Grey Beefs Up Campaign

Mayoral Candidate Robert Grey has tapped a former Tim Kaine staffer to be his campaign manager. Grey announced today that Lisa McMurray-Fulton  will head up his campaign later this week. Fulton is the former campaign manager for Governor Kaine’s primary and general election run for Lt. Governor in 2001. She also served as Chief of Staff in the Lt. Governor’s Office until 2003.

Grey said, “Our campaign has great momentum and I look forward to the energy that Lisa can bring to the campaign in this new phase as we enter the final two months of the campaign. I appreciate the work my previous consultants have done to get us to this point.”

Both Bill Pantele and Dwight Jones have people heading up their bids for mayor.  We’ll let you know if any of the other candidates make additions to their staff before election day.

Jones: Private Fundraiser

Delegate Dwight Jones is raising money for his campaign. He’s holding a fundraiser next Monday, September 15th.  It’s from 6 to 7:30 and appears to be by invite only.  According to a press release from his campaign it’s $1000 to host, $250 to sponsor and $100 to be a supporter. 

By the way….reports on campaign funding are due next Monday.. We’ll have a report soon on how much money each of the candidates raised this summer.

Press Conference Hi-jacked?

By Rachel DePompa – bio | email

Mayoral Candidate and City Council President Bill Pantele held a press conference this afternoon in Shockoe Bottom. (A press conference “gone awry”… when Mayor Doug Wilder made a surprise appearance. But we’ll get to that in a moment.)

Pantele was touting his new plan to crack down on street level crime. He told a crowd of about 25 people he would adopt a zero tolerance policy for neighborhood crime if elected mayor. He said part of the focus would be on prostitution, assault, graffiti, loitering and vagrancy. Pantele said, “It all starts at the top, with having determination that neighborhood crime matters. It does and I’m serious about it and rather than finger pointing or confusing it’s time for real leadership.”

That last part… “confusion” may be a jab at Mayor Wilder, who showed up in the middle of the 20 minute press conference with the police chief and several other city leaders in tow. Wilder had statistics ready to go about how crime has dropped in Shockoe Bottom in the last several years. I’ve been to nearly every press conference held by a mayoral candidate this year and this is the first time Wilder has ever showed up. When asked why? He said he just happened to be in the neighborhood.

We’ve included video of a portion of the press conference and an interview I did with Wilder. You be the judge on whether or not the appearance was planned. And I’m curious what you think of this little demonstration of the in-fighting that’s been going on for nearly four years now between the Mayor and City Council. Let me know what you think!

-Rachel