Primary Election Date: 05/01/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

I was born, raised and educated in Richmond Virginia, and I've lived my whole life here, except for 18 months in Wisconsin where I received my Master's Degree (1973), and 4 years of military service at the 1st Infantry Division in Ft. Riley, Kansas. I received my BA and JD degrees from the University of Richmond (1972 and 1980, respectively). After my active duty, I returned to practice law in Richmond, and continued my military service as an active Reserve Officer, commanding troops for 10 of my 30 year career. I was mobilized after 9-11-01 and retired from active duty in June, 2002. I commanded soldiers as a Military Intelligence Group Commander in the anti-terrorist effort in Washington, DC. My son followed me in military service, serving from 2006-07 in Iraq. He is due to be redeployed in Afghanistan in 2012. My daughter works in the law firm which I founded in 1999. I've been an active Democrat during my adult life, having worked on three campaigns, and this is my first candidacy myself. So far, I have received endorsements from PDA (7th District, Virginia State, and the National Endorsement), and the Richmond for Crusade for Voters.

Why Am I Running?

After my own military service and my son's service, I, like millions of other Americans, has suffered through the worse economic setback in this country since the Great Depression. This was brought on, in large part by a Congress which has been corrupted by large anonymous contributions by the corporations and the wealthiest of Americans. This Congress, including and especially the majority leader Eric Cantor, the representative in the 7th District of Virginia where I live, has been in large part responsible for the lack of any initiative to resolve the economic issues, to include no effort to increase revenues to reinvigorate the economy, and setting limits on the infusion of money into the political process. To a large extent, Cantor has disconnected the people from the governing of the country, while 48% of the population slips into poverty, and the disparity between rich and poor grows ever wider. I want to change these trends, and that is why I'm running for the Democratic nomination for Cantor's congressional seat.

Hold Me Accountable!

My two priorities:
1- Reversing the Citizens United Supreme Court decision giving corporations "person" status by legislation, and taking away the inordinate power that the richest corporations and people have on the political process.

2- Increasing the taxing levels on the richest of Americans so that the millionaires fairly share the burden of taxes in this country, and providing enough revenue to reemploy millions of Americans in repairing and replacing infrastructure.

My DFA values:

The country does not have a secure country with a middle class that can pay taxes, when corporations, not people, run the country. Without removing large amounts of money that basically buy congressional laws and keep tax loopholes and low tax levels to those who should be paying more and sharing the sacrifice which all Americans must shoulder to help us emerge from this economic morass in which we find ourselves.

We should return governing to the people, not to the oligarchy, and that would enable our communities to prosper and would send a message to the monied interests that this is the government of the people, not the special interests.

While we need to defend our country, we cannot cede our liberties through such actions as some parts of the Patriot Act which should be repealed. We should also withdraw from Afghanistan immediately and cease spending excessive amounts in outsourcing our National Defense, which is a core function of the Congress and the Government in general.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

The first members of our campaign were volunteers, and our web site very actively recruits volunteers to assist in our cause. Our field organizers are all volunteers, and the house parties scheduled and planned will be sponsored by volunteers in the 7th District.