Culpeper residents are starting to pay attention to Jon Russell.

Several months ago, I concluded that Jon Russell was going to bring that same brand of dishonest, self-aggrandizing, lying politics to Culpeper, VA that he displayed here.

First, I am not a part of any campaign.  I'm not getting paid by anyone to do this... Folks can just call it a community service.

I knew Russell was, at some point, going to get stupid and run for some other office... which is why I decided to keep his blog up, detailing his lack of honesty, integrity, mental issues and the bizarre combination of lying about himself to make him bigger in the eyes of others, and his major insecurities that, in fact, cause him to lie... even when he doesn't have to.

yesterday, I received 4 emails from residents wanting to know about this guy.  Numbers on the blog are climbing, fast.

Today, I'll be working on a FAQ to answer most of their questions.  I will be doing any5thing I legally can to make sure this guy isn't elected to dog catcher.

And this blog will be the clearing house for that.

For those reading this entry, my opposition to Russell is based on knowing him for the past 10 years or so, and watching him lie to get what he wants... and what he wants is frequently not what the people want.

Those wondering why I would care, since he's on the other side of the country, need to understand that I don't want Jon Russell anywhere in government generally and MY government particularly.

His efforts at getting elected to a city council have nothing to do with his care or concern of the city in question: it's all about a stepping stone to higher office.

This guy used his seat on the Washougal city council as a prop for his abysmal, failed congressional run and his subsequent disaster of a race for state representative.

This guy doesn't give a damn about Culpeper except in so far as what that community can do to enhance his chances at higher political office.  And if you don't believe that, just ask him... and he'll have to tell you if he's still doing that fake Christian thing.

This blog chronicles this guys self-aggrandizement, lies and distortions used to harm others.  Expect the same as he tried to rebuild his political empire over in your backyard.

More today or tomorrow.  Thanks for coming by.

Russell starting his push for his Culpeper run: knows it all.

Jon Russell has always (mistakenly) thought himself to be the smartest guy in the room no matter where he is: and the poor blighters in the City of Culpeper are no exception.

See, in Jon's world, everyone else is wrong, and he's right... particularly if he wants to get elected to something.

Well, if Culpeper is interested in electing a divider instead of a uniter; an ego-maniac who sees this as yet another stepping stone to higher office at their expense (much like he tried... and failed miserably, here) then Russell is their guy.

Good luck with that.

Here's his latest ego trips:

Monday, February 10, 2014                                                                                                                                   Culpeper Residents Need to be Heard                                                                                                      

If you've ever been to a regularly scheduled town council meeting, you know there is a public comment time at the beginning of each meeting. 

What most people don't know is by the time ordinances and resolutions come before the council as a whole, the council has already had committee hearings and sometimes special meetings to discuss the items before them. 

Committee meetings are where the real work of the council is conducted. So it would stand to reason that committee meetings and special meetings should also be open for public testimony to ensure the voice of the public is heard before legislation is moved to the council as a whole. Unfortunately the public is left out of policy discussions at the committee level.

Public testimony can be added to the agenda of every committee meeting, but it is up the council to make that happen. 

We should encourage public testimony in all town council meetings to ensure accountability, cooperation and transparency. 

Posted by Jon Russell at 9:20 AM No comments:

Thursday, February 6, 2014
Cooperation for Culpeper By Jon Russell  

The Town of Culpeper faces many financial challenges on the horizon; state and federal mandates on the our local dams and storm water regulations to name a couple. 

As we begin the process of budgeting and planning for the future, it is incumbent upon us to work together as a team. Both elected officials and the public must be as partners to overcome some pretty high regulatory hurdles. 

Prioritizing our needs in the budgeting process would keep us from unnecessary tax & fee increases. A mission statement and strategic planning would help us move forward with a unified front.

At the end of the day, cooperation on the council and welcomed participation by the public will put our town on solid footing in the decision making process. 

Prioritizing our needs in the budgeting process would keep us from unnecessary tax & fee increases. A mission statement and strategic planning would help us move forward with a unified front. 

At the end of the day, cooperation on the council and welcomed participation by the public will put our town on solid footing in the decision making process.

 Posted by Jon Russell at 7:56 AM No comments:

Jon Russell is running for Culpeper, VA city council.

Not content with having done a great job of screwing up Washougal, WA while he was an anchor around that city council's neck, Jon Russell, who utilized psychotic fake identities and who exaggerated... repeatedly... his resume' until I busted him... repeatedly... for doing so... now feels compelled to pollute the city council of Culpeper, VA.

Russell, whose tenure on the Washougal city council was marked by the disappearance of tens of thousands of city dollars, the Stacee Sellers scandal, division and controversy, not to mention his multiple and moronic attempts to get out of Washougal via higher office, including getting clobbered during both his congressional AND state representative run still has the political snake hanging from his jugular, and he wants to become somebody, no matter how many cities he has to screw up to get there:

Russell, finally, leaves.  

For an extended period of time (several months), Jon Russell had been skipping many of the the city council meetings that he had a duty to attend, since he was an elected Washougal City Councilman.

No longer. 

Jon Russell has finally done what he SHOULD have done months ago, and left the city council.

Here's my review of his political tenure:

The Columbian referred to Russell's time on the council as "controversial."

That's much like accurately describing the editors of the Columbian and their editorial page as "leftist."  While correct as a label, it really doesn't come close to a complete description, nor does it lend itself to the flavor of a pattern of immaturity, deceit and dishonesty that marked Russell's campaigns and his use of Washougal as a prop on his way up the political ladder.

I first met Russell after he'd come out here back in '04 to handle the SW Washington area HROC gig... which was his first disaster.  In '04, then Rep. Jim Dunn (R-17) had been given a kind of "persona-non-gratia" status by Republican Leader Rep. Richard DeBolt (R-20) and Russell's marching orders were to defeat him in the primary.

Russell worked the campaign of then candidate, now first term State Representative Paul Harris (R-17) (Third time was the charm) and it looked like Harris was going to win going away until Russell sent out a mailer for Harris that changed everything as it attacked Dunn for his age and his weight among other things... and Harris lost.

Russell also interfaced with the Richard Curtis campaign that I consulted on.  Ultimately, his efforts proved to be equally disastrous and both Curtis and I worked to, and ultimately was successful in, getting any further involvement in our campaign by Russell ended.

For example, Russell's second phone call to me was a request for Pam Brokaw's social security number.

I did not have that number, didn't want it and didn't need it.  I told Russell that we didn't play politics that way and that we were going to win this fair and square, without engaging in tactics that required an opponent's social security number.

Since that time, I've watched Russell locally.  He's engaged in a pattern of political dirty tricks including multiple fake names and handles that enabled him to, typically, attack political opponents, even after his appointment to the Washougal city council, while protecting his true identity.

He made up information about his wife as a "doctor."  He repeatedly lied about his education, making up fake degrees.

Russell, an alleged conservative, worked on the Port of Vancouver levy on the "for" side, advocating for what would have been the biggest tax increase in this area's history.

He steadfastly refused to take responsibility for any of the Stacee Sellers debacle, and had no knowledge over the subsequent disappearance of $100,000 in city funds even though he chaired the city finance committee.

He made up fake facebook identities that leaned toward small, petite blond women (Teacher Judy Banks and Jessica Bowen)  had surrogates engage in personal attacks (One of Jon's minions went so far as to attempt to get me kicked off the board of a charitable organization in Idaho)

His campaigns, efforts to get out of Washougal all, included a disastrous, unsuccessful run at the 3rd District Congressional seat; now, unfortunately, held by Jaime Herrera... and then a run at the open 18th District House seat that had been held by Herrera as she vacated to move up to Congress.

I'm hearing a wide variety of other interesting rumors in the political game concerning candidates in the upcoming election... but don't have quite enough to go to web, yet.  That said, there's an entire blog devoted to Russell's antics, Jon Russell Watch. 

Check it out for more details.

One thing that I appreciate: with Jon Russell's departure to the other side of the country, I can be less concerned about continuing on as a PCO.  Russell was the only reason I wanted the gig... and with him leaving... well, it's going to be interesting.

So, underlying Russell's departure was a sense of relief on the part of many, including me. 

Now, Russell is attacking the current city council on his blog over the minutia where he thinks he can show both his superior knowledge and superior grasp of policy.

Here are the posts in question:

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Whose Meal Are You Paying For In Culpeper?  

In May of 2013, the Culpeper Town Council voted 7 to 2 in favor of increasing the town's meals tax.

Some estimates show the increase places Culpeper in the top 15% highest meals tax in Virginia. The meals tax increase is to generate $500,000 annually and will pay debt service on the town’s two-year-old police station and the inner loop road construction. 

However, when this tax increase was passed, the town had a $700,000 surplus from the 2012 general budget. The meals tax disproportionately hits people on a fixed income and as a result reduces the number of people able to eat in our local restaurants. 

I recently had a restaurant owner explain his frustration this way:

"They are taxing my customers to pay for a by-pass that will take customers around my business. This doesn't make sense" 

Another restaurant owner expressed a similar concern:

"I just started providing sandwiches for my customers about the same time as this meals tax increase hit. It has made my sandwiches too expensive for some people."

The common sense solution to this problem is for the council to repeal the the meals tax increase and put money back in the pockets of our citizens. This was obviously an overreach by the town and one that can be easily rectified.

Of course, it's likely that the anonymous restaurant owners are likely figments of Russell's imagination, given that he's done that... repeatedly.... before.  But that's not the point.

This is an effort by a guy who wants to whip up anger against incumbents, and then pick one off so he can get the gig... which has been his angle in Culpeper all along.

Fake people is the kind of thing he does.

 

Shortly after that snivelfest, he comes up with additional posts in a similar vein dated the 27th, the 29th, and the 30th.

 

This is a guy setting the table to run for city council.  And this blog is going to do all it can to inform the people of Culpeper exactly what they're getting.

Jon Russell... the hits just keep on coming.

Jon's an interesting guy.  He seems to live a life of fantasy, in that he pulls positions and organizations out of what seems to be thin air: a sort of real life Walter Mitty.

I was checking out his latest blog: and I come to find out he's claiming to be something called "National Director of the American City-County Exchange."
 


Ne---ver--- heard of it.

So, I do a quick google and I come up with absolutely nothing.... or, well, nothing not related to Jon Russell, that is.

Search Results

1. 
   

   Jon Russell - About | Facebook

   https://www.facebook.com/JonRussellCoalition/info‎

   Jon Russell, Culpeper, VA. 75 likes. Jon Russell is the National Director of the American City-County Exchange, a nonpartisan organization to advance limited ...
2. 
   

   All Voters Welcome | Facebook

   https://www.facebook.com/allvoterswelcome‎

   Jon Russell is the National Director of the American City-County Exchange, a nonpartisan organization to advance limited government and free market ...
3. 
   

   Jon_Russell (Jon_Russell) on Twitter

   https://twitter.com/Jon_Russell‎

   The latest from Jon_Russell (@Jon_Russell). Jon Russell, Director of the American City County Exchange, a nonpartisan org to advance limited government ...
4. 
   

   108 - Followers by Twopcharts

   twopcharts.com/followers?user=judahrancourt‎

   Jon Russell, Director of the American City County Exchange, a nonpartisan org .... “Our state and nation are in moral, economic, and national security crisis and ...
5. 
   

   Ron Russell - (225 records found) - Phone, Address, Email, Social ...

   www.ppfinder.com/ron/russell‎

   225 Records - NBA Players Rosters - National Basketball Association - ESPN - Bing ... Vice President / Branch Manager-Missoula 2501 Catlin-Suite 105 Missoula ...
6. 
   

   Joe Russell - (306 records found) - Phone, Address, Email, Social ...

   www.ppfinder.com/joe/russell‎

   306 Records - Joe Russell - Linkedin. Title Managing Director at Doonbeg Lodge & Golf Club Demographic info ... Joseph Russell (AIOR) - Linkedin.

In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 6 already displayed.

If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included.

That is as opposed to his claim on his linkedin page, where he actually is claiming to work for ALEC:

I also can't find Russell's name anywhere on the ALEC website... or as a staff listing.

Odd, that.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Russell has a reputation of pumping himself up into something he's not.  The Russell Watch blog is devoted to keeping track of the various iterations of Jon Russell, so anyone doing basic research on the guy can actually see what they've got.

It's still weird after all these years.  At some point, you'd think he'd know better.

More on Russell: Well, looks like Jon Russell's still got that political bug: he's gearing up to run for something in Virginia.

Not content with screwing up politics in our local neck of the woods, Jon Russell has found his issue where he's roosting just now and will be attempting to use it as a scam to run for office... and soon.

Look this stuff up for yourself:

His self-flagellating web site:  rife with the self-promotion and "hurray-for-me-ism" that he's known for.

His Friends of Jon Russell Facebook page...

All of this is being done to raise his local profile so he can suck the people of Culpeper, Virginia in like he did those of Washougal.

Oddly, he doesn't mention Washougal anywhere that I can see.

Wonder why that is?

You might be wondering: what's Jon Russell been up to?

Readers here know how highly I think of Jon Russell, who I believe represents the absolute worst that politics has to offer.

Detailed here, http://jonrussellwatch.blogspot.com, the years-long psychotic episodes of lies, misleading, exaggeration, incompetence... well, I still get emails from people keeping me in the loop about this guy, because he is all about getting elected... to something... anything... and I have made it my pledge to be there when he actually tries to run.

Russell's own campaigns have been utterly abysmal.  His abortive run for congress was a disaster; his obnoxious run for the House of Representatives here and his subsequent abandonment of his job in Washougal, which, after all, he was only using as a stair-step and campaign prop to bigger and better things was an outright disaster... scandal after scandal, incompetence after incompetence.  Jon Russell Watch details it all.

Well, Russell landed in a bucolic little berg in Virginia named "Culpeper."

He's starting his campaign to get elected to something, because, as his biggest fan, he has GOT to get a title. 

So, he's set up the start of a campaign page on facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfJonRussell ) that looks vaguely familiar.

Yeah.

That's what it's all about.

This time, however, he's at least being accurate about his accomplishments, although there's no mention of Washougal on this page... and no mention of, say, Jessica Bowen.

Now he's on a jihad to move the city council election date to November, with a claim of savings and increased participation.

While that may possibly be true, at the end of the day, the idea that he's doing this out of altruism instead of doing it to increase his name familiarity is absurd.

And when he does run... I'm going to be there... educating the people as to what they're actually going to get if he's elected.

Russell, finally, leaves.

For an extended period of time (several months), Jon Russell had been skipping many of the the city council meetings that he had a duty to attend, since he was an elected Washougal City Councilman.

No longer.

Jon Russell has finally done what he SHOULD have done months ago, and left the city council.

Here's my review of his political tenure:

The Columbian referred to Russell's time on the council as "controversial."

That's much like accurately describing the editors of the Columbian and their editorial page as "leftist."  While correct as a label, it really doesn't come close to a complete description, nor does it lend itself to the flavor of a pattern of immaturity, deceit and dishonesty that marked Russell's campaigns and his use of Washougal as a prop on his way up the political ladder.

I first met Russell after he'd come out here back in '04 to handle the SW Washington area HROC gig... which was his first disaster.  In '04, then Rep. Jim Dunn (R-17) had been given a kind of "persona-non-gratia" status by Republican Leader Rep. Richard DeBolt (R-20) and Russell's marching orders were to defeat him in the primary.

Russell worked the campaign of then candidate, now first term State Representative Paul Harris (R-17) (Third time was the charm) and it looked like Harris was going to win going away until Russell sent out a mailer for Harris that changed everything as it attacked Dunn for his age and his weight among other things... and Harris lost.

Russell also interfaced with the Richard Curtis campaign that I consulted on.  Ultimately, his efforts proved to be equally disastrous and both Curtis and I worked to, and ultimately was successful in, getting any further involvement in our campaign by Russell ended.

For example, Russell's second phone call to me was a request for Pam Brokaw's social security number.

I did not have that number, didn't want it and didn't need it.  I told Russell that we didn't play politics that way and that we were going to win this fair and square, without engaging in tactics that required an opponent's social security number.

Since that time, I've watched Russell locally.  He's engaged in a pattern of political dirty tricks including multiple fake names and handles that enabled him to, typically, attack political opponents, even after his appointment to the Washougal city council, while protecting his true identity.

He made up information about his wife as a "doctor."  He repeatedly lied about his education, making up fake degrees.

Russell, an alleged conservative, worked on the Port of Vancouver levy on the "for" side, advocating for what would have been the biggest tax increase in this area's history.

He steadfastly refused to take responsibility for any of the Stacee Sellers debacle, and had no knowledge over the subsequent disappearance of $100,000 in city funds even though he chaired the city finance committee.

He made up fake facebook identities that leaned toward small, petite blond women (Teacher Judy Banks and Jessica Bowen)  had surrogates engage in personal attacks (One of Jon's minions went so far as to attempt to get me kicked off the board of a charitable organization in Idaho)

His campaigns, efforts to get out of Washougal all, included a disastrous, unsuccessful run at the 3rd District Congressional seat; now, unfortunately, held by Jaime Herrera... and then a run at the open 18th District House seat that had been held by Herrera as she vacated to move up to Congress.

I'm hearing a wide variety of other interesting rumors in the political game concerning candidates in the upcoming election... but don't have quite enough to go to web, yet.  That said, there's an entire blog devoted to Russell's antics, Jon Russell Watch. 

Check it out for more details.

One thing that I appreciate: with Jon Russell's departure to the other side of the country, I can be less concerned about continuing on as a PCO.  Russell was the only reason I wanted the gig... and with him leaving... well, it's going to be interesting.

So, underlying Russell's departure was a sense of relief on the part of many, including me. 

Cross-posted at Clark County Politics.