Republicans for Democracy, Democrats for…Civil Disobedience

We all remember the Democrat's public relations campaign early this session to push for recorded votes in subcommittee, in an effort to appear as the party of “open government” in Richmond. (Of course, we also know that subcommittees and votes taken there are very public, but that’s beside the point.) Additionally, recent posts on the Democratic Caucus blog have complained further of subcommittee voting practices, citing examples of Democratic bills being defeated.

Given these recent posts, it’s important to point out the hypocrisy of the House Democrats, best illustrated by the action on the House floor on January 24th. House Bill 852, sponsored by Democrat Del. Adam Ebbin, would have made it legal for government employees to collectively bargain with labor unions. So, you would assume the Democrats would be falling all over themselves to vote for it, since unionized labor is a tenet of the left, and given their self-proclaimed righteousness on voting procedures this session.

Wrong. Del. Ward Armstrong, the Democratic leader, called on his caucus, in an act of “civil disobedience,” to refuse to vote (see below). WHAT? So, let me get this straight. The D’s spend the first three weeks of session complaining about unrecorded votes in subcommittees, but when recorded votes are taken, they refuse to vote, on a bill sponsored by a member of their party, on an issue that is central to their platform!!





Come on, Del. Armstrong. You can do better. We all know why you didn’t vote for this bill. The House Democrats do not want the public to know that the Dems put the interests of organized labor ahead of hard working Virginians. This bill would have destroyed Virginia’s Right to Work law, which House Democrats have been attacking for years. Del. Armstrong and the Democrats know Virginians would not be happy if they knew how committed the Dems are to labor unions. It’s clear that Democrats want the light of open government to shine on Republicans, but when it’s shone on them, they will hide in the shadows.

Thankfully, the measure was defeated by business-friendly House Republicans. Below is the floor speech by Majority Leader Morgan Griffith (R-Salem), calling on the Democrats to do what the people elected them to do: vote. Apparently, that request is too much to ask when everyone's watching.