This week (Thursday and Saturday) the polls are open in Arlington to pick the next member of the County Board. Yes, this is only for the Democratic nomination- but in Arlington that gives you a 99.9% chance of winning, especially when the GOP doesn't even have a candidate yet. This election is for the seat held by Barbara Favola that was vacated upon her swearing in to the Virginia Senate.
Five candidates are seeking the nomination. Here are my thoughts on them... and the big NLS endorsement!
Kim Klingler is best known for her video announcement for this seat that was widely mocked in November. I've seen Kim up close, and to be frank- I'm not impressed. I first met Kim about two years ago when a friend asked me to come by and chat with her one evening. Kim was at the time considering a primary challenge in 2012 to Barbara Favola for this County Board seat, and our mutual friend knew that I was someone who might support a primary challenger to an out of touch incumbent. I spent about three hours with Kim and left not knowing much more about her then when I came in- she didn't want to take solid positions on virtually every issue we discussed, but she must have told me 25 times that she would "like to be an elected official". OK... not ready for prime time, but maybe she could improve over the next couple years?
Fast forward to last year. Obviously Kim's plans for a primary to Favola were scattered when Mary Margaret Whipple retired and Favola began her campaign for the Virginia Senate. But I was pretty shocked to attend an Arlington Young Democrats meeting soon after Jaime Areizaga-Soto announced against Favola and see Kim introducing Favola to the crowd with a three minute pep rally type speech. I asked Kim about this after the meeting and she told me that "many people ask for her introductions" because she "was so well respected" and she would stand up to introduce "anyone who asked her". So she wanted to primary Barbara Favola for County Board, but thought Barbara should be in the Virginia Senate? Huh?
Finally, I saw Kim again in the fall of last year after the big debate held by the Arlington Civic Federation. She was getting ready to run for this special election and I asked her what her big issues and initiatives would be. Again, the best answer I could get from her was that she "wanted to be an elected official". Ugh.
I'm wasting too much time on this candidate- but voters need to know who is serious and who isn't. Kim is not ready for prime time, in fact she isn't even ready for a 3 a.m. infomercial. This is a candidate who believes issues come second behind her own ambitions to be elected to something. Arlington can do so much better.
Another candidate for the County Board is Terron Sims. This is Terron's second run for office, after having finished in six place (out of six) in a run for the School Board four years ago. Terron is a hard worker who has been out pounding the pavement the hardest of any of the candidates running this year. But the public debates have really shown that Terron is not ready for this kind of job yet. I'm going to reserve judgment on him going forward- but hopefully the next time he runs Terron will have more serious policy proposals for voters to consider. Again, like Kim, I think this is someone who really wants to be elected, but isn't quite sure of why yet.
Peter Fallon has served for a few years on the Arlington County planning commission and has been running an energetic campaign for this vacancy. He speaks with attitude and I sat down with him a couple weeks ago to get a better idea of who he was and what he stands for. Literally the first thing he highlighted when we sat down was being the only candidate to own a single family home in Arlington and how he "raked his own leaves". I asked him why that was important and he said it gave him a broader perspective than Libby (who owns a townhouse) and Melissa (who lives in an apartment in Clarendon). I understand that this might be important to some people, but I was really perplexed at why Peter would be highlighting that to someone who lives in an apartment in Rosslyn as a reason to support his campaign. After listening to him for over an hour, I found the answer. Peter just isn't a politician. He's a hard worker in the community but he doesn't totally grasp politics. Peter is very knowledgeable about certain issues but if he wants to be an elected official he needs to work harder on developing an ideology, not just "being fair" on each issue as it comes up before the Board. Additionally he needs some serious help with technology- Peter is still using AOL email! Joking aside, Peter is a clear step above Terron and Kim but isn't the best candidate for this position at this time.
Now we get to the hard part- choosing between two excellent candidates in Libby Garvey and Melissa Bondi.
First, let's talk Libby Garvey. I've always respected Libby for her commitment to "education first" as a public official. Besides serving on the School Board, she has twice run for the General Assembly making education the most central issue to her campaigns. Libby really understands that investments in the community reap much larger rewards down the road. School Boards can only do so much for schools because they don't control the money that comes into their budgets in Virginia. County Boards of Supervisors and City Councils across Virginia are the last stop for public education- once the federal and state money is counted, it's up to local government to decide how much more money that locality is willing to invest in its future through K-12 education. The impact Libby can have on the County Board in the budget discussions are huge- and with another former School Board member (Mary Hynes) on the County Board, they will have a chance to re-prioritize public schools in the budget in a way that hasn't happened in the last decade in Arlington. Excellent news as far as I'm concerned.
Libby's experience with schools will also serve her well on other issues that come up before the County Board. Many of them also involve investments- and while improvements can sometimes be made without money, most major issues require funding to make real improvements. Take for example, transportation. Arlington maintains its own roads with some money from VDOT under a state formula. The roads are a disgusting mess of potholes and poor design. I'm sure some committee could be put together on how to better prioritize current funding, blah blah blah, but the only real way to make serious improvements to the roads is to hire more crews that are doing more repair work. It's just like lowering class size in the schools- you can talk about it all day but the only way to do it is spending the money to hire more teachers and build more classrooms. The great thing about Libby is at the core of her positions is a progressive (yes, liberal) ideology that drives her to make good long term decisions on how to deal with issues that come before her. She isn't afraid to spend money in order to build a better future for the county. I think she would make an outstanding member of the County Board.
Melissa Bondi is a newcomer to politics as a candidate, but has been involved in campaigns and in the community for the last decade in Arlington. I'm extremely impressed with Melissa's vision and passion for local issues. At a recent debate, the other candidates for County Board went back and forth on the Columbia Pike Streetcar issue, sounding almost like they could debate themselves on the issue. Melissa was the only person with a strong position that was easy to understand. She supports the streetcar, which will revitalize Columbia Pike.
The last couple weeks have been tough on Melissa, with attacks coming at her from many sources. I was troubled to see Arlington Treasurer Frank O'Leary weigh in and accuse her of avoiding taxes and release information on her through a FOIA request. It's pretty shocking to even think such an action is legal in Virginia- and the General Assembly should look into making sure this doesn't happen again in the future. But despite all of these attacks, nothing has come out that makes me think any less of her as a person. No one should expect candidates to be perfect- they make mistakes too- and I would strongly encourage voters to discount all of these attacks and decide who to vote for on the issues.
If you think the County Board could use a younger face, and someone with extensive work in the community, then vote for Melissa.
If you think the County Board needs someone with integrity, experience and and a passion for investing in the future, then vote for Libby.
How am I going to vote? Probably for Libby, although if I think she is pulling away for a big win on Saturday I might vote for Melissa as one extra vote encouraging Melissa to try again. Really, I'd like to see both of these candidates serving on the County Board together for many years to come and the thing that pushes the needle a little bit to Libby is that I don't think she will run again if she loses this time, while Melissa could finish a strong second and will probably be back to try again the next time there is a vacancy.
If the end result of this election is Barbara Favola being replaced by Libby Garvey and then followed in 2014 by Chris Zimmerman being replaced by Melissa Bondi, then the big winners would be the residents of Arlington County who will finally have a County Board with the quality that they deserve.
This election is open to all registered voters in Arlington County, although you will be required to sign a pledge stating your intention to support the winner to participate.
The caucus will be held from 7:00pm to 9:00pm on THIS THURSDAY January 19, 2012 at Washington-Lee High School (1301 N. Stafford St.) and from 11:00am to 7:00pm on THIS SATURDAY January 21, 2012 at Kenmore Middle School (200 S. Carlin Springs Rd.). You can vote at either date/location without restriction.
