GOP Dust up in the 11th

MoonHowler

The GOP dust up in the 11th congressional district threatens to leave silt everywhere.  The 2 candidates, Keith Fimian and Pat Herrity are duking it out.  The winner will take on the one term incumbent, Gerry Connolly.  Connolly is a former Fairfax county supervisor.

The lastest saga of the dust up is over Fimian’s college past at William and Mary.  Apparently he was involved in a dorm water fight that went awry and he was arrested and convicted of assault.  This 35 year old incident has now become part of the political arsenal.  Readers should be reminded of the former Delegate Paul Nichols run- in with the law as a passenger in a car in North Carolina and its ensuing impact on his re-election.  Its just what happens around here.  According to the News and Messenger:

Fimian was convicted of assault in 1976 while a student at the College of William & Mary, according to the circuit court clerk’s office for Williamsburg and James City County.

He was sentenced to 30 days in jail with all but seven days suspended, and fined $200.

Fimian doesn’t dispute the details of the incident. But he accused Herrity of trying to use it to smear him.

“Now he is faxing around court documents about a college incident in 1975—35 years ago,” the Fimian campaign said in a statement Friday, though word of the assault was provided to the News & Messenger anonymously. “Herrity has surrendered his personal integrity.”

The Fimian campaign’s statement said that when Fimian was a freshman, a “dorm water fight spun out of control” and Fimian “injured another male student.”

“Keith Fimian was wrong and remains sorry that it occurred,” the statement said. “Keith Fimian has apologized to the other person in the fight and regrets it to this day.”

The Fimian camp also said that Herrity is down in the polls, and that his campaign is “spinning into a disaster.”

Someone should have warned Fimian that is just what Republicans in this area do to get each other.

The local blogs are rife with attacks on 50th state district Jackson Miller for supporting Pat Herrity.  Other politicians out of Prince William are also supporting Mr. Herrity.  It seems to me that this would be their right to support who they choose.  Somehow the Fimian/Herrity race  is  being tied in to the immigration issue in Centreville.  Strange that Jackson Miller is being singled out by name.  He won’t even be up for re-election for another year and a half.

Why is a proposed Centreville Day Labor site being turned in to a political incident?  Haven’t people learned by now that politicians will find a way to exploit the immigration  issue any way they can? That ship has sailed in our area.  The citizens of Northern Virginia are concerned about jobs, transportation, education and protecting their environment.  Northern Virginians  are too smart to be taken in by a subject over which they have found they have little control at the local level.

Attempts by a few to drag Jackson Miller down will not work either.  He is far beyond being dragged down by an immigration issue feebly  tied to Pat Herrity.  Jackson has become a Manassas icon, a favorite son so to speak.  Fortunately, Mr. Miller is seen as representing all the people, just not a few uber-cons.  That’s as it should be.

The primary election is being held this Tueday in the 11th district for the Republican seat.  There are no Democrat primaries in the state.  Their dust ups are all being  handled in convention.   A reminder that all registered voters can vote in primary elections regardless of party.

There is some talk of democrats voting for Fimian.  He is seen as less mainstream, more closely tied to the far right, and frankly, easier to beat in a general election, especially one that takes in a large part of Fairfax County.  Light voter turn out is expected.

[UPDATE:  Additional information at Not Larry Sabato regarding Candidate Keith Fimian.  What Poor Richard did not tell us was that this candidate has been accused of violence and dishonesty by a former business partner.  I would consider this a very critical read if I lived in the 11th Congressional District]

South Carolina, the Gift that Keeps on Giving

MoonHowler

Some contributors have accused me of picking on South Carolina.  You know, I just don’t think I do.  I think they dangle it out there for us to poke at.  That state is the gift that keeps on giving.  You don’t even need to remember what they did last…there always seems to be something new.

The latest set of incidents is much like the Twelve Days of Christmas.  First you have a woman running for governor of the Palmetto State, NIkki Haley.  Nikki has been accused of having an affair with a blogger named Will Folks and a lobbyist named Larry Marchant.  Nikki was born a Sikh.  She converted to Christianity. 

(Is it getting good yet?)  Nikki is also a Tea Party Person.  The blogger has said he had a physical relationship with her and the lobbyist insists he had a one night stand with her in Utah.  Sarah Palin endorses her and Governor Mark Sanford’s wife defends her.  A state senator has called her a ‘rag head’ because her parents immigrated from India.  Nikki says she is a Methodist. 

According to the Charlotte Observer:

Haley has vehemently denied allegations of inappropriate relationships with blogger Will Folks and lobbyist Larry Marchant, and she said Friday that she would resign if she is elected and anyone finds proof she had an extramarital affair.

She refused to say what would constitute proof, calling that moot. Her campaign declined an interview request Friday.

Folks wrote on his political blog that he and Haley had an inappropriate physical relationship when he worked for her in 2007.

More recently, Marchant, a former lobbyist for one of Haley’s opponents, said he had a one-night stand with her in a Salt Lake City hotel room during a school-choice conference.

On Thursday, state Sen. Jake Knotts used an ethnic slur to refer to Haley, whose parents immigrated from India.

“We’ve got a raghead in Washington, we don’t need a raghead in the Statehouse,” Knotts said on an Internet political talk show. He later apologized, saying the remarks were a joke.

Haley, who was born a Sikh and describes herself as a Methodist, called it another shameful attack.

It’s not clear whether the flaps are damaging the married mother of two, who has been endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Her rivals had said internal polls show her leading going into Tuesday’s primary.

The allegations come a year after Gov. Mark Sanford, Haley’s political mentor, famously ditched his security detail to rendezvous with his Argentine mistress and returned to confess.

Sanford’s ex-wife, Jenny, who divorced him over his affair, also defended Haley on Friday.

“I have watched with revulsion the spectacle that is now surrounding the governor’s race. Our state is better than this,” she said in a statement.

 

Virginia politics seems so clean and boring after checking out South Carolina. Politics as usual? I certainly hope not. No wonder we can’t get good people in office. This is far better than any soap opera. Some of these good ole boys will stop at nothing, will they?  Oh and the ‘raghead in Washington’ comment made by Senator Jake Knotts was referring to the President of the United States.  Good grief!  Chivalry is definitely dead.

Fake Military Creds?

MoonHowler

What is wrong with these politicians who lie about their military service or lack thereof? This is simply the most ridiculous thing to lie about. Anyone can do a paper trail on a military record. We can tap into the service records of people who served 150 years ago, and further  back than that.  What makes these guys think they are something special and won’t get caught?

If you are running for or are in office, there’s a good chance you have at least one political enemy. That’s all it really takes. Assume you live in a gold fish bowl. That means no running around, no womanizing, no tawdry little affairs, no love children, no videos, no lying about service records.

To date, we have 2 service liars: Illinois Senate hopeful Mark Kirk and Connecticut Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal. One republican and one democrat. Why? What part of these men’s psyches allow them to lie about such a thing.  Desert Storm and Vietnam aren’t that far in the past.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voters will have to ask themselves if they want a senator who would lie about his military record.  It might seem unimportant now, but in the long run, it seems like a real barometer of one’s general character.

The Blame Game?

MoonHowler

Tucker Carlson can’t breathe without finger-pointing.  What purpose does it serve to try to afix blame?

Who else can we drag out to blame other than say it is ultimately the responsibility of BP Oil. We need to stop the oil geyser before we start assigning blame.

Meanwhile, current conditions cannot continue without a long term impact on our environment and our economy. Seeing those poor pelicans coated in oil just sickens me. I would rather see the problem solved than find someone to kick to the curb. I feel certain BP didn’t want this to happen any more than the next guy. If they are found to be negligent, lets do the inquiry after the oil flow is stopped and the clean up is well under way. Is this something that can ever be totally cleaned up? We certainly aren’t out of the woods as far as the oil slicks reaching us.