NORFOLK
Former Democratic Speaker of the House Thomas W. Moss Jr. said Thursday he will run for a third term as city treasurer next November.
Moss, who left the Democratic Party in the 2005 election campaign because he feared he would not win the party primary, said he plans to run as a Democrat.
He ran as an independent in 2005 and won a bitter four-way race, claiming 43 percent of the vote. Three African American candidates split the rest of the vote.
Moss, 80, said he has officially rejoined the Democratic Party and has already lined up much Democratic support. Norfolk Vice Mayor Anthony L. Burfoot, Sheriff Robert McCabe, Commissioner of the Revenue Sharon McDonald and George Schaefer, clerk of the Circuit Court, said Thursday that they endorse him.
Vivian Paige, a Norfolk accountant who won 31.7 percent of the vote when she ran against Moss as the Democratic nominee in 2005, vowed after her defeat to compete for the job again. "I am investigating my options, " she said Thursday.
Paige, who writes a popular Internet blog on local politics, said if she runs, she will seek the Democratic nomination. "I never left the Democratic Party," she said.
Moss said he will run on his record of upgrading technology and customer service in the treasurer's office.
He said he has eliminated city stickers, made it possible for taxpayers to pay their bills online and by telephone and helped prevent delinquent taxpayers from renewing license plates.
"I'm running again because I have a lot more to do," he said. "I've done my best to make it as easy as possible for citizens to pay their taxes, but the job is not finished."
Moss, a Virginia Tech graduate, served 36 years in the House of Delegates, including a term as speaker of the House from 1991-2000.
Harry Minium, (757) 446-2371, harry.minium@pilotonline.com
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