RK's First Endorsement Question: Joannou or Light?

By: Lowell
Published On: 4/4/2007 7:33:47 AM

On Monday, we announced that we were changing policy and would  consider making endorsements in 2007 Virginia Democratic primary races.  Today, we are announcing the first race we are considering:

Johnny Joannou vs. Henry Light in the 79th House of Delegates district (parts of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Suffolk).

According to Not Larry Sabato:

This is a Democratic district we currently have rated as "Safe Democratic" that voted for Kerry/Kaine/Byrne/Deeds/Webb.  The winner of this primary will have the seat in November.

[...]

...Johnny is very popular in Portsmouth, but the votes against Warner and Kaine will be a good point to make with primary voters.  This is a classic case of Richmond insiders who claimed Johnny was voting against his district for years and called on someone to primary him.  Well, the challenger is here and the primary is less than 100 days away, so we will see soon whether Henry's issues or Johnny's personality wins over voters this year.

In sum, this is a solid "blue" district where the winner of the Democratic primary is 99% certain to be elected this November.  Joannou is the incumbent (since January 1998). Light is the challenger who says he is "a real Democrat who will stand up for our party's principles."

We hope to hear from both candidates over the next 10 days.  Live blogging is welcome.  Community voting will be on days 8 and 9.  This should be interesting!


Comments



Endorse Light (Sean Holihan - 4/4/2007 9:34:47 AM)
If anyone has paid attention to politics down in Hampton Roads, this one will be an endorsement to make. 

All you have to do is visit Light's website.  Or you can visit the conservative Tidewater Libertarian's website at tidewaterlp.com and see all the nice things they have to say about Del. Joannou. 



Is this truly as "safe" a Democratic seat (Lowell - 4/4/2007 9:54:04 AM)
as some say?


For God's Sake Endorse Light! (James Martin - 4/4/2007 10:23:51 AM)
http://vaprogressive...

He is a DINO!



You mean Joannou or LIght (Lowell - 4/4/2007 10:25:20 AM)
is a DINO?  You said "endorse light...he's a DINO."


Light is a Democrat! (James Martin - 4/4/2007 10:31:22 AM)
Joannou is the Dino (check the link).


There is even video of Joannou's DINOness in the link :-) (James Martin - 4/4/2007 10:31:57 AM)


Can you tell me why you LIKE Light? (Lowell - 4/4/2007 10:34:22 AM)
We can all examine Joannou's record at Project Vote Smart and elsewhere...

Thanks.



Light is a Veteran, Buisnessman, and a Democrat (James Martin - 4/4/2007 10:37:44 AM)
A) Light Served his country in the US Navy.
B) Light is Involved in his Community.
C) Light is taking up a difficult and time consuming challenge to help Governor Kaine move Virginia Forward.


Open some Light (Teddy - 4/4/2007 2:20:37 PM)
in the District, please! Jo is truly a DINO, a holdover, he's stale and it's time for him to go go go.


Okay (DanG - 4/4/2007 2:44:44 PM)
This is a district close to my home.  And you're talking to a guy who is called a DINO frequently himself.

And I support Light.

Both Light and Joannou aren't your "common liberal Democrat."  And I respect Joannou's ability to stay independent of the party leadership.  But he is swing further and further away to the right.  Again, I normally don't mind this, but he's been a major thorn in Kaine's transportation program.  If we really want to give Kaine a shot, we need Light voting with Kaine rather than Joannou voting against.



Based on what I know so far (Chris Guy - 4/4/2007 2:58:13 PM)
definetly Light. If this is indeed a safe Democratic district, then Joannou has no place in it.


Does Joannou have a campaign website? (Eric - 4/4/2007 3:18:22 PM)
I did a quick google and got no website for his campaign effort - is that right?  If so, that's really out of touch.


None (Sean Holihan - 4/4/2007 3:27:59 PM)
He doesn't even use email.

Not in session, not while in Portsmouth.  He proudly doesn't know how to use a computer.  He has his constituents contact him through phone calls. 



Wow. (Eric - 4/4/2007 3:43:25 PM)
Does his campaign manager also think it's 1980?  Just because the candidate doesn't "do computers" isn't an excuse for the campaign to ignore that trivial fad known as the internet.  Unless, of course, said candidate forbids the use of those new gizmos.


Does that mean he won't be live blogging (Lowell - 4/4/2007 3:57:11 PM)
or reaching out to the RK community?  Hmmmm...


Is this guy for real? (Chris Guy - 4/4/2007 4:49:28 PM)
He's making my decision to endorse Light easier and easier...


I would choose Light (noonan - 4/4/2007 3:31:39 PM)
I can understand why some Ds and Rs choose to break with their parties on policy, even on important votes, and I think we ought to respect that.  John McCain once said that "tolerance of dissent is the hallmark of a mature party," and I agree with that.

What I don't respect is Ds and Rs who score political points, raising their own profiles by actively working against the goals of their own parties.  That's why I can respect the likes of Ben Nelson and Brad Ellsworth, but not have respect for people like Joe Lieberman.

Johnny Joannou, from everything I know and everything I've heard, has been a Democrat who has actively fought against the Democratic Party.  This isn't a matter of excluding a politician for his principles and beliefs, it's a matter of not supporting someone who has actively worked to undermine the party's strength and goals.  Henry Light, from his website, seems like a moderate Democrat who may not always agree with his party, but won't work to undermine it.

Granted I am not from the Portsmouth area, but I just wanted to share my opinion on these sorts of matters in general.



NOT Joannou, Maybe Light (K - 4/4/2007 3:47:17 PM)
It's extremely hard to imagine any situation in which I would support a Neanderthal like Little Johnny. Why? Primarily because he not only supported Virginia's vicious anti-gay amendment, he did so with obvious joy and zeal.

It's too soon to tell if Light would definitely be an improvement, but he couldn't possibly be any worse. Absent learning something to persuade me otherwise, he'll definitely get my vote in the primary.

Oh, and there are lots of other reasons to oppose Little Johnny, but I'll only mention one more: In 2007, who the hell is so arrogant as to avoid e-mail? He seems to enjoy parading his Neanderthal-ness by forcing constituents to call him (long distance when the GA's in session).

Damn Little Johnny!



Light was against the Marshall/Newman Amendment (Sean Holihan - 4/4/2007 4:22:02 PM)
On election day Henry Light was at one of my precincts handing out information about the "marriage amendment."  He was against it then and still is against it now. 


So, when's the vote? (Josh - 4/4/2007 8:46:03 PM)
8 days?  our attention span is way too short for this timeframe.

I'm ready to cast my vote now.



You can cast your vote any time (Lowell - 4/4/2007 8:55:30 PM)
...but we want to give the candidates time to respond.


Endorse Light (Carrington - 4/5/2007 10:05:06 PM)
Jonny is a disaster for the caucus.  He was a roadblock for Governor Warner's agenda in 2004 and had to be kicked out of caucus meetings because he was reporting intel back to the Speaker and Morgan Griffith.

We don't need people like him in the caucus.  Go Henry!!