Disqus - Latest Comments for bscrafford

Re: “Community leader, environmental advocate and life-long Democrat” Andres Jimenez Announces Candidacy For Mason District (Fairfax County) Supervisor

Bryan Scrafford — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 15:43:44 -0000

He's already gotten some fairly big endorsements from several members of the General Assembly and a few unions (including Liuna, which often helps with the ground game ... something that could prove extremely useful during a local level race, especially if there's a primary)

Re: VA Dem Candidates’ Twitter Followings Did NOT Correlate with Success at the Primary Polls on Tuesday

Bryan Scrafford — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 12:14:37 -0000

There isn't necessarily a way to track this without getting info from the campaigns, but it would be interesting to see how various campaigns did with getting donations or volunteers through social media efforts. It's one thing to get a retweet or follow, but another to have someone take concrete action after originally engaging with a campaign's social media

Re: BREAKING: VA Governor and First Lady Northam Test Positive for COVID-19

Bryan Scrafford — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 20:22:29 -0000

Between spewing racist nonsense praising Jim Crow schools, actively opposing same-sex marriage, insisting football teams keep racist names, suing the governor over measures that kept the public safe during a public health crisis, sending his staff after Democratic Party leaders who called him out on racist rhetoric, and now this, the D by Chap's name doesn't belong there.

I'm proud to be an elected leader in the Democratic Party because we believe in science and equality. This type of nonsense suggests Chap Petersen doesn't. Either that, or he's actively willing to join in actions that contradict his core beliefs in order to score a few political points with Trump supporters. Neither option is good.

Re: US fanduel

Bryan Scrafford — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 19:38:00 -0000

anyone else having problems getting an update on the blue jays vs yankees game??? Is this an mlb wide thing, or just for this game?

Re: Thursday News: “Beirut Explosion Brings Lebanon to the Brink”; “Deutsche Bank Reportedly Gave Trump’s Financial Records to Manhattan District Attorney”; “Trump lets on...

Bryan Scrafford — Thu, 06 Aug 2020 14:49:49 -0000

I'm honored to be included on this list of people endorsing Jennifer. While there are several great candidates running, I strongly believe she's the best candidate in the field and will help steer our Commonwealth in the right direction

Re: Sen. Chap Petersen Files Motion to Voluntarily Dismiss His Challenge to Virginia’s COVID-19 Safety Measures

Bryan Scrafford — Sun, 26 Jul 2020 12:03:31 -0000

Well, at least this is a step in the right direction from Chap, but he's still remained absolutely silent about how Washington's football team changed it's name (a move Chap has said would result in him no longer buying tickets because he was so insistent on them keeping a racist name) or the decision of the Fairfax School Board to rename a school named after Robert E. Lee (he's previously said schools shouldn't change names glorifying white supremacists who led armies against the US because they wanted to buy and sell black people and insisted students should be proud to have these school names). Plus, his people are trying to force people into resigning from leadership positions in the party after they called him out for comments praising Jim Crow era schools.

Re: Audio: VA05 GOP’s Far-Right Nominee Falsely Says COVID-19 a “Manufactured Crisis,” “We Have Largely Eliminated Systemic Racism” and His African-American Opponent Has W...

Bryan Scrafford — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 14:46:00 -0000

Yup...the outrage over black people being murdered and having the cops called on them for the "crime" of being black while birding is all a "manufactured crisis" to make the GOP look bad. Just like the coronavirus was a "hoax" being pushed by Democrats to make Trump look bad

Re: Dominion CEO Tom Farrell #FAIL: Day After Announcement of Atlantic Coast Pipeline Cancellation, Company’s Stock Falls 11%

Bryan Scrafford — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:42:20 -0000

I hear Northam is gonna be holding a press conference with Dick Saslaw talking about how great this is for Virginia. And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Woodbridge to sell you

Re: Responding to Sen. Chap Petersen’s Latest Criticisms About Virginia’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Bryan Scrafford — Sun, 26 Apr 2020 11:22:18 -0000

I like Chap as a person and would love to grab a beer with him, but I've been rather disappointed with a lot of his politics recently. It's quite telling that a lot of people are openly hoping the Redskins will offer him a position in their front office and that he resigns from the senate to focus on that job.

Re: Democratic Straw Poll Results: VA Beach, Fairfax County, Alexandria

Bryan Scrafford — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 11:17:47 -0000

While I definitely can't complain about having FCDC receive a nice fundraising haul as a magisterial district committee chair, these results do show something ... just not what the Bloomberg Campaign hoped. His money could only bring out 1/4 the amount of supporters they hoped it would, which really eats away at his argument that his ability to spend a lot of money could prove to be beneficial in turning out supporters

Re: After Helping Turn County Blue, Fairfax County Democratic Committee Institution Frank Anderson Moves On to a New Challenge

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 00:33:36 -0000

As the new Chairman of the Sully District Democratic Committee (as of a couple hours ago), I know my job's going to be more challenging without Frank serving as the Executive Director.

I've known Frank since well before he took over as the Executive Director for FCDC and he's definitely a great person to have around....both in a personal and professional sense. It's an incredibly smart move by James Walkinshaw to hire him and I look forward to seeing what he does in his new role.

Re: Video: Asked About ERA Ratification, Delegate-Elect Dan Helmer (D-HD40) Declares “It’s going to happen next year…It’s a done deal”

Bryan Scrafford — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 12:41:26 -0000

I was at the Northern Virginia Labor Council meeting last week and Hala Ayala was there. She's the chief co-patron of the ERA again this year and seemed fairly confident that it would end up making its way through the General Assembly too.

Re: More Anti-Semitic Tropes, This Time in Fairfax Commonwealths Attorney Race

Bryan Scrafford — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 10:24:05 -0000

Dave, antisemitic dog whistles are being used by plenty of Fairfax Republicans this year. Cindy laid it out pretty clearly, but if you need another reminder of it, Elizabeth Schultz claimed she was being bullied by wealthy Jewish donors whose organizations were using methods promoted by Jewish community organizers (both people she explicitly singled out).

What makes it even worse is she said this in response to people criticizing her for comments that suggested she thought "both sides" of the Holocaust should be taught in schools. There's no way to get around that blatant use of antisemitism in a campaign, but go ahead and keep trying to distract from the actual discussion by claiming it's Democrats who are insulting voters. https://bryanscrafford.com/...

Re: The “Trump Effect” Turns Local School Board Races From Staid to Strident, with Nasty Anti-LGBTQ Views and Republican Candidates

Bryan Scrafford — Thu, 24 Oct 2019 21:52:30 -0000

Here's some quotes and audio recordings from the "forum" Schultz participated in with the Family Research Council. It was truly disturbing how much hate Schultz and Cathy Ruse were spewing. It should be noted that Tom Wilson and Priscilla DeStefano were there to support Schultz and expressed support of their messaging. https://bryanscrafford.com/...

Re: Video: Fox 5’s Wildly Unfair and Unbalanced Story on Fairfax Schools

Bryan Scrafford — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 17:39:39 -0000

The Republicans have been running interesting campaigns for school board in Fairfax County. They're constantly telling people that the Democrats have some secret left wing radical agenda that they're trying to push through in secret, but then they're going on Fox during stories that use captions that seem to be an attempt to hide who they really are during stories where absolutely none of the Democrats are interviewed.

This situation seems to suggest truth of what's taking place with the school board is actually the EXACT OPPOSITE of what they say is happening

Re: Video: Does Anyone Know What the Hell Far-Right Fairfax School Board Member’s Babbling About Now?

Bryan Scrafford — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 13:48:07 -0000

Let's also not forget that Elizabeth Schultz was caught blatantly lying during a recent League of Women Voters forum in an attempt to make Laura Jane look bad. https://bryanscrafford.com/...

Re: State Sen. Amanda Chase (R-VA11) Announces for Governor of Virginia…in 2025 (huh?)

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:16:41 -0000

The question now becomes whether or not she'll continue to wear a handgun in a desperate attempt to intimidate people if she actually wins and has armed guards protecting her

Re: With Its Racist, Misogynistic, Far-Right-Extremist Chair Candidate About to Go Down in Flames, PW County GOP Goes Completely Bonkers

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 09 Oct 2019 11:28:32 -0000

Sheez. Not that it's acceptable anywhere, but you'd think they'd want to run candidates who are at least somewhat moderate in Northern Virginia. But they're obviously supporting the crazy in Prince William and they've been Trumpifying the school board races in Fairfax.

It'll be interesting to see if anything goes down in tonight's forum out in Leesburg with the candidates for Chair of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors.

Re: While Supreme Court Hears Major LGBTQ Rights Case, Virginia Republicans Already Support Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination

Bryan Scrafford — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 21:22:25 -0000

I think the most important part of this is that GOP leadership under the direction of Speaker Kirk Cox decided the bill shouldn't even be able to come up for a vote by the full House of Delegates. Based upon conversations I had with members of the House and folks who were leading this fight for basic equality, it looked like there were enough votes for passage if it was allowed to make its way to the House floor.

What this is means is the GOP leadership actively manipulated the process to make sure discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remained legal in Virginia. This type of behavior is a prime example of why we must see action on the issue at the federal level.

Re: Thoughts and Tips from Three Weekends of Canvassing Voters in Fairfax County and Loudoun County

Bryan Scrafford — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:59:58 -0000

Thanks for coming out this way. I grew up in (and currently live in) western Fairfax County and lived in Loudoun for several years before moving back to Fairfax.

I agree...there are a lot of people who aren't closely following what's going on in state and local politics. While this can be discouraging, it actually represents an opportunity in my opinion as it means the conversations we have can have a greater than usual impact on the overall discussion.

This year's elections traditionally have around a 30% turnout (sometimes less), which means every conversation with voters is absolutely crucial. This is especially the case as the Republicans are running a misinformation campaign while trying to rally their base and that could have an outsized effect since the public doesn't already have an in depth knowledge of what's actually going on.

Re: Video: Right-Wing Republican Fairfax County School Board Candidate Rants About Diversity

Bryan Scrafford — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 08:21:37 -0000

It's been rather interesting watching the school board races here in Fairfax County. I don't think I've ever seen candidates be so blatant in their disgust of people who embrace diversity. Zia Tompkins, who's running in the Braddock District, said liberals are just conducting "social engineering" over the weekend and Elizabeth Schultz (who represents the Springfield District) says it's going to result in "busing to distant schools" (an attempt to channel the folks who opposed integration in the Civil Rights era).

Of course, these are the same people who have actively fought against the school system's decision to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the non-discrimination policy. Tom Wilson (who represents Sully) has actually said that's a major reason why he ran in the first place. In other words, they think it's horrible that we can't discriminate against LGBT kids in our schools.

Re: ICYMI: Virginia State Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R) Opposes Rezoning to Integrate Richmond’s Whitest Schools

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 13:46:52 -0000

Voter turnout's going to be low this cycle. When I'm phonebanking/canvassing, I can't tell you how many people have no idea we have elections in November (though my organization is targeting people who have voted in 1 of the last 4 elections -- so basically the presidential). And if they are aware of the election, many don't know about school board.

So, I could see these efforts to excite their base actually benefit them in November.

Re: Fairfax County GOP Says It’s “Had Enough” of Children Who Are Not Like Them

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 13:43:24 -0000

The scary thing is so few people know what's actually going on with the school board that it's easy for the GOP candidates to stir up nonsense that the public might actually believe. They've gotten so bad that I've actually heard about rumors that the new school boundaries would end up buses some Fairfax County students out to schools in Prince William County (no offense to PWC, but it's absurd that people would actually believe that).

Re: ICYMI: Virginia State Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R) Opposes Rezoning to Integrate Richmond’s Whitest Schools

Bryan Scrafford — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 11:12:52 -0000

There's been a lot of talk in Fairfax County about school boundaries. The GOP endorsed candidates are trying to claim the school board is trying to pass some sort of radical new plan that would result in lower home values and forced busing. While they're not publicly making it so blunt, the obvious implication is that they want people believing white students will be harmed because there might be more students of color at various schools.

The blatant lies the GOP candidates are spreading have gotten so bad that there are now rumors about students in Fairfax County being bused outside of the county to places like Woodbridge in the future.

Re: WUSA TV9 Northern Virginia Bureau Chief Headed to Dominion Energy. No, This Is Not Good News.

Bryan Scrafford — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 13:34:55 -0000

It's worth noting that Danica Roem often credits her time as a reporter for playing a large role in why she's now an effective legislator and knows a lot about a variety of issues facing her constituents. Our local reporters don't receive a lot of attention, big salaries, or job security, but they're providing a crucial service to the public and deserve to be treated with a lot more respect.

Given how members of both parties like to bash the media whenever they don't get the coverage they want (though Trump is definitely the worst at this) and folks seem to be sharing the sentiment that reporters don't deserve any positive recognition, I'm not surprised that we're seeing quality journalists leave the profession.