Candidate for Va. Beach council drops out of race

Posted to: Elections News Virginia Beach
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By Deirdre Fernandes
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 30, 2011

VIRGINIA BEACH

City Council candidate Mike Makela has dropped out of the race for the at-large seat.

Makela, a software consultant, announced his decision in an email to The Virginian-Pilot and on his campaign's Facebook page.

"After much contemplation, I have decided to end my campaign," he wrote in the statement. "We accomplished many of our goals over the past few months. I commend my staff for running an honorable and productive campaign. I look forward to spending more time with my family."

He could not be reached for further comment.

Makela was a political newcomer who had put $250 into his campaign, according to the last finance report from mid-September.

He had not informed the Virginia Beach registrar's office about his decision, officials with the registrar said Thursday.

Absentee ballots have already been sent out and voters are already voting absentee electronically.

The election is Nov. 8.

Makela was one of four candidates vying for the seat left vacant when Councilwoman Rita Sweet Bellitto relocated to the Seattle area last summer.

Dennis Free, John Moss and Prescott Sherrod, who was appointed to replace Bellitto, are also running.

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I wonder....

Submitted by russb757 on Fri, 09/30/2011 at 12:47 am.

Will Sherrod get photo shopped pictures of him and Obama together. And is there any extra goldenrod paper left over from Sessoms election to print them on ?

Coming soon to a voting precinct near you!

Obama and Sherrod

Submitted by fdm505 on Fri, 09/30/2011 at 10:34 am.

Obama & Sherrod both support spending money collected from taxpaying workers to provide entitlements for those who refuse to work and reply on the government to provide for them. Along with SNAP, EBT, Food Stamps, Cash Support, Section 8 Vouchers, Obamacare, and Free Prescription Drugs for adults who refuse to work, are these lazy adults ENTITLED to Virginia Beach Light Rail funded at taxpayer expense?

Are ENTITLEMENT programs, such as expanded HTR Tide Light Rail to Town Center, bad for VA Beach? More crime anyone?

Dennis Free opposes the Second Enemy and would use a Council position to disarm law abiding VA Beach citizens. Free is an enemy of the Constitution and the rights of individuals.

Support fiscal conservative John Moss!

Vote for John Moss on Tuesday, November 8

Submitted by fdm505 on Thu, 09/29/2011 at 4:49 pm.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011, will be here soon. Citizens of VA Beach, vote for John Moss that day.

Prescott Sherrod was appointed, never elected, to City Council and is a puppet of the developer's consortium and the Mayor/Banker/Developer's puppet. Sherrod does not even pay his own taxes on time consistently and cannot be trusted.

Dennis Free may work in law enforcement but Free is an enemy of the Second Amendment. He apparently mistakenly views guns as evil. Keep your hands off our guns! Free on Council could ensure that only Beach criminals and law enforcement officers are armed and law abiding citizens are unarmed and unable to protect themselves and their families.

John Moss has the most experience serving on Council. Vote for Moss!

Yeah, right.

Submitted by YouDaMan on Thu, 09/29/2011 at 8:44 pm.

He's lost the lost 20 elections he's run in. Snore. But by the way, who was this Makela dude, anyway. Never heard of him.

Poll proves Beach wants light rail

Submitted by Mike Barrett on Thu, 09/29/2011 at 5:02 pm.

Now that the Social Science Research Center at ODU has published the results af their Life in Hampton Roads survey, Moss's chances with his opposition to light rail are even less than before. A full 65.6% of respondents, when asked where you would like to see light rail extended, said Virginia Beach. Further, when asked how likely do you thing it is that light rail will contribute to local exonomic development, 74.2% said very or somewhat likely. Only 13.2% said they don't want light rail extended. With the moribund VBTA leading the charge against light rail, it will be very difficult for Moss to swim against the Tide.
Ironically, the 13.2% tracks closely votes that opponent Wally Erb got, that is, 11%, in the last election.

ODU Vision

Submitted by lowwagecity on Mon, 10/03/2011 at 9:59 am.

The leadership at ODU also thought Mag-Lev was a good idea. How many of our tax $$ were flushed on this boondogle? I wont even mention the Phil Hamilton debacle. No wonder ex-prez Runte is hiding out in Canada. The board of Visitors should be ashamed of themselves.

LRT=Heavy Taxes

Referendum?

Submitted by jayjay2 on Fri, 09/30/2011 at 11:14 pm.

And the last referendum said no we don't. But if your boys are sucessful in getting another 10 cents of gas tax you might get your way.

His Moribundship is dreaming

Submitted by keithh41833 on Fri, 09/30/2011 at 3:45 pm.

So a 730 person poll from Social Science Research Center at ODU has decided what 427,000 citizens of VB want? His Moribundship has gone well beyond desperation. That's an amazing conclusion Mikey. Coming from a CEO of a development company and a retired 06? That such a small amount of people speak for the majority of citizens? What moribund arrogance! Please... Your Moribundship.... before it's too late....stop insulting the intelligence of the electorate. You've got to learn when to stop digging that hole. You are truly grasping at straws. VBTA has been right all along on this issue. If you want someone to protect your property rights in VB, stop developer welfare, and perform the true functions of government, John Moss is your guy.

Nice try at spin!

Submitted by russb757 on Fri, 09/30/2011 at 12:36 am.

Bravo! Way to cheery pick the data to fit your view!

Lets look at a couple more questions in the survey shall we ?

Question ( page 9 ) : In the last week have you used public transportation? 92.7 % said no

Question ( page 10 ) : would you be more likely to use public transportation once light rail becomes available.

In 2010 43.9 % said yes. In 2011 only 31.9% said yes

In 2010 only 29.6 % said no and in 2011 that increased to 43.1%

So lets try this another way. Less than 8% currently use public transportation and today the majority would not use it even with LRT and further the amount that would dropped 12% in just one year.

Yes sir...thats a clear mandate indeed!

First SPSA, now Polls

Submitted by jimmyf on Thu, 09/29/2011 at 7:24 pm.

Gee whiz Mike, first you didn't understand how SPSA worked (leading to it's demise) and now you don't understand how polls work, either.

By choosing and phrasing the right "qualifier" questions, you can pretty much per-determine the kinds of people you want to poll. So if you're looking to poll left-leaning developers with an appetite for taxpayer dollars (like you), you can do that easily. Qualifiers get you the people you're looking for. Then you choose and phrase the questions correctly and you can get the answer you're hoping to get. Of course, there are practices such as "push polling" which are a different animal, but with the right poll questions, I can make you look like the biggest Moss supporter in town.

Polls mean nothing.