Virginia's Real Politics
A guide to news, commentary and resources in Southwest Virginia

Barnie Day was a Democratic delegate from Patrick County from his election in 1997 through the 2001 session. A former county administrator and business owner, he is now a banker.

By BARNIE DAY

July 1, 2002 -- Republicans need to demonstrate, and soon, that they are worthy of governing. Their recent dubious record stinks. Bigtime. The Times Dispatch, editorial, June 24, 2002

You're preaching to the choir, boys. I couldn't have said it better myself.

What's got the ol' Triple RRR (Richmond Republican Rag) so worked up? That high-flying, high-living junket to Paris to catch the air show that members of the Gilmore cabinet (Ybarra, Duval & Co.) soaked the taxpayers for.

Former Secretary of Transportation Shirley Ybarra flew first class on a ticket that cost better than nine grand. Bless her heart. Must have been an exhausting trip. Thank God she had that $990-per-night hotel suite waiting for her when she arrived.

No wonder Gilmore is dragging his feet about turning over his administration's papers to the state library, the law be damned. Who'd want to turn over a record like that?

Hey, Shirley! Did that include the chocolate on the pillow?

This is the same administration that resisted to the bitter end increasing unemployment benefits for tens of thousands of laid off textile workers in Southside Virginia.

Hey, Shirley! Did they check your suitcase when you left?

And who was the strong arm for the administration when that benefits bill was struggling for life in the committee hatchery? Wait! It's coming to me!

Who stood, glaring, ashen-faced, in the back of the crowded hearing rooms -- rooms jammed with people who had lost not just their low-to-begin-with paychecks, but their health insurance, their retirements, people forced to decide between food and medicine, hard working Virginians, men and women who had to choose, who could no longer buy both?

Yes! I see his face! It's ... It's ... W-i-l-k-i-n-s-!

Hey, Shirley! Hope ya'll didn't let'em off with that cheap towel trick. For that kind of money, you could have taken the piano.

The Triple RRR opines that the former cabinet secretaries took advantage of "loose rules" governing state travel. Were it that simple. That unthinking. That stupid. It's a little more sinister than that. Marie Antoinette, the first Republican pin-up, laid down the party mantra. Aboveness. Entitlement. Deservedness. There's just something about those gay Parisians.

Hey, Shirley! Pass me that cake!

Your thoughts?

The Day Archive

Don't weaken speakership

What's that smell, Alice?

Money masher

Democrats will pick the next speaker