VA Senate Blocking Constituent Email

[Tom357]

The Virginia Senate Courts of Justice committee has started blocking constituent email originating from VCDL. This is the committee that, faced with a number of pro-gun bills that passed the House by significant margins, created an unprecedented, last-minute partisan sub-committee, loaded with avowed anti-gun Senators, designed to kill pro-gun legislation before it can come to a full vote.

Virginia members: if email you sent to the COJ committee through the scojc@vcdl.org reflector has been bounced, you should try again by sending to the individual inboxes for the members, as follows. Send your email to:

district03@sov.state.va.us, district04@sov.state.va.us, district09@sov.state.va.us, district13@sov.state.va.us, district16@sov.state.va.us, district18@sov.state.va.us, district19@sov.state.va.us, district20@sov.state.va.us, district21@sov.state.va.us, district25@sov.state.va.us, district26@sov.state.va.us, district32@sov.state.va.us, district34@sov.state.va.us, district35@sov.state.va.us, district36@sov.state.va.us

This makes me furious. The anti-gun Democrat Senator chairing the Courts of Justice committee is forcing his personal anti-gun bias on the entire State, ignoring the majority and the will of the People, and ignoring the State Constitution. He has created a sub-committee intended to act in direct violation of Senate Rules. He placed himself on the committee, two anti-gun activist Democrat Senators from Fairfax County, a fourth anti-gun Democrat Senator, and a single, gutless, anti-gun Republican. There is no doubt that the purpose of the committee is to impose the personal bias of a few anti-gun individuals on an overwhelmingly pro-gun State.

Finally, faced with a significant, and growing protest by the People, Senator Marsh and the Courts of Justice committee have gone beyond ignoring the people they serve, and are actively blocking our voices from being heard. This is beyond unacceptable.

Our enemy isn't the anti-gunners. Our enemy is complacence.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Zsnake]

Vote 'em all out!!!!!!!

[jg45]

Sounds like a major abuse of power. Might be time for you folks to show up at their offices in person and be heard. Or, see if you can get the press to pick it up and make a big stink. Seems like the only legal thing that corrupt politicians respond to is really bad press showing their complete lack of ethical values and disdain for those that elect them.

[DaveH]

Although I got some replies from the message I sent, we are getting reports that others' messages have been blocked.

The email addresses listed above are the individual Senators email addresses.

You might want to send the each emails, addressed individually. As some spam blockers will block multiple addressees.

Also, if you go the following page on the State's own web site you can drill down on each member and get an email and phone number.

LIS > Bill Tracking > Committees > 2010 session

Making calls is even better than emails, IMHO. That's what I have been doing this morning, to each from whom I had not received a reply. Started each with just checking to see if you got my email as I had head someone was blocking email to you and I had not hear back from you. Then went on to discuss the issue.

[Rugergirl]

Vote 'em all out!!!!!!!

[titleist]

Has anyone contacted Lt. Gov. Bolling about this abuse of power and elitism? Do the committee members know? Is this legal??

[DaveH]

Vote 'em all out!!!!!!!

Not getting voted out is about as much what the "special" subcommittee is about as it is Marsh's & Saslaw's Anti-RKBA agenda -- if not more from the Party's strategists' point of view. It is mostly about this years elections when the entire Senate is up for election.

They stacked the "special" subcommittee with Senators from very Anti-RKBA districts who would not get voted out for killing RKBA bills:

1) to get the bills killed

and

2) to keep members of the full committee and those on the floor of the full Senate from having to support the RKBA or go on record as kill good bills, which might get them voted out.

Now, those from other districts can campaign on their version of "I support 2A" w/o have a record on actual bill on which to be called accountable.

Like Pontius Pilate, they can publicly wash their hand of the responsibility.

IMHO, the lose of the ability to call the rest of the scoundrels to accountability is as big a lost in the long run as the bills the are killing this term.

[DaveH]

Has anyone contacted Lt. Gov. Bolling about this abuse of power and elitism? Do the committee members know? Is this legal??

Yes, yes, and against the Senate rules but not against the "law", if that is what you mean as legal.

Making sure that committee members know in a way that is well documented and public is what the email campaign is about.

[titleist]

Mother... Son of a... God... AHHH!!!

[Rob P.]

Yes, yes, and against the Senate rules but not against the "law", if that is what you mean as legal.

Making sure that committee members know in a way that is well documented and public is what the email campaign is about.

Actually it is NOT "legal." WE have a federal constitutional right to petition our government for redress of grievances. That government CANNOT refuse to hear our petition.

The email block violates your constitutional rights and VCDL should sue.

[GWRedDragon]

You have the right to petition, they don't have to listen

It's more likely something that happened automatically, or was done by some technical contractor.

[ccw9mm]

The Virginia Senate Courts of Justice committee has started blocking constituent email originating from VCDL.

If true, then that has got to be an abuse of power. VCDL ... take it and run with it.

[Tom357]

Marsh's current tactics are certainly questionable, but we are not the only ones disturbed by them. I'm sure VCDL will do everything possible to use this to advantage. Personally, Marsh's arrogance is extremely frustrating, because he and the others on this special subcommittee are in bullet-proof districts.

[DaveH]

Marsh's current tactics are certainly questionable, but we are not the only ones disturbed by them. I'm sure VCDL will do everything possible to use this to advantage. Personally, Marsh'sis extremely frustrating, because he and the others on this special subcommittee are in bullet-proof districts.

Saslaw, the Majority Leader, makes Marsh look like a piker, when it comes to arrogance, to downright rude inappropriate "humor" directed toward Pro-RTKBA lobby & witnesses, and for Anti-RTKBA dirty tricks.

In this case, he has even staunch Anti-RKBA newspaper folk upset.

Dan Casey said,

"Now, there are some loud whines of "unfair" coming from the gun movement right now.

Those are justified because disproportionately stacked subcommittees are wrong."

See: http://blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/dan...-are-in-doubt/

[Mindovrmattr]

I've been emailing them all. This burns my tail, to put it VERY mildly. I've been following this but appreciate the details being posted here. I have a better grasp of the "big picture" after reading these posts. We need to hammer these idiots.

Don