Democrats have won all of the Charlottesville elections, unsurprisingly. Delegate David Toscano easily defeated independent challenger R.B. Smith, James E. Brown bested independent Paul Best in the sheriff’s race, and Mayor Dave Norris secured reelection while ticket-mate Kristin Szakos joined him in defeating independents Bob Fenwick and Paul Long. Statewide Democrats were pummeled in most of the state (the numbers are still coming in, but “bloodbath” is probably in appropriate word), but there’s no sign of that in Charlottesville, with Sen. Creigh Deeds, Jody Wagner, and Steve Shannon all winning the local vote by a 3:1 margins. If the city is true to form, it’ll have the second-highest performance rate for Democrats, with Petersburg coming out on top.
Monthly Archive for November, 2009
Page 3 of 3
Both Republicans running for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors have won: Duane Snow in the Samuel Miller district and Rodney Thomas in the Rio district.
Snow was in a three-way race against Democrat Madison Cummings and independent John Lowry, all vying for a seat vacated by outgoing independent Sally Thomas. Cummings came in second, just behind Snow, with the independent a distant third.
The contest between Thomas and Democratic incumbent David Slutzky was closely watched. Slutzky’s intellectual, open-minded approach to government has a way of frightening more conservative voters, and Thomas’ campaign was premised on opposing Slutzky’s support of limited growth and related standard conservative issues. It’s a relatively narrow win—249 votes out of 4,735 cast, not counting outstanding absentee ballots and conditional votes—but a win just the case. Slutzky won easily in 2005, defeating Republican Gary Grant 58% to 38%.
Their victories remove two seats from the Democratic persuasion, tilting the whole board strongly towards conservatives, who only lost control of the BoS two years ago, when Ann Mallek defeated incumbent Republican David Wyant. Mallek and Dennis Rooker (who ran unopposed today) are left as the only reliable Democratic votes. With Lindsay Dorrier and Ken Boyd‘s seats up for reelection in two years, expect Democrats to be gunning hard for both of their seats.
Interestingly, both of today’s Republican victors were born and raised in Albemarle County, while all of their opponents moved here as adults. That may be a coincidence, but I suspect not. For most candidates, the sort of missteps that Rodney Thomas made in his campaign wouldn’t just end their campaign, it’d end their political careers. An electorate who has known the candidate for many years is going to be more forgiving.
A PAC called “Albemarle Citizens Against Racism” political action committee just registered yesterday, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, with the stated goal of defeating Rodney Thomas. (He’s the Republican running against incumbent David Slutzky in the Rio district in today’s election.) In violation of state campaign finance law, the PAC has not submitted a financial disclosure, so there’s no telling if the group has received or spent any money in opposition to Thomas. The statement of organization filed with the State Board of Elections names one Gretchen Knight, of Pen Park, as the treasurer and sole organizational contact, and a bank account at Bank of America.
Is anybody familiar with this group? Seen any material with their name on it? If they’re attempting to influence the election at the last minute, It’s possible that somebody had an idea for a political action committee, filed the paperwork, opened a bank account, and never did anything with it. They’re still in violation of state law, but it’s less egregious-seeming if nothing is hidden from the public as a result.
There are all sorts of elections on Tuesday. Statewide, we’ve got the governor’s race (Democrat Creigh Deeds vs. Republican Bob McDonnell), the lieutenant governor’s race (Republican Bill Bolling vs. Democrat Jody Wagner), and attorney general (Democrat Steve Shannon vs. Republican Ken Cuccinelli). There are also a pair of House of Delegates seats up for reelection for whom there are viable challengers: Republican Steve Landes vs. Democrat Greg Marrow and Democrat Cynthia Neff vs. Republican Rob Bell. In the county there are two Board of Supervisors races: Democrat David Slutzky vs. Republican Rodney Thomas in the Rio district, and Republican Duane Snow vs. Democrat Madison Cummings vs. independent John Lowry in Samuel Miller. In the city there are two City Council seats up for reelection, with four candidates on the ballot: Democrats Dave Norris and Kristin Szakos and independents Bob Fenwick and Paul Long. Also in the city is a sheriff’s race between independent Paul Best and Democrat James E. Brown.
The polls are open from 6 AM until 7 PM. If you don’t know where to vote, check here:
The Daily Progress has made their endorsements, generally endorsing the most conservative candidates on the ticket: McDonnell, Cuccinelli, Bell, Lowry, Toscano, Norris, and Williams (a write-in). The only surprise was their selection of Slutzky over Thomas. They had nothing negative to say about Thomas, but praised the Democrat, saying that “[i]t is rare to find someone so willing to try new approaches at the risk of public misunderstanding and disapproval.”
But now you can have your say. Who are you voting for and, more important, why? Try to convince people to support your candidate. You’ve got the opportunity to sway some votes here.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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