Bryan Ault Has Plans...

By: Lowell
Published On: 8/2/2007 7:45:55 AM

For those of you who don't know, Bryan Ault is the 28-year-old computer programmer and former head of the SUNY Fredonia Republicans who started the "abuser fees" petition that now has 167,693 signatures.  According to Tim Craig's weekly Virginia column in today's Washington Post, Ault isn't stopping until election day and has no plans to "just fade away." 

Instead, with House of Delegates races often decided by just a few hundred votes, "Ault is pledging that he and his petition will have an impact."  For instance, "When the time is right, Ault is planning a high-profile ceremony to formally deliver the petition to lawmakers and to Kaine."  And Ault is "vowing to work particularly hard for the Democratic candidates running against state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis and Del. Thomas Davis Rust, Fairfax County Republicans who supported the plan." 

Among other possibilities, "Ault and his friends could be up late the night before the election calling petitioners who live in competitive districts to remind them of their pledge: 'We will not vote for any state delegate or state senator who voted for this bill.'"  If that doesn't strike fear into the hearts of those who supported these idiotic fees, then nothing will.  On second thought, let them keep underestimating the power of "a computer geek, especially one with a list of 165,000 angry voters," and let's just see what happens on November 6.

Just remember, everybody: Bryan Ault has plans...

Comments



Duplicate signatures (Teddy - 8/2/2007 8:17:47 AM)
Unfortunately, I have heard some people admit they signed multiple times, in one case "I just signed 20 times, there was no control preventing that." So I'm not sure how the petition will be regarded by he Powers That Be. Too bad, but any excuse will be used to ignore objections to the just-too-cute-for-words transportation legislation.


Let them ignore it... (Lowell - 8/2/2007 8:29:13 AM)
...at their own peril.


Clean dataset (Eric - 8/2/2007 9:25:31 AM)
Teddy - there were a good number of duplicates and phony signatures (like the 90210 crowd and Mr. T) in the original dataset.  I've cleared out all the duplicates and fixed a number of zip code entry problems - leaving a relatively clean dataset.  There will still be some phony entries and a good number of first-name-only entries, but all and all the clean dataset is fairly solid.


abuser fees (virginiavoter - 8/2/2007 8:31:50 AM)
I suppose that the folks here at RK have the same kind of outrage towards the Governor as he supports these fees.


No, sorry. (Bubby - 8/2/2007 9:00:35 AM)
The Gov. (and all Virginians) have been waiting two years for transportation funding legislation from the Republican controlled General Assembly.  This is what he got to work with. He said he will review the implementation at the end of the year (after Virginians vote on their Delegates).  I'm good with that.  See ya at the polls!


Go back and review (Eric - 8/2/2007 9:31:58 AM)
numerous earlier posts on the subject and you'll see that many of us are not too happy about the Governor's stance. 

But he's not running for anything this year and the flat-earth Republicans who are primarily responsible for this crap are.  So it doesn't really matter how we feel about Gov Kaine right now because we've got the prime culprits identified (House GOP) and we can do something about them in November.

So for those who are obsessed with Kaine, go ahead, be our guest - run a campaign against him.  I wish you luck in getting someone else elected governor this year.  Have fun!



Good point, Eric. (Lowell - 8/2/2007 10:25:51 AM)
Maybe Jim "No Car Tax" Gilmore can run against Kaine this year, just for fun.  Nobody tell him that there isn't a governor's election until 2009.  Ha.


Any word on if he'll target Dems (Va Blogger - 8/2/2007 9:51:21 AM)
who also supported the measure? Or is this yet another attempt to turn this into a partisan turf war?


Targeting Dems? (HerbE - 8/2/2007 11:15:24 AM)
Dels Steve Shannon, Dave Bulova and Dave Marsten all voted for this transportation plan. However, there are no credible challengers to any of their races.


They aren't the only ones (Va Blogger - 8/2/2007 1:35:36 PM)
http://notlarrysabat...

Caputo, Howell, Lewis, Miller, and Poisson also voted for them, and many others voted for some part of them.



just to clarify (bault - 8/2/2007 11:24:26 AM)
when I talked to Tim Craig on the phone, I mentioned Raising Kaine and several other blogs by name for helping get the word out about the petition, but he said in the article that I did it through my own blog (and I didn't even have one at the time). 

So I tried to get the plug in and it failed.

As far as duplicates- I figured that might be a problem, but talk to any media outlet or legislator's office in the state.  My petition is one example of voter outrage, but not the only one.  Even if the number isn't exact, the sentiments of the voters is represented correctly.



Exactly (Eric - 8/2/2007 11:51:13 AM)
Yes, there are duplicates and phony entries, but the duplicates amount to a few thousand out of 160,000 (I know because I've cleaned them from my DB) - that's nothing.  Assume a few thousand (if that) more phonies and we're still talking in the neighborhood of 5% bad signatures. 

With roughly 150K good signatures (as of two weeks ago) I'm pretty sure we can say there is significant citizen outrage.  Politicians who ignore it are asking for trouble with elections just around the corner.

Great work on the petition Bryan! 



Thanks for laundering (Teddy - 8/2/2007 12:57:10 PM)
the signatures, Eric. No matter how you slice it, the Petition is an impressive example of citizen grassroots involvment, and only a delusional and arrogant elected official will try to trivialize it.

As for those whose noses are out of joint over Kaine's involvment in this legislation, I've said my piece repeatedly here on RK. Try to stretch your memory back and re-call that the republican no-tax, anti-NoVa cabal in the Assembly stonewalled any effort at a transportation bill until Congressman Tom Davis and Ed Gillespie twisted their arms, and the bastard  legislation with abuser fees (i.e., taxes) is what resulted, whereupon Kaine and the Democrats were told to "take it or leave it."  Kaine worked with it, ameliorating it as best he could for the veto session, but it's hard to make a lace doily out of sow's ear, so don't blame Kaine.

Kaine knows he has to continue to work with Speaker Howell if he expects to get ANY thing through the legislature during the last years of his term as governor, so he could not and cannot insult Howell's delicate psyche. That does not mean the rest of the voters should not campaign against the stupid and partisan members of the republican cabal--- but not against those Democrats who voted for the legislation since they were not happy with it, either, and only voted for it out of desperation to get Kaine at least some sort of transportation bill, fulfilling his campaign promises.

I beg the nose-out-joint crowd to see the big picture and keep their eye on the ball, which is: replace as many Republicans as possible with good Democrats at every level.



I'm trying to understand your viewpoint ... (Dianne - 8/2/2007 2:45:40 PM)
When Kaine was told "take it or leave it", would it not have been more politically advisable and wise to immediately take to the bully pulpit (that the Governor uniquely has) and talk to the Virginia citizens directly about the unwise "abuser fees" (and not worry about "Howell's delicate psyche"). 

And to the Democratic legislators you mentioned who were not "happy" with the abuser fees but voted for it (to the detrement of the Virginia drivers) just to get the Governor the transportation bill that he campaigned on, then good luck. 

Old political saying and a lesson once learned:  Once you lie down with the dogs, you end up smelling like the dogs.