The VLW Blog

Former Del. C. Richard Cranwell is considering a run for Virginia lieutenant governor, he confirmed today.

Cranwell (left), chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said he is only “mulling around the possiblity” and preferred to avoid any public mention of the subject. Noting recent chatter about his political intentions, however, Cranwell conceded the importance of the news story. “You gotta do what you gotta do,” he said.

We do.

Cranwell would face Southwest Virginia businessman Jon Bowerbank, who is actively campaigning and has raised more than $220,000 for his bid for the 2009 Democratic lieutenant governor nomination. Jody W. Wagner, secretary of finance under Gov. Tim Kaine, also has been mentioned as a possible contender for the nod.

Meanwhile, Del. Steve Shannon, D-Fairfax, has raised nearly a half million dollars in his still unannounced campaign for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. Shannon is the only Democrat to surface in the AG race. Look for a story on the Shannon candidacy and the attorney general race in Monday’s Virginia Lawyers Weekly.

By Peter Vieth

An organization that sought to register new voters in Hampton may be rethinking its incentive package for canvassers.

According to this story from the Daily Press, the nonprofit group paid young workers to sign up new voters, but only if the workers turned in at least 15 registration forms a day. Three of those workers are now charged with making up names in order to meet the voter quota.

Police say 60 to 80 phony names were submitted to the registrar, and the investigation is continuing.

Maybe the canvassers were hampered by prohibitions on political activities like those imposed in the public housing developments of Bristol, Va., as described by the Bristol Herald Courier last week.

Nevertheless, voter registration fraud is a felony. As Barney Fife proclaimed, “You might believe in falsifying, but I don’t believe in falsifying!”

By Peter Vieth

John Brownlee, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, says he’s raised nearly $100,000 a little more than a month after announcing he would run for the Republican nomination for Virginia’s Attorney General in 2009. As WSLS reports, Brownlee’s campaign raised the money during the first 40 days of his campaign, according to records filed at the State Board of Elections.

Reports say that Brownlee’s opponent for the GOP nomination, Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, raised more than $125,000 in the latest reporting period, to add to the $110,000 he already had.

By Peter Vieth

We have noted some of the shenanigans exposed in recent Virginia elections, mostly involving anonymous mudslinging in violation of election laws. In Amherst County, however, the sheriff says things got physical. An unsuccessful candidate for supervisor is accused of putting knife blades on campaign signs that caused permanent injury to a man who tried to remove a sign from property he managed. As reported by the Lynchburg News & Advance, Tim Beverly is now under indictment for aggravated malicious wounding. The sheriff says DNA links Beverly to the sign. We feel sure an insurance company somewhere is checking to make sure intentional malicious acts are excluded from coverage.

By Peter Vieth

Reporters have been busy documenting the shenanigans leading up to yesterday’s municipal elections around Virginia. There was a Roanoke candidate who took out newspaper ads without disclosing his identity. In St. Paul, some people registered to vote even though they did not live in the town.

Now, through former state Senator Brandon Bell’s blog, we learn of a Republican operative who borrowed a famous phone number to do a little anonymous polling in advance of this month’s state GOP convention.

Like to spend time at the Outer Banks? You may already know you can’t buy a mixed drink on Hatteras Island.

And that isn’t going to change.

In yesterday’s elections in North Carolina, Hatteras residents went to the polls to vote on a measure that would have allowed the sale of mixed beverages on the island. The Virginian-Pilot reports that the proposal failed by an unofficial vote of 855-657.

Moral: Have a pop at the hotel or the beach house, which is probably a better idea anyway.

From yesterday’s election results…

Two longtime commonwealth’s attorneys, one in Caroline County and the other in Albemarle, were defeated by opponents calling for change.

In Caroline, Harvey Latney Jr. has been the top prosecutor for 30 years. But newcomer Tony Spencer got 60 percent of the vote, according to The Free Lance-Star.

And The Daily Progress reports that challenger Denise Lunsford beat four-term incumbent Jim Camblos in the race for Albemarle County commonwealth’s attorney.

Yesterday was primary day across Virginia, with turnout at pitifully low levels. Among the results:

McEachin beats Lambert. Longtime Democratic Sen. Bennie Lambert of Richmond endorsed former U.S. Sen. George Allen last fall, and he paid for it last night. Trial lawyer Donald McEachin, the Dems’ 2001 nominee for Attorney General, gave up his House seat to challenge Lambert and bested him by a comfortable margin. Joe Morrissey, the former Richmond commonwealth’s attorney who has been disbarred, topped a five-candidate field for McEachin’s House seat. The Richmond Times-Dispatch has details.

Stosch survives. The T-D also reports that Senate Majority Leader Walter Stosch of Henrico County spent a whole lot of money to fight off a challenge from the right. Attorney Joe Blackburn made it close. Stosch spent almost a million dollars and garnered a 272-vote victory.

Williams, Bell don’t make it. Two other Republican senators weren’t so lucky. Sen. Marty Williams of Newport News lost to conservative GOP activist Patricia Stall, per The Daily Press. Out in Southwest Virginia, Sen. Brandon Bell was narrowly defeated by former Roanoke Mayor Ralph Smith, reports the Roanoke Times. Both incumbents had supported former Gov. Mark Warner’s tax reform package in 2004.

Another Stolle in politics. Chris Stolle, a physician and brother of Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, won his primary race for the GOP nomination for a House seat, according to The Virginian-Pilot.

Joannou survives. Portsmouth Del. Johnny Joannou, the lone Democrat to oppose Warner’s tax package three years ago, faced a tough race from Henry Light, a retired Norfolk Southern lawyer. Warner endorsed the challenger, but as The Virginian-Pilot reports, Joannou prevailed.

Holtzman Vogel wins nod for Potts seat. Jill Holtzman Vogel, the former chief counsel to the Republican National Committee who now practices in Northern Virginia, will seek the seat of retiring Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., after defeating restaurateur Mark Tate, who was indicted for election fraud last month. The Winchester Star has the story.

A Middleburg man running for the Republican nomination for a state Senate seat has been indicted in Loudoun County on charges of election fraud and perjury. The Washington Post reports that the indictments were made public today, three weeks before voters go to the polls.

Mark Tate, a restaurateur and the former vice mayor of Middleburg, faces Jill Holtzman Vogel, a Warrenton lawyer, for the GOP nod for the seat of retiring Sen. H. Russell Potts Jr., I-Winchester. The seat’s district covers parts of Loudoun and Fauquier counties, all of Clarke and Frederick counties and the City of Winchester.

Tate’s lawyer, Ed MacMahon, told the Post that Tate would plead not guilty to the charges. MacMahon blasted the timing of the indictments, so close to the June 12 primary date. The prosecutor who brought the charges, Jim Plowman, said politics had nothing to do with it. He added that a special prosecutor, King George County Commonwealth’s Attorney Matt Britton, will handle the case from now on.