Well, it might not be the case that he actually wrote it, but the endorsement of Jeff McWaters in this Tuesday’s Special Election for the 8th State senate District by the Virginian-Pilot might as well been written by McWaters or someone on his campaign payroll.

Every contrasting paragraph is full of derision for Bill Fleming, the Democrat in the race, and rose colored depictions of McWaters, the Republican. The short vesion of the endorsement could have read something like, “We like money. McWaters has money. We like McWaters.”

Blinded by McWater’s warchest, the paper makes the grossly inaccurate statement about Fleming having “little grasp of how to solve the state’s transportation or budget problems.” Anyone researching Fleming on his campaign website would know that he understands that transportation issues in Virginia are due to political gridlock and require extraordinary cooperation in the General Assembly to solve. Fleming also understands that the economic and budget issues the commonwealth faces will not be solved through the irresponsible investment in offshore drilling or the short sighted selling off of Virginia’s ABC stores, both so called “solutions” have been proposed by Governor-Elect Bob McDonnell and will be rubber stamped by Jeff McWaters if he were to win the State Senate Seat.

The Pilot hails McWaters training as an accountant and his experience in providing medical care for the poor, and claim that he will “be a go-to guy in the Senate as the state looks for ways to cut spending.” All of this is absolutely true. McWaters has a history of cutting expenses by making difficult decisions, like that of his company, Amerigroup, denying medical coverage to poor pregnant women in Illinois; a decision which cost his company $334 million in a lawsuit.

Let’s face it, Jeff McWaters started his campaign as the smoke-filled backroom choice for the Republican party because he has money, and now the Virginian-Pilot is following suit. It’s dissappointing that the glare of McWater’s gold is keeping people from seeing the darker side of McWaters, where his ambition at the cost of the unfortunate and his conservative extreemism is hidden. We don’t need another politician like Jeff McWaters.

The people of the 8th district deserve an ethical, dedicated, and compassionate representative in the State Senate. I believe that person should be Bill Fleming.

Related posts:

1. From the Virginian-Pilot: Bill Fleming is Democratic Nominee in the 8th
2. It’s Jeff McWaters vs. ???
3. McWaters to Face Democratic Challenger in the 8th!
4. Fleming Campaign Responds to Virginian-Pilot’s Information Freeze
5. Bill Fleming, thank you for putting up a fight