primary

Candidate Essay: Rep. Jim Moran

By ARLnow.com

Last week we asked the two Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, Eighth District of Virginia, to write a sub-500 word essay on why the county’s residents should vote for them during tomorrow’s (Tuesday, June 12) primary.

Here is the unedited response from incumbent Rep. Jim Moran:

I’ve dedicated my adult life to fighting for Northern Virginia; to strengthen our economy, promote social progress and safeguard our environment for future generations. Northern Virginia’s economy has been highly resilient through one of the worst downturns in U.S. history. Our proximity to the federal government, capitalizing on a creative class of technology entrepreneurs, government contractors and a diversity of small businesses has provided steady growth. We are now being challenged by conservative attempts to hollow out the federal government, regardless of the serious, negative, economic and societal impact it would have. I am using my role on the Appropriations Committee to fight to overcome these challenges and ensure that the 8th District remains the best place to work and live in the country.

Robocall Not Meant to Be Misleading, Shuttleworth Camp Says

By ARLnow.com

The campaign of Democratic congressional candidate Bruce Shuttleworth says a recorded “robocall” placed to local voters this week was not intended to be misleading.

Yesterday the Democratic blog Blue Virginia reported that the call claimed Shuttleworth was “doing a conference call… with [Democratic National Committee] Chairwoman [Rep.] Debbie Wasserman Schultz on women’s issues.” In reality, Blue Virginia blogger Lowell Feld wrote, “this call was simply ‘one of several monthly constituency caucus calls the Chair is making this week, with several thousand total participants.'”

In response, the Shuttleworth camp released a statement it sent to to Blue Virginia.

There was no intent to misrepresent the candidate’s status on the call as anything other than a participant.

In light of the ongoing attacks on Women’s rights in this country by the political right wing, Bruce Shuttleworth is encouraged by the DNC Chair’s initiative to energize women in support of the only party which protects their rights — the Democratic Party. That you don’t think it is important to widely share this initiative is a shame.

Bruce Shuttleworth will continue to encourage the citizens of VA-8 to get active and engaged and to fight for social and economic justice for all citizens. In fact, there will be another robocall going out tonight that will encourage Latino voters to participate in the White House Hispanic Community Action Summit this weekend in the District. We think it is important to support the President and get the Latino community engaged.

The campaign also released a transcript of the call (after the jump). Shuttleworth will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran in the Democratic primary this coming Tuesday, June 12.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

‘Flags-In’ Ceremony at Arlington National — As they have done every year since 1948, members of the “Old Guard,” 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, placed an American flag at every grave in Arlington National Cemetery yesterday evening. The annual “Flags-In” ceremony is held each year in advance of Memorial Day weekend. The flags will be removed after Memorial Day. [Houston Chronicle]

Shuttleworth Campaign Profiled — Bruce Shuttleworth, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Jim Moran for the Eighth District Democratic congressional nomination, says he’s running against the 11-term congressman because of alleged ethics violations. “I think he votes the right way on social values, but he brazenly embraces conflicts of interest, and I think that’s unacceptable,” Shuttleworth told the Washington Post. Shuttleworth’s campaign, however, seems like a long shot — in March a group called the Campaign for Primary Accountability pulled its support of Shuttleworth to focus on “races where challengers understand what they must do to prevail.” [Washington Post]

Guas Returns to New Orleans — Bayou Bakery (1515 N. Courthouse Road) owner David Guas has returned to his native New Orleans — for the weekend. Guas will be appearing at the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, a food festival, where he will demonstrate how to make “crawfish cheesecake” and then serve as a judge for the fifth annual Louisiana Seafood Cook-off. Guas is described by his hometown newspaper as “a New Orleans-native, Harley-riding, duck-hunting, bass-fishing chef.” [New Orleans Times-Picayune]

Zapatat Tackles Tough Tattoo Removals — Ballston-based Zapatat (820 N. Pollard Street) has already attracted some 1,500 clients for its laser tattoo removal service. The business is now experimenting with a new laser removal process that is purported to remove tattoos in a quarter of the time of the usual method. [Washington Post]

Flickr pool photo by BrianMKA

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

County Manager Proposes $2.4 Billion CIP — Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan has proposed a $2.4 billion Capital Improvement Plan for FY 2013-2022. The CIP includes big ticket items like a new Long Bridge Park Aquatics Center and streetcars for the Columbia Pike and Route 1 corridors. It also includes maintenance-related item, like increased funding for street paving, parks and facility renovations, and replacement of aged fire stations. [Arlington County]

Arlington Eateries in Dining Guide — Two Arlington restaurants — Eventide and Ray’s The Steaks — have made Tom Sietsema’s spring 2012 dining guide. [Washington Post]

Shuttleworth Keeping Race Close? — The campaign of Democratic congressional challenger Bruce Shuttleworth is touting new polling numbers that it says show Shuttleworth has a chance against incumbent Rep. Jim Moran. The poll reportedly shows a thin margin between Shuttleworth and Moran among likely voters — 16 percent to 19 percent — with 65 percent of likely voters undecided. A Moran spokesman said the claim of a close race was based on “laughably inaccurate numbers.” [Sun Gazette]

Flickr pool photo by ddimick

Shuttleworth Withdraws Lawsuit Over Ballot Snafu

By ARLnow.com

Arlington resident Bruce Shuttleworth, who is challenging incumbent Rep. Jim Moran for the Eighth District Democratic congressional nomination, has withdrawn a lawsuit he filed after initially being told he did not qualify for the ballot.

Shuttleworth was eventually allowed on the June 12 primary ballot, but only after he filed the lawsuit. That led him to accuse local Democratic officials of “corruption.” (A charge the state Democratic party vehemently disputed.)

In withdrawing the lawsuit, Shuttleworth says he still “intends to hold the party fully accountable for its practices regarding ballot access.”

The campaign issued the following statement last night.

Democratic Congressional Candidate, Bruce Shuttleworth today has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Brian Moran and several Democratic operatives after being certified for the Virginia District 8 Democratic primary ballot.

Bruce Shuttleworth stated, “the convenient turnaround when faced with a Federal lawsuit does not provide answers to how petitions in a Congressional race in America can simply go missing. We were forced to file suit when the Virginia Democratic Party proved unresponsive, at great personal expense. It is disappointing that I was required to invest so much time and money to fight for our inalienable right for an honest democratic process.”

Candidate Shuttleworth has reached out repeatedly to the party and to Jim Moran to attempt to remove the pall over the party’s ballot access process without the need for court review, but was rebuffed. In the interest of ceasing further deployment of resources, which the VA Democratic Party has not yet offered to repay, the case is being voluntarily dismissed. Notwithstanding today’s dismissal, Bruce Shuttleworth intends to hold the party fully accountable for its practices regarding ballot access. His dismissal of this case does not prejudice him from bringing further claims related to the irregularities of the party’s signature review process.

Bruce Shuttleworth is focused on providing ethical and practical solutions for the people of Virginia’s 8th Congressional District. Candidate Shuttleworth understands the power of free markets but is committed to people first and understands the real needs of his community. Lip service and fake compassion while cosying up to big business is not his style. Bruce Shuttleworth believes public service is his duty, not a career option.

This year there is an alternative to Jim Moran, a 22 year incumbent. This year a challenger has squeezed through to the ballot. This year, the people of VA-8 can choose a real progressive by voting for Bruce Shuttleworth on June 12th, not an opportunist who is a Blue Dog one day (DLC–Democratic Leadership Council) and a progressive the next. Bruce Shuttleworth has served his country with passion and integrity. While he is the underdog against the Moran machine, Bruce believes in the power of the grassroots movement.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

New Indian Eatery Coming to R-B Corridor? — The Fairfax-based Indian restaurant Curry Mantra is scouting out real estate along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor in hopes of opening two new “Curry Mantra Express” carryout restaurants by the end of the year. [Northern Virginia Magazine]

Shuttleworth Recruits Republicans — Bruce Shuttleworth, the Arlington businessman who’s challenging long-time incumbent Rep. Jim Moran for the Democratic nomination for Congress, is recruiting Republicans to vote for him in the June 12 primary. The Democratic blog Blue Virginia posted video of Shuttleworth asking for the vote of members of the Falls Church Republican Committee. [Blue Virginia]

GOP Looks for County Board Candidate — Arlington County Republicans are still trying to recruit a candidate to challenge Democrat Libby Garvey in November’s County Board election. Mark Kelly, who lost to Garvey in the recent County Board special election, says he doesn’t plan to run again this year. June 12 is the filing deadline to get on the November ballot. [Sun Gazette]

Local Bank Makes ‘Most Trustworthy’ List — Virginia Commerce Bancorp, the locally-based parent company of Virginia Commerce Bank, was named to the Forbes magazine list of “America’s 100 Most Trustworthy Companies.” [BusinessWire]

Flickr pool photo by Philliefan99

Moran, Dems Respond to Corruption Allegations

By ARLnow.com

State Democratic officials say an error, not corruption, was the reason why Democratic congressional challenger Bruce Shuttleworth was initially not allowed on the 8th District primary ballot.

Officials announced yesterday that Shuttleworth had, in fact, submitted the necessary number of signatures to quality for the ballot, after they determined last week that he was 18 signatures short. At a press conference today, Shuttleworth charged that his opponent, Rep. Jim Moran, was somehow behind the snafu.

In a statement, a Moran spokesman didn’t respond directly to the allegations, but said the campaign hoped that officials would “get to the bottom of the situation.” The campaign also took a shot at one of Shuttleworth’s political backers.

The Moran campaign submitted their petitions well ahead of the deadline to avoid any last minute problems. It’s a deep concern that petitions appear to have been misplaced by the Fairfax County Registrar’s Office. We urge local officials to get to the bottom of the situation to find out what really happened, to ensure the Democratic process is protected.

For our campaign, nothing has changed. We were fully preparing for a primary, and the coming attacks from the conservative, Texas oil money fueled Super PAC that has stated their intent to try defeat the congressman, who has been a champion of the environment throughout his time in Congress.

Later this afternoon, Democratic Party of Virginia spokesman Brian Coy explained what had happened.

Democratic 8th Congressional District Committee chairwoman Margo Horner, who was named in Shuttleworth’s federal lawsuit challenging the initial petition decision, had passed off the petition signatures to impartial local election officials in Fairfax, Alexandria and Arlington, in an effort to avoid the certification process becoming too “politicized,” according to Coy.

Somehow, Coy said, the Fairfax County registrar lost a number of petitions during the process. They only discovered that the petitions had been lost after Arlington County registrar Linda Lindberg notified them that there were Fairfax County signatures within her office’s stack of petitions, according to Coy.

After the error was discovered — which was after Shuttleworth had initially been denied a spot on the ballot — the lost petitions were found, counted, and yesterday afternoon it was determined that Shuttleworth had, in fact, qualified for the ballot. Coy said that correct procedures were followed and denied that there was any intentional effort to leave Shuttleworth off the ballot.

“The results of this process had nothing to do with anything other than whether or not Mr. Shuttleworth had enough signatures,” Coy said. “Any insinuation that the party lost the signatures, that they did anything other than… go above and beyond the procedures that are laid out… is inaccurate.”

Coy added that “the responsibility to certify petitions lies with our congressional district committees” — not centrally with the Democratic Party of Virginia, whose chairman is Brian Moran, the congressman’s brother.

Shuttleworth Alleges ‘Corruption’ Behind Ballot Denial

By ARLnow.com

Update at 5:50 p.m. — Rep. Moran’s campaign and the state Democratic party have responded to Shuttleworth’s allegations.

When the campaign of Democratic congressional challenger Bruce Shuttleworth was first informed that it had not made the ballot for the upcoming June 12 primary, a spokeswoman said they were “supremely confident that this is nothing more than a minor clerical error.” After all, they had submitted 1,823 petition signatures when only 1,000 were needed to qualify for the ballot.

Today, a day after the Democratic 8th Congressional District Committee reversed itself and allowed Shuttleworth on the ballot, the Arlington businessman held a fiery press conference in Old Town Alexandria to decry what he asserted was “corruption” within the local Democratic party.

Dubbing the incident “Petition-gate,” Shuttleworth ripped in to his Democratic opponent, 11-term incumbent Rep. Jim Moran, accusing Moran and his supporters of having “cheated the people.”

“I think this sordid episode makes it clear that my opponent and his supporters will do anything, resort to almost anything to deny a reasonable choice,” Shuttleworth said to a small crowd of supporters and 2-3 journalists. “What kind of pathetic, smoke-filled backroom, Tammany Hall corruption is going on around here?”

Without giving specifics, Shuttleworth said officials misplaced or lost a portion of his campaign’s petition signatures, leading to the initial determination that he had come up 18 signatures short. Shortly after his campaign filed a federal lawsuit against several officials — including Moran’s brother, Virginia Democratic Party Chairman Brian Moran — Shuttleworth said the missing signatures were found.

“Somewhat less than miraculously, when confronted with a lawsuit, those hard-to-find missing petitions magically showed up,” Shuttleworth said. “It has been made very clear that challenges to the throne are not welcome.”

“They have no right to do this to our Democratic party,” said Shuttleworth, a former U.S. Navy pilot who has declared himself to be a “progressive warrior.”

“After more than a quarter century of Jim Moran at the helm of this party machine, when petitions for getting on the ballot of the United States Congress can be lost or misplaced for one second — one second! — what kind of banana republic is he trying to turn Northern Virginia in to?” Shuttleworth said emphatically. “How can this happen in America? Who will be held accountable?”

“There has been a grotesque miscarriage of justice,” Shuttleworth continued. “Without the recourse of legal action, I would not have made it on this ballot, and your voice would not have been heard… If the full truth in this case is ever revealed, I think voters will be very interested to see who is behind the curtain.”

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Moran Challenger Gets on Ballot — Rep. Jim Moran (D) will have a Democratic primary challenger, after all. Arlington businessman Bruce Shuttleworth has been certified to appear on the June 12 congressional primary ballot, after initially being rejected by election officials for supposedly not having the required 1,000 petition signatures. Shuttleworth’s campaign sued in federal court; yesterday the Virginia Democratic party certified his candidacy. [Washington Post]

O’Connell’s Undefeated Softball Team — The Bishop O’Connell Knights softball team is undefeated, with a perfect 10-0 record. One of its pitchers, Tori Finucane, has an astounding 0.00 earned run average for the season, with 114 strikeouts in 56 innings. [Sun Gazette]

United Jet Blows Tires at DCA — A United Airlines flight from Houston blew two rear tires while landing at Reagan National Airport on Monday morning. None of the 127 people on board were injured. [Washington Post]

I-395 HOV Lanes Close Overnight — The HOV lanes of I-395 — from the 14th Street Bridge to the Springfield Mixing Bowl — are closing from 9:30 p.m. until 3:30 a.m. this week. VDOT says the closures will allow it to install new overhead signs and to complete some bridge painting work. [Associated Press]

New Library ‘Digital Projects Lab’ Taking Reservations — Arlington Central Library’s new Digital Projects Lab is opening on Monday, April 16. The lab — which will offer library patrons the use of digital media creation tools like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro — is now accepting reservations. [Arlington Public Library]

Radle Drops Out of Primary, Endorses Shuttleworth

By ARLnow.com

Will Radle has dropped out of the Eight Congressional District Democratic primary and has endorsed Bruce Shuttleworth against incumbent Rep. Jim Moran.

Radle announced his candidacy for the seat in January. Previously, the Fairfax County resident had run for public office as both an independent and a Republican. Since last year, Radle’s runs for public office have been dogged by media mentions of his guilty plea on an assault charge out of Arlington in 2010.

Radle’s LinkedIn page says he’s currently unemployed. A recent long-form profile of the candidate suggests he left his job as an insurance agent last year to focus on his campaign.

In his endorsement, Radle made no mention of Moran, but instead lauded Shuttleworth as “a true gentleman who will represent the Democratic Party well in fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves; battling for those who too often battle for us in faraway lands and governing as an honest broker.”

Radle’s full press release, after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Romney Wins Va. Primary — Mitt Romney won Virginia’s Republican presidential primary yesterday, capturing 59.5 percent of the vote statewide. The only other candidate who qualified for the ballot, Ron Paul, received 40.5 percent of the vote. In Arlington, Romney received 64.6 percent of the vote to 35.4 percent for Ron Paul. Voter turnout was light, as expected. A total of 7,623 votes were cast in Arlington, representing 5 percent of registered voters and 6.3 percent of active voters.

County Board Candidates Square Off at Forum — The three candidates for County Board squared off last night at a candidates forum organized by the Arlington County Civic Federation. Democrat Libby Garvey was flanked by Republican Mark Kelly and Green Party candidate Audrey Clement, who together called for less spending and for the creation of an independent inspector general to monitor county spending. Kelly and Clement also took turns bashing the planned Columbia Pike streetcar. [Sun Gazette, Sun Gazette]

Republicans Blast Favola — Freshman state Senator Barbara Favola (D) has now been the subject of two critical press releases from the Republican Party of Virginia. The latest press release digs up an eight-year-old letter Favola signed, urging then-governor Mark Warner to avoid delays in adopting a budget. Favola is one of 20 Democrats who have voted against two Republican budget proposals in the state Senate. [Washington Post]

Clarendon: Hot Office Market — Bisnow says Clarendon is one of the region’s five hottest office submarkets. “If a company depends on young employees, it’s probably looking for space in Clarendon,” the online real estate publication wrote. [Bisnow]

Marine Corps Marathon Registration Opens Today — General registration for the 37th annual Marine Corps Marathon kicks off today at 3:00 p.m. Last year the marathon experienced a “record registration sell out” of 30,000 spots in a mere 28 hours. Registration costs $92 and includes a t-shirt and a finisher’s medal. [Marine Corps Marathon]

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