General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBREAKING (~weird~) Va state Senator who resigned is NOT taking the tobacco job
http://m.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/amid-firestorm-of-criticism-virginia-democrats-resignation-becomes-official/2014/06/09/b04d6760-efd3-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.htmlRICHMOND Amid a firestorm of criticism regarding his resignation from the Virginia Senate, Democrat Phillip P. Puckett is withdrawing his name from consideration for a job with the state tobacco commission, according to two people with knowledge of the decision.
Puckett (D-Russell) formally resigned his seat Monday and was expected to be appointed deputy director of the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission at a meeting, possibly as soon as this week.
But after Democrats accused Puckett of selling out, he decided to remain with his job in banking, according to two people who were familiar with his decision. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss his decision.
A fellow senator, Frank M. Ruff Jr. (R-Mecklenburg), said at a public meeting Monday that Puckett would not join the tobacco commission after all, according to someone with knowledge of his statement but not authorized to discuss it.
Ruff seemed to walk the comment back a bit after someone in the audience asked about his statement. In response, Ruff said that Puckett was resigning from the Senate for personal reasons, planned to stay at his bank job, and that he is probably not going to join the commission, the person said.
Rider3
(919 posts)to GOP, rather than Dem. He proven that he's a greedy man, only interested in his own well being. Screw the people of Virginia. Vote this guy OUT. He's a poor excuse for a representative.
Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)In some countries, suicide used to be a capital crime...
warrior1
(12,325 posts)Isn't that still a conspiracy?
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)There eere two parts to this.
underpants
(182,992 posts)FBaggins
(26,783 posts)The questionable aspects are the timing and the implicit quid-pro-quo of the tobacco commission job.
The judgeship was really a choice that we forced on him. His daughter has been voted on by the House twice (overwhelmingly successful) and has even been doing the job on an interim basis... but the state senate (that we control) has a policy against approving family of active members.
We controlled that body and could have changed the rule or made an exception... so we're explicitly telling him "it's either you or her" and forcing him to pick.
The fact that it went through the House again (after the Senate once refused to approve her) implies that this was no sudden decision. The fact that he timed it to hurt the party so badly implies that there's bad blood between him and party leadership.
On edit - this has been in the works for months now. Here's an article that sheds some light on the situation (and proves a couple of my assumptions to be incorrect):
http://www.roanoke.com/news/politics/article_228f8de6-8d3f-11e3-b10a-0017a43b2370.html
lame54
(35,343 posts)IronLionZion
(45,615 posts)underpants
(182,992 posts)Hospitals received funding for ER visits.
IronLionZion
(45,615 posts)The rural emergency room law isn't nearly enough to cover the uninsured that ERs are required to treat. Much of those costs get passed onto other patients.
savalez
(3,517 posts)In a presser the Gov. said that some hospitals were barely holding on. He said that expansion would save them.