Today's Washington Post discusses a possible Republican challenger - environmental lawyer, former Nixon Administration official, and "Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay" board member Gary H. Baise, 65 - for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman Gerry Connolly next year. In 2003, Connolly was elected chairman over Republican Michele Brickner with 98,419 votes, or 55% of the vote. According to the Washington Times:
Mrs. Brickner often cited Mr. Connolly's relationship with developers, attacking his decision to take a consulting job from a development company in Tysons Corner while the firm sought county zoning approvals.[...]
...[Connolly] called Mrs. Brickner's proposal to cap county real estate taxes at 5 percent "a gimmick," saying the plan would cause the county's bond rating to drop and could hurt county services.
This was a bitter and close-fought race, but it was for a powerful position - leader of Virginia's richest and most populous county, larger than several states - Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana - in terms of population. No wonder that Connolly and Brickner "raised more than $1.2 million for a job that pays $59,000 a year." And no wonder that Connolly has a war chest approaching half a million dollars. Wow.
Where does all this money come from? According to Rep. Tom Davis (R-11), "Gerry owns the development money in the county" but adds that "Gary [Baise] has a network of friends in the Washington area and around the country who are wealthy and willing to contribute."
In other words, this is shaping up to be a potential rerun of 2003. There are at least two other questions, however: 1) will a Democrat challenge Connolly for the nomination; and 2) will other Republicans step forward besides Baise?
On the Democratic side, I have heard rumblings that there could be a very interesting Democratic challenge to Connolly, but that one is still very much in the "exploratory" phase and I won't name names until (if) I'm told that person has gotten a lot more serious about it. No matter who challenges Connolly, if anyone, the question really comes down to the usual one with incumbents: are voters basically happy with the status quo, or do they want a change? I'd be interested to hear what Fairfax County residents think about this.
Now I think the first assumption is wrong, but let's say it isn't, then Connolly would be the logical candidate to run were the seat an open race and Connolly has already beaten Davis' wife once. Therefore Davis is trying to soften Connolly up, and you, for reasons best known to yourself, are helping him.
I don't care how angry you are over the Senate race, you don't see me dirtying up any of the Democrats who endorsed Webb do you? And you won't.
The reason Connolly got the support of the business community in 2003 is that the Republican nominated an religious extremist.
Not that that excuses Connelly's chumminess with developers, but hell, I voted for Connelly. No way I'd vote for Brickner, not with friends like Mike Farris.
2006 - http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/memberprofile.asp?CID=N00002045&Cycle=2006&CollapseAll=TRUE