Wild Common (L to R) Brennan Gilmore, Davina Jackson, Nate Leath, Atreyu Jackson, Dhara Goradia, Rob Hubbard, and Bryan Holmes, plays a 5:30pm set at Tomtoberfest on Saturday, September 29 at IX Art Park. Photo by Carla Kasun
In the yard of Brennan Gilmore’s farmhouse outside of town, a jagged line of trees lie on their sides, torn from the ground by a recent tornado, chunks of red dirt still clinging to the roots. In the distance, mist settles in over the mountains, and the whole scene feels quintessentially Virginia, a feeling underscored by the arrival of Gilmore’s Wild Common bandmates to practice.
One by one, cars ramble down the dirt driveway and musicians amble through the doorway, greeting each other with handshakes and hugs, grabbing beers from the fridge and filling glasses of water from the tap. A couple of hounds trot around, collar tags tinkling high over instrument cases being unclipped and unzipped.
There’s master fiddler Nate Leath, who won the adult bluegrass fiddle contest at the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention when he was just 11 years old; soul, funk, and reggae singer Davina Jackson, who used to sing backup for The Wailers; Jackson’s son, Atreyu Jackson, a rapper and the latest addition to the band; keyboardist Bryan Holmes, and jazz bassist and composer Dhara Goradia. Drummer Rob Hubbard, who’s played everything from bluegrass to reggae, can’t make it—he had a dentist appointment earlier in the day that sounds like it required a lot of drilling.
The band’s big enough for practice to feel like a party.
Wild Common first came together in this very farmhouse about a year ago, when Gilmore, Davina Jackson, Leath, and Hubbard convened to work out some songs to play at a rally for then-gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam. Northam’s people called Gilmore, who’s had careers in both music and politics, to put together a bluegrass band for an October 19, 2017, rally at the Richmond Convention Center, where former President Barack Obama would be on hand to endorse Northam.
But bluegrass “is not the most diverse music out there,” says Gilmore, and for this rally, he wanted to put together a band more representative—musically, socially, racially—of a diversity he knew would be reflected in the rally crowd.
Gilmore, Jackson, and Leath recall that first gig well. Thousands of people crowded toward the stage to get the best view of Northam and Obama, while the band warmed up in a corner of the auditorium. When Jackson sang the first line of “A Change is Gonna Come”—“I was born by the river in a little tent”—the crowd shifted toward the sound.
A few people gasped, says Gilmore, “and everybody shut up and listened to Davina sing. That’s the power she has over a room.”
Jackson pauses while setting up her music stand to recall the memory—she grins, raises an eyebrow, and nods slowly at the thought.
After the gig, the group convened at a Richmond bar to talk about turning the act into an actual band. They needed a bass and keys, and Goradia and Holmes, respectively, came to mind immediately. “We purposely tried to find as diverse a group as we could, from different musical and cultural backgrounds, with the idea that we would have these songs, and then all of us would bring in our own traditions, our own styles, musical genres, and then see what came out of it,” says Gilmore.
Wild Common thought about dubbing itself an “Afro-Appalachian” act but even that felt too constricting. After all, genre doesn’t actually mean anything; it’s more limiting than it is descriptive. And so band members are quite satisfied when someone approaches them after a show to say, “I don’t know what to call your music.”
Ultimately, what matters most is the individual musician and the chemistry among them—“those unclassifiable elements of music that express from someone’s personality,” says Gilmore.
Wild Common plays songs about life and about love (“Downhill Specialist”), some of them told through the perspective of Daniel Leek, a young Sudanese refugee Gilmore met in Africa. Songs like “Mama Played the Snare Drum” and “The New Sudan” consider what it was like for the halcyon days of Leek’s youth to be interrupted by war.
The songs typically begin in a Gilmore- devised melody and chord progression, maybe some lyrics, too. From there, each band member puts his or her own fingerprint on it.
“It’s challenging, but it also feels very natural,” says Goradia of the resulting sound that’s a little bit of many things—bluegrass, country, jazz, folk, rock ‘n’ roll, reggae, funk, and soul.
It’s “a nice bed to walk through and see what happens,” says Leath, “and it’s always a lot of fun.”
Perhaps most importantly, adds Jackson, “everybody gets along,” and that’s evident from the way the band’s pre-practice banter oscillates between complimenting and teasing.
“That’s the biggest thing right there,” says Leath, nodding with enthusiasm as the Jacksons page through lyric sheets, Gilmore picks out a melody on his guitar, Goradia thumps a quiet line on her bass, and Holmes taps out something twinkly on the keyboards.
In Wild Common, everyone has their say. It’s the best kind of party, one where everyone’s invited.
Wild Common plays a 5:30pm set at Tomtoberfest on Saturday, September 29, at IX Art Park.
It’s too bad Saturday’s UVA football game against Ohio University was moved to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville—with little rain, the Cavs probably could have played at home. Photo by Jack Looney
Grocery store shelves in Charlottesville and Albemarle County were picked clean last week by people preparing for Hurricane Florence’s worst. But come this week, those cases of water, boxes of batteries, and jars of peanut butter had gone largely unneeded.
While a tornado left one person dead in Richmond, and significant flooding threatened folks in Nelson, Green, and Madison counties, the immediate local area was relatively unscathed.
“Florence could dump a foot of rain on already saturated ground,” predicted state climatologist Jerry Stenger before the hurricane, when Virginia was projected to be in its northeast quadrant. “We’re going to have trees down all over the place.”
Stenger was right. And wrong.
The majority of area rain fell Sunday, September 16, through Monday, September 17, and by Monday morning, the National Weather Service had issued a flood warning for the city and county. Local areas reported receiving between a half and two inches of rain, with minor flooding reported in Albemarle.
In the state, approximately 500 roads were temporarily closed, with eight of those in Albemarle, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Approximately 3,800 Dominion Energy customers in Charlottesville and Albemarle County were out of power from 10am Sunday, September 16, until Monday morning, when about 2,300 of those people had their electricity turned back on, according to Dominion spokesperson Daisy Pridgen. Remnants of Florence hit the local area the hardest around this period, and she says the outages were largely the result of trees falling on power lines.
At press time, the energy company’s interactive power outage map showed only 27 and 181 customers were still without electricity in Charlottesville and Albemarle, respectively.
The Virginia State Police are already offering tips for next time, such as dialing 511 before driving for the latest updates on road conditions and closures, and always using headlights while windshield wipers are activated—not only because you can see better and you become more visible to other traffic, but because that’s the law.
And perhaps the most important tip, and one you’ve likely heard before: Turn around, don’t drown.
More than half of all flood-related drownings occur when a vehicle is driven into hazardous water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state police add that it only takes 12 inches of rushing water to carry away a small car, and two feet of it can wash most vehicles down a roadway.
“It’s never safe to drive or walk into flood waters,” says VSP spokesperson Corinne Geller. “No matter how shallow you might think it is.”
Storm statistics
1 death in Richmond
½ to 2 inches of rain in Charlottesville
and Albemarle
About 500 road closures across the state
Nearly 4,000 local power outages for Dominion Energy customers
$60 million authorized by Virginia
Governor Ralph Northam to spend in response to Florence
*Numbers provided by the Virginia Department of Transportation, National Weather Service, and Aubrey Layne, the state secretary of finance
That’s advice from Dave Dixon, the safety and compliance supervisor of the Buckingham Branch Railroad, who notes the national increase of railroad crossing fatalities this year.
One of them happened here. An Amtrak carrying GOP congressmen smashed into a garbage truck on Crozet
train tracks in January, killing 28-year-old truck passenger Christopher Foley.
In an increased effort to educate drivers, Dixon offers advice for what to do if your car gets stuck on the crossing:
1. Evacuate the car and get away from the tracks.
2. Call the number on the blue sign at the crossing, not 911.
3. If a train approaches, run toward the train at a 45-degree angle and away from the track.
4. Don’t run down track, where the train could knock the vehicle into you.
Other tips:
Don’t drive around the gates.
Never try to “beat a train.”
At private crossings without gates, stop, look and listen before crossing.
Before crossing, be sure there’s enough room on the other side to safely clear the tracks.
If the gates are down while you’re on the crossing, drive through the gate. It’s designed to break away.
Report any malfunctioning gates, lights or other problems to the number on the blue sign.
Preston pleads
Courtesy of an ACLU video
An imperial wizard of Baltimore’s Confederate White Knights of the KKK, who was charged with firing a gun within 1,000 feet of a school at the Unite the Right rally, pleaded no contest May 5, just one day before his trial was scheduled to begin. Richard Preston was aiming his gun at Corey Long, who pointed a homemade flamethrower at the Klansman in a photo that went viral.
High-paying jobs
Ralph Northam
Governor Ralph Northam was in town May 2 to tout CoConstruct, a web-based company in Albemarle that helps custom homebuilders and remodelers manage their projects, and its plans to expand its IT ops and hire 69 new employees, some of whom will earn over $100,000. Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball called Charlottesville the “Camelot of Virginia.”
Northam noncommittal on Soering
In his second visit to Albemarle County in five days, Northam was at the Virginia Humanities’ folklife showcase when WVTF’s Sandy Hausman asked him about the pardon petition for Jens Soering amid increased calls from law enforcement supporting Soering’s innocence. Northam said he will stand by the decision of the parole board, which has denied parole 13 times.
Sage Smith episode
DaShad “Sage” Smith
Charlottesville police are still looking for leads in the homicide of Smith, who was last seen November 20, 2012. The disappearance is the subject of an episode on the Investigation Discovery channel show “Disappeared.” “Born this Way” airs at 7pm May 9. Police also seek information on the whereabouts of Erik McFadden, who was supposed to meet Smith the day of her disappearance.
Greene official charged
Larry Snow, Greene County commissioner of revenue, was charged with four felonies for use of trickery to obtain information stemming from a DMV investigation, according to the Greene County Record. Snow, 69, was first elected in 1987. In 2010, he was convicted of practicing law without a license, a misdemeanor.
Bad babysitter
Yowell-Rohm
Kathy Yowell-Rohm pleaded guilty to felony cruelty or injury to a child and operating a home daycare without a license after police found 16 children—most with seriously dirty diapers—from a few months old to age 4 in her home last December. She also pleaded guilty to assaulting an EMT in a parking lot at the November 24 UVA-Virginia Tech football game.
Terrys end treestand-off
Mother Red Terry, 61, and daughter Minor Terry, 30, came down May 5 from the trees on their property near Roanoke where they’d been camped since April 2 to protest the Mountain Valley Pipeline after a federal judge found them in contempt and said she’d start fining the Terrys for every day they defied her order.
Quote of the Week
“Out in the fresh air and sunshine, he could just have walked away.” —Judge Rick Moore at the trial of Alex Michael Ramos, who was convicted of the malicious wounding of DeAndre Harris.
Misidentified racist
Don Blankenship, Larry Sabato and MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell
It’s always best if the offended has a sense of humor.
A Huffington Post Instagram account called @huffpostasianvoices posted a photo of UVA’s Larry Sabato along with a story called, “GOP Senate Candidate: ‘Chinaperson’ Isn’t Racist,” referring to Don Blankenship, the West Virginian who recently used the racial slur, and who CNN editor Chris Cillizza has called “the worst candidate in America.”
Sabato did appear in an interview for the story, and on Twitter, he said, “After a loyal former student alerted me to the photo mix up, we reported it and it was quickly corrected.”
Blankenship isn’t his only doppelgänger. Two years ago, reporter Megyn Kelly noted that Sabato looks strikingly similar to the MyPillow infomercial salesman.
Tweeted the founder and director of the university’s Center for Politics, “After all, Don Blankenship, MyPillow guy and I all have a mustache, and everyone knows all mustachioed men look alike.”
The global Women’s March in January 2017 set the tone for women refusing to sit by any longer while their bodies were insulted and their rights hijacked.Photo by: Karen Ballard via ZUMA Wire)
The high-profile sexual harassment cases continue to pile up and I’m reminded of the Emerson String Quartet. The world-renowned musicians can hold audiences rapt with the passion and delicacy of their playing. And yet without fail, when they rest their bows between movements the concert hall will erupt in a chorus of coughing and sputtering of near-tubercular intensity. It’s as if the concertgoers are reading from a score marking the precise moment when their noises will be most impactful.
The women who are speaking out now have seized a powerful moment, too. The tone has been building since January 21 when almost 3 million of them descended on Washington, D.C., and hundreds of U.S. and foreign cities for the Women’s March. The stunned silence of November 8 was quickly answered by a crescendo of fed-up women who refused to sit by any longer while their bodies were insulted and their rights hijacked.
And it hasn’t been about just calling out sexual misconduct by powerful men—though it’s not not about that either, thank you “Access Hollywood.” In Virginia, a record number of women—51—competed in House of Delegates primaries. Moreover, last July USA Today, citing Emily’s List, the nonprofit that helps elect pro-choice Democratic females, reported that 16,000 women had expressed an interest in running for office. As the Charlottesville City Council race demonstrated, women will no longer wait their turn to speak.
Suburban female voters were the deciding factor in last month’s statewide races in Virginia, too. Many who handed Ralph Northam the governor’s office said they were responding to the president’s equivocations after the killing and mayhem of August 12. But past that, plenty of women had had enough of assemblymen, yes men, who vote to defund Planned Parenthood, discriminate against transgender people and mandate transvaginal probing.
Returning for a moment to sexual harassment, another form of unwanted transvaginal probing, if you will: Like at a classical music concert, there remains the question of why those affected didn’t do something earlier. Must that guy wait until the cello solo to unwrap his lozenge, and why couldn’t the victims of Roger/Bill/Harvey/Charlie/Louis/Mark/Matt/etc./etc./etc. have spoken out sooner?
Answer: They did speak up. The accounts that make it into the reputable press are corroborated by folks the victims spoke to at the time (even if not the human resources manager).
In my own media career, I can count at least three instances when I informed managers at the highest level about sexual harassment incidents others had shared with me. In one instance, the perpetrator didn’t deny the claim when confronted. Instead he teared up and lamented that perhaps he wasn’t the leader he professed to be. His punctured ego was his biggest concern. Today he remains a high-ranking local media executive. The woman left the business long ago. But if she came forward with her account, I could back her up.
Yes, Virginia, it’s a big noise—like a long-stoppered steam valve being released—but not necessarily a new sound. In the past weeks, we’ve learned of some agitation in the Oval Office about who was or wasn’t approached to be Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. At press time the issue was still under wraps (pub date is December 6*), but I know who I would’ve nominated: 2017 Women’s March organizers Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez and Bob Bland. They were early conductors in this symphony of outrage. Sadly, we’re a long way from hearing the final note.
*On December 6, Time announced the Silence Breakers as its person of the year.
Independent's day at Jefferson School when victory is called for Nikuyah Walker, center. Photo Eze Amos
Election night 2017 in Charlottesville had quite a different feel from 2016. Democrats swept statewide offices, with Ralph Northam winning the governor’s race by an even wider margin—9 percent—than pundits had predicted. And no one saw it coming that Dems would dislodge the hefty 66-34 Republican majority in the House of Delegates, and, depending on recounts, Charlottesville’s own David Toscano could end up house majority leader.
The unprecedented evening continued in Charlottesville, where Nikuyah Walker bucked the Democratic groundswell and became the first independent to win a seat on City Council since 1948. Also unprecedented: It’s the first time two African Americans will serve on council when she joins Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy on the dais in January.
Walker’s supporters—a younger, more diverse crowd than the older, whiter Dems awaiting returns at Escafe—gathered at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, where she led from the first precinct report.
“She’s the first Charlottesville native in decades to serve on council,” former mayor Dave Norris, a Walker supporter, points out. “She’s someone who’s actually experienced some of the issues facing council. She lived in Garrett Square,” which is now known as Friendship Court.
Former mayor Dave Norris and Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy were on hand for Nikuyah Walker’s historic win. Photo Eze Amos
Her victory “is a rebuke to the dirty tactics of the anonymous source,” adds Norris, referring to the November 4 Daily Progress story prompted by an unnamed city official who suggested Walker’s “aggressive” communication style would make it difficult for her to work with other councilors and city staff.
Before the election, conventional wisdom predicted Laufer, who’s served on the school board, would get one of the open council seats now held by Bob Fenwick and Kristin Szakos, and the second would be a toss-up between Hill and Walker. Instead, Hill edged Laufer by 55 votes in what were extremely close margins between the three frontrunners.
“Heather worked her tail off,” says Norris. “Whenever someone criticized Heather, she would sit down and talk to them. She personally hit up every street in Charlottesville.”
Democrat Heather Hill had expected to sit on council with Amy Laufer, but the election, with everything else this year, was “unprecedented,” she says. Photo Eze Amos
The election “played out in a different way than I expected,” says Hill. “This year has been unprecedented, and there was no doubt in my mind this election was going to be unprecedented. I’m really excited to be part of this change.”
One big change for Walker: As a city employee with parks and rec, she will be her own boss as a councilor—sort of. State code on conflicts of interest says an elected official may keep her job with a government agency provided employment began before election to the governing body.
Surrounded by her son, two daughters and mother on stage at Jefferson School, Walker admitted, “I drove my family crazy.”
She said, “It’s hard growing up black in Charlottesville. I only ran because of [the late vice-mayor] Holly Edwards. She told me if I️ ran, I’d win.”
Walker said, “People told lies about me. They should have told the truth.”
And she acknowledged the broad grassroots support she had, with contributions ranging from $5 to $10,000. She urged her supporters to hold onto the “we” and stay engaged. “It’s not a temporary thing.”
Walker’s win “breaks up the total Democratic control on council,” says UVA Center for Politics’ Geoffrey Skelley. “It’s meaningful in the aftermath of all the terrible things that happened in Charlottesville” with the monument debate and neo-Nazi invasion, which some put at the feet of City Council.
“Walker was offering something different,” he says. “It’s a reaction locally when Democrats were crushing it everywhere else. It’s a reaction to local issues that have become national issues.”
In Albemarle County, the Samuel Miller District was the only contested Board of Supervisors race, and incumbent Liz Palmer handily beat Republican challenger John Lowry with 68 percent of the vote.
In county school board races, Katrina Callsen, who had opponent Mary McIntyre’s supporters grousing about outside money from a Teach for America affiliate, won 63 percent of the Rio District vote. In the Samuel Miller District, incumbent Graham Paige held on to his seat with 65 percent of the vote, fending off 18-year-old challenger Julian Waters.
Statewide, Skelley had anticipated a narrower race between Northam and Ed Gillespie. Northam’s win was the largest margin for a Democratic candidate since 1985, when Gerald Baliles won, says Skelley.
Voter turnout was up 15 percent over the last governor’s race in 2013, and in some places like Charlottesville, it was up 31 percent. In Fairfax, 23 percent more voters went to the polls than in 2013, and that increase “has got to be looked at as a response to President Trump,” says Skelley.
Democrat Justin Fairfax won the lieutenant governor’s race and became the second African American to hold that position, which Doug Wilder won in 1985. Incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring held on to his seat and gave Democrats a sweep in statewide offices.
Before the election, Skelley predicted Democrats might pick up seats in the high single digits in the House of Delegates. “I was very cautious,” he says. Several close races will face recounts, and if the Dems win, it’s possible they could have their first majority in the house since 2000.
Almost all the Democratic gains came from the 15 districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, says Skelley. “It’s not like they’re winning a bunch of red seats.”
A couple of Latina delegates, an African-American veteran, Dawn Adams, the first openly lesbian delegate, and Danica Roem, the first transgender legislator in the country, will change the makeup of the mostly white male House, says Skelley.
Roem’s win over 13-term social conservative Bob Marshall, who carried the state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and who last year carried an unsuccessful bathroom bill, is particularly significant and an outcome Skelley wasn’t willing to bet on. “Prince William County has changed,” he says. “[Marshall] didn’t change with it.”
No one was predicting an unseating of Albemarle’s three GOP incumbents—Steve Landes, Matt Fariss and Rob Bell—who held on to their seats, although Bell and Fariss did face challengers, unlike in 2015 when they were unopposed. While Dem Angela Lynn lost for a second time to Landes, this year she narrowed the margin from 32 points to 16.
For House Minority Leader Toscano, who was unopposed, the evening was particularly enjoyable. “I must admit I never really thought we could do it all this cycle,” he says. “I thought we’d pick up some seats.”
Currently the Dems have 49 seats, he says, and both sides are calling for recounts in a handful of races. He’s not speculating on what will happen if his party takes the majority—and he could potentially be elected speaker. “First we have to count all the votes,” he says.
However, even if the Democrats don’t hold a majority, with a 49-51 split, “immediately we’ll get a lot more representation on committees. Immediately we’ll make strategic alliances with Republicans to pass legislation,” says Toscano.
“The election makes clear Virginia is a bellwether election following Trump,” he says. It shows that voters like candidates engaged with their communities, they like what Democrats like Governor Terry McAuliffe have been doing with economic development, and says Toscano, “They don’t like the divisiveness and hate of Trump.”
Correction 10:22am November 9: The story originally said Walker would have to resign her job as a city employee, but apparently that’s not true if she held the job before being elected.
John Miska runs as the "Don Quixote" candidate.
Courtesy Miska
Big John’s run
Fewer than two weeks before the November 7 election, veterans advocate John Miska launched a write-in campaign for Albemarle supervisor in the Rio District, where Dem Ned Gallaway is uncontested. Miska says he’s running as a conservative because he hates to see just one person on the ballot.
“Call me Don Quixote. I’m just tipping at windmills because people have not looked at the real issues and they have been distracted by identity politics.”—Albemarle supes write-in candidate John Miska
Remove ’em all
City resident Pat Napoleon and Albemarlean Richard Lloyd are gathering petition signatures to recall all current City Council members following the summer of hate. For Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, it’s the second petition calling for his ouster, but the one carried by Jason Kessler earlier this year fell short on signatures.
Don’t remove ’em all
A circuit court judge extended an injunction in the Confederate statues lawsuit prohibiting the city from getting rid of generals Lee and Jackson while the case is active.
Pointing the finger
Charlottesville has refused to turn over documents to the governor’s task force investigating the events of August 12 because the state has stymied city-hired former U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy’s requests for information for his independent review. City spokesperson Miriam Dickler says the city won’t comply until the state does.
Teacher indicted
Former Charlottesville High School environmental science teacher Rick Wellbeloved-Stone was indicted October 25 on three charges of producing and one charge of possessing child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty.
Spate of attempted abductions
Two women were grabbed from behind and had hands clasped over their mouths over the weekend. Around 2am October 27 on Wertland Avenue, the stocky white assailant fled when the woman he’d knocked to the ground screamed. Another woman was accosted around 8pm October 29 on Water Street. That suspect, a short black male in his mid 20s, wearing a black hoodie with maroon sleeves, also ran when the victim screamed.
Mud bath
The white supremacist or the gang sympathizer? Pick your poison.
This mailer that surfaced last week lists the entire Democratic ballot on the back. Despite its harsh criticism, Ralph Northam’s campaign has stood by it.An Ed Gillespie campaign commercial links Ralph Northam to local MS-13 gang violence, but the ad allegedly uses stolen photos of non-MS-13 members in an El Salvador prison.
Virginians relying on smear campaigns to inform their opinions on the state’s gubernatorial candidates likely think the deck is stacked against those living in the Old Dominion.
An ad that surfaced last week shows a downright shocking image of Republican candidate Ed Gillespie and President Donald Trump superimposed above a photo of torch-wielding white nationalists. It reads, “On Tuesday, November 7, Virginia gets to stand up to hate.”
We’ve all heard Trump call known white supremacists “some very fine people” in response to the August 12 Unite the Right rally, but Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, denounced them and said, “having a right to spew vile hate does not make it right.”
The mailer hit close to home, and wasn’t received well. Says a Daily Progress editorial, “We don’t need state candidates trying to use our pain to their political advantage.”
It came after a barrage of Gillespie campaign attack ads that tie Democratic candidate and current Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam to MS-13 gang violence.
In one TV commercial, a man wearing a black hoodie and holding a baseball bat appears as the gang’s motto, “Kill, rape, control,” flashes on the screen. A female narrator then chronicles Northam’s casting the deciding vote in favor of sanctuary cities “that let illegal immigrants who commit crimes back on the street, increasing the threat of MS-13,” she says, not mentioning that Virginia has no sanctuary cities.
Another ad with photos of Northam interspersed with images of alleged members of the gang with tattooed faces has been put on blast by multiple news outlets for using photos stolen from a Central American news site of members of a rival gang photographed inside an El Salvador prison—not MS-13 gang members in Virginia. D’oh.
Kessler on the move
A bearded Jason Kessler, arguably Charlottesville’s least popular resident after organizing this summer’s deadly Unite the Right rally, was given a bond modification in Albemarle Circuit Court October 31 that will allow him to move to Carrollton, Ohio, to take a job with an online marketing company.
Kessler testified that his new boss, who was here for the August 12 events, is flexible and will allow him to return to Charlottesville for court dates, which include a felony perjury charge stemming from filing a bogus assault complaint in January.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Robert Tracci expressed concerns that Optimus Marketing had no physical address in Carrollton.
However, Judge Cheryl Higgins agreed with Kessler’s lawyer that if he came to court to ask permission, he’s likely to come back for his March 20 perjury trial, and she noted that he’s not likely to find work in Charlottesville.
Jason Kessler walks out of court and toward a new life in Ohio, with a parting question to reporters: “Y’all can’t get enough of me, can you?” Staff photo
Virginia Democrats printed up Trump-Gillespie signs in hope of using the president's unpopularity against the GOP gubernatorial candidate.
Staff photo
Democrats in the only Southern state that voted for Hillary Clinton for president are now trying to wrap GOP gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie around President Donald Trump in hopes Gillespie will sink like a stone in the 2017 electoral waters. State Senator Creigh Deeds, House Minority Leader David Toscano, Mayor Mike Signer and former mayor Alvin Edwards joined Democratic Party of Virginia chair Susan Swecker on the Downtown Mall Thursday for the “Trump-Gillespie” tour.
Democratic Party of Virginia chair Susan Swecker hits Charlottesville on her way to the first gubernatorial debate in Hot Springs Saturday. Staff photo
“People are sweating like Ed Gillespie every time he sees Corey Stewart in front of a microphone,” says the colorful Swecker in the 90-some degree heat. She calls Gillespie Trump’s “new apprentice,” and says that if Gillespie were more to the right on women’s issues, “he’d be standing 50 miles east of Virginia Beach.”
However, in Norfolk earlier this week, Gillespie touted his ability to work with the Trump administration, according to the Virginian-Pilot.
Local elected Democrats criticized the Republican health care plan. In Charlottesville, Signer noted that before Obamacare, he was turned down for health insurance coverage because of a bad knee.
And Toscano says the Gillespie tax plan “is only going to transfer wealth to those who already have it.”
The Dems are stumping around the state in a lead-up to the first debate between Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam and Gillespie, and printed up “Trump-Gillespie” signs, which were left under a tree during the press conference because elected Democrats don’t want to be photographed in front of a Trump sign, explains state Dem spokesperson Kevin Donohoe.
As for the possibility that some Republicans may actually want the Trump-Gillespie sign, Swecker laughs, and says state GOP chair John Whitbeck asked on Twitter if he’ll have to report the signs as an in-kind contribution.
The Virginia Bar Association will host the debate Saturday at the Homestead in Hot Springs.
Heather Hill and Amy Laufer are the Dem nominees for City Council, and Joe Platania is most likely the new commonwealth's attorney.
Submitted photos
The heavily watched June 13 primary in Virginia offered several surprises, most notably record-setting Democratic turnout and Corey Stewart’s near upset of Ed Gillespie in the GOP gubernatorial race. Conversely, hometown favorite Tom Perriello’s race against Ralph Northam for governor was expected to be much closer than Northam’s 12-point win.
And in city Democratic primary races, challengers Amy Laufer and Heather Hill handily unseated incumbent Bob Fenwick, and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Joe Platania blew out progressive, Equity and Progress in Charlottesville-endorsed opponent Jeff Fogel.
The energized progressive element of the Democratic party fielded House Minority Leader David Toscano’s first primary challenger, UVA instructor Ross Mittiga, in the 57th District in a dozen years.
And yet when the dust settled, establishment Dems were still firmly entrenched, and the upset threat came in the Republican Party, with former Trump Virginia campaign manager Stewart nearly toppling expected shoo-in Ed Gillespie in the GOP governor’s race.
‘It was certainly the closest of the races and the biggest surprise of the night,” says UVA’s Center for Politics analyst Geoffrey Skelley. Gillespie, who nearly unseated Senator Mark Warner in 2014 and was expected to be the GOP standard bearer, squeaked by Stewart with slightly more than a point.
Stewart’s message was “‘I was Trump before Trump,’” says Skelley. “It’s hard to dismiss his play to cultural conservatives and attaching himself to the Confederate monument issue.” Stewart made several visits to Charlottesville over City Council’s vote to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee. “He got his name out there,” says Skelley.
On the other hand, Dem turnout could be unsettling for Republicans in the fall. “The Democrats were clearly animated,” observes Skelley. “They had record-setting turnout for a non-presidential primary.”
While it’s not surprising that Perriello claimed 80 percent of the votes in Charlottesville, in the state’s major metropolitan areas, he trailed Northam by 15 points in Northern Virginia, and even more in Richmond. And in Northam’s home base of the Hampton Roads area, Northam led by 40 percent, says Skelley.
In Charlottesville, many predicted Laufer’s victory and saw it as a battle between Fenwick, who was endorsed by EPIC, and Hill. Laufer took a hefty 46 percent of the vote, while Hill picked up 34 percent and Fenwick nabbed a meager 20 percent.
“First of all, [Fenwick] was wildly outspent and arguably out-worked,” says former mayor Dave Norris, an EPIC founder who is no longer on its board.
“My sense is among the general population, there’s a lot of frustration with what is going on in the city and a lot of them took it out on Bob,” adds Norris.
EPIC also endorsed civil rights lawyer Jeff Fogel for commonwealth’s attorney. Fogel garnered 32 percent of the vote, but Norris doesn’t see that as a resounding defeat.
“Jeff played an important role in bringing attention to systemic racial inequity in the criminal justice system and the failure of the war on drugs,” says Norris. “His presence forced his opponent to take bolder positions.”
Unknown is what factor Fogel’s June 2 arrest for assault, stemming from a confrontation at Miller’s with an associate of whites-righter Jason Kessler, played in the voting booth.
“My position is progressives did great,” says Fogel, who says he got far more votes than expected because of the surge in turnout.
With progressive candidates like Perriello, Mittiga and Fogel being shut out of Democratic nominations, what does that bode for the fall?
“I think the progressive candidates and the progressive community has its work cut out for it,” says Norris. “It’s going to take a lot of mobilizing, maybe smarter strategy and more resources to prevail.”
On City Council, he says, “I think this is the year [independent] Nikuyah Walker could pull off a victory,” although she faces an ever-growing pool of independent candidates, as well as Dem nominees Laufer and Hill, in the November election.
Far from being disheartened by progressive candidates’ lackluster showings, Norris says, “Everyone understands change takes time. It’s important to get people into the debate. We may not have won this election, but we certainly influenced the debate.”
And in other state primary races, Justin Fairfax took the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor, while state Senator Jill Vogel edged out state Senator Bryce Reeves in an acrimonious contest that included a defamation suit.
A Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial opined that Reeves was unsuitable for office after he criticized Vogel for supporting “the first openly gay judge in Virginia.”
Skelley is skeptical that the piece impacted Reeves, who took 40 percent of the primary vote, in a GOP contest where “Corey Stewart nearly won.” Says Skelley, “I don’t think gay bashing is going to hurt you in that situation.”
Correction June 15: Dave Norris said “smarter strategy,” not “harder strategy” would be needed for progressives. And Amy Laufer won with 46 percent of the vote.
During a recent Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum at The Haven, Ralph Northam (left) touted his progressive creds and said he can win red parts of Virginia, while Charlottesville native Tom Perriello pushed what he calls a new generation of ideas. Photos by Ron Paris
Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam pretty much had clear sailing to the Democratic nomination for governor when he announced his run in 2015. Attorney General Mark Herring agreed not to run and Northam had the endorsement of Governor Terry McAuliffe and just about everyone in the state Democratic establishment, as well as a sizable war chest.
Then along came Donald Trump, a tsunami of resistant activism—and former 5th District congressman Tom Perriello.
Perriello’s January announcement stunned Dems across the state, and caused some fissures here in his hometown where people who supported his 2008 and 2010 races were already committed to Northam.
Some see Perriello’s progressivism and Northam’s party anointment as a replay of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ fight for the presidential nomination last year. And indeed, Perriello has obtained the endorsement of Sanders, as well as the Democratic Party’s other leading progressive figure, Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Others say that’s too simplistic a comparison.
“No new race is identical to a prior race,” says UVA Center for Politics pundit-in-chief Larry Sabato. “Obviously, Perriello is the insurgent, like Sanders, and Northam has the overwhelming backing from Democratic elected officials in Virginia, like Clinton did. But there are plenty of differences, too.”
Perriello’s energy often comes up when people talk about the 42-year-old. Supporter Dave Norris, former Charlottesville mayor, says Perriello “has a great energy. He’s personable. People know he’s going to push for positive change in Richmond.”
Norris finds it telling that Perriello was the only congressional candidate for whom President Barack Obama showed up in 2010. “People appreciate that he sacrificed his congressional career to assure that tens of millions of people could have health care,” he says. And now Perriello wears his ousting after one term for voting for the Affordable Care Act as a badge of honor.
But Northam and his supporters aren’t backing down. Longtime political observer Waldo Jaquith, a Perriello supporter, notes that rather than changing course when Perriello came on the scene, “for the most part, people I know who committed to Northam have doubled down.”
He describes the race as one candidate who gets grassroots enthusiasm and another who quietly chugs along—and wins. “If I were a bookmaker, I would say Northam is the odds on favorite.”
Follow the money
Ralph Northam
Cash on hand March 31: $3.1 million
Top donors
Michael Bills: $200,000
Common Good VA: $110,000
Other locals
Barbara Fried: $5,000
L.F. Payne: $1,000
Tom Perriello
Cash on hand March 31: $1.7 million
Top donors
Sonjia Smith: $500,000
George Soros: $250,000
Avaaz Foundation: $230,000
Alexander Soros: $125,000
John Grisham: $25,000
Dave Matthews: $10,000
However, lieutenant governor isn’t the most high-profile office in Virginia, and although Northam has won a statewide office, says Jaquith, “From my perspective, Northam is super boring. I’m nervous in a Trump era to get someone like Northam rather than someone who gets people fired up like Perriello.”
Northam has state experience going for him, says Sabato, with his years in the Senate and four years as the gubernatorial understudy. “Perriello has never served in any state office,” he says, “But Perriello was a high-profile congressman from 2009-2010, and he has the backing of lots of national Democrats—Sanders, Warren and a host of Obama aides.”
Here’s how tight the race is—and how varying polls can be. One taken May 9 and 10 by the Virginia Education Association, which has endorsed Northam, puts him at a 10-point lead with 41 percent of potential primary voters choosing Northam, 31 percent favoring Perriello and a hefty 29 percent undecided.
But a May 9-14 Washington Post-Schar School poll puts Perriello slightly ahead with 40 percent of likely voters to Northam’s 38 percent. “Every indication we have is that it’s a reasonably close contest,” says Sabato. “Primaries tend to be determined in the final weeks and days, as news coverage and advertising ramps up with the approach of election day.”
Perriello polls well among younger voters. But the big question is, will resistance to Trump send those who normally don’t vote in primaries to the polls June 13?
“My opponent in this primary is not Ralph Northam,” says Perriello. “It’s the people who have no idea this primary is going on.”
Homegrown upstart
Perriello is blunt when asked if he’d be running for governor now had Trump not been elected president.
“No,” he says a month before the June 13 primary. “As someone who’s worked in countries with demagogues and authoritarians, I had a strong understanding that this was not some simple transfer of power from Democrats to Republicans, but a deeper attempt to undermine the rule of law and our concepts about living together across racial and regional lines.”
Later that same day, tiki torch-carrying white nationalists would assemble in Lee Park. “Get your white supremacist hate out of my hometown,” Perriello responded in a brief Twitter skirmish with alt-right leader Richard Spencer.
Northam, too, denounced the white-righters, as did many state leaders. But Perriello had a press conference the following Monday and called for a statewide commission on racial healing and transformation, and for booting Lee-Jackson Day from the calendar of state holidays, the latter of which Northam also supports.
In front of the Lee statue, he repeated a theme about his native soil: “Virginia is the birthplace of American democracy, and it’s also the birthplace of slavery. Each generation makes a decision about which one defines us.
Back in Ivy on May 13, Perriello spoke to C-VILLE in the playroom of the 5,300- square-foot Ivy house where he grew up, before talking to several dozen women in the living room for his campaign’s Women with Tom coalition kickoff, and then dashing off to a forum with Northam at The Haven.
The Yale-educated son of a physician acknowledges his privilege, and how he has tried to use it to help others. He tells the women who’ve come to his mom’s house about doing human rights work in Sierra Leone, a place with one of the worst records in the world. A female leader in Sierra Leone asked him to move there, and when he asked why, she replied, “If you’re standing next to me I’m less likely to get shot, and that would be really helpful.”
From Sierra Leone, says Perriello, “I learned I could use the structural privileges I have of race and gender and class to help everyone have a voice.”
When Linda Perriello introduces her son, she refers to him as “a man of conviction” and notes his “conviction politics.”
Family friend David Shreve calls Perriello’s stance the “politics of possibility.” He, too, dismisses a Hillary/Bernie replay, and says instead, “Tom is very astute at discerning the political movement culture.”
Says Perriello about entering the Virginia governor’s race, “The Democratic party had a theory of winning that made sense with Secretary Clinton in the office.” The shift in the political landscape after Trump won, he says, meant “I gave the Democrats a much better chance to win,”as someone who’s been able to win in red parts of the state, “as well as exciting our base that’s going to need turnout to win. ”
Perriello sees himself as bringing a new generation of ideas to a Democratic party that’s out of touch. “Many of the leaders in both the Democratic and Republican parties are about 25 years behind the curve,” he says. “They’re just waking up to the idea that globalization created pain and inequality. Both parties have been behind the curve of the dynamics that gave rise to Trump in the first place.”
Automation and technology, he says, are going to destroy one-third to one-half the jobs in Virginia over the next 15 years, Perriello says, and “re-monopolization” will mean fewer businesses in fewer places.
“Donald Trump was right in many ways to call out the economic pain in communities, but he was 25 years out of date about the cause,” says Perriello, in blaming it on “globalization and any minority he could find.”
Perriello’s upsetting the state Dem applecart did bring some blowback in the first month from people who previously had been allies, and he says he got two responses. Privately he was asked, “What are you doing?” The other reaction: “Thank God.”
An officer and a gentleman
Eastern Shore-raised Ralph Northam, 57, still has that accent that pegs him as a Virginian. His grandfather was a surgeon, his father a judge and his mother a nurse.
It was from her, he says, that he “learned to give back.”
Northam, a pediatric neurologist, frequently notes that he went to public school during desegregation when other white parents were shipping their kids to private schools.
Politics didn’t become a calling until 2007, when he was elected to the state Senate. “I had a lot of frustration with insurance companies, and I was spending a lot of time on the phone getting things authorized for my patients,” says the physician.
The environment was an even bigger factor. “I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay, it was literally my backyard, and I watched the demise of the bay over my 50-plus years,” he says. “I ran in a very conservative district that people said I could never win. I ran on the same Democratic progressive values I run on today.” He lists protecting theenvironment, marriage equality, women’s reproductive rights, responsible gun ownership and economic opportunities for all.
Northam has gotten flak for voting for Republican George W. Bush—twice. “I was under-informed politically,” he admits. “Knowing what I know now, it was the incorrect vote.”
There is a moral to that admission of the ballots he cast in the privacy of a voting booth. “I did tell the truth,” he says. “My honor is very important to me.”
Honor is a theme that dates back to his days at Virginia Military Institute, where during his senior year he was president of the honor court. He initially wanted to fly Navy jets, but learned his eyesight wouldn’t pass muster for that.
Following Eastern Virginia Medical School, he served as a physician in the U.S. Army for eight years and treated casualties from Desert Storm. He left the Army in 1992 as a major.
Northam frequently mentions that he’s a vet, and that’s a point that plays well in conservative parts of Virginia. In 2009, Senate Republicans wooed him to switch teams, which would have given them a majority, but Northam rejected the GOP siren call. That same year, he got legislation passed that banned smoking in restaurants in tobacco-friendly Virginia.
His response when asked about Perriello’s entrance in the race is gentlemanly, and he harkens to the “unwavering support” he has from state Democrats.
“Let’s let people look at our résumés and where we want to take Virginia,” he suggests.
The differences between the two candidates, he says, are that he’s someone who can win statewide, as he did in 2013 “with more votes than anyone has ever gotten in an off-year election.”
Says Northam, “We need someone who knows how to win in rural Virginia. We need someone with the backbone to lead the resistance.”
The platforms
Listening to Perriello and Northam on the stump, one is struck by how similar they are on the issues.
Both support women’s rights on abortion. Northam voted against the General Assembly’s notorious transvaginal ultrasound bill in 2012, which even conservative Governor Bob McDonnell rebuffed as too extreme, and that’s earned him NARAL’s endorsement.
Perriello has gotten heat for his vote in support of the Stupak Amendment, which banned federal funding of abortion in the Affordable Care Act. “There are insinuations I was not pro choice,” he says. “I’ve always supported Roe v. Wade. Stupak was a vote I’ve long regretted.”
The environment is a big issue for both candidates. Perriello opposes the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, while Northam points out it’s not a state decision, and that if it happens, it should be done with transparency, with environmental responsibility and with respect for property rights.
That position got him interrupted at The Haven, where two pipeline protesters read a script from their cellphones, demanded his support and were joined by a handful of others who chanted briefly, and then split. Northam responded courteously.
And of course Perriello has hammered on Northam’s acceptance of close to $40,000 from Dominion, while Perriello pledged to accept no donations from the power company or anypublic utilities.
Northam, in turn, has pointed out Perriello’s $250,000 funding from George Soros and $200,000 from Avaaz, an advocacy group Perriello helped start in 2007, which Northam calls “dark money.”
Says Northam, “He obviously has a lot of out-of-state support. Mine is in Virginia. I’m very proud to have the grassroots support here. This is a Virginia race.”
Perriello got a $500,000 check from local philanthropist Sonjia Smith, while her husband, Michael Bills, has donated $200,000 since 2015 to Northam. Both declined to comment, but in an April 19 op-ed in the Roanoke Times, Smith said it was all about Perriello’s pro-choice stance.
As for the domestic split in candidate support, on the phone Smith would only say, “You’re not the first to point that out.”
Crushing it
The day after the House of Representatives repealed the Affordable Care Act, Tom Perriello released an ad in which an ambulance is being crushed in the background while he stands in front of it and says, “Republican leaders are trying to do this to affordable health care.”
Says Perriello a few weeks later, “I really did do the ambulance ad in one take.”
Apparently scrap ambulances are hard to find, and it’s even harder to find one in a scrapyard that has a crusher. “But, as luck would have it, we found one locally in the D.C. metro area, sans engine, which is where we also shot the ad,” says Perriello staffer Remi Yamamoto.
“It began raining early in the shoot, when we were practicing,” she writes in an email. “So we were all worried that the ad wouldn’t get shot. But it cleared up, and we were able to shoot.”
Unexpected during the live take was how loud an ambulance being crushed is, “which is why Tom had to speak loudly to be heard over the booming noise of the crusher,” she says.
The ad was shot by Washington firm Putnam Partners, which specializes in Dem advertising.
According to the AP, Northam has spent $1.2 million on TV, more than double Perriello’s $500,000.
Both candidates support free community college. “The American dream as we celebrate it has turned from a cycle of opportunity to a cycle of debt,” says Perriello, with students coming out of college $35,000 to $45,000 in debt, and then being told five years later they need a master’s degree.
And he decries the minimum wage track that adds up to $14,000 annual income and a cycle of poverty “that’s unprecedented in America.” Even at the $28,000 living wage levels, a woman loses money if she has to pay for child care, he says.
Both also support criminal justice reform, and note that cell phone theft in a state where a larceny of more than $200 is a felony sends too many minority offenders on a school-to-prison pipeline.
Northam drew applause at The Haven when he said there are a lot of potential medical uses for marijuana and that he supports its decriminalization, as does Perriello.
And both point to a looming 2021, when the voting district lines get drawn. “It’s imperative we have a Democratic governor,” says Northam. “It’s important to stop the gerrymandering.”
He also points out the 111 vetoes McAuliffe signed for legislation from the GOP-controlled General Assembly that, he says, discriminates against LGBTQ people, immigrants and women’s access to health care. “If we didn’t have a Democratic governor, we’d be like North Carolina,” says Northam.
That state’s bathroom bill was bad for business and led to boycotts. When trying to entice companies to Virginia, Northam says one of the first questions he’s asked is whether Virginia is inclusive. And he wants to say, “We’re progressive, and we’re open for business.”
Northam touts his experience in the legislature in a state where the governor gets one term. “You have four years and you’ve got to hit the ground running,” he says. And that’s where having good relationships in the General Assembly will pay off, he says.
But Perriello maintains that generating excitement with new ideas is the way to keep a Democrat in the governor’s mansion. “By getting in this race, a lot more people are excited—a lot of people who don’t normally vote in off-year elections,” he says. “We have to give them a reason to be excited and provide a firewall against the hate and bigotry of Trump.”
And he disputes a common Democratic practice of running a more moderate candidate as “disastrous, because between two Republicans, they’ll vote for the real Republican.”
“The Democratic party is doing a lot of post-2016 posturing,” observes Charlottesville GOP head Erich Reimer. “This race is going to be a toss-up on whether they are more openly progressive or more centrist.”
House Minority Leader David Toscano signed on with Northam more than a year ago, but he’s not dissing Perriello.
“People support Ralph because he’s been running on the issues a long time,” says Toscano. “I like Tom because of his youthful energy, his enthusiasm and his support for progressive issues and the fact he did a great job as a congressman.”
What Toscano likes is that the race is not a choice between “the lesser of two evils.” He thinks the primary will make whoever wins a better Dem candidate in the fall when he will likely face the GOP’s Ed Gillespie, but in May, the primary race is “really unpredictable and comes down to the last few weeks.”
Perriello demonstrates a knack for channeling the enthusiasm of people galvanized by the election of Trump who have been calling their congressman or attending marches and protests since the election—and for putting it into the big picture.
“I believe this isn’t just about the governor’s race,” says Perriello. “It’s a chance to redefine the political landscape for a generation.”
Primary season: The other races
While the Ralph Northam/Tom Perriello matchup is the closest horse race in the Old Dominion, there are actually other candidates on the June 13 primary ballot. The GOP is also nominating a gubernatorial candidate, and Ed Gillespie is the odds-on favorite. Six people—three from each party—are vying for the low-profile lieutenant governor job. Here’s a heads-up before you enter the voting booth.
Governor
Republican candidates
Ed Gillespie
Fairfax County
Former adviser to President George W. Bush, former chair of the Republican National Committee
Claim to fame: Nearly upset Senator Mark Warner in 2014. Campaign contributors include Bush and Karl Rove.
Corey Stewart
Woodbridge
Attorney, chair Prince William County Board of Supervisors
Claim to fame: Trump’s campaign chair in Virginia until he was fired has embraced all things Confederate, including Charlottesville’s statue of General Robert E. Lee.
Frank Wagner
Virginia Beach
State senator
Claim to fame: He’s been totally overshadowed by Stewart’s antics and Gillespie’s enormous war chest.
Lieutenant governor
Republicans
Bryce Reeves
Fredericksburg
State senator for 16th District, which includes eastern Albemarle
Claim to fame: Filed a defamation lawsuit against possibly fictitious Martha McDaniel, who sent out an email to his supporters alleging Reeves is having an affair with an aide, which he denies. He has hired Nicole Eramo’s attorney, Libby Locke, who wants to depose his opponent Jill Vogel because the email came from a cell phone registered to Vogel’s husband.
Jill H. Vogel
Upperville
State senator
Claim to fame: See above. Vogel alleges her computer system was hacked and that she’s the victim of a political stunt.
Glenn Davis
Virginia Beach
Delegate/CEO OnCall Telecom
Claim to fame: Davis has been completely overshadowed by the Reeves/Vogel contretemps, but he does have a cool-looking campaign RV, and he’s asked for an investigation of Vogel’s ads against him.
Democrats
Justin Fairfax
Annandale
Former assistant U.S. attorney now in private practice
Claim to fame: Ran for state attorney general in 2013; endorsed by former 5th District congressman L.F. Payne.
Susan Platt
Great Falls
Activist, former chief of staff to then-Senator Joe Biden
Claim to fame: Endorsed by Rosie O’Donnell and Emily’s List; resolved a nearly $100,000 federal tax lien from 2011, which she says occurred after losing a child to addiction and draining retirement funds to pay for rehab.
Gene Rossi
Alexandria
Former U.S. prosecutor
Claim to fame: Survived a rare disease, amyloidosis; made 235 convictions in Operation Cotton Candy, a multi-year opioid investigation, and trained opponent Justin Fairfax in the Eastern Districtof Virginia.
Both candidates for attorney general, incumbent Democrat Mark Herring and Republican John Adams, are the only candidates to qualify for their respective parties’ primaries and will be on the ballot November 7.
House of Delegates Minority Leader David Toscano. Submitted photo
Toscano gets a challenger
When David Toscano first ran for City Council in 1990, it was as a member of the Citizen Party. In the 27 years since, he’s gone from radical to Democratic establishment as the House of Delegates minority leader. And he faces his first Dem primary challenger in the dozen years he’s been in the House—one who contends Toscano’s not progressive enough.
UVA instructor Ross Mittiga, 28, who’s working on a Ph.D. on the ethical challenges of climate change, is another candidate spurred to action following the election of Donald Trump.
“After I recovered from that, I realized progressive environmentalists have to focus on the local level,” he says. “Delegate Toscano had a great reputation as a liberal lion of the General Assembly.” It’s the contributions from telecommunication corporations, banking, developers and Dominion Energy that concerned him, he says.
In particular, Mittiga questions a Toscano vote that froze Dominion rates, which he calls a “massive giveaway.” And he says he called Toscano’s office “dozens of times” and couldn’t get his position on the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. “Those are things that really bothered me,” he says.
When asked whether he’s in Dominion’s pocket, you can almost hear Toscano, 66, rolling his eyes over the phone. “I’d like to think my record stands for itself,” he says.
The more than $200,000 Toscano was sitting on at the end of March comes from a wide variety of donors. “Does that contribution buy a vote?” he asks. “The good news is I have a record. There are times I’ve supported Dominion and times I don’t.”
Ross Mittiga. Submitted photo
He has supported renewable energy and fought against the coal tax credit, he says. With endorsements from the Sierra Club and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, he says, “my environmental bona fides are pretty good.”
Mittiga has endorsements, too: The Democratic Socialists of America and the local Our Revolution, an offshoot of the Bernie Sanders-affiliated Political Revolution.
“A lot of people are really excited” about his campaign raising environmental issues, says Mittiga. And better yet if he can beat the House minority leader who “has a quarter million dollar advantage over us,” he says.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello, who opposes the pipeline, was at the fundraiser where protesters temporarily took the stage. Photo by Jen Fariello
Gubernatorial candidates Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello and three lieutenant governor hopefuls were in town over the weekend for the Charlottesville Democratic Party’s 17th annual pasta supper and auction. New on this year’s menu was an Atlantic Coast Pipeline protest in which seven sign-carrying UVA students took the stage to demand that the candidates oppose the $6 billion project.
Perriello has been vocal about his opposition to the pipeline, while Northam has been silent on the issue, but has reportedly accepted more than $97,000 from Dominion Energy, a major company backing the pipeline, according to the Virginia Public Access Project.
First-year Clara Camber, a member of the university’s Climate Action Society, which organized the protest, filmed the protest from the crowd.
“When the young women demanded resistance from Democratic candidates to pipelines that threaten Virginia, they were grabbed and pushed by local party leaders,” Camber says. “The moderator led the crowd in chanting, ‘Leave the stage!’ while others shouted back, ‘Let them speak!’ and ‘They deserve to be heard.’”
Protesting the fundraiser was a strategic move, she adds.
“People might expect a protest in a Republican fundraising event, but, honestly, I think that going to the Democratic party was [better] because we have a better shot with them,” she says. “They are people who are already a lot closer to where I align my views.”
The girls were asked several times by the party’s co-chairs to leave the stage and they refused, says Erin Monaghan, the local Democratic party’s communications representative. “Nothing like this kind of action has ever been part of what is considered a social event before.”
But Camber says her group isn’t discouraged.
“We’ll be back,” she says. “As youth in our community, we feel surprisingly neglected. We’re supposed to be in this progressive party and we’re called upon to knock on doors and help them out, but they don’t really want to listen to us.”
