I was very interested to see how the vote for school board candidates would go at this week's FCRC meeting. The Patch has a good story up about our three nominees: Lolita Mancheno-Smoak, Lin-Dai Kendall, and Sheree Brown-Kaplan. Three women, two of whom are minorities, make for fresh blood in the party ranks. And when you thrown in Sheila Ratnam, who could be the first elected official of Indian decent to be elected in Fairfax County, you have local candidates that are Republicans who seem to be much more representative of the county's diveristy. The Democrats seem to resemble a sheet of white muffins compared to this. Not that I personally believe in identity politics, its just fun when we can throw it back in their faces.
The Patch references Steve Stuban, a father who's son committed suicide in party because of the county school systems harsh disciplinary standards. What I hear is that since Stuban, an active duty military man, was Hatch Act'd so his campaign was largely run by Pat Herrity's operation. Its interesting to see the power in the county committee conservatives have now since Kendall, it seems, was the one who beat him and she is a favorite of the more conservative faction in the party. I'll be interested to see if this is just an anomoly or a sort of marker we can use to see how the county committee will vote in other contested races (like county chairman, for example).
Pat Herrity also endorsed Mancheno-Smoak and Brown-Kaplan. And I don't think you can draw any conclusions about the unusual circumstances of a campaign being run in absentia.
Posted by: Stephen Spiker | July 21, 2011 at 02:49 PM
My only point would be that the Tea Party endorsed those two as well.
PS - nice takedown on the dummies at Blue Virginia trying to, once gain, convince people that Janet O has any semblence of political skill rather than her just being a partisan hack.
Posted by: Chris | July 21, 2011 at 04:27 PM
Let's give credit where credit is due: the FCRC has been the driving force behind candidate recruitment which has led to a very diverse candidate slate going in to this November's elections. While there is still a lot of work to be done, credit needs to be given to Anthony Bedell, and the FCRC recruitment committee.
Posted by: Just Sayin' | July 21, 2011 at 04:47 PM
I wonder what it says that Herrity and the Tea Party had the same endorsements.
I agree that we have strong candidates for School Board, which is not always an easy office to get people to run for (though it would've been nice to run someone against Kathy Smith). However, the flipside is that we barely have anyone competing for Board of Supervisors seats. There was a point, fleeting as it was, where the possibility of competing for a 5-5 or even a majority wasn't a complete pipedream. As it is, keeping it at 7-3 will count as a win.
And its astonishing that we didn't put up candidates against vulnerable GA members like Filler-Corn, Watts, Keam, and Mark Herring.
Posted by: Stephen Spiker | July 22, 2011 at 08:59 AM
We are running a candidate against Kathy Smith, the FCRC Sully membership endorsed Sheila Ratnam! We are also running a candidate against Herring, Patricia Phillips who addressed the membership Wednesday evening! A complete listing of our candidates can be found at www.fairfaxgop.com by clicking on "candidates" THANKS!
Posted by: Susan L. Falconer | July 22, 2011 at 03:27 PM
Patricia Phillips is challenging Mark Herring.
Sheila Ratnam, Dr. Mancheno-Smoak, Sheree Brown Kaplan & Lin-Dai Kendall also represent diversity in that they don't share the group think exhibited by the majority of members on the current board.
Posted by: Sullygop | July 22, 2011 at 03:39 PM
Patricia Phillips is running for the State Senate against Democrat Mark Herring in the 33rd District. She is the official Republican nominee and her focus is entirely on beating Mark Herring. You can learn more about Patricia and her positions on the issues at Patriciaphillips.org
Posted by: Michael Nachajski | July 22, 2011 at 03:56 PM
Ah, my bad about Sheila Ratnam. I'm glad to hear it; as I said, we have a very strong slate of School Board candidates this year. Given the general disapproval toward FCPS that's been evident the past few years, we may see some radical changes on the board.
Posted by: Stephen Spiker | July 22, 2011 at 05:06 PM
Hello All! This is Sheila Ratnam. I am truly excited about my run. For more information, please visit my website at www.sheilaratnam.org. You can also "like" my FB page - Sheila Ratnam for Sully School Board. If you would like to meet with me, please feel free to contact me via email(listed on my website). Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend! :)
Posted by: Sheila R. | July 22, 2011 at 07:53 PM
I didn't vote for "diversity." I voted for the candidates who best expressed ideas concerning the Fairfax County School system as well as how to run the system efficiently. I was also interested in the candidates' ideas for reforms. So, yeah, we got the best candidates, all of whom happened to be women (and two Hispanic).
Posted by: Isophorone | July 22, 2011 at 09:04 PM