GOP, for the most part, dominating local House money races
26th District Democrat Gene Hart is giving Republican incumbent Matt Lohr a run for his re-election money, literally. Aside from Hart, though, Democratic candidates contending for seats representing the Central Shenandoah Valley in Richmond are struggling to keep pace with their Republican counterparts.
Hart actually outraised Lohr in the Sept. 1-30 reporting period, according to reports both filed with the State Board of Elections this week. Hart took in $9,974.04 in the month of September, while Lohr raised $4,040 in the period.
Of Lohr’s total, $1,500 came from political action committees – the Altria Corporate Services PAC, the Virginia Coal Association PAC and the Virginia Hospital Association PAC. Hart did not receive any PAC monies in the period. Read more
AFP InDepth | ’84 bankruptcy filing an issue in 20th
20th House District Republican candidate Dickie Bell, under pressure from a bad business deal, and running out of financial options, filed for bankruptcy protection in 1984.
The Augusta Free Press confirmed the filing by obtaining a copy of the court documents associated with the bankruptcy and talking about the circumstances around the filing with Bell on Tuesday.
The bankruptcy had taken on something of the status of legend among the local political chatter class since Bell had been tapped as the 20th District GOP nominee in July. Bell, in his interview with the AFP today, said he had “nothing to hide” in discussing the matter.
“It’s public record. It’s there for anybody to see anytime they want to,” Bell said. Read more
Curren raises issue with Bell vote on funding for Staunton golf course
A new fire station, or $600,000 on the public golf course at Gypsy Hill Park? 20th District Democratic candidate Erik Curren is trying to link the two votes cast by Republican opponent Dickie Bell in his tenure on Staunton City Council to raise issue with Bell’s priorities.
“Firefighters and other first responders risk their lives daily,” Curren said. “Surely we owe firefighters the resources they need to get to the scene as quickly as possible. And we owe it to our families and businesses to make sure that our communities have sufficient fire stations to keep us safe.”
Bell voted against funding the new West End fire station, which Fire Chief Scott Garber has said puts 96 percent of the residents and businesses in the Queen City within five minutes of a firehouse. Read more
The Pulse | Silly season going on largely outside public view
That’s what I call the part to an election cycle where we have the debates and the candidate endorsement interviews.
I refer to it as the silly season because, well, to be honest, I just don’t see the value to the hand-wringing that goes on with debates and endorsements, on all sides.
Which isn’t to say that I didn’t put a premium value on debates and endorsements back when I was running for City Council in Waynesboro last year. Read more
Two more debates available on media outlets today
25th District candidates Steve Landes and Greg Marrow will meet for a debate this morning at 10 a.m. on WSVA-550AM.
The debate will be the second debate available over the media airwaves between the candidates. Landes and Marrow met for a debate sponsored by the News Virginian and NBC29 on Sept. 24. Read more
Lohr under fire on relationship between business, Rockingham school system
State Del. Matt Lohr on Monday defended the payments from the Rockingham County school system to the motivational-speaking company operated by Lohr and his wife, Andrea, for teacher in-service training conducted by the Lohrs.
“It’s $3,000 over three years,” Lohr, a Republican, answered a question from a caller to a live candidates debate featuring Lohr and 26th District Democratic challenger Gene Hart.
Lohr said the company focuses its efforts on ag-education groups, doing teacher in-service trainings and school assemblies. Read more
Daily Rant | October Surprise
Posted by afp on October 14, 2009 · 19 Comments
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with 20th district, augusta county, bankruptcy, dickie bell, staunton, virginia