The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

An Inspector General interim report released on July 28 found that the Department of Defense investigation of the accidental electrocution of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth revealed that Kellog, Brown, and Root (KBR) did not know about the electrical hazards prior to Maseth’s death. However, at a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cali.) disclosed documents obtained by the Committee which show that a soldier notified KBR of the electrical problems well before Maseth’s death. (more…)

Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) asks Tom Bruni, theater engineering and construction manager for Kellogg, Brown, and Root (KBR), a contracting company in Iraq, who is responsible for the negligence that lead to the electrocutions of soldiers in Iraq. (2:06)

 

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Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) says that there was a dramatic contrast between the number of subpoenas issued by Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) during the Clinton administration and by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) during the Bush administration, saying that a lack of oversight over the last six years has allowed for the executive branch to be secretive without interference. (0:40)

 

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At the second of a two-day hearing on how reduced Medicaid funding may impact trauma center emergency response, Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) says that the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has been “conflating the issues of Medicaid reimbursements and terrorism preparedness” which “simultaneously simplifies and obscures both issues.” (0:59)

 

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