By Uriah Kiser
North Stafford, Va. — Republican Ty Schieber overwhelmingly won the support his party and the nomination for the Garrisonville District Supervisor seat.
Schieber is already serving as the Interim Supervisor for the district, and last night faced competition within his own party from long-time Stafford resident and self-described constitutional conservative Frank McKinney.
Schieber is expected to face Ret. Col. John “Jac” Starkey, USAF, the Democratic nominee for the seat, when Garrisonville residents go to the polls for a special election April 3. The winner will carry out the remaining two years of former Garrisonville Supervisor and Board Chairman, now Delegate Mark Dudenhefer (R-Stafford, Woodbridge).
Both Schieber and McKinney made their cases to lead Stafford’s most suburbanized district in front of more than 300 fellow Republicans who attended a mass meeting at Hampton Oaks Elementary School in North Stafford.
The event, scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, was so well attended party officials barred those who showed up just before start time from voting in the nomination process. Officials said 288 GOP members were allowed to vote, as were six members who voted with a provisional ballot.
“I want this job because I want to make our community better, period. My service started long before this particular race, I’ve been in the fight for our community for a long time, serving for the last two years as your elected member to the School Board and bringing over 250 family sustaining jobs to the county since 1998,” said Schieber.
Dudenhefer said Schieber worked to break down barriers erected between the county’s School Board and Board of Supervisors – both of which are autonomous governing bodies.
Milde, who nominated McKinney, said his candidate held TEA Party principles before the TEA Party existed. McKinney Tuesday night also announced his support for a county-wide At-large Chairman seat on the Board of Supervisors – an initiative backed by Milde that so far has failed to gain traction in the Board Chambers.
“Government should never do for the people what people should do for themselves… it’s more important than ever that we nominate constitutional conservatives at every level,” McKinney told the crowd.
After McKinney thanking his supporters, McKinney said he will now focus his attention on a much-needed cruise vacation, but said he will be back in time to vote in April.
