Mark Herring does so much for us here in Loudoun from the Virginia Senate that many of his accomplishments for the wider commonwealth get under-reported and under-appreciated here in his home county. Given some of the things in the news, I thought it might be nice to post something positive for a change, and Sen. Herring’s service to Virginia’s veterans seemed an obvious choice.
Sen. Herring Awarding the Virginia National Guard a Commendation Resolution.
For example, Sen. Herring is the Co-Chair of the Virginia National Guard Caucus in the General Assembly, and has been instrumental in making financial help for veterans easier to provide. During the 2010 Session, Senator Herring sponsored and passed legislation that exempts payments to individuals from the Virginia Military Family Relief Fund from state income tax.
He has stood up for the rights of our veterans and their families. In 2008, he sponsored and passed the Virginia Military Parents Equal Protection Act, which protects military parents from losing important child custody and visitation rights as a result of their deployment out of the Commonwealth. And in 2011, he sponsored and passed a bill to enhance the Military Parents Equal Protection Act by allowing deployed military parents to delegate their visitation rights with children to a member of their family while they are stationed overseas. Indeed, Sen. Herring supports the service of all military families.
Now those are Virginia family values.
None of this should be a surprise, however, given the fact that Leesburg’s own Company C, 3rd Batallion, 116th Infantry Division of the National Guard has been deployed into a war zone during his tenure in office. Sen. Herring has always stood with his neighbors, regardless of whether or not they are sent to the other side of the world.
And as a final note, the most important words in this post are probably “and passed.” Sen. Herring has shown a remarkable ability to actually get things through the General Assembly and signed into law. In this era of partisan gridlock and dysfunction in Richmond, Sen. Herring has done what others have failed to do: created consensus and accomplished the business of the people.
These are among the many reasons he will do an excellent job continuing to serve in the Senate. Vote November 8th!