Southwest Virginia Democrats

One can certainly reach that conclusion based on his opposition to HB 1590 and HB 1084. Either of these bills would have brought the salaries of Virginia’s teachers up to the national average. Who can oppose that, you ask? Del. Bill Carrico can and did - twice.

Here is the key language of HB 1590:

It is a goal of the Commonwealth that its public school teachers be compensated at a rate that is competitive in order to attract and keep competent teachers. It is also a goal of the Commonwealth that the average salary for Virginia public school teachers equal or surpass the national average salary for public school teachers.

HB 1084 is a little different, but the key language is still:

With such funds as are made available for this purpose, the average teacher salary in the Commonwealth shall not be less than the annual national average teacher salary, in order to ensure the availability of a corps of high-quality instructional personnel in the public schools.

On two occassions, Del. Carrico has voted to kill each of these bills in the House Education Committee, breaking ranks with other Republicans both times.

I don’t know anything about running for congress, but Del. Carrico’s strategy of not supporting logical, needed, and sensible bills seems like a losing one to me.

Del. Carrico has (had?) high hopes of unseating one of the best - Congressman Rick Boucher. If this strategy works, will we see other candidates not supporting much needed bills? I hope not.

Apparently he does not care about Virginia’s teachers or the students who would get the significant benefits of having the most competent teachers in the nation.

It certainly looks that way, but will any one know? Even though he is running for Congress to represent Southwest Virginia, no media outlets are questioning him on his lack of support for Virginia’s teachers and schools.

Del. Carrico, though, did have time to introduce HB 372, which is summarized as:

Any person or persons who picket or assemble in protest at or near any solemn ceremony in a loud or unruly manner intended to disrupt the ceremony and the peace or order, such that the protest actually tends to inspire persons of ordinary courage with well-grounded fear of serious and immediate breaches of public safety, peace, or order, is a participant in an unlawful assembly. Every person who participates in such an unlawful assembly is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Del. Bill Carrico is the wrong guy for the 5th District (House of Delegates) and unquestionably the wrong guy for the 9th District (Congress). Luckily, here in the Ninth District, we have a great Congressman and have no worries of Del. Carrico even putting a dent in Boucher’s margin of victory.