Bill Fleming – Democrat not winning a Senate seat
By Brian Kirwin | Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | PoliticsWhen Republican Jeff McWaters won the GOP nomination to replace Sen. Ken Stolle, Democrats didn’t want to have a candidate.
That changed when Bill Fleming decided to run. Shame..the Democrats were better off without a candidate.
Fleming’s website proposes massive increases in government spending, and of course no clue how to pay for it all.
He proposes a massive increase in the city budget by making the school year a month longer! There’s a real vote getter!
He also wants all teachers to get a 10% raise, government-paid Pre-K statewide, part time college professors to get taxpayer-funded health care, an end to the academy schools in Virginia Beach, no charter schools, and no school choice.
No way to pay for his massive spending increases, either. Someone tap Bill on the shoulder and whisper to him about the huge shortfalls government at the state and local level is having. Tell him about the recession that’s been going on for over a year. Eh, on second thought, don’t wake him.
That’s just his far left ideology on education.
He lists 15 issues on his website, and like most Democrats, “taxes” ain’t one of them.
His “transportation” page lists all the things he opposes (as if that builds anything), and his most aggressive way to build more roads is help Martinsville get “better internet.” Wow! The key to the third crossing is a laptop! Who knew?
Like most Democrats, he’s very specific about defending abortion as a “Constitutional right” but very vague about the Second Amendment that is actually written in the Constitution.
He actually has a page explaining that gay people are born gay. uhm…ok.
Of course, the buzzword is jobs, and he has a great time proposing a bunch of things Virginia already does, and some other things that are very vague about how he plans to do them. How he’s gonna get Obama to give Hampton Roads more stimulus money for transportation is a mystery to me.
Democrats were better off with a write-in option.
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The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
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15 Responses to "Bill Fleming – Democrat not winning a Senate seat"
I went to Bill Fleming’s website http://www.flemingforstatesenate.org to see for myself and I have a much different impression than your, grossly biased summary.
Unlike your garden variety politician, Bill Fleming has a PhD in Physics, and as you read his issues list, anyone can see that Bill is doing something very rare in politics today; he is offering real solutions to many of the problems that all of us face. He is not stating edicts, but stating issues and providing brief discussions of some of the solutions that he is going to explore.
Bill Fleming is not spouting pre-packaged, Party talking points, like so many candidates do these days.
One of the things that I like most about Bill Fleming is that he will discuss innovative ideas and he welcomes those who are from all across the political spectrum to share their views. Another thing the people will find refreshing about Bill, is that when others present data that support a position different than his point of view, he will take the time to research the subject and will take new data into account.
Just one example, Bill Fleming does not take the typical Democratic view against firearms. He is a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights and he pledges to work with all “stakeholders” on that issue to help make legal gun ownership easier for law abiding citizens. Bill will likely support the repeal of the McDonnell-imposed, “one-gun-a-month” limit.
In short, Bill Fleming exhibits all of the characteristics of what most folks say they always wanted in an elected representative.
Another way of looking at this is… what do the Democrats or Fleming know about McWaters that makes them think that Fleming has a remote shot at this? Fleming’s site is a pointy headed collection of Democratic and liberal talking points sans gun control, which are threads in their political platform that extends from the local to the national level. Does McWaters have enough money to steamroll Fleming like he did Rosemary Wilson or is there going to be GOP blood in the streets come election day?
Ken D – your comment – at least the first half – reads as if you are making a case for how McWaters will win this in a walk. But your last sentence makes it sounds like he might lose. I’m confused. Easy to do, I know. But confused nonetheless.
JR the point goes back to Brian’s initial comment that the Democrats didn’t want to field a candidate and after McWaters won, Fleming appeared out of nowhere. I posed the question of what political strategy are they going to play against McWaters given the margins McWaters carried in the Canvass. In other words when the campaign inevitability goes negative, does McWaters have some un-dropped shoes or baggage that will be played out in this contest or will he dump massive amounts of money into a media blitz to paper it over? Rosemary tried the insurance fraud tactic, it didn’t seem to matter to Canvass voters and McWaters got a pass. However, in a contested election the conditions are totally different since the candidates are of different parties.
Mr. McWaters is a former health insurance gatekeeper.
I don’t think there needs to be any other “shoes” to drop. Other than having the GOP nominate one of the Mortgage Bankers who are foreclosing on everyone’s houses, or perhaps having a car Repo man on the ballot, the Republicans could not have selected a more unpopular character.
Mr. McWaters may be a pleasant fellow, but the image in the public’s mind of folks in his profession is something like a Snidely Whiplash character denying health services to pregnant women.
By dramatic contrast, Mr. Fleming is a hug-able, nice guy, who sold his company, MILCOM, in order to keep the several hundred local people in paying jobs with the acquiring company.
The Eighth District is the same group of citizens who elected Creepy Ken Stolle over and over, so I suppose having a candidate that used to deny health claims to those with critical illnesses, is not beyond the tolerable levels of revulsion accepted by the local citizens.
That was almost poetic, Paul. You have a future in the fiction business.
I love how I get accused of bias.
Hell yes I’m biased. Every word of every post I write is biased, just as the comments complaining about it are biased.
In other news, water is wet and the Pope is Catholic.
Hey Paul, I live in the 8th Senate District and I can’t stand “creepy” Ken Stolle!
My thoughts on all this is that there isn’t any TIME for any real “campaign” and therefore, short of revealing that Jeff McWaters has been sleeping with Tiger Woods, I doubt any buzz or attention is going to be paid to this seemingly unimportant General Assembly/Senate race.
Non “Progressive” voters turned out for Bob McDonnell in a big way in VA Beach. When I was working the polls during the 8th Senate District GOP primary many voters chatted with me and expressed their motivation for turning out on a cold, wet Saturday during the Christmas shopping season by saying that they had leaned their lesson about not voting from the disaster that had followed as a result of Barack Obama and the “Progressives” taking over the Federal Government.
I suspect that my neighbors in the 8th Senate District are going to vote for “Snidely Whiplash” simply to cast a vote AGAINST anyone wearing a “D” as their brand.
If anyone thought McWaters was a blowout in the primary, just wait 12 more days and you will see 80% to 20% and sorry VB dems it won’t be your Mr. Flemming! You might as well stay home and watch clips of Barry playing golf.
i want taxpayer healthcare & cheap college. my vote is always for the liberals
For someone that supposedly has some sort of training in communications, Kirwin clearly has some challenges with basic critical thinking skills.
No massive increases in any school budgets were ever proposed. What was pointed out was that Virginians in particular and Americans in general will not be able to compete economically unless they have a competitive education, and one of the strongest factors of a good education is the amount of time spent in class. These other countries are able to provide better education via more classroom days that we do. American students do not do as well in most categories compared to other countries that have more class days. This is a goal that should be worked toward, but it is impossible because of the current economic conditions and narrow minded thinking of special interests. The fact that the City Council took millions from the school systems emergency reserves and seems to be more intent on buying an old train track rather than putting that money into jobs and schools shows that the City Council priority is not directed at improving the education of the children of Virginia Beach taxpayers.
Virginia teachers get paid less than the national average for teachers. We are unlikely to get better teachers unless we can offer competitive pay. Teacher pay should be tied to performance and time in the classroom. Kirwin seems to think that instead of a more positive outcome of making things better, we should try to make things worse. Perhaps Kirwin would rather reduce class time from 180 days to 90 days to solve our budget problems and cut teacher salaries in half. I’ll like to see how many teachers will be left after Kirwin’s solutions to education!
Perhaps Kerwin could explain his own “far right” ideology on education, if he has one. Cut classroom time and teacher pay? This will result in even more jobs leaving Hampton Roads for other states and other countries because Virginia Beach education will have degraded so much.
Transportation will not be solved by drilling for oil that is not there. A friend from church was a research geologist for one of the big oil companies. He said a consortium oil companies already did seismic surveys along the east coast, and they did not find any deposits that were worth their time. Remember the stories in the Pilot about the meteor that hit around the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay? The data that showed the crater of this strike was obtained from those studies. Also, the oil companies know of large proven reserves elsewhere, so why would they drill for insignificant deposits off Virginia? Is Virginia going to pay the oil companies to drill or lease some of their rigs?
What is the state going to do to get future income if the ABC stores are sold and the future revenue stream is gone, Kirwin? Sell off our roads so that private companies can make money by making Virginians pay tolls to get from one part of the state to another, Kirwin? If the ABC stores are sold now, the only viable source of future revenue to cover the shortfall is to raise taxes, and we should not do something now that will cause tax increases in the future, Kirwin.
Your lame attempt at trying to be a Limbaugh wannabe by falsely claiming that I “defend” abortion is pathetic,Kirwin. I said that we have never considered abortion and that abortions can be lowered by eliminating conditions that cause women to seek an abortion. In addition, if males know that they will be required to pay child support for any children that they create, they will be less likely to cause unwanted pregnancies.
If you other BearingDrive readers want to fact based information on behavior then you can read “What You Can Change…An What You Can’t” by Martin E. P. Seligman, PhD to learn how sexual behavior and preferences are most likely established during incubation. This includes Dick Cheney’s daughter, Kirwin. But maybe you don’t consider the book credible because he is Jewish?
I have read Bearingdrift articles about McWaters having a massive ego, about his buying his nomination by spending massive amounts of money against Rosemary, about the moral and Christian issues of someone who ran a company that denied health care to thousands of poor pregnant women on Medicaid on his watch. I do not think that most women approve of anybody who was involved in denying health care to other pregnant women, Kirwin. I do not believe the vast majority of Christian men or women approve of anybody denying health care to thousands of poor pregnant women on Medicaid because this is not what Jesus would do, Kirwin.
Mr. Fleming, are you insane?
You say “This includes Dick Cheney’s daughter, Kirwin. But maybe you don’t consider the book credible because he is Jewish?”
You would actually publicly attack me by calling me anti-Semitic? Please come see me in person with some reporters and TV cameras in tow and say that to my face.
Your the one that proposes a 10% increase in classroom days, a huge increase in teacher salaries, and new roads and highways – all without a single hint of where you’d get the money to pay for any of it. The Virginian Pilot, who endorses every Democrat with a pulse, endorsed McWaters over you for that very reason.
Anti-Semitic? Oh, try that in public. PLEASE!
Of course Fleming is insane, Brian; you can discern that simply by looking at his website. And oh, how I love the talking points about teacher pay! “Below the national average.” Sure. And don’t say anything about the cost of living — particularly the tax burden — in most of the Commonwealth (also well below the national average). Of course, Fleming wants to change that. He attacks you for lacking “critical thinking skills” (yet another Democrat buzzphrase), yet for a guy who has a Ph.D. in physics, one has to wonder whether he missed a few classes on mathematical or statistical skills.
You know I was going to stay quiet about this race but you know what Bill all I can say is I hope Jeff McWaters takes you to the woodshed. How dare you slander someone. I may not have seen eye to eye with him but he never slandered people and just grossly misquoted people. All your proposals are nothing but a burden to the taxpayers of Virginia. Hell, your own party barely even supports you.
Vote for Jeff McWaters folks he’ll offer Va Beach the best choice for leadership in this election by far.
Insurance is, definitely a necessary thing, but i can never to come to terms wth coughing up for it.
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