We mentioned back over Labor Day weekend that Del. Bobby Mathieson (who stood idly by while Del. Joe Bouchard played the race card) began a negative attack on City Councilman Ron Villanueva regarding his attendance at city council sessions.
Today, in the Letters to the Editor section of the Virginian-Pilot, the Virginia Beach City Council finally took matters into their own hands:
BEACH COUNCIL DEFENDS VILLANUEVA
IT IS AN HONOR and privilege to serve the people of our city.
The job is very demanding, for even though we meet once a week on official business, the work we do outside of chambers to effectively serve our constituents is a full-time job — 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.We know that we are judged on our records, and we all know we must defend our votes. This is why we are so disappointed to see attack ads that distort Councilman Ron Villanueva’s attendance record, even accusing him of “playing hooky” instead of attending to his duties as councilman.
Ron’s attendance on council ranks in the top half of all current members, at 92 percent of all formal meetings. He has a 93 percent voting record in his nearly eight years on council.
We have all missed meetings for reasons beyond our control, whether coping with personal family issues, attending funerals or even traveling for business or vacation. Indeed, we have all missed at least one meeting due to other city business.
Collectively, we hope that as we approach Election Day, the people judge candidates based on how they plan to help our city by providing effective representation in Richmond.
Virginia Beach Mayor Will Sessoms; Vice Mayor Louis Jones; City Council members Glenn Davis, Bill DeSteph, Harry Diezel, Bob Dyer, Barbara Henley, John Uhrin, Rosemary Wilson, Jim Wood
It’s a shame that while the Pilot is off investigating mysterious, non-relevant connections in hopes of manufacturing a scandal, they can’t take the time to do basic reporting on issues of this 2009 campaign – issues important to their readers.
Unfortunately, it takes a letter to the editor by an entire legislative body to correct the record. I wonder if the Pilot will bother to report on it or write a strongly worded editorial condemning Mathieson for his negative campaigning?
I know I’m not holding my breath.
