...we need to break the built in advantages of incumbency and make campaigns be about ideas instead of some kind of auction.

We just blow the money on the Democratic convention: a big party for insiders and "activists".

Bob doesn't need it.  But others do.  So Bob takes the money, puts it in a plain envelope and gives it to the the Republican Party PAC. They in turn give it to some other candidate, or in the case of James Tobin (National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman) - pay the legal fees of a convicted criminal.

Tom (the Hammer) DeLay (indicted Texas Republican Representative that used to be Majority Leader before he resigned) was especially good at managing these things.  He is a buddy of Tom Davis.

There are currently no laws saying that Goodlatte cannot take money that my crazy Uncle Earl gives him (thinking he was supporting Bob's campaign) and hand it to the RNC, Newt Gingrich or the 700 Club.

Now. When I hear you support spending limits and public financing of elections we'll talk about the solution. OK?

If Tyson Foods, GE, and the rest of Bob Goodlatte's campaign PAC money supporters are anything like old Howard Hughes, they expect payback in the form of favorable legislation, don't they?

just happen to be some of the biggest employers in the 6th CD district.  So, of course, Goodlatte will work hard to get Tyson, Hershey, Coors, GE, McKee Foods...and a host of other 6th District industries favorable legislative treatment.

If he didn't, he would be doing his job...and the interests of the people of the 6th District would be harmed.

In case you didn't know this, the 6th District has more industry tucked away in various places throughout the Valley than people would think.

Get off I-81 sometime and venture onto Rte. 340.  You'll then understand what I mean.

While the 6th District is very agricultural, there are pockets of heavy industry throughout the farm lands. 

The primary reason that Bob Goodlatte has received considerable financial support from both the district and nationwide is because he is a committed conservative.

I challenge you to take a look at the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

Bob Goodlatte was a principle author of this landmark legislation shifting many large class-action lawsuits involving mutiple parties from state to federal courts.

This was an outstanding piece of legislation that is in keeping with the Founders' original concept of diversity jurisdiction.

Without getting into the specifics of the Act, this legislation will be perhaps one of Bob Goodlatte's greatest legacies.

He has done a lot of heavy lifting during his tenure in Congress.  And, that more than anything is the reason he enjoys such broad support -- finacial or otherwise.

In the 14 years he has been in Congress, the Democrats have not come close to laying a glove on him.  And, so long as he chooses to remain in office, they never will.

His toughest race came in 1992 for an open seat against Steve Musselwhite.  After debarking Musselwhite 60% to 40%, Musselwhite was never to be seen again. Since that time, Goodlatte has only gotten stronger and more effective.

look it up.

He's giving money to other Republican candidates in $1000.00 increments. I didn't count the number of gifts.

I know that these things are common practice, to get around some of the restrictions of the campaign finance laws. Since the Republicans have gerrymandered districts in so many places, and been on the take in so many ways for since they ascended in 1994, they definitely have the advantage. If Andy Hurst can get legislation passed to help clean this up further, I'm all for it.

There wasn't any indication on the FEC site about whether Goodlatte put the money in plain white envelopes.

It's a shame that Goodlatte runs unopposed. Goodlatte for the good life. 

Looks like a complex piece of legislation, with more intricacies than I'm prepared to digest in a short time, especially since I'm not a lawyer and I never worked for Bob Goodlatte.

At first blush, it appears make it impossible for class action litigants to choose the state where the rewards are likely to be biggest by requiring that the largest suits be tried in Federal courts. Maybe that's in keeping with the Founder's intent. Favoring corporate interests would definitely be in the interest of the Republican party; it might or might not benefit citizens in Virginia, depending on the case.

I can see why big corporations would want to support Congressmen who instigate legislation like this.

what you have to understand is that the Framers wanted out of state defendants to have the opportunity to remove certain cases to federal court.

In other words, an out of state defendant is often "home towned" in certain jurisdictions.  Alexander Hamilton, for one, recognized this and first pushed for diversity jurisdiction in the Judiciary Act of 1789.

Diversity comes when parties are from different states.  Art. III, s 2 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to grant limited jurisdiction to federal courts.

Unfortunately, as class action lawsuits developed over time, many plaintiffs attorneys became adept at keeping them out of federal court.  Primarily, they would do so by destroying diversity by adding nominal parties.

A classic example is the phen phen (sp?) matter.  In some cases, the plaintiffs attorneys would add the nominal pharmacist as a defendant thereby destroying total diversity and thereby completely destroying any opportunity for the other defendants to remove to federal court.

In class action suits, federal judges are better equipped to handle the complexity in terms of staff size, etc.  Additionally, federal judges are appointed not elected so they are more insulated from political pressures.

Now that CAFA is law, it is clear that class actions are now increasingly filed in federal court.

But, the class action fairness act didn't just serve the interests of corporations.

Check out the "coupon" provisions.  This actually helps consumers.  The losers were the plaintiffs attorneys.

those compaines still expect to their rewards, and Goodlatte can deliver alot better when he gets to play kingmaker by giving money to his friends in less safe/ vuneralbe seats, cause then they owe him, and i think that is what bubby was trying to point out before, through PACs candidates can give back to their party's PAC as well as to both the PAC's of other Rep.s and Sen.s, basically circumventing the donation limits imposed on ordinary citizens. 

Davis didn't have a real opponent until Andy Hurst this year.  Davis has collected millions from PACs that he didn't need. According to FEC reports it ended up in some interesting places, especially for a so-called "moderate," including George Allen, Thelma Drake, Bob Ney of Ohio, and even Grover Norquist.  Even Utah (the Republican state that gets an "extra" vote in his "DC" voting bill) and Missouri.

Tens of thousands also went to George W. Bush and the RNCC.

Here are some examples:

Recipient's Name  ****************  Amount

MISSOURI REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE-FEDERAL $100,000.00
UTAH REPUBLICAN PARTY (FEDERAL ACCOUNT)  $70,000.00
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA INC  $30,000.00
WYRICK, PHILLIP VIA NEW CONSERVATIVE LEADERSHIP FUND $5,000.00
REPUBLICAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA INC $2,500.00
DRAKE, THELMA D VIA THELMA DRAKE FOR CONGRESS  $2,467.00
BARR, ROBERT L JR VIA BOB BARR - CONGRESS  $2,000.00
NEY, ROBERT W VIA BOB NEY FOR CONGRESS  $2,000.00
ALLEN, GEORGE VIA FRIENDS OF GEORGE ALLEN  $1,000.00
ALLEN, GEORGE VIA OVER THE HILL PAC  $1,000.00
AMERICANS FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE (Grover Norquist)  $1,000.00

Andy Hurst is not accepting PAC money for his campaign, and he has a plan for Campaign finance reform.

Even according to the Post, which is normally very good to Davis, the 11th CD Democrats are invigorated this year!