Supervisor Frank Principi had a letter in the News and Messenger this morning defending his position as a pro-life elected official. As I was reading it, I wondered if perhaps we ought to bring dueling back.
Here is his letter, published December 10, 2008:
In Saturday’s News & Messenger, Chris Royse, under the guise of wishing residents a Merry Christmas, indicated that I supported a pro-choice agenda and called upon church officials in the Arlington Catholic Diocese to deny me communion. Although I normally keep my personal and religious life private, I felt it necessary to respond to his letter.
First I would like to state that I am a pro-life, Knight of Columbus, practicing Catholic who believes in the separation of church and state. My faith has always been a very important part of my life.
Second, I am a life-long Democrat and I can honestly say that there has never been a time that I agreed 100 percent with the party’s platform.
Third, I hope that most people who read this article are aware that Chris Royse was my Republican opponent for Woodbridge Supervisor. It would seem that as a former candidate, he would be aware that the Board of County Supervisors does not make decisions regarding abortion. This is a matter addressed by the state and federal government.
This is a very special time of year to Americans. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah , or Eid Day, it is a season of love, of giving back and appreciating all of our blessings. That we live in troubled economic times is all the more reason to look at the good in our community and work to make it better. We accomplished this recently when businesses and volunteers came together in Woodbridge to host Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for those in need in our community. This makes a positive difference in our community.
In the New Year, let’s turn our focus to something we can influence on the local level, the public policy issues affecting our quality of life. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
FRANK J. PRINCIPI
Prince William County Supervisor
Woodbridge Magisterial District
Naturally, it wasn’t good enough for some folks. The Velvets still knew more about Catholicism and the establishment clause than anyone else. In the Readers comments on www.insidenova.com, the usual contributors kept beating the same dead horse. The entire website is not taking comments regularly. Many are getting lost in cyberspace.
All of this brings me to my point: Mr. Principi is welcome to join the pro-choice community. We are not pro-abortion. He can even hate abortion. It seems to be the area where he could get in the least trouble. He is being hung as a wolf anyway. He might as well just say he is pro-choice. That way he could still stick to his convictions by choosing life.
The same thing has happened to other local politicians. State Senator Colgan got raked over the coals for similar things. Delegate Harry Parrish got viciously attacked over the same issue. All three men considered themselves pro-life and both Parrish and Colgan had strong pro-life voting records. Principi has none, of course, because abortion and abortion issues simply do not come up at the local level.
Mr. Principi, you are in good company. Senator Colgan is a well loved and respected statesman. The late Delegate Harry Parrish was a well-respected gentlemen who served this community and his district well for many years. Their political enemies went after them with the nastiest, distorted political rhetoric imaginable.
Where are their opponents? Licking their wounds and practicing dirty, cowardly, political tricks, apparently. Is it getting so now one cannot be a pro-life Democrat?
We have a failing economy, a 2 front war, an entire car industry is hanging on by a thread, the stock market is floundering and many people have lost half their retirement. Why are we fighting over who is and who is not pro-life?
[Editor’s note: I am speaking only of myself of being pro-choice. Many of our readers and at least one administrator here would describe themselves as pro-life.]
In this area, illegal does tend to describe the ethnicity, does it not?
Yeah. So decrying ilegal behavior sets off alarms with politically correct liberals who values their fuzzy understandings of “tolerance”, “diversity”, and “charity” more than they value lawfulness or fair play.