In Virginia, voters don’t elect the judges. VA is one of only two states whose legislatures choose their judges. Do they use any real criteria to select and reappoint them? Obviously not.
VA Senate Democrats, Henry Marsh, Richard Saslaw, John Edwards, Wm. Roscoe Reynolds, Creigh Deeds, Janet Howell, Louise Lucas, Linda Puller and Republican Frederick M. Quayle, just defeated House Bill 2526—a measure that would have simply allowed them see existing performance reviews on our judges. Does this mean that the plan to personally sit in on trials to observe for themselves? No. Does this mean that they’ll continue to rubber stamp the reappointments of bad judges? Yes.
So far this session, Judge Timothy Hauler was reappointed to the Chesterfield County Circuit Court despite numerous complaints. It took over 20 years of citizen complaints for the General Assembly to finally remove Judge Gaylord Finch from the Fairfax Circuit Court. Finch and former Norfolk Circuit Court’s Chuck Griffith were not our only bad judges.
Because some in the General Assembly refuse to do their jobs, innocent people like Teddy Thompson will continue to be the victims of VA’s corrupt judges.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, December 20, 2008
The New Great Depression
On December 17, Gov Kaine announced his plan to bring Virginia through the current economic downturn (Governor Kaine Announces Revenue Reforecast, Plan to Address Shortfall (http://www.governor.virginia.gov/MediaRelations/NewsReleases/viewRelease.cfm?id=838). Despite all the evidence, he still doesn’t call it a depression. Budget cuts, layoffs and targeted tax increases are standard stuff for dealing with slowing tax collections. The problem, though, is that his plan is short sighted and ignores the real cause of this problem.
We all need to ask ourselves, “what happened to the taxes that were collected during the good times?’ When the economy was expanding and revenues were flowing in, what did our leaders do with the money?
Expansions and recessions are normal in a capitalist system. However, we don’t have a true capitalist system. In a true capitalist system, there would be no government bailouts for poorly managed industries. Well-run companies would survive, and the others would die.
Virginia’s problem, as well as America’s, is that our economic system is based entirely on greed. The 1980’s movie, “Wall Street” perfectly epitomized it. Investment bankers make millions for doing nothing but moving around money on paper.
The only reason why Wall Street exists is because companies are too greedy to operate on the revenues from their operations. When a car company sells a car, all of the expenses for making that car are paid by the buyer. Although thousands of people are involved in getting that car from the iron in the ground to the dealer’s show room, the actual building cost is so low that the price still covers the expense.
The problem, however, is that the car company wants more. They invest those proceeds on Wall Street to make more money. More often than not, the money from these investments is needed to pay for huge executive salaries and bonuses and company perks.
Our political leaders are no different. Douglas Wilder was elected governor during another economic downturn. He instituted a plan that also included spending cuts and brought VA through it stronger than it was before. He even managed to add to VA’s “rainy day” fund.
George Allen came along after Wilder, and had to prove that, as a Republican, he was even more fiscally conservative. He started his own round of spending cuts which included decimating the Dept of Transportation. He offered early retirements to the experienced leadership and privatized many of their operations. To this day, VDOT has not recovered and most of our transportation problems can be traced back to Allen. Additionally, one of the main reasons our real estate taxes are so high is because of Jim Gilmore’s “no car tax” stunt.
So-called fiscal conservatives lie to voters to get elected. They scare us into thinking that taxes are the problem when the real problem is spending. The reality; however, is that it takes money to run the state and provide all the services that we need. There probably is a lot of waste, but until we completely change Virginia’s political process and the process across the US as a whole, pork barrel projects will remain a way of life. Until we change our economic system, recessions and depression will also be a way of life.
We all need to ask ourselves, “what happened to the taxes that were collected during the good times?’ When the economy was expanding and revenues were flowing in, what did our leaders do with the money?
Expansions and recessions are normal in a capitalist system. However, we don’t have a true capitalist system. In a true capitalist system, there would be no government bailouts for poorly managed industries. Well-run companies would survive, and the others would die.
Virginia’s problem, as well as America’s, is that our economic system is based entirely on greed. The 1980’s movie, “Wall Street” perfectly epitomized it. Investment bankers make millions for doing nothing but moving around money on paper.
The only reason why Wall Street exists is because companies are too greedy to operate on the revenues from their operations. When a car company sells a car, all of the expenses for making that car are paid by the buyer. Although thousands of people are involved in getting that car from the iron in the ground to the dealer’s show room, the actual building cost is so low that the price still covers the expense.
The problem, however, is that the car company wants more. They invest those proceeds on Wall Street to make more money. More often than not, the money from these investments is needed to pay for huge executive salaries and bonuses and company perks.
Our political leaders are no different. Douglas Wilder was elected governor during another economic downturn. He instituted a plan that also included spending cuts and brought VA through it stronger than it was before. He even managed to add to VA’s “rainy day” fund.
George Allen came along after Wilder, and had to prove that, as a Republican, he was even more fiscally conservative. He started his own round of spending cuts which included decimating the Dept of Transportation. He offered early retirements to the experienced leadership and privatized many of their operations. To this day, VDOT has not recovered and most of our transportation problems can be traced back to Allen. Additionally, one of the main reasons our real estate taxes are so high is because of Jim Gilmore’s “no car tax” stunt.
So-called fiscal conservatives lie to voters to get elected. They scare us into thinking that taxes are the problem when the real problem is spending. The reality; however, is that it takes money to run the state and provide all the services that we need. There probably is a lot of waste, but until we completely change Virginia’s political process and the process across the US as a whole, pork barrel projects will remain a way of life. Until we change our economic system, recessions and depression will also be a way of life.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Carried Back to Old Virginny
On Tuesday October 28, 2008, Chesapeake Circuit Court Judge Bruce Kushner sentenced Jamal Mann to 40 years in prison in the murder of his girlfriend, Akayla Cuffee (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/chesapeake-man-sentenced-40-years-girlfriends-death). This came just one day after Chesapeake Judge Randall Smith sentenced Margaret Garnes to only 15 years for murdering her husband.
Both murders were committed during domestic disputes after the victims attempted to leave. Both defendants were found guilty of second degree murder. Margaret Garnes was also found guilty of a weapons charge for shooting her husband. Furthermore, it was asserted that Mann may have had mental problems. So why was there such a huge difference in their sentences?
The difference in these cases is obvious—Mann is an African-American man and Garnes is a Caucasian women. Apparently justice is Chesapeake is not far removed from the days of Jim Crow. Kushner and Smith preside over their courtrooms like a pair of red—neck good old boys complete with everything but the lynch mob. Are crimes committed by African-Americans really three times as bad as those by whites?
Sadly, Mann was probably still better off in Chesapeake considering that just the day before, Norfolk Judge Karen Burrell sentenced Brandon Jamale Wade (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/attackers-sentencing-victim-relives-her-anguish) to two life terms plus 38 years for rape.
None of these judges was elected by the people. They were e selected by politicians with no input from the citizens. Often--as with Judge Smith—only after making contributions to their political campaigns. Even at that, they still often ignore the law and violate our civil rights. It’s time that biased judges are removed from our courtrooms. We don’t need to go back to Old Virginny.
Both murders were committed during domestic disputes after the victims attempted to leave. Both defendants were found guilty of second degree murder. Margaret Garnes was also found guilty of a weapons charge for shooting her husband. Furthermore, it was asserted that Mann may have had mental problems. So why was there such a huge difference in their sentences?
The difference in these cases is obvious—Mann is an African-American man and Garnes is a Caucasian women. Apparently justice is Chesapeake is not far removed from the days of Jim Crow. Kushner and Smith preside over their courtrooms like a pair of red—neck good old boys complete with everything but the lynch mob. Are crimes committed by African-Americans really three times as bad as those by whites?
Sadly, Mann was probably still better off in Chesapeake considering that just the day before, Norfolk Judge Karen Burrell sentenced Brandon Jamale Wade (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/attackers-sentencing-victim-relives-her-anguish) to two life terms plus 38 years for rape.
None of these judges was elected by the people. They were e selected by politicians with no input from the citizens. Often--as with Judge Smith—only after making contributions to their political campaigns. Even at that, they still often ignore the law and violate our civil rights. It’s time that biased judges are removed from our courtrooms. We don’t need to go back to Old Virginny.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
No Justice in our Courts
Recently in Hampton Roads, two decisions in two separate courtrooms illustrated just how corrupt and biased our legal system is. On Tuesday, October 28, the Virginian-Pilot reported that Brandon Jamale Wade (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/attackers-sentencing-victim-relives-her-anguish) was sentenced to two life terms plus 123 years, with 85 years suspended for the rape of a 23 year old woman. Norfolk Judge Karen Burrell said that “If the victim stops helping others, then you (Wade) win. That shouldn't happen. There's no way you should walk out of here a winner."
At about the same time in Chesapeake, Judge Randall Smith was sentencing Margaret Garnes (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/chesapeake-woman-gets-15-years-killing-spouse)to a mere 15 years for murdering her husband. While I understand that rape is a deplorable crime, I find it hard to imagine that taking a life is less so. Would Wade have gotten less time had he killed his victim?
In both cases, the defendants plead guilty. Garnes never claimed that she acted in self-defense. She shot her husband after an argument as he was trying to leave. Despite that, Smith only sentenced her to a mandatory three years for a firearm conviction and 30 years, with 18 suspended, for the murder.
It’s obvious that race and gender played an enormous part in both sentences. Under current domestic violence laws, Garnes’ husband could have gotten almost as much time had he just hit Garnes in self defense.
The short answer to these cases is that Smith and Burrell are both biased and incompetent. The long answer is that our state’s judiciary has many bad apples. The worst part is that our political leaders lack the wherewithal to weed them out. As long as bad judges like these two remain on the bench, none of us or our civil rights are safe.
At about the same time in Chesapeake, Judge Randall Smith was sentencing Margaret Garnes (http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/chesapeake-woman-gets-15-years-killing-spouse)to a mere 15 years for murdering her husband. While I understand that rape is a deplorable crime, I find it hard to imagine that taking a life is less so. Would Wade have gotten less time had he killed his victim?
In both cases, the defendants plead guilty. Garnes never claimed that she acted in self-defense. She shot her husband after an argument as he was trying to leave. Despite that, Smith only sentenced her to a mandatory three years for a firearm conviction and 30 years, with 18 suspended, for the murder.
It’s obvious that race and gender played an enormous part in both sentences. Under current domestic violence laws, Garnes’ husband could have gotten almost as much time had he just hit Garnes in self defense.
The short answer to these cases is that Smith and Burrell are both biased and incompetent. The long answer is that our state’s judiciary has many bad apples. The worst part is that our political leaders lack the wherewithal to weed them out. As long as bad judges like these two remain on the bench, none of us or our civil rights are safe.
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