Yay, someone has finally declared against Barbara Comstock.
That someone is Democrat LuAnn Bennett, and she has now formally announced that she will challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock for the 10th congressional district in Virginia.
The district includes the counties of Loudon, Frederick and Clark. It also includes parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties and the cities of Manassas and Winchester. This district voted for Obama in 2008 and for Mitt Romney in 2012 and the Republicans have held this seat since 1980.
Who is LuAnn Bennett? Ms. Bennett is a real estate executive from Northern Virginia and has never run for an elected position. She was once married to Jim Moran, U.S Representative for Virginia’s 8th congressional district. She has contributed to her area in other ways —
Ms. Bennett is a LEED accredited professional and works primarily in areas of sustainable construction, business development, management, financial and legal services. In 2008, she was appointed by Governor Tim Kaine to serve on the Climate Change Commission for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Ms. Bennett currently serves on the following boards: The Virginia Health Care Foundation, Charity Works Advisory Board, and the National Children's Museum.
There’s more here:
LuAnn Bennett believes in —
- universal background checks and closing the gun show loophole.
- transportation and infrastructure upgrades.
- Sustainable construction.
- Climate change, since she was on the Climate Change Commission for the Commonwealth and appointed by former Governor and current U.S. Senator, Democrat Tim Kaine.
She has said that if elected, she will be a less partisan member in Congress than Barbara Comstock:
“When you run a small business. . . you have to work with people you don’t necessarily like,” she said. “I come from a problem-solving background.” Comstock, she said, “comes from a purely political background,” and is “very political in the votes she takes.” Link.
With all connections, LuAnn Bennett could raise some big money and draw in some powerful support for her run. Also, her resume suggests someone as indefatigable and relentless as Barbara Comstock is reputed to be.
Let’s look at Barbara Comstock:
- She has a long history as Republican Party apparatchik before running for elected office.
- She investigated Whitewater in the 1990’s.
- She defended House Majority Leader Tom Delay when he was being investigated in 2005.
- In 2000 she was digging up dirt on Al Gore.
- As Delegate in the Virginia legislature, she voted against Medicaid expansion.
- Oh, also, she voted for Barack Obama in 2008.
- In 2004, she was a lobbyist for Koch Industries on environmental issues.
- In 2005-2006, she was a lobbyist for Carnival Cruise Lines. The company won contracts to help house people affected by Hurricane Katrina:
In 2005, Carnival Cruise Lines secured a $236 million contract to house more than 7,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, a sum that drew bipartisan criticism in the fallout from the storm, especially after the company ended up housing far fewer people than expected at a higher cost than most other accommodations. The contract was held up as one of the top examples touted by critics of how the government fumbled the Katrina response.
The 10th congressional district has a lot of federal employees and she can sound distinctly bipartisan — this is what she as said:
it’s important to have a Republican voice fighting for our federal employees, and I will be that continued voice,” she said. “We don’t need to have the budget balanced on their backs.” The government shutdown of 2013, she said, was “unconservative,[sic] it’s irresponsible and it should never happen again.
- She was a consultant for Romney and was endorsed by him.
- She once (2008) stated that Barack Obama is bought and paid for by Planned Parenthood. Video here.
Prochoice Virginia has this to say about her —
Most recently, Comstock served as a consultant for Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Just in case you may have forgotten, Governor Romney publically supported overturning Roe v. Wade, enacting a constitutional amendment to ban abortions nation-wide, and self-identifies as “firmly pro-life
NARAL reminds us of this —
Comstock voted for the 2012 mandatory ultrasound law: In response, speakers from the organizations highlighted Delegate Comstock's record in the Virginia General Assembly, including votes for the controversial 2012 mandatory ultrasound law, medically-unnecessary targeted restrictions that threaten to shut down women's health centers, and an extreme "personhood” bill that could have been used to ban abortion and common forms of birth control
While she has tried slip past the Tea Party, they doggedly pursued her:
The word “conservative” in Republican circles is one that is thrown out like candy at Mardi Gras these days. Every Republican candidate for office uses clichéd phrases like “I’m the MOST conservative candidate,” “My conservative record shows,” … “the true conservative in the race,” … “I am the true Reagan conservative in this race,” blah, blah, blah. So if you
Snip.
[...] And for almost all of the candidates, this is the case. The one lone exception is the supposed front-runner, Delegate Barbara Comstock.
She has, as of this writing, never appeared in person before the members and invited guests of any of the six Tea Party groups in the 10th district, even though she has been invited to most. These very active Tea Party groups include Northern Virginia, Fair Lakes, Loudoun County, Northern Shenandoah Valley, Apple Valley, and Manassas.
Their pursuit paid off. She did eventually meet with them, but in a secretive sort of way, as in no Press/reporter presence was allowed at the event. They even have copies of their tweets up at that linked site.
Well, that’s who Barbara Comstock is.
LuAnn Bennett may be the right person for this race, because it will be a slog to dislodge Barbara Comstock.