Inexplicibly, the owner of BVBL continues to reduce politics to a personal level. It has come to the attention of Moonhowler and myself, that Greg has singled out the ages of Martha Hendley(R) and Toddy Puller (D), and the skirt style and overall intelligence of Suzanne Miller(R).
Greg says about Martha:
Her experience and history are a strong positive but she’s quite a bit older than someone you typically see running for their first elected office, and how that might impact the dynamics is yet to be seen. She’s in good health however, so there’s not any evidence to suggest she isn’t going to run as hard as anyone else.
What does Martha’s age matter? She has been more involved in county politics and policy than other person running for Gainesville Supervisor, age is definitely NOT an issue so why even bother to bring it up.
His comments about Toddy Puller are even more offensive:
The contrasts between Toddy Puller and Jeff Frederick are tremendous. Puller is a grouchy old party-line hack who isn’t fun at all to listen to. Frederick is a young engaging maverick (the real kind, not the McCain BS kind) who is funny, warm, friendly and engaging. Puller isn’t physically able to knock on doors while Frederick attacks doorknocking with the single-minded purposefulness of George Patton. Frederick’s campaign literature will feature him and his cute family while Puller’s campaign staff will desperately try to keep Toddy’s picture from appearing anywhere unless it’s at least fifteen years old.
Now, you think that was inappropriate, wait til you read what Greg wrote about Suzanne Miller:
If ever there was someone utterly unprepared to run for office this would be it. I’ve seen some pretty awful candidates in my time, and this one takes the cake. Any random neighbor in the county would likely demonstrate higher capabilities to run for office or qualifications to hold it.
Not many of them would look better in a tight, short skirt at a campaign event like this, however.
Let’s start with why would anyone comment on her skirt in such an offensive manner? Suzanne Miller holds dual masters degrees, one in instructional technology and another in Computer Science. She has also authored several technical publications.
Greg not only proudly represents himself as a loyal conservative Republican, but he also does work for Republican Candidates. We expect that when it comes to discussing candidates, the criticism should be directed at policy, not age, not skirt choice.
We all must live by that age old standard of the golden rule, especially during election season. We can discuss differences, loudly, passionately, even angrily, but to get personal, to focus on the way someone looks, or their age, is simply a poor show of character.
UPDATE: It appears we need to put in another requirement for the election season–truthfulness.
If I just stumbled on that blog, like I did back in 2007, I would assume that to run as a Republican in Prince William County, you had to be young, attractive, energetic and have a good looking family. God forbid if your son took after Uncle Horace and had big ears or if you married your wife for her brains instead of her looks.
I have seen decent people destroyed by personal, ad hominem attacks that had nothing to do with policy or ideas and it is simply unacceptable. Good people refuse to run in this county because they don’t want to put their families through the trauma of an election.
If we are going to have good governance in our area, we have to encourage candidates to run for office. The more choices we have, the better government we will have. Gainesville District is fortunate because 6 candidates are running– 5 Republicans and 1 Democrat.
It appears that we have a good slate of folks out there running for office. I appreciate that they are willing to give their time and energy to even apply for the job.
Hopefully, none of them will be disrespectful to each other nor will they allow others to do it on their behalf.
I turned my head the other way last election. I dealt directly with the candidate who profitted from the trashing of another individual. I won’t deal privately again.
“Dolt” and “affirmative action committee for idiots” really shouldn’t be part of any campaign rhetoric directed at anyone.
Even though the candidates themselves haven’t used that kind of name-calling, to my knowledge, the above language sets the tone for ugliness that we can already see creeping into the conversations. For example, there is already religion-bashing. How shameful, in a country founded on religious freedom.
“…try to keep Toddy’s picture from appearing anywhere….”
Man, oh, man, there are many ugly mugs in the political arena. – I don’t know what Toddy looks like, but to judge someone’s ability on looks, shows a degree of idiocy beyond belief.
(what does Greg’s wife look like BTW?)
I have never met the lady but I have heard very nice things about her.
@punchak
Toddy Puller is probably 66. She became a state delegate in the early 90s and then moved on to the state senate.
http://www.toddy.org/index.php/news
Thanks, Moon. Just sent her a few dollars.
Toddy Puller: way before I moved into the area, I knew about the Toddy. She is the daughter-in-law of Chesty Puller who is a legend in the Marine Corps. Growing up a Marine Brat, you learn the who’s who. Her husband lost both of his legs and most of his fingers in Vietnam, and never really got over the trauma of the war. Toward the end, he was addicted to both pain killers and alchohol, and committed suicide.
I relate the background as Toddy is a big supporter of Mental Health, Substance Abuse Treatment, and Family support legislation in the Senate, and finds supportors among the Delegates. I am a big fan of hers for not only her work in Richmond, but of course, as a Marine Brat 🙂
She and Martha Hendley are both Mary Washington grads.
Actually Mrs. Hendley and Sen. Puller got off easy. Ms. Miller had some real trash said about her. Disagree with policy–vociferously if necessary. But personal insults need not be part of political discussion.
Name calling and insults like ‘Condom Girl’ just have no place any political discussion.
@Raymond Beverage
I’m with you Raymond. I briefly knew Lewis Jr. and it is easy to understand why he ended his life tragically. Young military officers (in particular) whose fathers are legends find it extremely difficult to walk on their shadow. There was no question that Lewis Jr. was a very bitter man and I expect Toddy suffered as a result–they were separated at the time of his death. But she has worked very hard to help those who desparately need help. If she was my senator, she would get my vote–no questions asked.
As for Greg–I don’t know why people pay attention to him–he is a very sick individual and I suspect a closet woman hater although his closet door may be made of clear glass. To pay sttention to him is to feed his ego–treat him like a grape in the sun and pretty soon he will be a raisin.
Ms. Puller is now in my district. Her anti-gun voter record makes her a NO in my book. I will vote for Mr. Frederick.
What is her position on guns, marin?
Interesting considering her father in law was Chesty Puller and her husband was a decorated Vietnam veteran.
I always had thought she was rather moderate about gun issues.
George, I don’t like decent, talented people refusing to run for election because some computer jockey decides to play loosey goosey with facts and sets out on a politics of personal destruction campaign. Elena and I plan on holding the candidates themselves accountable for this not happening.
I already have saved ‘literature’ from people who operated with pseudo-facts in the past. I will bring out the arsenol when I feel it will drive our point home.
The people of Prince William County are best served when they have choices and the candidates debating the issues, not some trumped up silliness to distract and misinform the voters.
@Moon-howler
I understand your position, but don’t necessarily agree–giving any attention to Greg simply encourages him. Perhaps discrediting him should be the order of the day.
@George, all in good time, all in good time. I thought Elena did a pretty good job of calling out non-golden rule behavior in that thread.
Why would any decent candidate want to be a part of the nastiness and non-issue attacks that are on bvbl? I would NOT vote for anyone that wanted to engage in such games. I’ve talked to several others in the “new” Coles and Brentsville Districts that feel the same way. This could really cost a couple of decent challengers. What a shame. We the citizens LOOSE when this sort crap goes on. These games are another reason why decent people don’t come out and run. I don’t think anyone wants to go through that or put their family through it either. Just my two cents.
Greg Letiecq calling other people ugly? Pot, meet kettle…
@Starryflights I must be lost. I thought I wandered into a thread about decent manners.
Actually, its pretty mild compared to some of the stuff I have been seeing.
I hope he meant ugly acting rather than ugly looking. The latter is much crueler and ruder.
I am reminded of my mother who used to tell me ‘pretty is is pretty does.’
Emma,
Have you seen BVBL recently? Not very nice, not very nice at all.
After reading Elena’s comment, I went over there to BVBL to see what’s going on, and saw that he posted a “blast from the past” video of your first party in 2008. His objective was to ridicule Marty Nohe for attending, but I LOVED seeing that video again. It reminded me how GRATEFUL I felt for your presence at a time when the world seemed so dark. Thank you again for being there 🙂
It was a very nice party and a fun time was had by all.
http://www.fcnp.com/news/9518-former-rep-davis-warns-nation-flying-into-a-mountain-on-debt-deficit-crises.html
“We have two dysfunctional parties.”
“It’s having a ‘chilling effect’ on anyone serious about politics, who now
must worry more about ‘ticking off’ a special interest group
than good governance.”