Been slow posting lately, been really busy with work and the campaign. We’re getting a pretty good response from folks and I think we’ve got a good shot at this. I don’t know if I’ll post this week again but I did want to let everyone know that I’ll be doing coffee Friday morning at 7:30.
Open thread – have at it.
January 16, 2012 at 9:59 am
Andy, are Independents invited to participate in the
2012 Manassas Republican Convention or not?
I have been asked by and gotten invitations
(including one from you) but apparently others
have another view.
January 16, 2012 at 4:01 pm
According to one candidate – yes.
January 16, 2012 at 5:04 pm
Councilman Randolph,
As stated in the Call to Convention (linked to in previous treads and available at manassasgop.com), gives the following statement on the matter: “All legal and qualified voters of the City of Manassas under the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, regardless of race, religion, age, national origin or sex, who are in accord with the principles of the Republican Party, and who, if requested, express in open meeting orally or in writing, as may be required, their intent to support all of the Republican nominees for public office in the ensuing election, may participate as members of the Republican Party of Virginia in its mass meetings, party canvasses, conventions or primaries encompassing their respective election districts. All participants must show a valid government-issued ID to enter the convention and must be present. No proxy or absentee ballots will be allowed.”
Or more simply, the MCRC gives two qualifications, aside from being a legally registered voter in the City, to be a delegate at the convention or any other event: “[all persons must be] in accord with the principles of the Republican Party, and… if requested, express in open meeting orally or in writing, as may be required, their intent to support all of the Republican nominees for public office in the ensuing election.”
Webster’s defines “accord” as meaning as “to agree” or “to harmonize (with).” Here is a link to a summary of Republican Party principles as given by the Republican National Committee. (A similar statement by the MCRC is on manassasgop.com under “GOP Creed.”) So if you agree with those principles you fulfill the first qualification. The second is clearer: you’re saying you will support the Republican candidates in the next local election. By becoming a delegate at the convention, you must agree to support only the Republicans for mayor and council in the next local election; you are giving your word that you will not support the Democrat or independent running for Council.
Or even more simply, if you are registered City voter, who agrees with the principles of the Republican Party (note it says principles not every last policy) and is willing to give your word that you will support the Republicans, and only the Republicans, then yes, you may attend the convention despite being an independent. Otherwise, no you may attend the convention if you not agree to what I just described.
Councilman Randolph, I’m an independent too but my beliefs are in accord with the Repubican (I do believe in strong national defense, the free market, etc…) and based on what I know of all the candidates for Council, I am willing to give my word to support only the Republicans in the next election. Therefore, under the rules given by the MCRC as I have stated, I am allowed to attend the convention and so are you if you feel the same way.
It would require a rule change to specifically forbid independents from coming to the convention to ban independents like us. Personally I do not see that happening unless the Commonwealth of Virginia established registration by party at which point I could see the rules being changed to only allow registered Republicans.
Please pardon the length of this post.
January 17, 2012 at 9:10 am
Councilman Randolph,
To paraphrase Ray’s comprehensive response to your question: Yes. As with all nominations contests, the convention is open.
January 17, 2012 at 9:49 am
Andrew and Steve, thank you for your answers.
January 17, 2012 at 8:10 pm
@ Steve Thomas
You’re confusing me and the old man again. Maybe I should change my name on the blog to “The Younger Beverage” (or the Medieval sounding “Beverage the Younger”) or “The Beverage who isn’t Ray?” LOL
I would also say it’s a semi-open convention in my opinion since people still have to say they agree with Republican and should agree to just support the Republicans for Mayor and Council. I don’t think a Democrat or left-leaning independents could honestly say they are in accord with the principles of the Repubican party…
@Steve Randolph
You’re welcome. I thought I would stir things up but no-ones wants to challenge my analysis of the convention rules so far…
January 17, 2012 at 8:15 pm
We NEED something like this on the Manassas City Website!!!!!
PWC used in prior budget years a slide with a dollar bill sliced up showing what portion goes to the major programs. Now, they have done it one better!
Go to the link below and you will see where you can enter in an assessed value for a house/townhouse, and it will give the taxes on the property and the breakout. This thing is slick…super slick! Talk about a nifty way a City resident could go to the Commissioner of Revenue portion of CoM website, type in their assessed value according to the City’s notice, and get a clear simple picture of where the bucks are going to. P.S. the PWC site doesn’t care if your entering a real property value or not…just give it a number to crunch!
http://www.pwcgov.org/apps/transparency/report.aspx
January 17, 2012 at 8:15 pm
I vote for “Beverage the Younger”.
January 17, 2012 at 8:51 pm
@Ray,
Like the link. It would be even nicer if the city assessed all our properties accurately. When checking my assessment last year I noticed that my house shrank in size. Wanting to be honest and pay my fair share of taxes I contacted the city about their error. I was told that I was wrong. I explained that I have the floor plans with measurements from the builder AND other homes in my neighborhood (same model and elevation) did not shrink. Still, “I” was wrong. Oh well, more cash in my pocket – at least I tried.
January 18, 2012 at 12:57 am
@AndyH
“Beverage the Younger” it is if people keep confusing me with Dad.
Also Ian Loveloy (who I had the pleasure of meeting the other night when he was knocking on doors on my street) posted this Washington Post article that talks the upcoming City Council election on his Ian Lovejoy For Manassas City Council Facebook page. Thought I’d pass it along since it names the previous unnamed Democrat running for Council as one Patricia Richie-Folks and the local head of the Democrats, E. J. Scott, is suggesting another Democrat may run. Oddly enough, the WaPo did say independents could run and must file by March 3rd but failed to mention Jerry Carman who as already announced and has claimed on the BVLB blog that he will he all the signatures needed to file by the end of this month.
Definitely will be an interesting Council election with three Republicans, as many as two Democrats, and at least one independent on the ballot. As for me, I hope to vote for Harrover for Mayor, Wolfe, Way, and Lovejoy for Council this May.
January 18, 2012 at 8:30 am
@4Kids: Interesting. I also remember a couple of years back the City was talking of updating that assessment page to include photos of the property. Believe in part the idea was with a photo taken on a certain date, if the City then did another “walk thru” to verify the data, you could look at the picture and tell if there were modifications done. As I recall, one intent was to catch those who did work without the required permits (and there is a LOT of that floating around neighborhoods although not as much now as four or five years ago). Of course, that was time and money the small Zoning Staff did not have so the project got killed.
January 18, 2012 at 8:33 am
On the Website Idea: I can also see where if the City is backed into the corner and no choice but to raise RE tax to pay for much needed infrastructure repair (i.e. $1.3million for Battle Street), you could use a similar setup to show how much it will cost to stop the leaks in the water system or pay for the new pipes. The City as I recall from a presentation has about 15% leakage across the system (about average for most municipal systems). Considering though that is processed water we pay through our taxes for the Water Plant, I would pony up a little more to improve the infrastructure as would the majority of most reasonable residents of this City.
January 18, 2012 at 8:37 am
I like the website idea but it all costs money! However, I do support spending money on web stuff where it makes sense: the web is certainly an effective medium for communications.
On the water plant, pretty sure that’s paid for on your water bill.
January 18, 2012 at 9:35 am
Change in topic…
I was looking into the application process for Thomas Jefferson HS for Science and Technology for one of my kids only to find that another door of opportunity is CLOSED to Manassas City students. Why is it that PWC, Fauquier Cty, etc. provide spots for students but MC doesn’t? We find money for all sorts of things but can’t fund a couple of exceptional students at TJHS?
From the TJHSST website:
The school divisions currently participating in TJHSST are:
Arlington County
Fairfax County (includes City of Fairfax)
Falls Church City
Fauquier County
Loudoun County
Prince William County
The cities of Alexandria, Manassas, and Manassas Park do not currently participate in TJHSST. Students who live in those school divisions are not eligible to apply to, or attend, TJHSST. If you live in one of these school divisions and you have questions regarding their non-participation in TJHSST, please contact that school division directly for additional information.
January 18, 2012 at 9:41 am
@4kids: did you check into the Governors school?
January 18, 2012 at 10:17 am
We will check into it when the time comes. I only looked into TJHS because my son brought it up as a place he would like to attend. I have heard many times that the city wants to encourage people to move here. Given that PWC has many school alternatives why would a parent choose MC over Bristow or Haymarket?
January 18, 2012 at 12:21 pm
http://news.gmu.edu/articles/4247
4Kids-
You might find this article of interest.
January 18, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Just passing along if anyone called you recently saying you’ve won the lottery but must give money to receive your winnings first, the Manassas City Police would like to know about it. InsideNOVA is reporting one victim already and the police are seeking more information about the scammer…
January 18, 2012 at 2:32 pm
http://www.governor.schools.pwcs.edu/
4Kids-
You may also want to attend the information session for
prospective students that will be held at the end of this month.
January 18, 2012 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for the link and information Steve.
January 19, 2012 at 8:03 am
When is the City going to announce the new City Manager?
January 19, 2012 at 8:50 am
@Andy H: correctomundo on the website costing dollars, but as you look and another look at applying a business approach to the City, think Value Engineering aka “where is the most bang for the buck?” You and I have spoken more than once on the topic of the City website, so ’nuff said.
Correctomundo again on the Water Bill – over the years, part of our rate adjustment has paid for the bladder, filters, etc etc. But at some point, what we contribute as residents to the Sewer & Water fund is not going to be enough. Keep in mind, I am a firm believer in the Principles of Fiscal Conservatism written by the “Father” of the movement Edmund Burke…..and at some point, more will be needed in a short term to fix issues. Just a realistic view.
January 19, 2012 at 9:05 am
@BE: The utilties are an enterprise fund and have to carry their own weight. We won’t be sending general fund dollars over there. If they need capital, they’ll have to issue bonds and raise rates to pay for it. The big concern at utilities is the continuing gush of unfunded mandates from the state and feds. millions upon millions spent and we really have no say in it.
I agree about websites, etc. They’re a tremendous way to communicate to a lot of people easily!
January 19, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Andy, thanks for writing your response about the fund…I could have written the answer, but was hoping you would come out with it. An observor on this blog asked me the question about the pipes, and did not believe me about RE Tax has no impact. Always better to get it straight from the source 🙂
January 19, 2012 at 10:48 pm
InsideNOVA is reporting Gov. McDonnell is proposing to cut PWC schools’ funding by almost $11 million, Fairfax County schools’ funding by about $10 million, and also cutting about $10 million combined from all the other local school systems in NOVA. No word in how much funding loss the City Schools will experience. See article here: http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2012/jan/19/prince-william-county-schools-take-hit-governors-p-ar-1624488/
Mr. Harrover, could you please make a post on this and any other state funding reduction due to the Gov.’s budget reductions to the City and the City Schools when you get that information?