One Bob Fenwick appears to be preparing to run for City Council, Rachana Dixit writes in the Daily Progress today. It’s not clear (to me) whether he’s a Republican, independent, or unaffiliated Democrat, but he’s doing the sorts of things that one does before running for office. Just in the past month he’s made increasingly public statements on behalf of the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, he’s promoted the eyeball-burning SaveMcIntire.com, and most recently has demanded that Mayor Dave Norris increase spending drastically, eliminating the city’s savings to hire “41 men and women” for capital improvements and maintenance work. When asked by Dixit if he intends to run for Council, he said that he’d make “a political announcement” soon and, cryptically, that “there is an action [he] will take first.” In an undated note on one of his websites he writes that “in a week or two I’ll announce what I, personally, will do.”
Running to the left of Charlottesville Democrats is certainly a bold political gambit.
I hope that the Williams guy who works at State Farm will also run. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him to sign his petition. I’d love to sign Fenwick’s, too. Maybe the campaigns will have greater depth than moving council meetings around town and providing baby-sitting services for them. And, neither of them seem to be caught up in the two major factions of the local Dems. That ought to make for a very lively campaign season.
I’d happily support a candidate who tells us HOW he/she will “close the education gap” or “increase affordable housing.” But they never tell us how. All they ever say is they believe in these, a la they support the Democratic party planks.
Szakos is the worst of the current crop on that score. She has told us not one word about how she plans to accomplish anything. Her entire campaign consists of telling us she supports the same things the other Democrats do.
With no track record in government and no meaningful experience to bring to council, hers is an empty show of ambition.
Her only hope is to pack Saturday’s meeting with loyal friends. That’s been done before. Waldo did it. But the rules were different then. That year, the Dem committee could channel his popularity into a loss.
Under this year’s rules Waldo would have won the nomination. So Szakos, if she has enough friends, has a chance.
Why did I click on that link? http://www.savemcintire.com/ WHY WHY WHY? When I did I fell into a wormhole and found myself in 1996 and my browser magically changed to Netscape Navigator.
“Running to the left of Charlottesville Democrats is certainly a bold political gambit.”
LOL. You should go work for the State Dept. with diplomatic wording like that.