http://speaking.kenkerns.com/?...

I don't talk about Virginia politics exclusively or even most of the time, but I do live in VA-08 and am a strong support of Barack Obama and Mark Warner.

I'm going to reprint the Byrne endorsement paragraph here.  

Leslie Byrne is running for Congress in Virginia's 11th District as a progressive Democrat. While she might be more liberal than her district, she is a tough fighter and is unafraid to champion those voices who need to be heard. She is running in the congressional primary on Tuesday, June 10th. Gerry Connolly, her opponent, is little more than a Democrat in Tom Davis clothing - a faux moderate with too many ties to corporate and particularly military industrial interests. Connolly was asleep at the wheel as other Democrats advanced the cause in Fairfax County, and did little to keep the Tysons Tunnel project going. He would be another Lieberman style Democrat - something we need less of, not more of. And fortunately the former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne is a suitable and credible alternative.

Nice blog, by the way!

And thanks for reposting the relevant paragraph.

Hopefully the 11th District will vote against the Washington Post and support Byrne on Tuesday!

...it's not exactly breaking news that blogs are endorsing Byrne. She has a strong following on the blogs. Gerry has other constituencies he's relying on. That's how primaries work. That's how it worked for Hillary and Obama.

Also, this constant attacking of SAIC and other defense contractors is just weird. This is the kind of work they do:

SAIC to help protect military installations
By Doug Beizer
Science Applications International Corp. will help protect Defense Department installations from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attack under a new contract with the Army Space and Missile Defense that could be worth as much as $500 million over five years.
http://www.washingtontechnolog...

So some people are against the troops and their safety? We're at WAR because of a dumbass president, so we have to do what's necessary to protect them until President Obama takes over.

what Two Shorten the Road had to say, it's obvious that they haven't "attacked" SAIC at all:

I also have nothing against the contracting industry, of which I am a part. Contractors help close a lot of gaps that the government is unable to fill on its own for a variety of reasons. I roll my eyes at people who vilify the contracting industry. (Like John Cusack in a recent Vanity Fair interview, thinking he understands what a "cost plus" contract is. Stick to kickboxing and boomboxes in the rain, pretty boy.)

What this blog is upset about is Connolly's calling SAIC a "local science and technology company":

I fully respect Connolly's right to have an outside job. But candidates who insult my intelligence lose my vote forever.

Local science and technology company, my ass.

As to your attempt to write off all the grassroots and netroots support for Leslie Byrne as "not exactly breaking news," that's frankly insulting to all the hard-working, passionate, well-informed Democratic activists out there.  Also, I could make the same comment about it being "not exactly breaking news" that Connolly has been endorsed by the Washington Post, as well as the same people who endorsed Harris Miller over Jim Webb in 2006. But I won't. :)

been allegations of SAIC being involved in war profiteering.  Whether or not that's true should be the subject of a DOJ investigation.  Outside of that allegation, no one has attacked SAIC or its employees (save two - more on that below).  

The fact that Connolly is in a significant position of power in Fairfax while at the same time sitting in a high ranking position with major government contractor in the county is a problem.  That is a major CONFLICT-OF-INTEREST.  And if Connolly gets into Congress it's even more significant.

Gerry having a second job is perfectly fine with almost everyone I've ever talked to.  But that job should be one such that there is little question of conflict.  Probably it should be outside of Fairfax for a company that doesn't do business in or with Fairfax.  [My suggested solution is simply to make COB a full time job, raise the salary, and outlaw moonlighting for that position.]

And second SAIC employee in question is Robert A. Rosenberg - the former manager of the Northern Virginia region of SAIC - due to his email suggesting that SAIC employees support Connolly.  Not to mention that Mr. Rosenberg pretty much came straight out and said that Connolly is Tom Davis Part Two.

So please cut the shit about all of us being SAIC haters, therefore defense contractor haters, therefore U.S. military haters, therefore America haters.  We don't have a taste for red-herring right now.

So some people are against the troops and their safety? We're at WAR because of a dumbass president, so we have to do what's necessary to protect them until President Obama takes over.

Yes, we all agree with you. And to their credit, SAIC does do work that protects the troops. No one has ever suggested otherwise.

unfortunately, SAIC was also involoved in making the case for war. In other words, they helped that "dumbass president" trick the country into war.

From last year's Vanity Fair piece:

Civilians at SAIC used to joke that the company had so many admirals and generals in its ranks it could start its own war. Some might argue that, in the case of Iraq, it did.

There isn't a politically correct way to put it, but this is what needs to be said: 9/11 was a personal tragedy for thousands of families and a national tragedy for all of America, but it was very, very good for SAIC. In the aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration launched its Global War on Terror, whose chief consequence has been to channel money by the tens of billions into companies promising they could do something-anything-to help. SAIC was ready...SAIC executives have been involved at every stage of the life cycle of the war in Iraq. SAIC personnel were instrumental in pressing the case that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq in the first place, and that war was the only way to get rid of them. Then, as war became inevitable, SAIC secured contracts for a broad range of operations in soon-to-be-occupied Iraq.

Nobody, and I repeat, nobody, has said that ALL employees at SAIC are bad. The problem is in the conflict between Connolly's public statements and his private employer's position on the war. He has the right to work for whomever he chooses. That said, many of us believe that the choice to work for such a company while claiming to be against the war raises serious questions about Connolly's ability to just ignore major conflicts of principle when it suits him politically.

That's same old Washington and I've had enough of it.

SAIC HQ is in San Diego where they have a large number of science and technology contracts with Navy. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWARSYSCOM) HQ is located there, which is a primary reason SAIC is headquarted there. Another important reason SAIC HQ is there is that many of their top executives, engineers and project managers are retired Navy officers, including several Admirals and Marine Corps retired officers as well as several very high ranking retired civilians (Senior Executive Service (SES) people) I worked for and with when I was a SPAWAR project engineer/project manager).

SPAWAR is one of the largest acquisition, engineering and installation commands in DoD, with an annual budget of several billion dollars, managing thousands of large and small contracts. They have many contracts with SAIC covering the entire spectrum of ship and shore electronics comm. systems, major shipboard projects, C4ISR (Command, Control, Communications, Computers(including the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet,NMCI, which is a very high data rate global network), Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance).  The contracts cover the entire spectrum of R&D, engineering, installation, project management, post-installation operational and logistics support, etc.

Of course the reason SAIC has a large presence in Northern Va. is the many contracts they have with a large number of DoD, Homeland Security, F.B.I., National Security Agency (NSA,Ft. Meade, MD)and many other D.C. area government agencies.

SAIC has offices worldwide, including Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium (NATO and SHAPE), Japan, etc.

A good source of detailed info. about SAIC of course is their web site.

If you'll take a look at their web site it should become clear to you that SAIC's business covers far more than just their contracts relating to Iraq.

As for Vanity Fair's comment that "SAIC personnel were instumental in pressing the case that weapons of mass destruction existed in Iraq in the first place", that statment is patently false and they know it. No one at Vanity Fair even has a security clearance nor access to any evidence, classified or not, that would support their absurd claims - they just made it up. Why on earth would anyone believe such nonsense from a magazine that has no credible knowledge about the subject, and no interest in even looking at SAIC's corporate web site (not that they'd have a clue what any of the technical, management or contract information means anyway) ?

With respect to Gerry's SAIC employment, let's not forget that he has absolutely nothing to do with SAIC's core business. He doesn't even have a security clearance (which is required for the vast majority of their contracts). IMHO, it is grossly unfair to attack Gerry on the basis of his employment.

It is also unfair to refer to SAIC as a "war profiteer". Of course they make a profit from all their global contracts, including their Iraq-related contracts. They are in the business of making a profit. But to imply that this is an unethical, dishonest company is simply untrue. I worked for and with many of their senior engineers and managers, including several Admirals, Navy Captains, two former SESers and dozens of now-retired senior engineers and R&D scientists. Every single one of those fine people are good, honest, ethical and highly competent. For me the bottom line is that making such unfounded charges is an insult to the integrity of the people I worked with and for.

I've been trying to remain silent about all the statments that have been posted about Gerry and SAIC on RK, much of it base on false statements from media rags employing the worst of yellow journalism. But I have to tell all of you that my silence in no way, shape or form should have ever been interpretted as consent or agreement.

I believe that RK and it's contributors, not to mention the candidates each of us support, will be far better served with facts.

If you'd like to learn more about SAIC and/or SPAWARSYSCOM and the contracting process involved please feel free to contact me at any time.

I appreciate the opportunity to try to set the record straight with respect to both SAIC and Gerry's employment there. There is and never has been anything illegal, unethical, improper or even questionable about Gerry's employement with SAIC, nor has SAIC done anything to deserve Vanity Fair's absurd claims.

                     T.C.

Guess not.