Lots to talk about today.

We could go negative.  We could talk about the NFL’s asinine new “no bags” policy, the demise of the Washington Examiner, or the invasive PRISM policy (and America’s apparent apathy at the continued erosion of privacy rights).

But let’s stay positive.  Today, under a beautiful blue sky, about 4,000 runners and walkers turned out for the “Purple Striders” 5K for Pancreatic Cancer Survivors.  I was there with over a hundred friends.

A word of background:  many years ago, before law school, I was a teacher in Osaka, Japan, teaching English to Japanese children.  This was pre-Internet Age, i.e. the early Nineties. When you lived overseas in those days, you had no contact with the USA.   You lived in a foreign world.

Inevitably, you became friends with other teachers:  Americans, Irish, British, Canadians, as well as with local Japanese.  We traveled, played sports and drank together.  (I joined a Japanese rugby team which played matches in the shadow of Osaka Castle).   Spending time with friends was our only entertainment.   There was no digital world.

Since that time, we have maintained an alumni network for those of us who lived in Osaka back “in the day” and their spouses, children, and friends.  Together, we have traveled back to Japan, taken a guided tour of Ireland, and spent weekends in Maine.

A few months ago, one of our number contracted pancreatic cancer.  Her husband and family summoned us to D.C. to run on “her team” in the Purple Striders 5K this Saturday.  From an initial email, an international movement happened.  When the smoke had cleared, we had 102 participants who had raised over $33,000 to run/walk the “The Purple Striders” race in her honor.

Last night we gathered at “The Public House” in Tenleytown to reminesce and toss back a few pre-race beers.  To get there, we came from the West Coast, from North Carolina, from Boston, from Fairfax City.  (Yes, that was my wife’s minivan parked on Wisconsin Ave.  Deal with it).

Fast and flat.  No, not me.  That was the course this morning down Pennsylvania Ave, past the Capitol, and back to Freedom Plaza.  Despite (because of?) the indignities from the night before, I felt good the whole way and finished in 22:38 for five kilometers.

More importantly, the Purple Striders was a chance to gather together and support a friend.  Kampai!

I just got back from the “John Fredericks Show,” after spending three hours on the air with Scott Surovell (D-Mt Vernon), Ben Tribbett (I-Outrageous) and Dave Sherfinski (R-Washington Times).  We walked through all the election results from tonight., while hammering down a couple pizzas.

Number One:  congratulations to Ralph Northam and Mark Herring, who each ran a great, winning race.  Ralph was especially impressive, coming up to NOVA and winning Fairfax County in the face of the talented and prodigiously connected Aneesh Chopra.  Mark built up margins around the Commonwealth, then hung on against a very determined Justin Fairfax who swept most the localities in Hampton Roads and nearly won Fairfax.

Northam will now face off against Bishop E.W. Jackson in the Lt. Governor race.  Or at least that’s the match-up today.  I have a feeling that there’s already some conversations underway on the Republican side to fold that hand and draw some new cards.

The other news was the defeat of Beverly Sherwood (R-Frederick) and Joe May (R-Leesburg) in party primaries.  Each went down after voting for the Governor’s transportation bill.

As I said on the radio, the election simply highlights the dilemma of Ken Cuccinelli.  Normally, he would be leading the charge against the new tax increases in the roads bill.  However, he’s boxed in because the concept was proposed by a REPUBLICAN Governor, who he is trying to succeed.

At some point, he has to decide if he’s running with (or against) the establishment.  Meanwhile, the Democrats are moving down the field with a united front.

Here’s the article in Virginia Lawyers Weekly.

For those of you who don’t know him, Senator Phil Puckett (D-Russell) represents the counties of the far Southwest, which are commonly referred to as “the coalfields.”  They are counties which are largely dependent on extractive industries which tap their natural resources.  In this day and age, the most lucrative is natural gas.

For years, there has been an ongoing controversy in southwest Virginia about large mining companies which either extract natural gas from existing coal beds (when they didn’t ask the owner for that right) or extract the natural gas from neighboring properties (when they have no right).  Landowners in southwest Virginia, who were losing revenue, got organized and filed lawsuits to protect their property rights from uncompensated drilling.

It might be a boring case, with minimal interest to outsiders.  However, the Attorney General’s office — allegedly the “People’s Champion” — has apparently decided to  provide  legal advice and assistance to the out-of-state natural gas companies (who can certainly afford their own legal help), not the Virginia property owners.

This revelation was sufficiently unusual to be deemed “shocking” by the Federal judge overseeing the natural gas cases.  And it provoked the request by Senator Puckett for an investigation into the AG’s role.

I don’t pretend to know the merits of the individual cases.  I do know that Senator Puckett is not a partisan shill and it would take a lot for him to take such a strong stand.  It’s also unusual for a Federal judge to comment publicly on the role of a public agency in a contested legal proceeding.  Usually those remarks are made in chambers.

The larger issue is this — the AG’s office is supposed to protect the rights of Virginia consumers, not seek ways to subvert them.