After exhausting myself making sure my Congressman (Rob Wittman) was renominated, I ended up crashing on the couch in the middle of the basketball game last night – and if I can’t make it through Game 3 of a Laker-Celtic final, I must be tired.
As such, I’m a little late to the what-happened-last-night discussion, and the first entry I saw came from fellow VV blogger Lovettsville Lady, who looked at the Fairfax County numbers and promptly declared that Democrats had hijacked the 11th District primary.
Well, I looked at the same Fairfax County precincts, and I didn’t get that vibe.
There are three Republican Supervisors in Fairfax County, representing Springfield, Sully, and Braddock. Fimian carried two of them, losing only Springfield – where Herrity is the Supervisor.
Beyond that, in his race against Sharon Bulova for Board Chairman, Herrity also carried Dranseville and Mount Vernon. Dranseville isn’t in the 1tth; part of Mount Vernon is. In the precincts that are in of the 11th, Herrity beat Bulova by 13 points. Fimian beat him by three in those same precincts.
So yes, Keith Fimian did pretty well in some Fairfax County regions friendly to Democrats, but outside of Herrity‘s home base, Fimian did pretty well in the Republican precincts, too.
Overall, Keith Fimian won this primary by double-digits. A Democrat-led hijack with those numbers would bring the metaphor to a level offensive to 9/11 victims and survivors. In other words, it didn’t happen.
Pat Herrity has not been on the Board of Supervisors long, but he was there long enough to establish a record as a tax-hiker. That’s why Fimian beat him in the primary.
Moving forward, I would remind folks that Fimian did better in the 11th than McCain did last year, so he’s no slouch. As for Herrity, he is a freshman Supervisor with a record of raising taxes. I don’t follow Fairfax politics closely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he faces a primary challenge in Springfield next year – and loses.
Filed under: 2008 Elections, 2010 Elections, 2011 Elections, Fairfax Politics, Keith Fimian, National Politics, NOVA Politics, Pat Herrity, Republican Party of Virginia, Republicans, Taxes, Virginia Politics
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These analyses are way above my pay grade!! But one comment to your comment……maybe Herrity went along with a tax increase in Fairfax County…..these analyses never address the WHY factor for the increase!!! Does the reason have any relevance to you folks, or does your analyses stop with the fact of the tax increase (i.e., nothing justifies it !!!???)
D.J., you’re continuing vendetta against Herrity is as shameful as it is misguided. While before I had chalked this up to the view being distant from Spotsylvania County, it has now moved to a different level. Now that the primary is over, there is no reason to continue to cherry-pick facts in order to smear a fiscal conservative.
Bingo, Ken. Herrity is part of a bloc of minority Republicans outnumbered 7-3 (and from the ’07 elections until Cook’s special election win in Braddock it was 8-2). By working with Bulova he and the Republicans were able to minimize the damage, so to speak, vs casting mere protest votes and getting rolled (as in 2008 and this year). There’s not much more you can do when you are that deeply in the minority. Rather than blasting Herrity, a better approach would be attempting to get a majority on the BoS: no easy task.
Wait, we have been shown the way to gain a majority on the Fairfax BOS – nominate a bunch of uber-religious tea party candidates! That’s the ticket! Primary that RINO Herrity out of existence!
Yes, Loudon Insider, and in that vain I nominate Bob Marshall for Fairfax County Board Chairman! Of course there might be residency issues. But Dave Marsden showed the way to solve that.
Hold on here, VAB. LL insists the Dems hijack the primary for Fimian. I defend the guy, and I have the vendetta?
As for Herrity’s record, we can go around in circles on the property tax vote from 2009 forever. The effective tax rate was one cent higher than equalization.
More to the point, Herrity did vote for the non-residential property tax hike of 2008 (which you have, wisely, never bothered to refute). That was and is an obvious tax hike no matter how you slice it, and a tax increase that is being challenged in court to boot.
I’m sorry the truth is so painful to you guys, but don’t shoot the messenger here.
And another thing, Republican challengers in the other seven districts have a much harder time winning when the Repubs who are on the board back tax increases.
As Herrity said multiple times on the campaign trail, it is far easier to snipe from the sidelines than it is to actually govern. Perhaps that’s why you’re not a sitting Supervisor right now.
The tax district set up in Western Dulles was asked for by the businesses there who would directly benefit from the Metro extension that those taxes would pay for. I have explained this earlier; you chose not to listen.
There were three endings to this problem:
1) Metro isn’t extended into Western Dulles; businesses lose out.
2) Metro is extended into Western Dulles; resident property taxes rise to cover the cost.
3) Metro is extended into Western Dulles; the businesses in Western Dulles cover the cost.
Those businesses wanted the extension and realized that there was no political will for option #2, so they asked the Board to set up a special tax district that would only apply to them.
Note that option #4, build it for free with magical pixie dust, wasn’t listed.
Herrity voted for a County budget that cut $100 million, spent less than the previous year for the first time in ages, and reduced the tax burden for the average homeowner (while blocking additional fees and add-ons that Democrats were pushing for). By voting for this coalition budget with the other Republicans, he prevented a much higher rate increase that the other 4 Democrats were pushing for (along with very little spending cuts), and would have certainly passed.
The rate increased 13 cents, compared to the 30-cent decrease orchestrated by the perennial tax-cutter (by your standards) Gerry Connolly.
If you like, you can willfully ignore Herrity’s long record of pushing for spending cuts, stopping fee increases, and looking out for homeowner’s wallets, and say that he has a record as a “tax-hiker”. That is certainly one viewpoint, albeit a very skewed and misleading one. It’s also a viewpoint that literally no one had until his primary opponent who was trying to win an election started saying it.
Keep in mind, however, that Herrity’s record is the same as John Cook’s and Michael Frey’s. Do you support primary challengers to all three?
Perhaps if we try hard enough, we can give the Democrats a 10-0 majority on the Board.
From your house in Spotsylvania, that may be a small price to pay for just a little bit of the rigid ideological purity you cherish. For those of us who live in Fairfax, and actually care about winning and governing, it’s a bit much.
*Perhaps if we try hard enough, we can give the Democrats a 10-0 majority on the Board.*
Then Fairfax can become the Montgomery County of the Commonwealth! Our principles will be unsullied and continuous prosperity will await!
VAB,
“it is far easier to snipe from the sidelines than it is to actually govern”
I can only assume you’ve never tried. I have. It’s much harder to proposed and defend cuts in spending than it is to raise taxes. When the leading newspaper in your region calls you an abortionist for refusing to raise taxes, you can talk to me about how “easy” it is to criticize local spending.
Yep, wise comments…..i have always thought it easier to wrestle with things at the federal level than at the local level. At the fed level, we have large bldgs and guards!!
Because one-size fits all so well, right Ken?
Not really Riley; it really depends on the issue, right? Sending people into harm’s way certainly is more precarious than cutting budgets for roads. Passing immigration-related resolutions…………cant get much hotter than that. As you know, the PWC BOCS has open meetings every week, where citizens can come in and beat them up!!! I have done a lot of that…………..cant obviously do that at the federal level……where we write letters to Congresspeople, etf
D.J., that makes it even more shameful that you continue to cherry-pick facts to smear Pat Herrity’s record, without even bothering to find out if there is more to the story, let alone understanding it.
I would have also guessed such an experience would make you more kind towards a Supervisor who proposed—and passed—over $100 million in spending cuts, reducing county spending from the previous year for the first time in recent memory. Instead, you simply parrot political talking points and then act smug about it, even after you admit you have little to no insight on what happens in Fairfax.
I don’t have much respect for blind loyalty, but I have even less respect for blind hatcheting.
yeahhhhhhhhhhhplease keep up the fighting and kicking and screaming at each other……….applications to become Democrats gratefully accepted!!!