Author Archives: Liz Miller

This is what I know for sure about seats and Dem candidacies.

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BOS:

  • Chair: Tom Bellanca is the Dem challenger to Scott York (I, formerly R).
  • Algonkian (formerly Sugarland Run): No candidate yet for the open seat being left by Susan Buckley, though I’ve heard rumblings.
  • Ashdowne (Ashburn, Lansdowne): Valdis Ronis is running for this open seat.
  • Blue Ridge (Brambleton/Middleburg/Hamilton/Purcellville/Blue Ridge Mountains): No Dem challenger has appeared yet to run against Jim Burton (I).
  • Broad Run (Dulles Town Center, Broadlands, Sterling): Andrea McGimsey is the incumbent. No primary challenger.
  • Catoctin: Malcolm Baldwin is running for the open seat being left by Sally Kurtz.
  • (Jennie) Dean (South Riding/Airport/Loudoun Valley Estates): Larry Roeder is running for this open seat.
  • Leesburg: Kelly Burk is the incumbent. No primary challenger.
  • Sterling: the Dems have three candidates to run against Eugene Delgaudio (R): Al Nevarez; Bahri Aliriza; and Dan Lloyd. That’ll be a good primary. I’m looking forward to it.

Constitutional Offices:

  • Clerk of the Court: No Democratic candidate as yet to run against Gary Clemens (R)
  • Commissioner of the Revenue: Joshua Actor is going to challenge  Robert Wertz (R).
  • Commonwealth’s Attorney: Jennifer Wexton is running against Jim Plowman (R).
  • Sheriff: No Democratic candidate as yet, though it seems the Republicans have a few! Four candidates there to run against Sheriff Simpson (I, formerly R)!
  • Treasurer: No Democratic candidate as yet to run against Roger Zurn (R).

Soil and Water Conservation District

  • There are three seats up for election this November. Peter Rush is a Democratic incumbent on this board. I sent him a note yesterday to ask if he’s running again, I’ll update with his answer.

I won’t discuss the School Board in this post, because there are so many unknowns still. Many incumbents have said that they’ll decide what they’re going to do after the budget is done.

Nor will I discuss the House of Delegates or the State Senate races yet, since we still don’t know what the districts are for those races.

As I get more information about these and other races, I’ll post ’em up here.

UPDATE: Lloyd put up a post at TC about the state of the races from the Republican point of view. Apparently, one of the candidates for Sheriff dropped out.

A Pledge from the Doorbell Queen

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Starting with this cycle, and continuing until I say otherwise, I will not endorse any candidate for any office unless I personally put some shoe leather into the game for that candidate.

No walking? No talking.

If you see me endorsing a candidate here, it will mean I put some sweat equity into their campaign.

I may expand this to candidates I donate trackable money to.

From my inbox

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Dear Liz,There's still time to contact Gov. McDonnell!

It could come down to just 20 minutes.

The McDonnell administration is pulling out all the stops to steamroll through new, overreaching regulations that could force 17 of Virginia’s 21 abortion providers to close their doors.

Tell Gov. McDonnell to veto this bill today.

Last month, cunning anti-choice lawmakers voted to categorize Virginia’s abortion providers as hospitals! This, of course, is not only utterly ridiculous, but downright reckless. Their aim is to shut down clinics. And, if that happens, the majority of women in the Commonwealth will lose access to vital reproductive health care.

We have learned that the process to recategorize abortion providers are hospitals is being fast tracked and that the public will have little to no input. In fact, the Board of Health will only allow 20 minutes for public comment at their September meeting! That’s not how democracy should work!

You can help stop this power grab by putting pressure on Gov. McDonnell. It’s not too late. He has not yet signed this draconian bill into law, but every minute counts. He has until Tuesday, March 29.

After trying to pass this sort of bill into law for 20 years, it could come down to just 20 minutes of public comment – 20 minutes that could shape women’s access to safe, legal abortion in Virginia for the next 20 years and beyond.

The McDonnell administration is attempting to work in secret to eliminate safe, legal abortion care in Virginia. This cannot happen. It’s up to you to stop this attack!

Ask the governor TODAY to veto the bill designed to shut down abortion providers.

If Gov. McDonnell signs this bill into law, we will spend the next six months working tirelessly to make sure new regulations do not severely limit access to abortion in the Commonwealth. We have our work cut out for us, but I know pro-choice Virginia is ready to stand up and tell the McDonnell administration we will not tolerate its harmful anti-choice agenda.

Please stay tuned over the coming weeks to learn more about how we will be fighting this dangerous attempt to limit reproductive care.

For choice,
Tarina Keene
Executive Director

P.S. We will need a lot of support in the coming months to fight these attacks, so please consider making a donation to help us protect Virginia’s valuable abortion providers.

Look around you

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Look at your family, your friends, your co-workers, the people in your volunteer groups, the members of your church.

How many of them have a different skin color/language/sexual orientation from you?

This morning, at church, we had a discussion of racism and how to better integrate our church. And another member reminded us of something a former minister at the church said several years ago: that Sunday morning is the most segregated time of the week in America.

Well, that’s not true for me. Our church is actually better integrated than my workplace or the places at which I volunteer (in terms of ethnic background).

So here’s a question for you: what is the most segregated time of the week for you? What is the most integrated?

House votes to de-fund NPR

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So far, they’ve tackled: removing funding from Metro; medicaid payments for abortions; taking away funding for basic women’s health care (pap smears and breast exams); and taking away enforcement power from the EPA.

Now they’ve taken funding away from NPR.

But they haven’t even begun on a single jobs bill.

Weren’t jobs their biggest priority back in November?

#DearJohn, #WhereAreTheJobs?

Stunned

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Thinking of those caught in the earthquake and tsunami.

More on Commenting

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I just tested posting an anonymous comment, and it went into the Spam folder.

I will be checking the Spam and Moderation folders a few times each day, so please have patience if your post doesn’t show up right away.

 

 

Hello to our new readers and commenters!

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We’re glad to have you here, and we’re glad to have you join in on discussions.

Commenting is open to all with the following caveats, which will be available for viewing at all times on our Comment Policy page:

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I’m Liz Miller, also known as The Doorbell Queen. You can read my Disclaimer and Disclosures on my other site. They all apply to this site too.