And the race for Chairman is on.

Much to the consternation of some who think that pretending you aren't running for an office when everybody knows you are is a nobel thing, the race for PWC Chair started the minute Sean announced he would accept Bush's appointment.

So Kudos to Corey Stewart and Wally Covington for being honest about their interest in the position.

From today's Manassas Journal Messenger:

Soon after the White House announced Connaughton's appointment, Supervisor Corey A. Stewart, R-Occoquan, announced his intention to run for the Prince William at-large seat.

Stewart has often been at odds with Connaughton over questions of growth in the county.

"I intend to continue to fight to control growth," Stewart said. "It's a question of leadership and the chairman's position is responsible for establishing the direction of our county."
...
Covington described himself as an "interested party" for the at-large seat.

"I'd think about it," he said.

Marty Nohe, who some say also wants the position, seems noncommittal at this time:

Supervisor Martin E. Nohe, R-Coles, said it's too soon to make that kind of decision.

"We don't really know yet what this process will be for confirmation. We don't have a time line on that, so I don't know that it's really time to be making that decision," Nohe said.

For sure, it could take months before anything happens. However, we certainly hope it happens this year, and if so we are looking at a November election, which means it is not early, but late, to be putting together a campaign. I would have expected that anybody thinking of running even NEXT year would have started putting plans together by now.

In the meantime, Corey and Wally may have a jump on the fundraising, unless others who are running but think it's too early to announce have started putting together their own networks behind the scenes.

I do think there is such a thing as getting into a race too early -- but when an announcement of pending vacancy is made, that's the time to jump in. This isn't like the 50th district, where the opening was due to a death. A presidential appointment is a positive move, and it's not something that requires the moment of silence.

Whoever the republicans pick for this race, I hope we can all rally behind them. I also hope they are tuned in to the "controlled growth" message sent by the Loudoun voters -- I sense Prince William is as fed up with uncontrolled growth, and will vote accordingly.

I also hope that we can pull the warring factions back together for the PWC republican committee -- without Sean, we are going to need a strong committee to hold our own in the elections. We won't have Sean's independent band of merry workers to fill in the gaps this time.