Pilot Endorses Two New Faces For the Beach

First, in endorsing Joe Bouchard for the 83rd, they admit to the many similarities between the two candidates.  But "[t]he choice in the 83rd ultimately comes down to judgment and facility, and in our view, Bouchard has an undeniable edge." 

For years now, Bouchard has been a persuasive but quiet voice guiding deliberations on the biggest regional issues - the port, the future of Oceana Naval Air Station, the BRAC process, transportation.

Behind the scenes, decision-makers have sought him out for his analyses, predictions and suggestions.

Chris Stolle, on the otherhand, "has stumbled on issues where he should have known better".  Choosing to embrace "the corrosive political mood" "in the service of a wedge issue", Stolle rejected big brother's findings and backed wasting millions to build a expensive state prison for illegal immigrants that is "clearly Washington's responsibility to build" and left "Virginia with an expensive and empty monument to political expediency".  "The prison was neither good policy nor good politics. An effective delegate needs to be a believer and advocate for both. Bouchard is."

The Pilot swapped out the blinders they had with their endorsements in the 13th Senate and the 78th House, for a pair of magnifying glasses trying to find anything positive to say about John Welch.  And what they found was a man suspiciously only trying to act like a regular human being.  It won't fly unfortunately.  "Given where he started, and how far he had to go to enter the mainstream, voters in Virginia Beach might want to withhold judgment on Welch's recent journey." 

That's because "[Bobby] Mathieson", as the Pilot writes, "is the far better choice for the 21st. There are no doubts that he will do right by the people who send him to Richmond, and that he will not embarrass them."

On the other side of the ballot lies Democrat Bobby Mathieson, a longtime Virginia Beach cop, a former high appointee at the Department of Criminal Justice Services, where he crafted programs and policies to make the commonwealth's streets safer.

He is Officer Friendly in a suit - a hard-working, solid guy, thoughtful, especially on law-enforcement issues, willing to listen. He already has the ear of the governor, and knows his way around Richmond.

There is little in him of the party firebrand that marred Welch's first years in office. Or of the personal tangles that have regularly dogged the incumbent.

Welch has taken some inexcusably cheap shots in an election cycle marked by them, charging Mathieson with setting cop killers free, among other nonsense. The campaign has been an uncomfortable reminder of Welch's past penchant for grubby political warfare, and puts the lie to his new image.

Bravo to the Pilot!  Although, I would have come down as hard on Welch as they did on Nick Rerras, I am very pleased with the wonderful words they have for Bobby. 

Okay, guys.  Let's get inspired to work the final days, get out our voters and elect these two great Democrats to the General Assembly!

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