Frank Wagner is a Navy man, and I respect that. He’s a longstanding state senator from the Commonwealth’s most populous city, so I can respect that too. Those things aside, spending time in the Navy and afterwards spending so much time representing a Navy town; couldn’t you drum up more financial support than 400,000 dollars? Where you at, Frank?
Here’s the thing in Virginia Beach. It’s pay to play, all the way baby! You see, only 1% of Frank’s donations have been of the 100 dollar or less variety. Living in a Navy town, with a Navy background and a median income 15% above state average, serving as State Senator since 2001,,,and you can only get $5,000 worth of small money contributions? Slice that in half and we’re still just talking about 100 residents in Frank’s heavily populated Navy-friendly stomping grounds giving him 50 bucks. At least Corey Stewart, with over 20k in small donations, can make the cake from us socioeconomic ‘normies’.
Forget that Frank has received thousands from a local developer Bruce Thompson who also gives to Planned Parenthood, Terry McAullife and corrupt Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms. Disregard the fact that he received $7500 from disgraced builder Jimmy Rodgers, who promptly closed his business under mysterious circumstances.
Let’s concentrate on the less celebrated money: I’m not even sure where to start, but I’m gonna squeeze this lemon for all it’s worth. In a radio interview with WNIS 79 host Tony Macrini, Frank “In the Tank” Wagner stated “I know I can do a better job than what’s being done right now.” Well color me pink and call me Sally! Can he do a better job for Dominion? Or perhaps Norfolk Southern?
Over his career Wagner has taken $86,985 from Dominion Power – more than any other local delegate or senator. He has also been blessed with $27 k from Appalachian Power and $50k from Virginia Natural Gas. In the coal sector, Frank has collected $51k from Alpha Natural Resources, a mining powerhouse in Southwest Virginia. So, Frank has basically worked the Trifecta of vertical energy monopoly! His cronies at Dominion can get their coal and fix prices along with Appalachian power while even the gas industry has a legislator in their pocket. Wait, it gets better. With a recent donation of $10k from Richard Roberts of Norfolk Southern, he has the rail line to transport the coal to the power plants. These tactics harken to the day of JP Morgan, who didn’t care for competition and used this type of vertical integration to suffocate other utility companies.
Wagner has done it again and again. In 2015 he wrote a bill that allowed Dominion Power to legally keep money that was not theirs under an assumption that energy prices would rise under Obama. Now that Obama’s gone, how about repealing that guys? Don’t hold your breath. In 2016 he introduced SB 742 to increase the gas tax, lecturing the chamber on fiscal responsibility in the process.
Along the way saying, “We’re going to take $2 out of the pocket – a dollar for the construction of the roads, and a dollar to pay Wall Street – for the interest on the bonds.” Then just days ago Frank offered a bill to increase gas taxes again; essentially it’s a tax increase but I’m sure using Wagner Common Core math more = less and the sky is a lovely shade of ‘how do I keep getting elected?’
Frank pitched another “buddy bill” for his energy pals last week, in a long exhaustive line of “recovery of costs” measures he has championed for the power companies. He also found time to vote against HB618 that would allow solar providers to recover their own costs from the electric monopolies.
We all know Frank is in the tank for the utility monopolies that cause thousands of aneurysms each time Virginia citizens get their latest power bill. Half of the bills Wagner has sponsored this year are geared toward buoying the power companies or increasing the gas tax. This would be amateurish to highlight his tributes from these leaches. There’s something far more interesting, and I’m sure the 7th district is drinking a lot of it when they reluctantly pull the lever for Frank every fourth November.
Frank has received over $160,000 dollars from the Alcohol Distribution Industry during his illustrious tax-rasiing career in the Virginia Senate. The totals include $60k from the Virginia Beer and Wine Wholesale association, $29k from Breakthrough Beverage, $21k from Anheuser Busch, $13k from Hoffman Distributors and $5k from international liquor conglomerate Diageo. Are you feeling drunk yet?
Here’s the skinny, and there are numerous examples of this throughout the country. Craft beer is catching up on your traditional mass-produced yellow lager. Distributors are typically paid, owned and influenced by the big 2 – Budweiser and MillerCoors. The distribution lobby wants to keep their biggest clients product on the shelf; and on most of the shelves. As JP Morgan was said to “hate competition,” it appears Wagner shares these sympathies of the utility and booze distribution industries.
Just three days ago a sweetheart bill for Anheuser-Busch was informally killed in the General Assembly. SB 1358 would have given the greenlight to Anheuser- Busch, who routinely spends the GDP of entire countries on Super Bowl ads, to spend 2.5 times the current amount allowed on store advertising.
“My understanding is that ABI had their sponsoring legislator pull the bill when they realized the thumping that was coming their way. Pulled it at the last second so it wasn’t formally defeated,” said Taylor Smack of Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, VA.
That would have meant all those obnoxious cardboard cutouts in your local Quik-E-Mart would proliferate at the detriment of smaller Virginia craft brewers, who need the money for actually brewing good beer. Wagner, who chairs the Commerce Committee, is supposedly a big deal to the big beer industry.
It’s interesting Wagner made his announcement to run for Governor the day after the Republican State Central Committee (SCC) voted 41-40 to nominate next year’s statewide ticket by primary. Wagner would have been toast in a convention. It seems that Wagner thinks he can raise enough money for media buys in a primary, and take the nomination. Wagner is a text book example of a tired politician who couldn’t provide adequate change or solid leadership in his own district; so now he’s running for higher office. This is so Virginia, for those who have wisely run for the Carolina border may have forgotten.
22 comments
Don’t know what is worse, the obviosity of the article or the strained shucking and jiving. Either was, my eyes still bleed and I ALMOST desire another SBT biased anti-populist screed instead. (ALMOST, really can’t make ALMOST clear enough.)
I hope I made it painfully obvious. Frank Wagner is unfit for the office. In 2014, in the ultimate tell of loyalties, he voted against Jill Vogel’s SB416 – a bill that would allow people to rent their residences vis a vie AirBnB, HomeAway, etc. The bill only passed by 1 vote.. I mean, god forbid the Hotel lobby should take a hit
Politicians deliver pork, it’s what they do. But he’s good at it and well represents his district. He can become the governor in a primary plurality. Riggleman might give it to him. It’ll take money to win, maybe he’s the only guy who can get enough??
Time for a little multiple choice “power company” quiz to test your knowledge about what goes on in downtown Richmond. Hint, you all heard of Tom and Jerry? Well, these questions are a tale of Tom and Terry!
What year was a power company’s chief lobbyist unable to successfully lobby Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and went down in flames trying.? Hint, SB1349.
a.2010
b.2008
c.2015
d.2011
What year did a power company CEO register as a Virginia lobbyist in order to personally lobby Gov. Terry McAuliffe? According to Virginia records he registered on Feb. 2, and met with McAuliffe on or about Feb. 4.
a.2001
b. 2013
c.2010
d.2015
What year did Virginia’s House, Senate, and Governor all throw the taxpayer’s under a power company bus?
a.All years
b.the last 50 years
c.2015
d.All of the above.
What year did someone in Virginia government try to “take back” the stupid S–t they did for a power company in 2015?
a.2009
b.2013
c.2017
d.2002
This is a serious, closed book test of your practical knowledge about downtown Richmond. No Cheating! Try to be as honest as Virginia politicians. Good Luck!
Frank Wagner was the chief nemesis of folks I fought with against the power line in PWC in 2007. He was so up Dominion’s ass it was disgusting. He even wrote a bill that would go after citizens who oppose a power line. Luckily it was defeated.
Is this another one of those “humor pieces” or are we to take this one seriously?
You could have saved some bandwidth by just writing: politicians get donation from big business for a reason
Big business “invests” in politicians for a reason
The reason is for mutual monetary benefit to both the giver and receiver. The avg citizen that thinks his/her vote is so important?, pfft. You only matter on Election Day.
Was that way 100 hrs ago, will be that way 100 years from now. Both parties, top to bottom.
Thanks a lot for the #spoileralert ;(
Can we assume that Senator Wagner is running as the John Kasich of this race – saying that we need to be tax and spend liberals just like the tax and spend liberals?
#EdGillespie2017
I really can’t figure out the Wagner run — it’s like Wagner is in there to split Ed votes and Riggleman is in there to split Corey votes.
I would almost expect some kind of RPV illuminati self-Sarvissing the race to suck GOP resources away from the party but
A) We really have no VAGOP Priest-Kings capable of organized behavior, and
B) Whitbeck and Findlay are in the midst of ornate cloak and candle rituals to see that Republicans win some kind of elections during their tenure.
#CoreyStewart2017
Mr. Wagner needs to respond.
I would Love that. I’m counting on it.
Why?
These are pretty strong accusations and I want to know why I shouldn’t believe they are not true.
I meant about Sen Wagner responding.
I’d bet they are true because they are public record.
He doesn’t have to respond because of cheap shot innuendo from a blog (even one as staturous as TBE)
People give money to politicians because they want access and consideration.
Smart politicians take the money and figure out how to give them access and consideration while integrating that with the whole public welfare common good thing.
Stupid politicians are unable to do so.
It’s too easy to look at the contributions with the zeroes and think that the politicians are the monkeys while the donors turn the crank.
Sometimes interests overlap, sometimes they don’t. Successful politicians juggle and stay elected, unsuccessful ones post in blogs and go to boring meetings.
No comments for , none against.
Could this candidate have a relevance equivalent to that there Madonna.
Mr. Ed was on Lynchburg yesterday no interest there also.
I guess I also am warming up to the beer man , just not in agreement with the privatization of liquor, out of site out of mind and out of the hand of minors.
No good parent takes a child into the ABC store but they will in grocery stores and package stores.
What is the Rigglemans stance?
Just another personally important issue.
Good points; I will be doing Riggleman too. All of them. Northam comes last and hes getting ROASTED
If Republicans don’t nominate
Riggleman it will be Northam for my family.
Reason being ;
I firmly believe that Riggleman is the only Republican with the integrity, open mind (not being bought) and genuine employment experience that has the moral capacity to understand Executive Order 24, we must stop Va. of the practice of classifying Illegal immigrants as independent contractors.
Better get the Northam signs early.
Good luck with your single issue, fortunately the Republican Governor will look at all the issues in the state, to benefit all citizens, and not just the single-issue few.
“fortunately the Republican Governor will look at all the issues in the state,”
Look maybe, but that’s about it. It still depends on Trump. Expect a big turn out for the Dems in the 10,11,3. I cannot see a R victory in Va.with the current anti-Trump media hornets nest.
What really matters is keeping the establishment’s “Enron Ed” out of office.
Look we all can expect Northam to be the D nominee.
For the R’s you have a battle from within two individuals who have served ( being complicit and of the ability to do something on my 1 issue).
The to others outsiders one has been running for any Va. Office forever.
Make no mistake the Trump (immigration) voter will think all is well he not going to turnout in Nov.
So Riggleman is the only honest man for me , probably the only one out of all that would understand my 1 issue from an employers aspect and how our Government/Governor deregulates law to allow it at political will , bought and paid for.
Do you remember the lawsuit against Va lottery (based on numbers) ?
Your candidate best get off his butt and study Executive order 24 , and it’s impact because the ones who actually run our Government understand it in many of our State Dept. and Agencies.
A free be for Stewart is ;
you can’t have one agency or dept. issue a State Violation to one it has deemed illegal , then have another in the same “issue”
Those are good points; not sure if he wants to privatize ABC, I will check
http://denverforgovernor.com/
http://watchdog.org/202012/subcontractors-shadow-economy
I hope you have his ear.
Builders/Contractors don’t pay illegal aliens cash.
Our Country and State are so complicit that you pay them and issue a 1099.
The VEC under McDonnell/Cuccinelli would classify these 1099s as independent contractors.
Call Director Olson Board of Contractors ask;
I am a Va. Licensed Contractor may I sub contract to an unlicensed contractor?
You will get an emphatic NO,
because it is illegal.
Read the story posted above ,
look at Ex.O 24 by McAuliffe
Now read SB483 by Senator Bill DeSteph (shot down) yet gives credibility to some who desire to employee illegal immigrants, look at “deemed closed and not subject to review by any other state agency or dept”
This bills sole design was to make it illegal for The Dept.of Labor and Industry (DOLI/VOSHA) to notify DPOR of Licensed Contractor conspiring with unlicensed contractor (EO 24 notification) ,Illegal Alien. DeSteph tipped his hand.
These same Licensed Contractors were Audited by The VEC and written off as independent contractors (potential lawsuit) giving a green light to continue illegal contracting.It runs into Realtors doing this with new construction also.
He is a in touch employer he will understand , accounting VEC , workers comp.
Santuary City stuff is just a talking point, pat on the back .
This is Santurary Employment