VehrsGate

Last night, I heard Delegate Ward Armstrong had sent a letter to Governor Kaine about the Will Vehrs situation, and Delegate Armstrong's opinion that he should no longer be in the state government.

I called Ward to discuss this, and he was kind enough to take my call late last night.

Ward felt strongly about this issue, because "its like making fun of someone who is sick".  He also called Will's comments "demeaning" and also said they "damaged" the community.

I asked him about Barnie Day's comments that people should calm down.  (Barnie has been Chair of Ward's re-election campaigns since they were drawn into the same district).    Ward said, "Barnie is a good friend of mine, but we aren't clones".

I have a lot of sympathy to what is going on here.  My family has been in this part of Virginia for over 200 years.  Clearly Ward, Roscoe Reynolds, Danny Marshall and others from this region felt their constituents were being attacked by this.  At the same time, it was a caption contest, and the over response to this is not helping the community either.

Here's what I propose as a solution:

1)  Bloggers who want to support Will Vehrs need to get off their keyboards.  I think we should have a bloggers meeting, in Martinsville and take this as an opportunity to use our sites to promote this community in need.  If others are interested, I would be happy to organize it.

2)  I see in a couple of weeks the Martinsville Chamber is having a big event.  Maybe they could invite Mr. Vehrs and talk to him about what he could be doing for their community.

3)  The calls for Mr. Vehrs to resign or be fired must stop.  Employees are given jobs and Mr. Vehrs is assigned to respond to businesses as they call in or email questions.  Thus, when he gets off the phone he doesn't have much to do until the next call comes in.  If any punitive action is taken against Mr. Vehrs, it is war against the blogosphere as far as I'm concerned.  Employees go on the web to do shopping, to read news and whatever else they want while they are taking a break or between calls.  To fire Mr. Vehrs would essentially be putting blogging below those other habits, and I would certainly be very offended if the Kaine administration thought reading my blog was worse then shopping on HSN!

Who's willing to do something in Martinsville?

Comments

[Virginia Centrist]

These are good ideas.

[Not Ben]

Much ado about nothing, IMO, but I can't fault the folks in Martinsville for their outrage. They've been on a steep economic decline for years, and nothing seems to be able to turn it around so far. To have a state official in charge of drumming up business spend the Commonwealth's time lampooning the region's economic woes must have been a bitter pill to swallow.

I think calls for Vehrs to lose his job are absolutely off-base, but I understand why they're so sensitive about it. They were built on manufacturing jobs and those jobs have up and gone.

[J.C. Wilmore]

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I like Martinsville and would love to do something to benefit that community.

What's the status with the New College/New University?

I think that a new four-year university located in or around Martinsville would do wonders for that region.

Is this something that bloggers from the Right can support. Is this something we can unite around and promote in a bi-partisan fashion?

[Shaun Kenney]

Think about the entire fracas this way though:

Martinsville has generated more blog press over the past two weeks than it has in the last ten years.

This is an example of bad news being good news, IMO. If only some folks in Southside could see it... lemonade from lemons.

[Mike Sizemore]

I am a lurker of this blog, a daily reader, and a Virginia Tech senior. I happen to hail from Martinsville and always have a hand in the political goings ons. I would be happy to help you guys out, especially with directions and recommendations of places to eat, sleep, recreate, etc.

Just let me know:
Mike3@vt.edu

[Mike Sizemore]

I am a lurker of this blog, a daily reader, and a Virginia Tech senior. I happen to hail from Martinsville and always have a hand in the political goings ons. I would be happy to help you guys out, especially with directions and recommendations of places to eat, sleep, recreate, etc.

Just let me know:
Mike3@vt.edu

[William Jackson]

Great Ideas. Just imagine the clout it would give the blogoshphere if you took on this challenge to promote the area and it had measurable results. On another note, this is typical Ward Armstrong posturing.

[Chad]

JC asked if the southside University was something right-of-center bloggers could support.

Well, one right-of-center blogger has been advocating it, in print, for more than a year. His name: Will Vehrs.

Here is the link:
http://baconsrebellion.blogspot.com/2005/01/lets-have-traffic-jams-in-southside.html

[notnotnotnotnot Ken Cuccinelli]

Lets have a sit in in the Gov's office! Or we could all pull a Jack Reid and "clean our guns".

[J.C. Wilmore]

Well there you go folks: let's get to work. The last time I was in Martinsville it was with Tim Kaine and he said he was interested in the New University for Martinsville too.

Let's make some bipartisan lemonade.

[J.C. Wilmore]

You can start by googling "the New College of Virginia."

From Virginia Tech:
http://www.vtnews.vt.edu/story.php?relyear=2005&itemno=897

[Not Jack Herrity]

This is stupid. Will has apologized at least four times for an offhand comment. If that's not good enough, I don't know what is.

Let's not forget that Chad Dotson hangs his hat in Southwest Virginia in another economically disadvantaged hamlet, and he's been fully supportive of Will.

People take themselves way to seriously.

NJH

What happened to NLS' #1? A bloggers meeting in Martinsville.

I bet that would get front page in the Bulletin.

[republitarian]

If you're going to get involved in politics you need to grow a very thick skin.

You also need to laugh a little.

I wonder if delegate Armstrong will put the firing of Will as an "accomplishment" on his next campaign mailer.

Many people do not like anonymous comments, but Will, I suggest you learn to use it.

Ben, could this meeting be done on the next race weekend, that way we can all kill two birds with one stone.

[Webb Defeats Allen]

Usually I think of Will as one of the other guys. On this count, I want to cover his back.

SAVE WILL VEHRS!

I find it funny that two of the most prolific daytime bloggers, Messrs. Vehrs and Dotson, drink from the public trough.

[Will Vehrs]

Thanks, Ben, those are good suggestions. I would like to speak to Martinsville-Henry County folks in person.

Today our agency worked at a Food Bank for public service day. It gave me a chance to think about one of the many problems that follow economic distress.

[notgretchenbulova]

maybe the better idea is to keep making fun of martinsville

Retribution against bloggers (contacting their employers or raising hell about their online activity) WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Anyone who tries something like that will be collectively hunted down by the bipartisan blogger community. Any politician who tries that will be strung up and mocked endlessly until they never show their face in Virginia again.

Anonymous 04:39pm - "Retribution against bloggers WILL NOT BE TOLERATED."

Sure, but bloggers can go after any public figure they want with impunity. I guess bloggers can do whatever they want - cheap doctored photos, name-calling, rumour, innuendo, and muckraking are ok as long as you are a blogger.

Hypocrite.

Do not take this comment as a reflection on Mr. Vehrs. I do not know him and I have not taken the time to read a lot of what he has said.

This comment is aimed at you alone and your insipid comments. You demand accountability for all public figures except bloggers. That is not how it works in the world outside your parent's basement.

[Adam Sharp]

I'm in. Sizemore's solid and Myron's got a great suggestion.

[Virginia Centrist]

I think that must have been one of those elected officials who is being criticized for the first time in their life...

Centrist - No I am not an elected official, it's just someone who does not appreciate a double standard that puts bloggers above accountability while they demand accountability from everyone they write about while engaging in name-calling and rumour-mongering.

[FreeVaGOP]

Ever notice the number of Vehrs entries that denote times between, oh, 8:30 am and 5:00 pm? Does he blog while working a state job? If so, he ought to be fired for that and that alone.