Chris Stolle, the Republican challenger to Democratic incumbent Joe Bouchard, has but $26,015 on hand as of August 31. Included in that total is a $10,000 loan from his brother, State Senator Ken Stolle, who himself is running for Sheriff in Virginia Beach.
In a four day span earlier this month, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) donated $70,900 to Chris Stolle’s campaign. Back in May, the organization donated $15,192 in-kind, bringing its total investment in this race to $86, 092, or about 43% of his total raised that we are aware of.
Only the Republican Party of Virginia has received more money from the RSLC than Stolle. The next largest recipient of the largesse of the RSLC is LG Bill Bolling, who has received roughly a third of what Stolle has.
It seems that the RSLC is trying pretty hard to buy Chris Stolle this seat. Why they are doing so remains a mystery. But we cannot allow that to happen.
All of Virginia should be proud to have Joe Bouchard in the legislature. He is a smart, thoughtful man. Have a conversation with him sometime: there isn’t much he hasn’t thought about. He’s served his country, now he’s serving Virginia.
Help out Joe. Don’t let the RSLC buy this seat. Donate today.
Not my district, but I donated today! So sick of this campaign financing farce.
Posted by Mollie in VB | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 8:07 amVivian, are you sure you don’t like my proposal that only voters registered for a particular election can donate to candidates in that election?
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 8:27 amThat is probably not constitutional, because it violates the equal protection clause.
Virginia badly needs donation limits, however. This is a perfect reason why.
Posted by Johnny Longtorso | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 8:06 amThose donation limits would’ve crippled Bouchard in his first race in 2007. Somehow Democrats didn’t think 6-figure donations to Bouchard were bad.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 8:27 amHow in the world would such a law violate the equal protection clause?
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 10:59 amI hard Joe say we can’t drill offshore because it will affect naval operations. Pretty sad for him to say; we conduct major combat operations around what is probably the biggest concentration of oil platforms in the world; the Persian Gulf
Posted by Max Shapiro | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 8:57 amFor clarification, I thought he was relaying the Navy’s response to offshore drilling.
Posted by tx2vadem | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 12:58 pmBut it’s the same people that say we cannot drill offshore because of Naval operations who want to put windfarms out there.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 2:25 pmI don’t know that they are interested in locating wind farms 50 miles offshore in the same lease area as Lease 220. And I think that is what makes it different. At least from my, albeit very limited, understanding.
Also as explained by Dan Sullivan on Blue Virginia, the issue is about the location of platforms. And, of course, we cannot know exactly where the wells, pipelines, and platforms will be located until we get further down the exploration path. With a wind farm, at least, you can plan very specifically now where it will be located and where transmission will be located. If you are really interested in this component, I suggest you head over there. I can’t remember the diary title though. =(
Posted by tx2vadem | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 4:32 pmWith horizontal drilling, we can put the rigs pretty much wherever we want, too, and there would be far fewer rigs than windmills.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 11:00 amTypically, when someone is running for public office, they beef up their resume by getting on boards, commissions or some position that lends some credibility to their running. Stolle hasn’t done diddley! He isn’t even a member of his kids PTA! Talk about arrogance of privilege!
I’m sure hoping the people of Virginia Beach aren’t dumb enough to vote Ken into Sheriff and his useless brother in the House of Delegates. However, based on past elections, I’m not sure my hope has any merit.
Posted by T.W. Bonsac | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 9:30 pmYeah, last year’s election proves that experience and achievement mean nothing to voters.
Posted by Anon E. Mouse | Tuesday, September 22, 2009, 9:44 pmGee, when the Democratic Party and caucus gave Bouchard over 388,000 dollars in 2007, I don’t seem to recall the words “trying to buy this seat” appearing on this blog.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:58 amNo, it was Stolle who tried to buy the seat in 2007. Stolle got $399,805 from Republican groups, including his brother. And that doesn’t include the amounts contributed to Stolle by the Republican members of the House.
Posted by vjp | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 2:22 pmOh, I see. Democrats spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a race isn’t buying a seat, but Republicans spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a race is.
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 3:45 pmNo – you tried to make it sound as if only Bouchard got the money. That wasn’t the case. This year, it is.
Posted by vjp | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:12 pmthis week, it is. I’m sure the Democratic Party won’t let Joe down, will they?
Posted by Brian Kirwin | Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 4:46 pm