Guess who is coming to town? Taylor Hicks, the silver haired winner of the fifth edition of American Idol is set to sing at the Loudoun Summer Music Fest on Sunday, July 8. How cool is that? Which Idol contestant would you like to see after Taylor Hicks if you had a choice? Carrie Underwood? Rueben Studdard?
The unpaved portion of Edwards Ferry Road where it intersects with River Creek Parkway in Leesburg is becoming extremely busy. I often see school buses and police cruisers maneuvering the pot-holes on this road. Residents of Lansdowne, River Creek and Potomac Falls neighborhoods also use this road to avoid route 7 traffic.
Just before you get to the unpaved portion, there is a sign with the inscription – End Town of Leesburg Maintenance. This road is slowly becoming a major thoroughfare, which arm of our government is responsible for paving this road? Is there a busy unpaved road in your neighborhood in need of attention?
Loudoun Blogosphere continues to expand with the Loudoun Times Mirror launching a new multi-author blog. Loudoun Times Web Editor, Robin Earl is the coordinator of this blog. The blog will focus on all things Loudoun - Politics, Entertainment, Business and life in the county in general.
We are definitely going to see a wider range of view points in the coming weeks and months with the arrival of new blogs in our community. Here is a link to the blog.
Quite a few races in Loudoun will have independent candidates on the ballot this fall. There are two major types of independent candidates, there are some that have always been independents, never been a registered member of any party, and some that leave just before an election because they lost in the primaries, or they know that they may not be able to get the support of the party establishment. Whilst some people, especially party activists tend to see candidates that leave the party to run as independents after losing in the primaries as traitors and perhaps selfish individuals.
I feel differently about this, and please feel free to disagree with me - the fact of the matter is that if an individual is so sure of his or her achievements or qualifications for public office and feels he or she can run for office by taking their case directly to the voters without the backing of a political party, I think they deserve our respect. This is by no means an endorsement of ANY independent candidate. You may disagree with the views of a candidate but respect their actions.
In some instances, there are entrenched interests in the big political parties, and more often than not those interests do not align with the interests of the general public. Again, I am not referring to any particular candidate or party. Also, sometimes in primaries, what we see is a vote against a candidate who may not have toed the party line, rather than a vote for his/her opponent - then the party ends up with a weak candidate which is a disservice to the public.
A perfect example of that scenario was what happened in the Democratic primary for US senate in the State of Connecticut, which was won by a less experienced, and perhaps less prepared candidate, Ned Lamont simply because the primary voters were casting their vote against Senator Joe Lieberman, rather than voting for Lamont. Connecticut general elections voters saw through this and returned Lieberman to the senate as an Independent candidate.
In summary, Independent candidates may not win but I believe they nurture the vibrancy of our democratic system of governance by going through the trouble of running. Politics should not be about winning alone, it should also be about leadership, vision and practical ideas for the development of a community. Independent candidates ensure that the candidates nominated by the parties do not have a free ride, and also gives the public more options. I believe it is good for democracy and good for the general public.
Supervisors Lori Waters, Eugene Delgaudio and Steve Snow defeated their opponents in the Republican primaries that was held today, but incumbent Sheriff Steve Simpson lost to Greg Ahleman. I must confess that I am little bit surprised that Ms. Waters won, because it appeared that the tide was moving in Jack Ryan’s favor, despite what most agree was a well-run and well-financed campaign by Ms. Waters.
Rumor has it that Sheriff Simpson may be running as an independent candidate this fall. Will the results of this election help or hurt Republicans this fall? This is a tough year to be a Republican, would be interesting to see if Loudoun voters agree with the Republican primary voters that the incumbents deserve another term. What do you think?
Starting July 1st, we are going to start paying more to use the Dulles Greenway. Though it is a scheduled increase, it still feels like one is being priced out of using this highway every time there is an increase. The owners of the highway, Toll Road Investors Partnership II, L.P. (TRIP II), have already filed an application with the State Corporation Commission (SCC) for further increases through January 1, 2012. The next increase is scheduled for January 1, 2009, what a nice way to ring in the New Year!
This increase does not include further increases that may be necessary to finance the Dulles Metro project. For most of us driving two-axle cars, we may be on our way to spending ten dollars, if not more on toll one-way from Leesburg to Tysons Corner. I believe continued increase of tolls on the Greenway will drive more traffic to already crowded Route 7, though there has been significant improvements on Route 7, such as the installation of synchronized lights, flyovers at busy intersections, but more still needs to be done to ease the pressure on Route 7 especially during rush hour. Are our elected representatives doing enough? Any thoughts on what could be done without crippling road users financially?
Fellow blogger, Living in LoCo has an interesting story about the opening of the new county jail. Apparently no member of the BOS or county administrator's staff was present at this event. Quite unusual, were they waiting to be invited to this function?
I have been waiting to hear reasons why they did not show up, but the silence is deafening. What do you think? Does this underscore the leadership crisis or lack of leadership in the county at the moment as some people claim, or is this a non-issue?
Today, June 5 is National Hunger Awareness Day, so it is provides an excellent opportunity to applaud the Directors and Staff of Loudoun Interfaith Relief, Inc (LIR) for the critically important work they are doing in our community.
LIR provides emergency food assistance to those in need in our community, i.e., "Making Sure No One Goes Hungry in Loudoun County" - LIR slogan. It may interest you to know that half of the individuals served in 2006 by LIR were children. LIR is supported by several local organizations and citizens of the county.
Supervisor Tulloch has been in the news lately, perhaps more often than any other supervisor. Since most of the publicity is negative, pundits are often wary of negative publicity directed at politicians as we get closer to the elections and as would be expected there has been a lot of reaction from fellow local bloggers in response to the front page article in yesterday’s edition of the Washington Post.
I agree some sections of the article had some “old news” that had already been published before, but there was significant new information regarding Tulloch’s relationship with philanthropist and Managing Partner of Washington Mystics, Sheila Johnson and developer Hobie Mitchell which I believe is relevant to the on-going investigation and should be in the public domain. I am not saying any wrongdoing has been established, but it is important to put the facts out there and let the citizens of Loudoun, most especially the constituents of Tulloch in the Potomac district determine if they are satisfied with the conduct of their representative.
I also agree that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a politician leveraging contacts developed in his official capacity for personal business, but politicians are elected to office to serve the general public, consequently when the interest of the public is at variance with their personal interest or the interest of their friends, the interest of the public should prevail, that is the oath they took when they assumed office. Also leveraging contacts with individuals or organizations who have on-going cases before the Board of Supervisors should be avoided, except the supervisor has recused himself or herself from the case brought by the individual. I must quickly add that the current salary of the supervisors is grossly inadequate and makes a mockery of the enormity of the responsibilities of the supervisors, and should be revised as soon as possible.
The allegation that the Washington Post has a liberal agenda to tarnish the image of conservative politicians as we approach the election season is baseless and without any merit. Tulloch’s conservative credentials are shaky, at best average. Sheila Johnson who was also mentioned in the article is well-known in Democratic circles. Our focus and the energy of every well-meaning Loudoun resident should be directed at the on-going investigation to ensure that justice is done to Loudoun taxpayers.
