Elephant Ears

This blog is dedicated to the political happenings in the Valley and Southwest Virginia. As the the name implies, this blog will have posts based on what is heard by this elephant's (GOPer's) ears. It is also a great treat to get while at the county fair or a carnival.

Friday, December 30, 2005

The Fairfax Analysis

Too Conservative has an analysis of the Fairfax County turn to the left by former Delegate Chap Peterson. He has some good insight, but i am not sure I agree with his overall sentiment. His main points are that the boom in minority population, job shift from pentagon workers to technology families and the anti-Richmond sentiment are the 3 main reasons for its turn to the left.

I continue to believe that Fairfax County (and suburban areas everywhere) are still very winnable by Republicans. The main problem that has plaqued the GOP in Fairfax is the fixation on social issues. While many people perceive NOVA to be "socially moderate", the main problem is their main issue: transportation. While many in Fairfax may be against abortion and gay marriage; they are more worried about transportation solutions and getting their tax money back from Richmond. I believe a winning strategy for NOVA Republicans is stressing our tax and spend stances (limit gov't by limiting spending, therefore taxes) and also innovative transportation solutions involving mass transit. Talking about being socially conservative is fine, but we still need to have a good balance with the other issues.

The biggest disadvantage we have had in the past is that Republicans spend too much time promoting and defending their social stances, while seemingly never talking about transportation or taxes (when was the last time Bob Marshall made the news b/c of a tax policy idea he had?). That is a grave mistake that we cannot continue to make in suburban areas. Even so, we cannot use the Kilgore strategy of taking no stances on social issues. In order to keep the activists involved, we must be steadfast in our beliefs, but make sure to balance it with promoting our other ideals.
We must learn to stress different things in different areas: economic development in Southwest and Southside, social issues in the Valley and Piedmont, transportation and taxes in the suburban areas, education in urban areas. Until we use this strategy, the GOP will continue to lose seats in the General Assembly as well as statewide races.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

3rd District Update

It appears money is rolling into the race for Jackie Stump's vacated seat. Will Vehrs has a post about the donations in the race for the 3rd. This article says that Cook (the GOPer) has amassed $41k in donations while the democrat Bowling has raised $27k. Cook's biggest donation was $22,500 from Speaker Howell's Dominion Leadership Trust and Bowling's was $12,500 from Kaine's PAC. Cook also received $1,000 from the Valley Leadership Trust; a PAC formed by Delegates Landes, Saxman, and Cline. Most all donations to each of the candidates were from friends, family and political groups.
It looks like Cook has a good shot here. Even so, it will all come down to turnout.

33rd GOP Nomination Battle

Apparently Randy Minchew has appointed himself chairman of the 33rd District. He is also the Loudoun County GOP Chairman, which apparently allows him to make the appointment of that position. Don't forget, the district chair picks the date, place and type of nomination process (so if he got this position, he would be able to control the process that he is running in). The main problem with all this is that he supposedly removed Suzanne Volpe in a letter to state central. Volpe appealed and state central agreed since she had not been given 30 days notice. Even so, Minchew now gets to pick the process of nomination (primary, convention, caucus, etc) and possibly the date and place. Volpe will still run the process on nomination day.

If this is true (and I must admit it came from a Staton supporter), this could be bad news for Minchew. I have a feeling this kind of thing will leave a bad taste in the mouth of many GOPers in the area. That coupled with Staton's already starting base of Dick Black supporters could lead Staton to the GOP nod.

Does anyone know anything about this?

UPDATE: I have received a copy of the letter sent to the State Board of Elections from Randy Minchew asking that he be declared the 33rd District chairman. Therefore, I know this situation to be true. Also, please replace "Volpe in a letter to state central" with "Volpe in a letter to the state board of elections". I mistakenly said the letter was sent to state central committee.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

33rd Update

I have found that Bill Mims will not resign his seat until January 14th, so the special election will be on either January 24th or 31st. I have also heard Randy Minchew has not been actively campaigning, but has only been meeting with consultants.
The GOP nomination style and date have not been determined, but I have been told that Sen. Chinchester will decide. As a result, so you can bet it will be done to benefit Minchew. That is also the reason Mims has not resigned yet, they want to drag it out as long as possible to give Minchew time to gather support (Slaton can use Dick Black's supporters as a starting point). Also, Dick Black ended November with over $72k in his campaign account. I have to wonder if some of that will be used to get his son-in-law in this Senate seat.
It looks like it could be an interesting nomination battle.

Senate Shakeup

NLS is talking about the 3 factions in the Virginia Senate. According to him, the Conservative Republicans have 8, the "Squishy" Republicans have 16 and then the 16 democrats. He is pointing out that because of this, the "squishy" GOPers control the Senate. In order for either the Conservative Republicans or the democrats to regain control, they need to pickup 5 seats (mind you the Republicans need a change of 5 seats to regain the majority).

The chance of a democratic takeover is very unlikely. There are 4 NOVA seats (Devolites-Davis, Cuccinelli, O'Brien and Mims) which could go democratic, but there are no other GOP seats that seem to be possible targets (this could all change if VCAP or another like group causes an incumbent to get beat by a weak candidate in a primary, etc).

As to the other side, there are only 4 possible Republican Senate pickups on the table. Chuck Colgan is widely expected to retire in '07, so that seat could be won. Edd Houck, Roscoe Reynolds and Phil Puckett also are in conseravtive leaning districts should they retire. Those 3 seats will be almost impossible to regain if their current office holders stay where they are.

I personally think the "Conservative" Republicans could regain the majority in '07 if we do not see anyone in the caucus get beat. They will gain the seat vacated by Russ Potts, and perhaps the Bill Mims seat in this special election (although I doubt it). I believe we have 9 "Conservative" Republians in the Senate: Mark Obenshain, Ken Cuccinelli, Steve Martin, Jay O'Brien, Steve Newman, Nick Rerras, Ryan McDougle, and Frank Wagner. I would also include Brandon Bell, who did not vote on the tax increase bill but is a very reliable conservative who would probably side with this group more so than the other. All the caucus has to do is gain 3 other seats, which I think will happen from within. I think a few senators will start to back the "conservatives" if they believe they gain more through doing so.

Just a thought, what is everyone else's take on it.

Harrington for Delegate

Mike Harrington has his website up. http://www.harringtonfordelegate.com
I have heard nothing else on the race as of yet.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. Happy "insert holiday name here" to everyone else.
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday weekend.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Virginia Democrats Vote Against Christmas

Newsmax is reporting that the House of Representatives passed a resolution today that "protects the symbols and traditions of Christmas". It passed 401-22, with all 22 no votes coming from democrats. Virginia's own Rep. Bobby Scott and Rep. Jim Moran were among the 22 voting against the resolution. Rep. Jo Ann Davis was the sponsor of the bill.
Its good to see some of the Virginia delegation has some decency and respect, and its sad to see that some of them do not.

23rd Update

The GOP picked Mike Harrington as their standard bearer last night by a wide margin (the number I heard was 400-126). Stacey Valentine is the only democrat vying for the that nomination. It sounds as though Harrington is the one we wanted to get the nomination. The party was backing him and I think he will run stronger than Garber would have. I also heard that Garber's speech last night basically consisted of attacking Harrington, nothing more.
This should be a good race. The demographics of the district are very moderate. One advantage we have here: Harrington was widely seen as the Bryant candidate (even though he says he opposed the tax increase). If this is the case, Bryant has over $70,000 in his campaign account, so hopefully Harrington will get some of that. You can bet both parties will be throwing lots of resources at this race.

News in the 33rd

Thanks for NLS for the heads up on this. Here is an article on the possible opening in the 33rd Senate seat. Its main line is that Mark Herring has moved into the district to run for the dems if Mims does resign his seat. Herring ran against Potts in the 27th in '03 and had a relatively good showing in Loudoun (he got 53% here), but was crushed in the rest of the district.
The article has all the info you could possibily want to know about all the potential candidates in this race.
It looks like this race could be a good one, but I am hearing that Minchew has the best shot of getting the GOP nod. Hopefully we can retain the seat, but anything can happen in a special election, especially one in a swing area like this.

Money Matters

While looking at some finance reports tonight I have found some interesting numbers.
Dick Black had $72,166 in his campaign account at the beginning of December, and his last contributions and expenses were before election day. Would someone explain why a person who lost by a relatively small margin have 72 grand left in their account after the the election? Why didn't he spend all of it? Anyway, this money could come into play if his son-in-law Mike Staton runs for the 33rd Senate seat (if Bill Mims is appointed Deputy AG).

Allen Dudley, who barely won, still has $82,548 in his account. Apparently, he and Mr. Black decided they were going to make their life easier in the next election by savings alot of money. Hopefully our guys will learn in the future that they should spend all their money if they expect a close race.

One other side note, Ryan McDougle began his Senate campaign with $107,269. That coupled with no financial support being sent to his democratic challenger from the DPVA and the demographics of district being GOP, I think we can pretty safely say McDougle will be the next Senator from the 4th district.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Recount Going Well for McDonnell

Chad Dotson is keeping us up-to-date on the recount. As of now, it looks like McDonnell may actually gain a few votes in the recount. None of the localities have seen very large swings. The largest so far was in Lynchburg where McDonnell gained 15 votes. Most are no change.

I have a few numbers he doesn't have: Deeds gained 12 votes in Montgomery County, Harrisonburg, Page and Rockingham Counties had no change.
I have not heard the numbers from any other counties.

We aren't out of the woods until Richmond, Norfolk, Portsmouth. We will see how that goes.

Court Fines Union

The New York Transportation Workers have been fined $1 million per day for their strike in New York City which began today. The judgement is being appealed, but this is a great sign. This type of behavior by unions needs to be broken up.
Bravo for our court system (for once!).

Monday, December 19, 2005

Tie-Breaker

The RTD has a story today about the rules in the event of a tie after a recount. In the 68th HOD recount, the winner is chosen by drawing a name out of a hat if there is a tie. In the event of a tie in the AG's race, the General Assembly will vote on which one wins.
Apparently a name is drawn out a of hat for all races except statewide (governor, LG and AG), even Congress on President.
Just thought it was interesting setup.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Warner's New Budget

The RTD has an article about Warner's new budget. Its not very specific except for the key number: $74 Billion. That is a 19.4% increase from the $62 Billion that was proposed in the last budget. Do we really need that much more money? I realize we want a 3% raise for state employees and teachers and more road money, but is that going to cost an extra $12 Billion?
If the GOP lets this budget survive without serious cuts, the VCG will be "Raising Kaine" again, and this time it will be a good decision.

UPDATE: Commonwealth Watch has a great post up about the new budget as well.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Morgan Freeman is Right On

Over at NewsMax there is an article on Morgan Freeman blasting "Black History Month". He said in an interview with 60 Minutes that things like Black History Month only promote racism and need to be eliminated. He also pointed out that people need to start referring to each other as Americans, not blacks or whites.
Morgan is right on the money.

Frontrunner George Allen?

A new poll of 100 GOP Congressional and Political insiders says George Allen is the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in '08. He gets 39 first-place votes and 365 points (each insider presented a ballot with their top 5; 1st getting 5 points, 2nd getting 4, etc). McCain is second with 38 first-place votes and 337 points. Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Bill Frist, Haley Barbour, Condi Rice, George Pataki, Newt Gingrich and Chuck Hagel round out the top 10. By the way, Virginia's own Bob Goodlatte, Tom Davis, Eric Cantor and George Allen were among the 100 polled.

As for the dems, Hilary is first with 76 of the 100 first-place votes and 440 points. Virginia's own Mark Warner is 2nd with 10 first-place votes and 283 points. The rest of their top 10 is John Edwards, Evan Bayh, Tom Vilsack, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, John Kerry, Al Gore, and Wes Clark. Virginia's own Rick Boucher and Jim Moran were among the 100 dem insiders.

I must say I agree with this assessment. Hilary is going to run away with the dem nomination, but Warner would be the nominee if something happens with her. I also believe the GOP nomination battle will be between McCain and Allen. We still have a few years to worry about all that though.

Trivia Question

J. Sarge has his new trivia question over at New Dominion. See if you folks can get it right (hint: I already guessed it).

The RTD Needs Their Head Examined

Over at SST they have an interesting post about how the Richmond Times-Dispatch rejected an ad for a pianist at church in the Richmond area because the ad used the word "Jesus" and "pray about it".
This is inexcusable behavior from anyone, but it especially wrong for a supposed unbiased media outlet. Lighthorse points out how the RTD allows ads for people looking to find a homosexual partner or even someone for an adulterous affair, but they stopped this ad from being printed.
Check out their post for all the gruesome details.
This type of stuff is absolutely disgusting.

No News On Education Secretary

Today in Kaine's speech, he only announced his appointment of Preston Bryant to Natural Resources and also the Technology Secretary (which some claimed was being offered to Del. Joe May before but he declined). Apparently Kaine is going to wait as long as possible to appoint his Education Secretary. It seems logical that he will have that post filled by the time the assembly goes into session, but we will see. I still continue to believe Sen. Houck will be appointed to the education post, but I imagine the dems will try to get all their ducks in a row before they do so.
Until then, it will be a waiting game.

Also on the 23rd, I am hearing that Robert Garber (Bryant's primary challenger) is the front runner for the GOP nomination. Bert Dodson Jr, a Lynchburg councilman is supposedly the democratic frontrunner for the seat as well.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Preston Bryant in Kaine Administration

This has been tossed around some on the blogosphere but it is official, Del. Preston Bryant has been picked by Kaine to the Secretary of Natural Resources post. The Roanoke Times has a story here. We now have yet another special election on the docket. The 23rd delegate seat is in Lynchburg and part of Amherst County. Robert Garber challenged Bryant in the primaries last June, so I have to assume he would at least consider running for this seat. I will also work to find out when this special election will be, as well as who is going to run for this. Apparently the dems must think this seat is vulnerable, so we will see what happens.

I have also heard that Kaine has his last big press conference tomorrow before he goes on vacation, so perhaps we will hear a few more appointments in that. I will be sure to update you folks as soon as I know anything.

UPDATE: Here are the election Results for the 23rd HOD seat:
Kaine 51.8%-48.2%
Bolling 52.9%-47.1%
McDonnell 52.7%-47.3%
Bush 55.1%-44.9%
It appears it is a winnable district for the dems, so we need to make sure we run a good candidate and execute the election well. If we do that, I think the GOP should win.

3rd District Update

Tonight the GOP will be selecting their candidate for the special election in the 3rd district at the Buchanan County Courthouse tonight at 6 PM. Tomorrow night the Dems will pick their candidate at Richlands High School.
Sometime tomorrow night we should know who the candidates for this race are.
As everyone knows, the election will be January 3rd.
Its going to be a good race, and a very important one for both parties.

UPDATE: Brian Patton has some good insight on this race. He says the GOP nominee is between Phillip Justice and Shea Cook, and Cook is supposed to get it. As for the dems, its between Dan Bowling and Michael McGlothlin. Hopefully we will know more on this later.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Opening in the 17th?

About a week ago NLS said Sen. Edd Houck might be appointed to the education post in the Kaine administration. Today, Chad Dotson has heard the same thing. If this is true, it gives the GOP a great chance to gain a seat in the State Senate. This is a very conservative area, stretching from Madison to Fredericksburg. Jay Hughes, the YR chair has been rumored to be running for the seat. Shaun Kenney, GOP chair of Spotsylvania would be another possible name. Of course Delegate Ed Scott could enter the race as well (and maybe even Mark Jarvis).
I would point out that Houck is 3rd in the Dem leadership in the Senate, so with Colgan widely expected to retire in '07, he may not want to give that power up. Time will tell.
Has anyone else heard if this rumor is true?

UPDATE: According to MR JMS; Chris Yakabouski, a supervisor (I am assuming from Spotsylvania County) is also going to throw his hat into the ring for the GOP nod for this seat. I also hear that Shaun Kenney does not live in the district. Perhaps he can come on here and clarify that.

UPDATE2: Shaun Kenney has not heard anything definite about this seat opening up. Just thought I would let everyone know that the GOP chairman of 1/3 of the district has heard nothing.

Monday, December 12, 2005

3rd District Race

The 3rd House district is made up of all of Buchanan, most of Tazewell and few precincts in Russell County. Of those the Russell section is democratic as is Buchanan. Tazewell is the lone GOP stronghold in the district.
Here are the results from the past elections in this district.

Kilgore won 53%-47%
Bolling won 50.9%-49.1%
Deeds won 53.1%-46.9%
Bush won 51.8%-48.2% in 2004

Tazewell County makes up just over half the votes in the district and the GOP carried it in all races. We will need them to do so in the special election as well. Even so, a special has very low turnout and its even tougher to do in a rural area like this one.
This could be a great opportunity for a GOP pickup. Much of it will hinge on who runs and how well they execute a quick campaign.
I have heard no word on who is running or why Stump resigned. I will update you folks as soon as I find out something.
Does anyone there know what is going on?

UPDATE: Thanks to Chad Dotson and Kilo for their insight. It appears that Del. Stump is having health problems and that is his reason for resigning. I have also heard he is taking an appointment in the Kaine administration. Our thoughts and prayers are w/ the Stump family if he is in fact having health problems. We all hope is makes it through OK.

UPDATE2: Chad Dotson is claiming the GOP is running Shea Cook for this open seat. Apparently this guy is well known in the district. Another good thing is that he is from Tazewell County, which is where the GOP will have its best showing anyway. It sounds as though we have got a good guy running. Now it all comes down to turnout. There is a large union presence in the area so the dems will certainly have an advantage there.

Special Elections

Thanks to SST for the update. The special elections will be on January 3rd to replace Bill Bolling's vacated 4th district Senate seat as well as the 3rd HOD seat that has been vacated by Jackie Stump who has resigned. I will try to find out why Stump has resigned and who will be running for the seat.
Don't forget, if McDougle wins the 4th Senate seat, another special election will be triggered for his 97th HOD seat. Also, there is wide speculation that Senator Bill Mims will be picked as Deputy AG if McDonnell wins, so they would trigger a special election in the 33rd Senate seat as well.
Its going to be a very eventful next few weeks across the Commonwealth.

You Gotta Love The Dems

Drudge has a story about Sen. Daniel Inouye (D) calling on Bush to pull the ads the RNC will be running soon with Howard Dean and a white flag flying in the foreground. The Senator says:
"It may improve the President’s political fortunes, but the American people and our troops will pay the price."
Yeah, and Howard Dean saying we cannot win the war really helps the troops doesn't it?
Its amazing how the dems are so open minded they don't even realize when they are being absolute hypocrites.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

New ODBA Member

Thanks to Chad Dotson for allowing me into the Old Dominion Blog Alliance.
I finally figured out how to get the links up.
Hopefully I will be able to help with whatever we decide to do with our alliance.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Moderate War in '09?

Not Gerry Conolley (a Republican), a guest blogger at NLS has a post up about '09 being the year of the moderate for the GOP. He (or she) is predicting that Bolling is the GOP gubenatorial candidate in '09. He then goes on to say that if Gilmore runs as well, then it will leave open the possibility of a moderate to move in and get the nod. He then has a list of possible GOP contenders for each nomination. They are:
Governor:Bolling, Gilmore, Connaughton, Tom Davis, Thelma Drake, Jerry Kilgore
LG (moderates): Emmett Hanger, Chris Saxman, JeanneMarie Devolites-Davis, Joe May, Gil Davis and Connaughton
AG: Baril, Cuccinelli, Albo, Bill Mims, and McDonnell if he loses this time

I really have no disagreements about any of those candidates trying to get the nominations, but I would say over half have no chance.
The best part of the post is that NGC calls Chris Saxman a moderate. I wouldn't call most of these folks moderate, but this is a first for Saxman.
I am not sure I agree with the assessment that moderates will get nods in '09, but we will see I suppose. If Chris Saxman is a moderate, I say we need to run moderates every election.

Opinions of Young/College Republicans

In light of all the posts regarding CRs lately, I would just like to see what everyone thinks.
At the Advance this weekend I heard lots of people asking what the CRs do and what their purpose is. I am just wondering if this is a widespread problem or just among the party faithful. Even across the blogs, lots of people seem to think they are just kids out there padding their resume and having fun.
It seems to me that they do alot of the grunt work for the party. Lets face it folks, the local committees are mostly retirees who can give money, make decisions, and stand at the polls, but probably don't do a whole lot more. Its the young people who make phone calls, knock on doors and do lit drops. I just think the CRs and YRs don't take enough credit as a whole and that's why they aren't noticed. Surely there are those in these organizations who are in it for the resume building and the recognition, but I imagine that is the minority of them.

I would like everyone to comment on what their opinion of the CRs and YRs. Are they active in your area? Do you believe they are a useful force, or just a group of party animals? Do you think they need to raise their visibility? What should they do differently?

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

CR Elections

Over at SST, one of the new contributors Wyatt Coleman has a post up about the CR Elections this past weekend as well as a general discussion about CR behavior, etc. It is an interesting read (even though it is very long).
He (or she) apparently supported T.J. Maloney of Shenandoah University for chairman of the CRFV. Andrew Lamar of Mark Washington won the election in a close race.
Perhaps folks who know more about this whole thing than me can weigh on what they think of this post.

Monday, December 05, 2005

VCG Strikes Again

Mason Conservative, among others has the newest VCG attack on the Republican leadership. Now Phil R. is taking it out on Speaker Howell for not speaking out enough against the tax raisers, especially the ones facing primary challengers. It is Phil's opinion that Speaker Howell should have done more to whip our guys into shape and not let them vote for the increase.
The only thing related to the tax increase that Speaker Howell can be blamed for is letting a vote happen. He asked Del. Louderback among others to not attend the committee meeting so that the budget vote could get to the floor. Then it was out of his hands. The 17 who voted for the increase did so based on their personal beliefs that the state needed it, or that they would lose re-election if they helped shut the government down. I would also point out that 5 of the 6 primary challengers lost, so obviously those winning delegates must have done what their constituents wanted (not to mention the rest who weren't even hated enough to draw a challenger).

Folks, I was not in favor of the tax increase. Even so, it turns out that people don't care. The problem is our media relations. Had the GOP shut the government down, the media would have savaged us on it, even though nothing happened (remember 1995?). It is very possible we could have seen massive seat losses in the House had we shut the government down, but we will never know. I would also point out that it is somewhat hypocritical of the rest of the GOP attacking the tax raisers while spending the money from the increase. If we really hate the tax raisers (and the increase), how about we overturn the tax increase that they passed to start with?

One point of kudos to Phil and the VCG, they are trying to advocate reduced spending. That is the key to this all. If we reduce spending, the dems will have no leverage or reason to raise taxes. I would point out that on the list of things to do for the HOD this year, there is only one spending cut on there (Medicaid reform). Everything else is tax cuts (back-to-school tax holiday and death tax elimination) and increased spending ($500 million to clean up the Bay, more transportation money, and combating Meth with more law enforcement). I think the VCG has the right idea, I am just not sure why they have attacked the GOP at every turn for their fiscal irresponsibility, but give the dems a free pass. Does the VCG really think the state is better off with a GOP majority that saw one tax increase rather than a dem majority that will raise spending and taxes constantly?

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Hokie Basketball

Folks, tonight I witnessed the biggest let down in my life. With 1.6 seconds left, the Hokies led #1 Duke in Bball. They inbounded and made a half court shot to win the game.
It was the craziest thing ever.
Great job to our guys though, they played on hellacious game tonight.

Advance

I had a great time at the advance. I talked to alot of people and I think many of us really got into dicussing what we think needs to be done into the future. We also got a good look at the preliminary folks looking at running statewide in '09.
I hope everyone else had a great time there.

Hokies Struggle

It pained me to watch my Hokies last night. They were doing ok in the first half, but they blew it from there. The 4th quarter spurt was too little too late. Even so, at least it was 27-22 inseatd of 27-7 like that other Florida team we played.
I guess we are headed to the Gator or Peach Bowl now.
UPDATE: The Hokies are 12th in the new AP poll. FSU is 22nd. I guess the ACC folks can't say the Big East sucks. After all, at least their champion is in the top 12 (WVU is 11th).
UPDATE2: The Hokies are Gator Bowl bound. They will be playing Louisville.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Advance

I hope everyone enjoys the advance. This will be my first so I am interested to see what it is like.
Hopefully we can fix all of the VAGOP's problems this weekend, but I am doubting it very seriously.
Hope to see you folks there.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Conspiracy Theory

Since alot of bloggers have their conspiracy theories about the clemency granting of Lovitt, I have one on a larger scale.
It seems to me that in light of this case, where the evidence was destroyed too early, that an anti-death penalty clerk could order evidence be destroyed in hopes that it would result in a situation like this one.
I have no idea what this type of behavior would result in, so if someone with knowledge of this subject would please debunk why this will not happen, I would certainly appreciate it.
I am interested to hear if this is a real possibility.
God forbid our County Clerk elections become about their death-penalty stances, but I can see it happening.