Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Jody Wagner was proud to release a list of Republicans supporting her campaign – and based upon the names of these vaunted GOP leaders, there are no real surprises here: Russ Potts, John Chichester, etc. Not only are these Republicans who voted for the largest tax increase in Virginia history, but names that are already supporting Creigh Deeds.
But there was one name that caught me by surprise: Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms.
While Sessoms and Wagner are from the same city, Virginia Beach, I never got the indication that he and Wagner shared a close political connection.
If you recall last year’s mayoral race, three Republicans were vying for the position at the same time: Scott Taylor, John Moss and Will Sessoms, with Sessoms ultimately prevailing.
After a few months in office, however, it’s not surprising to see that Sessoms was challenged from his right.
Sessoms has already proposed raising taxes on Virginia Beach homeowners for some of his pet projects, a proposal that was killed when Ron Villanueva, Rosemary Wilson and Glenn Davis voiced opposition to tax increases. Sessoms’ summertime tax idea was a far cry from his campaign speeches about “reducing the property tax burden” last summer.
Sessoms has also irked a few with his flip-flop on his campaign promise of a referendum on light rail and spending $9,000 of taxpayer money to have a speech written, despite already having a speechwriter on the city staff.
It’s not that we weren’t warned though. Several commenters on this blog referred to Sessoms, a former Vice Mayor, as a “Republican in name only” who had a proclivity for government spending and tax increases – which seems to fit in nicely with Wagner’s proposed state policies.
Of course, maybe we should have realized that this was the case after he decided to use Obama’s likeness on his campaign material.
So, I propose a trade with the Democrats: We’ll give you Sessoms for Nye. Deal?
