The Hanover Democratic Committee got a look at another likely candidate for the Democratic nomination for the 2009 gubernatorial election last weekend.
Del. Brian Moran, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, spoke Saturday morning to a 70-strong group at a pancake breakfast at Ashcreek Recreation Center.
Anita Hartke, who hopes to win the Democratic nomination to oppose incumbent Republican Eric Cantor in the 7th District also spoke.
“It’s an interesting day to be with you,” said Moran, 48, whose elder brother Jim represents the 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Brian Moran is an attorney in private practice who represents Fairfax County and Alexandria.
If he should formally announce for the nomination for governor, he faces state Sen. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, who spoke to the committee last month.
“It’s a very newsy day,” Moran told the crowd, referring to the decision by the Virginia Supreme Court that last year’s transportation bill giving taxing authority to an unelected panel in Northern Virginia is unconstitutional.
“That’s not actually bad news,” he said, blaming the failure on House Democrats. “It was because we have a house Republican majority that refuses to face the challenges that face the Commonwealth and will do anything to pass the buck.”
Moran, who has seen the number of Democratic delegates rise from 33 to 45 after the last election during his tenure as caucus chairman, blasted the GOP for their “abdication of responsibility.”
Moran called the recent Virginia Democratic presidential primary, in which almost a million votes were cast, historic.
“We had two excellent candidates, and one will be the next president,” said Moran to cheers.
Moran commented on the General Assembly’s work, where House and Senate conferees will seek to reach a compromise between their two budgets this week.
He blasted the new methodology for funding teacher raises proposed by the Republican majority House, saying it shifted more of the burden to localities, calling it an “unfunded mandate.”
Moran also touted his role in the passage of “Alicia’s Law,” named after Alicia Kozakiewicz – a 13-year-old girl who was abducted by an Internet predator, held hostage and tortured. The House included more than $1 million in its budget for the VA Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICAC) to crack down on sexual predators, with support from both parties, Moran noted.
Moran criticized State Sen. John Watkins’ impact fees bill, tabled until next year, saying it favored developers and put a greater burden on localities to pay for infrastructure needed for development.
Moran said a special session may be needed to deal with the transportation challenges caused by the Virginia Supreme Court’s ruling.
Culpeper realtor Anita Hartke attacked Cantor, calling him a “rubberstamp for the failed policies of George Bush.”
Hartke, whose father was a U.S. senator from Indiana, said she saw herself as an “independent problem solver in the mold of Mark Warner.”
Hartke, not yet on the ballot for the June 10 Democrat primary that will pick an opponent for Cantor, is still collecting petition signatures.
Moran is still in the exploratory stages of his possible bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, saying he wants to finish the General Assembly session first before making a final decision to run.
