Nowhere in my post did I say that Pollard voted one way in committee, and voted another way in the full body, but nice try. I did say that he voted against the House version of a bill but voted for the bill after it had been amended, and improved, by the Senate. And are you suggesting that an elected representative is supposed to be omnipotent and be aware of every amendment that will be done to a bill in both bodies when he is deciding whether to vote “yes” or “no” in a committee or in the full body? And the reason the specific links don’t work is because the majority of the links go to HB 2903 of the 2005 session or HB 1015 of the 2004 session. It has nothing to do with a change in the layout or design of the General Assembly’s website; just that someone decided to copy and paste the hyperlink code and didn’t bother changing where the link pointed to when writing the web page.

You claim that Pollard is “ineffectual” but you don’t cite specific examples. You mention something about jobs: Since when was it the government’s duty to bring jobs to a certain area? Isn’t that the point of the free market? You also mention something about the composite index, perhaps you should check out HB 2093 of this session, which would helped Lancaster County for one. Pollard doesn’t have much say what a committee does with one his bills, especially when that committee kills the bill with a voice vote so their names aren’t attached to it. As for incentives for green jobs, see my previous opinion about the free market, but if you want Pollard’s support of incentives see HB 2094 and HB 2056 of the 2009 session.

And you talk about Rob Wittman: Wittman voted for one of the biggest tax increases ever three times (HB 3202, 2007 session). What legislation did he ever get passed in the House of Delegates? Renaming game wardens to “conservation police officers”? And what legislation has he gotten pass while in the House of Representatives? And what has Stuart done? Besides get a bill passed that allows the state to regulate what fertilizer someone can use on their property (SB 135, 2008 session)?

And you complain constantly about Pollard, but nowhere do I see you offering a better solution. Last year we had Lee Anne Washington talking about how she was going to end in-state college tuition for illegal aliens, when illegals don’t receive in-state tuition to begin with. This year, we have Washington back and now we have Catherine Crabill talking about nonexistent hate crime legislation.

The real point and bottom line is this—Delegate Pollard is one of the most ineffectual legislators that has ever been in the GA. He’s a nice guy and he’s intelligent and I personally like him, but with regard to representing the Northern Neck, he’s not been able to do anything for us over the past 8 years. He does cast his vote most of the time and that’s great, but we need jobs and we need the composite index to be changed to reflect the demographics of this area so that we can get a greater influx of state funds. We need someone who can actually sponsor, walk thru and get legislation passed that directly affects the hard working families of this small, rural area. We need to have incentives for businesses (particularly “green” businesses)to settle here and we need money for education. The cost for such endeavors doesn’t always have to come from the local Counties raising real estate taxes—-just get our fair share back from the State. We need someone with the knowledge, influence and ability to bring a coalition together within the State Legislature and unfortunatley, that person has not been Albert Pollard. Can you point to ANY significant legislation that he has personally patroned which has truly made an impact on the Northern Neck Counties? Any at all?

Albert gets accolades from various groups that are merely extensions of the Democratic Party, but the substance is just not there to back it up. Anyone who’s been around here for any time in politics knows that the local newspapers and editors are absolutely biased. From time to time, they’ll “throw out a bone” to appease the Republicans or conservatives, but basically, it’s all about the liberal side of the agenda. They attempt to spin Albert as a centrist or an Independent, but he still runs as a Democrat and caucuses with them at every turn. Basically, if you compared Albert’s overall vote, particularly on the social legislation, he’d compare well with Obama, Pelousi and Reed. I realize that the Pollard campaign and Press attempt to “lump” him in with other Republicans when he votes with them occasionally–it adds to the “independent” theme attempt, but the bottom line is that Albert runs as a Democrat, votes with the liberal Democrats and reasons like the liberal Democrats. I cannot count how many people in the Northern Neck spoke of their suprise when they found out the details of Albert’s votes when his record came up during the 28th Senatorial campaign.

Every member votes—–that comes with the territory, but just compare his record with that of one term Republican Rob Wittman and two term Richard Stuart. They’ve run circles around Albert and the time both served does not even top 2 full years. It’s not all about getting legislation passed, but it is about results and thus far he has been unable to deliver. So, how long do we wait for the change and the results we so desperately need in our little area? I know that most Democrats are just waiting for the census and re-dstiricting in hopes that it will give them a chance to get the House back. But, given Albert’s record thus far, that won’t do anythign for our area. Democrat or Republican, we need someone who is a champion for the Neck, not someone just looking for higher office.

Change is needed for the representation of our area or we will get lost in the shuffle of Virginia politics.