The Louisa County Board of Supervisors has demonstrated its inability to pursue the stated core value of stewardship in a number of ways. I expect it will continue on the path of spoiling and destroying the county’s resources to chase down the mythical beast called economic development. It’s likely that the quality for thinking ahead has never been a strong requirement to serve on the board. Otherwise, we would’ve had results better than we’ve seen.
Before going too far, let me clarify that the county’s resources include not only natural resources, but also tax dollars and the citizens that pay them. The supervisors have seen fit to lay waste to these categories. And, I’ll apologize if I missed some details along the way, but in general, Louisa County citizens have to pay closer attention to, and prioritize, those resources that are especially significant. In my opinion, that would be water.
Right now, it’s being squandered in the name of a promised economic
development that may likely not happen. At least not without placing
an excessive burden on the citizens. It wasn’t that long ago that the supervisors claimed to have hearings about the level of groundwater relative to Spring Creek.
Dr. Nick Evans, a recognized expert in hydrogeology, presented an understandable analytical explanation of the potential risks to the groundwater in the county. The supervisors obviously ignored that report – easy enough to to if it hadn’t been read – in favor of a more familiar “disunderstanding” offered by Pam Baughman, Louisa County Water Authority general manager. Despite her lack of technical expertise, the supervisors allowed her to make the defense for development anyway.
On May 20 of this year, The Central Virginian posted a warning on its Facebook page to run both the cold and hot water, until it was clear. There were no other details I could find about this incident but it should be counted as one indicator, among many, that the stewardship by the supervisors, foresight in particular, won’t be counted as a feature of a functioning board.
We have droughts and oppressive heat in other parts of the country. Around the world, actually. Somehow, the supervisors must’ve deliberated and voted that Louisa County is an exclusion zone from the perils of the rest of the world. That’s not only negligence, but arrogance as well.
The Nestle Company diverted water from the local citizens’ water supply in Michigan to operate its water bottling plant. The concern was focused on environmental impact of the water withdrawals and the impact of privatizing water resources.
The Bechtel Company devised a scheme where the citizens of Bolivia had to pay for rainwater they collected for personal use. This was in 2006. Fortunately, the citizens fought Bechtel and won.
The Timmons Group has been successful in influencing the supervisors to push forward projects that aren’t always in the best interest of Louisa County citizens. I keep waiting to see how long the supervisors persist in abusing the public before there’s an appropriate backlash.
Joe Mikolajczak
Gordonsville
This letter was previously published in the July 8, 2021 edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.
Author: lcdcAdmin
Bad Votes on Education Bills
Education is something Virginians really care about. Virginia Commonwealth University took a poll recently and found that 70 percent of Virginians think Virginia schools need more funding.
Louisa’s delegate in Richmond, however, consistently votes against issues the Virginia Education Association calls “crucial education bills.” In 2021, John McGuire voted against five of the six such bills in the House. Accordingly, the VEA gives our delegate a 17 percent score in supporting education.
The six bills included the following:
House Bill 1736 – School Nurse bill, McGuire voted against.
House Bill 1904 – Cultural Competency, McGuire voted against.
House Bill 2027 – Growth Assessment, McGuire voted for.
House Bill 2176 – Abusive Work Environment, McGuire voted against.
House Bill 2305 – Governor’s Schools, McGuire voted against.
House Bill 1257 – Standards of Quality, McGuire voted against.
On education, John McGuire earned a failing grade.
Jim Wolf
Louisa
This letter was previously published in the July 8, 2021 edition of the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission.
Do your part: Vote in Tuesday’s primary election
The Democratic Primary that will select the candidates for Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General for the November general election is the day after tomorrow.
The broad field of those vying for these positions, includes five for governor (according to Balltopedia, “Three candidates—Jennifer Carroll Foy, Terry McAuliffe, and Jennifer McClellan—are leading in fundraising and noteworthy endorsements.” Lee Carter and Justin Fairfax are also running).
Six candidates are running in the Lieutenant Governor’s race (Hala Ayala, Mark Levine, Andria McClellan, Sean Perryman, Sam Rasoul, and Xavier Warren), and two for Attorney General (incumbent, Mark Herring, and challenger Jay Jones).
Democrats conducted no smoky backroom deals. These are genuine contenders from all over the commonwealth who offer a broad spectrum of personal and professional experiences and qualifications.
They all have websites and Facebook pages—check them out. You can also find them at www.culpeperdemocrats.org. There you can also listen to recordings of the three Central Virginia Town Halls that were held in April.
These Democratic candidates present themselves as people who recognize problems or inequities and offer paths to solutions. As Mary Washington University professor Steven Farnsworth said recently, “There is a great willingness on the Democratic side to look for more electable candidates rather than an ideological soulmate.”
What is remarkable about this week’s Democratic primary and November’s election is that both take place against the backdrop of regressive Republican initiatives in over 30 states to throw up roadblocks to the citizens’ rights to vote. The Texas legislation is the most egregious, but Georgia and Arizona are not far behind.
The Texas measures included a raft of hurdles to casting ballots by mail. The measure would ban drop boxes and drive-through voting, which were popular during the pandemic. The bill makes it easier to overturn an election by no longer requiring evidence that fraud actually that altered an outcome—the accusation is sufficient.
As the New York Times reports, “…alone among the states of the former Confederacy, Virginia has become a voting rights bastion, increasingly encouraging its citizens—especially people of color—to exercise their democratic rights. In the last 14 months, the state’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly repealed the Republican instituted photo ID requirement and enacted 45 days of no-excuse absentee voting. Virginia can look forward to Election Day being a state holiday and voter registration facilitated through DMV.”
It appears to me that Republicans would undo all this if they could. For instance, in last month’s tightly controlled Republican convention, only 98 Republican votes were allowed to be cast by selected delegates from Culpeper. In the 2020 Democratic presidential primary 2,864 votes were cast by all voters in Culpeper.
Where Republicans only allowed a few through the door, Democrats throw the doors open, because they know Democracy means a government, of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Turnout in Tuesday’s primary will be closely watched in Culpeper for trends. We have all heard the refrain, “I didn’t know there were Democrats in Culpeper.” In last November’s election U.S. Rep. Spanberger (D-7th) drew 10,714 votes in Culpeper County. To show that Democratic voters are here to stay, those voters need to show up on June 8.
Citizens should stand firm in their commitment to preserve our representative democracy. The greatest heroes in the battle to maintain our democratic heritage are the people who vote.
If you haven’t voted already, do so on Tuesday.
As President Biden said in his Memorial Day address, we honor our fallen “by sustaining the best of America, while honestly confronting all that we must do to make our nation fuller, freer and more just. For in remembrance lies not just our history, but our hope.”
This letter was previously published in the The Culpeper Star-Exponent newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. You may find the original at: Do your part: Vote in Tuesday’s primary election
Questions why MaGuire opposes the ERA
The 19th amendment to the Constitution, the one that gave women the right to vote, was passed on June 4th 1919. On this 102nd anniversary we still have not added the 28th amendment, the amendment that will give women equality of rights under the law.
75% of US citizens favor this amendment according to a recent poll by the Associated Press Center for Public Affairs. This includes a majority of both Republicans and Democrats. And yet our representative in the general assembly, John Maguire, voted against ratifying it. Fortunately, it passed last year without his vote and Virginia became the 38th state to say yes.
Why did he vote against it?
Some say that women already have equal rights and that it’s already in some state constitutions. But states can change their constitutions. We need to make equality permanent. My mother remembers when women could not have a credit card in their own name, could not serve on a jury, and were denied many other things we consider unthinkable now. We don’t want to risk returning to those days.
So what’s the real reason? Does he not think women should have equal rights?
Fortunately we have a choice this November and can vote for Blakely Lockhart to represent the 56th district in Richmond. Her votes will represent the views of most of her constituents rather than the dictates of an extremist ideology.
Thank you,
Sara Macel
Louisa
This letter was previously published in the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission
BOS CORE VALUE OF INTEGRITY
Honesty, straightforwardness, and strong moral principles are closely related. My perception of the Board of Supervisors makes me doubt its ability to satisfy Integrity as one of its Core Values. I’ve seen little to persuade me and wonder how many others are as unconvinced as I am. A large part of the Board’s image, I believe, is of its own making. The anecdote of the corporate board meeting best describes the workings of the people Louisa Citizens elected to fulfill that public office.
“Think of board members having a discussion about financing the corporation’s infrastructure. There may be one or two with the knowledge and experience to adequately address all the important points. When the meeting turns to purchasing equipment and other facility resources, maybe half the members are able to have an intelligent conversation. When the agenda item finally reaches what brand of coffee should be provided in the company kitchen, they’re all experts.”
That’s pretty much the view I have of the Board, except that any expertise with the functioning of high-level finances and operations is overly exaggerated. Basically, there’s no evidence I’ve seen to contradict my view. If someone has that kind of information, it would help to share it with the rest of us.
In the meantime, the Board continues to give the false impression of a competence that’s been bought and paid for with props provided by the likes of Timmons Group. The Board hides its lack of expertise for a reason, to display an aura of authority and omniscience, which is a dangerous combination to those of us who are subjected to it. It certainly has the “authority” to abuse but lacks the omniscience necessary for wisdom. Over time, the perpetuation of that combination results in the kind of mismanagement we get to see from the officials we elected to pursue our best interest, instead of theirs.
Where I see dishonesty, and the accompanying lack of Integrity, is the mercenary approach the Board takes to deceive Louisa that it has the requisite understanding of local government functions. You hire an expert to tell you want you want to hear and convince everyone else in the process.
How many times, over how many issues, have the citizens of Louisa been lulled into a false expectation that the Board would respond to its wishes and concerns? Until the Monacan Nation pursued legal remedies, the Board had no hesitation squandering taxpayer dollars by ignoring the legitimacy of technical facts from citizens in favor of the toxic pablum disseminated by the likes of Timmons Group.
The people of Louisa still have to learn that the Board serves the people. That would be the best way to extract the Integrity that belongs to us.
These are my perceptions based on what I’ve seen and the Board hasn’t shown.
“Perception is Reality.”
Joe Mikolajczak
Gordonsville
This letter was previously published in the Central Virginian newspaper and is reprinted here with the author’s permission. You may find the original at The Central Virginian
Your vote is democracy in action
The pillar of representative democracy is voting for the candidate who will forward your interests. That is how the citizenry makes its wishes known to its leaders.
In Virginia, the two main political parties have taken different paths to determining which candidates should be their standard bearers in the November elections.
The Democratic Party has opted for a full, open, and public primary to select its candidates for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The Democratic field is robust and full of candidates with compelling personal stories, commitment to public service and diverse experiences as public officials.
Standing up for governor are: Lee Carter, Justin Fairfax, Jennifer Carol Foy, Terry McAuliffe and Jennifer McClellan.
Presenting themselves for lieutenant governor are: Hala Ayala, Mark Levine, Andrea McClellan, Sean Perryman, Sam Rasoul and Xavier Warren.
Running for attorney general are: Mark Herring and Jay Jones. These candidates stepped forward because they had something to offer. Their enthusiasm, however, presents a challenge for the voting public—with so many, how do you choose?
The Culpeper County Democratic Committee joined with neighboring committees to host three Zoom Central Virginia Candidates’ Town Halls, one for each position. Those sessions were recorded and are available on the Culpeper Democrats website (culpeperdemocrats.org), where you can also find links to the individual candidates’ websites.
For comparison, the Republican Party selected its candidates for these three state-wide offices in an unusual, unassembled convention. Those who got to vote last Saturday had to be approved first by each county Republican committee. According to a report from the Virginia Public Access Project, Culpeper Republicans were allocated 98 votes to cast for each of the three offices.
The Democratic Party’s reliance on a public primary, on the other hand, is meant to be as inclusive as possible so that all voices call be heard.
The public’s participation in the June 8 Democratic primary is vital to protecting our democracy. Because the Democratic Party has always seen itself as a Big Tent party, accepting a diversity of class, race and religion, a weak turnout will further embolden anti-democratic forces that are afraid of elections
In the 2019 primaries in Culpeper, 3,183 votes were cast. In the 2018 primaries, 4,465 people cast their ballots. The field of candidates in those elections was not as robust as it is today. We should strive for a far better turnout in this year’s June 8 Democratic primary.
Early voting in Culpeper started April 23. If you want to vote early in person, please go to the Registrar’s Office, 151 N. Main Street, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The office will also be open on two Saturdays, May 29 and June 5. To check your registration or find any other information, contact the Registrar at 540-825-0652 or registrar@culpepercounty.gov.
If you want to vote early by absentee ballot, the deadline for requesting a ballot is May 28.
If you are new to Culpeper and have not yet registered to vote or have changed your address, the deadline for registering for the June 8th election is Monday, May 17th.
You can, of course, cast your ballot on election day, Tuesday, June 8, between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the polling place in your precinct.
There is no greater responsibility of citizenship than voting. It is a constitutional right of enormous importance, and that is why there are forces trying to suppress our vote.
See you at the polls
David Reuther, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, is a past chair of the Culpeper Democratic Committee. These are his personal observations. This opinion piece was previously published by The Culpeper Star-Exponent at Your vote is democracy in action