election

Republican Candidate Murray Is Back on the Attack

By Aaron Kraut

Editor’s Note: See previous profiles of Rep. Jim Moran (D) and Jason Howell (I).

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) Republican congressional candidate Patrick Murray says he has a better chance this time around, his second shot at unseating longtime 8th District Rep. Jim Moran (D).

He is more well known, redistricting has cut out Reston from the map and added more conservative areas near Mount Vernon, and he expects the presidential election to help get-out-the-vote efforts.

But from a practical perspective, Murray knows Moran’s more than 20 years of representing Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and parts of Fairfax County is not likely to end after Nov. 6.

“I can’t help that. Just because the district is difficult, the cause is the same,” said Murray, the first Republican challenger to take on Moran for a second time since Demaris Miller in 2000. “So many people were just happy to see that somebody was running against this guy for the second time, that I had stuck around. These guys come out of the woodwork, they run once against Moran and then they vanish.”

“He scares them off,” Murray added.

That seems to be a point of pride for Murray, the retired Army colonel who three years ago passed up a chance to attend the prestigious Army War College — which trains future generals — to run for office.

(Murray lived in Alexandria for eight years earlier in his military career, but moved back there in 2009.)

In the 2010 election, he briefly vaulted into the national spotlight when Moran characterized him as a “stealth” candidate without “public service” experience. Murray said it was a criticism of his military career, which he felt was a type of public service. Moran said he was simply pointing out Murray’s lack of local service to Virginia communities.

Once that happened, campaign contributions from 26 states started coming in.

“It was mostly veterans. They’re not rich,” Murray said. “But it was $25, $50 bucks saying ‘Go kick this guy’s ass because now I see how he feels about us.'”

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Moran Discusses Political Origins As Election Approaches

By Aaron Kraut

Editor’s Note: We will profile Patrick Murray, the Republican challenger for Congress, next week.

Rep. Jim Moran’s conversion from “hardcore economic libertarian” to solidly liberal Democrat began in 1969, more than two decades before his first turn representing Virginia’s 8th District.

As Moran, 67, seeks his twelfth consecutive term amid a divisively bitter atmosphere on Capitol Hill that has severely stunted legislative progress, he spoke about the experience that has informed much of his 33-year political career.

“I was fairly conservative when I graduated from college,” said Moran, who was eyeing a career as a stockbroker when he left the all-male College of the Holy Cross in his native Massachusetts. “I was always pretty progressive on civil rights issues, but from an economic standpoint, I was quite conservative. I used to read Ayn Rand. I thought that life was simple.”

He took a job as a budget officer at the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, during the Nixon administration, to take advantage of a federal program that helped pay for his graduate education.

At the department, Moran was sent to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to save the agency money by consolidating migrant worker programs. He found laborers in a “cycle of poverty,” brought on by loans from farmers who would not pay them enough to pay the loans off. He encountered a Kindergarten-aged girl who suffered corporal punishment for blurting out an answer in Spanish during school.

Speaking Spanish was forbidden at that time in the Texas school system.

“That offended me,” Moran said. “It totally conflicted on my sense of what’s right and the way things are to work.”

Moran said he was escorted out of a state Board of Education meeting after speaking out about the unfairness of allowing corporal punishment while prohibiting the use of Spanish. He went back to Stan Pottinger, the head of the agency’s civil rights division and set up an office of migrant farmers at Health, Education, and Welfare.

“It showed me that you could make a difference. That’s why I got involved in politics, why I’ve stayed in politics,” Moran said. “It’s why I became somebody who recognizes the world is not fair and that we should be spending our energies and influence toward achieving some form of economic justice and equality of opportunity.

“The world is not how Ayn Rand said it was.”

(more…)

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Students Head Back to School — Today is the first day of school for nearly 23,000 Arlington Public School students. School start times vary in Arlington, from 7:50 a.m. for middle schools to 9:24 a.m. for the H-B Woodlawn Secondary program. Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy has created a back-to-school video for students and parents. Arlington County, meanwhile, is urging drivers to be especially cautious on the roads this morning.

AAA Warns of ‘Terrible Traffic Tuesday’ — AAA Mid-Atlantic is warning of “the mother of all gridlock” today, a day the organization has dubbed “Terrible Traffic Tuesday.” With students heading back to school and workers back from summer vacations, AAA expects traffic congestion to spike 26 percent compared to mid-summer. Adding to the congestion in Arlington will be the 146 yellow APS school buses on the roads. [AAA Mid-Atlantic, Bethesda Now]

Special Election Today — Voters in Virginia’s 45th House of Delegates District will head to the polls today in the special election to replace Del. David Englin, who resigned following the admission that he had an extramarital affair. The three candidates in the race are Tim McGhee (R), Rob Krupicka (D) and Justin Malkin (L). Only five electoral precincts in Arlington are included in the 45th District: Aurora Hills, Fairlington, Abingdon, Oakridge, and Shirlington. [Arlington County]

Flickr pool photo by Maryva2

Arlington Group Turns Presidential Politics into an ‘Absurd’ Opera

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington-based contemporary opera company UrbanArias will be performing a new opera just in time for election season to start heating up.

“Photo-Op” is an hour-long opera that tells the story of a presidential candidate and his wife who “approach a political campaign with naiveté and ambition and come to realize that the campaign is a crucible from which they emerge fundamentally changed; their relationship is no longer a love match but a political alliance.”

The end result is a performance that’s about “the absurdity of modern presidential politics.” From a media release:

All of the obligatory campaign events are included: stump speeches, rope lines, debates, sound bites, and, of course, photo-ops — but James Siena’s text reduces them to the absurd, taking familiar “politician-speak” and turning it on its head. Photo-Op’s music is by Conrad Cummings, composer of UrbanArias’ April hit Positions 1956. Cummings’ minimalist-influenced score is hard-hitting but harmonious. UrbanArias’ new production, directed by Alan Paul of The Shakespeare Theatre, is a DC-area premiere. Photo-Op is also the second collaboration between UrbanArias and Bowen McCauley Dance. Lucy Bowen McCauley serves as choreographer, helping to provide an artistically complex and engaging production. Soprano Laurie Williamson (Ragtime and King David) and baritone Michael Mayes (Central City Opera, Fort Worth Opera) star in this production, which also includes an ensemble of dancers and an unamplified orchestra of four.

Tickets to Photo-Op are $22 online, or $17 for seniors and students. The showtimes for the limited engagement are Sept. 8 at 8:00 p.m., Sept. 9 and 2:00 p.m., Sept. 14 at 8:00 p.m. and Sept. 15 at 8:00 p.m. All performances are at Artisphere’s Black Box Theater in Rosslyn (1101 Wilson Blvd).

Labor Day Closures in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Most Arlington County government offices will be closed in observance of the Labor Day holiday this coming weekend.

Arlington’s administrative offices, public libraries, courts, schools and nature centers will be closed on Monday, Sept. 3. Community centers will be closed, with the exception of Barcroft, which will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

County pools will be open under a modified schedule. The Wakefield High School pool will be open from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Labor Day. The Yorktown pool will also be open from 12:00 to 6:00 p.m., and the Washington-Lee pool will be open from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

ART buses will operate under a holiday schedule. Trash and recycling collection will continue as normal.

One county office that will remain open is the Arlington voting office, at 2100 Clarendon Blvd. The office will be open on Saturday, Sept. 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for absentee voting in the 45th District House of Delegates special election. The office will also be open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Labor Day for “legal requirements.”

The election — 45th District voters will have the choice of candidates Tim McGhee (R), Rob Krupicka (D) and Justin R. Malkin (L) — is taking place on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Good Stuff Eatery to Hold ‘Great Burger Debate’

By ARLnow.com

Good Stuff Eatery in Crystal City (2110 Crystal Drive) is holding a “burger debate” just in time for election season.

The restaurant is challenging customers to see if their politics line up with their taste buds by unveiling two new burger offerings: a James Carville burger and a Mary Matalin burger.

The famous political couple, who live in Alexandria, have lent their likenesses to what the restaurant is calling the “Great Burger Debate.” Starting today until Election Day (Nov. 6), Good Stuff will be offering the two burgers at its Crystal City and Capitol Hill locations. Each day, the eatery will tally how many of each burger have been ordered so far.

The Carville burger will match the Democrat’s “spicy personality.” It’s described as “a burger topped with a roasted creole onion slice, southern fried pickles, cheddar cheese and our Ragin’ Cajun Chipotle & Chili BBQ sauce.”

The Matalin burger represents the Republican’s “sophistication and sharp-wit. It’s described as “a burger topped with grilled, organic Portobello ‘shrooms, a goat cheese, fresh tomato and red onions, peppery arugula & a dollop of Peppadew Pepper Mayo.”

A final tally will be announced when the “polls” close on Election Day. Good Stuff held a similar contest for the 2008 presidential election.

GOP VP Pick Paul Ryan Coming to Arlington

By ARLnow.com

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the vice presidential pick of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, will be coming to Arlington this week for a private fundraiser.

Ryan will headline a private fundraiser at the Westin hotel in Ballston at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The fundraiser will benefit the Romney presidential campaign.

The stop is one of three planned Virginia events for Ryan this week. He will also be attending a fundraiser in Richmond on Thursday with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, and will be attending a rally at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, Va. at 11:00 a.m. on Friday.

Ryan’s wife, Janna, was living in Arlington and working as a tax attorney for PricewaterhouseCoopers when she first met Ryan in 1999.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

County Fair Starts Today — The Arlington County Fair officially kicks off today at 5:00 p.m. The first racing piglet competition will take place at 5:30 p.m. The fair will run through Sunday at 10:00 p.m. [Arlington County Fair]

‘Pike Hike’ Scheduled for Sunday — WalkArlington is sponsoring a new community “walkabout” timed to coincide with the county fair. Pike Hike II Junior Walkabout will take participants on a family-friendly stroll of the Columbia Pike town center area from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 12. Sights along the way include the Pike farmers market and the Columbia Pike Branch Library. Participants will also get a free ticket to take the shuttle from the Arlington Career Center (816 S. Walter Reed Drive) to the fair. [CommuterPage Blog]

Libertarian Tries to Make Ballot — An independent candidate who has the support of the Libertarian Party is trying to make it on the Sept. 4 ballot for the 45th District House of Delegates seat. So far only Democrat Rob Krupicka and Republican Tim McGhee has been confirmed for the ballot in the race to succeed Del. David Englin. [Sun Gazette]

Large Crowd for BBQ Bike Ride — There was a large turnout last night for a barbeque and group ride from the Freshbikes store in Virginia Square. With the assistance of Arlington County police, the weekly ride takes cyclists from the store, up Military Road to the intersection with Glebe Road, and back. [Ode Street Tribune]

Flickr pool by Damiec

Congressional Candidate Plans ‘Happy Hour Town Hall’

By ARLnow.com

Independent congressional candidate Jason Howell is planning a “Happy Hour Town Hall” today (Tuesday).

Howell says he’ll be hosting interested 8th Congressional District residents at Bailey’s Pub and Grille in Crystal City (2100 Crystal Drive) starting at 5:00 p.m. The evening will start with a meet and greet. Then, at 6:00 p.m., Howell will give a “short presentation,” followed by a question and answer session with the audience.

Appetizers will be free for early arrivals, according to a press release.

Howell — who has raised just $9,572 as of June 30, compared to $813,463 for Democratic incumbent Rep. Jim Moran and $97,999 for Republican Patrick Murray — has been trying some unique strategies to help get the word out about his candidacy.

Howell has pledged to wear a name tag at all times between now and the Nov. 6 election. Earlier this year he ran a 5K race in Crystal City and issued a press release with the subject line “‘Running’ for Congress… Literally!” And last week Howell participated in Iota Club and Cafe’s open mic night; he performed “Congress-Man,” his take on Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

Howell’s campaign website says he’ll have a booth at the Arlington County Fair later this week.

Murray, the other challenger to the 11-term Rep. Moran, will be attending a private fundraiser with Rep. Frank Wolf (R) tonight.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Krupicka Wins Dem Caucus — Alexandria City Councilman Rob Krupicka has won the Democratic caucus for the 45th District House of Delegrates seat, which represents some parts of South Arlington. Krupicka defeated opponent Karen Gautney by a caucus vote of 1,540 to 891. He will now face Republican Tim McGhee in the Nov. 6 general election. [Patch]

County Gets New Coach Bus for Seniors — The Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation has invested in a new 41-seat coach-style bus. The bus will be used for the department’s travel programs for adults 55 and over. [Sun Gazette]

History of the Twilight Tattoo — There are just 4 Twilight Tattoo performances left this summer at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. An article about the history of the military tradition notes that its origins date back more than 300 years. The next Twilight Tattoo will take place Wednesday at 6:45 p.m. [U.S. Army]

Photo via @Rosy1280

Kaine Tours GridPoint in Clarendon

By Aaron Kraut

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate and former Virginia governor Tim Kaine spoke about his economic development record during a Thursday afternoon campaign stop at Clarendon-based clean energy company GridPoint, Inc.

The company sells efficiency-monitoring software to electrical utilities, government agencies and private corporations. According to CEO John Spirtos, it employs about 100 people between its corporate headquarters (2801 Clarendon Boulevard) and its manufacturing facility in Roanoke.

In a statement, Kaine touted GridPoint as an industry leader in energy efficiency solutions.

“GridPoint’s innovative energy management systems are saving companies up to a fifth of their total energy costs per month,” Kaine said. “These are dollars that can be invested back into the business to expand and hire new workers. Their advancements in energy efficiency and conservation technology are absolutely essential to ensuring our businesses can compete in an increasingly competitive global economy.”

Kaine also touted his own record of helping to bring GridPoint to Arlington. In 2007, Kaine approved a $500,000-incentive package from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to entice GridPoint to move its headquarters to Arlington from Washington, D.C.

“My economic development team played a big part in bringing GridPoint’s headquarters here. We considered it a big victory because of the kind of business that it has and the kind of talent that it has,” Kaine told a roomful of GridPoint employees on Thursday. “Where we really have thrived is we just try to bring the best talent here. If you win the talent race, you win the economic race.”

Kaine toured part of the company’s 30,000-square-foot space at the corner of Clarendon Boulevard and N. Edgewood Street with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Spirtos to highlight his “Strengthening Our Economy Through Energy Innovation” plan.

“Oregon and Virginia are really kind of innovation economies and we know that today we aren’t just competing against people sort of 20 miles down the road, or in my case, California or Seattle. But we are competing against the Chinese. We are competing against the Indians,” Wyden said. “The governor is proven in terms of some of the energy investments he’s been able to invest in and make.”

Professional and technical services accounted for a fifth of Arlington County’s jobs, according to the county’s annual profile. Spirtos said that local base of highly-trained workers is one reason why GridPoint fits among Clarendon’s high-end retail shops and restaurants.

“D.C. is a great place to be but it’s a tough place to get [computer] developers to go to work. We needed access to the talent. There’s a lot of folks who won’t cross the river to go into D.C. There’s a lot of folks who won’t cross the river to go into Maryland,” Spirtos said. “And in this location, we have the Apple Store and the Whole Foods and the whole thing and that’s great. This is a great neighborhood. It’s an ideal neighborhood.”

It was revealed this week that Gridpoint has received another $23 million in venture capital funding, bringing its total funding to $263 million, according to GigaOm. In addition to its Virginia locations, Gridpoint has offices in Austin, Texas; Ottawa, Ontario; and Seattle, Washington.

 

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