[1]Surrounded by family and friends as they watched election returns at a Verona restaurant last night, the conservative Independent candidate was upbeat and optimistic about the day’s results. When the final votes were tallied, he had won by 46 votes over incumbent Jeremy Shifflett, the board’s chairman who had been endorsed by Delegates Steve Landes, Dickie Bell, and Senator Emmett Hanger whose campaign sent out a slick flyer three days before the election to encourage voters to support Shifflett.
Part of the four Independents who ran for the board, David will offer a fresh, thoughtful, youthful voice in a county that many feel needs to be updated into the 21st century. Fire and rescue concerns as well as jobs for the area are big issues that need to be addressed.
David and I have grown close since Augusta County Republican Committee Chairman Bill Shirley illegally kicked 56 hard-working volunteers off the committee three years ago. This young man, who had been a magisterial district chairman and is the age of my son, had a million questions about how everything worked in politics … and I answered them or sent him researching to find the answers. He was so inquisitive and willing to learn that I began calling him “Grasshopper” after the David Carradine character [2] in the Kung Fu television show [3] from the 1970s.
Married and the dad to two young daughters, David will hit the ground running when he takes his place in January on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors.
[4]February 2010
Cross-posted at LynnRMitchell.com