 No, I can't believe I'm writing a story with that title. Just a bit of background as to why that's the case. First off, Schoeneman is a Republican blogger and a former candidate for House of Delegates with whom I disagree on just about everything (with the exception of labor unions, which he apparently supports). In addition, Schoeneman was banned at Blue Virginia for a bunch of reasons that can be boiled down to "being a troll by almost any definition of that word." As if all that's not bad enough, Schoeneman also has repeatedly launched outrageous attacks on Miles Grant and on the rest of ushere at Blue Virginia, for supposedly "exploit[ing] major tragedies for political gain." Of course, this is a specialty of Republicans, but we'll leave that argument aside for the time being.The fact is that all those charges are absurd and offensive - Blue Virginia does not "exploit" things, let alone tragedies. To the contrary, I'd say we have been extremely restrained over the years; see our Virginia Tech coverage, for instance, which I am proud of to this day. Anyway, the point is that Brian Schoeneman is not exactly Mr. Popularity over here, and was banned by unanimous vote by the Blue Virginia front pagers (one of the easiest calls we ever made, although I reversed it several months ago, just to see if he'd changed at all). More broadly, this is the type of guy I generally don't trust as far as I can throw, as the saying goes - if he told me water was wet, I'd really start to question whether it might just be dry. You get the picture.
So that's why the LAST thing I ever thought I'd be doing is defending this guy. Yet here I am, doing just that. Why? Because - and I'm pleasantly surprised (shocked?) to say it - Schoeneman's been acting with utmost integrity, from what I can gather, in his role as a member of the Fairfax County Electoral Board in the tighter-than-a-tick Virginia Attorney General's race. Believe me, I was ready to pounce after I saw this photo, and after having read of supposedly "missing" and/or "uncounted" absentee ballots not just from Fairfax County, but from the most Democratic part of the County. I'll admit, I was highly suspicious. Still, I thought it was important to hold off on accusing anyone of anything until proof came to light, if it ever did. Well, it didn't. To the contrary, Schoeneman has by all accounts been acting in a totally professional, ethical, above-board manner that appears to be a model for how electoral board members should act. And for that, he deserves praise, especially when far-right-wing Tea Partiers like Jeanine "Lovettsville Lady" Martin (notorious for her ill-informed, ridiculous remarks on conservative Virginia blogs) start attacking him, like this crapola:
Brian Schoeneman, Secretary of the Electoral Board in Fairfax County, has extended the deadline for contesting provisional ballots from Friday at noon until Tuesday...My first question, does Brian's decision open a whole can of worms for every jurisdiction in the state? Will every jurisdiction now extend the deadline for provisional ballots? My second question, why is Brian Schoeneman, who purports to be a republican, helping democrats by extending this deadline?
I'm sorry, but that's just laughable. As Schoeneman writes in reply to this drivel: |
