Saturday: Plum Family Picnic

Columns

by Karen Goff — September 4, 2014 at 11:00 am 26 Comments

Del. Ken Plum (D-Reston) and his wife Jane will host the annual Plum Family Picnic and Pre-Election Rally from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the North Hills Picnic Pavilion on North Village Road.

Special guests will include Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va. 11) and Dranesville Supervisor John Foust, who is the Democratic candidate for the Virginia 10th District Congressional seat.

Also on hand: State Sen. Janet Howell, Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring.

The annual casual event is hosted by Friends of Ken Plum to thank supporters and to gather momentum for the upcoming general election.

The event is a Democratic fundraiser. Donations of $35 to Virginia’s Act Blue are encouraged. To register or donate visit Act Blue’s website.

Photo: Janet Howell (l) and Ken Plum/File photo

Dave

Apparently ACT BLUE donations are NOT tax deductible (per their web site). I’m wondering if accepting contributions for a for-profit organization is legal under the guidelines of RA. Also I’m hoping that this organization is paying the “non member” fee of $310 for this facility. Would be good if RN investigated this and reported what they find.
- Bird
  
  What does this have to do with RA?
FreeMarketFan

So, when does RestonNow ever push anything in favor of Republicans? Just seems like every week this left leaning yahoo pushes out some editorial on how he knows what’s best for everyone and now RestonNow is pushing a fundraiser.

Great!
- Karen Goff
  
  I have explained this before. Ken Plum has a column on RN because he is an elected official. If there were any Republicans that held office in Reston or represented Reston, they would be welcome to do the same. In fact, if the Fairfax Republicans or Hunter Mill area Republicans wanted space here, I would welcome that as well. So have them contact me.
  - JohnGalt
    
    So you provide an elected official free-reign to write this tripe and publish it for all to see? Got it. My guess is if there were a Fairfax Republican or Hunter Mill Republican you’d go out of your way to dismiss it.
    
    How much is he padding your coffers to push his agenda down the collective throat?
    - Karen Goff
      
      You would be guessing wrong then.
      - JohnGalt
        
        How many conservative fundraisers have you pushed to the front page since the inception of Reston Now? I’ll wait patiently for your response
      - Karen Goff
        
        As many as there are in Reston? (which is not many). As I said before, send some high profile GOP folks my way. I will be happy to publish a blog from them.
      - Dagny Taggart
        
        OK, so you’ve deflected the question. The answer is zero, correct? You’ve decided to use this forum which is your right to push fundraisers for the Democratic party. I just was hoping a bit more balance.
      - Karen Goff
        
        Not true. Sorry, can’t spend the rest of the day talking about this. Goodbye.
      - Dexter Scott
        
        You got it.
  - Dexter Scott
    
    It would be totally appropriate for you to offer columns to Barbara Comstock and Tom Rust.
    - Karen Goff
      
      They are in the 10th District. Reston is the 11th. So. no.
      - Dexter Scott
        
        There is no Great Falls Now or Herndon Now. Plenty of people in those places read Reston Now. So. Yes.
      - Karen Goff
        
        Dexter. I am a staff of one covering ONE community. Can’t expand to please everyone in nearby communities. Maybe someone would like to start a Great Falls site? Meanwhile we mainly cover Reston, sorry.
      - Karen Goff
        
        Dexter. I am one person covering one community. While I am pleased people in Herndon and Great Falls are reading, it is still a RESTON site. Perhaps someone out there would like to start a site covering those places?
      - Bah
        
        What is the Reston-specific content of Plum’s posts? Very little if any. It is the usual inane Democrat talking points. There is no reason not to provide a Republican alternative to this.
        
        But you are just a typical Democrat – you only favor free speech when someone else has the microphone, but when you have it, you refuse to let anyone else talk.
      - Karen Goff
        
        As I have said before, send a Hunter Mill Republican leader my way. Happy to publish a regular column.
  - Rational Reston
    
    Something that may prove useful is a simple disclaimer at the beginning and end of Del. Plum’s contributions to RN, fairly similar to what ArlNow does.
    - Karen Goff
      
      we do that. This is a reminder of an event and not a message from Mr. Plum.
      - Rational Reston
        
        I understand the difference in topics and placement. But the discussion was here.
        
        Del Plum’s RN column’s do not seem to really have the same type of header/footer disclaimer. In his most recent contribution, there’s only the text ” Ken Plum represents Reston in Virginia’s House of Delegates”
        
        A quick look at ArlNow, I found this piece ( http://www.arlnow.com/2014/09/04/peters-take-aps-macbook-decision-flunks-transparency-test/ ) there’s a preamble stating it’s a weekly opinion column, and the views are not ArlNow’s, and then there’s the line at the bottom, giving the author’s previous positions.
        
        So while I know it is off topic for this entry, I do not think RestonNow does this for Del. Plum’s opinion pieces. I was just trying to be helpful in finding a solution to illustrate that Del. Plum is only trying to communicate to Reston, and RestonNow is providing the space without endorsement of content.
      - Karen Goff
        
        If it will make you happy, I will add that disclaimer. But I think the “opinion” logo at the top kind of makes it clear to most people.
      - Karen Goff
        
        OK. We can do that. But the “opinion” tag should make it clear to most people.
Southie

Ken Plum is Representative to the Virginia House of Delegates from the 36th district, which includes Reston. As such, it makes sense that a community web site and forum such as Reston Now would post his columns, regardless of his political party affiliation. No matter what our individual political leanings, we can each benefit from knowing what our various state and federal representatives think about issues. Mr. Plum lives in Reston, so should be able to reserve an RA facility as a resident, whether he is using it for a birthday party or for a fundraiser. Act Blue is the online conduit for donations to Mr. Plum; they are not hosting the fundraiser. I’m writing as an individual who lives in Reston and am not associated with Ken Plum’s office.
Cathie Gorman Freeman

Pushing Mr. Plum’a picnic and publicizing it are two different things. Freemarketfan might want to chooae different words. If we had s Republican delegate and they had a summer picnic would Freemarket consider an article about that picnic pushing it or pubicizing it? Really? Condidering the fact that the AG and other persons of note would be in attendance, I’m glad for the extra PR.
Ram Zhee

The democrat political party is little more than a coalition of the useless.

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