The Virginia Public Access Project has been committed to providing transparency on money in Virginia politics since 1997. Their service, in general, is outstanding with not only tracking money, but also reporting on elections, showing results, and, all-in-all, being a wealth of non-partisan information.
As a non-profit organization, the organization has a governing board that oversees its strategic direction and fulfills a fiduciary responsibility. The board is entirely voluntary. However, sometimes there are names on the board that are just interesting.
In the most recent case, four new board members were appointed and two reappointed.
“From the start, we’ve worked hard to develop a board that brings a variety of perspectives to money in politics — lobbyists, academics, former journalists, ex-legislators, etc. What they all have in common is a shared commitment to political transparency,” wrote the de facto founder, former reporter, and executive director of VPAP David Poole. “Our bylaws stipulate that VPAP is a nonpartisan organization with a balance of political perspectives on its Board. Like any nonprofit, the nominations committee is always scanning our needs in terms of skills and diversity.”
Earlier this year, I gave VPAP a bit of a hard time when I learned that Aneesh Chopra was named to the board. I probably was a bit quick on the trigger, particularly with his experience in technology. And, for this board election, three of the four new members are clearly affiliated with the GOP (balancing the earlier appointments).
That said, Margaret Edds, the former columnist and editorial writer with the Virginian-Pilot, has found a spot with VPAP.
One wonders what experience Edds brings to the table in managing an organization. But one doesn’t need to travel that far back to know her affinity for entitlements, a growing bureaucracy, and a desire for the government to be at the center of all the answers.
In a guest column for the Pilot, Edds advocates for the expansion of the Affordable Care Act using emotional examples and claiming that Virginia has opposed social programs in the past but later benefited. All the while, of course, failing to mention that our federal government is now $17 trillion in debt and growing due to these entitlements.
Nevertheless, VPAP welcomes Edds’ vision to its board that manages its fiduciary responsibilities.
“I’m fortunate to have a strong board — one that is fortunate to have these four new members,” said Poole.
I hope for Poole and VPAP’s sake that Edds’ performance on the board is better than what she desires for government…otherwise we can expect VPAP, instead of being a successful, privately-funded non-profit, to make efforts to become yet another government program. And we see how well that works:
8:40: Virginia State Board of Elections website WILL NOT LOAD. I’ve gotten zero results from them. Politico has given results. Every election … how frustrating.
Disclosure: I am a VPAP “Lightkeeper.”
