Turkey RPCV Frank Creel runs for Congress in Virginia on Independent ticket
Read and comment on this story from the Washington Post on Turkey RPCV Frank Creel who ran for Congress in Virginia on Independent ticket. Our apologies to Mr. Creel for not having his campaign information available to include in our recent special report on RPCVs running for national office in the 2002 elections. Read the story at:
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As Democrats Sit Out Race, Independent Challenges Davis
By Lisa Rein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 31, 2002; Page VA17
For the second time in four years, Virginia Democrats did not field a candidate to challenge Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R). But this year, Frank W. Creel, an independent affiliated with the Constitution Action Party, says he can beat the popular Northern Virginia congressman.
Creel, a retired federal employee, calls himself a "better Republican" than Davis, whom he accuses of abandoning the "old GOP principles" of limited government, low taxes and opposition to abortion.
"I'm a better Republican than Davis," Creel said. "He doesn't believe in those old GOP principles. When I found out no Democrats were running against him, I said, 'Heck, this is America. We hold elections, not coronations.' "
Davis, who has represented Virginia's 11th District on Capitol Hill for eight years, said his accomplishments in office and hard work for Northern Virginians are the best arguments for electing him to a fifth term.
"We're running on our record," said the congressman, who serves as chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans.
Although candidates for federal office are not required to live in the districts they would represent, Davis criticized Creel for not living in the 11th House District. He also called him an extremist way outside the mainstream of conservative politics.
"He's not a member of the Republican Party. I don't really think he's entitled to say anything about Republicans," Davis said.
But Creel said he fits right into today's GOP politics. "I feel very comfortable, philosophically, with the residents of the 11th District," Creel said.
Davis, who lives in the Seven Corners area, is a moderate who has represented parts of Northern Virginia for more than two decades, first as a Fairfax supervisor and then as county board chairman before his election to Congress. He cited a record on issues of importance to the Washington suburbs, including his work securing federal funding to rebuild the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and extend Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, and legislation he sponsored to streamline government procurement.
Davis was instrumental in last year's closing of the Lorton Correctional Facility, the federally owned former D.C. prison off Ox Road in southeastern Fairfax County that the county purchased at a below-market price last summer for development as open space and housing.
"I'm a good, solid member of the Northern Virginia delegation," Davis said.
The 11th District includes central Fairfax and eastern Prince William counties.
Creel oversaw a program regulating duty-free imports for the Department of Commerce before retiring two years ago. He said he started a political consulting firm but is not seeking clients at the moment.
Creel said he hopes to ride to victory on his opposition to the proposed sales tax increase on Tuesday's ballot. Davis, by contrast, is one of several elected Republicans in Virginia who have endorsed the measure, which would increase the sales tax in Northern Virginia by a half-cent to pay for transportation improvements. The Constitution Action Party is known as a low-tax, antiabortion organization.
Creel volunteered in the Peace Corps in Turkey and served in Vietnam as a rifle platoon leader, which earned him a Bronze Star. He accused Davis of pandering to voters by seeking federal money to rebuild the Wilson Bridge, a project he says is not outlined in the powers given to Congress by the U.S. Constitution.
The candidates also differ on abortion rights, with Creel in opposition and Davis in support.
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