Colgan-FitzSimmonds Side-By-Side

First, the incumbent, Sen. Colgan:

State Senator Charles J. Colgan, D. Prince William County announced that he will seek the Democratic Party nomination in June and seek his 9th term as a member of the Virginia State Senate. Colgan was first elected to the Senate in 1975 and took office on January 8, 1976. Prior to serving the Senate he served four years on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors representing the Gainesville District, one year as Chairman of the Board.

Colgan is the senior member of the Senate and serves on the Senate Finance Committee, Committee on Commerce and Labor, General Laws and Technology Committee, Rules Committee and is a member of the Senate and House Joint Rules Committee.

The Republican Party presently controls the Senate by a margin of 23 Republicans and 17 Democrats. Should the Democrats succeed in picking up 4 seats in the 2007 November election, Colgan would become Chairman of the very powerful Senate Finance Committee and become President Pro-Tempore of the Senate.

Colgan has served on the budget Conference Committee for 16 years and has succeeded in diverting millions of dollars into his District and Northern Virginia. The presence of George Mason University in Prince William County is due in no small measure of Colgan’s efforts to acquire funds to construct the George Mason University buildings. His effort also resulted in an additional building at the Northern Virginia Community College in Manassas and Woodbridge and during the 2007 session of the General Assembly his amendment to build a third building at the Manassas Campus was approved.

Colgan has consistently been named one of Virginia’s most effective legislators by the Virginia Foundation for Research and Economic Education, Inc.,which does an annual poll of more than 500 lobbyist in Richmond.

Colgan’s wife Agnes passed away in January 2001, and they are the parents of eight children, twenty-three grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Colgan will be honored by the Northern Virginia Community College graduation ceremony on May 14 with the presentation of the Gold Medilor the highest award which the college can bestow on a citizen. Earlier this year, Colgan and Delegate Vince Callahan, Chairman of the House of Delegates Appropriation Committee were honored by George Mason University with similar awards.

Colgan and his family organized and built Colgan Air, Inc., a Regional Airline at the Manassas Regional Airport. The company was sold recently to Pinnacle Airlines of Memphis, Tennessee. However, the Colgan family will continue to operate the airline.

In 1980, Colgan became the 17th member inducted into the Virginia Aviation Hall of Fame.

And next, the challenger, Bob FitzSimmonds:

Senator Colgan announced today that he is running for a 9th term. While most incumbents cruise to re-nomination, Colgan faces discontent in his own party and a potential primary challenge from fellow Democrats. Assuming he is able to win the Democratic nomination, he appears ready to run on his record. I look forward to the opportunity to contrast my plans for the future with Senator Colgan’s failed record of higher taxes and runaway development.

While he is quick to cite his 30 plus years in office and list his important positions, Colgan is completely silent on transportation solutions and on growth controls. This is consistent with his record and among the reasons I believe we need new representation in Richmond. Senator Colgan notes that he has been a budget conferee for 16 years and a member of Senate Finance for even longer. What he does not explain is why in all that time, he has allowed our transportation crisis to grow completely out of hand. He, in fact, does not think that the transportation crisis is even worthy of mention in his press release.

Nor does Senator Colgan mention his consistent drum beat for higher and higher taxes. Today, while the rest of the General Assembly is working out a compromise that does not include a statewide tax increase, Senator Colgan continues to demand that taxes go up to fund any solution for Northern Virginia. This is in spite of a doubling of the cost of government in the last decade, a current budget surplus, and the recent record increase in Virginia’s taxes. While others are working to adjust the unfair funding formulas, that leave the 29th District chronically underfunded, Senator Colgan has declared that he “would be ashamed to ask for one more penny.”

The citizens of the 29th District are desperate for controls on growth, but Senator Colgan has contributed to this crisis by opposing common sense restraints on residential development.

Senator Colgan may believe that he deserves another chance to fix the growing transportation nightmare that we face every day in this district, but I believe that 32 years is enough. With all due respect to this fine gentleman, it is time for new, fresh leadership for the 29th District and I look forward to providing that leadership as part of a Republican majority in the Virginia State Senate.

Well, if people truly want a campaign based on the issues, it appears that is what FitzSimmonds is prepared to offer them. What has long been Colgan’s strong point, his seniority, is being quickly being turned into a liability by FitzSimmonds who is pointing out Colgan’s long-standing failure to achieve anything for the citizens of PWC with regard to transportation solutions and a balanced approach to growth.

Bob FitzSimmonds is one of our Red Storm Virginia candidates.  Please visit his site and make a contribution.  Just click on the link below to be taken to his secure contribution web page.  Help expand the conservative caucus in the state senate!