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Bob Bruhns

It's time to decide who should replace Gerry Connolly as Chairman of the Fairfax County Board Of Supervisors.

Tough Choices in Fairfax
The wealthy county faces one of the most severe budget gaps in the region.
Washington Post, December 22, 2008; Page A20
Article

Bob Bruhns · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:54 am Post subject:

Odd, it seems like people would rather insult each other over things like the piddling partisan nonsense in Congress, than think about who should be Fairfax County Chairman. That is strange, after all of the discussions about the many bad policies in Fairfax County.

I've seen some Herrity signs, and a Bulova sign or two. But outside of that, one would almost think that there was no special election coming up on February 3, 2009. (That's three weeks away!) One would almost forget that former Fairfax County Chairman Gerry Connolly is moving on, and that we need to choose his replacement.

I'm for Herrity. We need a supervisor who sees what is wrong and does something, and gets spending under control. Connolly just spent and spent, and got re-elected. Bulova is a Connolly protoge, I think. Herrity is on the right side in the illegal alien issue. It's time for serious change in Fairfax County.
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friend04 · Longtime Member Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 2195

Herrity is indeed on the right side -- perhaps too far on the right side. He is inexperienced, and his brief time on the Board of Supervisors does not indicate that he will be able to get other supervisors to work with him to accomplish anything. The chairman is a position of influence only, and he has no influence.

Connolly managed spending, managed development, and was able to elicit cooperation from the board to work for the betterment of the county as a whole. Bulova would continue the county on the positive track that it has been on, and she has a history on the board of working well with others, commanding respect and cooperation, and working for the best interests of the county.

Vote on February 3. Vote for Bulova.

AlexS · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 4:24 pm Post subject:

As Herrity's campaign moves forward, people are learning more about this man and how he has far more qualifications than Sharon Bulova when it comes to bringing some fiscal sanity to the County.

When people learned that the County spent more than $200M to buy government housing (which doesn't include upgrades and maintenance), making it the largest landlord in the region, they were shocked. All other counties in the region provide affordable housing through the Section 8 housing and other government programs - in a public/private partnership with property owners ... AT A FRACTION OF THE COST - WITH THE SAME RESULT.

Imagine people's surprise when they learned of the proposal to spend $130M on a school administration building .... AT A COST FAR ABOVE THE ASSESSED OR MARKET VALUE.

As a CFO, Herrity has a proven track record of turning failing companies by setting sound priorities and getting spending under control. This is what he plans to do for the County as Chairman, vs the board's recommendation to axe their way through the government, lopping up to 15% from all agencies without regard for the consequences.

Bulova is exactly like Connolly. She never met a tax she did like, nor an expense she couldn't squeeze into the budget, even if it's duplicated in another line item. As a result, our taxes have doubled over the past 6 years, and what do we have to show for it? We have a $650M Budget Shortfall.

Obviously, whatever the Board has been doing isn't working. Its time to tear apart the budget and get rid of the bloat. Herrity is the man who can do that.

stix · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 5:36 pm Post subject:

AlexS · Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 6:30 pm Post subject:

Stix, you only have to sit through one of her "town hall meetings" to know she's out of touch with what is going on and it's a waste of time to attend any others.

Vienna Hunter Mill folks are terribly disappointed with her. It really doesn't have anything to do with apathy - you can only sit in the room and listen to her bald face lies so many times before you you realize it's all just a waste of time.

Rumor has it she's retiring after this term and endorsing one of her aides to carry on.

When Herrity settles into the Chairman's seat, we will see leadership changes (for the better) -- across the Board.

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If you're interested, Herrity campaign volunteers will be meeting at the Fox Mill Center Starbucks at 10:00 (Saturday) and 1:00 (Sunday) to canvass the Fox Mill area.

friend04 · Longtime Member Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 2195

The chairman of the board of supervisors is not the CFO of the county. The chairman has one vote, just like each other member of the board, and must rely on the ability to work with the board members to accomplish anything. He cannot take unilateral action. Connolly was successful as board chairman because he was able to work with the members of the board of supervisors and get agreement on plans and projects that were good for their districts. Bulova has shown the same ability to work with the board members. Herrity has not.

What most people are saying is that Fairfax County has the reputation of being one of the most well managed and fiscally sound counties in the country. It is not immune to the current economic climate, but that is not because the budget is bloated.

The current efforts to address the budget shortfall have included requests to all departments to identify areas in which cuts can be made -- this is not a knee-jerk "lopping without regard for the consequences."

AlexS · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 12:01 am Post subject:

Viking · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Posts: 138

From friend04:

stix · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:20 am Post subject:

Connolly is history and irrelevant at this point. Here are the campaign websites of the candidates that that will be on the February ballot,

http://patherrity.com/

http://sharonbulova.com/

A quick assessment is that Boulova seems comfortable with the way things are, and Herrity is ready to shake things up, probably much of which is beyond his means to be able to do so…
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AlexS · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:38 am Post subject:

Actually, Connolly's history IS relevant as his voting record and "dreams for the county" will be carried forward by Bulova if elected.

It's time someone shook things up. Without a "shake up" nothing will be exposed and we are destined to continue down the same slippery slope.

Call me crazy, but I really don't believe the average tax payers feel more empty promises are a suitable exchange for rising taxes and more traffic gridlock. I may be wrong though, Fairfax is a wealthy county with a lot of connections.

stix · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:55 am Post subject:

I won't call you "crazy".. but Bulova is a Democrat in arguably a majority Dem county.. voters are largely apathetic.. and the last Dem chairman won the seat by nearly 60%.

Clearly Herrity is the better choice, but with the odds against him imo. He would be well advised to be sure he gets his message out loud and clear...
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friend04 · Longtime Member Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 2195

Viking · Joined: 06 Sep 2006 Posts: 138

Connolly is in the pockets of developers. Developers and anyone else that succumbed to his scare tactics are the only people that voted for him. Everyone else was sound asleep. As usual.

TheHeadHonch · Joined: 31 Jul 2004 Posts: 920

Connolly is a prime example of everything wrong with the government. He doesn't have, and never had any business in politics where his supposed duty is to represent the people. This is unfortunately, probably typical of politicians nationwide. An apathetic majority of people don't vote in small elections, such as those for county supervisors, and special interests end up being the controlling factor. The politician learns that this is the way to do business: cater to special interests.