Beto O’Rourke – C-VILLE Weekly

In brief: Beto’s back, Scott Stadium watering holes, candidate banned, and more

Beto shows up—again

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke made a second visit to Charlottesville August 31. O’Rourke, who is trailing in the crowded Dem field, hit Champion Brewing to support former School Board chair Amy Laufer, who is running to unseat state Senator Bryce Reeves. He visited the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center and said Charlottesville has “an incredibly powerful story to tell” about racism after August 12, 2017—an event former vice president Joe Biden used to launch his campaign. O’Rourke, who attended the boarding school Woodberry Forest in Madison County, concluded his visit with a fundraiser held by some high school buddies.

O’Rourke shows up for Amy Laufer at Champion Brewing. Eze Amos

“I am a part of a stereotype, but I also do things people would never expect me to do.”—Corey in the documentary A Different Side, which presents a new perspective of young black men, and was made by interns in this summer’s Community Attention Youth Internship Program

In brief

Credit limits

City Manager Tarron Richardson proposes lower limits on credit card spending by city officials, and tighter oversight on purchases in the wake of the Paige Rice Apple Watch-buying scandal and Progress reporter Nolan Stout’s stories about city spending. In the first half of 2019, city officials put more than $480,000 on credit cards.

We’ll drink to that

UVA will start selling alcohol at home football games in booze gardens at the east and west ends of Scott Stadium. Beer, wine, and hard cider must be consumed in the outdoor bars, and fans may buy no more than four drinks during the first three quarters of a game, after which sales end.

‘Landslide Michie’ dies

Former city school board member Tom Michie, who served during integration and earned his nickname when he won a House of Delegates seat by one vote, died August 27 at age 88, of complications related to Alzheimer’s. Michie carried legislation that led to Charlottesville and Albemarle’s revenue-sharing agreement. He lost re-election to a fourth term in the state Senate, which he attributed to NRA retaliation for his support of a bill to ban assault weapon sales in Virginia.

Banned again

Albemarle County schools have forbidden independent City Council candidate John Hall from entering county school property following a disruption at CATEC. Hall, who has said he’s been diagnosed as bipolar, has been banned from City Hall and UVA in the past, and has been convicted of trespassing several times, most recently August 2 at the Haven, the DP reports.

R.I.P. former C-VILLE columnist

Katherine Troyer, who penned a science column during this paper’s early days as C-Ville Review, died August 27 at 64 from cancer.

Early bid

Kellen Squire, an E.R. nurse in Charlottesville and former Democratic candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates, announced last week that he intends to run for lieutenant governor in the 2021 election. Squire is the first candidate to announce his campaign for the seat currently occupied by Justin Fairfax.

Change of venue denied

On September 29, an Albemarle County judge denied Common Ground Executive Director Elliott Brown’s request for a change of venue to Charlottesville in the defamation suit against her, filed by Jefferson School Foundation Executive Director Sue Friedman. Friedman is suing Brown for $1 million, plus $350K in damages for comments Brown made at a tenant meeting and in emails.

Breaking the bank

State regulators released a report last week that said Dominion Energy reeled in $277 million in “excessive profits” last year—but that doesn’t mean customers’ prices will be going down anytime soon. The company helped write state legislation in 2018 that protects it from being forced to lower rates even if profits are considered too high.

Gaming connections

State Dem party chair Susan Swecker, who represents Queen of Virginia, called state Senator Creigh Deeds, Delegate David Toscano, and City Councilor Mike Signer to ask what was up with Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania saying the game violates state law, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

Beto’s beat: O’Rourke first 2020 presidential candidate to hit Charlottesville

By Shrey Dua

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was greeted with a rock star welcome at UVA April 16. After being delayed by an hour, the Texas native and Woodberry Forest grad arrived at Nau Hall at 8pm to a mob of excited students.

The event, hosted by the University Democrats, was held in a large lecture hall that proved far too small to seat an estimated crowd of more than 500, resulting in a number anxiously waiting outside the auditorium. O’Rourke spoke to both groups.

The 46-year-old candidate from El Paso served three terms as a representative in Congress. In 2018, he sought a Senate seat instead, and almost unseated Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in a tightly contested race, in which O’Rourke received the most votes for a Democrat in Texas history.

In his talk, O’Rourke hit on universal healthcare, the decriminalization of marijuana, President Trump and his comments about U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, and LGBTQ rights. He also took questions from the audience.

One student took the opportunity to call out the candidate for what she considered to be a notably low number of charitable donations on his recently released tax return.

The crowd—and O’Rourke—seemed bewildered by the specific nature of the question, but he defended his tax return and his record, stressing his service in public office since 2005. “I do my best to contribute to the success of my community, my state, and now my country,” he said. “There are ways I do this that are measurable, others that are immeasurable. There are charities that we‘ve donated to that we recorded and itemized, and others that we have not.”

He added, “I’ll tell you, I’m doing everything I can, right now, spending this time with you, not with our kids, not back home in El Paso, because I want to sacrifice everything to ensure we meet this moment of truth with everything we got.”

Third-year UVA student Eli Ratzlaff felt the candidate exceeded expectations: “I thought he did a much better job at speaking to actual issues that I cared about than I expected. He spoke to talking points frequently, but was an incredibly enthusiastic and charismatic speaker, and the way he delivered two separate yet engaging stump speeches to two different audiences was impressive.”

Ratzlaff said he did think that the woman who put him on the spot for his charitable deductions made a very good point, and that Beto, “though he took it well, seemed rattled by the question.”

Earlier that day, O’Rourke made five other stops in Virginia, including Richmond and Hampton Roads. The next day he took in Northern Virginia before directing his attention to New Hampshire as he continues on the campaign trail leading up to the 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses.

In a crowded field, he’s currently polling at around 5.3 percent in Iowa, behind Democratic front runners Joe Biden, who has not officially joined the race, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and recent media favorite Mayor Pete Buttigieg from Indiana.