Today I attended a rally at the party headquarters for the Prince William County Republican Committee. I found myself astonished by the number of dignitaries at the event. In addition to most of the Republican candidates running for office with voters in this county, the following elected officials attended (and spoke) at the event.

• Governor Bob McDonnell
• Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling
• Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli
• Speaker Bill Howell
• Senator Tommy Noment

These gentlemen uniformly stressed the importance of the upcoming election and the difference a few votes make. With relatively few votes, Republicans can take control of the Virginia Senate. That Senate now stands as a road block to the wishes of the citizens of Virginia (see WHY WE EACH NEED TO DO OUR PART). They emphasized that getting out the vote in Prince William County is critical. If Prince William votes Republican, we have an excellent chance of winning four Senate seats, bringing four new Republican senators into the Senate.

• Dick Black
• Tom Gordy
• Jeff Frederick
• Miller Baker

Need more reason to vote? Then read the following email from Dick Black.

The election is this Tuesday, November 8th!
Please remember to vote!

There are three days left before Tuesday’s election, and I wanted to update you on a few important developments.

Fighting Obamacare

News broke yesterday that Delegate Bob Marshall and I filed briefs in support of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in stopping Obamacare.  You can read about it here.

My opponent, Democrat Shawn Mitchell, who has previously stated he “absolutely supports Barack Obama,” attacked me for this, calling the effort to stop Obamacare from destroying the economy “a frivolous lawsuit.”

The American people overwhelmingly oppose Obamacare, and anyone who dismisses it as “frivolous” is clearly out of touch. Voters will have a clear choice on Election Day. I will fight against overreaching government takeovers of the private sector and will work for policies that promote job grown — not those that hurt our economy.

Labor Unions Enter the Race

My opponent has benefited greatly from labor unions which have poured tens of thousands of dollars into his campaign. The labor unions have seen big handouts from the Obama administration, even when everyday Americans are struggling to find a job.

Now the unions want my opponent to help overturn Virginia’s Right to Work laws and force the Metro to Dulles Extension project to operate under a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), which would prohibit any contractor that is not a union contractor from working on the Metro expansion.  This would eliminate any real competition and add hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost of the project. That would guarantee higher tolls for commuters.

We can’t let that happen. The cost of this project has already increased dramatically. Government should be frugal with taxpayers’ money. We can’t let my opponent take more money out of our pockets, just so he can pay off his union donors.

Positive Ideas vs. Negative Smears

During these past months I have campaigned on a positive message of creating jobs and growing the economy. I have talked about the need for energy independence which will bring jobs and transportation funding to Virginia. I have talked about keeping taxes low by controlling government spending. I am ready to go to Richmond and work with Governor Bob McDonnell to keep Virginia one of the best places to do business in the Country.

In contrast, my democratic opponent has focused all of his attention on spreading lies and distortions to scare voters. Instead of giving people a reason to vote for him, he has decided to spend all of his time and money trying to scare voters into voting against me.

Here is a sample of his most recent attacks:

• My opponent has accused me of not debating him, despite the fact that we have debated three times and he backed out of attending two other candidate forums — including the largest ever Loudoun County debate, which was held at Cornerstone Chapel.

• My opponent accused me of not releasing a 2nd Amendment survey to his campaign, even though he refused to fill out their survey at all.

• My opponent has accused me of lying about his relationship with his previous employer, Parrish Services, claiming his boss said nice things about him. Mitchell’s last boss did say kind things about him until he had to sue Mitchell for stealing the company’s most valuable property. For Mitchell to defend his reprehensible actions by quoting his bosses kind remarks before the alleged theft is the height of dishonesty. To be clear, his former employer has never said any kind words about him since the lawsuit. In fact, he has endorsed my candidacy in this race and donated most generously to my campaign.

• My opponent even accused me of supporting spousal rape! But I am the only legislator who had ever successfully prosecuted a case of spousal rape, and Democrat Mitchell conveniently failed to mention that, after I discussed the bill on the floor, I then voted to make spousal rape illegal in Virginia

My opponent’s desperation to win at any costs took his campaign to depths never seen in local politics. My opponent mailed voters a photo depicting a woman in a hospital gown with her feet in stirrups, about to have an abortion. This outraged voters, demonstrating that there isn’t a level Shawn Mitchell won’t stoop to.

While I’ve focused exclusively on Jobs and the economy, Shawn Mitchell has focused almost exclusively on advocating his radical social views.

Despite these daily attacks, my campaign has been knocking on doors and reaching out to voters to help get out the vote on Tuesday. But we need your help. Please join me in this historic election on November 8th. Join me in declaring that politics of fear and hate will not win the day. Join me in supporting a positive, pro-business platform that will put Virginians back to work.

I need your help to change the direction we are headed. Please volunteer for two or more hours on Election Day. Donate generously to our campaign, ore request a yard sign by calling our office at 703-468-1342 or email Mail@dickblack4senate.com

Victory is close but we mustn’t let it slip away. My opponent is desperate; he will stop at nothing so we must have every single person out on Nov. 8th. Be a part of the solution and return the power to the people. Together we can send a message — America is the greatest nation on earth and we will fight to take it back!

Last night I attended the Prince William County Republican Committee‘s Patriots Dinner. We used the Continental Event Center at 9705 Liberia Ave in Manassas. I believe this is the second time we have had a dinner there. They did a good job once again. The staff is courteous and hardworking.

We had quite a few dignitaries present. Congressman Rob Wittman gave the keynote address. A smart man, he kept it brief and on topic. What was the focus of the evening? On November 8, 2011, Republicans want to gain control of the General Assembly.

Currently, the GOP has majority control of the House of Delegates, and Democrats control the Senate. That allows Democrats to stall bills ranging from immigration control to putting a lock on the Transportation Fund (keeping Democrats from spending every cent of it on social programs). Nonetheless, I suspect many would find an entire evening that focused on just this one issue a bore. So how did the PWCGOP leadership keep the program entertaining, informative, and persuasive. They got a variety of talented people involved.

• Delegate Scott Lingamfelter started the program with a thoughtful prayer. He asked for the Lord to protect our military personnel and first responders.
• An Abigail Smith Adams impersonator (I apologize for not knowing her name) then led everyone in singing “The Star Spangled Banner”. Latter the same lady did a skit, pretending she was Abigail as she read from John’ and Abigail’s love letters. At the end of the program, “Abigail” also lead everyone singing “God Bless America.”
• Chairman Lyle Beefelt served ably as the Master of Ceremonies.

We had a fairly sizable number of short speeches from state and local elected leaders and candidates.

• Delegate Rob Bell introduced the topic of gaining control over the General Assembly. He focused on numerous bills the Democrat Senate has blocked.
• Delegate Tim Hugo provided a pep talk.
• Senator Mark Obenshain spoke about critical Senate races in Prince William County (Because Senate Democrats insisted upon gerrymandering, six senate districts have precincts in this county.).
• Candidate Tom Gordy spoke about his decision to run against Senator Chuck Colgan. In addition, he introduced the keynote speaker, Congressman Rob Wittman.

Because of his contributions to the PWCGOP and his gutsy challenge to Congressman Gerry Connolly, Keith Fimian received an award from the committee. Fimian used that opportunity to announce a new PAC, the Growth, Opportunity & Prosperity Fund. Fimian intends to use this PAC to elect pro-business candidates. Effectively, he gave the speech shown in the video below.

As best I can remember, VIP attendees (in random order) included:

• Sheriff Glen Hill
• Candidate Jeff Frederick
• Candidate Miller Baker
• Delegate Rich Anderson
• Delegate Bob Marshall
• Delegate Jackson Miller
• Candidate David Ramadan
• Supevisor Mike May
• Candidate Chris Royse
• School Board Member Michael Otaigbe

I suspect I missed a few folks, but the point is that quite a few of our elected officials participated in the dinner.

I noted Greg Letiecq in attendance with a camera. I expect he will have some footage on bvbl.net.

Here is a bit of news that will require further investigation. At this evening’s meeting of the Prince William County Republican Committee (PWCGOP), we got the announcement that an official of the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) revoked Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli membership in the Republican Party. Why? Well, here is the reason.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling are the two latest high-profile Republicans to publicly back independent Henrico County commonwealth’s attorney candidate Bill Janis over GOP nominee Matthew P. Geary.

Janis, a defense attorney and retiring Republican state delegate from Henrico, opted to run as an independent after Geary lost favor with the county’s Republican Party as details of an extramarital affair surfaced.

Bolling and Cuccinelli on Friday held a joint news conference with Janis, the House majority whip, at the General Assembly Building to voice their support. (continued here)

When Cuccinelli endorsed Janis, he violated a precondition for party membership. Membership requires the willingness to support the party’s nominee. Since Cuccinelli endorsed Janis, he violated that rule. Apparently, however, Cuccinelli and other Republican officials regarded Geary’s extramarital affair as too difficult to tolerate. Unfortunately, by the time Matthew P. Geary’s extramarital affair came to light, he already had the Republican Party’s nomination. Here are the details.

Here is a list of the other Republicans who have endorsed Bill Janis.  Have these other Republican officials had their membership in the Republican Party revoked? I don’t know. Apparently, our chairman, Lyle Beefelt, had only been told about Cuccinelli. Nonetheless, Geary is making an issue of it.

Geary charged today that Cantor’s involvement in the race and the support of other Republican leaders for non-party candidate Janis violates party rules and means that they no longer formally have voting rights in local party matters. (from here)

Technically, Geary is right. Hence the decision about Cuccinelli. So it is going to be interesting to see what RPV does about this.

Since the PWCGOP is chartered under RPV, the PWCGOP could not overrule RPV and make Cuccinelli a full voting member. Nonetheless, the committee indicated their support by making him an honorary member. Note that Cuccinelli’s picture also remains on the RPV website.

Rules are difficult things. No matter how well written, rules sometimes demand we do the wrong thing or accept the consequences. It seems this is one of those times.

Last Tuesday we had primary elections. This evening the Prince William Republican Committee met and chose which candidates it will endorse for the School Board. Two of the endorsements were contested.

The committee endorsed the following incumbents, and no one contested that endorsement.

• Milton C. Johns, Chairman At-Large
• Michael I. Otaigbe, Ph.D., Coles District
• Lisa E. Bell, Neabsco District

Only two incumbents received challenges, and these incumbents debated their challengers.

• Alyson Satterwhite challenged Donald P. Richardson, Viced Chairman, Gainesville District for the committee’s endorsement. Satterwhite won the committee’s endorsement.
• John O´Leary challenged Gilbert A. “Gil” Trenum, Jr., Brentsville District for the committee’s endorsement. Trenum retained the committee’s endorsement.

Note that Grant Lattin, Occoquan District did not request the committee’s endorsement. His supporters explained that Lattin now has a civil service position which requires that he avoid participation in partisan political activity.

Without exception the people who people who competed in the Republican Party’s nomination in the primary election and for the committee’s endorsement this evening have struck me as good and decent people. Both this Tuesday and this evening, and I found myself trying to decide which candidate I preferred, and I did not find the choice easy. I suspect most people had the same experience. Therefore, I hope all the people who competed in these contests, not just the winners, will stay involved. Our country is in trouble. We need all hands on deck.

To succeed, we must make America once again a nation of winners. When they don’t win, winners pick themselves up. Winners dust themselves off and start planning for the next contest.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. — Theodore Roosevelt from THE MAN IN THE ARENA

On Monday night I attended the Prince William County Republican Committee (PWCGOP) March 28th meeting.  Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli headlined the agenda, giving a good speech in response to standing ovations from a larger than normal crowd. Naturally, the crowd included 2010 candidates happy to give speeches. So the meeting ended up being longer than usual.   

Fortunately, the candidates gave interesting speeches. Politics is nothing, if not drama.

Delegate Scott Lingamfelter  

Lingamfelter got the honor of introducing Cuccinelli. In addition to praising Cuccinelli’s effort to defend our right to buy what we want with our own money, Lingamfelter said the 2011 elections provide us the opportunity to tune up for 2012. He expects President Barack Obama to campaign hard to stay the course, and he expects a tough election.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

In addition to providing the crowd the latest status on his efforts to defend our rights from the encroachments of Washington busybodies (my term), Cuccinelli echoed Lingamfelter’s concerns by reminding the audience that Obama won Prince William County in 2008.

Rather than try to summarize Cuccinelli’s speech, I have linked to recent news reports.

• Cuccinelli ‘cautiously optimistic’ about Va.’s health reform challenge at IFAwebnews.com
• Cuccinelli: Environmental regulations must consider economy at the Richmond-Times Dispatch
• Cuccinelli urges 4th U.S. Circuit to strike down health care law at washingtonexaminer.com

To add some perspective to his successes, here is an example of some of the venom we can expect Democrats to heap upon Cuccinelli, New Republic: Cuccinelli’s Health Care Challenge. 

Chairman At-Large Corey Stewart

Stewart had good news. Most of it is on his county website here and at the front page of the PWCGOP website. Stewart emphasized that Prince William County has the lowest residential tax bill in Northern Virginia.  Below are the numbers Stewart put in a chart he passed out. (He apparently took the information from this document.)

• $5,444 – Loudoun
• $4,821 – Arlington
• $4,714 – Fairfax
• $4,395 – Alexandria
• $3,401 – Prince William

Stewart observed that when adjusted for inflation the average fiscal year 2012 residential tax bill will be 9% lower than in 2007. 

One portion of Stewart’s presentation did raise some concerns.  Stewart wants to fund a long list of road projects (see PWC FY12 Proposed Budget Presented). Because he anticipates prices will go up as the economy recovers (a hopeful assumption), Stewart wants to fund these projects now. However, some PWCGOP members objected, believing that developers, not taxpayers, should fund these road projects. 

(Author’s Note: The headache with infrastructure projects is that politicians rarely provide voters any good way to measure a return on their investment (ROI). Hence, many citizens favor letting the people who benefit pay the bill.)

Delegate Jackson Miller/Bob FitzSimmonds

Because of redistricting, many candidates expressed uncertainty about where they will be running.  Miller and FitzSimmonds both made it clear they really do not want to run against each other. Nonetheless, each also offered himself as the better candidate.  Miller reminded people he has won elections. FitzSimmonds pointed out he ran a strong campaign against a Senator Chuck Colgan, no mean opponent. FitzSimmonds also made it clear he would be the more Conservative candidate.

Virginia Virtucon has the current status on where each of these two men expect to run based upon current redistricting plans. State Senate ’11 – Jackson Miller to the 29th, Bob FitzSimmonds to the 22nd tells the story.

Delegate Rich Anderson

Anderson advertised an April 9th breakfast event, Join us for breakfast with Governor McDonnell.

Scott Martin

Martin is a tenured Associate Professor, Program Director, and an Assistant Dean at a Virginia public university. He advertised himself as a constitutionalist. 

Delegate Bob Marshall

Bob Marshall was unable to attend, but he had a spokeswoman read a letter he wrote.  Legislators get first look at redrawn maps captures the gist of it.

Mr. Marshall represents 35 precincts right now. The proposed map shrinks that to fewer than 10.

The map, released late Tuesday, is one of several proposals for redrawing 100 House and 40 Senate districts in the General Assembly and 11 congressional districts that Virginia lawmakers will consider when they meet for a special redistricting session beginning Monday.

“I’m losing areas I’ve represented for 20 years,” said Mr. Marshall, Manassas Republican, who currently has 190,000 constituents. He said his new district would contain 44 percent new land area and split his current district among six proposed districts.

Andre Muange (website)

Muange announced his candidacy. He gave a well-received speech. He emphasized:

• That as a legal immigrant he would fight for legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration.
• That as a teacher he would be well able to contribute to the improvement of our education system.

Suzanne Miller

Since Del. Marshall’s district is shrinking so much, that opens up an opportunity, and someone expressed interest. Hopefully, I got her name right.  However, I did not see a website. If anyone knows more about the lady, I would welcome information.