Update: How Far Will the GOP Go to Deny Health Care to Virginia's Poor? Pretty Damn Far.

Ex-State Senator Phillip P. Puckett

Update:  The Fight for Expanded Medicaid in Virginia
Back in April, I wrote a "Quick Note" article about the fight by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) to expand Medicaid under the ACA in order to provide health care for 400,000 of his state's poor:
http://whateyethynk-politics.blogspot.com/2014/04/quick-notes-aca-and-medicaid-expansion.html

I explained the empasse in Virginia this way:

Most of the states that have refused to expand Medicaid are completely in Republican hands--both legislature and governor.  But one fight is different.  Virginia's Governor Terry McAuliffe (D), is trying to expand Medicaid for 400,000 poor Virginians who fall into the ACA coverage gap--people who cannot afford the ACA but are not quite poor enough to qualify for Medicaid as it currently stands in Virginia. Mr. McAuliffe  is facing Republicans in Virginia's House of Delegates who say they are willing to shut down the entire state government in order avoid the expansion.  The Governor even proposed a two-year trial expansion--the period when the federal government would pick up 100% of the cost--which could be canceled if it was unsuccessful.  The Republican led House Appropriations Committee killed it in committee.

With a deadline of June 30 looming, (if no budget is passed by then, the state of Virginia will effectively close), the Hold-the-Budget-Hostage-Over-Medicaid fight just got a little dirtier. The Republican dominated House of Delegates refused to consider the budget if the healthcare provision was included.  The Virginia Senate, which was split evenly with 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats could not muster a majority.  Republicans decided the solution was to bow to the gods of dirty politics; all they needed was a Democrat who was willing to play their game. 

Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported that Virginia's Republicans had found a willing participant in State Senator Phillip P. Puckett (D).   You see, Mr. Puckett has a daughter, one Martha Ketron, and Ms. Ketron wants to be a Juvenile Court judge.  It was reported that, if Mr. Puckett would resign, Virginia's Senate Republicans would be only to happy to make sure that happens.  In order to sweeten the deal, and in acknowledgement that Mr. Puckett would be voluntarily giving up a well-paying gig as State Senator, Terry G. Kilgore (R), a member of the House of Delegates and chairman of Virginia's Tobacco Commission, canceled a meeting on Wednesday in order to "interview" Mr. Puckett for the position of deputy director of the Tobacco Commission.  

That weekend news report resulted in swift and vehement backlash against Mr. Puckett.  Mr. Kilgore called the attacks on Mr. Puckett "reprehensible."

Perhaps, but the fact remains that Mr. Puckett did formally resign from the Virginia Senate on Monday, leaving his district--one of the poorest in the state and one that would greatly benefit from the passage of a budget that included the Medicaid expansion--without representation while handing the Republicans a 20-19 majority.  With no chance of a special election happening before the June 30 budget deadline, the Senate can now remove Governor McAuliffe's health care provision and forward the neutered budget to the House of Delegates for their approval.  Governor McAuliffe would then find himself in the unenviable position of vetoing the budget and closing his state down or of signing the budget thus leaving 400,000 Virginians without healthcare.

The only hope left seems to be three moderate Senate Republicans who previously had indicated they were open to supporting the Medicaid expansion.  Now that their party holds a slim majority, however, they have been silent about whether they will continue their support or give in to party loyalties.

Ex-State Senator Phillip P. Puckett's obvious self-serving resignation puts him beneath contempt and the fellow-Virginians he pledged to serve are left at the mercy of a state GOP that appears to have given up even the pretense of fair and honest governing with their convoluted yet obvious machinations.  

As one pundit remarked:  "Imagine what would be possible if conservative policymakers invested this much effort in actually helping working families."

Imagine indeed.