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Dodson – Garrett  Debate  MONDAY Night, October 24th
Amherst County High School
  

Monday, October 24th, 7:00 PM – The Amherst County Chamber of Commerce will host a debate at 7 and 7:45 p.m. Oct. 24 at Amherst County High School.

Neither Bert Dodson or Joan Foster has seen the plywood shuttered businesses or wild dogs in the streets Tom Garrett keeps talking about.     Maby Tom did inhale.      Talking down the citizens and businesses in Lynchburg won’t translate into too many votes in this part of Virginia.

One section will be held from 7:00 to 7:30 PM with the six candidates vying for the three contested local races giving their reasons for running and their goals:    Amherst County Commissioner of Revenue – Linda Byers (incumbent) and Deborah Martin;    Amherst County Treasurer – Evelyn Martin (incumbent) and Garry Friend; and, Amherst County Board of Supervisors, District 3 – Robert Curd (incumbent) and Leslie Irvin.

The second session at 7:45 PM will be between the two candidates running for Virginia’s State Senate District 22: BERT DODSON and Tom Garrett.     This debate will be moderated by Len Stevens, WSET-TV ABC 13.      Audience questions should be brought and turned in by attendees printed clearly on 3 by 5 cards.

Tom’s plan is to reduce wages and benefits to the point that businesses in sourrounding localaties will relocate their operations to the 22nd district and thus increase the numbers of low paying, no benefit jobs available to the job seekers here.     I see this as   “Tom Foolery”  with Tom being Tom and You being the Fool.     You can’t win a race to the bottom and ultimately you can’t compete with third world countries who’s workers show up for mere pennies an hour or worse countries that employ prison laborers. 
    

Bert’s plan to educate workers and supply them with 21st Century skills,  to enhance the availability of new technologies thru public private partnerships and to fund the public education system is the roadmap to a successful future for the generations to come.    

Tom’s plan to cut services and divert that money to tax breaks for big business and the already wealthy is nothing short of  TOM FOOLERY.

You’ve got a lot riding on the winner of the Senate Race in the 22nd District.      Its time to start thinking about who you will vote for and what that vote means.      I urge You to cast your vote for Bert Dodson.

Protect Your Benefits, Protect Your Future

Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 PM – the Farm Team for Women for Virginia, Central Virginia Chapter, cordially invites you to a new member meeting and panel discussion to be held in the Community Meeting Room of the Lynchburg Public Library, 2315 Memorial Avenue.     A panel of former members of the Lynchburg City Council and Council candidates including Joan Foster,  Joan MacCallum,  Marie Waller,  Pat Lovern and others will discuss running for office.     Arelia Langhorne will act as moderator. Please join them, encourage friends to attend, learn about running for office, and become a member of the Central Virginia Farm Team.

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Late in the regular 2011 82nd Texas legislative session, the Senate passed SB 100. The bill, originally submitted by Texas State Senator Van de Putte, brings Texas in compliance with the federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act. The MOVE Act, passed by Congress in 2009, requires that vote by mail ballots for federal elections and local elections held in conjunction with federal elections must be available to military and overseas voters at least 45 days before each election day and run-off election day.

Election dates specified in the Texas election code did not allow 45 days between the dates candidates were qualified to be listed on primary election ballots and the uniform primary election dates. SB 100 adjusts legally prescribed primary election dates such that Texas comes into compliance with the MOVE Act.

SB 100 retains the first Tuesday in March in even-numbered years as the uniform primary election date, but shifts the primary candidate filing deadline date back from the first January business day of even-numbered primary years to mid-December. SB 100 also shifts the primary run-off election day date out from the second Tuesday in April to the fourth Tuesday in May. Other dates, such as the date each political party’s County Executive Committee must meet to specify the order in which candidates will appear on party’s primary ballot, are also adjusted by SB 100.

The particular challenge with SB 100 is that the new fourth Tuesday in May primary run-off uniform election date conflicts with the second Saturday in May uniform election date that many Texas cities and school boards long ago adopted for their local elections. County election officials will be unable to lease voting equipment and trained election workers to cities and school districts for the second Saturday in May election date in even-numbered years because of the proximity to the new primary runoff election date.

Van Taylor (Texas House District 66, Plano) submitted HB 111 to resolve this conflict by eliminating the second Saturday in May uniform election date in even-numbered years from the Texas election code. The practical effect of eliminating the second Saturday in May uniform date would have been to move most city and school board elections to the November uniform election date. HB111 ultimately failed and SB 100 preserves the second Saturday in May uniform election date for both odd and even numbered years. But, SB 100 also provides that county election administrators are no longer required to enter into contracts with cities and school districts to furnish election services.

Cities and school boards across Texas, including most cities and school boards in Collin Co., that currently contract with the county election office to conduct their May elections will find it necessary to either move their elections to the November uniform election date, with the appropriate adjustments to their terms of office, or purchase their own voting equipment and train their own election staff to conduct their own elections. The third alternative may be for cities and school boards to hold their May elections only in odd-number years so that they can contract election services from the county election office; this too would likely require some considerable revisions to city and school board terms of office.

Democratic Blog of Collin County – News

The Texas Democratic Party released new video details on HB 1, the state budget bill passed by the Texas House on Sunday.

HB 1 codifies a draconian 4.5 billion 2011-13 budget that cuts billion from 2009-13 spending levels. HB 1 slashes public school spending by nearly billion and cuts Medicaid spending by more than billion.

The deficit was created when 2006 legislative session lawmakers cut state revenue by giving deep business tax cuts.

Upon passage of the HB 1 Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio released a statement that says in part, “Eighty thousand kids are not going to get their scholarships and grant money because of this bill. Forty-three thousand people are going to get kicked out of nursing homes or denied nursing home entrance because of this bill…”

Lawmakers in the Texas Senate have been working on their own version of the budget, but the Senate version cuts only billion from current spending levels to mitigate the cuts to public education and Medicaid. Senate budget-writers propose adding billion state-related revenue through new and increased fees.

Thursday morning State Rep. Rob Orr, R-Burleson, introduced two bills to the House Appropriations Committee that could add several million dollars to the public schools budget over the next two years. These bills providing for some accounting maneuvers to more easily shift money around a couple of state agencies responsible for public school funding:

HB 2646 proposes allowing the School Land Board to transfer at least half of the net revenue it collects from a land trust it oversees to the Available School Fund (ASF), an endowment that puts money directly into public schools in Texas. Orr said that pot of money has risen to more than .5 billion in market value and contains more than billion in cash. If that trend continues, the fund could supply the state with an additional 0 million in the next biennium.

HB 2646 requires companion legislation (HJR 109) to put a constitutional amendment on the November 8, 2011 ballot that would allow the General Land Office to distribute revenue directly to the ASF.

The School Land Board (SLB) was established in 1939 by the 46th Legislature to manage the sale and mineral leasing of Permanent School Fund lands. The Permanent School Fund (PSF) was established in the state Constitution of 1876, the current charter of Texas law to fund public eduction using revenues generated from Texas’ land and mineral resources. The SLB’s responsibilities include approving land sales, trades and exchanges, and the purchase of land for the PSF. In addition to this, the SLB issues permits, leases and easements for uses of state-owned submerged land. The SLB is just one of nine boards and councils chaired by the Commissioner of the General Land Office. As chairman of nine boards or councils, the Land Commissioner oversees matters that range from state lands and coastal issues to veterans affairs.

The General Land Office of Texas (GLO) manages state lands and mineral right properties, including oil and gas production leases on more than 20 million acres of state land. State lands and mineral right properties include the beaches, bays, estuaries and other submerged lands out to 10.3 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, institutional acreage, grazing lands in West Texas and timber lands in East Texas. Revenue and royalties are distributed to school districts on a per-pupil basis, helping to offset local school property taxes.

The Available School Fund is made up of the money set aside by the state from current or annual revenues for the support of the public school system. There are two major revenue sources for the fund: earnings from the Permanent School Fund managed by the School Land Board and 25 percent of fuel tax receipts. The fund does not receive annual appropriations by the legislature from other general state revenue sources.

Democratic Blog of Collin County – News

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As state workers scramble to inspect private vans used to transport vulnerable schoolchildren – including kids…

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