Chris Graham | Where I am on local elections
I explained in a column today on our new sister website, VirginiaPoliticsToday.com, how much I loathe making endorsements.
That said, I get it that some of our readers are at the least interested in knowing where I am on local elections, assuming that since I do news and analysis for a living I might have some insights into what’s going on.
So … here goes. Read more
AFP Focus | Breaking down some campaign money numbers
Dickie Bell had a busy Oct. 1-21 campaign period, raising $13,375 for his 20th District campaign, but Bell also ended the period with $13,635.03 in debts remaining unpaid, according to a report on campaign activity filed with the State Board of Elections this week.
The Bell campaign reported having a balance of $31,200.50 in cash on hand as of Oct. 21. Accounting for the debts remaining unpaid, the campaign would actually have available funds of $17,824.50. Read more
Democrats aim high
Marrow, Curren face steep hills to climb
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
A candidate for public office needs to shake as many hands and slap as many backs as possible. A Democratic Party candidate in the bright-red Shenandoah Valley has to work twice as hard to have a shot on Election Day.
“You’ve got to beat the streets, pound the pavement,” 25th District Democratic Party candidate Greg Marrow said before a meet-and-greet with voters in Waynesboro earlier this month. “I’ve gone through two pairs of shoes already. You’re hot, sweaty, tired. You want to go home and play with your children. But you just know that it’s worth it. You have to believe that it’s going to happen.” Read more
AFP Focus | Checking homework in 20th
Two issues to delve into the 20th District race today, both involving homework.
First, regarding Adrian Rogers and Dickie Bell being a “Republican for a Reason.” The website for Bell, the Republican nominee, featured a quote from the late Rogers, the former head of the American Southern Baptist Convention, on socialism on a webpage titled “Republican for a Reason.” The Bell campaign team failed to do its homework, though. Rogers, an advocate of the inerrancy of the Bible, when asked once his thoughts on what the Bible held on the issue of slavery, answered that slavery was a “much-maligned institution” and offered further that if it had not been abolished “we would not have such a welfare problem.” Read more
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
