Good News Message from Dave

Message From Dave Buford
                      To
Amherst County Democratic Committee


There are now TWO WAYS to help Democrats running for Congress - - from the comfort of your own home, and on your own schedule.    Follow these easy steps to help get out the vote for Tom Perriello and other Democratic candidates.

All you need is a phone, access to a computer, and a little free time!

 
PHONE for PERRIELLO:
 

Call 434-296-0465, Perriello's C'ville Office, to set up you phone session .    They will supply you with temporary ID login and a password, and give you all the instructions needed.


Start making phone calls supporting Tom Perriello.
 
PHONE for OTHER CANDIDATES:
 
Click Here  to go to Organizing for America (barackobama.com).



Click on the CALL VOTERS button


A voter's name and phone number will appear on the screen.    You'll see where they're from -- it'll likely be somewhere in Virginia.


Follow the short script on the screen, record the answers.   That's it!


Canvassing continues in Nelson County, Saturdays at 10AM, Noon, 2PM,  Sundays at 1 PM.


Amherst County Democratic Committee


PO Box 1411
Amherst, VA
24521-1411

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We Stand For Open Government.
America does not stand still; we move forward

        President Barack Obama

For Democrats, changing politics in Washington means ensuring that government is open, transparent, and responsive to the

needs of the people.    President Obama has implemented the most sweeping ethics and transparency requirements in history,
building on steps taken by Democrats to limit the influence of special interests and ensure that government is accountable
to the people.


Democrats believe that government should be honest, transparent, and participatory.    For too long, lobbyists and special interests have held sway behind closed doors, and Americans have become skeptical that the voices of ordinary people are being heard.    The Obama Administration has taken unprecedented steps to restore the public’s faith in government by opening up the process of governing.


Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their government is doing.    We are committed to creating the most open, transparent, and accountable government in history. In the past few years, Democrats have taken steps to:


Bring unprecedented accountability to federal spending;



Rein in the influence of lobbyists in Washington;


Shut down the "revolving door" that allowed lobbyists to move freely from government to special interests and back;


Open more lines of communication with the American public;


Increase cooperation across all levels of government, as well as with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.


Departments and agencies are using innovative tools, methods, and systems to solicit public feedback, offering Americans more opportunities to participate in policy making while providing government with the benefits of their collective expertise and information.    Openness strengthens our democracy and promotes honesty, efficiency, and effectiveness in government.


July 22nd, 2010
Eliminating wasteful government spendingCongress unanimously passed the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, a bill aimed at cutting waste, fraud and abuse due to improper payments by federal government agencies.


May 22nd, 2009
Reducing wasteful military spending Democrats passed the Weapons System Acquisition Reforms Act, eliminating waste and instituting greater oversight in military spending.


January 21st, 2009
Setting new standards for government transparencyPresident Obama signed a Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) directing the Attorney General to release new guidelines for greater transparency in the processing of FOIA requests.


Change  Takes Time, Especially when republicans refuse to help and obstruct at every opportunity.

To keep change alive Vote Democratic

Please Vote

Warner and Perriello Talk With Voters

When U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and 5th District U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello knocked on doors of local residents Saturday to drum up support for Perriello’s re-election bid, it probably was no surprise that they heard about the area’s need for jobs.   On Eastview Drive in Collinsville, Patsy and David Deisher told the lawmakers that jobs are an important issue here because local residents are struggling to find work as well as pay for food and gas.

Warner, D-Va., told the Deishers that it was important for the private sector to reinvest to create jobs.    He had a similar message for about 50 volunteers before they headed out to canvass neighborhoods along with the lawmakers.


“We’re still climbing out of a deep ditch. . . it’s good yes, that the stock market is back to 11,000, but the stock market at 11,000 doesn’t mean much if you don’t have a job,” Warner said.


He said big companies are doing better now because they cut costs and jobs during the recession while still finding ways to be productive and profitable.    Now, large companies have more than $2 trillion available for growth, while small businesses struggle to find loans and hire employees, Warner said.

Perriello, D-Albemarle County, added that if those companies choose to expand in India or China instead of in the United States, this nation’s economy will continue to suffer.

Warner pointed out that he has asked some company executives who outsource jobs to emerging markets if they would move their own family there, and the answer is always no.    He said that even though they enjoy the benefits of living in the United States, they choose to make a greater profit by helping economies overseas and not at home.


Before the local supporters canvassed local neighborhoods for Perriello, they gathered at Dr. Wally Betton’s Optometry office in Collinsville.    There, Warner praised Perriello’s service to the area.


“What Tom Perriello had done in these two years in probably the toughest time it’s been to be a new member of Congress in modern American history, is he has taken courage, he has taken energy, he has taken a relentless focus on the bottom line of serving the people” to Washington, Warner said.


Warner said a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the year “basically changed all the campaign finance rules in America.”    Now, it is not just business money financing campaigns, but it could be foreign money coming in to support opponents, he said.“   All the outside money in the world and all the kind of misrepresentations and all the half-truths and non-truths that are out there is what he’s fighting against,” Warner said of Perriello.

The Deishers also had told the lawmakers that they were confused by the negative information about Perriello contained in frequent television commercials.


“You don’t know who to believe with all the different ads,” Patsy Deisher told Perriello.


Perriello told her he did not have as many advertisements because his funding comes largely from small private donations, instead of large corporations or even countries.


“In Washington it is easy to spend time only with people who write big checks,” he said.


It is not likely that the Democrats can compete dollar for dollar on TV advertising, Warner said, so he urged volunteers to tell their neighbors, friends, co-workers and others about why they will vote for Perriello.


“Tell them this is a good man; his heart is in the right place,” Warner said.


Later, Warner said he is confident the Democratic Party can hold onto a majority in the House and the Senate in the Nov. 2 election. Perriello also said he thinks Democrats can hold onto the majority in both chambers, but he said he thinks voters will look at the candidates and decide “who’s fighting for the people and who’s protecting the powerful.”


Warner and the local supporters at Betton’s office also took time out to wish Perriello a happy birthday. The congressman turned 36 on Saturday.

                  Please Vote

Thank You: ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer

Meeting and ShakeUp at DOE

Amherst County Democratic Committee


To All Amherst County Democrats:

Dear Friends,


The Committee will meet at Amherst Library on Main Street in Amherst, tomorrow, Tuesday 10/12, 7PM. Everyone is welcome.


It is especially important for Precinct Reps to attend (see list below). Skipper Fitts, Vice Chair, will preside.


At last month's meeting the committee voted to offer more support to Tom Perriello's campaign by sponsoring a booth for him at the Virginia Wine & Garlic Festival, and to collaborate with the Nelson County Dems in that effort.

With only three weeks until Election Day, this is the time when we must "Get Out The Vote" (GOTV).    As our president said yesterday, the opposition is depending on our voters staying home Nov 2nd. If we get people to the polls, we win.


GOTV efforts are ongoing at Perriello's campaign office in Lovingston, and Skipper is organizing phone banks closer to home. Please call or write him (fitts@sbc.edu 946-7792) to offer your support - just an hour or two will help.


You are the backbone of the Democratic Party in Amherst County. Please show your support by attending the meeting tomorrow night.

Amherst County Democratic Committee

101 - Wright Shop - Magnolia Braxton


102 - New Glas - Ned Kable, OPEN


103 - Coolwell - OPEN


201 - Court House - Mary Anne Hostetler, Alix Ingber, OPEN


202 - Temperance - Marvin Gilbert


301 - Monroe - OPEN


302 - Elon - Marita Taylor, Mary Truitt, OPEN


303 - Pleasant View - Curtis Johnson


401 - Amelon - Robert Perry, Jason Fleshman, OPEN


402 - Lonco - Francis Wayne


501 - Madison Hts - Jeff Price, Dan Hughes, Allen Freeman
 
 Amherst County Virginia Democratic News 

Three Top Officials Leaving In DOE Management Exodus
 
In a major management exodus, three top officials at the Energy Department—including Under Secretary Kristina Johnson—are resigning after little more than a year in their positions.


In addition to Johnson, who is to leave the agency this month, Warren “Pete” Miller, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, and Jim Markowsky, assistant secretary of fossil energy, are departing in early November.


Resigning at the end of last month was Matt Rogers, who has served for the past 19 months as Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s senior advisor for implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which provided DOE with $36 billion in clean energy funding.

None of the resignations was publicly announced by DOE. Instead, DOE officials Thursday confirmed the departure of those officials to The Energy Daily by providing internal memos recently sent by Chu to DOE staff.


Perhaps most surprisingly, the memos revealed that Chu has named Cathy Zoi, DOE’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, to fill Johnson’s shoes as acting under secretary for energy—another top management change that was not publicly announced by DOE in any press release or Internet posting.


Zoi’s elevation is somewhat unusual in that in past administrations, the DOE deputy secretary—the agency’s No. 2 officials—has typically stepped in on an acting basis for any departing under secretaries because of the broad management responsibilities held by the under secretary.


Johnson oversaw a large swath of DOE’s civilian programs, including Zoi’s rapidly expanding efficiency and renewable energy program; the Office of Environmental Management, which manages DOE’s huge and complex nuclear cleanup program; the Office of Nuclear Energy; the Office of Fossil Energy; and the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.


Zoi’s appointment also is surprising in that her Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy received the lion’s share of the massive new DOE funding provided under the ARRA—and it has been struggling to effectively oversee the disbursement and expenditure of billions of dollars in recent months.


Among other problems, Zoi’s office has been criticized in internal audits by the DOE inspector general for failing to adequately supervise state spending of ARRA efficiency and home weatherization money.    More recently, the IG cited irregularities and possible favoritism in the hiring of a contractor employee by one program office under Zoi’s purview.


Chu announced Johnson’s resignation and Zoi’s elevation in a September 16 memo that thanked Johnson for her service to the department but otherwise provided no details about why she was leaving, saying only that she planned to “return to academic life.”

Johnson took her post in May 2009 after Senate confirmation, and had a relatively low profile in her 16 months at DOE.    Some industry and congressional sources questioned her appointment, saying her previous academic posts had not given her the management skills needed to handle DOE’s far-flung and often politically sensitive operations.    Prior to coming to DOE, Johnson was the provost and senior vice president for academic affairs of Johns Hopkins University and dean of Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering.


In regard to Miller’s departure, some industry sources suggested he was leaving because of growing controversy over the department’s handling of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.    Sources said a key concern may have been that a GOP takeover of the House in the upcoming elections could lead to more aggressive congressional oversight and investigation into DOE’s effort to kill Yucca, which was under Miller’s office.    Many critics say DOE’s actions on Yucca are an ill-considered and politically motivated effort by the Obama administration to please Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who strongly opposes the facility’s siting in his home state.

Miller, a nuclear engineering professor at Texas A&M University and previously a longtime Los Alamos National Laboratory executive, took over DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy in August 2009.


In an October 1 internal memo announcing Miller’s departure, Chu praised him for being “at the forefront of the Obama administration’s effort to revitalize the American nuclear power industry,” citing in particular his work in promoting small modular reactors.


Replacing Miller as acting assistant secretary for nuclear energy will be Pete Lyons, a Republican who came to DOE after serving on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Markowsky, previously a senior manager with American Electric Power, took over DOE’s fossil energy program in August 2009 following Senate confirmation. Chu also announced his resignation in the October 1 internal memo, which lauded Markowsky for leading DOE efforts to help develop carbon capture technology deemed vital to the future of the coal, oil and natural gas industries, which are major greenhouse gas emitters.


Markowsky’s tenure was relatively low-key, but he did draw attention—and criticism—from environmentalists for floating an idea in December 2009 to relax certain federal air pollution controls on power plants that were increasing efficiency and also good candidates for carbon capture and storage. Specifically, he proposed that the Environmental Protection Agency might relax “new source review” (NSR) requirements for certain U.S. coal-fired power plants that are boosting efficiency through retrofits if the plants also were well-situated for installation of carbon capture and storage systems.    However, Markowsky’s trial balloon quickly popped after environmentalists blasted it.

Chu said Victor Der, a senior deputy in the fossil energy office, will replace Markowsky as acting assistant secretary.



In regard to Rogers, Chu announced his departure in the same September 16 internal memo that disclosed that Johnson was leaving.    The secretary said Rogers was leaving because he had made a longstanding promise to his family in California that he would return home by September 30. Chu said he had asked Rogers to join the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board so he could continue to advise DOE on ARRA implementation and other issues.

The Energy Daily and GEORGE LOBSENZ,
thank you for the information.
ACVDN