Once in a while, small-town politics can be home to something of interest or amusement.
New Market mayor Larry Smith is being accused by his brothers of stealing from their share of the inheritance left to all three of them by their mother when she passed in 2001.
Apparently, there were 2 trust accounts that were to be divided up so each brother would inherit $994,568. Instead, one trust paid the brothers $3000/month, and Smith kept the money from the other trust (if I'm reading this correctly).
"I was getting the majority of the value on the outset and there was a distribution to my brothers," Larry Smith said in a Dec. 9, 2008, examination with an attorney for Farmers and Merchants Bank, according to a transcript of the examination. "Because I was serving as the trustee, the understanding I was serving as the trustee and it was my sole source of income."
That statement, from the previously-linked Northern Virginia Daily article, cannot be true. Smith owns and operates the Cross Roads Inn which is a bed and breakfast here in New Market. Obviously, he has more than one source of income.
Smith also claims that he needs the money more than his brothers do. While that may be true (Smith is in the midst of his second bankruptcy filing in less than 16 months), he was not properly executing the distribution of the funds. Also, Smith claims that his has a right to the money as a fiduciary fee. Given that his brothers claim that Smith has paid himself over $2 million from the trust, I find a 60+% fiduciary fee hard to believe as reasonable.
Smith has also used the trust as a guarantor for many loans (both personal and business), and there is now $1.25 million in claims against the trust.
Ouch, Mr. Mayor. Business loans? I thought this trust was your sole source of income?
Thursday, December 3, 2009
NY Senate Strikes Down Gay Marriage Bill...
Really, does government need to legislate such things? What consenting human adults do in their private sexual lives is really none of the government's business. Also, I really don't see the harm in gay marriage under law. As far as under God, let the individual religions handle that on their own.
Nonetheless, I love the "objective" reporting in this article. For example...
"The State Assembly passed it, but the dysfunctional Senate could only muster 24 of the 32 votes it needed."
Hmm, I wonder what this reporter was looking for in an outcome...c'mon, let's just report the news instead of injecting commentary. It would be greatly appreciated.
Nonetheless, I love the "objective" reporting in this article. For example...
"The State Assembly passed it, but the dysfunctional Senate could only muster 24 of the 32 votes it needed."
Hmm, I wonder what this reporter was looking for in an outcome...c'mon, let's just report the news instead of injecting commentary. It would be greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thoughts on the Smoking Ban
This is a comment I left over at NLS on this topic (which he supports with great fervor)...
I am a former cigarette smoker (and occasional cigar aficionado), but I'm not one of these self-righteous fools who believes that only those they agree with have rights. They don't like smoking, so they believe a smoker should not have the right to enjoy a meal and a cigarette in the same place. Especially in bars and nightclubs, where getting in and out of the establishment to have a smoke can be a hassle.
Lest we forget, a lot of tobacco companies do business in Virginia...they could very well take their business, their jobs, and their tax revenue to another state if we keep demonizing innocent civilians who happen to enjoy cigarettes.
I believe that the property owners and restaurant managers should make the decision regarding whether or not they will allow smoking, and the free market (meaning us, the patrons) will decide if we will go to a non-smoking or a smoking-permitted establishment. Unfortunately, there are those who feel that the state should provide legislation that bans everything that they don't like, no matter how ridiculous it may be.
I am a former cigarette smoker (and occasional cigar aficionado), but I'm not one of these self-righteous fools who believes that only those they agree with have rights. They don't like smoking, so they believe a smoker should not have the right to enjoy a meal and a cigarette in the same place. Especially in bars and nightclubs, where getting in and out of the establishment to have a smoke can be a hassle.
Lest we forget, a lot of tobacco companies do business in Virginia...they could very well take their business, their jobs, and their tax revenue to another state if we keep demonizing innocent civilians who happen to enjoy cigarettes.
I believe that the property owners and restaurant managers should make the decision regarding whether or not they will allow smoking, and the free market (meaning us, the patrons) will decide if we will go to a non-smoking or a smoking-permitted establishment. Unfortunately, there are those who feel that the state should provide legislation that bans everything that they don't like, no matter how ridiculous it may be.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
A Return...?
It's been quite a while, but the Podium may be seeing a return to action.
Yours truly has been off finishing up his Bachelor's Degree program, and will be done by mid-December, thus leaving me with the free time that I did not have previously. So right now, I'm simply contemplating the idea of coming back to blogging. The time seems right, and I've talked plenty of politics with people during my hiatus, so I've stayed pretty much up-to-date regarding most of the shenanigans that are Virginia politics.
Will I or won't I, that's the question I have to wrestle with at this time. We shall see...
Yours truly has been off finishing up his Bachelor's Degree program, and will be done by mid-December, thus leaving me with the free time that I did not have previously. So right now, I'm simply contemplating the idea of coming back to blogging. The time seems right, and I've talked plenty of politics with people during my hiatus, so I've stayed pretty much up-to-date regarding most of the shenanigans that are Virginia politics.
Will I or won't I, that's the question I have to wrestle with at this time. We shall see...
Thursday, November 20, 2008
One-Vote Wonder...
Out of all of the manually-recounted ballots cast in Minnesota, this is the only one that Al Franken is challenging...? As if there is some kind of debate about the voter's intent?
I'm wondering if he's thinking to himself "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, but doggone it, this guy didn't like me."
I'm wondering if he's thinking to himself "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, but doggone it, this guy didn't like me."
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Deroy Murdock Talks About "Restoring Reaganism"
In his featured article at the National Review, columnist Deroy Murdock talks about how the GOP can get back to a more consistent, conservative base and how to eliminate those who have led the party to where it is today. Here's some excerpts and my own opinions regarding some of Murdock's better points...
The GOP has been laid low, thanks to politicians who swapped their principles for power and lost both. As the chief electoral vehicle for conservative and free-market ideas, the Republican party cannot regain America’s confidence —nor should it — until the guilty have been cast into the nearest volcano.
Amen to that. The party members should throw out the bums who put them into the minority.
Comrade George W. Bush has spearheaded the most aggressive federal expansion since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As a delivery system for socialism, he has been the most effective Trojan Horse since that pine steed rolled into Troy.
When Bush arrived, Washington consumed 18.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Uncle Sam now devours 22.5 percent of the economy, reported Jon Ward in the October 19 Washington Times. “The country has gone from a $128 billion budget surplus when Mr. Bush took office to a deficit of at least $732 billion in fiscal 2009,” Ward writes. “No president since FDR — who offered a New Deal to pull the nation out of the Great Depression and then fought World War II — has presided over as rapid a growth in government when measured as a percentage of the total economy.”
Ouch, Mr. President. Looks like you forgot the conservatism part of "compassionate conservatism".
While much of Bush’s spending has funded defense and the War on Terror, most of it vanished into the furnaces of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 Farm Bill, the 2003 Medicare drug entitlement, the 2005 highway bill, the 2006 ethanol mandate, at least 69,341 earmarks, and much, much more. In 2001, Bush launched federal embryonic stem-cell research. By 2008, he added the word “nationalization” to the American vocabulary, and underscored it with nearly $1 trillion in bailouts and Third World—-style government ownership stakes in banks and financial houses.
Bush has kept America safe from terror attacks since September 11. The liberations of Afghanistan from bin Ladenism and Iraq from Ba’athism were vital victories for national security and human rights. Until this year’s mortgage meltdown, his tax cuts fueled robust growth. Good work.
Nevertheless, Bush is the GOP’s Jimmy Carter, a weak bumbler who embarrassed his constituents, betrayed his philosophical movement, sank his party, and eventually surrendered the White House to the opposition, this time led by the Senate’s Number One liberal, still in his first term. Bush should retire quietly to Texas, where he can drive his truck, chop wood, and avoid the limelight for the balance of his natural existence.
While harsh, there IS a lot of truth to this. Both the positives of the fight against terror and the high-flying growth spurred by his tax cuts. However, Bush waffled too often on too many issues, and lost his way. Granted, he's tried to balance a long-term, large-scale War on Terror and a peacetime economy at the same time...but that hasn't worked. Also, in an attempt to "save" the economy, we now have the foundations for a large-scale expansion of government.
Further down the column...
With few exceptions, Republican congressional leaders cheered this elephantiasis amid an atmosphere of corruption, incompetence, and unaccountability. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, House GOP chief John Boehner, House Republican whip Roy Blunt, and other failed leaders should go warm the back benches. Senator Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens will become Ted “Jail to Nowhere” Stevens — and not soon enough.
Former Senate GOP leaders Bill Frist and Trent Lott, and top House Republicans Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay have nothing to offer America. They should be left alone to fade quietly into obscurity.
With the exception of Mitch McConnell, who has done a good job of rallying the minority (for the most part), I can agree with those names named.
Instead, Americans should listen to Republicans who courageously advance pro-market principles today. Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn would make outstanding GOP honchos. House Republicans should elevate Jeff Flake, Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, and John Shadegg to key positions. Governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal are attractive young reformers with lots to offer through at least 2012. Ditto former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, author of 2008’s best slogan: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Yes, yes, and more yes. Throw in the names of Reps. Thad McCotter (MI-11) and Eric Cantor (VA-7) and the GOP would take on a much fresher, energetic, principled leadership.
The GOP has been laid low, thanks to politicians who swapped their principles for power and lost both. As the chief electoral vehicle for conservative and free-market ideas, the Republican party cannot regain America’s confidence —nor should it — until the guilty have been cast into the nearest volcano.
Amen to that. The party members should throw out the bums who put them into the minority.
Comrade George W. Bush has spearheaded the most aggressive federal expansion since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As a delivery system for socialism, he has been the most effective Trojan Horse since that pine steed rolled into Troy.
When Bush arrived, Washington consumed 18.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Uncle Sam now devours 22.5 percent of the economy, reported Jon Ward in the October 19 Washington Times. “The country has gone from a $128 billion budget surplus when Mr. Bush took office to a deficit of at least $732 billion in fiscal 2009,” Ward writes. “No president since FDR — who offered a New Deal to pull the nation out of the Great Depression and then fought World War II — has presided over as rapid a growth in government when measured as a percentage of the total economy.”
Ouch, Mr. President. Looks like you forgot the conservatism part of "compassionate conservatism".
While much of Bush’s spending has funded defense and the War on Terror, most of it vanished into the furnaces of No Child Left Behind, the 2002 Farm Bill, the 2003 Medicare drug entitlement, the 2005 highway bill, the 2006 ethanol mandate, at least 69,341 earmarks, and much, much more. In 2001, Bush launched federal embryonic stem-cell research. By 2008, he added the word “nationalization” to the American vocabulary, and underscored it with nearly $1 trillion in bailouts and Third World—-style government ownership stakes in banks and financial houses.
Bush has kept America safe from terror attacks since September 11. The liberations of Afghanistan from bin Ladenism and Iraq from Ba’athism were vital victories for national security and human rights. Until this year’s mortgage meltdown, his tax cuts fueled robust growth. Good work.
Nevertheless, Bush is the GOP’s Jimmy Carter, a weak bumbler who embarrassed his constituents, betrayed his philosophical movement, sank his party, and eventually surrendered the White House to the opposition, this time led by the Senate’s Number One liberal, still in his first term. Bush should retire quietly to Texas, where he can drive his truck, chop wood, and avoid the limelight for the balance of his natural existence.
While harsh, there IS a lot of truth to this. Both the positives of the fight against terror and the high-flying growth spurred by his tax cuts. However, Bush waffled too often on too many issues, and lost his way. Granted, he's tried to balance a long-term, large-scale War on Terror and a peacetime economy at the same time...but that hasn't worked. Also, in an attempt to "save" the economy, we now have the foundations for a large-scale expansion of government.
Further down the column...
With few exceptions, Republican congressional leaders cheered this elephantiasis amid an atmosphere of corruption, incompetence, and unaccountability. Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell, House GOP chief John Boehner, House Republican whip Roy Blunt, and other failed leaders should go warm the back benches. Senator Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens will become Ted “Jail to Nowhere” Stevens — and not soon enough.
Former Senate GOP leaders Bill Frist and Trent Lott, and top House Republicans Dennis Hastert and Tom DeLay have nothing to offer America. They should be left alone to fade quietly into obscurity.
With the exception of Mitch McConnell, who has done a good job of rallying the minority (for the most part), I can agree with those names named.
Instead, Americans should listen to Republicans who courageously advance pro-market principles today. Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn would make outstanding GOP honchos. House Republicans should elevate Jeff Flake, Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, and John Shadegg to key positions. Governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal are attractive young reformers with lots to offer through at least 2012. Ditto former Maryland lieutenant governor Michael Steele, author of 2008’s best slogan: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Yes, yes, and more yes. Throw in the names of Reps. Thad McCotter (MI-11) and Eric Cantor (VA-7) and the GOP would take on a much fresher, energetic, principled leadership.
In Honor of our Veterans and Soon-To-Be Vets...
...donate to Operation Gratitude.
No matter your political leaning, you should ALWAYS provide support for our troops.
No matter your political leaning, you should ALWAYS provide support for our troops.
McAuliffe Files...Dems Have a Problem
Former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe has filed his committee papers and looks to be throwing his hat into the ring as a potential Democratic Party nominee for the governor's race in 2009.
So now, you've got McAuliffe (potentially, and most likely), running against Del. Brian Moran and Sen. Creigh Deeds in the Dem primaries...meanwhile, current state Attorney General Bob McDonnell will being going unopposed for the GOP nomination.
This could create a real problem for the Democrats in this state, as now you've got a bit of a division. Moran would have had NoVa sewn up in the primary voting, but McAuliffe eats right into that base. Also, most of your Blue Dogs and rural Democrats will be going for Deeds.
The key is which one of these 3 will snatch up the vote in the Tidewater area? I believe that's going to be up to Deeds or McAuliffe, as well. Also, the Richmond/Petersburg area will be key, and I would imagine that area will lean towards McAuliffe or Deeds as well, as Moran will probably be seen as too liberal for these more conservative, albiet left-leaning, areas.
Deeds and Moran will lose votes as McAuliffe occupies the space between them on the "center-to-left" spectrum. Also, while I thought that Governor Tim Kaine might implicitly back Deeds, now you can't be so sure. Remember that McAuliffe funneled $5 million in DNC funds to Kaine when he ran in 2005, which is a record sum for a non-Presidential race. Basically, Kaine OWES McAuliffe a LOT...which will hurt Deeds in the process.
Hurting Deeds will hurt the Dem's chances with swing voters if he isn't nominated. Kaine and Mark Warner were seen as centrists, and Deeds fits that mold. However, neither Moran or McAuliffe can be classified as such. While Virginia is a purplish-blue state right now, it is still more of a Blue Dog than a Deep Blue state, and the Dems cannot afford to move too far to the left in a statewide campaign such as this.
So now, you've got McAuliffe (potentially, and most likely), running against Del. Brian Moran and Sen. Creigh Deeds in the Dem primaries...meanwhile, current state Attorney General Bob McDonnell will being going unopposed for the GOP nomination.
This could create a real problem for the Democrats in this state, as now you've got a bit of a division. Moran would have had NoVa sewn up in the primary voting, but McAuliffe eats right into that base. Also, most of your Blue Dogs and rural Democrats will be going for Deeds.
The key is which one of these 3 will snatch up the vote in the Tidewater area? I believe that's going to be up to Deeds or McAuliffe, as well. Also, the Richmond/Petersburg area will be key, and I would imagine that area will lean towards McAuliffe or Deeds as well, as Moran will probably be seen as too liberal for these more conservative, albiet left-leaning, areas.
Deeds and Moran will lose votes as McAuliffe occupies the space between them on the "center-to-left" spectrum. Also, while I thought that Governor Tim Kaine might implicitly back Deeds, now you can't be so sure. Remember that McAuliffe funneled $5 million in DNC funds to Kaine when he ran in 2005, which is a record sum for a non-Presidential race. Basically, Kaine OWES McAuliffe a LOT...which will hurt Deeds in the process.
Hurting Deeds will hurt the Dem's chances with swing voters if he isn't nominated. Kaine and Mark Warner were seen as centrists, and Deeds fits that mold. However, neither Moran or McAuliffe can be classified as such. While Virginia is a purplish-blue state right now, it is still more of a Blue Dog than a Deep Blue state, and the Dems cannot afford to move too far to the left in a statewide campaign such as this.
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