Del. Hull Should Not Be Surprised By Kory’s Effort
Editor,
I am amazed that Bob Hull would be “surprised” (News Press, 5-28-09) by a primary challenge from Kaye Kory. This is further indication of the extent to which he has lost touch with the good people of the 38th District.
Later in the article, Bob Hull plays the classic “I don’t remember” card in reference to speaking out in opposition to a compromise on cash proffer systems. Kaye Kory had worked extremely hard with the Fairfax County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors to broker the compromise that would allow schools to be included in the formula when proffers were collected from developers who were proposing construction projects involving a zoning change. Glasgow Middle School and others throughout our area that were being overwhelmed with trailers due to population growth would have benefited from this. Bob Hull showed up (having had no previous involvement in proffer compromise whatsoever) and testified in opposition to the compromise. Every jaw in the room dropped including many on the Board. His statement demonstrated no understanding of the compromise whatsoever.
He is quoted in your article as having no recollection of speaking against the Kory proffer proposal. Does he also have no recollection of me walking up to him immediately after his statement and sternly telling him he made an unbelievably bad decision and that I would not support him again?
Bob Hull has been able to take the money of big developers ($130,000 in the past 10 years), advocate for their interests over those of the people of the 38th District, and deliver for them because he has never had a viable challenge. Now he has a viable challenger in Kaye Kory, and suddenly his memory fades? If you want to see accomplishments, go to the Glasgow Middle School discussed above. It’s gone! Kaye Kory got it replaced with a state of the art new middle school, which is one the greenest buildings in the County. I know because I chaired the Glasgow Middle School Building Committee.
The people of the 38th deserve a delegate who stands behind her decisions, not one who works against his constituents then conveniently “forgets” when he is called out on it.
George Waters
Falls Church
Research on Hull & Septic System Issue
Editor,
I did some research on the alternative septic system legislation that Delegate Hull introduced in the most recent legislative session and was mentioned in the News-Press’ article on Hull & Kay Kory last week. Hull’s claims that these systems are “better for the environment” are shockingly false.
Alternative septic systems allow housing development in undeveloped areas (can you say sprawl), which is why developers like them so much. In Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, these alternatives septic systems were malfunctioning and leaking into the earth (and therefore the ground water) so often that the Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance invoking a moratorium on their further installation. In a report dated June 18, 2007, the Public Safety Committee of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors stated that these alternative systems “have had a startlingly high failure rate,” that they “put County citizens at risk for diseases,” and that their high failure rate was one of the “major reasons for a high fecal bacteria rate in the Goose Creek Watershed.”
HB 1788 flat out prohibited Loudoun – or any other county in Virginia – from implementing such a moratorium or even regulating alternative septic systems. The Piedmont Environmental Council came out against it, stating “This legislation denies localities the ability to protect the health, safety, and public welfare.” They also called it an “unfunded mandate” because it leaves the counties with the responsibility of cleaning up the mess left behind by defective systems while giving them no authority to regulate such systems. In a letter to all members of the House of Delegates dated 2-13-2009 the Virginia League of Conservation Voters urged a “No” vote on the bill, stating, “This legislation denies localities the ability to protect the health, safety, and public welfare.” The Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) also opposed the Hull bill in a letter delivered to all House offices saying that the bill “poses a threat to the public health of citizens in many Virginia counties.”
In discussing the passage of HB 1788, Mr. Hull conveniently neglects to mention that it passed only after Northern Virginia Democrats amended it and the Governor used his veto and line item power to demand significant change which the Assembly included.
Delegate Hull was no friend to the environment when he introduced the legislation to prevent localities from regulating these systems from being built in our area.
Mary B. Tycz
Falls Church
Says Anyone But McAuliffe for Governor
Editor,
In the Virginia primary, Democratic voters should keep one fact in mind: Terry McAuliffe is a loser. He helped the party lose in the national elections of 2002 and 2004, and backed the losing candidate in the 2008 primaries. It is only his losses on the national stage that have brought him to Virginia politics.
Brian Moran and Creigh Deeds have both worked with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine in the rising string of Virginia Democratic victories. If either of them is the nominee this string could continue; if McAuliffe is the nominee, the Republicans will brand him as a fat-cat liberal and a carpetbagger, and he will probably lose.
John F. McDiarmid
Falls Church
Waiting for Electric Charge Not ‘Restful’
Editor,
In his recent article “The Electric Car: Part 2,” Tom Whipple suggests that it might be restful to take a trip across country in an electric car that one drives for an hour then recharges for a half an hour. Clearly he has never taken a carload of children to the Delaware shore in the summertime. Lining up for a charge at the McDonalds at the Kent Island sounds like fun! By the way kids: we can’t run the air conditioner because we might get stranded on the Bay Bridge! Let’s get serious: Electric-only cars will be practically limited to short run city driving until the charge times and vehicle ranges match what we currently have with our gasoline-fueled vehicles. Until this happens, most American families will reject all- electric cars in droves.
Harley Hopkins
Falls Church
