Cross-Posted at Fred2Blue
UPDATE: Click here to read a copy of the letter
Sen. Creigh Deeds has come to the defense of Patricia Mancini by calling out Bill Boss Howell's funding of Price Jett Jr.'s ridiculous lawsuit. And to make sure Jett doesn't succeed in buying a seat on the Stafford School Board, Deeds is contributing to Mancini's legal defense fund. One of the many sick things about this lawsuit is that Jett is actually suing Patricia herself despite the fact that he's putting the actual process of counting votes as reason for his defeat....something Mrs. Mancini has nothing to do with. Howell claims that the Jett family are good friends of his, and that's the reason for his role in this whole thing. In other words, he thinks we're all idiots.
from the Free Lance-Star:
"I am deeply disappointed that you have injected yourself, and in the process, partisan politics, into a School Board election which by law is designed to be free of partisan influence," wrote Deeds, who recently announced plans to run for governor in 2009.........
"I know the family and they're good people," said Howell, who spoke with Deeds yesterday over the phone. "This is nothing personal and, my goodness, the Democrats are trying so hard to politicize this whole thing."
I really can't stand it when people just throw idioms around and expect them to sound good.
That is all.
Give Howell a 'Renault' for fine performance in School Board suitI must thank House Speaker Bill Howell for providing a real laugh interlude to break the tension of the last-minute holiday rush.
Howell gives $5,000 from his campaign account to fund the dispute involving the Stafford School Board election of Patricia Mancini, yet says with a straight face that it's Democrats who are trying to politicize the matter.
Uh, Speaker Howell, if you're coming to the aid of a longtime family friend and you're acting out of personal, rather than political, concerns, why not just whip out your own checkbook and make a contribution?
As it now stands, the speaker has all the credibility of Captain Renault in "Casa-blanca" expressing shock that there is gambling going on at Rick's.
Virginians get what they get.
Howell is the most dangerous type of conservative Republican who aspires to the same laisse faire style of capitalism that the most extreme members of Bush failed policy makers desired. These people want to get rid of almost all government, zero watch over any type profit making (ie - developers thus a ruined county). They want to destroy the Keysenian style of New Deal economics in favor of Friedman economics. The middle class will disapear. Howell is a very dangerous man and we stuck with him. A-holeMore like the Picture of Dorian Grey.
Now that he won the election he can get back to his dirty style of take-no-prisoner-politics. During the run up to the election I marveled at the letters from kindly old ladies extoling the virtues of Mr. Howell as that warm hearted Christian who helped in time of need. Of course as we languish in bad traffic, and Howell snubs the Govenor, Howell himself waits for the magic day where he can privatize everything because in Howell's world profit is everything and there is no room for oppositiont to that.Pilot case for GOP ?
Is the GOP testing a new tactic here to throw elections and assert their will over the majority? Will they run write-ins from now on and then if they don't like the results of the elections they will sue the person who won? Knowing the the winner will have to find their own money to defend their election. GOP talks all the time about the "rule of law." Why aren't they talking that talk now? This is a dangerous case and Bill Howl is right in the middle of it.SLAPP-type suits are a common (and I use the Old English connotation of "common," as in "cur") and ineffective weapon to try to prevent grass roots participation in politics. Although not a classic SLAPP, Howell is using what he has most of, not the power of ideas and respect for the democratice process, but money from vested interests like the building and garbage-hauling industries. One good thing about the building recession is that the slop in the pig trough will be watered down a might.
Howell is sleazy.
Why is he trying to change the outcome of a school board election with his campaign funds? Why is he backing this baseless, frivolous lawsuit against Mrs. Mancini? She hasn't done anything illegal. She ran for office and won. And now she has to respond to a lawsuit? The only thing Mrs. Mancini is guilty of is failing to kiss House Speaker Bill Howell's ring.