Category: Meetings

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Meetings

Consider the Constitution

The Constitution of the United States, which has guided the nation through good times and bad for nearly 250 years, will be the subject of a presentation by an authority on America’s founding document at the club’s November 13 meeting.

Patrick Campbell, director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at Montpelier, will be the guest of the club at the 1 p.m. meeting in Classroom II of the Lake of the Woods’ Community Center.

Campbell was a U.S. Marine infantry officer and judge advocate for 21 years before retiring to teach Advanced Placement Comparative and U.S. Government courses, coaching and administration in independent schools. In 2017, he joined the staff at Montpelier, the Orange County home of James Madison, the primary author of the Constitution.

As director of the Center for the Constitution, Campbell is responsible for coordinating seminars for educators, law enforcement officers and international groups about Madison’s legacy.

Campbell has a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Notre Dame, an LL.M. from the Judge Advocate General School, and Juris Doctor and Master of Education degrees from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Campbell and his wife of over 30 years, Arlene, have two adult sons. Besides history, he spends his time fruit and vegetable gardening, recreational swimming, serving as a soccer referee and international travel.

The Montpelier Foundation established the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution in 2002 with the purpose of providing seminars for educators on topics related to the U.S. Constitution. Among its other programs, the Center produces a podcast called “Consider the Constitution” hosted by Dr. Katie Crawford, which features interviews with constitutional scholars, policy and subject matter experts, heritage professionals, and legal practitioners.

The Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at Montpelier

“Consider the Constitution” on Spotify on Apple Podcasts

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Meetings

The changing history of U.S. immigration

Denis Kaufman, a retired federal intelligence analyst, reviewed the history of U.S. immigration policy at the September 11 meeting of the LOW Democratic Club. Links to fact-filled slides used in his presentation and a video of his appearance before the Orange County Democratic Committee appear below.

Click here to view Kaufman’s MS PowerPoint slides

VIDEO Civil Liberties Crossroads: The ICE Factor

Read Kaufman’s newsletter, “The Conscience of a Whig”

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Meetings

Analyst to discuss I.C.E.

The role of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be the topic of the program at the Sept. 11 meeting of the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club.

Denis Kaufman, a retired federal intelligence analyst, will speak at the meeting in Classroom 2 of the LOW Community Center. The program will begin at 1:30 p.m. after a meet-and-greet session that begins at 1 p.m.

The mission of I.C.E., according to the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is to “Protect America through criminal investigations and enforcing immigration laws to preserve national security and public safety.”

The agency had more than 20,000 law enforcement and support personnel as of mid-2025,  operating across the United States and in various countries worldwide. 

Kaufman, who moved to Orange County in 2021, enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school in 1969. He retired as a senior chief petty officer in 1990.

In 1990 he joined the Defense Intelligence Agency as an intelligence analyst and served in various assignments from 1990 through 2017, including as the defense intelligence studies chair at the U.S. Army War College. He retired for the second time from the Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Center for Medical Intelligence in December 2017.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

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Campaigns Meetings

Meet our statewide candidates

Candidates for statewide office will bring their campaigns to the Lake of the Woods Democratic Club on May 8.

Three candidates for lieutenant governor and two for attorney general will participate in the meeting in Classroom II of the LOW Community Center. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. with socializing and the program starts at 1:30.

Virginia’s Democratic Primary Election will be held on June 17, and successful candidates will face statewide voters in the General Election on November 4. Early voting at the Orange County Registrar’s Office is already in progress.

Scheduled for the May 8 meeting are the following candidates for lieutenant governor:

  • Ghazala Hashmi of Richmond represents the 15th district in the Senate of Virginia. She worked as an educator and academic administrator for 25 years before running for office. 
  • Babur Lateef of Woodbridge is a physician, parent, and a product of public schools. He has served the Commonwealth as chairman of the Prince William County School Board and chairman of the University of Virginia Health System Board where he has focused on improving education and health care across Virginia.  
  • Victor Salgado of Arlington County served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice, specializing in complex prosecutions involving corruption and related misconduct at all levels of government — including senior government and elected officials — and crimes involving financial institutions.

Two candidates for state attorney general are scheduled to participate., though Shannon Taylor will speak via an online connection rather than in person:

  • Jay Jones of Norfolk is an attorney who focuses his practice on state attorneys general work as well as regulatory and policy matters, including environmental, social, and corporate governance issues. He previously served as an assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia, where he was a member of the Office of Consumer Protection.
  • Shannon Taylor of Richmond was first elected Henrico County commonwealth’s attorney in 2011 after years of service as a professional prosecutor at the local, state, and federal levels. She was honored by her peers throughout the state when she was chosen as president of the Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association, an organization that advocates for effective law enforcement reforms in the Virginia General Assembly and conducts important training across the state. 

Other Democratic candidates in the 2025 election cycle include Abigail Spanberger for governor; and Aaron Rouse, Levar Stoney and Alex Bastani for lieutenant governor. In addition all candidates in the Virginia House of Delegates will be up for election, including Forrest Miller in the 63rd House District.

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Meetings

Supervisor to address impacts of development

Orange County Supervisor J. Bryan Nicol will speak to the LOW Democratic Club on March 13 about issues facing Lake of the Woods as a result of the proposed Wilderness Crossing development on Route 3, which is expected to include data centers as well as other commercial and residential enterprises.

The club’s meeting will take place in Classroom 2 of the LOW Community Center. A gathering period will begin at 1 p.m. and the program will commence at 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend, regardless of political affiliation.

Nicol, who has represented District 5, which includes Lake of the Woods, since 2023, has been an outspoken critic of the Wilderness Crossing project, saying it poses significant water and utility, traffic, noise and other issues that would affect the community.

Nicol is a former deputy attorney general of the State of Indiana and served as commissioner and deputy commissioner of the Indiana Department of Transportation. He is currently chief strategy officer for an architecture, engineering and consulting firm. He and his family have lived in Lake of the Woods for 15 years.

The LOW Democratic Club regularly meets at the community center at 1 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month as well as on social hours at 5 p.m. at the LOW Clubhouse four times a year. The next social hour will be Thursday, March 27.