Thread: Sen. George Allen, Va. 2008 Pres?

http://www.newsobserver.com/politics...-8923053c.html

State employees keep director, mend rift

By LYNN BONNER, DAN KANE AND ROB CHRISTENSEN, Staff Writers

State employees are keeping Dana Cope as executive director of their association.
The governing board for the State Employees Association of North Carolina decided this month to give Cope, who has a history of tangling with Senate Democrats, a two-year contract extension. Cope's current contract ends in February. The employees association extended it to March 1, 2008.

Cliff Brown, the association's president, said there was strong support for a contract extension, with 73 percent of the association's districts voting to keep Cope.

The association has mended its relationship with Senate Democrats, Brown said, and its members received warm welcomes from senators this year. He is not worried about Senate leader Marc Basnight's continuing refusal to meet with Cope.

"If somebody's got a personal beef with somebody, they just need to work it out," Brown said.

Don't kill the messenger

Legislative leaders have drawn scorn from many corners when it comes to the reserve funds -- or slush funds, as they are often called -- they've tucked into the state budget.

But when a lawmaker sought to eliminate one of them last week, he was ridiculed on the House floor.

Rep. John Rhodes, a Mecklenburg County Republican who has often been a burr in the saddles of legislative leaders, tried to amend the budget bill to eliminate a reserve fund in the state Department of Transportation that gives Basnight and House Speaker Jim Black some say over about $5 million in road projects.

Rhodes had barely gotten out of his chair to speak on the amendment when Speaker Pro Tempore Richard Morgan made a motion to table the bill, effectively killing it.

"So that we might not spend a great deal of time on an amendment that's not worth hearing, I'd like to move that this amendment do lie upon the table," said Morgan, a Moore County Republican.

The motion passed, 75-29, with an unusually high number of members not voting -- 15. All 29 votes against were Republicans.

Those who supported the motion resembled the Black-Morgan coalition that ran the House the past two years.

Rep. Carolyn Justice, a Pender County Republican who voted to kill the amendment, said she had more problems with the messenger than the message. Rhodes' approach, she said, is to "beat you over the head, with no real effort to try to work together to find the solutions."

A love-hate relationship

The on-again, off-again relationship between Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and Democratic fund-raiser R.V. Owens is on again.

Owens, the nephew of Basnight and a Democratic fund-raiser, hosted a fish fry at Pirate's Cove Marina in Manteo on Friday. Burr was a featured guest.

Owens initially backed Burr in last year's Senate race. But when Owens' old friend Erskine Bowles, a Democrat, entered the race, Owens switched his support to Bowles.

Planning for 2008

Marc Rotterman, a Raleigh political consultant, put together a $1,000 per-person fund raiser last week for Virginia Sen. George Allen in the offices of a Washington lobbying firm. Allen is up for re-election next year, and he is also looking at running for president in 2008.

By staff writers Lynn Bonner, Dan Kane and Rob Christensen. Bonner can be reached at 829-4821 or lbonner@newsobserver.com.

Senator George Allen
http://www.allen.senate.gov/?c=senbio

another lawyer gone into politics. nothing impressive under issues or voting record. see nothing on immigrations. nothing on military service.

nope he's not the one.

I agree. Just posted for informational purposes!

Originally Posted by good12me

I agree. Just posted for informational purposes!

Keep it up when you see one that is thinking of running and we will check them out.

Take it from one of his constituents. George Allen is very mediocre overall and horrible on immigration. He is another liar who claims he's against amnesty and then goes out of his way to vote for one. Plus he's not a leader, he just follows in lockstep with whatever Jorge wants him to do. Just say no.

BTW the only Senators I believe are worth voting for as president are Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby from Alabama. Now they know what they are doing and Jeff Sessions was very vocal about his opposition to AgJobs.