28 October 2011

Open Letter to Mr. Bert Dodson:

Mr. Dodson, at the last recent debate between you and Mr. Tom Garrett at Lynchburg College, you stated in a rebuttal to Mr. Garrett, regarding his position that current and soon to be retirees on Social Security, who have contributed to the system for over 40 years, must continue to receive the promised SS checks for which they have contributed throughout their working career. However, the SS system is unsustainable as it is presently constituted and changes need to be made for future retirees who are currently contributing to the system. The problem is that more money is being paid out to SS recipients now than is being taken in from current workers.

You stated that the Tea Party Website has a posting that states the Tea Party is for destroying and closing down the Social Security System. This statement was intended to demolish Mr. Garrett who is supported by the Lynchburg Tea Party.

I, at age 76, have been receiving SS checks since my retirement in 2001, for which I have contributed at the maximum rate of FICA for over 44 years. I am a member of the Lynchburg Tea Party, along with probably another 25 to 30 % of the Lynchburg Tea Party who are also retirees receiving SS checks after contributing to the system for over 45 years. Therefore, I would like to know where in the Lynchburg Tea Party website this supposed posting is located. I consult the Website frequently, and am well aware of what the Lynchburg Tea Party stands for. Nowhere in the Web Site of the Lynchburg Tea Party is found any statement that we oppose the SS system and want to shut it down!

I would like to remind you that the Tea Party Movement is a Grass Roots movement of Patriots who believe in supporting the Constitution, limited government and, limited taxing to support those primary and defined functions of government at each level. Each local Tea Party group is an independent organization with its own rules, and basic tenets. All share the belief in the necessity of adhering to the Constitution as written by the Founding Fathers, and modified by Amendments through the legal process and approved by all or at least 2/3 of the States. That Constitution defines those powers that are delegated by the people and the states to the Federal Government, and reserves all others powers not so delegated, to the States and to the People of each state.

So, please tell me Mr. Dodson, and tell all who read this letter, where precisely, and which Tea Party you refer to, that you claim has posted as their goal closing down the Social Security System and leaving those of us on Social Security and receiving checks stranded.

I remind you that Social Security was originally established as a compulsory savings program to ensure that people unable or unwilling to plan and save for their eventual retirement would be forced to contribute funds by FICA that would be saved for them, draw interest to grow the principal, and then be paid out to them when they retire.

That was all changed by a Democrat controlled Congress and a Democrat President named Lyndon Johnson, who broke the promise, and stole all of the money from the Social Security Lock Box, and changed the FICA to a Tax that is paid into the General Fund to be spent at the discretion of Congress.

SS checks are now paid from the General Fund, and we are reaching the point that collections of FICA will be less than what is paid out to SS Recipients. The Lockbox is empty, containing nothing but IOU’s for the money stolen and spent by the Congress and Presidents both Democrat and Republican on anything but Social Security. And, the SS system has been turned into a welfare fund to support all sorts of freeloaders who have never contributed anything to the SS Program!

The Social Security system as presently constituted does in fact resemble in every respect a classic Ponzi scheme!

Respectfully,

Edward C. Olivares

USMA 1957

I’m writing to express my disgust at what took place at City Hall in Lynchburg on Tuesday night. Round 2 of the hearings to decide if the building inspectors should be given police powers ended with a 4 to 3 vote in favor of the idea. This in spite of the overwhelming opposition from residents. This was not a Tea Party issue, it was a constitutional rights issue. The Fourth Amendment is our God given right against “unreasonable” search and seizure. It is an issue that crosses all party lines. Or should. I’m grateful to H. Cary, Jeff Helgeson and Turner Perrow who voted against.

Overwhelmingly residents spoke in opposition to this proposal. Yet “Mommy Knows Best” Mayor Foster had other plans. Not only does Lynchburg have the highest (11.5%) tax in the nation on food when you eat out. They also have property taxes almost 3 times higher than surrounding counties.

Now to top it all off Mayor Foster and her gang of tyrants has decreed that hither swarms of officers may now eat out your sustenance.

This bad bill has been made worse. A building inspector can now drag you before a judge. It bypasses the civil court system. It wastes your time. It gives power where the city deserve and need none.

It wasn’t enough that in the 70′s the city stole millions of dollars in revenue generating land through annexation? Now all those residents that used to live outside of the reach of this nonsense must now submit to tyranny?

To that I say: Campbell, Bedford and the surrounding counties are open for business.

Lynchburg has some really nice neighborhoods and lots of history. It’s a shame that council members are more interested in their agendas than in representing the people. We are working to flip the Virginia Senate this year. Over the next few years it is time we flipped the Council! Joan Foster,Ceasor Johnson, Mike Gillette and Randy Nelson we look forward to removing you in the years ahead.

Kurt Feigel – President
Lynchburg Tea Party

Media Release

Media Contacts:
Lynchburg Tea Party – Kurt Feigel
Garrett For Senate – Rusty McGuire – www.votetom.net – 804-874-1461

Lynchburg Tea Party Endorses Tom Garrett for Virginia’s 22nd Senate Race.

The 22nd district in 2008 voted overwhelmingly Republican: 64% McDonald – 64% Cuccinelli – 53% McCain. Our goal is to elect a strong Constitutional conservative in a conservative district and we look forward to working for Tom Garrett as we believe he is the candidate most closely aligned to our principles of Constitutionally limited government, freedom to pursue prosperity through unhindered markets and liberty tempered by virtue.

“Tom Garrett emerged the winner based on the deciding factor of his absolute willingness to engage the federal government at the state level in defense of the Constitution, the 9th and 10th Amendments, God-given inalienable rights and a return to Federalism…this is a candidate that we can be energized to vote for and we that believe many others will be as well.” Said Mike Troxel LTP Vice President.

Everyone was impressed by all the candidates performance last night at the Lynchburg Tea Party debate. They are all good candidates each having their own unique strengths. We are very thankful to Liberty University Law School for the use of the Supreme Court room and to the moderator Dean Mathew Staver.

Prior to the debate on Friday the LTP Steering Committee met with each of the candidates for over an hour and questioned them on a variety of topics to ascertain their stance on issues that are important to the Tea Party. This information was integrated into the debate questions as well as presented to the LTP membership after the debate. The debate was designed to give them an opportunity to face extremely tough questions and reveal their strength and character as individuals and candidates. We believe they did an exemplary job and we are proud of each of them.

The membership of the Lynchburg Tea Party had the opportunity to endorse any candidate or no candidate at all. The vote to endorse Tom Garrett was overwhelming.

Kurt Feigel President of the Lynchburg Tea Party said ” We’ve met with all of the Republican candidates for Virginia Senate and we feel that Tom Garrett epitomizes what we as an organization believe in, not just as platitudes, but at his core. ”

” We are honored to have secured the LTP endorsement, there are candidates that suggest that this senate seat belongs to one locality or another, the truth is that the 22nd is not a local seat but a conservative senate seat. ” Said Tom Garrett “The Lynchburg Tea Party understands that it’s more important where you stand on an issue than where you sleep in the district”

Mike Troxel – LTP Vice President said ” We had a good discussion with our membership and have thought long and hard about doing an endorsement, in the end they decided that Tom was the candidate we should get behind “

Tom Garrett is a solid champion of the U.S. Constitution and understands the Federal abuse of States Rights that have plagued us for too long. Tom will fight in Richmond to secure a future for all Virginians. A future that should not include high taxes and run away spending.

“As the Commonwealth’s Attorney [prosecutor] for Louisa County, Tom has seen first hand the benefits of strong laws that protect our citizens” said Kurt Feigel “Tom’s record is nothing short of amazing”

The Lynchburg Tea Party is currently organizing a phone and door to door campaign in support of Tom following this endorsement.

“Tom has done a fantastic job of making the grass roots connections across the 22nd district and getting the team in place to succeed in November against Bert Dodson” said Kurt Feigel “Garrett has raised over $100,000 and is on track to win the primary in August and the general election in November.”

Tom Garrett understands the issues facing our state and nation. It is important that he understands the national issues from a Constitutional standpoint because those impact us every day. Bad Washington D.C. policy hurts our national economy and that hurts our commonwealth. We need principled leaders that will go to Richmond and fight back against an over reaching federal government.

“You don’t win races by just sending out mailers and running adds. You win them at the water cooler and the kitchen table. That is how we plan to win this race for Tom Garrett.” said Kurt Feigel

To Learn more about the Lynchburg Tea Party please visit www.lynchburgteaparty.com

The Lynchburg Tea Party is reaching out to community groups all across the city and across political lines to fight an issue that will directly effect you and your neighbors.

The City of Lynchburg is trying to give the planning commission (building permits, code enforcement, etc) the ability to issue search warrants if they suspect “code” violations.

This is an outright violation of the 4th amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

To put this amendment into historical context; we are celebrating our nations independence on July 4th. Independence from what? From the very things this city is trying to implement.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. Declaration of Independence

The argument in favor of this new ordinance change (law) is that there are TWO houses that are a problem in Lynchburg. And yet, the city attorney has not filled a civil suit against those two houses. Why? Because that is not the real reason for this new law.

They want to generate revenue for the city. Is your house up to code? I doubt it. If you’ve ever had dealings with the City Inspectors you’ll know that they ALWAYS find something to fine you with. Always find something that you MUST correct. Those things cost money.

Think on this as well. Imagine you get your visit from Inspector Gadget…And right behind him is Officer Big Gun. Ooops. Do you have anything “illegal” in your home. There are so many stupid laws on the books how would you know?

The poor and minority communities will be the first ones affected. And yet it was not those communities that spoke out against this. Why?

This is an issue that crosses all political and lines. Liberty is not that complicated.

On August 9th at 7 p.m. at City Hall (900 Church St) there will be another hearing about the proposed changes to the law. We had 50 people at the last meeting but we need 150 at this next meeting. Not ONE person spoke in favor of this change to the law. 19 spoke against. And yet instead of killing it the city council voted 4 to 3 to change the wording and then hold another hearing.

Please let your community know about this.

This will effect the minority communities before it ever touches anyone else.

Contact your City Representative and tell them you DO NOT support this absurdity.

Thank You,

Kurt Feigel

Lynchburg Tea Party President

P.S. Please watch the video coverage that this issue has gotten.

If you can not make it:
email these people and tell them your thoughts on the issue.

Supports the new law
Mayor Joan Foster (At Large):
Joan.Foster@lynchburgva.gov

Supports the new law
Vice-Mayor Ceasor Johnson (Ward 2):
ceasor.johnson@lynchburgva.gov

Supports the new law
Michael Gillette (Ward 1):
michael.gillette@lynchburgva.

Supports the new law
Randy Nelson (At Large):
randy.nelson@lynchburgva.gov

DOES NOT support the new law
Turner Perrow (Ward 4):
turner.perrow@lynchburgva.gov

DOES NOT support the new law
H. Cary (At Large):
H.cary@lynchburgva.gov

DOES NOT support the new law
Jeff Helgeson (Ward 3):
jeff@jeffhelgeson.com

I spoke with Congressman Robert Hurt today. I’ve spoken with him enough over the past year to know when he is truly frustrated and this is one of those times. He like many freshman congressman went to D.C. like Mr. Smith. Intent on changing things. Sent there with a purpose and a mission only to have that mission and purpose thwarted. On the issue of spending alone Hurt said ” It’s easy to believe that we won…but now is more important than ever that we stay focused”. He went on to reference that we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar to the tune of 1.6 trillion every year with a national debt of over 14 Trillion dollars.

It’s “unsustainable” said Hurt, and not just as a platitude. He means it.

If you have listened to some of his floor speeches you can see that he is not the same quiet guy that left Southside back in January.

“Failure to address the problems now will lead to the failure of our nation…I’m not a pessimist as I believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel…I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t” The problem is that, as Hurt puts it, Washington D.C. “moves slow as molasses” .

As I talk to Tea Party leaders across the commonwealth of Virginia they all have the same message. CUT SPENDING. And yet it isn’t getting done. Not for lack of desire on the part of some. The message that isn’t really getting out is what caused this budget crisis? The budget that is being worked on and the “continuing resolutions” that have been passed so far have been for “Fiscal Year 2011″ a budget process that was started under the previous House controlled by Democrats. A Senate Controlled by Democrats. A Whitehouse controlled by a Democrat.

So why is all the blame being focused on the Republicans?

HR 1 the first bill of 2011 cut $100 Billion dollars in waste and abuse. A small dent to be sure, but the number one expenditure in our nation is entitlement spending. ” The big money reforms need to come from Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or those systems will fail ” and he is right.

Robert Hurt was one of 47 Republicans that has stood his ground on spending according to Heritage.

47 Members (all Republicans) showed a rock-solid willingness to cut spending by voting for every spending cut:

* Amash, Bachmann, Broun, Campbell, Chabot, Chaffetz, Coffman, Duncan (TN), Duncan (SC), Flake, Fleming, Franks, Garrett, Gowdy, Graves (GA), Heller, Hensarling, Herger, Huelskamp, Huizenga, Hurt, Jenkins, Jordan, Lamborn, Mack, McClintock, McHenry, Miller (FL), Mulvaney, Myrick, Neugebauer, Paul, Pence, Pompeo, Price (GA), Ribble, Rokita, Royce, Scalise, Schweikert, Scott (GA), Scott (SC), Sessions, Walsh, Wilson, Woodall, and Young (IN).

In addition to that first 100 Billion Robert Hurt voted for almost $40 Billion more that was shot down by…say it with me…Democrats.

In a statement released via email today Hurt said:

We have taken important first steps to change course in Washington. I have voted to cut over $136 billion in government spending. I have voted to repeal and replace the Democrats’ health care law in its entirety, to repeal the onerous 1099 provision that burdens small businesses, and to de-fund provisions of the law when the House passed H.R. 1.

With rare exception such as his vote to extend the Patriot act I’ve not seen a lot that I should be concerned about.

The real blame needs to be focused on who is responsible for this mess: The Democratic Party.

I’m no friend of the establishment GOP. Their biggest problem is they think in terms of political calculations and not always about doing whats right. They like to throw out the “11th Commandment” and then throw solid representatives under the bus. All that said they are not the wrench in the gears here. Their biggest problem here is they think the truth alone is good enough. That you don’t need to sell the truth. Why? The democrats and Obama sell us lies all the time. Look at Libya. Look at the President today on TV criticizing the oil companies for not drilling when his administration won’t let them drill. A is A, unless you are Obama.

Schumer said he was:

“agonizing over whether to give in to right-wing demands that they abandon any compromise on their extreme cuts.”

“Extreme”? How about you cut 1.6 Trillion Dollars of the money we don’t have? I wouldn’t call that Extreme Chucky! I’d call that RESPONSIBLE!

The GOP Leaders need to hammer this point home at every opportunity:The Democratic leadership had over 1 year starting back in April of 2010 to begin and complete this budget which was supposed to be completed back in October. Instead they’ve been living on borrowed time and borrowed money. Our time and our money!They have been blaming the GOP for “not passing a budget” when it was the 111th Congress that didn’t get it done. Further they are demanding that the debt ceiling be raised to fund their insanity. As a Father I’m constantly telling my kids “money doesn’t grow on trees” but nobody has told these children running the ship of state. Instead, as usual after a game of kick the can, they are pointing the finger at the Republicans who dare to touch their third rails of politics. Sadly we haven’t even started on the Fiscal Year 2012 budget yet. 2 more great examples of the failures of Liberalism.

It’s too soon to throw out the representatives that are trying to get the job done. They are out there. Likely there are a few that are long past their expiration date. Robert Hurt isn’t one of them and anyone that thinks so after 3 months needs to get out of politics.

When the time comes to “shut down” the government my advice to Robert Hurt and anyone else that is serious would be to LET IT! Stand strong and confident that we support you. When it does shut down and the finger pointing begins make sure THE PEOPLE know the cold hard truth and nothing but the truth.

On the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, I was able to witness, firsthand, perhaps one of the more significant historical events in American history. For the first time in our nation’s history the Constitution of the United States of America was read in its entirety on the floor of the House.

The gentleman from Virginia, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), stood on the shoulders of the Virginians that established this Republic and orchestrated the reading of the “sacred” document. I was filled with pride to be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia. One thing that made this so special to me was that Rep. Goodlatte and I had a brief discussion about the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the house. In October, when we chatted briefly, at the Virginia Tea Party Convention, I thought it was a great idea. I am pleased that Congressman Goodlatte took the lead on behalf of “We The People,” and followed through with the historic reading.

My personal good fortune seemed to be without limits that day. I was able to get a pass to be seated in the gallery for the beginning of the historic reading, and actually was seated directly above the aisle, on the front row behind the clock, and able to see everything. As all entrants to the gallery I had to leave my cell phone, camera, and recording devices at the desk before entering the gallery. The real reason for that became apparent within minutes.

From my perch above the assembled body of representatives I was able to make several observations. The first thing I observed was the large absence of the Democrat minority. The second was that the GOP members in attendance all seemed to have their pocket Constitution opened, in their laps, and reading along. Thirdly was that none of the relatively few attending Democrats were in possession of a pocket constitution. Some were reading the newspapers and others were texting. But, this being mentioned, the most interesting and noteworthy aspect of this exercise was the performance of the gentleman from Washington, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who stood to make parliamentary inquiries and discredit the reading. Then Rep. Inslee was followed by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), who attempted to illustrate racism, sexism, and whatever other hyphenated “isms” that he and other like-minded totalitarian statists of his ilk share with their common delusions about our Constitution.

After the reading of the Constitution, Jesse Jackson, Jr. said, “The 112th Congress’ Republican majority is building its agenda around the 10th Amendment. It is determined to limit the scope of Congress’ activity to legislation ‘reserved’ to the United States. Then, all other rights are in the purview of the states. Under this historic logic, slavery was a state right protected by the Constitution and the 10th Amendment. But slavery by definition is not a human right, and therefore states rights cannot be human rights. That is why for the last five Congresses, I’ve introduced a series of Constitutional amendments that would improve the document for all Americans by guaranteeing essential rights.

“Currently, the right to vote is a state right – subject to local interpretations of who should vote and how. That results in thousands of different systems, all with different rules and different regulations. It means education is a state right, which means a child’s likelihood of success is based on where he or she is born and the quality of schools that happen to be there. It means health care is a right, and God help you if your state, county or city cannot provide access to high quality care.”

Yes, Rep. Jackson. These things were left completely in the hands of the various states. They were deliberately not given to the federal government. The federal government is “limited” by this “sacred” document.

Now I understand why there are no cameras or recording devices allowed into the chamber making in necessary to be present to see the enmity of the left toward the very documents that guarantee our freedom.

Mark Kevin Lloyd is the chairman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation.

A paraphrasing and critique of the articles:

November 14-Getting money is good. Getting lots of money is even better. Even if it comes from the Federal Government. We Central Virginians were once known for our independent streak. Haven’t we now just declared ourselves “unfortunate”, and moved back in with Mom and Dad?

Getting money is good, even if it’s deficit spending. Even if it’s temporary. Especially if it saves government jobs. Layoffs in the public sector? Apparently not in Central Virginia. You private sector people, you’ll get yours when we spend it. If we spend it. Now that we think about it, since it’s temporary, we’d be idiots if we spent it.

November 16-Getting money is always good. A bus company in Rustburg sold some buses to lottery winners-I mean, stimulus recipients. Here we have definitive proof that “trickle down”, long thought to be discredited Republican voodoo economics-does work after all, but only when monies extracted from the private sector are re-injected through government, never when allowed to remain there to begin with.

November 21-Three front-page articles.

Getting money is good.

I mentioned above that there hadn’t been any government workers laid off, but I was wrong. To help bolster their case on the stimulus, the News and Advance reaches out to one they were aware of-Tom Perriello.

In an article touting the “Make Work Pay’ portion of the stimulus, the paper asserts that workers perhaps didn’t notice their increase in pay. Perriello’s spokesman declares it “the largest middle-class tax cut in history”. What does it say about the “largest middle-class tax cut in history” that, by the paper’s own admission, no one seemed to notice? Are individuals who make $95k the new “rich”? What happened to $250k?

I am not arguing that teachers, police, social programs, tasers, road spikes, and beauty products (see front page, November 21) aren’t necessary and good for Central Virginia. If I were offered stimulus money, I’d take it too; ok maybe not, I don’t WANT to join a union.

By attributing the vote’s result to an ill-informed electorate, liberals and the front-page editors at the News and Advance (but I repeat myself) underestimate the voters. Americans know that taxes are necessary, as is government. Voters instinctively knew that the question was not did the stimulus work or didn’t it, the question was, how much government is too much, and I think on Nov 2nd the voters answered this question wisely.

Glenn Wood
Lynchburg, Virginia

Sunday November 13, 2010

Contact:
Mark Lloyd
chairman@lynchburgteaparty.com

The Lynchburg Tea Party is endorsing Bill Stanley for Virginia Senate.

The Lynchburg Tea Party, in coordination with other Tea Party groups in Central Virginia, worked hard to get Bill Stanley elected as Fifth District Chairman and the membership has not regretted it.

“Bill has been a strong new voice for conservatism as Republican Chairman in Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District”

Said Mark Lloyd – Chairman, Lynchburg Tea Party

“Whenever we have needed anything such as support or information Bill Stanley has been there for us”

The Lynchburg Tea Party will work to help Bill Stanley win the race for Robert Hurt’s vacant seat in Virginia’s 19th Senate District.

” It is a breath of fresh air to see what Bill stands for…fiscal conservative like Ronald Regan…The Tea Parties are what the Republicans use to be. Hope [they] are listening and taking notes. ” Said Lynchburg Tea Party member Larry Lewis

Robert Hurt recently defeated Tom Perriello due in large part to the work of Bill Stanley as Chairman and the activism of 5th District Tea Party groups.

The principles that we adhere to are:

The 19th State Senate District encompasses parts of Campbell County and as a result directly impacts the membership of the Lynchburg Tea Party.

“We believe that Bill Stanley will further our goal of eliminating the establishment from the political landscape and we are excited to support him” Said Kurt Feigel – LTP Vice Chair

The Party Canvass will take place on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the six locations noted HERE

The decision to endorse was reached by polling the membership of the Lynchburg Tea Party. The support for Bill Stanley was overwhelming.

Mark Lloyd concluded by saying,  “Electing “good and true” conservatives like Bill Stanley is the only way to “repair the damage done by those who have previously placed their personal ambitions over the will of the voters.”

We are in the middle of the summary judgment phase of the health care case in the district court in Richmond, and I wanted to give you an update of where we stand at the moment and what’s coming next.

On August 2nd the judge in our case rejected all four of the feds’ arguments for why Virginia’s case should be dismissed, and that as part of his ruling, the judge noted how extraordinarily far the federal government is reaching (in a constitutional sense) in the federal health care law.

On September 3rd, both Virginia and the federal government filed their motions for summary judgment.  As the name implies, these motions are requests by each side to the court to rule “summarily,” i.e., without a trial, in their favor.  On September 23 both sides filed their opposition to the other parties’ motion for summary judgment.

Three things stood out most to me in the feds’ opposition to our summary judgment.  One appears generally in the brief, while the other two both relate specifically to the discussion regarding the appropriate remedy if the court rules in Virginia’s favor by declaring the individual mandate unconstitutional.

• The first observation is that the feds have cited cases never before appearing in this case to reach sweeping and powerful conclusions.  These cases appear to be a real stretch and we will have to deal with them in our reply.

• The second observation is that the feds have taken a similar approach to us in determining what would be left of the law if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional.  They quote a US Supreme Court case (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood), “After finding an application or portion of a statute unconstitutional, we must next ask: Would the legislature have preferred what is left of its statute to no statute at all?”  There are any number of sections in the legislation we could look at and contemplate this question, but one may reasonably ask whether ANYTHING would have passed without the insurance pieces of the bill.  Would Congress have passed elements of the bill like the Medicaid increase (an additional $1 billion+ in Virginia) without the individual mandate and the insurance elements?  Further, do you Recall that many liberals were screaming that this bill was a ‘sellout’ and didn’t go far enough?

• The third observation is that the federal government has conceded that if the individual mandate is found unconstitutional then all of what they refer to as the “insurance industry reforms” must fall alongside the individual mandate. Given that up to this point, they have conceded nothing, this is a sweeping concession.  All along, the feds have said that their forced changes to the insurance industry’s products REQUIRE that everyone must be in the insurance pool for their newly-redesigned insurance scheme to’ work’.  Thus, if we beat the individual mandate, everyone will NOT be in the insurance pool; therefore, their other changes to their newly-redesigned insurance scheme will not ‘work.’  Bottom line: they have conceded that if the insurance mandate is unconstitutional, then their other insurance requirements must also be discarded by the court.

On Monday, October 4th, each side will file its final brief (the reply brief) AND all of the amicus briefs will be filed that day as well.

On October 18th, we will be back in court for the summary judgment hearing.  This is where the constitutionality of the individual mandate will be openly debated in court.

At some point thereafter, perhaps around the end of November, the judge will likely issue an order with his ruling.

One other strategy of the feds’ that became evident last week is their apparent intention to drag out the proceeding, at least for now.  They have clearly indicated to the judge that if he finds the individual mandate unconstitutional, that they will want him to hold yet another hearing to focus on what is the appropriate remedy.  In other words, they will want to pick the bill apart piece by piece, arguing over whether each piece should stay or go with the individual mandate.

Sincerely,

Ken Cuccinelli
Attorney General of Virginia