Corey Stewart Defines Himself through the Fights He Picks

Corey Stewart (left) appeared last week with Jason Kessler, a conservative blogger-activist, after Kessler petitioned to remove the vice mayor of Charlottesville, Wes Bellamy, from office.

Corey Stewart (left) appeared last week with Jason Kessler, a conservative blogger-activist, after Kessler petitioned to remove the vice mayor of Charlottesville, Wes Bellamy, from office. Photo credit: Richmond Times-Dispatch.

I met Corey Stewart, Republican candidate for governor, for the first time last night and interviewed him outside a public hearing about coal ash disposal. The Prince William County board chairman came across as a genial guy. But he’s not one to run away from a fight. Indeed, he’s more likely to be the first one to charge into the fray.

With Ed Gillespie as the perceived front-runner in the Republican race, Stewart evidently has decided that the best way to get attention and define himself as a tribune of the people is to pick the right fights. That strategy certainly was on display last night when he lambasted Dominion Virginia Power to the cheers of many in the audience for its closure-in-place proposal for dealing with coal ash at its Possum Point Power Station.

“Dominion has been less than honest with Prince William County,” Stewart said. Then, referring to a series of local controversies over the impact of coal ash on surface and ground water, he said, “Dominion lies. You have to be very skeptical of what they tell you.”

I wasn’t paying attention to Virginia politics in 1973 when Democratic candidate Henry Howell took on Dominion’s predecessor company, vowing to “keep the big boys honest.” But I can’t imagine that he was any more blunt in his denunciation. The issue back then was electric rates, not the environment, but Howell nearly rode the slogan to victory.

Stewart is best known for his hard line approach to illegal immigration. His campaign website boasts that under his leadership, Prince William County turned over 7,500 criminal illegal aliens for deportation. He says he will work “side-by-side with the Trump administration” to oppose amnesty and sanctuary cities in Virginia.

Along similar lines, he has aligned himself with a far-right group in Charlottesville to protest, among other things, City Council’s decision to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee from the public square. Mobbed last week by counter-protesters who drowned out his words, Stewart reportedly handled himself with aplomb. But his views seem pitched to the same kind of disaffected white working- and middle-class voters who voted for Donald Trump, for whom he acted as Virginia campaign chairman. Just wait until next week, he told me. He’ll be back in Charlottesville.

Stewart also joined conservative activist-blogger Jason Kessler in calling for the removal of Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy from office. Bellamy had posted misogynistic, homophobic and anti-white comments on Twitter before his election to Charlottesville City Council in 2015.

I asked Stewart to elaborate upon his view of Dominion. He said it’s wrong for a monopoly utility to insert itself so deeply into the political and regulatory process. “This is what happens when every member of the General Assembly is taking thousands of dollars from Dominion. DEQ (the Department of Environmental Quality) rubber-stamps every thing Dominion wants.”

If he becomes governor, Stewart said, “Heads are going to roll” — starting with the chief of DEQ, David Paylor. Then, alluding to Denver Riggleman, one of his three Republican rivals for the governorship who also has campaigned against Dominion, he quipped, “I’ll put Riggleman in there.”