Poor Jim Plowman, has to go out of the county to find supporters

Invitation to Jim Plowman's fundraiser in Fairfax last night

While Jennifer Wexton was holding a well-attended fundraiser at a local Loudoun business, Jim Plowman had to leave the county to get to his fundraiser, at the law offices of Phillips, Beckwith, Hall, & Chase.

Wait a minute....Beckwith? Beckwith? Why does that name sound so familiar? Because Beckwith was the attorney for a defendant that got a sweetheart deal from Plowman's office.

Friends of Jim Plowman

Sean Mabry robbed women at knifepoint in three separate offenses in Loudoun in September, 2010. Once he was caught, he admitted that he sought out women victims because he thought they would be easier to rob.

Mabry hired an attorney whose firm was a donor to Plowman’s campaign and in March, 2011, the Commonwealth agreed that Mabry would plead guilty to two of the robberies, and would not be charged for any other robberies he committed in Loudoun.

The Commonwealth not only to the specific sentence, and that the sentences could be served concurrently with one another, they also agreed that the sentence for the Loudoun charges would be concurrent to the sentence Mabry would serve for two additional robberies he had committed in Fairfax County! (See Mabry Facts and Plea Agreement)

Mabry’s counsel’s law firm followed up with an additional campaign donation to Plowman in June, 2011.

The Commonwealth’s volume discount allowed the defendant to commit numerous armed robberies throughout Northern Virginia, targeting those he believed to be the most vulnerable victims, for NO ADDITIONAL PENALTY. (See Mabry Facts and Plea Agreement).

Beckwith's signature on Mabry's plea agreement

It's time for Loudoun to have a Commonwealth's Attorney that doesn't give sweetheart deals to the clients of donors. It's time to bring honesty and integrity back to the office of Commonwealth's Attorney.

It's time to vote for Jennifer Wexton.

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

From my Inbox (links added by me)

Jennifer Wexton Calls on Jim Plowman to Investigate Sheriff Allegations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jennifer Wexton
(703) 779-4896 - office

votewexton@gmail.com

Leesburg, VA (August 4, 2011) – Jennifer Wexton, candidate for Loudoun Commonwealth’s Attorney, called on Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman today to investigate allegations of “pay to play” campaign donations to Loudoun Sheriff Steve Simpson.

On August 3, 2011, the Washington Post published an article exposing questionable campaign donations to Simpson from organizations with contracts up for renewal the Sheriff’s Department, and from a local nonprofit agency. The article also cited an instance where a major Simpson campaign donor, convicted felon Osama El Atari, served less than 1½ hours of a four-day sentence at the Loudoun County Adult Detention Center.

“Either all of these events have been taking place under Jim Plowman’s watch, and he knew nothing about them, or he knew what was going on and did nothing. Either way, it’s unacceptable for Loudoun’s top prosecutor not to act.” said Wexton. “That is why I delivered a letter to Mr. Plowman’s office today, officially requesting that he investigate the allegations in the Post article, to determine what, if any, violations of criminal or campaign finance laws have taken place. These are allegations where the taxpayers of Loudoun County deserve answers.”

Mr. Plowman has shown a pattern of launching politically motivated investigations and has not hesitated to pursue his chosen political targets in the past, notably his Susan Van Wagoner conflict of interest opinion, which was ultimately reversed by two courts, and his prosecution of Virginia State Senate candidate Mark Tate for campaign finance violations during the 2007 election cycle.

Now THAT's what I'm talking about

Cliff knocked 151 doors yesterday.

Jennifer Wexton's been out every day (though she needs to post about it more!)

Shanyn Ronis is wearing her shoes out.

I'm so proud of my canvassing proteges! Keep it up!

Campaign websites

As a public service, I have a page that will have links to the campaign websites of every declared candidate for local office.

Supervisors and Constitutional Offices are there now, School Board coming tonight or tomorrow. State offices will be added soon.

I will be posting later on the asthetics (or lack there of) of the various sites.