It was a packed house tonight, and also a great deal of energy and enthusiasm, earlier this evening at an event for Arlington County Board Democratic nominee Matt de Ferranti. A few of the many de Ferranti supporters in attendance tonight at former Arlington County Board member Mary Hynes’ home included Arlington County Board Chair Katie Cristol, Arlington County Commissioner of the Revenue Ingrid Morroy, Arlington County Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson, Arlington County School Board member Barbara Kanninen, State Sen. Adam Ebbin, Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC) Chair Jill Caiazzo, and immediate past ACDC Chair Kip Malinosky.
In her remarks, County Board Chair Katie Cristol emphasized Matt’s “long and impressive civic resume,” including as a leader in fighting for lower-income kids; somebody who has “woken up every morning for years to fight for some of our most vulnerable people”; and as somebody who embodies Democratic core values – “government can work to help people in their journey…to advancing a better life.” According to Katie Cristol, we are in a “dark moment” right now in the country, and that the best way to make the case for progress at the local level is to actually fight for progress at the local level.
Matt’s remarks emphasized that there are only 105 days until the election, that we can win the election “no doubt,” and that there is a clear difference between and his opponent. To quote Matt:
We need new vision for Arlington’s future…in our economy…in education construction…in housing affordability…to end child hunger in Arlington by 2022…that is committed to 100% renewable energy by 2035…My opponent sees half the picture, maybe less than half in some cases…We need to be thinking about growth, not just keeping things exactly as they are, because that’s not life…On education construction, you can’t just be for investing in schools in the last 6 months before an election…On the environment and child hunger, I don’t know if there’s a vision to contrast with; I know I’m committed to those high goals…I don’t know if my opponent has a vision on those two issues. That’s the sort of things that make us Democrats…and that’s the full picture…not just cutting, but also investing…
I would go even further and argue that Matt’s Republican (yeah, yeah, I know he pretends to be “independent”) opponent just says no to everything, has no vision for Arlington’s future, and only looks at how much things cost but not on the RETURN on investment (ROI). That’s not acceptable at all if we want to move Arlington County forward.
For her part, Mary Hynes stressed the need to vote against Corey Stewart, for Tim Kaine and then all the way down the ticket for House, County Board and School Board. Hynes also stressed the importance of telling all your friends, neighbors, etc. to vote or Matt de Ferranti. As for Matt’s opponent, Hynes said she thinks of him as someone “treading water, looking backwards, and that is not going to stand Arlington in good stead.” So true. Which is exactly why we need to make sure we win this election. Go Matt!
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