In the November election, the White Hall district of Albemarle County elected Republican David Wyant over Democrat Eric Strucko. The outcome was surprising, since Strucko had been campaigning hard for almost two years, while Wyant just stepped in a couple of months before the election. Wyant is a local guy, and so he managed to win through insulting Strucko while saying absolutely nothing of substance on his own.
The blow-back has started. The big issue in that district right now is development (as it is for most of Albemarle.) While Strucko was an outspoken advocate of limits on growth, Wyant sat on the fence, making a few comments that could indicate either that he was strongly for unrestricted growth (the old “property rights” canard) or strongly opposed to it, depending on which ear out of which you listened. The papers have started to discuss what the public can’t avoid talking about: Wyant, now that he’s been elected, isn’t answering any questions about development, or anything else for that matter. He won’t return constituents’ phone calls, he won’t talk to reporters, he won’t speak to groups of citizens, and when people do confront him, he’s simply rude.
The Big Decision comes up next month, that of the new Crozet Master Plan. This will determine the future of the Albemarle hamlet of Crozet, which has grown tremendously in the past few years, and, under the new plan, will be slated to grow into a city of its own right. Wyant is going to have to vote on that, and how he’ll vote on it is anybody’s guess. No matter how he votes on it, he’s going to piss off a lot of people, because he was talking out of both sides of his mouth on the campaign trail.
I think a whole lot of people are kicking themselves now, or will be real soon, for voting for the guy that their brother went to high school with, rather than voting for the best candidate.