Office sought: Chairman, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
Party Affiliation: Republican
Previous offices held; please include dates: Fairfax County School Board (At-Large), 1996—present
Incumbents: when elected to this position:
OCCUPATION: Full-Time Candidate—Will be a Full-Time Chairman
CURRENT EMPLOYMENT:
PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT: Former Head Nurse Cardiac Step-Down Unit
EDUCATION (please list schools attended, degrees and dates): University of Pittsburgh, BS, Nursing
COMMUNITY TIES: Virginia Board of Education (BOE), Accountability Advisory Committee, 2002-present, member, Virginia BOE, Advisory Board on Teacher Education and Licensure, 1996-2002, Member, Fairfax Partnership for Youth Board of Directors, 1997-1999, Organized Support on Suspension Program, to tutor youth suspended from school, member, Family Life Education Curriculum Advisory Committee, 1993-1995, Volunteer, Heatherwood Retirement Community, Sunday School Teacher at Nativity Catholic Church in Burke for 7 years, Member of St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church.
ENDORSEMENTS: U.S. Senators John Warner, U.S. Senator George Allen, U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf, U.S. Congressman Tom Davis as well as parents, teachers, and public safety workers all across the county.
1. What is your top public-service accomplishment?
For the last eight years I have been a countywide leader on the Fairfax County School Board. I have worked to improve education opportunities for children and to make sure that an unresponsive bureaucracy listens to parents. The results are higher test scores, hiring an auditor who saved $20 million a year in his first year at the School Board, evaluating programs, and better curriculum. I led the charge for a realistic Capital Improvement Program that matches available funding to projects and timelines. Governor Mark Warner recently changed the VDOT CIP to this format. As a member of the minority party on the School Board, I have put forward ideas that won with bipartisan support bringing people together for the benefit of our children.
Incumbents: Describe the top accomplishment of your last term. Why shouldn’t voters blame you for current problems in your district?
My opponent and the current Board of Supervisors leadership has been unable to set priorities. Taxes have risen to an average of 53% over the past four years, while at the same time they have failed to address our transportation crisis, which is straining our quality of life.
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.
The top five problems in the county are:
1) Third worst gridlock in the nation – I have put forward a Six Point Comprehensive Transportation Plan that calls for a Citizen Task Force to identify and prioritize gridlock areas for improvement. It includes a $180 million transportation bond to leverage with state funds to expedite projects languishing on the state list.
2) Maintaining quality schools. We can renovate and build schools, and alleviate gridlock if we set aside non-education projects for a time. Our current debt load is 8.6% leaving us room to add more bonds and still maintain the AAA bond rating providing us the lowest interest rates possible.
3) Control spending – By limiting tax increases, hiring an independent Inspector General to identify waste and inefficiency, and prioritizing programs, we push government to live within its means just like families must. My pledge to limit tax increases to a maximum of 5% per year is my promise to keep Fairfax affordable for future generations.
4) Public Safety – Public safety is a priority alongside education and transportation. We live in dangerous times that require us to be prepared for terrorist events. In view of the loss of water during Hurricane Isabel and the delay in conducting the Belle View evacuation, I am concerned that we may not be as prepared as we have been told.
5) 19% office vacancy rate – We must aggressively fill the empty office space, which will alleviate the tax burden on the homeowner. The gridlock on our roads makes this a harder goal to accomplish.
3. What qualities, qualifications and characteristics will you bring to this office?
Dedication – From being a head nurse, to raising three children, to serving on the School Board countywide, I take pride in working for all people. I will be a full-time County Chairman. Fairfax is a special place. I am dedicated to improving the quality of life.
4. How will voters best distinguish between you and your opponent(s)?
Honesty and Integrity – My opponent has ethical problems and calls for investigations surrounding events reported by the Washington Post on September 7, 2003, where he took a job from a company associated with a developer who had a major zoning before the Board of Supervisors. Not only did he fail to disclose his ties, while taking a paycheck; he lined his campaign coffers with donations from those very entities. I am trustworthy and plan to manage the County openly and honestly when I am Chairman.
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 introduced my 6-point transportation plan with Congressmen Frank Wolf and Tom Davis, which provides $180 million in new bonds, for prioritized transportation projects to include key road widenings, intersection improvements, and transit-related construction. The plan supports the exploration of innovative financing and construction options including the use of Virginia’s Public Private Transportation Act, transportation solutions like transit and telework, and the use of bus rapid transit systems in key corridors. The plan also calls for the creation of a panel of civic and business leaders to identify transportation priorities. The plan supports innovations like a network of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes along key roads, and the use of disciplined growth to help ease congested County roads. My opponent has had 8-years to address our transportation crisis. His only response has been to “blame Richmond.” He offered a plan of his own the day I introduced mine to the public—clearly transportation is not a priority for him.
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?
We must maintain quality schools and make sure schools are accountable for the tax dollars they spend. I have worked across party lines to hire an auditor, who found savings of $20 million in the first year alone. I pushed for and won the hiring of an outside consultant to examine school programs and they came back with over $500 million in recommendations to improve our school while maintaining our standards of excellence. They also found 14 overlapping programs and staffing formulas in our elementary schools with over half these schools offering 2 or more of the programs. The schools need to eliminate redundant programs to be more efficient, so does the Board of Supervisors.
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?
I believe that the Board currently has the power to better control planning, they just do not use it. Part of the problem is that each Supervisor District is like its own empire with that Board member exerting great power over decisions while the rest of the Board defers to them. We have a comprehensive plan for a reason, but it is meaningless if we continually change it through waivers and up-zoning, without appropriate citizen input.
8. What are your top environmental priorities? Please address air quality, water quality, open space, etc.
Being a former head nurse and raising three children, all who suffered from asthma, I am concerned about clean air and maintaining a safe water supply. My first priorities are to restrict skyrocketing property taxes, hire an Independent Inspector General, ease gridlock, and make sure our schools received the resources they need. In easing gridlock we can also improve air quality.
9. Are residents safe enough? How do public safety officials balance new demands of "homeland security" with other safety and quality of life issues?
A primary role of government is providing safety to our residents. Clearly this ranks as a top priority along with quality schools, and easing traffic gridlock. In the worse case scenario, we must be able to evacuate if necessary. I am committed to working with our federal and state officials for both funding and coordination of our homeland security measures.
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?
The realities of the war on terror necessitate giving law enforcement the tools to protect Americans from threats. That said, we should always be watchful about the erosion of civil liberties. I would expect that any expanded authorities for law enforcement would be coupled with equally expanded oversight to make sure they were not being abused.
11. Working poor families in Northern Virginia face a daunting cost of living, with little in the way of affordable housing, health care, childcare and transportation. Are low-wage workers important to the local economy? What do you propose to address the needs of these families?
Over the last 4 years, property taxes have skyrocketed to an average of 53% per household. This sharp increase in the tax burden on our families is hurting both young and old residents. In some cases, families have been forced to move out of the county because of high taxes, thus compounding the traffic gridlock. This is why we must control spending and keep Fairfax affordable. Teachers, policeman and firemen should be able to live and work in the county. The county currently has a 19% commercial office space vacancy rate. We need to work with our Economic Development Authority to fill this space. Filling this space will reduce the tax burden on families.
12. Should counties have the taxing authority of cities?
Leaders need to be able to work not only with our State leaders, but also must be able to forge regional and bipartisan coalitions. I will be a leader in lobbying the state to return more of our state tax dollars to us. In addition, I would encourage the legislature to look at how they can allow more flexibilities for urban vs. rural localities while keeping the Dillon Rule. Any new taxes must be revenue neutral.
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 signed the pledge to limit tax increases to a maximum of 5% a year. This does not cut any services or constituent programs. It allows for 21.5% revenue growth over a 4-year period, or in terms of real dollars the pledge will allow for over a half-billion dollars in growth. That’s a sizable increase in County funds – we should be able to live within our means, just like any small business has to do everyday. In the last 14 years the budget was beneath the 5% tax growth 8 years and was over by .13% another year. Clearly, it can be done, but not by this board. Fairfax County has not done a program by program budget review since 1996. Waste is marbled throughout our bureaucracy; it does not come in neat packages labeled “cut-me.” As Chairman, I will hire an Independent Inspector General to find waste and promote efficiency. We need to manage the spending side of the budget; the current board has been unable to do so.
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? We’ve heard stories of departments that resist change and are unresponsive to both citizens and elected officials. How would you address these concerns? Please give specific examples.
My plan to hire an independent Inspector General is one way to measure effectiveness. The position must be free to look at all data and information in any agency and make recommendations that are unfettered by staff or the Board of Supervisors.
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?
Recent reports have raised many questions about my opponent’s conflict of interests and his ties to certain developers. My opponent’s actions clearly raise many ethical questions about his character. I will bring honest leadership to our county government that everyone can trust. My opponent would rather be in the pocket of special interests making back room deals than listening to the people. I will research how other jurisdictions avoid such conflicts to see if there is a better way to handle this. I support open and transparent government that does not seek to hide information from the people.