I couldn’t agree more with 9500 Liberty co-director Eric Byler’s commentary on Prince William County Board chair Corey Stewart’s “rule of law” video:
Corey Stewart, Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, won reelection in 2007 by fomenting a culture war over immigration. The policy that resulted from this election strategy cost the county millions of dollars, hurt its economy, and caused crime to go up (after it had been falling for 15 years). An “Arizona” style police mandate was quickly repealed over Stewart’s objection after only 8 weeks as these realities, and most importantly, the fact that it put the county in legal jeopardy, became clear.
Now, it’s election season again. Stewart has a Republican primary challenger for his Chairman’s seat, and he wants to run for the U.S. Senate in 2012. He seems to feel that a statewide culture war over immigration is his only hope, but can the Commonwealth of Virginia afford to be saddled with the fiscal and pubic safety impacts of such a culture war, with or without the policy that comes with it?
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