During this year’s session, only 30 members of the General Assembly submitted 15 or fewer bills. The average number submitted was 22; the mode was 18; the median 20.5. Bob Marshall topped out the list, with 75, followed by Mark Cole with 45, and a steady drop-off from there. 479 commendations were introduced in all (by my count). It’s true that this year was a budget session, while next year will be a regular session, but I’m not sure that particularly affects the bill counts, since budget amendments aren’t bills but, of course, amendments.

I have to wonder what the result of this limitation is going to be. Will we see a drastic result in commendations, license plate proposals, etc? Or will those be precisely the sort of feel-good pap that remains, with more complex proposals abandoned? It’s going to be tough to measure the result of this change meaningfully, but I intend to try.

Finally, Mr. Wade assisted the government in connection with inquiries relating to the activities of at least five other Members of Congress, numerous executive branch employees and several private contractors. Mr. Wade provided substantial assistance to the government in connection with its efforts to determine whether other Members of Congress were engaged in corruption similar to that of Mr. Cunningham. He has discussed potentially-corrupt political contributions, fundraising activities and other congressional activities with prosecutors on at least six occasions between September 2005 and May 2006.

Two of the Members of Congress about whom Mr. Wade was questioned by federal investigators and provided information have been described in the press as under corruption-related investigation by the government. Three others have come under scrutiny for their receipt of straw contribution funds provided by MZM employees, and, in one instance, for the possible receipt of undisclosed gifts of food and wine. While none of these individuals has, as of yet, been charged with a crime, Mr. Wade’s cooperation made it possible for the government to reach conclusions about the role of various Members of Congress in connection with MZM political fundraising.

The Post has picked up the story, too.

There’s been no further news about Goode’s role in this case for at least eighteen months, though I’ve periodically revisited the matter personally, trying to ascertain whether it was time to say that Goode probably hadn’t done anything wrong. But I’ve been reluctant to, in part because there’s been a drip-drip-drip of information about the whole MZM affair suggesting that the matter isn’t over. Based on this sentencing memo, it looks like that’s right—Goode not off the hook yet.

Perriello is proceeding with his transition, planning to start his new job as Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) come January.

I’m just going to write that one more time: Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). Oh. That’s nice.

Just this past summer, some friends and I agreed to shut down our website on its 10th anniversary, a Dave Matthews Band fan site. It had an excellent run, with millions of visits, over a hundred thousand regular readers, and a vibrant community. But the lot of us running it had long since ceased to be 19-year-old DMB fans. Between Wikipedia, blogs, and official band websites, fan sites just don’t fill a purpose anymore. We were all done a few years ago, but didn’t realize it.

The kids at Raising Kaine say they’re done, and they know best. Like The Police, they went out at the top of their game.

Surely somebody out there thinks that Frederick isn’t a liar, and is willing to back that up with some cash. Who’s game?

McAuliffe is no threat to Deeds. But he’s a disaster for Moran. McAuliffe and Moran will be fighting over the same primary votes, while Deeds can work on getting a plurality. Terry McAuliffe may be the best thing to happen for Creigh Deeds in a while.

All of Virginia politics is a-twitter with former RPV executive director J. Kenneth Klinge’s call for Jeff Frederick’s resignation. Klinge argues, in a nutshell, that Frederick has failed the very standards to which he held John Hager, the man he successfully challenged for the position of RPV chair. He calls for Frederick’s ouster, to be replaced by… Well, nobody seems to know. But if there’s one thing that the base will be able to agree on, it’ll be somebody farther to the right of Frederick, squishy centrist that he is.

The increasingly-ironically-named Republican “Advance” is coming up—first weekend in December—which the RPV holds at The Homestead to really hammer home the point that they’re the party of rich white men. (They’re having a heck of a time selling tickets this year, so they’ve extended the reservation deadline from last Sunday to to Friday afternoon…with the caveat that, really, you can register any time between now and the event itself.) That’s where all of this will go down. Either Frederick will hold onto his seat through the support of the dead-enders—and that’s clearly what I’m rooting for—or he’ll get tossed out. But he’s not going to go quietly. If he loses his leadership position (one that’s apparently so important to Virginia Republicans that it warrants putting Frederick on par with AG McDonnell and LG Bolling), note that he’ll have made it just six months, four months less than Hager managed to hang onto the position.

The RPV is no longer about anything. It’s about a battle between regular Republicans and so-scary-they’re-harmless Republicans. It’s about power. It’s about surviving. (As Norm Leahy asked today, “quick…what does the GOP hope to accomplish in the next session?”)

Why are McDonnell and Bolling running unchallenged? For the same reason that there’s not much competition in the canine outhouse business—they’re selling product that people don’t want. Kaine was able to get the Democratic nomination without much fuss because there wasn’t much faith that he could repeat Warner’s feat. Why fight over a a shot at losing? The growing scrum of Democrats for each statewide seat in 2009 is the other side of that coin; everybody wants a shot at victory.

So, sure, bring on the fight over the RPV chairmanship. The Honeymooners comes to mind:

Ralph: I’m the king, and you’re nothin’?
Alice: Well, that would make you the king of nothin’?

McAuliffe has not yet decided if he will run, saying he is first visiting all parts of Virginia and listening to residents before making a decision in January.

“It’s not whether I could win or not,” McAuliffe said. “For me, it’s about whether I could get things done.”

And that’s the problem. He might could get the nomination, but he’d sure as shootin’ lose the election.

McAuliffe spoke at the Albemarle County Democratic BBQ a couple of months ago. While he was up on stage, I was talking to a friend about him. My friend, David, was enthusiastic about McAuliffe’s candidacy. He’d talked with McAuliffe at the JJ Dinner, and David was enthusiastic about McAuliffe’s experience and energy. A little surprised, I asked if perhaps McAuliffe’s total lack of involvement with Virginia at any point in his career wasn’t a disqualifier. David looked confused. “Virginia?” he asked. “I thought he was running for governor of New York.”

He won’t be supporting McAuliffe for governor.

When somebody created a Wikipedia entry for me a couple of years ago, I adhered to Wikipedia standards and refrained from editing it. (I might be the world’s leading expert on me, but I can hardly be neutral in my viewpoint.) I asked that somebody propose that it be deleted, since I’m not a notable figure. Somebody did so, and Wikipedia editors agreed that I wasn’t up to snuff.

5pm Update: I totally overhauled the entry. The puffery is gone, it’s stripped down to the facts that I could verify (and a couple that I couldn’t), everything is footnoted, and it is now completely neutral. Much better.