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Vote With Your Brain, Vote on the Facts, Hire the Best

   Written by on October 26, 2017 at 12:44 pm

Election Day is November 7.  Virginians will be electing men and women who will lead our state, our counties and our towns for the next few years.

Every one of these elections is important. We are hiring men and women to work for us. We are hiring them to represent the best interests of our state, counties and towns.

Each of the candidates is asking us to hire them to do a job. The interesting thing is many of them haven’t given us any reason to hire them.

Every candidate should have given the voters a resume.  Each and every candidate should have told us why they are the superior candidate.  Incumbents should stand on their records.

For incumbents, an election is like a performance review.  “Hey, Boss (the voters), this is what I’ve done, this is what I am doing and this is what I plan to do. Please let me stay.”

The challengers are applying for a job. In many cases the voters know nothing about them.  Some of these are trying to get the job based on a platform of “I won’t screw it up as bad as the current guy.”

In some cases, this has merit BUT only if you give specific examples and present a plan.  You have applied for a job.  Give us a reason to hire you.  If you don’t we shouldn’t take a chance.

Some are applying by promising to “Shake up the system.” Some promise to fire someone if elected. Some promise to “get revenge” if elected. These are emotional reactions not reasons to vote.  Who do they have lined up to replace the person they want to fire?

I want to know your job history.  You want to run our counties, our schools and our state. I want to know what you have done that qualifies you for that. I want to know what business you have successfully run.  I want to know your successes and failures. I want to know your qualifications. I want you to apply for the job.

One candidate in Charlotte County’s only campaign issue is the county debt.  “My opponent put us 20 million dollars in debt.”  The fact is the court ordered new court house put us 14 million in debt.  The original plan called for a six-million-dollar addition to the old courthouse which was negotiated (for several years) and approved until a small vocal group complained and the Judge issued a court order.  This has also happened in many other counties in Virginia. The rest of the debt is for necessary upgrades to the school in order to keep them open.

To use this debt as a campaign issue is dishonest.

Another is attempting to use the Osborne Bench at Randolph-Henry as a campaign issue.  That issue is resolved. What any of us think doesn’t matter.  It is always easy to stir the pot. Finding a solution is the difficult part.

I had a lady tell me the other day that some candidates (both incumbents and challengers) were only good at stirring up stuff.  They have never accomplished anything good, they just stir. Her suggestion was that the stuff stirrers be made to lick the spoon.  That isn’t a bad idea.  Maybe when they lose the election they will have to lick their stirring spoons.

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