I am happy to wave goodbye to political year 2014. It was not a good year for progressives, and a worse year for America. Defying logic, the party of no and dysfunction at the federal level and a root cause of the collapse of the middle class won broad victories in the ballyhooed midterms of 2014. After the dust settled, Republicans picked up nine U.S. Senate seats and the majority with 54, they upped their advantage in the House to 246 to 188, and they now control 31 governorships. Yet in referenda and poll after poll across the country progressive choices whipped the forces of darkness—on issues of gay marriage, immigration, climate change people voted with progressives. Go figure. On to 2015 and a more local focus.
In Virginia, we will elect a new General Assembly-40 state senators and 100 delegates. In Fairfax County, we’ll elect a new Board of Supervisors—a chairman and nine district supervisors, including possibly a replacement for long-time incumbent Cathy Hudgins; a new 12-member Fairfax County School Board; the Commonwealth Attorney; and, the Sheriff. In some ways, the Commonwealth (not “state”) of Virginia General Assembly parallels what is happening on Capitol Hill. The Republicans have a better that 2 to 1 majority in the 100-member House of Delegates and a narrow 21-18 (pending outcome of a January special election) in the State Senate. Also, the House tends to lean hard right (like the U.S. House) with progressives, like Ken Plum, being rare indeed. The front-page issue for 2015 is Ethics reform in the wake of the conviction of former Governor (R) and Mrs. McDonnell on a slew of corruption charges. Gov. McAuliffe (D) is trying for a meaningful reform to drain a terrible swamp, but faces an uphill battle with entrenched gift-takers. While “strongly supporting” reform, one legislator told me a few days ago it was important that travel and meals paid for by lobbyists continue—the only way to get to learn their legitimate positions! This nominally progressive legislator noted the low pay for the hard work, seeming not to understand is in effect a pay supplement from special interests. The outlook for genuine reform is poor. The outlook for Democrats to pick up a few seats in the House is fair, in the Senate not so good. The Board of Supervisors, currently 7-3 Democrats, proposes to give itself another raise. Supes currently make 75K for jobs involving a lot of ceremonial tasks, only occasional heavy lifting. A growing issue for the Supervisors is a large, heavily armed police force known to use lethal force with questionable justification and absolute impunity. The still unexplained killing of unarmed John Geer in August 2013 is the latest example of police literally never held accountable for a single killing in the line of duty. There has been little public outrage to date. If events in Ferguson and New York spread outrage to sleepy Fairfax, maybe just maybe we could see it take down one or more of Supervisor-enablers in 2015. The Commonwealth Attorney should also be swept aside in that event.
A bright spot in public officialdom this year is the County School Board which agreed to later start times for high schoolers. It took too long, but could yield great benefits to our youth in terms of academics, health, and safety. Kudos.