Need Any More Incentive to Vote for Karen Keys-Gamarra on Tuesday? Try THIS Vitriol From the Fairfax GOP

See below for the Fairfax County GOP’s obnoxious, pathetic, desperate, no-class closing argument in the special election for School Board this Tuesday. In sum, the Fairfax GOP’s approach is to:

1. Argue that Chris Grisafe, their party’s nominee for School Board, is a “good guy,” so you should be super psyched to vote for him…and stuff. Well, now, that’s really convincing, wouldn’t you say? Wouldn’t want a BAD guy on the School Board, after all. But seriously? I mean, shouldn’t the School Board nominee have some actual qualifications or something? Especially given that in 2011, the Washington Post wrote that Grisafe’s “grasp of policy and politics is so tissue-thin” and that “lacks any experience or qualification for the job.” Has anything changed since 2011 to make Grisafe less “tissue thin” or unqualified?
2. Attack Karen Keys-Gamarra, a superbly qualified African-American woman, in highly personal terms — “arrogant” “glib,” “smooth,” “dishonest.” Speaking of “dishonest,” I have gotten to know Karen Keys-Gamarra, and in no way/shape/form are these slanders true. To the contrary, she is smart, authentic, caring, accomplished, and many other excellent traits. But that’s today’s Republican Party for you…slimy, nasty, ridiculous.
3. Act all naive about how the School Board actually works, including about their party’s hyper-ideological, far-right-wing members, such as rabid homophobe Elizabeth Schultz, who haven’t shown the least bit of cooperation or non-partisanship.
4. Whine about something that’s standard practice, which is to identify one’s party affiliation on signs, literature, etc., while glossing over the fact that THEIR nominee is doing whatever he can to hide his Republican Party affiliation in overwhelmingly Democratic Fairfax County. Gee, wonder why that might be? Hmmm…
5. Lie about Keys-Gamarra itching to “shove a ‘progressive’ ideological agenda down our throats” (note: no idea why the word progressive is in air quotes, but the GOP is nothing if not juvenile).
6. Throw in a few more big lies in there, such as the “govern through raw power, not reasoned discourse” hysteria.

With that, here are screen shots from the Fairfax GOP’s latest GOTV email. The only question is whether crap like this will backfire and result in more Democrats coming to the polls on Tuesday. Let’s make sure it does.

From: Fairfax County GOP <info@fairfaxgop.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 4:25 PM
Subject: Whats Happening on Tuesday?
To:

Dear Fairfax Republicans:

What’s happening on Tuesday?  Well, I’ll be going to my regular polling place to vote for Chris Grisafe in the special election for Fairfax County School Board.  I really hope you will, too.

If you can’t make it to the polls on Tuesday, August 29, you can still vote absentee today (Friday) until 4:30 pm, or tomorrow (Saturday) until 5 pm, at the main County Government Center.  

I know it’s the end of August, so you’re still enjoying the slower pace — unless you have kids in school, in which case you’re just going crazy.  I know it’s “just” one office, and “just” the School Board – but here are five reasons you really need to go vote:

1. Who is on the School Board matters.  If you have kids in the public schools, it matters, enough said.  If you don’t, your property taxes matter, the overall quality of our community matters, your home value matters.  More than half of Fairfax County’s budget every year goes to the public schools, and the current School Board wants more money and less accountability.
2. Chris Grisafe is a good guy, who will do a good job.  Chris Grisafe is honest, sincere, and genuine.  He has a wonderful personal story about the importance of teachers and education in his life.  Chris has served on FCPS committees and knows how the system works.  He’s committed to making the system accountable.  He’s also committed to listening to parents, teachers, students, taxpayers, and the entire community for the benefit of all.
3. The Democrat-endorsed candidate is arrogant.  The parties are allowed to endorse candidates, but by law the School Board is non-partisan.  Members are elected as independents, to promote civility and cooperation, but the current School Board would rather shove a “progressive” ideological agenda down our throats.  They govern through raw power, not reasoned discourse.  Chris’s main opponent has violated the non-partisan election tradition by openly declaring herself a Democrat on her campaign signs.  She tells local Democrats she will vote to change the names of Lee and Woodson High Schools, but then denies it at a candidate forum, calling it “fake news.”  She is glib and smooth and dishonest.
4. We’ve been working really hard.  By the time we’re through, we will have knocked on 25,000 doors and talked to 7,000 voters in person, just in our door-to-door effort.  Our aggressive social media campaign has reached thousands more voters.  Our elected officials – Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, Delegates Tim Hugo and Jim LeMunyon,Supervisors John Cook and Pat Herrity – have all put it on the line to support Chris.  Our candidates for statewide office in the November election – Ed Gillespie, Jill Vogel, and John Adams – have all been true team players.  Hundreds of volunteers have been out in the heat all summer:  please help them win.
5. Your vote really will count.  Turnout on Tuesday will be very low.  Our best guess is that when it’s all over, only about 4% of registered voters will have voted.  One vote could well make the difference.  We need every conservative, every Republican, every American who believes in what this country has always stood for, to vote today, or tomorrow, or on Tuesday.

So that’s what’s happening on Tuesday.  Please be a part of it.  Go vote for Chris Grisafe.

Most sincerely,

Matt Ames