Never Surrender to Bullies

Dear Editor:

“Never wrestle with a pig because you’ll both get dirty and the pig likes it.” I’ve ignored months of personal attacks online by Team Metropolis, their spouses, and a handful of their supporters. I’ve watched as they’ve launched smear after smear, garnering only a handful of “likes” and few supportive comments from the same predictable individuals—mostly, people who have been vocal over the years for growing our town with inappropriate development and the debt that comes with it. 

I’ve watched as they’ve banned individuals from their online forum for disagreeing with them, to include my own Team Mayberry running mate, Jon Arnburg. Ironically, his ban from the comically named “Purcellville Matters Uncensored”— uncensored, they claim—comes after a recent letter to the editor from another citizen who was similarly banned. Why? Because the developer owner of that Facebook group, Sam Chapman, and the Team Metropolis slate he backs, are afraid of dialogue. 

That’s why Team Metropolis backed out of the October 7 candidate forum they agreed to, less than 72 hours beforehand, and why they instead self-hosted their own forum on the exact same date and time. It was advertised as an open mic event—but wasn’t. Minus our supporters, they garnered a very small crowd, I’m told. 

During this campaign, they’ve been caught stealing our yard signs, passing out gift cards to voters as bribes, and attacking us personally with libelous nonsense hoping something will stick. 

They can’t defend their support for more than doubling our already insane bi-monthly water bills, their support for maintaining a bloated Town Hall, or their plans for annexations leading to mass urbanization and the destruction of our small-town life. So, they offer distractions and personal attacks.

This election really isn’t that complicated. The Town of Purcellville is essentially a $30 million a year corporation. Achieving structural balance, without bankrupting families over utility costs, is easily achievable. 

If you want to reign in our out-of-control water bills and cut wasteful spending, and focus on projects that the town really needs, like traffic calming on Main Street, and activities for adults and children alike, I urge you to vote for me, and my running mates—Chris Bertaut for Mayor and Brian Green, Susan Khalil, and Jon Arnburg for Town Council. 

If you want to know the truth about town politics, to include my rejection of Team Metropolis’s unsuccessful efforts to recruit me into their chamber of commerce, mass urbanization slate (the real source of their anger), then look for my YouTube video “Ben Nett: Never Surrender to Bullies”—also available at MayberryNotMetropolis.com

Ben Nett
Purcellville