Posted on 05/19/2013 8:59:42 AM PDT by Perseverando
RICHMOND — After Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II formally accepted his party’s nomination for governor and Virginia GOP scion Mark Obenshain secured the same for attorney general, it was a political neophyte who stole the show Saturday with multiple helpings of 11th-hour drama.
Chesapeake Bishop E.W. Jackson, who mounted an unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate last year, emerged the wire-to-wire winner in the race for the GOP nomination for Virginia’s lieutenant governor at the state GOP’s nominating convention Saturday. It took four ballots and about 10 hours of voting for Mr. Jackson to emerge from a field of seven — and some confusing and conflicting endorsement claims surfaced as the voting spilled into the evening.
Mr. Jackson — who earlier in the day proclaimed that “I am not an African-American, I am an American!” — led the pack after the first ballot, and former state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis of Fairfax County and state Sen. Steve Martin of Chesterfield County did not make the second one after they finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
The second ballot then weeded out Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter of Prince William County and Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairman Susan Stimpson, who had placed second in the first round of balloting.
On the third ballot, Mr. Jackson won 49.7 percent of the vote — agonizingly close to the 50-plus-1 threshold needed for an outright win — with Northern Virginia businessman Pete Snyder winning 30.6 percent and Corey Stewart, Prince William County Board of Supervisors chairman, getting 19.7 percent. As the lowest vote-getter, Mr. Stewart was not allowed to proceed to another ballot.
Then things got interesting.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I was there as a delegate yesterday. My primary motivation was to support Rob Bell for AG, who lost narrowly to the establishment candidate Mark Obenshain, although I believe he will be a reliable conservative when he takes office.
There were seven candidates for Lieutenant Governor, and I hadn’t sorted all that out in my mind before I went to Richmond Friday. A couple of observations:
Delegate Scott Lingamfelter had my attention. He was endorsed and introduced by Allen West who had served under him in the Army. Pretty strong recommendation. One shallow point that struck me was when I stopped by his hospitality suite on Friday was the five piece country band playing the theme song from “Petticoat Junction.” It occurred to me that that was out of synch with 2013 Virginia voters.
Entrepreneur Pete Snyder is a newcomer to politics, but has credible conservative chops. He had a strong endorsement too, as it was Oliver North that introduced him to the convention. The night before, his hospitality suite, which was right next door to Lingamfelter’s had buzz: the placed was packed, and there was a rockin’ country duo providing the music. Quite a contrast.
When it came time for the candidates to address the convention, I made my way to the side of the stage, and just waited in the wings to observe. I would have been happy with six of the seven speakers, but before EW Jackson took the stage, I liked him on paper, but was afraid that he might be voted in as a token.
Jackson raised the roof and brought down the house. As someone noted above, he proudly exclaimed that he was an American, not an African-American. He is dedicated to constitutional principles, the sanctity of life and the roll-back of Obamacare and its associated evils. I am aware that he has a bankruptcy in his past, but I see that as evidence of his authenticity: he is not someone who has spent decades preparing a saccharine resume to prepare for a political career. I am also impressed that he has spent several years in a campaign to warn Blacks to abandon the Democrat party.
I had the opportunity to meet Jackson and speak with him during the course of the day, and my impression that he is an authentic conservative and patriot only deepened, and so I stayed later than I had intended to help him clinch the nomination on the fourth ballot.
I am confident that he will stay true to his principles and has an excellent chance to win in November.
Bishop of what?
No surprise, they picked the best man.
Jackson is saying something we need to hear more of, dropping the hyphenationality. Hope a VA Freeper posts Cucci’s reaction to the selection I for one would be interested in his reaction.
Seems a worthwhile question. Below is part of his wikipedia bio. Not especially helpful.
Raised a Democrat, his religious beliefs led him to embrace conservatism. While in Boston, he appeared on several radio shows on WHDH, and hosted a nationally syndicated talk show, "Earl Jackson Across America."
In 1996, he joined with the Christian Coalition to head "The Samaritan Project," an outreach program that distributed $500,000 to churches that were victims of arson. He served as a minister with the chapel of the Boston Red Sox for five years, and also served as the protestant chaplain for the Boston Fire Department.
In June 1998, he was consecrated a bishop. Later that year, he and his family moved to Chesapeake, Virginia, and founded Exodus Faith Ministries.
A non-denominational Christian something or other.
Virginia’s GOP Lt. Gov. Nominee: Obama Has ‘Muslim Perspective’ Toward The World
by Meenal Vamburkar
10:09 am, May 19th, 2013 » 18 comments
Virginia Republicans have chosen have conservative minister E.W. Jackson as the nominee for lieutenant governor — making him, according to the Associated Press, the first black candidate the party has nominated for statewide office since 1988. In the past, it appears Jackson has made some charged remarks about President Obama.
As BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski noted, Jackson is the man behind STAND America PAC, which aims to “recruit and support conservative black candidates to run against liberals in Congressional Black Caucus districts.”
Jackson also ran a blog where he wrote about Obama’s “Muslim perspective” toward the world and Israel. Citing the Muslim Brotherhood, Jackson further pointed to a “strain of anti-Semitism” that has influenced the president.
“Obama clearly has Muslim sensibilities. He sees the world and Israel from a Muslim perspective,” Jackson wrote. The post — which is archived here and here — went on to say:
His construct of “The Muslim World” is unique in modern diplomacy. It is said that only The Muslim Brotherhood and other radical elements of the religion use that concept. It is a call to unify Muslims around the world. It is rather odd to hear an American President use it. In doing so he reveals more about his thinking than he intends. The dramatic policy reversal of joining the unrelentingly ant-Semitic, anti-Israel and pro-Islamic UN Human Rights Council is in keeping with the President’s truest – albeit undeclared – sensibilities
Those who are paying attention and thinking about these issues do not find it unreasonable to consider that President Obama is influenced by a strain of anti-Semitism picked up from the black community, his leftist friends and colleagues, his Muslim associations and his long period of mentorship under Jeremiah Wright. If this conclusion is accurate, Israel has some dark days ahead. For the first time in her history, she may find the President of the United States siding with her enemies. Those who believe as I do that Israel must be protected had better be ready for the fight. We are. NEVER AGAIN!
Jackson will run alongside Ken Cuccinelli.
I don’t think this will help the Cuch
Christians should disavow Democrats, says ex-Senate candidate Jackson
Chesapeake faith leader E.W. Jackson is urging Christians who are Democrats to renounce the party in protest of plans to include support for same-sex marriage in the party platform to be unveiled at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.
Jackson said Democrats inhabit an "anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-church party that is hostile to everything that Christians believe in and everything we stand for," during an interview Friday on the syndicated Steve Deace radio show, a conservative program.
The party's endorsement of same-sex marriage "is a signal to Christians that the Democrat Party has turned its back on us," he added. "It's time for us to turn our back on it."
Jackson -- he unsuccessfully pursued the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate this spring -- during the broadcast said he was raised in a Democratic family, but "could not in good conscience remain" affiliated with the party after his spiritual awakening.
A trained attorney, Jackson is presiding bishop at Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake.
He's also founder of the Staying True to America's Destiny organization that advocates for the preservation of Judeo-Christian principles, the traditional family structure and a strict constructionist reading of the U.S. Constitution.
Jackson has been openly critical of Democrats including President Barack Obama and former Gov. Tim Kaine, who's running for Senate against GOP nominee George Allen, and outspoken about his views on race and problems in the black community.
Alluding to a biblical parable later in the interview, Jackson said blacks in particular, "are willing to sell their Christian birthright for the bowl of porridge that the Democrat Party offers in terms of welfare, food stamps, programs, affirmative action, what have you."
Their attitude is "it doesn't matter what God says. It just matters that they're going to do something for me," he added. "Well frankly, that should no longer pass muster. It's time for a conviction of conscience. It's time for us to take action."
-- Julian Walker
The title Bishop means different things in different denominations. I just wondered — that’s all.
We know he’s not a Catholic Bishop, since the Catholic clergy has been forbidden to run for public office since some Dem abuses in the 60s.
And Romney was a Bishop in the LDS church, althouh he no longer used the title, nor held the office.
Pete offered BBQ sauce, youth, good looks, and his personal wealth. Jackson offered maturity and substance. He was genuine, and it was obvious he has a solid, incorruptible core. Pete was the candidate from central casting, Jackson touched something that our souls are longing for, and the delegates felt it.
Jackson’s Lieutenant Governor Website
E.W. Jackson has been an outspoken conservative leader for several years. He is an outstanding speaker.
No, I wonder the same thing.
Didn’t mean for my post to sound like a putdown. Hope it didn’t.
In Mr. Jackson’s wiki bio the word “bishop” was highlighted as a link; when I clicked on the link it took me to a disccussion of Baptist bishopry, which seems to suggest he is a Baptist bishop.
At any rate by all accounts he sounds like an impressive guy.
from his campaign website:
About E.W. Jackson
E.W. Jackson served three years and was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree(BA), Summa Cum Laude with a Phi Beta Kappa Key from the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Three years later he graduated from Harvard Law School with a Juris Doctor (JD). While in law school, he was accepted into the Baptist ministry and studied theology at Harvard Divinity School.
Jackson practiced small business law for 15 years in Boston, and taught Regulatory Law as an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate level at Northeastern University in Boston. Since returning to his ancestral home of Virginia, he has also taught graduate courses in Business and Commercial Law at Strayer University in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake.
In 1997, he retired from his private law practice in order to devote full time to ministry. However, he still taught law and maintained both his avid interest in – and commitment to – civic and political responsibility. His first book, “Ten Commandments to an Extraordinary Life” was published in 2008. His second book, “America the Beautiful – Reflections of a Patriot Descended from Slaves” is scheduled for release in 2012.
Jackson’s family history in Virginia dates back to the time of the Revolutionary War. According to the 1880 census, his great grandparents (Gabriel and Eliza) were a sharecropper family in Orange County, Virginia. His grandfather, Frank Jackson, moved to Richmond and then to Pennsylvania where Jackson was born.
Jackson and his wife Theodora were sent to Boston on orders from the United States Marine Corps in 1971. Motivated by their desire for an environment more compatible with their conservative and Christian values and inspired by the knowledge that it is his ancestral home, Jackson moved back to Virginia 1998.
He is the Founder of Exodus Faith Ministries, a nondenominational Christian church in Chesapeake, Virginia with a satellite in Boston, Massachusetts. On July 4, 2009, he launched S.T.A.N.D. – Staying True to America’s National Destiny (www.standamerica.us), a national organization dedicated to restoring America’s founding values which were informed by the principles found within the Jewish and Christian faiths.
STAND, with Jackson as president, aided the 2012 election effort both in Virginia and nationally. Most recently, he launched “Exodus Now”. The Exodus project is a national effort to encourage Christians and other people of moral values within the black community to leave the current Democratic Party because its current leadership has abandoned the founding principles of this Nation.
Jackson’s Youtube videos in support of that effort were played on Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham and to date have over 1.5 million views online. This is a part of his ongoing project to educate citizens on how the current leadership of the Democratic Party is not representing their values and to break the cycle of electoral dependency on the Democratic Party within the Black community.
After years of political activism, E.W. Jackson was encouraged by friends and family to seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. In May 2011 he declared his candidacy. While unsuccessful in his bid, the campaign gave rise to a strong following which many believe will lead to his election to public office in the near future. He was also called on by the nominee and the Republican Party to help in the general election campaign.
Among his current accomplishments, Jackson chairs the historic Conservative Emergency Task Force (CETF), which held a Summit in Washington DC on March 15, 2011 bringing together Congressional Representatives – including Michelle Bachman, Allen West and Senator Rand Paul, Tea Party leaders and social, economic and national security conservatives to address what Jackson calls “the present national emergency”.
He hosts a weekly CETF conference call to facilitate communication and cooperation among conservatives nationwide. As an outgrowth of that effort, he is one of the primary authors of the Declaration of Freedom, a statement to be signed by 56 prominent contemporary patriots (Council of 56) symbolic of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Jackson has received numerous awards for his leadership and community service, including the Family Life Award from the African American Family Association for his pro-life advocacy; the Lead Hampton Roads Award for Excellence in Leadership; the Trustee Award from the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce; the “Outstanding Leader” Award from Lead Virginia; the Republican Party of Virginia’s 2010 Award for “Outstanding Outreach Effort of the Year” and the “Character Does Count” Award from The Patriot Republican Women.
He and his wife founded the annual Chesapeake MLK Leadership Breakfast which draws hundreds to celebrate the life and ideals of Dr. King. He is also the founder of “Youth With a Destiny”, a non-profit organization established to help youth avoid gangs, drugs and violence. He served as Chaplain for the Boston Red Sox, Boston Fire Department and the Family Foundation of Virginia.
A compelling and compassionate communicator, Jackson managed a gospel radio station for 10 years; hosted local and nation radio talk shows; and did national commentaries for a network of over 400 radio stations. He is a much sought after Public speaker in a diverse array of venues.
His articles have been published nationally and internationally. He has been a guest on FOX News’ The O’Reilly Factor, Your World With Neil Cavuto, Megyn Kelly’s America Live, CBN World News, ABC’s Good Morning America, ABC’s Politically Incorrect, Hardball, C-Span’s Washington Journal, ABC Radio Network, National Public Radio, Virginia Public Radio in Richmond and Tony Macrini’s radio show in Hampton Roads and many other media outlets. His work has been reported by the Washington Examiner, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Mother Jones Magazine, World Magazine and other publications.
In recognition of his national ministry leadership, E.W. Jackson was consecrated a Bishop in 1998. He and his wife, Theodora, have been married for forty-one years, have three children and reside in Chesapeake, Virginia.
I agree. And, no, your impressive and informative post did not sound like a put ddown.
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