Too Conservative

I knew it was too good to be true. Given the widespread support FCRC Chairman Anthony Bedell has enjoyed over the months as he’s cleaned up the Committee, I was waiting for the perennially unhappy crew to start chafing under the leadership of a truly talented and qualified Chairman. Well, it didn’t take that long.
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Despite having cleaned up the FCRC, paid off our debt, increased participation and numbers by over 30% in a year, helping elect multiple Republicans, and winning the County for a Republican gubernatorial candidate for the first time in over 20 years, I’ve heard from multiple sources that individuals are being approached to run against Anthony Bedell.
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I have been expecting this for a while. Unlike some, Anthony has been willing to make tough decisions that needed to be made – he was early in his support for removing the historically awful Jeff Frederick as Chairman of the RPV and he has come out as an early endorser of Pat Herrity in the race to defeat Gerry Connolly in November. It still surprises me the antipathy that some on the Committee have shown to anyone who has been willing to put pragmatism over ideology. After some of the scenes I witnessed at the last FCRC meeting when Keith Fimian ignored the decision of the Committee to not allow any candidates except Kerry Bolognese and Samantha Rucker to speak (which was the right decision, considering if he’d allowed candidates from the 11th to speak, he’d have to allow candidates from the 8th and 10th, and there are at least 6 of those out there) it was only a matter of time before Fimian’s team started searching for a more pliable Chairman.
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So far, as far as I am aware, no one has taken the bait. I do know they have approached multiple people and I have been told at least one specific person who was asked and declined.
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What’s their complaint? I have no idea. I can only speculate, but the only thing I’ve ever heard as a complaint is the belief that he may “not be conservative enough” because he’s been willing to support and recruit moderate candidates to run. I have no idea where that comes from, considering Anthony is as solid a conservative as anyone I’ve ever known – he believes in low taxes, smaller government, protecting the 2nd amendment, and is a devout Catholic and pro-life without exceptions. What he isn’t is a knee-jerk ideologue – he cares deeply about electing Republicans to office and he’s demonstrated that he’s good at it.
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I’m not concerned about him drawing an opponent – I think he’ll win regardless. But what I find pathetic is the fact that some are willing to ignore his achievements because he has been unwilling to rubber stamp their candidacy or their support their favorite incompetent party leaders. At the end of the day, the party needs the kind of leadership Anthony Bedell has shown and I don’t know of a single person who is better suited to the job than he is.

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Feb 08th by Brian S

I watched the budget presentation today, and the news isn’t good for taxpayers.  Instead of cracking down on the out of control school system, County Administrator Tim Hemstreet, at the direction of a majority of the BOS, instead will foist an average 10% property tax increase on Loudoun’s property owners.  In these trying times, when every other surrounding jurisdiction is proposing steep cuts, this BOS is working towards a 5% increase in spending.  Sad, but true.  So there will be budget hearings on the horizon – will those of you opposed to this actually speak up and be heard or will you let Hatrick’s shock troops again control the winds of public opinion?

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Feb 08th by Loudoun Insider

Given the projected deficits in the Loudoun, Fairfax and Prince William school systems, it was critical that DNC Chairman Tim Kaine’s proposed freeze of the LCI be defeated.  Today, Governor Bob McDonnell issued a press release not only calling for the LCI to be updated, but also showing where he has found offsets in the budget to pay for it.  I’m very happy that the Governor has come down on the right side of this issue.  This is exactly the kind of fiscally conservative solutions I want to see – find a problem, solve  it, pay for it without raising taxes or borrowing.  Governor McDonnell continues to deliver.

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The text of the press release is after the jump.

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(Continue Reading)

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Feb 08th by Brian S

I’ve lived in the mid-atlantic my entire life, and I don’t remember a storm like this.  I shoveled once last night, and this morning you can’t even tell.  The drifts are almost as high as our SUV.

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Thank God my wife isn’t due until June – I couldn’t imagine trying to get out to the hospital in this business.  If you’ve gotta be outside, be careful.  I’m sure Monk is out dropping off hospital staff in his 4×4 as usual!

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UPDATE – Here are some photos from my first round of shoveling

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Feb 06th by Brian S

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Feb 04th by Too Conservative

Our Green Bay-like weather has forced the postponement of Frank Wolf’s event scheduled for tommorrow evening.  The new date is Friday, February 19th, same place same time, the Washington Dulles Airport Hilton from 6-8 PM.

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Feb 04th by Loudoun Insider

PWC government gets it.  Hatrick and his supplicant School Board in Loudoun don’t.  Read this WaPo article and weep.

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Feb 04th by Loudoun Insider

A regular TC reader sent me this fascinating list of contractors vying for a contract to install solar power projects for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority at Reagan and Dulles airports.  “Sidewalks and Cyberspace”, the sole proprietorship alias of Loudoun Supervisor Andrea McGimsey, is listed at the top of page two as a prime contractor and joint venture applicant.  Can’t you just see her out there pouring the concrete and turning the bolts?  Or is she a convenient front person since she is THE leader in energy issues in Loudoun County, where Dulles airport happens to be?  I’d love to see a copy of her submittal, and wonder who her joint venture partners were. 

The date of this list is July 13, 2009, which is during the time she was pushing the Loudoun energy plan (of course calling for more solar projects) through the BOS, and apparently during the time she was Executive Director for the Climate Prosperity Project.  Does anyone wonder now why she seemingly has no time for Potomac District business?  And exactly when will the full BOS finally call on her to explain herself in regard to their own Code of Ethics?  Or will that never happen since she knows all the right people and this is for the right reasons?

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Feb 03rd by Loudoun Insider