The office of Jeff Barnett, Democratic challenger for Virginia’s 10th House district seat, issued a press release today stating that Rep. Frank Wolf has refused Mr. Barnett’s call for one debate in each of the counties that comprise the district.

In a statement from the release, Mr. Barnett said:

(V)oters – wherever they live – deserve to see their candidates debate the issues that matter to their communities. Having those discussions is one of the obligations – and privileges – of public service. It’s disappointing that Frank Wolf doesn’t agree.”

It’s not surprising that Rep. Wolf is running scared. Voters are angry at the stalling and obstructionist tactics being practiced by the Republican party these days, and there is also a true anti-incumbent message coming from the voters. A 30-year incumbent who has voted against such measures as affordable health care for all, financial aid reform for college students, and who sided with the Wall Street banks and Big Oil over his constituents should be running scared. Wolf wants to limit debate in order to keep the voters of the 10th District in the dark with regard to his abominable voting record.

The 10th District deserves much better than continued obstruction and obfuscation. It’s time to put someone in Congress who will be accountable to his constituents, who will solve problems in our time and on our dime, and who will not try to run away from votes that run anathema to the well-being of the citizens of his district.

That person is Jeff Barnett.  

It’s been a slow blogging week, but last night, at our LCDC executive committee meeting, we discussed a posting on the LCRC website about our 10th District Congressman, Frank Wolf.  In the posting, it says that Rep. Wolf “has been working to improve transportation for nearly 30 years”.  Now, I will agree with my friends on the LCRC; he has been working on that, as have all of our Northern Virginia members of Congress. But it’s been 30 years – is transportation any better now than it was 30 years ago? He’s going to stake his claim on that?It was a little over two years ago that the Dulles rail project (aka, Metro to Dulles) was almost scuttled due to Rep. Wolf’s ineptitude. Back in late 2008, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters announced that unless there were changes made to the rail plan, the project would be disqualified from receiving $900 million in federal grants. Without that grant, rail to Dulles would be dead.

How was Rep. Wolf responsible for that, you say? Rep. Wolf was in the majority on the House Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee for Transportation and HUD (that’s a mouthful).  That subcommittee has jurisdiction over the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, the agency that runs Metro. One would like to believe that a congressman who sits in the majority on a subcommittee that approves the budget of the Department of Transportation would be a little more in tune with how the department was doling out its’ funds, and whether or not that agency was questioning the viability of a major transportation project in his congressional district. A project on which he stakes his reputation, nonetheless.

But Virginia officials were blind-sided with that ruling, and Rep. Wolf pleaded with Governor Kaine to help with securing those federal funds.  Which Governor Kaine did, keeping the project on track.  And for which (President Bush’s) Transportation Secretary Peters praised him:

Governor Tim Kaine deserves much credit for his overwhelming commitment to this proposal and for spearheading the changes necessary to move it forward.

In short, with almost 30 years of congressional service, and with 16 of those years being in the Republican majority on the Transportation Appropriations subcommittee (8 of those years under a Republican President), and also serving from 1995-2000 as Chair of that subcommittee, Frank Wolf hasn’t made transportation in the region any better for us. In fact, it took action by a Democratic Governor to save Wolf from the embarrassment of losing $900 million in federal funding for Dulles rail.

We can do better. It’s time to do better.  Jeff Barnett can do better.  

Among the more interesting items appearing across our desks lately was this press release from former Delegate Richard H. “Dick” Black of Loudoun, who is contemplating a run for the Virginia Senate in 2011:

STERLING, VA (June 15, 2010) — Virginia Delegate Richard H. Black, who served four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1998 to 2006, today expressed thanks to the participants of a poll conducted by the Loudoun Independent. The clear majority of those who participated in the poll stated that Black is needed back in Richmond.

Wow. As a staunch supporter of Senator Mark Herring (D-33), whom Black would seemingly be challenging, this news is very surprising to me. One would think that the rousing beating Mr. Black took at the hands of Dave Poisson in the 2005 election would have served notice that his brand of right-wing loonyism (i.e., “baby pesticides” and plastic fetuses) didn’t fly in Loudoun County.

Until you consider the source of the poll, and do a little digging.The Loudoun Independent is owned by William Dean, who also runs engineering firm M.C. Dean, Inc., headquartered in Sterling, VA. Ironically, Bill Dean personally donated $2,000 to Mr. Black’s campaigns when he (Black) served as Delegate for the 32nd District.

Even more ironically, M.C. Dean Building intelligence Inc. is also on record as having donated $19,500 to Mr. Black while he was a delegate, dating back to 2000.

The Loudoun Independent, if they want to be considered as a legitimate news operation in Loudoun, should have either revealed this to their readers or stayed on the sidelines. One can also wonder if campaign finance laws are possibly being violated here: can a known Black supporter running a poll on their newspaper’s website for that candidate to gauge interest in his campaign be construed as making an in-kind donation to that candidate? While true that Black hasn’t yet declared, why would he issue a press release stating the results if he wasn’t going to run?

The poll, though, was simply a sidebar poll, and as of 1 PM on June 17th only had 324 responses. No other polls have been taken by any other media outlet in Loudoun to date.

So until an impartial source comes out with a more scientific poll showing similar results, we can take the Loudoun Independent/Dick Black’s poll for what it is: nothing substantial. And Black’s hyping of this poll as a mandate from the citizens of Loudoun is just a gross overexaggeration.

But the next time the Loudoun Independent hypes Dick Black, or vice versa, you’ll know the motivations.

Postscript: this was released by the Loudoun Times-Mirror after I published this diary. Hat-tip to Erika Garman.

This morning’s Loudoun Times-Mirror has a story about the Board of Supervisors approving the 2010 Countywide Transportation Plan by a narrow 5-4 vote.

In the story, it mentions an interesting observation made by transportation consultant Lucinda Gibson:

The county’s traffic constraints are its intersections, not its roads, Gibson said.

Anyone who’s been stuck on Route 7 in Ashburn in the morning or afternoon knows what I’m getting at here. The elimination of the light at Loudoun County Parkway has only changed the choke point on Route 7 from there to the entrance for Strayer University near the Route 28 ramps.

Ms. Gibson suggests building roundabouts to replace intersections instead of widening roads, but unfortunately the Board failed to accept this suggestion or any of her other suggestions. They seem to be fixated on adding lanes to reduce congestion, which I believe only heightens the congestion at the choke points.

Growing up in South Jersey, I learned how to drive using roundabouts and jug-handles (for left hand turns). Unorthodox maybe, but quite effective if you think about it. Roundabouts eliminate traffic signals, and promote a free flow of vehicles through once-clogged intersections. Yes, one has to slow down considerably upon entering a roundabout, and has to be cognizant of other traffic entering and exiting, but the key is: traffic is moving. You’re not sitting at a red light, idling, watching no vehicles pass perpendicular to you. You’re always moving.

Evidence of this can be seen at the Route 50 intersection with Route 15; this intersection used to be a mis-mash, with cars backed up in all directions waiting for the signal to change. Now, no backups as traffic flows freely through the roundabout. To a lesser extent, MDOT recently opened a roundabout on Route 15 in Point of Rocks, MD, and again, you’re always moving (of course, absent a traffic incident).

It’s not often that I agree with Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run), but I will give credit where credit is due.

From an e-mail I received today from Supervisor Waters’ office:

I would like to make you aware of a recent speed study that was conducted for a portion of Gloucester Parkway and ask for your help in opposing an increase in the speed limit.  The portion of Gloucester Parkway between Loudoun County Parkway and Marblehead Drive is currently in the process of being turned over to VDOT.  As a part of the VDOT street acceptance policy, a speed study must be conducted to set the speed limit on any road going into the VDOT system.

A recent speed study conducted by the owners of this road portion has led VDOT to conclude the speed limit should be raised from 35mph to 40mph in that area.  I oppose this recommendation.  We have several senior communities located along Gloucester and Marblehead.  My office has heard consistent concerns from those communities regarding traffic speeds and pedestrian safety.  Raising the speed limit would only increase these concerns.

Supervisor Waters is correct in her assertion here. The entrance to Ashby Ponds retirement community is practically mid-way between Loudoun County Parkway and Marblehead Drive. Drivers routinely exceed the 35 m.p.h. speed limit on Gloucester, and (if I could put this gently) some seniors’ reaction times behind the wheel simply aren’t what they used to be. Raising the speed limit is just inviting a tragedy.

Plus, Farmwell Station Middle School is a bit further down Gloucester Parkway, and if you think that most drivers cruisng along at 40 m.p.h. (or better) are going to slow down enough to drop below the 25 m.p.h. school zone speed limit, you’re fooling yourself.

There’s absolutely no need to raise the speed limit at all in that area. Occasionally, when I’m driving that stretch, I see Loudoun County’s finest “running radar”, so you know excessive speed is definitely a problem there.

If you are in agreement that the speed limit should not be raised on this stretch, please contact your Supervisor and let him or her know. You may just save a life.

Follow below the fold for some of the progressive solicitations we’ve actually responded to recently.  

• GOP Congressman Don Young says the Gulf oil spill is “not an environmental disaster.” – From the DCCC, a petition telling Don Young to stop defending Big Oil and denying the impact of the Gulf oil disaster.
• Relay For Life (Leesburg Democrats) – Okay, so this a shameless plug for my Relay For Life fundraising link. I’m not above using my Power to push an agenda. 🙂

On May 28, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. The bill passed by a 229-186 vote, and incredibly, our own Congressman, Frank Wolf (R-VA) voted against this bill.

It’s really interesting that a congressman who voted for every defense authorization bill during the previous administration (and the concurrent explosion in federal spending because of it) would conveniently vote against defense authorization this year.

Here are some of the things included in H.R. 5136 that Congressman Wolf voted against funding:The act would:

• require the Administration to develop a National Military Strategic Plan to ensure Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons

• authorize additional funds for the protection of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, including $3.5 billion for measures to counter improvised explosive devices

• provide $7.2 billion for new equipment for National Guard and Reserve units

• provide an average 1.9 percent pay increase for military personnel in Fiscal Year 2011 (.5 percent above the President’s request) and provides hostile fire/imminent danger pay increase from $225 to $260 per month and a family separation allowance increase from $250 to $285 per month

• extend health care coverage to dependent children up to age 26 for TRICARE Reserve Select beneficiaries

• allow wounded warriors to apply for expedited security clearance processing in order to facilitate the hiring of individuals who have had their military careers cut short due to a physical disability.

Is Frank Wolf against ensuring that Iran doesn’t acquire nukes? Is he against protecting the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan? He doesn’t believe that troops should get less than a 2% increase in pay? He’s against wounded servicemen getting an expedited security clearance so they can work?

Of course not; I don’t believe any rational American is against all of that. What Frank Wolf is doing, though, is using our brave military men and women as pawns in a political game, in a unified (or mostly unified) Republican front to see to it that the Democrats, and by extension President Obama, fail. Troops who put their lives on the line every day to ensure our freedom.  Frank Wolf obviously believes that political propaganda is more important than funding the troops. As a military veteran, it saddens me to see my congressman behave like this.

Jeff Barnett knows better. He served as one of those troops for 26 years, while Frank Wolf was sitting behind a desk in Congress.  Jeff’s own daughter is flying jets in Afghanistan. He has seen the ravages of war firsthand, and second-hand through his children. Jeff Barnett knows how important it is to support our troops, not to use them as fodder for his political games.

There’s a reason Jeff Barnett is out-raising Frank Wolf on the campaign trail by nearly 2-to-1. It’s because people believe Jeff can do a better job in Congress than the incumbent.

Please support Jeff Barnett for Congress.

From Jeff Barnett’s Twitter account:

For Immediate Release: Jeff Barnett Out-raises Incumbent Frank Wolf by Nearly 2:1 Margin: http://tinyurl.com/2aod7kc

Keep on rolling, Jeff!  

Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors will be considering an application by Potomac Radio, LLC to construct three radio towers on leased land owned by Loudoun Water, in order to bring WAGE back on the air under the auspices of a 50,000 watt “blowtorch” of a radio station.

A noble cause, right? After all, WAGE was Loudoun’s quaint little AM radio station that broadcast local news & sports, had local advertising, and occasionally some Capitals or Orioles games. But they went dark a few years back because of lack of advertising. They had drifted away from local programming into brokered and syndicated programming, which was cheaper than hiring good on-air talent.

Not so simple.  The area where Potomac Radio is looking to build the towers is located in a floodplain, and near a heron rookery. Supervisor Kelly Burk has an environmental issue with the tower location, but someone with whom I spoke who has intimate knowledge of the situation has been assured by “experts” that the impact will be “minimal and mitigated”.  If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

A concern, then, would be WAGE’s provision of local content, with which they did a great job in their heyday. The owner of Potomac Radio, Rockville, Maryland resident James Weitzman (who made a large donation to Eugene Delgaudio’s campaign a few years back), is eager to get WAGE back on the air again. One could question his motives – AM radio in Loudoun County, in an age where iPods and satellite radio are prevalent? How would someone make money in such a limited environment? Easy; through brokered and/or syndicated programming.

Brokered radio is where the broadcaster pays the station for the right to use their airwaves; it’s akin to a radio infomercial. Most of the international/ethnic and religious stations you hear on the AM dial are brokered programming. Syndicated programming works the other way, where the broadcaster markets themselves and the station owner pays for the privilege. Syndicated hosts generally run towards right-wing hate talk, a la Michael Savage, the infamous Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones.

Potomac Radio also owns WBIS 1190 in Annapolis (as subsidiary Nations Radio, LLC), which provides brokered business news and syndicated programming. Interestingly, Potomac Radio also received approval from the FCC on October 29, 2008 to move WAGE’s signal from 1200 to 1190 on the AM dial. If WAGE does indeed go back on the air, WBIS, with only a 10,000 watt daytime signal, would need to shut down, as it would be overtaken by WAGE’s signal. Presumably then, the programming currently being broadcast on WBIS would be transferred to WAGE (and possibly even the call letters, eventually), and would cover a larger area.

Leesburg Town Councilman Ken Reid had a letter published in Sunday’s Washington Post which (his environmental ignorance notwithstanding) stated his support to bring WAGE back as a “Leesburg-based station”. Since WBIS doesn’t provide any local programming, I don’t see any indication that WAGE would provide any, either.  So Mr. Reid is being disingenuous when he states that the return of WAGE would be good for the county. If WAGE does come back on the air, it won’t resemble the old WAGE in the least. As local radio maven Dave Hughes (aka “DCRTV Dave“) said on the Loudoun Times-Mirror discussion board, “Unless the station returns to local-centric programming, the county will receive little or no benefit.”

Mr. Weitzman is out for one thing – to make as much money as he can, for himself, Loudoun County be damned. Nothing wrong with making money, just don’t go around professing that ignoring and ridiculing environmental concerns in the guise of returning WAGE to the airwaves is serving a civic purpose. Because it’s not. There is no longer any FCC requirement to provide local content, and if Mr. Weitzman’s current holdings are an indication of his future ideas for WAGE, we won’t see any. And that’s a loss for Loudoun.

Tomorrow, the Board of Supervisors will be considering an application by Potomac Radio, LLC to construct three radio towers on leased land owned by Loudoun Water, in order to bring WAGE back on the air under the auspices of a 50,000 watt “blowtorch” of a radio station.

A noble cause, right? After all, WAGE was Loudoun’s quaint little AM radio station that broadcast local news & sports, had local advertising, and occasionally some Capitals or Orioles games. But they went dark a few years back because of lack of advertising. They had drifted away from local programming into brokered and syndicated programming, which was cheaper than hiring good on-air talent.

Not so simple.  The area where Potomac Radio is looking to build the towers is located in a floodplain, and near a heron rookery. Supervisor Kelly Burk has an environmental issue with the tower location, but someone with whom I spoke who has intimate knowledge of the situation has been assured by “experts” that the impact will be “minimal and mitigated”.  If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me.

The main concern, then, would be WAGE’s provision of local content, with which they did a great job in their heyday. The owner of Potomac Radio, Rockville’s James Weitzman (who made a large donation to Eugene Delgaudio’s campaign a few years back), is eager to get WAGE on the air again. One could question his motives – AM radio in Loudoun County, in an age where iPods and satellite radio are prevalent? How would someone make money in such a limited environment? Easy; through brokered and/or syndicated programming.

Brokered radio is where the broadcaster pays the station for the right to use their airwaves; it’s akin to a radio infomercial. Most of the international/ethnic and religious stations you hear on the AM dial are brokered programming. Syndicated programming works the other way, where the broadcaster markets themselves and the station owner pays for the privilege. Syndicated hosts generally run towards right-wing hate talk, a la Michael Savage, the infamous Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones.

Potomac Radio also owns WBIS 1190 in Annapolis (as subsidiary Nations Radio, LLC), which provides brokered business news and syndicated programming. Interestingly, Potomac Radio also received approval from the FCC on October 29, 2008 to move WAGE’s signal from 1200 to 1190 on the AM dial. If WAGE does indeed go back on the air, WBIS, with only a 10,000 watt daytime signal, would need to shut down, as it would be overtaken by WAGE’s signal. Presumably then, the programming currently being broadcast on WBIS would be transferred to WAGE (and possibly even the call letters, eventually), and the coverage area would increase.

Leesburg Town Councilman Ken Reid had a letter published in Sunday’s Washington Post which (his environmental ignorance notwithstanding) stated his support to bring WAGE back as a “Leesburg-based station”. Since WBIS doesn’t provide any local programming, I don’t see any indication that WAGE would provide any, either.  So Mr. Reid is being disingenuous when he states that the return of WAGE would be good for the county. If WAGE does come back on the air, it won’t resemble the old WAGE in the least. As local radio maven Dave Hughes (aka “DCRTV Dave”) said on the Loudoun Times-Mirror discussion board, “Unless the station returns to local-centric programming, the county will receive little or no benefit.”

Mr. Weitzman is out for one thing – to make as much money as he can, Loudoun County be damned. Nothing wrong with making money, just don’t go around professing that ignoring and ridiculing environmental concerns in the guise of returning WAGE to the airwaves is serving a civic purpose. Because it’s not. There is no longer any FCC requirement to provide local content, and if Mr. Weitzman’s current holdings are an indication of his future ideas for WAGE, we won’t see any.