Keep your calendar clear for the evening of Tuesday, June 5th. Details to follow.
Ding Dong, The Campaign Is Dead
By Greg L | 29 April 2012 | RPV, Loudoun County, Manassas City, Prince William County | 11 Comments
It would appear that Anna Lee has informally “suspended” her campaign for Chairman of the 10th District Committee. Although no formal announcement has been made, her decision to boycott all meetings of the FCRC after it decided it couldn’t hire her daughter for a staff position because of her school schedule, her absence at recent LCRC meetings and notable non-attendance of the 10th District Dinner this Friday leaves little else as an explanation. No one runs a campaign for a congressional district chairman by not attending district events for over a month.
I don’t think even some magic spell can resuscitate a campaign this moribund, not even the one that somehow caused Jo Ann Chase to wear a prom dress to the 10th District dinner. Poor thing. People thought she was crazy or something.
Jerry Carman
By Greg L | 25 April 2012 | Manassas City | 8 Comments
I spent a little time with Jerry this afternoon and shot this short film about him. To learn more about Jerry visit his website at jerrycarman2012.com. I think he’d make a great addition to the Manassas City Council along with Ian Lovejoy and a returning Jon Way.
Our Local Fiscal Conservatives
By Greg L | 23 April 2012 | Prince William County | 25 Comments
So let me get this straight here… The county doesn’t have enough money to finance essential government operations, so in addition to hiking my tax assessment at the same time residential real estate prices have again dropped in my area, they’re also going to raise my tax rate.
And what pray tell is one of these essential government operations that so desperately need more of my money? $200,000 to fund the charity that operates Rainbow Riding Center, which primarily serves residents of Fairfax County.
Yeah, that makes sense. In some alternate reality, somewhere.
UPDATE: Tom Jackman covers this in today’s WashPo, with yours truly getting an opportunity to be the mean, bad guy.
UPDATE 2: The adopted budget doles out $33,000 to Rainbow Riding Center, with an additional $178,000 allocation to be voted on in August. Unbelievable.
Manassas City Council Candidates 2012
By Greg L | 23 April 2012 | Manassas City | 33 Comments
Voters will officially have five candidates to choose from for the Manassas City Council elections on May 1st and keeping up with the candidates and all the dynamics of the past few weeks has been a challenge for many. Here’s a run-down of the candidates and what they’ve been doing that will hopefully prove useful in deciding which ones deserve your support.
The PWEA Can Stuff It
By Greg L | 20 April 2012 | Prince William County | 16 Comments
One hallmark of every budget season is the annual parade of members of public employee “associations” who cry out for higher government spending and higher tax bills. Usually this doesn’t merit much commentary, as the exercise never seems to actually change the outcome of budget discussions, and it’s not likely the never ending cries of doom from members of the Prince William Education Association will have any impact this time around. With no immediate end in sight to very tough economic times along with gas at $4 a gallon, rising food prices and the life savings of many residents starting to tap out, these cries for higher taxes start to become much more important. Those cries are rapidly becoming utterly enraging.
Dick Saslaw’s Dumb Gamble
By Greg L | 17 April 2012 | Virginia Politics | 13 Comments
So Dick Saslaw wants to shut down Virginia government? Chris at Mason Conservative thinks we ought to let him, and I agree.
Saslaw doesn’t seem to realize his constituency depends more on government than that of his opponents. Let’s just see how long he can take the heat once his voting base realizes Sawlaw will be restricting access to government-subsidized healthcare for the less fortunate and minorities by killing the budget.
I give it about a week.
UPDATE: Virtucon says Colgan should resign. Since it was Colgan going back on his word that caused this session to fail (at a cost of $40,000 to the taxpayer) I second that demand.
DUPATE 2: After a talk with Corey Stewart, Colgan changed his mind once again and voted in favor of the budget on Wednesday.
The McCoart Kabuki
By Greg L | 17 April 2012 | Prince William County | 9 Comments
It’s budget time again for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, and if you like Kabuki, you’re bound to love budget time. The same special interests (often members of public employee unions) get to stand up and beg the board to raise our taxes in order to fund some oh-so-important initiative, citizens stand up and tell the board that they don’t have additional money to fork over, and by and large the Board pretends it’s fiscally conservative and only raises our taxes by a little. Because it’s for the children, you see.
It’s about time to rile up the electorate here, as it’s getting screwed.
1.5 Million Visits
By Greg L | 16 April 2012 | Blogs | 9 Comments
BVBL crossed another milestone on Sitemeter today as we passed 1,500,000 site visits this morning. That number’s pretty close to the combined populations of Fairfax and Prince William counties, which doesn’t imply they’ve all paid us a visit yet but gives a little context to just how big a number that is.
If I only had a dollar for each time someone came to see what I was up to…
E. W. Jackson at the PWCRC Convention
By Greg L | 14 April 2012 | Virginia Politics, Prince William County | 12 Comments
Bishop E. W. Jackson gave one of his typical stem-winders at the PWCRC Convention this morning, and I was fortunate enough to have enough advance warning to be able to drag gear out of the truck and have it ready for him. The audio in this isn’t that great since I couldn’t tap into the mic feed, and with the crowd going nuts some of it is a little tough to hear clearly. Since most readers haven’t yet had an opportunity to hear one of these amazing speeches, it’s worth sharing despite any faults since this is such a fun candidate to listen to. (more…)
Bill Card Wins PWCGOP Chairmanship
By Greg L | 14 April 2012 | PWCRC | 9 Comments
Bill Card won the chairmanship of the Prince William County Republican Committee today by a pretty comfortable margin. Both candidates ran excellent, upbeat races and are to be commended for their dedication to the Committee and commitment to help it succeed. There’s no indication at all that there will be any residual animosity and every sign points to Bill Card continuing the legacy of Lyle Beefelt of being an honest and capable broker.
The 10th District Debacle
By Greg L | 12 April 2012 | RPV, Loudoun County, Virginia Politics, Prince William County | 25 Comments
Claims, charges and counter-charges are flying thick and fast between those involved in the FEC complaint filed against the 10th District committee, and keeping up with this while maintaining some perspective is a real challenge. In a nutshell, we have a situation that wasn’t great to begin with made tremendously worse which is devolving the 10th District back into the kind of crazy infighting that was a hallmark of the Jim Rich era. When Loudoun County is the center of gravity of a Congressional District, I suppose it’s to be expected that there’s going to be plenty of drama.
Manassas City School Board Candidates
By Greg L | 12 April 2012 | Manassas City | 14 Comments
The Manassas City Schools have been deeply troubled over the past few years, and on May 1st voters have an opportunity to deliver some accountability by removing a few of the incumbents who have presided over this mess. Incumbents on the board really have nothing to run on other than their disappointing record, while challengers don’t have much to run on other than the fact they weren’t at the helm when things went south.
Dump The Slush Funds
By Greg L | 12 April 2012 | Prince William County | 5 Comments
Mike Thompson writes in the Jefferson Policy Journal today about Prince William County’s indefensible supervisor slush funds, and it’s a good read. I cannot fathom why supervisors haven’t eliminated them during this budget cycle — other than it hasn’t become such a significant campaign issue that someone might lose their job over it — yet. That day will come, however.
Anna Lee and Tom Whitmore File FEC Complaint
By Greg L | 10 April 2012 | RPV, Loudoun County, Prince William County | 53 Comments
Breaking…
I have heard that Anna Lee and Tom Whitmore filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission claiming financial irregularities by 10th District Chairman Howie Lind and Treasurer Shak Hill yesterday. I have not seen the complaint, nor is it available on the FEC website. Too Conservative has posted about questions involving 10th District finances in the past, and I expect the complaint has something to do with those.
While it is hardly surprising to see this sort of behavior from Anna Lee and the JoAnn Chase crowd, I am rather surprised that Tom Whitmore became a part of this. When Republicans running for party office resort to filing complaints with the FEC instead of seeking resolution to their concerns in-house, in my view it raises some very grave concerns about their fitness.
Stay tuned for updates.
Goin’ On A RINO Hunt…
By Greg L | 9 April 2012 | Virginia Politics, Prince William County | 11 Comments
The press release that Corey Stewart will announce his campaign for Lieutenant Governor on Wednesday has caused a predictable feeding frenzy among the media and their sudden attention to this race is smoking out a whole bunch of potential challengers. That list of those who might join this contest is a conservative blogger’s dream, rich with some of the biggest RINOs in Virginia. This target-rich environment is going to be awfully entertaining.
Stopping The Political Slush Funds
By Greg L | 8 April 2012 | Virginia Politics, Manassas City, Prince William County | 27 Comments
Today’s Washington Post’s article on the controversy in Manassas over public spending on non-governmental entities helps to keep this useful discussion alive, but largely ignores the wide and long-running policy debate that continues to defy resolution. Public officials can’t seem to give up their slush funds, which yield both political and personal benefits for public “servants” but the persistent chorus of outrage over these may someday mean they’ll have to.
It can’t come soon enough.
Free Taxpayer Dinner: Tux Required
By Greg L | 3 April 2012 | Manassas City | 39 Comments
If the City of Manassas is as budget-constrained as government officials are wont to tell us, one has to wonder why it bought a table for eight at the 2012 “Black and White Ball” for the Manassas Ballet Theater, and a table for ten at the Hylton fundraiser and is offering elected officials and senior city staff free attendance. These are $100 per person black tie events. Perhaps the budget is much more flush than we’ve been lead to believe.
I figure if senior staff and elected officials are getting free dinners at taxpayer expense, the taxpayers themselves ought to have a shot at this tremendous freebie. They should get this invitation because they’re the ones paying for this, so in the spirit of economic equality and democracy here’s the information where you can reserve your own free seat one of these gala dinners for you and your spouse. Times are tough, and we can all use a free meal.
Ethnic Warfare Is A Loser
By Greg L | 1 April 2012 | National Politics | 6 Comments
Among the utterly fraudulent concepts peddled by the left of late is that Republicans can’t hope to win elections unless they promote amnesty for illegal aliens, or at least stop trying to actually see laws enforced that would get and keep illegal aliens out of our country, our state, and our communities. They point to the demographic growth of the Latino population, imply that any effort to control illegal immigration makes this demographic permanently hostile, and posit that the only solution to future electoral success is to abandon principle and either ignore the problem or abandon the rule of law. The notion is utterly ridiculous.
WashPo’s Mission: Stop Ken Cuccinelli
By Greg L | 31 March 2012 | Virginia Politics | 1 Comment
Sometimes the left actually tells the truth…
…in 2013, the [Washington] Post’s number one goal is going to be simply this: stopping Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli from becoming Governor.
– Paul Goldman, writing on “Blue Virginia”
I figured as much, but the confirmation (especially from someone who would know) is welcome. You’d think their number one goal is to earn money by providing reliable, unbiased, and trustworthy news, but we are talking about The Washington Post here.
On Virginia’s Self-Defense Laws
By Greg L | 31 March 2012 | Virginia Politics, Crime | 7 Comments
The tragedy of Treyvon Martin’s death has prompted a lot of discussion about self-defense laws, some of which has made sense, and lots of which has been utterly outlandish. Liberals seem intent on “not letting a crisis got to waste” (as Saul Alinsky recommends) and have been agitating for tougher restrictions on the use of deadly force in self-defense, while others are determined to make other changes in Virginia’s laws to make sure that those who legitimately use self-defense don’t get wrongly abused by the legal system. Before that happens, folks should understand what the law is, and why it is that way.
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