Bowling Green Supervisor Jeff Sili is joined on the platform by Sen. Ryan McDougle, Delegates Margaret Ransome and Bobby Orrock, Essex County Supervisor Sidney Johnson, Delegate Buddy Fowler, Western Caroline District Supervisor Jeff Black and conservative blogger Shaun Kenny. (CP photo by Greg Glassner)
Although billed as a celebration to launch Bowling Green District Supervisor Jeff Sili’s reelection campaign, the gathering Saturday afternoon in he and wife Susan’s shaded backyard did much to launch the campaigns of many local and state candidates.
Susan Sili set the tone of the congenial, but heavily Republican event by urging everyone “to get out in your neighborhood and meet your neighbor. Your neighbor may not look like you but you dream the same dreams.”
Noting Caroline’s size and ethnic makeup, she said, “It is time to get together and compare notes. Our largeness and diversity should be our greatest strength.”
Husband Jeff Sili invited a number of state and local constitutional officers present to join him on the platform. They included State Sen. Ryan McDougle, delegates Bobby Orrock, Margaret Ransone and Buddy Fowler, Commonwealth’s Attorney Tony Spencer, Sheriff Tony Lippa, retiring Circuit Court Clerk Ray Campbell, Western Caroline District Supervisor Jeff Black, Port Royal Mayor Nancy Long, and Essex County Supervisor Sidney Johnson.
Political activist and op-ed writer Daniel Cortez called his host “one of the good ones. They broke the mold with Jeff Sili.” In additional to being a dedicated public servant, Cortez said, Sili is the type of person “who is out on his tractor in winter clearing out the driveways of neighbors and businesses.”
Cortez also read an endorsement from former governor and U.S. senator George Allen and his wife Susan, which stated: “Jeff is the model of a smart leader in government.”
Before inviting all of the incumbents and aspirants present to give six-minute speeches, Sili introduced former Republican National Committee chairman and White House counselor Ed Gillespie.
Gillespie stressed the importance of dedicated local officeholders, saying, “You are the ones who protect the quality of the water we drink and the excellence of our schools. We appreciate your dedication to public service.”
The candidates:
Dr. Milton Bush is a candidate for the Mattaponi District seat on the BOS. A retired educator and former planning commission member, Bush said he would help the board work as a team.
“I don’t want to raise taxes. I want to see what we are spending is right and see that the school system meets the needs of all in the county,” Bush said.
Clay Forehand, a candidate for Madison District Supervisor, said he was “tired of hearing ‘We can’t do that because this is Caroline.’ I am tired of leadership that is content with the status quo.”
“Hope is not a method for success. It is necessary, but not a method. I will make sure every penny we spend is a wise decision,” Forehand said.
Nancy Long, who is running for the Port Royal District seat on the BOS, detailed her many years of service to Port Royal, the town she moved to 32 years ago and which she has served as mayor for 10 years.
“Things are looking up. it is time to move on. It is time to break up the boys’ club,” she said.
John Copeland launched his candidacy for the Western Caroline seat on the School Board by saying he would use his expertise as a CPA to make sure the board “can handle a school renovation and write a budget that people can understand.
“I will work to make the Caroline school system the envy of other school systems,” Copeland noted.
Dr. JoWanda Rollins Fells seeks the Reedy Church seat on the School Board. The Caroline County native, said, “Mediocrity is not an option. I have taught in our schools and you are looking at the product of good teachers. I know how to reach those students who don’t want you to reach them.
“I grew up in Bowling Green. My grandmother died at 104 and she gave me some good advice: ‘Make some good decisions, baby. We have longevity in our family,’” Fells quipped.
Shawn Kelley, who seeks reelection to the Madison District seat on the School Board, said he is a teacher by trade, working with Bobby Orrock and Jeff Black.
Kelley said of his first term on the board, “It’s been a tough time. We are finally getting band uniforms,” adding that he was also working on expanding other music programs in the schools.
Rochelle Smith Madison, who also seeks the Madison seat on the School Board, said she is a 1992 graduate of CHS and her perspective is not that of a teacher, but as a parent.
“I am a wife and a mother of five kids. I am a U.S. Air Force vet in my 17th year of federal service, now with Homeland Security where I manage a $30 million first responders portfolio. I am involved in my children’s academic lives and I want to give our kids the tools to succeed,” she said.
John L. Mahoney, a former U.S. Marine who described himself as “a Yankee by birth and a Virginian by choice,” said he responded to a grassroots campaign to get him to run for Commonwealth’s Attorney against the incumbent, who he considers a friend.
The decision to “give up my practice in Spotsylvana and run” has been building for two years, Mahoney said. “One of the voicemails was from [Sheriff’s Major] Scott Moser. If he says Caroline County needs me, I’m ready for a new challenge.”
Tony Spencer, the incumbent, read from a law book that stated, “Conflicts and tension mark the atmosphere in which the Commonwealth’s Attorney must function.”
“We’ve made some mistakes and our partners have made some mistakes,” Spencer said.
“Despite all of that I’ve accomplished a lot,” Spencer said, citing doubling the size of his staff while “using less than one half percent of every dollar that goes through the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office,” and using asset forfeitures to pay for digitization. “The year before I came into office there were four murders in the county. It is now one of the safest counties,” Spencer said.
Susan Minarchi, who is running for Circuit Court Clerk, was introduced by Ray Campbell, the incumbent. “She has been my deputy clerk for 14 years. We pride ourselves on the customer service we provide,” Campbell said.
“I do bring you a lot of experience and I desire to be the best clerk you can have,” Minarchi said.
Terry Southworth, a Caroline County native and the current District Court clerk, is also running for Circuit Court clerk, citing 14 years experience in the lower court.
“I have made this clerk’s office one of the most organized in the state. My task [if elected] is the assurance that technology is up to date and that we are cross-trained and customer friendly.
The two candidates for sheriff brought the formal program to a close.
Tony Lippa, the incumbent, said he ran on his name, explaining it as “L for leadership, I for integrity, P for pride, P for professionalism and A for accountability.
“Caroline has been my home for 36 years. We’ve grown a lot. The leadership is there. We are all home- grown,” he said, detailing the training and accomplishments of his key deputies. We are the safest county and the integrity of this office is always going to be here,” Lippa said.
Lippa noted that campaigns can sometimes get ugly. “I hate to see half truths out there,” he said.
Chris Wooldridge, the challenger, described himself as a U.S. Army veteran who has led as many as 33 men in combat. After a stint with the Longwood police, he returned to the Middle East as a defense contractor leading a 25-man police department in Afghanistan.
“Sheriff Lippa has done an outstanding job,” Wooddridge acknowledged. “As Sheriff, I would get the police out of their vehicles to talk to the people, work for quicker response times, create a gangs task force, hold public meetings in the community to let the people tell me directly what we need. I would create a drug-interdiction team and sheriff patrols to answer calls in the districts,” he said.
“This is a new era and we need modern-day law enforcement,” Wooldridge said.
After the speeches, those attending enjoyed barbecued chicken and the trimmings.
Not all of the candidates for office in November were at the event.