My God, what's gotten into Republican Virginia House of Delegates candidates the past few days? Have Pastor John's "demons" gotten into them or what? First, it was Chesterfield Republican Bradley Marrs, criticizing his independent opponent, Katherine Waddell, for receiving a $10,000 check from a wealthy homosexual businessman. Now, it's Chris Craddock, Republican candidate in the 67th district (portions of Fairfax and Loudoun Counties), saying that "Christians and gays hate and despise each other." Does this mean that Craddock, who is a strong Christian himself (a youth minister who married the pastor's daughter) hates gays? Sure sounds like it. For good measure, Craddock adds that he believes homosexuality is "immoral," but that he "has some gay friends." As in, "some of my best friends are [fill in the blank]?" I'm sure Craddock's "immoral" friends feel great about that.
Not surprisingly, given his harsh views on gays, Craddock's second largest donor ($7,140) is "All Children Matter," a Michigan-based group promoting school vouchers and headed by Dick DeVos, former chairman of the radical-right-wing "pyramid scheme" known as Amway. Craddock's other large donors are: 1) the far-right-wing Virginia Conservative Action PAC ($23,531), 2) the Pat Robertson/Ralph Reed-connnected Virginia Conservative Alliance ($6,000), and 3) the (you guessed it, far right wing!) Virginia Club for Growth ($5,300). In other words, Chris Craddock is an extreme right winger who apparently hates gay people, or at least believes that all Christians hate gay people. Whoops, looks like the Kilgore campaign's going to need to be disowning yet ANOTHER Republican candidate pretty soon, huh?
Luckily, voters in the 67th district have a great alternative to Chris Craddock's extreme right wing ideology and anti-gay bigotry, and his name is Chuck Caputo. Like Craddock, Chuck Caputo is a religious Christian, a Lector at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, and immediate past President of the Church's Parish Advisory Council. Unlike Craddock, though, Caputo is not a bigot, thus disproving Craddock's statement that Christians "hate and despise" gays. As one letter to the editor of the Centreville Times puts it, "Chuck is a decent, caring person who is articulate and knowledgeable about community needs." And the Connection Newspaper has this to say about Chuck:
Caputo's charisma and passion have helped build bonds with people in the community, regardless of their party affiliation. As a self-proclaimed centrist, Caputo has dedicated his campaign to helping to maintain the quality of living that Northern Virginians have thrived on in recent years.
In addition, Caputo "believes transportation is the largest issue facing Virginia today" and is "strong advocate of public education" who served on "the Virginia High School League (VHSL), which deals with high school debates, sports and other competitive activities." Besides that, Caputo "believes in proposing legislation that will protect Virginia's standard of living and promote further economic growth." He's also a father and an "avid hunter, fisher and jogger" who "prides himself in breaking traditional party lines."
In other words, Chuck Caputo is someone the voters of the 67th district can relate to, and someone they can be proud of to have as their Delegate. Chris Craddock, obviously, is not.