South of the James

The month of August has been Tour de Southside for me as I’ve spent every weekend somewhere in that neck of the woods for political or personal reasons. From Danville to Clarksville to Kenbridge and South Boston, my Pontiac has burned up 360 and 58. Thus, it was fitting that I had the pleasure of wrapping up my rural road warrior tour in Martinsville at the Saturday session of the Blogs United event.   Alton, Barnie, Anne & Co. did a great job of hosting us. Although I couldn’t make Friday’s session due to a little thing called my mama’s birthday party (she proudly celebrated her 30^th birthday for the 30^th time), I heard that the dinner and pajama party were tons of fun. It was great to meet many of the great VA bloggers for the first time – like the legendary Ben Tribbett, the Rhodes’ (sans burqa), Kat, Kilo, and many, many others - and to reconnect with fellow travelers like Brian, Josh, Norm, Steve, Waldo, and Chris. It was a distinct pleasure to chat with Will Vehrs, a fellow pot-stirring on the south side of the James, and I enjoyed working with my fellow panelists Eric Monday (a good lawyer) and Greg Letiecq. As other folks are doing a great job at rehashing the events of the weekend, I’ll spare you more of the same.  

The Martinsville event showcased how far the Virginia blogosphere has come over the past year or two. Blogs, blogging, and bloggers are now part and parcel of the lexicon of Virginia’s political mainstream, having helped shoot down a political appointee, won a US Senate primary, and brought a stratospheric sitting senator a little closer to Earth (and possibly out of the running for 2008). All of this happened over the course of 2006’s first eight months.

Where the two Sorensen blogging summits were nods by the so-called “establishment” to the growing prominence of the craft, the Martinsville event, with an agenda and guest list just as prominent, was yet another “Hello, World” moment. This grassroots movement was run by bloggers for bloggers about bloggers, and it drew the attention of notable politicians figures, future statewide and congressional candidates, and the oft-maligned MSM. Add one more notch to our belts. We are now part of the wallpaper.   Coming out of Martinsville, the question to be answered is “What next?” Some folks think that we should continue to raise the level of professionalism and discipline, engaging in more “responsible” blogging. On some level, that may be true, yet it seems that in the free range marketplace of ideas that the blogosphere represents, the invisible hands will continue to exercise the power of the mouse-click in determining which sites are worth reading and which ones should be cast on the scrapheap of digital irrelevancy.

The Wild West element that makes political blogging and bloggers infuriating is also what makes affords fresh eyes on politics and policy. For those who call for ethical codes or better self-policing, such elements will eventually evolve, though they should be as unrestrictive as possible so as not to choke out fundamental creativity. From the vantage point south of the James, only three rules need apply: acknowledge the facts, disclose biases and/or conflicts-of-interest, and be consistent with anonymity or pseudonyms.   

At any rate, Martinsville was a success, and I look forward to heading that way next year. If not for the blogging, the ride into Virginia’s heartland will be an education in and of itself for those who haven’t tasted God’s Country. And, as long as the food from Pigs ‘R Us keeps flowing, a good time will definitely be had by all.

So, I had this incredibly lucid, wonderfully engaging post that I was writing as a response to Jaded JD’s clearance sale notice. Thanks to WordPress, that post is not available for mass consumption as the “Save” function apparently no longer means “press this to keep your content for further editing,” but instead in Blogzarro-land it means “Ha, sucker! I just deleted your 700-word masterpiece.”

This is why I hate blogging. It’s too d—reliant on the technology platform, and if you try and upgrade without being a tech wiz, you’re screwed. Plus, it’s all about hit-counts and page views. For all of its flaws, I should’ve stayed with Blogger. I’m a simple man in need of a simple blog.

Anyway, the point I was making, before I was so rudely erased, was basically that the Virginia Political blogosphere is constantly changing and realigning. It’s a natural, organic, creative destruction type of thing. Being among the chief navel gazers in the Commonwealth’s blogosphere, I can honestly say that it’s good that so many people come and go. It keeps things fresh. Sure, too many blogs and too many bloggers dilutes the product occasionally, producing diminishing marginal returns, yada yada yada. But, hey sports fans, democracy is not a market commodity - it’s about the individual citizen getting jiggy with the First Amendment.

Who knows if JD’s blogobiturary of me is premature - it’s ironic that Waldo is exploring “Conaway Haskins” style blogging while Conaway Haskins is trying to figure out how to get back to “Conaway Haskins” style blogging (okay, third person self-references are just weird) - or if it’s dead-on. I honestly don’t know. Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, the beat goes on. 

Today marks the one-year anniversary of South of the James. It’s been quite a journey, and along the way, I’ve had the opportunity to meet and greet many of my favorite bloggers, political personalities, and fellow citizens. Though this is mostly a one-man show, I have also had the pleasure of publishing the work of several guest writers from across the Commonwealth’s political spectrum.

State-level players like Dr. Toni-Michelle Travis of George Mason University, Don Scoggins of the Frederick Douglass Republican Forum, and Josh Chernila of Raising Kaine (and now of the Jim Webb for Senate campaign) took the time and energy to create original work for me. Locally, the blog featured notable policymakers and advocates such as Dan Gecker, the Democratic Vice-Chairman of Chesterfield County Planning Commission; Rev. Mike Harton of the Responsible Growth Alliance of Chesterfield; Dr. Tom Pakurar of Hands Across the Lake; gadfly Shelly Schuetz of Go West Chesterfield; Larry Miller, former chairman of the Chesterfield County Republican Committee, and of course, the pseudonym-enhanced “Bubba,” a Richmond-area Republican leader. These folks all contributed intelligent commentary on a number of issues, and this blog would have merely been one man’s drivel had they not been around.

Going forward, the future of this blog is anyone’s guess for now. I’ll be stepping away for a bit to prepare for an upcoming leadership retreat, thus I my blogging during the next week or so is probably going to be silent around these parts. Looking further down the line, I’ve got some other projects that I’m exploring, along with pursuing some research that cries out for exploration and tackling a few books that have gathered dust for far too long. Plus, I have to get ready and set for Martinsville.

So, keep watching the aggregators to see when I post new things. Rest assured that I’m not going away, but a bit of a break will be quite nice. See y’all later.

In another sign of progress for the Webb for Senate campaign, veteran Virginia operative Michael Brown come aboard to head up African-American Outreach and to assist with other statewide activities. Brown, who serves as the Chairman of the bipartisan State Board of Elections (seats are split between Republicans and Democrats), has worked in leadership roles with the campaigns of Sen. Louise Lucas, Del. Donald McEachin, and Del. Rosalyn Dance, three notable members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Brown also worked on several of Doug Wilder’s history-making campaigns.

Brown - a military veteran like Webb - has deep roots in the politics of black Virginia and his presence should assuage any concerns about Webb’s ability to spur the African-American turnout in the Fall. This move is proof positive that Webb not only takes the black vote seriously, but that he intends to push hard for African-American vote. With President Bush polling poorly among African-Americans, and Sen. Allen proudly supporting the Administration 97% of the time, Webb will work to introduce himself to black voters and connect the dots about a vote for Allen being tantamount to a vote for Bush.

Webb critics will point to the initial opposition to his candidacy on the part of some members of the Legislative Black Caucus. However, contrary to the naysayers, the fact remains that a majority of the state’s 17 black legislators chose to stay neutral during the primary, preferring to focus their energies on the general election race against Allen. The 12 House members and 5 Senate members represent approximately 1/3 of Virginia’s total black population, and as loyal Democrats, Webb has their support firmly in tow. With Brown in place, and Larry Byrne and Abbi Easter already on the Webb team, the campaign is poised to make a big push into Virginia’s heartland as it heads toward Labor Day.

My latest Blogology column for Bacon’s Rebellion features the senior statesman of Virginia’s Republican bloggers, Chad Dotson. The gentleman from Wise gamely answered quite a few questions, but he deftly sidestepped the one that most bloggers are probably itching to learn - his plans for 2009. At any rate, check out the interview and then come back here to give comments if you like.

This was published by Bacon’s Rebellion on August 7, 2006

Chad Dotson is considered by many observers to be the top conservative, Republican blogger in Virginia, with a blog that averages close to 1,500 pages views per day. The creator of Commonwealth Conservative, Dotson lays claim to the mantle of “the Internet’s first elected blogger,” as he is also the Commonwealth’s Attorney for Wise County and the City of Norton in Southwestern Virginia.

A graduate of the University of Virginia and the Georgetown University Law Center, Dotson gained a measure of national notoriety as a finalist for the “Best Conservative Blog” category for the 2005 Weblog Awards. A father of two children, Dotson also helped found the Old Dominion Blog Alliance, a network of conservative and Republican blogs throughout Virginia.

Q: How long have you been engaged in political activity?

CD: Almost as long as I can remember. Actually, I really became serious about politics during my junior year of high school. My grandmother was sort of a legendary local Republican, so I grew up with the GOP all around me, but it didn’t really sink in until my late teens. I was much more interested in sports, frankly.

During high school, the Clarence Thomas hearings took place, and I became mesmerized by the process. I watched every second of the hearings that I could, and it was about that time that I decided I had to get involved in politics. I saw that we needed good people running for office, because important decisions were made by politicians.

At UVa, I was chairman of the College Republicans, which was a good education in political leadership. After law school, I returned home to Southwest Virginia, and founded the Wise County Young Republicans. Shortly thereafter, I was elected chairman of the Wise County GOP, and the rest, as they say, is history. Fortunately, my grandmother, who is really my inspiration in a lot of ways, lived long enough to see me elected as Commonwealth’s Attorney. It made her very proud.

Q: You started your blog back in August 2004. Was there a particular incident or series of factors that motivated this?

CD: There were a few things. First, I had become addicted to reading blogs, especially Steve Minor’s SW Virginia Law Blog. I had gotten to know Steve through my law practice before I became a prosecutor, and he’s a funny guy – and brilliant. At that point, I hadn’t found any blogs which really touched on Virginia politics from a conservative perspective. There were a few out there, but other than Ben Domenech’s blog, I hadn’t really discovered them yet. I’ve always been interested in writing, and I loved talking about politics, so I decided to go ahead and give blogging a try.

Unfortunately, few of my close friends are political junkies like me (actually, that’s probably a good thing), so I didn’t have a lot of people nearby with whom to discuss Virginia politics. “Commonwealth Conservative” (CC) was mostly my little effort to create a General Store-type atmosphere where people could come in and discuss Virginia politics — a fascinating subject — in a civil manner.

Q: Initially you blogged under the pseudonym “John Behan.” For those newer to the blog world, can you give insight into your rationale for doing this and then for “coming out” as yourself?

CD: As mentioned, I’m an elected Commonwealth’s Attorney, which means I have to run for re-election soon. When I started the blog, I wasn’t sure if I would do it for a week, or a month, or indefinitely. On a whim, I decided to use a pseudonym because I didn’t know if I’d stick with it, and I didn’t want it to come back to haunt me. I picked the name of one of the characters in “Tombstone,” one of my favorite movies. The real Behan, incidentally, was a sheriff, and a Democrat.

After a while, it became obvious that I enjoyed the blogging process, and the blog was getting somewhat popular, so having a pseudonym didn’t make any sense any longer. I began telling anyone that asked. I have to admit, though, when I started the blog, I never would have imagine that I would be “outed” in the Washington Post.

Q: You are an elected Commonwealth’s Attorney. How does blogging affect your ability to perform your job? Have you ever been accused of holding certain biases by defense attorneys related to your blog? How have your political opponents sought to use the blog against you?

CD: Put simply, blogging does not affect my job at all. I decided early on that I wouldn’t blog about anything that happened in my office; it’s a political blog, not a law blog. As a matter of fact, the blog rarely even crosses my mind when I’m at work. If you walked through my office, you’d see that we’re so busy there is little time for anything else. Only one defense attorney that I deal with on a regular basis has ever mentioned the blog, but only to discuss one of my sports-related posts. In fact, you may be surprised to learn that most people within the Wise County Bar have no idea that I write a blog. There are even some employees in my own office that don’t know about the blog. I’ve never mentioned it to anyone locally, except my wife and parents. It’s not something I advertise, it’s something I do late at night to satisfy my craving for political discussion.

CC’s “dirty little secret” is that the vast majority of my posts are written late at night, after everyone here has gone to bed. WordPress has a neat little feature that allows you to schedule when the posts will be published. That way, I write posts, and I’m able to have fresh content at the top of the blog throughout the day without having to actually log in to the system.

As for my political opponents using the blog against me, it hasn’t happened. Some people on the left side of the Virginia blogosphere have vowed to help defeat me in my next election, but I’m not very concerned about that. I have a great relationship with the Democrats around here; I couldn’t have been elected without Democratic support, including winning two precincts that, to my knowledge, a Republican had never won in a contested race. In the end, I’ve tried to be polite and reasonable on the blog. I don’t attack people like you see around the blogosphere. I’ve tried to be as honest as I could, while remembering that saying something dumb could come back to haunt me.

Q: Over the last 2 years, quite a few conservatives have written for Commonwealth Conservative, including Norm Leahy, Ben Domenech, and Will Vehrs. Now, it looks like you are manning the ship by yourself. Which do you prefer, blogging solo or as a team?

CD: I prefer blogging alone, I suppose, but I also like to have other perspectives at times. Norm has been great to step in occasionally, which I love because he’s my favorite writer in the Virginia blogosphere. Will is a special case. Will is a legend in the Virginia blogosphere, really the Godfather of our blogging community in many ways. He’s also a superb writer. At some point after last year’s election, I was feeling a little burned out. I offered Will a permanent spot at CC, which he declined at the time. Fortunately, he later changed his mind, the offer was certainly still on the table, and I eagerly signed him up like a power-hitting free agent.

I was too busy to devote time to the blog like I wanted, so it helped me to have Will around as a contributor. He was outstanding, and I wish he had never felt forced to leave. If he wanted to come back tomorrow, I’d take him in an instant, but I’m not holding my breath expecting that to happen.

Anyway, everyone who has blogged with me at CC will tell you that I have never put any limits on what they could say (other than it needed to be profanity-free). I’ve enjoyed hearing those different voices, and CC is often more entertaining to read when they’re around, but I started CC alone and I guess I’ll end it alone, one of these days. All in all, I prefer the solo route, but I don’t have as much time as is required most days, and having another voice makes CC that much more interesting. I like both ways.

Q: Wise County is not among the first places one thinks of in terms of leading edge Internet action and activism. How did a guy from Southwest Virginia become such a major figure in the tech-savvy world of political blogging?

Dumb luck? Actually, I think I came along at just the right time. Commonwealth Conservative started growing as last year’s gubernatorial race got started, and, if nothing else, CC gained a bit of an early reputation for being more civil than many other blogs. Also, I always tried to make it as well-written as possible, and I think you gain credibility that way. I have always hated typos and spelling errors with an almost irrational passion (ask my employees), so I wanted CC to be easy on the eyes in that way.

Also, I have always tried to link to as many Virginia blogs as possible. If another blogger had a good post, I wanted my readers to see it. I think that helped to increase the visibility of my blog, because bloggers are nothing if not vain. Bloggers enjoy getting linked to, and they always want to return the favor, if possible. So, in the process of trying to boost the Virginia blogosphere, I guess it raised my profile, too.

It’s never been about competition with other blogs to me. I don’t care how many hits I get; I’m doing this because I enjoy it. I never had the goal to be the biggest conservative blog in Virginia. If I can help promote the Virginia blogosphere, I want to do it. I don’t believe CC’s popularity is any testament to my writing ability; I just happened to come along at a time that the Virginia blogosphere was ready to explode. I got in on the initial wave. I guess Mark Warner’s Internet adviser would say that the stars were lined up perfectly. One other point: I think the fact that I live in a very rural community says a lot about the power of the internet and the blogosphere. Thousands of politically-active Virginians read what I write every week. How could that have happened before the last few years?

Q: Given your raised profile beyond blogging and your current elected position, will 2009 bring a “Chad Dotson for Attorney General” candidacy?

CD: Well, 2009 is pretty far in the distance. I can, however, envision a “Re-Elect Chad Dotson” campaign for Wise County/City of Norton Commonwealth’s Attorney in 2007! I’m focused on that, because if I don’t earn re-election, everything else is moot. And I love being Commonwealth’s Attorney, so I look forward to asking the voters for another term.

Q: Scanning the Virginia scene, it appears that Democratic or left-leaning blogs out-number Republican or right-leaning ones. What do you feel contributes to this?

CD: It’s a good question, and it’s one for which I’m not sure I have a ready answer. Perhaps it’s because the Democrats have been out of power in Virginia, mostly, for the last few cycles. I know it seems that the GOP has always been more effective in organization and grass-roots activity when they were in the minority. I am not, however, disappointed with the right side of the Virginia blogosphere. From One Man’s Trash to Bearing Drift to Virginia Virtucon and Shaun Kenney, there are a number of high-quality conservative Virginia bloggers out there. I’ll put the top tier of the right-leaning Virginia blogs up against the lefties any day of the week.

Q: The Will Vehrs situation gripped the blog world for weeks. How big of a loss was that to Commonwealth Conservative?

CD: It was a huge loss. Will is very talented, and I’m still angry about the way he was treated during that whole mess. He was treated extremely unfairly, and I won’t forget that. I haven’t even been able to bring myself to remove his name and bio from CC. I hope Will Vehrs returns to the blogosphere soon. This community is less interesting in his absence.

Q: Are there any particular bloggers or blog watchers who you feel were instrumental in the development of your site?

I was certainly influenced by Steve Minor, as I mentioned before. I have to admit that Glenn Reynolds, of Instapundit fame, was someone who I read early on, and I may have tried to mirror his style in some small way. It’s hard to single out people who had an impact. I read a lot of blogs before I started blogging myself, and I’m sure I was influenced by all of them. In the end, though, I sort of just stumbled into a style of my own.

Q: Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the need for a “code of ethics” or some baseline self-policing standards for political bloggers. What is your view on this?

I think it’s a fine, well-intentioned concept that, in practice, will never fly in the blogosphere. This is still the Wild West, and most bloggers will ignore any code of ethics that is developed, rendering it almost meaningless. That doesn’t mean, however, that the blogosphere doesn’t already do a decent job of weeding out bloggers who don’t self-police themselves. Readers will stay away, for the most part, from unethical bloggers (though there are possibly a couple of notable exceptions in the Virginia blogosphere). The most respected bloggers are the ones who remember “The Virginia Way.”

Q: In your view, what does the future hold for Virginia’s political bloggers?

CD: I’m a big fan of the political blogosphere in Virginia. It’s a very well-developed community, and I hope we continue to see its growth. I have said many times on my blog that I envision a large number of smaller blogs all across the Commonwealth. I want to see blogs devoted to, for example, Lee County politics. I want a local blogger covering the Board of Supervisors meeting in Goochland County. I’d love to see blogs devoted to these areas where newspapers just cannot provide in-depth coverage, for whatever reason. Citizen-journalists, I guess. The readership may not be high for these blogs, but they could have a big impact in their region.

On a grander scale, our statewide politicians have discovered the power of the Virginia blogosphere. Bloggers will continue to be courted by candidates and campaigns. Virginia blogs will continue to influence the power-brokers in Commonwealth politics. I don’t see blogs moving a lot of actual votes, but they will continue to move activists. Certain blogs will come and blogs will go (CC won’t be around forever, I’m sure; a week doesn’t go by without me thinking about shutting the blog down and getting more sleep at night), but “online media” is here to stay.

A year or two from now, whether it’s Commonwealth Conservative or another blog that hasn’t even started yet, the conservative movement in Virginia will have a strong voice in the Virginia blogosphere — and hence, in statewide politics — for the foreseeable future. And who knows? Maybe we’ll even see more elected bloggers in the Commonwealth.

– August 7, 2006

Weekends are normally the time for winding down, watching sports (or playing for you more adventurous types), sleeping late, and sneaking in the Sunday talk shows before church. Plus, as Myron likes to say, no one reads blogs much on weekends any. At any rate, Saturday and Sunday are great days to reflect on the happenings during the work-week (or for you “billable hours” types, they’re merely Days 6 and 7 in your weekly quest to charge clients) and catch up news and views that went unblogged on your site. Or, this could just be another opportunity for me to pontificate about things that I find fascinating. At any rate, here goes the first installment of “Chitlins with Béarnaise Sauce: The South of the James Weekender.”

Stradivarius in Da House!

Nuttin’ But Stringz, a “violin fusion” duo blending classical music with rapping, swung into Richmond last weekend as part of the free-to-the-public 49^th Annual Arts in the Park at Dogwood Dell (and inspired the title of the new blog feature). That venue plays hosts to events that bring out an eclectic blend of city patrons (with sprinkles of suburbanites) of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors. This event was no different – some came for the string music, some for the hip-hop…I came to watch it all. Things got off to an inauspicious start as they gave a major shot-out to the Memphis audience. Yes, you’re seeing that right; they wanted to know how we Memphis residents were feeling. Mind you, we were in Richmond, but why get all caught up in technicalities of geography. Let’s just say that these brothers (literally and figuratively) provided plenty of unintentional comedy along with a touch of music.

The scene was punctuated by two unique characters. The first was this bohemian guy who planted himself right in front of the stage, prancing and preening around while mouthing lyrics of some form the entire time. His unintended partner in crime was a new-age looking woman twirling light-sticks (or something) to the rhythm of the beats. From what I gathered, neither of them was an official part of the act, but they were well worth the price of admission.

NBS offered to get crunk (they said it, not me) on their rendition of the Luther Vandross/ Richard Marx ballad “Dance with My Father,” and they went “back to Julliard” on a shortened riff of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.” Now, I can seriously appreciate different types of music, as my tastes run the gamut (I even have an Afro-Celtic CD in my collection). But, this particular merging of hip-hop beats, an overlay of strings, and repetitive improvisations left me a little wanting. Curiously, they appeared to be “bow-syncing” (like lip syncing…but with violins) at times. Still, they are obviously talented guys pursuing a unique musical niche. As Beethoven rolled over and over, I couldn’t help but think of how ironic it was that this performance came just hours before tickets for Dave Chappelle’s Richmond performance went on sale here in Memp…I mean Richmond.

Chesterfield Poaches Newport News’ Superintendent…Let the Giggling continue…

Just one week after the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Michael Paul Williams gives credit to Chesterfield for out-stripping Henrico on racial inclusiveness in county leadership, the county’s School Board hired Dr. Marcus J. Newsome away from
Newport News to head up the county’s schools. An African American, Newsome replaces Dr. Billy Cannaday, the county’s first black superintendent and Gov. Kaine’s choice to oversee the Commonwealth’s school. Well, well, well, I know that our county’s top leader has the last name “King,” but…

Seriously, this looks like another excellent hire who will continue down the path of high-quality leadership and high performance set forth by his predecessors and adding his own wrinkles. The county has one of the better school systems in the Commonwealth, which makes it a magnet for families moving into the region. Coming right after the Board of Supervisors made a great choice for the Midlothian District’s interim term, Chesterfield’s leaders seem to be on a nice run as of late.

(Cat)Walk This Way…

After a year of trying to deny it to my wife, I decided to come clean this week…as a major fan of the Bravo Channel’s Project Runway. Yes, this fashionista reality show has won me over. Maybe it’s the roomful of catty and cutthroat designer wannabes slicing and dicing fabric and each other. Or, it could be the talent-driven, bottom-line orientation unusual for most “reality shows” that plays into my need for measurable outcomes. Or, maybe it’s just the easy-on-the-eyes presence of Heidi Klum. Whatever the cause, I’m hooked.

Although I watched the show sporadically in the first season and regularly got into last year’s offering (Santino was crazy, but he should’ve won), it was not until this current 3rd season of the New York-based show that I really sunk my teeth in. That most of the fashion items on the show are geared toward the fairer sex is no deterrent to my watching (there are models after all…hee-hee-hee) - It’s actually, a bit “educational” for me.

Seriously, I never quite know what fashions are in or out of style for women, something which makes it hard to shop for my female family members come birthday, anniversary and Christmas time. After all, in a man’s world, changing the buttons on a garment is a maintenance and upgrade thing, not the inspiration for an entirely new season’s worth of clothing lines. But, as I learned from watching “The Devil Wears Prada,” it all relates somehow to the stuff that we regular folk wear.

At the very least, my healthy addiction to Project Runway helps me pass the time away when I find myself seated on the “throne of disgrace.” You know, that’s the chair (or two) that the mall stores provide for men who accompany the lady-shoppers in their lives on excursions co-sponsored by Visa and Master Card. I dare say that at some point in their lives, most men have to take their place among the few and the not-so-proud (this was so not part of my marriage orientation materials!).

Now, as a result of my televised “fashion education” lessons from icons like of Michael Kors (hint: his women’s fragrances make nice gifts, fellas), Diane Von Furstenberg (or “Mrs. Barry Diller” for you Internet business mogul fans), and Vera Wang (can’t speak for her clothing line, but her china patterns look awfully fragile…sorry wedding registry flashback), I can deftly sidestep those terror-inducing landmine questions like “Does this make me look fat?” with responses like (in my know-it-all voice), “Actually, the seams are stitched a bit awkwardly, and that color does not seem to bring out the best in your skin tone.” Danke schoen, Project Runway!

Sevilla on Swift Creek?

Saturday night was the grand opening of Emilio’s new suburban Chesterfield location. Emilio’s is one of a small number of Spanish eateries in Metro Richmond, and its location in the growing Hull Street corridor is a welcome addition for those of us looking for finer dining without having to schlep too far. I’ll let the foodie of the house go into much more detail at some point in the future, but I felt compelled to say something now.

Opening night’s can be difficult for any new establishment, and we showed up toward the latter part of the evening. Let’s just say that the Richmond notable handled its own rather nicely. The wait-staff was incredibly friendly, the Sangria was cold and fruity with a nice kick, the fresh-baked bread (with tomato spread) was excellent, and the various “arroz” dishes that we ate were top-notch. Even the house salad dressing was great. Dinner and drinks were punctuated with the seductive sounds of live Latin jazz, and the buzz among the tightly-packed diners and barflies created incredible ambiance. With Emilio’s now located just 5-10 minutes from Casa de Haskins, I get a sneaky feeling that they’ll be seeing a lot of us. Life south of the James just got muy fantastico!

Country Roads (with 4 lanes and lots of bypasses) Take Me Home: Sorensen Surveys Southside Virginia

This weekend’s Sorensen session was held in the historic city of Danville (last capital of the Confederacy for you trivia buffs) and most of the workshops revolved around planning and development. Southside’s particular economic growth challenges provided a timely backdrop for our discussions. My classmates from the Northern part of Virginia got a taste of the culinary delights old (fried chicken, BBQ, peach cobbler…drool) and new, and we were introduced into the unique political culture that produced such notables as guest speakers Sen. Charles Hawkins, Del. Danny Marshall, and Del. Ward Armstrong. The highlight of the weekend for me was meeting and chatting with former Del. Barnie Day who inscribed a nice message into my copy of his Notes from the Sausage Factory. I guess all of those pesky e-mails to him paid off as he actually had positive comments about this blog.

One of the key issues that that bubbles close to the surface of Southside is the crossroads at which the region finds itself with respect to its political culture. For the most part, Southsiders profess a love of lower taxes, smaller government and generally value the notion self-reliance. However, many of the region’s municipalities have inadequate infrastructure systems, challenged educational systems, and insufficient locally-derived public revenue to provide for much of its needs.Additionally, many of Southside’s citizens and communities rely significantly on income transfers from government social welfare and health programs, as well as, favorable state funding formulas that allocate more funds per capita to poor locales like those in Southside as opposed to “donor” regions in other parts of Virginia.

While money is not in itself a silver bullet for rural revitalization, the fact remains that a raising public investment from local sources is critical to providing the region with more self-sufficiency to position it better for long-term gains. Working through this seeming contradiction poses fundamental questions about the region’s identity that must be addressed by leaders and citizens alike if Southside is going to make the great leap forward that is hoped for by anyone connected to the communities there.

At any rate, spending a humid summer weekend in Danville and surroundings brought back a flood of fond memories from my childhood. It also reminds me to dress lightly for next weekend’s family gatherings a few counties over. Driving past one of the tractor and farm equipment dealerships (I want to say it was a John Deere retailer) on Hwy. 58 reminded me of the times I spent with my late Grandmother running errands in that city and in South Boston, which were often followed by nights “camping out” on her front porch in makeshift “tents” with my cousins. We were brave little men willing to adjust to both the hot and heavy air and the voracious mosquitoes who always managed to dine sufficiently at our expense. Bolstered by our lawn chair and blanket fortifications, we gamely ignored the random calls of the wild (bobcats, bullfrogs…and as I told the younger ones, werewolves) which more than faintly flowed into our ears. Courageous as we were, somehow, the morning sun somehow found us sleeping inside the confines of Grandma’s air-conditioned house.

As an expatriate Southsider (along with Sorensen’s female Ricky Bobby;)), I hope that God’s Country has more than a prayer at competing in the global, technology-driven, flattened world in which we now live. And for good measure, I surely hope that when I get to Heaven, St. Peter will have cleaned the kudzu vines (Southside’s real illegal immigrant problem) off those Pearly Gates…

In a move that probably raised a few eyebrows in these parts, The Times-Dispatch’s Michael Paul Williams gave a nod to Chesterfield’s apparently progressive record in municipal hiring. Contrasting the county’s experiences with the on-going controversy surrounding Henrico’s heavily-white government leadership, the Times-Dispatch columnist held that

“Jesse Mayes, Chesterfield County’s first black supervisor, gained his election in 1984 without the benefit of such a lawsuit. Today, 10 of the 88 senior managers in Chesterfield County are minorities, or 11.4 percent. Given Chesterfield’s smaller minority population, its hierarchy is more representative. They’ll deny it, but somewhere south of the James, folks are suppressing giggles. Chesterfield, despite surpassing Henrico in population, continues to sustain the most hits in the image war with its seemingly more sophisticated suburban cousin. We’ve kicked Chesterfield around quite a bit over the years — who could resist all the ammo they provided? But maybe we owe them an apology. Billy K. Cannaday Jr. was its school chief before his recent elevation to state superintendent of public instruction. Chesterfield also has a black deputy county administrator and assistant county administrator.”

In the course of the column, Williams manages to do two interesting things. First, he acknowledges that conventional wisdom about Chesterfield being a bastion of unrepentant lily-whiteness and minority exclusion is not quite on-point. The county has a diverse population, including upwards of 60,000 African Americans. Put another way, Chesterfield has one of the largest black communities within any individual jurisdiction in Virginia.

Second, Williams acknowledges that the RTD has been somewhat unkind to Chesterfield at times. The perception of an anti-Chesterfield bias is one that county leaders and residents have held for years, and Williams’ column validates their sentiments. With Chesterfield having some of the region’s highest household incomes, one has to wonder if this is an example of the RTD shifting its editorial and reporting policies to match its market. Maybe seeing 75,000 (and counting) homeowners as current and potential new readers makes picking on the region’s highest-wealth homes less appealing.

It will be interesting to see if the RTD’s product reflects Williams’ newfound revelations going forward. If so, it will signal real change; if not, it will just be status quo. At any rate, with this mea culpa in black and white, I can imagine Greg Pearson laughing up a storm somewhere in Chesterfield.

For some odd reason, a ton of my old posts have shown up on the Virginia Political Blogs aggregator. Just in case you’re wondering, I have no clue as to how this happened. I have a sneaky suspicion that it has something to do with At any rate, I apologize for the confusion, and if anyone else has a clue as to what happened, feel free to let me know. Also, if anyone else has had issues with WordPress, chime in. I’m starting to feel like a return to Blogger could simplify my life and my blogging.