Gerry Connolly Has His Head In The Sand
By Greg L | 22 August 2007 | Fairfax County, Illegal Aliens | 15 Comments
Gerry Connolly is returning fire after Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart expressed his frustration with Fairfax County’s lack of action on the illegal alien issue, and is saying that the approach that Prince William County is taking in “ineffective”. What, is he reading from the same talking points being used by the Governing Board in Manassas Park? Or is he simply too afraid to acknowledge that what Prince William County is doing is producing immediate benefits, and is demonstrating on a daily basis just how uninterested Connolly is about protecting his constituents from the effects of large numbers of illegal aliens that have taken up residence in several parts of Fairfax County?
Here in Prince William, the anecdotal evidence is that the illegal aliens have seen that the welcome mat they’ve previously enjoyed is being rapidly rolled up and are leaving the area. Business is significantly down in establishments that depend on illegal aliens for a portion of their revenue. Help Save Manassas members are reporting that a number of overcrowded homes in their neighborhoods emptied out soon after Prince William County adopted it’s resolution. To make matters worse for Gerry Connolly, what we’re hearing is that of those illegal aliens who are leaving, many are going to Centreville and Springfield.
The few reports I’m getting from Centreville and Springfield indicate that they have seen a noticeable rise in the number of day laborers congregating at the Centreville Library, and that they’re noticing a few more newly overcrowded residences in Springfield. If what Prince William County is doing is ineffective, Gerry Connolly might want to take a look at the relative changes being observed in Prince William and Fairfax, which would give him a remarkably different perspective. The fig leaf of his “strike force” is yielding little in the way of meaningful results, and meanwhile illegal aliens are running from Prince William towards the sanctuary of Fairfax County.
And yes, Fairfax is a sanctuary jurisdiction. Fairfax Police officers are prohibited from asking the immigration status of anyone suspected to be an illegal alien unless they have committed a felony, in violation of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. § 1373). Not only is Fairfax County itself demonstrably ineffective at reducing the number of illegal aliens within the county, but it has policies in place designed to make the unlawful presence of illegal aliens more comfortable.
Having Connolly actually notice what’s happening in these neighborhoods is a longshot, which really helps to explain his nonsensical comments. He doesn’t understand what his constituents are suffering, and supports policies that guarantee that this suffering will indefinitely continue, while at the same time he claims that those who are actually making progress on this issue are “ineffective”. It’s pathetic.
UPDATE: Riley has more here, including this:
None of this is very surprising for a guy who is overseeing the removal of the great literary works from the Fairfax County library system, turns a blind eye to overcrowding and illegal boarding houses, has in place a de facto illegal alien sanctuary policy, and is so bad at keeping campaign promises that even the WashPo has run a series of articles on Connolly’s failures as Chairman.
A Dec. 2006 article on unfulfilled traffic reduction promises
A June 2006 article on unfulfilled commitments on infrastructure improvements
A July 2006 article on unmonitored zoning violations
A lengthy July 2007 article on potential conflicts of interest
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
You can follow the discussion through the Comments feed.
15 Comments
Views: 1067
Loading ...
Comrade Connolly actually stumbled on to a pretty good point about PWC’s July 10 Resolution (what’s that saying about a blind pig …). As originally drafted, the resolution would have required PWC police to inquire about legal residency of every suspect they apprehended. The version that got approved requires it only when there is probable cause to believe the apprehendee may be illegal. The original version was racially transparent, and required no exercise of discretion by the officer which would be subject to criticism and review by the courts. Maybe it had to be watered down to get the unanimous approval by the Board, but whatever the reason was, it was a big mistake. I would urge the Board to go back to the original version once it’s back in session next month.
The other problem Fairfax has is one pointed out by Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Patrick McDade: Fairfax County downgrades 72% of felonies to misdemeanors, by far the highest percentage in Virginia. Combining that fact with the de facto sanctuary policy is a dangerous mix.
Ron, Where did Patrick McDade get those figures? If true this is simply unacceptable.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/government/article/0,2777,DRMN_23906_5679349,00.html
This is ridiculous. We make some progress and then something else comes along to potentially unravel that progress.
http://americansov.org/
Watch out for the SPP and NAU. These of course influence the illegal immigration issue.
I just heard on the news that the travisty that took place in NJ was alot more violent then previously reported. Apparently there were machetes involved and one of the girls was raped and the other they tried to rape.
There’s a silver lining to Mr C’s position… Once our illegal alien population realizes that we in Manassas and PWC fully intend to enforce all laws, they will have 2 choices; move further west or pack even more people into a house in Fairfax. Maybe when they move in to the neighborhoods of national elected officials in McLean, Alexandria and Fairfax we’ll get some national attention and enforcement of laws by the feds…
The Resolution served as a directive to force the PW County Executive to enforce existing rules and furthermore to hold him accountable for his actions in the future.
Most employers would consider writing up an employee like Gerhart for insubordination, and from that same perspective Chief Deane is doing what his boss Craig Gerhart has been instructing to do.
NLS has a post up about Gerry Connolly vs. Corey Stewart for Tom Davis’ potentially vacated seat if he runs for Senate. As much as Stewart’s support of Faisal Gill pains me, he is sooo much preferable to probably the biggest a-hole in politics, Gerry Connolly. No surprise that he has his head up his ass in regard to illegal immigration.
Dear BVBL Readers,
Yes, this is Patrick McDade. The 72% figure comes from the Supreme Court of Virginia’s most recent statistics available from the Virginia Courts website. If you compare the number of felony charges brought at the General District Court level for Preliminary hearing to the number of felonies that are actually indicted by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, only 28% of felonies initially charged by police are indicted. That means that 72% of felonies charged by police are dropped down to misdemeanors or dismissed.
To put this in perspective, in Alexandria, only 22% of felonies are broken down to misdemeanors or dismissed. In Arlington, the figure is 27%. In Richmond the figure is 43%. In Virginia Beach, the figure is 6%. That’s right, in Virginia Beach, 94% of felonies charged by police are actually indicted. In Norfolk, 113% of felonies charged by police are indicted. That means that when a prosecutor reviews a case before the Grand Jury in Norfolk, they often add additional felony charges compared to what the police originally charged. In contrast, Fairfax’s felony prosecution rate is the worst in the entire state by more than 20%. The second worst is Hampton where they prosecute 49% of felonies and dismiss or break down 51% of their cases.
That is a lot of statistics, but this is not spin. All of these figures can be confirmed by looking at the Supreme Court of Virginia’s State of the Judiciary Report. Many more equally disturbing statistics can be found at my website in the Get in the Know section.
My opponent has been the day-to-day manager of the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office for the past 19 years. When I clerked for the Fairfax Circuit Court, I saw first-hand the effects of his mismanagement of the office. The office is tragically understaffed and the prosecutors are overwhelmed. Prosecutors in Fairfax regularly show up to court for trial without a case-file, without having reviewed a police report, and without having ever spoken to any witnesses about the case. As a result, prosecutors often are forced to plead down or dismiss cases.
In contrast, in Arlington, where I am currently a prosecutor, all case-files for felonies and misdemeanors are reviewed by an attorney at least three weeks before trial to make sure the case is prepared for court. When I am elected, prosecutors will always be prepared in advance for court. Further, I plan to utilize modern prosecutorial methods, such as vertical prosecution and specialization. Vertical prosecution means that one prosecutor is responsible for a case from arrest all the way through sentencing. The prosecutor therefore knows all aspects of the case and is able to form strong relationships with the victims, witnesses, and police officers on the case. That way, when a case comes to sentencing, the prosecutor who knows the case best, and with whom the victim is most comfortable, argues the sentence to the judge. Likewise, specialization allows a prosecutor to become an expert in a specific area of law. For example, I specialize in criminal street gang prosecution and focus on bringing gangs, such as MS-13, to justice. Due to my specialization, I have established a strong relationship with the street-gang detectives and have gained a greater knowledge of the intricacies of gang prosecution.
I hope to have your support to bring these changes to the Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office. If you have any further questions, you can contact me through my website at www.mcdadeforca.com
We can only hope that a good Republican like McDade has a chance of getting elected in such a bastion of liberalism. He had a great liveblog session at TC some weeks ago.
Go McDade Go!
The lesson learned here: The overall success of a county depends on the quality of their Board of Supervisors or Councilman.
Prior to Gerry was Tom Davis who surrounded himself with quality Republicans and as a result Fairfax County offers a quality education, and a high standard for overall quality of life. Not much of which Gerry Connolly can really take full credit for.
Prince William is the 7th richest in the Nation but upon entering PW from Fairfax along Rt. 1 it looks like you crossed the border into Mexico (thanks to Hilda Barg).
We can’t retain quality teachers, our economic development department has failed to attract businesses that contribute revenue to our county government, the jobs they supposedly took credit for “creating” were employers who brought employees with them and failed to create new ones for the residents who live here. And, we have the 5th worst commute in the Nation as aresult. Why would anyone want to buy a home here?
Moreover our own politicians except Jeff Frederick, Bob Marshall and John Stirrup VOTED FOR NVTA in which the majority of the $300 million and $64 million in funding will not come back to PWC but in fact WILL go to Fairfax County.
Gerry Connelly pulled the wool over the eyes of Marty Nohe on this deal, and all but one of our Supervisors let it happen.
As a resident of this county, I’m sick and tired of all the back door deals. What happen to Integrity and hiring (government) workers because they can make a difference and do their job well, not because they’re a good friend?
Report cards for PWC BOCS:
John Stirrup gets an A+
Hilda and John C- (Clueless anyway)
Corey D-
Marty D-
Wally D-
Maureen D-
*GERHART F
(*Martin Briley highest paid Exec. in Econ Dev in NoVA)
Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Fairfax county businesses employ many of my neighbors, and has earned National recognition as a world class leader in technology.
What can Prince William boast about? Oh right…John Stirrup lead the charge on over turning the Sanctuary policy, refusing services to Illegals, voted against Hot Lanes and NVTA. Go John GO!
Ari Stotle,
Enter Prince William County via route 28. Now talk about ugly! I cannot blame the Hispanic community for that though. The route 28 has been ugly forever. Backroom politics go back a loooonnnngggg time.
The 234 entrance is a little better. It just looks like typical strip mall rather than a slum.
Back in 2002 when the snipers struck at Battlefield Sunoco on 234, right off I-66, a news reporter came on CNN and described the community as a blue collar town some 25 miles southwest of Washington, DC.
Do you think that phrase really fits our community? Apparently that is the first impression people get when coming to Prince William County.
I was outraged, miffed and vexed. However, perhaps the shoe fit. IS that how others see us?
I tried to leave the following comment on Gerry Connolly’s website, but I don’t think he let it get posted:
“Your ineffective leadership on the serious problem of illegal immigration in Fairfax County is telling everytime you speak about the issue. Under your “Issues” section of your website, you do not even list Illegal Immigration. Obviously you are out of touch with the people of Fairfax County if the number one issue on our minds is not even listed. I look forward to voting against you in the upcoming election and even more to a Board that will actually DO something about illegal immigration, rather than just posture, bluff, and denigrate the real efforts being made in nearby communities. Sincerely, David Wright, Alexandria (Fairfax County).”