Rep. Jim Moran is facing another challenger in the Democratic primary for Virginia’s Eighth Congressional District.
Bruce Shuttleworth, a resident of Arlington’s Old Glebe neighborhood, announced his candidacy this week and is putting his money where his mouth is: contributing $50,000 of his own money to his campaign. The former U.S. Navy pilot is also coming out in full-attack mode asked why he wants to take on the well-connected, ten-term congressman.
“I’ve been very impressed by our wonderfully honest local leaders, and I’ve been very struck by the disparity in integrity between those local leaders and [Rep. Jim Moran],” Shuttleworth told ARLnow.com, specifically mentioning campaign contributions Moran has received from earmark recipients. “I don’t think he can be trusted to uniformly act in the best interest of the citizenry.”
“I haven’t found more than one or two [residents] who said they think highly of Jim Moran and that they enjoy voting for him,” Shuttleworth added. “I think his likeability factor is very, very low.”
Shuttleworth, 46, was born in New York and spent the latter part of his childhood in Maryland. A United States Naval Academy graduate, Shuttleworth was a naval aviator who served on the carrier USS America during its support of American actions in Bosnia and Somalia. After leaving the military he attended Harvard Business School and went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, before moving to D.C. with his wife about 12 years ago.
Shuttleworth has been an independent consultant since 2008, according to his LinkedIn profile, after working at local companies like MicroStrategy and Blackboard. He and his wife Diane, a lawyer, have two twin 9-year-old boys who attend Arlington Science Focus School.
Eschewing traditional Democratic red meat, Shuttleworth is instead venturing into unfamiliar political territory by focusing on the national debt as a key campaign issue during the primary.
“I think that America is really facing one of the most serious challenges in its history with this out of control debt,” Shuttleworth said. “These aren’t just numbers in a computer. Having more than $250 billion go to interest payments — that’s money that we cannot spend on our [general] welfare. This is a situation that puts us at great risk for hyperinflation.”
“This is an issue that transcends all American interests, and I don’t think it has the proper attention of Jim Moran,” Shuttleworth said, adding that out-of-control debt jeopardizes the country’s social safety net.
If the focus on the national debt makes Shuttleworth sound a bit like a Republican, he’s quick to point out that he’s very much a Democrat on other issues, including the social safety net, women’s health, gay rights and gun control.
Although he has little political experience, Shuttleworth says he has been active in the community. He serves on the Arlington Public Schools Comprehensive School Health Committee, is a Civic Association delegate and coaches basketball and soccer. He says he’s been pleasantly surprised by the pledges of support he has received since announcing his candidacy Wednesday afternoon.
“My iPhone is just beeping out of control,” he said. The congressional primary is scheduled for June 12.
Got my vote. But then again, I’d vote for pol pot over Moran
What a fantastic idea! Let’s vote for a psychopathic megalomaniac guilty of inciting genocide and regressive agrarian socialist policies. From your grossly insensitive comment, I doubt you can conceptualize what electing a Pol Pot would mean but let me assure you there would be no constituency left in Arlington and you nor I would likely see Year Zero.
Hahahahaha – I like how you made up a fictional election from an exaggerated statement and then got really angry about it. The Arlnow comments are the best.
Perhaps you should brush up on your understanding of other literary devices, namely sarcasm or irony. I’m more dumbfounded – than ‘really angry’ as you assume – that the OP would view Moran as paling in comparison to Pol Pot. Hyperbole aside, it was done in poor taste and your attempts to trivialize my comment demonstrate a denial of impact of the callousness of the OPs comment.
There are people who live in the DC area who lost love ones to that SOB. I’m sure the OP didn’t think about what he was typing, but that’s just like saying “I’d vote for Hitler over…”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole
Save your money buddy – better yet, donate it to local charities if you want to help your community. Otherwise you’re flushing $50K down the drain.
Shoot, I’d consider voting for him.
Totally awesome news. I am so pumped about this. Today is the greatest day I’ve ever known.
You need to get out more if today is the greatest day you’ve ever known.
Thanks for using our lyrics. Maybe this can be Bruce’s campaign theme song. Call our lawyers to work out details.
Amused that the purpose of tackling the debt is to focus on spending more on a welfare state. Did this guy just wake up from a coma?
@ Rob G
Um..amused that you see “debt reduction” as somehow advancing the unstated goal of “increased spending.” Bruce clearly was talking about spending LESS to cut our overall debt. Re-read the article: he never said anything about “spending more on a welfare state” or even “spending more” on anything. Vote for him or not, but don’t assign a false position to him and then attack it.
I see how Rob G made that mistake. It was 100% Rob G’s fault for not knowing how to read.
However, it’s a lesson to Shuttleworth – you can’t talk like a normal person any more, you’re a candidate now. There are people like Rob G listening. Look at Romney getting hammered for the same thing.
One question will make or break his candidacy:
“How would your efforts to cut debt affect the federal workforce? Would you cut jobs, reduce or continue the freeze on pay, etc?”
Agree with your assesment. But I do like someone going up against Moran. He has my vote for now, but the national debt talk is a bit odd. I would love to hear his thoughts on how to reduce the debt.
Drax, Yep. Unfortunately, that’s where the rubber hits the road in this one company town.
Who can most fill up the public trough with the taxpayers money for these bureaucrats to feast on is the winner.
Jus’ saying–you’re not saying much. Ignorant remarks abound, though. Exactly how do bureaucrats “feast?” The straight reality is that Federal employees neither find feast nor (for now) famine working for the USG. The large scale dollars don’t go to Federal employees–the pay scales are very transparent, and in Arlington, the salary of a top of the GS-13, about $115K, hardly buys into many neighborhoods. And, this would be after two decades of supposed “feast” not a starting salary. Meanwhile, consultants, lawyers and the rest of the lobby bunch rake in that much and more just in bonuses, and those dollars also come from the Treasury, through earmarks (see Moran) and the like. Who exactly is feasting?
DC Buff, Govt. bureaucrat : Can’t be fired, a six figure salary and benefits and retirement better than comparable private sector worker?
My heart (and taxpayer pocketbook) bleeds.
My government counterpart makes over $140K and has absolutely no idea how to do his job.
There are duds in every workplace, I’m sure in yours, too. I can point to a number of Federal bureaucrats who everyone should be thanking Jesus work for the taxpayer, they are so smart. On the whole, Federal workers earn less than they could doing the same job in the private sector — that’s why you always hear of people “leaving for the private sector.”
So what if there are duds everywhere? Private companies use their own many to pay them. The government uses violence to forcibly take money from people the least they can do is make a half-assed effort to be responsible with it.
And you feast on the scraps just by living here.
Moran needs to go. I look forward to hearing more Bruce’s ideas. If anything, Moran needs to be kept honest rather than complacent.
Go Navy!
Question: Do you have to sign that party loyalty pledge to vote in the primary?
Our fiscal issues are 10x more important than all the other issues that our politicians spend their time on right now. A candidate who understands this has his head on straight and, therefore, has my vote.
CNBC did a good video where they took our Federal government’s financial position and explained it in terms of a single family (by removing 8 zeros from the national figures). The family’s financial position looks like this:
Annual income: $23,100
Anual spending: $36,140
New debt (each year): $13,030
Total debt: $151,140
Total proposed budget cuts: $385
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlssleF2kSI
This ‘family’ is insolvent, right? But even though the same figures apply to our country, few people take this issue seriously.
Its The Arlington Way: Debt? What debt?
The issue is can he fund our county Streetcar Named Desire?
Sounds like that family needs to find a way to get more income.
You are completely right…they should definitely get more income. And to do that they should walk next door to your house, force their way in and take your money, because the only reason they don’t have enough money to feed their appetite that is larger than their wallet is because you aren’t giving them their fair share of what you earn. Absoulutely no reason they should reduce their spending that has ballooned out of control.
If the family next door is the Romney household, and the reason why the Romneys have so much money was because they bought family A’s employer, fired family A and liquidated the company’s assets, and that money is held in offshore accounts and taxed at half of what family A’s income is taxes at, I absolutely support it.
They just up and bought the whole company and that’s where the money came from? What about the money to buy the company?
And this is where analogies break down, when someone says something ridiculous like this.
Governments tax. Even you support the power of taxation.
Yeah, like own a printing press that makes money?
Thank goodness you got crushed in the election.
you realize the federal government is not a “family”, right? you can’t just apply a simple situation like a family’s finances to the federal goverment. Yes reduction in spending and increases in revenue are needed, but federal debt has existed for years.
“you realize the federal government is not a “family”, right?”
Somebody was home sick the day school taught about analogies.
Barry knows it’s an analogy; he is questioning the validity of the analogy.
I wish this analogy would go away. It’s not an appropriate analogy for many reasons, not the least of which is –
families cannot print their own money
families owe their debt to others, while the US mostly owes to itself
for families, the ability to increase income is very limited while the ability to cut spending may be less so – while the government has a much greater ability for flexibility on both sides,
when families spend money, it has little to no effect on their income, whereas for the federal government, increased spending may very well stimulate the economy which results in increased income
etc.
Yes…..and we’re still waiting to see when the increase in spending is going to stimulate the economy….and waiting……and waiting.
It’s too bad you’re not as smart as you hallucinate yourself into being.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs added each quarter since Q2 2009, Dow closing at it’s highest valuation since before the 2008 recession, domestic auto manufacturer’s sales are up 11% over last year but we’re just waiting…and waiting…and waiting…for some people to get a clue, cupcake.
And the stimulus package was passed 3 years ago honey. That’s quite a turnaround. The deficit is only 15 trillion now. What’s the unemployment rate again? How many people dropped out of the workforce? Yeah…it’s a booming economic recovery, honey.
I mean seriously, this loser makes novasteve sound like the nicest, most down-to-earth guy on the planet….
You really need to take yourself, and this forum, less seriously. What are you, the self-appointed President of the ArlNow Civic Association? Review your own comments..and then look in the mirror…..there’s plenty there for you to be concerned with.
And please recall that I never addressed YOU directly until you engaged with me. Don’t like my opinions? Don’t read them. Don’t want to me to reply to your SNARKY remarks? Don’t engage. I’m not your problem, you are.
Josh, I’ll have to give you credit – you are one of the best at missing the forest for the trees.
Good luck Mr.Shuttleworth….anybody else note that apparently in the Navy folks no longer have military titles, yet in the same article the reporter just HAS to title Moran….like anybody could forget a parasite in office like Moran has been. Hopefully Mr. Shuttleworth can be heard about the roar of dimwit Arlingtonians & FFX countians and FC residents for the cockroach already in office. Shuttleworth has to overcome a lot of nutbrains in this are that want to continue what is already here
seems like a nice enough guy…
the whole debt thing tho is kind of weird… i know it’s difficult to discuss specifics when addressing trillions of dollars but that’s where the whole thing gets held up. He suggests Simpson-Bowles as a framework but if you look at the impact those recommendations would have on this congressional district, it’s really pretty devastating.
Also – he seems to be part of the majority that doesn’t understand the economics of debt/deficit spending… Debts and deficits aren’t not necessarily a bad thing. It’s not as though they don’t matter, as some have said, rather it’s how you spend/invest the money you borrow. Just as a small business would take out a loan to grow… Unfortunately for a long time we have made incredibly bad investments with our deficit spending. If you take a look at some of the states w/ balanced budget amendments they’ve actually made the economic situation a lot worse by being forced to lay off thousands of state employees, cut education spending and infrastructure improvements.
“they’ve actually made the economic situation a lot worse”
worse for whom?
for everyone.
In theory deficits can be used to increase economic expansion and stabilize downturns – balanced budget amendments tie the hands of government making the economy more volatile and at risk for longer and deeper recessions and slowing potential growth.
Please, some adult out there take our credit card away from these folks. They twist themselves up in knots to justify national bankruptcy.
Angela Merkel where are you?
The government’s job is not to remove volatility from the economy.
And taxpayers (collectively) are better off in the event of an occasional economic malaise if they are able to keep more of their money for themselves to get themselves through the hard time.
Suggesting that we should take money from taxpayers’ pockets, hand it to the government, and let the government spend it to make the economy better for the individual taxpayer from whom the money was just taken – that doesn’t make logical sense to me.
“The government’s job is not to remove volatility from the economy.”
You may think it shouldn’t be, but it most certainly is the goal of many agencies and policies, particularly the Fed.
Is it just me, or does it look like he’s trying to control the camera with his mind in that pic?
Startlingly, the existence of the image would seem to indicate that he was successful in his attempt…
Where is the “Like” button on ArlNow posts?
Please people or Arlington, ANYONE but this racist antisemite. Please get rid of Moran.
“two twin…” is redundant.
As good as it would be to have a viable alternative to Congressman Moran, beating him will prove difficult unless a local Democratic politician, either someone elected to State office or to the County Board, is willing to go all out in a primary. Moran does draw unknown challengers who remain similarly unknown after he defeats them. I should note that, beyond his personal idiosyncracies, Moran is an effective local Congressman.
This guy has got my vote. I am a democrat and for all the years Moran has had in Congress he has not emerged as a leader. Yes we need a Democrat representing this District but Moran is just complacent and doesn’t have the chutzpah to ruffle feathers…he just want to play it safe to keep his seat.. We don’t need that we need a leader and Moran is just like your co-workers who do just enough to keep their jobs.
Moran is safe. The lemmings here will keep returning him to office. Gee, its taking an act of congress to slow down his insider stock trading.
I’ve hear alot of complaints about Moran, but lack of chutzpah and not ruffling feathers is a first.
If there are two things Moran has it is 1) chutzpah and 2) ruffling feathers. A quiet retiring wall flower he’s not.
I am totally open to hearing examples…..I am okay being wrong…but I just can’t remember a time where he showed some leadership
Read Arlnow.
Nice photo. It’s just missing Mr. Bigglesworth.
Thanks a lot, I just spat Diet Coke all over my keyboard and some of it probably came out of my nose!
Hmm, I want to learn more about him before I cast my vote, but I’m intrigued. I can honestly say I need to do my homework big time for this race, as it will be the first Congressional election I’ll have voted in since I moved here. I don’t know a lot about Moran, to be honest. If neither of them float my electoral boat then I’ll just do a write-in for myself, as I’ve done before when I don’t like any of my options.
Normally, when you have a 10-term Congressman, you need to think twice about replacing him, as the Congressional system is very seniority driven, in terms of influence, committee spots, leadership. However, I find that Moran seems to have accumulated few of the perks of seniority that one might normally ascribe to someone who has been in Congress for 10 terms. When I compare him with Steny Hoyer (D-MD), he really comes up lacking in the leadership dimension. Now, admittedly, Hoyer has been in office 10 years longer, but after 20 years, I expect that Moran should be more of an influence than he seems to be.
Moran is the ranking member on an Appropriations subcommittee. He’s very influential. Still I’d like to see him replaced by another Democrat. He’s beatable but I’m real skeptical Shuttleworth can raise the kind of money he needs to do it.
Closet Republican.
Apparently, he “knew more than on gay midshipman in the Navy.”
Tell us more?
Would vote for a sack of sh*t over Moran. Just glad someone is taking him on.
He can stare at me with that intense but compassionate gaze and explain to me in low, gruff tones how he supports gay rights any time he wants . . .
lol – what a joke this guy is
Why is he a joke?
I want to know more, but I like someone willing to spend his own money on a long shot, is willing to stake out an unpopular or at least awkward position with his party, and seems to be smart. Even if I liked Moran (which I don’t) I would be intrigued with this guy.
Me too!
One look at who has supported moran in the past with big bucks will show you who’s toast is getting buttered, and it’s not the citizens of Arlington. I get a kick out of you snarky snipers who hide behind your internet handles and criticize – Shuttleworth is putting 50Gs worth of skin in the game which is probably more than ole jimmy has ever forked over to get his rump into congress. If you’re so into jimmy then cut a $2,000 check to his campaign or hold your tongue. Shuttleworth put his butt on the line and in the line of fire – literally. Jimmys only shot off his mouth.
I think a lot of us do cut those checks. Thanks for asking.
Moran seems to be one of the few politicians not owned by the Israel lobby – I’ll continue voting for him.
i am very happy with moran. everytime i call his office to see where he stands on an issue coming up for a vote, i am always pleased with his position. unlike webb or warner, if you call their offices their staff never knows how they are voting. any email coming from them is always vague and never disclose where they stand. moran has my vote.
Howler of the month: “I’ve been very impressed by our wonderfully honest local leaders…”