September 22 is the start of early voting. To prepare yourself, you need to know where the candidates stand on the issues. Some candidates seeking your trust don’t think it’s any of your business.
A Bristow homeowner’s group asked all incumbents and candidates for your Board of County Supervisors to state their positions on five contentious land use cases: Prince William Digital Gateway, Devlin Technology Park, John Marshall Commons Technology Park, Potomac Technology Park and Bristow Campus.
Predictably, five incumbent supervisors declined to respond. They were Ann Wheeler, Kenny Boddye, Margaret Franklin, Andrea Bailey and Victor Angry. These are the same five supervisors who voted against a resolution to prevent “lame duck” land use votes. Do I detect a trend here?
Notably, they didn’t say they supported these projects either.
You can draw your own conclusions about the reasons for their evasion, but at a minimum it indicates an arrogance of presumed exemption from accountability. Why would you vote for anyone with such an obvious disregard for the electorate they are supposed to serve? If you can’t get an answer from someone vying for your vote, how responsive do you think they’ll be should you be foolish enough to elect them? You may have already learned this about the five holdouts.
A recent Inside NOVA editorial lambasted Chair Ann Wheeler for her decision to consider contentious cases during the “lame duck” period. Now her ducklings won’t even tell you where they stand.
Use your imagination, then use your vote.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
