Voters have a clear choice this election in so many races around the state. You have conservative Ed Gillespie vs Mr. Sanctuary City Ralph Northam. You have conservative Jill Vogel vs that Bernie Sanders freak Justin Fairfax. And a great constitutional lawyer like John Adams vs Mark Herring, who really does not understand what his job as AG is supposed to be.
However there are many other races on the ballot as well. And none of them more important than Shenandoah County District 1 Supervisor. Here we have former Republican four-term incumbent Dick Neese, who likely got into local politics for good reasons, but ended up becoming little more than a progressive, against libertarian retired Air Force Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski.
The choice could not be more clear. Karen is running on a platform of bringing economic development to Shenandoah County, and Dick Neese who is, by his own admission, running on a platform of increasing property taxes and imposing a meals and cigarette tax on County residents. Karen is thinking outside the box in ways to bring money to impoverished Shenandoah County by being a leader in legalizing hemp farming (a position supported by both Ed Gillespie and Bob Goodlatte), which would bring millions of dollars to Shenandoah County farmers.
Under Neese’s term in office, service on the County debt has risen from $1.2 million per year in 2002 to $2.3 million per year now. It should also be stated for the record that while Neese has been proud of the supposed low unemployment record in Shenandoah County of 3.4%, the fact is this number is based on a 30 hour work week instead of the old 40 hour work week we have been used to. So thanks to Supervisors like Neese who have done little to spur economic development in Shenandoah County, we are now the 2nd lowest county in the region when it comes to economic prosperity. Our county has a rather high poverty rate of 12.2%, again second only to Page County. Again thanks in part to Dick Neese.
Our beautiful county has fewer jobs than it did in 2011, again thanks to policies supported by Dick Neese. This survey also showed that nearly 26% of 1st District residents and their neighbors within a 3 mile radius of New Market had no job, and that 15% of local businesses had failed in the past 5 years. (This study was done by the Economic Innovation Group, which studied over 3000 counties around the USA and was reported on by the Shenandoah Free Press on September 28, 2017).
It should also be noted for the record that Ms. Kwiatkowski holds her teachers license in Virginia.
People of the Valley, don’t we deserve better than this? Don’t we deserve the same jobs that everyone else in Virginia has? Don’t our kids deserve better? Do we want to be paupers our entire life, and forced to look to Big Brother in Woodstock for handouts from the ruling class who is profiting on our misery? I say we deserve better, and the best way to start is to elect former Lt. Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski as our Supervisor.
