Southwest Virginia Democrats

The 9th CD Convention will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, June 10, 2006, in the Marion Senior High School auditorium.

There will also be a short 9th District Committee meeting at 12:30 PM, following the convention.

Here are some directions to the High School:

1) Get on I-81 and head to Exit 45.
2) Northbound traffic turn left at the exit stop sign, southbound traffic turn right at exit stop sign onto Route 16.
3) You will pass the state hospital complex on your right (complete with high fences/guard towers).
4) Go to the end of this road and turn right at the last (2nd) traffic light.
5) Bear left onto Route 16 again almost immediately at the Chevron Station. Do not go up the long/steep hill directly in front of you prior to the turn.
6) At the next traffic light you will see a Hardee’s on your left. Go straight through this light.
7) Pass through a 2nd traffic light and then cross some rail road tracks.
8) At the next (3rd) traffic light at the Wendy’s/Rite Aid (located on your left) and KFC/Taco Bell (located on your right) turn right and go up the hill.
9) At the top of the hill, turn left onto Stage Street. Marion Sr. High School will be the 2nd school on your right after Marion Intermediate School.

Hope to see you all there!!

To us Southwest Virginia Democrats, it’s not “will Rick Boucher will beat Bill Carrico,” but rather “how much of the vote will Boucher win.” Take your best guess.

Polls Archive

Any thoughts?

Here is the email from Boucher’s Campaign:

An Invitation to Join
Congressman Rick Boucher
For A Reception
To Benefit His Re-election Campaign
Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
Abingdon, Virginia

Saturday, March 11, 2006
6:00 - 7:30 P.M.

Please Reply By March 3

_ Yes, I will attend the March 11 Reception and enclose my check for _____
reservations.

_ Yes, I would like to be a Benefactor/Patron/Sustaining Contributor/Sponsor
and enclose my contribution of $ _____ for _____ reservations.

_ No, I cannot attend but enclosed is my contribution of $ _____

Donation Requested

$75 individual / $100 couple

$250 Sponsor (4 tickets)

$500 Sustaining Contributor (5 tickets)

$1000 Patron (6 tickets)

$2000 Benefactor (8 tickets)

Please make check payable to: Boucher for Congress, P.O. Box 2000, Abingdon,
Virginia 24212

Name ______________________ Phone ______________________

Address __________________________________________________

City, State, Zip ____________________________________________

Employer _________________________________________________ (for FEC report)

Occupation _______________________________________________ (for FEC report)

Paid for by Boucher for Congress Committee.

P.O. Box 2000, Abingdon, Virginia 24212

Contributions to Boucher for Congress are not tax deductible for income tax
purposes.

Federal law requires us to use our best efforts to collect and report the
name, mailing address, occupation and name of the employer of individuals
whose contributions exceed $200 in a calendar year.We may accept
contributions from an individual totaling up to $2,100 per election with the
primary and general election each considered a separate election.Federal law
prohibits contributions to the campaign from the general funds of
corporations, labor organizations or national banks (including corporate or
other business credit cards), any person contributing another person’s
funds, foreign nationals who lack permanent resident status, and government
contractors.

Thanks to Congressman Boucher, I see that local farmers are now eligible for some financial assistance due to crop losses.

From the KTN:

Farmers in Wise, Russell and Washington County who have suffered crop losses due to last year’s drought conditions may be eligible to receive financial help from the federal government according to United States Representative Rick Boucher.

. . .

While farmers in these counties were previously eligible for assistance by virtue of being located adjacent to other primary disaster areas, this designation will enable farmers in Dickenson County and the City of Norton to qualify for federal assistance.

. . .

Boucher noted that the lack of precipitation experienced in Southwest Virginia in 2005 resulted in substantial damage to crops and justified the need for federal assistance to the producers of these commodities.

Farmers in localities declared as disaster areas who lose 30 percent of their income are eligible to be considered for up to $500,000 in low-interest loans from the U.S. Farm Service Agency for losses sustained as a result of this year’s drought.

I hope this will be helpful to some of our local farmers. A guy was recently telling me about how he had lost part of his crop because of the drought and I intend to mention this to him in case he has not heard about it.

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.

Read the rest of this page »

Kenton has this post on a few of Del. Bill Carrico’s proposed bills.

Kenton says:

Carrico has introduced a scary pair of bills, one dealing with DUI and another dealing with concealed handgun permits. HB 401 would take away from localities the option to mandate fingerprinting for concealed handgun permits. Why? Good question. Localities are better in tune with the crime situation within their borders: top-down decrees to set their policies are probably not the best way to stop gun crimes.

Perhaps the scariest one of all, though, is HB 364. HB 364 would eliminate references to “trains” in the DUI and drugs statute, presumably making it easier for train conductors to be stoned drunkards.

Del. Bill Carrico plans to challenge Congressman Rick Boucher.