200 Grande (with Chris’s “me too!” echoes right behind) seeks to portray the Herrity/Fimian primary as a boxing match, complete with scoring after every round. Kudos for the amusing graphic, but it’s time to be serious. We’re talking about a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and the crossroads our country finds itself in this November, as Herrity laid out in his announcement last week. These little games can be fun, but the only “round” that matters is the one on November 2nd, and whether we defeat Gerry Connolly.

As expected and reported elsewhere, Supervisor Pat Herrity officially declared his candidacy for the United States Congress this morning. Herrity gave a brief speech and took questions while distributing a lengthy list of endorsements, including Dels. Albo, Hugo, Comstock, the two other Republican Fairfax Supervisors, three PWC GOP Supervisors (Stirrup, Covington, and Nohe), and FCRC Chairman Anthony Bedell. A full list can be found here, while two statements of support are featured after the break.

Many have speculated that the primary between Fimian and Herrity would be “nasty”; while it doesn’t have to be, Keith Fimian wasted no time, distributing at Herrity’s own press conference a negative attack and hitting email inboxes with his statement before Herrity’s own statement went out. (When asked about the primary by a reporter, Herrity reiterated that his campaign was focused on incumbent Gerry Connolly and his record of spending.)

Fimian’s decision to go negative on Herrity within 20 minutes of Herrity making his bid official makes a few things clear: First, Fimian is certainly not prepared to exit the race; second, he will do whatever it takes to win the nomination, and third, he is the underdog for the nomination, and believes it himself. Fimian’s biggest theme is setting himself up as an “outsider”, painting the two-year veteran of the Board of Supervisors as a “career politician”.

However, Fimian also takes a few direct shots at Herrity, including repeating refuted Democratic talking points from the Chairman’s race about Herrity’s missed votes (Herrity has never missed a board meeting as a Supervisor), and implying that Herrity is a “politician who says one thing and votes another” and who is not committed to “creating jobs, reducing taxes and defending out freedoms”. The rationale behind these attacks aren’t given, nor am I holding my breath for one.

While some are speculating about the timing with the special election last night and others are focused on the brewing primary, ultimately, this is unwelcome news for Gerry Connolly, who has a lot to answer for in his short time as a Congressman. As Herrity noted in his speech, Connolly is the Democratic Freshman class president and has voted with Speaker Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time, including on cap-and-trade, trillions of dollars in spending including the stimulus bills, and the unpopular health care bill. He is clearly more interested in promoting Pelosi and President Obama’s liberal agenda than representing the views of his District, and the fact that two candidates who can unseat him are running against him is proof enough of his vulnerability. No matter the consequences of the primary, nasty or otherwise, Republicans should certainly be able to unite together to defeat such a disgustingly adversarial, hyperpartisan, thuggish ogre of a politician.

(Read the rest of this entry…)

Tweet This Post 

Jan 13th by VA Blogger

Continue Reading

Media Advisory

Pat Herrity will announce his intentions for the 11th District in 2010

Who: Pat Herrity, Springfield District Supervisor

Where: Springfield District Government Center, 6140 Rolling Road, Springfield, VA‎

When: Springfield District Government Center, Wednesday January 13th 2010 – 11am

Why: Pat Herrity will make public his plans for the 2010 election cycle. Please join Pat for more details.

UPDATE: Again, stating that I am proudly working with the Fimian campaign(TC). You can endorse Keith publicly by clicking here.

Tweet This Post 

Jan 11th by VA Blogger

Continue Reading

Following up on last month’s meeting, which I wrote about here, the 11th District Committee voted 7-3 in favor of a primary at last night’s meeting, settling the deadlock that made a revote necessary. The two Prince William County representatives switched their vote, joining everyone else but our three State Central members, who held firm to a convention.