• By essays from the entry 'McDonnell urges a fast-track to the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrats blast Cuccinelli'
• By Nealo from the entry 'McDonnell to call for hushed rhetoric'
• By Jon Wong from the entry 'Reax to Governor's Proposed Budget Amendments'
• By Stafford from the entry 'Radtke: Reject debt ceiling increase'
• By OldCavalier from the entry 'Hurt, Griffith considering debt limit vote'
• By Varun Choudhary from the entry 'Young Dems take aim at Cuccinelli'
• By Steve Shepard from the entry 'Young Dems take aim at Cuccinelli'
• By Dean from the entry 'Cuccinelli Supports Repeal Amendment'
• By mojoguzzi from the entry 'Cuccinelli Supports Repeal Amendment'
• By Barney Reilly from the entry 'Griffith gets energy committee assignment'

Gov. Bob McDonnell is catching flak over a question he sidestepped Wednesday night in Roanoke during his first town hall meeting on government reform.

He was asked whether he believes in nullification, the theory that a state can invalidate a federal law that it considers unconstitutional.

McDonnell did not endorse the idea, or denounce it.

“I have not looked at nullification in a very, very long time so I can’t really comment on that at this point, but I do think that we’ve got to find ways,” he said. “Mr. Jefferson says the government closest to the people governs best, well that’s the local government and the state government.”

It was among several questions that the governor fielded that night about the Constitution and the rights of states.

But Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, jumped on the governor’s answer.

“Like every other elected official, Governor McDonnell took an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution and all the articles and clauses within that document,” he said.

“Nullification is not legal and declining to respond is not acceptable. I expect our governor to uphold the law and the Constitution and to refute unconstitutional and illegal drivel when he hears it.”

The concept of nullification is freighted with historical significance. During Massive Resistance it was advanced in Virginia and other states as a way to thwart court-ordered desegregation of public schools.

The defenders of centralized governmental power (a.k.a. tyranny) despise the Jeffersonian idea that the citizens of the states have a right to nullify what they believe to be unconstitutional federal laws. That’s why it was necessary to have our bill of rights in order to ratify the US Constitution. The 10th amendment is very clear and direct on this issue “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people.” Thomas Jefferson clearly explained if you allow the federal government to be the sole judge of it’s own powers surely it would interpret it so it would expand it powers. Every time the federal government creates an unconstitutional mandate it is null and void! The states have the duty to nullify unconstitutional mandates from the federal government it clear to me that senator Senator McEachin is only an pirate that has the federal government interest in mind.

Sen. McEachin is correct regarding the governor’s oath to uphold the Constitution, but beyond that he is in error.  Nullification has been recognized historically as one of the primary means by which states ‘bind down’ the federal government by the ‘chains of the Constitution.’  The U.S. Constitution will be upheld and the union will be preserved only if Nullification is practiced.  As early as 1798 it was argued that the principle of nullification is entailed in the 10th amendment, and that it is the duty, not the choice, of the legislatures to practice it.  We the people need to replace every legislator who is unwilling to do so.  For further reading, see Tom Woods -‘Nullification’

What piffle these nullificants peddle.  The arbitor of what powers the Constitution gives the Federal Government and what it gives the States—and what it gives neither—is called The Supreme Court of The United States.
Yes, I know that interpreting the Constitution is not a power explicitly given the Court in the Constitution, but this power was presumed by those who wrote the Constitution and settled in Marbury v. Madison in 1803.

Tyler Whitley reports that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell wants to get tougher on criminals.

Unveiling his public safety proposals today, McDonnell said he wants to increase the penalties for repeat drug dealers, including second-time offenders. He would increase penalties for people who prey on the elderly and toughen identity-theft laws.

The former Attorney General also proposed expanding Virginia’s drug court system to help people who are addicted to drugs. The help would include seeking more state funds for the program.

McDonnell said that under current law a sex offender who does not register with the state can be charged with a misdemeanor. He would make failure to register a felony.

Juvenile offenders who commit violent crimes would be treated as adult offenders and sent to prisons rather than to juvenile facilities under the McDonnell proposals.

He outlined his plan to the annual conference of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police in Newport News.

—Tyler Whitley

Tyler Whitley reports:
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell said today he would not sign a bill that would seek to increase taxes to pay for road improvements.

In an online chat with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, McDonnell said now, in a bad economy, is not the time to raise taxes. He said he did not expect such a proposal to reach his desk, if he is elected governor.

He also said his Democratic opponent Creigh Deeds’ refusal to say what he would do about transportation was a “subterfuge” for a tax increase proposal. Deeds has said he will convene a special session of the General Assembly to talk about transportation and would leave all options on the table.

McDonnell’s proposals for transportation funding include shifting revenues, privatizing ABC stores, using revenue from offshore drilling and imposing tolls on Interstates 85 and 95 for travelers entering Virginia from North Carolina.
Democratic candidate Creigh Deeds will take part in his own 30-minute online chat at the Times-Dispatch at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12.

Every time a Republican comes out with the idea of adding tolls, Virginia’s voters punish them at the polls.

Rightly so.

This is especially true when the sort of arrangement that McDonnell is advocating would sell Virginia roads to Communist Chinese owned toll road operating companies.

Mr. Deeds favors the fuel tax increase to pay for our road improvements and so do most citizens, once they learn that such an increase of about five cents per gallon, will only cost the typical driver an additional twenty bucks per year.