Suzanne Scholte for Congress

From the Fairfax Free Citizen:

What a breath of fresh air! Suzanne Scholte, the Republican nominee for the House of Representatives in Virginia’s 11th District, has organized and led two open and informative Town Hall meetings with 11th District constituents over the course of two weeks. That’s two more Town Halls than incumbent Democrat Congressman Gerry Connolly has convened in recent memory.

But, of course, Congressman Connolly has been quite busy over the past year and a half as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Yes, that’s Congressman Darrell Issa’s committee that is investigating potential Federal Government wrongdoing in nearly everything it touches, including:

• Alleged Internal Revenue Service (IRS) harassment – abuse of conservatives and Tea Party organizations

• The slaying of America’s Ambassador to Libya plus three American security personnel in Benghazi

• The selling of weapons to Mexican drug cartels in a perverted operation called Fast and Furious

• Alleged corruption at the Export-Import Bank

• Mismanagement of both Medicare and Medicaid funds

• Identification of wasteful Federal Government spending

And do you see Congressman Connolly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Congressman Issa (R, CA-49) at the hearings and in post-hearing interviews demanding answers and data from Federal Government bureaucrats who appear to be careening forward with no regard for the rules of the road? No, Congressman Connolly and the Committee minority Democrats, under the blustering leadership of Congressman Elijah Cummings (D, MD-7), appear to be doing everything possible to deceive, deflect, and stonewall efforts to discover the truth about these scandals.

Little wonder that Congressman Connolly has no time for face-to-face town hall meetings with his constituents. Staying on top of these scandals is a big job, and dreaming up and remembering the details of all the stonewalling activities is even a bigger job!

Congressman Connolly does offer “telephone town meetings,” which he claims to be “very popular among constituents.” And conference calls are more productive than face-to-face meetings? And telephone dating is preferable to taking on the town with your heart throb? Let’s get real, folks.

According to her supporters, that’s not the Scholte way. She’s a “people person” who is not afraid to mix it up with people on public issues. In fact, the theme of her campaign appears to be she will work with supporters and opponents to forge solutions to public challenges. And she’s not shying away from major problems, with healthcare and fixing the Veterans Administration being the subjects of her first two town hall meetings.