April 18, 2002
Political notes
THE RATE IS COMING DOWN: No question about it – Arlington’s real estate tax rate will be lowered when the County Board meets on Saturday.
Even supporters of higher funding for human services are now petitioning for a 2-cent reduction in the rate (to $1.003 per $100 assessed value), an effort to forestall even larger reductions being backed by the business community, Arlington County Taxpayers Association, Arlington County Civic Federation and the county’s Republican leadership.
We’ve heard that one County Board member is backing a 7-cent reduction. Will the rate be cut that much? Don’t bet on it. But it is going down.
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ZIMMERMAN PICKS UP AN ENDORSEMENT: The Virginia Partisans Gay and Lesbian Democratic Club has endorsed County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman in his Democratic battle against Christian Dorsey.
Zimmerman “is a leader in the fight against discrimination based on sexual orientation,” said Jim Ball, president of the organization. “A vote for Chris Zimmerman is a vote for tolerance and a vote for ensuring that Virginia’s laws provide equal protection to gays, lesbians and all Virginians.”
Zimmerman and Dorsey square off in a May 14 party caucus. The winner goes on to face Republican Mike Clancy in November.
MORE PLEDGE FALLOUT: Arlington County Civic Federation president Jim Pebley wants TV talker Bill O’Reilly to know – Bernie “the Pledge of Allegiance is Wrong” Berne doesn’t speak for the organization as a whole.
After Berne appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” last month – with “Arlington County Civic Federation” under his name on the TV screen – Pebley dashed off a letter to the host, asking for a clarification.
As one of about 500 delegates to the Civic Federation, Berne “was not authorized to represent the Federation in his statements opposing the Pledge of Allegiance,” Pebley said.
“I take strong exception to [Berne’s] misrepresentation of our organization,” Pebley wrote in the letter, which is posted on the Civic Federation’s Web site. “We didn’t deserve that kind of misrepresentation.”
Pebley noted that, on the very day Berne was appearing on O’Reilly’s show, the Civic Federation was holding its annual awards banquet. The event began with, you guessed it, the Pledge of Allegiance.
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