Yearly Archives: 2011

Okay, so Plowman dropped the charges

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That doesn’t change the fact that you should still write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

My issues with Mr. Kuester’s candidacy remain the same, I feel that people on the school board should believe in the value of public education, and should be fiscally responsible. Mr. Kuesters fails both those tests.

Mr. Kuesters sends his school-age children to private religious school. That’s his right, obviously. But I think someone who wants to be in charge of our public schools, who has school-age children, should be invested enough in the schools to have his children attend them.

The School Board has fiscal oversight over the schools budget. Mr. Kuesters filed bankruptcy last year and is in more financial hot-water this year with his HOAs.

And then there is the arrest. I have volunteered with LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter, and I am aware of how common it is for abused spouses to withdraw complaints against their abusers. Mr. Kuesters may or may not have abused his wife, but whatever happened, it’s clear that he has personal issues that are too complex to be completely dealt with before swearing in on January 1.

Meanwhile, Joy Maloney has a daughter at Eagle Ridge, her family is on a good solid financial footing, and she’s not facing family turmoil. PLUS, she has a Masters in Educational Leadership and a Bachelors in Secondary Education. She taught high school for 5 years, and she works in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field.

Write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Crossposted at Doorbell Queen)

Unfit for office, unfit for endorsement

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I could never, had I been asked to imagine the most ridiculous and easily verifiable lie that Eugene Delgaudio might invent, have imagined something as ridiculous and easily verifiable as this:

When contacted by the Loudoun Times-Mirror for comment about the exposure of his “Blood Door” email, Mr. Delgaudio told the reporter that the Photoshopped image he had sent to his mailing list was the original and that his image had actually been Photoshopped, by the very people who caught him in this behavior, to make it “look like blood.”

Side by side image comparison by the Loudoun Times-Mirror

When the reporter told me this, I said I thought that was interesting, and suggested that she search on Google images for “blood door.” She did.

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Free Market

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It's free!I think we may finally have some insight into what Mr. Delgaudio means when he says the “free market.”

Supervisor Miller has reported this news:

I voted with a total of eight supervisors just now to deny the request from OpenBand to renew their video services franchise in Loudoun county. There was no comment from any member voting with me. The only vote to renew was that of Eugene Delgaudio, who, in the last week alone, took over seven-thousand dollars in campaign donations from OpenBand’s owner.

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Recoil

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Zombie Obama. 

Whether a mean-spirited attack on our president or a light-hearted attempt at Halloween humor (the former being the more likely), the whole situation is a train wreck. 

But there is something to be pulled out: that is the overwhelming response of condemnation and disgust from all political parties.  Looking through the comments, it’s possible to see that even self-identified republicans are indignant.  This is not what the Republican Party stands for.  This is not what any party should stand for.  This is way across the line.

And there are repercussions.  Governor McDonnell has announced that he will not attend a Get Out The Vote rally for the Loudoun County republicans scheduled for this Thursday.  The communications chair of the LCRC responsible for this e-mail blast has left his position.  There is a general movement throughout the party to distance itself from this radical position that so many Republicans resent as taking a whole spectrum of sociopolitical identities and lumping them into a single extremist position.  And until now, there has been no intra-party pushback.  I’ve said it before that we are not aware of social boundaries until we bump blithely into them.   And it looks like we’ve finally reached that limit and are recoiling.

Let’s hope the LCRC leadership is doing the same, and that this is not a façade or attempt at damage control.  Let’s hope we can see some real leadership. 

And Mr. Sell: sometimes this means stepping down to do what’s best for your party.

An unfortunate omission

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I was very impressed with the airy above-it-all tone Joe was able to summon about “the recent Halloween unpleasantness” until I saw his images, images that were apparently the point of the post.

The thing is, there’s nothing new there. We already know that there are people on the outer fringes of good judgment and civility, enough of whom might actually be dangerous that we need a Secret Service whether our president is a Democrat or a Republican. What I fear is that this post is a – I hate to say it – deliberate attempt to pretend that the images at issue in Loudoun did not come from an official Republican Party Committee and a Republican elected official, and hope that no one notices. I’m sorry, but someone did.

From the official Republican Party Committee

From the Republican elected official

Empty Apologies from Virginia Republicans

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The media, and indeed many Democrats were quick to commend the Republican Party of Virginia yesterday for quickly and thoroughly denouncing the Loudoun Republicans’ zombie-Obama-headshot comic recruiting email. Indeed, many seem to think this is a sign of more civility in Virginia politics.

It’s not. It’s a whitewash. Plain and simple.

Because at the same time the Virginia Republican Party was issuing its very public apology and repudiation, it was dropping a last-minute $25,000 contribution in the coffers of the most odious Loudoun Republican, Dick “there’s no such thing as spousal rape” Black.

If the Republican Party truly believes these tactics are unacceptable, it will tell Dick Black to refund the amount of that contribution.

“Sprawl Is The American Dream”

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With all the crazy coming out of Loudoun Republicans lately, its easy to forget that underneath that hard shell of cultural divisiveness is a sugary nougat of truly awful policies.

Take, for example, a race that has flown under the proverbial radar this year. The race for Algonkian Supervisor, which sets long-time community resident and activist (and personal friend, in the interests of full disclosure) Denise Moore Pierce against long-time conservative gadfly Suzanne Volpe. Here’s a race that can, and should turn truly on policy grounds, because there is a clear difference between the candidates, and a clear choice to be made.

Specifically, Ms. Volpe, who is running to represent a “mature” community in Loudoun, one with established neighborhoods, schools, traditions and families, is an advocate – and an unabashed one – for sprawl. Indeed, she gave a speech calling development sprawl the American Dream. A stark statement for a stark choice.

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A Trend Of Intolerance

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We are now eight days from Election Day, and the masks are coming off. The true face of the Loudoun Republican Party and it’s candidates is being shown, and it’s not pretty. In fact, it’s downright violent.

Disagree? Then explain the images that Loudoun’s Republican establishment have been circulating to “drum up” support in these waning days.

Item One:


And Item Two:

It really is as simple as the pictures above. There is an organization in Loudoun County whose leaders and candidates believe that images condoning violence towards elected leaders and entire segments of the population is an acceptable, even funny, way to make their case to the voters. And there is an organization whose leaders and candidates believe that true leadership is about uniting, not dividing, our Loudoun Community.

On November 8th, vote Democratic. At some point, we must no longer be silent. We must no longer tolerate hate, bigotry and casual dehumanization as an “odd quirk” of our political establishment. Staying home simply empowers those who spread hate. On November 8, stand up and be among those who say “No more! Loudoun County will no longer be home to this hate!”

Is this acceptable to you, LTM?

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A second update (the first one appears at the bottom of the post): This is the original image that was photoshopped by Loudoun Republican Eugene Delgaudio to turn the blood “rainbow,” which he then lied about to the Loudoun Times-Mirror. This was found by a commenter via google using the search terms “blood door.”

Image included in the header of an October 25 fundraising letter sent by Eugene Delgaudio

Editor: Please direct the following to all individuals with input into political endorsements at the Loudoun Times-Mirror.

Is this what the Loudoun Times-Mirror editorial staff had in mind when you said of Eugene Delgaudio “his view on social issues is unsettlingly conservative and his antics distracting”? The attached image of the GLBT rainbow symbol in the shape of a pool of blood, complete with a gruesome bloody handprint, was sent to the presumed supporters of an elected official to whom you just gave your endorsement for reelection. While it could be described as unsettling, especially if one has been witness to such a crime scene, I don’t think that “conservative,” “distracting” or “antics” would apply.

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What is OpenBand buying?

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Another excellent, informative letter published at Ashburn Patch. Especially interesting are the laundered contributions to Dick Black. I look forward to hearing more about what they’re expecting for that expenditure.

We would like to update your readers on the issue of the ongoing campaign contributions to several Loudoun County Board of Supervisors candidates. One thing to keep in mind; OpenBand’s video franchise with the county expired two years ago and OpenBand currently has an application before the Board for a new franchise, which makes the following campaign contributions troubling.

In our previous letter to the editor, dated October 7, 2011, we provided details on campaign donations from OpenBand’s parent company. We showed monetary contributions made by OpenBand’s parent company and its officers to the various Loudoun County Supervisor races. Since then additional contributions have been made. This data is publicly available by the State Board of Elections and VPAP. Below are the updated campaign contribution totals:

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