Reelect George Braxton

As long as I'm picking on King Doug, I might as well post a letter I am sending to the Richmond Free Press:

I was disappointed, although not surprised, by your reporting of Mayor Wilder’s not quite endorsement of Jerry Miller, who is running against School Board incumbent George Braxton in the city’s fourth district. Mr. Wilder was elected by a wide margin and took office expecting that he would run the City of Richmond as he saw fit. He didn’t anticipate that there were members of the City Council and the School Board who would actually have opinions of their own. Mr. Wilder has been in constant conflict with the Council and with the Board, and at times he has not prevailed. Mr. Wilder is so upset that he didn’t always get his way during the first two years of his term that he is trying to purge both the Council and the School Board of those individuals who did not support him completely. George Braxton is apparently one of those independent-minded members of the School Board with whom the Mayor would prefer not to deal starting in January.

I don’t know much about his opponent, but George Braxton, himself a product of the Richmond Public Schools, is a decent, smart, hard-working man who is dedicated to providing a first-class education for all of Richmond’s children. In his two years on the School Board he has faithfully represented the interests of his fourth district constituents. George Braxton is working to make the public schools of the City of Richmond the best in the Commonwealth of Virginia, if not in the nation. He is determined to stop the flow of young Richmond couples to the suburbs in search of what they think will be better schools. During his first term on the Board, Mr. Braxton has worked well with the Superintendent and with other members of the Board. His colleagues respect him so much that they chose him as Vice Chairman after only a year on the Board.

I urge Free Press readers in the fourth district to reward George Braxton’s hard work with another term on the School Board. Don’t let Mr. Wilder’s desire for a compliant Council and School Board ruin the career of this exceptional public servant.