Race for Matoaca's supervisor seat is wide open
By Greg Pearson STAFF WRITER

Wilms

It's less than 10 months before Election Day, but the apparent frontrunner, Republican Steve Elswick, has withdrawn from the race for supervisor in Matoaca District.

Late last year, Republican Supervisor Renny Humphrey announced that she would not run for the Matoaca seat for a fourth term and was donating a portion of her remaining campaign funds to Elswick. Humphrey beat three other candidates in her first run in 1995 but barely edged out Democrat Bill Hastings in 2003. Growth and its impact on schools and roads is the top issue in the mostly rural district that sweeps from eastern to northwest Chesterfield.

Elswick's father, a coalminer for 40 years, has serious health problems, and the former Chesterfield Fire Department and EMS chief is dropping out of the race to care for his out-of-town family. "I will assist the party any way I can," Elswick said, "but my Dad comes first."

"When other Republicans find out Steve is not running, other committee members may step forward," said Sherman Litton, chairman of the Chesterfield Republican Committee. "Independents and Democrats may also realize it's open season."

Salminen

"He was the anointed candidate," commented Bob Herndon, a fellow Republican committee member for almost four years who's also deciding whether to run. He is a revenue manager for the Richmond Department of Finance and treasurer of the Alliance for Responsible Growth for Chesterfield, a citizen group that has been critical of the county's handling of growth issues.

Herndon and Kevin Salminen have filed with the county Registrar's Office to organize a campaign committee, and Hastings, a retired high school biology teacher, already has a committee filing because he has money left over from his run in 2003. However, no one has filed their intentions to run for the Matoaca District seat.

Salminen is also a Chesterfield Republican Committee member and works as the controller of Virginia United Methodist Homes. He has been distributing his campaign literature at committee and community functions, which promotes his Web site (www.kevinsalminen.com).

Though Hastings received previous support from the Chesterfield Democratic Committee, party support is now in doubt because Don Wilms, a member of the Democrat's county board of directors, is considering running. Wilms is a Woodlake resident and former president of the Chesterfield Education Association.

Herndon

"We need a change in county leadership," he said, "or it's going to affect our quality of life. If we're going to have growth, we need to pay for it first."

Wilms teaches 11th and 12th grade English at Manchester High School. "Today, it takes me just as long to drive [six miles] to Manchester as it used to take me to drive to Thomas Dale High [where I used to teach]. Thomas Dale is 18 miles away."

Chesterfield Republicans are being asked this week to install Mark Tubbs as the head of the Matoaca District for the party, but he said last week he is not a candidate for supervisor. Tubbs moved to the Matoaca District last summer after running unsuccessfully in 2003 against Clover Hill Supervisor Art Warren.

Marleen Durfee, executive director of the Alliance for Responsible Growth, said she was still deciding whether or not to run.