The VLW Blog

Virginia House majority leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, is hoping to challenge long-time Rep. Rick Boucher for the 9th District Congressional seat, reports The Roanoke Times .
“It’s going to take a lot of time and money, but I believe it can be done,” Griffith told the paper this afternoon. “I just have to make sure there’s [...]

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Shenandoah County Circuit Judge Dennis Hupp said the county board of supervisors waited too long to ask for sanctions against a former board candidate.
In a letter opinion and accompanying order last month, Hupp closed the case, declining to rule on the county’s sanctions motion against Mark Prince and his lawyer.  He held the county knew [...]

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Democrat Steve Shannon (left) and Republican Ken Cuccinelli (right) stuck to familiar themes this afternoon at the Richmond Bench-Bar Conference in the last of their four joint appearances before next month’s attorney general election.
Shannon, a Delegate from Fairfax since 2003, emphasized his work as a prosecutor and referred to himself as “a centrist, law-and-order, pro-business [...]

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Both Republican Bob McDonnell and Democrat Creigh Deeds apparently would restore the moribund program that gave lawyers, jurors, and citizens a voice in Virginia’s judicial selection process.
At the initial debate between the two candidates for governor, both endorsed a merit-based system of judge selection.
“We should reform the whole process,” Deeds told the audience at the [...]

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 No disrespect intended, but the first impression from the gubernatorial debate today is that both Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds are a couple of motormouths.
The debate format — like most — offers strictly-timed windows for comments from the candidates.  The ticking clock, combined with first-debate nerves, seems to drive the candidates to rattle off their [...]

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Three Virginia-based free speech groups have filed for dismissal of their federal court challenge to the Virginia Board of Elections’ ban on wearing political messages in polling places.
In a joint press release, The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, The Rutherford Institute and the ACLU of Virginia said a law passed by [...]

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GOP candidates are beating the bushes to get supporters to Richmond for the party convention May 30.
Republicans will choose their candidates at the convention, and nominations for attorney general and lieutenant governor depend on who shows up.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli is offering free bus rides to Richmond and has reserved a [...]

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Turnout may be limited for the June 9 primary to choose who carries the Democratic banner in the fall election for governor.
Only a fraction of the state’s roughly 5 million voters are expected to vote in the race between Terry McAuliffe, Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran.
But that hasn’t stopped the Democratic candidate hopefuls, who keep [...]

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Rocky Mount attorney Bill Stanley hopes to succeed Jeff Frederick at the helm of the Republican Party of Virginia.
Stanley, who heads the Franklin County GOP committee, said Wednesday that he will run for chairman at the party’s May 30 convention, reports The Roanoke Times.
He will compete for the remainder of Frederick’s four-year term against Pat [...]

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A former Roanoke councilman hit with a civil fine for election law violations will not face parallel criminal charges.
A judge dismissed two misdemeanors against Brian Wishneff at the request of both defense attorney John Lichtenstein and special prosecutor John Alexander, reports The Roanoke Times.
The charges stemmed from a newspaper ad that attacked a [...]

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