Citizens get the word out about REAL ID to their Virginia legislators on VETO Day.

Jo Whistler
Wac News VA
4/25/08

Seven citizens traveled from as far away as Alberta and the Virginia Beach oceanfront to distribute the booklets REAL ID: Real Tyranny along with an information packet and a letter from one of those citizens and his wife to their state legislators in Richmond on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, the morning of the special session of the General Assembly that had been called by Governor Kaine.
Most legislators were moving toward the Capitol building for their Democratic and Republican caucuses later that morning, but a few of them - Delegates Adam Ebbin (49th District) , Tom Gear (91st) , Dwight Jones (70th) , Bob Mathieson (21st) , Brenda Pogge (96th) , Albert Pollard (99th) , Terrie Suit (81st) and Senator Emmett Hanger (24th) - were available and listened to citizens' concerns about REAL ID. Legislative aide Nathan Vassar interrupted his lunch to hear out one of the activists.
During this lobbying process, legislators and their aides were shown the letter from Virginia's Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to Darrell Williams of the REAL ID office of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Commissioner of Virginia's DMV did what Governor Kaine and the Virginia General Assembly did not do: he requested and received an extension of the implementation of REAL ID for the state of Virginia which expires December 31, 2009. In his letter, the Commissioner specified that his request should not be interpreted as the Commonwealth's acceptance of the rule nor the Commonwealth's intent to comply with REAL ID.
Support was provided by Allan Neal, who dedicated this website to combating REAL ID in Virginia and printed out the books REAL ID: Real Tyranny; Aaron Bolinger, the Director for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the National Veterans Committee on Constitutional Affairs (NVCCA) who wrote the book REAL ID: Real Tyranny with the NVCCA; members of WeAreCHANGEVirginia who have supported and sponsored activities to increase awareness of REAL ID in Virginia and citizens from around the state who have been contacting their legislators and voicing their opposition to REAL ID and the practice of tagging and tracking people without their knowledge and consent.
Virginians are urged to contact their legislators by phone, email and snail mail through the end of this year, so that a bill written in plain language prohibiting implementation of the REAL ID Act of 2005 and any version thereof can be introduced and swiftly enacted by the 2009 session of the General Assembly.
Mr. Darrell Williams' address is
REAL ID Program Office
Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528.