Party affiliation does not matter a hill of beans when it comes to most local issues.  What matters is our quality of life, and citizens have a lot to say about that when it comes to major decisions that affect our roads, parks, schools and streams.

But Gerry Connolly makes no bones about trying to smear Charlie and anyone else who opposes him with the "R" label.  See here and here.

I think voters will see through all this, and the hypocrisy is really startling given Linda Smyth's record of voting in three Republican primaries before joining the Democratic Party in the SAME year she launched her bid for Supervisor (see above link).  Bottom line is, who cares about that either, but it is pretty dumb of her campaign to try to tarnish Charlie on an issue where she is so very vulnerable.

But maybe the strategy came from Gerry.  Oh wait, I forgot, Linda is not Gerry's "puppet".

Wow! Could standing next to someone of a different party result into that person morphing into another party?

Based on the picture above with Clinton and the two Bushes.....are the Bushes now Democrats?
Maybe not a bad thought.

Comparing this to the stuff Karl Rove does only makes you all look foolish.

I can't believe RK has gone so far off the deep end on this race.

Be respectful people.

They don't show a very "respectful" attitude. In one you tell somebody "you are just lying".

You think its OK for you or your side to be mean-spirited but everybody else has to play nice.

Well, Betty Lou, darling, my comments have been far more respectful than most of the folks I've read posting or commenting on here in regard to this race.

But to answer your question, no that is not what I think.

So in addition to not being "respectful", you're also condescending and sexist.

Your comments are not always respectful and are condescending. As a former resident of Springfield District, now living in Mt Vernon, it's condescending of you to suggest that Providence residents don't know the details of the performance of "our" supervisor.

I'd like to think that you understand bike and pedestrian safety, then you'd know what Smyth hasn't done to promote either. If you had worked with communities on the projects approved by Smyth in the Dunn Loring/Merrifield transit area, you'd know how she hasn't been a leader advancing mixed use development.

It's only been the outcry of area residents who have worked overtime with developers (and tried to work with the supervisor) that have gotten any concessions in these projects. Many we didn't get because Smyth and Connolly didn't think on road bike lanes were important (let peds and cyclists comingle on 8' sidewalks), shoddy building materials are acceptable, mixed-use development consists of 95-99% residential construction and green/open space is acceptable as 5th floor pool decks and parking garages.

We need a representative who has a vision of livable, walkable, traversable communities. Someone who will work with area communities and respect and include citizen input in the designs of their communities. We support Charlie Hall because of this fact and the fact that Smyth has repeatedly demonstrated the contrary.

says it all.

Alice is free to rate however she wants Lowell.

I don't care who rates me what, I have what I have to say, just like you.

;-)

Smyth's campaign has been going door-to-door spreading the rumor that Hall is a Republican to average citizens. They've even left messages on voters' answering machines to that effect. Gerry Connolly told Bill Turque of the Washington Post this nonsense.

The irony is that Smyth is the one with the Republican voting history. That's a matter of public record. She didn't vote in ANY Dem primaries until she joined the Party in 2003 and immediately filed to run for Connolly's empty seat. In the meantime, she voted in three Republican primaries. How many Democrats do you know who vote in nothing but Republican primaries?

Other innuendo being spread about Charlie Hall is peppered with such words and phrases as "rumor", "word has it", "frauds", "their sniping and heel biting", and "those angry, bickering Bozos".

You're right, Eric. Smyth's tactics are most distasteful and should be repudiated next week at the polls.

Sort of like what the Bush campaign did to John McCain in South Carolina during the 2000 Republican primaries, but not as nasty (they accused McCain of pretty much everything you can imagine).

Linda Smyth used the exact same tactics against in her first race in 2003: She branded Becky Cate as a Republican even tho Cate had worked several Democratic campaigns before.

Then after she won, Smyth and Connolly actually tried to get Cate kicked out of the Democratic party! They failed miserably in that attempt due to the integrity of FCDC but no thanks to the Providence Committee which spearheaded that effort.

The best way to end these disgusting tactics that are destructive to the party is with your vote. Vote for Charlie Hall!

Have not democrats in the past run mud-slinging elections?  Why is this a surprise. 

...it's that it's disgusting.

calling the campaign manager of your opponent a Dickwad?
I'm not going to get all high and mighty on my soapbox, this politics after all and its always been somewhere between boxing and mudwrestling. Calling your oppenent a dickwad is really framing the other guy, kinda how Democrats had to play by GOP rules and show the hunter in them. On the other hand, I got two Richard's in my family. My uncle who does go by the name Dick, and my dad who was named for my great-uncle who was killed in WWII, Richard Gordon.  He was training to be a pilot. Not only was my Dad named for him but his cousin Richard Lowe, was named for him.  Names go out of fashion. When John Kerry and John Edwards were our ticket, there was an article how the name John has vanished from the scene, I don't know that happened but I can tell you that since a whole generation was reared on the Breakfast Club, a whole generation knows the line "ah Dick-excuse me, Richard," and therefore know that Richard can be shortened to penis. Now getting back to Dick Wadhams, its a good thing Jim Webb won because he turened the Senate over to the Democrats but if your gonna say "its disgusting" remember that people don't pick their names. "It's disgusting," please, that's like Russell Simmons saying rap is full of ugly words like Nigger,Bitches and Hoes, and therefore is a bad example on children, when we all know that that's how he made his money. 

I definitely agree with the basis of this post.  The whole things is stupid!  And obviously not true - I'm surprised people buy this hogwash.  But, Democrats do it all the time, albeit maybe to a lesser extent.  (Well, both parties do)  Person X is in bed with Person Y, because they are pictured together.  Big deal!  So they had a picture together - politicians have pictures with 4327895 people each week.  It could be just that - a picture and they have never met except for then - but it could be a lot more.  There's obviously no way to tell unless there are repeated pictures from different settings.

But overall, I agree Rob.

Boss is the one tied in with the developers.  He could give a rat's butt about people like us.  Does he think we're blind?

What does his cool counties do about the McMansions and the traffic?

So when people on Smyth's side question Hall's party loyalty, that is "disgusting" and similar to Rove's racist smear campaign against McCain in 2000.

However, when people on Hall's side question Smyth's party loyalty and imply that Smyth is not only Republican but a racist Republican to boot, that's OK and gets promoted by Lowell?

http://www.raisingka...

http://notlarrysabat...

Sounds like a few people need to buy a pyschology book and look up the word "projection."

who's been putting out this garbage about his opponent being a Republican (even though she voted in Republican primaries, etc.).  And for the record, I did NOT promote anything implying Linda Smyth is a racist.  Another outrageous comment from desperate Smyth supporters who are (rightly) terrified they're going to lose next Tuesday.

Lowell,

I have almost always agreed with you on most party matters and even primary opponents, but your comments on this race are getting hysterical!

First, I am not that invested in this race.  I see merit in both candidates.  You are clearly far more invested in your candidate.  But your characterization of this commenter as "desperate" makes me laugh--how do you think you and the Hall supporters are looking?

Look, I agree that this tactic is STUPID.  Someone in a picture is not a very good reason to imply someone is in another political party.  Linda Smyth may have been a republican primary voter.  However, as you yourself pointed out last year, so was now Senator Jim Webb.  If you are decrying the tactic, why are you using it yourself?

The fact of the matter is they are both running in a Democratic nomination as Democratic candidates.  Both parties should stop this and get back to the issues.

I am really worried about the over-the-top insanity that is being blogged on this race.

I do not think it's healthy for either the party, this race, or the blogosphere.  I think a bunch of folks need to take a step back and breath, and say "The world is not ending on this race."  I know it's important for lots of folks in our party who believe it's a clear case of needed reform in our party, but please stop comparing Smyth and Connolly to Rove.

There's just no comparison.

...also known as a hard-fought political race between two sides that are working hard for their candidate, and for their vision of Providence District/Fairfax/NOVA.  If you're not "invested" in this, then why are you passing judgment on those that ARE?!?

But its hurting the perception of our common party, that's why, Lowell.

You mean, like the Miller-Webb race killed the Democratic Party last year?  Not.

...tends to be far more organizationally hurtful than statewide stuff.  It's also usually more personal.

All I'm say is why not just make it all about ISSUES instead of questioning integrity constantly.  I think there are rules about that in the Senate.  It's not that anyone's pattern of wrongdoing shouldn't be exposed or talked about, but if you want to criticize Linda Smyth on her performance as Supervisor, Charlie Hall's comments themselves on RK lately have done a far better job of doing that than all these non-issue hit-pieces and meaningless and irrelevant comparison pieces that have nothing to do with the issues before the BoS right now.

I will give it to you Lowell, you are ferocious.

diary, not Lowell, so the comparisons are mine.

While this comparison may seem a bit drastic (or over-the-top) I do believe that calling Charlie a Republican, or even implying that he's a Republican, is a very dirty attack designed to introduce doubt in the minds of Democratic voters.  There is absolutely no logical or rational indicator that he's a Republican - and anyone who has heard him speak or heard his positions knows he is no where close to a Republican.

Yet all five points I made above, as far as I know, are accurate.  They are all very real attempts, by Smyth supporters, to attach the label "Republican" to Charlie - some subtle and some not-so-subtle.  That is pure misleading politics - in the same family of misleading campaigning that Bush/Rove used to get back into the White House in 2004.  That's the basis of my comparison.

If you feel that those five points are untrue, please let me know.  I'd be happy to retract my accusation if I've acted on incorrect information.  But everything I've seen so far makes me believe that these points are accurate did happen as described.  If the points described are accurate I stand by my accusation of dirty politics because that's what it is.  And I don't like it any more than you.

The tactic is stupid, uncalled for, and has nothing to do with the issues.  However, it is NOT Rovian.  Rovian campaigning, although sharing the commonality of possible deception and distraction from the real important matters, is FAR more sinister than what is happening here.

On that, I am fairly certain we can agree.

Does that make Gerry or other Smyth supporters right for doing what they're doing?

Certainly not.

Nor does it excuse RK's constant references to Smyth's having voted in GOP primaries, something also attributable to RK's very hero, Senator Jim Webb.

of a meeting and then voting the complete opposite of what they just strongly implied they would do?  Rovian or Not Rovian, you decide!

Because we are free to individually decide things for ourselves, aren't we?

Doug, for you the world is not ending on this race is a very callous way to treat the seriousness of this campaign.  I bet you have never stood before the Board for a land use case.

Have  you ever testified and watched your 3 minutes tick by and Gerry and other members are laughing with each other?  If it were not the law, I am sure Connolly and Smyth would not hold a hearing. 

It was not a fun sight seeing hundreds of folks walk in silence as they trudged back to the bus.  It was probably a good thing they were gone when Connolly and the Board voted against allowing the public to speak on June 18. 
I felt like storming the front.

I hope Connolly doesn't think that we were not wise to his game....blame it on the staff.  Connolly has his sniffers everywhere....he knows exactly what is and what is missing from the contract.  He might not know every specific, but he knows enough to know the cost is too high and the deal stinks.

I am willing to bet that challenging Hudgins, Smyth, Gross, and DuBois would not be so intense if these supervisors were not controlled by Connolly.  Smyth has to go.  We can't take another four years.

Charlie Hall is the person to elect.  We will do it one vote at a time on Tuesday, June 12.

I have testified in regard to a land use case, and I feel they all listened to me and the other half-dozen from my community because the Board voted unanimously in favor of the blight abatement ordinance that we all supported.

It's the preservation of our "affordable" stable communities.

Serious has to have a point.  The lack of transparency here is ridiculous.  And the June 19th deadline imposed sounds like extortion.

What would Boss do if a thousand people occupied his meeting room?  Unfortunately, he'd just adjourn to another room I guess, but it could make for good media coverage.

Given the way this has been conducted, what would be wrong with disrupting their highway train robbery ha ha?

Great movie

But anyway during it, I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the neighborhood watch program in the movie and our board of supervisors or the many home organizations that exist.  The theme of the common good kept coming up.  What happens when the government has one view of the common good and the citizens have a different one.

Of course this was all before the last 20 minutes of the movie :-p.