Alert 2-1-07                Civics 101

We will be putting out another “Report from Richmond” in the next day or so, but wanted to take this time to address something which in some ways is more important than the bills that passed or failed in Richmond.

We have been told several times in the last few days that contacting legislators in support of or opposition to a bill (whether it be a VVAW bill or not) is not welcomed, that it gums up the system, and in fact, some legislators say contact is counter-productive.  Legislators have better things to do than to hear from citizens.

This is the state of affairs in Virginia in 2007, and it seems to have galvanized a good many of you to the point that you want to do something about it.  To that end and to discuss options moving forward, we will start a series of regional VVAW meetings and will get that schedule out in the next few days.

The meetings will be on Sundays from 11 am to 1 pm and will probably be in Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Roanoke, Northern VA, and the Tidewater Area.  If you want additional meetings and can guarantee attendance of at least 10, we will consider adding a location to the list.

Please let us know if you think such meetings would be useful, and which meeting location you will attend.

Please collect any emails, etc., which you have received asking that communication with legislators is not in the best interest of getting legislation passed.  Please forward them here if you have not done so already.

We can report that the full House Agriculture Committee met on Wednesday, 1/31/07.  The behavior of the committee was somewhat better than that of the House Ag Subcommittee the previous week, but there still seemed to be sufficient disinterest by the full committee that many conversations were ongoing during testimony, non-committee members visited with committee members (no doubt some of them on valid business), some members left the room to get coffee, and the entire hearing of the VVAW bill HB2295 (Del. McClellan – rabies surcharge bill) was handled by Del. Ward rather than by Ag Committee Chairman Cox.  We don’t know why Del. Cox left the hearing; perhaps he had more important business.  The result was that Del. Orrock was asked to sum up the subcommittee’s posture and he then delivered the death blow to the bill.  Del. Orrock opined that HB2295 was before the full House Ag Committee only if consensus had been reached, and since it was not, the bill should be “tabled” (i.e., it is dead).  There is no leadership from these legislators; they do not solve the pet overpopulation problem but “lead” from the back of the line of special interests, vets, breeders, the Farm Bureau and the like.

This is also the state of affairs in Virginia in 2007.

We wonder if this makes you as angry as it makes us.

Let us hear what you think.  We hope to see you soon.  You will hear from us again – soon.

Thank you.

Lillian Clancy and Don Marro