Much has been made of the intrigue the past few weeks on the various alliances and coalitions in the city election process. Now that the dust is settling, we would like to salute the hot pink campaign, run by supporters of Sheryl Bass. Actually, Ms. Bass didn’t run. Her friends ran her as a write-in campaign. Sheryl Bass supported the Republican ticket. At last count, Ms. Bass received 1052 997 [Ed. Note: correction given this afternoon] votes and her name didn’t even appear on the ballot! That means that Ms. Bass came in 4th without her running and without her name appearing on the ballot.
Ms. Bass should be proud. She has good friends, the support and respect of her community, and the friends of Ms. Bass did things the right way. Several movers and shakers of this campaign had to resign from their political party to run the campaign. THEY did the right thing. Will they be readmitted? Time will tell. They knew the rules. They followed them. The Sheryl Bass campaign made a fine showing at the polls and everyone showed a lot of class.
Ms. Bass has served her community and will be an invaluable resource for all the elected officials to turn to when they need advice and help. A toast of our finest ale to Lady Bass and her ever- classy campaign.
Agree with you 100% M-H.
An amazing grass roots “campaign” for a first class councilmember.
Look for her to run again in two years and I bet she won’t make the same mistake again.
I loved seeing all of those pink signs and shirts over the past few weeks. Great effort, and I agree with Rabbit. It’s the residents of the city that lost yesterday. I hope they enjoy their picks.
Now, once again the CoM Council is an all white male group. 🙄
At least we have one token female on the BoS. I thought this 2012, not 1912. geesh
I thought this *was* 2012, not 1912. geesh
Did I see the Moonhowler Mobile running a shuttle this morning? I had to run two shuttles. One for each kid. Give me a break!
You should have called. You know one always leaves from here.
@Lafayette
I agree. The Republican party is looking less and less like the general population.
The write-in campaign for Ms Bass did a good job. It’s hard to get people to vote much less deal with a write-in.
I’m curious. Were the Republicans who supported Carnahan (ha!) given the same scrutiny as the women who supported Bass – as far as being made/asked to step aside from their Republican affiliations?
What an interesting question. @Censored. It doesn’t sound like it. Maybe someone from the community can fill us in? Last *I* heard no one had stepped down for “Carnahan.”
How long is that pledge? What if you were a member of PWC or MP Republican party?
@Censored bybvbl
It also doesn’t help that the municipalities have elections in May. It means potentially two voting days and with that comes additional costs. Furthermore, it’s hard enough to get people out to the polls in November. I guess the little “cities and towns” like it that way, it seems to keep less citizens involved. grr
Andy’s blog explained it fairly well. He said that small town elections get buried in national and state elections.
I had never thought about that.
I can see the pros and cons of having the local elections in November. Sure, they’re just a small portion of the ballot that won’t be reviewed as thoroughly as they are when held in May, but they would get a better turn out in November and be more reflective of the community.Plus, they would save money by not having to set up the voting booths twice.
I read the coverage of the results at insidenova.com, and came across this reader comment by Greg from bvbl:
“I was at Mackies, where half of the upstairs was a Tea Party event and the other half was the Manassas Democrats. The Dems were pretty quiet, left fairly early, and I never heard them chant “We’re number six,” not even once. Gosh, you’d think since this is the best election result they’ve had in many years they’d be crowing about it. Heck, they only got beat by three Republicans, an independent, and a write-in candidate.”
I bet the Tea Party was pretty quiet themselves. Greg and Doug Brown’s favorite Tea Party independent got stomped by a bunch of ladies in pink t-shirts and the GOP. Maybe he couldn’t hear them chanting “we’re number six!” over his own crowd chanting “we’re number 5!” I doubt they will get the message that Manassas voters sent: We don’t like/want your brand of politics. We like balanced thoughtful leadership. Even better, their other horse, Charles Sutherland got stomped as well.
Its obvious that the good people of Manassas don’t have much use for the Tea Party these days. It seems to have gone the way of Glenn Beck. I think we are stuck with that here in the county. People weren’t paying attention. They were up against a voting block to start with.
It makes me sick to hear people in the Gainesville District poor mouth and whine about every penny. Gainesville is a wealthy district, comparatively speaking and they should not be boo-hooing about an increase of $120 or so a year in taxes. That’s 10 dollars a month.
Candland just sounds cheap and he makes us sound cheap. No one likes paying taxes but I don’t like living like a bo-hick either.
1052 write in votes were not necessarily all for Bass. 1052 was the complete total of write ins no matter who they were for.
Let’s give some kudos to Steve Thomas. He stood his ground and tried to go by the rules despite alot of very spiteful comments from certain members of his own committee. He performed his job with honesty and itegrity and deserves the thanks of all citizens.
BTW, it’s obvious now which political blog is the most influencial in the Manassas/PWC area. Hats off to Monnhowler and her army of “reporters” for bringing facts to light and helping to restore a little sanity.
Perception is reality. I think this is one time when we will just have to assume they were all for Ms. Bass. I don’t know anyone who cares enough to contact the election board and ask for a breakdown.
It was an impressive showing.
Thank you Rabbit. I think everyone had a good time. Maybe next time, a graphic novel? Know any artists?
Kudos to Steve. You are right, Rabbit. It isn’t easy being the enforcer.
Just to set the record straight, Ms. Bass received 997 votes yesterday. There were 1052 write-in ballots cast, but not all of them went for Ms. Bass. The breakdown of the write-in ballots was not available until this afternoon because the Manassas Electorial Board had to meet first to hand-count the ballots, resolving spelling issues as we went. Computers can’t figure out that Sheryl and Sharyl and Cheryl are all the same person.
Thank you for letting us know. We try to be as accurate as possible. Still, all things considered, that is a great showing for a campaign where the candidate isn’t running.
Wonder how many votes “Carnahan” received.
Who was that here that suggested casting a vote for Sheryl Trout? @Oy Vey
“Ms. Bass received 997 votes yesterday.”
Still more than Jerry Carman. Were “Carnahan” votes credited to Carman?
For a laugh that good, I sure hope so!
Please support Candidate Coyote. Now that might cause more of a problem. Did they mean Carman? both start with C. Or…did they mean Candidate Wolfe? Both are wild canine critters. That would be the real hanging chad.
My post election reflection:
I stand and salute Steve Thomas – and now the real trial for him and the other true, loyal card-carrying Republicans in the City as one of the fallouts of the election are those who are long time MRP folks and split away from endorsing their own selected at convention. Now comes the trial and test of leadership, but hey….I know he can handle it as both a Marine and also, as he once referred to himself, a “Boston Mick” which I am well acquainted with having a Mother from Boston (Roxbury to be exact) and the Irish blood flows in me.
Mr. Howler’s mother was a mick from Northampton, MA. Funny we were just talking with Elena this morning about Boston micks.
Yes, Ray, it appeared that Steve Thomas stood like a stone wall against the invasion. I am about ready to suggest he be made an honorary Virginian.
There stands Thomas like a stone wall. Rally behind the Virginians!
I hope I haven’t insulted the old boy. But if its good enough for Winston Churchill….
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=20060310&id=QvMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rggGAAAAIBAJ&pg=4849,2796291
To be a Virginian either by Birth, Marriage, Adoption, or even on one’s Mother’s side is an Introduction to any State in the Union, a Passport to any Foreign Country, and a Benediction from Above.