Connection editors have made their way about halfway through one-on-one interviews with candidates up for election on Nov. 4, 2003.
While a record number of races are uncontested, some races include an embarrassment of riches with two excellent and qualified candidates. Other high profile races, which shall remain unnamed at this time, are embarrassing in a different way.
What are we looking for? We will endorse candidates from both major parties; we can’t at this stage rule out endorsing an independent in some races because we haven’t completed interviews.
Intellectual capacity and a willingness to use creative solutions are key. Familiarity with the office and the substantive issues at stake are obvious choices. We have interviewed challengers who have spent little or no time visiting the legislative body they aspire to join, for example.
Any candidate who has signed a tax-cap or no-new-taxes pledge is at a disadvantage, as is any candidate who believes he or she will be able to spend bushels of new money. Easy answers all too often ring too hollow.
An awareness of constituents as human beings and an active plan to reach out to residents and hear their concerns is also important.
It’s good to see candidates with a particular interest or area of expertise to bring to the table. Legislators and board members will oversee massive budgets and bureaucracies and intricate funding formulas; a little inside information can often go a long way.
For election coverage, including extensive questionnaires completed by candidates, see www.connectionnewspapers.com.
Opinions, questions, comments are concerns are always welcome.
— Mary Kimm, email mkimm@connectionnewsapapers.com
<sh>Ask for Cable Rebate
<bt>Dominion Power only bills its customers for the electricity they actually use, so if a household had no power for days or a week last month, the bill should be proportionally lower.
Cable service, on the other hand, is billed on a monthly basis. Many households have cable bills in excess of $100 a month, because they receive internet access and premium channels all on one bill.
Cable companies have not been providing any automatic rebates for customers who were without service for up to a week in the aftermath of Hurricane Isabel. Customers must call and request the days without service be removed from their bills. Be sure the refund includes all the services normally included on the bill.
By one customer’s report, a request for a refund only resulted in a refund for cable service; internet service had to be separately noted. The number to call should appear on the invoice.