More Candidates Join Congressional Race in the 10th District

And with 11 kids, I don’t know how he thinks he has time to take on a 100 hour a week job, be an effective voice for the 10th District, AND be a good father, husband, and family leader at the same time. And I mean no personal animosity or vindictiveness to the man or his family in saying this — it’s simply hard for me to understand how anyone could do all that, or would want to in the first place.

Knowing what an absolutely brutal toll running for and being a Member of Congress takes on family life, and time away from your children, I am really surprised that he campaigned and ran for Congress all the way out in Kansas in the first place. Since he ‘lived’ out there for that run, and has ‘lived’ in Northern Virginia for 20 years, I guess that means his wife stayed behind to try to handle 11 kids by herself, while he prioritized his ambition to be a Member of Congress.

Since he is running here now, I guess he once again is willing to put 11 kids on the back burner in favor of 100 plus hour campaign and work weeks. While it is his right to do so, and I am sure his wife supports him in this decision, it is troubling to me. Military families often have to endure this kind of family separation for extended times when someone is on an overseas deployment, but generally they don’t actively seek it out. For the second time, he is actively seeking a job which will take him away from his family for 100 or more hours each week — a job that is open-ended in duration — and one judging by his ambitions, he hopes will last the rest of his career.

First he runs in Kansas, now he runs in Virginia. Both times, he commits the huge amounts of time to run for office which will take him away from his family. There is nothing wrong with having a much larger than average family, which he certainly does. Good for him and his wife. But there can also be no doubt much along with that larger family, there are greatly increased needs for parent time and attention to the children than most families face.

Is he running for Congress because he wants to serve people, or is it an ego thing to fulfill his own ambition? Is it truly so important to him to be a Member of that body that it is worth all that to him? Is his presence in Washington so truly indispensable?

I have just two kids, and many years ago, cut back my career ambitions to spend more time with my family and be a positive influence on my kids life. Seeing that investment of time pay off and them grow into the fine young women they are today is far more rewarding to me than any title of ‘Congressman’ could ever be.

Sorry to offend you Red Lizard. I know many people who take on that challenge with busy schedules — but I don’t know of many who are so eager to take on a much bigger work commitment that keeps them away from their families even more. That’s the difference here. Most multi-tasking families work hard to manage their responsibilities as parents — not go out of the way to add further and unnecessary challenges to their ability to do so in order to fulfill some personal quest for political power.

Fred, no offense but evidently you have a problem with reading comprehension, or just want to ignore facts and to try to make a dramatic statement.

What part of my post where I said ‘I mean no personal animosity or vindictiveness to the man or his family in saying this’ do you not understand? How is that an ‘attack on his family’

Did I say anywhere that there is anything wrong about the man’s family, or that there was anything wrong with have a large 11 child family???

Where exactly did I ‘ATTACK HIS CHILDREN’? I’m sorry, what did I say that was bad about them in any way???

My post raised the questions of what exactly the priorities are of Mr. Wasinger when he is so seemingly obsessed with being a Member of Congress that he has shopped for a seat in two states now, despite having such large obligations as family man to small children? Is there no other way he can serve the conservative or pro life cause than by being a Member of Congress???

Another poster said a likely reason he hasn’t contributed money to GOP causes in NOVA is that his family is so large there is likely no money left over.

I get that reasoning, but then doesn’t it also stand to reason that since time is more valuable than money, particularly time with your family, that it might not make sense to spend time with them now while you can, and put your ambitions on hold for a decade so they can enjoy you being around? He is a young man — he could run in 20 years, and still be a young man.

My criticism is reserved for what I perceive to be his personal world view that being in Congress is worth not being there as his kids grow up — because if you know anything at all about what life as a Congressman is like — he isn’t going to be able to be there much at all.

At least to me, that is a man with the wrong priorities.

Frederick, you evidently have trouble with reading comprehension, or just simply want to make sensational accusations out of whole cloth.

I am not suggesting that he has too many kids to run for office. He could run for office if he had 20, 30 or 40 kids for all I care — it doesn’t disqualify him.

What I do say is that running for office is prioritizing his personal ambitions over his already existing responsibilities to children he has brought into this world. Do you really, really think that those kids are going to benefit by having a Dad who is away for 100 plus hours each week, and cannot devote much if any time to them?

Odd that you discuss Democratic philosophies to close out here. The actions of putting career ahead of family and relying on others to fill the role of an absentee parent (and as a Congressman, he won’t be able to help but be one) are benchmark Democratic philosophies. They have been used to justify any number of things Democrats have championed such as ever-bigger government, government subsidized day care, other nanny state items, attacks on stay at home moms, and even abortion — abortion extremists from NARAL have used a woman’s ‘right’ to preserve her career trajectory against the inconvenience of children for decades as an argument against repeal of the Roe v. Wade abomination. While you accurately point out Wasinger has ‘walked the walk’ of a pro-lifer when it comes to bringing the gift of children into the world, his eagerness to run for office with so many small children at home is more typical of what the other side does.

So who is actually acting like a Democrat here?

Agreed, and with 11 kids how does he have time to run for office?!

No, but there is a limit on how many hours in a day there are, and how much you can get done in them for your self, family, and employer.

If he wants to go up against that limit and beyond, that’s his choice. But it stands to reason that with so much going on, somebody is going to end up getting shorted on time and effort.

Having a large family is not the liability for Mr. Wasinger.

Mr. Wasinger’s ambitions to be a Member of Congress, as soon as possible, whether from Kansas or Virginia, are in my opinion a liability for his family. 7 a.m. breakfast fundraisers and constituent meetings, all day on the Hill, in Committees, on the floor, taking votes, appearing in the media, doing dinners and meetings at night, meeting the voters on the weekends, trying to raise money non-stop in a targeted district — that’s just the beginning of what he will be doing all day, day in and day out, virtually every day of the year. And all of this before the kids get to spend a single moment with Dad — if they are even awake when he gets home.

Does he truly not care about all the soccer games, school events, musical performances, dance recitals, parent-teacher conferences, and everything else that he will miss 99% of as a Member? Because he is definitely going to miss out on all of that stuff and more. You are right that he has worked for years as a Chief of Staff to a Member — but their is a HUGE difference in the workload once you become a Member.

You are certainly free to feel differently and are entitled to your opinion.

To me, his actions speak more loudly than words as to what his priorities are. He can choose to do whatever he wants, but for me, all I am seeing is political ambition > all else.