I was elected as a volunteer to serve on the Board of Trustees (BOT) of my homeowner’s association (HOA). I love my community and want to maintain the very high standards that were set years ago by those that first developed the homes and the community where I live. I have the same feelings about the Town of Leesburg and Loudoun County. For that reason I write the articles you read here, sharing my opinions with anyone interested in reading them, and more importantly hoping to get a larger percentage of our community, both large and small, interested in local politics.
At our last BOT meeting, one member of our HOA community raised an objection to a link on our community website that pointed to outside.in. This website consolidates news of what is happening in communities all over America. (Click on the link, enter the zip code or neighborhood name, and you will see what is happening and being talked about.) The news comes from local bloggers and newspaper articles. Our resident’s concern was that a summary of the articles I publish here appear and are linked to on Outside.in. She wants the link on the HOA website removed. Unless I missed something, I am not aware of any restriction for anyone linking to any site or page on the Web. Freedom of Speech is still part the Bill of Rights, the first amendment to our Constitution.
The morning after this BOT meeting I watched a report about a segment on the MSNBC program Hardball where Ann Coulter was engaged in a telephone debate with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards. Chris Matthews called Coulter a very bright provocateur. I am sure Coulter would be the first to agree. Getting the wife of a presidential candidate to call a TV talk-show and engage her, to me and millions of others, was amazing. Whether you agree with Edwards or Coulter, it was interesting to watch and probably either garnered votes for either John Edwards or his opponents in the race. It might even get a few more voters out to vote in the primaries. If you click here, you can read a transcript of the debate as well as the many comments. One comment that I related to read: This is the liberal mind at work. They can say anything they want to say, they can do anything they want to do. But if something is said or done to offend them and their agenda, they start to scream and want the government to legislate what is said. This country was founded on the principle of the freedom of speech. No matter if you agree or disagree with Ann C, IT IS HER RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN!
I do not agree with Coulter's style in this debate, but I do think she and MSNBC have the right to publish it. I do not consider myself a provocateur in the style of Ann Coulter. You will not find any personal attacks on this website, but you will find opinion. I am free to write mine, and you are free to express yours. In fact I look forward to hearing from you. If you disagree with me, fine. That’s what makes our nation and our community, large and small, great.
This was the headline that appeared in a recent editorial in The Purcellville Gazette. The writer poses some very interesting thoughts that should be considered carefully by the Loudoun County Republican party leadership. On May 19th the Republican Party held a “firehouse” primary to pick the Republican candidate to oppose Senator Mark Herring for the 33rd State Senate district. A firehouse primary is a traditional election with ballots and voting machines at precincts in the district. Any registered voter can go to the polls at their convenience on Primary Election Day and vote for the candidate of their choice. A similar primary was held for the 27th Senate district on June 12th to pick a Republican candidate for this district. These were the first of the “Two Elections”
Instead of a Firehouse Primary that was held in the 27th and 33rd districts, the leadership of the Loudoun County Republican Committee (LCRC) chose to hold a convention on June 9th to elect candidates to run for the Board of Supervisors, Clerk of the Court, and Sherriff. A convention is a closed process as prospective delegates must register in advance, sign a pledge to support the candidates elected by the convention, and spend four to six hours at the convention before voting. At the June 9th Convention only 1,497 (50%) of the registered delegates showed up on a beautiful spring day.
In the Firehouse primaries 7,923 (4.5%) voted in the 27th district, and 1,469 (1%) voted in the 33rd district. (These were embarrassingly low percentages.) I voted in both - the 27th district primary and at the LCRC convention. It took me less than five minutes to vote on the 12th, but I spent five hours at the convention on the 9th before I voted and there were many delegates still there when I left.
Conventions can have benefits for a political party. Inspirational speeches can inspire the party’s faithful, provide a forum for open debate on the issues, and give the candidates an opportunity to explain why they are the best choice for the nomination. (I regret that this does not happen at National conventions, which have morphed into giant pep rallies.)
I have heard from many who feel the LCRC convention was exclusive, and that the process was controlled by a very few with an agenda that may not be in sync with the majority. Once the convention votes were tallied, the losers should have congratulated the winners and pledged their support. Instead two delegates who lost and one who was not even a candidate, in a shameful act, broke their pledges and declared they would run as Independents – decisions celebrated with champagne and fireworks by the Democrats. (Chick here for an example.) Would a Firehouse primary have been better and a more democratic (note the small “d”) option?
The LCRC leadership should look in the mirror and talk to the problem.
(Click here to read The Purcellville Gazette editorial.)
About 20 years ago Bob Sevila, who was a five term mayor of Leesburg, called the Leesburg Airport the “Engine of Leesburg’s economic development program”. (I still have this on tape.) This train was fast moving and within a year there were over 12 business jets based at Leesburg. Unfortunately sometime after the early 1990s, the train got derailed. Today there is only one business jet based at Leesburg, and the airport is well on its way, by Town staff estimates, toward losing $1 million dollars a year. Over the last five years the airport has cost the Leesburg taxpayers over $2 million.
Economic impact is measured by the wages, and the purchase of goods and services at the airport. Airport supporters, small plane pilots, many of whom do not live in Leesburg or even Loudoun County, have justified these airport losses by touting a study made several years ago, which claims that the airport has an economic impact of over $40 million. The highest paid employees at the airport worked for the FAA Flight Service Station. That facility has just closed. Today’s economic impact is a fraction of $40 million.
Leasing land for new jet hangars has stalled. Not one new hangar of any kind has been constructed in over five years, while 13 jet hangars have been built at the Manassas Airport in this same period.
For reasons that have nothing to do with business, economic development, or plain common sense, the one bright hope for turning this bleak airport picture around has been turned into a terror campaign that says, “If it happens the airport will close”. It is Crosstrail.
For the last three decades I have made my living in aviation. Some of my work takes me to general aviation airports not unlike Leesburg. I know what the drivers are for success. Two words – Business Jets. I am not opposed to small aircraft, flight schools, flying clubs, experimental aircraft, etc., but these operations, mostly recreational, will never make the Leesburg Airport or any airport viable.
Crosstrail with thousands of square feet of class A office space, aircraft ramps and hangars adjoining the airport, high-end retail and entertainment, and yes, housing, will make this airport and Crosstrail a highly desirable location for Fortune 500 companies (the most profitable own business jets), and their employees. The economic development number will skyrocket as well as tax revenue for the County and the Town.
Why this is not crystal clear to everyone is a mystery to me. But then it is the silly season – an election year.
