Wow! There are some “long shot” candidates in the VA races whose odds are looking a whole lot better. Things are starting to look bad for the Republicans. I think we have a horse race!
Stick with me here, I’m going to tell a story and it’s going to be good, but I’m going to do it in my round and about, what in the hell is she talking about, way.
This story starts in 2012 when the then Governor of VA, Bob McDonnell (be sure to remember that name) is trying to pass laws that would require a woman to undergo a trans-vaginal ultrasound before she has an abortion.
This mission that the Republican Party is on to control a woman’s body goes a step too far with this bill and the whole nation is in an uproar. The story is covered by most newspapers, all the blogs, most of the news networks, Rachel Maddow is all over it day after day and of course Jon Stewart weighs in.
While all this is happening in VA and on the national stage, there is a guy, Wayne Powell, running for Congress in VA. Against Eric Cantor. With no support from the Party at all.
For me, Powell is a dream candidate. He has an impressive military background. His unit was the first of its type deployed after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. On that date he commanded a specialized strategic intelligence unit, the 3431st Military Intelligence Group. Mr. Powell spent a third of his military service in command and was highly decorated. He received the Legion of Merit medal, the highest non-combat award in the US Army. He retired as a full Colonel after serving for thirty (30) years.
Mr. Powell received his J.D. degree from the T. C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond in 1980, and, after serving as a Staff Clerk to the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia, spent the majority of his almost 31 years of practice as a trial lawyer, qualified to practice before all Virginia Federal and state courts, as well as the Superior and Federal courts in the District of Columbia, and is a member of the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
He speaks 5 languages and is fluent in several, including Spanish. He does pro-bono immigration law work; getting papers for undocumented workers, helping people who need deferments, and once caused an internal investigation of ICE when it’s agents violated the 4th amendment by entering houses illegally and arresting people.
He also represented, pro-bono, many of the women who were arrested protesting the mandatory trans-vaginal probe bill.
Women being arrested for protesting state sponsored rape.
He’s like a superman. He does all of this; works as an attorney, does pro-bono immigration work and defends the women protesters for free while he is also running for Congress. Against Eric Cantor. With no help from the Party. Did I mention that?
He did it with pretty much no money too. Cantor had 7 million and Wayne Powell had about $100,000. As we all know, banks are owned by the Koch brothers and their friends so they sure weren’t giving Wayne Powell a loan.
Needless to say he lost. But he lost big! He won 40 percent of the vote! (Do I really have to say this again, without the support of the Party!!) He also pushed Cantor a little to the center which set him up to lose to the far right in 2014. Before you start thinking having someone far right is worse than Cantor, remember this, we’re playing the long game here. A right wing wacko will be easier for a Dem to beat than Cantor so this is good.
So who is running against Wayne Powell? Knowing what we do about him, do we even care? But here its is; he’s running against Amanda Chase, a conservative who is pro-life, pro business, pro “traditional marriage” and will fight against expanding Medicaid. She also supports “protecting innocent life”; I don’t even know what that means. To my knowledge she has never said one negative word about forced trans-vaginal penetration.
Once again, Wayne Powell is David up against Goliath in the money department. Rightfully so, he agrees with Doris Kerns Goodwin when she says money in politics will destroy our country. She has called for a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics.
Wayne Powell has 3 main things he wants to focus on. As a public school student whose kids attended public school, he thinks VA schools are under funded and the teachers paid too little. He wants to lower the income tax for the middle class and he wants Medicaid coverage for Veterans. I want us, as in Daily Kos, to help him get elected so he can accomplish these things.
In the next district over from Wayne Powell, another Dem who the Party abandoned is Debbie Repp. Debbie Repp is a kick ass nurse (was an RN for over 40 years) with a masters degree in health policy. She was a policy director for Lt. Governor Don Beyer and co-author of Virginia's Emergency Medical Disaster Response Plan.
She has a consensus-driven problem-solving approach to governing for the benefit of the people of Virginia's 12th Senate District. (I’m a socialist, I love consensus!) She wants to fight to guarantee affordable access to healthcare for all Virginians, limit governmental intrusion into personal healthcare decisions, and ensure a living wage for Virginia workers.
What is her opponent, Siobhan Stolle Dunnavant M.D. fighting for? Well, a better question is what is she fighting against? Right now she is fighting a federal investigation
into whether or not she broke HIPPA laws.
In another example of the Republican Party imploding on itself, the tea partiers, after losing the primary, attacked the winner, who has the backing, personally and financially of the Senator who held the office they just assume will be hers, for the last 32 years. Siobhan Stolle Dunnavant M.D. is from a bit of a political family dynasty. One brother is a member of the House of Delegates and one is a former Senator in the VA General assembly and now the Sheriff of VA Beach.
It was one of the bloggers for varight.com, Tom White that first publicized Dunnavant’s possible HIPAA violations. Right after she won the Primary White called on her to step down as the candidate because he feared an “October surprise” if the feds investigated her for HIPAA violations and found, just before the election, that she had broken the law.
HIPPA violations may result in up to 10 years of prison and up to $500,000 in fines. Individuals found to have violated HIPPA laws may also be referred to their Board of Medicine or Board of Nursing for further professional sanctions - up to orders forfeiting their license to practice.
If a professional has been found to have violated HIPPA law they made be subject to civil actions initiated by individuals who believed they have been harmed by such violations.
Well, well, well, isn’t that special?
Now, let’s go back to Bob McDonnell. Remember the Governor who was so keen on forcing trans-vaginal rape on women? He’s been sentenced to two years in jail.
McDonnell and his wife were convicted of taking over $170,000 in loans and gifts from Jonnie Williams Sr., a dietary supplement entrepreneur, in exchange for promoting his company's main product, the anti-inflammatory Anatabloc. Prosecutors had asked for a 10 year sentence.
They took stupid gifts too, a $6,500 Rolex watch, wedding and engagement presents, money for McDonnell's daughters, and golf outings and equipment. I’d like to think I would have held out for 2 million if I were going to risk such a thing.
These are just two of what seem to have become common Republican criminality, think Dennis Hastert. What is wrong with Republicans? What makes them think they can get away with anything? They think they can get away with making laws to violate a woman’s body without her consent,that they can be a part of whatever grift enriches them, and laws like HIPPA don’t apply to them. They think they are immune, untouchable; they can do as they please.
I think it’s time for us to show them that they can’t. We CAN have something to say about what they do. We can say ENOUGH.
We can say that by supporting these two candidates. Wayne Powell and Debbie Repp.
You can help them by sending any little money that you can. The links are right on their names. Even this late in the game they can print extra flyers and maybe even buy a radio or TV spot. For Debbie Repp you can also send a letter to the Richmond Times (who by the way has endorsed both the Republican candidates in these 2 races and has not covered the Federal investigation into HIPPA violations at all). Let’s flood the Richmond Times Dispatch with Letters to the Editor. http://www.richmondtimesdispatch.com
Or if these two candidates don’t move you 90for90 has many more dark horses that could use our help. Daily Kos was a dark horse once too. Let’s show them how far we’ve come. Let’s make our voices heard.
