Previous offices held: Providence District Supervisor, 1995-current
Occupation: Director of Community Relations, SAIC
Current employment (include name and address of employers): SAIC, 7990 Science Applications Court, Vienna, VA, 22182
Previous employment: 10 years with the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee; 15 years of business management and consulting experience
Education: B.A. in literature, Maryknoll College; Masters in Public Administration, Harvard University, 1979
Community ties: Former Mantua Citizens Association (MCA) president; two terms as president of the Fairfax County Federation of Citizens Associations, the premier nonpartisan citizen organization in Fairfax County. (Gerry was the first president to be re-elected in the Federation's 54-year history.)
Endorsements: Fairfax Education Association, Fairfax Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics, Fairfax Coalition of Police, Fairfax County Deputy Sheriff’s Coalition, Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, Washington Board of Trade, Virginia Governor Mark Warner, AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, Virginia Partisans.
1.What is your top public-service accomplishment?
As the Chairman of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), I received the highest regional award for leadership – the Scull Award – for my regional telework initiative. On the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, I’ve fought to sustain our quality of life while shrinking the size of government. This year, I received the Public Servant of the Year Award from Fairfax Trails and Streams for my work in creating the 36.5 mile Cross County Trail.
2. What are the top five problems facing your constituents and what approaches will you use to solve them? Describe one challenge (or more) in your district that is different than other parts of the county.
(1) Taxes and revenue diversification – I intend to work with Gov. Mark Warner to lessen the burden on Fairfax County homeowners by diversifying our sources of revenue and fighting to ensure that Fairfax County gets its fair share from Richmond. (2) Transportation and traffic – I have issued a major transportation initiative that lays out a plan of action over the next four years to alleviate congestion, improve air quality, and provide our residents real transportation choices. The plan addresses the expansion of Rail to Dulles, two dozen intersection and hot spot improvements throughout the county, HOT lanes on the Beltway, completion of major projects on Route 123, Route 28, and the County Parkway, and a major pedestrian safety initiative. (3) Affordable housing – We have to expand our affordable dwelling ordinance (ADU); provide incentives to preserve existing affordable housing stock, and provide assistance to county employees who are first-time home buyers so that the people who serve us can also live in Fairfax County. (4) Education – We have to maintain our investment stream in our public schools to ensure that they are the best in the country; identify internal savings to help finance new and expanded education programs; and fight to ensure that the state lives up to its obligations and provides Fairfax County its fair share of education funding. (5) Public Safety – We have to maintain our investment stream in public safety to ensure the lowest crime rate of any jurisdiction our size in America and to expand our emergency preparedness to prevent and respond to any eventuality – the need for which has most recently been underscored by the tragedy of 9-11, the anthrax crisis, the sniper incident, and Hurricane Isabel. Although this question seems not to apply to me because I am running county-wide, any candidate for chairman must take cognizance of the challenges each district faces. For example, the closure of Woodlawn Road in Ft. Belvoir and the issue of the hospital in Mt. Vernon; the revitalization of Springfield and the pending acquisition of the Army’s EPG in Lee District; the expansion of rail in Providence and Hunter Mill Districts; the preservation of open space in Sully District; the renovation of schools in Dranesville, Mason, and Braddock Districts; and the expansion of parking capacity at our Metro stations in Providence, Dranesville, Lee, and Mt. Vernon Districts, and VRE stations in Springfield and Braddock Districts are but a few examples of those different challenges.
3. What qualities, qualifications and characteristics will you bring to this office?
An eight and a half year record of leadership and experience on the Board of Supervisors and as a regional leader in COG and in the statewide Virginia Association of Counties as well as a record of accomplishment across a wide array of issues and a leadership style that is consensual, inclusive, bipartisan, and accessible.
4. How will voters best distinguish between you and your opponent(s)?
The difference is stark. I offer a record of accomplishment across party lines that brings together people of diverse views to move an agenda forward such as: the Regional Telework Initiative, the region’s first-ever Drought Emergency Plan, the county-s first value engineering program, my championship of Rail to Dulles, my Cross County Trail initiative, and the tax rate reductions – especially for our seniors. My opponent offers a divisive record that seeks to polarize, including her advocacy of book banning in our libraries, teaching creationism in our science classes, opposition to Family Life Education and diversity training, and her willingness to jeopardize our AAA bond rating and our ability to provide essential services through risky tax gimmicks. I believe that this difference in our records is why I have been endorsed by every single group that has endorsed in Fairfax County: the Fairfax teachers, firefighters and paramedics, police, sheriff’s deputies, the environmental groups, the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Washington Board of Trade, and the AFL-CIO Central Labor Council.
5. What specific solutions will you propose for the transportation dilemma? Please address funding, prioritization, air quality, bus service and other non-rail public transportation solutions, expansion of rail service, and any other possible approach.
I have attached an 11-page detailed transportation plan for the next four years. Please see attached.
6. Fairfax County now dedicates more than 50 percent of its budget to the public school system. How will you measure the effectiveness of this expenditure? What do you see as the biggest challenges? Is this sort of expenditure sustainable given that fewer than 25 percent of households have children in the schools?
The success of our schools is often measured by state and national test scores and by national rankings. Fairfax County has one of the highest performing school districts in the country. Recently, Newsweek Magazine listed all 24 of our high schools among the top in the country. Thomas Jefferson is ranked one of the top five high schools in the United States. The investments we have made continue to pay off as witnessed by the fact that more than 80% of our students take the SATs and go on to higher education. We have the lowest high school dropout rate in Virginia and among the lowest in the country. This level of success is due to the fact that we have maintained a steady level of investment – capital and operating resources – in our public schools. This investment pays off for the entire community – not just those who have children in the schools. Good, high paying jobs come to Fairfax County because of our good schools. Our low crime rate is tied to our good schools, and our property values are directly tied to the performance of our public school system.
7. Many parts of Northern Virginia are approaching buildout, and the current economic climate favors residential over commercial construction. Do local governments have the tools they need to control and guide growth? How will state and local governments cope with the additional demand for services that comes with additional residential construction? What are the important features of "smart growth," and can more emphasis on smart growth help offset some of the effects of suburban development?
The General Assembly of Virginia continues to erode the authority of local governments to control its land use. In recent years, instead of providing local government with more tools (transferable development rights, expanded proffers system, impact fees, adequate public facilities ordinance), the General Assembly has encroached on the rezoning process significantly by expanding vesting rights and mandating cluster development. With respect to smart growth, my new plan for the revitalization of Merrifield – an older commercial center of the county – received public praise and endorsement from the Smart Growth Coalition. My smart growth and environmental record led to a public service achievement award from the Hunter Mill Defense League, a county environmental group, and the endorsement of the Clean Water Action Program, a regional environmental body. In the nearly nine years I have served on the board, in addition to Merrifield, the Board has replanned for mixed use development around Metro stations at Huntington, Franconia-Springfield, Tyson’s, and the Dulles Corridor (in anticipation of Rail to Dulles). By definition, this is smart growth planning.
8. What are your top environmental priorities? Please address air quality, water quality, open space, etc.
I will be issuing an environmental white paper, an embargoed draft copy is attached.
9. Are residents safe enough? How do public safety officials balance new demands of "homeland security" with other safety and quality of life issues?
Obviously, we can never be too safe. But, Fairfax County has been named the safest jurisdiction its size in America. Last year, for example, our neighboring jurisdiction, Prince George’s County, suffered 17,000 car thefts and car jackings. Fairfax County had 700. The District of Columbia – half our population size – experienced 350 homicides. We had 14. Our crime rate has been steadily declining since 1978 while our population has expanded by one-third. This is because we have made and sustained critical investments in our public safety. Our 911 emergency call center, our response time, and our crime prevention and crime solving records are among the very best in the country. We need to sustain those investments. We need to expand our gang unit and our police intelligence unit. We’ve just opened the first new police station in 20 years and have created a full-time hazmat unit for our fire department. Our fire department has won international awards for its urban search and rescue squad, which has been activated in many emergencies, including 9-11, the Oklahoma City bombing, and earthquakes in Turkey and South America (and costs for which were fully reimbursed by the Federal Government). With respect to emergency preparedness, I represented Fairfax County on the region’s Emergency Preparedness Task Force, which wrote the first region-wide emergency plan in the United States. That plan identified evacuation routes, coordinated hospitals throughout the region, created a new regional incident communication center (RICC), and led to emergency preparation and preparedness guides that went to every household in the region. In addition, training and regular testing along with the use of emergency scenarios and table-top exercises have fostered emergency personnel cooperation throughout the region – cooperation that paid off in the sniper incident and in the preparations for Hurricane Isabel. The terrorist threat, underscored by the events of 9-11, is real and Fairfax County alone has invested over $80 million of taxpayer dollars in personnel training and equipment to prevent -- and god-forbid -- respond to any terrorist threat our community may face in the future.
10. Do you have any concerns about civil liberties and public access to information in the wake of the Patriot Act and other responses to Sept. 11?
I believe protecting homeland security requires vigilance, preparedness, and investments in training, equipment, and personnel. Intelligence gathering and information sharing are critical elements in that response. However, as Americans, all of us prize the liberties that define us as a nation and as a society. I believe our constitutional rights and homeland security need not be in conflict. We must preserve the former while pursuing the latter.
11. Working poor families in Northern Virginia face a daunting cost of living, with little in the way of affordable housing, health care, child care and transportation. Are low-wage workers important to the local economy? What do you propose to address the needs of these families?
It is increasingly difficult for those who provide critical services in the lower paid employment sectors to find affordable housing anywhere near where they work. As indicated in Q.2 where I ranked affordable housing as one of my top five concerns for the future, we must expand affordable housing stock, aggressively fight to preserve affordable housing units, and find new and innovative ways to assist county employees who wish to live in the community they serve.
12. Should counties have the taxing authority of cities?
Yes. If Fairfax County had the same revenue sources as cities (e.g. the cigarette tax), we could further lower the real estate tax rate by another 5 cents. However, we must go further. Richmond must pay its bills. If Richmond simply met its existing obligations in education, public safety, and human service funding, that revenue could allow us to even further reduce the real estate tax rate between 7 and 9 cents. That is why I support Gov. Mark Warner’s tax restructuring initiative and will collaborate with him and members of the General Assembly in pursuing it this January.
13. What proposals do you have for mitigating the effects of soaring property values and related taxes? Do you endorse the 5 percent cap on property tax increases? If you support a cap on property tax increases, please name at least one service provided by county government that you currently use that you would be prepared to live without.
I do not support any gimmick such as the 5 percent cap that would artificially limit the ability of the county to respond to emergencies, preserve its AAA bond rating, and to sustain the investments we’ve worked so hard to make in education, public safety, and other essential services. There is a better way. In the last three years alone, I and my colleagues have reduced county spending by $100 million. We have shrunk the size of county government by 1 percent this year over last, and have reduced the tax rate by 7 cents to $1.16, the lowest tax rate in 12 years. In addition, on my initiative, the Board has expanded the senior tax exemption and directed the county executive to expand it further when he presents his budget in February. That common sense, rational approach to homeowner tax relief combined with my commitment to fight for our fair share in Richmond is how we will achieve genuine tax relief while preserving our quality of life. Gimmicks and slogans, such as my opponent’s 5 percent cap, have proven ruinous where tried in the United States. The fiscal unraveling of California, the dramatic deterioration of services, including schools and public safety in Prince George’s County, Maryland, give witness to the serious consequences that can and do occur when communities adopt such gimmicks. Such a cap would almost certainly jeopardize Fairfax County’s hard-earned AAA bond rating which has saved Fairfax taxpayers a quarter of a billion dollars. Recently, the Commonwealth of Virginia has had its AAA bond rating placed on Wall Street’s “watch list” for possible downgrading because of imprudent decisions made in the past that have curtailed sources of revenue for the Commonwealth. Fairfax County does not want to go down that road.
14. Fairfax County has more than 10,000 full-time employees. How should the Board of Supervisors guide such a large bureaucracy? How do you measure the effectiveness of such a work force?
This Board of Supervisors has made significant changes in the Fairfax County workforce, instituting the first ever Pay for Performance plan, eliminating COLAs, and reorganizing and combining departments and agencies. In the last 12 years, the Fairfax County workforce has grown by 104 positions net, or less than 1 percent, while our population has expanded 24 percent and dozens of new facilities – police and fire stations, government centers, senior, teen and rec centers, SACC centers, and drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs – have been added. Clearly, the efficiencies we have managed to achieve while maintaining a high quality of service delivery have come because of increased productivity and the careful and extensive deployment of new technologies. The county’s ability to manage effectively was recognized last year when Fairfax County was ranked the best managed county in the United States by Governing Magazine. As Chairman, I will continue to press for lean and mean county operations that deliver the highest quality services at the lowest possible cost.
15. What campaign finance reform do you support? How should the county avoid conflict of interest, or even the appearance of conflict, given the Board’s role in approving development and zoning changes and contributions by development interests?
Currently, Fairfax County has the strictest disclosure requirements in the State of Virginia. All contributions of $100 or more must be reported and disclosed, and all relevant contributions of $200 or more must be disclosed on an affidavit and at the dais at the time of any rezoning. The County Attorney is the final arbiter on matters of conflict, disclosure, and recusal, and the state code provides very clear guidance on this matter. Given the fact that both candidates in this race have received contributions from related interests, it is imperative that information be provided to the public in a timely and transparent manner.
I would also refer you to my website (www.gerryconnolly.com) that includes my biography, record, and positions on other issues.