(Greg Stone, LCRC, has something to say to the Poisson campaign)As we enter the last weekend before election day we’re being treated to a barrage of political mailers, as is usual for this phase of the election cycle. As I noted last week, the Democrats this year have apparently decided that engaging in deception is their best bet to win. They’ve clearly decided to go all in on that strategy so we should just call them what they are: The DPV – Deceiver Party of Virginia.
While there are examples of this kind of pattern of deception in nearly every race we’re looking at in this part of Virginia, I’ve been watching the truly egregious examples of misleading information about Tag Greason, candidate for the 32nd District Delegate seat. As I mentioned last week, they’re throwing everything they can think of at Greason and making quite sure we voters aren’t getting all of the facts. In the mail – again – is the gossip-rag bogus allegation about the misconduct charge made against Tag Greason in 1994. The mailer is put out by a PAC called “A Strong Majority” and it’s one of a series of mailers that all tell you that it’s “shocking” that Greason was charged and then casually neglect to mention that the charges were dismissed because no evidence was ever advanced to support them. Different mailer, same song and dance. Same deceptions.
Now, I’d like to take a brief moment to say that Dave Poisson has put out a notice that he “unequivocally denounce[s]” the mailers and is quick to point out that his campaign didn’t produce them. The man behind the PAC who did is none other than Delegate Ward Armstrong, the House Minority Leader since February 2005. That’s the Leader of the Democrats in the House, of which Dave Poisson is one. There is absolutely zero chance that Dave Poisson doesn’t know Armstrong and an equal chance that he hasn’t been in communication with him during this election cycle. If he truly “unequivocally denounce[d]” these mailers, he could simply pick up the phone, call his House Leader, and tell him to knock it off. The mailers keep coming so Poisson clearly hasn’t done anything besides send out a weak e-mail.
Great leadership, there, Dave.
The DPV themselves followed up that act with a mailer today attacking Tag Greason over his staunch defense of the 2nd Amendment rights of Virginians. In it they give a soapbox to Joe Samaha, the father of Reema Samaha, one of the slain Virginia Tech students gunned down by Seung-Hui Cho in 2007. Samaha wants us to “vote no on Tag Greason” because Greason would oppose legislation “closing” the mythical “gun-show loophole.” Such a stance, he says, is a disgrace to his daughter’s memory. And that, my friends, is yet another deception.
As has been explained literally hundreds of times to these people, Cho didn’t buy his guns at a gun show, he bought them in a store and was subjected to the background check these people seem to think is a magic panacea for mentally-deranged violence. The DPV, via Joe Samaha, are riding on the backs of the fallen to mislead us on yet another topic and they are hoping that this pile of deceptions will be enough to distract us from noticing the 1 thing they hope we’ll miss. That’s the fact that Dave Poisson’s record in office has been sorely lacking and his 1 major push in 4 years has been to find a new way to tax us even more than we already are.
We’re tired of the deceptions and we’re tired of people promising things – lower taxes, a clean campaign, etc. – they have no intention of ever providing. We need new leadership, new representation in Richmond and for the 32nd District, that’s Tag Greason. Get to the polls on Tuesday and vote for Tag Greason, Delegate for the 32nd District.
October 30th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
2 comments
There is no indicator whatsoever that Democrat Creigh Deeds is in such good shape that he doesn’t need to get his name and his message out to as many Virginians as he can over the next 6 days. So what does it say that he’s cutting his TV ad budget by over 60%?
Turns out that Creigh “What’s In Your Wallet?” Deeds is cutting his TV ad budget by $700K going into the final week of the campaign and will only put up $400K this week. According to Chris Cillizza at the WashPo, that will only get him about 20 percent of the ad exposure that a candidate for governor should have in the D.C. market heading into the last week.
It doesn’t say “confidence,” that’s for sure. Unless what you’re confident in is that you’re about to get thumped badly and you don’t see the point in throwing away good money. That’s what the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) appears to be doing. As reported at the Virginia Virtucon link above, the DGA has already “moved on” (pardon the expression) to working to support the Colorado Governor in his 2010 re-election try. When your alleged supporters won’t even stick around long enough for you to give your official concession speech, that’s pretty cold.
October 28th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
no comments
Reported over at Bearing Drift, both Public Policy Polling and SurveyUSA are reporting Republican candidates in Virginia with strong leads with a week to go.
SurveyUSA shows Bob McDonnell over Creigh Deeds 58-41, Bill Bolling over Judy Wagner 56-42, and Ken Cuccinelli over Steve Shannon 57-41, double-digit leads for the Republican candidate in all 3 statewide races.
Public Policy Polling (PPP) has McDonnell over Deeds 55-40, Bolling over Wagner 50-38, and Cuccinelli over Shannon 52-36, again for double-digit leads in all three races. A key piece of the PPP writeup is this:
There is some indication in the recent polls that Democratic voters are giving up on this race. At the beginning of September 38% of likely voters were Democrats. By the end of the month it was 37%, a week ago it was down to 33% and now it’s at just 31%. That trend has major implications for the party’s candidates further down the ballot.
Yes, and the implications aren’t good. As mentioned in the Hollingworth column I posted on earlier today, there are Delegate races where the Democrats were counting on pretty easy re-election wins that are, instead, getting serious competition. (Enough that the Dems had to start a series of misleading “chaff” announcements rather than run on their records.) Jim LeMunyon, Richard Anderson and, near and dear to Loudoun’s hearts, Tag Greason will all stand to benefit from this enthusiasm gap added onto their very capable campaign strategies. Naturally, incumbent Republicans like Tom Rust, Bob Marshall, and Joe May will, as well.
Keep it up, folks, and let’s finish strong!
October 27th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
no comments
By Barbara Hollingsworth:
Turns out that the widely reported demise of the Grand Old Party in Virginia last November was a tad premature.
Buoyed by gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell’s double-digit lead in the polls and the White House’s public spanking of Democrat Creigh Deeds, Republican strategists predict they will retain all their seats in the House of Delegates, where all 100 members are up for re-election. And they might even pick off a few Democrats in Northern Virginia, which just last year was written off as a virtually impenetrable Democratic stronghold.
Indeed. I like this part:
Vanderhye is not the only Democratic incumbent in trouble less than a year after pundits proclaimed that their first presidential victory since 1964 had permanently tinted Virginia blue. So are Dels. Chuck Caputo, D-Chantilly, David Poisson, D-Sterling, and Paul Nichols, D-Prince William, who are facing unexpectedly stiff opposition from Republican challengers Jim LeMunyon, Tag Greason and Richard Anderson, respectively.
When we speak to our values and we emphasize our ideas to handle our common needs, the message resonates with our fellow Virginians. When the Democrats respond with deception and no better approach than to simply raise taxes and spend it on things we don’t need, they get the kind of results they’ve gotten thus far. The only poll that counts is just a week away, folks. If you haven’t already done so, get informed and vote the candidates into office who have both a vision for the future and the right approaches to get us there.
October 27th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
one comment
Doing what I do for a living, I know full well the impact of large numbers of people passing chain letters back and forth. The impact is not good to the Internet, the resources we’re trying to access, and for our general productivity. That’s why I generally do not forward chain letters regardless of their content or whether I agree with them or not. This morning, however, I got one from a source I respect and on a matter than I happen to feel strongly about. No, I’m not going to forward it. I’m going to do what I hope is 1 better: I’m putting it up here for all of you to see. Here goes:
A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves. – Edward R. Murrow
Only 86% will send this on…..
I pledge alligiance to the flag,
pf the United States of America ,
And to the republic for which it stands,
one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!
I was asked to send on if I agree, or delete if I don’t.
It is said that 86% of Americans believe in God.
Therefore I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having ‘In God We Trust’ on our money and having ‘God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance.
I believe it’s time we stand up for what we believe!
If you agree, pass this on.
October 27th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Human Interest, Politics, Religion |
no comments
It’s understandable, given that Dem candidate for AG Steve Shannon has demonstrated a profound lack of understanding of the law (the Melendez decision by SCOTUS was no big deal to Shannon but it was a very big deal to anyone who knew the law) and of the Attorney General’s office in particular (Shannon can’t tell you the divisions of the AG’s office and what they do), that the DPV would then try going as negative on Ken Cuccinelli as possible. Going after him on gun issues isn’t likely to have the effect they want.
The mailer I got today deals with the DPV trying to turn Cuccinelli’s vote on SB1257 into an alleged desire by Cuccinelli to “give a gun to a violent felon”. Of course, that’s not what SB1257 was all about and the Democrats are confident you won’t go looking to catch them in their deception. (Seems to be a pattern this year.) SB1257 was one of those attempts to “close” the mythical “gun show loophole” and Cuccinelli, like most people who are actually informed on the matter, voted against it.
There is a huge difference between keeping a gun out of a violent crook’s hands and criminalizing your Dad’s attempt to buy a hunting rifle off his own brother or next door neighbor. The crook doesn’t care whether it’s illegal to buy that gun from the trunk of a guy’s car. SB1257 would have had zero effect against such things. But it would have placed the onus of a cumbersome regulation onto regular law-abiding gun owners. That’s what Cuccinelli knew about SB1257 as did all the other Senators who voted against it.
Once again, this is a misleading mailer from people who understand they’re in a world of hurt because they don’t have credible plans to handle Virginia’s issues.
October 26th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Virginia Politics |
one comment
Loudoun Times-Mirror blogger/reporter Nicholas Graham took note of a rather embarrassing faux pax out in the Golden State where Meg Whitman is angling to become the GOP nominee for Governor. Graham noted that Whitman’s asking people to get out to the polls on her behalf but she, herself, has never done so for anyone else. She apparently hasn’t bothered to get to the polls herself in years past and that’s caused her campaign some stress trying to explain that away.
Graham thought it might be an interesting exercise to apply that inspection to our local scene here in Loudoun and I agree with him. It’s a pertinent bit of information as to whether or not our intended elected officials have actually participated in the elections process. His findings? We’re in pretty good shape with our incumbents and candidates. There was one example, however, that proved glaring for me:
In the 2009 session, the Official Minutes show Poisson missed two days. What’s noteworthy is that on the two days Poisson was absent, a total of about 250 roll-call votes were taken. That’s a lot of legislative business.
So I asked Poisson about it. Like most lawmakers, Poisson has a separate, full-time job – and needs it (Delegates make a scant $17,000). On those two days, he had a vital work requirement to fulfill. His role at work “could not be substituted”, and said his vote those days “would not have made a difference”. In reviewing the vote tallies, he’s right. Still, almost 250 votes on some heady issues were taken without a Poisson “Yea” or “Nay”. Yet, Poisson notes, that’s just “two days out of four years” in Richmond.
There are a number of issues that arise from this little gem and we’ll start with one that Graham himself noted just a few paragraphs previous to those I’ve quoted. Legislative sessions for the General Assembly do not last all year, they last 50-60 days. Poisson’s comment, there, about this only being “two days out of four years” is misleading, something Mr. Poisson apparently has a penchant for. It’s not 2 days out of 4 years, it’s 2 days out of 8 months (60 days each out of 4 years, 60 x 4 = 240 days / 30 = 8 months).
Now while you might be thinking that’s still no big deal, you cannot deny that blowing it on 250 job-related tasks is most certainly significant. Think about that: on 250 separate matters of sufficient importance to warrant a separate, roll-call vote the citizens of the 32nd District went unheard-from. We had no say in those matters whatsoever. Poisson dismisses this concern saying his votes “would not have made a difference” but there’s no way he could have known that ahead of the vote. This is the same lame, sorry excuse people who don’t bother to show up to the polls on election day give: that their vote wouldn’t matter, anyway. In this case, Poisson’s actions denied us all a vote. He’s saying our vote doesn’t matter. This is the attitude we want in our representative to the House in the General Assembly? I think not.
Dave Poisson knew the obligation he was getting into when he ran for office and told us he’d be there for us. If he didn’t adequately explain that to his private job’s management then that’s his fault. We should not be denied our representation in state government because Dave Poisson’s law firm feels that our representation is less important than whatever project they had assigned to him. They don’t get to make that call. We do, and we did when the 32nd District elected a man who assured us he’d represent us ably in Richmond. To now say that he’ll do that so long as nothing’s going on at work that he considers more important is a dereliction of the duty he voluntarily accepted. It’s the kind of representation we can’t count on.
Perhaps it’s time to release Mr. Poisson from any possible conflict of duties and allow him to put his full-time attention to his private job. Let’s send Tag Greason to the House and get the kind of focus our representation deserves.
October 24th, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
no comments
Well, I got another mailer this week from the Democrat side of the Virginia political landscape and, yes, it’s another deliberate deception about Tag Greason, Republican candidate for Delegate of the 32nd District. Funded and published by a PAC called “A Strong Majority”, it recycles the gossip-rag rumor-spread of a “story” published in the Loudoun Independent that I wrote about back in late September.
Before I begin, I’d like to really thank the Virginia Democrats for mailing this piece of trash into my home. The next time you feel the need to publish something with boldface, highlit descriptions involving sexually explicit terms may I recommend you send it wrapped in brown paper? That’s the standard protocol for this kind of material, as I understand it. Fortunately, I decided to go pick up the mail myself rather than let my 8-year-old daughter do it, as she’d asked to do. With people like you in charge of printing this kind of crap up, I think I’ll play it safe and keep getting the mail myself until after the elections. Thanks again, ever so much. (Oh, yes, nice touch putting that “unsafe for kids” warning at the bottom of your mailer. Might have been nice if you’d actually followed the advice you so helpfully provided. Jerks.)
The mailer offers up nothing new – it’s the same baseless accusation that the Loudoun Independent repeated: that some woman, allegedly still in the military, accused Tag Greason of misconduct back in 1994. No evidence was discovered then to support the accusation, none was discovered when charges were filed at the US District Court, none was ever discovered during the repeated continuances. No evidence to support the allegation was ever discovered whatsoever during the entire time it was investigated and none was ever forthcoming right up to the day the case was dismissed as being without truth or merit. Bottom line: someone accused Tag Greason of something and never backed it up. It’s easy to conclude why: it didn’t happen.
Of course, the people who published this mailer know that. After all, the story in the Independent grudgingly allows that the case was dismissed with no evidence of wrongdoing offered. Even in Geddie’s follow-up lame attempt at justifying his use of the paper to spread this gossip he concedes that the details of the case support Greason’s denial and not the accusation. The PAC – led by Democrat Delegate Ward Armstrong – references the story itself in the print of their mailer. They know the case was dismissed and they know there was no evidence of wrongdoing but they make the baseless accusation anyway and hide the truth from we voters in Loudoun.
(The mailer relies heavily on the story in the Independent and I’m having a very hard time believing that this wasn’t the intention from the start. The Independent tees this story up for a political group who has nothing to back it up with so that they can then use the fact that it was reported at all to support their own attack. As I said when I was writing about the story, the real news isn’t an accusation for which no evidence was ever offered, let alone confirmed. The real story is who fed this crap to editor John Geddie and why did he decide to run it? Of course, Geddie’s not talking so he must feel we don’t need to know that.)
Between this mailer, the omissions by Stevens Miller about Tom Rust in regards to the autism bill, and the Poisson campaign’s deliberate deception about Tag Greason’s business dealings, the Democrats involved in the races of concern to Loudoun County have engaged in a clear pattern of deception in order to get the votes they need to win. They’re lying and they’re cheating and they think you won’t notice. If they’re doing it here in the campaign, what makes you think they won’t do it in office? What have they already decided to hide from us?
These people do not deserve your vote and they surely don’t deserve your trust. Tag Greason’s opponents, in particular, are engaging in the worst kind of slime in their clear desperation to do something – anything – to get at a candidate they clearly fear being compared to. Mr. Greason has served his country with honor and is stepping up to serve the Commonwealth and Loudoun in the same spirit. Let’s get integrity, energy, and honesty working for Loudoun in Richmond. Elect Tag Greason, Tom Rust, Joe May, and Bob Marshall to the House in Virginia’s General Assembly.
October 22nd, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
8 comments
Two newspapers in our area have issued endorsements for Bob McDonnell for Governor of Virginia, the regional Washington Times and one of our local papers, the Loudoun Times-Mirror.
From the Washington Times:
Unlike his opponent, Mr. McDonnell has experience as a statewide elected official running the attorney general’s office and as a local legislator. Instead of building his campaign on how the government can do more by stripping resources from families and private-sector job creators, Mr. McDonnell is leading with ideas on how the state can focus its efforts on the priorities that matter. For instance, if the commonwealth gets out of the booze business, there’s more money to address transportation.
McDonnell not only has experience but he’s got clearly-articulated plans for how to make use of it. Says the Loudoun Times-Mirror:
McDonnell has offered specifics to help solve the transportation mess in Northern Virginia. Deeds, a state senator representing Bath County, prefers generalities and “trust me” rhetoric.
McDonnell has a plan that would draw monies from various sources, including revenue from off-shore drilling and privatizing the state-owned liquor stores. We like his idea to reroute nearly a third of the sales taxes collected in Northern Virginia, about $105 million per year, to go toward highway projects in this region. We also praise him for wanting to dedicate the first percentage of all state revenue growth over 3 percent toward transportation.
While we admire Deeds’ call for a bipartisan commission to study road woes, his plan of action on this issue lacks specifics. We need more immediate action and selecting and convening a commission will waste too much time.
This is the critical piece of the puzzle for voters serious about Virginia’s future. Would you hire a contractor who refuse to tell you anyhing about what he was going to do until after you hired him? Would you hire an employee who would only discuss their intentions after you signed him on? Of course not, but that’s what Creigh Deeds is demanding when he asks for your vote. That’s not the way this is supposed to work and we have the ability to see to it that it doesn’t work that way where the decision of who to vote into the governorship is concerned.
Bob McDonnell is the right decision for Virginia.
October 21st, 2009
Posted by
ricjames |
Politics, Virginia Politics |
no comments
Search the web:
RSS Feed
Ric's Twitter