It is after Labor Day and with that campaign signs appear, candidate forums are reported in local media sources, and the "Marketing Plans" go into full effect and top gear. The major difference between the candidates is that we have those who have already served in the position and have a track record of their decisions and actions, and those who are campaigning with little or no history of their actions or decisions and are working off their marketing plan and promises...
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All candidates who have held or presently hold office now, once had to also run a campaign and "marketing plan" as many of the new candidates vying for office are now doing this election. Some with little or no experience stepped up to the plate when needed for their district and fellow citizens and have proved to be wise beyond their years, grown into the position, and have become a valuable part of a balanced team...
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Those who have been in office for multiple terms, or even just one term, have documented history of their performance and actions during their terms and decisions made. With that they have had to take criticism from the public, the somewhat "Left leaning" local media, stonewalling from within, and political attacks from those with agendas. Obviously you are not going to please everybody all of the time but experienced and well qualified people in the right positions have the ability to deal with tough, and at times un-popular, decisions that the offices bring to do what is right for the county and its citizens.. With that the public has a track record to go with when considering re-election of the people in office as compared to those with only promises and a "Slick" marketing plan....
This election cycle once again brings out those who have had the mentioned "marketing plans" and "agendas" in the works for sometime now and look to capitalize on economic unrest and manufactured issues to stir the voters against those already in office. There are also some good members of the citizenry who are stepping up to the plate in hopes of being elected and being able to serve their community and doing it for the right reasons.
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But with that unfortunately we have those who are now running for office who have been divisive along the way as well as active in efforts to "Spin" and misinform others regarding the abilities and operational procedures of the Board of Supervisors. Fortunately many informed citizens have been able to keep abreast of the facts by following the true local media and talking with their representatives and constitutional officers.
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Slick marketing plans and promises of "Hope & Change" are nothing new to the world of political campaigning and in fact I believe many have learned their lesson after the recent promise of "Hope & Change" which now resides in the nice white house on Pennsylvania avenue. The best thing the citizens can do is pay attention and seek numerous sources of information to verify or correct campaign promises or claims against their opponents...
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11 comments:
The Shiflett/Karaffa race is interesting. Karaffa is backed by the same folks who backed Shiflett last time around. On the single biggest issue, Reassessments, Shiflett voted with Pyles and presumably in accordance with Karaffa. Is there a personality conflict here? There hasn't really been an articulation from Karaffa as to why Shiflett would be unsuitable. Karaffa was (is he still?) a Republican but is now running independently. One would think in order to run against your party, the party candidate would have to be so bad that you have no other choice. That case hasn't been made as far as I can see. So why the loss of support for Shiflett from that quarter?
It is my understanding that Shifflett did not follow the marching orders given to him by the M&M (Michael & Mitchell) crowd once he was elected to the Supervisor of Beverley Manor which they took credit for. Fact is Chris Green did all of the legwork to get Jeremy's name out there and elected at the polls. Jeremy did what he thought was correct for the people of his district and the county and has done a good job...
Fear is that Karaffa would take marching orders from Kurt Michael, as evident in the Cartoon by Jim McCloskey in the Newsleader where he has four shoes (Michael-Karaffa-Pattie-Pyles) all tied together in a circle by the shoe laces and Marching in "Lockstep" comment. This may be the reason why Karaffa is also running as a Independent like Michael and not as a Republican he claims to be.
Interesting how Michael refrences his time as Chairman of the local Republican party but also chose to run as independent as well as many apperances with and coordination with Democrat Pyles & Pattie.....
There is no reason to replace Shiflett with Karaffa who already has 4 years experience on the board.
Kurt Michael has to much baggage after what he did to the local repub party during that infamous, but enjoyable to watch, mass meeting.
I love that cartoon!!!!
Stan,
Jeremy has the experience from being there the last term and with that has been a good Supervisor for his district. Karaffa is a good guy but I too fear the influence and ties to Kurt...
McCloskey did a great job and it's evident that the NL as well as the general public\voters of Augusta County views this group for what they are...
Karaffa needs to ask his running mate Pyles if he attended the Board of Assessors meetings that he was a liaison to in the leadup to the Reassessment debacle. In the meeting minutes for the BOS on 1/28/09, Mr. Beyeler in a running dialogue with Pyles, questions Pyles as to whether or not he has attended even one of the meetings:
"I’m not here to down Mr. Pyles, but, Mr. Pyles was put on the
committee two years ago to work with the Assessors Board and Mr. Pyles, you can correct
me, but I don’t think you ever went to one of the meetings. I have a little problem, when you
put somebody on a committee, and they don’t attend them, and then you come back at the
end of that period and say everything is wrong. If you’re going to have input, you should
have it at the beginning. To me, let’s talk about what is fair and I want it fair, too. Now, Mr.
Pyles, have you attended any of those meetings?"
http://www.co.augusta.va.us/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=1855
Mr. Pyles does not answer or refute the question, so we are left to presume he did not attend any of these CRUCIAL assessment related meetings. Karaffa might want to clear this up soon since he has made this an issue in his race for a BOS seat.
Good info and source and I have added it to the comments in the NewLeader article where Karaffa is going after his attendence history.
He needs to look at the members of the "Gang-O-Four" before he starts mudslinging ...
Thanks
It will be interesting to see if the Newsleader runs with this. I won't hold my breath. They let this accusation go to print and did the bare minimum of research to flesh it out. It didn't take long to find. I vaguely remembered this exchange from that famous meeting but couldn't remember the issue. I started with the assessment, knowing that contentious issues often cause Supervisors to drop their guard and reveal interesting tidbits and behind the scenes info. My next clue was to look at the Greenville Fire Station. Then the mega-site, although that was last term...
This isn't really about Pyles. He's probably going to win his seat again and continue to do what he does, throw bombs and bring home the bacon, which wouldn't be enough to bring this up. This is about a candidate casting aspersions against a sitting Supervisor without knowing (or hoping no one would reveal??) the same issue exists ON HIS OWN TICKET. I'm glad I took Karaffa at his word to look at the record.
Who knows? Maybe Pyles had good reasons to be absent. I know these folks are busy. Like I said, he did nothing to refute the charge. Even so, maybe the benefit of the doubt should be extended to him. At least Karaffa should prove that Shifflett missed meetings first and then prove it was without good cause.
The next item is to research the missed regular meetings from this term. I'm 3/4 of the way through and there is nothing that appears to be amiss. Shiflett is next to the lowest amount of meetings missed. I would say Pyles is average. Howdyshell is the runaway favorite for most missed meetings.
I was just wondering, if having always been a Republican, and now you run as an independent, would you be considered a traitor?
"Watching",
I agree and hope that the local media papers do pick up on issues like this and investigate the rest of the facts instead of just printing the political hit pieces. With the upcoming election I am sure that we will see more like this come out of the "Gang-O-Four" for it is their leaders tactics and history...
Keeping it fresh and in the comment sections of the media website provides the people to see the rest of the story...
I attended the last BOS meeting and saw Karaffa being used as a uppet by the "Puppet-master" of the gang-o-four as I have seen him do it numerous times in the past. Like I said I would like to see Karaffa stand on his own but after the recnt events and attack piececs I am not sure I would want him on the board...
Anonmous 9:06,
"Traitor" is a word with history regarding several of the above mentioned individuals. It showed in the past that this group is only looking out for themselves and the Power positions bring to them.....
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