A fortnightly MY FINAL rant, FL-S style.

Outahere!

And how great was that Viking Funeral?

YES FOLKS, Chris Guy and I have decided that the time has come to for us to leave our little village of Anatevka F2B.

You read that right. We’re outahere!

A certain Snarktress Supreme has been given the right-of-refusal to take over F2B. If she accepts the offer, then GREAT…F2B will begin anew. If not, that’s fine too and we’ll keep the site live for an extended period of time, then shut it down.

For the most part, authoring F2B has been a lot of fun. But two years is a long time to do any one thing, especially a blog. Plus, the process of coming up with Fortnightly Rant topics that are interesting (okay, that amuse me) has gotten harder and harder. Sometime over the past couple of months, writing them started to feel like…like…WORK.

Chris and I are moving on to new interests and involvements. Not sure what Chris will be doing, but sometime between mid-February and late March of 2010 I will publish my first book: it’s a green business executive career development book entitled Tailoring The Green Suit. Information about the book launch will be posted to my Sturdy Roots Blog and my company website.

Whether or not F2B continues, there will be from time-to-time another former Dem chair venting his spleen. Our friend Marc Broklawski has launched his new blog Leaving My Marc which I know will be a very good read. I encourage you all to bookmark it.

UPDATE Sunday 11/29: Marc has announced that Chris will be contributing blog posts to Leaving My Marc. THAT IS FANTASTIC NEWS!

Time has come today
Young hearts can go their way
Can’t put it off another day
I don’t care what others say
They say we don’t listen anyway
Time has come today
(Hey)

The rules have changed today (Hey)
I have no place to stay (Hey)
I’m thinking about the subway (Hey)
My love has flown away (Hey)
My tears have come and gone (Hey)
Oh my Lord, I have to roam (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)
I have no home (Hey)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)

I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
Now the time has come (Time)

There are things to realize (Time)

Time has come today (Time)

Time has come today (Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
(Time)

Now the time has come (Time)
There are things to realize (Time)
Time has come today (Time)
Time has come today (Time)

So that’s it.

No parting shots. No bon mot.

I thank you all for your support and readership. F2B has been the hippest trip!

Now, to bring things full circle, a final h/t to Monty Python:

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
but she doesn’t have a lot to say;

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
but she changes from day to day;

I want to tell her that I love her a lot,
but I gotta get a bellyful of wine;

Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl,
someday I’m going to make her mine (oh, yeah);

Someday I’m going to make her mine.

Considering what could have happened, I’m actually pretty happy about tonight. If you’d have told me that the Democrats would only lose 5 or 6 seats in the House of Delegates after this better than expected performance by the GOP ticket statewide, I’d think you were insane.

Republican candidates for Supervisor in Spotsylvania County, including former Board Chairman and Senate candidate Chris Yakawhateverthehellitis, went down in defeat despite a dominant performance by the GOP ticket in Spotsy. They ran against the VRE, and it cost them.

Republicans candidates for Supervisor in Stafford County all won, giving control of the Board back to the GOP. Inmate #283921, I mean Paul Milde, got just over 50% of the vote with Irene Egan and Paul Ortiz splitting the rest, swell. Mark Osborne made things a little interesting in Falmouth, but this was always Susan Stimpson’s race to lose.

Commonwealth’s Attorney LaBravia Jenkins was reelected in Fredericksburg despite a rough performance from the Democratic ticket in the city.

Albert Pollard survived despite a challenger that inspired people to go around the 99th district stealing signs and yelling in people’s face. The closeness of this race will no doubt lead to teabaggers* patting themselves on the back, but Catherine Crabill performed far, FAR worse than other Republicans on the ballot in this district (Pollard will probably increase his lead when the rest of the precincts report in).

* also, thank you teabaggers for helping Democrats win a congressional seat in upstate NY for the first time since the mid-1800’s!

First, Despite anything else you may have heard or read, Pete Fields strongly endorses Doug Filler in the race for Supervisor in the Falmouth District.

Second, I received this via email today:

Thinking it was too late to be refuted, Hartwood supervisor candidate Gary Snellings put out an automated phone call today which simply lies about his record on taxes. In it, he claims the average homeowner’s tax went up 27% under his opponent, incumbent Joe Brito, but only 9% while he was supervisor.

The facts (from the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office) are below. They show that while the tax did indeed rise 27% during Brito’s term, it rose 36% under Snellings – four times the figure he is using. Perhaps Snellings is referring to the average annual increase during his term, while comparing it to the four-year figure for Brito. If so, that is a plainly dishonest comparison .

The record further shows that the great bulk of the increase during Brito’s term came when the chamber was under Republican control and Brito voted against the increase. (Snellings voted for the last tax rate imposed during his term.) Under Democratic control, the tax increase declined dramatically, to an average level below growth plus inflation. It further shows that the tax barely budged in the last year, up a mere 0.04%.

Snellings again attacked Brito for the cost-of-living pay raise enacted in 2008, the first rise in supervisor salaries in seven years. Yet Snellings has not pledged to give his share of the raise back. He has pledged to repeal the transportation impact fee on developers and the big business tax, which is levied by every locality in this region.

VALUE OF TRACTS OF LAND/IN COUNTY OF STAFFORD

BY SCOTT A. MAYAUSKY, COMMISSIONER OF REVENUE

CLASS CODE 2 (Residential property other than multi-family)

YEAR       TOTAL TAX            COUNT                   AVERAGE

2001       $ 49,846,373       35,492                   $1,404

2005           77,335,347       40,368                     1,903

2007           99,874,642       43,585                     2,291

2008         108,167,724       44,670                     2,421

2009         109,941,001       45,394                     2,422

Increase during Snellings term (2001-05)       35.54%

Increase during Brito term (2005-2009)         27.27%

Increase, 1^st half Brito term (Rep. control)      20.38%

Increase, 2^nd half Brito term (Dem. control)       5.72%

Increase over last year (2008-09)                       0.04%

Independent candidate Paul Ortiz has all the gory details here.

• 1 felony conviction (possession of cocaine with intent to distribute)
• 7 misdemeanor convictions
• 11 IRS liens for non-payment of taxes
• 6 court judgments against him for non-payment of debts
• Thousands of dollars in penalties and interest for not paying his real estate property taxes on time in his own County-even after he got elected!
• More than a dozen traffic violations, many for speeding and reckless driving-which might explain why he flipped his SUV off an embankment shortly after he took office.

h/t teacherken

Click here to get Doug Filler and Laura Sellers on TV.

Also, Steve Shannon, candidate for Attorney General, will help kickoff a canvass at the Coordinated Campaign Office in Stafford this Sunday, Oct. 25, 2009 at 4:00 PM. More details are available here.

In an unprecedented move, the Stafford Democratic Committee is taking our message to voters in a big way.

This morning we’ve taken our message to the airwaves with the launch of TV spots for our democratic Board of Supervisor candidates: Doug Filler (D-Falmouth) and Laura Sellers (D-Garrisonville)!

Their opponents have saturated our mailboxes with misleading mailers and flooded the streets with yard signs. In fact Mr. Filler’s two Republican opponents seem more interested in attacking one another, instead of laying out a positive vision for our future. On the topic of yard signs, we learned from last year’s election that “Signs don’t vote!”

We need your help in fighting back, in order to get our positive message out to voters on Education, Fiscal Responsibility, Transportation, the Environment and Public Safety – to name a few. With a Democratic-led coalition in control these past two years, the county has held the line on spending and taxes on the homeowner: the average tax bill went up just 70 cents this year – a miniscule 0.04%. Contrast that with the 36% hike in the homeowner’s tax that occurred in the prior 4 years under Republican control.

Click here to watch our new TV ads. Then make a contribution to keep them on the air ($30 = 1 spot, $60 = 2 spots or contribute what you can).

We would not have been able to make this bold move without your support. You’ve helped us surpass every fundraising goal we’ve set over the past two years. But we’re counting on your help once again. We can’t allow our opponents to define the terms of this debate.

Our opponents are outspending us better than 5-1. They are using this money to smear our candidates, hide from their records and, in one case, re-package democratic ideas as their own. We need your help in setting the record straight.

We’re going to fire back with everything we’ve got, but the strength of that response depends on you.

Click here to make an immediate contribution. There’s no time to spare.

To learn more about Doug Filler, you can visit his website here.
To learn more about Laura Sellers, you can visit his website here.

If you would like to volunteer to help us by canvassing, making phone calls or helping us at the polls, please email us here.

Sen. John Chichester represented Virginia’s 28th Senate district, (which is comprised of the Northern Neck, Stafford County, and part of Fredericksburg),  from 1978 to 2007.

Former Republican State Senator John Chichester has endorsed Delegate Albert Pollard in his re-election effort this year in the 99th District.

“I appreciate his support and I hope to continue my tenure in the House of Delegates as a legislator who puts policy over partisanship” said Pollard. “More than ever, we must look for independent, practical answers to the problems facing the Northern Neck and Virginia as a whole.”

“Albert has the dignity and the intellectual horsepower to lay aside partisan difference and work across the aisle to handle the budget problems facing the Northern Neck and Virginia today” said Chichester. “I look forward to voting for him on November 3rd.”

Albert Pollard for Delegate

USA Today:

Airplane owners in Stafford County, Va., got a huge break in April. The county eliminated its tax on airplanes. That was done to match the policy in place at nearby Leesburg Executive and Manassas Regional airports.

The 29 people with small airplanes at the Stafford Regional Airport will see an average tax break of $655 a year, airport manager Ed Wallis says.

The main beneficiaries, Wallis says, will be owners of expensive jets that he hopes to draw by exempting them from taxes of $180,000 a year in the case of a Gulfstream V. That break will lure business, Wallis says.

Stafford Economic Development Authority member David Beiler calls the tax break “a wealthy, powerful special-interest group getting what it wants.” Stafford County this year increased the tax rate on automobiles by 25%.

“It’s ridiculous that someone with a car that’s 10 or 20 years old should be paying more tax than someone with a $1 million airplane,” says Stafford Supervisor Joe Brito, who opposed the tax cut.

The measure passed on a 5-2 vote

.

Stafford Democrats:

Join the Coordinated Campaign and Jody Wagner, candidate for Lt. Governor, as they celebrate the Grand Opening of this years Coordinated Campaign Office in Stafford! The Grand Opening and Kickoff Canvass will be taking place this Saturday, September 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM.

The office is located at:

2063 Jefferson Davis Hwy,
Stafford, VA 22554

(It is a couple hundred yards south of Courthouse and Route 1 – on the right hand side driving south)