Evandra Thompson, chatting with voters.
The Daily Kos community (that's you!) completely
reshaped the race a couple of weeks ago when you gave over $30,000 to a little-known candidate for state delegate in a Richmond, Virginia-area district. We have little tolerance for Lieberdems, and Evandra Thompson has given us a chance to help our Virginia friends get rid of a turncoat while strengthening their bench.
Incumbent Rosalyn Dance certainly paints an unsympathetic figure. There was her role in supporting the GOP's redistricting shenanigans earlier this year. Let's revisit just how terrible that was:
Marsh, now nearly 80 and a Democratic state senator from Virginia, was one of the veterans of Rev. King's movement, and one of the many men and women whose struggles would one day lead to Obama's historic achievement. In the 1960s, Marsh litigated countless school desegregation and employment discrimination cases, and in 1977, he became the first black mayor of the city of Richmond. He'd already served in the Senate for over two decades when he visited Washington, DC to celebrate the twin occasions of the president's inauguration and King's birth.
But the Virginia legislature wasn't among those observing the holiday. In fact, Republicans had long been waiting for an opportunity just like this. Though the GOP controlled the chamber, both parties held 20 seats, and Republican majority status rested on Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling's ability to break ties in the party's favor. But Senate leaders had something so underhanded in mind that they knew even Bolling would oppose them. So they looked for a special advantage—and Marsh's temporary absence gave them one.
With Marsh gone, Republicans had a momentary 20-19 edge, and they used it to full effect, ramming through a bill to redistrict the Senate's own lines for the second time in less than two years.
We expect Republicans to play dirty. We don't expect Democrats to join them in those efforts. But of course Dance was a previous independent who had received campaign donations
from the same Bob McDonnell who now governs the state. It's clear she'd rather not be a Democrat, but has to be in order to get elected in this indigo-blue district.
Otherwise, why would she be pushing ALEC-sponsored bullcrap legislation? Remember, ALEC is the right-wing corporatist organization that pushes model legislation in state legislatures around the country. They're the folks who brought you the Stand Your Ground and Arizona's racist SB 1070 laws, in addition to the more rote corporatist union-busting, global-warming encouraging, and privatizing crap.
And yet there is Rosalyn Dance, dancing with these assholes. In addition to supporting ALEC's school privatization agenda, there was this:
Delegate Dance cosponsored HR 5, which would reaffirm the 10th Amendment and chastise federal mandates.
Every other co-sponsor was a Republican except for the other "Democrat" to side with Republicans on that redistricting mess. So what is this 10th Amendment bill? It's nullification, plain and simple:
Virginia hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States. The Commonwealth hereby serves notice and demand to the federal government, as its agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, any and all mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.
Such a law could (supposedly) be used to block things conservatives don't like. Like Obamacare, accessibility mandates, EPA regulations, poverty programs, etc, etc, etc. You get the idea.
If constituents want that sort of crap, they elect Republicans. This isn't a district that elects Republicans. The primary is in two weeks, so please contribute $3 to Evandra Thompson to allow her to finish strong.