Adam Theo: Why you should vote for me for Arlington County Board

Last week, we invited the four candidates running in the general election for a seat on the County Board to write a post about why our readers should vote for them next Tuesday (Nov. 2).

Here is the unedited response from Adam Theo:

Hello, I’m Adam Theo (aka “Theo”), an independent progressive libertarian running for Arlington County Board.

I’m an 8-year resident of Arlington currently living in Ballston, where I’ve enjoyed our excellent parks, access to transit, and how safe the county is. I’m proud to serve my community as Secretary of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association as well as voting delegate to the county Civic Federation. Since 2018, I’ve been the Chair of the Libertarian Party of Northern Virginia where I’ve more than tripled the active volunteer base, expanded the organization into Loudoun County, and lead the establishment of dedicated teams for communications and policy task forces.

I’ve been an avid hiker, cyclist, computer nerd, photographer, fan of good historical biographies, and have an undeniable weakness for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. As a fairly straight-to-the-point, fiscally responsible, policy-wonk kind of person I have lot of criticisms of the current County leadership and local politics.

My background and experience bring a unique experience to Arlington’s politics. I would be the only veteran on the county board, with 9 years in the Air Force Reserves as a structural civil engineer. I’ve also lived both sides of law enforcement, with 9 years as a communications consultant within the Department of Homeland Security working alongside police and other first responders across the country but had also served 4 months in county jail down in Florida during 1999/2000 when, as a teenager, I got into a lot of foolish trouble for myself. Finally, I’ve been homeless twice — first for a few months during a Florida summer in my 20’s, then again in a DC winter through the “Snowmageddon” of 2009.

This time in the criminal justice system is where I first saw problems and became an advocate for reform including ending the “War on Drugs”, abolishing Qualified Immunity, providing greater civilian oversight of law enforcement, and de-militarizing our police forces. And while experiencing homelessness I saw firsthand there’s no single root cause — but instead dozens (if not hundreds) of factors — each requiring their own solutions.

There is no “silver bullet” for any of our community’s problems, but there are proven ways to improve them. That’s why as a county board member — in addition to the above police reforms and taking on homelessness — I’d also push for:

• Smarter spending that prioritizes public safety, helping local businesses, and our environment over luxury amenities or tax breaks to Fortune 500 companies.
• Zoning and permitting reforms for “Missing Middle” housing as well as change how we handle affordable housing by using Community Land Trusts.
• Accountability and transparency of our government by fully funding, empowering, and expanding the County Auditor’s office while adopting changes to how local officials are elected.
• Protecting our parks and environment with better market incentives for green development, solar programs, and park expansion.

I’m Adam Theo – an independent progressive libertarian for Arlington County Board. Find and follow me at TheoForArlington.org and as @TheoForARL on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Be sure to join my email list to get key information first. I’m using 2021 to establish my campaign’s organization with needed infrastructure and to introduce myself to the residents of Arlington that I’ve not yet met. I will then be running in 2023 or 2022 to finally bring much needed independence to the County Board.