Dear George,

The post that Rus and I put out last night was primarily intended for Charlottesville City Democrats, and was written with that audience in mind. We did not intend to imply that he and I were co-chairs of the 25th District; we are co-chairs of the Charlottesville Committee. Will Harvey chairs the 25th District Committee, and will be chairing the meeting on Saturday at which the decisions about process will be made. The suggestions that Rus and I put forth about process are just that -- suggestions. We wanted to give folks some idea of the thinking at the moment, so that people could get back to us with their reactions before the meeting.

Will, Rus and I have talked frequently about all of this in the last few days, and we will continue to do so. Rus and I did not put forward our post in an effort to do an end-run around Will; what we learn from folks will be shared not only with Will but with other chairs as we try to figure out the best possible procedure.

I have heard in the last 24 hours the following thoughts:

1. People would like to have the opportunity AFTER Election Day to meet and to hear from the various candidates -- to find out why they want the seat, and what they would set as their priorities.

2. That is better done if the nomination convention takes place on November 17 than if it takes place on November 10.

3. The process both should be open and should be perceived as being open. There should be no anointing of a candidate by the leaders of the party.

I invite other comments, whether to me, to Rus, to Will, or to any other City or County chair.

Lloyd Snook (electronic mail, October 26, 2001).

Dear George,

Rus and I have been thrust into the process of planning for the special election to fill Emily Couric's seat as the State Senator from the 25th District. We wanted to give everyone an update on the process that is emerging.

The vacancy has been certified and the writ of election has been issued, calling the election to take place in the new 25th District on Tuesday, Dec. 18. The state law is clear that once new districts have been adopted by the General Assembly and signed into law, any special election that must take place will be from the new district. The NEW 25th district includes the eastern 3/4 of Albemarle County, Nelson County, one precinct in western Buckingham County and the City of Charlottesville on the eastern side of the mountains and the southern half of Rockbridge County, Bath County, Alleghany County, Buena Vista city, Clifton Forge city, and Covington city on the western side of the mountains.

The Democratic chairs from those 10 political subdivisions will meet on Saturday, October 27, to try to sort out a procedure. I would expect that we would have a convention or caucus on either November 10 or 17.

Charlottesville and Albemarle make up 64% of the District in population, and the formula for determining how the Democratic Party will decide who the nominee will be gives to Charlottesville and Albemarle either 66% or 68% of the votes, depending on how you count it.

Rus and I favor a process that would have two primary characteristics. First, it will be over in one day. We do not favor a process that involves more meetings in the short time that we have. Second, strength at the nominating convention must be based on proportional representation among the political subdivisions, so that no political advantage is gained based on where the convention is held. When the District is 150 miles long, we know that someone will have a hard time getting large numbers of people there. The results of the election should not depend on whose backyard the election is held in.

We would invite anyone who has comments about what the process should be to e-mail either or both of us with your comments at cvllelaw@ntelos.net and/or rperry@mcdonough.com .

Also, as folks realize, there are a number of candidates who are surfacing. The ones being discussed in the newspaper who have interested at least some interest are Susan Payne, David Toscano, Meredith Richards, Blake Caravati, and Creigh Deeds. I know all five, and Rus knows the first four and knows of Creigh Deeds. I think that any of them would be a worthy successor to Emily, and I think that Charlottesville and Albemarle Democrats would find that they would be able to support any of them. Rus and I have told all of the candidates that we do not expect to express a preference between Charlottesville-based candidates, but that whoever the local party backs, we will back.

One role that we have as Co-Chairs in this situation is to give advice to prospective candidates, including helping them to assess accurately the level of support that each of them might have. We can best perform that function if we hear from you.

We would like to invite anyone who has an opinion about who the nominee should be (or should not be) to e-mail either or both of us. The source of any opinion thus expressed would be confidential unless you specifically authorize us to disclose it. We hope that you will give us some feedback, so that we can all make good decisions.

Things are moving quickly, as they must. None of us has the stomach for an election this quickly after the state-wide election or under the current circumstances. But we have no choice. Emily made us all very proud in her extraordinary representation of our interests. Now it is time for us to join together to honor her memory by retaining a Democrat in that seat in the State Senate (electronic mail, October 25, 2001).

Lloyd Snook (cvllelaw@ntelos.net)

Russell Perry (rperry@mcdonough.com)