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.]

 

 

 

 

52 Thoughts to “Principi Graciously Responds to Royse Cheap Shots”

  1. Lafayette

    Once again, because of the letter and do NOT wish to be confused with any right wing right to lifer type, I will be using “Lafayette”.
    Chris (not Mr. Royse)

    I’m glad to see Supervisor Principi’s letter. The comments that have been brought on by the original letter penned by Mr. Royse haven’t seemed to slow down. All the usual suspects are taking their usual “holier than thou” stance.

    Here’s another letter saying Royse’s letter was out of line:

    I read Chris Royse’s recent letter to the editor and immediately thought how his letter represents exactly what is wrong with the Republican Party today, why so many of “us” moderates have left the party and don’t want to go back.

    I know Chris personally and consider(ed) him a friend, but making that letter pubic was a bad decision. For whatever reason, Chris had to let us know what a great Christian he is, but then without reason or provocation, he attacked Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi for supporting a pro-choice agenda.

    Whoa! What happened to your Christianity there, Chris? I think the letter was really a political statement directed to the far-right, Christian evangelicals that so dominate the Republican party today, written to let THEM know HIS position.

    To make himself the Republican, Christian good guy, Chris had to have a Democratic, Christian bad guy. Well, Frank Principi is a friend of mine and he is a good man and a good Christian. But by Chris’ illogic, as Frank Principi is a Democrat, he support a pro-choice agenda because as all Republicans know, all Democrats support abortion!

    Doesn’t matter that Frank Principi has long been a strong pro-life advocate! But to be a Republican these days — not just a “good Republican,” any type Republican — you can only be a white, blue-eyed, blond Christian evangelical, the only subjects you can talk about are “gays, guns and god” and you must hate anyone who doesn’t fit that description.

    Nothing else matters. And I guess Chris needed to let everyone know what a great Christian and, by extension, great Republican he is, by publicly trashing Frank Principi for no reason whatsoever. Way to go Chris. Go get those few Republican votes left in the county.

    JOHN S. GRAY
    Lake Ridge

  2. Moon-howler

    Thank you for moving that letter on over here, Lafayette. It was an excellent letter from Mr. Gray.

  3. Lafayette

    MH-
    You are quite welcome.

    I’m sure this letter will incite some more provocative ccomments. I’ve said enough on abortion. It’s now time to focus on these two well thought out letters. I’m still in absorbing all the nastiness I read in the paper’s comment section. Well, it looks like will have a few more days of discussion. Is there more to be said? 😉

  4. Opinion

    Frank Principi has my vote (and my contribution) for Chairman, BOCS. Chris Royse showed us what’s wrong with the Republican Party. Frank Principi is the best case I’ve ever seen for changing the BOCS to blue.

  5. Moon-howler

    It now looks like John Gray is being accused of being an anti. Hello DtRT, he is not a regular poster here. Now go tell the gentleman you are sorry that you are once again in error.

    We know you sneak on here to jib jab at us. We know when we are in the presence of royalty. {choke sputter cough}

  6. Moon-howler

    Opinion, the one thing I have found about Mr. Principi is that he is receptive to all, not just those in his district and he is not arrogant and too good to talk to anyone else. I have found Marty Nohe and John Jenkins to be like that also. There are 8 supervisors and I do not mean to imply that only those 3 fit that category. I am just speaking of personal experience.

    I think what has been done to Mr. Principi is horrible. It crosses over any lines of decency. Where I come from, a man’s religion, regardless of what it is, is really outside the scope of politics, at least in polite company.

  7. ShellyB

    I’m glad to see Frank Principi can discuss religion, politics, and abortion rights without losing his composure and integrity. I guess that’s the difference. And the reason why Principi is a District Supervisor with a promising future, while Chris Royse is writing angry letters and basting in a bitterness stew a year after Principi bested him.

  8. ISO Decency

    The mjm seems to be all aflutter with those attacking Frank Principi and John Gray. The black velveteens are running out of glue with all that cutting and pasting.

    The black velveteens remind me of angry red ants. If one waves a stick near their nest, they all start swarming. It is sorta fun to watch.

  9. ShellyB

    This is my vote for best smack down of Chris “Rightwing Extremist” Royse, from WHWN on the other Royse thread, in reply to Royse’s post that he only attacked Principi because he disapproves of Gerry Connolly:

    Royse’s unfortunate lapse in judgment has exposed his lingering bitterness toward Supervisor Frank Principi stemming from the 2007 election. If indeed this quote is the only excuse Royse has rendered, he has only succeeded in underscoring this embarrassing revelation.

    The Congressman-Elect has done his share to provoke conservatives in Fairfax and in Prince William County. But Prince William County’s freshman Supervisor Frank Principi has proven to be a competent and well-studied advocate for this county’s long term interests, as well as a formidable counterweight to our conniving and incompetent Chairman who, without such a rival in 2007, all but destroyed this county beyond any hope of recovery.

    Though I am no fan of Connolly’s, I have to point out that any attempt to equate a political mailer with Royse’s shameful attack on Supervisor Principi is beyond ludicrous. Connolly’s mailers during the recent Congressional race made an issue of Fimian’s donors, which included organizations with strong pro-choice views (possibly bordering on sexism). In response, Fimian used Catholicism as both a sword and shield, accusing Connolly of attacking a faith they both share (?).

    Royse here is taking the same tact, but his excuse … essentially that he is attacking Principi using the same tactic with which Connolly attacked Fimian … fails the smell test for two, even more obvious reasons:

    1) This is not election season; it is the holiday season as Royse announces in the opening of his putrid letter. Frank Principi does not face reelection until 2011, and there is no guarantee that Royse will secure his party’s nomination to challenge him a second time. Frank Principi is Chris Royse’s District Supervisor; not his political opponent. Others have said that Royse’s attack was political in nature as opposed to religious. A more accurate characterization for Royse’s attack would be to call it personal in nature. This is truly, truly unfortunate.

    2) It may go without saying but I’ll say it anyway. Principi was not a strategist in the Connolly campaign. So, if “But Mom, he did it first” is Royse’s excuse, then his Christmas bitterness card should have been directed at the Congressman-Elect; not at Supervisor Principi. Even if we accept the specious claim that Royse’s personal issues with Principi and Connolly’s electioneering are morally equivalent, the upshot of this entire fiasco is that Principi comes out looking like the bigger man, while Royse paints himself as small, petty, unscrupulous and unhinged.

  10. NotGregLeteicq

    ISO,

    Thanks for the heads up. I see that Tom Kopko has joined in the Inquisition. It’s obvious to me that abortion is the new immigration.

    In other words, discredited extremists like Tom Kopko, Greg Letiecq, Corey Stewart, and Chris “Who?” Royse are now falling back on the abortion issue as a way to control the Freedom Fry Voters.

    Once again, Freedom Fry Voters is an AntiBVBL term for people who will believe anything as long as it gives them a good reason to (a) be afraid, (b) be hateful, (c) vote Republican without thinking about it first.

    If you doubt the existence of Freedom Fry Voters, remember that 20% of our population still supports George Bush.

  11. ISO Decency

    I heard 18% approval rating on TV today. Amazing.

    Yes, whwn did do a great analysis on the Royse attack. It is hard to see abortion as the new immigration, but maybe you are right. It is going to be hard to bash anchor babies and abortion all in the same sentence. Someone might just get confused.

  12. NotGregLeteicq

    They’re giving up on immigration. It’s a death sentence for the Republican party and all but the looniest extremists already know it.

  13. JustinT

    Still talking about this? I think the other thread already sent Mr. Royse to bed-without-fruit-cup.

    Supervisor Principi makes a good point. Abortion is a federal issue, just like immigration. And as for Mr. Royse’s pettiness, I’m glad Principi took the high road. It would be embarrassing to have a public official behave like Mr. Royse does.

    Oh, I forgot. We have John Stirrup and Corey Stewart.

    Well it would be embarrassing to have another one. Thanks for keeping your cool Supervisor Principi.

  14. Rick Bentley

    Point #3 is particularly relevant

    But do illegal residents still have outdoor chicken coops and backwyard stoves in Principi’s district? He could influence THAT at the local level.

    But maybe he gets kickbacks from the illegal residents. One fresh chicken per month and first dibs on the eggs.

  15. Juturna

    Well, clearly Mr. Principi lives his beliefs. When he says “forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us”, he means it.

    As we know and have been taught, there is a huge divide between forgivenss and salvation.

  16. Elena

    Mackie
    Geraldo was a tough guy, hard to keep your cool when some guy kicks you and calls you two foul names. Geraldo was a great reporter at one time, he broke that horrible story back in the 70’s of the mentally challenged and disabled children being horribly abused while in a state facility.

    On another note, John Gray wrote a great letter!!!!

  17. Moon-howler

    Rick Bentley, if people have those chicken coops near their homes, then it is their fault for not calling neighborhood services. It also depends on the zoning classification of the neighborhood. I believe there is a farm animal clause, of sorts.

    Seriously, do you expect Mr. Principi to go trooping around the neighborhoods looking for chickens? Chickens live in the Gainesville District and in the Brentsville District. It all depends on the zoning.

    It looks like one of those outbuildings is an aviary. Are those illegal?

    So villifying Mr. Principi here because of the chickens of Woodbridge just won’t work. Go to the dark screen. They eat that crap up over there.

  18. NotGregLeteicq

    Rick, don’t go to the dark screen. You are their only emissary with home we can have a serious conversation.

  19. NotGregLeteicq

    Chickens are a neighborhood services problem, not a police crackdown problem.

  20. NotGregLeteicq

    I’m pro-choice, but I fully respect Principi being pro-life while recongnizing that as a County Supervisor it is not his place to challenge federal law. If only the other Supervisors realized that, we wouldn’t be a bankrupt county with a reputation for intolerance.

  21. Information Only..

    Well, here’s some useful information to know. Look at Emma now. Does anyone miss her commenting on anti? She’s full of herself on bvbl too. The bvbl blow hards are out in full force today.
    Isn’t that just grand!

    From Emma’s keyboard….
    Posted by ( Emma ) on December 11, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    nor am I blue-eyed and blonde, for that matter, but I do own a gun. Exactly why is that a problem for you?

  22. Moon-howler

    Should I start singing

    “Emma’s got a gun, the world’s come undone…..?”

    A great new cover tune for a local band with a little play on words.

    Of course, it will never be as popular here as the album Manassas by Stephen Stills.

  23. NotGregLeteicq

    M-H, don’t get Red Dawn started! Seriously, I’m concerned about this. Info Only, can you tell us why it is that Emma feels she has to tell people she has a gun?

  24. Moon-howler

    Tough girl? She just enjoys playing that role.

  25. Lafayette

    Just a bit of Manassas history for a change of pace.

    The album Manassas hit #4 on the Billboard Charts in 1972. There was a second album Down The Road in 1973. Another little known fact, though he was not a member of the band Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones played bass on the album.

    My sister still has this album, and I heard it many times growing up in our house. I remember her and her friends thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread when the cover shot for the album was be done at the train station.

    I wonder how many of the new arrivals to PWC even know this album existed.

  26. Sista

    I think Emma the Dilemma thinks that her religious symbols are cloaks, daggers and torches. Now what church would that be? Oh the outrage!

  27. Rick Bentley

    “Seriously, do you expect Mr. Principi to go trooping around the neighborhoods looking for chickens? ”

    No. Nor do i expect him to help enforce any zoning laws, if the violators can pretend they don’t speak English, or claim they are related. He is an illegal alien apologist and i expect nothing from him that will ever make my life any better.

  28. Red Dawn

    “don’t get Red Dawn started!”

    LOL! Because I’m TNT, I’m dynamite. Just kidding! According to this article, I am packing too.

    http://www.wklq.com/Article.asp?id=1045561&spid=28211

    What a joke. Barney songs?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfAZSTYKd40

  29. NotGregLeteicq

    Oh… I miss Emma. Tell her to come back here and blog where freedom of speech is allowed, and put that gun away before someone gets hurt.

  30. Moon-howler

    Rick, there’s that ugly word again. At least *I* consider it insulting.

    Do you know that the neighbors called neighborhood services or zoning? If a complaint isn’t filed, the county doesn’t know. The violator doesn’t need to know English. The county has zoning officers who speak Spanish.

    How about the chickens that lived in Westgate? Do you think that John Stirrup schlepped around and found them and fried them up? Hell no. The concerned citizens of Westgate called in a complaint. Suddenly, the chicken population was greatly reduced.

    Maybe those neighbors were too lazy to call in the chickens or…perhaps they lived in a place zoned for farm animals.

    Or maybe you are just calling Mr. Principi names because Greg told you to. Or maybe we can all jump on Mr. Stirrup for the sofas out in the yards perpetually in loch Lomond/Yorkshire. Sorry. It isn’t Mr. Stirrup’s fault. Bet that one surprises you, doesn’t it. It is the lazy ass neighbors who don’t camp on the phone until the trash is cleaned up.

  31. Moon-howler

    NGL, No. And she knows why.

  32. Tales from the Crypt

    From the Dark Screen Reporter:

    Tom Ridge thinks there is anti catholic bashing in mjm. Maybe he missed the point that the bashing was at Royse and people who think they can do the voodoo and blackmail their fellow parishioners.

    Someone with the last name of a king of England thinks that the Senate leader is named Harry Pelosi.

    Some of these guys have really turned this brother’s keeper idea into serious stuff!!

    I am just glad I am a secular humanist. What are those anyway!!??

  33. Rick Bentley

    “Do you know that the neighbors called neighborhood services or zoning?”

    Supposedly they did. I don’t have first-hand knowledge.

    “Or maybe you are just calling Mr. Principi names because Greg told you to.”

    No. My anger at every public servant who shows lack of concern for what happened in my neighborhood, who wants me to grin and bear it for the sake of political correctness, is all my own. I had anger towards every Supervisor before I’d ever heard of Greg L. And when I did hear of him and attend an HSM meeting I said thank God.

  34. Red Dawn

    Tales,

    Your narrative sounds to me like PLAYING church. This is why I will not join one. I grew up in a few and this was my impression( during the impressionable years) the nastiness that is manifesting with the debates.

    I refused as a teen to go, made a decision later that I did want to go and wanted my children brought up to know the God I believe in ( knowing, later they would have to make THEIR own choice) and that is when I realized, that CHURCH is the PEOPLE, not the PLACE.

    These 2 Bible verse is one that keeps playing in my head as I read the comments about calling on others to shun or deny communion, etc.

    “Ephesians 2:8-9 (King James Version)

    8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

    9 Not of works, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST.”

    I capped the BOASTING part….there is a lot of that going on.

    If someone doesn’t believe the way I do, it’s fine. God gives us ALL FREE WILL.
    The thing that is sad is that is the people trying to BOAST and be NASTY to make others come around and believe like they do.

    Okay, on a funny note, I loved this jam growing up and due to my faith ( I couldn’t bring my self to sing the full lyrics, lol) and I changed it to Heaven every time I would sing /jam it… I rocked with them, not banned/shunned a good thing 🙂 ROCK ON! 🙂

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erJc4dzZ3IA

  35. Moon-howler

    Rick, is Mr. Principi your supervisor?

  36. Red Dawn

    Rick,
    “No. My anger at every public servant who shows lack of concern for what happened in my neighborhood, who wants me to grin and bear it for the sake of political correctness, is all my own. I had anger towards every Supervisor before I’d ever heard of Greg L. And when I did hear of him and attend an HSM meeting I said thank God.”

    ME TOO and from the moment my husband brought the MJM article home about HSM having it’s first meeting, I called Greg that night and asked how do I sign up?! I even gave money for the cause that I didn’t have and signed people up to join. That is how fed up I was( along with family & friends)

    WE rode that hope, when things felt hopeless and it CRASHED when I started to Corey gain his platform and it was for political gain …..
    I do not REGRET ONE thing or the lessons learned ( still learning)
    I do not deny that there was a huge problem but there are many reasons for why we were in the situation we were in (cause/effect) I started to how COMPLEX it was.

    Hindsite is 20/20, and I give credit where credit is due and believe that things happen for a reason. I just have a different outlook now and ask even MORE questions…LOL
    I wish I could be a stupid as I come off….LOL 🙂

  37. DB

    Wow Red Dawn I was brought up in a certain church also! And I also left the church as a teen because I personally could not coordinate their teachings with what I felt to be right..significantly womens rights. However, I have exposed my children to God’s word thru either preschool, camps, and AWANA and I have left their religious choice up to them.

  38. “don’t get Red Dawn started!”

    Watch out, when Red Dawn gets started, she’s rolls like Thunder!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X80Qjh9Yivs

  39. Red Dawn

    DB,

    AWANA!
    Now that is a blast from the past! I Honestly, would not have counted on anyone knowing what that was! LOL and I was a member and proud! LOL!
    Are they still in existence? For those who have never heard of such a group, it was like girl/boy scouts via the church. I always heard ( at the time I was a member of AWANA) of other groups like Jobs daughters or something like that and had friends that group that never heard of AWANA.

    and finally….

    BIG MACK,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNarn1MY6kY

    you are my friend and have taught me sooooooooooo much.

    your WHITE chick with ears on and open heart!

  40. Red Dawn

    OH GOOD GRIEF~ before anyone wants to jump to conclusions….MACKIE, it’s more like this! LOL xoxoxox

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JAis-ATxnc

  41. NotGregLeteicq

    Thanks for that great post, Red Dawn. I had forgotten that you were part of Help Save Manassas once upon a time. Gave money too, huh?

    Rick, don’t be mad at Principi. He was only a citizen when the problem was worst, and he came in with a host of ideas he wanted to implement to address his constituents’ concerns. He didn’t like the approach that HSM and FAIR wanted us to take. And he was right about that. He had to go toe to toe with Corey Stewart, and it wasn’t easy, but he did it. The other Supervisors joined Principi instead of Corey because they realized Principi had the long term interests of the county in mind.

    Namely, if we had a legal framework that seemed to instruct police officers to engage in racial profiling, we’d be liable to be sued by the federal government. Chief Deane was warning the Board about this for months, but they were afraid to act on it until Principi joined the Board.

    So if you’d prefer not to see your county go bankrupt fighting law suits and paying damages, you should be thankful that Principi is the Woodbridge Supervisor and not Chris “Bitter Boy” Royse.

    Principi does want to deal with the neighborhood issues that were plaguing you and Red Dawn. But he didn’t want to challenge the U.S. Constitution in order to do it.

  42. Rick Bentley

    “Rick, don’t be mad at Principi”

    I am beyond angry at anyone who wants me to sit and watch my neighborhgood turn into a ghetto full of overcrowded houses, where the demand for social services will drawf the per capita property tax paid – someone who wants to defend status quo of my neighborhood rapidly degrading from suburban to urban.

    “Principi does want to deal with the neighborhood issues that were plaguing you and Red Dawn.”

    In some vague non-urgent way. Well this is urgent and he is not on my side, and I will not forget.

  43. Moon-howler

    Rick, is Supervisor Principi your supervisor?

    Tell me what he or any of the other supervisors could personally do to make your situation better?

    How many times have you called neighborhood services or the police?

  44. Rick Bentley

    No he’s not. He could support the Rule of Law resolution instead of undermining it.

    I have called the police for nose complaints – after making repeated attempts to communicate with my neighbors about the problem. They’re gone now and my family’s life is less stressful. No thanks to Principi.

    Has Principi ever lived in a neighborhood that was being taken over by illegal flophouses?

  45. Moon-howler

    Rick, he didn’t undermine the Immigration Resolution. He probably kept our county from being sued. All he did step forward and have immigration status checked post arrest rather than having our cops run around rounding up ‘illegals’ and going down the slippery slope of due process. In fact, Greg would say it was strengthened.

    I don’t know if Supervisor Principi has ever lived in a neighborhood taken over by illegal flophouses, but I have lived in one that was taken over by ‘everything else’ flophouses. And no, I didn’t like it.

    When there is limited low income housing, people double and triple up. And it is a real pain in the tail. But it is a class problem, not an ethnicity problem. If that sounds snooty and elitist, sorry. Just calling it as I see it.

  46. NotGregLeteicq

    Principi showed the rest of the Board how to stand up to Corey Stewart. Thank God for that, because it freed them to make decisions that are in the best interest of the county.

  47. Rick Bentley

    “But it is a class problem, not an ethnicity problem.”

    Now you know, none of my ncomplaints are based on anyone’s ethnicity as a root cause. The complaints do CORRELATE to ethnicity but that is not the cause for the complaints, or the problems.

Comments are closed.