November 6th - Decisions Are Made By Those Who Show Up

UPDATE: I received this, from Norman at Raising Kaine, as a comment:

In the 68th House please vote for our incumbent Katherine Waddell, Independent. She is running against Loupassi, republican, and Grogan, another Independent. Loupassi is the favorite to win with major support from the republican party and eric cantor.(Norman from Raising Kaine blog)

I knew there would be good people that I would forget to include. And some readers will come on and scan quickly and not go to the comments, so I'm updating to post this information, with a sincere thanks to Norman for letting me know.

I suspect it won’t come as a surprise to any of my readers that my one last pitch to get out the vote tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6, will be to vote Democratic. Here’s a partial run down of Democratic candidates to vote for. I’m mostly sticking with the local races in my neck of the woods and with the people I know the best.

For the Senate:

Janet Oleszek over Ken Cuccinelli in SD 37
Chap Petersen over Jeannemarie Devolites Davis in SD 34
George Barker over Jay O’Brien in SD 39
Chuck Colgan over Bob FitzSimmons in SD 29

For the House of Delegates:

Bruce Roemmelt over Bob Marshall in HD 13
David Poisson over Lynn Chapman in HD 32
Marty Martinez over Joe May in HD33
Margi Vanderhye over Dave Hunt in HD-34
Rex Simmons over Tim Hugo in HD 40
Jeanette Rishell over Jackson Miller in HD50
Chuck Caputo over Marc Cadin in HD 67

The one exception to my “all politics is local” rule is to urge voters in the 1st SD to vote for John Miller over Tricia Stall. Anybody who takes a pledge to oppose public education on general principle, as Tricia Stall has done, is too extreme to ever sit in a legislative body anyplace.

These are the candidates who are most in step with the changing constituencies in Northern Virginia. It’s time to replace the ideologues who would rather pursue divisive social wedge issues in the legislative body with those who want to find solutions to the pragmatic problems facing ordinary Virginians.

We need a legislature composed of people who will work with Governor Tim Kaine to find lasting solutions to our transportation problems and funding for public education, including all day kindergarten programs. In addition, our mental health services are woefully under funded and there is a pressing need to see that people get the mental health treatment they need to prevent future tragedies in our state.

Finally, Republicans had eight years of their party ruling the commonwealth, both the governor’s mansion and then also the legislature during the 1990s. They brought Virginia to the brink of financial disaster before Mark Warner became governor in 2001 . Warner restored Virginia’s bond rating and put the state back on firm fiscal footing. Under Tim Kaine, who has followed in Warner’s footsteps, Virginia continues to be rated one of the best states to do business.

But both Warner and Kaine have had to fight an intractable legislature every step of the way to accomplish anything. It’s time to give Tim Kaine a Democratic majority so that Virginians can really see what he will accomplish for them.

If they don’t like the results, they can vote Democrats out of office in the next election. Unlike other states, Virginia holds elections every year so any time our citizens don’t like the direction of the state, they can send a message. But it’s time to give the Democrats the chance to move forward a Democratic agenda to benefit Virginia. Without giving Tim Kaine a Democratic majority to work with, that opportunity could be lost.

Fairfax Count Races

In addition, for the Fairfax Board of Supervisors, I’m urging people to re-elect Gerry Connolly as Chairman. Also vote to re-elect Sharon Bulova and vote for Mike McClanahan.

Fairfax is a well run county whose leaders have not given in to hysteria over illegal immigration. Rather than succumbing to the temptation to demagogue the issue and to get entangled in expensive and illegal attempts to curtail services to illegal immigrants, Fairfax County has focused on enforcing zoning laws and other regulations to mitigate the worst effects of illegal immigration such as overcrowded and illegal boarding houses, too many parked cars, gang activity and crime. Indeed, Fairfax has enjoyed a decrease in gang related activity and our crime rate has been steadily declining.

In addition, Fairfax has been a leader in the Cool Counties initiative to fight global warming and be more environmentally responsible.

Furthermore, although he is often criticized for being too favorable to big business and developers, Connolly and the Board passed big box legislation and a living wage bill. For those pro-working people pieces of legislation, they are to be commended. I don’t think Republicans would have been as responsive to the needs of middle class and working class citizens. So once again, the Democratic elected officials in Fairfax have benefited working Virginians and deserve to be retained in office.

And for the school board, Ilyung Moon, Liz Griffith and Tina Hone.

I'm sure I've forgotten some good and deserving people. If so, please forgive me. Fortunately, mine is not the only site you can visit for campaign and election information.

Finally, I must add one last pitch. A low turn out is expected for all these races. There was a line in an old West Wing show: “Decisions are made by those who show up.”

Please, please show up!