Unbelievable. The folks running the Higgins campaign are in a snit because the Republican candidate for Sheriff has some bipartisan support. It’s hurting their candidate, they say, to have Catoctin voters with both Malcolm Baldwin and Mike Chapman signs in their yards. Think about this. They would rather torpedo their own duly nominated Sheriff’s candidate, actively working against him because he has apparently managed to gain the support of people other than partisan Republicans. They actually seem to think that’s a terrible thing. I’m guessing that the real problem for them, though, is that Malcolm Baldwin has gained the support of independent-minded, moderate voters who are not Democrats. That’s the way this voting thing works.

For what it’s worth, a commenter posted a description of a conversation about this that he witnessed (and for the record, I don’t believe the person is suggesting taking signs from anyone’s yard; he’s presumably talking about signs on public property here. Right?):

[David ] LaRock suggest [sic] Mike go around and take down the signs posted next to Baldwin signs..

It leads to an interesting explanation for why everyone in the rural west can’t play nicely together. The same commenter reports hearing this directly from Blue Ridge Republican candidate Janet Clarke about the voters in the west who would be likely to support her: “Because Mike is so highly educated, etc., they won’t relate to him,” and that those voters prefer the “country boy image Simpson displays.”

Is that really their problem, or is it something else? I don’t recall Mr. Higgins winning any of the other times he’s run either, no matter who the Republican candidate for Sheriff was. I think it’s incontrovertible at this point that there are some Democrats and Progressives who support Mike Chapman – my colleague Liz, for one. The fact that there was disagreement over whether the LCDC should endorse him is evidence enough of that. The Higgins crew is clearly displeased with this – but the possibility they can’t bring themselves to even contemplate is this: In the rural Catoctin District, there are many otherwise Republican-leaning voters who prefer a common sense, moderate candidate who will advocate for rural residents as Supervisor Kurtz has done, a candidate who doesn’t cavalierly dismiss the threats of poorly planned development and environmentally destructive activity, who is fiscally conservative, and values energy efficiency. These are real conservative values, by the way, but you wouldn’t know it from the redefinition of the word to be synonymous with the Delgaudio/LaRock brand of culture war nonsense.

I’ll agree with Supervisor Miller’s picks for board seats representing what’s still rural in Loudoun, and for the same reasons, plus this one: I won’t support anyone who doesn’t get that civil and human rights is the foundation of democracy and good public policy. Jim Burton has shown again and again that he will defend intellectual and religious freedom and stand up to bullies. Malcolm Baldwin is described as the candidate who will continue Sally Kurtz’ legacy, and that needs to include the arena of speaking up for what’s right. Below is a record of both Supervisors Burton and Kurtz doing just that.

Ridiculously [and yes, it’s signed by the same guy named above], Malcolm has already been attacked by his opponent’s campaign for sending a constituent email to the Board about something he thought was worth speaking up about. He was urging their adoption of a stronger non-discrimination policy for county hiring, one that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation in addition to any other non-merit related characteristics. That policy language was adopted two years ago by an overwhelming majority, had overwhelming public support for the brief moment it was in the news, and has been unremarkable ever since. It’s shameful behavior like that coming from the Sterling Supervisor and the Higgins campaign that proves to all who witness it that a clear non-discrimination policy was needed in the first place. In the video below, Jim Burton’s remarks are at 00:10 and Sally Kurtz’ are at 06:40.

Board of Supervisors stands up to anti-gay bully