As always, we here at the Odd Dominion would like to take a moment to pause and reflect back over the previous year of political absurdity before we charge wildly into the next. And in keeping with tradition, we once again present our misty-colored memories in the form of a multiple choice quiz. Play along at home, won’t you?
1. Prince William Delegate Bob Marshall began the year by introducing a flurry of proposed legislation. Which of his following proposals actually made it into law?
a) A bill that would criminalize “sex-selective” abortions.
b) A bill to study the feasibility of Virginia issuing its own “gold and silver coin.”
c) Three separate bills that would allow insurance providers to deny women contraception coverage.
d) A bill that would require every school in the Commonwealth to designate at least one “qualified person” to carry a concealed handgun on school property.
e) None of the above.
2. How did Virginia’s Senate Republicans celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day last year?
a) By issuing a proclamation commemorating the lives of Richard and Mildred Loving, the interracial couple whose Supreme Court case ended anti-miscegenation laws in America.
b) By hosting a public screening of the acclaimed PBS civil rights documentary “Eyes on the Prize.”
c) By passing a resolution condemning the celebration of Lee–Jackson Day on the Friday before MLK Day as “grossly inappropriate.”
d) By exploiting the absence of a black Democratic senator (who was in Washington, D.C. for President Obama’s inauguration) to ram through a partisan redistricting scheme.
3. Which of the following gifts given to Bob and Maureen McDonnell by dietary supplement peddler Jonnie Williams was actually declared in campaign filings by the governor?
a) A $15,000 catered dinner for daughter Cailin McDonnell’s wedding
b) $100,000-plus in free air travel
c) A $6,500 Rolex
d) A $15,000 Bergdorf Goodman shopping spree
4. Which of the following facts about Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe is not true?
a) He once wrestled an alligator in exchange for a political donation.
b) He left his wife and newborn son in the back of a limo to attend a fundraiser hosted by the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters.
c) His nickname among Bill and Hillary Clinton’s inner circle is “Dr. Moneybags.”
d) He once invested money with an individual who profited by taking out life insurance annuities on terminal patients.
5. Which one of the following statements was not made by Republican Lieutenant Governor nominee E. W. Jackson?
a) “The idea that Barack Obama is a Christian is laughable. [He] has the sensibilities… of an atheist and a Muslim.”
b) “Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.”
c) “I do not believe that birth defects are caused by parents’ sin. I do not believe that yoga leads to Satanism.”
d) “We are not going to be defending our running mates’ statements, now or in the future.”
6. When Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli declared that “there are some bells you can’t unring,” to what was he referring?
a) His unsuccessful push to reinstitute Virginia’s ban on consensual sodomy.
b) His acceptance of $55,000 in tainted contributions from one “Bobby Thompson” (real name John Donald Cody), who was recently sentenced to 28 years in prison for running a fake U.S. Navy Veterans charity.
c) His refusal to return over $18,000 in gifts from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams.
d) His losing campaign for governor.
Answers: 1: e; 2: b; 3: d; 4: c; 5: d (this statement was made by Ken Cuccinelli); 6: c.
Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, bi-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics.