Independent to challenge county revenue commissioner

Following the Labor Day holiday, Virginia businesswoman Susan K. Kubany announced her candidacy for Augusta County Commissioner of Revenue, challenging 16-year incumbent Jean Shrewsbury.

“If not now, when? If not me, who?” Kubany said. “I’ve thought about giving back to the community for a long time. Today, I’m doing it.”

Kubany believes that the Commissioner of Revenue office needs a “re-think, an overhaul.”

“It’s time for change,” she said. “The community needs a conversation, to consider possibilities.”

The Commissioner of Revenue position is an elected position, responsible to the taxpayers and citizens. “It should be a spotlight on behalf of the Augusta County people,” Kubany said. “I don’t think that spotlight has been shining, recently.”

Kubany is a first time candidate, a businesswoman who founded her first business, a consulting company in Boston, over 30 years ago. Omnet Inc., a $3 million company co-founded with her late husband, was a computer communications network for the international ocean research community before the advent of the internet.

Kubany also conceived and managed Omnet Europe Ltd, a sister company headquartered in Ireland.

Kubany is running as an independent. “I am a fiscal conservative,” she said. “At the same time, as an independent, I’m beholden to no party or donors.” For example, one elected incumbent phoned Kubany asking that his signature be redacted from her petition of candidacy. Another person refused to sign Kubany’s petition, stating emphatically that he was a friend of Jean Shrewsbury and did not believe she should be challenged.

“I believe in participatory democracy, ” Kubany said. “Incumbents need to be challenged. Issues need to be discussed. My campaign is a commitment to my faith in the future of Augusta County, not a new long-term career for me.”

Kubany will fund her campaign personally, for less than $1,000. “Campaigns should be about issues, not spending money,” she said. “I’ will be excited if people put out homemade yard signs supporting my candidacy, but I’m not buying them for self-promotion.”

Kubany hopes to gather volunteers from each voting precinct to help with campaign efforts and identifying speaking opportunities.

For further information or to help her campaign, write to [email protected] or call 885.5800.