It’s not often we get the chance to endorse one of our own, an openly gay Republican running for legislative office who opposes government solutions to all problems social and economic and supports policies which make it easier for small businesses to flourish, keeping our communities vibrant and creating jobs for our fellow citizens. Not just that, like my co-blogger, he’s a graduate of Syracuse University, having received his J.D. from its law school.
Alas that this fine man is not running in California, a state which could really use more candidates like him. Patrick Forrest is running in Virginia which holds its biennial legislative elections one week from today.
A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and an officer in the Coast Guard, Forrest served until March 2011 in the U.S Department of Homeland Security, working as lead counsel for the federal employment verification program, E-Verify and as Associate Chief at the Office of Legislative Affairs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. He has also been active in civic affairs, securing appointments to the Fairfax County Public School Board, Business & Community Advisory Council as well as the county’s Textbook Selection Committee.
Concerned about growing congestion in his Northern Virginia district, Forrest wants to conduct “economic impact studies” to determine how best to implement “public-private partnerships“, focusing not just on roads, but also on alternative transportation. He wants to “encourage and promote innovation and demand absolute transparency from our transportation spending.”
In terms of retaining businesses in the commonwealth, Forrest wants to create “a competitive low tax and smart regulatory system that promotes the entrepreneurial spirit . . . in Northern Virginia“. He favors legislation which would exempt “all new small and medium size businesses from the burdensome Business and Professional Licensing (BPOL) tax for their first five years” as well as other initiatives to attract employers to Virginia. That’s bad news for the Golden State which is likely to see a continued exodus of companies, including Northrop Grumman Corp. which are leaving this over-regulated jurisdiction for more friendly climes like the Old Dominion.
Perhaps because he wants to make his state even more friendly to business, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell endorsed Forrest, calling him a “great messenger for fiscal responsibility and for job creation.” When asked “if supporting an openly gay candidate like Forrest will hurt him or other Republicans in rural parts of Virginia“, the conservative chief executive responded “emphatically” in the negative,
pointing out that “Patrick Forrest is all about creating jobs, controlling government spending. He’s a fiscal conservative. He has his finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the Fairfax and Arlington communities. He’s a great messenger for the fiscal conservative message and that’s what people care about right now.”
And that’s why we here at GayPatriot are joining the Governor of the Old Dominion in endorsing Patrick Forrest for Virginia Senate. Please join me by contributing to this fine man’s first bid for elective office.
And if you live in Virginia’s 32nd Senate district, make sure to vote for Patrick Forrest on Tuesday, November 8.
Unless Forrest knows that the only good (i.e., non-market-distorting) “public-private partnership” is the one that doesn’t exist, that sounds awfully like he is willing to do “public-private partnerships”. Haven’t we had enough of that? e.g. on alternative energy?
We’re not in the same district so I can’t vote for him even if I wanted to. I do like his support for the repeal of the “Kings Dominion Law”. That law was a sop to the amusement parks here and delays start of the school year. Frankly, I’d also like to see summers done away with and switch to the 9 weeks on/ 2 weeks off plan.
I can not vote in Patrick Forrest’s district, but I would be pleased to vote for him, if I could, and I will support his campaign. However, I would not vote for him because he is gay. I put a great deal of stock in a VMI graduate who served as a Coast Guard officer and has experience as a lawyer at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. I also like the fact that he has served of a school board and been involved in the textbook selection process.
Hopefully, he did not carry out this impressive resume with the major purpose of being gay. I will assume he is a great, conservative servant who happens to be gay. Sorry, but I don’t know his religion, ethnic heritage or race. But I really don’t care.
Of course, being in Texas I can’t vote for Mr. Forrest, but I sure as hell can contribute some $$$ to his campaign.
I would suggest all GPers try to do the same if circumstances warrant. Let’s show the Dhimmicrats a thing or two about “identity politics.”
Regards,
Peter H.
And as a delicious counterpoint, look at what Barack Obama, the Barack Obama Party, the Barack Obama Party candidate, and Barack Obama Party volunteers are running around saying to voters about Forrest:
“He’s a homosexual. Why would you want to vote for someone who’s a homosexual and is going to push his agenda in your schools?”.
You want to see a glorious meltdown, go over to Independent Gay Forum and watch all the people who used to troll here like Houndentenor tie themselves into knots explaining why what they used to have an aneurysm over and call “gay-baiting” is somehow “pro-equality” when the Obama Party is doing it.
Seriously. Candidates like Herman Cain and Patrick Forrest demonstrate beautifully that liberals and “progressives”, like their ancestors, are most terrified of one thing — slave revolts. Liberals and “progressives” believe that non-white and LGBT people should be their obedient, leashed slaves, never once contradicting Massa Reid or Missus Pelosi.
NDXXX, are you anticipating one of my next posts?
Ouch! I hope I didn’t steal any of Zeus’s thunder. 🙂
You know it’s funny but I completely skipped over where Dan said that Forrest is “an openly gay Republican” without even noticing it. I immediately went to his website to look at his position statements. I didn’t realize he was gay until you mentioned it. Such doesn’t effect how I would vote but I must say it’s nice to see. Actually, an “openly gay Republican” would be nice to see in Virginia especially in the state Senate. It certainly would give the Lynchburg-Virginia Beach cabal something to hyperventilate about which is a good thing IMO.
As a State Senator and a member of the Finance Comittee, Mr. Forrest’s opponent, Janet Howell has a consistent track record of raising taxes on Virginia businesses and families. Her rhetoric also has been one of soak the rich and eliminate loopholes for the wealthy.
Yet, she has consistently taken advantage of a huge loophole to avoid having to sacrifice and pay her fair share of taxes as everyone else.
Mr. & Mrs. Howell reported financial assets in 2010 worth more than $1.48 million and possibly more than $6 million.
Janet Howell’s husband worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as their principal economist for 26 years. One of the perks of working for an international economic organization, like the World Bank or IDB, is that their employees do not pay taxes on their income.In some cases if they have to pay income taxes in the U.S., the organization will pay these taxes.In other words, there is no sacrifice whatsoever. Senator Howell’s husband is basically the sole bread-winner in the household. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of their income was tax free. What a loophole! No wonder how they have been able to accumulate such a high net worth.
It is highly hypocritical, for a politician that keeps trying to increase taxes in our society and eliminate the loopholes available to the wealthy, to take advantage of loopholes and opportunities to not sacrifice with the rest of society which she consistently tries to overtax. Wouldn’t the correct thing to do would have been to donate to charity or to the state and local government, the revenues that they would have had to cut from their income, in order to pay taxes, if they were an average worker or small business owner in Northern Virginia?
Why take advantage of loopholes that benefits the wealthy at the expense of the needy in our society?