Candidate joins race for City Council at the last minute

Another independent candidate decided to run for the City Council and slipped in his paperwork Tuesday just in time to get listed on the November ballot.
City resident Paul Long was collecting the 125 signatures of registered Charlottesville voters necessary to run as an independent almost until Tuesday’s 7 p.m. filing deadline. He handed in his paperwork with the magic number of signatures around 6:30 p.m.
“I’m relieved,” Long said Tuesday. “I’m glad I qualified.”

However, independent Andrew Williams, a 22-year-old State Farm Insurance employee who declared his candidacy earlier this year and filed the required paperwork last month, came up short in the number of signatures needed after some of his were deemed ineligible.
Though he said he would file an official petition protest, Williams likely will not appear on November’s ballot.
“Outside of that there’s nothing I can do,” Williams said.
To be listed on the ballot, all candidates had to file the necessary paperwork by Tuesday evening. Two Democrats and two independents are now officially candidates for the City Council, which has two open seats this fall.

Mayor Dave Norris will be running for re-election, after first being elected to the council in 2006. Democrat Kristin Szakos is also seeking to be seated, and was the first to announce her candidacy this year.
As in 2007, no Republican candidate surfaced, making it the second consecutive election in which the party failed to field a candidate.
Bob Fenwick, who has spearheaded the Save McIntire campaign to preserve the park from development, is the second independent in the race. In a news release, Fenwick said he filed his paperwork Monday.

Like Williams, Long said that he had initially submitted more than 125 signatures to voting officials, but that many ended up being Albemarle County residents or unregistered voters. After he received a phone call from the city registrar notifying him of the signature shortfall, Long said he had but a few hours to get 32 more signatures.
In a last-minute scramble, he took the afternoon off work to collect as many signatures as he could at city polling places, to take advantage of residents voting in Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
“I’m going to be out here,” Long said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “I think the only chance I have is to pick up people voting after work.”
Rick Sincere, chairman of the Charlottesville Electoral Board, said independent candidates can request to be notified of petition problems that can be corrected before the filing deadline. Williams did not submit such a request in writing, Sincere said, but city voting officials called him Tuesday to let him know about the problem.

“We do it as a courtesy when we can,” Sincere said.
Long said that Williams served as an inspiration to him, and he decided to run for office only at the end of May.
Long said his priorities include placing more attention on outpatient counseling for nonviolent offenders. As a former drug and alcohol addiction counselor, he believes more counseling would save taxpayer money by keeping offenders out of jail.
As a person who does not have a car, Long also said he wants to improve the city’s transit service to make it easier for commuters to take the bus. While Charlottesville’s system is decent for its size, “it could be better,” he said.
To address affordable housing issues, Long wondered if the city could explore using rent control to prevent housing costs from escalating to exorbitant levels.

In other races, incumbent Charlottesville School Board members Ned Michie, Leah Puryear and Juandiego Wade were the only three to file for board spots this year, meaning they will run unopposed. School Board members run as independents and therefore also must submit petitions.
Michie, Puryear and Wade were the first elected members of the board. Six residents ran in that race in 2006; the board previously was appointed.
For city sheriff, Democrat James E. Brown III will run against independent Paul Best. Democrats Jennifer Brown, Lee Richards and Dave Chapman are running unopposed for city treasurer, commissioner of revenue and commonwealth’s attorney, respectively.