RS Interview: Elizabeth Schultz (Fairfax Cty, VA School Board)

My general rule of thumb is that any position in a democratic system that is filled via election is pretty much by definition important: if there wasn’t some benefit to holding it then it would just be filled via appointment by an elected official. In this particular case: the Fairfax County school district is one of the largest in the country, has quite a lot of money associated with it – and has been embroiled in a year over transparency, school closing, and a variety of other disputes.

Which is one reason why I was happy to talk to Springfield District candidate Elizabeth Schultz about it:

The school board race is officially non-partisan, but that just means that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are going to be identified as such on the ballots. As the above Washington Post article makes clear, this is as contested a race as any other out there, and it promises to be an interesting one. Elizabeth’s main site is here; she’s also using Facebook and Twitter to drive her campaign. Check them all out.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

Continue reading RS Interview: Elizabeth Schultz (Fairfax Cty, VA School Board)

The Breakdown of Montgomery County.

The Washington Post can be amusing, sometimes.  In this article (via Instapundit) they provide a comparison of two counties – Montgomery County in Maryland, and Fairfax County in Virginia – to the former’s distinct disadvantage.  The short version: Montgomery County is stuck with an elected Democratic leadership that is beholden to public sector unions*, spends in a fashion that insults drunken sailors, and… actually, those two statements sum it up neatly.  Although Montgomery County having a maxed-out local income tax can’t be helping, either.  The end result: with comparable budgets and populations, Montgomery County had to reconcile an almost 1 billion dollar budget deficit and is facing worse, while Fairfax County had to work out deficits one quarter that and is pretty much no worse off than most of the rest of the country.  Continue reading The Breakdown of Montgomery County.