John Bell is running for the Virginia House of Delegates to represent the 87th District, which covers an area running from Bull Run in Prince William County to Sterling and areas of eastern Loudoun County.
Bell promotes himself as a fiscal hawk and (without saying it out loud) a conservative problem-solver:
[Bell] will use his expertise to streamline government, cut waste, and save taxpayer dollars so we can focus on what matters to Northern Virginia – strong schools that ensure our kids are prepared for the jobs of the future, a sustainable long-term transportation plan that gets Northern Virginia its fair share, and a strong economy that encourages job creation and growth.
Emphasizing his military service, Bell uses these words and even conspicuously avoids identifying himself as a Democrat or as a progressive. Instead, online and in his campaign literature we see lots of pictures of him with old, white military veterans wearing their veteran ballcaps, and lots of language about “Major Bell’s” own service, juxtaposed alongside very reasonable sounding language on spending, transportation, and economic growth.
But Bell is anything but a moderate. In fact, he’s probably one of the more extreme candidates running, and he will apparently stop at nothing to get elected.
So just how extreme is he? First, he proudly touts endorsements from public sector employee unions and the SEIU, along with the League of Conservation Voters (yes, the same crowd that strong-arms conservatives in neighboring Fauquier). That should be your first clue.
Another clue is that, despite his attempts to moderate his image, there is that pesky thing called the internet that allows us to peek back in recent history when Bell previously ran for this seat and lost to Del. David Ramadan. What that tells us is that among Bell’s largest donors are (i) organized labor; (ii) public employee unions; (iii) the gun control lobby; and (iv) the abortion industrial complex.
In fact, the abortion lobby has taken an especially keen interest in Bell. This year, Bell has received strong support from the butchers at Planned Parenthood and the extremists at NARAL. This weekend Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington Action Fund & NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia are even holding a fundraiser for him.
What’s probably more troubling is Bell’s use of his opponents’ ethnicity. Back when he ran against Ramadan in 2013, instead of the standard progressive line about running against “the extreme anti-woman views of [insert GOP candidate name here],” Bell’s campaign got more creative against the General Assembly’s only Muslim, who also happens to be an immigrant from Lebanon. In that campaign, they accused their opponent of “religious extremism.” When deployed against a Muslim Republican (who happens to be among the most patriotic Americans anyone has ever met), Bell may as well have straight-up called Ramadan a terrorist.
That didn’t work on Ramadan, and won’t work on Chuong Nguyen, the talented attorney who is the GOP nominee for the 87th. Nguyen is working hard to expose Bell’s true beliefs, despite Bell’s attempts to deceive the voters into thinking he’s a centrist (or even a Republican). It’s disappointing that the nominee of a party that so brazenly hustles minority candidates out the door is using tons of money from extremist groups to attack a rising conservative star from the Vietnamese immigrant community (part of a larger pattern this year from Virginia Democrats).
That’s what we’re up against folks. We’ve written about Chuong before, and are excited about his prospects. But he’s not going to get across the finish line without our help to combat the national abortion lobby and the political labor movement. If you can spare a donation, or better yet, if you can spare some time, visit his website and help him defeat his false-flag opponent.
13 comments
Chuong Nguyen is not your guy. Go for the libertarian, but Chuong is not who you want representing you. He’s not honest, he does not have integrity, and he will mess people over in a heartbeat to further his own agenda. He may as well run as a democrat. Inquiring minds want to know why he was fired and immediately removed and walked out of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office. Honest people with integrity don’t have that happen to them. He’s bad news for the republican party.
Liberals like John Bell will go anywhere for a campaign donation. Bell probably picked drag bingo night for the best turnout for his event:
With regards to political ideology, military service means little, if anything. While they are definitely in the minority among the senior enlisted and officer ranks, progressives abound in the defense establishment. However, since they are not very good in debating from the minority position, most progressives in the military simply keep their mouths shut.
Steve,
I lived in the 13th when Bell ran against Bob Marshall and then against David Ramadan.
What I alerted the Marshall campaign to was the fact that Bell held a fundraiser at Freddies Beach Bar in Arlington, which is a gay bar.
Oh no, a gay bar!
Wrong Bob Marshall was not there but Gerry the snake Connolly certainly was.
It is called trolling for dollars in all the wrong places.
Plot Twist: Bob Marshall was already there.
Gerry Connoly was there in drag as a nun
Bruce, I think you’re my favorite commenter ever.
I live to serve.
Want to know John Bell, I would go back to look at his run against Bob Marshall in the 13th District in 2009. He was a poster boy that year for the Daily Kos. They don’t spend much time or print on “moderate” Democrats. He is a run of the mill tax and spend, left wing Virginia Democrat, masquerading as a fiscally responsible “something or other”. To top it off he was and I believe still is a big climate change supporter of Obama’s environmental agenda. So count him in as a supported of the new EPA regulations just released, an anti-coal legislative vote in Richmond and an advocate for increased energy pass-throughs to the Virginia consumer via subsidization of alternate energy boondoggles. Not much truth in advertising with this gentleman.
Thanks for the heads-up. Donated.