The Virginia Beach City Council election is over, and Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) Chairman John Moss finished with only 15.71% of the vote in the Mayoral race. Things get even more grim for the VBTA when you see that Leona Shuler got only 8.07% in the Council At-Large race. The true believers were routed: Libertarian Bob Barr received a minuscule 0.31% of the Presidential vote. The pipe dream of a VBTA electoral breakthrough is simply Deanlusional.
Having been schooled by both the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) and GOPAC (a big, national Republican PAC), I know coalition building is a vital part of winning elections. GOPAC teaches a model where you shoot for a coalition that will get you 52% of the vote. You can't build a 52% coalition around the far right-wing VBTA. In fact, their idea of a coalition is the VBTA, the Tidewater Libertarian Party (TLP), and the Citizens Action Coalition (CACI) together.
Honestly, who in Virginia Beach is looking to go into coalition with the VBTA? First, they're so far to the right that you can't build out a coalition far enough to the center off them to win. Second, their obsession with reducing the Property Tax rate is an albatross that drives off potential partners.
The usual VBTA electoral progression:
1. The Marian Manor breakfast group is their sounding board. They believe that the Kool-Aid chuggers actual reflect the community.
2. They delude themselves into believing that disagreement with City policy and support of the VBTA agenda are synonymous.
3. When their candidates and door knockers hear discontent, they assume their candidate is winning.
4. Their candidate - inevitably - gets clobbered.
Moss' clobbering is the beginning of the end of the VBTA. They were shown to be political impotent, and all the Viagra in the world won't get them going again. What's left of the VBTA, if it can ditch it's extremist Officers, has a potential life as a junior partner in City conservative and center-right coalitions. However, VBTA City Council candidates will never be a serious threat again.
11 comments:
Regardless, your evaluation concerning the local election is purely subjective and opinionated. First, whatever "training" you received RPV and GoPAC is not applicable to this local election. The only significant fact that cannot be repudiated is the prevailing candidates received the highest amounts of contributions from special interests and spent more per vote. All other rationale is immaterial and moot.
Check the donations taken by all
candidates in the At Large Race.
Then compare those totals with the
money spent, and the amount of time
campaigning. It appears that the purpose of some candidates wasn't actually to win, but to
split the votes, which always favors the incumbents. It is amazing how many people pop out of
thin air at election time. No real
name recognition, and no real possibility to win. This happens in
most local elections. One issue
candidates don't appeal to enough
people. Any candidate can make a
website and state their cases. Why
didn't all candidates in all races
have a really nice and user friendly website?
Anon 12:46,
You're right on a couple things.
I would certainly encourage any serious candidate to have a website. With just a small b&w ad, you could direct people to your website.
Anon 7:42 AM:
You are correct...people who raise the most money win.
The VBTA candidates are so fringe that they receive little money because no one supports them.
Think about it: if they were true to their supposed beliefs, business onwers would be banging down their doors to donate.
Instead, they continue to run people who are horrible at connecting with the average citizen.
Example 1: Moss screams and yells at forums and urges people to vote against all incumbents, instantly losing the support of the people who may like one of the incumbents.
Example 2: Krause tells everyone "I'm retured and will spend all my time watching your money" yet his own neighbors vote against him in droves.
Example 3: O'Connor lectures people at forums with statistics that while inaccurate, still bore people to death.
These guys remind me of the democrats pre-2007: running useless candidates (Afshan Farashi) rather than tapping real talent (Joe Bouchard).
The VBTA and its affiliates have shallow benches, so I agree with Angel...this could be it for them.
Anon 7:54 hits on something I've commented on elsewhere before: VBTA donors.
Look at the 2000 DEW donors, then what VBTAers have drawn in 2006 & 2008. The vast majority have left, as the Deaniacs have veered from ultraconservative to the lonney right.
Avenging Archangel's comment about
the 2000 Dew team and their donars
shows a pattern. That election year
there were many groups involved in
the elections. And the DEW team
candidates(2 prior council members)
were attaching themselves to every
issue, just to get donations and
support. They certainly know how the game is played. Those who held
their noses and voted for them, swore they'd never do it again, but
what other choices are were we offered in '08? (Sessoms,Oberndorf,
Taylor & Wilson)
Are their professional politicians, and if so, what are
their motives, or rewards?
I can't find some of the posts from a few days ago, about John Moss's loss to the good old boy
system.
Did Virginia News Source staff, win
the lottery, or go on an extended
vacation? Can't seem to find any of
the behind the scenes information that they are famous for posting.
Nothing about the problems at the
polls, and the late results given to the public and to the media.
Would like more input on how much
candidates were given, and how much
they actually spent. I'd love to know which sign companies made all those jumbo signs that lined the roads and highways in our "Community for a Lifetime".
Seems that the biggest winners in this National & Local election cyle, are the newspapers, TV stations, the marketing and advertising companies and the sign
companies.
The citizens that volunteer their time and talents to work hard to have our taxes lowered and our government spending prioritized will continue to do so as a stong collection of united citizens supporting the VBTA and our goals.
It is a testimony to the VBTA that Freeloaders such as Henry and his sidekicks continue to blather on and attack the VBTA. When con artists like Mike Barrett continue to howl and whine about the VBA, it is a strong indication that the VBTA is for the taxpayers and not the special interests business lobby.
Henry's vile and child-like attacks serve to reveal that the VBTA is on the right track and that the Freeloaders that support their ring leader Henry are delusional if they are fooling themselves into thinking the citizens and taxpayers of our fine city are going to stop standing up for our rights to have our voices heard by our elected representives.
Wishful thinking by the Freeloaders or simply their own delusions spewed out on the hate filled webpages of Leftist, Socialist blogs.
CACI was never the same after the DEWbacle. Even then Dean and Weeks got 26% of the vote.
So now Moss gets 15.71% of the vote...and Reid wants us to think the VBTA can simply carry on.
Yes, there's some "wishful thinking", but it's on Reid's part.
Henry,
The need for tax relief and prioritized city spending hasn't gone away in our city - therefore the need for citizens to join together in support of achieving those golas remains.
Thus, the VBTA has more work to do - especially with Will Sessoms and Glenn Davis now on City Council.
The only wishful thinking I read on this topic is your strange delusion that for some reason the election results have anything to do with the VBTA and our mission.
Reid,
Everyone outside the VBTA realizes it's the begnning of the end for the group. CACI still exists on paper, and the VBTA may as well, but the VBTA will never again be an effective group in it's current composition.
Moss' rout just showed elected officials that the VBTA is a paper tiger that can be ignored with impunity.
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