The Knucklehead of the Day award

Today's winner is Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine. He gets the award for the following.

RICHMOND -- Seeking to ease the frustration voiced by some families of the Virginia Tech massacre victims, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Saturday promised them full and complete access to his panel that is investigating the tragedy.

Kaine spent more than two hours behind closed doors with about 60 people representing some 20 families of Tech shooting victims.
*****

Just exactly how the families will speak to the governor's review panel - through a liaison or something more fluid - remains to be worked out, he said.

In a statement earlier this month, 13 families said they felt shut out of the process. Some demanded a seat on the eight-member panel, which Kaine handpicked. The group is chaired by Gerald Massengill, the retired state police superintendent.

*****

Kaine has resisted calls to expand the panel beyond eight members to include the victims' families. He compared it to a trial jury, whose members are impartial because they have no connection to the crime. That doesn't mean the victim is ignored, but it means the victim does not sit in judgment.

The governor repeated Saturday that he would not change the panel's makeup.

Rather, he said, he wants to be flexible in giving access. Some family members want a private audience. Others are willing to publicly communicate, and still others don't wish to speak.

He said the families would have "full access" for their questions and recommendations.

As I blogged before, I feel the families deserve a seat on the committee. They have lost so much, they deserve to be heard. Its one seat, how thats going to interfere with any investigation is beyond. This is just political and bureaucratic stupidity being inflicted on people who deserve better, and that makes Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine today's Knucklehead of the Day.

Linked to- Adam, Amboy Times, Big Dog, Blue Star, Cao, Church and State, Jo, Leaning Straight Up, Maggie, Morewhat, Perri Nelson, Pirate's Cove, Point Five, Pursuing Holiness, Random Yak, Right Wing Nation, Samantha Burns, StikNstein, Third World County, Webloggin, The World According to Carl, Yankee Sailor,