Joe-
As a member of Candace’s steering committee, I want to thank you for the thoughtful endorsement.
This endorsement coming from you means a lot. Your involvement in our community, your keen political insight and rock solid conservative credentials makes this endorsement, one I am sure Candace appreciates. Your endorsement itself is proof Candace can and will bring all of us together moving forward. I too share your concern over the direction we are heading with the current leadership on the Board of Supervisors. The success our party enjoyed in November coupled with a united front in 2010 led by Candace and her team will enable us to move into 2011 and beyond with confidence.
Thank you Joe !

Great summary, Joe. I support Candace in full conficence without any reservations.

I’ve worked with Mark, and he’s a great fellow, but I do not believe he has qualities of a leader, although his work in the Committee has been phenominal.

Focusing on the real problems before us is paramount.

Joe,

Is it true you get an oversized belt buckle in return for this endorsement?

The LCRC under Glen Caroline did a very poor job of organizing for the ticket. At a recent meeting they were lectured for 25 minutes by a RPV rep who went on about how they were way below quota and needed to get off their butts.

This was no surprise to members of the executive committee of the LCRC, who have complained behind closed doors of this problem. This is no surprise to those of us who have faced off with what I’ll call “establishment Republicans”. As a rule, they love to go to meetings and talk, but they don’t like to work.

The folks with the energy are the folks who are for principles (not party) first. Thus the challenge for establishment Republicans is how to create the impression that they are red meat conservatives, so they can harness the energy of the grassroots. It doesn’t appear that Candace is even trying to do that. With a wink and a nod she’s captured the support of one conservative who really doesn’t know her.

No promises on issues, including on illegals. Just vague hand-waving regarding something establishment Republicans aren’t – fiscally conservative (the GOP nearly doubled Virginia’s budget while in control of all brances of govt). Speaker Howell and Jim Rich will be really interested in how Candace managed to pull the wool over two usually more discerning eyes.

The reason for our victory is that instead of suffering the coattails of establishment Republicans like Bush and McCain, the GOP is benefiting from the coattails of Barack Obama.

The rooster is claiming it caused the sun to rise, but the grassroots won’t buy it.

“The LCRC under Glen Caroline did a very poor job of organizing for the ticket.”

What a load of bullshit.

Once again, Grigsby is explaining shit he has never had the opportunity to have observed from ExCom meetings. He’s never set foot in one since I’ve been there.

If his deplorable description of complaint is what they’re going to use….I welcome the race. Because the #UNIT CHAIR in the State (Per RPV and McDonnell) is backing Strother.

John, it appears that you cannot read, either. Please point out my name on the recent endorsements listing by Candace.
Or shut up.

Unbelievable! The bullshit gets piled higer and deeper. That wacky JoAnne Chase didn’t wait her turn, thinking of course she was much too important to have to wait. She stormed the stage out of turn and was shut down as she should have been. How did her police report fare anyway? The only thing you have right about Protic is that he would have stood there and let it happen. Glen ran a tight ship as he always did.

So we see the Mark Sell Axis developing as I thought it would – Volpe/Grigsby/Chase. The Fringers.

John

Glen Caroline did a terrific job as Chairman of the LCRC. Glen is a committed conservative who works for the cause of freedom with more energy, focus and intellectual vigor than most whom I have worked with over these many years. Glen’s day job set him up to be exactly what we needed at the LCRC, an organized focused grass roots leader. It is funny to me those who believe Glen is something other than a committed conservative more than likely have never sat down and discussed where he is on issues. The vast majority base their opinions on others perceptions, and false input. Those perceptions are usually tainted by personality, issues of power and good old fashioned politics. These arguments are generally intellectually bankrupt.
I consider myself to be a very conservative guy. Those who know me well know that to be true. So from this conservative, a guy who has spent numerous hours with Glen Caroline will tell anyone who will listen, we were lucky to have him as Chairman, his leadership had much to do with our success. We should be thanking him for his service.

I consider Glen to be a champion of conservative causes, a great spokesman for the Republican party. He is stepping down to be a better father, patriot and Baseball manager. I submit to you his priorities are to be admired.I am also proud to call Glen Caroline a friend and will defend his chairmanship at all opportunities.

We are beginning to see the same thing happen to Candace Strother. The UNINFORMED are casting opinions about Candace with little or no real knowledge of her, what she stands for or her vision for the future.
Let us set the record straight. Candace is a Reagan Conservative. In my conversations with her, I suggest to you she is from the Reagan Camp as influenced by Goldwater and Buckley. She went to one of the most Conservative colleges in America, Hillsdale College.
She worked for both the Reagan and Bush Administrations as well as the Heritage Foundation. Her resume is extremely impressive.
This woman is a leader.

Those who would try to sell her as something other than what I have stated above, are simply misinformed and wrong. I might add had some folks done their homework , explored the possibilities and allowed the cause of conservatism to trump personality politics, we would all be better off moving forward. Sometimes the big picture is tough to see.

Candace Strother exudes leadership. She will make a terrific chairwoman moving forward. I encourage all to reach out to Candace and have a conversation about her vision. I promise you will be impressed.

And with that plea…I’m diengaging from the wasted time this causes us all. We have an election to win in November of 2010. Let’s make it a dead stop in the Democrat’s reckless direction.

Glen always speaks of the LCRC as an “activist” committee, and it has been turned into one. If we are to win in 2010, 2011 and beyond, we need to be activists. As conservative activists we must outwit, outplay and outlast the lunatic left – period.

For this reason I am proud of Glen and his fellow patriots and their ability to get people off their butts, stop cussing at the TV and get moving. It made me volunteer for quite a bit of campaigning as I was inspired by a team of leaders on the Committee and excellent candidates. The feeling on election night was unbelievably satisfying.

John, If you had been at any of the past 6-8 Committee meetings, when new members are voted in they get a chance to introduce themselves. Most of them explain they are tired of doing nothing while this country goes to hell in a handbasket. Joining a local committee is just the vehicle, it must be steered. Call it Obama backlash, but someone needed to harness that energy – and it was Glen and his team. I believe Candace will do the same.

Please do map our future to success, John.

Wolve: Bingo.

Have you checked e-mail recently, John?

Joe – Define “success” for me and I’ll provide the road map.

Jim Rich was the person who got Glen Caroline the award. What more do you need to know?

LI/Jeff W. – The Victory people had to PAY FOR “VOLUNTEERS” in Loudoun. Suzanne, however, ran a great organization out of her house (as usual, conservatives doing the real work).

Anyone who saw what happens knows that Glen commited simple assault. If Jo-Ann chooses to press charges, he will be dragged in. Jim Rich gave Glen the award hard on the heels of what he did to Jo-Ann. Coincidence?

Greg, I am especially disappointed that you saw what Glen did to a lady, heard her demand that he get his hands off of her, then inserted yourself into the podium to block her. There is no excuse for participating in abuse like that. You should have taken Glen’s hands off of Jo-Ann. Shame on you.

John, I encourage the tea party activism, but I believe the Loudoun GOP has and will continue to tap into the discontent among your fellow tea partiers. Heck, I was at the big Tea Party downtown – I understand the frustration. I’ve chosen to work within the party and been happy to find many of the same sentiment working right beside me. Conservatives are finally getting a voice, and some of the best voices are Glen and his team. Our local GOP has credibility, and I want to follow it up in spades.

As for the Jo Ann Chase situation, I was at that meeting too. It was an unfortunate situation and no one was man handled. If I had witnessed something unwarranted I would have been the first person on stage, and I know there are others that felt the same, but there was nothing to stop. I know Jo Anne is a very passionate woman, but calling the Police was unnecessary. The LSCO found nothing happened. I think it is best to leave this alone.

You would think of all people, John would know something about making unfounded accusations.

John didn’t even see this. Of the 100 or so witnesses to this event I would be surprised if one of them (other than that guy who carries her purse) would back up her version of that event.

Joe, I’d be proud to have you onboard as a member, and even perhaps a larger role. You and I are another Stone/Me story. We simply misunderstood each other. In the past years that we’ve figured each other out….well, I’m still waiting for that trip to the range, friend!

Guys, why not take a break until after Christmas?

The re org and election are in MARCH.

I’m not commenting on what may or may not have happened in the incident under discussion, but if John of Loudoun is Johm G, I don’t think I saw him in any of these “discussions” until that stupid and vicious set of posts over at TC which tried to use an old court case to bash Mark Sell.

If that got John up and out to do some battle, I can’t say as I blame him, particularly when the court case had ZERO to do with the committee, although the former county attorneys hired by the plaintiff tried to build their case on it–which they lost as far as what they were seeking.

As someone who knows neither candidate, I’m getting disgusted watching the mudpie fights.

As a Dulles resident who had no trouble volunteering when Jo Anne stepped in after Glen stepped down a few years back, it disgusts me to see the constant bashing of her by a very few people.

The bashing of Jo Anne and others, coupled with platitudious endorsements by one or two, is a huge turn off, because like it or not what the acid poster at TC was trying to imply with their off-the-wall attack on John had a grain of truth: the actions of supporters can harm candidates.

If Jo Anne, Suzanne, Mark Sell, and ANY OTHER MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING happen to be people a few of you dislike, SO WHAT?

IS IT POSSIBLE to support one thing without attacking others?

Others on the supposedly same team?

Saying “unity” a lot doesn’t mean jack if it’s followed with a mouthful of spit and $#it.

John,
I was at the November meeting, very close to the stage. NO ONE was manhandled. Glen stated, numerous times, that we were 7 DAYS out from a very important election and ALL speakers were only to address the election. NO ONE was allowed to speak to ANY other subject as we had too much work to do that evening to get ready for the election. Mr. Caroline said that, many times. Every speaker understood the rules and every speaker was there to address an election issue. Mrs. Chase wanted to discuss something other than the election, some issue with the 10th district that was not germane to the task at hand, winning an election in 7 days. Therefore she was not called on to speak. Glen called on Mr. Stone as the next speaker in line. Mrs. Chase cut in front of Mr. Stone, and marched to the podium and began speaking, clearly out of turn and not recognized by the chair. Mr. Caroline banged the gavel on the podium and declared her out of order. She started yelling for him to get away from her. He did NOT manhandle her, or anything like that. He got between her and the podium and ruled her out of order because she was out of order. She refused to abide by the rules that had been set up for that evening. She refused to follow parliamentary procedure. She was out of line and out of order. She then moved a few feet away from the podium and tried to address the committee by shouting from the stage without the microphone. Mr. Stone, who had the floor, spoke from the podium. Mrs. Chase eventually gave up and stomped off.

That is exactly what happened. Mrs. Chase continues to misconstrue the truth while her supporters, such as John, continue to spread her miss truths and to slander a fine man, Glen Caroline.

Shame on YOU.

‘vill-E girl, perhaps you missed where I said I was not discussing whatever occurred at the meeting, because I wasn’t there?

For several days before said incident began to be discussed here (by someone who rarely blogs, and might not be here raising it if he hadn’t been called out of left field over at TC with a smear completely unrelated to either candidate, except that it was introduced as an example of why Sell should not be supported), several people, yourself included, have missed no opportunity to ridicule and demean several fellow committee members, among them Jo Anne Chase, Suzanne Volpe, and candidate Mark Sell.

There has been a pattern on the blogs of a few people promoting supposed unity through attack on another candidate.

Joe mentioned earlier on the blog that Mr. Sell had come late to the game–in that Joe had already given his support to another candidate.

It appears to me that the first candidate has come a bit late to the game, by allowing supporters to conclude that their declaration should be perceived as a fait accompli before any statement was even issued by the candidate herself, and shape the discussion through their own assumptive behavior, rudeness and in some cases bullying.

I don’t know who you are, and doubt I’d care, but it is becoming apparent to me that you are not anyone, either under their moniker or under their own name, whose “endorsement” of anything means a hill of beans to anyone other than a teen-clique wannabe.

How stupid are you to think that comments like yours, here and elsewhere, don’t make it look like the committee is a place where some people would prefer NOT to waste time on the politics of the egos of the members, when they could be helping achieve political success through other avenues?

Some people have the patience to brush off the antics of those who like their small private puddle just so.

Others are over high school.

Sweetie, when Joe bans me from his blog, rejoice at will.

Until then, keep your Dr. Pepper going the right way like a good girl and just skip on over my comments.

As I said, some people here are very bad advertisements for their chosen candidate.

You are one of them.

One last thing to consider, ‘ville:

In your eagerness to put lessers in their place, you did a bangup job putting some grisly dirty laudry all over the internet. It does sound like a cringe moment, as one ladylike poster put it.

Regina George and the Burn Book rule!

That’ll show ‘em!

Yes, it certainly will, and you certainly did.

Barbara,
I have NO idea who or what you are talking about. I doubt anyone else does either.

I have never said anything about Suzanne Volpe. I happen to think she does a lot for our party. Please, stop making things up and attributing them to me. I’ve said plenty about JoAnn because of HER actions and HER words, in public. It’s no secret what she’s said and done. If she doesn’t want to be exposed, she’d best learn to behave, at least in public.

You’re right, I’m nobody, just like you.

Ladies, Ladies, Ladies, this back and forth is unnecessary. I’m sure if we were all to get together for a tea-summit, or my preferred beverage – beer-summit – we’d all walk away with a better understanding of each other’s viewpoints and less animosity.

It’s December 23rd, let’s all have a restful couple days.

I think I will check out “Queen Bee Moms and Kingpin Dads” – the PTA culture is a pet peeve of mine. The coordinated efforts at BOS input sessions, red t-shirts and terrible towels (or whatever they throw around), hauling their kids in to sing songs and recite poems about their teachers – it all drives me CRAZY….

Barbara:
I share some of your concerns. It is my hope we can move forward talking about those things important to regaining control of our BOS. It is time for grown ups to get back into the room, get control of the check book and begin making decisions proportionate to reduced revenue.
We are in very tough times financially with more on the horizon. It is my take that a renewed conservative movement is the answer to many of these issues. We should be making the case for why and how our particular candidate(s) are best to lead this movement.

After the holidays I will put a call out ladies….chablis, guinness, coffee, tea, I am sure we can find a place to accomodate all our tastes.

Our elementary school is having a PTA meeting on Jan 17th to discuss the change to a PTO, it will be a compare and contrast meeting. I plan on attending and getting my homework done before the meeting, but I understand the shift (in general) has been to move to a PTO in Fairfax County. I just read an article on this in the Post maybe 3-4 months ago. It will be interesting!

Brian, party chair is more akin to a wedding planner than a congressman. Do you realize what the job consists of?

Do you have a social issues litmus test for the guy who fixes your car?

I am convinced Candace is with me on at least 80% of the issues – and the most important one right now is financial – and will be a stellar LCRC chair.

PTO is definitely the way to go. The National PTA agenda is VERY far left. You do not want your money going to them and you don’t want them calling the shots for your parent group at your school. There are a few PTOs in Fairfax, but very few. Most are in the richer parts of the county, McLean and Great Falls, the richest areas of the county. School administrators prefer PTA’s since they share social and political agendas.

Lovettsville Elementary has a PTO.

It can be a tough call if the parents are diverse, and activist.

PTOs can be every bit as divisively activist, depending on the membership. (here is where the Queen Bee/Kingpin guide might come in handy–lol)

I have a friend here who is conservative and has always been active in the PTA, which method she prefers, having been in some lousy PTOs in her time as a parent of four.

It really depends on the group, I guess.

One of her missions has always been to keep it focused on the kids and the school, and keep all the personal/political agenda out of it–a neverending struggle, I might add.

I guess it really depends on the pool of who you draw your membership from.

Again, good luck!

Our PTA has a history of sending out emails prior to budget input sessions asking parents to comment, the language they use is similar to “don’t let the BOS strip our teachers of their benefits” and “our children’s education is on the line if they are ANY cuts to the budget” – basic shilling. Most of the very involved PTA moms are vocal of their support for Hatrick, they talk openly about how the schools will suffer and teachers will be “robbed” if the budget doesn’t include pay raises. They have NO comprehension of the big picture, complete tunnel vision.

Keeping the “it depends on the pool” of membership in mind, I am assuimg there are many members that want to stick with the status quo. I need to do some digging around to find out how the PTO even got an audience, and possibly join forces with the individuals responsible.

Cathymac, unless the rules have changed, one way my friend has always kept our PTAs in line is to focus on the fact that they have tax exempt status IF they follow the rules–famous dustup over in the 32nd, when Mrs. Poisson was on the fundraising committee, and held an event at Famous Dave’s. The restaurant was running its own voter-themed promotion, including the slogan “Vote For Dave!”, which, as part of the RESTAURANT info, was plastered all over the PTA newsletter in big block letters—while Mr. DAVE Poisson was up for election.

That apparently threaded the needle quite skillfully, but advocacy is supposed to be policy based.

Urging people to get informed, providing all sides of the info, urging people to get involved—all fine.

As I’ve said elsewhere, “interpret” is a very touchy verb.

My take from hearing her talk about both methods of organization, you need to see who your Queens and Kings are, and work accordingly. Neither is perfect.

Not unlike any COMMITTEE–lol.

(as for my daughter–she’s a piece of work. I wonder where I got a kid who was hardheaded and outspoken?)

Good point, Linda B, and goes to the heart of it for me:

The question in Loudoun may be “who is best at herding a diverse group of wildcats in the same direction?”

The recent statewide success was just that–a STATEWIDE success. All the diverse warring factions got on board with the candidates, including some who had campaigned like hell against the eventual winner in the AG contest, and others had the grace to keep silent onece candidates not to their original liking had been selected, as opposed to actively working against them.

Locally, much more blodd goes in the water, which is why I’m reluctant to embrace the immediacy of this particular war.

Our next effort is congressional, and there should be no major issues there (other than natural disagreement with some of Wolf’s choices, but in a contest with Wolf and whatever is put up against him as a Democrat, sorry, but really no contest!).

The local scene is so divisive, I think the fact that whoever is elected chair will also be leading when our local races come due, that’s what I think the divisions are being drawn upon now.

The new districts aren’t even here yet, but the jockeying has begun.

Dean, good example at the larger level.

Question: how do you think we can better guide local issues, if committee members spend half their time trying to push other members out on to the sidewalk to scream?

As I’ve said beofre, “purity” cuts both ways.

So do “litmus tests”.

LI said it best. Noone who WANTED to promote and elect Republicans has ever been turned away in this past 2 years.
Many have WALKED away because they didn’t give a rat’s ass about the Governor’s or Country races…but no one has been turned away.
Now, as County issues (read developers)are about to pop up, mysteriously…here they come back asking to step OVER those who stayed the course over the past two years. It doesn’t work like that.
I welcome all of them back, but I’ll be backing the reasoned and proven mechanism that can elect republicans to office, and not the divisive one that promotes candidates that lose elections and keep the party out on the sidewalk.

Barb, I’m not going to get into it with you today. But I will say that no one has been excluded from this past committee. If some didn’t want to join or stay in that was there perogative, as is their right.

Also, once elected, IMO, that person will have to be able to put the will of the committee before his/her own political views … I think the committee would want to avoid someone who is going to feel the need to impose their own political views on the processes and operations of the committee.

Well, certainly the person would need to be a Republican or they couldn’t be on the committee. But to me, it would not matter if the person were the most liberal person on the committee or the most conservative or anywhere along the continuum, so long as he/she were the most qualified for the job and could keep his/her personal agenda out of it. So yes, someone who is Bloombergesque could be an effective chair, IMO.

That doesn’t mean I don’t think the issues matter, just that I think the chair’s role is (or should be) “issues neutral.” But I totally understand why others might feel differently.

Of course that’s where the discussion should be, dans, and Candace is obviously very qualified to do so. All this “we may as well be Democrats” is such BS. For God’s sakes, this woman worked in the Reagan administration! She is absolutely not a Democrat or anywhere near it. Enough with the RINO hunting where it isn’t even warranted.

Look, Brian..if your kind actually wins the post, and then proceeds to fragment the Committee with purity tests, you immediately get fringe candidates, and the crap you see in Washington just multiplies. The group of Supervisors that desperately needs to go stays right where they are. Sound good?
Otherwise, get off your high horse and embrace the 61% of INDEPENDENT voters who just handed McDonnell a phenominal win and give up the damned purity testing, already.
We have two election cycles that PROVE what we can do when we’re united and all pushing at the wheels in the same direction.
The previous fractured committee couldn’t do anything on par with what we’ve DELIVERED.
At the rate they were going, there were going to be 50 really pissed off people infighting and wondering why they never win and were always destined to stand outside on the street time after time after every election went to their rivals.
The McDonnell-Bolling-Cucennelli model is the way forward. It embraces the foundation without ticking off the independents. BOTH parts are needed for a winning combination.
Fiscal matters and employment, combined with an increasing number in the general population who are increasingly concerned with trampling the Constitution are strengths in the end that you desire.
Candice can unite all of us to arrive at electoral wins on those fronts. She has a team in place that has demonstrated their thirst for winning TWICE.
Get with the program, sir.

Nor do I think calling attention to such remarks by ”your kind” is productive. But I understand that a day with Dean bashing would be a day without sunshine for you.

Perhaps you could catch a soap opera or two and look for someone else for you to love to hate and harass.

Huh? Political correctness? Where was that?

Angry ‘vill-E girl! Are you sure you didn’t used to be the Earth Goddess over at The Operative Word?

Seriously, if everyone is supposedly a “team”, how does that kind of division help?

Ms. Strother may have all the qualities well-outlined by Linda B. If portions of the “team” are advertising “unity” as get on the bus, shut up and do what you’re told, you can end up with a mirror of the so-called purity you make fun of in other (supposed) team members, with the same exclusions and turnoffs you’re supposedly trying to avoid by advertising your preferred foregone conclusion.

A certain percentage of people really don’t respond well to an assumptive close.

No matter who’s pitching it.

Btw Brian, I am not affiliated with any party, I vote the candidate. I gave LCRC a try last year, but to me the meetings seemed like way too much time was spent on folks patting each other on the back for being conservatives.

I am an issues voter when it comes to elected officials. If Candace ever runs for elected office, yes she should answer these questions, but certainly not now.

I meant as opposed to “Division within any group needing a singular focus to achieve a common goal is highly undesirable”.

I don’t see the electorate as a group with a singular focus in achieving a common goal, but I do see the recent elections as a Democratic loss of Independents, after the remarkable actions that have been enacted by that party as “ope and Change” in action.

I see yet another Jeff Wolinski lie – that I accused Frank Wolf of being a “cringing dog”. Jeff (Loudoun Insider), you know that’s not true, and in fact the recording is on this very website. Shame on you. Another lie to add to a very big list. Apologize now, please, for defaming me.