Andrea's aides speak up on the record

Dusty Smith and Erika Jacobson Moore have the story.

But it was the cat that prompted action. During a meeting among the supervisors’ aides, McGimsey’s current aide Alex Delgado mentioned he was going to feed her cat and clean out the kitty the litter.

“That upset so many of us that one of the aides went to [County Administrator Tim] Hemstreet about it,” said an aide from another office. At least four aides present at the meeting confirmed the account, including Jessica Echard, who made the complaint.

“I went to the county administrator,” said Echard, who worked for Supervisor Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) before leaving town for an internship. “The meeting was actually over,” Echard explained, saying Delgado raised the cat care half-jokingly. “’Oh yeah, she just told me to put it on my time sheet.’ We all just stopped and said, ‘Whoa, that’s not OK.’”

Delgado said the entire situation was a misunderstanding with the other aides and that the situation got blown beyond what it actually was.

“No county money was spent to take care of her cat,” he said. “She and I have a friendship beyond [supervisor-aide]. That’s all that was.”

I think it's important to remember that staff aides are at-will employees, entirely dependent on their employer's good will to keep their jobs. If you were in that position, and your employer asked you to do them a favor, whether or not it was on the clock, would you feel like you could say "no"?

And, as a reminder, here is an example of how she treats COUNTY staff, on camera:
[first posted on Without Supervision]

I did tell you so.

Meanwhile, in the school board races...

Items of interest from races I'm watching:

1. Joe Guzman endorses John Stevens:
   

   School Board Rep. Joseph Guzman (R-Sugarland Run)
   "The School Board is no place for partisan politics. John Stevens has been a fantastic Chairman. We both believe in putting children first. I am proud to have supported John and I would vote for him again!"
   
   Read more endorsements at StevensForSchools.org.

    Now, I'm no fan of Guzman, but him snubbing Debbie Rose to endorse John Stevens is definitely big news. Good work, John!


2. Bob Ohneiser has a terrific quote in Leesburg Today about the problematic LCPS discipline policy:
   

   School Board member Bob Ohneiser (Broad Run), an attorney who has been openly critical of the district's discipline process, said in the eight years he's served as a board member, the number of lawsuits and appeals has grown from "fitting on one page to eight pages long on both sides."
   
   "Those parents are spending hundreds and hundreds per hour to set the record straight out of principle," Ohneiser said. "People don't do that unless they feel wronged."

   Bob Oh! is outspoken and not afraid to face down his board mates and Hatrick.


3. The one really bright spot in the Loudoun Times Mirror's confusing endorsements was their endorsement of Joy Maloney:
   

   The Broad Run race is a difficult one. While impressed with Kevin Kuesters and the work he has done preparing for the position, we remain troubled by the accusations of assault which cannot be fully resolved by Election Day. Candidates have a time and a place, and perhaps the problem is that Kuesters needs to resolve these issues in his personal life before making another run for public office. While concerned about write-in candidate Joy Maloney’s ability to organize a successful write-in campaign and balance an elected office with her work life, we endorse her candidacy and are impressed by the level of commitment and involvement with the community that she has demonstrated.

As you all know, I'm going to be voting for Joy and Bob on Tuesday. I hope you will all join me!

Okay, so Plowman dropped the charges

That doesn't change the fact that you should still write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

My issues with Mr. Kuester's candidacy remain the same, I feel that people on the school board should believe in the value of public education, and should be fiscally responsible. Mr. Kuesters fails both those tests.

Mr. Kuesters sends his school-age children to private religious school. That's his right, obviously. But I think someone who wants to be in charge of our public schools, who has school-age children, should be invested enough in the schools to have his children attend them.

The School Board has fiscal oversight over the schools budget. Mr. Kuesters filed bankruptcy last year and is in more financial hot-water this year with his HOAs.

And then there is the arrest. I have volunteered with LAWS, the Loudoun Abused Women's Shelter, and I am aware of how common it is for abused spouses to withdraw complaints against their abusers. Mr. Kuesters may or may not have abused his wife, but whatever happened, it's clear that he has personal issues that are too complex to be completely dealt with before swearing in on January 1.

Meanwhile, Joy Maloney has a daughter at Eagle Ridge, her family is on a good solid financial footing, and she's not facing family turmoil. PLUS, she has a Masters in Educational Leadership and a Bachelors in Secondary Education. She taught high school for 5 years, and she works in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field.

Write in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board.

Full-Day Kindergarten: The Broad Run Candidates Respond

Kevin Kuesters

Should Loudoun institute Full-Day Kindergarten in all elementary schools and, if
so, how can it be implemented?

Full disclosure: I read the responses on your blog from Bob Ohneiser, Debbie Rose,
John Stevens, Eric Hornberger, Debbie Piland, Priscilla Godfrey and Bill Fox before
submitting my response to you.

LCPS has 59 elementary schools right now and 12 of these schools already have full-
day kindergarten (FDK). Therefore we would need to add FDK to 47 existing schools to implement it in all elementary schools.

Mish-mashing the math (I’m a CPA, its what I do!) using figures from two of the
aforementioned candidate responses, if we would need the capacity of approximately
2.5 schools to go to FDK, and each elementary school (ES) is projected to cost
$25,165,000 (per FY 2013 CIP estimates), then it will cost us approximately $62,912,500 to build enough rooms to implement FDK just for the current schools. This is a low-ball estimate of the one-time construction cost to put FDK into existing schools.

Assuming most elementary schools only have 2 half-day kindergarten (HDK) classes,
we would also be adding at least 1 more classroom to each school at a minimum cost of
$200,000 (the cost of a trailer).

We would also be adding the cost of a teacher and teacher’s aide for each kindergarten
classroom with more than 15 students. Since the average class size is 22 kids, and
assuming the teacher and teacher’s aide earn the second lowest salary on the pay
scale ($43,815), we would add $87,630 for each new kindergarten classroom, before
considering the cost of benefits for each teacher. Let’s just round it up to $100k in
salaries and benefits for each new kindergarten class. (By the way, only 84.20 teachers
out of the 4,000 or so employed by LCPS make that low salary.) Multiplying $100k in
salary and benefits times 47 (ES that currently do not have FDK), gives us $4.7 million in additional salaries and benefits every year if we add FDK. This is a low-ball estimate of the annual increase in the operating budget

So the estimated cost to implement FDK in LCPS would be around $63 million in
one time construction costs, plus $4.7 million in increased annual costs for teacher
salaries & benefits in existing schools, plus $200k additional construction costs for each new ES, plus $100k in increased annual personnel costs for each new ES.

So what are the benefits?

LCPS runs a school system for grades K-12 and therefore it makes sense to look at
the end result – the finished student as he or she graduates from high school and goes
to college or to work. There are no studies that evidence an appreciable difference
between graduating high school seniors that went to HDK vice FDK. In fact most
studies that look at the difference in academic achievement between half-day and full-

day kindergarten students show that by 4th grade any advantage held by the full day
kindergarten students has disappeared. Therefore, from an academic standpoint FDK is
not needed. There is one exception to this rule though: at-risk kids. At-risk kids who
attend FDK are shown to perform statistically better than at-risk kids who attend HDK
through their entire K-12 careers.

My position: Ultimately the quality of the kindergarten experience matters more than the
length of the day. Full-day kindergarten provides measurable benefits to at-risk kids and
I would support FDK for at-risk kids. Since LCPS already has implemented FDK for this population, I do not support any further expansion of FDK in LCPS at this time.

Joy Maloney

Yes, Loudoun should institute full-day kindergarten. As a two working-parent family, we put my daughter in full-day kindergarten at the superb AOL Child Development Center. We wished she could go to her neighborhood school, but we simply didn't think it was fair to her to be bussed around from school to school when she already loved her childcare center so much. Still, she told me the other day that she wished she had gone to kindergarten at Mill Run, because all of her friends had that one extra year to get to know each other. Full-day kindergarten gives students the transition they need into their elementary school while also giving teachers time to really teach.

The hard part, of course, is implementing it. We are in a tough economic situation right now, and we are going to have a difficult challenge just maintaining the excellent education our schools provide, let alone improving on it. We can start by having a concrete long-term plan. We need to begin building new schools with the assumption that there will be full-day kindergarten in those schools. We need to add schools each year that offer full-day kindergarten to at least disadvantaged children. We can offer it at schools, but not make it required to begin with, possibly keeping enrollment lower to start.

Fairfax County began implementing full-day kindergarten over 10 years ago. They finally came up with a plan to rapidly expand full-day kindergarten in 2006. It took them two years longer than their plan to actually get it accomplished. We need a plan, and maybe it will take longer than we expect, too. But if we don't start, we won't finish.

How to vote for Joy Maloney using the electronic voting machine

How to write in your vote using the electronic voting machines

Write-in Joy Maloney for Broad Run School Board!

My friend and neighbor, Joy Maloney, is stepping up to run against Kevin Kuesters, who was recently arrested for assaulting his wife.

Check out Joy's website and, please, write her name in on November 8th.


Stevens has more at Without Supervision.

A First

I had the strangest experience yesterday. I was talking to a registered voter in the Oak Grove district about Cliff Keirce (Independent!) and then briefly talked about Jennifer Wexton and Mike Kondratick (Democrats!) and the voter said,

"What about the Republicans?"

And I said,

"Well, I haven't got any of his literature, but I'm voting for Mike Chapman for Sheriff. He's a Republican."

And he said,

"So you're supporting Republicans as well as Democrats and Independents?"

And I said,

"Yup! I'm not with any organization, I'm voting for all these folks and I hope you will, too."

So, by my own rules, I hearby announce that I am endorsing Republican candidate for Sheriff, Mike Chapman.

This is the first time I've ever supported a Republican. Feels really weird, people.

News you can use:

• The campaigns for Shawn Mitchell, Jennifer Wexton, and Cliff Keirce have all announced yard sign availability.
• The Coalition for Women's Health is having a rally down in Richmond on October 15. Bus ride is free if you RSVP ASAP.
• Jennifer Wexton has challenged Jim Plowman to a debate. This is one to watch!
• I've got 21 responses on the Metro question (out of 39), 7 responses on Full-Day Kindergarten (out of 23), and 4 on Donations (out of 20), with promises of more to come on each. Do you have a question you'd like me to ask the candidates? Let me know.
• Also, sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. Not everyone knows about the election on November 8. Make sure you get the word out to your friends and co-workers. People fight and die every day all over the world for the right to vote. Let's show our support by herding Federal voters of our aquaintance to the polls in the off-years.

A picture's worth a thousand words

Cliff Keirce in the news!

Terrific article on Cliff in the Ashburn Patch. My favorite part?

Keirce sees Metro’s extension into Loudoun as a pivotal hook to bring new businesses to the area, and he fully supports the project.

“I’m 100 percent certain it will be completed,” he said. “It’s important not only to the region but to the federal government.”

In a recent meeting with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, Keirce learned that while Phase 2 does not have any federal funding currently, Sec. LaHood promised that the federal government would assist in some way with Phase 2 – likely through low-interest federal loans.

Go read it all.

No, she's not.

Andrea is NOT the Broad Run incumbent, that honor belongs to Lori Waters, who is not running for re-election.

The district that Andrea is running for is a mish-mash of precincts from three of the existing districts. Most come from both the current Broad Run (Lori Waters, Incumbent) and the current Dulles (Stevens Miller, Incumbent). Andrea's current district of Potomac is contributing only part of one little precinct.

For Andrea to tout herself as being the incumbent of Broad Run is, at best, misleading.

Here's how Kelly listed her name on the same program:

You notice something there that Andrea didn't include?

Here's Andrea's again:

Andrea's leaving out her party affiliation may lead to the impression that she is an Independent. Her website goes further to foster that impression, as she never mentions her party affilation, but has as a tag line that she is "Experienced. Independent. Trusted."). There IS an Independent in her race, but she is not him. That honor belongs to Cliff Keirce*, who I support fully.

Andrea is misrepresenting herself. She is NOT the Broad Run incumbent. She is NOT the Independent.

Experienced? At what?
Independent? From who?
Trusted? Not anymore.



*Due to an oversight, no Independents were invited to this forum, though candidates from both the Republicans and Democrats were. Stevens informed Cliff of the event on the morning it was taking place, and Cliff ended up being able to attend.

Back to School Night Report: Eagle Ridge Middle School

Great turnout! I was happy to see so many familiar faces there. I kept hearing over and over, "Yes! Cliff was at my door!" or "He's my neighbor" or "I talked to him at X, Y, or Z event!" or "We saw his wife and daughter here at the 6th Grade BTSN!"

Do I need to tell you how much I love to hear that? LOVE.

Cliff had two volunteers at ERMS and, between Jon and I, we handed out over a thousand pieces of literature.

Shawn Williams and the LCRC were out in force. I met and talked with Mike Chapman, who is a lot taller than I expected.

The only school board candidate represented was Eric Hornberger. His volunteer, Mark, did a great job.

The big surprise of the evening was that Larry Roeder and Anjan Chimaladinne sent volunteers from their campaigns. I spoke with Wayde Byard of the LCPS this morning, and he told me that Eagle Ridge does not have any students from the new Dulles District.

I know that the school boundaries and new electoral boundaries are confusing, but better to miss a BTSN you should have been at than to waste your volunteers' time at a school where the parents can't vote for you.

I'm sorry to say that I'm not shocked that the LCDC didn't send anyone for Andrea and Valdis. But it's not surprising considering that their website, while showing a District Chair for Algonkian:

1. Doesn't have the Ashburn District listed at all.
2. Says the Chair for Broad Run is my friend Dave Nemetz, who a) moved to Fairfax in July, and b) lived in Lansdowne in the Ashburn District.
3. Says the Chair for Dulles is Doug Miller, whose home is now in the Blue Ridge District.
4. Still lists the Potomac District, but doesn't have a chair for that district or for Catoctin.

Which means that unless you're a candidate in Blue Ridge, Leesburg, Algonkian, or Sterling, you haven't got a district chair to help you out. Good luck with that, folks!

LCDC District Chairs

I know Valdis had folks at Belmont Ridge Middle School BTSN last night, and has focused on doors in the ERMS catchment, but where were the LCDC volunteers to hand out his and Andrea's lit?

BOS Broad Run: Candidates Answers on Metro

I have answers from all three candidates for the Board of Supervisors Sterling seat so I'm posting them here for your convenience:

Cliff Keirce (I)

Thanks for the question.

I have not put anything about this on the website as I was of the understanding that the issue would be resolved prior to the next Board of Supervisors being seated. However, I'm happy to share with you my opinion on the issue. I have attended several meetings about the Dulles Rail project over the years, as an interested citizen, Planning Commissioner, and as a Board of Supervisor candidate.

I think the Dulles rail into Loudoun is critical for the future of the county's economic health. Many large projects (Moorefield Station, Loudoun Station) were approved years ago, but will not reach their full development plans without the rail. I have also seen several projects as Planning Commissioner that will depend heavily on the Metro extension (Dulles World, Kincora, Dulles Town Center) and there are others in the planning stages (Loudoun Center/Loudoun Metro). Without the commercial tax dollars these projects will bring to the county, our dependence on residential property taxes to pay the bills will only worsen.

All that being said, the project needs to be completed at a reasonable cost. I was one of the few who sounded the alarm when the extension of the Metro Rail to Loudoun County was handed over to MWAA to complete. This also gave them control over the Rte 267 Toll Road. One would have thought with the Greenway problems the state would have learned it's lesson in letting an unelected body have control over large scale road/transportation projects.

There are significant proposed cost overruns to complete this project. One of the biggest issues was whether the airport station should be above or below ground. I am glad to see MWAA has agreed to help bring costs back to the original estimate, by building the the station above ground. I know that MWAA had always planned for an underground station, but it never should have been considered  if it was going to be a billion dollars over budget. They have also neglected to look at all the benefits to an above ground station.

Other cost saving measures that can be accomplished are privatizing the parking garages instead of having to pay to build them and hand them over to the Metro Authority to collect the revenues, and phasing the rail yard construction.

Additional contributions from the federal government and the state should also be pursued.

Those have been my positions for a while now. I am glad to see there were some recent changes agreed to a few weeks ago. MWAA has agreed to an above ground station. I believe Virginia has agreed to add an additional $150 million to the cost of the project. There is some movement looking at privatizing the parking garages.

Feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss this further or if I haven't answered your question to your satisfaction.

Cliff Keirce

Andrea McGimsey (D)

"Andrea is leading the effort to complete road improvements and create more transportation options that will reduce traffic. She is fighting to ensure the Metro is extended into Loudoun and to increase the number of bus routes."

Shawn Williams (R)

I believe bringing metrorail to Loudoun is essential to take our county to the 'next level.' We need to attract businesses to defer our high residential tax base and metrorail will be a key component to this process. However, the project must be completed in a fiscally responsible manner. I was very pleased the the underground station at Dulles airport was scrapped in favor of the less expensive above ground station. Chairman York, who I look forward to continuing to work with on this issue, deserves credit for delivering real cost savings to Loudoun taxpayers. The project must continue with specific budgetary performance goals because if the costs spiral out of control the project is in danger of getting canceled.

Push Poll in the Broad Run District

A robo-dialed poll from Iowa went to a co-worker.

He described the questions to me as being framed as Democrat vs. Republican, with no mention of an Independent candidate. The questions included:

• "Will you vote for the Republican or the Democratic candidate?" 
• "Do you consider yourself a "Republican" or a "Democrat?"
• Will you vote for Andrea McGimsey or Shawn Williams?"

The poll was very clearly pro-Andrea (mentioned MIT -- my co-worker knew she'd attended that school -- and environmental issues).

My co-worker said he answered the above questions with:

• "I'll be voting for the Independent"
• "I am an Independent"
• "I'll be voting for Cliff Keirce"

He said he liked Cliff's demeanor when Cliff was at his door, and thought he was very knowledgeable.

If you receive a call like this and happen to record it, please send it on!

I hate to say I told you so...

But I did tell you so. Read more about it at Too Conservative.

Candidates are answering the question

You can read the answers on the Metro page. I apologize for the unattractive appearance of that page. I'll work on making it look better later.

So far I have answers from:

• Malcolm Baldwin (BOS Catoctin)
• Tom Bellanca (BOS Chair)
• Shaun Broy (27th Sen)
• Jim Burton (BOS Blue Ridge)
• Dave Butler (10th HOD)
• Pamela Danner (34th HOD)
• Eugene Delgaudio (Sterling)
• Cliff Keirce (BOS Broad Run)
• Mike Kondratick (87th HOD)
• Donald Marro (27th Sen)
• Andrea McGimsey (BOS Broad Run)
• Randy Minchew (10th HOD)
• Ali Shahriari (BOS Sterling)

Thank you to all who have responded and also to the several who have told me that they will respond.

Looking at Cliff Keirce's campaign finance report

Not bad for a first-timer! The really noteworthy thing is that all but one of his donations come from within Loudoun.

I'm gonna get on his back about needing to raise more (especially since I want a bumper sticker - so much so that I may buy those myself).

But frankly, I'm glad he's canvassing and getting the word out. He's a terrific planning commissioner and he'll make a great Supervisor.

Andrea DOES have a website

You can find it here. Apparently, it was worth $5000 in an in-kind donation (fully a third of what she raised this past quarter).

But, as I said in a comment below, it doesn't show up on the first three pages of a google search. No matter how specific.

 Does it count as having a web-presence if people who are actively looking for your page can't find you?

What does it say

...about Andrea McGimsey's desire for re-election that Denise Moore Pierce, who has been running for all of a weekend, has a website, and Andrea - who announced back in January - does not?

Information from my Inbox

At the LCDC meeting last night, according to my sources:

 

• Josh Actor withdrew from the Commissioner of the Revenue race
• Andrea McGimsey's campaign manager introduced himself and said her website is live. I still can't find it. If anyone has a link to it, pass it on.
• Bahri Aliriza is still in the Sterling race. My money is still (literally) on Al Nevarez to win the nomination and, eventually, the general.