Friday, July 6, 2007

New Round of Endorsements

It's time for another round of endorsements from The Podium.

- I'll start with a local race, as The Podium endorses Denise Barb to be re-elected to the post of Shenandoah County Clerk of Court. I have yet to hear a single complaint from any Shenandoah County citizen about Barb's performance as Clerk of Court, and my experiences in the Clerk's office (which aren't many, which is probably a good thing) have been as pleasurable as one could expect from a Clerk's office. The office runs with smooth efficiency, and I believe that this excellent job performance can be, at least partially, attributed to Denise Barb's efforts.

Onto the statewide races...

- In the 68th House of Delegates District, The Podium endorses Republican Manoli Loupassi. Loupassi has most recently served as a member of the Richmond City Council, and is a very popular figure in the River City. He is a fiscal conservative who also is very focused on issues such as property tax relief, stronger anti-crime initiatives, and classroom size reduction in our public schools. His opponent, incumbent Katherine Waddell, is a Republican-turned-Independent who (on the same page) manages to both denounce the focus on social issues, and highlight that her opinions on social issues is what caused her to split from the GOP, calling them "right-wing extremists". This isn't the type of politician our General Assembly needs. Voters of the 68th, vote for Loupassi in November.

- In the 34th House of Delegates District, The Podium endorses Republican Dave Hunt. Hunt is an excellent choice to continue the solid conservative tradition of the retiring Vince Callahan. Hunt has strong positions on the transportation problems in Northern Virginia (especially his support for the Tyson's Tunnel and the increased funding for NoVa roads and rail in the 2007 transportation bill). Hunt knows Richmond, having formerly worked for Vince Callahan as a legislative assistant. His opponent, Democrat Margi Vanderhye, has elected to push for anti-2nd Amendment initiatives and unnecessary environmental legislation that will increase regulations on industry, commerce, and transportation in both NoVa as well as the rest of the state. Residents of the 34th, don't vote for someone who panders to the "Raising Kaine" crowd...vote for Dave Hunt, and keep the attempts to increase the size of government at bay.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Manoli Loupassi "is a fiscal conservative who also is very focused on issues such as property tax relief." Why is he making this an issue now when he already had 6 years on city council to do something about it. It is the local governances that were given the power to handles property tax issues specifically, not the state government. Manoli is campaigning on an issue that he should have taken care of 6 years ago.