SOUND OFF
Weekly, this section is updated with recent public opinion regarding Spike Williams on-going campaign for office. Check back regulary for weekly features.
Editorial from the 31 October, 2007, Connection
Need Someone Who Listens
To the Editor:
I too am disappointed in Cathy Hudgins. Her not listening to her constituents is well known as the Connection itself points out. Having a political leader that listens to constituents is important to me. It is as if we have become "true believers" and feel we don’t deserve a representative who will listen to our concerns or take actions to implement solutions for us.
Vera Hannigan and John Lovaas, two very well connected local leaders, have found a candidate "sophisticated" enough for their mutual efforts. Good for them, but the rest of us need a realistic candidate who is up front about his party affiliation, has experience in setting policy instead of following it and willing to speak out on controversial issues.
We have in Reston an unrealistic tendency for qualifications and advanced degrees rather then listening to the people. The Reston Association hires consultants rather then consult with the citizens of Reston. Hudgins‚ decade of "community activism" and sophisticated degrees have not allowed her to bend down and listen to the people. My fear is that Huhtala with her exalted credentials will also not be interested in the issues of her constituents.
Spike Williams’ humble beginnings, practical business sense and affable style will bring a voice for the not well connected, the single parent households struggling to make ends meet, for the middle class family of five busily living their lives as well as for the young professional trying to build a name for themselves that Hudgins has not and will not listen to.
I want a leader willing to look for sensible and manageable solutions. I want a change in the direction from that of the developers building it and we pay for it. I will vote for Spike Williams.
Rod Koozmin
Reston
This letter to the Editor was originally posted at http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=89673&paper=71&cat=110
17 October, 2007
Voter response to 17 October, 2007 Times editorial
Your depiction of Spike Williams as a one issue candidacies is so far off. I wonder where and who your sources are? In the various meetings that I have attended as well as my 1:1 discussions he is clearly passionate about the concerns of our Region and the Hunter Mill district. I think you need to sit down with Mr. Williams and discuss and record the other key areas where he clearly has a leadership approach we need to listen to. For example: Managed growth; Illegal immigration, a county tax plan given the steady decrease in home values etc.
Come on Mr Cahill let's give our candidates equal time in your reports especially the candidates that have the passion to lead us through the rough waters ahead.
I am not wiling to put up with the status quo of the Hudgins Regime! for the next four years I am voting for Mr. Williams because I love this community and we need proactive change and a Supervisor who can secure consensus vs division.
Respectfully, submitted,
Don McLean
Oak Hill VA.
Response to 10/17 Times editorial
To the Editor:
I am writing to refute your characterization of Supervisory Candidate Spike Williams as a one-issue candidate, and to ask you to re-consider your endorsement of incumbent Cathy Hudgins as the best fit for our Hunter Mill District.
I have been acquainted with Michael “Spike” Williams for many years. While you are correct that the Park & Ride issue propelled him into candidacy, you are incorrect in your thinking that his motives were self-centered.
I became aware of the Park & Ride proposal just in time to attend the Forum Meeting hosted by the County Supervisors. I had never seen Cathy Hudgins before, and was astonished by the arrogant, diffident and utterly disrespectful manner with which she comported herself at this meeting. Her behavior was rude, abrasive and secretive – three pretty poor qualities in a public servant. She repeatedly refused to provide information to constituents, telling them “that’s public information --go look it up yourself” and was wholly unable or unwilling to provide answers to even simple questions such as which elementary school the residents would go to, the number of homes that would be built, or how safety would be ensured for the children who would be living next to the Reston Parkway. Each question was either flatly ignored, or given a flippant none-of-your-business answer. People became outraged, myself included.
At the core, the problem was not the proposal of some new townhomes, but rather that this elected official, who was supposed to be representing us, clearly despised this group of local homeowners and was merely going through the motions of representation. She had not thought carefully about these issues, and gave no reassurance that she intended to. She tossed around the catchphrase “workforce housing” at least fifty times, yet conceded that she had no control over who would live in these homes and whether or not they would be persons who worked locally or had incomes under a specific level. Worst of all, it was evident that she really did not care.
Spike Williams is intelligent, thoughtful and circumspect. He is a man of the highest personal character and integrity. He is generous, kind and devoted – to his family, to his friends, to his neighbors, and to his community. He is also a businessman, who understands that self-discipline is the most important characteristic of successful decision making. Cathy Hudgins showed no self-restraint at the Forum Meeting, and gave no evidence that her actions on the Board were thoughtful or disciplined. This is why Spike entered the Supervisory race: to provide our community, and the Hunter Mill District as a whole, with moderate, considerate and common-sense representation.
Spike is not a career politician. He will bring a healthy dose of openness to the job, since he has nothing to hide, and no future position to preserve. He will represent all of us honestly, and challenge the current thinking on many topics with his love of transparency and unique ability to distill information to its core.
I truly hope you will take the time to learn more about Spike Williams, his campaign, his positions on topics and his overall philosophy. You will be impressed.
Thank you for considering this Opinion,
Sincerely, Tami Holsten