election

Ebbin May Seek State Senate Seat

By ARLnow.com

We’re less than 30 days away from this year’s mid-term elections — thus why you see the legions of campaign signs popping up along Arlington’s roadways. Unless Patrick Murray or Mark Kelly can pull a big upset, however, the next truly interesting race may be the 2011 primaries.

State Sen. Patsy Ticer, a Democrat who represents a large chunk of south Arlington, as well as parts of Alexandria and Fairfax County,  has so far shown no signs of interest in seeking another term.

Among the names of potential replacements being floated around, one is reportedly not interested, but another almost certainly is. Sources close to Del. Adam Ebbin tell us that he’s interested in seeking the Democratic nomination for Ticer’s seat. Ebbin, who also represents parts of Arlington, Alexandria and Fairfax, has held his current House of Delegates seat since January 2004.

In the coming months we’ll see who else steps up to the plate.

Photo via Vivian Paige.

Absentee Voting Starts

By ARLnow.com

In-person absentee voting started today, in advance of the November 2 election.

Election officials say two people have already cast ballots in the first hour of absentee voting. The voting is taking place on the third floor of 2100 Clarendon Blvd.

“Citizens who will be absent from Arlington on Election Day” are eligible to vote absentee — meaning that if you work in the District or anywhere outside Arlington, you’re probably eligible. See the county’s absentee voting page for more information.

Sen. John McCain to Appear at Fundraiser for Patrick Murray

By ARLnow.com

Republican congressional candidate Patrick Murray is calling on one of his party’s biggest names to help with fundraising.

Murray, facing a steep uphill battle in his fight to unseat incumbent Democratic congressman Jim Moran, will be joined by part-time Crystal City resident and one-time Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain at a private fundraiser in Alexandria next week.

Tickets for the fundraiser, which will be held Monday night, range from $250 to $2,400. Republican operative Charlie Black and former Ross Perot presidential campaign spokesperson Orson Swindle are among the bold-faced names on the guestlist.

Sen. McCain isn’t the only family member helping Murray. His younger brother, Joe McCain, was an early supporter of the campaign. At Murray’s primary victory party, AlexandriaNews.org quoted the younger McCain as shouting: “I’m so tired of losing! We’re going to win this one, I know it!”

Kelly: Board is Out of Touch, Needs Diversity of Opinion

By ARLnow.com

Republican County Board candidate Mark Kelly says county government spending is out of control and he’s the man to help reign it in. If elected to replace incumbent Democrat Chris Zimmerman, Kelly said he would bring “diversity of opinion” to the “out of touch” county board.

“Between 2000 and 2009, the all-Democrat county board increased spending at a rate nearly three times inflation,” Kelly said in this opening remarks at Tuesday night’s Civic Federation debate. “Mr.  Zimmerman recently called that ‘cautious and careful fiscal management… only inside the Beltway would we call that cautious and careful fiscal management.'”

Kelly proposes to scrap the $150 million Columbia Pike trolley system, championed by Zimmerman. If elected, Kelly said he would push for the release of all county spending information online and support a 10 percent pay cut for board members to help pay for it.

Zimmerman, meanwhile, cited the rosy state of the county’s economy and standard of living as evidence that Arlington is on the right track. He rattled off a list of accolades recently received by the county: best place to weather the recession, best place to raise a child, top 10 intelligent cities in the world, and the highest fiscal rating by bond agencies.

“I’m proud of what we achieved,” Zimmerman said.

In particular, Zimmerman said he was proud of promoting smart growth, public transportation — including the creation of the ART bus system — and affordable housing.

“When you have prosperity, affordable housing becomes more of a problem,” Zimmerman said. “That’s what makes it the thing we have to work the most on.”

On the topic of zoning, Kelly called for more flexibility in the county’s dealing with local business. He said the recent controversy over dog murals in Shirlington and the three-and-a-half hour board discussion about signage and cafe seating is evidence the county is “micromanaging businesses.”

For his part, Zimmerman called for “new strategies to meet the needs of small business.”

“I continue to be dedicated to Arlington’s participatory tradition in planning and government,” he said.

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School Board Candidates Talk Planetarium, Overcrowding

By ARLnow.com

Miriam Gennari, the Green Party candidate for school board, made her case for why she should replace incumbent Sally Baird last night. To Gennari, the biggest challenges facing Arlington Public Schools come down to sustainability and environmental stewardship.

“The questions that we’re going to face have more to do with our environment than anything else,” Gennari said. “As we continue to plan our community to become more dense… we have to determine how we can best make those transitions while not having a negative affect on our children.”

Gennari touted her fight against styrofoam in school cafeterias two years ago. She also questioned the nearly $100 million spent on a Washington-Lee High School that opened in 2008 and is already overcrowded.

Baird, meanwhile, emphasized student achievement, saying she wants to continue her efforts to boost the graduation rate.

“First and foremost, we’re about helping kids achieve,” she said.

Baird recounted that when she ran four years ago, the student population was declining and someone asked if she “would have the courage to close a school.”

“There are generational trends going on here, so we have to be very careful about how we manage it… understand that in some places where the population is growing it’s not going to keep growing,” Baird said.

Both candidates were asked about the planetarium, which was set for closure under the superintendent’s latest school budget. The 40-year-old facility was saved by the efforts of the Friends of the Planetarium, a coalition of concerned citizens who agreed to raise funds for renovations.

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“Constitution” Outburst Interrupts Candidate Q&A

By ARLnow.com

“Do you believe in the Constitution, and do you follow it?”

That’s the question one man really, really wanted to ask of the three 8th District congressional candidates at a Civic Federation-sponsored debate Tuesday night. The moderator tried to move on to the next question before the candidates could answer, at which point the man began yelling.

Eventually, the candidates answered the question to get the guy to stop screaming. It’s not clear whether he actually expected anyone to answer “no.”

We have audio of the exchange, below.

Congressional Candidates Spar in Civic Federation Debate

By ARLnow.com

At a candidate forum sponsored by the Arlington Civic Federation, Republican Patrick Murray kicked off the post-Labor Day campaign season with an aggressive assault on the economic and spending record of ten-term incumbent Democratic congressman Jim Moran, previewing what will likely be a spirited two months of campaigning.

“Congress… is full of career politicians who are addicted to spending your taxpayer dollars and who will say and do anything to get re-elected,” Murray said in his opening remarks. “At the heart of that, ladies and gentleman, is my opponent, Mr. Moran.”

“For 20 years, he has spent taxpayer dollars… and what has it gotten us?” Murray asked. “We’ve got deficits as far as the eye can see. We’ve got unemployment that continues to go up. We’ve got $13 trillion of debt.”

Moran readily admitted that he has used his seniority on the House Appropriations Committee to steer money to the 8th District. But he said the money has made life better here — primarily by producing jobs.

“I earmark a lot of money through the appropriations process,” Moran said. “I do support federal spending, and I support the federal government… I’m doing everything I can to keep federal facilities here.”

Moran noted that Arlington has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country and has recently been named a one of the most “livable” communities in the nation.

Later, Murray took a shot at a television appearance in which Moran said the economy had recovered.

“Jim just doesn’t get it. The other day on Hardball with Chris Matthews, he [said] ‘I don’t know why everyone is so upset… the economy is recovered,'” Murray said to cackling laughter among his supporters. “On what planet has it recovered?”

During a question and answer session with Civic Federation delegates, Moran was asked about a glossy, 16-page newsletter his congressional office mailed out over the summer at taxpayer expense.

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Civic Federation Candidate Forum Underway

By ARLnow.com

It’s a packed house at Virginia Hospital Center’s Hazel Conference Center, where a debate between the local candidates for congress, county board and school board is about to get underway.

First observation of the night: lots of Murray signs on George Mason Drive on the way up to the hospital. Didn’t spot any Moran signs.

(Update: The first controversy of the night. The county Office of Voter Registration tweets that candidate signs are prohibited until 30 days before the election.)

The congressional candidate debate between incumbent Jim Moran (Democrat) and challengers Patrick Murray (Republican) and Ron Fisher (Green) started at 7:45 p.m. Patrick Murray spoke first, and received loud applause.

Update at 8:00 p.m. — Murray largely focuses on Moran, and Moran talked mostly about Moran. Moran also received loud applause, mixed with some whistling.

8:05 — Question for Moran on his controversial mailer from the indefatigable Bob Atkins. Moran says the mailing cost some $100k, not $1 million as Murray alleged. Murray on glossy mailer: “I thought it was a quarterly stock report from Goldman Sachs.”

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1979: The Last Time Arlington Voters Rejected a Bond Issue

By ARLnow.com

The year was 1979. Margaret Thatcher became the British prime minister. Americans were taken hostage in Iran. And, just two days after the Iranian hostage crisis began, two bond issues were rejected in Arlington County.

It was the last time Arlington voters would say no on a county bond referendum.

With less than three weeks to go before absentee voting begins in Arlington, it seems highly unlikely that the trend will reverse itself this year.

There is one important parallel to be drawn, however.

In 1979, like today, there was economic turmoil that had voters on edge about new spending. (Witness: the Glenn Beck rally that took Arlington hotels by storm over the weekend.)

The difference is that in 1979 interest rates were sky-high, making the cost of borrowing money prohibitively expensive. Now, interest rates are close to all-time lows.

In 1979, there were four bond issues on the referendum, including a $4 million local parks bond, a $1.7 million regional parks bond, a $4.7 million roads bond and a $2 million sewer bond. Both park bonds were rejected after the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and a group called the Committee of Concerned Citizens came out against them. The other bonds were approved.

The park bonds, which would have been used to maintain open space and beautify the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, were supported by the county board and the League of Women Voters.

“We don’t want another Rosslyn,” the League’s Judy Sibert told the Washington Post a week before voters went to the polls. “We want the [Rosslyn-Ballston corridor] to be an attractive place to work in.”

The park bonds attracted less than 40 percent of the vote.

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Berry Says He’ll Vote for Murray

By ARLnow.com

It’s not exactly a heartfelt, ringing endorsement, but former GOP candidate for congress Matthew Berry has written a letter to supporters saying that he will vote for Patrick Murray.

Murray, who defeated Berry in June’s Republican primary, raised the ire of many local Republicans by sending out a controversial last-minute mailer about Berry. One local conservative blogger called the mailer “foul” and “disgusting,” although Murray maintained that his campaign’s conduct was aboveboard.

Nonetheless, two months after the mailer went out, Berry appears to be trying to bury the hatchet.

In the letter, Berry writes that “Patrick is generally on the right side while [incumbent Democrat] Jim Moran and [Green Party candidate] Ron Fisher are generally on the wrong side.” He also notes that “Patrick is the only candidate who will vote to give Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

One month ago, Berry would only go so far as to tell an audience of Arlington Republicans that Murray “deserves our respect.”

(Earlier we mentioned the conspicuous lack of the word “endorse” in the letter, but it turns out the subject line was “Endorsement.”)

Republicans Regrouping After Bruising Eighth District Primary

By ARLnow.com

One month after an otherwise low-key primary ended with a smoldering intra-party controversy over a last-minute mailer, former GOP congressional candidate Matthew Berry is calling on supporters to “move on.”

Speaking at a recent Arlington County Republican Committee meeting, Berry — whose narrow loss to retired Army colonel Patrick Murray surprised some local political watchers — said it’s “very important” for the party to unite with the goal of retaking control of congress. But while he said that Murray “deserves our respect,” Berry stopped short of endorsing Murray or pledging to help his campaign.

Murray, who will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran in November, seems eager to put the controversy behind him. (For the record, he says he “would very respectfully but strongly disagree” that his campaign’s controversial mailer tried to exploit the fact that Berry is gay.)

Murray met personally with Berry last week in an effort to smooth things over.

“Matthew acknowledges who our adversary is, and our adversary is Jim Moran,” Murray said. “We’re both on the same sheet of music strategically, which is to turn around congress.”

With the primary behind him, Murray says his primary focus is to win over independents and moderate Democrats. Still, he realizes there is some work to be done if he wants Berry supporters to do more than just vote for him.

“I’m sure there were some raw feelings right after the [election], and that’s to be understood,” Murray said. “People pour a lot of energy and emotion into campaigns… and I respect that. I just hope that moving forward we can harness that energy together and move forward against our common adversary.”

Murray will need to raise a lot of money — quickly — in order to be competitive with Moran, who already has $527,348 cash on hand, according to OpenSecrets.org.  That fundraising will be especially hard if the 6,651 Republicans who voted for Berry are reluctant to open their wallets and donate their time to Murray’s campaign.

Murray spent most of the $70,846 he raised during the primary. He had $14,816 in the bank as of May 19. His campaign has raised another $10,975 online since the election, a fraction of Moran’s war chest.

Mike Lane, Murray’s interim campaign manager and the only nominated Republican to win an election in Arlington in a generation, says fundraising will be the campaign’s biggest challenge. Lane says he’s confident that voters will respond to the campaign’s message, which will be heavy on fiscal issues and light on social issues.

“You have to make the case that the incumbent, or the monopoly party, is not getting the job done,” Lane said. “I think it’s going to be an easy case to make. The question is: will we have the resources to reach the number of people that will be able to listen to it.”

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