I have been very surprised and saddened to see a private misunderstanding between George and myself turn into public attacks on his integrity. I wanted to write a post today to clear up any confusion on the matter.
George Barker and I have been friends for nearly 20 years. When we met in December to discuss our respective races for State Senate, I told George he was the ideal candidate and had my full support.
Later, I reflected on whether it was appropriate for me to get involved in a Democratic primary, and decided that it was not. There was a miscommunication on this matter between George and myself, and I remained on the list of endorsers. When this was brought to my attention, I called George, and he promptly removed my name.
Again, I would like to be clear: I only removed my endorsement because I thought it was not appropriate for a candidate for State Senate to get involved in a primary in another Senate district.
This is a regrettable error in communication between George and myself, and I hope this post puts the issue to rest. Starting tomorrow, we all must work together on the real battle of defeating Jay O?Brien, Ken Cuccinelli, Jeannemarie Devolites, and all of the other Republicans who have done so little to help improve our quality of life here in Fairfax.
Janet Oleszek
Democratic Candidate for Virginia's 37th State Senate District
Mark Itzkoff