position:democratic governor

  • Virginia, Ground Zero in Drilling Debate, to Learn Its Fate Soon - Bloomberg Politics
    http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-03-14/virginia-ground-zero-in-drilling-debate-to-learn-its-fate-soon

    From the shores of Savannah, Georgia, to the Beaufort, North Carolina beachfront, coastal communities in conservative southern states have locked arms in opposition to oil and gas drilling in the Atlantic waters lapping their shores.

    A different story is playing out in Virginia, where Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe and both Democratic U.S. senators support nearby drilling which they say could deliver jobs, new business, and money to the state.

    Virginia is the battleground state,” said Athan Manuel, director of the lands protection program at the Sierra Club.

    The Obama administration opened the door to a new generation of offshore drilling along the East Coast in 2015, when it released a draft plan for selling oil and gas leases in 104 million acres of the mid- and south-Atlantic. Now, as the administration prepares to release the next version of its 2017-2022 leasing proposal, the penultimate step before finalizing it later this year, a big question is whether Virginia’s coastline will remain up for grabs.

    The answer could come as soon as this week.

    The stakes are huge for Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and other companies whose U.S. offshore activity is largely confined to the Gulf of Mexico. The Interior Department has estimated that 3.3 billion barrels of oil and 31.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas could be recovered from the Atlantic outer continental shelf, based on data from the 1970s and 1980s, when energy companies drilled 51 wells off the U.S. East Coast.
    […]
    For Obama, the issue is tied to his environmental legacy, following a historic climate accord struck in Paris in December, a rule slashing carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, and a halt in leasing coal on public land. “There is no way that opening these areas is going to be seen as anything other than a contradiction” of the president’s climate goals, said Franz Matzner, a senior adviser with the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund.

    If you open these offshore areas up for oil drilling, it’s telegraphing that you really don’t believe in our ability to achieve our climate goals,” Matzner said in an interview. “You’re saying in 20 or 30 years we will still be so stuck on fossil fuels that we can’t afford to take this oil off the table. If we can’t say no here, then we are in deep trouble.

  • Illinois governor proposes 70 percent cut to school transportation budget - World Socialist Web Site

    http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/06/07/illi-j07.html

    Illinois governor proposes 70 percent cut to school transportation budget
    By Shane Feratu
    7 June 2013

    As school districts in Illinois brace for another year of deep budget cuts, Democratic governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 3 percent cut in classroom funds and a 70 percent—or $60 million—cut to the student transportation budget. Rural districts will be the worst affected, although the safety of children in urban and suburban areas is also jeopardized.

    #états-unis #éducation #école

  • GayCityNews « MasterAdrian’s Weblog
    http://masteradrian.com/2012/11/17/gaycitynews

    GayCityNews
    November 17, 2012
    NYS Senate Democratic Defections Could Imperil GENDA
    11-16-2012 15:57:05 PM

    BY ANDY HUMM | Democrats in the New York State Senate looked to have won a surprise majority on Election Day, overcoming a huge financial disadvantage, Republican gerrymandering, and no help from Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. But that prospective majority has been put in jeopardy — and, along with it, the fate of much progressive legislation, [...]…»

    When a Lesbian Marriage Trivializes a Political Career
    11-14-2012 11:50:57 AM

    BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Christine Quinn, just named to Out magazine’s annual Out100, began her career as a tenant activist, then got on board on the ground floor of State Senator Tom Duane’s political career, becoming his chief of staff while he served on the City Council. After several years as executive director of the New [...]…»

    Supreme Court Delays Consideration of Marriage Cases for Ten Days
    11-14-2012 13:26:44 PM

    BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Several cases involving the right of same-sex couples to marry — in the context of both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8 — could go before the US Supreme Court in the current term. The Washington Post reports that the high court has delayed a conference on [...]…»

    Arizona Elects First Out Bisexual US House Member
    11-13-2012 18:43:51 PM

    BY PAUL SCHINDLER | In one of less than a dozen US House races that had not yet been called, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, on November 12, was declared the winner in a new Arizona district created as a result of the 2010 Census. Sinema, a former state senator, will be the first openly bisexual member [...]…»

    Keep Reaching, Keep Fighting
    11-08-2012 14:29:26 PM

    BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Four years ago, Barack Obama, a first-term US senator from Illinois, was the candidate of “hope and change.” In his young administration, handed an economy that was bleeding hundreds of thousands of jobs each month, change came haltingly and on some issues not at all. The word hope became a cudgel [...]…»

    Not Exactly Kissing Cousins
    11-12-2012 15:25:39 PM

    BY PAUL SCHINDLER | In 2010, Josh Mandel, then a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, rode the Republican wave to win election as state treasurer by 14 percentage points. In last week’s election, however, he fell short in his US Senate challenge to incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown by more than five points. Mandel not [...]…»