Ain't YouTube grand? :)
By the way, check out Assembly Access for more on how the "GOP kills minimum wage revival attempt."
P.S. See Tim Craig's article in the Washington Post, "Video Blogging Spurs New Brand of Politics: Upset With Wage Bill Proceedings, Democrats Post Committee Meetings on Web." According to Craig, "The YouTube era of politics, which helped to bring down George Allen (R) in last fall's U.S. Senate election, has come to the Virginia General Assembly."
P.P.S. Brian Patton makes a great point on this topic.
It is really hard for me to feel sorry for the Republicans. They have brought this additional scrutiny upon themselves by wanting to operate our government in secret. With great mistakes should come great consequences. I think when their constituents get to see how they vote on some of these bills, they may not have to worry about being filmed in the General Assembly anymore.
Concerning the minimum wage bill, the republicans of course spout the nonsene (supported by their own freak economists) that raising wages will harm the people it's supposed to serve, because it will result in their being fired by employers who "can'tafford" to pay them any more, the higher wages will cause inflation when employers raise prices to cover the higher wage cost, which will depreciate the dollar buying power of the higher wages, so they poor wage-earner will be no better off.
Funny, how none of these arguments seem to apply to the obscenely high salaries and bonuses these same employers pay the CEOs and themselves. Corporations are awash in cash. They aren't using this cash to reward the workers whose productivity at least partially caused this cash inflow, nor are they usually paying their stockholders higher dividends. Nor, interestingly enough, is the cash going into capital investment which would increase the goods and services provided to the American economy, thus enhancing our economic base and creating more jobs.
No, the cash is going to rewarding themselves with big bonuses, and into Mergers and Acquisitions of other companies, many of them overseas... whereupon they fire more workers domestically to push up teir bottom line and thus their stock prices. M&A's, incidentally, often end up in the long run costing the purchasing corporation, driving them to spin off the acquisition in the fulness of time, or go bankrupt. M&A's at the current level of activity are often a sign of a market top and a precursor to a recession.
I am a member of one of the many groups across the Commonwealth that worked to increase the minimum wage. We collected more than 65,000 signatures from citizens in all parts of the state who agreed that we need to raise wages. Last week a member of our group gave Del Tim Hugo of Centerville 500 signatures from his district yet he still voted against the bill to our knowledge. This is simply outrageous.
Teddy, thanks for writing about the myth that raising the minimum wage will hurt business and do away with jobs. In addition to your thoughtful comments, it should be noted that all of the studies that have been done in states that have raised the minimum wage show that employers actually did better..They have more productive employees who want to stay at their company because they are paid fairly and don't take as many days off. In addition, the company doesn't spend money on rehiring and retraining staff who inevitably leave to get a better paying job.
On another subject before the General Assembly....I was in Richmond this past Wednesday for a Senate Courts of Justice hearing. I was there to support a bill that would require that all sales at gun shows in the state be required to conduct a criminal background check. The bill failed. I will never understand why our legislators do not want to assure that criminals and terrorists don't buy guns in Virginia. BTW, data shows that between 22 and 35% of the firearms sellets at VA gun shows do not possess a Federal Firearms License and are therefore not required to perform background checks on purchasers. In 2005, alone, the VA State Police reported that background checks by licensed dealers prevented 2668 gun transactions in VA. Between 2002 and 2005, more than 400 firearms sold at Richmond-are guns shows by federally licensed dealers were recovered in connection with criminal activity. This is data presented by ATF at Congressional hearings. Law enforcment wants this legislation as do elected officials in other states who have to deal with violent gun related crimes committed in their area by people who purchased their guns in VA..what a disgrace!
Senator Janet Howell's bill to prohibit guns in day care centers was defeated including a "no" vote from our own Sen. Ken Cuccinelli. And, probably most egregious was the tabling of a bill that would prohibit guns in police stations.(SB 1007) The Fairfax County Chief of Police testified on behalf of this bill that the police want (and deserve)after the tragedy that occured last May at the Sully District Police Station. The committee refused to vote on the bill until next week because they want the Chief and sponsor Sen. Dick Saslaw to rewrite the bill so that it doesn't prohibit people from coming to shooting ranges. The FX Chief explained that when people come to the shooting ranges they do not use their own personal guns (they use police guns), but Sen Ken Stolle, the committee chair and a former cop himself, still refused to call for a vote. The committee meets again next Monday and Wednesday.
I am so glad to see this use of videotape. I have thought for along time that if the average citizen saw what our elected officials say in Richmond they would be appalled. Let's keep up the pressure!
Of course, many people have been raising the issue for years but Jim Webb might have opened a metaphorical floodgate with his speech on Tuesday night.