Thelma Drake

From dKosopedia

Category: Virginia Republicans

Hello, I'm DakotaGypsy, an outsider, but I've starting a thread because I was curious about the Iraqi vets who will be running in the 2006 Congressional races.

Ms. Drake is running against Phil Kellam. A local boy who has roots in Virginia that go back nearly 2 centuries.

This is info gleaned from Thelma Drake's official site:

According to her House.gov biography, "Congresswoman Thelma Drake was elected on November 2, 2004. [...] The Second District includes all of the City of Virginia Beach, parts of the cities of Norfolk and Hampton, and Accomack and Northampton Counties on Virginia's Eastern Shore." [1]

She serves on the Committee on Armed Services (Member and Vice-Chairwoman of the Personnel Subcommittee, Member of the Projection Forces subcommittee), the Committee on Resources (Member of the Fisheries & Oceans and the Energy & Mineral Resources subcommittees) and the Committee on Education and the Workforce (Member of the Workforce Protections and the 21st Century Competitiveness subcommittees).

*Significant military presence in Virginia’s Second District. This is significant because Thelma's support of offshore drilling threatens the Navy's ability to drill and carry-out Sea Warfare practice. In fact, the Navy has even made Thelma and the rest of the Republican leadership vow to carry out "talks" so that the Navy can take a look at the proposals. The Navy is clearly not happy about the latest evidence of Thelmas cow-tow to oil.

Her absence, inability, and unwillingness to help or aid local leaders in reigning in errant uncsrupulous builiders and real-estate developers has led to what many consider the "final hour" of Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach.

*Chesapeake Bay: marine fisheries support many residents on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

*Job training, higher education, K-12 education. Funding for all of the above has been far less than any Democratic counterpart. In fact funding for Higher Education has suffered signicantly under her tuteledge.

*Will be a member of the House Republican Policy Committee, which plays an integral role in shaping the House Republican position on major policy initiatives. Therefore she can be blamed directly for the Republicans choice to focus on Terri Schiavo, The War in Iraq, The Prescription drug Corporate Welfare benefit, and their closely-formed focus to not allow anything on the floor that would allow for an increase in the minimum wage.

*Served in the Virginia House of Delegates, beginning in 1995, 87th District. Advocated quality education, efficient transportation, and insurance and property reforms. Served as chairman of the Virginia Housing Commission, former Board Member of the Virginia Zoological Society. Served on the Chesapeake Bay Commission. Ms. Drake fought tooth and nail against adding .22 on the cent increase on the 4.5% sales tax that would've generated the 1.5billion needed to fix transportation in the Hampton Roads area....leaving businesses to pay more, and lose more to ship their goods and products...an increase that Ford was no longer willing to pay...and was part of the reason that Ford Plant will be shuttering it's doors costing Norfolk hundreds of millions of dollars yearly. Thelma is quick to oblige her hand in this...and her opposition to labor unions is obvious, clear, and unwavering.

Insurance reforms in the 90's allowed for Hospitals or Health corporations to themselves become insurers...and deregulation of this industry in Virginia has caused the costs of health insurance in Hampton Roads area of Virginia to skyrocket. Thelma takes credit for this as well.

Virginia's housing commission slashed funding and made it much more difficult for needy families to seek and receive needed housing, which has caused non-profits and other charitable organizations to the breaking point....Ms. Drake takes credit for this too.

*Former realtor with RE/MAX Allegiance Realty's Hampton Roads Home Team, worked in real estate for 20 years. Her stated purpose to always give carte-blanche and tacit approval to anything put forth by any builder,real estate developer or land-holdings corporation has put the Oceana Naval Air Station at great risk of being lost...due to exactly what she advocates, real estate development, no matter the cost.

*Born and raised in Elyria, Ohio, lives in Norfolk, two children, four grandchildren. Married to Ted Drake. Members of Bayview United Church of Christ in Norfolk. Apparently, the first of her two children was conceived out of wedlock and Ms. Drake also dropped out of her Senior Year of High School. She never earned a High School Diploma. (Although the GED she earned was apparently awarded from the city where she attended school, and Elyria High School is evidently listed ON the GED itself)