The February New Dominion magazine is on the streets
The February edition of The New Dominion print magazine is out and about at locations across the Central Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville. Links to stories on our sister website TheNewDominion.com and our web extras are here. To find out where you can pick up your copy, click here. Continue reading “The February New Dominion magazine is on the streets” »
Local Politics: Elrod, Cox vie for leadership roles in Lexington
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
I know Mimi Elrod and David Cox because of Ben Cline, or more to the point, because they both ran against Cline for the 24th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, Elrod in 2002 and Cox in 2005.
Democrats then, Elrod and Cox are running as independents in the November city elections in Lexington, Elrod for mayor and Cox for a seat on Lexington City Council. Elrod already has a city-council seat, after being appointed to fill out an unexpired term in 2003 and then getting elected to a full term in 2006. Her run for mayor risks taking something valuable away from her.
“I will not be able to vote, and people have constantly reminded me of that. Why do you want to be mayor? You won’t be able to vote,” said Elrod (photo right) of the nuance to the elected-mayor position in Lexington, which keeps the mayor above the fray of council politics. The tradeoff is worth it to Elrod, though. She’ll “be able to get out in front on the issues,” she said, and play an important leadership role in setting the agenda for city government.
Elrod has taken on that role as one of the founders of the Concerned Citizens Circle, which was formed in response to the news that the Museum of the Confederacy was looking at Lexington as a possible new home. Elrod and the biracial CCC opposed the effort, and the Circle has stayed active since with a focus on community issues including the graduation rate in Lexington city schools and downtown development.
Part and parcel to Elrod’s approach is the community interactivity that the CCC is trying to foster. “Six people can’t know everything. We have a six-member city council and a mayor. We can’t know everything that’s going on,” Elrod said. “We have a very highly involved population here in the city of Lexington, and we have a lot of people who could make real contributions. So I think one of the things that I could do as mayor is reach out to some of those people,” Elrod said.
Cox (photo right) has a similar mindset. Cox, a retired minister who also ran for the 24th Senate District seat in 2007, coming in second in a three-way race with Republican incumbent Emmett Hanger and Libertarian Arin Sime, has been talking up Lexington residents to see what they want city leaders to take on. “For me, it’s not, Here I am, vote for me, here is what my credentials are. You listen to people, and what I’m hearing confirms what I think the issues are. And that is the overall concern for quality of life. We have already a high quality of life in Lexington. We want to keep it that way and expand it, make a good thing even better,” Cox said.
It is Cox who is the more open of the two about having fallen short in the bid for higher political office. He said running for city council is “a welcomed contrast.” “I have raised and spent my budget of zero. That’s a nice change. I think I went through one pen getting signatures,” Cox said of the change of pace running for city office compared to running for the General Assembly.
Cox does sense that his forays into General Assembly politics could be an advantage should he be elected. “My previous efforts have given me a network of people in terms of voters and citizens on the local level and also people on higher levels. I’ve come to know many of our legislators and state officials and our governor and both of our Senate candidates. And I think that helps and will help over time,” Cox said.
David Reynolds: Seen and heard in Buena Vista on Labor Day
Column by David Reynolds
- If the sign war is any indication of the outcome of the Senate race between Mark Warner and Jim Gilmore, Gilmore loses by more than 20 to 1.
- Turnout at the Republican breakfast was slightly down from last year. The Dems had a few more at their table.
- No explanation was provided at the GOP breakfast for three missing speakers: McDonnell, Bolling and state party chair Frederick. (They were probably at the RNC in St. Paul.) Meanwhile, up on the hill, Sen. Webb and Gov. Kaine were absent.
- Not much political red meat was served at either breakfast. Possibly that was because both breakfasts had the look of an AARP gathering.
- Buster Lewis was the only member of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors to attend the Democratic breakfast.
- Ben Cline will have a Democratic opponent next year. He is Jeff Price.
- Best line heard at the high school was when Mimi Elrod was introduced as a mayoral candidate for the City of Lexington: “By Republican standards she is qualified to be the next Vice President of the United States.”
- The presidential campaign may be all about oil. The Dems seem to hate the sticky stuff our economy runs on, wishing to find an energy alternative. Meanwhile the GOP keeps talking about drilling for more of that black gold.
- Del. Brian Moran of Alexandria, who wishes to be the next Democratic governor of Virginia, along with Creigh Deeds, was slighted at the Democrats’ breakfast. Moran has raised more money than Deeds, but our state senator has collected more endorsements. Maybe Moran thought that he was in a foreign country, which is understandable.
- Sam Rasoul is waging a steep uphill class-warfare fight against long-term incumbent Bob Goodlatte. Question: Will his race be closer than the projected Warner landslide?
- Deeds on the presidential campaign: “Something is going on; people are looking for hope.”
- Deeds on politics: “Politics is for the common good. It is a means to an end – to make a difference in people’s lives.”
- Warner on American preeminence in the world: We can not maintain our 20th century position in this century without a highly trained and highly educated work force.
- Warner on government and politics: “I’m a fiscal conservative… I am also part of the ‘radical center’ where 80 percent of all Americans are.”
- Creigh Deeds is ahead of Mark Warner 19-18 in consecutive Labor Day breakfasts in Buena Vista. Unless a future President of the United States pays a visit to BV, Deeds should maintain his lead.
- A final word for now on Mark Warner: If the Democratic Party is to have a long and healthy future, Mark Warner’s brand of politics will lead the way.
David Cox | Notes from the polling place
Posted by afp on November 14, 2008 · Leave a Comment
At least in Lexington, the process of voting went swimmingly. Registrar of Voters Carol Rendleman and the Electoral Board obviously took great pains to make sure it would. They succeeded admirably. Standing outside the polls virtually from their opening to the very last minutes, I didn’t think anyone had to wait more than a half-hour and then only in early morning. By noon and thereafter, voters were in and out in five to ten minutes. I heard of only one glitch, with human error the culprit. Continue reading “David Cox | Notes from the polling place” »
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with barack obama, david cox, jim gilmore, john mccain, lexington, lexington city council, mark warner, mimi elrod