A Political Breath of Fresh Air, Part 2

I admit that I admire Steve Satterfield. I've already talked about his very effective political literature. Yesterday he visited us as part of a door-to-door campaign, and left something almost as effective in delivering his message.

Satterfield's running for the Board of Supervisors here in Orange County, Virginia in a race that could well be a referendum for the county.

According to the last census, our county was ranked as the 44th fastest-growing county in the nation with a population increase of 4.9%. It's a major issue with both natives and transplants, with passions running high on both sides.

Do we just keep building and (hopefully) fuel the county's economy, or try to put the brakes on development until a new comprehensive plan can be adopted? (Almost everyone understands that "no growth" is no longer a realistic option.)

This isn't meant to be a forum for Satterfield's views (you can visit his website for that information), so I won't share what he talked about. What I do want to share is that I was impressed with what Satterfield said -- and what he didn't.

Satterfield did make his stance very clear, and even conceded some points the opposition holds. As he talked, he focused exclusively on his views, his plans and his background, without saying anything negative about his opponent. For a political chat, it was refreshingly reasonable and rational.

And when Satterfield left, I received the second best piece of political literature ever. It was a Douglas Fir seedling. The label gave instructions on proper planting and care on one side. The other said "Plant trees, not suburbs."

I'll be happy to share any literature his opponent sends me, as I've done for Satterfield.

Tonight though, I'm planting a tree in my yard.

- Ralph

A Political Breath of Fresh Air

Yesterday I received in the mail the most effective piece of political campaign literature ever. It was sent by Steve Satterfield, who's running for the Board of Supervisors here in Orange County, Virginia.

The postcard was the model of simplicity. It merely stated the number of county employees and their total salary for 2004 and 2007. It then listed the key personnel of the county by position (not name), their salary, benefits, car allowance and yearly vacation.

At the bottom was a citation for the source of the information, and that was basically it. (Click on the image to expand it to a legible size.)

Of course the message is perfectly clear. In a county where the median income is per family is a little over $48,000, are these salaries, and their growth justified?

I found this postcard refreshing. There's no attack on the opposing candidate (nor even a mention of the Loyal Opposition). There's no character assassination of any of the county administrators. There's no three-word excerpt from a newspaper "proving" that the opposing candidate is in league with the Devil.

There's not even any bolded or highlighted information to guide the reader to the conclusion the sender wants.

Just a simple statement of facts. And Satterfield respects my intelligence enough to let me make of them what I will.

If I think $165,841 is adequate compensation for the job our County Adminisrator is doing, then there's no issue here.

Taking the total salaries and dividing staff into it, I discover that in 2004 the median county employee salary was $19,633. Three years later it's $29,535. If, as a taxpayer who's property has just been reassessed, I'm happy with that increase, then fine. I should vote for the other guy.

Of all the county employees I know, none enjoyed a $10.000 raise over the course of the last three years. So I have to ask, where did all that money go? And, because to Satterfield, I have a list in front of me suggesting the answers.

Thank you, Mr. Satterfield, for just presenting the facts and letting me draw my own conclusions. Dare I say it? Satterfield reported, and he let me decide.

By the way -- there's also some School Board seats coming open this fall. If any of those candidates are paying attention, a similar mailing documenting salaries and growth in the Orange County School System would be equally effective.

- Ralph

An unpleasant (political) odor

As the board of supervisor's race here in Orange County, Virginia heat up, I had hoped to get some campaign literature from the loyal opposition. I've already commented (favorably) about some aspects of Steve Satterfield's campaign. I hoped to receive a mailing from Teel Goodwin's campaign to directly compare presentations, but that hasn't happened yet.

I recently went online to see what I could find out about Teel Goodwin. A Google search yielded "Goodwinforsupervisor.com" I quickly discovered it was an anti-Goodwin site (the unflattering image was the first clue).

Very crude in execution, the site's constructors clearly have little experience with the Internet and absolutely no idea of how to use it effectively. Notice how none of the links go anywhere. And that's too bad, because as I pointed out before, the proper linkage can provide the documentation needed to make your point.

There's not a link to the builder Goodwin was associated with, K. Hovnanian Homes, which would have been helpful. When I did a search, I got a warning about their website -- apparently they promote through spammy e-mails. If Goodwin was associated with them, then I would consider that a strike -- slimy is as slimy does.

About the fourth Google entry down was "K. Hovnanian Homes Suck," a site where folks can post their horror stories with this builder -- and apparently there are quite a few. Perhaps a link to that site would have given some Orange voters pause.

The site also talks about Teel Goodwin's "Rapidan Crossing" development, but again provides no documentation. Fortunately, the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission listed the Goodwin project on Route 3, and further expanded on the plan to build 748 single-family homes and townhouses -- in one of the fastest-growing counties in the country.

Tellingly, the Commission noted that "Orange County Board of Supervisors voted to deny rezoning at their 6/13/2006 meeting."

Now we have a picture of a person who had a rezoning request worth millions denied by the board of supervisors wishing to get elected to said board.

Hmmm. With links to some of the above, this anti-Goodwin site could more effectively characterize Goodwin as someone who's interested in getting on the board to change the rules for personal profit.

But they didn't, and so this site stands as a clumsy and ugly bit of mud-slinging.

And worse still, it's anonymous. Goodwin supporters can claim "dirty tricks" on the part of the Satterfield campaign, and Satterfield's team (probably) has no idea who to contact to get the site removed.

This kind of website serves no purpose save to demonstrate the ignorance of its constructors -- in more ways than one.

- Ralph

The rest of the story

The election's over, and now the real work begins. For those outside the Central Virginia area, who have been following our posts about the election, Teel Goodwin won over Steve Satterfield in the Orange County Board of Supervisors race with 51% of the vote.

And the fallout continues. The Virginia State police are investigating the spurious Goodwin website, as it violated the campaign laws covering disclosure. I'm fairly confident the chowderheads behind the site will soon be apprehended.

Savvy Internet vandals can partially (or sometimes fully) cover their tracks -- but these guys are anything but.

I'll keep everyone posted on relevant developments.

- Ralph

The (political) odor spreads

Last post I talked about an example of local "dirty tricks" in the race for Orange County, Virginia's Board of Supervisors. A website with the address Goodwinforsupervisor.com was posted by somebody who was decidedly not a Teel Goodwin supporter (the site has been removed from my last post).

The site was so amateurish in execution I don't believe it was created by his opponent, Steve Satterfield. But I did suggest that the unthinking action of this anti-Goodwin poster would have negative consequences -- and it has.

In the latest issue of the Orange Review, there's half-page ad for Teel Goodwin. It's basically a laundry list of prominent supporters inviting their neighbors to also support Goodwin. It lists what he's for -- and what he's against. And Goodwin is against "mean-spirited, misleading campaign ads, false websites and outside special interests...."

So the clumsly anonymous webposter did little more than give Goodwin some additional ammunition.

As we used to say in elementary school, "Smooth move, Ex-Lax."

- Ralph