realloudoun

Not every electoral victory is a mandate, but in yesterday’s Virginia governor’s race — for perhaps the first time in modern recorded democratic history — the losing candidate in an election claimed a mandate.

In what was surely one of the bitterest and ungracious concession speeches in recent memory, Republican loser Ken Cuccinelli declared that because he only lost by 2.5 percentage points instead of a much greater margin against such a well-funded opponent, that meant “you sent a message to the president of the United States . . . that Obamacare is a failure.” Continue reading →

Just received a robocall, identified at the end as paid for by the Republican Party of Virginia, 804-780-0024, featuring a woman with a distinctive African-American accent declaring:

“In fact, Terry McAuliffe led the charge to try and defeat Barack Obama and deny him the opportunity to be President. What does Terry McAufliffe REALLY think of Barack Obama?”

Nice.

Far-flung Loudoun Board Chairman Scott York, third from right, in Turkey last week. Guess who’s paying?!

Our peripatetic chairman of the Loudoun Board of Supervisors, Scott York (R-At Large, Again), understandably restive at having to deal with the mundane matters of running a little old county, is once again visiting far flung locales to pick up helpful tips on how to be a better public servant. This time, Scott is in exotic Turkey, part of an official junket that includes outgoing Virginia secretary of transportation Sean Connaughton.

As usual, you can read all about Scott’s foreign travels in the local press . . .  that is, the local press in Turkey: not a peep was mentioned by our board chairman to the mere people who are paying for this junket.

According to his Turkish hosts, York and co. are discussing transportation and infrastructure, quite understandable given Turkey’s world-renowned role as a leader of transportation innovation. Or perhaps Scott is actually picking up a few tips on how to deal with citizen dissent towards ill-conceived infrastructure projects (e.g., the Bi-County Parkway that York, Connaughton, and their developer friends are so keen on ramming through), something Turkey does indeed excel at.

Tea Party wacko/serial prevaricator  GOP state delegate nominee Dave LaRock has struck again with another of his creative campaign claims unconstrained by little details such as reality.

As Leesburg Today reports, LaRock is now claiming that he “led efforts to protect Loudoun taxpayers and toll payers” in financing the Metrorail extension to Loudoun, with the “result” that special tax districts were established around Metro stations to help pay for the costs.

But in fact, LaRock actually opposed those districts when they were proposed by Supervisor Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run), sending a mocking e-mail to the Board of Supervisors in 2012 deriding the idea and predicting that businesses would “flee from the Ground Zero/Purple Amoeba/Shawn Williams Memorial Hyper-Tax District Zone.” Continue reading →