Vol. 42, No 9 www.arlingtondemocrats.org September 2017

continued on page nine

If you haven’t’got your Gold Card yet, youmissed the first of the three annual social eventsACDC holds during campaign season—the LaborDay Chili Cookoff.

But there are still two more events to go—sosign up now.

The remaining events are:Honoring a Senior Democrat

This year ACDC will be honoring the decadesof work and service of Joan McDermott. Hearstories of past volunteer heroics that will inspire youto greater volunteer heights in this and coming elec-tion years. But don’t shake her hand too hard; shejust finished addressing hundreds of Dollars forDemocrats envelopes! The event will be hosted atthe home of Sharon Davis, 817 North Irving Street,from 4-to-6 p.m. on Sunday, October 8.

Patsy Ticer, who served as a state senator fromAlexandria and south Arlington for four terms andbefore that was the first woman to serve as mayorof Alexandria, died August 7. She was 82.

Her family said she died from complicationsafter a fall.

She was regarded as a consensus builder.“Power,” she once said, “is being able to get thingsdone without having to raise your voice.”

She was serving as vice mayor under James P.Moran Jr. when he won a seat in Congress in 1990and she was elevated to the mayor’s post.

She was elected to the state Senate in 1995,unseating moderate Republican Robert L. Calhounin a district that included parts of Arlington andFairfax counties as well as Alexandria. She didnot seek reelection to a fifth four-year term in 2011.

“She could have had a very comfortable life,but chose the messy world of politics,” Moran toldThe Washington Post. “She was always able to be apolitical leader without really treating anyone badlynor compromising her integrity.”

Patricia Keyser Smith was born in Washing-ton Jan. 6, 1935. Her family moved to Alexandriain 1947. She graduated in 1951 from George Wash-ington High School and in 1955 from Sweet BriarCollege, an all-women’s college in Virginia, with abachelor’s degree in political science.

Golden GalaThis is our annual cocktail party and grazing

event, with great munchies provided by our ster-ling Kitchen Crew. There will also be lots to im-bibe and a special guest speaker, still to be deter-mined. The event will be held from 7-to-9 p.m.,Saturday, October 21, at the home of Mary Hynes,1503 North Highland St, near the Clarendon Metro.

To sign up for a Gold Card or two, just go towww.arlingtondemocrats.org and you will see thehappy donkey who will help you sign up and paywith your credit card.

The cost of a Gold Card is $200. But there arediscounts. Members of The Roosevelt Society,which supports ACDC financially year-round, payjust $165 while members of Young Democrats geta Gold Card for a mere $100.

Sign up for a Gold Card

Patsy Ticer dies at age of 82

PATSY TICER. . . state senator for 16 years

Get this! An angry GOP

contributor is suing the

Republican party for fraud

and racketeering.

See

Page 3

What are we going to

do with all those Con-

federate reminders

clustered around Vir-

ginia and now a part of

the fall campaign?

See

Page

6

Hey, there

are lots of

ways you

can help us

all to Vic-

tory.

See

Page 5

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 2

Report from Chairman Kip Malinosky

Published monthly by theArlington County Democratic Committee

2001 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite #604, Arlington VA 22202Mailing address: P.O. Box 7132, Arlington VA 22207

Tel: (703) 528-8588http://www.arlingtondemocrats.org

Chair: Kip Malinosky — kipmalinosky@gmail.com Editor-in-Chief: Warren L. Nelson —(703) 243-7867 (h), warnelson@aol.com

Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the ACDC unless expressly approved by an appropriate committee resolution

Copyright ©2017, ACDC, All Rights Reserved

Jerry Botland

Computer Consulting

Troubleshoot and resolve computer and

computer related problems.

Perform upgrades, set-up wireless routers and print servers.

Transfer old files, address book and emails

from an old computer to a new one.

Phone: (202) 744-0542 — jbotland@msn.com

The dreadful murder of Heather Heyerand injuries of many more at the hands ofwhite supremacists in Charlottesville is an-other brutal wakeup call about racism inAmerica. There is a widespread myth inAmerica that after the civil rights movementracism only lurks in the shadows of Ameri-can life. In a particularly sinister form of thisidea, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote,“Nearly 50 years later, things have changeddramatically” in a Supreme Court decisionthat eviscerated the Voting Rights Act. Fromclassrooms to boardrooms, the idea that wecan be color blind is expressed both as a prin-ciple and practice. It shouldn’t be. A willfulignorance toward race in America allows sys-temic racism to go unchecked and white su-premacist groups to spread. Racism must beactively resisted in all its forms. How can thisbe done?

First, we need to honestly confront thepast. There’s a reason white supremacists wererallying around Robert E Lee’s statue inCharlottesville: it’s a symbol of white su-premacy. Statues of confederate generals dot

Color blind no morethe land not to commemorate those whoserved, but primarily to demonstrate thepower of white supremacists during Jim Crowand “massive resistance” to the civil rightsmovement. As New Orleans Mayor MitchLandrieu said, “These statues were a part of… terrorism as much as a burning cross onsomeone’s lawn; they were erected purpose-fully to send a strong message to all whowalked in their shadows about who was stillin charge in this city.” It’s long past time forthem all to come down.

Second, we must take on systemic rac-ism. This is not as easy to spot as flag wavingneo-confederates or torch bearing Nazis, butit’s arguably a larger problem. In PresidentObama’s “Amazing Grace” speech, after themurder of nine black church members by awhite supremacist, he said, “Maybe we nowrealize the way racial bias can infect us evenwhen we don’t realize it, so that we’re guard-ing against not just racial slurs, but we’re alsoguarding against the subtle impulse to callJohnny back for a job interview but notJamal.” A Harvard Business Review article

makes the case that implicit bias can often beworse than explicit bias and people mustimplement policies to help create more diverseworkforces and universities if implicit bias isto be overcome.

Third, we must strive to eliminate stealthracist policies, like felony disenfranchisement,voter suppression and racial gerrymanderingin our politics. Governor McAuliffe has beena champion for the restoration of voting rightshaving given 156,221 former felons their vot-ing rights back, but millions more across thecountry still can’t vote, according to theBrennan Center. Even more sinister is themyth of widespread voter fraud now peddledby Trump to push enactment of new votingrestrictions. Ari Berman has reported on oneblack man who brought three forms of ID withhim to the polls and still wasn’t allowed tovote in Wisconsin after a strict photo ID lawwas passed. Nearly 11 percent of the popula-tion lacks a photo ID. Laws requiring photoIDs should be revoked.

And finally there is widespread racial/partisan gerrymandering done with laser-likeprecision in 2010, in which Ed Gillespie wasa major architect. These efforts have greatlydiluted the impact of black voters and costDemocrats a US House majority in 2012, de-priving President Obama of a Congress thatwould work with him. There’s a major casebefore the Supreme Court that could bringabout the end of partisan gerrymandering; let’shope the court bends toward justice again. Atthe state level, we should push directly fornonpartisan redistricting.

Exorcising racism from American soci-ety is the work of generations, but it must beconfronted honestly and with our eyes wideopen.

State Senator Barbara Favola will bethe guest at the Second Saturday Breakfaston September 9.

As usual, the breakfast will be held be-ginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Busboys and Poetsin Shirlington.

Also as usual, diners are asked to bringcash to settle up the waffle or egg bill.

Having Favolafor breakfast

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 3

Next Monthly MeetingAll Dems Invited

Wednesday, September 6, 7 p.m.

Bumper Sticker of the month

NRECA Building, 4301 Wilson BlvdCorner of North Taylor and Wilson, just east of Glebe & Wilson

Free parking under building, enter from Taylor Street

This month is one of our most popular meetings of theyear, where everyone can join in and help with ourannual Dollars for Democrats fund-raising solicitation.While the meeting proceeds at the front of the room,volunteers will gather at tables all across the back of theroom to apply postage stamps and return address labelsto more than 11,000 envelopes that have already beenhand-addressed and machine-stuffed. Many hands makeswift work. And in less than two hours, all the envelopesshould be ready to turn over to the Postal Service, andcheckbooks will open all over Arlington.

Several members of the Arlington YoungDemocrats attended the Young Democrats ofAmerica annual conference in Dallas duringAugust, volunteering and organizing the Ar-lington County Fair booth with ACDC, can-vassing for Kathy Tran and Karen Keys-Gamarra, and pushing a resolution askingCongress to censure Donald Trump for act-ing in a manner unbecoming of the Office ofthe President due to his racist rhetoric in re-sponse to Charlottesville.

The August AYD meeting, sponsoredand organized by the Justice & ImmigrationCaucus, focused on educating members aboutthe school-to-prison pipeline and providingconcrete actions on how they can help stop it.Featuring Lieutenant Governor CandidateJustin Fairfax, Arlington School Board Mem-ber Tannia Talento, and Arlington Public De-fender Lauren Brice, members had a robustdiscussion on some of the underlying causesof the school-to-prison pipeline and discus-sions on how they can advocate for changelocally and across the Commonwealth. At theend of the meeting, AYD encouraged mem-bers to submit comments to the Virginia CrimeCommission’s study on decriminalizing mari-

juana in the commonwealth.In September, AYD will be focusing

more on internal party organization for itsmonthly meeting. On Wednesday, September20, the group will have Democratic NationalCommittee (DNC) Member Frank Leone ofArlington providing an overview of the insand outs of the DNC. During that meeting,AYD also hopes to pass a number of proposedrevisions to our constitution including the

implementation of Instant Run-off Voting(IRV) and absentee voting for our leadershippositions.

Additionally, AYD is working with theLGBT+ Democrats of Virginia to host a cam-paign invasion into Danica Roem’s House ofDelegates district on September 17 just westof Arlington from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.to knockon doors. You can volunteer even if you aren’tan AYD.

AYDs pushfor censureof Trump forracist rhetoric

Donkey EarsListening to the doings

of Arlington’s Dems

as overheard byas overheard by

as overheard byas overheard by

as overheard by

Dan Steen and Dan Steen and

Dan Steen and Dan Steen and

Dan Steen and Mädi

Green Green

Green Green

Green

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 4

Keeping the beat: Paul Ashin’s band has gone big time. The band played Septem-ber 1 on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. Ashin, a Precinct Ops vicechair, plays keyboard and harmonica in Nobody’s Business. And his bandmateseven let him sing some of the time. Ashin says it was the biggest crowdNobody’s Business has ever performed before. KenCen is a bit bigger than thosebasement bars where you usually find Paul—and his harmonica.

New Youngest Dem: Del. Alfonso Lopez and wife Sarah Levin have welcomedhome their new-born son, Gabriel Leandro Zevin-Lopez. Born prematurely June9 and weighing only 2.3 lbs., Gabriel spent almost three months in intensive careat GU Hospital. Big brother Aaron was especially excited at Gabe’s arrival andhas a plan to take photos of his new baby brother to capture all his specialmoments.

Sailing the Lakes: Intrepid Donkey Ears stringer Madi Green and Kitchen Crewalum Peg Lorenz found some relief from the August heat by cruising all fiveGreat Lakes from Toronto to Chicago, with stops at the Canadian side of NiagaraFalls, Windsor/Detroit, several towns along the Canadian shore of Lake Huron,Mackinac Island, and the Soo Locks. After 11 days back on dry land, she headedto the Virginia mountains for a few days with three fellow Dukies where sheclambered to the top of one of the Twin Pinnacles of Haw Orchard Mountain inGrayson Highlands State Park. Not much of a feat when compared to Cong. DonBeyer’s annual trek along the Appalachian Trail.

Tweet recognition: Speaking of Don Beyer, when our congressman isn’t voting orhiking, he’s tweeting. The Washingtonian recently dubbed Beyer “The BestLocal Politician on Twitter,” citing his reports on constituents who could be hurtby the policies of that twit—ah, twitterer—at the other end of PennsylvaniaAvenue.

Deep, deep pockets: Arlington County Treasurer Carla de la Pava has received the2017 President’s Award from the Treasurers’ Association of Virginia. One keymeasure of a treasurer’s effectiveness is the tax delinquency rate. Last year,Arlington’s rate was 0.24 percent, the all-time low for Arlington and the lowestlast year in the entire commonwealth.

Two-timer: Former ACDC Chair Larry Roberts has received the DistinguishedService Award from the Federal Communications Bar Association. But whatmakes this unique is that this is the second time Larry has received the award.

Passages: Jo Ann Dotson Holland, wife of former State Senator Ed Holland ofArlington and mother of ACDC activist Paul Holland, died July 25 after a two-year battle with lung cancer. She was born in in Richmond August 9, 1940, andattended the schools there. After high school, she went to the College of Williamand Mary, graduating in 1962. She subsequently earned a master’s in journalismfrom Penn State in 1964. Her professional career in the Washington area includedtime at the Washington Star and the Central Intelligence Agency. She met EdwardHolland in August 1966 and they were married four months later on December 3,1966. She continued to work until they started their family in 1969. Jo Ann raisedtheir five boys and managed a busy household, especially while Ed was inRichmond serving in the State Senate. She was also active in the Arlingtoncommunity, including at her sons’ schools and in local elections, and volunteeredwith a variety of organizations, most prominently the Arlington Free Clinic.

A Republican in Virginia Beach is so in-censed his party didn’t repeal Obamacare thathe’s suing his own party to get political dona-tions back, accusing the GOP of fraud andeven racketeering.

Bob Heghmann, 70, has filed a lawsuitin U.S. District Court, saying the national andVirginia Republican parties and some GOPleaders raised millions of dollars in campaignfunds while knowing they weren’t going tobe able to overturn Obamacare.

The GOP “has been engaged in a pat-tern of Racketeering which involves massivefraud perpetrated on Republican voters andcontributors as well as some Independents andDemocrats,” the suit said. The charge of rack-eteering, best known for its use in prosecut-ing organized crime, actually means a patternof illegal behavior by a specific group.

Heghmann’s suit argues that the nationalGOP raised more than $735 million andVirginia’s party more than $20 million from2009 to 2016 in large part by promising torepeal the Affordable Care Act.

Heghmann, a retired lawyer, said he hasstanding to sue the GOP because he has beena contributor.’The Virginian-Pilot in Hamp-ton Roads checked Federal Election Commis-sion records and reported he gave a total of$875 to the New Hampshire GOP, but it foundno donations to the national party or the Vir-ginia party. He was a New Hampshire resi-dent for more than a decade – and a Trumpcampaign volunteer there – before moving toVirginia last year.

He wants the party either to return cam-paign contributions to donors or exert pres-sure on Republican legislators to repeal thelaw under threat of losing GOP financial sup-port. He acknowledged that members of theHouse of Representatives and Senate cannotbe sued for failing to abide by campaign prom-ises, but argues that political parties don’t havethe same protection.

Republicansues GOPfor fraudand alsoracketeering

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 5

With Labor Day come and gone, the cam-paign is now officially in high gear—althoughin reality it’s been in high gear for weeks.

The main activity for which lots of volun-teers are needed is door-to-door canvassing andphone banking. The canvassing is being donein two shifts every Saturday (9 a.m.-noon and

The annual Dollars for Democrats“Stamping Party” will be held at the monthlymeeting Wednesday night with more than11,000 stuffed envelopes waiting to have post-age stamps and return address labels pressedon them.

The envelopes contain the annual solici-tation letter seeking contributions for the JointCampaign. The Dollars for Dems ($4Dems)drive and the Blue Victory Dinner are the maincomponents of fund-raising for the fall cam-paigns each year.

The $4Dems effort in 2012 pulled in arecord haul that topped $40,000. While noth-ing on that scale is anticipated this year, thereturns have been impressive every year thatACDC has been soliciting under the $4Demslabel.

The more than 11,000 envelopes werehand-addressed by 44 volunteers this year, arecord number of people, many now soakingtheir paws in hot water.

Each envelope has been stuffed with thesolicitation letter and a return envelope andthen sealed by a large and noisy RubeGoldberg machine known lovingly—andsometimes not so lovingly—as Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang.

All that now remains is to put postagestamps and return address labels on the enve-lopes. For more than a decade that has beendone at the September ACDC meeting byaround 70 volunteers working at the back ofthe room during the meeting. The efficientcrew of stampers generally gets everythingdone in less than two hours.

If you would like to join in, just show upat the monthly meeting, Wednesday, Septem-ber 6, at 7 p.m. No previous experience orspecial training is required. Come one, comeall. Join the winning team. All stamps areself-adhesive; no licking required.

If you want to take a hike but not go asfar as the Appalachian Trail, why not volun-teer to deliver the Democratic Messengerdoor-to-door later this month?

You don’t have to knock on any doorsor talk up folks. All you do is put the Mes-senger under the door mat or inside the screendoor and head on to the next house.

It’s a great way to check out a neighbor-hood. Some folks have bought a house alongtheir Messenger route because they liked thearea they walked so much.

There are more than 400 routes to coverall the houses in Arlington, and most routescan be walked in about 100 minutes.

What’s more, the rain gods seem to beDemocrats because in four decades of doingthis the weather has always been superb—well, almost always. Cool and sunny days.Except for the occasional hurricane visit.

The Messenger is our four-page news-paper that introduces all Democratic candi-dates on the ballot to Arlington households.

Messenger Day is officially Saturday,September 23, this year. But lots of deliver-ers walk their routes the next day or even aweekday in the next week.

If you’d like to walk a route, just con-tact Laura Saul Edwards atlaurasedwards@me.com or (571) 296-0009.

Walk your way to Victory

Stamp yourway to Victory

Here are lots of ways to Victory in Nov.noon-3 p.m.) and two shifts on Sundays (noon-3 p.m. and 3 p.m.-6 p.m.). There is a completecanvassing and phone banking schedule at http://www.arlingtondemocrats.org/start-making-difference-now/ The schedule also showswhere to assemble.

The Joint Campaign is adding newevents every day, so check back at the siteperiodically.

Volunteers also are sought for Saturday,September 23, to staff the Dem booth at twoof the biggest festivals of the year that hap-pen to be on the same date this year:Clarendon Day and Prio Bangla. Signups areat https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScj0PHR5vsLy_VrSxMOSBMmYg1MQXESFbL1ibb7QHLJrJM0og/viewform.

Median strip signs will go up early inOctober. Under the Arlington code, they areallowed for the final month of a campaignwith a max of two signs per median strip seg-ment per candidate.

Sign assemblers will be needed at theOctober 4 general meeting at NRECA at 7p.m. Then on Sunday, October 8, the signswill go up on median strips throughout Ar-lington. We will need drivers with large carsto cover the county and agile people to jumpout and stick the signs in the ground that day.Sign up for a route at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf5GbjM9eUGbltheEHtfjZE8N28kfQTdVigH22xa1kZXtnV3A/viewform

There’s lots to be done. Come on outand join the fun.

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 6

It’s been 152 years since Robert E. Leesurrendered at Appomattox, but the Confed-erate issue continues to haunt the Common-wealth of Virginia, which is densely coveredwith highways and schools named after deadgenerals, and monuments and plaques memo-rializing Civil War battles, skirmishes, move-ments and participants.

Members of the Arlington County Boardlast month issued a statement seeking author-ity from the state to re-name Jefferson DavisHighway and Lee Highway. Arlington’sDemocratic candidates joined together to sup-port that initiative.

ACDC will vote on a resolution at thismonth’s meeting September 6 in support ofrenaming the two highways.

There is also the issue of street names,public facilitty names and school names,which are under local control.

Most attention has focused on statuarymemorializing Confederates, both generalsand ordinary soldiers.

Democratic gubernatorial candidateRalph Northam and GOP candidate EdGillespie have both said that the decisions onstatuary should lie with local governments.But Northam, one of whose slave-owningancestors was wounded fighting for the Con-federacy, has advocated moving the statueselsewhere, while Gillespie says he prefersthey stay where they are. Northam said, “Ibelieve the statues should be taken down and

continued on next page

Arlington’s small plaque to the“men in gray” is located inBluemont Park.

Richmond’s Monument Avenue

Confederacy still haunts modern Virginiamoved into museums. As governor, I am go-ing to be a vocal advocate for that approachand work with localities on this issue.”

Arlington has one huge Confederatememorial, but it is on federal land in Arling-ton National Cemetery. There is also an ob-scure plaque in the county’s Bluemont Parkthat was put up as recently as 1976 by theUnited Daughters of the Confederacy.

The plaque, mounted on a stone (seephoto at right), says: “This red oak and stonewere placed here as a bicentennial memorialto the men in gray who served on Upton Hillby Arlington Chapter United Daughters of theConfederacy.” Upton Hill was the closestConfederate outpost to Washington, althoughonly for a few brief weeks after the First Battleof Manassas in 1862.

The County Board statement issued Au-gust 17 said, “Because we are a county [asopposed to a city], Arlington currently doesnot have the authority to rename state high-ways such as Jefferson Davis Highway andLee Highway. We do have the authority toname local roads, and we exercised it in 2012to rename Old Jefferson Davis Highway asLong Bridge Drive.

“Arlington is committed to seeking theauthority from the General Assembly to re-name both Jefferson Davis and Lee highwayswithin our boundaries…. Arlington believesthat local governments should have the au-thority to rename any roadways within our

borders.”County Board candidate Erik Gutshall

said, “I fully embrace the County Board’sdetermination to garner local control of thenames of our roadways.”

All four Arlington members of the Houseof Delegates, all of whom are running for re-election, endorsed the proposal. Del. AlfonsoLopez said, “It’s long past time for us to re-name highways that were labeled to send ahateful and divisive message to people ofcolor in our community.”

The School Board issued a statementsaying, “It’s time to talk about the names ofour schools and what they mean and why theymatter. It is time to talk about the values thesenames reflect and the messages we are send-ing to our children.” The one Arlington schoolname with a clear Confederate link is Wash-ington-Lee High School. The School Boardsaid it will “establish a process to create cri-teria to name new schools and reassess thename of every school in Arlington.”

School Board candidate MoniqueO’Grady said, “I welcome our communitystarting a dialogue about Arlington’s inclu-sive values and how they are reflected in thenames of our current and future schools.”

ACDC Chair Kip Malinosky”said,“Confederate monuments have become ral-lying points for those that are white suprema-cists, Nazis and KKK members. We musteliminate intolerance in all its forms and take

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 7

continued from page one

A new kind of memorial is this informalone in the street in Charlottesville whereHeather Heyer was killed by a neo-Nazilast month.

The Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.

What to do with those Rebel remindersnecessary steps to support inclusiveness, notjust in the symbolic renaming of public streets,buildings and monuments, but also in schools,work places and politics by ensuring votingrights and eliminating racial gerrymandering.Our committee remains committed to fight forthese values each and every day.”

The resolution ACDC will vote onWednesday challenges the monument defend-ers by saying that white supremacists “usethese symbols to intimidate current Virginiansrather than to invoke a better understandingof history.”

Streets can pose a problem when itisn’t clear whom they are named after. TheArlington streets named Grant, Sherman,Sheridan and Custer would appear to besafe. Veitch Street, however, is named foran Arlingtonian who was an officer of theConfederate Army. But is Jackson Streetnamed after Stonewall or Andrew? And isStuart named for Jeb or someone else? IsGorgas Street named for Brig. Gen. JosiahGorgas, the Confederate chief of ordnance

whose superb administrative skills probablydid more to keep the Confederate Armyarmed and fighting than anyone but RobertE. Lee, or for Maj. Gen. William Gorgas,

son of Josiah and the surgeongeneral of the US Army in the1890s who found the link be-tween mosquitoes and diseaseslike malaria and yellow feverand launched the crackdown onmosquitoes?

Around the state, the is-sue isn’t exclusively about Con-federates. A school in Dale City,for example, was named afterGov. Mills T. Godwin, a strongsupporter of “massive resis-tance” to desegregation. Lastyear, Dale City renamed itGeorge Hampton MiddleSchool.

Most of the attention inVirginia is focused on Monu-ment Avenue in Richmond,which has large statues to thememory of several Confederatesplus tennis player Arthur Ashe,who was added two decades agoto try to take the political edgeoff the monuments.

Richmond Mayor LevarStoney, an African-AmericanDemocrat, set up a committeeseveral weeks ago to review themonuments with a view toward

changing the perspective from honoring thesecessionist rebellion to putting the monu-ments into the context of the long historyof Virginia’s political, social and racial his-tory.

After the violence in Charlottesville,however, Stoney said, “While we had hopedto use this process to educate Virginiansabout the history behind these monuments,the events of the last week may have funda-mentally changed our ability to do so by re-vealing their power to serve as a rallyingpoint for division and intolerance and vio-lence….

“I personally believe they are offensiveand need to be removed. But I believe morein the importance of dialogue and transpar-ency by pursuing a responsible process toconsider the full weight of this decision.”

He said the statues perpetuate a “falsenarrative [meant] to lionize the architects anddefenders of slavery,… perpetuate the tyrannyand terror of Jim Crow and reassert a new eraof white supremacy.”

The monuments and highway namingissues involve different laws. Virginia lawallows cities to name state highways withintheir boundaries, but allows the state to namestate highways within county boundaries.

On Confederate monuments, a 1904 lawbars counties from moving them. A 1997 lawadded cities to that restriction. Charlottesville,a city, is in court arguing the 1997 law is notretroactive and that the city can remove itsstatues, which were installed in the 1920s.

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 8

ACDC reaches out ‘Beyond Arlington’

CALLING VIRGINIA — Phone bankers assemble every week in ACDC Headquarters to place callsinto communities all over the commonwealth, getting out the vote for Democratic candidates.

ACDC has adopted a new program toorganize its huge numbers of volunteers tohelp Democratic candidates in other Virginiacommunities beyond Arlington that may nothave so many enthusiastic volunteers.

It is called “Beyond Arlington” and isheaded by Steve Baker.

Arlington Democrats have helped inraces outside the county for several years andhave long discussed ways to do more to helpout statewide. The 2016 election underscoredthe need and led to the formation of BeyondArlington last December.

Baker said, “We had more than 1,000new volunteers show up after the election, notto mention the groups from DC and Mary-land who are turning their focus on Virginiain a non-presidential election year.”

The outpouring of candidates running forthe House of Delegates provided further im-petus. “We currently have 34 Democrats inthe House of Delegates and 66 Republicans.We usually field about 70 candidates in theHoD races. This year we have 88 candidates,a record number of progressive candidates,”Baker said.

He added, “It is an incredibly diversegroup and they all have their own great andinspiring stories to tell. Many are veterans,self-employed; immigrants or foster children.Some put themselves through law school andthen turned around to fight for the most vul-

nerable in our society. Policy experts, com-munity activists—you name it. We have a lotof different levels of experience represented.It has been nothing short of an honor and apleasure to go door-to-door on behalf of thesecandidates and tell their story and work to getthem elected.”

The first goal in Arlington has long beento strive for a huge turnout of Democrats inArlington for statewide candidates in orderto overcome the GOP strengths downstate.”Beyond Arlington”doesn’t want to take any-thing away from that goal. So, on weekendswhen the state party schedules a “weekend ofaction” here, Baker always asks the BeyondArlington volunteers to sign up for a canvassshift at home.

Baker said, “It has also been a great chal-lenge and opportunity to speak to voters un-like the ones we are accustomed to in Arling-ton. Particularly in this year, where peopleseem more willing to talk about issues, andtalk about differences between the parties andthe need to bring people together to find com-mon ground. The doors are more challeng-ing and the conversations are more challeng-ing, but this is absolutely the work we needto do. In districts where we have not previ-ously run a Democratic candidate, we areuncovering a wealth of data that we wouldnot otherwise have and this will help us enor-mously in years to come.”

The Beyond Arlington effort did not pre-vail in its initial campaign, the Ryant Wash-ington state Senate race in January, but hasscored three successes since then—the JeffBourne special election for delegate, theJackie Smith clerk of the court race in PrinceWilliam County and, most recently, the KarenKeys-Gamarra School Board race in FairfaxCounty.

“We are currently running phone banksevery Tuesday and Thursday at ACDC head-quarters,” Baker said. “You can find theseevents listed on our website or our Facebookpage. Many of our elected officials, mostlyHouse of Delegate candidates, have sponsoredspecial phone bank nights where we makecalls to a candidate of their choice and thenhear some great inside stories about the Houseof Delegates, legislation they have sponsoredalong with other fascinating stories.”

Beyond Arlington is also organizing can-vasses every weekend by connecting volun-teers directly with campaigns around North-ern Virginia. “We have also been collaborat-ing with Mobilize 2020, which has a terrificonline platform to plug volunteers into cru-cial campaign activities,” Baker said. “If youhave not participated to date, please sign upfor a phone bank or canvass and join us in thedozen short weeks remaining until ElectionDay.”

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 9

In 1956, she married Jack Ticer duringhis first term on the Alexandria City Council.She became a block captain in civic associa-tions, participated in several PTAs and localcharitable and civic groups, and helped formthe Alexandria Commission for the Arts. Shesaid her husband urged her to run for theCouncil in 1982.

She won election, coming in second in afield of 12 candidates. She advanced fromcouncilwoman to vice mayor in 1984 and wasre-elected in 1986 and 1988. In January 1991,she became Alexandria’s first female mayor,succeeding Moran. In May of that year, Ticerwas elected to a full term as mayor and wasre-elected in 1994.

As mayor, the Alexandria News noted,she sponsored the first extensive revision ofthe City’s Master Plan in 1992 and she estab-lished an Office of Early Childhood Programswith extensive programs for at-risk children.

But far more attention was given her op-position to the owner of the WashingtonRedskins, Jack Kent Cooke, when he an-nounced his plans to build a new stadium atPotomac Yard on land the city had zoned formixed commercial/residential use. The pro-posal was defeated after intense citizen andcity opposition.

In 1995, Ticer ran for and was elected tothe Virginia State Senate from the30th District, which includes parts of Alex-andria, Fairfax and Arlington Counties. Shewas re-elected in 1999, 2003 and 2007. OnFeb. 17, 2011, she announced that she wasretiring from the Senate at the end of her term.

She was succeeded in the Senate seat bythen-Delegate Adam Ebbin, who said, “Iwon’t forget the times when Senator Ticerwould bring a bill over to the House of Del-egates, set down her ever-present water bottle,and present her proposal to a committee witha twinkle in her eye. And, of course, com-mittees would routinely report her bills to thefloor. Patsy’s genuine genteel way served herwell, not just in the legislature, but through-out her life.”

Del. Mark Levine recalled, “Patsy, whowas a state senator when I moved to Alexan-dria in 2001, was known throughout the cityand the commonwealth for her kindness, herstrength, her wisdom and her heart. She wasa trailblazer and outspoken, but always tem-pering her views by listening carefully to oth-ers.”

While a member of the State Senate,Ticer worked for policies that providedVirginia’s children with improved education,health care and child care standards. Becauseof her legislation, newborn infants in Virginiaare tested – not only for Congenital AdrenalHyperplasia, a developmental disorder thatcan result in the death of a newborn child, butfor medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenasedeficiency, another birth disorder which canprove to be crippling or fatal if not caught im-mediately. She also sponsored legislation re-quiring hearing tests for all newborn infants,which became law.

Outside public office, her passion wasfor tennis. Ticer’s daughter, MargaretJanowsky, told the Connection her mother gotthat passion from her own mother. “Momplayed throughout her lifetime,” Janowskysaid. “Many of her friends remember mom asmuch for wearing her little tennis skirts aroundtown as they do for her politics.”

When she announced her retirement,Ticer spoke of her time in the State Senate:“When I left office as mayor of Alexandria in1996, I thought no job could be as challeng-ing. I was wrong,” Ticer said.

“Making a difference among 40 talentedpeople from all over the Commonwealth hasbeen a difficult task given the varied back-grounds in public service. Because of re-gional differences of opinion on most issues,it is quite often challenging to achieve a basisfor need or understanding for many of thoseissues.”

She said when she arrived in Richmond,“There were many regional differences ofopinion blocking what was viewed as intru-sion into private family rights. Through myyears in Richmond, it has been wonderful to

watch the evolution of public opinion rela-tive to the real need for regulation, protectionand special care given to children not in fam-ily care.

“And things do change in the Senate andGeneral Assembly, albeit slowly. As an ex-ample it has been heartening to see a true car-ing for the health and protection of the Chesa-peake Bay across the partisan divide of theSenate.

“As a senator of Virginia, my views haveexpanded markedly since 1996. When wetalk about the Commonwealth of Virginia andits oneness, I feel a true spirit of caring aboutevery nook and cranny of the state. It hasproven true time and again that if one portionof the state is not doing well, for example,with education or the economy, the wholestate suffers….

“It also has been enlightening to witnessthe shift in viewpoint about the need for com-passion and assistance to those who havemade mistakes and need to be re-assimilatedinto the community. The ability and willing-ness of public officials and other human be-ings to not only be open to this change in per-spective but to forgive has been inspiring. Ifgiven a boost when leaving incarceration, theyare equipped with tools to be real contribut-ing members of the community.”

Ticer is survived by four adult children,four grandsons, one granddaughter and onestep-granddaughter and one step-grandson.Her husband, Jack Ticer, died in 2007.

At the time of her death. Ticer was a resi-dent at Goodwin House.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be madeto St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Sweet BriarCollege, and the Northern Virginia Conserva-tion Trust.

continued from page one

State Senator Patsy Ticer dies at 82

ACDC Voice, September 2017, Page 10

The annual auction to fund the campaignof our County Board candidate—a fixture ofthe fall campaign season here in Arlington —has been recast this year to benefit both ourCounty Board candidate Erik Gutshall andour School Board candidate MoniqueO’Grady. And, in another new twist, the“Blue Arlington Evening with the Arts” willalso promote Arlington artists by displayingselect works of local artists and treatingticketholders to live performances.

Be prepared for an elegant, fun event!For the price of admission you will receive awide choice of savory finger foods and des-serts, drinks, and the opportunity to bid on awide and diverse array of item in the silentand live auctions. Proceeds will be dividedequally between both campaigns.

Admission is $60 per person ($75 at thedoor). Use this link to purchase tickets: https:// s e c u r e . a c t b l u e . c o m / d o n a t e /bluearlingtonauction2017). Can’t attend butwant to support our local candidates? Noproblem. Simply use the ticket purchase linkto make an on-line donation that will be di-vided equally between our CB and SB candi-dates.

This year’s reception and auction willtake place Friday, September 22, from 7:00p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Lyon Park Commu-nity Center, 414 N Fillmore St. Free, on-streetparking is available in the surrounding neigh-borhood.

The reception and silent auction beginat 7 p.m. The live auction will begin around9 p.m. Live performances will be scatteredthroughout the evening.

The auction needs your help with con-

Annual auction will promote Arlington artstributions of auction items, such as campaignmemorabilia, autographed books and prints,professional services, domestic/fitness/homedecor services, gift certificates, vacation andweekend getaways, fine arts and crafts, bas-kets of goodies, tickets for theater/concert/sporting events, and anything else you thinkis appropriate for an auction.

Donating your services or products is an

effective way to promote your own businesswhile at the same time supporting our won-derful Democratic candidates for local officehere in Arlington.

To donate, volunteer to help, or for moreinformation, please contact Laura SaulEdwards at laura@Erik4Arlington.com or(571) 296-0009), or Pam Casey atpam@pamcasey.com or (703) 861-3834.

HARMONIZING — Sen. Tim Kaine pulled out one of his har-monicas last Wednesday and made music with Arlington’s TravisTucker at the New District Brewing Company.

AUCTION — The annual auction, which used to benefit the County Board candidate, has been expandedto benefit both County Board candidate Erik Gutshall and School Board candidate Monique O’Grady.