It’s not exactly a heartfelt, ringing endorsement, but former GOP candidate for congress Matthew Berry has written a letter to supporters saying that he will vote for Patrick Murray.
Murray, who defeated Berry in June’s Republican primary, raised the ire of many local Republicans by sending out a controversial last-minute mailer about Berry. One local conservative blogger called the mailer “foul” and “disgusting,” although Murray maintained that his campaign’s conduct was aboveboard.
Nonetheless, two months after the mailer went out, Berry appears to be trying to bury the hatchet.
In the letter, Berry writes that “Patrick is generally on the right side while [incumbent Democrat] Jim Moran and [Green Party candidate] Ron Fisher are generally on the wrong side.” He also notes that “Patrick is the only candidate who will vote to give Republicans control of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
One month ago, Berry would only go so far as to tell an audience of Arlington Republicans that Murray “deserves our respect.”
(Earlier we mentioned the conspicuous lack of the word “endorse” in the letter, but it turns out the subject line was “Endorsement.”)
One month after an otherwise low-key primary ended with a smoldering intra-party controversy over a last-minute mailer, former GOP congressional candidate Matthew Berry is calling on supporters to “move on.”
Speaking at a recent Arlington County Republican Committee meeting, Berry — whose narrow loss to retired Army colonel Patrick Murray surprised some local political watchers — said it’s “very important” for the party to unite with the goal of retaking control of congress. But while he said that Murray “deserves our respect,” Berry stopped short of endorsing Murray or pledging to help his campaign.
Murray, who will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran in November, seems eager to put the controversy behind him. (For the record, he says he “would very respectfully but strongly disagree” that his campaign’s controversial mailer tried to exploit the fact that Berry is gay.)
Murray met personally with Berry last week in an effort to smooth things over.
“Matthew acknowledges who our adversary is, and our adversary is Jim Moran,” Murray said. “We’re both on the same sheet of music strategically, which is to turn around congress.”
With the primary behind him, Murray says his primary focus is to win over independents and moderate Democrats. Still, he realizes there is some work to be done if he wants Berry supporters to do more than just vote for him.
“I’m sure there were some raw feelings right after the [election], and that’s to be understood,” Murray said. “People pour a lot of energy and emotion into campaigns… and I respect that. I just hope that moving forward we can harness that energy together and move forward against our common adversary.”
Murray will need to raise a lot of money — quickly — in order to be competitive with Moran, who already has $527,348 cash on hand, according to OpenSecrets.org. That fundraising will be especially hard if the 6,651 Republicans who voted for Berry are reluctant to open their wallets and donate their time to Murray’s campaign.
Murray spent most of the $70,846 he raised during the primary. He had $14,816 in the bank as of May 19. His campaign has raised another $10,975 online since the election, a fraction of Moran’s war chest.
Mike Lane, Murray’s interim campaign manager and the only nominated Republican to win an election in Arlington in a generation, says fundraising will be the campaign’s biggest challenge. Lane says he’s confident that voters will respond to the campaign’s message, which will be heavy on fiscal issues and light on social issues.
“You have to make the case that the incumbent, or the monopoly party, is not getting the job done,” Lane said. “I think it’s going to be an easy case to make. The question is: will we have the resources to reach the number of people that will be able to listen to it.”
Patrick Murray is gearing up for a tough general election fight, but many supporters of the candidate he defeated in Tuesday’s GOP primary still haven’t moved on from what they say was a dishonorable finish to the campaign.
Supporters of Matthew Berry have taken to the comment section of the local Republican politics website RedNoVA to vent their frustration.
Said one: “People I’ve spoken to in the last three days are shocked and disgusted by Murrays tactics… There is no better chance that I will [support] Murray than there is of Murray defeating Moran. Period.”
Another wrote: “Upon losing you pause for a moment and then shift gears to throw your support behind the winner. In the end, we’re all Republicans, right? Well not this time for me. I saw the ugly, inside game Murray put up especially the final 96hrs and I refuse to reward that with my vote in the fall.”
Much of the controversy revolves around a mailer sent out by the Murray campaign on the eve of the election. The last-hour mailer didn’t explicitly point out that Berry is openly gay, but it included statements like “Matthew favors Gay Marriage in Virginia,” and “Matthew, who has never served in the Military, supports change of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
RedNoVA called it “one of the most foul mailers ever.”
Murray, however, disputes the notion that his campaign did anything morally objectionable.
“I want us to be nothing but positive,” Murray said during an interview at his victory party in Alexandria Tuesday night. “There was a little ugly back and forth… but I’m very confident and comfortable that we stayed on the high ground the entire time.”
Murray had an explanation for the last-minute timing of the mailing.
“I delayed the sending of our one mailer — we only did one mailer — I delayed it for days to the aggravation of my campaign staff… because I got involved to investigate in painstaking detail that we were being accurate with my opponent’s position… and we were,” he said. “I feel comfortable about what we did, and I wouldn’t do it otherwise.”
Despite a lopsided fundraising disadvantage, retired Army colonel Patrick Murray managed to narrowly defeat his organized and well-connected opponent, government attorney Matthew Berry, in a contest to see who will face ten-term Democratic congressman Jim Moran in the fall.
Berry called Murray to concede the race just before 9:00 last night. Murray won with 7,133 votes, or 51.75 percent of the vote, to Berry’s 6651 vote, or 48.25 percent.
Berry had an edge in Arlington and Alexandria, but unofficial voting numbers show that Murray won by a relatively wide margin in Falls Church and Fairfax County.
Murray issued the following statement today:
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for the faith and trust you have shown by nominating me as your candidate to restore honor and dignity to the representation of Virginia’s 8th District seat in Congress. I pledge to you my best effort to reward your trust come November.
I thank Matthew Berry and his supporters. Matthew has my appreciation and congratulations on an energetic and spirited campaign. His commitment to the Republican principles of limited government and individual responsibility energized an army of Republican voters eager for change from profligate spending policies of the Obama-Pelosi-Moran regime in Washington.
The press has taken notice there were almost 14,000 voters in this Republican Congressional Primary. This clearly shows the high level of discontent among 8th District voters with Jim Moran’s long record of divisive and partisan representation.
We kicked off our campaign this morning on FOX5 at 9:00am this morning. Join the Murray Momentum as we work together to take our country back and send Jim Moran into political retirement.
Matthew Berry says he’s “feeling very good” about his chances in today’s Republican congressional primary.
The former government lawyer has a more than 2-to-1 fundraising advantage over his opponent, retired Army colonel Patrick Murray, and Berry says his campaign’s internal numbers “look very good.”
Voters “seem to be responding well to our positive message,” Berry said. He has spent much of the past 48 hours knocking on doors, calling likely voters and attending events.
One might think Berry would be envious of Murray’s slick, air conditioned campaign bus, which has been making dozens of stops around the 8th District over the past five days, but Berry insists that old-fashioned door-to-door campaigning is actually more effective.
“My focus is on targeting likely primary voters,” he said in a telephone interview conducted Sunday night. “I personally don’t think the best way to do that is get on a bus and wander around the district, but everybody makes their own campaign choices.”
Berry, an unabashed policy wonk whose main campaign focus has been on fiscal issues, says Republican voters should support him because he has more specific solutions to the country’s problems than his opponent.
He also says that he would be more electable in the general election (a claim also made by Murray).
Berry points to the Murray campaign’s attempts to paint him as the “establishment” or “insider” candidate as an indication of why Murray may be vulnerable in the fall.
“He’s said that I spent too much time inside the Beltway — and the last time I looked at a map most people in Virginia’s 8th District happen to live inside the Beltway,” Berry said. “If his strategy for getting elected in the 8th District is to denigrate people who live inside the Beltway, then he’s going to get slaughtered in the general election.”
Arlington Science Teacher Wins Presidential Award — A beloved H-B Woodlawn High School biology teacher has won a prestigious honor from the White House. Dat Le is among the 103 recipients of the 2010 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Teachers from Huntingtown, Md. and Bristow, Va. are also among the recipients, although Le is the only inside-the-Beltway award-winner. He will receive a $10,000 prize from the National Science Foundation and a seat of honor at an awards ceremony later this year.
Republicans Voters to Choose Congressional Nominee Today — Voters in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District are heading to the polls to choose which GOP nominee will face incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D) in the fall. The Associated Press wins the award for the most concise, cynical take on the race:
In the 8th District, little-known candidates Matthew Berry of Arlington and Alexandria’s Patrick Murray, vie for the right to challenge 10-term Democratic Rep. Jim Moran in the heavily Democratic inner suburbs of Washington, D.C.
Polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. today. Click here for a list of polling place.
Maggie Moo’s Closes in Shirlington, Yogiberry Moving In — Via Shirlington Village Blog, we learn that the Maggie Moo’s ice cream shop in Shirlington has closed. A Yogiberry frozen yogurt store will be moving in. Sign of the times?
Republican congressional candidate Patrick Murray may be a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army, but he’s only a three-month veteran of electoral politics. And that doesn’t worry him one bit.
“I think [voters] like the fact that I’m not a politician,” Murray said on Friday, during an interview on board his newly-rented campaign bus. “People talk to me and they say, ‘you don’t talk like a politician,’ and I take that as a compliment because I’m not.”
Murray says his ‘Time to Lead’ bus tour, on which he embarked Thursday and will continue through Tuesday’s GOP primary, is part of an “insurgent ground campaign.” He’s visiting Metro stops, grocery stores, farmer’s markets and other high-traffic spots in an effort to get out the vote.
“We are cautiously optimistic but we’re running like we’re 50 points behind. We’re getting up before dawn and going to bed after dark. Our goal is to get to all 151 precincts in the eighth district.”
Murray may not be 50 points behind, but his fundraising has consistently lagged opponent Matthew Berry, a former general counsel at the Federal Communications Commission.
“My opponent has raised a lot more money than I have but he’s raised it from the outside,” Murray said. “He’s definitely the establishment guy.”
Later, Murray took another shot at Berry’s inside-the-Beltway career.
“I have a lot of experience in what I like to call the real world,” he said. “My opponent has none, he’s a federal government lawyer. There’s nothing wrong with federal government lawyers but that’s his sole perspective.”
“This is a year where we need some maturity, some leadership, and somebody in there who can stand up to both sides and get some things done,” Murray said.
Murray insists that he would have the best shot of defeating incumbent Rep. Jim Moran in the fall — a feat that no Republican has managed since Moran first won the eighth district congressional seat in 1991.
“I feel very strongly with my head and my heart that I’m the best candidate,” Murray said.
Eat Cheap in Arlington — Eleven Arlington County restaurants made Washingtonian magazine’s annual “Cheap Eats” list, reports the Sun Gazette. Counted among the 100 top food bargains in the area: Columbia Pike’s Bangkok 54, Lyon Village’s The Burger Joint, Courthouse’s Chez Manelle, and eight other Arlington eateries.
Berry Blasts Moran After WaPo Article — With less than two weeks to go before the local Republican congressional primary, GOP hopeful Matthew Berry wasted no time slamming incumbent Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) after a Washington Post article detailing Moran’s very active stock trading habit. Berry is calling for the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether Moran violated congressional rules by requesting earmarks for two defense contractors he and/or his wife owned stock in. “It was bad enough knowing that Jim Moran was trading earmarks for campaign contributions,” Berry alleged in a statement. “But obtaining earmarks for companies in which he has a financial interest takes the corruption to a whole new level.”
Changes at ARLnow.com — We’re always evolving, but you’ll notice two changes as of late. First, we’re joining the rest of the online news world by filing a morning news roundup instead of our usual end-of-day “afternoon notes.” Second, we changed our Twitter handle to @ARLnowDOTcom from the less aesthetically-pleasing @arlnow_dot_com. If you don’t already, follow us and be the first to know about everything worth knowing in Arlington. And as always, please send feedback and tell us what we can be doing better.
Last Chain Bridge Closure — Starting around 9:00 tonight Chain Bridge will once again close completely to traffic and pedestrians. Crews will be working to repave the bridge deck, the Washington Post reports. The bridge is expected to reopen on Monday morning. This should be the last full closure of the bridge, which has been undergoing a year-long rehabilitation process.
Berry Officially Joins Young Guns List — GOP congressional candidate Matthew Berry has been officially listed as “On the Radar” on the National Republican Congressional Campaign’s “Young Guns” website. The list recognizes congressional contenders who have achieved certain fundraising goals.
Murray Objects to Straw Poll — Patrick Murray, Berry’s competitor for the eighth district GOP nomination, sent a strongly-worded email to supporters calling a straw poll that will be conducted at Saturday’s district Republican convention “illegitimate.” Murray says charging $20 for votes and not limiting the number of votes conflicts “with many principles for which our Republican Party stands.” Murray’s campaign also objects to the possibility of illegal aliens voting in the straw poll, since identification won’t be required.
Slapsticon Returns to Rosslyn Spectrum — The Slapsticon vintage comedy film festival is returning to Rosslyn this summer. The Spectrum Theater will host the festival from July 15-18. Read more here.
Flickr Pool photo by tadnkat
County Government’s Michael Brown Era Begins — Former Savannah, Ga. city manager Michael Brown was officially appointed as Arlington’s new County Manager today, a month and a half after his hiring was first announced. Brown’s first order of business this morning was meeting with County Board Chairman Jay Fisette. He also met with his staff and spent much of the day preparing for his first board meeting, coming up this weekend. A public reception will be held in the lobby of 2100 Clarendon Blvd next Monday (May 24) from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. to welcome Brown to Arlington.
Iota Jam Session Reviewed — On Thursday night, The Infamous Stringdusters rocked Iota Club and Café in Clarendon. It may be the first time a band that includes a mandolinist, a dobro player, a fiddler and a banjo player started a performance with a “six-way fist bump.” More from jambands.com.
Endorsements for Berry, Murray — Conservative Virginia politics website Bearing Drift has endorsed Matthew Berry as the only GOP candidate who “has the capacity and wherewithal to give Jim Moran a run for his money.” Meanwhile, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi has endorsed former Army colonel Patrick Murray, Berry’s opponent in next month’s eighth district primary.
DCist Does Brunch at Tallula — If you’re looking for a lumberjack-sized plate of pancakes, eggs and bacon, Tallula is not the place to find it. But the Lyon Park eatery does serve up some very artistic-looking brunch dishes that — when paired with one of Tallula’s dessert options — should satisfy all but the most voracious eaters. More from DCist.
Congressman Jim Moran, who has heretofore ignored the challengers who hope to unseat him in November, fired the first salvo of his 2010 campaign last night at a forum sponsored by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.
Following a short debate between GOP candidates Matthew Berry and Patrick Murray, and Green Party candidate Ron Fisher, Moran took the stage for a brief solo question and answer session with debate moderator and ABC7 reporter Scott Thuman.
“I give these three guys credit,” Moran said wryly in his opening remarks. Having spent ten years as a city councilman and mayor in Alexandria before running for national office, Moran said he “would have never had the gall” to run for congress without local government experience, as his opponents are doing.
The comment garnered a smattering of intended laughter from the buttoned-up crowd at the Pentagon City Ritz Carlton.
Prior to Moran’s question and answer session, Berry and Murray took turns swiping at the ten-term congressman’s policies but largely avoided criticism of one another. Fisher was a full participant in the debate, but his pacifist, pro-tax message did not receive a very warm welcome from an audience full of businesspeople.
