The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has been heavily featured in news reports nationwide following the release of our 2010 strategic planning memorandum.

This, of course, is the final election cycle before redistricting takes place. And with November fast approaching, local and national media are starting to take notice of the DLCC’s efforts on behalf of Democratic legislative candidates.

In addition to a lengthy Associated Press article that was picked up by many of the national papers, other media outlets have begun exploring how our strategic choices will effect local races in key states like Texas, New York, Ohio, Nevada, and North Carolina.

We’ve also been the subject of at least one local TV report, by Indianapolis-based CBS affiliate WISH TV:

The Virginia political scene was recently rocked by reports of Republican Delegate Bob Marshall’s news conference in which he said that children born with disabilities were God’s punishment for women who’ve ever ended a pregnancy:

State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy. (...)

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children," said Marshall, a Republican.

"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."

Even more outrageous than the remarks themselves, Marshall used them to support a bill he sponsored to cut off state funding for an organization that provides low-cost pre-natal health care for women – exactly the sort of care that can prevent complications during pregnancy, including some birth defects.

Amazingly, Marshall still refuses to apologize for what he said. Marshall told the Washington Post that he “regret[s] any misimpression” he “may have created,” but just two days later he threw a tantrum and denied he ever said such a thing. He now claims the words “never came from my mouth,” and that the media keeps repeating the story "without anyone producing the smoking-gun tape.”

But we have the tape, provided through the Staunton News Leader website, and we think it speaks for itself.

So listen for yourself, and then sign our petition calling for Bob Marshall to resign from the legislature.

Georgia and Florida have been something of a Petri dish for Republican corruption lately. Both states’ Republican House Speakers resigned in disgrace in the last few months, and both of their replacements as Speaker are already involved in some ethically shady dealings.

We start in Florida, where the Republicans’ Speaker-Elect has lost millions of dollars in bad financial deals -- and he appears to be skimming off the top of his campaign account to make ends meet:

[Rep. Chris] Dorworth financed his bid to become speaker through his reelection campaign fund and his political committee, Citizens for an Enterprising Democracy. A good portion -- more than 30 percent, or $40,000-plus -- went to his pocket for reimbursements in the past two years, records show.

Among the recent expenses: A $600 flight to Miami for the Super Bowl and a $527 stay at the luxury Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

In defending himself against charges that he went gallivanting around the state on his supporters' dime, Dorworth told a reporter -- and this is true -- “I clearly don't gallivant. . . . I'm not a gallivanter.''

Regardless, he really should send a letter to each of his campaign donors letting them know how much fun he had at the Big Game. They would want to know what their money is buying.

Meanwhile, over in Georgia, new Speaker David Ralston is raising eyebrows for accepting over $1,200 in free meals in the month of January, all paid for by lobbyists:

Reports to the State Ethics Commission show lobbyists spent about twice as much on Ralston in January as they did on Glenn Richardson, the man he replaced, during the same month last year.

Lobbyists disclosed spending $1,225, or about $40 a day, on Ralston in January, mostly for meals and refreshments. (…)

Last January, before he was the House leader, Ralston was treated to two lunches, worth $43.35, by lobbyists.

If Ralston maintains that pace all year, he’ll receive nearly $15,000 in free meals from lobbyists. By comparison, that’s almost as much as his base salary as a State Representative ($17,342, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures). An arrangement like that raises real questions about what these lobbyists are getting in return.

In North Carolina, GOP State Sen. Jim Forrester is in hot water over a set of remarks he made this week. His speech at a Iredell County Young Republicans seemed like it contained nothing but insults:

He said:

"Slick city lawyers and homosexual lobbies and African American lobbies are running Raleigh."

He told the crowd that the reason Republicans didn't win back the legislature in 2008 came down to one thing:

Forrester said that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama's 2008 campaign invigorated an erstwhile disconnected bloc of the electorate.

"It brought a lot of blacks out who don't normally vote," he said.

And as the News & Observer reports, he also used the occasion to insult his colleagues:

Forrester cited Sen. Julia Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat and the first openly gay lawmaker, as evidence of a liberal agenda in Raleigh. Forrester dropped a thinly veiled reference to Democratic state Sen. R.C. Soles as someone who Forrester said is rumored to be gay.

Boseman and Soles do not plan to seek re-election.

"And I say good riddance to them," Forrester said.

The remarks were so out of line that even Sen. Mitch Berger -- the chamber's GOP Leader -- won't stand by them:

I don’t agree with the remarks that have been attributed to Sen. Forrester,” Berger said. “I have not talked to Sen. Forrester about that. You probably need to talk to him about whether he should apologize or not.

Though Sen. Berger won't call on Sen. Forrester to apologize, the North Carolina Democratic Party has done just that.

Almost a year after he was indicted on felony charges of corruption, former Florida GOP Speaker Ray Sansom is finally leaving the legislature.

He resigned on Sunday:

The move, rendered in a letter hand-delivered by Sansom's attorney to the Capitol shortly before 8 p.m., ends a legislative career that once put Sansom near the apex of Florida politics but unraveled in scandal as he took a job at Northwest Florida State College on the same day in November 2008 that he was sworn in as House speaker.

Sansom, R-Destin, did not acknowledge wrongdoing, but said he was stepping down out of love for the House. The resignation was effective immediately.

Despite Sansom's refusual to acknowledge wrongdoing, the House Ethics committees was prepared move forward with a hearing which would have laid out the case against him in full.

That's off now that Sansom has resigned -- which is probably good news for lots of Republicans (like former Speaker Marco Rubio, who made Sanson his budget chief).

One GOP lawmaker it doesn't help is the next Speaker -- Rep. Chris Dorworth. Dorworth made news this week for dipping into his campaign funds to pay for a $600 flight to the Super Bowl and a $527 visit at the luxury Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.

The reason the future Speaker is using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses? He owes $2.7 million in legal fees for a bad business deal.

Something unprecedented happened over the weekend in Virginia when a Republican former Delegate, who served in the legislature for over 30 years, endorsed the Democratic candidate he once defeated in one of his re-election campaigns:

Former Republican delegate James H. Dillard II, who served as Virginia's 41st District House delegate from 1972 to 2005, endorsed Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democratic lobbyist who served as an adviser to two former Virginia Democratic governors.

Dillard defeated Filler-Corn in 1999 in a hotly contested race for the 41st House District, which is in Fairfax County and includes the areas of Burke, Fairfax Station and Springfield.

The 41st House seat opened up again when Sen. David W. Marsden (D-Fairfax), who succeeded Dillard in 2005, defeated Republican Stephen M. "Steve" Hunt by 324 votes in a Senate special election in mid-January. He resigned his House seat a day later.

Filler-Corn is now the Democratic nominee in the special election to fill Sen. Marsden’s House seat, to be held March 2nd.

Cross-party endorsements are rare but not unheard-of, especially in state politics. But none of us can ever remember a situation like this happening before. In a statement announcing the endorsement, Dillard praised Filler-Corn for her honesty, civic commitment, and her strong support for Virginia’s public schools:

“As a Republican I am willing to cross party lines to support a moderate who cares strongly about providing excellent educational opportunities for our children in our public schools and institutions of higher learning. Unlike her opponent, who believes we spend 'excessive' amounts on public education, Eileen will fight to get our fair share of education dollars…”

For more information about Eileen Filler-Corn or to help with her campaign, visit eileenfordelegate.com.

We've become accustomed to hearing ridiculous statements from the likes of Virginia Republican State Delegate Bob Marshall. After all, this is a man who last year compared the federal economic recovery package to slavery, and who once said "[S]ometimes incest is voluntary" when talking about abortion.

But Marshall's newest rant is shockingly offensive, even for him:

State Delegate Bob Marshall of Manassas says disabled children are God's punishment to women who have aborted their first pregnancy.

Speaking at a press conference over the weekend, Marshall told reporters:

"The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children."

"In the Old Testament, the first born of every being, animal and man, was dedicated to the Lord. There's a special punishment Christians would suggest."

At the event, Marshall announced that he would sponsor a bill to eliminate state funding for Planned Parenthood in Virginia.

Perhaps we should have said this more directly when we told you about an Oklahoma legislator who wants to ban divorce for many couples: The government forcing people to stay married when they no longer want to be is a very, very bad idea:

[Republican State Senator Michelle] McManus is the sole sponsor of SB 1127 which would eliminate ‘no fault divorce’ for couples with children or where one member does not consent to the divorce. (…)

Under the McManus bill those seeking divorce would be required to allege specific problems such as adultery, physical abuse, imprisonment, physical incompetence at time of marriage, or that a spouse had sex with an animal or dead human body.

McManus and the bill’s culture-warrior supporters claim it will help reduce divorce rates in Michigan. But people who study the issue of divorce say the bill’s passage “would be an unmitigated disaster” for families -- and especially children -- caught up in a divorce:

Family law experts, however, say the legislation will only make divorces harder on families and children because parents will be forced to invent allegations of abuse and mistreatment in order to justify the divorce.

Michael A. Robbins is current President of the Michigan Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Robbins said that Michigan repealed fault divorces in 1972 because the process created needless hostility, collusion and perjury — people would make up stories of abuse to get out of their marriages.

Indeed.

When will Republicans learn to stop forcing government into the middle of people’s personal lives?

Like many state governments, Utah is grappling with a budget shortfall. That will require lawmakers to make tough choices when it comes how to spend taxpayer money.

But one proposed cut seems particularly absurd, even by Republican standards.

GOP State Sen. Chris Buttars actually pitched the idea that the state should stop paying for 12th grade.

Predictably, the suggestion has caused something of an uproar:

Buttars has since toned down the idea, suggesting instead that senior year become optional for students who complete their required credits early. He estimated the move could save up to $60 million, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

This isn't the first time that Buttars has made national news. The Republican senator also made headlines for suggesting that gay men and women are "the greatest threat to America."

We would say that Republicans ought to move on to other matters, but apparently, that's not such a good idea either.

The Republican-dominated legislature in Utah has found yet another particularly stupid way to waste its time.

This month, the state House of Representatives debated and passed a resolution, disputing the scientific basis for climate change:

The original version of the bill dismissed climate science as a "well organised and ongoing effort to manipulate and incorporate "tricks" related to global temperature data in order to produce a global warming outcome". It accused those seeking action on climate change of riding a "gravy train" and their efforts would "ultimately lock billions of human beings into long-term poverty".

The final resolution toned down some of the more overheated rhetoric, but still managed to insist climate science was "questionable" and demanded that the federal Environmental Protection Agency abandon its efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The move by the EPA has conservatives across the country in a tizzy.

In recent days, GOP policymakers in Texas and Virginia have issued similar requests, asking that the federal agency reconsider its very basic finding that greenhouse gases cause climate change, which in turn poses a major threat to public health.