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In brief: Winter of our discontent, gerrymandering intact and more

Protests erupt

President Trump’s January 27 executive order banning refugees from seven Muslim countries caused chaos in airports and demonstrations all over the country. Hundreds packed The Haven January 28 for the first meeting of Indivisible Charlottesville, which is dedicated to opposing Trump’s agenda, and hundreds more demonstrated at UVA the next day. Mayor Mike Signer declared Charlottesville the “capital of the resistance” January 31.

Not everyone is upset with Trump

Will Tom Garrett’s support of Donald Trump help him in his 5th District race against Jane Dittmar?
Congressman Tom Garrett. File photo

New 5th District Congressman Tom Garrett praised the new prez’s flurry of executive orders, and called Signer’s response “reactionary fear mongering” on WINA January 31. Local gubernatorial candidate and Silverback Distillery owner Denver Riggleman says, as a former counter-terrorism intelligence officer, the 90-day vetting period isn’t a Muslim ban.

Kessler in court

The blogger who is collecting a petition to remove Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy from City Council was scheduled to be in Charlottesville General District Court January 31 facing an assault charge, as was James Justin Taylor, whom Jason Kessler says assaulted him. Kessler’s hearing was continued to March 3, according to court records. “You guys are all over this,” he said on the phone, likening his case to “red meat” for reporters.

Shot in the arm

UVA School of Medicine got a $25 million bump from the National Institutes of Health for biomedical research, bringing its 2016 federal funding to $126 million, according to a release.

Richmond rundown

The General Assembly is fast approaching crossover in this year’s session when each house exchanges bills it’s approved.

Gang of four kills redistricting reform Early January 30 in a House subcommittee, multiple bills to address gerrymandering all died at the hands of delegates Randy Minchew, Mark Cole, Tim Hugo and Jackson Miller.

Getty ImagesBusted for pot, lose your license A bill to nix the automatic six-month driver’s license suspension on marijuana convictions—unless you’re a juvenile—passed a House of Delegates committee January 27.

More medicinal pot Virginia has had medical marijuana on the books for decades, but no one has ever actually been able to get a prescription for it until last year’s legislature opened up THC-A oil for intractable epilepsy. The Senate okayed January 26 the addition of cancer, HIV, MS and other diseases as eligible for the non-high-producing oil.

Butts out A bill that says cigarette and cigar butts are indeed litter advanced in the General Assembly with bipartisan support.

Tim Kaine's official U.S. Senate photoTim Kaine scenario A Republican bill in the House removed the governor’s ability to fill temporarily a U.S. Senate seat until the next election, and instead allows the governor to call a special election—but doesn’t specify a time frame. Odds of Terry McAuliffe signing this into law: zilch.

Religious freedom The bill that allows churches to discriminate against LGBTs passed a House committee again, as it did last year. Odds of McAuliffe signing: zip.

Out with the old and in with the new?

In December, C-VILLE reported on a $4 million Cessna Citation Bravo (i.e. jet) owned by UVA since 2004. This came after a rumor that Thomas Jefferson’s university had purchased a new aircraft, which UVA denied.

uva_plane
The new model is a 2015 Cessna Citation, according to the FAA website. Wikipedia Commons user Markus Eigenheer

But perhaps we were on the right track, amid claims from UVA that there was no new aircraft in the picture. The Federal Aviation Administration’s website documents that tail number N560VA was reserved by the University of Virginia Foundation on December 30—just two days after our report was published. And on January 24, the foundation requested a new number for a 2015 Cessna Citation 560XL.

And what’s this? The university’s original Cessna, marked with tail number N800VA, is listed on Aircraft Shopper Online, a real-time aircraft market, for $1,095,000.

UVA has declined to comment.

Quote of the week

“Our refugee vetting system is the most sophisticated in the world. It is not insecure, it is not unsafe.”—Former U.S. State Department official Robert Kubinec at Sunday’s UVA rally and march, according to the Daily Progress.

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News

In brief: Tim Kaine drops by, Dish drops Newsplex and more

Kaine’s campaign continues

Fresh on the heels of an unsuccessful run for vice president, Senator Tim Kaine was in Charlottesville January 13 at UVA’s Claude Moore Medical Education Building for a town hall with med students on the Affordable Care Act, which faces repeal by the GOP in Congress.

Kaine on health care under Donald Trump:

  • Repeal without replacement: “I will jump off a cliff and figure out how to land once I’m in the air.”
  • Worst victims of repeal: Rural hospitals, reproductive health
  • Upside: Trump’s negotiating skills could help prescription drug costs
  • Cooperation across the aisle in reforming Obamacare: It’s possible.
  • Overall mood: Optimistic and maybe a little naive

ACA repeal protests

Two separate rallies January 15 drew demonstrators to the Downtown Mall and to Republican Tom Garrett’s Charlottesville office to denounce plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Jane Dittmar’s latest gig

Jane Dittmar was unable to overcome the odds in the GOP-heavy 5th District. Photo Eze Amos
Photo by Eze Amos

The former 5th District congressional candidate joins House of Delegates minority leader David Toscano as his chief of staff, succeeding Carmen Bingham. Dittmar has served as chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors and as president of the Charlottes-ville Regional Chamber of Commerce. She lost in November to Garrett.

Weekend woundings

Police responded to two separate stabbings January 14. Marc Gardner Carson, 58, is charged with malicious wounding following a 5am call to 7½ Street SW, where the incident resulted in a 58-year-old man being taken to the hospital. Sadie Michie, 27, is charged with malicious wounding for a Sixth Street SE incident that injured a 26-year-old male.

Dish drops Newsplex

The local ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates—found on channels 16, 19 and 27—will no longer be available to Dish Network customers, according to a press release sent January 17. “We are shocked and disappointed,” says Jay Barton, the station’s vice prez and general manager.

School bus fire

schoolBusFire2-I64_VSP
Virginia State Police

An Albemarle County bus carrying the Monticello High swim team began smoking and then ignited on I-64 on Afton Mountain around 5pm January 13. All 23 team members, three coaches and the driver escaped unharmed, and the cause of the conflagration is under investigation.

By the numbers: The General Assembly

Virginia’s legislature kicked off its short session January 11 with Governor Terry McAuliffe giving his last State of the Commonwealth address. So far, a bathroom bill is getting attention, but for many, there are more pressing issues.

45 – Number of days Virginia’s part-time legislature meets

1,272 – Number of bills introduced in the House of Delegates

843 – Number of bills carried in
the Senate

$1.2 billion – Budget shortfall and biggest issue

Quote of the Week:

“[T]his bill serves as a vehicle to undo the monstrosity that is Obamacare.” —U.S. Representative Tom Garrett January 13 after the House approved a budget resolution that would begin the process of dismantling the Affordable Care Act.

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News

Winners and losers on election night

As the presidential election played out across the United States, the battle for both the White House and an open seat in the U.S. House of Representatives played out in Charlottesville on its own small scale.

At Carver Recreation Center near the Downtown Mall, afternoon voters were greeted by a pair of smiling volunteers from the Charlottesville Democratic Party who offered sample ballots. A uniformed sheriff’s deputy stood facing the street, watching for trouble that never materialized. Typical of city precincts, no Republican representatives were present.

Polling places throughout the city and in parts of Albemarle County were heavily manned by Dem volunteers. But as the results came in, the relative strength of the Democratic organization in Charlottesville was overwhelmed by the overall numbers throughout the 5th Congressional District.

“We’ve known for quite a while that our field effort, our ground game was very energetic and very extensive,” said Tom Vandever, a former mayor of Charlottesville and campaign manager for Democratic congressional nominee Jane Dittmar. As he waited for the polls to close among a throng of supporters at the Democrats’ celebration in the lobby of the brand new Residence Inn on West Main Street, the tone of the room was optimistic.

“We haven’t seen the same evidence from [Republican Tom Garrett’s] campaign,” said Vandever, who noted that the Republican Campaign Committee dropped over a million dollars on his campaign. “That’s a lot of money to drop on a campaign and it’s certainly helped him,” said Vandever. “But we’ve known all along that getting our voters to the polls on Election Day was going to be critical. We’ve had hundreds of volunteers making phone calls and knocking on doors all over the district.”

At 7:30pm, shortly after the polls closed, expectations in the Democratic camp were high for Clinton and at least hopeful for Dittmar. Smiling volunteers laid out tins of homemade cookies.

“We’re hoping to see at least 65 percent for Jane in Albemarle County, at least 75 percent in Charlottesville,” Vandever said.

garrett
A victorious Tom Garrett is flanked by state Senator Frank Wagner, who is running for governor, and state Senator Bryce Reeves, who wants to be lieutenant governor in 2017. Photo Eze Amos

A few blocks away, Charlottesville’s Republicans had gathered in a tightly packed crowd at Random Row Brewing Company to watch the results come in. Free beer flowed from the taps amid occasional chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump!”

“I woke up this morning knowing that I needed to go poll watch in whatever poll wasn’t covered in my city,” said Barbara Null, chair of the Republican Party of Charlottesville.

“Tom Garrett, I love,” she said. “He’s a great guy.” Null said the former Louisa commonwealth’s attorney will do what he says and he’s honest. “I worked very hard for his campaign and I’m really excited,” said Null. “He’s got all these great ideas, like letting people delay taking Social Security to pay off their student debt.”

Null would have liked more GOPers to work the polls in the city, but that’s always a problem, she said. “You don’t register by party so there aren’t a lot of Republican leaning people in the city but there’s a good core and we use them.” She added, “I think we did good.”

Vandever knew that his candidate had a tough fight outside of Charlottesville.

“The 5th District is a difficult district,” Vandever said. “We don’t know the impact that the Trump campaign is going to be. Jane is tied to Clinton, Tom is tied to Trump. Clinton has to stay relatively close to Trump in the 5th for Jane to catapult over. If Clinton goes down by five, six points in the 5th, it’s going to be a tough haul for Jane to win. But if it’s within three, then we’ve got the springboard to pull it off.”

Dittmar was crushed 58 percent to 42 percent. Charlottesville’s well-organized Dems brought her 79 percent within the city, while in Albemarle, she took 57 percent.

Frank Squillace embraces his wife, Jane Dittmar, after she concedes Tuesday night. Photo Eze Amos
Frank Squillace embraces his wife, Jane Dittmar, after she concedes Tuesday night. Photo Eze Amos

In the 5th District overall, Donald Trump received 53 points to Hillary Clinton’s 42.

As the night wore on, the Democratic gathering was reduced to a few dozen people who had given up on Dittmar but grimly hoped for the defeat of Trump. Empty wine glasses littered the stone tables where supporters sat watching MSNBC and CNN. A hotel employee announced that the remaining cookies were about to be thrown in the trash. Last call.

Back at Random Row, the Republican crowd had dwindled somewhat by midnight but grown no quieter as they watched the large television screens hung over the bar. Fox News called Pennsylvania for Trump. “USA, USA, USA!” chanted a group of men by the bar. Lagers and ales were served up in tulip-shaped stemware. They had run clear out of pint glasses hours ago.

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Opinion

Faraway, so close: What does the future hold?

Although it seems almost impossible to believe, this is the final column we will publish before the awesomely epic election of 2016. Yes, we will pen one more before the last votes are cast and counted, but it will not see the light of day until the polling places have closed, and the new president and Congress of the United States have emerged from the bitter clouds of dust kicked up during this acrimonious election season.

This, of course, has put us in a contemplative state of mind. Not so much about the eventual outcome, which—at least at the top of the ticket—seems clear. No, we’ve been thinking more about what comes after, and whether or not this magnificent republic of ours can somehow find its way back to normalcy. Much of this depends on the actions and reactions of a small minority of politicians and voters—mostly elephants, but also amongst die-hard donkeys, as well.

First, a quick look at the state of play. As election day nears, it is increasingly obvious that Republican standard-bearer Donald J. Trump is courting a catastrophic landslide defeat. Will it be Goldwater ’64, McGovern ’72, Mondale ’84 territory? Perhaps not quite that bad, but definitely close. And this historic drubbing is certain to have a huge down-ballot effect, which is why Republican strategists are currently in such a panic.

The problem is that there’s no real solution to a problem like Trump. In Virginia, which the Trump campaign has essentially abandoned, Republican congress-critters have tried a variety of tactics, none of them particularly effective. Delegate Scott Taylor, who is running to replace the 2nd District’s retiring Representative Scott Rigell, has been a loyal Trump surrogate, and thus lashed himself to an immensely unpopular  candidate who, according to recent polls, is trailing Hillary Clinton by 12 points in the commonwealth. Conversely, in the more moderate 10th District, Representative Barbara Comstock has been harshly critical of Trump, and yet is still in real danger of losing her reelection bid due to disaffected Republican voters punishing her for her apostasy.

And here in the 5th District, state Republican Senator Tom Garrett—who has condemned Trump’s behavior but still supports him—has been caught flat-footed by Democrat Jane Dittmar, who has consistently out-fundraised him and was recently endorsed by President Obama.

It’s also here where some of the more malevolent forces at work in this election have unexpectedly erupted. The most prominent incident involved two Trump supporters who parked outside of Dittmar’s Palmyra office for 12 hours, openly brandishing guns and holding up Trump signs. When this threatening maneuver got national press, Dittmar’s Facebook page was so overwhelmed with abusive rhetoric that she had to temporarily shut it down.

Things got so nasty, in fact, that—in the wake of conservative bloggers posting documents purporting to show that Dittmar was convicted of a DUI in 1999 (she was not)—Garrett actually showed up at a Dittmar event on the Downtown Mall to join in her calls for greater civility (see page 12).

Unfortunately, it’s not at all clear that civility is what we’re going to get in the wake of this unprecedented, frequently stomach-churning election. As long as Trump persists with his idiotic claims of a “rigged election,” and continues to encourage an army of poll-watching partisans to show up (armed, if possible) and confront non-white citizens as they arrive to vote, then the aftermath of this presidential pie fight could be even worse than the main event.

And in that case, we all lose.

Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, twice-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics.

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News

Dittmar begs for civility, speaks out about filthy messages sent to her campaign

Democratic 5th District congressional candidate Jane Dittmar held an October 19 press conference on the Downtown Mall following her campaign’s denouncement of “sleazy Republican charges” brought to light by opponents days prior.

But she did not address the alleged 1999 DUI and improper child restraint charges—instead, Dittmar begged for respect in the final weeks of the race, saying “civility is the highest form of self government,” as she set the stage for Genevieve Cox, her communications manager.

Stepping away from the microphone that echoed down the mall, Cox read a dozen vulgar Facebook messages and voicemails the campaign has received since publishing a Facebook post about two gun-toting Trump supporters who protested outside her Palmyra office for 12 hours on October 13.

“Your a dumbass liberal bitch,” a comment by Facebook user T.J. Robinson reads. Raymond Waycaster said, “Jane, you are a retarded and should disembowel yourself with a spoon.”

Cox, choked up from reading the comments, gained composure and continued reading a list of voicemails.

“Hey Jane, seeing as you hate freedom so much and the Constitution, why would anybody vote for your skank ass? You should probably just go back to the kitchen and make some fucking sandwiches,” a caller said.

Cox ended the conference by saying Dittmar’s campaign has received more than 5,000 similar messages.

 

Corrected October 19 at 2:00 to say Jane Dittmar opponents, not Tom Garrett, brought her alleged charges to light.

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News

In brief: Fear and legal gun-toting, Bella’s fallout and more

An apology—and a boycott

Doug Muir, the UVA lecturer who compared Black Lives Matter to the KKK in a Facebook post, apologized, saying he was unaware of the Klan’s violent history. His one-week leave from the engineering school ended October 17. Meanwhile, local groups, including the NAACP, staged a protest October 14 at Bella’s, the restaurant he owns, to say that his brief leave of absence wasn’t enough for reconciliation. Among protesters was Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy, who is known for his engagement in the local African-American community.

Armed protesters freak out volunteers

Two heat-packing Trump supporters stood outside Democratic 5th District candidate Jane Dittmar’s office October 13 for nearly 12 hours. Her opponent, Tom Garrett, responded with a tweet: “I’m confused. Are you pro 2nd amdt or pro call 911 when someone is legally carrying and abiding by open carry laws in VA?”

garrett-tweet

Dittmar denies DUI

Blog reports appearing October 17 accused Dittmar of being charged with driving under the influence with children in the car after a 1999 crash. “My DMV record has never had a DUI violation and I have never been convicted of a DUI violation,” says Dittmar in a statement, which denounced Garrett for attempting to retry a case settled 17 years ago.

AdvanceAmericaRobbery_10122016_2New look in robbery attire

A motorcycle helmet-clad man wearing a neon reflective vest and a bandanna over his face—but without a weapon—held up Advance America’s Pantops payday loan office October 12 and escaped on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Bummer for state employees

A $1.5 billion shortfall means raises will be nixed for state employees, including already shorted state police, who are leaving in droves for higher-paying jobs. And the Library of Virginia takes the bulk of the state’s layoff of 26 employees.

But a bonus for county employees?

Preliminary figures released in an unaudited financial report in Albemarle County show that there could be an $8.6 million budget surplus at the end of the fiscal year, partially due to increased collections in sales, food and lodging taxes. Betty Burrell, the county’s finance director, tells Charlottesville Tomorrow the money will be used for “one-time expenditures.”

A presidential candidate’s visit

The Libertarian Party’s Gary Johnson appeared on “American Forum,” filmed by UVA’s Miller Center October 17. He said he seeks equal representation for the younger generation, which is “really getting screwed in what’s happening” with health care, Medicaid and Medicare. “We’re sending you to war,” he added.

Get thee to a polling place

gail wileyAll people are not created equal in their ability to get to the polls on election day, and that’s why Car2Vote is offering to transport them. “We’ve seen how grateful some of our marginalized citizens are to get help to get to the polls,” says founder Gail Wiley, who has been delivering voters since 2010. The nonpartisan service has around 35 volunteers, and the League of Women Voters, city and county registrars and local Dems are referring people who need a ride to Car2Vote.

Call 260-1547 (Spanish language line is 260-1548) for free rides for:

  • Voter IDs
  • Early voting, if qualified
  • Absentee ballot application
  • Election day voting

Republicans have their own volunteers who offer rides: Call 973-5499.

Quote of the week

“We’re not a threat to anybody. The only threat is ignorance, and ignorance breeds fear.”—Trump supporter and armed protester Daniel Parks tells the Newsplex outside the Jane Dittmar campaign headquarters in Fluvanna.

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News

Toss up? Down ticket in the 5th District

In a normal election year, the incumbent Republican 5th District congressman would run for re-election and win. That’s how it works. Incumbents are always favored, and in a gerrymandered district, they’ve already picked their voters.

Turns out 2016 is anything but a normal election year.

At the top of the ticket are two of the least-liked candidates ever to run for president. And one of them is Donald Trump, a wild card like none seen before.

The 5th District, which stretches from the North Carolina border to Northern Virginia, with Charlottesville plop in the middle, has gone red for most of this century, except for Dem Tom Perriello’s unexpected win in 2008 over Virgil Goode that carried him for exactly one term.

Into this topsy-turvy landscape, enter Democrat Jane Dittmar and Republican Tom Garrett.

Dittmar, a mediator, has been methodically running for more than a year. She’s raised more than three times what Garrett has, reporting $557,000 in June 30 filings to Garrett’s $152,000, according to Virginia Public Access Project, and on September 23, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee dubbed the 5th District a “Red to Blue” race.

“That suggests the national Democrats think she has a good enough chance of winning,” says Geoffrey Skelley at UVA’s Center for Politics. “It could be an indication they might be willing to spend money on her, but it’s not guaranteed.”

Garrett, a state senator, secured the GOP nomination in May after a bruising convention and beating out three other candidates on the third ballot. He’s an unabashed Trump supporter, and while other Republican candidates in Virginia are trying to distance themselves from Trump, pundits expect him to do well in Southside.

“There are two 5th Districts,” says conservative blog Bearing Drift’s Shaun Kenney: north of the James, which includes Charlottesville, and Danville as capital of south of the river. “In Southside, with its tremendous job losses, Trump is an asset,” says Kenney.

Initially Dittmar tried to link Garrett to Trump, says Kenney. “Now she’s trying to make a case for herself rather than against Garrett.” Her public image is genuine and one of kindness, he says. “I haven’t seen anything terribly radical that would scare independents.”

The 5th, says Kenney, “is designed to be a lock for a Republican candidate. But it can be a surprise. Ask Virgil Goode.”

He notes problems with Garrett’s campaign—three staffers to Dittmar’s 10, Dittmar amassing a much larger war chest and two times the cash on hand. Route 360 in the south of the James sector “has more Dittmar signs,” he says. “That’s not a place you’d expect to find them.”

Both candidates have had minor campaign finance snafus. Dittmar misread a federal document and reported assets of more than $50 million.

Garrett used $1,495 out of his state senate war chest to pay for a congressional race website, another no-no.

But Skelley doesn’t see that playing a role in the election. “Unless it’s particularly egregious, unless it’s large sums, it’s not going to make much difference. I don’t see voters getting worked up about it.”

What has worked Garrett up is a Dittmar ad portraying him as a supporter of uranium mining, a touchy subject in Southside. Angry about the ad and insisting the 2013 bill he carried was in support of nuclear energy, not uranium mining, Garrett demanded an apology.

However, Kenney pointed out in Bearing Drift that Garrett had supported uranium mining, has taken donations from Virginia Uranium in Chatham and was now backing away. “It’s curious to me why the backtrack,” says Kenney. “Was it on principle or on polls?”

“The fact Garrett responded that way may suggest he feels vulnerable,” says Skelley.

At press time, the Center for Politics’ Crystal Ball had the 5th District race in the Likely Republican column. But November 8 is still a month away. And Dittmar was running ads well before Garrett unveiled his first on September 28, noted Skelley.

While Clinton is expected to carry the state, says Skelley, “For Dittmar to win, she has to run ahead of Clinton, and she needs [Clinton] to run better than Obama.”

Background

Jane Dittmar, 60, is a mediator who owns Positive Solutions Group, former president of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce and former owner of Enterprise Travel. She served two years as chair of the Albemarle Board of Supervisors representing the Scottsville District through 2015. Dittmar moved to Virginia when she was 6 years old and is a UVA grad in economics.

Her mother, a former vice president of the national League of Women Voters and president of the Virginia League, worked as a special assistant for Illinois Senator Paul Douglas. There’s an ethics award established in his honor, and that’s who Dittmar lists as her political hero.

Buckingham resident Tom Garrett, 44, is serving his second term as state senator representing the 22nd District to the east of Charlottesville. The Louisa native, an attorney who studied at the University of Richmond, spent six years in the Army, and made his first foray into elected office in 2007 as Louisa commonwealth’s attorney. A newlywed, Garrett tied the knot after winning the GOP convention in May, and is campaigning with bride Flanna at his side.

Garrett lists Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan as his political inspirations. Truman “viewed himself a citizen” and he was “a straight talker,” says Garrett, while JFK was “very much outside the box in spurring the economy” and “ahead of his time in recognizing there were socio-economic and race problems in America that had to be addressed.”

Here’s how the candidates stand on the issues.

Why run?

The chances of being born in the U.S. are one in 26, according to Garrett. “I think the fundamental entitlement of every American is an equality of opportunity,” and government either perpetuates or stymies that. “To me it’s a duty to give back when I recognize how darn fortunate I’ve been,” he says. “I didn’t do anything to earn these gifts.”

Dittmar says there are two reasons she’s running. “I’m an infrastructure person. We have a digital deficit—a big one.” Albemarle has the best connectivity in the district, but whole counties like Rappahannock say Internet connectivity is its biggest problem, followed by cell phone coverage, she says. And a “broader, more idealistic” reason for running: “My dad worked for the Kennedy administration. In that era, people sent their best and brightest to Washington. I can’t believe the anger, disgust and, at best, disappointment toward Washington.”

Presidential race blowback?

“I wish I knew,” says Dittmar. She says Democrats and Republicans who are voting for Trump are supporting her. “Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders were lightning rods for anger that people feel,” she says. And despite the current Republican congressman, the 5th District “is moderate,” according a 2015 Pew study, she says.

The presidential race will affect the 5th District “however it does,” says Garrett. He believes Trump’s populism will resonate in Southside. “I’m supporting Mr. Trump and I hope he wins, but I’m not him.” Dittmar, he says, “is not Hillary Clinton. I hope people will evaluate our campaigns individually.”

Biggest issue in the 5th

Jobs and the economy, says Garrett. “There’s not a close second.” He, too, notes the “zones” of the 5th District, with Charlottesville “blessed” with the university and national security infrastructure from Sperry and the National Ground Intelligence Center. The Lynchburg metro area in the 6th District also has done well in creating jobs for those who live in the 5th, he says, whereas Henry County around Martinsville is “a proud, successful economic leader for [the] better part of a century” with jobs that are long gone. The northern end of the district is “beautiful and bucolic” and borders the Northern Virginia growth boom. “The commonality by and large in the 5th is hardworking people who say ‘please and thank you’ and ‘sir and ma’am,’ and hold the door,” he says.

Dittmar says outside of Charlottesville-Albemarle area, it’s jobs in the south and the environment in the north. The common thread throughout the district, except for Charlottesville, is Internet service—or the lack of. “You cannot grow a job base without it,” she says.

map

Biggest difference between you and your opponent

“White, male attorney,” says Dittmar. “Seriously, where we fall on the political spectrum, I’m a mediator. I look at both sides of the political coin. I’m always working in the center of the room. I think Tom Garrett by reputation and by the way he speaks of himself is far right. His original campaign letter brags about never compromising with moderates.” She points out Garrett said he’d join the Freedom Caucus in Congress, the unruly conservative group that vexed John Boehner when he was speaker. “We’d be sending someone there who’d be doing much of the same,” she says.

“I really like Jane,” Garrett says for the second time during an interview. “In 2015 I happened to be in the governor’s mansion when Deschutes came. I was only a member of the Senate there and it was by complete happenstance. They really wanted to come to Albemarle County.” Deschutes offered millions in economic benefits and jobs, says Garrett, but the Albemarle Board of Supervisors wouldn’t rezone 80 acres and the brewery didn’t feel welcome. “Jane said Albemarle County was not ready for those jobs,” says Garrett. “We need to find a way to get to yes versus finding a reason to say no. Those opportunities you just can’t miss.”

Congressional gridlock

Garrett says he’s already working across the aisle in Richmond, working with Democrat Dave Marsden on a medical marijuana bill and Barbara Favola on one to “eliminate the seclusion and restraint of little boys in school,” he says. “I’m as ADHD as they come,” and he says he was secluded for half a year. “My heart goes out to the teachers who have to deal with little hellions like me.” Garrett says while he has a “100 percent pro-life rating,” he was the only patron of the bill that got rid of Virginia’s “draconian” sodomy law. “Government shouldn’t dictate what adults above the age of consent in privacy do with one another,” he says. And he quotes Democratic Senator Don McEachin in a Richmond Times-Dispatch profile, who says, “I don’t agree with Garrett very often, but you know he’s speaking from the heart and telling the truth.”

“First of all, a lot of work is done at the committee level,” says Dittmar. “That size group I can work with. I feel like my skills will be very beneficial at that size. Parties control what bills come forward and apparently freshmen are like freshmen in high school.”  She says she’s concerned about the process, and that representatives need to have time to talk to constituents and to govern.

Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering and Citizens United—or “dark money,” says Dittmar—are considered the two biggest threats to democracy. “This district is the poster child for gerrymandering,” she says, lumping different regions of interest together. If she were just representing Albemarle and the northern part of the district, being on environmental committees in Congress would be a natural. But with Southside’s focus on jobs, she’d want to be on committees looking at economic development. States could do something about how the 700,000-population congressional districts are drawn, using a nonpartisan format to make them more compact, she says. And to those who say nonpartisan commissions are not possible, Dittmar says, “You’re talking to a mediator. We want a nonpartisan outcome. So you might get people in the room who fall into certain parties, but you get everyone together and you negotiate the outcome. You can strive for a bipartisan or nonpartisan outcome. Instead, it’s the party in power” that draws the lines.

“This is a tough one,” says Garrett, “because every nonpartisan commission is partisan.” He suggests that to get communities of interest, Democrats and Republicans should agree on the criteria. “Let the computer draw the district,” he says.

What’s next for the Affordable Care Act?

“I’m really disappointed so little effort was put into health savings accounts,” says Garrett, because it rewards those who make healthy lifestyle decisions. He says there’s been a 67 percent increase in health care premiums, and that his cousin and his family lost their health plan. “The word ‘mandate’ should be a dirty word,” says Garrett. “We need to empower people to make decisions for themselves, while recognizing in the most prosperous nation on earth, we’re not willing to let people die in the gutter.”

The ACA needs “a lot of work,” says Dittmar, because of its unintended consequences. She also notes the “wasted energy with repeal and replace when there’s no offer of replacement” in Congress. The overall objective to insure more people, allow young people to stay on their parents’ insurance until 26 and insurance portability have been accomplished, but, she says, “We need to work together” on each of the unintended consequences.

Gun violence

Dittmar favors universal background checks so people who should not have guns can’t buy them, which is what Virginia does, although it’s “squishy” because the background checks at gun shows are voluntary, she says. “I do not know why we have to fight as partisans on the no-fly list,” she says. “Fix the list. If the majority on there are bad hombres” that we don’t want on airplanes, why would we sell them guns? she asks.

“We have a violence problem beyond guns,” says Garrett. “You’re probably seven times more likely to be killed with a knife, with hands and feet or a blunt instrument than by an assault weapon.” He says there’s been more loss of lives from black-on-black murders each year than the total number of those in the military killed in Afghanistan since 2001. He’s a staunch believer in the Second Amendment right to defend himself, and says the vast majority of gun murders are committed with cheap handguns. “There’s no panacea,” observes Garrett, who points to the need for better schools, including charter schools, to provide the opportunity to succeed. As for gun law reform, “I don’t see the need,” he says, pointing to Nice, France, where a terrorist used a truck to kill dozens. “Is the proper response truck reform?” 

Immigration reform

“We need to control our borders,” says Garrett. He says he doesn’t blame immigrants coming here looking for work. “I’m not anti-immigrant,” he says. “I’m against the federal government not enforcing its own laws.” And his pet peeve is laws on the books that aren’t enforced equally, such as pot laws.

Dittmar likes the comprehensive reform bill the 2013 bipartisan Gang of Eight passed in the Senate, only to have it not reach the House floor, thanks to the objections of Republicans there. “It addressed borders, quotas, it addresses what to do with people already here, what path to citizenship,” she says.

Refugees fleeing Syria and ISIS

For those coming into this country from areas where terrorists and the Islamic State are a concern, Dittmar says, “The amount of vigilance we have is extraordinary.” Some of those who want to come here have acted as interpreters or provided intelligence, leaving them and their families vulnerable, she says. “We need to get them out of there or basically we’re sentencing them to death. We don’t want a black and white situation in which we say, if you’re from this country, you can’t come in.”

“We shouldn’t take refugees from any nation with ongoing Islamist bloodshed until our FBI director tells us they can be vetted,” says Garrett. And he quotes FBI director James Comey, who says there’s no way to adequately vet them. “We don’t have a duty to take people in until we know our citizens can be safe.”

Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Garrett says he tends to be pro-pipeline, but not for this one because there are alternate routes that already exist. With 1,400 pipelines already here, he wants a better grasp of how the people of the localities most affected feel before he can support the ACP.

Dittmar doesn’t support the pipeline, but she isn’t going to say don’t build it. Along with vocal opposition in Nelson County, there are groups there that want the pathway changed but don’t oppose the pipeline. In Buckingham County, its board of supervisors has passed a resolution in favor of the pipeline because it will be good for economic development, she says. She points out that the decision will be made by the state, not at the federal level. And she stresses that Dominion Virginia Power tries to influence legislators with money, and she’s not accepting donations from them. Garrett has taken a $5,000 donation, according to VPAP.

African-American voter disenfranchisement

She hasn’t seen it in the “Charlottesville-Albemarle bubble,” says Dittmar, “but there truly is voter suppression in the commonwealth.” She participated in a reenactment march in Lunenburg County, where the place to register to vote used to be only open two days a month from 2-4pm and citizens had to take time off from work to register. African-American voters are disproportionately challenged with income, health and transportation issues, she says, and while she has no problem with photo ID at the polls, it is harder for those who don’t drive to get an ID. Virginia’s lack of early voting and its requirements to get an absentee ballot also make it harder to vote, as does the state’s constitution that doesn’t automatically restore felon voting rights.

On the other hand, Garrett says he doesn’t believe African-American voters are disproportionately disenfranchised because there are so many checks and balances. And to those who say the photo ID requirement is disenfranchising, says Garrett, “I find that racist in itself.” He acknowledges that in the past efforts were made to keep blacks from voting, but says he doesn’t think that’s the case in 2016, and that black voter turnout was higher than white in 2012. The Brookings Institute reports 66.2 percent of eligible black voters went to the polls compared with 64.1 percent of eligible white voters.

Marijuana legalization

For a law and order guy, Garrett objects to the federal government’s continued classification of pot as a Schedule I drug with no medical use, while cocaine and heroin are at a lower Schedule 2 category. “What I would do is remove it from federal categorization and let the states decide,” he says. Virginia could be producing industrial hemp in Southside, he says. “We’re still sending kids to prison in Virginia for marijuana,” while the same kid in Colorado goes on his way.

Dittmar isn’t ready for legalization, but she’s eager to look at the data from states that have. “I’d like to see those outcomes after a few years to see if the harms were real or overstated before I ever venture into looking at legalization.” She does favor decriminalization because “far too many people are incarcerated in this country.”

Economic development

Economic resilience depends on the values of the community,” says Dittmar. For example, Nelson doesn’t want light manufacturing, she says, but does want tourism and agri-business growth. She advocates assessing the values and assets of a community and making sure the infrastructure—Internet, workforce training and paved roads—are in place for economic development. There is an issue with overregulation, which is the fault of the legislative branch, she says. “Legislators need to write better laws,” she says, with specific goals on what they want to accomplish, more study and more talking to the people being legislated.

According to Garrett, every employer he’s talked with says regulatory compliance needs to be changed. Lane Furniture in Altavista, after five generations, was “literally regulated out of business,” he asserts. And he wants localities to determine how to spend federal funds, citing the town that got $600,000 for crosswalks and a farmers market, but has crumbling water and sewer infrastructure. With $19 trillion in debt, he objects to federal funds being used to build dog parks. “State and federal government should shrink and local governments should grow, because that’s where we know how to get things done,” he says.

Environment

Garrett acknowledges climate change, but says there’s a debate about whether it’s caused by man. He advocates stewardship, recognizing that decisions do have impacts and to leave the environment in better shape than we found it.

“Climate change is here and it’s a huge threat to the whole planet,” says Dittmar. Mathews County no longer issues building permits because of rising sea levels, she says, and oyster beds are threatened because of warming seas, there’s a potable water threat in the eastern part of the state and Langley Air Force Base has runways underwater at high tide, all of which pose economic threats to Virginia. Climate change is exacerbated by emissions from cars and power plants. “We must move ourselves to cleaner fuels,” she says.

National debt

Reform the tax code and make spending bills that are just about spending, rather than adding political amendments that guaranteed to kill the legislation, advises Dittmar.

Move responsibility away from the federal government while empowering localities, says Garrett. Government must keep its promises about programs like Social Security, he says, and  proposes allowing students to postpone benefits in exchange for college debt forgiveness.

American polarization

It’s the media’s fault, says Garrett, because it focuses on if-it-bleeds-it-leads stories rather than those of politicians working across the aisle.

“I don’t think Americans are polarized,” says Dittmar. “I think the parties are polarized.”


The gentleman from Chatham has left the field

In office since he ran for town council in 2000, Robert Hurt at 47 seemed way too young to be walking away from elected office after serving in both houses of the General Assembly and winning election to Congress in 2010. Yet the 5th District congressman announced in January he would not seek a fourth term.

He says he “never envisioned making service in elective office a career,” and was looking forward to private life and finding other ways to serve.

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Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call

That, of course, did not stop speculation. And everyone prefaces their comments by saying how much they like Hurt.

“He wasn’t able to accomplish much,” says Jane Dittmar. “He didn’t find it an environment he could flourish in.”

Tom Garrett appreciates the fact that Hurt always took his calls. “I think he’s Trumanesque,” says Garrett. “I’ve seen that in his decision to retire at such a young age. He’s just a guy who felt compelled to serve. Robert has always been approachable and humble, and has the heart of a servant.”

“There are rumors he was going to face a challenger in the primary,” says Delegate David Toscano, who stresses that Hurt is a friend. “He became more ideological over the years.”

Toscano recalls that Hurt supported then-governor Mark Warner’s tax increase in 2004 when the state was left with a crippling shortfall after Jim Gilmore cut the car tax. “Robert stood up and said, ‘I’m going to do this because it’s needed and it’s the right thing to do,’” says Toscano.

That vote was lobbed back at him by his Tea Party opponents when he ran for Congress, and when he was elected, he embraced “a more conservative wing of the party,” says Toscano. “His stands were more strident over the years.”

As for Hurt’s accomplishments in Congress, Toscano says he can’t recall any besides constituent service, but adds, “It’s not easy for one member out of 435 to accomplish much.”

Hurt declined to be interviewed before the election, but in a statement, says that in the current Congress, seven of the eight bills he introduced were bipartisan.


The write-in

Brunswick County resident Kimberly Lowe, 40, is running for Congress—in the 5th and 9th districts. “You can do that as long as you’re a write-in candidate,” she says. “As long as it’s a federal race, you can run for a district you don’t live in.”

The homeschooling mother of three hails from Roanoke but has lived in Brunswick for fewer than two years. “I spent the first year here crying because people are living in poverty and despair,” she says. “When you don’t live in the rural area, you don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Courtesy subject

An educator, Lowe says the problems she sees can’t be fixed on the local level, and that’s why she’s running for Congress. She believes industrial hemp is a natural option for farmers, and says that’s stalled on the federal level.

Lowe’s grassroots campaign is a long shot, she concedes, and she’s busy making coalitions. “Everything will set me up for 2018.”

Categories
Opinion

Fighting the tide: Can Virginia’s Republicans overcome a Clinton victory?

Here’s one case study showing just how difficult it’s becoming for Virginia Republicans running local races: A recent internal poll conducted for the campaign of Democrat LuAnn Bennett, who is running to unseat Republican Barbara Comstock in Virginia’s 10th congressional district, showed Hillary Clinton beating Donald Trump in the race for president by a dizzying 14 percent.

Yes, this is an internal poll, and as such is inherently biased toward Bennett, but with Clinton’s substantial lead in Virginia (the two most recent polls, by CBS News and Christopher Newport University, have her up 8 and 10 points statewide, respectively), this sort of margin is not outside the realm of possibility. So, even though Comstock still has a narrow lead in the polls, she will almost certainly have to outperform Trump in the district by double digits in order to win.

And while Trump was surely hoping to make up ground with a knockout performance in the first presidential debate, the gale force winds created by his wild swings and missed punches only made things worse. While his pugilistic browbeating of Clinton on trade was effective (if migraine-inducing) early on, by night’s end it was Clinton who stood smiling, not a hair out of place, as Trump dug himself deeper and deeper on a raft of issues, including his unreleased taxes, his shady business practice, his promise that Iranian sailors who taunt U.S. warships “will be shot out of the water” and the blatant racism of his years-long claim that President Obama was not born in the U.S.

Of course, gerrymandering at the state level means that certain Republicans have absolutely nothing to worry about, no matter how ridiculous and extreme they may be. Take the case of Dave Brat, the bespectacled first-term congressman who unexpectedly knocked off House Minority Leader Eric Cantor in 2014. Although he boasts zero accomplishments as a U.S Representative, and has made a cottage industry of issuing crackpot statements (just last week, for instance, he told conservative talk radio host John Fredericks that the Black Lives Matter protesters in Charlotte were “radical groups that are funded out of George Soros’ pot of money,” while also insisting that the real “institutional racism” is perpetuated by Democrats who refuse to “get the Bible back in the classroom and religion back in the classroom”), Brat will almost certainly win his reelection race handily.

Still, there’s no telling what havoc the lead weight of Trump’s campaign might wreak across the commonwealth. Which is why endangered incumbents like Comstock (who supported Marco Rubio in the Republican primary) are running as far from him as they can. When asked by the Washington Post if she was planning on endorsing Trump, she replied, “If I change my mind, I’ll let you know,” and when pressed on whether she would even vote for him, she answered, cryptically, “I’m watching.”

And here in the 5th District, which many thought to be a lock for the elephants, there are increasingly strong signs that Jane Dittmar has a real shot at reclaiming the seat for the donkeys. Her fundraising has been unexpectedly robust (at last count, she had raised more than triple the amount of her opponent Tom Garrett), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee designated her race “Red-to-Blue” September 23 and, while UVA professor Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball website still rates the race “Likely Republican,” one of the site’s editors recently conceded to the Daily Progress that “problems at the top of the ticket could hurt down-ballot Republicans such as Tom Garrett.”

Ah, Donald Trump—you truly are the gift that keeps on giving.

Odd Dominion is an unabashedly liberal, twice-monthly op-ed column covering Virginia politics.

Categories
News

Tom Garrett on job creators tour

Congressional candidate Tom Garrett is back in Charlottesville today a week after he debated Dem Jane Dittmar at the Senior Center. The two are vying for the 5th District seat currently held by Robert Hurt, who decided not seek a third term.

C-VILLE caught up with Garrett, a state senator, at ACAC, where owner Phil Wendel, a reliable political contributor who usually leans Republican, showed him around the facility.

“We’re meeting job creators,” says Garrett, who notes that Wendel employs between 700 and 800 people in the Charlottesville area.

“What we’re constantly hearing is that the regulatory climate keeps businesses from doing things that create jobs,” says Garrett. Earlier at Gaston & Wyatt, he says he was told its owner spent between six and seven hours a week complying with OHSA.

He points to Lane Furniture in Altavista, which closed its doors because of the burden of meeting OHSA and EPA regulations for safety and health, according to Garrett. Lane had been in business for nearly 100 years, he says, “with no history of Lane employees getting hurt.”

flanna & tom garrettGarrett’s wife, Flanna, is campaigning with him, and said she could beat her husband in tennis, an assessment with which he disagreed. The couple resides in Buckingham.

Next on the job creators tour: gun store Woodbrook Sports and Floors R Us.

Categories
News

Let the 5th District debates begin

Congressional candidates Jane Dittmar and Tom Garrett met August 10 for the first of four forums, and the two agreed on several issues—and disagreed on many more. Around 200 people crammed into the Senior Center for the event sponsored by the Senior Statesmen of Virginia (no relation to the center).

Democrat Dittmar, a mediator, is the former chair of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, and Republican Garrett is a former prosecutor serving his second term in the state Senate. Both touted their credentials for working across the aisle.

Both opposed the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the route of which runs through Nelson County, and both said they’d defy their party’s whips and vote for the interests of the district in Congress.

Dittmar said she was “appalled” at what GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump said about the Khans, a Charlottesville Gold Star family whose son died in Iraq.

“I think Donald Trump is a smart man who sometimes picks dumb words,” said Garrett of his party’s standard bearer.

Garrett used the word “shameful” to describe the Affordable Care Act, the Veterans Administration and the rhetoric on gun safety. “You’re four times more likely to be killed by a knife,” he said. “The problem is not guns, it’s violence.”

Dittmar said that she supported the Second Amendment and universal background checks to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, those prone to violence and terrorists.

When asked what specific project they would take to Washington, Dittmar’s No. 1 issue is Internet service in rural areas. “I’m like a dog after a bone on that one,” she said.

Garrett said he’d work on economic development for the 5th District. And he used several opportunities to bring up Deschutes Brewery, which wanted to locate in Albemarle but the county, under Dittmar’s watch, refused to rezone as much land as the Oregon company needed.

He noted several times the lack of cell phone coverage on Route 20 south, which is in Dittmar’s Scottsville district. “It strikes me as brazen to say that we can have Internet service when we can’t get cell service on 20 south and in North Garden,” he said.

Garrett drew groans from the audience when he expressed doubt that climate change is caused by fossil fuels. “I believe climate change is real,” he said. “I believe as long as there has been a climate it’s been changing.” That response got applause, while protests came when he said, “There is debate about whether it’s man-caused.”

And on the national debt, he proposed that young people be given the opportunity to defer receiving Social Security benefits in return for forgiveness of student loan debt.

Dittmar said it was essential to send different people to Washington. “We sent these warriors to Washington and they don’t know how to govern.”

The candidates will meet three more times before November, and two of those—September 28 and October 10—will be in the Charlottesville area.

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Republican state Senator Tom Garrett at the Senior Statesmen debate August 10. Photo Eze Amos
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Jane Dittmar seeks the 5th District seat that hasn’t been held by a Democrat since Tom Perriello won it in 2008. Photo Eze Amos