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Joe Morrissey is officially a candidate for mayor

Joe Morrissey is officially a candidate for mayor this year:

Joseph Dee Morrissey announced his candidacy for Mayor of Richmond, Virginia at a community event this evening. Morrissey was joined on the podium by his fiancé, Myrna Warren (their wedding is June 11, 2016), their son Chase, and newborn daughter, Bella Noel.

Morrissey, 58, introduced himself and his family to the voters. In the increasingly crowded field of mayoral hopefuls, Morrissey is likely the candidate with the highest name recognition in the race.

Morrissey outlined his approach to the position of mayor. “I’ve held public office as Richmond’s Commonwealth Attorney, where the office was highly effective and always operated under budget. I was a Member of the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly, where I knew every item in the tens of billions of dollars of the state budget – and what was expected from those expenditures. I have owned and managed three different multi-million dollar businesses – all of which were profitable.”

Morrissey stated: “I want to bring that knowledge and experience to Richmond. I realize that there are important differences between running a municipality and running a business. But it’s no secret that the City of Richmond has not been well managed – either as a government or as a business. I will bring the skill set to Richmond of seasoned and experienced CEOs who know how to effectively run and manage a business …. and do it with sound business practices.”

“I will hire people who know how to prepare a budget and prepare it on time. I will only employ professionals who would never allow our city to loose it’s bond rating due to delinquent CAFRA reporting; people who will never again produce a budget that doesn’t include a line item for snow removal and leaf pickup!”

“There will be no further multi-year agonizing over where to build a baseball field. The field will remain at the Diamond.”

Morrissey listed his main priority as school physical plant repair and replacement, and full accreditation for all of the city’s schools. “I have three young children (ages 3 and a half and under) who will be attending Richmond schools. I’ve got “skin in the game.” Not only will I not allow my children to be educated in a deteriorating school, I will not allow any child, in any zip code, to have anything less than a top tier school in which to learn.”

Morrissey said additional priorities for his campaign include transportation for increased job and economic development accessibility, specific anti-poverty actions, barriers to improving regional cooperation, and assuring transparency of city challenges and accomplishments for citizens.