any more attention than anyone else in the county.”

any more attention than anyone else in the county.”

At November’s Board of Supervisors meeting Dennis responded to the criticism.

“I wrote a letter to the paper that apparently has caused some emotion. ... Past assessments have been accused of favoritism toward public officials, now there is a complaint of singling people out. We just wanted to make sure it was done fairly. ...” Dennis explained further that none of the assessments for county officials were modified by the BOA and that the paid assessors appeared to ha ve done a good job.

Supervisor Byrant Lee commented: “This makes it seem as if the elected board has special influence, and I want to be clear that I have had no contact or influence and I don’t think any other member has.” The BOS took no action about the matter.

Bill Kossler can be reached at bkossler@timespapers.com

the trend statewide.

One can look to factors like Bush’s low popularity, the war in Iraq and Democratic Governor Warner’s high popularity and image as pragmatic and not ideological.

People may be rebelling against strident ideology and vicious personal attacks too. Jerry Kilgore was hurt by his ads suggesting Kaine was sympathetic to Hitler, and both Republicans who lost their Delegate seats ran on virulently anti-gay and antiimmigrant platforms. Virginia used to have a tradition of pragmatic, centrist Republicans, epitomized by former Governor Linwood Holton, father-in-law to Kaine.

While favoring many Republican principles, that old guard may be turned off by the right wing ideological stridency of Movement Conservatism.

These are all probably important factors in this last election, but they are all statewide factors. They don’t explain why Rappahannock has shifted from being more republican than the rest of the state to more democratic than the state at large.