And Wolf makes an irreproachable case! His platform is, in fact, so generic and "common sense" that it would be hard to take exception to it. The bulleted items on his mailing include the following:
* "Get the Federal Budget Under Control"
* "Create Jobs and Help Business"
* "Get the Federal Budget Under Control"
* "Improve our Region's Transportation System"
* "Improve Education"
* "Protect Our Neighborhoods and Communities
Good stuff. Nothing there on social issues, but I would have to be a communist, a homosexual agitating to get married, a rape victim trying to dump a fetus, or some other undesirable to object to an inoffensive laundry list like that. And no matter what my own political leanings might be, I can't take offense at Wolf's party affiliation, because he opts not to include it in his mailing! Not even an examination of his campaign website, in fact, explicitly reveals whether he is a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or something else altogether -- although it does note that he has represented his district since 1981.
It would seem, in the current polarized political landscape, that the canny congressman believes he would repulse more people than he would attract by revealing this bit of information about himself. A sly Wolf indeed.
A little digging through third-party sources reveals that Wolf is, in fact, a Republican, but apparently not one of the more rabid members of that pack, and therefore quite possibly the kind of person I would want to vote for. As much as I might want to, however, I cannot support Wolf, for reasons beyond my control that I will reveal presently. I can, however, do him a favor -- and, perhaps more importantly, help out his profligate and inefficient staffers and any voters who may have given their hard-earned money to him.
In short, I cannot vote for Frank Wolf because he represents the 10th Congressional District of Virginia -- and I live in Texas. Yes, that is correct, I have been a resident of the Lone Star State for the past three-and-a-half years, but despite that staffers for Wolf's campaign nonetheless deem it appropriate to use the resources at their disposal to mail information to me about their candidate.
I have no idea how much money the Wolf campaign will save if this article prompts them to examine their mailing lists and purge the addresses of people ineligible to actually vote for their candidate, but I suspect it is more than any contribution I could afford to make would be worth. Maybe, as thanks for helping them out the way that I have, they will be kind enough to let me know.
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I live in his district and Mr. Wolf is an honorable, decent and competent man. His staff is pretty good - at least the ones I have met. When my daughter was offered an appointment to the Air Force Academy through a Presidential nomination, they immediately contacted her to see if she would withdraw her request for a Congressional nomination through him. Why? So that another high achieving kid in the district would have a shot. She withdrew, and now they are BOTH at the academy. We all know how inaccurate mailing lists are but I am perplexed as even when you lived in the Old Dominion you were not in his district.
ReplyDeleteScott, thanks for lending a personal perspective on Rep. Wolf! I honestly cannot remember even hearing his name the whole time I lived in Virginia, so it is good to get a firsthand take on him from one of our readers.
ReplyDeleteIt bears mention that the day after I posted this report I received yet another mailing from the Wolf campaign -- and this one actually includes an absentee ballot application! So, apparently, there are some provisions for living in Texas and voting for elected officials in Virginia (although, that being the case, one has to wonder why I would be relegated to one district or another). So is he a good enough guy that I should put your address on this application and then go ahead and vote for him? ;)