Earlier this morning, we heard from Rep. Rob Wittman, who will be running for re-election, but Blogs United 2009 allowed us the opportunity to hear from the other 1st Congressional District challengers, Scott Robinson and Krystal Ball, along with the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th District.
Col. Robinson is a Northumberland County native, who graduated from Catawba College. Robinson would vote yes for the current Congressional/Senate Health Care bills, because he believes they would reduce the deficit and provide care for everyone. You can learn more about Robinson from his website. Robinson is starting to utilize new media with his campaign and even mentioned that he tweeted before arriving at the meeting.
Scott Rigell spoke next about his run for Congress in the 2nd District. Rigell owns an automobile dealership. Rigell thinks the health care proposal in Congress is bad for the nation. Also, of note, Rigell is very active with new media.
Ben Loyola is also running in the 2nd District. Loyola was born in Havana, Cuba, and endured many struggles before being allowed to come into the country. Loyola graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and is still in the Reserves. Loyola is a businessman, who runs Loyola Enterprises. Loyola is a fiscal conservative, pro-life, and a strong defender of the Constitution.
Kenny Golden was a former Chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia Beach, and he is running for Congress. Golden is a 31-year Navy Veteran and a University of Virginia alumnus. He mentioned the need for new media and how people need to be informed about the blogosphere.
Scott Taylor is also running in the 2nd District. Taylor was a Navy SEAL and is a real estate broker and a health club owner. Taylor is running to serve the residents in the 2nd District, and he does not like the direction our country is headed in, i.e. the budget. Taylor mentioned that there is a great learning curve, when it comes to new media and technology, and how it reaches out to others.
Mike McPadden is running in the 5th District. McPadden mentioned the new media movement as modern day pamphleteers. One of McPadden’s campaign platforms is individual liberty, and how the Obama Administration/Congress is walking away with our liberties. McPadden mentioned some of the lost liberties he would like to restore, such as the amount of taxes. Sound money and Constitutional restraint are the other two platforms. When it came to explaining the sound money concept, McPadden mentioned the decline in the American dollar. He would support the Audit the Fed amendment that Rep. Ron Paul has recently passed through Committee.
Coby W. Dillard will be filing to run in the 3rd District against Rep. Bobby Scott. Nothing has changed in his leadership. Dillard is running to be a different voice. Dillard is a blogger (Dillard Doctrine) and he is an active Twitter-er.
Krystal Ball is running in the 1st Congressional District, and she is a University of Virginia alumna. Ball is a small business owner with a educational software design business. Ball is running to improve the education system and wants to work to create jobs. Ball also mentioned that she wants to focus on environmental reform. Ball mentioned that social media is reaching out to voters. Ball believes more resources need to be given to teachers and attracting new teachers and is not a strong advocate for vouchers. Ball would also support President Obama’s mandate on giving the Environmental Protection Agency control to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, which would take power away from the states (Maryland and Virginia).
Thanks for the profiles. Curious that McPadden would travel all the way to the Beach to drum up support amongst the netroots. However, I think it should be noted that Dr. Keith Drake, who is running the show behind Laurence Verga’s campaign in the 5th, was in the SWAC area today. I think the 5th is going to get see ALOT of outside tinkering. Not so much nationally (although I have a follow up on that), but across the state as different factions struggle to define our party. The 2nd’s political culture seems to be too insular for much of that to go on.
One question on McPadden: Would you characterize him as a straight up Paulista? If so, then perhaps there will be more national tinkering than I first surmised.
I’m very interested in the 2nd District race & unfortunately couldn’t attend the conference today, so thanks for the candidate profiles. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Scott Rigell and was very impressed by him as a person (intelligent, focused, sincere) and his positions on the issues.
Since it isn’t mentioned above, I’ll just say for the record that Rigell is a definite fiscal conservative and social conservative (pro-life, etc.). Rigell’s fundraising is a great indication of his strength as a candidate since he not only out-raised incumbent Glenn Nye, but he did it with a broad base of community support (rather than simply loaning himself $500,000 like Ben Loyola).
In a crowded field, it looks like Rigell has the name ID, local financial support, conservative credentials and grassroots support needed to beat Glenn Nye. It is high time we bring this seat back in the red where it belongs!
Jim Trautz is running in the 10th District. Jim is a solid Conservative who believes in fiscal responsibility, pro-active leadership, and the sovereignty of the citizen. Check out his Web Site at jimtrautz.com
Thanks Les for your encouraging words. As you know, I believe that competition breeds excellence, and it’s in that spirit that we’ve entered this race. Make no mistake though – we’re not in this race simply to make a statement; we’re in it to win it because we believe “if you’ve always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always had.”
We are at a point in history where principles and values MUST be deemed more important than
political posturing, and where service MUST be held above career preservation. Frankly, we need leadership – not the kind of leadership where
we write letters, call for news conferences, and run through the motions of “looking” as if we’re doing something, but the kind of leadership that
produces results. We need the kind of leadership that motivates people and the kind that holds people accountable.
We can blame the Democrats all we want for
the problems we have now, but the truth is that we bear some of the responsibility as well. There are some on our side of the aisle who have been in Congress for decades that could have made a
difference, but for whatever reason, chose not to do so. There are also those in Congress who have served honorably. They have nothing to prove and
absolutely NOTHING to lose; yet who, instead of taking a risk, have decided to hide in the sand and not rock the boat. In times like this, that’s not good enough. My hope is that we can find the right man for the right time.
Time will tell, it always does…