Speaker Bill Howell, long-time incumbent delegate in Virginia’s 28th district has raised more than three times his primary challenger, former Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Susan Stimpson.
According to the State Board of Elections, Howell has received $165,738 in contributions this quarter. Stimpson has raised $46,135.
“The numbers are pretty one-sided. Howell has raised a lot more money than Stimpson,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington.
Farnsworth stated that for Stimpson, raising a comparable amount of funds during the primary is going to be paramount.
“Money is a really important issue for a challenger especially. Challengers really struggle to get their name out in primaries. And so successful challengers need to raise a significant amount of money to participate in a primary contest that generally calls very few voters to the polls,” said Farnsworth.
In the past, Howell has faced few primary challengers or serious opposition for his delegate seat, and this large amount of fundraising shows that he is taking Stimpson seriously as a challenger.
“The main thing that Howell’s fundraising advantage shows us is that he is taking this challenger very, very seriously. One of the consequences of Eric Cantor’s defeat in the primaries last year is that Republican incumbents are very careful not to be surprised by challengers…It’s clear he sees himself having to work much harder in this contest than in previous ones. A lot more door knocking – a lot more signs in town,” Farnsworth commented.
The Republican primary between Howell and Stimpson will take place on June 9.
On June 9, two candidates for Virginia’s 2nd House district – former delegate Mark Dudenhefer and Tim Ciampaglio – will be facing off in a Republican primary for the delegate seat.
The incumbent, Delegate Michael Futrell, is currently running in a three-way Democratic primary for the 29th senate district, and will not be seeking re-election.
In order to establish their viewpoints prior to the primary, Ciampaglio and Dudenhefer have both announced their plans for the district if elected.
Lean government proposal
According to a release, Dudenhefer has a three-point plan to cut taxes in the district, and reduce the size of government.
“Lean government models have been used in other states to cut down backlogs, use taxpayer money more effectively, and improve governmental processes to ensure peak performance,” said Dudenhefer in a release.
Dudenhefer stated that he would direct the Inspector General to implement a ‘lean government philosophy’ in state government, train state government managers to learn and use the lean government model, and target government processes to simplify and streamline processes in government that will reduce waste.
Additionally, Dudenhefer referenced his track record during his time as a delegate, where he stated that he was able to cut taxes and reduce the size of government.
Peak operating efficiency plan
Ciampaglio stated in a release that he has a plan to increase the efficiency of state government with his own three-point plan.
“The plan begins by asking if an expenditure is necessary to the agency mission and then derives a method to drive all expenditures towards only core operating service requirements,” said Ciampaglio in a release.
In his operating efficiency plan, Ciampaglio stated he would teach “agencies and the Inspector General to create strategic metrics that measure the efficiency and effectiveness of agency spending.”
By doing so, Ciampaglio said that the agencies would be able to stretch their budgets, be more transparent in their decision making, make recommendations on improving spending, and provide Virginia tax payers with a way of tracking the state’s efficiency and effectiveness.
According to Ciampaglio, following an editorial he authored, comments were made asking for a release of his peak efficiency-operating plan, in response to the editorial. Ciampaglio stated he is seeking clarification as to whether these comments were made by district voters or by other sources.
The c
ampaign finance reports for the three Democratic primary candidates in Virginia’s 29th Senate district – Jeremy McPike, Delegate Michael Futrell and Atif Qarni – show that the race is going to be very competitive.
“What these numbers show is, is that we are looking at a competitive race for this Democratic nomination,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor and director at the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at the University of Mary Washington.
According to the State Board of Elections website, McPike reported $50,000, Qarni reported $35,743 and Futrell reported $31,716 for this first quarter.
“All three [candidates] have shown an ability to raise roughly comparable amounts of money, which will enable them to spend roughly comparable amounts of money – yard signs, and flyers,” said Farnsworth.
Farnsworth stated that while money is typically very important in political races in Virginia, given that the race is a primary, and all three candidates have raised similar amounts – money is not the most important factor right now.
“The turn out in primaries is very, very low in Virginia. As a result, you have to spend a significant amount of energy to convince people to support you – and then after that – you have to spend a significant amount of money after spending [a lot] of energy, to get them to turn out. So it’s a doubly difficult task to win in a primary…Fundraising will intensify in the weeks ahead as more people start to think about the primaries,” said Farnsworth.
All three candidates will be taking part in a primary debate, hosted by Potomac Local, on May 18.
The field of candidates for local elections in Prince William County is getting smaller.
Republicans held their “firehouse primary” in Prince William County on Saturday. The results of those races tell us which member of the GOP will go on to face their Democratic challengers in the November General Election.
Voting in the firehouse primary took place between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at various locations across the county. The firehouse primary was held instead of a traditional primary on June 9 due to paperwork filing error on the part of the Prince William County Republican Party.
The results of the 2015 Prince William County Republican Firehouse Primary: Read More
![Campaign supporters surround Brentsville Supervisor-elect Jeanine Lawson at a campaign victory party in Gainesville. [Submitted]](https://potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lawson-wins-e1419384589560.jpg)
Lawson successfully linked over development with overcrowding in county schools
Jeanine Lawson won her bid to be the next supervisor in Prince William County’s hotly contested Brentsville District.
Lawson will replace former supervisor turned county judge Wally S. Covington after a grueling 9-month campaign in the district.
Lawson ran a campaign promising to limit growth in Prince William County’s most rural district. She successfully linked overdevelopment to the continual overcrowding issues facing the county’s public schools.
She ran against Republican turned independent Scott Jacobs and Democrat Eric Young. Election results were posted to the Prince William County website.
Lawson will head to the Board of Supervisors when they meet next at their first meeting of the New Year on Jan. 6.
She won’t be comfortable in her seat for long. Lawson was elected to complete the remainder of Covington’s term which expires in November. She’ll have to go once again into campaign mode in 2015 if she wants to keep the seat.
For voters in the district Tuesday, it came down to streetlight issues.
Muhammad Khan, of Gainesville, has watched more and more houses popup in the area and has seen a greater influx of Muslims like himself move into the Brentsville District. Now, he said it’s time to build a place for them to worship.
“The Muslims need to see a mosque built in this area,” said Khan, who cast his vote for Scott Jacobs. “The Muslim population is growing. Not as much as it is in Fairfax County, but it is growing in Prince William.”
A neighborhood meeting addressed the building a mosque in Nokesville in August. Residents were concerned the mosque would bring additional traffic to the rural crescent portion of the county.
The thought of more development in the Brentsville District also weighted heavily on some voters’ minds. The controversial Stone Haven development project would put more homes on land located between Linton Hall and Wellington roads if approved next month by the Board of Supervisors.
“It seems the county does a good job building new schools, but as soon as they do the schools fill to capacity with students,” said Dan Grinnell, of Gainesville, a Lawson voter. “We need a better mix of residential and business development, and these local elections can make a big difference.”
Samantha Fulda also voted for Lawson. She likes the a campaign promise Lawson made to limit growth in the area.
“I’ve got one in school now and one about enter. My son’s lunch periods end late and many of the students are in trailers for classrooms,” said Fulda.
Scott Jacobs developed a reputation as the “developers” candidate. Outside his old stomping grounds at Brentsville District High School, he was also known as the land rights candidate.
Kevin, who did not give his last name, said many who live on land in the district that is or was once used for farming have difficulties selling their properties at market value due to historic preservation efforts by the county.
“We need complete property rights, and we should have the right to sell our property and move somewhere else if that is what we want to do,” said Kevin.
Today is the Special Election for candidates running for Brentsville District Supervisor.
Jeanine Lawson, Scott Jacobs, and Eric Young are all on the ballot today as voters decide who will replace former Brentsville District Supervisor Wally Covington.
Polls for today’s special election opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 7 p.m. For more information on where to vote in the Brentsville Magisterial District, click here.
All three candidates participated in a debate on Dec. 9 where they answered questions about local taxes, transportation, schools, and development. You can read more about what they had to say in the links below. The debate was sponsored by Bristow Beat and Potomac Local and hosted by Linton Hall School.
Stories written by Potomac Local about the debates:
Brentsville candidates differ on development, want larger businesses in Prince William
Brentsville candidates differ on Bi-County Parkway, oppose Metro expansion
Tim Singstock, a lifelong Prince William County resident and former officer in the Army, is running to be the next Prince William County Public School Board Chairman.
His announcement comes the same week current School Board Chairman Milton C. Johns decided not to seek reelection.
Singstock lives in Montclair with his family and currently works as a self-employed tax accountant. He attended the county’s public schools while growing up.
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![Scott Jacobs [Photo: Mary Davidson]](https://potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/DSC_4250-e1418398793538.jpg)
Scott Jacobs is no longer a member of the Prince William County Republican Committee.
The group dropped him from their member list on Tuesday prior to debate featuring Jacobs and two other candidates hoping to fill the position of Brentsville District Supervisor.
Jeanine Lawson is the official Republican candidate in the race, unanimously chosen to run for the seat at a mass meeting of Republicans earlier this fall. Jacobs failed to meet proper filing deadlines imposed by the committee and was not able to seek the nomination of the party.
Prince William Republican Committee Chairman Bill Card on Thursday described Jacobs as a man who wasn’t active in the county Republican committee prior to his campaign, and as someone who was seeking to take advantage of Republican branding.
Here’s a portion of the story that appeared on Bristow Beat:
…Chairman Bill Card defended the committee’s decision when speaking with Bristow Beat Thursday. He said the decision was appropriate because Jacobs, “violated our trust, and he violated the letter and the spirit of the agreement in which he joined us.”
Card said that although Jacobs lived in Brentsville almost his entire life, he only joined the Prince William Republican Committee this year.
“I didn’t even know Scott Jacobs until January. He came to us seeking our brand. He came to us because he wanted an R by his name,” Card said.
In addition to not meeting the application deadline, Card said the committee was concerned with some of Jacob’s other behaviors such as posting campaign signs before the election board sanctioned such forms of political campaigning.
And, while Jacobs said he embodies Republican ideals, Card disagrees.
“We believe in following our word, and keeping our word, and being honest and upfront with everyone,” Card said.
Documents on file with Prince William County Government state both Card and Jacobs served on the 2012 committee that formulated the county’s strategic plan to guide the community over the next five years in areas like economic development, public safety, and transportation. Those committee meetings took place more than a year before January 2014, the time Card told a reporter he had first met Jacobs.
When asked about his participation in the strategic plan meetings, Card emailed the following statement to Potomac Local:
I went to the initial meeting and one other meeting of that committee. They determined to hold the meetings on Monday evenings. Our Monthly Prince William County Republican Committee meetings are generally held on the fourth Monday of each Month and my Executive Committee Meetings (of the Prince William County Republican Committee) are held on Monday evenings as well.
After missing so many of the initial meetings when I did return for one I found that I was hopelessly behind, and I didn’t return.
If I did meet Jacobs, he didn’t make an impression as I don’t recall.
Jacobs said he sat beside Card at the very first strategic planning committee meeting, and he corroborated the claim that Card missed some meetings.
“We did meet one another there, and he was there for more than one meeting,” said Jacobs.
The Republicans issued a statement to the press Tuesday about Jacobs’s removal from the GOP committee. While he continues to run as an independent, Jacobs said he remains a deeply rooted conservative.
The committee took issue when an audio recording surfaced of a campaign worker making a phone call to a voter in who lives in the district and described Jacobs as a Republican. It was the impetus for his removal from the group.
“This is a company that our campaign called and hired to make phone calls for us,” said Jacobs. “I listened to the phone calls on couple different occasions, they say I’m a Republican, and I am. “We certainly asked [the hired company] to clearly state that I am an independent candidate.”
Voters will go to the polls to decide on who the next Brentsville District Supervisor will be during a Special Election Dec. 23.
Virginia Railway Express extension, commuter bus expansion popular
Metro to western Prince William County doesn’t appear to be a popular idea.
The three candidates seeking to be the next Brentsville District Supervisor said bringing the heavy commuter rail service west from Vienna is a non-starter.
“I don’t know why we’re talking about metro; It’s not in the strategic plan so I don’t think it’s a good use of time to even talk about it,” said Eric Young, a Democrat.
His Republican opponent Jeanine Lawson agreed.
““I do not want metro to Prince William County,’ said Lawson to an applauding audience. “We have better transportation solutions than Metro.”
A better idea is to expand Virginia Railway Express service to Gainesville, as well as increase the number of commuter buses on Interstate 66, the candidates said.
“If we can put more buses on the road, that is a great solution before extending VRE to Gainesville,” said Scott Jacobs, an independent.
All three candidates spoke about improving transportation in western Prince William at Tuesday night’s Brentsville District Candidates Debate, organized by this news organization in partnership with Bristow Beat. Each seeks a seat on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors vacated by Wally Covington, who is now a county judge.
The Bi-County Parkway, a skeleton of a hotly-debated road project in 2013 that would link Interstate 95 in Dumfries to Dulles Airport via Manassas, was once again a part of the discussion.
“Brining high paying jobs to district, if we’re really going to make that happen, we need to provide thoroughfares that don’t exist,” said Jacobs, who called the parkway a “value proposition and said businesses outside Prince William are watching and waiting to see if the highway will be built before deciding to relocate to Prince William.
The highway as it’s proposed would use the existing roadway of Route 234 from where it begins I-95 and ends at I-66. The road would be extended through a portion of Manassas National Battlefield Park, and also would connect drivers to Dulles Airport.
Lawson called the proposed highway a “developers road” and said there “is no study to prove the Bi-County Parkway would bring economic development.”
Lawson said a better use of regional transportation dollars would be to improve the interchange at I-66 and Route 28 in Centreville.
“Study after study does show the congestion is still east-west. If you fix that Route 28 interchange on the curve, that will alleviate a lot of the north-south traffic on Route 28,” said Lawson.
There are plans to add two new express toll lanes in each direction on I-66 similar to what will open on I-95 in Fairfax, Prince William, and Stafford counties next week. The plan also includes express bus service.
Young claims traffic at Dulles Airport is diminishing, however, does say the airport is important to the region’s economic growth.
“If we want Dulles Airport to be a part of our economic growth engine we’ve got to tie in somewhere…soon,” said Young.
Voters who live in Prince William County’s Brentsivlle District will head to the polls Dec. 23 for a Speical Election to decide who will win the open seat. Click here for more information about the election, if you are eligible to vote, and where to vote.
