Just after being elected as Virginia’s governor, Abigail Spanberger sat down in early December with Washington Post reporter Gregory Schneider.
The last time Democrats ran all three branches of the state government, in 2020 and 2021, they enacted an “aggressive” agenda, he wrote. They abolished the death penalty, legalized marijuana and punished the use of fossil fuels. They also got rid of the voter ID law.
“This time, Spanberger and some Democratic lawmakers are preaching restraint,” he wrote, under a headline that said Spanberger would “act fast on a pragmatic agenda.”
It was a pack of lies. Ms. Spanberger, a former CIA agent, and her party are working at breakneck speed to turn Virginia into a Venezuelan-style experiment in socialism and permanent one-party rule.
Unlike the obvious communism of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Spanberger told party officials in a leaked conversation in 2020 that, “We need to not ever use the words ‘socialist’ or ‘socialism’ ever again.” Lie to the public, in other words.
[…]Even as federal officials continue to uncover billions in fraud via Minnesota welfare agencies, Virginia Democrats have introduced HB 1369, which prohibits state agencies that hand out federal funds from requiring nonprofits to “determine, verify, or otherwise require proof of eligibility of any applicant for such benefits.”
This is fraud facilitation. There is only one reason not to require proof of eligibility: Making it easier to steal.
Ironically, the bill is sponsored by Rep. Jessica Anderson, who represents Williamsburg, where much of the American Revolution was hatched against the oppressive taxation of King George III.
[…]HB 978 would add more fees on nearly every already-taxed transaction in the state, from vehicle repairs to dry cleaning, digital services and dog walking. There’s an 11% tax on purchases of guns and ammunition, a new hotel tax and a 10% tax on parking in Northern Virginia. The bill even adds 50 cents to every delivery by whatever means, including via Amazon, Fed-Ex, and UberEATS.
How does this make life more “affordable?” Democrats are always denouncing “greed” while grabbing our wallets.
[…]At her inauguration, Ms. Spanberger once again turned up in her white pants suit. This snuffed any illusions that she would be the “moderate” that the media promised us.
After her new lieutenant governor, Ghazala Hashmi, the first Muslim woman in America elected to a statewide office, took the oath with her hand on a Quran, the governor signed 10 executive orders.
— Robert Knight, Jan. 27 WorldNetDaily column