{"id":2426,"date":"2016-04-25T23:21:32","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T03:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/?p=2426"},"modified":"2016-04-26T08:46:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T12:46:27","slug":"why-this-independent-voter-is-voting-for-randy-forbes-for-2nd-district-rep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2426","title":{"rendered":"Why this independent voter is voting for Randy Forbes for 2nd District Rep."},"content":{"rendered":"<h6><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-665 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/elephants_and_asses_screwing_the_masses.gif?resize=250%2C40&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"elephants_and_asses_screwing_the_masses\" width=\"250\" height=\"40\" \/>&#8220;Leaders need to be servant Leaders.&#8221;\u00a0&#8211;<em> Randy Forbes\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n<p>I am a registered independent.\u00a0 Generally speaking; I don&#8217;t like (read: trust) the\u00a0Republican nor Democrat parties (Look left).\u00a0 This election cycle a wrench was thrown into the mix by our Representative, Scott Rigell; and then again by the state of Virginia. Scott Rigell is very popular, and I respect him a lot.\u00a0 Unfortunately for me, he has decided to step down.\u00a0 This combined with the state complying with federal regulations to redistrict the 3rd district &#8211; has thrown the proverbial wrench into my voting scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Why do I like Rigell?\u00a0 He is a moderate.\u00a0 He isn&#8217;t one of those crazy tea types and doesn&#8217;t want to socialize everything&#8230;he is pretty middle of the road, and (this is important to me) he sends emails to the people he represents asking what is important to us, and how do we feel regarding key issues.\u00a0 In short, he communicates with the people he represents. I don&#8217;t agree with everything he does, hell, I didn&#8217;t even vote for him the first time.\u00a0 But he has earned my trust, which is more than I can say for most politicians.\u00a0 You can see his voting record <a href=\"http:\/\/votesmart.org\/candidate\/key-votes\/121807\/scott-rigell#.Vx60qzArKM8\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal court ruled that the 3rd Congressional district was not in accordance with federal guidelines.\u00a0 As such it ruled that the district had to be redrawn.\u00a0 This impacted the surrounding districts greatly.\u00a0 Of the four districts that touched Hampton Roads.\u00a0\u00a0The Supreme Court upheld the redrawing of districts.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1st District no longer has any presence in Hampton Roads<\/li>\n<li>2nd District was marginally affected; it was expanded to include Williamsburg, York County, part of James City county and other nearby communities.\u00a0 It lost a chunk of Newport News.<\/li>\n<li>3rd District was greatly altered.\u00a0 This district lost Richmond and Petersburg, but gained parts of Hampton Roads.\u00a0 It includes Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hampton, the 2nds lost chunk of Newport News and Isle of Wight county.<\/li>\n<li>4th District was also greatly altered.\u00a0 This district lost Suffolk and Isle of Wight\u00a0county.\u00a0 It retained Chesapeake and gained the cities of\u00a0Richmond and Petersburg. it also has a lot of land that connect them all together.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, who is going to replace my representative?\u00a0 Currently there are four folks running to replace him (click on any name to be taken to their website):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Shaun Brown (D) &#8211; She is a community activist from Newport News.\u00a0 Her website did not load when I tried to navigate to it.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotttaylorva.com\/splash\/\">Scott Taylor <\/a>(R) &#8211; He is a Navy Veteran, who is currently a real estate broker and state delegate.\u00a0 He has made positive changes for the local community and is well respected and liked.\u00a0 He is a nice guy.\u00a0 The only thing I hear from his campaign&#8230;he is an ex-SEAL, Iraq war veteran, and businessman.\u00a0 I encourage you to read his <a href=\"http:\/\/votesmart.org\/candidate\/key-votes\/144514\/scott-taylor#.Vx60BzArKM8\">voting record <\/a>while a state delegate.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.randyforbes.co\/\">Randy Forbes <\/a>(R) &#8211; He has spent the last\u00a014 years representing the 4th Congressional district.\u00a0 His district was affected by the court-ordered\u00a0redrawing of the 3rd Congressional district (I&#8217;ll address this in more detail later).\u00a0 He sits as Chairman of the <a href=\"https:\/\/armedservices.house.gov\/subcommittees\/seapower-projection-forces\">House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee<\/a>.\u00a0 With the military presence located around Hampton Roads, this is an important committee; and &#8220;our&#8221; guy is the lead on the committee. He has a long <a href=\"http:\/\/votesmart.org\/candidate\/key-votes\/5146\/randy-forbes#.Vx61hzArKM8\">voting record<\/a>, and generally he and Scott Rigell vote the same &#8211; but there are key differences (I like to believe that Scott listens more). His <a href=\"http:\/\/forbes.house.gov\/\">House of Rep webpage<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/patcardwell.com\/\">Pat Cardwell <\/a>(R) &#8211; An attorney who wants to see a return to the Constitution.\u00a0 I like what he has to say, I just don&#8217;t think he has the juice to do it.<\/li>\n<li>The good Dr D. (?) &#8211; I pretty much write myself in whenever I don&#8217;t like the candidates.\u00a0 So far I&#8217;ve received two votes for dog catcher.\u00a0 The two votes were me and my cat (he knows I&#8217;d make a terrible dog catcher).\u00a0 Not even the Boss Lady voted for me. I think it pretty obvious &#8211; I don&#8217;t stand a chance in hell of being elected;\u00a0I guess I&#8217;ll\u00a0stick with one of the above; but which one?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I want to cover a lot of ground, so I&#8217;m not going to chart out each how I feel about each candidate.\u00a0 I&#8217;m only going to hit my big points for Randy Forbes&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\"> <div class=\"col-md-6\">\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Pros:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Endorsed by Scott Rigell (There are many others; but this is the one that counts for me) and Thelma Drake.\u00a0 He&#8217;s also endorsed by 200&#8217;ish really important people (I&#8217;m sure); but I trust Scott.<\/p>\n<p>1 of only 17\u00a0members of Congress to vote against every bailout bill (Under both Bush &amp; Obama).<\/p>\n<p>He plays well with others.\u00a0 While silly sounding, it is important that he can work across the isle.<\/p>\n<p>He looks at you and looks eye to eye when speaking with you (passed my bullshit meter).<\/p>\n<p>He didn&#8217;t speak negatively about folks in other parties and he respected differences of opinion.<\/p>\n<p>He has spent his entire life in Hampton Roads and is clearly knows its issues and priorities.<\/p>\n<p>People I know personally that live in the 4th District like him and feel he has represented them well.<\/p>\n<p>Brought us the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvs.virginia.gov\/cemeteries\/suffolk-cemetery\/\">Albert G. Horton Jr.<\/a> VA Cemetery (This is where me and the Boss Lady are scheduled to be planted).<\/p>\n<p>Chairs the <a href=\"https:\/\/armedservices.house.gov\/subcommittees\/seapower-projection-forces\"><u><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee<\/span><\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"col-md-6\">\n<p><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Cons:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He&#8217;s a<em> Republican<\/em>!<\/p>\n<p>Has an A rating from the NRA.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p>I actually got to meet Mr. Forbes the other day, when he was in town speaking with the Filipino American Community Action Group of Hampton Roads (The honorable Nony Abrajano is Chairman).\u00a0 It was a very informal setting, and he answered all of our questions.\u00a0 He was not boisterous.\u00a0 He impressed me, not like the usual &#8220;look at me&#8230;look at me&#8221; chest thumping politician.\u00a0 He was laid back, he actually introduced himself to every person in the room and thanked them for coming.\u00a0 When he tapped me on the shoulder, I had to ask who he was.\u00a0 He was not what I was expecting; and I was very pleasantly surprised. Soft but well articulated &#8211; definitely comes across as someone who <em>knows<\/em> what he is talking about.\u00a0 The voice of experience.<\/p>\n<p>I\u00a0had the opportunity to speak with\u00a0him\u00a0one-on-one and later in the group session.\u00a0 I asked him a couple of questions&#8230;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The Pentagon has proposed major changes to military healthcare premiums, what was his position on the proposed changes?\u00a0 He answered me quite frankly that the Pentagon has asked for major changes and the Senate will go along with the request.\u00a0 He is of the opinion that they are asking too much, and will work to lower the impact of the changes.\u00a0 The <a href=\"http:\/\/amra1973.org\/data\/files\/PentagonProposalsFeb2016.pdf\">American Military Retirees Assn <\/a>has stated their views in a position paper.\u00a0 I encourage all veterans to visit the AMRA website and see how <a href=\"http:\/\/cqrcengage.com\/amra\/PentagonHealthCareProposals\">you can make your voice heard<\/a>.\u00a0 I remember when I joined the military.\u00a0 You do 20 years, you&#8217;ll never have to worry; you&#8217;ll be taken care of: we take care of our own.\u00a0 To bad it isn&#8217;t working out that way.\u00a0 But that is another story for another day.<\/li>\n<li>What is his plan for our national debt.\u00a0 Here he played the politician.\u00a0 His focus was on the military, and this question wasn&#8217;t on his radar; so I got the typical political response.\u00a0 The debt is large, we have to do something.\u00a0 We have to pick our priorities&#8230;blah&#8230;blah..blah.\u00a0 All a bunch of political non-sense.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>As an Independent, I vote for who I feel will serve me and my locality the best.\u00a0 I don&#8217;t give a hoot about <a href=\"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1689\">which party<\/a> a person belongs to (I refer you to the opening graphic).\u00a0 And I believe that Mr. Forbes is the right man at this time.\u00a0 I think he\u00a0will do right.\u00a0 This article is my way of coming to a decision, I am only one man, but I vote, and my vote matters.\u00a0 See you in the neighborhood on June 14th, 2016.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>If you&#8217;d like to read more, I encourage you to follow up with some of my other sources which I didn&#8217;t use in this article.:<\/p>\n<p>Richmond Times about the redistricting:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.richmond.com\/news\/virginia\/government-politics\/article_0ad5053b-6818-5d7e-b96e-c9ce02ad45cb.html\"><u>http:\/\/www.richmond.com\/news\/virginia\/government-politics\/article_0ad5053b-6818-5d7e-b96e-c9ce02ad45cb.html<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Washington Post:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/virginia-politics\/judges-impose-va-congressional-map-that-adds-likely-democratic-seat\/2016\/01\/07\/e5d255c8-b587-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html\"><u>https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/local\/virginia-politics\/judges-impose-va-congressional-map-that-adds-likely-democratic-seat\/2016\/01\/07\/e5d255c8-b587-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Virginia Redistricting by &#8220;All about redistricting&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/redistricting.lls.edu\/states-VA.php\"><u>http:\/\/redistricting.lls.edu\/states-VA.php<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/redistricting.lls.edu\/cases-VA.php#VA\"><u>http:\/\/redistricting.lls.edu\/cases-VA.php#VA<\/u><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 &#8211; Court cases<\/p>\n<p>Background:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cnu.edu\/redistrictingcommission\/index.asp\"><u>http:\/\/cnu.edu\/redistrictingcommission\/index.asp<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 &#8211; Independent Bipartisan Advisory Commission on Redistricting<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cnu.edu\/redistrictingcommission\/final_redistricting_commission_report.pdf\"><u>http:\/\/cnu.edu\/redistrictingcommission\/final_redistricting_commission_report.pdf<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 &#8211; final report<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.fairvote.org\/virginia-redistricting-a-better-method\"><u>http:\/\/www.fairvote.org\/virginia-redistricting-a-better-method<\/u><\/a> &#8211; another approach on redistricting<\/p>\n<p>Supreme Court upholds redistricting:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thehill.com\/regulation\/court-battles\/273764-supreme-court-weighs-legality-of-virginia-redistricting\"><u>http:\/\/thehill.com\/regulation\/court-battles\/273764-supreme-court-weighs-legality-of-virginia-redistricting<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/news\/supreme_court_allows_virginia_redistricting_to_stand_in_2016-245689-1.html\"><u>http:\/\/www.rollcall.com\/news\/supreme_court_allows_virginia_redistricting_to_stand_in_2016-245689-1.html<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jurist.org\/paperchase\/2016\/03\/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-redistricting-extraterritoriality.php\"><u>http:\/\/www.jurist.org\/paperchase\/2016\/03\/supreme-court-hears-arguments-on-redistricting-extraterritoriality.php<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016-01-07-Opinion-Ordering-New-Plan-W3251208x9FAEE.pdf\"><u>http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/2016-01-07-Opinion-Ordering-New-Plan-W3251208x9FAEE.pdf<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/case-files\/cases\/wittman-v-personhuballah\/\"><u>http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/case-files\/cases\/wittman-v-personhuballah\/<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Leaders need to be servant Leaders.&#8221;\u00a0&#8211; Randy Forbes\u00a0 I am a registered independent.\u00a0 Generally speaking; I don&#8217;t like (read: trust) the\u00a0Republican nor Democrat parties (Look left).\u00a0 This election cycle a wrench was thrown into the mix by our Representative, Scott &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/2426\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[50,66,103,91,59,81,93,77],"class_list":["post-2426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-america","tag-leadership","tag-politics","tag-responsibilities","tag-security","tag-terrorism","tag-us-constitution","tag-va"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1136,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1136","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":0},"title":"My way or the highway pal!","author":"DR D","date":"October 9, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, as the US Government shutdown continues; we need to pause and reflect. All I can think of is: \"How the hell did this happen?\"\u00a0 The more I think about it, the less and less I feel it is a democrat vs. republican (lower case intentional) problem.\u00a0 I'm beginning to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1159,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/1159","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":1},"title":"Voting day 2013","author":"DR D","date":"November 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Voting took place nationwide today.\u00a0 My race was pretty small, only our Governor, LT. Governor, Attorney General, and local races.\u00a0 After I voted, I was chit-chatting with one of the persons pounding the pavement in front of the poll places, and they stated that there were no major lines to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"I_Voted.__Did_You.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/2013-11-05_08-28-25_109-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15068,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15068","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":2},"title":"Time to strap in and buckle up!","author":"DR D","date":"January 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is January 20th, 2025, Inauguration Day, which, by all accounts, should be a peaceful turnover of power from the current democratic president to a recycled republican president (yes, the lower cases are intentional). It would be really nice, if we could say this is the 46th peaceful turnover of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Life&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/life"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/20150703_121740-e1435963001338.jpg?fit=675%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15086,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15086","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":3},"title":"Unity, Strength and Fairness&#8230; NOT!!!","author":"DR D","date":"February 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Mr. Trump has been in office for just over one month, and his stated theme for this presidency is \"Unity, Strength, and Fairness\" (his words, not mine). Holy crap!! that theme didn't even last a week! He hasn't wasted anytime in convincing me that nothing has changed, except this time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":825,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/825","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":4},"title":"Mail Bag &#8211; Freedom and Liberty Hijacked","author":"DR D","date":"December 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Good morning Boys and Girls.\u00a0 This is the first reader who has written using the \"What's on you mind\" link.\u00a0 Here's what he(she?) had to say: Our Freedoms and Liberty have been Hijacked. I'm tired the fruits of my labor are being stolen by \"the state\". When being robbed by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15065,"url":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/15065","url_meta":{"origin":2426,"position":5},"title":"Virginia vs. the Fed\u2026. Who\u2019s got the better case?","author":"DR D","date":"October 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, the governor of Virginia, Glen Younkin, ordered the removal of 1600+ individuals from Virginia\u2019s voting roster.\u00a0 These 1600+ people were previously identified, and are known non-citizens.\u00a0 According to the governor\u2019s press secretary, \u201c\u2026everyone who was removed from the voter roll [has] 14 days to come back and demonstrate that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/virginia_Seal.jpg?fit=300%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2426"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2447,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions\/2447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dansdigitaldive.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}