Life is a State of Mind

There are so many, many ways Delegate Robert Marshall embarrasses the voters of the 13th district. He is usually in the running for sponsoring the most failed bills in each assembly session; that is bills that even his peers, who control the Virginia house of delegates by a wide margin, are embarrassed to let out of committee or pass. This year, since his sponsored bills met their usual round of rejection as a pointless waste of time, he gets to re-submit them - during a special transportation session with vague additions with the word transportation on them just to waste the house’s time.

Voters of the 13th; do something about this disgusting display of ignorance, please! Do not re-elect Delegate Bob to the assembly. He clearly cares more about what happens in your bedroom than happens to the roads.

As usual, Waldo has the lowdown on this sooner than the news.

I have already contributed a small amount to “Byrne for Congress” to help her win the Democratic Nomination and the 11th congressional district of Virginia. The 11th will almost certainly go to the Democratic winner of the primary on June 10th. Incumbent Republican Tom Davis is retiring, so there is no incumbent advantage. The district has been trending more and more Democratic for a long time.

Leslie Byrne won the district solidly in 2005 against Bill Bolling (R) for the office of Lt Governor (he narrowly won state-wide, but she crushed him by 10 points in the 11th district). She has been the congresswoman of the 11th before they redistricted it from her. She is an excellent candidate and leader and would represent the 11th far, far better than Gerry Connolly.

Connolly has not really been against the Iraq War until it became politically expedient for him recently. Connolly has a few too many ties to the military-industrial complex and big business to honestly represent common working people of the 11th district. Connolly was not willing to come out and endorse Obama nor Webb until it became clear that those were winning propositions for his own campaign. Connolly only last November won the election to be the Fairfax County Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and he should give a little time to Fairfax County before using that office to launch his own political interests.

Byrne has been against the Iraq War from the beginning, she helped get Webb to run for senate. She is not currently in any office at all, and this one should be hers. No one has worked harder for the people of the 11th district for over a decade, not even incumbent Tom Davis (for whom the office is and was popularity trophy).

On June 10th, registered voters in Virginia’s 8th, 10th, and 11th United States Congressional districts will get to vote in open (to all registered voters) primary elections. Virginia scheduled primaries for all districts, but in all the other districts either no candidates filed in time, or only one did from each party, or the party in that district is deciding by convention or caucus.

The United States Senate race to replace retiring Senator John Warner will have no primary because Mark Warner is unchallenged on one side, and because the other side is choosing via convention/caucus rather than allow cross-over voters to mess with their selection.

You can vote in only the Democratic or Republican primary, not both, and whichever way you vote that day you can elect to vote differently later. Voting in one party’s primary does not register you as part of that party, but it is a matter of public record that you voted in that party’s primary that election.

So, if you are in the 8th district, your choices are:

Democrats:
Jim Moran, incumbent
Matthew Famiglietti

Republicans:
Mark Ellmore
Amit Singh

If you are in the 10th district, your choices are:

Republicans:
Frank Wolf, incumbent
Vern McKinley

Democrats:
Judy Feder
Mike Turner

Voters in the 11th district have a little more freedom, there is no Republican primary, and there is a four way race amongst the Democrats (this means Republicans are free to help pick their opinion of the best Democrat, or that they are free to try to get the least electable Democrat nominated so their candidate has a better chance in November; I am not sure how this will pan out, just reporting the facts):

Gerry Connolly
Leslie Byrne
Lori Alexander
Doug Denneny

It is worth noting that in November the 11th district ballot will include at least two additional names:
Keith Fimian (Republican)
Joe Oddo (Independent-Green)

Note: Virginia’s Independent-Green Party is different from the Virginia Green Party. Many people get them confused, I expect there to be a GP candidate for the 11th as well, or for the GP to endorse one of the Democrats if the right one (in the GP’s opinion) wins the nomination.

This post is non-partisan, unbiased, and pure information for voters, but I will comment on it in a day or two about the candidates listed above, and commenters are welcome to express themselves too.

Some friends and I are concerned about some element of this being insensitive, perhaps the day-laborer stereotype; but I think that helps convey the point, and it adds irony in a sadistic way that the only person secure in their job is willing to work as a driver, and that says something about our Walmart and fast-food service industry (pretty much the only segment hiring like mad).

I also just got my notice from Prince William County that my house has lost over 20% of it’s assessed value from 2006 to 2007… I suspect these apparently unrelated points are actually closely tied.

It was a bad year for a re-match. My favorite local candidates: Roemmelt, Rishell, and Pandak all lost to incumbents in effectively re-matched elections from one and two years ago. I am still trying to figure out why, because in all three cases the losing candidate is clearly and demonstrably more able, more likeable, and better for Virginia or Prince William County. What they all have in common is Prince William County, and it is clear we are having problems educating voters here.

It was a really dumb time to allow certain incumbents to go unopposed. Both Delegate Albo and Loudon County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman lost substantial votes to write-in candidates… though both won re-election, it is clear that an effective candidate on the ballot in those races would have put the races in contention quite easily.

Write-in campaigns dramatically slow down the counting process. It was after midnight before reliable returns began getting reported from Loudon county, which had many of us on pins and needles well into the night.

Money can buy many races, but clearly there are limits. While money probably bought several races around the state, it is also clear that despite vast money differences, some races are still won by people. Chap Peterson, Stevens Miller, Susan Buckley all won despite enormously unequal spending.

We must have a precinct by precinct ground game with better logistics at each polling place.

I am hugely happy we won the state senate, but we should have picked up more seats. We should have picked up more in the house too. Prince William is a sad, sad disappointment.

If you live and vote in Loudon county tomorrow - please consider writing in “John Flannery” for the office of Commonwealth Attorney for Loudon County.

Earlier it looked like no one could challenge incumbent Jim Plowman, but CA Plowman has done a very unethical thing that has brought to light that he may be corrupt and vulnerable. Plowman pressed charges against Mark Tate this Spring in the middle of a hotly contested Republican party primary election, effectively knocking Tate out of the race and handing Jill Vogel the nomination to run for State Senate as a Republican. Now, six months later, the trumped up charges have been dropped. Meaning Tate was innocent all along, should probably have been given the nomination against Vogel and that Plowman is abusing the power of his office to impact politics.

Please take the time to research this and decide for yourself.
http://www.writeinflannery.com/

Also - be aware that many Loudon County Supervisors are very corrupt and getting HUGE campaign contributions from developers (Snow, Staton, Delgaudio) - please consider very carefully if you want them to remain in office.

You can look up contributions via VPAP.org for any candidate.

Loudon County Voter Information (non-partisan):

http://www.loudoun.gov/government/election.htm

http://www.loudoun.va.lwvnet.org/

I hope that helps!

I woke up to Newschannel 8 this morning with a start when I heard the words “Bull Run Mountain” in the same story with some sort of crime. I was too foggy headed at first, but that work me up because I live on Bull Run Mountain, so this story is very local.

Once I was thoroughly awake, I found the story here:
http://news8.net/news/stories/1007/466704.html (warning, News8 has lots of cookies and occasionally pop-under java scripts - grrrr)

Brief summary: A local African-American family found a noose hanging from a tree in their own front yard Wednesday afternoon. The noose was hung from a branch approximately 40 feet up the tree, so it took some substantial effort to put it there.

This is horrifying.

Continue Reading »

Please Vote NO today

I am a Prince William County resident, tax-payer, and voter. I am extremely concerned about today’s vote at the BOCS meeting.

I am concerned about my taxes.
I am concerned about unfunded obligations.
I am concerned about racial profiling.
I am concerned that we are cutting off our county’s opportunities for reasonable sustainable growth.

Frankly, I see this whole “illegal immigration” issue as giant publicity stunt by certain members of the board for their political campaigns. I am watching how you vote and will vote and contribute accordingly.

Please have compassion for fellow human beings, who due to unfortunate accident of location of birth have not been given the same chances to survive as you and me. Yes they have broken the laws to come to our great country to struggle to survive, and frankly, if we were in their shoes we would too. Some laws need to be revised.
Think about it - slavery was once legal, as was wife-beating. Those laws were revised. Please be rational today, and consider the impact your vote will have on human lives and on taxpayers in the county.

Sincerely,
Scott Nolan
I gave my address in the letter, which went to every supervisor, and every candidate for supervisor.

Hat tip to Howling Latina for pointing out this article in the Washington Post:

Post Editorial about this election

This election is perhaps the most important election to Northern Virginians in 15 years. Far more important than congressional and even presidential elections because this year, the control of the state legislature is at stake, and if Democrats win a simple majority in the Senate this year, then three Northern Virginia Senators will become the new leadership (based on seniority). They can effectively take control of the state legislature back from Richmond and spend a little of our tax money here, where we need it to fix traffic problems.

The Republican controlled legislature has proven that they can do nothing when given power. Rather than utilize their control of both houses to get things done, they’ve decided to waste time angering the electorate with fear and hatred for illegal immigrants - knowing full well there is very little a state can do with federal laws on the issue taking precedence.

GOTV: This year, more than any other year in recent memory, your vote will make a huge difference in your daily life. A vote for any of several Democratic challengers this November 6th will cause change in Richmond, giving the baton of control to Northern Virginian legislators - who regardless of party affiliation, know full well how much time we waste in our commutes each day.

Today is the last day to register, drop everything and go register today. Vote on November 6th, 2007.

I do not live in Loudon, but I know lots of people do. I found this article very interesting and it raised the hackles at the back of my neck. Corruption is a scary thing to have in a democracy…

Please read and continue asking questions if you vote in Loudon:
http://www.loudoundemocrats.org/wp/?p=148.

I find the amounts raised for these offices make me ill.