Three of four incumbents
lose supervisor seats;
Democrats re-take Senate

By Julie von Sternberg

Challengers took three out of four Rockbridge Board of Supervisors seats Tuesday night, and Democrats regained control of the state Senate for the first time in a decade.

voting sticker
Rockbridge Report photograph by Dana Statton.

In the Natural Bridge District a political institution was overturned when Hunt Riegel beat incumbent Maynard Reynolds, who was elected in 1973.

In Kerrs Creek, Rusty Ford came back to beat incumbent Harvey L. Hotinger, to whom he lost four years ago. Ford received more than 60 percent of the vote.

In Walkers Creek, incumbent "Monty" Fix lost by a landslide to A. W. "Buster" Lewis. Fix also finished a distant third to another challenger, Frank "Pat" Patterson.

Incumbent Mack Smith of the Buffalo District was the only supervisor to hold his seat.

Roger Dean, former chairman of the Rockbridge Republican Committee and a delegate to the national GOP convention in 1996, had said earlier that many residents were upset with the way the board has handled issues such as rural development and the creation of a new court house.

"I think this would be the perfect time to throw someone out," said Dean.

The Board of Supervisors failed to approve a recommended re-zoning plan in September. As a result, the issue was sent back to the Planning Commission and will be re-addressed this month. Supervisor candidates all agreed that the county should find a balance between preserving farmland and allowing new residential development.

The turnover creates a very different board that could significantly change the county's outlook on growth. The three new supervisors -- Ford, Lewis and Riegel, who campaigned on their support for controlled growth -- are considered likely to protect open spaces and farm land by pacing residential and economic growth.

In the only countywide race, Sheriff Bob Day easily won a fifth term over Robert Clark, the deputy he fired last spring when he learned of Clark's intention to run against him. Day got about 62 percent of the vote.

In a race for the state Senate in District 24, Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger held a wide lead with more than half of the precincts reporting. But Democrats statewide won at least a 21-19 majority in the Senate with all but a couple of races decided.

Despite a practically silent campaign locally, Hanger appeared to have easily won re-election over Democrat David Cox of Lexington and Libertarian Arin Sime of Albemarle County. Sime received less than 10 percent of the vote. The disappointing showing from a conservative candidate hampered Cox's hopes that it would dilute the Republican vote.

Cox, a retired Episcopalian minister originally from Washington D.C., had said earlier that the likelihood of an upset for him depended on voter turnout.

"A lot of people won't go to the polls, either thinking that the incumbent, Hanger, is going to cruise to an election or that I don't have a chance, both of which are untrue," said Cox, who currently sits on the Rockbridge Area Community Services Board and has served on a variety of quasi-government committees. He was rector of R.E. Lee Memorial Episcopal Church in Lexington from 1987 to 1990.

Cox said that while campaigning he found that many people did not know about today's elections. He expected only 30 percent of the registered voters in the county to show up. While turnout in Rockbridge County was near 50 percent, throughout the district it was less than 30 percent.

Despite the apparent indifference of voters, races for the General Assembly statewide today could have far-reaching effects. Democrats needed to win four new seats, in addition to holding their current 17 seats, to re-gain a majority in the state Senate. A Democratic-controlled state Senate could re-draw Congressional district lines in 2011 to favor more Democrats in Congress from Virginia.

District 24 splits Rockbridge County geographically. Residents of Walkers Creek Magisterial District and half of Kerrs Creek District voted in the 24th District Senate race. Residents of the Buffalo, South River and Natural Bridge districts and the other half of the Kerrs Creek District, made up mostly of Collierstown residents, are in the 25th District.

Libertarian challenger Sime, an owner of two small software development companies in Crozet, said that state races at the top of the ballot, without federal elections, usually have lower voter turnout. Last year, 57 percent of citizens in Rockbridge County voted in the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Republican George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb.

"I just hope that voters that believe in small government will show up and cast a vote," said Sime, who has worked as a grassroots activist on issues related to property tax reform and loosening state regulations over family farms.

Hanger ignored repeated interview requests from The Rockbridge Report.
Sime said that turnout locally depended on the competitiveness of the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors races.

The Board of Supervisors election marked the last time that all five districts seats were up for grabs at the same time. In 2004, newcomers filled four of the five supervisor seats. In November 2005, to prevent such a turnover in the future, county voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to create staggered terms.

Residents argued that that would ensure that the board would never again be left with so few holdovers to supply institutional memory. Originally, the new board opposed the idea, but residents started a grassroots petition campaign that put the issue to a referendum, despite the lack of support from the board.

Under the new system, Ford in Kerrs Creek and Lewis in Walkers Creek will serve for two years this time, while the supervisors in the remaining districts will serve for four years. Subsequently, all terms will be four years.

In addition to deciding how and what kind of new businesses to attract to Rockbridge County, the newly elected board will also vote on rezoning in the county. A key controversy is how much leeway to give owners of large farms in selling their land for piecemeal home lots or to developers for residential subdivisions.

The smaller the allowed acres-per-lot, or zoning minimum, the more money a landowner might make. But smaller minimums also mean more haphazard sprawl and more demand on county infrastructure, such as water, waste disposal and public schools.

The county is considering two options to limit the problems associated with residential development: a "sliding scale" and a "time release" method. The sliding-scale method assigns a certain number of development sites depending on the size of the area being developed. Smaller areas would be allowed to develop in greater density than larger development sections, on a sliding scale down to a minimum of two acres per lot.

The other method, time release, allows the land owner to sell one tract a year. However, that tract cannot be subdivided for five more years.

According to VPAP.org, in the District 24 Senate race Hanger raised the largest amount of money, $326,466, but Sime and Cox said Hanger was not spending any of it.

In fact, Hanger did spend $266,952 through today, mostly on political consultants and TV ads. The majority of Hanger's contributions came from corporations and Political Action Committees. Sime raised $44,508, which was around his target amount of $50,000.

It was more, at least, than the Democrat Cox raised.

"It is great as a third-party candidate to be able to out-raise one of the major party candidates," said Sime. "It is always a positive sign for the success of our campaign."

Cox, who planned on having a low-budget campaign, raised $35,977. While he raised less money, Cox said he always had enough.

"It has arrived on time and in the amount needed," said Cox. "There are some people that count me out because I didn't raise big bucks, but that is not what matters in the end."