When voting in the local Democratic primary, I had to sign a pledge promising to support the final candidates, even if they were not the ones I voted for. Now that the results are in, I find that I will have to break that pledge. This is a critical election and may well determine the fates of many important issues in our town. The main dividing line in this community is between what proponents like to call “smart growth” and sustainability.
Although I agree that growth does need to be smart, it is clear to me that our town first needs to look at better utilizing our existing resources. To me, this is what the arguments about damming versus dredging, or building roads and private buildings on public land, really come down to. It’s a vision for the future of Charlottesville.
I cannot in good conscience support all of the Democratic City Council candidates. I have looked at the Independent candidates running for council, and I think that Brandon Collins in particular speaks very well to many critical issues facing our community, particularly poverty, social justice, and environmental responsibility. Also, he’s a Socialist, so this will absolutely drive the teabaggers mad!
I urge all of my fellow Charlottesville citizens to listen to Brandon and all of the other candidates, and to vote intelligently.
right on, sean! i agree with you completely. brandon collins is the candidate that most closely mirrors my concerns and positions, and i too will break the pledge and vote for him. his platform is very strong on issues of addressing poverty, helping ex-offenders, creating jobs that pay a living wage and improving the lives of ALL our citizens.
Well said Sean!! Yes I will too as I voted for just two of them and only one got thru. I dont want the others in, as they are only the establishment “more of the same bull”. Sorry people, we past that time now, wake up.
Sean:
You are obviously entitled to support whoever you want — that is not the point of my comment. The point is that you misunderstand what you signed to participate. What you signed was a statement of your present intent. As required by the State Party Plan, you were required to sign the following declaration:
All participants in the Caucus must sign a Declaration Form, attesting that the participant:
A. Is a Democrat;
B. Is a registered voter in the City of Charlottesville;
C. Believes in the principles of the Democratic Party; and
D. Does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election.
It is not, and never has been, a loyalty oath. The Democratic Party is the party of the big tent, and we have many people who consider themselves Democrats who don’t all agree on everything. The people that I voted for on Saturday don’t all agree on everything, and the people who won don’t all agree on everything. But what the three winners had in common were:
1. Intelligence;
2. Lots of experience with local government;
3. A strong belief in the merits of good planning; and
4. A commitment to civility in governance.
Those are some pretty important values.
I don’t disagree with most of what Brandon Collins has to say, though I note that there is precious little of his “platform”, particularly as expressed by Brenda, that is within the control of City Council. Council has no power to “create jobs that pay a living wage,” for example. If we passed a living wage ordinance, it would be declared unconstitutional in a heartbeat.
And when it comes right down to it, “smart growth” is almost entirely in the control of Albemarle County, not the City of Charlottesville. The City’s use of resources is less than the County’s, and that trend will continue. So no matter how much the City wants to conserve, and no matter how “smart” and “sustainable” we want to be, the County’s water use will ultimately drive the water decision.
My point is that the virtues of Satyendra, Kathy and Dede, both as individuals and as a ticket, are virtues that we will value and rely on in coming years.
Lloyd, thank you for commenting. You are someone whom I have always respected, so I appreciate you taking the time to address these issues.
Just for further clarification, I never referred to the pledge as a loyalty oath; those are your words, but I’ve certainly heard others use them before when disparaging the pledge.
Having said that, I do interpret point D (“Does not intend to support any candidate who is opposed to a Democratic nominee in the next ensuing election.”) as meaning that we will not vote for non-Democratic party nominees in the general election. If that is not the expectation, I would love to hear what is.
Of the values that you listed, I would say that all the Democratic candidates I supported had those in common too.
You’re a lawyer, I am not, so I cannot possibly argue with you the legal merits of a living wage ordinance. I can say that I wish the city would use its partnership with the UVA to do everything it could to encourage the University to offer a living wage. UVA is the single largest employer in town, and offering a living wage to all of its employees benefits everyone in the community.
And along similar lines, I think that there is much more that the city can do to work with the county in advocating and making possible better sustainable uses of our shared resources. This may not be the way you intended it, but it sounds like you are abdicating that responsibility to the county, something I strongly reject.
Of our three Democratic nominees, I wholly support only one. I intend to look long at hard at all the council candidates, and vote for those whom I think represent the best values for our city, party status notwithstanding. The point of my post is to encourage all Charlottesville citizens to do the same. That, I hope, is something upon which we can all agree.
Thanks Sean!
Glad to hear of your support, and Brenda’s and Jon’s too.
I would like to briefly address Mr. Snook’s concerns-
Living wage- I am well aware that the city does not have the ability to pass a living wage ordinance. I have engaged this issue on a state and local level for quite some time and I am pretty familiar with most of the ins and outs. This is why you do not see “pass a living wage ordinance” in my campaign material.
What I am interested in doing is making sure that all people can find work in Charlottesville that pays a living wage. One way to ensure this is directly through the city, which does pay a living wage. With the new section 3 coordinator and the ex-offender jobs program we have a good start to making sure that all city contracts use a local workforce that pays a living wage as well. I would very much like to see a jobs center opened in Charlottesville in the coming year. I know for certain that there are current sitting councilors who would support this idea.
Please read a more detailed approach to employment at: http://votebrandoncollins.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/guaranteed-employment-in-charlottesville/
I know that reaching full on guaranteed jobs by statute would be difficult, but the different steps involved are not. Further, if we can change the balance of jobs to employers then wages will start to increase.
Further, I have taken great steps to ensure that my platform planks are reasonable and possible given the restrictions of the Dillon Rule.
I hope you will reconsider giving your support to my candidacy. At this point any voter interested in having a progressive majority on council will want to have at least one independent elected.
We’re talking about changing the 5-0 rubber stamp to 4-1, and getting a hard worker that will make the other four work hard to justify what they’ll do regardless of what he says.
I urge everyone to vote Brandon Collins on to city council where we know he will fight the people’s fight. Come on D’s & R’s, I’s, dotted or not, and T’s too, but not real cross ones as Brandon is for civilty in government as well.