Connolly To Forego A Congressional Run?
By Greg L | 11 August 2007 | Fairfax County | 20 Comments
I’m hearing rumors that Gerry Connolly is ruling out a run for the 11th Congressional District if Rep. Tom Davis vacates the seat in order to run for the United States Senate. Perhaps this would set us up for a Leslie Byrne vs. Corey Stewart race?
Given Connolly’s utterly horrid non-response to quality of life problems in Fairfax County due to, at least in part, the large numbers of illegal aliens he is eager to tolerate, it’s not much of a surprise that the political calculations for him are difficult. Add in his “leadership” on the Metrorail extension to Dulles, and this is one potential candidate that would have active opposition in a lot of areas within the 11th Congressional District.
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What on EARTH would make Gerry Connolly think he could run for the Senate?
No, for the 11th Congressional District seat held by Tom Davis.
Of course you might ask what on earth Tom Davis might be thinking about running for Senate…
Either one would be a win for the libs!
Connolly is going to run, let’s see of Stewart is able to retain the Chairmanship in PWC and don’t be too quick to rule out Connaughton as a possible candidate in the 11th!!
Thanks for clearing that up, Greg.
Ari, I don’t live in PWC, but I don’t see how Sharon Pandak can beat Stewart now if she couldn’t do it on the Webb/Dem coattails of last year. Stewart has made all the right moves as chairman, and GASP has responded to the concerns of his community and been proactive. Stewart wins, but what will be interesting is to see if a Fairfax Repub like Tim Hugo or Jay O’Brien runs against Stewart should Davis make a Senate run.
Coery Stewart = Jim Gilmore. You watch.
Coery Stewart = Jim Gilmore. You watch and remember.
If that means that Corey Stewart will actually DO what he campaigns on, like Jim Gilmore, then HUZZAH
Stewart’s support for Gill will probably do him in for the BOCS chair. Then he will be damaged goods for any step up. Tom Davis best stay where he is, his main support is in Fairfax and some mis-guided republicans in PWC. He has little chance in a state wide race.
Well, if Corey successfully runs for the 11th Congressional District seat, or Gov, perhaps it’s THAT kind of mentor (along with Bill Bolling, Scott Lingamfalter, Ken Cuccinelli, Bob Fitzsimmonds and Michelle McQuigg) that Faisal Gill needs…:(
I’m sorry to beat this horse to death, but those money and power hungry electeds who supported Faisal Gill need to pay…BIG TIME!! We couldn’t count on ‘em to pass up a huge voter block (not to mention money) and support a viable Republican candidate for the 51st District HOD; how could we possibly coun’t on ‘em to make sound decisions in office?
Chris..
Jim Gilmore was asked to leave the RNC as the General Chairman. The reason — his agenda didn’t involve anyone but himself. Neither does Stewarts.
The average county voter doesn’t know anything about the Gill/Stewart connection. Stewart’s 2006 votes came from the western side of the county, where they love him and they’ve never heard of Gill. He won every single precinct in Brentsville and all but one in Gainesville, if I remember correctly. Stewart took a stand on development and he has lived up to that. He has recently taken a stand on illegal immigration which people like. He has close ties to John Stirrup, the new darling of the BOCS.
He’s likeable and a good campaigner. People just pulled the lever for him a year ago so he has name recognition.
The percentage of people that trust the county government is up this year according to the recent satisfaction survey. So that means, even with the tax issues, and even with the real estate market, the average county resident trusts Stewart leading the current board more than they trusted Connaughton leading the board.
In summary, the pros far outweigh the one con of supporting a Republican that isn’t well liked by some. He’ll easily win by a nice margin. And I hope he stays around instead of running for the Davis seat.
Stewart won a special election (against one of the more inept candidates ever fielded by PW Dems) for Chairman of the PWC Board of Supervisors after Connaughton left to accept a Presidential appointment in the federal government. Stewart leapt at that opening with great alacrity after shopping himself around for months for either a GA race or even other County positions, apparently realizing that his re-election as Occoquan district supervisor was far from a sure thing. He hasn’t served a year, hasn’t run in a full-term general election, hasn’t had a chance to show that he knows how to govern the County or that he knows how to maneuver politically in a jurisdiction that had grown accustomed to a high degree of political and executive skill from his predecessor, has continued to run with a fairly unsavory crowd at the PWC local Republican committee, and hasn’t shown that he has any particular strength with voters or donors in the region. It may well be that over time, Stewart can develop a record that reflects some of these attributes, can distance himself from those who got him where he is, and show that he merits consideration for higher office, but I’m puzzled as to why his name would even come up now in this context when there are several better known Republicans with far more extensive experience. Leslie Byrne or Connelly would be formidable opponents. Unless we’re just looking for cannon fodder, Mr. Stewart would be way, way down on most Republicans’ depth charts, I would think.
Let’s review Corey’s top 10 “conservative” contributions thus far:
1. He voted to support NVTA
2. He raised the property tax rate
3. Supported PWCRC Resolution to not raise taxes
4. He supported abusive driver fee’s
5. He hired a Democrat to work for him on land use
6. Recruited Republican’s to run against Republican incumbents
7. He makes committments to attend events and doesn’t show
8. He supported a GOP candidate who worked as chief lobbyist of the American Muslim Council whose Founder is a convicted terrorist and is now serving a 23 year term
9. He has attempted to buy Muslim block votes by supporting a candidate Faisal Gill who failed to disclose that he worked for the AMC a terrorist organization on his application to the Department of Homeland Security
10. He encouraged non-members of the PWCRC to vote during an election in a race for a vice chairman who weren’t eligible to vote
Ari,
Corey Stewart did hire a smart-growth Democrat, Gary Friedman, to work on growth and development issues. Given that Stewart is also controlled-growth, I think it made sense. Can you fault him for working in a bipartisan manner to solve a problem?
Some of your other accusations are incorrect.
First, Stewart is Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. The abusive driver fees were the product of the state General Assembly, not the Prince William Board or any other county Board.
Second, Stewart and the rest of the Board actually delivered a property tax CUT this year. You need to look at what the actual average tax bill was. For years the Board reduced the rate because assessments were increasing. This time, assessments were decreasing. As a result the Board did need to increase the rate in order to collect approximately the same amount of money per household as the previous year. They actually increased the rate less than the drop in assessments, and the result was a tax CUT for the average household. That is the first time in memory that the Board actually reduced tax bills.
I wish I could understand some of these complaints. I don’t know “Ari’s” history, but the rap on Corey was that he was too partisan, and doesn’t work and play well with others. Yet he “hired a Democrat to work for him on land use.” He can’t win, according to some, but won a special election in a bad GOP year likely to have much higher turnout than this year. He’s certainly not perfect, but it seems to me that most of the complaints about his are unwarranted.
And “NoVA Scout’s” main complaints seem to be that:
(a) Corey isn’t Chairman Sean;
(b) Corey is a Conservative, whom “NoVA Scout” loathes;
(d) Corey therefore allies himself with other Conservatives;
(d) Corey was able to deliver real tax relief to Prince William taxpayers, by at least stopping the continual increases, belying the big-spending habits and excuse-making of Chairman Sean; and
(e) Corey isn’t Chairman Sean.
While I enjoy reading the discussion about Mr. Stewart, I have to say that it is HIGHLY unlikely that Gerry Connolly is ruling out running for the 11th district seat if it opens up. For years, every move he has made has been fashioned to lead him to that position. I would have to see some pretty hard and fast indication that he is not interested before I started seriously speculating otherwise.
Anonymous,
I would agree. Connolly is ambitious, and I still expect him to run for Congress. I fight between Connolly and Byrne would be brutal and nasty.
James: How do we conclude that Stewart is a “conservative”? How do we conclude that you are a “conservative”? With which “conservatives” does Stewart ally himself? How do we conclude that they are “conservatives”? Why would I loathe someone who is a “conservative” if I’m a “conservative” with a history of backing “conservative” candidates? And you’re right that Stewart is not Connaughton. They’d probably both endorse that proposition.