To the Editor:
It’s time for some Alexandria residents and local politicians to admit we don’t live in a Banana Republic. When we disagree with the outcomes of elections, we don’t riot in the streets. We don’t call out the National Guard. We don’t trash the winner because we disagree with the outcome. There was no vote fraud, no hanging chads, no stolen ballots. Any registered voter was free to show up in person or vote absentee, but only about 13 percent did. This perceived “conflict” in the outcome is unseemly in the perception that it is pitting a man against a woman, a black against a white, an older person against a younger person. Alexandria has always been a place that values diversity in its residents and in its representatives. I call on Mayor Bill Euille personally to immediately stop this subterfuge of a “write-in campaign.” We have a winner of the June 9 race. The longer this charade continues, it demeans the reputation of the lame duck mayor and the good things he previously did. And it embarrasses our city, our political process and our state. Take all that energy invested in dissent and turn it into positive responses for the many troubling situations facing our city with finances, roads, low-cost housing, planning and zoning during the remainder of his term.
And I call on some of the mayor’s current and former colleagues to refuse to be part of this effort to question the results of a validly held election. Start with a return to civility at the first council meeting this fall. Over and over, several incumbents have refused to give Vice Mayor Allison Silberberg the courtesy of a “second” for her motions. Stop doing that, You can vote down everything she proposes from now until December, but stop denying her the necessary discussion process.
We deserve a council full of adults, who take seriously the business of governance. We are tired of the pouting, the pretending, the pandering and the downright trivialization of our electoral process.
Kathleen M. Burns
Alexandria