[MR] Elections tomorrow

[Roy B. Scherer]

	[This message is about tomorrow's elections in Virginia.  If you don't want
	to read it, please pardon the intrusion, and hit "Delete".  Thanks. -- Roy]

Dear Folks:
	A few words here on the election, if I may.  Most of the people on 
the BCC list know me, as do a large number of those on the lists in 
the "TO" field.
	You may well know that I spend a LOT of time each year at our 
General Assembly, working for "truth, justice, and the American 
Way."  I started out in 1972,  working on decriminalizing marijuana, 
but have expanded my focus to deal with all laws that, IMHO, restrict 
liberty.  (Actually, a few years earlier, my FIRST action was 
opposing mandatory helmet laws for bikers.  We killed them that year, 
but they laughed when I warned them that if they passed helmet laws, 
in a few years they'd have mandatory seatbelt laws.)  I think that my 
experience over the years has given me a broader perspective than 
many who are more narrowly focused, and I hope that you'll consider 
my opinions between now and when you cast your ballot tomorrow.
	First of all, I want my vote to count.  I ain't writing in anyone 
for an important post where my vote might make a difference.  If you 
want to write in someone, just to express your opposition to the 
Republicrat candates, then of course you can.  Silver Persinger is 
running for governor as Green/Socialist, and a grassroots movement 
has arisen among Libertarians and gun-rights activists to write in 
Philip Van Cleave for Governor, Jim Lark for Lieutenant-Governor, and 
Jeff Bowles for Attorney General.
	I think that there's considerably more than a dime's worth of 
difference between the candidates.  I'm going to vote against the 
worst candidates, by voting for the less-bad ones.  I hope that you will, also.
	Because of my work at the General Assembly, I've had a chance to see 
many of the candidates, and to work both for and against them on 
different issues.  I've looked at their positions, and I've also 
judged their characters (as best I can -- I don't go to their places 
for supper).
	No candidate is a Libertarian, nor even a libertarian in the broader 
sense.  Nonetheless, there ARE differences.

	GUBERNATOR:
	Kilgore is a bit better on second amendment (although he refused to 
fill out the VCDL questionaire, and insulted Philip Van Cleave, VCDL 
president), while Kaine is considerably better on other issues (and 
DID fill out the questionaire).
	I'm voting for Kaine.  I think he'll be far less dangerous than Kilgore.
	They'll both try to raise taxes (IMHO, of course), but Kaine is a 
lot less likely to use government power (and our tax monies) to try 
to put me and my friends in jail.  Kilgore strongly supports jailing 
people for smoking dope or having sex with the wrong person; Kaine 
doesn't support either.
	Kaine doesn't like guns as much as Kilgore -- but there's more to it 
than that.
	When Kaine was mayor, he used tax money to send people to the 
MillionMomMarch.  When I heard about that, I went to City Council and 
chewed his butt.  (I was the ONLY person there to object then to that 
little move.)  Although he tried to defend his actions at the time, 
there were other objectors, and he ended up paying the money 
back.  He and I traded some more emails, and when he ran for Lt.Gov. 
he sent me a personal email saying "I'm sorry that I haven't earned 
your vote."  I think that he learned a big lesson from the whole 
episode, and I'm pretty sure that he won't try that sort of thing 
again -- nor is he likely to try any significant anti-gun moves.  He 
might possibly like to, but he's learned that we won't let him get 
away with it.
	Kilgore, OTOH, is willing to sacrifice gun rights for political 
advantage.  When I got a bill introduced to reform the law on 
possessing -- as opposed to carrying or using -- a firearm while also 
possessing an illegal drug, he opposed it down the line, and managed 
to engineer a last-minute deal that cut the guts out of it.  There 
was absoutely no public-safety issue involved.  Because of his 
action, if you own a firearm of any sort, no matter where it's 
stored, and you possess an illegal drug, you're guilty of a separate 
felony with a mandatory minimum term.
	On the death penalty issue, Kilgore is far more in favor than Kaine 
-- but Kilgore seems to think that the fact that Kaine spent a few 
hours consulting as a public defender on a murder case makes him 
unfit to be governor.  Kilgore also still seems to think that Earl 
Washington is guilty of murder and rape, although the DNA evidence 
says otherwise.  There's such a thing as being TOO MUCH in favor of 
the death penalty.
	Besides that, I've dealt personally with both men, and I both like 
and generally trust Kaine.  I can't say either for Kilgore.

	ATTORNEY GENERAL
	By the same token, I'm not voting for McDonnell.  As chair of the 
House Committee for Courts of Justice, he's someone with whom I have 
to deal throughout each session of the Assembly.  His idea of 
fairness has included several occasions where he forces a committee 
vote on a bill, and only AFTER the vote does he allow testimony 
opposing the bill.
          He's no particular friend of gays.  He supports putting people in
jail for screwing people of the same sex, and he supports prohibiting not
only gay marriage, and not only civil unions, but ALSO contracts that 
would give "the benefits and obligations of marriage" between gay 
partners.  This latter provision is not only in direct violation of 
the "sanctity of contract" provisions of the Constitutions of both 
the United States and Virginia, it would also mean that several 
children I know would be turned out to an orphanage if one of their 
mothers were to die.
          He's also vehemently against all drugs (except alcohol and 
nicotine, of course).  He consistently supports jail and penitentiary 
for drug users, as well as other restrictions on users' liberties.
	Creigh Deeds is no paragon of freedom, either -- until you compare 
him with McDonnell.  When you do, there's no contest.  With Deeds, 
you can argue.  With McDonnell, you can't.  As a Pat Robertson 
protege, he Knows the Truth, beyond any debate.

	OTHERS:
	Marrs - - - what can I say.  Vote Waddell.
	In Richmond, there are three candidates for Sheriff.  One is a man 
about whom I know little.  C. T. Woody was a Richmond homocide 
detective -- and a very good one -- until he retired, then an 
investigator for the Commonwealth's Attorney's office.  Michelle 
Mitchell is the incumbent, and has been in office for years.  When 
former sheriff Andy Winston retired, he endorsed her to succeed him.
	Winston is now endorsing Woody to replace Mitchell.  So am 
I.  Mitchell's reign has been full of mis-appropriation of money, and 
has been capped off just recently by the murder of one inmate by 
another -- when they were each locked into separate cells!  Turns out 
that the locks are easily broken, and that dozens of locks have been 
KNOWN to be broken for over a year . . . but they weren't fixed, so 
we have a man who'd been arrested for a minor crime beaten to death 
by another inmate, because the sheriff wasn't doing her job 
properly.  Vote Woody.
	In a few local races, there are Libertarians, or Greens.  Vote for them.
	I've bent your ear long enough.   Thanks for reading (all three of 
you who are still with me).  Be sure to vote tomorrow . . .  but THINK first.
-- Roy
	P.S. Please forward as you may feel appropriate.
end

		- - Roy B. Scherer
  [8 N. Sheppard Street, Richmond, VA 23221; (804) 355-7612]
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	"If you are part of a society that has the vote, by all means do so!
	There may well be no person or issue that you wish to vote FOR,
	but there is certain to be someone or something to vote AGAINST!"
		-- Lazarus Long, The Senior
		-- cited by Robert A. Heinlein in "Time Enough For Love"
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