By Brad Swanson and Karen Kirk: After more than two years and almost 400 articles, this is the last story that we will post as editors of The Blue View. We’ve reached almost 80,000 of you in northern Virginia, and covered topics as diverse as you are — immigration, education, labor, environment, criminal justice, culture, history… Oh, and a bit…
By Brad Swanson: My son’s text decided me. “If you wanted to go, I would say today’s the day.” The previous night, he had been caught in the unprovoked rush of police out of Lafayette Square to clear a space for Trump’s photo op at St. John’s Church. He had not been injured but shared the outrage of millions at…
By Brad Swanson: More than 70 high school students helped orient voters and sign up volunteers in Mt. Vernon District during the Super Tuesday Democratic presidential primary on Mar. 3, in which Fairfax County turnout surged. (Blue View story on primary results here ). For the Mt. Vernon District Democratic Committee members staffing the information tables it was a much-needed…
By Brad Swanson: Virginia’s citizen boards will retain control over pollution emitters for at least another year as a bill to transfer this authority to a state agency has been downgraded to require passage by two consecutive annual legislatures. In the interim between the current session and the next, beginning in Jan. 2021, the bill would require the state Department…
By Brad Swanson: Sean Perryman has only been president of the Fairfax County NAACP for a month, but he already has his priorities clear. “My plan is to focus on fewer issues, but go deeper,” he said. The top three topics for him are cannabis legalization, school name changes, starting with Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, and more…
By Brad Swanson: Ricardo Alfaro is a man on a mission. As the newly elected president of the Latino Democratic Caucus in Virginia, he has crafted an ambitious workplan to expand the group’s reach and counter the rising tide of fear engulfing the Latino community in the Trump era. “No one should feel unsafe going to school or grocery shopping…
By Brad Swanson: The recent Supreme Court decision allowing Virginia legislative elections to go ahead this year under a map drawn by a court-appointed expert doesn’t solve the problem of gerrymandering. Only a state Constitutional amendment taking district-drawing power away from a partisan legislature can do it. That is the view of OneVirginia2021, a non-partisan group dedicated to fair redistricting.…
Now that the Democratic primary is over, Fairfax County Democrats are seeking to unite the party behind winning candidates in the runup to the Nov. 5 general election. Hunter Mill District Democratic Committee was first off the mark, holding its Unity Event on June 12, a mere 24 hours after polls closed. Seven candidates for state and local office, including…
By Brad Swanson: Kofi Annan is puzzled. He’s the president of the Fairfax County NAACP, one of the largest and most active chapters in the Commonwealth, and winner of a prestigious prize as the best chapter in the country. Yet Gov. Ralph Northam’s office, much less the governor himself, won’t speak to him about how to deal with a racist…
By Brad Swanson: Democratic Party candidates for criminal prosecutor clashed in a debate Friday, May 24, as challenger Steve Descano painted a vision of “progressive justice” while incumbent Ray Morrogh, represented by a staff attorney, insisted on the importance of deciding each case on its individual merits. Morrogh, who was ill and sent Katherine Stott from his office as a…
By Brad Swanson: The four Democratic Party candidates for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chair met on Friday, May 24, to debate the issues and found themselves largely agreeing on the need for affordable housing, universal pre-kindergarten, school trailer elimination, and mass transit expansion. The candidates differed less on the goals and more on who could accomplish them best. Jeff…
By Brad Swanson: You should not look too closely into the making of laws or sausages, runs the saying attributed (incorrectly) to Germany’s “Iron Chancellor”, Otto von Bismarck. But what would he have thought about the convoluted process of making Democratic Party candidates for Fairfax County elected offices? Overall, there will be more than 50 offices on Fairfax County ballots…
By Wallicia Gill and Brad Swanson: Part II of a three-part special report on teen sex trafficking in northern Virginia. Part I gave background on the problem. Read it here. Janet B. has lived through a nightmare that no parent who has not experienced it can imagine: her teenage daughter Sophie (the family’s names have been changed) was trapped into…
By Brad Swanson: Celebrated author Nancy MacLean visits our region on Wed. Oct. 3 for a free presentation on her prize-winning book “Democracy in Chains:The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America ” . MacLean’s book has won prestigious awards and she has earned national prominence — including this recent appearance with Bill Maher — for exposing an organized campaign by radical…