Dear Fellow Virginians,

Well, it has been a while since I’ve sent out a particularly meaty Compass.  So here goes.

This one is relatively short, but I hope you’ll enjoy it.  I’m going to point to ‘goings on’ in my first two weeks in office, and address one issue (US debt and a balanced budget) that is not even close to the AG’s office!

First Two Weeks

Well, the swearing in was January 16^th and the swearing at began on the 17^th.

During the first week, we worked with Gov. McDonnell to stop an attempt by former Governor, now full-time DNC Chairman, Tim Kaine, to turn a double murderer over to Germany where he would have been released in about two years.

Rather than use his absolute constitutional power over clemency, then-Gov. Kaine used a treaty and its implementing statutes to try and turn double-murderer Jens Soering over to the Germans (Soering is the son of a German diplomat).  Had that transfer gone forward (and on Friday, January 15^th, Kaine’s folks told us – incorrectly – that all of the necessary steps for the transfer had been irreversibly taken), Soering would have been transferred to German custody where he would’ve most likely been paroled in two years.

We determined that, in fact, all the steps necessary for the transfer had NOT been taken and asked Gov. McDonnell to revoke Gov. Kaine’s request for transfer.  Gov. McDonnell did exactly that and we stopped the transfer process.

Now, if the Dept. of Justice wants to transfer Soering, they will literally have to sue us (Virginia) for the release of a double murderer.  I suspect that is not something they really want to do.

In week two we were confronted with Gov. Kaine’s executive order 107, which changed the process of propounding a regulation to Kaine could avoid the AG office’s role in the process.  Why do that?  Because they wanted to issue a regulation allowing for a renamed ‘domestic partners’ healthcare coverage for state workers.  Such a policy, as we determined in my office, would have violated Virginia law.

Needless to say, a Governor cannot put in place a regulation that flies in the face of Virginia law.  Also, a Governor cannot ignore the requirements of law for the issuing of regulations.

Kaine did (or tried to do) both.

We advised the Governor of the situation and they pulled the proposed regulation pursuant to our advice.

And that’s just one item from each week… there’s plenty more cooking in the AG’s office (and out of the office, e.g., speaking to the TEA Partiers on Monday, January 18^th, at the bell tower.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7q2xdc_78k ).  I can’t wait to get to work for week 3!

Thank you all for entrusting me with the high honor of representing you in the Office of the Attorney General!

Coke Debt > US Debt

I saw the article below in the WSJ online recently, and I wanted to share it with you.

As an engineer, I’m a numbers person.  At some point, our national debt will be rated with an eye toward our inability to repay it.  It appears that is starting to happen, as you can see in the article below.

For those folks that think some sort of balanced budget amendment is a good idea, my own expectation is that the only way it ever happens is in the market for debt, not in Congress.  Once lenders don’t trust us to pay back our debts, they won’t lend us money.  At that point, the federal government won’t be able to spend more than it takes in – and then, bang, we have a de facto balanced budget requirement.

I hope you find this article as interesting as I did:

“Along with giving Ben Bernanke another term, the Senate voted yesterday to boost the federal debt ceiling by another $2 trillion to a titanic $14.3 trillion. Yet as Democrats debate whether to use the headroom to launch a new trillion-dollar health care entitlement, the choice may not reside with the House (which must still vote on the debt ceiling) but with the bond market.

Trading in the credit-default swap market this week shows that investors now view a default by the U.S. Treasury as more likely than a default by the Coca-Cola Company. Until very recently, this scenario seemed about as likely as Coke winning a taste infringement suit against Coke Zero. Now the United States has taken its place next to Italy and Spain in a special club that no major country wants to join — countries whose debt is considered less safe than that of Blue Chip businesses.

Mr. Obama may not be deterred by the verdicts rendered by voters in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia lately. But he won’t be able to ignore investors if they send Washington’s currently cheap borrowing costs soaring. That would surely be the result if markets become convinced that spending and inflation are destined to run out of control under the combo of Nancy Pelosi and Ben Bernanke. To be sure, we’re not there yet. But the recent financial crisis should have taught us that, when markets make up their mind that the story has changed, they can turn against you with blinding speed.”

See you soon!