realloudoun

With two weeks to the election, every day brings another colorful glossy mailer (actually two arrived yesterday) from the very well-funded campaign of Tea Party wacko GOP state delegate candidate Dave “I’m just a small businessman” LaRock, slinging an avalanche of sleaze and mud.

In true Karl Rove spirit, LaRock kicked off his negative onslaught with the fabricated accusation that his opponent, Mary Daniel, was doing what he himself was about to do (“Why is Mary Daniel running a gutter campaign?”). That might have been just ever so slightly more convincing had LaRock offer a single instance of Daniel’s supposedly “dirty” campaign. But never mind: the purpose was simply to provide cover for his own dirty tricks.

As noted last week, LaRock has also been assiduously ducking any and all candidate forums or debates, including one sponsored by the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce (LaRock was the only candidate from either party in any of the several local delegate races not to show). And his campaign issued a patently false excuse for his blowing off a forum sponsored by the Purcellville Gazette, blaming the Gazette for refusing to accommodate his schedule, when in fact LaRock told the paper that he had no free dates whatsoever and that he “maybe” would attend “schedule permitting” but that he would decide whether to participate on the basis of “cost-benefit analysis.” (How’s that for bringing businesslike values to public service.)

For the general election, LaRock has been trying to reposition himself as a centrist pro-business candidate (though studiously avoiding mentioning in any of his literature just what his own “successful small business” is: namely, a two-bit, confrontational developer of crappy McMansions, not something that would stand him in very good stead with the Loudoun electorate which is already fed up with the influence of developer money in local politics).

Yet lest their be any doubts about what a wacko Tea Party fringe candidate LaRock indeed is, all one need do is consult the website of the “1789 Project,” of which LaRock is president. Continue reading →

Not the reception Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) was expecting in Lucketts last week

It’s always a good measure of a politician’s mettle how he reacts to criticism. On that score, our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors ranks somewhere between “irate” and “petulant,” what with Chairman Scott York’s regular anger-management lapses (one of which was of enduring benefit to realloudoun, boosting our readership by a factor of 5 after the chairman lambasted this blog from the dais for having committed the unheard of act of taking issue with an elected official’s wisdom) and Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio’s practice of lashing out at liberals, homosexuals, Democrats, and “the media” for all of his own ethical and financial lapses and sending mocking e-mails to fellow Tea Party members (including his close personal friend and loyal supporter, GOP state delegate candidate Dave LaRock) deriding citizens who offer even the mildest constructive suggestions for the future of their county.

Now comes Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) with his contribution. Continue reading →

Dave LaRock, the right wing wacko Tea Party GOP nominee for the 33rd Virginia House district, has been trying very hard to present himself as a man of the people.

The only trouble is that he seems scared to death of actually encountering any people.

He failed to show up a candidate forum in Berryville; then he declined to respond to a questionnaire from that bastion of left wing radical activism the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, which was a prerequisite for participation in the Chamber’s candidate forum; and he has told the Purcellville Gazette, which is sponsoring a candidates’ forum tonight at which Democrat Mary Daniel and Libertarian what’s his face have agreed to appear, that he has to wash his hair or clip his toenails or something and may be too busy to attend (the newspaper reports, “The LaRock campaign said it might attend, schedule permitting”).

Dave, come out from behind that inflatable pig and answer the voters’ questions!

Every two years, a wonderful supernatural creature appears in the dreams of Virginia GOP candidates to give them the magical power to build all the new roads they want, and never, ever having to pay for it.

Tea Party right wing wacko House delegate candidate David LaRock is merely the latest to have been the recipient of such nocturnal visitations from the Road Fairy.

Along with informing us that he has many, many offspring, LaRock’s near-daily campaign mailers have been touting Dave’s ability to grant us all our road wishes without costing the taxpayers a penny. Continue reading →

Last month, as we noted, the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors, in another of its unrelenting efforts to make it as difficult as possible for the public to find out what they’re up to or what stupid things they have said in the process, voted unanimously to abolish written minutes of their meetings, effective this coming January.

State law requires local bodies to keep and publish minutes which, among other things must provide “a summary of the discussion on matters proposed, deliberated or decided, and a record of any votes taken.”

The Board, however, airily argued that the extremely convenient webcasts of its meetings that it posts online are the equivalent of such a “summary” — about like arguing that to find out the standing of your baseball team, all you need to do is watch a video of all of the games they have played so far this year.

Having provoked an understandably concerned reaction from citizens, Supervisor Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) posted on his Facebook page a huffy denial that the Board had abolished written minutes: Continue reading →