Archive for October, 2006
Many thanks to the amazing grassroots volunteers — including several first timers — who packed Campaign Central last night to fight for progress! Team Englin partnered with the City of Alexandria’s Office of Human Rights and Human Rights Commission to identify voters to defeat the Marshall/Newman Amendment (the so-called “marriage amendment”), which will be Question 1 on the ballot on November 7.
The Alexandria City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing its official opposition to the amendment, enabling City offices and commissions to partner actively with Team Englin’s grassroots army to support the Commonwealth Coalition’s non-partisan campaign to defeat the amendment.
“It was wonderful to see so many volunteers last night. Thanks to your hard work, we made nearly 1,400 phone calls to specific individuals whom we will drag to polls to Vote NO on election day,” said David, thanking the volunteers. “Every call you made was another step toward turning back the tide of hate on November 7 and becoming the kind of Commonwealth and the kind of country we aspire to be. When we defeat this constitutional abomination, you’ll be able to say that you personally had hand in its demise. It’s an honor to stand with you in this fight for progress.”
Do your part at Campaign Central on Monday, October 30 or Thursday, November 2. Click here to let us know you’re coming.
Last night, Team Englin partnered with the Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club to fill the phone lines at Campaign Central to educate and identify voters to turn out against Question 1.
“It’s clear that the more people learn about the so-called ‘marriage amendment,’ the more likely they are to vote 
against it,” said David. “We will keep pushing all the wayto election day to defeat this amendment and protect the rights of all Virginians.”
Join Team Englin between now and election day to do the work necessary to turn back the tide of bigotry and take back our country and our Commonwealth. Check the calendar of events for details.
With all eight phones lines now activated, Campaign Central became phone bank central again last night with volunteers making calls to identify and turn out people to vote no on the Marshall/Newman Amendment, which is Question 1 on the ballot. The crew included both new volunteers and experienced hands, all working together.
“Many thanks to everyone who came out yesterday to fight for progress,” 
said David. “We clearly have the momentum, and I’m honored to work with so many committed friends and neighbors who appreciate their own ability to make change. If we keep pushing forward like this until Election Day, I’m convinced that we’ll win.”
Join us on Tuesday for a special Vote Strong Volunteer Night sponsored by the Virginia Partisans gay and Lesbian Democratic Club. Check out the calendar for other upcoming volunteer nights, and let us know you’re coming at info@davidenglin.org or 703-549-3203.
In four weeks we have an opportunity to set a different direction for Virginia and for America. If enough of us do the hard grassroots work of making phone calls, knocking on doors, and ensuring that our friends and neighbors head to the polls on November 7, we will take back Congress and turn back Question 1, the hateful amendment that would write bigotry into Virginia’s constitution.
Campaign Central will be hopping these next few weeks as Team Englin does its part. We’ll have at least one Volunteer Night every week, including special nights sponsored by the Virginia Partisans, the Alexandria Human Rights Commission, and the Alexandria Commission for Women.
All Volunteer Nights are 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Campaign Central (1505 Wayne Street in Alexandria). Check out the calendar for more details, and email us at info@davidenglin.org to let us know you’re coming. Please save an evening to join us and make a difference.
The only good news coming out of the General Assembly’s special session last week is that we did not end up taking money from schools, public safety, and human services and using it to pay for roads. (And that is actually very good news, since the plan pushed by the House Republican majority would have done just that.) Unfortunately, we also failed to deliver any kind of solution to our pressing transportation funding needs.
The special session ended up not being very special at all, as it was simply a replay of the regular session and the subsequent budget fight where we House Democrats, Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, and Governor Kaine were able to come together on a reasonable plan to deliver sustained, long-term transportation funding while protecting money for schools, public safety, and human services. During the regular General Assembly session, the House Republican leadership, which controls the parliamentary process in the House of Delegates, refused to let the full House consider that plan. Therefore, when we eventually passed the state budget, it didn’t include anything on transportation, with the understanding that we would address the issue during the special session.
During the months between the budget passing and the beginning of the special session last week, we tried negotiate a plan that would at least help Northern Virginia but that would be acceptable to the die-hard anti-tax members of the House Republican leadership. The compromise plan would have allowed Northern Virginia localities to impose their own taxes and fees (averaging about $30 per person per year) to delivered more than $400 million a year in sustained, long-term transportation funding, all of which would have stayed here in Northern Virginia. The plan wasn’t perfect, but I could have voted for it if they had let it get to the House floor.
We had hope that this plan would pass the House Finance Committee because it wouldn’t have raised taxes or fees on the constituents of the anti-tax ideologues on the committee, and we hoped that at least some of them were open-minded enough not to stand in the way of letting Northern Virginia (and Hampton Roads, which had a similar regional plan on the table) solve its own problems. However, when it came to a vote, every single member of the Republican majority on the committee voted to kill the bill.
The plan House Republicans let get to the floor would have put only a tiny morsel of funding toward our $30-billion, 30-year need for transportation funds. Some of that money would have come directly from the General Fund — money that otherwise would go to schools, public safety, and human services. The rest of it would have been raised by issuing new debt through bonds that would have used the General Fund to pay the debt service — again taking money from schools, public safety, and human services. The real kicker is that part of that bond money would have been used to pay down existing debt for transportation, which would have been like using one credit card to pay down another credit card. I’m not necessarily opposed to using bonds, but debt is a financing mechanism and not a revenue source — somebody eventually has to pay the bill. Obviously, I voted against this debt-based plan — I believe we must protect the General Fund, and I also believe in pay-as-you go, not creating even more debt for my son’s generation to pay off. However, this plan passed the House on Thursday and died in the Senate. Since House leaders refused to consider any other compromise option, they adjourned the special session.
I have often made the case that the policies we care about here in the 45th District will not come about until we work together to change the cast of characters in the General Assembly. This transportation struggle is a case in point. I hope come November 2007, when the entire General Assembly is up for re-election, voters remember who worked for a constructive compromise and who stood in the way of progress in order to protect their Grover Nordquist bona fides.
