Cliff Keirce, who has been a friend of the family since we moved into the Broadlands, has
announced a run as an Independent candidate for Supervisor for the new Broad Run district.
Cliff is a widely known, very popular, well-liked, hugely qualified candidate for this office. He's been Stevens's Planning Commissioner for the last couple of years. Before that, he was on the Facilities Standards Manual Public Review Committee, all while serving on the Broadlands HOA (including as President) and the Loudoun Library Foundation Board. His wife and his children are wonderful people, and he and his family are seriously committed to serving the community.
The Hatch Act makes it impossible for him to run for a party nomination, but an Independent label suits Cliff better than either party label anyway.
Cliff is, by all measures, a terrific candidate and deserves to have the unqualified support of all who know him.
Meanwhile, Andrea McGimsey, current Potomac Supervisor, is also in the new Broad Run district and has announced that she is going to run for reelection. I agree with Andrea on most issues, she's been a phenomenal advocate for making Loudoun an environmentally responsible locality and her work on that topic has helped Loudoun win awards for energy efficient policies. She's kept her campaign promises to be a proponent of slow-growth and sustainable policies.
Andrea has earned the trust and admiration of many in Loudoun for her strong and outspoken advocacy of many issues. She's a popular and welcomed figure in Democratic and environmental circles and she has done outstanding work in many areas. She has been a good friend to the Community Services Board* and Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter**, as well as many other organizations of which I am fond. Just like Cliff, she deserves to have the unqualified support of all who know her.
And there's the problem. They are both running for the same seat on the Board of Supervisors, and as much I want them both on the board, we can only pick one.
(Before I start discussing the choice ahead, I would like to point out that in the HOA 4 plan, Andrea and Cliff were not drawn into the same district. Actually, they weren't drawn in together under any of the plans Stevens backed. So the very fact that voters are in a position of having to make this particular choice is
pissing me off.)
Now, for the race itself:
First is the fact that this is going to be a 3-way race. Members of either party committee who think that Cliff would be a terrific candidate are in a bind, since it looks like both parties are going to have an official nominee. Members of the LCDC have pledged to help get Democratic candidates elected and pledged not to work against a Democratic candidate in a race where there is one. If there isn't one, LCDC members are free to back whichever other candidate they choose. I'm assuming the situation is the same for those in the LCRC.
This means that I, like others on the LCDC who live in the new Broad Run, have three choices in this election:
- Back Andrea
- Leave the LCDC to back Cliff or
- Sit down and shut up.
Now, if it weren't for the Hatch Act, Dems could say to Cliff, make a stand: Join the Dems. But that position is closed off to him by law and it's unfair to ask him.
Second, is the political reality of the new district. I can't speak to the politics of the other areas in the new Broad Run, but I CAN speak to the politics of the Broadlands. The people in Broadlands like to vote for the moderate. They don't like mean-spirited politicians: they didn't like Dick Black or Steve Snow and were ready to vote for reasonable Democrats to get rid of them. But, given a seemingly reasonable moderate Republican or, for preference, an Independent, they'll vote for that person over a Democratic candidate (see the Poisson/Greason election). Cliff Keirce has been elected, and re-elected, and re-re-elected to the HOA board in the Broadlands. The residents know him, like him, and expect him to be reasonable and a good advocate. People who have opposed him on various issues respect him and consider him fair-minded, even when they disagree with him vehemently. All of which is to say that I think that Cliff can win the Broadlands, no matter whether he runs in a 3-way race or a 2-way race.
If Cliff were not in the race, I think the Broadlands would vote for Shawn Williams, unless Andrea can make a big enough stink about him being a Dick Black fan. The residents of the Broadlands don't want to be preached to by either side of the political spectrum. They're proud to live in a community with lots of environmentally-friendly features, but that doesn't mean they want to see any clothes-lines or compost piles. They may or may not care a great deal about social issues, regardless, they don't want the people representing them to be rabid about such issues either.
(Please note I am speaking in generalities here, each resident of the Broadlands is an individual and this generalization will not apply to all those individuals).
It is my opinion that if a candidate wins the Broadlands, they will win the new Broad Run.
Third, what can the opposition use? For the last several months Andrea has said many times from the dais, that her full-time job as the Executive Director for Oatlands makes it difficult for her to attend daytime BOS meetings, or to be prepared for the ones she attends. It makes her sound like she can't maintain the effort needed to stay on top of her committments. I think an opponent could use those statements to ask why she's running for a second term if she's finding it hard to keep up.
Against Cliff is the fact that he was a vocal proponent of the hospital in the Broadlands (which actually will be viewed positively in many quarters), and is a high-order nerd (collecting comic books and signed first editions - much like me, actually). He has large presence online and in the local papers, and that's always dangerous for a candidate who doesn't want his words used against him. His clothing sense is questionable (while I might see it as plus, I'm not sure if voters are going to welcome a guy knocking on their door in a Thor's Mighty Hammer t-shirt).
I wish I didn't have to choose between two terrific candidates. I wish that it were a 2-way race between one of these two great candidates and the LCRC's candidate. And it's my guess that there are many people who consider themselves Democrats who are feeling the same way today.
It's not my way to sit down and shut up, so I only have two choices. Stay with the LCDC and back Andrea, or leave the LCDC and back Cliff. I've never worked against a Democratic candidate before, nor have I ever worked against the person I thought was the better candidate. I've always felt that the Democratic candidate, if there was one in the race,
was the better candidate, which is why I'm a member of the LCDC in the first place. But what if a committed Dem thinks that Cliff is the better candidate? For that matter, what if a Republican does?
What are your thoughts?
*I'm a member of the Board of the CSB.
**I did an internship with LAWS.
