The Intolerance Of Virginia Bluebloods

No, I don’t mean the bluebloods you’re probably thinking of — aristocrats or descendants of aristocrats or aristocrat wannabes. I mean the Democrats in solid Blue Charlottesville, who are increasingly demonstrating a level of intolerance that I find both extreme and yet typical of the breed.

Take the City Council, for example. (Or, in Henny Youngman style, “Take the City Council, please!”) There are five members. They were traditionally all Democrats until four years ago upstart Republican Rob Schilling, an import from Pasadena, California, pounded the pavement and got himself elected. He’s been a persistent and effective critic of the remaining four Democrats ever since, and they don’t like it.

In fact, according to an article in today’s Daily Progress, at least one of the Democrats, Blake Caravati, has so much trouble with criticism that he not only wants Schilling defeated for re-election — no surprise or problem there — but he doesn’t even like the idea of him walking around a free man with the same First Amendment rights as everyone else.

Charlottesville City Councilor Blake Caravati demanded that fellow councilor Rob Schilling retract his recent statement that the rest of the council and the city manager were engaged in a “secret little cabal” in writing the budget last year.

“It’s an extremely serious charge, and it has political penalties to it, for sure, and actual criminal penalties,” Caravati said at a budget work session Thursday….

A bit of background is provided in the article:

Schilling, the only Republican on the five-member council, made the cabal comment at a March 9 work session after Councilor Kevin Lynch told him that coming up with a 4-cent cut in the real-estate tax rate last year was not easy, and that if he had participated in the budget process like the other councilors, he would know that.

“Oh, so we have a secret little cabal going on behind the scenes,” Schilling said. “We’re dealing with the city manager outside of the public eye composing a budget? I’m glad that you admitted it because I knew that was what was going on.”

We may be in an election cycle, but the message seems to be that one should criticize Charlottesville Democrats only at your peril.

Nor is the effort to shut Schilling up unique. Indeed, the same issue of the paper discusses a conflict involving the Charlottesville Elections Board, which also has but a single Republican, but a recent squabble there was an intramural affair among the Democrats.

Vance High, a candidate for school board, has filed a complaint with the state elections board accusing Joan Schatzman, vice chairman of the Charlottesville board, of unethical conduct and requesting her removal from the board.

Ms. Schatzman said, at a candidates forum at the Charlottesville-Albemarle Democratic Breakfast: “I am repelled by Vance High.”

Well. No doubt about where she stands.

Mr. High wants her to apologize, retract her statement and resign from the board.

This, of course, is the now typical overreaction to criticism.

The board does not have authority to act, said its secretary, Jean Jensen.

“There’s nothing in election law that prohibits an electoral board member from expressing her opinion,” she said.

Board members are not prohibited from speaking their minds about politics. They are restricted only from serving as party chairs, doing paid campaign work in their district and running for office in their district. They may volunteer in campaigns and serve on political committees.

In fact, their appointments to electoral boards are rooted, to an extent, in partisanship. The political party holding the governor’s office gets two members on the board; the other party gets one.

….

Mr. High, meanwhile, says he’s “not trying to void anybody’s First Amendment rights, but… .” [Ellipsis in original]

But indeed.

Wait, there’s more, still from the same issue (March 24) of the Daily Progress. Here is a letter, “Political Vandals Cowardly,” that is not yet (and maybe never will be) online, which I post in its entirety:

In the past I have had my yard signs vandalized when I supported Democrats Tim Kaine, John Kerry, Al Weed, etc. I wasn’t surprised.

Last week I put some Schilling for Council signs in my yard (Rob Schilling is a Republican). My Schilling signs have been vandalized more times in a week and half than all of my other signs ever, and on the day I wrote this letter one was stolen.

It is scary to wonder what goes through the small, sick minds of those cowards who come onto my property to attack a defenseless piece of cardboard and commit theft and vandalism in the home of the brave and the land of the free. Do they really think they are helping their candidate?

Why don’t they give the Constitution a break and honor my right of free speech?

Free speech in Charlottesville, home of Thomas Jefferson and his University, is not being treated well these days by his political descendants, the local Democrats.