- joining Kaine, Bolling, Warner and Allen in support~

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran made the following statement after a press conference including Governor Tim Kaine and Lt. Governor Bill Bolling to support bi-partisan redistricting reform. Former Governor Mark Warner and former Senator George Allen also made statements of support. Delegate Moran has consistently introduced bipartisan redistricting legislation since 2001 including HB836 (2007).

"This significant improvement to our representative democracy continues to gain support. The current partisan redistricting process drives us to the extremes of our political parties rather than the middle. Virginians want a Government that governs from the middle. Drawing districts in a bipartisan way will ensure legislators represent constituents with common interests and voters have competitive elections.

Our system should allow Voters to choose their representatives not representative to choose their constituents. In the House of Jefferson, it’s time we protect the people of Virginia from partisan preferences and incumbent protection. I join these Virginia leaders in urging the House to approve the measure this year.”

Yesterday's announcement of Alicia's Law got lots of press coverage, including this from the Virginian-Pilot:

"He hurt me so badly - my mind, body and soul," Kozakiewicz, now 19, told state lawmakers Wednesday during two committee hearings. "Inside I'm still that wounded little girl, whimpering and lost."

Kozakiewicz is sharing her story and lobbying politicians to spend more money to fight sexual exploitation of children, a crime fueled by the increasing popularity of the Internet, which makes sharing videos and images easy for criminals.

She is helping push an $18.9 million proposal to expand Virginia law enforcement efforts to go after sexual predators.

Introduced by Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria, and State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, the legislation, called Alicia's Law, proposes spending $6 million to create three state forensic computer labs - including one in Hampton Roads - to investigate and prosecute sex crimes against children.

The bill would also appropriate $3 million to existing state child pornography task forces and $4.5 million for grants to local law enforcement agencies.

An additional $1.25 million would go to the state attorney general's office for additional prosecutors and support staff.

Stories also ran in these news outlets: Richmond NBC 12, Roanoke News 7, and ABC Virginia.

ABC Richmond had more on the story:

Moran said the lack of resources at the federal, state and local levels means that only about 2 percent of reported cases of Internet child exploitation are investigated. And while Virginia has tough penalties for those who sexually abuse children, Moran said they mean nothing unless the predator is caught.

"Alicia's Law" would direct $3.8 million to expanding Virginia's two Internet Crimes Against Children task forces, which are part of a federal network to help state and local law enforcement agencies hunt down and prosecute child sexual predators. The new funding would establish a cyber unit in each county.

Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, who heads a task force in southwest and central Virginia known as Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, said agencies nationwide have made more than 11,000 arrests in the past eight years.

"We could make double that, triple, 10 times if we had the manpower and the funds to work these cases," Brown said.

From Oct. 1, 2006 to Aug. 31, 2007, the task forces received more than 18,000 complaints of Internet child exploitation, Brown said. Those complaints led to more than 2,000 arrests.

They also led to the forensic examination of more than 9,000 computers, creating a backlog officials say holds up investigations and keeps predators behind the keyboard. The proposal includes $6 million for creating three regional forensic labs that would focus only on child exploitation cases.

It also includes $4.5 million in grants for local law enforcement agencies, $1.5 million for new prosecutors and training, and another $500,000 for Internet safety education.

Today Brian announced a new initiative to combat child predators: “Alicia’s Law.” From the press release:

Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) was joined by Alicia and Mary Kozakiewicz, Bedford Sheriff Mike Brown and the National Association to Protect Children to announce “Alicia’s Law” (HB1189) named after Alicia Kozakiewicz – the 13 year old girl who was abducted by an internet predator, held hostage, and tortured in his Virginia basement. “Alicia’s Law” will create a strong statewide network of highly trained law enforcement to track down and arrest child sex predators. Delegate Beverley Sherwood (R-Winchester) is chief co-patron of the initiative.

“Child Sex predators not only invade our homes and our lives, they trample on our most important and basic virtue – the innocence of our children. We can and must take aggressive steps to crack down on these predators,” said Delegate Moran. “As the father of two young children, I know parents no longer only worry about an intruder breaking into their home, or a prowler on the street, they have to worry about the predator who logs into their home every night.” Approximately one in five children who use the Internet regularly received a sexual solicitation online in the last year.

Read the whole release.

The Washington Post reported on the initiative:

Alicia Kozakiewicz was 13 when she was abducted and assaulted in a Herndon basement by a man she met online. Four days after her disappearance, a team of law enforcement officers who specialize in cybercrime tracked her down.

Kozakiewicz, now 19, will be in Richmond on Wednesday for the presentation of a proposal, called Alicia's Law, that would provide state money to a pair of law enforcement task forces, including one in Northern Virginia, that target online criminals who are involved in pornography and lure children into one-on-one meetings.

"A child is worth it,'' Kozakiewicz said in an interview from her home in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. "You can't put a price on a child."

Dels. Brian J. Moran (D-Alexandria) and Beverly J. Sherwood (R-Frederick) will announce the proposal, which includes setting aside $18 million in the next two-year budget to combat online crimes against children.

Moran and Sherwood, along with Kozakiewicz and experts from across the state, will announce the proposal at a news conference Wednesday morning. Later, Kozakiewicz will meet with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).

About one in every five children who used the Internet regularly received a sexual solicitation in the past year, according to a study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Experts from the Justice Department and the FBI testified recently before Congress that child exploitation continues to grow rapidly.

Virginia is facing a $600 million budget shortfall this year, and an economic downturn is expected to make the next two-year budget tight. Some House Republican leaders have expressed skepticism about funding any new programs, but this proposal has the backing of Sherwood, who heads the subcommittee on public safety appropriations.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran made the following statement after legislation to repeal the Abusive Driver Fee’s passed the House Transportation Committee today (HB649). Delegate Moran has been a vocal and consistent opponent of the fees since their introduction and first called for their repeal last summer. He introduced legislation to repeal the fees in the 2008 session (HB1188).

“The abusive driver fees should never have been created and I’ve been proud to consistently oppose them. As a former prosecutor, I know we can’t use our police officers as tax collectors. Research has clearly shown theses fees do not raise the revenue needed for transportation and they fail to improve safety on our roadways.

I’m very pleased at the strong bipartisan support for repealing these fees and look forward to its passage in the full House next week.”

Virginia House Democrats hold a press conference to announce their Military Veterans & Personnel Bill of Rights.

Democrats in Virginia announced a new Military Veterans & Personnel Bill of Rights to provide state income tax breaks to National Guard troops, give our troops access to the Virginia government’s life insurance program, and allow troops and their spouses to freeze access to their credit reports while they’re overseas to prevent identity theft.

Del. Brian Moran, chairman of the house Democratic caucus, and Del. Joe Bouchard, D-Virginia Beach, announced the effort in a news conference. Moran said the bill would codify an executive order by Gov. Tim Kaine to make up the difference in pay for state employees activated to military duty for which they earn a smaller salary.

...

“This is an area where I believe the federal government is not doing what needs to be done,” said Moran, who represents Alexandria.

Similar measures were put into place by an executive order by then Gov. Mark Warner, but

...since executive orders can be changed, this bill would write that provision into the state code. In addition, state workers who end up serving longer than 90 days would qualify for supplemental pay, said Moran.

Virginia blog Raising Kaine dubbed the bill, “taking care of our soldiers.”

Brian was also named New Dem of the Week by the Democratic Leadership Council for this proposal.

Delegate Moran understands that Iraq is the most intense and prolonged combat our troops have seen since Vietnam. They and their families deserve our full support both during and after their service, which is why he will propose this legislation to the 2008 General Assembly.

Click here to read the full press release.

The announcement that Brian is forming a new political action committee has really got people talking.

Tim Craig at The Washington Post writes,

[Brian] is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and took a leading role last year in helping Democrats pick up four seats in the Republican-controlled House. Moran, 48, brother of U.S. Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), has a base in Northern Virginia but has spent years wooing party activists downstate.

Democrats are seeking to retain an office they have held since Mark R. Warner captured the governorship in 2001.

Tyler Whitley at the Times-Dispatch notes that,

Moran will have the high-powered backing of two longtime confidants to former Gov. Mark R. Warner, who is the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

Mame Reiley will direct Moran’s PAC, “Virginians for Brian Moran.” Steve Jarding, who helped craft Warner’s successful rural strategy in 2001 when Warner was elected governor, is a general consultant.

And judging by the comments on this post on Raising Kaine, Virginian’s are excited about continuing to work with Brian.

Huge News. Steve Jarding was the guy that made the last candidate from Alexandria winnable all across Virginia. He can do it again. The Warner connection here isn’t surprising.

I also think that Brian and Warner have been friends for years. I remember Brian told the story a few years ago of his first run for the House. He recalled that while he was a prosecutor he went to dinner with Warner. Warner urged Brian to run for delegate. That was before Warner ran for Senate or Governor. Then all through the administration Brian was Warner’s right-hand in the legislature. This is a great logical next step for Brian.

As you may have already heard, today Brian created a new political action committee – Virginians for Brian Moran – to help him explore a run for Governor in 2009. He will not be making any formal announcement until after the General Assembly session but this committee will allow him to organize and prepare for a campaign. Brian’s excited that former Warner Political Director, Mame Reiley, will be joining staff as Director of the new PAC and former Warner and Webb campaign manager, Steve Jarding, will join as General Consultant.

Read full entry »

Brian hosted a holiday party last Sunday at Gadsby’s Tavern and Museum in Old Town Alexandria to celebrate the close of 2007, and to ring in 2008 which promises to be another great year for Virginia Democrats. A few hundred of Brian’s friends came out to celebrate, and by all accounts a good time was had by all. Vivian Paige was there and blogged that “This was a fun event and it was great to put some faces with names and to see some folks again,” a sentiment that Karen Duncan agreed with on her blog. Lowell from Raising Kaine wasn’t able to make it, but he did post some great photos shot by Hanh Deniston.

You can see more photos from the holiday party on our Flickr page.

Special note: Thanks to ALEX PAC in Alexandria, Virginia, which made the bumper stickers and distributed them at the holiday party. They were a huge success. Brian’s going to continue focusing on the legislative session first but certainly appreciates the encouragement. ALEX PAC was founded by a group of Alexandria Democrats back in 2001 to support Mark Warner for Governor and now has turned their focus on Brian.