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.

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.

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!

York endorses Delgaudio, Plowman, others

When he goes over to the dark side, he really goes over to the dark side. How can the same guy who endorsed Stevens endorse Delgaudio?

Needless to say, this year I'm certainly not on team York.

Because I'm on team Nevarez, team Wexton, team Ronis, and team Keirce.

I'm on team "best person for the job", and anyone who thinks that Delgaudio or Plowman or Buona or Williams is the best person? Well that guy can't be such a great person himself.

Sorry, Scott. You lost me.