Here’s some video from yesterday afternoon’s highly successful event for Janet Oleszek. First, here’s Tim Kaine explaining why having a former School Board member on the County (or city) Board is highly beneficial. According to Kaine, education is the “single largest line item” in the Fairfax County budget, and having someone who knows that budget inside and out can be very helpful. Also, Kaine says that the relationship between the School Board and County Board is almost always a tense one, but that this tension gets “mitigated and lessened…if you put a talented School Board member on the [County] Board.” Finally, Kaine predicted that this could be an extremely close election in an “off-off year,” which means that “the marginal impact you make…is greater this year than in any other election.” Which is why we need Democrats to get out there and help Janet Oleszek (and others) win this election!
Next, turn to the “flip” for Fairfax County Board Chair Sharon Bulova praising Janet Oleszek and urging her election to the Board of Supervisors, so that “education stays the #1 priority in Fairfax County.” In addition, Bulova argues that Janet Oleszek has been a leader in maintaining the high quality of life that makes Fairfax attractive to corporations and to people thinking about doing business and/or living there. According to Bulova, “[Janet Oleszek] understands schools, she understands the budget, she understands making the priorities that we need to invest in the most important thing that we have here in Fairfax County, so we need Janet Oleszek [on the Board].”
Now, here’s Sen. Dave Marsden, who talks about how Republicans are trying to tear apart our public school systems and replace them with vouchers and other forms of privatization. According to Marsden, we need strong advocates for education like Janet Oleszek, and she will do that on the Fairfax County Board (“that’s what Janet’s going to be able to do for us, to be that bridge to make sure that education is taken care of, because it is numero uno here in our county”). Other than the Fairfax County Board race(s), Marsden argues for the crucial importance of Democrats keeping control of the State Senate. I strongly agree; this is our only way to stop truly extreme legislation from pouring out of the right-wingnut-controlled House of Delegates (e.g., “Sideshow Bob” Marshall) and right through the Senate en route to Governor Pat Robertson Bob McDonnell’s desk for signature. Let’s make sure we prevent this nightmare scenario on November 8.
Finally, here’s Janet Oleszek praising School Board candidate Megan McLaughlin and Sharon Bulova, urging the election of Tim Kaine, and explaining the importance of this race for the Braddock District and for Fairfax County. In addition, Oleszek thanks Sen. Dave Marsden (and urges his reelection, Kevin Hickerson of the Fairfax Education Association, and John Niemiec of the Fairfax County Firefighters and Paramedics for their support of her campaign. Finally, Oleszek says that her campaign just did a poll, in which she’s within “the margin of error” against John Cook (I found out the results were Cook 40%-Oleszek 38%, with 17% undecided and 4% for “Independent Green” candidate Carey Campbell), so this is most definitely a winnable race. Go Janet!
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