Reading the paper this morning, which features the bold headline “Norfolk puts clamp on revenue commissioner” (we’ll skip over the fact that this image is a little weird–what kind of clamp?), I realized that I frequently make out checks to Norfolk’s Commissioner of the Revenue.

Was it one of these clamps? (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

I pay her for my residential parking permits, and for the parking tickets I get when I forget to apply the permit to my bumper. I pay her for various fines and fees related to my daily life as a citizen of Norfolk. I probably write three or four checks to her a year. It never really occurred to me to wonder, who is this Commissioner person, until she appeared in the paper, in a clamp. And now I have to wonder if sending her all that money was such a good idea.

Sharon McDonald, the commissioner, is an elected State official but her salary and that of her staff comes in part from the city. She’s in trouble for overspending city money, at least $11,000, on trips to Richmond, where she was lobbying for…”her office and other commissioners of revenue throughout the state.” It’s not clear to me what that means, but it sounds a little self-serving, and apparently was never authorized by the city.

Whether McDonald willfully abused her authority or not, this sounds like a bad system. Whenever you have a person who reports to one place (the state) but is paid by another (the city), you have a person who’s loyalties are divided and whose responsibilities may be unclear. That certainly seems to be the case here, where McDonald’s activities were focused on her statewide role and her time was spent in Richmond, while Norfolk paid the bills. Normally I’m not outraged by these bureaucratic foibles, but I can see the need for the Pilot to keep pushing on this story. After all, I’m going to have to write this woman another check pretty soon. I’d like to know that the money is going where it’s supposed to, and not to restaurants in Richmond.

Cuccinelli lawsuit still alive

The lawsuit filed by Ken Cuccinelli against the new federal health care act has risen from its slab and now slouching its way toward Washington to appear in more courtrooms.

The reaction from Cuccinelli was recorded here:

The reaction from the US Attorney general’s office, on the other hand, was recorded here:

The next round of this battle isn’t until October 18, when oral arguments will be heard, and the guy in the green face paint will attempt to take down the shambling abomination. I’ll be watching.

Police in VA can ask about immigration status during stops, Cuccinelli says

But wait! Our friend Ken’s not done. He’s fighting locally too, and here in the Virginia the battle has turned to the real enemy: brown people. Cuccinelli has finally taken the leash off the police in Virginia, allowing them to investigate the immigration status of people they detain or arrest. This puts us on the front lines of the anti-immigration struggle being waged across the country. Cuccinelli has always been an optimist and a man of great ambition. He wasn’t about to let the fact that Virginia is on the other side of the country from Mexico, without a significant Latino population, stop him from pursuing a bold and dynamic strategy of harassing people because they are brown. You go, Ken! No, seriously. Go. Maybe to Alaska, or Sweden. Just go.

An illustrated guide to facial hair

If I read any more news like the stories above, I’m going to need to crawl into a closet and chew on warm socks. So, instead I went looking for something fun. I found this picture of beards and mustaches, which always makes me laugh. I have a beard myself these days, and so do lots of other guys. I’m sort of hoping that this trend continues–I’ve always wanted to bring back beards in a big way, so that a typical office meeting would look like a gathering of the British Royal Academy, circa 1885. I’m talking about large, serious beards, such as you’d find on a German psychoanalyst or the owner of a transcontinental railroad line. Beards that reach down to second button of your shirt, making ties superfluous. I’d also like derbies to make a comeback, but I’m not holding my breath.