Roses are red
Violets are blue
Statehouse Action is hot
And you know you are, too.
Yeah, it’s Valentine’s Day.
Yippee.
Oh, don’t get it twisted. I love romantic stuff. And flowers. And candy. And jewelry. And all that stuff that’s generally associated with Valentine’s Day.
I just hate that there’s this one random day when you’re, like, supposed to do/give these things.
Any other day of the year? Awesome, bring it on.
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But I’ve had so many people I care about feel bummed on Feb. 14 because of their situation—single, or in a relationship but let down by their significant other because of the expectations attached to the holiday, or broken up with on or just before it, etc.—that I’ve come to see it as a kind of adversary.
So suck on some state politics news, Valentine’s Day. There’s not much sweet about it right now.
Gov. Northam’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Gov. Ralph Northam is still governor of Virginia, and that’s a big damn problem.
- By all appearances he’s digging in and plans to go on an “apology tour” around the commonwealth.
No, really. I’m not being snide. Someone said the quiet part loud in the press release about Northam’s appearance at a VUU Faith, Identity, and Social Justice event next week.
- Meanwhile, Northam postponed Wednesday’s scheduled Black History Month reception at the governor’s mansion at the last minute.
- On Monday, black leaders said they planned a protest outside of the event, but Northam thoughtfully kept the event on everyone’s calendars until the day of.
- A spokesperson (who’s somehow still content to work for Northam) said the governor “is still thinking through better ways to honor Black History Month.”
You’ll pardon me if I’m skeptical of the capacity to figure out a “better” way to honor Black History Month of the guy whose denial of being in blackface in a photo was predicated on this other time he definitely did blackface.
- This week, Northam also proudly announced that he’d restored the voting rights of over 10,000 Virginians who’d previously been permanently disenfranchised because of felony convictions, touting his belief in “second chances”—something he seems to think he’s entitled to as a governor who admitted to wearing blackface to win a dance competition.
- Yes, restoring voting rights stripped because of an extremely racist method of disenfranchisement is always a good thing.
- But Northam’s obvious attempt to win some “See? I’m totally not racist” cred is pretty small potatoes compared to his predecessor’s accomplishments in the civil rights restoration arena.
- As governor, Terry McAuliffe restored the voting rights of over 170,000 Virginians.
- That comes out to over 42,000 for each year of his governorship.
Poll Me Two Times: Last Friday, Daily Kos released a poll commissioned through Civiqs that found a solid majority of Virginians—60 percent—said Northam should resign, while only 24 percent said he should stick around.
- A day later, the Washington Post also released a poll on the issue.
- According to this survey’s results, Virginians were split 47-47 on the issue of Northam’s resignation.
- It’s important to note, however, that the Post poll led into the resignation question with a series of questions about Northam’s handling of the racist yearbook photo; whether respondents were themselves offended by the photo; and whether they thought the photo was an “isolated incident” or a sign of “broader racial prejudice.”
- Only then did the Post poll ask whether Northam should resign.
- These leading lead-in questions couldn’t help but impact the results of the resignation question.
And that’s all I’ll say about that poll. Reasonable people can disagree about survey methodologies.
So back to the one without all those leading questions.
- Not shocking: Northam voters approve of the job Northam’s doing as governor (62 percent).
- More remarkable: A solid majority (56 percent) of the voters who cast ballots for Northam not much more than a year ago think he should resign.
You can read more about the Daily Kos/Civiqs poll results here.
Helpful.
The Heart of Rock and Troll: The thing about racism is that it's not all about white a-holes donning blackface.
Sometimes it’s about white a-holes telling black people who should and shouldn’t be honored during Black History Month.
- This is exactly what Republican lawmakers have just done in Wisconsin.
- Colin Kaepernick was born in Milwaukee, and the members of the legislature’s Black Caucus—all of whom are Democrats, as there are no black Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly or Senate—included his name in their resolution listing specific Black History Month honorees.
- Republican lawmakers in both chambers took umbrage at listing Kaepernick, saying he was “too controversial” to honor, and erased his name from the resolution.
- Only then did the Black History Month resolution honoring black Americans, as approved by white Republicans, pass.
Cold, Cold Heart: Big news out of Alaska: They finally have a fully functioning state government!
- And bad news for Republicans: Democrats have assembled another coalition majority in the state House, denying the GOP what would have been their sole chamber flip in the 2018 elections.
- In the immediate aftermath of November 2018, it appeared as though Republicans had picked up enough seats to break the existing Democratic coalition majority and flip control of the chamber.
- But months of confusion and maneuvering ensued, leaving the House without a speaker for the first full month of the legislative session.
- Finally, former Speaker and Democrat-turned-independent-just-this-past-Monday Bryce Edgmon has been re-elected by all the chamber’s Democrats, one independent, and two Republicans. The 21-18 vote keeps Democrats in effective control of the state House.
- And lastly, this means we know with certainty that Republicans failed to pick up majority control of a single legislative chamber last fall.
womp womp
Welp, that’s all for this week. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all. And whether you celebrate it or celebrate not celebrating it, you’re probably ready to call it a week, hm? It’s Presidents Day weekend, after all, and you deserve to get an early start on it. Just print this out and show it to your boss, I’m sure she won’t mind.