Good riddance to the Davis -- Tom, Jeannemarie, and their little dogs, too!

...Davis announced this morning that he will not run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by John Warner next year. Davis's announcement, timed to help his wife and fellow Republican, state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis in her reelection bid in Fairfax, is more than a cynical bid to show that the Davises are harmless, reasonable moderates. The move is an honest recognition by Davis that politics in Virginia has deteriorated to a point that a moderate like him cannot prevail in a statewide battle against a hardcore Repo like ex-governor Jim Gilmore, who now has a clear field in his bid to run against the Democrat in the race, former Gov. Mark Warner. This is yet another dark day for democracy, as the kind of ideological purity that now translates into success within the Virginia GOP is more suited for a parliamentary system... Very interesting analysis.

Davis Decision Once Again Exposes the Ever Increasing Republican Split

Richmond: Today's decision by Congressman Tom Davis to forego a long-planned U.S. Senate bid once again reveals the deep and growing split between the extreme leadership of the Virginia Republican Party and every day Virginians. 

Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Richard Cranwell issued the following statement on Davis' announcement and the Republican's ever-widening divisions:

"Tom Davis and his wife, Jeannemarie, have been loyal soldiers for the Republican agenda in Washington and Richmond for many years, but as Davis admitted this morning, that is no longer enough to win over the extremists in control of Virginia's Republican Party.  There is no longer room for a Tom Davis in the shrinking Republican tent."

"The fact that Davis is abandoning his Senate campaign after years of planning, even though he is not comfortable with a Jim Gilmore candidacy, speaks volumes about how divided and out-of-touch the RPV has become.  While Republicans continue to bicker and side with the extreme elements in their Party, Democrats stand united behind Mark Warner to bring change to Washington and results to Virginia's working families."

The fact that Republicans in Richmond are growing increasingly out-of-touch has some Republicans running scared as elections approach.  Here is a sample of what they are saying:

Republicans in for a "Rough Ride." "If we're not willing to open up the tent a little bit and broaden our base, we're in for a rough ride for the next six or seven years."- Sen. Marty Williams, 10/18

Republicans Choosing Democrats Over Their Own Party.  Last week%u2019s Washington Post reported Republican Senate President John Chichester is even donating money to Democrats and, in that same article, Republican Sen. Russ Potts said he is also supporting Democratic candidates, questioning how extreme and out-of-touch so many of his fellow Republican lawmakers have become.

"What has happened to the party of my father, my grandfather?"- The Washington Post 10/18

Delegate Bemoans that Party is "Closed" to Average Voters. Republican Del. Tom Gear summed it up when he criticized the party for being closed to "Everyday citizens" who can't get in GOP tent.

Come Nov 6..JDD will need to add another phone # to her speed dial: The Virginia Employment Commission.

Perhaps the most likely candidate for a Gilmore veto is a measure, endorsed by both the House and Senate, that would mandate the teaching of sex education, which the governor has said should be an option for localities.

During a House floor session on Sunday, several Republican women spoke passionately about the need for sex education and joined Democrats to pass the measure easily. The Senate followed suit on Tuesday.

"We cannot afford, with today's society, not to teach these children about their bodies," said Del. Jeannemarie Devolites (R-Fairfax), one of the House's newest members.

I agree with her, but I wonder what Jay O'Brien, Ken Cuccinelli, Bob Marshall and other Moralist Theocrat Repblican'ts would have to say about that?!?

The Senate voted 24 to 16 -- with six Democrats joining 18 Republicans -- to identify candidates by political party on state ballots for the first time. The current law is a remnant of Democratic one-party rule in Virginia, designed to insulate incumbents from challenges in increasingly GOP districts. The Senate bill goes to the House, which has killed similar bills in committee.

In the House this week, gun rights advocates effectively killed a Fairfax County-backed measure to ban weapons from county recreation centers.

That step came with the help of Fairfax freshman Del. Jeannemarie Devolites (R) -- who campaigned in support of the ban. The Militia and Police Committee voted 12 to 10 Monday -- with Devolites joining 10 Republicans and one Democrat -- to send the bill to the Courts of Justice Committee, which has been a graveyard for gun control legislation.

Devolites said that if she had voted yes on the bill, the tie committee vote would have killed it anyway.

"By voting to refer it to courts [committee], I at least gave it a second chance," said Devolites, who represents Vienna and Oakton. She said the Senate may approve a similar bill that could give the House another chance.

Supporters of the bill criticized gun rights advocates for orchestrating the vote so that Devolites could help them without having to cast a vote to kill a bill supported by local officials in her district.

"What her action says is the National Rifle Association has got the hearts and minds of the Republican Party in its grip," said Del. Robert D. Hull (D-Fairfax), the bill's sponsor.

Source:  The Washington Post

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
OP-ED
Killing a Va. Gun Vote
236 words
17 October 1999
The Washington Post
FINAL
B08
English
Copyright 1999, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved

The Oct. 5 editorial "Campaign Misfirings" inaccurately portrayed last year's fight in the Virginia General Assembly for a bill to prohibit guns in recreation centers. I am a member of the House Militia and Police Committee that took up the bill, and I was the sponsor of the legislation.

The editorial quoted Republican Del. Jeannemarie Devolites as saying that she voted to send the bill to another committee "to try to give it a second chance" because a tie vote would have killed it. That is not true.

Del. Devolites voted with all the Republicans and one rural Democrat to re-refer the bill to the Courts of Justice Committee, where it was almost sure to be killed. Had she voted against the motion to re-refer, the motion would have died on a tie vote, but the bill would not have. The main motion was to report the bill to the House floor for action, and we would then have voted on that. A vote to kill the bill directly would have been difficult for some who voted to re-refer it. The vote to re-refer the bill was not a friendly act and would not have "kept the bill alive."

BOB HULL

Richmond

The writer, a Democrat, represents the 38th district in the Virginia House of Delegates.

In the Vienna-Oakton area, one of the newest incumbents is Democrat George E. Lovelace, who won a special election 10 months ago after long and solid service as a Vienna Town Council member. He faces Republican Jeannemarie Devolites, who has heavy state GOP financial backing but who doesn't match the public service record of Mr. Lovelace. Mr. Lovelace deserves a full term.

Several state lawmakers have gotten stuck in the latest roll of campaign red tape they dispensed.

A 1997 law these legislators passed banning campaign contributions during legislative sessions snared nearly a dozen of them. Their July 15 campaign reports list contributions taken during the 1998 session.

[...]

Del. Jeannemarie Devolites, a freshman Republican from Fairfax, reported a $250 contribution two days after the session began.

Devolites said Friday that her treasurer was out of town, but "I remember very clearly not accepting any contributions during the session." She said she would chase down the correct date of the check and file a new report with the state.

Yeah, and the cat ate her homework too...

Sen. Chuck Robb's alleged dalliance with a former beautry queen and his support for womanizing president show that he does not respect women, a Virginia legislator said Saturday at a rally for Republican challenger George Allen.

Del. Jeannemarie Devolites, R-Fairfax, attacked the Democratic incumbent at a rally for about 600 Allen supporters.

She said she raised the issue because she had received a taped telephone call from a woman who said her son had been shot to death in a schoolyard and implied that Allen's support for gun owners' rights was to blame.

"Senator Robb thinks women aren't smart enough to vote on the issues; that we can be manipulated into voting based on one frightening phone call. We're smarter than that, "said Devolites, who plans to run for lieutenant governor next year.

"We also know that Senator Robb doesn't respect women. He supported a president that used one of his young interns. He himself has a history of massages with Miss Virginia," she said, prompting a huge ovation from the crowd.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A bill allowing druggists and doctors to dispense "morning after" pills to prevent pregnancy won state Senate passage Tuesday, but was effectively killed for the year when a conservative House panel soundly rejected identical legislation.

The Senate voted 26-12 with one abstention for Sen. Warren E. Barry's bill, advancing it to the House, where it will face the same Health, Welfare and Institutions committe that voted 8-13 against Del. Viola Baskerville's version of the bill.

The legislation is intended to make it easier for women to obtain the pills - essentially massive doses of birth-control medication - within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

Baskerville accused the opponents of advancing a political agenda hostile to women.

[...]

In the House committee, Del. Jeannemarie Devolites led opposition to Baskerville's bill and said Barry's bill will fare no better.

"I would expect it to have exactly the same vote that it had today," said Devolites, R-Fairfax.

Verrrry interesting from the self-professed "RINO".

RICHMOND, April 19 -- A Circuit Court judge cleared the way today for the former executive director of the Virginia Republican Party to stand trial on felony eavesdropping charges in a widening criminal case that has unnerved leaders of the state's politically dominant GOP.

The decision by Richmond Circuit Court Judge Robert W. Duling rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case against Edmund A. Matricardi III. And it has raised the possibility of an endless summer of additional allegations of political spying by senior Republican staff members and perhaps elected GOP officials as well, according to party leaders and outside observers.

"It produces a terrible political embarrassment for Republicans, and it may provide ammunition to those who argue that they are not quite ready to govern," said Robert D. Holsworth, director of the Center for Public Policy at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Another potential is that Virginia politics will be marked by a partisan mud bath for the next six months."

Matricardi, 33, resigned as the party's executive director last week after being indicted on charges that he illegally intercepted two Democratic Party conference calls in late March. Since the indictment, nearly every day has brought new indications that a police probe of the incidents is expanding.

Law enforcement sources said they are investigating whether the chief of staff to House of Delegates Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr. (R-Amherst) listened to one of the calls, and whether an aide to Wilkins's top lieutenant in the House witnessed the monitoring of the other conference call.

[...]

In public, many delegates are assuming a position of studied ignorance about the criminal investigation and its darker implications.

"I'm not asking any questions because I don't want to know any answers," said Del. Jeannemarie Devolites (R-Fairfax), a member of Wilkins's leadership team. Asked whether Wilkins should take disciplinary action against Tucker, Devolites said, "It's something he has to decide for himself, how he has to handle it."

Source: Washington Post, April 20, 2002

I don't even live in this district, though I did donate to Chap Peterson.  Gotta stop her; do what you can.

This is exactly what happened to me last year when I discovered this site and worked hard for my favorite Senator.  It can happen again. 

This mornings washington post, Jean seems to be the most cenrtal  republican ever.

Dont believe anything the mother of an armed robber says..