t stand President Bush, for instance, I had to admit that I was impressed by his arm after I saw him throw out a ceremonial first pitch on TV once. Based upon what I’ve heard from people who were there and was able to gather from the coverage of the game, that tradition was followed yesterday as there was an overwhelmingly response to President Obama throwing out the first pitch at Nationals’ Park. A lot of people even got a kick out of him wearing a Nationals jacket and then whipping out his Chicago White Sox hat before making his throw.

Since presidents have been throwing out the first pitch at baseball games for generations (especially when we actually had a team in DC), this is simply a unique opportunity for fans to show their respect for the office of the presidency and for a game filled with tradition. That’s why I was honestly quite surprised when I saw that there were a number of right wingers who were using this as an opportunity to bash Obama. When a baseball blogger for the Washington Post reported that it was a “roughly 90 percent” positive response to Obama, for instance, the right tried to hijack the post and spin it as though this was the media supposedly trying to do anything to make Obama look good. Here’s what someone using the name “Thomas Payne” had to say about it.

Later on, another commenter referred to Obama as the “little dictator.” Not only does this type of rhetoric not help the political debate in any situation, it’s most definitely out of place in a discussion that’s supposed to be celebrating the arrival of the baseball season and was as non-political as you could get.

Fortunately, there were a number of people who made the point that not everything had to be political and that it was simply wrong for his critics to be trying to spread their hatred in reaction to Obama’s appearance. As one person who referred to himself as “Lefty McLefterson” put it, he “did clap for President on Opening Day in Nationals Park […] because the president came to our ballpark as a guest.” Others insisted that baseball was a game where we could all come together and put politics aside.

Although I think there is definitely room to speak about baseball and American culture, I agree with the sentiments that the attempts to turn a blatantly non-political discussion into a thread of hate filled comments that bash the president is simply unacceptable. In my opinion, it’s simply a shame that there are some people out there who are filled with so much anger that they have to promote it whenever they see even a remote opportunity to do so.

Unique Protest Calling for Marriage Equality

With same sex marriage now legal in our nation’s capital, I know many people who have decided to make the very short trip from Northern Virginia into DC in order to legally get married. As soon as they cross the Potomac on their way back to Virginia, however, they are in a state that refuses to recognize their relationship. LGBT activists aren‘t the only ones noticing this as the policy is also having an impact on the local economy. Businesses like Northrup Grumman, for instance, are taking the discriminatory policy into consideration while deciding whether or not they want to move their headquarters to Virginia.

Being able to get married just a few miles from your home while not having the marriage legally recognized in your home state is something that many LGBT couples are facing across the country now that there are a number of states that recognize same-sex marriage. Couples in Nebraska, for instance, can get married in Iowa even though Nebraska won’t recognize the marriage. In order to highlight how traveling such a short distance can result in people being stripped of their basic civil rights, protesters marched to Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge which connects the two states.

"We live in Omaha and we get no benefits," Brenner said. "We wanted to get married on the first day available and we want Nebraska to join with Iowa and make it happen."

"We pay taxes. We vote. We serve our country," said Beckstead. "I don't think Nebraska understood that we want to continue."

Supporters of same-sex marriage said they plan to continue to spread their message of equality and they hope others will listen.

"This is about civil rights, not religious rights," said JoAnne Palmer.

In a time when we see the Tea Party folks protesting by holding up hate filled signs and shouting slurs at members of Congress, it’s refreshing to actually hear about a protest where people are literally standing up for their right to have a loving, committed relationship recognized. I certainly hope we see a similar protest in the DC area using the walking lane on a bridge connecting DC and Virginia (perhaps the Key Bridge).

Televised Debate Tonight for Democratic Primary in the 10th CD

As many of you already know, I'm a member of the crew for the Inside Scoop (and sometimes even appear as a guest to talk about grassroots politics or blogging). I bring this up because tonight's show should be worth tuning into because it'll be a debate between the two Democratic candidates for Congress in Virginia's 10th Congressional District -- Rich Anthony and Jeff Barnett. The hour long debate will begin at 7pm and can be viewed on Channel 10 by Fairfax County residents. If you live outside of Fairfax, however, you can also view the debate online by following this link. It's also worth noting that one of my responsibilities for the show is monitoring the chatroom on the online platform, so feel free to leave comments, ask questions, etc there if you so desire.

You Got to Love the Fenway Faithful and Watching Baseball While Helping Democrats

Many of you already know that I’m a very big baseball fan, so it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that I’m excited about the season that officially starting tonight with a game between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees (arguably the biggest rivalry in professional sports). I'll be cheering on the Red Sox tonight, in part because you simply have to love the Fenway Faithful and everyone that makes up Red Sox nation.



If you're like me and are a big Nationals fan, then there's also some opportunities for you to take in a game and support the Springfield Democratic Committee. At the April 25 and March 16 games, the Springfield Democratic Committee will be at Pfitner Stadium in Woodbridge to watch the Potomac Nationals (Washington's Class A-Advanced minor league affiliate) play. The games are both on Sunday afternoons and you get tickets at $8 a piece. If you're interested, you can purchase tickets by following this link.

If you've ever been to a P-Nats game, you know you know you can get an up close and personal look at players who could potentially be playing in the Majors very soon. Last year, for instance, I attended several games and was able chat on several occasions with Drew Storen who the Nats picked with the 10th overall pick in last year's draft and is likely to be called up to the majors this year. If you have kids who are baseball fans, it's also very easy for them to get autographs as the crowds are relatively small and the players are eager to please the fans. All in all, that means coming out to watch a P-Nats game is definitely worth it. The fact that going through this program will also help the Springfield Democratic Committee, in my opinion, purchasing your tickets through the committee for one of those two games only makes it even better.

Florida Republican Doctor Tells Democrats To Seek Coverage Elsewhere

Between wasting taxpayer money on frivolous lawsuits challenging the health care reform law and tea party activists threatening people who voted in favor of the legislation, we've seen the GOP take various forms of opposition to the new health care reform law that will provide health insurance for millions of previously uninsured Americans and make it more affordable for those who already had coverage. It appears as though there's yet another form of expressing opposition to the new law -- Republican doctors encouraging Obama supporters to seek care elsewhere.

Dr. Jack Cassell is a urologist in Florida who is active in the local Republican Party and is married to a Republican candidate for County Commissioner. Cassell claims he doesn't quiz people on their political beliefs, but he has previously attempted to push his political beliefs on patients and has posted a sign on the office window suggesting that Democrats should seek other coverage because "changes to your healthcare begin right now."

"I'm not turning anybody away — that would be unethical," Dr. Jack Cassell, 56, a Mount Dora urologist and a registered Republican opposed to the health plan, told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday. "But if they read the sign and turn the other way, so be it."

The sign reads: "If you voted for Obama … seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years."

[...]

In his waiting room, Cassell also has provided his patients with photocopies of a health-care timeline produced by Republican leaders that outlines "major provisions" in the health-care package. The doctor put a sign above the stack of copies that reads: "This is what the morons in Washington have done to your health care. Take one, read it and vote out anyone who voted for it."

Throughout the entire debate process, Republicans frequently tried to mislead the public by suggesting that the Democrats wanted to get in the way of the general public receiving medical care. Even if you were willing to buy into those lies during the actual debate, the actions by the doctor and Republican activist raise a lot of questions about the truth of those statements.

Cuccinelli's Office Caught Spreading More Anti-Government Myths

Whether it was through claiming that social security numbers are a way for the government to spy on people or suggesting that President Obama wasn't born in the United States, Ken Cuccinelli has proven that he's willing to promote conspiracy theories if they might win him some political points. It now appears as though Ken Cuccinelli's office is giving people false information so that they might decide not to provide the Census Bureau with information.

For a story published Sunday by the Richmond Times-Dispatch about privacy concerns with the census, Gottstein released a statement on behalf of Cuccinelli encouraging residents to participate in the 2010 census. The statement added that census workers “might ask for basic financial information, such as salary range, but participants are legally allowed to refuse to answer these questions if they do not feel comfortable giving out that information.”

However, after being contacted this week by McGee, Gottstein acknowledged the mistake and said in an e-mail that he forwarded information from another state’s attorney general without verifying it with the Census Bureau. He said the Virginia attorney general’s office has not focused on census-participation issues but has been interested in helping people protect their identities from imposter census workers.

What makes the statement released by Cuccinelli's office very interesting is that the 2010 Census doesn't even include a question that asks about household income. The fact that Cuccinelli's office was so willing to spread this misinformation about the actual Census illustrates how they're willing to promote their anti-government agenda without even checking the information that they have. When you also consider that another Attorney General's office supposedly sent this information to Cuccinelli's office, you get a prime example of how he has a national reputation of someone who is willing to place the right wing's agenda above providing his constituents with reliable information.

Now Cuccinelli's office claims that they were putting forward this information so that "imposter census workers" can't obtain private information from the public. This explanation is simply baloney. If Cuccinelli was actually interested in preventing "imposters" from obtaining information, his office should be educating the public about how to identify census workers (here's a video on how you can do that). By not providing this information to the public and focusing instead on spreading myths about the census and encouraging people not to provide information, Cuccinelli's office is simply making it clear that they are interested in spreading the fear of government that the Tea Party leaders are promoting. When you combine this with his recent comments about how he thinks the job is "pretty boring" when he's not wasting taxpayer money on lawsuits that say the EPA shouldn't be using science or challenging laws that help provide Virginians with health care, we have a clear picture of how Cuccinelli's office is placing his own right wing agenda ahead of doing the grunt work that could actually benefit the general public.