Category Archives: Mayoral

Guest Opinion: Shannon Glover for Mayor Endorsement

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[Tracy Link is a small business owner and civicly engaged Portsmouth citizen. She graciously allowed us to share this posting from her Facebook timeline.]

Tonight, my husband, a Cleveland native, is sitting with his remote in hand, flipping channels between the opening Cavs game and the opening World Series game. Like everyone who ever lived in Cleveland, he’s hoping to see it emerge as a City of Champions. But in many ways, it already has. They have improved their economy, attracted some of the best new businesses, fixed much of their crime issues, and started working on being a renaissance city, built for the future out of the ashes of their past. Continue reading →

October, and Just Before, Surprises

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In national politics, the “October Surprise” is some headline-grabbing revelation about a candidate in a high-profile race in the month before an election. The news, usually negative,  is expected to change the outcome of the political contest. Locally, the post-Labor Day “reveal” of People for Portsmouth PAC endorsed candidates and the just-announced Martin Luther King, Jr., Leadership Steering Committee PAC endorsements could be considered in the same category . . . almost. In the cases of our hometown PACs, many of the candidates getting the nods from the “powers that be” in the African- and European-American elites were totally predictable (marked TP below). Some were reasonably predictable (RP). Others were complete shockers (CS). Asterisks (*) denote special cases. See if you agree. Continue reading →

Publisher’s Notebook: People for Portsmouth Endorsements and Interview

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For a long-time advocate of openness in the civic realm, the candidate endorsements by the People for Portsmouth Political Action Committee were epoch making. Many organizations in our city and region — the Martin Luther King, Jr., Leadership Steering Committee, the teachers association, the firefighters’ union, the police association, the realtors’ association, to name a few — select their favorite candidates, bestowing praise and often contributions upon them. Some of these groups vet candidates through a nominally competitive process involving questionnaires and interviews for everyone running; others, anoint their champions in backrooms without any notice to non-members that they are deciding whom to endorse. Whatever the process, as private organizations they are free to choose whomever they like for reasons known only to members of the selection committees. Continue reading →

Mayoral Candidate Forum Held August 13, 2016

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2016 Mayoral Candidates

Mayoral Candidates Shannon Glover, Cliff Page, John Rowe, Jim Sturdevant, Kenneth Wright

Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance Cochair Pat Simons

Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance Cochair and Forum Moderator Pat Simons

A full house at the 2016 Mayoral Forum hosted by Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance

A full house at the 2016 Mayoral Forum hosted by Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance

The Portsmouth Taxpayer Alliance hosted a Mayoral Candidate Forum at their August monthly meeting. In attendance were Candidates Shannon Glover, Cliff Page, John Rowe, Jim Sturdevant, and Kenneth Wright, the incumbent mayor. Candidate Barry Randall was unable to attend as he was officiating at a wedding. After his opening statement and response to a question from the audience, Mayor Wright left to attend another event.

The video recording of the forum is available on the PortsmouthCityWatch.org YouTube Channel.

Mayoral Candidate 2016: Cliff Page

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[Mr. Cliff Page is one of the six certified candidates for Mayor of Portsmouth. He provided the following response to our offer to introduce him to PCW readers:]

I am glad to share my web and Facebook links with your subscribers and visitors: cliffpage4mayor.org and  https://www.facebook.com/cliffpage4mayor.
You may also share my websites title page. The Web site has an Issues and Positions page where a substantive 54-page, comprehensive document may be downloaded and a two-page bulleted Positions at a Glance page for those who may fall asleep reading the former. Both documents can be opened from the web site and both are in PDF format and can be printed or emailed.
Additionally there is a blog page, http://cliffpage4mayor.org/blog, which is also linked with my Facebook page where issues can be viewed, liked and shared, and commented upon.  Currently, there are four major issues which I consider top agenda items: High Speed Rail to Portsmouth, Increase Democracy in Portsmouth by Expanding the Council with a Ward System, Support for Veterans and the Confederate Monument.  The site also has a page to aid citizens in registering and voting and provides links concerning the subject.

 

“Money, Money, Money” in Local Races

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The not-for-profit Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) has been helping the public to track contributions to Virginia political candidates. Founded in 1997 as a collaboration among the largest newspapers in our commonwealth, it has expanded the breadth of its reporting to include the financial accounting for many local candidates. This is of particular benefit to the electorate because those seeking municipal offices can choose to file their reports either electronically or on paper. If not for the efforts of VPAP to collect and share the paper filings, those reports would be effectively shielded from public view by the necessity of visiting the local registrar of voters office every filing period to examine them. Continue reading →

Mayoral Candidate 2016: Shannon Glover (updated)

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[Mr. Shannon Glover is one of the six certified candidates for Mayor of Portsmouth. He provided the following biographical information to help acquaint the Portsmouth electorate with what he has to offer.]

Shannon Glover is a business owner in the City of Portsmouth and a leader in the community. He is running for Mayor because he is concerned about the future of our city and believes it is time for our leadership to change. As Mayor, Shannon will collaborate with council members and listen to the community. He will build relationships with residents, community leaders, schools and businesses to address the current and future struggles being faced by our city. Shannon will be a new Mayor with a new approach who will give our city a new future. Continue reading →