Here’s something that struck me as odd on the local political front.
Back in March, the Arlington County Democratic Committee made a pretty big deal out of the fact it had created a standing Equity/Inclusion Committee to be on par with other major committees of the organization.
The decision “goes to show the commitment Arlington Democrats have to inclusion,” party chair Jill Caiazzo said after the March 2 vote, where adding the committee garnered 95-percent approval from the rank-and-file.
But here we are in December, with Arlington Democratic leadership contests taking place in just a couple of weeks, and, as we reported yesterday, nobody has filed to lead the committee for 2022-23. The current chair, Corey Barton, instead is running for parliamentarian in a race that also includes Bob Platt.
The equity/inclusion post is one of three that had no takers in the upcoming election; as our coverage of yesterday noted, there are a number of contested races (including for chair) while most posts have just a single filer.
No doubt the new party chair who will succeed Caiazzo after the Jan. 5 leadership vote will tap an equity/inclusion chair with relative dispatch, so in the end the lack of a candidate now will have little lasting impact. But it does seem odd that, given the importance Democrats have placed on the committee over the past year, nobody could be enticed to run for its chairmanship.
MENTAL-HEALTH IMPACTS OF COVID: Our own Brian Trompeter yesterday had coverage of Fairfax County’s efforts to get its arms around the mental-health impacts of the COVID era on young people.
That data that were discussed were pre-COVID, but there can be no doubt that the ramifications of COVID-era lockdowns will cause more and more students to report cases of depression and anxiety when the next survey is taken.
We’ll have an editorial on the topic coming up not this week, but next, so stay tuned.
ALBERT THE WONDER CAT SETTLES IN: My move into a Falls Church apartment to await the completion of a condo renovation in coming months has been accomplished; I am still without sofas, dressers, a table or two and my bed (all of which are still in the condo), but there is at least enough for me to live in until the next Uhaul rental gets the rest of the stuff in.
Albert the wonder cat is doing his best to acclimate to his new surroundings. He was stressed enough the first night in his new digs that he didn’t even wake me up for a midnight snack (one for him, not for me). But if past is prologue, he’ll be settled in by the end of the week. And the new place has lots of closets. The cat loves his closets!
- Scott McCaffrey