Democrat Gerald Connelly Seeks Another Term
By Patricia Leslie
 Incumbent Chairman Democrat Gerry Connolly. |
In a recent interview at unpretentious offices in the mega complex of the headquarters for the kingdom of Fairfax County, Connolly, 56, said he should be re-elected because he's got the experience and he's proven effective at what he does. "When I was first elected [as chairman] in 2003, I set out a six-point agenda, and we've seen positive responses in all areas," he said, citing gang delinquency (a rate cut in half since he took office), affordable housing, education, the environment, tax relief and transportation.
"There is no room here for 'on-the-job' training," he said. "The tax rate is the lowest in Fairfax County's history," he said, reciting a litany of achievements during his tenure as chairman: "A low crime rate (which is half that of Prince William County's violent crime) and the highest student SAT scores in history.
"Do you know that 94 percent of our high school graduates go on to higher education, while the national average is 66 percent? All our high schools rate in the top five percent of high schools in the country. Sure, absolutely, we have more to do in transportation," he said, "but we have a clear plan of action to do it."
Connolly was born in Boston, and has lived in Fairfax County for 35 years. For five years he has worked "part time" at SAIC, which some call a conflict of interest, but if it is, no other contractors have come courting to lure him away. "They should call me," he said, jokingly. SAIC policy prohibits doing business with Fairfax County while Connelly is on staff, a source said, and that policy has not been violated.
Voters want to know if Connolly will run for the county congressional seat of Congressman Tom Davis (R) next year. "If someone had told me 30 years ago that I would be in this chair, I would have been stunned," he said. "I love what I am doing. We need to focus on the 'now'," he said emphatically, "and the future will take care of this job. This is a great opportunity to make a difference and it demands my full attention. Who knows about the future?" Connolly said polls show 63 percent of residents believe Fairfax County is headed in the right direction, "which shows how out of touch my opponent [Gary Baise (R)] is with reality."
Connolly has raised about $1 million for the chairman's race, while Baise has raised about $200,000. "Baise doesn't need to raise any money, since he's a self-financed millionaire," Connolly said.
When asked to name the most influential person in his life, Connolly offered Joe
Carney, now a resident of Fairfax County but formerly his high school history professor in Pennsylvania. "He imbued me with a great love of history" and affected Connolly's affinity for history books.
"On the spiritual side, the most influential for me have been the letters and papers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran theologian who worked underground against Adolph Hitler and was executed by the Nazis," Connolly said.
On the political side, he named Robert Caro's Power Broker, which tells a story about the uses and abuses of power. Connolly has just finished reading a book about the Crusades and recently completed Manhunt, about the chase for John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Lincoln.
Connolly graduated with a degree in literature from Maryknoll College in Illinois, and he received a mster's degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1979. He worked for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for 10 years.
He has been married to Cathy Smith for more than 30 years, and they have a teenaged daughter who attends public high school in Fairfax County.
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| Republican, Gary Baise, Challenges Connelly |
