Farlow Letter to Citizens of 96th District

The Virginia Gazette
October 31, 2007

Dear Citizens of the 96th District,

            All I‘ve ever wanted to do if honored to be elected as Delegate is to help people, to try and leave this world a better place than I found it.  I believe our problems and challenges are ours to fix, not to complain about.  That’s what I envision as my role in public service, and that is why I chose to run for this seat.  It’s that simple.

            And quite honestly: never has wanting to help people proven to be such a repulsive, negative and destructive process.  Such is the way of politics today I suppose.  How sad.

            An American political satirist and writer by the name of P.J. O’Rourke once said about the American presidency that “…in our brief national history we have shot four presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office.  And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character.”

            Right here in our community, the very same thing has occurred in this year’s House of Delegate’s election – the assassination of my character.  It’s appalling.

            Yet, regardless of these negative attacks on me, I have not engaged in these types of attacks—that type of political campaigning and win-at-any-cost tactics. 

            Nor will I.  In addition to believing that the politics of personal destruction has no place in our political discourse, I also believe that attacking one’s character shows no character. 

            Like so many, I have faced some tremendous difficulties in my life.  I was fortunate to have a loving mother and step-father and grandparents.  My father, however, was never very supportive and was absent for most of my life, until I was a young adult.  We established a reconnection when I was in my early 20s after college.  I was with my father as passenger twelve years ago when my father hit a car and fled.  He applied enormous pressure on me to not say anything.  What may seem dishonest to another was, to me, a no-win situation where I could either betray a father who I love or keep quiet so as not to lose him for the second time in my life.  I chose the latter.  That was a wrong choice on my part, but I am certain many would have done the same thing.  For my decision though I bear total responsibility.

            After this incident, I remained troubled by what had occurred, but went on with my life, on to a successful career.  Four years later there was renewed activity surrounding the accident, sparked by my father’s then-wife and an impending divorce.  I was again at the center of a firestorm of family drama and many different people became involved.  I received calls from family members as well as a variety of outsiders and was told a variety of things in those calls.  My father continued to exert pressure not to talk to anyone, claiming the truth would ruin his career, and possibly cause me to lose him, again.  In the end, I was charged with a misdemeanor for being a passenger in the vehicle and not turning him in within 24 hours.  In the end, I did turn him in to the police in tears, scared, but doing the right thing.

            What I am guilty of was waiting four years to turn my father in.  I have said since the day this happened I did so out of conscience. I apologize and take responsibility for not doing the right thing for 4 years.  I was in a rough spot, not wanting to turn my own father over to the police.  But I still had a responsibility to do that regardless and waited entirely too long.  As for the unfolding of events during this campaign though, I have been as open as I can ever remember being.  For example, I remember giving my testimony to an officer with my lawyer present in a Sheraton Hotel.  I have found out in the last few weeks that I actually told my story in the police building directly behind the Sheraton, in the same parking lot.  Like I’ve said, this was a painful time for me.  I have only recalled and even learned of many of the details myself recently only after exhaustively researching court documents and numerous trips to Richmond to learn the finer details.   

            At the end of the day though, I stand by my words and believe that I did the right thing.  I was late in doing so, but I did the right thing.  I hope that none of you reading this today is ever faced with a decision to have to turn one of your parents into the police.  It was horrible.     

            Speaking of being penalized, it is because of this incident and the negative campaign tactics that brought it to light that I have been called numerous things in the past month.  An Editor has said that I am “right on the issues, but can’t tell the truth.”  One Opinion author called me a “convicted criminal.”  I was said to “…have blown up…” by an anonymous source in one article just recently.  And by one citizen in a Letter to the Editor, he went so far as to say that I was a “broken man.”  Let’s not forget the  tens of thousands of negative mail pieces mailed to individual households paid for by the Republican Party of Virginia that said that the people “can’t trust him as our Delegate”, that I “fled police for four years”, that I was on the run, and that “he doesn’t have the character to be our Delegate.” 

            Ladies and gentleman, CHARACTER is not doing this to someone!

            If you are sick and tired of this type of political discourse, regardless of political party, I ask that you consider someone who has not engaged in this type of campaigning – me. 

            Through all of this, I have remained positive.  I have not stooped to this level.  There have been moments along the way, matters on which I could have attacked my opponent, but I did not for this very reason.  I’ve been nothing but a gentleman to my opponent.
 
            John F. Kennedy, Jr. said that “the giant puppet show (of politics) …can turn public people into barely recognizable symbols of themselves.”  This has been done to me via these types of tactics and I ask that you reject these measures on Election Day. 

            I am the underdog in this race.  I could have partaken in these types of negative tactics in order to gain an edge, but I didn’t.  I refuse to.  I believe it still does matter how one wins.  If I win, I will know that I have done so fairly, positively and by the rules.

            Thank you for your consideration.  I ask for your support on Tuesday, November 6th.  I would be honored to have the chance to serve you in the House of Delegates. 

- Troy