In a county known for people who come and go, County Treasurer Frank O'Leary has provided a sense of continuity to Arlington politics since 1983. But now, after more than 30 years in office, O'Leary is stepping down.
"I think it's time to head out to pasture," said O'Leary in his trademark deadpan. "I've accomplished everything I set out to do, and I've got a perfectly competent successor waiting in the wings, my chief deputy.”
O'Leary chose to make the announcement last week during a meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, which happened to coincide with his 71st birthday. That means that chief deputy Carla de la Pava is now the acting treasurer, setting her up to campaign as an independent in the special election later this year.
"Frank's leadership and effort have saved Arlingtonians hundreds of millions of dollars," said de la Pava. "Suffice it to say that the Arlington County Treasurer's Office has become the paradigm for treasurers throughout the Commonwealth and the nation."
WHEN O'LEARY first ran for the office in 1983, Republican Bennie Fletcher had held the position for a dozen years. But his decision to step down created an open seat and a competitive race. County Board member Dorothy Grotos was the Republican in the race, a well known quantity in Arlington politics of the era who had been a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission and the Metro board of directors. O'Leary, on the other hand, was a first-time candidate with a background in computers who campaigned against Arlington's high rate of tax delinquency. The race was so close that Grotos asked for a recount.
"And thus was born the legend of ‘Landslide O’Leary," he joked shortly after announcing his resignation last week.
During his time in office, O'Leary lowered the tax delinquency rate from 9 percent when he took office to less than one half of one percent now. He also clashed with Democratic party officials several times, including disagreements over an campaign mailing and a controversial effort to conduct a referendum on the streetcar proposal for the Columbia Pike streetcar.
"I've worked since I was about 12 years old," said O'Leary. "You look back, and that's an awful lot of years of work, 59 years. And I think it's time to move on and take it easy and give a perfectly wonderful person an opportunity to take over."
DE LA PAVA was sworn into office this week, beginning a job that she will have to campaign for in a special election later this year. Registrar Linda Lindberg says she expects the special election for treasurer to take place at the same time as the special election for the School Board seat vacated by Noah Simon.
"The two local elections should take place on Nov. 4," said Lindberg. "That's what we are anticipating."
