Quality . . .
We moved from Virginia to Oklahoma back in July. I was distressed by the politics of VA and now here in OK it is even more distressing, but that is another day’s post. Talking Points Memo received a copy of the email that Rep. Tom Perriello sent supporters following his defeat for reelection on Tuesday. It would be important to note that he lived through intimidation from distasteful rhetoric and actual threats from the Tea Party crowd in VA. They posted his home address and phone number inviting persons to go confront him. They are a sad lot. Anyway, here is a paragraph or two from the email that caught my attention. It is an example of a quality leader. There are to few problem solvers in government right now. God help us all.
Posted on TPM: Nov. 3, 2010
This has been an awesome couple of years and couple of months. I promised you I would have your back against the powerful interests in Washington, and last night, you had mine. Even though we fell short of reelection, we defied the pundits in the roughest of political years. Because I come out of faith-based justice work instead of politics, I can see last night as a victory for conviction and hard work for the idea that when you fight for the people, the people win.Consider this. We won Danville, Martinsville, Charlottesville, Albermarle, Prince Edward, Brunswick, Buckingham, and Nelson with stronger than expected turnout. Over 110,000 voters had our back last night. And when you compare us to other races across the state and nation, we dramatically outperformed others in “safer” districts and those where members had either dodged the tough votes or run away from them after. And we did not back away from this President when it would have been convenient, because in politics, I will stand with the problem solvers over the political game players any day.