Disgraced former 7th District councilman announces bid for House seat

This, unfortunately , is the sad state of our political system. With so many well-qualified, bright and talented folks in our community, we’re stuck with the likes of Young and Morrissey to represent us. Maybe it’s an even sadder commentary for those who are voting them into office.

Jim and Laura –

Jennifer McClellan in the House and Rosalyn Dance in the Senate, 2 honest and honorable people, represent most of Church Hill. Lee Young is running in Henrico.

Ditto, Ray. Thanks for reminding us about the good public servants we do have. Add Cynthia Newbille to that list.

I agree with Ray. We are fortunate to have both McClellan and Dance. Having worked with McQuinn and tried to communicate with Newbille, I would run away from both. Sadly, the old Marsh Machine has not served the community well in the 21st century, and it’s time to have a different kind of representation. Leonidas is a joke and should find some other way to “serve” rather than getting back in line at the taxpayer trough.

@ 2 & 3, gerrymandered districts (like the 74th) don’t easily appeal to “bright, well-qualified, talented” folks who might be willing to serve. Heavily gerrymandered districts appeal to career-politicians who simply need a job–and probably don’t have another career.

Del McClellan is and awesome legislator–and the 71st District’s boundaries are way less wonky than the 74th. She can do her day job and have a real career outside politics–while serving a reasonably drawn district. This makes McClellan more like us: a working parent who just happens to have a passion for justice and the energy to be a state delegate on the side.

Can you imagine representing a district that stretches from the eastern edge of Charles City Co, thru a skinny strip of northern Henrico all the way west to Glen Allen? The 74th is crazy–and it doesn’t even adequately represent the African American population it was drawn to serve. It’s a sad situation for the folks who just happen to live in the 74th.

My impression of Delores McQuinn is based solely on personal experience. She had an open door policy with contacting her. You could call her at home even on a Sunday with a problem and she would get right on it (at least for us). When there was a slumlord house next door and a series of evictions where property was on the sidewalk overflowing into the streets, she called the city (on Sunday) to come out with dump trucks and a front loader to haul it all off, no problem. Do you think Newbille would ever do that? You can’t even get her to answer emails directed to her on a business day. McQuinn lives/lived right here in Church Hill and appreciates the historic aspect. McQuinn if you recall was not a resident of the 7th and slipped in to only rent a house to qualify as a candidate during the time. There was a lot of controversy over it. She is out of touch with the district she represents and only interested in her own personal agenda, if she even has one? And that too is based on personal experience.

From Richmond.com for those that do not remember who he is.

“Richmond learned the hard way: Just because the mayor is a minister doesn’t make him more moral. Leonidas Young, senior pastor at the East End’s large Fourth Baptist Church, served as a councilman from 1992 and was appointed mayor by his peers from July 1994 to June 1996. He lost everything after Joel Walker Harris, his former personal assistant, testified at length to federal authorities as part of a plea deal in a “drugs-sex-and-bank-fraud scandal,” as Style Weekly described the salacious comeuppance. Young spent money on jewelry and a penile implant, and even bilked the life savings of an elderly parishioner. The consequence: Young was sentenced in 1999 on 14 charges including fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

After serving 15 months of a two-year sentence, Young returned to Richmond in 2001 — and started a ministry near the airport.”

Only in Richmond…..OK, maybe Chicago, too.

Sorry, I said McQuinn was not a resident but meant to say Newbille when she was running for office.

John:

I can’t speak for anyone else, but Dr. Newbille gets a lot of shade from me. I don’t find her or her staffer to be responsive, helpful or even all that interested in dealing with some key issues in the neighborhood, especially blight.

She is a very nice and extremely bright person based on my limited conversations with her, but I don’t see much willingness by her or her office to dig in on some of the issues in the neighborhood other than to pass the buck and drop the ball.

I compare it to when I lived in Councilwoman Robertson’s district. She was incredibly responsive and helpful in dealing with quality of life issues. Dr. Newbille? Not so much. Problems she said she or her staffer say they will look into are never followed up on even after prodding. It’s frustrating.

So John, what I would like to see from a council representative is a promoter, an advocate, a marketer, a consensus builder, a networker, and one who generally gets sh*t done. It would be great to see a council person working actively connecting the community to city resources and helping others interested in locating a business here get established. I would love to see a business person/entrepreneur work in this capacity. Business folks are usually looking outside of the box for ways to grow, get funding, and identify others who’ve been successful. I suspect most are far too busy doing all of the above for their business and not have enough left for the community. All of these efforts benefit the citizens greatly by providing more jobs, more opportunities, and a better quality of life for people to begin to manage their own lives as opposed to looking for the city/government to take care of them. I haven’t seen much of that in our city leadership and I think it would be a refreshing change of course.

In a very positive manner, CHPN has largely been a promoter of the community by peeling back the layers and exposing the many facets about Church Hill–some complex…some not so much. I have to think the city’s perception of this area has changed dramatically in recent years. And CHPN (followed by a wide array of media outlets and the source for many news stories) has had a significant role in erasing some of the stereotypical fears/perceptions held by outsiders to this community. Wouldn’t it be awesome to have a council person working as a “cheerleader” for the district?

The growth has been remarkable in recent years…the potential has always been here. It seems as though the right leadership could have made it happen sooner.