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Bill DeSteph-Standing Firm

Bill DeSteph took a lot of heat over his now-famous letter to the City Council of New York City over the proposed Islamic Mosque just blocks away from "ground zero," but he never gave up and he never gave in.

Ever since then, opposition and outrage over this proposed project has been growing-even among Muslims.

Its simple, Bill DeSteph believes that "tolerance" is a two-way street.

In spite of the criticism he took, on online opinion poll on The Virginian Pilot's website indicated that 82% of the poll respondents thought his letter of protest was the right call.

In February of 2009, Councilman Bill DeSteph proposed that the Virginia Beach City Council members take a 25% cut in their own pay, "We expect our taxpayers to tighten their belts,then we should tighten ours." and a 25% cut in pay for City Council members is far less than the 100% pay reduction many Virginia Beach residents have dealt with in this difficult economy through no fault of their own.

In the February 19th edition of the Virginian Pilot, it was reported that there were two areas in the budget that Bill DeSteph was not willing to compromise on-human services and public safety. Bill has always stressed that the core areas in government are public safety, education, and infrastructure.

When Virginia Beach City Manager Jim Spore proposed a tax increase to help balance the city budget, Councilman Bill DeSteph was one of the first members of city council to voice his opposition stating that there was "no need for a tax fee or fee increase." Included in the increases were private-vehicle property, real estate, and also a proposed trash fee. DeSteph spoke out about this stating that the "trash fee is included in the real estate rate. While real estate taxes are deductible on the State and Federal level the trash fee would not be. The proposed fee is not only an unnecessary increase, but leaves less money in the pockets of our citizens."

Earlier this year, Bill DeSteph opposed taking money from our public schools and rather than going along with the rest of the council, he opted instead to do a "line-item"* vote on the city budget which is allowed under state law.
*Official City Council vote as recorded and on file at Virginia Beach City Hall.

When the local media discovered that the City of Virginia Beach was footing the bill for exclusive, private club memberships for city officials at taxpayer expense, Bill DeSteph was the first member of City Council to speak out against it-and pays his membership dues out of his own pocket-not yours. Source

The Virginian Pilot has on numerous occasions reported about taxes in Virginia Beach and the one consistent voice in fighting against excessive government spending and fighting for lower real estate taxes for Virginia Beach Homeowners is Councilman Bill DeSteph.

If you support government that is founded in solid principals of fiscal responsibility, if you support the idea that our city government shouldn't be supporting private development with taxpayer dollars and the simple logic that just as our citizens must, government should live within its means, then the candidate you should support is Bill DeSteph.