For Va. Governor, Business Trumps Children's Health

Gov. Bob McDonnell: Business vs. children's health.

If you didn’t know it before, you sure do now. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s primary goal is to cut taxes. His next goal is to protect business, even if that comes at the expense of public health and safety. And third, he wants to ensure the election of Republicans, regardless of the cost to participatory Democracy.

He gave some marvelous examples this week, the most dramatic of which was opposition to a bill that would give minimal insurance coverage to autistic children, some of the most vulnerable and unprotected among us. He says the coverage will cost too much, increase insurance and health care costs and hurt business. God forbid we should hurt business just because of a bunch of whiny kids. Even wild-eyed right-wing dogmatist Speaker of the House Bill Howell, who hyperventilates radical dogma, supports the children in this.

But there’s more.

McDonnell vetoed a bill that would increase the limit on medical malpractice from $2 million to $3 million—over the next 20 years and if you consider cost of living increases in everything else, that’s not much. Medical malpractice is pretty serious stuff. It often leads to permanent disorders like death. McDonnell just put a price on it. A bargain basement price. Works for the insurance business, though.

He booted an environmental quality bill—as one would expect from a Republican hell-bent on protecting business’ right to do any damn thing it chooses. He whacked the hell out of funding for public broadcasting’s educational arm (God forbid we should educate anybody; if they know anything, they vote against people like McDonnell).

He had earlier vetoed the General Assembly's redistricting plan—the Senate’s plan came under his objection—that the body is required to create. The Senate is controlled by Democrats, the House by Republicans. He likes the Repub plan. Nothing partisan about this old boy.

(Photo: Bob Brown, Richmond Times-Dispatch.)