This morning, Too Conservative posted a press release from Jeanette Rishell's campaign; she is the Democratic candidate in the 50th District's special election to replace deceased Harry J. Parrish. According to TC, Rishell has gone 'bonkers."
Unfortunately, TC must have received a copy of a discarded press release; it looks an awful lot like the one on her Web site, Jeanette Rishell for Delegate, and the one sent to local media but...it ain't the same; there are two huge gaping differences between the two.
In the first place, Rishell is not calling for illegal boarding house owners to be charged with a felony; she simply wants to hold them accountable to the rule of law; no one should take undue advantage of the poor or create a fire hazard without hefty penalties; penalties for breaking the law should be more than a gentle slap on the wrist.
Her press release reads:
Currently, those who run illegal boarding houses are given a token penalty. I propose that the penalties be sufficiently increased to promote compliance. This would include increasing the current minimum fine from $10 to $2,500; and an increase in the maximum fine from $1,000 to $10,000.
The second bone of contention is Rishell's call for a separate docket to handle non-compliance violations; contrary to what Too Conservative claims, Rishell is not proposing to "creat[e] courts not found in Virginia," but rather to separate dockets so non-compliance cases can be individually heard on their own merits.
This would allow the courts to specifically focus on the issue of non-compliance without blurring the problem of overcrowding, illegal boarding houses, noise, traffic and so on with the crucial docket for drug trafficking and other drug offenses.
Sounds like perfectly reasonable proposals; and certainly nothing "bonkers" about them.