Del. Tom Gear resigns
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, December 30th, 2010 | PoliticsDel. Tom Gear (R-Hampton) is calling it quits.
A delegate since 2002, Gear is vice chairman of the General Laws Committee, but also serves as the chairman of the subcommittee on ABC and Gaming. Additional committee assignments include Transportation, Finance, and Education
Gear, who has been embroiled in controversy regarding the judicial appointment of his sister, fought that battle through 2009 before his sister pulled her name from consideration.
The governor is likely to call a special election for on or about Feb. 22.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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23 Responses to "Del. Tom Gear resigns"
Delegate Gear and his family have been facing some VERY challenging issues that you would not wish on your worst enemy. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
We knew this came out of nowhere and had to be family related. He’s certainly in our prayers even though we can only speculate what he might be facing.
I am sorry Delegate Gear is sick, but he is a completely corrupt and amoral individual. I am glad he is leaving the House of Delegates, because he has disgraced it. I vote conservative, but never for this man.
Sorry to see Tom go. Who would run to replace him? Any ideas?
Tom has been a great delegate, I wish the best for he and his family. He will be missed.
Being from Va. Beach, I don’t know too much about Tom Gear. I do know how he votes and losing his voice in the GA will be a loss for Va.
I too wish him the best.
I am hearing that Hampton Councilman Chris Stuart is planning on running for this newly open seat. He is a great Conservative and has grown up in Hampton – which is where most of the votes come from. I am also hearing about a lady running, whom I do not know and have not heard of. In my eyes – Chris Stuart is a shoe-in. Good luck to him, and God bless Delegate Gear and his family.
Also – JR here is an article from WAPO about this subject – which has a mention of BD…
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/12/del_gear_resigns_from_house_of.html#comments
Gordon Helsel.
Gordon Helsel or Chris Stuart would be good. I worked for Helsel against Gear last time and he is a true public servant.
I wish Gear well with his family situation but will not miss him as a delegate. He seemed more interested in complaining than solving problems, and his reckless financial history leaves serious questions.
Funny that the lady says she heard Chris Stuarts name cause I was thinking about him as well. In the time he has been on council he has communicated in a fashion which has been amazing always keeping the people informed on every majoyr desicion. I liked Gear but communication wasnt his thing so I would stand behind Stuart if he were the man.
I met Gordon Helsel when he spoke at an HRTA hearing in Virginia Beach when he spoke out against that unconstitutional organization. His standing up to pressure on that in a very public way impressed me. That said, I’m not from that area and don’t really know much about Stuart. Sounds like you guys will get to choose between good candidates and not the lesser of evils. Very refreshing change.
I am a bit partial towards Hampton Republican and Democratic politicians. They seem to produce acceptable results. Felt like the costs for utility hook-ups for the new house were a bit high; on the other hand whenever I have dealt with City officials, I have always had nothing but respect for their performance.
I will protest when I feel like a stray dog could do a better job then a current politician. Doubt if I will ever protest in downtown Hampton.
I believe whoever is elected will at least try to act like “a servant of the people”.
[...] of his and his wife’s poor health. The news was first reported by the conservative blog Bearing Drift. The timing of his resignation means his seat will be empty when the General Assembly convenes Jan. [...]
Chad Green is a name I have heard. He lives in Yorktown and has been very active in the Republican Party. He is a smart, successful attorney.
I have not heard of Chad Green, but please tell us more. I am not very comfortable with the idea of Chris Stuart running. The people just elected him to City Council. He should at least serve out that full term, and not just a couple of months.
This all sounds a little too scripted!
I have never heard of Chad Green or his support in the Republican party. I dont see why Chris Stuart being elected by the people of the largest portion of the 91st district is a problem? Gear who held the seat for a decade came from Council!
Did Tom Gear resign cause he was about to go to jail??? If I were you id look this case up on the Virginia Circuit Court website: CL04001072-00
Lawyer thats a civil case. It goes back to his printing business that he allegedly “sold” in 2004. (Fire Sale is probably more accurate-his printing press was repo’ed) I researched this case and basically what happened was:
1.) Gear Up printing purchased a Heidelburg press (evidently a state of the art printing press) in the late 90s or around 2000 (dont remember the date)
2.) Gear Up defaulted on payments or Orix Leasing (the company who financed the press)
3.) The press was repo’ed, sold, and the sale did not cover Gear Up’s debt to Orix.
4.) Orix filed suit against Gear Advertising Inc. (the corporate name of Gear Up), and against Tom Gear personally, and two others. If memory serves correctly Gear and the other two had signed a personal guarantee on the note. The original suit (for the deficit) was something like $300,000 to $400,000.
5.) After several years of little activity (dont know why it sat for so long), Orix filed a motion for judgment asking for the deficit plus accrued interest.
6.) Trial was continued twice and is currently scheduled for April of this year.
Gear will not go to jail over this. However he could be ordered to pay up big time.
In number two above “or Orix” should be “to Orix”. Also it has been over a year since I looked at the details on this case (researched at the courthouse) so that is the best of my memory but could be in error. I think the suit amount then (including interest over however many years) was in the $600,000 range or somewhat over.
I’m not sure why Chris Stuart’s name is repeatedly mentioned. He doesn’t even live in the district
The story – behind the story – (and all over Hampton) is on these links. I wish the Gears well; none of us get to choose family. If Gear stayed on as delegate, he would get sprayed pretty heavily by the runoff. Sad. I vote let this one go and move on.
http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-12-22/news/dp-nws-drug-search-1222-20101222_1_judge-rules-search-search-warrant-police-search
http://articles.dailypress.com/2010-12-22/news/dp-nws-drug-search-1222-20101222_1_judge-rules-search-search-warrant-police-search
I was also favorably impressed with Gordon Helsel when he spoke at an HRTA hearing in Virginia Beach. He did speak out against the unconstitutional regional taxing authority – created by Republicans.
As it was stated, his standing up to pressure on issue that in a very public way impressed me that Gordon Helsel was a person with integrity and courage that I would WANT to vote FOR.
I live in Virginia Beach, so I will not have the opportunity to vote in his race. But, that seat does effect my state, so I would most likely help Gordon Helsel if he decides to run.
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