Spruill roast roundup

Last night, some 400 people showed up for the roasting of Chesapeake Delegate Lionell Spruill, Sr. Like last year, I started off my evening in the VIP reception room. I arrived early, since I knew the press would be all over the place, plus there was another event going on (the Chesapeake First Citizen was awarded) so parking was going to be a problem.

When I arrived, Del. Spruill was in the room, talking to other early arrivals. I actually had expected that Mark Warner would already be there, seeing as I saw him interviewed on the local TV station around 5:30pm at the airport, which is very close to my house. I guess his driver didn’t know the back roads because I arrived before he did, even though I left about 15 minutes later. Warner got to the event about 15 minutes after I did and immediately began working the room.

The room began to fill up. A few minutes later, Senator Jim Webb arrived. Among those assembled were Del. Ken Melvin, Del. Johnny Joannou, Del. Frank Hall, Del. Kenny Alexander, Del. Jeion Ward, Del. Mayme BaCote, Del. Brian Moran, Del. Ward Armstrong, and Senator Creigh Deeds, along with a number of candidates from the area and other local elected officials. Oh yeah – and fashion diva Senator Louise Lucas, who looked lovely, as always 🙂

Spruill, Webb and Warner made brief remarks before we headed to the dining room. Now everyone knows that Spruill is, shall we say, vertically challenged, so he stood on a chair while making his remarks. Webb chose not to but Warner, who does not suffer from being short, did. It was quite funny seeing Warner stand up on that chair while Spruill stood on the floor in front of him. (You can see some video of that here.)

After dinner, the order of the program got changed because Webb had to watch the President’s remarks and provide a response to it. (Some video of his remarks on Iraq are here.)After an introduction by Congressman Bobby Scott, Webb gave his remarks. Now Webb was not officially a roaster, but he took at few good-natured jabs at Spruill and Warner. Video of his remarks will be posted soon.

Susan Swecker read and presented Spruill with a letter from presidential candidate, Senator Hillary Clinton. Spruill is on the national campaign staff for the Senator.

The roasting began with Senator Louise Lucas. Lucas was hilarious and had the crowd in stitches as she talked about Spruill’s paratrooper training and his stuttering, which he has overcome. Next up was Del. Johnny Joannou. As a takeoff from Spruill’s work with Clinton, Joannou presented Spruill with some items that he supposedly left at Clinton’s home the last time he was there. Among them were a pair a red briefs 🙂

Last up was Mark Warner. The video of his remarks will also be posted soon.

Serving as Master of Ceremonies was DPVA Chair Dickie Cranwell. Cranwell has a wonderful sense of humor and with that Southern drawl of his, was excellent in his role.

Of course, the main purpose of this evening was fundraising – and not just for Spruill, who is unopposed in this election. Spruill presented a check to House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong to help our candidates throughout the state.

Once again, kudos to Spruill’s chief of staff Susan Rowland for putting together a wonderful event. I especially enjoyed the music that was played when each of the featured guests were announced. What a great touch!

Oh, and I mentioned earlier that there was another event going on at the facility. Coming over afterwards to offer his congratulations was Del. John Cosgrove.

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