The announcement sent waves of fear through Northern Virginia. Metro’s top union voted to approve a strike.
Getting around the greater Washington area is tough enough on any given day, but the thought of Metro dumping it’s 700,000 daily riders onto the roads is a horror too vast to contemplate.
The strike vote brought about a rare moment of unity in Virginia politics. Republican Barbara Comstock joined with other elected officials to denounce the action, as did the reliably liberal Washington Post editorial page.
Not only would a strike be illegal, they argued, it would cause chaos in the region. It wouldn’t be a fantastic PR move by the union, either. Local legislators weighed in, calling for union members to stay on the job.
As the Post noted:
“…the union also shows its disdain for Metro’s passengers, who, union leader Jackie Jeter has said, share the responsibility for the system’s long-term decline.”
“Her remark reflected the arrogance and over-the-top zeal of a union that has lost touch with the public, with financial reality and with the welfare of a transit system whose prospects are critical for the region as well as its own employees. A strike would be a disaster for Metro, for its workers and for the 1 million passengers they serve daily.”
But not everyone raised their voice in concern. Democrat Jennifer Wexton, a Northern Virginia State Senator and Comstock’s opponent in November, didn’t say a word.
Now, more than a week later, Wexton has neither released a statement or done an interview on the subject. One might think that arguing in favor of 700,000 riders keeping their commutes intact would be a no-brainer for any elected official, let alone one seeking higher office.
But Wexton was and remains silent on what should be an easy political lay-up. Why?
It could have something to do with the $10,000 check the union wrote to Wexton’s campaign.
It’s starting to become a pattern with Wexton. Not only is she silent on Metro, she won’t answer questions about whether or not she’d support Nancy Pelosi to be speaker in a Democrat run House.
Other Democrats are not only answering the question, they’re running away from Pelosi as fast as they can, calling for “new leadership.”
Wexton got a total of $14,000 from Pelosi to help retire her campaign debts earlier this year. Coincidence? If anyone could get Wexton to answer questions about it, we could find out.
Just a few days ago, Wexton’s campaign sent out a fundraising email claiming their candidate couldn’t be bought. Perhaps donations don’t buy action, but one could be forgiven for assuming that donations to Wexton can buy silence.
