It's Time For The Adults To Stand Up

If you live in Sully district, please vote for John Litzenberger for supervisor.

Now, in this race for Sully supervisor I have been part of the problem and I'm man enough to admit it.  Things went too far last night and it made me reevaluate this race.  I stand by absolutely everything I've written about this race for Sully District supervisor because very reliable people have explained to me what happened both with regards to FCRC and the nomination process as well as Comstock's statement of support.  Brian Schoeneman and I have clashed off and on for a long time now but has never been personal to me.  I have enough going on my life outside of this that I don't sweat much.  It is what it is.  I actually think Brian is a fairly nice guy and respect him for clearly being a great Dad, husband, and provider.  The shenanigans, however,  he's pulled in this race from the start has angered many many people in Sully and that anger deserved to be heard because most conventional outlets where shut off by his powerful patrons, I've had no shortage of people reach out to express their anger about him trading his political connections and lobbyist money for the nomination in a district he's never lived in.  He must own that more than just whining on Bearing Drift.

There also seems to be this mistaken notion that I am a John Guevara supporter, which is not the case either.  I have never endorsed anyone in this race, although I do believe that Guevara is the kind of candidate that we need to recruit in Northern Virginia, a view shared by RPV Chairman John Whitbeck.  I don't live in Sully district so I don't "endorse" candidates in districts I don't live in.  To the best of my knowledge, I never have.  My sympathies were with Guevara through most of this race, I must admit, but no longer.

Last night I got into it with a prominent supporter of Brian Schoeneman and it got nasty on Facebook.  I was called a coward and I made a flippant response that was irresponsible and mean, and then my personal home address was shared with a line that "I can be there in 30 minutes."  I know that nothing was serious but when you have a 2 year old sleeping in the crib upstairs it makes you think.  I immediately sent this person an apology for falsely saying his wife had been posting anonymously on blogs, which I assume was the root cause of his anger.  I apologize again here.  I actually then tagged Brian to see if he stood by this threat and instead of saying he condemns it he basically said that it was my fault for getting this guy so mad.  Brian and I then had it out on private message and it is what it is.  UPDATE:  I have conversed with this person now and everything is squashed.  

Sleeping on it, I've realized things have gotten too far.  The Schoeneman campaign has been a sham forced on Sully voters by out of district lobbyist money and insider Fairfax politicians looking for a shoulder parrot on the board of supervisors.  The Guevara campaign, on the other hand, has become the haven for every Schoeneman hater in Fairfax that lead them to issue foolish mailer that misspells "Centerville," attempts to hold it against Brian that he sends his son to private school (I graduated from a private high school in 1999), and dramatically undersells Litzenberger's military record.  It was an embarrassment and it clearly was a mailer written with the intent to hurt Brian.  I've played my part antagonizing Brian because I think his campaign is an embarrassment and everything that is wrong with Fairfax Republican politics but Guevara's campaign has gone from the hopefulness of a bright young candidate to one now controlled for the purposes of destroying Brian Schoeneman exclusively.  Both campaigns need to be put out of their misery because we all deserve better.  I encourage everyone this morning to look in the mirror and think about how far this has gotten.

John Litzenberger knows Sully district inside and out, he knows anyone and everyone.  He's not without his flaws but thus far he has been the only candidate running as an adult.  He's a neighborhood guy and someone who has connections in every community association in the district.  He hasn't played this game of attacking for the sake of attacking.  He knows business leaders, community leaders, education leaders, local volunteers, and understands the district as someone who has lived there for 30 years but also has worked for the community for nearly 30 years.  I'll try and take this campaign as a lesson for myself and the first step is to make sure the Republicans nominate a candidate who comes from the community and won't embarrass everyone involved.  Can John Litzenberger beat Kathy Smith?  I think so.  I never thought Brian could, and I no longer believe Guevara can because he's hurt his own reputation by the scorched-earth campaign he's launched.  

I'm partially responsible for that campaign and once my address was posted online I realized it is time to dial it back.  Please, if your in Sully, stop the madness and just vote for John Litzenberger so we can be united moving forward and we can all put this chapter behind us.

Comments

[Savoia di Lucania]

TL;DR

[Jeanine Martin]

Ah Savoia, so sweet as always.

I agree the madness has to stop but saying someone sends their child to a very expensive private school is criticising the parent, not the child. The child doesn't make the choice to spend $31K year for a 4 year old, the parent does. (Who knew unions paid so well! After 15 years in that school, you've got enough invested to buy a house!)

It's not Guevara's job to list Litzenberger's awards and medals, that's Litzenberger's job. The flyer was completely factual.

The good news is, none of Brian's supporters actually live in Sully district. He's not known there because he's only lived there for a few months. The sad thing is, the two Johns will split the conservative vote which may allow BS to win with a whopping 35% of the vote, the same percentage of the vote he will garner against Kathy Smith. If Brian wins we can kiss that seat goodbye.

[Savoia di Lucania]

"...but Guevara's campaign has gone from the hopefulness of a bright young candidate to one now controlled for the purposes of destroying Brian Schoeneman exclusively."

I don't think the tone of the conversation from the Guevara camp has ever been characterized by some of youthful energy with undertones of hopefulness.

Guevara supporter Letiecq was the one that resurrected the Schoenmanisms account. Guevara muppet Jeanine Martin's been orchestrating a smear campaign on his (or Kathy Smith's) behalf for months.

I think you've been mislead.

[Chris B.]

SMH ...