Minimum Wage......$7.25?

It appears as though the Republican controlled House of Representatives has stolen a play from the Dem's playbook. They appear to be set to pass legislation that would increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25.

A person making the minimum wage earns $10,700/year at the current level, which is below the federal poverty level.

The article states that, "Inflation has eroded the minimum wage's buying power to the lowest level in about 50 years".

Of course, there looks like there will be a fight over the issue.

The Dem's think that, "Republicans planned to add "poison pills" for their business allies", while the Conservative Republican's think that, "Quickly increased labor costs unrelated to business conditions will encourage or force employers to fire employees, reduce working hours for existing employees, and/or postpone plans to hire additional employees".

Election ploy or not, the cost of living is at an all time high. A dollar simply doesn't go as far as it once did. I'd say it's time to seriously consider raising the minimum wage.

Is Your Home Overpriced?

Check out this article and spreadsheet from CnnMoney.com regarding housing prices.

I'd hate to be living in CA.....it takes up 9 out of the top 10 overpriced markets.

-The Washington DC/Arlington market is 37% overpriced according to CnnMoney.com.

-Virginia Beach-Norfolk comes in at 16% overpriced.

-The Richmond market comes is at 7% overpriced but is still considered a fair value.

If your looking for a deal, you will need to move to Texas. El Paso comes in at 26% undervalued.

So Much For the Cheap Commute

Toll Road Investors Partnership II (TRIP) is proposing to increase the toll on the Dulles Greenway to $4.80 by 2012. Trucks may pay twice as much.

The Leesburg Today has the story, here.

hmmm, I wonder what the cost of gas will be in 2012? Or, I wonder what the property taxes will be in Loudoun County in 2012.

Who knows, at least we know what it's going to cost to ride on the Dulles Greenway.

Mark Tate: Better Late Than Never

Republican candidate Mark Tate, who is running for the State Senate from the 27th District, hasn’t filed a campaign report in (gulp) THREE YEARS! The seat is currently held by Sen. Russ Potts.

So what? Who cares? What’s the big deal?

Well, according to Chris Piper of the Virginia State Board of Elections, “State law will prohibit him from gaining access to the ballot until such time that these reports are filed.”

Tate has not filed a campaign finance report since July 2003. Because he has not filed the SBE has fined him $500.

For more info. check out this article from The Winchester Star. It has a good analysis of the fundraising activity from the other candidates in the race, Jill Holtzman Vogel and Sen. Russ Potts.

Holtzman reported a balance of $200,711.19 in her June 30th report while Potts’s reported ending balance is $42,927.44. Tate says his ending balance was $190,566.14.

Most observers expect another brutal primary battle between Holtzman and Tate (Potts has not decided if he’s going to run again).

If Tate can keep up with Holtzman in fundraising this could turn out to be an interesting race to watch (If he can file his reports on time).

Sen. Russ Potts has a New Job

Sen. Russ Potts has accepted a new job with the Winchester Public School System. Check it out here and here.

Potts will receive a $75,000/year as the Director for the John Handley High School Capital Campaign. His goal is to raise $3 million to $5 million that will go towards the renovation of John Handley High School in Winchester, VA.

Potts doesn’t feel that there is a conflict of interest between his new job and his Chairmanship of the Senate Education and Health Committee.

Neither does Sen. Ken Stolle, “Offhand, I would say there is probably not a conflict, and the reason I would say there is not a conflict is that we currently have teachers that are serving in the General Assembly.”

However, some folks may take issue with the fact that Potts campaign for Governor is still $183,000 in the red. Read more here.

In either case, it looks like Potts will be a full-time fundraiser.

10th District Drama

Ya gotta love this…

The Leesburg Today is reporting that Heidi Stirrup, who lost her bid to be Chairman of the 10th District GOP Committee, is going to challenge the result of the election to the state central committee in Richmond.

At the convention Stirrup attempted to remove folks “from the credentials report who had supported Sen. Russ Potts’ (R-27) independent bid for governor, Leslie Byrne’s (D) bid for Lieutenant Governor or County Chairman Scott K. York’s independent bid, among others.”

To me, this seems to be a moot point because Stirrup lost the election by almost 60/40. In other words, did that many folks on the credentials report support Potts, Byrne, or York?

Of course, no one knew what the results of the election would be prior to the so-called “inconsistencies relating to parliamentary procedure”, but now that it’s over one would think you could determine if the supporters of non-republican candidates actually had an impact. Did they?

If they didn’t then I would have to agree with J. Warren Geurin’s comment, “It’s 24 pages of sore losership…This idea that every vote hollered from floor has to be recognized is just crazy.”

Stirrup claims that, “the nominating convention was fraught with inconsistencies relating to parliamentary procedure. Motions from the floor, for instance, to alter the credentials report—who could be a delegate—were either not recognized or ruled out of order.”

Full disclosure; I wasn’t at the convention, but I was told by folks who supported Jim Rich & Heidi Stirrup that it was a fiasco.

Mark Tate Will Run For 27th District Senate Seat in 2007

It's official.

Mark Tate will again seek the Republican nomination for the 27th District Senate Seat. Click here to read more from the Winchester Star.

Tate will face at least one challenger for the seat. Jill Holtzman Vogel announced waaaay back that she will also seek the nomination. Holtzman hopes to have a war chest of $320,000 by July 17th.

In the Winchester Star article Tate said that he wants to raise $350,000 to $400,000.

This is shaping up to be a fun race to watch for several reasons.

First, the incumbent, Sen. Russ Potts has not made up his mind if he's going to run again. In the article, Potts said, “I am going to make up my mind on my timetable.......There is no sense of urgency on my part to do that.”

Second, no Democrat has announced. I fully expect a Democrat from the eastern part of the district to be on the ballot.

IMHO, Potts will not seek the Republican nomination. He's much more likely to run as an Independent or switch parties and run as a Democrat. Or, he could simply retire (yeah, right).

Holtzman-Vogel clearly has a monetary advantage over Tate. If Tate can’t raise some dough he’s doomed.

Taking all that into account, my prediction is a 3-way race with Potts being on the ballot as an Independent.

Can Feder Beat Wolf?

I ran across this article in today's addition of the Leesburg Today. It's a good read for anyone that lives in the 10th District.

It poses an interesting question; can Democratic candidate Judy Feder oust incumbent Frank Wolf for the 10th District Congressional seat?

Feder believes she has some momentum on her side. "Feder said from her small campaign office in Sterling, the 10th District’s decades-long support for Republican candidates is waning. Not only did Gov. Timothy Kaine (D) win in the district, something his uber-popular predecessor Mark Warner couldn’t do, but also a moderate challenger ousted longtime Republican Del. Dick Black (R-32). Del. Dave Poisson (D-32) and Del. Chuck Caputo (D-67) and have joined Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) in Richmond to give at least portions of the 10th District a bluer shade of representation."

Wolf's response, “Every time I’ve won, I’ve run based on what I have done and how I have done it,” Wolf said. “Transportation, I got the rail system authorized. Who started the gang task force? Who did Gov. Warner thank with regard to the gang effort?”

An interesting little tidbit from the article mentions that Wolf has raised 79 percent of his funds in Virginia, while Feder has raised 86 percent of her funds out of state.

Anything is possible, but it would be nothing short of a miracle for Feder to win this race. Sure, she might do well in the eastern part of the district, but she has a long way to go in the western part of the 10th District.

I personally have not seen a single thing from the Feder campaign. No signs, no stickers, no mailers, no e-mails, nothing.

It’s still early but if your going to beat a 25-year incumbent you need to bring whatever it is you have hard, heavy and often.