Bernick, a legal fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation, says he wants to reduce spending, cut taxes and require that County Board members be elected by district, rather than at-large.
The date of the special election will be set after Zimmerman formally resigns — which is expected by the end of the month.
The Right Note is a weekly opinion column published on Thursdays. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
With security provided by Arlington County Sheriff’s Deputies, Clerk of the Court Paul Ferguson oversaw the recount. Ferguson swore in two of the Electoral Board members as Recount Coordinators and ten Officers of Election at 7:00 a.m. to conduct it. Registrar Linda Lindberg and her staff provided guidance to all of the officials as they opened the sealed envelopes containing Nov. 5’s results.
Three Vying for County Board Nod — Three candidates for the upcoming Arlington County Board special election kicked off their campaigns at last night’s Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting. Among them are Alan Howze, president of the Highland Park-Overlee Knolls Civic Association; Peter Fallon, former Planning Commission member; and Cord Thomas, who helped found Envirocab and Elevation Burger. All three will compete in a two-day Democratic caucus, to be held Jan. 30 and Feb. 1. [Sun Gazette, Washington Post]
Remembering the Ballston Skulls — Up until the 1940s, the Ballston Skulls, a semi-pro football team, played at Ballston Stadium, on the site of what’s now Ballston Common Mall. The Washington Redskins also conducted work outs from the facility. [Ghosts of DC]
Board Adopts Pike Affordable Housing Tools — The Arlington County Board on Saturday formally adopted a number of county code changes needed to implement the Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan. The plan includes the implementation of Form Based Code for the residential areas around the Pike. Form Based Code allows developers to build larger projects than otherwise permitted through zoning, provided a number of conditions are met. On the Pike, those conditions include setting aside 20-35 percent of new units for affordable housing and meeting green building standards. [Arlington County]
Board Proposes TIF for Affordable Housing — Also on Saturday, the County Board voted to advertise a plan to implement a Tax Increment Financing district along Columbia Pike. The TIF would take some of the additional tax revenue provided by new development and set it aside for affordable housing. [Washington Post]
On Friday evening, Arlington election officials finished sorting through the 161 provisional ballots cast on Election Day, according to Arlington County Registrar Linda Lindberg. Of those, 80 were accepted — 59 for Herring and 21 for Republican state Sen. Mark Obenshain.
(Provisional ballots are cast when a voter cannot produce proper identification or when records indicate that they’ve already voted. The local electoral board then must approve or reject each vote, after further research and after giving those without ID a chance to present it in person by the Friday after election day.)
Arlington’s importance to securing Democratic victories in statewide races cannot be underestimated, county Treasurer Frank O’Leary told the party faithful at last night’s Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting.
“We are exporting votes that are desperately needed… throughout Virginia,” he said, lauding the party’s get-out-the-vote efforts, which helped lead to McAuliffe’s 72 percent to 22 percent shellacking over Cuccinelli in Arlington.
After a year where seats on the County Board and School Board and four House of Delegates districts were up for election and no Republicans ran, 2014 will not be a repeat, pledged Arlington County Republican Committee Chairman Charles Hokanson.
“We fully expect to be running local candidates in 2014 and beyond,” Hokanson told ARLnow.com. “This year, we prioritized our work on supporting the statewide Republican ticket in what correctly proved to be very tight elections, in the process building up our strongest voter identification and get-out-the-vote efforts in many years.”
Audrey Clement, running for the County Board for the fourth straight election, lost to incumbent Democrat Jay Fisette, 66 to 31 percent. She was actually encouraged by the results, but said the 30 percent range appears to be a Green Party candidate’s best possible result.
“In our best races we seem to be hitting up against a glass ceiling of 30 percent,” she said at the Green Party’s election gathering at Westover Beer Garden. “It seems we can’t break that ceiling. I think we will when the county breaks the budget.”
Democratic incumbents have cruised to reelection in all local races. Meanwhile, Democratic voters in Arlington and Northern Virginia have helped push two statewide candidates to victory.
Democrat Terry McAuliffe has been elected the next governor of Virginia, defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Libertarian Robert Sarvis. Democrat Ralph Northam, meanwhile, has defeated Republican E.W. Jackson in the race for lieutenant governor.
Arlington’s polling places have been open for about four hours, and so far election day appears to be proceeding without a hitch.
As of 9:00 a.m., Arlington County Registrar Linda Lindberg reported being very busy but said there had been no significant issues to report. Although not a major incident, people at the Barrett Elementary School (4401 N. Henderson Road) polling place reported the school’s principal pulled campaign signs out of the ground, claiming they weren’t allowed to be there. After witnesses made a few phone calls to lawyers and the superintendent, the principal learned he was incorrect and apologized for taking down the signs.
The Daily Show Takes on VA Election — Last night Jon Stewart and the folks at The Daily Show aired a segment mocking what they portrayed as slim pickings for gubernatorial choices on Virginia’s ballot. The reporter said of Republican Ken Cuccinelli and Democrat Terry McAuliffe, “apparently neither candidate is fit to lead.” [The Daily Show]
County Launches Urban Design Speaker Series — Arlington County will kick off its RoundAbouts speaker series on Wednesday, November 13. The series is hosted by the county’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development and is designed to facilitate discussion about thoughtful design and how to shape Arlington’s future. The first speaker will be Christopher B. Leinberger, a Brookings fellow, developer, researcher and author, who will speak on the topic “The Urbanization of the Suburbs: Why Arlington is the National Model and Where Do We Go Next.” [Arlington County]
Polls open in Arlington at 6:00 a.m. and close at 7:00 p.m. You can find a list of polling places on the county’s election website, which was revamped last week.
Below are the races you will find on the ballot:
