From the Archives: 'Open-minded, pragmatic' Republican Anson Parker enters race for City Council

Publisher's note: This article was originally published on Examiner.com on May 30, 2015. The Examiner.com publishing platform was discontinued July 1, 2016, and its web site was scheduled to go dark on or about July 10, 2016.  I am republishing this piece in an effort to preserve it and all my other contributions to Examiner.com since April 6, 2010. It is reposted here without most of the internal links that were in the original.

'Open-minded, pragmatic' Republican Anson Parker enters race for City Council

Anson Parker, a 37-year-old web developer who has lived in Charlottesville for two decades, was nominated by the local Republican Party on Saturday, May 30, to be a candidate for City Council in the November election.

Acknowledging that it is a “reasonable statement” to describe his approach as more technocratic than ideological, Parker told the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner in an interview following his nomination that “I want to be open-minded in a lot of ways. I want to be pragmatic.”

Only one Republican has been elected to Charlottesville's city council in the past 30 years, suggesting that GOP candidates face a difficult challenge. Parker brushed aside concerns that running as a Republican is an obstacle to his election.

“I think it's an opportunity because when I tell people I'm running as a Republican," he said, "it blows their minds."

Not national but local
People told him that he should run as a Democrat because of the city's voting record but “I say, no, my goals are conservative.” When they ask what kind of conservative he is and whether he's running on issues like abortion or gay rights, he says, with emphasis, “It's no, no, no. This is about local issues.”

Gay rights and abortion, he explained, “are not even local issues. Those are state and federal issues.”

For Parker, the campaign “is about what we do in Charlottesville and fiscal conservatism in Charlottesville is broadly accepted,” he said.

“There are a multitude of people who are liberal at a national level who don't like to see their money wasted locally.”

As a result, he noted, “I've actually found that being Republican to be a great talking point. I'm conservative locally and this has nothing to do with a national audience. This is Charlottesville.”

Infrastructure gaps
Parker explained that he was motivated to run for City Council because “there are a lot of gaps in the technical infrastructure, and since I'm a web developer I felt I could bring something to the table to help.”

He said that technology can improve government transparency and, in turn, improve citizens' views of city government workers.

He gave the example of a cell phone app that helps identify potholes needing repairs: It can both nudge the repair process forward and provide a way to acknowledge the hard work of the city employee who fixes it.

“I want to look at this as an opportunity for the city to show off what good work it does,” Parker said, “because 99 percent of the time that's what's going on [but] people aren't really appreciated. It's the one percent of the time when people aren't doing good work that gets a lot of press. I'm hoping that by making a more transparent system we can improve city relations” with residents.

The Democratic Party will nominate its general election candidates for City Council in a primary on Tuesday, June 9. There are five candidates seeking three slots: Wes J. Bellamy, Kathleen M. Galvin, Lena M. Seville, A. Michael Signer, and Dede L. Smith. Incumbent Mayor Satyendra Huja chose not to seek re-election.

Independent candidates who want their names on the November ballot must file their paperwork, including petitions with a minimum of 125 signatures, by June 9 at 7:00 p.m., the same time the polls close in the primary election.

SUGGESTED LINKS

Charlottesville Republicans present two City Council candidates for 2013
Rutherford Institute endorses Charlottesville marijuana resolution
Charlottesville write-ins reveal voters’ allegiance, impishness
Drug-law reformer Lennice Werth reacts to Charlottesville marijuana vote
City Council candidate Bob Fenwick challenges ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘trickery’

Original URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/open-minded-pragmatic-republican-anson-parker-enters-race-for-city-council

From the Archives: House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte is 'sympathetic' to Kim Davis

Publisher's note: This article was originally published on Examiner.com on September 7, 2015. The Examiner.com publishing platform was discontinued July 1, 2016, and its web site is scheduled to go dark on or about July 10, 2016.  I am republishing this piece in an effort to preserve it and all my other contributions to Examiner.com since April 6, 2010. It is reposted here without most of the internal links that were in the original.

House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte is 'sympathetic' to Kim Davis

The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee says he is "sympathetic" to Rowan County clerk of courts Kim Davis but also believes she is obliged by law to do her job and that no government official is "above the law."

At the annual Labor Day festival in Buena Vista, Virginia, Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA6) spoke to the crowd and spoke separately with members of the news media.

Offering an enthusiastic endorsement of local Delegate Ben Cline for re-election to the Virginia General Assembly in his speech to voters from Buena Vista and surrounding Rockbridge County, Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and an attorney by background, also answered questions about current events.

Kentucky contempt
One question posed by the Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner concerned the situation in Rowan County, Kentucky, where clerk of court Kim Davis was jailed for contempt of court when she refused to issue marriage licenses or allow her staff to do so.

Davis claims her religion forbids her to endorse same-sex marriages, so she halted all marriage licenses in the county in protest of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. That ruling, in late June, declared that laws prohibiting marriages between gay or lesbian couples are unconstitutional.

Davis, a Democrat elected to her post in 2014, was jailed for disobeying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses in Rowan County, a standard and expected service normally provided by county clerks.

“I certainly am very concerned about the Supreme Court decision” in Obergefell, Congressman Goodlatte said, and “did not agree with that decision.”

He added: “I respect people who want to take that personal step but [Kim Davis is] a government official and, unfortunately, because she is a government official, she is required to uphold the law and that is to do what the law and the courts require of her.”

'Above the law'
The situation in Rowan County, he said, is “very, very difficult,” noting that he is “very sympathetic to her position. I agree with her position on this but I don't think she can use a governmental office for that purpose.”

“No one is above the law,” Goodlatte added, explaining that “you can certainly use your religious position as a private citizen or a private business owner or a member of a church – in your private life – to reflect your values of traditional marriage and belief that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”

The judiciary committee chairman said he shares that belief in traditional marriage, “but when a court enters an order, a clerk who has been sworn to take an oath of office does not have the option of not choosing to uphold her oath in that public office that she has been elected to or appointed to.”

Buena Vista's Laborfest marked its 45th consecutive year. In addition to Congressman Goodlatte, speakers included Delegate Cline (R-HD24) and attorney Ellen Arthur, Cline's Democratic opponent in the November election for the 24th district seat in the House of Delegates.

SUGGESTED LINKS

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring discusses federal gay marriage appeals
Virginia political leaders react to Supreme Court marriage decision
Author Charles Murray argues same-sex marriage is ‘not a big deal’
Author David Lampo brings gay-rights message to conservative Republicans
Congressmen Bob Goodlatte and Robert Hurt comment on WDBJ-TV killings

Original URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/house-judiciary-committee-chairman-bob-goodlatte-is-sympathetic-to-kim-davis

From the Archives: Charlottesville write-in voters honor former candidates, South Park characters

Publisher's note: This article was originally published on Examiner.com on November 4, 2015, following Virginia's general election.  The Examiner.com publishing platform was discontinued July 1, 2016, and its web site is scheduled to go dark on or about July 10, 2016.  I am republishing this piece in an effort to preserve it and all my other contributions to Examiner.com since April 6, 2010. It is reposted here without most of the internal links that were in the original.

Charlottesville write-in voters honor former candidates, South Park characters

Local radio hosts Rob Schilling and Joe Thomas proved they have followers by winning dozens of write-in votes on Election Day in Charlottesville. The two talkers got write-ins in all five contests that were on the ballot.

The November 3 election featured uncontested races for state Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates, five candidates competing for three seats the Charlottesville City Council, four candidates for four seats on the city's School Board, and three candidates for two open positions on the Thomas Jefferson Soil and Water Conservation District.

According to unofficial write-in totals released by the Charlottesville Electoral Board, WINA-AM's Schilling, a former City Council member who was elected as a Republican in 2002, got seven votes in that contest while WCHV-AM & FM's Thomas got nine. Schilling also got four votes for state Senate in the 25th District (which was won by incumbent R. Creigh Deeds with 90.5 percent of the vote) while Thomas got six. In the House of Delegates race won by House Minority Leader David Toscano (with 89.95 percent), Schilling had six votes and Thomas had three.

Thomas outpaced Schilling in the write-in votes for School Board by six votes to one. Schilling had two votes for Soil and Water District Director to Thomas' one vote.

Thomas Jefferson remembered
It is often said that in the Charlottesville area, founding father Thomas Jefferson is often spoken of “as if he just left the room,” and the Sage of Monticello was written in by voters in every contest on Tuesday: four votes for state Senate, four votes for his former seat in the House of Delegates, and one vote each for City Council, School Board, and -- in the district named for him -- Soil and Water District Director.

City Council member Dede Smith, who failed to win renomination by the local Democratic party in the June primary, received 121 votes from supporters who wanted to see her retain her seat. She also received three votes each for School Board and Soil and Water District Director.

Previous City Council candidates Brandon Collins, Mike Farruggio, and Charles “Buddy” Weber received four, three, and four votes, respectively, in that contest.

Weber and Farruggio both received one vote in the race for state Senate, as did T. J. Aldous, who was the Republican nominee for that office in 2011. Former Charlottesville City Council candidate Jon Bright got nine votes in that contest as well as two in the 57th District House of Delegates race. Tom McCrystal, who was the Republican nominee for that delegate seat in 2005, received two votes.

Sabato, Lark, and Parker
Local celebrities who received votes for state Senate included political scientist Larry J. Sabato , former national chairman of the Libertarian Party James W. Lark, former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate James Webb, 2016 Fifth District congressional candidate Jane Dittmar, and 2015 Republican City Council candidate Anson Parker. So did Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner Rick Sincere.

Former independent candidate for the House of Delegates Robert Brandon Smith III and local GOP activist James Neale both received votes in the 57th District delegate race.

Lena Seville, who ran for the Democratic City Council nomination in the June primary, received two votes in that contest, while Peter Kleeman, who ran for that office as an independent in 2007.

Willa Neale, who chose not to run for another term on the School Board, received two write-in votes.

South Park fans may be pleased to learn that Kyle Brofloski, Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick all received votes for School Board, as did PC Principal and “Mr. Garrison.”

Suggested Links

Charlottesville write-ins reflect voters' loyalty to Perriello, Hurt
Few though colorful write-in votes cast in Charlottesville in Election 2012
Charlottesville write-ins reveal voters’ allegiance, impishness
UVA political scientist analyzes 2012 election, looks toward 2016 GOP nominee
Georgetown philosophy professor Jason Brennan explores ethics of voting

Original URL: http://www.examiner.com/article/charlottesville-write-voters-honor-former-candidates-south-park-characters