Are "Ex"-Republicans Ever Really Ex-Republicans? (Spoiler: Yes, But Almost Never)

If there was a Howie Klein Award for Political Truth-Telling and I got to award it, last week's would have gone to DailyKos diarist Tom Brock for his Saturday essay, Former Republican Chairs Local Dem Committee... What Could Go Wrong?!, nominated by my friend Fergie, the best source of Virginia political intelligence I know.

Here at DWT, we often discuss the DCCC's absolutely-positively favorite kind of Democratic candidate, "ex"-Republicans. They recruit them at every opportunity and then spend millions of dollars trying to get them into Congress while stiffing actual Democrats running. The quotation marks around "ex," indicates that though they may changed their party registration... for those of us who are looking for a little something more, well... they are not actual Democrats. The DCCC is not-- not ever-- looking for a little something more. The other day when I heard long-time Trump shyster attorney Michael Cohen had switched his voter registration from Republican to Democrat, my first thought was that Pelosi and Ben Ray Lujan would have him running for Peter King's seat on his native Long Island in 2020. Not just an "ex"-Republican but a celebrity with lots of wealthy friends... a DCCC wet dream.

Tom Brock is a member of the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee and he started with a perfect paragraph: "When we allow Republicans into local Democratic committee leadership, we end up with Republicans on the most effective voter outreach tool that we have. The  local Virginia Beach Democratic Chair has unilaterally included Republicans on the VBDC Ballot guide that is handed out at every polling location in the city. (Low information voters rely on these to make voting decisions.)"

Maybe we should have seen this coming based on a previous article posted right here on DailyKos back in March of 2018, calling into question the Chairwoman’s past political activities.

Vice Mayor Louis Jones is currently listed as an “Elected Leader” on the Republican Party of Virginia Beach.

How did these guys get on the ballot guide? Maybe it’s as simple as pay-to-play.  A local Democratic fundraiser was held in which these Republicans, and their immediate family were allowed to become “Sponsors” with $1000 + donations. Two days after this fundraiser these two Republican candidates, were included on the ballot guide pictured above, despite their public support for the Local Republican nominee for Congress.

You can’t make this stuff up. Within the VBDC this is being contested.  The members of the VBDC are in the process of putting a stop to this right now.

The Democratic Party of Virginia has a rule regarding this situation.

Can an "ex"-Republican ever really be an ex-Republican for real and be a worthwhile leader for Democrats? The answer is: rarely. In Congress, there are real garbage members-- take reactionary Blue Dogs Tom O'Halleran of Arizona, who votes against progressive legislation 60% of the time, and Charlie Crist of Florida, who votes against progressive legislation 50% of the time-- and they are typical of "ex"-Republicans. They have no understanding of what the Democratic Party is and what it is supposed to represent. That's because to them it only represents one thing: a vehicle for their own careers. Elizabeth Warren used to be a Republican too; she was born into a Republican family. After years and years of being a Democrat, she was elected to office, already a proven quantity. She's more a Democrat than 90% of the current Congress and a thousand times more a Democrat than any of the DSCC crap recruits this cycle. As for the DCCC, they've recruited so many "ex"-Republicans this cycle that odds are good that if you vote for a DCCC recruit you're voting for an "ex"-Republican... especially if you vote for one that the DCCC is spending millions of dollars on, like Gill Cisneros (so far $2,068,341 from the DCCC, another $538,167 from Pelosi's SuperPAC and $119,977 from Priorities USA, a DCCC cut-out). That may not bother you. Or perhaps you're resigned to just voting for every creature with a "D" next to its name because of Trump. I'm just doing my Eyes Wide Open bit. And by the way, here's a very ex-Republican:

If Elected, Could Ken Stolle Handle The Job?

Is Ken Stolle hallucinating? Or just lying?

-by Aleurophile

In a recent DownWithTyranny post, I gave a rundown on the Stolle political machine in Virginia Beach, with Ken Stolle, Sheriff and former State Senator at its head. Stolle is up for re-election on November 7 and is being opposed by John Bell, a former Virginia Beach Deputy Chief of Police.

Ken Stolle has been the Virginia Beach Sheriff since 2009, but serious questions need to be raised about whether he has the health and stamina to perform the job and fill out the term. Stolle was diagnosed with Parkinson’s 11 years ago, and it is apparent even to a layperson that the disease has progressed (see videos below). Stolle acknowledged his diagnosis in the 2009 campaign; at the time he said: "What Parkinson's has done is it's made me re-evaluate my priorities, where I want to be in two years, five years, 10 years." Well, it's been 11 years since the diagnosis and eight years since that statement, and Ken Stolle needs to re-evaluate again - and voters need to be informed about his current health status. The press has been silent on this issue, but voters deserve to know from an independent medical specialist-- not from Stolle’s own self-assessment - whether he’s up to taking on the arduous and critically important position of Virginia Beach Sheriff.

These two videoclips tell their own distressing story:



Above is a video clip of Stolle in 2009 announcing his first campaign for Sheriff. The video above is from a candidates' forum earlier this month.



It’s difficult to speak plainly about this situation without causing offense. Parkinson's is not something any of us could wish on another human being, and we can all want anyone who suffers from this or any other disability to do all they can for as long as they can. But common sense dictates that there are limitations. I cared for my beloved father for the last three years of his life and watched the Alzheimers take over. But my attitude-- and his, too-- was for him to have as happy and fulfilled a life as possible for as long as possible. He was an artist-- a painter-- and produced many paintings during those years, finishing his last work a month before his death. But was he able to pay bills, drive a car, live alone? No. Chronic, progressive, and incurable diseases bring sad realities that have to be faced. Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disease that can often be managed, but that cannot at present be cured. People with Parkinson’s can and do perform all sorts of jobs, but limitations may well arise as the disease advances, especially since "there is ample evidence that PD symptoms worsen during times of stress." Over time, the characteristic tremors may become more severe; fatigue is a common problem, as is cognitive impairment, including executive dysfunction. According to the American Parkinson Disease Association website:

“Executive function includes the ability to plan, organize, initiate, and regulate goal directed behavior. One can think of the ‘CEO’ (chief executive officer) of a company and the many tasks involved in directing the organization. These activities may include multitasking, solving problems, starting new tasks, and switching tasks. Executive function involves the prefrontal cortex of the brain and the dopamine system, which are affected in PD. Executive dysfunction is one of the most common cognitive changes reported in PD.”

My earlier article made plain my view on the dynastic ambitions of the Stolle family. My guess is that Ken Stolle would, if he won re-election and became incapable of performing his duties, hand over the office to a relative or crony, thus entirely circumventing the democratic process and keeping the family in control of this key position in the region.

Some may say it's dirty politics to consider Stolle's health, but I disagree. Stolle himself has been, perhaps necessarily, open about his diagnosis-- though not about his prognosis. It is this to which we need to call attention for the sake of the voters and of the staff and inmates of the Virginia Beach Jail. This is an elected position of high importance and voters have the right to know whether Stolle has a fair chance of performing his duties well and of finishing the term. Naturally, no one can foretell their own or another’s health with 100 percent accuracy, but common sense should enter the discussion at some point, and when there appears to be a fair chance that a candidate-- already during the campaign period-- may not be able perform the required duties and won't be able to finish the term, then I believe that voters have the right to ask for an independent assessment from a qualified medical specialist. That is clean, indeed transparent, politics.

 

Since Aleurophile brought us back to Virginia and since next Tuesday is election day (for more than just Stolle), I figured we'd check in on the other races. As you know, the whole Virginia House of Delegates is also up for reelection. Jeff Shapiro of the Richmond Times-Dispatch did a quick state of the race report worth looking at. He noted that "In the final countdown to Election Day, the Republican ticket is a ticket in name only. [Ed] Gillespie, the nominee for governor, is working to regain traction against Ralph Northam. [Jill] Vogel is spoiling to overtake Justin Fairfax for lieutenant governor and salvage a semblance of dignity for Republicans currently shut out of all five statewide offices. [John] Adams, facing incumbent Mark Herring for attorney general, may be caught in a downdraft. Worried about the possibility of a second consecutive Democratic sweep, Republicans comfort themselves with the knowledge that their majority in the House of Delegates-- artificially lopsided because of partisan gerrymandering-- is safe, though it is expected to shrink." But by how much is the big question. The current House of Delegates has 66 Republicans and 34 Democrats, which is what extreme gerrymandering will do for ya.

To their bankrollers in a Republican-heavy lobbying corps, legislators are predicting manageable losses; perhaps three to five seats. But they could be worse. Indeed, the conduct of several Republican incumbents, particularly in deep-blue Northern Virginia, telegraphs concern.

That Donald Trump is poisoning the environment for Gillespie, Vogel and Adams is an understatement. Because of the president, who lost Virginia to Hillary Clinton last year, the GOP statewide candidates cannot be themselves; that is, generally mainstream Republicans, approachable even to people who disagree with them.

Trump’s endorsement notwithstanding, Gillespie is a big-tent Republican. He advised presidents and presidential candidates who recognized that demographic diversity is remaking politics and that the GOP-- heavily white, increasingly rural, male-dominated-- must embrace it to survive and thrive.

Gillespie has attempted to balance that with the immigrant-hostile themes that Trump Republicans demand. The idea is to simultaneously arouse the conservative GOP base and reach out to moderate voters in the suburbs, increasingly a Democratic bulwark.

Instead, Gillespie wounded his candidacy, running a racially charged television commercial linking Northam to violent Hispanic gangs. Thrown on the defensive, especially in multi-hued, vote-rich Northern Virginia, Gillespie is spending the closing hours of the contest repairing self-inflicted damage.