Glenn Nye for Congress

This evening I attended a fundraiser for Gleen Nye, the Democrat Challenger for the 2nd District of Virginia seat currently held by Republican Congresswoman Thelma Drake. While (1) I do not live in the 2nd District and (2) Thelma Drake is a personal friend of mine, I nonetheless hope Glenn Nye wins in November because Thelma has sadly been largely a rubber stamp for all of the Chimperator's failed policies ranging from Iraq to the opposition of gay rights. Glenn is young, has served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, is supportive of gay rights (he has attended both HRBOR and Equality Virginia events), and is very articulate and smart (I spoke with him at some length tonight). As an added bonus he is pretty easy on the eyes as well.

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Glenn truly understands the need for a dramatic change from the failed policies of the Chimperator which Thelma Drake has blindly rubber stamped. Glenn's campaign web site is found here. We need more members of Congress who know the reality on the ground overseas as opposed to staged visits and who offer up little more than planned sound bites on information they know nothing about first hand. I hope that readers will check out his campaign web page and better yey donate to his campaign. Here are a few highlights about Glenn:

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Glenn returned home to Hampton Roads from Iraq, where he advised a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) program, working closely with military colleagues to stabilize Iraqi neighborhoods by creating employment for over 70,000 Iraqis.

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He began his foreign service career focusing on economic development in war-torn Eastern Europe, while working for the U.S. Director at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Glenn later joined the U.S. State Department, receiving training in the Albanian language and serving initially in Macedonia and Kosovo. In 2001 he received the State Department's Superior Honor Award for organizing the rescue of American citizens caught behind insurgent lines during a civil conflict in Macedonia and for securing the release of an American citizen held hostage by insurgents.

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Glenn was then posted to the U.S. Embassy in Singapore, where he helped protect U.S. intellectual property rights during the negotiation of the US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. From there he volunteered to go to Afghanistan, spending almost a year as part of a U.S. government sponsored team managing the historic Afghan Constitutional Convention and supporting the country's first Presidential election.