http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news/politics.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-24-0150.html

FOIA…. it is a wonderful thing.

I also have learned that the superindent of Mr. Davis’ direct agency, Walter McFarlane at the Dept of Correctional Education did not know he was running for City Council, which is in conflict with what Davis said. Lastly, apparently Mr. Davis will be required to reimburse the state for the “fair market” value of the printing and design services.

I agree that while Mr. Davis’ actions may not have been in violation of any state “rules”, I think what he did shows incredibly poor judgement and was completely inappropriate. I agree with Hilbert’s comments in the RTD, I don’t see how kids who are in jail can voluntarily agree to work for their supervisory. It feels like coersion to me and an exploitation of these kids.
Furthermore, he himself stated to the RTD that he didn’t know how the youth’s $2 per hour wage was paid, which means he didn’t pay it and we as taxpayers did. To me, that is inappropriate for someone seeking elected office.

Get Real Richmond, you are correct that Chris does have a “discretionary” fund for the district, but he felt it wouldn’t be right to use that money. The fund exists and should be used to benefit the entire district, not a specific individual and/or family. Chris could have easily turned his back and honestly said funding wasn’t available to assist with accommodations, but he knew what the right thing was to do and did it.

You are incorrect in stating that Chris was out of town when the flood happened. He was very much in Richmond. He was in Battery Park the day of the flood, he spent hours at the emergency shelter at the Arthur Ashe Center and he was back in Battery Park for most of the next day. He did leave town 2 days later, was gone for 36 hours and came back in order to attend the tuesday evening emergency meeting that he and Council staff had planned. A meeting I might add that neither the Mayor or the administration helped to organize.

You question the value of Chris’ efforts as the Chair of the City Council investigation. That investigation was used as a means to uncover the truth about the attempted eviction of the school board and nothing less. At the end of the day, if it hadn’t been for the work of that committee we never would’ve known about the $500K that was stolen from Battery Park and while we all hope that “justice” will be done, that’s not something Council has any control over. That’s up to the Commonwealth Attorney and the Mayor.

I’m sorry that you are disappointed in Chris’ work on Council, but I know that the 3rd district council race has a candidate with integrity. You must not know Chris because if you did you’d know he is a decent, good and honest man who has worked tirelessly over the last four years to support the residents of this district. Has he made mistakes? Sure. Has he been perfect? Definitely not. But, he’s gotten up each day and tried to do the right thing for our community and our neighbors. I’m proud to have him as my Council person and I hope that most 3rd district residents feel the same.

In the years since the Battery Park flood, neither Chris nor I have ever “promoted” the financial assistance we provided to those in need. Grandstanding and self-congratulatory behavior is not something either one of us is interested in doing, however, after reading the most recent post where Chris’ integrity has been called into question I felt the need to set the record straight.

Get Real Richmond, you are correct that Chris does have a “discretionary” fund for the district, but he felt it wouldn’t be right to use that money. The fund exists and should be used to benefit the entire district, not a specific individual and/or family. Chris could have easily turned his back and honestly said funding wasn’t available to assist with accommodations, but he knew what the right thing was to do and did it.

You are incorrect in stating that Chris was out of town when the flood happened. He was very much in Richmond. He was in Battery Park the day of the flood, he spent hours at the emergency shelter at the Arthur Ashe Center and he was back in Battery Park for most of the next day. He did leave town 2 days later, was gone for 36 hours and came back in order to attend the tuesday evening emergency meeting that he and Council staff had planned. A meeting I might add that neither the Mayor or the administration helped to organize.

You question the value of Chris’ efforts as the Chair of the City Council investigation. That investigation was used as a means to uncover the truth about the attempted eviction of the school board and nothing less. At the end of the day, if it hadn’t been for the work of that committee we never would’ve known about the $500K that was stolen from Battery Park and while we all hope that “justice” will be done, that’s not something Council has any control over. That’s up to the Commonwealth Attorney and the Mayor.

I’m sorry that you are disappointed in Chris’ work on Council, but I know that the 3rd district council race has a candidate with integrity. You must not know Chris because if you did you’d know he is a decent, good and honest man who has worked tirelessly over the last four years to support the residents of this district. Has he made mistakes? Sure. Has he been perfect? Definitely not. But, he’s gotten up each day and tried to do the right thing for our community and our neighbors. I’m proud to have him as my Council person and I hope that most 3rd district residents feel the same.

I do not believe your statements that Hilbert paid out of his pocket for anything, given that he has “discretionary” money to use and that he and Wilder are similar in their need for public attention.

Having said all this — I remain troubled that Davis used his position as he did and wish only that there were some choice available for a candidate with integrity for Council in the 3rd.

I am deeply disppointed with both of them. ‘Nuff said.

There are several families they City admin cut off in terms of paying for hotels. Hilbert came out of his own pocket to pay for the families to stay in those hotels when the City admin stopped. He also came out of his own pocket to help pay families’ mortgage payments.

This information that is not in any of his campaign flyer. Hilbert did this cause he felt it was the right thing to do. And he hasn’t gotten up used this information to self promote himself.

I found this information out from the families themselves.

I am so glad for your fresh eyes on this. This has been so apparent for so long. No matter what Hilbery does, he gets a free pass. No one here seems to understand that they might look at him differently if he had been as absent in Ginter Park as he was in Battery Park when we had raw sewage backing up into our streets.

Those who do not see the stacked decked here are the hopeless ones.

Well, you two get around.

Do you two spend all day on these hood blogs? I’m self employed so that’s how I get away with being pathetic. What’s your excuse.

Nice to see that you are hypocrites when it comes to playing nice.

And, Mr. Hilbert did not try and get Oliver Lawrence’s code violations forgiven. He tried to find a way to get Oliver Lawrence to sell his property to someone who would maintain it — something that Mr. Davis says should be done with blighted properties (per his own website).

Regarding the allegations against Mr. Davis’ use of incarcerated youth. It was YOU that posted, on September 5, 2008 8:15 am, the statement that “Mr. Hilbert CAN NOT use he access to resources and influence for his re-election campaign and clearly that was what that was”

You based this off of one story in the RTD. Please educate us all as to how what Mr. Davis has done is any different. And, for your information, Mr. Hilbert didn’t use access to resources for his re-election campaign. He used city resources to communicate with city residents. It was Mr. Davis who used his access to state resources for his election campaign.