Tuesday is election day in the 99th district, with Democrat Albert Pollard running against Republican Lee Anne Washington for the House of Delegates seat vacated by when Rob Wittman. As you may recall, Wittman was (unfortunately) elected to the U.S. House of Representatives over Phil Forgit in a December special election. Now, Pollard is favored to take the 99th district seat, increasing the number of Democrats in the House of Delegates to 45. Before he does that, though, the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reports on the travails he has to go through to get elected.
For the past month, the two candidates--Democrat Albert Pollard and Republican Lee Anne Washington--have munched at breakfasts, lunches, dinners and coffee-and-desserts from Reedville to Bowling Green.[...]
This week, her opponent, Pollard, hosted a party for 300 supporters at the only factory in Lively, another little Lancaster County community. The crowd gobbled cakes, cookies, brownies, shrimp, salmon, ham biscuits, sliced pork, Moroccan bean dip and hummus.
All I can say is, I hope Pollard's doing a lot of door knocking, because if he isn't he's going to show up at the state Capitol in a week or so weighing 300 pounds. So that's what it means to be a political candidate -- cakes, cookies, brownies, shrimp, salmon, etc? Why is it again that so few people wan to run for public office? Ha.
But then I read his position on the OMEGA / Menhanden processing plant out in Reedville on the Northern Neck ... his district.
For those of you concerned about the abysmal condition of the Chesapeake Bay and the shortage of fish along the coast and worldwide take note. Alan Pollard's position is that the Reedville plant is economically important and should continue to operate .... raping the base of the ocean food chain.
If you could do just one thing for the health of the Bay short of restocking a billion oysters .... you would shut down that plant and push the purse seining of Menhaden 5 miles offshore .... that's the east coast off shore.
It should be banned in the Bay entirely (as other states have done). Menhaden are filter feeders and the base of the Fish Food Chain. They are an extremely important part of the Bay's Biomass and should be left alone.
Pollard along with the NAACP thinks the 200 low paying jobs Omega provides is worth fighting for ..... even though it severely erodes the health of the bay. Ironically the Omega operation use to be part of Zapata Oil ... that's George Bush's (senior) old oil company.
Consequently if I thought Pollard's Republican opponent had a different position I VOTE for HER. I hope Alan reads this post .... maybe I've got it wrong ... probably not since I saw his quote in the Freelance Star ...
If I were his opposition I would nail him to this bad "Shad" plank he's so quick to endorse.
His burning desire to be the next delegate from the Northern Neck is so he can kill any initiative limiting Menhaden catches before it gets to Gov. Kaine or into the Department of Natural Resources.
Environmentalist he may be .... Mr. Friend of the Rappahannock ... he may profess to be.... But until I hear him (or read in print) that he's for reining in (or better still closing down) the purse seining of Menhaden for the good of the Bay ... then he'll remain in my eyes a FLAWED candidate and fair weather environmentalist. Pollard is not in my district but close enough. And his opposition to these fundamental resource issues should be out in the open for all to judge.
I'd like to be wrong about ALBERT .... maybe you should put the issue to him point blank. I'd be happy to if you think it's a little embarrassing.
The funny thing is that almost every waterman and recreational fisherman ... Greenpeace and NOAA wants to see that plant shut down. It's a unifying political theme environmentally correct across political line .... but he's for 200 low paying jobs (as is the NAACP) that at the end of the day STRIPS the BAY of a key resource at a critical time. You don't think, so ... ask the Governor of Maryland.... they own most of the Chesapeake but have a hard time getting cooperation from Virginia .... because of people like ALBERT POLLARD.
GO, ALBERT, GO!