Two Posts up in June 11 Primary

Vol. 38, No. 6 www.arlingtondemocrats.org June 2013 Two posts up in June 11 primary Primary day is fast approaching and it’s time There are two candidates seeking the Demo- to decide whom you wish to pick as the Democratic cratic nomination for each post. nominees for lieutenant governor and attorney gen- For lieutenant governor, Aneesh Chopra and eral. Ralph Northam are competing. But it’s easy to forget a primary as they rarely For attorney general, Justin Fairfax and Mark get much media coverage. Every losing candidate Herring are on the ballot. Stop, look & can tell stories of a best buddy coming up weeks As this is a primary, ACDC takes no position after a primary and asking, “What’s the day I go on any candidate. But it does take one very firm listen at our lt. vote for you?” position—urging all Democrats to get to the polls So mark your calendar for Tuesday, June 11. and vote. This is not a caucus that is run by the party and Appeals from the four candidates appear in this gov.’s debate held at a single site. This is a primary, an election month’s issue on Pages 6 and 7. run by the state and held at the same polling place Lieutenant governor and attorney general are As the old railroad crossing where you vote each November—and held at the two of the three statewide posts in the common- signs used to say, “Stop, Look and same hours, from 6 a.m. through 7 p.m. wealth government. The other, of course, is gover- Listen.” Stop at our monthly meet- If that’s a bad day to vote, cast your ballot early. nor. Terry McAuliffe has already won the Demo- ing Wednesday, Look at and Listen See the story on Page Three for early voting de- cratic nomination for governor as no one filed to to our two candidates for lieutenant tails. oppose him. governor. And then vote. Well, okay, the voting part wasn’t on the old signs. James Lander wins by 46 votes Aneesh Chopra and Ralph Northam will debate here in Arling- James Lander may have earned the nick- the voter totals for all the caucuses or firehouse pri- ton Wednesday, June 5, just six days name “Landslide Lander” after eking out a win by maries held in this century in Arlington , plus some before primary day, Tuesday, June just 46 votes in this year’s School Board endorse- of the major caucuses in the last century. 11. ment caucus. As a look over Winning the lieutenant gov- The final count was 1,144 votes for Lander the figures on Page ernor’s race this year is especially and 1,098 for challenger Barbara Kanninen, a 10 will show, the big- important because the lieutenant gov- 51.0-49.0 percentage breakdown. gest single factor in ernor breaks ties in the State Senate, Kanninen earned one more vote to narrow the draw is the num- which is currently divided 20-20. Lander’s margin after the ballot count was an- ber of candidates run- The GOP has just picked E.W. nounced as the one ning. When there are Jackson as its nominee. He is a fiery provisional ballot more candidates, speaker and controversial ultra-con- that was cast was ap- there are more people servative who promises to bring proved and went into calling friends to much more attention than in the past her column. come on out and to the race for the Number Two spot Lander was vote. in the state. magnanimous in vic- The exception To accommodate a larger audi- tory, saying “This was the 1986 ence for this event, the monthly campaign has been a firehouse primary for ACDC meeting has been moved to tremendous opportu- commissioner of rev- the George Mason University Arling- nity to re-connect enue, which turned KANNINEN ton Campus between Kirkwood with Arlington vot- into a fiery barn- Drive and Kansas Street at the west- ers. I appreciate Bar- burner and drew more voters per candidate than any ern end of Clarendon. The event will bara Kanninen’s spir- other caucus in the county. be held in Founders Hall, at 3351 ited and well-run With the dust settled this year, Barbara Fairfax Drive, Room 134, and will campaign, and I Kanninen said, “A million thanks to everyone in begin at 7 p.m. LANDER thank her for her the ACDC community.... May 9 and May 11 were There will be a Q&A period af- work to engage the voters of Arlington on the im- amazing days. Voters arrived steadily, sometimes ter the debate with questions posed portant issues facing our schools.” in pouring rain, often with last-minute questions or from written queries submitted dur- The accompanying table on Page 10 shows continued on page ten ing the debate. ACDC Voice, June 2013, Page 2 Report from Chairman Mike Lieberman The Republican Extreme Team We should have known when the Repub- strong-armed the state Board of Health into ting in the face of every Bible-believing Chris- licans decided to select their statewide candi- adopting regulations that could significantly tian in America.” dates through a convention instead of a pri- limit a woman’s right to choose in For Attorney General, Republicans mary that we would not like the results. But Virginia. He authored a legal opinion in- nominated state senator Mark Obenshain, who could have imagined just how bad that structing Virginia colleges and universities not whose most notable works include: outcome could be? Indeed, unmoderated by to protect gay and lesbian students from • Introducing a bill to require women to the general electorate, the Republican Party discrimination. And he recently signaled that report all miscarriages to police within 24 stalwarts who gathered together in Richmond he would be open to proposals to allow armed hours. a few weeks ago selected perhaps the most teachers and administrators in Virginia’s • Co-patroning so-called “Personhood” extreme, most ideological ticket we have seen schools. These, quite simply, are not views legislation with Ken Cuccinelli that would in recent political memory – a ticket so out of that belong in the Governor’s mansion. have outlawed abortion and many common synch with mainstream Virginia that it sim- And yet rather than balance this right- forms of birth control. ply defies belief. wing ideology with down-ballot moderates, • Voting as a member of the James Madi- It starts at the top of the ticket with the the Republicans last month doubled down. son University Board to ban the sale of emer- Republican candidate for governor, Ken For Lieutenant Governor, they nominated gency contraception on campus. Cuccinelli. Cuccinelli’s extreme beliefs are E.W. Jackson, a minister from Chesapeake, Are these really the beliefs that the Re- manifest in his record. As the Virginia, whose views on core issues are sim- publican Party now stands for? In most circles, Commonwealth’s top legal officer, ply shocking. To name just a few: these views would be laughably extreme. In Mr. Cuccinelli filed a law suit seeking to over- • Jackson called Planned Parenthood “far the Virginia Republican Party, they are grounds turn Obamacare. He filed amicus brief in more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever for nomination to statewide office. support of Arizona’s new law allowing was.” Put simply, views of the sort espoused pretextual searches of suspected • He called gay people “perverted” and by this Republican ticket have no place in gov- immigrants. He used public resources to in- “very sick . psychologically” ernment, and they certainly do not reflect the vestigate a University of Virginia professor • He said the Democratic Party represents Virginia that I want to see. It is, therefore, for deigning to research and write about the “godlessness” and “anti-Christian bigotry” incumbent that each and every one of us re- science underlying climate change. He • And he described gay marriage as “spit- double our own efforts to educate the voters about the Republican ticket, and remind them why it is wrong for our state. I know I will be committing hundreds of hours between now and November to that very task. I ask Jerry Botland that each of you reading this pledge to do the same. Computer Consulting With a Republican ticket like the one we Troubleshoot and resolve computer and are facing, the stakes could simply not be computer related problems. higher. This Republican ticket is wrong on Perform upgrades, set-up wireless routers and print servers. the issues, it is wrong in its values, and it is wrong for Virginia. It is up to us to let them Transfer old files, address book and emails know as much when we head to the ballot box from an old computer to a new one. this November. Phone: (703) 933-0558 — [email protected] Herring for 2nd Published monthly by the Arlington County Democratic Committee Sat. Breakfast 2050 Wilson Blvd., Suite 200, Arlington VA 22201 (enter at rear) The Second Saturday Breakfast this P.O. Box 7132, Arlington VA 22207 month will hear from Mark Herring, one of Tel: (703) 528-8588 Fax: (703) 528-2321 the two candidates in the Democratic primary http://www.arlingtondemocrats.org for attorney general. Chair: Mike Lieberman —(703) 408-3940 (h), [email protected] The breakfast will be held June 8, just Editor-in-Chief: Warren L. Nelson —(703) 243-7867 (h), [email protected] three days before the primary. Deputy Editor: Eric Wiener — (703) 524-6899 (h), [email protected] The breakfast has been hearing serially Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the ACDC from all the Democratic candidates for state- unless expressly approved by an appropriate committee resolution wide office this year and Herring’s visit will Copyright ©2013, ACDC, All Rights Reserved complete the series.

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